St. Albert city council's meeting this week, which is their last before a six-week break, will see council discuss taking out some overhead power lines downtown, a proposal for the St. Albert Assisted Independent Living Home Foundation (SAIL Home) to operate a cafe in a city-owned space, and more.
The first agenda item is the removal of some overhead power lines downtown. Administration is asking council to approve a budget of $1.54 million to take down seven power poles with overhead power lines in the alley behind St. Anne Street between St. Albert Trail and Perron Street.
If council approves the spending, most of which is set to be covered through existing project budgets, Fortis Alberta will be paid to remove the power poles and install replacement power infrastructure underground instead sometime this summer. As well, the alley will be slightly widened and rebuilt next summer to ensure the road can withstand two-directional traffic, which is expected to be needed as downtown densification is anticipated moving forward.
Just $495,000 of the total $1.54 million needed for this work is currently not covered through existing project budgets, and city administration is asking council to approve the not-yet-accounted-for spending by drawing from the city's capital reserve, which is kept to cover expenses exactly like this.
SAIL Home cafe proposal
Another item council will discuss on Tuesday is a motion put forward by Coun. Natalie Joly that, if passed, will direct city administration to “offer space for nominal value at a year round city-owned facility to the [SAIL Home] Foundation... for the purpose of operating a food service establishment... and that SAIL Home be exempt from the Community Capital Grant application timeline requirements in order to enable SAIL Home to apply for grant funding for this food service establishment on an as-needed basis.”
SAIL Home is a St. Albert-based non-profit that operates a small group home for locals living with disabilities. The organization's mission, as described on its website, is “to provide access to affordable housing for adults with disabilities; to offer information, housing options, hope and resources to individuals with disabilities who wish to live independently; to offer information, guidance, and support to families in order to navigate the emotional and practical realities of supporting a loved one toward independence.”
According to an administrative report to council, SAIL Home approached city council back in April with a proposal to operate a food establishment coined “Friends' Cafe” in a city-owned space that would be staffed by people with disabilities to provide not only employment opportunities but life skills training.
“Administration has spoken with the [SAIL Home] to extend an opportunity for further discussion with [city administration] to see how the city could assist with supporting their goals and vision [but] further meetings to discuss plans and options were declined by the organization,” the report reads.
The report also notes that Joly's motion, if it passes, and the associated work it would direct city staff to do, would violate multiple city policies and “various trade agreements,” such as the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.
As such, administration has proposed three alternative motions for council's consideration.
The first option is to have administration work directly with SAIL Home to address risks, sustainability, and long-term support for the potential cafe. “This would involve confirming requirements, identifying potential locations, and returning to council with more details, including more clearly defined financial impacts such as capital costs, human resources costs, lost revenue from alternate sources and increased maintenance costs.”
The second option is to have the city remove the vending machines in Fountain Park Pool and create a space for SAIL Home to have the cafe in the facility, similarly to the cafe that used to operate at the pool. “This would require council to approve the funding required to bring the space up to [Alberta Health Services'] safety standards in addition to the reduction in revenue in order to implement this service.”
Administration's report notes that an estimated cost of creating a space in Fountain Park Pool would be about $100,000, and the city would lose about $11,000 in annual revenue from the vending machines the city owns at the pool.
The third and final option is for administration to invite SAIL Home and other non-profits to participate in the city's request for proposal (RFP) process when a city-owned location for this type of operation becomes available. This option wouldn't violate city policy or trade agreements, but it would also mean that SAIL Home and the other non-profits would be competing against businesses in their proposals.
The report says administration can't recommend either of the first two options without learning more about the Foundation, which was incorporated in late 2021, in order to “adequately assess their request against city policies and procedures.”
Special event consideration in RMR project planning
The last item on council's agenda for St. Albert's elected officials take a summer break from meetings is a motion put forward by Coun. Mike Killick, which asks city administration to factor into their annual repair, maintain, replace (RMR) budget and planning process some new criteria around special events.
Every spring council is presented with an RMR budget — which covers spending to repair, maintain, or replace existing city infrastructure and equipment — ahead of the upcoming year's overall budget to determine how much money the city can spend on non-maintenance related projects, which are generally referred to as growth projects and are considered secondary to the successful functioning of the city.
Killick's motion stems from a recent council decision not to repave the St. Vital Avenue hill in time for next year's St. Albert Soap Box Derby, as request by the event's organizers and Killick himself. This roadway is not currently scheduled to be repaved until 2029, but Killick argued last month that it should be repaved sooner for the safety of participants in the annual event.
With his new motion, Killick is asking administration to create new criteria to be included in what the city calls its ‘prioritization matrix’ which is a framework and formula used to calculate how important projects are, whether its an RMR project or a growth project.
An administrative report about Killick's motion says that special events are informally included in the prioritization matrix already, but making special events consideration a more concrete factor would be complicated and potentially faulty.
“There is an additional challenge with accommodating events to influence future year RMR [budget planning], as it may alter the level of service defined for the primary use/objective of [a] particular asset, especially if the asset renewal is planned outside the immediate two-year window of the occurrence of special events,” the report reads. “For example, the primary objective of a road asset is for multimodal mobility and accessibility. Special events accommodation is a secondary objective.”
“Additionally, this criterion influence may become insignificant against the standards that are currently being applied, that is condition-based assessments and prioritization.”
The report says these concerns don't mean that the work involved with Killick's motion is impossible, but amending the prioritization matrix and coming up with necessary policy amendments would likely take over a year.
