SUNDRE – The town’s mayor recently provided his council colleagues with a heads up about a possibly impending request from Alberta Municipalities to seek support from members to advocate the provincial government include municipalities in the health-care system’s decision-making process.
Richard Warnock was among many elected officials who attended the Alberta Municipalities spring caucus in Edmonton late last month.
“This is one of the better two-day meetings I’ve been to since I’ve been involved in council,” Warnock said during council’s regular April 11 meeting.
Having prepared a two-page summary featuring highlights from the conference, the mayor said he wanted to bring to his council colleagues’ attention two items that he did not include in his written report with the intention of instead verbally discussing the matters.
“The two things that are not in this report, were the member requests for decisions that were brought forward to the members of (Alberta) Municipalities. I thought those should be addressed so that our council knows what was discussed there,” he said.
“And the first one was the lack of consultation between Alberta Health Services, the provincial government and municipalities.”
There was a recommendation presented by the Town of Ponoka council, which he said requested, “that the Alberta Municipalities board advocates for municipalities across the province to be included in the decision-making process when it comes to health-care issues concerning their communities, which currently are being made almost exclusively and unilaterally by Alberta Health Services and the provincial government.”
Furthermore, he said Ponoka’s council also sought to have Alberta Municipalities involved in advocating the provincial government to “ensure funding is made available to airports that currently find themselves in the position that they need upgrades to comply with both new Alberta Health Services and provincial standards, and to commit to providing funding to the other airports who may find themselves in a similar situation in the very near future.”
The second item pertained to a request for decision on whether the Alberta Municipalities membership would support advocating the provincial government on strengthening regulations to approve unlicensed private day homes.
“This one had a lot more discussion at that meeting,” he said.
The City of Calgary council brought forward a request for Alberta Municipalities to advocate the Children’s Services minister “to increase protection for the youngest and most vulnerable by mandating minimum safety standards for unlicensed private day homes,” he said, adding the proposed list includes items like criminal record checks and first aid requirements.
“That one also was passed, but with a very small percentage of support,” the mayor said, adding he raised the matter “just for council to be aware that this could come to Sundre some time in the future if Alberta Municipalities lobbies the provincial government to put those standards in place.”
Coun. Chris Vardas extolled the value of actively participating in Alberta Municipalities conferences.
“Any time we have an opportunity, we should go,” said Vardas. “The opportunity to sit down with these people is actually great.”
Council accepted the mayor’s report for information.
Seniors' Week proclaimed
Meanwhile during a council meeting in recent months, Linda Nelson, chief administrative officer, read aloud to council a request for decision regarding a resolution to proclaim June 5-11 Seniors’ Week.
According to the provincial government’s website, Seniors’ Week has been observed annually in Alberta since 1986 to both celebrate as well as recognize the contributions of seniors who enhance the quality of life in their communities and throughout the province.
The initiative was originally inspired by the vision of the late Alice Modin, who more than 30 years ago launched a campaign to begin a seniors’ day in Strathcona County that ended up helping to set the stage for today’s province-wide initiative.
Council unanimously carried a motion proclaiming June 5-11 as Senior’s Week in the Town of Sundre.
