foreign
thank you very much uh Madam Deputy
Clerk and good morning everybody good to
uh good to see everybody it's been a
while for me so I'm I'm happy to be here
and uh love seeing all your smiling
faces so early in the morning
uh I want to start by calling this
meeting to order and item number two is
disclose your procure and your interests
I don't have any before me I've not been
aware of any uh is there anyone here who
feels they have a purity interest at
this time
seeing no one if you do at some point
throughout the meeting please let us
know if we can record it for the record
uh item number three approval of the
agenda 3.1 is resolved at the contents
of the agenda for September 2nd 2023 be
approved as circulated can I have a move
in a second or please counselor Belanger
counselor Tim's all in favor
that motion carries unanimously
all right moving on to item number four
bylaws 4.1 resolved at a bylaw to
appoint temporary Municipal by law
enforcement officers for the town of
Wasaga Beach be received and to be
deemed to have been read a first second
and third time passed in number
2023-91 and I'll open the floor uh to
whichever staff member wants to speak to
this
is that you Andrew yeah I'm happy to
start off and then I'll I'll pass the
floor to either Jerry or Danny if if I
miss anything that they want to add so
thank you and uh and uh we appreciate we
you pulling this meeting together on
such short notice uh we've been
observing how yesterday went and
certainly we we want to do our best to
thank the community for all of their
patience at the checkpoints we do know
it is it is an inconvenience
um we do believe that it is working and
yesterday was relatively quiet
um so what we are doing is preparing for
today I won't get into intelligence that
has been shared with us but uh we do
believe that there are uh more coming
today that we want to be as best
prepared as we can OPP are doing a
tremendous job throughout Town
um and what we are looking to do is help
beef up The Presence at the actual
checkpoints in order to do that we have
a private security firm that we have
routine to assist the municipality and
what we are looking to do is have them
become temporary bylaw officers so that
they are able to lay charges for those
offenders that cause problems at the
checkpoints again we hope it will be
minimal but we have to be prepared as
best we can so with that Danny or Jerry
is there anything you wanted to add and
again we won't get into too much
technical detail here but Jerry or Danny
is there anything that you wanted to add
that I've missed
uh why don't we go to uh Danny next
thank you your worship and good morning
members of council yeah this just makes
good tactical sense for us uh you know
we did we did observe yesterday
um at the checkpoints that there there
was some pressure so essentially this
just allows us it doubles the the number
of of people on the ground uh that are
in a position to issue fines so
tactically we just think this is a
really good move
Jerry uh no I think thank you you
worship both Danny and Andrew of the I
think they've got all the pertinent
points in front of us so I think uh I I
I just the reinforce what they've shared
with Council right Chief anything to add
I do not your worship
all right thank you all right Council so
if I'm understanding correctly uh from
staff we're looking to deputize uh each
of these security guards so is that
they're able to uh uh enforce the bylaws
and actually lay the fines and these are
these are uh form one provincial
offenses correct
that is correct
and so these are the same type of fine
you'd get as a traffic ticket is that
correct
enforceable by the court
I'm sorry I didn't I didn't catch all of
that your worship yeah no problem so
this is the same type of fine as a as a
speeding ticket it's enforceable by the
courts and uh you get it you have so
many days to dispute it or you're found
guilty and you're expected to pay it
correct that that is uh correct uh your
worship it is a part one fine uh under
the provincial offenses Act
okay all right any questions or comments
uh from members of council
counselor ego
yes thank you uh your worship I guess I
I go through these deals quite often and
you know I see the young guards there
the young officers will they be safe
could they be harassed badly at these
checkpoints
so I'll I'll take that one and get Danny
if you want to add anything that I may
miss so part of the reason why we're
doing this is to help them
um again Lessons Learned uh we do
believe there needs to be a bit of a
stronger Presence at each of these
checkpoints
um and they're doing the best they can
but we do believe by adding this element
to it it will increase the safety of
those guards that we have retained I
should uh mention also that we are
videotaping all of these checkpoints so
Safety First what we have instructed
them if there's somebody intent on
blowing through the checkpoint do not
get in the way step out of the way we do
not want anyone getting hurt but we will
be capturing all of those cars on
videotape and we have the ability to go
after them after the fact which is
exactly what we intend to do but safety
first we do believe that this added
element will will help improve the
safety and effectiveness of these
checkpoints thank you Andrew all right
thank you councilor white what's next
uh thank you very much for worship
um and appreciate everybody coming
together for this so quickly this
morning
um yeah I was very vocal in opposing the
checkpoints in the beginning however I
do feel that we are here now and it's
the Willy Council to do this so I think
it's definitely appropriate to make sure
they have the tools necessary to uh to
make this effective and safe for
everybody so I will be definitely
supporting this thank you
all right counselor Belanger and I do
see counselor him as well
thank you through you your worship uh uh
last night when I did go out to Eastdale
and then back in 92 there there was uh
an opp in the parking area across from
the Gaspar out there so I'm assuming if
they're not communicating to the
checkpoint uh they're communicating to
other OPP if there's oncoming vehicles
but at any point are we uh
block the road if we know their our
vehicles
um that are you know within a half mile
or a mile of the of the checkpoint or
because obviously that would slow them
down as opposed to them driving by
so if they're through mayor and mayor
Smith we've been monitoring and
adjusting as we go as we see uh the
effectiveness throughout the the date
and you may have noticed on Thursday
essentially we instructed that the
checkpoints be free-flowing because we
were not seeing a lot of modified cars
and we're trying to minimize this
disruption to the community the best
that we can so they were essentially
free-flowing for most of Thursday we
were given advice from the OPB to get
them up as soon as possible that's why
we move so quickly to have them in place
for Thursday so that we can quickly
respond Friday as we started to see the
cars move into town and out of the
interest of safety of the checkpoint
operators we asked them to slow the cars
down a little bit we're trying to keep
it 10 to 15 cars no more than that
backup we don't want to cause too much
traffic but by slowing the cars down it
does make it safer for the checkpoint
operators and then they can flag any car
that that we need to pull aside we do
have spotters well up the road that is
signaling ahead we've got a few coming
be prepared
um we did request that OPP be at those
checkpoints with us they are hanging
back a little bit from the actual
checkpoint we're going to be revisiting
that today and we have requested that
additional support because we do believe
that that presence would make the
checkpoint stock much more safer and
more effective but there is a
significant police presence in town that
has been supporting and I think you've
all seen that overnight and again none
of us want to be doing any of this but
we are doing the best that we can to try
and keep our community safe
thank you uh Andrew counselor Tims oh I
just want to add that uh the checkpoints
on the west end of town are going very
well uh when I was going through but I
do have a question
um
do we have a lot of ride happening in
town this was uh um shared with me that
there are checkpoints within town as
well that are stopping every car
so not on the proposed or or the
activated uh outskirts of town but
within the town limits
yeah through mayor Smith
um the police are being quite uh quite
diligent at pulling over uh a lot of the
modified cars
um we have actually spoken with some of
the occupants of some of these cars and
a lot of them are coming out with
pitfalls of tickets so it's not just one
stop uh the the worst offenders they're
getting multiple tickets multiple
pullovers some are being uh towed away
and impounded
um and the the one good thing is
um again I don't want to give away too
much Intelligence on this open call but
there were a number of planned large
Gatherings yesterday and the opp managed
to intercept all of them I won't
disclose where they were to occur but
you will recall last year the kind of
events that you saw at Canadian Tire
that was planned for yesterday it is
planned for today so they are being very
effective
at getting ahead of all of that and
preventing a lot of that so our hope is
that we can keep out in front of this
and keep our community safe and ideally
for memories of Summer that we can have
Sunday be as normal as possible
okay
all right anyone else wishes to comment
or have any questions
mayor Smith I see Danny in the chambers
uh okay Danny go ahead
thank you uh your worship panel look to
Madam clerk on a housekeeping item
um our bylaw our car rally bylaw gave us
the authority to close the roads for
three days
um because we stood the the road
closures up a little bit early that that
three days would expire at a time that's
not ideal for us I do believe it would
be within council's Authority today to
extend those road closures and what we'd
recommend is that they be extended till
12 a.m Tuesday morning
all right thank you Danny I don't think
anyone have an issue with that
to extend that all right uh we'll leave
that for the clerk to put into or adapt
and adjust the uh the uh the next
resolution
mayor Smith all right before you do are
there any other comments
I do have a few so
um
hey I'm very happy to be back with all
of you and see you and I want to commend
all of council for being here on such
short notice uh it shows our dedication
and commitment to the safety of our
community and uh while we have uh all of
council here I think it's also important
uh to commend our staff especially our
senior staff uh Team who have been
working uh basically Round the Clock uh
and have done in my opinion absolute
phenomenal job I've been in touch with
them regularly uh they've done uh an
outstanding job and I couldn't be more
proud of them so ladies and gentlemen
thank you and make sure you please pass
that on on behalf of council to other
staff that are out there uh doing uh
what you do so well today so it's much
appreciated uh there's a couple of
things I think are important to note and
if I go off offsite you're at Madame
clear please let me know but
um you know I've received um
I don't want to say countless I probably
received 10 emails in the last three or
four days uh to my office some of them
of which you have all been copied on
from a select few uh members of the
public and or business individuals
and and I don't know about the recipe
but when I read these emails the first
thing that comes to my mind is is how
self-serving and and how uncaring uh
individuals are for our community as a
whole
uh the fact that this you know these
Road checks May uh inhibit someone for a
couple of minutes to get to The
SuperStore or the liquor store uh or
they may have to wait to get back into
town should they have left for 10
minutes or something versus the Safety
and Security
uh and well-being of our community I I
don't know about the rest of you it's
just mind-boggling to me
and so I do plan to prepare uh somewhat
of a canned response in the next few
days for a lot of these and there are a
few that I plan to respond to directly
some of those being some business people
who uh quite frankly I'm very surprised
at at the uh the self-centered selfish
uh outlook on them and their sole
business only in our community
um but what I what I'm getting at here
is we have 25
000 residents in this community
another 10 000 roughly part-time
residents and and countless visitors and
I've received maybe 10 emails
um it's such a small amount of people
it's probably not even worth responding
quite frankly
um but they've sent an email so they
weren't a response
um when I look at social media
uh which I have done for the last three
days I've been instructed very clearly
by senior members of staff to stop
reading it
when you've got nothing better to do
it's what you do and it's my advice as
well so I do need to follow it but this
is an important uh item in our community
right now I think that this is precedent
setting and and if we need to move
forward and do this ever again we do
need to learn and understand it well
um but even on social media I'm seeing
the same 50 maybe a hundred people who
are out there attempting to stir the pot
and often are being shut down by
rational individuals in our community
um and so you know we we just cannot
make our decisions based on social media
and I'm not saying we have or we will I
know that the council and our senior
staff are much brighter than that for
sure
um but again it's it amazes me uh how
people
are so self-absorbed and and it's it's
quite disheartening for me I don't know
about the rest of you but when I do read
this stuff it's disheartening for me to
think that these people believe there's
no one else in the world but them
so uh having said that the the other
thing the last thing I want to touch on
is is the opp because I think this is an
important topic
um for a council to have discussion on
uh if not some today but in future and
that is as we went through this process
uh and staff correct me if I'm wrong but
as we went through this process and and
we sat down with the opp 90 or 95 of
what we're doing today we did basically
based on the information and the
expertise that we receive from the opp
uh everything we're doing today we
passed by the OPP uh at no time did they
object to any of it and in my opinion it
was clear to me during these meetings
that the opp was fully prepared would be
fully prepared to deal with this event
this weekend and that they would be
working with us and specifically have an
officer at every one of our checkpoints
along with our security and our bylaw
officers not to stop the cars not to
question the drivers not to profile but
to be there as a show of force and
security that the opp were very much
involved and very much aware of what
we're doing and that it was all legal
and and fell within the constitutional
rights of individuals and and I would
say that the very fact that we uh Danny
and Senior staff and their hard work
were able to
get an injunction from a superior senior
Superior Court Judge uh with respect to
this matter tells me that what we have
done and what we are doing is
constitutional and does fall well within
the laws and rights of individuals
courts do not hand these things out
willy-nilly today
if anything they are more adverse to
giving these things out or doing this
than ever before
and so I as mayor I'm very confident in
what we have done and how we're moving
forward I know that the opp have and
will continue to do a great job within
the community
um but where I am extremely disappointed
and I think we need to have discussion
uh moving forward
um is that the opp told us they would be
at every checkpoint
and and I don't know about the rest of
you but for me having an opp officer at
those checkpoints if for nothing else I
think just
increases their safety uh and the
security of our staff and the uh the
company that we've hired to do this and
the fact that they have not stepped up
even though they've been asked to do so
I know that Andrew has had some
conversations with the detached commit
Detachment commander and they have not
kept their word on this quite frankly
I'm annoyed as hell about it
um you know they were extremely happy
that they had a council now that was
willing
and able to work with them not against
them uh as in the past and we have done
everything they've asked we have stepped
up we have gone above and beyond what I
believe is our part in in securing the
safety of our community and they need to
do their part they need to keep their
word and so I'm going to leave that uh
to staff today but uh I I want to make
Council aware that I believe we need to
have conversation on this afterwards
because if we're going to partner
with any organization including the opp
moving forward we need to be rest
assured as they do
that we're all going to keep our word
and do what we say we will do and I
believe the town in this case has gone
above and beyond and again I commend
staff for that because that's who's been
getting this done so I I'm open to
comments on this if anyone wishes to
comment and the staff as well and then
we'll move on councilor Belanger
yes the three-year your worship not a
not a comment on what you just indicated
because I totally agree but because it
is a public meeting and I had a number
of conversations with the same
individuals you heard from I think
there's a two important points people
have short memories like most of the
people in business that raised a concern
it was that the roadblocks and the
traffic situation uh we were creating
might impact their business
but I would remind them uh of the last
time h2oi was allowed to come into a
town uh that the traffic chaos they
created and I indicated that that what
did they think the traffic would be if
300 to a thousand of these cars were on
our streets and and we know that that
that was chaos but the the second thing
that I think is really important
um we we just had a special budget
meeting uh where we estimated our OPP uh
increase uh at 262 thousand dollars and
the last h2oi was very expensive to the
municipality and we know that that will
be faced and over the the next four
years those costs uh so I I would remind
the public there is there is a cost to
these checkpoints but not nearly as high
as having helicopters in the air and
command centers and and all the rest of
it so you know 262 000 is one percent on
all our taxes and not only are we uh
taking great care of the safety of our
residents uh but we also are doing our
best to limit the impact on on taxation
so uh I just wanted to make those two
points in a public meeting thank you
thank you councilor anyone else
seeing no one else all right again I'll
just reiterate have the utmost respect
for the Ontario Provincial Police and
what they do they keep our community
safe on a regular basis but we need to
be able to to count on uh what we're
told and uh and we'll keep our word as
well
all right uh Council sorry uh Madam
clerk you have a resolution amended
I do so prior to adoption at the bylaws
um I do have a motion to waive the
portion of the car Riley bylaw so I will
propose the following that Council
waives section 5.3 of bylaw
2023-74 to permit a road closure to
extend beyond three days ending at
midnight Tuesday September 5th 2023.
all right you've heard the question
could I have a mover and a second or on
that or any any questions first of all
sorry
seeing none a mover and a secondary
uh counselor ego and uh councilor DeLeo
all in favor
motion carries unanimously
all right uh the resolution uh 4.1
2023-91 I've already read that you've
heard that could I have a move in a
second or for that as well
uh counselor Tims and Deputy Mayor Snell
all in favor
that also carries unanimously
moving item to 4.2
2023.92 resulted a bylaw to confirmed
the proceedings of the council the
corporation of the town of Wasaga Beach
and its special emergency meeting held
Saturday September 2nd 2023 be received
and to be deemed and read a first second
and third time passed in numbered number
2023-2 can I have a move in a second for
this confirmatory bylaw who by councilor
Tim's executive by counselor Eagle all
in favor
that also carries unanimously and if
there's nothing else from staff this
meeting is adjourned thank you everybody
thank you