Agenda
[0:16]
Call to Order
[0:26]
Declarations of Pecuniary Interest and the General Nature Thereof
[0:38]
Land Acknowledgement Statement
[1:01]
Civility Statement
[1:37]
Delegations
[1:38]
Presentations
[1:40]
Public Notices - Clerk
[1:43]
Consent Agenda
[2:58]
Building & Planning-2026-22 Draft South Van Horne Master Plan Report - Planner.
[44:39]
HR-2026-07 Building and By-Law Services Supervisor Position - Director of HR.
[1:05:55]
Finance-2026-21 Q2 2026 Financials - Treasurer.
[1:09:10]
Finance-2026-24 Tax Sale – Notice of Vesting 215 and 221 Florence - Treasurer.
[1:13:43]
Mayor Harrison re: Sustainable Waterfront Development Plan dated May 2010.
[1:38:19]
CAO
[1:41:37]
Director of Finance/Treasurer
[1:41:43]
Clerk
[1:43:27]
Director of Public Works
[1:43:31]
Director of Community Services
[1:44:43]
Fire Chief
[1:46:26]
Council Announcements
[1:56:53]
By-law 2026-61.
[1:57:15]
Adjournment
Transcript
SOURCE TRANSCRIPT
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[0:14]
Okay, good evening everyone. I'll now call the open Council
[0:17]
meeting of Monday, August 24th, 2026 to order and request
[0:21]
everyone turn their cell phones off for the duration of
[0:23]
this meeting. I'd like to call for Declarations at Petini
[0:26]
Interest in the General Nature thereof undermissible conflict of interest
[0:29]
to act with respect to the agenda for this meeting.
[0:34]
Seeing none. I'd also like for a call for Declaration
[0:39]
of Pecunia Interest and General Nature thereof on a municipal
[0:41]
conflict of interest to act for means which a member
[0:44]
had not attendance and which not been previously declared. See
[0:49]
none. I'd like to begin by acknowledging with respect that
[0:53]
we were in the 3D - 3 territory in the
[0:56]
land on which were gathered as traditional territory, the Nishinabi,
[0:59]
the MAT people. Welcome to this Council meeting of the
[1:03]
Corporation of the City of Drydon. This forum is a
[1:06]
place for Democracy, respectful discussion, and debate. We are committed
[1:11]
to the values of integrity, honesty, responsibility and respect. We
[1:16]
ask that everyone present, Council members, staff, and the public
[1:20]
exercise self - discipline. Please focus your comments on the
[1:24]
issues at hand. Respect the time limits and accords others
[1:28]
the same courtesy you wish to receive. Let us work
[1:32]
together to build a community where diverse views are heard
[1:35]
and valued. So we have no delegations this evening or
[1:39]
no presentations. No public notices, so we're now at the
[1:42]
consent of general electasic clerk conduction of the agenda, please.
[1:46]
Okay, I will review the items that are in the
[1:48]
consent agenda this evening and ask if anyone would like
[1:50]
to speak to our sever anything for a separate vote.
[1:53]
Just the two items tonight under Adopt and Receive Minutes.
[1:57]
We have the minutes of the August 10th Council meeting
[1:59]
to be adopted. And under by - laws, there is
[2:03]
By - - - - - - - 2026 -
[2:04]
60. Two amendments by - law 2026, two to account
[2:09]
for the 2025 operating surplus as presented by the Treasurer
[2:13]
at the August 10th Council meeting. Does anyone want to
[2:17]
speak to her several either of those items. Nope, I
[2:23]
will look for a remover in a seconder, please. Oh,
[2:29]
thank. You. Move by Councillor Charteff, seconded by Councillor McKinnon,
[2:33]
the Council hereby consider the following items of the consent
[2:36]
agenda under date of August 24, 2026, as read and
[2:40]
adopted, 9a and 12a. Okay, we call the question all
[2:45]
in favor. Carried. Thank you. So we're now back to
[2:51]
the regular agenda, which is out of consent, and each
[2:53]
item on the regular agenda will be presented individually to
[2:56]
Council. And I'd like to call on Mr. Bagshaw to
[3:00]
present his report, please.
[3:12]
Good evening, members of Council and members of the Public.
[3:15]
The report before Council this evening provides an update on
[3:18]
the Planning Work underway for the South Vanholt Autofront lands
[3:23]
and introduces the draft South Manhorn Master Plan for Public
[3:26]
Consultation. The starting point for this work is policy of
[3:31]
4. 1, 0. 1, 0. 23 of the C's official
[3:33]
plan. That policy requires large - scale mixed use waterfront
[3:37]
development to proceed through either a secondary plan or master
[3:40]
plan process undertaken by the city. The purpose is to
[3:44]
determine the appropriate balance of residential and commercial uses, open
[3:48]
space and amenity areas and protection of the lake. Staff
[3:52]
App prepared the draft South Benhol Monster Plan as the
[3:55]
planning instrument contemplated by that policy. It's important to emphasize
[3:59]
that the master plan is not a development approval. It
[4:03]
does not amend the official plan remove the existing holding
[4:06]
provisions, approve a plan of subdivision or site plan or
[4:10]
authorized construction. Those approvals and technical requirements remain to be
[4:14]
addressed through later stages. Staff of proceeding with a master
[4:18]
plan rather than a secondary plan because the official plan
[4:21]
expressly permits either approach and the existing waterfront mix -
[4:25]
view framework is considered capable of accommodating the contemplated development
[4:28]
without an official plan amendment. The master plant also addresses
[4:32]
the official plan direction concerning views and vistors at the
[4:35]
terminus of ENHORN Avenue through specific public realm and design
[4:38]
policies. The draft master plan establishes the city's broad expectations
[4:43]
for the approximately 30 acre study area. The current reference
[4:48]
concept identifies approximately 396 residential units across the broader area.
[4:53]
Uh, this is a planning benchmark only. It is not
[4:56]
an approved density. And the final number of units will
[4:58]
depend on servicing capacity. Environmental constraints, open space requirements and
[5:03]
future planning approvals. The draft also identifies a target housing
[5:08]
mix that includes multi - unit housing single - de
[5:12]
- touched housing and assisted living. Supportive or seniors housing.
[5:17]
Commercial uses are also contemplated, including food service Moscow retail,
[5:22]
marine related and seasonal uses. A central component of the
[5:25]
plan is public access to the waterfront. The draft establishes
[5:29]
an open space benchmark of approximately 35 percent of the
[5:33]
study area, including the shoreline buffer, MASH interface, parkland, uh,
[5:38]
and trail corridors. It also seeks to ensure that the
[5:42]
wobbygoon lake shoreline remains publicly accessible and that exclusive private
[5:46]
residential frontage is not created. The plan also seeks to
[5:50]
contemplate the signature trail connection through the area and connect
[5:54]
lower how mastery our system will be green lake waterfront.
[5:58]
Environmental protection is another major component. Detailed environmental review will
[6:02]
be required before the final development layout is established. This
[6:06]
includes an environmental impact study, consideration of fish and wildlife
[6:09]
habitat. Ecological function of lore halmarge, shoreline protection, stormwater management,
[6:15]
flood and hazard conditions, archaeological assessment, and potential contaminated slight
[6:20]
requirements. Several of these requirements arise directly from legislation or
[6:25]
the official plan and are therefore identified as fixed requirements
[6:29]
rather than discretionary preferences. The report also distinguishes the earlier
[6:35]
Vanholm Landing RFP from the master plan process. The RFP
[6:39]
was a procurement process, it tended to identify a development
[6:42]
partner and obtain concepts for the approximately 10 acre city
[6:45]
- owned first phase. It was not a planning approval
[6:48]
and it does not replace the cities responsibility to undertake
[6:51]
the master plan process. The mask plan is city -
[6:54]
led. And the City establishes the planning framework leads the
[6:58]
consultation, considers the feedback received and brings the final document
[7:02]
back to Council for Pro Decision. Separate engagement undertaken by
[7:06]
the development proponent may inform its proposal, but it does
[7:09]
not replace the City's consolidation. It's also important to recognise
[7:13]
that approximately 20 acres of the broadest study era remain
[7:16]
in principle ownership and acquisition of those lands is not
[7:19]
assured for that reason the draft master plan requires the
[7:22]
city - owned precinct A, be capable of functioning independently
[7:26]
if the provincial lens are not never acquired. Sourcing and
[7:31]
land use planning are also being advanced concurrently. Infrastructure, construction
[7:35]
does not approve of a particular development layout. Water pressure,
[7:40]
Firefoil Capacity must still be verified. Wastewater capacity confirmed and
[7:44]
transportation and stormwater requirements addressed before development approval. Uh, an
[7:50]
agreement of patients and sale has been executed for the
[7:52]
City - owned precinct A, but conditions under that agreement
[7:55]
have not been waived. A development agreement accepted by Council
[7:59]
is required before closing. And the draft master plan is
[8:02]
to be adopted before or could currently with Councillor's consideration
[8:05]
of that agreement. The land transaction therefore needs to be
[8:10]
distinguished from development approval. The existing holding provision and subsequent
[8:14]
statutory planning approvals remain in place. The next major step
[8:18]
is Public and Indigenous engagement. Staff are recommending that the
[8:22]
Draft Master Plan and Supporting Materials be released for 30
[8:25]
- day city - led public consultation period. The city
[8:29]
would issue its own notice and receive comments electronically and
[8:32]
in writing at City Hall. The consultation will focus particularly
[8:36]
on the balance of residential and commercial development, open space
[8:40]
and amenities, public waterfront access and protection of what we
[8:44]
can like following the consultation period, Stafford document the comments
[8:47]
received. Consider NSRE revisions and return the final master plan
[8:52]
to Council for consideration. Council may also direct additional consultation,
[8:58]
including a city hosted public open house, if it considers
[9:01]
that appropriate. Indigenous engagement will also be undertaking, it accordants
[9:05]
with the official plan. There are several outstanding matters, including
[9:10]
completion of the housing needs study for the consideration of
[9:14]
the Sinister Trail Study, clarification of the reference concept by
[9:17]
Precinct. And the Uncertain Status of the Provincial Lens, those
[9:22]
aren't even matters reinforced the key point this evening that
[9:24]
the document before Council establishes a planning framework. It does
[9:27]
not approve a final development to sign. Accordingly Staffa recommending
[9:32]
that Council will receive the port direct staff to release
[9:35]
the draft master plan for 30 - day CD -
[9:38]
LED public consultation period undertaking disous engagement. Document and considered
[9:43]
the feedback received and return the final master plan to
[9:46]
Council before or concurrently with the development agreement. And before
[9:50]
I play pool conditions associated with the disposition of the
[9:53]
city own lands are waved. Thank you. Oh, thank you
[9:58]
Mr. Bagchaw. For your report, before we go to questions
[10:02]
from Council, I just want to remind Council the recommendations
[10:06]
that we receive this draft South Vanhoor Master Plan for
[10:09]
Information. Council Direct Staff to release the draft South Van
[10:13]
Horn Master Plan Supporting Material for 30 - day City
[10:16]
- led Public Consultation Perry with comments accepted electronically and
[10:20]
writing, Staff under Indigenous Engagement, accordance with digital plan and
[10:25]
Staff document the feedback received, consider revisions as appropriate and
[10:29]
return the final master plan of Council for consideration and
[10:32]
adoption prior to a concurrently with Council's consideration the development
[10:36]
agreement. And prior to the waiver of applicable conditions associated
[10:39]
with opposed disposition of city - owned loans. Okay. A
[10:43]
lot before us open up Council for questions. Council Ethan.
[10:51]
I would like to defer this. Meeting to the next
[10:56]
meeting on September the 14th. I would like a recorded
[11:01]
vote on it because we have to vote if we're
[11:03]
going to have a meeting or not. Um, there's, I
[11:08]
found that there's a lot of things in here, a
[11:10]
lot of issues. That are unknowing. And we need some
[11:14]
time to absorb this more. That's my opinion. Your worship.
[11:21]
Let's confirm with our clerk here. On. The Motion. We
[11:31]
generally will continue with some. Discussion and see how the
[11:35]
rest of the group feels. Okay, duly noted. Um, Councillor
[11:40]
Kievney. Yes, thank you through the chair. Um, I just
[11:49]
had a few questions. Sorry, let me just pull this
[11:55]
back up. Okay, so, um, I'm curious. The 2010 plan
[12:03]
that was mentioned. So in that, um, in the master
[12:07]
plan, it states that, you know, we have to cancel
[12:14]
or rescind the 2012 plan. Do we have any legal
[12:18]
obligation to following the 2010 plan. Okay, that would be
[12:26]
for flying department or Mr. Husband. Through your worship.
[12:36]
You're talking about the waterfront plan from 2010 Councillor Couning?
[12:42]
Yes. So the big kind of group. Project that plan
[12:47]
that you're referring to. No, so just in general, the
[12:52]
fact that we also have emotion tonight to rescind and
[12:56]
within the master plan, it says, you know, we want
[12:58]
to. Again, it sounds like from what I understand through
[13:03]
reading through it, that we have to rescind this plan.
[13:08]
Is there a, did we have previously did we have
[13:11]
a legal obligation to follow through with that. 2010 waterfront
[13:17]
development plan or like, I'm just curious what the point
[13:21]
of rescinding it is, if it's not actually a hindrance
[13:26]
to moving forward with this master plan. Thank you for
[13:32]
clarifying. Uh, to move forward with a new master plan
[13:35]
that we recommetion would be for Council to rescind that
[13:38]
motion. Yeah, I can also answer that. I brought the
[13:44]
motion for, um, knowing the 2010 plan has really not
[13:49]
been, um. Really worked on for the last four terms.
[13:55]
It's also been dropped for a long time. It was,
[13:57]
I think it's clean. If we want to move forward
[13:59]
in different direction, it's clean for us to rescind that
[14:03]
to make it, uh, we need to follow policies and
[14:06]
procedures. So we need to follow our own act, even
[14:09]
though it's done 16 years ago. It's still on the
[14:11]
book. So we need to make a decision on that.
[14:14]
Okay. Um, and my next question has to do with
[14:21]
the public consultation. So if you go to page
[14:31]
16 of the document. Where is she? Here she is.
[14:38]
Um, so it does have a whole section on public
[14:42]
consultation. So this, uh, 10. 6. 1 states that, or
[14:51]
A, I suppose. So consultations should occur before conditions are
[14:54]
waived. And before council adopts this master plan so that
[14:58]
it can influence the outcome. This is all great and
[15:01]
good. I'm curious about some sort of deadline or timeline
[15:08]
that we are working with. Um, I feel like we,
[15:13]
we received these documents on Thursday. I had only the
[15:20]
weekend to review these, um, and I want to make
[15:23]
sure, uh, because this document is very. Fulsome is the
[15:30]
word I'm going to use. I don't know if I
[15:33]
absorbed as much as I could have and I don't
[15:39]
know if any of the other, um, councillors feel the
[15:43]
same, but there is a lot in this document. So
[15:46]
I'm curious if we have to have this completed or,
[15:53]
you know, this draft available to the public sooner rather
[15:59]
than later or if there is a way that we
[16:01]
can maybe spend some more time with it. So it
[16:03]
wouldn't be opposed to, um, maybe deferring the draft so
[16:08]
that we can have, um, a deeper think on it
[16:12]
and kind of dig into the more particular parts of
[16:15]
it. Um, but I'm just curious if that, if there
[16:18]
was some sort of rush on this. Staffonic tackle that
[16:28]
one through your worship. I think Council has time or
[16:34]
in parallel with any public consultation to absorb and ask
[16:38]
questions as well. Uh, once the public consultation is complete.
[16:43]
Uh, Staff will bring those results back to Council and
[16:46]
Council can take that into consideration for any further refinements
[16:50]
to the master plan, including their own thoughts on the
[16:53]
master plan. Okay. Um, and then just a comment again
[17:00]
about public consultation. I do think that, um, I think
[17:07]
that we should lean heavily into the accessibility, um, bit
[17:13]
of this. And from what I have heard around the
[17:19]
community, a lot of folks in Driden are wanting to
[17:25]
participate in some sort of in - person larger scale
[17:31]
public consultation that is led by the city. So while
[17:37]
I enjoy participating in these things from the comfort of
[17:39]
my home, I think, um, I think it would be
[17:45]
a better or best move for us to kind of
[17:49]
check every box when it comes to public consultation. Create,
[17:56]
you know, some sort of online something where people can
[17:59]
write in or email in, but also have a space
[18:03]
where people can move through their ideas and talk about
[18:09]
these things. I think that one of. The things that
[18:14]
people really liked about the 2010 plan was that it
[18:21]
felt like. It felt like all of the parts of
[18:25]
a, you know, college group project without, hopefully, the, um,
[18:30]
the annoying bits of it. Um, so I'm curious if
[18:33]
that is something that we can also look into and
[18:38]
ensure that that's part of our public consultation. Okay. Go
[18:48]
online first to Councillor Noel. He's had your hand up
[18:50]
for a while. Thank you, Mayor.
[18:59]
Sorry. I was, I was hoping my colleague would ask
[19:02]
a pile of questions, uh, because she often rattles off
[19:05]
a few of them that I had written down, but
[19:07]
there are a couple. The first one is I'll go
[19:13]
through the questions and anyone who's qualified to answer can
[19:15]
answer. The first one would be that on page five
[19:18]
of eight of that huge document that we had by
[19:23]
seen in the paragraph that starts with land transaction that
[19:28]
there's reference to the transaction for purchase and sale has
[19:33]
been executed. Um, can somebody comment on if there's, if
[19:38]
that property is actually been sold and the signed contract
[19:42]
for it, um, the other concern that I had or
[19:47]
questioned would be if somebody could explain the term, uh,
[19:52]
holding provision to me. The next question would be, why
[19:58]
are we only limiting 30 days for submissions on this.
[20:03]
By email and writing. We have to remember that we
[20:06]
have a diverse community here. Sometimes the electronic methods of
[20:12]
participating in something, although very user - friendly, if you're
[20:17]
familiar with that, it may cut out a certain demographic
[20:20]
that we have. You know, seniors may not be necessarily
[20:23]
as familiar with the process as many others. So I'm
[20:28]
wondering if it has to be a 30, what, like
[20:32]
what's the rush for 30 days for submission. Next question
[20:37]
would be, would the First Nations consulting consultations also be
[20:44]
within that timeframe of 30 days. Would that be done?
[20:48]
Cause I'm not sure that that's even a reasonable expectation
[20:51]
for that to happen within 30 days. I have to
[20:55]
echo my colleagues'comments. Councillor Latham in that I feel extremely
[21:03]
rushed with this. I too, uh, read all these documents
[21:08]
twice just to see if I could delineate some of
[21:12]
the questions that I had, but the nagging feeling I
[21:16]
have at the back is I feel this is being
[21:18]
put before us. At the 11th hour, so to speak,
[21:23]
when there's a, there's potentially the completely new council is
[21:26]
going to be coming in in a very short time.
[21:32]
I don't understand the rush here. This is something that
[21:36]
we need to really get correct and have the public,
[21:41]
no matter which way we go on this, there. But
[21:44]
this is a very important decision. I hope that both
[21:49]
sides, if you want to call it that of this
[21:51]
equation, we'll accept and realise that if not for residential
[21:57]
development down there, we wouldn't have the opportunity to do
[22:00]
anything because that's what levied sewer and water going down
[22:05]
there because there's no way the city would have been
[22:07]
able to afford that on their own. So there has
[22:11]
to be a balance here and I hope everybody understands
[22:14]
that. My concern, Mayor Harrison and colleagues is that we
[22:19]
have to be transparent. I don't see the necessity to
[22:22]
rush. At this point. It's not like everybody's going to
[22:26]
pack up their back holes and go home if we
[22:28]
don't make a decision in the next 30 or 60
[22:30]
days. So if someone can answer those questions for me
[22:36]
and for the purposes of the record, I support Councillor
[22:39]
Latham's suggestion that we defer this so that all of
[22:43]
us can have a little bit more time to read
[22:45]
and ask questions. I know myself, I'm limited to who
[22:48]
I could ask questions to on this. So it's been
[22:51]
a challenge. Thank you. Okay. I'll go to Staff. Mr.
[22:54]
Nesmith. You'd like to address those questions? Um, I can,
[22:58]
you worship and through your worship. Uh, an agreement to
[23:01]
purchase and sale was struck with the developer at Council's
[23:05]
Direction. But as Mr. Begg Shaw reported tonight, uh, there
[23:09]
are many conditions that have not been waived as of
[23:12]
yet. Uh, one of those conditions is development of an
[23:15]
acceptable development agreement that will come back and publicly be
[23:20]
discussed with Council in an open meeting. From a standpoint
[23:25]
of public consultation, staff field at 30 days is adequate.
[23:30]
Um, we can, uh, we can start that process immediately
[23:34]
at Council's Direction. Um, the outcome of this meeting, uh,
[23:38]
and again, 30 days should be ample time for the
[23:42]
public to provide their input on this matter. Okay. Thank
[23:47]
you. I'll go to Councillor Taref. Yeah. Um, I was,
[23:55]
uh, same on the concerns about, uh, public consultation, but
[24:00]
I had to, um, I guess quiller for a question.
[24:04]
Council Kevening had said that there was so much more
[24:06]
input on the initial studies. I read them. The first
[24:13]
one from CMHC had they invited a hundred people to
[24:16]
participate. 33 took part and not all of them stayed
[24:20]
for the whole Presentation. And in the, uh, second one
[24:23]
for the 2010 final, Mr. Tariq, you're talking about the
[24:27]
2010 2008 first. And then the 2010, they had, uh,
[24:33]
open houses. That 60 people attended. And 13 people actually
[24:39]
left written in commons. So I don't see, like obviously
[24:44]
we want everybody's input. And in this day and age
[24:49]
30 days on electronic, I think does, you know, meet
[24:52]
it. And if at everything goes in, uh, it, the
[24:57]
people are concerned, obviously the two sides of everything out
[25:01]
there. And there's a lot out electronically. And that's where
[25:03]
we seem to be getting everything from. If our history
[25:09]
repeats itself and we delay and put out for, and
[25:13]
the expense of having public, uh, in - person. Presentations
[25:18]
and that. I don't know how much, but what I've
[25:22]
seen in our last two, I don't know how much
[25:24]
more we're going to see. Yeah. They had a charee
[25:28]
at the first one and they said they couldn't even
[25:29]
keep the people there for three days that they had,
[25:33]
uh, on that 2008 one and the 2010 again was
[25:36]
poorly attended. And I don't know. We didn't have the
[25:41]
electronic capacity that we do now. I think we'll see
[25:44]
a lot. I mean, we're still counsel at the end
[25:47]
of 30 days if we don't see what we want
[25:49]
or we don't think that participations have been great. We
[25:52]
still have to accept it in 30 days except our
[25:55]
extended then. So why keep delaying stuff. Okay. Thanks to
[26:03]
all line back to Councillor Noel. Thank you Mayor
[26:12]
Harrison. That prompts another question. Thank you for that, Councillor
[26:16]
Tarta. So if the property has been sold now, let's
[26:22]
suppose that we don't, um, agree with the development plan
[26:27]
or with the developers. Vision. We no longer own that
[26:34]
property. So can, can the developer then sell it now
[26:37]
that it's been newly serviced with, uh, water and sewer
[26:41]
and everything. It may seem a simple question, but it
[26:44]
seems like it's a win - win for the development.
[26:48]
And it's a win and it's a lose. Win -
[26:51]
lose for us perhaps. So if you can speak to
[26:53]
that, please. Mr. Nesbert, like to talk to us. Through
[26:57]
your worship, the way that an agreement of purchase and
[27:00]
sale of land works is that the initial agreement is
[27:04]
signed off. Um, and in most cases, there are conditions
[27:09]
attached to that contract. Um, in some cases, there isn't.
[27:16]
In this case, they're absolutely is. There's, there's quite a
[27:18]
few conditions, including, um, development agreement, uh, being created and
[27:25]
agreed to by both parties, meaning the municipality and the
[27:28]
developer. If a condition is not waived, uh, buy the
[27:33]
closing date. Then the parties do have some options. They
[27:36]
can extend the closing date and continue to work to
[27:39]
waive conditions or the agreement becomes null and void. So
[27:44]
the key point to know is that, uh, the land
[27:48]
is not sold until, uh, this agreement is closed. And
[27:52]
it's not closed until all the conditions are waived by
[27:54]
both parties. Yeah, thank you for that explanation, actually. We've
[28:00]
gone through this quite a bit through different sales. I
[28:04]
can think of the property behind KK Penner. That was
[28:09]
signed agreement, uh, with the developer there. And two years
[28:13]
to develop. And we actually had to extend that because
[28:15]
he didn't meet his conditions. And we had to make
[28:17]
a decision. How are we going to look for another
[28:21]
developer? Keep going. But we, we had some, I guess,
[28:25]
faith in the developer now he's building two buildings there.
[28:29]
So it is pretty typical. It's not done until all
[28:32]
the conditions are. I've been waived and signed off by
[28:35]
the city. You want to add to that, Mr. Nesmith?
[28:39]
Uh, through your worship, I do want to clarify the
[28:42]
situation that you speak to, uh, was a situation under
[28:46]
the actual development agreement after the lands were sold. This
[28:50]
is, this is a different situation. Uh, the agreement of
[28:54]
purchase and sale for the lands, the conditions have not
[28:57]
been waived. So the final sale has not, um, actually
[29:02]
happened. So when the conditions or if the conditions are
[29:06]
fully waived, then the sale will proceed. And that's when,
[29:11]
uh, in order for the sale to proceed the development
[29:14]
agreement, we'll have to be in place. And then from
[29:17]
there, the development agreement, uh, becomes the contractual obligation that
[29:21]
the developer has with the municipality. But right now the
[29:25]
land is not technically sold. There's an agreement of purchase
[29:29]
and sale against the land. But the conditions all of
[29:33]
the conditions associated with that, with that agreement have not
[29:37]
been waived, not be met, not being waived at this
[29:39]
time. Okay. Thanks for that clarification. Councillor Lethal. Thank you,
[29:47]
worship. Um, one of the other issues I found when
[29:50]
I was reading through the document, as you look at
[29:52]
the public space that's available, I can't quite figure out
[29:58]
how much public space there is there. Uh, I get
[30:02]
lots of comments from some of the public is that
[30:06]
they basically feel like this is our last piece of
[30:09]
property that could be enjoyed by all. So there's the
[30:13]
conception that there's not that much community space for events
[30:19]
or whatever wants to happen. And it's very unclear in
[30:24]
this document. So. Um, that's one of the concerns. And
[30:28]
that, that's coming from the constituents that have talked to
[30:32]
me about it. They feel that that's the very last
[30:35]
piece of space that is for. Whatever kind of mixed
[30:41]
stuff they want to do. But, um. And, and quite,
[30:45]
some of them are quite concerned about it because they
[30:48]
feel like it is the last piece of property that
[30:52]
they would have to use for space for enjoyment. Actually,
[30:57]
there is a, there's a hard number in there. What
[31:00]
was the number for open space. Matt, do you want
[31:07]
to read this? Yeah, I'll go back up there. Yeah.
[31:09]
Thanks. Um, yeah, the, the benchmark is 35 percent for
[31:19]
open space, but just want to reiterate that the key
[31:24]
component of, of the actual or any development plan would
[31:26]
be, uh, protection of open space access to the waterfronts.
[31:33]
Um, all the, um, all the things that the public,
[31:37]
um, uh, it's important to them. Um, so those elements
[31:42]
of any approval will be at the forefront of anything
[31:45]
that comes forward. So, but we are aiming for a
[31:48]
particular benchmark, which is 35 percent for open space. Okay.
[31:51]
Thank you. I think Mr. Nespit want to add to
[31:54]
that. Yeah. Through your worship. I would like to add
[31:57]
to that because the, uh, the South Vann Horn Conceptual
[32:00]
subdivision design that the city undertook several years ago, uh,
[32:05]
it's very clear what there is for, uh, for open
[32:08]
space and publicly accessible space, uh, in that design. And
[32:12]
anything coming forward from any future developers. It would also
[32:17]
be clear what's designated as open space and publicly accessible
[32:22]
space. So, um, I think if you, this master plan
[32:27]
is, is really just, um, pulling together the work that,
[32:32]
uh, that Council has asked Staff to do, uh, probably
[32:36]
since 2022, when we launched into the Comity Capacity study,
[32:40]
uh, the South Van Horn area was, uh, was looked
[32:43]
at, uh, through that study, uh, we looked at, um,
[32:47]
we looked at the South Van Horn area, of course,
[32:49]
through the, uh, through the official plan, uh, update that
[32:52]
we did after that, uh, the South Van Horn area,
[32:58]
you know, came into, I think, the conversation when Council
[33:02]
our Staff to undertake the outdoor event venue conceptual design
[33:07]
work, uh, that we did in 23. Uh, again, that
[33:12]
area came into, into, uh, I think the work that,
[33:17]
uh, was done with the trail feasibility study that we
[33:21]
did 23, 24. So that area has been looked at
[33:25]
extensively through different, uh, initiatives over the years. So the,
[33:31]
uh, and of course then the, uh, the South Vannhorn
[33:34]
Conceptual Subdivision design that I mentioned. So this master plan
[33:39]
really simply, uh, brings all that under, you know, this
[33:43]
term master plan. Uh, for, uh, for additional public consultation,
[33:50]
because most of those initiatives that I mentioned included fairly
[33:53]
extensive, uh, public consultation. Okay. Thank you. We'll go to
[34:00]
Councillor Kieving. Thank you through the chair. Um, I don't
[34:05]
think that anyone around the horseshoe are online is wanting
[34:09]
to discredit all of the work that we know and
[34:13]
has clearly gone into this master plan. I think. Some
[34:19]
folks would feel that it is part of our due
[34:22]
diligence to make sure that we, you know, understand what
[34:26]
we're putting out to the public completely before it gets
[34:31]
there officially. Um, so when looking at these conceptualizations, like
[34:39]
I'm looking at the JR cousins like mockups kind of
[34:44]
right now. And like some of them are very. Nice.
[34:49]
Like they extend, um, our, our trail system. They create,
[34:56]
you know, this lovely boardwalk along the water and extend
[35:01]
our existing doc structure and include a kayak launch and
[35:06]
a little dock for, you know, non motorized, uh, water
[35:11]
sport. Things. Um, so I think that they're, you know,
[35:17]
on, on the right track, I'm curious about these, um,
[35:22]
these drawings and maybe Matt, you can answer this. Were
[35:26]
these documents also provided to the public with like in
[35:33]
addition to like the master plan or was this just
[35:35]
kind of like, this is part of the agenda package.
[35:37]
And if people knew where to find it, that's how
[35:38]
they would find it. Uh, these were provided as part
[35:43]
of the agenda to the master plan. So yes, this
[35:47]
is the, this is, this is informed the master plan.
[35:50]
But it is an important part of informing the master
[35:53]
plan and the direction that we would like to explore
[35:56]
and go in. So yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So for any
[36:00]
members of the public who are watching or listening, um,
[36:03]
and you haven't seen these drawings yet. They are attached
[36:05]
to our agenda package and go look at them to
[36:08]
help inform your thoughts about this, um, the master plan
[36:15]
its entirety, I guess. Yeah. Just add, I think that
[36:20]
document from the consultant you're referring to the Van Horn
[36:23]
Lanning Subvision pre - design report. Like part of the
[36:27]
purpose of that was really, uh, to compete against 440
[36:32]
municipalities for infrastructure funding for sue and water to get
[36:35]
down to the end of Van Horn Landing. So without
[36:38]
some documentation showing the ministry of infrastructure, uh, that we
[36:43]
had a plan that could get move forward. Like we
[36:46]
would not get any funding. So, so this was pretty
[36:49]
key, I think, and just showing our due diligence and
[36:53]
part of municipality to the government. And unfortunately, we were
[36:58]
rewarded that funding. You can see the work ahead. We
[37:01]
wouldn't be here tonight if that wasn't going ahead. So
[37:03]
that was a key document and moving that forward. Any
[37:08]
other further questions, comments, Councillor Taref. Through the chair. So
[37:16]
basically as I understand it, this is the culmination of
[37:20]
five different studies that have been undertaken presented to Council
[37:23]
over the last four years. That are now being amassed
[37:27]
and put into a single master plan. So I understand
[37:32]
it's overwhelming because you're all of a sudden seeing five
[37:34]
at once, but we've seen them throughout the year and
[37:37]
accepted them or received voted to receive them as reports
[37:40]
from each department as this went along. And again, like
[37:45]
I'm saying, it's not that I want to rush it,
[37:47]
but nothing burns me more than watching government red tape
[37:51]
and drags stuff around forever when you've already looked at
[37:54]
it. And it's been there. And we've got another 30
[37:57]
days to look at it before it comes back to
[37:59]
us again to be accepted. So giving another 30 days
[38:03]
another, I'm starting to think we're part of the federal
[38:06]
or provincial government, which, you know, and we see what
[38:09]
happens to any investment when they get involved. It's deferred
[38:12]
and gone forever or drug out. And if I've just
[38:16]
described this accurately as the culmination of all these reports
[38:20]
we've looked at over the last four years, I think
[38:23]
if we've been doing our job up till now, we
[38:26]
shouldn't continue to ask staff to wait around and ask
[38:29]
for more and ask for more. When we've already had
[38:32]
the opportunity to ask questions about this, get our details
[38:37]
straight. And we do have another 30 days. To do
[38:40]
that. Before we have to accept it or send it
[38:44]
back at that point. But I just want to be
[38:47]
clear where we are here on this because. I guess
[38:51]
I'm not that I'm impatient. I just hate stuff dragging
[38:54]
out. Yeah. So the staff, the best ability to put
[39:00]
together this master plan, like Mr. Nesba said and you
[39:03]
said that based on all the information we've got to
[39:05]
say over the last number of years. Really this, we're
[39:08]
asking to now bring this to the public and ourselves.
[39:12]
We have 30 days to review this and to bring
[39:14]
back any comments, questions, concerns. For review of staff to
[39:20]
put together and to then try to put a final
[39:25]
plan together, Presentation, the Council so that we can then
[39:28]
deliberate on whether or not we accept that final plan.
[39:31]
I think that's really what they're asking. So do we
[39:35]
really, we think it's time. We put the RFP out
[39:38]
in, I think, January for looking for call for developers.
[39:41]
So it's been a long time since the AFC come
[39:44]
back to the public because we had to do that
[39:45]
in a closed session. So I think we have, although
[39:49]
the public may not be aware, but we've spent a
[39:51]
lot of time. And then a lot of energy to
[39:53]
try to move this forward up to this point. Councillor
[39:59]
Kieving. Mr. Nesbitt, can you give us an idea of
[40:05]
when the 30 days? So if this was received tonight,
[40:10]
when does our 30 days begin. Through your worship staff
[40:17]
would be ready to go with kicking off. I guess
[40:20]
the electronic portion of the public consultation. Almost immediately. Okay.
[40:29]
With Staff, consider like a half day in person consultation
[40:35]
so people can come and talk to people in person.
[40:39]
To your worship staff will do what the majority of
[40:42]
Council instructs them to do. Great. I think we're hearing
[40:48]
that that is a desirable. Council Ethan. You should just
[40:54]
one more question. So explain what the vote today would
[40:59]
be for. Like it's, it's, it's the vote would not
[41:02]
be making that this is going to be done. This
[41:06]
is to make it just move on to the next
[41:08]
stage. Yeah. So I can say it again, as I
[41:12]
said earlier, like receiving the report. So we have an
[41:15]
opportunity to look at it. And really, to release it
[41:17]
to the public and start a 30 day public consultation.
[41:20]
So everyone has a chance to read through it and
[41:25]
put in comments electronically or writing or in person. And
[41:28]
then, um, also do indigenous engagement. It's not the same
[41:32]
as the consultation, but it's engagement. It's a bit different.
[41:35]
So then they document that feedback receive considering revisions appropriate
[41:39]
and bring them all the comments back and bring a
[41:44]
potential final master plan to Council for our deliberation debate
[41:49]
and then decide whether we move forward without or chain
[41:51]
make changes. So this is just the beginning of a
[41:54]
process. We're not approving this document or anything like it.
[41:58]
We're really approving consultation on the document to get started
[42:02]
on it. Any other further. Comments or questions.
[42:14]
I guess one thing is our, is there a majority
[42:17]
willing to move forward on this. Because we're looking for.
[42:22]
I guess, the mover in second. So. Okay, moved by
[42:27]
Councillor Price, seconded by Councillor Taref. No, thank you. I
[42:33]
was just going to ask Councillor Lathan needs to like
[42:35]
a recorded vote. Oh, yes. Okay. Thank you. Ready. Moved
[42:42]
by Councillor Price, seconded by Councillor Tardif, the Council received
[42:45]
this report regarding the draft South Van Horn Master Plan
[42:48]
for Information. And that Council Direct staff to release the
[42:52]
draft South Vanhorn Master Plan and supporting materials for a
[42:55]
30 - day city - led public consultation period with
[42:59]
comments accepted electronically and in writing at City Hall. And
[43:03]
that Staff Undertake Indigenous engagement in accordance with the official
[43:06]
plan and the staff document the feedback received. Consider revisions
[43:11]
as appropriate and return the final master plan to Council
[43:14]
for consideration and Adoption prior to, or concurrently with Council's
[43:19]
consideration of the development agreement and prior to the waiver
[43:23]
of applicable conditions associated with the proposed disposition of city
[43:28]
- owned lands. Go around the table, Councillor Keening. I
[43:37]
can't tell you if that's right or wrong. It's on
[43:40]
you. Mostly paying attention. Don't worry, my mic is on.
[43:46]
Um, yes, I will support moving forward right now. Hey,
[43:50]
Councillor Latham. Yes. Councillor McKinnon. Four. Councillor Noel.
[44:05]
Thank you. I'm sorry, I'm against. I don't think 30
[44:13]
days is enough time to get it all done. That's
[44:16]
my only sticking point is a 30 days. Councillor Price.
[44:23]
Taref. May. Harrison. Yay. It voted of six to one
[44:32]
in favor. The vote is carried. All right. Thank you.
[44:38]
So I'd like to now call Ms. Warren to present
[44:40]
her report, please. Thank you, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor and
[44:45]
Council and everybody in attendance. Uh, the purpose of my
[44:48]
staff report tonight is to request council's approval to create
[44:52]
one permanent full - time non - union building and
[44:55]
by - law services, supervisor position. So staff, uh, are
[44:59]
recommending that Council approve one permanent full - time building
[45:03]
in Bylaws Services, supervisor position within the building and planning
[45:07]
department effective upon recruitment. Approved the attached job description and
[45:12]
placement on the non - union paygrid at Group 7
[45:15]
with a salary band of 95, 680 to 107 470,
[45:19]
360. A prove 2026 operating budget amendment of 73, 0120,
[45:27]
which would be funded from existing salary vacancies. And then
[45:30]
Direct Staff to include the estimated annualized cost of approximately
[45:34]
137, 992 in the draft 2027 operating budget. So some
[45:39]
of the key requests is the, this request is intended
[45:43]
to address an operational and statutory service delivery gap in
[45:47]
our building in Byloft Services. So currently the chief building
[45:50]
official is a city only qualified staff member authorized to
[45:53]
issue permits and complete mandatory building code inspections. Bylaw Services
[45:58]
is also supported by one municipal law enforcement officer without
[46:02]
a designated day - to - day supervisor. And then
[46:05]
the proposed combined role would add qualified inspection capacity. Provide
[46:10]
by loss services supervision and create a plan succession plan
[46:13]
for both for the CBO function. So why we're asking
[46:17]
for this first reason why we're asking is reduced statutory
[46:23]
compliance risk. So provincial requirements established permit review timelines and
[46:28]
require mandatory inspections within two business days of notice at
[46:33]
present. An absence of the CBO for vacation illness training
[46:37]
turnover leaves no qualified internal backup to review applications issue
[46:42]
permits, complete mandatory inspections or issue orders, which would create
[46:48]
an immediate, you know, risk to the organisation. A second
[46:52]
reason we're being, we're asking for this position to be
[46:55]
created is to respond to increased development activity. So building
[46:59]
activity has increased while staffing has remained at the historical
[47:03]
complement of one qualified inspector. Construction value increase from approximately
[47:09]
12. 6 million in 2022 to 30. 5 million in
[47:13]
2025, which is about 143 percent increase. Permits issued increased
[47:20]
from 60 to 116 over the same period, which is
[47:23]
a 93 percent increase 130 properties for the same period
[47:29]
of 2022 to 2025 have been inspected for property standards
[47:33]
concerns, which adds to Staff's time for inspection and enforcements,
[47:37]
which drives Staff resources from building parking and animal control.
[47:42]
The report also identifies practical pressures already being experienced, including
[47:46]
deferred plan review, longer pre - consultation timelines, inspections being
[47:50]
scheduled near the end of required timeframes and administrative duties
[47:54]
reducing available field time. The third reason is to improve
[47:58]
our bylaws services coordination. So this position would provide designated
[48:02]
operation operational supervision for Bylaus Services, which would include complaint
[48:08]
and investigation file triage, consistent application of progressive enforcement, quality
[48:13]
control for notes, evidence, photocrafts, and prosecution disclosure. Coordination with
[48:20]
OPP Fire Services Public Works, Property Standards Committees, et cetera.
[48:25]
And then support for escalated public interactions in proactive compliance
[48:28]
education. The combined structure is intended to be efficient because
[48:33]
building and Bylaw work have overlapping subject matter, enforcement tools,
[48:38]
field activities, and Public Safety Objectives. Another reason is to
[48:43]
establish a CBO Succession Capacity. So the City currently has
[48:47]
no qualified internal successor for the CBO role. Building official
[48:53]
qualifications take time to obtain. And the rule also requires
[48:56]
operational knowledge of local building stock approvals and final history.
[49:01]
Recruiting a qualified CBO externally in Northwestern Ontario was expected
[49:04]
to take 9 to 18 months while interim contracted services
[49:08]
could come at a substantial and uncertain premium. Creating this
[49:12]
position now permits knowledge transfer while the current CBO remains
[49:15]
available and allows the city to build qualifications over time.
[49:20]
So the Financial Summary, um, as I said, we're recommending
[49:24]
a salary band grid in Group 7, which is 95,
[49:29]
680 to 107, 47360. This reflects comparable Northwestern Ontario and
[49:36]
small urban Ontario municipal positions that are similar to this
[49:39]
that have combined inspection and enforcement roles, including the supervisory
[49:43]
responsibilities. So assuming that this gets passed and we start
[49:49]
recruiting and someone can come starting October 1st, our 2026
[49:53]
budget amendment, which would be 73, 210. And we would
[49:57]
fund that through existing salary vacancies. And then our estimated
[50:01]
2027 annualized costs would be 137. 982, which would have
[50:05]
to be considered through the 2027 budget process. So, um,
[50:11]
so it also, uh, aligns with our strategic alignment. So
[50:15]
the request aligns with the city is 20, 26 to
[50:17]
2031 strategic plan, the growth management goal and properties related
[50:26]
to, uh, proactive investment and critical public services, municipal capacity
[50:32]
infrastructure first development. It also supports community safety and wellbeing,
[50:38]
economic and investment diversity and communication in our people through
[50:41]
development approvals, organisational capacity and employee development and retention. Uh,
[50:48]
this is not solely a growth related staffing request. It
[50:51]
is also a risk management and continuity of service measure
[50:55]
for statutory building functions. Approval, like I said, would commit
[50:59]
council to reoccurring annual operating costs beginning in 2027 budget.
[51:05]
And then recruitment and timing, um, of the successful candidate
[51:11]
existing building code identification, number qualifications may affect how quickly
[51:16]
full inspection redundancy is achieved, obviously. And so the options
[51:20]
to consider. Option one is approved the position, which we
[51:24]
recommend. This option provides inspection backup, Bylaws supervision and a
[51:30]
succession pathway for the CBO position. As I said, there'll
[51:34]
be no tax levy impact for 2026. But Council must
[51:38]
be prepared to fund the position recurring costs starting in
[51:42]
2027. Option two. Contract building inspection services on a NAS
[51:48]
needed basis. Uh, which is not recommended as a standalone
[51:53]
solution. It provides limited backup, but does not address by
[51:57]
loss supervision or succession planning and availability of contract services
[52:01]
and costs is unpredictable. Option three is enter a shared
[52:05]
service agreement with a neighbouring municipality, also not recommended, distance
[52:09]
and regional capacity constraints, uh, not support timely response to
[52:14]
mandatory inspection timelines. Option four, defer to the 2027 budget
[52:19]
process. It's also not recommended. It extends the current risks
[52:22]
and does not reduce the eventual cost. And then option
[52:25]
five, remain status quo. Which is also not recommended as
[52:30]
it continues a single point to failure and service delivery
[52:32]
risks. Any question. All right. Thank you for your report
[52:38]
and I'll open up four for questions. Councillor Noel. You're
[52:42]
up first. Thank you Mayor Harrison. Thank you for your
[52:48]
report, Ms. Warren. I just have one question. First of
[52:52]
all, I'm supportive of option number one. I'm happy to
[52:55]
have another employee come on the fray here. We certainly
[52:59]
need that, especially given what you've said about the increase
[53:03]
in construction. And the workload that must come with that.
[53:07]
I just wonder if we're going to be able to
[53:09]
find a person that is that. Qualified. So just if
[53:17]
you could comment on. Background that I had read this
[53:23]
is Bylaws Services had delivered by a single municipal law
[53:26]
enforcement officer reporting the chief building official. Was presently no
[53:30]
designated day - to - day supervisor for Bio -
[53:33]
Laws Services Staff. A former coordination for file assignment. Investigation
[53:39]
standards, evidence handling. And this is the part where prefixes
[53:43]
act prosecution readiness. So as this person going to do
[53:47]
all that, including POA prosecution, supervision and readiness.
[54:05]
So through your worship Council Noel. So basically our department,
[54:10]
as we stand right now with my self - assess
[54:12]
chief building official and manager, Building and Planning with our
[54:16]
loan Bylaw officer. Do all of those functions today. Um,
[54:21]
the additional person within the department, obviously allows us to
[54:25]
devote more time and efforts and preparedness in all of
[54:31]
those aspects. So whether that is in the enforcement piece,
[54:35]
whether that is in the education piece for the public.
[54:38]
And then of course on the provincial offensive side, when
[54:41]
we do have challenges to our enforcements, to our offence
[54:46]
tickets writings, all of those things require a lot of
[54:49]
administrative effort together, um, our, our packages to submit to
[54:54]
the court. So the additional person is going to add
[54:58]
to that role and hopefully lessen it across the board.
[55:02]
That's the intent. Okay. So that clarifies it that it's
[55:07]
just for municipal prosecutions basically under the bylaws, the her
[55:12]
municipal bylaws and orders and so on and so forth.
[55:15]
It's not for the regular. Highway traffic active and wildlife
[55:18]
and things like that. That's, that was my, my question.
[55:21]
So thank you for that. Okay. We'll go to Councillor
[55:27]
Eckening. Thank you. Say where you are, Pam. Um, okay.
[55:32]
So, and also maybe Marcy. Uh, okay. So first question.
[55:40]
What is the urgency on hiring this position? Um, is
[55:46]
there an option? I assume things were discussed probably at
[55:50]
the Finance Committee that we, uh, just don't know about,
[55:55]
um, is there an option to do any internal cross
[56:00]
training. To kind of supplement. This, um, I guess this
[56:08]
position instead of, you know, hiring and having a whole
[56:13]
new person. Are there, I assume that they've been explored,
[56:17]
but I don't know about them. So I'm just curious
[56:18]
about that. Okay. Three worship. Basically our internal staff are
[56:26]
myself and one By - la officer. That by -
[56:28]
officer is currently going through the in - house training
[56:33]
to understand the by - law enforcement role and peace.
[56:36]
So there's a certification process that goes through that alone.
[56:40]
Second, from that piece is the ability to inspect and
[56:45]
understand building code and the construction industry on how buildings
[56:49]
have to be put together. Um, that is a whole
[56:52]
separate education piece that you either come with as a
[56:55]
carpenter, uh, project leader, project estimator, maybe a designer, whatever
[56:59]
your background is, leads to that. Um, the Bylaw Enforcement
[57:04]
Rule can be learned. The building construction end of thing
[57:07]
is more of somebody coming from that industry. Um, so
[57:11]
our current byla officer is great in the By -
[57:13]
la Officer Role, but his construction industry background is not
[57:17]
existent. So it's better if we can get somebody who
[57:20]
has more experience in both of those realms or at
[57:23]
least comes with that construction. End of things and can
[57:27]
learn the rest of the piece. And then it would
[57:29]
complement both roles and allow us to move forward out
[57:32]
in the public. Okay. So the expertise in that specific
[57:38]
realm is what is lacking currently? Correct. Okay. Um, but,
[57:44]
but, uh. Is I, and again, this is maybe a
[57:51]
question that was already asked, but I don't know the
[57:53]
answer. Talking about that specialty or expertise or special training,
[57:59]
um, is, is there a major cost associated, um, to
[58:07]
bring that staff person up to that level versus hiring
[58:11]
a whole new person or is it just the cost
[58:15]
benefit analysis of having a separate person in that role.
[58:20]
Was determined to be the way to go. We will
[58:25]
hopefully luck out to have somebody who has started the
[58:29]
qualification process and comes with that background. However, if that
[58:34]
person does not exist, then yes, anybody who enters into
[58:38]
the role of the inspection side of things requires that
[58:41]
qualification background in order to inspect. So it really doesn't
[58:45]
matter if we were to do that in - house.
[58:48]
That person is still going to go through that process,
[58:50]
but not necessarily having the background experience in the construction
[58:54]
industry. Okay. Um, and so who does the bylaw officer
[59:02]
report to right now. So by - law reports to
[59:06]
me as manager of building and planning and Bylaw, even
[59:09]
though the title doesn't necessarily add by - law in
[59:11]
there, I myself am a certified property standards officer as
[59:14]
well. So I have that same authority. Um, so that
[59:17]
person does report to me. They do have my supervision.
[59:21]
However, my supervision is limited to when I am in
[59:26]
office and or not on the building side of things.
[59:29]
So we need that person that transitions those rules who
[59:33]
can provide that person with more hands - on assistance,
[59:37]
but also supervision. And I can concentrate on what I'm
[59:41]
trained to do, which is the building side of things.
[59:44]
Okay. So from what I'm understanding, your capacity to oversee
[59:50]
that person currently is not where we would like it
[59:53]
to be. My capacity to engage in my entire role
[59:58]
as it currently exists is overdrawn. Yes. Got it. Got
[1:00:02]
it. Okay. Perfect. Um, Marcy, question for you. How many
[1:00:08]
non - union employees do we have? And is it
[1:00:12]
easier for us to hire non - unionized employees. Or
[1:00:18]
I'm just curious about, um, how or why the decision
[1:00:21]
to make it a non - union position was brought.
[1:00:27]
I believe there's 32 full - time, but don't quote
[1:00:31]
100 percent quote me. I believe it's 32. 32 or
[1:00:33]
33, non - union right now. It would just, yeah,
[1:00:37]
all of our by - law, like anything at a
[1:00:41]
supervisory level is non - union. So supervisory management level
[1:00:44]
is known union. If you were to go into, um,
[1:00:48]
a collective agreement. And it would be at a lead
[1:00:50]
hand. Lead hand roll, not as a supervisory role. And
[1:00:55]
we're looking for a supervisory position. Gauchy, gotcha. Um, and
[1:01:01]
so from the report, uh, for 2027's budget, we are
[1:01:09]
likely going to have to look at some sort of
[1:01:12]
tax increase to accommodate this position or some sort of
[1:01:16]
deferral of a city project or priority to accommodate this.
[1:01:24]
Well, Mr. Nesbitt was going to talk to that one.
[1:01:27]
Go ahead, Roger. Thank you. Thank you to your worship.
[1:01:29]
I can jump in on that one. Councillor Keening. Yeah.
[1:01:32]
That's exactly as the report states. Uh, that's a consideration
[1:01:36]
that Council needs to weigh is that this will impact
[1:01:38]
taxation. Um, uh, going into the 2027 budget or it
[1:01:44]
could impact taxation. Uh, but, and, uh, your conversation, your
[1:01:50]
back and forth with our CBO finally got to, you
[1:01:53]
know, one of the key components of this report. Capacity
[1:01:56]
is overdrawn within the department. It has been for quite
[1:01:59]
some time. Uh, this, uh, this request is, is probably
[1:02:03]
overdue at this point. So that's, that's why the recommendation
[1:02:07]
is, is to do this out of budget. Uh, but
[1:02:09]
for sure Council wants to be fully aware that by
[1:02:13]
moving forward on this, this, this is included in House
[1:02:17]
to be included in the 2027 budget. Okay. We'll go
[1:02:23]
online to Council McKinnon. Just one quick comment. If you
[1:02:30]
want this community continue to grow like it should, then
[1:02:35]
you got to spend some money on employees. So think
[1:02:38]
about that. Just don't think about reasons to get out
[1:02:42]
of spending the money. This is a requirement that we
[1:02:45]
need. Dreden needs lots of new houses that needs lots
[1:02:50]
of economic work. All that work leads to. People that
[1:02:57]
know how to do this kind of work. Can't be
[1:03:01]
resisted. Okay. Thank you. I'll go to Councillor Latham. You
[1:03:10]
have a question? Uh, through the chair, this is kind
[1:03:14]
of both the same as what Councillor McKinnon said. Um,
[1:03:17]
this is actually a good thing because it proves that
[1:03:20]
we are growing as a community. And that's something that
[1:03:23]
we've all wanted for a long time. Yeah. Thank you.
[1:03:27]
Um, it's been a conversation, a couple of conversations when
[1:03:31]
I've been down to many municipal meetings or conferences chief
[1:03:35]
billing inspectors. There are statutory. They're in high demand. There's
[1:03:43]
many municipalities don't have one. Um, so the options are
[1:03:47]
limited. If you want to move forward, talking to frustrated
[1:03:51]
mayors who don't have a CBO. So they're have to
[1:03:55]
have a third party. And they actually have to go
[1:03:57]
around and take pictures of everything. Sentine out the mayor
[1:04:00]
himself. But staff member take pictures of all the building
[1:04:04]
forward it to somebody in another city. And they look
[1:04:07]
at it. And say, uh, could you go back and
[1:04:11]
take another picture? Cause I can't really tell if that
[1:04:13]
stud is in the right place. So very frustrating, uh,
[1:04:17]
for developers. I have talked to two, uh, two developers
[1:04:23]
in this city that said we started a project in
[1:04:25]
another city, but they didn't have the staff to handle
[1:04:29]
us. So we've actually started our project after theirs and
[1:04:34]
completed and dried because we had the staff to do
[1:04:36]
it. So that says a lot of the quality of
[1:04:39]
our staff. And we know they're overworked with 147 percent
[1:04:43]
increase. And it says, the testament to Dragon is attracting
[1:04:49]
a lot of development at this moment. So we are
[1:04:52]
inundated with crust. So I know it's been a strain
[1:04:54]
on our staff. So. I think this isn't an important
[1:04:58]
position. If developers come in and they can't get their
[1:05:03]
approvals in place. And we have actually now statutory requirements
[1:05:08]
that the, uh, provincial government have tightened that we must
[1:05:11]
meet without the staff in place. Than we fall behind.
[1:05:17]
And I think there's actually, some sort of penalty system.
[1:05:22]
The government penalized a municipality if we can't follow these
[1:05:24]
obligations. So it's important that we have adequate staff. To
[1:05:28]
make meet those deadlines. So yeah, so I'm definitely in
[1:05:32]
favor. Any further comments or questions. We're really, um, is
[1:05:37]
to bring this as a motion to the future Council
[1:05:39]
meeting. I assume next Council meeting. So all in faith,
[1:05:46]
I think I'm seeing everyone in favor of doing this.
[1:05:48]
Okay. Very good. Thanks. So it's your direction. Thank you.
[1:05:56]
And thank you. For Pam for the great work you
[1:06:00]
do and your staff. Okay. I'd like to now recall
[1:06:05]
Ms. Junko to presenter reports, please. Thank you. You worship.
[1:06:11]
Good evening Council and members of Public. So tonight my
[1:06:14]
first report is the Q2 2026 financials. The recommendations that
[1:06:19]
Council received the report for information purposes. The purpose of
[1:06:24]
this report is to provide Council with the City's Financial
[1:06:27]
Results for the period ending June 30th, 2026, including comparison
[1:06:31]
year - to - date revenue and expenditures for the
[1:06:33]
2026 operating and capital budgets. The background is the Council
[1:06:40]
approved the 2026 operating capital budgets January 12th, 2026. The
[1:06:47]
approved budget provides financial plan for delivering municipal services maintaining
[1:06:51]
infrastructure, funding capital projects and meeting legislative and operational obligations
[1:06:57]
for the year. The report includes data from January 1st
[1:07:02]
to June 30th. Some of the key highlights, um, the
[1:07:08]
tax levy, we are unfavorable and that's basically intern billing.
[1:07:13]
It doesn't, it reflects the 50 percent of the 2026
[1:07:16]
budgeted. So we're a little bit lower there. Other revenue
[1:07:19]
is unfavorable, mainly due to the June Airport Revenue was
[1:07:23]
not included, that got put into July. So we're missing
[1:07:26]
that revenue for airport. And the hockey school programming revenue,
[1:07:31]
which doesn't start until Q3. The salaries for expenses. We
[1:07:36]
are under budget for that. And that's mainly due to
[1:07:39]
vacancies and seasonal positions. Um, the materials and other, we
[1:07:45]
are, um, under budget there. And again, that's POA Q2
[1:07:50]
billing was not done until after June 30th. And the
[1:07:54]
hockey school programming doesn't start until Q3 as well. Um,
[1:07:59]
and the contract services, the notice we are under budget
[1:08:02]
there. No spending in public works contract services for hot
[1:08:08]
mix patching and crack ceiling. That doesn't start until Q3.
[1:08:13]
And the legal fees are just as I mentioned, legal
[1:08:15]
fees are over about 113, 000. Are there any questions?
[1:08:23]
Thank you for reporting any questions from Mr. Chunko. No
[1:08:32]
questions. You're off the hook, but I just wanted to
[1:08:33]
say, um, the just the, these reports are getting easier
[1:08:38]
and easier to understand, which is really, really great. Um,
[1:08:41]
for us, us newbies. Um, so I just really do
[1:08:45]
appreciate how they are laid out and how, um, easy
[1:08:50]
to comprehend they are. So thank you. Thank you. Okay.
[1:08:58]
Is there no questions? We're receiving this information. Thank you
[1:09:00]
very much. And you have a second report for us.
[1:09:04]
Sorry. Thank you. Chair the chair. Um, the next report
[1:09:07]
is to best notice of vesting for 215 and 221
[1:09:15]
Florence from a tax sale. The purpose of this report
[1:09:20]
is to seek Council's direction on the disposition of the
[1:09:23]
Tax Cell property following unsuccessful tax sales for 215 Florence
[1:09:28]
Avenue and 221 Florence Avenue. The recommendation is that Council
[1:09:34]
Direct Staff to register a notice of vesting for the
[1:09:36]
properties and to authorize staff to write off outstanding taxes
[1:09:41]
in the amount of 35, 329 dollars and 21 cents.
[1:09:47]
The background for 215 Florence, the property was purchased in
[1:09:52]
2021 by the owner of 221 Florence Street. The property
[1:09:58]
proceeded to tax cell in 2024. No bids were received
[1:10:02]
through the Tax Cell. The property is currently listed for
[1:10:06]
sale through Sunset Country Real Estate for 37, 500. For
[1:10:11]
221 Florence Street, the property previously proceeded to Tax Sailing
[1:10:16]
2019 and was purchased in 2019. The property again proceeded
[1:10:21]
to tax sale in 2024. No bids were received through
[1:10:25]
the 2024 Tax Sale process. Uh, the property has also
[1:10:29]
been listed for sale through real estate. However, the listing
[1:10:31]
has since been removed. A construction lean and certificate of
[1:10:36]
action has been filed against a property. The lean holder
[1:10:41]
has obtained a court order. For the sale of the
[1:10:45]
land with a sale proceed to be paid to the
[1:10:47]
lean holder. Um, the lien holder, however, has agreed that
[1:10:51]
the city can go ahead and vest the property. So
[1:10:57]
prior to proceeding with the Tax Sale process for 221
[1:11:00]
Florence, the city obtained illegal opinion confirming that the municipality
[1:11:04]
could proceed with the tax sale. And that cities interest
[1:11:06]
would be protected. So because of the, there was no
[1:11:15]
bids for the Tax Sale properties. The city has four
[1:11:17]
options. We could write off and charge back. Um, these,
[1:11:21]
the, um, outstanding taxes. And we're going to register or
[1:11:25]
we could register and notice of vesting. So we take
[1:11:27]
ownership of the property. And then we could, um, declare
[1:11:31]
it surplus later on. Uh, we could re - advertise
[1:11:34]
for Tax Sale or we could do nothing. Um, and
[1:11:36]
then in two years, we'd have to start the Tax
[1:11:38]
Hill process all over again. So Staff recommends vesting these
[1:11:43]
Tax Sal properties because they have not sold through the
[1:11:46]
Taxel Process and leaving it would just continue to accumulate
[1:11:51]
taxes. So it would be better just to vest it,
[1:11:55]
in our opinion. Financial implications. We have to write off
[1:11:58]
35, 329 dollars in 21 cents in tax rears and
[1:12:02]
the penalties. Are there any questions? Okay. Thank you for
[1:12:07]
your report. Councillor Keeve. Just a quick one. Do you
[1:12:11]
have any idea what the school charge back costs would
[1:12:14]
be super significant or just the, sorry, the school board
[1:12:20]
charge back? Oh, they're not. Yeah. They're not. Huge. I
[1:12:22]
don't know exactly the number, but I can find out
[1:12:24]
for you if you like for next week. Yeah. Okay.
[1:12:29]
These are vacant properties. Yeah. Okay. They are vacant land.
[1:12:33]
Yep. Any further questions. Councillor. Through this area. So the
[1:12:42]
agreement with the contractor that has to lean when we
[1:12:45]
vest it, uh, it still stays in our possession. And
[1:12:49]
he's got to, does he still is there a an
[1:12:53]
agreement as to what percentage he'll receive on sale of
[1:12:55]
it after? No. I mean, as far as I know,
[1:12:58]
we get what we, um, we are owed for that.
[1:13:03]
And then, uh, it's ours. So he doesn't get anything.
[1:13:06]
So he would get the surplus after if the, if
[1:13:08]
the, it's coming into our possession. So we own it.
[1:13:14]
Okay. Thank you. So the staff is recommending that we
[1:13:23]
vest these two properties. That can't go ownership of them.
[1:13:26]
Um. That's, and everyone's in favor of that. We're aimed
[1:13:30]
to bring this as a bylaw to, or September 4th
[1:13:33]
meeting. Born in favor of that. Nodding heads. Yep. Okay.
[1:13:40]
Very good. There's your direction. Thank you. Thank you. So
[1:13:46]
we have no, no. We have one motion this evening,
[1:13:50]
which we'll ask the correct review. Thank you. You worship
[1:13:55]
at the last meeting. I advise that Mayor Harrison had
[1:13:59]
put forth a notice of motion. So it comes forward
[1:14:02]
this evening as a motion. And I believe. I'll ask
[1:14:07]
Councillor Lethum, who's our deputy mayor to chair this section
[1:14:10]
of it so I can speak on behalf of my
[1:14:13]
motion. Did you want to stay there or switch chairs
[1:14:17]
more? Okay. I'll turn it over to you. Mr. Chair.
[1:14:28]
So Harrison, can you cover your report, please? Right. Uh,
[1:14:36]
thank you, Chair. Mr. Chair. Um, yeah, I talked a
[1:14:42]
little bit about why we're bringing this. I think we
[1:14:43]
do have to clear the air on this one. Um,
[1:14:46]
there's really three reasons why I'm bringing rescind or, or
[1:14:51]
the basis of it. You know, I appreciate the time
[1:14:54]
and effort that was put by folks and the cost
[1:14:58]
to bring this plan forward by almost 16 years ago
[1:15:01]
now. But I think we have to consider the time
[1:15:04]
has changed considerably in our community since that time. You
[1:15:08]
know, we think about that 16, actually probably 20 years
[1:15:11]
ago when they started thinking about waterfront development with the
[1:15:13]
2008 plan and then morphed into 2010. You know, you
[1:15:18]
look back to that time, the local pulp and paper
[1:15:21]
mill had significantly downsized. You know, from well over 1200
[1:15:26]
employees to down to about 350. People, and the sense
[1:15:30]
in the forest industry that their days were numbered, uh,
[1:15:34]
they were in a bit of death spiral. And the
[1:15:36]
city would need to shift become more of a tourist
[1:15:38]
destination, much like our neighbour Kanora. Times have changed because
[1:15:45]
I'm happy report in our area. The forest industry is
[1:15:48]
very strong and healthy. Uh, the new owners driving fibre
[1:15:52]
Canada, you know, continue to provide high quality jobs. They've
[1:15:55]
increased the employment from 350 to 400. We still have
[1:16:00]
approximately 400 employees in the forced lands. Harvesting and hauling
[1:16:05]
to the mill. And this company is now contributing a
[1:16:10]
regional economic impact about 550 million dollars to our area
[1:16:14]
quite substantial. Uh, make it not only major employer, but
[1:16:17]
really a cornerstone for economic growth, community development Northwest. Actually,
[1:16:23]
we're pretty fortunate last since I retired from full -
[1:16:26]
time work. I've been doing some consulting work and going
[1:16:29]
around the Northwest Northeast doing independent forest audits of communities
[1:16:36]
from Fort Francis to marathon and all parts in between.
[1:16:42]
And Northwest Ontario is a very special spot in that
[1:16:45]
we have full markets for all their products. Uh, some
[1:16:49]
of the ones out Easter missing a Pult Mill without
[1:16:51]
a Pult Mill. You're really challenged to cut conifer. They
[1:16:54]
don't have a hardwood market like we have down in
[1:16:56]
Baruck or Kanora. So we are fully utilising our, uh,
[1:17:02]
our wood supply basket and the Poltmill local is the
[1:17:05]
key that will make all this happen. So we're very
[1:17:09]
fortunate that this company has purchased it. So a lot
[1:17:13]
of growth opportunities. And also what the big change, I
[1:17:17]
think, uh, like this, this plan is really focusing on
[1:17:23]
developing a four season. A tourist destination. You know, when
[1:17:28]
reality, you know, that would be very difficult to achieve
[1:17:33]
and doubtful. Uh, to obtain. And really, you look at
[1:17:38]
the plan in depth. It really adds more taxation burden
[1:17:42]
to our resident. I'm sure Council Redoff would probably go
[1:17:45]
on more detail than I will. But we're looking at
[1:17:49]
a different scenario where we saw a decline in population.
[1:17:53]
A lot of young people leave our community. We've got
[1:17:56]
the opposite happening. We've got a lot of growth, a
[1:17:59]
lot of potential. Really the necessity is developing a housing
[1:18:04]
needs for the upcoming growth of our community. Such as
[1:18:07]
the mining and energy activities that are real create new
[1:18:09]
jobs and putting pressures on our municipality. To plan for
[1:18:13]
this growth. That's part of our leadership is we need
[1:18:15]
to plan for incoming growth. Our population is expected to
[1:18:19]
grow over 9, 000 over the next decade. So really
[1:18:25]
our responsibility is to, is to look at what's happening
[1:18:28]
today and address those planning issues. Take for example like
[1:18:33]
NWO is Billy and a new billion Ignis. They say
[1:18:37]
160 to 200 employees there. That's a big deal. So
[1:18:41]
where are they going to live. So I mean, they
[1:18:44]
could all live in ignies. They could move to Dryden.
[1:18:47]
But say, for example, 80 half that, say take the
[1:18:51]
low number 16 employees, half that 80 decide to move
[1:18:55]
to Dryden. What side, what's the impact for our community.
[1:19:00]
80 homes. Do we have Adams for sale? No. Think
[1:19:04]
about who maybe, um, coming. Nuclear scientists, well paid. Who's
[1:19:11]
going to be able to compete for our homes, will
[1:19:14]
our locals be able to compete for homes? It'll be
[1:19:16]
challenging. Like we have good paying jobs, but so we
[1:19:20]
need to protect our local citizens from to make sure
[1:19:23]
that they have the housing we have name. Because we
[1:19:25]
all want our kids to stay and dried, don't we?
[1:19:28]
So our focus from 16 years ago has changed. Housing
[1:19:33]
has become a focus. I guess the second reason I
[1:19:36]
look at the folks's plan is not really financially viable
[1:19:42]
for our city. You look at the centrepiece of the
[1:19:45]
development of the plan is this Ontario outdoor education centre.
[1:19:50]
And also the relocation number of museum. And there was
[1:19:53]
no viable business plan component for this Ontario outdoor education
[1:20:00]
centre. It suggested that the canora Patricia district school board
[1:20:05]
may be operated or perhaps the seed of Dryden or
[1:20:09]
maybe the northwest Catholic school board would all contribute to
[1:20:12]
make it a viable option. Most successful outdoor education centres
[1:20:19]
range from anywhere from 5, 000 at a low end
[1:20:22]
to 20, 000 on a high end. Would we be
[1:20:24]
able to track even the low end. Of 5, 000?
[1:20:28]
The plan says, well, maybe we can, the school board
[1:20:31]
will pay to bus every child from the whole Knorr
[1:20:34]
District, from Knorr Red Lake Ignis to hear throughout our
[1:20:38]
education. Is that. Really likely possibility. I mean, we have
[1:20:43]
to ask the questions when we look at the amenities
[1:20:45]
that we have, you know, who's going to pay for
[1:20:49]
the amenities. Or what's the, what's the cost? Who's going
[1:20:53]
to pay? And then what's the burden on the taxpayer.
[1:20:57]
That's questions we're asking this report. So it's nice to
[1:21:00]
think, yeah, it'd be nice to have one, but is
[1:21:03]
it financially viable? What's the burden on the taxpayer. We,
[1:21:08]
you know, when I come to this job, it's an
[1:21:10]
eye opener when you look at how many beautiful amenities
[1:21:13]
we have when we look at a double arena pool,
[1:21:16]
fitness centre, beautiful baseball diamonds. This goes on soccer fields,
[1:21:22]
but they're all tax. They're all supported by residents. Tax.
[1:21:27]
Your taxes are going to support that. To increase our
[1:21:29]
quality of life. So we know we have a heavy
[1:21:32]
tax burden. Every amenity that we add, we have to
[1:21:36]
really ask that question. What's the burden on the taxpayer?
[1:21:39]
That question has not been asked in this report. When
[1:21:42]
you think about an outdoor education centre, like would a
[1:21:46]
large communities come to Dryden to have one here? Like
[1:21:50]
go to Winnipeg. I'd been to Omad Marsh. I hope
[1:21:52]
you all have. It's a wonderful outdoor education north of
[1:21:55]
town, north of Winnipeg. You can see the geese fly
[1:21:58]
in. It's just, it's amazing. They have the Fort White
[1:22:01]
Centre. What's the business case for them to travel four
[1:22:04]
hours to dried in for something similar. Outrider Education near
[1:22:08]
a marsh. We have to ask those questions. Would this
[1:22:13]
be financially viable? I think not. But I think the
[1:22:18]
lastly, and I was kind of surprised when I went
[1:22:21]
to the Detailed proposals there because they have drawings. And
[1:22:26]
you look closely at the public access that's proposed. And
[1:22:30]
the plan really calls for the commercialization of the boat
[1:22:33]
launch. And dock space. What do you see disappear? You
[1:22:37]
see the Public boat launch, which is free for everyone
[1:22:41]
to use Garn. It's moved into a commercial area. People
[1:22:46]
have to pay. To use that boat launch. What if
[1:22:49]
our doc that people enjoy and Fischer off and swim
[1:22:52]
off of. That's reventually replaced by a commercial marina. Does
[1:22:59]
this council want to take away the free use of
[1:23:01]
a boat launch? And, uh, the land, the Van Horn
[1:23:05]
Doc, which we just reinvigorated and put money into. You
[1:23:10]
know, does this Council want to be the one who
[1:23:11]
eliminates that free access to Open Lake for all our
[1:23:14]
exhibition, but I want to overhaul their shocks owners of
[1:23:17]
the leak. Or our neighbours to the south who use
[1:23:19]
it to cut off time. So I think in conclusion,
[1:23:23]
this is an outdated waterfront plan. It's not really relevant
[1:23:26]
today. I think it actually reduces access to what we
[1:23:30]
have. And as a very high potential of putting a
[1:23:34]
tax burden on our residence for manys, that would be
[1:23:37]
a little used to our community. So I encourage Council
[1:23:41]
members to stay the course that we've been on. We,
[1:23:46]
with our master plan, we'll enhance our waterfront. We will
[1:23:49]
create open spaces to folks to enjoy. We also focus
[1:23:53]
on our housing stock to meet the coming demand. And
[1:23:56]
while doing so, we also increase the property taxes generated
[1:24:00]
by creating all these housing. We have already attacked high
[1:24:04]
tax burden for amenities by bringing in, uh, new folks
[1:24:08]
and housing them increasing our property taxes. It actually may
[1:24:12]
reduce our tax burden for individuals. So as a win
[1:24:15]
- win, and I really urge the Council to rescind
[1:24:19]
this 16 - year - old water plan so we
[1:24:21]
can go in the right direction. That this city needs
[1:24:24]
today. Thank you. Thank you, your worship. Does anybody have
[1:24:30]
any questions for the mayor. Council Noel. Thank you.
[1:24:42]
Chair Latham. Just a question, like why do we have
[1:24:46]
to abandon? Why can't we edit it accordingly? Like I
[1:24:49]
agree with many of your comments. Mayor Harrison saved the
[1:24:53]
one about, uh, our kids. I want our kids to
[1:24:57]
go out and experience the world and come back here
[1:24:59]
if they so choose. Um. I mean, both my kids
[1:25:05]
are here. I'm grateful for that. So yeah, if you
[1:25:09]
could comment on why it is that we can't just
[1:25:13]
amend that plan. Cause I'm looking at all the people
[1:25:15]
who put in time the citizens and the project team.
[1:25:20]
And there were a lot of smart passionate people involved
[1:25:22]
in this back when it was implemented. I do agree
[1:25:26]
though. Things have changed drastically since then. So. If you
[1:25:31]
could perhaps comment on that. Thanks. Yeah. Sure. I'll be
[1:25:35]
happy to. I think the focus is entirely on a
[1:25:39]
forest. He's in tourists destination. There's so much to be
[1:25:43]
changed on that plan. For instance, a large part of
[1:25:46]
the Eminar property is devoted to a seasonal RV park.
[1:25:52]
Really a seasonal RV park. Does that what we need
[1:25:56]
in our community? No. Like that's, so many things. Do
[1:25:59]
we need outdoor education cetera? No. Do we need, should
[1:26:03]
the museum be relocated down there. I think you'll find
[1:26:06]
that the best place if we're going to relocate a
[1:26:10]
museum is on the highway. So we can get traffic
[1:26:13]
coming through. Stop in, you know, kids spend some time.
[1:26:17]
That's, you get a high traffic area on our, on
[1:26:20]
our streets. Or highway out there because we're actually being
[1:26:23]
on the main highway is incredibly beneficial for businesses and
[1:26:27]
commercials. So the like about it. The 2010 plan also
[1:26:32]
took into place the private property owned by the nature's
[1:26:36]
in and the other properties. And they kind of said,
[1:26:38]
well, we want you to follow our plan or basically
[1:26:41]
solace the plan. So are we going to now expropriate.
[1:26:46]
Private property. No, like the master planets were going is
[1:26:51]
going to just utilise them and our base land base
[1:26:53]
and the 10 acres. So yeah, I think it's the
[1:26:57]
master plan going with the master plan and giving this
[1:27:01]
new, this current residence and opportunity to, I say, is
[1:27:05]
the right way to go. Target. Through the
[1:27:15]
sheriff. Again. Um, I guess I look at things too
[1:27:21]
quickly out of a financial lens. And I understand the
[1:27:25]
situation leadership was in at the time they developed this
[1:27:29]
plan and that. But I had a hard time going
[1:27:32]
through it because every time I saw any of their
[1:27:34]
financial justifications or plans, it was totally irresponsible spending, in
[1:27:40]
my opinion. And, uh. Mayor Harrison mentioned the tax burden.
[1:27:46]
And I mean, to even come close to this on
[1:27:48]
the assumptions that were in here, you're talking double digit
[1:27:52]
tax increases to try and fund this. Just the order
[1:27:54]
of construction they did putting the non commercial, uh, parts
[1:27:59]
of the phases of the project ahead of everything meant
[1:28:01]
that was coming out of municipal coffers, which we don't
[1:28:04]
have, uh, they allude to FISA, Financial feasibility studies, but
[1:28:12]
never do them. And to pass a plan before you've
[1:28:15]
done that again, I find that totally irresponsible. Um, it's,
[1:28:20]
you look at these numbers and the assumptions. The assumptions
[1:28:24]
that the school board is going to pay for 30
[1:28:26]
percent of construction centre. So that part at least doesn't
[1:28:33]
hit your property tax, but your school board tax assures
[1:28:36]
hell is going to go up. I mean, everything in
[1:28:39]
here, we're just getting out from under the debt of
[1:28:43]
the other decisions to do with a cell phone company.
[1:28:46]
We got four years left to pay for that. It's
[1:28:48]
another four million dollars going to be paid out. Well,
[1:28:52]
this is coming in. And this, uh, if you take
[1:28:55]
the cumulative inflation area increases since this plan was developed,
[1:29:00]
we're looking at 60 percent on your average consumer goods
[1:29:03]
when it comes to construction, you're looking 250 percent probably
[1:29:12]
200 million. And just we should know just from the
[1:29:15]
proposals we received. This project is a 200 million dollar
[1:29:20]
project. And on the low side municipal participation at 30
[1:29:25]
percent, And we know that the government ain't going to
[1:29:29]
jump in and say, Oh, here's a check. Go for
[1:29:31]
it. So where do you get that from? Are you
[1:29:33]
going to finance 60 million dollars over 20 years and
[1:29:37]
pay another 60 million in interest before we get close
[1:29:40]
to it? And we're going to be 20 to 25
[1:29:42]
percent property tax increases to try and keep up with
[1:29:45]
it. I mean, you can't be chasing this kind of
[1:29:48]
debt. And it's beautiful and it's great. And it's really
[1:29:52]
good. If someone else is paying for it. But that's
[1:29:54]
not what's going to happen. We're paying for this. And
[1:29:57]
we've got these other plans. We've got what Matthews presented
[1:30:04]
tonight. We've got the opportunity to bring in a developer.
[1:30:07]
But if you tell a developer, yeah, we'd like a
[1:30:09]
hundred million for me. But you don't get to say
[1:30:13]
in. Like, and that's what this is. This is way
[1:30:18]
too much government involvement. Because we are government. And if
[1:30:23]
we're going to stick our noses into how somebody spends
[1:30:25]
their money, that's like, yeah, getting an inheritance wanting to
[1:30:30]
invest it somewhere and someone telling, Oh, no, we should
[1:30:32]
keep that over here so we can spend it on
[1:30:33]
something else. It's foolish. It's, and this is a, and
[1:30:40]
it's a nice plan, but it's just not feasible for
[1:30:42]
our community. Not unless we buy Super Bowl tickets and
[1:30:46]
states and win something. It's not, it's not something we
[1:30:49]
should even be considering. And I, I really wish they
[1:30:54]
hadn't accepted it until they spent a little more time
[1:30:58]
getting the studies done right financially. And Councillor Noel said,
[1:31:03]
how about revamping it. Again, I don't know if that's
[1:31:06]
spending throwing good money after that already. If there's that
[1:31:11]
old saying that, uh, doing the same thing over again
[1:31:13]
and expecting a different outcome is the definition of insanity.
[1:31:17]
And that's what this looks like to me. So. Uh,
[1:31:20]
just my comments on.
[1:31:30]
Thank you through the chair. To me, this sounds like
[1:31:38]
an opportunity for our counsel and our community members. To
[1:31:46]
start fresh. I am fairly optimistic. That. By
[1:31:58]
trusting our community members, trusting our staff to kind of
[1:32:04]
lead us through this process that we are going to
[1:32:07]
come away with something that is great for our community.
[1:32:14]
That, you know, works out in favor for these developers
[1:32:18]
who, you know, kind of want to build what they
[1:32:21]
want to build, but also take deep consideration from our
[1:32:26]
indigenous community members, other indigenous leadership, um, our citizens, our
[1:32:34]
council, our staff members. So all of that being said,
[1:32:43]
I feel more comfortable. Accepting the motion to rescind this
[1:32:50]
plan because I think that we, I think that we
[1:32:55]
can do it better. I think that we can take
[1:33:00]
all of the information that we have. We can listen
[1:33:03]
to our constituents and listen to our staff and move
[1:33:06]
this forward. At a pace that kind of works for
[1:33:12]
everyone. Again, maybe I'm insane and or optimistic about this.
[1:33:19]
But I really believe that. There is a way for
[1:33:26]
us to move forward where people will be content with
[1:33:33]
the plan that our community has come up with. So
[1:33:38]
I think, you know, if we're focusing on what our
[1:33:42]
community wants to see, um, what is reasonable, uh, to
[1:33:49]
our developers and to staff, like I think that that
[1:33:53]
all needs to be considered. So. I think it's a,
[1:33:59]
it's a great opportunity for us to kind of start
[1:34:02]
fresh. Things have definitely changed in the last 16 years.
[1:34:07]
Um, and so, yeah, we, we really do have a
[1:34:10]
great opportunity ahead of us to, to do something different,
[1:34:15]
um, that still meets all of those kind of like
[1:34:20]
lofty goals. Um, and ideals, you know, within the original
[1:34:24]
plan, but also kind of create something new and fresh,
[1:34:30]
hopefully in this new plan. Thank you. Councillor Taref. Yeah,
[1:34:35]
through chair again. I just wanted to add that there
[1:34:37]
had been the comment out there that what was the
[1:34:40]
rush to do this as we're going to be going
[1:34:42]
to a new council. And I think that's an important
[1:34:44]
thing, uh, that, uh, the new Council should have the
[1:34:47]
opportunity to take the information, whether it was presented tonight
[1:34:50]
from our building staff and every planning staff. And like
[1:34:56]
Catherine was saying formulate something that's going to work for
[1:34:58]
the community rather than being handcuffed to an outdated financially
[1:35:03]
and unfeasible, uh, plan, uh, should never have been passed.
[1:35:13]
Uh, any more questions. Councillor Noel. You chairly.
[1:35:23]
Right up until this discussion started tonight. I was leaning
[1:35:26]
towards not supporting the notice of motion, but I'm so
[1:35:30]
grateful that some of the questions that were asked, uh,
[1:35:34]
Councillor Tardif explaining the numbers. He's always very good at
[1:35:38]
that. Um. And my review again on, on what the
[1:35:43]
information the committee had at the time to come up
[1:35:47]
with this plan has changed drastically, our population is certainly
[1:35:52]
different. Median household income is different. Um, there's a lot
[1:35:57]
of things that are different now. Uh, that there's no
[1:36:01]
way that this team could have foreseen at the time.
[1:36:04]
So I'm, I'm thankfully changing my position on supporting this.
[1:36:11]
So I probably would support this, um, notice a motion.
[1:36:20]
I guess I get to speak. Um. I still believe
[1:36:27]
that there's a lot of good things in that plan.
[1:36:30]
Uh, I'm hearing what everybody's saying. But, um, with perhaps
[1:36:36]
a new Council coming on, it may be able to
[1:36:39]
give people some ideas of what's feasible and what's not
[1:36:43]
feasible. I know for sure when they talk about putting
[1:36:46]
the arena down there, I'm on the committee that museum
[1:36:51]
meeting. And we have kind of other ideas of where,
[1:36:55]
where it should go and, uh, stuff like that. But
[1:36:59]
I'm still stuck on this staying around and giving people
[1:37:05]
some information for the next plans that we're going to
[1:37:08]
be doing.
[1:37:20]
For the motion, please. Council of Price. Seconder Councillor Taref.
[1:37:25]
Thank you. Move by Councillor Price, seconded by Councillor Tardif,
[1:37:29]
that Council hereby consider. No. Let's start again. Move by
[1:37:38]
Councillor Price. Second by Councillor Tired. F. The Council here
[1:37:40]
by rescind the Adoption of the Phasing and Implementation Strategy
[1:37:44]
outlined in the sustainable waterfront development planal report dated May
[1:37:50]
2010. All in favor.
[1:38:01]
Carried. Did I say that wrong. You gave me.
[1:38:11]
Thank you, Councillor Lathan for leading that portion of. Thanks
[1:38:16]
everyone for your participation and discussion. So we're down to
[1:38:20]
Administrative Reports and I'll call REO, Mr. Nesbitt, for his
[1:38:23]
report, please. Thank you. Three of your worship. As I
[1:38:28]
recorded, I believe at the last meeting of Council, we
[1:38:32]
were on our way to the Ontario Municipal Association Conference
[1:38:38]
in Ottawa. I did attend with Mayor Harrison and Councillor
[1:38:44]
Price. I won't, um, I won't cover all the details
[1:38:47]
because I believe Mayor Harrison is going to cover those
[1:38:50]
off. So I don't want to step on him. But
[1:38:52]
it was, uh, it was a good conference, productive, uh,
[1:38:56]
we were able to meet with, uh, with, uh, I
[1:38:58]
think about a half dozen different ministries and discuss some
[1:39:01]
of those, those priorities that I had elaborated on at
[1:39:05]
the last meeting. So all in all. Excuse me, a
[1:39:09]
good conference. Um, I would like to just build on,
[1:39:12]
uh, some of the comments that, um, Mayor Harrison made
[1:39:15]
while discussing, uh, the, uh, the additional position and the
[1:39:19]
building and planning department, Mayor Harrison had, uh, mentioned some
[1:39:24]
of the feedback that he's received from developers and such
[1:39:27]
positive feedback in relation to, uh, to the, uh, services
[1:39:32]
that our chief building official, uh, Miss Gillin provides along
[1:39:36]
with her department members. Um, Ms. Skillen or Pam, I
[1:39:41]
guess if I may, uh, was, was probably one of
[1:39:43]
the first management hires that, uh, that I had to
[1:39:49]
do coming into this position. Um, I think, uh, I
[1:39:53]
think the day that, uh, that, uh, that Council announced,
[1:39:57]
uh, myself moving into the CAO position. Our chief building
[1:40:01]
official of the day tendered resignation, uh, from a standpoint
[1:40:05]
of retiring from, uh, from the position. And, uh, quite
[1:40:10]
frankly, um, I don't think there's being, I know there
[1:40:14]
hasn't been a regret in bringing PAM on board. Pam
[1:40:18]
spoke a bit about the, uh, the background that, uh,
[1:40:21]
that really, I think gives a good, a good base
[1:40:24]
to a building inspector or a chief building official. Uh,
[1:40:27]
PAM had that base and, uh, I think it was
[1:40:30]
Councillor Keevening maybe ask a question about development of that
[1:40:36]
position. And PAM is a living example of that. POMs
[1:40:41]
built herself into, uh, I think one of our region's
[1:40:44]
best chief building officials and Dryden is lucky, lucky to
[1:40:49]
have her. Um, and with the addition of, uh, Mr.
[1:40:53]
Bagshaw in the planner's seat, uh, we have an extremely
[1:40:58]
efficient and effective, uh, building and planning team, uh, at
[1:41:02]
this point, uh, supported by a strong by law enforcement
[1:41:05]
officer. So I just really want to give, uh, much
[1:41:10]
thanks and appreciation to the entire department. And, uh, the
[1:41:14]
strong focus, the strong customer focus, uh, that miss Skillland
[1:41:18]
has brought to the department. That's done so much, so
[1:41:23]
much to get us that, uh, that quality name, uh,
[1:41:26]
amongst the developers in our region. Thank you. Thank you.
[1:41:34]
Call on our Director of Finance Treasurer, Ms. Junkel. Well,
[1:41:37]
thank you. Uh, your worship. I have nothing at this
[1:41:39]
time. Thank you. I'll go to our clerk, Ms. Idler.
[1:41:44]
Thank you. And I will use some of the treasurer's
[1:41:47]
time because I'm going to ask everyone to bear with
[1:41:49]
me while I, um, speak a little longer than normal
[1:41:52]
at this point in the meeting. Because nominations for Council
[1:41:57]
and School Board Elections closed at 2 p. m. on
[1:42:00]
Friday. Those nominations have been certified. And I can advise
[1:42:05]
we'll be having elections for the following offices. Mayor, we
[1:42:09]
have three nominees with one to be elected. Council. There
[1:42:13]
are 12 nominees with six to be elected. Key waiting
[1:42:17]
Patricia District School Board trustee. We have three nominees and
[1:42:21]
one will be elected. Northwest Catholic district school board trustee.
[1:42:26]
We have three nominees with two to be elected. Locally,
[1:42:31]
there will be no election for the French separate school
[1:42:33]
board trustee as there was just one nominee for the
[1:42:37]
one position. And Michelin Lovnik has been acclaimed. And there
[1:42:42]
were no nominations received in the region for the French
[1:42:45]
Public School Board. Also on August the 14th, we received
[1:42:51]
the then - current voters list amendments to the list
[1:42:55]
can be made by members of the Public Beginning September
[1:42:58]
the 14th by completing a form at City Hall and
[1:43:01]
providing proof of identification and their address. And finally, as
[1:43:06]
six of the seven current members of Council are running
[1:43:09]
for re - election, we do not find ourselves in
[1:43:13]
a lame duct situation from now until voting day on
[1:43:17]
October the 26th. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. And I'll
[1:43:23]
call on our Director of Public Works, Mr. Olson. Thank
[1:43:27]
you through the chair. Nothing out at this time. And
[1:43:31]
now Director Community Services, Mr. Boyer. Thank you, Mayor. Just
[1:43:36]
a reminder to Council that the pool is down due
[1:43:38]
to a mechanical issues that happened last weekend. Um, due
[1:43:46]
to the limited availability of the parts, it looks like
[1:43:48]
it'll be down for at least until after the September
[1:43:52]
long weekend. So we do have the parts ordered, but
[1:43:54]
some of them are coming from, um, U. S. manufacturers,
[1:43:58]
because that's our only option. Um, so we got to
[1:44:00]
deal with some border stuff. So, um, yeah, we're hoping
[1:44:04]
that everything gets here in a timely manner. Uh, and
[1:44:06]
then once it does, it just takes us a few
[1:44:08]
days to rebalance and heat up the pool and get
[1:44:11]
that running. Uh, also just wanted to let Council know
[1:44:15]
that we do have, uh, the ISAs back in ISAN
[1:44:18]
operations went fairly well last week. Building ice. And I
[1:44:21]
want to thank the team for all their hard work
[1:44:24]
and dedication to building that, um, we have started to
[1:44:28]
hockey school as of this morning. So we got lots
[1:44:30]
of kids bustling around and getting note on the ice
[1:44:34]
and sort of another new hockey season. And ices and
[1:44:37]
I should say. Thanks. Thanks. That's all. Thank you. And
[1:44:41]
I'll knew we're going to hear from our fire chief
[1:44:45]
chief wood. Thank you worship. Uh, I do have a
[1:44:50]
couple of things. I just want to start by last
[1:44:52]
week, the restricted fire zone and municipal fire ban was
[1:44:55]
lifted. Um, throughout that, uh, we had most of the
[1:44:58]
summer as we were under that restriction. And I want
[1:45:00]
to thank our residents, uh, doing a great job following
[1:45:03]
those restrictions. I believe we only had one burn complaint
[1:45:06]
and so our residents did a great job helping protect
[1:45:08]
our community. I want to congratulate all members of the
[1:45:11]
Dryden Fire Service for achieving surface water rescue certification. We
[1:45:15]
spent, uh, five and ten days in the water. And,
[1:45:18]
uh, we're well ahead of our deadline of 2028 and
[1:45:21]
achieving this. So, uh, for surface, water and ice rescue.
[1:45:24]
Uh, we've done a lot of work this year and
[1:45:26]
we're in a really good shape. And then lastly, I
[1:45:29]
want to talk about something new. We, we went after,
[1:45:31]
uh, Council Retardo food emotioned early in the term for
[1:45:34]
us to achieve superior tanker accreditation. And we, we went
[1:45:38]
after that and trained for it over about two months.
[1:45:42]
And on August the 8th, we achieved that accreditation where
[1:45:44]
the first one's a Northwestern Ontario. The first fire department
[1:45:47]
in Northwestern Ontario to achieve that. And what that means
[1:45:50]
for our residence is if you're within eight kilometers of
[1:45:52]
our hull too and five kilometers of a fire hydrant,
[1:45:56]
you will get the same insurance rating as if you
[1:45:58]
were protected by hydrants the same in the city. Stay
[1:46:01]
tuned to the website. We will update those certificates and
[1:46:04]
the dwelling protection map as the fire underwriters hasn't updated.
[1:46:08]
And that can be shared. We've already shared it with
[1:46:10]
our insurance companies. So that should, uh, get our citizens
[1:46:13]
a little bit better of insurance relief for some of
[1:46:15]
our citizens. As well as improve our fire protection rating,
[1:46:18]
which is really important. That's all from your worship. Thank
[1:46:21]
you. Great. Thank you. And congratulations. Hey, when I'll go
[1:46:27]
to Council Announcements, uh, did want to speak a little
[1:46:29]
bit about our trip to Amo and Ottawa or annual
[1:46:33]
trips to the conference down there with, uh, this time
[1:46:36]
with, uh, Mr. Nesbitt and Councillor Price. We really had
[1:46:40]
three, three issues or three areas that we want to
[1:46:43]
talk to. The first one was, uh, with the Minister
[1:46:47]
of Natural Resources. It was in, I guess the spring
[1:46:50]
of 2023 that the then, uh, minister Graydon Smith agreed
[1:46:56]
to surplus the Aminar Land base, which is what we
[1:46:59]
talked about tonight, the Van Horn Landing. So in the,
[1:47:02]
in a phased in portion, because we knew that the
[1:47:05]
half of it was basically vacant. So and actually already
[1:47:08]
put a fence up in between the second half was,
[1:47:12]
uh, buildings on it. We're mainly used for storing outdoor
[1:47:15]
equipment. So being a former mayor, uh, Mr. Graydon Smith
[1:47:20]
agreed to phase that out that really, that whole area.
[1:47:25]
So if the housing needs that are important or dried
[1:47:28]
and the little thrust from the province to get housing
[1:47:32]
into Ontario, um, he agreed to that. The surplusing, uh,
[1:47:38]
the first phase one, the empty 10 acres was surplus
[1:47:40]
immediately. And we were now realising it's quite a long
[1:47:43]
process. That's going through every or every department in the
[1:47:48]
province to see if they want it. And then it
[1:47:50]
comes closely to, uh, has to go through other consultation
[1:47:54]
period. We're hopefully we're near the end of that. That'll
[1:47:58]
soon be made available. But we don't have a date
[1:48:01]
on that. Just want to give an update. But we,
[1:48:03]
uh, we worked, uh, we talked a lot about the
[1:48:06]
second phase, which is the waterfront with the buildings on
[1:48:09]
it. And they agreed to try to expediate that. They
[1:48:12]
really need to find another location for that equipment. And
[1:48:15]
so they're working with the ministry of infrastructure to find,
[1:48:19]
uh, location and to build some building. So that will
[1:48:22]
take a bit more time, but, uh, we've really asked
[1:48:25]
them to speed as much as possible. Still follow the
[1:48:29]
policy and procedures, but ensure that, uh, that becomes available.
[1:48:34]
Really the second discussion we had was with the, uh,
[1:48:38]
parliamentary assistant for MTO. And they're really talking about the
[1:48:41]
scheduled air passenger service. And we know we lost that
[1:48:45]
a few years ago and our, our neighbours, can aura.
[1:48:48]
And Fort have been able to establish it. We probably
[1:48:52]
could have too, but we don't want to really, we
[1:48:54]
won't have burden our taxpayers by putting a backstop in
[1:48:57]
to make this profitable. Really asking for some partnership with
[1:49:01]
the province in the Fed to make this really an
[1:49:04]
economically viable air passenger service. So that it would be
[1:49:09]
attractive for many people to fly. Uh, we feel that
[1:49:14]
the taxpayers shouldn't backstab a company coming in for a
[1:49:18]
pilot project to make them whole as they build up
[1:49:20]
the ridership. That the economic development that's happening in our
[1:49:24]
area with a mini activity. And Dryden would not be
[1:49:29]
the only community using this airport that's important that we
[1:49:32]
find partners. So the bad news is they don't have
[1:49:35]
a funding stream that can just tap into, uh, but
[1:49:38]
we're looking at it. They're looking at options and we're
[1:49:41]
continuing meeting with them. Uh, lastly, we met with the
[1:49:45]
ministry of Finance, Missel Affairs and Housing, Ministry of Northern
[1:49:50]
Economic Development and Growth and Administrative Engine Mind all around
[1:49:53]
the concept of Dryden is like a regional hub, a
[1:49:58]
service hub to the north. And we're kind of leading
[1:50:02]
this charge for about, 13 to 15 communities across the
[1:50:06]
north. That we provide services, community services to a broader
[1:50:12]
group than just ourselves. Um, but it's our taxpayers are
[1:50:17]
facing that burden. As Ontario is looking to the north
[1:50:21]
to drive the economy in the south as well through
[1:50:24]
mining and energy projects, we're asking the government, like you
[1:50:29]
are collecting taxes from these other economic development areas. But
[1:50:34]
they're outside or municipal boundaries. Um, we like to be
[1:50:38]
recognised that we are, we're servicing there's without our communities
[1:50:43]
across the North servicing these that we, they wouldn't be
[1:50:46]
successful. So we're having that conversation, uh, making it aware
[1:50:51]
that we think the whole provincial municipal partnership needs a
[1:50:56]
bit of Twinkie for a communities like Dryden. Um, I
[1:51:01]
know there's, there's been talk about us trying to ask
[1:51:05]
the annexed areas or increased taxes out in the unorganized.
[1:51:09]
We have, we're adamantly opposed to that. We made that
[1:51:12]
clear to the ministry. But we're thinking that when we
[1:51:15]
look at the economic growth in the North and the
[1:51:17]
small size of municipalities that are supporting that growth and
[1:51:21]
the income that the parental government is receiving from some
[1:51:24]
of these outer areas, especially the economic growth in crown
[1:51:27]
land, that they need to support our communities to make
[1:51:32]
it economically feasible for our taxpayers. And lastly, I did
[1:51:38]
have a private conversation with, uh, Mr. Calandrus, Minister of
[1:51:42]
Energy. I've been trying to support, uh, Michael Williams, who's
[1:51:47]
the Ground Father, the two children that ground in our
[1:51:50]
community. What we as a group have been trying to
[1:51:53]
do is get, uh, mandatory streaming lessons across Ontario. And
[1:51:58]
I really want to thank Chief Wood. He was one
[1:52:00]
of the leaders in bringing it to Dryden. So we
[1:52:03]
have in - house training at our schools as well
[1:52:05]
as the swim to survive training or pool, which happened
[1:52:08]
this spring. I think it was grade threes that were
[1:52:11]
all taken from the public school system. Learn it when
[1:52:14]
they fall off a dock, how to get back to
[1:52:17]
dreadwater and to swim 50 metres. Fantastic. Like we're, we're
[1:52:21]
in good shape. But we're really asking that the province
[1:52:24]
take this on. And so only conversation, we originally asking
[1:52:27]
for Instagram lessons as well as in class and talking
[1:52:31]
to the grandfather Michael Williams. We realise that now and
[1:52:37]
Mr. Conlandra agrees. It's very difficult to mandate in pool
[1:52:40]
lessons all across Interior because some school boards just not
[1:52:43]
have, um, access to pools. So our ask is now
[1:52:48]
to move off that and to make it make sure
[1:52:50]
that it's mandatory that each class gets the, um, three
[1:52:56]
40 minute in - class sessions on swim safety. Because
[1:53:04]
one of the things that's important is just kids, you
[1:53:09]
know, when they come to a doc, some of them
[1:53:11]
don't know how to swim or not used to water.
[1:53:12]
We found that like. The attraction of water is great.
[1:53:16]
And if they fall off the dock, they have no
[1:53:19]
chance of really getting back on. So just the safety
[1:53:22]
to prevent them, I know the danger of being by
[1:53:25]
water. And also really the danger of, if someone falls
[1:53:29]
in and you don't know how to swim, um, and
[1:53:31]
you go in and after rescue them, So that just
[1:53:37]
that education and knowledge, we think is a very important.
[1:53:41]
So we're continuing to ask Administrative education to make this
[1:53:45]
mandatory. We've revised our requests and we're very hopeful that
[1:53:49]
the province will hear our concerns and make this mandatory
[1:53:53]
cross, Ontario. So that was some of the work that
[1:53:56]
we've done. And we're pleased to represent our city there.
[1:54:02]
A very long winded today. All right. Let's go around
[1:54:05]
the table. Let's start with Councillor Latham. I have nothing
[1:54:10]
your worship. Councillor Keevening. Uh, thank you. I just want
[1:54:15]
to let the community know that on September 12th, there
[1:54:18]
is a beauty mingle at shoppers drug mart to support
[1:54:22]
Hashzaki house. So you can make an appointment, um, and
[1:54:26]
all of the proceeds raised are going into our own
[1:54:29]
community. Thank you. Thank you. Go online up to Councillor
[1:54:32]
Noel. Thank you, Mayor Harrison. I just wanted to command
[1:54:38]
our first responders for the recent. Service call at our
[1:54:44]
local fair at Behooves Me that young people don't get
[1:54:47]
a kick out of what we used to, which would
[1:54:49]
be jump in the fence to get in with OPing.
[1:54:52]
Or maybe getting into the beer gardens before you were
[1:54:54]
19 back in the day. But, uh, it was a
[1:54:58]
heck of an effort by our dried and fire ambulance
[1:55:01]
and OPP and the public were there. So, uh, I
[1:55:03]
think it's mentioned that, uh, they did a good job
[1:55:07]
and difficult circumstances and something that, uh, nobody really expected,
[1:55:12]
even though, as I understand it, the same thing happened,
[1:55:15]
uh, at the CLE and Thunder Bay. So kudos to
[1:55:18]
everybody involved. Thank you for your service. That's it. All
[1:55:22]
right. Thank you. I'm going to go to Councilman Kinnan.
[1:55:25]
I have nothing you worship. Councillor Tardif. Nothing. Councillor Price.
[1:55:35]
Yes, thank you through the chair. And I agree with
[1:55:39]
Council Noel. I was at the fair at the time.
[1:55:44]
And the quality of service that was given, um, was
[1:55:48]
exceptional. And, um, keeping the fear factor down and keeping
[1:55:53]
people safe, um, was also exceptional by the fair providers,
[1:56:01]
I would say. It was a outside of that. It
[1:56:05]
was a great weekend to be at the Fair for
[1:56:08]
Families to enjoy the rides and the food and the
[1:56:12]
entertainment and everything that went on. And it shows that
[1:56:15]
we have a great community outside of that one, one,
[1:56:20]
um, event that up. And unfortunately. So kudos to the
[1:56:25]
fair organisers. I know it's a lot of work for
[1:56:27]
them. Um, I've, I've seen them there for probably 12
[1:56:31]
hours a day as I was there as well. And,
[1:56:34]
uh, so yeah, kudos out to them for continuing to
[1:56:37]
bring the fall fare in and expanding it as they
[1:56:40]
have with their new barn and for all of the
[1:56:43]
4H people that were involved in it. It was, um,
[1:56:46]
it was a great time. So, uh, thank you. All
[1:56:50]
right. Thank you. And we'll go to our confirmatory bylaw.
[1:56:57]
In a seconder. Council evening and a second, Councillor Noel,
[1:57:02]
thank you. Move by Councillor Keening, seconded by Councillor Noel,
[1:57:05]
the By - Law 2026 - 61 being a bylaw
[1:57:08]
to confirm the proceedings of Council be adopted. Call a
[1:57:13]
question. I'll in favor. Carried. Thank you. Now we're at
[1:57:19]
the time of German. Can I have a mover in
[1:57:20]
a seconder? Councillor Keeney Moose. Second councillor price. By Councillor
[1:57:27]
Covening, seconded by Councillor Prince. It is meeting be declared
[1:57:30]
adjourned. Long favor. Gary, thank you. Thanks everyone for participation.
[1:57:38]
Good night.