All right, folks, where do you get started on the
agenda? As you can see, Colleen is not here. She's
out somewhere in the cold, knocking on doors, and I'll
be taking her place for now and perhaps into the
next meeting. And depending on how well she does, perhaps
for the rest of the term, I'm not. Quite sure
about that. But anyways, first of all, what I like
to do is welcome everybody. And to ask Chris to
conduct the roll call. Thank you. Chair. Regional chair Redman.
Present chair, Craig. Here. Councilor Erb. Councilor Foxton? Present. Councillor
Harris is away. Councillor Huinink. Can you hear? Councilor
Liggett here. Councilor McCabe. Councilor Novak, Councilor Salonen. Councilor Shantz.
Present. Councilor Vrbanovic has regrets. Councilor Williams. Here and Councillor
Wolf. Here. Like to start with the land acknowledgment. Like
to acknowledge the land on which we gather today is
their traditional territory, the Haudenosaunee. The Anishnawbe, and the
Chonnonton peoples. We acknowledge the enduring presence of the
indigenous people with whom we share the land today. Their
achievements. And their contributions to our community. Any declarations of
pecuniary interests from members of council. Okay, seeing none. Need
a motion to go into open session. I need someone
to move a motion. Councilor Foxton. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Councilor Foxton. My apologies. Yeah. Pardon me. All those in
favour? Oh, it's escribed. My apologies. Yes, you, Escribe.
Okay. Just. Councilor Wolf. Councilor Wolf. She's in favour.
We'll get that case. Okay, it's passed.
There are no presentations today. Delegations. We will now proceed
with delegations as listed on the agenda. I'd like to
remind all delegations of some of the guidelines of participation
for those who are joining us in person, please proceed
to the podium. When you are called upon to speak,
please press the button on the base of the microphone
to turn it on. And if the light screen, the
microphone is on. For those who are joining us electronically,
please leave your video camera turned on. And your microphone.
Audio muted until you are called upon to speak. Okay.
So we have a number of rules here. We just
ask you to be mindful of interrupting. Counselors or staff
or other delegations is not permitted. Derogatory statements. Turning your
camera on off at inappropriate times and hate speech of
any type or a deflamatory comments. Aren't appreciated or accepted.
One last reminder for delegations. Please do not take offense
if following your presentation. There are no questions from council.
That happens periodically. We are interested, but we always. Don't
always ask questions. This is Kelsey's time to really listen
and reflect upon. The options. An idea shared with us
from our community members. So we got Isaac Rensom of
corporate affairs. Neuron mobility. Canada. Please welcome, sir. Have five
minutes. Good afternoon. I think there's a presentation. Sure, if
it's been circulated. There we go.
Perfect. Good afternoon. My name is Isaac Ransom. I'm head
of corporate affairs. It's great. To be back to share
some information about. The progress of the shared mobility program
in the region of Waterloo. And the partnering municipalities. Next
slide, please. So today I'll just share some high level
information around the progress of the program. There's some really
encouraging trends. That we're seeing and so wanted to share
that with you. And certainly if there's questions following, happy
to answer those. So this year we've really started to
see how the program operates, and we've seen a real
shift in how people are using the service. On average,
the trips just clock in under around 2 km. About
twelve minutes to eleven minutes of riding time. Our writers
this year traveled over 310,000 km. With over 172,000 trips.
And most of the trips are rated just over four
out of five stars. So at the end of the
ride riders can provide some feedback, and that's one of
the ways that they rate our trips, and we've continued
to be out in the community doing safety events. This
year distributing 500 helmets. With about, I think, 24, 25.
Community safety activation events. Next slide, please. So we've seen
a lot of upward trends this year. Near the tail
end of the operating season. We go out and we
survey our riders, and we ask a number of specific
questions about how they're using the devices and some of
the things that we're seeing happen. So there's some really
interesting things that have happened this year as the program
has matured. We've seen that rides. Replacing car journey. So,
like, an Uber or taxi or personal vehicle has increased
slightly. Commuting to work has jumped over 20% from last
year, which is probably the biggest jump. So this means
that people are using this specifically for a use case.
So travel or study, which is very encouraging news. And
similarly for things like running errands, we're seeing a large
jump connecting to public transit when we surveyed, riders was
nearly 24%, and this correlates with what we've seen in
where trips end and start at transit stations. About 36,000
trips started and 36,000 trips ended at transit stations, which
is just over 20% of the rides. So this surveying
data would be fairly accurate in about just over one
in five rides are connecting to transit. Public transit, which
is quite good. And certainly we're seeing people use this
more to get around and go to appointments and that
kind of thing. So very defined use cases are emerging
in the region, which is what we want to see.
And sustained ridership as well. So it's a very positive
outcome this year when we start to see these numbers
trend upward. The next slide, please. The last thing I
want to share with you today, as you may have
seen in the report, we are looking at our adaptive
vehicle program here in the region of Waterloo. This will
be the first of its kind that we're aware of
in Canada. Where we'll be diversifying the fleet for vehicles
for those with mobility impairments. Providing some other options for
people to engage in the program. So we do have
two vehicles that are coming to market. One is a
hand cycle. Which you can see on the left side
of the slide, and the other is an adult tricycle.
Each of these provides a different need. And based on
our conversations leading up to the development of this program,
these seem to be the two most suitable devices to
proceed forward with based on what we're hearing. So we
are. Excited to bring these to market this year. And
seeing. How they integrate with the demand in the fleet.
So without all kind of wrap up. Those are my
brief comments on the update for the year. I'm certainly
happy to take any questions. Any questions? Delegation? Yes. Council.
Your next first. Oh, I see elf there. Okay, Councillor
Huinink, thank you. Chair, Craig. And thank you, Isaac. For
coming today, and I want to thank neuron for. Their
openness to exploring different mobility options. In my view, this
is a pivotal project for us because it demonstrates equality
between spending municipal dollars. Or reasonable dollars, I should say.
On projects for people of various abilities, and so I
hope that this serves as an example every time. We
spend money on municipal projects or reasonable projects, we need
to consider people of varying abilities. And so I don't
know how much there will be uptake when this happens.
Initially, but I plan to promote it widely, and I
hope that you all will as well. And I'm happy
to be used as an example for the hand bike.
So definitely we'll be in touch. Thanks so much. Through
your chair. Thank you for the comments, councilor. We're certainly
excited to bring this. To market, and we'll certainly be
keeping you updated as we get ready to launch the
program. This year, so very exciting, and I think it's
a huge step forward again for Waterloo. Being first to
market and market leader on these sorts of projects, so
we're very excited. To launch this program, and hopefully we
will. Have. A lot of participation. In. These additional devices
that we're bringing to the service this year. Councilor
McCabe. Thank you. Thank you. Chair. Thanks, Isaac, for the
update and report. And it's encouraging numbers for sure. And
similar to what councilor Huinink said. Really pleased that you.
I know we had talked about adaptive bikes. And before,
so thank you for listening. To the concerns and questions
from the community as well as from some of us
here. My question is around the catchment area. Do you
have the capacity? And I guess it's partly to staff
as well, and I know some of the conversations have
to happen at the local municipalities, but is there a
capacity to expand the catchment area to just. The entire,
like, the three cities. I know there's the townships. I
mean, if you want. To have them out in the
townships. I'm totally fine with that, too, but I'm. Partly
wondering about your like, how many, how many bikes and
scooters you actually have. Like, what is your capacity to
expand the catchment area? Through chair. Mayor, councilor. We do
have the capacity to do that. If there's a willingness
to expand the area, it's always a discussion that we're
willing to entertain. I know that. You've approached us on
expanding to some areas, and we're already working on that.
For Waterloo for this year. And. What it'll ultimately take
to do that. Generally. This becomes a question around the
number of devices that will be required. Right now we
are struggling. To have good coverage throughout the region and
the existing service area with the existing fleet. So we
probably would be looking at requiring additional devices to meet
that. And it's not that you'll necessarily see. All those
devices being utilized at the same level that they are
now, but it's very much that we need to provide
a complete service and have scooters available in order to
create uptakes. So, depending on. What that expanded service area
looks like. You could be looking at a considerable number
of additional devices. To meet the service area expansion. I
don't want to speculate the number that I could be
today, but I suspect that you're looking at a number
of additional devices just to meet that at a base.
Level beyond the 500 e scooters that are out there
today and the permitted cap of 500 ebikes. I think
the bike number is probably appropriate, but the e scooter
one would have to be a point of discussion to
expand on. Okay, thanks. Because. Part of my thought. There
seems to be a lot of concentration of the scooters
and the bikes where there's also pretty good service of
transit, which I understand makes sense, but it's like my
thought is also like, how do we, because we're always
thinking about how do we get. People. In more of
our neighborhoods as they go out from the course. How
do we get them interested? In alternative or, sorry, multimodal
transportation options. And so that's where my mindset is. And
I know, again, some of this is the work that
has to be done. In consultation with the local municipalities.
But just something I think we should keep in mind
because part of what the goal is is to encourage
people to find other modes. And so if you're. In
a suburb and could take a scooter or a bike.
From this point, your house to the bus stop and
then take the bus or the eye and the rest
of the way. I think that makes a lot of
sense, too. So I'll leave that with staff and you
to sort through. All right, chair Ridmond. Thank you. Chair.
Craig, thank you very much for coming. And this is
obviously a good news story. In the past when you've
come and presented, one of the things we talked about
was helmets. And do you have a way of tracking
if helmets are being worn? Future. Thank you, chairperson Redman.
We do have some ways of tracking. When the helmet
is released from the clip, so we know. When a
rider. Has opted to take the helmet out of the
clip and keep it out of the clip. We can
track that. But what we found is that it's not
a very good metric because. Some people will just end
up putting it on the handlebar during their trip. They
don't. Realize that they can put it back in the
clip. So we don't know if the helmet is actually
being worn or if it's just being put on the
side of the handlebar until the trip ends. Some people
do this for various reasons, like they may put it
on. Take the helmet selfie to get the ride credit.
And then keep it out of the clip to ensure
that they get that credit. So there's. A couple of
sort of things that aren't really necessarily foolproof with that
technology. When we do survey riders around helmet use. We
seem to see an overcorrection of people who perceive that
they wear helmets, but they actually don't, which has been
a problem when we look at the helmet issue. So
we really don't have a good grasp from that perspective.
What I can say safely is that we're probably looking
at about. A ten to 20% compliance rate with helmets.
Somewhere in that range. It's very hard to tell, though,
based on the fact that. We don't know. The helmet.
Selfie verification is a good indicator, but again, We don't
necessarily know if it's staying on for the whole ride.
So we do have these indicators, but it's always very
difficult for us. And then there's certainly the aspect of
just seeing what we see when people are outriding. Not
wearing a helmet necessarily. Or having it on the handlebars.
So, not to make this answer very complicated, but in
short, there's a number of metrics that give us a
good indication, but not necessarily. A good answer. I'm sorry
I don't have more definitive information I can share. I
appreciate your answer. Thank you. Councilor Henick, please. Thank you,
Chair Craig again. Isaac the report, I think, indicated that.
You encourage writers not to park on the sidewalk. And
while I appreciate that there have been instances where I've
seen scooters tipped over on the sidewalk. Is there any
incentives we can offer? Or by further ways to encourage
people not to leave the scooters in the way of
people on the sidewalk. Through. Chair. Councilor, thanks for the
question. I think at the very onset, I think most
trips end, and in a very responsible way, I think
we need to acknowledge that most people are trying to
do the right thing when they park. And we do
have a lot of first time riders that are out
there who are students coming. To the region for the
first time and that sort of thing. So we do
have these issues. With parking. But as the operational period
kind of prolongs through the year, these things should become
a little more apparent to writers. We do have incentives
for parking properly, we do have safety campaigns to park
properly, and we can look at those in very targeted
areas. If we know that. They're persistent parking problems. One
of, and I shouldn't say this is an issue, but
the general design of the program is controlled with geofenced
parking, so riders have to end in a very specific
area. And the capacity of those stations is sometimes. Much
less than what ends up at those stations, which we
end up with. Some of those results. Where people are
leaving a scooter where they shouldn't or they're not. Able
to park properly or they think they're doing the right
thing, but it's impeding pedestrian traffic, which we certainly don't
want to happen. So I think the best way to
do this is continue on with the education that we're
doing great. We do have two pieces of technology that
are continually improving that are in the app now. One
is our ar core technology, which means that. A rider
periodically will be asked to scan the surrounding area to
match. The imaging background. With what's in the background. With
what is in Google Maps to ensure the scooter is
in the right area. The other is the parking photo
audit, which continues to improve with new technology and AI
to better affirm that the scooter is in the proper
area, so those technologies are becoming better. The other thing
that we have been doing as well has been doing
proactive rebalancing. Which is the process of having our patrollers
out moving scooters at peak times. To move them off
sidewalks as quickly as possible. It's kind of a cat
and mouse. Game because scooters, common scooters, go so. We
do try our best to do that as well. And
the final thing that we do is that if these
things do persist as issues with parking, Usually kind of
that 2nd, 3rd strike. We do look at removing people
from the platform and so that has happened as well,
to try and send a message that improper parking won't
be tolerated. It's one of these things that we try
to do on a case by case basis. But in
instances where it's a blatant. Disregard for the rules. We're
going to make an example of those users. And finally,
the last piece of technology which is there to make
the situation. Less cumbersome or burdensome for people. In the
unlikely event that there is an escooter kind of parked
out of place is toppled technology, so the scooters trip
can't end if it's on its side, so at least
it will be upright. Which is usually a little easier
to navigate if it is on a sidewalk in an
inappropriate area. If somebody's ended their trip somehow with it
being upright, so. There's a couple of pieces of technology
that try to prevent that. I'm not saying it's 100%
pool. Thank you for extremely Folsom answer. I by no
means meant to blame you or neuron. And I realize
that most people are doing everything they can to do
the right thing. I just want to make sure that
we are doing everything we can to be on top
of it. So thank you very much. Well, thank you,
sir. I have no more questions for you. Just want
to thank you for your presentation today. To members of
council. We have to move through the agenda because we
possibly can lose quorum. We don't want to come back
tomorrow. Okay? So I'm going to move through. This as
speedily as possible. And Mr. Regier, you're going to be
next in terms of strategic. Priority. Climate align growth. Okay.
And you'll be dealing with the next item in peril.
Go ahead. Thank you, chair. I actually am not responsible
for this particular line of business. I'm going to hand
it over to Commissioner Rose, who's actually going to carry
the day here. Well, my apologies. I thought you would
want to. I'm just a pretty face, okay? Just. My
apologies. Go ahead, please. Thank you. Chair, Craig. And commissioner
Regier. This report. We're bringing forward to you today is
in response to questions around. The request for. 18 temporary
staff for up to a two year contract to support.
The new waste collection contract that's rolling out in March
2026. So, Jon Arsenault, our director of waste is here
to provide a short presentation to provide you some extra
context to the report. Yes, thank you. Through the chair.
Thanks for allowing me to present today. As Commissioner Rose
has mentioned. Last year was a pretty busy year for
us in waste management. Lots of different reports, lots of
approvals, lots of the changes. So we have a new
collection contract coming on board, as noticed. March 2026 of
next year. It's for eight years. With two one year
extensions possible. It maintains a lot of the service level
issues. We see as part of the existing contract in
terms of biweekly garbage collection organics however, there's a significant
change in the collection methodology as we're moving to cart.
Collection. Which will impact. All eligible residents and obviously the
downtown cores as well. That we're dealing with. I'd also
like to note that a reminder that as the transition
to the blue box occurred last year. We're no longer
responsible for that. For the residential side, so it's not
part of this contract. However, with the exception of downtown
core collection, which has already been directed by council to
look at. Next slide, please. So, as you can imagine,
the magnitude of the work involved with this undertaking. Is
significant. With this rollout, the new contract. We impact over
165,000 residential properties and growing, as well as approximately 1500
designated downtown business improvement properties that will get service some
of the key tasks. Just to keep in mind. We
need to support the delivery of over 330,000 garbage and
organics carts to all the eligible properties. Over a four
month span that will occur later this year and into
early next year ahead of the contract. We are embarking
an engagement with the downtown business improvement areas and area
municipal colleagues through working groups to determine cart sizes, number
of carts, set out locations. And specific collection days. As
well as introducing a brand new organics collection program to
the downtowns so that all has to be finalized through
these working groups. And in order to support. That obviously
our existing staff are working on existing contracts. It's a
lot of extra work, so we're looking to hire a
number of temporary staff, most of which are proposed, are
students and what we call community connector positions that would
be out physically. In the community to connect with residents
where they are, to help spread the understanding of what's.
Coming and how this car program. Is going to impact
folks as well as a lot of new community engagement
outreach resources will be required. Next slide, please. So the
implementation plan, as we've shown previously, is over four phases.
Intended to start immediately. And. It's consistent with successful rollout
programs that we've had here. In our own backyard that
we've done through our own learnings, but we've also used
jurisdictional scan. Understand what others have done specific to cart
rollout programs that some good learnings to understand. How we
best roll this out and communicate to the public. So,
to summarize, we need to do a lot of awareness
up front. Build the awareness, prepare the community, and how.
It will affect them. Implement the change and then monitor
the program moving forward. Next slide, please. I've got a
couple of slides here of some of the key components.
Just to provide a little bit of the scope. So
initially we were going to start with some information in
the community about the upcoming change. Again, why is it
happening? Who's affected what's? Changing. As this will just not
just be the resonance in the community, but again, the
downtown areas and the bias that we're having to have
discussions with. A lot of communications will occur throughout these
phases and throughout the whole program. In terms of news
releases and newsletters articles online. Wraps on trucks, advertisements. Lots
of different things will be going up, as well as
the intention to do pop up events and stationary displays
again out in the community where people are. Trying to
target local community centers. And libraries as examples and special
events just to get the messaging out. There will also
continue to be messaging about some of the exemptions and
supporting services such as medical exemptions extra. There's still garbage
bag tag program and assisted collection services. These will be
promoted to assist residents who may require some additional help
throughout the program with waste collection and. We've already initiated
some contact with groups like the Grand river accessibility advisory
committee and the Cambridge Accessibility advisory committees, amongst others, and
we'll continue the dialogue with them to. Help assist with
the program. As we get into phase two and prepare
the community for the carts. As I mentioned. There will
be the delivery between. October of this year and February
of next year. Of over 330,000 carts to the community.
So garbage cart and an organics cart to every eligible
household, and then those that will be. Going to the
downtown cores as well. And of course, we're going to
be sharing information. So don't start early. Wait till the
new contract because that becomes problematic. Again additional education. With
cart set out. Where do you put them? How does
it work when you're also putting out bulky items? Or
yard waste. One of the other significant changes that we
need to communicate, and communicate well, is we're switching from
a five day collection week of Monday to Friday to
a four day collection week from Tuesday to Friday. So
some residents will see a change in their collection day,
and we have to make them aware. And understand this.
And again for the businesses during that phase. Later this
year, we'll have a plan in place with the working
groups of how many? Days. Or what days are collection
and what number of carts and how that program will
work and specifically try and address issues of new organics
program and how that will be rolled out. Next slide,
please. So once the program starts March 2, staff will
again, a big focus will be at the curb to
help folks and see how things are going and monitor
things so we have, like, what we call a curb
team to goat and education tools that we typically use
and have been successful with stickers and just. Having conversations
with residents will also be required to finalize a new
waste bylaw that will come into play at that time.
Customer support services through things like the service first Contact
center will continue. And contract management with a new contractor
coming on board. One of the unique things about this
program is after six months, residents do have an option
to exchange out their garbage cart if they find the
ones too big and they want something smaller, so. There's
a process there through website. And through the service first
contact center to look at that, and we'll support that.
Initiative. As it goes. And again continue to monitor. Across
the board, the downtowns and throughout the cities. And in
the final phase, it gets more to day to day
operations. And what we'll see. And as you can appreciate
right now, we'll get into our full first winter season
next year. And if it's anything like this year, you
can anticipate. There could be some challenges, and we want
to be there to support the residents and understand how
we operate a program like this? When we have the
snow events and what have you. Next slide, please. So,
again, it's an extensive program, a lot of work. To
do all this, and we require a dedicated staff team
to plan, implement, monitor the program throughout. So what you
have before you in the report and the positions. There.
Would be starting spring of this year and I broke
it into three. We'd be looking at four temporary waste
coordinators, up to two year contracts. These positions. Will review
unique collection areas like laneways and one way streets, coordinate
exemption programs, update policies, procedures gis software. And the waste
bylaw and administer the cart processes the supporting of getting
them out. And exchanges, as well as be integral in
the working groups with the downtown BIA groups to make
sure everything is understood. Where we're looking at out on
the street. The support is utilizing up to ten students.
At any given time. These would be post secondary co
op students. We've had great success. In the past with
them, and they would be kind of like the street
team, and they would be complemented by up to what
we call four community connectors that are part time positions.
So if there's a certain event that we want to
target, that. Needs a bit more people, we'd have more
people go to it. But the intent there is to
kind of measure out how much support and when we
need it. But have folks go in groups of two
or three and go out in the community and support.
Our communication and outreach. Next slide, please. So as identified
in the report. The estimated operating costs are approximately 1.25
million in 2025, 1.49 million in 2026 and 452,027, we
have an opportunity to offset those costs. Certainly in 2025
by one time revenue associated with an agreement. We have
to support the blue box. Transition with a contractor or
with the producers. We are still receiving and managing the
materials on their behalf and getting paid to do so,
and that will occur up until the end of this
year. At which time a private facility that's being built
in north Dumpries will come online. And that will then
take over. Costs associated with 2026 and 2027. We're looking
to fund them from the waste management reserve. So at
the end of the day. We're not looking for any
additional tax levy impacts to be incurred. And included in
these costs are various components of education and outreach. So
again, The brochures, calendars. Truck wraps. And the resources, such
as we need some vehicle rentals and equipment and temporary
staff to support. The. Implementation. And I would suggest that
when I look at the cost breakdown, It's about a
third of it is for the non physical or the
physical. Sorry, resources. And about two thirds is for human
resources. Next slide. And with that, I think that's the
end of my presentation. Any questions. Happy to answer. All
right. Questions. Councilor Huinink, please. Thank you, Chair Craig. And
thank you, Director Arsenault for the report. I'm interested to
know what is a medical exemption? Who would need one
and how. They qualify or how they get designated as
having one. So through the chair. That would be. A
seamless continuation of an existing program where anyone who. Has
a requirement for. They have more like inconvenience paths, things
like that need to come out to the waste and
have in excess of the typical limits they can apply
to get an exemption, and we provide bag tags at
no charge to allow that to happen and keep it.
Discreet and they would get collected alongside. With the card
at any given time, so it's intended to be a
seamless transition. Of what we're doing today. But adjusting to
recognize it has to go with the cart. But beside
the carts, it's bags. Of thank you. That's the first
that I'm hearing of this program. So if we could
be careful. To publicize that as we roll out the
cards, that would be really important. All right. Councilor Salonen,
please. Thank you. Through you chair. Thank you very much,
John, for bringing this information forward. I'm going to be
really honest when I read through the agendas I was
pretty confused of this coming forward because I thought we
had dealt with this budget. In particular, I'm talking about
part C of the motion of adding the 18 temporary
ftes. I thought that that was debated and discussed. If
memory serves, I think we gave, like half of that,
I think. Eight or nine ftes to execute this, so
I'm a little confused how this is. Coming forward without
a reconsideration. Also a bit confused why the business plan
that's a little more hashed out in here wasn't included
initially in budget or for that matter, All of this
information included when we did our contract renewal. Because I'm
not really loving. The new spends, even though they aren't
levy impacting, they're coming from our reserves which do still
impact. Our budget overall and how much money we. 've
been asked. Commissioner Rose, please. We can answer that. Or
respond to that. Thank you, Chair Craig to the counselor.
So at budget time, we did discuss this 18 contract.
Staff and it was asked at budget time for us
to come back with a more fulsome. Description of what
these 18 contract staff would be doing. And that's why
we're bringing this report. Forward to you today. There was
no discussion at that time for cutting the numbers. I
believe that was for a different program. You had a
question about why this work wasn't included in the report
when we brought it forward. For the waste contract. Because
at that time we had intended to bring it forward
later in the fall of last year. However. Since. We
received all this information and done her analysis. It coincided
at the same time as budget, so. We decided that
instead of doing a separate presentation that we would included
in the budget and provide that information. Through the budget
documents that council received. All right. Councilor Harris, please.
Well, yeah, I think that there's maybe some still unanswered
questions from councilor. Selman's question. But I had two questions.
Thank you for the presentation. Maybe for. Those that haven't
read in depth in the report. I know you said
we've gone from five down to four days of collection.
One of the major factors of that will people see
their saying pick up dates is what they've experienced now
over that change. Through the chart. That's certainly. One of
the points of this communication plan. There will be changes
at the curb for some resident. Some residents may have
the same collection day, but they certainly will have a
change. And that was part of the approval of the
overall contract previously to go from the five to four
in terms of it is a trend in the industry
and the level of service. Okay, now, you did mention
the transition of the blue box program. Going from a
producer. Pay now from the municipal end of things. I'm
just wondering what. Would have been the staff complement at
the region to manage the recycling. Program, the legacy recycling
program. How many staff, roughly, in your estimation, would we
have? To oversee that program. So.
I'm trying to understand. Your question a little more in
terms of, I think because it hasn't fully transitioned till
next year and. We haven't seen the full implications of
the transition. We haven't seen or we don't have a
different staff complement at this point. In time. If the
question is. If that was included as part of this,
we would probably have to look at additional staff on
top of what's being here. To kind of. A couple
more, possibly to help with that discussion about what's the
recycling angle? Well, yeah, I guess once we've fully transitioned.
Just to clarify, once we fully transition. To extended producer
responsibility where they're responsible for the collection processing of the
blue box contents. We would have managed that program. Up
until transition. I'm just curious on. What the current regional
staff complement would be within waste management to manage just
the recycling aspect of things. So through the chair. We
don't have specific staff that are specifically recycling. They might
be working on garbage, recycling, all the different things. Within.
That customer service unit. So I would say, since the
transition has occurred, Are we receiving less phone calls? Because
they should be going to the producers for blue box,
yes. To some degree, but we are still getting a
lot that we're having to action or push forward, and
there's still a lot of. Legacy things, as you said,
that we're still dealing with and we don't have. A
full. Appreciation of what the overall outcome is until next
year when we get to full transition. They're just a
file. There may be additional staff resources that were spending
a good amount of time on blue box. Collection, not
just managing calls, but managing the overall. Collection of materials
and processing of materials for the blue box that we'd
have additional staff. Resources freed up to support. Other waste
management programs, correct? Yeah, through the chair. That's correct. And
certainly it is our intention as we go through. This
coming year's process for budget and even our work area,
we're looking at these things to see how is it
changing and how are we going to make refinements? Going
forward. It's still a little too early to understand the
full implications. I would caution that because an element of
that comes out, it's not always a one. For one,
there's still a lot of. Other activities that we may
not have gotten to. Even our staff haven't gotten to
that. Working on some policy issues. For instance. So. We
are cognizant of that and looking at those staff complement.
All right. Good interview. Maybe follow up on as we
discuss further transition. And thank you, John. Thank you very
much. Councilor McCabe, please. Thank you very much. Through you
chair. Thanks, John, for the presentation and just a quick
note, I think. We're having a really different winter, sort
of a traditional canadian winter, but as far as I
see on my street, the waste management pickup has been
still really good. So thanks to the people still monitoring
running that contract. Just. A couple of things. I certainly
support where councilor Harris was going with his question there
and hope that in the fullness of time, there's some
ability to maybe redeploy staff. Or in the fullness of
time. I know that it's going to take a little
bit for this to move through, because this is a
big change. I think. With 18 part time staff or
temporary staff may sound like a lot, but my perspective
is that this is going to need some really heavy
lifting on the communications and the outreach side because the
more we do up front. The better I would expect.
The uptake and understanding of residence is going to be
on the back end. And so one of my questions
is just on the advertising piece. Have you been connecting
with or. Are you considering working with local municipalities? Because
in our rec centers and places like that, and I
know community events was on the list. But even, like,
our neighborhood associations and that to just push out this
information, because I think. This is a really broad, broad
communications effort. So have you reached out to local municipalities
to just check in on. Communications avenues we have that
can be utilized for this. So through the chair. The
simple answer is yes. And we continue. So I mentioned
about the BIA in downtown working groups, and that's sort
of specific. To those areas in a sense, but it's
more of an operational issue to figure out. How that
goes and working with economic development partners and what have
you. But the broader sense, our communications folks, too, have
reached out to all the area municipal communications folks because
right now, We do continue to leverage, and it's a
big part of our. So the bag tags. And things
like that. For instance, we rely on our community partners,
being area municipalities and others, to sell and provide those
on our behalf as part of our program. So we
try and work and lock step in those areas. So
we see the benefits to continuing to do that to
the point. Of getting outreach out there. Our focus is
probably more so, not the big events that bring in
tourists from the outside, but the smaller community events. And
that's why community centered library things. That it's the local
population that we want to target. So working hand in
hand with area municipalities is very important on that. And
I would add that we're in the throws. We've just
started. The long term strategic planning under the waste management
plan. And we will be going for community engagement as
part of this, so. One of the, I think, great
options for us here is to leverage the staff that
are out. Doing these things. And combine that work and
do some of the messaging there where possible. Great. Looking
at different. Waste activities. Good. Thank you. I'm glad. It's
really fulsome. My other question. Is with the containers themselves.
Have you considered making the default container the first one
that you distribute? The smaller of the options because there's
a big in a small mid size whatever. With the
idea that. If you give someone. Like a bigger container,
they may just fill it up. And if you start
them with a smaller one. And then, as you said,
there's an option. Six months later, let them try the
smaller. One first because. I say small, but they're not
really that small. They're bigger than the green. BIN Container
quite a bit bigger than that. Because we've been making
such an effort over the past number of years to
have people reduce. Is it two bags that you can
set out right now? I'm not even sure, because. We
never hit that limit. But to start. The point being,
can we start with the smaller of the two options?
To continue with that mindset of. Like less is more.
Through the chair. Contractually, and I guess the way we
had a level of service approved by this council before.
We went out that had the larger ones and the
smaller ones. As to potentially interchange. And that's how we
went out for the contract. So that's. How. By default,
that's how we start. I totally understand where you're coming.
From, and I think that's where we may want to
go. There is an initial process. As part of the
contract where someone could get a hold of us and
say, I want the smaller one. I don't want the
big one right from the get go. But I think
this is probably going to have to be a more
fulsome conversation. About. A service level discussion because. What we're
referring to is the bigger one. The 240 liter card
is equivalent to roughly three bags. Three bags. And it's
a three bag limit right now, every other week, so.
It would be equivalent to the level of service in
a sense of what a resident is getting. Today. But
to your point, I think the intention is as we
move forward, Can we go to lower smaller carts and
drive that on the diversion side? Because we all know
there's still a lot of stuff in that black bag.
That's divertible. Either organics or something else. Okay, I'd like
to move. On. If I may. Please, Councilor sean. Thank
you. Just a quick question about. The sort of fte
and co op piece. Do we anticipate these positions filled
for the whole two years, or how does that play?
Out, so through the chair. What's presented is kind of
that high end scenario. There is a potential where and
this is where there's some flexibility involved, where we can't
get that full compliment at certain terms because of where
the universities are in their cycles with their co op
students, and that but the intention here and the way
it's costed over this assumption that there's, Ten co op
students the entire two years, but that we anticipate that
will change. Especially as we get further into it, we
might see. Okay, there's not a need. This term for
ten students. We can get away with six or what
have you, and that might be all that's available to
us. So. That's how we approached it. Okay. Going to
move on. And, folks, I'm going to ask you make
the questions concise. Where we have a time issue here.
We have a special council meeting we got to do.
And Councilor Foxton, I'm watching you go. Ahead. I saw
you watching. Chair Craig just a quick comment about what
Ms. McCabe said. Councilor McCabe, in regards to the size
of the bins. I would like you to know that
on a daily basis. My staff are going out and
picking up garbage that is dumped in the countryside, not
just the countrysides. Believe it or not, we get a
lot of calls from rare of people dumping. On their
borders that we have to pick up as well. So
let's do this. Right. I think a lot of people
are quite good about it, but there are those that
if they've got extra garbage. They're going to dump it
and we've seen them. Dump them in blue bins at
schoolyards and everything else. I'm sorry, chair Redman. You're the
last speaker. Chair Craig, I will try. To be really
quick and say, I do appreciate the fact that this
proposal has no impact on the levy and that we
are going to have some remuneration. It says in part
a it's a one time. Revenue. I'm wondering if we
have. Our arms around what that actually looks like. If
there's any leftover from the 1.25 million. And then what
happens with B and C, because. I'm assuming there will
be no more revenue coming in. So if the 1.25
million isn't used up, that's going to be. What we
fund BNc out of. Through the chair. That's correct. I
think the 1.25. I have to do. Mine is pretty
close to what we anticipate we'll get. In terms of
that one time revenue, that will be the end of
this year. What's available to us. But on this premise
of once the hiring is done and all that understanding,
whatever is left over. Would go back into the pot
for, say, to be moved forward. So right now, though,
we anticipate utilizing, or would be expected, that we'd utilize.
Pretty much the entire revenue, one time revenue from this
year. Thank you. All right, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going
to move on. In terms of the recommendation, need a
mover and seconder, there's three parts to this. You have
it in front of you. Moved by Councillor Foxton, seconded
by Councillor McCabe, go to escribe now, folks.
Thank you very much. Councilor Wolf.
Yeah, paver. That carries. Okay. It's Kerrie, folks.
Moving on, folks. Regular business. Call on Doug Spooner, acting
commissioner, transportation services, to introduce the report on the GRT
2025 fair change proposal. Yeah. Thank you, chair, council. So
this report proposes changes to the fees and charges bylaw
to amend affordable transit program fares. And there's an emotion.
There's an emotion included. So we identified a gap that
we here in chambers had created inadvertently when we froze
the monthly affordable transit pass program. During the plan and
budget process. So I think good decision. We all knew
why we did that. What had happened when we did
that was that the monthly affordable transit product is now
at a 54% discount and the other affordable transit program
discounts are at 50%. So somebody only able to buy
a daily ticket is getting less of a discount than
somebody able to buy a monthly. So. What is proposed
in the report would correct it. It also deepens the
discount for those who need it most, which is all
of our ATP customers. It would apply a consistent 55%
discount. On all fair products for customers who. Qualify for
ATP. We're here today because we've got a lot of
back end work to get. That ready for the July
1 fair changes. No impact on the tax levy here
will absorb the changes. Into GRT. We'll do it in
the following way. 10,000 of the 30,000. Gap created. We'll
use increased ridership because we've got this product drop. So
we anticipate some increased ridership through the program. And the
second spot is to pull 20,000 from our customer acquisition
budget. This is what we use to run programs like
seniors training when we support the UPAss vote that just
happened. So we do have a bit of flexibility in
year to how we apply that, and we think this
is the right place to put it. This is only
a 2025 challenge, as you know. All of the GRT
fair products are being evaluated as part of our new
business plan. So when we're back in April, we've actually
got a proposal on this program. That would address this.
So again, the proposal today is that we flatten that
ATP discount. We make it the same across all products
at 55%. And I'm welcoming if any questions. Or comments.
Thank you, chair. Let's start councilor Foxton again, please. I
was going to move it, but I'm. Going to ask
that the church used somebody to move it, because I
think it's. A no brainer. Let's just move on. Sorry.
While calling you the second with councilor hunch, please. Yeah.
Thank you. Sorry. I was confused, everyone. Thank you. Doug.
You're awesome. Well, I forgot your name initially, too. Mr.
Speaker, I want to get away from the idea that
special customers. Get special deals on special services all the
time. Can you speak to. Fare parody around the price
of MP tickets. It was a little bit difficult to
understand because they're going down. And. That doesn't typically happen.
Yeah, through your chair, Councilor Huinink. Thank you for the
question. So, confirming that we have fair parity across our
conventional services and our mobility, plus service. So in this
proposal, An electronic fare would be $3, a ticket for
mobility plus, and a ticket book would be $3 those
enjoying the affordable transit program discount, and both of those
cases would pay a dollar. 35. So we're consistent across
the business lines, buses, trains, ion, all of it. Everything
is the same in terms of what people pay. Thank
you very much. I love equity. And consistency. All right.
Thank you, Councilor Foxton. Are you going to move a
motion I believe chair Redman had a hand up, and
I've moved enough for this afternoon, so. Chair Redman. Moved
by chair Edmund, seconded by councilor Huinink. Okay, we'll call
the question on escribe, folks. Are we just moving on?
That's carried, folks. Okay, we're going to move on to
the next item for the regular business. Again. I'll call
on Doug Spooner, acting commissioner. Introduce the report. Shared Micro
mobility program. Through your chair. Thank you again, counsel. I
hope you're feeling the partnership in the room. Today through
Isaac's presentation and a thank you to Isaac and his
team and our city. Partners for continuing to deliver this
program with us based on Councilor Huinink's earlier encouragement, we
may need to plan another council ride along like we
had at Kitchener City hall. Last year. Council today, the
region and our city partners are looking to align with
the MTO's. Extension of the provincial escooter program that's extended
five years to 2029. So, to be clear, the ask
in front of you today, with motion included, Neuron, will
be operating again in 2025 starting in April. The ask
today is you grant me the commissioner of transportation, the
ability to issue plus. One contractual years 2627-2829 provided region
and city staff deemed the performance satisfactory as they have
done for the last two riding seasons. This doesn't mean
I won't. Return with an annual report. We'll absolutely do
that. This is more to ensure we hit the timelines
to give neuron enough time to prep for the following
riding season. As you heard this morning. Neurons going to
introduce an accessible fleet option for us. Another area of
innovation in micromobility. And this was identified for the project
team, so we're very excited. To kind of work on
the community feedback and push in this direction. Council, in
closing this one's pretty straightforward. The program has no levy
impact. We receive a $60,000 licensing fee that we reinvest
in the program. The ebike and escooter. Network is growing
again. Thank you to our city partners. We move from
40 in the past year. We're seeing our safety record
increase, which remains a focus for ourselves and the neuron.
Team, and we've got an established user base with over
170,000 rides in 2024. And a lot of those. Converting
to daily commuters. So I'll recommend that we continue our
partnership with Neuron. And welcome any questions or comments. Thank
you, chair. All right. Councilor Huinink, please. I'm happy to
move this chair, Craig. You know, movement. Yeah. Okay. Do
you have a seconder, please? Councillor McCabe. Okay, turn to
your escribe, folks. Let's go.
All right. That passes, folks. Okay? The next item is
a moving on to the item. It's Rod Regier would like
to. Commissioner. Planning, development and legislative services. Going to introduce
the report. He said he only needed 30 seconds. Thank
you very much. Apologies to Ryan and Danielle, who. Have
been sitting here for the presentation. Just a very brief
summary. We did a really great survey of businesses and
workplaces in the Waterloo region last in 2024. We surveyed
about 11,000 establishments. Of which 8300 successfully completed the survey,
and the report simply outlines the findings of this survey.
One of the very interesting things about the project was
that we did extensive work amongst our rural. Workplaces and
got some very interesting results that are helping to inform
our economic development strategy that the townships are working with.
Waterloo economic development on so this is a great piece
of work. It illustrates some excellent collaboration between our area
municipalities, our business community and the region. So thank you
very much to staff for facilitating this work. If there's
any questions. Chair Redman chair Craig just a comment to
say that I think this data. Is just a goldmine
of information, and we often have conversations about how we
go to other levels of government, and this gives. Us
the data and the illustration in the profile of our
entire region when we go forward. So whether it's at
Roma or Amo or FCM, it arms us as politicians
and advocates for the things. And the focus that we
have in our community. With the actual information, so thank
you. Great job. And such a rich. Resource. Thank you,
chair Redman. Okay, we're just going to move on, folks.
You have the information correspondence, the council committee tracking list.
Letter of support for neuron mobility. Any other business members
of council? You're being very good today. Good? Okay. Next
meeting is March 4, and I need a motion to
adjourn, please. Councilor Foxton, councilor Huinink. Go to Escribe,
folks. That passes. And just a reminder,
folks, we have a quick special council meeting.