Council Meeting Highlights - September 22, 2025

Introduction – Interim Director at Camrose Public Library

Councillor Joy-Anne Murphy introduced Channing MacDonald as the Interim Director for the Camrose Public Library. Ms. MacDonald will be with the library until February 2026.

Poverty Simulation

Kendra Hansen, Health Promotion Facilitator from the Primary Care Network, and Leslie Lindballe, Outreach Coordinator with the Camrose Women’s Shelter Society, were in attendance on behalf of Camrose Helps to introduce Council to the Poverty Simulation exercise being held at the Messiah Lutheran Church on October 8, 2025 from 9:00 to 12:00 followed by lunch and conversation.

The Simulation will be facilitated by the United Way. The Poverty Simulation challenges the perceptions of poverty and helps build understanding and empathy to the realities of those living within the poverty spectrum. Participants will experience the challenges those living in poverty face on a daily basis and is designed to help participants begin to understand what it might be like to live in a typical low-income family trying to survive from month to month.

Community Transit Advisory Committee (CTAC) Annual Report 2025

The CTAC Committee provided their annual report to Council. Unfortunately, the Committee lost a long term member this year and is now short 4 public appointments on this Committee. The City will be advertising for Members-At-Large Committee members this fall for January 2026 appointments.

CTAC continues to advocate for the improvement of all transit options for residents in Camrose. They note that the taxi token program will be fully utilized with increasing requests from organizations for tokens. Additionally, while pleased with the increased use of the Community Bus, the Committee is still hearing requests for a higher level of service, for both longer hours and for service on the North side of the tracks. CTAC is also expecting to continue to advocate for a more robust transit system, regular transit to and from Edmonton, and for improved active transportation options within the City including increased bike rack availability and designated bike routes.

Municipal Recreation Facility User Advertising Policy

For many years, the City of Camrose has allowed various users of recreation facilities to sell or use space for the purpose of advertising or promoting their organization or event, within or at indoor and outdoor spaces. This approach provides a revenue source to the user groups. Most commonly, this entails the sale of space in the arena ice surfaces, on the rink boards and around various surfaces within the arena seating area. Additionally, various user groups and event organizers have been able to use space in the Recreation facilities to promote their events.

Administration brought a draft Policy forward for Council’s consideration and direction in order to develop policy around this long-standing practice. Council asked questions regarding the restriction on Religious or Political advertising and whether, if the event being held in the facility was a religious or political event, they would be permitted to advertise.

Administration will take that question away and follow up with a full draft policy to Regular Council in the near future.

Provincial Flood Damage Assessment Study

Between 2019 and 2024, the Province of Alberta completed an updated Camrose Flood Hazard Study, which models potential flood risks in the city for 13 different flood scenarios ranging from frequent to rare events. City Administration shared an overview of this study with Council in April 2025. In addition, the Province conducted a related assessment between 2021 and 2023 to estimate the possible financial impacts of these flood events on the City and private property owners, with the final report received by the City in June 2025. A public copy of this report is available on the Province’s Open Government website. 

Provincial flood damage assessment study : City of Camrose : damage estimates - Open Government

Local Improvement Policy Update

Jeremy Enarson, Manager of Engineering, introduced proposed updates to the Local Improvement Policy. The update aims to incorporate direction on recent local improvements and includes the removal of dust proofing and storm sewers from the policy. The changes reflect a recent update to the Dust Proofing Policy, where the City no longer provides dust proofing but allows adjacent landowners to fund and complete the work next to their properties. The proposed update also clarifies how City-owned properties within local improvement areas will be handled, and identifies certain paved lanes that should be excluded from local improvements and funded entirely by the City. No changes were proposed to the current cost-sharing percentages. Council directed staff to bring the revised policy back to the October 6 meeting, along with information on how other municipalities handle local improvements

Performance Deposit Process Evaluation

Aaron Leckie, Manager of Planning and Development, presented on the Construction Performance Deposits Policy, which was originally approved in 2008. He noted challenges with the current process, including the large number of deposits being held by the City, difficulty tracking responsibility for infrastructure damage, and limited requests from property owners for deposit returns once work is completed. He also shared that other municipalities are facing similar challenges and use varied approaches. Council provided direction to create a single, unified policy for all development and subdivision securities and deposits, to forfeit deposits older than seven years on an ongoing basis, and to direct forfeited funds to the General Infrastructure Reserve. The updated policy will be brought back to a future Regular Council Meeting.

Council Committee Updates

Councillor Hoveland attended the Intercity Forum on Social Policy and heard continued advocacy across the Province to the Ministry of Assisted Living and Social Services for the base funding for FCSS. She also attended the Miquelon Lake Research Station 10th Anniversary where 5 students from Augustana presented their research results. Finally, she attended the University of Alberta-Augustana Campus Alumni Awards and Bob Bailey was the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award.

Councillors Murphy and Hoveland attended the Mayor’s Arts Awards.

Councillor Murphy attended the Parkland Regional Library Board meeting, where they approved a budget and the last meeting of the Alberta Municipalities Sustainability and Environment Committee.

Public Commentary

A Camrose business owner attended Council to raise concerns about conditions contained in the Downtown Area Redevelopment Plan. 

Procurement Policy

Council approved a new Procurement Policy that confirms the City’s commitment to acquiring goods and services through a fair, open, and transparent process. The policy also emphasizes environmental sustainability by seeking environmentally preferred options where it is economically feasible. In addition, the City will consider overall best value when evaluating procurements.

Concert and Special Event Amendment Bylaw

Administration presented observations and proposed amendments based on the pilot year of experience at the Committee of the Whole September 8 meeting. Council provided feedback on several key issues, including liquor licensing, food handling, inflatables, business licensing, exclusive park use, and the approval process for major events. In response, Administration prepared Bylaw 3382-25 Concert and Special Event Amendment Bylaw, which incorporates the recommended changes. The amendments are designed to streamline permitting, clarify expectations for applicants, and ensure the Bylaw remains responsive to community needs while protecting public safety and access to municipal spaces. 

Council approved Bylaw 3382-25 Concert and Special Event Amendment Bylaw.

Tenant Utility Accounts

Administration reviewed practices from more than 20 municipalities and is recommending that between October 2025 and April 2026, bylaws will be updated so that all utility accounts must be in the property owner’s name by December 31, 2029. Tenant accounts in good standing can remain until that deadline, but new accounts or those more than 14 days overdue will be transferred to the owner earlier. Administration is requesting this change to reduce financial risk, cut administrative work, and lessen safety risks for staff. Council asked questions of Administration clarifying how many accounts were in arrears compared to the number of accounts in total, and whether or not this would apply to both residential and commercial tenants. Councillor Rosalind requested that the vote be recorded and the motion to accept these recommendations was passed 5-4.

Facility Waste and Cardboard Collection Contract Term

Council approved a 2-year contract for large bin waste and cardboard recycling services for various municipal facilities. This service agreement covers the term of November 1, 2025 to October 31, 2027 and has an annual contract value of $41,500.

Proclamation Request – National Depression Screening

Council authorized the Mayor to proclaim October 9, 2025, as “National Depression Screening Day” in the City of Camrose. This initiative helps raise awareness about depression and the importance of checking in on our mental health. Each year for one week in October, Albertans are encouraged to visit areyoufeelingok.com to take a free, anonymous online screening for symptoms of depression. The screening doesn’t provide a diagnosis, but it helps identify signs of depression and encourages people to seek support if needed.

Member-At-Large Resignation

Council accepted Douglas Santos’s resignation as a Member-at-Large serving on the Camrose Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee, with regret.

Letter of Support – Targeted Enrolment Expansion

Council authorized the Mayor to send a letter of support to the Honourable Myles McDougall, Minister of Advanced Education, endorsing the University of Alberta’s proposal for the expansion of Bachelor of Education and Bachelor of Health Sciences, specifically a rural delivery stream of the latter program for the University of Alberta's Augustana Campus, and providing additional advocacy for its acceptance by the Minister.