Our (Previous) CAO Helped Fund the $830,000 that IMH Spent on Their Office Space
Originally published on Kelly Allard Speaking Out and Speaking Up Facebook and Kelly Allard Speaking Out and Speaking Up website January 11 2022.
The bold italic is new information that has been added.
Do You Know How Lavishly Invest Medicine Hat (IMH) Spent on Their Offices?
Here’s a hint, you could buy a couple of nice houses with it.
Where did the money come from? The CAO Contingency Budget. I wrote about this petty cash before.
https://www.allard4mhcc.com/post/how-much-is-your-petty-cash
In 2019, the CAO’s $1,000,000 /yr budget for capital projects was slashed to a mere $500k but is scheduled to go back up to a $1,000,000 in 2023.
(Source 2019-2022 Business Plans Municipal Services and Land & Business Support)
(In 2015 it was only $250k, in 2017 it was a million. This PREDATES our (previous) CAO, he wasn’t hired until Sept 2018. This goes back to the first reign of our current City Manager Merete Heggelund.)
The office improvements needed to split the cost over 2 years. Obviously the CAO at the time approved this, it is called the CAO Contingency Fund after all.
2019 - $335,000
2020 - $495,000
(Source pgs 64-65, 68 of the Apr 19 2021 City Council Agenda)
You'll notice the 2020 amount is just under the $500,000 that the CAO gets every year. The $495,000 was called a “repayable loan”.
We spent $830,000 on "leasehold improvements" in 2 years on a property that is not even City-Owned. The 2021 assessed value for that address was only $1,481,200.
Source City of Medicine Hat Website
How the hell did that happen? I want to know.
What did our $830,000 pay for? I want to know.
Who owns that property? I want to know. (I’ve since found out that it belongs to a non-profit, apparently they were just as puzzled as to why so much money was spent. It was NOT something they asked for nor would it benefit them from what I understand.)
Did we even get a discount on the rent? I want to know.
IMH's original Towne Square budget was $2 million. $1 million was budgeted for the canopy and sea-cans alone; it also included Public Toilets. Now it’s at $2.4 million, fewer sea-cans but no Public Toilets.
But hey, who cares as long as people can pee behind a tree, amiright? There’s lots of trees and some bushes across the street in Veteran’s Memorial Park, you’d need your own toilet paper in winter. <sarcasm>
We’re supposed to trust IMH with large amounts of money? I don’t think so.
Councilor Sharps, please keep asking the hard questions!
Council, please check and see if IMH paid the $495,000 back to the CAO Capital Contingency Fund as promised. I want to know.
Council, please find out how the CAO Contingency Fund was used in 2021. I want to know.
Council, please check on the budgeted amount of the CAO Capital Contingency Fund for 2023, is it a million? I want to know.
Please post with your ideas, how else could we have spent $830,000? I want to know.
Please contact our elected officials at City Hall and let them know how angry this makes you.
https://www.medicinehat.ca/en/government-and-city-hall/council-members.aspx
We need to put a stop to this. Please make the call or send the e-mail!
As always when contacting Council Members
In all of your communications,
PLEASE
Be Kind.
The new members of council are not to blame for past decisions. The incumbents will be far more likely to agree to do as you ask if you are kind.
PLEASE
Do NOT make it personal.
Criticize their decisions, sure, but don’t attack them personally. Eg. It’s okay to say “That was a stupid decision.“ It’s NOT okay to say “You are stupid for making that stupid decision.”
All the information I’m bringing to light is there for everyone to find but not everybody has the time to dig it out. If you were surprised by what I discovered then please keep in mind that many on council are surprised too.
E-mails
E-mails are easy, first three letters of the first name + first three letters of the last name @medicinehat.ca We have Alison and Allison though which can make it confusing so here is the list to make it easier.
mayor@medicinehat.ca
robdum@medicinehat.ca
cashid@medicinehat.ca
darhir@medicinehat.ca
allkno@medicinehat.ca
andmcg@medicinehat.ca
ramrob@medicinehat.ca
shisha@medicinehat.ca
alivan@medicinehat.ca
Four people now have phone numbers listed.
Mayor Linnsie Clark 403-529-8181
Shila Sharps 403-458-3218
Alison Van Dyke 403-458-3227
Robert Dumanowski 403-502-4348
Again,
PLEASE
Be Kind!
Feel free to tell them
The Unholy Alliance of
Community TV and
Kelly Allard Speaking Out and Speaking Up
sent you.
