St. Albert city council has voted to reinstate the council sponsorship program after city administration determined that the program was best administered by council, rather than the Chief Administrative Officer as was planned after the policy was repealed last year.
Prior to the governing policy being repealed, the council sponsorship program involved each member of council having a $1,000 annual budget that could be used to sponsor local charities or events. The mayor's budget was $4,000.
In a recent report to council, the city's director of legal and legislative services Marta Caufield wrote that the policy was repealed as part of sweeping changes to the way city grant programs were administered, however, “it became clear that the individual council member sponsorships were not easily able to be absorbed under the new framework.”
As such, administration proposed to council on Oct. 3 that the sponsorship program should be reinstated as a stand-alone program, and recommended some minor changes to how council could distribute their annual budget.
The reinstatement, and the program changes, were approved on consent, meaning there was no council debate.
The Gazette will have more to come.
