Although the Grandin name will be removed from all municipal assets effective Sept. 1, the renaming story may not be over, as a St. Albert councillor is introducing a motion to suspend the city's Municipal Naming policy following the meeting on March 18.
Coun. Shelley Biermanski put forward a notice of motion on the morning of March 26, to be debated during the May 6 council meeting, to suspend policy C-CC-05 "until a full review of the policy is completed and revised to align with improved processes regarding community support for renaming consideration requests and that administration provide a revised policy to Standing Committee of the Whole (SCOW) by Q3 of 2026."
The Municipal Naming policy states that those who reside in or have a substantial connection to St. Albert and demonstrate a "substantial level of community support for their proposal" may submit an application to remove a name from or rename an existing Municipal Asset.
During the March 18 city council meeting, the city's Chief Administrative Officer Bill Fletcher said that the decision to require 50 names on the application to trigger a review was up from 20, which was the number recommended by consultants.
During the meeting, Biermanski questioned why the process was not done by petition. Suzanne Ruegg said that in order to be a petition, under the Municipal Government Act, 10 per cent of the residents would have had to sign, or approximately 7,200 people in the case of St. Albert.
"The determination was made in a balance of making things accessible but also not unattainable," Ruegg told council on March 18.
Biermanski said in her view, there are inherent flaws with the policy that she wants reviewed and amended.
"Because it's an application, not a petition, the 50 names on that list are sheltered and hidden," Biermanski said in an interview on March 26. "And yet, if any member of the public wants to hold their opinion against the renaming, they have to expose themselves publicly."
During the March 18 council meeting, many speakers spoke both for and against the renaming of Grandin, and potentially had their name posted publicly on the meetings agenda. Biermanski said the issue is that she doesn't know if any of the 50 people who submitted the application spoke at council.
"To me the ideal process, if it requires a substantial amount of the public, it should be done by petition. And if we don't want to go that avenue, it should be a council motion. Not 50 hidden names," she said. "I think it's easy for people to fill out an application and submit it if they don't ever have to expose themselves."
Biermanski said she wants to see the application process removed entirely.
"I believe it's imperative that we sit down, correct everything that we learned in the process as it sits," she said.
