[4:58] Okay, I welcome everybody and we
acknowledge uh the land upon which we
[5:03] work and live, the first nations and
their nations and recognize their
[5:06] connection to the land, water and
community. We continue to learn, listen,
[5:10] and grow together. And saying that,
welcome everybody call the meeting to
[5:13] order and approval of the agenda,
please.
[5:16] We could hereby resolve that the agenda
for the September 2nd, 2026 regular
[5:20] meeting of council be adopted as printed
and circulated.
[5:23] » Okay. Can I get a mover in second,
please? Moved by councelor Demer, second
[5:26] by councelor Young. All in favor?
Opposed if any. And that's carried. Any
[5:31] disclosure of bearer interest?
Not seeing any. And minutes from August
[5:36] 5th.
>> We hereby resolve that the minutes of
[5:38] the August 5th, 2026 regular meeting of
council be adopted as printed and
[5:42] circulated.
>> Okay. Can I get a mover to second,
[5:45] please? Moved by councelor Banberry,
second by councelor Barnes. All in
[5:48] favor? Opposed if any. And that's
carried. Any business arising for the
[5:52] minutes? No, not seeing any. Okay, we're
going to uh move our delegations up
[5:57] today in front of our um planning
matters. So, our first uh delegation
[6:04] today is Oxir County Road Supervisors
and it's a donation to our helping hands
[6:10] plant food bank. And if I could have
Jim, if you could come forward, please.
[6:24] » Thank you, council.
>> Um,
[6:28] as you are aware, I was the uh the
chairperson for the Oxford County AORS
[6:34] trade show that was hosted in 2025.
Um,
[6:40] we did very well. Uh it was the largest
show to date with the most attendees and
[6:45] the most booths. Um we also did very
well in uh generating revenue um for the
[6:53] association. Um part of hosting um is
able to give back to the community. So,
[7:01] with that, we have um a rather large sum
uh just over $91,000 that we will be
[7:09] donating back into the community. Uh the
three hospitals, we will be donating um
[7:16] $22,946
to each one. Um, and I'm here today to
[7:23] present a check to the Blander Blenham
uh, Helping Hands Food Bank for $5,711.
[7:34] » Fantastic. That's That is absolutely
fantastic.
[7:38] Um, and
>> we need to get some pictures.
[7:41] » Yes. And, uh, unfortunately, uh, Sue
Burley, she couldn't come today. She's
[7:45] kind of the spearheaded of it. Um, I'll
have Councelor Demer and myself. We both
[7:49] uh have helped at the uh food bank for a
very long time. It was at my mom's house
[7:53] for forever. So, uh we're going to do
the uh presentation.
[8:07] You
>> want to go up here, you said?
[8:09] » Yeah. I think that was move your chairs.
>> You want the chairs out of the way?
[8:12] » Yeah. Slide them out of the way.
[8:16] » It is a large check.
[8:36] Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. Thank you. That's
[8:39] fantastic. There's that one there.
>> Okay. Thank you. The official one.
[8:43] » All right.
[8:52] That's great.
[9:01] » I have a resolution for that one.
>> Okay. Just make one more comment. Um
[9:06] I'll just make one more comment. Our um
our food bank here uh it started um
[9:12] [clears throat] I don't know how many
years ago now. A long time. Um, and just
[9:16] so everybody knows how it kind of
started was uh um
[9:21] a couple of the parents uh uh noticed
that their kids were taking extra food
[9:25] to school here in Drumble. And what it
was is they were trying to the kids were
[9:30] helping some of the younger ones uh that
maybe came to school that didn't have
[9:35] lunch. Um, so it didn't go unnoticed.
And then a few uh of the parents, uh,
[9:40] Sue was one uh that started uh just kind
of a little informal uh food bank uh at
[9:48] the school here. Um, I kind of got
involved when they uh were looking for a
[9:53] place to store it. Um, it went to my
mother's house. It was there for a long
[9:57] long time. And then uh one time we
organized uh all the groups from every
[10:04] every place right across Blandford
Blenham from churches uh I think it was
[10:09] uh fire whatever and we had a meeting
right here in the in the basement here
[10:13] and that's where we formed um cuz we
thought if it's happening in Drumble
[10:18] it's happening in in uh all of our
communities and that's how we kind of
[10:21] got on to the Blland for Blenhan uh
Helping Hands food bank. Um it's become
[10:26] townshipwide. Um it's absolutely the
support from the community is un
[10:32] unbelievable. It really is. Uh we put a
post out uh I think it was maybe a
[10:37] couple months ago that we were really
low in food and we were really low not
[10:41] just food and money. The amount of food
and and money that's come in has has
[10:46] been just beyond belief really. Um
what's come in to support uh from our
[10:51] community. So, you know, we all all of
us hitting here, you know, I think we're
[10:55] all good, but you never know when that
day may come uh that uh you may struggle
[11:00] a little bit for food and stuff at home,
and it's just uh great to have this
[11:04] support. This uh this check will go a
long long ways. This will this will feed
[11:10] families for I would say probably a
whole year or more of what we have. And
[11:16] uh not that I want people to stop
donating because um it does dwindle very
[11:21] quickly when you start getting uh I
think the most we ever had we had like
[11:25] 18 one time um right at Christmas time.
So you think how much food you give 18
[11:30] people um and gift cards. Uh we try to
give gift cards a lot because it gives
[11:34] people that normality of being able to
uh go and buy a few of their own
[11:38] groceries. So uh uh once again thank you
very much to your group. Please tell
[11:42] them that uh this will go along on ways
in our community and thank you very
[11:46] much. Okay. And we have a resolution. Go
ahead.
[11:50] » It hereby resolve that the delegation
from the Oxford County Road Supervisors
[11:54] Association regarding a donation to
helping hands Blander Blenham Food Bank
[11:57] be received as information.
>> Okay. Can I get a move in a second,
[12:00] please? Moved by councelor Demer, second
by councelor Young. Sorry I didn't uh
[12:04] let anybody else from council if you
wanted to comment at all. Okay. All in
[12:08] favor and opposed if any. And that's
carried. Thank you very much. Okay, our
[12:12] next uh our next uh uh delegation is
Eric Gilbert uh manager of development
[12:18] planning and Don Ford. I believe you're
coming as well.
[12:24] Welcome.
[12:30] Thank you. Uh so I'm here today to
present the summary of the 2025 uh
[12:34] planning service delivered by the uh
community planning service for the
[12:38] township of Brford Bunham. Uh the
township is directly served by a
[12:42] development planner uh Dustin who you
see regular basis but also there is a
[12:46] wide team uh behind Dustin uh including
myself uh director community planning a
[12:52] manager of planning policy uh six other
uh development planners who help to
[12:57] share the workload if there's uh peaks
or or uh or complexity uh policy
[13:02] planners and GIS analysts. So uh with
this uh wholesome team we're able to
[13:07] provide a comprehensive
um and broad range of uh planning
[13:12] service both for county and uh township
planning projects.
[13:17] Uh in 2025
uh we processed uh 21 development
[13:22] applications for lands within the
township uh which represents 5% of the
[13:26] total of the application submitted
countywide countywide.
[13:30] Um we we in the application numbers uh
they do tend to uh eb and flow. Uh staff
[13:38] do along with with township staff we do
monitor um approvals granted by council
[13:44] community adjustment and others. So if
there's a routine um relief that's being
[13:48] requested and approved. Uh typically we
would look at that through a
[13:52] housekeeping amendment and we would
amend that provision so that going
[13:55] forward uh that relief maybe doesn't
need to be requested every time. So
[13:59] that's sometimes why the numbers are
fluctuate year-to-year.
[14:04] Uh last year staff also participated in
pre-conultation meetings. Uh significant
[14:08] time was spent preparing uh for OOLT
hearings. Um regular engaging uh both
[14:15] township staff and Oxford County public
works staff to ensure that uh conditions
[14:20] of approval attached to uh minor
variances, severances and subdivisions
[14:25] are appropriately satisfied. Uh last
year as well we worked with public works
[14:30] to uh develop an updated uh waste water
and wastewater capacity allocation uh
[14:35] policy. Uh we also delivered uh a
webinar with public works for the
[14:40] development community throughout the
county uh to explain the protocol and
[14:44] how it's administered. Uh we also
coordinated three peer reviews last year
[14:49] as part of a development application
review. Uh last year there was
[14:54] significant challenges um resulting from
the Canada post strike. Uh so rather
[14:59] than mailing notices, we had to arrange
for either courier uh delivery or we
[15:05] worked with township staff to do hand
delivery in some cases to minimize uh
[15:09] costs and uh delays for those. Um we did
that uh while continuing to ensure we
[15:15] met all the timelines. we didn't have a
position where a developer could appeal
[15:19] a non-decision.
Uh table one of the report provides an
[15:24] overview of the applications uh over the
last 5 years and the type. Uh based on
[15:30] the applications processed last year and
the approvals granted by both the king
[15:34] adjustment uh township and county
councils and the land region committee
[15:38] uh 194 new residential lots or units
were approved uh in the township last
[15:43] year.
Uh we estimate that 13 building permits
[15:47] were issued for new dwelling units last
year. And of the 13 new units, five were
[15:52] built in village of Platsville and the
rest were in the rural areas in the
[15:56] township. Uh we currently estimate
there's 565 approved unbuilt residential
[16:02] lots or units at the end of 2025 in the
township. uh if we use a three-year
[16:07] building average, which would be 24
units per year, this represents 23 1/2
[16:12] years of approved supply, or if we use a
5-year building perimeter average, which
[16:16] is 25 units per year, that's 22.6 years
of residential supply. Uh so the the
[16:23] township is uh in compliance with the
PPS requirement to have um sufficient
[16:28] land uh for a three-year supply.
Uh for 2026, uh staff are working
[16:35] through the implementation of the
agricultural policy updates which will
[16:40] result in uh changes to the zoning pilot
for agricultural properties. Uh we're
[16:45] also uh working through the rural dry
industrial development policy review and
[16:50] likely a secondary plan to implement
that. Uh we're looking to meet with
[16:55] township staff to review the planning
services agreement. Um it was last uh
[17:00] executed in 2015. So there's a good
opportunity to review that. Uh as well a
[17:06] review of planning application fees. Uh
we were directed by county council to
[17:10] look for opportunities to um increase
application fees to offset the cost of
[17:16] the development review uh function of
our department. So we have a lot of good
[17:20] information that uh we can work with the
township if the township is also
[17:23] interested in offsetting some of the
costs that uh arise from development
[17:28] review.
Uh the other portion of the department
[17:32] the policy team uh they've been very
very busy uh over the last uh year and
[17:38] last few years. Uh probably in the last
5 years there's been more change to the
[17:42] planning act than the last 20 or 30
years. Uh so last year uh they commented
[17:47] on uh changes through bill 17 which
allowed the minor variances as of right.
[17:53] So that's a good example where the
province passed a regulation that said
[17:58] um if you're within a certain distance
to a water course and you're in a a
[18:04] service residential piece of property uh
you you only you had as of right minor
[18:10] variance of up to 10%. Uh the problem is
that that wasn't mapped or we had no
[18:14] idea where that was. So we we our policy
team worked to develop a GIS mapping
[18:19] layer so that building staff and the
public uh can quickly see if they're in
[18:23] that area or not. Uh we also uh provided
comments on a number of of regulatory
[18:29] proposals um including uh regulations on
minimum lot sizes uh standarding
[18:35] official standardizing official plans
and uh other provincial regulations that
[18:40] were posted uh as well the uh
conservation authorities act and the
[18:46] merger that's occurring. Quite a
comments on that. Uh and we also
[18:50] provided updated guidance and a
suggested process for uh dealing with uh
[18:55] renewable energy projects or battery
battery energy uh storage systems. Uh as
[19:01] uh we're likely getting close to another
um round of procurement from the
[19:05] province for additional uh generation or
storage.
[19:10] Uh we continue to monitor. There's a lot
of provincial change that's approved in
[19:15] the planning act. it hasn't been oper
operational operationalized yet through
[19:19] the regulations. Uh so a lot of our time
is spent um monitoring for those
[19:24] proposals and providing uh feedback on
those. And I will say you know we've had
[19:29] some success with some of the proposals
and and and pushing back or offering
[19:34] suggestions uh ultimately that hopefully
will be u more workable uh for
[19:39] implementation.
Uh that I'll turn it over to Don.
[19:44] » Okay. Thank you Eric. Um so uh through
the mayor of the council uh the notes
[19:50] you see uh regarding capacity of water
and wastewater um uh the reference uh
[19:56] committed capacity conditional committed
capacity and submit circulate that comes
[20:01] from that um allocation policy that Eric
mentioned and I just wanted to um
[20:06] describe what's in each bucket. So in
that committed capacity bucket uh that's
[20:12] registered plan of subdivision
registered plan of condominiums uh site
[20:17] plan approvals including industrial
commercial and institutional sub plan of
[20:21] subdivisions and consent to sever once
all the conditions are fulfilled. Um
[20:27] then the conditionally committed
capacity bucket that's the draft
[20:31] approved plan of subdivisions, draft
approved plan of condominiums and the
[20:36] draft approved industrial uh commercial
and institutional plan of subdivisions.
[20:42] And then finally to submit circulated
bucket that's um circulated site plans
[20:46] or in some cases official plan
amendments. So when we're looking at
[20:50] those notes that just uh helps describe
those buckets. So um you'll note that we
[20:57] start the water in Drumo Princeton. In
Drumo it's estimated that the current
[21:03] wells dynamic supply capacity and that's
all the wells that are online and
[21:07] producing right now. That's what that
refers to. Uh utilization is 49%
[21:13] uh with existing and committed capacity.
And the utilization uh would be expected
[21:18] to be 86% of current capacity with
conditionally committed and the submit
[21:23] circulated proposals leaving the
forecasted unutilized capacity
[21:28] equivalent of 184 residential units
in Princeton. The capacity equivalent of
[21:35] 100 units is 100% allocated currently
based on committed and conditionally
[21:41] committed capacity
and respecting wastewater treatment
[21:44] capacity in Drumbo. It's estimated that
the current Drumble wastewater treatment
[21:49] plant uh utilization is 72% with the
existing and committed capacity
[21:56] uh with unutilized capacity equivalent
as it sits at 169 units. uh the
[22:02] utilization is expected to be 135% of
the current capacity if the
[22:08] conditionally committed and submitted
circulated proposals were included. So
[22:12] well over the capacity of the plant um
after the expansion of the facility uh
[22:19] it for construction it's currently in
the budget book for 2027.
[22:24] Uh this would represent then 92%
if everything was going to be 92% of the
[22:30] expanded treatment capacity leaving the
forecasted unutilized equivalent of 70
[22:35] residential units. Now this is a hard
ceiling on the wastewater for the
[22:40] current receiver the drain that goes to
the NT uh and so in terms of any future
[22:45] need expansion at that discharge. Uh in
Platsville, it's estimated that the
[22:50] current Wells dynamic supply capacity
utilization is 59% with the existing and
[22:56] committed capacity and the utilization
would be 67%
[23:01] with the conditionally committed and
submitted circulated proposals leaving
[23:05] the forecasted unutilized capacity
equivalent of 455 units. And then with
[23:12] the wastewater treatment capacity, it's
estimated that the wastewater treatment
[23:16] utilizes utilization sits at 63% with
the existing uncommitted and uh with the
[23:23] remaining unutilized capacity of 454
units. The utilization expected to be
[23:29] 72% if the conditionally committed
proposals are also included, which then
[23:34] leaves you with 339 residential units.
So command community community planning
[23:39] and Oxford County public works water
wastewater work together and update
[23:43] ourselves through the year on uh on
growth and uh so that's uh that's uh how
[23:49] we ensure that the tracking is kept kept
up with. Okay,
[23:54] » great. That's it.
>> Okay. Any Thank you. Uh any questions
[23:58] from council
around anybody?
[24:03] Um I just got a couple. um when it came
to um I'll use Drumbo specifically as as
[24:11] the growth there. So the last as you
know the last 10 years we've had no no
[24:16] waste treatment here for that growth. So
when you're looking at those numbers um
[24:21] and I'm just looking at what's happening
here in the village right as we speak
[24:25] right now. Are you looking at um those
projected numbers to go up? I would I
[24:31] would presume is that
>> oh maybe through mayor the council maybe
[24:36] I'll take that you're right the uh
technicians that do the uh the um look
[24:43] at the capacity and how how long it
takes to utilize the capacity do look at
[24:46] the building permits and the average of
the previous 3 years or 5 years and in
[24:51] the case of Drumble that would be uh
that would be suppressed but uh we have
[24:56] this capacity in place because of the
number of uh of draft approved and
[25:02] submitted circulated files. So, we're
ready for that growth. It's a matter now
[25:06] of it actually taking place.
>> Yeah, it's and like I I'm not sure if
[25:11] you're familiar, but I I know right now
like on Peterson Street, I think there's
[25:14] I think there's six foundations that are
they're working on right right now. I
[25:18] think there's how many? Eight. Sorry.
Eight. I just got told eight. There's a
[25:22] duplex just down the street that's going
up. And I think there'll be another
[25:25] duplex next spring on the same property
from what I'm told. And then there's the
[25:29] subdivision that's to the to the south
here right now. Like it's the lands are
[25:34] all leveled and they're ready to go.
Just just giving that little update.
[25:37] Yep. Go ahead.
>> Yes. I I will say that it's weird for
[25:40] annual report to come in September.
>> Yeah.
[25:43] » But what we do is we take all of the
building permit data from the previous
[25:46] year which takes some time to
assimulate.
[25:48] » Um and then we do the land supply
analysis to determine you know what
[25:52] remaining lands are vacant or available
and approved. And then we forward that
[25:56] to public works who then uh you know
have their own annual year-end data and
[26:02] capacity and you know average daily
demand and all the other fund
[26:07] information that they collect
>> and then we put that into a chart. We
[26:10] have the trend the trend lines.
>> Uh so every year we do monitor that and
[26:14] we're trying to account for you know if
we have to up move something up because
[26:19] of increased growth
>> that would show in the trend lines every
[26:22] year. I I I'm pretty sure that
this year and especially next year, I'm
[26:28] pretty sure those long as the market's
staying like right now it's I I hear a
[26:32] lot of people saying growth is slow, but
it's actually very high here right now.
[26:36] Um um I've even heard over here that
it's you know could be more than 10 or
[26:41] already pre-sold in the in the the
subdivision over here. So I think I
[26:45] think the numbers what I'm trying to get
out I think the numbers over the next
[26:48] couple years I think are going to be
higher. Um I guess the biggest thing for
[26:53] me is um when that big boom came through
co time um we had no waste treatment
[26:59] here at all to expand and I guess my
thing is I just don't want to be pardon
[27:04] the pun caught with our pants down um at
the next you know if if another boom
[27:09] happens to come really quick I don't
want to all of a sudden not have those
[27:12] services here um that we can use. So, I
guess that's where I'm I'm kind of
[27:17] looking at. Now, just one other thing.
When you mentioned 2027, is that for
[27:22] phase two of the waste treatment? Is
that what you're talking about?
[27:26] » Right. That's for the next phase, the to
take it up to 660 cubic meters a day.
[27:31] » Okay.
>> Which will uh right now it's concluding
[27:33] the um the amendment to the
environmental study report to take it up
[27:38] to 660. Okay.
>> And that'll be filed uh this year. So
[27:41] then okay,
>> we're ready to go ahead at that point.
[27:44] » Yeah. Yeah. I know that I've heard too
that cow and drain on the far side that
[27:48] it's it's pretty much at capacity. And
just for others here to know that if to
[27:53] go any higher, which if we just if
someday down the road we get to the end
[27:58] of that life cycle, the next would
probably be we would have to go right to
[28:02] the NET as a drain would probably be the
option.
[28:05] » Yes. to through the mayor of the council
it would be mean mean the net and it
[28:09] would mean um additional treatment plan
as well. So yeah,
[28:14] » the costs start to become prohibitive,
right? Because you have to more
[28:17] infrastructure to build. Yeah.
>> Yeah. The nice part at least it's
[28:21] downhill.
>> Yeah.
[28:22] » At least. Yeah. Um I don't know if I had
Oh, yeah. Just one other thing. Um you
[28:27] mentioned about the the rural dry
industrial and I call it the 401
[28:32] corridor. Um and it and it just mentions
in your report that you're going to
[28:35] start this year and I'm looking at it at
September already and I just wonder
[28:39] where we're at. um if there's any
planning started um for this year when I
[28:45] I just go by your report.
>> Sure. Uh so we had the numbers
[28:51] quantified through the Watson uh growth
study.
[28:54] » Yeah.
>> Uh so we have that quantified. They gave
[28:57] us some recommendations of where it
should go in the hierarchy. Um we have a
[29:02] memo coming out in the next month or so
uh to Paul staff saying potential
[29:08] approaches that we could take to it. Um
likely it would involve something like a
[29:13] secondary plan.
>> Yeah.
[29:15] » Uh to do that um we had in our work plan
and in our our business plan and budget
[29:19] we have uh identified a couple of those.
So that would likely be one of them.
[29:24] » Okay.
>> Um what we need to gauge is if there's
[29:26] interest from uh other townships also
for this or if it's um if it's
[29:32] restricted to to the township, we'd
likely partner with you to undertake
[29:36] that plan. Um and then uh we also have a
um
[29:43] report would come back to county council
uh following the meetings we'd have with
[29:47] area staff and after the memo uh and
then to get direction on a work program
[29:53] and starting that project.
>> Okay.
[29:54] » But you'll see something shortly on
>> shortly. Okay. I know I I know you I
[29:59] know you've heard me talk about this a
lot. I it's uh it's very very critical
[30:04] to our township to get something moving.
And um I know we have one approved
[30:08] property and I've been believe me I've
been pounding trying to get that uh
[30:12] going up there but just in the uh for us
uh our industrial growth here we have
[30:18] might as well say none. Um so it is very
critical for us to keep that to keep
[30:23] that going. Um I think that's all I have
here.
[30:28] I think that's all I have. Uh, councelor
Demerson,
[30:31] » um, you mentioned in your discussion,
um, some agricultural policy review, uh,
[30:37] that's pending this year. Could you talk
a little bit more about that and and
[30:41] what that involves?
>> Sure. So, through the mayor, uh, OPA
[30:46] 269, which is the agricultural policy
rework, uh, that was approved by the
[30:50] province, uh, a couple years ago now.
So, now what we're doing is, uh,
[30:54] amending the zoning bylaw to actually
implement that. So, I know uh our policy
[30:58] staff has uh released a draft or a draft
zoning bylaw provisions for those uh for
[31:06] for that area. Um it's a pretty
significant rewrite of the agricultural
[31:11] zoning. Uh I know we're meet they're
meeting with Josh and and the CBO to go
[31:16] through them those provisions to make
sure uh they work for the township and
[31:21] um they're uh we get buy in uh from
that. But then the uh thought is to to
[31:28] initiate those uh shortly and have them
in place uh before the end of the second
[31:33] quarter next year.
>> Very good. Thank you.
[31:36] » Okay. Anything else from council?
Oh, not seeing anything. Thank you.
[31:41] Thank you very much.
Be it hereby resolve that the delegation
[31:45] from Eric Gilbert, manager of
development planning and Don Ford,
[31:48] senior manager of water and wastewater
services, Oxford County, regarding the
[31:52] planning annual report be received as
information.
[31:55] » Okay. Can I get a move in a second,
please? Moved by councelor Bambry,
[31:58] second by councelor Barnes. Any comments
at all? All in favor? And opposed, if
[32:03] any, and that's carried. Okay. And next
up is Rhonda, our economic development
[32:08] director. Welcome, Rhonda. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[32:13] Apologies if I look a little disheveled.
I was at five business visits in
[32:18] Blandford Blenham today and uh on and
off rained on. I thought, "Oh my
[32:23] goodness, I planned the delegation at
the end of this day. It was interesting
[32:27] timing for me." [laughter]
Is this on?
[32:30] » Yep.
>> Okay, great. Okay. Well,
[32:35] good afternoon. Um, thank you for having
me on your council agenda today.
[32:43] Uh, many of you are familiar with rural
Oxford economic development and how uh,
[32:47] we are here to help the businesses in
Bford Blenham and the other four rural
[32:52] townships in Oxford County. Uh, the
reason I wanted to come today midsummer
[32:57] uh, I did send a 2025 kind of
year-to-ate snapshot earlier this spring
[33:02] just as an FYI. Um, but I wanted to come
and speak with you and share a little
[33:08] bit more about some of the programs and
projects that we're working on in 2026
[33:14] uh that directly tie to the 5-year
strategic plan that was finalized in the
[33:19] fall of last year. So, I thought I would
send that paper update in uh the early
[33:24] part of the year and then come and share
a verbal update and kind of just let you
[33:27] know uh what we've been up to since um
that very robust community engagement
[33:32] process took place last fall. Um and so
that's why I'm here right now. Um I
[33:40] added this slide just because I know
next time I come there may be new
[33:43] counselors uh around the tables that I
am meeting. So, a little bit about rural
[33:48] Oxford economic development. We were
established in 2014 as a nonprofit
[33:53] economic development agency here to
support the businesses in the five rural
[33:58] townships in Oxford County. Uh we have a
mandate to serve and focus on the
[34:02] diverse needs of the rural economies. Um
and our five member municipalities as
[34:07] you know um appoint two representatives
to serve on our governance board to help
[34:13] us set strategy, oversee operations and
ensure financial responsibility. Um our
[34:18] team of two is myself and Crystal. Uh we
are passionate and dedicated to
[34:23] supporting balanced growth in the
townships of Banford, Blenham, Isor,
[34:26] Tavistock, Norwich, Southwest Oxford and
Zora. [clears throat] So our mission is
[34:30] simple to support business growth and
development across rural Oxford. Um I
[34:36] like to um emphasize the balanced piece.
um economic development in a number of
[34:42] communities can look very different and
in a rural context we have um the added
[34:47] task uh to be both prodevelopment and
pro- agriculture at the same time and so
[34:53] uh we do have a healthy balance and
healthy discussion around our board
[34:56] table and in our staff when we are
contemplating and discussing different
[35:00] uh development topics. So just wanted to
let you know that's a lot goes into that
[35:05] word balanced there. Um, so in addition
to some of the programs that I'm going
[35:09] to speak to and the projects that we've
been working on this year, um, just a
[35:14] reminder that we do work one-on-one with
local businesses and businesses from
[35:19] outside of the area. Um, and we offer
confidential site selection. Um, a lot
[35:25] of new businesses who are looking to
locate here or expand,
[35:30] um, they may not know, [sighs] they may
not know how to navigate the development
[35:35] process. And so for companies who have
done it a few times over and they have
[35:39] all the local contacts and they know,
you know, Dustin's awesome, they can
[35:43] just call Dustin. But there are other
companies who need a little bit more
[35:46] handholding and a little bit more
support and um development process and
[35:50] jargon and language. A lot of it can be
really daunting and we can just kind of
[35:55] uh communicate that and help bridge that
gap in misunderstandings that will often
[35:59] occur. So that's something that we can
help facilitate. We we facilitate
[36:03] introductions to the planning team um or
the building officials um where that
[36:08] makes sense and we will also organize
facilitated meetings so that everybody's
[36:12] in the room hearing the same information
together. Can't no one can play mom
[36:17] against dad in that situation.
[laughter]
[36:19] Um we um do run marketing and promotion
projects and referrals to service
[36:25] providers and community connections.
Uh our whole focus of course supporting
[36:30] growth in rural Oxford.
So, [sighs]
[36:35] uh, a little bit about how we divvy up
our work. Um, 80% of the work that we do
[36:40] is focused on retention and expansion.
So, a lot of that work will be
[36:46] predominantly with the local businesses
here in the five townships, meeting with
[36:50] them, speaking with them, um, keeping
our ear to the ground about what
[36:55] struggles they might be facing or
encountering. And for those who are
[36:59] looking at growth, whether it's hiring
another employee or making a small
[37:02] renovation or a big expansion and a big
jump, uh we try to work with our
[37:07] business community to support them in
that effort. That's where we spend 80%
[37:10] of our time, very grassroots. Uh the
other 20% I would say is about
[37:15] investment attraction. So that again
will be a lot of one-on-one and
[37:19] responding to investment inquiries uh
that come in from outside of the area.
[37:23] uh that confidential site selection
piece, a little bit of a matchmaking, um
[37:28] connecting to private uh listings and
and online listings and trying to help
[37:37] people feel that they have access to the
supports if they do choose um Oxford
[37:41] County for bringing their business. So,
just to kind of give you a bit of that
[37:45] context, I'm going to jump into some of
the programs that we've been working on
[37:49] this year.
Um, one of the largest pieces of
[37:53] feedback we heard, actually it was a lot
of great feedback at that strategic
[37:57] plan, but one loud piece of feedback
that we heard was that um, our team has
[38:03] kind of become known for helping those
rural backro businesses. And that is
[38:08] where we spent the 18 months prior to
the strategic plan. So, I was actually
[38:12] really happy to hear that that is where
people in the community thought that we
[38:16] were serving. Um that's just not the
only area we serve. Uh as you know
[38:21] Oxford County is 2,000 square
kilometers. We have a big region and so
[38:24] we have to try to focus our internal res
resources very efficiently when we're
[38:29] doing our outreach work. Um so some of
the elected officials and part who
[38:34] participated in our strategic plan at
different um at different areas they
[38:40] said you're doing a great job in those
really rural areas um but can you um
[38:45] maybe focus some time and resources into
our builtup areas into our our smaller
[38:49] communities and see you know what kind
of supports they may need. So,
[38:55] um, that action item specifically hit
the top of our first year plan of our
[39:00] 5-year plan. So, we, uh, and right away
jumped into this in the early part of
[39:06] the year, the rural downtown project.
And what that was is we brought in mixed
[39:09] meeting um who worked with us on our
strategy and we facilitated five roundt
[39:14] sessions one in each of the townships
and we invited predominantly business
[39:19] community but other members of the
community joined too which I thought was
[39:22] really showed a real engaging appetite
to to contribute to the conversation. Um
[39:27] so with those five rural um downtown
forums we basically boiled down all of
[39:33] the information. So we created a safe
space. Mine and Crystal's job was to
[39:37] just listen and listen and listen
because there are some things where
[39:42] you're like but we do that. Oh. Um but
the our our role was to listen in those
[39:47] sessions. The facilitator created a
brief uh a summary notes of what we had
[39:51] heard and
um and in keeping with and I did
[39:58] actually share that brief in the on the
last slide in one of the links if you're
[40:01] curious. Um so building on that rural
downtown theme, we went strategic plan.
[40:06] We went to the forums. Um our annually
we do try to get out um and created an
[40:12] outreach plan to speak with businesses
directly at their place of business. And
[40:16] so we had a goal of reaching 20
businesses, four in each township. Um I
[40:22] don't want to brag, but we're kind of on
track for like 30. Um this has been a
[40:26] really successful campaign this summer.
we um decided to take some of the
[40:31] feedback we heard from that forum and we
thought marketing support knowing what
[40:36] resources are available um some of this
was just really lowlying fruit and so we
[40:41] had already had a plan to go meet with
20 rural downtown businesses we invited
[40:45] small business center and community
employment services and I did a
[40:48] coordinated tour around the um five
different villages and in uh rural
[40:53] Oxford and it's just been incredible and
with that will come a business spotlight
[41:00] feature that will be for the world to
share. But within those conversations,
[41:03] there's been some really rich
information and really tangible ways
[41:06] that our organi our three organizations
can can support and assist these
[41:11] businesses. So, um that's been exciting.
And uh just to tie that loop once more,
[41:18] in 2027, we are formulating or working
on a plan to further support the rural
[41:25] downtown businesses and the not every
community has a downtown. So also rural
[41:31] and downtown, I should say. Um but we do
have a project that will further tie
[41:35] that thread into 2027. So it's not just
2026 is one and done. We'll continue in
[41:41] that effort.
We've supported the chambers of
[41:44] commerce. Um we've supported the tourism
innovation grant for a fifth and final
[41:50] year. Um the Oxford County Career Expo
is another initiative uh that uh takes
[41:56] place in March. Community employment
services run that. And the little value
[42:00] ad that we offer is that we organize a
rural municipalities booth um so that
[42:06] our municipalities
can send a person for a couple of hours
[42:10] and share a booth rather than um stretch
resources and them each individually
[42:15] having a booth. So we kind of organize
that just as a value ad um as part of
[42:20] our contribution to the expo. And then
[42:26] um still to come and that should take us
to the next slide. Still to come in
[42:31] 2026.
Um so Discover Rural Oxford is I'm sure
[42:36] I'm sure you've heard about it by by
now. We did run a pilot Discover Rural
[42:40] Oxford for the previous two years at
Canada's outdoor farm show. We had a
[42:45] lovely little venue in front of the pond
and it was delightful
[42:50] and we had received very positive
comments and feedback last year and I
[42:57] don't want to say a challenge but now it
kind of feels like a challenge but we
[43:01] received encouragement
uh to make it bigger uh [laughter]
[43:06] this year. And so if any of you are
familiar with Canada's outdoor farm
[43:09] show, you will know that the the former
TD pavilion and how large it is. Uh we
[43:15] took a leap. Uh we are going to be half
of that TD pavilion. It's now called the
[43:20] rural pavilion. We're going to [snorts]
be um spotlighting 16 rural businesses
[43:25] or Oxford County businesses. We had to
bring on a number of partners to to pull
[43:29] this one off and um it's going to be
exciting with that. Uh it's a it's a
[43:35] business to consumer exhibit within the
farm show which as you know is very
[43:39] businessto business very B2B. So we're
really excited that it will be a large
[43:45] initiative that will really showcase
predominantly rural businesses but
[43:49] Oxford County u businesses as well. Um
so if you're coming out to the farm show
[43:54] and you need a ticket, let me know. We
have a few uh we have to email them in
[43:58] advance. So just send me your email.
Um, as I mentioned, uh, still to come
[44:03] for 2026, our aim for this summer was 20
rural downtown business visits. Um,
[44:11] we just finished 20 today and we have
another two days out in the community,
[44:15] so we'll definitely reach uh 30
businesses. Um, also this fall, Oxford
[44:22] Connection FAM tour, that's a by-anual
tour that's part of the investment
[44:26] attraction activities that we do. Um
this one uh we host uh in concert with
[44:32] the economic development offices in
Oxford County. We host 30 developers and
[44:36] industrial realators to promote growth
in the region. Um we bring them in, we
[44:41] have a networking evening the night uh
the night before, the next day we take
[44:44] them on a bus tour around Oxford County.
Uh one stop each each of our offices get
[44:49] one stop. This year, our stop is going
to be in Hixon at the County Line
[44:54] building where there's over 20,000
uh square feet of space available for
[44:59] lease. So, I want to make sure we've got
some site selectors eyes on that
[45:02] location. Uh and last but not least, I'm
hoping that in the new year, very early
[45:08] new year, when I come back with more
stat related impacts um that uh I will
[45:14] be able to share that we have launched
our new website with enhanced investment
[45:18] attraction features. Uh this is I've had
a few different tools that I've wanted
[45:23] to uh incorporate into our website and
I've had this idea and this vision for a
[45:28] few years now and as we've were building
out our marketing and communications
[45:32] plan earlier this year, we found a tool
that I'm hoping knocks all of our socks
[45:37] off and everybody is excited to send
investment inquiries to your page on our
[45:44] website to see um some of these tools
and build community profiles and all of
[45:49] this, but I'll let that be part of my
next year's update. [laughter]
[45:54] Um, the last page is just if you want to
drill down on any of the uh information
[45:59] on the key highlights that I've provided
um some of the things we've been up to.
[46:03] I didn't go through all of them, but um
as you can see, I we are very busy uh
[46:08] twoerson team. We uh work really hard
and very passionately to help the
[46:13] business community. Um and I think
there's one last thing I should have
[46:17] said. One of the big items that came up
on our strategic plan as well was to
[46:21] work more closely with our um rural
municipalities and there's a number of
[46:25] ways um that we've been doing that and
and to work more closely with Oxford
[46:30] County as well. A lot of that was
happening informally. Um but we've
[46:34] definitely I've had uh increased
connections, one-on-one connections with
[46:38] each of our rural CEOs. I've supported
the Oxford County um uh planning
[46:43] visioning exercise attending and
promoting that. Um we've developed a
[46:49] lead handling protocol for um the
economic development group that meets
[46:53] quarterly. So there's different um ways
behind the scenes that are all just
[46:57] administrative. But I I thought I would
mention them just because it came up as
[47:02] hey maybe you guys could do this and we
take that uh strategic plan seriously
[47:06] and we're having fun executing on it. So
that's just a bit of what we've been up
[47:11] to in the first eight or nine months of
this sum of this year. Um, thank you for
[47:17] your support. Thank you for the
opportunity to serve your amazing
[47:20] community.
>> Thank you, Rhonda.
[47:24] My mic up. Thank you, Rhonda. Um, I'll
just make one comment. I know uh the
[47:29] rural mayor's breakfast that was done in
uh the spring in April. Uh it was really
[47:34] good. I I really enjoyed it. I was uh as
I told you, I was I think when I I
[47:39] mentioned there, I thought it was just a
breakfast with the mayors. I didn't know
[47:42] it was a bunch of questions till about a
week before, but it actually turned out
[47:45] I really actually uh I really actually
did en enjoy it. Uh sometimes when
[47:50] you're sitting on a stool in front of a
bunch of people and you don't know what
[47:53] the questions are coming, it can be a
little nervous, but uh it honestly was
[47:57] really done well. I really I really did
enjoy that part of it and I hope uh uh
[48:02] the next uh the next term whoever's
there um that they get a chance to uh to
[48:08] uh contribute in that as well cuz it was
very good.
[48:11] Thank you for saying that. I actually
mentioned it at each of the north
[48:15] delegations. I did. I should have
mentioned that one here. I was actually
[48:18] really proud of that because um I it
actually coincided with um when I was at
[48:24] the Toronto School of Rottman finishing
out my um Institute of Corporate
[48:29] Directors program. So I wasn't actually
able to attend, but I kept getting
[48:33] messages that day like this event is so
great. Like I was very involved with
[48:37] everything right up to the delivery
date. But uh I heard that obviously
[48:42] Andrew the chamber did a fantastic job
moderating and uh I heard a lot of
[48:46] really positive comments about you as
well.
[48:48] » Yeah. And it was really uh the fellow
that was doing the uh MCN of it or
[48:52] whatever you want to call it. He did a
fantastic job. He was very professional.
[48:56] Didn't let things get off the rails and
it was just done very well.
[48:59] » He's had a few bookings since. No
booking requests.
[49:02] » Anything from council at all?
>> No. Not see any. Thank you very much.
[49:07] » Thank you.
>> Okay. Go ahead.
[49:09] » Be it hereby resolved that the
delegation from Rhonda Stewart, economic
[49:13] development director, rural Oxford
econom economic development regarding
[49:17] the year 1 update on the 2026 to 2030
strategic plan be received as
[49:21] information.
>> Okay. Can I get a mover in a second?
[49:23] Moved by councelor Demer, second by
councelor Banberry. Any comments? All in
[49:27] favor and opposed if any. And that's
carried. Okay. And our last delegation
[49:32] is Max Masky uh on our security of our
2026 municipal election. Welcome Max.
[49:41] Good afternoon, counselors. Thanks for
your time and your service. Um,
[49:48] apparently this year we're going to be
going to a different format, which
[49:54] to a lot of people is foreign, you know,
especially the older generations. and uh
[50:02] knowing that the internet you know is a
hackable system and now that AI is
[50:08] creating more insecurities why allow
people's electronic devices to be
[50:13] potentially compromised
and I have had this and a lot of people
[50:18] I know have had compromised u you know
appliances
[50:23] their computers hackable you know data
information that's you know sensitive
[50:28] they're hacked and it's quite a problem.
And I mean, here's just a few, you know,
[50:35] institutions that I I could have filled
this book of, you know, what has been
[50:40] hacked and breached. You know, the CRA,
Canadian Revenue Association, it's been
[50:45] hacked twice. RCMP twice. Uh, Cambridge
Analytical, their data storage. Equifax,
[50:54] another data storage. House of Commons,
uh, Government of Alberta, the Jardan
[51:00] Group, and every major bank have all had
breaches or data hacks. And, uh, I don't
[51:08] know why they're after the information.
You know, what nefarious or criminal
[51:11] activity they want to do with this. Um,
the 2020 American election, you know,
[51:16] they were using Dominion and Smartmatic.
you know, Dominion was developed by
[51:22] President Maduro of Venezuela to keep
winning his elections
[51:27] and uh you know, these had compromised
elections and I mean now we're going to
[51:33] Intellivote. Is that right, Sarah? Yeah,
Intellote. You know, and I'm just
[51:38] wondering why do you think these
criminals use internet instead of break
[51:41] and enter methods and it's because it's
easy and quick and you can get away with
[51:46] it. Uh now everyone that votes
electronically has given their email and
[51:51] cell phone you know uh access. I don't
know if I I'm not a tech technique by
[51:58] any means but does it compromise us
because we've got to use our devices.
[52:03] They've got our email and they've got
our cell like I keep my cell phone
[52:08] private and I keep my email private. I I
decide who I give it out to. And
[52:14] » we have a tornado warning.
>> Tornado warning. So, we will
[52:18] » keep an keep an eye on it.
>> Going to say the fire chief could take
[52:21] care of that.
[52:25] » Not a tornado.
>> No. No. Actually, Cindy went through
[52:29] that, you know, years ago. Um, yeah.
Because it's quick and easy. Uh, now
[52:35] everyone that votes electronically has
given their email and cell phone access.
[52:39] Now, I I don't know how secure this is.
I mean, hopefully you you can shed some
[52:44] light as to, you know, tell me. I know I
know it says in the pamphlet here, it's
[52:49] safe and secure, but you got to tell me
how it's going to be safe and secure.
[52:55] And, you know, who takes liability for
if something is breached or compromised?
[53:01] And uh and there's also a chance of
malware malware programs being installed
[53:07] uh for malicious activity. I don't know
if you've heard what they're doing now
[53:11] with
sorry this this will go on for yeah a
[53:17] while I'm sure
what they're doing with children's
[53:22] pictures in school and how they're
blackmailing
[53:26] you know teachers or teacher I mean uh
parents you know this pedophilia and
[53:32] pornographic
uh you know pictures you know AI can
[53:36] gener we don't even know what's real
anymore, you know? I mean, I remember
[53:41] you had shown me, Mark, what you can do.
You can take a picture of a room and how
[53:46] you can change the looks of it. And I
just thought that's fascinating. And I
[53:50] mean, I I don't live in that realm, but
it it's concerning me and it's
[53:56] concerning a lot of other people as
well. Um, like paper voting only
[54:01] requires, you know, your presence and
ID. That's it. And it's anonymous. you
[54:07] know, you go behind,
you know, the block or the partition,
[54:12] you fill in your vote and you put it in,
you know, whereas this this is a little
[54:16] more intensive, you know, where who
who's going to have access to this later
[54:21] on, you know. Um, and nothing on the
internet is secure. Um, I'm just
[54:28] wondering, has Telot signed a confident
confidentiality or code of conduct uh
[54:34] agreement? Um what what is the cost? Is
it a cost per vote or is it one
[54:42] um just standard fee for you know doing
this? Um, and I mean if if it's a matter
[54:49] of money, you know, what is a trade-off?
Is it better to have, you know, a paper
[54:55] vote where, okay, yeah, we may have to
hire some, you know, township residents
[55:01] instead of giving this money to teleote
out in Nova Scotia. Why don't we have
[55:06] our our residents here do the voting? It
can't be that complicated and training
[55:10] can't be that hard, you know. Let's keep
the money inside the township,
[55:16] you know. Um
uh you can also have a hybrid system for
[55:21] those people that are gung-ho on getting
you know I want to use my computer and
[55:25] my and my uh iPhone. Okay, let them do
that. And for the people that listen I
[55:30] want to I want to have paper ballots.
I'm familiar with that and I am more
[55:34] trustworthy of that. Let's have that.
um
[55:40] you know I I mean here we've council's
only given us one choice and I mean and
[55:46] it's to use the teleote and that's not
really fair you know in a democracy you
[55:52] know people have choices you know and I
[55:59] I know in communist countries you're
assigned a dictator in democracies we
[56:05] get to elect a dictator
So we don't want that to happen, you
[56:09] know. So I mean
is there a possibility that we can
[56:16] adjust this somehow?
[56:21] » I don't believe at this stage. I think
it's it's too late. I I I'll just I'll
[56:25] just maybe I was writing a few notes
down as you were talking. Are are you
[56:29] all you are you done or I'll let
>> Yeah, go ahead. It's going to be a very
[56:33] short mark.
>> Okay. So, so, um, I believe it's a set
[56:37] fee. Um, and I'll maybe let Sarah answer
some of these questions. And I think the
[56:42] savings was roughly about 30,000, I
believe. Um,
[56:46] » I guess about 30,000 savings by going
this route.
[56:50] » 30,000 savings.
>> Yes, I believe total cost.
[56:52] » I think that's I'm not sure what the
total cost is, but I'll maybe let Sarah
[56:56] add to that. Um, and I know as far as
electronic, um, we've actually our votes
[57:03] have been counted electronically the
last three terms, I believe. So, you had
[57:08] the paper vote and you put it in.
>> That's tabulation.
[57:11] » Yeah. And it was tabulated like
electronically.
[57:13] » Yeah. But that's something different.
>> Yep. But anyway, that's that's the way
[57:16] it was done. We actually took that
computer chip, it's actually a jump
[57:20] drive, took it out, put it in our
computer, and that's how the vote. So it
[57:23] it was theoretically it's still counted
counted the same way pretty much. Um
[57:29] just just the other part um and and like
I say, I'll let maybe Sarah um talk a
[57:34] little bit more about it, but um I guess
in this in this world and and I don't do
[57:39] e transfers. I let the wife do that. But
but even um I don't know even know if
[57:44] you were at uh I'm not sure if you were
still at our work when they
[57:48] electronically put your you never got a
paycheck anymore and it was
[57:52] electronically put right into your bank
account, right? So it's it's really it's
[57:55] the same somebody has your information
out there and and that's that's where
[58:00] our society is going. Um, I did I
mention here when we were going to this
[58:05] that I found it odd that you know I had
to go to to uh when I went there I had
[58:11] to show my ID and it was to a relative
of of my wife's that I had to show my ID
[58:16] and my name's on the ballot and I found
it kind of odd that I had to do that and
[58:20] now with the new new system you you get
a code and everything and and
[58:24] » that's only nine digits or 10 digits,
right?
[58:26] » Yeah. And we only get
>> easily hackable. We only get uh um about
[58:32] 30% of the people that vote. That's
that's almost standard um everywhere.
[58:37] It's about 30%.
>> There's 26 of us.
[58:40] » Yeah. So people people don't vote. So
the the thoughts around the table here
[58:45] and I think it was unanimous at the time
is that uh hopefully this gets people to
[58:50] vote. Realistically there's no excuse
not to vote but now there's absolutely
[58:56] zero excuse not to vote. Um, and as far
as choices, you do have a choice. You
[59:02] can actually come here. Um, on the day
of the election, there's going to be,
[59:06] and it's just posted it, there's
actually a flyer right there. There's
[59:09] going to be, uh, in, uh, Platsville,
Dumbo, and Princeton, there's going to
[59:14] be a spot where you can go on a specific
day. You can go there. You don't have to
[59:18] use your device if you if you don't
wish. They'll have a device there for
[59:22] you.
>> Oh, okay.
[59:22] » You can Yeah. So, this has just just
come out uh um this week. Um, so you can
[59:28] actually go there. You don't have to use
your cell phone if you don't have a cell
[59:30] phone or a tablet. You can go there. You
have uh you'll have in the mail you'll
[59:35] get a specific uh code that's to you. I
think the password is your birthday. Is
[59:40] that correct? So you can actually go
there. All you have to do is put your
[59:44] birthday in. It's no different than
showing your ID at the
[59:46] » So you don't have to use your It's like
tabulation.
[59:49] » That's right. So you don't have to use
your own. You can uh And on election
[59:52] day, you can come here to the office as
well. There'll be tablets set up here
[59:56] probably down here I'm presuming
somewhere and and uh you can come and
[1:00:01] use our tablets here our cell phones uh
you or you don't have to use your cell
[1:00:04] phone it'll be our tablets you can do
your thing and walk out the door so that
[1:00:09] way you're not copyright
>> now where is the chain of custody kept
[1:00:13] of the votes
all the tabulations who gets that is
[1:00:17] that Intellivote
>> I'll let I'll let Sarah answer that
[1:00:20] » so Intellivote is a web-based platform
that would have all the results of the
[1:00:26] election and know who voted but not how
they voted.
[1:00:30] » Um the the chain of command I believe
you're referring to like the data where
[1:00:35] is it stored?
>> Yes.
[1:00:37] » Um it would be stored on that
Intellivote system
[1:00:40] » and they keep it but we don't.
>> So if there's a dispute or if there's
[1:00:46] uh a recount who does a recount?
So if it's I I can let you answer too,
[1:00:52] but if and tell me if I'm wrong here,
but it it's the same like so before when
[1:00:57] we did the you know the paper in and it
tabulated
[1:01:01] » for a recount I believe unless it's in
within has to be back then I think it
[1:01:05] had to be within so many votes. It's
just done exactly the same way. So those
[1:01:08] paper copies will go back in
>> and it'll be done as exactly the same
[1:01:12] way. So on a recount it'll just be what
the numbers come from there. Right.
[1:01:17] » The televote system would recount. Yes.
Yes.
[1:01:20] » So there's no data going to be kept by
Intellivote
[1:01:24] uh for uh email
or telephone numbers.
[1:01:29] » Okay. Okay. Cuz I know some people are
concerned about this. You know, you're
[1:01:33] opening up your
>> you know sometimes your financial wallet
[1:01:38] that's held in your phone or in your
computer. Like I I don't do anything
[1:01:42] sensitive on a computer. I want to see I
want physical
[1:01:46] » just type guy.
>> I haven't gone with the times yet
[1:01:48] either. So, we're we're in the same
boat.
[1:01:50] » We'll vote together, Mark.
>> I don't I don't do the e transfer
[1:01:53] either. It's a good thing I don't
because I'd have a lot of stuff out of
[1:01:56] my house that I don't need if I had e
transfer. So,
[1:01:58] » Oh, we're clearing junk out of our mail
all the time and trying to get rid of
[1:02:02] these people. You can't do it.
>> Yeah, but I think I think um I trusted
[1:02:08] that it's secure. Um that's that's my
belief. Um I'm really hoping when the
[1:02:13] data comes in that the numbers are up
from where we are. Um,
[1:02:18] I'm not not totally confident that
numbers will be up, but I I honestly
[1:02:23] hope that those numbers of people
voting. And my biggest concern was that
[1:02:28] we were going to take away the voting of
the older people that don't do the
[1:02:33] electronic thing and bring the yellow
one, the younger ones on board. I want
[1:02:38] both to do it. So that's why it's it's,
you know, they can still be able to come
[1:02:42] here and vote and be able to go to a a
station to vote as well.
[1:02:47] » I I know the younger crowd, they like
their technology. Oh,
[1:02:51] » sorry.
Things got to be getting closer.
[1:02:55] » Yeah.
>> I I know the younger crowd, they feel
[1:02:58] like our generation is throwing them
under the bus and they go, you know
[1:03:01] what? Why vote? What difference is it
going to make? you know, they're saying,
[1:03:06] "Well, it's not the vote that counts,
it's who counts the votes." And, you
[1:03:12] know, that's their attitude, but, you
know, I understand what, you know,
[1:03:16] council is saying. You know,
>> let's see if we can get more activity
[1:03:19] and more people responding to this.
>> Yeah.
[1:03:23] » Yeah. You know, it should be a civic
duty, too, you know, Mark. But but
[1:03:28] anyways, um if Sarah she can give me
just a $30,000 savings, can I get a
[1:03:34] final figure or like what actually is it
cost in this?
[1:03:37] » I would have to check and get back to
you on that. Unfortunately, I don't have
[1:03:40] the price
>> here available to me right now.
[1:03:43] » Yeah.
>> Yeah. If I if I I think it's right
[1:03:46] around the savings was about 30,000 I
believe. I'm just
[1:03:50] » Yeah. But
>> yeah,
[1:03:51] » let's say we got 100,000 and usually we
pay 130,000. And so we got a $30,000
[1:03:56] savings, like I want to know, like
$100,000 to
[1:04:00] » Yeah.
>> You know, uh to train people to be, you
[1:04:04] know, uh what do they call them?
>> Uh working in the voting polls.
[1:04:09] » Yeah.
>> You know, I I usually just see somebody
[1:04:11] at the front with a role book and when
you come in, you show your ID, they
[1:04:15] stroke your name off, give you a ballot,
and then you go there and then you stick
[1:04:18] it in the ballot. And it's a really
simple process. And I
[1:04:22] » just wonder like we've got a fairly
small township.
[1:04:25] » Yeah.
>> Yep. Go ahead.
[1:04:27] » Three, Mr. Mayor. Two members of
council. I just wanted to add a few uh a
[1:04:30] few points. The uh the Association of
Municipal Clerks and Treasures of
[1:04:33] Ontario did a really comprehensive
report summarizing um I guess it be 12
[1:04:38] years of data on electronic voting when
that became common place in the province
[1:04:43] um for the first time in 2014. And I I
think a few of the stats that really
[1:04:47] stuck out to this council when they made
the previous decision um had to do with,
[1:04:52] you know, the increasing commonality of
online voting. It being generally
[1:04:56] regarded as a success. And I think that
uh that broad success that we're
[1:05:00] noticing across the province has nothing
to do with the cost savings. I mean, I
[1:05:04] think it was it was evident here that,
you know, you can't put a price on
[1:05:07] democracy. The cost savings was a uh
>> was certainly a benefit, but it
[1:05:12] certainly didn't influence the decision.
I think the largest part of online
[1:05:15] voting, having been a clerk myself for,
you know, previous to this position for
[1:05:18] almost a decade, um, is accessibility.
You know, especially in rural
[1:05:22] municipalities when you don't have a
single growth center where the majority
[1:05:26] of your population is centralized.
having that ability for folks to to cast
[1:05:31] their ballot remotely. Yeah.
>> Or to visit a you know a range of
[1:05:34] different locations or you know in the
absence of polls like in a municipality
[1:05:38] such as Blandford Benham
>> um greatly enhances the accessibility of
[1:05:42] an election and formed a large part of
this council's decision. I guess it
[1:05:45] would have been last year at this point.
>> So I I just wanted to make that really
[1:05:49] clear that the you know the cost savings
as much as it was highlighted and it's a
[1:05:53] you know the reason that Sarah doesn't
have the number off the top of her head
[1:05:55] is because it's a per elector fee. So, I
believe it works out to 85 cents per
[1:05:59] elector if I'm remembering correctly on
what the So, we didn't have our full
[1:06:02] elector count. We don't know what that
true cost is of the election, but it was
[1:06:06] never about the cost savings. It was
always about the
[1:06:09] » um you know, the accessibility, the hope
that you're going to increase voter
[1:06:12] turnout and uh you know, still being
able to have those physical locations
[1:06:16] where people can come and uh can come
and visit a poll. I mean, I remember
[1:06:20] running the the last municipal election
in the town of Elmer, and it was uh it
[1:06:24] was the first time that they had run uh
online voting. And some of the feedback
[1:06:28] that we heard from individuals that were
visiting the voter assistance center,
[1:06:31] which is exactly what we'll have here,
is that as much as they, you know, had
[1:06:35] the skills or the ability to cast their
ballot online, they still wanted to
[1:06:38] visit a physical location. They liked
the social aspect of going out and
[1:06:42] voting. And I think, uh, you know, our
clerk's team have done a really good job
[1:06:45] of sort of preserving that that
sentiment as a part of this election.
[1:06:49] And we're hopeful that the uh you know
the enhanced accessibility for this
[1:06:52] election will have a positive impact on
voter turnout.
[1:06:54] » Yeah, we you're right because it's a
social event. You know, in days gone by
[1:06:58] we didn't have internet. You know,
entertainment didn't come into your home
[1:07:02] like it does nowadays where you know and
it's it's a way to meet your neighbors
[1:07:06] and friends you haven't seen for a while
or farmers and you know it was a social
[1:07:11] event and I kind of like that too, you
know.
[1:07:14] » Hope we'll see you here.
>> Yeah.
[1:07:17] Well, okay. councilors, thank you much.
Thanks very much for your time and your
[1:07:22] service and good luck in the elections.
>> Thank you, Max. Thanks a lot.
[1:07:25] » Okay, go ahead.
>> We'd hereby resolve that the delegation
[1:07:30] from Max Mashki, resident, regarding
security of the 2026 municipal election
[1:07:34] be received as information.
>> Okay. Could I get a mover in a second,
[1:07:38] please? By councelor Young, second by
councelor Demerest. Any comments? All in
[1:07:42] favor? And opposed, if any. And that's
carried. I'm just going to take about a
[1:07:47] one minute, maybe a two-minute break,
maybe longer. I want to touch base with
[1:07:52] a couple people here and make sure that
these alarms that are coming, we don't
[1:07:55] have something coming right behind us.
So, I'm just going to take a very quick
[1:07:58] break and uh make sure that we're all
safe cuz I don't want anybody to uh not
[1:08:03] get out of here. So, if we can just do
that quickly and do that. Okay.
[1:08:40] Okay. Just like staff need to get home,
right?
[1:08:43] » Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
>> So,
[1:08:45] » we'll do this. We'll do this. We'll do
this very as quick as we possibly can.
[1:08:48] Absolutely. Okay. Uh where are we now?
We'll go back to planning. If you want
[1:08:55] to go ahead with that resolution. Be it
hereby resolve that council move into
[1:08:59] committee of adjustment at 5:04 p.m. and
further that mayor Peterson chair the
[1:09:03] public meeting.
>> Okay. Can I get a mover in a second
[1:09:05] please? Moved by councelor Demer second
by councelor Banbury. All in favor? Post
[1:09:09] if any and that's carried. Okay. I'm
officially opening this public meeting
[1:09:13] which is being held under the planning
act for the purpose of hearing minor
[1:09:16] varance applications allowing for any
person in attendance the opportunity to
[1:09:20] make a presentation to council. like to
advise those in attendance that if you
[1:09:23] wish to receive notification of the
committee's decision, they should sign
[1:09:26] the sheet on the shelf by the door at
the rear of the room. Would like to
[1:09:29] advise those in attendance that the
Ontario Land Tribunal has a power to
[1:09:32] dismiss an appeal if an appellent is not
provided the committee with oral
[1:09:36] submissions at a public meeting or
written submission before decision has
[1:09:39] been rendered by the committee. I would
now ask committee members to state any
[1:09:43] disclosure or peculiar interest and
general nature thereof.
[1:09:47] Not seeing any. There is one application
to be heard today. MVA04-26
[1:09:52] for Greg Voyen Investment Corporation
for a property located at 104 Hill
[1:09:57] Cresant. And Dustin, if you could
present that.
[1:09:59] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and good
afternoon, uh, members of council,
[1:10:02] staff, and those in attendance here
today. The application before you
[1:10:05] concerns a currently vacant lot
approximately 831 m square in size, and
[1:10:11] it's located in what's locally known as
the Platville estate subdivision. Um
[1:10:15] council was likely aware that the
plastois estate subdivision is in
[1:10:18] various stages of development at this
time. Um but this lot is vacant. The
[1:10:24] proposal before you is for a single
detached dwelling and a variance is
[1:10:28] being requested in order to allow a
reduction to the exterior side yard from
[1:10:32] 7.5 m to 6.8 m. Uh council may be
wondering where the exterior sideyard
[1:10:38] is. Well, that's on the west side.
However, at this time, there is no road
[1:10:43] built on the west side of the property,
but in the future, if the subdivision
[1:10:47] were to be expanded, there would be a
road extended. So, we can look at this
[1:10:51] as a preemptive application
um to deal with this now rather than
[1:10:55] wait to a road actually be developed. As
a result of the circulations to
[1:11:00] departments and agencies, no comments
were received, nor were any comments
[1:11:04] received as a result of the public
circulation.
[1:11:08] uh planning staff have reviewed the
application and in our opinion it is
[1:11:12] supportable. Um it there is sufficient
space that will still exist between the
[1:11:17] eventual road and the uh single detached
dwelling itself and the director of
[1:11:22] public works has indicated there
wouldn't be any concerns in terms of
[1:11:24] maintenance for that future road. Uh the
future sight triangle which would be
[1:11:29] located on the uh southwest um portion
of the property uh will be maintained as
[1:11:35] the driveway in the garage would be
located on the east side of the
[1:11:38] property.
As council may recall from last year uh
[1:11:42] a similar request was asked for 77
workman Crescent which is south of the
[1:11:47] subject lands. Um and in our opinion
this request is very similar to that as
[1:11:52] and would not be out of uh the ordinary
in this this neighborhood. So with all
[1:11:57] that being said, we are here to
recommend approval of the application.
[1:12:04] Okay. Uh does the applicant uh have any
comments or anything to say concerning
[1:12:09] the application, the recommendations or
the conditions outlined in this report?
[1:12:14] I'm not seeing anything. Uh do any
members of the committee have any
[1:12:18] questions or comments they wish to make?
Not see any. Uh, is there any person
[1:12:23] from the audience who wishes to provide
comments in support or opposition of
[1:12:27] this application? And if so, please
state your name and address as you rise
[1:12:30] to speak to this issue.
Not seeing anything. Okay.
[1:12:36] Uh, is there a verbal motion from the
committee to accept this application
[1:12:40] with conditions noted or to deny the
application? Okay. Councelor Demer.
[1:12:44] Okay. Uh, moved by councelor Demer,
second by councelor Banbury um to accept
[1:12:48] this application. All in favor? opposed
if any and that's carried. That was
[1:12:54] unanimous. Uh and one thing that I
forgot to do while we're passing this
[1:13:00] around, I need a uh committee of
adjustments uh minutes for August 5th. I
[1:13:06] need a verbal move by councelor Demer,
second by
[1:13:11] councelor Barnes. All in favor and
opposed if any. And that's carried.
[1:13:16] Okay.
[1:13:19] Be it hereby resolved that the committee
rise at 5:08 p.m. and that the open
[1:13:25] council meeting resumes.
>> Okay. Could I get a move in a second?
[1:13:28] Moved by council bar and second by
council Young. All in favor? Opposed if
[1:13:31] any. And that's carried. Okay. And our
second. We have a resolution. Go ahead.
[1:13:43] Be it hereby resolve that council move
into public meeting under the P planning
[1:13:46] act to consider one application for zone
change that in 12603 high view estate
[1:13:50] limited and further that mayor Peterson
chair the public meeting
[1:13:53] » okay move in a second please moved by
councelor Demer second by councelor
[1:13:56] Banberry all in favor opposed if any and
that's carried I'm officially opening
[1:14:00] this public meeting which is being held
under the planning act for the purpose
[1:14:03] of hearing an application for a zone
change in the township of blander Benham
[1:14:07] like to advise those in attendance that
the atera land tribunal has power to
[1:14:10] dismiss an appeal and if appellant has
not provided council with oral
[1:14:14] submissions at a public meeting or
written submissions before a bylaws
[1:14:16] pause passed pursuant to recent changes
under bill 185 appeals are now generally
[1:14:22] limited to the applicant or registered
owner a public body specific persons or
[1:14:26] the minister
like to ask those in attendance that if
[1:14:30] you wish to receive notification of
council's decision should sign the sheet
[1:14:33] by the door at the rear of the room and
please include your email address to
[1:14:37] receive future correspondence. Now ask
council member to state any disclosure
[1:14:40] of peculiar interest or general nature
thereof. Not see any. There is one
[1:14:45] application being considered today. an
application for an official plan
[1:14:48] amendment and zone change ZN1-2603
High View Estates Limited for the lands
[1:14:53] legally described as lot 16 part lots 15
and 17 concession 9 Ben Blenham which
[1:15:02] are to be partially reszoned from
general agricultural zone A2 to special
[1:15:06] rural residential zone RSP and Dustin if
you can present that please.
[1:15:10] » Thank you Mr. Mayor. Uh for council's
information on August 6th, 2016, the
[1:15:15] land division committee approved
severance B26291,
[1:15:20] which looked to sever 136 acres of
agricultural land, convey it to the farm
[1:15:24] to the east, and would retain 2 acres of
land, which would be a rural residential
[1:15:30] uh property. Uh the existing single
detached dwelling would would remain on
[1:15:35] the lot to be retained as well. Uh the
proposal in front of you here today is
[1:15:39] to reszone the retain lot which is a
2acre parcel from A2 to an RR special
[1:15:45] zone and that RR special zone is
required in order to uh permit a reduced
[1:15:50] um lot frontage from 35 m down to 10 m
as a result of this circulation to
[1:15:56] departments and agencies. No comments
were received nor were any comments
[1:15:59] received as a result of the public
circulation.
[1:16:02] Uh both the severance application and
the zone change application have been
[1:16:06] reviewed by planning staff and we are of
the opinion that the proposal is
[1:16:10] compliant with both the PPS and the
official plan. Uh the resulting farm
[1:16:15] parcel will still allow for flexibility
in various farm types in the future and
[1:16:20] the resulting residential lot is
sufficient in terms of size to allow for
[1:16:24] the amenity space that's required
off-site parking and private services as
[1:16:28] well. Uh the the requested 10 m frontage
has been reviewed by staff and we
[1:16:34] believe in this uh instance it is
sufficient. Um it will be sufficient to
[1:16:38] allow for emergency access and no
concerns have been raised as a result of
[1:16:42] circulation into departments and
agencies and we are here recommending
[1:16:46] approval in principle tonight and once
we have received um the necessary uh
[1:16:52] survey uh we will bring this back for
future consideration by council. Um I
[1:16:58] will note that this uh property is
subject to two severances not just the
[1:17:02] one I mentioned. Um the first seance
which was B uh B26
[1:17:08] 211 I believe uh has to be finished
first before the second severance can be
[1:17:13] completed. So that's why we're here
recommending an approval in principle
[1:17:16] and we'll come back at a later date.
>> Okay. Thank you. Are there any uh
[1:17:22] planning questions from council
regarding the staff report?
[1:17:26] No, I see. Does the applicant or agent
wish to speak regarding this
[1:17:30] application?
Okay. Um, are there any members of
[1:17:35] council that have any questions or
require any further information?
[1:17:39] Are there any interested parties in
attendance wish to speak to this
[1:17:42] application? Oh, I see any. Um, do see
uh nothing there. Any final comments or
[1:17:49] questions from council? Nope. This
application will be dealt with by
[1:17:53] council at it regular meeting following
this public meeting. I will officially
[1:17:56] close this public meeting and a
resolution to rise.
[1:17:59] » It hereby resolve that the public
meeting be adjourned and that the
[1:18:02] regular meeting of council reconvene.
>> Okay. Can I get a mover in second,
[1:18:05] please? Move by councelor Demer second
by councelor Young. All in favor and
[1:18:09] opposed if any. And that's carried.
Okay. And then you'll have
[1:18:13] » be it hereby resolve that the council of
the township of Bford Blenham approve
[1:18:17] principle the zone change application
submitted by high view estate limited
[1:18:20] file number ZN12603
whereby the lands described as lot 16
[1:18:25] part lots 15 and 17 concession 9 blenham
are to be partially reszoned from
[1:18:30] general agricultural zone A2 to special
rural residential zone RSP.
[1:18:35] » Okay. Can I get a move in a second
please? Moved by councelor Barnes.
[1:18:38] Second by councelor Young. All in favor
post if any. And that's Carrie. Thank
[1:18:42] you. Um, okay. So, we're into I'm just
going to maybe ask uh CEO here. Um, as
[1:18:51] we go through, I'm I'm a little
concerned about this weather that keeps
[1:18:54] popping up. Um, is there stuff here um
as I get to it, if there's stuff that we
[1:19:00] can push off to the next meeting that
isn't um 100% needs to be on here, I'm
[1:19:06] just kind of recommending that maybe we
go there. Um I'm just wondering about
[1:19:10] your thoughts. I don't want to see
anybody get stuck here um in this
[1:19:14] weather.
>> Certainly. Uh thank you for that, Mr.
[1:19:17] Mayor. To members of council, um you
know, this is this is your agenda.
[1:19:20] Certainly understand the uh the
rationale behind that. My recommendation
[1:19:24] might be to receive some of the monthly
reports for information. Um perhaps
[1:19:28] members of council could just ask
questions directly if they have them
[1:19:31] » and that would save the uh the
presentation time.
[1:19:34] » Okay. All right. If there's anything
that that staff wants to
[1:19:39] say in their thing, go ahead and do it.
Okay, let's do the uh correspondence
[1:19:43] very quickly. Um, go ahead, Sarah.
>> Be it hereby resolved that the general
[1:19:49] correspondence items be received as
information.
[1:19:52] » Okay. Can I get a mover in second,
please? Uh, move by councelor Dammer,
[1:19:55] second by councelor Bber Mayberry,
[clears throat]
[1:19:58] Mayberry Banbury. All in favor and
opposing and that's carried.
[1:20:05] » [laughter]
>> Thank you.
[1:20:09] » Okay. Um, so our next staff report is
Adams.
[1:20:14] I'll
>> jump in there real quick.
[1:20:18] » Good evening, council. Uh, I've just got
a section 78 request to bring to
[1:20:24] council. Um, it's for uh covering a
portion of the Millville drain on
[1:20:30] Highway 2. Um to do so this will require
a new engineers report under section 78.
[1:20:37] Uh to do that we will have to advise
GRCA of the proposed drainage work.
[1:20:41] » Okay. Council okay with that? Any
questions or comments on it?
[1:20:47] » Okay. Go ahead.
>> Be it hereby resolve that report DS2601
[1:20:50] be received as information and further
that council instruct staff to notify
[1:20:53] GRC of their intent to appoint the
engineer under section 78 of the
[1:20:57] drainage act for the Melville drain.
>> Okay. I move a second please. It's moved
[1:21:01] by councelor Young, second by councelor
Demerest. All in favor? Post if any
[1:21:06] carry. Jim Borton.
[1:21:12] Yeah.
[1:21:16] Afternoon, council.
Um, looking at the radar and the
[1:21:20] warning, it is for a thunderstorm, high
winds event.
[1:21:24] » Um, most of it looks to be more to the
north of us, but um, they are
[1:21:28] recommending if something does happen to
take shelter. So,
[1:21:31] » okay,
>> as a precaution, beware.
[1:21:34] » Okay.
>> Uh, first report is for a four-way stop
[1:21:39] at Center Street and Pinkham. Um, this
was brought forward during a public
[1:21:44] meeting that we had for a um subdivision
application on Henry Street. Um, staff
[1:21:50] looked at this. We did some traffic
counts. Um,
[1:21:55] very low. Uh, most of the concern
[1:22:00] I can't override it. Sorry.
>> That's a loud one.
[1:22:03] » Sorry about that. And and my notifier is
off. So, but and I can't override it.
[1:22:09] » You know what? Shakes like
[laughter]
[1:22:13] » it might blow away in a minute.
>> I've got it on do not disturb, but if
[1:22:17] it's an emergency alert, it goes
through. Yeah. Sorry.
[1:22:21] » That's okay. Um most of the concerns
were um raised during um large events
[1:22:28] being held at the park when there sees
the most traffic. We did leave our
[1:22:32] traffic counters out during an event um
over the weekend. However, um looking at
[1:22:39] all that data, it did not meet um the
our TAC guidelines uh which is the uh
[1:22:46] transportation of Canada guidelines. Um
however under the municipal act uh
[1:22:51] municipality does have the authority to
uh create a bylaw to um enact uh a
[1:23:00] four-way stop where they deem necessary.
Um I did pull collision data. There
[1:23:05] wasn't anything in the last 5 years.
However, speaking with residents along
[1:23:10] that area, um many of them either
witnessed or were involved with um close
[1:23:17] calls. Um, the biggest one that I heard
was everybody already thinks that it's a
[1:23:22] four-way stop. So, they're stopped on
Center Street, they see a vehicle coming
[1:23:25] on Pinkham, they automatically think
that they're going to stop. Um,
[1:23:29] fortunately, it is 50 km residential
um a narrow uh not a long street where
[1:23:36] there's not a lot of speed being built
up. Typically, they're turning on center
[1:23:39] street anyways. So, both vehicles have
time to react when they realize that the
[1:23:43] other one isn't stopping, which is why
we don't have the collision data. Um so
[1:23:48] at this time staff is recommending um
that we do move that to a four-way stop
[1:23:53] rather than the current stop that is
only on Center Street. Um
[1:23:59] very low budget items for stop signs,
line painting um can be absorbed with
[1:24:04] the 2026 um current operating budget.
>> Any questions on their comments? Council
[1:24:11] » um I guess not so much a question as
it's as just a comment. We don't, you
[1:24:16] know, we don't always have an
opportunity to be preemptive about these
[1:24:19] things.
>> And um I know this is a a big concern
[1:24:23] for um you people that that live along
th those two streets and and you know
[1:24:27] it's not anecdotal. They're seeing
what's happening. Um I appreciate that
[1:24:31] we you know we need traffic studies and
those sort of things, but I think in
[1:24:34] this instance, like you said, low it's
low cost and um I think it'll bring
[1:24:39] comfort. That park's not going to get
any less busy. um with the development
[1:24:45] that's going on, etc. You know, we're
just going to get more traffic over
[1:24:49] time. So, you know, I think it's I think
it's a good uh it's a good idea.
[1:24:55] » The one thing I like about it, I know we
always talk about the TA I think it's
[1:24:58] TAC analysis and stuff, but sometimes
I've always said this, sometimes common
[1:25:03] sense has to go over numbers. I think
it's a good one. Um I think I know for a
[1:25:10] fact there's more coming. um Mil Street
in Platsville. I've had several
[1:25:15] conversations about moving some four-way
stops and I know that they've sent that
[1:25:19] into that Oxford County. So, there's
going to be more coming. Um uh you know,
[1:25:25] to delay somebody a matter of a few
seconds. If it saves a life, it's 100%
[1:25:29] worth it. So, anything else? Okay, go
ahead. He had hereby resolve that report
[1:25:34] PW2615 be received as information and
further that council approve the
[1:25:38] installation of the four-way stop at
Center Street and Pinkham Street.
[1:25:42] » Okay, move in a second, please. Moved by
councelor Barnes, second by councelor
[1:25:45] Demers. Any comments? All in favor?
Opposed if any. And that's carried. So
[1:25:50] the monthly reports we're just going to
receive as information if anybody
[1:25:53] » if I could just add one little comment
um for the monthly report. I know um
[1:25:58] everyone has been curious about the the
fill. Um the majority of the fill has
[1:26:03] been moved. Um we will should be
finished this month or this month this
[1:26:08] week. Um moving the remainder of the
fill. Um as we know construction will be
[1:26:12] starting in Princeton. Um they started
moving in this week with some work being
[1:26:16] done but all the fill so all the heavy
trucks will not be driving on any of the
[1:26:21] top lift asphalt. That will all be done.
>> So I know council was had questions on
[1:26:25] that.
Okay. Anything else on his monthly?
[1:26:29] » Nope. Go ahead.
>> Be it hereby resolve that report PW2617
[1:26:33] be received as information.
>> Okay. You can move in a second, please.
[1:26:36] Moved by councelor Demer, second by
council Banberry. All in favor? If
[1:26:40] anyone and that's carried. And your last
one.
[1:26:42] » So this is on uh the township vehicles.
Um so this is an updated report. If you
[1:26:47] remember uh early in June, this report
did come forward. I've added some more
[1:26:52] um information on it. Um, so all our
fleet vehicles now comprise under the
[1:26:58] public works department. Uh, this is
something new, less than a year, just
[1:27:03] over a year old. Um, but typically in
our plan, uh, we have a 10-year life
[1:27:09] expectancy with these pickup trucks. Um
past history has always been um public
[1:27:16] works gets uh a new vehicle 1,500
typically for myself, 2500 for the
[1:27:23] supervisor with the intent that those
vehicles um typically on a 3year cycle
[1:27:28] with public works then go to community
services
[1:27:32] um after that for the remaining 7 years
of the life. public works uses the
[1:27:38] vehicles more and puts higher kilometers
on them. Uh which is typically why we
[1:27:42] would get them as a new vehicle before
they move to community services where um
[1:27:46] the kilometers are less typically in the
winter time. Um they're not being used
[1:27:51] as much. They're sitting around at the
arena so it's a little bit easier to um
[1:27:56] justify those vehicles being over there.
Um
[1:28:01] now that fleet is completely under um
one umbrella, we have the ability to uh
[1:28:07] which now includes um the building as
well as the the drainage vehicles. Um so
[1:28:14] we are now able to use utilize those
vehicles. So
[1:28:19] um for instance
um raised truck for the building we
[1:28:26] bought purchased in 2024.
we could look at moving Trevor's truck
[1:28:30] in or to Trevor's department community
services in 2027 using um the building
[1:28:37] reserve if there was enough funds there
to buy a new vehicle for um the building
[1:28:42] department. Um it takes a little bit
um leniency or less pressure off of the
[1:28:49] public works equipment budget where
typically everything was purchased
[1:28:52] before. Uh gives us some flexibility.
with that flexibility. Uh I'm also
[1:28:58] recommending that um the director's
truck be used also for the
[1:29:06] administration building. Um
we don't need a a truck here. Um I'm
[1:29:14] recommending a Toyota RAV 4. Um Toyota
is one of our main tax graders here. I
[1:29:22] think it would be really good for the a
good look for the township. Um, if we
[1:29:27] move to something like that,
it saves with the opportunity of it
[1:29:32] being here.
It gives other staff members in the
[1:29:36] building an opportunity to use that
vehicle if they're going to a conference
[1:29:40] rather than their personal vehicle. Um,
it'll save operating costs for mileage.
[1:29:46] Um, I did have in here under the
financial report just under $3,000 is
[1:29:52] typically spent per year on mileage. Um,
we recognize at least 50% possibly even
[1:29:57] 75% of that as a savings. Um, the
overall cost at the beginning
[1:30:04] um the SUV 45 to 50,000 right now trucks
are 60 to 65,000. Uh we do have budgeted
[1:30:13] um 60,000 um currently. So there would
be um obviously a capital savings as
[1:30:19] well for that vehicle.
Um maintenance on these vehicles, as I
[1:30:26] said,
this is kind of a new program. Um I've
[1:30:31] looked after it for a year. It's kind of
been spread out before um amongst the
[1:30:36] other departments. So we can see where
this is going to go. This isn't um a
[1:30:42] hard fast 10 years, we get rid of that
vehicle. If we're seeing that the
[1:30:48] vehicle is still has good life in it,
low kilometers on it, low maintenance on
[1:30:54] it, we can look to extend that, use
other vehicles, perhaps push off
[1:31:00] purchasing of a new vehicle. Um it's a
very fluid plan. Um obviously, we'll
[1:31:05] have a lot more data further we get into
the program. Um but yeah, my
[1:31:11] recommendation right now is we move to
uh an SUV that would be utilized by the
[1:31:17] director of public works uh as well as
have the opportunity other staff to use
[1:31:22] that vehicle. Um, and with the
utilization of the trucks coming from
[1:31:27] building and drainage, um, we won't see
any issues transferring those vehicles
[1:31:33] to, uh, community service to ensure that
our fleet requirements are met across
[1:31:39] all departments.
>> Okay. Any questions or comments?
[1:31:45] » Councelor Banbury and then Councelor De.
[clears throat]
[1:31:49] » Excuse me. To you, Mr. Mayor. Um, are we
looking at a a hybrid or a gas power or
[1:31:57] diesel gas or hit a diesel?
>> Yeah. Uh, three, Mr. Mayor. Um, my
[1:32:02] thought is what's been, excuse me, I'll
try and spit this out. What has been
[1:32:07] discussed before is when we have an
opportunity to go green, um, we will
[1:32:13] look at taking advantage of that. So, at
this time with the budget number that we
[1:32:18] have, looking at the the SUVs, um I
would be looking at a hybrid model um
[1:32:24] just for that reason. We don't have the
infrastructure in the township to do
[1:32:28] full electric. Um I'm still not
completely sold on full electric with
[1:32:32] the ranges that they do, but um I
believe at this time a hybrid would be
[1:32:36] warranted.
>> My daughter
[1:32:39] [clears throat]
for she saves an awful lot of money on
[1:32:42] gas.
>> Yeah. Councelor Dmers.
[1:32:45] » Um I just uh I wanted to thank you for
bringing this report back and
[1:32:48] clarifying. Uh makes makes perfect
sense. I also wanted to thank you for uh
[1:32:53] you know taking on um the whole fleet
project. Um because because it has been
[1:32:59] done that way before it there hasn't
been sort of this comprehensive review.
[1:33:03] So I just want to say I appreciate what
you're doing here and and thanks for
[1:33:06] bringing the report back. Um um and
thanks for recognizing that the director
[1:33:10] might not necessarily need it tripped
out. [laughter]
[1:33:13] um 2500
um you know but but to be fair right um
[1:33:19] you you've stepped back from that and
recognized what you really need and and
[1:33:23] that's the solution we're after. So I
just wanted to to to say that I
[1:33:26] appreciate what your recommendation is
here and I I think it's great.
[1:33:32] » Anything else from council?
Have we looked into any
[1:33:37] possibility of Toyota
sponsoring any of it or anything? I I
[1:33:43] know they have in other municipal like
Woodstock I believe got
[1:33:48] I believe they got a this keeps going.
We might have to pause our meeting. Um I
[1:33:53] think uh Woodstock actually did get
something for free from them. I don't
[1:33:58] know. Just just a question but
>> something we can look at.
[1:34:02] » Yeah. And if you actually if you want to
save some money, Drew has a whole pile
[1:34:06] of Toyota Rav 4s sitting in Brightite
that [laughter] maybe we can. I don't
[1:34:09] know how bad they are, but maybe we can
do that.
[1:34:12] » Okay.
>> I was just going to mention that.
[1:34:13] » Yeah, go ahead. Be it hereby resolve
that report PW2618 be received as
[1:34:19] information and that council allow the
director of public works to purchase a
[1:34:23] hybrid SUV style vehicle and further
that the director of public works
[1:34:27] purchases the hybrid SUV in accordance
with the municipal by Ontario
[1:34:31] procurement directive.
>> Okay. Can I get move in a second please?
[1:34:34] Moved by councelor Bry second second by
councelor Demerest. All in favor if any
[1:34:39] and that's carried. Um, I'm just going
to I'm just going to take another pause
[1:34:44] here again. Um, just for another minute
here. I know I may be delaying our
[1:34:48] meeting, but I am very concerned about
these weather warnings that keep coming
[1:34:52] over our phone. And I'm just want to uh
I know I can't I'm not trying to put
[1:34:59] anybody
[1:37:47] Yeah. Okay.
>> Okay. As soon as we're online, you let
[1:37:50] me know.
[1:37:54] » Okay. Due to uh storm uh around us, as
you've probably heard uh everybody with
[1:37:59] our phones going off, we are going to um
resume this meeting tomorrow at 1:30. So
[1:38:05] we will uh leave the meeting now and we
will resume then.
[1:38:10] » Sorry. Did we want that um FC 2611
resolution read? Okay.
[1:38:17] » Be it hereby resolved that council
recess the meeting at 5:33 p.m. and
[1:38:22] further that council will adjourn to
meet again on Thursday, September the
[1:38:27] 3rd at 1:30 p.m.
>> Okay. All in favor? Post if any and
[1:38:32] that's all. You move a second. Moved by
councelor Demer, second by councelor
[1:38:35] Banbury. All in favor? Opposed if any.
And that's carried. We'll see everybody
[1:38:38] tomorrow. Everybody go.
[1:44:14] Okay. All right. We'll start the meeting
up and we acknowledge the land upon
[1:44:18] which we work and live. The First
Nations and their nations have
[1:44:21] recognized our connection to the land,
water, and community. We continue to
[1:44:24] learn, listen, and grow together. Uh,
welcome everybody back. We'll uh see if
[1:44:29] we can finish our meeting without any
stormy weather today. Um where we left
[1:44:33] off was in our report was with uh Trevor
Bear, but unfortunately he can't be here
[1:44:38] for about a few minutes. So we're going
to skip over and start with our director
[1:44:42] of uh protective services, Drew
Davidson, for his uh three reports.
[1:44:48] Welcome, Drew.
[1:44:53] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good morning,
council.
[1:44:58] Uh, first report is the monthly report
for July. Uh, seems a little while ago.
[1:45:05] Uh, it's kind of ironic that the first
thing at the top of the page is talking
[1:45:08] about power outages, but we did have a
storm come through on July 1st as well,
[1:45:13] uh, which we, uh, ended up opening up
some cooling/charging centers uh, around
[1:45:20] the in Platsole and in Princeton. And uh
we did have people attend uh as the word
[1:45:25] got out that they could uh they could
come there. So we learned some lessons
[1:45:29] which we uh took forward into just last
week. So that was uh that was pretty
[1:45:35] good. Uh we did uh our annual testing on
our trucks has been completed. Any truck
[1:45:40] that has a onboard pump permanently uh
has to be annually tested. So that was a
[1:45:44] two-day process where they come out and
we got all our apparatus through that.
[1:45:48] Uh we were the recipients of four
sensory kits and these were provided by
[1:45:53] uh North City Insurance and the fire
safety council and basically what it is
[1:45:58] there's one on uh each pumper now and uh
sometimes we come across situations
[1:46:03] where they can be traumatic and and some
people are overwhelmed and there's some
[1:46:07] sensory kits, some items in there that
we're able to give to the person that's
[1:46:12] maybe having a little difficulty
comprehending what is happening and that
[1:46:15] type of thing. So, just a little toolbox
that's uh that's on the truck to help
[1:46:19] firefighters and the public when we come
across those situations.
[1:46:25] Uh a big one here is uh firefighter
recruitment is coming up here on
[1:46:30] September 21st. Uh we are holding it in
Princeton at station uh 81. Uh it is for
[1:46:36] the entire township. Uh in Princeton uh
there's four firefighters. Drumble.
[1:46:41] There's one and we're looking for two in
Bright. And the uh the reason is not uh
[1:46:48] surprising uh that we're looking for
more in Princeton right at this moment.
[1:46:52] Uh over the years uh Platsville and
Drumble have gone through the turnover
[1:46:57] where the the senior firefighters have
retired and and new ones have come on.
[1:47:02] And that's happening now in Princeton as
well where the members that have been on
[1:47:06] 15 20 years, they're they're starting to
retire. they they wanted to see the the
[1:47:10] building open and then and that was
their their saving the go out in a blaze
[1:47:15] of glory there. So we are looking for
four. That's kind of why the the bigger
[1:47:20] number is in Princeton there. So
hopefully uh if you're available uh on
[1:47:24] the Monday evening, come out and uh
there's an information evening there. Uh
[1:47:29] one thing that is not on here uh we are
at the the farm show is next week. Uh as
[1:47:34] was mentioned before, Blford Bunn will
be representing on the Tuesday which is
[1:47:38] the 15th. So if you're there on the
Tuesday, uh please come around the
[1:47:41] information tent and uh we will have one
fire apparatus there as well for fire
[1:47:46] protection on the Tuesday. So with that,
that's the monthly report for July.
[1:47:52] » Okay, any questions on the report?
[1:47:57] » Not seeing any. Okay.
>> We hereby resolve that report FC2609
[1:48:03] be received as information.
>> Okay. Can I get a mover in a second,
[1:48:06] please? Moved by councelor Bry. Second.
Moved by councelor Demer. Second by
[1:48:10] councelor Banbury. Uh any comments at
all? All in favor and opposed if any.
[1:48:16] And that's carried. Thank you, Drew. And
your next one.
[1:48:19] » Next report is a wrap-up report on camp
85 which was held uh July 7th to 11th
[1:48:24] there. And uh it's crazy. planning has
already started for next year, but uh
[1:48:30] yeah, this was the fourth year that we
were uh that we held the camp. Um to
[1:48:35] date, we have had 80 youth uh go through
our program. So, I think that's uh
[1:48:39] that's excellent for something that
we've uh only had around for four years.
[1:48:44] Uh again, we have learned some lessons,
some different tweaks that we're having
[1:48:49] going to do next year. uh next year is
for uh the young males in the uh
[1:48:55] township and it will be held July 6th to
the 10th. Uh I would like to thank
[1:49:01] everybody in the community uh staff and
the council for supporting this uh
[1:49:06] coming out. Uh we even uh had our deputy
mayor uh do a few words at graduation uh
[1:49:12] that day. So thank you for that.
uh we are one very interesting thing is
[1:49:18] just the way that the uh doesn't matter
if it's uh the young ladies or young men
[1:49:23] that join that come to that it's just
the camaraderie that comes very quickly
[1:49:27] um just a quick story of what part of
that uh we had two people that were from
[1:49:32] out of the township uh down towards
Ingresol didn't know each other at all
[1:49:37] um ended up uh talking on the first day
and the rest of the the time they
[1:49:42] carpooled together it was just they got
to know that, you know, it's just the
[1:49:45] way we come together. The firefighters
that take time, take holidays, their
[1:49:49] regular um jobs to come and support this
uh is just fantastic. There's some
[1:49:54] pictures there. OP, EMS, everyone that
comes around there. Uh we had 16 uh
[1:49:59] participants this year. Uh we were at 18
unfortunately last minute a couple of
[1:50:03] them couldn't couldn't attend, but uh uh
again it was an overwhelming success for
[1:50:08] the township. Uh actually last week uh I
was in Drumble and looked at the
[1:50:13] sidewalk. I'm like that t-shirt looks
familiar and there's a couple green
[1:50:16] t-shirts from volunteers that were at
the camp. So we're getting the name out
[1:50:19] there. Um and I I think it's just a
resounding success for the township. So
[1:50:24] that that's uh kind of the wrap-up on
camp 85.
[1:50:28] » Any questions on it at all?
>> I I just have a quick question, Drew. Um
[1:50:34] when if our numbers are aiming for 20
and um you can't fill that 20 with
[1:50:40] residents in Blford Blendum then you
will put it outside. Is that kind of
[1:50:45] what how that will look? If if you can't
fill that with
[1:50:49] » Yeah. And uh last year uh right at the
last minute we'll be a little more
[1:50:53] prepared this year. Uh we were at the
high school and what was the career day
[1:50:57] uh Trevor? It the career day that was at
the high school. We had some pamphlets
[1:51:01] there. So this year we're going to be a
little more prepared and that was at
[1:51:04] which high school was that or that was
at the
[1:51:07] » expo?
>> At the career expo there type idea where
[1:51:09] they bring the youth through. So um we
want to get the word out more. Uh yes
[1:51:15] playing for blend residents will always
have first crack at being at the camp
[1:51:18] but if we have to fill those spots we
want to get the word out a little bit
[1:51:21] more.
>> Yeah.
[1:51:22] » And I you just made me think this as as
you said that about the career fair. Um
[1:51:27] there probably is an opportunity to even
share it at the high schools because
[1:51:30] there's not many of them that our our
township would
[1:51:35] » Yes.
>> attend. So we could probably look at
[1:51:38] that if needed as well.
>> Absolutely. And and the more that um
[1:51:42] participants that come through this are
in the high schools and talk about wear
[1:51:45] the t-shirts, ask the questions,
>> um I don't think we'll have a a problem
[1:51:49] at all of filling those spots.
>> Yeah. Awesome. Thanks.
[1:51:53] » Any other questions?
Nope.
[1:51:56] » We hereby resolve that report FC 2610 be
received as information.
[1:52:01] » Can I get a move in a second? Moved by
councelor Barnes, second by councelor uh
[1:52:04] Demerst. Any comments at all?
Just make a quick one. I know I I was
[1:52:10] away on holidays for one day and had
something else at the end, but I try to
[1:52:13] stop in to them and the one thing and I
think I've said this before is that um
[1:52:18] how I see them all laughing and and and
having a good time, but when the when
[1:52:23] the actually events come on that the
things that they were being taught that
[1:52:27] that smile kind of went away and it was
the seriousness of of of them. And when
[1:52:32] you're talking, you know, kids that are
that age, um it's hard to keep them
[1:52:36] focused sometimes. But, uh I really
commend all your guys and yourself for
[1:52:40] for uh keeping that because they really
were focused and they really were they
[1:52:45] did want to do that task. I know that
the one time I came in and they had
[1:52:49] already done and they asked this girl to
do the task again and she did it again
[1:52:53] and it was like it was like serious. I'm
going to get uh as fast as I can. So, it
[1:52:58] was really good to see and uh I commend
all you and your staff for doing that.
[1:53:02] So, thank you.
>> Sorry, I just have one other thing to
[1:53:05] add. I think when I was out, I was
asking um you and Michelle and some of
[1:53:09] the past participants have now
come to our recruitment nights. Is that
[1:53:15] correct? Like, so we're seeing that.
>> Yeah, we had our first one apply last
[1:53:19] year. Um unsuccessful. There's only one
spot, but I think we will see more
[1:53:24] coming here in the very near future.
>> Awesome. which is exactly what kind of
[1:53:27] the goal is. It's so it's
>> recruitment and retention.
[1:53:30] » Awesome.
>> Yeah, absolutely.
[1:53:31] » Yep.
>> Anything else from council?
[1:53:34] [clears throat]
>> No.
[1:53:35] » In favor?
>> Yep. All those in favor and oppos if
[1:53:38] any. And that's carried.
>> You knew exactly what I was going to
[1:53:41] ask. Okay. And your last one.
Uh the last report is uh to do with the
[1:53:48] skills development uh grant fund. There
uh staff has been working on this uh
[1:53:53] since uh 2024. Uh this is specifically
for the grow portion of the grant. Um we
[1:54:00] submit all our information that they
asked for and then it seems like a
[1:54:03] couple months go by and then we'll get
some communication back and they're
[1:54:06] looking for something else something
else. Um kind of the last step here what
[1:54:11] they've asked for is an endorsement from
council for this as well uh from two
[1:54:16] neighboring municipalities. Uh we feel
that uh since they are still
[1:54:21] communicating with us, we are still in
good standing at this grant. and it is
[1:54:25] still moving forward. Uh what they're
it's more geared to making sure that it
[1:54:30] is for training purposes not just for
one station but for a whole and
[1:54:34] neighboring municipalities. Uh we have
made sure that we have uh put that
[1:54:38] matrix in there and just to give council
a brief rundown of what we have lined up
[1:54:43] for the station next year. Um to date uh
our medical training will be there at
[1:54:49] the end of this year for our township.
Uh we have five courses that will be
[1:54:53] hosted there for the fire training
college. Uh three courses that will be
[1:54:57] tra held there for risk training
purposes. Uh so to date we have uh 225
[1:55:04] training seats that have been assigned
for that station to put in that matrix
[1:55:08] to um go with the fund and what they're
asking for there. So today we're just
[1:55:14] looking for endorsement from council to
uh to go with the keep going with the
[1:55:18] grant.
>> Thank you. Any questions from council at
[1:55:21] all?
>> Nope. I see any.
[1:55:25] » Be it hereby resolve that report FC 2611
regarding the skills development fund
[1:55:30] SDF capital stream grow pathway
application associated with the
[1:55:35] completed fire station 81 Princeton. We
received his information. It being noted
[1:55:40] that approximately 50% of the 10,000
foot facility is dedicated to
[1:55:44] firefighting, firefighter skills
development, training, and related
[1:55:49] learning activities. And that council
endorses the township's application for
[1:55:53] skills development fund capital stream
funding to recognize and support the
[1:55:57] skills development infrastructure
incorporated into the completed facility
[1:56:01] and that council authorizes staff to
continue developing partnerships and
[1:56:06] training opportunities with neighboring
municipalities. the Ontario Fire College
[1:56:10] and other recognized training part
providers to maximize the use and
[1:56:15] regional benefit of the facility. And
further that council directs the
[1:56:19] municipal clerk to circulate a request
for regional support of the township of
[1:56:23] Blandford Blenham SDF capital stream
grow pathway application to all
[1:56:28] Riftstock member municipalities.
>> Thank you very much. Can I get a mover
[1:56:32] in a second, please? Moved by councelor
Banbury, second by councelor Demerest.
[1:56:35] Any comments on that at all? No, I just
think it's it's fantastic. What a great
[1:56:40] facility. I think we've all been through
it and seen it. Uh uh it's a great
[1:56:44] facility. It's going to be great for
training uh uh not just of the the
[1:56:48] firefighters we have now, but future uh
for all over the whole county. So, I
[1:56:52] think it's a great facility and and a
great job. So, okay. Uh all in favor
[1:56:57] post if any. And that's carried. Thank
you. Thank you. Okay. Uh and we'll go
[1:57:02] back to Trevor now.
[1:57:09] Welcome Trevor, manager of community
[clears throat] services. Welcome.
[1:57:12] » Good afternoon council or good morning I
guess. Um just here to do two reports
[1:57:17] today. One report is my monthly report
for the community services department.
[1:57:21] Um
during the month of August we had four
[1:57:25] hosted four tournaments. Three um minor
tournaments and one harvest carnival
[1:57:29] which is an adult tournament in the
Drumbo Park. Um the Drumbo accessible
[1:57:34] playground got opened up. Um we are
going to plan a grand opening for it as
[1:57:38] well. At this time we're still planning
with F about that. Um they're
[1:57:42] recommending not to do a grand opening
during um election time. So it might be
[1:57:48] in the spring um because of the it's a
playground and they agree um but we're
[1:57:54] still working on that. They said after
the election and then after they
[1:57:57] realized it was a playground they said
maybe do it in the spring. So, but we
[1:58:00] are going to be we're in talks with
them. So, um splash pads will be open
[1:58:05] till the end of September like normal.
Um
[1:58:09] we had we hosted the Princeton
playground accessible grand opening. We
[1:58:13] had a good turnout for it. Um
um lots of positive feedback about it at
[1:58:18] the time. So, um went over pretty good.
Um in our cemeteries, the drum Princeton
[1:58:24] cemetery had the decoration day. Um,
again, turnout was good at it and people
[1:58:30] were
um happy in there and um Bruce did a
[1:58:34] good job of doing the MCing. So um
we are also working with the um Platel
[1:58:43] Gate project um committee. I guess
they're not a committee, but it's the
[1:58:46] Platal Heritage Heritage um society is
doing it. Um they plan on doing some
[1:58:51] work this spring yet or this fall at the
gates. Well, um still with talking to
[1:58:57] them and reviewing with them, so working
with them. So, um the arena's getting
[1:59:00] ready to build some ice. We started um
on the long weekend there building ice.
[1:59:04] Um with the storm, obviously we were
going to start last week, but we could
[1:59:08] not cuz we had no hydro. So, um but I
think we'll have it in time for our
[1:59:13] first rental still. So, um Helping Hands
Food Bank, it's been moved to the Drumo
[1:59:18] booth in the month of August. Um seems
to be going pretty successful over
[1:59:22] there. um organizers of the helping hand
food bank really like really like it in
[1:59:27] there. So um and have um bigger plans in
the future for more for doing more
[1:59:32] things, but it's it'll be a work in
process to see how it all works out. Um
[1:59:38] and staff are going to release the RFI
for the township um camp probably the
[1:59:45] middle of September or October.
[1:59:51] Um,
and then the bright accessible
[1:59:54] playground project, we are still working
on that. We'll keep also updated as we
[1:59:58] get moving on that. So, we have till
September 10th next year to have that
[2:00:02] done. So,
[2:00:07] okay, that's it. Uh, any questions on
the report?
[2:00:12] » Nope, I'm not seeing any. Okay, go
ahead.
[2:00:14] » We hereby resolve that report CS 2617 be
received as information.
[2:00:19] » Can I get a mover in a second, please?
moved by councelor Barnes, second by
[2:00:22] councelor Young. Uh any comments?
No, I always like to make something
[2:00:27] comment. But anyway, just want to say
our parks look absolutely fantastic. I I
[2:00:31] know this summer I've walked through our
park especially in Drumo here um and
[2:00:36] spoke to a lot of people residents ball
teams from outside and uh a lot of their
[2:00:41] comments are they can't believe what our
parks are compared to uh and some of
[2:00:45] these people come from large cities and
they are commenting on how our parks are
[2:00:50] as nice or better than most of the urban
parks. So kudos to you and your staff
[2:00:55] and for council and staff's direction on
uh approving all the additions that we
[2:01:00] put in the park and all the uh groups
throughout the township that help to do
[2:01:05] that. So very good. Okay. Uh all in
favor and opposed if any and that's
[2:01:10] carried. Thank you Trevor. And your next
one?
[2:01:13] » Yes. Um just um here to do the community
sport and the recreation infrastructure
[2:01:18] fund stream one um grant approval. Um
we'd like to move forward and um put a
[2:01:25] proposal in for this grant. It's open
till December 22nd. It's 50% of our
[2:01:29] assets um we can apply for 50% of the
funding for our assets in our asset
[2:01:34] management plan moving forward. So, we'd
like to move forward with that and um
[2:01:39] apply for the next um
items that are in our asset management
[2:01:44] plan. It it's um items that will be done
in 2029.
[2:01:48] So, um just looking for council's
approval for um
[2:01:54] getting or applying for the funding for
that.
[2:01:57] » Okay. Any comments on it at all?
>> Nope, not see any. Go ahead. We hereby
[2:02:03] resolve that report CS2618
be received as information and that
[2:02:07] council authorize staff to prepare and
submit an application to the community
[2:02:11] sport and recreation infrastructure fund
CSRF stream 1 repair and rehabilitation
[2:02:16] for capital improvements to the
Platsville Memorial Community Arena and
[2:02:20] further that staff were work with the
director of finance to finalize the
[2:02:24] proposed project scope, budget,
municipal contribution and project
[2:02:28] timelines prior to submission to ensure
the proposed improvements. ments are
[2:02:32] financially achievable, eligible under
the funding program, and aligned with
[2:02:35] the township's long-term capital plan.
>> Okay. Can I get a move in a second,
[2:02:38] please? Moved by councelor Banbury,
second by councelor Demer. Any uh
[2:02:42] comments on that at all? No. Yeah, we
need to I always comment. We need to uh
[2:02:48] this is a perfect example of why we need
to keep uh a lot of these things that
[2:02:53] even though we it may be future stuff on
our um on our radar because when these
[2:02:59] projects come come forward, they have to
be in our our capital forecast in order
[2:03:03] for us to apply for any of them. So, if
we keep if we keep putting these things
[2:03:07] on there and as the funding comes along,
it's it's definitely beneficial for us
[2:03:12] um if we can get some of these uh
[clears throat] through grant funding.
[2:03:15] So for sure,
>> Counc
[2:03:17] a little bit too, when we get these
grants and we plan for them going
[2:03:20] forward, it helps us shore up our
reserves.
[2:03:23] » Yeah.
>> So because it directly offsets we would
[2:03:25] we would have otherwise spent. So um
yeah, if we can, you know, we've been
[2:03:30] doing a great job like all staff have
been doing a great job of staying ahead
[2:03:33] of this stuff and making sure that, you
know, we're applying for uh anything
[2:03:37] that comes available. So, um, we might
not always get it, but, um, you know, we
[2:03:42] have to take the time to to do the work
to to get it done.
[2:03:46] » Yeah, absolutely. For sure. Okay.
Anything else? All in favor? Post to
[2:03:51] Fenny and that's carried.
>> Thank you. Thank you, Trevor.
[2:03:54] » Y, thanks.
>> Okay, so we're down to I believe
[2:04:00] 10 10J. Uh, Josh Brick, our chief
administrator on fire station 81. Okay.
[2:04:07] and Drew as well
>> and Denise is also nice
[2:04:09] » and Denise. All right.
[2:04:16] » Thank you uh through you Mr. Mayor and
two members of council. Before getting
[2:04:20] into the detail of the report, I wanted
to acknowledge uh that the notice of
[2:04:24] motion that's on the agenda this
morning. Um that's regarding capital
[2:04:28] project closeout reporting. So, while
council hasn't yet considered or
[2:04:32] approved that notice of motion that was
put forward by councelor Demerest, um
[2:04:36] staff felt the underlying concept was
particularly useful in this circumstance
[2:04:39] given that we've uh we've finished off a
major capital project. So, as a result,
[2:04:44] uh staff used many of the principles
that were included in that notice of
[2:04:47] motion in preparing tonight's report and
we thought that this provided council
[2:04:51] with a good practical example of what
that type of reporting could look like
[2:04:54] moving forward and what we would be
aiming towards. Uh, station 81 was
[2:04:58] completed substantially on budget with
approximately a $50,000 variance on the
[2:05:03] total capital cost of $3.08 million. Um,
all said, uh, we had sort of accounted
[2:05:10] for about a 10% contingency on this type
of project work because what we had
[2:05:13] heard from the, uh, the project engineer
and ending at about a 1.7% variance was
[2:05:19] something that we were really pleased
with. We thought that that presented
[2:05:22] tremendous value. Uh, another really
important note is, you know, in
[2:05:26] reviewing sort of the final project
costs for this work comparative to other
[2:05:30] capital facilities that have been built
approximate to the township plan for
[2:05:33] Benham, we felt that uh, again, this was
tremendous value for the community
[2:05:37] largely on budget and uh, this is a
really significant piece of
[2:05:40] infrastructure that's going to benefit
not only our own community but
[2:05:43] surrounding communities for over 50
years.
[2:05:47] the uh the structure of the report. It
represents a chronological order of
[2:05:51] events that's led to the grand opening
and project closeout. Uh staff have
[2:05:55] appended all corresponding staff reports
and associated council direction on this
[2:05:59] item going back to late 2021 when
council initially received a business
[2:06:03] plan from staff that was evaluating the
uh sort of costbenefit analysis of
[2:06:07] keeping the uh previous facility and
undertaking renovations versus building
[2:06:11] a new uh a new facility. Staff also
offer commentary within the report on
[2:06:16] minor changes in project scope
throughout the project and uh key
[2:06:19] lessons learned to help improve future
capital project delivery. Um before I
[2:06:24] hand it over to the director of
protective services, fire chief and the
[2:06:27] director of finance, treasurer, uh
they're going to provide some more
[2:06:31] detailed operational and financial
discussion, but I did want to take the
[2:06:34] opportunity to draw your attention to
the publicly reported sale of 67 Main
[2:06:39] Street South in Princeton. Um, so as
council is aware, we haven't been able
[2:06:42] to share those results. We haven't had a
meeting since that closed where we were
[2:06:46] able to share it. However, uh, I am
happy to report that, uh, the deal
[2:06:51] closed in late July. Uh, the final sale
price for 67 Main Street South was
[2:06:56] $71,000,
um, which was approximately $50,000 over
[2:07:00] the listed asking price. Uh, council
opted to select the highest offer in
[2:07:05] that circumstance. um after reviewing
the the different submissions that was
[2:07:10] uh just represented the best value for
the township. It was a compatible use
[2:07:13] with the community and uh I think that
we got a a good deal on that. Um the
[2:07:18] proceeds of that sale are going to be
placed in the fire capital reserve to
[2:07:21] future ser uh to service future debt
obligations and offset the total cost of
[2:07:26] this project. So at this point I'll hand
it over to the director of protective
[2:07:28] services, fire chief uh Drew Davidson
for an operational overview of that
[2:07:32] project.
>> Thank you. Um, I'm going to touch on uh
[2:07:36] kind of the lessons learned uh section
of this uh as we went through this
[2:07:40] process here. Um, starting with kind of
when we started uh construction a little
[2:07:45] bit. Uh, the first item was uh weather
and when we started a project like that,
[2:07:51] we actually missed by one week in uh
when the snow started coming in in the
[2:07:57] weather uh with the roof going on there.
So, uh, going forward, uh, a little more
[2:08:02] cognizant of when we start a project.
Uh, we started the last week of August
[2:08:07] on this project here. If we would have
started a couple weeks before, we would
[2:08:10] have been 100% dried in before the snow
was started flying. That said, the the
[2:08:16] roof still was finalized on Christmas
Eve is when it was completed, but uh, we
[2:08:20] could have hit that just a little bit
sooner and and save some grief all over
[2:08:24] there. Um, another item was the um,
water management, storm water
[2:08:29] management. Um, you know, practicing
what we preach and uh, out there it
[2:08:35] seems like, well, you're just putting
ashalt down out there. You can just dump
[2:08:37] it into the ditch and we can all go on.
But we ask anybody coming into our
[2:08:42] township to put into that plan and put
in that management. And, uh, as a
[2:08:47] township, we follow those those rules
and we put that in. Even though you
[2:08:50] can't see it, it's there. And, and we do
that as well.
[2:08:53] Uh, I think we should be proud. I've had
three uh different municipalities come
[2:08:58] through um either fire chiefs or fire
chiefs and their CEO and to take a look
[2:09:05] at what we did because they still can't
understand how we did it for that price.
[2:09:10] They they look at it, they they
understand what's there and what it cost
[2:09:15] to get there. And the fact that we are
now having people come and approach us
[2:09:19] on how did you do this? What were the
steps taken? It says blame for blame in
[2:09:23] pretty good light on that front there.
Um
[2:09:28] something that council uh did that made
a vast uh made the project go very well
[2:09:34] is they approved um our engineer um
somebody who knew fireh halls, knows how
[2:09:38] to do fireh halls uh was there. And I'll
say sometimes you pick up the phone and
[2:09:43] somebody on the other end doesn't answer
all the time and it can be kind of a
[2:09:47] annoying. Uh when I had to call Nelson
or his team with a with a question like
[2:09:52] that, there was always a response and he
looked after it. Um just a standup uh
[2:09:58] company that uh was able to navigate us
through the build of this process. I
[2:10:03] think the biggest takeaway that I feel
and I didn't even see this one coming
[2:10:08] was being there after the building is
open.
[2:10:13] Every not well the first week we had
every day but we still have people
[2:10:17] coming to the door and they want to see
the fire hall. They want to see what
[2:10:22] their money was put towards and being
there instead of the doors being closed
[2:10:26] and nobody around being there and having
the doors open and taking them through
[2:10:30] explaining it there. And kind of the the
best part of that was u a lady came with
[2:10:36] a friend of theirs and and a little
child um from out of province and her
[2:10:42] words were I wanted to show my friend
our fire hall. I thought that was very
[2:10:46] important. And I picked up on the word
power fire hall and just that that
[2:10:51] narrative and getting it out there that
it isn't just a fire station for 20
[2:10:55] firefighters. It's for the community.
And I thought that was very important.
[2:10:59] And then it it Sean again on Wednesday
night um with the damage and stuff that
[2:11:04] was around Blander Blenham. That
generator kicked in. That was our um
[2:11:09] headquarters. Uh all four department or
all four stations were there. Uh we ran
[2:11:14] a our own little dispatch area there of
what roads were open, what roads were
[2:11:20] closed because we knew that as this
progressed that the SEO calls were going
[2:11:25] to come in unfortunately people running
generators like that and we were able to
[2:11:28] kind of have that headquarters there and
that building served that purpose 100%
[2:11:33] on that front. But just I was proud that
the township residents are thinking of
[2:11:38] it as their fireh hall and that's the
way it should be. So those are kind of
[2:11:41] the takeaways that I saw in that front.
[2:11:46] » All right. Uh at this point we'll ask
the director of finance treasurer to
[2:11:49] provide uh an overview of the financial
uh implications of this capital work.
[2:11:54] » Sure. So this project um was a
multi-year project. So, it was kind of
[2:11:59] hard to see the overall price when
looking at the budgets because uh I know
[2:12:04] with this year's budget, we had an
amount in there that was really far
[2:12:08] greater than what it should have been
because there was more work done last
[2:12:10] year than what we had anticipated. Um
but you can see from the breakdown of
[2:12:15] the costs that the overall um price of
the fireh hall was just over $3 million
[2:12:22] um 3.08 08. Um, and I did outline um
many of those costs were approved either
[2:12:29] in
um one of the budgets 24 256 or in
[2:12:34] separate um council reports that were
brought forward to council. Um and the
[2:12:38] financing for those um costs um the
previous two years were financed through
[2:12:44] reserves um with council approving a $2
million debenture. So that's not done
[2:12:49] until um the project is completed. So,
we will be receiving those funds um
[2:12:54] through the OLC through the county um
prior to the end of the year
[2:13:00] and we are hoping to see some
development in our township. We do
[2:13:04] anticipate we did use 2 million uh sorry
$200,000 already to um help finance the
[2:13:09] fire hall last year um that we will be
collecting some more DCs and some of
[2:13:13] those DCs we'll be able to put towards
the debenture payments on that.
[2:13:18] » Okay, good. Okay, thank you. Uh any
questions from council at all?
[2:13:25] » Councelor Bamry.
>> Yeah, there's a lot of Phil hauled into
[2:13:28] uh from the other project. So, how did
that work out? Did that save us some
[2:13:32] money or um
save both departments some money?
[2:13:38] » Well, it gave us a spot to put the fill.
Absolutely. And and we needed the fill
[2:13:42] to use that that
>> otherwise would have had it's going to
[2:13:45] cost. Y
>> any other questions from council?
[2:13:53] » Uh just um curious with the the
generator comment that you made about uh
[2:13:59] um the calls from other did you I know
this was maybe a hard because this was a
[2:14:04] very major significant event here for
for a lot of hydro outage but did you
[2:14:09] find because I know we've been trying to
put some uh communication out there
[2:14:13] online and everything. Did you find that
those numbers were they up this time do
[2:14:19] you think or did were they kind of the
same compared to like what other times?
[2:14:22] I know it's hard because like I say this
was a massive event where we had a lot
[2:14:27] more people using generators than than
before. But did you have very many of
[2:14:32] those coming through was you know CO
issues and stuff like that or
[2:14:38] » actual seal calls. Is that what you're
asking? Yeah.
[2:14:40] » Um yes. Uh un unfortunately uh yeah we
we had
[2:14:49] I want to say four
um Friday morning like it it seemed it
[2:14:55] didn't didn't happen right away but uh
as as it prolonged um yes we were I
[2:15:01] would have to get the exact numbers for
you but
[2:15:03] » I was just curious
>> unfortunately um and we are going to
[2:15:06] work on some uh generator safety that
uh usage type thing. Uh drove through
[2:15:13] the villages uh on the Thursday and
Friday. Um stopped at a couple places,
[2:15:18] but I know there's a lot of places that
I could see the generator and it was
[2:15:21] just on the edge of the garage.
>> Y
[2:15:23] » and and people don't uh need to be
educated that that the exhaust can come
[2:15:29] back in other ports in your house. And
uh unfortunately, we did have a few of
[2:15:33] those calls and a couple of them ended
up having to be transported to the
[2:15:37] hospital because of because of the
readings.
[2:15:40] You know, even even mine will shut off
automatically if it if it detects it.
[2:15:45] And I had mine at a spot where it was
actually blowing towards a a brick wall.
[2:15:51] And it was about maybe I would say about
7 or 8 ft away from where the exhaust
[2:15:57] was blowing. And it shut my and I I
thought it was out of gas. I went out
[2:16:01] looking and I figured it out. It
actually was because it was even though
[2:16:05] it was outside, it was away from the
house enough. But just from the exhaust
[2:16:09] blowing on the on the brick wall was
enough to shut my generator off. So was
[2:16:14] kind of and I hadn't used this one
before, but it was just kind of a
[2:16:17] learning curve for me too. But I wonder
if you know I know it's maybe too late
[2:16:21] now, but even you know we got the fair
coming up and some of those. And I think
[2:16:25] if we do uh some of those uh town hall
meetings where we've had information,
[2:16:29] that might be a great time to uh uh you
know, next year or whatever to have some
[2:16:34] of those uh generator conversations cuz
I know some people still think that they
[2:16:38] can put it in the garage and be and be
okay, but uh education is key for that
[2:16:43] for sure.
>> Yeah.
[2:16:44] » Okay. Thank you. Uh any other questions
at all?
[2:16:48] » Nope. Go ahead. Be it hereby resolve
that report CAO 2625 be received as
[2:16:53] information
>> and move in a second. Please move by
[2:16:56] councelor Denver. Second by councelor
Young. Any comments? Councelor Demer.
[2:17:00] » Yeah. Nope. I just want to thank um
staff for for pulling that together uh
[2:17:04] so quickly. It it's something I know
that I've been talking about for a
[2:17:07] while. So I appreciate uh I appreciate
having that report today. Um I think the
[2:17:13] postmortm uh process is really
important. And I think, you know, we're
[2:17:17] going to find over time that um not just
your department will learn lessons, but
[2:17:23] you know, those those uh takeaways will,
you know, um will uh sort of go across
[2:17:29] the the rest of staff as well. Um I
guess the only thing um that I I sort of
[2:17:35] noted from the takeaways and I I I guess
I would caution you on is that is with
[2:17:40] respect to the engineering. Um, we had a
great experience obviously this time
[2:17:44] with the experience that that the
engineer had, but I still, you know, I
[2:17:48] do think that, um, and the CIO and I
have talked about this quite a bit, um,
[2:17:54] that we need to think about, um, uh, you
know, tendering, um, looking for options
[2:18:01] with respect to professional services,
just like we do for capital assets in
[2:18:05] order to ensure that, you know, from a
fiscally responsible uh, perspective
[2:18:09] that we're we're getting the best
Certainly, you know, um, uh, experience
[2:18:15] has to play into it, but I guess, like I
say, I would just caution, you know, um,
[2:18:21] not just going to the default. It worked
great this time. That's great. But I I
[2:18:26] just want to be careful that that's not
the takeaway uh, from this particular
[2:18:30] project. So,
>> anything else from council?
[2:18:35] » Nope. Okay.
>> All those in favor?
[2:18:37] » Yep. All in favor? Opposed, if any, and
that's carried. Thank you very much.
[2:18:43] Okay. And next one is Denise. Uh our
second quarter variance report.
[2:18:49] » So this is the second quarter variance
report. So to the end of June. Um so
[2:18:53] there's both an operating and a capital
report with the capital report showing
[2:18:58] what projects have been completed and if
there's any sort of anticipated
[2:19:02] variances
um for project completion.
[2:19:06] Um yeah, we'll just continue monitoring
things for the rest of the year. looking
[2:19:11] looking fine for now.
>> Okay. Any questions at all?
[2:19:16] » Nope. Don't see any. Go ahead.
>> Be it hereby resolve that report TR2608
[2:19:20] be received as information.
>> Okay. Can I get a move in a second,
[2:19:23] please? Moved by council barn, second by
councelor Vanbury. Any comments? All in
[2:19:28] favor?
Opposed if any. And that's carried.
[2:19:31] Thank you, Denise. Okay. And our next
one is from Sarah, uh, director of
[2:19:36] corporate services and our clerk.
Good morning, members of council. You
[2:19:40] have before you report DC 2612 regarding
the joint compliance audit committee.
[2:19:45] Per the municipal elections act by
October 1st of an election year. The
[2:19:49] compliance audit committee must be
appointed for the upcoming term. The act
[2:19:53] sets out the purposes of the joint
compliance sorry of the compliance audit
[2:19:57] committee. The purpose being that the
committee review applications for
[2:20:01] campaign finance audits, determine
whether audits should proceed, and
[2:20:05] proceed appoints auditors where
appropriate. The committee also reviews
[2:20:08] audit findings to determine whether
legal legal proceedings shall be
[2:20:12] initiated.
Oxford County municipalities work
[2:20:16] together to appoint a joint compliance
audit committee. And from the 2022 to
[2:20:20] 2026 term, Oxford area clerks are
proposing to appoint four returning
[2:20:25] members and two new members. There's a
small financial consideration required
[2:20:30] for training and orientation and other
costs are only borne if the municipality
[2:20:33] experiences a financial audit request.
There is a bylaw proposed to be passed
[2:20:38] at this meeting should council council
wish to propo uh appoint the proposed
[2:20:42] committee members.
[2:20:46] » Okay. Any questions on that at all?
Oh, I see some names on there that have
[2:20:52] been around for a long time in this area
for sure. former CEO even on there.
[2:20:57] » See there's job for you after after
someday. [laughter]
[2:21:02] » Okay. Can I get a mover or
resolved that report DC2612 be received
[2:21:07] as information and that council approved
the formation of a joint compliance
[2:21:11] audit committee with the other Oxford
County municipalities for the 2026 to
[2:21:15] 2030 term and that the following members
be appointed to the joint compliance
[2:21:19] audit committee. David Morris, Carol
Simons, Keith Rying, Christine Scrimmer,
[2:21:24] David Nusco, and Kyle Krueger. And
further that the above appointments be
[2:21:28] formalized by bylaw 25592026.
>> Can I get a move in a second, please?
[2:21:34] Moved by councelor Demer, second by
councelor Young. Any comments? All in
[2:21:37] favor? Post if any. And that's carried.
Thank you. And your next one.
[2:21:43] » You have before you report DC 2613
regarding the lame duck threshold. After
[2:21:49] the certification of candidates, which
happened on Monday, August 24th, 2026,
[2:21:54] council is not in a lame duck position
with four of the current five members
[2:21:58] running for office. There is still
possibility that the council will be in
[2:22:03] lame duck position after election day on
Monday, October 26. If fewer than four
[2:22:07] incumbents are elected to office, staff
will report on the number November 4th,
[2:22:12] 2026 meeting on the status.
>> Okay. Can I get a move? Oh, any comments
[2:22:18] on that? Can I get a move or a second,
please? Oh, God, I'm getting ready to
[2:22:22] get out of here today.
>> Thank you.
[2:22:26] » Be it here by resol report DC2613 be
received as information.
[2:22:30] » I got a mover in a second, please. Move
by Cassie Young, second by councelor
[2:22:34] Demerst. Any comments on that? All in
favor? Opposed if any. And that's
[2:22:39] carried. Sorry, I'm not trying to rush
you. Uh any reports from council
[2:22:44] members?
I do have a list here in front of me.
[2:22:48] I'll read my list and if anybody has
anything else left, uh Drumble Fair is
[2:22:52] September 26th, 27th. Uh from 9:00 to
5:00 and then 9 till 4:30.
[2:22:59] Uh there's a trivia night supporting
Helping Hands uh Blford Plenum Food Bank
[2:23:03] on Saturday, September 26 at 8:00 at
Trails Edge. Um, for $25 you'll get your
[2:23:09] spot and an advertiser platter uh while
supporting our food bank, which is
[2:23:14] fantastic. Uh, Music in the Park uh in
Princeton runs Thursday nights till
[2:23:19] September 24th from 6:30 to 7:30. Uh,
Music in the Park uh in Platsville runs
[2:23:26] Tuesday nights until September 10th,
5:30 to 7:30. I don't know if they're
[2:23:30] going to try and schedule
>> Thursday nights.
[2:23:33] » What did I say? Sorry. Thursday. Yep. I
I don't know if they're going to try and
[2:23:37] reschedule the one that got rained out
last week. I know there was talk about
[2:23:40] it, so maybe uh it'll be extended a
little bit. Um I do have here a um this
[2:23:47] is a certificate for the township. It's
from our MP, Arpanana, for our 50th
[2:23:53] anniversary. I've had it in my vehicle
for a little bit. Thought I better get
[2:23:56] it out here. Um anyway, it's uh
fantastic to have that. We can display
[2:24:00] that upstairs. That go upstairs in our
office. Um I know it was mentioned about
[2:24:05] the farm show. Um our Dumbo Lions Club
as well as Plasville Lions Club will be
[2:24:11] working there as well the whole week um
in the food tent. I'll be there on
[2:24:16] Thursday if anybody happens to come
around. I may be cooking your food for
[2:24:19] you. Um and just one other thing I just
I think I'll bring it up now. Um with
[2:24:24] our whole weather event what we had on
on last Wednesday. Um, I don't know,
[2:24:29] Bruce, you've been on one term longer
than me, and I don't ever remember, uh,
[2:24:34] a night where
it got as bad as it did, as quick as it
[2:24:39] did. And it was actually quite scary.
And I know a lot of the members here,
[2:24:43] uh, you know, either stayed around here
or or turned around or whatever. Um, so
[2:24:50] I think we have to do something with our
procedural. Um my recommendation is
[2:24:56] going to be if if we get a if we get a a
a beep on our phone for a warning
[2:25:02] wherever we get it um meeting's over. I
think uh you know what how many times
[2:25:07] have we had though that this was kind of
I think all of us I I mean I've been on
[2:25:11] ball diamonds. I've been wherever and
you hear it and you're looking around
[2:25:14] going I don't see anything. And 90% of
the time those storms have blown by 5
[2:25:20] miles this way, 5 miles that way,
wherever. and we've all been safe. But I
[2:25:24] think the learning lesson from last
Wednesday was you know what, mother
[2:25:28] nature is uh is very unpredictable. And
I think from now on that uh procedurally
[2:25:35] um if we get a warning, there's nothing
more important in this agenda right here
[2:25:42] than anybody here or anybody else that's
here. So I think that's something going
[2:25:46] forward we really have to look at. Let's
hope we don't have to use it. But I
[2:25:50] think that should be that way we're not
I know I'm asking a couple fellows over
[2:25:55] here, you know, what's their uh what's
their thought and and I'm you know I
[2:26:00] don't want to think that they have to be
responsible. They say ah it's okay and
[2:26:03] we all stay here and something happens.
So I think procedurally we have to have
[2:26:07] something written in stone here to say
if that warning comes over we just stop
[2:26:12] the meeting and and that's it for the
day. I think that way it protects us
[2:26:16] all. That's the most important important
thing. If anything would have happened
[2:26:19] to anybody here, um I would have never
forgot to give myself honestly. Um I
[2:26:24] would thought about it after I got home
that first time when I stopped the
[2:26:28] meeting and I I kept saying I should
have just canceled it then. So this way
[2:26:32] I think going forward uh I'll leave it
up to the powers that be here to come up
[2:26:36] with something. We can approve it. But I
think that's the safest way going
[2:26:40] forward that we have to deal with this
and and move on for it. That way nobody
[2:26:45] is in question of whether we cancel it
or not. So that's all I have on my list.
[2:26:50] Does any council member
>> I was just wondering would it be
[2:26:53] possible for us to have a little
informal report from Jim Gordon
[2:26:56] regarding the roads and closures and
flooding and that sort of thing?
[2:27:00] » Yep.
[2:27:03] » He's nodding his head that he'd
absolutely love to do that. Maybe could
[2:27:06] you do that maybe for the next meeting?
Well, I know we'll hear it through the
[2:27:10] next meeting, but I just wonder if
there's
[2:27:12] » any any highlights at all.
>> Uh, yeah. So,
[2:27:16] » if if you maybe could come to the mic
that way, you're on [clears throat]
[2:27:21] » I know it's unusual to do this, but
[2:27:29] » uh through you, Mr. Mayor. Uh yeah, it
was um
[2:27:33] very much to the north was the the worst
the heavily damaged north of the 401. Um
[2:27:40] I don't think there was uh a single road
that didn't have at least uh one tree
[2:27:44] down on it. Um many had hydrol lines, so
we were forced to close the road um for
[2:27:52] the safety.
Um but staff was in till midnight um the
[2:27:58] day of the storm. back again on
Thursday. Uh with the priority of
[2:28:03] getting the roads, trees off, just
pushing them off to the side. We
[2:28:07] probably have, I would say, at least two
weeks of cleanup that we will be looking
[2:28:11] at doing the next couple of weeks to get
all that all picked up. Um and then
[2:28:16] again, we had staff over the weekend in
um just checking on the roads that um
[2:28:22] did have hydro lines down. Hydro will
typically cut the tree off the line,
[2:28:26] repair the line, leave the tree where it
is. Um, so we had staff in cleaning
[2:28:30] those trees off um to get the roads open
again. So everything is back open. Um,
[2:28:36] as of uh Saturday, we had all the roads
that were closed back open. Um, but we
[2:28:41] do have a a lot of cleanup that uh we
will be doing over the next few weeks.
[2:28:48] And you know, just just to add that to
that, too. I know out at the the yard
[2:28:53] here, the amount of yard waste. Uh I had
several people calling me, hey, it's
[2:28:57] right out to the road. And I think like
2 hours later, hey, it's right out to
[2:29:00] the road. And and I know our staff and I
was there last night taking some stuff
[2:29:04] out and we still like the pile out
there. I you must have 10 or 15 bins
[2:29:08] full of of brush right now that's in
there, not let not alone what's still to
[2:29:12] come in. Just another thing too, like I
say, kudos to all our our workers that
[2:29:17] put in all those extra hours and the the
linesmen the the same thing that put in
[2:29:21] all the extra hour. And I know Drew
talked about our emergency services
[2:29:25] people as well, but there was so many uh
farmers that were out there with their
[2:29:32] front end loaders and like immediately
afterwards too that were you know just
[2:29:38] pushing the stuff off the road and uh
you know like helping out just in
[2:29:42] general helping everybody out uh with
that. So kudos to everybody for coming
[2:29:46] coming on board for that. So perfect.
Yep. Go ahead.
[2:29:50] » One other thing, Jim, while you're here,
it just came to mind. There was a tree.
[2:29:54] It's really a cowboy ship, I guess. It's
right next to our little barn there on
[2:29:59] the corner at Princeton.
>> Yep.
[2:30:00] » That tree blew down and went over, I
guess, on a bell line. It's pretty big,
[2:30:05] thick cable like that. Maybe two of
them. Anyway, knocked them right
[2:30:09] through. Snap the post out. And also the
uh speed sign, limiting sign, you know,
[2:30:15] that flashes when you go too fast.
It's laying flat face down has been
[2:30:20] since the storm on on the shoulder of
the road. So, I don't know whether the
[2:30:23] county knows about that. Um, as far as
the tree goes, I think it was probably
[2:30:28] half on the township property or on the
county property and half on our
[2:30:32] property.
I wouldn't have any issue with cleaning
[2:30:36] it up, but I don't want to be messing
around with metal wires on the ground. I
[2:30:40] know they're not hydro wires, but we
don't want to touch that any liability
[2:30:45] involved. So, I don't know whether you
can look into that or not, but I don't
[2:30:49] know. Would they not have somebody
driving around checking on things?
[2:30:53] » Uh, three, Mr. Mayor. Um, more than
likely they're aware that their
[2:30:57] infrastructure is down on the ground.
Um, what we're finding with some of the
[2:31:01] overhead wires is there are um they
don't they don't use them anymore.
[2:31:06] Everything's been put underground. So,
their response time to get when a hydro
[2:31:10] when a a bell line or Rogers line um
that has been overhead comes down
[2:31:15] usually takes a little bit longer. Um
but yeah, I will certainly follow up
[2:31:20] with the county. Um I'm sure they're
aware that the signs and stuff that are
[2:31:24] down. Um obviously our priorities been
to get the roads open.
[2:31:28] » Sure.
I know. I took uh I've taken pictures
[2:31:33] like there's a sign right straight out
of the office that said stop ahead and
[2:31:36] the crossing down by my place the the
arm had swung over and there's another
[2:31:42] sign up on the main corner that's been
missing. I took pictures of them and I I
[2:31:46] emailed him to Frank Gross just saying
hey I know it's not a high priority but
[2:31:50] these things and I know they've fixed
some of them already. So yeah, if if
[2:31:54] even if you do that when you're going by
just take a picture, send it in,
[2:31:57] whatever. I'm sure they'll they'll look
after it. And you know, the other part
[2:32:01] is you you look at how long everybody's
seen the I think it's Val Ar is the
[2:32:06] contractor that's been around here uh
replacing hydrop poles all over. Like
[2:32:11] they've replaced probably a thousand
poles plus in this township. I can't
[2:32:15] imagine what it would have been like
without that infrastructure already
[2:32:19] replaced. How how much more we would
have had down in here cuz they've
[2:32:24] replaced a lot of poles all over. and
they went around and checked all the
[2:32:28] poles to see if they needed to be
replaced. So, I can't imagine what our
[2:32:32] hydro would have been like without all
those poles that have already been
[2:32:35] replaced. So, anything else from council
council?
[2:32:39] » Yeah, just a question with respect to um
some of the diseased trees along the
[2:32:45] side of the road. I know that some of
them are um on properties on residents
[2:32:50] properties. Um some of them are ours and
I think the storm was pretty
[2:32:54] indiscriminate. So, I'm not saying you
know, the trees that came down were were
[2:32:58] the ones that were marked to come down,
but it does um make me think about, you
[2:33:03] know, it seems like we have a quite a
few marked to come down, and I just
[2:33:08] wondered what the plan is for that. I'm
sure, you know, others are wondering if
[2:33:13] it's wrong.
>> Yep, for sure. Um so, we do do regular
[2:33:16] checks on our roadside for these um any
trees that look bad. Um our we do have
[2:33:23] an arborist that we typically use for
the tree service. Um so they will go out
[2:33:27] and actually if we are unsure whether
it's needs to come down or not. Uh we do
[2:33:33] rely on a professional opinion from an
arborist. Um but yeah we do have um a
[2:33:41] fairly decent sized budget operating to
look after these trees. Um, and if
[2:33:46] anybody has questions, whether it's uh a
resident, whether it's their tree or the
[2:33:50] township's tree, by all means, call into
the office and we can have someone go
[2:33:54] out and have a look.
>> Thank you.
[2:33:57] » Okay. Anything else from council at all?
>> Nope. I think we're good. Thank you,
[2:34:01] Jim.
>> Thank you.
[2:34:02] » Okay. Uh, unfinished business and
motions, notice motions. Councelor
[2:34:08] Demers,
>> can I just go ahead and read that?
[2:34:11] » Yep. Absolutely.
Um whereas transparency, fiscal
[2:34:14] accountability, and long-term financial
sustainability are core pillars of
[2:34:18] municipal government governance within
the township of BL for Benham. And
[2:34:23] whereas council benefits from consistent
and standardized reporting practices to
[2:34:28] support informed decisionm and effective
steward stewardship of municipal assets
[2:34:33] and resources. And whereas the township
procedural bylaw establishes the
[2:34:38] framework through which information is
presented to council and decisions are
[2:34:42] made. Now therefore be it resolved that
council direct staff to prepare an
[2:34:46] amendment to the township's procedural
bylaw to incorporate the following
[2:34:50] reporting requirements. Number one,
major capital projects completion
[2:34:54] reporting. a requirement that designated
municipal capital infrastructure
[2:34:59] projects based on criteria to be
established within the procurement bylaw
[2:35:03] be subject to a mandatory project
closeout report to be presented to
[2:35:08] council within 60 days of substantial
completion and to include at a minimum a
[2:35:14] comparison of final project expenditures
against the approved project budget a
[2:35:18] summary and explanation of any
significant financial scope material
[2:35:23] schedule and timeline variances
Identification
[2:35:26] of any unresolved deficiencies, warranty
matters or outstanding items and key
[2:35:31] lessons learned, operational
considerations and recommendations
[2:35:36] intended to improve future capital
project delivery, budgeting, procurement
[2:35:40] practices and project management. Number
two, service level enhancement life
[2:35:46] cycle analysis. Um, a requirement that
any staff report recommending the
[2:35:51] introduction of a new municipal service
or the enhancement or expansion of an
[2:35:56] existing service level include an
analysis of anticipated lifestyle
[2:36:01] lifestyle life cycle costs associated
with the proposal, expected operating
[2:36:06] and maintenance impacts, future capital
replacement and renewal obligations,
[2:36:11] asset management implications, and any
impacts on the township's long-term
[2:36:16] financial planning and assumptions. and
asset management plan. The intent of
[2:36:20] this analysis is to support informed
decision- making and ensure that
[2:36:24] municipal asset management information
remains current, relevant, and
[2:36:27] reflective of council's strategic
priorities and service delivery
[2:36:31] objectives.
>> Okay,
[2:36:34] just going to ask procedurally, do I
have to get a I know we have the mover.
[2:36:37] Do I get a seconder before we discuss
this? Okay, moved by councelor Demerst,
[2:36:42] second by councelor Vanbury. Okay. And
now if you uh would you like to add
[2:36:46] anything further to that?
>> Um you know I know we've talked a little
[2:36:50] bit today about the postmortem
reporting. I just wanted to touch on the
[2:36:53] service level enhancement life cycle
analysis. This is really um you know
[2:36:59] when when we get or or any municipality
um has a decision in front of them uh to
[2:37:05] invest in in an asset or a change in
service level. um we often get the cost
[2:37:10] of the asset or or the the initial cost
of something but um what I'm suggesting
[2:37:17] here is that we have a a more um
complete report that suggests to us or
[2:37:23] tells us what um the cost of ownership
is um of that particular asset over its
[2:37:30] life. Um, and what that does is gives us
an opportunity to here an example. If we
[2:37:38] have a um if we get um a quote for X and
it's $10,000 and we get another quote um
[2:37:46] for the same thing and it's uh $12,000,
we we take the $10,000. It's cheaper.
[2:37:51] But in that in that report, we don't
always know what it's going to cost us
[2:37:55] to maintain that asset or its useful
life. And that even that $12,000 asset
[2:38:01] might cost us a lot more. The filters
might be more expensive. The this might
[2:38:04] be more expensive. The that might be,
you know, the warranty cost, the this,
[2:38:07] the that. So when when something comes
to us, we're only really getting part of
[2:38:11] the picture.
>> Yeah.
[2:38:12] » So what I'm suggesting here is that we
get a more complete u picture when we
[2:38:17] when we have to um approve or deny some
of these things. Did I Does that make
[2:38:22] sense, Josh? Did I Yeah.
>> Yeah. Certainly a three, Mr. Mayor. And
[2:38:26] just based on previous discussions with
councelor Demerest, I I couldn't agree
[2:38:29] more. I think that that uh and again
staff are are going to try and build
[2:38:33] that mentality into our report uh
preparation in the interim until that
[2:38:37] amendment to the procurement policy can
come forward for council consideration.
[2:38:41] But I think that we've heard those uh
those recommendations loud and clear and
[2:38:45] uh it it's a best practice for us to try
and integrate them into our uh our
[2:38:49] actions moving forward. And if I could
add for a moment too, like this isn't
[2:38:53] something that anyone of us would expect
to happen overnight. It's a little bit
[2:38:58] of a work in pro progress. It's not
something that's typically done. Is that
[2:39:02] a fair thing to say? At the municipal
level, but I think it is key to
[2:39:06] decision-m and my hope is that, you
know, as as we um evolve this type of
[2:39:13] reporting that that others will will
take it up as well and understand its
[2:39:16] value.
>> Yeah. You know what? Just one thing I
[2:39:20] could think of just off top of the head
that I noticed was at the the county
[2:39:24] level when they were looking for um
trucks. So the it come in to order um
[2:39:31] electric vehicles and but the costing of
electric truck is more than a a gas
[2:39:38] truck, diesel, whatever um to buy.
But then in the report that come back
[2:39:44] the maintenance costs of uh an electric
vehicle were a lot less than than the
[2:39:50] gas. So then exactly what you're saying
one may be more but in the long term it
[2:39:56] it's saves you money and for us as
council it we only can make a a decision
[2:40:03] on what information we have in front of
us and anytime we can have more
[2:40:06] information for those. And it was I I
really uh liked the final report on the
[2:40:12] fireh hall. That was really good because
you know before it probably would have
[2:40:16] just been you know it cost us this much
more than whatever and we moved on and
[2:40:22] and went yep okay this way it's more
detailed. I it actually was a good
[2:40:26] report to see and it's uh good for
council and actually it's good for for
[2:40:30] staff too to see where we are in
tracking and I know uh director Davidson
[2:40:34] mentioned you know some things that they
would do different down the road because
[2:40:38] that was a learning experience for them
from that whole report. So I think it's
[2:40:41] a a good idea. I like it going forward.
Okay. Anything else? Okay. And we do
[2:40:48] vote on that now. Right. Okay. All in
favor and opposed if any. And that's
[2:40:52] carried. Perfect. Thank you, Councelor
Demers. Okay, any new business?
[2:40:58] Not see any. And we'll go into close
session.
[2:41:01] » Be it hereby resolve the council move
into close session under the authority
[2:41:05] of section 239 of the municipal act at
10:57 a.m. to discuss a personal matters
[2:41:11] about an identifiable individual,
including municipal employee section
[2:41:15] 2392B regarding CAO 2626 personal
matters about an identifiable
[2:41:21] individual. Can I get a mover in a
second, please? Moved by councelor
[2:41:25] Demer, second by councelor Barnes. All
in favor? Opposed if any. And that's
[2:41:30] carried.
>> Okay, I got to go. All staff stick
[2:41:33] around
[2:53:30] Okay. All right. Go ahead. We hereby
resolve that council adjourn from close
[2:53:34] session at 11:09 a.m. and that the open
meeting of council resumed and that
[2:53:39] council provide a direction to regarding
report CAO 2626.
[2:53:44] Okay.
>> Can I get a move in a second, please?
[2:53:46] Moved by councelor Demer, second by
councelor Young. All in favor? Opposed
[2:53:50] if any. And that's carried. And now
we're into bylaws.
[2:53:55] » Be it hereby resolve that the following
bylaws be now read a first and second
[2:53:58] time. A 2559 2026 being a bylaw to
appoint a joint compliance audit
[2:54:03] committee for the 2026 to 2030 term of
council and B. 2560 2026 being a bilot
[2:54:09] to confirm the proceedings of council.
>> Okay. Can I get a move in a second?
[2:54:13] Moved by councelor Barnes. Second by
councelor Banberry. All in favor? Post
[2:54:16] if any. And that's carried. Go ahead.
Be it hereby resolved that the following
[2:54:21] bylaws be read now a third and final
time. A bylaw 2559 2026 being a bylaw to
[2:54:27] appoint a joint compliance audit
committee for the 2026 2030 term of
[2:54:31] council and B 2560 2026 being a bylaw to
confirm the proceedings of council.
[2:54:37] » Okay. Can I get a move in a second
please? Moved by councelor Demer second
[2:54:40] by councelor Young. All in favor post
opposed if any and that's carried. Thank
[2:54:43] you. Uh anything under other? No. and
adjournment for our next meeting.
[2:54:52] » Be it hereby resolved,
whereas the business before council has
[2:54:57] been completed at 11:11 a.m. Be it
hereby resolved that council adjourn to
[2:55:01] meet again on Wednesday, September 16th,
2026 at 4 p.m. Can
[2:55:05] » I get a mover and second, please? Moved
by councelor Young, second by councelor
[2:55:09] Demer. All in favor and opposed if any.
And that's carried. Thank you.