[58:22] All right. Good evening, everyone. This
[58:24] is our regular council meeting of May
[58:26] 14th,
[58:28] 2025. I will now call the meeting to
[58:30] order at 6:30 p.m. and acknowledge that
[58:31] all members of council are
[58:33] present. Before I begin, I'll share the
[58:36] land township land
[58:37] acknowledgement. The township of
[58:39] Agelatas Rantio is situated on the lands
[58:42] within treaty 18 being the traditional
[58:44] territory of the ananab and shabag
[58:47] peoples including the jiuway the dawa
[58:49] and the podawatami nations collectively
[58:51] known as three fires confederacy. This
[58:53] land is home to many to diverse first
[58:55] nations inuit peoples. We acknowledge
[58:58] indigenous peoples as stewards of the
[59:00] land and we honor their resilience as
[59:02] well as their culture and of our shared
[59:03] respect for the lands, plants, animals
[59:05] and water waterways which sustains us
[59:07] all.
[59:09] We recognize the injustices against
[59:11] indigenous peoples and are mindful that
[59:12] the decisions of government impact our
[59:14] shared land and all the inhabitants. We
[59:17] commit to reconciliation as a journey,
[59:19] foster indigenous cultural awareness and
[59:21] educational opportunities, establish
[59:24] respectful and healthy relations with
[59:25] indigenous peoples, continue to steward
[59:27] the land in its inhabit in inhabitants,
[59:30] and to cultivate an inclusive community
[59:33] for
[59:36] all. This evening there was no closed
[59:39] session. So we are in open session at
[59:41] 6:30. As a reminder everyone including
[59:44] council that
[59:45] uh please uh silence all cell phones and
[59:48] other electronic devices for the
[59:50] duration of the
[59:53] meeting. And item
[59:55] four which is the do sorry the
[59:58] additions. Uh there is one addition that
[1:00:00] we would like to make um this evening.
[1:00:03] Um, so I'll start with this and if
[1:00:05] there's any others from council. Uh, so
[1:00:07] the OP would like to uh make a
[1:00:09] deputation this evening with regards to
[1:00:12] a uh Special Olympics torch run uh to be
[1:00:15] held on June 12th and they would like to
[1:00:17] uh use uh our grounds and the public
[1:00:22] room if uh if at all possible. So they
[1:00:24] would be like uh they would be coming in
[1:00:26] to make a deputation this evening. And
[1:00:29] if there's no objections, I could get a
[1:00:30] mover to
[1:00:32] that. So I have a move by deputy mayor
[1:00:34] that a deputation from the Narosaga OP
[1:00:37] detachment regarding law enforcement
[1:00:38] special Olympics torch run 2025 be added
[1:00:42] to the May 14th, 2025 regular council
[1:00:44] agenda under section 9 deputations as an
[1:00:47] as item 9.2. So that's moved by deputy
[1:00:50] mayor locks. Second, please that moved
[1:00:52] by C second by councelor Simpson.
[1:00:56] Are there any questions with regards to
[1:00:57] this item for
[1:00:59] addition? Seeing none, I do require a
[1:01:01] twothirds majority vote for this
[1:01:03] addition. All those in favor? And that
[1:01:06] is
[1:01:09] carried. Are there any other additions
[1:01:11] for the council agenda this
[1:01:13] evening? All right. Seeing none, the
[1:01:16] recommendation for the adoption of the
[1:01:17] agenda is therefore that coun that the
[1:01:19] agenda for the regular council meeting
[1:01:20] held on Wednesday, May 14th, 2025 as
[1:01:24] amended be
[1:01:26] adopted. Any questions? Move her,
[1:01:29] please. Councelor Simpson, seconded by
[1:01:32] councelor Cox. All those in
[1:01:36] favor? That is
[1:01:39] carried. Item six is disclosure of
[1:01:42] precinary interests. Are there any
[1:01:44] disclosures of particular interest at
[1:01:46] this
[1:01:46] time? Seeing none, if you do find
[1:01:48] yourself in that situation at a later
[1:01:50] time, please declare
[1:01:52] then. And we're on to item seven, which
[1:01:54] is the adoption of the minutes. And we
[1:01:56] have the minutes from April 9th, 2025.
[1:01:59] Are there any questions with regards to
[1:02:01] those
[1:02:02] minutes? And seeing none, the
[1:02:04] recommendation is that the minutes of
[1:02:06] the regular council meeting held on
[1:02:07] Wednesday, April 9th, 2025 be adopted as
[1:02:09] presented. Mover, please. I have Deputy
[1:02:12] Mayor Locks, second please. Councelor
[1:02:15] Borzos and all those in favor of
[1:02:18] minutes. That is
[1:02:25] carried. So that takes us to
[1:02:28] presentations. We have no presentations
[1:02:30] this evening and then we are on to
[1:02:32] deputations. So we do have the two now
[1:02:34] this evening.
[1:02:35] So the
[1:02:37] firstation is uh from Keon Watson and
[1:02:41] the founder of a board and board member
[1:02:43] of reach and serve foundation
[1:02:45] incorporated regarding the school
[1:02:46] backpack drive. So sir if you'd like to
[1:02:48] come to the
[1:02:56] podium welcome and the floor is all
[1:02:58] yours. Thank you so much, Mayor U. Mayor
[1:03:01] Anderson, member of council. Good
[1:03:03] evening. Uh, thank you so much for the
[1:03:05] opportunity to speak with you today. My
[1:03:07] name is Ken Watson, and I am accompanied
[1:03:10] by Albino uh um Kawuchi in my back. is a
[1:03:14] member of our board member also and
[1:03:17] we're here today on behalf of Reach and
[1:03:19] Serve Foundation um to respectfully
[1:03:22] request uh for your approval of waving
[1:03:25] the fee uh for upcoming uh school
[1:03:27] backpack drive which will be held on
[1:03:30] August 23rd, 2025 of this year. And uh
[1:03:34] um regarding this annual this is the
[1:03:36] annual backpack drive that we have
[1:03:38] yearly and um the initiative focus on
[1:03:41] providing uh children from lowincome
[1:03:43] families uh in Tatinam, Aliston, Beaton
[1:03:46] and Seronit areas with full staff
[1:03:48] backpack to ensure the success start uh
[1:03:51] to the school year. Each backpack will
[1:03:54] contain essential uh educational
[1:03:56] materials including notebook, pencils,
[1:03:59] binders, calculators, all these things
[1:04:00] that the kids need that they can
[1:04:02] function in school properly. Uh but this
[1:04:05] is uh drive is more than just uh school
[1:04:08] supply. Uh it's about fostering a
[1:04:10] community and the day of the event we
[1:04:13] offer family uh friendly activities such
[1:04:16] as uh bounce about castles, water slide
[1:04:19] and compliment complimentary food. And
[1:04:22] uh this is just our way of giving back
[1:04:23] to the committee and also bringing the
[1:04:26] committee together. Uh it is will be a
[1:04:28] day filled with joy, support and a sheer
[1:04:31] sense of purpose. Our goal this year is
[1:04:34] to distribute 100 backpacks. Uh and with
[1:04:37] your support allowing us to use the
[1:04:39] building or waving the fee uh it will be
[1:04:41] this goal will become a reality. Uh the
[1:04:44] facility will provide the um
[1:04:46] accessibility central and welcoming
[1:04:49] space to reflect the spirit of
[1:04:51] initiative um unity, compassion and
[1:04:54] progress. In closing, I urge you to
[1:04:56] consider our request. Um this will be
[1:04:59] more than just uh waving the fee, but it
[1:05:02] will be an investment in our youth and
[1:05:04] family in our township. Together, we can
[1:05:07] help to ensure that every child has the
[1:05:09] tools they need to succeed and that no
[1:05:12] one in our committee will feel left
[1:05:14] behind. Thank you again for your time
[1:05:17] and consideration and I'm happy to
[1:05:19] answer any question that you may have.
[1:05:22] Great. Thank you very much for the
[1:05:23] deputation. Uh I just have before I go
[1:05:25] to members of council, I just have one
[1:05:27] question. How do you fund the um
[1:05:30] backpacks and supplies? Like is that a
[1:05:32] fundraising initiative that you
[1:05:33] undertake or how is donations?
[1:05:44] Sure. Just can you just confirm the
[1:05:46] mic's on there? Sorry. So So we uh have
[1:05:49] sponsorship letters that we sent to all
[1:05:50] the businesses in Aliston, Tottenham,
[1:05:52] Beaten and uh they got back to us and
[1:05:55] they are the one who sponsor all these
[1:05:57] backpacks and everything we need to um
[1:05:59] to have this um host this event. Okay,
[1:06:01] perfect. It's nice to see the local uh
[1:06:04] economy involved then for sure. Thank
[1:06:06] you. Any other questions from council?
[1:06:08] So, I've got councelor Boros and then
[1:06:09] councelor Cox. Thank you through the
[1:06:12] chair to Mr. Watson. Thank you very
[1:06:14] much. Great initiative. I'm sure there's
[1:06:16] a lot of kids who can take advantage of
[1:06:17] this type of situation especially
[1:06:19] nowadays. You mentioned beaten Tottenham
[1:06:21] allist. Yes. Uh we are in
[1:06:24] Agelattoio. Is this program open to our
[1:06:28] kids as well or is it strictly to Yes.
[1:06:31] New tech kids? So, it's it's open to uh
[1:06:34] uh the township of Agela. Um also um
[1:06:37] it's also open to um uh kids in
[1:06:40] Tottenham and also kids in beaten but
[1:06:43] most of all to alist to this um um area.
[1:06:47] And so how will you advertise or promote
[1:06:49] this event or is there a flyer? Is there
[1:06:52] social media or Yes. So it would be
[1:06:53] through a flyer and social media that's
[1:06:56] where we would advertise all this event
[1:06:58] and plus because we have other families
[1:07:00] that because this is just more than
[1:07:02] backpack we have this is the
[1:07:03] organization that we have lowincome
[1:07:05] household so we have lots of family on
[1:07:07] our roster already in this area that we
[1:07:10] give food or stuff that they may need so
[1:07:13] they have kids that need these um items.
[1:07:16] Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you.
[1:07:17] Okay. Thank you. Councelor Cox the
[1:07:20] chair. I just like to personally thank
[1:07:21] you for all you do for these uh uh the
[1:07:23] underprivileged families. You know, it's
[1:07:25] a very noble thing. So, thank you. Yes.
[1:07:27] Thanks. Okay. Thank you. Any other
[1:07:29] comments from council or questions?
[1:07:33] All right. Seeing none, thank you very
[1:07:34] much for the presentation and uh we will
[1:07:36] uh make a decision tonight. Thank you.
[1:07:43] All right. All right. So, council, there
[1:07:44] is a uh potential motion here drafted um
[1:07:47] that the deputation from Reach and Serve
[1:07:50] Foundation Incorporated regarding school
[1:07:52] backpack drive be received and that the
[1:07:54] rental fees be waved for Reach and Serve
[1:07:56] Foundation to use the municipal grounds
[1:07:59] including the public room, outdoor
[1:08:00] gazebo, and sports fields on Saturday,
[1:08:02] August 23rd, 2025 for the purpose of a
[1:08:05] school backpack drive. and that the
[1:08:08] rental application form be completed and
[1:08:10] proof of insurance be provided to the
[1:08:11] township prior to the event. So, that's
[1:08:13] a standard one we've used in past. Are
[1:08:15] there any questions to that resolution?
[1:08:18] Councelor Meadows. Yeah, I just have a
[1:08:20] question with staff. Uh there's nothing
[1:08:22] going on uh in with regards to those
[1:08:25] events uh like it's not already booked.
[1:08:28] M Reed, uh thank you. Your worship
[1:08:30] through councelor Meadows. Uh so staff
[1:08:33] did put a tentative hold on that date in
[1:08:34] the calendar when we did receive this
[1:08:36] request from the organization. So it is
[1:08:38] available for them. Thank you. Okay. Any
[1:08:40] further questions?
[1:08:42] All right. Seeing none, do I have a
[1:08:43] mover for that recommendation? I have a
[1:08:46] second uh moved by councelor Cox and
[1:08:48] seconded by councelor
[1:08:52] Borazos. Any further questions or
[1:08:54] comments? And all those in favor? That
[1:08:57] is carried. Thank
[1:08:59] you. All right. Uh Mr. Daniels has not
[1:09:02] shown up from the OP. So, what I'm if
[1:09:05] Oh, sorry. I expect you to be in the
[1:09:08] uniform actually this evening.
[1:09:10] Uh I think the last time I seen you, I
[1:09:12] think it was at the maybe at the Banding
[1:09:14] High School actually. Uh so, welcome.
[1:09:18] Thank you. Um the floor is yours for um
[1:09:21] information for the torch run. All
[1:09:24] right. Thank you very much. And I
[1:09:25] apologize for the late deputation. Uh, I
[1:09:28] was hoping that Inspector Mlan would
[1:09:30] have been here to do this, but uh, here
[1:09:33] I am. So, uh, well, he he has all the
[1:09:36] trust in you. So, that's right. Let's,
[1:09:39] uh, hopefully bring this home. So, for
[1:09:41] those of you that aren't familiar, uh
[1:09:43] I'm sure you've heard of the Special
[1:09:45] Olympics as a organization and and what
[1:09:48] they do, and we probably have an
[1:09:49] understanding, but not everyone would
[1:09:52] know that the uh Ontario there's an
[1:09:54] Ontario law enforcement torch run, uh
[1:09:57] which is the largest public awareness
[1:09:58] vehicle grassroots fundraiser for
[1:10:00] Special Olympics.
[1:10:04] Um so, this is uh an opportunity that
[1:10:08] we've had and that we've done. uh we
[1:10:10] started last year uh we held our first
[1:10:14] torch run in this area. So I consider
[1:10:17] you know agiles new tech and also ESSA
[1:10:21] as our detachment area. So that's sort
[1:10:24] of where we're representing. So last
[1:10:26] year it was held in uh New Tums. Uh we
[1:10:29] had a great turnout. Um and we had uh
[1:10:33] over 30 participants and raised over
[1:10:36] $2,100 for local athletes, meaning Simco
[1:10:40] County. Um so those athletes are from
[1:10:43] all over the area. So it could be
[1:10:44] Bradford, wherever. Um, and basically
[1:10:48] the idea of the event is is that uh
[1:10:51] money is raised and then half of it goes
[1:10:54] to the local Special Olympics athletes
[1:10:57] and then the other half goes to the
[1:10:58] actual uh law enforcement torch run
[1:11:01] organization to fund other things like
[1:11:04] actual um Special Olympics events
[1:11:08] um promotional stuff and and things like
[1:11:11] that. So, uh, those athletes were able
[1:11:14] to, uh, walk away with,00 last year, um,
[1:11:17] which was a, a great, um, amount of
[1:11:21] money that could help with their
[1:11:23] training and so on.
[1:11:28] Um so this year we're proposing and
[1:11:31] after learning a few things of from last
[1:11:33] year we'd like to make a few changes and
[1:11:35] and one of the things that we saw was
[1:11:37] this beautiful uh depending on where I
[1:11:40] am now uh track that you have outside
[1:11:43] and uh also the facility uh the
[1:11:46] community room and uh access to
[1:11:50] washrooms are important. So, uh, what
[1:11:53] we're, uh, proposing and asking for is
[1:11:55] that, uh, the town of Agelatas,
[1:11:59] uh, partner with us in this event. Um,
[1:12:03] and that, uh, on June 12th,
[1:12:08] uh, we're looking between the hours of
[1:12:10] 9:00 a.m. till approximately 1:00 p.m.
[1:12:12] being the latest. That's mostly for
[1:12:14] setup and takeown of anything that might
[1:12:16] need to be cleaned up. um step off for
[1:12:20] the run would actually be at 10 and it's
[1:12:22] more of a walk or a run uh around the
[1:12:25] track. So to avoid any road permits or
[1:12:28] any kind of disruptions to roads um and
[1:12:31] also making it a little more accessible
[1:12:34] for folks who may not be able to do an
[1:12:36] actual run. Um we would like uh this
[1:12:40] location for that reason. Um what we're
[1:12:44] asking is that the fees uh be waved for
[1:12:47] the rental um of the community room and
[1:12:52] whatever else um we would require for
[1:12:55] that.
[1:12:57] Um advertising would be done social
[1:13:00] media through the OP. We use our
[1:13:03] platform and uh Torch Run has their own
[1:13:07] sort of platform that they would do any
[1:13:09] sort of other
[1:13:11] um media releases and
[1:13:17] such. All right, that's it. Perfect.
[1:13:22] Um I I don't have any questions for you
[1:13:25] because I support it and it's a great
[1:13:26] initiative. So I do commend you for
[1:13:28] taking that on. Um, I'm going to before
[1:13:31] I just go to look at the resolution and
[1:13:33] we bit out of order on this, but I'm
[1:13:35] just going to look to staff. Is this
[1:13:36] something that we could also advertise
[1:13:38] that um we don't normally close our
[1:13:40] parks and walking track? And I know it's
[1:13:42] fairly popular in the morning hours. And
[1:13:44] I'm just thinking if we can kind of
[1:13:46] advertise uh if council's supportive of
[1:13:48] this uh that that track kind of be not
[1:13:52] off limits but that there's an event
[1:13:53] proceeding in the next couple days on
[1:13:55] June 12th that we're making the public
[1:13:57] aware that uh there is an event going
[1:14:00] on. That's okay. Um so I'll go to
[1:14:03] questions from council. Are there any
[1:14:04] questions or comments? Uh councelor
[1:14:06] medals. Yeah. again like like before is
[1:14:09] there anything booked any events booked
[1:14:11] uh uh for that uh particular day uh
[1:14:14] since this isn't a last minute uh ask
[1:14:18] read worship through to councelor
[1:14:19] Meadows uh I did confirm prior to the
[1:14:21] meeting um that the tracking area is
[1:14:24] available um during the day the only
[1:14:26] event being held here um is that evening
[1:14:28] and that is for our official plan
[1:14:29] openhouse.
[1:14:31] [Music]
[1:14:33] Okay, any further questions or comments?
[1:14:35] All right, seeing none. So there is a
[1:14:37] potential motion here as well. that that
[1:14:39] the deputation from Sergeant Jeremy
[1:14:41] Daniels at NASA PP detachment regarding
[1:14:43] law enforcement special Olympics torch
[1:14:45] run 2025 be received and that the rental
[1:14:48] fees be waved for the Navasago P to use
[1:14:50] the municipal grounds including the
[1:14:52] public room outdoor gazebo sports fields
[1:14:54] and walking track on Thursday June 12th
[1:14:58] 2025 for the purpose of law enforcement
[1:15:01] special Olympics torch run
[1:15:03] 2025 and that the rental application
[1:15:05] form be completed and proof of insurance
[1:15:07] be provided to the township prior to the
[1:15:10] event. Any questions on that? And do I
[1:15:12] have a mover for that recommendation? I
[1:15:14] have councelor Cox and a seconder,
[1:15:16] please.
[1:15:18] Council. All those in favor? That is
[1:15:21] carried. So, the clerk's office will be
[1:15:23] in touch with you, Sergeant. Thank you
[1:15:25] very much. All right. Have a good night.
[1:15:26] Thank you. You too.
[1:15:34] All right. All right. So that leads us
[1:15:35] on to item nine, which is public
[1:15:37] meetings. And for this evening, we have
[1:15:39] no public meetings. And that is on to
[1:15:41] now item 10, which is public
[1:15:45] comment. Members of the public may
[1:15:47] request their comments to be read by the
[1:15:49] clerk or present their comments orally.
[1:15:51] Only public comments related to an item
[1:15:53] on the agenda listed as staff reports,
[1:15:55] correspondence, or bylaws will be
[1:15:56] considered. Members of the public
[1:15:58] wishing to submit public comment can do
[1:16:00] so in writing to our clerk no later than
[1:16:02] 12:00 noon on the day of the meeting.
[1:16:05] And I'll first go to the public here.
[1:16:08] Are there any persons in attendance who
[1:16:10] would like to provide their comments?
[1:16:11] And if so, please raise your hand and
[1:16:13] once called upon, proceed to the podium.
[1:16:15] Are there any persons wishing to speak
[1:16:17] on any items with regards to staff
[1:16:19] report, correspondence, or bylaws this
[1:16:22] evening? Okay, seeing none, madame
[1:16:25] deputy clerk, did we receive any public
[1:16:27] uh comments in writing? Through you,
[1:16:29] your worship, we received no public
[1:16:30] comments in writing. Okay, thank you.
[1:16:35] All right. So, that leads us on to item
[1:16:38] 12, which is upcoming events and
[1:16:40] announcements. Uh, so I do have a few
[1:16:42] announcements uh to start and then I'll
[1:16:44] go to the CEO for a verbal update as
[1:16:46] well. So, just wanted to acknowledge a
[1:16:49] couple events here.
[1:16:52] Um, on May 28th from 400 p.m. to 7:00
[1:16:57] p.m., uh, Glen Karen residents are
[1:16:59] invited to a fun hands-on event to help
[1:17:02] shape the future of the Glen Cararen
[1:17:04] Park. So, this is being held at the park
[1:17:06] off of, uh, second
[1:17:08] concession on May 28th from 4:00 to 7:00
[1:17:11] and families can come and attend and
[1:17:13] design their ideal park using AD toss a
[1:17:17] box. So, we're going to give you some
[1:17:19] dollars to uh provide some opportunities
[1:17:22] on what you'd like to see uh in the park
[1:17:24] itself for some of the equipment ideas.
[1:17:27] Your feedback, of course, will help
[1:17:28] guide future park improvements. And this
[1:17:31] will be the first in a series of
[1:17:32] outreach events. Uh so, we encourage
[1:17:34] everyone to visit a.ca for more
[1:17:36] information uh or watch for our posts on
[1:17:40] social media. The second announcement is
[1:17:42] with regards uh to our official plan. We
[1:17:46] are holding an openhouse event on
[1:17:49] Thursday, June the 12th from 5:30 p.m.
[1:17:51] to 7:30 p.m. here at the township
[1:17:53] office. We'll be in the public room. Um
[1:17:57] there will be additional information
[1:17:58] published online. Uh so please watch for
[1:18:01] that. But we encourage anyone who's been
[1:18:03] following along on the official plan
[1:18:05] process, which has been ongoing for
[1:18:06] about 12 years, uh to uh continue to
[1:18:10] follow along with us and and share some
[1:18:12] of your ideas. the information will be
[1:18:14] posted on the website as to the the um
[1:18:17] official plan draft and the schedules.
[1:18:20] So there will be information online and
[1:18:22] you're able to provide comments and I
[1:18:24] believe if I read correctly in the
[1:18:26] correspondence item this evening or the
[1:18:29] staff report rather um you will have up
[1:18:31] to two weeks after the event as well to
[1:18:33] provide comments uh in to
[1:18:36] staff. Third event is the Ever Legion
[1:18:39] 75th anniversary. We had the
[1:18:42] presentation to council last meeting. Uh
[1:18:45] this event is happening on June 21st and
[1:18:47] we encourage everyone in the township to
[1:18:49] join the Ever Legion and celebrating its
[1:18:51] 75th anniversary. The events for that
[1:18:54] day include Sunrise Yoga if you'd like
[1:18:56] to get up. I believe that's in the wee
[1:18:57] hours of around 5 something. So, if
[1:18:59] you'd like to get up for yoga, a pancake
[1:19:02] breakfast, uh an OP bike rodeo, a
[1:19:05] scouting lunch in international dancers,
[1:19:08] uh there is a dignitary event planned, a
[1:19:11] membersonly dinner um at the Legion, but
[1:19:14] following that dinner, there will be an
[1:19:16] open uh dance um that evening at the
[1:19:20] Legion. And again, for more information,
[1:19:22] we encourage everyone to contact the
[1:19:24] Ever Legion.
[1:19:26] The fourth item is uh children's mental
[1:19:30] health week and it runs from May 5th to
[1:19:32] 11th. Um and as you can see with council
[1:19:35] this evening and the staff we are
[1:19:37] wearing a green ribbon. Uh these uh this
[1:19:42] um health children's health week is to
[1:19:44] raise awareness about uh mental health
[1:19:47] uh for children and the color green
[1:19:50] symbolizes child and youth mental health
[1:19:52] representing hope, growth and
[1:19:54] transformation.
[1:19:55] and join us as we share uh shine green
[1:19:58] in support of New Path, a charitable
[1:20:00] organization offering free mental health
[1:20:01] services for children and youth in our
[1:20:03] community. Uh and that also encourages
[1:20:06] uh support for their families and
[1:20:09] caregivers across county. So for more
[1:20:11] information, we encourage you to visit
[1:20:13] new
[1:20:15] path.ca. Next is National Public Works
[1:20:17] Week. It runs from May 18th to the 24th.
[1:20:21] And on behalf of council, I would like
[1:20:23] to extend our thanks to dedicated
[1:20:25] members of our public works team. Uh
[1:20:27] your hard work and commitment to
[1:20:28] maintaining the infrastructure and
[1:20:30] services that keep Agelatas Toronto
[1:20:32] running smoothly do not go unnoticed.
[1:20:35] From keeping our roads safe and clear in
[1:20:37] the winter and summer to ensuring our
[1:20:39] parks, facilities, and public spaces are
[1:20:41] wellmaintained, your efforts are
[1:20:43] essential to community. So, Mr. WS, if
[1:20:45] you could please express our thanks to
[1:20:47] your entire team.
[1:20:51] Next is paramedic services week and the
[1:20:55] deputy mayor and of of course we were
[1:20:58] involved yesterday with a very special
[1:21:00] presentation at the county of Simco for
[1:21:03] a uh paramedic for a day uh which we do
[1:21:06] every year at the county and it's always
[1:21:07] rewarding to see some uh child um I
[1:21:10] believe it's open to grades five and six
[1:21:12] um who come in and uh it's a very
[1:21:15] special moment uh amongst county council
[1:21:17] and for the for the student in the
[1:21:19] family. And I must say, um, the student
[1:21:23] yesterday was probably a better speaker
[1:21:24] than most of county council. So, it was,
[1:21:27] uh, she she read her essay out, uh, to
[1:21:29] 32 members of county council, uh,
[1:21:31] without missing a beat. So, uh, very
[1:21:34] impressive. Uh, but we also want to
[1:21:36] thank our paramedic services across the
[1:21:38] county. Uh, in this year's theme is we
[1:21:40] care for everyone. Uh and uh I would
[1:21:43] like to extend our thanks and gratitude
[1:21:45] to all the members of the paramedic
[1:21:46] services in the county of Simco for
[1:21:48] their vital public service and quality
[1:21:50] access to emergency
[1:21:53] care. Uh next one is Victoria Day long
[1:21:56] weekend and I just want to acknowledge
[1:21:57] that uh Monday is a Victoria Day holiday
[1:22:01] um and our township office will be
[1:22:02] closed. That's Monday, May 19th. And on
[1:22:05] behalf of council, I wish everyone a
[1:22:07] safe and enjoyable uh Victoria Day
[1:22:10] weekend. Uh, I guess it's kind of the
[1:22:12] official start to
[1:22:13] summer. And the last item I have is with
[1:22:17] regards to coffee with council. We have
[1:22:20] scheduled a coffee with council event
[1:22:21] for June 3rd here at the township office
[1:22:24] in the public room and that's from 6:00
[1:22:26] p.m. to 8:00 p.m. And again, we
[1:22:27] encourage everyone to come out uh and
[1:22:29] have a one-on-one chat with uh members
[1:22:31] of council. you can meet your counselor
[1:22:33] uh you know propose any ideas and
[1:22:35] concerns that you might have uh on in
[1:22:38] this very informal setting uh rather
[1:22:40] than you know in this kind of robust
[1:22:42] setting here of of a council meeting. So
[1:22:44] we encourage you to come out and have a
[1:22:46] chat with us and with that are there any
[1:22:48] other public announcements uh or events
[1:22:51] from
[1:22:53] council? All right, not seeing any then
[1:22:55] I'll go over to the Seattle for a verbal
[1:22:57] update please.
[1:22:59] Thank you Mr. Mayor. Just want to build
[1:23:02] off of some uh training that was
[1:23:04] discussed with our bylaws uh last
[1:23:06] meeting with regard to noxious weeds. We
[1:23:09] have uh put some links up on our
[1:23:11] website, links to the county and the
[1:23:13] province and also a form that you can
[1:23:16] fill out online if there is a concern
[1:23:19] within the township about noxious weed.
[1:23:21] So if there is anybody who would just
[1:23:23] like to educate themselves about that,
[1:23:25] uh it's a very good spot on our website
[1:23:28] uh to go and take a look at. And if you
[1:23:30] come across any of those noxious weeds,
[1:23:32] it's easy to
[1:23:34] report. The second one is the
[1:23:37] southwestern integrated fiber technology
[1:23:40] or swift because that's easier to say.
[1:23:42] Just wanted to point out it's for rural
[1:23:45] broadband across different parts of
[1:23:48] southwest Ontario. It is now complete
[1:23:50] and I will be sending out a link to uh
[1:23:53] members of council with regard to uh
[1:23:55] where they can a link for their website.
[1:23:58] So, just wanted to to note that uh just
[1:24:01] for the public and for council that it
[1:24:02] is now
[1:24:04] complete. The next one is the wastewater
[1:24:07] annual report for New Horizon is now up
[1:24:10] on our
[1:24:12] website. And uh the next one and going
[1:24:15] to unfortunately steal uh Mr. Wilmet's
[1:24:18] uh thunder here with public work sweep,
[1:24:20] but the maintenance gravel will be
[1:24:22] starting uh within the town on May 19th.
[1:24:25] And just to note that the sweep street
[1:24:27] sweeping is complete. So again, thank
[1:24:31] you uh to the public works group for all
[1:24:33] their hard
[1:24:35] work. Uh there was a question on the
[1:24:38] council with respect to the uh Hawkley
[1:24:40] water system in particular details. So
[1:24:42] just wanted to report that that we're
[1:24:44] going to be coming uh this summer with
[1:24:46] estimated logistics costs etc. So uh
[1:24:49] stay tuned for that. And actually the
[1:24:52] last one I'm going to turn over to the
[1:24:55] acting chief to talk to us about the
[1:24:58] nextgen system that Barry has with
[1:25:01] regard to some emergency software for an
[1:25:04] update for council on that. Uh through
[1:25:06] you Mr. Mayor. Perfect. Thank you. Uh
[1:25:09] acting chief.
[1:25:12] Good evening Mayor and council. Uh just
[1:25:14] a quick update on Next Generation 911.
[1:25:16] So Barry Fire Dispatch is the dispatch
[1:25:18] center that services Agelatas. Um Barry
[1:25:20] Fire and Emergency Services has
[1:25:22] completed the migration to next
[1:25:23] generation 911. Um so this takes us from
[1:25:26] an analog base to an IPbased system.
[1:25:29] It's not available to the public yet,
[1:25:31] but the transition's complete. The
[1:25:33] equipment has been installed and
[1:25:35] technologies there. The mandate from the
[1:25:37] federal government is March 2027. And
[1:25:39] this will allow for faster, more
[1:25:41] accurate location and call back
[1:25:43] information, increased reliability, uh,
[1:25:46] real-time text and video directly to
[1:25:48] dispatch centers, and improved
[1:25:50] operability, security, and system
[1:25:52] resilience. Thank you. Thank you very
[1:25:55] much. And again, we've learned some of
[1:25:56] that at the county council as well. So,
[1:25:58] it's a great system to see up and
[1:25:59] running. Uh and again, anything that
[1:26:02] helps our first responders uh be well
[1:26:05] equipped for what's uh on scene is
[1:26:07] something very important to have. So,
[1:26:09] appreciate that. Thank you, CO, for the
[1:26:11] update. I'm just going back to council
[1:26:13] if there's any other comments or
[1:26:15] questions.
[1:26:17] Okay. All right. So, we're on to the
[1:26:19] consent agenda or excuse
[1:26:24] me, are there anything uh any items that
[1:26:27] members of council would like to pull? I
[1:26:29] see several hands. All right, I'll go to
[1:26:32] uh Deputy Deputy Mayor Locks first. Um,
[1:26:36] thank you through the chair. Can we pull
[1:26:38] 13.5?
[1:26:41] Uh, yes, we can. Thank
[1:26:43] you. Um, anything else? Is that the only
[1:26:46] one? Okay. Uh, counselor medals. Yeah.
[1:26:50] 13.
[1:26:56] Okay. Any others?
[1:26:59] councils. Yes, I'd like to pull a
[1:27:05] 13.1.
[1:27:06] Okay. And anyone
[1:27:17] else? All right.
[1:27:20] So, the recommendation would be the
[1:27:22] consent agenda recommendations for 13.2,
[1:27:26] 2 13.3 and
[1:27:30] 13.6 be adopted as presented and that
[1:27:33] staff be authorized to take all
[1:27:34] necessary actions. We have a mover for
[1:27:36] that recommendation. I have been moved
[1:27:38] by councelor Simpson and a seconded by
[1:27:40] councelor Olirri. All those in favor and
[1:27:44] that is carried.
[1:27:56] All right.
[1:28:24] Okay. So that leads us on to item 14
[1:28:27] which is staff reports and our first
[1:28:29] report is 14.1 which is IND
[1:28:32] 202513 placement of hot mix ashvault and
[1:28:35] shoulder gravel. Mr.
[1:28:38] Wlets lost
[1:28:43] excuse me I've lost my voice today. Um
[1:28:45] the tender was sent out um and it was
[1:28:48] for the job or the capital projects that
[1:28:51] were approved by council. Um the price
[1:28:54] that came back in as you can see was um
[1:28:57] very competitive and so hopefully that
[1:29:00] we can uh extend some of the jobs a
[1:29:03] little bit farther without um changing
[1:29:05] the the form of the contract.
[1:29:08] Yep. Thank you. Are there any questions
[1:29:09] for to Mr.
[1:29:10] Watts? Councelor
[1:29:13] Simpson. through the chair through the
[1:29:15] chair to Mr. WZ. Um, when do we
[1:29:18] anticipate this will be completed by I
[1:29:20] think I have the a closing date of end
[1:29:22] of September. September. Yeah. So
[1:29:24] throughout the summer and anticipate
[1:29:26] Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And as soon as the
[1:29:28] contract signed, then hopefully I can
[1:29:30] get a a start date so they get it into
[1:29:33] their schedule and and we'll know more
[1:29:34] and again it'll be put on the website
[1:29:37] and so the the residents will know
[1:29:39] what's going on. Great. Thank you.
[1:29:42] Okay. Any other questions with regards
[1:29:43] to the item? All right, seeing none, do
[1:29:46] have a mover for the
[1:29:48] recommendation. I have a move by
[1:29:50] councelor Cox and seconded by councelor
[1:29:52] Simpson that staff report IND 202513
[1:29:56] dated May 14, 2025 regarding placement
[1:29:58] of hot mix ashvalt and shoulder gravel
[1:30:00] be received in that council award
[1:30:02] contract
[1:30:04] 2025002 to Lisbon Paving Company Limited
[1:30:07] in the amount of
[1:30:11] 1,161,416 plus applicable
[1:30:14] taxes. All in favor? And that is
[1:30:17] carried. And I might just add that I in
[1:30:20] the time that I've been here at council,
[1:30:22] I do not recall ever having a paving
[1:30:24] budget over a million dollars. So I do
[1:30:25] want to commend public works and council
[1:30:27] for the ambitious goal of trying to pave
[1:30:30] more of our
[1:30:33] roads. So we're on to 14.2 which is
[1:30:36] staff report 202514 supply and placement
[1:30:39] of double surface treatment. And again
[1:30:41] back to Mr. moments for a short
[1:30:45] because again it was approved in the
[1:30:47] capital budget. It's a a little over one
[1:30:50] kilometer from the second line over to
[1:30:52] the Malmer toss town line and again um
[1:30:55] very competitive bids came in.
[1:30:58] Okay, thank you. Comments or questions
[1:31:00] on this
[1:31:02] item? Okay, seeing none, do have a move
[1:31:05] for recommendation, please councelor
[1:31:07] Boros, second by councelor.
[1:31:12] That staff report IND 2025 014 dated May
[1:31:16] 14, 2025 regarding supply and placement
[1:31:18] of double surface treatment be received.
[1:31:21] Also award contract
[1:31:23] 20250002T to Miller Paving Limited in
[1:31:26] the amount of
[1:31:28] $84,770 plus applicable taxes. All those
[1:31:31] in favor and that is carried.
[1:31:36] We're on to 14.3 which is staff report
[1:31:39] bylaw
[1:31:40] 2025003 and it's regarding the proposed
[1:31:42] amendment to the township parking
[1:31:44] bylaw. Miss Anderson.
[1:31:50] Good evening Mayor and council. This
[1:31:53] bylaw is just an amendment with the new
[1:31:55] development. Staff have identified the
[1:31:58] need um to adjust our parking bylaw.
[1:32:02] We've had some challenges in over the
[1:32:04] winter with uh individuals parking over
[1:32:06] the sidewalks. It's inhibited snow
[1:32:09] removal. What we did notice and identify
[1:32:11] at that time is that we don't have
[1:32:13] anything in place for parking over a
[1:32:14] sidewalk in the summer months. This is
[1:32:18] particularly challenging within the the
[1:32:19] subdivisions. We don't want children
[1:32:22] running out onto the street. We want our
[1:32:24] families and our residents to be safe.
[1:32:26] We've received a few complaints, about
[1:32:28] 15 in one month, and I have identified
[1:32:31] this need, and we're requesting that
[1:32:33] council approve the bylaw to amend um to
[1:32:36] include parking over sidewalks at all
[1:32:39] times, and that we require a 3 m
[1:32:42] clearance from all fire hydrants.
[1:32:45] Okay, thank you. Are there any questions
[1:32:47] from council through to
[1:32:50] staff? Mr. Nichols. Yeah. I was just
[1:32:53] wondering when we implement this, do you
[1:32:55] think we could send out a uh uh a notice
[1:32:57] within our tax uh maybe our tax uh bill
[1:33:00] that
[1:33:02] we our residents with regards to this
[1:33:05] and post it on the website.
[1:33:08] Uh we can send it out with the the water
[1:33:10] bills um at the water bill timing. We
[1:33:12] will again educate before we start
[1:33:15] implementing ticketing. Of course, we
[1:33:17] did it over the winter putting notices
[1:33:19] on on windshields advising people of
[1:33:22] this. We we don't want to go out there
[1:33:23] and start writing crazy tickets. So, we
[1:33:26] will educate. We'll put it out on social
[1:33:28] media and uh advise the residents.
[1:33:32] Thank you. And I'll just comment. I
[1:33:34] think we have the opportunity. We have a
[1:33:35] a leaflet that goes normally with our
[1:33:37] tax bills that we could uh put some
[1:33:39] information on. I don't think the water
[1:33:41] bill would go to everybody that we'd be
[1:33:42] looking at. So, um because there are
[1:33:45] sidewalks in areas that don't have town
[1:33:47] water. Uh so I think um while
[1:33:50] particularly um so I think um we could
[1:33:54] probably just draft that up in the
[1:33:55] leaflet and if not I'd be willing to put
[1:33:58] that in my uh message as well in that
[1:34:00] leaflet. Okay. Any other questions or
[1:34:03] comments with regards to the proposed
[1:34:05] amendments or in the bylaw and amendment
[1:34:08] is on the bylaw section of the agenda.
[1:34:10] So this is just the report. So I do have
[1:34:12] a mover for this recommendation.
[1:34:14] Councelor Meadows, second by councelor
[1:34:18] Cox. That staff report BLY, sorry, bylaw
[1:34:23] 2025003 dated May 14, 2025 regarding
[1:34:27] proposed amendment to township parking
[1:34:28] bylaw to prohibit parking over a
[1:34:30] sidewalk into require 3 meter clearance
[1:34:32] from hydrants be received. and that
[1:34:34] council consider the necessary bylaw to
[1:34:36] amend parking bylaw 0421 to prohibit
[1:34:39] parking over sidewalk and to require a 3
[1:34:42] meter clearance from
[1:34:44] hydrants. Any further questions or
[1:34:46] comments? All those in favor? That is
[1:34:51] carried. All right. So, we had two items
[1:34:54] of staff reports pulled from the consent
[1:34:57] agenda. So, that is 13.1 and 134. So we
[1:35:02] will deal with 131
[1:35:05] first. So this is staff report uh
[1:35:08] finance
[1:35:09] 2025005 with regards to the 2024 capital
[1:35:12] project year-end status update and
[1:35:13] councelor Boros, you pulled this item
[1:35:15] for consideration. Yes, through the
[1:35:18] chair. Thank you very much for the
[1:35:19] opportunity. Just a a a quick question
[1:35:21] to uh our treasurer uh on I think it's
[1:35:25] labeled page 304 and it would be the
[1:35:30] fourth item from the bottom of the page
[1:35:32] under infrastructure, capital, hamlet,
[1:35:34] roads,
[1:35:36] works. I see
[1:35:39] $369,000 spent on a budget of $200,000.
[1:35:42] I was just wondering why and why was it
[1:35:46] overspent or or it's at 85% overage. So,
[1:35:48] it's not an insignificant amount of
[1:35:50] money.
[1:35:54] Sorry, just can you confirm which
[1:35:55] project that was again? Um, this was the
[1:35:58] uh Hamlet Road
[1:36:00] Works that we had a $200,000
[1:36:03] uh budget uh capital budget allocated
[1:36:06] and then we had an actual year-end
[1:36:08] amount spent on the project 369. Mhm.
[1:36:12] Uh, and so that's 169,000 over, which is
[1:36:15] 84%. 84.5 if you want to be exact. Yeah,
[1:36:19] I I can go I can go to the treasurer if
[1:36:21] he has that information, but I believe
[1:36:22] council approved the overage in that
[1:36:24] one. We took that from another funding
[1:36:26] source to supplement uh the Hamlet uh
[1:36:30] microsurfacing. Yeah. Through uh through
[1:36:32] your worship to to councelor Bozos. Yes.
[1:36:35] And previously council approved the
[1:36:38] additional funding because there was
[1:36:39] additional uh work in the second year uh
[1:36:44] for the hamlet. So we approved
[1:36:46] additional funding source which I
[1:36:48] believe I've identified in the in the
[1:36:50] project
[1:36:53] comments. Well the the funding comes
[1:36:56] from either a reserve or reserve fund
[1:36:57] not from the project directly.
[1:37:02] Okay. So it came from the asset
[1:37:04] management reserve. I guess it's
[1:37:06] correct. It was funded from the
[1:37:07] additional funding was from the the
[1:37:09] asset management reserve. I didn't
[1:37:11] adjust the budget. Council approved the
[1:37:13] funding. The funding source was the
[1:37:15] asset management reserve.
[1:37:18] Okay. Thank you. Okay. All right. Any
[1:37:21] further questions, discussion questions?
[1:37:23] No. Thank you for the opportunity. All
[1:37:24] right. Any other questions or comments
[1:37:26] from members of council with regard to
[1:37:27] this item? Councelor Simpson through the
[1:37:30] chair. Um, with regard to the total
[1:37:33] variance, um, I think we're seeing
[1:37:37] 1,346,000. Um, is this amount going back
[1:37:40] into reserves then?
[1:37:43] Uh, it's through your worship to uh,
[1:37:46] counselor Simpson. So, uh, that
[1:37:48] carryover amount actually represents um
[1:37:52] all of the uh, projects that are are uh
[1:37:55] are closed. So essentially uh money
[1:37:58] that's not spent or unspent funds in a
[1:38:01] capital project. What that translates
[1:38:03] into we didn't use that money in the
[1:38:05] reserve or reserve fund. So that much is
[1:38:08] left over left over in the reserves
[1:38:11] which is essentially being put into
[1:38:13] projects into 2025 and that's why you
[1:38:16] see that uh uptick in uh the roads
[1:38:19] projects. Oh, sorry.
[1:38:22] Um, in 2025, we're taxing we're
[1:38:25] collecting taxes from our residents. Um,
[1:38:28] these are funds from 2024, right?
[1:38:33] So, if I might, Councelor Simpson, I
[1:38:36] believe the the intention that treasurer
[1:38:38] was just saying is we're using the the
[1:38:41] variance of last year that was remaining
[1:38:44] in the reserve funds to actually fund
[1:38:47] capital projects this year because none
[1:38:49] of our capital projects in
[1:38:50] 2025 are tax levy impact. They're
[1:38:53] completely out of reserves. So, the
[1:38:55] intention was to use uh and I think it
[1:38:59] was at time at the budget time we
[1:39:00] explained the intention was to spend
[1:39:03] more on our capital needs in 2025 using
[1:39:06] some of those residual funds that we
[1:39:09] didn't spend in 2024. And I I'll look to
[1:39:12] the treasurer just to to comment, but
[1:39:14] like I said, I don't think I've never
[1:39:15] seen a $ 1.1 billion budget for for
[1:39:18] paving. And so, we've utilized like two
[1:39:19] years of some of spending to do in one.
[1:39:23] I'll just go back to the treasur uh
[1:39:25] through your worship uh to council in
[1:39:27] general. So in in essence uh any project
[1:39:31] that we is under budget um these are all
[1:39:35] what you're seeing here uh in in what's
[1:39:38] uh the favorable variance is from 2024
[1:39:42] or prior year approved projects. And
[1:39:44] essentially if a project is underspent
[1:39:47] that means that whatever that uh project
[1:39:50] was funded from whether it be a reserve
[1:39:52] a reserve fund means it was that that
[1:39:55] money was initially committed to that
[1:39:57] project now that's uncommitted that mean
[1:39:59] that means we have not spent that money
[1:40:00] in the reserve so that means the reserve
[1:40:02] or the reserve fund has more money to be
[1:40:05] kept on for future projects and to I
[1:40:08] think better answer councelor Simpson's
[1:40:12] uh question in terms of uh taxes or
[1:40:15] whatever uh the the the the reserve the
[1:40:19] reserves are are funded from the tax
[1:40:22] levy. So we do you know for asset
[1:40:26] management reserve, the fleet reserve,
[1:40:27] the fire reserve, we have builtin
[1:40:30] reserve transfers in the annual
[1:40:32] operating budget and then the reserve
[1:40:35] funds are essentially uh OCIF and gas
[1:40:38] tax funding. Um so that's essentially
[1:40:41] free money. So if we didn't spend it,
[1:40:43] we're allowed to carry that over. uh the
[1:40:45] money that's in in the the reserve fund
[1:40:48] for gas tax or OCAF, we're allowed to
[1:40:51] spend it in future years, which is
[1:40:53] exactly what we're doing in 2025. Thank
[1:40:55] you. Um through the chair, I don't ask
[1:40:57] the question because I'm confused about
[1:40:59] how we do our funding. Uh I'm noting
[1:41:04] specifically that we have an amount in
[1:41:08] excess that remains within reserves. So
[1:41:11] if you look at it for a 2024 fiscal
[1:41:13] year, you're looking at about 4 millions
[1:41:16] that that's going to be staying in
[1:41:18] reserves because we allocated 1.6
[1:41:20] million for reserves specifically in the
[1:41:23] 2024
[1:41:24] budget. On top of that, we have a 1.5
[1:41:29] million surplus from our operating
[1:41:31] budget and now a $ 1.3 million surplus
[1:41:35] from our capital budget. So, my concern
[1:41:40] is we're building up our reserves, and I
[1:41:41] love reserves, and I've said this
[1:41:43] before, I love reserves. Um, but I I
[1:41:46] don't think we need to increase our
[1:41:47] reserves by $4 million. And I think um
[1:41:50] it might be more appropriate that uh we
[1:41:53] address some of the deficiencies in our
[1:41:55] infrastructure
[1:41:56] um and and utilize some of these funds
[1:41:59] for those. Um, I would note specifically
[1:42:02] that when the two-year road project um
[1:42:06] was approved by this council that uh we
[1:42:10] took certain roads that were approved by
[1:42:12] a previous council and took those roads
[1:42:15] out of that um list of uh projects that
[1:42:19] needed to be completed um and put
[1:42:22] certain other roads on there. And you
[1:42:24] know, I I think it's important to
[1:42:26] prioritize all roads and and I think it
[1:42:29] would be prudent to see a report coming
[1:42:31] to council um that perhaps puts back
[1:42:34] some of those roads that were meant to
[1:42:36] be paved over um based on previous
[1:42:39] council's uh recommendation and and we
[1:42:42] should certainly uh look forward to
[1:42:44] seeing a report that that identifies
[1:42:46] that. So um perhaps if staff can look
[1:42:49] into that, I think that might be a good
[1:42:51] thing. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor
[1:42:54] Simpson. I might just comment as well,
[1:42:56] though. I I do believe you may not think
[1:42:58] you're confused on it, but I believe
[1:43:00] there is some confusion on the matter.
[1:43:02] Uh this is just not 2024 capital
[1:43:05] projects. These are 2022 and 2023
[1:43:07] capital projects. So, the 1.3 is not
[1:43:09] realized over one year, it's realized
[1:43:11] over several years. Uh so, this is a
[1:43:14] combination of all the budgets that we
[1:43:16] have passed plus uh really a budget that
[1:43:19] was passed in the previous term. So
[1:43:21] these are just carry forward projects
[1:43:23] that have been closed um moving forward
[1:43:25] and that there is so this there's a
[1:43:28] there's a variance favorable but
[1:43:30] variance in the actual reserve
[1:43:33] funding. Um but I also want to just
[1:43:36] acknowledge to council that we didn't
[1:43:39] increase our reserve transfer this year
[1:43:40] in our budget. Um so what we had last
[1:43:42] year in 2020 uh four for budget to
[1:43:47] transfer to reserves we remain the same
[1:43:48] in 2025. So we're utilizing the same
[1:43:51] dollars in each in each budget. So there
[1:43:53] was no tax implication to increase our
[1:43:55] reserve funds this year because it was
[1:43:58] the same amount that was going in from
[1:44:00] last year. So I understand, you know,
[1:44:03] the concern that we want to spend more
[1:44:04] money on our capital projects and I
[1:44:06] think we've made good steps in that in
[1:44:08] that regard. I think we see it tonight
[1:44:09] on our agenda with the paving and and uh
[1:44:12] and double surface treatment. I think
[1:44:14] we've made good progress on it and I
[1:44:16] think if we can utilize these dollars in
[1:44:18] the best possible places then we're in
[1:44:20] good
[1:44:21] shape. Councelor
[1:44:24] Cox through the chair to uh Mr. Wilmans.
[1:44:28] Are there any uh road projects that are
[1:44:30] like shelf ready able to be implemented
[1:44:32] that maybe we could push through since
[1:44:34] we do have a surplus in uh in reserve
[1:44:36] funding? Yeah, there's
[1:44:40] sorry through the chair councelor Cox.
[1:44:43] There is a few um chunks of roads that
[1:44:45] are basically shovel ready that we could
[1:44:47] um push forward with minimal work to
[1:44:50] bring them up. Um some of them is like a
[1:44:53] river road down off of County Road One.
[1:44:56] Uh services quite a few houses. It's
[1:44:58] gravel. It could possibly be a a
[1:45:01] candidate for either tar and chip or
[1:45:03] ashvault without a lot of um prep work
[1:45:07] supplementary through the chair. Would I
[1:45:10] be a would we be able to obtain a report
[1:45:12] of the list of roads that are like uh
[1:45:14] project shelf ready for implementation
[1:45:17] for maybe next uh council meeting so
[1:45:19] that we can make a a decision on maybe
[1:45:21] implementing more infrastructure work
[1:45:22] with this additional funding? Yeah.
[1:45:24] Through the chair. Yeah. Um we could
[1:45:26] possibly get that pulled together. Uh
[1:45:27] it' be a high level of what um what
[1:45:30] looks good on the on the surface and we
[1:45:32] have to detail and go and look at
[1:45:34] culverts and stuff. Uh one one that I
[1:45:37] just came up on is is the town line um
[1:45:40] of the Puckley. We were going to extend
[1:45:42] that paving a little bit farther and we
[1:45:44] found a covert that has collapsed or is
[1:45:46] collapsing. So it's uh you know
[1:45:49] something needs to be done that way. So
[1:45:53] So I I'll just comment on on that as
[1:45:56] well that uh again we have to be
[1:45:58] cognizant we can certainly get a report
[1:45:59] back for staff but we have to be
[1:46:00] cognizant here. This is not all public
[1:46:02] work dollars. So we have to be mindful
[1:46:05] that these reserve funds are not simply
[1:46:07] just for asset management and public
[1:46:09] works. So there may not be the funding
[1:46:12] level that we're thinking that there is
[1:46:14] to do additional road works. And I would
[1:46:17] just caution that
[1:46:19] um as much as Mr. Mr. can certainly
[1:46:21] provide the report. Uh mid-year budget
[1:46:24] changes and additions to workload uh to
[1:46:27] our staff and to a paving contractor may
[1:46:31] change some of the pricing that we do
[1:46:33] see early on in the year. Uh so we may
[1:46:35] not see the best bang for the dollar
[1:46:37] when we go through a mid-year process
[1:46:39] versus um a start of the year. And so I
[1:46:43] I'll be looking looking to staff for
[1:46:45] comments on this as well. But I think
[1:46:47] the opportunity is if we would like to
[1:46:48] add more in a 2026 budget, that would be
[1:46:51] the opportune time to look at that
[1:46:53] rather than a midyear. But I'll go to
[1:46:55] the CO first and council medals. Thank
[1:46:58] you, Mr. Mayor. As we move forward with
[1:47:00] our roads need study that determines the
[1:47:03] road itself with respect to the
[1:47:06] condition of the existing roads and it
[1:47:09] also takes into the into account um the
[1:47:12] traffic on the roads, the road use, the
[1:47:15] road size, the base of the road and so
[1:47:18] that uh analysis will be done and ranked
[1:47:22] to note which roads are the best bang
[1:47:26] for the buck and that's how we're going
[1:47:28] to be moving moving forward uh once that
[1:47:30] roads need study is complete. Uh
[1:47:32] however, as noted previously, the public
[1:47:36] works crew do run the roads every day
[1:47:38] and have up tothe-m minutee uh condition
[1:47:41] assessments in their mind. So there will
[1:47:43] be discussions, not just a um a shot in
[1:47:47] time, but also a double-checking with uh
[1:47:50] the road staff before we give that
[1:47:52] presentation to uh to the mayor through
[1:47:55] through the budget and our
[1:47:57] recommendations. but it will be based
[1:47:58] off of uh of hard facts uh of equations
[1:48:02] and um of a third-party review with
[1:48:05] respect to which roads that staff would
[1:48:08] put forward uh and get the best bang for
[1:48:11] the buck. Um and just to note that um as
[1:48:15] council just uh has um went forward with
[1:48:20] the contracts um that uh the director of
[1:48:23] public works has put forward. If there
[1:48:26] is uh any substantial change within
[1:48:29] those contracts, it would have to go
[1:48:31] back out. Uh just to note, there are uh
[1:48:34] abilities for us and there are some
[1:48:36] flexibilities with that uh that we have
[1:48:38] within a contract to um add a little
[1:48:41] here and there, but as long as there's
[1:48:43] not a substantial change within the
[1:48:45] contract, we can do that. But uh a
[1:48:47] substantial change is sometimes
[1:48:50] um objective. Thank you. Okay. Thank
[1:48:53] you, Council Meadows.
[1:48:56] Yeah, I I totally agree with the mayor
[1:48:58] on this issue. Uh and also the CEO. Uh I
[1:49:01] hate to start projects in the middle of
[1:49:03] the year, especially when uh there
[1:49:05] should be a lot more discussion on the
[1:49:07] area and what what needs to be done and
[1:49:10] the engineering of course. Uh also
[1:49:13] there's other issues that are coming to
[1:49:16] play with the township. Uh, one of them
[1:49:18] is a new fireh hall that's going to be
[1:49:20] uh needed funding for uh which we're we
[1:49:23] need the reserves for as well. So,
[1:49:25] there's there's a lot of other areas
[1:49:27] that need this money and I'd hate to
[1:49:30] just rush into uh one aspect of it which
[1:49:34] is roads and I know our roads need done
[1:49:36] uh throughout the township but uh we
[1:49:39] have to look at this logistically. Thank
[1:49:41] you. Thank you. Any other comments from
[1:49:44] council? All right, seeing none. So
[1:49:46] there is a recommendation that the staff
[1:49:47] report finance
[1:49:49] 20250 dated May 14, 2025 regarding the
[1:49:52] 2024 capital project year-end status
[1:49:54] update be received. And do I have a
[1:49:56] mover for that recommendation? Have
[1:49:58] councelor Simpson and a second by
[1:50:00] councelor Olri. All those in favor and
[1:50:04] that is
[1:50:05] carried. All right. Right. So, the
[1:50:07] second staff report that was pulled was
[1:50:09] uh CLK
[1:50:11] 20229 strong mayor powers. Uh councelor
[1:50:15] metals, you pulled this item.
[1:50:18] Yeah, I I was uh very concerned when I
[1:50:21] saw this first come on the agenda with
[1:50:23] the strong mayor's powers.
[1:50:25] Uh uh we had a a long discussion in
[1:50:29] amongst the council here with regards to
[1:50:30] the strong mayor powers moving forward
[1:50:33] and unfortunately I guess the provincial
[1:50:36] government doesn't listen to councils
[1:50:38] anymore. So uh we're we we do have a we
[1:50:42] do have strong mirror powers in place.
[1:50:45] Uh the issue I have with this and and
[1:50:47] and the problem I have with this is uh
[1:50:51] we have no procedural bylaw with regards
[1:50:53] to this.
[1:50:55] We need uh a guidance instructions on
[1:50:59] how to implement this at this
[1:51:02] table, how we move forward with
[1:51:04] this. And it's up to and it should be a
[1:51:08] top priority for this municipality in
[1:51:11] implementing this
[1:51:13] properly. And right now we have no
[1:51:15] direction on this other than what's been
[1:51:17] handed down by the uh Mr. Ford himself.
[1:51:22] So, uh, and it's very vague. It's very
[1:51:26] vague. And if we're g if it's being
[1:51:28] implemented, which it is, then we need
[1:51:32] more information on this and we need it
[1:51:34] now. So, I would put a motion forward
[1:51:38] that uh uh we work diligently to have
[1:51:41] this uh uh put forward as an emergency
[1:51:45] and and get something in writing ASAP.
[1:51:50] and I'll put that on the floor as a
[1:51:51] motion if I can.
[1:51:54] Before you do, if I if I may comment, um
[1:51:57] I certainly entertain a motion if if
[1:51:59] need be. I will indicate that uh the
[1:52:03] CEO, myself, and the clerk have had
[1:52:05] several conversations thus far on how we
[1:52:08] are going to manage the new legislation
[1:52:10] and how it's going to affect uh the
[1:52:13] relationship between staff and council.
[1:52:16] Um, as noted on May 5th, I I have
[1:52:20] already uh delegated some of the strong
[1:52:23] mayor powers uh back to council and to
[1:52:26] CIO. So particularly the uh the
[1:52:30] organizational structure and the hiring
[1:52:32] and firing of uh senior members of staff
[1:52:34] is back in the hands of the CIO at the
[1:52:37] administration level and the appointment
[1:52:40] of council committee members and chairs
[1:52:43] and vice chairs as well as hiring and
[1:52:46] dismissing a CEO are back in the hands
[1:52:49] of of council. So those items have
[1:52:51] already been delegated back to the in my
[1:52:53] opinion the appropriate
[1:52:56] representatives and in our other
[1:52:58] conversations that we have had um and
[1:53:01] this is to your point councelor Meadows
[1:53:04] um and I think your pre your motion may
[1:53:06] be just a bit premature on the matter uh
[1:53:08] at the present time staff are
[1:53:10] investigating options of internal
[1:53:13] policies and how we can best lay out the
[1:53:16] framework of how these um I'll call them
[1:53:19] interactions how these interactions do
[1:53:22] play a part with the strong mayor's
[1:53:24] legislation versus uh you know the staff
[1:53:28] relationship structure and the and the
[1:53:31] council approval process. So I would say
[1:53:35] I welcome any conversation and any any
[1:53:39] discussion that council may have. I
[1:53:42] would think though for the first while
[1:53:44] here to let staff do a bit more research
[1:53:46] and understand where we need to go. uh
[1:53:49] it is a priority on their plate. I'm
[1:53:51] looking at the clerk right now and it's
[1:53:53] something that's uh she's um researched
[1:53:56] quite heavily already. They do also meet
[1:53:59] with neighborh neighboring
[1:54:00] municipalities for their clerk's
[1:54:01] departments and so it's a more of a
[1:54:03] collaborative approach there as to what
[1:54:05] information's out there and what
[1:54:07] information we can get back to council.
[1:54:09] So it is it is forthcoming and and staff
[1:54:12] is certainly working on it. Um I would
[1:54:14] also just note in the report as well um
[1:54:17] and I might go to madam clerk just for
[1:54:18] any explanation here as well. The uh the
[1:54:21] province is coming out the ministry is
[1:54:23] coming out with a a training session uh
[1:54:27] a virtual training session for members
[1:54:29] of council to better understand the
[1:54:31] processes of what the strong mayor
[1:54:33] powers uh will do. So, uh, I agree they
[1:54:37] this may have been a a rush decision on
[1:54:40] the behalf of the province, uh, because
[1:54:42] you would think they would have a bit
[1:54:43] more information forthcoming before they
[1:54:46] launch some new legislation and this
[1:54:48] training would be already on the books
[1:54:50] and ready to go. Uh, but they have
[1:54:52] indicated uh, the ministry has indicated
[1:54:55] that there will be training uh, for
[1:54:57] members of council and an understanding
[1:54:59] of what strong mayor powers
[1:55:01] um, actually affect the municipality. So
[1:55:04] I'll go to the clerk just for a bit more
[1:55:05] explanation. Thank you worship through
[1:55:08] you to council. Uh yes uh I did receive
[1:55:10] an update from the ministry of municipal
[1:55:12] affairs um yesterday prior to this
[1:55:14] meeting. Uh they did confirm that there
[1:55:16] will be virtual training sessions for
[1:55:18] council that will be rolled out. Uh I
[1:55:19] will provide you with that information.
[1:55:21] Uh and additional training will be
[1:55:23] available for them if following um their
[1:55:25] virtual sessions you have additional
[1:55:27] questions and we need to bring uh
[1:55:29] someone else inhouse to address those
[1:55:31] concerns. um to councelor Meadows um
[1:55:34] comments. Councelor Meadows, I had the
[1:55:35] exact same thoughts as you as I read the
[1:55:37] legislation uh in regards to the
[1:55:39] procedure bylaw. Uh upon taking a deeper
[1:55:41] dive into the legislation and conferring
[1:55:44] with some of my colleagues, uh I would
[1:55:46] recommend to council at this time um
[1:55:48] that the best um action to take would be
[1:55:50] to wait to make any changes to our
[1:55:51] procedure bylaw. And that's because
[1:55:53] automatically uh the strong mayor power
[1:55:55] legislation does trump anything
[1:55:57] contained within our procedure bylaw. it
[1:55:59] takes precedent over anything we
[1:56:00] contained in there. The other reason for
[1:56:02] that is that fundamentally the
[1:56:04] functioning of our procedural bylaw
[1:56:06] doesn't change under the strong mayor
[1:56:07] powers. Uh while we could add additional
[1:56:10] items to speak to those provisions, um
[1:56:12] the mayor already is has the ability to
[1:56:15] add items or bylaws uh to the agenda
[1:56:18] without us making any changes to our
[1:56:19] procedure bylaw by right of the
[1:56:21] legislation enacted by the province uh
[1:56:23] on May 1st. Um so my recommendation to
[1:56:26] council at this time is let's sit with
[1:56:28] the strong mayor powers. Let's explore
[1:56:29] them. Um see how these are going to work
[1:56:32] for our municipality and then plan to
[1:56:34] make changes as we go forward either
[1:56:36] into 2026 or 2027. Uh the other reason
[1:56:39] for that as well as everyone knows is
[1:56:41] there is a m municipal election coming
[1:56:42] up in 2026. uh decisions um regarding
[1:56:46] strong mayor powers may change and we
[1:56:48] need to be very mindful about the way
[1:56:49] that we amend policies and bylaws um to
[1:56:52] ensure that they work under all all
[1:56:54] situations. So as Mayor Anderson has
[1:56:56] spoken to, he has delegated authorities
[1:56:58] back to council and the CIO at this
[1:57:00] time. We want to make sure that the
[1:57:02] policies we put in place work both with
[1:57:04] that authority being delegated and if
[1:57:06] there's another mayor in the future um
[1:57:08] who chooses not to delegate those
[1:57:10] authorities, those policies are still in
[1:57:12] place. So we're not constantly updating
[1:57:13] those documents. So my request to
[1:57:15] council today would be um to take the
[1:57:17] training from the ministry and allow
[1:57:19] staff more time to see how um the strong
[1:57:21] mayor powers are going to impact the
[1:57:23] township and do a case study on our
[1:57:25] procedure bylaw at this time.
[1:57:27] Supplemental. Yes, sir. Okay. This is
[1:57:30] where I have a problem with this whole
[1:57:32] situation is we have developments that
[1:57:34] are coming forward right now. Right this
[1:57:37] minute, we have meetings that are going
[1:57:39] on with regards to these developments.
[1:57:41] And right
[1:57:43] now, this
[1:57:46] council can be overridden on every
[1:57:48] decision being
[1:57:50] made. That's the problem I have. It's no
[1:57:53] longer a democratic p uh position. The
[1:57:56] mayor has all the
[1:57:58] power. American over. No, I will have to
[1:58:02] correct you there because point point.
[1:58:04] No, I have to correct you
[1:58:06] because the policy still the legislation
[1:58:10] doesn't overrule
[1:58:13] council. So, there are provisions in the
[1:58:16] legislation that permit the mayor to
[1:58:19] provide uh a the budget to provide a
[1:58:22] bylaw which still requires onethird of
[1:58:26] the vote of council. So
[1:58:29] it I I take exception to say that the
[1:58:32] mayor has all the power and I'm not
[1:58:34] trying to make this personal one bit at
[1:58:36] all. But what I want to make sure is the
[1:58:39] legislation is very clear that there are
[1:58:42] still uh decisions being made by members
[1:58:47] of council and not solely by the mayor.
[1:58:50] Supplemental then and you have the
[1:58:52] floor. Sorry. And I just I apologize for
[1:58:54] for the interjecting, but that's I just
[1:58:56] want to make sure that there is it's
[1:58:57] clear that well maybe I maybe I wasn't
[1:59:00] clear in what I was saying. Okay. What
[1:59:03] I'm concerned about is us being
[1:59:06] overridden as a
[1:59:08] council and not knowing that we're
[1:59:11] overridden by a council. I know it
[1:59:13] states that council has to be
[1:59:16] informed and we have 21 days to or we
[1:59:19] have 21 days. But the problem I have
[1:59:23] sitting here is we do not have a
[1:59:26] mechanism in place in our procedural
[1:59:28] bylaw that puts that
[1:59:30] forward. Okay, that's the problem I
[1:59:35] have. Now, we can sit here and we can
[1:59:38] vote on something. You can uh override
[1:59:42] what what this council has said if it's
[1:59:44] under five people that have made that
[1:59:47] decision. You need we need twothirds of
[1:59:50] a majority to override whatever you have
[1:59:54] put into like if you if you've
[1:59:56] overridden it. Where's the mechanism
[1:59:59] that's in place that says that that's
[2:00:03] going to come forward within 21 days or
[2:00:06] whatever uh time limit that's needed.
[2:00:09] There's nothing in our procedural bylaw
[2:00:12] that states that.
[2:00:14] So I'm cons that's where my concern is
[2:00:17] and the fact that this council has has
[2:00:21] worked well this term of
[2:00:23] council and this is as far as I'm
[2:00:26] concerned this is a wrench that's gone
[2:00:27] into the spokes of the turning wheel and
[2:00:30] this is all because of the Ford
[2:00:34] government and on top of that there's
[2:00:38] other things that he's changing for the
[2:00:40] development community which is the
[2:00:42] endangered species uh act bill five he's
[2:00:45] put
[2:00:47] forward like what's going on here like
[2:00:51] we have I don't even know why we have
[2:00:53] counsel anymore I really don't because
[2:00:57] he has given that executive power to the
[2:01:00] mayor to make those
[2:01:03] decisions and that's where the problem
[2:01:05] is that we're eventually not going to
[2:01:08] have a democratic process and the people
[2:01:10] of this community are no longer going to
[2:01:13] have a
[2:01:15] voice? None. Because it's not going to
[2:01:18] be a parliamentary rule uh or decision.
[2:01:22] It's going to be the decision of one
[2:01:24] person who has more power than the the
[2:01:29] uh premier of Ontario, which doesn't
[2:01:32] make any sense to me. He's given every
[2:01:35] mayor the that
[2:01:38] power. It doesn't make sense.
[2:01:43] Where are we going in this province? I
[2:01:45] mean, if I was a citizen in this
[2:01:47] township, I would be absolutely
[2:01:49] appalled, but I've heard nothing. It's
[2:01:51] been as quiet as a mouse out there.
[2:01:53] Nobody
[2:01:55] cares. No, I'm just saying nobody seems
[2:01:57] to
[2:01:58] care. I'm sitting here as a counselor
[2:02:01] that's supposed to be a democratic
[2:02:02] process and my powers have just been
[2:02:05] wiped out. And this isn't a speech. This
[2:02:07] is fact. This is stuff that's gone
[2:02:09] through and we all should be pissed off
[2:02:12] here. And it's sorry that's not
[2:02:13] parliamentary rules but or words, but I
[2:02:16] would be and I would be as a citizen of
[2:02:19] this
[2:02:22] township. Anyways, that's all I have to
[2:02:24] say on that. Thank you. I I'll go back
[2:02:26] to the clerk for some clarification as
[2:02:28] well, but I I do have three initial
[2:02:30] comments on that
[2:02:32] one. Excuse me. I'm just been getting
[2:02:34] over cold as well.
[2:02:38] Um the uh the first item I I do want to
[2:02:41] acknowledge and again I think I've been
[2:02:43] very clear in my comments earlier
[2:02:44] tonight u we're not throwing a wrench
[2:02:47] into this process. We have been working
[2:02:50] very well together and that's the full
[2:02:52] intention of myself uh and I would hope
[2:02:54] the rest of the council to continue
[2:02:57] working in a collaborative meaningful
[2:03:00] way. I I think that is the best the best
[2:03:02] decision-making process you can have. So
[2:03:05] I'm not looking to change anything in
[2:03:08] that
[2:03:09] regard. 170 municipalities, 170 mayors
[2:03:13] have strong mayor powers. They're
[2:03:15] granted by the province under
[2:03:18] legislation. We are all going through
[2:03:20] the same situation. This is going to be
[2:03:22] a learning curve for a lot of
[2:03:24] municipalities of 170 who have these
[2:03:27] powers.
[2:03:29] I've seen in in multiple cases already
[2:03:31] where uh like myself they've uh many
[2:03:34] mayors have uh provided the delegation
[2:03:38] back to the CEO and council for the
[2:03:41] things they can delegate back. There are
[2:03:44] certain um duties under the new
[2:03:46] legislation that the mayor simply has to
[2:03:48] use cannot delegate to anyone. And I've
[2:03:53] been very clear that it if and when that
[2:03:57] has to be used because they will have to
[2:03:59] be used because if to have some to have
[2:04:02] any mayor say that they don't have to
[2:04:04] use them is incorrect. They have to use
[2:04:06] them. There's uh the budget, there's
[2:04:10] bylaws, there's items that they must act
[2:04:13] on. Uh so these are these are things
[2:04:16] that I personally will do in the best
[2:04:19] interest of the municipality and with
[2:04:21] advice from council and staff because
[2:04:23] that is how municipalities are supposed
[2:04:25] to work with
[2:04:28] collaboration. We have um I I guess the
[2:04:32] overarching theme here is I whether you
[2:04:36] agree with the powers bestowed by the
[2:04:39] province to strong mayor powers to this
[2:04:42] 170 municipalities or
[2:04:44] not. We have to work together. Democracy
[2:04:47] is still here. We all sit at this table.
[2:04:50] We all have a voice. We all can provide
[2:04:54] opinions. That is not going anywhere. We
[2:04:56] are keeping that and the province is not
[2:04:59] taking that away. So we have the
[2:05:01] opportunity to sit here to make
[2:05:02] decisions to make informative decisions
[2:05:05] and the process is that I I would concur
[2:05:08] with councelor medals that yes they're
[2:05:10] not in the procedure bylaw uh but as the
[2:05:12] clerk indicated earlier the legislation
[2:05:16] does lay out the process for how the
[2:05:18] mayor has to respond to
[2:05:21] council has to provide notice. the
[2:05:23] timelines are within that legislation
[2:05:26] and then council would follow that
[2:05:28] legislation as well if there were any
[2:05:29] instance where a bylaw needed to be uh
[2:05:32] vetoed. There are processes in place.
[2:05:35] So, and I will go to the clerk just for
[2:05:36] clarification on that because I think
[2:05:38] that's being lost a wee bit that the
[2:05:40] legislation we are creatures of the
[2:05:42] province. We are here at the will of the
[2:05:44] province. If the province doesn't want
[2:05:45] us here, they will tell us they don't
[2:05:47] want us here. We act on their behalf and
[2:05:50] we through them. Uh so if they provide
[2:05:52] legislation to us, it trumps some of the
[2:05:55] information or some of the policies that
[2:05:57] we have, their policies and their
[2:05:59] legislation um supersedes what we have.
[2:06:02] So I'll go to the clerk just for a bit
[2:06:03] more clarification on this. Thank you,
[2:06:05] your worship through to council. Uh for
[2:06:07] clarity, in the event that a bylaw is
[2:06:10] vetoed, uh there is currently a
[2:06:12] mechanism within our township procedure
[2:06:13] bylaw to allow council to reconsider
[2:06:15] that bylaw as per the strong merit
[2:06:17] legislation. Uh what um would most
[2:06:20] likely occur is that a majority of
[2:06:21] council would petition myself for a
[2:06:24] council meeting to reconsider the bylaw
[2:06:26] as per the legislation. I would receive
[2:06:28] that petition from a majority of council
[2:06:30] and the meeting would be held at the
[2:06:31] date and time as per the petition. That
[2:06:34] would be the item listed on the agenda
[2:06:36] and then in order to overturn the veto,
[2:06:38] it would be a twothirds vote of all of
[2:06:40] council. So not just who's in attendance
[2:06:42] at the meeting, but council as a whole.
[2:06:44] So, the mechanism to overturn a veto
[2:06:46] does currently exist within our
[2:06:48] procedure bylaw and the same process
[2:06:50] could be applied um to vetos applied to
[2:06:52] budget amendments that were passed by
[2:06:54] council.
[2:06:57] All right. So, I'll go to council for
[2:06:59] comments or questions.
[2:07:03] You're the chair. My major concern is
[2:07:05] I've read everything that's been
[2:07:08] presented so
[2:07:09] far. There's no duration.
[2:07:12] It doesn't say how long this is going to
[2:07:14] be in effect. It doesn't
[2:07:18] uh say that now Scott
[2:07:23] has returned the power to council with
[2:07:26] regards to delegation CEO and things
[2:07:30] like that, but we're having a municipal
[2:07:33] election in a little over a year. So,
[2:07:36] what happens if we get a new mayor and
[2:07:38] he doesn't agree to that? But there's
[2:07:41] another major issue there. It's not like
[2:07:44] Scott's personality is not in question
[2:07:47] or his his delegation of authorities not
[2:07:50] in question. It's down the road. If this
[2:07:54] is not addressed now, we're going to
[2:07:57] have a major issue. I mean, there's
[2:08:00] seven people sitting here and I think I
[2:08:04] don't know how we do this. Uh maybe
[2:08:07] Robin can find out for us or whatever,
[2:08:10] but I think we need to go to the
[2:08:13] provincial government and say to a say
[2:08:16] to them, explain to us how we can run
[2:08:19] this in a democratic manner because as
[2:08:24] far as I'm concerned, it's not a
[2:08:26] democratic matter. It's far beyond that.
[2:08:29] it it's like uh basically it's like a
[2:08:33] communist uh move really when you come
[2:08:36] right down to it. One person delegates
[2:08:38] everything and it's not and it's not
[2:08:40] right.
[2:08:41] So, I know we did uh we we had a long
[2:08:45] discussion and everybody in the room
[2:08:49] voted against it and
[2:08:52] I for this term I think we're all right
[2:08:55] but I the next term I don't know that's
[2:08:59] my problem. Thank you. So I'll go to
[2:09:03] Madame Clerk. I'm not sure if if you've
[2:09:05] had any communication with province or
[2:09:07] maybe neighboring municipalities as to
[2:09:10] what other avenues of approach um you
[2:09:13] know as councelor Oli indicates there
[2:09:15] might be. Thank you worship through to
[2:09:17] councelor Ori. Um so as he did mention
[2:09:20] um this council did pass a resolution um
[2:09:23] advocating to the province not to expand
[2:09:25] strong mayor powers. Um that letter was
[2:09:27] sent into the province um as well as
[2:09:29] submitted as comments on the
[2:09:31] legislation. And I know letters similar
[2:09:33] to the one that we submitted have been
[2:09:34] circulated by multiple municipalities
[2:09:36] across the province. Um at this time the
[2:09:39] province isn't
[2:09:41] um open for any more commenting in a
[2:09:43] formal capacity. Uh but what I would
[2:09:45] encourage council to do is I know some
[2:09:47] members of this council are encouraging
[2:09:48] conferences are attending conferences
[2:09:50] such as AMO. Uh you are um politicians
[2:09:54] for this community. Uh so if you do
[2:09:56] still feel strongly about this, I would
[2:09:58] encourage you to attend conferences and
[2:10:00] advocate for your position to your
[2:10:02] counterparts across the province.
[2:10:05] Thank you. So I've seen some multiple
[2:10:07] hands here. So I've got councelor
[2:10:08] Simpson and then I'm going to go back to
[2:10:10] councelor Borzos and councelor Cox.
[2:10:12] Thank you.
[2:10:13] Um through the chair.
[2:10:17] Um, with regard to this, u, I'm not
[2:10:21] going to blame the mayor for the
[2:10:23] decisions of another, uh, level of
[2:10:25] government. Um, so, you know, it's the
[2:10:28] province. We voted against it. We've
[2:10:31] noted our objection to the legislation.
[2:10:34] Um, and and we've noted that
[2:10:36] strongly. Um, but and and and with
[2:10:40] respect to some of the things that the
[2:10:42] the mayor has delegated and perhaps
[2:10:43] there are other things that can be
[2:10:45] delegated as well. Um my concern is that
[2:10:47] many things can happen behind the scenes
[2:10:52] and those changes and those decisions
[2:10:56] would not even come before
[2:10:59] council especially with the developments
[2:11:01] that are coming forward um and the other
[2:11:04] provisions in the act. I have a lot of
[2:11:08] concerns. It it quite literally reduces
[2:11:12] the power of counsel. Um, a lot of
[2:11:15] decisions are made before it comes to
[2:11:18] council. Um, when it comes to creating a
[2:11:21] budget, for example, um, that's
[2:11:24] something that the mayor would have the
[2:11:26] ability to put forward. Um, and and
[2:11:29] those are concerning uh concerning
[2:11:32] issues. Um a and certainly um you know
[2:11:38] I'm not going to comment on our budgets
[2:11:40] but but you know I it creates a fair
[2:11:44] system when staff are the one planning
[2:11:46] it when the systems when we have
[2:11:48] procedures in place that you know the
[2:11:51] budget is allocated towards what the
[2:11:54] greatest needs are as opposed to
[2:11:56] different areas of the municipality. So
[2:11:59] there's a lot of issues that I see with
[2:12:02] that and and and the biggest problem
[2:12:06] that I see with this is that there's
[2:12:08] nothing in this legislation that shows
[2:12:10] that it will result in building more
[2:12:13] homes faster because that is the whole
[2:12:16] intent of this
[2:12:18] legislation. Now that said, this is our
[2:12:21] this is our reality. Um and we are in
[2:12:23] this situation where we have to move
[2:12:26] forward as a council with this. Um so I
[2:12:29] I would like to see a timeline on when
[2:12:32] council can have the training. Um and
[2:12:35] additionally uh if that training is
[2:12:37] happening online or in silos, um then
[2:12:41] perhaps we should have a follow-up
[2:12:43] meeting that's set up so that we can
[2:12:45] discuss and strategize on how we move
[2:12:48] forward. Um, you know, a as much as this
[2:12:52] is new legislation for us, this is not
[2:12:54] new legislation, it has been in place in
[2:12:57] other municipalities, 40 other
[2:12:58] municipalities for over two years. Um, I
[2:13:02] I know that the AMCTO
[2:13:04] um especially has guidelines and has
[2:13:08] prepared a lot of information for uh
[2:13:11] municipal staff on on these issues. So,
[2:13:14] if we can get that briefing sooner, I I
[2:13:17] think that would uh benefit all of us.
[2:13:20] Thank you.
[2:13:22] Okay. And I'm just going to go back to
[2:13:23] the clerk. Did we have a timeline from
[2:13:25] the ministry as to when they were
[2:13:26] planning on doing this training? Uh
[2:13:28] through your worship to counselor
[2:13:29] Simpson. Uh so I initially made contact
[2:13:31] with the ministry approximately two
[2:13:33] weeks ago. Um they didn't have a
[2:13:34] timeline at that time. Uh I like I said
[2:13:37] I did receive an update earlier this
[2:13:38] week from them saying that they will be
[2:13:40] releasing um times for the online
[2:13:42] training shortly and that they won't be
[2:13:44] entertaining um any additional in-person
[2:13:47] training until those virtual sessions
[2:13:49] have occurred. So um I've been in
[2:13:50] contact with two of our representatives
[2:13:52] from the ministry uh and I can continue
[2:13:54] to reach out to them and put pressure on
[2:13:56] them for those training dates. Uh but we
[2:13:58] are waiting for them um to provide those
[2:14:00] dates to us and then I'll get them to
[2:14:02] council as soon as possible. Okay. Thank
[2:14:05] you. Uh, councelor Borzos. Yes, thank
[2:14:07] you through the chair. It's more of a
[2:14:09] comment than than a question. I guess
[2:14:10] everybody's commenting, so why should I
[2:14:12] be any different? But
[2:14:14] um, I'm trying to look at this from a
[2:14:16] little more pragmatic point of view. And
[2:14:19] while my colleagues were talking here, I
[2:14:21] went up and down, back and forth, left
[2:14:23] and right on the strong mayor powers
[2:14:26] chapter of the Ontario municipal council
[2:14:29] guide. Nowhere, anywhere in there, it
[2:14:31] says that the mayor must accept these
[2:14:33] powers. It says the mayor can, the mayor
[2:14:36] shall, the mayor could, the mayor if he
[2:14:38] wants to. Nowhere. So to me the best
[2:14:41] solution to to this would be just to say
[2:14:43] that okay in
[2:14:44] Agelasontio we will write out the rest
[2:14:47] of this term as we were up until now.
[2:14:50] And if the province doesn't like it then
[2:14:52] you know what too bad for them we have
[2:14:55] our own ways of of deciding over certain
[2:14:57] things. And I mean maybe this is up to
[2:15:00] the mayor to to decide and say okay I
[2:15:03] wish not to use my powers and I will
[2:15:05] just run the the council as it was up
[2:15:08] until now and take that year and a half
[2:15:10] or a year and a bit that we have left
[2:15:12] until next election to do the training
[2:15:14] to do the proper development of bylaws
[2:15:17] procedural anything that we need to do
[2:15:20] and then when it comes next term then if
[2:15:22] the strong mayor powers are still in
[2:15:24] place then we can roll into it nicely
[2:15:27] knowing that we've done everything we
[2:15:28] could possibly do and not compromising
[2:15:31] anything and not disrupting any type of
[2:15:33] order and to my colleague Mr. Meadows's
[2:15:37] point here. We don't put the wrench into
[2:15:39] any kind of cogs or wheels. So that
[2:15:40] would be my recommendation and
[2:15:42] suggestion. Thank you. Thank you. I'm
[2:15:44] going to just comment
[2:15:46] again. You know that comment if that was
[2:15:49] included in the legislation might have
[2:15:50] been helpful that mayors would be able
[2:15:52] to say no. Um but it's not. So
[2:15:56] unfortunately it is given to the mayors.
[2:15:59] The powers are given the powers and
[2:16:01] duties are given to the mayors without
[2:16:02] any say. uh the legislation does trump
[2:16:05] any of our uh policies and um other
[2:16:11] legislations that are out there. So
[2:16:14] unfortunately that can't happen. And
[2:16:16] I'll go to the clerk just for the
[2:16:18] clarification on on what that
[2:16:20] legislation actually kind of looks like
[2:16:21] as to councelor Borzos's comments that
[2:16:24] there are certain duties and
[2:16:25] responsibilities that are are given to
[2:16:27] the mayor uh without um any opportunity
[2:16:32] to say no. Yes. Thank you worship
[2:16:35] through to councel. Um so this this
[2:16:37] legislation is written in a really
[2:16:39] interesting way that even the powers
[2:16:41] that the mayor has chosen to delegate
[2:16:43] back to council and the CEO at this
[2:16:45] time. Uh mayors are required to utilize
[2:16:47] their strong mayor powers to delegate
[2:16:49] that authority back. So we know those
[2:16:51] are steps that mayor Anderson has taken
[2:16:53] at these times. But had he not done
[2:16:55] that, organizational structure, hiring
[2:16:57] of the CEO and local boards and
[2:16:59] committees still would have reside um
[2:17:01] resided as his duties um as assigned by
[2:17:05] the legislation. The province has
[2:17:06] crafted this legislation in such a way
[2:17:08] that mayors um must use the strong mayor
[2:17:11] powers even to delegate the three items
[2:17:13] that they can delegate back. Um you are
[2:17:16] correct in saying that some of these may
[2:17:18] not be used by a mayor. A mayor may
[2:17:20] choose never to add a bylaw to a council
[2:17:22] agenda or a matter to agenda for a
[2:17:24] consideration. Um but that's not a
[2:17:26] decision that council can make. The
[2:17:28] legislation has already dictated that
[2:17:30] all of the mayors who have been expanded
[2:17:32] strong mayor powers have these powers
[2:17:34] and actions and it is up to those
[2:17:35] individual actors to make the decision
[2:17:37] as to what to do with them regardless of
[2:17:40] um the position of council. Okay.
[2:17:42] Councelor Borzos follow through the
[2:17:44] chair to follow up to the council.
[2:17:45] Madame clerk, I'm reading verbatim from
[2:17:49] the council book here. Whatever is
[2:17:51] probably the most up-to-date version of
[2:17:52] it. It says veto power and council
[2:17:54] override. the head of council can choose
[2:17:57] to veto certain bylaws, for example. I
[2:18:00] mean, it doesn't say must veto bylaw.
[2:18:02] And if that's the case, if they written
[2:18:04] it, if the province wrote this
[2:18:06] legislation in such a silly way that
[2:18:08] it's becoming really a open to
[2:18:10] interpretation, then maybe perhaps we
[2:18:12] should use whatever we saved on
[2:18:13] integrity commissioner fees in the last
[2:18:15] two and a half years and just do a legal
[2:18:17] challenge against the province on this
[2:18:20] one because this is unacceptable to me.
[2:18:22] as it's not it's just are they trying to
[2:18:26] put this in place and if they do to what
[2:18:29] extent why are they pushing where is
[2:18:31] this the language is not there I I don't
[2:18:33] see the language here it says can
[2:18:35] everything is can and could doesn't say
[2:18:38] that anyway sorry thank you clerk thank
[2:18:42] you worship just a point of
[2:18:43] clarification on that yes uh the
[2:18:45] legislation may say can but that's not a
[2:18:47] power that a strong mayor can give back
[2:18:49] they must always hold that ability
[2:18:51] And that is my point is that there's no
[2:18:53] way that they're allowed to under the
[2:18:55] legislation pass a motion saying that
[2:18:57] they refuse it altogether or else Mayor
[2:18:59] Anderson would not have been able to
[2:19:01] delegate council the authority to hire
[2:19:03] and fire the CEO. He had to utilize the
[2:19:06] strong mayor powers in order to give
[2:19:08] council that authority back. And so when
[2:19:10] I speak of the legislation being crafted
[2:19:12] in such a way that it forces the mayors
[2:19:14] to use the powers, that is what I'm
[2:19:15] indicating. even to give council back
[2:19:17] authority, a decision, a mayoral
[2:19:19] decision had to be made under strong
[2:19:21] mayor powers. And I'll just comment. So
[2:19:24] again, the word can is it's still the
[2:19:26] option. It's in the opinion of the mayor
[2:19:28] then whether the mayor vetos a bylaw or
[2:19:31] not. So the power is granted to the
[2:19:34] mayor to decide if the mayor wants to
[2:19:36] use that power to veto a bylaw. you
[2:19:38] can't take away that power because it's
[2:19:40] granted by the province and I'm and I'm
[2:19:41] not suggesting so it's left with the
[2:19:43] individual mayors and to determine if
[2:19:46] they would want to veto a bylaw
[2:19:49] um once passed by by council and if this
[2:19:52] is how we interpret this then it's great
[2:19:53] because then I go back to my original uh
[2:19:56] suggestion I guess that maybe Mr. mayor
[2:19:59] can just say that okay I choose not to
[2:20:01] as you can choose to do so also you can
[2:20:03] choose not to do so uh to live with your
[2:20:06] strong mayor powers in this township
[2:20:08] until November 2026 and then just
[2:20:11] business as usual and that's it game
[2:20:12] over. Thank you. I'm I think no and I I
[2:20:16] can I no and I can understand that that
[2:20:18] comment for sure, right? Like um and but
[2:20:21] I think just going back to the language
[2:20:23] it's again can and may choose.
[2:20:27] So, I'm not going to sit here. I I look
[2:20:30] in the kind of the planning world,
[2:20:31] there's there's a it's always uh it's
[2:20:33] never black and white. Life is never
[2:20:35] black and white. There's a lot of gray.
[2:20:37] Uh and so I don't want to sit here this
[2:20:40] evening and and say that the powers I'm
[2:20:43] never going to use the powers because I
[2:20:46] have already used the powers to give you
[2:20:48] back the power. Like it's it's just
[2:20:51] ironic that you actually have to use the
[2:20:54] strong mayor powers to give individuals
[2:20:57] back the power they once
[2:20:59] had. Uh it's it is right. So um so I've
[2:21:03] used the power I've used the strong
[2:21:04] mayor powers three times thus far in in
[2:21:07] in the short time I
[2:21:09] guess so the powers back. I guess my
[2:21:12] point is if if we use the strong mayor
[2:21:14] powers three times to give it back to
[2:21:15] the council then essentially it was yeah
[2:21:18] it was a it was a a precedence created
[2:21:21] by doing so but I mean at the same time
[2:21:25] nobody says that we can't stop right
[2:21:26] here and right now and say okay moving
[2:21:28] forward business as usual that's my
[2:21:30] whole point that there's there's an
[2:21:32] option this is not this is not a
[2:21:34] dictatorial state this is supposed to be
[2:21:37] yes we are creatures of province I hear
[2:21:39] that all the time well it's too bad
[2:21:41] because the province is not here. They
[2:21:42] are not talking to these people out
[2:21:44] there and at the other end of the
[2:21:46] internet here. So based on what they are
[2:21:49] deciding on what can be done and what
[2:21:51] cannot be done, half the half the
[2:21:53] province didn't even vote for Ford. So
[2:21:56] anyways, thank you. Well, and again, I
[2:21:58] can I can understand the concern and I
[2:22:00] respect the the concern.
[2:22:03] Um it has been and as I indicated
[2:22:06] earlier in the meeting, it's been my
[2:22:08] full intention to have the processes
[2:22:10] continue the way they have. Um I'll just
[2:22:13] use the budget for an example just to
[2:22:15] kind of highlight the I guess maybe the
[2:22:18] faults with some of this legislation. It
[2:22:20] is my intention to be doing the exact
[2:22:22] same thing as what we've done in years
[2:22:24] past with our budget. There's staff
[2:22:26] involvement.
[2:22:27] I've been involved in meetings with
[2:22:29] staff uh shaping and crafting budgets
[2:22:31] and understanding where we're going and
[2:22:33] how this is going to come to council and
[2:22:34] and what we need to do for streamlining.
[2:22:37] That's not going to change. That's been
[2:22:38] the process for years here at this
[2:22:40] municipality. There's always been that
[2:22:42] collaboration between between staff, the
[2:22:44] mayor and council. So, we're going to
[2:22:46] continue that collaboration. What strong
[2:22:49] mayor power does though is it actually
[2:22:50] states regardless of all the
[2:22:52] collaboration in the world when we
[2:22:54] present a budget which we want to do
[2:22:56] make sure we get our tenders out in
[2:22:57] October or November of a year any budget
[2:23:00] before February 1st is the mayor's
[2:23:03] budget simply put legislation if any
[2:23:07] budget that comes before council whether
[2:23:08] it's crafted by council whether it's
[2:23:10] crafted by staff whether it's crafted
[2:23:13] whether it's just the same budget that
[2:23:14] we had last year and we bring it forward
[2:23:16] in next year it's the mayor's budget
[2:23:19] doesn't matter because the legislation
[2:23:21] lays out that that is what that is. Now,
[2:23:23] if we don't if we don't want to pass a
[2:23:25] budget until after February 1st of every
[2:23:28] year, which then only gives us three
[2:23:30] months to get a budget done and tendered
[2:23:33] out before tax rates in June, then it
[2:23:36] becomes back in the realm of calling it
[2:23:38] a municipal budget.
[2:23:40] So again, it's it's a it's a very
[2:23:44] interesting way the legislation is
[2:23:46] crafted
[2:23:47] to purport that there's some sort of
[2:23:51] power there.
[2:23:54] Um, from what I've heard from my
[2:23:56] colleagues around the county is we're
[2:23:59] going to continue on making sure that we
[2:24:01] craft a budget for the municipality that
[2:24:05] is representative of council,
[2:24:06] representative of the community so that
[2:24:08] it is something that everyone is proud
[2:24:11] of. Um, and I I think that's I can
[2:24:14] assure you today that that's the the
[2:24:16] full intention of trying to do is keep
[2:24:18] the nor the normaly of what we've done
[2:24:21] in this township in the past continuing
[2:24:24] on in the future. Um, so I I can
[2:24:26] understand there's reservations. I can
[2:24:28] understand there's concern concerns on
[2:24:30] on the
[2:24:31] item. It is my intention to see that we
[2:24:34] continue to work in a collaborative and
[2:24:36] meaningful way here at council table uh
[2:24:38] day in and day out. And I don't and if
[2:24:41] council's with me on that then we're
[2:24:43] continue to work the best way we can.
[2:24:44] And in closing, nevertheless, the fact
[2:24:47] remains that up until now you were one
[2:24:50] voice. Now you are seven voices if you
[2:24:52] want to be. And that's the point. That's
[2:24:54] the summary of it really. And so that
[2:24:56] makes this council
[2:24:59] redundant really. So thank you. I don't
[2:25:02] think your opinions are irrelevant or
[2:25:04] redundant. Um, so that's
[2:25:08] my, like I said, that's collaborative
[2:25:10] approach. Um, councelor Cox.
[2:25:14] Yeah. Through the chair, uh, councelor
[2:25:16] Borzos actually touched on the subject.
[2:25:18] I was going to bring up can, must have
[2:25:20] made, but I think you did it in a better
[2:25:21] manner than I would have, right? It's a
[2:25:24] little bit more intellectual. Um, I
[2:25:26] don't agree with any of these strong
[2:25:27] mayor powers at all. I think it removes
[2:25:29] the democratic process. Um, and I don't
[2:25:32] I I do believe that uh Mayor Anderson's
[2:25:35] will will will exercise them uh with
[2:25:38] with caution and the way he's been doing
[2:25:41] it. Like as
[2:25:43] uh council stated, his integrity is not
[2:25:47] in question here. I think he'll still
[2:25:48] try to work with council and not abuse
[2:25:50] the power that's given to him. The fear
[2:25:51] is the future like it's been brought up
[2:25:53] time and time again here. And yeah, I
[2:25:57] think the virtual training is an
[2:25:58] imperative for us to get as soon as it
[2:26:00] comes out and then we can formulate our
[2:26:03] procedural bylaws uh after that uh
[2:26:06] training is conducted. But other than
[2:26:08] that, I think we're all between a rock
[2:26:09] and a hard spot.
[2:26:13] Deplocks, I saw your hand if you want to
[2:26:15] speak. Thank you to your worship and
[2:26:17] excellent points from everybody and we
[2:26:20] all know the situation we're in and um
[2:26:22] I'm just
[2:26:23] hoping as I've heard we have faith in
[2:26:26] the process that we have been doing and
[2:26:29] as the mayor has said let's move forward
[2:26:32] doing the same thing we've been doing
[2:26:34] unfortunately Mr. for Larry's point hits
[2:26:37] hard a new mayor coming in may change
[2:26:40] may change everything so ideally yes
[2:26:43] training
[2:26:45] everything hopefully the mayor keeps his
[2:26:47] word and we keep moving the way we keep
[2:26:49] moving I have faith in it um I don't see
[2:26:53] us changing the way we're doing things I
[2:26:55] think we do things very well here so you
[2:26:57] know we may have some contentious issues
[2:26:59] but we're getting stuff done so that's
[2:27:03] let's hope for the best here thank
[2:27:05] Thank you, Councelor Simpson. Through
[2:27:07] the chair. Um, just want to uh reiterate
[2:27:10] and and I I know a lot's been said so
[2:27:13] far. Um, and I and I will highlight the
[2:27:15] semantics that's kind of been noted so
[2:27:18] far. Um, as much as the mayor is saying
[2:27:21] that he uh has delegated certain
[2:27:25] authorities, I will note he is still
[2:27:27] reserving his right to utilize strong
[2:27:29] mayor powers in a manner that may uh
[2:27:32] diminish the role of council. Um, so
[2:27:35] nothing in what he has said has
[2:27:37] identified that he won't be doing that.
[2:27:39] I think he said he'd like to keep things
[2:27:41] working the same way. Um, but he is
[2:27:44] reserving that right to be able to
[2:27:46] utilize it um, in any way. There are
[2:27:49] several other aspects of the strong
[2:27:51] mayor of powers that can be delegated
[2:27:53] that have not been delegated. Um, again,
[2:27:56] I I understand that that's his
[2:27:58] prerogative. Um but I will note that
[2:28:02] residents should be aware that that we
[2:28:04] are in a strong mayor situation. There
[2:28:07] are going to be decisions that may come
[2:28:09] that may not come to council. Um things
[2:28:12] that may be uh you know dealt with in in
[2:28:17] uh in a different manner and and that is
[2:28:19] permitted under this law. So uh please
[2:28:22] keep that in mind. Thank you. Point of
[2:28:24] clarification.
[2:28:26] Sure. you you you just made a comment
[2:28:29] that it ha it may not come to council. I
[2:28:34] don't believe that's true. So there are
[2:28:37] instances where uh air mayor may have
[2:28:40] discussions with staff and have a
[2:28:42] decision made prior to the decision
[2:28:45] coming to council especially with regard
[2:28:47] to development. Um can I have
[2:28:49] clarification? Yeah. And I'll just I was
[2:28:51] going to just comment personally on
[2:28:53] myself on on a few things here as well.
[2:28:54] Just Yeah. No, I just want a
[2:28:56] clarification. First, I just wanted to
[2:28:58] clarifi to clarify is um councelor
[2:29:00] Simpson, you're quite right. The powers
[2:29:02] always rest within the office of the
[2:29:04] mayor. I can't not that legislation has
[2:29:07] permitted the office of the mayor to
[2:29:09] retain those powers regardless of
[2:29:12] delegation. I choose to delegate certain
[2:29:15] powers to council and I choose to
[2:29:17] delegate powers to the CIO.
[2:29:20] Um but the powers still rest with the
[2:29:22] mayor whether he chooses whether he or
[2:29:24] she chooses to actually delegate that or
[2:29:26] not. So the strong mayor powers are
[2:29:28] written in such a way that the decisions
[2:29:31] are those delegations are on the
[2:29:35] um are on the basis of the mayor
[2:29:38] delegating those powers. So I'll clarify
[2:29:42] that that that is that is absolutely
[2:29:44] true.
[2:29:46] Um but I I will go to the clerk on this
[2:29:48] one as well that there is no decision
[2:29:51] mechanism in the strong mayor powers
[2:29:54] other than providing direction to senior
[2:29:57] staff to provide advice and information
[2:30:00] back to the
[2:30:02] mayor and then to council. So, if there
[2:30:05] was a potential bylaw, if there was a uh
[2:30:09] new policy that potentially that was
[2:30:12] needing to be drafted, I could provide
[2:30:14] direction, written direction to the
[2:30:16] clerk, including and carbon copy to the
[2:30:19] to the uh members of council and ask for
[2:30:22] certain information to be presented to
[2:30:25] the mayor and to council. So, it' be no
[2:30:27] different than a staff report coming
[2:30:28] back to council for their consideration.
[2:30:31] It would be information. So, would there
[2:30:33] be an instance uh where I wouldn't have
[2:30:37] to request the information from council?
[2:30:38] Like, I wouldn't have to put a notice of
[2:30:40] motion on the agenda. Yes, because I
[2:30:42] would be able to direct staff to provide
[2:30:43] that information directly to council.
[2:30:46] Uh, but it doesn't subvert council from
[2:30:49] making the decision when that
[2:30:51] information comes back. So, I'll go to
[2:30:53] the madam clerk. I I maybe muddied that
[2:30:54] a bit more, but um that's kind of my
[2:30:57] understanding of the process. Thank you,
[2:30:59] worship through to councel. Um so the
[2:31:02] ability for the mayor to give um
[2:31:04] directions to staff must be in writing.
[2:31:07] These directions will be posted to our
[2:31:08] township website and are subject to
[2:31:10] Mippa and the mayor may only give
[2:31:13] written direction to staff uh through
[2:31:15] the CEO and clerk um for advice or
[2:31:18] recommendations um related to their
[2:31:20] powers and duties underneath the strong
[2:31:22] mayors. So for the for development he
[2:31:24] may request policies or advice but not
[2:31:27] make decisions and that must be provided
[2:31:29] in writing. So, every time a mayor may
[2:31:32] request that staff um write a policy for
[2:31:34] consideration or write a memo that
[2:31:37] provides recommendations, that directive
[2:31:40] would be written would be included on
[2:31:41] the township website. So, all of council
[2:31:43] and all of the public would know that
[2:31:45] the mayor has exercised that power to
[2:31:47] ask staff for a recommendation. It does
[2:31:50] not constitute a decision. It is a mer
[2:31:52] directive. Mayors may add items to the
[2:31:56] agenda for consideration, a matter to an
[2:31:59] agenda, and that is subject to a
[2:32:00] majority vote of council or a bylaw to a
[2:32:03] council agenda, but that is subject to
[2:32:05] notice provisions as per applicable
[2:32:07] provincial legislation and then is
[2:32:09] subject to a one-third majority vote by
[2:32:11] council.
[2:32:13] So in essence, the the directives can be
[2:32:16] the directives can be made by the mayor,
[2:32:18] the decisions are implemented by
[2:32:20] council.
[2:32:22] So any decision of of uh let's say a
[2:32:25] planning nature or
[2:32:27] whatever you you have the authority to
[2:32:32] override it. Is that correct? I'd have
[2:32:35] the authority to veto a bylaw a planning
[2:32:38] bylaw that came to council. Right. To
[2:32:41] after between the council meeting and
[2:32:43] two days, right? And then we would be
[2:32:47] informed about it. Correct.
[2:32:49] Then we would have to petition a meeting
[2:32:51] if we were all against it. And you need
[2:32:54] five people sitting on this council to
[2:32:57] be against it. Anything that you you put
[2:33:00] forward to veto it. You would need four
[2:33:03] members of council to petition the
[2:33:04] meeting and then you'd need you need a
[2:33:07] twothird of the majority of c twothirds
[2:33:10] of council vote of all members of
[2:33:12] council regardless at the meeting or
[2:33:14] not. Now would that see this is where
[2:33:17] the procedural comes in that we need
[2:33:19] clarification on. What if one person
[2:33:22] isn't able to make it out of the five on
[2:33:24] council or the six on council or the
[2:33:27] seven on
[2:33:28] council if one person isn't able to make
[2:33:31] it
[2:33:34] or one gets kicked out you know like
[2:33:38] does that vote where does that vote
[2:33:40] land? So land and again I believe that's
[2:33:42] madam clerk you might want to comment
[2:33:44] but I believe that's again one of those
[2:33:45] little finite things that are in this
[2:33:47] legislation that it says all members of
[2:33:50] council and it doesn't necessarily mean
[2:33:52] that all members of council at the
[2:33:54] meeting. So if you if you only have if
[2:33:56] you had four members of council attend
[2:33:58] the meeting that was petitioned that's
[2:34:00] right and three members did not you
[2:34:03] would not be able to you would not be
[2:34:05] over to overturn the the um
[2:34:08] reconsideration.
[2:34:10] So but although madam clerk I think I've
[2:34:12] interpreted that right too but thank
[2:34:13] you. So just for us just sorry just just
[2:34:16] for the sake of of argument here like
[2:34:19] all you would need is uh a certain
[2:34:22] member of council to say they can't make
[2:34:25] it and they over No, I'm not looking at
[2:34:27] you. I I'm looking at maybe even the
[2:34:30] mayor even I wouldn't have to attend the
[2:34:32] meeting. You would have to well the
[2:34:34] deputy mayor. Okay. So, we'd need six
[2:34:37] people sitting at this council
[2:34:39] chamber to make an a decision to
[2:34:42] override or veto a a a mayor's
[2:34:47] decision. And we can't even we can't
[2:34:50] even half the time we can't even uh sit
[2:34:52] here and communicate with one another.
[2:34:55] So, do you think we're going to be able
[2:34:56] to petition a meeting and have six
[2:34:59] people sitting in here to make a
[2:35:01] decision that the mayor is vetoed? Let's
[2:35:05] say it's a land expropriation that we
[2:35:07] don't agree with or something like that.
[2:35:09] Are we going to be able to veto that
[2:35:11] that motion? Not
[2:35:14] likely. And that's where I have a
[2:35:16] problem with this. This is not the way
[2:35:19] council was supposed to be designed for
[2:35:21] the people of this township or the
[2:35:24] people of this province.
[2:35:28] For sure. All right. I've had enough
[2:35:32] discussion on this one.
[2:35:34] [Music]
[2:35:35] Okay. And once uh as
[2:35:37] mad
[2:35:39] cler once we do hear from the ministry
[2:35:41] on training we will certainly get that
[2:35:43] communicated to members of council
[2:35:44] because uh I'm uh I'm wondering what
[2:35:47] they're going to provide. Be very
[2:35:50] interesting. All right. So the
[2:35:52] recommendation on the floor is that the
[2:35:54] staff report CLK
[2:35:59] 2025 009 dated May 14, 2025 regarding
[2:36:03] strong mayor powers be received. And do
[2:36:05] I have a mover for that recommendation?
[2:36:07] I have councelor Cox seconded by
[2:36:10] councelor. All those in
[2:36:13] favor? That is
[2:36:18] carried. All right. All right, I'm just
[2:36:19] confirming that was all the staff
[2:36:21] reports. That was so we are on to
[2:36:24] correspondence. And so we had one item
[2:36:26] of correspondence that was pulled from
[2:36:27] the consent agenda and that's
[2:36:30] 13.5 with regards to the county of Simco
[2:36:33] request to consider consent of county
[2:36:35] count of Simco bylaw
[2:36:37] 711925 to change the composition of
[2:36:40] county council. And I'll go to to the
[2:36:42] deputy mayor who pulled this item first.
[2:36:45] Thank you to your mayor. Um I just
[2:36:47] wanted to point out that the uh
[2:36:49] governance committee is meeting on May
[2:36:52] 20th which is next Tuesday to discuss um
[2:36:56] the weighted vote part of this aspect.
[2:36:59] Um it has been through uh through county
[2:37:03] voted to go forward to go down to uh 16
[2:37:06] or 16 plus a full-time warden. Um they
[2:37:09] are discussing um all the factors
[2:37:12] involved with a weighted vote which to
[2:37:14] me is a it's an extremely important part
[2:37:16] of this process as us being the smaller
[2:37:20] municipality
[2:37:22] um being
[2:37:24] rural. We're the little guy on the uh on
[2:37:27] the field there and and the big guys on
[2:37:29] the field can beat us up pretty good
[2:37:30] depending on how this weighted vote
[2:37:32] discussion goes. So, I just wanted to uh
[2:37:34] defer this to next month's meeting so
[2:37:37] that we can get the information that
[2:37:39] we're going to get from the governance
[2:37:40] meeting on how they're going to move
[2:37:43] forward with the weighted vote, whether
[2:37:44] that's going to stay exactly the same,
[2:37:46] whether there's going to be changes to
[2:37:47] that and uh I would like uh all of us to
[2:37:51] get that information so that we can make
[2:37:53] a educated uh decision. Thank you. Okay.
[2:37:58] Thank you. Uh with your indulgence,
[2:38:00] Deputy Mayor, unless you feel strongly
[2:38:02] that we want to put the motion on the
[2:38:03] floor. I was hoping to have just a brief
[2:38:05] discussion, but I'm going to look at
[2:38:06] council and just say like the deputy
[2:38:09] mayor has a right to put a motion to
[2:38:10] defer. So if we can keep the
[2:38:13] conversation to um kind of just initial
[2:38:16] feeling, I guess, first off, and then we
[2:38:18] can see how this goes if that's okay
[2:38:20] with you. Yeah, that's fine. I just,
[2:38:22] like I said, I'm I like making decisions
[2:38:25] with as much information as I can, and I
[2:38:27] believe next week's um meeting is is
[2:38:29] going to provide us with uh pretty much
[2:38:32] half of half of what we're missing right
[2:38:34] now. It may not change at all, but I'm
[2:38:36] hoping that the uh the people at
[2:38:38] governance will look at the weighted
[2:38:40] situation and hopefully be able to maybe
[2:38:43] amend it to be more in favor to smaller
[2:38:45] townships like ours. Thank you.
[2:38:48] Okay. So, with that, uh, I'm going to go
[2:38:50] to, uh, Councelor Simpson and I got
[2:38:52] Councelor Meadows. Um, through the
[2:38:55] chair, um, this is a very, uh,
[2:38:58] interesting subject and, and I will note
[2:39:01] that we were all watching with popcorn.
[2:39:03] Um, because of the interest that there
[2:39:07] was in this and and also some of the
[2:39:09] issues that came up out of this. Um I
[2:39:12] understand that uh um our members on
[2:39:15] county council um certainly uh voted in
[2:39:19] favor of reducing the size initially um
[2:39:23] and and now there's additional
[2:39:26] um changes with regard to the weighted
[2:39:28] vote that that has been requested. I
[2:39:31] don't know that uh especially seeing how
[2:39:32] the vote went in county um perhaps the
[2:39:35] mayor and deputy mayor can uh provide a
[2:39:38] rationale for their decisions and and
[2:39:41] what the thought process is with regard
[2:39:42] to this proposal. Now,
[2:39:45] I'll start on that one, but I concur
[2:39:48] with the deputy mayor. We need to the
[2:39:50] county council asked governance
[2:39:51] committee voted on that to go back and
[2:39:54] look at the weighted vote of when and
[2:39:57] where a weighted vote can be used. Um
[2:40:00] there are several on county council that
[2:40:02] believe that weighted votes should only
[2:40:04] be used on non-governance
[2:40:08] issues. So budget planning uh things
[2:40:13] like things like that. Whereas a
[2:40:15] governance matter each individual member
[2:40:18] of council, county council is therefore
[2:40:20] one vote on all governance because they
[2:40:23] are there sitting in their chair being
[2:40:25] that member representing the
[2:40:26] municipality. Uh and I agree with that
[2:40:30] concept that governance issues should be
[2:40:32] dealt with as a whole
[2:40:35] um county council and if it's a
[2:40:38] reduction of county council it would be
[2:40:39] 17 members and those 17 then would all
[2:40:42] have a single vote on how the governance
[2:40:44] of county council would work. Um it'd be
[2:40:47] something simpler it could frame this as
[2:40:50] a procedure item. When we make additions
[2:40:52] to our council meeting agenda you need
[2:40:54] twothirds majority. Um, so in the
[2:40:58] governance sector here, then we would
[2:40:59] say, well, you can't call a recorded
[2:41:00] vote on that issue because a recorded
[2:41:02] vote would trigger a weighted vote. This
[2:41:05] case, it would have to be a straight up
[2:41:06] one for one vote and every member of
[2:41:09] county council has the same say on this.
[2:41:11] Um because I think the concerns from a
[2:41:14] lot of municipalities and we could
[2:41:15] certainly get into some of the details
[2:41:16] here, but if you do the math, six of 17
[2:41:21] members with the highest density
[2:41:24] populations in the county of Simco would
[2:41:26] carry a question. So you have 17
[2:41:29] members, a county council, you'd only
[2:41:31] need six to vote in favor of something
[2:41:34] to actually see it happen. Um so if that
[2:41:38] did happen that's fine but that means
[2:41:41] that those same decisions on governance
[2:41:44] would have the same factor. So six or
[2:41:47] seven of the largest municipalities
[2:41:49] control the governance of the county too
[2:41:52] and I think that's where the fairness
[2:41:54] now
[2:41:56] becomes every unfair because everyone is
[2:41:59] there entitled to a vote on a topic of
[2:42:01] governance. So if it's for example to
[2:42:04] reduce the county council size and you
[2:42:06] call record a vote well then you should
[2:42:08] be able to each member of county council
[2:42:11] should be able to respond based on their
[2:42:14] vote and not on the number of people
[2:42:17] that are actually in their municipality.
[2:42:19] So
[2:42:20] the position of the deputy mayor as
[2:42:22] well. I support the I support the
[2:42:23] deferral for that reason because I think
[2:42:25] we need to see where the governance
[2:42:26] committee comes back with some
[2:42:28] recommendations because that will kind
[2:42:30] of shape how we as a municipality get a
[2:42:34] fair shakeddown on our
[2:42:37] vote. I'm not sure if you want to offer
[2:42:39] anything more on that.
[2:42:41] I 100 support that 100% because I know
[2:42:44] your vote was the other way in the
[2:42:46] initial um session. I voted against it
[2:42:49] the whole time. Um I believe you were I
[2:42:53] have multiple I have multiple u issues
[2:42:56] with going down to 17. Okay. And I will
[2:42:59] gladly discuss those if we can defer it
[2:43:01] to next meeting and and fully and
[2:43:04] fruitfully. I just my biggest concern
[2:43:06] right now is to find out what's going to
[2:43:07] happen next week at that governance
[2:43:09] meeting because like I said it may
[2:43:10] change nothing. It may be like this is
[2:43:12] what it's going to be and this is how it
[2:43:13] is and then we can fruitfully discuss it
[2:43:16] in June. That's all I'm asking right
[2:43:18] now.
[2:43:20] Okay. Anything further, Councelor
[2:43:21] Simpson? Um well I I just want to note I
[2:43:25] believe the votes were on the record and
[2:43:27] I believe you were in favor at the last
[2:43:29] meeting. Um however that meeting did not
[2:43:32] conclude because there was a walk out.
[2:43:34] Um I think at the subsequent meeting you
[2:43:36] voted against um so just just for the
[2:43:40] record um I'm just curious so does that
[2:43:44] mean that you don't think that it's
[2:43:46] necessary to have the weighted vote just
[2:43:49] just to clarify the position because I
[2:43:51] think we're going to be one of the
[2:43:52] biggest beneficiaries of the weighted
[2:43:54] vote in the future. Well, I would I
[2:43:57] would uh I would caution about that. Um
[2:44:01] right, unless we unless we unless so you
[2:44:05] get a vote for every 2,000 people you
[2:44:08] put into the township. So right now I
[2:44:11] believe we get five if it was going to a
[2:44:12] seven member or 17 member council, I
[2:44:14] believe it would be a vote of don't
[2:44:17] quote me quote me on this, it would be
[2:44:18] five or six for the municipality.
[2:44:21] So, we would have to add 2,000 more
[2:44:24] people for one additional
[2:44:27] vote. And those aren't caught up until
[2:44:30] those aren't caught up until the um
[2:44:34] yearly I believe it's yearly census
[2:44:36] provided by the or yearly information
[2:44:38] provided by the clerk's department to
[2:44:39] our clerk's department to the county
[2:44:40] clerk department. So, we would have to
[2:44:44] uh pretty well quadruple our township
[2:44:49] uh in a year to get a vote ratio uh to
[2:44:55] uh Bradford, Westenberry or Inisville
[2:45:00] um or New Techch. Uh we would have to
[2:45:02] grow our population. We're at 11,000
[2:45:04] now. We'd have to grow our population to
[2:45:06] 30 to 40,000 in excess uh within two
[2:45:10] years. uh to actually get the same
[2:45:13] weighted vote as a as one of the more
[2:45:16] urban areas in the county. So, I think
[2:45:19] it's very difficult to to do that. I
[2:45:21] don't I think it's actually I wasn't
[2:45:23] suggesting that we're going to have the
[2:45:24] same vote as New Tech or Bradford um
[2:45:28] just that we are seeing a lot of growth
[2:45:30] in our municipality. So, we would have
[2:45:32] an increase um more than you know
[2:45:36] municipalities in in northern Simco for
[2:45:38] example. Yes. potentially. So I know
[2:45:41] other areas in in the county and if you
[2:45:43] did watch the county council meeting the
[2:45:45] last one I did speak to the weighted
[2:45:47] vote in that particular reason as to the
[2:45:49] weighted vote has been around since 1994
[2:45:51] when the county simple act was passed by
[2:45:53] the province. The last bylaw that was
[2:45:55] updated I believe was 2002 as to how the
[2:45:58] weighted vote is uh assessed and how the
[2:46:01] population numbers change. Now in 2002
[2:46:04] the county of Simco was a far different
[2:46:06] place. Bradford West Wellenberry was the
[2:46:08] size of um Allison now maybe not even
[2:46:11] that as much so Allist was 14,000 people
[2:46:16] or new to Compass was 15,000 people 2002
[2:46:20] uh they're approaching 40 so you know
[2:46:23] there's in 2002 there is a par the
[2:46:26] parody I would say had the county
[2:46:28] council went to a 17 member county
[2:46:30] council at that time would have been not
[2:46:32] a weighted if a wait was called it
[2:46:34] probably would have still been eight or
[2:46:35] nine members to actually have to carry a
[2:46:37] question. We've seen a drastic change in
[2:46:40] that. And the other item I did mention
[2:46:43] to the county as well is that was not at
[2:46:46] our choice. For years, the county of
[2:46:48] Simco said you cannot grow.
[2:46:51] So you've got the planning department or
[2:46:53] the province for example in this case
[2:46:54] because the province did it by by
[2:46:56] numbers saying you can't grow but we'll
[2:47:00] grow a growth node in new comps or
[2:47:01] Bradford Westbury so they get more power
[2:47:05] and we're sitting at the table saying
[2:47:06] how's that fair it's not fair everyone
[2:47:09] should have the right we talked about
[2:47:10] this with strong mayor powers everyone
[2:47:11] should have a right at the table to
[2:47:13] express themselves to vote on a question
[2:47:15] and if we're going to constantly sit at
[2:47:17] county council and get called for
[2:47:19] weighted vote
[2:47:21] uh six or seven members of the county
[2:47:23] council would would uh monopolize that
[2:47:26] voting power. So why would I want to
[2:47:28] show up? Why would I want to go there
[2:47:30] and sit there and and just see say here
[2:47:32] this is this is what you're going to do
[2:47:34] or this is how the county is going to
[2:47:35] proceed, you know, shaping things in the
[2:47:38] county for the next 20 or 30 years and
[2:47:41] we're sitting there with no voice. Uh
[2:47:43] that's the troubling aspect of how this
[2:47:46] whole system works with the weighted
[2:47:51] vote. So I'll go to councelor meadows
[2:47:53] next and then I've got councelor cox.
[2:47:56] Yeah, I I I totally agree with you. Uh
[2:48:00] the the weighted vote was brought down
[2:48:02] by the province. They they had they set
[2:48:05] up the formula for for the weighted vote
[2:48:07] for the county of Simco.
[2:48:10] And I don't necessarily agree with the
[2:48:13] way it's being utilized
[2:48:16] now for, you know, basically the same
[2:48:19] reason what the mayor just stated. This
[2:48:22] is a procedural matter and I don't think
[2:48:24] they use the weighted vote uh when they
[2:48:27] implemented this to begin with like when
[2:48:30] this whole thing was implemented.
[2:48:33] So to use it now to to to do this type
[2:48:38] of a procedural decision I I do not
[2:48:40] agree with
[2:48:42] uh when it came to county council the
[2:48:45] last time they they told us basically
[2:48:48] you either do it or the province is
[2:48:50] going to step in and do it for us
[2:48:54] every time. Yeah. Um, I did vote
[2:48:59] uh in favor of downsizing the size of
[2:49:02] county council the last time, but with
[2:49:05] this new strong mayor's power that's
[2:49:07] being put into
[2:49:08] place, I'm retracting what I'm I I
[2:49:12] I want to see a deputy mayor there
[2:49:16] because now you got two people there
[2:49:18] with two different decisions on any item
[2:49:21] that comes to county council.
[2:49:24] One has strong mayor powers, but one's
[2:49:26] an individual as well. So, he doesn't
[2:49:29] have strong mayor
[2:49:31] powers. So, because this strong mayor
[2:49:34] powers has been put into place, I am
[2:49:37] dead against this because you're giving
[2:49:38] the mayor even more power to represent
[2:49:41] you at county
[2:49:43] council. So, I am totally against this.
[2:49:47] I'm all for leaving the deputy mayors
[2:49:49] there. And if Ford wants to do
[2:49:51] something, let him because he he's the
[2:49:53] one that's going to look like an Well,
[2:49:58] anyways, but I I am I'm I'm all for
[2:50:01] keeping the the deputy mayors here and I
[2:50:03] believe there's a vote that has to come
[2:50:05] to this council with regards to that and
[2:50:08] uh it has to be done before June the 3,
[2:50:12] I believe it is. So, yeah. So that's
[2:50:14] that's part of the discussion and I'm
[2:50:16] okay like as the mayor as the deputy
[2:50:17] mayor has indicated we can look at a
[2:50:19] deferral tonight because we still have
[2:50:20] time make a decision uh in the absence
[2:50:24] if we put a motion on for deferral this
[2:50:26] evening to see what the governance
[2:50:27] committee does. Uh, if council chooses
[2:50:29] not to defer the item tonight, then we
[2:50:30] would have to vote on whether or not we
[2:50:33] consent to the county bylaw or not
[2:50:35] consent to the county bylaw, and we
[2:50:37] could do that tonight. But I think as
[2:50:38] the deputy mayor indicated, it's better
[2:50:40] to wait for the governance committee to
[2:50:42] Well, I' I'd rather make a decision to
[2:50:45] to vote in favor of leaving it the way
[2:50:47] it is, especially with the strong mayor
[2:50:50] powers going into effect
[2:50:53] uh than put it off any further and show
[2:50:57] us that show them that we don't we don't
[2:50:59] care. we stand behind the way it stands
[2:51:01] right now going forward for the you know
[2:51:05] because of of of what's happened. So I I
[2:51:09] I would put that in into play but so
[2:51:11] that's it's certainly an option tonight.
[2:51:13] So uh councelor Cox
[2:51:17] yeah through the chair it seems like
[2:51:19] county council is trying to formulate
[2:51:21] some sort of superpower team here. All
[2:51:23] right. like you give all these mayors
[2:51:25] strong strong powers and then you're
[2:51:27] going to bring them all together and all
[2:51:28] of a sudden instead of having you know
[2:51:31] uh more more individuals at the table
[2:51:33] you bring less people to the table that
[2:51:35] have more power. So I I don't really
[2:51:38] agree with that to be honest and um yeah
[2:51:40] I'm I'm I'm okay either way. We have a
[2:51:43] lot of time until June 30th, 2025. It
[2:51:45] see it says here um whether we want to
[2:51:47] defer to find more information, but the
[2:51:50] the the current uh status I I don't
[2:51:53] agree with uh them reducing it. So I
[2:51:57] good either way.
[2:51:59] Well, I will comment and whether that
[2:52:01] changes the deputy mayor's position as
[2:52:02] to deferral or not. If we if we want to
[2:52:04] take the question to not consent this
[2:52:06] evening, that's fine. I will tell you to
[2:52:08] be honest, I do not expect the
[2:52:10] governance committee to come back with
[2:52:12] anything different really meaningful for
[2:52:14] a change. I I expect that, you know, not
[2:52:16] to say that I'm not waiting for the
[2:52:18] information, but from what I've seen and
[2:52:20] heard, I I don't think there's going to
[2:52:21] be too much in in a change
[2:52:25] um in that regard. And if if this
[2:52:28] council's supportive of not of not
[2:52:30] consenting to the to a change in
[2:52:32] composition of county council, then we
[2:52:34] could certainly make that recommendation
[2:52:35] tonight and move forward with that.
[2:52:36] That's just we would just hate to
[2:52:40] um you know if there's a if there's a
[2:52:43] willingness today to reduce county then
[2:52:44] I would say like let's make sure we have
[2:52:46] all the information we we can get to
[2:52:48] make sure that we're making the right
[2:52:49] decision. But if others have already
[2:52:51] formulated that idea that's uh told to
[2:52:54] council. So I'll go to councelor Simpson
[2:52:56] again um through the chair I I I think
[2:52:59] you're right when you're u in terms of
[2:53:01] the governance committee I don't
[2:53:02] anticipate that they're going to be
[2:53:03] changing anything. Um again the strong
[2:53:06] or not the strong mayor but the the
[2:53:09] county powers uh and and the weighted
[2:53:13] vote is still applicable there as well.
[2:53:15] And so I I don't imagine anything's
[2:53:18] going to change. Um I will say with
[2:53:20] regard to getting rid of the deputy
[2:53:22] mayor um from county council um you know
[2:53:25] the there are some benefits to that. You
[2:53:28] would reduce the amount of money that
[2:53:30] you're spending for a deputy mayor in
[2:53:32] county council. Um I I I will say
[2:53:35] however that um I I too support uh you
[2:53:38] know that there's a second person
[2:53:40] representing the municipality uh on that
[2:53:42] board and and there is uh um there is a
[2:53:46] benefit to the municipality for that
[2:53:48] happening. So thank you. Okay. Well, and
[2:53:52] I think that's the uh I think that's
[2:53:55] concept. And again, we didn't get into
[2:53:56] too much details on this and I know the
[2:53:58] deputy mayor might have some background
[2:53:59] information, but u the savings that
[2:54:02] might be expected from eliminating one
[2:54:04] member of county council. We've seen in
[2:54:06] multiple districts, for example, the
[2:54:07] city of Toronto where they cut their
[2:54:09] council in half, then turned around and
[2:54:11] hired a administrative assistive
[2:54:13] administrative assistant to every
[2:54:14] counselor. Uh and I think the same would
[2:54:17] apply for the county. you go to a
[2:54:19] full-time warden, you're going to hire
[2:54:20] an administrative assistant to the
[2:54:22] county of county's warden. The warden's
[2:54:24] job is $180,000 job. What's the
[2:54:26] assistance job? Um, you know, so you're
[2:54:29] looking at these potentials here where
[2:54:31] uh the savings of 400 some odd thousand
[2:54:33] at today's rate, hiring three additional
[2:54:36] staff to help council along because they
[2:54:39] only had 17 members instead of 32 would
[2:54:42] probably eat up that uh that savings
[2:54:45] pretty quickly. So, so I'm not sure if
[2:54:47] you want to share any more information.
[2:54:49] I'd be willing to put the question on
[2:54:51] tonight not to consent to the bylaw if
[2:54:53] that's the will of council. Um, but I'm
[2:54:56] not sure if you wanted to provide any
[2:54:57] additional information you have. I have
[2:54:58] loads of information here that I'm not
[2:55:00] going to share with you. Um, if it's the
[2:55:03] will of this council to vote it down, I
[2:55:05] will gladly call the question now. Um,
[2:55:08] and you know, if you get into money,
[2:55:10] yeah, there's whatever they called it,
[2:55:12] $490,000. It'sund a $150 a resident per
[2:55:16] year. Um, and as the mayor stated,
[2:55:19] there's going to be EAS and there's
[2:55:20] going to be all kinds of hirings there
[2:55:22] and that that half a million half a
[2:55:24] million bucks is going to disappear
[2:55:26] within the next two years. Um, splitting
[2:55:29] to me having two people there. I have
[2:55:32] the numbers here of everybody. Inisville
[2:55:34] has 16 people. There may be two
[2:55:36] differing opinions there. So having
[2:55:38] having or 16 votes having having the two
[2:55:41] different sides there's your democ
[2:55:43] democratic process you know it doesn't
[2:55:47] always mean I've never always voted the
[2:55:49] same as what the mayor has voted there.
[2:55:51] So to me the system works great that the
[2:55:55] I have a colleague that put out all this
[2:55:57] information and and benefits and and
[2:56:01] risks. There's two benefits. Saving a
[2:56:03] buck 50 a resident a year and the
[2:56:06] indisclosed efficiency and
[2:56:09] effectiveness. There's a long list of
[2:56:11] things that just make it not really
[2:56:13] feasible. And I believe many people have
[2:56:15] come up and they say, "Oh, they bring
[2:56:16] this up every year and it gets voted
[2:56:18] down." It probably gets voted down for a
[2:56:19] reason cuz it's actually working, you
[2:56:22] know. And I'm not fighting this for my
[2:56:23] job. This is for the next council coming
[2:56:25] up. May not even be me. So, to me, the
[2:56:29] way that it is, I think it's wrong. And
[2:56:31] if we're uh if we're going to vote this
[2:56:33] down, I'll I'll call I'll call the vote
[2:56:34] right now. Okay. And I'll just also just
[2:56:39] I guess I'll just throw the warning of
[2:56:41] the wise here is the triple majority
[2:56:44] process as indicated in the letter from
[2:56:46] the county. So, the first part of the
[2:56:48] triple majority was the passage of the
[2:56:50] bylaw from county council. County passed
[2:56:53] that. That's the first part of the
[2:56:54] triple majority. The second part of the
[2:56:56] triple majority is coming down to the
[2:56:58] lower tier municipalities. So all 16
[2:57:00] municipalities and those councils have
[2:57:02] to vote on it. Now what the third part
[2:57:05] of the triple majority is is the
[2:57:07] electorate in each of the municipalities
[2:57:10] that support it. So for example, we're
[2:57:12] going right back to the weighted vote
[2:57:14] situation here based on population. A if
[2:57:18] Bradford, Westbury or Inisville,
[2:57:20] Collingwood, Midland for example passes
[2:57:24] this resolution to consent to this then
[2:57:28] we would still be outnumbered because we
[2:57:30] don't have the population numbers to
[2:57:32] provide any um to provide any substance
[2:57:35] to the to the negative.
[2:57:38] So, I will just caution council that
[2:57:40] whether we make a decision tonight or
[2:57:42] not, it may not be the decision that
[2:57:44] comes out to county council and it may
[2:57:46] not be the decision of the majority
[2:57:49] of of uh of the municipalities either
[2:57:53] because it will certainly revert back to
[2:57:55] the population base of the larger
[2:57:57] municipalities. So, it'll be very
[2:57:59] interesting to see how this plays out
[2:58:01] next couple weeks. I will note I believe
[2:58:03] madam clerk informed me today that uh
[2:58:05] two municipalities have already deferred
[2:58:07] this item until next month to have a
[2:58:09] discussion on what the governance
[2:58:11] committee was doing. So I think there
[2:58:12] there is a certainly a mixed or a varied
[2:58:16] uh approach to this initiative. So I I
[2:58:19] think at the end of the at the end of
[2:58:21] the day if if if this council wants to
[2:58:23] make a decision then I can put the
[2:58:25] motion on the floor as to not consent
[2:58:27] and we can and can see where we want to
[2:58:29] go. So if
[2:58:32] Okay. So, let's let's put the motion on
[2:58:34] and then uh we can go from there after
[2:58:36] for additional comments. So, the motion
[2:58:39] would read that the council of the
[2:58:41] township of
[2:58:42] agatasio not consent to the county of
[2:58:44] Simco bylaw
[2:58:47] 711925 being a bylaw to change the
[2:58:49] composition of council of the
[2:58:50] corporation of the county of Simco and
[2:58:52] that a copy of this resolution be sent
[2:58:54] to the county
[2:58:55] clerk. Okay. Okay. So, we would not be
[2:58:58] consenting to the bylaw that's been
[2:58:59] passed by county council. Okay.
[2:59:01] Councelor Olri, I did see your hand. Did
[2:59:04] you want to provide additional comment?
[2:59:05] I just wanted to support our deputy
[2:59:08] mayor.
[2:59:10] Okay. Thank you. And deputy mayor, did
[2:59:12] you have any additional comments?
[2:59:14] No, I'm fine. If the will council is not
[2:59:16] to go forward with this, then I'm fine
[2:59:19] to vote with that right now because I I
[2:59:22] did want information. We can wait. Um, I
[2:59:25] don't think it's going to change my mind
[2:59:26] unless it's radically changed. Um,
[2:59:31] okay. I'm okay with the vote. All right,
[2:59:34] Council Meadows. Yeah, I was just
[2:59:35] wondering if uh we should accompany a
[2:59:38] letter for that supporting
[2:59:43] uh supporting our decision here on
[2:59:46] council. The I I'll look to the I'll
[2:59:48] look to the clerk, but I don't believe
[2:59:49] the county is not really looking for
[2:59:51] anything. They're looking They're
[2:59:52] looking really for a yes or no. and and
[2:59:54] that's that's kind of all they're
[2:59:55] looking for. So, Madam Clerk, thank you,
[2:59:57] worship through the to council. Um the
[2:59:59] county is just looking for the motion
[3:00:00] that council is passed, but as the
[3:00:02] recommendation already or the motion
[3:00:04] already does include that a copy of the
[3:00:06] resolution be sent to the county, we
[3:00:07] always do that put that into a
[3:00:09] resolution letter stating that council
[3:00:11] and the state made this decision. Well,
[3:00:12] can I suggest that we do a recorded vote
[3:00:14] on this, please?
[3:00:17] Sure. That's your certainly your
[3:00:18] request. Okay. Any uh any further
[3:00:21] comments or questions on the topic? All
[3:00:24] right. So, you've all heard the motion.
[3:00:25] Everybody's okay with the wording of the
[3:00:27] motion. Okay. Uh so, madame clerk, I'll
[3:00:30] have you uh do a recorded vote on the My
[3:00:33] apologies, your worship. I didn't catch
[3:00:34] a mover and seconder for this motion.
[3:00:36] Sorry. Uh I may have not uh done that.
[3:00:38] So, um I've got Deputy Mayor Locks and
[3:00:41] I've got councelor Meadows.
[3:00:47] Your worship. Starting with councelor
[3:00:49] Meadows on the recorded vote on the
[3:00:51] motion to not consent to the county
[3:00:52] council bylaw. Councelor Meadows in
[3:00:54] favor or against? In favor.
[3:00:57] Councelor Borzo in favor or against? In
[3:01:00] favor. Councelor Cox in favor or
[3:01:03] against? In favor. Councelor Oir in
[3:01:07] favor or against?
[3:01:09] Councelor Simpson in favor or
[3:01:12] against. Deputy Mayor Locks in favor or
[3:01:17] in favor. And Mayor Anderson in favor or
[3:01:20] against? In favor. That's seven in
[3:01:23] favor, zero against. All right. So, that
[3:01:25] carries seven to zero.
[3:01:30] All right. That was a very uh very good
[3:01:32] conversation.
[3:01:34] First, that was the first recorded vote.
[3:01:37] We've had multiple unanimous votes.
[3:01:40] Yes. Yes.
[3:01:43] Right. All right. So, that was uh the
[3:01:45] correspondence. So we are on to
[3:01:48] [Music]
[3:01:56] bylaws. All right. First bylaw 161 is
[3:01:59] 2025 032 amend bylaw
[3:02:03] 0421 and that's to regulate parking in
[3:02:05] the township at Tashanio. So that bylaw
[3:02:07] 2025 032 being a bylaw to amend bylaw
[3:02:12] 0421 as amended being a bylaw to
[3:02:14] regulate the parking in the township of
[3:02:15] a Toronto will be enacted. Do I have a
[3:02:18] mover for that recommendation? I have
[3:02:19] councelor Ori and the second by
[3:02:21] Cox. Uh any questions on the bylaw? All
[3:02:25] those in favor and that is carried.
[3:02:27] Seven to nothing. We
[3:02:31] should 16.2 2 is bylaw
[3:02:34] 202533 uh 2025 final tax rates and ratio
[3:02:38] levy bylaw. That bylaw 2025 033 being a
[3:02:42] bylaw to establish municipal rates and
[3:02:44] tax ratios for the year 2025 and to
[3:02:47] provide for the collection of interest
[3:02:49] into repeal bylaw 2024 033 be enacted in
[3:02:53] a mover please. I have
[3:02:56] councelor Simpson and a seconder please.
[3:02:59] I have Deputy Mayor
[3:03:01] Locks. Any questions with regards to the
[3:03:04] tax ratio and tax rate
[3:03:07] by seeing none, all in favor? And that
[3:03:10] is
[3:03:11] carried. 163 is bylaw
[3:03:14] 2025034, which is library service with
[3:03:17] uh agreement with the Clear View Public
[3:03:18] Library Board. That bylaw 2025 034 being
[3:03:22] a bylaw to authorize the execution of a
[3:03:24] library services agreement with the
[3:03:25] Clear View Public Library Board be
[3:03:27] enacted. A mover, please have councelor
[3:03:29] Cox, second by councelor
[3:03:32] Borzos. Any questions to this
[3:03:36] agreement? So, you're you're you're
[3:03:41] just too slow for
[3:03:43] Okay, all those in favor and that is
[3:03:46] carried.
[3:03:50] And while we're passing these bylaws, by
[3:03:51] the way, because we do have a lot,
[3:03:52] there's two agreements here, Clear View
[3:03:54] and New Dumpsa. And I will encourage all
[3:03:56] residents that we do have these
[3:03:57] agreements and if you do uh wish to uh
[3:04:00] utilize the services of either of these
[3:04:02] libraries, we also have one with the
[3:04:04] ESSA public library uh to to do so
[3:04:06] because uh these are great resources in
[3:04:08] our community and they provide great uh
[3:04:10] a great resource for us without the
[3:04:13] actual need to build and maintain a
[3:04:15] library here. Uh so 164 is bylaw
[3:04:19] 202535 bought library service agreement
[3:04:22] with town of newcomes. uh sorry new to
[3:04:24] comes public library board so that bylaw
[3:04:27] 2025034 being a bylaw to authorize the
[3:04:29] execution of a library services
[3:04:31] agreement with new dumpsa public library
[3:04:33] board be enacted and a mover please I've
[3:04:36] depir locks and a second by councelor
[3:04:39] oli all those in favor and that is
[3:04:45] carried all right so we're on
[3:04:49] to notice motion 17.1 1. Uh the notice
[3:04:54] motion this evening is whereas the
[3:04:56] township has an obligation to provide
[3:04:58] safe drinking water and to keep
[3:05:00] residents informed of any potential
[3:05:01] health
[3:05:03] risks and whereas the trial tri I'll get
[3:05:07] this right
[3:05:09] trial levels in the Lorettto WKA
[3:05:12] drinking water system were observed at
[3:05:14] 101.3 UGL running annual average exce
[3:05:18] exceeding the Ontario drinking water
[3:05:20] standard of 100 UGL by 1.3% and the
[3:05:25] township was not notified with the
[3:05:26] statutory time frame within the
[3:05:28] statutory time frame and whereas since
[3:05:30] the exceedence township staff in
[3:05:33] cooperation with Ontario Clean Water
[3:05:35] Agency have identified and assessed
[3:05:37] methods of mitigation and control of THM
[3:05:40] levels in the Lorettto water system. Now
[3:05:43] therefore be resolved that an official
[3:05:45] notice of exceedence and information
[3:05:46] regarding the potential side effects of
[3:05:48] THM and the works completed to mitigate
[3:05:51] the potential for occurrence be included
[3:05:53] in the July 2025 water bills. And
[3:05:56] further that the report with
[3:05:58] recommendations and next steps be posted
[3:06:00] to the township website no later than
[3:06:02] May 15,
[3:06:04] 2025. and further that anytime THM or
[3:06:08] any other contaminant levels exceed the
[3:06:10] Ontario drinking water standard,
[3:06:12] residents and council receive a
[3:06:14] notification of the exceedence within 10
[3:06:16] business days through the township
[3:06:18] website, which will include the
[3:06:19] following information. recorded
[3:06:21] contaminant levels, sample numbers and
[3:06:24] dates, potential health implications,
[3:06:27] steps taken by the Ontario Clean Water
[3:06:29] Agency and the township to address the
[3:06:31] issue, including any precautionary
[3:06:33] measures residents should take, if any,
[3:06:36] and further that Aqua through township
[3:06:38] staff submit a quarterly report on water
[3:06:41] quality, including THM levels, to be
[3:06:43] posted on the township website and
[3:06:45] circulated to council through email that
[3:06:47] include monthly readings when available
[3:06:49] with sample dates, levels, and their
[3:06:51] correlation to Ontario drinking water
[3:06:53] standard
[3:06:55] guidelines. And further that township
[3:06:57] staff
[3:06:58] uh sorry and further that township staff
[3:07:00] invest in investigate and prepare a
[3:07:02] report to council on alternate water
[3:07:05] sources for all settlement areas
[3:07:07] including but not limited to feasibility
[3:07:09] of connecting to the Georgian uh
[3:07:11] pipeline cost estimates and
[3:07:13] implementation timeline summarizing
[3:07:15] findings in a detailed report presented
[3:07:17] to council by no later than August 31st
[3:07:20] 2025. So councelor Borzos you made that
[3:07:23] motion. Are you continue you wish to
[3:07:25] continue to put that on the floor? I
[3:07:27] would like to. Yes. And if I may through
[3:07:29] the chair just uh wanted to present an
[3:07:32] acknowledgement here to my colleague
[3:07:34] councelor Meadows here for providing the
[3:07:36] framework for this one and just to uh
[3:07:39] recognize the fact that the the actual
[3:07:41] incident happened in his uh ward and and
[3:07:45] so I feel that this is a teamwork. It's
[3:07:47] not my motion by myself. It's a it's
[3:07:50] it's a culmination of all what we were
[3:07:53] looking for in terms of water and maybe
[3:07:55] this is just the first step in the right
[3:07:56] direction. Thank you.
[3:08:01] Okay.
[3:08:02] Um if you'd like I can get a second or
[3:08:05] if you like we can just discuss the the
[3:08:07] topic as it's up to you councelor
[3:08:11] if colleagues have comments by any means
[3:08:15] please forward. All right sounds good.
[3:08:18] So that is procedural. Uh yeah, that's
[3:08:21] fine for for that.
[3:08:25] Yeah. All right. Comments, questions. I
[3:08:28] have councelor
[3:08:33] Cox. Yeah. Through this uh chair to the
[3:08:36] CEO. Uh the time frames provided, are
[3:08:39] they um like adequate enough for staff?
[3:08:43] Like I know staff is definitely uh they
[3:08:46] have a lot on their plate. So I want to
[3:08:48] make sure like one of them is tomorrow.
[3:08:50] So I just want to make sure that the
[3:08:51] time frames are acceptable or if there's
[3:08:54] any like adjustments that would be
[3:08:56] recommended for this to be able to be
[3:08:58] done properly and it effectively through
[3:09:01] our staff time. Mr. Se uh through Mr.
[3:09:06] Mayor to the counselor. Um the
[3:09:09] notification on the website and the date
[3:09:12] for the notification going out with the
[3:09:14] water bills is something that uh staff
[3:09:16] can do. The with respect to uh reporting
[3:09:20] back to council. Um it would be
[3:09:23] preferential to have that either in the
[3:09:25] September council meeting or the October
[3:09:28] council meeting if uh if that is uh the
[3:09:31] will of council.
[3:09:35] Okay. Councelor Cox supplementary.
[3:09:39] Uh is there anything else within this
[3:09:42] motion that may be overbearing on the
[3:09:44] staff presently given the current
[3:09:46] complement of staff?
[3:09:49] Mr. Seio, uh through you, Mr. Mayor, I
[3:09:52] believe that the current staff uh will
[3:09:54] be able to execute this uh as uh
[3:09:57] written. Again, the preference would be
[3:09:59] for the council meeting uh of September,
[3:10:01] October for the Fulsome report back,
[3:10:04] which would give uh an opportunity uh
[3:10:07] for all the work that would be necessary
[3:10:09] to fully inform a council report.
[3:10:13] Mike, I can I propose a fing motion that
[3:10:16] we adjust or amend the motion to adjust
[3:10:19] that time frame to maybe let's say
[3:10:20] September 30th. Sure, we can uh repark
[3:10:23] that for now and come back to that
[3:10:24] question. Okay. All right. Uh, councelor
[3:10:27] Simpson to the chair.
[3:10:30] Um, I will note uh just for the record
[3:10:34] that I've had many residents reach out
[3:10:36] to me um ever since our March meeting on
[3:10:39] Aqua um regarding this issue and the
[3:10:43] need for posting uh these numbers
[3:10:47] online. Um I know we've had that
[3:10:50] discussion in the past. Um, and I think
[3:10:53] uh this is a good motion that that
[3:10:55] captures all of that. And um uh I'd be
[3:10:58] in favor of seconding the motion if
[3:11:00] there isn't a seconder already. So
[3:11:07] uh I've got Deputy Mayor Locks. Uh and
[3:11:09] then Councelor Meadows. Uh thank you
[3:11:11] through the chair.
[3:11:14] Um, so my biggest concern uh with this
[3:11:17] motion
[3:11:18] was CEO possibly
[3:11:22] um said it was all right with the effect
[3:11:24] of putting all the information out on in
[3:11:26] the water bills um just for time time
[3:11:29] wise and staff wise that's that's not an
[3:11:31] issue at all you believe
[3:11:35] uh through Mr. mayor will put as many
[3:11:37] facts as we can with gathering with that
[3:11:40] time and put that out. Um some of these
[3:11:43] things are are fairly wide known. There
[3:11:45] is some uh data behind them and I
[3:11:47] believe that um depending on when the
[3:11:50] water bills go out uh but for a July
[3:11:53] water bill uh yes I think that we can
[3:11:55] hit that that particular time frame.
[3:11:57] Okay. um supplement. Um the other was
[3:12:01] that I I believe so aqua have they
[3:12:03] stepped up from just a yearly report to
[3:12:07] quarterly after the incident is that
[3:12:11] so Mr. CO no but like reporting like to
[3:12:14] on the triath these things are on the
[3:12:16] actual reporting there's two things that
[3:12:17] are that they've been doing but I'll let
[3:12:19] the co explain so on the thms first
[3:12:22] maybe Chris and then we can if you want
[3:12:24] to talk about I think it's already in
[3:12:25] the motion but I think Aqua's stepped up
[3:12:27] to also provide quarterly reports
[3:12:28] regardless of this motion or not so if
[3:12:30] you'd like to just capture those two.
[3:12:32] Yeah I was just wondering if that was
[3:12:33] redundant but CEO can explain that I
[3:12:36] guess uh through Mr. Mayor, um the
[3:12:39] um third party drinking water aqua uh
[3:12:43] has since provided our monthly read in
[3:12:46] quarterly reports but broken down with
[3:12:48] the monthly readings. Uh they actually
[3:12:50] have uh weekly reading readings that
[3:12:53] they collect and then again it's
[3:12:55] summarized monthly and also uh
[3:12:57] summarized with the running annual
[3:12:59] average which uh was within um the
[3:13:03] motion put forward. it is
[3:13:05] um the note of a running uh running
[3:13:10] annual average RA. Uh so all of those uh
[3:13:14] information and the breakdown of
[3:13:16] information including their weekly uh
[3:13:19] samples are all within those reports.
[3:13:23] Can can you just clarify as to what
[3:13:25] those we've seen good results with those
[3:13:27] reports and uh could you cl clarify just
[3:13:29] for council as to where that's where
[3:13:31] that's at? Uh through you Mr. mayor and
[3:13:33] to uh to all of council uh and the
[3:13:35] public. The latest u April monthly
[3:13:39] readings the average is down to half.
[3:13:42] It's at 50 milligrams per liter and the
[3:13:44] RR the running annual average is down to
[3:13:47] 53 micrograms per liter. Uh so again
[3:13:50] it's well below the 100 uh RR 100
[3:13:55] micrograms per liter as as uh previously
[3:13:58] read. Okay. And I'll just I guess I'll
[3:14:01] just piggyback on that one comment as
[3:14:03] well that so the reports recommending or
[3:14:06] the um resolution is asking for
[3:14:08] quarterly reports and I believe Aqua's
[3:14:10] already stepped up and have will or can
[3:14:13] provide that with regards to uh those
[3:14:15] quarterly reports without the
[3:14:17] involvement of council resolution I
[3:14:19] guess. So just wanted to confirm that
[3:14:20] that's their their goal is to do that.
[3:14:24] That's correct Mr. Mayor. Okay. So let's
[3:14:27] go. Sure. carry on and and all these
[3:14:30] reports they're easily accessible on the
[3:14:33] website. Correct.
[3:14:36] Through the mayor, we will be posting
[3:14:37] them as of as as noted in the council
[3:14:39] resolution. If passed, then it will be
[3:14:42] uh posted on the website at that'll be
[3:14:44] changing from ideally it was just yearly
[3:14:46] numbers that we received. We would be
[3:14:48] posting them as council uh votes on this
[3:14:51] uh if it's passed and that's what we'll
[3:14:53] be doing. And one last aspect. Yeah. And
[3:14:56] I just might add they're going to I
[3:14:58] don't think staff are going to do it
[3:14:59] regardless if council passes the
[3:15:00] resolution tonight or not. Excellent. If
[3:15:03] Aqua's providing us quarterly reports,
[3:15:04] we're going to be providing data. Okay.
[3:15:06] Absolutely. And just finally, if you
[3:15:09] may,
[3:15:11] you may. I
[3:15:13] may. Um the last part of the um notice
[3:15:17] of motion is is just slightly concerning
[3:15:20] to me of looking for for um different
[3:15:24] sources of water because if if we do
[3:15:26] find a really good source of water, your
[3:15:28] township may grow may grow substantially
[3:15:31] more than you want it to. Okay.
[3:15:35] Oh, then we'll get more votes. Anyways,
[3:15:38] that's all. Uh I do believe we have uh
[3:15:41] the staff has already looked out but I
[3:15:43] guess they will look out once more for a
[3:15:45] different water water source if
[3:15:47] available. All right. Thank you. Okay.
[3:15:50] I've uh councelor
[3:15:51] metals. Um next. Yes. Thank you through
[3:15:56] the chair. Yeah, that this came to me uh
[3:16:00] one of my concerning uh points was the
[3:16:02] fact that uh the trihalomemethane levels
[3:16:05] jumped up to over 120 uh before anybody
[3:16:09] even recognized uh this issue was
[3:16:12] happening. That was that was the one
[3:16:15] thing that really bothered me. We're
[3:16:16] paying we're paying Aqua quite a bit of
[3:16:19] money as an organization to look after
[3:16:22] our water and this fell through the
[3:16:23] cracks.
[3:16:25] Trialomemethanes are nothing to mess
[3:16:27] around with because they're
[3:16:28] cancer-causing uh uh problems within our
[3:16:31] water
[3:16:32] system. Now, this is where I have a bit
[3:16:36] of an issue as well. Under in Ontario,
[3:16:40] uh we're measured under 100 parts per
[3:16:43] million or whatever it is, uh UGL's,
[3:16:47] whatever you want, micrograms,
[3:16:48] micrograms,
[3:16:50] UGLs. Europe is under 30.
[3:16:54] Okay.
[3:16:56] Now, what about
[3:16:59] children? What's the acceptable rate for
[3:17:02] a
[3:17:03] child? That's an adult now that's taking
[3:17:06] in this 120. What's an acceptable rate
[3:17:09] for a child for for
[3:17:14] trihalmethanes? And this is the problem
[3:17:16] I have. There is no
[3:17:18] constant or size for anything with
[3:17:22] regards to these. Now, I we had problems
[3:17:25] with our water up in New Market when I
[3:17:27] was young and there was a lot of cancer
[3:17:29] uh rates that shot up in my subdivision
[3:17:32] alone. I'm not trying to scare people,
[3:17:35] but I'm just I'm just trying to make
[3:17:36] things real. This is water. This is
[3:17:39] something they pay for. This is
[3:17:41] something our families are drinking on
[3:17:43] an annual basis.
[3:17:47] That's why I brought this up in the
[3:17:49] first place and I was quite upset that
[3:17:51] it didn't go
[3:17:52] through. Very
[3:17:55] upset. We have to be cognitive of the
[3:17:59] emergencies that happened in this
[3:18:01] township and we have to have the
[3:18:03] reserves and a secondary backup for
[3:18:06] things when they go wrong. And that's
[3:18:09] why the last portion of this is very
[3:18:12] important to look into alternate water
[3:18:14] supplies for this township. If we're
[3:18:17] going to expand as a township, we're
[3:18:20] going to need these supplies because we
[3:18:22] don't have the infrastructure to support
[3:18:24] it right
[3:18:25] now. And Kan's already looking to
[3:18:29] expand. You know, like it's you you got
[3:18:33] developers knocking on your back door
[3:18:35] all the
[3:18:36] time and we cannot go into this well if
[3:18:41] knowing there's
[3:18:43] problems. Lorettto, I've already heard
[3:18:47] uh from from in the past that there's a
[3:18:50] developer knocking on the door there as
[3:18:52] well. How can we sit here as a
[3:18:55] council knowing that there's a problem
[3:18:57] with this particular well to allow
[3:19:00] another subdivision to go in to put
[3:19:02] stress on that water supply? if we don't
[3:19:05] know these levels and don't understand
[3:19:08] how to read these reports or I I was
[3:19:12] surprised when when I was told that this
[3:19:15] report came forward to the council and
[3:19:18] there was nothing wrong with it and that
[3:19:20] was told to us there's nothing wrong
[3:19:22] with the water yet there was a
[3:19:24] deficiency that was not put forward
[3:19:26] properly or recorded properly to this
[3:19:29] council and we're making decisions were
[3:19:32] all responsible for for the well-being
[3:19:34] of the people in this
[3:19:37] township. And we're the ones that go to
[3:19:40] jail, not the people at the township. We
[3:19:42] are, not Aqua. We are because we make
[3:19:45] the decisions and they're giving us the
[3:19:47] wrong
[3:19:49] information. So, just keep that in
[3:19:52] mind. Thank you.
[3:19:55] Okay. Thank you, counselor. Um, I see
[3:19:58] your hand. Councelor, I'm going to speak
[3:20:00] first and then I'll come to you.
[3:20:02] Um, I do have some concerns with just
[3:20:05] how we report this information.
[3:20:09] Um, we've sat here, we've had a
[3:20:11] discussion at our at the one regular
[3:20:13] council meeting. We had Aqua come back
[3:20:15] in and and provide a detailed
[3:20:17] presentation and analysis of what of
[3:20:20] what's going on and and how they're
[3:20:22] mitigating the concerns that council
[3:20:24] addressed to them. Uh we've heard
[3:20:27] tonight as well that they're doing um
[3:20:29] weekly of course weekly testing and
[3:20:31] monthly uh recording of all the of of
[3:20:34] THM particularly in the Lorettto system
[3:20:37] and we've seen a considerable decrease
[3:20:40] in that. So, there are a couple things
[3:20:44] that are concerning. And the first
[3:20:45] thing, again, I I want to be very clear
[3:20:49] that we do have an obligation as a
[3:20:52] council and as a township to provide
[3:20:54] safe, clean drinking water to everyone
[3:20:56] who is on a municipal service and we do
[3:20:58] do that. There was a running exceedence
[3:21:02] in the THMs in Lorettto over a year ago.
[3:21:08] Knowing that information now doesn't
[3:21:10] really change the fact that this
[3:21:12] happened over a year ago. Um, so I do
[3:21:16] respect the idea that residents need to
[3:21:20] be
[3:21:20] informed, but I would argue that the
[3:21:23] residents in Lorettto need to be
[3:21:25] informed because my concern here is
[3:21:28] reporting out that we have T high THM
[3:21:30] levels in our municipal water system,
[3:21:32] which are generally in the water system
[3:21:34] anyways because it's chlorine and and
[3:21:38] um natural. I'm thinking about the word.
[3:21:40] It's not natural.
[3:21:43] um organics in the water system. Thank
[3:21:46] you. Uh organic and and chlorine mixing
[3:21:49] that provide that promotes this THM. So
[3:21:52] all systems do
[3:21:54] have some of this in the in the system
[3:21:56] and that's why it's reported to us in
[3:21:59] the annual report. So, my concern is is
[3:22:02] that we have we have seven hamlets that
[3:22:05] have water
[3:22:06] systems, and we're going to send out a
[3:22:09] notice in the in the water bill to all
[3:22:11] these seven hamlets. And the first thing
[3:22:13] anyone is going to do is pick up the
[3:22:15] phone and inundate this township with
[3:22:18] phone calls after phone calls after
[3:22:19] phone calls saying, "What's wrong with
[3:22:21] my
[3:22:22] water?" And there's absolutely nothing
[3:22:25] wrong with the municipal drinking water
[3:22:27] in this township. And I have a concern
[3:22:30] that we are going to inundate our staff.
[3:22:32] We're going to inundate ourselves with
[3:22:33] these requests. And I'm all for
[3:22:35] providing as much information to the
[3:22:37] public as possible, but in the best way
[3:22:40] possible. And I have a fear that we put
[3:22:42] this out to to the to the water users in
[3:22:45] their water bill and we will have those
[3:22:47] phone calls. We will have those
[3:22:49] concerns. We will have a packed council
[3:22:51] chamber at the next council meeting
[3:22:52] saying, "What is wrong? What's on fire?
[3:22:56] Where's the fire?" and saying what are
[3:22:58] you doing about it and we've already
[3:23:00] addressed those issues and so I again I
[3:23:03] don't want to put fear in anyone I don't
[3:23:04] want to have that conversation of you
[3:23:06] know we're providing unsuitable water to
[3:23:10] to our residents we are providing clean
[3:23:13] safe drinking water to our residents and
[3:23:15] so I I would caution and I'm going to
[3:23:18] suggest to the mover and potentially
[3:23:19] secondary that that we could remove that
[3:23:22] item if we are providing this
[3:23:24] information on our website in any ways
[3:23:26] uh we're providing providing that
[3:23:27] information. Um there the reports are
[3:23:30] going to be quarterly moving forward.
[3:23:32] We're looking at progress. We're not
[3:23:33] looking at the past. We're looking at
[3:23:35] progress. And if we're going to provide
[3:23:36] quarterly reports on our on our website,
[3:23:39] then I think we kind of satisfy the need
[3:23:42] to um to go allin on on providing on
[3:23:46] providing this in our water bills. So, I
[3:23:48] would be looking to to council to um
[3:23:51] strike that section and that we not
[3:23:54] provide that in our water bills because
[3:23:56] I think the harm it will do to the
[3:23:58] municipality uh outweighs the
[3:24:01] good. Um I do concur with the concept
[3:24:05] and to the CEO that potentially we could
[3:24:07] add uh the deadline to October 31st,
[3:24:09] 2025 for staff report to come back. And
[3:24:13] in the last item and and the deputy
[3:24:14] mayor kind of u hinted at this as to and
[3:24:17] it's been talked about
[3:24:19] um finding alternate water supplies uh
[3:24:23] in the township is certainly something
[3:24:25] we could do. There is a desire to see
[3:24:28] some crossborder services between
[3:24:30] municipalities and something that staff
[3:24:32] um and myself could certainly
[3:24:34] investigate a bit further. We've already
[3:24:36] had some initial meetings on that topic.
[3:24:38] Um, so we could certainly investigate
[3:24:40] that a bit more and and submit a staff
[3:24:42] report to to council
[3:24:45] uh on the need for that. Again, my
[3:24:47] concern
[3:24:48] is comes back to kind of the development
[3:24:51] aspect. Um, we know we have developers
[3:24:54] in the neighborhood looking to provide
[3:24:57] uh services. Um, and we've sat here time
[3:25:01] and time again and said the developers
[3:25:03] should be paying for services. But if we
[3:25:05] preemptively go out and find an
[3:25:07] alternative water supply, then we're
[3:25:09] actually the ones that are actually now
[3:25:11] encouraging the development uh
[3:25:13] encouraging the developers to come in
[3:25:15] using our services that we're now
[3:25:18] providing to the municipality. So, I
[3:25:21] think there it's kind of like a catch 22
[3:25:22] here. Um, we can certainly explore this
[3:25:26] opportunity. Uh but we're talking about
[3:25:28] like you know Everett being right now
[3:25:31] the size of 5,000 you know 5,000 people
[3:25:35] like adding additional water services
[3:25:36] and other services to the municipality
[3:25:38] like we could see you know we've talked
[3:25:42] about growth plans here to see a
[3:25:43] population inevit of 10,000 people we
[3:25:45] could see that go to 20 or 40,000 people
[3:25:47] in the next 10 years
[3:25:49] um in Lorettto growing another by
[3:25:52] another five or 5,000 and Kan growing by
[3:25:54] another 10,000 by providing these
[3:25:57] services.
[3:25:58] So, you know, if if that's the the
[3:26:03] implication of going down this road and
[3:26:06] the willingness of council to see our
[3:26:08] township grow from 11,000 to 50,000 or
[3:26:11] 60,000 people within the next 20 years,
[3:26:14] um that's going to be a legacy that we
[3:26:16] are going to leave behind as well. So,
[3:26:18] I've had concerns. There's been concerns
[3:26:20] around the table as to what development
[3:26:22] we want to see. How do we control
[3:26:24] development and looking at alternative
[3:26:26] water supplies is actually feeding into
[3:26:29] that development initiative. And I'm
[3:26:32] okay with getting that information back
[3:26:33] and seeing what the cost would be and
[3:26:35] things like that, but it's very going to
[3:26:36] be very interesting to see who's going
[3:26:38] to be knocking on our door next and
[3:26:40] saying, "Well, you got a suitable water
[3:26:41] supply here. We can do municipal um
[3:26:44] sewage for you." and um off you go. And
[3:26:47] we've we've quadrupled our population
[3:26:50] and the town township uh in the next 10,
[3:26:52] 15, 20 years. I'm not sure if that's the
[3:26:55] intent behind the proposal to do this.
[3:26:58] Like I know we need to provide safe
[3:27:00] clean drinking water, which we are doing
[3:27:01] now. So adding an alternative water
[3:27:04] source isn't going to provide cleaner
[3:27:07] and safer drinking water. It's going to
[3:27:09] provide the necessity for a developer to
[3:27:12] come and say, "You've got capacity in
[3:27:14] your system. We're going to we're going
[3:27:15] to grow and we're going to intensify
[3:27:17] this township as much as we can. So
[3:27:19] that's I'm worried with the implications
[3:27:21] of how far this might lead us down a
[3:27:24] path of no return. So that's a concern
[3:27:26] that I do have. I'm okay with the like I
[3:27:29] said the two other amendments of trying
[3:27:31] to if we want strike the the um the date
[3:27:36] out and put a different date for a staff
[3:27:37] report if that's the case, if that's
[3:27:39] where we want to go. But as the motion
[3:27:41] stands right now, I can't support it for
[3:27:43] that reason.
[3:27:44] of it. There's almost three or four
[3:27:47] different asks within a single motion.
[3:27:49] You know, if we were wanting to just
[3:27:50] provide data to our residents, then we
[3:27:52] could do one motion. You know, that's
[3:27:53] something that we're happy to do. Um but
[3:27:56] then when you tie in, we want to explore
[3:27:58] other options and then you want to tie
[3:28:00] into that to explore
[3:28:03] um how these things are reported to the
[3:28:06] township. Like again, I don't want to
[3:28:08] find fault with with a lot of this, but
[3:28:10] if if we have a contaminant level, if we
[3:28:12] have ecoli in our water system, I'm not
[3:28:15] waiting 10 business days to get
[3:28:16] notified. I'm notified the next day. We
[3:28:18] have a boil water advisory on everyone's
[3:28:20] door. Like, this is how serious that is.
[3:28:23] Aqua gets an adverse contaminant result
[3:28:25] in the system and it's ecoli. Everyone
[3:28:28] on that system is boiling their water.
[3:28:30] Like, it is serious. So to say that
[3:28:33] we're going to have things posted out to
[3:28:35] council 10 days like there's there's
[3:28:39] legislation that already permits and
[3:28:41] that restricts what you can do. And and
[3:28:44] I'm I'm looking at our staff. That's
[3:28:46] exactly what we do. We make sure that
[3:28:48] everyone has safe, clean, potable water.
[3:28:52] Um and I don't want to I don't want to
[3:28:54] lose sight of that that this motion
[3:28:56] doesn't do that. this. We have an
[3:28:58] obligation to all our residents to make
[3:29:00] sure that we do that regardless of
[3:29:02] whether we post it online or not. We are
[3:29:05] making sure that that water is drinkable
[3:29:06] and safe for our community. So, I'll
[3:29:08] leave those comments as they are there
[3:29:10] for now. Um, as I said, as I can't
[3:29:12] support the motion fully and this forum.
[3:29:16] So, I do have
[3:29:17] council and then I can go back around
[3:29:19] the table if there's other comments or
[3:29:21] questions. You're the chair.
[3:29:24] Um my issue is
[3:29:27] uh is when these tests were over a
[3:29:33] hundred was there additional uh were the
[3:29:38] water manes swabbed within that period
[3:29:41] because that would uh bring all the
[3:29:44] organic matter up from the underside of
[3:29:47] the mains and that would mix with the
[3:29:50] chlorine therefore would increase your
[3:29:54] thms. So, I mean, there's not enough
[3:29:57] information here. Uh, if they're down at
[3:30:00] 50 now,
[3:30:03] obviously, like this is the spring of
[3:30:06] the year. You would think that, uh, if
[3:30:09] there's a lot of THM in the water, we
[3:30:12] would be getting it now because of the
[3:30:14] the flooding, right? But I'm thinking
[3:30:17] that maybe there's something to do with
[3:30:20] Aqua should be should answer some
[3:30:22] questions as to when these mains were
[3:30:25] swabbed and things like that to verify
[3:30:30] that these results are what they are.
[3:30:34] Anyways, that's my opinion. Thank you.
[3:30:37] Okay. Thanks. Did Chris, do you want to
[3:30:39] offer any comment on that or I think
[3:30:41] they're monitoring, right? So
[3:30:45] uh through you Mr. Mayor uh correct they
[3:30:47] are monitoring. They did did uh a
[3:30:49] chlorine chlorination additional
[3:30:52] chlorination. Um so as as noted we will
[3:30:55] be putting up the corrective actions
[3:30:58] that uh they have done up on our website
[3:31:01] and um and it would explain all of those
[3:31:04] with regard to uh the well uh pump house
[3:31:07] number one, number two and uh and number
[3:31:09] three within Lorettto Heights.
[3:31:13] All right. So, I saw several hands
[3:31:14] before and I believe I saw councelor
[3:31:16] Simpson. You had a comment or question
[3:31:18] again.
[3:31:21] That's what I'm looking at my list and
[3:31:23] uh I was going to just kind of go around
[3:31:24] in the same order unless councelor Cox
[3:31:26] did you have any more questions or
[3:31:28] comments? Okay. So, councelor Simpson.
[3:31:29] Okay.
[3:31:31] Um so, I I will note um just as a
[3:31:36] response to some of the items that you
[3:31:38] had uh brought forward, Mayor. Um, you
[3:31:42] know, there there was a fire. Um, I
[3:31:45] think what residents want to know is how
[3:31:48] did we fix that? And and and I think um
[3:31:51] in terms of providing that notice,
[3:31:54] that's what they're looking to us to do,
[3:31:56] right? What did we do? How did we fix
[3:31:58] it? How are we going to make sure that
[3:32:00] this doesn't happen again? and and this
[3:32:04] uh this notice of
[3:32:06] motion shows what we did, how we fixed
[3:32:09] it, and how we're looking to fix it in
[3:32:11] the future and to prevent these kind of
[3:32:13] incidences from happening. Um
[3:32:16] especially, you know, Aqua had an
[3:32:18] obligation to provide council with those
[3:32:20] updates. I know we get those updates um
[3:32:23] periodically when there are issues that
[3:32:25] are identified. Here's an issue that was
[3:32:28] identified, but we never got notice of
[3:32:29] it. and and the hope is that if we're
[3:32:32] putting forward these quarterly reports
[3:32:34] um that we're notified and and so are
[3:32:38] residents, right? The more eyes on a
[3:32:40] situation or on any potentiality
[3:32:43] um we can address it in in a more
[3:32:46] proactive manner. So, so that's that's
[3:32:49] what the hope is um with with the notice
[3:32:52] um you know and I and I respect your
[3:32:55] point on you know maybe not everybody
[3:32:57] needs to get a a notice um for all the
[3:33:01] drinking systems but but certainly I
[3:33:02] think if the notice identifies that hey
[3:33:05] it was in the WA system uh that this
[3:33:08] issue occurred I think residents are
[3:33:10] going to be um understanding of that I
[3:33:14] don't think anybody's going to be
[3:33:15] alarmed um undo July um with regard to
[3:33:20] the contaminant levels and and you did
[3:33:23] mention um the boil water advisory and
[3:33:25] things like that. Um I think the intent
[3:33:28] of the the motion is that this is a
[3:33:30] floor. Um legislation already takes
[3:33:34] precedence when it comes to other issues
[3:33:37] and other exceeded. So I I don't think
[3:33:40] that that's you know the intent of this
[3:33:42] is this is just putting a floor um
[3:33:44] especially with regard to
[3:33:47] thms. Um with regard as the secondary I
[3:33:50] guess I I I would note that um I'm okay
[3:33:53] with changing the date from August to
[3:33:55] October um or September um as the case
[3:33:58] may be. Um I will note that there is a
[3:34:00] need to understand what the costs are um
[3:34:03] with connections. um these doing these
[3:34:06] studies at this time doesn't obligate us
[3:34:09] or force our hand in terms of connecting
[3:34:12] to any one of these systems or anything
[3:34:15] of that sort. It just gives council an
[3:34:18] idea of what are the costs involved,
[3:34:20] right? Um we are seeing significant
[3:34:23] growth in Everett um coming forward with
[3:34:25] 2,000 homes and according to the reports
[3:34:28] and the populations um that are
[3:34:31] anticipated I believe it's about 6,000
[3:34:34] to 8,000 people. That's what council has
[3:34:36] seen for the additional 2,000 homes. So
[3:34:40] with those kind of developments coming
[3:34:43] in place in our
[3:34:45] municipality, we have an opportunity
[3:34:47] right now where if we identify, hey,
[3:34:50] what is that cost to have this, you
[3:34:52] know, connect to that pipeline and if
[3:34:55] that's going to provide safe drinking
[3:34:57] water, well, what is that cost? And that
[3:35:00] cost doesn't necessarily need to be
[3:35:02] borne by the municipality. But there's
[3:35:05] an opportunity that that cost can be
[3:35:07] passed along to the developer because
[3:35:09] the developer is the one that's
[3:35:11] necessitating
[3:35:13] uh this increase in the level of service
[3:35:16] that our municipality is providing. So
[3:35:19] if we can pass those costs along to the
[3:35:22] developer, why shouldn't we, right?
[3:35:26] Should we? And this is where the
[3:35:29] argument comes in that you know we we
[3:35:31] shouldn't work in in in a silo. We
[3:35:37] work based on only what we see in front
[3:35:39] of us. I think council also needs to
[3:35:41] look forward at what are the
[3:35:43] opportunities that that we can take
[3:35:44] advantage of to avoid those costs on our
[3:35:48] residents. Um so so for those reasons I
[3:35:51] I I think I I would support it except
[3:35:54] for changing that date to September or
[3:35:56] October. Thank you. Yeah. Metals.
[3:36:02] Yeah. Uh this is where I have I have a
[3:36:05] bit of an issue and it's with the number
[3:36:07] one when uh Aqua came came here uh
[3:36:12] they stated that they drilled a new
[3:36:15] well. Okay.
[3:36:19] Three wells are feeding the water
[3:36:24] supply. Three
[3:36:28] wells. One might be
[3:36:31] bad, two might be bad, the third one
[3:36:33] might be okay. So, you're getting an
[3:36:37] average out of three wells. I'd like to
[3:36:40] know what what's going on with these
[3:36:42] three wells.
[3:36:45] That's that's where the one issue is.
[3:36:48] The other issue is with
[3:36:50] averages like we saw uh from the
[3:36:54] report uh one month in April had 120
[3:37:02] UGL's. The other one had 13 I believe
[3:37:06] then the other one had a
[3:37:08] 89. So that's why the average dropped.
[3:37:12] I don't like using
[3:37:14] averages. Averages can skew the
[3:37:17] results. Shows that you have a problem
[3:37:20] during a certain month and we can't
[3:37:22] pinpoint it because we got to ask the
[3:37:24] question why. Why is it
[3:37:26] happening? So, there's all sorts of
[3:37:30] issues around the way we're we're doing
[3:37:32] this and getting and getting the
[3:37:34] information. And I I
[3:37:36] I believe there could be a problem.
[3:37:40] there might not be a problem, but to
[3:37:43] have the opportunity to source another
[3:37:46] water supply if there is a problem
[3:37:48] knowing the cost is going to benefit us
[3:37:50] in the
[3:37:52] end. And that's that's one of the
[3:37:54] reasons why I wanted to look for a new
[3:37:57] water supply when I put my motion
[3:37:59] forward was just to know what the costs
[3:38:02] are going to be. It wasn't to hook up or
[3:38:04] to to build or anything like that. It
[3:38:06] was if there's an emergency, what's it
[3:38:10] going to be? We have to be proactive in
[3:38:13] these matters. We can't sit back and
[3:38:15] wait for an accident to happen or a
[3:38:18] system to
[3:38:19] fail for us to jump on the bandwagon at
[3:38:23] last minute and we're making lastm
[3:38:24] minute decisions. That's not the way
[3:38:26] we're supposed to be doing business on
[3:38:28] this
[3:38:29] council. We're talking about all these
[3:38:32] reserves we have like people. I mean,
[3:38:36] this is people's welfare, and that's
[3:38:38] more important to me than anything
[3:38:40] sitting on this council is is their
[3:38:42] welfare. There's nothing here I would
[3:38:45] change except maybe the date because
[3:38:48] there's no way we can the way it sits
[3:38:51] right now. It's unrealistic for the the
[3:38:53] staff to bring that forward as a
[3:38:56] report, but the rest of it I have no
[3:38:59] problem with.
[3:39:03] Thanks. Uh, councelor Borzos.
[3:39:07] Thank you, mayor. Thank you through the
[3:39:08] chair to the council. I I just wanted to
[3:39:10] sort of reflect on your comments
[3:39:13] regarding several different items rolled
[3:39:16] into one motion. I don't believe that
[3:39:18] for a moment this is all stemming from
[3:39:19] the same problem and so therefore it one
[3:39:23] builds on another. So I don't I can't
[3:39:25] see this separating uh one thing from
[3:39:28] another. Um with respect to the
[3:39:31] other or final part in the with the um
[3:39:34] what do you call
[3:39:36] this the alternative water source like
[3:39:41] councelor Simpson pointed it out just
[3:39:43] because we have the report just because
[3:39:44] we have the information that doesn't
[3:39:46] necessarily doesn't necessarily mean
[3:39:47] that we have to actually expose that to
[3:39:50] any kind of developer or tell them hey
[3:39:52] come on over we got like extra five
[3:39:54] billion gallons of water for you. We
[3:39:56] don't have to do that. we do we just
[3:39:57] come back to council on a public
[3:39:59] meeting. So that's what I'm that's my
[3:40:00] that's my fear.
[3:40:02] If they do then do I mean I'm sure
[3:40:05] there's there are ways ways around it to
[3:40:07] to to figure out a proper next step but
[3:40:09] this is simply for information just to
[3:40:11] have an alternative because take Everett
[3:40:14] for example I mean we have the aquifer
[3:40:17] there how many more wells can they drill
[3:40:19] into the same aquifer to get that water
[3:40:22] anyhow uh I think I I respect your point
[3:40:26] regarding the dates and the council's
[3:40:28] comments regarding the dates so October
[3:40:30] 31st is perfectly ally agreeable to me
[3:40:32] and also uh just to
[3:40:35] u sort of un with the understanding of
[3:40:38] who needs to be notified perhaps the
[3:40:40] section that uh deals with the uh uh
[3:40:44] information being provided to the uh
[3:40:46] residents with the water bills at the
[3:40:49] end we can perhaps uh put in there that
[3:40:51] July 2025 water bills for all residents
[3:40:55] on the WCO
[3:40:56] system and so if that is possible I
[3:40:59] don't know I have to look to staff to
[3:41:01] find out if this is even possible to
[3:41:03] separate wack like Lorettto residents or
[3:41:06] how much of a work it is to separate the
[3:41:08] residents in Lorettto and just in insert
[3:41:11] the uh notices in their water bills as
[3:41:13] opposed to the entire township water
[3:41:16] users but I would be open to uh to
[3:41:19] change that to uh to just Lorettto
[3:41:22] residents
[3:41:24] if and that's all the comments I have.
[3:41:27] Thank you for anybody and everybody who
[3:41:29] commented on it. Good or bad? Well, I'll
[3:41:32] go to the treasurer then on the water
[3:41:34] bills as to whether or not we could
[3:41:36] separate just the rental uh system for
[3:41:40] notification
[3:41:42] [Music]
[3:41:44] through the chair uh to council. Yes,
[3:41:46] staff have the ability to uh have the
[3:41:49] inserts for water bills for certain just
[3:41:52] for Kan or Weta
[3:41:55] just like we would do for a boiled order
[3:41:57] boiled water.
[3:42:02] So that'd be up to you whether you want
[3:42:04] to look at changing that. I would like
[3:42:05] to. Yes.
[3:42:09] Okay. Um so I haven't taken the
[3:42:11] secondary yet on that. So if you're if
[3:42:13] you'd like to change that on the fly, we
[3:42:16] can do that. So it'd be just to force to
[3:42:20] be included in the uh July 2025 water
[3:42:24] bills for Lorettto or WA users or
[3:42:28] Loretta. It's the same system. Yeah. So,
[3:42:31] whichever verbage you prefer. And then
[3:42:34] the date for the uh final report from
[3:42:36] August 31st to October 31st. October.
[3:42:42] Sorry. Um I just wanted to identify um
[3:42:46] when this notice goes out, I think it's
[3:42:49] important that the notice also says,
[3:42:51] hey, look, this is what we've done to
[3:42:53] fix it. And um so I I think it's okay
[3:42:57] for that notice to go to everybody just
[3:43:00] identifying that the issue was in the
[3:43:02] Wacka system in Lorettto, right? Um but
[3:43:05] also that it says, "Hey, look, you guys
[3:43:08] can go here to find more information,
[3:43:11] right? Because we're going to be putting
[3:43:13] it online." So, uh, that provides the
[3:43:16] notice to residents, um, in terms of
[3:43:19] what they can do to to be aware of, you
[3:43:22] know, forgive the conversation. I don't
[3:43:24] disagree with you, but I think in this
[3:43:26] particular case, maybe a soft delivery
[3:43:28] to non Lorettto residents might be a
[3:43:31] better idea as opposed to put just Okay.
[3:43:34] Is there a motion? I I do see the
[3:43:36] mayor's point on the possible confusion.
[3:43:39] I just Yeah. Well, and without seeing
[3:43:42] like I know staff are going to draft up
[3:43:43] this notice if if if approved tonight.
[3:43:46] So, it very well is going to be fairly
[3:43:48] clear that this is not an ongoing s
[3:43:50] issue in all all of our systems, but
[3:43:52] there is a chance for confusion and I
[3:43:55] think that's where the issue where it
[3:43:56] lies with me and so I I'm okay. So, I
[3:44:00] appreciate that. So, we're make so we're
[3:44:02] make that change, madam clerk. So it
[3:44:04] just be that
[3:44:06] um be included in the July 2025 water
[3:44:10] bills for
[3:44:11] Lorettto and then you were comfortable
[3:44:13] with the change of the date at the staff
[3:44:15] report come back no later than October
[3:44:17] 31st 2025. Yes, I would be okay.
[3:44:22] And they very well it's no later. So
[3:44:24] they could bring it back in September if
[3:44:26] they if they have it. Yes.
[3:44:30] Okay. So you're you're comfortable with
[3:44:31] that, Councelor Borzos? Okay. So,
[3:44:33] Councelor Simpson, are you still
[3:44:35] comfortable in seconding that motion?
[3:44:37] Yes, I am.
[3:44:40] Okay. All right. We've had thorough
[3:44:42] discussion on it, unless there's any
[3:44:43] other initial comment or other comments
[3:44:46] or
[3:44:48] questions. Okay. All right. So, I'm
[3:44:50] prepared to call the question then. So
[3:44:52] all those in
[3:44:53] favor and that is
[3:45:02] carried. All right. Were there any other
[3:45:04] notices motions that were presented
[3:45:06] tonight? See none. So item 18 is new
[3:45:10] business. We have none. And 19 is the
[3:45:12] confirmation bylaw. So that bylaw
[3:45:16] 2025036 being a bylaw to confirm the
[3:45:19] proceedings of the council of the
[3:45:20] township of agata rantio at its regular
[3:45:22] council meeting held on May 14th 2020
[3:45:24] 2025 being acted. We have a mover
[3:45:28] please councelor Cox and I will second
[3:45:30] that motion
[3:45:32] tonight. All those in favor and that is
[3:45:35] carried and we are adjourned at 9:17
[3:45:39] p.m. Thank you council. Enjoy the long
[3:45:41] weekend.