3 items to watch at city council on Monday

Here are three things to watch for at Calgary city council on Monday.

Snow, snowand more snow

Administration is seeking council's blessing for what should be included in its annual Snow and Ice Control (SNIC) report.

• Southland sidewalks remain covered in ice, despite repeated calls

Given the 4X4 conditions on many residential roads this winter, the bureaucrats want to broaden the scope of this year's report.

They want to look at how Calgary's program compares to other winter cities. They want to research the issue of mandatory winter tires (even if the city has no way of enforcing that).

They also want to look at the costs of having more contractors on stand-by so they can be called in for the extreme events like Calgary witnessed for essentially the entire snowy month of December.

Coun. Shane Keating will bring forward his own idea for stand-by crews: he wants the city to look at a bigger picture.

His suggestion is to have stand-by crews year-round whocan pitch in with snow clearing,pothole repair in the springor even things like clearing away downed trees after a windstorm.

Heritage Monday

There's a proposal to designate two city properties as municipal heritage resources.

The Butters residence, located at637 29th Avenue S.W.,is a 1912 arts-and-crafts-style bungalow near the Glencoe Club in Elbow Park. It's also a sandstone house.

• Calgary's Great Fire of 1886 sparks 'Sandstone City'

If you haven't seen it, swing by to admire its distinctive corner turret. Those lucky enough to see the inside would see a grand open staircase and beamed ceilings.

The other property is the C.C.Snowdon Oils factory in Ramsay.

• Calgary's historic Snowdon building to get protected status

Neil Richardson with Heritage Property Corporation is in the midst of revitalizing this long-neglected building. Its exterior is being restored to its original look with C.C.'s highly visible name while the inside is being renovated for a new life as a modern office andcommercial space.

Also on Monday, the Calgary Heritage Authority will be presenting plaques at the start of the meeting to honour four historic Calgary bridges.

Sunshine list study

Coun.Diane Colley-Urquhart wants the city to follow other jurisdictions in publicly reporting which of its employees is paid more than $100,000.

But she's crafting this to ask council to support a study on how best to implement a sunshine list.

• Sunshine listto be debated at Calgary city council

Her idea is to let someone independent draw up the parameters and then council can debate the merits of a sunshine list.

She specifically doesn't want the city doing this internally as she fears the bureaucrats will come up with their own lista list of ways this will cost too much money to do or be impractical, etc., so it never happens.

She is calling for a report to be done by September, which means council members can vote for a study and nottake a stand(yet) on whether the city should have a sunshine list.