Mock meeting for newbies, starting from scratch, and secondary suites
With a new council sworn in on Monday, what better time than now to relaunch a weekly look at minor city hall happenings?
We’re bringing back a long-ago regular feature of this newspaper — known in the mid-1990s as City Hall Notes and now dubbed Council Notebook.
Previous editions included chatter about the mayor sprain- ing his back while lifting a lawn mower (May 28, 1996), a 24-hour pothole patrol hotline (March 19, 1996), and an alderman’s concerns that seniors couldn’t watch council meetings on their televisions without a converter (Jan. 10, 1995).
Once a week, we’ll fill you in on a few tidbits from city hall.
MOCK MEETING
Reporters were barred from their city hall offices above council chambers on Friday so council newbies could partake in a mock council meeting in a safe space.
“This will give new councillors the opportunity to take this time to learn and explore their new roles in a safe and comfortable environment,” corporate media relations said in an email alerting reporters they would have no access to their offices.
The private mock meeting is just one part of a new, intense, weeks-long orientation for the four new council faces that has so far included media training, a “departmental trade show,” and a session on law and security.
STARTING FROM SCRATCH
Jeromy Farkas, the new councillor for Ward 11, took to his popular Facebook page earlier this week to explain that his transition into the office formerly held by Brian Pin- cott was slow going.
“Absolutely all Ward 11 emails and records (including past schematics, plans, applications and approvals) were destroyed or presumably taken,” Farkas wrote, adding, “the physical office was in a bit of a state of physical disarray when I arrived.”
Farkas told Postmedia he’s “starting from scratch.”
“There’s a lot of files people are expecting us to be able to jump on right away, but if we have no background, it’s a little bit more difficult,” he said.
Pincott, who announced he wasn’t seeking another term eight months before election day, said on Twitter it’s routine for the city’s IT department to “expunge” emails and noted all reports are available on the city’s website.
Mayor Naheed Nenshi said when he took over after former mayor Dave Bronconnier stepped down in 2010, all emails were gone, because they didn’t belong to Nenshi.
“That’s just natural, that happens,” he said Thursday.
“If any of my colleagues need a briefing on any topic, certainly I’m happy to help and we’ve got many, many colleagues who can give them the briefing that they need.”
Certainly I’m happy to help and we’ve got many, many colleagues who can give them the briefing that they need.
IS A SECONDARY SUITE FIX COMING?
Four new faces around the council table has many wondering if secondary suite reform will finally be successful in Calgary after multiple failed attempts by previous councils.
The city remains one of the only Canadian municipalities where most property owners who want to legally put a stove in their basement must plead for a zoning change directly to elected officials.
After seven years at the city’s helm, Nenshi has so far failed to achieve his 2010 campaign promise of fixing the secondary-suite system.
He believes a fix is still desired, though he may not be the one to bring reform forward.
“I’m waiting, a little bit, for some of my colleagues to come forth with some ideas that we can put together into something that everyone can agree on,” Nenshi told reporters Thursday.