Rose Wants Review of Energy Projects, Public Input on Future Of Energy Assets

Mayoral candidate Alan Rose during a lengthy interview with Owl News reporter Alex McCuaig. (Photo Tom Fougere)

Medicine Hat City Hall needs to get its act together, work collaboratively and serve Hatters, says Alan Rose who’s running to become the municipality’s next mayor.

To reach that point, Rose says there not only needs to be unity at the council level but a clear understanding of its governance role as well as respect for differing viewpoints around the table.

“You have to be open to other people’s viewpoints,” said Rose. “If you have nine people on there, including the mayor, and six are saying something than you believe, maybe you should ask enough questions to make sure why they believe that and you don’t.”

The issues raised by the municipal inspection report reflected a lack of respect within the confines of city hall. Something Rose says is a basic issue he’d never thought would need to be addressed.

“I thought it was a basic way we now live – with respect and that – and not having a toxic workplace. That stuff really caught me by surprise,” said Rose, referencing the findings of the inspection report.

Understanding the basics of municipal governance and procedure as well as instilling a culture of respect from the start would be a priority, said Rose.

“I’ve said from the start, the first thing I want to do when I get in is get council together, discuss what we think are the top, urgent items we need to address,” said Rose, adding that should include at least six priorities with a focus on the top three. “But work on what everybody feels is important.”

 Different members of a new council will bring with them different levels of understanding when it comes to the main issues the city’s facing. Rose says bringing up to the same level will be key in coming to a unified approach.

With council being required to hire a new city manager as a first order of business while also dealing with a nearly $2 million lawsuit filed by a former police chief, Rose says he has the experience to wrangle the issues facing the city’s two main administrative bodies.

That experience was garnered from working his way up the ladder through working at a large fertilizer manufacturer and massive gas plant north of the Hat.

Alan Rose at his campaign office at the Medicine Hat Mall.

And those roles helped him develop skills in project and crisis management.

“You have to go in, you have to make sure you understand the problem and you have to dissect it and see where the weaknesses are and where the strengths are,” said Rose.

How the council dealt with city manager Ann Mitchell was an example of what not to do.

“They go and vote a (motion) to give her notice they’re going terminate her but then don’t tell the public anything. So, now we got more rumours going over,” he said. “They should have come out and said we’ve just passed a bylaw, such and such, it’s going to be to terminate our CAO and it’s either because it’s a personnel issue, it’s a performance issue or it could be a subject that’s being turned over to authorities for further investigation.”

Handling the situation the way council has only serves to dimmish the reputation of the city, says Rose.

Rose says he will lean on his private sector experience and contacts to find a new city manager that has the administrative ability to not only run a public governance body but one with a large energy division.

Mitchell simply didn’t have the experience to fill that role, he added, and for the wage the city is paying for the CAO role, they should be able to find someone.

Rose was critical how the city’s approached the Saamis Solar project, stating the way they went about it is backwards.

“They bought the project then they want to do the feasibility study,” he said, adding that it looks more like the city is wanting to get a construction budget. “That’s the stuff that worries me about Saamis Solar. . .When you are going to potentially put in $75- to $210 million, you better be darn sure what you are doing.”

If the project can be shown to make a 17 per cent return on investment, Rose said the city should move forward with the project.

“I suspect it won’t and if it doesn’t, that’s the time to cut bait and leave,” he said.

When it comes to what’s left of the city’s natural gas and oil plays, Rose said he’d like to see a review of the remaining assets to see if the possibility exists to optimize them.

“If we can still recoup money and make a profit, yeah, we can stay in it. If we can’t, we may have to take the hit,” he said.

If there is going to be another discussion regarding developing a municipally controlled corporation for the city’s electrical generation and distribution system, all the information needs to be put on the table for the public consideration, Rose said.

“Then go to a referendum because this should not be done by just nine people,” he said.

On the topic of economic development, Rose said if elected mayor, he’d take a personal role in promoting businesses. First at the local level to see if there are expansion opportunities and then move further afield.

Rose during a food drive at the Root Cellar.

“If you know what (business leaders) are talking about and know what their expectations are and what perimeters they have, it gives you a lot of confidence.  And that will give them more confidence in the city,” said Rose. “Because then they we feel like, ok, we’re coming into an environment where they know what we want.”

On the issue of homelessness in the city, Rose said he’s communicated with a wide range of people involved in the issue along with parents dealing with their children struggling with housing and drug addiction.

He said there needs to be communication between agencies, governments and those struggling with addiction or mental health issues.

But there is also an element of tough love which needs to be applied, and coddling isn’t necessarily compassion.

Borrowing best practices of other communities would be one step he’d take towards addressing the issue.

“We can look at models that were successful and then talk to them and mimic them,” Rose said. “Why are we going to waste a lot of time coming up with our own solution. It’s not effective.”

As for his overall vision for the city, Rose said dealing with the city’s woes may take more than four years. The first step, though, is to stop repeating past mistakes while dropping past battles.

“You’ve got to go forward,” said Rose.