Tuesday, June 30, 2009

GGS Committee Agenda for June 30th

Because of the Canada Day holiday one of my regular city committee meetings has been bumped to Tuesday - the General Government Services (GGS) Committee. As I mentioned last time I posted an agenda from GGS, this committee meets every second week and generally deals with things like internal corporate services (IT, and Finance) as well as the administrative functions of the corporation.

Below is the agenda for today's meeting. The names you see below the agenda items are the staff members who are presenting the report on that item. My quick comments are in italics.

Delegations
1. Mr. B. Manz - 2008 Aquatera Annual Report (attached)

The city owns Aquatera (along with the County of GP and the Town of Sexsmith) and as part of that relationship we see them at meetings quite often. Presenting the annual report is kind of just an FYI thing as all council members receive it in our mail boxes.

2. Committee “In Camera” (land matter)

3. Grande Prairie Public Library 2008 Audited Financial Statements (attached)
S. Walker, Acting Corporate Services Director
The Library is one of two organizations who's year end financial statements are combined with the City's. The other is the Airport. The library ended the year with a surplus of $292,776 - mostly due to a number of smaller factors that added up; unexpected grants and higher than expected fundraising on the revenue side and lower than expected or deferred expenses. Any surplus is transferred to a reserve and will cover some of the increased expenses that come as the library grows in to the new building.

4. Branding Exercise RFP Award (attached)
D. Olinger, Manager Marketing and Communications
This will ensure that the city is effectively marketing itself in a coordinated manner. The most visible result of this for the public will likely be some kind of new logo for the city (Right now we are using the city Crest which really isn't a logo). I won't be surprised if there is some angry feedback on this expense ($36,000) but ultimately the city is a large corporation that needs to communicate effectively with the public and this will help.

5. Strategic Priorities Chart Update (attached)
A. Cerny, Acting Legislative Services Manager

6. Correspondence

6.1 Mr. W. Drysdale, MLA, re: 2009 Municipal Sustainability Initiative allocation (attached)
This is in response to a letter we sent outlining the negative impact that the province's decision to reduce MSI funding had on our city. The province chopped about $2.4 million out of grant funding we were supposed to receive this year - money that was going to the construction of the multiplex.

6.2 AUMA Mayors’ Caucus, re: Bill 203 Local Authorities Election Act Amendment (attached)
This new provincial bill (view as a pdf)came from an MLA's private member motion late this spring. It sets out rules for how municipal election campaigns are financed and reported. I don't think anyone has too much of a problem with having fair guidelines in place that ensure transparency (I don't) the issue is that this was sprung on municipalities without any consultation. Because of that there are a number of holes in the proposed legislation that could have negative impacts. Hopefully we'll be able to correct these things by working through AUMA before this becomes law.

7. Other Business

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