 | Saturday, July 24, 2021
By Scott Dippel
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning. | | Inside baseball | | |  | There are going to be a lot of new faces in council chambers come October, and now there could be new committees as well. (CBC) | | | City council has its committees and its acronyms. But a big shake up appears to be coming.
Last Tuesday, the priorities and finance committee (known as PFC) heard the outline of a plan to give the next city council a whole new look for its committees.
Council currently has four standing policy committees: transportation and transit; utilities and corporate services; community and protective services; planning and urban development. There are also three standing specialized committees: priorities and finance; intergovernmental affairs; gas, power and telecommunications.
To cover the same workload, administration is recommending these be replaced by two standing policy committees and two standing specialized committees.
Let's not fuss over the new names for now, but subject to council's final approval the realignment is being proposed for a few reasons.
One big reason is that City Manager David Duckworth is restructuring and relabelling city departments. The proposed committee set up is designed to fit into that new structure and streamline governance.
Much of the heavy lifting at council happens at committee meetings. It's where citizens can speak on items that are before the politicians.
So it seems that there won't just be a whole bunch of new faces around the council table after this fall's election. The way they work on council business will be changing too. | | |  | Coun. Shane Keating announces the launch of a third-party advertiser that he will help run called the Responsible Representation Political Action Committee. (Scott Dippel/CBC) | Councillor helps form TPA | TPAs, or third-party advertisers, will be all the rage for this fall's municipal election after the provincial government amended the legislation governing local elections and created rules for TPAs.
TPAs can promote or oppose candidates in the election. So, who predicted that a member of city council would form and be working for a TPA?
Ward 12 Coun. Shane Keating, who is not seeking re-election, held a news conference Wednesday to unveil the Responsible Representation Political Action Committee.
He and three other Calgarians say with the huge turnover coming for the next council, they intend to help voters identify serious councillor candidates. These would be the people who the TPA determines have key character qualities and a track record that will help the next council function well.
Whether they're right, left or centrist, Keating said they want to draw attention to candidates who can problem solve, build relationships and have financial acumen.
"Uncertainty is a powerful force and it's facing us head on," said Keating.
The veteran councillor said the current council has seen its share of what he calls "hand grenade politics", where allegations are thrown out and there's no concern about who gets hurt.
"My worry is that outside forces will come in and influence decisions which aren't in touch with reality," he said.
The TPA will review all the candidates before making endorsements and then use the money it raises to advertise for those people. Keating said he's cleared his involvement with the TPA with council's ethics advisor.
Read more. | | | | |  | (Scott Dippel/CBC) | Moving on | The life of a political staffer isn't easy. Extremely long hours. Demanding bosses. Unexpected events. Demanding files. People come and people go.
The end of Naheed Nenshi's time as Calgary's mayor gets closer with each passing day, but his office staff has seen little turnover during his 11 years as mayor. There are still some people there who came in with him in 2010.
A couple of longtime staffers recently departed.
Andrew McIntyre, who was a senior policy advisor in Nenshi's office, left last month for a job across the street. He's now a political and economic specialist at the U.S. consulate.
Earlier this month, Erin Stang Chrusch left her position as a senior strategist in Nenshi's office for a position in the city manager's office.
Nenshi said he's happy people who have been with him for so long are now finding work elsewhere.
"People are really lucky to get these folks," said Nenshi. "We have managed to keep a lot of people the whole 10, 11 years and I'm really committed to helping people find great opportunities for their next role."
But how do you keep the place going if everyone leaves before the next mayor is sworn in on October 25? Nenshi said he'll manage. A former staff member has agreed to come back for a short time.
"There are a couple of them who I have told if they leave, I will cry and chain them to the door," Nenshi said with a smile. | | Channelling Will Ferrell | The council term is ending and yes, they're getting punchy at times.
In this week's intergovernmental affairs committee meeting, the board of directors with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association stopped by for a presentation to the group.
Council's AUMA representative, Ward 14 Coun. Peter Demong, used the opportunity to channel his inner Will Farrell while introducing his AUMA friends to council colleagues.
No, he didn't yell, but it was a break from the usual.
"Starting off at centre is Barry Morishita, president of the AUMA and mayor of the City of Brooks. On left forward, we have Cathy Heron, mayor of St. Albert and vice president for cities under 500,000. We have on right forward, Tanya Thorn, who is vice president of towns as well as councillor of the Town of Okotoks. Left defence, we have Angela Duncan who is vice president of villages and summer villages and deputy mayor of the Village of Alberta Beach... " It went on from there.
There was more levity later when Edmonton city councillor and AUMA board member Andrew Knack mentioned that the association's annual convention will be in the provincial capital this November.
He said there will be a chance to attend either in person or online. But for those choosing online participation, Knack said: "You're going to miss the chance to be in Alberta's best city."
At that point, Mayor Nenshi chimed in: "Wait, wait. The convention's in Brooks?"
We'll see next week if council can keep its sense of humour as it plows through the last full meeting before the August break. It's expected to be a two- or three-day affair with several weighty topics on the agenda.
They include possible changes to the city's arena deal with the owners of the Calgary Flames and a proposed land-use change which could result in the city selling off a slice of park space at Richmond Green for redevelopment. | | | 6 more municipal stories you shouldn't miss | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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