The divisions on St. Albert City Council have been apparent for the last year, related to issues such as the hiring of former council member Gilles Prefontaine to work for administration, the city’s current spending priorities and the lawsuit launched by former city manager Patrick Draper against Gord Hennigar. Things have gotten so bad that Alberta Municipal Affairs has come in to do an inspection to try and resolve the divisions.
In watching the debate, I’m reminded of the year I spent working for the Town of Morinville when Lloyd Bertschi was mayor. One of Bertschi’s major goals as Mayor was to ensure Morinville’s long-term sustainability over the long term. Other Morinville council members had goals such as replacing the town’s aging fire truck, ensuring that municipal tax dollars were properly spent and that the town’s infrastructure was properly maintained. Individual members of council disagreed on various issues, but they were also very good at working as a team.
One of the reasons for the Morinville council’s success likely came from Mayor Bertschi’s ability to take the other council members’ agendas and incorporate them into his own. Getting the Morinville Fire Department a new truck would equip it to provide better service over the long term. Keeping the town’s books balanced would ensure that it would have more money for potential emergencies. Revising all of the town’s old bylaws made them better able to respond to the town’s issues.
Unfortunately, the divisions in St. Albert’s council run much deeper than that. We can see it reflected in the local media and blogs, as people supporting different factions of council accuse one another of personal attacks and insults. We can also see it, obviously, in the Municipal Affairs inspection that was requested by council. Disagreement is normal in politics, but the vitriol we’ve been seeing has become downright toxic in some cases.
It’s hard to tell what this will all lead to. I’ve heard some people speculate that our next council will have a decisive majority of people who lean towards one faction or another. Others have speculated that the entire council may end up being replaced. Whatever happens, the people of St. Albert as a whole would doubtless prefer that our next council spend more time co-operating, and with less acrimony than the current council.
For years, we’ve been needing a larger discussion of what we want St. Albert to look like. Do we want to emphasize the arts and culture, or recreation? Do we want a more “bare bones” approach that focuses more on core services like water and garbage pickup?
Figuring out what we want St. Albert to look like will be one of our next council’s biggest challenges. Individual councillors may have their own goals, but the bigger challenge will be to find a way to incorporate them into an overall vision for the city.
They could do worse than to follow the example Lloyd Bertschi set in Morinville.
Jared Milne is a St. Albert resident with a passion for Canadian history and politics.
