[0:05] good uh I'm going to call the meeting to

[0:07] order we're going to go to approval of

[0:09] the agenda that the agenda of the

[0:10] regular council meeting held February 24

[0:13] 2025 be approved as presented may I have

[0:15] a moover please I'll move thank you and

[0:18] a second or please thank you any

[0:21] questions or comments call to the vote

[0:23] all in favor it's carried thank you

[0:26] number three disclosure prity interest

[0:28] and general nature thereof does any

[0:30] member of council have a peity interest

[0:32] or any of the items on the agenda if so

[0:34] what is the general nature of that

[0:37] interest he and see none so we'll move

[0:39] on to four public question period to

[0:42] councel does any member have a question

[0:44] to ask Council pertaining to the items

[0:46] on the

[0:48] agenda

[0:50] uh please stand up and state your name

[0:52] in it yeah appraiser yes no I was just

[0:55] wondering um I noticed the traffic

[0:57] report is in and that's exciting

[1:00] um I was just wondering um uh counselor

[1:04] girl last time stated that this is a

[1:06] good start and we should add to this

[1:10] some traffic cing measures because if we

[1:13] do support the idea of bringing

[1:15] everything down to 40 in um in

[1:19] Merrickville and in eastern corners and

[1:22] in Jasper we still need some traffic

[1:25] calming measures to support that and I

[1:28] was hoping that the council will think

[1:30] about that in the future um if they do

[1:34] adopt this report and also too when it

[1:36] comes to konar um they said that we

[1:42] should have signs indicating that uh at

[1:44] certain times it's going to be

[1:46] busy should the council also maybe think

[1:49] about traffic calming measures on that

[1:52] road in order to support the idea that

[1:55] it's going to be busy at

[1:57] times so I'm just handing that out there

[2:00] handing that out there for future uh

[2:03] consideration yeah thank you any other

[2:07] questions no Julie do I have any uh any

[2:11] uh questions submitted no no okay we're

[2:13] going to move on to number five motions

[2:15] for consideration at the Council of

[2:17] Corporation of the vill of merille

[2:18] Wolford received for information the

[2:20] motion for consideration document as

[2:22] presented may I have a moover please

[2:24] I'll move thank you second moved and

[2:26] seconded comments or questions please

[2:29] call the vote all those in favor and

[2:32] that's carried thank you consent agenda

[2:34] that the Council of the corporation of

[2:35] Village amville wolver approve all items

[2:37] listed under the consent agenda as

[2:39] presented and recommended may I have a

[2:41] mover

[2:43] please thank you and a second or please

[2:45] yeah thank you any comments or questions

[2:48] from

[2:49] Council here in see none I'll call the

[2:51] vote all in favor and

[2:55] you uh we have no

[2:57] delegations uh planning matter

[2:59] uncommitted Reserve capacity update that

[3:01] the Council of the corporation of the

[3:02] village of merille wol receive for

[3:04] information the update from Neil calwell

[3:06] engineer regarding the uncommitted

[3:09] reserve capacity may I have a mover

[3:11] please I'll move thank you and a second

[3:13] or

[3:14] please mooved and second it any comments

[3:17] or questions

[3:19] please go ahead de um I I seem to have a

[3:23] memory of a policy document that talked

[3:27] about a time frame um between

[3:30] allocation um I just I haven't been able

[3:33] to find it recently could we when we

[3:36] have a discussion about this do we have

[3:39] that policy at

[3:42] hand thank you welome any other comments

[3:45] or questions go ahead to

[3:47] counselor uh just referring to the first

[3:50] bullet on the first page the uh current

[3:53] calculation of uncommitted Reserve

[3:54] capacity at 41.8 one cubic

[3:58] meters um I I disagree with that number

[4:01] and I don't think I got an answer

[4:05] um about that after the last Mee with

[4:08] respect to breaking out the north side

[4:11] uh the north side that was used in that

[4:14] calculation uh as well as the vacant

[4:16] lots that are potentially years if not

[4:18] decades away from being developed so I

[4:21] think we need to have some more

[4:22] discussion about that would staff be

[4:25] able to get an answer for the

[4:28] counselor I

[4:31] yes we're looking into that looking into

[4:33] that yeah

[4:36] okay go ahead ccor yeah I I just want to

[4:39] make a statement with that after

[4:41] speaking with residents who actually

[4:42] will be affected um by any Wastewater

[4:45] capacity allocation I just um I say just

[4:48] want to remind everyone that this is

[4:49] merily receiving a report for

[4:51] information from jp2 G we're not here to

[4:53] approve any hypothetical planning

[4:56] applications um so at our December

[4:58] priority setting exercise uh was growth

[5:00] controlled growth was something that was

[5:02] very important I think to almost every

[5:04] council member and so if we want the

[5:06] Village proper to grow in a controlled

[5:08] manner our planner has advised us many

[5:09] times the most efficient way to do this

[5:11] is to prioritize support for infill and

[5:14] intensification on vacant land within

[5:16] the village uh that is already served by

[5:18] our infra uh water Wastewater

[5:20] infrastructure if you look back to

[5:21] October 7th and 15th we have letters

[5:23] that actually go um that go over that

[5:26] pretty thoroughly and something that we

[5:27] can do consider on a Case by case BAS

[5:30] and the with the um scenario described

[5:32] here for January

[5:33] 21st uh 41.8 cubic meters of unom

[5:36] uncommitted capacity that's 7% of the

[5:39] 800 cubic uh meters so that means 93% is

[5:42] either committed allocated or hooked up

[5:45] so that's well over the threshold of the

[5:47] 80% um that uh to start an environmental

[5:50] uh assessment which our um Engineers

[5:53] have recommended repeatedly so I just

[5:55] want to read the portion I'm just going

[5:57] to quote from the letter as the EA

[5:59] process C allows municipalities to

[6:01] approach servicing through a master plan

[6:03] for the entire s collection and

[6:05] treatment system versus a project

[6:06] dealing with a portion of the system we

[6:08] recommend the village complete a

[6:10] servicing master plan given the size of

[6:12] the system and the need to assess

[6:14] additional growth on the north side of

[6:16] the RTO River opportunities for public

[6:18] and other stakeholder input are an

[6:19] important part of the EA and master plan

[6:22] process and that particular that that

[6:24] last sentence is something I do want to

[6:26] particularly emphas emphasize is that

[6:29] public and other stakeholders which

[6:30] includes businesses which includes

[6:32] developers which includes anyone has a

[6:34] stake are included as part of this input

[6:37] process so uh and in in and remember in

[6:40] October which is part of the plan our

[6:42] Consultants had advised deferring

[6:43] endorsement of the two Greenfield

[6:45] proposals until such time as their

[6:46] sufficient Reserve capacity to

[6:48] accommodate them they also cautioned

[6:50] that an approved lot cons constitutes a

[6:53] commitment to provide M Municipal

[6:55] services that is another reason we need

[6:57] to proceed with caution and I'll

[6:59] Consultants one more time future

[7:01] developments should not result in the

[7:03] depletion of existing uncommitted

[7:04] Reserve capacity the approval Authority

[7:07] should ensure that appropriate services

[7:09] are available before approving New Lots

[7:12] so I strongly urge Council to listen to

[7:14] these

[7:15] recommendations and instead of sending

[7:17] them the reports back and forth to ask

[7:19] uh for better numbers I think we should

[7:22] focus focus staff and council's

[7:24] attention on getting the EA process

[7:26] started um that that I in turn will help

[7:31] staff um formulate uh get get um

[7:35] information that they can proceed ahead

[7:37] with uh writing out grants get a grant

[7:39] process going it includes the process of

[7:43] looking at the North side when we're

[7:44] talking about the uh pipes and that uh

[7:47] and it it includes like you were saying

[7:49] it

[7:51] involves the residents who are actually

[7:53] going to be involved it involves

[7:54] business members who are hooked up

[7:55] people that are actually have a stake uh

[7:57] in the game so I my

[8:00] my um suggestion is that we go ahead

[8:02] with what they initially um recommended

[8:05] which is going ahead with the EA process

[8:08] and instead of going back and forth

[8:09] let's let them get started on that

[8:10] sooner than later any other comments or

[8:15] questions I hear none so I'll call the

[8:18] vote all in favor and that's carried

[8:20] thank you uh staff reports Public Works

[8:24] uh departmental activity update to the

[8:26] Council of Corporation of the village of

[8:27] merille wol receive for information

[8:29] Department

[8:30] activity update report from public works

[8:33] department may I have a over

[8:35] please thank you and a second please

[8:38] thank

[8:40] you any comments or

[8:43] questions go ahead um just an

[8:46] observation then in the list is the

[8:49] support that staff provided to the

[8:52] snowflake festival and I just have a

[8:54] message from the Chamber of Commerce uh

[8:56] thank you very much for all of the work

[8:58] that was done probably twice to get

[9:01] ready for uh for the event and they very

[9:04] much appreciated it thank you I'll pass

[9:06] that

[9:08] on go ahead yeah and just for public

[9:10] works and I probably should have

[9:12] mentioned this back when we talked about

[9:13] the spee today I had did have a question

[9:15] and if if we were able to get uh Public

[9:17] Works to follow up or staff to follow up

[9:19] I had a question about the uh situation

[9:22] with the four-way stop at uh cter Ro 15

[9:26] and 16 um there were there had been a

[9:28] petition of for that one as well as the

[9:30] one up on Broadway they did get the stop

[9:32] sign up there they were just wondering

[9:34] um I had a question about what was the

[9:35] status of that if any and then I also

[9:37] had a question of the speed signs the

[9:39] county speed signs they seem to be um

[9:41] down more than they are up if there if

[9:44] that's something that's normal or if

[9:45] that's uh a glitch those were just

[9:48] questions that uh follow so the uh the

[9:51] speed signs there was an issue with a

[9:53] couple of them with the snow like it was

[9:55] just the weight of the snow that was

[9:56] hitting them that they bent over the

[9:58] bases were damaged or what not so that's

[10:00] on the list to go back okay I think once

[10:02] snow resides which hopefully that

[10:04] happens in the near future the four-way

[10:07] stop um where was that again I don't

[10:09] know right at right by Hilltop Manor so

[10:11] at St Lawrence when it turns into County

[10:13] World 15 and then County World 16

[10:15] intersection right right right at the

[10:17] pretty much right at the edge of the

[10:18] village HF mlan okay St Lawrence I I

[10:21] don't have any information on that I I

[10:23] don't know where that is first I heard

[10:25] of it so if I can get some information

[10:27] and get back to council perfect thank

[10:29] you

[10:31] so there was a motion of support for

[10:33] that and it went to County and County

[10:35] supported it we just haven't got it

[10:36] installed yet so okay you could probably

[10:38] reach out to uh Mr guy and he could

[10:40] probably give you an update on

[10:45] that questions or

[10:48] comments All call the vote all those in

[10:52] favor that's

[10:54] car departmental activity update from

[10:58] fire Emergency Management that the

[11:00] Council of Corporation of the vter of

[11:01] Amica W receive for information

[11:03] departmental activity update report from

[11:06] the fire department by law enforcement

[11:07] may I have a mover please yeah and a

[11:10] second at Lee awesome thank you any

[11:13] comments or questions from Council go

[11:15] ahead councelor and I see that the um

[11:19] activity of 17 fire calls to date is

[11:22] highlighted in green is that does

[11:25] it does that mean anything

[11:29] we couldn't get it to come off the

[11:31] document for some reason we're not sure

[11:33] we tried over them um but is does it

[11:35] seem out of LA to have 17 so far this

[11:39] year um it's a no it's it's trending on

[11:44] PIR here okay thank you welcome any

[11:47] other comments or

[11:48] questions just want to uh get the Shad

[11:53] of fire department for that incident

[11:54] happened at uh M Lake festival with the

[11:57] horse uh thank you very much for for

[12:00] responding as quickly as you did and

[12:02] getting the situation under control and

[12:04] uh uh we didn't have any uh public

[12:06] members hurt however the driver of the

[12:09] wagon was injured but uh I understand

[12:12] that he's uh recovering is that correct

[12:15] you're are correct yet thank you I'll

[12:17] pass that along yes well your uh your

[12:21] volunteer firef department that uh we

[12:23] appreciate the their due diligence I

[12:27] will thank you any other comments or

[12:30] questions call to vote all in favor

[12:32] that's

[12:33] carried finance department uh 2025

[12:36] Community grants of the Council of

[12:37] Corporation of amville Walford allocate

[12:40] funds in the amount of

[12:43] 12,000 in kind request and an and and an

[12:47] estimated amount of

[12:49] $875 for Community grant program and

[12:52] further that the public works department

[12:53] and emergency service department provide

[12:55] an accounting of the approximate staff

[12:59] time allocated to be to these functions

[13:01] supported by the grant to be determined

[13:04] the true cost of support provided by the

[13:07] municipality and further that staff

[13:08] provides a revised structure and

[13:11] allocation policy prior to the

[13:13] undertaking the 2026 budget may I have a

[13:15] mover please I'll thank you and a

[13:18] seconder please thank you any comments

[13:21] or questions go ahead mayor do do we

[13:24] need to pass the seate motion to support

[13:27] the soccer club for their inclined

[13:32] request um it's um it's included in the

[13:36] um in the incar numbers yeah okay um so

[13:39] I believe it's approved then um it's

[13:41] founded in already so yeah because we've

[13:43] added it to that with with the

[13:47] 7,275 and um the motion is for income

[13:50] requests to be approved

[13:52] 8,75 so yeah so they're covered cost is

[13:56] covered any other comments questions go

[13:59] ahead coun yeah just comment I guess as

[14:02] going

[14:03] forward um with that eight with it being

[14:05] 8,000 the total uh amount of uh both in

[14:09] kind and cash comes to 20,000 which is

[14:12] 8,000 over what um we had allotted in

[14:15] the budget and the only thing is when

[14:16] we're going forward uh I I would I I

[14:20] know it's hard I don't I don't don't

[14:21] like saying no sometimes and maybe we

[14:23] can um request stricter guidelines uh

[14:27] like we're giving $5,000 to Festival of

[14:29] the

[14:30] Arts uh and that's one of the ones that

[14:33] it's really hard to quantify how much

[14:36] what they don't have tickets at the door

[14:38] they don't have uh um you know counts of

[14:42] people watching so that's hard to

[14:44] quantify whether or not their Festival

[14:47] is actually what's what's attracting

[14:48] people I don't doubt all for you know

[14:51] having um that option of artists having

[14:54] a and and um Artisans having an

[14:56] opportunity to sell and people do go to

[14:58] that but

[14:59] that um is and anything that comes that

[15:02] maybe have stricter guidelines on hey

[15:04] you've ordered this many Flyers how do

[15:06] you know they're actually being used and

[15:07] not thrown in recycling um we're talking

[15:10] like glosses how do we know that the

[15:12] advertising you're doing is actually

[15:13] being effective and and other things

[15:15] even like run merville that type of

[15:17] thing when the cost have gone up they

[15:18] I'm not asking for there that much there

[15:20] um what are they doing to are they

[15:22] increasing entry fees for instance or

[15:25] any any kind of like what efforts have

[15:27] they made to raise money from the

[15:29] members that type of thing and maybe we

[15:30] see more of that when this type of thing

[15:33] comes or maybe that we have a much

[15:35] stricter set of guidelines on how we we

[15:39] as as as a counselor are going to

[15:40] allocate tax money to support various um

[15:43] I think this is something that you could

[15:45] our policy though does include the

[15:46] Clause that this isn't supposed to be

[15:48] ongoing funding so um there is that part

[15:52] of the policy um it's not intended to be

[15:54] long-term financially sustainable and um

[15:57] if if it is though perhaps Council might

[15:59] consider just having that align item in

[16:01] the budget so we do have that guidelin

[16:03] in policies so that can help a bit but

[16:06] we can firm up some of the reporting

[16:08] requirements yeah like the request

[16:11] shouldn't be going up every year it

[16:12] should actually be going down to because

[16:14] they're this is supposed to help them

[16:15] become self-supporting it's we're not a

[16:17] standing Grant uh not not the way we're

[16:19] set up right now yeah yeah any other

[16:23] comments or questions

[16:25] members okay I'll call the vote all in

[16:28] favor and that's carried thank you uh

[16:31] building department CEO

[16:33] Administration uh departmental activity

[16:35] update to the council Corporation of

[16:36] vill meric for WF receed for information

[16:38] Department activity update report from

[16:40] Administration finance department may I

[16:43] have a mover

[16:44] please and the seconder please thank you

[16:47] any comments or questions from

[16:50] members here in Cena a call the vote all

[16:53] in favor thank you I'm going to move on

[16:56] to number 11 action items

[16:59] 111 Council support request for the ATF

[17:02] and OTF uh grant funding

[17:05] applications active transportation

[17:07] funding that the corpor that the Council

[17:09] of the corporation of vill amle Wolford

[17:11] authorized staff to submit a funding

[17:14] application to the active Transportation

[17:17] fund 2025 intake for the amount of

[17:19] 340,000 may I have a mover

[17:23] please thank you and a seconder please

[17:26] thank

[17:27] you any comments or questions from

[17:32] Members you're and see none so I'll call

[17:34] the vote all in

[17:36] favor thought did you have a question um

[17:39] sorry I didn't see your

[17:41] hand just like a little explanation of

[17:43] what it's all about it was nothing

[17:45] attached in the agenda it's all about uh

[17:49] rebuilding and uh adding sidewalks is

[17:53] that this so there's two here so the

[17:55] first one yeah the active Transportation

[17:57] fund that's for sidewalks

[17:59] and part of the application we put in um

[18:02] the similar the post to the flag post as

[18:05] part of the project this is all just the

[18:07] application stage so once that

[18:09] application goes through then it'll come

[18:10] back to

[18:11] council um and then if I may I'll just

[18:14] jump into the Ontario Trillium Grant so

[18:17] that one is like this is the criteria

[18:20] that's laid out in it so it's more

[18:21] accessibility so this for the ramp at

[18:24] the landfill site and the rink house and

[18:26] then to do upgrades to the rink itself

[18:29] because that falls within the

[18:31] criteria thank

[18:33] youe D I understood that the ramp at the

[18:38] landfill site um that's the next

[18:42] one but it it was allocated funding a

[18:47] few years ago from the gas tax money was

[18:49] it

[18:52] not yes pleas so we can discuss that

[18:56] when we get to the trillion Grant

[18:57] because I think it's the trillion Grant

[18:58] that's going to cover that one so any

[19:01] comments or questions on the active

[19:03] Transportation uh

[19:06] fund none okay I'll call the vote all in

[19:08] favor and that's carried and move on to

[19:11] the Ontario Trum Grant of the Council of

[19:13] the corporation of vill Amic Wolford

[19:15] authorized staff to submit a funding

[19:17] application to the Ontario TR Ontario

[19:20] trulum fund 2025 intake for a maximum of

[19:25] $200,000 may I have a mover please I Mo

[19:28] thank you and seconder please second

[19:30] thank you comments or questions go ahead

[19:32] Deputy Mayor thank you um so if it was

[19:36] if the ramp at the landfill site was

[19:39] funded in a previous year should we not

[19:41] pull that money from reserves and apply

[19:44] it um freeing up

[19:47] other the the same amount will be

[19:50] granted hopefully be granted through

[19:52] trillian fund and doing more things with

[19:56] that yeah anyone car speak to that I

[19:59] think that's a consideration yeah the

[20:02] Ontario trillian Grant has a later

[20:04] deadline I think it's March 5th so

[20:06] there's some time for us yeah and I

[20:09] don't think it was funded through gas

[20:10] tax because that's her infrastructure so

[20:12] I don't think it would been applicable

[20:14] to a um a rant I I have to double check

[20:17] it though and go back the couple years

[20:19] but I don't I don't think it was funded

[20:21] through gas tax because it would be more

[20:23] of a building accessibility issue which

[20:25] gas tax yeah there was was in the budget

[20:29] that I remember but yeah it was in the

[20:31] budget when when they installed the new

[20:33] building because they were supposed to

[20:34] put an a ramp up yeah it just never got

[20:38] completed for some reason

[20:41] so I guess I would just ask staff to

[20:44] consider that option of freeing up more

[20:47] of the grant money if we can pull from

[20:49] reserves for the rant and and then we'll

[20:52] have more grent money to do other

[20:55] things any other comments or questions

[21:00] okay I'll call the vote all those in

[21:02] favor and that's carried thank you the

[21:05] EC resolution to support the US trade

[21:08] tariffs negotiations at the Council of

[21:10] Corporation of the village of mar wolber

[21:12] received for information the resolution

[21:14] from the ewc regarding support of Canada

[21:18] and can Canadian and Ontario governments

[21:20] negotiating with the US government on

[21:22] trade tariffs and further that the

[21:23] council direct staff to circulate a

[21:25] resolution of support to the EO WC may I

[21:29] have a mover please thank you and a

[21:32] seconder please thank you comments or

[21:34] questions

[21:36] please here and seea we call the vote

[21:38] all those in favor and that's carried

[21:41] thank you committee reports uh we're

[21:44] going to go to notice of motions does

[21:46] any member of council have a notice of

[21:49] motion none we're going to go to

[21:51] announcements and statements from

[21:53] members does any member have a of

[21:55] council have an announcement or a

[21:56] statement to make

[21:59] go ahead councelor just one people are

[22:01] watch just a reminder the elections the

[22:03] 27th and if you cannot make it on the

[22:05] 27th you can still vote at the elections

[22:07] office itself in Brockville you can

[22:09] write in the name on tomorrow and on

[22:12] Wednesday okay you and uh we have no

[22:15] flow sessions so we don't have to resume

[22:18] to open so we're going to move on to the

[22:21] confirmatory bylaw 16 2025 that the

[22:25] Council of the corporation of the

[22:26] village of Mer for wol give first second

[22:28] third and final reading to bylaw 16 2025

[22:31] being a bylaw to confirm proceedings of

[22:33] council for the regular meeting of

[22:35] February 24 2025 and further that

[22:38] authorization be given to the mayor

[22:40] clerk to sign seal plac in the bylaw

[22:42] book for the municipality bylaw number

[22:45] 16

[22:46] 2025 may I have a moover

[22:49] please thank you and a seconder please

[22:51] thank you call the vote all those in

[22:54] favor and that's carried thank you and

[22:56] move on to adjournment at the council

[22:58] Corporation to Village wford adjourn

[23:01] at

[23:05] 624 p.m. May I have a mover

[23:08] please thank you and a second or please

[23:11] thank you and I'll call the vote all in

[23:13] favor and that's carried thank

[23:16] you there

Regular Council Agenda

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