WEEKLY UPDATE - MAY 14

Welcome back to the Weekly Wrap Up! It was a mix of Committee and Council meetings last week with lots of interesting topics covered. Read on for my top three!

At Utility Committee, we heard from EPCOR on one of my favourite topics - fire hydrant flow capacity! While it may sound dull, infrastructure requirements play a major role in how we build our city. Hydrants can impact housing affordability or whether a project can even be built. The amazing folks at EFRS and EPCOR have done a great job of modernising the way we determine fire flow requirements. The new process will be more transparent for neighbours, and streamlined for developers and EPCOR, all while supporting safety and our housing accelerator goals.

At Council, we heard an important presentation from Alberta Municipalities. Alberta Municipalities represents and advocates for the smallest villages to the largest cities in Alberta. From infrastructure funding to local democracy, they help advocate for what municipalities need. I was proud to support a subsequent motion asking the Province to rescind Bills 18 and 20 and hold meaningful consultation with stakeholders. I’m glad Edmonton has added our voice to municipalities across the Province in this request.

On a lighter note, at Council Services we approved my motion to share the cost of mailouts to residents. Each ward has different costs for contacting constituents by mail - for example, O-day'min has the highest number of households so needs the most stamps! By providing all wards with equitable access to the postage costs they'll incur, we'll be better able to provide consistent communication with residents regardless of what ward they're in. I’m excited for this more equitable approach to cost sharing.

There are lots of conversations coming up this week - catch you next week for the wrap up of it all!