[12:23] We'll call the meeting to order. We respectfully acknowledge that we live

[12:27] and work in Migmi as a steward of the ancestral territory of the Migm people.

[12:31] We are all treaty people. Approval of the agenda. So Tom, I know you have a

[12:37] few things you want to add at the end. >> Yeah. Anybody else? Any additions or

[12:42] deletions? Or you can take half the agenda off if you want.

[12:46] » I'll approve the agenda. Seconder

[12:52] » discussion. All those in favor? Opposed? Motions carried.

[12:58] Public input. Each person is limited to a maximum of five minutes with the

[13:02] entire public input session not exceeding 15 minutes. Each person must

[13:06] state their name and address. Questions and comments are to be directed at the

[13:10] chair and comments are open to any municipal matters or anybody who wishes

[13:13] to address council this morning. Come on up.

[13:21] You might remember me from last time I was here regarding the Gold River

[13:25] Bridge, which >> was a great conclusion.

[13:29] » Um, so my name is Jamie Miller. I live at 49 Croft Road in Chester Basin.

[13:35] Warden, members of council and neighbors, good morning and thank you

[13:38] for your time. Um, and I never do public speaking. [laughter]

[13:44] » I'm here. >> You're good at emails.

[13:46] » Yeah. I I I have a degree in [cough]

[13:49] [clears throat] English, so I'm good at it, but speaking is

[13:53] um so I'm here to speak on behalf of a landmark that has defined the visual and

[13:58] historical heart of Chester Basin since the mid 1800s. The magnificent Victorian

[14:03] home standing tall overlooking the basin at 24 Biwater Lane. Recently, it has

[14:08] come to my attention that there are strong community concerns and valid

[14:12] rumors regarding the potential loss of this house, and they have continued to

[14:16] grow rapidly. I'm here today to urge council towards proactive stewardship to

[14:21] finish what was once started in the 1990s and officially register this

[14:25] structure as a municipal heritage property before it is too late. If you

[14:29] ask anyone in or outside our municipality to picture Chester Basin in

[14:33] their mind, this is often the house that they envision. It stands as an iconic

[14:38] coastal landmark for everyone entering our community. Architecturally, it is a

[14:42] quintessential example of mid 19th century Victorian design. What makes it

[14:47] remarkable is that over 150 years, the exterior remains almost entirely

[14:51] unchanged. It still displays its original gingerbread trim, cedar

[14:55] shingles, and decorative woodwork. Furthermore, as seen in recent real

[14:59] estate listings, the house remains in excellent structural condition and even

[15:03] appears to maintain many original interior features. Therefore, there's

[15:06] currently no physical or safety rationale that justifies tearing it

[15:10] down. Beyond its beauty, these walls contain the story of our region's

[15:14] maritime and industrial development. A home of this design appears on an 1853

[15:20] map, and by 1864, um, it is identified as part of the

[15:24] thriving ship building enterprise owned by Anderson and Henagar. I have many

[15:29] photographs of its history in my possession. Um

[15:34] uh so by 1871 uh Levi Auxner took over the business.

[15:40] His son Howard and Robin Hener later operated the Chester Basin Ship Builders

[15:44] Ltd, which was the very last firm to build wooden ships in that historic

[15:49] yard. Furthermore, local historian Everett Bachmann confirmed to me that

[15:53] the property was later integral to the famous barrel making enterprise in

[15:56] Chester Basin. And as many of you probably know, from 1892 to 1957, it was

[16:02] our community post office and a central uh gathering place for residents. Um I

[16:08] also have a photo from my neighbor Christina Fitch that shows a massive

[16:12] granite boulder on the property that apparently was blasted into um smaller

[16:17] pieces to build the Gold River Bridge >> um which is a structure that we are

[16:21] thankfully restoring today thanks to the efforts of our community.

[16:24] » Christina used to live there. >> Yeah. Yeah. was in her family.

[16:28] » I've slept there a few nights myself. >> Yeah, many people have stories of this

[16:32] house. It's crazy. Um, anyways, we are watching our local history slip away

[16:38] piece by piece. We recently lost the historic home across from the seaside

[16:42] shanty, which I do understand was in quite disrepair. Um, but longtime

[16:46] residents like Larry Ryan, Everett Bachmann, and Steve Eisner, who I

[16:50] recently had the pleasure of meeting, have voiced their heartbreak over the

[16:53] steady loss of our heritage over the decades. and they were truly speechless

[16:57] when they heard the rumor that I had heard. Furthermore, you will soon be

[17:01] receiving a letter from the Chester Heritage Society recommending that this

[17:05] home be designated and protected. We must start protecting what remains

[17:08] before it's gone forever. The good news is that council does not need to start

[17:12] from scratch. Through municipal planning staff, I discovered that the home was

[17:16] already halfway through or around there the heritage registration process.

[17:21] Apparently, form A was completed, which Christina also told me about. Um, but

[17:26] form B was left unfinished as confirmed by the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia,

[17:31] who I spoke to, third party nominations are completely [clears throat] legal.

[17:35] And according to my reading of bylaw number 76, form B is the notice that the

[17:40] municipality issues after council registers a property, and it is signed

[17:44] by the municipal clerk, and it does not require the owner's signature.

[17:48] Um, and in conclusion, we have a rare, fleeting opportunity to act before a

[17:53] crisis occurs rather than mourning another loss after the fact. I urge

[17:57] council today to direct staff to prepare a report on registering this property as

[18:01] a municipal heritage property so that the process that was started in the '90s

[18:05] um can be resumed and completed and this landmark protected for future

[18:09] generations. And if there's anything that I can do to help, whether it's

[18:12] researching, collecting historic photographs, or anything of that sort, I

[18:17] would be happy to assist. Thank you for your time.

[18:20] » Thank you. >> I mean, I'm I'm well aware that it is a

[18:23] historic property. >> Yeah.

[18:25] » Um but I do think we need the report from staff and I also think we need to

[18:29] have a discussion with the owner because I've heard the rumor, but I don't know.

[18:33] » Yeah. Yeah. you know >> what his intentions are or why he

[18:36] intends to do it or you know is there what

[18:39] » from what I heard it's because he prefers modern

[18:42] » architecture >> I wonder why he bought the place well

[18:45] » right on the ocean that's one reason I guess but yeah so yes so I you know I I

[18:50] do believe we should have a report from staff and just what the process is and

[18:55] our involvement and >> what the legal implications are if we

[18:59] register something and prevent people from doing what they want with it

[19:02] » well from From what I've researched, it doesn't necessarily prevent him, but it

[19:06] delays it. >> It delays it significant.

[19:08] » Well, that's what I'd need to know. You know,

[19:11] a motion. >> Yeah.

[19:14] » We have seconder to get the staff report.

[19:18] » Discussion. All those in favor. >> Where is it located? Is it on the uh

[19:23] » It's the one. >> Yeah. The little road that runs down

[19:26] past where the old >> grocery store was. Yeah. I thought so.

[19:31] that one out on the end there. >> Yeah.

[19:33] » Oh, yes. >> Yeah.

[19:35] » It's quite significant. >> Oh, yeah. No, it's been there forever. I

[19:38] mean, yeah. And like Nancy Fitch, Dean Fitch, they they live there and uh I'm

[19:42] going to her funeral tomorrow. >> Yeah. Me, too.

[19:46] » Yeah. >> Okay.

[19:47] » Any further discussion on the motion? >> It's got that gingerbread trim on it

[19:51] right out in the basin there. Yeah. >> All those in favor?

[19:56] » Opposed? Motions carried. Thanks for coming in. I'll see you tomorrow again.

[20:00] » Thank you. Anyone else wish to speak to council?

[20:08] » Yeah. Okay. So, minutes of the previous meeting draft council minutes August

[20:13] 13th errors or omissions.

[20:19] » So moved. >> Second.

[20:21] » Moved and seconded to be approved. Discussion. All those in favor?

[20:26] Opposed? Motion's carried. Draft special council meeting August 24th. Errors or

[20:31] omissions?

[20:35] » Seconded. Discussion. All those in favor? Opposed? Motions carry.

[20:39] [clears throat] Proclamations and designations. U email

[20:44] from beyond bandage initiative.

[20:50] Don't know if everybody's read that or haven't.

[21:04] somebody prepared to move it or not move it or

[21:08] » Jennifer have anything to know she's not here. She usually tells us all about it.

[21:12] » No, it's uh actually Emily prepares the reports now. So, it's just a motion to

[21:16] proclaim uh October 17th as United Nations International Day for the

[21:21] Eradication of Poverty on the Southshore to create awareness for the United

[21:25] Nations International [snorts] Day for the Eradication of Poverty in Lunberg

[21:28] County. Um, and that was requested by Beyond Band-Aids and there's a

[21:32] proclamation to go along with that. >> I'll second it.

[21:36] » Moved and seconded. Discussion. All those in favor? Opposed? Motion's

[21:41] carried. Not sure how we're going to accomplish it, but whatever.

[21:46] Yes, that's not

[21:52] » 7.1 is Loomberg County Senior Safety. >> Hello. Um, yes. Uh, just simply that the

[22:01] report has been included with your package and if there were any questions

[22:05] I would uh try my best to answer and if not I would certainly find the answer

[22:09] out and and get it get the answer information back to you. Yeah. Anyone

[22:13] any questions? Doesn't appear to be.

[22:18] » Okay. Public presentations. Not aware of any.

[22:23] » Nope. Bylaws and policies 9.1 requests for

[22:28] decision prepared September 10th. Lowinccome tax exemption

[22:33] update. >> Okay. Morning council. Uh this is a

[22:37] fairly straightforward uh >> Yeah, we do every year. recommendation

[22:40] to approve the amended tax exemption policy P25. Um, and those modifications

[22:45] or amendments were presented at the last uh regular council meeting on August

[22:49] 13th. And today's motion would be to enact those changes officially. And they

[22:54] are to increase the income threshold up to 35,157

[22:59] uh and the maximum exemption up to $918.

[23:05] » Second. >> Discussion. All those in favor.

[23:17] [clears throat] >> Okay, I think we're on correspondence

[23:21] 11.1 email received from Vernon Ketty to cancel reports boundary.

[23:31] » It's for information. >> It is. Yeah. He he sent it so I to me

[23:36] and so I thought everybody else should see it as well.

[23:40] [clears throat] 11.2 Na uh from Nancy Bzant to cancel

[23:47] excess access way to local beach.

[24:02] It's for information unless >> unless we have action. That's

[24:05] information. Okay. >> Council,

[24:09] » you ask all the questions you want. >> I'd like to know where what beach is she

[24:12] referring to. >> Do you know

[24:19] » through the chair? Um it's um it's a small beach uh um in Blandford uh sort

[24:27] of proximal to the church and um some of the locals there just basically drag

[24:34] their equipment and stuff across and over the guard rail and down and there

[24:38] are a number of small beaches in that area that residents use.

[24:43] I spoke to this resident already and uh explained that obviously any removal of

[24:48] the guardrail sections would be um subject to provincial

[24:54] activity and stuff. And you know if we get past that hurdle you know which is

[25:00] probably a fairly large if. Um but if that happens then you know then we can

[25:04] maybe table uh the request to have some better access to get down for residents.

[25:10] But, you know, without that, you're still climbing over the guard rail.

[25:14] » I would suggest that, you know, when we have an opportunity to speak with the

[25:17] province again in our regular transportation meetings, we'll we'll

[25:21] » we can forward this to that agenda. >> Yeah, that's right. So, we'll see how

[25:25] that goes. And then, you know, this is residents have informally spoke to me

[25:30] about this many times over the years. It just uh now finally it's coming as a

[25:34] written correspondence. >> Okay.

[25:37] » Thank you. >> Okay. Okay. And 11.3 and 11.4 they're

[25:42] just to be received as info and there's a report to come from staff which we

[25:46] don't have yet today. So 12.1 staff information report

[25:52] department update financial information services.

[26:04] » Okay. >> So I'm assuming you're going to tell us

[26:06] we're not broke. Uh that's not it, [laughter]

[26:10] » but I can tell you we're not broke if that's what you'd like to hear. Um so

[26:15] this is uh more of an operational side of a departmental update. Um I've

[26:19] included a report in text format. There's also a more visual uh text or

[26:25] PowerPoint presentation to go with it, but they kind of relate. Um so I'm going

[26:30] to go through the information report, but I know sometimes people prefer the

[26:33] uh the visual format as well. So we've got both. Um so this is just a fairly

[26:38] [snorts] standard uh quarterly report for the department for the first quarter

[26:41] of the the current fiscal year which ran from April 1st to June 30th. Um there is

[26:47] some information in here where I've included subsequent information beyond

[26:50] June 30th where it's relevant or useful but I've referenced those dates where

[26:53] possible. Um

[26:58] so some updates on the records manager staffing update. We just you you all met

[27:02] our new records manager this morning. Uh so we're wonderfully happy to have her.

[27:06] We've done some internal staffing changes as well. There's one uh staff

[27:09] who is out unexpectedly on a leave. Uh so we've had some temporary movements to

[27:12] to fill the positions as necessary. So we have Ashley Tanner has moved into our

[27:17] revenue administrator role and uh as of I believe next Monday, we've got uh

[27:22] Laurian Harish coming over to us from uh community development and recreation uh

[27:28] to help us fill Ashley's role of accounting and administrative assistant.

[27:33] Uh big big ticket items. One thing that I like to make sure I'm bringing to

[27:37] council fairly regularly is the water and pace program loans because they're

[27:40] very popular and uh you know if they get to a certain point, you know, council's

[27:44] allocated $2.4 million in reserve to fund these uh lending programs. Um right

[27:50] now we have 65 active water and sewer loans under that program [clears throat]

[27:54] with 16 more that have already been approved and are potentially coming

[27:57] through. >> That's better than we had been for a

[27:59] long time. >> Very there was a huge surge in

[28:01] applications uh late last year after the update to the bylaw. Uh it's slowed down

[28:04] a bit now, but still a very popular program. Um very helpful for people

[28:08] getting them their own deeper, more suitable wells. Uh generally that's what

[28:12] it is. Some people are using it for water treatment for quality. A couple

[28:15] people are using it for um fixing up um their septic systems that aren't

[28:20] working. >> Um but very helpful program for the res.

[28:24] Yeah. Um, so there's 200 uh, sorry, $922,685

[28:30] drawn against that reserve from the water program

[28:32] » and another $480 potentially if all those approved loans uh, were to go

[28:37] through at the max value. >> Council,

[28:41] councelor Brener, >> just want to confirm, Tim, that that

[28:44] through you to the chair, please. Um I want to confirm that that also includes

[28:47] cyistn if they're looking for water systems to work with cyesterns because a

[28:51] lot of people have question on that and they're not clear that it is but it

[28:54] definitely is included and please folks if you're having challenges that's a

[28:58] great way to look into that option and move forward. Thank you.

[29:01] » Yes, I believe are explicitly mentioned as an example uh in the bylaw. However,

[29:06] it it is most generally intended for improving the quality or quantity of an

[29:10] existing water system. So, it's not for building a new system on a brand new

[29:14] construction, but for >> replacing or upgrading an existing

[29:18] system that's not sufficient anymore. >> Um, the PACE program has 15 active loans

[29:24] currently with another five uh approved and in progress. Now, that program we

[29:27] know is kind of sunsetting, I guess, because the PACE, the clean energy

[29:31] foundation is no longer supporting that, but we're working through the ones that

[29:34] were in place when that happened. uh total drawn against that as of the end

[29:38] of August was 431264 uh with the potential for another

[29:43] 200,000 if those remaining five go through at full value. So from the

[29:47] combined $2.4 million reserve there's a current balance at the end of August of

[29:51] 1 million 353949 um drawn against that leaving uh just

[29:57] over a million uh 1.05 million uh remaining. If all those outstanding

[30:03] approved loans come through for the full value, that would bring it down to about

[30:06] $366,000 remaining, which is uh the equivalent of

[30:11] approximately 12 full value sewer loans, which is not a lot. Um, however, we're

[30:16] not getting them at that rate anymore. Uh, and we're getting repayments of

[30:19] about $11,000 a month from all the existing loans. So, kind of replenish

[30:23] that reserve as time goes on. >> Yeah. the that's the reason why I want

[30:26] to bring this to council more regularly is so that we can keep an eye on that

[30:29] amount available if we do get to a point where it's looking like we're going to

[30:32] run out of that funding council as make a decision at that time as to whether to

[30:36] limit the program or to expand the funding or any other options.

[30:39] » Yeah. >> Um final

[30:40] » tax thanks I just think just good news. I

[30:46] just wanted to know like we offer a lot of options for payback

[30:51] for uh when they for this program they they can do it on a variety of different

[30:58] » options to pay to to to to do that. >> Uh we tend to prefer a monthly

[31:03] pre-authorized payment. We do set new loans up with pre-authorized and monthly

[31:07] uh primarily because it is a very manual process. We have like somebody actually

[31:11] has to go and do this work every time. >> Okay. Um and so we would prefer

[31:15] consistency to make that a little bit less ownorous on the staff. However,

[31:19] yes, we do have some flexibility. >> So, so are you are you finding that you

[31:23] recommend us that people are tending to do that?

[31:26] » Yeah, the monthly pre-authorized payments is by far the most common.

[31:29] Good. >> Um I always make sure to clarify with

[31:31] people before they go through the process that these are open loans. They

[31:34] can always just pay them off in full. There's no penalty or future interest or

[31:38] anything like that. Um, and they could even come in and pay down a chunk if

[31:42] they come into some extra money. However, I always ask that they don't do

[31:45] that all the time because of that manual effort that's required. Like, don't come

[31:48] in every payday and put 20 bucks on your loan. That's going to be

[31:51] » Yeah. >> Well, the reason I ask is I have someone

[31:54] in my area that took advantage of and I think they're they're they're planning

[31:57] to pay it. >> Yeah.

[32:00] » Pay it off or whatever and I just went >> that's always an option and there I said

[32:04] there's no penalties or anything like that.

[32:06] » Great. Thank you. >> Yeah, it's a wonderful program. Very

[32:08] popular. Uh, yep. We're working on the final tax

[32:12] bills. Those should be going out very shortly uh to the printers within the

[32:15] next few days or a week and then out to residents uh later this month.

[32:20] » I'll be happy to have J. >> Oh, yeah. People love getting tax bills.

[32:24] It definitely drives some volume of work in the in the office. That's for sure.

[32:29] » Uh over on the information services side, so it support tickets. I've been

[32:33] tracking the tickets and response times. Um in the year ended March 31st, we had

[32:39] a total of 642 tickets handled by the IT help desk. Uh which is 20% higher than

[32:45] the previous uh fiscal year. Um and in that year most recently uh 83% were

[32:50] resolved within 24 hours which was down slightly from the 87% of the year before

[32:54] that. uh in just Q1 of this fiscal year up April to June [clears throat] we had

[33:00] 169 tickets which is also up 20% from the previous uh Q1 and the resolution

[33:06] within 24 hours was 76% down from 82%. Um so you can see there is a bit of a

[33:12] trend of growing volumes and also a trend of increasing response times. Um

[33:17] I'm not concerned at the moment. There are the response times are still well

[33:20] within acceptable limits I would say but that is something we're monitoring to

[33:24] make sure that we're continuing to provide appropriate services uh for our

[33:27] organization. Uh similarly there's been an increased volume and complexity in IT

[33:32] security issues. Um in Q1 of this fiscal year our email security system blocked

[33:38] over 22,000 suspicious or unwanted emails

[33:42] » and that helping to protect municipal operations. Those are very risky things

[33:46] that less through the less likely we are to have somebody click on them.

[33:51] » Uh well, other cyber security systems prevented more than 134,000 malicious

[33:56] cyber events. So attempts to connect through our systems and things like

[33:59] that. >> Um in IT systems, we've completed the

[34:03] transition to the Bell total connect portal uh which was mandated by our

[34:07] provider. They were ending support for the previous version and required us to

[34:11] transition. uh that was done successfully um with very minimal impact

[34:16] to operations. Uh we've also gone through multiple

[34:20] server migration activities on the back end. Some stuff that needed to be done

[34:23] for security and for you know usability uh functions to make sure that they're

[34:26] all modern and up to date again without significant impacts.

[34:34] uh GIS and mapping continues to support all our services including the ongoing

[34:38] mayors versus warden project um and progressing on public facing mapping of

[34:42] community amenities and business locations

[34:45] procurement that's something that has really skyrocketed in in complexity

[34:50] [clears throat] scope time um and everything in the last year or two as

[34:55] you might note by the fact that we have a dedicated procurement officer now it's

[34:58] been wonderful so so I've also included an attachment ment to this report which

[35:02] includes all the solicitations that were posted in the first quarter of this

[35:07] fiscal year. Um as well as some information on when they when they were

[35:12] awarded all that fun stuff. Um I will be bringing regular reports similar to this

[35:16] back to council as is covered in the procurement policy.

[35:22] uh in addition to the 16 that are in that attachment, there were another I

[35:26] believe 13 that were initiated in Q1 but didn't reach posting just yet. Uh and

[35:32] then since the end of Q1, so since July 1st, there's been another seven that

[35:35] have been initiated. So it's still quite high volume. A lot of these are very

[35:38] some of the ongoing ones are very complex large projects. There's been a

[35:42] lot more uh work required on every every step of the phase basically from

[35:47] developing the solicitation documents to uh dealing with the bids to award to

[35:52] contract negotiations. All of [clears throat] these things have have

[35:54] gotten significantly um more burdensome as as things grow.

[36:01] And then externally we continue to support the Chester Volunteer Fire

[36:04] Department through a couple of very significant procurements. Uh one being

[36:07] the the firetruck and the other being the fire halt. Um you'll see on the

[36:12] actual attachment that it says TBD for award date on the fire apparatus. I

[36:15] believe that was awarded just last week. So preparing this report.

[36:22] » On the financial reporting and budget side, oh I've used the wrong uh verb

[36:25] tense in this because I expected to have had audit committee before I presented

[36:28] this report. But the audit committee will meet later this morning uh to

[36:32] review and hopefully approve the 2526 annual audited financial statements. Um,

[36:39] and then year-end budget variance reports, so that more operational, the

[36:43] the version that everybody might understand better, uh, will be presented

[36:46] to council at the next, uh, regular council meeting later in September.

[36:51] Um, other mandatory provincial reporting is all on track, either done already on

[36:55] time or on track to be done before the end of September at our deadlines. And,

[36:58] uh, we continue to work on the implementation of our budget software.

[37:02] This is something that has taken a lot longer than we would hope uh, primarily

[37:06] due to internal staffing needs. the people who are responsible for doing

[37:09] that work also had other stuff that was a higher priority unfortunately. Um and

[37:13] so we're still working through that. Uh we hope to have it up and running very

[37:16] soon. >> Tim, I would just I would just add that

[37:19] your department's also supporting uh the the provincial reporting and the

[37:23] reporting we required to do for grants. So that's primarily done by Jonathan in

[37:28] the public works uh with the public works team. Um, but your department

[37:32] provides quite quite a bit of support there and uh significant amount of work.

[37:37] So, we do that. I think it's they're quarterly reports on some of them.

[37:41] » So, yes, some of those grant reporting. That's a great point. Thank you. Um, so

[37:44] Shannon, our financial analyst, is the primary point person for that as well as

[37:48] preparing our other financial statements and reports as well as the lead for the

[37:52] quest of implementation, which is when I talk about internal resource pressure.

[37:56] Um and yeah it there's a few things actually and it kind of ties to the

[38:00] procurement growth as well as this grant reporting. So there's a lot of um

[38:04] requirements for providing specific documentation and detail for all these

[38:09] grants you know like the ICIP funds these big money big project grants that

[38:13] are provided to us after the fact. So, we have to spend all the money,

[38:17] consolidate our reports, submit them for approval, and then receive that money

[38:20] back. Which actually ties into another issue that I'm going to be working on

[38:24] addressing going forward a little better in budgeting is that as we have these

[38:28] huge capital projects, we're spending millions of dollars but not collecting

[38:31] the funds for that until much later. >> There's that time period where we're

[38:35] floating that cash out of our operating fund. Yeah.

[38:37] » Um, and it's, you know, I'm trying to find ways to shorten that timeline as

[38:42] well as more accurately allocate the cost of that lost cost of capital

[38:45] essentially the the interest income we're losing there, um, should be

[38:48] allocated to those capital projects. And that's something that I'm going to be

[38:51] working on doing going forward so that we're more fully capturing the full cost

[38:54] of delivering these projects, not just the direct cost of buying or building

[38:57] things. >> More to it. And then so I would also

[39:01] just add um that's not in this report that a significant project you your

[39:05] department's been working on is the replacement uh of our software program.

[39:09] » Yeah. The ERP enterprise resource planning software that is ongoing now

[39:13] with the consultant that we've hired to help us do the needs analysis, current

[39:17] state assessment, um market analysis of available options. So right now they're

[39:22] at the phase where they're engaging with all the other departments outside.

[39:25] They've met with finance and IT and leadership already. They've done their

[39:28] walkthroughs of our processes to document the existing state and now

[39:32] they're talking with all the other uh direct users of u our financial software

[39:36] or potential users of a financial software to get an idea of what use

[39:40] cases we we need or have or want or or don't need all that fun stuff.

[39:44] » Tom, >> thank you. Word through you and I'll

[39:47] start with the CA. I want to compliment because what I'm hearing in this is

[39:51] staff is working very diligently to modernize us, bring us more into the

[39:56] world of reality. A lot of public stop me and say, "What staff do? What do why

[40:00] do we have so many people?" But what I'm hearing is many of our staff are

[40:04] overloaded >> doing seven, eight, nine tasks trying to

[40:07] do what they originally were hired for one staffing pro issue. And honestly,

[40:12] I've said this before, we know need another 10 staff that really can work in

[40:17] variety of parts of our municipal structure to

[40:22] bring a better even more service provision because what we do is provide.

[40:27] And as we can see, the download from the province and other higher governments is

[40:32] just creating more and more every month that we have to deal with. And I

[40:36] compliment staff for managing as much as they can and keeping us in a healthy

[40:39] position, but also trying to deal with all this stuff. And and I know some

[40:43] people say no, not more people, but we have to look at where we're going and

[40:46] what we have in the future. So, thank you.

[40:49] » Thank you. >> Yeah, that it t.

[40:54] » Okay. Any questions? Anybody? >> Council.

[41:00] » Thank you. I have Thank you to the chair. I have a quick question with the

[41:04] pre I say that word procurement criteria um when choosing uh the applicant. Is

[41:12] there a caveat about not hiring a US-based company? Did we not discuss

[41:18] that at any point? >> Uh

[41:22] » did we not touch on that last year? Yeah, we did [clears throat] touch on

[41:25] last year and so we're we're under there are some trade agreements that I um I

[41:30] think we would have to go back to Libby before I speak out of turn, but I think

[41:34] there's some requirements on when we can and can't do that. So, I'm not sure that

[41:38] we could do that across the board. We did not at that time um choose to do

[41:44] that at all. Uh I think the recommendation from staff was that we

[41:47] not do that, but if that's something that you're interested in, we could

[41:51] bring a report back to council. Well, >> because and that's something that was on

[41:55] our radar anyways as a potential issue we'd have to be addressing soon um

[41:59] because of of the recent discussions >> and as Tara mentioned there are some

[42:04] criteria through international trade agreements for I don't know the numbers

[42:07] exactly but above certain values there's certain restrictions we're not allowed

[42:10] to place um but we can bring that back for sure I can say that just from

[42:15] looking at biders we don't often see a lot of bids coming in from Americanbased

[42:19] companies no >> um one of the things that is more of an

[42:23] issue is the vendors that use supplies that they receive from American. It's

[42:28] » hard for us to know >> which then may or may not have tariffs

[42:31] applied which could modify pricing between the time we purchase something

[42:36] or agree to purchase something and the final cost because as we know those

[42:39] things are changing very rapidly sometimes

[42:42] » one day to the next. >> Yeah. And so there is some uncertainty

[42:45] in costing that comes with that and it's something we're we're paying attention

[42:48] to. >> Tom, [snorts]

[42:50] » thank you word Weber. I think that brings up a very good point. I'm

[42:52] listening to many government levels talk about who gets taxed and it's the owner

[42:57] that gets taxed. So if it's our product that we're getting, we're going to be

[43:00] taxed if it's a tariff related situation. So we have to be prepared for

[43:04] adjusting costs and understands and with justifiable explanation why the cost is

[43:09] being increased to follow that and be concerned about it and how we deal with

[43:13] it. And I think it is something we have to pay attention to for sure. So I

[43:16] appreciate the update. Thank you. >> Okay.

[43:20] Thank you. Take care. Okay. Mu lake waste.

[43:42] » How are you? >> Uh doing all right. Good morning. Um

[43:46] I'll just do a very quick intro and then Emily will do the the main part of the

[43:51] presentation. But this has sort of been part of the broader

[43:56] look through the entire department just all of our basic services and that we're

[44:01] providing. But I would say certainly uh Mil Lake has been one of the ones that

[44:07] got flagged fairly early on from when I started from staff as a item to be

[44:11] looked at at some point and I think it's just where things have sort of gone this

[44:15] year from the feedback particularly we've gotten from our pilot law

[44:18] enforcement officer was like it's something that's we've had to bring

[44:22] forward a little bit sooner I think we planned

[44:25] uh with regards to the entire program just because of it's just a reoccurring

[44:30] and seems to be getting a little bit worse.

[44:33] now. So I think with that we'll wait for Emily to dive into the main part of the

[44:37] presentation. So >> morning Emily.

[44:39] » Morning. It's good to see everyone. Um yeah, so we just want to provide a bit

[44:44] of an update to council on what's going on with the Mil Lake Waste Corral. Um

[44:50] maybe Oh, I guess this is the first slide. So a bit of background for

[44:54] council and any counselors that are very familiar with the Millle Corral. The

[44:59] municipality has a piece of land at Mil Lake in Hubards where we've set up a a

[45:05] corral site with a few different bins where residents around the lake that

[45:11] don't get curbside collection can put their um waste into the corral and then

[45:17] it gets picked up twice a week. I think there's bulky collection on Mondays and

[45:21] then the regular bagged items get emptied uh from the bins on Thursdays.

[45:26] So over the last about five to seven years as we've been um told

[45:32] predominantly by by law enforcement and some past notes from previous staff is

[45:36] Mil Lake this corral has been a hot spot for illegal dumping in the municipality.

[45:42] » Um so it's definitely been on staff's radar and it's been on the community's

[45:46] radar as well because they're the ones visiting it every day and seeing it and

[45:50] you know it's something for them to have to handle as well. So, there's some uh

[45:54] pieces of signage on the corral that have been installed for um I think at

[46:00] least a couple of years, and they have instructions on how the corral should be

[46:03] used, such as the materials that are allowed to go in, the size of the

[46:07] materials, and so forth. Unfortunately, the signage has been ignored um likely

[46:14] by certain individuals in the community. I don't think it's certainly not

[46:18] everybody, but there are some that have frequently ignored the signage.

[46:22] Unfortunately, so over the years, um, to our knowledge, there have been keys

[46:27] distributed to unauthorized users of the corral, which has also, I think, caused

[46:31] some tension in the community as they see people that aren't from there

[46:35] driving up and dropping stuff off. And also some background, um, as some may be

[46:40] familiar, we have various cottage areas in our municipality, and they're some

[46:45] are treated differently in terms of waste collection. So we have various

[46:48] that have these bins that get collected on a weekly basis. But there are some

[46:52] cottage areas such as Larder Lake where they get collection every two weeks just

[46:57] like yeah and then they uh they pay for their

[47:01] own bins and they take take care of their bins. So what are staff doing

[47:05] about this? So over the last I think couple of months uh there's been a bit

[47:09] more action on this at at the corral because summer's a very busy time at the

[47:14] lake. So the amount of waste that goes in ramps up. So, um, the plan is that on

[47:20] October 1st, staff of the solid waste department and

[47:25] the bylaw enforcement team officer plan to install a new lock on the corral that

[47:31] only municipal staff and staff of GE would have a key to get in and perhaps a

[47:38] couple of trusted residents in the municipality that are willing to

[47:41] volunteer in cases that it would be helpful for residents to be able to get

[47:46] in. So, the plan is that on uh Wednesday afternoons, the corral would be open by

[47:52] municipal staff. And then from about probably noon to 1:00 p.m. um until

[47:58] Thursday, uh residents have a chance to put their waist out, just like if they

[48:03] were putting their waist out the night before. And then once GE comes in,

[48:07] usually it's usually before lunchtime that they get there and they empty the

[48:10] bins, then who whoever's the truck driver would lock it behind them and it

[48:15] would be closed until the next Wednesday.

[48:17] » So, uh, the intent is for residents to kind of use it as their regular curbside

[48:23] drop off place. >> Yeah.

[48:25] » Um, so there's a bit of good news. Uh we have been able to uh through working

[48:31] with GE approve curbside collection officially on two of the roads in that

[48:36] area. So Mil Lake Road number one, which is the main road, actually has a little

[48:42] extension that goes around the lake that wasn't getting curbside. So that's

[48:45] officially been approved. And Milbrook Lane, which you access off the power

[48:50] lines, um but it is a pretty good quality road. That's also been approved.

[48:55] So those two roads will start curbside collection officially on October 2nd.

[48:59] » Are they plowed in the winter? >> Yes. Yeah. To our understanding.

[49:04] » Just >> I believe Mil Lake Road is a provincial

[49:06] road. So they Yeah. department >> uh clears it. So we're still

[49:11] investigating options with GE for hopefully fingers crossed doing curbside

[49:16] collection on Mil Lake West on the other side of the lake as well. But it is a

[49:20] quite narrow road so there's definitely constraints there with getting a truck

[49:23] back. And we plan to send a written notice to all property owners within the

[49:27] next couple of business days so that uh they can get sufficient notice about the

[49:32] the lock change and about curbside starting up so they can get their green

[49:36] bins. So the purpose of this approach as I've already mentioned is to um help

[49:42] property owners around the lake use the site as they would put their waste out

[49:46] on a normal day for collection and put it out the day. Technically, according

[49:52] to our bylaw, uh residents shouldn't put it out until dusk of the day before

[49:56] collection just to help minimize the chances of animals getting in and

[50:00] neighbors seeing your waste and that kind of thing.

[50:03] » We're a little lenient on that. So, and this is new, so we're going to give them

[50:06] at least the afternoon to put their stuff out. Another goal is to help

[50:10] prevent unauthorized users throughout the week getting into the corral and

[50:15] control the amount of waste that residents are putting into the corral

[50:17] because um right now as some admitted it's become easy to go there on a daily

[50:23] basis and dump a bit at a time which seemingly isn't a big deal but folks

[50:29] aren't quite paying attention to maybe how much they're putting out when

[50:32] they're putting a little bit out every day. So there could be more than the

[50:35] allowable amount. So, we have three different pictures just to give a

[50:39] council an idea um of the types of misuse at the site. So, um I think as

[50:45] you saw in the previous picture, there's often um waste loose on the ground of

[50:52] the corral. Waste is not nice to deal with. So, some items in the bag, it's

[50:57] really unpleasant for those even that go in every day. And that's something we've

[51:01] heard a lot that everyone's frustrated by. electronics get put into the bins as

[51:07] you've seen uh in that picture. Fridges are frequently disposed of in there even

[51:11] though we clearly have signage that says those materials are not allowed. Also,

[51:16] our curbside program does not accept fridges. Um so, uh back last month,

[51:22] unfortunately, we had a little bit of vandalism. Nothing too crazy, but

[51:26] someone went in presumably with a key and did some spray painting on some of

[51:30] the bins and on some of the things that were left there. So, a bit of just a bit

[51:35] of a timeline of key events. On July 31st of this year, our staff sent an

[51:40] email to a representative of the Melake Association explaining that the

[51:44] household hazardous waste bin at the site is being removed due to uh safety

[51:49] concerns and GE would stop collecting unacceptable items and a new lock would

[51:54] be installed on August 12th of this year. That was the original plan. So

[51:59] between uh about August 1st and 12th, we received a lot of emails from residents.

[52:05] Uh perhaps councelor Coulen as well and I think uh council may have also gotten

[52:09] some written correspondence. Um predominant concern is that there's a

[52:14] lot of weekenders and seasonal residents that only are there on the weekends. So

[52:18] by having it closed when they're there, it's not of use. They find it infeasible

[52:24] for them to use it. Another big concern was the um only uh letting people know

[52:30] of this change two weeks in advance and folks felt that that was a bit too quick

[52:34] to adjust to the change. So, next slide, please. So, on uh August

[52:41] 7th, myself and uh my colleague at the landfill did knocking around the lake

[52:47] from about 5 to 7:30 p.m. to get people when they're home. We plan to go to all

[52:52] the places, but we had a lot of long but meaningful conversations with a few

[52:58] owners about eight property owners and these were really great conversations

[53:02] where it was I think a lot of common ground was found between us and the

[53:06] residents because we were able to explain right at their door what's

[53:09] happening. So on August 12th, the director of solid waste, uh, Scott,

[53:14] myself, and the by law enforcement officer met with three members of the

[53:18] association in a members personal garage. He kind of serves as the main

[53:22] point of contact for the association. So it was a chance for us to hear directly

[53:26] from them in person. >> Sorry, councelor.

[53:30] » Yes, you were. And yes, councelor Ken also was in attendance. So four of us in

[53:35] total. So that was good. And on August 13th, we

[53:40] and informed the association that a new lock date was set to September 30th as

[53:45] per their request. And the municipality would let two trusted residents have

[53:50] keys for emergencies if anyone would like to volunteer to do that. And then

[53:54] on August 14th, councelor Kman and I went to the head of Mil Lake to catch

[53:59] cottagers as they were going up in their boats. Um there's a good group of about

[54:03] 10 to 15 people there ready for us, which was great. and we had a a great

[54:08] meaningful chat and heard a lot of concerns. I think predominantly it was

[54:12] seasonal residents who feel that they are most impacted by this change.

[54:18] So in terms of next steps is kind of what what we're thinking at this point.

[54:22] So within the next uh few days we plan to put out a written notice with these

[54:26] changes and expected guidelines of the corral to all property owners using it

[54:32] so that it's it's very clear how it should be used. Um, and then on

[54:36] September 17th, we I think hope to come back to council during a policy and

[54:41] strategy session and talk about our waste bylaw more generally and how that

[54:46] relates to all these community drop off areas. And ongoing, our bylaw

[54:50] enforcement officer will is recording incidents of illegal dumping and

[54:54] improper use of the corral using techniques that most bylaw officers use.

[54:59] Um, and then there's kind of two approaches. The first is, you know,

[55:03] education, but in kind of severe situations or if there's someone that's

[55:08] unauthorized using the corral that's found, um, then there is an opportunity

[55:13] for issuing a summary fence ticket. >> If I might just add one item just in

[55:18] terms of the photos that you see there, that's a relatively mild case. the bylaw

[55:22] enforcement officers has at least four instances this year where they've

[55:26] basically spent the bulk of the day cleaning that corral out because none of

[55:30] the waste was put in the bins properly to allow it. So that's where a lot of

[55:35] our concern is coming as well. It's just abuse is just that's a relatively small

[55:40] sample of what's some of the issues um staff has been dealing with.

[55:45] » Terra, >> yeah, I just wanted to add a couple of

[55:48] more uh comments for context. Um, so the first slide you saw said five to seven

[55:54] years. This has sort of been an enforcement challenge. Uh, it's probably

[55:58] been longer than that. Uh, 20 years is probably closer to what it's it's been a

[56:03] challenge ever since you build them. >> Yeah. And, uh, we had cameras out there

[56:07] at one point that were in a a personal residence of one of the neighboring

[56:11] properties just to keep an eye on this. Uh, monitoring those, uh, cameras became

[56:17] such a big challenge that we ended up taking them out. it was um the the

[56:21] amount of staff time uh that goes into monitoring this and then the amount of

[56:26] time we're putting into GES. I know uh the second point I wanted to raise is

[56:30] you and I have had a discussion Scott uh around uh sort of service level and the

[56:35] costs of servicing this compared to sort of the average cost of waste collection

[56:41] for a property. So that might be a little bit of um helpful context for

[56:45] council to have if you have that. Yeah, certainly we've been trying to

[56:50] parse out the numbers with that and certainly

[56:53] if you look at the broader curbside collection between 90 and

[56:59] say $100 roughly per property depending how you slice up the number of

[57:02] properties that are within the system. Mil Lake falls in roughly the same

[57:08] amount per per property costwise, but when you

[57:13] start adding on all these cleanups, it's very quickly adds about another few

[57:18] percentage points. So the four is probably added close now we're pushing

[57:24] 19 to about 20ish% already above what that baseline amount is. So the more

[57:30] cleanups we end up having to do each year, it keeps pushing that them further

[57:34] beyond basically the general range of what the baseline looks like in terms of

[57:39] the cost. >> And then that doesn't include the

[57:42] enforcement [clears throat] cost. >> Yeah. Who's next? Andre or

[57:45] » uh council. >> Council, thank you. I appreciate the the

[57:50] report. I can um I have a few ideas, but I'd like to discuss it when we go in

[57:55] camera. Thank you. >> Okay.

[58:01] Canval

[58:07] thing what you're giving us an update on and I appreciate that you know

[58:13] » um you know communal boxes are always a

[58:18] problem you know um I think almost all of us have some communal boxes and they

[58:26] um [clears throat] they're it never goes well and then

[58:29] every once in a while it gets bad, really bad. And then we somehow, even

[58:34] though we're more on the policy and budgeting side of things, we get drugged

[58:39] in as elected officials and sometimes are trying to manage it and are helped

[58:44] uh with the communication part of it. I don't remember when our uh hauling

[58:52] contract comes due, but we do have a lot of these problematic roads throughout

[58:58] the municipality and they're a consequence of old development.

[59:03] um you know and um for any developers out there that want to rage against our

[59:11] current regulatory framework and subdivision that require proper roads

[59:16] and all this stuff. This is exactly the reason why

[59:18] » we have this now >> because you know these sort of issues

[59:23] become rampant when we don't have proper access to properties. But nonetheless,

[59:27] we have these uh old legacy developments that have poor access and u as a result

[59:36] we have these middle bins. But is there any chance that we could in the next

[59:41] contract look at adding you know more small vehicles to try to

[59:48] get up in those >> these difficult to reach um areas. I

[59:52] don't know. I know obviously everything comes at a premium, but I think managing

[59:55] these boxes ends up being hidden costs anyway or or latent costs that don't

[1:00:01] they're not part of the primary contract, but ends up as extras later.

[1:00:06] And if we actually factored that in, we'd find that maybe it it's not such a

[1:00:10] big cost in the end. And obviously a better service level if you can actually

[1:00:15] reach people at their own property. >> I don't know what the possibility is.

[1:00:19] Maybe we can never get them all because some of these maybe some of these roads

[1:00:22] are just so bad. But you know in Bazewater in the cottage area that was

[1:00:27] originally it's called cottage road for example it was developed as cottages.

[1:00:31] People are there only a few months of the year and they were gone but then

[1:00:33] they become permanent residences sometimes and then they expect a certain

[1:00:38] level of service. It's very difficult. You know we have this the same situation

[1:00:43] I think building out in in this area as well.

[1:00:46] » Yeah >> and new Ross as well. I know there's a

[1:00:49] number of back roaded areas that people love their cottages so much that

[1:00:54] eventually they retire there and they live there forever.

[1:00:57] » Oh, I've I've had these issues in Chester Grant rand.

[1:01:00] » You know, it would be interesting to hear some ideas from staff, you know, as

[1:01:03] we get closer to our new hauling contract. Um,

[1:01:06] » the contract was just renewed in the last year, year and a half,

[1:01:09] » so we're screwed. >> Uh, well,

[1:01:12] » I think there's discussions. say you can still talk

[1:01:15] » to this point. Yeah, I I would through your chair to Deputy Warren. It's I

[1:01:20] think there's certainly opportunities. I always have that discussion with the

[1:01:22] contractor certainly with Mil Lake. They've been accommodating to allow us

[1:01:27] to all to shift towards this curbside >> model, but it's certainly something

[1:01:32] we'll certainly take note of and take a look at.

[1:01:34] » Yeah, really interesting uh problem to try to solve.

[1:01:37] » Yeah. >> You know, I don't know what the answer

[1:01:40] is. Uh but uh you know that's very operational and for you to manage but uh

[1:01:46] you know >> some of this is operational but when

[1:01:49] operations hit service levels that's when we try

[1:01:51] » that's a difficulty we we intersect with the financial lever which is in

[1:01:55] council's court bit but >> Sharon

[1:01:58] » thank you >> I think she's next council

[1:02:03] » I know that it certainly for Lauder Lake they had a similar issue not quite as

[1:02:08] severe but people would be just leaving items because they leave on the weekend.

[1:02:13] But since they bought a metal container, they don't seem to have any issues

[1:02:20] because GE has a key to that and everybody on [clears throat]

[1:02:25] the road has a key to put their garbage in this locked bin. And it seems to

[1:02:30] work. These people have a key to the corral and they can either throw it over

[1:02:35] the fence, which I'm sure people have, or they have a key to put things in. But

[1:02:41] I'm sure by being fenced in, I can see people just I don't know how high the

[1:02:46] fence is, but just throwing it over the fence and out they go.

[1:02:50] » Um, so it enables them to do that. I mean, I would be one to say, I don't

[1:02:55] know why we have a fence there. If we had the bins and they were used

[1:02:59] properly, there wouldn't be a need for a fence. I know it's expensive fence and

[1:03:04] but it encourages

[1:03:08] maybe bad behavior. I don't know. But it I know it will be cleaned up and to keep

[1:03:13] it that way is certainly a challenge. Maybe people once they realize that they

[1:03:19] only have certain times to take their garbage, they'll respect it more. It's

[1:03:24] only probably a few, but >> those few make it hard for everybody.

[1:03:33] » Council, >> thank you. Um, I guess I can address S

[1:03:36] uh Shar and Council um Church first. >> It's not a few. It's quite a few.

[1:03:41] » Okay. Um, so if this model changes and there's collection services only on an

[1:03:48] open window from Wednesday noon till Thursday till the key gets locked back

[1:03:52] up by the GE rep, then it doesn't service the weekenders and there's at

[1:03:58] least 60 or 65 on the lake on the out which don't have so they take the

[1:04:03] garbage home. They would have to take the garbage home and or they would just

[1:04:07] leave it. I'm going to leave it outside the corral and like you said I'm going

[1:04:10] to throw it in the corral which is currently going on. Another large

[1:04:14] concern that was brought to all of our attention was

[1:04:18] outside people of the milake area having keys. So are the keys copied? Can these

[1:04:23] keys be copied? >> Yeah, they always

[1:04:27] » technically they're like the formal do not copy.

[1:04:29] » Yeah, they're double st right. They can >> they can be copied. So, for example, two

[1:04:35] days ago, I got an email from a resident that said he saw somebody and he knows

[1:04:39] the area. He lived there for many years. He said, "This is not your place to

[1:04:43] store your garbage." He said, "This is our dump." And he said, "No, Kaja Meadow

[1:04:46] is your is your colle where you put your and he is not from Mil Lake." So, the

[1:04:52] abuse is not just from the residents there. Um, the abuse is from outside the

[1:04:57] residents who have opportunity corral. So the concern that most people have is

[1:05:05] Thursday will not work for them for the simple fact that I come in my cottage on

[1:05:09] Friday and I leave my cottage on Sunday. So the conversations that um Ammy and I

[1:05:14] had and Scott and I had over the last several meetings were if the access

[1:05:19] point was on Sunday or Monday, then they would be able to leave the garbage on

[1:05:24] Sunday. [clears throat] Right now, how it stands is they have a

[1:05:27] key, they open up on Sunday, they put their garbage in

[1:05:31] other than the abuse component. They lock it and they go away, go back to

[1:05:35] their home. So from Sunday to Thursday, it it is it's no longer part of the you

[1:05:40] have to drop your garbage off the day before like for the rest of us. So it

[1:05:44] sits there for four days. So I don't know what the answer is. I just know

[1:05:48] that I'm going to say it here. If it stays the way it is, there's no

[1:05:56] resolve. It's going to continue being abused. The key system has to be

[1:05:59] monitored at some level, more so stringently than it is now. Or if it's

[1:06:04] going to be a Thursday pickup, then the people that are not permanent residents

[1:06:08] that don't have curbside pickup, we'll have to have line item taken off the

[1:06:11] taxes. >> But but if if

[1:06:14] » because they don't have a providable service for garbage collection. If we

[1:06:18] give a couple of keys to permanent residents there though, they can go and

[1:06:21] get them. >> So they're

[1:06:22] » I mean I know it's a pain, but >> so they're going to open it up on Sunday

[1:06:25] is what you're saying. Yeah, >> they could open it Sunday.

[1:06:29] » And I think the reason for the extension till the end of September was to the

[1:06:33] bulk of the from what we understand the bulk of the seasonal residents will be

[1:06:36] done for the year. >> Correct. So will give us the winner to

[1:06:39] consider our options longer term and whether or not the small

[1:06:43] [clears throat and snorts] is but changing the log is sort of an

[1:06:47] intermission. We'll have to figure out what the longer term and finding some

[1:06:51] accommodation for the seasonal residents. But we also note that there's

[1:06:55] the other lakes that they have they have been taking the garbage home themselves.

[1:07:01] » They don't get this service. >> That's what I do at our camp. So that's

[1:07:05] that's fundamentally where some you know not not to ignore their concerns and

[1:07:11] what they've said there but on the other hand we've got other customers that

[1:07:14] don't get that level of service are paying the same level of tax which also

[1:07:17] includes the operation of Kaiser Meadow. So

[1:07:21] » it's it's not a collection fee. It's it's a solid waste fee. So it's it's the

[1:07:25] processing and >> we're still managing the waste no matter

[1:07:27] how it gets to >> Yeah.

[1:07:29] So if it's going to be open on Wednesday till Wednesday at noon potentially

[1:07:35] that's our that's your proposal and and it closes when the garbage is picked up

[1:07:41] currently now there's two dates that come they come for bulk on Monday

[1:07:45] correct so if all everything's going to be picked up on one day there's not

[1:07:49] going to be a bulk service on Monday correct

[1:07:53] » probably not at this point >> so then how are we going to be managing

[1:07:56] all that waste >> yeah at one trip. If we have to

[1:07:59] currently do it in two stages,

[1:08:03] I >> think right now is when they switch to

[1:08:05] curbside, they'll be getting the same service as the regular curbside. So,

[1:08:09] they'll be able to take the bulkies at that particular time.

[1:08:12] » And Milber Lane has seven residents on it, correct?

[1:08:16] » It's about seven. >> Yeah. And Mil Lake number one has how

[1:08:19] many residents? [clears throat]

[1:08:22] » I think I counted about 27. >> Okay. So that takes that takes 34 people

[1:08:26] off our total. >> Yeah. They'll just get picked up right

[1:08:30] at >> Exactly. And I'm all for it. That's

[1:08:32] great. And I've got many emails regarding that and they're they're

[1:08:34] pleased as punch. So 34 out of our 160 total, we have roughly 160. So we're

[1:08:40] still looking at 130 people using that crowd.

[1:08:44] » So it's it's a great impact that 34 pe 34 families have now will not be

[1:08:48] utilizing that crowd, which is fantastic. And there's obviously a way

[1:08:51] forward that you could widen the road like west or whatever and then take

[1:08:55] people but it still doesn't complement the people on the other side of the lake

[1:09:00] if it's on a Thursday pickup unless they have just them have a key or the keys

[1:09:08] only managed to those people. Those who no longer will get curbside pickup

[1:09:12] eventually when this project is is is in this first stage. Then if the people

[1:09:16] that are not offered curbside pickup, will they be receiving a key?

[1:09:20] » No. >> No.

[1:09:22] » No. Exactly. >> Not if they have curbside. They wouldn't

[1:09:24] need one. >> Those who do not get the service of

[1:09:26] curbside, right? >> Well, they wouldn't need one. No.

[1:09:31] [clears throat] >> All the residents of Mil Brook Lane now

[1:09:33] have curbside. They're not not a factor. So those who who do not get the service

[1:09:38] of curbside, >> they will not be getting a key. So then

[1:09:41] they take their waste home. And that was an argument that Emily and Scott, you

[1:09:46] and I faced many times over. I'm not taking my garbage home. I'll leave it in

[1:09:50] the woods or I'll leave it outside the corral. So then we have another issue

[1:09:54] regarding the abuse of the corral. >> I'm just trying to see both sides.

[1:09:58] » I think that's fair, but that's a decision of the residents if they want

[1:10:01] to delete stuff from their property or within their neighborhoods.

[1:10:04] » Yeah, >> we're trying to deal with the crowd as

[1:10:06] being abused and causing >> Oh, I don't take kindly to those those

[1:10:10] wording threats. I, you know, I I stood up to that as well. I thought it was

[1:10:13] ridiculous to even have that conversation that someone would say that

[1:10:16] to a staff member. So, >> I'm just trying to, you know,

[1:10:19] » we got to do something. >> Absolutely.

[1:10:23] » And as said, once we get into the winter, we'll [clears throat] we'll get

[1:10:26] to the end of the the current season as we are, but after that, we've got to

[1:10:32] move to some sort of different model because

[1:10:34] » where we're going is not sustainable. >> And there's I would say there's a equity

[1:10:40] argument with the rest of the res rateayers. makes sense

[1:10:43] » if we have to keep on going back year after year doing four plus cleanups

[1:10:48] » and I appreciate you you us you guys moving the date from August then

[1:10:52] September and then October you know that that that is a compromisable decision

[1:10:56] and and I think the residents really appreciated that thank you

[1:11:00] » okay I can't who's next >> thank you I I I actually was going to

[1:11:06] ask that question because I how many residents are back here I'm shocked like

[1:11:10] I because I don't the area. So, you're talking likeund and some civics back

[1:11:15] there >> that will not be getting.

[1:11:19] » No, but that but that that's I didn't know it was that many civics

[1:11:23] » on that lake. Wow. >> Notably, well, it's a very small amount,

[1:11:28] but you as you may know, Mil Lake is right on the brink of HRM's border. So,

[1:11:33] there's actually a couple cottages and island that's in HRM. I think one is

[1:11:38] split. It's like half our municipality and half HR.

[1:11:43] » But it's not a significant number, but you know, if things weren't monitored,

[1:11:48] » well, those residents may not. >> So, so

[1:11:52] I mean, how many is you might know, how many people don't go there in the

[1:11:58] winter? It's just a summer thing. And being, you know, the retired postmaster,

[1:12:03] there are at least a countless member, probably 60, maybe 65 that do not get

[1:12:09] right, mail service through our post office. So they, so in order, that was

[1:12:13] Emily's point that they didn't get a two weeks notice. So people, some people

[1:12:16] aren't even aware that of these effective changes. They come in from

[1:12:19] their current home, they pull in, they go to the cottage, they dump the gar,

[1:12:23] they put the garbage on Sunday, and they leave. And but that was the spoil. That

[1:12:26] was how it was serviced for all those years. And now we have to change that

[1:12:29] for that reason. So I roughly say about 60 people probably on the male services

[1:12:34] that that do not live in the district. Am I somewhere close to that number you

[1:12:38] would say Emily or Scott? >> That's probably

[1:12:40] » So we decided or it was spoken at one of these uh um meetings right by the lake

[1:12:47] um that potentially we could get we have their mail service because we know where

[1:12:50] to mail their their their tax, right? So, we were thinking of putting in some

[1:12:55] sort of um note at the bottom, you know, uh with direct contact for the

[1:12:59] municipality if any changes because their mail goes to their residents, the

[1:13:04] current residents. So, the flyer that went out, which is the talk trash flyer

[1:13:07] that went out, uh we delivered several in the community, uh it doesn't pertain

[1:13:11] directly to them because the talks I'm I'm going off track. The talk trash

[1:13:15] talker is for all the broader reason how to how to look after and utilize your

[1:13:19] your your waste correctly. So, to answer your question, I'd say about 60 maybe 65

[1:13:25] residents um do not live in the district as a permanent resident.

[1:13:30] » Great. Andre, we got to get moving because we got a meeting in 10 minutes.

[1:13:35] » Sorry, I'm got to turn some microphones off there. [clears throat]

[1:13:38] » Okay. Um yeah, obviously we got to wrap this up, but um you know, actually a

[1:13:44] couple of things. Obvious when you have chronic abuse that's happened for

[1:13:49] decades and then you try to bring order or discipline

[1:13:53] um you know that's going to be received by anybody that is receiving that

[1:13:59] discipline as a reduction of service and there's going to be outrage even though

[1:14:05] obviously it was never the intent for you to be able to drop garbage off

[1:14:09] anytime like I'm sure at your primary residence as well as mine waste is

[1:14:14] collected Once every two weeks I put out my bulky,

[1:14:18] I put out my my waist, they come take it away. If I leave it out there a week

[1:14:23] early and it and it gets pulled all over the road by animals or whatever, then I

[1:14:28] have to go pick it up. >> That's how most of us in this

[1:14:32] municipality receive our service. And when you have a a group drop off

[1:14:37] situation like this and you're able to just fling bags over a fence anytime you

[1:14:42] want because that's just the level of service that you've been enjoying for,

[1:14:47] you know, decades and then suddenly you say, "Okay, that's not longer allowed.

[1:14:52] It's like a child that received discipline for the first time, you know,

[1:14:56] after a decade, you know, just total confusion. What is this? Why why are you

[1:15:01] suddenly telling me I can't do this?" Well, that's where we're at. And there's

[1:15:07] going to be a lot of outrage, no doubt, by people who are expecting to receive

[1:15:13] this pseudo level of service that they were never entitled to for many decades.

[1:15:18] » It's going to be difficult politically probably.

[1:15:21] » I I actually sort of agree with councelor uh Church that having the

[1:15:26] fence kind of invites people just to lob garbage bombs over it. it. I'm not sure

[1:15:33] what the purpose of the fence is. It does kind of like almost anybody with a

[1:15:36] good throwing arm is just going to whip it over there and and and keep truck and

[1:15:41] if it's locked or not. So I I I think maybe, you know, I'm not it's very

[1:15:46] operational, but maybe something staff may want to consider is just removing

[1:15:50] the fence. >> Yeah, I think it was originally because

[1:15:53] they're concerned of bears, but >> yeah, it's created, as you say, the ant

[1:15:57] consequences create a greater problem. So,

[1:16:00] » and it may have been one of the early the early solutions and so we have other

[1:16:04] options we can look at and it's a little bit of out of sight out of mind right

[1:16:08] it's covered up and so you don't you don't have to look at it every time you

[1:16:12] drive by necessarily >> use wooden boxes is what we use but way

[1:16:16] back in the day >> but I think that's what we can do over

[1:16:17] the winter something interim this is an interim measure and then we can look at

[1:16:21] » shortterm solution while we figure out a better solution

[1:16:26] nonetheless I guess to circle back and not get too into the weeds where we

[1:16:29] don't belong is um you know I think politically this is a difficult topic

[1:16:35] because of this perceived reduction in service and you know you know all of us

[1:16:40] as counselors have to do our best to manage the communication with those that

[1:16:44] contact us and explain that this is very normal and you know we all have these

[1:16:49] problems and and that it's just managing the expectation of the residents and um

[1:16:56] you know you maybe this will work you can try it and um you you know, and then

[1:17:00] I guess we'll just have to continue to manage the symptoms until we get to

[1:17:03] something that's more equitable. Yeah.

[1:17:08] » Thank you. I applaud the staff. Um they're doing an amazing job trying to

[1:17:12] keep, you know, the residents calm and this will definitely mitigate the

[1:17:17] illegal dumping. Absolutely. And that's probably one of the biggest caveats as

[1:17:21] to why why this this this is being offered is the illegal dumping of of

[1:17:26] other residents other than other than the milite residents. So I I applaud

[1:17:30] that. Thank you. >> Okay. So proceed I guess and

[1:17:37] » keep thinking about better ways. >> Okay. So we got u I think that was the

[1:17:43] end of the agenda. >> Tom.

[1:17:45] » No. Well, only Tom. >> Yeah. And we have we have audit

[1:17:50] committee. >> Yes. But I'm going to do Tom, then I'm

[1:17:52] taking a 10-minute break, and then we're going to have audit committee.

[1:17:56] » Tom, >> thank you, Warden Weber. As usual, I

[1:18:00] have some things to bring up today. And I'm glad to have this opportunity

[1:18:04] because I think it's important. Um, I want to report on last month I attended

[1:18:08] a conference in Monton dealing with assets and infrastructure, learning

[1:18:13] about what it is all about and working with some of our staff that were also

[1:18:17] attending. I found it very informative and very educational to me on some of

[1:18:21] the things that I need to think about when making those decisions and how to

[1:18:25] look. And as we know in our municipality, infrastructure and assets

[1:18:29] are going to be very important how we move forward and what we do and how we

[1:18:33] offer services to people and developers and others. And I think that was a very

[1:18:38] good opportunity. I want to thank council for supporting training in that.

[1:18:42] On September 2nd, I had an opportunity under an invite to speak with about 30

[1:18:47] people out on the Chester Peninsula about deer and ticks. It was a very good

[1:18:51] conversation. Some of you also had been invited. Um, I did attend and give an

[1:18:57] update from what I could say. And we were working also with a lady online

[1:19:00] from Halifax that directly works about the deer, the tick situation. Very

[1:19:05] complex, very hard to understand. And many people think that deer are the

[1:19:10] culprits. They are part of it, but the small animals and rodents also carry

[1:19:14] them. And they're a very challenging thing, ticks, and it's creating a lot of

[1:19:19] loss. So, we're working to get communications with all levels of

[1:19:22] government. very pleased the provincial government put I think 1.2 million into

[1:19:26] Aadia to research some things that I think are well overdue. I know for our

[1:19:31] medical uh our community health sorry our OC complex our healthuh center have

[1:19:38] tripled just about in the cases of lime and tick disease that they're seeing and

[1:19:43] people going to hospitals and doctors it's huge it's becoming very difficult

[1:19:47] so very good opportunity I thank for that opportunity

[1:19:51] this last Tuesday night and Sunday night came to the end of the summer concert

[1:19:56] series at the Chester band stand in Lurley Park both I felt were very well

[1:20:01] attended this summer. I thank staff for keeping the properties and everything

[1:20:05] looking good and the opportunity to have so many people come together and enjoy

[1:20:09] so many varieties of music and entertainment and it's good to see that

[1:20:14] happening and I encourage that. I want to personally thank Aaron Gore and her

[1:20:18] many volunteers, the sponsors, the participants, the musicians and everyone

[1:20:22] attended. It's it's been wonderful and it's very important and I think it's

[1:20:26] something we have to keep supporting and encouraging. I know counselor church and

[1:20:29] I were at many of them and we enjoyed them immensely and and other counselors.

[1:20:33] So it's important um yesterday I got to attend the 101st birthday of Walter

[1:20:40] Weber. Uh Walter Weber is a resident of Chester, a Legion uh veteran and a

[1:20:46] Legion member for 72 years. Um a wonderful couple of hours and I got to

[1:20:51] bring greetings. It was very wonderful and warming. We are very lucky in this

[1:20:56] municipality. We have two gentlemen that are both 100 or 101. Uh Steuart Carver

[1:21:01] in Chester Grant is 100. And the Legion's hoping to get both of them

[1:21:05] together and make a little uh picture and opportunity. You don't have it very

[1:21:10] often, but it was a very heartwarming opportunity. And I think it was so nice

[1:21:14] that the Legion housed the birthday time and we were able to attend. In that

[1:21:19] discussion, I want to see if council has an an appetite for at the next policy

[1:21:25] and strategy session or at a future one I should say to talk about deer and the

[1:21:31] possibility of the restriction of feeding deer because it's becoming more

[1:21:37] aware that people do it and I'm not sure it's I think it's a very complicated

[1:21:43] thing but I'm interested to see if council would in a future date want to

[1:21:47] discuss it at a policy and strategy session and I open that to the

[1:21:51] opportunity there. >> I don't see an issue with us talking

[1:21:54] about that and and how to control the deer problem at all. It's just that it's

[1:21:58] not simple. >> No. And I agree with you fully. I just

[1:22:00] want to see if staff would put it on the agenda for a future policy and strategy

[1:22:04] session and then I could inform people. We're definitely

[1:22:07] » I mean I've already had a discussion with them. The problem really is is how

[1:22:10] to damn well enforce it >> and I know there's experts out there

[1:22:13] that are having the same challenge. So I think it's a responsibility we can

[1:22:17] » something we can do. So, I'll leave that with our CEO to see if that happens. And

[1:22:21] otherwise than that, I think we're very clear on what we have to say. Thank you

[1:22:25] for the opportunity to bring that. >> Okay. We're going to take a 10-minute

[1:22:29] recess. Then we're going to Well, we're I need a motion to adjour. No,

[1:22:34] » to take a recess >> to take a recess and then we'll do audit

[1:22:38] and uh >> then I have to come back into council

[1:22:40] and then we have a little bit of council and some

[1:22:44] » in camera. Okay. Well, we're just having a recess.

[2:02:35] Okay, we'll call the regular council meeting back to order and we only have

[2:02:39] the one item and that is we require a motion to approve the audited financial

[2:02:44] statements. I'd like to sorry before we do that

[2:02:50] » uh I'd like to have my microphone on please.

[2:02:54] » As is tradition here >> Oh yeah.

[2:02:57] » Uh we [clears throat] have a birthday uh boy in the house here and he I like to

[2:03:03] uh compare it to an odometer on a car. Um, now now now when you look at your

[2:03:10] car, sometimes it turns over to it's quite a thing if it turns over 100,000

[2:03:14] kilometers or 80,000. Well, his first digit actually tomorrow we'll be

[2:03:20] switching over and that's a uh quite a milestone. So I think we should sing

[2:03:25] happy birthday to Alan Weber. >> It's tomorrow.

[2:03:28] » And it's tomorrow, but it's a it's a pre pre preemptive strike.

[2:03:32] » And how many years? Well, if you you do the math, you you you'll figure it out

[2:03:37] from my from my preamble. >> He's starting to get over.

[2:03:41] » Happy birthday [singing] to you.

[2:03:46] » Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, [singing]

[2:03:52] dear Alen. >> Happy birthday [singing] to you.

[2:03:59] [applause]

[2:04:01] finally old enough to go to [cheering] the tavern for a beer.

[2:04:05] [laughter] >> Now you can continue, sir.

[2:04:08] » Okay. So, I need a motion to approve uh the financial.

[2:04:12] » I still move that. >> Do we have a second?

[2:04:16] » Second. >> Moved and seconded. Discussion. All

[2:04:18] those in favor? Opposed? Motion is carried. Now, I don't have any other

[2:04:22] items here. I is in camera. >> Just two in camera items.

[2:04:25] » Okay. So, a motion to green camera. >> So, moved.

[2:04:29] Second >> discussion. All those in favor? Opposed?

[2:04:33] Motion's carried. >> Council.

[2:04:40] » Yeah. On the second item. So, we're doing the first one first.

[2:04:42] » Y. >> Okay. Okay. So, the first one

[2:55:44] Okay. So now we require a motion to approve the sidewalk construction

[2:55:50] » approve the approve the >> the contract.

[2:55:52] » The contract was title one >> for west western

[2:55:55] » title one. So moved. >> Second.

[2:55:58] » Discussion. All those in favor? Opposed? Motion's carried. Motion to adjurnn.

[2:56:05] » Move 50 times. >> Seconded.

[2:56:09] » Discussion.

Regular Council

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