Tag: Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council

Categories
Economic Ft Mac Politics

Hiring Freeze Voted Down by Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Council

Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council, hiring freeze

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council recently voted down a hiring freeze, with the votes tallying 6-4. Councillor Lance Bussieres forwarded a motion to put a hiring freeze in place due to the economic downturn that the area has suffered recently. The goal of the motion was to prevent any hiring for full time positions which were vacant with the exception of positions that the municipality had a legal obligation to fill. Bussieres said “It’s just being financially prudent as an organization. I’ve talked to a number of employees at the municipality, and what they tell me is there’s not a lot of work for them to do. For whatever reason the workload isn’t there. Contrary to what people think, our population is not 120,000, it’s probably closer to [80,000].”

Various Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council members gave different reasons for voting against the hiring freeze. Coun. Colleen Tatum felt that a freeze in hiring would demoralize staff, and Coun. Allan Vinni thought that the move would be both ineffective and it would be the same as a vote of no confidence in Marcel Ulliac, the current Chief Administrative Officer. Fort MacMurray Mayor Melissa Blake said that approving the motion for a hiring freeze would be intervening in the responsibilities of the CAO. Blake stated that this would be a slight against the CAO, and said “I’m not going to do that to my CAO, and your CAO.” The councillors who voted for the motion were Ault, Bussieres, McGrath, and Germain, while those against it were Tatum, Vinni, Meagher, Cardinal, Stroud, and Mayor Blake.

Categories
Ft Mac Politics

Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Council Welcomes Back Colleen Tatum

Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council, Colleen Tatum

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council welcomed back Colleen Tatum, a year and a half after she attended her last meeting as council member before recently winning the position back in the last election. Tatum said “It absolutely felt surreal a little bit. Not shyness, but surrealness. It took a motion or two and then I was right back there.” Tatum was officially sworn in as Ward 1 councilor before the council meeting, regaining what she lost when she lost her seat in 2013. Tatum discussed the first meeting as a council member again and said “I feel like we had a good meeting and everyone participated and we all expressed our views quite well. I enjoyed being back in the process.”

Collen Tatum was sworn in as a member of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council by Mayor Melissa Blake. According to Blake Colleen Tatum has not yet been part of the grand ceremony that occurs when a seat is won in the general election. Both of Tatum’s wins occurred in a byelection. According to Blake “Both times I’ve had the privilege of introducing her to a meeting with agenda content, where the rest of us … get pomp and circumstance. It’s a huge advantage to have someone who has been through the ropes and can immediately participate.” The first meeting Tatum attended as a council member again included the last part of the capital review process. Tatum said that the review process was justified and commented “I feel like I always have concerns when we delay projects that we’ve identified as priorities, but the reality is that we’re in a new economic climate and there’s savings to be had, so we should explore all options to achieve those.”

Categories
Entertainment Ft Mac

Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Council Cancels Birthday Party to Save Money

birthday party, Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council

The year long birthday party for the municipality has been canceled by the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council in order to cut expenses. The celebration was intended to honor the 20th anniversary of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, and it was expected to cost around a quarter of a million dollars. With the council canceling projects and recently making $80 million in cuts spending this kind f money on a birthday celebration that lasts the entire year is not a big priority right now. According to Fort MacMurray Mayor Melissa Blake “A 20-year party is not as big as a 25-year party in anyone’s circles, and so they’re taking very much to heart what … the budget numbers would be. We’re a lot more optimistic that the 25-year, or silver anniversary, is going to be one that demonstrates what a benefit amalgamation has been,”

The celebration is now expected to take place to commemorate the 25th anniversary instead, with the hope that the budget numbers will be better in 5 years. Coun. Jane Stroud also commented on the decision by the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council to cancel the birthday party this year, saying“Residents in the rural area are still struggling with the fact that some of these amalgamation principles still need to be met,” she said in an email. “I believe by that time both Council and Administration of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo will have met some of the principles of amalgamation.” The motion to defer the celebration was unanimous.

Categories
Economic Ft Mac Politics

Future Budget Considerations Has Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo Council Cracking the Books

Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council, budget considerations

The Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council will be using a microscope to go over the budget in order to try and identify further areas where savings can be achieved in the near future. The council vote was 5-4 when the motion to examine all of the capital projects in the budget which were more than $10 million, and the vote was unanimous when it came to directing the administration to find further savings in the short term operations budget. According to Coun. Tyran Ault the council needs to prepare for potential revenue if there are deferments or cancellations with currently scheduled oilsands projects. Ault stated “I strongly believe we need to take a deeper look … to make sure we’re building the right things at the right time. This region is a much different place than it was when we approved the budget in December and it’s unlikely to change or go back to the way it was.”

Fort MacMurray Mayor Melissa Blake discussed the short term budget considerations before and after the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo council voted. “We can always review and revisit any of the operating expenses or expenditures that we have, but we already have the funds … to cover off the capital that council had committed to. The extra money that would come from saving it, I don’t know where they want to have that directed. It was just more of not understanding … the expected outcomes from the process.” Ault responded with “I don’t have the magic answer in what we do with the money. But I firmly believe that there is some money there that we can save, whether that then gets spread out or deal with debt … or keep it in the bank to be prepared for when we’re not going to have money that we’re projecting due to some of these deferred oil projects.”