Sherwood Park Minute: Issue 134

Sherwood Park Minute - Your weekly one-minute summary of Sherwood Park politics

📅 This Week In Sherwood Park: 📅

• Strathcona County Council will meet tomorrow at 9:30 am, and one of the items on the agenda is a $2,010,000 amendment to the 2026 operating budget. The money is for the Clean Energy Improvement Program, which Administration says has already reached full capacity, a year earlier than expected, closing intake to new applicants. Costs that had been budgeted for 2027 would move into 2026, with $2 million more for contracted services and $10,000 more for interest on debentures, covered by a transfer from the program's financing reserve. The reserve fronts the cost of participants' projects and is replenished as they repay those costs with interest, so Administration describes the amendment as net nil to the operating budget. The same report updates Council on the County's application to the Hazard Assistance and Resilience Program, whose project list was submitted to the Province on September 23rd. Since then, operational projects using County resources have added $1,996,367 to the list, a cost Administration plans to fund from a projected 2026 operating surplus. The application also includes the $16,273,000 rainfall infrastructure replacement project Council approved on July 21st, which Administration says may need a further budget amendment in the first quarter of 2027 as cost estimates come in.
  
  
• Council will consider a bylaw tomorrow that would create an independent task force to review what the Mayor and Councillors are paid. The bylaw comes recommended by the Governance Advisory Committee. The task force would have three to five public members, with no Councillors allowed to sit on it, and would recommend appropriate salary, benefits, pensions, allowances, and other compensation by June 30th, 2027. It would weigh attracting a diverse range of candidates, the time the roles demand, the economic outlook, and pay at comparable Canadian municipalities and for County employees. Under the current policy, the Mayor earns $186,433.86 a year and each Councillor $100,179.32, with a raise every July tied to Alberta inflation and average weekly earnings, plus a monthly car allowance of $750 in urban wards and $1,250 in rural wards and for the Mayor. Task force members would each receive a one-time $1,500 honorarium, with $500 more for the chair, which the report says can be covered from the existing budget. Recruitment would run from November to January.
  
  
• Ward 3 Councillor Lorne Harvey is asking Council to direct Administration to report on options for dealing with problem properties, including tougher enforcement. Harvey's motion calls for a report by the end of the first quarter of 2027 on how many tickets County bylaw enforcement officers have issued under one section of the Community Standards Bylaw over the past 24 months, how common problem properties are, and what is being done about them now. The report would also set out options for additional enforcement, including but not limited to tax subclasses, fines, and collecting enforcement and remediation costs.
  
  
• Council will consider a new Vehicle for Hire Bylaw tomorrow that would bring app-based ride services like Uber and Lyft under the County's rules. The bylaw would replace one passed in 2017, which Administration says was designed before app-based services became common. Under the new rules, only taxis could pick up passengers who hail them on the street, app-based ride vehicles could not take dispatch calls by phone, and any ride arranged through an app would have to be paid for through that app. App-based drivers would still not need a County permit, since provincial regulation already governs their safety, but their vehicles would have to display company decals on the front and rear windshields. Operators would face compliance reviews and audits "at any time, with or without cause", and peace officers could enter places where records are kept. Fines would range from $200 for a municipal tag to $3,000 for a third offence within two years of driving without a valid permit. Administration says Community Peace Officers would focus on education before fines while operators adjust.
  
  
• Residents may wait longer for snow removal on their streets under a revised Winter Maintenance Policy going to Council tomorrow. Administration is recommending that snow removal on Priority 4 residential streets, including piles in cul-de-sacs, be completed within 12 days of windrowing starting, up from the current 10. Administration argues the 10-day standard has been hard to meet because freeze-thaw cycles and freezing rain in recent winters left heavy ice buildup in gutters across Sherwood Park, while the Priority 4 network has grown by an average of five kilometers a year over the past five years to about 206 kilometers. Under the policy, residential windrowing generally begins once there is 7 cm of compacted snow or the snowpack is softening and vehicles are struggling to get around, and the revised version says streets will be attended to before then to control problems such as deep rutting. The revision would also bring Sherwood Hills Estates, whose curb and gutter roads limit snow storage, into the residential snow clearing program.

🚨 This Week’s Action Item: 🚨

Alberta’s referendum is taking place today, with voters weighing in on nine questions about immigration and the Constitution, as well as a tenth on whether the province should explore separation from Canada.

You must cast your ballot at your assigned voting place in your electoral district, so click below to find your voting location and check what identification you need to bring:

🪙 This Week’s Sponsor: 🪙

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