Your city hall just had a quiet meeting you should see
Honestly though, sometimes you get these council agendas and you just think, "Well, they certainly met." The latest Agenda Review Committee meeting on March 31, 2026, was one of those. According to the recent motions, it was a fairly straightforward affair. They adopted their agenda and approved minutes, both carried 3-0. Councillors Knack, Stevenson, and Wright were all in agreement, which, in the grand scheme of things, is what you'd expect for something as procedural as approving last week's notes.
Now, they did vote to meet in public, which is always good, before immediately voting to meet in private to discuss "item 2.1" under the *Access to Information Act*. It's a bit like inviting everyone to the party and then telling them they can't come into the kitchen. The details on what "item 2.1" entailed are, naturally, quite sparse.
Council expenses also popped up, with Councillor Clarke racking up $825.88 for accommodation and $685.00 for registration at the 2025 Alberta Municipalities Convention in Calgary. Councillor Elliott also had an $825.88 accommodation bill, plus $348.00 for food and incidentals at the same November convention. It's the cost of doing business, I suppose, but it does make you wonder about the price of a Calgary hotel room these days.
* Key takeaways from the latest City Hall data: * March 31, 2026, Agenda Review Committee motions passed unanimously (3-0). * Committee met both publicly and privately, citing the *Access to Information Act* for a closed-door discussion on "item 2.1". * Councillors Clarke and Elliott reported expenses exceeding $1,500 each for the 2025 Alberta Municipalities Convention in Calgary.
What this means for us: while the committee kept things close to the vest, the convention expenses are a peek into the necessary costs of civic representation. We'll have to see if any details on "item 2.1" ever surface. Edmonton doesn't need your approval. Never did.
Darren Fedoruk (@deepnorth_yeg)
My colleague Keith gets into the real meaning of these expense reports every morning, catch him live at mornings.live.