St. Albert city council has approved a new grant policy, despite concerns from some councillors that the change will take too much oversight out of council’s purview.
The new policy will allow the city’s chief administrative officer (CAO) to pilot new grant programs without coming before council for approval. Instead, members of council would receive updates about new grant programs in an annual report that would also include information about all grant allocations and their outcomes. Council approved the new policy during their May 16 meeting.
Earlier in the year, city administration presented a review of the former granting policy to councillors for their feedback. The policy acts as a high-level guide for how grant programs are created, how money is given out, and what accountability mechanisms are in place for reporting the outcomes of grants.
An additional change in the new policy council approved paves the way for council to delegate the approval of grants to its advisory committees — for example arts and environment — and city administration. Should council choose to pursue changes in how grants are approved, these will come before council at a later date.
Anna Royer, St. Albert's division business manager, said these changes could allow for a more rapid disbursement of funds, and decrease the resources used to review applications at higher levels of governance.
When presenting the new policy to a council committee on May 9, Royer said one example of a new grant program could be funding community gardening initiatives, should enough residents express a need.
Coun. Sheena Hughes and Coun. Shelley Biermanski both raised concerns about the changes.
Hughes argued that an example of a grant that would require such rapid creation that there wouldn’t be time to include it on a last-minute agenda hadn't yet been shared with council.
“The bare minimum should be that if a new grant comes forward, that council should be comfortable with it,” Hughes said. “We owe this to the public.”
Hughes put forward an amendment to remove the ability for the CAO to establish grant programs from the policy, but the amendment ultimately failed, with only Hughes and Biermanski in support.
Coun. Natalie Joly said she sees the new grant policy facilitating more flexibility, and as a reflection of a strong relationship between city administration and council, where council’s priorities are clear.
“I really see the value in council moving more into a governance role than into an administrative role,” Joly said. “As municipalities get bigger, we can’t approve every $400.”
Coun. Ken MacKay echoed Joly in describing the policy as a way to increase flexibility.
“I don’t see that we’re excluding or taking anything away from our civic agency process,” MacKay said. “I see it being able to enhance it.”
When asked by Coun. Wes Brodhead what the process for a CAO to establish a grant program would look like in practice, Royer said the city will work out more details once council approves the overall policy.
“I certainly can let you know that there’s full intent to involve council’s committees … in the process of potentially adding new programs,” Royer said. “This is not something that will occur in isolation. There will be conversations about it.”
The new grant policy passed 5-2, with Biermanski and Hughes opposed.
