Photo: Kneehill County regular meeting Dec. 9, 2025 via YouTube. Rural Alberta Report/Screenshot

Kneehill County council in effect eliminated one management position and approved a freeze on any full-time hiring unless approved by themselves first. The resolutions were passed after closed sessions at the Dec. 9 regular meeting of council.

Closed session is a power granted to councils by the Municipal Government Act (MGA); after passing a motion to move into closed session, private conversations can be held regarding certain topics delineated in the province’s Access to Information Act (ATIA). Usually closed sessions are used to discuss things like staff discipline, lawsuits and people’s private financial details. However, no resolutions can be held in closed session, and councillors must return to the public meeting to vote on motions.

Kneehill’s Dec. 9 agenda listed a closed session but no items for discussion were listed. There were at least two closed sessions at the Dec. 9 meeting.

The second closed session began at about the 6 hour, 43 minute point of the council meeting; it lasted until about the 7 hour, 50 minute point in the meeting.

Coun. Lowell Olson moved that council approve the removal of the infrastructure manager position from the 2025-26 operating budget effective Nov. 26, 2025 and direct administration to update the budget accordingly. The motion was passed unanimously.

Coun. Richard Hoppins then said, “So I think one of our primary goals is fiscal prudence and cost containment. We need to avoid any potential tax increases or spending without justification.

“And I think a proactive step is I move that council direct (chief administrative officer) to implement an immediate hiring freeze for all permanent full-time positions with the exception of the financial controller position effective immediately until the approval of the 2026 budget or July 1, 2026 subject to a case-by-case review and approval process for operationally critical positions by council,” said Hoppins.

This motion was also unanimously approved by council.

Kneehill council’s first closed session at the Dec. 9 regular meeting began at the 5 hour, 58 minute portion of the meeting and ended at about the 6 hour, 18 minute point, but it was suggested that councillors took a recess as well.

Coun. Laura Lee Machell-Cunningham moved that councillors table approval of the municipal vehicle use policy until the Jan. 20, 2026 regular council meeting. That motion was unanimously approved.