Christmas tree in Grande Prairie City Hall. Photo by Curtis Galbraith.

By Curtis Galbraith

City Hall

Highlights from the last city council meeting of 2024

Dec 17, 2024 | 6:00 AM

Grande Prairie City Council held its last meeting of 2024 on Monday. Some of the highlights included the following:

– Council asked administration to meet with officials from the Maskwa Medical Centre about waiving city fees for the proposed new building that would go up near the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital. A delegation from the centre came to council to make the request. They estimated the cost of things like building and development fees to be between $275,000 and $300,000, money they did not want to come from donors. Maskwa officials also asked that council approve having $500,000 from a $10 million loan co-funded by the City and County of Grande Prairie and the MD of Greenview advanced early. They wanted to get in line now for beam structures for the new building, something that required a 20 per cent deposit. Council decided it was not ready to make any changes at this time.

– Council agreed to a land sale that could see the Canadian Mental Health Association add another 55 units to Willow Place. Council agreed to transfer two vacant lots to the west of the current building on 99 Avenue for the cost of a dollar. The assessed value of the land is $391,000. City administration says this will allow the association to leverage that land for funding for the planned expansion. The hope is to start construction in the summer. Construction would take two to three years, depending on the method of construction used.

– City and county councils both approved a new Recreation and Culture Cost Sharing Agreement. The four year deal would see the county provide the city with $2.76 million per year, plus another payment of $4.6 million spread over the four years. The two municipalities say in a joint release that this will help support facilities in the city and county. It will also see both sides commit to funding for the library and art gallery at 2024 levels.

– Council approved giving local organization Helping Hands $80,000 per year for two years in a pilot project that would see this group become what the city calls a “food security backbone”, something meant to get food to those in need. It would work with groups like the Salvation Army and the Friendship Centre. The project will be reviewed after 12 months.

Meaningful Mementos

Remembering Someone You've Lost at Christmas

Dec 03, 2024

Seasonal Sorrow

How Do You Get Through The Holidays When You're Grieving?

Nov 01, 2024

Upcoming Events at Oliver's

Grief & Loss and Estate Planning Seminars

Oct 02, 2024

– A petition from some people to have gravelling done on 99 Street between 128 and 132 Avenues was deemed to not have enough signatures under the requirements spelled out in the Municipal Government Act. This led to council approving a motion to have city staff look at other ways for people to make their concerns known, rather than trying to meet the requirements of a legally binding petition. Some on council wondered if the open delegation portion of the regular council meetings would be enough.

– Councillor Wendy Bosch says Enforcement Services has issued 201 tickets for vehicles parked on snow routes while parking restrictions are in place for snow removal. There were also 53 complaints about snow not being shovelled across the city.

– Council approved a new parental leave policy for members of council. Council was told that Grande Prairie is the youngest city in Canada that has a population over 25,000. and this might attract more young parents to run for council. The leave would be for a maximum of 16 weeks and the councillor could still attend mandatory meetings like budget talks. The leave would have to start within 12 weeks before the due date or 12 weeks after the baby is born.

– Council also approved a new policy about council pay and reimbursements that will kick after the 2025 municipal election to be held in October. It says the mayor’s salary will be indexed to the Alberta Consumer Price Index. Councillors wil received 55 per cent of the mayor’s salary.

The first council meeting of 2025 is scheduled for January 13.