All right. Good evening, everyone. This
is our regular council meeting of May
14th,
2025. I will now call the meeting to
order at 6:30 p.m. and acknowledge that
all members of council are
present. Before I begin, I'll share the
land township land
acknowledgement. The township of
Agelatas Rantio is situated on the lands
within treaty 18 being the traditional
territory of the ananab and shabag
peoples including the jiuway the dawa
and the podawatami nations collectively
known as three fires confederacy. This
land is home to many to diverse first
nations inuit peoples. We acknowledge
indigenous peoples as stewards of the
land and we honor their resilience as
well as their culture and of our shared
respect for the lands, plants, animals
and water waterways which sustains us
all.
We recognize the injustices against
indigenous peoples and are mindful that
the decisions of government impact our
shared land and all the inhabitants. We
commit to reconciliation as a journey,
foster indigenous cultural awareness and
educational opportunities, establish
respectful and healthy relations with
indigenous peoples, continue to steward
the land in its inhabit in inhabitants,
and to cultivate an inclusive community
for
all. This evening there was no closed
session. So we are in open session at
6:30. As a reminder everyone including
council that
uh please uh silence all cell phones and
other electronic devices for the
duration of the
meeting. And item
four which is the do sorry the
additions. Uh there is one addition that
we would like to make um this evening.
Um, so I'll start with this and if
there's any others from council. Uh, so
the OP would like to uh make a
deputation this evening with regards to
a uh Special Olympics torch run uh to be
held on June 12th and they would like to
uh use uh our grounds and the public
room if uh if at all possible. So they
would be like uh they would be coming in
to make a deputation this evening. And
if there's no objections, I could get a
mover to
that. So I have a move by deputy mayor
that a deputation from the Narosaga OP
detachment regarding law enforcement
special Olympics torch run 2025 be added
to the May 14th, 2025 regular council
agenda under section 9 deputations as an
as item 9.2. So that's moved by deputy
mayor locks. Second, please that moved
by C second by councelor Simpson.
Are there any questions with regards to
this item for
addition? Seeing none, I do require a
twothirds majority vote for this
addition. All those in favor? And that
is
carried. Are there any other additions
for the council agenda this
evening? All right. Seeing none, the
recommendation for the adoption of the
agenda is therefore that coun that the
agenda for the regular council meeting
held on Wednesday, May 14th, 2025 as
amended be
adopted. Any questions? Move her,
please. Councelor Simpson, seconded by
councelor Cox. All those in
favor? That is
carried. Item six is disclosure of
precinary interests. Are there any
disclosures of particular interest at
this
time? Seeing none, if you do find
yourself in that situation at a later
time, please declare
then. And we're on to item seven, which
is the adoption of the minutes. And we
have the minutes from April 9th, 2025.
Are there any questions with regards to
those
minutes? And seeing none, the
recommendation is that the minutes of
the regular council meeting held on
Wednesday, April 9th, 2025 be adopted as
presented. Mover, please. I have Deputy
Mayor Locks, second please. Councelor
Borzos and all those in favor of
minutes. That is
carried. So that takes us to
presentations. We have no presentations
this evening and then we are on to
deputations. So we do have the two now
this evening.
So the
firstation is uh from Keon Watson and
the founder of a board and board member
of reach and serve foundation
incorporated regarding the school
backpack drive. So sir if you'd like to
come to the
podium welcome and the floor is all
yours. Thank you so much, Mayor U. Mayor
Anderson, member of council. Good
evening. Uh, thank you so much for the
opportunity to speak with you today. My
name is Ken Watson, and I am accompanied
by Albino uh um Kawuchi in my back. is a
member of our board member also and
we're here today on behalf of Reach and
Serve Foundation um to respectfully
request uh for your approval of waving
the fee uh for upcoming uh school
backpack drive which will be held on
August 23rd, 2025 of this year. And uh
um regarding this annual this is the
annual backpack drive that we have
yearly and um the initiative focus on
providing uh children from lowincome
families uh in Tatinam, Aliston, Beaton
and Seronit areas with full staff
backpack to ensure the success start uh
to the school year. Each backpack will
contain essential uh educational
materials including notebook, pencils,
binders, calculators, all these things
that the kids need that they can
function in school properly. Uh but this
is uh drive is more than just uh school
supply. Uh it's about fostering a
community and the day of the event we
offer family uh friendly activities such
as uh bounce about castles, water slide
and compliment complimentary food. And
uh this is just our way of giving back
to the committee and also bringing the
committee together. Uh it is will be a
day filled with joy, support and a sheer
sense of purpose. Our goal this year is
to distribute 100 backpacks. Uh and with
your support allowing us to use the
building or waving the fee uh it will be
this goal will become a reality. Uh the
facility will provide the um
accessibility central and welcoming
space to reflect the spirit of
initiative um unity, compassion and
progress. In closing, I urge you to
consider our request. Um this will be
more than just uh waving the fee, but it
will be an investment in our youth and
family in our township. Together, we can
help to ensure that every child has the
tools they need to succeed and that no
one in our committee will feel left
behind. Thank you again for your time
and consideration and I'm happy to
answer any question that you may have.
Great. Thank you very much for the
deputation. Uh I just have before I go
to members of council, I just have one
question. How do you fund the um
backpacks and supplies? Like is that a
fundraising initiative that you
undertake or how is donations?
Sure. Just can you just confirm the
mic's on there? Sorry. So So we uh have
sponsorship letters that we sent to all
the businesses in Aliston, Tottenham,
Beaten and uh they got back to us and
they are the one who sponsor all these
backpacks and everything we need to um
to have this um host this event. Okay,
perfect. It's nice to see the local uh
economy involved then for sure. Thank
you. Any other questions from council?
So, I've got councelor Boros and then
councelor Cox. Thank you through the
chair to Mr. Watson. Thank you very
much. Great initiative. I'm sure there's
a lot of kids who can take advantage of
this type of situation especially
nowadays. You mentioned beaten Tottenham
allist. Yes. Uh we are in
Agelattoio. Is this program open to our
kids as well or is it strictly to Yes.
New tech kids? So, it's it's open to uh
uh the township of Agela. Um also um
it's also open to um uh kids in
Tottenham and also kids in beaten but
most of all to alist to this um um area.
And so how will you advertise or promote
this event or is there a flyer? Is there
social media or Yes. So it would be
through a flyer and social media that's
where we would advertise all this event
and plus because we have other families
that because this is just more than
backpack we have this is the
organization that we have lowincome
household so we have lots of family on
our roster already in this area that we
give food or stuff that they may need so
they have kids that need these um items.
Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. Councelor Cox the
chair. I just like to personally thank
you for all you do for these uh uh the
underprivileged families. You know, it's
a very noble thing. So, thank you. Yes.
Thanks. Okay. Thank you. Any other
comments from council or questions?
All right. Seeing none, thank you very
much for the presentation and uh we will
uh make a decision tonight. Thank you.
All right. All right. So, council, there
is a uh potential motion here drafted um
that the deputation from Reach and Serve
Foundation Incorporated regarding school
backpack drive be received and that the
rental fees be waved for Reach and Serve
Foundation to use the municipal grounds
including the public room, outdoor
gazebo, and sports fields on Saturday,
August 23rd, 2025 for the purpose of a
school backpack drive. and that the
rental application form be completed and
proof of insurance be provided to the
township prior to the event. So, that's
a standard one we've used in past. Are
there any questions to that resolution?
Councelor Meadows. Yeah, I just have a
question with staff. Uh there's nothing
going on uh in with regards to those
events uh like it's not already booked.
M Reed, uh thank you. Your worship
through councelor Meadows. Uh so staff
did put a tentative hold on that date in
the calendar when we did receive this
request from the organization. So it is
available for them. Thank you. Okay. Any
further questions?
All right. Seeing none, do I have a
mover for that recommendation? I have a
second uh moved by councelor Cox and
seconded by councelor
Borazos. Any further questions or
comments? And all those in favor? That
is carried. Thank
you. All right. Uh Mr. Daniels has not
shown up from the OP. So, what I'm if
Oh, sorry. I expect you to be in the
uniform actually this evening.
Uh I think the last time I seen you, I
think it was at the maybe at the Banding
High School actually. Uh so, welcome.
Thank you. Um the floor is yours for um
information for the torch run. All
right. Thank you very much. And I
apologize for the late deputation. Uh, I
was hoping that Inspector Mlan would
have been here to do this, but uh, here
I am. So, uh, well, he he has all the
trust in you. So, that's right. Let's,
uh, hopefully bring this home. So, for
those of you that aren't familiar, uh
I'm sure you've heard of the Special
Olympics as a organization and and what
they do, and we probably have an
understanding, but not everyone would
know that the uh Ontario there's an
Ontario law enforcement torch run, uh
which is the largest public awareness
vehicle grassroots fundraiser for
Special Olympics.
Um so, this is uh an opportunity that
we've had and that we've done. uh we
started last year uh we held our first
torch run in this area. So I consider
you know agiles new tech and also ESSA
as our detachment area. So that's sort
of where we're representing. So last
year it was held in uh New Tums. Uh we
had a great turnout. Um and we had uh
over 30 participants and raised over
$2,100 for local athletes, meaning Simco
County. Um so those athletes are from
all over the area. So it could be
Bradford, wherever. Um, and basically
the idea of the event is is that uh
money is raised and then half of it goes
to the local Special Olympics athletes
and then the other half goes to the
actual uh law enforcement torch run
organization to fund other things like
actual um Special Olympics events
um promotional stuff and and things like
that. So, uh, those athletes were able
to, uh, walk away with,00 last year, um,
which was a, a great, um, amount of
money that could help with their
training and so on.
Um so this year we're proposing and
after learning a few things of from last
year we'd like to make a few changes and
and one of the things that we saw was
this beautiful uh depending on where I
am now uh track that you have outside
and uh also the facility uh the
community room and uh access to
washrooms are important. So, uh, what
we're, uh, proposing and asking for is
that, uh, the town of Agelatas,
uh, partner with us in this event. Um,
and that, uh, on June 12th,
uh, we're looking between the hours of
9:00 a.m. till approximately 1:00 p.m.
being the latest. That's mostly for
setup and takeown of anything that might
need to be cleaned up. um step off for
the run would actually be at 10 and it's
more of a walk or a run uh around the
track. So to avoid any road permits or
any kind of disruptions to roads um and
also making it a little more accessible
for folks who may not be able to do an
actual run. Um we would like uh this
location for that reason. Um what we're
asking is that the fees uh be waved for
the rental um of the community room and
whatever else um we would require for
that.
Um advertising would be done social
media through the OP. We use our
platform and uh Torch Run has their own
sort of platform that they would do any
sort of other
um media releases and
such. All right, that's it. Perfect.
Um I I don't have any questions for you
because I support it and it's a great
initiative. So I do commend you for
taking that on. Um, I'm going to before
I just go to look at the resolution and
we bit out of order on this, but I'm
just going to look to staff. Is this
something that we could also advertise
that um we don't normally close our
parks and walking track? And I know it's
fairly popular in the morning hours. And
I'm just thinking if we can kind of
advertise uh if council's supportive of
this uh that that track kind of be not
off limits but that there's an event
proceeding in the next couple days on
June 12th that we're making the public
aware that uh there is an event going
on. That's okay. Um so I'll go to
questions from council. Are there any
questions or comments? Uh councelor
medals. Yeah. again like like before is
there anything booked any events booked
uh uh for that uh particular day uh
since this isn't a last minute uh ask
read worship through to councelor
Meadows uh I did confirm prior to the
meeting um that the tracking area is
available um during the day the only
event being held here um is that evening
and that is for our official plan
openhouse.
[Music]
Okay, any further questions or comments?
All right, seeing none. So there is a
potential motion here as well. that that
the deputation from Sergeant Jeremy
Daniels at NASA PP detachment regarding
law enforcement special Olympics torch
run 2025 be received and that the rental
fees be waved for the Navasago P to use
the municipal grounds including the
public room outdoor gazebo sports fields
and walking track on Thursday June 12th
2025 for the purpose of law enforcement
special Olympics torch run
2025 and that the rental application
form be completed and proof of insurance
be provided to the township prior to the
event. Any questions on that? And do I
have a mover for that recommendation? I
have councelor Cox and a seconder,
please.
Council. All those in favor? That is
carried. So, the clerk's office will be
in touch with you, Sergeant. Thank you
very much. All right. Have a good night.
Thank you. You too.
All right. All right. So that leads us
on to item nine, which is public
meetings. And for this evening, we have
no public meetings. And that is on to
now item 10, which is public
comment. Members of the public may
request their comments to be read by the
clerk or present their comments orally.
Only public comments related to an item
on the agenda listed as staff reports,
correspondence, or bylaws will be
considered. Members of the public
wishing to submit public comment can do
so in writing to our clerk no later than
12:00 noon on the day of the meeting.
And I'll first go to the public here.
Are there any persons in attendance who
would like to provide their comments?
And if so, please raise your hand and
once called upon, proceed to the podium.
Are there any persons wishing to speak
on any items with regards to staff
report, correspondence, or bylaws this
evening? Okay, seeing none, madame
deputy clerk, did we receive any public
uh comments in writing? Through you,
your worship, we received no public
comments in writing. Okay, thank you.
All right. So, that leads us on to item
12, which is upcoming events and
announcements. Uh, so I do have a few
announcements uh to start and then I'll
go to the CEO for a verbal update as
well. So, just wanted to acknowledge a
couple events here.
Um, on May 28th from 400 p.m. to 7:00
p.m., uh, Glen Karen residents are
invited to a fun hands-on event to help
shape the future of the Glen Cararen
Park. So, this is being held at the park
off of, uh, second
concession on May 28th from 4:00 to 7:00
and families can come and attend and
design their ideal park using AD toss a
box. So, we're going to give you some
dollars to uh provide some opportunities
on what you'd like to see uh in the park
itself for some of the equipment ideas.
Your feedback, of course, will help
guide future park improvements. And this
will be the first in a series of
outreach events. Uh so, we encourage
everyone to visit a.ca for more
information uh or watch for our posts on
social media. The second announcement is
with regards uh to our official plan. We
are holding an openhouse event on
Thursday, June the 12th from 5:30 p.m.
to 7:30 p.m. here at the township
office. We'll be in the public room. Um
there will be additional information
published online. Uh so please watch for
that. But we encourage anyone who's been
following along on the official plan
process, which has been ongoing for
about 12 years, uh to uh continue to
follow along with us and and share some
of your ideas. the information will be
posted on the website as to the the um
official plan draft and the schedules.
So there will be information online and
you're able to provide comments and I
believe if I read correctly in the
correspondence item this evening or the
staff report rather um you will have up
to two weeks after the event as well to
provide comments uh in to
staff. Third event is the Ever Legion
75th anniversary. We had the
presentation to council last meeting. Uh
this event is happening on June 21st and
we encourage everyone in the township to
join the Ever Legion and celebrating its
75th anniversary. The events for that
day include Sunrise Yoga if you'd like
to get up. I believe that's in the wee
hours of around 5 something. So, if
you'd like to get up for yoga, a pancake
breakfast, uh an OP bike rodeo, a
scouting lunch in international dancers,
uh there is a dignitary event planned, a
membersonly dinner um at the Legion, but
following that dinner, there will be an
open uh dance um that evening at the
Legion. And again, for more information,
we encourage everyone to contact the
Ever Legion.
The fourth item is uh children's mental
health week and it runs from May 5th to
11th. Um and as you can see with council
this evening and the staff we are
wearing a green ribbon. Uh these uh this
um health children's health week is to
raise awareness about uh mental health
uh for children and the color green
symbolizes child and youth mental health
representing hope, growth and
transformation.
and join us as we share uh shine green
in support of New Path, a charitable
organization offering free mental health
services for children and youth in our
community. Uh and that also encourages
uh support for their families and
caregivers across county. So for more
information, we encourage you to visit
new
path.ca. Next is National Public Works
Week. It runs from May 18th to the 24th.
And on behalf of council, I would like
to extend our thanks to dedicated
members of our public works team. Uh
your hard work and commitment to
maintaining the infrastructure and
services that keep Agelatas Toronto
running smoothly do not go unnoticed.
From keeping our roads safe and clear in
the winter and summer to ensuring our
parks, facilities, and public spaces are
wellmaintained, your efforts are
essential to community. So, Mr. WS, if
you could please express our thanks to
your entire team.
Next is paramedic services week and the
deputy mayor and of of course we were
involved yesterday with a very special
presentation at the county of Simco for
a uh paramedic for a day uh which we do
every year at the county and it's always
rewarding to see some uh child um I
believe it's open to grades five and six
um who come in and uh it's a very
special moment uh amongst county council
and for the for the student in the
family. And I must say, um, the student
yesterday was probably a better speaker
than most of county council. So, it was,
uh, she she read her essay out, uh, to
32 members of county council, uh,
without missing a beat. So, uh, very
impressive. Uh, but we also want to
thank our paramedic services across the
county. Uh, in this year's theme is we
care for everyone. Uh and uh I would
like to extend our thanks and gratitude
to all the members of the paramedic
services in the county of Simco for
their vital public service and quality
access to emergency
care. Uh next one is Victoria Day long
weekend and I just want to acknowledge
that uh Monday is a Victoria Day holiday
um and our township office will be
closed. That's Monday, May 19th. And on
behalf of council, I wish everyone a
safe and enjoyable uh Victoria Day
weekend. Uh, I guess it's kind of the
official start to
summer. And the last item I have is with
regards to coffee with council. We have
scheduled a coffee with council event
for June 3rd here at the township office
in the public room and that's from 6:00
p.m. to 8:00 p.m. And again, we
encourage everyone to come out uh and
have a one-on-one chat with uh members
of council. you can meet your counselor
uh you know propose any ideas and
concerns that you might have uh on in
this very informal setting uh rather
than you know in this kind of robust
setting here of of a council meeting. So
we encourage you to come out and have a
chat with us and with that are there any
other public announcements uh or events
from
council? All right, not seeing any then
I'll go over to the Seattle for a verbal
update please.
Thank you Mr. Mayor. Just want to build
off of some uh training that was
discussed with our bylaws uh last
meeting with regard to noxious weeds. We
have uh put some links up on our
website, links to the county and the
province and also a form that you can
fill out online if there is a concern
within the township about noxious weed.
So if there is anybody who would just
like to educate themselves about that,
uh it's a very good spot on our website
uh to go and take a look at. And if you
come across any of those noxious weeds,
it's easy to
report. The second one is the
southwestern integrated fiber technology
or swift because that's easier to say.
Just wanted to point out it's for rural
broadband across different parts of
southwest Ontario. It is now complete
and I will be sending out a link to uh
members of council with regard to uh
where they can a link for their website.
So, just wanted to to note that uh just
for the public and for council that it
is now
complete. The next one is the wastewater
annual report for New Horizon is now up
on our
website. And uh the next one and going
to unfortunately steal uh Mr. Wilmet's
uh thunder here with public work sweep,
but the maintenance gravel will be
starting uh within the town on May 19th.
And just to note that the sweep street
sweeping is complete. So again, thank
you uh to the public works group for all
their hard
work. Uh there was a question on the
council with respect to the uh Hawkley
water system in particular details. So
just wanted to report that that we're
going to be coming uh this summer with
estimated logistics costs etc. So uh
stay tuned for that. And actually the
last one I'm going to turn over to the
acting chief to talk to us about the
nextgen system that Barry has with
regard to some emergency software for an
update for council on that. Uh through
you Mr. Mayor. Perfect. Thank you. Uh
acting chief.
Good evening Mayor and council. Uh just
a quick update on Next Generation 911.
So Barry Fire Dispatch is the dispatch
center that services Agelatas. Um Barry
Fire and Emergency Services has
completed the migration to next
generation 911. Um so this takes us from
an analog base to an IPbased system.
It's not available to the public yet,
but the transition's complete. The
equipment has been installed and
technologies there. The mandate from the
federal government is March 2027. And
this will allow for faster, more
accurate location and call back
information, increased reliability, uh,
real-time text and video directly to
dispatch centers, and improved
operability, security, and system
resilience. Thank you. Thank you very
much. And again, we've learned some of
that at the county council as well. So,
it's a great system to see up and
running. Uh and again, anything that
helps our first responders uh be well
equipped for what's uh on scene is
something very important to have. So,
appreciate that. Thank you, CO, for the
update. I'm just going back to council
if there's any other comments or
questions.
Okay. All right. So, we're on to the
consent agenda or excuse
me, are there anything uh any items that
members of council would like to pull? I
see several hands. All right, I'll go to
uh Deputy Deputy Mayor Locks first. Um,
thank you through the chair. Can we pull
13.5?
Uh, yes, we can. Thank
you. Um, anything else? Is that the only
one? Okay. Uh, counselor medals. Yeah.
13.
Okay. Any others?
councils. Yes, I'd like to pull a
13.1.
Okay. And anyone
else? All right.
So, the recommendation would be the
consent agenda recommendations for 13.2,
2 13.3 and
13.6 be adopted as presented and that
staff be authorized to take all
necessary actions. We have a mover for
that recommendation. I have been moved
by councelor Simpson and a seconded by
councelor Olirri. All those in favor and
that is carried.
All right.
Okay. So that leads us on to item 14
which is staff reports and our first
report is 14.1 which is IND
202513 placement of hot mix ashvault and
shoulder gravel. Mr.
Wlets lost
excuse me I've lost my voice today. Um
the tender was sent out um and it was
for the job or the capital projects that
were approved by council. Um the price
that came back in as you can see was um
very competitive and so hopefully that
we can uh extend some of the jobs a
little bit farther without um changing
the the form of the contract.
Yep. Thank you. Are there any questions
for to Mr.
Watts? Councelor
Simpson. through the chair through the
chair to Mr. WZ. Um, when do we
anticipate this will be completed by I
think I have the a closing date of end
of September. September. Yeah. So
throughout the summer and anticipate
Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And as soon as the
contract signed, then hopefully I can
get a a start date so they get it into
their schedule and and we'll know more
and again it'll be put on the website
and so the the residents will know
what's going on. Great. Thank you.
Okay. Any other questions with regards
to the item? All right, seeing none, do
have a mover for the
recommendation. I have a move by
councelor Cox and seconded by councelor
Simpson that staff report IND 202513
dated May 14, 2025 regarding placement
of hot mix ashvalt and shoulder gravel
be received in that council award
contract
2025002 to Lisbon Paving Company Limited
in the amount of
1,161,416 plus applicable
taxes. All in favor? And that is
carried. And I might just add that I in
the time that I've been here at council,
I do not recall ever having a paving
budget over a million dollars. So I do
want to commend public works and council
for the ambitious goal of trying to pave
more of our
roads. So we're on to 14.2 which is
staff report 202514 supply and placement
of double surface treatment. And again
back to Mr. moments for a short
because again it was approved in the
capital budget. It's a a little over one
kilometer from the second line over to
the Malmer toss town line and again um
very competitive bids came in.
Okay, thank you. Comments or questions
on this
item? Okay, seeing none, do have a move
for recommendation, please councelor
Boros, second by councelor.
That staff report IND 2025 014 dated May
14, 2025 regarding supply and placement
of double surface treatment be received.
Also award contract
20250002T to Miller Paving Limited in
the amount of
$84,770 plus applicable taxes. All those
in favor and that is carried.
We're on to 14.3 which is staff report
bylaw
2025003 and it's regarding the proposed
amendment to the township parking
bylaw. Miss Anderson.
Good evening Mayor and council. This
bylaw is just an amendment with the new
development. Staff have identified the
need um to adjust our parking bylaw.
We've had some challenges in over the
winter with uh individuals parking over
the sidewalks. It's inhibited snow
removal. What we did notice and identify
at that time is that we don't have
anything in place for parking over a
sidewalk in the summer months. This is
particularly challenging within the the
subdivisions. We don't want children
running out onto the street. We want our
families and our residents to be safe.
We've received a few complaints, about
15 in one month, and I have identified
this need, and we're requesting that
council approve the bylaw to amend um to
include parking over sidewalks at all
times, and that we require a 3 m
clearance from all fire hydrants.
Okay, thank you. Are there any questions
from council through to
staff? Mr. Nichols. Yeah. I was just
wondering when we implement this, do you
think we could send out a uh uh a notice
within our tax uh maybe our tax uh bill
that
we our residents with regards to this
and post it on the website.
Uh we can send it out with the the water
bills um at the water bill timing. We
will again educate before we start
implementing ticketing. Of course, we
did it over the winter putting notices
on on windshields advising people of
this. We we don't want to go out there
and start writing crazy tickets. So, we
will educate. We'll put it out on social
media and uh advise the residents.
Thank you. And I'll just comment. I
think we have the opportunity. We have a
a leaflet that goes normally with our
tax bills that we could uh put some
information on. I don't think the water
bill would go to everybody that we'd be
looking at. So, um because there are
sidewalks in areas that don't have town
water. Uh so I think um while
particularly um so I think um we could
probably just draft that up in the
leaflet and if not I'd be willing to put
that in my uh message as well in that
leaflet. Okay. Any other questions or
comments with regards to the proposed
amendments or in the bylaw and amendment
is on the bylaw section of the agenda.
So this is just the report. So I do have
a mover for this recommendation.
Councelor Meadows, second by councelor
Cox. That staff report BLY, sorry, bylaw
2025003 dated May 14, 2025 regarding
proposed amendment to township parking
bylaw to prohibit parking over a
sidewalk into require 3 meter clearance
from hydrants be received. and that
council consider the necessary bylaw to
amend parking bylaw 0421 to prohibit
parking over sidewalk and to require a 3
meter clearance from
hydrants. Any further questions or
comments? All those in favor? That is
carried. All right. So, we had two items
of staff reports pulled from the consent
agenda. So, that is 13.1 and 134. So we
will deal with 131
first. So this is staff report uh
finance
2025005 with regards to the 2024 capital
project year-end status update and
councelor Boros, you pulled this item
for consideration. Yes, through the
chair. Thank you very much for the
opportunity. Just a a a quick question
to uh our treasurer uh on I think it's
labeled page 304 and it would be the
fourth item from the bottom of the page
under infrastructure, capital, hamlet,
roads,
works. I see
$369,000 spent on a budget of $200,000.
I was just wondering why and why was it
overspent or or it's at 85% overage. So,
it's not an insignificant amount of
money.
Sorry, just can you confirm which
project that was again? Um, this was the
uh Hamlet Road
Works that we had a $200,000
uh budget uh capital budget allocated
and then we had an actual year-end
amount spent on the project 369. Mhm.
Uh, and so that's 169,000 over, which is
84%. 84.5 if you want to be exact. Yeah,
I I can go I can go to the treasurer if
he has that information, but I believe
council approved the overage in that
one. We took that from another funding
source to supplement uh the Hamlet uh
microsurfacing. Yeah. Through uh through
your worship to to councelor Bozos. Yes.
And previously council approved the
additional funding because there was
additional uh work in the second year uh
for the hamlet. So we approved
additional funding source which I
believe I've identified in the in the
project
comments. Well the the funding comes
from either a reserve or reserve fund
not from the project directly.
Okay. So it came from the asset
management reserve. I guess it's
correct. It was funded from the
additional funding was from the the
asset management reserve. I didn't
adjust the budget. Council approved the
funding. The funding source was the
asset management reserve.
Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right. Any
further questions, discussion questions?
No. Thank you for the opportunity. All
right. Any other questions or comments
from members of council with regard to
this item? Councelor Simpson through the
chair. Um, with regard to the total
variance, um, I think we're seeing
1,346,000. Um, is this amount going back
into reserves then?
Uh, it's through your worship to uh,
counselor Simpson. So, uh, that
carryover amount actually represents um
all of the uh, projects that are are uh
are closed. So essentially uh money
that's not spent or unspent funds in a
capital project. What that translates
into we didn't use that money in the
reserve or reserve fund. So that much is
left over left over in the reserves
which is essentially being put into
projects into 2025 and that's why you
see that uh uptick in uh the roads
projects. Oh, sorry.
Um, in 2025, we're taxing we're
collecting taxes from our residents. Um,
these are funds from 2024, right?
So, if I might, Councelor Simpson, I
believe the the intention that treasurer
was just saying is we're using the the
variance of last year that was remaining
in the reserve funds to actually fund
capital projects this year because none
of our capital projects in
2025 are tax levy impact. They're
completely out of reserves. So, the
intention was to use uh and I think it
was at time at the budget time we
explained the intention was to spend
more on our capital needs in 2025 using
some of those residual funds that we
didn't spend in 2024. And I I'll look to
the treasurer just to to comment, but
like I said, I don't think I've never
seen a $ 1.1 billion budget for for
paving. And so, we've utilized like two
years of some of spending to do in one.
I'll just go back to the treasur uh
through your worship uh to council in
general. So in in essence uh any project
that we is under budget um these are all
what you're seeing here uh in in what's
uh the favorable variance is from 2024
or prior year approved projects. And
essentially if a project is underspent
that means that whatever that uh project
was funded from whether it be a reserve
a reserve fund means it was that that
money was initially committed to that
project now that's uncommitted that mean
that means we have not spent that money
in the reserve so that means the reserve
or the reserve fund has more money to be
kept on for future projects and to I
think better answer councelor Simpson's
uh question in terms of uh taxes or
whatever uh the the the the reserve the
reserves are are funded from the tax
levy. So we do you know for asset
management reserve, the fleet reserve,
the fire reserve, we have builtin
reserve transfers in the annual
operating budget and then the reserve
funds are essentially uh OCIF and gas
tax funding. Um so that's essentially
free money. So if we didn't spend it,
we're allowed to carry that over. uh the
money that's in in the the reserve fund
for gas tax or OCAF, we're allowed to
spend it in future years, which is
exactly what we're doing in 2025. Thank
you. Um through the chair, I don't ask
the question because I'm confused about
how we do our funding. Uh I'm noting
specifically that we have an amount in
excess that remains within reserves. So
if you look at it for a 2024 fiscal
year, you're looking at about 4 millions
that that's going to be staying in
reserves because we allocated 1.6
million for reserves specifically in the
2024
budget. On top of that, we have a 1.5
million surplus from our operating
budget and now a $ 1.3 million surplus
from our capital budget. So, my concern
is we're building up our reserves, and I
love reserves, and I've said this
before, I love reserves. Um, but I I
don't think we need to increase our
reserves by $4 million. And I think um
it might be more appropriate that uh we
address some of the deficiencies in our
infrastructure
um and and utilize some of these funds
for those. Um, I would note specifically
that when the two-year road project um
was approved by this council that uh we
took certain roads that were approved by
a previous council and took those roads
out of that um list of uh projects that
needed to be completed um and put
certain other roads on there. And you
know, I I think it's important to
prioritize all roads and and I think it
would be prudent to see a report coming
to council um that perhaps puts back
some of those roads that were meant to
be paved over um based on previous
council's uh recommendation and and we
should certainly uh look forward to
seeing a report that that identifies
that. So um perhaps if staff can look
into that, I think that might be a good
thing. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor
Simpson. I might just comment as well,
though. I I do believe you may not think
you're confused on it, but I believe
there is some confusion on the matter.
Uh this is just not 2024 capital
projects. These are 2022 and 2023
capital projects. So, the 1.3 is not
realized over one year, it's realized
over several years. Uh so, this is a
combination of all the budgets that we
have passed plus uh really a budget that
was passed in the previous term. So
these are just carry forward projects
that have been closed um moving forward
and that there is so this there's a
there's a variance favorable but
variance in the actual reserve
funding. Um but I also want to just
acknowledge to council that we didn't
increase our reserve transfer this year
in our budget. Um so what we had last
year in 2020 uh four for budget to
transfer to reserves we remain the same
in 2025. So we're utilizing the same
dollars in each in each budget. So there
was no tax implication to increase our
reserve funds this year because it was
the same amount that was going in from
last year. So I understand, you know,
the concern that we want to spend more
money on our capital projects and I
think we've made good steps in that in
that regard. I think we see it tonight
on our agenda with the paving and and uh
and double surface treatment. I think
we've made good progress on it and I
think if we can utilize these dollars in
the best possible places then we're in
good
shape. Councelor
Cox through the chair to uh Mr. Wilmans.
Are there any uh road projects that are
like shelf ready able to be implemented
that maybe we could push through since
we do have a surplus in uh in reserve
funding? Yeah, there's
sorry through the chair councelor Cox.
There is a few um chunks of roads that
are basically shovel ready that we could
um push forward with minimal work to
bring them up. Um some of them is like a
river road down off of County Road One.
Uh services quite a few houses. It's
gravel. It could possibly be a a
candidate for either tar and chip or
ashvault without a lot of um prep work
supplementary through the chair. Would I
be a would we be able to obtain a report
of the list of roads that are like uh
project shelf ready for implementation
for maybe next uh council meeting so
that we can make a a decision on maybe
implementing more infrastructure work
with this additional funding? Yeah.
Through the chair. Yeah. Um we could
possibly get that pulled together. Uh
it' be a high level of what um what
looks good on the on the surface and we
have to detail and go and look at
culverts and stuff. Uh one one that I
just came up on is is the town line um
of the Puckley. We were going to extend
that paving a little bit farther and we
found a covert that has collapsed or is
collapsing. So it's uh you know
something needs to be done that way. So
So I I'll just comment on on that as
well that uh again we have to be
cognizant we can certainly get a report
back for staff but we have to be
cognizant here. This is not all public
work dollars. So we have to be mindful
that these reserve funds are not simply
just for asset management and public
works. So there may not be the funding
level that we're thinking that there is
to do additional road works. And I would
just caution that
um as much as Mr. Mr. can certainly
provide the report. Uh mid-year budget
changes and additions to workload uh to
our staff and to a paving contractor may
change some of the pricing that we do
see early on in the year. Uh so we may
not see the best bang for the dollar
when we go through a mid-year process
versus um a start of the year. And so I
I'll be looking looking to staff for
comments on this as well. But I think
the opportunity is if we would like to
add more in a 2026 budget, that would be
the opportune time to look at that
rather than a midyear. But I'll go to
the CO first and council medals. Thank
you, Mr. Mayor. As we move forward with
our roads need study that determines the
road itself with respect to the
condition of the existing roads and it
also takes into the into account um the
traffic on the roads, the road use, the
road size, the base of the road and so
that uh analysis will be done and ranked
to note which roads are the best bang
for the buck and that's how we're going
to be moving moving forward uh once that
roads need study is complete. Uh
however, as noted previously, the public
works crew do run the roads every day
and have up tothe-m minutee uh condition
assessments in their mind. So there will
be discussions, not just a um a shot in
time, but also a double-checking with uh
the road staff before we give that
presentation to uh to the mayor through
through the budget and our
recommendations. but it will be based
off of uh of hard facts uh of equations
and um of a third-party review with
respect to which roads that staff would
put forward uh and get the best bang for
the buck. Um and just to note that um as
council just uh has um went forward with
the contracts um that uh the director of
public works has put forward. If there
is uh any substantial change within
those contracts, it would have to go
back out. Uh just to note, there are uh
abilities for us and there are some
flexibilities with that uh that we have
within a contract to um add a little
here and there, but as long as there's
not a substantial change within the
contract, we can do that. But uh a
substantial change is sometimes
um objective. Thank you. Okay. Thank
you, Council Meadows.
Yeah, I I totally agree with the mayor
on this issue. Uh and also the CEO. Uh I
hate to start projects in the middle of
the year, especially when uh there
should be a lot more discussion on the
area and what what needs to be done and
the engineering of course. Uh also
there's other issues that are coming to
play with the township. Uh, one of them
is a new fireh hall that's going to be
uh needed funding for uh which we're we
need the reserves for as well. So,
there's there's a lot of other areas
that need this money and I'd hate to
just rush into uh one aspect of it which
is roads and I know our roads need done
uh throughout the township but uh we
have to look at this logistically. Thank
you. Thank you. Any other comments from
council? All right, seeing none. So
there is a recommendation that the staff
report finance
20250 dated May 14, 2025 regarding the
2024 capital project year-end status
update be received. And do I have a
mover for that recommendation? Have
councelor Simpson and a second by
councelor Olri. All those in favor and
that is
carried. All right. Right. So, the
second staff report that was pulled was
uh CLK
20229 strong mayor powers. Uh councelor
metals, you pulled this item.
Yeah, I I was uh very concerned when I
saw this first come on the agenda with
the strong mayor's powers.
Uh uh we had a a long discussion in
amongst the council here with regards to
the strong mayor powers moving forward
and unfortunately I guess the provincial
government doesn't listen to councils
anymore. So uh we're we we do have a we
do have strong mirror powers in place.
Uh the issue I have with this and and
and the problem I have with this is uh
we have no procedural bylaw with regards
to this.
We need uh a guidance instructions on
how to implement this at this
table, how we move forward with
this. And it's up to and it should be a
top priority for this municipality in
implementing this
properly. And right now we have no
direction on this other than what's been
handed down by the uh Mr. Ford himself.
So, uh, and it's very vague. It's very
vague. And if we're g if it's being
implemented, which it is, then we need
more information on this and we need it
now. So, I would put a motion forward
that uh uh we work diligently to have
this uh uh put forward as an emergency
and and get something in writing ASAP.
and I'll put that on the floor as a
motion if I can.
Before you do, if I if I may comment, um
I certainly entertain a motion if if
need be. I will indicate that uh the
CEO, myself, and the clerk have had
several conversations thus far on how we
are going to manage the new legislation
and how it's going to affect uh the
relationship between staff and council.
Um, as noted on May 5th, I I have
already uh delegated some of the strong
mayor powers uh back to council and to
CIO. So particularly the uh the
organizational structure and the hiring
and firing of uh senior members of staff
is back in the hands of the CIO at the
administration level and the appointment
of council committee members and chairs
and vice chairs as well as hiring and
dismissing a CEO are back in the hands
of of council. So those items have
already been delegated back to the in my
opinion the appropriate
representatives and in our other
conversations that we have had um and
this is to your point councelor Meadows
um and I think your pre your motion may
be just a bit premature on the matter uh
at the present time staff are
investigating options of internal
policies and how we can best lay out the
framework of how these um I'll call them
interactions how these interactions do
play a part with the strong mayor's
legislation versus uh you know the staff
relationship structure and the and the
council approval process. So I would say
I welcome any conversation and any any
discussion that council may have. I
would think though for the first while
here to let staff do a bit more research
and understand where we need to go. uh
it is a priority on their plate. I'm
looking at the clerk right now and it's
something that's uh she's um researched
quite heavily already. They do also meet
with neighborh neighboring
municipalities for their clerk's
departments and so it's a more of a
collaborative approach there as to what
information's out there and what
information we can get back to council.
So it is it is forthcoming and and staff
is certainly working on it. Um I would
also just note in the report as well um
and I might go to madam clerk just for
any explanation here as well. The uh the
province is coming out the ministry is
coming out with a a training session uh
a virtual training session for members
of council to better understand the
processes of what the strong mayor
powers uh will do. So, uh, I agree they
this may have been a a rush decision on
the behalf of the province, uh, because
you would think they would have a bit
more information forthcoming before they
launch some new legislation and this
training would be already on the books
and ready to go. Uh, but they have
indicated uh, the ministry has indicated
that there will be training uh, for
members of council and an understanding
of what strong mayor powers
um, actually affect the municipality. So
I'll go to the clerk just for a bit more
explanation. Thank you worship through
you to council. Uh yes uh I did receive
an update from the ministry of municipal
affairs um yesterday prior to this
meeting. Uh they did confirm that there
will be virtual training sessions for
council that will be rolled out. Uh I
will provide you with that information.
Uh and additional training will be
available for them if following um their
virtual sessions you have additional
questions and we need to bring uh
someone else inhouse to address those
concerns. um to councelor Meadows um
comments. Councelor Meadows, I had the
exact same thoughts as you as I read the
legislation uh in regards to the
procedure bylaw. Uh upon taking a deeper
dive into the legislation and conferring
with some of my colleagues, uh I would
recommend to council at this time um
that the best um action to take would be
to wait to make any changes to our
procedure bylaw. And that's because
automatically uh the strong mayor power
legislation does trump anything
contained within our procedure bylaw. it
takes precedent over anything we
contained in there. The other reason for
that is that fundamentally the
functioning of our procedural bylaw
doesn't change under the strong mayor
powers. Uh while we could add additional
items to speak to those provisions, um
the mayor already is has the ability to
add items or bylaws uh to the agenda
without us making any changes to our
procedure bylaw by right of the
legislation enacted by the province uh
on May 1st. Um so my recommendation to
council at this time is let's sit with
the strong mayor powers. Let's explore
them. Um see how these are going to work
for our municipality and then plan to
make changes as we go forward either
into 2026 or 2027. Uh the other reason
for that as well as everyone knows is
there is a m municipal election coming
up in 2026. uh decisions um regarding
strong mayor powers may change and we
need to be very mindful about the way
that we amend policies and bylaws um to
ensure that they work under all all
situations. So as Mayor Anderson has
spoken to, he has delegated authorities
back to council and the CIO at this
time. We want to make sure that the
policies we put in place work both with
that authority being delegated and if
there's another mayor in the future um
who chooses not to delegate those
authorities, those policies are still in
place. So we're not constantly updating
those documents. So my request to
council today would be um to take the
training from the ministry and allow
staff more time to see how um the strong
mayor powers are going to impact the
township and do a case study on our
procedure bylaw at this time.
Supplemental. Yes, sir. Okay. This is
where I have a problem with this whole
situation is we have developments that
are coming forward right now. Right this
minute, we have meetings that are going
on with regards to these developments.
And right
now, this
council can be overridden on every
decision being
made. That's the problem I have. It's no
longer a democratic p uh position. The
mayor has all the
power. American over. No, I will have to
correct you there because point point.
No, I have to correct you
because the policy still the legislation
doesn't overrule
council. So, there are provisions in the
legislation that permit the mayor to
provide uh a the budget to provide a
bylaw which still requires onethird of
the vote of council. So
it I I take exception to say that the
mayor has all the power and I'm not
trying to make this personal one bit at
all. But what I want to make sure is the
legislation is very clear that there are
still uh decisions being made by members
of council and not solely by the mayor.
Supplemental then and you have the
floor. Sorry. And I just I apologize for
for the interjecting, but that's I just
want to make sure that there is it's
clear that well maybe I maybe I wasn't
clear in what I was saying. Okay. What
I'm concerned about is us being
overridden as a
council and not knowing that we're
overridden by a council. I know it
states that council has to be
informed and we have 21 days to or we
have 21 days. But the problem I have
sitting here is we do not have a
mechanism in place in our procedural
bylaw that puts that
forward. Okay, that's the problem I
have. Now, we can sit here and we can
vote on something. You can uh override
what what this council has said if it's
under five people that have made that
decision. You need we need twothirds of
a majority to override whatever you have
put into like if you if you've
overridden it. Where's the mechanism
that's in place that says that that's
going to come forward within 21 days or
whatever uh time limit that's needed.
There's nothing in our procedural bylaw
that states that.
So I'm cons that's where my concern is
and the fact that this council has has
worked well this term of
council and this is as far as I'm
concerned this is a wrench that's gone
into the spokes of the turning wheel and
this is all because of the Ford
government and on top of that there's
other things that he's changing for the
development community which is the
endangered species uh act bill five he's
put
forward like what's going on here like
we have I don't even know why we have
counsel anymore I really don't because
he has given that executive power to the
mayor to make those
decisions and that's where the problem
is that we're eventually not going to
have a democratic process and the people
of this community are no longer going to
have a
voice? None. Because it's not going to
be a parliamentary rule uh or decision.
It's going to be the decision of one
person who has more power than the the
uh premier of Ontario, which doesn't
make any sense to me. He's given every
mayor the that
power. It doesn't make sense.
Where are we going in this province? I
mean, if I was a citizen in this
township, I would be absolutely
appalled, but I've heard nothing. It's
been as quiet as a mouse out there.
Nobody
cares. No, I'm just saying nobody seems
to
care. I'm sitting here as a counselor
that's supposed to be a democratic
process and my powers have just been
wiped out. And this isn't a speech. This
is fact. This is stuff that's gone
through and we all should be pissed off
here. And it's sorry that's not
parliamentary rules but or words, but I
would be and I would be as a citizen of
this
township. Anyways, that's all I have to
say on that. Thank you. I I'll go back
to the clerk for some clarification as
well, but I I do have three initial
comments on that
one. Excuse me. I'm just been getting
over cold as well.
Um the uh the first item I I do want to
acknowledge and again I think I've been
very clear in my comments earlier
tonight u we're not throwing a wrench
into this process. We have been working
very well together and that's the full
intention of myself uh and I would hope
the rest of the council to continue
working in a collaborative meaningful
way. I I think that is the best the best
decision-making process you can have. So
I'm not looking to change anything in
that
regard. 170 municipalities, 170 mayors
have strong mayor powers. They're
granted by the province under
legislation. We are all going through
the same situation. This is going to be
a learning curve for a lot of
municipalities of 170 who have these
powers.
I've seen in in multiple cases already
where uh like myself they've uh many
mayors have uh provided the delegation
back to the CEO and council for the
things they can delegate back. There are
certain um duties under the new
legislation that the mayor simply has to
use cannot delegate to anyone. And I've
been very clear that it if and when that
has to be used because they will have to
be used because if to have some to have
any mayor say that they don't have to
use them is incorrect. They have to use
them. There's uh the budget, there's
bylaws, there's items that they must act
on. Uh so these are these are things
that I personally will do in the best
interest of the municipality and with
advice from council and staff because
that is how municipalities are supposed
to work with
collaboration. We have um I I guess the
overarching theme here is I whether you
agree with the powers bestowed by the
province to strong mayor powers to this
170 municipalities or
not. We have to work together. Democracy
is still here. We all sit at this table.
We all have a voice. We all can provide
opinions. That is not going anywhere. We
are keeping that and the province is not
taking that away. So we have the
opportunity to sit here to make
decisions to make informative decisions
and the process is that I I would concur
with councelor medals that yes they're
not in the procedure bylaw uh but as the
clerk indicated earlier the legislation
does lay out the process for how the
mayor has to respond to
council has to provide notice. the
timelines are within that legislation
and then council would follow that
legislation as well if there were any
instance where a bylaw needed to be uh
vetoed. There are processes in place.
So, and I will go to the clerk just for
clarification on that because I think
that's being lost a wee bit that the
legislation we are creatures of the
province. We are here at the will of the
province. If the province doesn't want
us here, they will tell us they don't
want us here. We act on their behalf and
we through them. Uh so if they provide
legislation to us, it trumps some of the
information or some of the policies that
we have, their policies and their
legislation um supersedes what we have.
So I'll go to the clerk just for a bit
more clarification on this. Thank you,
your worship through to council. Uh for
clarity, in the event that a bylaw is
vetoed, uh there is currently a
mechanism within our township procedure
bylaw to allow council to reconsider
that bylaw as per the strong merit
legislation. Uh what um would most
likely occur is that a majority of
council would petition myself for a
council meeting to reconsider the bylaw
as per the legislation. I would receive
that petition from a majority of council
and the meeting would be held at the
date and time as per the petition. That
would be the item listed on the agenda
and then in order to overturn the veto,
it would be a twothirds vote of all of
council. So not just who's in attendance
at the meeting, but council as a whole.
So, the mechanism to overturn a veto
does currently exist within our
procedure bylaw and the same process
could be applied um to vetos applied to
budget amendments that were passed by
council.
All right. So, I'll go to council for
comments or questions.
You're the chair. My major concern is
I've read everything that's been
presented so
far. There's no duration.
It doesn't say how long this is going to
be in effect. It doesn't
uh say that now Scott
has returned the power to council with
regards to delegation CEO and things
like that, but we're having a municipal
election in a little over a year. So,
what happens if we get a new mayor and
he doesn't agree to that? But there's
another major issue there. It's not like
Scott's personality is not in question
or his his delegation of authorities not
in question. It's down the road. If this
is not addressed now, we're going to
have a major issue. I mean, there's
seven people sitting here and I think I
don't know how we do this. Uh maybe
Robin can find out for us or whatever,
but I think we need to go to the
provincial government and say to a say
to them, explain to us how we can run
this in a democratic manner because as
far as I'm concerned, it's not a
democratic matter. It's far beyond that.
it it's like uh basically it's like a
communist uh move really when you come
right down to it. One person delegates
everything and it's not and it's not
right.
So, I know we did uh we we had a long
discussion and everybody in the room
voted against it and
I for this term I think we're all right
but I the next term I don't know that's
my problem. Thank you. So I'll go to
Madame Clerk. I'm not sure if if you've
had any communication with province or
maybe neighboring municipalities as to
what other avenues of approach um you
know as councelor Oli indicates there
might be. Thank you worship through to
councelor Ori. Um so as he did mention
um this council did pass a resolution um
advocating to the province not to expand
strong mayor powers. Um that letter was
sent into the province um as well as
submitted as comments on the
legislation. And I know letters similar
to the one that we submitted have been
circulated by multiple municipalities
across the province. Um at this time the
province isn't
um open for any more commenting in a
formal capacity. Uh but what I would
encourage council to do is I know some
members of this council are encouraging
conferences are attending conferences
such as AMO. Uh you are um politicians
for this community. Uh so if you do
still feel strongly about this, I would
encourage you to attend conferences and
advocate for your position to your
counterparts across the province.
Thank you. So I've seen some multiple
hands here. So I've got councelor
Simpson and then I'm going to go back to
councelor Borzos and councelor Cox.
Thank you.
Um through the chair.
Um, with regard to this, u, I'm not
going to blame the mayor for the
decisions of another, uh, level of
government. Um, so, you know, it's the
province. We voted against it. We've
noted our objection to the legislation.
Um, and and we've noted that
strongly. Um, but and and and with
respect to some of the things that the
the mayor has delegated and perhaps
there are other things that can be
delegated as well. Um my concern is that
many things can happen behind the scenes
and those changes and those decisions
would not even come before
council especially with the developments
that are coming forward um and the other
provisions in the act. I have a lot of
concerns. It it quite literally reduces
the power of counsel. Um, a lot of
decisions are made before it comes to
council. Um, when it comes to creating a
budget, for example, um, that's
something that the mayor would have the
ability to put forward. Um, and and
those are concerning uh concerning
issues. Um a and certainly um you know
I'm not going to comment on our budgets
but but you know I it creates a fair
system when staff are the one planning
it when the systems when we have
procedures in place that you know the
budget is allocated towards what the
greatest needs are as opposed to
different areas of the municipality. So
there's a lot of issues that I see with
that and and and the biggest problem
that I see with this is that there's
nothing in this legislation that shows
that it will result in building more
homes faster because that is the whole
intent of this
legislation. Now that said, this is our
this is our reality. Um and we are in
this situation where we have to move
forward as a council with this. Um so I
I would like to see a timeline on when
council can have the training. Um and
additionally uh if that training is
happening online or in silos, um then
perhaps we should have a follow-up
meeting that's set up so that we can
discuss and strategize on how we move
forward. Um, you know, a as much as this
is new legislation for us, this is not
new legislation, it has been in place in
other municipalities, 40 other
municipalities for over two years. Um, I
I know that the AMCTO
um especially has guidelines and has
prepared a lot of information for uh
municipal staff on on these issues. So,
if we can get that briefing sooner, I I
think that would uh benefit all of us.
Thank you.
Okay. And I'm just going to go back to
the clerk. Did we have a timeline from
the ministry as to when they were
planning on doing this training? Uh
through your worship to counselor
Simpson. Uh so I initially made contact
with the ministry approximately two
weeks ago. Um they didn't have a
timeline at that time. Uh I like I said
I did receive an update earlier this
week from them saying that they will be
releasing um times for the online
training shortly and that they won't be
entertaining um any additional in-person
training until those virtual sessions
have occurred. So um I've been in
contact with two of our representatives
from the ministry uh and I can continue
to reach out to them and put pressure on
them for those training dates. Uh but we
are waiting for them um to provide those
dates to us and then I'll get them to
council as soon as possible. Okay. Thank
you. Uh, councelor Borzos. Yes, thank
you through the chair. It's more of a
comment than than a question. I guess
everybody's commenting, so why should I
be any different? But
um, I'm trying to look at this from a
little more pragmatic point of view. And
while my colleagues were talking here, I
went up and down, back and forth, left
and right on the strong mayor powers
chapter of the Ontario municipal council
guide. Nowhere, anywhere in there, it
says that the mayor must accept these
powers. It says the mayor can, the mayor
shall, the mayor could, the mayor if he
wants to. Nowhere. So to me the best
solution to to this would be just to say
that okay in
Agelasontio we will write out the rest
of this term as we were up until now.
And if the province doesn't like it then
you know what too bad for them we have
our own ways of of deciding over certain
things. And I mean maybe this is up to
the mayor to to decide and say okay I
wish not to use my powers and I will
just run the the council as it was up
until now and take that year and a half
or a year and a bit that we have left
until next election to do the training
to do the proper development of bylaws
procedural anything that we need to do
and then when it comes next term then if
the strong mayor powers are still in
place then we can roll into it nicely
knowing that we've done everything we
could possibly do and not compromising
anything and not disrupting any type of
order and to my colleague Mr. Meadows's
point here. We don't put the wrench into
any kind of cogs or wheels. So that
would be my recommendation and
suggestion. Thank you. Thank you. I'm
going to just comment
again. You know that comment if that was
included in the legislation might have
been helpful that mayors would be able
to say no. Um but it's not. So
unfortunately it is given to the mayors.
The powers are given the powers and
duties are given to the mayors without
any say. uh the legislation does trump
any of our uh policies and um other
legislations that are out there. So
unfortunately that can't happen. And
I'll go to the clerk just for the
clarification on on what that
legislation actually kind of looks like
as to councelor Borzos's comments that
there are certain duties and
responsibilities that are are given to
the mayor uh without um any opportunity
to say no. Yes. Thank you worship
through to councel. Um so this this
legislation is written in a really
interesting way that even the powers
that the mayor has chosen to delegate
back to council and the CEO at this
time. Uh mayors are required to utilize
their strong mayor powers to delegate
that authority back. So we know those
are steps that mayor Anderson has taken
at these times. But had he not done
that, organizational structure, hiring
of the CEO and local boards and
committees still would have reside um
resided as his duties um as assigned by
the legislation. The province has
crafted this legislation in such a way
that mayors um must use the strong mayor
powers even to delegate the three items
that they can delegate back. Um you are
correct in saying that some of these may
not be used by a mayor. A mayor may
choose never to add a bylaw to a council
agenda or a matter to agenda for a
consideration. Um but that's not a
decision that council can make. The
legislation has already dictated that
all of the mayors who have been expanded
strong mayor powers have these powers
and actions and it is up to those
individual actors to make the decision
as to what to do with them regardless of
um the position of council. Okay.
Councelor Borzos follow through the
chair to follow up to the council.
Madame clerk, I'm reading verbatim from
the council book here. Whatever is
probably the most up-to-date version of
it. It says veto power and council
override. the head of council can choose
to veto certain bylaws, for example. I
mean, it doesn't say must veto bylaw.
And if that's the case, if they written
it, if the province wrote this
legislation in such a silly way that
it's becoming really a open to
interpretation, then maybe perhaps we
should use whatever we saved on
integrity commissioner fees in the last
two and a half years and just do a legal
challenge against the province on this
one because this is unacceptable to me.
as it's not it's just are they trying to
put this in place and if they do to what
extent why are they pushing where is
this the language is not there I I don't
see the language here it says can
everything is can and could doesn't say
that anyway sorry thank you clerk thank
you worship just a point of
clarification on that yes uh the
legislation may say can but that's not a
power that a strong mayor can give back
they must always hold that ability
And that is my point is that there's no
way that they're allowed to under the
legislation pass a motion saying that
they refuse it altogether or else Mayor
Anderson would not have been able to
delegate council the authority to hire
and fire the CEO. He had to utilize the
strong mayor powers in order to give
council that authority back. And so when
I speak of the legislation being crafted
in such a way that it forces the mayors
to use the powers, that is what I'm
indicating. even to give council back
authority, a decision, a mayoral
decision had to be made under strong
mayor powers. And I'll just comment. So
again, the word can is it's still the
option. It's in the opinion of the mayor
then whether the mayor vetos a bylaw or
not. So the power is granted to the
mayor to decide if the mayor wants to
use that power to veto a bylaw. you
can't take away that power because it's
granted by the province and I'm and I'm
not suggesting so it's left with the
individual mayors and to determine if
they would want to veto a bylaw
um once passed by by council and if this
is how we interpret this then it's great
because then I go back to my original uh
suggestion I guess that maybe Mr. mayor
can just say that okay I choose not to
as you can choose to do so also you can
choose not to do so uh to live with your
strong mayor powers in this township
until November 2026 and then just
business as usual and that's it game
over. Thank you. I'm I think no and I I
can I no and I can understand that that
comment for sure, right? Like um and but
I think just going back to the language
it's again can and may choose.
So, I'm not going to sit here. I I look
in the kind of the planning world,
there's there's a it's always uh it's
never black and white. Life is never
black and white. There's a lot of gray.
Uh and so I don't want to sit here this
evening and and say that the powers I'm
never going to use the powers because I
have already used the powers to give you
back the power. Like it's it's just
ironic that you actually have to use the
strong mayor powers to give individuals
back the power they once
had. Uh it's it is right. So um so I've
used the power I've used the strong
mayor powers three times thus far in in
in the short time I
guess so the powers back. I guess my
point is if if we use the strong mayor
powers three times to give it back to
the council then essentially it was yeah
it was a it was a a precedence created
by doing so but I mean at the same time
nobody says that we can't stop right
here and right now and say okay moving
forward business as usual that's my
whole point that there's there's an
option this is not this is not a
dictatorial state this is supposed to be
yes we are creatures of province I hear
that all the time well it's too bad
because the province is not here. They
are not talking to these people out
there and at the other end of the
internet here. So based on what they are
deciding on what can be done and what
cannot be done, half the half the
province didn't even vote for Ford. So
anyways, thank you. Well, and again, I
can I can understand the concern and I
respect the the concern.
Um it has been and as I indicated
earlier in the meeting, it's been my
full intention to have the processes
continue the way they have. Um I'll just
use the budget for an example just to
kind of highlight the I guess maybe the
faults with some of this legislation. It
is my intention to be doing the exact
same thing as what we've done in years
past with our budget. There's staff
involvement.
I've been involved in meetings with
staff uh shaping and crafting budgets
and understanding where we're going and
how this is going to come to council and
and what we need to do for streamlining.
That's not going to change. That's been
the process for years here at this
municipality. There's always been that
collaboration between between staff, the
mayor and council. So, we're going to
continue that collaboration. What strong
mayor power does though is it actually
states regardless of all the
collaboration in the world when we
present a budget which we want to do
make sure we get our tenders out in
October or November of a year any budget
before February 1st is the mayor's
budget simply put legislation if any
budget that comes before council whether
it's crafted by council whether it's
crafted by staff whether it's crafted
whether it's just the same budget that
we had last year and we bring it forward
in next year it's the mayor's budget
doesn't matter because the legislation
lays out that that is what that is. Now,
if we don't if we don't want to pass a
budget until after February 1st of every
year, which then only gives us three
months to get a budget done and tendered
out before tax rates in June, then it
becomes back in the realm of calling it
a municipal budget.
So again, it's it's a it's a very
interesting way the legislation is
crafted
to purport that there's some sort of
power there.
Um, from what I've heard from my
colleagues around the county is we're
going to continue on making sure that we
craft a budget for the municipality that
is representative of council,
representative of the community so that
it is something that everyone is proud
of. Um, and I I think that's I can
assure you today that that's the the
full intention of trying to do is keep
the nor the normaly of what we've done
in this township in the past continuing
on in the future. Um, so I I can
understand there's reservations. I can
understand there's concern concerns on
on the
item. It is my intention to see that we
continue to work in a collaborative and
meaningful way here at council table uh
day in and day out. And I don't and if
council's with me on that then we're
continue to work the best way we can.
And in closing, nevertheless, the fact
remains that up until now you were one
voice. Now you are seven voices if you
want to be. And that's the point. That's
the summary of it really. And so that
makes this council
redundant really. So thank you. I don't
think your opinions are irrelevant or
redundant. Um, so that's
my, like I said, that's collaborative
approach. Um, councelor Cox.
Yeah. Through the chair, uh, councelor
Borzos actually touched on the subject.
I was going to bring up can, must have
made, but I think you did it in a better
manner than I would have, right? It's a
little bit more intellectual. Um, I
don't agree with any of these strong
mayor powers at all. I think it removes
the democratic process. Um, and I don't
I I do believe that uh Mayor Anderson's
will will will exercise them uh with
with caution and the way he's been doing
it. Like as
uh council stated, his integrity is not
in question here. I think he'll still
try to work with council and not abuse
the power that's given to him. The fear
is the future like it's been brought up
time and time again here. And yeah, I
think the virtual training is an
imperative for us to get as soon as it
comes out and then we can formulate our
procedural bylaws uh after that uh
training is conducted. But other than
that, I think we're all between a rock
and a hard spot.
Deplocks, I saw your hand if you want to
speak. Thank you to your worship and
excellent points from everybody and we
all know the situation we're in and um
I'm just
hoping as I've heard we have faith in
the process that we have been doing and
as the mayor has said let's move forward
doing the same thing we've been doing
unfortunately Mr. for Larry's point hits
hard a new mayor coming in may change
may change everything so ideally yes
training
everything hopefully the mayor keeps his
word and we keep moving the way we keep
moving I have faith in it um I don't see
us changing the way we're doing things I
think we do things very well here so you
know we may have some contentious issues
but we're getting stuff done so that's
let's hope for the best here thank
Thank you, Councelor Simpson. Through
the chair. Um, just want to uh reiterate
and and I I know a lot's been said so
far. Um, and I and I will highlight the
semantics that's kind of been noted so
far. Um, as much as the mayor is saying
that he uh has delegated certain
authorities, I will note he is still
reserving his right to utilize strong
mayor powers in a manner that may uh
diminish the role of council. Um, so
nothing in what he has said has
identified that he won't be doing that.
I think he said he'd like to keep things
working the same way. Um, but he is
reserving that right to be able to
utilize it um, in any way. There are
several other aspects of the strong
mayor of powers that can be delegated
that have not been delegated. Um, again,
I I understand that that's his
prerogative. Um but I will note that
residents should be aware that that we
are in a strong mayor situation. There
are going to be decisions that may come
that may not come to council. Um things
that may be uh you know dealt with in in
uh in a different manner and and that is
permitted under this law. So uh please
keep that in mind. Thank you. Point of
clarification.
Sure. you you you just made a comment
that it ha it may not come to council. I
don't believe that's true. So there are
instances where uh air mayor may have
discussions with staff and have a
decision made prior to the decision
coming to council especially with regard
to development. Um can I have
clarification? Yeah. And I'll just I was
going to just comment personally on
myself on on a few things here as well.
Just Yeah. No, I just want a
clarification. First, I just wanted to
clarifi to clarify is um councelor
Simpson, you're quite right. The powers
always rest within the office of the
mayor. I can't not that legislation has
permitted the office of the mayor to
retain those powers regardless of
delegation. I choose to delegate certain
powers to council and I choose to
delegate powers to the CIO.
Um but the powers still rest with the
mayor whether he chooses whether he or
she chooses to actually delegate that or
not. So the strong mayor powers are
written in such a way that the decisions
are those delegations are on the
um are on the basis of the mayor
delegating those powers. So I'll clarify
that that that is that is absolutely
true.
Um but I I will go to the clerk on this
one as well that there is no decision
mechanism in the strong mayor powers
other than providing direction to senior
staff to provide advice and information
back to the
mayor and then to council. So, if there
was a potential bylaw, if there was a uh
new policy that potentially that was
needing to be drafted, I could provide
direction, written direction to the
clerk, including and carbon copy to the
to the uh members of council and ask for
certain information to be presented to
the mayor and to council. So, it' be no
different than a staff report coming
back to council for their consideration.
It would be information. So, would there
be an instance uh where I wouldn't have
to request the information from council?
Like, I wouldn't have to put a notice of
motion on the agenda. Yes, because I
would be able to direct staff to provide
that information directly to council.
Uh, but it doesn't subvert council from
making the decision when that
information comes back. So, I'll go to
the madam clerk. I I maybe muddied that
a bit more, but um that's kind of my
understanding of the process. Thank you,
worship through to councel. Um so the
ability for the mayor to give um
directions to staff must be in writing.
These directions will be posted to our
township website and are subject to
Mippa and the mayor may only give
written direction to staff uh through
the CEO and clerk um for advice or
recommendations um related to their
powers and duties underneath the strong
mayors. So for the for development he
may request policies or advice but not
make decisions and that must be provided
in writing. So, every time a mayor may
request that staff um write a policy for
consideration or write a memo that
provides recommendations, that directive
would be written would be included on
the township website. So, all of council
and all of the public would know that
the mayor has exercised that power to
ask staff for a recommendation. It does
not constitute a decision. It is a mer
directive. Mayors may add items to the
agenda for consideration, a matter to an
agenda, and that is subject to a
majority vote of council or a bylaw to a
council agenda, but that is subject to
notice provisions as per applicable
provincial legislation and then is
subject to a one-third majority vote by
council.
So in essence, the the directives can be
the directives can be made by the mayor,
the decisions are implemented by
council.
So any decision of of uh let's say a
planning nature or
whatever you you have the authority to
override it. Is that correct? I'd have
the authority to veto a bylaw a planning
bylaw that came to council. Right. To
after between the council meeting and
two days, right? And then we would be
informed about it. Correct.
Then we would have to petition a meeting
if we were all against it. And you need
five people sitting on this council to
be against it. Anything that you you put
forward to veto it. You would need four
members of council to petition the
meeting and then you'd need you need a
twothird of the majority of c twothirds
of council vote of all members of
council regardless at the meeting or
not. Now would that see this is where
the procedural comes in that we need
clarification on. What if one person
isn't able to make it out of the five on
council or the six on council or the
seven on
council if one person isn't able to make
it
or one gets kicked out you know like
does that vote where does that vote
land? So land and again I believe that's
madam clerk you might want to comment
but I believe that's again one of those
little finite things that are in this
legislation that it says all members of
council and it doesn't necessarily mean
that all members of council at the
meeting. So if you if you only have if
you had four members of council attend
the meeting that was petitioned that's
right and three members did not you
would not be able to you would not be
over to overturn the the um
reconsideration.
So but although madam clerk I think I've
interpreted that right too but thank
you. So just for us just sorry just just
for the sake of of argument here like
all you would need is uh a certain
member of council to say they can't make
it and they over No, I'm not looking at
you. I I'm looking at maybe even the
mayor even I wouldn't have to attend the
meeting. You would have to well the
deputy mayor. Okay. So, we'd need six
people sitting at this council
chamber to make an a decision to
override or veto a a a mayor's
decision. And we can't even we can't
even half the time we can't even uh sit
here and communicate with one another.
So, do you think we're going to be able
to petition a meeting and have six
people sitting in here to make a
decision that the mayor is vetoed? Let's
say it's a land expropriation that we
don't agree with or something like that.
Are we going to be able to veto that
that motion? Not
likely. And that's where I have a
problem with this. This is not the way
council was supposed to be designed for
the people of this township or the
people of this province.
For sure. All right. I've had enough
discussion on this one.
[Music]
Okay. And once uh as
mad
cler once we do hear from the ministry
on training we will certainly get that
communicated to members of council
because uh I'm uh I'm wondering what
they're going to provide. Be very
interesting. All right. So the
recommendation on the floor is that the
staff report CLK
2025 009 dated May 14, 2025 regarding
strong mayor powers be received. And do
I have a mover for that recommendation?
I have councelor Cox seconded by
councelor. All those in
favor? That is
carried. All right. All right, I'm just
confirming that was all the staff
reports. That was so we are on to
correspondence. And so we had one item
of correspondence that was pulled from
the consent agenda and that's
13.5 with regards to the county of Simco
request to consider consent of county
count of Simco bylaw
711925 to change the composition of
county council. And I'll go to to the
deputy mayor who pulled this item first.
Thank you to your mayor. Um I just
wanted to point out that the uh
governance committee is meeting on May
20th which is next Tuesday to discuss um
the weighted vote part of this aspect.
Um it has been through uh through county
voted to go forward to go down to uh 16
or 16 plus a full-time warden. Um they
are discussing um all the factors
involved with a weighted vote which to
me is a it's an extremely important part
of this process as us being the smaller
municipality
um being
rural. We're the little guy on the uh on
the field there and and the big guys on
the field can beat us up pretty good
depending on how this weighted vote
discussion goes. So, I just wanted to uh
defer this to next month's meeting so
that we can get the information that
we're going to get from the governance
meeting on how they're going to move
forward with the weighted vote, whether
that's going to stay exactly the same,
whether there's going to be changes to
that and uh I would like uh all of us to
get that information so that we can make
a educated uh decision. Thank you. Okay.
Thank you. Uh with your indulgence,
Deputy Mayor, unless you feel strongly
that we want to put the motion on the
floor. I was hoping to have just a brief
discussion, but I'm going to look at
council and just say like the deputy
mayor has a right to put a motion to
defer. So if we can keep the
conversation to um kind of just initial
feeling, I guess, first off, and then we
can see how this goes if that's okay
with you. Yeah, that's fine. I just,
like I said, I'm I like making decisions
with as much information as I can, and I
believe next week's um meeting is is
going to provide us with uh pretty much
half of half of what we're missing right
now. It may not change at all, but I'm
hoping that the uh the people at
governance will look at the weighted
situation and hopefully be able to maybe
amend it to be more in favor to smaller
townships like ours. Thank you.
Okay. So, with that, uh, I'm going to go
to, uh, Councelor Simpson and I got
Councelor Meadows. Um, through the
chair, um, this is a very, uh,
interesting subject and, and I will note
that we were all watching with popcorn.
Um, because of the interest that there
was in this and and also some of the
issues that came up out of this. Um I
understand that uh um our members on
county council um certainly uh voted in
favor of reducing the size initially um
and and now there's additional
um changes with regard to the weighted
vote that that has been requested. I
don't know that uh especially seeing how
the vote went in county um perhaps the
mayor and deputy mayor can uh provide a
rationale for their decisions and and
what the thought process is with regard
to this proposal. Now,
I'll start on that one, but I concur
with the deputy mayor. We need to the
county council asked governance
committee voted on that to go back and
look at the weighted vote of when and
where a weighted vote can be used. Um
there are several on county council that
believe that weighted votes should only
be used on non-governance
issues. So budget planning uh things
like things like that. Whereas a
governance matter each individual member
of council, county council is therefore
one vote on all governance because they
are there sitting in their chair being
that member representing the
municipality. Uh and I agree with that
concept that governance issues should be
dealt with as a whole
um county council and if it's a
reduction of county council it would be
17 members and those 17 then would all
have a single vote on how the governance
of county council would work. Um it'd be
something simpler it could frame this as
a procedure item. When we make additions
to our council meeting agenda you need
twothirds majority. Um, so in the
governance sector here, then we would
say, well, you can't call a recorded
vote on that issue because a recorded
vote would trigger a weighted vote. This
case, it would have to be a straight up
one for one vote and every member of
county council has the same say on this.
Um because I think the concerns from a
lot of municipalities and we could
certainly get into some of the details
here, but if you do the math, six of 17
members with the highest density
populations in the county of Simco would
carry a question. So you have 17
members, a county council, you'd only
need six to vote in favor of something
to actually see it happen. Um so if that
did happen that's fine but that means
that those same decisions on governance
would have the same factor. So six or
seven of the largest municipalities
control the governance of the county too
and I think that's where the fairness
now
becomes every unfair because everyone is
there entitled to a vote on a topic of
governance. So if it's for example to
reduce the county council size and you
call record a vote well then you should
be able to each member of county council
should be able to respond based on their
vote and not on the number of people
that are actually in their municipality.
So
the position of the deputy mayor as
well. I support the I support the
deferral for that reason because I think
we need to see where the governance
committee comes back with some
recommendations because that will kind
of shape how we as a municipality get a
fair shakeddown on our
vote. I'm not sure if you want to offer
anything more on that.
I 100 support that 100% because I know
your vote was the other way in the
initial um session. I voted against it
the whole time. Um I believe you were I
have multiple I have multiple u issues
with going down to 17. Okay. And I will
gladly discuss those if we can defer it
to next meeting and and fully and
fruitfully. I just my biggest concern
right now is to find out what's going to
happen next week at that governance
meeting because like I said it may
change nothing. It may be like this is
what it's going to be and this is how it
is and then we can fruitfully discuss it
in June. That's all I'm asking right
now.
Okay. Anything further, Councelor
Simpson? Um well I I just want to note I
believe the votes were on the record and
I believe you were in favor at the last
meeting. Um however that meeting did not
conclude because there was a walk out.
Um I think at the subsequent meeting you
voted against um so just just for the
record um I'm just curious so does that
mean that you don't think that it's
necessary to have the weighted vote just
just to clarify the position because I
think we're going to be one of the
biggest beneficiaries of the weighted
vote in the future. Well, I would I
would uh I would caution about that. Um
right, unless we unless we unless so you
get a vote for every 2,000 people you
put into the township. So right now I
believe we get five if it was going to a
seven member or 17 member council, I
believe it would be a vote of don't
quote me quote me on this, it would be
five or six for the municipality.
So, we would have to add 2,000 more
people for one additional
vote. And those aren't caught up until
those aren't caught up until the um
yearly I believe it's yearly census
provided by the or yearly information
provided by the clerk's department to
our clerk's department to the county
clerk department. So, we would have to
uh pretty well quadruple our township
uh in a year to get a vote ratio uh to
uh Bradford, Westenberry or Inisville
um or New Techch. Uh we would have to
grow our population. We're at 11,000
now. We'd have to grow our population to
30 to 40,000 in excess uh within two
years. uh to actually get the same
weighted vote as a as one of the more
urban areas in the county. So, I think
it's very difficult to to do that. I
don't I think it's actually I wasn't
suggesting that we're going to have the
same vote as New Tech or Bradford um
just that we are seeing a lot of growth
in our municipality. So, we would have
an increase um more than you know
municipalities in in northern Simco for
example. Yes. potentially. So I know
other areas in in the county and if you
did watch the county council meeting the
last one I did speak to the weighted
vote in that particular reason as to the
weighted vote has been around since 1994
when the county simple act was passed by
the province. The last bylaw that was
updated I believe was 2002 as to how the
weighted vote is uh assessed and how the
population numbers change. Now in 2002
the county of Simco was a far different
place. Bradford West Wellenberry was the
size of um Allison now maybe not even
that as much so Allist was 14,000 people
or new to Compass was 15,000 people 2002
uh they're approaching 40 so you know
there's in 2002 there is a par the
parody I would say had the county
council went to a 17 member county
council at that time would have been not
a weighted if a wait was called it
probably would have still been eight or
nine members to actually have to carry a
question. We've seen a drastic change in
that. And the other item I did mention
to the county as well is that was not at
our choice. For years, the county of
Simco said you cannot grow.
So you've got the planning department or
the province for example in this case
because the province did it by by
numbers saying you can't grow but we'll
grow a growth node in new comps or
Bradford Westbury so they get more power
and we're sitting at the table saying
how's that fair it's not fair everyone
should have the right we talked about
this with strong mayor powers everyone
should have a right at the table to
express themselves to vote on a question
and if we're going to constantly sit at
county council and get called for
weighted vote
uh six or seven members of the county
council would would uh monopolize that
voting power. So why would I want to
show up? Why would I want to go there
and sit there and and just see say here
this is this is what you're going to do
or this is how the county is going to
proceed, you know, shaping things in the
county for the next 20 or 30 years and
we're sitting there with no voice. Uh
that's the troubling aspect of how this
whole system works with the weighted
vote. So I'll go to councelor meadows
next and then I've got councelor cox.
Yeah, I I I totally agree with you. Uh
the the weighted vote was brought down
by the province. They they had they set
up the formula for for the weighted vote
for the county of Simco.
And I don't necessarily agree with the
way it's being utilized
now for, you know, basically the same
reason what the mayor just stated. This
is a procedural matter and I don't think
they use the weighted vote uh when they
implemented this to begin with like when
this whole thing was implemented.
So to use it now to to to do this type
of a procedural decision I I do not
agree with
uh when it came to county council the
last time they they told us basically
you either do it or the province is
going to step in and do it for us
every time. Yeah. Um, I did vote
uh in favor of downsizing the size of
county council the last time, but with
this new strong mayor's power that's
being put into
place, I'm retracting what I'm I I
I want to see a deputy mayor there
because now you got two people there
with two different decisions on any item
that comes to county council.
One has strong mayor powers, but one's
an individual as well. So, he doesn't
have strong mayor
powers. So, because this strong mayor
powers has been put into place, I am
dead against this because you're giving
the mayor even more power to represent
you at county
council. So, I am totally against this.
I'm all for leaving the deputy mayors
there. And if Ford wants to do
something, let him because he he's the
one that's going to look like an Well,
anyways, but I I am I'm I'm all for
keeping the the deputy mayors here and I
believe there's a vote that has to come
to this council with regards to that and
uh it has to be done before June the 3,
I believe it is. So, yeah. So that's
that's part of the discussion and I'm
okay like as the mayor as the deputy
mayor has indicated we can look at a
deferral tonight because we still have
time make a decision uh in the absence
if we put a motion on for deferral this
evening to see what the governance
committee does. Uh, if council chooses
not to defer the item tonight, then we
would have to vote on whether or not we
consent to the county bylaw or not
consent to the county bylaw, and we
could do that tonight. But I think as
the deputy mayor indicated, it's better
to wait for the governance committee to
Well, I' I'd rather make a decision to
to vote in favor of leaving it the way
it is, especially with the strong mayor
powers going into effect
uh than put it off any further and show
us that show them that we don't we don't
care. we stand behind the way it stands
right now going forward for the you know
because of of of what's happened. So I I
I would put that in into play but so
that's it's certainly an option tonight.
So uh councelor Cox
yeah through the chair it seems like
county council is trying to formulate
some sort of superpower team here. All
right. like you give all these mayors
strong strong powers and then you're
going to bring them all together and all
of a sudden instead of having you know
uh more more individuals at the table
you bring less people to the table that
have more power. So I I don't really
agree with that to be honest and um yeah
I'm I'm I'm okay either way. We have a
lot of time until June 30th, 2025. It
see it says here um whether we want to
defer to find more information, but the
the the current uh status I I don't
agree with uh them reducing it. So I
good either way.
Well, I will comment and whether that
changes the deputy mayor's position as
to deferral or not. If we if we want to
take the question to not consent this
evening, that's fine. I will tell you to
be honest, I do not expect the
governance committee to come back with
anything different really meaningful for
a change. I I expect that, you know, not
to say that I'm not waiting for the
information, but from what I've seen and
heard, I I don't think there's going to
be too much in in a change
um in that regard. And if if this
council's supportive of not of not
consenting to the to a change in
composition of county council, then we
could certainly make that recommendation
tonight and move forward with that.
That's just we would just hate to
um you know if there's a if there's a
willingness today to reduce county then
I would say like let's make sure we have
all the information we we can get to
make sure that we're making the right
decision. But if others have already
formulated that idea that's uh told to
council. So I'll go to councelor Simpson
again um through the chair I I I think
you're right when you're u in terms of
the governance committee I don't
anticipate that they're going to be
changing anything. Um again the strong
or not the strong mayor but the the
county powers uh and and the weighted
vote is still applicable there as well.
And so I I don't imagine anything's
going to change. Um I will say with
regard to getting rid of the deputy
mayor um from county council um you know
the there are some benefits to that. You
would reduce the amount of money that
you're spending for a deputy mayor in
county council. Um I I I will say
however that um I I too support uh you
know that there's a second person
representing the municipality uh on that
board and and there is uh um there is a
benefit to the municipality for that
happening. So thank you. Okay. Well, and
I think that's the uh I think that's
concept. And again, we didn't get into
too much details on this and I know the
deputy mayor might have some background
information, but u the savings that
might be expected from eliminating one
member of county council. We've seen in
multiple districts, for example, the
city of Toronto where they cut their
council in half, then turned around and
hired a administrative assistive
administrative assistant to every
counselor. Uh and I think the same would
apply for the county. you go to a
full-time warden, you're going to hire
an administrative assistant to the
county of county's warden. The warden's
job is $180,000 job. What's the
assistance job? Um, you know, so you're
looking at these potentials here where
uh the savings of 400 some odd thousand
at today's rate, hiring three additional
staff to help council along because they
only had 17 members instead of 32 would
probably eat up that uh that savings
pretty quickly. So, so I'm not sure if
you want to share any more information.
I'd be willing to put the question on
tonight not to consent to the bylaw if
that's the will of council. Um, but I'm
not sure if you wanted to provide any
additional information you have. I have
loads of information here that I'm not
going to share with you. Um, if it's the
will of this council to vote it down, I
will gladly call the question now. Um,
and you know, if you get into money,
yeah, there's whatever they called it,
$490,000. It'sund a $150 a resident per
year. Um, and as the mayor stated,
there's going to be EAS and there's
going to be all kinds of hirings there
and that that half a million half a
million bucks is going to disappear
within the next two years. Um, splitting
to me having two people there. I have
the numbers here of everybody. Inisville
has 16 people. There may be two
differing opinions there. So having
having or 16 votes having having the two
different sides there's your democ
democratic process you know it doesn't
always mean I've never always voted the
same as what the mayor has voted there.
So to me the system works great that the
I have a colleague that put out all this
information and and benefits and and
risks. There's two benefits. Saving a
buck 50 a resident a year and the
indisclosed efficiency and
effectiveness. There's a long list of
things that just make it not really
feasible. And I believe many people have
come up and they say, "Oh, they bring
this up every year and it gets voted
down." It probably gets voted down for a
reason cuz it's actually working, you
know. And I'm not fighting this for my
job. This is for the next council coming
up. May not even be me. So, to me, the
way that it is, I think it's wrong. And
if we're uh if we're going to vote this
down, I'll I'll call I'll call the vote
right now. Okay. And I'll just also just
I guess I'll just throw the warning of
the wise here is the triple majority
process as indicated in the letter from
the county. So, the first part of the
triple majority was the passage of the
bylaw from county council. County passed
that. That's the first part of the
triple majority. The second part of the
triple majority is coming down to the
lower tier municipalities. So all 16
municipalities and those councils have
to vote on it. Now what the third part
of the triple majority is is the
electorate in each of the municipalities
that support it. So for example, we're
going right back to the weighted vote
situation here based on population. A if
Bradford, Westbury or Inisville,
Collingwood, Midland for example passes
this resolution to consent to this then
we would still be outnumbered because we
don't have the population numbers to
provide any um to provide any substance
to the to the negative.
So, I will just caution council that
whether we make a decision tonight or
not, it may not be the decision that
comes out to county council and it may
not be the decision of the majority
of of uh of the municipalities either
because it will certainly revert back to
the population base of the larger
municipalities. So, it'll be very
interesting to see how this plays out
next couple weeks. I will note I believe
madam clerk informed me today that uh
two municipalities have already deferred
this item until next month to have a
discussion on what the governance
committee was doing. So I think there
there is a certainly a mixed or a varied
uh approach to this initiative. So I I
think at the end of the at the end of
the day if if if this council wants to
make a decision then I can put the
motion on the floor as to not consent
and we can and can see where we want to
go. So if
Okay. So, let's let's put the motion on
and then uh we can go from there after
for additional comments. So, the motion
would read that the council of the
township of
agatasio not consent to the county of
Simco bylaw
711925 being a bylaw to change the
composition of council of the
corporation of the county of Simco and
that a copy of this resolution be sent
to the county
clerk. Okay. Okay. So, we would not be
consenting to the bylaw that's been
passed by county council. Okay.
Councelor Olri, I did see your hand. Did
you want to provide additional comment?
I just wanted to support our deputy
mayor.
Okay. Thank you. And deputy mayor, did
you have any additional comments?
No, I'm fine. If the will council is not
to go forward with this, then I'm fine
to vote with that right now because I I
did want information. We can wait. Um, I
don't think it's going to change my mind
unless it's radically changed. Um,
okay. I'm okay with the vote. All right,
Council Meadows. Yeah, I was just
wondering if uh we should accompany a
letter for that supporting
uh supporting our decision here on
council. The I I'll look to the I'll
look to the clerk, but I don't believe
the county is not really looking for
anything. They're looking They're
looking really for a yes or no. and and
that's that's kind of all they're
looking for. So, Madam Clerk, thank you,
worship through the to council. Um the
county is just looking for the motion
that council is passed, but as the
recommendation already or the motion
already does include that a copy of the
resolution be sent to the county, we
always do that put that into a
resolution letter stating that council
and the state made this decision. Well,
can I suggest that we do a recorded vote
on this, please?
Sure. That's your certainly your
request. Okay. Any uh any further
comments or questions on the topic? All
right. So, you've all heard the motion.
Everybody's okay with the wording of the
motion. Okay. Uh so, madame clerk, I'll
have you uh do a recorded vote on the My
apologies, your worship. I didn't catch
a mover and seconder for this motion.
Sorry. Uh I may have not uh done that.
So, um I've got Deputy Mayor Locks and
I've got councelor Meadows.
Your worship. Starting with councelor
Meadows on the recorded vote on the
motion to not consent to the county
council bylaw. Councelor Meadows in
favor or against? In favor.
Councelor Borzo in favor or against? In
favor. Councelor Cox in favor or
against? In favor. Councelor Oir in
favor or against?
Councelor Simpson in favor or
against. Deputy Mayor Locks in favor or
in favor. And Mayor Anderson in favor or
against? In favor. That's seven in
favor, zero against. All right. So, that
carries seven to zero.
All right. That was a very uh very good
conversation.
First, that was the first recorded vote.
We've had multiple unanimous votes.
Yes. Yes.
Right. All right. So, that was uh the
correspondence. So we are on to
[Music]
bylaws. All right. First bylaw 161 is
2025 032 amend bylaw
0421 and that's to regulate parking in
the township at Tashanio. So that bylaw
2025 032 being a bylaw to amend bylaw
0421 as amended being a bylaw to
regulate the parking in the township of
a Toronto will be enacted. Do I have a
mover for that recommendation? I have
councelor Ori and the second by
Cox. Uh any questions on the bylaw? All
those in favor and that is carried.
Seven to nothing. We
should 16.2 2 is bylaw
202533 uh 2025 final tax rates and ratio
levy bylaw. That bylaw 2025 033 being a
bylaw to establish municipal rates and
tax ratios for the year 2025 and to
provide for the collection of interest
into repeal bylaw 2024 033 be enacted in
a mover please. I have
councelor Simpson and a seconder please.
I have Deputy Mayor
Locks. Any questions with regards to the
tax ratio and tax rate
by seeing none, all in favor? And that
is
carried. 163 is bylaw
2025034, which is library service with
uh agreement with the Clear View Public
Library Board. That bylaw 2025 034 being
a bylaw to authorize the execution of a
library services agreement with the
Clear View Public Library Board be
enacted. A mover, please have councelor
Cox, second by councelor
Borzos. Any questions to this
agreement? So, you're you're you're
just too slow for
Okay, all those in favor and that is
carried.
And while we're passing these bylaws, by
the way, because we do have a lot,
there's two agreements here, Clear View
and New Dumpsa. And I will encourage all
residents that we do have these
agreements and if you do uh wish to uh
utilize the services of either of these
libraries, we also have one with the
ESSA public library uh to to do so
because uh these are great resources in
our community and they provide great uh
a great resource for us without the
actual need to build and maintain a
library here. Uh so 164 is bylaw
202535 bought library service agreement
with town of newcomes. uh sorry new to
comes public library board so that bylaw
2025034 being a bylaw to authorize the
execution of a library services
agreement with new dumpsa public library
board be enacted and a mover please I've
depir locks and a second by councelor
oli all those in favor and that is
carried all right so we're on
to notice motion 17.1 1. Uh the notice
motion this evening is whereas the
township has an obligation to provide
safe drinking water and to keep
residents informed of any potential
health
risks and whereas the trial tri I'll get
this right
trial levels in the Lorettto WKA
drinking water system were observed at
101.3 UGL running annual average exce
exceeding the Ontario drinking water
standard of 100 UGL by 1.3% and the
township was not notified with the
statutory time frame within the
statutory time frame and whereas since
the exceedence township staff in
cooperation with Ontario Clean Water
Agency have identified and assessed
methods of mitigation and control of THM
levels in the Lorettto water system. Now
therefore be resolved that an official
notice of exceedence and information
regarding the potential side effects of
THM and the works completed to mitigate
the potential for occurrence be included
in the July 2025 water bills. And
further that the report with
recommendations and next steps be posted
to the township website no later than
May 15,
2025. and further that anytime THM or
any other contaminant levels exceed the
Ontario drinking water standard,
residents and council receive a
notification of the exceedence within 10
business days through the township
website, which will include the
following information. recorded
contaminant levels, sample numbers and
dates, potential health implications,
steps taken by the Ontario Clean Water
Agency and the township to address the
issue, including any precautionary
measures residents should take, if any,
and further that Aqua through township
staff submit a quarterly report on water
quality, including THM levels, to be
posted on the township website and
circulated to council through email that
include monthly readings when available
with sample dates, levels, and their
correlation to Ontario drinking water
standard
guidelines. And further that township
staff
uh sorry and further that township staff
invest in investigate and prepare a
report to council on alternate water
sources for all settlement areas
including but not limited to feasibility
of connecting to the Georgian uh
pipeline cost estimates and
implementation timeline summarizing
findings in a detailed report presented
to council by no later than August 31st
2025. So councelor Borzos you made that
motion. Are you continue you wish to
continue to put that on the floor? I
would like to. Yes. And if I may through
the chair just uh wanted to present an
acknowledgement here to my colleague
councelor Meadows here for providing the
framework for this one and just to uh
recognize the fact that the the actual
incident happened in his uh ward and and
so I feel that this is a teamwork. It's
not my motion by myself. It's a it's
it's a culmination of all what we were
looking for in terms of water and maybe
this is just the first step in the right
direction. Thank you.
Okay.
Um if you'd like I can get a second or
if you like we can just discuss the the
topic as it's up to you councelor
if colleagues have comments by any means
please forward. All right sounds good.
So that is procedural. Uh yeah, that's
fine for for that.
Yeah. All right. Comments, questions. I
have councelor
Cox. Yeah. Through this uh chair to the
CEO. Uh the time frames provided, are
they um like adequate enough for staff?
Like I know staff is definitely uh they
have a lot on their plate. So I want to
make sure like one of them is tomorrow.
So I just want to make sure that the
time frames are acceptable or if there's
any like adjustments that would be
recommended for this to be able to be
done properly and it effectively through
our staff time. Mr. Se uh through Mr.
Mayor to the counselor. Um the
notification on the website and the date
for the notification going out with the
water bills is something that uh staff
can do. The with respect to uh reporting
back to council. Um it would be
preferential to have that either in the
September council meeting or the October
council meeting if uh if that is uh the
will of council.
Okay. Councelor Cox supplementary.
Uh is there anything else within this
motion that may be overbearing on the
staff presently given the current
complement of staff?
Mr. Seio, uh through you, Mr. Mayor, I
believe that the current staff uh will
be able to execute this uh as uh
written. Again, the preference would be
for the council meeting uh of September,
October for the Fulsome report back,
which would give uh an opportunity uh
for all the work that would be necessary
to fully inform a council report.
Mike, I can I propose a fing motion that
we adjust or amend the motion to adjust
that time frame to maybe let's say
September 30th. Sure, we can uh repark
that for now and come back to that
question. Okay. All right. Uh, councelor
Simpson to the chair.
Um, I will note uh just for the record
that I've had many residents reach out
to me um ever since our March meeting on
Aqua um regarding this issue and the
need for posting uh these numbers
online. Um I know we've had that
discussion in the past. Um, and I think
uh this is a good motion that that
captures all of that. And um uh I'd be
in favor of seconding the motion if
there isn't a seconder already. So
uh I've got Deputy Mayor Locks. Uh and
then Councelor Meadows. Uh thank you
through the chair.
Um, so my biggest concern uh with this
motion
was CEO possibly
um said it was all right with the effect
of putting all the information out on in
the water bills um just for time time
wise and staff wise that's that's not an
issue at all you believe
uh through Mr. mayor will put as many
facts as we can with gathering with that
time and put that out. Um some of these
things are are fairly wide known. There
is some uh data behind them and I
believe that um depending on when the
water bills go out uh but for a July
water bill uh yes I think that we can
hit that that particular time frame.
Okay. um supplement. Um the other was
that I I believe so aqua have they
stepped up from just a yearly report to
quarterly after the incident is that
so Mr. CO no but like reporting like to
on the triath these things are on the
actual reporting there's two things that
are that they've been doing but I'll let
the co explain so on the thms first
maybe Chris and then we can if you want
to talk about I think it's already in
the motion but I think Aqua's stepped up
to also provide quarterly reports
regardless of this motion or not so if
you'd like to just capture those two.
Yeah I was just wondering if that was
redundant but CEO can explain that I
guess uh through Mr. Mayor, um the
um third party drinking water aqua uh
has since provided our monthly read in
quarterly reports but broken down with
the monthly readings. Uh they actually
have uh weekly reading readings that
they collect and then again it's
summarized monthly and also uh
summarized with the running annual
average which uh was within um the
motion put forward. it is
um the note of a running uh running
annual average RA. Uh so all of those uh
information and the breakdown of
information including their weekly uh
samples are all within those reports.
Can can you just clarify as to what
those we've seen good results with those
reports and uh could you cl clarify just
for council as to where that's where
that's at? Uh through you Mr. mayor and
to uh to all of council uh and the
public. The latest u April monthly
readings the average is down to half.
It's at 50 milligrams per liter and the
RR the running annual average is down to
53 micrograms per liter. Uh so again
it's well below the 100 uh RR 100
micrograms per liter as as uh previously
read. Okay. And I'll just I guess I'll
just piggyback on that one comment as
well that so the reports recommending or
the um resolution is asking for
quarterly reports and I believe Aqua's
already stepped up and have will or can
provide that with regards to uh those
quarterly reports without the
involvement of council resolution I
guess. So just wanted to confirm that
that's their their goal is to do that.
That's correct Mr. Mayor. Okay. So let's
go. Sure. carry on and and all these
reports they're easily accessible on the
website. Correct.
Through the mayor, we will be posting
them as of as as noted in the council
resolution. If passed, then it will be
uh posted on the website at that'll be
changing from ideally it was just yearly
numbers that we received. We would be
posting them as council uh votes on this
uh if it's passed and that's what we'll
be doing. And one last aspect. Yeah. And
I just might add they're going to I
don't think staff are going to do it
regardless if council passes the
resolution tonight or not. Excellent. If
Aqua's providing us quarterly reports,
we're going to be providing data. Okay.
Absolutely. And just finally, if you
may,
you may. I
may. Um the last part of the um notice
of motion is is just slightly concerning
to me of looking for for um different
sources of water because if if we do
find a really good source of water, your
township may grow may grow substantially
more than you want it to. Okay.
Oh, then we'll get more votes. Anyways,
that's all. Uh I do believe we have uh
the staff has already looked out but I
guess they will look out once more for a
different water water source if
available. All right. Thank you. Okay.
I've uh councelor
metals. Um next. Yes. Thank you through
the chair. Yeah, that this came to me uh
one of my concerning uh points was the
fact that uh the trihalomemethane levels
jumped up to over 120 uh before anybody
even recognized uh this issue was
happening. That was that was the one
thing that really bothered me. We're
paying we're paying Aqua quite a bit of
money as an organization to look after
our water and this fell through the
cracks.
Trialomemethanes are nothing to mess
around with because they're
cancer-causing uh uh problems within our
water
system. Now, this is where I have a bit
of an issue as well. Under in Ontario,
uh we're measured under 100 parts per
million or whatever it is, uh UGL's,
whatever you want, micrograms,
micrograms,
UGLs. Europe is under 30.
Okay.
Now, what about
children? What's the acceptable rate for
a
child? That's an adult now that's taking
in this 120. What's an acceptable rate
for a child for for
trihalmethanes? And this is the problem
I have. There is no
constant or size for anything with
regards to these. Now, I we had problems
with our water up in New Market when I
was young and there was a lot of cancer
uh rates that shot up in my subdivision
alone. I'm not trying to scare people,
but I'm just I'm just trying to make
things real. This is water. This is
something they pay for. This is
something our families are drinking on
an annual basis.
That's why I brought this up in the
first place and I was quite upset that
it didn't go
through. Very
upset. We have to be cognitive of the
emergencies that happened in this
township and we have to have the
reserves and a secondary backup for
things when they go wrong. And that's
why the last portion of this is very
important to look into alternate water
supplies for this township. If we're
going to expand as a township, we're
going to need these supplies because we
don't have the infrastructure to support
it right
now. And Kan's already looking to
expand. You know, like it's you you got
developers knocking on your back door
all the
time and we cannot go into this well if
knowing there's
problems. Lorettto, I've already heard
uh from from in the past that there's a
developer knocking on the door there as
well. How can we sit here as a
council knowing that there's a problem
with this particular well to allow
another subdivision to go in to put
stress on that water supply? if we don't
know these levels and don't understand
how to read these reports or I I was
surprised when when I was told that this
report came forward to the council and
there was nothing wrong with it and that
was told to us there's nothing wrong
with the water yet there was a
deficiency that was not put forward
properly or recorded properly to this
council and we're making decisions were
all responsible for for the well-being
of the people in this
township. And we're the ones that go to
jail, not the people at the township. We
are, not Aqua. We are because we make
the decisions and they're giving us the
wrong
information. So, just keep that in
mind. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you, counselor. Um, I see
your hand. Councelor, I'm going to speak
first and then I'll come to you.
Um, I do have some concerns with just
how we report this information.
Um, we've sat here, we've had a
discussion at our at the one regular
council meeting. We had Aqua come back
in and and provide a detailed
presentation and analysis of what of
what's going on and and how they're
mitigating the concerns that council
addressed to them. Uh we've heard
tonight as well that they're doing um
weekly of course weekly testing and
monthly uh recording of all the of of
THM particularly in the Lorettto system
and we've seen a considerable decrease
in that. So, there are a couple things
that are concerning. And the first
thing, again, I I want to be very clear
that we do have an obligation as a
council and as a township to provide
safe, clean drinking water to everyone
who is on a municipal service and we do
do that. There was a running exceedence
in the THMs in Lorettto over a year ago.
Knowing that information now doesn't
really change the fact that this
happened over a year ago. Um, so I do
respect the idea that residents need to
be
informed, but I would argue that the
residents in Lorettto need to be
informed because my concern here is
reporting out that we have T high THM
levels in our municipal water system,
which are generally in the water system
anyways because it's chlorine and and
um natural. I'm thinking about the word.
It's not natural.
um organics in the water system. Thank
you. Uh organic and and chlorine mixing
that provide that promotes this THM. So
all systems do
have some of this in the in the system
and that's why it's reported to us in
the annual report. So, my concern is is
that we have we have seven hamlets that
have water
systems, and we're going to send out a
notice in the in the water bill to all
these seven hamlets. And the first thing
anyone is going to do is pick up the
phone and inundate this township with
phone calls after phone calls after
phone calls saying, "What's wrong with
my
water?" And there's absolutely nothing
wrong with the municipal drinking water
in this township. And I have a concern
that we are going to inundate our staff.
We're going to inundate ourselves with
these requests. And I'm all for
providing as much information to the
public as possible, but in the best way
possible. And I have a fear that we put
this out to to the to the water users in
their water bill and we will have those
phone calls. We will have those
concerns. We will have a packed council
chamber at the next council meeting
saying, "What is wrong? What's on fire?
Where's the fire?" and saying what are
you doing about it and we've already
addressed those issues and so I again I
don't want to put fear in anyone I don't
want to have that conversation of you
know we're providing unsuitable water to
to our residents we are providing clean
safe drinking water to our residents and
so I I would caution and I'm going to
suggest to the mover and potentially
secondary that that we could remove that
item if we are providing this
information on our website in any ways
uh we're providing providing that
information. Um there the reports are
going to be quarterly moving forward.
We're looking at progress. We're not
looking at the past. We're looking at
progress. And if we're going to provide
quarterly reports on our on our website,
then I think we kind of satisfy the need
to um to go allin on on providing on
providing this in our water bills. So, I
would be looking to to council to um
strike that section and that we not
provide that in our water bills because
I think the harm it will do to the
municipality uh outweighs the
good. Um I do concur with the concept
and to the CEO that potentially we could
add uh the deadline to October 31st,
2025 for staff report to come back. And
in the last item and and the deputy
mayor kind of u hinted at this as to and
it's been talked about
um finding alternate water supplies uh
in the township is certainly something
we could do. There is a desire to see
some crossborder services between
municipalities and something that staff
um and myself could certainly
investigate a bit further. We've already
had some initial meetings on that topic.
Um, so we could certainly investigate
that a bit more and and submit a staff
report to to council
uh on the need for that. Again, my
concern
is comes back to kind of the development
aspect. Um, we know we have developers
in the neighborhood looking to provide
uh services. Um, and we've sat here time
and time again and said the developers
should be paying for services. But if we
preemptively go out and find an
alternative water supply, then we're
actually the ones that are actually now
encouraging the development uh
encouraging the developers to come in
using our services that we're now
providing to the municipality. So, I
think there it's kind of like a catch 22
here. Um, we can certainly explore this
opportunity. Uh but we're talking about
like you know Everett being right now
the size of 5,000 you know 5,000 people
like adding additional water services
and other services to the municipality
like we could see you know we've talked
about growth plans here to see a
population inevit of 10,000 people we
could see that go to 20 or 40,000 people
in the next 10 years
um in Lorettto growing another by
another five or 5,000 and Kan growing by
another 10,000 by providing these
services.
So, you know, if if that's the the
implication of going down this road and
the willingness of council to see our
township grow from 11,000 to 50,000 or
60,000 people within the next 20 years,
um that's going to be a legacy that we
are going to leave behind as well. So,
I've had concerns. There's been concerns
around the table as to what development
we want to see. How do we control
development and looking at alternative
water supplies is actually feeding into
that development initiative. And I'm
okay with getting that information back
and seeing what the cost would be and
things like that, but it's very going to
be very interesting to see who's going
to be knocking on our door next and
saying, "Well, you got a suitable water
supply here. We can do municipal um
sewage for you." and um off you go. And
we've we've quadrupled our population
and the town township uh in the next 10,
15, 20 years. I'm not sure if that's the
intent behind the proposal to do this.
Like I know we need to provide safe
clean drinking water, which we are doing
now. So adding an alternative water
source isn't going to provide cleaner
and safer drinking water. It's going to
provide the necessity for a developer to
come and say, "You've got capacity in
your system. We're going to we're going
to grow and we're going to intensify
this township as much as we can. So
that's I'm worried with the implications
of how far this might lead us down a
path of no return. So that's a concern
that I do have. I'm okay with the like I
said the two other amendments of trying
to if we want strike the the um the date
out and put a different date for a staff
report if that's the case, if that's
where we want to go. But as the motion
stands right now, I can't support it for
that reason.
of it. There's almost three or four
different asks within a single motion.
You know, if we were wanting to just
provide data to our residents, then we
could do one motion. You know, that's
something that we're happy to do. Um but
then when you tie in, we want to explore
other options and then you want to tie
into that to explore
um how these things are reported to the
township. Like again, I don't want to
find fault with with a lot of this, but
if if we have a contaminant level, if we
have ecoli in our water system, I'm not
waiting 10 business days to get
notified. I'm notified the next day. We
have a boil water advisory on everyone's
door. Like, this is how serious that is.
Aqua gets an adverse contaminant result
in the system and it's ecoli. Everyone
on that system is boiling their water.
Like, it is serious. So to say that
we're going to have things posted out to
council 10 days like there's there's
legislation that already permits and
that restricts what you can do. And and
I'm I'm looking at our staff. That's
exactly what we do. We make sure that
everyone has safe, clean, potable water.
Um and I don't want to I don't want to
lose sight of that that this motion
doesn't do that. this. We have an
obligation to all our residents to make
sure that we do that regardless of
whether we post it online or not. We are
making sure that that water is drinkable
and safe for our community. So, I'll
leave those comments as they are there
for now. Um, as I said, as I can't
support the motion fully and this forum.
So, I do have
council and then I can go back around
the table if there's other comments or
questions. You're the chair.
Um my issue is
uh is when these tests were over a
hundred was there additional uh were the
water manes swabbed within that period
because that would uh bring all the
organic matter up from the underside of
the mains and that would mix with the
chlorine therefore would increase your
thms. So, I mean, there's not enough
information here. Uh, if they're down at
50 now,
obviously, like this is the spring of
the year. You would think that, uh, if
there's a lot of THM in the water, we
would be getting it now because of the
the flooding, right? But I'm thinking
that maybe there's something to do with
Aqua should be should answer some
questions as to when these mains were
swabbed and things like that to verify
that these results are what they are.
Anyways, that's my opinion. Thank you.
Okay. Thanks. Did Chris, do you want to
offer any comment on that or I think
they're monitoring, right? So
uh through you Mr. Mayor uh correct they
are monitoring. They did did uh a
chlorine chlorination additional
chlorination. Um so as as noted we will
be putting up the corrective actions
that uh they have done up on our website
and um and it would explain all of those
with regard to uh the well uh pump house
number one, number two and uh and number
three within Lorettto Heights.
All right. So, I saw several hands
before and I believe I saw councelor
Simpson. You had a comment or question
again.
That's what I'm looking at my list and
uh I was going to just kind of go around
in the same order unless councelor Cox
did you have any more questions or
comments? Okay. So, councelor Simpson.
Okay.
Um so, I I will note um just as a
response to some of the items that you
had uh brought forward, Mayor. Um, you
know, there there was a fire. Um, I
think what residents want to know is how
did we fix that? And and and I think um
in terms of providing that notice,
that's what they're looking to us to do,
right? What did we do? How did we fix
it? How are we going to make sure that
this doesn't happen again? and and this
uh this notice of
motion shows what we did, how we fixed
it, and how we're looking to fix it in
the future and to prevent these kind of
incidences from happening. Um
especially, you know, Aqua had an
obligation to provide council with those
updates. I know we get those updates um
periodically when there are issues that
are identified. Here's an issue that was
identified, but we never got notice of
it. and and the hope is that if we're
putting forward these quarterly reports
um that we're notified and and so are
residents, right? The more eyes on a
situation or on any potentiality
um we can address it in in a more
proactive manner. So, so that's that's
what the hope is um with with the notice
um you know and I and I respect your
point on you know maybe not everybody
needs to get a a notice um for all the
drinking systems but but certainly I
think if the notice identifies that hey
it was in the WA system uh that this
issue occurred I think residents are
going to be um understanding of that I
don't think anybody's going to be
alarmed um undo July um with regard to
the contaminant levels and and you did
mention um the boil water advisory and
things like that. Um I think the intent
of the the motion is that this is a
floor. Um legislation already takes
precedence when it comes to other issues
and other exceeded. So I I don't think
that that's you know the intent of this
is this is just putting a floor um
especially with regard to
thms. Um with regard as the secondary I
guess I I I would note that um I'm okay
with changing the date from August to
October um or September um as the case
may be. Um I will note that there is a
need to understand what the costs are um
with connections. um these doing these
studies at this time doesn't obligate us
or force our hand in terms of connecting
to any one of these systems or anything
of that sort. It just gives council an
idea of what are the costs involved,
right? Um we are seeing significant
growth in Everett um coming forward with
2,000 homes and according to the reports
and the populations um that are
anticipated I believe it's about 6,000
to 8,000 people. That's what council has
seen for the additional 2,000 homes. So
with those kind of developments coming
in place in our
municipality, we have an opportunity
right now where if we identify, hey,
what is that cost to have this, you
know, connect to that pipeline and if
that's going to provide safe drinking
water, well, what is that cost? And that
cost doesn't necessarily need to be
borne by the municipality. But there's
an opportunity that that cost can be
passed along to the developer because
the developer is the one that's
necessitating
uh this increase in the level of service
that our municipality is providing. So
if we can pass those costs along to the
developer, why shouldn't we, right?
Should we? And this is where the
argument comes in that you know we we
shouldn't work in in in a silo. We
work based on only what we see in front
of us. I think council also needs to
look forward at what are the
opportunities that that we can take
advantage of to avoid those costs on our
residents. Um so so for those reasons I
I I think I I would support it except
for changing that date to September or
October. Thank you. Yeah. Metals.
Yeah. Uh this is where I have I have a
bit of an issue and it's with the number
one when uh Aqua came came here uh
they stated that they drilled a new
well. Okay.
Three wells are feeding the water
supply. Three
wells. One might be
bad, two might be bad, the third one
might be okay. So, you're getting an
average out of three wells. I'd like to
know what what's going on with these
three wells.
That's that's where the one issue is.
The other issue is with
averages like we saw uh from the
report uh one month in April had 120
UGL's. The other one had 13 I believe
then the other one had a
89. So that's why the average dropped.
I don't like using
averages. Averages can skew the
results. Shows that you have a problem
during a certain month and we can't
pinpoint it because we got to ask the
question why. Why is it
happening? So, there's all sorts of
issues around the way we're we're doing
this and getting and getting the
information. And I I
I believe there could be a problem.
there might not be a problem, but to
have the opportunity to source another
water supply if there is a problem
knowing the cost is going to benefit us
in the
end. And that's that's one of the
reasons why I wanted to look for a new
water supply when I put my motion
forward was just to know what the costs
are going to be. It wasn't to hook up or
to to build or anything like that. It
was if there's an emergency, what's it
going to be? We have to be proactive in
these matters. We can't sit back and
wait for an accident to happen or a
system to
fail for us to jump on the bandwagon at
last minute and we're making lastm
minute decisions. That's not the way
we're supposed to be doing business on
this
council. We're talking about all these
reserves we have like people. I mean,
this is people's welfare, and that's
more important to me than anything
sitting on this council is is their
welfare. There's nothing here I would
change except maybe the date because
there's no way we can the way it sits
right now. It's unrealistic for the the
staff to bring that forward as a
report, but the rest of it I have no
problem with.
Thanks. Uh, councelor Borzos.
Thank you, mayor. Thank you through the
chair to the council. I I just wanted to
sort of reflect on your comments
regarding several different items rolled
into one motion. I don't believe that
for a moment this is all stemming from
the same problem and so therefore it one
builds on another. So I don't I can't
see this separating uh one thing from
another. Um with respect to the
other or final part in the with the um
what do you call
this the alternative water source like
councelor Simpson pointed it out just
because we have the report just because
we have the information that doesn't
necessarily doesn't necessarily mean
that we have to actually expose that to
any kind of developer or tell them hey
come on over we got like extra five
billion gallons of water for you. We
don't have to do that. we do we just
come back to council on a public
meeting. So that's what I'm that's my
that's my fear.
If they do then do I mean I'm sure
there's there are ways ways around it to
to to figure out a proper next step but
this is simply for information just to
have an alternative because take Everett
for example I mean we have the aquifer
there how many more wells can they drill
into the same aquifer to get that water
anyhow uh I think I I respect your point
regarding the dates and the council's
comments regarding the dates so October
31st is perfectly ally agreeable to me
and also uh just to
u sort of un with the understanding of
who needs to be notified perhaps the
section that uh deals with the uh uh
information being provided to the uh
residents with the water bills at the
end we can perhaps uh put in there that
July 2025 water bills for all residents
on the WCO
system and so if that is possible I
don't know I have to look to staff to
find out if this is even possible to
separate wack like Lorettto residents or
how much of a work it is to separate the
residents in Lorettto and just in insert
the uh notices in their water bills as
opposed to the entire township water
users but I would be open to uh to
change that to uh to just Lorettto
residents
if and that's all the comments I have.
Thank you for anybody and everybody who
commented on it. Good or bad? Well, I'll
go to the treasurer then on the water
bills as to whether or not we could
separate just the rental uh system for
notification
[Music]
through the chair uh to council. Yes,
staff have the ability to uh have the
inserts for water bills for certain just
for Kan or Weta
just like we would do for a boiled order
boiled water.
So that'd be up to you whether you want
to look at changing that. I would like
to. Yes.
Okay. Um so I haven't taken the
secondary yet on that. So if you're if
you'd like to change that on the fly, we
can do that. So it'd be just to force to
be included in the uh July 2025 water
bills for Lorettto or WA users or
Loretta. It's the same system. Yeah. So,
whichever verbage you prefer. And then
the date for the uh final report from
August 31st to October 31st. October.
Sorry. Um I just wanted to identify um
when this notice goes out, I think it's
important that the notice also says,
hey, look, this is what we've done to
fix it. And um so I I think it's okay
for that notice to go to everybody just
identifying that the issue was in the
Wacka system in Lorettto, right? Um but
also that it says, "Hey, look, you guys
can go here to find more information,
right? Because we're going to be putting
it online." So, uh, that provides the
notice to residents, um, in terms of
what they can do to to be aware of, you
know, forgive the conversation. I don't
disagree with you, but I think in this
particular case, maybe a soft delivery
to non Lorettto residents might be a
better idea as opposed to put just Okay.
Is there a motion? I I do see the
mayor's point on the possible confusion.
I just Yeah. Well, and without seeing
like I know staff are going to draft up
this notice if if if approved tonight.
So, it very well is going to be fairly
clear that this is not an ongoing s
issue in all all of our systems, but
there is a chance for confusion and I
think that's where the issue where it
lies with me and so I I'm okay. So, I
appreciate that. So, we're make so we're
make that change, madam clerk. So it
just be that
um be included in the July 2025 water
bills for
Lorettto and then you were comfortable
with the change of the date at the staff
report come back no later than October
31st 2025. Yes, I would be okay.
And they very well it's no later. So
they could bring it back in September if
they if they have it. Yes.
Okay. So you're you're comfortable with
that, Councelor Borzos? Okay. So,
Councelor Simpson, are you still
comfortable in seconding that motion?
Yes, I am.
Okay. All right. We've had thorough
discussion on it, unless there's any
other initial comment or other comments
or
questions. Okay. All right. So, I'm
prepared to call the question then. So
all those in
favor and that is
carried. All right. Were there any other
notices motions that were presented
tonight? See none. So item 18 is new
business. We have none. And 19 is the
confirmation bylaw. So that bylaw
2025036 being a bylaw to confirm the
proceedings of the council of the
township of agata rantio at its regular
council meeting held on May 14th 2020
2025 being acted. We have a mover
please councelor Cox and I will second
that motion
tonight. All those in favor and that is
carried and we are adjourned at 9:17
p.m. Thank you council. Enjoy the long
weekend.