This Week at Regina City Hall
September 24 - September 30, 2023 - a look at a significant week ahead
Greetings, Happy Sunday.
Recent Prairie Townscapes Articles
In case you missed them, here’s what we’ve been up to recently —
Regina Housing Highlights - September 22 - Presenting several more charming, walkable, bikeable homes for sale in Regina for less than $250,000.
Calgary Accelerates its Housing - Part 1 of a multi-part series of articles examining how cities are changing rules to boost housing.
Now off to the races…. This Week at Regina City Hall
Tuesday, September 26, 9:00 am - Board of Police Commissioners
PO23-30 2022 Pursuit Review Board Reporting
The Police Board comes armed…. with a smattering of statistics.
The first report involves chases. The Regina Police Service (RPS) is required by the Saskatchewan Police Commission to provide figures for vehicle pursuits quarterly and annually.
In 2022, pursuits dropped 51% versus 2021, with 17 pursuits in 2022, down from 35 pursuits in 2021. The police keep figures on not only the number, but also the severity of the chases. Among these 17, there were 13 classified “Level 2 - deviation from Policy with just cause”, and the remaining 4 were “Level 3 - deviation from Policy with no cause.”
It gets more interesting. The police have a “Tire Deflation Device” that was used a total of 55 times in 2022. A whole 27 of these deployments were pursuit-related.
PO23-31 Report: Monthly Crime Statistics – August 2023
More figures from the RPS, and these ones are arguably more interesting. First, let’s get the top-line crime figures out of the way —
The crime statistics for the month of August 2023 reflect an increase in Crimes Against the Person of 24.6% compared to August 2022, while Crimes Against Property show a 10.5% increase compared to August 2022. Crimes Against the Person and Crimes Against Property show a combined year-to-date increase of 13.3%
There is also a monthly statistical extract, a breakdown of the number and types of reported robberies, traffic tickets, and figures from the RID (Report Impaired Drivers) program. These are followed by reports of the calls for service and 911 calls, and then a true feast for data miners — the Community Crime Report, which consists of a giant table of each type of crime, broken down by each neighbourhood in Regina.
Following those detailed figures are the Aerial Support Unit stats (which apparently do not account for noise complaints related to the police plane), drug overdose figures, and screengrabs of the Monthly Dashboard.
Resolution for Private Session
As you might expect, no additional information is provided about this agenda item.
Wednesday, September 27, 1:00pm - City Council
Delegations wishing to address City Council on agenda items must register and provide a written submission to clerks@regina.ca by 12:00 p.m. on Monday, September 25, 2023.
Presentation of Henry Baker Scholarships
Here is some information about the Henry Baker Scholarship program —
The City of Regina awards 17 scholarships annually to students attending post-secondary educational institutions in Regina through the Henry Baker Scholarship Program.
CR23-100 - Sale of a Portion of 2001 Dewdney Avenue
With the pending Dewdney Avenue revitalization project and the Yards Neighbourhood Plan, needed safety upgrades were identified at Dewdney and Broad, including a new concrete median. However, the median will block delivery access to the businesses on the south side of Dewdney.
The City plans to sell two bits of land (red and orange, below) and buy up another bit of land (green) to help provide lane access to the city’s lift station. It is claimed that selling the red and orange parcels will help the furniture store and Rebellion Brewery maintain access for deliveries, parking, waste and presumably, shipments of lots of fine local beer.
The city is poised to net a cool $107,000, which will be stashed in the Land Development reserve.
I don’t know about you, but hearing about this makes me thirsty. Check out Rebellion Brewing here. Patio weather won’t last forever.
CR23-101 Appointment of City Solicitor
That City Council appoint Ms. Shannon Williams, K.C., as the City Solicitor effective November 6, 2023
A simple google search turned up a University of Regina profile for Shannon Williams, as well as this much older profile, both of whom appears to be the same person.
Some back story —
Byron Werry retired from the position of City Solicitor in June 2023. The recruitment process to find a replacement for the position began shortly thereafter. Members of the Hiring Committee include the City Manager and HR Sub-Committee of Council. The HR Sub-Committee consists of Mayor Masters, Councillor Findura, Councillor Hawkins, and Councillor Nelson.
Twenty applications were received. The interview panel consisted of Councillor Hawkins, Councillor Nelson and City Manager, Niki Anderson.
It is notable that despite repeated controversies, Councillor Nelson (formerly known as Councillor Shaw) is so intimately involved in the selection of Regina’s top legal official.
CR23-102 - 2024 Municipal Election - Voters List
This was reviewed in last week’s article. Executive Committee passed the report on to the full City Council.
Friday, September 29, 10:00am - Board of Revision
There is one hearing scheduled.
I’m not sure if I will publish information on individual appeals of assessments or zoning decisions unless they are especially noteworthy. If you feel strongly one way or the other about this, please let me know.
Last Week at City Hall
Accessibility Advisory Committee - Tuesday, September 19
ACC23-9 Accessible Signage Policy
Communication was received and filed.
ACC23-11 Accessibility Plan Engagement Session
Communication was received and filed.
Resolution for Private Session
The remainder of the agenda was considered in private. It is not noted whether or not any decisions were made in the private session.
Executive Committee - Wednesday, September 20
EX23-68 2024 Municipal Election - Voters List
Recommendations of the report to establish a municipal voters list were concurred in.
EX23-69 2024 Budget Update
Received and filed.
Alright, that’s it for this week!
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