Lethbridge City Hall. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Lethbridge Council taking actions for short, medium, long term economic recovery

May 20, 2020 | 12:08 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge City Council is looking forward in hopes the community can rebound.

Two resolutions were passed this week – one to create a committee focused on economic recovery and one to revisit the budget this fall.

As for the Lethbridge Community & Economic Recovery Committee of Council, that will see all nine members of council and administrative staff focus on four different pillars.

• Economic and Business Recovery: Chris Spearman, Ryan Parker, Mark Campbell
• Stimulus Funding and Financial Stability: Jeffrey Coffman, Belinda Crowson, Joe Mauro
• Social Planning and Community Wellbeing: Rob Miyashiro, Jeff Carlson, Blaine Hyggen
• Corporate Recovery: City manager and senior management team

Groups like the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Lethbridge are already working on recovery plans of their own.

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Councillor Jeff Carlson, who introduced the motion, says the goal is to work with agencies like these and to support them, not to step on their toes and duplicate efforts.

“Council needs to be the overarching body, council is the one that members of our community and our residents turn to, council is the place that our provincial government [and] our federal government turns to for good solid advice, strategies, and ideas.”

This committee will see its members meet at least once per week to coordinate ideas and formulate plans.

Joe Mauro was the lone member of council who voted against the formation of the committee.

“A lot of this is already being done by different organization and agencies in the community. I’m a little concerned where we’re going with this. There’s a lot of stuff in here and I’m going to guess that the community probably would prefer government to stay out of their faces a little bit.”

The other motion surrounding economic recovery is to reopen the four-year budget in November that was originally passed in 2018.

Not only has the entire community been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the second stage of the KPMG operational review is set to be completed by then.

The KPMG report will likely have found areas of efficiencies that can help to reduce the city’s costs.

“Four-year budgets may work in times of little change…but times have greatly changed and we need to review our budget at this time, or in November,” says Councillor Belinda Crowson. “I hope, through our operating budget review, that we will create a municipal government that is more effective, efficient, and resilient.”

There are two years left in the current budget cycle. The City Manager will work to outline the processes for reviewing the budgets for 2021 and 2022.