There has been a new approach for City Council in 2022, which includes providing regular updates to residents about the Gateway to Opportunity 2022 Action Plan.
Lethbridge City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to accept the first quarterly report for the Action Plan – which outlines the status of each initiative Council has identified as priorities.
"The idea is to set specific and measurable goals and then report back to our residents about how we're progressing each quarter," says Mayor Blaine Hyggen. "This new approach clearly articulates priorities, creates transparency, reports performance and builds community trust."
See more in this video from Mayor Hyggen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcFmvjg_pXY
Council's Action Plan was created using the Municipal Development Plan (MDP) as a guiding strategic document. The initiatives identified in the action plan are each aligned to one or more of the MDP's six strategic themes: Economically Prosperous; Healthy and Diverse; Culturally Vibrant; Well Designed; Environmentally Responsible; and Supports the Region.
Some focus areas and highlights from the first quarter of 2022 include:
Economically Prosperous
- Airport performance and governance evolution has seen funding being leveraged, Council endorsing a new Airport Incentive Framework and a new agreement with Flair Airlines
- Council on Tuesday voted to adopt a new Municipal Land Banking Strategy that will look to secure lands for future strategic growth
- The Broadband Pilot Project at the Sherring & Churchill Industrial Parks is progressing with an operator identified and in place to provide broadband service
Healthy and Diverse
- Working with health and community partners to develop a City action plan to support a family physician recruitment and retention plan
- Steps are being taken to finalize an Operational Agreement with the Blood Tribe/Kainai Nation and confirm a location for the Indigenous Resource Hub
- Approved funding of up to $100,000 to engage with a consultant to further explore the creation of a Community Care Campus, which would involve either the integration or co-location of housing and homelessness resources (along with other pertinent services such as mental health and substance use supports) as a method to end chronic homelessness and enhance accessibility of services for clients
Well-designed City
- Council and Administration are undergoing a review of cityLINK. Several presentations have been made and community feedback has been gathered. Council voted on Tuesday for the cityLINK Transit system to continue – with quarterly adjustments being made to reflect feedback, changing travel patterns and metric indicators. As part of the resolution, Council also voted to refer the proposed funding components to the Operating Budget deliberations in November
- Council has tasked City Administration to initiate a ward system study to outline a process to examine, develop options, decide and implement for as early as the 2025 Municipal Election. Administration will report back the Governance Standing Policy Committee on April 28
Supports the Region
- Work is underway on to establish a Regional Economic Development & Tourism Strategy. This work, in partnership with a broad stakeholder group, will entail the creation of a storybook – a vital document that articulates the City's economic and tourism vision
"As we continue to tackle initiatives we've prioritized for the community, our now-next-later model is helping guide both Council and Administration on the work ahead," says Mayor Hyggen. "In this first quarter, I'm proud to see that we have a good start on some very impactful work. In the next quarter, I expect to see more of these items completed and a focus on some further initiatives specific to the strategic areas of being culturally vibrant and environmentally responsible."
During this four-year term, Lethbridge City Council will develop annual Action Plans and are committed to report progress back to the community every three months.
If residents would like to be directly informed, there's a new option to subscribe to quarterly update newsletters (starting with Q2), as well as a further detailed look at the Action Plan, at www.lethbridge.ca/2022ActionPlan.
