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2024 Alberta Municipalities Convention Briefing
Presented by: Monty Killoh, Advisor, Government Relations
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SUMMARY
City of St. Albert Administration is providing the attached document, “Briefing Note on 2024 Alberta Municipalities Resolutions” for Council’s information. The document is intended to support Council at the upcoming Alberta Municipalities Convention from September 25 to 27, 2024 in Red Deer.
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL DIRECTION OR MANDATORY STATUTORY PROVISION
On May 7, 2024, Council passed the following motions:
(AR-24-177)
1. That Council endorse the resolution entitled "Preventative Psychological Services Support for Municipal First Responders,” provided as Attachment 1 to the May 7, 2024 agenda report titled 2024 Alberta Municipalities Resolutions, and refer it to the 2024 Alberta Municipalities Convention for Consideration.
2. That Council appoint Councillor MacKay as the Resolution Champion for the “Preventative Psychological Support for Municipal First Responders” resolution for the 2024 Alberta Municipalities Convention.
3. That Council endorse the resolution entitled "Provincial Support for Watershed Management,” provided as Attachment 2 to the May 7, 2024 agenda report titled 2024 Alberta Municipalities Resolutions, and refer it to the 2024 Alberta Municipalities Convention for Consideration.
4. That Council appoint Councillor MacKay as the Resolution Champion for the “Provincial Support for Watershed Management” resolution for the 2024 Alberta Municipalities Convention.
5. That Council endorse the resolution entitled "Education Property Tax Reform,” provided as Attachment 3 to the May 7, 2024 agenda report titled 2024 Alberta Municipalities Resolutions, and refer it to the 2024 Alberta Municipalities Convention for Consideration.
6. That Council appoint Councillor Brodhead as the Resolution Champion for the “Education Property Tax Reform” resolution for the 2024 Alberta Municipalities Convention.
7. That Council authorize City Administration to prepare and submit a resolution for the Alberta Municipalities’ 2024 Convention on behalf of City Council directing Alberta Municipalities to advocate to the Government of Alberta to allow municipal governments to use automated voting equipment as an option, such as electronic tabulators, to count votes in a local election. That Council appoint Mayor Heron as the Resolution Champion for Council’s 2024 emergent Alberta Municipalities resolution regarding automated voting equipment.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Alberta Municipalities works on behalf of Alberta’s cities, towns, villages and summer villages to advocate to the Government of Alberta on matters of importance to its members.
An important annual event in determining these matters and setting direction for Alberta Municipalities’ engagement work with other orders of government, especially the Government of Alberta, is the resolutions session that occurs at each year’s Alberta Municipalities Convention. At this year’s convention, two resolution sessions are planned for Thursday, September 26: one from 10:10AM to 11:30AM, and a subsequent session from 2:45PM to 4:15PM. Attachment 1 in this report: “Briefing Note on 2024 Alberta Municipalities Resolutions,” provides a brief analysis of each resolution, as well as Administration’s recommendation as to whether or not Council should support the resolution.
The 2024 Resolutions Package (Attachment 2) has been published in advance of the convention, with a total of 27 resolutions. Four of these resolutions have been sponsored by St. Albert City Council, with each possessing a Council Resolution Champion, and a seconding municipality from a community with less than 10,000 population. This includes:
1. Allowance of Automated Vote Counting Systems in Municipal Elections
a. Resolution Champion: Mayor Heron
b. Seconding Municipality: Town of Rocky Mountain House
2. Provincial Education Property Tax Reform
a. Resolution Champion: Councillor Brodhead
b. Seconding Municipality: Town of Penhold
3. Preventative Psychological Services for Municipal First Responders and Emergency Dispatchers
a. Resolution Champion: Councillor MacKay
b. Seconding Municipality: Town of Mayerthorpe
4. Provincial Support for Watershed Management
a. Resolution Champion: Councillor MacKay
b. Seconding Municipality: Town of Gibbons
During the resolution sessions at the convention, resolutions will be considered in the order in which they appear in the Resolutions Book. The Resolutions Chair will introduce each resolution and will ask an elected official from the moving municipality to speak to the resolution (the maximum speaking time is two minutes); Council’s appointed resolution champions will act as spokespersons for each of the City of St. Albert’s resolutions. Afterwards, the floor will be opened for debate where elected officials can speak to the resolutions and may also request amendments to the resolution - should speakers oppose the City’s resolutions, Council’s appointed resolution champion or an appointed spokesperson from the seconding municipality may speak to respond. After debate, the speaker of the moving municipality will have one minute to speak to close the debate, after which a vote on the resolution will ensue.
Resolutions are segmented into the following categories:
1. Issues Related to Alberta Municipalities’ Strategic Initiatives
2. Other Issues of Potential Interest to Alberta Municipalities
For Council’s awareness, Administration has received a request from a separate municipality to amend the motion within Council’s sponsored resolution B18: Provincial Support for Watershed Management. The request is for the resolution to be changed from:
[…] for municipalities located on smaller rivers and sub-watersheds […]
To:
[…] for all municipalities located on all rivers and watersheds in the Province […]
It is Administration’s recommendation to not support this amendment, as the original intent of this resolution is to address a lack of Provincial support specific to smaller municipalities within small watersheds, such as the City of St. Albert; although increased support for all municipalities would induce benefits, larger watersheds and rivers currently receive more provincial attention and resources in comparison to smaller rivers and watersheds.
However, supporting this amendment could result in more support for the resolution from delegates at the convention, as it would broaden the impact of the resolution to be applicable to more municipalities. If Council desires to support the requested amendment, Administration recommends an emergent motion be made to support the requested amendment. If Council supports the amendment in this fashion, Administration will work with the Town of Gibbons (the seconding municipality of this resolution) and Alberta Municipalities to support the amendment as a “friendly amendment,” which would amend the resolution without the amendment needing to be approved by a vote of delegates at the convention. If Council does not support the amendment, it may still be requested during the debate portion of the resolutions session at convention, where a vote of delegates will determine whether or not the amendment is applied to the resolution.
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS OR ENGAGEMENT
City Administration has undertaken a comprehensive analysis of the proposed resolutions and connected in advance with seconding municipalities regarding key messages for resolutions that St. Albert City Council has sponsored or seconded.
ALIGNMENT TO PRIORITIES IN COUNCIL’S STRATEGIC PLAN
N/A
ALIGNMENT TO LEVELS OF SERVICE DELIVERY
Intergovernmental Board, Committee and Task Force support: an agenda report and briefing note on FCM and Alberta Municipalities is presented to Council the week of, or the week prior to, the annual FCM and annual Alberta Municipalities Convention.
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Report Date: September 17, 2024
Author(s): Monty Killoh
Department: Office of the CAO - Government/Indigenous Relations & Environment
Department Director: Trevor Duley
Chief Administrative Officer: Bill Fletcher