New Council votes for change!

NEW REGIONAL COUNCIL WADES RIGHT IN

  

Residents demanded change during the recent election and many candidates pledged change – and it seems that change is indeed on the way. No media or members of the public attended the first public meeting of the newly-installed Regional Council (perhaps because it was an organizational meeting), but CUPE 1505 was there to see some big steps in a promising direction. 

 

At the Tuesday, Nov. 29 meeting, Mayor and Council voted to create four new standing committees:

 

·         (1) Budget and Audit

·         (2) Transportation

·         (3) Rural Development

·         (4) Communications and Public Engagement

 

Urging his colleagues to “take some fundamentally different steps, Councillor Sheldon Germain (Ward 1) made the motion to form the committees. “ We have to change the way we’re doing business and making decisions,” he said.

 

Ward 1 Councillor Guy Boutilier, a former MLA and two-term mayor, proposed that two or more councillors – sit on the new Regional Recreation Corp. Board (the RRC or so-called superboard); the motion was passed unanimously. Rookie councillor Keith MacGrath described the decision as “imperative.”

 

The RRC will oversee recreational initiatives and infrastructure development in the municipality. For example, MacDonald Island Park has been integrated and the Anzac Community Recreation Centre, the Archie Simpson Arena Aquatic Expansion in Fort Chipewyan, the Conklin Community Recreation Centre and the proposed Northside Community Recreation Centre at the Abrams Land development will come under its umbrella.

 

Particularly significant for CUPE members, Boutilier also moved that Council have members on the Fort McMurray Airport Authority board. At the behest of Ward 2 Councillor John Chadi (who previously served as a councillor from 1998 to 2008), an amended motion was passed that Council would investigate the possibility of such representation.

 

Several council members also pushed for Boutilier to be named Deputy Mayor. Mayor Melissa Blake announced a rotating roster of Councillors who would alternately service as Deputy Mayor and Acting Mayor; Boutilier was on neither list.

 

Noting that “the community is looking for change,” Germain proposed a different model (actually, a concept that had been kicked about in previous term) whereby there would be a permanent Deputy Mayor and a rotating lineup for Acting Mayor. He proposed that the Deputy Mayor “focus on internal issues” while the Acting Mayor handle more ceremonial duties – the “fun stuff” like ribbon-cutting. He then nominated Boutilier, praising his experience and expertise, to be Deputy Mayor. Boutilier, meanwhile, was emphatic that he definitely wants to do more than cut ribbons.

 

The motion was defeated 7:4, but veteran Ward 1 Councillor Phil Meagher – who is now in his seventh term - then offered to have Boutilier take his top-of-the-list spot as Deputy Mayor, running from Nov. 1 to Jan. 31. He suggested that this could be a trial period for Boutilier and Council could later revisit the idea of having him serve as permanent Deputy Mayor. “Let’s see how it goes for three months,” Meagher said. When another councillor mentioned his generosity in giving up his Deputy Mayor slot, Meagher replied that he didn’t see it as a “sacrifice.” That motion was passed unanimously.

 

Councillors also voted to have Meagher serve on the board of the 2015 Western Canada Summer Games – if it is, in fact, possible for Council to be represented on that board. Councillor Ault already serves in a personal capacity on a 2015 Summer Games sub-committee. Meagher – Wood Buffalo’s longest-serving councillor - is an avid skier, hockey coach, golfer, hiker and long-distance runner. Last winter, he undertook a 280-kilometre cross-country ski trip from Fort Chipewyan to Fort McMurray – Ski for Hope – to raise money for the Centre of Hope, a drop-in centre for homeless people.

 

Mayor and Councillors were also appointed to several Council committees.

 

·         Governance, Agenda and Priorities Standing Committee – Mayor Blake and Councillors Chadi, Germain, Jane Stroud (Ward 4) and Alan Vinni (Ward 3).

·         Wood Buffalo Housing and Development Corp. – Ward 2 Councillor Julia Cardinal.

·         Communities in Bloom Committee – Ward 1 Councillors Tyran Ault and Lance Bussieres.

·         Community Identification Committee – MacGrath and Vinni.

·         Community Services Committee – Chadi.

·         Regional Advisory Committee on Inclusion, Diversity and Equality – Cardinal.

·         Selection Committee – Mayor Blake and Bussieres, Chadi, Stroud and Vinni.

 

Appointments were also made to a number of external committees.

 

·         ALPAC Landscape Advisory Committee – Chadi.

·         Inter-City Forum on Social Policy – Stroud.

·         Leadership Wood Buffalo – Ault.

·         Senior Citizens Liaison – Bussieres and Meagher.

·         Veterans Memorial Highway – Meagher and Stroud.

 

 

CUPE members are strongly urged to attend the next Council meeting on Nov. 12. Local 1505 has applied to make a presentation. You are citizens, you live here – make your voices heard!