St. Albert is going full-speed ahead on getting its feet back underneath it, with the creation on Monday of a task force to aid in the city’s recovery from COVID-19.
After city council approved a recovery concept plan, they passed all three readings of a bylaw that will establish a task force to aid in the delivery of recovery plans.
“At the end of the day, our end state is that we’re fully recovered from this event, we continue to be recognized as one of the best communities in Canada and potentially we look at adopting new innovative ways of service delivery,” said St. Albert government relations manager Trevor Duley.
The concept plan and task force go hand-in-hand, as members of the task force will be consulted on actions that roll out of the plan.
St. Albert Mayor Cathy Heron will chair the task force and two other members of council will sit on it, along with up to seven members of the public.
Those public members must demonstrate a record in community service, knowledge of local economic drivers and have significant experience in high governance levels, according to the bylaw. They do not necessarily need to reside in St. Albert but should at least conduct business within the municipality.
The task force will be important and unlike any organization of local government St. Albert has seen to date, said St. Albert director of legal and legislative services David Leflar.
“(The bylaw) even goes so far as to say that this task force is to reach out very specifically to individuals who are under particular hardship as a result of the impacts of the pandemic,” he said.
Members of the task force will meet weekly in the beginning, or once every two weeks later, and will be tasked with making recommendations to city council. They will recommend potential actions for St. Albert to assist residents, businesses and not for profits to achieve full recovery from the adverse economic impacts of COVID-19.
Coun. Jacquie Hansen said this is an opportunity for local people’s creativity to shine through.
“This is opportunity for a lot of creativity to come through a task force of this type, and I think it’s going to be a really great asset and complement to recovering well,” she said.
While St. Albert will be publicly advertising positions for members of the public until May 8, council will also tap people on the shoulder who they think have the necessary expertise to serve. All candidates will still go through the same vetting process, Mayor Cathy Heron said.
St. Albert is targeting a May 19 date for having all appointments filled, and funding for the task force will come out of the $2 million already approved by council for St. Albert’s COVID-19 response.
Appointments to the task force will last until December of this year, after which council can reappoint the same people or identify new individuals for a one-year appointment. The task force will cease to exist once the recovery period is over, which is unclear at this time.
Concept plan
While the task force will mainly be looking at recovery from a business and community partner lens, city staff will also be working behind the scenes on recovery within the city organization.
According to the recovery concept plan approved by council, there will be “external” recovery objectives applying to the broader community, along with “internal” ones aimed at city-owned facilities and finances.
Duley said one of the best parts of the approach is the task force will be led by both council and community members, to put a “community lens” on the project.
“That’s really going to will help us in a recovery, making sure that we’re not just focused on the internal, that external is going to really be the driving force behind this recovery planning,” he said.
Desired outcomes of the task force will be getting the business community to a “thriving” state and community partners have a support network and system and operate at “council-approved service levels.”
In addition, the plan will cover preparations for similar situations to the COVID-19 pandemic in the future.
For internal city outcomes, the concept outlines aspirations to complete plans for opening city-owned facilities, re-assigning staff to their primary jobs, and creating a financial strategy that is empathetic to taxpayers.
Deputy chief administrative officer Kerry Hilt offered his kudos to St. Albert for “entering into this foray now,” noting most municipalities across North America do not even have recovery on the mind yet.
“The best practise is to do both recovery and response at the same time,” he said.
Heron was not available for an interview.
