[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