try again all right I would like to call
the committee of the whole meeting of
June 19 2023 to order
good evening everyone my name is Anna
Murray the counselor and vice chair of
the planning and economic development
committee I would like to begin by
reading a safety notice
in the event of an emergency please
evacuate cancel Chambers to the nearest
exit through the chamber doors and Obey
all instructions given and if assistance
is required please see the deputy clerk
demand
once you have evacuated the building
please Gather in the front parking lot
outside of town hall also at this time
please ensure that your cell phone is on
silent or turned off
and lastly the town of Lincoln Council
meetings are posted on our YouTube
channel closed captioning is available
on all of our videos by selecting the
closed captioning button on the bottom
right of the video
I would like to take this opportunity to
read a land acknowledgment
the town of Lincoln being part of
Niagara region is situated on treaty
land this land is steeped in the rich
history of the First Nations such as The
hadowand Rock the hadwashani and the
anishinabe including the mississaugas of
the Credit First Nation there are many
First Nations metis and inui people from
across Turtle Island that live and work
in Niagara today the regional
Municipality of Niagara stands with all
indigenous people past and present in
promoting the wise stewardship of the
lands on which we live
we'll now move to the roll call members
of council are in attendance with
regrets from councilor renjima and
counselor pachariba
we also have staff in attendance both in
person and remotely
moving on to item number three
Declarations of Interest are there any
seeing none we'll move on to the
confirmation of the agenda do members
have any amendments to the order of the
agenda
seeing them we'll move on to item number
five statutory public meetings we have
no statutory public meetings this
evening
item number six our consent agenda
we are now considering the consent
agenda inclusive of the age friendly and
active Community advisory committee
minutes of April 13 2023.
would any member of council like to
remove this item from the consent agenda
to to discuss
all right there being no further
discussion I have a motion moved by
councilor timmers
that all items listed under the heading
of consent agenda from Monday June 19
2023 be adopted as recommended
age-friendly and active Community
advisory committee minutes of April 13
2023.
I will now ask our Deputy clerk to open
the vote thank you Vice chair that
motion is now open for voting
in that motion now closed and that
carries thank you
thank you we're now at the planning and
economic development portion of this
agenda
we have no delegations this evening so
we move immediately to 7.2 reports we
are now considering report
pd-27-23 regarding official plan and
Zoning bylaw amended Amendment
applications by prudem's General partner
at 3335 North Service Road commercial
mixed use block Prudence Landing
do members of council have any questions
all right there being no discussion I
have a motion moved by councilor mclick
that committee recommend to council the
approval of official plan Amendment
application
p-l-o-p-a20230043 and Zoning bylaw
Amendment application
plzba20230044 and the name of prudem's
General partner Inc for 3335 North
Service Road and cancel enact and pass
the official plan Amendment attached as
appendix B of report
pd-27-2-3 to amend the official plan
policies for the subject lands
and
cancel
enact and pass zoning bylaw Amendment
attached as an appendix C of report
bd-27-23 to amend The site-specific
General commercial
gc-29 Zone regulations for the lands and
Council deemed that zoning bylaw
conforms to the official plan for the
town of Lincoln and Council declare that
they have considered all of the written
and oral submissions and agrees with the
planning report analysis and
recommendations and finds that these
applications meet planning act criteria
is consistent with the provincial policy
statement and complies with the growth
plan the Niagara region official plan
and the town of Lincoln official plan I
will now ask our Deputy clerk to open
the vote
thank you Vice chair that vote is now
open for voting
and I will close the vote and that
motion carries thank you thank you
we will now continue with reports and
will consider report
pd-29-23 Bill 109
improvements our director of Planning
and Development will speak to this
report
thank you madam chair uh this is in
continuation to some previous reports
the staff brought forward
um in response to Bill 109 which as you
can see in the report
um serves to shorten timelines for
processing planning applications
um you'll recall a few months ago we
brought a report forward which is
attached as an appendix to this board
about report about how we expedite some
of the planning processes and look at
enhancements in terms of how we conduct
those processes and move things along uh
recognizing that we don't have as long
once we deem an application complete so
some of the measures you see in this
report that we're bringing forward
tonight are more on the pre-consultation
stage so at the very beginning the
outset before a actual application is
even submitted we've looked at how we go
through the pre-consultation process
looking at better delineating you know
there's certain instances where there
are more major applications that require
a little bit higher level of rigor a
little bit more in terms of deliverable
deliverable goals that we don't normally
ask for right at the outset and really
the intent of that is to ensure that as
we get into the actual application
itself subsequently that there would be
less back and forth between the town and
the applicant less resubmissions the end
goal is to arrive at a better product
from the get-go even before we deem the
application complete
so we've been looking at updating some
of our deliverables and what we require
for those which are outlined in this
report as well as looking at how we deem
an application complete too so not only
are we asking for certain deliverables
as we do now in the pre-consultations
but in conjunction with some work that's
been done around the region with
regional staff and staff from other
lower tier municipalities we've looked
at standardizing some terms of reference
for typical deliverables for planning
applications things like your traffic
impact assessment your functional
servicing reports those main components
to make sure that we're better outlining
what constitutes an actual deliverable
currently right now the way it goes is
um a lot of times when we get these
submission requirements they're not
quite in line with what uh you know the
deliverables that staff had in mind
there's some discrepancies sometimes
there's incomplete information so these
terms of reference that the idea is that
they will guide uh production of better
documents with the appropriate
information from the get-go without
having to go back and forth another big
piece to this is just in terms of how we
deal with the public consultation piece
right now uh when we deem an application
complete we schedule for things like
zoning bylaw amendments and official
plan amendments an open house which is a
non-statutory requirement that's over
and above what the planning act requires
and the statutory public meeting we
looked at varying ways in which we do
this moving forward some municipalities
even bring you know they bring the
statutory public meeting and the staff
recommendation forward the very same
night which you know staff didn't don't
really agree with that approach just
because if there is anything that comes
out of the dialogue for the public
meeting there's no opportunity to
address it so what we're proposing is
that we move the open house up to uh
being undertaken before we actually
receive a complete application that is
actually a requirement to have those
meetings minted we still work with the
applicant to circulate the same
residence counselors uh the agencies
that would have been circulated in the
first place but we're going to be asking
for it to be completed in advance of the
actual application process starting
so that's a big change and really what
that does is that allows us to move when
we hold the statutory public meeting up
further in the process so that we can
still come back with a subsequent
recommendation at a different night so
those are some of the main measures that
we're proposing just again looking at
process enhancements and trying to stick
handle planning applications a little
bit better given the more tight
turnaround timelines for Bill 109 so
happy to answer any questions
thank you very much director Broder do
any of council have questions they'd
like to bring forward at this time
councilor Reimer
yeah I don't know which
yeah which one
sure
okay just didn't hold it long enough
no problem thank you chair
uh
thank you for this report to uh to
Melissa and to Matt just a question
regarding on page two
um the uh the province is going to
prescribe municipalities where
um
refunding is not going to apply
and uh as such we are not among those
prescribed do we know has there been a
date set for that or is there any more
any more clarity in the fog
screw you uh chair Marie
thanks for the reminder counselor
because I was going to touch on that in
my opening comments you're right Bill 97
kind of proposed that flexibility in
terms of there might be municipalities
where this whole refund of planning
applications don't apply they can be
named by the province but no
municipalities have been added to that
list to date we haven't heard anything
further in that regard so July 1st is
the implementation of of Bill 109
timelines but uh you know we've been
waiting to see if there's been any input
in that regard we in the comments and I
know in grimsby's comments as well you
know municipalities that are generally
smaller under 75 000 people we suggested
that that should be you know the rough
criteria in terms of maybe those were
planning application
fees aren't refunded just because from a
resource standpoint an impact standpoint
but again haven't heard anything yet
okay thank you councilor uh chair Marie
thank you
councilor timmers uh thank you very much
chair
through you to director Bruder I I had
the same question around the refunding
but we don't we don't need to I think
that was answered so I don't need to ask
any further
um just around the um public
consultation piece it makes a lot of
sense that the open house would be held
prior to a complete application are we
going to be uh man you said that they're
not mandated so will we be continuing
and how many open houses do we typically
have
I guess that's my question are we
changing that as well or
you know Madam chair we're not changing
the amount we're still going to be
requiring that applicants undertake open
houses for the same applications that
they were before we're just moving it to
where it happens
um up earlier in advance of deeming an
application complete in some ways again
I and I think I was picking it up a
little bit in what you were saying
counselor it is a good thing just
because you get the comments even
earlier in the process before the
concepts even finalized and as a
requirement of a complete application we
would require the minutes
um the mailing list circulation lists
and all those things that we would
typically keep on file anyways just to
demonstrate that that has been done and
it's been undertaken so still
undertaking the same open house style uh
one-on-one type meeting it's just going
to be earlier in the process okay all
right
perfect sense I think that'll that'll
save you know applications from being
sent back many many times if the all the
you know comments and input is given up
front that certainly makes a lot of
sense so thank you uh director reuter
thank you chair
thank you councilor timmers
uh I have no others in the queue if
there are no further questions
all right I have a motion moved by
councilor Brunet that committee receive
and file for information report
pd-29-2-3 regarding Bill 109
implementation and process improvements
and endorse the proposed updates to
planning application processes as
outlined in report pd-29-23
I will now ask our Deputy clerk to open
the vote
thank you Vice chair that vote is now
open
and I will close the vote
and that motion carries thank you thank
you very much and and thank you very
much director Bruder and your staff we
appreciate the work that you and your
team put into this recommendation as
we're trying to Pivot to uh respond to
the new legislation thank you
there being no additional reports to
consider for the planning and economic
development committee agenda we have now
concluded the planning and economic
development committee agenda we will now
rotate and allow counselor and chair
Tony Brunet to assume the chair at this
time for the community services and
infrastructure committee agenda thank
you
thank you
we have now reached the community
services and infrastructure committee
agenda item 8.1 we have no delegations
this evening 8.2 reports we will now
consider the community services 2022
update the director of community
services will now provide a presentation
Shannon please go ahead
Shannon give us one moment and we'll get
that up on the screen for you thank you
great good evening Mary and members of
council it's my pleasure this evening to
deliver the community services 2022 year
in review and I apologize for not being
able to attend in person tonight
with over 40 Services delivered by the
department we're very proud of how what
we do directly impacts Lincoln residents
each and every day
our 2022 year in review presentation
highlights Key Program and service
accomplishments seasonal operations and
corporate and social infrastructure
projects and capital Investments
this particular slide shows the high
level core functions and
responsibilities from Arts culture and
Heritage promotion to the development of
our parks and open space
implementation of recreational
programming and special events Community
Development Outreach that we started
during the pandemic and continue today
volunteer management our Horticulture
and community beautification
management of our parts facilities
cemeteries cemeteries and Forestry
operations as well as customer service
User Group support Administration and
community outreach
in addition to these high-level
categories of service you see here the
goals of community services department
remain to enhance the quality of life
for residents and Visitors by offering
Parks facilities and programs that
maximize individual and Community Health
and well-being
to increase the capacity of user and
Community groups a sustainable
environment contributors to the
community to support the renewal and
reinvestment in our Parks facilities
cemeteries and green space
to provide services which are
sustainable flexible affordable in
response to community need and in
response to changing demographics and
Industry trends
it's also to improve the economic
development and residential development
opportunities by investing in
programming spaces and Facilities across
the municipality
we continue to diversify and grow
revenue streams by continuously
identifying new and expanded grant
opportunities
and we've strengthened our partnership
and Industry stakeholder work
through
Partnerships such as those with violin
research and Innovation Center mpca Pro
Opa to undertake research advocate for
an advance and strengthen the importance
of Parts
Recreation and public and Open Spaces
next slide please
so as we pause here on a slide that
doesn't have any stats or any words I I
want to bring it all back to the fact
that well for most of us it feels as
though the global pandemic was a long
time ago
and yet it really wasn't
through through the first quarter of
2022 facility opens can facility
openings continue to happen
capacity limits continue to increase
improve a vaccination
requirements changed the regulations and
restrictions all had an impact on our
programs and services in 2022 but as you
will see in what follows we have much to
be proud of next slide please
foreign so this slide highlights and
we've broken tonight's presentation up
by Recreation and culture and
um public and open spaces and this this
side slide highlights some of the key
stats from our recreational culture side
so 13 events were hosted 16 flag
raisings
27 good citizens were recognized and I
was proud to be part of that event
um as as the MC last year
12 and 200 participants in various
events from rotary opening to many of
the activities that take place in our
parks and facilities and then on the
right hand side you'll see the wonderful
testimonials that we received so we were
regularly survey our participants and
the families and we asked them to give
us feedback and we asked them to tell us
how we're doing and this is just an
example of that next slide please
and our Recreation and programs there
were 130 Recreation programs
861 program participants
over four thousand summer drop-in
program visits so that's when we set up
the pickleball courts and the basketball
courts and the various activities in our
facility and people can just drop in
without formally registering
220 Lincoln senior member club club
members that group is continuing to grow
the Lincoln Community Center and you'll
see on another slide is continuing to
expand its activities
and again testimonials from parents
talking about the various programs
they've participated in how they love
the activities in the town
and I think it's just very very positive
news next slide please
holiday summer camps
eight weeks total of 934 participants
some great photos and again some great
testimonials of the work that staff
undertook in the summer even though we
were just coming out of the pandemic and
and people were while they were excited
and anxious to register and participate
you know there was still some hesitancy
in going back into into in person next
slide please
discover your Park so this is a a
program that has proved to be very
successful when we take our summer staff
and our equipment and we get out to the
park at various dates you'll see all of
those dates this summer located on our
events calendars so across the nine
different dates in the seven different
locations we had 585 attendees come out
this is a great way to Showcase not only
our Parks but also what programs are
available and what staff are doing both
in the Parks and in our facilities when
they're running the formal programs
next slide please
our aquatic programs
983 hours of swimming lessons
over 1200 swimmers registered in our
life-saving society swim lessons
almost a thousand hours of public swim
and over 10 000 swimmers attended our
public swim programs
and again just a couple of the
testimonials from residents and
participants
next slide please
Arenas and sports field over 3 000 hours
of Arena rentals
over almost 5 000 public skate
participants
well 6 000 hours of sport filled rentals
in 1600 hours of public skate
these stats demonstrate that our
facilities are utilized and that our
programs are much appreciated and much
valued by our residents
next slide please
Lincoln seniors Club so if you haven't
been to the Lincoln senior the Lincoln
Community Center and sometime I
encourage you to good drop by we do have
staff there
whenever the facility is open there is a
reception desk there and we do staff
that does
the members are growing so you'll see
there that the stats are 228 with 11
members being over 90 years of age
11 different regular activities take
place almost 52 hours of weekly
programming as well as drop-in programs
we have the last couple of years
received the maximum in provincial
grants and I know you heard more about
that a couple of weeks ago and last year
we uh we received uh 20 000 in special
funds for facility upgrades so we're
able to do things like Carpeting and new
furniture and refelting the billiard
tables and those types of activities
that we work very closely with the
seniors Club in in defining and then
again uh another testimonial about the
club itself
next slide please
so play Lincoln is is connected we've
been virtual for some time these are our
followers on Facebook our subscribers to
the the monthly newsletter which
continues to increase and followers on
Instagram
next slide please
now we'll move over to the public and
Open Spaces division next slide
our operational highlights 480 Demand
work orders requests completed so we
have an internal system for work
requests when um individuals in various
facilities whether it's our fire
stations our Fleming Center our
libraries
identify something that that needs done
it could be something that needs to
repair it be repaired it could be
something that we you know supplies that
are needed more of these are our Demand
work order requests
we had over 7 000 routine schedules site
visits resulting in
over 12 000 completed inspections and
work requests so we do have a software
program that we input our inspections
into and this is very important for us
if we ever have to produce records
um showing our inspections when they're
done on the dates what was inspected in
any of the the comments and the statuses
and then we also added new Fleming
Center lobby and I think most of uh
Council has seen that it looks
phenomenal we can wipe it down we can
change the configuration and we've since
added this year I know this is a 2022
but we've added similar Furniture over
at the Jordan Arena next slide please
in our forestry area 112 trees planted
these were both on our streets and in
our parks
60 trees were replaced
30 streets we conducted the tree pruning
and 105 forestry work requests completed
next slide
as council is aware we were very
successful in in getting five out of
five blooms with communities in bloom
last year and we're looking forward to
participating in that again next year
um I think we take a lot of pride in the
work that's done and it's certainly nice
to be recognized by an agency outside of
the organization
next slide please
our Park enhancements so as Council will
recall this was a uh Capital Park
enhancements project where we said you
know we're going to Pilot some things
we're going to act on what we've heard
from from residents that they would like
to see and so we were able to take the
monies out of that Park enhancements and
upgrade our outdoor washroom seasonally
install safety gates in particular
locations put out four water bottle
refill stations public Barbecues in our
Charles Daly Park
three Trail and walkway connections
um one in particular through Jack
Simpson part uh baseball Dugout covers
soccer pitches we have pitches that we
put out more for recreational use in our
parks
Trail lighting and we upgraded the
splash pad feature at Angelina brokerage
Park next slide please
our place surface our play Space
resurfacing started last year we were
able to complete seven parks and as most
of you are aware we've already been able
to complete a couple more this year so
that's the list of the parks and we're
continuing to finish that project off
this year next slide please
foreign Park
in 2022 we completed the detailed
designs of the walkway in the park the
installation of walkways and seating
areas the north share the Shade Sail the
bicycle playground itself the fitness
equipment was installed site Furniture
trees are very um
a very exciting absorbent landscape
research project that we've worked very
closely with Vineland research and
Innovation Center on new play equipment
and rubberized surfacing these when at
the time of the
presentation those things were underway
they've actually both been completed now
so we are planning a ribbon cutting and
grand opening of this park for
let me just double check that before I
give you the date I believe it's August
it is August 19th Saturday August 19th
and I believe you have a hold the date
in your calendars
next slide please
you've heard much about our Jordan
Hollow indigenous cultural park and
you'll hear a little bit more after her
this presentation tonight on that
renaming but the design concept was
approved by Council we've been
coordinating ongoing coordination with
Niagara region on the 20 mile Arch
Bridge replacement we've consulted with
the joint accessibility advisory
community
consultation with NEC
additional grants funding secured
two pieces of public art commission
detailed design continues in park
renaming and I stand corrected the date
is August 12th for the opening of the
Ashby Park my apologies
next slide please
and finally our cemeteries area I I just
think these these I barely need to say
anything because I look at the before
and after of our Cemetery restoration
work it's uh it's incredibly special
and I encourage you to to go out and see
it if you haven't
we also completed the mount Osborne
Cemetery entrance and driveway and these
are just a few additional stats of work
being done by the cemeteries
administrator
next slide please
so these are assets actually from last
year but I will let Council and the
public watching in attendance today know
that our Harvest Pioneer Day is taking
place on Saturday September 16th this
year and our sling on King event is
taking place on Saturday September 23rd
so a day earlier but these were last
year's assets just showing some of those
assets so I'm joined by um oh sorry I
actually have a conclusion so post
pandemic uh everyone knows and
appreciates the value of our parks open
spaces recreational facilities and
related programming and special events
the programs and services provided by
Community Services Department are
essential the critically important to
maintaining a Vitality a vital quality
of life ensuring the physical and mental
health and well-being of families
individuals from 8 to 80 and vulnerable
populations
these important Municipal Services
contribute immeasurably to the social
economic and environmental well-being of
a community that is well connected
vibrant resilient
and the contribute continue to
contribute to the town of Lincoln's
ability and capacity to remain a place
to grow a place to prosper a place to
belong
I'm joined by the management team
members Sarah Ain and Dave warden so I
turn it over now to council if you have
any questions for the team
uh thank you Shannon for the community
services 2022 update and uh
do council do members of council have
any questions
councilor Russell
foreign
thank you Mr chair uh through you to uh
to Shannon again it's not a question
it's just uh an observation again when
you look at the amount of things that
you and your team accomplished this year
I think any any Community any Council
would be proud to have that done over
the course of a term and I think uh over
what you've done uh over the course of
last term I think any Council or
Community would be happy to have that
done over the course of a couple terms
uh every every time every example that
there's a requirement from the community
a request from Council from from anybody
again you and your team are always uh so
um immediately available uh you there's
responses that are Beyond timely
um and I just want to let you know how
much it's appreciated uh by myself
probably by the rest of council as well
and by the community out there again if
I could give gold stars it would be an
enormous one again I want to thank you
and your team for everything you do I
think this report is not just a
reflection of the pro progress if you
guys have made during a a tough year but
again an excellent report card on on the
value that Community Services brings to
the town of Lincoln and just want to say
thanks
thank you councilman that's very kind
counselor kimmers
uh thank you very much chair brene my my
comments are fairly similar similar to
uh councilor Russell's I'm so proud of
when I look at these all the events and
the activities and the numbers and um
the services that we're providing to our
community and the people who live here
and um they're always fantastic events
the programming numbers are just way out
there for the population we have
um I guess my two my two interests
um it's not really a surprise to anyone
would be the the Lincoln Center and the
seniors programming and the membership
so have you noticed
um an increase in membership numbers and
you know these are a lot there's a lot
of uh programming going on there so just
wondering what you're seeing what's
trending this year
thank you Council I'll start and then
maybe Sarah can add some comments some
we are hearing from staff uh that our
our seniors numbers are growing in and
that's because our community is changing
so we we have heard and I've heard this
directly from Lori Laird and others that
you know new seniors to the area have
come in they've asked about the Lincoln
Community Center they've asked about the
seniors Club
um I'm ever hearing from our wonderfully
passionate pickleball players that that
that particular activity is is growing
and they would love us to the town to to
have an indoor pickleball uh court with
which more than just the Lincoln
Community Center right now but yes we're
definitely seeing an increase in numbers
and I know sir I can speak to some of
the
um neat things that are going on which I
think people bring friends and then
introduce them to the fact that there is
the Lincoln seniors Club
thank you director McKay through you
chair to counselor timmers I can add a
couple of comments we are seeing an
increase in membership at the Lincoln
seniors Club we're only mid-year at this
point but we're trying to exceed last
year's
um numbers so that's always a positive
thing we're excited about that we're
also adding additional programming this
summer for the first time at the Lincoln
Community Center By Request of many of
the groups who typically go away for the
summer and don't participate but are
wanting to so that's a great thing and
we're we're happy to ensure that that
can occur so additional programming
hours being added this summer for those
groups and many of you will remember as
well that we were the recipient of a
seniors Community Grant which was really
the work of Lori Laird who applied for
that Grant and was successful in getting
some funding to be able to operate a
London learned
um
program which was very successful over
the fall winter months that really
introduced a number of our seniors to
activities they may have never tried
before whether it be Nordic pool walking
or pickleball or different activities
that we already have at the facility and
some new ones as well so that helped to
really build the interest in what's
going on there and we're seeing the
benefit of that now in the membership
increase
uh that's great thank you so much um
just a fantastic report and thank you
for all that you do
it's fantastic thank you chair brene
Council Reimer Chevrolet thank you uh
just a couple comments to follow up on a
couple specifics to follow on councilor
Russell's uh heels two two areas that
that I would say I've Not to take away
from the multitude of uh numerous other
programs and services uh director McKay
but rubberized playground Services
um incredible amount of comments and and
just from people in the community who
who would uh who would have experienced
them I've experiencing with my
granddaughter many parks uh that's a big
that was a big win a lot a lot of
positive feedback and a lot of people
are uh are really happy about those
rubberized playgrounds another thing
just from an observation would be the
way that our community services engages
the public they make them feel uh part
of the community the flag raising
sometimes maybe we don't think some of
these things are are are a big deal but
I know from the feedback that I've got
the the flag raisings the good citizens
Awards play Lincoln those are all ways
that we make
um the general public all the residents
feel uh engaged and part of the
community so thank you very much for
that thank you thank you
counselor McLaughlin
thank you chair Brunei through you to
Shannon thank you very much for this
year-end report
um I'm always impressed and Amazed by
the creativity of your staff and all the
programming that they offer
um question I have is just with regards
you know there's a lot of talk about
covid and its challenges and you know
how we dealt with covet uh with our
parks and that sort of thing and one
thing I remember we were having was
security guards at our parks and now we
don't have security guards and I'm just
wondering if there's any concern about
the parks and
not everybody's at the parks for the
right reasons and if if you're working
with or how do we work with bylaw to
ensure that
um the right people are using the parks
uh thank you councilor through Germany
to the counselor so we did have security
during the pandemic that was mostly
because of the restrictions on numbers
um and we had to at some point you know
restrict the ice the outdoor
um rink and different spaces so that's
why we had security
um as to the right individuals visiting
our Parks we're working very closely
with uh both both Municipal law
enforcement during the day when things
happen as well as nrps we recently had a
meeting with CAO myself director of
Economic and Community Development and
Communications just to talk about
um you know encouraging residents to
when they see things and and they're not
calling the town necessarily but when
they see things because they live close
to the park that they're making the
calls to the non-emergency nrps number
if it's a non-emergency if it is an
emergency where someone one could be
hurt some things being vandalized they
can call the 9-1-1 number and nrps and
nrps has encouraged us to encourage
residents to do that at the time of the
incident because it is difficult for
them to follow up
we are also uh talking about potentially
you know in the future if needed
surveillance in in some of our Parks
um we currently are doing a pilot
project in an Ashby Drive park with
surveillance that has proven to be quite
successful in deterring vandalism
um and other activities so we continue
to look at you know what we can do to
ensure that these spaces remain safe for
the the population at large for the
visitors and for the family and we
continue to inform nrps and work closely
with them as we're notified of
um
unacceptable Behavior or mischief that
that is happening in the community and I
think we will be talking about uh
potentially
a joint event to to help communicate
some of these things to the public
um in a greater larger fashion
thank you very much for that answer I
think that's I think that's important um
um just a follow-up just
um is there contact information at the
parks where there's contact phone
numbers is there signage indicating for
residents using the parks if they see
something
um that's not quite uh right that you
know to to get immediate or a timely
response is there
thank you councilman to the chair yes we
do have Park signage indicates the hours
and it indicates that a municipal Town
number it does not have the nrp's uh
nrps's non-emergency number and that's
something we could definitely discuss
with nrps uh and get their approval or
if they agree to
Perfect all right thank you very much
you're welcome
maryston
thank you very much Mr chairman uh
Shannon thank you very much for this
very comprehensive report
um you've had a lot of successes and I
must compliment you on the balance that
your programs have brought to arts and
culture as well as the more traditional
Sports and um
um features that uh that we've had in
the town for a long time
your team has had great success with
fundraising and that certainly is
um it's not only welcome but it makes
things happen and I know that's always
very time consuming and I want to thank
you very much for the effort that's put
behind that
I believe that Community Services has a
lot of influence influence and input
across departments and I I would like to
acknowledge I think we all know that
that is the case and just want to add
that on to to your report
in the area of climate change and
adaptation impacts
um
I hope that you'll accept some credit
and maybe include a credit where it's
due in future reports because I don't
know
um
I mean there are just so many elements
of that that come back to the way things
are done by your team and and so it's
good to have that reinforcement I want
to also acknowledge those and thank you
very much
maybe we'll see those in some future
reports thank you very much thank you Mr
chairman thank you very soon
uh thank you man Amir
so just a couple comments uh Shannon and
the team um
yeah certainly uh to Echo councilor
Russell's comments you know we've come a
long way
I can remember back in 2014 and uh
Shannon shortly after you came came on
board you know asking about a Parks
master plan and the answer was we don't
have one so you know we started with a
Parks master plan and we've we've come a
long way
um you know to think that we've
constructed Rotary Park uh we've built
our first dog park uh and we've
continued to listen to the residents uh
whenever they've reached out to to have
issues with Mount Osborne Cemetery I
remember uh walking that with the CAO
and uh and uh Mr Warden and you know
within within a year we had privacy
fencing we had water stations uh
throughout the uh throughout the
cemetery and we had new roadways so
we've listened to the residents and we
have we have reacted
um
so certainly we've uh We've we've done
marvelous marvelous work and Community
Services
um I'm wondering Shannon uh if you could
comment recently at one of our touch
points with uh Vice chair mikalak and
myself
you spoke about some of the obstacles
that you're um you're currently dealing
with in terms of uh lifeguards and how
that might affect the hours of our
operations of of some of our pools I'm
wondering if you could comment on that
and just maybe talk about what the plan
is moving forward
thank you chair Bernie I'll start now
and I will maybe ask
associate director aims uh to add a few
more comments so uh we did recently
prepare a memo a briefing note for our
Council to outline that unfortunately we
are going to have to reduce some of our
aquatic programming as a result of not
having been able to recruit what we
would deem a fourth proof so in order to
stop both of our outdoor pools we need a
total of four crews and we've been able
to successfully recruit three this is
not a a Lincoln only problem this is not
an AG or region only problem this is
actually a national problem with less
and less staff coming up with their
lifeguarding certifications and their
ability to uh to work in in the pools
not only in the outdoor pools but in all
Municipal pools and in private pools as
well so we will be reducing
um
some of the programming at the Jordan
Lions outdoor pool this summer
um we will be able to continue at afg
with the full programming as we have in
the past but we will be having to cut
public swim and and close the pool on
the Sunday uh we have one crew and and
obviously they cannot work seven days a
week and we've had to reduce reduce some
of the midweeks so staff took a look at
um stats from the previous years not
just last year but trending they did an
analysis and they made the decisions on
the cuts based on the data that they
looked at and the best recommendations
so sir I don't know if you'd like to add
a additional details about that
uh thanks director McKay through you to
the chair
um all that information is accurate so
all of the programming decisions for the
summer were based on previous
historicals
um so we did prioritize learn to swim
programming as that's really fundamental
to why we operate both of the outdoor
pools and as much available public and
Leisure swimming opportunities as
possible so while there are reductions
I'm going to use that word rather than
cuts
um we're hopeful that you know we are
still actively recruiting and looking
for staff we actually just brought on
another lifeguard just this week so we
still remain hopeful that we may be able
to find some additional staff and and
definitely would entertain any
applicants that are are looking for
summer work
um to
um reach out to us through our human
resources department this is really a
sector-wide issue as director McKay
mentioned and it's certainly not limited
to lifeguards and swimming instructors
however most recently the province did
lower the age for lifeguards 215 so
that's not something that we'll see in
an immediate impact from this summer
because obviously people need to be
trained but we're hopeful that that will
help for next summer to be able to
recruit more staff for our outdoor pools
that's great thank you Sarah
um so just another question uh I had um
through to Shannon Shannon the mayor
used the word balance and um uh you know
I think over the last number of years
you know we've had residents reaching
out to us especially during covid you
know talking about lighting in our parks
and um and just making making
enhancements but but with that
um you know comes vandalism comes
graffiti I recently sent some pictures
with regards to uh some broken lights
that have happened up at brokerage park
over the last couple weeks uh we
continue to see vandalism so I'm just
I'm just wondering uh you know councilor
um mikaluck mentioned about the the
policing and and cameras but but where
is the balance as this continues to to
escalate to make sure that you know the
investments in our parks are are going
to be you know looked after and
maintained and yet provide the safety to
our residents as we as we move forward
but thank you councilman I mean we talk
about that often
um we talk about you know how we stay
informed of what's Happening
how
when we're not in our parks at 10
o'clock 11 o'clock 12 o'clock at night
because it's dark and and we don't
really want people in our Parks when
they're not supposed to be in our Parks
but they are that we need the the eyes
of the residents to be reporting these
things
so
um you know balance may end up being
surveillance in not all but some of our
parks and I think
um as Citizens and this is just a
general comment on my part we are
becoming more accustomed to surveillance
in our public spaces because of what
happens in our public spaces so the
balance would be ensuring that we can
um stay on top of what's happening in
our public spaces when we're not in our
public spaces and quite frankly when our
public spaces are not deemed open we
don't want people going into the the
parks after hours if they're there
especially for mischief and no good but
we need to know if that's happening and
we're relying on our residents to tell
us so
um
you know lighting is a is a is a
double-edged sword we've talked about
this with Council
um we want people to have sufficient
light in parks to be able to get through
the Parks when they need to early on but
we also have to be mindful of the
residents who live close to our parks
and that's certainly the case in a park
like brokerage where the pathway that
the pathway that goes around the park is
is not far from the backyards of
residents who live there so providing
you know a balance of lighting that
isn't too bright for the the neighboring
residents but bright enough for for
individuals to feel feel safe yet
doesn't invite you know activity that we
we don't want to be happening I think
it's a it's about an Engaged Community
it's about a community that's you know
talking and bringing things forward to
not only the town staff certainly Town
staff but also nrps and
um you know we had some Mischief happen
at the Fleming Center uh this weekend
and when we reported it to the staff
sergeant today
um because it didn't come to us at the
time the staff sergeant said the best
thing for both staff and residents to do
is report it at the time we can act at
the time we can get somebody out there
into those places at the time to to try
to deal with it but to follow up and to
try to figure out what might have
happened and who might have been
responsible it's a little more difficult
so we are encouraging residents to reach
out it's during the daytime will you
know
we'll hit we can get over there we can
get to our facilities if it's in the
evening when our parks are closed and
our facilities are closed and we don't
have staff that's a little bit more
challenging but we do want residents to
report it and we want residents to know
that we are aware and we're working very
closely with nrps to try to figure out
Solutions and solutions that balance
protecting the individuals who live in
close proximity of these spaces but also
you know wanting to shut this down
that's great well thank you director
McKay we appreciate this this update
report and we thank you for all the good
work that you and your entire staff are
doing
thank you Tiffany
there being no further discussion I have
a motion moved by councilor Russell that
we receive and file as information the
presentation regarding the community
services 2022 update and I will now ask
our clerk our Deputy clerk to open the
vote thank you chair and that vote is
now open
and that closes the vote and that motion
carries thank you
thank you
we will now consider the renaming of
Parkland at 3039 King Street report
cs-07-23
do members of council have any questions
there being no further discussion I have
a motion moved by councilor Reimer
to receive for information report
cs-07-23 regarding the proposed Parkland
renaming for Parkland located at 3039
King Street and approve the staff
recommendation to rename this Parkland
to be known as the Sora Sani sori song
Park
and I will now ask our Deputy clerk to
open the vote thank you chair that vote
is now open
and I will close that
in that motion carries thank you
thank you there being no additional
reports to consider for the community
services and infrastructure committee
agenda we have now concluded the
community services and infrastructure
committee agenda and we will now rotate
and allow councilor and chair Lynn
timmers to assume the chair at this time
for the general business and finance
committee agenda
thank you everyone we are now at the
general business and finance committee
agenda
we have no delegations under reports we
will now consider the routine disclosure
and active dissemination policy report
ls-06-2-3 our director of legislative
Services town clerk will speak to this
report
good evening can you hear me
yes perfect I can hear you thanks uh
this routine disclosure and active
dissemination policy is before council
tonight to ensure that the town of
Lincoln is moving towards a more mature
open government program which is based
on the core belief that the public has a
right to access the records and
proceedings of government to enable
greater openness accountability and
engagement
municipalities are encouraged to
determine how they can bring or expand
their open government activities
um and you know as such Stephanie
Bellissimo our records coordinator has
done a tremendous job working across the
corporation and meeting with all the
Departments mainly to understand the
most requested information that has been
required and that's been included as
well as other material and so we've also
consulted our legal counsel to ensure
all legal aspects have been considered
it's an important project initiative
that our department has taken on and and
that we've completed thus far and we
move closer to open government and uh
and open data and uh hopefully
that explains a little bit about the
report and I'd be happy to answer any
questions
excellent thank you very much Madam
clerk I will open it to council for
questions
counselor Bernay please go ahead
uh thank you chair timmers through you
to the uh the clerk uh Julie um thanks
for this and uh I certainly uh I think
this is a very positive thing I I
certainly understand why we would want
to be more open and transparent I'm just
wondering uh if there's something that
has specifically triggered this coming
at this point uh have we had a number of
residents resident complaints uh do we
feel that the Freedom of Information and
Privacy Act has become too restrictive
uh or is this just something that this
is the right thing to do
uh thank you councilor
counter uh counselor in terms of any
kind of information that has been
requested
right now all of the information being
requested is through a formal foi
whereas uh we don't have a policy in
place which we should
um which speaks to routine disclosure of
information
um without a formal submission of an foi
um or active dissemination so
information that we are actively making
the public aware of just without
um a request so as we build up our
website and
um and with more information coming with
our open data we will probably see a
reduction in the fois that we do receive
and that more information is being
actively disseminated to the public more
information is being routinely disclosed
as appropriate
and it's great uh thank you clerk just a
follow-up question I'm wondering if in
the process we have reached out to other
municipalities to see if other
municipalities have already got this
policy in place uh are we a leader here
or are we playing catch-up
um I'll hand it off to Stephanie but I
do want to say that I would say that we
are probably a leader in the region with
um making this policy
um uh coming through this evening with
Council approval so I would say that
we've done extensive research and
Stephanie I'll lead it to you because we
have uh worked with uh numerous
municipalities across Ontario
um we've spoken to numerous
municipalities and their clerks as well
as our legal counsel did some active
research so Stephanie I don't know if
you want to add anything to that
uh thank you Julie through you to the
chair so we have done some extensive
research as Julie was mentioning we had
looked at many different policies that
have come out and it is something that
municipalities are definitely starting
to do but I do believe that we are a
leader in this especially in in the
region I know that it's something that's
been discussed at our previous
Niagara region records group and it's
something that people want to start
working towards um so I definitely would
say we're leading that charge in that
way there have been some several great
policies that we were able to draw on
and like we've said uh like Julie was
mentioning we have reached out to
several municipalities and we're able to
um uh have what they put together help
to inform our policy and make it very
strong
great thank you Stephanie that's great
that's great timmers that's uh very
positive very encouraging to hear thank
you
yeah it's always good when we hear that
we're the leader in in an area and
anything that makes um communication and
information available to our residents
and the easier way is definitely a
positive I have counselor michalec uh
go ahead thank you chair timmers through
you to Julie um thank you for taking the
time to look at this and coming up with
this uh strategy just curious um with
regards to the financial portion of this
uh fees are not applicable
uh you know if the information can be
found on the website and I I understand
why that's the case I understand is to
try to you know get people to
put some effort you know into looking
things up on their own but
what if you don't have a computer what
if you don't what if you're not internet
Savvy what if you don't have access to
technology what if you're old school
traditional are you going to have to pay
like what's the realities towards this
and I compare it to like the arrive can
app like the government couldn't make
people use the arrive can app because if
you didn't have a cell phone or access
to technology you couldn't
you can't force people to use technology
so have we considered that with the
financial aspect of this
Madam Clerk
thank you uh counselor um through the
chair to you uh so we'll always work
with members of the public understanding
that
um we're hoping that we can drive as
many people to our website as much as
possible where that houses most of the
open data and available and um you know
information that is accessible however
knowing that not everybody
um is uh is is computer savvy as you've
just said so
um in terms of uh information that is
easy to find we'll work with that
individual and we'll take those cases
um as individual as they come and and
work with them in determining what
information that they're looking for
it's if it's easy and it's and it's very
fairly quick to
um come across or decipher
um we'll work with that individual on a
case-by-case basis if it's historical
data if it's being uh if it's data that
they're requesting that's going to take
some time to do research on if it's if
it's information that we need time or if
it's um you know a certain amount of
data that they're requesting in terms of
bylaws and minutes and motions and it's
going to take significant time to spend
and do the research um that's when there
will be costs um associated with it but
again we would be working with those
individuals on a case-by-case basis to
determine the best path forward we do
recognize that the submission we're
going to be asking will be that people
complete these um routine disclosure
requests online however we will be
accounting for those that want to come
in person and do it that way so making
sure that we are meeting the needs of
the residents depending on the need that
they're requesting
thank you very much for you and I think
I just want to make sure that people
aren't nervous or intimidated by you
know the possibility of a fee and and it
would you know deter them or you know
make them nervous about making a request
for information that um by seeing that
possible fee thank you thank you
counselor oh Madam or Madam clerk did
you have something to add I do I just
want to make them so thank you chair uh
we do have a fees and charges by law
that Council passed and and in that fees
and charges there's um several fees that
are associated with each department and
so I just want to make clear that some
of the fees
um will be significantly less depending
on what the type of request is so it may
not be a routine disclosure fee that we
charge it may be just a photocopying fee
it may just be something that's easy
done that way it may just be something
that they go to planning and there will
be some sort of uh be associated with
that or a financial fee so maybe they
need a copy of a water bill so so
counselor you know we'll make sure that
you know the the individual is aware
depending on the type of request being
asked
great thank you very much Madam clerk I
have uh maryston
next
thank you very much Madam chair thank
you for the report uh Julie this is
certainly an example of good governance
and good to be um on top of that
um will the start date for the
availability be prior to 1970.
um thank you madam Mary through the
chair to you
um so as you know we do have uh
historical records uh that date back
significantly
um you know before 1970 of our
amalgamation of the town of Lincoln and
so uh Stephanie is uh you know our she's
an archivist she's worked on several um
we're lucky to have her and so she's
worked on significant
um archives even with the museum and so
we do have a lot of historical data that
uh you know we are working through and
so some of that information could
pertain to that
um and uh again that that goes to the
research and and all of that information
on being requested and so Stephanie
would definitely take those requests as
they come
and and Madam clerk I I'm again on the
same
um line
um I'm assuming that there could be gaps
with the historic information if members
of the public have copies of it um
are you looking to have that information
in the head to be in the hands of the
town
uh I can't account for the uh what can
what happened before I came to the town
of Lincoln I'm hoping that we have
um you know our our materials that are
Town owned
um I would be I welcome any kind of
information that any member of the
public has that wishes to uh bring back
to the town of Lincoln okay that's
that's great news so I'm assuming then
that post 1970 it'll be as complete as
is this realistic
as complete as what I have currently not
America
okay that's great thank you very much
it's a great relief to know that we not
only have this policy in place but we
also have um I believe there was an
earlier policy that you were working on
in regards to the retention of records
and uh I'm assuming that the two of them
go together is that a fair assumption
that is correct so as as uh and through
the chair to you madamir uh as you know
in in 2020 we did uh put through
um a bylaw our retention records by law
which spoke to Tom rooms um and that's
our classification schedule and our
retention of records and so
um Stephanie has worked
um alongside of that policy as well as
this one and they do tie together
absolutely
great thank you very much thank you
madam chair thank you marystone
okay
I'm not seeing anyone else in the cube
so there being no further discussion I
have a motion moved by councilor Murray
the council receive and file for
information report
ls-06-2-3 and that Council approved the
routine disclosure and active
dissemination policy as set out in
appendix a of report ls0623
I will now ask our Deputy clerk to open
the vote thank you chair that vote's now
open
and I will now close the vote and that
motion carries thank you chair
thank you very much we have no
confidential items
do we have any committee remarks
there being no further further business
I call this meeting adjourned at 7 08 pm