St. Albert Minute: Surplus Allocation, Watershed Grant, and an Audit Committee Report

St. Albert Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of St. Albert politics

This Week In St. Albert:

• The Community Services Advisory Committee will meet on Tuesday at 6:30 pm to discuss, among other things, Community Events Grant Funding Allocations and Community Recognition Recommendations.
  
  
• On Wednesday, at 6:00 pm, the Arts Development Advisory Committee will meet. The agenda is pretty lean - the Committee will hear project updates and have a round table discussion. Also on Wednesday, at 6:30 pm, the Youth Advisory Committee will meet to discuss a Youth Forum and Grant Update.
  
  
• The Environmental Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday at 6:00 pm. The agenda includes the Sustainable Buildings Policy and the Home Energy Efficiency Grant Final Report.

Last Week In St. Albert:

• Council has voted to use part of the City's projected $10.8 million surplus from 2024 to provide relief on utility bills. The surplus was higher than expected due to strong construction performance, savings from vacancies, and better-than-anticipated investment returns. Instead of following the usual policy to allocate the surplus to various reserves, Council approved a plan to allocate part of it for utility relief. Some Council members supported this decision, arguing it would help residents struggling financially, while Mayor Cathy Heron opposed it, stating utility funds should stay within the utility budget.
  
  
• The Internal Audit Committee presented its first-ever year-end report to Council, covering the period from 2015 to 2024 to catch up to the current year. Initially met with resistance, the Committee was established in 2017 to assess and improve City operations through audits. Recent audits have focused on procurement and cybersecurity, with upcoming audits planned for human resources planning in 2025, ageing infrastructure in 2026, and digital transformation in 2027. Councillor Sheena Hughes explained that audits are selected based on risk, with a focus on preventing catastrophic failures rather than addressing poor performance. A plan based on the 2024 cybersecurity audit will be presented later this quarter.
  
  
• The Province has awarded the Sturgeon River Watershed Alliance a $200,000 grant to update research on the Sturgeon River’s water quality and infrastructure. The three-year project will focus on studying water crossings like bridges and culverts that can hinder fish movement and cause environmental damage. This funding will help update a 2018 study on these issues and identify pollution hotspots along the river. The project will also provide opportunities for public education and planning for infrastructure upgrades.

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