Council to deal with roads, police and parks in last blast before summer break
July council meeting marks final gathering of elected officials until September and start of prorogation
If you're into independent theatre, head to Old Market Square on Wednesday for the start of 30th Winnipeg Fringe Festival.
But if you're into something a little more avant-garde, head one block north to city hall for the strangest free performance in town — the final council meeting before the summer break.
The July meeting of city council marks the last time Winnipeg's elected officials gather before the six-week summer prorogation. It also tends to be the longest monthly meeting of the year, as administrators try to jam as much city business as possible on to the July agenda to make up for the absence of an August meeting.
This year, however, the July relatively light on big-ticket agenda items. Here's a preview of what council will debate:
1. Road-renewal money
For the first time in two years, the City of Winnipeg is about to submit an infrastructure-funding wish list to the federal government. This time, there's only one project on the list: $182 million to help Winnipeg fix existing regional roads.
The request is unusual, given that the city typically seeks infrastructure funding to help pay for major projects, such as new roads or bridges. Mayor Brian Bowman explained this decision by noting the city already pays for regional road repairs, so asking Ottawa to top up the funding won't force the city to devote any additional funds to the project.
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This move could be seen as a means of wringing more money out of the province, which recently ended a year-old commitment to provide the city with a set proportion of provincial-sales-tax revenue to help fix roads.
But it has annoyed north Winnipeg councillors such as Devi Sharma (Old Kildonan), who expected the western extension of Chief Peguis Trail to be remain on the infrastructure-funding wish list.
As Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski) observed last week, north Winnipeg residents are growing impatient with the lack of transportation improvements in their quadrant of the city after Ottawa helped fund three new projects in southwest Winnipeg totalling about $700 million: the extension of Kenaston Boulevard through Waverley West, the completion of the Southwest Transitway and the construction of the Waverley underpass.
Bowman appears to have enough votes to approve this request, but the debate may break down along geographic lines.
2. North End cop shop
At the June council meeting, Mynarski Coun. Eadie moved a motion to ask the Winnipeg Police Service to consider somewhere other than Charlie Krupp Stadium — the current home of the North Winnipeg Nomads football club — as the site of a new north-district police station.
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Eadie wasn't happy with the change and is expected to argue in favour of more specific direction on the cop shop at the July meeting. Again, Bowman should have enough votes to hold him off.
3. New rules for Board of Revision
On the face of it, a new set of procedures for the Board of Revision has all the sexiness of a soggy box of cardboard. The quasi-judicial city body that hears property-assessment appeals is far too obscure to wind up on the radar of anyone outside the real-estate industry.
That's why it was interesting when municipal lawyer Mark Newman and property appraiser Rocky Neufeld appeared before executive policy committee to argue the new rules would reduce the independence of the board.
Given that the city stands to lose property-tax revenue every time the board rules in an appellant's favour, direction of any sort from city staff can be seen as intrusive. The mayor, however, insists the changes merely formalize existing rules for the volunteers who sit on the board.
Coun. Janice Lukes (South Winnipeg-St. Norbert) has nonetheless raised questions about the way the changes were introduced.
4. Final hurdle for CUPE 500 deal
The tentative labour deal reached between the city and its largest union last month averted not just a summer strike, but a summer of municipal-construction chaos as well as a major embarassment for Winnipeg during the Canada Summer Games.
Since members of the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 500 turn water supplies on and off, many major projects would have ground to a standstill had there been a strike. And many summer-games events held at city venues would have been picketed, if they could occur at all.
While that's entirely academic, city council still has to sign off on the labour deal. The only question is whether it will be unanimous.
5. More scrutiny for Assiniboine Park?
Transcona Coun. Russ Wyatt has two motions planned for the July meeting. The first is a request for the city to consider spending more money on regional water parks. Few councillors are likely to take issue with the general principle.
The second Wyatt motion, however, calls for the city to suspend its $10-million commitment to the Assiniboine Park's proposed Diversity Gardens until the Assiniboine Park Conservancy provides council with a business plan.
"I agree wholeheartedly the conservancy has done a teriffic job and I agree you get what you pay for. But what are we getting? And what is it going to cost the public?" Wyatt asked Tuesday in an interview.
He said the city does possess a business plan for the gardens but has not provided a full copy for city council to examine.
"We want to see it, we want an analysis of it and we want to vote on it," he said.
Wednesday's council meeting starts at 9:30 a.m.
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