Homeless shelter lease agreement to remain confidential until Jan. 24 council meeting
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on December 24, 2022.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
Details of a homeless shelter lease agreement will remain confidential until the Jan. 24 meeting of city council.
Council on Friday conducted a special meeting at 1 p.m. in chambers at City Hall with two items on the agenda.
Those items also included a borrowing bylaw for funding regulated rate deferral amounts with council giving three readings to bylaw 6392.
After that item was passed unanimously, council briefly went into closed session and after emerging voted unanimously that council direct the mayor and city clerk to sign and seal the confidential lease and that it remain confidential until Jan. 24 and added to that meeting’s consent agenda.
Confidentiality of the lease agreement is pursuant to several sections of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP) including sections 16, 21, 23, 24 and 25.
Notice for the meeting was made more than 24 hours in advance, putting it in compliance with Section 194 of the Municipal Government Act.
Only five members of council were actually present in council chambers. They included mayor Blaine Hyggen, acting mayor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel and councillors John Middleton-Hope, Nick Paladino and Rajko Dodic.
Bylaw 6392, which council dealt with first, is a borrowing bylaw that allows the City to request from the province funds to cover the costs of electricity charges from Jan. 1 of 2023 to March 31 of 2023.
A report presented to council by Electric Utility general manager Jason Drenth stated that the City is the owner of an electrical distribution system and the regulated rate option provider, “providing electrical service to customers who have not signed up with another retailer.”
Due to provincial legislation that was passed on Dec. 15, the rate charged to RRO customers is capped from this coming Jan. 1 until March 31.
The borrowing bylaw lets the City receive provincial funds to cover the cost of buying electricity from suppliers with the funds to be repaid by the end of 2024.
Under provincial legislation, the RRO cap is 13.5 cents per kWH. Distribution system owners are required to buy electricity at a rate that is potentially higher than the rate being charged to customers.
The difference, called the deferral amount, will be collected in a recovery period from April 1, 2023 to Dec. 31, 2024.
The provincial funds are being provided with no interest charge.
The report to council says the difference between the capped RRO price and market price is about $5.3 million for the deferral period but that amount could increase if market prices increase.
The Lethbridge Electric Utility is required to provide electrical services to all customers within the city’s corporate limits who haven’t signed up with another retailer.
If the bylaw hadn’t been approved, the city electric utility could possibly have faced a deficit that would have to be absurd by the electric resume which could potentially affect future funding of capital projects and the return on investment to the City, said the report.
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20-19
Because this lease is classed as a shelter it can be wet or dry, under the guise of a “homeless” shelter. The lease will already be signed before the 24th of January. There will be no public input, debate etc. So I guess we find out on the 24th who is living beside another shelter. My guess is old Eldorado building on the 19 acres of Burnside further ensuring this all ends up downtown. Which the non profits and City CSD department through the SSIG meetings wanted from the start. Lethbridge will soon find out what complacency does to a downtown. The good thing, I am done! I tried to stop it but got no support. So it begins! https://lethccc.com is done!
I feel the same way. Not many of us are trying to prevent another Vancouver DTES and take back our city.
Once they see the future property tax increases, the loss of perks and services they once enjoyed, the destruction of our city as it spreads to all areas, then they will wake up! But it will be too late. The gangs, the organized criminals and all the non-profits will be well embedded into the community and it would take years and major police costs to remove them all.
We did have a chance, but as you stated, paraphrased, the citizens don’t care, can’t be bothered, aren’t paying attention, have been brainwashed by non-profits and bad leadership that there is nothing we can do or just believe there is nothing we can.
They said the same thing about the Safe Drug Consumption Site! Nothing we can do! Well we did it, even though many of the hundreds that came out at the start dwindled down to a few dozen, we got the UCP to shut it down finally. Can you imagine how bad the city would have been with that still operating? Taxpayers are still paying tens of millions per year in just Lethbridge to support all the non-profits, contractors, drug supplies/Narcan/Naloxone, housing, shelters, damages, fire/EMS and police services and many other programs, which do not include the treatment costs to society. Lethbridge alone is over $10 million per year of money from property taxes into various programs, supports, police and fire and EMS.
I often think, why bother! Let the city burn! But still continue to fight! This spring you will see major protests to take back our city and if leadership won’t listen to the people, demands will be made for their resignations.
No, this will not be a Freedom Convoy insurrection, but law-abiding protests!
As you stated, there was no opportunity for input from the residents or business community and it is sad that this Council would wait until last minute to ‘ram’ this thru when people have their minds on Christmas! OR was it the plan?
Don’t walk away yet, give it 6 months and join us on the streets, in council chambers, in police commission meetings, in the Alberta legislature to make our concerns known.
Change is needed in the Criminal Code as well! It is Christmas, so not many are listening or paying attention to council!
Turbine Wine, is this lease not referring to Alpha House not getting their lease renewed and the Blackfoot Confederacy taking over the shelter?
I initially thought that was a possibility then thought why is this a secret? Everyone knows about the AlphaHouse turnover. If you then realize that Streets Alive applied for and got warming shelter ability and people are doing park n ride, and, people are sleeping in the hallways of Halmrest Senior’s residence. Couple that with the outrage by Lawyer groups on the rezoning of the apartments across the street from Humpties that “were” to be rezoned a shelter but are not now….and you get a demand that far exceeds Alphahouse for the rest of the winter. So something has to be added, my assumption is if people are considering on suing the city (as stated by one Lawyer group) that the city has to scramble to remove the increasing spread of this kind of support in the downtown. So, the only other alternative that brings everything back to the center of downtown is to do something with an empty building next door.
I heard another group are meeting with lawyers to recover damages and other losses, but until is see it, I won’t believe it. I know people are mad and tired of this and feel they are not heard and no viable actions have been taken.
Sad to see this City Council slide this in with no public consultation! I will not be happy if Alpha has their lease renewed! But I also question the ability of the Blackfoot Confederacy to operate it better than Alpha House. How many project on the reserve had failed due to poor management?
I wish they could make it succeed but I am not sure they can.
Time to move out of this city! The City Council isn’t listening, police allow open drug use, public defecation/urination around businesses downtown, encampments are allowed for months. This was a great city, but it appears the Blackfoot Confederacy’s pleas for restraints on their people on our streets have taken precident over the citizens, the business owners and the taxpayers rights.
We don’t seem to have any rights, but have to pay all the bills!
Time to move and let the others support this ‘lord of the flies’ city! My tax dollars are tired of paying, and City Council not listening.
See ya.
You’re an arrogant twit with no valuable input. Can’t wait for the day when someone is getting blown on your doorstep, crapping on your stairs and littering
your property with garbage and needles.
You will whine like a child and beg for the government to fix it. You deserve it.
RUSerious is moving out. Share a ride with them and take Smith and Neudorf with you. If you hurry up and leave you can take your time coming back. Merry Xmas.
What all the taxpayers are gone who will pay your AISH? No tax dollars, no welfare, no food banks, no soup kitchen.
One of these days you will find out that money doesn’t fall from the sky, that the government just needs to print more money.
If you hurry up and leave you can take your time coming back. Take Neudorf and Smith with you if you can stand the smell.
To deliver on their promise to shove more crap down the throats of more Albertans, the UCP decided to contract out the downtown to the homeless regardless of race, color and creed. Don’t worry they’re non-union. The plan promotes diversity in a culture of inclusivity that engages users and enhances their experience in a new and exciting way and allows the UCP to focus on crapping out farmers and ranchers.