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[1:00:03]
presentation answering all the questions. Who knew 10 minutes
[1:00:06]
would turn into 60? So I apologize for that. No, no, thank you
[1:00:10]
very much. Thank you so much for your time.
[1:00:13]
Please pull the vote through the chair. So I have as moved by
[1:00:17]
Councillor DeBoer and seconded by Councillor early as
[1:00:21]
displayed. Councillor DeBoer
[1:00:24]
in favor. Councilor early in favor.
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Councilor Kiernan in favor.
[1:00:32]
Councilor Napoli in favor.
[1:00:35]
Councilor Rosa in favor. Councilor Russo
[1:00:39]
in favor. Councilor Sheen in favor.
[1:00:43]
Mayor Groves in favor. Chair Mascal in
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favor. D the chair. The motion carries. Thank you very much. We'll take five
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minutes, please.
[1:07:55]
Hear ye hear.
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Yeah,
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no, I think
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that has slightly different wording for the noise of motion section.
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So which one am I using then? If. If this one is okay for you.
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Okay. But if not, I snuck some
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snuck handwritten note in.
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Okay. Okay,
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thank you. We're ready to resume now. At this point
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I don't believe there are any presentations.
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So we're going to go to our
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staff reports and I believe we have item 10.1
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staff report 2025 0084,
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2022 post election report.
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Is there any discussion on the report? We have the
[1:09:14]
clerk here today to answer any questions from council.
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Seeing the first questions. Councillor DeBoer,
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thanks. The staff report does ask
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us to make a recommendation or part of the motion and
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I would like to have the motion written
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that option three, the status quo with
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respect to regional council representation be the
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motion put on the floor.
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Thank you. Thank you. And councelor
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Early. Thank you chair. I'm happy
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to second that. And do you want me to make comments
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as well or how does this like? Well, we do have the opportunity for
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councillors to make comments on the staff report. So I'd
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like to make sure we have any comments be hopefully
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before we proceed to a vote on a motion. Okay, thank you.
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So I'm happy after reading this
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and also going through last term of council and
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I'll say that last term of council when we did the ward review, it was
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on the table for us to vote at large for
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regional council and actually it was myself and one other councilor
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that did support at large voting.
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But when I come into this term of council as the Ward
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1, 2, 3 council counselor, I've replaced three
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councillors. On the other side we added wards.
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So it's a little bit different on the 456 because we added, you know,
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Ward 6. It was a new ward. We really had one councillor on
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the Bolton side for a very long time. And then we sort
[1:10:56]
of split 3 and 4. Notwithstanding the bigger piece
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for me though, there's 10 associations on the 1, 2, 3 that
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if we had a populated area and if we ran it large and
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the populated area got two individuals and at this point
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we are talking two regional councillors,
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you're at risk of losing the rural voice,
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you're at risk of losing the association voice.
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And quite frankly, when you're running at large as a regional councillor
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in the size of this municipality, it's like running like a mayor.
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And I'm not confident that that would be the right direction.
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I don't know if the regional composition is going to
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change. There's certainly rumors, but rumors, you know,
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are just rumors. So hard to understand whether that
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will change in the near future. But I will tell
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you that it's really important from a democratic perspective that all
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voices are heard and that you share this position,
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how you want to share it, whether you want to do one on the north
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side, one on the south side. That's other things that you can decide.
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But you need to make sure that everybody is going to be heard from a
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democratic perspective. So those are my kind of immediate thoughts and thanks
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for letting me ramble on for a little longer than I normally do. Thanks.
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No, thank you, Councilor. This is why we're, we're here today. So I'm going to
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go next to Councillor Russo and then to Councilor Kieran after
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that. Councilor Russo, thank you. Through the chair. Firstly,
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I think the report warrants a
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fulsome probably perspective
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from the, the clerk. I think there's so many variables in there and I think
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they did a great job of isolating and going through post
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election. And some of the questions I have down the road
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will be or when we get to that is some of
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the budget implications, some of the staff costing that was associated.
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So there are some questions I'd like to go and
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kind of dive into as well before getting into
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any vote right now. But I guess in terms of
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the options, fundamentally I have a different perspective is
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truthfully sitting at that table,
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we're often tasked with Understanding issues that are in
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the other wards and we still have to vote on those issues.
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So having a perspective of mayor
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and regional councillors all working on the same issue,
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you know, very similar to how the local councillor and the
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regional councillor, from my perspective, work so that the represent
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the citizen or the resident has two actual representatives.
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In this case, I feel that you actually have four representatives
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working on your behalf. So actually having more
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ability and more democratic representation
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I feel is warranted. Is the challenges on the
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1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 is that
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there's issues in the other wards that we need to always
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be included in anyway. So having the
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auspice of we're not privy to that is
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challenging because when we're voting on whether it
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be urbanization in Bolton or aggregates
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in Ward 1, we still have to have the same perspective
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of Caledon wide and we're not always included in those in
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those conversations. And this is a perspective or an
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ability to have mayor and regional councillors always
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included in those conversations. So I would support
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the option one and actually proceeding in that
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direction so that we have several individuals
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representing the resident themselves so that there's.
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And then there'll be a natural ability of
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the counselors working in that area that find that,
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you know, in this case you're able to be more knowledgeable in
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this, you'll take the lead. But we're always having to work with one another on
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regional issues and vote on them as well. So I
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feel having the at large just gives better representation to
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our residents because we only have three people at the region.
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So it's very important that the three of us that are there are very
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well versed in all Caledon issues.
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Thank you, Councillor Russo. I'm going to go now to
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Councillor Kiernan.
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Thank you. Through you, Chair,
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I'm a little at a loss from that last comment because I'm not sure
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how running at large gives you an advantage
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to be better versed at the regional table. We have
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all said around this table that the
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councilors in their wards know their wards the best.
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And as far as urbanization of Bolton and or
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aggregates in Ward 1, I think the staff keep
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us up to date from their expert reports.
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So I'm wondering how we
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would explain how it would play out
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if, let's say option
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one is chosen and two representatives from East
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Caledon or Bolton are chosen, or two representatives
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from Northwest Caledon are chosen, how would the people
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in Bolton feel? Because I honestly feel that they
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would believe that their representation was diluted.
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And I would say that the Northwest Caledon would feel the same
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way that their representation was diluted. And I don't think we want to do
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that. So I would be
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very keen on supporting the status quo. There's too many
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unknowns here. There is zero benefit to
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the community that we work for to go
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with option one, in my opinion.
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I say that again, I've said it before,
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as someone who's lived here her whole life,
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that would not go over very well. And my question, I have a question.
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Clerk, through you, Chair to the clerk, please.
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Is the public going to be offered the opportunity
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to have comment on this through
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the chair to Councillor Kiernan with respect to whether
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an option, a specific option gets selected or with respect
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to the staff report. So there
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is, yes, it's a little bit of a two parter. So the
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first part was, would be that they have the opportunity to speak
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to the staff report in response through delegating and
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providing written comment. And the second one is if,
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let's say option one is to proceed depending on
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the will of counsel, there would be not a
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legislative requirement, but we would embed
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a public open house and we would be
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available to do that even though it is not a legislative requirement with
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respect to the passing of a bylaw if we are to proceed with an option
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one. Okay, thank you. Through you,
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Chair. I appreciate that answer, Clerk.
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I have had people call me about the report, concerned with
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the length of the report. So my question
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or my consideration is of all the public
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comments that we seek. This is very important.
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This is representation. Okay. And I believe
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this supersedes many things that we have gone to the public
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for. And I would say that it should be
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brought forward to the public and their opinions and their comments
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sought, not just through delegation, but through a
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public process. Because I do believe it would
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be a very slippery slope to put a
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situation in place that has the potential to
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change the balance. Because I think that the residents of Caledon
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would be very unhappy with that situation.
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And so I will be supporting option three. I think it's
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the best, most democratic way to go. Thank you.
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Thank you, Councillor Kiernan. I see Councillor
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DeBoer is back on the board, but I'm going to
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Skip over Councillor DeBoer for a second and go to Mayor Gross, who we
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haven't heard from yet. Thank you,
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Chair, and through you, so listening
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to the comments and I'm going to respectfully disagree with respect to
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if we were to go to option one, that the residents
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would not be represented. I think that's
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a lot of assumptions that we are making. We have to,
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you know, we've got to recognize that when we sit here,
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every single one of us that sit here vote on every
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issue, whether that's award one or two or three or four or five or six
[1:20:13]
issue, we all vote on those issues. I think we
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all do our homework when we're going to vote. So this way we are.
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We're well informed on whatever those issues are in
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whichever ward they're in. And I
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would only hope that anyone
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that puts their names forward to
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run for election and to serve the community would also do
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the same thing and would be of the same mindset.
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I sat here for many years and I'm tired,
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very tired of hearing it was always east versus
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West. I don't want to hear that because I think
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we all live in the town of Caledonia. I think
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that we all look at every
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issue that comes to the table as issues that are
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important to whatever ward it's
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dealing with. And so I look at Caledon,
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it's Caledon as a whole. We are one community.
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So I don't agree with the
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statement that any of the areas, whether the rural areas
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or the urban areas are going to be. Are not going to be represented
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if we go with option one. I also don't recall Councillor
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early alluded to that earlier. I don't recall us going through any public
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process when it was brought forward
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to see, to have that discussion around voting
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at large. I know that Orangeville, I believe
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Orangeville, they vote at large. City of Vaughan, they're at large.
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I think Durham is at large. If I'm. If I'm correct,
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I'm not sure about Durham, but I know that Vaughan and Orangeville are at large.
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So anyway, those are my comments. And again,
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I think that when we sit at this table,
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you know, we used to, in our prayers that we used to have the prayer
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here, we always talk about parochialism.
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And I think it's time that we do away with that and
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look at Caledon as a whole and understand that we
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have an urban area in Caledon, we have a rural area in Caledon,
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and the needs are very different. Thank you.
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Through you, thank you very much,
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Mayor Groves. And I'm going to go to Councillor Rosa because
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he hasn't spoken yet. Thank you. And through you,
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Chair, yeah, the mayor addressed some of the things, same things I
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was thinking. I've made some notes here. I would hope that anybody
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at this stage of Caledon's, when we're looking
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at the future of this municipality and what's going to happen here over
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the next 10 years. I would hope that if you're putting your name forward for
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regional councillor, that you would be prepared to represent Caledon
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as a whole, that you understand the needs of the entire
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municipality, that you understand that we are,
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are a municipality made up of various hamlets,
[1:23:16]
villages, urban, rural areas. You need to have that understanding
[1:23:19]
of where we are and where we're going. And you need to represent everybody fairly.
[1:23:24]
So regardless of where you're living or where you are stationed
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in this municipality, I would hope that you would
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understand that what the needs are and that you would represent all
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of Caledon. Since we've only got three votes,
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since we've only got three members, I think a unified approach,
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you know, when the mayor goes there, the mayor is representing the entire
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municipality. I'm not sure that it's a requirement to
[1:23:50]
represent a ward at the region. I think we're representing the municipality
[1:23:54]
at the region. That's at least been my experience in watching
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regional meetings and understanding how it functions as an upper
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tier government. And I think the unified
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approach might be the first step in
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eliminating some of the divisiveness that I clearly see and I have experienced
[1:24:13]
personally and then try to combat myself over the
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last six years. We are Caledon. We are not
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Bolton and Calvin east and Calvin Village,
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and we are one unified municipality. When we're
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occupying three chairs at the region, that's. That's just the way
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I approach it. And here I feel
[1:24:35]
the same way when I'm called to vote on something. Here, the majority of
[1:24:39]
time I'm actually voting on things that are not affecting my
[1:24:43]
ward personally. And I have to take the time to understand it, to research
[1:24:46]
it, to read, to understand the reports so that I'm making a
[1:24:50]
decision in the best interest of everyone.
[1:24:55]
I was called to do that today. Right. So I
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think it's really, really important for us to understand that. I think when we're trying
[1:25:01]
to make local decisions, I understand the necessity of award
[1:25:05]
representation. But when we're trying to represent this
[1:25:09]
municipality at the region appeal, I think that, you know,
[1:25:12]
a unified approach, where the three individuals
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are there to be the voice for Caladan, is really
[1:25:20]
what I think is where we're heading in the future,
[1:25:23]
especially with the growth that's anticipated. Thank you.
[1:25:27]
Thank you. Councillor Rosa and Councillor Sheen,
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you're on the board now to speak for the first time.
[1:25:34]
Well, thank you, Chair Mescal.
[1:25:39]
I didn't expect to go next, but if you wish to defer,
[1:25:42]
I can do that. No, no, it's okay. I can put it together.
[1:25:47]
There's some very compelling arguments for option one and three.
[1:25:51]
And I think it was Councillor early that alluded to this conversation
[1:25:55]
or this issue being discussed last term of council when
[1:26:00]
they did the ward boundary review. And I just wanted to check back with
[1:26:03]
the clerk, as I'm sure he looked back at that process. Can you confirm whether
[1:26:07]
or not this question was discussed and analyzed and
[1:26:11]
debated? I suppose in the last term of council when the ward boundary
[1:26:15]
review was done, as I rec call, it, was a pretty extensive process that involves
[1:26:19]
some public consultation through
[1:26:22]
the chair to Councillor Sheen,
[1:26:25]
there was public consultation on the word boundary review there.
[1:26:30]
It was very extensive. The primary focus of that
[1:26:33]
discussion and that question to be answered was
[1:26:37]
focused on the specific word boundary, drawing of the lines
[1:26:42]
and the addition of award and proper representation amongst
[1:26:45]
the wards. Right. As outlined in the report,
[1:26:48]
it didn't appear as though this was largely
[1:26:52]
or broadly discussed or debated upon and served
[1:26:56]
as a basis for the rationale to discuss it now. Right.
[1:27:00]
So would it be fair to say that it wasn't largely
[1:27:04]
discussed or dwelled upon because there was
[1:27:07]
an assumption that there would be a regional councilor coming from Wards
[1:27:12]
123 and Wards 456. Is that
[1:27:16]
when you look back at how the ward boundary review was done, was it there
[1:27:19]
an assumption made that that's just how we were going to do versus a
[1:27:23]
regional councilor at large through
[1:27:28]
the chair to Councillor Sheen?
[1:27:32]
I don't necessarily wouldn't call it an assumption.
[1:27:35]
It just wasn't the focal point.
[1:27:39]
And that
[1:27:43]
basis for not having it as a focal point or
[1:27:46]
being overshadowed. Excuse me,
[1:27:49]
overshadowed by the larger,
[1:27:52]
broader, more intensive review of the word boundaries
[1:27:56]
would be why we should
[1:28:00]
kind of. This would be a bit of a concluding exercise to that word
[1:28:04]
boundary review to finally square off
[1:28:07]
and conclude this lasting aspect of
[1:28:10]
it. Okay, so my understanding is that the ward
[1:28:13]
boundary review received a lot of attention and participation from the public.
[1:28:17]
I found online that there were like over 3,000
[1:28:21]
unique visitors to the ward boundary review website and
[1:28:26]
there were lots of people participating in a couple of surveys.
[1:28:30]
Anyway, the town went to great lengths to get some feedback from the community
[1:28:33]
about how they wanted to be represented. And I think it was Councillor
[1:28:37]
Kiernan that made the point that this gets at the heart of representation
[1:28:40]
in our democracy. And I
[1:28:45]
don't think we've asked the public how they want to be represented on this issue.
[1:28:48]
And I think unless that's not fair to say.
[1:28:52]
Mr. Klingenberg, do you disagree?
[1:28:57]
Through the chair to Councillor Sheen I don't disagree that
[1:29:01]
the public has an opportunity to
[1:29:06]
or has yet for a fulsome opportunity to discuss and debate on this
[1:29:09]
matter. As outlined in
[1:29:14]
response to an earlier question, there is the opportunity for open
[1:29:17]
house if option one is selected and public
[1:29:21]
meetings to hear that that public perspective.
[1:29:26]
This current recommendation is to proceed with option
[1:29:30]
one. It's not to pass the bylaw, so there
[1:29:34]
would be that second. So let's say you get
[1:29:37]
an open house, public sway
[1:29:40]
council or influence counsel in their decision making,
[1:29:44]
then that would be reflected on the vote on the pilot
[1:29:47]
itself. Yeah. So I would advocate
[1:29:52]
for us receiving some public feedback.
[1:29:56]
I appreciate Councillor Rosa's opinions, everyone's opinions. Everyone's made
[1:29:59]
a very compelling argument for both options
[1:30:03]
we're discussing 1 and 3. I would just like some input from the public.
[1:30:07]
I'm not sure how we get there, but I'll leave it to my colleagues to
[1:30:10]
continue the discussion. Thank you. Thank you,
[1:30:14]
Councillor Sheen. And I'm going to weigh in for a moment and then
[1:30:18]
go back to the board for people who have a second opportunity to speak
[1:30:21]
to this. And I do concur with Councillor
[1:30:26]
Sheen and I just want to clarify with the clerk what the process
[1:30:29]
for public input would be regarding this. Because if we
[1:30:33]
do, it seems if we proceed with
[1:30:37]
option one today, that there would be an opportunity for
[1:30:40]
there to be some sort of public engagement
[1:30:44]
and then a bylaw would come back to this
[1:30:48]
council which would be voted on at that time
[1:30:51]
regarding that specific change to the
[1:30:54]
representation. Can I just get that clarified from the clerk
[1:31:00]
through the chair? Yes, that's correct. What your statement is,
[1:31:04]
there is that opportunity, if option one is selected today and
[1:31:08]
approved at March 25th council, then there
[1:31:12]
would be that open house or a public meeting opportunity.
[1:31:15]
It is not legislatively required. If option two were selected,
[1:31:19]
it would be legislatively required by the region to do it.
[1:31:22]
Option one does not have that. But we can go
[1:31:25]
above and beyond the legislative requirements to do the open house.
[1:31:32]
Just to clarify then. So is that something we can make
[1:31:37]
sure happens some sort of way that
[1:31:41]
is written in there that so it doesn't end up sort of
[1:31:44]
getting omitted somehow
[1:31:47]
that we were committing to that
[1:31:51]
public consultation piece through
[1:31:56]
the chair? Yes. Council can direct staff to an
[1:31:59]
open house as well. If option one is selected and
[1:32:04]
that open house, would we also be able to recommend that
[1:32:08]
something go through have
[1:32:12]
youe say Caladan. So there's a public commenting
[1:32:15]
piece there also through
[1:32:20]
the chair? Yes, that can be included, but that also
[1:32:24]
would be something that we would include as an implementation Component
[1:32:27]
that's definitely staff would do anyways. Okay, so this is a significant
[1:32:31]
change that we're. We're contemplating here. And I would feel
[1:32:35]
very, very uncomfortable making
[1:32:38]
a decision on this without specific public
[1:32:43]
consultation, because from what Councillor Sheen says,
[1:32:47]
when the, when we were. The previous council was
[1:32:50]
considering the changes to the ward boundaries and the ward review system,
[1:32:54]
there was apparently considerable civic
[1:32:58]
engagement in that process. And I think if we're going to be making decisions
[1:33:02]
about how people are represented and how people are governed, I think
[1:33:06]
that people should have the opportunity to express their opinions on this.
[1:33:10]
And we need to be taking that into account because, you know,
[1:33:14]
in the end, we are public servants, we serve the
[1:33:17]
public, and I really think we need to get a sense of what that is.
[1:33:21]
And also the fact is that, you know, we just went through a
[1:33:25]
ward boundary review where we ended up with six wards with
[1:33:29]
new boundaries drawn and then we ended up with a new
[1:33:32]
system in terms of. For regional councillors because they lost a regional
[1:33:36]
councilor at the region and had to redraw
[1:33:39]
and figure out how region would work. So, you know, we've only
[1:33:43]
really had one turn through this process. So.
[1:33:46]
And one of the things, even when we said, when we were debating whether or
[1:33:50]
not we were going to hire a consultant to look
[1:33:53]
at the ward boundaries coming up, we as a council
[1:33:57]
deferred. That said, we don't need this because the system's
[1:34:00]
still so new, we're still working our way through it. So from
[1:34:04]
my perspective, I really think if we do proceed with option
[1:34:07]
one, that we have,
[1:34:11]
that guarantees in there that we're getting public consultation and that
[1:34:14]
we're coming back as a council to vote on that before we
[1:34:18]
ever proceed any further with it. So I'm going
[1:34:21]
to leave it there and I'll let some other speakers come back on the board
[1:34:24]
now in the order in which they appear. Councillor DeBoer, your second
[1:34:27]
time to speak on the issue.
[1:34:30]
Thanks. Yeah, My first speak was to put
[1:34:33]
option three on the table. The reason I support option
[1:34:37]
three is primarily a lot of the comments here are.
[1:34:40]
Are interesting to say the least. Most of them focus around how,
[1:34:44]
once the individual is elected, how they should be acting, whether they're
[1:34:48]
representing all of Caledon or a specific board. The reality is,
[1:34:51]
as the mayor correctly pointed out, all six of us make decisions
[1:34:55]
based on all of Caledon. The mayor
[1:34:58]
and the two regional councillors make decisions at the region for all of
[1:35:02]
Caledon. What this is being asked is how
[1:35:06]
do the residents choose who they want to represent them
[1:35:10]
and what's going to happen. And you can use Orangeville and Orangeville votes at large,
[1:35:14]
but Orangeville is a community that's all urban,
[1:35:18]
so you can vote somebody that's at large because they're
[1:35:22]
representing a largely urban area. What's going to happen,
[1:35:25]
and we did have some preliminary discussions when we looked at the boundary review,
[1:35:29]
is that if we had a at large
[1:35:33]
system, the candidates will concentrate where
[1:35:36]
the votes are, because all you need is a number and be the
[1:35:39]
top numbers and have the numbers to be, because it starts
[1:35:43]
at who gets the most votes and then it's the second, third,
[1:35:46]
fourth, fifth. You're never going to get a candidate to
[1:35:49]
enter into the villages, you're never going to get a candidate to go to the
[1:35:53]
rural areas. The reality is the candidates will concentrate where
[1:35:56]
the numbers are. And what's going to happen is that rural Caledon
[1:36:00]
won't have the exposure to the candidates when it comes time to vote,
[1:36:05]
because the concentration of the activity will always be where the urban areas.
[1:36:09]
When we've got a community like this, and this comes for me,
[1:36:13]
comes as part of the same conversation we had with the previous
[1:36:16]
delegation, is that we've got a community that's urban and
[1:36:19]
we've got a community that's rural and they're very different.
[1:36:23]
And what we've got to do is come up with a hybrid plan and a
[1:36:27]
plan that will ensure that representation of both
[1:36:30]
the urban area and the rural area is well represented. And to turn
[1:36:34]
around and vote for your candidates,
[1:36:37]
regardless of whether they're local or regional at large will take
[1:36:41]
away the opportunity for the rural people and the rural
[1:36:44]
residents and the village residents to participate in
[1:36:48]
the process is where the concern was when we talked about it
[1:36:52]
before, and I still hold by that.
[1:36:55]
That same concern is, is that the candidates
[1:36:59]
and all the points made, that when the candidates do arrive there,
[1:37:02]
you do represent. And as the mayor says, you've got to do your homework and
[1:37:05]
you've got to do the homework in the other wards. You've got
[1:37:08]
to make a decision on air on other areas of Caledon,
[1:37:11]
even if it's not your ward. But what the question we're asking here is how
[1:37:15]
do the residents pick who they want to represent?
[1:37:19]
And as far as I'm concerned, the best way is the current way that we're
[1:37:23]
doing it and that the individuals would represent
[1:37:26]
the three wards. Essentially, Airport Road is
[1:37:29]
the boundary, so you have one on the east and one on the west.
[1:37:33]
But I've never been a proponent of like.
[1:37:36]
Once again, the mayor made the comment of east and west as Being against each
[1:37:40]
other, Bolton being against the rest of Caledon. I've never
[1:37:43]
been a proponent of any of that. And that isn't the reason why we're.
[1:37:46]
Why I would say east and west. It's just three wards.
[1:37:49]
One, two, three. And all of the wards that the combination
[1:37:53]
is that some wards, some regional councilors have urban areas,
[1:37:57]
but there's regional councillors that would have both urban and
[1:38:00]
rural. When you look at the makeup of the actual wards,
[1:38:04]
we do have three, four wards that
[1:38:08]
will eventually largely be urban and we do have two wards
[1:38:12]
that will be largely urban. Rural and villages is
[1:38:16]
the way that it's set up. But to make sure that the representation
[1:38:20]
is across the board is that the regional councillors will have
[1:38:23]
both rural represent rural wards and urban wards on
[1:38:27]
both sides. And that's how we came to the conclusion. So,
[1:38:30]
you know, I'm still. I still think that
[1:38:34]
the current system, the way we have, you know,
[1:38:37]
we've gone through one election. I still think it's the best way
[1:38:40]
to get representation and ensure that every resident in Caledon feels
[1:38:44]
that they're being represented and participating evenly within the
[1:38:49]
current regional structure as well as the current Caledon structure.
[1:38:53]
So thank you very much. Thank you, Councillor DeBoer. And then I'm going to go
[1:38:56]
to Councilor early and then to Councillor Kew Kieran. Councilor early,
[1:39:00]
thank you. Thank you. Through Chair. First of all, it's really important,
[1:39:04]
if anybody is listening from the public, that every Mississauga
[1:39:08]
councilor on the region table has a ward. Every Brampton councilor
[1:39:12]
on the region table has a ward. It's not that we go to the region
[1:39:15]
table and we sit there and we talk about ward specific items.
[1:39:18]
It's a rare occasion, there is the odd occasion where somebody's advocating
[1:39:22]
for something in their ward, a motion is put on the floor or something from
[1:39:26]
a region perspective attacks a certain ward in Mississauga, Brampton, Caledon.
[1:39:30]
But it's not the norm. You go to the region, you go to the region
[1:39:33]
to do your job, whether based on water, waste,
[1:39:36]
roads. I know that's all changing. Social services,
[1:39:39]
you then have another job and the other job is back in your municipality.
[1:39:43]
For Mississauga and Brampton, that's their big job. It's their huge job. That's what they
[1:39:46]
get paid a ton of bucks for. Here. It's a little bit different,
[1:39:49]
right? We did a ward boundary. We're growing. We've got
[1:39:53]
six wards, we've got two regional councillors. We're a bit more split. Our job
[1:39:57]
became bigger this term. Because we had to take on all the extra wards.
[1:40:00]
But when you're back in this municipality, you're working on your
[1:40:04]
ward areas on their issues, you're going to your association meetings or
[1:40:08]
you're going to BIA in Bolton or you're going to some of the specific items
[1:40:12]
and to muddy the water is to say in Alton, well,
[1:40:15]
two regional councillors are going to come and a ward councillor is going to come
[1:40:18]
to the association. Just makes no sense. You are here working on specific
[1:40:22]
ward issues with the ward councillor and it works well.
[1:40:25]
It works very, very well. You know, for me I've got three and
[1:40:29]
obviously in some cases they don't all work the same, but it works
[1:40:32]
pretty good. And you're there as an assist for the minute for the ward councilor
[1:40:36]
in the area and you're there to help, but you're not. No one
[1:40:40]
should be saying that we're going with not going as
[1:40:43]
a unity to regional councillor because council, because we are.
[1:40:47]
And when the roads get downloaded or if they do, when this new bill comes
[1:40:50]
and if waste is coming and all that stuff's coming, I hope we're all fighting
[1:40:53]
for Caladan. But it's got nothing to do with wards,
[1:40:56]
it's got everything to do. And I will say that if the waste ever got
[1:41:00]
downloaded, someone better understand what kind of waste requirements are needed
[1:41:03]
in rural Caledon and I mean waste buckets at a community center, et cetera,
[1:41:07]
et cetera. So this has got nothing to do with going unified
[1:41:11]
or east or west or. And that's truthfully I'm quite
[1:41:14]
shocked that's even being spoke about tonight. So I'm going
[1:41:18]
to support Ward 3 and if it gets defeated.
[1:41:21]
Gets defeated. Thank you to Councillor Chair Mescal
[1:41:25]
for wanting to engage the public because I think we're going to need to engage
[1:41:28]
the public on this. But let's not get this mistaken. We have two jobs
[1:41:32]
here, one at the region table and one at at the council table and at
[1:41:35]
the council table that's working with your ward representatives and the
[1:41:39]
residents in each specific ward on their issues. Thank you.
[1:41:43]
Thank you Councelor early and thank you for your words of support. I do appreciate
[1:41:47]
that Councelor Kieran.
[1:41:50]
Thank you through you Chair Mel. So I
[1:41:54]
appreciate the opportunity to speak again and I think I started this with inquiring
[1:41:58]
about where was the public going to be engaged and
[1:42:03]
a few things. I think Councillor DeBoer said it so well.
[1:42:06]
We have spoken about through our discussions
[1:42:10]
regarding our official plan and committed to the fact that
[1:42:14]
we do have different Areas in Caledon that we are
[1:42:18]
committed to support, including our historic hamlets
[1:42:22]
and villages. And they have a different need. And Councillor
[1:42:25]
DeBoer is right. An at large candidate is
[1:42:29]
going to be focused on the concentration of doors to knock on.
[1:42:33]
And that's just logically not going to include the
[1:42:37]
side roads and lines and the great distances.
[1:42:40]
That's human nature. Having said that, my question
[1:42:44]
through you, Chair, again, to the clerk, please.
[1:42:48]
I think there seems to be a consensus here on
[1:42:52]
the table that, that the public need
[1:42:55]
to be engaged. I mean, the public were engaged in our word boundary review.
[1:42:59]
I am, you know, I am
[1:43:03]
very interested in seeing that happen. To the clerk, please.
[1:43:08]
Why would we not consider a deferral until we can have
[1:43:12]
the open house and the public
[1:43:16]
engagement on. Have your say Caledon and then bring
[1:43:20]
this back? We should not be making a decision today without
[1:43:23]
seeing what the. What the community says. I think this is premature.
[1:43:28]
I'd like to hear the clerk's answer for that, if that's okay.
[1:43:30]
Please, through the
[1:43:34]
chair to Councillor Kieran. Thank you for the question. So if
[1:43:38]
option three is passed, there will be no need for public consultation with the
[1:43:41]
status quo. So if option one is
[1:43:45]
selected, it's just to proceed with
[1:43:49]
that public consultation component included of it on it. That will provide the
[1:43:52]
opportunity and there will
[1:43:56]
be a subsequent vote on the bylaw when it comes forward to council.
[1:44:00]
So there will be that
[1:44:03]
public consultation component, assuming that there would be also
[1:44:07]
that requirement built into the motion for option one, and that
[1:44:11]
would allow for the public discussion to occur.
[1:44:15]
Option three, if passed, there would not be any public consultation.
[1:44:19]
Thank you. Thank you through you, Chair, and thank you for that.
[1:44:23]
So, one final question to the clerk, please. So what
[1:44:27]
would the timeline be between that? Will that give you enough
[1:44:31]
time to engage and get that set up?
[1:44:35]
I think that's an important component here because I can't
[1:44:39]
be at the end of March, Mr. Klingenberg, that's not
[1:44:42]
going to be enough time. You've got March break coming up and families
[1:44:46]
busy, you know, planning things. So what would that look
[1:44:50]
like, please, through the chair. Option one
[1:44:54]
would not bring forward the bylaw in March. I'd recommend
[1:44:58]
by the summer. So June.
[1:45:01]
I really appreciate that answer. And one
[1:45:05]
more, please. I'm sorry. And thank you, Chair. I just want to say I concur
[1:45:09]
with what the mayor said about this east west
[1:45:13]
thing that has been discussed many times. I concur with what she has said
[1:45:17]
and I believe that everyone on council does
[1:45:20]
not feel that way. But I think the important thing to consider is
[1:45:24]
that the community feels that way. And until the community
[1:45:28]
no longer feels that way, then we have
[1:45:31]
some work to do. And I don't want to foster that
[1:45:35]
narrative in the community in any way, shape or
[1:45:38]
form. And my concern is that this has the potential
[1:45:42]
to do so. So thank you very much, Chair.
[1:45:46]
Thank you, Councillor Kiernan. I'm going to go one more time to
[1:45:50]
Councillor Russo and then I have some instructions.
[1:45:55]
Thank you. Through you, Chair. Yeah, so listen to
[1:45:59]
some of the comments. I'm a
[1:46:02]
little confused in terms of the train of thought is truthfully,
[1:46:06]
as it stands right now, if someone was of
[1:46:10]
the mindset that they wanted to focus on the urban and not
[1:46:13]
the rural, unfortunately they can do that. As it stands,
[1:46:18]
if I as Ward 4, 5 and 6 representative
[1:46:22]
did not take the time to focus on my word,
[1:46:25]
4 in terms of numeric is 5
[1:46:28]
and 6 would have the greater amount, no different than 1,
[1:46:32]
2 and 3. If you focused on only 2 and 3, you'd be
[1:46:35]
doing exactly that. The risk of someone not focusing on
[1:46:39]
the rural exists there anyway. However you
[1:46:44]
I, all of us when we're there and door knocking and trying
[1:46:47]
to, you know, is we are now as the regional
[1:46:51]
councilor, still tasked with rural
[1:46:55]
representation and urban representation.
[1:46:59]
The thing that I see here is all it would be is at
[1:47:03]
large encompasses or requires that the regional
[1:47:08]
councilor now just has a greater role in terms
[1:47:11]
of representing the entire town. Like the mayor.
[1:47:16]
The mayor, when they go to the doors, they're going to every
[1:47:19]
single door. Whether they live in Bolton or whether they live in
[1:47:23]
Terracotta or wherever they live, they represent
[1:47:27]
all Caledon. You're tasked to make the
[1:47:31]
voter feel like you're going to be their voice. And that's our
[1:47:35]
job, regardless. The way
[1:47:38]
I look at this is how I work with
[1:47:42]
my local councilor in Ward 5 or 6 or 4
[1:47:46]
is they focus on a day to day basis on the local issues.
[1:47:51]
But that doesn't negate that if a local issue comes to me that I
[1:47:55]
just pawn it off on my local counselor, I will still deal with it.
[1:47:58]
We deal with it collectively. So you have two
[1:48:02]
representatives dealing with this when you have
[1:48:06]
an issue along with the mayor. So fundamentally three,
[1:48:09]
I feel this would just give the resident four representatives
[1:48:14]
because having someone on your side that
[1:48:18]
understands the issues at large is
[1:48:22]
a fundamental plus. I pride myself,
[1:48:25]
and I think all of us do that. We actually, regardless of
[1:48:29]
If I represent 4 or 5 and 6, if there's an issue in Ward
[1:48:32]
1, 2 or 3 and I'm able to attend, I'M happy to attend.
[1:48:36]
And I feel like because when. When I wear this pin
[1:48:40]
that says Caledon. I'm a Caledon councillor. I may
[1:48:44]
represent 4, 5 and 6, but if an issue
[1:48:47]
comes before us, we're here to vote on it
[1:48:50]
overall. So how it changes the dynamic.
[1:48:54]
I feel that history teaches us something and why
[1:48:57]
some of the. The municipalities around us
[1:49:01]
have. Have the at large system is we were forced
[1:49:05]
to go into this and we only have one term
[1:49:09]
of knowledge base right now, two and a half years technically.
[1:49:14]
And we're learning as we go along. I feel that's what's super
[1:49:17]
important. Why we didn't have a full ward
[1:49:21]
review at this time is. It would be premature for that. We haven't given
[1:49:25]
it enough time. We haven't gone through the influx
[1:49:29]
of residents at this point in time to justify changing the wards.
[1:49:34]
But as we progress, there's a maturity that's going to have
[1:49:37]
to occur is the local councilors. In my mind,
[1:49:41]
this whole conversation of part time is going
[1:49:45]
to have to be gone in a few years from now.
[1:49:48]
But perhaps now is still not the time. The at
[1:49:52]
large is. I see it as a stepping stone of saying, okay,
[1:49:56]
we are different than Mississauga and Brampton and we will remain to
[1:49:59]
be different. How do only three
[1:50:02]
representatives do the best job possible for
[1:50:06]
the residents of Caledon? And I feel having us understand
[1:50:11]
every single issue thoroughly is only a benefit to the residents
[1:50:15]
of Caledon and say, hey, I don't only have one
[1:50:19]
regional counselor. I have two regional counselors I can go to. And if this one
[1:50:22]
is busy dealing with an item, I can go to the other. It happens
[1:50:26]
intrinsically now anyway. There's times that people don't even
[1:50:29]
understand their own wards and say,
[1:50:33]
hey, can you help me here? I'll say your regional
[1:50:36]
counselor is councilor early or whatever, but happy to help at this
[1:50:39]
point in time speak to staff about this or that. So we're doing it on
[1:50:43]
a daily basis, but it just creates a. There is
[1:50:46]
no, There is no boundary. You are representing
[1:50:50]
Kaladin. If you are a regional counselor or the mayor, it just gives
[1:50:54]
you more representation to the actual residents. So how I see.
[1:50:58]
I don't see that as a negative. I see it as a positive. The public
[1:51:01]
component is something that happy to include that
[1:51:05]
in the actual motion itself. And I feel that that can
[1:51:08]
actually be parlayed to actually lead us into the further
[1:51:12]
conversations of, hey, we made a decision not to
[1:51:15]
actually have a board award boundary review. What do you feel about
[1:51:19]
this? We can have further dialogues and reading the report,
[1:51:24]
there's an obligation to work with the region here anyway, so we're
[1:51:27]
going to have to have a lot of dialogue. This just gives the
[1:51:31]
resident an understanding of what their representatives are leaning
[1:51:36]
towards and why. Happy to have those
[1:51:39]
conversations with our residents. I think it's super important because if
[1:51:43]
at the end of this dialogue, the residents feel that it's
[1:51:47]
premature, then, hey, we will listen to our residents.
[1:51:52]
But if the outcome is that, you know what, that makes sense.
[1:51:56]
So why wouldn't we initiate the process as
[1:51:59]
opposed to status quo and not changing anything?
[1:52:04]
Thank you, Councillor Russo and Councillor Sheen.
[1:52:08]
You have your second opportunity to speak.
[1:52:10]
Thank you, Chair Maskell. Again, you know, people are making
[1:52:14]
some very convincing arguments for both sides of this conversation.
[1:52:19]
So going back to my original
[1:52:23]
concern, which really echoes Councillor Kiernan's concern,
[1:52:27]
I feel like this is something that is really kind of an
[1:52:30]
effort to tweak the results of our ward boundary
[1:52:34]
review in the last term of council. This is kind of sort
[1:52:39]
of a mini version of that. And I would like to propose
[1:52:42]
a referral motion where we don't.
[1:52:45]
That results in us not voting on these three options today,
[1:52:49]
refers it back to staff to conduct that consultation with
[1:52:53]
the community. It doesn't have to be long or extensive, but it
[1:52:56]
has to be extensive enough that
[1:53:00]
we get a good read from the residents on how
[1:53:03]
they want to be represented. I think a lot of good arguments have been made
[1:53:06]
here today, but I think probably
[1:53:10]
the way there are some firmly held feelings about it here,
[1:53:15]
probably there are some firmly held feelings about it in the public,
[1:53:18]
and I think we should tap. Tap into that public sentiment
[1:53:22]
and get a read on it before we're forced into making a decision here today.
[1:53:26]
So I'd like to refer it back to staff and give
[1:53:29]
them as much time as they need, a couple of months, probably,
[1:53:33]
to conduct that kind of consultation.
[1:53:39]
Thank you, Councillor Sheen. So we have
[1:53:43]
a motion on the floor and now we have a motion to refer.
[1:53:46]
So I'm going to defer to the deputy clerk
[1:53:50]
to. As to how to proceed,
[1:53:54]
not to speak on. On behalf of the municipal clerk. But I. I might
[1:53:57]
just ask Councillor Sheen for a point of clarification. If you're
[1:54:01]
move. If you're moving the motion as a whole or in part,
[1:54:05]
if you move the clause that pertains to
[1:54:10]
the option that's being sought from council today, if you
[1:54:13]
refer that back to staff as a.
[1:54:17]
If you split the question to refer just that portion back to staff,
[1:54:20]
it would allow staff to continue with the accessibility Advisory
[1:54:24]
Committee consultation that had been noted in the other clauses
[1:54:28]
of the staff report recommendation.
[1:54:34]
So what we're looking for, Councillor Sheena, is a split vote then on that.
[1:54:37]
So we don't want. We want to be able to proceed with the other pieces.
[1:54:39]
That makes total, total sense. I don't want to come up the works. I just
[1:54:42]
want to consult with the public. Thank you.
[1:54:48]
Yeah. Do we have someone
[1:54:51]
who would second Counselor Sheen's referral?
[1:54:55]
Councilor Early Councilor
[1:55:04]
Sheen, Would there be any timing on the referral? I would leave it
[1:55:08]
to the. I mean, I know the clerks are busy, they've got a lot
[1:55:11]
on their plate at any given time, but my sense
[1:55:15]
would be a couple of months. But I'd rely on the clerk to give us
[1:55:18]
his advice. Mr. Klingenberg,
[1:55:23]
through the chair. A couple months would be
[1:55:27]
required. If I can,
[1:55:31]
if I may. The referral to do public consultation
[1:55:36]
could also be alternatively done through selection of option one
[1:55:40]
and to add that council direct staff to,
[1:55:44]
as a component of that, complete public consultations
[1:55:48]
for that matter. And then the
[1:55:51]
bylaw could not be delayed as long and
[1:55:55]
it could still go forward in June. So my.
[1:55:59]
If public consultation is sought, then option
[1:56:03]
one would be the approach to take. If I may advise
[1:56:06]
council and then whether or not
[1:56:10]
to proceed with option one would be to vote
[1:56:16]
on the bylaw when it comes back after the public consultation is done.
[1:56:20]
So it would allow for a bylaw to come forward for a
[1:56:23]
council vote based off of the public consultation.
[1:56:29]
Thank. Thank you. Thank you. I just want to.
[1:56:32]
I kind of. I heard you say that a couple of times that if we
[1:56:35]
voted on option one, there would still be an opportunity
[1:56:39]
for public consultation. But I made my referral motion knowing
[1:56:43]
that anyway, because I think feel like it would help us all not
[1:56:46]
to tip our hand about how we each feel on this issue and
[1:56:50]
not provide a. Even a slightly biased view of where we
[1:56:54]
want to go with it and put it in the public realm. Let them provide
[1:56:58]
their input and then we'll make our decision when the time comes.
[1:57:03]
Thank you, Councillor Sheen. Councillor Deber, are you speaking to the referral?
[1:57:06]
Yeah, and I think.
[1:57:10]
I'm not sure what where the comment was that Councillor Sheen
[1:57:13]
had made, but I think that the council,
[1:57:17]
that the residents should be allowed to decide if we're
[1:57:20]
going, rather than going into having to support option one
[1:57:25]
and presenting that to the community. Allow the community to decide between 1,
[1:57:28]
2 or 3, then allow the community to make the decision that if
[1:57:32]
they want to stake with the status quo, rather than making a decision and saying
[1:57:36]
this is what we're doing and we're going to have a public meeting based on
[1:57:38]
this. If I'm understanding the clerk
[1:57:42]
correctly, I really think that, you know, we just defer
[1:57:45]
this whole option to a public meeting and to a public process.
[1:57:51]
Thank you. Councillor Boer, are there any other speakers to the referral?
[1:57:58]
Seeing none, I guess, Kurt, we would call the vote.
[1:58:04]
So through the chair, just to confirm,
[1:58:07]
I have a referral motion which we have a
[1:58:11]
draft of to be displayed, and it
[1:58:15]
would provide that the first clause as outlined
[1:58:18]
in the staff report and completed by council to reference option
[1:58:22]
three regarding the status quo, that that
[1:58:26]
selection be referred to consideration at a future meeting
[1:58:29]
and accompanied with some public engagement.
[1:58:34]
I think we've got some draft language coming up there.
[1:58:37]
I have it moved by Councelor Sheen and seconded by Councelor Early.
[1:59:02]
It's so
[1:59:37]
through the chair, this was the clause that will be referred.
[1:59:49]
I thought. I don't think this captures what we're looking for here.
[1:59:53]
From my feeling, I think we want to. My feeling
[1:59:57]
as the chair and hearing everyone speak today, that we don't
[2:00:01]
want to necessarily proceed with any option at this
[2:00:04]
point. If Councillor Sheen said tipping your hand one way or the
[2:00:08]
other, I think we want to make sure that we're putting it out that
[2:00:11]
all options are on the table. We want to hear from the public, and then
[2:00:14]
we're coming back to make a decision after that. So I don't really think
[2:00:18]
that captures what I think Councillor Sheen, you were saying, nor what
[2:00:21]
I heard from many people here today, too.
[2:00:25]
So through the chair, this represents
[2:00:28]
what was initially moved and seconded by Councilor Deborah in
[2:00:31]
Early when it was first tabled by the committee.
[2:00:34]
The language that Zach has drafted there provides
[2:00:39]
a little bit more for the discussion that's developed over
[2:00:43]
the course of the meeting to provide that staff
[2:00:46]
report back following some consultation and important. But.
[2:00:50]
So there's a little bit of a disconnect there between
[2:00:54]
what was initially tabled versus what is being referred and
[2:00:58]
sought back for some further work
[2:01:01]
by staff. So do we need to take that motion that was tabled off
[2:01:05]
the floor then? So the referral
[2:01:09]
takes precedence, but we've worked some language
[2:01:12]
into the referral to recognize counsel's
[2:01:16]
direction on the matter. Okay, Councillor Russo,
[2:01:22]
through the chair. I don't want to put words in to Councillor
[2:01:26]
Early's mouth, but I think what was being asked is,
[2:01:29]
can we get clause one put on the actual screen so
[2:01:33]
that. Because we're speaking to clause one in
[2:01:37]
of what we're referring. So let's be very clear on what clause one is.
[2:01:41]
So we're recognizing what's being referred.
[2:01:52]
So, Zach, they are looking for
[2:01:57]
clause one instead of the clause three that was,
[2:02:00]
that is incorporated to the motion there. I don't know if you might still have
[2:02:03]
that language.
[2:02:07]
I don't think that either, either option
[2:02:11]
should be identified. I think you can identify, you can ask for clarification
[2:02:15]
on what option one was. But I think the intent is to
[2:02:19]
refer the motion with no option.
[2:02:22]
Is the intent test all of a sudden turn an option into
[2:02:26]
the motion is the same thing as turning
[2:02:30]
option three in as part of the motion, then referring that back. I think
[2:02:33]
the intent was the motion that you had there without referring to
[2:02:37]
any of the three options, which is all I would support. If we're going to
[2:02:41]
identify an option that we're going to present to the, to the residents of
[2:02:44]
Caledon, that isn't the intent and that isn't anything that
[2:02:48]
I would support. Deputy Clerk, clarity through
[2:02:53]
the chair.
[2:02:56]
Option one provides that the town of Caledon exercises its
[2:03:00]
authority under the Regional municipality appeal Act 2005
[2:03:04]
to change the method of electing its regional council representatives
[2:03:08]
from voting based on ward to voting at large. Council is
[2:03:12]
correct that that's not explicitly provided for in the referral.
[2:03:17]
I want to reassure council that I think staff has
[2:03:20]
understood the direction here today to take
[2:03:26]
back the question as a whole about the method of
[2:03:30]
election with regard to the regional councils, not necessarily with
[2:03:35]
a specific recommendation in mind. I think that direction
[2:03:40]
has been well established through the
[2:03:43]
discussion here today. We are discussing
[2:03:47]
the referral a little bit more than the procedural bylaw might
[2:03:51]
like us to at this point point. But I
[2:03:55]
think that the referral C
[2:03:58]
captures that intention that has been expressed by council
[2:04:02]
for, for a future staff report and to
[2:04:06]
provide for some opportunities for that public engagement.
[2:04:11]
I would defer to the chair. I think that there's an additional question from
[2:04:14]
Councilor Sheen. Counselor Sheen,
[2:04:17]
thank you. I, I, I, I just wanted to
[2:04:21]
confirm that Councillor Maskell summarized what I was trying to do and Councillor
[2:04:24]
DeBoer also summarized what I was trying to do, which was refer the
[2:04:28]
whole question back to staff with the exception of
[2:04:31]
the proceeding with the consultation about
[2:04:35]
accessibility. But I realized the confusion now
[2:04:39]
that the Deputy Clerk has been explaining because there's already a motion
[2:04:42]
on the floor. Now, I understand what the problem is, but my intention was
[2:04:46]
to refer the entire staff report with respect to
[2:04:51]
having choices there and not tip our hands about what our preferences are.
[2:04:54]
So however we get to that, I don't know what you do with the Motion
[2:04:57]
that's on the floor, but I'm trying to refer this whole
[2:05:00]
question without tipping our hand. Thank you.
[2:05:03]
Okay, so I think if I proceeding
[2:05:07]
we need to vote on the motion and get
[2:05:10]
that cleared off the table and then we can. Then we can deal with the
[2:05:14]
referral. Is that correct? The referral
[2:05:17]
takes precedent through the chair. If, if we would
[2:05:21]
like to take a recess and staff can have further consultation
[2:05:25]
and refine the wording with the mover and seconder to make sure that we're all
[2:05:28]
on the same page, we would be very happy to do so. Perfect. Sure.
[2:05:31]
Let's take five. Chair. Chair. Can I speak first? My hand has
[2:05:34]
been up. Please. Councillor Kieran,
[2:05:38]
thank you very much. And through you. So I think this is getting
[2:05:41]
pretty convoluted and I
[2:05:45]
think Councillor Sheen said it right, as did you, chair,
[2:05:49]
that the intent is to have
[2:05:55]
everything referred back paused until we can
[2:05:58]
engage with the community. And I think we're getting
[2:06:02]
down a rabbit hole and it's getting convoluted.
[2:06:05]
But I have to agree with Councillor DeBoer, you, Chair and Councillor
[2:06:09]
Sheen. The intent is to not bring an
[2:06:12]
option forward, not do this, to refer the entire.
[2:06:16]
The entire report regardless of that option.
[2:06:21]
Require the public. Well, maybe it does. Maybe the public wants to
[2:06:25]
comment on option three as well, sir. So I really
[2:06:28]
do think that this is getting convoluted potentially
[2:06:32]
unnecessarily. And I think to simplify it, as councelor
[2:06:36]
Sheen had said, it's the entire report that we want
[2:06:40]
referred back. Thank you. Thank you,
[2:06:43]
Councilor Kieran. Mr. Klingberg, you have a comment through
[2:06:48]
the chair to committee. Yes. So I just wanted
[2:06:52]
to provide a little bit of perspective. I believe what
[2:06:56]
the intent here is is to refer the first clause
[2:07:01]
to determine which option 1, 2 or 3.
[2:07:05]
So I would suggest some
[2:07:09]
the referral language to reflect it being the first clause
[2:07:12]
without referencing a specific option.
[2:07:17]
And also for consideration if a
[2:07:21]
referral does carry, I would request a
[2:07:24]
shorter turnaround because this there is option to still at
[2:07:28]
play and options two will require some time and
[2:07:31]
it has to get done by the end of the year before the
[2:07:35]
election year. And there would be the regents requirement
[2:07:39]
to also do a public
[2:07:43]
meeting at their composition if
[2:07:48]
option two is selected. And that would be what the public input does.
[2:07:52]
So we would need if we are going to refer this entire clause
[2:07:56]
back for public for a public meeting,
[2:07:59]
it would require a shorter turnaround and I would request May the
[2:08:03]
6th General Committee for that report back. Thank you.
[2:08:08]
Thank you. Clerk Klingenberg for the Clarification So,
[2:08:12]
seeing no speakers now,
[2:08:15]
do you want to take five minutes to get this all figured out
[2:08:19]
and then we'll come back and. Yes, proceed. That would be great. Perfect.
[2:08:22]
Thank you very much. We'll take five.
[2:21:38]
Okay, let's. Let's try to get back at this and
[2:21:42]
maybe we can. We can move this out of the way by
[2:21:46]
5:00. All right, so let's
[2:21:51]
start to proceed here. So, Deputy Clerk, you want to give us some advice
[2:21:55]
as to how we're going to proceed here? Absolutely. Thank you. Through you, Mr.
[2:21:59]
Chair, if Council would permit me the opportunity,
[2:22:03]
what we have prepared in front of you today and displayed on screen
[2:22:07]
is the initial staff report recommendation
[2:22:11]
with the clause in question. And I
[2:22:14]
think there was some confusion there with regard to a reference to an option
[2:22:18]
versus a clause. I'm referring to that first paragraph highlighted
[2:22:22]
in yellow there as a clause. It's my understanding that
[2:22:26]
following the staff report recommendation being tabled by
[2:22:30]
councillors DeBoer and Early, that there was
[2:22:33]
a request from Councillors Sheen and
[2:22:37]
Early to refer the portion of the
[2:22:40]
staff report with respect to the regional councilor
[2:22:44]
composition to a future meeting following public engagement.
[2:22:51]
So if we can scroll down a little bit, Zach,
[2:22:55]
we have before you what we understand that proposed partial
[2:22:59]
referral language to be that that first clause of
[2:23:03]
the staff report recommendation be referred back to staff to prepare
[2:23:07]
an additional report following that public consultation and engagement
[2:23:11]
process. And so we differentiate that language
[2:23:15]
there without an option indicated, as was kept council's
[2:23:19]
preference through the discussion here today.
[2:23:23]
And it provides a May 6,
[2:23:26]
2025 return report, which I believe
[2:23:31]
was to the satisfaction of the clerk.
[2:23:34]
And so then what we also have before you proposed
[2:23:38]
is the balance of that staff report recommendation
[2:23:42]
as initially moved and seconded by councillors
[2:23:46]
DeBoer and Early, which provides that staff are able
[2:23:49]
to proceed with the consultation to the
[2:23:53]
Accessibility Advisory Committee and the
[2:23:56]
additional consultation pieces noted within the staff recommendation of
[2:24:00]
the report. It is my understanding that this
[2:24:03]
captures the direction and discussion from Council
[2:24:07]
here today, but I would be happy to answer any question, questions of clarification,
[2:24:11]
if I can, about where we might have
[2:24:14]
missed an element. Thank you,
[2:24:18]
Mr. Chair, for your indulgence. Thank you. A lot of
[2:24:21]
work there. So thank you very much. And so
[2:24:25]
I guess the first thing we would do is proceed with the vote on the
[2:24:28]
partial referral. Okay,
[2:24:32]
so I guess we would. At this point, we would need to be calling the
[2:24:35]
vote on the partial Referral, please.
[2:24:40]
Councillor DeBoer in favor.
[2:24:43]
Councilor early in favor.
[2:24:46]
Councilor Kiernan in favor.
[2:24:50]
Councilor Napoli Opposed.
[2:24:54]
Councilor Rosa? Opposed.
[2:24:57]
Councilor Russo? Opposed.
[2:25:01]
Councilor Sheen? In favor. Mayor Groves?
[2:25:05]
Opposed. Chair Mascel?
[2:25:08]
In favor.
[2:25:14]
Through the chair. The motion carries.
[2:25:25]
And so if it please the chair, we can move to
[2:25:29]
the balance of that staff report recommendation. Okay, moving to
[2:25:33]
vote on the balance of the staff report recommendation.
[2:25:40]
Councillor DeBoer? In favor.
[2:25:44]
Councilor Early? In favor.
[2:25:47]
Councilor Kiernan? In favor.
[2:25:52]
Councilor Napoli? In favor.
[2:25:56]
Councilor Rosa? In favor.
[2:26:00]
Councilor Russo? In favor.
[2:26:04]
Councilor Sheen? In favor. Mayor Groves?
[2:26:07]
In favor. Chair Mascal? In favor. Through the chair.
[2:26:11]
The motion carries.
[2:26:22]
Okay, so we all finished with that? Okay, great. Thank you very much.
[2:26:27]
I guess the next item would be item 10.3,
[2:26:31]
staff report 2025 0108,
[2:26:34]
Palgrave Tennis Club, State of good repair.
[2:26:38]
And I did hold this motion,
[2:26:43]
sorry, staff report, not necessarily
[2:26:47]
regarding the contents of this, of the staff report itself,
[2:26:51]
but what I really wanted to do was follow up on discussions that
[2:26:55]
were had by this council during our budget deliberations
[2:27:00]
regarding the stewardship agreements with
[2:27:04]
the tennis clubs in the town of Caledon.
[2:27:07]
And I brought that up during the budget talks where we were trying
[2:27:10]
to figure out how we could get better town
[2:27:14]
access, public access to the courts. I understand that there's very
[2:27:18]
limited access, and we've been engaged in numerous repairs over the
[2:27:22]
years where we provided up to 50% of the funding for
[2:27:26]
repairs to these courts, but we don't have adequate
[2:27:30]
public access. So I'm really just wondering if there's been any, Any follow
[2:27:34]
up to that discussion that was held in December and
[2:27:37]
where we're at with that and when we can expect something coming forward. I'm sure,
[2:27:40]
Mr. Ahoy, if you're able to. To deal with that at this time, but I
[2:27:44]
just want to make sure was on the record this evening, that we need to
[2:27:47]
make some progress with that. Thank you to you,
[2:27:50]
Chair. Yeah, so staff have initiated
[2:27:54]
discussions internally. I think I'm meeting on Friday with recreation
[2:27:58]
staff who lead that process to discuss our approach to how
[2:28:01]
we will move forward with these service or stewardship agreements with tennis
[2:28:05]
clubs. Okay, so that's coming up to this Friday.
[2:28:09]
Internally, staff will be discussing how we're going to move forward in discussing
[2:28:13]
with the tennis clubs, their stewardship agreements. Okay. Do you think was that something
[2:28:16]
that would come back to this council in the form of some
[2:28:19]
sort of a memorandum? Because it was part of our discussions here
[2:28:23]
at budget time, and I know a number of councilors were very interested in seeing
[2:28:27]
where those discussions would go.
[2:28:30]
You. Chair? Yeah, I. I believe through those discussions,
[2:28:33]
we will Come up with proposals of how we want to move forward. And I
[2:28:36]
think that would be better if we. We had council support for how we would
[2:28:39]
move forward with that. Okay. To the. So will that be in the form of
[2:28:42]
a staff report or memorandum, do you think?
[2:28:46]
I would probably choose a. A staff report. So at least it has some recommendation
[2:28:50]
and some teeth behind it, as opposed to a memorandum. Okay.
[2:28:55]
Councelor. Oh, sorry, is that. Who's that?
[2:28:59]
No, that's. That's that Jason there. Mr.
[2:29:02]
Shield Roth, you have your hand up? Yes,
[2:29:06]
through the chair. I just wanted to reiterate what Mr.
[2:29:10]
Hoy was suggesting. So we are in the process, as well as working on a
[2:29:12]
council workshop to discuss tenants agreements, options and some deeper
[2:29:16]
information for council. So we are looking at a date in either April or May
[2:29:19]
for that as part of the follow up. Perfect. Thank you very much,
[2:29:23]
Mr. Child. Roth. Much appreciated. Councillor Russo, you're on the board.
[2:29:30]
Thank you. Through you, Chair, happy to move the report as you indicated.
[2:29:33]
I think the report itself is very supportable.
[2:29:37]
I appreciate you bringing up the stewardship agreements. I think it's something
[2:29:41]
that every hamlet is dealing with.
[2:29:44]
So I appreciate staff's actually taking the bull by the
[2:29:48]
horns and figuring that out quickly so that we can
[2:29:51]
get something decided on. Because I think the lack
[2:29:55]
of clarity breeds problems for both the
[2:29:59]
public and members of the actual tennis clubs themselves, which a lot
[2:30:03]
of people there are volunteers and they're doing great work.
[2:30:06]
But the ambiguity creates confusion.
[2:30:10]
So I appreciate this being a priority. So thank you.
[2:30:16]
Thank you. Councillor Russo,
[2:30:18]
seeing no other questions or comments from
[2:30:22]
council, I guess we at this point, we can
[2:30:26]
proceed with the vote. Do we have a
[2:30:30]
seconder who's moved it?
[2:30:33]
Move. Councillor Russo.
[2:30:37]
Councillor deboer. Thank you.
[2:30:42]
Moved by councillor Russo and seconded by Councilor DeBoer.
[2:30:47]
And will I have the motion display. Slade.
[2:30:51]
Councilor DeBoer in favor.
[2:30:54]
Councilor Early. In favor. Councilor Kiernan.
[2:30:59]
In favor. Councilor Napoli.
[2:31:02]
In favor. Councilor Rosa. In favor.
[2:31:06]
Councilor Russo in favor. Councilor Sheen.
[2:31:10]
In favor. Mayor Gross. Yes.
[2:31:13]
Chair Mascal. Chair in favor. Through the chair. The motion carries.
[2:31:20]
Next on the agenda is notices of.
[2:31:24]
Oh, sorry, note. The Canadian
[2:31:28]
suppliers. That was held on consent. Right. So we're good. Okay. So the next
[2:31:31]
would be notice of motion. There have not been any notices of motion received
[2:31:35]
for today's meeting. If any notices of motion are received,
[2:31:38]
they will be Presented at the March 2020. 25th,
[2:31:42]
2025 Town Council Meeting. Are there any notices
[2:31:45]
of motion to be presented at today's meeting?
[2:31:51]
Seeing none, we'll move on correspondence.
[2:31:56]
We will now move on to correspondence. Are there any
[2:31:59]
comments or items that require action in the correspondence?
[2:32:03]
Package for memorandums 24.
[2:32:07]
Statement of remuneration expenses 2025
[2:32:11]
Roma conference summary. Purchasing biannual
[2:32:14]
report for July 2024. December 2024.
[2:32:20]
I was on. Oh, good. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. I did
[2:32:23]
want to talk about the Roma Conference summary and
[2:32:27]
more of a query. And it's fine that we do
[2:32:31]
the summary. I think it was a motion that was put forward by Doug
[2:32:34]
Berd years ago and then re brought forward by somebody this term.
[2:32:37]
I'm not sure who, but I'm more wanting to get some
[2:32:41]
information. We had about eight staff members come
[2:32:45]
with us to Roma, which is great. I think there's a lot of goodwill
[2:32:49]
there, not only from a team perspective and obviously for
[2:32:52]
some assistance, but in many cases, the counselors
[2:32:55]
themselves were not allowed to attend delegations
[2:32:59]
of their choice. So they were asked to attend four delegations.
[2:33:04]
In one of the delegations, I think it was the last one with transportation,
[2:33:08]
we had all eight staff members in that room, and yet there
[2:33:12]
was a counselor that wasn't allowed to attend.
[2:33:16]
So I guess I'm wanting to get some comfort level. I certainly have talked to
[2:33:20]
a lot of municipalities. It's not a practice the councillors
[2:33:23]
are not led into a delegation if they choose to be there.
[2:33:26]
There is a practice that sometimes there's a counselor that
[2:33:30]
has more awareness of a certain topic and they take
[2:33:33]
the lead on the conversation. But if we're being
[2:33:36]
asked as councillors to do a report on
[2:33:40]
our activities, I guess I would sort of like to understand the
[2:33:45]
activities of the staff, some who arrived on the Saturday. I am a Roma
[2:33:50]
board member, so. So it was very different in my capacity in that I had
[2:33:53]
a Roma board meeting on the Saturday and a zone hookup on the Sunday
[2:33:56]
morning where I presented. And then we had multiminister delegations
[2:34:00]
as a Roma board. And then I had, you know, the delegations that
[2:34:04]
I was allowed to go with this and the conference. So not
[2:34:07]
sure who that question is geared to, but I did want to query
[2:34:11]
that, especially as we head into Amo for the summer months.
[2:34:16]
Thank you, Councillor Early. That Cao Hyde would
[2:34:20]
be something you would be able to address. Well, thank you. Through the chair.
[2:34:23]
I guess my question back to Councillor early is, do you want that in the
[2:34:26]
form of a staff report? I don't certainly want to put staff who are in
[2:34:29]
the room on the spot right now. It's a very straightforward
[2:34:33]
answer. I would think that they could Take offline. But unless you want something that's
[2:34:36]
more public, we could look towards a staff report. So I would just maybe ask
[2:34:39]
for some clarification on that.
[2:34:43]
Thank you. Thank you. I think a staff report is fine. I don't think
[2:34:47]
we need to do anything public. I think it's more just an issue as we
[2:34:49]
move into amo, that I think that we want to make sure that
[2:34:53]
all of our counselors, our sitting councillors that choose to be part
[2:34:56]
of these delegations, I mean, AMO and Roma FCM to some small point
[2:35:00]
as well, they're created so that these elected officials
[2:35:03]
have, you know, an opportunity to learn from their colleagues,
[2:35:07]
but also an opportunity to have facetime with the ministers. And I just
[2:35:10]
want to make sure moving forward that we get that opportunity 100%.
[2:35:14]
Understand, not everybody can do the talking at these delegations. They're 15 minutes long,
[2:35:18]
but everybody should have the opportunity. But I will say it just for
[2:35:22]
me, very concerning when there are various
[2:35:26]
levels of staff taking the seats of counselors that could be in
[2:35:29]
the room. So I'll leave it at that. And I'll leave it to your leadership
[2:35:33]
to decide how you'd like to handle it with the staff report.
[2:35:37]
Thank you. Thank you. CEO Hyde, anything to add?
[2:35:40]
Well, thank you. Through the chair, I think how we might handle that is simply
[2:35:43]
a memo to council. I think it's pretty straightforward. I know that the team implemented
[2:35:47]
a new process for it this year that all counselors were prepped on. We can
[2:35:50]
certainly articulate that. I don't think it's a matter of anybody taking
[2:35:53]
up seats of, but I know there was a process that was developed by the
[2:35:57]
team, and certainly we can articulate, and I think the memo is probably the most
[2:36:00]
effective means by which to do it. Thank you very much,
[2:36:03]
CEO. High Councillor Russo, you have a comment?
[2:36:08]
Yeah, I just actually want to draw attention to 1313, the purchasing
[2:36:11]
BI annual report. I think Chair,
[2:36:14]
you alluded to this at one of the previous meetings. This is
[2:36:18]
just a helpful tool for members of the public and council in general
[2:36:22]
to just go over things and costing that
[2:36:26]
were absorbed throughout the year or that
[2:36:30]
time frame from the town. So just bringing attention
[2:36:33]
to it, because sometimes in
[2:36:37]
correspondence, this is just kind of gone over.
[2:36:41]
But any members of the public that like to look at that, I think it's
[2:36:44]
a very useful tool. And for council in general,
[2:36:47]
it's a very useful tool, and I appreciate staff doing it on a
[2:36:51]
biannual basis. Thank you.
[2:36:57]
Thank you, Councillor Russo.
[2:37:00]
Okay, going forward. Oh, Councillor Sheen.
[2:37:04]
Thank you, Chair Masc thank you, Councillor Russo. I wasn't going
[2:37:07]
to speak to this, but since you brought it up,
[2:37:10]
I read this biannual
[2:37:15]
report with some interest and noted that the
[2:37:19]
topic we talked about in some length, at some length last week, I think it
[2:37:22]
was around non standard procurements. I noticed
[2:37:26]
that there's about 3, 6, 10, 8,
[2:37:30]
maybe 10 non standard procurements on
[2:37:33]
page 4
[2:37:37]
of 5, and all of them were relatively low dollar amounts,
[2:37:41]
nothing more than $50,000, which I thought was pretty interesting
[2:37:45]
considering the high amounts we were talking about last
[2:37:48]
week or the week before. So I just wanted to draw attention to that as
[2:37:51]
well. Thank you. Thank you,
[2:37:54]
Councillor Sheen. And I think that's germane to our topic last week where
[2:37:58]
we were speaking about this. And really in the area
[2:38:02]
of procurement, you know, the one you least want
[2:38:05]
to engage in is the non, non standard ones.
[2:38:10]
So that's why those purchases are so low, I would believe. And would
[2:38:14]
that be the case, Commissioner Cummings? That's probably
[2:38:17]
the least preferred method of procurement out there. So you're kind of
[2:38:21]
reserving it for small things or timely matters.
[2:38:25]
You're absolutely correct, Chair Mescal. It's very
[2:38:28]
specific situations. Thank you very much.
[2:38:38]
At this time, we do not have a closed session.
[2:38:42]
So at this point, I would believe this is time for our
[2:38:46]
adjournment and that this would conclude
[2:38:50]
the March 4, 2025 general committee meeting.
[2:38:53]
I declared the meeting adjourned. And just so the public's aware, there is a public
[2:38:57]
meeting tonight for planning and development. So we'll see you at
[2:39:01]
7:00.