Morning, everyone. Welcome to the May 7, 2025 Esartavista council
meeting. Please note that this meeting is being live streamed
and recorded. By entering council chambers, you are consenting. To
be recorded. Before I call the meeting to order and
have opening remarks, I have a special honor to Bestow.
Today we have with us Jennifer killing at Tavistock native
who recently was honored with a king Charles III Coronation
Medal at a recent ceremony in Mississauga. Jennifer is vice
president of quality research and strategic partnerships at people care
and was given this prestigious honor in recognition of her.
Outstanding contribution to the long term care sector. Jennifer Esore
at Tavistar council wants to let you know that we're
proud of you and I would ask you come forward
to receive your recognition certificate and have your photo take.
Come on.
Any opening remarks from council. Deputy mayor smith. Good morning,
your worship. Just a reminder to the general public that
on May 10, the Hex Alliance Club will begin. Having
their annual fireworks display here in the Hickson park. It's
a cash only event. Whatever we raised this year, we
spend that much, if not more, on next year's next
year's display. Everything's going nicely, and we're set up and
ready to go. The booth will be open in the
park for snacks for the kids. Bring your lawn chairs.
And enjoy the display. Thank you, Deputy Merrison. Any other
opening comments for today's meeting, Councilor Smith? Thank you, your
worship. We love to tell local stories. At this council
table. And this morning, I'll shine the spotlight on host
farms. As the family farm marks 100 years of agricultural
excellence. And since 1994, just outside interchipp the fourth generation
dairy operation of the Ariaga Ventsync family, along with a
dedicated staff. Takes great pride in producing high quality milk
from their Holstein herd. And that sense of local pride.
Will be on display on Saturday, June the 14th, when
the farm will be the site of a breakfast on
the farm event with farm and food care Ontario. You'll
see that brand this morning in the upcoming. Presentation. Of
the rural Oxford Economic development. Corporation. With executive director Rhonda
Stewart on June 14, you'll enjoy a delicious farm fresh
breakfast and have an opportunity to explore the world of
farming at Honors Farms on the 16th line. Get up
close and personal with farm animals. See extensive tractor and
farm equipment displays, explore interactive games and exhibits, meet and
speak with local farmers and food producers. It's being billed
as a one of a kind event with something for
everyone. Happens, rain or shine. Coming up in June. Tickets,
just $5 for adults. Children under twelve are free. There
is an advanced registration process. As part of that, as
mentioned, the event is being held in conjunction with. Farm
and food care Ontario sector wide coalition made up of
representatives from all farming types and associated businesses known as
the helpful expert on Ontario agriculture, farm and food care
looks to grow public trust and consumer confidence in farming
and food. So enjoy breakfast on the farm. Inner tip
coming up Saturday, June 14. You can find out more
on various social channels and in the community. As you
likely know, this past Sunday marked International Firefighters Day. Apropos
that it lined up with the 75th anniversary of the
village of Interchipp's foray. Into establishing a fire service back
in 1950. That breakfast event marked the occasion took place
at the interkip fire hall and morphed into. A fundraiser
for the family of Captain Jarrett Bessette, critically injured in
an Easter weekend accident. In the village of interchet, the
community came out. The community came out. And the community
came out. My daughter and I waited in the festive
atmosphere of the queue to get into the hall. For
more than 40 minutes. Unprecedented in my quarter century of
attending firefighter breakfasts in my neighborhood. 800 plus were there
making it the most attended breakfast. In Interkip Firefighter association
history. So a nod to the community for getting behind
that initiative. This is emergency preparedness week in Canada. National
awareness initiative and an opportunity for all of us to
take action to ensure we're prepared to protect ourselves and
our families during an emergency. This year, the national theme
is be prepared. Know your risks. The provincial theme in
2025 is planned for every season. Reflecting the unique challenges
the province can face on a seasonal basis. Ontario's theme
nicely complements this year's national theme and aligns with the
provincial emergency management strategy and action plan to keep Ontario
in a state of constant readiness and prepar. Preparedness. Emergency
preparing this week runs until May 10. The Government of
Canada's get prepared website and the county of Oxford's 72
hours website. Are great resources in emergency preparedness and planning,
and in conjunction with that, at 1255 today. There will
be a nationwide. Alert. Ready notification. You'll likely hear it.
That nice, serene sound. On your mobile devices, televisions and
radios. And it was this day, 80 years ago, that
Germany offered an unconditional surrender to end the Second World
War, setting the stage for unbridled celebrations in cities across
Canada and other allied countries. Victory in Europe Day is
officially marked on May the 8th and celebrated under various
emblems, including Peace Day, Liberation Day and Remembrance Day in
aligned and allied countries. So here's the peace freedom and
democracy. Thank you, Marcia Miguetch. Thank you, Councilor Smith. Any
other opening comments? Not seeing any. We'll move on to
approval of the agenda. You should have a motion. On
your screen. Move by Councilor Zair, seconded by
councilor glaspies that council approve the agenda for the May
7, 2025 meeting as printed and circulated. Is there any
discussion regarding today's agenda? Okay, we will call the vote.
That is carried. Next item, item three, any disclosure of
pecuniary interest, general nature thereof. Deputy Mayor smith. I'll declare
an interest on item five b. And you've provided the
clerk with. Your. Yes, and we've already dealt with the
paperwork. Thank you, Councilor Vanwick. Same. To item five B
as well. Okay. And you've provided your certificate, too. Okay,
thank you. Any other disclosure. Item four minutes minutes of
the April 16, 2025 council meeting. The resolution on your
screen to adopt those minutes. Moved by Councilor Smith, seconded
by deputy mayor Smith. Does council confirm the minutes of
the April 16, 2025 council meeting as printed and circulated.
Is there any discussion regarding those minutes? Not seeing any.
We'll call the vote. That is carried.
Okay, we're on to item five. Public meetings. First meeting
is minor variance application a 420. 25 Star Dovey Farms
Limited. We have development planner Dustin Robson to present. We
will need a resolution to move into a public meeting.
Resolution will be on your screen. Move by councilor Glaspi.
Seconded by councilor Zair that the council meeting. Be adjourned
at 09:10 a.m. for the purposes of holding a public
meeting pursuant to the provisions of the Planning act and
that council move into the Committee of adjustment for the
purposes of hearing minor variance applications. Any discussion regarding that
motion, we'll call the vote. That is carried.
Welcome, Dustin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and good morning, members
of council and those in attendance here today, the various
application before you concerns a 50 acre farm property is
currently zoned a two currently contains a single detached dwelling
and two hog barns and is located within a generally
agricultural area. The proposal before you. Hear today is requesting
to reduce the MDS two requirements from a type A
use which in this case is a single detached dwelling
at 476-7834 7th lining from 518. Meters down to 295
meters for both the barn and the manure storage facility.
If you look at plate two, you can see the
location of the type A use. As a note to
council, it is my understanding that the westernmost barn, located
on plate two, Is in the process of being removed.
Well, the other barn will remain. In terms of comments
from internals, departments and agencies, the chief building official for
the township noted that the barn. That is identified as
being removed has to be removed prior to a building
permit being issued and he also noted that a distance
survey will be required from an Ontario land surveyor to
verify the distance of the new barn. No comments were
received by members of the general public. As council may
or may not know when it comes to mds. You're
only supposed to reduce it in very limited circumstances, and
planning staff are generally strict. On when we recommend. In
doing so, the promise has provided a minimum distance separation
document that outlines specific instances where you can consider reducing
mds. One of those instances is where the proposal will
make an existing situation. Better than currently exists. in this
situation the barn that is proposed to be removed is
approximately 194 meters away from the closest type a use
while the proposed barm to be 295 meters away which
is an improvement in one huttendered and 1 meter so
in staff's opinion this situation Does require consideration based on
the MDS document. We are also of the opinion that
the proposed maneuver storage method, which is located underneath the
barn. Is one that is of a low odor potential.
So again, we believe that the situation on site is
being approved by this proposal. Given this, we are here
in support of the application, and we do recommend that
the application be approved by council today. Thank you. Any
questions for our planner on the application? Not seeing any.
Thank you. Is the applicant or their agent here wish
to address council on the application? Come on. Forward. State
your name. And then rob mcleod. I represent Startoe farms.
So, the barn in question. Is an older facility that
the roof has collapsed on and under snow load this
winter. We do need the space. For the livestock, and
we are moving it further away from. The minor or
the house that it's in question. So I asked for
the support of the minor variance. Thank you. Is there
any questions for the applicant from council? Councilor Rudy, how
much larger is the new barn than the original barn.
It's going to. Be. How many hogs or how many
pigs? Hogwife. The original barn that's going to. Be taken
down is roughly 1000 head. The new barn is going
to be roughly 2200 head. Any other questions from council?
Not seeing any. Thank you. Is there any member of
the public who wishes to address council on this application?
Not seeing any. We have a resolution. To approve the
application. It'll be on your screen in a second. Move
by Councilor Gillespie, seconded by councilor Zaire, that the township
of east or a Tavistock Committee of Adjustment approve application.
File a 425, submitted by Star Adobe Farms for lands
described as part lot 29, concession nine, as in 27835.
Three in the township of Eastor Tavistock as it relates
to relief from section 7.2.1 to reduce the minimum distance
separation to MDS two requirement to the nearest type a
land use residential dwelling located at 4767-8347 line from 518
meters to 295. Meters to facilitate the construction of a
new livestock barn and relief from section 7.2.2 to reduce
the minimum distance separation requirement to the nearest type a
land use dwelling, residential dwelling location located at 4767-8347 fine
from 518 meters to 200 and. 95 meters to facilitate
the construction of a new manure storage facility to service
the proposed livestock. Barn, subject to the following condition, that
the proposed relief for mds two shall only apply to
a livestock facility and manure storage of the approximate size
and location as depicted on plate four. Of report CP
2020. 5134. Council motions on the floor. Is there any
discussion or comments regarding the motion? Not seeing any will
call the vote. That is
carried. Now have a resolution that will be on your
screen to move out of public meeting.
Move by councilor Smith. Seconded by councilor Rudy. That council
move out of the committee. Of adjustment and pursue it
to the Planning act that the public meeting be adjourned
at. 09:17 a.m. in the regular meeting of council be
called back to order. Any discussion. We'll call the vote.
That is carried. We will now move into another public
meeting for a zoning change application ZN 225-258-9222 Ontario, Inc.
You have a motion on your screen to move into
a public meeting.
Move by councilor Rudy. Seconded by councilor Zair. That council
does now adjourn. To a public meeting in accordance with
the provisions of the Planning act at 09:18 a.m. any
discussion, call the vote.
That is carried. Okay. We're now in a public meeting
to discuss. The zone change. Application and development planner Dustin
Robson will address this. Thank you, Mr.
Mayor. To provide council with some background on this application.
The land division committee. Approved severance application B 25 on
April 3, 2025. Who serve approximately three acres from the
stubby's facility here in Hickson to the Agripro facility here
in Hickson, as well as a condition of that approval
from the land division committee. The lot to be severed
is required to be zoned appropriately. The subject application for
rezoning in front of you is to rezone the slot
to be severed from the current MG two zoning to
a new special MG zoning. The purpose of this severance
is to allow for. Agri. Company to build a new
20,000 square foot shop. And as part of the zone
change, application. We are recommending that. A special provision be
provided on the MG zoning to ensure that the existing
requirement for any building or open storage to be approximately
or at minimum 30 meters away from the northern lot
lines, which are residential. Properties. So just to go a
little further into that, the existing MG two zoning on
the stubby's land requires that 30 meters separation and. We're
simply recommending that that be carried over to. This new
Mg zoning to ensure that. The same expectations are maintained
at that rear portion of the agro pro property. As
a result of the circulations to internal departments and agencies,
the chief building official advised that site plan approval will
be required and that an agreement between the two landowners
regarding the stormwater management, ponds maintenance and use will be
required to be registered on title. In terms of our
analysis, we reviewed both the consent and the zone change
application. Jointly, and we do believe that it meets the
general intent and purpose of the provincial planning statement. And
the official plan. We do also note that the use
of the land. Even through this severance application in zone
change application is to remain industrial, which is what the
expectation. Was up until this point. So neighbors to the
north can expect an industrial development, which they could have
expected in the past few years anyways. We also do
believe that. The application. Is beneficial for the community as
it does allow for the expansion of an existing business
without adding new access onto Highway 59. And as I
said, we are recommending that special provision to require the
minimum 30 meters setback. And we do believe that this
is beneficial for the neighbors to the north, and we're
not taking away that expectation, which in our mind is
a positive on this application. So that all being said,
we are here to recommend approval in principle here today.
And what that simply means is once the survey is
completed and provided to us, we would then have the
necessary schedules prepared for the amending zoning bylaw and come
back for official passing at a later date. Thank you.
Any questions for our planner from council? Councilor Rudy. The
berm that runs across the north of that existing property.
Is it to remain or be removed? Or what? Through
you, Mr. Mayor, at this point, I haven't been given
any indication that. To be removed. You'll also see the
stormwater management pond on the north side of the property
as well. That is as far as we understand to
remain as is. But they will have to go through
the site plan application process. And we would be taking
a look at. Any mitigation measures that may be deemed
necessary. Thank you. Just comment was because a lot of
the complaints on the village are due to noise. Coming
from the industrial property. The burn was meant, and the
trees are meant to mitigate that. And it would seem
they proposed to put the building in the center of
this property. When in fact moving the building even closer
than 100 meters. Would stop the noise and visual disturbance
coming from the industrial activity. To you, Mr. Mayor of
Fairpoint. Councilor Rudy. And we have representatives from both stubbies.
And agri pro here. And perhaps they can also speak
to any mitigation efforts that they might be willing to
undertake. Thank you. Any other questions for our planner? Thank
you. Is the applicant here? Would like to address council.
Come on forward. Good morning, Mr. Mayor and restor
council, Mike Goer, on behalf of Stubby's I just like
to thank the planning staff for all the work they've
done. I got no further comments. I'm just here to
answer any questions that anyone may have. Any questions for
the applicant from council? Not seeing any. Thank you. Any
other. Member of the public wish to speak to the
application. Not seeing any. We have a resolution that will
be on your screen momentarily to approve. The application. We'll
get it on the floor. Okay, first, we will come
out of the public meeting, though, so we'll need a
resolution. To adjourn the public meeting. Moved by councilor Zair,
seconded by councilor Smith at the public meeting, does now
adjourn and council reconvene at 09:24 a.m. Any discussion. Call
the vote. That is carried.
Now we will have the resolution on your screen. Move
by Councilor Gillespie, seconded by councilor Zair that the council
of the township of Eastor Tabstock. A proven principle. The
zone change application submitted by 588-9222 Ontario, Inc. File number
zn 225. Two, whereby a portion of the lands described
as part lot 86, plan 820, parts one to three,
registered Plan 41 R 9704, township of east or tavistock,
are to be rezoned. From special General Industrial zone MG
two to special General industrial zone Mg sp. Any discussion
or comments regarding that motion. Not seeing any. We will
call the vote. That is carried.
Okay. Ron is going to bring.
Thank you. Our next item. Item six, delegations and appointments.
We have two delegations today. I don't see anyone here
yet from the association of Ontario Road Supervisors. So we
will bump up Rhonda. He'll be able to address this
first, Ronnie. Stewart from the RODC. Come on. Forward. Good
morning.
I'm Rhonda Stewart. I'm your economic development director with Rural
Oxford, edc. Myself and crystal vin Rokel are your small
but mighty economic development team. We come out every year.
To share our highlights of the year that has just
passed. This year we're also going to share a few
highlights of 2025 and what's to come. And we're going
to try a few recommendations this year and see how
that goes. In 2024. It was an incredible year. And
it was our 10th anniversary, or 10th anniversary for rural
Oxford economic development and for the collaboration that is shared
between the townships of Blanford, Blenham, Eastor, Tavistock, Norwich. Southwest
Oxford and Zora. Last May, we had a 10th anniversary
celebration. We handed out awards to businesses. And community members.
They had community partners attend and. It was a really
wonderful way to celebrate ten years in partnership serving rural
Oxford. Last year also marked the first Oxford countywide career
expo that was led by community employment services. We were
a partner on that project last year and again this
year. There were over 5000 people in attendance. Many were
students. Also a good chunk. Of job seekers as well.
They each had an opportunity to walk through. The venue
and speak with over 150 employers who were hiring and
learn about all the different types of jobs and opportunities
that are available right here at home in Oxford County.
Last year as well. Was the first year that. We
ran our discover rural Oxford event. Within the Canada's outdoor
farm show. So we had been working with kind of
the Utter Farm show to support that initiative for a
number of years and built a relationship up with them.
And. We last year tried something different. So discover rural
Oxford was a three day exhibit. And. We hosted and
facilitated. We put out an application process where rural businesses
across Oxford county could apply we know that businesses cannot
always take three full days out of their busy schedules
to be at a trade show. So this was an
opportunity to give people the opportunity to come and spend
one. Full day, and so we helped everybody set up.
Tear down, set up teardowns, promote to thousands of new
customers. And I think we worked with supported 15 businesses
through last year's Discovery Locksford event. We got lots of
positive reviews and. We are very excited. We just yesterday
launched our application. Process for the 2025. Discover rural Oxford
so you can send people to rural Oxford, cadescover to
learn more. In 2024 as well. We partnered again with
the Oxford. Oxford tourism and community. Futures, Oxford. And we
supported this initiative. It's like a Dragon Sten style initiative
for. Tourism businesses across Docksford county where they can come.
And pitch an idea for new tourism product that they
would like to bring to market. They can receive a
bit of coaching. And a $3,000 grant to support that
initiative. That's a nice collaboration, that. We have been supporting
for the last few years. Last year as well in
2024. We tried something a little bit different with our
business outreach, so a lot of times we'll. Make phone
calls, we'll send emails. We'll stop by. But last year
we decided to put a little bit more. Emphasis on
facilitating connections and conversations for our rural businesses. We had
a focus on manufacturing and agar food production, and we
visited 25 business visits. When we visited 25 businesses. So
if you look at the last slide of this presentation
and you click on the link, it will take you
to more information. And a much larger report. But in
a nutshell, following those businesses to companies. We receive 24
Br and e surveys back. So mentioned that building connections
with local producers and rural manufacturers, facilitating introductions to ministry
colleagues, and raising awareness for programs like the southwestern Ontario
Development Fund can export and other resources like community employment
services. We brought a lot of ministry representatives out to
these different visits, so we facilitated those connections. There's a
lot of information that comes at people by email. And
online, it can be hard to sift through. So we
tried something different, where we would bring. Ministry reps to
the businesses. So they have a name, a contact and
a handshake. Someone they can follow up with. That has
resulted in an increase in expansion applications through the Southwestern
Ontario Development Fund in rural Oxford, which. We're very excited
to hear of the submissions. Stay tuned for news releases.
I can't. Say anything more at this point. Also moving
into a little bit further into the business surveys. I
just thought I would pull out. A few items of
note. Of the 24 respondents. It was shared that $17
million had been invested in capital projects that fiscal amongst
this group of people. 17 of these companies were planning
an expansion or relocation in the next five years. And
two thirds, or 63%, plan to invest in smart manufacturing
and new technologies. New markets were also being explored. Domestically,
nationally and beyond. All this just to share. That business,
entrepreneurship and growth is alive and well in rural Oxford.
On the next slide. Is a little bit more of
a wish list. We asked what commercialization plans these companies
had. For the next three to five years. And as
you can see from the column on the left, there's
quite a number of growth opportunities still to be realized.
We asked if they would be able to monetize. What
that investment would look like. And so combined. If all
of the projects on the left were completed, there's an
estimated. Over $400 million in future investment that could be
realized. I recognize that's all future. State and. A lofty
number at this point, but again, just sort of facilitat.
Facilitates that growth is strong. And if.
We have business friendly environments. The growth can stay here.
Okay, moving forward to our 2025 work, plan. There's a
little bit of overlap here from last year. In the
top left corner is our highlight of the career expo
that took place on March 27. 3500 students came through
that career expo between. Eight and three, and then roughly
2000 job seekers came between two and 05:00 p.m. again,
another 150 employers. Were featured at the Career Expo this
year. And one of the things that we did was
provide a value add to our five rural municipalities. We
helped to design and facilitate. This shared booth that you
see here. Explore a career in local government. The feedback
from the five municipalities who had participated was very positive.
They enjoyed the opportunity not only to network with one
another. But this booth was also located amongst other local
government. HR areas and they were able to network with
one another. So. It gave a bit of a two
pronged approach, if you like talking to students about career
paths and what's up and coming and have them take
a look at municipal government as an option. The earlier
part of the day is definitely the time to come.
But if you were hiring and you wanted to speak
with job seekers today, the back half of the day
would be the ideal. Time to participate. We support a
lot of local initiatives that make sense in rural Oxford
for us and where we can with financial and time
resources. We do support the Oxford fresh map taste of
Norwich as an example, we're trying some new marketing podcast
with our. Drinks with podcast. Farm and food care, as
was mentioned earlier. This is a breakfast networking event on
the farm. In addition to supporting. This event on June
14. We're also partnering with Tourism Oxford to curate a
road trip experience for visitors to be able to stop
in and visit local businesses after the event, just again,
further supporting our local economy. We also are embarking on
a strategic plan at our organization this year. We are
midway through our 2022 to 2027 plan. And though we're
small and mighty, we are also very goal oriented, and
we've crossed off a number of the items on our
list that we had hoped to achieve in our current
strategic plan, we will be reaching out. For input and
feedback. From elected officials, municipal staff or community partners. We
want to hear how we can best serve you. And
the communities in rural Oxford, how we can partner with
you and. We do plan to continue with business retention
and expansion visits. We are aiming for 24 visits this
year, predominantly in the tourism and agribusiness space. There will
be carry forward. And follow up visits from the sectors
that we had met with last year, so we kept
that number modest this year. Lastly, on our recommendation slide.
So I sent this slide deck to all five townships,
and some of the townships they ask for. Recommendations, and
some of them you may already be addressing. So I'll
just share that now. Rural development. Is. In my five
years here, I have found it to be just such
a fascinating. Concept. We are at rural Oxford economic development.
We are both pro development and pro agriculture at the
same time. We really want balance, growth. We really want
smart growth. We want smart development. And with that, we've
seen a few hiccups along the way. And so. I
know EZT specifically has already started to do some proactive
secondary planning, but one of the recommendations that we had
was in addressing the projected population growth, doing proactive secondary
planning. To prepare the rural townships for smart commercial and
industrial growth. We know a lot of people are coming.
And. We want the people who are moving here, who
have businesses to have opportunities to set up their business
here. We don't want to all be bedroom communities. We
don't all want to have a bunch of people living
here who cannot move their business from the GTA to
our area. So just mentioning. First and foremost, I know
housing for all is a big priority in Oxford county,
and we fully support that. Just sort of keeping a
lens or keeping an eye on concurrent planning on the
commercial and industrial growth that is needed. Just having that
line of sight is important. One suggestion was municipally owned,
shovel ready land for sale in one to two acre
commercial industrial parcels. There's a few reasons for that recommendation.
Obviously, you can always recommend larger parcels. We tried to
keep the recommendation somewhat manageable. And. If any of our
municipalities had shovel ready land that they owned that was
available for sale. To businesses that would dramatically change how
we serve you. It would change how we partner with
you. If we had marketable assets. It would also help
preserve and protect some of the downtowns. Some of our
businesses, shops and toolsheds and car repair places. Some of
them are having to go set up shop. in a
small rural downtown because there's not any other suitable area
they're going to go where the for sale sign is
And. We just think that having these commercial industrial parcels
set up where you want them to be. May preserve
and protect those walkable retail local shops. Overlaying again, part
of proactive secondary planning, overlaying commercial and industrial zoning. downtown
On parcels that abut the settlement area boundaries. We're practical.
Of course. I won't dive in too much. I know
how much. Work you guys have been doing on your
secondary plan so I won't dive too much. Further on
that one. Another recommendation was collaborating on a 401 corridor
secondary plan. That might not be the right terminology. We
do have a lot of people looking at our area
and proactively. but We do have a lot of agriculture,
land, and we don't want it all to be taken
up. By development. So maybe there's an opportunity to collaborate.
With or provide joint input through a number of the
municipalities that touch that 401 corridor. The last one. I'm
just going to preface with we're all on a learning
curve and we're in the first year of our egg
policies, it's going to take time for everyone to get
familiar with the differences between on farm diversified uses, rural
residential. Entrepreneurial uses, non egg uses. We put this policy
in here, a recommendation, because some of our municipalities ask
us, is there a broad stroke policy recommendation that you
could see that we could remove? To make it a
little bit more business friendly. So the one that we
had saw it's. Very difficult. Everything is so case by
case, as you know. So the remove policy barrier that
restricts on farm diversified use to being able to employ
only two people who do not live on site. There's
a few reasons why. We've suggested that. That recommendation. We
have a great relationship of planning. We understand how it
got there. We understand the intention. Was limiting scale and
scope. We just also believe that there are other ways
to limit scale and scope. That don't get so into
the weeds as to state. Only two people who do
not live on site. That's an Oxford county policy. It's.
Not a provincial policy statement, and. It. 's not the
only barrier to development. It just could become an added
nuisance. But planning and our team were all watching as
I mentioned the new policies have just rolled out in
the last year. With that. I want to thank you
very much for your time. I've really enjoyed my five
years working with this organization. I look forward to another
five. Maybe another ten. Maybe we'll. Throw another party in
ten more years. And I just want to say thank
you for all your support. Thank you, Rhonda. Any questions
for Rhonda? From council. Councilor smith. Thank you, your worship.
Through you. To the executive director. Thank you for the
presentation this morning. You mentioned $17 million in capital investment.
Do you have any data? On if that has been
helpful in expanding the workforce. In our region. Through you,
your worship. I can look further into. The additional questions.
We did ask them a number of questions on that
business survey. And employment. There were a number of questions
of how many employees were in there as well. I
could always circle back and ask them. The answer to
that question. I appreciate you bringing some recommendations to us
this morning. I believe I ask you this question every
time you're here, and I think the answer. Is included
in those recommendations, but. What is the number one obstacle
to the. E inr brne. What is the hindrance to
expansion? That's a great question.
Possibly. Land availability. Is really going to be high on
that list. One thing that I do see. With the
calls that come in. There's a mismatch. In. How do
I word it? Okay. There are a lot of companies
from outside of the area, GTA, Kitchener, a lot of
them. Want to call interrur Oxford and. They see a
piece of land and they just want to set up
shop. They want to own. It and they want to
bring their business here. And then. What we see on
the ground. We also get a number of phone calls
from local landowners who are open to doing the due.
Diligence and go through the process of seeing if. They
can develop on their property. And they're willing to build.
But. They don't want to sell. And so. I see
a lot of opportunities that are just misaligned. We see
companies who want to come and set up shop here,
but they want to purchase, and we see other people
who want. To create a space where companies can come
to the area and lease. So there's a bit of
a disconnect there. But for the most part, I would
say access to the appropriately zoned land. And really in
the macro context, even beyond Oxford county, if you don't
own land. You're not in the game. We do see
a lot of barriers. And you also see, like with
applications, miscommunications and misunderstandings, that applicant. May think that they're
submitting everything that's being asked of them, and may call
into planning, and planning says that's not. Compliant or. That's
not everything that you need. Or the building official says
you need more. So sometimes companies get frustrated because the
perception is the goalpost keeps moving. The perception is they've
submitted an application. For a zone change or for an
official plan amendment, and then they get asked to submit.
Five items. They submit those five items to their knowledge,
and then they get asked to submit another. Six. And
that might be like a few weeks later that they
get asked that sometimes the process I would have to
say is a bit clunky, and I don't think it's.
Any one person's fault. I think there's just miscommunications. On
expectation. Excellent. Thank you. I did want to thank you
for. Your work in moving this initiative forward. And certainly
thank the deputy mayor for representing our interests on your
board. Thank you. Thank you, Councilor Smith. Any other questions
for Deputy Mayor Smith? More of a comment. I think
our forward. Development plan here in easter Tavistock. We're looking,
especially the Tavistock area. Of. Putting industrial lands available. As
part of our official plan. And I think that that's
going to, through conversations with Rhonda had the roedc. That.
This will help us going forward. I agree 100% with
Rhonda here. And. Through you. Your worship, to Councilor Smith.
There's been some inquiries. Into people wanting to move into
the Tavistock area, for one. We know of some land
ownership up there. We put them through, Rhonda. We've put
the parties in contact with each other. And the owners
don't want to give up the ownership. They want to
still have their hand in it. And I think that
sometimes that gets in the way, because these companies. They
want to have full control over their future. As far
as owning the land. And that's just a little stumbling
block there. But I think Esau tower stocks in the
right direction with establishing an industrial zone in the Taostock
and inner Kip area. Thank you, deputy mayor. Rhonda, thank
you. That just nudged me. As a reminder, one other
item is obviously available, servicing water wastewater capacity. So that's
why one of the recommendations is to have that municipally
owned shovel ready. Options available. Five years ago, I could
have said to you, in principle, it would be really
great if everybody had a little bit of land to
sell, and it was shovel ready and it was serviced
now. I can tell you. Just in the last year,
we've lost two deals to Perth, one deal to Middlesex.
Even like the year before, we lost another one and.
I've probably sent enough inquiries to sell that 55 acres
three times over. And I can say that now with
confidence. Where before I could have said it idealistically. So.
I don't want rural Oxford to miss out on opportunities
just because. We don't have. And I'm not saying all
opportunity needs to be that can be dry industry. It
doesn't have to all require a ton of water, wastewater
capacity and servicing, but. That is also a stumbling block.
So when I say land, I mean shovel ready land.
Thank you. Rhonda. Councilor rudy. In your opinion. I heard
you mention it once or twice. That municipal owned, shovel
ready land. Would it be in esore's best interest to
be? Or to attempt to be the landowner of developable
land to make that. Available to gives us the opportunity
to make planning changes or zone changes. Instead of the
submit five questions. And then six more. Is it something
that a municipal municipality is more able to navigate? Through
your worship. I think that it's definitely something. Worth studying
and looking into. I can definitely say there is a
number of municipalities that do it. If I can put
it also this way. Esau Tavistock has the interest of
Esau Tav stock and all of its constituents. And all
of its landowners and its people. And a private for
profit developer. May have different or competing interests. And so
if the municipality had land where it wanted it ready.
To go. And it had the right zoning and servicing.
Because. It's what would help create a complete community or
what? Would help to round out the missing pieces. I
think that's definitely something worth looking at. A private landowner,
as I mentioned. Would some cases have the best interest
of the community? But I would argue that there are
other interests and we work our best. We work with,
so. Many private landowners, and some are amazing and. Others.
They can stall developments. If it's not the right dollar.
So trying to say that politely. Any other questions? Ron,
I have a quick one. Not just rural Oxford, but
all over Ontario. Rural towns, their downtowns. Are slowly emptying
out of commercial buildings or commercial businesses. There's lots of
buildings. What do you suggest could be done to attract
businesses to them? I know you mentioned that. There's people
that want to use them, but it may not fit
with what's a suitable use, but any ideas on how
that can be attacked? Because there's a lot of available
buildings in rural Ontario. That would really help to be
developed. Yeah, that is the question of the day. I
think having strong partnerships with your tourism organization, which we
do, having those dialogues, having those discussions. We're looking at
partnering with tourism, maybe doing. The cat out of the
bag on this one. A bit of head of schedule,
but we're. Looking at doing a bit of a roundtable.
In Tabastock bringing together. Business property owners and business people.
And kind of just doing, like, a brainstorming session and
kind of tackling that question. Head on and also showcasing
available spaces in downtown. But. I'd be curious to know
myself. Like, if it got exacerbated through the pandemic because
a lot of people just rolled up shop and just
went and did business. From their house, and so it's
really difficult to pull people back out of their house.
When they've now been operating five years that way. And
I get that other companies are growing. They just go
where the for sale sign is. And the landlords, they
just need top dollar because everybody's costs are rising, so.
It's a really big question. I don't have the full
answer to, but definitely open to having the right conversations
around. It. Thank you, Rhonda. Any other questions? All right.
Thank you very much. As mentioned, the association of Ontario
Road Supervisors. Did give us information in the agenda you
can read. So we have a resolution. To accept the
correspondence for information.
Moved by Councilor Smith, seconded by Councilor Gillespie, that the
delegation from RODC be accepted as information. Is there any
discussion? I'll call the vote.
That is carried. Okay. We have a couple of items
for correspondence, for information. Seven a Oxford residents urge
council to reconsider the PCP participation and b recreation advisory
committee meeting minutes, December 11, 2024. Is there any discussion?
Any questions regarding. Those that correspond. Deputy mayor smith. It
seems to me that a lot of this correspondence on
the first issue has been going through. The County. You
may have a comment. You may not have a comment.
Could you fill us in a little bit, if possible,
or is this an ongoing thing? I don't. Want to
put you on the spot, Ms. Mayor. I just want
to get a clarification. On where this is coming from
and what should we expect? Any sort of tavistock. Thank
you to your mayor Smith. Any other questions, I'll address.
Any other questions regarding these items? So the Partners for
Climate Protection is a program that's funded. By. Federation at
canadian municipalities. Oxford county is not a member of. Each
organization, but it's taken advantage of the free program that
they've offered to help guide the county's emission reductions. Our
participation was started in 2017. It's a ten year program
expiring in 2027. It's got a five step milestone. Program
to reduce greenhouse gas. Now oxford county. We do not
take direction from either of these organizations. And we have
not even reached milestone one that they provided. Let me
give you a little background. On the organization. Kickley. It's
a very passionate organization. That has a local chapter. And
in a nutshell, what they're opposed to is international. Interference
in local climate efforts. And most importantly, spending tax dollars
on programs that, in their opinion, don't make any difference.
Except for raising the tax burden. So I can appreciate
their point and counsels, and it's mostly the county. We
have to balance our climate action with the cost of
those actions. And make sure that. We're getting value for
our money. And that the taxpayer is respected as well.
So that's in a nutshell. What that was about. They're
addressing numerous councils, I believe. And any other questions?
We have an item motion to accept the items as
information. Moved by Deputy mayor Smith, seconded by council rudy
that correspondence for information items seven a and seven b
be received his information. Any discussion. We
call the vote. That is carried.
Our next item. Is eight. Correspondence for action, court of
revision for the Nicholas drain, I believe. Clerk Vader is
going to speak to us regarding that. Thank you. Good
morning, everyone. So Nicholas drain is in the township of
Wilmont, and they will be. Holding a court of revision
on May 27 at 06:00 p.m. At their council chambers.
They are looking for a member of one of our
council members to attend. The court of Revision as the
drain does impact some residents that live in the township.
Vstor tavo stock that are part of the watershed of
that drain. So the drain specifically impacts those living near
Oxford Road. Five in the 19th line, so I'm. Not
sure if someone specifically in that area would like to
attend. It's not mandatory that you are the ward counselor
for that area, but they are looking for one person
from council to. Attend on behalf of council at the
court of Revision. Thank you, Clerk Vader. And I believe.
The date and time. Is may. At Township of Wilmot
Building in Beyden. Can I get a volunteer to represent
the township? At that meeting. I would volunteer,
but I'm away that week. I apologize. Thank you, Councilor
Rudy. Anyone else? Deputy Mayor Smith.
Yes, I could attend that. Thank you very much. So
we have a motion, then? To have deputy mayor Smith
attend on council's behalf. Move by councilor Van Wick,
seconded by councilor Rudy the deputy mayor smith be appointed
on behalf of the township of Eastor tabletock to attend
the court of revision for the Nicholas municipal drain to
be held at 06:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 27, 2025
at the township of Wilmont. Is there any discussion regarding
that? We'll call the vote.
That is carried. To item eight b. Which is a
notice of the AGM for Earth Corporation, May 29, 2025.
CIO depressed. Did you want to address council on that?
This meeting. Is there email. General meeting where they present
the auditors report on their financial statements. As well as
reappoint the members of the board for the following year.
I usually attend as the CEO, treasurer. We do currently
have a representative. But council needs to appoint the voting
member. It is not the board representative. In all cases,
council has the authority to appoint a voting member. Within
its own body. I will be attending the meeting, so.
I'd be glad to vote on behalf of the township.
Is there any other questions or discussion regarding that? We'll
get a motion on the screen for that. Move
by councilor Gillespie. Seconded by councilor Van Wick. That mayor
Schaefer. Be designated as the township of Esore Tavistox representative
for the purposes of voting at the earth corporation annual
general meeting. Any discussion regarding that motion. We'll call the
vote.
That is carried. Okay, we're on to item nine reports.
HRSC 2025 one wage group policy and organizational chart. HR
officer Jennifer Albrecht will be presenting, I believe. Good morning,
Mayor Schaefer. Members of council, I have before you a
couple of reports for your information and approval, the first
one being the wage grid administration policy. Which. You can
see the review on it is the frequency of every
five years. And as I've mentioned in my report. The
last time that we did look at it was in
2020. Actually one year earlier than would have been necessary.
That was due to the decertification of the union, where
at that time council adopted the process of using the
Ontario consumer price index CPI for September, for our increased
percentages for annual wage increases for all of township staff
and. I have done a chart for you to show
you. What the CPI and the township wage increase has
been for the last five years. Going forward. The most
recent information that I have right now is the March
CPI, which was set at 2.3% for the provincial amount.
There isn't one for April yet that won't be released
until probably the middle. Of May or so, keeping in
mind we go by the. September average cpi so. That's
not the only change, but. That. The information that's been
provided over the last five years, about percent increases for
staff. Further. To that. There wasn't really anything. That stopped
when we had reviewed the wage grid administration policy that
we felt needed to be changed. As you can see,
the policy addresses the payband system, the job evaluation process.
Our job description. Performance reviews or annual adjustments. Market check.
Normally, every five years, the entire payband will be compared
to the market to ensure the municipality is paying its
employees fairly in 2022. We did a partial market check.
With an HR consultant for approximately six positions. And. There
were some changes done in 2022. And our HR consultants
did advise that our grid is in very good shape.
They often look at things like that because they don't
want to see a lot of disparity between. The upper.
And lower wages. So everything. Looked very good on that.
So going forward, Would probably be in 2027 that we'd
be looking at going, Out. For market research evaluation if
needed. We talk about promotions in there, demotions, appointments to
acting positions. Contract seasonal and student employees. So this is
a document that I use a lot. With different things,
whether it be job evaluations, performances. Any kind of HR
administrative duties that I need to often reflect back on
this document. Any questions? Deputy mayor Smith.
When you're hiring and you're using the pay band system.
Is it done? After the review. Or are these automatic?
Like when I'm looking at. The probationary base at 85,
and then they go to 88. After a job review
or that? Or are these automatic to an employee? And
are these a yearly thing. So normally what we do
with our recruitment process is. If we get a successful.
Applicant and. They do have relative experience in the field,
we will look at possibly starting them at step one.
Or step two. I don't believe that we've ever started
anybody beyond step two, but the majority. Of our staff
have started at the probationary level, and our probation. Probationary
time frame is six months. After they've completed a successful
probationary period, they'll move to step one. So then, after
the first full year, Then they'll be going to step
two, and then. On to job rate, which is the
final step in their grid. And just to dovetail on
Jennifer's comments. All staff are subject to performance reviews.
The successful performance review allows them to move across the
grid. We have reduced. The frequency to once every two
years now. It's very onerous in departments where there are
significant amount of staff to get them. Done on an
annual basis. However, senior staff and myself obviously are subject
to a performance review every year annually in order to
address wage grid progression. If they remain at job rate,
if they're at the job rate already because they've been
in the job for longer. Than five years. They're still
subject to the same performance review. And still subject to
the other provisions in the discipline policy that we have
as well. If there are issues with work performance and
could be put on a performance improvement plan if necessary.
Thank you, karen. Jennifer. You're finished. Deputy mayor Smith.
The majority of the municipalities in the province using this
type of grid and this type of. Like using the
cpi. To do that? Yes, the majority of municipalities across
the province do use this type of wage grid. And
the majority of them, if they're not unionized, they are
using a CPI a lot of them that I've surveyed.
Within Oxford county and within. What's called the golden horseshoe
triangle, which goes from Windsor, Essex, up to Wellington County.
To Bruce county, that type of thing, down to. Maybe
Hamilton. So the majority of them, if they're not unionized,
then they're. Using a CPI. Any other questions? For staff.
I just have a quick question regarding the CPI, the
wage grid. With the way the world economy is right
now and the uncertainty even then in Canada, we've got
talk of separation from Alberta, things like that. We just
don't know what's. Going to happen. We never do in
the economy. And I'm old enough to remember the early
80s when we had double digit inflation for a few
years. So that can happen, and we just don't know
what's happening. Down the road. I guess my question for
staff is if there was a year where. We had
a really outlier CPI rate. I mean, when I'm talking
double digits. Does council have any latitude then to in
a particular year? To temporarily suspend it or make changes
to it. As the ultimate authority for decision making in
the township, you can always amend your policy. Deputy mayor
smith. That was kind of my thought process as well.
And I don't know if this council has any appetite.
To. Put a cap on it like that. We could
say a certain percentage if we got to there, and
I'm not sure if that's allowable in this policy or
not, or if we could cap this policy. At a
percentage or how could we go about that? To Councilor
Smith's question about that, I did do some proactive surveying
with again. A lot of the municipalities that. Are in
our golden triangle horseshoe, and none of them have a
cap. Which I thought was sort of interesting. But I
did ask them, and we were talking about smaller centers
and larger centers and regionals and lower tier municipalities, and
none of them had account. Thank you, Jennifer. I can
appreciate the question. Based on Co to press answer any
given year. If we had to. If we had an
extraordinary circumstances. We can institute a cap, if you will.
For that year or a percentage of us or whatever.
So I think the doors are open for that type
of thing, but it's tough to say. It's tough to
say what's going to happen in the future. We just
don't know. We had so many years of zero inflation,
basically. And then Covid came. And like I say, back
in the 80s, That was unprecedented as well. So there
is still some flexibility there, but I'd hope we never
have to use it. But I think it's something that
we have to be cognizant of. That we just don't
know what's going to happen. Any other questions for staff
regarding these reports? Not seeing anything. We have a motion
on your screen.
Move by Deputy mayor Smith, seconded by councilor Zayer. That
report, HRSC 2025. One will be received as information and
that council adopt the wage grid administration policy and further
that council adopt the organizational chart. Any discussion comments regarding
that motion? Not seeing any. We'll call the vote.
That is carried. Okay, we're on to item nine b.
Public works bylaw update. Public works manager Tom Lightfoot. Good
morning, everyone. I would just highlight. A few sections in
the report here and then open up for questions. I
apologize for bringing so many lengthy items all at once.
It's been a little bit. Of a busy time, so
we're trying to play catch up on some items. We'll
start out. Maybe it'll be better to address questions by
section if we go through, if council has any at
that time. So start out, we will have our all
of our bylaw the staff is recommending and as part
of that we have seen as the municipality grows and
expectations and wants change within our communities for landscaping within
the municipal right of way. Staff fully understand. Understands where
residents coming from, wanting to beautify the areas within the
right of way at the same time. We fully understand
that. As a municipality, we have to allow utilities to
be within our right of way. So we're struggled with
trying to find the best of both worlds. That works
for the utilities for residents and as well for our
own equipment and daily operations for winter maintenance. And mowing
activities and stuff around the township as well. So we
have brought forward a bylaw for council's review to see
if that is. The direction council would like to go.
I feel that the bylaw. Will make it easier for
residents to find all the information on what we allow
within our right. Of way. Right now, we really have
three documents that guide what you can do in the
right of way, this bylaw sort of puts it all
into one. Makes it, I believe, easier for residents to
follow. And same as always, I always ask and recommend
the resident. Residents. If you have a question, I'd much
rather come out myself. My staff meet with you and
go over what you're thinking of doing beforehand. Much rather
have that conversation enough. To go out afterwards and explain
why something has to change. So in the policy, we
cover off basic rules for where you can put landscaping,
what type of landscape can be. Can be. We've got
areas where staff feel we shouldn't allow. Any landscaping at
all, which is along the curb lines as it affects
winter maintenance for pushing snowback. Whether people for parking getting
out so people have the right to park on the
road and step out of their password side of the
car. They should have at least grasped the step out
on and not into flower beds and stuff like that.
So we have that addressed in there is like 6ft
behind the curb, no landscape, and whatsoever would have to
be a grass area. We did put in as well.
We've seen in the past. Where residents have put flower
beds out in the municipal right of way. Utility companies
come in. They have to rip that out. And we've
seen confrontation that way where people are unhappy and understandably,
if you've spent that money to put something in all
of a sudden now. It's being ripped out. But at
the end of the day, the contract. Contractors are there
to fix the utility. Not to address anything that's above
it that wasn't approved. So in the policy, it would
state that if that was to happen again, Then the
contractor would only have to go back to the municipal
servicing standards and design standards. And that is for grass
to be replaced in that area. That's sort of the
high level, is their review of that. Is there anybody.
Has any specific questions on the bylaw. Any questions? For
tom. Not seeing any. I guess you can proceed. So
the second item on the report is. For season. Half
load season come referred to as half load season. There's
no load restrictions for the reduced load period. We have
our current. Policy and bylaw is we basically mimic the
Highway Traffic Act. March and april. Five ton. Unless you're
exempt by some feed trucks. Milk trucks are exempt. The
feed trucks? At 7500 fuel trucks. 7500 instead of five.
That's the typical, what we're seeing as climate change. And
the real push to try to balance every year. We're
not seeing where it used to be march. It was
pretty safe. You put on your load restrictions April, and
by may you're good. Now we're seeing what the weather
pattern switching you're seeing earlier. Where it should be going
on and. We're in the flip side. Some years we
could take it off early, the way it currently is
in our bylaw is staff doesn't have the authority to
remove it. We can give. Public works manager can give
an exemption. My policy is I don't give an exemptions
and thus to stay consistent in discussions. The OPP. It
makes enforcement confusing. So the way it currently is, council
has the authority. To remove half load. But realistically, it
doesn't really time out if we're going to pull it.
Off at half a week earlier. Two weeks early. I
would have to know well in advance to get a
report to council for you to consider that at that
time. So Oxford county, we've. Met and talked about this.
We've been talking about it for probably two and a
half years at our service sharing group, so all the
managers. Within the townships of county. The group that we
meet with, we've been talking about making this change. Oshree
county was the first to bring it forward. And Osha
County Council did pass to allow to give authority to
the director of public works. To set the timeline for
halfload season, and as part of that, We've decided within
the group that it would be everybody or nobody. So
if Esau Tavistox roads aren't ready. The rest of the
county will not lift its half load or reduce load,
period, simply because we got a lot of traffic that
goes from one end of the county right through and
to stop. Somebody in the middle. Doesn't make sense to
the motoring public or the industry. The trucking industry itself.
So we want to try to stay consistent. So along
with going out and looking at the roads, which we're
constantly doing, the spring we're constantly monitoring our roads. The
Ogre worked with the Ministry of Transportation and. They created
a reduced load period model, computer model. I demoed it
two winners ago in Austria county. Demoed it again this
year, and it's quite the system. You put in. The
highs and lows temperatures for the day, and then. You
start tracking that back when winter starts or January type
thing, and it builds up in the program. The cumulative
thaw index, as they call it. And it will tell
you when your road should be starting to thaw by
your daytime temperatures. When you should put half load on
and then it will also tell you when your road
should be good enough to take off. I was a
little skeptical at the beginning. Two years ago when I
did, I would have agreed within days of when. They
should go on and come off. And Oxford county did
it this year, and I would have to say I'd
agree with what the system said. Again, I don't know
how it works. Obviously there's somebody. A lot smarter than
me with a computer. That has done a very good
job designing this program. And yeah, it's been tested and
it seems to work. So the idea would be with
still doing visual inspections. Using this system. That the county
has signed up for because there is a cost to
the system. County signed up for that and then visual
and meeting with their other partners. That would be the
time when staff would if council delegates authority. I guess
myself at this point. We would look at changing those
dates if required. If the weather is the way it
is, we stay with the normal days and it would
be March April. But if there is a chance to
list it early. That's better for our community, better for
the trucking industry, and supplying construction and everything, if possible.
There would be some financial implications to that. Obviously, our
signs are all date tab signs for our load restriction
signs, so we would have to replace those. Working with
some suppliers in Oshford county to come up with. A
little bit of a sign. It's a flip sign. It
would say. Five ton, in effect, and then the bottom,
that sign would flip up and. It would say, not
in effect. So it has the truck sign, it would
say, in effect, and the weight limit or it flips
up, covers that and says, not in effect. So. There
would be to ballpark number is right around that $9,000
to change all the signs. If that something council is
interested in proceeding this way, we could add that to
the 2026 budget. For consideration as well at that time.
Was there any questions on that portion of the report?
Councilor Rudy, just as a comment, I think as the
seasons are changing, hanky, right? Locals will see that either.
They won't. Probably won't see that should go on. Earlier,
but they'll see. Why are we still running half load
roads in late April when it's not there. So we
lose some credibility because we're restricting what we can. Do.
It's not a common sense decision. And this would allow
you to make that more. Informed, but optically a more
common. Sense decision for the public to see, so I
think it's a good idea. Councilor is there, Tom, I'm
just curious if being on the northern end, if we.
See that period longer than what some of the municipalities
in the south would see. Yeah, typically. We're the last
of the ones for the roads to firm up, typically
in the south. They do tighten up a little faster.
On the average year. And just to follow up, In
your conversation as that working group with Oxford county. They
were all good with working with that. Like working with
ours being later as well. That's part of it. Yeah,
we have a really productive and a good group, and
everybody's fully on board with it. Others. Will be taking.
I think Zora already headed in their policy to allow
their manager, Ashri. Han is. I believe the southern ones
will be soon taking reports as well to their councils
for the same. Deputy mayor Smith. You were this magic
program that the county is using and that you've tried
out if we go forward with this? Will we be
bearing any of the cost of that back to the
county so that. We can if we're using their program
or that kind of thing. At this time, no. Oxford
county. In their. Report referred to, they will be using
it, so they will be buying that as part of
our server sharing group. They are willing to offer their
opinion on our roads as well, so they will share
that with us. Any other questions regarding. The road limits.
Okay. You can carry on, Tom. All right, so the
final part on the report. Is for the Queen's pavilion,
roof or portion of the Queen's pavilion during the heavy
snowfall this year. We had the snow slide off the
roof and take off the ice guards. Ice dams. Off
the east side of the building. That has left us
with 56 holes in the roof. We had contractors look
at possibly patching it. 56 patches. There's no guarantee the
way the tin is ripped. The recommendation and stuff agrees
with them is the best is to replace that. Tin.
So I guess I'm asking again. It seems to be
what I do is ask for. More money. Yeah. The
quote came in at $25,935 plus. Hst. To retin that
side of the east side of the pavilion, and then
that will put new ice guards up on it. A
little more sturdy type of ice guard on it. So.
I should solve that. We did. Staff met and talked
to Karen about going through emergency procurement for it because
we are getting water leaking into the building. We should
be getting that sealed up sooner than later so we
don't really want to hold anything up by getting it
done. So really looking for council's endorsement to take the
money out of my computer went to sleep. Out of
the facilities reserve. To fund that project and get that
repair ongoing. Karen, I just want to clarify the reason
why we're referring to it as an emergency. Procurement is
because that's one of the requirements under our procurement policy
to be able to single source to only get one
quote so that we could get it done immediately. I
just have a quick question. Can he get at it
rather quickly then as well? Okay. Councilor Rudy. Did we
deem that the previous ice guard was either inadequate or
old or wore out because if we do this again
and we get a heavy snowfall again next year, and
it rips. The ice guard. I understand. We're in a
more firm, stronger ice guard, but. Was there something about
the last ice guard that we would not have done
a second time and that's why you're confident that. Yeah,
the existing ice guard that's on the building. I haven't
been up to look at, so I'll take the contractors
word for it. I've seen it on the ground and
the size of screws they put in when the existing
one was put on. It was just the bent. V
ten, but it was only screwed into the tin. It
never went down into the plywood. For structure, so there
wasn't the strength to it. So when that big sheet
came, It just took the short screws out and ripped
the tin on its way. So this next one would
be installed. Deputy mayor smith. Have we checked our other
facilities? I know you and I had discussions in the
past. And this will be for another time. But you
and I have had discussions in the past about. The
Hickson Pavilion. We have some roof leaks over there. I
don't think they've. Got worse over time. And we don't
even know who's responsible with it. With the solar panels
up. There who should be responsible for those repairs. But
maybe, honestly, that's something that staff could look into for
us. And see, those leaks can get bad during times.
But my point is, have we looked at the ice
guards on our other pavilions and stuff? I've done a
visual over at the ICC. It looks like a more
solid ice guard. On that building. It definitely does. Hold
stuff back. The new municipal office is very solid on
the ice guards on that one. We will have to.
Look at the rest of the roof. On the pavilion.
Because likely it is done with the same thing now.
There's smaller sections. So I don't see as big of
a risk of that happening. The same weight load. Coming
down the east side of the pavilion. The queen's pavilion
definitely was a bigger section. And had more opportunity for
that to happen, but we will be getting them to
look at that. One when it's up there. As far
as the pavilion over here. That one will take some
more investigation. I had. John and I had talked about
it before, and. We think it's the tin under the
solar panels. It's the only way to. Really get to
that is to remove the panels. So. That's a bigger
look to see what we can do, because. We think
it's coming by the screw heads going into the plot,
into the strapping. Because that's where the two x fours
get wet first. We think it's actually the screw heads,
not the holes from the panels, so. That could be
a bigger project with those panels there. Any other questions
for Tom? I believe that's the extent of your report.
Okay. Thank you. We have a motion on your screen
to accept the report and to authorize. The work. Move
by Councilor Smith. Seconded by councilor Zair. That report, pW
2025. One be received his information for council and that
council consider bylaw 2020 515 pertaining to boulevards owned by
the township of Eastworld have a stock. And further, that
council authorized a public works manager to determine the start
and end dates of the seasonal load restrictions, resulting in
a future amendment to bylaw 20 24 32 recogn. Recognizing
this change and further, that council authorized staff to single
source the queens Park Pavilion emergency roof repair and the
amount of $25,935 plus HST, as quoted by John Witzel
contracting limited, funded to the township facilities reserve. Is there
any discussion, comments regarding that motion? Not seeing any. We'll
call the vote. That is carried.
Item ten bylaws. So, with reference to the boulevard bylaw,
we have a first and. Second reading. We'll need a
mover and seconder for that. That will be on. Your
screen momentarily. Moved by councilor Zair, seconded by councilor Gillespie,
that bylaw 2020 515 be read a first and second
time. Is there any discussion? We'll call the vote.
That is carried. And third and final reading mover and
second are required. Moved by deputy mayor Smith, seconded by
councilor Van Wick. That bylaw 2020 515 be read a
third and final time. Is there any discussion? Comments? Call
the vote.
That is carried. Okay. Item eleven. There's no notice of
motions and new business, I believe. Unfinished business. Secondary plan
conferences and seminars. Anything to update there? Councilor Rudy. Last
week had the pleasure of attending the OsAm conference in
Collingwood. Ontario small urban municipalities. It was interesting convention. Not
very large. A couple of hundred people, maybe, or two
and a quarter. So you don't get lost in like
you do at Osum or aroma presentations were good. Some
were of interest or pertinent to our community. Econom. Economic
guy from. Oxford Economics said we should expect a recession
to start in the second quarter. Should last about a
year. Expect a couple hundred thousand jobs lost in the
province and unemployment up to 8%. And expected inflation to
be 3% by year end. Is his estimate. Interest rates
should hold steady for the year. So that was kind
of the three comments from him. Other presentations on homelessness.
We can expect that. Right now, there's 80,000 homeless people
in Ontario. And that number is expected to be 300,000
in ten years. So how are we as a province
or government or municipality to deal with that? That'll be
issue. Was another presentation. From. Amo. Quite a lengthy discussion
or comments on strong mayors. That was a pretty big
topic. A number of municipalities in Ontario have rescinded that
either set a letter to the province and said, we're
not interested. Another one. The mayor turned that authority over
to the CAO to take it away from his ability.
I don't think they believe that sending it back would
do anything that was still there. But it was more
of a message they didn't feel there would be. I
know we talk about a negative impact by doing that.
There's another group on affordable housing, specifically in Collingwood. Quite
a lot of work has gone into how they've, that's
been in the last five years. Since sort of the
Covid time. What they do, and they've made progress. On
building and moving forward. The affordable housing I'm not sure
it's specific to esore tavistock. But it was to Collingwood.
They found that when they brought in. Interwest moved in
in 2000 or 19. I bought the ski hill. They
did a large conversion. There and there was. An INK
3000 extra employees or 5000 employees. They did. A very
good study. On the wages of employees that work in
our community. And then what was the cost? For affordable
rental or housing, and they didn't match. There was not
enough money to be able to live there. So that
was the first impetus that we've got to either figure
out how to provide a home for nurses. Or people
that worked in the community. They needed to provide the
service, but they could never afford. To live in the
community. So that was kind of the impetus. They did
go on. To another presentation on we talked this morning
a little bit about a bia in Collingwood and what
it's done to change. The efforts and work, and I
think it's been going on for 20 some years. I
thought that's what we have. But I think we have
a chamber of commerce in Tavistock. They said a BA
is not a chamber of commerce is much different. It's
more of a business improvement. It's kind of like another
council. They take tax dollars from the businesses and use
that for community improvement. They work with the municipality. And
what they suggest or think it should be. Again, I'm
not sure. It's applicable. To our communities, but it was
interesting to hear how it worked. And perhaps there's parts
of it that would make sense for things we want
to do. Probably the most interesting that probably would be
applicable to us was Dan Mathison was the previous mayor
in Stratford, and he was around when the cyberattack at
Stratford in 2019. He had a pretty interesting presentation on
what municipality should be doing or thinking about. He said
it's not a matter of if you're attacked, it's only
a matter of when. Things I remember. It was. If
you think it's going to cost you six figures, it's
going to cost you seven figures. And things you should
think about doing to prepare for it. So, pretty good
presentation. Or a detailed checklist. Do you think he was
put up for things that municipal should think? About doing
to prepare for it, and there was pretty good comments
from people that had done that. Assignment. We think we
have an IT group. In county administered. And if you
ask them, are you ready? They're going to say yes.
Until you go and actually test yourself. Come in one
morning and there's no computers and you don't have a
mayor. Anymore. What do you do? What's the process? Really
good. I think that was most of the issues. There
was other politicians spoke in game, but it was enlightening.
All the presentations were made available. After the fact, and
I. 've got them if we wanted to make them
available. Anyone wants to look through the PowerPoints. Or the
presentations on details that I've missed. But thank you. Thank
you, Councilor Rudy, for representing us at that conference. Any
other comments? We have no closed session today. And confirming
an adjournment bylaw. Be on your screen momentarily.
Move by Councilor van Wick, seconded by council rudy the
bylaw 2020 516. Being a biologic. Confirm the proceedings of
council held May 7, 2025 be read a first second
and third time. This 7th day of May, 2025, and
that the mayor and clerk are hereby authorized to sign
the same and affix the corporate seal there too. And
further, that the meeting does now adjourn at 10:42 a.m.
Is there any discussion? Call a vote.
That is carried. We are now adjourned.