[0:05] okay it is 6:30 and we will begin this meeting of committee the whole followed

[0:10] by our council meeting immediately after as far as adopting the agenda we

[0:16] have a motion from councelor Maybe seconded by councelor or Deputy Mayor

[0:19] fod that the agenda be adopted as circulated any uh additions or deletions

[0:23] to that seeing none I'll call the question all those in

[0:27] favor those post and it's carried

[0:32] next item is Declaration of Peary interest in the general nature thereof

[0:35] is anybody uh declaring an interest go ahead please um if if if we're and I'm

[0:41] sort of confused in the two meetings the uh Road Grant

[0:46] um is on the docket is it not the road Grant the Road

[0:51] Grants that's for counc is it Council okay so I do it on the next round okay

[0:56] because I'm a our association is is wi yeah okay

[1:02] so okay um so we'll get to that when we get to that any other pecuniary interest

[1:09] for General nature thereof seeing none we'll move on to number four which is an

[1:13] in camera session there is no in camera session this evening we'll move right

[1:16] into delegations and this evening we have Jennifer burill from the Gano way

[1:21] and Thousand Islands uh visitors center and we're happy to have her here to give

[1:25] us the 2023 report

[1:36] good

[1:58] evening

[2:03] good evening your worship Council and staff thank you for having me here and I

[2:09] am excited to present my 2023 uh Visitor Center end of season

[2:13] report it's going to go pretty quickly I'm not going to read this to you I'm

[2:17] just going to highlight a few key uh points on each page so

[2:24] yeah if you could go to the next page or thank you so um we had a great team

[2:30] this summer uh collectively we had over 13 years of experience between the

[2:35] Summer Staff if you add me that's over 20 we were grateful to receive two

[2:40] Canada summer jobs grants uh from the federal government next page

[2:48] please so I think everybody knows what we do at the visitors center but I

[2:52] wanted to narrow it down to two key points uh customer service and business

[2:57] support and we did a lot of that that this year or last

[3:03] year over 34,500

[3:08] times thank you we saw our biggest growth since

[3:13] 2019 in the months of May and September which means our shoulder season is

[3:19] growing super exciting and then p and Canadians were

[3:25] our largest visitor market with the US coming in second

[3:33] the majority of our Canadian Travelers reside within 100 to 400 kilometer

[3:37] radius we still draw a large Market from Quebec but we noticed this year that

[3:44] during the Quebec construction holiday we didn't see as many as we normally do

[3:48] and we uh figure this is because uh the government has allowed the businesses

[3:53] that normally shut down to operate um to make up for lost revenues during the

[3:58] pandemic

[4:05] so each year The Visitors Center conducts surveys to gather important

[4:08] statistics such as 64% of our visitors stayed overnight

[4:14] for one night or

[4:21] more and the number one activity enjoyed was the boat cruises followed by the

[4:27] scenic drive along the Thousand M Parkway going to the theater hiking and

[4:35] shopping the average age of The Visitor Center Guest was 60 and this is valuable

[4:41] knowledge for us because we know how to communicate and connect with them in a

[4:45] way they are most comfortable with like in person or through email or on the

[4:50] phone

[4:56] online all right so how did we do

[5:03] well in 2022 The Visitor Center saw a 17% increased in in revenues but in 2023

[5:11] that jumped to 88% and our number

[5:17] one Revenue generators were our commission sales we partnered with the

[5:23] Thousand helicopters and the city cruises boat line to sell tickets for

[5:29] them this there um we also receive uh commissions from Rockport boat line for

[5:34] every coupon they receive from the visitor center in their office we also

[5:38] increased our inventory of merchandise that we sell and we also sold more rack

[5:43] card display and uh add Partnerships in The Visitor Center

[5:49] office so let's look at our social media we saw increases as staff created uh

[5:55] lots of reals of authentic Thousand Islands experiences resulting in over

[5:59] over 46,000 views and we gained more followers organically by sharing and

[6:05] posting events on social media and on our

[6:11] website can it's actually the next

[6:16] page so speaking of our website we're happy to share our analytics sworded

[6:22] quadrupling last year's metrics

[6:27] next what's next we're working on the 2024 thousand all Visitor Guide in

[6:33] partnership with the Ganan nway Thousand Island Chamber of Commerce and the uh

[6:39] Thousand Islands accommodations Partners we want to continue to grow our

[6:43] Partnerships and we look for opportunities to work with new partners

[6:47] and Regional businesses and organizations of course we also want to

[6:51] increase our sales and revenue and we also want to get more people coming to

[6:56] the Thousand Island and more people in our office

[7:05] so I've added a couple of testimonials here for you I won't read them out but

[7:09] um these are just two I grabbed one off of uh our Google review and one from our

[7:14] visitor guest book um I encourage you if you're in ganana to come into the

[7:18] visitor center and look at our guest book it's absolutely incredible to see

[7:22] where all the people are coming from and uh lastly thank you uh we want

[7:28] to thank uh the township of Le and thousand ens for always partnering with

[7:31] us um we um value you so much and we value the businesses in the Thousand

[7:38] Island and gon aqu we also thank the government for the government grants uh

[7:42] for Canada summer jobs and uh that's it do we does anybody have any

[7:50] questions any questions from Council in regards to the information received here

[7:54] this evening from the delegation please go

[7:56] ahead thank you we're shipping through you uh just one question one comment I

[8:01] was looking at your web page um hits on there and extremely well what um what do

[8:07] you think attributed to most of the traffic on there do you think just being

[8:11] able to to travel again or is there something specific that you're you're

[8:16] targeting or doing differently so we didn't actually put any money be behind

[8:21] uh getting hits on the website this is all organic so it's it's definitely like

[8:26] the phone calls that we're getting we're directing people to the website we're

[8:30] posting a lot on social media directing people to the website um we send out

[8:34] visitor packages all over the world um I believe that's that's it yeah and my

[8:41] comment uh is you're obviously doing a a great job I had had a long lost

[8:45] acquaintance for many many years who uh resurfaced based on your website

[8:50] actually reached out to me from uh Texas and uh said that they had wanted to get

[8:56] back in this area and they were doing some searching and uh came across your

[9:00] uh your website and ended up um getting a hold of me but yeah so obviously

[9:05] you're reaching out there great job thank you councelor L please go ahead

[9:10] councelor maybe thank you Madame mayor through you um Jen I'm in The Visitor

[9:16] Center quite often myself for different events nice cooling spa station for me

[9:22] when I'm wearing my wool jacket but I also am able to see all the

[9:28] staff and how courteous and polite they are to

[9:32] all the guests that come through the door and once in a while I'll even chime

[9:36] in just because you know there's a question that I feel that I can help

[9:40] answer but they are doing a great job and I know that whenever I talk to

[9:46] different people I ask them to look at the website check at The Visitor Center

[9:51] because it not only has Ganon OPI but it has lead and Thousand Islands there and

[9:56] with the um with the cardboard that you have or the

[9:59] the display of all the information of all the different businesses and stuff

[10:03] in the area that has grown I think in the last couple years from what I had

[10:07] seen you know maybe four years ago or certainly prepandemic I think so and I

[10:13] see a lot of people that are there when they come in they're going to those

[10:17] boards and pulling the information so that they know where to go and and who

[10:22] to see and how well it works but and uh working with you on a few different

[10:27] projects also I thank you for all the efforts that you put forward in the

[10:32] community not only for the town crier but all the events that are happening

[10:37] there in the town and Township thank you thank you go ahead Deputy Mayor fod

[10:45] thank you worship through you uh Jennifer as counselor maybe alluded to

[10:50] uh one thing I noticed and that's hot soft any organization company any place

[10:55] of employment when you get your youth as these are coming back year after year it

[10:59] says a lot about your workplace and uh your numbers are

[11:03] phenomenal as you already know um I just thought to myself at home this past

[11:08] weekend going through this did you leave any wiggle room to increase this year

[11:12] but um my personal thoughts I'd like to hear your on this your interaction

[11:18] personally with people do you feel that carries a big sway because you hear the

[11:22] negativity on businesses have gone to automated checkouts so there's no

[11:26] personal contact what's your feeling on your personal contact thank you

[11:31] counselor fod um so one of the things I actually have argued for the last four

[11:36] years was to bring back The Visitor Guide because people still come in my

[11:41] office people still want something tangible they want something authentic

[11:45] so the the Chamber of Commerce used to do The Visitor Guide they did a digital

[11:49] version it didn't work out so good so um being the first person that people come

[11:54] in and talk to that's the first thing they asked me for um so that they can

[11:59] leave and look at it at their own Leisure but um I think the authentic

[12:04] personal recommendations is especially for that 60 plus um Target group you

[12:11] can't beat it uh younger people yes I think are on their social media on their

[12:17] their phones and looking up stuff and maybe are a little bit more reluctant to

[12:21] talk to people they want to order everything and have it delivered um but

[12:25] no um the people that are coming especially to a small Community like

[12:29] ours they want that Hands-On that personal recommendation the you know

[12:37] hidden gems the the what should I do while I'm here kind of I have an hour I

[12:42] have three hours I have a day or two and ironically I had two phone calls

[12:48] today looking for boat cruises nice thank you any other

[12:55] questions for Jennifer I just have uh a couple of

[12:59] comments to make um I believe that maybe and correct me if I'm wrong part of the

[13:06] success of your website is also linked to The Wanderer project because some of

[13:11] a lot of the tags that are there are also going back to the website is that

[13:16] correct yes okay so so I wanted to underscore that partnership because

[13:22] that's a partnership between the township and the town and is quarterback

[13:27] through staff here and the town um making sure that we're showcasing a

[13:31] number of the businesses which then directly feeds into the tourism aspect

[13:36] obviously um which then lifts us all up so I just wanted to um reiterate

[13:43] something that was said by the minister of Agriculture uh food and Rural Affairs

[13:48] they showcased our project um and highlighted it in a speech at Roma

[13:54] because the amount that I believe their grant funding was4 $5,000 and the other

[14:00] $45,000 that was needed to complete that project was split between Ganon aqu and

[14:05] us so really relatively a small investment on behalf of either of our

[14:11] municipalities but a huge impact and that's what the minister was very

[14:15] excited about so I know that you're help you're helping in that directing to

[14:21] different businesses and making sure that they showcase as well and the other

[14:24] thing that I always like to um underline to the public is you make great efforts

[14:30] to not only promote the businesses within the town of Ganon aqu but also

[14:34] the municipality equally um so I'm I'm really great um I'm really happy to hear

[14:41] that um the Partnerships with both the boat line and the helicopter tours is

[14:45] adding to your Revenue sources which then you can fold back

[14:49] into further reach um and helping even more of our businesses many of whom are

[14:55] reliant on that social that that so short season um that we um rely on every

[15:02] year but it is nice to see the shoulder Seasons growing um so thank you for all

[15:07] of that um and there was something else which has escaped me but nonetheless the

[15:12] the presentation speaks for itself and let's hope that we can bust those

[15:17] numbers again and uh have even more people to come to our area any other

[15:22] last comments before please go ahead Council girl excuse me just a quick

[15:27] question uh the uh booklet that was produced

[15:32] formerly produced by Chamber of Commerce was that put in every hotel room do you

[15:37] know thank you so I think the that if you're looking to revive that project I

[15:43] think that will be a well um welcome uh piece of information because

[15:50] regardless of people going on their phones it is nice to have something to

[15:54] Leaf through and actually see but um I know what the other point I was going to

[15:58] make so I had the opportunity to travel to two separate countries in the late

[16:02] fall in 2023 and went into visitor centers at both of those uh both of

[16:08] those countries and we took the recommendations from the people working

[16:13] in the visitor center so what you do and that personal piece and I can use a

[16:18] phone just as easily as any gen Z person so there um but uh it is nice to have

[16:26] that you know no spend your time over here because if you've got this window

[16:30] this is where you can get the most bang for your buck and it's great to invest

[16:34] in this Hop On Hop Off tour or if you're interested in going to this area this is

[16:39] what I would recommend it really does mean a lot and it it's good for the

[16:43] businesses but it's also good for the traveler who may not know how to best

[16:47] spend their time any other comments or questions if

[16:52] not I thank you again uh Jennifer on behalf of council and on behalf of the

[16:55] municipality for a great job and we look forward to seeing uh progress in 2024

[17:01] thank you good okay so the next item on our agenda

[17:06] is Staff report 6.1 Administration report sr- 9-24 St Lawrence Cruise

[17:12] Alliance request for overnight stays at IV Le Warf move by councelor Maybe

[17:16] seconded by Deputy Mayor fod that the committee of the whole recommends that

[17:19] Council approve a limited number of overnight stays at the ivy Warf by St

[17:24] Lawrence Cruise Lines Inc and that the council approve approval is subject to

[17:28] the St Lawrence Cruise Lines Inc entering into an agreement regarding the

[17:31] overnight stays in a form to be negotiated with the township staff

[17:36] discussion on the motion go ahead councelor maybe thank

[17:40] you Madame mayor uh I guess my only question is uh they indicated that there

[17:46] won't be tours going out of there uh but will there be supplies being brought in

[17:51] uh to resupply the boat I don't know whether that's happened in the past or

[17:56] not the CIO will answer that question uh thank you worshiping through you um they

[18:02] I I met with the president uh Mr Clark um via telephone actually I had a call

[18:09] with him and uh and he was clear that um there wasn't going to be a whole lot of

[18:15] activity there wasn't going to be a whole lot of traffic coming in I think

[18:19] uh he didn't uh expressely say anything about it but um John chamak who was the

[18:25] gentleman that came here for the delegation uh director holiday and I did

[18:29] a site visit with him down on the warf and he mentioned at most they might have

[18:34] a vehicle come in to do a little bit of resupplying they wanted to um provide a

[18:41] little bit of a break or or a little variance in their routine for docking at

[18:46] Ivy Lee so I guess on the way up they they'll overnight again um and then they

[18:51] proceed on up or down the river to I think as far as Montreal and when

[18:56] they're coming back rather than stop in Gan again where everything has been done

[19:01] um they thought it it would be a nice break to stop at IV Lee um Mr Clark was

[19:08] very uh clear if the weather conditions were not favorable or if the river

[19:12] wasn't nice uh for them to dock they would just continue on they wouldn't

[19:17] dock it at if they had any concerns about moing at Ivy Le so they were very

[19:23] the they were very open um and uh made it quite uh quite a point to me that

[19:31] they did not want this to be a disruption in IV they didn't want it to

[19:34] be a problem for the residents they they wanted to be good neighbors and uh they

[19:39] understand that it's a privilege to be there so um we're going to see how this

[19:43] goes for the first year if Council approves it and uh make sure that

[19:47] everybody's happy okay thank you any further any further comments or

[19:52] questions please go ahead Council gr uh thank you and through you your worship

[19:57] uh it's a wonderful idea that they would want to stop an IV Lee but my comment

[20:02] really comes to um the third paragraph in the analysis uh staff confirmed

[20:09] concerning insurances and it brought to my mind

[20:13] that it says here um the our insurer U would like a uh really indemnity clause

[20:23] and hold harmless and so on and so on so as I'm thinking about that I realized

[20:28] last year a uh cabota or something went off that dog from a

[20:34] contractor and I wonder suddenly if we went to our insurer and said hey we're

[20:40] we have a public dot brand spank and noon it's lovely and we intend it to be

[20:45] used both by the public and Commercial purposes um what would our insurers say

[20:52] regarding commercial usage of our dog and do we need Indemnity and do we need

[20:58] uh Clauses that hold harmless so to your point um the motion

[21:05] that's on the floor is specific to St lawence Cruise Line did you bring up a

[21:08] point that can probably easily be an information report in regards to how um

[21:14] the the warf will be used at a later date and you can talk about specifically

[21:19] uh the specifics of how contractors I know that there was plans on how that

[21:24] was going to be used in the future I don't want to derail the motion um but

[21:29] coun or director holiday is that something that can be provided to

[21:33] council as far as um Assurance of how this will roll out for the war fuse in

[21:39] other ways other than this yes absolutely um we we are putting

[21:44] mechanisms in place to ensure that uh you know the damage that was done in the

[21:48] past will won't repeat itself and that agreements will be put in place to uh to

[21:53] ensure that you know it's it's being used as as intended

[21:59] add through you your worship and could we get a report so that we could have a

[22:04] discussion on that rather than me make a motion yes absolutely

[22:10] thanks okay so any other comments or questions about the motion that's at

[22:15] hand okay I'll call the question all those in favor all those opposed and

[22:20] it's carried thank you very much we look forward to welcoming St Lawrence Cruise

[22:25] Lions um and all of their passengers into our beautiful community and

[22:31] hopefully they enjoy Ivy le as much as we

[22:34] do so the next item on the agenda is unfinished business is there any

[22:38] unfinished business I see none uh other

[22:44] business go ahead were there any uh reports coming

[22:49] from Roma that were of interest to us here at Council um I will turn to our

[22:55] counselors uh if there's anything that you feel that you would like to report

[23:00] back from Roma go ahead Deputy Mayor FY thank you worship through you to

[23:05] councelor gr um as usual we split up to take in as many sub meetings as were

[23:11] available to do so they had some good meetings there I personally attended a

[23:15] meeting on drainage Municipal drainage to be exact uh chadam Kent uh to the

[23:22] astonishment of about 80 people in the room have 4,100 Municipal drains in

[23:27] their jurisdiction that number was questioned by a member

[23:30] of the audience later whether that number was accurate or not and it is

[23:34] they are putting a uh lawsuit out to the railways in general not one specific CN

[23:40] or because the railways all pass through their jurisdiction because the ports the

[23:45] border crossings excuse me uh the lawyer was representing chadam

[23:51] Kent has uh put out an open door policy to any uh body in Ontario wanting to

[23:57] piggy by on the lawsuit uh for whatever reason against the the uh Railways it

[24:03] was made clear excuse me there's another lawyer there taking care of the class

[24:07] action lawsuit portion and uh they suggested that come through uh Amo uh

[24:15] who had originally hooked in with this uh but not necessarily you could reach

[24:19] out directly to them and they're looking for as many to piggyback on this lawsuit

[24:24] as possible and there's a lot of things came to light in that meeting from

[24:28] various jurisdictions all around Ontario uh things such as simple as as

[24:33] well north of Thunder Bay Ontario a municipality that regularly went in and

[24:37] moved beaver dams out of covers that went under Railways that nearly flooded

[24:42] uh area roads all they had to do was provide jurisdiction now they've been

[24:46] told they can't touch it and of course that brought out the question well you

[24:50] do it for us then no we're not doing it's not our problem so there's a

[24:54] multitude of issues creating themselves by uh large organizations we'll call it

[25:01] and it isn't just the railways apparently uh telephone companies are in

[25:06] on this utility companies pipelines so they're hoping this lawsuit will set a

[25:12] precedence uh and they're really sure they're going to win it and they were

[25:17] adamant about mentioning that a handful of times and then late in the meeting it

[25:21] was made clear that the gentleman the lawyer uh putting forward the class

[25:25] action lawsuit was a lifetime or a long time I should say lawyer for

[25:31] CN so that was kind of a good punchline to hand everybody there was a number of

[25:37] municipalities I asked part of that in a question I asked uh I said I'm curious

[25:42] with the number of turnout in this room how many people have issues with just

[25:45] the railways in particular and there was likely 40 hands went

[25:49] up and they're encouraging anybody jump on board no matter how small or large

[25:54] your issue may be to show the government government that uh there are issues here

[26:00] that have been longstanding understood on a handshake or just a verbal conf

[26:04] consultation over a phone which is now all going by the wayside and creating

[26:09] some sometimes serious issues uh we attended Brian G maybe did

[26:15] you want to throw in a meeting you attended go ahead I'll let you take it

[26:20] there uh thank you and through you Madame mayor one of the ones I went to

[26:24] was you know ret retention of staff and it was very interesting how they swung

[26:30] that around to inclusion of all types of people and how that has played out over

[26:37] the years so it was a a very um intense because there was about four or five

[26:43] different people panelists that brought different aspects of it uh to light so

[26:48] it was very enlightening and um very well done and then uh I'm trying to

[26:56] think of the the comp's name that was there but it's escaped me right at the

[27:00] moment then something else that um Deputy Mayor fod and I attended on the

[27:06] last um day was a panelist on homelessness and how that interacted and

[27:13] what different communities are doing around uh the province of Ontario and in

[27:18] doing that at least two of them are doing something similar to the homeless

[27:22] veterans Village in Kingston that which now is open uh accepting their first

[27:29] residents there will be an official opening in the summer for that I've

[27:35] already seen the premises they're very nice and it's a similar program where

[27:39] there's a social aspect where the people can get help and with the panelists they

[27:46] talked about a certain demographic um coming into a certain Village and

[27:52] getting the help which I believe is the better way of going because there's a

[27:56] Target in how to handle and help that person become um less or not homeless so

[28:04] it was a very good response uh we also met many many people uh with the help of

[28:11] the mayor we've seen a lot of people around County and uh seen a lot of the

[28:16] Mayors and counselors who are around and as they even said they had a bumper

[28:22] registration of around 181 1900 where opposed it was 800 to 900 previous year

[28:29] um we got to see all the delegations kind of moving in around and to that

[28:34] point uh our mayor was part of the delegation for the county and uh as I

[28:41] said that day I thank her very much for the diligent work that she's doing with

[28:46] County on behalf of not only the county but our Township so thank you again for

[28:52] all your diligent work thank you so if I'll add to that um they had a

[28:58] a number of great General speakers but the breakouts are really where you learn

[29:03] the most and you connect with other Municipal counselors I might also

[29:07] underscore that many municipalities even in the united counties of leing rville

[29:12] send their entire Council um North Grenville Sor entire Council Augusta was

[29:18] uh the entire Council sou D us it's it's quite interesting but they they use it

[29:25] as much as a learning opportunity but also so a team building opportunity

[29:28] which poses some challenges I'm sure for the clerk although the most of the time

[29:33] the clerks are a CAO is with them as well um so a lot of the times um I'm

[29:38] pulled away to delegations we had six delegations with the county um which I

[29:44] could name most of them but probably not all of them right now uh the two that I

[29:49] led were um with MTO uh speaking about the St Lawrence Parkway um or the

[29:56] thousand Parkway St Lawrence Parks Commission and the challenges

[30:00] surrounding the ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the Thousand Parkway um

[30:06] because it has seemingly been indicated that maybe the county should take that

[30:10] over or they were trying to download it potentially even on us I know that we've

[30:15] been asked um but there's there's a lot more to that um also using it as an

[30:21] emergency detour route rather than not um so we had some good conversation

[30:28] uh with MTO who are the people that are maintaining that roadway um but you know

[30:33] there needs to be some collaboration with MTO um because of the signage

[30:38] sometimes the lack thereof and we have transports going through there um and

[30:43] also talking about um funding for the county uh for the Emergency detour route

[30:50] because Highway 2 is being pummeled and um because of how many times we're

[30:54] seeing detours off so that was the one delegation that I led as well as

[31:00] um well what's skying me right now um oh long vac so one of the uh things that

[31:08] has worked very well in the county of renre is vac and I'm not sure exactly

[31:14] what it stands for virtual triage anyways um it basically is a is a

[31:19] healthcare um offshoot so instead of having Community paramedicine maintain

[31:25] uh some of our older population or any age of the population um people who have

[31:31] don't have primary care doctors can use this vac system and it came online

[31:35] during covid out of necessity uh the paramedics were running the uh

[31:40] vaccination clinics um and we asked the long-term care uh associate Minister for

[31:46] long-term care to consider it at U Maple View Lodge because we're going to have

[31:51] that extra space um and if we can manage to keep even our long-term care

[31:58] residents out of the hospitals if there's ways that because they can

[32:01] prescribe drugs it's much like the virtual clinics and the nurse

[32:05] practitioners increasing and pharmacists being able to um to give prescriptions

[32:11] for certain things um it really does cut down on the number of visits required uh

[32:17] at Primary Care um providers and if it worked so well in renr um the paramedic

[32:25] Chief up there he's The Mastermind got a chance to meet him and he's fantastic he

[32:30] was also on a panel talking about Community paramedicine both in Rural

[32:35] onario and uh the north um rural Ontario is really getting the

[32:41] short end of the stick we know this when it comes to healthcare um we're being

[32:46] expected to fund it um whether it be the the hospital pushes that we are required

[32:52] the 10% that they're required to fund raise in the communities were being

[32:56] asked there we're also being asked to help recruit Physicians um we're also

[33:01] like it's falling on municipalities and and the president of roma roma who is

[33:08] the illustrious mayor from Westport uh currently Robin Jones um her main uh

[33:14] Speech to the delegation uh all the delegates was basically that the

[33:19] province needs to do better and not expect small rural municipalities to

[33:23] prop up Healthcare um and have to try to come up with these Solutions that it

[33:27] we're happy to give suggestions but they're going to have to step up so um

[33:31] lots of talk about lots to talk about in healthcare um the other thing uh during

[33:37] The Bear Pit I was able to ask a question uh so those of you listening

[33:41] who don't know what the be pit is is all the ministers who were attending the

[33:45] conference line up at the front of the room in front of 1900 people and are

[33:50] asked put on the spot and there's lots of great questions that come forward my

[33:54] question was in regards to OSF funding so uh Ontario community infrastructure

[33:59] program our municipality as well as a number of other local municipalities

[34:04] that's locally and throughout the province saw about a 15% decrease in

[34:09] funding this year and oif was always given to us as municipalities as safe

[34:15] and stable funding to help with offset our infrastructure projects so we use

[34:19] our oif funding for things like roads and bridges and projects and we count on

[34:26] that funding if you will so to see a 15% reduction in it with no real advanced

[34:31] notice um I said to I asked the minister of infastructure

[34:35] why did the formula change we continue to have infrastructure deficits at local

[34:41] levels um and some municipalities actually saw a slight increase city of

[34:46] brockfield did um and there was really no straight answer about that um but my

[34:52] concern and my question to the minister was will this come back this funding

[34:57] come back to the Baseline of funding or will we see further or will it cease to

[35:03] be the stable funding that we count on the answer that we got was no it'll

[35:07] always be safe stable funding but they didn't talk about the 15% haircut that

[35:11] we got this year so um not entirely a straight answer but o will continue to

[35:18] be there for municipalities but um I will be asking our local member in

[35:24] regards to what we need to do to be like Brockville and get a little extra

[35:28] instead of a little less so uh Deputy Mayor fod and then councilor maybe thank

[35:34] you worship um just a few back thoughts as I revert back to that weekend um as

[35:40] counselor maybe had indicated there was well over 1800 people registered there

[35:44] it looked like it when you're in the main presentation room every seat was

[35:48] virtually full um and as the mayor had indicated the be pit sessions every uh

[35:54] all five uh heads of uh every tie stripe in Ontario uh came in person and spoke

[36:01] to the delegations there and made their points but I think the point that was

[36:05] made back as our mayor made mention to there's rarely a municipality in the

[36:11] province that's happy with the current funding uh everybody's being strained

[36:15] and then of course that Financial strain has to show up somewhere you're cutting

[36:19] back here or there to compensate whether it's doctor recruitment or or ambulance

[36:25] time to Ottawa whatever ever the case may be but the interaction as councelor

[36:30] maybe had said brought both councelor maybe an eye over a coffee we had about

[36:35] 40 minutes between sessions and this gentleman come along fast forward he

[36:39] represents a municipality near Pon Ontario of 610 houses and they run a

[36:44] separated municipality on their budget um pretty steep taxes but he said the

[36:49] Min the residents don't want to any different they want it that way and uh

[36:53] he told some pretty eye-opening stories as to how you pay for a fire truck with

[36:57] 610 houses so there's a lot to be learned up there and uh yet the contacts

[37:04] I took an email today because of that conference so uh it doesn't end we

[37:09] attended and we're back but the connection stay and maintain themselves

[37:13] thanks councelor maybe H thank you Madame mayor and my point was with that

[37:18] gentleman that we talked to they actually had a forest fire up there the

[37:23] last year I believe it was and it was very close to his property so they

[37:27] called in a couple water bombers four hours two water bombers

[37:33] $150,000 very expensive and so the fire Services there is very important and to

[37:39] that point talking about the Fire Equipment trucks and stuff they are

[37:43] running an older Fleet because of uh the municipality being small and uh less

[37:49] funded so uh again we're very thankful for what we have and thank you chief for

[37:55] keeping a good Fleet

[37:59] any other

[38:02] questions Council gr you we could go on all night but I'm

[38:09] happy to answer any questions after uh our when we have a break um about that

[38:15] uh conference um and the upcoming conference is uh good roads and it's

[38:21] good for other reasons um and another opportunity to network with new

[38:26] Technologies and new ideas on how to better support our infrastructure

[38:32] needs okay any other other business seeing none I'll go forward

[38:37] with notice of motion sir Jameson you want to bring forward a notice of

[38:42] motion yes your worship I do do I read in into the record now or do you don't

[38:47] need to bring forward you just need to let us know that there is a notice

[38:50] motion and what the item is about it's coming it's imminent it's in regards to

[38:56] uh it's in regards to the garbage tag situation okay thank you so there'll be

[39:02] a notice of motion in regards to garbage tags coming forward at the next meeting

[39:05] yes thank you sir any other notices of motion oh I've got two more so go ahead

[39:10] please and thank you thank you your worship and through

[39:15] you um this is a notice of a motion about a piece of property in L turist uh

[39:20] adjacent to the bridge on the southwest side that is owned by the township and

[39:25] there's been some interest in the community expressed about possibly doing

[39:30] something with this piece of property but we need to have more information

[39:34] gathered about it so um do you want me to read you don't have to read it but

[39:39] you're going to be asking the the staff to come forward to bring a report to the

[39:44] march to a March meeting so that we can um let the community know where the what

[39:50] the St status of this property is they're both going to be read out in the

[39:54] next meeting so that's why not going to believe you're Point that's what I okay

[39:58] councelor lacky go ahead thank you worship through you um I will uh be

[40:04] asking staff to provide council with information on uh the regulations and

[40:09] liabilities of site alterations which will uh be happening or maybe already

[40:14] are um to a lagoon located in the township which does not belong to the

[40:20] township so we could get some uh some feedback on where we sit with regards to

[40:27] uh to that so is that also sorry I just that'll be at the March meeting

[40:35] yeah okay I just wanted to double check I'm like I don't recall that one being

[40:39] on the agenda um okay so we have two notice of

[40:44] motion coming forward at the next meeting and we have one coming in

[40:47] March and okay so with that any other notices of

[40:53] motion seeing none uh motion to adjourn the committee of the whole comes from

[40:58] councelor Jameson second by councelor maybe that the committee of the whole

[41:01] adjourn all those in favor all those oppos and it is carried and we are

[41:08] adjourned okay so we with the same um we will use the same link so

[41:17] we're 10 after 7 can we go for another half an hour and see unless anybody

[41:22] needs a bio break nope we're going to keep rolling

[41:32] okay Quick Change costume

[41:38] change so um

[41:45] Sor okay so we will call the council meeting for February to order at

[41:53] 711 and we will play the national anthem please

[42:09] [Music]

[42:25] rise [Applause]

[42:39] [Music] [Applause]

[43:23] [Music]

[43:47] first item on the agenda for our council meeting is adoption of the agenda and

[43:52] the motion comes from Deputy Mayor fod and seconded by counselor maybe that the

[43:55] agenda be adopted has circulated anything to add or omit seeing none I

[44:00] will call the question all those in favor all those opposed and it's carried

[44:05] next item is Declaration of pecuniary interest in the G General nature thereof

[44:10] does anybody have an interest to declare F sir yes I do with respect to the Grant

[44:14] Road grant program uh my Association is on that so I won't participate thank you

[44:22] okay any other declarations seeing we'll move forward

[44:27] uh there is no in camera session and we'll move forward to the consent agenda

[44:32] which is moved by Council Maybe seconded by Deputy Mayor fod that the January

[44:36] 16th 2024 council meeting minutes be adopted as circulated and that the

[44:40] December 12th 2023 Committee of adjustment meeting minutes be received

[44:44] and filed any errors or omissions in any of those

[44:48] minutes additions deletions seeing none I'll call the

[44:53] question all those in favor all those oppos and it's

[45:01] carried next item is Staff reports um there's two under staff reports

[45:07] Administration report sr- 9-24 St Lawrence Cruise Lines request for

[45:12] overnight stays or sorry just one I should say and the motion comes forward

[45:16] from Deputy Mayor fod seconded by councelor Jameson that the council

[45:19] approve the staff report as REM recommended at the February 12th 2024

[45:24] Committee of the whole meeting any discussion on this sole item on the

[45:29] staff reports seeing none I'll call the

[45:33] question all those in favor all those opposed and it's

[45:40] carried next item is information items um and the motion is coming forward from

[45:46] councelor maybe and second by councelor Jameson and we have a total of one two

[45:53] three four four items and the motion is that the information items be received

[45:57] and filed so the motion is on the floor are there any specific items that

[46:01] anybody would like to speak to go ahead councelor

[46:05] gr thank you and through uh you your worship

[46:09] 19.2 the Prince Edward County and expanding of Life of fire

[46:15] apparatus uh I would like us to write uh a letter of support to the county um

[46:23] it's clear to me after reading uh numerous articles and newspapers that

[46:27] throughout Ontario uh fire services are becoming unsustainable because of the

[46:33] high cost of equipment and also the um uh coming together of paid full-time

[46:42] firefighters versus paid on call Firefighters recently an article about

[46:47] napan um and and other jurisdiction Sudbury comes to mind so this idea that

[46:56] uh uh our equipment is forced to a 20-year lifespan I know I could drive

[47:04] five miles from my house and see equipment that's well pasted 20 years

[47:07] and it's still operational and it's still serving my community where I live

[47:13] under a joint agreement and so bringing that argument down to our own

[47:19] municipality uh it is clear to me and I think it should be clear to just about

[47:23] anybody that it's simply becoming unsustainable our fire Services as we're

[47:30] topnotch we maintain a very high standard for a rural municipality but we

[47:37] are a broad municipality physically um and quite frankly in the next few years

[47:44] we are going to be confronted once again with massive expenditures and this one

[47:50] of expanding the life of equipment would be a big step forward thank you any

[47:58] further comments on that item before we amend the motion to we would have to

[48:03] amend the motion to to have a letter of support but that's okay I'm gonna before

[48:08] I amend anything I'm gonna find out if there's anything else we need to do so

[48:11] councelor maybe and then Deputy Mayor fod thank you Madame mayor through you I

[48:15] also agree with this one I pulled it out also that and when we have talked about

[48:20] this is why is there not a recertification for equipment to ensure

[48:25] that there suitable for service and that's my big thing is you know you have

[48:29] a truck that only has 50,000 k on it after 20 years opposed to a city one

[48:34] that's got 200 on it there's a distinct difference in how much use the vehicle

[48:38] has had and so I do feel that there should be some sort of possible

[48:43] recertification of the equipment to ensure that it is also to a standard so

[48:48] I do agree with that one I did have another one that I was going to okay

[48:53] I'll entertain any comments on this particular item and then we'll get to

[48:56] the other items Deputy Mayor phony excuse me just clarification your

[49:00] worship we're going to talk on this subject now rather than any others we

[49:03] might yeah if anybody has anything to add on this one I will I support what

[49:08] counselor gr has said uh I've been around equipment all my life and uh I

[49:14] too don't buy in what uh is being forced on to us uh the transportation industry

[49:19] I know well and it's a classic example it feeds right into what counselor gr

[49:24] said a lot of companies and owner operators are buying old equipment and

[49:28] bringing it up to standard because the so-called new standard basically the DF

[49:33] fluid to help the environment is a total colossal failure and a huge expense uh I

[49:41] know personal people and and companies have been crippled by the expense of

[49:45] this procedure uh just on a footnote Europe only had it over there I believe

[49:50] nine years and they basically are doing what the farmers in Europe are doing now

[49:55] they shut the roads down over there the trucks just shut off and they said when

[49:58] you legislate this out we'll continue on it hasn't even existed in Europe and

[50:03] decades now but uh the point is there can be a better way rather than a

[50:09] calendar year to assess it'd be no different than our own personal vehicles

[50:13] nobody tells you you have to trade because your vehicle's 10 years old or

[50:17] 15 years old it's a priority we have we're fortunate enough to have uh good

[50:22] management good finances and and uh and

[50:27] uh and a mechanic on site and I don't see one bit of logical reason to put a

[50:33] date on the finality of a piece of equipment okay um so that item uh we've

[50:42] gone around the table for that is is there any other item that anybody would

[50:46] like to see us support in which case we can amend the motion to do that okay go

[50:51] ahead councelor maybe thank thank you Madame Mir excuse me my question comes

[50:56] to 19.2 which is the 2023 Financial indicator results I found it hard to

[51:03] understand what we had in our packet so I don't know whether Phil you can

[51:06] Enlighten us on just a Cole's note of what we had

[51:12] there's notes and the Cole's notes yes through you Madame mayor yes um so the

[51:18] township receives this report each year uh from the municipal Municipal Affairs

[51:23] and uh this is based on our 2022 fi um so it's a bit dated by now but uh it

[51:31] it's just meant to provide a quick snapshot in comparison to other

[51:36] municipalities around us they have a line there for comparing us to the

[51:39] county and then province in general and it's just to provide a really quick

[51:42] snapshot of the Financial Health whether how sustainable our finances are and how

[51:47] flexible our finances are to uh manage and whether any unforeseen circumstances

[51:52] coming up um beyond that um more detail um could definitely be provided with

[51:58] many of these things around when we bring the 2023 financials because a lot

[52:01] of that ties in um but in speaking with that um there hasn't been really any

[52:06] change year-over-year um here um for most of the uh indicators uh we would be

[52:11] in the low percentage um meaning that we are quite sustainable as of now and we

[52:17] are quite flexible thank you very much just as

[52:21] followup the reason I say that it's difficult to read is that it has a lot

[52:25] of uh letters and numbers on a lot of the pages that which there's no

[52:31] reference to so I'm not sure what those actually refer to so that's why I say

[52:36] you know without a reference guide you're not really what you got three the

[52:41] the letters and the numbers are referring to very specific lines on

[52:45] schedules within the firir which is basically a spreadsheet with about 90

[52:49] tabs on it um so without that context you're you're really not going to get

[52:53] that but that that it's telling you where the line and the information is

[52:58] pulled from the FI in case you did want to cross reference it and but

[53:03] yes that's why I imagine Cole's

[53:08] notes okay so councelor Deputy Mayor fod go ahead thank you worship through you I

[53:14] would like to see a support the town of Orangeville on 9.3 it pretty much

[53:19] repeats what most of us have commented on about being at the Roma convention

[53:24] and Fin Cal constraints being put on communities I'm not sure when they

[53:30] passed this up there but the timing seems to be suspicious that they may

[53:34] have moved this forward after Roma but either way it's it's relevant thank

[53:39] you okay so um any other comments about the information

[53:46] items please go ahead fire chief threeyear worship uh just as a

[53:52] couple of little points I wanted to just clarify

[53:56] um we go by the 20year rule for our Frontline Pumpers uh due to our size and

[54:01] our uh density population within the um hamlets uh we are actually at 15 years

[54:07] as a replacement but Fus being the insurance group has has given uh not

[54:14] necessarily just leads thousand but uh areas our size an extra five years to

[54:19] look at these replacement values these replacement values we can't think of

[54:23] these like personal vehicles um I have personal vehicles too that I like

[54:27] to keep on the road um but my personal vehicle is not an emergency vehicle so

[54:32] while I do support uh the County's initiative in doing this because I I

[54:37] certainly think that uh there there could be some help there uh whether or

[54:42] not that's helped from the government uh to help fund some of these purchases um

[54:47] I I do know that we actually try very hard to stay within those uh guidelines

[54:52] um and the insurance companies are the are the the pushers on that correct so

[54:57] that that's why that's that way um but we're very fortunate to be able to

[55:01] extend that out five extra years as well thank

[55:06] you okay so under advisement from the clerk um I'm going to call the question

[55:11] on the information items and bring forward a separate motion for letters of

[55:14] support for 19.2 and 19.3 on the council agenda so unless there's any further

[55:20] comments in regards to the items that are on the um information

[55:25] items seeing none I'll call the question all those in favor all those opposed and

[55:31] it is carried so with the discussion about the information items I need a

[55:36] mover and a secretor that Council provide letters of support to items 19.2

[55:40] and 19.3 on the council agenda okay Council gell and

[55:45] seconder Blacky thank you okay so the motion is that Council provide letters

[55:51] of P support to C items 19.2 and 19. three on the council agenda any

[55:57] discussion on this motion seeing none I'll call the

[56:01] question all those in favor all those opposed and it is

[56:09] carried so the clerk will write those letters of support and I will sign them

[56:14] on behalf of Council next items are action required

[56:18] items so 20.1 planning report sr-11 d24 Community Improvement plan

[56:24] recommendation and the motion comes forward from councelor Jameson seconded

[56:28] by Deputy Mayor fod that Council Grant three readings and final passage to byon

[56:32] number 24-10 being a bylaw to designate a

[56:36] community Improvement plan area and adopt a community Improvement plan and

[56:40] that the council direct staff to implement the financial incentive

[56:43] programs and Municipal leadership initiatives of the community Improvement

[56:46] plan within the parameters of the capital budget

[56:49] allocations so discussion on this motion go ahead madam planner thank you

[56:56] through you I would note that we have Jesse mcf on the line who's our

[56:59] consultant on this project who has a brief summary for Council to follow up

[57:02] from the public meeting excellent so we will go to Jesse to provide some

[57:09] context thank you Marty and Madame mayor uh good evening members of council I'm

[57:13] sure most of you recognize me albeit I'm I've got a full beard now not just a

[57:17] mustache so hope you recognize me uh for those in the crowd who uh who may be in

[57:22] attendance who don't recognize me or or watching the meeting or attending

[57:26] tonight um I am the consultant planner that has been helping the township

[57:29] prepare a community Improvement plan over the last uh let's say just shy of a

[57:33] year now and um we're kind of we can see the finish line and we're kind of at the

[57:38] finish line right now and uh we're we're really excited to be uh to be bringing

[57:42] that forward to council tonight for uh for consideration of adoption um as part

[57:47] of the staff report that was prepared uh for this action item uh we did prepare a

[57:52] brief summary of submissions that were received on the community Improvement

[57:56] plan um so these were largely uh received either before or at the public

[58:02] meeting that was hosted in December um so there was a lot of great comments

[58:06] received and and obviously shows that uh you know the Township's got a great

[58:10] active and involved Community um and and obviously that'll be key in implementing

[58:14] the plan um over the next kind of 10 years um in terms of the comments

[58:20] received um like I said there there is a document that that does summarize them

[58:24] um but to provide kind of a brief overview of those um we did uh we did

[58:30] take those back and and review them with with staff and and discuss um carefully

[58:36] you know the recommended actions and and what we would be looking at addressing

[58:40] potentially in the plan or what we would maybe let sit and and and leave for

[58:44] future uh future revisiting of the plan or potential amendments in the future um

[58:49] so some of the uh some of the comments do uh received may you know may be

[58:54] addressed in the future if if Council does uh on an annual basis through their

[58:58] review uh wish to uh wish to pursue an amendment um they can do so um in terms

[59:04] of the structure of the plan and and and the uh the way the plan is uh is written

[59:10] um there were kind of three minor uh we'll call it minor changes to the plan

[59:15] uh from what was presented in December 4th um so I'll know the first is just

[59:19] some some minor editorial and Technical revisions that were undertaken to just

[59:23] fix some grammar some spelling and references um the second was uh we did

[59:28] hear that there was a desire to incorporate more um

[59:33] environmental language and and ecotourism language into the plan um so

[59:38] the addition of of specific language uh particularly with the Agri tourism

[59:43] program which is now called the Agri Agri ecotourism program and additional

[59:48] language and permissions uh for for the scope of that Grant uh has been

[59:53] Incorporated in there to address those uh those comments um lastly there was

[59:58] just some clarification added uh just on the administrative side just in terms of

[1:00:02] the maximum number of applications that are permitted to an applicant on an an

[1:00:07] annual basis um so those were kind of the main substantial changes that were

[1:00:11] made um and uh if you'll refer to the summary that was provided um there there

[1:00:17] is some uh some rationalization for for how the the submissions were reviewed

[1:00:23] and and and the action that was recommended moving forward um we did

[1:00:27] meet with the county and Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing uh to

[1:00:31] discuss the the finalized draft ahead of this uh this council meeting that was in

[1:00:36] late January um the comments received were very supportive of the plan and in

[1:00:41] discussion with staff it was determined that no further changes were necessary

[1:00:45] um or in our opinion for for adoption to be considered at this time um so with

[1:00:52] that said um OB obviously I would I would like to thank you know the

[1:00:56] township of leads in the Thousand Islands Marty and their team and uh and

[1:01:00] obviously members of council and members of the community for you know

[1:01:04] participating in this process and helping to build this plan up and uh and

[1:01:09] and for having confidence in Republic to to to prepare this plan for you so

[1:01:14] um obviously uh it is a bit of a CO's note summary of of kind of uh what

[1:01:20] What's been changed but uh I'd be happy to uh happy to answer any any further

[1:01:25] questions or or tackle any comments or anything like that uh if there are any

[1:01:29] thank you okay any comments or questions in regards to the plan that's been put

[1:01:38] forward well I have a comment um I'm pretty sure our planner

[1:01:45] or our consultant won't brag about this but I will so when our consultant and

[1:01:52] our staff met with the representatives from MMA in regards to this community

[1:01:57] Improvement plan it was said to have been and I wasn't there so I shouldn't

[1:02:03] quote but I'm going to quote my what was told to me that this was the best one of

[1:02:08] the best community Improvement plans that they had ever seen uh also uh they

[1:02:13] really they had never seen a community Improvement plan that included the rural

[1:02:17] areas that most of the time it was focused solely focused on settlement

[1:02:22] areas and that the fact that we have included the rural areas as part of our

[1:02:27] community Improvement plan was something that they were very pleased to see and

[1:02:32] are looking forward to seeing how it rolls out um and how we might integrate

[1:02:37] that into helping make our community more welcoming and more supportive so uh

[1:02:43] kudos to the staff and the our consultant who worked hard on this plan

[1:02:48] as well as all the members of the public who made sure that they got out and made

[1:02:52] comments to help us form the detail that are included in this plan so I just felt

[1:02:57] that it needed to be said so um any other

[1:03:03] comments okay well then we will call the question all those in favor all those

[1:03:08] opposed as carried I look forward to as I'm sure the rest of council does to see

[1:03:14] how this rolls out and how it might affect some of our local homeowners and

[1:03:18] business

[1:03:21] owners uh next on the items is 20 .2 planning operations and Corporate

[1:03:26] Services report sr-01 0-24 single Source procurement software acquisition for PSD

[1:03:32] Citywide for Planning Development Department and asset management Plan

[1:03:36] update motion comes forward from councelor Maybe seconded by councelor

[1:03:39] Jameson the council approved to enter into a contract with the public sector

[1:03:43] digest Inc PSD on a single Source basis for the provision of Citywide planning

[1:03:48] city-wide permits and Licensing city-wide citizen portal and Citywide

[1:03:53] payment integration to be funded from the 2024 operating budget and that

[1:03:58] Council approves staff to enter into a con contract with the public sector

[1:04:01] digest Inc PSD on a single Source basis for the provision of updating the asset

[1:04:06] management plan to be funded from the 2024 operating budget so the motion's on

[1:04:12] the floor any discussion on the motion go ahead Council

[1:04:17] gr thank you to you uh your worship I just want to um confirm what I thought

[1:04:23] when I was uh reading that it looks like uh planning is piggybacking on the

[1:04:28] current asset management plan uh with an add-on from Citywide have I got that

[1:04:34] correct um through you that's correct so it's not the asset management plan

[1:04:39] necessarily but public sector digest is software that we've already invested in

[1:04:43] so we would be using the same platform with complimentary modules within the

[1:04:47] existing software so that we could add in so that all staff are using the same

[1:04:51] software yeah that's that's what I was getting

[1:04:55] and um the cost of that was sorry uh it's in the report yeah so I've

[1:05:02] got it right here through you the cost for the year is um 86,000 for the first

[1:05:08] year and then subsequent years it's an annual uh off the top of our hats do we

[1:05:14] know what our total then is to what are we paying to a Citywide I know it was

[1:05:19] started back when Kate advised us to to get on that train saying it was the best

[1:05:27] software available I believe that the treasurer is looking that up now what

[1:05:31] are we uh how much we spending a year now on them

[1:05:36] thanks okay well I'll give the treasurer a minute if I'm not mistaken the

[1:05:40] original investment with Citywide was about

[1:05:43] 250,000 250 or

[1:05:48] 150 150 so it was 150 and then the annual I want to say is 16

[1:05:54] [Music] I'm I'm going by memory

[1:05:58] so top of my head I was thinking our

[1:06:02] annual

[1:06:07] yeah sorry Phil I think my question was a little vague so we buy the we buy the

[1:06:14] software first and then there's just the annual yes so we there there's usually

[1:06:19] an upfront cost to purchase the software in the modules that usually comes with

[1:06:22] training and setup and configuration and all that sort of thing and then once

[1:06:26] you're up and running um you pay an annual uh license uh to keep up keep it

[1:06:31] up and and that also includes any updates as they come

[1:06:35] along and support and uh so we're up we're talking an additional

[1:06:41] 87,000 yeah go ahead Madam planner thank you just for clarification that's the

[1:06:46] first year startup that's the implementation the training um onetime

[1:06:50] costs so following that it would be 16,000 in a

[1:06:55] year so just further Clarity on that this these extra modules will change how

[1:07:02] the building department works it will uh I think it's clear in the in but for the

[1:07:08] purpose of the public that might be watching um it's going to change how we

[1:07:13] process building permits and how it's presented to the public correct yes

[1:07:17] through you so um the software would create a public portal whereby people

[1:07:21] can apply online for Planning and Building appli

[1:07:24] pay online um the whole process itself we would be doing online circulations of

[1:07:29] applications as opposed to um email circulation so there's better tracking

[1:07:34] and metrics associated with the applications and our timelines um so

[1:07:38] from a planning perspective given the changes that the provincial government

[1:07:42] has made for us to be aware of our timelines and refund fees it's a better

[1:07:46] tracking system it's more efficient for that as well as it allows applicants to

[1:07:51] actually see into their applications and the processing and what's going on so

[1:07:55] it's more clear um in addition to that it allows us to look at all of our

[1:08:00] licensing and everything else so um dog licenses um special

[1:08:06] events Lottery like there there's a lot more application Beyond just planning

[1:08:10] and building that's coming out of what we're looking

[1:08:13] at just one further comment if I may I was quite impressed with the idea that

[1:08:17] it allows one Department the right hand can see what the left hand's doing when

[1:08:23] it comes to all things that are going on in a given property am I correct in

[1:08:27] saying that as well that's correct thank you it also is an opportunity for the

[1:08:33] public to see what building permits are out are ongoing um because it's part of

[1:08:38] a forward- facing piece is not some of that needs to be configured

[1:08:43] But ultimately yes okay I see Hands Up from councelor maybe and then deputy

[1:08:48] mayor fody uh thank you madam mayor and through you so this is an in-house

[1:08:53] program that will be with on our server and uh so it's internal and there will

[1:08:59] be a firewall already kind of embedded in this as well as the one that our it

[1:09:04] will have so it's safe for all this interaction uh through you it has been

[1:09:10] involved in this all along the way so I'm not going to try to speak to it but

[1:09:14] they're good with it de mayor fry go ahead thank you

[1:09:18] worship through you councelor girl's question made me revert back to the Roma

[1:09:23] convention again on a small breakout session I attended there might have been

[1:09:26] only 30 people in the room but it was to do with security and it touched very

[1:09:31] much on any municipality that isn't transversing the records and everything

[1:09:36] to a cloud system is seriously vulnerable to hacking and they gave some

[1:09:41] broad examples without specifying municipalities and one larger

[1:09:45] municipality apparently just last year at their budget deliberated and decided

[1:09:49] not to spend the money at the time didn't say how much money it was and

[1:09:53] within 60 days they were facing Sev digigit uh blackmail figures to pay

[1:09:58] Ransom and uh so anyway I I couldn't help but feel a little Comfort sitting

[1:10:03] there knowing that our it department has transversed all our security and such

[1:10:09] into a cloud system and when you sit in on and hear a few of the horror stories

[1:10:14] that were shared up there you realize there's a reason you need to be in a

[1:10:18] comfort zone because as the one presenter said you can pay now or you

[1:10:22] can pay seriously later excuse me um Phil through Madame mayor if we're still

[1:10:29] looking for the number it's about 28,000 existing thank you is our annual fee

[1:10:34] towards the current Citywide configuration but that includes support

[1:10:39] and updates to the program every year yep okay um I think one of the major

[1:10:45] things that I see in this as far as benefit is concerned and I know that we

[1:10:49] still have a a great amount of the population that likes to come in here

[1:10:52] into the municipality uh into the municipal building there are

[1:10:56] lots of people that would be very grateful to be able to pay online not

[1:11:00] have to bring in their forms can scan email them put upload them what have you

[1:11:05] they can still fill them out manually but they can they'll be able to upload

[1:11:09] them and pay um and I'm sure and if you look at it from a a system point of view

[1:11:15] if they're paying online can't go missing there's always a

[1:11:19] tracking part of it so it's it's beneficial on a number of different

[1:11:22] levels Within within the administration side any further comments or questions

[1:11:28] uh Deputy Mayor I thank you worship I have to

[1:11:33] share a a funny little story that was shared to me just a couple weeks ago one

[1:11:37] of our residents he's 94 years old and he said he likes to pay online as well

[1:11:43] the line at the bottom of his check where he signs his

[1:11:46] name and we'll still accept that as well we're happy to accept

[1:11:51] that um any other comments in regards to the motion

[1:11:56] that's on the floor in regards to expanding our Citywide public sector

[1:12:01] digest com U contract seeing none I'll call the question all those in favor all

[1:12:06] those opposed and it is carried next item is Private Road Grants

[1:12:12] I will ask councelor Jameson to leave the room which he is

[1:12:15] doing thank you very much so the motion that's coming forward

[1:12:20] is coming from Council gell seconded by Council kman the council approved the

[1:12:24] allocation and payment of 25,000 in Private Road Grants maintenance stream

[1:12:29] as recommended in operation support sr-12

[1:12:33] d24 discussion on this motion go ahead Deputy Mayor fony thank

[1:12:39] you worship through you just curiosity I didn't take the time to look up how does

[1:12:43] this 37725 cents compared to last year's

[1:12:47] perometer rate thank you through your worship and

[1:12:50] I knew you're were going to ask me that question and I'm going to look that up

[1:12:53] right now because I just realized it's not in the report which I usually do

[1:12:57] include so I will find that sorry about that I could have looked it up myself

[1:13:00] but it wasn't until sometime yesterday morning that uh I put a question mark on

[1:13:05] here get that info right away um I can ask you an easier question though um is

[1:13:11] are we getting repeats from the same roads grants they're starting to realize

[1:13:15] the value in this and they're repeating the request for

[1:13:19] application yes thank you through your worship uh we are getting repeats and

[1:13:24] we're we're getting uh more private lanes that are that are joining on as

[1:13:28] well um and the documentation that we're receiving is a lot more consistent than

[1:13:32] when it was when when I took this over three years ago so they're they're on

[1:13:36] the program they understand what the requirements are and they see the

[1:13:40] benefit of applying for it good yep so any other comments or questions in

[1:13:47] regards to this private road Grant or maintenance stream not capital capital

[1:13:51] stream will come up uh at a different time

[1:13:55] so uh counselor or Deputy Mayor fod are you okay to get your answer After he

[1:14:00] finds it or do you okay it won't affect your support one way or the other okay

[1:14:05] so all those in favor of the motion at hand all those opposed and it's carried

[1:14:10] so we'll ask councelor Jameson to come back into the

[1:14:19] room thank you councelor Jameson we're on to to 20.4 operations report sr-01

[1:14:26] 6-24 purchase of a 2024 wood shipper motion comes forward from Council kelman

[1:14:32] seconded by Council gell the council authorized staff to proceed with the

[1:14:35] purchase of a 2024 verier bc1000xl wood shipper from Premier

[1:14:40] Canada in the amount of $

[1:14:44] 7,666 inclusive of the net HST discussion on the

[1:14:49] motion Deputy Mayor FY go ahead thank you worship through you after looking at

[1:14:55] this a couple of times this past weekend I'm going to be the fly in the ointment

[1:15:00] I don't see this piece of equipment as being critical to our operations I stand

[1:15:04] to be corrected if so but we're exactly four weeks from the night of having

[1:15:08] approved a budget capital budget and operating budget and uh I would like to

[1:15:14] see this deferred and come back at us again next year in the annual budget and

[1:15:21] uh and be drawing in that way and supported and the main reason I'm doing

[1:15:26] this I don't need to tell anybody sitting at this table the financial uh

[1:15:31] hill we have to climb here in the next few years and uh put 70 thou over

[1:15:35] $770,000 on top of a budget we passed four weeks ago I think is just not the

[1:15:40] right position thank you um in the in the report it says that the amount of a

[1:15:47] th $100,000 was budgeted in this year's budget and that the proposed unit at

[1:15:51] $70,000 Falls Within the aot of budget so this is not on top of the existing

[1:15:57] budget so it's within the budget that was already approved just so for clarity

[1:16:02] is there any other questions or comments in regards to this

[1:16:07] item no okay well I'm going to call the question then all those in favor all

[1:16:13] those opposed and it's

[1:16:17] carried um next item is operations and Corporate Services report S r-

[1:16:24] 01424 Grant Management Services moved by councelor kelman seconded by Council

[1:16:28] gerell that Council approved the township entering into an agreement with

[1:16:31] Grant match Corp for Grant application services for a period of two years plus

[1:16:35] automatic annual renewals and that Council authorizes chief administrative

[1:16:40] officer to execute the agreement on behalf of the township so

[1:16:45] um any questions for this uh staff report and um motion that's on the floor

[1:16:52] go ahead Council Lackey and then I have councelor gr thank you worship been

[1:16:57] through you um I like the idea of someone U going after the grants because

[1:17:02] I know we've probably missed some along the way um but I'm wondering at what

[1:17:09] cost um we used to have somebody here that did grants in house um I realize

[1:17:14] it's kind of an honorous thing to do um but by losing what is it 10% up to a

[1:17:20] million dollars 5% after that um you know it's almost like we're

[1:17:27] hiring another staff person for two years um I realize it's based on whether

[1:17:32] or not they're successful um but that's kind of a healthy percentage to take I'm

[1:17:38] wondering if that can't be done inh house you're looking at whether that can

[1:17:43] be negotiated differently no whether it can be done in house oh do it in house

[1:17:47] sorry uh I'll let the chief uh administrative officer respond and then

[1:17:52] I'll have the treasur respond uh thank you worship and through

[1:17:56] you um you're quite right in your observation councilor lacky um

[1:18:02] potentially a $100,000 payment on a million dollar Grant uh or a million

[1:18:07] dollars on a a larger Grant is is quite um it seems

[1:18:14] it's very expensive if we were pursuing a a major dollar Grant um I think it

[1:18:21] would be a little more economical if we retained a consultant to help us with

[1:18:26] that rather than give up 10% as a yeah so so you know my thinking

[1:18:33] on this is um this organization is plugged into the granting World um we

[1:18:40] could use them up to a certain level of Grant uh and help them gain their

[1:18:46] expertise um but if we were talking about a major a major uh Grant

[1:18:53] opportunity I think I would rather us have our consultant who who uh uh

[1:18:59] understands the township and understands uh the project um be working on the

[1:19:04] grant rather than taking a flyer on on a grant match thing um that said they uh I

[1:19:11] understand they are uh widely used in the municipal World a lot of our

[1:19:16] neighboring townships do retain them it's on a non-exclusive basis so there

[1:19:21] is nothing that says that we have to use them at any time it's just for the

[1:19:26] grants that we want them to chase for us and again they only get paid if they're

[1:19:31] successful so they have a pretty good track record on improving uh success

[1:19:36] rates on grants and um I think you know it might be worth a tow in the water to

[1:19:41] see how they do if we don't have a good experience with them there's no need for

[1:19:44] us to continue using with

[1:19:48] them okay and then sorry I had a uh had Phil that wanted to get in uh

[1:19:56] Treasurer okay the CEO clarified that so councilor Jameson you have a comment

[1:20:01] just just based on what I'm hearing from the CEO the my assumption reading this

[1:20:06] and and being told that um this does not preclude the opportunity for us to use

[1:20:13] other grant writing services say local ones but my assumption then based on the

[1:20:20] report and based on what I've just heard is that you would be looking to rather

[1:20:28] large uh efforts as opposed to the $50,000 one or the $20,000 one because

[1:20:35] you can get lost in the in the fog on those but I mean you've got to be

[1:20:40] getting these people to focus on the big stuff I'm I'm asked that's a question so

[1:20:46] there they um the way they work as I understand it um they will sit down with

[1:20:52] our staff and say what's your your upcoming year or two years or three

[1:20:57] years look like and they'll see the work that we're we're doing and they will

[1:21:03] basically keep their eyes open for grant opportunities based on the work that we

[1:21:08] would like to get done during the year and so they'll come to us with you know

[1:21:13] hey here's a grant opportunity and and then the decision is ours whether we

[1:21:17] want to have them work on that um opportunity or not for us I see them

[1:21:25] there's there's always lots of Grants out there that aren't you know the

[1:21:28] multi-million dollar grants but the $50,000 grants the $30,000 grants um if

[1:21:34] we have uh a a a firm that's out there tracking those

[1:21:40] opportunities for us and coming to us um I'm happy I personally to have some firm

[1:21:47] look after you know a $330,000 grant that we don't have to worry about um and

[1:21:52] we pay them 3,000 bucks um for the bigger opportunities I think it's a

[1:21:59] bigger it's a bigger consideration do we go with a grant match given their fee

[1:22:05] structure or do we um do we go retain a consultant uh at probably something

[1:22:11] lower I can't see a consultant charging us you know a million dollars to do a

[1:22:16] Grant application for a $10 million opportunity or however it works out with

[1:22:21] the fee structure so so I think there are definitely cases when it makes sense

[1:22:25] economically to use Grant masch and then there's other ones where it makes better

[1:22:28] sense to either do it in-house or contract out the expertise to a third

[1:22:32] party like uh you know JL Richards for example has helped us uh on grants in

[1:22:37] the past um on particular Public Works things so they have the nice thing is

[1:22:43] they understand what work we are doing and they understand the township um and

[1:22:48] they also have the technical lingo that they can put in into the grants as well

[1:22:52] for us okay uh Deputy Mayor FR go ahead

[1:22:58] thank you worship through you to our CAO uh do you know does Grant match

[1:23:03] Corporation are they automatically in receivership of every Grant that's put

[1:23:07] out there or do they have to search daily as well um I believe they have um

[1:23:14] they have a team that uh check the websites of the you know fcm and the

[1:23:20] usual The Usual Suspects in the granting world uh so they monitor the federal

[1:23:25] government they monitor the the various departments or ministries of the

[1:23:28] provincial government and then the associations that are out there and uh

[1:23:34] you know if if you had the resources in house you could we could do that but

[1:23:38] it's a full-time job and I suspect they have they do it nationally so I suspect

[1:23:43] they have quite a significant number of resources dedicated to just watching

[1:23:47] opportunities and bring it to their clients because that's how they generate

[1:23:51] Revenue well just thank you your worship just a

[1:23:55] comment uh to the CEO's comments um I'd be afraid of what we would miss on

[1:24:00] smaller items whether it's 20 or $50,000 now that we've uh given a green light to

[1:24:06] this uh Community Improvement plan for instance there could be handfuls of

[1:24:11] small amounts of money but in the bigger scheme of things they could add up to

[1:24:14] something significant that could help get this project off and running thank

[1:24:20] you I I I absolutely agree with you Deputy Mayor um you know you have the

[1:24:26] big net out there and all the small fish start getting through the holes right so

[1:24:31] having having the backup of a grant match would help us hopefully um bring

[1:24:35] in some of those smaller fish as well okay um I have H councelor Lackey

[1:24:41] sorry councelor growl did you have your hand up on this one I did yeah I'm sorry

[1:24:45] go ahead coun thank you and to you your worship as good as this sounds I'm a

[1:24:51] little hesitant to to jump on board um it's almost sounds too good to be true

[1:24:58] however in the years that I've sat in this seat I have heard more times than

[1:25:03] enough that we're going to do this multi-million dollar project or this

[1:25:08] multi- tens of thousands of dollar project and we're going to apply for

[1:25:12] funding I cannot count one single time that we've gotten big Grant fing and I

[1:25:19] could quote Springfield house we're talking get 500,000 or something from

[1:25:23] some Source hasn't happened yet um fire upcoming for our unsustainable fire

[1:25:31] Services uh we talk about getting grants for that never happened um the closest

[1:25:36] one I can come to and this hasn't come through yet fcm was approached through

[1:25:40] their Greening program for the waste disposal

[1:25:46] recently probably who knows what's going to happen with that one um so

[1:25:52] on one hand I'm torn between it sounds too good to be true but on the other

[1:25:58] hand I haven't seen an instance where we've gone after and gotten I know we've

[1:26:05] been turned down by Trillium I think on a couple of things so if this is and my

[1:26:11] next question would be procedural with this and it would be should we set as we

[1:26:17] do in procurement should we set some kind of limits that ask for a staff

[1:26:23] report to come back to council after a certain threshold of I don't know

[1:26:27] $100,000 or something something do we want to do we want to make a procurement

[1:26:34] style of uh processing for that so it's not in the back room saying oh yeah we

[1:26:40] uh hired them to do this and we haven't heard back or something of that nature

[1:26:45] so rather than vote on this tonight I wouldn't mind uh deferring that and

[1:26:50] giving our staff some time to think about the

[1:26:54] process so your ask is just so that I'm clear yeah um your ask is for staff to

[1:27:01] come back with potential thresholds for applications for for this program so

[1:27:07] only using them for example up to $500,000 that may be uh ridiculous it's

[1:27:13] just that tonight I haven't had time to digest this report it just sounds too

[1:27:17] good to be true and if it is it's good it's just that I would wonder should we

[1:27:24] should we have something further procedurally okay thank you so I'm gonna

[1:27:29] just I'm gonna go to counselor Lackey and then I'll go to Deputy Mayor fod and

[1:27:36] then gerell and I I don't want to lose this one but at the same time if you're

[1:27:41] asking for a deferral I don't want to beler the point so councelor lacky go

[1:27:45] ahead um I would go for the deferral um right off the top but my question is if

[1:27:51] you've got some somebody who's uh there's only one pot of gold and you've

[1:27:56] got this person these people that are um keeping track of that pot of gold but

[1:28:00] they represent uh numerous clients after that

[1:28:05] same um pot of gold I mean how do we know that we're being represented to the

[1:28:11] best of their ability that we get that if they're representing three other uh

[1:28:15] municipalities for the same money um how do we know there's no favoritism how do

[1:28:20] we know um that they're really representing us well who knows the

[1:28:24] township any better than our staff does and why we need the money what it's for

[1:28:29] what we're going to do with it the uh details of of all our projects that's

[1:28:34] here they don't know what we're doing they can come in and they're going to

[1:28:38] get the same information from us so why are we letting someone else do something

[1:28:43] that we can be doing and not pay 10% or 5% or 50,000 or 100,000 okay so we have

[1:28:54] potentially a deferral on the docket do either one of you want to speak

[1:28:59] to before I entertain the deferral is there anything else you want to ask go

[1:29:03] ahead Council maybe and then de mayor FY and then Jameson thank you madam mayor

[1:29:06] and through you uh my question comes from uh how do they get paid because it

[1:29:12] did say in the document that none of the grant money can go to the payment so do

[1:29:17] we have a a line item in our budget that's going to cover some of these

[1:29:22] hundreds of thousands of dollars thank you so I'll let Phil speak to that

[1:29:30] through you Madame mayor uh so I do have experience in my previous employee

[1:29:33] working with Grant match at other municipalities uh so in terms of the how

[1:29:39] they get paid um if they are successful they they do get their share for the

[1:29:43] agreement um and we do you would work that into the capital budget so for

[1:29:48] example if it was a $500,000 project they got A500 ,000 Grant we owe them 50

[1:29:54] we would budget that project that net we're getting 450 from the Grant and

[1:29:57] we'd have to come up with 50,000 of our own so that's generally how it's

[1:30:02] budgeted when you are using it towards Capital programs and alternatively with

[1:30:07] the other option that was given by the CAO if we were to hire separate

[1:30:11] Consultants we would be out that money regardless of whether we were successful

[1:30:15] where as with Grant we don't have to pay up front just for clarity yeah so if

[1:30:21] under the coo scenario really that that project would cost

[1:30:25] $550,000 because we're paying a contractor or a consultant $50,000 more

[1:30:29] 50 would go to the consultant we'd get 500 so it's kind of that's if we're

[1:30:34] successful yeah okay so counselor maybe uh just as a followup then because some

[1:30:41] of these projects have to be shovel ready before we ever proceed to go to

[1:30:45] Grant we're already set the the bar of what the cost is so once we get there

[1:30:50] are we going to add that bar cost in there for this company to do it opposed

[1:30:55] to ourselves it's just it's just there's a

[1:31:00] lot of money to be given in gratitude for them getting the

[1:31:04] grant for us I'm just trying to see how that

[1:31:08] works uh through your work yes um they have a sh already the application to be

[1:31:13] successful that if they if we were using them for that Grant we would build in

[1:31:17] that contingency within the budget as if we were successful and they were paid

[1:31:21] their Fe um I can tell you in my experience in

[1:31:24] the past um similar what the CAO said we generally used them for sort of

[1:31:28] mid-range grants in the you few hundred, range and we were successful in a much

[1:31:34] larger multi-million dollar grant that we we did do inhouse with Consultants I

[1:31:38] didn't use them so speaking to that it's not exclusive you can decide when and

[1:31:43] not to use them um and in terms of their knowledge you do work closely with them

[1:31:48] um so they do have an intimate knowledge of what we're working on on and what we

[1:31:52] need to do and I think not to speak specifically to them but one of the main

[1:31:58] advantages there there is very much an art to Grant application writing and

[1:32:03] some of these programs it's very competitive and they they know how to

[1:32:07] write these reports and they're not going to spend they spend a lot of time

[1:32:11] and resources and staff they have about 50 staff across the country working full

[1:32:15] time on that so they're not putting that in without the hope of securing us the

[1:32:20] grants and so they they really do put into that and there really is an in art

[1:32:24] to those applications okay Deputy Mayor fod and

[1:32:28] then councilor Jameson thank you worship through you just a few comments um I

[1:32:33] wouldn't expect our staff to be any different than they are day-to-day now

[1:32:37] if there's a grant coming through and they see it they're going to jump on it

[1:32:40] make sure that somebody knows now they got a place to point to if they wish and

[1:32:45] I think it's been clarified by the co Grant match is Success driven we don't

[1:32:50] pay them unless they are successful in gaining a grant for us and the councelor

[1:32:55] locky's point I'd be more surprised if there wasn't if they're working with

[1:32:59] even 100 municipalities in the province I'd be more surprised they aren't

[1:33:02] representing 50 on a on a financial application to go in uh I don't think

[1:33:08] it's any surprise to a municipality that we wouldn't be alone in an application

[1:33:12] bid but uh these monies that are put out there they're put out there just for

[1:33:16] that purpose they're they're for one and all if you

[1:33:20] qualify um I would like to see as a small fish representation I would like

[1:33:26] to see just how many small fish they can find that uh I don't think uh I'm not a

[1:33:30] fisherman but uh for those that do uh I'm sure you're not looking for the

[1:33:35] Manos but if you uh you know you go to the right restaurant they're available

[1:33:39] thank you councelor Jameson just to Echo um

[1:33:45] the treasures comment about the art of grant writing it's also a science it's

[1:33:51] so its own way too um and I'm not so far out of my old life that I know that

[1:33:57] you're going to get a million bucks you're going to spend 100,000 at

[1:34:01] least um that's just the way it works so I would be inclined i i i i would

[1:34:09] support this but I would be inclined to encourage staff to go after the big

[1:34:14] stuff and leave the little stuff and start to work some of that because to

[1:34:19] counselor lackey's point um we may have the information but we

[1:34:25] just don't have the the time the energy and and and and the bodies to try to

[1:34:31] generate these things in a in a in a robust way so I would support this but I

[1:34:36] would encourage staff to do two things one stick with the big stuff and two to

[1:34:42] counselor grell's point I think it's very important to uh report to us

[1:34:46] periodically on how it's really going even if that is in some Nature has to be

[1:34:53] in camera because of some of the the wrinkles in these grant writing this

[1:34:58] grant writing business but I I do think the

[1:35:01] accountability through the process is as important as anything else we do with

[1:35:06] respect to building a fire station or whatever else get some money for the

[1:35:10] fire station and then councelor Grill will forgive me so that is my point of

[1:35:15] view in this thank you councilor kelman do you have anything to add to

[1:35:20] this thank you worship no I don't I ask my questions ahead of time thank you

[1:35:25] okay so um I don't have a deferral on the floor at this point um if you wanted

[1:35:32] to put it Forward you're welcome to um otherwise I'm going to call the question

[1:35:36] as it's

[1:35:47] written yes do you have your mark m microphone

[1:35:51] on sorry nobody do you you worship yes just to know what the Horseshoe thinks

[1:35:56] here yes let's put the motion out there for defer and then Council can make its

[1:36:00] decision okay so the motion to defer to the March

[1:36:15] meeting

[1:36:18] meeting with further par

[1:36:25] thresholds sorry further

[1:36:30] thresholds or grants thanks for writing that included

[1:36:37] sorry thank you for your patience so the motion comes forward from uh Council

[1:36:42] gerell to defer this to the March meeting uh March 24 meeting with further

[1:36:48] thresholds for Grants to be included or or um

[1:36:57] excluded councilor jamus just are you I don't have a second or for the deor yet

[1:37:01] okay sorry procedure procedure procedure I'm just the wording I I thought the

[1:37:07] issue of reporting is it thresholds yes I get that but what about uh the an

[1:37:13] aspect of the report back to us in that deferral motion so that when staff comes

[1:37:20] back we have not only some idea about thresholds but also the accountability

[1:37:26] structure is kind of what I'm going for there to to keep with the

[1:37:36] conversation okay so I've added on to your deferral I don't have a seconder

[1:37:41] yet so it's not complete that's right so the the motion to defer is put on the

[1:37:46] floor by councilor gr back ended by councelor Jameson to defer to the March

[1:37:52] 2024 meeting with further thresholds for Grants to be included or excluded and an

[1:37:56] accountability structure and I think that the staff has

[1:38:00] heard the discussion around the Horseshoe that you can def you are you

[1:38:05] understand what um no actually I don't so are you looking for a a dollar

[1:38:13] amount for Grants to be included and excluded so anything under say pick a

[1:38:18] number anything under a half a million dollar Grant just as we use match

[1:38:23] anything over put a number to it sure look at the

[1:38:27] procurement policies you know certain departments can go certain numbers up to

[1:38:32] a threshold It just strikes me I don't want to see counsil pardon me I don't

[1:38:39] want to see staff just arbitrarily going yeah we're going to push that toward um

[1:38:43] grant grant master or whatever they're called you know I would prefer that um

[1:38:49] it it be adjudicated by by yourself and others but I'd like to

[1:38:54] be kept up to speed on it so yes dollar value wouldn't be bad

[1:39:00] um I don't know what the other criteria would be and the accountability

[1:39:04] structure you're speaking to councelor Jameson is in regards

[1:39:08] to what specifically yeah please use your

[1:39:13] microphone well I'm sort of riffing on on councelor gu's comment about you know

[1:39:19] we got to see it as it goes there are things that we've applied for in the

[1:39:22] past or haven't applied for and maybe we would apply for so it's been a little

[1:39:25] vague I think that was his point so if we are going to enter into any kind of

[1:39:32] um uh Grant opportunity that we are looking for

[1:39:39] periodic um and tangible reports on how it's going or or if it's done and we

[1:39:46] didn't get it in a timely manner not to just pick it up at the end of the year

[1:39:51] when we know we didn't get it and away we go so that's what I'm asking really

[1:39:57] so could we just thinking another excuse me another idea if we could just come up

[1:40:04] with the rationale on why we are going to use them on a given ad hoc basis in

[1:40:11] other words so then you want us to come to you every time we're going to use

[1:40:15] them for what size of then no and then throw in a a threshold a dollar you're

[1:40:21] saying for anything over a certain dollar amount then it would come back

[1:40:24] just a rationale you know so we can go yeah that sounds information report then

[1:40:28] yep yeah um make it okay so leave it leave me for two

[1:40:36] seconds so Council guella has put forward a motion to defer to the March

[1:40:40] 2024 meeting with further thresholds for Grants to be included or excluded and an

[1:40:45] accountability structure um so this so I need a

[1:40:50] seconder for for this deferral before it can be

[1:40:53] discussed Council lacking okay go ahead uh Mr CIO so um your worship thank you

[1:40:59] um I'm wondering if we can't simply amend the main motion to add in and we

[1:41:07] can pick a number tonight for a grant and that staff will

[1:41:13] report to council accordingly and as as things are applied for yeah and then we

[1:41:17] can move forward with this okay so so that's piece of information that CAO has

[1:41:22] added that we could put into the main motion but the deferral is on on the

[1:41:28] table right now so rather than waiting a month to come back with that the CAO is

[1:41:35] offering that we could amend the main motion

[1:41:39] tonight so that's on the table and but

[1:41:47] I'm we need to vote on we have to we can't withdraw it so it's on the table

[1:41:52] we have to just vote it down and then we go back to the main motion so any

[1:41:56] further discussion on the deferral seeing none I'll call the

[1:42:01] question all those in favor of deferring all those

[1:42:05] opposed okay motion is defeated okay so we're back to the main

[1:42:11] motion and the main motion is okay this is procedure this is the fun stuff it's

[1:42:16] it's fun stuff so the main motion read and I'm

[1:42:21] just going to read that and then we can talk about amending it based on some of

[1:42:26] the previous conversations the council approved the township entering into an

[1:42:29] agreement with Grant match court for Grant application services for a period

[1:42:33] of two years plus automatic annual renewals the council authorizes the

[1:42:37] chief administrative officer officer to execute the agreement on behalf of the

[1:42:41] township so that motion was moved by counselor cman second by Council Grell

[1:42:47] so there would need to be an amendment based on threshold old based on the

[1:42:52] current or based on the previous discussion based on threshold and

[1:42:56] expectation of reporting so if anybody wants to make a suggestion because I'm

[1:43:00] at a loss on how to write this councelor Jameson go ahead could define threshold

[1:43:06] with respect to the value of the grant or the complexity of the project because

[1:43:12] the two can be mutually exclusive I'm sorry I'm ruin your evening you're fine

[1:43:18] me okay but just that that is a point because you know that's a point I mean

[1:43:24] the whole business may have changed in the last 10 years because I've been out

[1:43:27] of it but complex issues sometimes require the Consultants with some very

[1:43:35] deep knowledge as oppos just a dollar value the the two so threshold would

[1:43:41] need a definition thank you okay okay counc La you had your hand up thank you

[1:43:46] worshiping through you how many um Grant applications

[1:43:51] uh per year would we typically go after an average two

[1:43:58] three Dave you have any Phil Phil's only been with us not quite a year so I hate

[1:44:04] to put him on the spot but the last couple of years it's been one or two a

[1:44:09] year and previously we were I think around the same

[1:44:13] threshold even for large capital projects yeah and your previous

[1:44:18] municipality how many would you go after in a year

[1:44:23] really and would you were you always using Grant match uh no definitely not

[1:44:28] um we used them for a few um and they were more in the Realms of things that

[1:44:32] we had less um experience with um I know we used them for an active

[1:44:37] Transportation Grant around getting grants for uh trails and stuff which was

[1:44:41] kind of a new thing um but I would also say the

[1:44:46] uh it's it's not the greatest comparison due to the uh level Staffing involved

[1:44:51] I'll just leave it at that okay so to answer my question probably a

[1:44:56] handful yes maybe at best I'm finding it hard to believe that we can't do that

[1:45:01] inhouse and if there's one that's complicated or very large uh amount very

[1:45:07] important Grant I think it was already mentioned that we already have in the

[1:45:11] past used uh consultant based on uh you know one application specifically um I

[1:45:20] don't see why we can't do that and avoid this whole thing for for that many I I I

[1:45:27] can sense around the table we're looking at well it's staff time and you know

[1:45:31] these people are good at it I I see all the all the right things on there but

[1:45:34] for three or four um Grant applications um I'm pretty sure we have

[1:45:41] some expertise here in the building um I think based on sorry I didn't mean

[1:45:48] to cut you off there yeah okay um I think to the point that's been made with

[1:45:55] the main motion still on the floor here that Grant rating is an art as well as a

[1:46:00] science to take councelor Jameson's Point what I'm hearing from staff based

[1:46:07] on this report is that they wish they had the opportunity and the time and the

[1:46:11] expertise to apply for these grants more of these grants but don't feel they have

[1:46:17] either the skill set and that's not to demean our St

[1:46:21] or the time or or the attention that is required to apply for some of these

[1:46:27] grants so would that be a fair statement Mr

[1:46:31] CIO I think so yes okay so the motion that's on the

[1:46:36] floor is for Grant application services for a period of two years plus automatic

[1:46:41] annual renewals and that Council authorizes the chief administrative

[1:46:45] officer to execute the agreement on behalf of the

[1:46:48] township is there an option for a one on your

[1:46:51] term I'm I'm asking the question because or is it their minimum threshold

[1:46:58] two two years with Grant

[1:47:02] match nobody has the answer that's a great question uh they provided us their

[1:47:08] their agreement that they provide to all municipalities and it was a standard

[1:47:11] boilerplate two-year agreement okay so sorry but I I think you'll find that

[1:47:19] because of a minimum of two years gives them the Running Room they need to

[1:47:24] actually get the work done because you know one year and here's our million

[1:47:28] dollar it just doesn't happen just doesn't happen Okay so Mr CEO I'll

[1:47:34] recognize you I thank you you worship through you I'm not surprised by a

[1:47:37] two-year agreement because there is often a lot of upfront investment on the

[1:47:42] part of a vendor to understand the township and this gives them a horizon

[1:47:47] to recoup that cost over the cost of the term of the agreement so i' I've seen it

[1:47:52] before in lots of agreements okay great explanation so we're still back to the

[1:47:58] main motion uh Deputy Mayor fod go ahead thank you worship just a comment I think

[1:48:02] the reason we're only getting one or two applications a year tells me we're

[1:48:06] missing a number them and if we throw the small net out there let them throw

[1:48:10] it out see what they got to show us

[1:48:14] okay um I'll let the C in um thank you worship um through you I have some

[1:48:21] proposed wording if you would like um propo propose away and we'll see what

[1:48:27] see what comes out of this so uh I think we could tack on

[1:48:32] to the resolution it would read as you have read it previously and then there

[1:48:37] would be a further and that staff may engage Grant match for Grant

[1:48:42] applications uh $500,000 and under without Council

[1:48:47] approval and for Grants over 500,000 with Council approval one question I

[1:48:53] have for staff is that a reasonable

[1:48:58] number um most grants that we apply for will will require Council resolution

[1:49:03] anyways supporting that we are applying for the grant so you could take off the

[1:49:08] but I think there is that that Safety Net in in addition to what you're

[1:49:12] proposing so in which case sorry to interject but you're basically saying

[1:49:17] that it doesn't matter even if they want to go for with a grant they're going to

[1:49:21] have to come and have a council resolution which negates all of our

[1:49:24] conversations anyway that is correct okay so how does council feel about that

[1:49:28] now is that fine so no so we have no upfront costs but they don't go and

[1:49:34] apply for a grant unless they have a council resolution and support of said

[1:49:38] Grant that's part of the package okay now that we've done that

[1:49:45] enough is is everybody comfortable enough to call the question as it is

[1:49:50] okay I'm going to call a question all those in favor of the motion at hand as

[1:49:53] written all those opposed wanted okay it is carried thank

[1:49:58] you very much is everybody still holding tight

[1:50:03] here or do we need a bio break we only have a couple more left I

[1:50:07] just didn't want to leave anybody hanging in

[1:50:10] case their leg was starting to shake so um okay so

[1:50:16] the next item is the 20.6 sorry I just want to make sure 20.6

[1:50:24] Corporate Services report sr- 01524 single Source procurement website update

[1:50:29] and refresh Mo motion comes forward from Council kelman supported by councelor

[1:50:34] Lackey that Council authorized staff to enter a contract with gdh digital on a

[1:50:40] single Source basis for the provision of a Township website update and refresh

[1:50:43] project discussion on the motion go ahead Council kman thank you

[1:50:48] your worship and for you um I would just like to say I I think this is really

[1:50:52] important I think our website really does need some updating and even going

[1:50:57] back to Citywide I think the more uh userfriendly customer friendly our

[1:51:02] website can be and the more services that we can offer online the better and

[1:51:07] even jumping ahead you know looking at selling dump tags online or something

[1:51:11] like that so um I think this is a very good idea awesome okay go ahead

[1:51:17] counselor maybe count in the deput mayor f

[1:51:20] thank you Madame mayor through you since I've sat at this table I've complained

[1:51:24] about this website I'm glad to see something happening thanks deput mayor

[1:51:28] phony thank you worship through you I agree with councelor cman and counselor

[1:51:33] maybe um I can't help but think to tie in to our Visitor Center how many

[1:51:37] visitors go on to our website and then just shut the phone off and take the

[1:51:41] recommended advice thank you any further comments seeing none I'll call the

[1:51:46] question all those in favor all those opposed and it's carried I too am happy

[1:51:52] to hear of a refresh um next item councilor kelman

[1:51:58] vacant lands at 405 Lind Hurst Road move oh sorry I skipped one sr- 01324

[1:52:05] amendments to the cemetery Grant policy moved by councelor kelman seconded by

[1:52:09] councelor Lackey that Council Grant three readings and final passage to

[1:52:12] bylaw number 24-8 being a byw to amend byw number 23- 023 to establish a

[1:52:19] cemetery Grant policy for the township of leads in the Thousand Islands

[1:52:22] discussion on this motion go ahead Council mayy and thank you Madame mayor

[1:52:26] my question was how many are actually um taking advantage of this grant money

[1:52:32] now through your worship so last year we received a total of five

[1:52:38] applications um we also determined that two of the five applications did not

[1:52:42] meet the eligibility criteria uh we have received one application so far um so

[1:52:49] I'm anticipating that will'll receive a little bit more this year okay any

[1:52:53] further comments or questions sing n I'm going to call the question unless go

[1:53:00] ahead Council uh just uh regarding the um I guess accounting uh for the monies

[1:53:07] you receive I.E if you were um a very small group and I mean a couple of

[1:53:14] people looking after some cutting of grass and

[1:53:18] whatnot what kind of accounting are we looking for um sophisticated

[1:53:25] spreadsheets or are we looking except for bank account a separate bank account

[1:53:29] and uh and we're just looking for gas receipts and so on that kind of thing

[1:53:36] yes very very basic very basic stuff okay thank you any further chomas or

[1:53:42] question I will call the question all those in favor all those opposed and

[1:53:47] it's carried thank you now I'm on to 20.8 councelor kelman

[1:53:52] vacant lands at 405

[1:53:58] lters apologize um councelor kelman vacant

[1:54:03] lands at 405 Lind Hurst Road uh moved by Council kelman seconded

[1:54:09] by Council Jameson whereas the township owns vacant lands located at 405 linter

[1:54:13] Road lindur and where which is also known as the property and whereas it

[1:54:17] would assist Council to have information about the property and considerations to

[1:54:21] be taken into account in respect of potential public uses of the property

[1:54:26] and now therefore be it resolved that Council hereby directs staff to bring

[1:54:29] forward a report at the March 18th 2024 council meeting with it about the

[1:54:34] property and matters that should be taken into consideration prior to any

[1:54:38] future use of the Space by the public so thank you councelor kelman and Council

[1:54:43] Jameson uh motion is on the floor any discussion go ahead Council or Deputy

[1:54:49] Mayor fro thank you worship uh through you uh my

[1:54:52] only question when I read this do the staff have time to get this ready by

[1:54:55] March 18th I believe they've already been working on some data uh collection

[1:55:00] already C uh director

[1:55:08] holiday yes thank you we've had a conversation with our environmental

[1:55:12] consultant about this this property and what the requirements would be um for

[1:55:18] public use um there are some some pretty uh uh there there's a lot of

[1:55:23] requirements for it to be transferred to a public use we have to to make sure

[1:55:28] that that it meets certain thresholds and that uh we don't have any any uh

[1:55:33] anything leaving the site as an example or exposure um so it does require um you

[1:55:40] know a phase one ECA to start and then it it does require a phase two following

[1:55:46] that and and everything subsequent thereafter um so we're going to gather

[1:55:50] some more data on that and some some Associated costs and be able to provide

[1:55:54] some information back so I don't think it's an onerous process but it's already

[1:55:58] begun okay any further comments or questions about the motion that's at

[1:56:03] hand okay call a question all those in favor all those opposed it's carried we

[1:56:09] look forward to that report at the March 18th

[1:56:13] meeting next item councelor Jameson garbage tag distribution War Two moved

[1:56:17] by councelor Jameson seconded by counselor Lackey whereas encouraging

[1:56:21] sound environmental practice is of concern to all residents in the priority

[1:56:25] and a priority in the township whereas the township has canceled the

[1:56:28] distribution of garbage tags to the selected businesses in War I to sell to

[1:56:31] Residents without an alternative plan to make the tags available to Residents in

[1:56:35] a convenient manner now therefore be it resolved that the staff direct are be

[1:56:39] directed to resume the tag distribution practice as it was until council is

[1:56:43] presented with a reasonable and efficient option that ensure optimal

[1:56:47] customer service so the Motions on the floor any discussion Council Jameson go

[1:56:51] ahead um I realize uh that there will be some um push back with respect to my

[1:57:00] comments um but this is what I'm hearing I realize that staff is taken another

[1:57:06] takes another point of view with respect to my comments but residents don't um I

[1:57:13] understand that this decision was made in October I didn't know anything about

[1:57:19] it if I missed a report on that I apologize but it seems like in the last

[1:57:24] two weeks uh getting in and out of the post office has been an increased

[1:57:30] challenge because people are given information after the fact that may not

[1:57:35] be accurate but little things like this and it is it is petty but not irrelevant

[1:57:42] so I hate to bring Petty and irrelevant to the table but it is somewhat

[1:57:47] irrelevant or not not it is not Petty and it is not irrelevant to the extent

[1:57:52] that you have a lot of people out there with some information that may not be

[1:57:57] correct but the bottom line is that it does not seem that we are carrying on

[1:58:04] with delivering these tags to certain businesses as we have for some years and

[1:58:11] are expecting the businesses to go and get them or everybody up there in the

[1:58:16] near North to come down to landown and I know there's been a nice email about the

[1:58:23] carbon footprint and everything else but I just believe that it is sort of in

[1:58:29] train with other Communications gaffs I'll call them gaffs because that's the

[1:58:35] plate way I look try to characterize them in the last year that have left

[1:58:41] counselors one not knowing and I think of the parking signs going up Suddenly

[1:58:47] and then we have a big public meeting about it Dan and Rockport but we didn't

[1:58:52] need to have that if there had been a proper communication early in the game

[1:58:58] about what that was about so this is as much about finding myself personally and

[1:59:04] I know others caught in this response to Keys being changed or or fobs being

[1:59:11] changed or this sort of thing and this is my point that we really need to to

[1:59:18] have a Communications policy or process that

[1:59:24] ensures that when something is going to be changed we know about it one and two

[1:59:31] um that there is an opportunity to prepare

[1:59:35] people in a serious way for the changes that need to be made without it spending

[1:59:41] an awful lot of time on the back nine trying to catch up and that's really the

[1:59:46] point of my motion I'd like to get back to these businesses getting them I think

[1:59:50] that as a result of our current operations director I know staff are

[1:59:55] periodically going to fix our buildings which wasn't happening when we came on

[2:00:01] Council and those are the good things that have happened but when those people

[2:00:05] are up there they may be the ones that concer these things I mean I don't want

[2:00:09] to get into the weeds but the point is that people care about the tags in that

[2:00:16] sense they care about the little stuff they don't even notice the really good

[2:00:20] things we do so this is the point of my motion whatever the inaccuracies are I

[2:00:26] stand buy it win or lose I'd like to see the yellow tag program back in the

[2:00:33] stores and this whole thing settled down thank you okay comments um I'm going to

[2:00:40] recognize coo and then Council C and Council uh thank you worship uh I

[2:00:48] appreciate appreciate your frustration counselor um however I'm well I'm

[2:00:55] offended that you would bring this motion knowing that it's incorrect and

[2:01:00] making these allegations to staff uh in open Council especially when we've had a

[2:01:07] conversation uh separately and you understand the act the accuracy of

[2:01:12] what's actually happening so to say things like we've targeted select

[2:01:17] businesses in world I is just wrong this is Township wise the program

[2:01:24] was Township wide and there's nothing that I think this is just um pandering

[2:01:29] to fueling the fire that the north doesn't get anything and everything

[2:01:33] radiates out of land staff and I don't think that's helpful I think it's a

[2:01:37] smack in the face to staff and I'm personally I just find it

[2:01:41] unacceptable um to to reference that there isn't an alternative plan to make

[2:01:46] tags available to Residents um um it ignores the fact that there are still

[2:01:51] two vendors in Lindhurst that are selling tags uh there's still all the

[2:01:56] venders in seles Bay that are selling tags so no one in the in the north has

[2:02:01] to come all the way down to lown to pick up garbage tags nobody seems to be

[2:02:06] interested in hearing that however people want to complain and write emails

[2:02:11] and make phone calls um lastly you're saying that there wasn't an alternative

[2:02:15] plan to make the tags available to Residents um

[2:02:19] we are in discussions with the library as you know about having the branches uh

[2:02:24] carry tags as they once did before and the ca CEO of the library seems to be

[2:02:30] pretty uh receptive to that it's a fundraising opportunity for them and uh

[2:02:36] so I don't see any reason why that can't resume we as part of the website refresh

[2:02:41] we will also have the online capacity for people to order tags uh through the

[2:02:46] website and pay for them and there'll be mailed out to them so they don't have to

[2:02:50] go anywhere to buy their taxs um what was the other

[2:02:58] thing ah staff time um I think there's a problem uh trying to use unionized staff

[2:03:06] for a non-unionized work so operations people delivering bag tags uh to

[2:03:12] businesses uh I don't think we'll fly with our Union so that leaves office

[2:03:16] people uh driving and it's not that you do uh morning once a month and

[2:03:23] circle around to all the vendors in the township and drop off tags these come in

[2:03:27] in ones onesies and teses where uh it might be um Wings live bait would call

[2:03:34] in and require things dropped off to them one day and then the Ultramar and

[2:03:39] celes Bay would require somebody to come up again on a separate day as they run

[2:03:43] out of stock so this isn't a a oneandone thing it's a significant drain on staff

[2:03:48] time time and as we keep getting punched about well what are staff doing and all

[2:03:53] that well we're trying to focus on core stuff and dropping off tags to

[2:03:58] businesses who are are uh pretty well capable of coming by lands down once in

[2:04:04] a while and picking up their supply seems to be a a a solution of freeing up

[2:04:09] some of Staff time to work on more important matters um I think that's it I

[2:04:14] think I C Jameson go ahead

[2:04:19] well you can be as offended as you want but I don't recall ever seeing a

[2:04:25] report of this detail in it if I missed it I apologize but the bottom line for

[2:04:31] me is with this and dealing with key fobs and all the things that happen

[2:04:36] because they need to happen it doesn't take much in the communications world to

[2:04:41] make sure the people that are going to hear about this first and continuously

[2:04:47] hear first I am not arguing with you on what has transpired with respect to your

[2:04:56] decision I am arguing about the failure to communicate with us in a timely

[2:05:03] manner so I can be offended too I'm offended every time I go into the post

[2:05:09] office and find myself defending a staff I have tremendous respect for on things

[2:05:16] I shouldn't have to it's too minor it's too unnecessary so if you want to be

[2:05:21] offended go ahead but the reality is we need to clean up the commuion

[2:05:25] communication side of what we're doing here full

[2:05:28] stop councelor or sorry CAO thank you worship

[2:05:33] so from a public

[2:05:39] lens the resellers the the the only process changed was affecting the

[2:05:43] resellers on how they get their tickets there shouldn't be any impact on the

[2:05:48] public

[2:05:50] so is this what council wants us to do do you want us to report to you every

[2:05:56] time we are making some change that shouldn't have any impact to the public

[2:06:00] on the off chance that you're going to get an

[2:06:04] email your worship yes simply because there are too

[2:06:10] many of these things happen not because they shouldn't happen but because the

[2:06:15] few minutes it takes to issue us an understanding of what's going on is a

[2:06:23] lot less time than it takes as we're sitting here this is time being wasted

[2:06:29] as we're as we're trying to deal with other things that really count time gets

[2:06:34] wasted so yes we really need to know these things because it's the little

[2:06:41] things that drive constituents nuts if you try to

[2:06:45] explain the tax system or the rose repair and all that kind of thing it's

[2:06:50] just over their heads we need to know these smaller things because it allows

[2:06:57] us to continue the work we're doing to support staff so yes very simply we need

[2:07:02] to know in advance so I have other speakers on this

[2:07:09] if they wish to weigh in before um I make a suggestion uh I have counselor

[2:07:15] kelman and councelor gell you don't want to add anything more Council gr Council

[2:07:19] K go ahead uh thank you your worship and for you I just had a question for the

[2:07:23] director of operations and perhaps uh Phil as well I

[2:07:27] don't how far out are we on being able to sell tags at the landfill sites

[2:07:33] because if we could do that that could and I I think selling them online is the

[2:07:38] best the best other solution but if we could sell them at the landfill sites we

[2:07:43] wouldn't have to sell them anywhere else uh I might direct that to the

[2:07:48] Treasurer because of the logistics involved with that the operation staff

[2:07:52] obviously would um but I would hear you your worship uh not to speak

[2:07:58] for the landfill operations but uh there would be some cash handling concerns my

[2:08:03] understanding is there's not secure on-site premises to be holding various

[2:08:08] volumes of cash um in my experience in the past um you could look at possibly I

[2:08:14] I don't know I'd have to talk to it but in my experience in the past we've had

[2:08:17] landfills that did have were able to take debit and credit to kind of keep

[2:08:21] cash out but uh my understanding is right now there isn't a secure place to

[2:08:25] keep cash on hand and then you're also getting into the logistics of doing cash

[2:08:29] deposits from multiple locations around the township which also presents its own

[2:08:33] obstacles um I think the the better approach as the CIO mentioned it is

[2:08:39] definitely a focus of the website update um we did do that uh in my previous

[2:08:45] municipality and we had quite the uptake on that people ordering it online line

[2:08:48] if and we fulfilled it through through the township office um

[2:08:53] but yeah just it's more of a cash handling procedure and we'd have to make

[2:08:57] sure we put proper internal controls in place but a tap situation might

[2:09:02] alleviate all of that yes and I think it would also be important not to be labor

[2:09:06] the point um but it is a if the operators at the landfill are then op

[2:09:13] handling cash that is a is a change to their their job descriptions and their

[2:09:17] responsibilities and cash handling does come with a certain level of

[2:09:21] expectations so uh that would be a consideration as well thank you for the

[2:09:26] clarity any further questions no okay Dave was sorry I'll just let did you

[2:09:31] want to book anything book end did anything there um I just wanted to add

[2:09:35] that we currently don't have uh Power at two of our our landfills we're working

[2:09:39] on that um and the um the internet service there is is non-existent as well

[2:09:46] too so we wouldn't have that that access currently for credit card and debit

[2:09:51] payment fair enough okay Council gr go ahead thank you through you your worship

[2:09:55] again just a question because uh as I was listening I was trying to get up to

[2:10:00] speed as to what the issue is and is it that some delivery from this building to

[2:10:07] businesses was shifting and changing is that what has precipitated you it used

[2:10:13] to be that our staff would deliver uh bag tags for sale to the merchant

[2:10:19] and then um that became more of a pingpong

[2:10:24] match so it was decided I Believe by staff well in October you said I think

[2:10:31] so it was decided that that if the merchants wanted to sell it they had to

[2:10:35] come and pick them up here when they were down in this area then the the

[2:10:40] question Phil was pardon me the treasure was getting to it chain of custody on

[2:10:44] these things uh I appreciate pretty tough when you can't handle cash so are

[2:10:50] there means of chain of custody a delivery service that is not staff that

[2:10:56] sort of thing does that work I mean this shouldn't be that

[2:11:00] complicated frankly go ahead sure if we want to expend taxpayer funds to

[2:11:08] drive the business could pay for the delivery that's what they want

[2:11:14] Treasurer um just to provide counselor three m

[2:11:18] um so in October we put out a notice saying that starting in the New Year we

[2:11:22] gave them two months notice that we could no longer provide delivery I think

[2:11:26] it's important to note um our letters and agreements with the businesses does

[2:11:30] not State anywhere that the township is responsible to deliver it to them yeah

[2:11:35] um I think it's also important to note they do receive a 10% margin on the bank

[2:11:39] tax they sell um and I think it's also important to know that we have 10

[2:11:43] participating things and only one distributor opted to know no longer

[2:11:48] continue because of the change everybody else has continued on

[2:11:54] than okay so based on the on the comments that were made I think the as

[2:12:00] much as this issue coming forward as a specific

[2:12:04] issue it it's one of other frustrations by

[2:12:10] councelor Jameson is that fair okay

[2:12:15] so um the motion is on the floor um which is

[2:12:23] to resume the tag uh tag distribution practice as it was before council is

[2:12:28] presented until council is presented with a reasonable and efficient option

[2:12:31] to ensure optimal customer service so the the motion either has to be accepted

[2:12:36] or defeated but um but I think that it it poses other questions that we can go

[2:12:43] back to the CAO and the staff to have further discussions with uh as what's

[2:12:49] been discussed around the poro today so councelor Jameson you want to let this

[2:12:53] stand or how do you want to deal with this I i' take it off the table but that

[2:13:01] is not going to resolve the issue okay no that's fair I just want the you know

[2:13:07] I I I recognize that it has all kinds of inaccuracies it is a reflection of

[2:13:13] what's going on in the street and at a certain point you have to just look at

[2:13:17] that and say what are we doing wrong that causes this and it comes back to me

[2:13:24] it's the communications piece that just isn't working so let's look at that

[2:13:29] thank you so I'm going to read the motion again and you can council members

[2:13:34] can vote in favor or against as they wish so the motion comes forward from

[2:13:39] councel Jameson seconded by councel Lackey whereas encouraging sound

[2:13:42] environmental practice is a concern to all residents and a priority for the

[2:13:46] township and whereas the township is C canell the distribution of garbage tags

[2:13:49] to selected businesses in War I to sell to Residents without an alternative plan

[2:13:53] to make the tags available to Residents in a convenient manner now therefore be

[2:13:57] it resolved that staff is direct be directed to resume tag distribution

[2:14:01] practice as it was until council is presented with reasonable and efficient

[2:14:05] options that ensure optimal customer service all those in favor of the motion

[2:14:09] as presented all those

[2:14:14] opposed all those abstaining

[2:14:18] and it is lost okay so uh we can have further

[2:14:25] conversations about this offline um and uh hopefully come to some sort of

[2:14:31] resolution any and then I'm up for the mayor's

[2:14:36] update so um Deputy fod councelor maybe uh

[2:14:42] deputy mayor fod uh Council maybe and I attended the Roma conference as was

[2:14:47] previously discussed um in January 21st to the 23rd so thank you councelor gr

[2:14:51] for asking for some more specifics about that I think it is valuable to share the

[2:14:55] things that we have learned um cely Bay frostfest was held from February 2nd to

[2:15:00] the 5th and it was absolutely fantastic so kudos to all the organizers in the

[2:15:05] celes Bay Area the amount of children families and the people that were in

[2:15:10] attendance on the Friday nights uh I was able to get up there was absolutely

[2:15:15] fantastic uh one of the Main Stays councelor Jameson if I'm correct Miss

[2:15:20] Booker Mark she is retiring after 30 years of being a volunteer and that says

[2:15:27] a lot about that Community um and we're grateful to her and her steadfast nature

[2:15:33] to make sure that this um event happens every single year uh and she has passed

[2:15:38] the torch and there are other members of the community who are going to hopefully

[2:15:42] ensure that this happens for another 30 years and we're very grateful for that

[2:15:47] secondly was the Rockport Winter Carnival that was held on February 7th

[2:15:51] to the 11th um again a tremendous effort and a wonderful day we were blessed with

[2:15:57] crazy wonderful weather as we were up in SE Le Bay um a little bit different

[2:16:01] colder at night but Rockport was sunny and beautiful on Saturday um nonetheless

[2:16:07] lots of families and young both young and old uh attending having a great time

[2:16:12] together and again a fireworks display at the barn at the Rockport Barn so

[2:16:17] thank you to all the organizers and all those who attended um to support such a

[2:16:21] great Community event Family Day is next Monday uh TTI

[2:16:25] has a variety of programs for residents and their families to take part in

[2:16:28] please visit our website for the full list of programs Heritage week is from

[2:16:32] February 19th to February 25th and provides a wonderful opportunity for

[2:16:36] individuals and communities to reflect on their contributions to Ontario how

[2:16:40] Heritage is conserved promoted and commemorated and how they might shape

[2:16:44] the future nonprofit appreciation week is from February 12th to the 16th and it

[2:16:49] celebrates the vital role of nonprofits and their workers that play they play in

[2:16:53] creating and maintaining healthy vibrant and inclusive communities here in

[2:16:57] Ontario and just as an aside we were asked to provide a list of a number of

[2:17:02] not for-profits um at any n profits we could submit to the I believe it was

[2:17:08] federal government for recognition so we have done that here in the municipality

[2:17:13] staff and myself put together a a list to send on and we can expand upon that

[2:17:18] next year it was a very last minute request from the feds but we got

[2:17:22] something in uh two public forums will be held to discuss the plans for the

[2:17:27] landstone community garden in Jerry Park on February 21st 2m and at 6m at the

[2:17:33] landstone community center in the meeting room uh any input is greatly

[2:17:36] appreciated so if you have an interest in gardening and want to help with the

[2:17:40] community garden please uh plan on attending at 2: or 6: p.m. on February

[2:17:45] 21st very important the katarak way region conservation Authority crca is in

[2:17:51] the process of updating the natural Hazard mapping mapping along the St

[2:17:54] Lawrence River Public comments are being accepted from February 7th until

[2:17:58] February 28th the draft mapping is available for review and comments can be

[2:18:03] submitted to the crca through a form on their web web page this is extremely

[2:18:09] important for anybody who has property on the St Law's River if you or someone

[2:18:15] you know or family friends acquaintances have a property on the St Lawrence River

[2:18:20] it is extremely important that they look at this mapping to see how the changes

[2:18:24] in the flood plane will affect the flood plane mapping because once it is put

[2:18:30] into place it will be more difficult to have those conversations after the fact

[2:18:34] so it's extremely important that you are part of the conversation and part of the

[2:18:39] consultation um I'm not going to confuse the two I'm

[2:18:43] going to talk about the Lear project but um our social media um and website has

[2:18:49] been updated to have a link so that you can go on and find it there are certain

[2:18:54] buttons you need to tick in order to see on the mapping um which we will

[2:19:00] hopefully communicate uh on those posts so that people know exactly what to do

[2:19:05] um and if people are struggling um please call in and ask some of our staff

[2:19:10] to help walk them through it um it is an important process and any input is

[2:19:16] appreciated going on to the Lear consultation which

[2:19:20] is the agricultural review that's being done by the county the same thing

[2:19:25] applies some lands here in uh Leeds in the Thousand Islands are being

[2:19:30] designated agricultural that are currently designated rural this is to

[2:19:35] increase the protected Prime egg La Land designation the challenge with this is

[2:19:42] it's being done from a desktop we had a meeting at the County

[2:19:46] uh last week and there was it was quite a robust meeting um if you or you know

[2:19:52] of anybody who currently owns rural property of any sort of size I would say

[2:19:57] usually 50 acres or more it's being affected I can't say for certain that

[2:20:01] it's not if it's under that um but I know for my family there were two

[2:20:05] Parcels that were affected one could not be farmed

[2:20:10] if you need a big whole Ram in order to even make a rock pile um so it's again

[2:20:17] extremely important that people pay attention to these processes now and we

[2:20:21] will do our best to inform the public so that they can be part of the

[2:20:25] consultation because once the mapping is changed it is very difficult to unmap so

[2:20:32] it's important that you have your say um now the differences with the Lear uh

[2:20:37] through the county is that everybody whose property was changing was mailed a

[2:20:41] piece of mail letting them know that it was going to be changed however I know

[2:20:47] of individuals who did not receive that mail so in this particular process in

[2:20:53] the catarro way region conservation Authority and the flood uh plane mapping

[2:20:57] natural Hazard mapping sorry um that's not the case nobody is receiving a

[2:21:02] letter so again it's important to let your friends neighbors um anybody who

[2:21:08] might have property down on the water aware of the process that's

[2:21:12] happening next is the application period for the youth bursty program it's now

[2:21:16] open until March 31st Township residents graduating from high school in either

[2:21:20] 2023 or 2024 and planning to pursue full-time post-secondary education in

[2:21:26] 2024 are encouraged to apply so if you know of a young person who's heading off

[2:21:31] to postsecondary please encourage them to fill out the

[2:21:35] application calling all Community organizations uh the community grants

[2:21:39] program spring intake is now open applications are due on Friday April the

[2:21:44] 5th and um I just wanted to add a few more things to this list uh this

[2:21:51] afternoon I attended a meeting with uh flourish which is a subsidiary of

[2:21:56] indwell indwell is a not for-profit organization that provides Supportive

[2:22:00] Housing in many different areas here in the province uh they are doing a

[2:22:05] feasibility study to put one of the Supportive Housing projects in

[2:22:10] Brockville currently and then look at expanding that

[2:22:14] reach as we gain the knowledge the expertise um it was very uh interesting

[2:22:22] and our part as elected officials at the county level is obviously funding it but

[2:22:30] they had a meeting before we got there as elected officials by all the

[2:22:33] different um supporting agencies and one of the things that they actually said

[2:22:38] about our area is that all the supporting agencies are actually working

[2:22:42] together and they're trying to do their best to create that web so that people

[2:22:47] don't fall through the cracks however that is not the case people are falling

[2:22:51] through and it really comes down to a an integrated approach and finding housing

[2:22:56] that is sustainable for these perpetually unhoused

[2:23:00] individuals but what I was found very interesting is that there's a number of

[2:23:04] areas in the province where it's almost a competition for these people to be

[2:23:10] clients of one organization of another and they're and they're trying they're

[2:23:14] competing against each other literally for dollar so there's a real challenge

[2:23:18] to find that cooperation and cohesion but we don't have that problem here in

[2:23:23] uh Le and Grenville so I'm very grateful to hear that and I'm very hopeful to see

[2:23:27] the report that's coming forward at the county um from flourish to hopefully

[2:23:33] come forward with a plan that we can get some of these people into Supportive

[2:23:38] Housing so then get their lives back on track and feel stable once again um and

[2:23:43] uh I'm thankful for this the city of Brockville for coming forward with the

[2:23:47] building that will be offered for use and we'll see where it goes and I shall

[2:23:52] report back on that I also had the pleasure of meeting with the associate

[2:23:55] minister of women's social and Economic Opportunity uh this morning in um in

[2:24:02] Brockville with a number of other female business owners and um to say I was

[2:24:07] blown away would be an understatement there are so many female business owners

[2:24:12] in Le and Grenville that have done amazing things with literally nothing

[2:24:19] literally and they have they came forward with great suggestions for

[2:24:24] challenges that women face when beginning businesses and trying to scale

[2:24:28] them um as well as labor shortages and child care and funding and all that sort

[2:24:34] of stuff and she was very um heartened to hear the suggestions um and uh it was

[2:24:41] a really great meeting and I was very honored to be part of that last point I

[2:24:45] would like to make this evening

[2:24:49] we have uh had a tragedy Happening Here happen here in the municipality in the

[2:24:55] last 24 48 Hours

[2:25:01] um there is no conclusion at this point in time um one of the missing

[2:25:06] individuals was found safe yesterday evening and was treated and released

[2:25:11] home uh we have no further details about anything um

[2:25:17] being concluded at this point in time we do know that emergency services still

[2:25:21] are being asked to be on standby

[2:25:26] um all I can say is thank you to our First Responders who were out um last

[2:25:34] night on a very terrible call with no conclusion

[2:25:40] um but there was a number of comments made on social media which I know we

[2:25:45] have no control over about what we should or should have been

[2:25:50] doing how we should have been doing it and of course um false information being

[2:25:57] thrown around all I can do is implore to the general

[2:26:01] public it is when somebody passes away or is presumed lost it is not our

[2:26:09] responsibility to let anybody know it is the

[2:26:14] opp um and and uh the family um so my thoughts are with those

[2:26:22] who are still without their loved ones at this point in

[2:26:25] time uh I am grateful that we have people that can be there to help and I

[2:26:32] hope that um that this is a learning opportunity for all of us that

[2:26:39] regardless time space ice depth it it's a sad sad tragedy that

[2:26:48] could have been avoided and um so I ask everybody to

[2:26:52] stay off the ice please please don't ask us um as a municipality and our

[2:26:58] volunteers to have to come and we're there for you when you're needed but

[2:27:04] please don't make us come I guess is the most I can

[2:27:09] say um when information is available by the powers that be then then it'll be

[2:27:15] shared so is there anything else anybody would

[2:27:20] like to add to that Deputy Mayor phony thank you worship uh just the

[2:27:26] backup to your United counties meeting on the agricultural mapping was there

[2:27:31] any um statement or notification given to those planning meetings that the four

[2:27:37] meetings three were held in Granville and the only one allotted to Leeds

[2:27:41] County was in the Northeast over rosby area I mean it's quite an insult slap in

[2:27:46] the face to the agricultural Community from Crosby South and West in this

[2:27:51] Township I think the United County needs to be put on notification that don't let

[2:27:57] that happen again and better still the only thing that really passed by me

[2:28:00] quite frankly is to put one or two meetings in this area which they still

[2:28:03] can do I think it was quite ignorant on their part to do what happened here and

[2:28:08] the oversight on the millions of dollars in agricultural investment in this part

[2:28:12] of our Township United counties on another note

[2:28:17] on a somber tone again uh if you would like to speak to two prominent gentlemen

[2:28:22] Hunter Grant and Douglas mcintoshes whose celebrations of lives have uh been

[2:28:27] held since we last met at this table uh thank you for that reminder uh

[2:28:34] in the last month we have had to attend uh to Celebration of Life uh for people

[2:28:39] that are important to our community and we also have another important one that

[2:28:43] is upcoming at the end of this month for a a former firefighter so uh Douglas

[2:28:49] MacIntosh uh was a former counselor here in the township of Leeds in the Thousand

[2:28:54] Island or was it pre now I'm second guess started pre it was pre yeah pre

[2:29:01] pre and then after so he he bridged the Gap uh during

[2:29:05] amalgamation um if anybody had had the pleasure of meeting Douglas he would

[2:29:10] definitely tell you exactly what he thought he was very passionate about the

[2:29:14] environment and preserving the thousand islands and while we may not have always

[2:29:21] um saw OD eye um he was tenacious in forwarding his ideas and the protection

[2:29:27] of the environment in the Thousand Islands um he was 92 years old I believe

[2:29:32] and lived a long and full life um and our thoughts are with his wife blue and

[2:29:37] his family during this sad time uh also uh would like to recognize

[2:29:43] the passing of Hunter Grant who um is a patron of one of our communities in a

[2:29:50] way that we are very fortunate um also the father-in-law of

[2:29:55] one of our counselors here um Council gell uh Hunter was a widely known

[2:30:02] publisher in the industry um and sat on many boards was recognized by many

[2:30:08] different associations and organizations but most of all uh it's his family that

[2:30:14] he poured his heart and life um into every single day and into his community

[2:30:20] as well so we're grateful for the those two men who made indelible marks on our

[2:30:27] community and it is an example to which we should all live

[2:30:31] into um we also will be um attending uh services for Brian mare um a veteran of

[2:30:41] our fire fighting group believe we sent him off after 30 years was the

[2:30:49] celebration un fortunately um just last year so um our thoughts are with the

[2:30:56] mare family at this time is there anything else that I've

[2:31:00] missed Council Jamon go ahead just to um acknowledge the passing of Carol Johnson

[2:31:07] in in Cy Bay uh was a longtime employee of this Township as we know a very

[2:31:13] important figure in the United Church and the village and will be very much

[2:31:19] missed by us all so just the fact that of course very long tenure here uh on

[2:31:26] this stuff is important to to us to acknowledge thank you thank you

[2:31:31] councelor Jameson any other comments before I

[2:31:34] close the meeting I will move forward with the

[2:31:38] reading of the bylaws so moving moveed by councelor Lackey seconded by

[2:31:42] councelor kelman three readings and final passage be granted to bylaw number

[2:31:47] 24-7 24-8 24-9 that three readings and final

[2:31:52] passage be granted to bylaw number 24-10 being a bylaw to confirm the

[2:31:57] proceedings of the corporation of the township of leads in the Thousand

[2:31:59] Islands at its February 12th Committee of the whole meeting and Council

[2:32:03] meetings any discussion on the motion seeing none I'll call the

[2:32:08] question all those in favor all those opposed and it is

[2:32:14] carried next and last motion non- debatable moved by councelor Lackey

[2:32:19] seconded by councelor kelman that Council adjourn all those in favor all

[2:32:23] those opposed and the motion is carried thank you everyone

Committee of the Whole & Council - 12 Feb 2024

Transcript