Canmore council approved appointments to a task force looking at its Sustainability Screening Report and then postponed the group’s work.
The establishment of the task force was successfully proposed by Councillor Hans Helder to review all aspects of the process.
The move came one week after the Minister of Municipal Affairs amended the subdivision regulations of the Municipal Government Act.
Council appointed Kristy Davison, Pat Kamenka, Frank Kernick, Thomas Achenback, Mayor Ron Casey and Helder to the task force.
But it was a terms of reference document for the work the group was to undertake that caught council off guard.
Councillor John Borrowman made the motion to postpone the group’s work until after council’s planning session in March.
“These terms of reference seem to me fairly complicated,” Borrowman said. “I think council needs an opportunity to speak together as a group and understand in a more clear fashion the SSR as a process and discuss amongst ourselves what we are looking for.”
Coun. Joanna McCallum agreed with the postponement, saying as a new councillor she would like a better understanding of the SSR before approving how it should be reviewed.
“There is a huge educational component here,” she said. “I would like an opportunity to understand this from beginning to end.”
Casey said the SSR process is a difficult thing to read and decipher.
“This just postpones the kickstart until all of council is comfortable with what is in front of them right now… so that when we move ahead it is meaningful,” he said.
Helder was the sole voice of dissent against the postponement, noting his original motion in December did not include a terms of reference document at all.
He called the move an unusual procedural step that changes the intent of his motion.
“The whole intent is to provide external resources to help council make a decision about the SSR process,” he said. “There is nothing limiting council between now and the task force’s report to educate themselves.”
