Edmonton mayor disappointed in some proposed changes to Municipal Government Act

Edmonton Mayor Don Ivesonsayscity council can be trusted to manage its own affairs, and he's disappointed that proposed changes to the Municipal Government Act would expand the role of the provincial ombudsman to include complaints about city hall.

The change is one of dozens of proposed amendments to the revamped Municipal Government Act introduced in the Alberta legislature Tuesday by Municipal Affairs Minister DanielleLarivee.

"Our view is that to have another order of governmentprovide anombudservice for your order of government represents a reduction in the autonomy and legitimacy of your government," Iveson said.

"It's sort of like having dad looking over your shoulder all the time."

Iveson said he agrees with the need for city hall accountability but Edmontonians already have thatthrough the city auditor.

"If there's a need to expand that to deal with different kinds of citizens' concerns, I think the city should be able to do that rather than the province doing it over our shoulder," he added.

"I think that's an overreach at least for Edmonton and Calgary who are quite frankly sophisticatedenough."

Ivesonsaid he was pleased with some other changes to the act, including a proposal made by Edmonton city council to provideparental leave for municipal councillors.

"That's really positive when it comes to making municipal government more accessible to younger candidates and particularly to women," he said.

Other changes to the act include removingathreshold that would determine how much developers pay to offset the costs of amenities in new communities.

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The new act would give municipalities the power to compel developers to pay part of the costs of fire halls, police stations, libraries and recreation centres in new communities, in addition to the roads, water lines and sewers they already fund.

The original version of the bill introduced in the spring would have allowed communities to enforce that requirement when a housing development received at least 30 per cent of the benefit of an amenity.

But smaller municipalities were concerned thatthreshold wouldimpede their ability to create complete communities. Anamendment removes the threshold from the bill, meaning a levy could be collected when the benefit is, for example, 10 or 15 per cent.

"That means all municipalities would have the option to work with developers to help pay for the facilities in their new communities at a level that makes sense and reflects a fair share, whether that be five per cent or fifty per cent," Larivee said.

Another amendment would allow municipalities to collect for infrastructure that benefits residents of another municipality.

The modernized MGA was introduced in the legislature last spring to allow the government to send it out for consultation over the summer.

Feedback from those consultations formed the basis for dozens of amendments that were introduced Tuesday.

Other possibleamendments include allowing municipalitiesto incorporate environmental stewardship considerations in theirland use decision-making processand adding Indigenous awareness training to the mandatory orientation for new councillors.