Lethbridge city council marks one year in office

Mayor Blaine Hyggen and his council are celebrating one year of achievements in the city of Lethbridge.

It was one year ago that members of Lethbridge’s city council took their oath of office.

“It’s been phenomenal, it's been great, I’ve learned a lot and I’ve connected with a number of different residents,” said Coun. Jenn Schmidt-Rempel.

With a number of items on the agendas so far this year, including the homeless encampments, doctor shortages and the upcoming budget deliberations, Schmidt-Rempel says she's pleased with the progress made.

“So, really taking our issues and our specific asks to the province as well as to the feds and seeing movement on those is great,” she said.

One of those big tasks is budget deliberations, which are set to begin on Nov. 14.

“We've got a big challenge ahead in terms of the budget,” said Coun. John Middleton-Hope. “Nobody's going like the outcome of it, but at the end of the day what we need is, we need more funding from a variety of different levels to be able to provide enhanced services to our citizens in this city.”

Middleton-Hope added he hopes to continue working on the homeless crisis in the city before winter sets in.

“One of the challenges that I would like to see more work on is the encampments. It’s not where we would hope it to be at this point in time,” he added.

Council’s work during the past year has been based around the Gateway to Opportunity 2022 Action Plan.

Moving from a councillor’s chair to the mayor’s chair, Mayor Blaine Hyggen says the workload has been a bit of an adjustment to get used to.

“I look at about 984 different meetings that I’ve been able to have over the last year. I have 452 scheduled calendar appointments and that excludes council meetings,” Hyggen said.

Hyggen says council has achieved a lot so far, with 17 new doctors signing in Lethbridge being one of them.

“The city being able to showcase our community and work with the current doctors, so it's not just that recruitment, but also that retention as well,” Hyggen said.

“As we head into our second year together, we are committed and ready to tackle these issues, continue advocacy efforts to the provincial government and continue working towards making Lethbridge the best city it can be,” he added.

Now on his 25th year in office, Coun. Ryan Parker says the current council has transitioned into their roles well.

“If we make a 100 decisions over a term, there's three decisions that could really divide a council, but the other 97 per cent are usually unanimous, but it's important that those three per cent of things we listen to each other, respect one another, but come to a consensus and have an opportunity to respect each other's views,” Parker said.

So far, council is highlighting the launching of the Oki signs and land acknowledge, the 2022 Tim Horton’s Brier, reopening of the Lethbridge Airport, continuation of CityLINK, opening of Festival Square and working with the Lethbridge Police Service on public safety concerns.

“It's been an exciting year, but I’m excited about the years to come,” Parker said.