Peace River Town Council Signals New Direction: CAO, Transit, Airport, Fire Service

The minutes of December 13 and 20 are contained in the January 10 agenda package available on the Town's website. They signal how the new Council plans to distinguish itself from the former Council.

December 13, 2010
Chief Administrative Officer (CAO)
After a 2-hour in camera session, Council moved to accept Norma MacQuarrie's resignation on a "without cause" basis. In my limited experience, the term "without cause" has applied in the case of a dismissal (the recent firing of Stephen Duckett by Alberta Health Services is an example), not a resignation. To whom or what does "without cause" apply? Perhaps someone with HR experience can enlighten me.

The rest of the motion indicates that compensation will be "based on the CAO's employment contract." Will the public know the cost of Ms. MacQuarrie's leaving?

The CAO position is being advertised in the Record-Gazette and on the Municipal World Job Board. The ad indicates that Council is looking for a "dedicated, motivated, and dynamic professional" to join the team. As well "The successful candidate will be a leader with excellent communication and interpersonal skills that will promote strategic development and improvement of municipal services to create a vibrant and sustainable community. The individual will be responsible to provide leadership and direction to a staff of 62 full-time and 5 part-time employees." These are exactly the qualities of the highly competent and ethical CAO that the Town had, and who will be a very difficult act to follow.

December 20, 2010
After another 2-hour in camera session, three motions of significance resulted:
1. That a letter be drafted to the Airport Committee stating that, while the Town of Peace River is committed to a high level of regional cooperation, the newly elected council requires time to fully assess the proposed airport governance structure and would like to meet with the regional partners to help address the following concerns:
1) Governance model - “Society” vs. “Authority”
2) Operational Components - issues surrounding existing staff
3) Proposed memorandum of understanding with Northern Air Charter
4) Membership Agreement - one year commitments
5) Cost sharing formula
6) Alberta Health Services Building Location

Council wants to understand the implications of this regional cooperation initiative, which is important. But it also needs to have some trust in the previous work done to investigate governance models thoroughly and to negotiate on cost sharing. Most importantly, Peace River Council should not unnecessarily hold up this important process. It would be easy to lose momentum and leave the Town once again completely responsible for the airport, which is a significant cost to our taxpayers. Asking partners to share costs also means that power and control need to be shared.

2. That administration provide 90-days notice of termination to Napp ‘n Sons Ventures Ltd. with respect to cancelling the Peace River Transit Service effective March 31, 2011.
This is an extremely disappointing decision given the previous Council's decision to allow this innovative service a few years of stable funding to get established, build ridership, and establish an advertising base.

Questions that arise in my mind: 

• What evidence base did Council use to come to the decision?
• Was Community Services and the Community Services board consulted on this decision? If not, why not?
• Was Northern Lakes College consulted since it could affect the ability of its students to get to class? If not, why not?
• Were employers consulted who have employees that count on this service?
• How influential was the taxi company lobby in this decision?
• Has Council directed administration to identify other ways to help low income people get around this very inaccessible town? If not, why not? 
• Why was there no news release announcing this decision that affects so many people and explaining the rationale?

If you are concerned about this decision, let Community Services (780-624-1000) and Town Council know.


3. That administration contact the Town of Slave Lake and the Town of Hinton to determine the level of service provided by their fire departments and their annual fire department budget.
It's important that Council understand how other communities manage their fire services. Peace River's fire department has aspirations that may go beyond the Town's abilities to fund without cutting other important programs. I hope Council has already considered the comprehensive review the former Council undertook, which if I remember correctly, included comparatives with other small Alberta fire departments.

Peace River Town Council Regular Council Meeting: November 8, 2010

Here are a few highlights from Monday's agenda:

• At 5:00, Shell Canada is updating Council on the Carmon Creek regulatory process, Three Creeks emissions, and proposed winter activity for the Peace River Venture Area
• Council is being asked to do first reading on two changes to the Land Use Bylaw (the former Acklands-Grainger building to allow for a bottle depot and the site of the former bowling alley for a "indoor participant recreation service facility). The proposed date for a public hearing is December 13
• A request to make the proxy appointment to the newly-formed Peace Regional Waste Management Company (the former East Peace Landfill Authority. Also included in the package are the articles of association and memorandum of understanding
• A request to appoint public members to the Peace River Municipal Library Board (me) and to the Community Services Board (Neil Martin). One November 1, the motion to appoint me to the Library Board was defeated. I was subsequently asked to provide a resume to support my application, which is in this week's package. This item also shows a list of various boards that have vacancies, for anyone interested in volunteer opportunities.
• Council is being asked to support the Mackenzie Municipal Services Agency (MMSA) in its application for grant funding under the Alberta Municipal Affairs Regional Collaboration Program to enable the agency and region to be proactive in the development of a Land Use Framework.
•  Update on the Medical Centre of Excellence business plan undertakings and a request that Council use the joint advisory committee mechanism within the Capital Cost Sharing Agreement with Northern Sunrise County to discuss funding the development of the business plan. This would be allocated from the joint future facilities and infrastructure reserve. If approved, a committee would be formed to oversee the initiative.
  Dr. Dave Willox's PowerPoint slides making the case for the Centre are included in the agenda package. Health Minister Zwozdesky recently visited Peace River to discuss the Centre so let's hope Alberta Health Services gets behind the project and does it quickly. As the recent letter from Peace River doctors indicates, the limited clinic space is exacerbating an already-critical situation with doctor retention and recruitment.
• Minutes from the Peace River Regional Airport Marketing Plan Committee are included along with the marketing plan
• Under the Information section of the agenda are letters from Northern Sunrise County and the County of Northern Lights indicating the appointments made from the Councils on various regional committees (Off-Highway Vehicle Committee, Regional Airport Committee, Library Building Committee, Inter-Municipal Development Plan Committee, Regional Assessment Board)

There is much more on the agenda so scan through to see if there are items of interest to you. If there are, consider attending the portion of the meeting where these are discussed. It can help to understand a decision if you've been able to observe the discussion.