Letter To Walt

We've got Mail

Good day, Walt, thought I better give you a quick reply because my time is disappearing quickly. 

So you asked about MCC and its current form. I’m against it quite frankly I don’t see spending that kind of money. We would certainly have to ensure that we have the proper expertise within City Hall to continue, but I am very skeptical that we would make enough money to offset the cost of an arms length MCC. 

Attracting new businesses with offsite levies, special rates on taxes or utilities. Really you have to weigh the long-term benefits with the business that you’re talking about. If it doesn’t net out in favour of the residence of Medicine Hat and tends to favour the business more, than I would be against it, but if there are long-term benefits, it should certainly be looked at. 

As far as Kingsway Avenue I can’t really see them shortening the width of the lanes that’s a fairly busy thoroughfare plus we have rather large sidewalks. Let’s not confuse bicycle lanes with paths. The sidewalks on both sides of that street; which has very little pedestrian traffic, are wide enough. Certainly adequate for a multi-path system. This would allow seniors with mobility issues or walkers or bicycles to travel safely down Kingsway, which they have a very difficult time doing now. I’m sure you’ve been out on the trails and the barriers to entry have decreased significantly. There is a very large senior population now that is able to get out and enjoy the trails as much as any jogger.

I was not aware that taxation on condos was a separate concern. Taxes are based on assessed property value, not which services you use. Without knowing more I wonder if your concerns have something to do with condo fees. You mentioned snow removal and fire hydrant fees. If you are able to share this from your taxes without giving away any personal information it would help me. To my knowledge Medicine Hat does not charge a separate tax or fee for fire hydrants and snow removal would be for city streets. Inside condo grounds is a separate liability.

About the Solar Farm. I’m hoping it’s a good investment. At this point I’m waiting to see what the commissioned study tells us. It was a very expensive study and to make any decision before reading it would be somewhat premature.

The mayor is the face of the city, they need to be able to go out and represent us everywhere to be able to attract new business and people to come here and also be the face of the city within the city and represent us as well as chairing meetings effectively. 

Councillors are the pipeline to the people. We need to make sure that we are out in the community and are listening closely to everything you have to say. Handling budgets judiciously and forming policies that work for us.

Your last question about council meetings I’ve seen, probably only a half dozen. I have not been a regular attendee to council. As of 14 days ago, I didn’t even plan to run for city council. It was basically looking around at the field of candidates and thinking I had more to offer than a lot that I saw plus, I didn’t recognize many of the names so that motivated me to jump up, but I’ve certainly been aware of the disconnect that we’ve had on council if that’s what you’re getting at.

Thank you for reaching out Walt. Take care.

Jay Hitchen