[1:49] Good afternoon everyone and welcome to
our regular meeting for uh Monday, July
[1:54] 13th. Uh I'm going to call the meeting
to order now and invite everyone to rise
[1:59] for O Canada.
[3:18] Now I'm going to invite uh Deputy Mayor
Keveny to read our land acknowledgement.
[3:25] Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and good
afternoon, everyone. We would like to
[3:29] begin by acknowledging that we are
meeting on the traditional lands and
[3:34] treaty territory of the Sin Ojiway
nation which includes the Chipawas of
[3:41] Naywash unseated First Nation and the
Chipawas of Sin First Nation. We also
[3:49] recognize the Matei whose ancestors
shared this land and these waters. We
[3:55] extend our gratitude to all Anesab and
Matei peoples and their descendants,
[4:02] past, present, and future, who continue
to care for and inhabit these lands and
[4:08] tend these waters.
>> Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Um, now I just
[4:13] invite you to join me in a moment of
silent reflection on our business today.
[4:27] Thank you.
Uh is there any disclosure of pecuniary
[4:32] interest around the horseshoe? I see
none, but uh should it uh occur to you,
[4:36] please bring it up when that time comes.
Um announcements.
[4:43] Deputy Mayor, we can usually count on
you to uh [laughter]
[4:46] bring
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, I try to keep
[4:48] uh up with what's happening in the
community and there's always lots going
[4:51] on in Meford. So, just a couple of
things today. Um on behalf of Bogner
[4:56] Hall, they are hosting coffee houses now
and I think I mentioned this uh when
[5:00] they first began, but they've become so
successful already, averaging 36
[5:05] attendees and they have poets and
musicians, storytellers, standup
[5:10] comedians, you name it. The next event
is uh Sunday, July the 19th from 2 until
[5:16] 4:00 at the Bogner Community Center. And
the event is by donation. So just uh
[5:22] come and pay what you can. They do keep
the bar open and this will be a
[5:26] recurring event every month. So it's a
great time had by all.
[5:31] Uh secondly, on the 15th of uh July
coming up this week, is the annual pork
[5:38] chop barbecue out in Bogner. So, just uh
keep that in mind as well. And that's uh
[5:43] beginning at 5:00. And on the 17th is
the Rotary annual fish fry right down at
[5:52] the Rust Bumpstead Rotary Pavilion.
Tickets are $30 and available at Grandma
[5:57] Lambs or from any Rotarian. There's two
of us in the room, past President Bill
[6:01] and myself. And the menu is pickaro,
baked potatoes, coleslaw, all the
[6:07] fixings and pies from grandma lambs for
desserts. Uh the bar is open there as
[6:12] well. And do come out and help Rotary
support uh the community. All this all
[6:16] the funds that we raise go right back
into projects uh right here in the
[6:20] municipality of Meford and some
international projects as well. But come
[6:24] on out and enjoy the fish fry on the
17th. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[6:29] » Councelor Renis.
>> Thank you very much. Um, we have uh the
[6:33] Great Lakes Matei Fish Fry being held uh
by the the council uh that's based out
[6:37] of Bowen Sound on Saturday, July the
20th. I've been um every year for the
[6:42] past couple of years. The fish is uh
highly recommended. It's excellent. Um
[6:47] the day after uh the Rotary Fish Fry. Uh
lunch starts uh at 12 and tickets are
[6:52] $20 per person or $60 for a family.
>> Council Yurig.
[7:00] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor, sorry I don't have
another fish right. Um, MIFF is its 20th
[7:05] anniversary and so as I've said before,
Tiff is a a series that's running
[7:09] throughout the uh leadup to myth in
September and this evening uh is the
[7:15] third of four films that are being shown
um in that 20th anniversary slot. Uh
[7:20] it's called Holy Days and it shows at
700 p.m. tonight at Meford Hall and
[7:24] tickets are only $20. So, uh, we would
appreciate anybody coming out to
[7:27] support, uh, Tiff and you can find more
information at mefordculture.ca.
[7:33] » U, councelor Greenfield.
>> Thank you, uh, Mayor Kentner. Yes, I
[7:39] have a couple items to mention. Uh, they
both pertain to the historic Leaf
[7:44] Church. I'm sure everyone knows where
that is located. Saturday evening, July
[7:50] 18th at uh 700 p.m.
uh a group entertaining. They're called
[7:57] the Seventh Town. They're a Celtic folk
band from your PEI.
[8:03] Uh they include pipes and drums. And uh
the uh performance will be uh will be
[8:11] outside unless uh uh weather insists
that uh it should go inside. And then on
[8:18] Saturday, July 25th at 7:30 also at the
uh Leath Church. And this is one I think
[8:27] everybody should be interested in taking
in. It's the Maple Reserve Barberhop
[8:33] Quartet.
Uh, how exciting is that? Tickets are
[8:39] available through the Roxy Theater
ticket office in Oldtown. Thank you.
[8:44] » Excellent. [clears throat] Anyone else
on our side of the horseshoe? Um, anyone
[8:48] on the other side have something to
offer? Yes. Uh, Director Carbert.
[8:55] » Uh, thank you, your worship. Um, this
will be posted online and through the
[9:00] municipal website this week, but also on
site. The Georgian Trail will be closed
[9:05] between Sworthmore Drive and Christy
Beach Road on Thursday and Friday in
[9:10] order for engineering work to be
completed on structure 129. Um they'll
[9:14] have a large drilling rig in there. So
we can't accommodate both pedestrian
[9:18] bikes and the drilling rig. So the trail
will be closed and unfortunately there
[9:23] is no alternative route uh around this
trail section. So, if all goes well,
[9:28] it'll be finalized Friday night and
everything will be returned to normal on
[9:31] Saturday morning again.
>> Thank you. Anyone else? Um, well, I have
[9:36] a very pleasant duty myself at this
point in time and I'm just going to uh
[9:42] read this um tribute and then I'm going
to go go down there and meet this young
[9:48] lady. Uh, this is uh to Doris Rose. Dear
Doris, on behalf of the council of the
[9:54] municipality of Meford, it is our great
pleasure to extend our sincere
[9:58] congratulations to you on your selection
for the Herbert Smith Freeh Hills Kramer
[10:04] Portrait Award 2026 at the National
Portrait Gallery in London, England.
[10:10] This remarkable honor reflects your
extraordinary talent, dedication to your
[10:15] craft, and the international impact of
your artistic practice. To be chosen for
[10:20] one of the world's leading exhibitions
of contemporary portrait painting is an
[10:25] exceptional achievement and one that
brings great pride to the municipality
[10:29] of Meford. Your selected work, Stripes,
is a powerful example of the creativity,
[10:36] technical skill, and personal insight
that defines your practice. We also
[10:41] recognize the meaningful role you play
in our local arts community through your
[10:45] studio work here in Meford and your
efforts to make art education more
[10:49] accessible. Your success on an
international stage is an inspiration to
[10:54] artists and residents alike and a
reminder that creative excellence can
[10:58] flourish in communities of every size.
Please accept our heartfelt
[11:03] congratulations on this well-deserved
recognition. We wish you continued
[11:08] success as the exhibition opens in
London and tours across the United
[11:12] Kingdom. Yours sincerely and it's signed
by uh myself as mayor uh Deputy Mayor
[11:17] Keveny and every member of this council.
[12:35] Now we uh move on to public
participation. Uh members of the public
[12:39] are encouraged to provide council with
their comments and questions.
[12:44] Presentations must be pre-arranged with
legislative services before the agenda
[12:48] is released and will be limited to 10
minutes. If a member of the public
[12:53] wishes to make a deputation on items on
the council agenda or to ask a public
[12:57] question of council, they may do so
either in person at the council chambers
[13:02] or remotely via Zoom. Members of the
public wishing to make a deputation or
[13:06] to ask a public question are encouraged
to register in advance with legislative
[13:11] services by 10 in the morning on the day
of. And you can do that by contacting
[13:16] deputy clerk@me.ca CA or calling
519-5381060
[13:22] extension 1100. An email with access
information will be sent to those who
[13:27] register for remote participation.
Deputations are limited to 5 minutes and
[13:32] public questions are limited to two
minutes. The public can watch this
[13:36] meeting live via the Municipality of
Meford's YouTube channel
[13:40] www.mmeford.ca/youtube.
[13:44] We have no uh presentations today, but
we do have some deputations.
[13:50] And uh first I'm going to call uh Gina
Jawarski who is speaking tonight item
[13:56] 91A which is consideration of sale and
disposition of municipal properties.
[14:03] Someone turn uh Gina's uh
microphone there.
[14:08] » Okay.
Okay.
[14:11] » I don't
>> Is that all right? I don't see. Is there
[14:14] microphone on? Good. Okay, fine. Just go
right ahead. Thank you.
[14:17] » Okay. Thank you. So, good afternoon,
mayor, members of council, and staff. My
[14:21] name is Gina Juniper Jorski, and I'd
like to thank you for the opportunity to
[14:25] speak regarding the proposed disposal of
the Aken Street Road allowance. I'm here
[14:30] as the owner of the adjoining property,
but also as someone whose family has
[14:34] been connected to this land for
generations. In 1969, my father served
[14:39] severed these properties and registered
them with the town. I have the original
[14:44] survey certificate available which shows
the lots as they were created with the
[14:48] road allowance intended to provide
future access. These lots remain legally
[14:52] registered today. However, they cannot
be developed because the road identified
[14:56] on the survey has never been provided.
There are two lots that are legally
[15:02] registered behind 244 Aken Street. Our
road allowance is a public asset. Once
[15:09] it's sold, it may be impossible to
recover if future community needs needs
[15:13] to change.
This neighborhood continues to grow.
[15:17] There's a large vacant property across
from our home that may one day be
[15:21] developed. Memorial Park is located at
one end of Aken Street. The old high
[15:26] school is located at the other. And the
street already experiences significant
[15:30] pedestrian and vehicle traffic. There is
also an existing stop sign intersection
[15:35] at this location which demonstrates that
the road allowance was considered part
[15:40] of the future road network. Before
removing this opportunity, I believe
[15:44] council should carefully consider
whether this connection may be needed in
[15:48] the future for traffic flow, emergency
access, pedestrian safety, or municipal
[15:54] servicing. Looking ahead, a new school
is planned for the former track
[15:58] property, and the future use of the old
high school has yet to be determined.
[16:03] While access from Aken Street to the
former high school property has been
[16:06] closed, future changes to the area may
result in increased traffic being
[16:11] directed onto Richmond Street and then
back through Eliza Street to access
[16:15] alternate exits. If Aken Street becomes
congested during school related traffic
[16:20] times, maintaining future road options
may be an an an important consideration.
[16:26] Disposing of this road allowance could
limit future solutions and may
[16:30] contribute to further traffic pressures
on surrounding streets. Concerns that
[16:35] council has already heard from residents
when you had your past meetings
[16:39] regarding whatever is happening at the
old high school. I also asked council to
[16:44] consider the history of this property. A
previous council considered disposing of
[16:48] the same road allowance and ultimately
chose to retain it. I respectfully asked
[16:53] what has changed since that decision.
I also question why only one part of the
[17:00] portion of the road allowance is being
considered for disposal while the
[17:04] section fronting Eliza Street is not. I
need to understand the reason for this
[17:08] distinction. Uh and I believe it's
important before making any irreversible
[17:13] decision regarding public land. While my
concerns are about the future of the
[17:18] community, I also need to acknowledge
that this decision would have a direct
[17:22] negative impact on my property. The two
registered lots created in 1969 were
[17:28] established with the understanding that
the road allowance would provide future
[17:32] access. Removing that possibly affects
the future use, value, and development
[17:37] potential of my property.
Finally, I was never formally informed
[17:42] that this proposal would be coming
before council. I became aware of it
[17:46] only by reviewing the council agenda
myself. I believe decisions involving
[17:50] public land should include meaningful
consultation with those most directly
[17:56] affected. For those reasons, I
respectfully ask council to postpone any
[18:01] decision to dispose of this road
allowance until its historical purpose,
[18:05] future municipal needs, access
considerations, and long-term planning
[18:09] implications have been fully reviewed. I
believe good planning requires us to
[18:14] think beyond today's need. Once this
land is sold, the opportunity to use it
[18:17] for the benefit of future generations
may be gone forever. I thank you for
[18:22] your time and consideration.
>> Thank you very much. Uh is any counselor
[18:26] have a question for the speaker
and I'm just going to ask uh CEO
[18:32] Everett, did you wish to respond at all
at this time?
[18:35] » Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. In regards to
response, um the report laid out what
[18:40] the process was uh in regards to
reaching out once council uh approves
[18:45] that report. There will be
correspondence going out to the adjacent
[18:48] land owners to understand if there are
any concerns. Uh there have been some
[18:53] communications in this regard. Um and at
this point, council's not disposing of
[18:59] the land as yet.
>> Okay. Thank you very much.
[19:04] Uh the next speaker is uh Jean Burch and
she is also uh speaking to item uh 91A.
[19:19] Um, I live in the same vicinity as Gina
does and of course uh I've been taking
[19:27] care of a piece of property that ab
butts the land uh the road allowance for
[19:34] a number of years. At one time I did my
husband and I did ask to buy it and we
[19:40] were informed it had been made part of
the road allowance.
[19:45] So, uh, at any time in the future that
you want to sell the road allowance, I
[19:53] think I should be given consideration to
buy the piece of property adjoining it.
[19:58] It's not big enough for a building lot.
Uh
[20:04] also uh
I would like to ask
[20:10] is there any way
that you can
[20:15] open up the back road of the cemetery?
I think you need to for emergency
[20:22] reasons because of the amount of people
that live down my way. And we don't have
[20:29] a great deal of roads down there to get
out if there was ever an emergency.
[20:35] And I'd like to I I have uh asked
Shirley about it before on occasion. Um
[20:43] so I I'd really like to know something
about that.
[20:46] » I see staff making some notes. So, thank
you very much.
[20:49] » Thank you.
>> Um,
[20:53] » third speaker is uh Patrick McDonald uh
also speaking to uh 91A.
[21:08] Mayor Kentner, deputy mayor, counselors,
staff. Um, I'm speaking specifically to
[21:16] uh the inclusion of uh block,
pardon me, Kingston Beach Road plan
[21:24] block A to B on the list of properties
recommended for sale and and uh
[21:30] disposal.
Um,
[21:34] I am owner and resident at lot 17 plan
731 at Kingston Beach. that's otherwise
[21:41] known as 113 Kingston Beach.
My understanding and belief is that a
[21:48] pre-existing
easement
[21:52] which exists
uh from May 1986
[21:56] for block A and the shore road allowance
for the purpose of obtaining water from
[22:02] the wellhead located on block A would
prelude
[22:07] uh the inclusion of this
um piece of property in the municipal
[22:14] municipalities plan for disposal. That
easement was granted by Sidnham Township
[22:20] Council to my father and passed to me
when I purchased the family home. Uh
[22:26] indeed, that well on block A supplies
water to other users in the subdivision,
[22:34] a total of three others. To my
knowledge, it's not clear to me in what
[22:39] I've been able to read that municipal
staff were aware of this infrastructure
[22:45] uh on the uh block A property or the
40-year-old legal easement or the shore
[22:52] well and water lines. And in my opinion,
that would preclude its inclusion in as
[22:58] a property for uh for disposal.
I would ask whether or not that was
[23:04] considered in
um staff's decision to include it in the
[23:11] package of properties to be disposed of.
>> I think that perhaps the CEO ever can
[23:16] respond to that now.
>> Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um as I
[23:21] mentioned in the last my my previous
response, going through this process
[23:26] will allow us to have that communication
with residents. Um I'm sure over the
[23:30] years there are a number of of different
easements that have been put in place.
[23:34] Uh I was not aware of of of this
situation. Um however this is why the
[23:40] process works. We we basically get
information from residents. Um and again
[23:46] I want to stress council has not
disposed of these lands. This is the
[23:50] early stages of consideration of
disposal of lands.
[23:55] » Thank you.
And uh we have a final uh speaker uh
[24:00] Darcy Chapman. Uh if you would come
forward, I think you're quite familiar
[24:04] with our facilities here. Welcome back.
Thank you, your worship, council.
[24:10] [clears throat]
Uh so yeah, I'm I'm here for the the
[24:13] same uh agenda item. Um I'd first like
to start by saying that I recognize that
[24:19] council passed a budget this year that
included a million half dollars in
[24:23] revenue for land sales. So, if you don't
find land to sell, you're going to have
[24:27] an operating budget deficit. So, I know
that this is why this is this is a a big
[24:31] deal. Uh I certainly question why the
million half dollars was included in the
[24:37] operating budget because we by the looks
of the the 94 properties that were
[24:40] provided to council. Many of them can't
be sold. So, where we're going to come
[24:44] up with a million and a half dollars
every year going forward uh is is
[24:47] certainly a question. Um, some of the
properties I have no problem with, but
[24:51] there are five that I take great
exception to. Um, Kingston Beach, Sunset
[24:56] Beach, and Queens Bush. Uh, all three of
those properties were reviewed eight,
[25:01] nine years ago. Um, I question whether
staff actually went and did any kind of
[25:06] a site tour. I've actually walked all
three of those properties. There were a
[25:11] number of staff that came to those
meetings. There were actually members of
[25:14] council that came to those those on-site
meetings as well. Those properties uh to
[25:19] the best of my knowledge do have
encumbrances on them. They either have
[25:23] deemed access for back lots or they do
have uh things like um wells like the
[25:28] the gentleman just noted. Um more
importantly, uh having waterfront lots
[25:35] that the municipality owns is not
something that we should sell. It is a
[25:39] massive asset. These things should be
kept for for public use. They should
[25:44] actually be improved upon. they we
should be looking at creating small
[25:47] parkquetses with a handful of uh parking
spaces and actually providing access to
[25:53] the waterfront for more locations. We
already know that the locations that we
[25:57] have do get overwhelmed. So something
very simple like a Leath Beach idea
[26:01] would be perfect at these locations. It
would actually mean maybe that we could
[26:05] uh you know put something out there to
the public that they can go and access
[26:08] these locations. It would get the people
to actually go and drive around the
[26:11] municipality and see different areas of
the municipality. So, I don't think
[26:14] these three properties should be sold at
all. They actually need to be kept in
[26:17] the public trust and they should be
improved upon. The other two are uh
[26:21] Ridge Road and Susan Street. Uh council
over the last 12 to 18 months has put in
[26:30] significant investment into industrial
and commercial lands. Uh you're now
[26:35] looking at making a decision to sell
industrial lands and I don't understand
[26:41] why. Uh these are fully serviced
industrial lots. Uh they take no
[26:47] investment of public money whereas the
property that you've recently just
[26:51] purchased is going to take millions and
millions of dollars to put underground
[26:55] infrastructure and roads onto them. The
these properties are available. If
[27:00] they're going to be if they're already
usable or can be used, uh, council
[27:04] should be going through the process with
planning staff, legal, engineers,
[27:07] whoever the case may be to actually make
sure that these things are available for
[27:11] use and that they can be easily
marketed. Whereas the land that you've
[27:14] just bought right now will need
significant investment in multiple years
[27:17] to even get close to being actually
market ready. So, I mean, the question
[27:22] that I have, this this came up at the
last meeting. Councelor Bell was the
[27:25] only one who who mentioned anything at
the meeting. He said, you know, that
[27:30] these are the kinds of discussions that
happen in in close session. Uh he was
[27:34] very comfortable with the decisions uh
that were made based on the on the
[27:38] conversation that happened with staff.
The rest of the council stayed, Mom. I
[27:42] know you weren't at that meeting, but
the rest of the members of council that
[27:46] were here didn't speak to it. So, we
don't actually know what was talked
[27:50] about in the closed session and and the
rest of the members of council didn't
[27:53] voice their opinion as to why that they
thought that this was a good idea or a
[27:56] bad idea. Uh so it it lends to my
question about transparency to the point
[28:02] that on this exact agenda, you also have
a report coming forward uh to talk and
[28:08] take a look at the tiny homes situation
on those two properties uh um that I
[28:13] just mentioned on Ridge Road and Susan
Street. It seems fairly presumptive to
[28:18] me that uh the CEO mentioned at the last
meeting that there's a 120 meter radius
[28:24] around each property. The property
owners need to be advised of the
[28:27] potential for the disposition. Yet, at
this meeting, you have a report from
[28:30] staff coming forward to start the
process of a request for information for
[28:35] tiny homes on those locations. I think
your your cart is many miles ahead of
[28:40] the horse on on this one already. Uh,
you know, another property that was not
[28:45] discussed uh was property number 24 from
the council package, which is uh uh the
[28:50] Collingwood West and Parker Street
property. Uh it is a piece of property
[28:53] that is used I know for the fall fair
but generally primarily just for
[28:57] parking. It's a a one two-day event and
that's the only time the property gets
[29:00] used for. It's in close proximity to
other um high residential uh areas
[29:06] walkability to the arena to the curling
club much closer to the downtown. I
[29:12] don't understand why that property
wasn't looked at uh for a tiny homesuh
[29:16] type of development versus properties
that are already zoned industrial and
[29:20] are already serviced. Thank you for your
input, Darcy. Um, did I didn't hear a
[29:27] question. Uh, you've raised many issues
and I'm sure they will be dealt with by
[29:30] council. So, thank you.
[29:35] » Did anyone wish to ask a public
question? Uh we've just gone on on our
[29:41] agenda today is a review of our uh uh
our protocols and I we're going to
[29:47] rename public questions public input so
that people don't have to go to the
[29:52] trouble of framing a question because
usually that results in a speech. So
[29:56] anyway, I just want to make people aware
that change may be approved today and in
[30:00] the meantime there will be an
opportunity for people to uh ask a
[30:04] question uh in our public meetings. Um,
I'm going to move on to council
[30:09] inquiries.
Any inquiries from council today?
[30:14] I see none. So, uh, at this point, uh,
I'm going to move to item nine, motions
[30:21] and bylaws for decision, and there are
nine matters on our consent agenda
[30:25] today. Items in this list have been
before committee of the whole for
[30:29] discussion. Council may choose to pass
these items and/or bylaws with one
[30:33] motion. A member may also request an
item or items be pulled for separate
[30:38] consideration.
Item A is consideration of sale and
[30:42] disposition of municipal properties.
Item B, a commercial business occupying
[30:47] municipal land. Item C is a special
event licensing agreement with the
[30:51] Meford Chamber of Commerce. Item D is
2025 non-budgeted year-end transfers.
[30:58] Item E is the 2025 yearend surplus. Item
F is to declare land surplus and
[31:04] transfer ownership of Georgian Beach
Lane. Item G is an addendum to the
[31:09] inaugural meeting of the 2026 through
2030 term of council. Item H is to
[31:15] finalize the procedural bylaw review and
item I is to pass the new procedural
[31:20] bylaw. Does any counselor wish to pull
any of these items for further
[31:24] discussion today? Uh councelor Bell.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[31:30] Item A.
[31:35] » Okay. Thank you. Uh any other uh
in that case uh we can uh take item A uh
[31:44] out and um can I have a motion to
approve uh everything in uh item 91 with
[31:52] the exception of A.
Deputy mayor, a seconder, a councelor
[31:57] Yurig. Any discussion? All in favor? Uh
any opposed? So that is carried
[32:04] unanimously. Thank you very much. And uh
at county council, we usually come back
[32:09] to the item that was pulled at the end
of the day, but I don't know as we have
[32:13] to be guided by county council in this.
Uh so I'll defer to the clerk.
[32:17] » Thank you, your worship. At this point,
we would return to 9.1A
[32:21] um and complete the the consent agenda
discussion.
[32:24] » So can I have uh a motion to uh put it
on the floor?
[32:29] Councelor
Bell and a seconder councelor
[32:32] Greenfield. So go ahead and we'll
discuss this.
[32:37] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
So um it is absolutely correct that when
[32:44] this came up I did say that I felt very
comfortable with what uh council had
[32:49] received from information from uh staff
pulling together a report um without
[32:56] disclosing anything uh truly out of the
closed session since the general public
[33:02] uh can obviously read the list of
properties uh they were absolutely the
[33:07] properties that uh council looked at to
[33:14] tell the general public.
Council received maps about what those
[33:22] properties were, how big those
properties were, listed in hectares,
[33:28] which I converted over to acres being a
little bit old school. took a look at
[33:33] all of those properties that staff had
analyzed and looked at for development
[33:38] or not for development.
But to be absolutely clear, as our CIO
[33:44] had said uh to one of the questions,
there was nothing specifically on any
[33:49] one of those properties that would have
said anything like, "Oh, on this
[33:55] property, you know, there's a little
garden shed painted in the corner." We
[33:59] we didn't read about any little garden
sheds. We didn't read about whether or
[34:03] not there was a well that was located on
there for anybody close by put in from a
[34:08] historical point of view. Um we didn't
get anything like um say from Sidenham
[34:17] St. Vincent uh councils or the town of
Meford uh former councils what was
[34:24] presented was exactly what's before us
today a series of properties which when
[34:31] staff had analyzed the size of them
where they're located council got a look
[34:36] at that big package we took a look at it
and I am very happy to hear uh that even
[34:43] if uh council says this afternoon uh
that we will proceed on doing something
[34:48] here. Um I take it then each and every
one of these will be sent out so that at
[34:55] a council if there is something that's
going on specifically at those
[34:59] properties this council can make a
decision to say uh we will for not do
[35:06] that particular item for a very specific
reason but that's not this afternoon. Is
[35:11] that clear?
>> Uh thank you Mr. Mr. From here to
[35:15] councelor Bell, that's absolutely clear.
Uh there is no no decision to sell
[35:20] dispose of at this point. It was just
clearly um identifying potential
[35:25] properties that could be considered in
the future.
[35:31] » Deputy Mayor.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And just uh as
[35:36] follow up to councelor Bell's comments,
I just wanted to first of all thank the
[35:38] residents that have joined us today and
have shared information with us because
[35:43] we're we're learning as well the
specifics about these pieces of property
[35:47] and I appreciate that the CEO is sharing
more about the process of how this will
[35:51] go forward. So my question I think for
staff in the matter is if if we find out
[35:57] uh issues about any of these particular
properties, is there an opportunity to
[36:00] go back and review the land inventory
and and to look perhaps at other pieces
[36:06] because we acknowledge that we did put a
number in the budget being fairly
[36:10] comfortable that we could uh um
potentially dispose of some of these
[36:14] pieces of land in 2026.
>> Uh you Mr. Mayor to the deputy mayor.
[36:19] Absolutely. I think you know from a from
a process perspective before the
[36:25] municipality can actually consider
disposing lands need to be declared
[36:30] surplus to the municipal needs. So we're
in the early stages council has every
[36:36] opportunity even if you were to declare
it surplus and then afterwards you
[36:41] decided not to sell that's council's
prerogative. um council has a land
[36:47] disposition policy uh that identifies
the process to go through to potentially
[36:53] dispose of of property. So, it's very
very clear, but I think the public um uh
[37:00] having the information that you know
even if something was declared surplus
[37:05] does not force the hand of council to
dispose of it. Um this is um the
[37:12] question in regards to are there other
lands. Um I think the report identified
[37:17] that this is phase one of of the process
um throughout the entire municipality.
[37:23] There is a number of opened and unopened
road allowances. And I say open road
[37:27] allowances could just be because they
could be considered open. They're not
[37:33] you can't use them but they've never
been they've never been closed. Um
[37:38] there's a number of road allowances that
this next phase in 2027 will consider
[37:43] going through a similar process to
identify. Are there any road allowances
[37:48] that you know make sense for the
municipality to um to dispose of um
[37:54] unopen road allowances typically 66 ft
wide so they would be building lots. Um
[38:00] but again um and and I'm very aware and
and I I really appreciate the comments
[38:06] uh raised by the public. One thing that
doesn't get made any more of is land. Um
[38:12] so staff is taking that very very
seriously. Um I will say that the
[38:18] municipality will benefit from an actual
strategic review of the inventory to
[38:24] then determine whether or not something
makes sense to sell. Um the last thing
[38:29] staff wants is knee-jerk uh
recommendations. Um that put us in
[38:34] positions where you know we've sell we
sell something and you know five six
[38:39] seven years later you look and think why
why why would we ever have sold that? Um
[38:43] so the intention of this is to be very
very strategic and and if there is land
[38:48] that is available to sell um then uh
those are the recommendations that staff
[38:56] would be coming forward with. But
ultimately it's a council's decision.
[39:02] » If there are no further comments on
that, we should vote on uh uh the item
[39:07] before us. And um I will call a
question. All in favor?
[39:13] Any opposed? That is unanimous. And that
takes care of u the uh uh first item on
[39:21] the uh the u consent agenda.
Uh did we vote on all the others? We
[39:28] did. Right. Then that's that's good. Um
we uh also have two new items for
[39:36] consideration today. Uh the
recommendation for U 92A
[39:42] is
uh be it resolved that bylaw 2026-55
[39:47] being a bylaw to delegate certain duties
respecting the implementation of the
[39:51] administrative penalty system to the
director of legislative services by
[39:56] amending bylaw 40-204
to add schedule D be taken as read a
[40:01] first, second, and third time and
finally passed. Can I have a mover and
[40:05] seconder for this? Councelor Greenfield
and Councelor Forter. Thank you. Uh any
[40:10] discussion on this?
Go ahead, Councelor Fter.
[40:15] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh and through
you. Um I just wanted to get a little
[40:19] bit of clarification with regards to uh
something on this. I have no problem
[40:23] with the delegated authority. Um,
however, with regards to delegating the
[40:27] setting of things like penalty amounts,
um, I just don't really see any kind of
[40:32] guard rails or anything like that where
it completely removes, um, council, uh,
[40:36] from this. Um, so I just wanted to know,
do we consider setting the penalty
[40:41] amounts uh, for this um, bylaw to be an
administrative function or more of a
[40:47] policy function? Um because my concern
would be if there's any changes to the
[40:53] penalties and we don't find about out
about it till we get our reports. There
[40:57] could be major changes and penalties
that could be in place for several
[41:01] months um without council not even being
aware of any of these changes. So just
[41:05] curious to know how do we ensure that
for council we are um implementing the
[41:10] right guard rails to make sure that
there is the proper level of
[41:14] administrative function but also the
policy control that is ultimately
[41:18] council's responsibility. Just looking
for some comment on that please.
[41:22] » I'm going to go to clerk.
>> Thank you worship and through to
[41:27] councelor forer. Um Holly is not able to
be here today so I will try my best to
[41:31] explain. Um,
initially what my my first comment would
[41:36] be is actually the legislation provides
those guardrails because the um the
[41:40] penalties can't be considered punitive
um and are really restricted by what's
[41:45] reasonable and required to promote
compliance. And so our intention um
[41:49] should council um move forward with a
delegated authority in this area would
[41:53] be to set penalties that are comparable
to our neighbors um who have done the
[41:57] benchmarking and and that would be our
process. Um certainly these would be
[42:01] transparent penalties that would be put
up on the website as part of the final
[42:06] bylaw that's posted. And so there's a
transparency component to that. Um all
[42:10] members of the public should be able to
see that the penalties in this area. Um
[42:14] so I I don't know if that offers uh too
short of an explanation, but I think
[42:18] both the legislation and the
transparency piece um really help to
[42:22] ensure everything is in line with what's
required and and reasonable in that
[42:26] respect. Thank you.
[42:30] Anyone else wish to uh speak? And I'm
going to call the uh vote. All in favor?
[42:36] Any opposed? And that is carried
unanimously. Thank you.
[42:44] The uh next item is uh that council of
the municipality of meford uh approve
[42:49] heritage permit application
heritage-01-2026
[42:55] um on 36 Psych Street South by Aowski uh
with the following conditions. One, that
[43:02] the final materials and colors to be of
to the satisfaction of planning staff.
[43:07] Two, that the brick facade be conserved
and retained as proposed.
[43:12] osed with new brick materials to be
integrated with the original brick.
[43:16] Three, that any future signage be
subject to applicable sign bylaw
[43:19] requirements. And four, that the works
generally conform to the plans and
[43:23] renderings submitted with the
application. Can I have a mover and
[43:27] seconder, please? Moved by councelor,
seconded by councelor Andis. Very good.
[43:32] Um, discussion,
questions. I'll start with councelor
[43:37] Greenfield.
[43:40] Thank you, Marshall. Um, well, when I
first started reading through this
[43:46] report, I I was uh quite uh quite
enthused by the uh the renovations and
[43:53] the uh the upgrades. I uh uh
picked up on the uh use of uh more
[44:03] traditional line masonry to do any uh uh
masonry repairs. and uh uh putting in
[44:11] the middle window again brings it back
to uh I think a a very attractive, very
[44:18] acceptable storefront.
However,
[44:24] then I got down to looking at the
entrance way
[44:29] and I saw two steps
and I would be remiss if I did not bring
[44:39] up the accessibility problems here.
Um,
[44:46] I know I'm
been beating this drum often in the past
[44:51] few years and I'm going to beat it
again. This is a this is an opportunity.
[44:56] Yes, it will
cost
[45:01] the manager, the owner of this operation
more money. But there's an opportunity
[45:06] here to recess that doorway, create a
ramp, make this
[45:13] facility
um accessible. I I'm just
[45:22] I endorse the heritage features trying
to maintain them. I I'm 100% for that.
[45:28] But when it comes to accessibility, why
can't we collaborate and cooperate the
[45:35] two of them together when something like
this comes forward? We're we're missing
[45:40] an opportunity here.
And we've missed it in other areas too.
[45:46] We're supposedly a community of
well-being
[45:50] uh
accepting everyone regardless of their
[45:56] physical needs. And here's an example
where we're not not doing that or at
[46:04] least I I don't see it in this
application. So
[46:09] that's where I'm at. uh your worship. Uh
as I say, other than that, I'm I'm quite
[46:14] all right with it, but I I I have to
mention this and and this is the the
[46:19] accessibility issue to our downtown
businesses is not getting better.
[46:25] We have opportunities to help and we're
ignoring them.
[46:31] » Okay. Thank you.
>> Thank you for that passionate,
[46:34] deservedly passionate comment. Um, does
anyone want to respond to that or at
[46:40] least speak to
Yeah, let's call on staff here to uh
[46:45] help us out a bit.
>> Hi there. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, so
[46:50] that is something that the heritage
advisory committee did bring up um at
[46:54] their meeting for this application as
well. Um and so our standpoint is that
[47:00] when someone applies for a heritage
permit application,
[47:03] um we c we can require them to uh keep
or upkeep the steps in as good condition
[47:12] as they can. Um if they were submitting
a building permit application to
[47:16] renovate Jake Scrapand Go restaurant,
then that's something where AODDA
[47:21] compliance could come into effect. Um if
it's council's wishes, we could amend
[47:27] um the recommendation. Um but from from
the planning staff perspective, uh we
[47:34] would just require them to maintain
those steps in as good condition as they
[47:38] can.
What I don't understand is that I
[47:43] thought that we're well past the
deadline for u um
[47:48] structural changes to provide
accessibility and I I don't understand
[47:53] why uh the proponent isn't isn't
required uh in some way to conform to
[47:59] the provincial legislation. Am I wrong?
[48:05] Uh if I may your worship, um the trigger
to uh make something like a door, excuse
[48:12] [clears throat] me, accessible really
only comes up on under the Ontario
[48:16] building code when specific
modifications are being made. So, um
[48:22] existing B business owners aren't
compelled to make accessibility
[48:26] improvements unless they're already
altering that item. So, for example,
[48:33] removing a washroom and and replacing it
or renovating, then the new the replaced
[48:37] version would have to meet accessibility
standards. I'd look to a facilities
[48:42] expert um to to help me out there, but
um really they would have to be altering
[48:49] the entrance um for us to be able to
trigger under the code an accessibility
[48:55] um improvement, if that makes sense.
>> I'm going to ask other members of
[48:58] council to weigh in here for their
opinion. I'll come back to you after
[49:02] everyone's spoken and I'm going to start
with councelor Yurig.
[49:05] » Thank you Mr. Mayor and thank you
councelor Greenfield for bringing up.
[49:09] We're all extremely sympathetic to um
AODA standards and would love to see
[49:15] more in the downtown h have that happen.
I guess my question is the obviously the
[49:19] logistics of it because I'm presuming if
that was looking at the diagram or at
[49:24] the picture if that was going to happen
it obviously can't shut out forward.
[49:28] have to be side and the and the gradient
of any ramp has to be fairly long
[49:34] obviously to accommodate the uh
standard. Is there room even to do that
[49:40] on that building? Um because it's then
going to jut into the driveway to the
[49:45] part of it or to the left it's going to
be the building. So has it even been
[49:49] looked into to determine whether or not
a ramp would even be able to manage to
[49:54] work in that environment?
[50:00] um through your worship. Uh I think that
you've just pointed out sort of the the
[50:05] catch, right? Um while we all um hold um
accessibility um and heritage to a high
[50:13] standard and high importance, uh in a
historic downtown like ours, space is
[50:17] very limited and the existing sort of
logistics really really tend to to come
[50:22] into play. So, um the applicant in this
case hasn't uh applied to to alter their
[50:30] um their entrance. So, we can't compel
them to do so. Again, uh even though we
[50:36] do really prioritize accessibility. So,
um looking forward to our our new CIP
[50:41] coming into force and effect so that we
can um help add um you know funds to to
[50:47] help incentivize those changes because
again in these historic buildings those
[50:51] represent significant potentially
significant changes. So um I think
[50:56] you've you've hit the nail on the head
there.
[50:59] » So that sort of truncates discussion
unless somebody let's hear what you have
[51:04] to say anyway and councelor Renis.
>> Thank you. Um
[51:08] yeah, I I complet um I completely
uh sympathize uh with with with with the
[51:16] idea. Um I worry that at this point we
don't have the structures in place to be
[51:21] able to enforce something that large on
uh what is essentially the update of you
[51:26] know in in appearance. Um so and that's
essentially what I'm hearing from. we're
[51:31] not getting into like structural
building, but I do think that there
[51:35] might be the opportunity then for future
discussions to require accessibility
[51:41] requ uh
or accessibility considerations to be
[51:45] part of our heritage permitting process.
Um I've been to had the fortune to be in
[51:51] other parts of the world and uh take
courses uh designed around um how to
[51:58] include uh various forms of physical
disability um in in some locations that
[52:04] have been built on for at this point a
thousand years and in cultures where
[52:09] heritage is extremely important.
and they've come up with some very
[52:14] creative solutions uh around the world
to make very historical buildings uh
[52:20] meet modern accessibility standards. I
presume that maybe their larger
[52:24] government tax structures are different
and allow for that so that a small
[52:28] municipality could apply for money to be
able to do that. But looking at this
[52:32] building on Google Maps right now on
street view, I'm seeing that for
[52:35] example, uh the spa next door is kind of
more at grade and then the building kind
[52:40] of comes across and the sidewalk drops
down making that adding a step uh just
[52:45] from one front door to the the
neighboring front door. And I've seen a
[52:48] solution where essentially the ramp is
added along the front of the building.
[52:52] Um you know, in this case it might be a
little need to be more creative because
[52:56] there's a door to the apartments above
it seems. But um there are solutions uh
[53:00] to to be able to do that. Um
so if we're when we you know maybe maybe
[53:06] for the next council maybe we included
in our recommendations for the next
[53:10] council to make that a part of our
heritage permitting because heritage
[53:15] buildings are going to be inaccessible
pro most likely and so if anyone's going
[53:19] to be doing any work on them at all we
should be requiring this.
[53:24] » Thank you. This is very valuable
contribution. Councelor Bell, was your
[53:27] hand up?
Councelor Bell. No. Okay, fine. Sorry.
[53:33] Um, Deputy Mayor, and then I'll go back
to Councelor Greenfield.
[53:37] » Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor, and I
appreciate the discussion. I was going
[53:40] to mention accessibility, but Harley did
it much more descriptively than I ever
[53:44] could. So, I'm glad we're addressing
this for this particular building. Um,
[53:48] I'm wondering in relation to the steps,
because I appreciate the challenge that
[53:52] we face with them. Um, is there a
potential for us to require a temporary
[53:58] ramp that could be just, you know, set
down if someone wanted to enter the
[54:03] business who required that with a
walker, wheelchair, whatever the concern
[54:07] might be, something that just could be
brought out of the business, set down
[54:11] over the steps on that very temporary
basis so that individual could get in
[54:16] and out. Are we allowed to require
anything of that nature?
[54:22] Sure.
[54:27] Um through you, Mr. Mayor. Um that's a a
good solution on a temporary basis. Um I
[54:34] think staff would need to look into
those required clearances for sidewalk
[54:38] as well. I believe it's 1.5 m of
clearance is required and I'm not too
[54:43] sure um how it would affect um how large
the ramp would need to be and if we
[54:49] would maintain that required walking
clearance on the sidewalk as well. Um
[54:55] but it's something that staff could
could look into further.
[55:01] » Go ahead councelor Greenfield. Thanks
again and your worship and thank you
[55:05] Helina and uh uh director K uh for your
comments and I
[55:11] um you know first of all I I I know this
is a
[55:18] a difficult storefront to to do uh uh
a lot of things with. When I mention a
[55:28] ramp, I the AODDA
ramps are a mile long and I wasn't
[55:36] really thinking about that. I I was
thinking about, okay, we'd have to take
[55:42] a recessed doorway and a lot a number of
our heritage buildings did have recessed
[55:48] entranceways.
um a ramp of even a steeper
[55:55] grade.
[55:59] Someone could
push someone in a wheelchair up into the
[56:04] building or someone with a walker I
think could get up into it. They can't
[56:10] do that with those two steps.
Um, going back to I I don't understand
[56:16] why the community improvement plan and
accessibility are not directly tied. Uh,
[56:22] like I think any community improvement
plan uh grant or loan application that
[56:28] comes forward
if if they have accessibility features
[56:33] to them, they should there should be a
an asterct right behind it saying, "Hey,
[56:37] this is this is special. this is uh this
is one one vote for your uh uh for your
[56:45] application and I don't think we've done
that in the past and to me in the future
[56:50] it's uh it's essential. So okay I've
made my point. Thank you. Thanks. And
[56:57] I'm just going to add that
[clears throat] uh I've seen uh many u
[57:02] facade improvements take place in our
downtown core with no sympathy for the
[57:08] heritage of our heritage district. So,
uh I want to compliment the uh proponent
[57:14] here for u uh thinking about how um a
part especially that block of uh of
[57:22] psych street which is you know not as
built up and has more you know diverse
[57:27] buildings on it. It's nice to see
something that salutes heritage in
[57:31] meford and uh I want to congratulate him
and uh I'm going to call the vote. All
[57:36] in favor?
Any opposed? That is carried unanimously
[57:41] and now we can move uh into committee of
the whole at 155. Uh could I have a
[57:47] mover and seconder? Deputy mayor and
councelor Yuri. Thank you very much. And
[57:53] the first item is
[57:57] um under library services that committee
of the whole receive report library
[58:02] 2026-01
mered public library annual report 2025
[58:07] for information purposes. And I'm going
to turn the microphone over to uh to
[58:11] Lynn CEO. Thank you.
>> Thank you. Move and second. We didn't do
[58:16] that. Moved by councelor for seconded by
councelor Andis. Thank you very much.
[58:21] All in favor? Oh go. Okay. Boy after
four years if [laughter]
[58:27] I pity my follower. Okay. Uh go ahead
and
[58:32] » thank you so much. Uh, thank you. Your
worship, deputy mayor, counselors,
[58:37] including the M meford public library
board, council reps, GR, uh, councilors
[58:42] Greenfield and Forer,
uh, and M, my municipal colleagues for
[58:47] the opportunity for Chair Grafton and I
to present the Meford Public Library
[58:52] 2025 annual report.
The annual report supports transparency
[58:57] and promotes knowledge of the importance
of the Meford Public Library within our
[59:02] community and helps to clarify what
we've spent, what we do, why we do it,
[59:08] and how we do it. Uh, it takes a village
to run the Meford Public Library from
[59:13] from council right on down to our valued
users who supply great feedback to their
[59:19] public library. Uh Mephford Public
Library celebrates 100 years uh this
[59:24] year in 2026. Uh but the building will
be 6 years old, believe it or not, uh on
[59:30] November 20th. Uh so we thank our
facilities manager, Steve Burgess, and
[59:35] his dedicated team for keeping the
building in shape both inside and out.
[59:40] And we also would like to thank the
parks and recreation uh department and
[59:44] their wonderful garden volunteer uh who
helps keep the parkquette and the
[59:48] surrounding gardens in order
uh for for our story times, our library
[59:54] programs and the public to enjoy. I'd
like to introduce uh Chair Kim uh Kim
[1:00:00] Grafton uh our board chair who would
like to say a few words.
[1:00:14] Good afternoon, Mayor Kentner, Deputy
Mayor Shirley Keveny, counselors, fellow
[1:00:20] board members on council, and town
municipal staff. Welcome to the annual
[1:00:26] report of the Meford Public Library. As
chair of the library board, it is a
[1:00:30] pleasure to be celebrating a 100red
years of library service in our
[1:00:36] community.
I would like to take a moment to
[1:00:38] acknowledge the contribution of my
fellow Meifford Public Library board
[1:00:43] members, our library CEO, Lynn Fasnado,
and our great library team. Their
[1:00:50] innovative leadership provides a public
space that creates opportunities for
[1:00:54] people of all ages to learn,
collaborate, and connect. Community
[1:00:59] partnerships are essential to our
success and we again welcomed financial
[1:01:04] support from the friends of the Meford
Library, the Rotary Club, individual
[1:01:09] donors, the Municipality of Meford
Council, the province of Ontario through
[1:01:15] the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and
Gaming, and the Ontario Library Service.
[1:01:20] And I would like to just bring to your
attention
[1:01:25] some of that sponsorship.
During the budget process this year, uh
[1:01:32] there was some discussion about the
library seeking sponsorship
[1:01:37] and I would like to bring to your
attention that the Meford Public Library
[1:01:43] has benefited from sponsorship for many
years from the Friends of the Meford
[1:01:48] Library as well as the Rotary Club of
Meford. The Rotary Club sponsored
[1:01:53] equipment and licensing for the youth
area in our new library, as well as for
[1:01:58] Wi-Fi routers, which is ongoing to this
day.
[1:02:03] The Friends of the Meford Library have
supported us since 1994.
[1:02:09] This year alone, they sponsored our
library to a tune of $31,159.89.
[1:02:21] Their financial support doubles the
funding available for programming.
[1:02:26] It enables author events and enhances
services and resources. In our budget,
[1:02:32] we have $3,500
each for our children's programming and
[1:02:39] our adult programming.
The Friends of the Mayford Library
[1:02:44] provide an additional $3,11566
[1:02:49] for the children's program and $5,278
for adult programs. And that's just a
[1:02:56] small portion of that $31,000.
In essence, they double our budget for
[1:03:03] programming.
[1:03:07] We have major sponsorship. We have had
within our community the support from
[1:03:12] these organizations and they greatly
enhance the services and programs that
[1:03:17] would not exist without them. And I just
want to take that opportunity to
[1:03:22] reinforce that that we already have
sponsorship and and it is very
[1:03:27] important.
We also welcome partnerships from local
[1:03:31] cultural and economic stakeholders who
helped contribute to the diverse mix of
[1:03:36] programming that included life
directions, the YMCA of Owen Sound,
[1:03:41] bright shores, adult learning center. We
have elder law series, income tax
[1:03:47] clinics, gardener and residence series,
and the ever popular story time
[1:03:52] sessions, STEM and craft events for
youth and teens, author events, book
[1:03:58] clubs, puzzle exchanges, just to name a
few. An average of 65 programs a month
[1:04:05] for all ages. And I would also like to
just hold so that everything doesn't
[1:04:11] pull off. This is for July and August.
This alone is our children's programming
[1:04:19] Monday to Sunday. And every day there
are four to five programs running. And
[1:04:26] that's that's just a quick little
snapshot. And again, that's just our
[1:04:30] youth programs. Our adult programs are
also running concurrent to this. So our
[1:04:35] library provides a very valuable space
in our community
[1:04:41] and a vast array of resources await at
the library from fishing rods, room
[1:04:46] rentals to tech help. The meford public
library was featured in the January 2025
[1:04:52] edition of connecting the sound magazine
in an article entitled the little
[1:04:57] library that could. 100 years in Meford
Public Library is a shining example of a
[1:05:05] hub of learning, care, and connection. A
space where everyone can belong and it
[1:05:10] enables our community to thrive. And I
would like to take a moment just to read
[1:05:14] a little excerpt. And this is from a
library patron involved in our writing
[1:05:21] circle program at the library. And I'm
not going to read it all. It is on I
[1:05:26] believe available if you wanted to read.
But I just I love her her her story here
[1:05:33] and this is a short excerpt out of it. I
now have the time in my winter chapter
[1:05:38] to explore more which brings me great
joy. This Meford library is new to me
[1:05:43] and its offerings have awakened,
enriched, fed and nurtured my current
[1:05:50] curiosities and I love to enter its
sliding doors to again lead me to a
[1:05:55] world of topics that tickle my fancy.
Such a joyous feeling
[1:06:01] likened to wanting more and more of a
favorite bon bon.
[1:06:05] Hail to the library. May it remain a
place of community and learning for all.
[1:06:11] And that just tickles my fancy that uh
someone wrote about the library in a
[1:06:16] program at our library sponsored by our
library.
[1:06:20] The coming year holds a promise of new
programs and exciting events. With
[1:06:26] municipal elections this fall, there
will be a change in our board. I have
[1:06:32] served on the last eight years and it
has been an honor and a privilege to
[1:06:37] serve on this board and work with our
amazing library team. I can't say enough
[1:06:42] at the energy, the love that they put
into everything that they do there. They
[1:06:49] go above and beyond.
[1:06:52] There's been some wonderful milestones.
As Lynn mentioned, we're coming up to
[1:06:56] six years on our new library, and it is
just such a shining example in our
[1:07:02] community of of what we can do when we
all collaborate
[1:07:06] to do the right thing.
I will be sad to be leaving the board,
[1:07:12] but I hope that the many gains that we
have made and all the wonderful assets
[1:07:19] continue to be used, enjoyed, and thrive
in our community.
[1:07:25] we say it's a little hard. It's that's I
value our library very very much and our
[1:07:30] board has been a wonderful board that
has been very uh very
[1:07:38] passionate about how and what we do.
I would like to thank my fellow board
[1:07:44] members, our staff
and council for your investment in our
[1:07:49] library which continues to be the
cornerstone of the social infrastructure
[1:07:53] in our community. I have enjoyed working
and learning alongside our amazing team
[1:07:58] of staff and more board members for the
last eight years and wish that the
[1:08:03] future of our library continues to be a
happy and prosperous one.
[1:08:10] turn back to L.
[1:08:18] » Thank you so much, Chair Grafton, for
those kind words. And Chair Grafton has
[1:08:23] worked diligently as well these last
eight years to uh make the Meford Public
[1:08:28] Library the place to be. Plus, she works
very hard on the ministerial library
[1:08:32] board as well.
[1:08:38] I don't know what to say after all of
that.
[1:08:43] Um, going over to our report. Um, the
first thing that we do is our vision and
[1:08:47] mission statement. Uh, everything we do
at Meford Public Library fall under
[1:08:52] these two very important statements as
found in the Meford Public Library
[1:08:56] strategic plan 2022. Plus, uh, the
board's strategic plan is also in
[1:09:02] influenced by council's strategic
priorities. uh helping to ensure that we
[1:09:07] have similar visions for our users um
and members of our community.
[1:09:19] Next page are our revenues.
I wanted to mention that the donation
[1:09:24] lines of $11,252
uh these include uh individual donations
[1:09:30] uh donate uh monies collected from
donation bids bins around the located
[1:09:35] around the library and uh also from uh
the me sorry the friends of the meford
[1:09:41] library uh donations. uh the friends pay
for li uh library items uh usually to um
[1:09:49] they make a check out to the to the
library to cover the costs. Uh this is
[1:09:53] why uh and this revenue line is only
11,252
[1:09:59] whereas on page 7 uh the we and as chair
uh Grafton has mentioned that they
[1:10:05] donated over $31,000 of items to the
library in 2025. And the reason this
[1:10:10] donation line is uh smaller is because
those are the ones that uh we have
[1:10:15] purchased as staff and the friends have
reimbursed us. So uh fees and charges of
[1:10:20] $78.99. These include printing, faxing,
scanning, proctoring fees, uh late fees,
[1:10:27] uh lost and damaged items and that type
of uh information. Uh interl loan
[1:10:33] postage rebate. uh we get an annual
rebate from the Ontario Library Service
[1:10:38] for postage uh to ship books to uh
within to other libraries within the
[1:10:42] province. And in 2025 we shipped out 772
books to other libraries and we received
[1:10:50] for our patrons who um who uh looked for
books within the system 787
[1:10:56] u books came in. uh the programming
revenues of 1625. These are revenues
[1:11:01] generated to cover costs of our
programming um that are not covered
[1:11:06] either through our budget or through the
friends of the ME for library
[1:11:10] sponsorship. Uh room rentals uh these
are fees collected for room bookings uh
[1:11:15] for businesses and for-profit
organizations. Uh public library
[1:11:20] operating grant of 23935
uh which has not changed in over 30
[1:11:26] years. that is uh comes to us every year
from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture
[1:11:30] and Gaming, which is the the uh ministry
responsible for Ontario Public
[1:11:34] Libraries. And I just wanted to also
mention that the special events uh the
[1:11:40] 11,000
plus that we uh were from the Allen
[1:11:44] Doyle event of last October, it was a
sellout, so it uh created uh some good
[1:11:49] revenues for the Meford Library. And we
received uh from the Ministry of
[1:11:53] Tourism, Culture, and Gaming in 2025 the
uh summer experience uh opportunities
[1:11:59] grant for our summer student last
summer.
[1:12:07] Here we go. Um expenses. We've uh any
expenses that have uh the FOM supported
[1:12:14] brackets uh next to it indicates that
the FOML um have contributed
[1:12:19] [clears throat] items in this category
of expenses.
[1:12:22] Uh advertising uh these are expenses
such as ads and any MPL logo uh items
[1:12:29] that we have such as tote bags and thank
you cards and that kind of thing. Um
[1:12:33] that was 500 uh sorry that was $631 last
year. Uh association fees are for
[1:12:41] Ontario Library um association
memberships for both board and staff. Uh
[1:12:46] these memberships are important because
they uh give us a heck of a discount on
[1:12:50] our uh um on our uh courses that we take
through the OA to improve our library
[1:12:56] services. We also um spend money on the
Ontario Municipal Public Library
[1:13:02] Organization and the Federation of
Ontario Public Libraries um and also
[1:13:06] something called access copyright and
that is a license to enable public
[1:13:11] libraries to uh have the public and
staff uh photocopy uh various items with
[1:13:17] that uh uh that we do as a service.
Uh books is our capital item. We spent
[1:13:24] last year $36,417.
Um, and that's just not for books.
[1:13:29] That's also for movies and also uh
barcodes for items, any circulation bags
[1:13:34] to uh to enable uh something to
circulate and book repair items, cover
[1:13:40] jackets, that kind of thing. Um, the
clothing is for staff logo clothing, PPE
[1:13:46] like silicon gloves and also sun
sunscreen, which is very important for
[1:13:50] uh staff to wear when we go on um
outreach. uh outside are e resources.
[1:13:55] They're heavily sponsored by the Ontario
Library Service. Uh these include Libby,
[1:14:00] Ancestry, Mango, World Book, Novelist.
Um and uh we also spend on our own and
[1:14:06] we have non-sponsored um e- resources
called Biblio and Hoopla. Those are
[1:14:11] downloading movie and book services. And
uh we pay that. We don't have a u the
[1:14:18] opportunity for a uh discount in those
but these are all renewed annually as
[1:14:23] well and our events uh was our signature
author event uh for Alan Doyle which was
[1:14:29] sponsored um the booking at the hall was
sponsored by the friends of the meford
[1:14:33] library uh facilities maintenance this
is the amount spent by our by our
[1:14:38] manager to maintain the building hydro
heat water cleaning etc and um the cost
[1:14:43] of the debenture for the new library
building is also included in that
[1:14:47] amount. Uh information technology uh
large budgeted by our IT department uh
[1:14:54] this includes Wi-Fi, all computers,
software um that runs them, public and
[1:14:59] staff networks, photocopy machines,
phones, internet backups, email, etc. We
[1:15:05] could not uh function uh without our IT
uh people. So, thank you to Mark Ian and
[1:15:10] his team. uh the library computer
hardware software line. Uh that's uh
[1:15:15] staff also purchase our own hardware
soft software that run outside of the IT
[1:15:19] department. Uh these are things such as
um our inter our integrated library
[1:15:24] system Koha. Uh our the catalog book uh
carousel that's on our um catalog
[1:15:31] librarian which runs our public access
computers. uh all the RFID licenses that
[1:15:36] run our alarm system and our inventory
system, our Zoom Chromebook software,
[1:15:40] and everything's renewed annually as
well. That's why you'll see it every
[1:15:43] year uh on on the budget estimates. Uh
other expenses, they include staff
[1:15:48] items. Uh uh uh Friends of Meford
Library purchased uh the 2500 U
[1:15:54] membership cards from that line last
year. They also uh bought Nintendo games
[1:16:00] for us in 2025. These games are quite
expensive. So, we um we look at them to
[1:16:06] help us uh keep that uh inventory fresh.
Uh we also purchased a square terminal.
[1:16:11] Thank goodness, now we have debit at the
library. Uh we also uh bought a new
[1:16:16] collar printer um and a summer student
desk for our summer student in our staff
[1:16:21] office, which we never had, and we
bought those from individual uh
[1:16:25] donations in 2025.
uh programming out of the 7,000 budgeted
[1:16:30] yearly for all programming. This is uh
heavily sponsored by the friends of the
[1:16:34] Meford Library and we couldn't offer the
same quality and quantity of programming
[1:16:39] without their support. Um and the
expenses also include the Owens Sound
[1:16:44] and North Union Public Library annual
cost for library services which was a
[1:16:48] little over I think 154 last year 158476
sorry about that. And um of course the
[1:16:56] largest expense would be the salaries
and benefits.
[1:17:05] Um as chair Grafton had mentioned about
the uh friends of the meford library
[1:17:09] this year in the report we added uh an
extra page uh just uh to highlight uh
[1:17:14] everything that the friends of the
meford library have bought for us. uh
[1:17:18] because uh just looking at numbers on a
spreadsheet doesn't really give you the
[1:17:21] the true uh idea of what they do for us.
And in fact, the if you go down to the
[1:17:26] netshed, they've got this uh page
highlighted uh uh in in the uh netshed
[1:17:31] for the public to see where the money
that they um that they buy used
[1:17:36] generally used books for goes to within
the the year. Uh they buy hard copy
[1:17:41] newspapers, Globe and Mail, Toronto
Star, Meford Independent. These are read
[1:17:45] daily and our beautiful living room area
of the library. Uh this old school form
[1:17:49] of information is still going strong and
and it's a welcomed addition to
[1:17:54] ourformational resources. If we uh
forget to pick up the newspapers, uh we
[1:17:59] will have a patron with five minutes
asking where they are. So we have to
[1:18:02] pick them up at Rexel. They come in
through there. Uh the TD summer reading
[1:18:06] program, it gets a great boost by the
friends supplying uh fantastic prizes
[1:18:10] for participants. Uh it's great to read,
but it's uh it's uh but a chance to win
[1:18:15] a great prize makes it even better,
especially when you're young. Um uh
[1:18:20] Ontario Public Library Week also gets a
boost for prizes supplied by the Friends
[1:18:24] of the Meford Library. Uh they purchased
oversized bookends for our junior
[1:18:29] picture books back in 2025. Um these are
the largest items in the library.
[1:18:34] They're almost larger than most
reference books. Uh and the most popular
[1:18:38] item within the junior collection. Uh so
thanks to the FL they now uh sit neat
[1:18:44] and tidy on the shelves. They were
falling over and it was uh not uh not a
[1:18:49] pretty sight sometimes. So now they're
all neat and tidy. Uh inventory one
[1:18:53] really helps um us find uh lost books
within the library and also helps with
[1:18:58] our inventory
extremely um it works with our libraries
[1:19:03] RFID tag system. Uh video games are
expensive. the friends help keep this
[1:19:08] collection fresh and um and as mentioned
before the friends have sp sponsored our
[1:19:14] membership cards since we first
automated in 2005 I believe uh so we're
[1:19:20] now on our third uh library system um
which houses our uh the inventory of our
[1:19:26] books and our patrons database and the
friends have provided cards for this
[1:19:30] every step of the way. So, we're very
they're they're very expensive and we
[1:19:34] really appreciate that they um that they
help us out in this fashion. Uh and as
[1:19:39] mentioned by Chair Grafton, they've also
sponsored five of our Wi-Fi hotspots
[1:19:43] which uh are flying off the shelves
especially this summer. We've got
[1:19:47] campers coming in, people at Memorial
Park. We've got people up in cottages
[1:19:51] for the summer. So they uh uh that and
the Ontario parking passes uh are
[1:19:56] [clears throat] and the um parking
passes are hot hot ticket items in the
[1:20:00] in the summertime. Uh we go this is my
favorite page statistics. This is Neford
[1:20:08] by the numbers. These statistics will
provide a snapshot of the 2025 usage
[1:20:13] here at Neford Public Library. Um 2025
saw almost 84,000 visitors through our
[1:20:20] doors. Uh this equates to about when you
think about it 84,000 questions from
[1:20:26] something as simple as where are the
washrooms to how do you print? Can I
[1:20:31] have a book recommendation? And the
staff do a tremendous job in helping to
[1:20:36] provide this top-notch service. You
never know what you're going to get when
[1:20:39] they come in the door, but we hate to
say no, so we do love to to help out any
[1:20:44] way that we can. Uh we registered 804
new patrons in 2025.
[1:20:51] uh with staff giving most a tour of the
building and a warm welcome. Uh almost
[1:20:56] 73,000 materials checked out uh from a
collection the size of 31,769
[1:21:03] items. Uh the replacement value uh of
items circulated was over $1.3 million.
[1:21:10] So a yearly budget of 40,000 uh returns
over uh 1.3 million in usage. Uh so this
[1:21:17] dollar value does not include um the
free meeting room spaces uh the free or
[1:21:23] lowcost 789 programs offered and
attended by almost 12,000 users and most
[1:21:30] importantly uh the feeling of being in a
bright modern beautiful facility that
[1:21:36] values diversity, inclusion,
confidentiality and equality has no
[1:21:41] price tag in my opinion. That is
priceless.
[1:21:45] Uh MPL is proud to supply up-to-date
technology for its users. Thanks in part
[1:21:50] to the municipal IT department who
worked uh diligent diligently to keep
[1:21:54] both the public and the staff networks
running. Uh we've got two systems so
[1:21:59] takes a lot of uh a lot of maintenance.
Uh the 15,610
[1:22:04] computer users reap these benefits. uh
volunteers run the tech center and
[1:22:09] helped 339
people in 2025 with tech questions and
[1:22:14] we thank our dedicated volunteers. Uh
this number doesn't include the mirage
[1:22:19] of technology questions posed to staff
on a daily and almost hourly basis. Uh
[1:22:25] the e library which includes more than e
uh it includes more than ebooks. Uh our
[1:22:29] e library contains uh movies, magazines,
learning and language courses. uh saw
[1:22:35] almost 40,000 downloads in 2025. Uh and
the online catalog with over 44,000
[1:22:42] searches.
[1:22:47] Uh this is a fun page, most circulated
items in 2025. This is just a sample of
[1:22:52] the of the popular titles that
circulated then. Uh even with the many
[1:22:56] different movie streaming services
available to folks now uh now these
[1:23:00] days, our movie discs are still going
strong in circulation. I know some of
[1:23:04] the local libraries are taking them out
of the collection because they're not
[1:23:07] circulating, but uh I think uh if we did
that right now, it wouldn't uh wouldn't
[1:23:13] benefit our users. They're they're very
very popular. The old discs still
[1:23:17] around. Uh membership uh who makes up
our membership. Um well, I've added uh
[1:23:24] we've added the footnote explaining uh
how we actually calculate the active
[1:23:29] card holders. I know it's been a
question um uh that many libraries we
[1:23:34] want the ministry wants to make sure
that we we tally every library tallies
[1:23:38] their active card holders the same way.
So an active membership is a member with
[1:23:43] an unexpired card within the last two
years. So that's how we uh do our active
[1:23:48] memberships and that's how we reported
to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and
[1:23:52] Gaming every year.
So it's not based uh on if they check a
[1:23:56] book out. uh this is based on the expiry
date because pe people use their cards
[1:24:01] for many reasons. Uh that doesn't
necessarily give us a statistic to
[1:24:06] measure. Uh for example, if they use
their card for a meeting space or if
[1:24:09] they tend a program uh these are counted
in number only not end user. So, you
[1:24:14] know, we uh we take uh statistics of how
many bookings were in the uh rooms rooms
[1:24:19] per month, but we don't exactly pinpoint
who who does what um for confidentiality
[1:24:24] and and also because we only wanted a
grand total anyway. Uh using u people
[1:24:29] that use their card to access any e-
resource such as Ancestry, Libby,
[1:24:33] Hoopla, uh they don't get re registered
individually as well. They get
[1:24:36] registered um just as a lump sum number
at the end of the month. Excuse me. Uh
[1:24:42] from the membership uh chart, you can
see that uh card holders from the Blue
[1:24:46] Mountains and Grey Highlands enjoy
reciprocal card agreements um with us
[1:24:51] and our our um members can go and get
free cards over at uh Grey Highlands and
[1:24:56] Blue Mountains libraries as well. And
non non-residents as well that live
[1:25:01] outside these zones also get a free
membership at Chifford Public Library.
[1:25:05] We don't charge uh uh non-resident fees
uh with the 5,235
[1:25:12] uh uh municipal municipality of meford
residents having an active card in 2025.
[1:25:19] Uh this indicates based on the
population data um the last census uh
[1:25:24] that almost 47% of residents hold an
active card. Um this just this indicates
[1:25:30] a large commitment to the Meford Public
Library by our community and we we are
[1:25:35] most grateful.
[1:25:38] Uh here we have uh three pillars of
service are very important to uh the
[1:25:44] Meford Public Library. That's
engagement, innovation, and
[1:25:47] collaboration. Uh in 2025, uh Meford
Public Library embrace em embraced
[1:25:53] diversity and inclusion with their
rainbow book club and its spin-off
[1:25:56] Rainbow Crafts. Uh selected library
staff and board trustee Elgen Peekchuk
[1:26:01] presented a seminar on inclusion and
safe uh library spaces and rural
[1:26:06] libraries at the OA super conference in
January 2025. So that started the year
[1:26:11] off on a great note. Um, health and
safety is very important to the library
[1:26:16] and the municipality of Meford as a
whole. Uh, the library thanks the
[1:26:20] municipality uh for the training
opportunities and first aid uh joint
[1:26:24] health and safety training uh the the
new composition of the joint health and
[1:26:29] safety um program. It's all uh points to
a real commitment in health and safety.
[1:26:34] Our library board uh is responsible for
everybody in according to our safety and
[1:26:39] security and library policy are also
extremely are are responsible for
[1:26:44] everyone in the library as well. So they
also thank the municipality for their uh
[1:26:48] health and safety commitment as well.
uh staff training very important uh in
[1:26:54] order to keep staff aware of trends in
books and technology, AI, intellectual
[1:26:59] freedom
um everything and training is important
[1:27:03] on how we deal with unruly patrons and
other social issues which are becoming
[1:27:08] all too common in a lot of public
libraries uh such as homelessness,
[1:27:12] addiction. Uh so we're training
frontline staff to how to help in these
[1:27:17] uh in these uh unfortunate condition
conditions that can happen. Uh here we
[1:27:23] go. Oh, sorry.
Next pillar of service is uh innovation.
[1:27:31] Uh it is crucial that the library um
keeps relevant in its community with
[1:27:36] within innovation. Innovation is what uh
patrons want in order to access
[1:27:40] up-to-date items and to access quality
programming uh to keep them learning on
[1:27:45] how to use the latest technology, how to
use e- reser resources and how to make
[1:27:49] the most of of their library membership.
Technology is changing quickly and the
[1:27:54] library needs to be ready with trained
staff who can shift services and keep
[1:27:58] ahead of this fast-paced technology
based world. innovation is necessary
[1:28:04] necessary so that staff can use the most
recent technology in order to serve the
[1:28:08] public. Uh we are also active on our
social media and our newsletter. We have
[1:28:13] almost 4,000 um subscribers to our
newsletter that goes out monthly. So
[1:28:17] that's a real commitment uh and it's
fantastic uh u community support and uh
[1:28:24] so
thank you. Uh collaboration
[1:28:31] that takes two pages because the uh we
would um collaboration and partnerships
[1:28:36] is what makes the tr uh the library
truly public. Partnerships contribute to
[1:28:40] learning services our inventory items.
Um, it can make a visit to the library
[1:28:46] fun, interesting, create social
opportunities for others. Uh, the list
[1:28:51] is endless on our collaboration pages.
We collaborate with our municipality,
[1:28:55] social services,
uh, uh, legal firms, the list goes on.
[1:29:00] It's just, uh, an amazing collaboration
within our community and, uh, we reach
[1:29:05] out to, um, people to partnership and
they reach out to us. So I think we've
[1:29:08] got trust within the community uh that
so that uh these social services um and
[1:29:15] other other um partners reach out to us
and they know that they can hold their
[1:29:21] uh their programs in a in a secure
confidential space. Um and there are
[1:29:26] also many economic benefits to our
community from our library program
[1:29:31] programming as most items and supplies
for programming we purchase within the
[1:29:35] community.
[1:29:39] No,
[1:29:45] no, I just wanted to mention the library
board. I know we're we'll be getting a
[1:29:49] council will appoint a new a new board
at the end of this year. So, a shout out
[1:29:53] to um Kim Grafton, our chair, uh Lloyd
Moore, our vice chair, Frank Ampage,
[1:30:00] trustee, Elegant Pekjack, trustee, Marne
Wraith, trustee, counselors, uh Brandon
[1:30:06] Fer, and counselors Hardy Greenfield,
our council reps on board, uh on the
[1:30:12] board. Uh, shout out to our staff. Uh,
Lori Pierce, children and youth
[1:30:16] coordinator. Amy Selei, community
outreach coordinator. Shantel Highfield,
[1:30:21] technical services coordinator. Ashley
Trestler, library specialist in
[1:30:26] circulation and interl loans. Uh,
Samantha Macintosh, library assistant,
[1:30:31] Rosemary Palmer, library assistant, Kim
Bley, public services clerk, and our
[1:30:36] library summer student, Claire. Every
year it changes and um it's
[1:30:42] we uh we enjoy having our summer
students so much and they are pivotal in
[1:30:47] our TD summer reading program. But I
would also like to ones that's not on
[1:30:52] this list are our valued volunteers. Uh
we we treat our volunteers as staff and
[1:30:58] valuable team members. So they should uh
they are included in this list as well.
[1:31:06] uh reviewing the year and planning the
future. Uh in closing, um I want to uh
[1:31:12] I've thanked all our stakeholders.
There's just so many. That's why my uh
[1:31:16] it's two pages long. My my thank you. Uh
I talk about uh in my uh report I talk
[1:31:22] about the challenges of AI and
intellectual freedom. That is something
[1:31:25] not going away. Uh AI affects can
affects books uh our e- resources. So
[1:31:31] it's something that we really um have to
stay on top of. Uh we certainly don't
[1:31:35] want um an algorithm telling us what
books we need to buy for our our our
[1:31:42] database. We need to have people with
passion and heart to um to create items
[1:31:48] for the library.
Uh we are looking forward to our 100th
[1:31:52] anniversary celebrations this year and
another signature author event which has
[1:31:57] which we've just booked on November 9th.
I'm not going to tell you who it is yet.
[1:32:02] Uh and and we are also looking forward
to working with a new council and a new
[1:32:07] library board at the end of this year.
[1:32:17] Here's our contact us page. Uh, I want
to thank you, council,
[1:32:24] uh, your worship, deputy mayor,
municipal colleagues, uh, chair Grafton,
[1:32:29] the Meford Public Library board council
reps, uh, Greenfield and Forer, uh, and
[1:32:35] the Meford Public Library staff. uh they
are a dedicated team who are committed
[1:32:41] to me for public library both past,
present and future and a team that will
[1:32:46] help ensure that we remain the community
hub and the place to be. Um but I thank
[1:32:51] most of all the public users of the
Mford Public Library. Um by coming
[1:32:55] through our doors, providing feedback,
positive or negative, we learn from
[1:33:01] everything. uh taking out a membership,
donating funds, and more puts the public
[1:33:06] into your Meford Public Library. Thank
you for taking the time today to listen
[1:33:11] to Chair Grafton and I describe the
beautiful community hub called the
[1:33:14] Meford Public Library, and we look
forward to your next visit. Thank you so
[1:33:20] much.
>> Thank you, Lynn. Does anyone have any
[1:33:23] questions or comments for Lynn, Deputy
Mayor?
[1:33:28] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And first of all,
and I just want to say a huge thank you
[1:33:32] for everything that the library provides
to this community. It's amazing. I often
[1:33:36] take advantage of the meeting spaces and
I don't know what I'd do without them.
[1:33:40] But a very special note of appreciation
to Chair Grafton and thank you for your
[1:33:45] intense passionate commitment to the
library over these past years and I know
[1:33:48] you'll be no stranger going forward. Um
I just wanted to ask one question
[1:33:53] though, Lynn. You mentioned the uh Wi-Fi
routers um and how often they are looked
[1:33:59] out. Do you actually have enough of
those at this point?
[1:34:03] » Uh I was just discussing that with our
IT uh department actually last week. Uh
[1:34:08] I think they're moving over to another
company. So they've already replaced
[1:34:13] some of the SIM cards in them because
they they've been going strong for 5
[1:34:17] years now, almost six years. So, we may
I might investigate investigate buying a
[1:34:23] few more units as well because there are
two actually that uh actually went out
[1:34:28] and never came back unfortunately. So,
we have um from the we started with 11
[1:34:34] and we have actually nine that are are
um being circulated.
[1:34:40] » And if I may, Mr. Mayor, a followup.
Thank you for that, Lynn. And just uh
[1:34:44] noting that perhaps it's something the
Rotary Club would just like to know
[1:34:48] about uh that you might be interested in
some additional routers. And and just
[1:34:52] one last thing, um you mentioned the
volunteers, but I just have to uh
[1:34:56] express gratitude for the gardeners who
do an incredible job, those girls out
[1:35:01] there every morning and the watering and
the weeding and and I tell them every
[1:35:05] year the gardens look better and better.
So a special shout out to them.
[1:35:09] » Absolutely. Thank you. Anyone else wish
to make a comment? Uh then thank you
[1:35:15] again so much. Very comprehensive and uh
uh straight up for the library for sure.
[1:35:21] » Thank you so much.
>> Under community services um the
[1:35:25] recommendation is Oh, we have to vote to
accept this for uh for it's okay but we
[1:35:30] we want to accept this for information
purposes.
[1:35:34] Uh all in favor?
Uh any opposed?
[1:35:40] I'm going to assume that councelor Andis
is very in favor of the library here.
[1:35:46] » Thank you your worship. Just for
clarity, we will not be counting his
[1:35:49] vote in this as he did not.
>> Okay. So then it is unanimous among
[1:35:53] those of us who are in the horseshoe. Um
so under uh community services uh the
[1:36:00] recommendation is that uh uh committee
of the whole recommend council of the
[1:36:05] municipality of meford enact a bylaw to
repeal and replace schedule Q of the
[1:36:10] 2026 fees and charges bylaw and I'll
call on director uh carpet to uh
[1:36:17] yes mover and second. Thank you again.
Um so uh a mover
[1:36:22] councelor for a seconder councelor Bell
all in favor don't need to do that. Okay
[1:36:28] questions or uh and I think we should
hear from director Carver here.
[1:36:35] » Thank you your worship and I can be
relatively quick with this one. Uh this
[1:36:39] is another kind of housekeeping item
that I'm bringing to council's
[1:36:42] attention. Um, we require the 2026 fees
and charges schedule Q, uh, to be
[1:36:49] updated in order for us to issue our
renewals for the arena advertising
[1:36:54] program. Uh, the amount that was
included in the original fees and
[1:36:58] charges bylaw was incorrect for this
year. And had we have issued our
[1:37:03] renewals at that rate, we would result
in a approximate loss of $7,500 to
[1:37:08] $8,000
uh, due to this. So the original bylaw
[1:37:13] included kind of a blanket fee whereas a
system that has been in place for
[1:37:17] approximately 5 years now actually has a
tiered pricing system so that the more
[1:37:22] prime locations particularly behind the
home and the players or home players and
[1:37:26] away players bench are uh 4003 or $400
and $350 and the end boards are cheaper
[1:37:34] than that but they are all still
significantly higher than what was
[1:37:37] included in the bylaw. So we felt it
appropriate to bring this back to get
[1:37:41] this rectified so that we can issue the
renewal letters for this upcoming season
[1:37:46] and in order to maintain consistency
from year to year. So last year we
[1:37:50] charged the higher rates if we brought
it back down to the amount in the bylaw.
[1:37:53] This year we would lose the money but
then also have um some negative flicity
[1:37:58] next year when we turn around and put
that put it back up to the proper rate.
[1:38:01] So we thought we'd bring this to council
right now.
[1:38:04] » Any questions for Brady?
You ready to vote? Well, go ahead,
[1:38:08] councelor Bell.
>> Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for the
[1:38:13] report. So, you have mentioned uh
verbally that you want to have this in
[1:38:19] place before you start asking personnel
that wish to advertise.
[1:38:26] So, no one has paid $150 at this point.
when they see what you're going to
[1:38:31] charge them, should council do this this
afternoon, they will be told these
[1:38:37] prices on the right hand column.
To councelor Belu, your worship, yes, we
[1:38:43] have not issued our renewals for the
2026 2027 season. Um, if council
[1:38:48] approves the report today, the bylaw
will come back in two weeks and then
[1:38:52] those renewal letters will go out that
week.
[1:38:58] Okay, seeing no more questions, I'm
going to call the uh item. All in favor?
[1:39:03] Any opposed? Though that is carried
unanimously.
[1:39:08] Um under corporate services the
recommendation is that the committee of
[1:39:11] the whole recommend council of the
municipality of meford approve uh one
[1:39:16] option three as per the staff report and
two establishing a capital budget of
[1:39:21] $47,500
to be funded by the information
[1:39:25] technology reserve fund. I'm going to
ask director Dinsmore to uh speak to
[1:39:30] this one. I'll move her in a second.
Let's do that right away. Um, Deputy
[1:39:34] Mayor and Councelor Yurig.
All in favor? No. Okay. Uh, please go
[1:39:41] ahead.
Uh, thank you, your worship. So, I'll
[1:39:44] just quickly, excuse me, [clears throat]
run through the three options that staff
[1:39:48] have put in front of council for their
consideration with option three being
[1:39:51] the one currently recommended by staff.
So, under option one, it would be the
[1:39:55] basic level of investment that would be
required to allow council to participate
[1:40:00] remotely. Um, so it it would allow for
hybrid participation by council members.
[1:40:05] In addition, there would be some
upgrades made when other presenters are
[1:40:09] making presentations to council. So
right now you can either see what
[1:40:12] they're presenting or the person. You'd
be able to see both. Um, making it a
[1:40:16] little bit more interactive.
Option two.
[1:40:21] And each one as I go through each one of
these options, what comes in option one
[1:40:24] you get if you go with option two. What
comes in options one and two you get
[1:40:28] when you go to option three. So they
build off of each other.
[1:40:31] Uh option two looks to at looks to
improve the overall audio quality within
[1:40:36] council chambers and uh more
specifically for those who are
[1:40:39] participating online and for those who
are viewing council online. And again,
[1:40:43] it allows for better um better
presentations and better content um
[1:40:50] viewing for for those that are
participating in the council meeting.
[1:40:53] And then option three, which is the
highest AV investment and the one again
[1:40:57] that staff are recommending at this
time. Uh the the main part of this one
[1:41:01] is it improves the backup storage of all
recorded meetings which um is very
[1:41:05] important because as everybody's aware
these are uh permanent records of the
[1:41:10] municipality. Uh it also allows for a
little bit better public viewing while
[1:41:16] um the public is in this room. some of
the TVs would be made a little bit
[1:41:19] larger, would be angled out so that um
it's a little bit easier for every for
[1:41:24] everybody here to to see what's going on
and be able to view presentations that
[1:41:28] are being made by staff and uh and other
other third parties. So, with that, I
[1:41:33] will uh I'm available for any questions.
>> Councelor Yuri,
[1:41:39] » thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you,
Sam. It' be inappropriate for me to go
[1:41:43] over and hug you. So, um I'll just say
thank you very much for the report and
[1:41:48] for the elacrity that it came in. Uh I
will wholeheartedly uh recommend we
[1:41:53] proceed with option C3 as recommended
and uh thank you for the very quick work
[1:41:59] on this because I know we've asked for
for a long time but we did sort of ask
[1:42:03] for this to come or I asked for this to
come back quickly and I appreciate that.
[1:42:08] » Councelor Ford.
Uh thank you Mr. Mayor. It's for you.
[1:42:13] Um, I definitely agree that some
upgrades do need to be done. However, I
[1:42:17] just find that we're being asked to
spend money without seeing equipment
[1:42:22] costs or what these operating costs
include. Like I find it's way too high
[1:42:26] level. Um, I'd really like to see more
detail to see what we're actually
[1:42:30] spending money on. Um, it's also not
very clear. You know, you get everything
[1:42:35] from option one to option two to option
three, but like what is that? So, I just
[1:42:39] find that I'm not comfortable voting not
knowing what exact products or equipment
[1:42:45] we're voting for and the reasons behind
it. I also don't have any information
[1:42:50] with regards to what type of um service
agreements that might be with any of
[1:42:55] this hardware. If there's software and
there's technology, there might be some
[1:42:59] subscription fees. Um, I also don't know
who this consultant was. Is this the
[1:43:04] individual that's selling us this
product or how are we going about buying
[1:43:08] this product and who are we buying it
from? I just find there's a lot of
[1:43:11] information that I'm just not
comfortable moving forward without that.
[1:43:14] So maybe you can help me with that, but
I I would have loved to see a more
[1:43:18] detailed list of the equipment and the
services like just more specific to see
[1:43:22] what that money actually where that's
coming from. Thank you.
[1:43:28] » Thank you. And through you. So, as staff
went through this, we actually went
[1:43:32] through our purchasing policy to ensure
that we were getting quotes correctly.
[1:43:35] Um, I believe only one bid was received
on this work. The reason that I've left
[1:43:39] it high level is we do start to get into
the area of proprietary information.
[1:43:43] We're not specifically allowed to say
for exact types of things that um how
[1:43:50] much individuals are charging us. Um,
that's why when we put large tenders in
[1:43:56] front of council, we leave it as one
number. Um, because to go into much more
[1:43:59] detail is actually giving out
confidential information. Uh, I'm happy
[1:44:04] to bring back a little bit more of a
breakdown if that's what council would
[1:44:07] like to see. Um, we could also look at
going into close session to to walk
[1:44:11] through exactly what would be offered by
the consultant.
[1:44:19] » Deputy Mayor.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh first of all,
[1:44:22] I'd like to rename this the councelor
URIG report because this has been uh on
[1:44:27] Rob's mind for a long time. So I
appreciate seeing this in front of us
[1:44:30] today. Um in my mind in relation to the
breakdown that councelor Ford has
[1:44:35] requested and I appreciate uh your
desire to do that, but I look at this as
[1:44:40] being operations and kind of
understanding the role of council and
[1:44:45] governance and the role of staff in
executing the desires of council. If we
[1:44:50] look back at our budgeting process and
you could pick anything, but if we look
[1:44:55] at the new financial software for
example, um you know, we didn't see that
[1:45:00] level of information. So, I just think
it's it's interesting and a good
[1:45:06] opportunity for us to kind of explore,
you know, what's what's appropriate for
[1:45:10] us to see and what is, you know,
completely operations for staff. So,
[1:45:15] some more information on that might be
uh good to have. Uh but Sam, my question
[1:45:19] for you. Um we talk about council on
this report. So just review with us
[1:45:24] again in terms of committees, whatever
the committees look like in the next
[1:45:28] term. Um will this uh upgrade be
available for uh committee meetings as
[1:45:33] well as council?
>> Uh through uh thank you through you, Mr.
[1:45:38] Mayor. So because the any committee
meeting that would happen in this room,
[1:45:41] all of this technology would be
available for those committee meetings.
[1:45:45] We would have to ensure that it's
through the procedural bylaw that all of
[1:45:48] it is allowed. But yes, anything that
would happen in this room could take
[1:45:52] full advantage of this new equipment.
>> Going to call the question. All in favor
[1:45:59] any sorry
just can we start again here? I don't
[1:46:04] know if you heard I'm I'm calling a
question. All in favor of accepting the
[1:46:07] report.
So we have one, two, three, four, five,
[1:46:13] six in favor. Those opposed?
Okay, one opposed. And I declare the
[1:46:19] motion carried. Um the next
recommendation is uh from uh development
[1:46:26] services. Um it's that committee of the
whole recommend council of the
[1:46:30] municipality of meford one direct staff
to initiate a request for
[1:46:34] pre-qualification
RFPQ process for the three surplus
[1:46:39] residential parcels identified and two
endorse exploration of a tiny home
[1:46:44] community model subject to feas may be
bigger pardon
[1:46:48] » thank you we just uh missed D under
corporate services the 2027 to 2031
[1:46:54] capital facility capital program Okay.
Uh do you want me to finish this and go
[1:46:59] back to that or don't? Okay. We'll start
over here. The recommendation is uh and
[1:47:04] this is uh from um uh corporate services
that committee of the whole recommend
[1:47:09] council of the municipality of meford
approve option X which we will determine
[1:47:14] as we move forward. uh as outlined in
report uh uh corporate services uh 2027
[1:47:22] to 2031 and that is a facilities capital
program and again I'm going to turn it
[1:47:28] over to director Dinsmore. Sorry. Yes,
let's get a mover and seconder to have
[1:47:33] it on the table. Um it's moved by
councelor for seconded by
[1:47:39] sorry thank you councelis. Um,
and let's proceed.
[1:47:46] » Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'll just
quickly explain why why I wrote the
[1:47:50] recommendation the way I wrote it and
didn't staff haven't actually made a
[1:47:54] recommendation in this case. And we're
looking for direction from from council
[1:47:57] on that part. At this point, staff
didn't feel it was within our
[1:48:02] responsibility or within our right to
make a recommendation. Um we're looking
[1:48:06] for guidance and a um we're looking for
guidance from council on how we go about
[1:48:11] putting together the 2027 to 2031
capital budget for the five specific
[1:48:17] facilities mentioned in this in this
report. I just want to quickly highlight
[1:48:20] those facilities. Um they're the
administrative offices at 21 and 15
[1:48:24] trail the blue dolphin pool the council
chambers. So just this building we're
[1:48:29] not including the uh patrol a and then
the meford stent community center and
[1:48:34] arrange. So this report is specifically
focused on those five five facilities
[1:48:39] that are currently owned and operated by
the municipality. Uh I just want to
[1:48:43] quickly outline chart one. Um chart one
gives some gives some basic information
[1:48:47] about the facilities, what year it was
constructed, what a replacement value is
[1:48:52] in 2024 and what their current facility
condition index is. And then tied to
[1:48:56] that would be what condition that asset
is considered to be in. So when you look
[1:49:00] at it, the the the newest facility is
the one we're sitting in right now,
[1:49:04] which is still over uh over 30 years
old. So some of these facilities are are
[1:49:09] quite old, 15 Trobridge being a bit of
an outlier at, you know, coming up to
[1:49:13] 100 years old.
[1:49:17] Staff have put together two options for
council's consideration today. And and
[1:49:21] what we're looking for is to direct us
on how to build the capital budget. So
[1:49:25] we're not specifically asking for
council to approve $12.6 6 million
[1:49:29] today. But what we're doing is looking
to see if you would like to see that
[1:49:33] type of information and those type of
capital projects put into the 2027 to
[1:49:37] 2031
capital program.
[1:49:42] So within the the facility condition
assessments done on those five
[1:49:45] facilities, the 12.6 million was
identified of work that needs to be done
[1:49:50] over the next 3 to 5 years. The main
pieces of that of that amount are roof
[1:49:57] replacements and parking lots. They're
rather expensive. Um, and a lot of these
[1:50:01] facilities, specifically specifically
the arena, are getting to that age where
[1:50:06] some significant dollars are going to be
needed to invested into that facility to
[1:50:10] get it to its full useful life of
roughly 80 years for a facility. So, so
[1:50:15] option one is looking at just continue
to budget the projects as they need to
[1:50:19] be done at the price that they need to
be done at. Um, some pros to this
[1:50:23] approach would be it's a lower capital
cost than option two and it maintains
[1:50:27] the level of service that council has
set with minimal impact on the operating
[1:50:32] budget.
Uh, some of the cons that we've outlined
[1:50:35] is after the 12.6 million, there still
will be a 55year-old arena and a
[1:50:40] 66-year-old outdoor pool. Uh, the
capital works will be like for like with
[1:50:46] no improvements to the facility. So, as
an example, the dressing rooms at the
[1:50:50] arena are a bit of a a cause for concern
due to their size. Investing this type
[1:50:55] of money won't make those dressing rooms
bigger, won't make that facility more
[1:51:00] user friendly. It will basically operate
the same way it does today. Um, the
[1:51:05] investment will not greatly increase the
operating efficiencies of those
[1:51:08] facilities. So, we would continue to see
the similar hydro bills, natural gas
[1:51:13] bills, things like that. and we would
continue to operize in a decentralized
[1:51:17] administration. So right now there is
administration at at least four
[1:51:21] facilities throughout the municipality.
[1:51:26] Option two would be to look at explore
multi-use facility.
[1:51:30] So in the report I specifically talked
about bucketing everything together
[1:51:34] administration and recreation.
going through a study like this, it may
[1:51:39] make more sense that administration is
kept separately. Maybe here out to this
[1:51:44] piece of property and the recreations
are bucketed together. Um, or maybe it
[1:51:49] does make the most sense that
everything's put into one central
[1:51:52] facility. We can see throughout kind of
our neighboring municipalities when you
[1:51:57] go to Sagen Shores, the arena, the pool,
and the administration facilities are
[1:52:02] together. Um when we go somewhere like
Stainer, you've see you can see the
[1:52:05] library is with the arena. So there's
lots of different examples of what other
[1:52:09] municipalities have done
[1:52:14] within the within this recommendation.
Staff would be looking at budgeting
[1:52:17] about $200,000 to complete this
assessment. This assessment would
[1:52:21] include a lot of public and council
outreach to gather what the community
[1:52:25] wants and what the community needs. Um a
concept development. So, you know, a
[1:52:30] high level concept of what potentially
could be built, what type of amenities
[1:52:35] the building would include, and whether
it would be, you know, one or two
[1:52:38] facilities.
And then a a you know, a central part
[1:52:42] would be a funding strategy. How are we
going to pay for for a facility of this
[1:52:46] size? Um looking at possible grant
opportunities, looking at a potential
[1:52:51] partnerships with, you know, the YMCA.
We have a partnership with them with the
[1:52:54] Blue Dolphin uh pool right now. also
looking potentially at the Department of
[1:52:58] National Defense and whether there would
be any any appetite for a partnership
[1:53:02] there. So, this study would would dig
into those a lot more to see if there
[1:53:07] was possibilities there.
Um, some pros of this approach would be,
[1:53:12] you know, your consolidation of your
three administration hubs into one
[1:53:15] administration center. Um, increased uh
energy efficiencies. We would be looking
[1:53:20] at, you know, making these buildings as
close to net zero as possible. uh a
[1:53:24] potential for additional services to be
offered to the public including walking
[1:53:28] track, multisport gymnasium, and
exercise center. We would also be
[1:53:32] potentially looking at bringing the pool
indoors. Then it can be used all year
[1:53:35] round rather than just the summer
months. And then the ability to
[1:53:39] repurpose current facilities or that
land that those facilities sit on. Um
[1:53:43] some cons to this this option would be
there's a large, you know, capital cost.
[1:53:49] This is the larger capital cost option.
It's hard to say exactly what a facility
[1:53:54] like this would cost. Um I did put into
the report you probably would be looking
[1:53:59] at the $60 to $80 million mark. Um I
believe that's what God has recently
[1:54:04] spent on their facility. And then there
would be a significant impact on the
[1:54:08] operating budget with additional staff
uh requirements. You you know if there
[1:54:12] is a pool that's open all year round, we
need pool attendance. Um having the
[1:54:17] facility just simply cleaned at the end
of every day and things like that. So we
[1:54:21] would see large operating impacts.
Again, that would be picked up within
[1:54:25] that study about what the ongoing impact
would be on the uh municipal tax rate.
[1:54:31] So with that, I'll uh I'll pause and
I'll am available for any questions.
[1:54:37] » I'd like to thank you very much for the
report uh Sam. It it is probably the
[1:54:42] most important discussion we may have uh
in our term here and uh I regret that we
[1:54:47] only have maybe you know 40 minutes or
something to devote to it but at this
[1:54:51] time um councelor Yuri you can start.
>> Thank you Mr. Mayor and thank you Sam.
[1:54:57] Yeah it's a big one obviously um I know
you go out and you talk to a lot of the
[1:55:01] public and a lot of people that have
certainly talked to me about it
[1:55:05] everybody would love the concept of the
multi-use facility assessment. So, um,
[1:55:10] it's interesting when you said 60 to 80
because I did started to look at a lot
[1:55:13] of research around as well and it was
interesting because I was really
[1:55:17] thinking that would probably be more
like in the 80 to 120 realistically and
[1:55:21] you looked at a lot of the other
competitors. Godidge was one but a lot
[1:55:24] of the other ones were certainly higher
than that. So, I guess the question is
[1:55:28] twofold. One is I mean obviously it's
not just this because trying to do this
[1:55:31] in concert with another maj major
purchase i.e. wastewater plant somewhere
[1:55:36] down the road is two big chunks of
change to bite. Um you did mention about
[1:55:40] partnerships and one thing you didn't
mention in there and when we go to AMO
[1:55:44] and Roman places like that they always
talk about um cooperation between
[1:55:48] municipalities not just working with
like the um DoD or Y but literally
[1:55:56] looking at like a Blue Mountains or or
Grey Highlands who are neighboring who
[1:56:00] might also benefit from a poolled
facility like that. So hopefully that
[1:56:03] would come into vogue as well. But my
question is that when you talked about
[1:56:09] budgeting 200,000 for 2027, seems to me
that we already did budget like a couple
[1:56:14] hundred,000 to look at the harbor and
the urban meford kind of um master plan.
[1:56:22] This to me, even though this doesn't
fall under those two geographical
[1:56:27] probably locations, it seems to me that
this is a big part of that overall
[1:56:33] conversation because not only with the
harbor, what it's going to look like and
[1:56:36] how it's going to, you know, be assessed
for the benefit of for all, but the
[1:56:40] urban downtown, but this becomes almost
a third part. This becomes almost a
[1:56:44] triumphant. And I was just wondering, is
there a way that that should be melded?
[1:56:50] So, if we're going to get a consultant
to look at that anyway, should we be
[1:56:54] doing that as well? Because in the
public, it almost seems like we would be
[1:56:58] doing a public input to talk about those
things and then we were doing a public
[1:57:02] input to talk about that and there's a
lot of overlap. So, there is there a way
[1:57:06] that we could kind of combine those
agencies and and have that as a much
[1:57:10] larger conversation.
[1:57:16] » Uh, thank you and through you, Mr.
Mayor. Uh both really great questions
[1:57:20] and great points and yes we would to
kind of answer your first part we would
[1:57:23] look to our surrounding municipalities
to see if there were any partnership uh
[1:57:28] that could be done there. One that jumps
out to me would be Chadzsworth who's
[1:57:31] recently decided not to move forward
with an arena. Um yes we could look at
[1:57:36] something like that. The way I
structured this with that was that this
[1:57:39] would come back through the 2027 budget
process to be considered by council at
[1:57:44] that time and if approved staff would
then move forward with it. So, we can do
[1:57:48] kind of one of two things. We can either
bring this one forward and potentially
[1:57:52] look at approving something like this
today with final approval by council on
[1:57:56] the 27th because the harbor downtown
project has not been initiated to date.
[1:58:02] Um, so we could look at, you know,
increasing that budget, changing that
[1:58:05] scope and and bundling this all
together. or we could go the other way
[1:58:10] and leave this for the 2027 budget
deliberations and not do the downtown
[1:58:14] harbor until 2027. Um, so I would leave
that up to council's direction and how
[1:58:20] they wanted to handle it.
>> Deputy Mayor,
[1:58:24] » thank you, Mr. Mayor, and I appreciate
both the report and your comments,
[1:58:28] Director Dinsmore. And I guess too it
would be depend on the consultants who
[1:58:32] were hired whether or not they had the
skill set to look at recreation
[1:58:36] facilities and you know the downtown and
harbors. So that that would remain to be
[1:58:41] seen. But I'm I'm just really pleased
that we're having the opportunity to
[1:58:44] have this discussion. I think it's
important that we give consideration to
[1:58:48] the future of these facilities. I mean
we know that wreck facilities are a draw
[1:58:52] to communities and and uh I know friends
in God would say that their wreck
[1:58:57] complex has helped them attract doctors.
So that there's some merit in that as
[1:59:01] well for us to consider and you
mentioned uh you know various facilities
[1:59:05] and it would be my assumption you'd also
be looking at pickle ball courts and
[1:59:09] partnering with that organization and I
know the lawnballing group are concerned
[1:59:14] about you know potential future flooding
again and and you know could they be
[1:59:18] part of this. So I think there's just
lots of opportunity to uh to build upon
[1:59:22] what's been uh said here today. So, I'm
I'm just excited to see this come
[1:59:27] forward into the 2027 budget and to have
an opportunity to to explore and I think
[1:59:32] you've you've touched on, you know, how
we might continue to maintain current
[1:59:36] facilities in the process because it
will take a number of years to bring
[1:59:39] this to fruition, but I think we would
want to be very mindful of what
[1:59:44] investments we made in our existing
facilities, but we would need to keep
[1:59:47] them uh limping along. So, thank you
very much, Sam. I
[1:59:51] » think councelor Bell, you're next.
Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So, uh, the report is
[1:59:57] something that, uh, I guess in the back
of mind of, uh, current council members.
[2:00:03] We've seen reports where our long-term
debentures on a lot of facilities have,
[2:00:08] uh, got themselves now that they're
getting almost paid off, but I don't
[2:00:12] think any of us here thought that, you
know, we're not going to incur costs on
[2:00:18] those buildings just because we've got
the main debenture paid for. Um, as far
[2:00:24] as direction today, um, I think sitting
here that if we tell staff to maintain a
[2:00:30] status quo, uh, this this major subject
matter, uh, will definitely be in front
[2:00:37] of the new council. And when we consider
the number of people who are our
[2:00:43] taxpayers, we run with about $22 million
of tax supported money. Um I mean we
[2:00:49] talked about the need for the wastewater
treatment plant. I mean the needs and
[2:00:54] the desires of this community.
Name the percentage higher than what our
[2:01:00] purse can actually handle. So that is
the big discussion really in my mind.
[2:01:06] This is a service level that we need to
do and uh I appreciate comments about
[2:01:13] looking to other municipalities.
What do they need? what they don't have,
[2:01:18] what they could have. But I think when I
see numbers like this and we just had a
[2:01:24] report about how much money we've got in
our reserves. Um and then given the
[2:01:30] dynamics of of of our society where
we're at today. Um,
[2:01:37] not not to say that the rural people
don't appreciate things that might be
[2:01:44] available to them, but when we start
talking about these tens of millions of
[2:01:50] dollars
and we really have to come up with a
[2:01:54] decision
on how we promote or how we get
[2:01:59] feedback,
buy in. Should a future council do this?
[2:02:06] I think that this this subject matter is
just saying that I've met people
[2:02:11] recently that their service level that
they've experienced in other places in
[2:02:16] Ontario is top shelf and then I tell
them that we've got a beer budget
[2:02:23] and that's kind of where we're at. We
need to be in our means because we can
[2:02:27] overstep our our own ability to repay.
we can overstep that immediately
[2:02:34] and I don't think we should do that and
I think that this major subject matter
[2:02:39] is is for the future council and uh for
my myself today if you need something to
[2:02:46] move forward to know what you need to
put in for opening remarks for 2027
[2:02:51] for the mayor at that time to consider
what that might look like I think I'd
[2:02:56] like to just say status quo this
afternoon and we can start there in the
[2:03:00] future
Thanks.
[2:03:03] » Um, councelor Greenfield.
>> Thank you, your worship. Thanks, uh, Mr.
[2:03:09] Timsmore for bringing this forward. Um,
I have a couple of concerns with this.
[2:03:15] First, first of all, just a comment. We,
not too long ago, we had a facility
[2:03:21] report from,
I'm sure if it was Hamson or Watson, uh,
[2:03:27] one of those two. uh and uh I'm I'm
hoping that report could be utilized
[2:03:36] somewhat uh for anything in the future.
Uh there was quite a bit of detail in
[2:03:41] there and uh and uh
I estimates on the longevity ahead of
[2:03:51] some of our buildings. I uh
when I first read this, I thought
[2:04:00] and I still think I I think this is a
decision that should be left for the
[2:04:04] next council uh to make. uh we are going
to have some new members on that uh on
[2:04:13] that establishment and this is a huge hu
potentially huge huge uh investment uh
[2:04:22] obligation. We know something does have
to be done. Uh some of our facilities,
[2:04:31] a number of them are uh uh getting on
the uh uh
[2:04:38] the the old side of their uh of their
tenure. Uh certainly the the pool uh
[2:04:47] even the the St. the Meford St. Vincent
Community Center uh which is
[2:04:53] approximately 50 years old. We have to
remember the the arena
[2:05:00] before what we have now, it only lasted
25 years. So
[2:05:06] if you compare the two, this one's quite
an age. I guess
[2:05:15] I certainly there should be cost
efficiencies of combining
[2:05:22] everything into
one huge complex.
[2:05:28] But
again, when I first read this, I
[2:05:32] thought, hey, this is, you know, where
this is all have to be located.
[2:05:39] That's in the urban area on on the
services. Um,
[2:05:46] we could have
an administration office in the rural
[2:05:51] area.
uh this I I I
[2:05:56] hope that is kept in mind. We could have
a council chambers
[2:06:02] in the rural area. We are a big
geographical municipality. So um
[2:06:11] those are my two concerns. one is uh
I'm not I feel uneasy for this council
[2:06:20] to commit to something and and I know
it's in its infancy, but even then
[2:06:25] there's there's going to be a record of
that. Miss Miss Wilton Seiguel is going
[2:06:29] to make sure this this gets in the
record. So that's my first problem. And
[2:06:34] the second problem is I
I I I really hope in a in an attempt to
[2:06:42] reach out to our rural residents, uh it
is not a given
[2:06:48] something like all all of these services
have to be downtown mefort
[2:06:55] thinking.
>> I'm looking to uh councelor Anderson,
[2:07:00] councelor Ford, do you wish to speak to
this? So, go ahead, please.
[2:07:05] » Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor, and I
appreciate the discussion here, and I'm
[2:07:08] sort of in line with um councelor
Greenfield and councelor Bell is that um
[2:07:12] I this is a very important decision. I
think it'd be best to leave this to the
[2:07:16] next term of council to decide. Um and
so, I'll just leave it at that for now.
[2:07:20] Thank you,
>> Councelor.
[2:07:23] Thank you, [clears throat]
Mr. Mayor. Uh similarly, I think it
[2:07:26] would be best for the next council to
decide though while we're talking about
[2:07:31] it. I guess it might be helpful to sort
of put my thoughts in. Thinking of cost
[2:07:36] efficiency, I worry about whether or not
that would be uh sort of scrubbed by
[2:07:40] having to pay a huge debt uh to be able
to do it. Um, so I don't I I'm not sure
[2:07:46] that that would be uh,
you know, a sort of like a useful um,
[2:07:53] argument for it, but I just don't feel
that we're a municipality that's big
[2:07:58] enough to to sort of justify a project
that large. Um, especially considering
[2:08:03] um, we're struggling to figure out how
we're going to get the water treatment
[2:08:08] um, situation uh, sorted. Um, I think
this is something that would be very
[2:08:13] nice to have. Um, but I I just don't
think we're there. I don't think that
[2:08:18] that's what this municipality is. Um, I
think we're very lucky to have the
[2:08:23] services and and um options uh that we
have, the recreation options that we
[2:08:28] have. Um, and keeping them going is is
expensive and we it it's known to be
[2:08:34] expensive. Talking to members of the
community, it comes up a lot about how
[2:08:38] expensive it is. But if we then double
down on something that is
[2:08:43] massively expensive, uh I just I I don't
know that that would that would sit well
[2:08:48] um with with with a lot of the
municipality, a lot of our a lot of our
[2:08:52] neighbors. Um so yeah, today I would I
would be most comfortable uh seeing what
[2:08:58] the ne voting to see what the next
council thinks.
[2:09:03] » Um I just [clears throat] I I'd like to
weigh in on this as well. So, uh, do we
[2:09:08] want to u uh do you have something you
want to start answering? I I I'd like to
[2:09:13] just make three points if I could. This
is coming from somebody who's lived in
[2:09:17] Meford since 19 uh 56.
And uh I was a young man then, I'm an
[2:09:25] old man now. And so it's I I just want
to share with you how from my
[2:09:30] perspective how this looks. U the first
thing is I I see two projects. I think
[2:09:34] that uh I would divide recreation uh
which is multifaceted and and
[2:09:39] administration. I would divide those
into two projects and I would say that
[2:09:43] uh it's important that the
administration perhap it can maybe go uh
[2:09:47] rural or urban. Uh I think there are
real merits in in having it in the urban
[2:09:51] center. Uh but I think that uh if if
we're going to look at involving uh
[2:09:57] other communities, uh we should be very
open to uh a rural destination for a a
[2:10:03] rec center. Um the second thing I want
to say is uh I regret to inform you that
[2:10:09] I do not I don't have a lot of
confidence that our boundaries will
[2:10:12] always be what they are today. I think
the Ford government is likely going to
[2:10:17] change things uh before it is done and
um we may be part of a we may be either
[2:10:23] a much smaller municipality than we are
now or or part of a great big
[2:10:28] amalgamation and I have no idea what
might be coming. And the third thing is
[2:10:32] with respect to councelor Bell's points,
um
[2:10:38] I think it's very important to realize
that a lot many many millions of dollars
[2:10:43] are coming to municipalities of all
sizes for these recreational projects.
[2:10:49] And if we don't have a plan and if we
don't have a vision for where we're
[2:10:53] going, uh we won't be we won't be
getting our fair share.
[2:10:59] And if we wait for uh the next council
or it waits for the next council, uh I'm
[2:11:06] not sure those funds will continue to be
available. And from what I have seen,
[2:11:10] it's critically important that uh
improvements to uh to our uh our pool
[2:11:17] and to our arena are something that we
can't start soon enough to deal with.
[2:11:24] Um I guess we'll go around one more time
and then we'll come back to staff. Thank
[2:11:28] you, Council Eric.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you for
[2:11:31] your last comment because the one thing
I did want to say, and I and I do 100%
[2:11:35] appreciate the concern about the overall
massive expense. To that regard, I will
[2:11:41] say the problem being is is to your
point twofold. One is the further you
[2:11:47] kick it down the road, a few years ago,
a wastewater plant would have cost us
[2:11:51] $30 million. Now, it's going to cost us
$120 million. this put off another 5 10
[2:11:57] years what is it going to cost then to
do it and at that point when does your
[2:12:02] actual facilities become end of life and
then what do you do but I can still
[2:12:06] think moreover to your point again as
well about boundaries may potentially
[2:12:11] shifting but I think that's why it's
also paramount and I again cannot stress
[2:12:15] enough how many
um at how many conferences you hear it
[2:12:20] is so vital that municipalities need to
get together to try and share costs to
[2:12:27] to to share these kind of facilities
because you're right, Blue Mountains
[2:12:31] can't afford this by themselves,
Chadzsworth can't afford it by
[2:12:34] themselves, Greyhound, but if you put it
together, then you all can maybe take a
[2:12:38] bite out of it and do it. So that's why
I just think and without taking a step
[2:12:43] forward and I'm fine with it being in
the next council, if we're putting it
[2:12:46] forward literally six months for that
conversation, I have no problem with
[2:12:49] that. But I have real concerns about it
getting kicked further and further and
[2:12:53] further out and it gets more expensive
and then then you're in a situation
[2:12:57] where we just may not have any at some
point down the road. So your point is so
[2:13:03] [snorts]
apt I think that if you don't at least
[2:13:06] plan for it, you will not have the
availability to potentially do it.
[2:13:11] That's why at least a plan I think to
look at what could be done is more
[2:13:15] important than sitting back and going ah
let's just put band-aids on everything.
[2:13:19] I think councelor Greenfield, I don't
think he's spoken yet, please.
[2:13:26] » Okay, deputy mayor.
>> Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And yeah, I
[2:13:31] think we all recognize that this is a
multi-year process that is going to have
[2:13:35] some really difficult decisions attached
to it. But I just want to clarify what
[2:13:40] is being asked of us here today, which I
believe if I'm correct, Director
[2:13:43] Dinsmore, is to um provide a
recommendation to yourself to include in
[2:13:51] the 2027 budget $200,000
to undertake a study to give some
[2:13:57] direction to the next council as to what
they might be looking at in terms of
[2:14:01] recreation facilities, administration
facilities, and and they would be
[2:14:05] charged then with making those
decisions. Am I correct in uh that
[2:14:09] assumption?
>> Uh thank you and through you Mr. Mayor.
[2:14:11] Oh 100%. This report is looking for some
direction on what to include in the 2027
[2:14:16] budget. It is not appro preapproving the
2027 budget. Um without this report
[2:14:23] there may not have been anything
included in the 2027 budget except for
[2:14:26] maybe some facility capital requirements
just for that in year. Um staff wanted
[2:14:32] to take a bit of a holistic approach to
this. So what could happen as an example
[2:14:37] if council was to go with option one the
status quo and staff puts in the 15
[2:14:42] million or 12 million over the five
years we could get to 2027 the new
[2:14:47] council is making the decision they
could at that point say no no take all
[2:14:51] that out put the $200,000 and we want to
do the study and that would be allowed.
[2:14:55] So we're not making any decisions. What
we're doing is giving the next council a
[2:14:59] starting point for how they want these
recreational facilities and
[2:15:03] administrative facilities to operate. Um
I will just make one quick comment on uh
[2:15:08] the mayor's point. All new grants coming
from the province and the federal
[2:15:14] government include a must be shovel
ready, right? Must be ready to go
[2:15:18] whether it's ready to go with the
engineering or ready to go with the um
[2:15:22] the actual construction. So having the
public consultation, which is what that
[2:15:26] 200,000 really would be done so we know
what we're building, um would allow us
[2:15:33] better would give us better information
for those grant applications
[2:15:39] because we would know what we want to
include. Um staff have made no
[2:15:44] assumptions as to what a recreational
facility includes. It may include a
[2:15:49] pool, it may not. We don't know. Um, we
again we we would like to go through
[2:15:53] this process to figure out what the
community wants and what it's going to
[2:15:58] cost the community. I was always told
that if you ask someone if they want a
[2:16:01] Ferrari, they're going to say yes until
you tell them how much it's going to
[2:16:05] cost. And that's what this is doing,
right? If we went out to the public
[2:16:08] right now and said, "Do you want an
indoor gym? Do you want an indoor pool?
[2:16:11] Do you want a new arena?" Everybody is
going to say yes. But we need to make
[2:16:15] sure that everybody knows what that will
do for their annual property taxes.
[2:16:21] Without this 200,000, it's very hard to
answer that question.
[2:16:26] » I'm going to go to councelor Renis and
I'll come back to you, councelor
[2:16:29] Greenfield.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, you've changed
[2:16:32] my thinking a little bit. So, I
appreciate that. It sounds to me like we
[2:16:36] need to go with option two to make it
possible for the future council to make
[2:16:40] that decision. So in that case um I
could change my thinking and go with
[2:16:45] option two.
>> Uh councelor Greenfield.
[2:16:51] » Thanks uh thanks to worship and uh
thanks again Mr. Dinsm. Uh I'm still uh
[2:16:58] uneasy about this. Uh I I
it's it's wonderful to look at
[2:17:07] the big picture uh forward vision. Uh
I I'm just not sure if our municipality
[2:17:17] is quite there yet. And I'm somewhat
afraid that by
[2:17:23] looking at too many of these big ticket
items,
[2:17:27] there may be
an exclusion of the basics.
[2:17:34] We've got streets. We've got roads
that are not in good shape.
[2:17:43] basic transportation items that gets
everybody from home to work to to
[2:17:49] pleasure hopefully.
[2:17:53] lot of this we've talked about grants
and yes there are grants out there but
[2:18:00] you've got 444 municipalities in Ontario
reaching out for them and uh the chances
[2:18:08] of uh our municipality they are as good
as any of the others but there aren't
[2:18:15] 444 huge grants out there I'm sure that
we're talking about maybe a $20 million
[2:18:22] OP PP station that we may get a grant
for some of it. Uh
[2:18:30] we're trying to dredge a harbor and it's
at least a half a million dollars just
[2:18:35] to get started on the dredging.
Um
[2:18:40] I I really I mean it's it's great to
have a vision. It's great to have
[2:18:48] uh
some kind of an idea of where you want
[2:18:51] to go, but I I don't think we're there
yet. I I think we've got uh
[2:18:58] we're looking at third base, and I don't
think we've got the first base yet. So,
[2:19:03] I
I I just think it's premature. I think
[2:19:08] it's it's great to have a discussion.
Yes, we know something has to be done
[2:19:13] likely within the next 101 15 years, but
um I'm not content to uh uh get into
[2:19:22] something today.
>> Thank you.
[2:19:24] » I think that CEO Everett would like to
speak.
[2:19:26] » Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh just from a
few years of in the community services
[2:19:31] and recreation aspect, um doing a
feasibility study, you know, it's a it's
[2:19:37] a good start. Um, councelor Greenfield
mentions we're on third base. I' I'd say
[2:19:42] we're still in the dugout. Um, and and
trying to get an idea of where we need
[2:19:47] to go. Um, I could provide a a lengthy,
very lengthy list of the facilities that
[2:19:54] need dramatic investment that we have
today. whether it be a tennis court,
[2:19:59] whether it be a waterfront, whether it
be a campground. Um,
[2:20:04] there's a lot of our facilities that are
extremely deficient in where they need
[2:20:09] to be. Um, having an idea of what the
future of a of a pool is, an arena is,
[2:20:18] um, I would have to say a feasibility
study would have to look at is it even a
[2:20:24] meer? Like you have to look at your your
neighbors. Um the days of doing your own
[2:20:31] facility, in my opinion, are long gone
because each municipality can't bear the
[2:20:36] cost. Um I can tell you the the arena uh
the new new complex in Wasaga Beach cost
[2:20:42] about $60 million. Uh in 2021, I believe
it was budgeted for $43 million. By the
[2:20:48] time it was constructed, it was at 60
million. Over a course of two years, it
[2:20:52] it increased. Um,
we need to get a vision though. Uh, we
[2:20:58] need to really reflect on what we have
today. Um, because, you know, I've been
[2:21:05] here just over a year now and I'm really
starting to recognize that what we
[2:21:11] thought some facilities just needed in
repairs,
[2:21:14] they're they really need complete re
redu. um they've they've had some um
[2:21:22] facial surgery on them um but the bones
and the structure are gone. When you're
[2:21:28] talking about facilities that are 1966,
1930 something um they do not owe the
[2:21:35] municipality anything. Um, but it it is
really a time that we need to look at
[2:21:41] what are the nice to haves to councelor
Bell's point. Uh, and what what the
[2:21:46] needs truly are. I I've heard lots about
our roads. Um, and I would have to say
[2:21:53] that that's got to be one of the
priorities. I think the why I like this
[2:21:58] report coming forward
today was not so much that this council
[2:22:03] was being put in a position to make a
decision that the future council was
[2:22:07] going to be tied to. I think it's a
really good report for the future
[2:22:12] council to understand going into 2027
and the next term of council
[2:22:18] the issues that they're going to have.
Um that's that's what I'm looking
[2:22:24] forward to. I believe that's what
staff's job is is to really put it into
[2:22:28] the public um uh information in the
public sphere to understand that we need
[2:22:37] to build this municipality. Um and we
need to sort of
[2:22:43] really take a look at what are the
services that we're providing and what
[2:22:46] we need to provide because we can't be
everything to everyone. Um so um I think
[2:22:52] 2027 having that discussion in in in a
budget uh deliberation irregardless if
[2:22:58] it's fa is if it's uh status quo or not
um I think this discussion has served
[2:23:04] the next term of council well already if
people are thinking about running and
[2:23:09] you know the public's listening to this
um I very rarely go into the arena
[2:23:15] without somebody saying to me oh when
are we going to get a new rink this this
[2:23:19] puts it at least on the radar. Um
because to be honest with you, I we
[2:23:24] wouldn't need a double rink. Um I think
there's huge benefit if you were to take
[2:23:30] a look at replacing a pool. You wouldn't
replace it with an outdoor pool, right?
[2:23:34] There are there are some things that in
my opinion from the recreation field are
[2:23:39] just given. Why why would you invest in
building an outdoor pool when at the end
[2:23:43] of the day you invest and you cover it
and you get year- round use? So I think
[2:23:48] the feasibility study like it it helps
us and it helps us even I will say the
[2:23:54] feasibility study is not going to be
shovel ready. It that's not going to
[2:23:57] give you a shovel ready project. It's
just going to give you the idea of what
[2:24:02] the facility needs to be made up of. So
then you can start your engineering on
[2:24:08] having an actual shovel ready. the in
the last two points, nothing in Sam's
[2:24:14] report was dictating whether or not this
was going to be in a rural area or an
[2:24:19] urban area. Nothing in Sam's report also
identified that the end the end product
[2:24:26] wasn't the existing facility.
It was just can we focus on what do we
[2:24:32] need in the future? Um, I've seen way
too many municipalities do these do
[2:24:37] these uh studies and it becomes just a
wish list and you get nothing. Calling
[2:24:44] was a great example. 20 25 years ago I
think it was they they were looking at
[2:24:49] Fiser Field um and they opened up what
everybody wants and they missed all
[2:24:54] their funding opportunities and and you
know at the end of the day they missed a
[2:25:00] really opportunity really big
opportunity to centralize things. um
[2:25:04] were here
like town of Blue Mountains and and
[2:25:08] calling with they just over the last two
years looked at doing a feasibility
[2:25:12] study and ended up deciding not to
partner. Um so there's lots of there's
[2:25:18] lots of information that we have to look
at. And the last piece just in regards
[2:25:21] to the harbor and downtown emerging
those I personally think that would be
[2:25:26] the wrong thing because again that would
be assuming that what we're talking
[2:25:30] about would be in the rural or in the
urban downtown area. Um I think the two
[2:25:35] could go hand inand 100% but I think
they're completely separate projects.
[2:25:40] » So now to proceed I need some advice
from clerk Wilton Seagull. Um and here's
[2:25:46] the question. Uh the recommendation is
option X. We also have option one and
[2:25:51] option two. Uh will I look for a motion
uh for option one first and vote on that
[2:25:57] and then
Thank you, Risha. My recommendation to
[2:26:01] council would be that if um a member of
council feels that option one or option
[2:26:05] two is their preference that they put
forward an amending motion to replace X
[2:26:09] with one and council can discuss that or
alternatively if a member of council
[2:26:14] feels that option two should be
discussed. Um they would put forward an
[2:26:17] amending motion for replacing it with
option two and then the debate can be
[2:26:22] had and the vote can be taken at that
time.
[2:26:24] And to be clear, option one is u to move
forward uh spending uh 12 uh.6 million I
[2:26:32] think it is on uh repairs to existing
facilities and option two is to budget
[2:26:38] 200,000 for the 2027 um budget uh to
have a study of uh requirements for
[2:26:45] these facilities.
Councelor Yurig.
[2:26:49] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I on that basis
would recommend I would move that it be
[2:26:55] option two. Been to too many act
conferences recently where Stratford
[2:27:02] took big swings and ended up hitting
home runs. If you don't have a you don't
[2:27:07] have a map, you're not going to get
anywhere.
[2:27:10] Um and is there a second for that? Are
you seconding that? Thank you. Okay. And
[2:27:16] does everybody understand uh we're going
to call a vote on whether or not you
[2:27:19] agree with option two, which is to
budget $200,000 for a study which will
[2:27:23] give staff the direction they need to uh
help the next council move forward on
[2:27:28] this whole issue. That's how I interpret
it. Anyway, um um anyone have a question
[2:27:34] about what we're going to vote on?
Councelor
[2:27:36] » Renis
more of a more of a comment. I'm just uh
[2:27:40] wanted to say out loud that I'm sort of
approaching this like uh we spoke about
[2:27:43] earlier today in uh item on the agenda
9.1A
[2:27:48] uh where the report wasn't about
disposing of land. It was about
[2:27:53] considering it as an opportunity talking
to uh you know neighboring properties
[2:27:57] talking to the community uh and
exploring that option. So I'm seeing
[2:28:01] nods from from staff. So option two to
me is essentially the same sort of
[2:28:05] process. Um, and so I uh would be happy
to support that.
[2:28:11] » Then are you ready to vote uh for option
two? Uh, all in favor?
[2:28:17] Those opposed?
I think those in favor have won the day
[2:28:22] and um
and the vote was uh 5 to two. Correct.
[2:28:28] Okay. Um uh my my apologies your worship
for interrupting but because that was an
[2:28:34] amending motion we do need a final vote
on the main motion. So now the main
[2:28:37] motion will be that council uh committee
of the whole recommend council of the
[2:28:41] municipality of meford to approve option
two uh as outlined in report and then
[2:28:45] that will move on to
>> can I uh I didn't need a mover and
[2:28:50] seconder for this. No. Okay then uh you
but you want to vote. So are we voting
[2:28:55] to confirm option two? All in favor
the bigger pardon
[2:29:01] » the whole report. Okay. And those
opposed and it's the same 52 vote I
[2:29:06] believe. Okay.
So now um and I I'm going to make people
[2:29:13] aware that at 4:30 or thereabouts we are
going to um have a recess because we
[2:29:20] have a planning public meeting at 5:00
this afternoon. And um I'm just hoping
[2:29:25] we can get through the majority of our
agenda uh with the time that is left. So
[2:29:30] at this uh point um under development
services the recommendation is that
[2:29:35] committee of the whole recommend council
of the municipality of meford one direct
[2:29:39] staff to initiate a request for
pre-qualification
[2:29:42] RFPQ process for the three surplus
residential parcels identified and two
[2:29:48] endorse exploration of a tiny home
community model subject to feasibility
[2:29:52] and market response and number three
direct staff to report back with results
[2:29:57] and next steps. a mover in a second,
please. Deputy mayor Kiny and seconded
[2:30:03] by councelor Bell. Thank you.
Um and u maybe you should speak to this
[2:30:09] because it is uh really your project and
I congratulate you on the the way this
[2:30:13] has been brought forward and and a lot
of work went into it and uh a lot of
[2:30:18] your personal contacts to to see about
the feasibility of this. So go right
[2:30:22] ahead.
>> Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I'm
[2:30:24] happy to uh to speak to this report and
I want to thank Director KN for all of
[2:30:29] her efforts in uh in bringing that to us
so expeditiously. So with this I'm just
[2:30:34] very very pleased to have this
conversation today and uh I certainly
[2:30:38] can confirm that there is a great deal
of interest from our residents in seeing
[2:30:43] this project move forward. I've heard
from people of all ages that uh they
[2:30:49] feel this is a really really good
project for me. I think it's exciting.
[2:30:54] We could be the first community in Gray
County to have a full uh tiny home
[2:30:58] community in our backyard and I I see it
as um you know structured in such a way
[2:31:04] that the homes are affordable and that
it's wellmaintained and that it's a
[2:31:07] place that people can be proud to call
home and I know there's also interest
[2:31:11] from the development community in
looking at the opportunity to respond to
[2:31:15] this RFI. So, I uh am just feeling quite
confident that uh we can see all of this
[2:31:21] come to fruition. And we understand
there's a lot of steps in the process
[2:31:24] that was mentioned earlier today by a
presenter. We understand we're a long
[2:31:28] way yet from uh from actually making
this happen. But, uh you know, this is
[2:31:33] this is where we start. I like the
location because it's walkable to uh to
[2:31:38] downtown. And I think that's uh that's
important for Tiny Homes. And uh I'm
[2:31:42] just uh very very pleased to see this
moving forward. And thank you again to
[2:31:45] you Amy.
>> Um so councelor Ford and then councelor
[2:31:51] Bell.
>> Uh thank you Mr. Mayor and through you
[2:31:54] and uh appreciate Deputy Mayor with this
initiative and so I just looking for a
[2:31:59] little bit of clarification because I
love the idea of a tiny home community.
[2:32:02] But is the goal of this to provide
affordable housing to residents or is
[2:32:07] the goal to provide a tiny home
community? Because where I struggle with
[2:32:10] that is in the report there are more
affordable options. Tiny homes aren't
[2:32:14] technically more affordable. You're just
buying a smaller home, so it's less
[2:32:18] money, but in terms of cost per square
foot, it may actually be more expensive.
[2:32:22] Um, so my question is, is our goal to
provide more affordable housing to
[2:32:28] people who need it, or is the goal
simply to provide a tiny home community
[2:32:31] so we can say we have a tiny home
community and all the good things that
[2:32:34] come with that? And I'm not trying to
say that to speak down of it because I
[2:32:37] think it's a great initiative. I'm just
not really sure what the objective is
[2:32:41] for this tiny bid project. Are we
considering other types of developments
[2:32:45] that have been referenced in the report
itself or is it tiny home take it or
[2:32:49] leave it? I just kind of want to know
what the direction is of this
[2:32:52] initiative. Uh because that's going to
sort of dictate the feedback that I
[2:32:56] have. Uh so I just I just appreciate uh
knowing what the what the end goal is of
[2:33:01] the the tiny home initiative here.
>> Please. Yes,
[2:33:05] » Mr. Mayor. If I may, I'd be happy to
respond to councelor Porter. And I think
[2:33:08] to some degree it's it's both. I mean a
tiny home as you suggested it is a
[2:33:12] smaller home. So therefore the price tag
is likely in the affordable range and we
[2:33:17] have no idea at this point whether
they're owned or leased or rented or
[2:33:20] lifelased or land leased or there's just
so many different ways that it could be
[2:33:24] set up. So there's no idea at this point
what that could look like. But yeah the
[2:33:30] in in my mind I see it as providing
affordable living. But yes, definitely
[2:33:34] the the community aspect of a tiny home
community where there are, you know, a
[2:33:38] central gathering place and there's uh
fire pit and there's trails and and
[2:33:43] community garden and that sort of thing
where people can can congregate. I see
[2:33:47] it as being that real community, but you
know, are we tied to an actual tiny home
[2:33:52] community or could it be a pocket
community? Or there's there's different
[2:33:56] ways of of setting up small homes,
whether it's, you know, a tiny home on
[2:34:00] its own little lot with its own little
driveway or whether it's a pocket
[2:34:04] community where houses are side by and
the driveway goes along behind them and
[2:34:09] that keeps the front, you know, very
very clean. Um, I think there's I'm just
[2:34:14] interested to see when we get the
responses to the RFI what suggestions
[2:34:18] come back from the development community
as to what it could look like. So
[2:34:22] there's in my mind not tied to any one
look or format in my head. I just I just
[2:34:28] want to see what the options are. Does
that help?
[2:34:32] » Yes.
>> Councelor Bell.
[2:34:35] » Thanks, Mr. Mayor. So, um, this council
may have, uh, forgot that, uh, I brought
[2:34:42] forward a motion, uh, that was, um,
adopted unanimously to advance to our
[2:34:48] building community that they look at the
Ontario building code what it says to be
[2:34:53] the minimal requirements in order to
have a dwelling. Same thing. So, one of
[2:34:58] the issues that I just did just with
math, you know, talking about whether
[2:35:02] you're $300 a square foot or $400 a
square foot,
[2:35:08] 14 ft by 14 ft at $400 a square foot is
$78,000 for something and I think
[2:35:15] somebody would be quite ridiculously
to spend that kind of money for that
[2:35:20] kind of square footage, which is like a
garden shed. So then I just said, "Well,
[2:35:25] let's do something 20 by 25." And you
get up there. Well, you're at $200,000.
[2:35:31] Haven't bought the land. What's the
service land underneath that? So, it
[2:35:36] doesn't take long to hit that $400,000
mark. And you have to get a builder
[2:35:40] who's wants to do this. So, the
initiative about doing it, I'm all for
[2:35:45] it. I'm interested to see what the
building community can do with this. But
[2:35:50] then I looked up what a um all seasons
trailer 8 by40 320 square feet you can
[2:35:57] live in it all year round you have your
own spot but now I'm talking about a
[2:36:01] trailer park so what is it that we
really want to see here and I think
[2:36:06] that's the point from my fellow
counselor for is it a series of really
[2:36:10] small dwellings maybe for one or two
individuals what are we trying to do so
[2:36:16] I think opening it up to the building
community is the right thing to do. Let
[2:36:22] them tell us if it can be done because
we just had an open house on Highway 26
[2:36:27] not long ago. I think they're
advertising opening units at 585,000.
[2:36:33] That's where they're at. So, we're
trying to cut that. And if we have it in
[2:36:38] our mind to cut it in half, how can we
get somebody into a place for 300 or
[2:36:43] 350,000?
So that's what the building community is
[2:36:46] going to tell us about this, whether
there's even any appetite to do it. So I
[2:36:52] welcome it. I'm going to vote for it,
see what happens with it. But um it's
[2:36:57] interesting because um you know, you do
have to pay for the labor and I don't
[2:37:02] think any construction company's going
to take a cut. Very rarely you're going
[2:37:07] to need three 400,000 to do a square
footage. So that's the point.
[2:37:12] » Go ahead.
My apologies for interrupting your
[2:37:15] worship. I have noticed that there is um
on the agenda uh the reports
[2:37:21] recommendation has been updated and
isn't reflected in the agenda index. So
[2:37:25] I wondered if I could just display ask
Allison to display if you're looking at
[2:37:29] the report you're seeing the
recommendation. I think that was
[2:37:32] changed. Um and the index if you look at
the index is is different. So, I just
[2:37:38] want everybody um on council to be sure
we're looking at the same
[2:37:42] recommendation. So, if I could just ask
that that be displayed. Um it's a
[2:37:47] slightly different recommendation with
the same theme um but definitely not the
[2:37:52] same if you've looked at the index. So,
those who use um who are looking at the
[2:37:58] report specifically, that recommendation
has not changed from when you read the
[2:38:03] report.
Does that make sense?
[2:38:08] So I just again to be to be clear what
council is considering this is correct.
[2:38:12] The index has been updated but it may
not have been reflected if you had been
[2:38:16] looking at it um during this meeting.
So this differs I think Mayor Kentner
[2:38:23] from your index because
>> you don't have the report. So if you go
[2:38:27] to the item to the report in your binder
>> that recommendation is right.
[2:38:32] » Thank you. Okay I'll do that.
[2:38:40] You can see just a bit of reading
for these council meetings. So, um we're
[2:38:46] looking at um three points in the
recommendation here and they're on the
[2:38:50] the uh on the screen there now.
Um
[2:38:57] did you wish to speak to that at point
or or is it something else? Okay, let's
[2:39:03] go to councelor Greenfield.
Thank you. Um, okay. I I I noticed this.
[2:39:09] I I thought we were doing an RFI and
then we've got different different
[2:39:14] acronym here. Um,
so I'm wondering
[2:39:21] I I I was quite comfortable with an RFI.
I thought it was a great idea. Um, tiny
[2:39:28] homes do seem to be catching on. Um,
they seem to be popular. I uh uh looked
[2:39:35] on Google and I couldn't find anything
negative about tiny home communities and
[2:39:41] I I thought that was kind of
interesting.
[2:39:45] Um but
anyway, um so the request for
[2:39:52] pre-qualification
[2:39:56] um can can you explain that a little bit
further? Like to me it's the request for
[2:40:02] information was fairly general. Uh is
this more specific? Is this going to
[2:40:10] uh
[2:40:13] reduce the the potential number of ideas
that are coming forward or potential
[2:40:19] number of proposals? Can can you help me
on that?
[2:40:22] » Go ahead, director K.
>> Uh thank you and through your worship to
[2:40:26] councelor Greenfield. Uh so the original
notice of motion from deputy mayor
[2:40:31] Kibney had indicated um the
pre-qualification idea and so as I was
[2:40:36] crafting the report I thought that the
number of questions that that still um
[2:40:43] were sort of in the ether on the nature
of the project, the viability of the
[2:40:47] project uh might warrant sort of backing
up and doing a request for for interest
[2:40:53] instead. Um, and that would allow us to
sort of reach out to the community, the
[2:40:58] development community, and get a little
more information on from their expert
[2:41:02] perspectives, um, you know, what goes
into their consideration,
[2:41:07] how viable is this, um, in their minds
and and maybe they're they hold
[2:41:12] information that we don't have by virtue
of not being uh, expert developers. So,
[2:41:17] I sort of backed up on that. Um, and
then I embedded that in my
[2:41:22] recommendation back to council if that
sort of makes sense.
[2:41:28] » Go ahead. Uh,
thanks. Thanks, Amy. Uh, just two more
[2:41:34] questions. Um
I I'm I'm assuming
[2:41:40] municipality still has the usual site
plan agreement uh opportunities controls
[2:41:48] or wish lists. Um and
the the next one is
[2:41:55] the neighbors neighbor involvement
public involvement is are we too soon
[2:42:01] for that or uh I'm hoping that will come
into play somewhere down the road
[2:42:09] » again through your worship um certainly
so not unlike the CIO's process for um
[2:42:16] divestature of public property or or
municipal property, there would be a
[2:42:21] public engagement process for that
aspect alone if we were to consider sale
[2:42:26] of of municipal lands. But on top of
that, knowing that that any development
[2:42:31] on these parcels will require planning
act approvals, we will engage the public
[2:42:37] um in accordance with the planning act
on top of that. So they may be sort of
[2:42:41] concurrent processes, but you sort of
have two um double requirements to be
[2:42:46] able to engage engage the public on on
this proposal.
[2:42:52] » Okay, deputy mayor.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to come
[2:42:55] back to councelor Bell's comments just
for a couple of examples in relation to
[2:43:00] costing of these homes. And I mean they
can be high-end or they can be, you
[2:43:06] know, regular normal uh materials like
uh you know, arborite countertops
[2:43:11] instead of stone sort of thing. But um
there was a model home in Collingwood
[2:43:15] last uh year that I went to see at uh
the Home Hardware location and it was I
[2:43:21] think $320 square ft with a selling
price of $150,000
[2:43:26] and a separate bedroom and a nice little
kitchen with a stone countertop and you
[2:43:31] know washer and dryer, full bathroom and
so on and so forth. Um Quality Homes is
[2:43:35] making tiny homes. Um and I went to see
them. The smaller one is just over 500
[2:43:43] square ft and you know full separate
bedroom, full closet, kitchen again with
[2:43:48] stone countertops, electric fireplace,
lots of amenities. Um and that one at
[2:43:53] just over 500 ft² sells for 199,000 and
you still have to, you know, put it on
[2:43:59] your lot and hook up the servicing and
so on. But just to give us a sense of of
[2:44:04] costs, um I just found that interesting.
But I think the important thing for us
[2:44:10] to remember today is that you know
there's no cost in what we're doing at
[2:44:14] this point. We're just looking for
interest from the development community
[2:44:17] so that we have some proposals to
consider. So if we move this forward
[2:44:21] today, no cost to the municipality. It's
just put it out there and uh allow this
[2:44:27] council or the next council to have an
opportunity to give consideration to uh
[2:44:31] whatever proposals come before it. So I
just thought it was important to note
[2:44:35] the financial side of this today.
>> Councelor Fer.
[2:44:40] » So thank you Mr. Mayor and through you.
So just a quick question. So and I have
[2:44:43] no problem supporting this just to see
what comes back but will the um the bids
[2:44:48] or the information we get from the
developers will it just be tiny home
[2:44:52] specific? I apologize if I missed that.
um or are we going to be asking
[2:44:56] developers to provide their, you know,
most affordable options for the best use
[2:45:00] of the land that that we're providing or
that is available? Um so I just like to
[2:45:05] know um if if we're only going to be
getting tiny home bids that might be
[2:45:08] limited in scope uh in terms of
evaluating what other options could be
[2:45:12] used for that land. Um so what what
would that look like? And are we going
[2:45:16] to be opening up to more than just tiny
home offerings? Like let's say stacked
[2:45:20] town houses um for example. Um would
that be something that we would expect
[2:45:24] accept a bid or a proposal um from a
developer who might be able to offer
[2:45:28] that but not necessarily specific tiny
homes?
[2:45:35] » Uh I think I can help through your
worship. Um with the information I have
[2:45:40] today, I likely would um you know craft
um the requests for uh interest or
[2:45:47] information with the thought that tiny
homes is sort of the objective. But um
[2:45:53] you know if it's council's wish that we
sort of neutralize it a wee bit and and
[2:45:58] um put the request for interest out
noting that um we'd be happy to receive
[2:46:04] you know suggestions of other forms. Um
you know we can certainly do that. I'm
[2:46:09] I'm in your hands uh in that regard.
[2:46:16] » Yes. Okay. And thank you Mr. Mayor. Be
brief and thank you for that director K.
[2:46:21] Um, and so my my only reason for that
line of question questioning was I just
[2:46:25] didn't want to limit our options to just
tiny homes. If we do determine that
[2:46:28] there could be better use of that space
and ultimately if our goal is to make
[2:46:31] best use of that land and develop it for
the benefit of the maximum number of
[2:46:36] people, I'd certainly like to benefit
more people than less people,
[2:46:40] particularly if we can still make it
affordable to them. Um, so, um, not to
[2:46:44] sort of derail this initial tiny home,
um, initiative, but I really think it
[2:46:49] would be in our best interest to see to
challenge the developers to see what
[2:46:53] they can do to provide affordable
housing of all kinds on that land and
[2:46:57] put the challenge out to them and see
what they can come back. And of course,
[2:46:59] we don't have to commit to anything we
don't want to, but I think um, you know,
[2:47:03] let's leave it in the minds of the
creative developers and see what they
[2:47:06] they could uh, they could pull out of
their hat. Um, so that's just a
[2:47:09] suggestion. Um, and I don't know if I
have any support for that, but I would
[2:47:13] certainly suggest considering making an
amendment to um, opening the scope a
[2:47:17] little bit uh, rather than just tiny
homes um, to, you know, just to my
[2:47:21] comments. So, I just don't know if any
of my fellow counselors think that
[2:47:23] that's a pragmatic thing to be doing or
not, but I'll leave it to you guys.
[2:47:28] » Did you wish to speak, councelor Andis?
>> Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I
[2:47:32] would support councelor Ford's idea. I
love the idea of tiny homes. I know a
[2:47:36] lot of people that would be interested
in moving into one and and uh enjoying
[2:47:40] their life there. Um but I think that if
we're going to go for an initiative to
[2:47:45] give good affordable um you know
cost-effective options um it
[2:47:52] I it doesn't sit well with me to to look
at one specific type. Um, so yeah, I I
[2:47:58] would want to prioritize uh cost
efficiency versus the style.
[2:48:05] » And I I'm tempted to, you know, got a
mover in a secondary there. Uh I just I
[2:48:10] have never heard of an affordable
stacked townhouse. I've never heard of
[2:48:14] an affordable townhouse. I've never
heard of an affordable uh single uh uh
[2:48:19] dwelling uh or or a duplex. uh does
somebody have affordable like what is
[2:48:25] the number? Uh it's way below uh um
attainable and uh we have trouble
[2:48:32] getting the standard size houses into
the attainable category.
[2:48:38] So go ahead.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I think those
[2:48:42] are great points. So if the building
community comes back and all of their
[2:48:47] non-tiny options are uh financially not
considerable by us for for these
[2:48:53] purposes then great the decision is
absolutely made from a financial
[2:48:56] perspective. Um but if they come back
with a model that um does does work and
[2:49:03] does make sense and could provide sort
of achieve the goal here um at least as
[2:49:09] I interpret um deputy mayor Keven's
goals um if we achieve that through a
[2:49:13] different option then that would be
great to councelor Bell's point of um
[2:49:18] you know just looking at kind of square
footage costs um I think it is
[2:49:23] incredible that Lonal is doing it for
the prices that they are doing it Um,
[2:49:27] and if we can drive that down even
further, kind of however we however a
[2:49:31] builder is able or a developer is able
to achieve that, um, I would want to
[2:49:35] consider and I would want to look at,
um, I don't build houses, so I don't
[2:49:39] know what they might come up with, but,
um,
[2:49:42] » so I think we got a mover and a
seconder, uh, um, and that we should
[2:49:46] proceed. Can you uh, develop a motion
for their
[2:49:52] » uh, thank you. I wonder if councelor
Ford is able to offer a little bit more
[2:49:55] clarity in the wording that he would
like reflected to replace
[2:49:59] um as I'm understanding it the tiny home
development with something more broad.
[2:50:06] » Yes, thank you Mr. Mayor through you. if
I may. Um, so just going off the top of
[2:50:10] my head, I'm not exactly sure how I'd
word it, but I would be open to
[2:50:14] receiving any and all suggestions from
developers on how they could provide
[2:50:20] their best affordable housing option,
whatever that looks like. Um, you know,
[2:50:25] I would say there's nothing, you know,
off the table because if it doesn't,
[2:50:28] like to what councelor Anna said, if it
doesn't fit our criteria and it's not a
[2:50:33] good fit for whatever reason, we simply
just dismiss it and we move on to the
[2:50:36] next. Uh, but I just think we need to
broaden the scope a little bit and put
[2:50:39] the challenge out to the developers and
see if they can get creative and provide
[2:50:42] us with some options that maybe we
haven't considered. Um, so if you can
[2:50:47] magician that a little bit, Margaret,
I'd appreciate that. But that would be
[2:50:50] sort of the the gist of my uh my motion
there. Thank you.
[2:50:59] » Um, until we get this motion on the
floor, please uh we'll just
[2:51:22] Thank you, Rishop. I might just be a
minute. I just wanted to confer with our
[2:51:25] director of development services to make
sure that the wording would be
[2:51:28] » appropriate. I'm sorry.
>> Do you want me to declare a two-minute
[2:51:33] recess?
Well, why don't we do that? We've been
[2:51:37] at the table a long time here, so a
two-minute recess. We'll reconvene at
[2:51:42] 3:51.
[2:51:47] 355.
[3:01:50] just having a little challenge
reconvening this council but I think and
[3:01:55] then we did we gave us you gave us an
inch we took a mile I'm sorry however uh
[3:02:00] I think we are ready to proceed and
we've got a motion here uh moved by
[3:02:05] councelor for seconded by councelor and
uh that the motion be amended by adding
[3:02:10] and or affordable housing options
following development in clause one. So
[3:02:16] clause one then
is going to read
[3:02:28] my apologies that's how it would read.
It's a little bit tricky when it's in
[3:02:31] isolation. So that's um an example if it
were to pass how it the main motion
[3:02:36] would read. But that's not how the main
motion reads now with the red.
[3:02:40] » Is that agreeable to the mover and
secondary?
[3:02:45] » Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And through um
for now, yeah, I think that sort of sums
[3:02:50] up what I what I was thinking initially,
but I know um there likely be some
[3:02:54] comments from members around the table
that would maybe help improve the
[3:02:58] wording if anybody has any ideas. Um, I
know the wording is really tricky, but I
[3:03:01] think that is a very good starting point
and I welcome everybody's input to see
[3:03:04] if there's um a good final product that
we uh that we can all look at.
[3:03:08] » Okay.
So, um
[3:03:12] other uh comments, suggestions that
deputy may
[3:03:15] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'll I'll
start it off and I'll just um uh I
[3:03:20] appreciate the intent and I'm fine with
that. I think my concern is the word
[3:03:24] affordable because we don't have an
actual definition in me for what is
[3:03:30] considered affordable. We know it's 30%
of someone's income, but that doesn't
[3:03:35] necessarily give us a dollar amount to
again define uh what we're looking for
[3:03:41] here. So, I'm looking for um other
wording which I think council can help
[3:03:47] us with um that would replace the word
affordable.
[3:03:52] So you
>> here, Mr. Mayor. Um I was thinking
[3:03:56] something along the lines of saying um
costefficient
[3:04:00] uh housing options or housing models and
then in uh the request
[3:04:06] um essentially explain that we'd like to
see um you know a a a good balance uh of
[3:04:13] final cost and cost per square foot. Um,
and then that sort of I think still
[3:04:22] probably guides towards uh a tiny home
um option. Um, and I'm sure there there
[3:04:29] will be a lot of really really great uh
great great offerings. Um, but then it
[3:04:33] also allows for um other other ideas to
come in uh that still serve as sort of
[3:04:39] the the overarching goal.
[3:04:46] Go ahead.
>> Just to clarify, so the motion that
[3:04:49] councelor Ford would then be bringing
instead to to clarify the wording. I
[3:04:54] there are two ways we could do this, but
if if you're tableabling the motion
[3:04:57] right now, it would be andor coste
effective housing options rather than
[3:05:03] andor affordable housing options is what
you'd like. The alternative is of course
[3:05:07] to vote on this one. We vote it down and
then we have another motion. to to go
[3:05:12] ahead if that's what you're wanting to
work on.
[3:05:16] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And if I if I may,
yes, I like um the wording from
[3:05:19] councelor Anis, but I think it's it's
smarter wording to use than using the
[3:05:23] the term affordable.
>> Okay.
[3:05:25] » Thank you.
I just go on record that I would be uh
[3:05:30] you know um much more inclined to uh
consider a motion down the road to uh u
[3:05:36] uh make a a similar call for truly
affordable housing in Meford where we
[3:05:41] would perhaps uh we we do have a a
pretty considerable surplus of land in
[3:05:46] the community and we could uh perhaps
designate a more suitable parcel and
[3:05:51] offer it for truly affordable housing.
Uh I just don't want to chase um uh tiny
[3:05:57] home uh builders away from uh the
proposal that we're making at this
[3:06:03] point. That that's my concern about uh
this
[3:06:11] um at least CEO Everett, you maybe have
some thoughts to help us through this?
[3:06:16] » Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um and again,
the direction I think is is fine. and it
[3:06:21] gives staff all the guidance that they
require. I think one of the pieces that
[3:06:26] I just want to be mindful of that
included in an RFI is identifying how
[3:06:33] the long-term
affordability criter
[3:06:42] is with affordable housing in my opinion
is real estate. Real estate is a free
[3:06:48] market. It only is affordable at the
first purchase
[3:06:53] that you can turn it over and make
double your money. So there has to be
[3:06:58] the element within any development
agreement that they have to prove how
[3:07:03] how the the unit how the property is
going to continue to be within that
[3:07:09] affordable criteria. That's the only way
this works. Um or else, you know, the
[3:07:15] developer, whoever is they they may be
in at a certain level, but it's that new
[3:07:22] homeowner who flips it who gets
[clears throat] to make the money. And
[3:07:25] and that's where typically these things
fall off the rail. There are ways of
[3:07:30] doing it. The question is whether or not
the industry wants to go down that road
[3:07:35] because there isn't necessarily the
money that they would make at the end of
[3:07:39] the rainbow. But if it's truly about,
you know, making these units attainable
[3:07:44] or affordable or whatever the word we
want to use, having that mechanism in
[3:07:49] place part of the RFI is incredibly
important so they know what the rules of
[3:07:53] the game are going in. Thank you,
>> Deputy Mayor.
[3:07:58] » Uh, thank you very much, Mr. mayor and I
completely agree with what our CEO is
[3:08:01] saying and I'm wondering to that intent
do we also need um at this point in time
[3:08:08] to include in the RFI any incentives
that might be on the table through our
[3:08:14] CIP
um because you know that the side of
[3:08:19] this the financial side of this is
critically important and so I think
[3:08:23] that's a question developers are going
to come back with you know what what
[3:08:27] skin are we going to have in the name,
so to speak. So, what's in our CIP that
[3:08:32] could assist in keeping these homes? I
know we're going to use the word
[3:08:36] affordable even though we're talking
about doing this in a different way, but
[3:08:41] I think we all understand in our minds
where we're trying to get to here is
[3:08:45] that yeah, we want these price points to
be doable for for people who are looking
[3:08:50] for this minimalistic type of living and
we want them to stay that way. So I
[3:08:55] think that's generally how it works is
that the municipality participates in
[3:08:59] some fashion. So director Ken, what's in
our CIP that could support this
[3:09:06] through your worship? I'm happy to
answer that question. So there's a few
[3:09:10] ways uh to look at this. thinking of our
our new uh CIP that unfortunately is
[3:09:16] currently under appeal, but thinking of
when the CIP does come into force, um it
[3:09:23] would be uh an option under the CIP for
council to be able to offer lands uh at
[3:09:30] a discount or for free um if that if
that is um of interest to council. Um
[3:09:37] otherwise there are other incentive
programs that could be offered to the
[3:09:41] developer. Um if for example um the
units constructed were for purpose-built
[3:09:47] rental um then there are incentives uh
available there are um planning and
[3:09:52] building uh application fee uh rebates
and that kind of thing. So um depending
[3:09:58] on how we wanted to look at it um and on
exactly the type of of development that
[3:10:05] is before us ultimately um the CIP uh
once it comes into force would
[3:10:10] definitely be available um for uh the
developer or council to use um to sort
[3:10:18] of bolster this financially. So hope
that helps.
[3:10:25] So um are we going to alter this clause
uh as uh the mover and secondary have
[3:10:31] asked?
>> Um
[3:10:36] your worship it has been um it has been
updated to what councelor Ford would
[3:10:40] like to have as the motion for the
amending
[3:10:45] clause.
>> So and or cost effective housing
[3:10:48] options.
>> Okay. All right. Uh, is there any more
[3:10:51] discussion or can we vote on this
motion?
[3:10:56] And I will call the vote. All in favor?
And that is uh
[3:11:03] unanimous.
[3:11:07] Um,
so let's uh come back to pardon. Yeah,
[3:11:12] we have to go back to the original here.
And uh we've
[3:11:16] um
and it's already on the floor. We but
[3:11:21] we've added this to it. So I just call a
vote on this as it was worded now.
[3:11:26] Correct.
>> I I would say uh if if there are no
[3:11:30] other changes to this motion, then it
would be appropriate to um to have the
[3:11:35] vote on the final main motion. Thank
you.
[3:11:37] » And I don't see any discussion on that.
So let's go ahead and vote. All in
[3:11:41] favor?
and any opposed. So that is carried
[3:11:45] unanimously and thank you everyone.
[clears throat] I hope everyone is you
[3:11:48] know satisfied with that. Um the next uh
item is uh uh with director
[3:11:57] Peridge Mabid here uh the recommendation
that committee of the whole recommend
[3:12:01] council of the municipality of meford
one direct staff to bring forward a
[3:12:06] bylaw to implement a 40 km speed limit
on municipal roads in urban meford. Two,
[3:12:12] request the county of Gray to consider
implementing a 40 kilometer speed limit
[3:12:16] on Grey Road 7 from Psych Street South
to Mir Street. And three, authorize the
[3:12:22] treasurer to transfer $40,500
from the roads, street lights, and
[3:12:27] drainage reserve fund to fund signage
and communications. Can I have a mover
[3:12:31] and second for this?
Councelor Fer and Councelor Greenfield.
[3:12:36] Thank you. Um, discussion on this.
Um this uh did you wish to speak to it
[3:12:43] Tori?
>> Um through your worship I'd be happy to.
[3:12:47] Um through our transportation master
plan um it did provide a recommendation
[3:12:53] to bring forward to council um a 40 km
hour speed limit in our urban
[3:12:59] boundaries. Um the there were changes to
um the Highway Traffic Act in 2017 that
[3:13:08] allow for municipalities to establish an
entire area uh at a speed limit of less
[3:13:14] than 50 km an hour. Um previously you
would have had to have signed all the
[3:13:18] roads within those areas and now you can
create these gateway speed limit signage
[3:13:23] that um uh allow for that lower speed
limit within uh larger areas. without
[3:13:30] the additional signage. And so
municipalities have been looking to
[3:13:34] reduce speed limits in some of their
urban areas through this new um ability
[3:13:38] through the highway traffic act. Um and
so with that recommendation in the
[3:13:42] transportation master plan um we wanted
to bring it forward to council um to see
[3:13:47] if there was appetite to complete this
within our urban area. Um, as a part of
[3:13:54] the report, we've also identified some
alternative options. Um, and those
[3:13:58] included some things that could be done
alongside this reduction as well as um
[3:14:03] items that could be done instead of it.
And so, um, we could look at adding as
[3:14:08] well um those um reduced speed limits in
our rural settlement areas in
[3:14:13] conjunction with the urban area. Um,
instead of doing this, we can continue
[3:14:17] to look at specific speed limit
reductions. Um and alongside it
[3:14:21] obviously there's always the ability to
complete traffic calming um as it helps
[3:14:26] with more of the enforcement of the
change speed limits. Um and so staff
[3:14:33] have identified um the cost of the
signage as well as a communications plan
[3:14:38] um if uh council wishes to proceed with
the implementation of this. Um and we
[3:14:43] estimated it would cost about um $40,000
um and feel that it would um provide
[3:14:50] great benefit from a safety perspective
as there have been many studies that
[3:14:54] have shown that reducing the speed limit
even that 10 km an hour um provides a a
[3:14:59] significant um decrease in um fatalities
on our roadways.
[3:15:05] » Thank you very much. Um, comments or
questions on this?
[3:15:11] Deputy Mayor.
>> Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, and I
[3:15:15] appreciate Director Perry May bringing
this forward to us because we all hear
[3:15:19] about speeding every day. We're hearing
about this issue, not just in Mayford,
[3:15:22] it's in the county. It's everywhere.
People just can't seem to slow down
[3:15:26] these days. So, um, but from what I'm
hearing in the community, you know,
[3:15:31] lowering to 40 is great, but what's
going to happen to enforce it? If this
[3:15:35] is not enforced, then people are still
going to drive at whatever speed they
[3:15:39] normally do. So, I just want to
understand if there's been conversation
[3:15:44] at this point with the OP, you know, if
council agrees to do that, can we count
[3:15:48] on them to have a presence in our urban
area to make sure that people understand
[3:15:54] that we mean business moving to 40
[3:15:58] through your worship. I have reached out
to the OP but haven't received comment
[3:16:02] to date with regards to this program. Um
I also didn't mention I have reached out
[3:16:06] to the county and the MTO as well. Um
and um depending on council's wishes,
[3:16:12] there's potential appetite to comm to to
change speed limits within their
[3:16:16] roadways as well. Um obviously we're we
are recommending that the school zone u
[3:16:22] mimic the municipal roadways. Um but
there is an ability to to ask for
[3:16:26] additional they would review it on their
end and and we wouldn't necessarily be
[3:16:30] able to provide any more input on that.
Um but to date there hasn't been
[3:16:34] additional input from the OP. I do know
in the past when um we have implemented
[3:16:42] um specific areas that are community
safety zones, the OP did identify that
[3:16:48] um having those varied speed limits all
over the the urban area um wasn't they
[3:16:55] weren't able to enforce because some
areas were would have been 40 and some
[3:16:59] of them would have been 50. Um, and so I
um I hope that they do provi to provide
[3:17:08] us some input because it would be
helpful to understand if the blanketed
[3:17:11] um 40 is more helpful for them to
enforce um than um lo varying locations
[3:17:17] throughout the municipality.
>> Council,
[3:17:22] thank you, Mr. Mayor.
As much as it would be a nice thought to
[3:17:26] think that I'm I'm just gonna and I'll
bring it up at the next OP board
[3:17:30] meeting, but I'm going to say the
likelihood of them actually sitting in
[3:17:34] Meford and enforcing it would be pretty
minimal at best. They have to cover a
[3:17:40] very large area with a very limited
amount of officers. And the real reality
[3:17:45] is every municipality would love to have
the police sitting in their community
[3:17:49] just sitting there watching for
speeders. The reality is that's probably
[3:17:53] not very likely. So they are, as Tori
has said, they're they're hoping um and
[3:17:59] they will have obviously spot
availability, but they're hoping that
[3:18:03] lowering speed limits is a
responsibility and you will get X amount
[3:18:07] of the population that aders and you
know that you're going to get X that
[3:18:10] doesn't and you you kind of work around
that. I do like the idea of other caling
[3:18:15] measures in areas that we know are
concerning um because that is again
[3:18:20] something that they also recommend um at
those meetings um as ways to try and
[3:18:25] help curb um constant speeding areas of
problems. So, but I will bring it up at
[3:18:31] next OP board meeting and ask as well.
But yeah, past conversations don't lead
[3:18:35] towards that.
>> Councelor Bell.
[3:18:40] » Thanks, Mr. Mayor. sort of put a point
on this. I'm really not interested in
[3:18:43] dropping the speed limit at all. I think
we've seen that this council has uh
[3:18:48] heard from neighborhoods like Ridge Road
in particular. They came, they talked
[3:18:53] and uh council moved to do a reduction
in that particular area. The report says
[3:18:59] that even when you do something like
that, the traffic flow basically is the
[3:19:03] same. But uh I certainly I certainly
just don't want to see us just do a
[3:19:08] blanket statement that you're going to
slow right down when you come into the
[3:19:12] town of Meford. And then more than that,
a recommendation to go out, you take a
[3:19:17] look at Annen. You go out to Annen and
you're there and you're going over the
[3:19:20] hill and you're heading down to Le and
it's 80 km an hour and you're going to
[3:19:23] change that to that. They're not going
to like that for a minute. And then out
[3:19:27] at Woodford up at the going around that,
you're going to be in trouble. And then
[3:19:32] the little spot that's just outside of
that, I'm not going for that. And I'm
[3:19:35] not going to do the one down in Bogner
either. They're out at Rockford. So, as
[3:19:39] far as dropping the speed limits down to
40 kilometers an hour,
[3:19:44] I'm just not interested in doing that.
If people want to come and tell us that
[3:19:48] their roads a problem, I'll entertain
the conversation then.
[3:19:53] » Councelor at least deputy mayor.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And just uh to
[3:19:57] councelor Bell's comments. I think the
more we have some at 40 and some at 50,
[3:20:01] then there's confusion out there as
drivers may not be paying really close
[3:20:06] attention to, you know, which road
they're on. But we've heard about
[3:20:09] Bayfield several times and the concern
around the new splash pad and the little
[3:20:14] beach that we need to undertake some
traffic calming measures there and one
[3:20:18] of those would be a reduction in speed
and I do believe at some point other
[3:20:22] trafficcoming measures are coming for
that particular section. Um but just in
[3:20:27] respect to Bogner um at the Bogner board
meeting last week, I did bring forward
[3:20:32] uh the mention that this report was
coming up before council and the members
[3:20:36] of the board suggested that they would
like to see the speed limit drop to 40
[3:20:40] in that urban section of Bogner where
kids are going back and forth between
[3:20:44] the community center and the uh
ballpark. So, I think we're going to get
[3:20:48] different answers from uh different
members of the community, but I I would
[3:20:52] like to ask Tori then when you have that
conversation with the OP and and the
[3:20:57] same with councelor Urick if if that
information could come back to council
[3:21:01] to uh to help us understand their
willingness in uh in supporting if this
[3:21:07] passes the uh reduction to 40. I think
you know if it goes to 40 at least then
[3:21:12] it's clear that that's what it is all
over town not just on some roads because
[3:21:17] you're right on ridge you know I guess
the hope always is if the speed limit is
[3:21:22] 50 you know that they're drive 60 if
it's 50 they'll drive you know if it's
[3:21:27] 40 they'll drive 50 I mean that's kind
of typically how people drive so at
[3:21:31] least you slow it down potentially a
little bit but uh anyway I'll leave that
[3:21:36] with you Tori to let us know when you
get a response
[3:21:39] Councelor Porter.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And through you,
[3:21:44] um I kind of look at it like um a pound
an ounce of prevention is better than a
[3:21:49] pound of cure. And if this is an
initiative that can make um our road
[3:21:54] safer and if it could even save one
life, um I would just hate for there to
[3:21:58] be an instance where we had an
opportunity to make our road safer by
[3:22:01] reducing the speed and then there was a
tragic event and then we have to live
[3:22:05] with that. Um, I agree not everybody's
going to follow the speed limit, but to
[3:22:09] the deputy mayor's, um, point is that if
you lower it, um, it will hopefully
[3:22:13] bring down the average speed that, uh,
people are traveling on. But there are
[3:22:17] statistics that do back this up that if
you reduce from 50 to 40, risk of
[3:22:21] pedestrian death is decreased by 35%.
Um, and so I I I'm in favor of this. If
[3:22:27] it can save one person's life, um,
that's to me that's that's a step in the
[3:22:31] right direction. Community safety is
something we should take very seriously
[3:22:35] and I would hate to be in a reactive
situation where we had a chance to do
[3:22:38] something and something bad happened.
Um, so I'll I'll be in favor of this
[3:22:42] one. Thank you,
>> Councor Greenfield.
[3:22:44] » Thank you, Worship. Um, I'm in favor of
uh dropping the speed limit in the
[3:22:49] settlement areas uh down to 40. Um
the the only one that we can do
[3:22:58] individually would be Woodford. Uh since
all the others involve county roads that
[3:23:03] would be up up to the county. Uh and I
was actually wondering about not today
[3:23:11] necessarily but in the future uh
introducing another area and that is
[3:23:17] that's in a a hamlet that we no longer
call a hamlet but I still think of as a
[3:23:23] hamlet and that's Gersville. And as you
turn off County Road 7 and go east on
[3:23:28] Gersville there are just quite a number
of residential uh uh dwellings there.
[3:23:34] And uh uh I I think that would perhaps
be another place in the future. But I no
[3:23:43] uh I I think the uh uh in conversation
recently with some good folks out at
[3:23:50] Leaf they uh they suggested and and this
pertain to the Beayshore road uh that
[3:23:57] the speed limit on it should be 40
kilometers. So, I' uh um I'd like to see
[3:24:04] it dropped. Uh yes, it's going to
involve enforcement. Uh like any any and
[3:24:10] all other enforcement, I think we'll do
the best job we can, but uh uh as the
[3:24:16] deputy mayor says, uh you know, 60 means
50. 70 means 60. So, there is some
[3:24:23] benefit.
I'm definitely voting in favor of this
[3:24:26] motion for the simple reason that uh I
could give you a list as long as my arm
[3:24:30] of the uh municipalities that are um
agitating to have the speed limit
[3:24:35] lowered. U there's you know Leath is
just one of many and I think that uh
[3:24:41] this is um the it we'll just be faced
with peacemealing this you know over and
[3:24:48] over and over again. So that's that's my
reason for supporting it anyway. And and
[3:24:52] I I also subscribe to councelor Ford's
idea. Those statistics are pretty
[3:24:59] compelling. Uh how much safer uh
pedestrians and people in automobiles
[3:25:05] are uh when the speed limit is 40 versus
50 in um in in the builtup areas.
[3:25:13] Councelor Andis.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor. just um I
[3:25:18] appreciate the [clears throat] spec uh
statistics on how changing the speed
[3:25:23] affects um rates of of of incidences.
I'm just curious though if we have data
[3:25:30] on how unsafe our roads actually are. Um
cuz I I feel like I'm just voting to
[3:25:38] reduce a number, but for all I know, it
could be very minimal anyway. And I uh
[3:25:43] agree that um you know saving even one
life um is uh you know desirable but um
[3:25:50] I just I I would like to know that
background
[3:25:58] » um through your worship. I guess safety
on roads can be measured through many
[3:26:03] different
um
[3:26:06] metrics. Um, I did review our current
um, average speed and 85th percentile
[3:26:14] speeds on our urban roadways um, as I
was preparing this report. And it was
[3:26:19] actually really interesting to see that
a majority of our roads um, already have
[3:26:25] speeds below 50 kilometers an hour and
so this change of speed limit might
[3:26:30] actually be more in tune to what people
are actually traveling on the roads. Um
[3:26:34] however there are locations where we do
get residents identifying um on a
[3:26:39] regular basis concerns with speeds and
two of the ones that we have in recent
[3:26:43] years made changes to our Miller Street
and Pearson and Ridge Road um which
[3:26:47] we've dropped to that 40 km an hour. Um
through our traffic count data, we have
[3:26:52] seen um slight reductions in average
speed in those two locations because of
[3:26:57] the um the items that were done on those
two roads. both um some traffic calming
[3:27:03] as as well as that reduction in speed.
Um and so um again it it it varies. Um
[3:27:14] we
[3:27:17] additional data was requested from
council. We can definitely look into
[3:27:20] other avenues of assessing safety on our
roadways. Um but it from looking at
[3:27:28] other municipalities um you know and as
kind of discussed here um that if the
[3:27:33] speed uh is reduced or the speed limits
reduced you know um on average
[3:27:39] municipalities are seeing those
reduction in speeds overall and so um I
[3:27:46] don't see why we wouldn't see similar
trends that other municipalities are
[3:27:50] seeing um which then lend to those um
statistics that are identified in the
[3:27:54] report.
>> Council Randis,
[3:27:57] » it's a followup. Thank you. Um then I'm
I'm wondering also if there's a comment
[3:28:01] on um how changing the speeds like this
would affect traffic flow. Um cuz it's
[3:28:08] things are going to get busier over time
and so if we make a a step now that's
[3:28:11] going to change the speed essentially
forever uh you know functionally um what
[3:28:16] what the impacts of that could be. And
just thinking about residents who
[3:28:21] comment on speed. I know a lot of people
personally who will comment on everybody
[3:28:25] blowing by their house and you know say
oh my road is in a raceway and then get
[3:28:29] in a car and speed past somebody else's
house. So I don't like I appreciate
[3:28:35] their concerns and there are some roads
that are you know the way they're built
[3:28:38] and designed lends itself to people kind
of ripping through like I think Ridge is
[3:28:42] a great example. Bayfield is kind of an
interesting example because I feel like
[3:28:46] most people on Bayfield aren't looking
at the road, they're looking at the
[3:28:49] water, which you know, slower speeds
probably good for that. Um, but for the
[3:28:54] most part,
I feel like everything's pretty safe.
[3:28:58] So, I don't see a need to reduce it just
because.
[3:29:03] Um, but I'm also cognizant of, you know,
we'll obviously feel terrible if we
[3:29:07] don't do it in something it was
something preventable. So, I I don't
[3:29:10] know. I just I feel like I need a a
better sense of that side of this the
[3:29:13] equation before I would feel comfortable
um just deciding right now to change all
[3:29:18] the speed limits.
>> Tori, please.
[3:29:22] » Um through your worship to speak to um
traffic flow. Um
[3:29:28] Miller Street is one of our busiest um
municipal roadways within the
[3:29:33] municipality. Um, and there has been no
change in traffic flow when we've
[3:29:39] reduced the speed limit to um from 50 km
an hour to 40. There there I I'm not
[3:29:45] aware of any any changes to or like
issues that that created. Um, Pearson
[3:29:50] and Ridge is another really good
example. Um it also has a higher traffic
[3:29:54] flow in comparison to a lot of our uh
municipal roads and again there's been
[3:29:58] no um traffic concerns identified with
regards to um flow or or the amount of
[3:30:03] traffic that we're now seeing. Um and
those um the amount of vehicles on those
[3:30:08] roads have also continued to um increase
over time and again the the change in
[3:30:15] speed limit hasn't affected how the the
flow of the traffic is occurring on
[3:30:18] those roads. So using those two as an
example within our own municipality, I
[3:30:22] don't see that the the roads that would
have less flow would be of concern. Um
[3:30:27] and this is part of the reason why staff
have identified keeping those arterial
[3:30:31] roads. So both um Nelson Street as well
as Highway uh Psych Street, Highway 26
[3:30:37] at that 50 km an hour. Um so that you
know those are and designed to be higher
[3:30:44] flow uh roads and and accept more
traffic and so to keep those at the 50
[3:30:49] kmter an hour so that um cars can still
um travel um through our municipality
[3:30:55] and and through downtown Meford and not
experience any negative um impacts um
[3:31:01] due to changes but then on our on our
less on our lower volume roads um have
[3:31:07] have that reduction in speed. Councelor
Yuri.
[3:31:10] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, councelor
Andis, just maybe help you a little bit.
[3:31:14] Statistically, the OP 25 annual report
last year, uh, in 2023 there were four,
[3:31:20] 2024 there were nine. In 2025, there
were 11 fatalities. So, that's all of
[3:31:25] Gray Bruce area. So, are we a high high
area of, you know, literally fatalities?
[3:31:33] No. Having said that speeding in 2023
there were 2004
[3:31:38] uh issued uh 2024 1936 25 1927 it's
coming down and they do attribute that
[3:31:45] as well to a more coverage by OP uh more
actual more actual OP coverage but again
[3:31:53] they do say that yes reducing speed is
helping in that factor because be the
[3:31:58] more you can make aware the more people
actually do somewhat so if you can get a
[3:32:03] percentage slowing down contributes to
the overall. So, take those stats for
[3:32:08] what it's worth.
>> Councelor Andis,
[3:32:11] » thank you. Um, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh,
to councelor Yurig, just wondering then,
[3:32:15] um, are are those stats applied to like
urban settlement areas or are they just
[3:32:21] across the counties?
Okay.
[3:32:26] » Um, I'm going to call the vote if people
are ready. Um all in favor
[3:32:34] opposed.
Well, that is a 5 to2 vote. Uh thank you
[3:32:39] very much. Now um we have a planning
public meeting coming up at 5:00 p.m.
[3:32:46] this afternoon and uh our
council chambers are already beginning
[3:32:51] to fill for that meeting. So I'm going
to uh temporarily adjourn. Uh go ahead
[3:32:57] tell us what we should be doing.
>> Thank you. I was just going to comment
[3:33:00] that it might be an appropriate time for
a motion to extend the proceedings
[3:33:04] because typically we have a 3 and 1 half
hour and it's 4:30 now. So, we'll have a
[3:33:07] motion to extend and then if if council
wants to continue or take a recess prior
[3:33:12] to the 5:00, we'll reorganize the agenda
to move the planning public meeting up
[3:33:17] for when uh the 5:00 because we are in
the middle of the the regular council
[3:33:21] meeting.
>> You want to bear on, right?
[3:33:23] » So, no, sorry. My first my first item
would be uh if we could have a motion to
[3:33:27] extend the meeting that would be great
and then um it's sort of council's wish
[3:33:32] if we want to work through one more
report or if we want uh if council
[3:33:36] wishes to take a 25minut uh break then
that might be appropriate as well to let
[3:33:41] people come in. There are actually three
items uh left on the con on the uh
[3:33:46] committee of the whole agenda and they
are pretty u um they're not
[3:33:51] controversial and I imagine we could uh
you know cover that before we adjourned.
[3:33:56] So uh let's uh do that but I need a
motion to uh continue beyond uh 4:30
[3:34:00] this afternoon. Uh councelor Urick and
councelor Greenfield all in favor.
[3:34:06] Any opposed? That is carried unanimously
and we'll move on to u um legislative
[3:34:12] services. Um
sorry
[3:34:17] uh item G which is an award report
is the next one on uh the index.
[3:34:25] » Oh right. Okay. Um [laughter]
the way it is uh presented here it looks
[3:34:31] like uh it's the uh the report we just
passed proposed speed limit is in caps
[3:34:37] right above it. Sorry. So then uh four
items and this one again is not I don't
[3:34:42] think contentious. The recommendation is
uh that committee of the whole recommend
[3:34:46] council of the municipality of meford
approve the award of tender uh
[3:34:52] transportation 2026-16
supply and delivery of various fuel and
[3:34:57] oil products to 9412401
heating limited um that's Brian's fuel
[3:35:05] at a tendered cost of $2,791,387
[3:35:10] including the municipality's non-ref
refundable allocation of HST over a
[3:35:16] 5-year agreement and to authorize the
Marin clerk to enter into the necessary
[3:35:20] agreement. Can I have a mover and second
councelor Bell and Councelor Greenfield?
[3:35:25] Thank you. Um,
does anyone wish to speak to this from
[3:35:31] staff? Tori,
>> through your worship. Thank you. Um,
[3:35:36] this is a standard award report for us
to proceed with um a new fuel contract.
[3:35:41] Um just some key things to note. Um
while we only received one bid, um we do
[3:35:49] feel that it is quite competitive in
reviewing the last um uh tendering
[3:35:54] process. Um we did when we did receive
multiple bids. Um the successful bid was
[3:36:02] 2 cents under rack rate while this bid
is um between seven and 9 cents below
[3:36:07] rack rate. So it will reduce what we're
currently spending. um which we see
[3:36:11] quite favorable. Um the other benefit is
we won't need to transition any of the
[3:36:16] existing infrastructure we have with um
Brian's fuel. So there's benefit as well
[3:36:22] to have that continuity. Um um but
otherwise if you Oh, the only other
[3:36:27] thing I did want to note is while this
um is presented in yearly costs, it's
[3:36:32] very much based on what fuel prices are.
And so everything is based on rack rate.
[3:36:39] um in May when this went out as a tender
um the rack rate was higher than what
[3:36:44] we're seeing today. I looked at to see
and I have as I was preparing this
[3:36:48] report and so for example um the regular
fuel rack rate today is um $125 is what
[3:36:56] and but in the um tendering process it
was identified as an example at $147. So
[3:37:02] um obviously we know things right now
are going up and down um with what is
[3:37:08] happening around the world um but um
these specific um bigger um bucket items
[3:37:16] per year um doesn't mean that we'll
actually spend that. It will change with
[3:37:21] what the industry costs are.
>> Councelor Greenfield.
[3:37:26] » Thanks your
thank you through you to Victoria. Uh
[3:37:31] thanks. I I'm wondering a couple of
things. First of all, uh is the turmoil
[3:37:39] uh in the Middle East. Uh one of the
reasons why we only got one bid, could
[3:37:45] that be a factor on that? And I guess
the other reason is is is this
[3:37:51] absolutely fixed rate? Is is there are
there any straight of door moves
[3:37:56] conditions involved in this or is this
going to be the the five-year number
[3:38:03] » through your worship? Um there's a
potential that the uncertainty in the
[3:38:08] industry is why we only received one um
bid, but um obviously we um don't know
[3:38:16] if that that is the the reason. Um the
um so the contract is set up that the
[3:38:22] the rate we pay is based on the Toronto
rack rate. So yes, whatever happens um
[3:38:28] with pricing um in for for fuel in based
in Toronto um that is the price we pay.
[3:38:35] And so um depending on if fuel costs
increase or decrease, this contract will
[3:38:40] increase and decrease with those. And as
I had stated um as of today, those costs
[3:38:46] are actually lower than what we tendered
this out as. So if we were to have
[3:38:49] tendered this today, this report would
have looked slightly different with
[3:38:51] slightly lower costs. Um but we all know
that there's uncertainties around this
[3:38:56] as of right now. Um but this is how
these are set up is that yes, it is
[3:39:00] based on um the fluctuating costs. Um
and what we will be spending is um that
[3:39:06] 7 to 9 cents below what those costs are.
um whereas in our current contract we
[3:39:12] were spending two cents below what those
costs are. So regardless of those costs
[3:39:17] we will be seeing a cost savings between
the last contract and this contract
[3:39:25] » councelor for thank you Mr. Mayor and
through you and I guess this would be to
[3:39:29] Tori. Um so the prices um that are
provided here below the Toronto rack
[3:39:34] rate does that represent the complete
delivered price or are there other
[3:39:38] charges like fees fuel search charges is
is that an all-in price or
[3:39:44] » um through worship that this is the
all-in price that we would be seeing um
[3:39:48] on our invoices.
>> Yes.
[3:39:52] » Uh thank you Mr. Mayor for indulging me.
And so obviously this contract does have
[3:39:56] the option to extend for five one-year
uh terms. Um is that something after the
[3:40:02] 5 years that would come back to council
or who has the authority to extend that?
[3:40:10] » Um depending on the price, but yes, this
price is
[3:40:15] it because of the price of this it would
be coming to council because it's over
[3:40:18] that threshold of the $200,000.
Any
[3:40:24] other questions?
Going to call a vote. All in favor? Any
[3:40:28] opposed? So as carried unanimously.
Thank you. Um the next item is um
[3:40:36] uh for legislative services.
The recommendation is that uh the
[3:40:41] committee of a whole recommend council
of the municipality of Meford one enact
[3:40:45] a bylaw to adopt a policy governance
framework and two direct staff to
[3:40:50] undertake a review of the municipality's
existing policies and bring forward a
[3:40:54] policy inventory and review schedule for
council's consideration as outlined in
[3:41:00] report legislative services 2026-09.
mover in a second, please. Councelor, at
[3:41:06] least deputy mayor and councelor Bell.
Um,
[3:41:11] do you wish to speak to that? Uh, clerk.
>> Thank you, your worship. I I think
[3:41:16] probably Allison and I are prepared to
take any questions. I just want to
[3:41:19] comment that probably this is the
clerkiest clerk report ever to have a
[3:41:23] policy of policies. So, if if uh there
are any questions, we're happy to take
[3:41:27] them. Thank you.
>> Okay.
[3:41:30] So, you you'll take our questions. Okay.
Uh so councelor Bell.
[3:41:35] » Thank you Mr. Mayor. So um the
background uh comments the very first
[3:41:42] paragraph
when I read this I have to ask the
[3:41:46] question has this council been doing
something which staff feels is improper
[3:41:50] because we got reminded what the
municipal act says about council making
[3:41:54] the decisions and staff implementing
those decisions and I believe that we
[3:41:59] have been doing that going down and
reading it further that says we've got
[3:42:03] policies that we're doing that are not
right that we need to review them. I'm
[3:42:08] just interested as why why was the
municipal act quoted on the
[3:42:13] responsibilities of roles and
responsibilities of council and staff if
[3:42:18] what we're really doing is saying we've
got some policies that simply need to be
[3:42:22] reviewed. I just didn't know why we were
reminded of our duty.
[3:42:30] » Thank you for the question and through
you Mr. Mayor. Um I would note that the
[3:42:34] background of course serves as
background not only to council but to
[3:42:37] the public and to anyone else that might
be reading the report. And so while of
[3:42:41] course council is well apprised of their
role um as it comes to the division of
[3:42:45] responsibility that maybe is not so
obvious to the casual reader or follower
[3:42:49] of council agendas. Um the other piece
that I'll note is that um the the idea
[3:42:54] of a policy governance policy is to
really lay out in plain terms how we are
[3:43:00] working to move our policy aims forward.
And so having that background and having
[3:43:04] the ability to say this is why and this
is really the legislated root of why
[3:43:09] we're making our decisions this way um
is the reason that you see that
[3:43:13] citation. Um the reference a little bit
further on to the policy cleanup that
[3:43:18] needs to be done um is specific both to
the policies that have been before
[3:43:23] council. And so I would say there are
policies that are on the books now that
[3:43:27] council has adopted by bylaw that
perhaps do live in the role of staff and
[3:43:31] that's on staff. Council didn't pull
those out of their own hat, right? Staff
[3:43:35] presented them to them to um to adopt.
And so what we want to do is just take a
[3:43:39] full a wholesome look at all of the
policies that exist currently and make
[3:43:43] sure that we've put them in the right
bucket in the administrative bucket or
[3:43:46] the governance bucket and make sure that
we are continuing to review those going
[3:43:50] forward so that we don't have policies
on the books that are out ofd or
[3:43:54] inappropriate.
[3:43:57] » Other questions?
Deputy mayor.
[3:44:01] » Um just two quick things if I may, Mr.
Mayor. First of all, I'm pleased to see
[3:44:05] that our legislative department is able
to bring this forward. It tells us that
[3:44:09] we've got, you know, staff in place, the
capacity to undertake a project such as
[3:44:13] this because I'm sure it's something
that kind of stayed on the edge of a
[3:44:16] desk for a while. So, that's very
reassuring. But, um, from what you just
[3:44:20] told us, Allison, I'm wondering, are you
also reviewing any, um, counselor
[3:44:25] motions that may not have seen, uh,
themselves come to fruition at this
[3:44:30] point? and may some of those then fall
into these categories where they will
[3:44:34] end up now being reviewed and and as you
suggested land in the appropriate staff
[3:44:39] person's bucket.
>> Thank you. And through the mayor, um I
[3:44:43] believe that is our intention that um
prior to the end of this term of
[3:44:47] council, we will have a look at all of
the outstanding counselor motions that
[3:44:50] have come forward um and we will report
back to council about the disposition of
[3:44:55] those. So, does that actually belong in
staff's bucket? Have we achieved it or
[3:44:59] is it still on someone's work plan and
we're waiting to get there?
[3:45:03] » Okay, any other comments, questions? I'm
going to call the vote. All in favor?
[3:45:09] Any opposed? And that is carried
unanimously. Thank you, Allison.
[3:45:17] And we have one more here which is um
the recommendation is uh that committee
[3:45:25] of the whole receive report legislative
services 2026-10 access to information
[3:45:30] and privacy update. Mover and a seconder
councelor and deputy mayor kiny um do
[3:45:39] you wish to speak to that one Allison?
>> No thank you I'll just accept your
[3:45:44] questions if there are any. Are there
any questions? It's pretty
[3:45:47] straightforward. All in favor?
Any opposed? That's carried unanimously.
[3:45:54] And now, uh, we're going to hear, uh,
from Deputy Mayor Keven on, uh, an
[3:45:59] update on County Council.
>> Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, county
[3:46:03] council last met on July the 9th. Uh,
the agenda was on the shorter side. Um,
[3:46:10] and it began with a request from
councelor McQueen to pull the minutes of
[3:46:15] the prior meeting for further discussion
of the urban roads transfer report. Uh,
[3:46:20] staff had incorporated points raised by
council at our last meeting and uh, I
[3:46:26] believe in terms of our own situation
that uh, uh, to put it bluntly, it's as
[3:46:31] good as it's going to get. Um, Meford
will now receive $2,453,431
[3:46:39] in transitional funding over the next 10
years for the two sections coming our
[3:46:44] way, which as we know was Grey Road 7
from Mir Street Highway 26 and Grey Road
[3:46:49] 12 from Gardener to Sykes.
a bylaw um supporting uh the appointment
[3:46:56] of Sue Murray as acting treasurer and
Garrett Reed as deputy treasurer uh was
[3:47:01] passed. Uh recently, Mary Lou Spicer,
who's been with the county for 24 years
[3:47:07] in the finance department, has uh
retired.
[3:47:10] A second bylaw is passed to adopt
amendment 30 to the Gray County official
[3:47:15] plan affecting lands in Normandy
Township in the municipality of West
[3:47:19] Gray, changing that zoning from
agricultural to agricultural with
[3:47:23] exception and that will allow um
residential lot creation.
[3:47:29] Manager of transportation Trevor Ryton
presented a video to council and I
[3:47:33] wonder if this is something we could do.
It was really quite wonderful. Um, and
[3:47:37] the video overviewed all of the
completed capital projects uh from 2025
[3:47:42] and they included 5 kilometers in
Southgate, 5.3 km on Grey Road 14, 11.1
[3:47:49] km on Grey Road 2, 9.7 on Grey Road 25,
6.6 km on Grey Road 119, and 10 culbert
[3:47:58] replacements on Grey Road 30 at a total
cost of $13 million. But it was just
[3:48:03] really great to see all of the work that
had been done. Council heard the
[3:48:08] presentation of the 2025 audit completed
by MNP. Uh the audit must be approved by
[3:48:14] council before the rep final report can
be signed. The auditors found no
[3:48:18] deficiencies and provided a clear
opinion on the county's financial
[3:48:22] position as of December the 31st, 2025.
The next report brought an update to the
[3:48:28] Bruce Gay Duffren Wellington transit
study. This regional working team is
[3:48:33] studying a unified transit plan for the
four counties. This is the largest
[3:48:38] public transit collaboration currently
underway in the province. It was decided
[3:48:42] that information would continue to be
gathered over the summer with existing
[3:48:46] routes continuing during the study
period uh along with the addition of the
[3:48:51] Owens Sound to Wyon route number five so
people can get to Sabo Beach. Ridership
[3:48:56] and potential funding sources will be
assessed with report coming to the new
[3:49:00] council to determine the next steps on
public transit. The updated official
[3:49:05] plan for the settlement areas of Durham
and Newad and the municipality of West
[3:49:09] Gray was adopted with staff stating the
plan met requirements of the Gray County
[3:49:13] official plan and the provincial
planning statement with the land use
[3:49:17] schedules conforming to both. The
corporate financial update revealed a
[3:49:21] few deficits to budget such as an
unexpected boiler favor. I'm sorry, a
[3:49:26] boiler failure at Sydnham campus and the
unpredicted severity of our past winter
[3:49:31] season. The planning department at Gray
County is also operating in a shortfall
[3:49:36] as we are in Meford with fewer than
anticipated applications underway.
[3:49:42] Um, again, Councelor McQueen from Grey
Highlands pulled a letter from the uh uh
[3:49:47] Grey Highlands to the county requesting
support for consideration of physical
[3:49:51] traffic calming measures for the hamlet
of Kimberly. So, this really fits in
[3:49:55] with what we were talking about earlier
in in relation to speed reductions.
[3:50:00] After a very significant discussion, a
motion was passed to have staff
[3:50:05] investigate options for physical traffic
calming measures for all hamlets and
[3:50:10] builtup areas across Gray County, uh,
not just those in Kimberly. So, I think
[3:50:14] this will benefit all of us. And as we
know, speeding is a major problem
[3:50:19] everywhere. But we do hear that physical
barriers such as what they have in Bruce
[3:50:23] County and areas like Terara actually
make a difference in slowing drivers
[3:50:27] down. So I thought that might be a
solution to consider for Bayfield
[3:50:30] Street. And Mr. Mayor, that's it, unless
you wanted to add anything.
[3:50:35] » Not really. Um, is there any other uh
boards or commissions to be heard from
[3:50:40] uh at this meeting?
Okay. Then uh I am ready to entertain a
[3:50:45] motion to uh move out of committee of
the whole.
[3:50:49] Councelor Yurig and councelor
Greenfield. Thank you. Um and that would
[3:50:53] be at 4:49 p.m.
And uh all in favor?
[3:51:00] Any opposed? That's there we are. So I
think at this point uh we have a number
[3:51:07] of items that remain on the agenda for
today and we're going to recess and uh
[3:51:12] come back to those items following the
public planning meeting scheduled at
[3:51:16] 5:00 this afternoon. So um uh with that
uh we will
[3:51:24] be
>> yes we will we will recess until 5:00.
[4:02:34] I would invite anyone who is um
attending the meeting tonight to come in
[4:02:38] and find a seat um and see if we have
there are some seats at the front and
[4:02:44] some at the rear there.
[4:03:02] Yeah, there are some seats right at the
very front on this side
[4:03:06] and some at the front here.
[4:03:13] Uh ple please come in and sit down if
you're going to attend the meeting.
[4:03:18] There are some seats in the front there.
[4:04:17] Okay, it is slightly after 5:00 uh 502
and I want to welcome everyone and uh
[4:04:23] thank you for coming tonight. Uh this is
a important uh uh public meeting and uh
[4:04:30] we are always pleased to see our gallery
filled. Uh this meeting is to learn
[4:04:36] about a proposal to amend the land use
planning permissions applying to certain
[4:04:41] lands in the municipality of Meford.
Council is legally required to make
[4:04:46] decisions that conform to the county and
local official plans. Our policies
[4:04:52] encourage us to reach out to community
stakeholders to gather information. We
[4:04:57] have a variety of legal tools available
to us that we can apply to development
[4:05:02] to help us manage change in a positive
manner with as minimal an impact as
[4:05:07] possible. And your insights can be part
of what forms or informs our direction.
[4:05:13] Those in attendance for today's meeting
will have an opportunity to speak in
[4:05:18] person or remotely if pre-registered
through Zoom. This meeting is not
[4:05:23] structured as a dialogue between
speakers and the applicant. However, the
[4:05:28] applicant may take the opportunity to
respond to comments toward the end of
[4:05:32] the meeting if they wish. Note that any
uh or in many cases formulating
[4:05:37] responses actually may require staff to
carry out research after the meeting on
[4:05:42] the matters raised and provide answers
following the meeting or through their
[4:05:47] report to council.
So, I'll call this uh uh today's public
[4:05:52] meeting to order. It's a public meeting
to consider a zoning bylaw amendment for
[4:05:57] lands at 245690
Side Road 22 in Meford.
[4:06:03] This meeting is a mandatory part of the
planning process which has been set out
[4:06:07] by the planning act. Based on the rules
of the act, there must be at least 20
[4:06:12] days notice given to residents within
120 mters of the property. Notice of the
[4:06:18] zoning bylaw amendment was issued on
June 23rd, 2026, giving the required 20
[4:06:23] days notice.
So, first of all, I'm going to call on
[4:06:27] Helina Fashionado, planner at the
municipality of Meford to give us a
[4:06:32] brief presentation about this
application to provide us with any
[4:06:36] public and agency comments that have
been received to date. Helena,
[4:06:41] » thank you. Through you, Mr. Mayor.
>> Please move that microphone up really
[4:06:44] close. Can you hear me?
>> Yes, that's much better. Perfect. Okay.
[4:06:48] So, this is a zoning bylaw amendment
application for a temporary use
[4:06:53] extension. Um, so the purpose of this
public meeting is to hear a presentation
[4:06:58] from planning staff with some of the
details about the planning application.
[4:07:02] Uh, provide an opportunity for the
applicant to speak on their behalf about
[4:07:06] their proposal and to provide a forum
for the public to comment on this
[4:07:10] proposal.
[4:07:14] So here are some details about the
proposal. Uh so on November 13, 2023,
[4:07:20] a bylaw 2823-70
was passed which reszoned a portion of
[4:07:25] the subject property to permit the
following temporary uses. So a motor
[4:07:30] vehicle repair garage and accessory
outdoor storage. So this temporary use
[4:07:35] was granted for a period of 3 years and
it will expire on November 13th, 2026.
[4:07:41] So, November of this year, the applicant
has requested an extension of the
[4:07:46] existing temporary use of the property
for a further period of 3 years.
[4:07:53] And so, here on the screen is a little
bit more detail of the bylaw that was
[4:07:57] approved uh coming up on 3 years ago.
So, the temporary use is motor vehicle
[4:08:03] repair garage and outdoor uh storage
accessory to the repair garage. Um the
[4:08:09] maximum amount of garage bays is two and
the total permitted area of the
[4:08:14] temporary use is 4,200
uh square meters. The maximum number of
[4:08:20] vehicles on site to be serviced at one
time is 10. And then an additional
[4:08:25] maximum number of parking spaces for
customers and employees is 15.
[4:08:34] Um so the planning act legislative
authority um so under the planning act
[4:08:40] section 39 a temporary use can be
granted by a council of a m municipality
[4:08:46] um for any purpose is otherwise prohibit
sorry prohibited by the zoning bylaw.
[4:08:52] Um, so a temporary use bylaw must define
the area where the use can occur and be
[4:08:57] for a maximum of three years and council
may grant further periods of not more
[4:09:02] than three years.
[4:09:07] So here are the subject lands on side
road 22
[4:09:15] and it is in an agricultural area. The
surrounding lands are predominantly
[4:09:19] agricultural with some residential
and the lands are approximately 30
[4:09:24] hectares in area.
[4:09:29] So the county of gray official plan
designates the lands as special
[4:09:33] agriculture and hazard lands and the
permitted uses in this area are
[4:09:37] agricultural in nature.
Um, and the county official plan, it's
[4:09:43] important to note that they only permit
one extension of a temporary use bylaw.
[4:09:53] And then the MEF official plan mirrors
those policies of the county. Uh, so the
[4:09:58] designation is special agricultural and
environmental protection. Um, and the
[4:10:03] predominant use is agriculture and
agricultural related uh uses.
[4:10:14] So here's a snippet of the zoning of the
subject lands. Uh so it's special
[4:10:18] agriculture and environmental
protection. And if you can see it on the
[4:10:22] screen, the black square or shape um is
the permitted area for the temporary use
[4:10:29] on the property.
And so the special agricultural area
[4:10:34] permits once again agricultural uses and
those related uses um including home
[4:10:40] industries and a home industry use
cannot include a home or sorry a motor
[4:10:46] vehicle repair shop. Um the proposed
uses are also outside of the EP
[4:10:51] environmental protection area of the
property.
[4:10:58] So the zoning requested um so a portion
of the lands were reszoned from special
[4:11:03] agriculture to special agricultural with
a temporary use. Um so it's limited to
[4:11:08] the area identified on the map. Um and
it's limited to 3 years but could be
[4:11:13] extended on request which is what the
applicant has done.
[4:11:20] And here is a sketch uh from the
original temporary use uh proposal. Um
[4:11:27] so this is what the applicant would like
to continue to use. Um so there's an
[4:11:31] existing drive shed on the property. Um
and then they've proposed a parking area
[4:11:37] as well.
[4:11:44] So here is where we are in the
application process. So we've received
[4:11:48] the application. um completed an initial
review and deemed the application
[4:11:53] complete. Uh so we're now at the public
meeting stage. Um so following this,
[4:11:58] we'll take all the information from
council, from members of the public, the
[4:12:02] applicant. Um and we'll complete our
review and provide a recommendation to
[4:12:06] council in a staff report. Um and it's
important to note that to follow our
[4:12:12] prescribed timelines, we will be
bringing an or a recommendation report
[4:12:16] to council on July 27th. Um so we ask
any members of the public to provide
[4:12:22] comments um as soon as possible.
[4:12:29] So here's how to keep engaged in the
process. Um so you can submit comments
[4:12:34] to planning me.ca.
Um and you can also make a request in
[4:12:39] writing to planning@me.ca to be notified
of the decision rendered.
[4:12:48] And so that concludes the end of the
presentation. We have received some
[4:12:52] comments to date and I'll just summarize
them now. Um so we have received
[4:12:56] comments from uh some members of the
public. Um and they have been shared
[4:13:01] with council and will be addressed as
part of the staff recommendation report.
[4:13:06] Um, and to summarize, some comments
expressed concerns about the business
[4:13:09] using more of the site than permitted,
operating outside of business hours, and
[4:13:14] not complying with planning policies and
bylaws.
[4:13:18] Written comments were also received in
support of the business and of the
[4:13:21] temporary use extension.
And that's a summary of the comments
[4:13:25] received so far. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Helina. [clears throat] I I
[4:13:30] understand the applicant John Bolsink is
present today to speak about his
[4:13:35] application. Uh John, yeah, do you want
to step up to the microphone at the
[4:13:40] podium there, please?
[4:13:50] » Good evening, mayor, deputy mayor,
counselors,
[4:13:53] everybody here. It's uh great to see
everybody.
[4:13:58] It's been three long years,
I'm not going to lie, and it hasn't been
[4:14:03] very fun. Um,
I didn't think I'd be here for three
[4:14:08] years. I was promised that within these
three years I'd have a new building, and
[4:14:11] it has not happened. Um,
we've had some struggles. We're working
[4:14:16] with the municipality diligently to try
and work through, resolve, get a
[4:14:20] resolution for the problems. Um, but in
the meantime, we require a little more
[4:14:25] time. um you know
so that we can move forward and get the
[4:14:31] new building built. Um
yeah, it's been hard for me. We have a
[4:14:37] lot of customers, a lot of people um to
try and get
[4:14:41] customer service to give the quality
service that we used to have with a
[4:14:44] smaller facility, smaller um footprint,
all that kind of stuff. It's been really
[4:14:50] really difficult.
You know, trying to follow all the rules
[4:14:53] and trying to follow everything has has
been really, you know, it's been it's
[4:14:56] been really stressful and it's been
really tough, but we're making it work.
[4:15:00] Um,
you know, with everybody's support and
[4:15:03] help, it's been it's been pretty good. I
mean, that's why that's why we do it. So
[4:15:07] many great people in me. It's it's
pretty awesome.
[4:15:11] Um,
[4:15:15] with respect to the neighbors and
everything else, I've been adamant to my
[4:15:19] staff to be respectful to all the
neighbors and, you know, we tried our
[4:15:24] best to keep noise down. You know,
I mean, it's not always easy. I mean, my
[4:15:30] customers, [clears throat] they just
drop stuff off. I have no real control
[4:15:32] of a lot of stuff. Yeah, there's a few
too many vehicles there.
[4:15:36] We have purchased a new facility in
Owens sound and that's probably going to
[4:15:42] take quite a bit of heat off the meford
one here. We have a lot of customers
[4:15:44] that come from over in Owens sound. So
we're working really hard to get that up
[4:15:49] and going. That's probably going to be
open in about two weeks.
[4:15:53] Still waiting on a few things to get
going there. So
[4:15:57] we definitely don't have enough room
where we are and I [clears throat] have
[4:16:00] my employees and they need some room to
work. You know, we we support quite a
[4:16:04] few people. We support quite a few
customers and people to give them the
[4:16:10] service that they require and the
service that they want. I mean, we do a
[4:16:13] lot of different service in a lot of
regular shops. I mean, we do a lot of
[4:16:16] repair. We do engine rebuilds,
transmission rebuilds. Therefore,
[4:16:19] turnaround times on vehicles is a little
longer than most. We're not just doing
[4:16:22] replacements.
Um, you know, we do a wide variety of of
[4:16:27] things. And it's it's it's tough to try
and satisfy everybody. It's tough to try
[4:16:30] and satisfy.
You know,
[4:16:35] we need to make money. We need to get
our shop built. I mean, there's been
[4:16:38] hurdles
and we're getting through them. You
[4:16:42] know, one big hurdle was, you know,
everybody thought my shop my my my old
[4:16:45] shop was contaminated. It all got dug up
as if it was contaminated.
[4:16:49] In the end, it wasn't contaminated.
Well, there's a big issue there. Um, you
[4:16:55] know, just because things are an
automotive shop doesn't mean they're
[4:16:57] contaminating everything. I mean oil's
oil is not not toxic. They actually put
[4:17:03] oil in in they put petroleum and
fertilizer if you can believe that and
[4:17:07] it's spread on fields, you know. So, you
know, we we do our best. If we have
[4:17:13] little spills from vehicles, we clean
them up. We use oil dry, dispose of it.
[4:17:18] You know, we're busy. We're busy. We're
busy working. It's hard to satisfy
[4:17:21] everybody. But, you know, as far as the
tires go, there's been a big change in
[4:17:25] January as far as tire pickup and
recycling. the government have stopped
[4:17:29] some funding on the recycling. I spoke
with Paul Vickers's MPP. He's looking
[4:17:34] into solutions for that. I spoke with
the um tire recyclers and there is a new
[4:17:38] recycler coming but he won't be up and
ready for a couple of months. All the
[4:17:42] shops in this area all have a backlog of
tires including the municipality.
[4:17:48] So, you know, all the you know, a lot of
this stuff's out of our control. You
[4:17:52] know, we can't just start jumping in
ditches everywhere. And that's probably
[4:17:54] what's going to start happening if the
government just doesn't start picking
[4:17:57] stuff up. I mean, everybody pays for
recycling. It's not happening. But
[4:18:02] again, it's out of our control. We do
our best.
[4:18:06] Um,
[4:18:11] um,
yeah, I'm really hoping that when we get
[4:18:14] this new facility going, it'll take a
lot of pressure off the 22 side road and
[4:18:18] maybe a lot of pressure off the off the
neighbors there. Um, far as the road
[4:18:22] getting wrecked, the military uses the
road now because the road across the top
[4:18:25] of the Hogsback is closed. So, the
military comes around there every day.
[4:18:28] One afternoon, I count 14 military
vehicles, dunk trucks, loaders,
[4:18:34] their patrol vehicles. Like, you see
them all the time, you know. So, it's
[4:18:39] not just Johnny B that wrecks the road.
And the road was patched up in the front
[4:18:44] of our shop before we got there. Well,
it's still patched up and hasn't been
[4:18:46] patched up any further.
So, I really don't feel that the whole
[4:18:52] road issue is is our fault either. Um,
but yes, it's busier. So,
[4:18:59] um,
yeah, I don't know. You know, I've been
[4:19:05] patient. I've been waiting. I've been
We've all been doing our due diligence
[4:19:09] to try and get this thing off the
ground. you know, we're struggling with
[4:19:13] there's there's there's a bunch of
things that that are going on that I
[4:19:17] can't talk about here, but it'll all
come together in the end, I think. And I
[4:19:21] appreciate the municipality support.
Appreciate all the friends and family
[4:19:24] and everybody's support because I
wouldn't be here without them. And if I
[4:19:28] didn't have this much support, I
probably wouldn't even start this three
[4:19:30] years ago.
But I appreciate everybody trying hard.
[4:19:34] I know it's difficult and but we'll get
through it. And
[4:19:41] yeah, I'm I'm so excited to have a new
shop and I think everybody else is too.
[4:19:47] Anyway, thanks everybody.
>> Thank you, John.
[4:19:57] » There there have been u uh
pre-registrations to speak at this
[4:20:01] public meeting uh by members of the
public. So, first I'm going to call to
[4:20:05] the microphone Dave and Kathy Wilcox.
[4:20:23] » Good afternoon. Can everybody hear me?
Okay.
[4:20:25] » I just move the microphone down a bit.
Yes. And speak right up close to it.
[4:20:29] » Good afternoon. Can everybody hear me?
Okay. Now,
[4:20:31] » good. Thank you.
>> Okay. I'd like to begin by
[4:20:35] introducing myself. I'm Dave Wilcox and
over here to my left is my wife Kathy.
[4:20:40] We live at 245689
Side Road 22 which is directly across
[4:20:45] from the subject property.
We were opposed to the initial reszoning
[4:20:52] which granted Johnny bees a temporary
three-year permit to operate his
[4:20:58] business across directly across the
road. We are also opposed to this
[4:21:03] application for a three-year extension.
Our concerns are as follows.
[4:21:09] A heavy increase in the amount of
traffic on side road 22.
[4:21:14] We requested a traffic count be done 3
years ago. I would like to know from the
[4:21:20] municipality if there has ever been a
traffic count done.
[4:21:26] » [clears throat]
>> The number two issue is dangerous
[4:21:29] driving at the entrance to the business
as vehicles do not stop when exiting the
[4:21:33] driveway. We've seen many near
collisions there, including me twice.
[4:21:40] Speeding vehicles on side road 22. That
was also an issue three years ago. It
[4:21:45] was mentioned that maybe the speed limit
on the side road be reduced to 70 km an
[4:21:51] hour. I have not heard seen anything
like that. I don't know that that would
[4:21:55] really fix anything because the vehicles
are doing at least 100 kilometers an
[4:22:00] hour. So what difference does it make if
you reduce it by 10?
[4:22:06] And uh excessive noise and car alarms at
all hours. There's noise coming from
[4:22:12] that place
24 hours a day. Car alarms banging
[4:22:19] carrying on. I know Johnny has a
business to look after, but he also has
[4:22:23] business hours that he's supposed to
operate between. And that is very much
[4:22:27] extended. At night, if I leave my
windows open, sometimes I can't sleep
[4:22:32] because all I hear is banging and car
alarms.
[4:22:36] And we live in a rural area, which we
don't shouldn't have to put up with.
[4:22:42] One of our my biggest concerns is
contamination into the protected water
[4:22:46] course.
It was mentioned years ago that water
[4:22:50] samples were going to be taken. Has
council taken any or has the
[4:22:53] municipality taken any water samples to
see about contamination?
[4:22:58] We've heard nothing.
Decline declining property values for
[4:23:03] all the budding land owners. That's
that's a huge thing. You guys extend
[4:23:09] this another three years. got six years
where
[4:23:13] the the value of everybody's property, a
bunning land owner's property is down.
[4:23:18] And if somebody wants to sell, well, you
now you don't want to sell till after
[4:23:21] Johnny be has moved away because
your land value is going to increase
[4:23:26] immensely
and general [clears throat]
[4:23:30] non-compliance to all municipal bylaws.
Examples of this are the number of
[4:23:36] vehicles on site in various states of
repair and disrepair.
[4:23:43] » [clears throat]
>> They're supposed to have a maximum of 10
[4:23:45] vehicles on site.
I've counted up as many as 93 on site
[4:23:52] and that's a lot more than 10. I don't
know why he needs to have 93 vehicles on
[4:23:57] site in a special agricultural area and
many of those vehicles are outside of
[4:24:02] the permitted area.
[4:24:07] tires being stored in properly outside.
As far as I know, most people that have
[4:24:15] businesses, they have containers that
the tires are stored in.
[4:24:21] There's these are just being stored
outside and are
[4:24:26] an eyes sore and I've already mentioned
operating outside of normal business
[4:24:31] hours.
This is just a very generalized list of
[4:24:35] concerns, many of which have been what
many of which were brought forward to
[4:24:39] council before the initial resoning. We
are very frustrated that some of these
[4:24:44] concerns have never been dealt with by
the municipality.
[4:24:48] We really feel that the municipality has
dropped the ball on this subject.
[4:24:53] And in closing, we we hope the council
will take some of this information
[4:25:03] into account when making their decisions
on this matter. Thank you very much.
[4:25:08] » Thank you.
>> The uh second party to speak is Lynn
[4:25:13] Piery.
[4:25:31] My name is Lynn Piery and I'm here
speaking on behalf of my husband and
[4:25:35] myself. We live right next door to
Johnny Bees and Extreme Excavating.
[4:25:42] Before I address council, I would really
like to
[4:25:46] talk to Mr. Bullsync, the property
owner, and those who support them.
[4:25:51] Please listen to what I have to say.
I would not be standing here today
[4:25:59] fighting this extension if the rules had
been followed. There were restrictions
[4:26:04] set out in that temporary reasonzoning
and they have just flaunted all of they
[4:26:11] obliterated the rules. Further, in
addition, for the past 3 years, I've
[4:26:16] experienced an ongoing campaign of
harassment and attempts to intimidate
[4:26:22] me. I served 22 years as a member of our
Canadian Armed Forces. I'm not easily
[4:26:28] intim intimidated, but you can keep
trying. Like this gentleman who was
[4:26:33] staring at me prior to the meeting and
this gentleman who just stands right
[4:26:39] behind us.
You can tell me to go back to the city.
[4:26:45] » You can dump your crap at the end of my
driveway.
[4:26:58] Um, I just want to make a comment here.
Um,
[4:27:04] we really want to have a a
>> I'm I'm just here to speak my peace,
[4:27:09] Mayor. I'm I had a really nice, very
polite
[4:27:14] uh well-crafted speech written, but
>> this note in my mailbox, am I allowed to
[4:27:22] say what it says on here in chamber
council?
[4:27:24] » I would not. No. And what I'm saying is
uh I we in order to have a a a
[4:27:31] reasonable discussion of the application
uh
[4:27:34] » I need to discuss the escalating and
ongoing harassment.
[4:27:38] » Okay. And but can you do that in a way
that you do not uh incite people to uh
[4:27:43] you know because then we're going to
have a riot and not appropriate.
[4:27:47] » People have incited me. I'm here because
you dump your crap at the end of my
[4:27:54] driveway. You tell me to go back to the
city and call me a very nasty name.
[4:28:00] Um
you honk your horn at midnight.
[4:28:06] You leave nasty notes in my mailbox. you
and I'm not going to stop. So that's why
[4:28:10] I'm here because of your
No, you can't. This is my turn to speak.
[4:28:18] » This is why you're hearing it, honey.
This is why I'm here because of your
[4:28:24] escalating harassment and intimidations
and Mr. Bullsyncs and the property
[4:28:29] owners disregard for any rules. So to
Mayor Kentner,
[4:28:36] Deputy Mayor Cavini, members of the
municipal staff and council, here's the
[4:28:42] nitty-gritty of what I've come to say. I
have composed, but not yet sent 28
[4:28:48] emails to various county, provincial,
and federal government entities and
[4:28:54] other groups. I've email I have them in
my drafts. Environment ministers, health
[4:29:00] ministers, even their critics in
opposition, I have 28 emails sitting
[4:29:06] there.
[4:29:11] Should you decide to extend the
temporary reszoning by as much as 10
[4:29:16] minutes, I will press send on all of
that and then I will submit my complaint
[4:29:21] to the Ontario Land Tribunal. I do have
three other plans up my sleeve, but I
[4:29:25] don't I won't use them. I call them
nuclear options, and I don't want to go
[4:29:28] scorched earth if I if I if I don't, but
I will not stop. And another thing, the
[4:29:33] property in question must be cleaned up
and have clean water and soil samples by
[4:29:37] midnight on November 13th. I will not
stop. Thank you for your time.
[4:29:45] Thank you. Uh the next speaker is Greg
Hart.
[4:29:51] Somebody
[4:29:55] gets disabled, they need to say.
[4:30:00] » Mr. Mayor, before I start, I have worked
very hard on my presentation and I know
[4:30:06] that you have a fivem minute limit.
>> Sorry,
[4:30:08] » you have a five minute limit on
presentations. If I go 30 seconds over,
[4:30:14] would you indulge me?
>> I for 30 seconds. Of course I would. I
[4:30:19] think we've indulged I appreciate that
very much. I just wanted to make that
[4:30:23] clear first because it is a very
important subject as you know.
[4:30:29] » So, Mr. Mayor, members of council, I'm
here on behalf of John Bolsync to
[4:30:35] express my support for his efforts to
complete the rebuilding of Johnny Bee's
[4:30:40] auto and return his business to its
longtime home in Meford. Three years
[4:30:46] ago, Johnny Bee's was auto was
devastated by a fire. It was a tragic
[4:30:51] day for John, his family, his employees,
and our entire community. Johnny Bees
[4:30:56] has served the Meford community
faithfully for many years. Earned the
[4:31:01] trust and loyalty of c of countless
customers. For many of us, John was more
[4:31:07] than just a mechanic. He was someone we
relied on to keep our family safely on
[4:31:12] the road. Following the fire, the
community rallied around John. Council
[4:31:16] members, mayor, local businesses,
residents, and surrounding communities
[4:31:21] all expressed their support and their
desire to see Johnny's rebuilt. There
[4:31:26] was a shared belief that this important
local business belonged to in Meford and
[4:31:31] should return as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, 3 years later, that goal
[4:31:37] has still not been achieved. Johnny has
invested substantial time and money into
[4:31:43] this project. Professional engineers
have prepared plans. Contractors have
[4:31:48] completed work. The building
foundation's been in place for over a
[4:31:51] year. Structural steel is ready to be
erected. Yet another permit is still
[4:31:57] required before construction can
proceed. So the question in many people
[4:32:02] in this community in their minds is
simple. Why has this process taken so
[4:32:07] long? The challenge has been continuity
within the building department. I'm sure
[4:32:13] over the past three years, Meford has
experienced turnover in a senior
[4:32:17] administration and in building
leadership. Every transition inevitably
[4:32:23] requires new staff to become familiar
with existing files, reviewing
[4:32:28] preisions, and ensuring compliance with
acceptable and applicable legislation.
[4:32:36] While that is understandable, act
applicants should not bear the cost of
[4:32:40] unnecessary delays resulting from
organizational change.
[4:32:46] Large commercial projects are complex.
They often require revisions, technical
[4:32:50] reviews, and compliance with Ontario
building code, and no one disputes that.
[4:32:56] However, every requested revision
results in additional engineering work,
[4:33:02] additional costs, additional time. When
reviews extend over months rather than
[4:33:07] weeks, these costs continue to grow.
Inflation has increased construction
[4:33:12] costs dramatically over the past four
years. Delays making rebuilding s uh
[4:33:17] delays make rebuilding significantly
more expensive for any building builder
[4:33:23] business owner. I'm sorry. John has
shown remarkable patience throughout
[4:33:28] this process. He's asked for and
received council's approval to
[4:33:32] temporarily relocate his business on
concession 22 so he could continue
[4:33:38] serving his customers while rebuilding
was underway. At that time everyone
[4:33:43] understood this was intended to be a
temporary solution not a permanent one.
[4:33:49] So today 3 years later Johnny be's auto
remains in a temporary location.
[4:33:56] Why? Well, the situation affects more
than one person. It affects his
[4:34:01] employees. It affects his customers. It
affects the nearby residents.
[4:34:06] Every successful small business
contributes jobs, tax revenue, economic
[4:34:11] activity, and community stability.
Helping an established local business
[4:34:16] return to its permanent location
benefits every
[4:34:20] So, I'm not here to criticize municipal
staff. I recognize they have demanding
[4:34:25] jobs and must ensure every project
complies with applicable legislation.
[4:34:32] But what I'm asking for is
accountability,
[4:34:36] communication, and a sense of urgency.
There are outstanding dis if there are
[4:34:42] outstanding deficiency, let John know
exactly what they are. If additional
[4:34:46] information's required, provide a
checklist. If timelines can be
[4:34:51] established, communicate them with them.
Most importantly, assign someone to
[4:34:57] shepherd this file from beginning to
completion so it does not continue to
[4:35:02] stall as responsibilities shift between
departments or personnel or even the
[4:35:08] municipal election.
Council has the opportunity to
[4:35:12] demonstrate that Meford supports local
business. This is not asking about
[4:35:17] special treatment. It's about ensuring
that respectful business owners who have
[4:35:22] worked in good faith for the last three
years receive fair, efficient, and
[4:35:26] timely service. As we approach another
municipal election, I believe residents
[4:35:31] will be watching closely to see how
council supports businesses that choose
[4:35:36] to invest in our community.
John's ready. The contractor's ready.
[4:35:42] His building materials are ready. His
customers are waiting. Now, it's time
[4:35:47] for this approval process to move
forward forward. Excuse me. I
[4:35:52] respectfully ask council to direct staff
to make this project a priority,
[4:35:59] identify any remaining requirements,
establish a clear path forward for
[4:36:04] permit approval, and to help bring
Johnny's bees back to where it belongs
[4:36:10] in the town of Meph.
Thank you for your future.
[4:36:23] The next next speaker is uh Michelle
Whitmer.
[4:36:39] » Yep. Is Michelle Witmore here? Yes.
Okay.
[4:36:51] Just while you're getting ready to to
take the mic there, I I'm just going to
[4:36:55] share with you that uh you know, members
of council and staff uh are coming to
[4:37:00] this meeting with an open mind and uh to
hear from the public, both those who are
[4:37:05] in favor and those who are not. And no
decision is going to be made tonight. So
[4:37:10] be aware of that, please. Uh go ahead,
Michelle.
[4:37:15] Mayor, council, good afternoon. I'm
Michelle Whitmore, a friend and a
[4:37:20] business associate associate of John
Bullsync and of Johnny Bee's Auto. Thank
[4:37:26] you for having me here today. I wish to
speak to you about hardship.
[4:37:32] Due to the fire in May of 2023, the
family business known as Donnie Bees has
[4:37:38] had to deal with stress causing health
issues and undue financial hardships
[4:37:44] that they have faced
due to not being able to rebuild for the
[4:37:50] last three years. I would like to remind
everyone that they have faced many
[4:37:55] refusals for rebuilding. They have
submitted and planned on rebuilding
[4:38:01] since the day the fire happened. But due
to circumstances beyond their control,
[4:38:07] they are still waiting on approval.
With the generosity of a customer and a
[4:38:12] friend, a place was found for a
temporary solution. With the support of
[4:38:17] the township varants, they were able to
retain partial business while awaiting a
[4:38:24] building permit.
They were requesting an additional
[4:38:29] variance to sustain some income for
their family and employees. This
[4:38:35] variance would be for an additional 3
years if accepted by council. I would
[4:38:41] like for the mayor to understand the
losses are still happening to this small
[4:38:46] business. They cannot have their convict
license which allows buying and selling
[4:38:51] of cars. The body shop for repairs is
not available due to the temporary
[4:38:57] location. The business is struggling
financially, losing approximately 50% of
[4:39:03] their business revenue. It's only
covering cost. They are unable to
[4:39:08] satisfy their customers base due to so
many limitations.
[4:39:14] This small business has always been
compliant with rules, regulations,
[4:39:19] government policies and procedures.
As with any business, they are licensed
[4:39:26] requirements.
Examples are easer, which is the
[4:39:30] environmental
env for used cars, drive on so they can
[4:39:36] do a safety on your car, tire
stewardship,
[4:39:40] business licenses. These are all things
that they have to pay and maintain with
[4:39:48] or without
a solid site.
[4:39:54] There is only a temporary trailer for
office space and no room to grow from
[4:39:59] this location. The bottom line is they
require their new permit for rebuild or
[4:40:05] they require this location for longer
term or the financial hardship will
[4:40:11] cause more tragedy than the fire itself.
People will be out of work with nowhere
[4:40:18] to go. A family, a solid family in this
community needs the compassion of this
[4:40:27] council to accept this as a need to this
community.
[4:40:33] Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[4:40:41] Finally, finally, I'm [clears throat]
going to call on Ken Jolly.
[4:40:52] Good evening everyone. My name is Ken
Jelly and I'm here not as Johnny's
[4:40:56] friend but I'm but myself because I'm a
customer and I'm a business owner and I
[4:41:01] need my mechanic.
Just like thousands of other customers
[4:41:05] and other businesses rely on him. The
local economy is intertwined in having a
[4:41:09] reliable vehicles to run our businesses
to get to and from work. Not approving
[4:41:14] this extension has huge economic
recourse with the entire community and
[4:41:19] would devastate the bullings.
We all know what we are here to discuss.
[4:41:25] But do we know why? Why are the bulls
still operating on side road 22? They
[4:41:30] don't want to be there. Some of the
neighbors don't want them there. Their
[4:41:34] customers don't want them there. But yet
they're stuck there. The bulls have done
[4:41:38] everything that they can be done not to
be there. The site plan was done years
[4:41:43] ago. An engineered steel building sits
on the Highway 26 site ready to be
[4:41:49] erected. And there's been and has been
there for quite some time. A concrete
[4:41:53] foundation was approved. Sits ready. No
building permits, no way to leave side
[4:42:00] road 22 and let the neighborhood go back
to normal. So why in 3 years, 1 month,
[4:42:05] 19 days does he not have a permit? Does
bureaucracy really take this long? Is a
[4:42:11] town really trying all that hard to
remedy the situation? Everyone would be
[4:42:15] happier if he wasn't there. So here we
are asking for an extension for the bull
[4:42:20] sinks to be where no one wants them to
be, where they don't want to be. All
[4:42:25] because they are still waiting for a
building permit. Now I'm aware of the
[4:42:29] say no to Johnny B petition from the
neighbors who don't want the bull sinks
[4:42:33] on side 22. to the organizers of the
petition. You do know the bulls are on
[4:42:38] the same you and the bulls are on the
same side. You could be allies. You
[4:42:43] could be helping each other get get him
back to where he should be. Have you
[4:42:47] ever asked the town why they're taking
so long with the permits?
[4:42:50] I understand that temporary zoning for
this property had a timeline on it. And
[4:42:55] when it was first granted, it should
have been tons of time to get permits to
[4:42:59] get the build done. But with it soon
expiring, it's only logical to grant an
[4:43:03] extension since the town is the only
reason he is still there. The site plan
[4:43:08] done, engineered building done,
foundation ready. Unfortunately, there
[4:43:13] will be a few people that don't like
this decision. And yes, your your
[4:43:18] opinions matter. However, you are few
and we are many that need Johnny B. He
[4:43:24] is our mechanic. He keeps several
thousand people on on the road. He keeps
[4:43:29] many businesses going with without him
the whole town suffers. Many businesses
[4:43:34] excuse me, I'm talking.
[4:43:40] There are many people that need Johnny
B. He is our mechanic. He keeps several
[4:43:43] thousand people on the road. He keeps
bis many businesses going. Without him,
[4:43:47] the whole town suffers. Many businesses
will suffer. The whole community will
[4:43:51] suffer. Unfortunately, the few
for the few the greater good to for the
[4:43:57] community is granting the extension.
Democracy says there's only one choice.
[4:44:02] Logic says there is only one choice. So
the town council, you have one choice to
[4:44:07] make. Approve the extension and the
extension should remain in place until
[4:44:11] he has a permit and can move forward and
get back to his place on Highway 26
[4:44:15] where everyone wants him to be. Thank
you.
[4:44:29] Uh you uh Yes. Well, I did call you. Uh
but anyway,
[4:44:34] » yes. Okay. No, you go right ahead.
[4:44:45] » Hi, I'm Kathy Wilcox. to live across the
road from Johnny Bees. So, my my
[4:44:51] question is,
it was a three-year term. My question to
[4:44:56] everybody here that hates our guts and
calls us horrible names and leaves dead
[4:45:00] things in our uh mailboxes. Um, those
people, I'd like to ask when did it
[4:45:08] become aware to Johnny that this meeting
was coming up? Last week or three years
[4:45:14] ago? because he's had a lot of
opportunity to make some actions to
[4:45:19] assist himself in that interim. He knew
these permits were being denied. Well,
[4:45:24] what did he do a year ago when they were
being denied? Anything? No, he just
[4:45:28] waited for today. Right.
So,
[4:45:34] my my concerns are I see
um so many people walking up and down
[4:45:43] the side road. Um
they're walking. They're they're coming
[4:45:48] to a halt. There was there were people
three people on the road the other night
[4:45:52] and a woman screaming at her children to
stop because they were coming and
[4:45:56] someone's flying out of Johnny Bees. And
John, it's not you that's doing the
[4:46:00] driving. I'm not saying that. But there
people are asking for respect. But what
[4:46:05] about us?
What about any health issues that we
[4:46:08] have? What about our what about our
hardships that we have? our health, our
[4:46:13] finances, every like we don't feel hor
this is a horrible situation for
[4:46:18] everyone to be in. And if you refer back
to three years ago, I said this and
[4:46:23] stressed it that it was an is a
situation for council and it still is.
[4:46:28] So, we're not here screwing around with
anybody. And we're not hoping somebody
[4:46:31] does that to us, but there is dog
and and a dead bird left in my mailbox.
[4:46:38] And my poor neighbor here with the most
recent spelling of C go back to Toronto
[4:46:44] on a on a slip of paper that my husband
and I delivered to everybody's mailboxes
[4:46:48] to say, "Come and help us out." because
there were walkers and joggers and
[4:46:52] bikers and hikers and kids on um ATVs
and golf carts and I was almost struck
[4:47:00] three times in front of my mailbox in
the same day right there. So, I don't
[4:47:07] know what else to say. We're not trying
to pick on anyone and just like stop the
[4:47:11] nonsense going on across the road from
us. This is horrible for all of us.
[4:47:15] Everybody has health issues. Everybody
has their finances.
[4:47:19] Nobody feels like anyone's being
horrible except I would say
[4:47:25] the posi that showed up three years ago
and those of which the posi are here
[4:47:29] again. Some of you know some of you are
great to deal with others it's just a
[4:47:34] lynch mob and as the mayor said earlier
if it doesn't settle down it's going to
[4:47:38] become that and I also am not afraid and
intimidated. So if you're going to pull
[4:47:45] that nonsense, Lynn has and her husband
have my support as well as my husband's.
[4:47:50] So we're on speed doll for each other.
Something happens, I'll be over. And so
[4:47:55] my husband and our little itty bitty dog
who who now has to be fearful of a huge
[4:48:01] Rottweiler that was across the road from
Johnny Bees the other night. And I don't
[4:48:06] know why the man was there. I asked him
what he was getting paid because my
[4:48:10] suspicions were he was hired as security
because I've never seen the man or that
[4:48:15] dog ever before. So now there's OP
involve it. And and at the OP showed up
[4:48:21] and said, "Oh, um um by the way, um you
told them you're not a police or you're
[4:48:27] a police officer." Said, "Yes, I am."
Well, no, you're retired. I said, "No,
[4:48:31] somehow I missed my party. So I am an
active officer. So, anybody in case you
[4:48:36] need me at any point. So, I'll be there
to assist Lynn as well for any issues in
[4:48:41] that regard. Um, and if she needs any
protection, I'll be there before
[4:48:45] probably my brothers in blue show up.
But I don't know what else to say other
[4:48:49] than John. I really feel bad for you. I
just really do. So, I thank you.
[4:48:57] It's uh my uh duty to also inquire if
there's anyone who didn't pre-register
[4:49:02] who would like to uh take the microphone
and uh uh state their views.
[4:49:09] Go ahead.
>> Please, please give us your name and
[4:49:14] address. And
>> absolutely. Hi, my name is Tim Wallace.
[4:49:17] Uh me and my beautiful wife moved here
recently uh about a year and a half ago
[4:49:23] and we came under the worst thing
possible obviously car trouble and I
[4:49:29] know there's a lot of tensions high. I
know a lot of people care and I think
[4:49:33] there's a lot of passion and I think
there's passion because there's a good
[4:49:37] man over here. There's a guy who is the
reason I've been able to work feed my
[4:49:44] family. I've seen him put roofs over
people's houses. I've seen him jump
[4:49:49] through hoops with you guys and with
everybody else. And it's always for the
[4:49:54] good.
And so all I ask here is let's let's put
[4:50:00] the shame aside. Let's let's put away
whatever we're holding in that has
[4:50:06] stopped
whatever silly building permits stops a
[4:50:11] man that does this much good for a
community.
[4:50:15] I I can't believe paper gets in the way
of that. And I know there's some good
[4:50:20] shops around,
but the amount of lengths he's gone
[4:50:25] through in the trouble he's been
through, I I couldn't ask more. Please,
[4:50:31] please give him his permits. Please let
him keep working cuz it's
[4:50:36] people around here trying to get by.
[4:50:45] What I what I can say is that this
meeting is not about his permit. It is
[4:50:49] about uh the application uh to extend
the uh the uh use of the uh the land.
[4:50:56] But I I will ask CIO ever, do you wish
to respond to the concerns about the
[4:51:02] permit at all? Is there anything you can
say tonight?
[4:51:06] » Uh through you, Mr. Mayor. Um, as far as
the permit, I believe that that is with
[4:51:10] the uh the planning department as well
as the building department. Um, and that
[4:51:14] process is underway and has been for
quite some time. So,
[4:51:18] » okay.
Uh, I have to ask um council if uh you
[4:51:24] have any questions uh for anyone.
Sorry. Oh, did you do you wish to speak?
[4:51:32] » I I do.
>> Please go ahead. Please go ahead. I'm
[4:51:35] sorry. I I thought I had everyone who
had registered or and asked for anyone
[4:51:38] who hadn't.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor and Council. My
[4:51:42] name is John Greer. I'm a former
resident of Neford. Uh several people in
[4:51:49] the chamber here know me. I've known me
since my family moved here in 2016.
[4:51:56] Um, I I have to say that I'm a car guy
and people come to me for guidance and
[4:52:03] advice, including my family and friends.
Um, I have recommended and people have
[4:52:10] come and had service performed at the
former location and also at the current
[4:52:16] location
and they come from downtown Toronto to
[4:52:22] get work done here. There is a reason
why after having the tragic loss of that
[4:52:30] facility that people continue to seek
out Johnny B and his cadre of mechanics
[4:52:39] and it's because there's tremendous
value but there's also someone mentioned
[4:52:45] it a sense of urgency.
As I sat here and listened, I thought
[4:52:51] about what my wife experienced in
December. Ice storm,
[4:52:57] an infant, a four-year-old, our
daughter,
[4:53:01] and my wife in her vehicle, and the
driver's window goes down and won't go
[4:53:08] back up.
on the way to the airport.
[4:53:14] Imagine her horror having to deal with
that. And the infant was 4 months old.
[4:53:23] Turn around.
Go to Jollibee's.
[4:53:27] He stopped everything he was doing.
Disassembled the door. Took the window
[4:53:33] out. Broken cables inside. clamped it
all in with uh a pair of vice grips and
[4:53:41] in less than 20 minutes my wife is on
her way and still adept.
[4:53:48] I support the business regardless of
where it's located. I'd love to see him
[4:53:54] be able to pursue the growth of the
business. But I have to tell you, if you
[4:54:00] don't already know,
the service he provides, like many other
[4:54:05] services in the town of Meford,
it's a metaphor for why I came here.
[4:54:14] This is a fabulous community and I hope
you make a decision to continue to
[4:54:19] support a business like John's. And
while I'm here, I want to say
[4:54:25] congratulations to you on making that
new newly renovated park down by the
[4:54:32] harbor. You've got some really happy
campers down there. That's a great
[4:54:36] decision to do that. So, good on you.
>> Could Could we get your name before you
[4:54:40] leave the microphone? I don't think we
got it there.
[4:54:42] » John Greer. Oh, yeah. I live in
Thornbury now.
[4:54:46] » Thank you, John. Thank you.
[4:54:53] So, members of council, do you have
questions of anyone?
[4:54:59] » Oh, okay.
>> I'll be I'll be
[4:55:04] » um I'm Andrea Wallace. That would be
wife to Timothy Wallace that spoke
[4:55:08] earlier. We are fairly new to me, so a
lot of the hubbhub we haven't heard
[4:55:13] about and just coming into it now. Um, I
wanted to speak to you on my side of
[4:55:20] things where really I just stay at home
with the kids, but very much my vehicle
[4:55:25] is almost like a third person in my
marriage. If that vehicle isn't working,
[4:55:32] my family with my three kids can't be
successful. I really can't do what I
[4:55:37] need to do with them at home if he is
not providing financially what I need to
[4:55:41] do it. Um, not only that, we have had so
many vehicle troubles, countless since
[4:55:47] we've been here. And the effect that
that has on my family
[4:55:52] and our like not only financially, but
our mindset when our vehicle isn't
[4:55:57] working, knowing that we're going to
struggle to provide is something that if
[4:56:01] you haven't gone through it, I can't
explain to you. It is terrifying. But
[4:56:06] one thing that has been saving during
all of that is the relationship that my
[4:56:09] husband built with Johnny Bees in such a
short period of time. Um, he is able to
[4:56:15] take his vehicle there. He is able to
get peace of mind even without getting
[4:56:19] his vehicle fixed that day and be able
to come home and have a successful night
[4:56:24] with the family. That is so so so
important to me. If that is gone, if
[4:56:28] that is lost, I will not have that. I
might have to consider leaving. In terms
[4:56:34] of the res residence, I am a mom at home
with my kids all day. I can only imagine
[4:56:38] how annoying that can be for you. I
think that the best force of all of that
[4:56:44] anger and all of that ability that you
guys have down that on that street
[4:56:49] should be put into putting him where he
wants to be and where you don't want him
[4:56:53] to be. Nobody wants him to be there. I
don't care personally because I don't
[4:56:57] live there, but I can understand how
that can really, really affect you. And
[4:57:02] I see how much power is down on that
street to make change happen. I think if
[4:57:08] you can think realistically
a little peaceful that maybe together
[4:57:15] something better can happen. Um, while
you're thinking about that, obviously
[4:57:21] you guys are all going to get really
really angry at uh 10 cars being above,
[4:57:26] but think about [clears throat] it from
again a realistic standpoint. That is
[4:57:30] not possible. When was the last time you
went to a successful auto shop with less
[4:57:33] than 10 cars there?
>> The restriction went.
[4:57:39] » I appreciate you for that comment. Thank
you again. We would still have that
[4:57:44] fight if there were 11 there. So again,
I applaud their success and their
[4:57:50] ability to have those cars. I know that
some of the parts that have come from my
[4:57:55] car at cheaper rates have been from some
of those sitting cars and I appreciate
[4:58:00] that because those rates are coming out
at a price that I I can afford anything
[4:58:04] else. I cannot afford it. I cannot I
cannot survive. So please let Johnny be
[4:58:11] stay. And I think someone mentioned
before, let him stay and continue the
[4:58:17] fight to go back. That's what he's
trying to do. He's not fighting to stay.
[4:58:22] Let him stay so he can continue to fight
to go back and be out of your hair. And
[4:58:30] I'm sorry that the people are putting
things in your mailbox. We all know
[4:58:33] that's not John Lee's. I would hate for
people to be upset about things that if
[4:58:38] I was I run a small day home, so I've
got kids running through. If those kids
[4:58:44] in my care were doing terrible, terrible
things, I would hate to be held
[4:58:48] personally accountable for it.
>> Can we just get your name for the
[4:58:52] record?
>> Oh, Andrea. Andrea Wallace.
[4:58:54] » Okay. Thank you.
>> Andrea Wallace.
[4:58:56] » Thank you.
[4:59:03] So, we're just a few minutes away from
six o'clock. So, I'm going to ask, is
[4:59:06] there anyone else in the gallery that
would like to speak to the uh matter?
[4:59:13] speak now or forever hold your peace.
Uh, okay. Uh, council, uh, do we have
[4:59:19] questions? Uh, deputy mayor.
>> Uh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. I do have a
[4:59:24] question and I I will get to it, but I
just want to start by thanking everyone
[4:59:28] for being here. I know this is a very
emotional issue and as council we are
[4:59:33] grateful to hear all of your comments
and to allow us to have that information
[4:59:37] as we go forward with a decision on this
extension. But I think I can speak for
[4:59:43] all of us in saying that May 25th, 3
years ago, was a devastating day in this
[4:59:48] community when that fire happened. It
was it was horrible and everybody's
[4:59:53] heart went out to John and his family
and and it was just an awful thing that
[4:59:58] happened and and the people that were
working in the shop and depended on the
[5:00:02] shop for their livelihoods and the
people whose cars were there and lost
[5:00:05] their cars and and just so many terrible
things that were a result of that fire.
[5:00:10] So, just know [clears throat] that that
is a day that will never be forgotten in
[5:00:14] this community. But I just um wanted to
come back and ask John a question if I
[5:00:20] may, Mr. Mayor. Um John, you mentioned
Would you Is it okay if I ask John to
[5:00:25] come back to the podium?
>> Yes.
[5:00:27] » Yes.
[5:00:33] Thank you, John. Um when you first
spoke, you mentioned about buying a
[5:00:37] property in Owens Sound.
>> Yes. And I'm wondering if you could give
[5:00:40] council and everyone present a little
bit more clarity about because we we've
[5:00:46] heard about the number of cars on the
lot and we understand that that is a
[5:00:50] concern for the for the neighbors. Can
you share with us in your mind as you
[5:00:55] work through the process of moving a
piece of your business to Owens Sound
[5:00:59] what impact that is likely to have on
the number of cars remaining on your lot
[5:01:03] going forward?
>> Um yes, we purchased the property in
[5:01:07] Owens Sound. Um therefore we can um the
idea was to get our business back up and
[5:01:13] running maybe closer to its full
potential and not um have backlog here
[5:01:18] at the shop in Weepford. Um
it's the only way to you know really try
[5:01:24] to deal with things we you know to some
of the vehicles that we need to work on.
[5:01:26] It's tough to do in the shop that we're
at now and you know I mean customers
[5:01:30] have been very patient this and that and
all those vehicles there aren't mine. Um
[5:01:35] some of them are related to the farm
that's there. this and that. So, you
[5:01:38] know, there's there's a few vehicles,
whatever, but probably a fair a fair
[5:01:43] amount uh we're thinking probably like,
you know, maybe 50% of it is going to go
[5:01:47] to sound.
[5:01:50] You know, we have employees there.
That's a six bay shop there. Um we'll be
[5:01:54] able to do the turnaround times a lot
better there than we can here. Um and
[5:01:57] that was the whole idea behind it, just
so we can service our customers a little
[5:02:00] bit better. And we have quite a few
customers that are kind of living over
[5:02:04] that way and they're ecstatic about
that. They don't have to come so far
[5:02:06] now. So, it's good.
Yeah, we're just in the process of
[5:02:10] fixing that that place up and giving it
a nice facelift and uh you know, we're
[5:02:14] doing a lot. It's going to look really
good and uh yeah, we'll be able to carry
[5:02:19] uh carry a fair chunk of the business
over there. Okay. Councelor Yuri,
[5:02:26] » thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll echo Deputy
Mayor and thank everyone for coming out.
[5:02:30] Obviously, contentious issues
bring emotions and not not a lot of fun.
[5:02:37] So, just a question and a comment. The
question is, so if permits were go, you
[5:02:44] were ready to go. Yeah.
>> How long would it take you to actually
[5:02:49] be back in your old location?
>> One year.
[5:02:52] » It would take you one year
>> to build it. Maybe a little less.
[5:02:55] » Okay. Thank you. All my contractors have
been very good. They're ready to rock
[5:02:59] and roll and they said they'll work
exceptionally hard. I mean, the
[5:03:02] foundation's in that that that part was
the hard part. Um, that's in there. The
[5:03:07] metal building's ready. Everything's
ready. If we get the go-ahad, it could
[5:03:10] happen very quick.
>> Good. And I just the comment is I just
[5:03:14] I'm sorry if there's any reflection on
you sort of some of the stuff that's
[5:03:18] happening that's super superfluous
because any h any and and again people
[5:03:23] could disagree, but there shouldn't be
the harassment. There shouldn't be
[5:03:27] literally things happening that sound
like they're happening. And I know it's
[5:03:31] not you. And I I hope that people can be
a little bit more respectful cuz we all
[5:03:36] want to see you get back to where you
should be. And there are ways to do that
[5:03:40] without um being less than professional.
>> Yep. 100%. No, we always try to be 100%
[5:03:45] professional. I tell my staff to do that
as well. And um that's all I can ask
[5:03:49] for. Thank you very much. Anyone else on
council wish to ask John anything?
[5:03:58] » Okay. Well, uh, thank you again, John.
>> Thank you. Um,
[5:04:04] » I want to thank everyone for attending
this meeting and sharing your thoughts
[5:04:07] on this application. This matter will
now be referred back to development
[5:04:11] services to follow up on any additional
information required from the applicant
[5:04:16] based on the matters that were raised
tonight.
[5:04:19] Once staff are satisfied that they have
all the necessary information needed to
[5:04:23] provide a recommendation on the
applications, a detailed planning report
[5:04:27] will be brought back to council to
assist us in our decision-making. This
[5:04:31] report will evaluate how the proposal
does or does not satisfy the provincial,
[5:04:37] county, and municipal policies that must
be considered as part of council's
[5:04:41] decision. It will also explore the
various public and agency comments
[5:04:46] received regarding the application.
noting those tools which may be applied
[5:04:50] in order to address concerns raised and
to mitigate potential impacts on nearby
[5:04:55] properties.
And I just want to remind you if you
[5:04:59] would like to receive notice uh of a
future decision on this file, please
[5:05:04] provide your uh contact information to
the planning services division by email
[5:05:10] and the address is planning meford.ca.
That's all lowercase planning meford.ca.
[5:05:17] And with that, again, thank you for your
attendance. Thank you for uh allowing us
[5:05:22] to have a a civil conversation. And I'll
declare this meeting adjourned.
[5:17:27] Well, good evening everyone. We're uh
back in session. Uh we had our 5:00 uh
[5:17:33] public planning meeting with an
absolutely uh packed gallery and uh
[5:17:38] we've concluded that and uh so we're
going to resume um our council meeting
[5:17:44] and uh finish it.
But first I have to
[5:17:50] find where we left off. So just give me
one second.
[5:18:08] So uh on the agenda we are on uh item 11
councelor motions. Is there any notice
[5:18:14] of motion tonight?
Uh okay as uh we have one motion for
[5:18:20] decision and uh it's h by councelor
Greenfield. Would you like to uh present
[5:18:27] your motion?
[5:18:40] » All right. Yes, your worship. Thank you.
I would like to move the motion.
[5:18:46] » Yeah. And so if you read it and we'll
get a second for it. Is that all right?
[5:18:50] Is that the order of uh
[5:19:00] » Yes.
Yes. I I will move it, but I can't
[5:19:05] present it until I get a secondary. Can
I?
[5:19:07] » No, I think you can present it and then
we get a second for further motion.
[5:19:11] Nobody may second it.
So,
[5:19:15] » thank uh yes. Uh I'll read it. Uh the
worship. Um
[5:19:21] uh whereas the council of Miss Pyford
appreciate the presentation of June
[5:19:26] 22nd, 2026 by the Escarment Corridor
Alliance and the suggestions expressed.
[5:19:32] Therefore, be it resolved that council
recognizes the importance of broad
[5:19:37] ecological connectivity
as a foundation of resilient growth,
[5:19:43] ecosystem services, and climate
resilience. And the council acknowledges
[5:19:48] that land within the municipality
form part of an emerging and connected
[5:19:54] ecological corridor across the southern
Georgia Bay region and that the
[5:20:00] municipality continue to promote natural
heritage preservation
[5:20:06] and protect the municipality's
ecological systems through its decisions
[5:20:11] on land use, conservation, development
and infrastructure. ure matters in
[5:20:18] accordance with our own mefort official
plan.
[5:20:23] » Is there a second for the motion? Uh,
councelor Yuring. Thank you.
[5:20:29] » U, do you want to speak to it? Uh,
councelor Greenfield.
[5:20:33] » Well, thanks. Uh,
hopefully it's fairly self-explanatory.
[5:20:38] Um, I just want to mention that people
who live here, whether they've been here
[5:20:44] for a long time or a short time, uh,
visitors, uh, uh, regardless often say
[5:20:51] they're attracted by our natural
surroundings, our natural beauty. uh
[5:20:56] Georgia Bay, the uh many hills, valleys,
and uh many of the hills in our
[5:21:03] municipality
are shaped around uh the Niagara
[5:21:08] Escarment.
I uh I didn't realize that the Niagara
[5:21:14] scarment starts near Rochester, New
York, and goes up through Ontario,
[5:21:20] [clears throat]
dips down below the water at Tuba Murray
[5:21:25] at the end of the Bruce, and then comes
up again, goes across Manatulan Island
[5:21:29] to Sue St.
goes westward through northern Michigan
[5:21:35] and then [clears throat]
starts to cut back down south near Green
[5:21:40] Bay, Wisconsin. It actually terminates
not that far north of the city of
[5:21:46] Chicago. So, it's a it it's quite a
quite a structure. Um I it's been with
[5:21:54] us for over 400 and some million years
and uh I'm hoping we can u maintain it
[5:22:00] for that many more. So I I like to think
that the municipality meford will do its
[5:22:06] part in protecting and preserving this
uh this ecological beauty that uh that
[5:22:13] we have with us. Thank you.
>> Any uh questions? [clears throat] Uh or
[5:22:18] I'm just going to call a vote then. All
in favor? Oh, sorry.
[5:22:22] Sorry about that. Um yeah, through you,
Mr. Mayor. Thank you. Um
[5:22:27] Harley, I was wondering
um just thinking kind of through the
[5:22:32] course of today how to um
maybe give this a little more teeth. Um,
[5:22:39] and a thought that popped into my head
while um just kind of going through the
[5:22:43] day today was to add um another uh that
line um that basically uh direct staff
[5:22:54] to include uh a natural heritage impacts
section on staff reports. Um because
[5:23:01] that way I think that could help us
contextualize all of our future
[5:23:05] decision-m. we do financial impacts and
then it it at least gives us the
[5:23:09] opportunity to consider what the natural
heritage impacts are um of um decisions
[5:23:15] that we're making. Um and I don't know
if that's something that would best fit
[5:23:19] in a motion like this or perhaps in some
other uh motion or or bylaw, but um I'd
[5:23:28] just like to hear your thoughts on that
as a way to implement it.
[5:23:34] I'm not opposed to having that uh uh
additional clause.
[5:23:41] » And are you going to speak to the the
site or second it? Go ahead then.
[5:23:47] Councelor Bell.
>> Thanks to uh Councelor Greenfield. So
[5:23:53] the um the group that's been formed
fairly recently and uh do you know what
[5:23:59] they do with the farmland that they get?
Do they take it out of production just
[5:24:03] to turn it into
natural environment or do they allow
[5:24:07] agriculture to continue? Do you know?
[5:24:13] I as I understand their
[5:24:18] their direction is to work with
agriculture to
[5:24:23] be more pro
[5:24:29] not as not just protective but more more
preservation for egg lands. uh to uh
[5:24:39] help
influence
[5:24:44] how agricultural production can continue
successfully
[5:24:49] uh and and and protect the the
environment also. Now I I I don't think
[5:24:59] they're anti- fertilizer or anti-spray.
I don't think that's the type of thing
[5:25:06] they're into, but I think they're just
more into uh um
[5:25:13] you know, new new initiatives and uh uh
I mean there's new stuff out there in
[5:25:21] agriculture all the time, too. New uh
new ideas, new incentives. And I think
[5:25:27] that's what they're uh I think that's
what they're uh looking for. I I don't
[5:25:33] think they're looking to take uh
20 20 hectares of protective soybean
[5:25:41] corn producing
uh land and planted in trees. uh if if
[5:25:49] indeed there was
uh I guess the owner of that property
[5:25:55] no longer wanted to produce agriculture
products, they'd be interested in in an
[5:26:01] alternative. But I I I don't see that.
Um
[5:26:07] give me quite like I I'm not a member of
the advocacy group. I can only kind of
[5:26:14] relate what what I've read about them.
But u
[5:26:20] uh I think in today's world where we're
losing 320 acres of agricultural land a
[5:26:29] day, the last thing we want to do is
restrict egg practices.
[5:26:37] My opinion. Uh can I just ask if I
[clears throat] may because I missed the
[5:26:41] presentation uh personally but I thought
this had to do partly with um um
[5:26:47] maintaining uh the corridors that are
used by wildlife.
[5:26:52] Is that a different organization?
>> Um yeah, I can I can speak to that just
[5:26:58] um having had like past interactions
with the organization though not a
[5:27:02] member. Um so there's kind of two
organizations that are operating in our
[5:27:06] area that have very similar names.
There's the Escarpment Biosphere
[5:27:09] Conservancy and the Escarpment Corridor
Alliance. This one being the Escort
[5:27:12] Escarment Corridor Alliance. Um, and
kind of similarly, they um kind of uh
[5:27:19] look at things as a as a land
conservancy and they do own land and
[5:27:22] have greater degrees of protections uh
on the land that they own. Uh but they
[5:27:28] sort of their main drive is to uh
basically um try to map out areas of
[5:27:35] protected land, whether it's land they
own themselves or a municipality owns or
[5:27:39] it's already um a conservation area or
something like that. And while those
[5:27:45] individual pockets of land are useful
for wildlife um and other forms of
[5:27:50] natural [snorts] heritage, uh they their
function for wildlife is limited unless
[5:27:56] they are connected to other protected
areas. Uh because if deer deer in the
[5:28:02] whole area are going to do well, they're
going to move between uh different
[5:28:06] conservation areas, but they need a way
to get there. Uh and so that's what this
[5:28:10] organization is looking at. So that
might be okay well if you know we're
[5:28:14] redeveloping something how can we make
sure that there uh you know is preserved
[5:28:17] wood lot at the back so that animals can
still continue to move across it or if
[5:28:22] uh you're uh you know redesigning or or
working um uh agricultural land how do
[5:28:29] you keep your uh hedro uh in good
condition and you know maybe consider
[5:28:34] not getting rid of it so that there
continues to be corridors and channels
[5:28:38] for wildlife to move through. Uh and
that's sort of the biggest sort of
[5:28:42] conceptual uh goal uh is I've understood
it directly from uh the CEO
[5:28:49] » councelor Yurig.
>> Thank you Mr. Mayor. Um well councelor
[5:28:54] Anders I agree in principle with your
additional that um my question I guess
[5:28:59] is and probably to the CEO is um are we
equipped to do that? uh because at the
[5:29:05] end of the day uh a lot of the
environmental processes are specialized
[5:29:10] uh and I just want to make sure that if
we're going to do something like that,
[5:29:14] how does that impact staff a workload b
cost? Because if we're now having to go
[5:29:20] out and get consultants to do and maybe
rubber stamp everything that's kind of
[5:29:24] happening in conjunction with that, that
puts a different wrinkle on it. So I'll
[5:29:29] kind of leave that one to uh Mr. Ever.
>> Yes. Do you Mr. Mayor to council York, I
[5:29:35] would agree. And it's not so much the
resourcing. I would say we we want to be
[5:29:42] careful of having those types of headers
within our reports and presupposing the
[5:29:50] planning process, right? Because the
planning process is going to require
[5:29:55] potentially a natural heritage study. So
if that's going to be part of the
[5:30:01] process, I think there's ways that we
can strengthen that requirement. But um
[5:30:07] I would be it would be worrisome for me
to think that every report's going to
[5:30:12] have it. We can we can identify it as
yeah we think that there there may be
[5:30:18] some natural impact or but I think the
planning process is the process that
[5:30:25] directs that and quite frankly puts the
cost on the applicant to do that study
[5:30:32] because it's not something that the
municipality should have to bear the
[5:30:37] cost of on behalf of the taxpayers when
the planning process would actually have
[5:30:41] the applicant
get that consultant to do that work as
[5:30:46] part of their application.
>> Councelor Bell.
[5:30:51] » Thank you again, Mr. Mayor. So, that's
my major concern.
[5:30:55] You have uh property and your neighbors
got property and you have things that
[5:30:59] are transpiring and wildlife that are
moving and then all of a sudden you come
[5:31:03] in and you want to do a building
somewhere and put a shed up for house
[5:31:07] your combine and then you find out that
somebody somewhere else who doesn't even
[5:31:12] live here has made a decree on your
property has got a listing on it that
[5:31:15] you can't even do anything with it. The
prime example of that is Anancy. All of
[5:31:20] a sudden you go and you make an
application. You find out that somebody
[5:31:23] down in Toronto has set a computer
screen, multiplied things up and said,
[5:31:28] "Oh, gee, look at that. That'd be a
great thing. They'll make you a Nancy
[5:31:31] and you can't even do anything. It's
your own bush. So, this is the problem
[5:31:35] that I have with with groups that come
that say you're going to take this
[5:31:39] property and you're going to take it.
What are you going to do with it?"
[5:31:44] Councelor Yurig and I we Grace Sable we
we've heard so many times about if you
[5:31:49] have a wet land what it used to be for a
farmer to do the agriculture and how
[5:31:55] close they could get and they've changed
that now. So actually the farmer can
[5:31:59] recuperate more land because land is so
important to have to put into the food
[5:32:04] chain. So we've seen that kind of thing.
There's other groups that exist that if
[5:32:10] a farmer ever signs on with them, they
have lost the pres the right to even go
[5:32:15] on the land. And I don't want to name
that name in this council meeting. But
[5:32:20] that's what happens. They come to the to
the farm and they say, "Wouldn't you
[5:32:24] like to do this? This is all great. It
sounds all lovely." They just signed it
[5:32:27] away. And so that's my my reservation on
it. Now, this council will remember what
[5:32:34] I clearly told that group when they came
here. I told them if they can help us
[5:32:40] with what we're doing with the major
changes in grace conservation. I told
[5:32:45] them power to them to help us to do
that. But this saying that we're going
[5:32:51] to embrace that to me it just makes
another level of a hidden bureaucracy
[5:32:58] that can hit somebody that owns We've
had some farmers here this afternoon
[5:33:02] that got tens of thousands of acres and
he sat in that back row. Biggest farmer
[5:33:07] we've got in Sydam Township. Okay. And I
don't want to see him someday or someone
[5:33:12] like him make an application and go
where in the heck did this come from?
[5:33:17] and we've done it. So, I'm a little
reserved on this.
[5:33:24] My my fellow forer, councelor for knows
that I I care about sustainability and I
[5:33:30] and I care about our environment, but to
me, whose fingers are in whose pie and
[5:33:36] how deep do they go? So, I'm a little
reserved on it, that's all.
[5:33:42] » Okay. Are we ready to entertain the
question?
[5:33:46] Um all in favor
[5:33:52] of the motion as presented. Yes. Um
[5:34:00] » yeah. Yeah. I I myself have just changed
my mind as a result of what councelor
[5:34:06] Bell has said here. Uh but so
go ahead,
[5:34:10] » mayor. If I may, I'm wondering if we
have enough information at this point in
[5:34:14] time to make a decision on this motion
or if we need to understand a little bit
[5:34:19] more about the intentions of the
alliance in terms of because I
[5:34:24] appreciate councelor Bell's comments and
we would not want to do that too many of
[5:34:27] our existing land owners particularly if
they're um working the land. So, do we
[5:34:33] need to go back to the alliance and
request a further understanding of of
[5:34:38] what uh you know terms and restrictions
they would place on lands?
[5:34:44] » Uh, councelor Manis.
>> Sure. Thank you. Um, in a conversation I
[5:34:47] had a after the presentation um we
discussed uh the desire uh because I was
[5:34:53] just curious to learn more about how
they intend to work with the
[5:34:56] agricultural community. So perhaps it
would be worthwhile to invite them back
[5:35:00] to give a presentation on that aspect
specifically. Um I'm pretty sure that
[5:35:05] they're still kind of in the early
fledgling stages of that program, but
[5:35:10] perhaps
uh we could kind of start that
[5:35:14] conversation to make sure that it's
something we would be comfortable with
[5:35:17] and then if uh we in our community are
comfortable with it, then we could
[5:35:22] support it more strongly or or not if
we're not comfortable. So, there's a
[5:35:26] couple of [clears throat] ways to come
at this to defer or I just wonder do you
[5:35:30] want to withdraw the motion until uh we
have that conversation with the
[5:35:34] organization or do you want to let it or
would you be willing to have it deferred
[5:35:39] until we hear from and I'm going to get
some direction from the clerk which will
[5:35:44] be much more
>> No, no, thank you worship. My suggestion
[5:35:46] might actually be to postpone the motion
because we can put a reason in there and
[5:35:50] then that gives count that gives staff
direction to go and see if they will
[5:35:54] present again to the the comment rather
than trying to get formal direction to
[5:35:58] go and ask them separately. Uh so if we
postpone to allow time um until such
[5:36:04] time as the they are invited and and we
can deal with it that way I would maybe
[5:36:09] suggest.
[5:36:13] So over to you, Councelor Greenfield.
>> Um, yeah, that that's fine. If uh we
[5:36:19] want to uh postpone any decision until
staff gets more uh
[5:36:27] more direction, I uh
[5:36:32] I I don't know. To me, it seems fairly
straightforward. Do we do we want to
[5:36:37] conserve protect what we've got?
[5:36:44] And I really have my doubts if this
council is is really all that concerned
[5:36:50] in it. And that disappoints me big time.
To me, this is fairly straightforward.
[5:36:55] This is trying to preserve something for
my grandkids, for your grandkids.
[5:37:03] » Okay. I'm sorry that [clears throat]
so I'm
[5:37:11] [laughter] I'm in a corner here.
[5:37:17] » Well, and I
>> Yeah, I'll undertake to make sure that
[5:37:20] we come back to this uh and and get the
information that we can make a maybe a
[5:37:26] little more qualified judgment on. Um
so, moving on. Um and thank you for
[5:37:32] helping us there. Um adoption of uh
minutes. We've got u the recommendation
[5:37:40] uh that council of the municipality of
Meford hereby adopt the minutes of the
[5:37:44] council meetings held on June 17, 2026,
June 22nd, 2026 and June 29th, 2026 and
[5:37:52] the closed meetings held on June 17,
2026 and June 29, 2026. A mover and a
[5:37:58] seconder. Councelor Urick and Deputy
Mayor. Um is there any discussion? Uh
[5:38:06] I'll call vote. All in favor accepting
those minutes. Thank you. Um that was
[5:38:12] unanimous. Uh the communications uh
uh reports there are a number of them
[5:38:18] there. Anyone wish to bring any any of
these forward to discuss in any way?
[5:38:24] Councelor Yur.
>> Mr. Mayor, I'm not sure about the actual
[5:38:28] A, B, and C, but of D on the
correspondence list. I just had one
[5:38:32] thing.
>> Sorry,
[5:38:34] » I don't have anything on A, B, or C, but
I do have something on the
[5:38:37] correspondence list under D.
>> Oh, okay. If that would be great. Please
[5:38:41] bring it forward then.
>> Okay. Um, on the correspondence list, we
[5:38:45] it would be if you anybody has that
pulled up, it's page 71. It's just
[5:38:48] Peterborough County. Uh interesting one
that because uh there was they brought
[5:38:54] forward a motion
uh that where the province of Ontario
[5:38:59] shifted responsibility of the municipal
election voters list from impact to
[5:39:04] elections Ontario by amending the
municipal elections act. Um their
[5:39:09] concern is that many of the elector
lists presented by elections Ontario
[5:39:15] have discrepancies in voter counts from
the 2022 municipal election.
[5:39:20] specifically in the number of eligible
non-resident property owners which are
[5:39:24] significantly lower than the 22 numbers.
So what the recommendation was is that
[5:39:29] they're urging the province of Ontario
to immediat immediately encourage
[5:39:33] prioritization of the review of data
specifically related to non-resident
[5:39:38] property owners to ensure voter lists
are as accurate as possible prior to
[5:39:43] August 14th. Um, we all want to see
accurate voter list and I just thought
[5:39:48] supporting that motion would be an easy
one to do. So, I'm putting forth that
[5:39:53] request.
>> Thank you. Um,
[5:40:00] is there do we need a motion to endorse
that motion? Is that what I need?
[5:40:05] » Thank you, Rorip. Yes, if we have a
mover and a seconder to to support that
[5:40:08] motion, then
>> uh and I I suggested this to councelor
[5:40:12] Yurig. This is a very uh important thing
in my mind. Uh if uh if the province has
[5:40:18] lost us a lot of uh potential voters in
the election, uh we need them to fix
[5:40:22] that problem. So is there a seconder?
Thank you, Deputy Mayor. Uh any
[5:40:28] discussion on this? U all in favor of
the motion and that any opposed? That's
[5:40:34] passed unanimously. Thank you. Thank
you, Councelor Yurig. Um
[5:40:39] anyone else anything on the
communications list? If not, uh we are
[5:40:44] ready to uh go into a a close session.
Um
[5:40:49] and uh the recommendation is that the
council of the municipality of Meford
[5:40:53] does now go into a close session at 6:40
p.m. Um number one, two items uh
[5:41:00] regarding a position, plan, procedure,
criteria or instruction to be applied to
[5:41:06] any negotiations carried on or to be
carried on uh by or on behalf of the
[5:41:12] municipality or a local board. And that
is under the open meeting exemption K
[5:41:17] section 2392 of the municipal act 2001
res um respecting the meford harbor
[5:41:23] dredging and a TC energy pre-development
agreement with the CAO the clerk deputy
[5:41:31] CEO and director of corporate services
the director of community services and
[5:41:36] manager of memorial park cemeteries and
harbor in attendance and two uh one item
[5:41:42] regarding personal matters about an
identifiable individual, including
[5:41:46] municipal or local board employees.
That's under open meeting exemption B of
[5:41:51] section 2392 of the Municipal Act 2001,
respecting an HR matter with the CEO,
[5:41:58] the clerk, the deputy CEO, and director
of corporate services in attendance.
[5:42:04] And uh we will be back uh following this
meeting to report out on it.
[7:23:41] All right, reporting out at 8:21 p.m. on
our closed uh session. Um council met in
[7:23:50] closed session and discussed one uh two
different items related to a position,
[7:23:54] plan, procedure, criteria or instruction
to be applied to any negotiations
[7:23:59] carried on or to be carried on by or on
behalf of the municipality or local
[7:24:05] board and with direction provided to
staff on both of those items. Uh also
[7:24:10] one item related uh regarding personnel
matters uh about an identifiable
[7:24:15] individual including municipal or local
board employees with no direction
[7:24:20] provided to staff. Now we have a
confirming bylaw. The recommendation be
[7:24:26] it resolved that bylaw 2026-56
being a bylaw to confirm the proceedings
[7:24:31] of the meeting of the council of the
corporation of the municipality of
[7:24:35] meford be taken as read a first second
and third time and finally passed. Can I
[7:24:39] have a mover and seconder
councelor Bell and councelor Andis.
[7:24:44] Thank you. Uh all in favor
any opposed? That's carried unanimously.
[7:24:50] And with that we can finally conclude
today's meeting.