Grey County Committee of the Whole Meeting Transcript — November 13, 2025

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Grey County · Committee of the Whole · November 13, 2025

Summary

The Committee of the Whole convened on November 13, 2025, to address service access agreements and governance structures affecting Grey County residents. While procedural approvals covered meeting calendars and transit funding continuations, significant attention remained focused on requests for financial relief regarding development charges and updates to operational authority delegations.

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Grey County
Body
Committee of the Whole
Date
November 13, 2025
Transcript Status
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1 Call to Order

Council member Kaleena Sanford called the Committee of the Whole meeting to order.

00:15:36 Speaker 13: whole. Thank you, Rob. We'll bring

00:15:40 Speaker 13: our committee of the whole meeting

00:15:41 Speaker 13: to order this morning. Is there

2 Declaration of Interest

Council member Kaleena Sanford confirmed no declarations of interest exist for the current agenda item.

00:15:43 Speaker 13: any declaration of interest on this

00:15:45 Speaker 13: agenda? Seeing none. Of course, you

00:15:46 Speaker 13: can. declare it at any time

00:15:48 Speaker 13: it one arises. We have two

4.a Keystone Funding and Services - David Willis, President - Keystone Child Youth and Family Services

David Willis explained that Keystone Child Youth and Family Services manages child mental health priorities in Gray and Bruce Counties as system planners since mid-2013. The organisation operates a thirteen-bed live-in treatment facility adjacent to Blue Water classrooms while providing intensive in-home care after discharge from residential programmes. Funding enables specialized services including telepsychiatry access with over fifty psychiatrists, respite for autism families facing crisis mode conditions without permanent local support, and an urgent access programme launching January to reduce emergency room wait times.

00:15:50 Speaker 13: delegations here this morning. The first

00:15:51 Speaker 13: is David Willis. He's with us

00:15:53 Speaker 13: here this morning. There he is.

00:15:56 Speaker 13: Come on up to the podium,

00:15:58 Speaker 13: sir. He's going to be speaking

00:16:05 Speaker 13: to us regarding Keystone funding and

00:16:07 Speaker 13: services. So, good morning, sir, and

00:16:10 Speaker 13: welcome. The floor is yours. Are

00:16:11 Speaker 13: we good? Sorry to have my

00:16:12 Speaker 13: back to some folks. Not intentional.

00:16:14 Speaker 13: My understanding is I've been invited

00:16:16 Speaker 13: to come and speak a little

00:16:20 Speaker 13: bit about Keystone and the programme

00:16:23 Speaker 13: that we have, and how the

00:16:24 Speaker 13: funding from this body supports our

00:16:27 Speaker 13: operations across both, mostly focused on

00:16:28 Speaker 13: Gray County, but Bruce County as

00:16:30 Speaker 13: well. And so, without further, I

00:16:32 Speaker 13: will jump into just giving you

00:16:34 Speaker 13: a sense of what Keystone Child,

00:16:38 Speaker 15: Youth, and Family Services is. We

00:16:40 Speaker 15: are the lead agency for Gray

00:16:42 Speaker 15: and Bruce Counties. That is a

00:16:45 Speaker 15: legislated function by. the Ministry of

00:16:47 Speaker 15: Health that came into effect probably

00:16:48 Speaker 15: mid 2013 2014, and what that

00:16:52 Speaker 15: means is that we're the system

00:16:55 Speaker 15: planners for child and

00:16:58 Speaker 15: youth mental health both countings. We're

00:17:01 Speaker 15: also the the organisation that supports

00:17:03 Speaker 15: evaluation, that supports funding opportunities, and

00:17:06 Speaker 15: supports grassroots organisations in building up

00:17:10 Speaker 15: their capacity to support children and

00:17:12 Speaker 15: youth and mental health services across

00:17:14 Speaker 15: the region. We lead. local needs

00:17:17 Speaker 15: assessments and engage with youth and

00:17:18 Speaker 15: families and service providers in shaping

00:17:20 Speaker 15: the system priorities in three to

00:17:23 Speaker 15: four-year blocks. Which means we are

00:17:25 Speaker 15: accountable to the ministry and the

00:17:29 Speaker 15: provincial government to deliver on those

00:17:32 Speaker 15: plans. We are currently in the

00:17:33 Speaker 15: process of developing the next four-year

00:17:35 Speaker 15: priorities for the ministry. We also

00:17:37 Speaker 15: serve as the key point of

00:17:40 Speaker 15: contact with the ministry of children,

00:17:42 Speaker 15: community, and social services. and for

00:17:43 Speaker 15: those who are aware of our

00:17:45 Speaker 15: ministries, we lived in MCCSS when

00:17:47 Speaker 15: it was called MCYS, and then

00:17:50 Speaker 15: it was yanked out and put

00:17:51 Speaker 15: into Ministry of Health. Some services

00:17:53 Speaker 15: still remain in MCCCS. Some services

00:17:56 Speaker 15: are in Ministry of Health, and

00:18:01 Speaker 15: so we bridge both of those

00:18:02 Speaker 15: ministries to support children and youth

00:18:04 Speaker 15: in our region. So, if we

00:18:07 Speaker 15: and I apologize for how small

00:18:08 Speaker 15: that writing is. Hopefully, everyone can

00:18:10 Speaker 15: can. see it without their glasses.

00:18:12 Speaker 15: I just wanted to give a

00:18:14 Speaker 15: snapshot of the the breadth and

00:18:17 Speaker 15: the scope of services that we

00:18:19 Speaker 15: provide that this funding actually supports

00:18:21 Speaker 15: in many ways. So, from our

00:18:23 Speaker 15: counseling and treatment services, we have

00:18:25 Speaker 15: crisis support services. A great example

00:18:28 Speaker 15: of how this funding supports us

00:18:30 Speaker 15: is we have currently engaged with

00:18:32 Speaker 15: a trauma specialist who is on

00:18:34 Speaker 15: site in Hanover, supporting those kids

00:18:37 Speaker 15: and families. We have team based

00:18:38 Speaker 15: interventions, which is a wrap around.

00:18:40 Speaker 15: Interventions, which is a wraparound service,

00:18:44 Speaker 15: we engage with psychiatry, psychology, social

00:18:46 Speaker 15: work to to wrap around clients

00:18:47 Speaker 15: and families to support them in

00:18:50 Speaker 15: their mental health journey. We have

00:18:53 Speaker 15: specific partnerships like the Hospital for

00:18:55 Speaker 15: Sick Children, where we are a

00:18:58 Speaker 15: part of what's called telepsychiatry or

00:19:02 Speaker 15: Telelink Mental Health, where we are

00:19:05 Speaker 15: one of thirty agencies across the

00:19:07 Speaker 15: province who have specialized access to

00:19:10 Speaker 15: over fifty child and youth psychiatrists

00:19:12 Speaker 15: who specialize in. zero to eighteen.

00:19:14 Speaker 15: We have supported classrooms through our

00:19:17 Speaker 15: partnerships with Blue Water. I'm not

00:19:19 Speaker 15: sure if folks realize, but right

00:19:22 Speaker 15: beside this building, we have a

00:19:25 Speaker 15: 13-bed live-in treatment facility that was

00:19:28 Speaker 15: a partnership with Bright Shores. Within

00:19:30 Speaker 15: that building, there are two Blue

00:19:32 Speaker 15: Water School Board classrooms where we

00:19:34 Speaker 15: have 16 desks where 16 students

00:19:35 Speaker 15: who are struggling within the the

00:19:37 Speaker 15: regular. education system come and spend

00:19:40 Speaker 15: up to six months or a

00:19:42 Speaker 15: year with us to get them

00:19:44 Speaker 15: back on track and moved back

00:19:45 Speaker 15: into the the regular education system.

00:19:47 Speaker 15: We also have intensive in home

00:19:49 Speaker 15: treatment. So as part of our

00:19:50 Speaker 15: continuum of services, if we have

00:19:52 Speaker 15: a client who is with us

00:19:54 Speaker 15: in our live in treatment, and

00:19:55 Speaker 15: I'll speak a little bit about

00:19:57 Speaker 15: this further in the deck, we

00:19:58 Speaker 15: recognize that kids who come into

00:20:01 Speaker 15: live in treatment when they are

00:20:02 Speaker 15: released from live in treatment or

00:20:04 Speaker 15: they graduate from live in treatment,

00:20:05 Speaker 15: they often Live-in treatment; they often

00:20:06 Speaker 15: go back to an environment and

00:20:08 Speaker 15: circumstances that bring them right back

00:20:10 Speaker 15: to the reason why they came

00:20:12 Speaker 15: into care in the first place.

00:20:14 Speaker 15: And so, part of our mandate

00:20:16 Speaker 15: and our new programmeming has been

00:20:17 Speaker 15: that we embed child and youth

00:20:19 Speaker 15: workers in the home with the

00:20:21 Speaker 15: family up to a year after

00:20:22 Speaker 15: their discharge from our live-in treatment,

00:20:23 Speaker 15: so that that transition both into

00:20:27 Speaker 15: the community and into school is

00:20:28 Speaker 15: seamless, and that if they need

00:20:32 Speaker 15: a tune-up, they can come back

00:20:34 Speaker 15: in and we can support them

00:20:38 Speaker 15: to sort of get them back

00:20:39 Speaker 15: on track. When we think about

00:20:42 Speaker 15: prenatal and six years community support,

00:20:44 Speaker 15: Healthy Beginnings, which is a programme

00:20:45 Speaker 15: that is funded through this this

00:20:47 Speaker 15: council, in partnership with the Ministry

00:20:49 Speaker 15: of Education, they support new moms

00:20:50 Speaker 15: and dads and caregivers who are

00:20:52 Speaker 15: struggling with with the youth that

00:20:53 Speaker 15: they have, and we support them

00:20:55 Speaker 15: in healthy eating, healthy management. We

00:20:57 Speaker 15: give them a break sometimes so

00:20:59 Speaker 15: that they can catch their breath.

00:21:01 Speaker 15: Cradle Link is the same thing.

00:21:03 Speaker 15: We have volunteers that actually sit

00:21:06 Speaker 15: in the hospital and. hold babies,

00:21:09 Speaker 15: so that they have that skin-to-skin

00:21:13 Speaker 15: contact. Writer Futures Early On centres

00:21:16 Speaker 15: in building resiliency. I think those

00:21:18 Speaker 15: are quite familiar, probably to this

00:21:20 Speaker 15: group. We also specialize in fetal

00:21:22 Speaker 15: alcohol spectrum disorder, which, if folks

00:21:25 Speaker 15: recognize, is a lifelong disability. It's

00:21:27 Speaker 15: not a mental health challenge; it's

00:21:28 Speaker 15: an actual disability, and so we

00:21:31 Speaker 15: are supporting youth up to the

00:21:33 Speaker 15: age of 21 to function. with

00:21:35 Speaker 15: what we would consider an external

00:21:40 Speaker 15: brain beside them, supporting them and

00:21:42 Speaker 15: making better decisions, so that they,

00:21:45 Speaker 15: so that they are moving in

00:21:45 Speaker 15: the right path with the right

00:21:48 Speaker 15: supports, coordinated access mechanisms for children

00:21:50 Speaker 15: and graybeards. This this this supports

00:21:51 Speaker 15: youth up to seventeen years of

00:21:53 Speaker 15: age with complex needs, and this

00:21:55 Speaker 15: is a part of a larger

00:21:56 Speaker 15: programme that Keystone has taken on

00:21:58 Speaker 15: as the leader in, on behalf

00:22:00 Speaker 15: of the Ministry of Community and.

00:22:02 Speaker 15: Social Services, and that is for

00:22:03 Speaker 15: those kids and families who have

00:22:04 Speaker 15: failed out of our system, that

00:22:07 Speaker 15: they have knocked on every door,

00:22:10 Speaker 15: they have they have been enroled

00:22:12 Speaker 15: in every service possible, and we

00:22:13 Speaker 15: are simply not supporting them in

00:22:15 Speaker 15: a way that is possible. So

00:22:17 Speaker 15: we're the flow-through organisation where we

00:22:21 Speaker 15: support the family, and we we

00:22:23 Speaker 15: liaise with the Ministry to ensure

00:22:26 Speaker 15: that they have funding in order

00:22:27 Speaker 15: to support and purchase the services

00:22:30 Speaker 15: that they require for that specialized

00:22:32 Speaker 15: youth. We also provide respite services

00:22:35 Speaker 15: for autism spectrum disorder families. We

00:22:36 Speaker 15: are in a, I would say,

00:22:39 Speaker 15: a crisis mode in this county

00:22:41 Speaker 15: around autism. We have no permanent

00:22:42 Speaker 15: services to support kids and families

00:22:43 Speaker 15: with autism. So, with the very

00:22:46 Speaker 15: little money we get, we provide

00:22:47 Speaker 15: an opportunity for parents to step

00:22:49 Speaker 15: back, take a breather, maybe hire

00:22:54 Speaker 15: someone to come in for a

00:22:56 Speaker 15: few hours to support their child

00:22:58 Speaker 15: while they are regrouping and able

00:23:00 Speaker 15: to come back into the family

00:23:02 Speaker 15: situation and. to and to support

00:23:04 Speaker 15: the client. So, what we are

00:23:06 Speaker 15: really excited about at the moment

00:23:08 Speaker 15: is our new live-in treatment programme

00:23:11 Speaker 15: and our step-up, step-down programme, and

00:23:12 Speaker 15: that is literally right beside this

00:23:13 Speaker 15: building. It is the old withdrawal

00:23:16 Speaker 15: management site that the hospital had.

00:23:17 Speaker 15: Through partnership with them, that that

00:23:20 Speaker 15: ownership was transferred to us. The

00:23:21 Speaker 15: Ministry of Health was kind enough

00:23:23 Speaker 15: to invest about two and a

00:23:24 Speaker 15: half million dollars to move it

00:23:27 Speaker 15: away from looking like a withdrawal.

00:23:29 Speaker 15: management centre, and make it look

00:23:31 Speaker 15: more like something that kids and

00:23:34 Speaker 15: youth would feel comfortable in. There

00:23:36 Speaker 15: are currently 13 beds in that

00:23:37 Speaker 15: in that building. Six of those

00:23:40 Speaker 15: are dedicated for step up, step

00:23:42 Speaker 15: down, and that is a programme

00:23:44 Speaker 15: in partnership with the hospital systems

00:23:47 Speaker 15: across both of our counties. So

00:23:49 Speaker 15: what happens is there are 11

00:23:51 Speaker 15: feeder hospitals that that try to

00:23:53 Speaker 15: access the two pediatric beds in

00:23:55 Speaker 15: the Owen Sound Hospital as what's

00:23:56 Speaker 15: called a schedule one facility. Owensound

00:23:59 Speaker 15: Hospital isn't even funded to be

00:24:01 Speaker 15: a Schedule One for you, but

00:24:04 Speaker 15: they are managing to to supply

00:24:06 Speaker 15: two beds for us when kids

00:24:09 Speaker 15: who are in such crisis that

00:24:11 Speaker 15: they need to be admitted against

00:24:14 Speaker 15: their will. So oftentimes we see

00:24:15 Speaker 15: kids who land in the emerge,

00:24:16 Speaker 15: who are quite serious, maybe in

00:24:18 Speaker 15: a in a situational crisis. They're

00:24:20 Speaker 15: not admissible, which means that they're

00:24:22 Speaker 15: not really they shouldn't be in

00:24:23 Speaker 15: a bed in the hospital. but

00:24:24 Speaker 15: they're not safe enough to go

00:24:25 Speaker 15: home. So our step up, step

00:24:27 Speaker 15: down programme is that intermediary area

00:24:29 Speaker 15: for those kids. So we get

00:24:32 Speaker 15: a call from the hospital, and

00:24:33 Speaker 15: they say to us, and this

00:24:35 Speaker 15: could be at any day, any

00:24:37 Speaker 15: time of day or night. We've

00:24:38 Speaker 15: got a seventeen-year-old youth who has

00:24:40 Speaker 15: been self-harming, who has, you know,

00:24:41 Speaker 15: run into the into the law

00:24:42 Speaker 15: several times. We can't release him

00:24:43 Speaker 15: without someone to support him. Family

00:24:45 Speaker 15: doesn't want him. So we will

00:24:47 Speaker 15: show up at the emerge at

00:24:50 Speaker 15: two in the morning, and we

00:24:52 Speaker 15: will do an intake for that

00:24:54 Speaker 15: child into our step up. step

00:24:56 Speaker 15: down programme, where they are given

00:24:58 Speaker 15: what's called a thirty day assessment

00:25:00 Speaker 15: and stabilization opportunity, where we bring

00:25:01 Speaker 15: in psychiatry, we bring in psychology,

00:25:02 Speaker 15: we bring in social work, and

00:25:05 Speaker 15: we work with that client and

00:25:07 Speaker 15: family to best understand the needs

00:25:08 Speaker 15: in that moment for that youth,

00:25:11 Speaker 15: and that may be one of

00:25:14 Speaker 15: a continuum of services. It may

00:25:16 Speaker 15: be community counseling and support in

00:25:19 Speaker 15: the home. It may be admitting

00:25:21 Speaker 15: into our unit so that they

00:25:23 Speaker 15: can stay now up to a

00:25:25 Speaker 15: year. if that's what's required, and

00:25:27 Speaker 15: we can do intensive in-home or

00:25:30 Speaker 15: intensive in-school support as well. We

00:25:32 Speaker 15: also have the ability to step

00:25:35 Speaker 15: back up when that client is

00:25:37 Speaker 15: in crisis again. So the partnership

00:25:40 Speaker 15: allows that bilateral flow between the

00:25:44 Speaker 15: hospitals and us, and that is

00:25:46 Speaker 15: that has been a very busy

00:25:47 Speaker 15: programme, is all I can say.

00:25:48 Speaker 15: The next programme on this on

00:25:51 Speaker 15: this deck, which is launching in

00:25:53 Speaker 15: January. I think, is something that

00:25:56 Speaker 15: has been very much needed in

00:25:57 Speaker 15: this in this county for a

00:25:59 Speaker 15: long time, and that is an

00:26:00 Speaker 15: urgent access programme. And so, as

00:26:01 Speaker 15: I was speaking earlier about the

00:26:03 Speaker 15: eleven feeder hospitals, what happens often

00:26:05 Speaker 15: is that a child or a

00:26:06 Speaker 15: youth lands in one of those

00:26:08 Speaker 15: hospitals, and they can be sitting

00:26:11 Speaker 15: there and they emerge up to

00:26:13 Speaker 15: a week waiting for a bed

00:26:14 Speaker 15: in Owensend. And if there are

00:26:17 Speaker 15: no beds in Owensend, they are

00:26:19 Speaker 15: blocked into that hospital system and

00:26:21 Speaker 15: remain there. System and remain that.

00:26:23 Speaker 15: So we have signed agreements with

00:26:24 Speaker 15: the three hospital systems. We have.

00:26:26 Speaker 15: We are now in the process

00:26:28 Speaker 15: of hiring eight crisis workers, who

00:26:30 Speaker 15: will be deployed wherever those clients

00:26:32 Speaker 15: and families need that support in

00:26:34 Speaker 15: the emergency room, in the family

00:26:36 Speaker 15: home, in the school. It doesn't

00:26:38 Speaker 15: matter where at this point. We

00:26:40 Speaker 15: will support that family and and

00:26:42 Speaker 15: bringing down the temperature, so that

00:26:46 Speaker 15: we can then start working with

00:26:48 Speaker 15: the client and family to support

00:26:49 Speaker 15: what's next, and that could be

00:26:52 Speaker 15: anything from landing. next door to

00:26:55 Speaker 15: community counseling, and a broad range

00:26:58 Speaker 15: of other services. So that actually

00:27:00 Speaker 15: launches in January. We have a

00:27:02 Speaker 15: we have a what was our

00:27:04 Speaker 15: old living treatment in downtown Owen

00:27:07 Speaker 15: Sound that has been completely renovated,

00:27:09 Speaker 15: and will become a hub for

00:27:12 Speaker 15: crisis services. So when families want

00:27:13 Speaker 15: to come in and do counseling,

00:27:16 Speaker 15: they will have a dedicated space

00:27:17 Speaker 15: for them and the clinicians and

00:27:22 Speaker 15: the and. the youth, it will

00:27:24 Speaker 15: also be a walk-in crisis. So

00:27:26 Speaker 15: if kids are experiencing something in

00:27:27 Speaker 15: the community and they need immediate

00:27:29 Speaker 15: support, we will be there with

00:27:31 Speaker 15: doors open, waiting to support those

00:27:34 Speaker 15: youth. The other this next slide

00:27:36 Speaker 15: is really just an indication of

00:27:36 Speaker 15: where our focus is, and as

00:27:39 Speaker 15: you can see up there, seventy-one

00:27:41 Speaker 15: percent of our clients come from

00:27:43 Speaker 15: Gray County, and that's about seventeen

00:27:45 Speaker 15: hundred and seventy-five clients per year.

00:27:46 Speaker 15: Now, this isn't, and what I

00:27:48 Speaker 15: want to stress is when we

00:27:50 Speaker 15: see 2,500 clients, those are new

00:27:54 Speaker 15: clients every year. Those are not

00:27:55 Speaker 15: repeats; those are individuals showing up

00:27:57 Speaker 15: for the first time. And so,

00:28:00 Speaker 15: that's an indication of the need

00:28:04 Speaker 15: within our two counties, and specifically

00:28:05 Speaker 15: within Gray County, for mental health

00:28:09 Speaker 15: services. And it surprises me every

00:28:11 Speaker 15: time I look at our data

00:28:13 Speaker 15: to recognize that there is that

00:28:14 Speaker 15: level of need within within this

00:28:16 Speaker 15: region. The other piece that you

00:28:19 Speaker 15: know, and and this is maybe

00:28:21 Speaker 15: a little bit outside of what

00:28:24 Speaker 15: we're supposed to be having a

00:28:26 Speaker 15: conversation about, but this is about

00:28:28 Speaker 15: two of the programmemes that are

00:28:30 Speaker 15: funded through this this this council

00:28:32 Speaker 15: on behalf of the Ministry of

00:28:34 Speaker 15: Education, our Early On Centre and

00:28:37 Speaker 15: our Building Resilience Centre. And my

00:28:38 Speaker 15: understanding in being invited here was

00:28:40 Speaker 15: to, in some ways, justify the

00:28:42 Speaker 15: funding that we receive from this

00:28:44 Speaker 15: council to support. child and youth

00:28:46 Speaker 15: mental health in this region, and

00:28:49 Speaker 15: in the past we have been

00:28:50 Speaker 15: very lucky to have the council

00:28:52 Speaker 15: come to us at the end

00:28:54 Speaker 15: of your fiscal year to say

00:28:57 Speaker 15: we have some surplus, and we

00:28:59 Speaker 15: can support a deficit if you

00:29:02 Speaker 15: have a deficit. What I would

00:29:03 Speaker 15: say is we have never not

00:29:05 Speaker 15: had a deficit in these two

00:29:07 Speaker 15: programmemes, and so this is the

00:29:10 Speaker 15: first year that we are recognizing

00:29:15 Speaker 15: from council that there is no

00:29:18 Speaker 15: appetite or ability to have. Tight

00:29:21 Speaker 15: or ability to cover those deficits,

00:29:23 Speaker 15: and so what you're seeing in

00:29:25 Speaker 15: front of you is, in fact,

00:29:26 Speaker 15: what we are projecting as a

00:29:29 Speaker 15: seventy-three thousand dollar deficit in these

00:29:31 Speaker 15: two programmemes. We are committed to

00:29:32 Speaker 15: these programmemes in a big way,

00:29:37 Speaker 15: but we are also realistic on

00:29:43 Speaker 15: how we can support our staff

00:29:45 Speaker 15: and the programmeming to continue. So,

00:29:47 Speaker 15: if you look down at the

00:29:49 Speaker 15: bottom, we started. this journey

00:29:51 Speaker 15: for early on in 2010 with

00:29:55 Speaker 15: a with a budget of 230

00:29:57 Speaker 15: or 234,000. 15 years later, we're

00:29:59 Speaker 15: at 242, and that represents it

00:30:01 Speaker 15: represents cost of living increases. It

00:30:02 Speaker 15: represents unionized agreements and increases that

00:30:03 Speaker 15: come with that. It represents the

00:30:05 Speaker 15: cost of doing business, transportation, building

00:30:08 Speaker 15: supplies. Doesn't stretch far enough for

00:30:10 Speaker 15: us. So unfortunately. we are in

00:30:11 Speaker 15: a position where, if if we

00:30:14 Speaker 15: do not find some other alternate

00:30:15 Speaker 15: source of funding, that we are

00:30:18 Speaker 15: going to have to shift some

00:30:22 Speaker 15: of the funding that the council

00:30:23 Speaker 15: provides us to cover these deficits.

00:30:27 Speaker 15: I recognize that that is not

00:30:29 Speaker 15: the ultimate, or that that is

00:30:31 Speaker 15: not the intent of this, but

00:30:34 Speaker 15: our funding agreements with the Ministry

00:30:35 Speaker 15: of Health and NCCSS forbid us

00:30:36 Speaker 15: to to reallocate funds outside of

00:30:38 Speaker 15: ministry funded programmemes, and so it

00:30:41 Speaker 15: is a dilemma for us. We

00:30:42 Speaker 15: have. we've undertaken a broad range

00:30:46 Speaker 15: of conversations across the province with

00:30:48 Speaker 15: other early on centres to understand

00:30:50 Speaker 15: what they're doing and what they're

00:30:51 Speaker 15: doing well, and what we're not

00:30:54 Speaker 15: doing or what we're doing and

00:30:56 Speaker 15: not not in the same way

00:30:57 Speaker 15: as others are. And what we've

00:30:59 Speaker 15: come away with is a commitment

00:31:03 Speaker 15: to continue our early on and

00:31:04 Speaker 15: building resiliency programmemes because we recognize

00:31:06 Speaker 15: the value that they provide to

00:31:09 Speaker 15: the county and the kids. Early

00:31:10 Speaker 15: on, in particular. I I spent

00:31:13 Speaker 15: some time in Ottawa a couple

00:31:14 Speaker 15: weeks ago with an early on

00:31:16 Speaker 15: centre where they have speech and

00:31:18 Speaker 15: language, OTPT, psychiatry, in their early

00:31:20 Speaker 15: on centres, and it is a

00:31:23 Speaker 15: transitionary opportunity for those kids who

00:31:24 Speaker 15: identified as needing more support than

00:31:26 Speaker 15: just the early on centre, moving

00:31:28 Speaker 15: into the other services that are

00:31:30 Speaker 15: that are available for them, in

00:31:32 Speaker 15: a seamless way. And as lead

00:31:36 Speaker 15: agency in Grey and Bruce counties,

00:31:37 Speaker 15: our obligation is to ensure that

00:31:38 Speaker 15: every kid lands. where they need

00:31:40 Speaker 15: to land, and our early on

00:31:45 Speaker 15: centre should be a conduit for

00:31:47 Speaker 15: those who require more service to

00:31:49 Speaker 15: seamlessly move into those programmemes. And

00:31:53 Speaker 15: so that's our hope, that's our

00:31:54 Speaker 15: goal, and and we are going

00:31:59 Speaker 15: to work as as hard as

00:32:01 Speaker 16: we can to ensure that those

00:32:03 Speaker 16: services continue with the support of

00:32:04 Speaker 16: this council. And with that, I

00:32:07 Speaker 16: would yield back to council and

00:32:10 Speaker 16: be open to questions or comments

00:32:12 Speaker 10: from anyone. Okay, thank you, Mr.

00:32:14 Speaker 10: Willis. Are there any questions from

00:32:16 Speaker 10: Council? Councillor Nielsen, please. Thank you

00:32:17 Speaker 10: very much, Deputy Warden. Just a

00:32:19 Speaker 10: question for you. You've spoken at

00:32:21 Speaker 10: the beginning of your presentation pretty

00:32:25 Speaker 10: extensively about working with youth who

00:32:27 Speaker 10: are experiencing crisis situations and such.

00:32:37 Speaker 10: So, just for my own clarity,

00:32:42 Speaker 10: the Community Safety Wellbeing Plan that

00:32:44 Speaker 10: exists and the situation tables that

00:32:45 Speaker 10: exist from that—it's keystone that helps

00:32:49 Speaker 10: with those situations. Just remind. Those

00:32:53 Speaker 10: situations, because from my understanding, it's

00:32:56 Speaker 12: a a large part of the

00:32:58 Speaker 12: situation tables are youth situations in

00:33:01 Speaker 12: our community, not so much adult

00:33:04 Speaker 12: situations. Absolutely, yeah. Any other questions,

00:33:10 Speaker 12: Councillor Kentner? Please. I guess we

00:33:12 Speaker 12: could really question you all day,

00:33:14 Speaker 12: I think, on this topic, but.

00:33:16 Speaker 12: Is the situation getting worse? Like

00:33:19 Speaker 12: I worked with you, you know,

00:33:21 Speaker 15: 25 years ago, and it's always

00:33:24 Speaker 15: been there. But is it getting

00:33:25 Speaker 15: worse? And maybe some reasons why.

00:33:26 Speaker 15: Thank you. Oh, do we have

00:33:28 Speaker 15: all day? All right. Short answer

00:33:31 Speaker 15: is absolutely. And a great example

00:33:33 Speaker 15: that I can give is COVID.

00:33:36 Speaker 15: We are as a population. and

00:33:38 Speaker 15: particularly as youth, dysregulated coming out

00:33:41 Speaker 15: of COVID. So, when you isolate

00:33:44 Speaker 15: youth for three years, and they

00:33:49 Speaker 15: have a little bit of anxiety

00:33:50 Speaker 15: or a little bit of depression,

00:33:52 Speaker 15: three years later that is full-blown

00:33:53 Speaker 15: mental illness, and and we are

00:33:56 Speaker 15: seeing that in spades. Our numbers

00:33:57 Speaker 15: continue to go up. The acuity,

00:33:59 Speaker 15: the severity of those clients continues

00:34:00 Speaker 15: to increase, and so, as an

00:34:03 Speaker 15: odd but interesting piece of data.

00:34:04 Speaker 15: Eating disorders tripled during COVID, which

00:34:06 Speaker 15: means that kids were sitting in

00:34:09 Speaker 15: front of their computers, taking in

00:34:12 Speaker 15: all kinds of information around body

00:34:15 Speaker 15: image, around you know things that

00:34:17 Speaker 15: sort of support that emergence of

00:34:20 Speaker 15: eating disorders. And now we have

00:34:22 Speaker 15: this huge need for eating disorders

00:34:24 Speaker 15: programmeming across the province, so not

00:34:25 Speaker 15: just the province but the country.

00:34:27 Speaker 15: So we are we are seeing

00:34:28 Speaker 15: more addictions in our in our

00:34:30 Speaker 15: presentations. Autism is increasing at a

00:34:31 Speaker 15: rapid rate. and the comorbidities. So

00:34:33 Speaker 15: the, so the, you know, it

00:34:34 Speaker 15: isn't just anxiety. It's anxiety, depression,

00:34:40 Speaker 15: OCD, and other things showing up

00:34:43 Speaker 15: at the same time. And so

00:34:44 Speaker 15: we are, you know, what we

00:34:47 Speaker 15: would say is that 2,700 kids

00:34:48 Speaker 17: we could move through in a

00:34:50 Speaker 17: year. Some of those kids now

00:34:52 Speaker 17: stay with us for several years

00:34:54 Speaker 17: because it is that intense. So

00:34:56 Speaker 17: it is, it's a, it's a

00:34:58 Speaker 17: challenge. Any other questions? Oh, Counselor

00:34:59 Speaker 17: McQueen, go ahead. Councillor McQueen, go

00:35:01 Speaker 17: ahead. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Warden,

00:35:03 Speaker 17: and thank you for your presentation.

00:35:04 Speaker 17: Certainly learned a lot here this

00:35:13 Speaker 17: morning. Just in your brief time

00:35:15 Speaker 17: here, two things. I don't know

00:35:18 Speaker 17: if you're able to provide this

00:35:19 Speaker 15: information to our lower tier councils

00:35:22 Speaker 15: because I think information is important

00:35:24 Speaker 15: for to share what you're just

00:35:26 Speaker 15: talking about this morning. But from

00:35:28 Speaker 15: the private sector or from personal

00:35:30 Speaker 15: donations, is that something you receive

00:35:32 Speaker 15: as well, or can can receive?

00:35:35 Speaker 15: The short answer is yes. The

00:35:37 Speaker 15: longer answer is it is never

00:35:39 Speaker 15: enough. And and as a as

00:35:40 Speaker 15: an organisation that is funded through

00:35:42 Speaker 15: ministries and other mechanisms, I don't

00:35:44 Speaker 15: think it's good business sense to

00:35:51 Speaker 15: use donation dollars to fund operations.

00:35:52 Speaker 15: And so what we do with

00:35:54 Speaker 15: donation dollars is we do test

00:35:57 Speaker 15: pilots, we do proof of concepts.

00:35:59 Speaker 15: If there's a if there's a

00:36:02 Speaker 15: repair to a playground that is

00:36:05 Speaker 15: falling apart, we will. take those

00:36:09 Speaker 15: donation dollars and we will use

00:36:10 Speaker 15: that to rebuild the, rebuild the

00:36:12 Speaker 15: playground. That's what we do. Thank

00:36:14 Speaker 15: you again for that. A few

00:36:15 Speaker 17: years back, we had an individual

00:36:16 Speaker 17: that was in our museum in

00:36:19 Speaker 17: Blesserton, and we got the name

00:36:23 Speaker 17: Museum Rob. You know, we're going

00:36:25 Speaker 17: with, but he he sort of

00:36:28 Speaker 17: engaged with the youth, in a

00:36:29 Speaker 17: sense of pride and ownership. and

00:36:32 Speaker 17: he was quite successful, and he

00:36:33 Speaker 17: and he just got kids involved,

00:36:35 Speaker 17: and you know the Hanley Institute

00:36:37 Speaker 17: and other ones you know that

00:36:38 Speaker 17: are out there are doing great

00:36:39 Speaker 17: things. It's it's it's. I don't

00:36:41 Speaker 17: know if it's it's kids today

00:36:42 Speaker 17: don't have that pride and ownership

00:36:43 Speaker 17: or not. I don't know, but

00:36:45 Speaker 17: sometimes individuals can can make a

00:36:47 Speaker 17: big difference, and obviously your your

00:36:48 Speaker 17: your your groups doing that. But

00:36:52 Speaker 17: again, I just think it's awareness,

00:36:54 Speaker 17: and you know probably if there's

00:36:56 Speaker 17: good news stories, people like to

00:36:57 Speaker 17: hear those good news stories, and

00:36:59 Speaker 17: that could generate your funding as

00:37:00 Speaker 17: well. And that's what I'm saying

00:37:02 Speaker 17: is sometimes it's in the stories

00:37:07 Speaker 17: and the good news stories that

00:37:08 Speaker 17: you share. And you know, because

00:37:11 Speaker 15: you know, to see a deficit

00:37:13 Speaker 15: and see a programme that you're

00:37:16 Speaker 15: offering greatly reduced because of well,

00:37:17 Speaker 15: your funding from 2010 until now

00:37:19 Speaker 15: has hasn't changed a lot. And

00:37:21 Speaker 15: I guess the advocate, the advocating

00:37:23 Speaker 15: to the province as well is

00:37:25 Speaker 15: that happening as well, and and

00:37:28 Speaker 15: is there a role there as

00:37:32 Speaker 15: well? I would I would describe

00:37:33 Speaker 15: it as we chase the dollars.

00:37:34 Speaker 15: We are like I probably have

00:37:35 Speaker 15: ten different business cases that I

00:37:38 Speaker 15: continually circulate into the ministries for

00:37:39 Speaker 15: funding. And if there is any

00:37:45 Speaker 15: opportunity for one-time funding, we grab

00:37:46 Speaker 15: it. We've become very good at

00:37:48 Speaker 15: sort of chasing that dollar and

00:37:49 Speaker 02: and using it to support to

00:37:51 Speaker 02: support the organisation. Yeah. The challenge

00:37:54 Speaker 02: is, of course, we will never.

00:37:56 Speaker 02: I mean, if we were to

00:37:59 Speaker 02: get enough money that we needed

00:38:01 Speaker 02: to support all of the needs,

00:38:04 Speaker 02: it would be a massive

00:38:06 Speaker 02: budget, and so it is the

00:38:13 Speaker 02: reality that we live with. Yeah.

00:38:16 Speaker 02: Okay. Well, thank you very much,

00:38:18 Speaker 02: Mr. Wells. It was a good

00:38:22 Speaker 02: presentation, and we appreciate your time

00:38:25 Speaker 02: to come and talk to us

00:38:28 Speaker 02: today. Thank you. All right. Moving

00:38:30 Speaker 02: on, we have one more delegation.

00:38:32 Speaker 18: Greg Jones will be attending online.

00:38:35 Speaker 18: There he is from Skyline. He's

00:38:36 Speaker 18: going to be talking to us

4.b Development Charges Deferral and Conditional Exemption Agreement - Gregory Jones, President - SkyDev

Gregory Jones, President of SkyDev, presented a proposal to Council regarding development charges deferral and conditional exemption agreements for rental housing projects in Owen Sound.

00:38:37 Speaker 18: regarding development charges, deferral, and conditional

00:38:40 Speaker 18: exemption agreement today. So, Mister Jones,

00:38:44 Speaker 18: the floor is yours, sir. Well,

00:38:46 Speaker 18: thank you, Deputy Warden. Can you

00:38:48 Speaker 18: hear me? Okay. Yes, we can.

00:38:51 Speaker 18: Awesome. Apologies for not being able

00:38:54 Speaker 18: to attend in corporeal form today.

00:39:11 Speaker 18: My name is Greg. Jones. I'm

00:39:14 Speaker 18: the president of Skydev, part of

00:39:16 Speaker 18: the Skyline Group of companies, and

00:39:23 Speaker 18: I'd love to take the opportunity

00:39:26 Speaker 18: to tell you a little bit

00:39:30 Speaker 18: about Skyline and and about our

00:39:33 Speaker 18: development in Owen Sound and the

00:39:36 Speaker 18: development charges policy that you have,

00:39:38 Speaker 18: and how it's exciting to be

00:39:41 Speaker 18: able to invest in rental housing

00:39:42 Speaker 18: in the County of Grey. With

00:39:46 Speaker 18: that, I'll start a presentation. Can

00:39:50 Speaker 18: you see that? Okay, or should

00:39:53 Speaker 18: I? Oh, we can see it.

00:39:57 Speaker 18: Yeah. Okay. All right. So, a

00:40:00 Speaker 18: little bit about Skyline. We started

00:40:02 Speaker 18: in. the '90s, with student rentals,

00:40:03 Speaker 18: eventually we started buying apartment buildings.

00:40:06 Speaker 18: We have an apartment reit, an

00:40:07 Speaker 18: industrial reit, a retail reit, and

00:40:10 Speaker 18: a clean energy fund. Together, we

00:40:12 Speaker 18: have about ten billion of real

00:40:15 Speaker 18: estate assets in Canada. Now, the

00:40:17 Speaker 18: most relevant portfolio is we own

00:40:20 Speaker 18: and manage over twenty thousand rental

00:40:22 Speaker 18: apartments across Canada. about twenty percent

00:40:24 Speaker 18: of the rental housing, purpose-built rental

00:40:28 Speaker 18: housing in the county of Grey.

00:40:32 Speaker 18: So we are a landlord today,

00:40:37 Speaker 18: and we provide housing for people

00:40:40 Speaker 18: today in in the county. We

00:40:43 Speaker 18: have an industrial rate of about

00:40:46 Speaker 18: ten million square feet of high

00:40:52 Speaker 18: bay industrial warehousing. We have breads

00:40:54 Speaker 18: and meds with our retail rate.

00:40:56 Speaker 18: We're we're in small town Ontario

00:40:58 Speaker 18: across Canada. We don't own anything

00:41:01 Speaker 18: in major cities. We're all second.

00:41:04 Speaker 18: We're all secondary and tertiary markets,

00:41:08 Speaker 18: investing in grocery stores and pharmacies

00:41:10 Speaker 18: primarily. We are the biggest producer

00:41:12 Speaker 18: of bio. I'm sorry, but I

00:41:16 Speaker 18: can't help you with that right

00:41:20 Speaker 18: now. Right about that, we're the

00:41:23 Speaker 18: biggest producer of biogas in Canada,

00:41:25 Speaker 18: with our plant in Elmira and

00:41:29 Speaker 18: Lethbridge, Alberta. Co-founders and myself. as

00:41:32 Speaker 18: Skydev, we're currently building about one

00:41:33 Speaker 18: thousand five hundred rental apartments in

00:41:36 Speaker 18: Ontario at the moment. My partners

00:41:39 Speaker 18: are a couple of guys from

00:41:42 Speaker 18: Walkerton, Ontario, and Fergus, Ontario. What

00:41:46 Speaker 18: have we done recently? We've delivered

00:41:48 Speaker 18: over six hundred rental apartments in

00:41:50 Speaker 18: communities like Chatham, Tecumseh, Ravenhurst, Welland,

00:41:52 Speaker 18: Collingwood. We even do supportive housing

00:41:54 Speaker 18: as a pro bono initiative. for

00:41:57 Speaker 18: nonprofits, trying to make a difference,

00:42:00 Speaker 18: create meaningful value in in the

00:42:02 Speaker 18: communities we're investing in. What are

00:42:04 Speaker 18: we building right now? We're building

00:42:12 Speaker 18: in the town of Simcoe, near

00:42:21 Speaker 18: Port Dover, the city of Belleville,

00:42:21 Speaker 18: city of Owen Sound, which we'll

00:42:25 Speaker 18: we'll cover, and the city of

00:42:27 Speaker 18: Barry. We I'll just show you

00:42:29 Speaker 18: some imagery quick of our development

00:42:33 Speaker 18: in Collingwood. what it looks like

00:42:35 Speaker 18: today, where we are leasing rental

00:42:38 Speaker 18: apartments now. We always have great

00:42:39 Speaker 18: indoor outdoor amenity spaces. Just giving

00:42:41 Speaker 18: you a flavour of what we're

00:42:44 Speaker 18: working on. This is Simcoe, Ontario.

00:42:47 Speaker 18: I'll show you a quick clip.

00:42:48 Speaker 18: We're building 199 rental apartments in

00:42:51 Speaker 18: the county of Norfolk. I don't

00:42:52 Speaker 18: know if you can hear the

00:42:54 Speaker 18: music, but no, we're not, we're

00:42:55 Speaker 18: not, we're not hearing the music.

00:43:18 Speaker 18: We can see the video. Belleville,

00:43:19 Speaker 18: we have two buildings here: 166

00:43:20 Speaker 19: rentals with the central amenity building.

00:43:26 Speaker 18: We have a development in Barry,

00:43:28 Speaker 18: right on the 400. You'll see

00:43:30 Speaker 18: some towers coming up. We have

00:43:32 Speaker 18: 565 apartments under construction at the

00:43:34 Speaker 18: moment. Here's a quick. drone video

00:43:37 Speaker 18: of what it looks like today.

00:43:42 Speaker 18: Give you an idea of what

00:43:45 Speaker 18: we're doing and what we're building

00:43:48 Speaker 18: and what we're investing in. All

00:43:51 Speaker 18: these projects are 100% rental apartments.

00:43:52 Speaker 18: So, gives you a bit of

00:43:54 Speaker 18: an update there of what we're

00:43:56 Speaker 18: working on, what we're investing in,

00:43:58 Speaker 18: discussing the development charges, policies, and

00:44:06 Speaker 18: exemptions. The policy in place from

00:44:08 Speaker 18: the County of Gray is what

00:44:11 Speaker 18: makes rental housing possible in the

00:44:15 Speaker 18: area. We're investing big time in

00:44:17 Speaker 18: Owen Sound, and I'll just show

00:44:20 Speaker 18: you some pictures. The we have

00:44:22 Speaker 18: three buildings. under construction of eight,

00:44:26 Speaker 18: two hundred and sixty-seven new rental

00:44:30 Speaker 18: apartments, and we're, I mean, great

00:44:34 Speaker 18: views of the bay and the

00:44:37 Speaker 18: water. We broke ground a few

00:44:39 Speaker 18: months back, and you'll see some

00:44:41 Speaker 18: the buildings coming up over over

00:44:46 Speaker 18: the winter. The here's another photo.

00:44:48 Speaker 18: We're because of the policy of

00:44:51 Speaker 18: the county of Gray exempting development.

00:44:53 Speaker 18: charges for rental housing projects. We're

00:44:54 Speaker 18: also looking at making our Osmond

00:44:56 Speaker 18: Shores project in Meaford rental. Presented

00:44:59 Speaker 18: that to council a few weeks

00:45:00 Speaker 18: ago, as well as a destination

00:45:02 Speaker 18: boutique hotel. Just some quick renderings.

00:45:04 Speaker 18: So, I mean, we're investing in

00:45:08 Speaker 18: rental housing across the province. We

00:45:11 Speaker 18: are investing in the County of

00:45:12 Speaker 18: Grey big time because of. Great

00:45:13 Speaker 18: big time because of the policies

00:45:17 Speaker 18: in place, where you know you're

00:45:19 Speaker 18: you're able to build rental housing

00:45:22 Speaker 18: for regular people. Just we're targeting

00:45:25 Speaker 18: the average income in the area.

00:45:27 Speaker 18: You have a lot of retirees

00:45:29 Speaker 18: that sell their homes and make

00:45:32 Speaker 18: housing available to other people, and

00:45:35 Speaker 18: are able to move into a

00:45:36 Speaker 18: turnkey lifestyle with elevators, as well

00:45:39 Speaker 18: as some big projects in the

00:45:42 Speaker 18: area where you have basically workforce

00:45:44 Speaker 18: housing for people. to be able

00:45:46 Speaker 18: to live in and have great

00:45:49 Speaker 18: views of the water in both

00:45:52 Speaker 18: Oceansound and Meaford. So today we're

00:45:55 Speaker 18: talking about Oceansound and the request

00:45:57 Speaker 18: for exemption. I just wanted to

00:46:01 Speaker 18: share from a business perspective, being

00:46:03 Speaker 18: able to say, "Hey, we have

00:46:04 Speaker 18: an exemption on this on this

00:46:06 Speaker 18: property to be able to build

00:46:10 Speaker 18: more rental housing." What that allows

00:46:14 Speaker 18: me to do is get more

00:46:17 Speaker 18: investment. so it's not just people

00:46:20 Speaker 18: renting apartments. It's attracting investment in

00:46:23 Speaker 18: rental housing. It's not a very

00:46:24 Speaker 18: good yield. It's a, it's a

00:46:27 Speaker 18: long-term ownership situation where we own

00:46:31 Speaker 18: and manage buildings for decades. So

00:46:33 Speaker 18: we're, you know, we're implementing sustainable

00:46:35 Speaker 18: technologies because it saves money. We

00:46:38 Speaker 18: do solar, we do all all

00:46:40 Speaker 18: the all the LEDs and all

00:46:43 Speaker 18: the the things you can do

00:46:45 Speaker 18: to save on energy and make

00:46:48 Speaker 18: it. Save on energy and make

00:46:49 Speaker 18: energy. Kind of like our our

00:46:51 Speaker 18: Skyline Energy Fund does, literally makes

00:46:52 Speaker 18: money out of garbage and sunshine.

00:46:57 Speaker 18: So we're always after those initiatives.

00:46:59 Speaker 18: We build rental housing across the

00:47:01 Speaker 18: country and own and keep it

00:47:03 Speaker 18: for a long period of time.

00:47:08 Speaker 18: What the ask today is is

00:47:10 Speaker 18: to allow for an exemption on

00:47:13 Speaker 18: the entire development to mirror. what

00:47:16 Speaker 18: the city of Owen Sound has

00:47:20 Speaker 18: done, where we're able to attract

00:47:23 Speaker 18: more investment in rental housing. There's

00:47:26 Speaker 18: nonprofits interested in the property. I

00:47:28 Speaker 18: have more investors that are ready

00:47:29 Speaker 18: to to start the next building

00:47:31 Speaker 18: and the next building as they

00:47:32 Speaker 18: fill up. But for absorption, we

00:47:35 Speaker 18: started with the first three, and

00:47:39 Speaker 18: we'd like that confidence to to

00:47:41 Speaker 18: move forward and continue to invest

00:47:42 Speaker 18: in more rental housing for the

00:47:44 Speaker 18: county of Grey. For the County

00:47:45 Speaker 18: of Gray, and so the requested

00:47:47 Speaker 18: motions really similar to option two

00:47:49 Speaker 18: in your staff report, where we're

00:47:54 Speaker 18: asking for a ten-year agreement, exempt

00:47:58 Speaker 18: the first phase, and delegate staff

00:47:59 Speaker 18: to approve future phases based on

00:48:01 Speaker 02: criteria of delivering rental housing. So

00:48:03 Speaker 02: that's the the ask, and just

00:48:05 Speaker 02: wanted to introduce who we are

00:48:07 Speaker 02: and what we do. Bayshore Street

00:48:10 Speaker 02: Development is just Base River Street

00:48:13 Speaker 02: Development is just the name of

00:48:15 Speaker 02: the company that owns the land.

00:48:16 Speaker 02: We are Skyline. We are. We

00:48:18 Speaker 02: own over a hundred million dollars

00:48:20 Speaker 02: of rental housing in the county

00:48:24 Speaker 02: of Gray, and we're investing another

00:48:26 Speaker 02: two hundred million dollars over the

00:48:27 Speaker 02: next few years because of what

00:48:30 Speaker 10: this council has done and what

00:48:32 Speaker 10: staff policies created to make it

00:48:35 Speaker 10: possible and give people great places

00:48:36 Speaker 10: to live. Okay. Well, thank you

00:48:42 Speaker 10: very much, Mr. Jones. for the

00:48:44 Speaker 10: presentation. It sounds like you're a

00:48:49 Speaker 10: busy fellow with with your partners.

00:48:51 Speaker 18: Are there any? We do, as

00:48:54 Speaker 18: you mentioned, there is a staff

00:48:57 Speaker 18: report upcoming in this meeting later.

00:48:58 Speaker 18: Maybe not so later, depending on

00:49:01 Speaker 18: how council feels about it. But

00:49:04 Speaker 18: anyway, there is a staff report

00:49:05 Speaker 18: there. Are there any? But for

00:49:08 Speaker 18: now, are there any questions from

00:49:11 Speaker 18: council? Councillor Niels. Thank you very

00:49:15 Speaker 18: much, Deputy Warden. Just a quick

00:49:16 Speaker 18: question: You you spoken to the

00:49:18 Speaker 18: You've spoken to the purpose-built rental

00:49:19 Speaker 18: units. Is there a percentage that

00:49:20 Speaker 18: is being targeted for affordable housing

00:49:23 Speaker 18: rental units in this project, or

00:49:25 Speaker 18: is it just market rate? Mr.

00:49:28 Speaker 18: Jones, through the deputy warden, it

00:49:30 Speaker 18: is all market housing. We try

00:49:33 Speaker 18: to build more supply for the

00:49:34 Speaker 18: province of Ontario. We're we're open

00:49:36 Speaker 18: to additional grants to create deeply

00:49:37 Speaker 18: affordable. rentals, but we do try

00:49:38 Speaker 18: to target the average income in

00:49:45 Speaker 16: in a community. And if we

00:49:48 Speaker 16: charge too much, they would just

00:49:49 Speaker 16: buy a home. So we have

00:49:51 Speaker 08: to keep it affordable. From my

00:49:53 Speaker 08: perspective, deeply affordable, open to additional

00:50:01 Speaker 08: grants to make it more affordable.

00:50:05 Speaker 08: Just it's just math for us.

00:50:08 Speaker 08: We don't we're not against it.

00:50:13 Speaker 08: We do it all the time.

00:50:16 Speaker 08: City of Berry, we did ten

00:50:17 Speaker 08: percent affordable in the first tower

00:50:19 Speaker 08: through grants. through their CIP programme.

00:50:22 Speaker 08: Okay, thank you. Any other questions

00:50:25 Speaker 08: from council? Okay, not seeing any

00:50:26 Speaker 08: further questions for now. Thank you

00:50:29 Speaker 08: very much, Mr. Jones. And as

00:50:35 Speaker 08: indicated, there is a staff report

00:50:38 Speaker 08: later in the meeting. Thank you

00:50:40 Speaker 08: very much. Thank you, W. Warden.

00:50:42 Speaker 08: Okay, moving on. We have a

00:50:47 Speaker 08: consent agenda there. A number of

00:50:49 Speaker 08: items. Are any of those required

00:50:50 Speaker 08: to be removed for further discussion,

00:50:52 Speaker 08: Councillor Gregg? Councillor Gregg, six A,

00:50:53 Speaker 08: please. Six A, did you say?

00:50:55 Speaker 08: Okay. Any others, Councillor McQueen? Thank

00:50:59 Speaker 08: you, Deputy Warden. Six B. Okay,

00:51:01 Speaker 08: six B. Any others? All right.

00:51:04 Speaker 08: I'd take a mover and a

00:51:07 Speaker 08: seconder to deal with the others.

00:51:11 Speaker 08: Councillor Ackles, Councillor Bordignon. Any further

00:51:15 Speaker 08: discussion? All those in favour? That

00:51:17 Speaker 08: is carried, and we will deal

00:51:19 Speaker 08: with those two items later in

00:51:21 Speaker 08: the meeting. So we now come

00:51:24 Speaker 08: to the matters that require further

00:51:25 Speaker 08: direction and discussion. Is there an

00:51:27 Speaker 20: appetite to move the skyline report

00:51:30 Speaker 20: up to the first item? Anyone

00:51:31 Speaker 20: object to that, Councillor Nielsen? You're

00:51:32 Speaker 20: good with that. Do we need

00:51:33 Speaker 20: a motion, Madam Clerk? No, I

00:51:35 Speaker 20: think we'll just go on consensus.

00:51:37 Speaker 20: I don't see any objection, so

00:51:39 Speaker 20: we'll deal with item seven D

7.d PDR-CW-63-25 Bayshore Street Developments Inc. Development Charges Exemption Request

Staff recommended entering a development charges exemption agreement only for Phase One of the Bayshore Street project due to pending legislation on rate freezes.

00:51:40 Speaker 20: first, which is the Skyline report.

00:51:42 Speaker 20: If someone would like to make

00:51:44 Speaker 20: make the motion to that is

00:51:46 Speaker 20: recommended, Councillor Debrine and Councillor Hutchison.

00:51:49 Speaker 20: Okay, welcome, Scott. Floor is yours,

00:51:52 Speaker 20: sir. Yeah, thank you. Good morning,

00:51:53 Speaker 20: Deputy Warden, and members of Council,

00:51:55 Speaker 20: and those that might be. The

00:51:57 Speaker 20: council and and those that might

00:51:58 Speaker 20: be tuning in today. So this

00:51:59 Speaker 20: report, as as indicated in in

00:52:00 Speaker 20: the title bar, was a team

00:52:04 Speaker 20: effort. This was was done by

00:52:06 Speaker 20: Mary Lou and and Lacy and

00:52:07 Speaker 20: myself. I'm just the lucky one

00:52:10 Speaker 20: that gets to speak with you

00:52:11 Speaker 20: because maybe I like hearing my

00:52:14 Speaker 20: own voice the most. I'm not

00:52:16 Speaker 20: sure, but I'll try not to

00:52:17 Speaker 20: to go over what Greg

00:52:21 Speaker 20: has already shared. And and and

00:52:24 Speaker 20: first off, I do want to

00:52:27 Speaker 20: reiterate the fact that staff are

00:52:31 Speaker 20: thrilled that companies like Skyline are

00:52:34 Speaker 20: are choosing to invest in our

00:52:35 Speaker 20: communities and. and more importantly, choosing

00:52:37 Speaker 20: to invest in rental housing. For

00:52:39 Speaker 20: years, many years ago, we were

00:52:42 Speaker 20: seeing a slowdown in rental builds,

00:52:43 Speaker 20: and and so the past, you

00:52:45 Speaker 20: know, five or six years, we

00:52:48 Speaker 20: we've really seen an increase in

00:52:49 Speaker 20: the number of rental units, and

00:52:51 Speaker 20: we're really thrilled that that both

00:52:53 Speaker 20: local developers and and those from

00:52:55 Speaker 20: maybe slightly further afield are choosing

00:52:58 Speaker 20: to invest in in rental in

00:52:59 Speaker 20: our communities in that regard. Just

00:53:01 Speaker 20: as a bit of background to

00:53:04 Speaker 20: council, for the last number of

00:53:06 Speaker 20: years, county staff have regular. County

00:53:07 Speaker 20: staff have regularly entered into what

00:53:09 Speaker 20: we call development charges exemption agreements

00:53:11 Speaker 20: for purpose-built rental housing, and and

00:53:13 Speaker 20: so these these agreements are under

00:53:15 Speaker 20: policy eleven dash one that that

00:53:18 Speaker 20: council has delegated certain signing authorities

00:53:20 Speaker 20: to the director of finance and

00:53:23 Speaker 20: director of planning in that regard,

00:53:25 Speaker 20: and would allow within certain limits

00:53:27 Speaker 20: the county to enter into an

00:53:29 Speaker 20: exemption agreement whereby the developer doesn't

00:53:31 Speaker 20: have to pay the development charge

00:53:34 Speaker 20: up front. The development charge upfront,

00:53:36 Speaker 20: and furthermore, if if they abide

00:53:38 Speaker 20: by the the terms of the

00:53:41 Speaker 20: agreement for the duration of the

00:53:43 Speaker 20: agreement, they actually never have to

00:53:45 Speaker 20: to pay the development charge. And

00:53:48 Speaker 20: in broad strokes, usually what that

00:53:50 Speaker 20: agreement says is from from from

00:53:53 Speaker 20: the signing of the agreement, you

00:53:54 Speaker 20: have five years to to build

00:53:56 Speaker 20: development, and then from first occupancy,

00:53:57 Speaker 20: you need to keep the development

00:53:59 Speaker 20: as rental housing for a minimum

00:54:01 Speaker 20: of twenty years. In that regard,

00:54:03 Speaker 20: the development charge exemption agreements that

00:54:06 Speaker 20: the counties entered into to date.

00:54:07 Speaker 20: have not been tied to affordability,

00:54:10 Speaker 20: but they are tied to to

00:54:12 Speaker 20: being long-term rental units. So somebody

00:54:15 Speaker 20: can't condominiumize their development, if you

00:54:17 Speaker 20: will, and and nor do nor

00:54:22 Speaker 20: do they allow for short-term rentals

00:54:24 Speaker 20: on a nightly basis. In that

00:54:26 Speaker 20: regard, so at a background level,

00:54:29 Speaker 20: that's that's what what the development

00:54:32 Speaker 20: charge exemption agreements do. As we

00:54:33 Speaker 20: heard from Mr. Jones, these agreements

00:54:35 Speaker 20: have been very successful. We've talked

00:54:38 Speaker 20: to developers that that have told

00:54:42 Speaker 20: us that. that this really turned

00:54:43 Speaker 20: the tide between investing in gray

00:54:46 Speaker 20: or investing in another community. It

00:54:49 Speaker 20: really made them consider and reconsider

00:54:51 Speaker 20: investments in rental housing in that

00:54:53 Speaker 20: regard. And we're thrilled because that's

00:54:56 Speaker 20: the vision that county saw, a

00:54:58 Speaker 20: county council saw a few years

00:55:01 Speaker 20: ago, and to see it pan

00:55:03 Speaker 20: out and to see more units

00:55:05 Speaker 20: being built in that regard is

00:55:06 Speaker 20: is simply wonderful. And so to

00:55:07 Speaker 20: get into sort of the the

00:55:09 Speaker 20: meat and potatoes of of this

00:55:12 Speaker 20: particular development. as Mr. Jones noted,

00:55:14 Speaker 20: they are looking at building 712

00:55:16 Speaker 20: rental units across eight buildings. There

00:55:18 Speaker 20: will be 168 one-bedroom units, 544

00:55:21 Speaker 20: two-bedroom units. They have gotten permits

00:55:23 Speaker 20: and started construction on their first

00:55:25 Speaker 20: phase, which is 267 units across

00:55:28 Speaker 20: three separate buildings. As Mr. Jones

00:55:30 Speaker 20: mentioned, it's our understanding that City

00:55:31 Speaker 20: of Owen Sound has entered into

00:55:34 Speaker 20: a similar development charges exemption agreement

00:55:35 Speaker 20: for the duration. of of the

00:55:38 Speaker 20: the 712 units, rather than just

00:55:40 Speaker 20: the first phase. In this regard,

00:55:42 Speaker 20: I will note that staff are

00:55:44 Speaker 20: recommending that the county just enter

00:55:46 Speaker 20: into phase one for now, and

00:55:48 Speaker 20: that we consider future phases as

00:55:51 Speaker 20: as they get closer to coming

00:55:54 Speaker 20: online. In that regard, certainly we've

00:55:57 Speaker 20: had other developments whereby we we

00:55:58 Speaker 20: entered into a development charges exemption

00:56:00 Speaker 20: agreement for phase one, and then

00:56:02 Speaker 20: when they were ready to do

00:56:05 Speaker 20: phase two, they came back and

00:56:06 Speaker 20: and we entered into a second

00:56:08 Speaker 20: agreement in that regard. Certainly, understand

00:56:10 Speaker 20: from from Mr. Jones and his

00:56:12 Speaker 20: colleagues' perspectives why they'd want to

00:56:14 Speaker 20: enter into a development charges agreement

00:56:16 Speaker 20: for for the entirety upfront would

00:56:17 Speaker 20: certainly assist with with long term

00:56:20 Speaker 20: planning and financing in that regard.

00:56:21 Speaker 20: But from a staff perspective, we've

00:56:24 Speaker 20: seen a lot of change in

00:56:26 Speaker 20: the development charges sphere over the

00:56:28 Speaker 20: last five or six years. We

00:56:30 Speaker 20: are coming up on a review

00:56:32 Speaker 20: of the county's development charges. background

00:56:34 Speaker 20: study and bylaw next year, and

00:56:38 Speaker 20: and so that's the opportunity for

00:56:42 Speaker 20: for council and staff and the

00:56:44 Speaker 20: community to provide feedback on on

00:56:47 Speaker 20: what's appropriate within those development charges,

00:56:48 Speaker 20: and and some of what's appropriate

00:56:49 Speaker 20: might also be those those policies

00:56:51 Speaker 20: around the the exemption agreements in

00:56:53 Speaker 20: that regard. So what staff are

00:56:56 Speaker 20: recommending here is is just the

00:56:58 Speaker 20: slightly more cautious approach of entering

00:57:00 Speaker 20: into the development charges exemption agreement

00:57:04 Speaker 20: for phase one, and then considering

00:57:06 Speaker 20: each future. phase as they come

00:57:07 Speaker 20: along, based on both the legislation

00:57:08 Speaker 20: and the county's own policy, as

00:57:11 Speaker 20: as they come out in that

00:57:12 Speaker 20: regard, I should also mention there's

00:57:14 Speaker 20: a bit of an error in

00:57:15 Speaker 20: the report, and and and Mr.

00:57:17 Speaker 20: Jones's team was nice enough to

00:57:19 Speaker 20: alert alert us to that, and

00:57:21 Speaker 20: that comes in the financial and

00:57:24 Speaker 20: resource implications section. What you'll see

00:57:26 Speaker 20: in that financial and resource implications

00:57:29 Speaker 20: section is is the county staff

00:57:32 Speaker 20: have said that the total development

00:57:34 Speaker 20: charges would be approximately three point

00:57:36 Speaker 20: three million. Approximately 3.3 million for

00:57:40 Speaker 20: the entire thing, and 1.2 million

00:57:42 Speaker 20: for Phase One. County staff, in

00:57:45 Speaker 20: in preparing this, misinterpreted the development

00:57:46 Speaker 20: charges legislation in this regard around

00:57:49 Speaker 20: development charges rate freezes. And and

00:57:51 Speaker 20: not to let myself off the

00:57:53 Speaker 20: hook here, but it's easy to

00:57:55 Speaker 20: misinterpret because there's changes about every

00:57:56 Speaker 20: four months in this regard. But

00:57:57 Speaker 20: nevertheless, we misinterpreted it, and and

00:57:59 Speaker 20: so there is currently a rate

00:58:01 Speaker 20: freeze in place, which dates back

00:58:03 Speaker 20: to the. 2022 development charges rates.

00:58:07 Speaker 20: So, if we were to carry

00:58:09 Speaker 20: that forward, and and that rate

00:58:10 Speaker 20: freeze is in place for a

00:58:12 Speaker 20: time limited period, but it is

00:58:14 Speaker 20: currently in place for for certainly

00:58:16 Speaker 20: the the pulling of the first

00:58:17 Speaker 20: building permits, and depending on how

00:58:19 Speaker 20: quickly the development proceeds, it could

00:58:21 Speaker 20: be future building permits too. But

00:58:22 Speaker 20: that 3.3 million dollar number for

00:58:24 Speaker 20: the entire project goes to about

00:58:26 Speaker 20: 2.6 million, and that 1.2 million

00:58:27 Speaker 20: for phase one goes to about

00:58:28 Speaker 20: 990 thousand. So the the dollar

00:58:30 Speaker 20: values are lower, but it doesn't

00:58:32 Speaker 20: change the staff recommendation in that

00:58:34 Speaker 20: because for the total development they're

00:58:36 Speaker 20: asking for a term and a

00:58:38 Speaker 08: dollar value that's beyond our staff

00:58:42 Speaker 08: delegated signing authority, we'd still need

00:58:43 Speaker 08: to go to council in this

00:58:46 Speaker 08: regard. So just to reiterate, we're

00:58:47 Speaker 08: recommending entering into phase one for

00:58:48 Speaker 08: now. There is already a temporary

00:58:49 Speaker 10: deferral agreement in place, so they've

00:58:51 Speaker 10: been allowed to proceed and get

00:58:53 Speaker 10: the permit. So that doesn't change.

00:58:55 Speaker 10: And get their permit, so that

00:58:57 Speaker 10: doesn't change. And then that we'd

00:59:00 Speaker 10: consider each phase as it goes.

00:59:02 Speaker 10: That said, certainly if council

00:59:05 Speaker 10: wants to consider another option, there

00:59:08 Speaker 10: is a further option considered in

00:59:09 Speaker 10: the report, and and similar to

00:59:10 Speaker 10: what Mister Jones has presented us

00:59:12 Speaker 10: here today. So maybe just before

00:59:14 Speaker 10: turning it over to to questions,

00:59:17 Speaker 10: I'll just see with Lacy and

00:59:19 Speaker 10: Mary Lou. Have I missed anything,

00:59:21 Speaker 10: or anything you'd like to clarify?

00:59:22 Speaker 10: Okay. With that, turn it back

00:59:25 Speaker 10: to you, Deputy Warden. Thank you.

00:59:28 Speaker 10: Thank you, Scott. And as Scott

00:59:30 Speaker 10: mentioned, there is. another option. So

00:59:34 Speaker 10: I want to be clear that

00:59:35 Speaker 10: the mover and seconder understand that

00:59:37 Speaker 10: they move to support option one.

00:59:40 Speaker 20: Is that okay? Very good. So

00:59:42 Speaker 20: that's that's the motion on the

00:59:43 Speaker 20: floor is to support staff's recommendation.

00:59:45 Speaker 20: Councillor Nielsen, please. Thank you very

00:59:47 Speaker 20: much, Deputy Warden. Just a question

00:59:49 Speaker 20: for you, Scott. The you kind

00:59:52 Speaker 20: of joked about it that every

00:59:54 Speaker 20: four months we're seeing changes in

00:59:56 Speaker 20: the development charges, and currently there's

00:59:58 Speaker 20: a lot of rhetoric coming from

01:00:00 Speaker 20: both the province and the federal

01:00:05 Speaker 20: government about development charges and and

01:00:07 Speaker 20: housing. Charges and housing. My question

01:00:08 Speaker 20: for you is: If we enter

01:00:10 Speaker 20: into an agreement like this, how

01:00:12 Speaker 20: binding is it? If the province

01:00:12 Speaker 20: and federal governments change development charges

01:00:15 Speaker 20: to be zero for purpose-built rental

01:00:16 Speaker 20: housing, which is kind of the

01:00:18 Speaker 20: conversation we're hearing that they want

01:00:20 Speaker 20: to see them be removed or

01:00:23 Speaker 20: limited or scaled back. And so,

01:00:25 Speaker 20: my question is: Is it almost

01:00:29 Speaker 20: a benefit to the developer to

01:00:31 Speaker 20: enter into the agreement for phase

01:00:32 Speaker 20: one because we're binding them on

01:00:34 Speaker 20: on this? We're binding them on

01:00:36 Speaker 20: on on this portion, rather than

01:00:38 Speaker 20: binding them if their province changes

01:00:40 Speaker 20: anything, and and kind of I'm

01:00:43 Speaker 14: trying to understand the implications that

01:00:46 Speaker 14: way. Through you, Mr. Deputy Warden,

01:00:52 Speaker 14: that is a great question, Councillor

01:00:53 Speaker 14: Nielsen. I wish I had an

01:00:54 Speaker 14: answer for you. It's it's something

01:00:57 Speaker 14: that staff have also been struggling

01:00:58 Speaker 14: with, and and certainly can't. I'm

01:01:00 Speaker 14: not in any way qualified to

01:01:02 Speaker 14: provide legal advice or or speculate

01:01:06 Speaker 14: on what future legislation would say,

01:01:09 Speaker 20: but from a lay perspective, I

01:01:11 Speaker 20: would say if the province were

01:01:15 Speaker 20: to make future for changes in

01:01:17 Speaker 20: that regard, it might depend on

01:01:19 Speaker 20: sort of the transition provisions and/or

01:01:20 Speaker 20: how far-reaching that legislation spoke to.

01:01:22 Speaker 20: You know whether it impacts on

01:01:24 Speaker 20: a go-forward only basis or whether

01:01:25 Speaker 20: there's some sort of retroactivity clause

01:01:26 Speaker 20: in that regard. But I think

01:01:29 Speaker 20: to give a more fulsome answer,

01:01:32 Speaker 20: a we'd need to know what

01:01:35 Speaker 20: the province is is proposing or

01:01:36 Speaker 20: putting in place, and and

01:01:39 Speaker 20: then b we'd need to consult

01:01:42 Speaker 20: our. legal counsel on that. Thank

01:01:44 Speaker 20: you, Scott. Any other councillor body,

01:01:45 Speaker 20: please. Thank you. Question from Mr.

01:01:47 Speaker 20: Taylor. Approximately, I don't know, a

01:01:49 Speaker 20: couple of weeks ago, so not

01:01:52 Speaker 20: approximate at all. We got a

01:01:53 Speaker 20: letter from the Ontario government that

01:01:56 Speaker 20: development charges. There is a

01:01:58 Speaker 20: policy change at the provincial level

01:02:01 Speaker 20: with regard to deferrals. Does our

01:02:03 Speaker 20: Grey County policy match what the

01:02:04 Speaker 20: province is suggesting? Through you, Deputy

01:02:07 Speaker 20: Warden, and I might have to

01:02:08 Speaker 20: rely on on Lacey for some

01:02:09 Speaker 20: of those two. Essentially, the the

01:02:11 Speaker 20: letter that we got from the

01:02:14 Speaker 20: province. One of the things that's

01:02:16 Speaker 20: changing in there is they're now

01:02:18 Speaker 20: allowing for a deferred payment until

01:02:19 Speaker 20: occupancy for some classes of residential

01:02:25 Speaker 20: development that weren't otherwise eligible for

01:02:27 Speaker 20: such deferred payments under the previous

01:02:29 Speaker 20: legislation in that regard. So more

01:02:31 Speaker 21: specifically, and and not to be

01:02:32 Speaker 21: so cryptic. Specifically, and not to

01:02:32 Speaker 21: be so cryptic, if you're wanting

01:02:34 Speaker 21: to build a new single detached

01:02:36 Speaker 21: home, you now have the option.

01:02:39 Speaker 21: My understanding is to pay it

01:02:40 Speaker 21: upfront, or you can pay it

01:02:42 Speaker 21: at the time of occupancy. These

01:02:44 Speaker 21: were changes that were enacted through

01:02:46 Speaker 21: Bill 17, and and then formally

01:02:48 Speaker 21: put into effect as of November

01:02:50 Speaker 21: 3rd of this year. So we're

01:02:51 Speaker 21: working with municipal treasurers, municipal CBOs,

01:02:53 Speaker 21: and planners to understand what that

01:02:55 Speaker 21: means and how that gets tracked,

01:02:57 Speaker 21: particularly at the municipal level. we've

01:03:03 Speaker 21: actually just scheduled an education session

01:03:05 Speaker 21: on this with with somebody from

01:03:07 Speaker 21: Hempstead presenting on December fourth to

01:03:09 Speaker 21: help fill us in on this.

01:03:11 Speaker 21: It's my understanding that our current

01:03:14 Speaker 20: development charges exemption agreements for rental

01:03:16 Speaker 20: housing would still be on line

01:03:20 Speaker 20: with the new changes because the

01:03:22 Speaker 20: new changes tended to impact other

01:03:24 Speaker 20: types. But my understanding through talking

01:03:26 Speaker 20: to our legal services staff, and

01:03:28 Speaker 20: this is where I defer to

01:03:30 Speaker 20: Lacy, is there might be some

01:03:31 Speaker 20: changes specifically with respect to how

01:03:32 Speaker 20: we register such agreements, but to

01:03:34 Speaker 20: go any deeper into that, I

01:03:38 Speaker 20: need somebody smarter than I am.

01:03:40 Speaker 20: Councillor Bordenil, please. Thank you, Mr.

01:03:43 Speaker 20: Deputy Warden, and through you, Mr.

01:03:45 Speaker 20: Taylor Scott. In relation to you

01:03:47 Speaker 20: were just speaking, we do this

01:03:51 Speaker 20: in phases, which is I think

01:03:53 Speaker 20: is a good idea. But to

01:03:55 Speaker 20: Councillor Nielsen's first question to the

01:03:58 Speaker 20: deputy in regards to the attainable,

01:04:01 Speaker 20: we always work with the words

01:04:03 Speaker 20: attainable or affordable. The provincial policy

01:04:05 Speaker 20: statement states it should be around

01:04:08 Speaker 20: twenty percent. When we're looking at

01:04:10 Speaker 20: our review or for the next

01:04:11 Speaker 20: phases, do we wait? Will we

01:04:14 Speaker 20: wait that heavier in, or do

01:04:15 Speaker 20: we wait for recommendations from the

01:04:17 Speaker 20: province to to match the PPS

01:04:19 Speaker 20: of approximately twenty percent to make

01:04:20 Speaker 20: it not just market, but at

01:04:22 Speaker 20: the eighty percent level? Thank you

01:04:26 Speaker 20: for your question, Councillor Borneon. That's

01:04:27 Speaker 20: a tricky one as well. So

01:04:31 Speaker 20: there's been some some changes to

01:04:34 Speaker 20: the DC Act over the years.

01:04:35 Speaker 20: and and there are thresholds for

01:04:38 Speaker 20: DCS. Excuse me for both rental

01:04:43 Speaker 20: and ownership, whereby if if they

01:04:45 Speaker 16: meet those affordability thresholds, then they

01:04:51 Speaker 16: simply don't need to pay the

01:04:53 Speaker 16: DCS. Again, it requires a similar

01:04:58 Speaker 16: agreement on title to to say

01:05:00 Speaker 16: that you need to maintain that.

01:05:03 Speaker 16: You know, it can't be just

01:05:05 Speaker 16: at the time of your building

01:05:17 Speaker 16: permits that you meet that. So,

01:05:20 Speaker 16: if strictly speaking, if they were

01:05:21 Speaker 22: affordable based on the the provincial

01:05:26 Speaker 20: definition, then they. wouldn't need to

01:05:29 Speaker 20: enter into this type of exemption

01:05:31 Speaker 20: agreement with the county because they'd

01:05:32 Speaker 20: be exempt provincially, so to speak.

01:05:35 Speaker 20: If we wanted to get into

01:05:37 Speaker 20: as part of the development charges

01:05:38 Speaker 20: review a further discussion on attainability

01:05:40 Speaker 20: or some other threshold beyond sort

01:05:42 Speaker 20: of that provincial affordability limit, I

01:05:44 Speaker 20: think we'd really want to consult

01:05:45 Speaker 20: heavily with with the development charges

01:05:47 Speaker 20: consultant and legal at the time.

01:05:49 Speaker 20: the province has talked about, you

01:05:50 Speaker 20: know, further definition of attainability, and

01:05:52 Speaker 20: there's been some speculation that that

01:05:53 Speaker 20: might be more of a modular

01:05:55 Speaker 20: unit, but we don't have a

01:05:56 Speaker 20: specific definition at the county level

01:05:58 Speaker 20: or at the provincial level just

01:05:59 Speaker 20: yet for what attainability is. Yeah,

01:06:00 Speaker 20: I think I'll probably leave it

01:06:04 Speaker 20: there for now, unless there's any

01:06:06 Speaker 20: further clarification. Okay, thank you. Any

01:06:08 Speaker 20: further questions? Not seeing any questions.

01:06:10 Speaker 20: I'll call the question. All those

01:06:12 Speaker 20: in favour? That is carried. Thank

01:06:13 Speaker 20: you, Scott. Okay, going back to

01:06:16 Speaker 20: the start of our direction and

01:06:19 Speaker 20: discussion. Bill sixty, Fighting Delays

01:06:21 Speaker 20: and Building Faster Act. That is

01:06:24 Speaker 20: a report from Scott Taylor. So

01:06:27 Speaker 20: I need a mover and seconder

01:06:29 Speaker 20: to Councillor Dicker and Councillor Carlton.

01:06:32 Speaker 20: Scott, floor is yours, sir. Great.

01:06:33 Speaker 20: I'll just my controlling Brittany. Are

01:06:34 Speaker 20: you? Sorry, I was just

01:06:36 Speaker 20: talking to Brittany about the slides.

01:06:38 Speaker 20: My apologies. Excellent. Thank you. All

01:06:40 Speaker 20: right. Thank you again. So this

01:06:42 Speaker 20: this report. I apologize. There wasn't

01:06:43 Speaker 20: a report based on the timelines

01:06:45 Speaker 20: here, but this presentation. really was

01:06:48 Speaker 20: a team effort in this regard.

01:06:51 Speaker 20: Maybe we'll just go to the

01:06:53 Speaker 20: next slide here. So Bill sixty

01:06:56 Speaker 20: is is another one of the

01:06:58 Speaker 20: provinces omnibus bills in this regard.

01:06:59 Speaker 20: And some of you would have

01:07:01 Speaker 20: gotten a sneak peek at elements

01:07:02 Speaker 20: of this presentation last week for

01:07:05 Speaker 20: those of you that attended the

01:07:08 Speaker 20: Planning and Economic Development Advisory Committee.

01:07:09 Speaker 20: I promise this will be a

01:07:11 Speaker 20: much better presentation this time because

01:07:12 Speaker 20: we have both Nile and Chair,

01:07:14 Speaker 20: and also speaking to elements of

01:07:15 Speaker 20: it. So you won't just have

01:07:18 Speaker 20: to listen to me. So it'll

01:07:21 Speaker 20: be great. So, so again, this

01:07:23 Speaker 20: is this is an omnibus bill.

01:07:25 Speaker 20: It touches on a number of

01:07:28 Speaker 20: different functions that that the county's

01:07:30 Speaker 20: done in this regard. And so,

01:07:31 Speaker 20: in pulling together these slides and

01:07:33 Speaker 20: and in pulling together some potential

01:07:34 Speaker 20: county comments on this bill, it's

01:07:35 Speaker 20: involved climate change staff, transportation services

01:07:36 Speaker 20: staff, finances finance staff, community services,

01:07:37 Speaker 20: CAO and deputy legal services. So,

01:07:39 Speaker 20: it really is a team effort,

01:07:41 Speaker 20: and and certainly value the the

01:07:42 Speaker 20: collabouration in that regard. we also,

01:07:43 Speaker 20: as I said, heard some feedback

01:07:45 Speaker 20: from the Planning and Economic Development

01:07:46 Speaker 20: Advisory Committee last week. I know

01:07:48 Speaker 20: within our own professional networks, a

01:07:49 Speaker 20: number of us are consulting to

01:07:51 Speaker 20: hear what others are saying and

01:07:55 Speaker 20: thinking in this regard. And in

01:07:57 Speaker 20: that aspect, we had a local

01:07:58 Speaker 20: planners meeting this past Friday morning,

01:08:00 Speaker 20: where we dug into this further.

01:08:02 Speaker 20: As with any large provincial change,

01:08:03 Speaker 20: there's some good changes, there's some

01:08:06 Speaker 20: positive elements that staff would be

01:08:08 Speaker 20: quite excited about if this. were

01:08:10 Speaker 20: to take effect. There's some that

01:08:12 Speaker 20: that we definitely have concerns with,

01:08:14 Speaker 20: and there's some where where we're

01:08:17 Speaker 20: simply it's simply unknown as to

01:08:19 Speaker 20: what the impacts could be at

01:08:22 Speaker 20: this time. I would say, and

01:08:25 Speaker 20: it it leads into our discussion

01:08:26 Speaker 20: we just had on development charges.

01:08:28 Speaker 20: Sort of the speed of change

01:08:29 Speaker 20: and the frequency of change is

01:08:31 Speaker 20: is really difficult to to continually

01:08:32 Speaker 20: adapt to and and adjust to

01:08:35 Speaker 20: in that regard. Not just reviewing

01:08:36 Speaker 20: the the draft legislation, but then

01:08:38 Speaker 20: starting to relearn elements. of your

01:08:40 Speaker 20: job as as those changes take

01:08:42 Speaker 20: effect, and and they don't all

01:08:45 Speaker 20: take effect at the same time.

01:08:46 Speaker 20: So you know, you suddenly find

01:08:48 Speaker 20: out, okay, well, November third is

01:08:50 Speaker 20: the deadline for this, and now

01:08:52 Speaker 20: we got to figure out what

01:08:53 Speaker 20: this means. So so I will

01:08:54 Speaker 20: say, and and certainly not looking

01:08:57 Speaker 20: for sympathy or anything else in

01:09:00 Speaker 20: this regard. But you know, we

01:09:02 Speaker 20: want to be partners with the

01:09:04 Speaker 20: province. We want to continue to

01:09:06 Speaker 20: work with the province to to

01:09:09 Speaker 20: achieve their objectives because many of

01:09:11 Speaker 20: their objectives match very closely with

01:09:13 Speaker 20: with county council state objectives. But

01:09:15 Speaker 20: if if there could be at

01:09:16 Speaker 20: at sometimes maybe. Could be at

01:09:18 Speaker 20: sometimes maybe just a brief slowdown

01:09:20 Speaker 20: in the change to adjust and

01:09:22 Speaker 20: catch up. That would certainly be

01:09:23 Speaker 20: very appreciated in that regard. I

01:09:25 Speaker 20: will finally also say that there

01:09:27 Speaker 20: are a number of legislative changes

01:09:30 Speaker 20: that have been directly announced through

01:09:32 Speaker 20: Bill sixty, and then there's some

01:09:36 Speaker 20: further changes that aren't actually changes

01:09:39 Speaker 20: to the legislation, but associated consultations

01:09:40 Speaker 20: of topics that the province wants

01:09:42 Speaker 20: to look further into, and and

01:09:43 Speaker 20: some of those consultations were teased

01:09:46 Speaker 20: back in the spring or. were

01:09:48 Speaker 20: first thought of back in the

01:09:51 Speaker 20: spring when we had Bill five

01:09:53 Speaker 20: and Bill seventeen in that regard,

01:09:55 Speaker 20: and so the province is

01:09:57 Speaker 20: picking up on some of the

01:10:00 Speaker 20: threads that that they had that

01:10:01 Speaker 20: started back then. With respect to

01:10:03 Speaker 20: some of the changes that that

01:10:05 Speaker 20: impact sort of the planning and

01:10:07 Speaker 20: development portfolio, I think maybe the

01:10:07 Speaker 20: one that I'm personally most excited

01:10:09 Speaker 20: about is is there's a proposal

01:10:11 Speaker 20: in place that the province would

01:10:13 Speaker 20: allow all upper tier municipalities the

01:10:14 Speaker 20: ability to offer community improvement plans.

01:10:16 Speaker 20: For those of you that might

01:10:17 Speaker 20: not live in British For those

01:10:19 Speaker 20: of you that might not live

01:10:22 Speaker 20: and breathe this on a daily

01:10:24 Speaker 20: basis, if prior to this change,

01:10:27 Speaker 20: this proposed change, only a select

01:10:29 Speaker 20: few prescribed, upper-tier municipalities had the

01:10:31 Speaker 20: ability to offer community improvement plans.

01:10:33 Speaker 20: So Gray County wasn't in that

01:10:35 Speaker 20: prescribed list. Gray, Bruce, and Simcoe

01:10:37 Speaker 20: have all been talking to provincial

01:10:38 Speaker 20: staff and asking the province, you

01:10:39 Speaker 20: know, could could we have the

01:10:41 Speaker 20: ability to offer such a community

01:10:43 Speaker 20: improvement plan? And so, if this

01:10:45 Speaker 20: change were to go through, then

01:10:47 Speaker 20: it would give county council the

01:10:49 Speaker 20: ability if they saw. fit to

01:10:50 Speaker 20: to direct staff to work on

01:10:52 Speaker 20: preparing a community improvement plan and

01:10:55 Speaker 20: and through that plan we could

01:10:58 Speaker 20: really target specific county initiatives and

01:11:00 Speaker 20: and so one of those might

01:11:01 Speaker 20: be further sort of incentives or

01:11:03 Speaker 20: or policies on on affordable housing

01:11:04 Speaker 20: in that regard or attainable housing

01:11:06 Speaker 20: in that regard so this is

01:11:09 Speaker 20: one of the changes that that

01:11:10 Speaker 20: kudos to the province this would

01:11:12 Speaker 20: would make a direct impact locally

01:11:14 Speaker 20: across the province some of the

01:11:15 Speaker 20: other changes they're consulting on have

01:11:19 Speaker 20: to do with streamlining the land

01:11:21 Speaker 20: use planning and building permit application

01:11:23 Speaker 20: processes. At our local planners meeting

01:11:25 Speaker 20: this this past Friday, this was

01:11:26 Speaker 20: a big topic of discussion. We

01:11:28 Speaker 20: actually had a few chief building

01:11:31 Speaker 20: officials in in the in attendance

01:11:32 Speaker 20: as well, so it was great

01:11:34 Speaker 20: to hear their perspective in that

01:11:36 Speaker 20: regard. And I think we'd all

01:11:38 Speaker 20: agree, any process can always be

01:11:40 Speaker 20: streamlined. We can do better, for

01:11:43 Speaker 20: sure. There's there's no doubt about

01:11:44 Speaker 20: that. Some of what the province

01:11:46 Speaker 20: is looking at here is looking

01:11:48 Speaker 20: at the use of technology to

01:11:49 Speaker 20: to streamline those processes. So maybe

01:11:50 Speaker 20: a further reliance on on artificial

01:11:51 Speaker 20: intelligence in that regard. They're also

01:11:54 Speaker 20: looking at maybe using common metrics

01:11:56 Speaker 20: or platforms for data tracking. So

01:11:58 Speaker 20: you know, I think there are

01:12:00 Speaker 20: elements that could be very positive

01:12:01 Speaker 20: here. I think with respect to

01:12:06 Speaker 20: this one, we just want to

01:12:08 Speaker 20: make sure that you know if

01:12:12 Speaker 20: if there were major changes in

01:12:15 Speaker 20: that regard, that they're they're phased

01:12:17 Speaker 20: in or people have enough runway

01:12:19 Speaker 20: to adjust. Or similarly, if the

01:12:20 Speaker 20: province does say we're going all

01:12:22 Speaker 20: to a common platform, and let's

01:12:24 Speaker 20: just say they're going to a

01:12:26 Speaker 20: common software platform in that regard,

01:12:27 Speaker 20: having respect for the costs and

01:12:28 Speaker 20: time it takes to change over

01:12:30 Speaker 20: in that regard. So, if there

01:12:31 Speaker 20: was provincial funding available to help

01:12:33 Speaker 20: with that transition, if there is

01:12:34 Speaker 20: to be a transition, that would

01:12:35 Speaker 20: certainly be appreciated. One of the

01:12:37 Speaker 20: other changes that the province is

01:12:40 Speaker 20: talking about is is consulting through

01:12:43 Speaker 20: the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and

01:12:44 Speaker 20: Housing to have a common framework

01:12:46 Speaker 20: or common platform. for official plans.

01:12:47 Speaker 20: Apparently, what what provincial staff and

01:12:50 Speaker 20: and politicians have been hearing is

01:12:54 Speaker 20: that official plans have have gotten

01:12:55 Speaker 20: too large and too unruly and

01:12:57 Speaker 20: too specific in that regard. So

01:12:58 Speaker 20: they'd like to offer some provincial

01:13:00 Speaker 20: guidance there, whereby we might be

01:13:01 Speaker 20: able to have a standard across

01:13:03 Speaker 20: the province. One of the things

01:13:04 Speaker 20: they've shared in the the environmental

01:13:07 Speaker 20: registry posting is what could perhaps

01:13:09 Speaker 20: be a standardized table of contents

01:13:10 Speaker 20: in that regard. Certainly, that's something

01:13:11 Speaker 20: that the Ontario provincial planners and

01:13:12 Speaker 20: The Ontario Professional Planners Institute has

01:13:13 Speaker 20: has been trying to work closely

01:13:15 Speaker 20: with the province on to put

01:13:16 Speaker 20: forward something that would meet the

01:13:19 Speaker 20: needs of the province and address

01:13:21 Speaker 20: the needs of of planners across

01:13:22 Speaker 20: the province. There are some again

01:13:23 Speaker 20: some abilities to streamline in that

01:13:25 Speaker 20: regard. One of the other things

01:13:26 Speaker 20: that the province has has stated

01:13:28 Speaker 20: here is they'd like to see

01:13:30 Speaker 20: official plans being more permissive and

01:13:31 Speaker 20: and and perhaps less overall land

01:13:34 Speaker 20: use designations in that regard within

01:13:36 Speaker 20: those standardized table of contents. We've

01:13:38 Speaker 20: heard comments locally that there's there's

01:13:39 Speaker 20: not specific comments related to either

01:13:42 Speaker 20: health and communities or climate change

01:13:43 Speaker 20: in that regard. Maybe maybe maybe

01:13:45 Speaker 20: those are two topics that are

01:13:48 Speaker 20: just pervasive and and go through,

01:13:49 Speaker 20: you know, all the different sections

01:13:51 Speaker 20: of the plan. But certainly those

01:13:55 Speaker 20: are two very big topics that

01:13:57 Speaker 20: we'd like to see considered in

01:13:59 Speaker 20: that regard. The one other thing

01:14:01 Speaker 20: I'd say here is is that

01:14:03 Speaker 20: one of the other things the

01:14:05 Speaker 20: province is also throwing out as

01:14:07 Speaker 20: part of this potential consultation is

01:14:10 Speaker 20: just a a maximum page limit

01:14:13 Speaker 20: for official plans. and and you

01:14:15 Speaker 20: know you can maybe draw your

01:14:16 Speaker 20: own conclusions on that regard. We

01:14:18 Speaker 20: think you know there's room for

01:14:20 Speaker 20: some standardization, but maybe that page

01:14:22 Speaker 20: limit is is a tough one.

01:14:23 Speaker 20: You know, arguably, and and not

01:14:25 Speaker 20: to pick on anyone here, but

01:14:27 Speaker 20: the town of Hanover official plan

01:14:28 Speaker 20: and the city of Toronto official

01:14:30 Speaker 20: plan probably don't need to be

01:14:32 Speaker 20: the same number of pages. And

01:14:33 Speaker 20: and I don't think specifically a

01:14:36 Speaker 20: number of our great county official

01:14:38 Speaker 20: plans were were sort of you

01:14:41 Speaker 20: know oh unruly in that regard,

01:14:42 Speaker 20: but you know. Fully in that

01:14:44 Speaker 20: regard, but you know we can

01:14:46 Speaker 20: we can sharpen our pencils. One

01:14:48 Speaker 20: of the other things we've worked

01:14:50 Speaker 20: on locally here in terms of

01:14:51 Speaker 20: that streamlining is the fact that

01:14:53 Speaker 20: we are in a two-tier municipal

01:14:54 Speaker 20: government system. Where can we find

01:14:57 Speaker 20: ways not to say things twice?

01:14:58 Speaker 20: And so, if it's already in

01:15:02 Speaker 20: the county plan, you know we

01:15:03 Speaker 20: don't potentially need to restate that

01:15:04 Speaker 20: in a municipal master plan. And

01:15:05 Speaker 20: municipalities have been wonderful at working

01:15:07 Speaker 20: together in that regard. Some of

01:15:09 Speaker 20: the other changes they're looking at

01:15:12 Speaker 20: would be prohibiting the requirement for

01:15:14 Speaker 20: green roof or other roof surfaces

01:15:16 Speaker 20: bylaw. Certainly in the press this.

01:15:18 Speaker 20: has drawn a lot of attention,

01:15:20 Speaker 20: and they've specifically noted the city

01:15:21 Speaker 20: of Toronto's green roof bylaw in

01:15:23 Speaker 20: that regard. We don't have any

01:15:25 Speaker 20: such bylaws like that in place

01:15:27 Speaker 20: in Grey County, and the province

01:15:28 Speaker 20: has specified that they would be

01:15:30 Speaker 20: prohibiting the mandatory use. But if

01:15:32 Speaker 20: developers still wanted to build to

01:15:34 Speaker 20: those those standards, then of course

01:15:37 Speaker 20: they could in that regard. They're

01:15:38 Speaker 20: also looking at making changes to

01:15:41 Speaker 20: the minister's zoning order process, whereby

01:15:43 Speaker 20: they'd no longer need to. be

01:15:46 Speaker 20: passed via regulation, and and so

01:15:47 Speaker 20: the province could could potentially pass

01:15:49 Speaker 20: those in a more expedient fashion.

01:15:50 Speaker 20: For those of you that weren't

01:15:52 Speaker 20: at the Planning and Economic Development

01:15:54 Speaker 20: Advisory Committee, Councillor Nielsen asked a

01:15:57 Speaker 20: wonderful question in that regard that

01:15:58 Speaker 20: I still haven't been able to

01:16:00 Speaker 20: find the answer to. But essentially,

01:16:01 Speaker 20: his his question, if I can

01:16:02 Speaker 20: restate it, was along the lines

01:16:05 Speaker 20: of: If you have a minister's

01:16:07 Speaker 20: zoning order that's in place, and

01:16:09 Speaker 20: and if it gets put in

01:16:10 Speaker 20: place not through regulation, is it?

01:16:12 Speaker 20: easier to then amend if you

01:16:16 Speaker 20: need some local flexibility in that

01:16:17 Speaker 20: regard? And and so you know,

01:16:18 Speaker 20: in terms of the most recent

01:16:21 Speaker 20: minister's zoning orders in the county,

01:16:23 Speaker 20: we had three in Southgate a

01:16:25 Speaker 20: few years ago, and and I

01:16:28 Speaker 20: know there's there's pros and cons

01:16:29 Speaker 20: to those, but one of the

01:16:32 Speaker 20: challenges is once the the minister's

01:16:35 Speaker 20: zoning order is put in place

01:16:37 Speaker 20: by regulation, it's not as simple

01:16:39 Speaker 20: as just amending your zoning bylaw

01:16:41 Speaker 20: anymore through municipal council. Suddenly it

01:16:43 Speaker 20: it it means going back to

01:16:46 Speaker 20: the province in that regard. So.

01:16:48 Speaker 20: one of the the questions here

01:16:50 Speaker 20: that we'd be asking through these

01:16:52 Speaker 20: comments is, if this is enacted,

01:16:53 Speaker 20: no longer needing regulations, would there

01:16:54 Speaker 20: be further flexibility post MZOs being

01:16:56 Speaker 20: in place to look at changes

01:16:57 Speaker 20: in that regard? Speaking of MZOs,

01:17:00 Speaker 20: one of further changes they're looking

01:17:02 Speaker 20: at, and and they talked about

01:17:04 Speaker 20: this back in the spring too,

01:17:05 Speaker 20: is potentially carving out an exception

01:17:07 Speaker 20: such that the minister's decision would

01:17:09 Speaker 20: no longer need to be consistent

01:17:11 Speaker 20: with the provincial planning statement or

01:17:13 Speaker 20: provincial plans in this regard. They

01:17:17 Speaker 20: noted that this would allow the.

01:17:19 Speaker 20: ministry more flexibility to act nimbly

01:17:21 Speaker 20: on minister zoning orders or even

01:17:24 Speaker 20: the approval of official plans. You

01:17:25 Speaker 20: probably guess this didn't land real

01:17:27 Speaker 20: well with the planners. We like

01:17:28 Speaker 20: our rules, and and no doubt

01:17:30 Speaker 20: there needs to be some flexibility.

01:17:33 Speaker 20: But but if if the province

01:17:35 Speaker 20: is is the one sort of

01:17:36 Speaker 20: setting these rules at a provincial

01:17:39 Speaker 20: level through documents like the provincial

01:17:43 Speaker 20: planning statement or provincial plans, then

01:17:45 Speaker 20: it sort of feels like we

01:17:48 Speaker 20: should we should all be singing

01:17:50 Speaker 20: from the same songbook in that

01:17:52 Speaker 20: regard. so staff did have some

01:17:54 Speaker 20: concerns in that regard. There was

01:17:56 Speaker 20: also a change looked at looking

01:17:58 Speaker 20: at reducing the use of record

01:18:01 Speaker 20: reducing the use of records of

01:18:03 Speaker 20: site condition in those situations where

01:18:06 Speaker 20: there's low potential for contamination. In

01:18:10 Speaker 20: terms of some of the other

01:18:13 Speaker 20: changes, again, this is one that

01:18:15 Speaker 20: was was talked about last spring.

01:18:17 Speaker 20: They've talked about regulation making authority

01:18:19 Speaker 20: for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs

01:18:21 Speaker 20: and Housing, whereby there could be

01:18:24 Speaker 20: it could reduce the need for

01:18:25 Speaker 20: minor. variances, where someone's looking at

01:18:26 Speaker 20: a variance within a prescribed percentage.

01:18:28 Speaker 20: They've specifically talked about this on

01:18:30 Speaker 20: urban residential lands, but you know,

01:18:32 Speaker 20: one one example could be, you

01:18:35 Speaker 20: know, if your if your front

01:18:36 Speaker 20: yard setback is is six metres

01:18:40 Speaker 20: and and in your bylaw, and

01:18:42 Speaker 20: someone's coming in at you know

01:18:43 Speaker 20: five point eight or something, maybe

01:18:46 Speaker 20: that's within that threshold that it

01:18:48 Speaker 20: could just automatically be approved. I

01:18:50 Speaker 20: think there's pros and cons here.

01:18:51 Speaker 20: You know, there is there is

01:18:52 Speaker 20: some benefit to some flexibility. but

01:18:55 Speaker 20: in some cases those setbacks were

01:18:57 Speaker 20: put in place for a very

01:18:59 Speaker 20: specific reason. Municipally might have to

01:19:00 Speaker 20: do with things like snow storage

01:19:03 Speaker 20: or municipal infrastructure or other such

01:19:07 Speaker 20: things. So the ability to still

01:19:09 Speaker 20: have some municipal say in that

01:19:10 Speaker 20: regard would certainly be be appreciated.

01:19:12 Speaker 20: They've also talked about a new

01:19:13 Speaker 20: section by section review of the

01:19:14 Speaker 20: building code to eliminate in inefficiencies

01:19:17 Speaker 20: while protecting safety. Some of you

01:19:19 Speaker 20: might be aware there were major

01:19:21 Speaker 20: changes to the building. Where there

01:19:24 Speaker 20: were major changes to the building

01:19:27 Speaker 20: code that just took effect earlier

01:19:30 Speaker 20: this year, in terms of talking

01:19:31 Speaker 20: to the few CBOs that we

01:19:33 Speaker 20: did, they noted, you know, again,

01:19:35 Speaker 20: similar to the official plans, there's

01:19:36 Speaker 20: always room for for further streamlining

01:19:39 Speaker 20: and further efficiencies. But with the

01:19:41 Speaker 20: the past direction on on harmonizing

01:19:42 Speaker 20: the provincial and national building codes

01:19:45 Speaker 20: here, it begs the question about

01:19:47 Speaker 20: whether or not this this review

01:19:50 Speaker 20: would be solely focused on looking

01:19:52 Speaker 20: at the province of Ontario, or

01:19:54 Speaker 20: whether this is moving. us closer

01:19:55 Speaker 20: to that stated goal of harmonizing

01:19:57 Speaker 20: the national and provincial building codes

01:20:00 Speaker 20: in that regard, they've also looked

01:20:01 Speaker 20: at more flexible permissions for allowing

01:20:02 Speaker 20: for on-farm septic systems for farm

01:20:04 Speaker 20: worker housing. In that regard, this

01:20:07 Speaker 20: would give greater authority to building

01:20:08 Speaker 20: officials to issue permits for septic

01:20:11 Speaker 20: systems under the building code that

01:20:12 Speaker 20: previously would have required Ministry of

01:20:13 Speaker 20: the Environment approval for. this, on

01:20:14 Speaker 20: the face of it, seems to

01:20:15 Speaker 20: have some merit. But but the

01:20:16 Speaker 20: way they're proposing this right now

01:20:17 Speaker 20: is not necessarily that you'd be

01:20:18 Speaker 20: issuing a permit for a larger

01:20:20 Speaker 20: septic system, but rather you could

01:20:21 Speaker 20: issue permits for a number of

01:20:23 Speaker 20: distributed septic systems across the across

01:20:25 Speaker 20: the farm. So you could have

01:20:28 Speaker 20: up to five ten thousand liter

01:20:30 Speaker 20: systems each on their own ten

01:20:31 Speaker 20: acre or four hectare chunk of

01:20:34 Speaker 20: the farm. And so you know,

01:20:37 Speaker 20: on the one hand, having more

01:20:39 Speaker 20: flexibility for farm work. Having more

01:20:41 Speaker 20: flexibility for farm worker housing, wonderful.

01:20:43 Speaker 20: On the other hand, you know,

01:20:45 Speaker 20: if we were going to have

01:20:47 Speaker 20: development on farm, I think from

01:20:48 Speaker 20: a land use planning perspective, we

01:20:50 Speaker 20: prefer that that development be relatively

01:20:52 Speaker 20: centralized and and not taking say

01:20:54 Speaker 20: farmland out of production at various

01:20:55 Speaker 20: different corners and chunks of the

01:20:59 Speaker 20: farm. So I think that's something

01:21:01 Speaker 20: that we'd like to you know

01:21:03 Speaker 20: submit comments and work with the

01:21:05 Speaker 20: province on to to look at

01:21:08 Speaker 20: some some tweaks there and and

01:21:10 Speaker 20: of course consult further with the

01:21:13 Speaker 20: building. officials in that regard. There's

01:21:14 Speaker 20: also consultations on the further use

01:21:16 Speaker 20: of communal water and wastewater systems.

01:21:19 Speaker 20: Certainly, this is a topic that

01:21:21 Speaker 20: AMO has also been very interested

01:21:24 Speaker 20: in and doing some some work

01:21:26 Speaker 20: there as well. For those of

01:21:27 Speaker 20: you that aren't familiar, when you're

01:21:30 Speaker 20: going beyond five or six units

01:21:32 Speaker 20: on a single system, then it

01:21:36 Speaker 20: becomes a communal system. And under

01:21:38 Speaker 20: the current policies, where you have

01:21:40 Speaker 20: those communal systems, developers aren't necessarily

01:21:42 Speaker 20: required. to build to a municipal

01:21:44 Speaker 20: standard, but prior to approving those

01:21:46 Speaker 20: systems, the municipality needs to enter

01:21:47 Speaker 20: into a responsibility agreement, basically to

01:21:49 Speaker 20: say that if that system ever

01:21:51 Speaker 20: fails, then then they'll be on

01:21:52 Speaker 20: the hook for it. And and

01:21:54 Speaker 20: so you can imagine from a

01:21:56 Speaker 20: municipal risk and liability perspective, they

01:21:59 Speaker 20: don't want to see these systems

01:22:01 Speaker 20: built in a half hazard or

01:22:03 Speaker 20: or lower standard fashion. So you

01:22:07 Speaker 20: know a lot of times the

01:22:10 Speaker 20: municipality will say, yeah, we're fine

01:22:12 Speaker 20: with a communal system as long

01:22:14 Speaker 20: as you build it to a

01:22:16 Speaker 20: municipal standard, and the developer will

01:22:18 Speaker 20: say, there's no way I could

01:22:21 Speaker 20: have. Will say there's no way

01:22:23 Speaker 20: I could ever afford to build

01:22:25 Speaker 20: it to a municipal standard, so

01:22:28 Speaker 20: it simply never gets built or

01:22:31 Speaker 20: or done. So the province is

01:22:33 Speaker 20: looking at streamlined processes for both

01:22:34 Speaker 20: municipal and provincial approvals on those

01:22:35 Speaker 20: communal systems, and this would be

01:22:37 Speaker 20: particularly to unlock development in some

01:22:40 Speaker 20: of our smaller villages and and

01:22:42 Speaker 20: hamlets and rural areas, whereby you

01:22:44 Speaker 20: you wouldn't necessarily have a municipal

01:22:47 Speaker 20: water and wastewater treatment system. This

01:22:48 Speaker 20: isn't meant to replace those those

01:22:49 Speaker 20: treatment systems. It's meant to acknowledge

01:22:50 Speaker 20: the fact that the the financial

01:22:57 Speaker 20: out The financial output to install

01:22:58 Speaker 20: one of those treatment systems is

01:23:00 Speaker 20: is a is a barrier for

01:23:02 Speaker 23: some smaller communities in that regard.

01:23:03 Speaker 23: Similar to our discussion a few

01:23:06 Speaker 23: minutes ago, there's also further changes

01:23:07 Speaker 23: proposed to the development charges that

01:23:09 Speaker 23: would further limit the ability to

01:23:10 Speaker 23: include land costs as part of

01:23:12 Speaker 23: the the collectible development charge. They

01:23:13 Speaker 23: would standardize who pays what in

01:23:17 Speaker 23: terms of infrastructure, and and there's

01:23:18 Speaker 23: further transparency and reporting requirements, including

01:23:20 Speaker 23: the need to share a background

01:23:22 Speaker 23: study where requested by the Ground

01:23:23 Speaker 23: study, we're requested by the ministry,

01:23:24 Speaker 23: and finally, I promise is my

01:23:25 Speaker 23: last point. They're also consulting on

01:23:26 Speaker 23: on the impact of enhanced lot

01:23:28 Speaker 23: level requirements to improve sustainability. And

01:23:29 Speaker 23: essentially, what that means is is

01:23:31 Speaker 23: they want to look at those

01:23:32 Speaker 23: municipal requirements that they believe are

01:23:34 Speaker 23: driving up the cost of housing

01:23:36 Speaker 23: and being applied sporadically across the

01:23:38 Speaker 23: province. And and so, what are

01:23:40 Speaker 23: those areas where we can we

01:23:41 Speaker 23: can all agree that that maybe

01:23:42 Speaker 23: some tools are needed. versus what

01:23:44 Speaker 23: are those other areas whereby maybe

01:23:46 Speaker 23: similar to the city of Toronto's

01:23:47 Speaker 23: green roof programme, it becomes optional

01:23:49 Speaker 23: in that regard. And certainly, again,

01:23:51 Speaker 23: as the county, we want to

01:23:54 Speaker 23: work with the province in this

01:23:56 Speaker 23: regard. Some of what they've thrown

01:23:58 Speaker 23: out in the environmental registry posting

01:24:01 Speaker 23: is is definitely concerning to staff

01:24:02 Speaker 23: in that regard. They've talked about

01:24:04 Speaker 23: things like bicycle parking or requiring

01:24:05 Speaker 23: native planting. To staff, that's not

01:24:08 Speaker 23: something that necessarily adds a tremendous

01:24:10 Speaker 23: amount. to a developer's performance in

01:24:13 Speaker 23: that regard, but it's it's it's

01:24:16 Speaker 23: things that we've had enshrined in

01:24:18 Speaker 23: in both zoning bylaws in the

01:24:20 Speaker 23: case of bicycle parking and and

01:24:23 Speaker 23: native planting requirements in our subdivision

01:24:24 Speaker 23: and site plan agreements for for

01:24:26 Speaker 23: many many years now, and and

01:24:28 Speaker 23: it's it's not a tool that

01:24:29 Speaker 23: we'd we'd like to lose in

01:24:32 Speaker 23: that regard. So again, you know,

01:24:34 Speaker 23: I think there's room for some

01:24:35 Speaker 23: scoping here, but from a staff

01:24:39 Speaker 23: perspective, and particularly in terms of

01:24:40 Speaker 23: looking at our longer-term sustainable. future

01:24:42 Speaker 23: in that regard, some of these

01:24:43 Speaker 23: tools are very useful without without

01:24:44 Speaker 23: you know unduly harming development in

01:24:47 Speaker 23: that regard. So with that, I

01:24:49 Speaker 23: will turn it over to

01:24:51 Speaker 23: Niall, who's going to speak to

01:24:53 Speaker 23: some of the transportation elements. Thank

01:24:55 Speaker 23: you very much, and to you,

01:24:58 Speaker 23: Deputy Warden. I told myself I

01:24:59 Speaker 23: should never follow Scott when it

01:25:01 Speaker 23: comes to doing a presentation. I

01:25:03 Speaker 23: will be this relatively relatively brief

01:25:05 Speaker 23: as we go over the next

01:25:07 Speaker 23: few slides. Pat, I. know was

01:25:10 Speaker 23: desperately keen to be here today,

01:25:12 Speaker 23: but was unfortunately unable to attend.

01:25:14 Speaker 23: So I, you have me instead.

01:25:16 Speaker 23: So I'm backup, Pat. Transportation is

01:25:18 Speaker 23: one of the pieces that's bubbled

01:25:20 Speaker 23: up through through Bill 60, and

01:25:21 Speaker 23: I think the story for a

01:25:22 Speaker 23: lot of the transportation elements in

01:25:24 Speaker 23: there is we don't really understand

01:25:25 Speaker 23: the problem that the province is

01:25:27 Speaker 23: trying to fix for some of

01:25:30 Speaker 23: these. I think it'll be clear

01:25:32 Speaker 23: on the third one of these

01:25:33 Speaker 23: slides that we we know where

01:25:34 Speaker 23: the problem is, but certainly for

01:25:35 Speaker 23: some of these, we're not entirely

01:25:38 Speaker 23: sure the the rationale behind why

01:25:40 Speaker 23: the province is seeking. Mind why

01:25:41 Speaker 23: the province is seeking to move

01:25:43 Speaker 23: some of these forward, and so

01:25:44 Speaker 23: we don't have much detail around

01:25:46 Speaker 23: what the potential outcome of some

01:25:48 Speaker 23: of these changes could be, or

01:25:51 Speaker 23: as I say, the reasons perhaps

01:25:53 Speaker 23: that they're driving at some of

01:25:55 Speaker 23: these things. So the first one

01:25:57 Speaker 23: that's in Bill 60 is harmonisation

01:25:59 Speaker 23: of road standards. This is an

01:26:00 Speaker 23: interesting one because we already have

01:26:01 Speaker 23: technical guidelines which are well adopted

01:26:02 Speaker 23: and have an extensive history across

01:26:04 Speaker 23: the province in terms of how

01:26:06 Speaker 23: roads are constructed. They're used by

01:26:07 Speaker 23: the counties' teams. They're used by

01:26:09 Speaker 23: municipal teams. across Grey County, and

01:26:15 Speaker 23: they they are the OPSS and

01:26:16 Speaker 23: the the OPSD standards, which are

01:26:18 Speaker 23: already used when we're creating road

01:26:21 Speaker 23: standards for for consultants and contractors

01:26:23 Speaker 23: to be doing. So they're they're

01:26:25 Speaker 23: commonly adopted standards across the engineering

01:26:28 Speaker 23: profession that are already in place,

01:26:29 Speaker 23: and so we're not entirely sure

01:26:30 Speaker 23: what the harmonisation beyond those

01:26:32 Speaker 23: might be. It might be focusing

01:26:35 Speaker 23: on those standards, it might be

01:26:37 Speaker 23: introducing new standards or refining the

01:26:38 Speaker 23: scope of those standards and bringing

01:26:40 Speaker 23: them in. Standards and bringing them

01:26:42 Speaker 23: into a provincial legislative context, we

01:26:45 Speaker 23: would suggest some caution needs to

01:26:47 Speaker 23: be applied to this. We like

01:26:48 Speaker 23: the flexibility to build roads as

01:26:51 Speaker 23: roads need to be built for

01:26:53 Speaker 23: the positions that they're in, and

01:26:56 Speaker 23: those conditions obviously vary widely across

01:26:57 Speaker 23: Great County, across our member municipalities.

01:26:58 Speaker 23: More significantly, they vary very significantly

01:27:01 Speaker 23: across the province of Ontario, and

01:27:02 Speaker 23: so it's difficult to difficult to

01:27:03 Speaker 23: understand what harmonisation of a road

01:27:05 Speaker 23: standard could be that is applicable

01:27:07 Speaker 23: to the far north as it

01:27:08 Speaker 23: is to. urban Toronto, and so

01:27:10 Speaker 23: some concern around what harmonisation could

01:27:12 Speaker 23: look like in that side of

01:27:13 Speaker 23: things. We already use a number

01:27:16 Speaker 23: of different standards to adopt to

01:27:17 Speaker 23: the drainage conditions, the soil conditions,

01:27:19 Speaker 23: the ground conditions of the various

01:27:20 Speaker 23: different roads that we look after,

01:27:23 Speaker 23: and so if that's something that

01:27:27 Speaker 23: we're looking after in a scale

01:27:29 Speaker 23: of a county, again, looking at

01:27:33 Speaker 23: what that would look like over

01:27:35 Speaker 23: a much broader area is something

01:27:37 Speaker 23: which would take some significant attention

01:27:40 Speaker 23: to, and also the. ability of

01:27:42 Speaker 23: contractors to be able to respond

01:27:43 Speaker 23: to this. So we work with

01:27:46 Speaker 23: a number of contractors who use

01:27:47 Speaker 23: a number of different asphalt plants.

01:27:49 Speaker 23: We specify the mixes that we

01:27:50 Speaker 23: require to meet our local conditions.

01:27:52 Speaker 23: And again, if this is harmonised

01:27:54 Speaker 23: across the province, what does that

01:27:56 Speaker 23: do from a contractor's perspective in

01:27:57 Speaker 23: regards to materials that we have?

01:27:59 Speaker 23: We have access to. The early

01:28:00 Speaker 23: indications on the harmonisation suggest that

01:28:02 Speaker 23: there are some savings that could

01:28:02 Speaker 23: be leveraged through this. We're not

01:28:04 Speaker 23: able to see where those savings

01:28:05 Speaker 23: potentially could be gained. at this

01:28:07 Speaker 23: point in time, and so really

01:28:08 Speaker 23: this is a bit of a

01:28:12 Speaker 23: story of we really do need

01:28:15 Speaker 23: a lot more information before we

01:28:17 Speaker 23: can come to a position of

01:28:20 Speaker 23: whether or not harmonisation is something

01:28:22 Speaker 23: which should be welcomed or or

01:28:24 Speaker 23: express some concern about. There are

01:28:26 Speaker 23: a couple of things that give

01:28:28 Speaker 23: us some cause for concern, specifically

01:28:29 Speaker 23: in regards to ministers being able

01:28:31 Speaker 23: to make regulations regarding municipalities and

01:28:32 Speaker 23: the contracts that we enter into

01:28:33 Speaker 23: and standardising some of those. This.

01:28:35 Speaker 23: this does appear to be an

01:28:36 Speaker 23: extra layer. We have a well-developed

01:28:38 Speaker 23: procurement process at Great County. Our

01:28:40 Speaker 23: member municipalities have their own procurement

01:28:42 Speaker 23: processes that we have in place.

01:28:45 Speaker 23: We have contractors that we've had

01:28:46 Speaker 23: relationships with over many years, and

01:28:47 Speaker 23: we welcome new contractors through through

01:28:49 Speaker 23: procurement process each year. This appears

01:28:51 Speaker 23: to be an extra layer that

01:28:55 Speaker 23: we don't understand the necessity for

01:28:58 Speaker 23: with the with the the procurement

01:29:00 Speaker 23: processes that we have in place

01:29:01 Speaker 23: at this time, and and the

01:29:03 Speaker 23: contracts that we're able to form

01:29:05 Speaker 23: in. Contracts that we're able to

01:29:06 Speaker 23: form into. Now, this appears to

01:29:08 Speaker 23: be something that wouldn't have any

01:29:10 Speaker 23: merit for us at the way

01:29:11 Speaker 23: we operate at this point in

01:29:13 Speaker 23: time. So, again, not quite sure

01:29:14 Speaker 23: why this is coming forward. Not

01:29:17 Speaker 23: quite sure what the value would

01:29:18 Speaker 23: be in terms of grey counting.

01:29:20 Speaker 23: I think we probably can guess

01:29:21 Speaker 23: where this one is coming from

01:29:22 Speaker 23: in terms of a provincial lens.

01:29:24 Speaker 23: Not something which has a massive

01:29:27 Speaker 23: impact on us on the surface

01:29:39 Speaker 23: in regards to the way in

01:29:40 Speaker 23: which we design our roads and

01:29:41 Speaker 23: the the requirement to not.

01:29:43 Speaker 23: eliminate travel lanes for traffic, to

01:29:45 Speaker 23: make active transportation lanes for cycling

01:29:46 Speaker 23: infrastructure. However, the the guidelines that

01:29:47 Speaker 23: we operate under allow for us

01:29:50 Speaker 23: to look at road design on

01:29:52 Speaker 23: an as needed basis. And so,

01:29:54 Speaker 23: the the inference of this this

01:29:56 Speaker 23: sort of regulation within Bill sixty,

01:29:58 Speaker 23: this this element of Bill sixty

01:30:00 Speaker 23: would be to limit or restrict

01:30:01 Speaker 23: the ability of the municipality to

01:30:04 Speaker 23: design a road as it's needed

01:30:07 Speaker 23: for the area it is in.

01:30:10 Speaker 23: And so, at times. as you'll

01:30:12 Speaker 23: see on the slide, putting a

01:30:14 Speaker 23: road on a diet is a

01:30:15 Speaker 23: good thing to do. The use

01:30:17 Speaker 23: of that road may have changed.

01:30:19 Speaker 23: The desire for the need of

01:30:21 Speaker 23: the use of that road may

01:30:23 Speaker 23: have changed over times. It may

01:30:25 Speaker 23: not be that we specifically wish

01:30:28 Speaker 23: to introduce a cycling rain lane,

01:30:29 Speaker 23: but it might be that there's

01:30:32 Speaker 23: more space required for active active

01:30:34 Speaker 24: transportation infrastructure to support pedestrians. It

01:30:36 Speaker 24: might be that we're looking to

01:30:37 Speaker 24: amend turning lanes, reduce or increase

01:30:40 Speaker 24: road lane widths, and so the.

01:30:43 Speaker 24: scope of this legislative change that's

01:30:45 Speaker 24: being proposed in in Bill 60,

01:30:47 Speaker 24: if it's defined very much to

01:30:51 Speaker 24: just cycling infrastructure, might not be

01:30:54 Speaker 24: something that has a big impact.

01:30:55 Speaker 24: But there is some concern that

01:30:57 Speaker 24: the way in which this is

01:31:00 Speaker 24: worded would restrict the ability of

01:31:05 Speaker 24: a municipality to be able to

01:31:06 Speaker 24: design a road for the best

01:31:08 Speaker 24: situation, the best design for the

01:31:11 Speaker 24: circumstances and situation that we we

01:31:11 Speaker 24: have the road in. And that

01:31:13 Speaker 24: takes me to the last slide,

01:31:16 Speaker 24: where we can offer a little

01:31:18 Speaker 24: bit of a glimpse into some

01:31:21 Speaker 24: good news stuff. So the the

01:31:23 Speaker 24: ability to reduce some of the

01:31:24 Speaker 24: waste times regarding working eligibility criteria

01:31:25 Speaker 24: is something that we we generally

01:31:27 Speaker 24: support. It's not specific to transportation,

01:31:28 Speaker 24: but it is something which across

01:31:30 Speaker 24: the board would be something that

01:31:32 Speaker 24: would be generally supported. And and

01:31:34 Speaker 24: looking at the LEAN Act is

01:31:36 Speaker 24: something that we're we're always interested

01:31:38 Speaker 24: in. However, we would we would

01:31:40 Speaker 24: caveat this with we don't want

01:31:41 Speaker 24: more paperwork on terms of this

01:31:43 Speaker 24: one. This one works reasonably well

01:31:45 Speaker 24: as is, and so so again

01:31:47 Speaker 24: no need for more paperwork when

01:31:49 Speaker 24: it comes to the LEANS. More

01:31:51 Speaker 24: paperwork when it comes to the

01:31:54 Speaker 24: leaves, and I will wrap up

01:31:55 Speaker 24: at that. And hopefully, there will

01:31:57 Speaker 24: be no questions. If there are,

01:31:58 Speaker 24: Mister Taylor would be happy to

01:31:59 Speaker 24: take them. Thank you, Scott and

01:32:01 Speaker 24: Nile. Sherry, thank you. I wanted

01:32:02 Speaker 24: to start with just a little

01:32:03 Speaker 24: bit of background information on the

01:32:05 Speaker 24: landlord-tenant board and the Residential Tenancies

01:32:08 Speaker 24: Act. For those of you who

01:32:09 Speaker 24: don't live and breathe the legislation

01:32:12 Speaker 24: like we do. in housing, the

01:32:13 Speaker 24: landlord-tenant board is one of thirteen

01:32:16 Speaker 24: Ontario adjudicative tribunals. It is the

01:32:18 Speaker 24: busiest of all of the tribunals

01:32:20 Speaker 24: in Ontario, and it is acting

01:32:22 Speaker 24: on the authority under the Residential

01:32:24 Speaker 24: Tenancies Act. And that is the

01:32:25 Speaker 24: piece of legislation that makes the

01:32:27 Speaker 24: framework of relationships between landlords and

01:32:28 Speaker 24: tenants. They receive approximately, on average,

01:32:30 Speaker 24: eighty-one thousand applications in a calendar

01:32:32 Speaker 24: year, which means that they would

01:32:34 Speaker 24: have to hear three hundred tribunals

01:32:36 Speaker 24: a day in. order to be

01:32:39 Speaker 24: able to keep up with the

01:32:41 Speaker 24: the amount of tribunals that they

01:32:43 Speaker 24: have. Approximately twenty percent of those

01:32:44 Speaker 24: tribunals are withdrawn ahead of time.

01:32:46 Speaker 24: Eleven percent are mediated, and the

01:32:47 Speaker 24: rest go in front of an

01:32:50 Speaker 24: adjudicator. The adjudicator is a role

01:32:52 Speaker 24: in Ontario that is allowed and

01:32:54 Speaker 24: under the authority of the Residential

01:32:55 Speaker 24: Tenancies Act to be the only

01:32:57 Speaker 24: person to legally terminate a tenancy

01:32:58 Speaker 24: in Ontario and issue an order

01:33:01 Speaker 24: of eviction. The sheriff position is.

01:33:03 Speaker 24: the only position in Ontario that

01:33:05 Speaker 24: can execute that order. So, Bill

01:33:06 Speaker 24: sixty has proposed a few changes

01:33:07 Speaker 24: legislatively in order to try and

01:33:10 Speaker 24: help the landlord and tenant board

01:33:12 Speaker 24: to catch up on their their

01:33:14 Speaker 24: backlog, as well as incentivize incentivize

01:33:17 Speaker 24: would be landlords who are sitting

01:33:18 Speaker 24: on vacant properties to try and

01:33:21 Speaker 24: have confidence in the system and

01:33:24 Speaker 24: rent out those properties. We agree

01:33:27 Speaker 24: with some of the things that

01:33:29 Speaker 24: they've put forward. we are very

01:33:30 Speaker 24: concerned about others, and so we

01:33:32 Speaker 24: are looking at this from a

01:33:33 Speaker 24: very balanced perspective. So the first

01:33:34 Speaker 24: change that they're proposing is to

01:33:35 Speaker 24: reduce the amount of time that

01:33:37 Speaker 24: parties have to request a review

01:33:38 Speaker 24: of an order to the landlord-tenant

01:33:40 Speaker 24: board from thirty to fifty day

01:33:43 Speaker 24: or fifteen days. So what that

01:33:44 Speaker 24: is is if there is a

01:33:46 Speaker 24: critical error to your order. So

01:33:47 Speaker 24: for example, a landlord receives an

01:33:49 Speaker 24: order for eviction, but they whoever

01:33:50 Speaker 24: typed it out put the wrong

01:33:52 Speaker 24: unit number, and they don't. appeal

01:33:53 Speaker 24: that within 15 days, they could

01:33:56 Speaker 24: face starting over at the at

01:33:58 Speaker 24: the beginning. If a tenant receives

01:34:00 Speaker 24: a notice of eviction for rental

01:34:02 Speaker 24: arrears, and the math is incorrect,

01:34:04 Speaker 24: again, if they don't catch it

01:34:07 Speaker 24: within the 15 days, it could

01:34:08 Speaker 24: end up going to an appeal

01:34:09 Speaker 24: process. So on paper, it does

01:34:10 Speaker 24: look as though this may shorten

01:34:12 Speaker 24: time, but what it will really

01:34:13 Speaker 24: do is open the door to

01:34:15 Speaker 24: more appeals and more landlords having

01:34:17 Speaker 24: to start from scratch, limiting new

01:34:21 Speaker 24: issues that can be raised at

01:34:22 Speaker 24: the time of a landlord-tenant. board

01:34:25 Speaker 24: hearing, that is something that is

01:34:27 Speaker 24: allowed to happen for evictions that

01:34:30 Speaker 24: are happening for non-payment of rent.

01:34:32 Speaker 24: And what the province is saying

01:34:33 Speaker 24: is that they will allow tenants

01:34:37 Speaker 24: to bring forward any of their

01:34:40 Speaker 24: maintenance concerns if the tenant pays

01:34:43 Speaker 24: 50% of the rental arrears up

01:34:46 Speaker 24: front. And what that's going to

01:34:47 Speaker 24: do is it's going to create

01:34:49 Speaker 24: a two-tier system between the haves

01:34:51 Speaker 24: and the have-nots. It'll put additional

01:34:55 Speaker 24: strain on some of our most

01:34:57 Speaker 24: vulnerable populations. What it is intended

01:34:59 Speaker 24: to do is. equalize the playing

01:35:00 Speaker 24: field. So right now, as a

01:35:01 Speaker 24: landlord, if we go to tribunal,

01:35:03 Speaker 24: which is what we are as

01:35:04 Speaker 24: as Gray County Housing, we follow

01:35:07 Speaker 24: the same rules and legislations as

01:35:10 Speaker 24: any other landlord. A tenant can

01:35:11 Speaker 24: bring forward maintenance concerns without any

01:35:12 Speaker 24: advance notice to us, and then

01:35:17 Speaker 24: we don't have time to prepare

01:35:20 Speaker 24: a defence, and so we ask

01:35:23 Speaker 24: for an adjournment, which causes delays.

01:35:25 Speaker 24: When you are going to tribunal

01:35:27 Speaker 24: for a behavioural issue, all parties

01:35:30 Speaker 24: are expected to prepare their evidence

01:35:32 Speaker 24: and bring forward what it is

01:35:33 Speaker 24: that they're going. to discuss seven

01:35:34 Speaker 24: days in advance. So we would

01:35:35 Speaker 24: propose that that same rule would

01:35:37 Speaker 24: apply to non-payment of rent hearings

01:35:40 Speaker 24: to equalize the playing field and

01:35:43 Speaker 24: ensure that everybody has an opportunity

01:35:45 Speaker 24: to bring forward their concerns. Shortening

01:35:48 Speaker 24: the rental arrears eviction notice from

01:35:49 Speaker 24: fourteen to seven days again looks

01:35:51 Speaker 24: good on paper, but won't make

01:35:52 Speaker 24: a hair of difference if the

01:35:54 Speaker 24: procedural issues that are happening at

01:35:56 Speaker 24: the landlord-tenant board are not corrected,

01:35:57 Speaker 24: and if we go to get

01:35:59 Speaker 24: a sheriff and we don't have

01:36:00 Speaker 24: one, which has happened a number

01:36:02 Speaker 24: of times in the last three

01:36:03 Speaker 24: years in Gray County. We've had

01:36:06 Speaker 24: sheriffs that are go off for

01:36:07 Speaker 24: various reasons, and then we have

01:36:09 Speaker 24: to borrow from other regions, which

01:36:09 Speaker 24: means our sheriff is only available

01:36:15 Speaker 24: to us maybe once or twice

01:36:19 Speaker 24: a month. So again, you could

01:36:21 Speaker 24: have an order in hand, but

01:36:23 Speaker 24: then not be able to execute

01:36:24 Speaker 24: it. Creating authority to set out

01:36:26 Speaker 24: circumstances or conditions for a set

01:36:28 Speaker 24: aside. So a set aside is

01:36:31 Speaker 24: essentially a request for a second

01:36:35 Speaker 24: hearing, and we agree. that sometimes

01:36:36 Speaker 24: this gets abused. Sometimes tenants will

01:36:39 Speaker 24: say that they didn't know that

01:36:41 Speaker 24: there was a hearing, and so

01:36:44 Speaker 24: they will request a second one,

01:36:45 Speaker 24: and it will be granted. And

01:36:47 Speaker 24: we agree that there needs to

01:36:49 Speaker 24: be more transparency and more consistency

01:36:52 Speaker 24: as to when those are are

01:36:54 Speaker 24: implemented, because right now there's no

01:36:55 Speaker 24: real rhyme or reason from our

01:36:58 Speaker 24: perspective as to why one adjudicator

01:37:00 Speaker 24: will say yes and another adjudicator

01:37:01 Speaker 24: will say no. We also think

01:37:03 Speaker 24: though that before this would be

01:37:04 Speaker 24: implemented. It needs to be done

01:37:05 Speaker 24: with deep collabouration with landlord landlord

01:37:06 Speaker 24: groups, tenant groups, and municipalities. Because

01:37:08 Speaker 24: if any of this legislation fails,

01:37:09 Speaker 24: sitting next to Josh, I will

01:37:10 Speaker 24: hear all about how the sustainable

01:37:12 Speaker 24: housing benefit and the short-term shelter

01:37:14 Speaker 24: programme has to pick up where

01:37:16 Speaker 24: this leaves us. Increasing enforcement resources,

01:37:19 Speaker 24: we are absolutely for this. That

01:37:22 Speaker 24: would mean hiring more sheriffs, and

01:37:25 Speaker 24: we will advocate that Gray County

01:37:27 Speaker 24: will be one. of the ones

01:37:30 Speaker 24: to get a sheriff, and advocating

01:37:33 Speaker 24: that these will be permanent positions

01:37:35 Speaker 24: and not temporary ones. Increasing access

01:37:37 Speaker 24: to decisions or orders. I must

01:37:40 Speaker 24: say I'm a little bit confused

01:37:42 Speaker 24: by this one because you already

01:37:43 Speaker 24: can access orders, landlords, anybody. They're

01:37:45 Speaker 24: they're public information. Anyone can attend

01:37:46 Speaker 24: a tribunal. In fact, any landlord

01:37:47 Speaker 24: should in order to learn the

01:37:49 Speaker 24: nuances of being in a tribunal,

01:37:51 Speaker 24: and anyone can Google and. search

01:37:54 Speaker 24: up orders? They're they're public knowledge,

01:37:55 Speaker 24: so I'm not really sure what

01:37:59 Speaker 24: that is, other than making the

01:38:02 Speaker 24: public aware that they can do

01:38:03 Speaker 24: something that's already available to them.

01:38:04 Speaker 24: Simplified language in the LTV documents.

01:38:06 Speaker 24: We agree that they do need

01:38:11 Speaker 24: to be simplified. However, the landlord-tenant

01:38:13 Speaker 24: board also just revamped their website

01:38:15 Speaker 24: and made it much more confusing.

01:38:19 Speaker 24: So we're not really sure how

01:38:20 Speaker 24: well of a job they're going

01:38:21 Speaker 24: to do with their forms. The

01:38:26 Speaker 24: forms do cause a lot of

01:38:29 Speaker 24: confusion as they are right now,

01:38:30 Speaker 24: and in both. Right now, and

01:38:32 Speaker 24: in big bold letters across the

01:38:33 Speaker 24: front of the page, there's a

01:38:36 Speaker 24: statement that says something along the

01:38:37 Speaker 24: lines of this form could lead

01:38:39 Speaker 24: you to eviction, and nobody ever

01:38:41 Speaker 24: reads the second page with the

01:38:44 Speaker 24: fine print as to what they

01:38:46 Speaker 24: need to do next. And I

01:38:49 Speaker 24: cannot change the slide. You able

01:38:52 Speaker 24: to change slide? There we

01:38:56 Speaker 24: go. So they want to create

01:38:58 Speaker 24: authority to consider factors and limits

01:38:59 Speaker 24: under which an adjudicator can consider

01:39:02 Speaker 24: postponing an eviction. This. Funding and

01:39:05 Speaker 24: eviction. This usually is a human

01:39:07 Speaker 24: rights matter. Part of the legislation

01:39:09 Speaker 24: that is impacting landlords at the

01:39:12 Speaker 24: LTB is lack of knowledge of

01:39:14 Speaker 24: human rights legislation. We are expected

01:39:16 Speaker 24: to know and understand our responsibilities

01:39:17 Speaker 24: under the Human Rights Act as

01:39:20 Speaker 24: well. And so, what this would

01:39:22 Speaker 24: do is, we do agree again

01:39:25 Speaker 24: that there's inconsistency. It seems that

01:39:27 Speaker 24: the adjudicator you get will determine

01:39:32 Speaker 24: what they will take into consideration

01:39:33 Speaker 24: and what they won't. So these

01:39:34 Speaker 24: are usually compassionate reasons. So this

01:39:37 Speaker 24: is where a landlord gets the

01:39:39 Speaker 24: eviction, but they won't tell the

01:39:42 Speaker 24: person they have to be out

01:39:44 Speaker 24: within days. They'll tell the person

01:39:48 Speaker 25: they have to be out within

01:39:52 Speaker 25: maybe two or three months, and

01:39:55 Speaker 25: it could be because of illness.

01:39:57 Speaker 25: It could be because of kids

01:40:00 Speaker 25: wrapping up school. It could be

01:40:02 Speaker 25: because of a number of

01:40:04 Speaker 25: of different compassionate type reasons. So

01:40:08 Speaker 25: we agree there needs to be

01:40:09 Speaker 25: clarity and consistency, but again with

01:40:18 Speaker 25: some really deep consultation with municipalities

01:40:19 Speaker 25: and landlord and tenant groups. They

01:40:21 Speaker 25: are. looking at removing compensation requirements

01:40:24 Speaker 25: for landlords' own use evictions, and

01:40:28 Speaker 25: no longer needed where the landlord

01:40:30 Speaker 23: gives 120 days' notice. We are

01:40:32 Speaker 23: against this. This doesn't affect us

01:40:33 Speaker 23: as Gray County Housing. However, when

01:40:34 Speaker 23: a tenant is evicted for own

01:40:35 Speaker 23: use, they're being evicted for no

01:40:36 Speaker 23: fault of their own. They're often

01:40:39 Speaker 23: having to move into housing that

01:40:40 Speaker 23: is more expensive than the housing

01:40:42 Speaker 23: that they're leaving, and they have

01:40:44 Speaker 23: to incur cost of moving. So

01:40:44 Speaker 23: we think it's only fair. that

01:40:47 Speaker 23: they receive some sort of restitution

01:40:50 Speaker 23: to help them with that process.

01:40:53 Speaker 23: And consulting on alternative options for

01:40:55 Speaker 25: when lease agreements expire, the government

01:40:57 Speaker 25: has since noted that they will

01:41:00 Speaker 25: not be pursuing this, and we're

01:41:03 Speaker 25: in support of that. So tribunals

01:41:06 Speaker 25: are equipped and expected to make

01:41:07 Speaker 25: decisions that have real impact in

01:41:09 Speaker 25: people's lives, and we agree and

01:41:11 Speaker 25: advocate that those those decisions should

01:41:14 Speaker 25: be fair, and they should be

01:41:16 Speaker 25: trans. Fair and they should be

01:41:20 Speaker 25: transparent and they should be consistent.

01:41:23 Speaker 25: And the the ombudsman's office did

01:41:26 Speaker 25: a report. I'm not sure how

01:41:29 Speaker 25: many of you are aware of

01:41:32 Speaker 25: that, but in 2018 was when

01:41:36 Speaker 25: the issues with the LTV began.

01:41:38 Speaker 25: And it in 2018 there was

01:41:42 Speaker 25: a large number of complaints that

01:41:45 Speaker 25: went to the ombudsman's office. In

01:41:46 Speaker 25: the beginning of 2019, right before

01:41:48 Speaker 25: COVID, they launched an investigation. Then

01:41:53 Speaker 25: there were two rental moratoriums during

01:41:54 Speaker 25: COVID, which exacerbated the issues. The

01:41:59 Speaker 25: ombudsman's office has put forward 61

01:42:01 Speaker 25: recommendations, procedural recommendations, to clean up

01:42:03 Speaker 25: the consistencies or lack thereof within

01:42:05 Speaker 24: the board and the decisions that

01:42:07 Speaker 24: they make. And the LTB has

01:42:10 Speaker 24: to respond to the ombudsman's office

01:42:12 Speaker 24: every six months with updates as

01:42:14 Speaker 24: to how they're doing. We are

01:42:16 Speaker 24: in support of chasing that process.

01:42:19 Speaker 24: As when you read the report,

01:42:21 Speaker 24: you can see that a lot

01:42:23 Speaker 24: of the recommendations that are made.

01:42:26 Speaker 24: are direct reflections of the experiences

01:42:27 Speaker 24: we're having. I'd be happy to

01:42:29 Speaker 24: take any questions. Thank you, Sharon.

01:42:31 Speaker 24: Are there any questions from Council?

01:42:32 Speaker 24: Councillor Gray. Two questions. Ms. Irwin

01:42:35 Speaker 24: did a great job, but my

01:42:36 Speaker 24: first question is going to circle

01:42:38 Speaker 24: back to Nile. I did have

01:42:40 Speaker 24: one question, and then a follow-up

01:42:42 Speaker 24: for Sharon. A couple years ago,

01:42:45 Speaker 24: I believe it was Sudbury was.

01:42:47 Speaker 24: named under joint and several liability

01:42:48 Speaker 24: as part of construction project accident

01:42:50 Speaker 24: on site, and this caused municipalities

01:42:52 Speaker 24: a tremendous amount of grief. Within

01:42:56 Speaker 24: the changes proposed in the Highway

01:42:58 Speaker 24: Traffic Act component, is there any

01:43:00 Speaker 24: recognition to supporting municipalities' positions, which

01:43:03 Speaker 24: were an outcome of that and

01:43:04 Speaker 25: the extra responsibilities and costs that

01:43:06 Speaker 25: were sustained? Can I get back

01:43:08 Speaker 25: to you on that one, so

01:43:10 Speaker 25: you, Deputy Warden? I am aware

01:43:13 Speaker 25: of the aware of the situation

01:43:14 Speaker 25: in Sudbury. I had I had

01:43:15 Speaker 25: a recollection that had been dealt

01:43:17 Speaker 25: with in another piece of legislation

01:43:19 Speaker 25: that had happened, but I need

01:43:23 Speaker 25: I would need to circle back

01:43:24 Speaker 25: with Eagle to get an answer

01:43:26 Speaker 25: to you. I will get back

01:43:29 Speaker 25: to you. Okay, thank you, Neil.

01:43:30 Speaker 25: Did you have another question? Go

01:43:33 Speaker 24: ahead. Thank you, and the. slide

01:43:35 Speaker 24: has went past me. It could

01:43:36 Speaker 24: have been the second last slide

01:43:38 Speaker 24: or the the last slide. The

01:43:40 Speaker 24: 120 days notice for own use.

01:43:41 Speaker 24: Sharon, you mentioned it doesn't really

01:43:45 Speaker 24: apply. I think to the county

01:43:49 Speaker 24: was your comment. But we were

01:43:51 Speaker 24: going to submit comments opposed to

01:43:53 Speaker 24: that. And I'm question further why

01:43:55 Speaker 24: we would submit comments opposed to

01:43:57 Speaker 24: that. I think of a an

01:43:59 Speaker 24: individual, a family who might have

01:44:01 Speaker 24: a semi-detached. They're renting out. the

01:44:05 Speaker 24: other unit in their semi-detached, and

01:44:08 Speaker 26: a family member loses a job.

01:44:11 Speaker 26: They own the building. They should

01:44:13 Speaker 26: have some significant rights about who's

01:44:15 Speaker 26: going to occupy that building. And

01:44:19 Speaker 26: I'm I'm wondering what is it

01:44:21 Speaker 26: further here that the county should

01:44:24 Speaker 26: be positioning as communication to further

01:44:27 Speaker 26: support that individual because I I

01:44:28 Speaker 26: know where that any monetary. But

01:44:31 Speaker 26: any monetary remuneration, I know where

01:44:35 Speaker 26: it's coming from. It's coming from

01:44:36 Speaker 26: the person who owns that building,

01:44:39 Speaker 26: that duplex. What are we looking

01:44:41 Speaker 26: for further here? That when we're

01:44:43 Speaker 20: not actually players in the game.

01:44:45 Speaker 20: And so, through you, chair, we're

01:44:47 Speaker 20: looking at it because we sit

01:44:50 Speaker 20: on sort of a threshold of

01:44:53 Speaker 20: both the landlord for Gray County

01:44:55 Speaker 20: Community Housing. We also operate. programmemes

01:44:56 Speaker 20: such as the Sustainable Housing Benefit,

01:44:57 Speaker 20: which will have a trickle-down effect

01:45:01 Speaker 20: on those types of programmemes for

01:45:03 Speaker 20: moving costs and last month's rent.

01:45:05 Speaker 20: So we're looking at it as

01:45:09 Speaker 20: as a full picture of protecting

01:45:11 Speaker 20: the tenants from having to come

01:45:15 Speaker 20: and access resources when it is

01:45:18 Speaker 20: of no fault of their own

01:45:21 Speaker 20: that they're being evicted. Not to

01:45:23 Speaker 20: say that I disagree with you.

01:45:25 Speaker 20: Absolutely, if a person owns a

01:45:27 Speaker 20: property and and they're entitled to

01:45:30 Speaker 20: move into it and have that

01:45:33 Speaker 20: eviction 100. That eviction, one hundred

01:45:34 Speaker 20: percent. Our argument is that to

01:45:36 Speaker 20: protect additional resources having to

01:45:42 Speaker 20: pick up the slack, because it

01:45:44 Speaker 20: is a no fault eviction, and

01:45:48 Speaker 20: because it will incur costs on

01:45:49 Speaker 27: the person who's having to move,

01:45:52 Speaker 27: we feel that it should be

01:45:55 Speaker 27: there should still be a monetary

01:45:56 Speaker 27: tie. So, can we construct a

01:45:59 Speaker 27: correlation to increasing supply in the

01:46:02 Speaker 27: marketplace because that's a significant driver,

01:46:05 Speaker 27: and that's been the problem in

01:46:09 Speaker 27: the last several years? Is there's

01:46:11 Speaker 27: been no supply, so if if

01:46:13 Speaker 27: we can get back to a

01:46:17 Speaker 27: supply ratio of eight or ten

01:46:19 Speaker 27: percent vacant market units, then

01:46:22 Speaker 27: we're going to see those prices

01:46:25 Speaker 27: come down, and we're going to

01:46:27 Speaker 27: see relief corporately then, potentially in

01:46:30 Speaker 27: those those rents as well. And

01:46:33 Speaker 27: through you, chair, I don't disagree

01:46:36 Speaker 27: at all. I think that we

01:46:39 Speaker 27: also need to see a increase

01:46:41 Speaker 27: in specific housing. We have a

01:46:45 Speaker 27: large number of the population who

01:46:48 Speaker 27: don't thrive in traditional housing and

01:46:50 Speaker 27: require more. supports, and we have

01:46:54 Speaker 27: members of our population who require

01:46:56 Speaker 27: medical level housing. So we need

01:47:02 Speaker 27: an increase in all levels of

01:47:04 Speaker 27: housing in order to meet that

01:47:06 Speaker 27: demand. Okay, thank you. Any other

01:47:11 Speaker 27: questions, Councillor Mackey? Thank you, Deputy

01:47:13 Speaker 27: Warden, and through you to Mr.

01:47:15 Speaker 27: Taylor, Scott. You mentioned in one

01:47:17 Speaker 27: of your slides consultation, and the

01:47:19 Speaker 27: ministry is doing consultation, and the

01:47:24 Speaker 27: government is doing consultation in regards

01:47:31 Speaker 27: to communal wastewater and water systems.

01:47:33 Speaker 27: I'm only familiar in our municipality

01:47:38 Speaker 27: in campgrounds where they have communal

01:47:41 Speaker 27: water and wastewater. So I was

01:47:43 Speaker 27: a little taken back about the

01:47:46 Speaker 27: responsibility lying on the municipality when

01:47:48 Speaker 27: they fail. Is the province looking

01:47:53 Speaker 27: at expanding the use of communal

01:47:57 Speaker 27: wastewater and water systems? And will

01:48:07 Speaker 27: the municipalities have any right to

01:48:11 Speaker 13: refuse or not if we end

01:48:13 Speaker 13: up bearing the responsibility? Thank you.

01:48:16 Speaker 13: Through you, Mr. Deputy Warden. Thanks

01:48:19 Speaker 13: for your question, Councillor Mackey. Our

01:48:20 Speaker 13: understanding from the consultation materials and

01:48:22 Speaker 13: what we've seen through through AMO

01:48:24 Speaker 13: and Western Ontario Warden's is is

01:48:26 Speaker 13: the province is looking for a

01:48:29 Speaker 13: way to be more permissive of

01:48:31 Speaker 28: those communal systems. Certainly, I think

01:48:34 Speaker 28: municipalities are are in a gentle

01:48:36 Speaker 28: way pushing back to say, you

01:48:43 Speaker 28: know, fair enough. We all need

01:48:45 Speaker 28: to do our part in terms

01:48:48 Speaker 28: of increasing housing supply. but that

01:48:49 Speaker 28: risk element is not to be

01:48:51 Speaker 28: underestimated. And so, in the consultation

01:48:53 Speaker 28: materials associated with this legislation, they

01:48:55 Speaker 20: they they've talked about further consultation

01:48:58 Speaker 20: and and they've talked about streamlined

01:49:00 Speaker 20: municipal and provincial approvals. But we

01:49:02 Speaker 20: don't have sort of that criteria

01:49:03 Speaker 20: yet on what that streamlining would

01:49:04 Speaker 20: be. Certainly, from a staff perspective,

01:49:07 Speaker 20: we're happy to take direction from

01:49:10 Speaker 20: council. if there is strong feelings

01:49:13 Speaker 20: on on that responsibility agreement element

01:49:14 Speaker 20: or or how we could frame

01:49:17 Speaker 20: that to the province to have

01:49:20 Speaker 20: a constructive conversation. Thanks, Scott, Councillor

01:49:22 Speaker 20: Dubreuil. Thank you, and through you,

01:49:23 Speaker 20: Deputy Warden to Mister Taylor, and

01:49:25 Speaker 20: in general, I had written down

01:49:27 Speaker 20: the Ontario Western Municipal Conference and

01:49:30 Speaker 20: where we had heard about this

01:49:32 Speaker 20: communal water and wastewater system. I

01:49:36 Speaker 20: attended that workshop, and the concern

01:49:38 Speaker 20: of you know a communal water

01:49:40 Speaker 20: and wastewater system being constructed not

01:49:42 Speaker 20: to municipal standards. It always reminds

01:49:45 Speaker 20: me of the you know this

01:49:48 Speaker 20: is the twenty fifth anniversary year

01:49:50 Speaker 20: of the Walkerton tragedy. We seem

01:49:51 Speaker 20: to be you know loosening the

01:49:55 Speaker 20: regulations we established municipal water systems

01:49:57 Speaker 20: and regulations to prevent. that from

01:49:59 Speaker 20: ever happening again. So I have,

01:50:01 Speaker 20: I I trust that our commenting

01:50:03 Speaker 20: will be to remind the province

01:50:05 Speaker 20: of the importance of a standard

01:50:08 Speaker 20: to be upheld, and the concern

01:50:09 Speaker 20: that if it's not built to

01:50:11 Speaker 20: our standard, then we can't assume

01:50:12 Speaker 20: the risk. Um, that is was

01:50:14 Speaker 20: is more of a comment and

01:50:15 Speaker 20: an expression of, uh. Stressing that

01:50:17 Speaker 20: point, if I may, I have

01:50:20 Speaker 20: one other comment. Throughout this presentation,

01:50:21 Speaker 20: with all due respect to Toronto,

01:50:23 Speaker 20: I probably heard Toronto referenced four

01:50:24 Speaker 20: times or more. If we could

01:50:25 Speaker 20: convey to the province that one

01:50:28 Speaker 20: size does not fit all, and

01:50:29 Speaker 20: when did we lose sight of

01:50:30 Speaker 20: the importance of taking a rural

01:50:32 Speaker 20: lens, our geography. our infrastructure, our

01:50:34 Speaker 20: environment is very different, and painting

01:50:38 Speaker 20: us with the same brush to

01:50:39 Speaker 20: our more urban sister municipalities is

01:50:44 Speaker 20: is a challenge for us. So,

01:50:47 Speaker 28: thank you for the presentation. It

01:50:54 Speaker 28: it was excellent and really did

01:50:55 Speaker 28: open my eyes to everything that

01:50:58 Speaker 28: is being downloaded. on us. Thank

01:51:00 Speaker 28: you. Okay, Councillor. anybody want to

01:51:03 Speaker 28: comment, Councillor Hope? Go ahead. There

01:51:05 Speaker 28: we go. Thank you, Councillor Mask.

01:51:06 Speaker 20: Okay. This question through you, Mr.

01:51:08 Speaker 20: Warden, is to is to Mr.

01:51:10 Speaker 20: Taylor. I know it was concerned

01:51:11 Speaker 20: that unfortunately. Gray County was not

01:51:13 Speaker 20: included in having access to the

01:51:15 Speaker 20: CIP programme. I find that to

01:51:18 Speaker 20: be unfortunate because that is such

01:51:20 Speaker 20: an excellent mechanism for affordable, attainable

01:51:21 Speaker 20: housing. Could you tell us, give

01:51:22 Speaker 20: us, you know, your perspective on

01:51:24 Speaker 20: why Gray was not on that

01:51:26 Speaker 20: list? Thank you. Yeah, through you,

01:51:27 Speaker 20: Deputy Warden. It's a good question,

01:51:29 Speaker 20: Councillor Hope. I'm not entirely sure.

01:51:32 Speaker 20: So years ago, sort of when

01:51:33 Speaker 20: I started my career in planning,

01:51:35 Speaker 20: it was only lower tiers or

01:51:36 Speaker 20: single tiers that could offer community

01:51:42 Speaker 20: improvement plans. And then the province

01:51:44 Speaker 20: has made changes changes to the

01:51:46 Speaker 20: act. I don't know, ten ish

01:51:49 Speaker 20: years ago. Feels like it was

01:51:52 Speaker 20: a blink, but it was probably

01:51:54 Speaker 17: ten years. And and they they

01:51:56 Speaker 17: allowed for prescribed upper tiers to

01:51:58 Speaker 17: offer community improvement plans. And where

01:51:59 Speaker 17: those prescribed upper tiers could offer

01:52:00 Speaker 17: those community improvement plans. It wasn't

01:52:03 Speaker 17: on the same breadth that a

01:52:04 Speaker 17: a lower tier or single tier

01:52:06 Speaker 17: municipality could offer those plans on.

01:52:09 Speaker 17: So housing was one of those

01:52:11 Speaker 17: things that that specifically those upper

01:52:14 Speaker 17: tiers could speak to in that

01:52:16 Speaker 17: regard. And and so you know,

01:52:18 Speaker 17: flash back to two thousand seventeen

01:52:19 Speaker 17: or eighteen. That's why Gray, working

01:52:20 Speaker 17: with our partners in economic development,

01:52:22 Speaker 17: tourism, and culture, came up with

01:52:23 Speaker 17: the the community improvement plan template

01:52:27 Speaker 17: programme, programme whereby it would still

01:52:31 Speaker 17: be a municipal CIP, but the

01:52:33 Speaker 17: county would would help do some

01:52:35 Speaker 02: of the heavy lifting in terms

01:52:36 Speaker 02: of establishing those CIPs and and

01:52:40 Speaker 02: and and and flow some money

01:52:41 Speaker 02: through as well. More recently, through

01:52:43 Speaker 02: some staff reports from from Liz

01:52:44 Speaker 02: Buckton, and she actually had a

01:52:47 Speaker 02: further report drafted just before Bill

01:52:50 Speaker 02: 60 was announced. Again, asking the

01:52:52 Speaker 02: province to to allow upper tiers

01:52:56 Speaker 02: who aren't prescribed to be able

01:52:57 Speaker 02: to offer this. It was one

01:53:00 Speaker 02: of those things that you know,

01:53:01 Speaker 02: as as a county. staff person,

01:53:03 Speaker 02: we kind of scratched our head

01:53:12 Speaker 02: at you know what what harm

01:53:14 Speaker 02: was there to the province if

01:53:16 Speaker 02: the municipalities at an upper tier

01:55:54 Speaker 02: level wanted to flow money into

02:01:07 Speaker 02: certain programmemes. So it seemed like

02:01:08 Speaker 02: kind of one of those low

02:01:09 Speaker 01: hanging fruit ones. So we're super

02:01:14 Speaker 08: thankful that the province is now

02:01:15 Speaker 08: considering this. But I don't have

02:01:18 Speaker 08: a great answer for you as

02:01:21 Speaker 08: to you know why it wasn't

02:01:24 Speaker 08: done earlier in that regard. Follow

02:01:26 Speaker 08: up, please. So is is there

02:01:28 Speaker 08: an opportunity with Roma delegations? Maybe

02:01:33 Speaker 08: aimo to take this further and

02:01:35 Speaker 08: to see about accessing this programme

02:01:40 Speaker 08: through Deputy Warren. Certainly, we're happy

02:01:43 Speaker 08: to take any direction from Council.

02:01:47 Speaker 08: In in the draft legislation right

02:01:48 Speaker 08: now, that is included, and and

02:01:50 Speaker 08: so if if the legislation were

02:01:52 Speaker 08: to pass as per the draft,

02:01:53 Speaker 08: then then there'd sort of be

02:01:57 Speaker 08: no need for further lobbying in

02:01:58 Speaker 08: that regard, if you will. If

02:01:59 Speaker 08: it's something that. council feels strongly

02:02:02 Speaker 08: about, we want to make our

02:02:04 Speaker 08: voices heard with groups like AMO

02:02:06 Speaker 08: or ROMA or Western Ontario Wardens.

02:02:12 Speaker 08: Certainly happy to put that forward.

02:02:14 Speaker 08: You know, Liz is still got

02:02:18 Speaker 08: her draft report, and and we

02:02:20 Speaker 29: were just kind of chewing over:

02:02:26 Speaker 29: do we still bring something forward?

02:02:30 Speaker 29: Do we not? But I think

02:02:33 Speaker 29: from a staff perspective, we're just

02:02:35 Speaker 29: kind of eagerly waiting to see

02:02:38 Speaker 29: what passes here, and and and

02:02:40 Speaker 29: if it does pass as as

02:02:44 Speaker 29: drafted, then there might not be

02:02:45 Speaker 29: the need for any further advocacy

02:02:48 Speaker 29: in that regard. Okay, thank you

02:02:51 Speaker 29: for the question, Councillor McQueen. I'll

02:02:53 Speaker 29: be quick. Just following up with

02:02:57 Speaker 29: Councillor Debrine. Standardizing one road system

02:02:59 Speaker 29: design, and like in the problem

02:03:01 Speaker 29: material, I'm sure Pat would add

02:03:03 Speaker 29: more to that. We have what

02:03:06 Speaker 29: they call weather issues. So a

02:03:08 Speaker 29: road design in North Bay might

02:03:09 Speaker 29: be different than a road that's

02:03:11 Speaker 29: designed in Mississauga. More recently, just

02:03:13 Speaker 29: we had a Grey County Federation

02:03:16 Speaker 29: of Ag meeting last night. The

02:03:18 Speaker 29: concern is is designing roads for

02:03:19 Speaker 29: large agricultural equipment. Now you're not

02:03:24 Speaker 29: going to devise something in Mississauga.

02:03:25 Speaker 29: I didn't say Toronto that you

02:03:27 Speaker 29: would maybe design differently in Grey

02:03:29 Speaker 29: County, Bruce County, or a rural

02:03:31 Speaker 29: part. And I think that's so

02:03:32 Speaker 29: important about the rural ends. I

02:03:34 Speaker 29: think that should be one of

02:03:36 Speaker 29: our comments back. Is that rural

02:03:39 Speaker 29: ends? Yeah, agreed. Any other? Just

02:03:41 Speaker 29: one observation I made was from

02:03:44 Speaker 29: Scott's comments about the limitation in

02:03:46 Speaker 29: the number of pages for an.

02:03:48 Speaker 29: A number of pages for an

02:03:50 Speaker 29: official plan. I believe it was

02:03:53 Speaker 29: Winston Churchill during the war when

02:03:55 Speaker 29: he was prime minister insisted that

02:03:57 Speaker 29: any report that landed on his

02:03:59 Speaker 29: desk was one page. So there

02:04:01 Speaker 29: may be some merit to it.

02:04:02 Speaker 29: Just saying, just saying. Not picking

02:04:04 Speaker 29: on planning, but just saying. Okay,

02:04:06 Speaker 29: I think we're ready for the

02:04:08 Speaker 29: vote. All those in favour? That

02:04:09 Speaker 29: is carried. Thank you very much.

02:04:13 Speaker 29: Thank you to Scott, Sharon, and

02:04:14 Speaker 29: Nile for that. stretchy report, report

02:04:16 Speaker 29: number. You really? Lunch is going

02:04:18 Speaker 29: to be here in half an

02:04:21 Speaker 29: hour. All right, let's recess for

02:04:22 Speaker 29: five minutes. Okay. One minute warning.

02:04:24 Speaker 29: Okay. I think we have quorum

02:04:26 Speaker 29: back. We'll bring. the meeting back

02:04:28 Speaker 29: to order. Council, it has been

02:04:29 Speaker 29: brought to my attention that there

02:04:32 Speaker 29: is some interest in the gallery

02:04:35 Speaker 29: regarding report number seven F or

02:04:38 Speaker 29: item number on the agenda. Would

02:04:41 Speaker 29: council be obliging to move that

02:04:44 Speaker 29: up to do that now prior

02:04:47 Speaker 29: to lunch? Anyone objecting? Seeing no

02:04:49 Speaker 29: objection, we'll proceed with item seven

02:04:50 Speaker 29: F, which is. And here I

02:04:53 Speaker 29: thought you were all being entertained

02:04:55 Speaker 29: with our deliberations prior to prior

02:04:58 Speaker 02: to now. You'll be back next

02:05:00 Speaker 02: week, I'm sure, to see the

02:05:02 Speaker 02: the next meeting. In any case,

02:05:05 Speaker 02: we're going to deal with the

02:05:07 Speaker 02: budget and finance committee minutes dated

02:05:10 Speaker 02: October 29th. Mary Lou is going

02:05:12 Speaker 02: to speak to them, so Mary

02:05:14 Speaker 02: Lou, the floor is yours, and

02:05:16 Speaker 02: welcome. I need a mover and

02:05:17 Speaker 02: seconder. Sorry, Councillor Debrine and Councillor

02:05:19 Speaker 02: Gregg. Councillor Debrine and Councillor Greg,

02:05:22 Speaker 10: thank you. Thank you, Mr. Vice

02:05:24 Speaker 10: Chair. Budget and Finance met on

02:05:25 Speaker 10: October 29th, and the the primary

02:05:29 Speaker 10: focus of the meeting was ten

02:05:30 Speaker 10: year capital forecast. Corporate capital funding

02:05:34 Speaker 10: needs for 2026, as presented, were

02:05:35 Speaker 10: 21 million 117,500, and that's an

02:05:36 Speaker 10: increase. of three million thirty-two thousand

02:05:40 Speaker 10: two hundred dollars, higher than the

02:05:41 Speaker 10: net capital funding that was in

02:05:43 Speaker 10: the 2025 approved forecast. The increase

02:05:44 Speaker 10: to the capital levy in 2026

02:05:46 Speaker 10: is largely driven by it's

02:05:49 Speaker 10: approximately two point nine million dollars,

02:05:50 Speaker 10: with the impacts in transportation services,

02:05:52 Speaker 10: paramedic services, and housing portfolios. The

02:05:54 Speaker 10: increase we talked about was there

02:05:56 Speaker 10: was an increase set aside for

02:05:59 Speaker 10: asset management totaling one. million seven

02:06:03 Speaker 10: hundred forty-eight thousand one hundred dollars,

02:06:05 Speaker 10: one million just shy of one

02:06:10 Speaker 10: point four million is a levy

02:06:11 Speaker 25: increase, and the remainder of three

02:06:17 Speaker 25: hundred forty-eight thousand eight hundred was

02:06:19 Speaker 25: from the OCIF allocation. There's an

02:06:20 Speaker 25: increase of one hundred twenty-nine thousand

02:06:22 Speaker 25: three hundred to the transfer to

02:06:23 Speaker 25: the Affordable Housing Reserve, included as

02:06:26 Speaker 25: presented earlier in the year, one

02:06:27 Speaker 25: million two hundred forty thousand nine

02:06:29 Speaker 30: hundred dollars funded from the levy

02:06:30 Speaker 30: for the Road Exchange Project, and.

02:06:31 Speaker 30: an increase of one hundred and

02:06:33 Speaker 30: forty-six thousand eight hundred dollars to

02:06:35 Speaker 30: fund ventures for paramedic service base

02:06:37 Speaker 30: builds. As part of the presentation,

02:06:39 Speaker 30: each department provided an overview of

02:06:42 Speaker 30: their capital forecasts, with emphasis on

02:06:44 Speaker 30: years one and three, and anything

02:06:45 Speaker 30: that was new or changed was

02:06:47 Speaker 30: identified, and they responded to questions

02:06:50 Speaker 30: from committee. After the presentations, committee

02:06:53 Speaker 30: recommended two adjustments to the twenty

02:06:54 Speaker 30: twenty six budget and twenty twenty

02:06:56 Speaker 02: seven proposed budget that are reflected

02:06:59 Speaker 02: in the minutes from the. meeting.

02:07:00 Speaker 02: As the minutes from this meeting

02:07:02 Speaker 02: have not been approved by council,

02:07:05 Speaker 02: the adjustments have been noted but

02:07:09 Speaker 02: not incorporated in the draft budget

02:07:11 Speaker 02: that will be discussed on December

02:07:13 Speaker 02: fifth and twelfth. And the final

02:07:14 Speaker 02: meeting topic was the review of

02:07:16 Speaker 02: the twenty twenty five capital project

02:07:19 Speaker 02: status update report based on August

02:07:20 Speaker 02: thirty first internally produced financial statements,

02:07:21 Speaker 02: and it was noted that there

02:07:25 Speaker 02: were two hundred and fifty nine

02:07:26 Speaker 02: capital projects. Stats were shared on

02:07:28 Speaker 02: procurement status and project status. The

02:07:31 Speaker 02: status can be. different. If, for

02:07:33 Speaker 02: example, the procurement has been completed,

02:07:35 Speaker 02: such as awarding an ambulance, but

02:07:41 Speaker 02: there are delays in receiving the

02:07:42 Speaker 02: ambulance due to supply chain. And

02:07:43 Speaker 02: happy to take any questions. Thank

02:07:46 Speaker 02: you, Mary Lou. And as you

02:07:47 Speaker 10: indicated, just to be clear, regardless

02:07:49 Speaker 10: of what we do with the

02:07:53 Speaker 10: minutes today, they are recommendations to

02:07:54 Speaker 10: the draft budget. So there is

02:07:56 Speaker 10: an opportunity to change. through the

02:07:57 Speaker 10: budget deliberations, but nonetheless, if there's

02:07:59 Speaker 10: changes to be requested or questions,

02:08:01 Speaker 10: let's have them. Councillor Nielsen, please.

02:08:03 Speaker 10: Just a first question or first

02:08:05 Speaker 10: comment, I guess, because the recommendations

02:08:06 Speaker 10: that are being made here to

02:08:10 Speaker 10: this body came from a smaller

02:08:11 Speaker 10: committee. I would like to move

02:08:12 Speaker 10: that we split the question. Some

02:08:14 Speaker 21: of the questions have specific requests

02:08:17 Speaker 21: that are being removed. Others are

02:08:18 Speaker 21: different directions for future budgets. So

02:08:21 Speaker 21: I'd like to split the question.

02:08:22 Speaker 21: So. we can vote on them

02:08:28 Speaker 21: individually. Okay. You want to move?

02:08:34 Speaker 21: You're moving that we split each

02:08:37 Speaker 21: motion separately and vote on each

02:08:39 Speaker 21: motion separately, or do you wish

02:08:41 Speaker 29: one or two to come out?

02:08:42 Speaker 29: Just for the premise of one

02:08:47 Speaker 29: or two that might be voted

02:08:53 Speaker 29: on separately and amendments that might

02:08:55 Speaker 29: be made, split the question. Have

02:08:58 Speaker 29: the I think there's six different

02:08:59 Speaker 29: recommendations coming out of here. Some

02:09:01 Speaker 31: of them will be pretty quick

02:09:02 Speaker 31: motions. Others might take more conversation.

02:09:04 Speaker 31: Fair enough. Is there a seconder

02:09:06 Speaker 31: for that motion to split the

02:09:09 Speaker 31: question, Councillor Carlton? Thank you. Any

02:09:11 Speaker 31: discussion, Councillor Greg? Is that including

02:09:13 Speaker 31: lost motions because those also show

02:09:16 Speaker 31: in the minutes? I'm going to

02:09:17 Speaker 31: ask the clerk on that one,

02:09:20 Speaker 31: Madam Clerk. And thank you, and

02:09:22 Speaker 31: my apologies to Council and the

02:09:24 Speaker 31: public. We did have a bit

02:09:26 Speaker 31: of a glitch when we. were

02:09:29 Speaker 31: posting our revised agenda. I don't

02:09:33 Speaker 31: know exactly when it happened, but

02:09:34 Speaker 31: some of you may have seen

02:09:36 Speaker 13: those motions that were lost, and

02:09:39 Speaker 13: some of you may have not

02:09:40 Speaker 13: seen them at all. The ones

02:09:41 Speaker 13: that are intended to be considered

02:09:45 Speaker 13: here today and that are on

02:09:50 Speaker 13: the floor do not include those

02:09:52 Speaker 13: lost motions. They're only the ones

02:09:53 Speaker 13: that were voted and supported at

02:09:57 Speaker 13: the committee level, and they should

02:09:59 Speaker 13: be showing correctly on your eSCRIBE

02:10:00 Speaker 17: packages and on your web on

02:10:01 Speaker 17: the website now. So that would.

02:10:03 Speaker 17: entail six, not the ones that

02:10:04 Speaker 17: are lost. Is that okay? Any

02:10:06 Speaker 17: other questions on the amendment to

02:10:08 Speaker 17: split the questions? Not seeing any.

02:10:09 Speaker 17: I'll call the question. All those

02:10:12 Speaker 17: in favour? That just carried. So

02:10:14 Speaker 17: we'll consider the first, which is

02:10:16 Speaker 17: that the reevaluated for opportunities to

02:10:17 Speaker 17: scope reductions, and that information be

02:10:19 Speaker 17: provided on the cost of the

02:10:22 Speaker 17: project. Is the mover and seconder

02:10:24 Speaker 17: for that motion? Sorry, we don't.

02:10:26 Speaker 17: Okay, we just need. to vote

02:10:27 Speaker 17: on. We don't need a mover

02:10:33 Speaker 17: and seconder. Any discussion on that

02:10:35 Speaker 17: particular motion? Not seeing any. I'll

02:10:38 Speaker 17: call the question. All those in

02:10:41 Speaker 27: favour? That is carried. The second

02:10:43 Speaker 27: one is the paramedic services base

02:10:46 Speaker 27: in Aitken be deferred to the

02:10:49 Speaker 27: twenty twenty seven budget. Any discussion?

02:10:51 Speaker 27: Councillor Nielsen. Just a quick comment

02:10:54 Speaker 27: on this one. I do think

02:10:57 Speaker 27: that there's some logic to this

02:11:00 Speaker 27: deferral. We we are adding the

02:11:02 Speaker 27: Dundalk paramedic base that. The Dundalk

02:11:04 Speaker 27: paramedic base—that was a surprise cost.

02:11:08 Speaker 27: I think this is a reasonable

02:11:10 Speaker 27: change in the in the plan

02:11:11 Speaker 27: of the paramedic services. As we're

02:11:17 Speaker 27: trying to, you know, we're making

02:11:19 Speaker 27: the same amount of investment into

02:11:21 Speaker 27: paramedic services, just maybe changing location

02:11:24 Speaker 27: based upon necessity now. So I

02:11:26 Speaker 29: think this is just a very

02:11:28 Speaker 29: logical addition. Okay, thank you for

02:11:31 Speaker 29: that. Any further questions, Council Bordignon?

02:11:34 Speaker 29: Thank you, Deputy Warden. Through you,

02:11:38 Speaker 29: in the same vein, I do

02:11:41 Speaker 29: have a question, though. Does does

02:11:44 Speaker 29: this in the minutes talking about

02:11:46 Speaker 29: feverish? Minutes talking about Faversham, Thornbury,

02:11:48 Speaker 29: and the other bases in Cobble

02:11:50 Speaker 29: Beach. Is does that affect the

02:11:52 Speaker 29: moving the one out or deferral?

02:11:57 Speaker 29: Does that do a domino effect?

02:12:00 Speaker 29: Ready. Are you, Mr. Deputy Warden?

02:12:05 Speaker 29: It. We did look, and I'll

02:12:07 Speaker 29: I'll look to Kevin. We did

02:12:09 Speaker 29: talk about moving that you would

02:12:11 Speaker 29: only have so many bases a

02:12:12 Speaker 29: year. Kevin, maybe you want to

02:12:14 Speaker 29: comment, please. The discussion was is

02:12:14 Speaker 29: that we are building Fever Sham

02:12:15 Speaker 29: and Denoc. It's it's ongoing right

02:12:19 Speaker 29: now, so we do have a

02:12:21 Speaker 29: number of bases in the project

02:12:22 Speaker 29: scope right now. So we did

02:12:23 Speaker 29: talk about you know because of

02:12:26 Speaker 29: that, and probably best, and we

02:12:28 Speaker 29: also have the the deployment review

02:12:29 Speaker 29: happening next year with budget approval

02:12:31 Speaker 29: that those type of recommendations will

02:12:33 Speaker 29: go forward. So the the talk

02:12:35 Speaker 32: was is that eight would be

02:12:37 Speaker 32: deferred until twenty twenty seven, but

02:12:39 Speaker 32: there wasn't really any talk about

02:12:41 Speaker 32: moving anything further out. But again,

02:12:42 Speaker 32: we could look at the comprehensive

02:12:45 Speaker 32: deployment review to help best guide

02:12:47 Speaker 32: us next year. Okay, good. Any

02:12:51 Speaker 32: other questions? Not seeing any. I'll

02:12:55 Speaker 32: call the question. All those in

02:12:57 Speaker 32: favour? Aye is carried. Number three:

02:12:58 Speaker 32: the funding for the experimental acres

02:13:00 Speaker 32: project in the amount of twenty

02:13:01 Speaker 32: eight thousand. Be In the amount

02:13:02 Speaker 32: of twenty-eight thousand, be removed from

02:13:04 Speaker 32: the draft twenty-twenty-six budget discussion. Councillor

02:13:06 Speaker 32: McQueen, like Mr. Ward, and I

02:13:08 Speaker 32: did pull the—I think it was

02:13:10 Speaker 32: six P—that talked about what the

02:13:15 Speaker 32: Ag services in Markdale do, and

02:13:17 Speaker 32: one of those pages, and there,

02:13:20 Speaker 32: everybody looks back to it. It

02:13:23 Speaker 32: did talk about the experimental acres,

02:13:25 Speaker 32: and pardon the pun, but a

02:13:26 Speaker 32: little bit of seed money goes

02:13:28 Speaker 32: a long way to developing ways

02:13:31 Speaker 32: of resilience. We know we're dealing

02:13:32 Speaker 32: with climate change, and a lot

02:13:34 Speaker 32: of those experimental projects are are

02:13:36 Speaker 32: based on small funding that create

02:13:37 Speaker 32: big results. And I'll use an

02:13:39 Speaker 32: example of what twenty twenty five

02:13:41 Speaker 32: years ago, no tilling, how that

02:13:44 Speaker 32: changed a lot of of things

02:13:47 Speaker 32: in our practices. So I would

02:13:49 Speaker 32: say that this should be something

02:13:51 Speaker 32: that should be left in the

02:13:52 Speaker 32: budget. Okay, thank you, Councillor Dubreuil.

02:13:54 Speaker 32: Thank you, and through you, to

02:13:56 Speaker 32: Mary Lou, and to the minutes.

02:13:59 Speaker 32: My understanding was that this is

02:14:00 Speaker 32: a recommendation to remove the item

02:14:02 Speaker 32: from the 2026 budget, but that

02:14:04 Speaker 32: it would still show as having

02:14:07 Speaker 32: been removed, so we don't lose

02:14:10 Speaker 32: sight of it. And it would

02:14:12 Speaker 32: then be up to the committee,

02:14:14 Speaker 32: the whole, and council to determine

02:14:17 Speaker 32: what goes in, what stays out,

02:14:20 Speaker 32: on our December 5th and 12th

02:14:24 Speaker 32: deliberations. If you could confirm that.

02:14:26 Speaker 32: right now it's just going to

02:14:30 Speaker 32: kind of sit in in limbo

02:14:32 Speaker 32: for us to determine. And through

02:14:35 Speaker 32: you, Mr. Deputy Warden, because of

02:14:37 Speaker 32: the timelines that this meeting was

02:14:38 Speaker 32: October twenty ninth, the minutes come

02:14:40 Speaker 32: here today, and they will not

02:14:42 Speaker 32: be passed by County Council until

02:14:44 Speaker 32: November twenty seventh. But there was

02:14:46 Speaker 32: the decision made that because Council

02:14:47 Speaker 32: hasn't approved the minutes. Everything that

02:14:49 Speaker 32: an adjustment was requested has remained

02:14:50 Speaker 32: in the budget because we didn't

02:14:55 Speaker 32: have council's approval in order to

02:14:57 Speaker 32: make those adjustments. So when you

02:15:00 Speaker 32: see the package comes out for

02:15:03 Speaker 32: December fifth and twelfth, it will

02:15:04 Speaker 32: contain the eight and base still

02:15:06 Speaker 32: for twenty six, and it will

02:15:07 Speaker 32: contain mental acres for twenty eight

02:15:10 Speaker 32: thousand. Okay. Thank you. Any further

02:15:13 Speaker 32: discussion, Councillor Greg? Thank you, and

02:15:16 Speaker 32: I do have some comments, and

02:15:18 Speaker 32: I'm awarded five minutes to make

02:15:20 Speaker 32: them under the procedural bylaws. So

02:15:22 Speaker 32: let me know if I get

02:15:23 Speaker 32: the five minutes, but I think

02:15:25 Speaker 32: I'll just be under that. This

02:15:28 Speaker 32: was my motion, so I'm glad

02:15:29 Speaker 32: to speak to it, and I'm

02:15:31 Speaker 32: just going to go back to

02:15:32 Speaker 32: an email I received on September

02:15:35 Speaker 32: 22, 2023. As a retired farmer

02:15:37 Speaker 32: now living in Georgian Bluffs, I

02:15:39 Speaker 32: was a charter member of Burlington's

02:15:40 Speaker 32: Sustainable Development Committee and a member

02:15:42 Speaker 32: of. conservation, the Halton Board of

02:15:43 Speaker 32: Directors. I was named Halton Region

02:15:45 Speaker 32: Conservationist of the Year in 1886,

02:15:47 Speaker 32: so I am not anti anti

02:15:50 Speaker 32: green. Goes on through a plethora

02:15:51 Speaker 32: of different initiatives that this individual

02:15:54 Speaker 32: has invested in their own property,

02:15:55 Speaker 32: and it concludes: fiscal sustainability is

02:15:58 Speaker 32: a stranger to our governments. And

02:16:01 Speaker 32: I read that because of all

02:16:05 Speaker 32: the emails which we've received from

02:16:09 Speaker 32: the local climate action teams, and

02:16:11 Speaker 32: I'm thankful for all the work

02:16:12 Speaker 32: that they do, but. it's very

02:16:14 Speaker 32: easy to send emails to counsel.

02:16:17 Speaker 32: In fact, I was surprised how

02:16:19 Speaker 32: quickly that the emails started coming

02:16:22 Speaker 32: in after the budget meeting. It's

02:16:23 Speaker 32: it was somewhat unusual. One of

02:16:25 Speaker 32: the premises of the farm rate

02:16:27 Speaker 32: tax ratio being a quarter point

02:16:29 Speaker 32: is because it uses no services

02:16:31 Speaker 32: effectively. So now it's starting to.

02:16:33 Speaker 32: How about we look at increasing

02:16:34 Speaker 32: that tax ratio from a quarter

02:16:35 Speaker 32: point back up to. thirty points

02:16:38 Speaker 32: or forty points, and see what

02:16:40 Speaker 32: that does for the tax base

02:16:41 Speaker 32: across the county. Because it sounds

02:16:44 Speaker 32: like it is starting to use

02:16:46 Speaker 32: services, it's starting to use bigger

02:16:47 Speaker 32: road construction, it's starting to use

02:16:49 Speaker 32: sustainable practices, seed funding. There's a

02:16:51 Speaker 32: company out there called Bear, and

02:16:52 Speaker 32: one of the companies they own

02:16:54 Speaker 32: is Decal. It's in their best

02:16:57 Speaker 32: interest, no different than it's in

02:17:01 Speaker 32: the best interest of every company

02:17:04 Speaker 32: that I deal with in my

02:17:05 Speaker 32: own business, where carbon footprint is

02:17:07 Speaker 32: actually. stamped on some of the

02:17:09 Speaker 32: product. You can see what the

02:17:11 Speaker 32: impact is of the manufacturing in

02:17:14 Speaker 17: it. It's in Bayer's best interest

02:17:17 Speaker 17: to their shareholders to invest in

02:17:19 Speaker 17: research and development, which is why

02:17:22 Speaker 17: in DCOB they invest millions of

02:17:25 Speaker 17: dollars in seed resiliency and and

02:17:29 Speaker 17: being able to adapt seeds to

02:17:32 Speaker 17: various climatic changes. This is a

02:17:34 Speaker 17: further step. My motion here it

02:17:37 Speaker 17: doesn't eliminate one job. It impacts

02:17:38 Speaker 17: six people, or six initiatives across

02:17:40 Speaker 17: the county in the year 2025.

02:17:43 Speaker 17: In terms of corresponding with different

02:17:47 Speaker 17: people, I have someone who's very

02:17:49 Speaker 17: talkative at the Katy Livestock Market,

02:17:51 Speaker 17: and in Gray County, you can't

02:17:53 Speaker 17: get much more involved with the,

02:17:54 Speaker 17: the farming agricultural community than Katy.

02:17:56 Speaker 17: And I asked how many people

02:17:57 Speaker 17: brought up the topic of experimental

02:17:58 Speaker 17: acres in the last two weeks

02:18:00 Speaker 17: at the Katy Market, and the

02:18:01 Speaker 17: answer was zero. So we have

02:18:03 Speaker 17: next door to us a county

02:18:04 Speaker 17: that's looking at four percent tax

02:18:05 Speaker 17: increase, and they're looking to get

02:18:07 Speaker 17: down to three and a half

02:18:09 Speaker 17: percent at Simcoe. We are at

02:18:10 Speaker 17: about six point nine percent. We

02:18:11 Speaker 17: had projected last year for two

02:18:14 Speaker 17: thousand twenty-six four point nine seven

02:18:15 Speaker 17: percent. We're forecasting one point six

02:18:17 Speaker 17: million dollars of growth, and we're

02:18:18 Speaker 17: at six point eight seven percent

02:18:20 Speaker 17: coming out of that meeting. So

02:18:22 Speaker 17: if you vote against. this, I

02:18:23 Speaker 17: do challenge my colleagues. Please stand

02:18:25 Speaker 17: up after. Inform me of where

02:18:26 Speaker 17: you would like me to look

02:18:28 Speaker 17: on November 26 for further cuts,

02:18:33 Speaker 17: because that tax increase is not

02:18:36 Speaker 17: sustainable, and on the shoulders of

02:18:38 Speaker 17: record growth that we've had as

02:18:40 Speaker 17: a county over the years. So,

02:18:42 Speaker 17: we're on a trajectory that we

02:18:44 Speaker 17: have to change. So, please inform

02:18:46 Speaker 17: me where I can further look

02:18:49 Speaker 17: for savings, because in the minutes

02:18:51 Speaker 17: it does state every cut motion

02:18:53 Speaker 17: was Councillor Greg. That's on the

02:18:54 Speaker 17: record there. So, just please inform

02:18:56 Speaker 17: me. further, and we'll look to

02:18:59 Speaker 17: get that money down. But just

02:19:01 Speaker 17: to correct a little bit, the

02:19:03 Speaker 17: correspondence I received, it indicated that

02:19:06 Speaker 17: I was informed about Bill Gates's

02:19:07 Speaker 17: dialogueue. It had nothing to do

02:19:09 Speaker 17: with it. If you watch the

02:19:11 Speaker 17: minutes or watch the video, my

02:19:15 Speaker 17: motion on this came before any

02:19:18 Speaker 17: conversation about Bill Gates, and I

02:19:19 Speaker 17: have never read his correspondence. and

02:19:21 Speaker 17: frankly, don't plan on doing so.

02:19:23 Speaker 17: This is about what's best for

02:19:24 Speaker 17: the county right now in the

02:19:25 Speaker 17: tough budget year. I get it;

02:19:27 Speaker 17: it's a it's a great project,

02:19:28 Speaker 17: but it's one of many great

02:19:29 Speaker 17: projects that comes before the county.

02:19:31 Speaker 17: We had a great project a

02:19:33 Speaker 17: year ago from a lady at

02:19:35 Speaker 17: the southeast southwest corner, and she

02:19:37 Speaker 17: had a youth centre that she

02:19:39 Speaker 17: approached the county about funding, and

02:19:41 Speaker 17: they they got funding from the

02:19:42 Speaker 17: province, which was wonderful, but we

02:19:44 Speaker 17: as a council didn't fund that

02:19:48 Speaker 17: initiative, and. we as a council

02:19:54 Speaker 17: are looking at a tough budget

02:19:57 Speaker 17: year, and that's why we should

02:20:02 Speaker 17: not be funding this initiative this

02:20:03 Speaker 33: year. Thanks. Thanks, sir. Any other,

02:20:05 Speaker 33: Councillor McQueen? Well, I must rebuttle,

02:20:07 Speaker 33: but start with this programme is

02:20:09 Speaker 33: ran through the Grey Ag Services,

02:20:11 Speaker 33: which basically runs on a sheet.

02:20:15 Speaker 33: We all know, and they do

02:20:17 Speaker 33: great jobs, great work. There's 156

02:20:20 Speaker 33: meetings, 30 different groups that go

02:20:21 Speaker 33: through that Grey Ag Services. Gray

02:20:22 Speaker 33: Ag Services office that use those

02:20:24 Speaker 33: facilities, and you talk about not

02:20:28 Speaker 33: knowing anything about it. The Gray

02:20:30 Speaker 33: Ag Services also has looked after

02:20:31 Speaker 33: Gray the Farmers Week in January,

02:20:32 Speaker 33: which they have this year six

02:20:34 Speaker 33: different sorry six different units or

02:20:35 Speaker 33: different days on different things

02:20:38 Speaker 33: around agriculture. I'm pretty sure they're

02:20:40 Speaker 33: going to be talking about this

02:20:41 Speaker 33: experimental acres at that at that

02:20:42 Speaker 33: event. I will say that again

02:20:43 Speaker 33: for the for the discussion we're

02:20:47 Speaker 33: having here today on twenty eight

02:20:49 Speaker 33: thousand dollars of the of the

02:20:51 Speaker 33: millions of dollars budget that we're

02:20:53 Speaker 33: going to be looking at. You

02:20:54 Speaker 33: know where I see a place

02:20:55 Speaker 33: to cut is this download upload.

02:20:59 Speaker 33: That's where your big money is

02:21:01 Speaker 33: going to be affecting this budget,

02:21:03 Speaker 33: but we're not going to go

02:21:06 Speaker 33: there right now. I want to

02:21:09 Speaker 33: give you a small little example

02:21:10 Speaker 33: of something that I saw witnessing

02:21:12 Speaker 33: myself back in the early two

02:21:13 Speaker 33: thousands, where we had a lot

02:21:15 Speaker 33: of hot summers, and I had

02:21:18 Speaker 33: two properties, my own farm and

02:21:21 Speaker 33: my neighbour's. farm, and my farm

02:21:24 Speaker 33: had 80 acres of no fence

02:21:26 Speaker 33: rows, and the neighbouring farm was

02:21:28 Speaker 02: still the 10 acres. It was

02:21:31 Speaker 02: a hot summer. There was no

02:21:36 Speaker 02: second cut on my 80 acres,

02:21:37 Speaker 02: but there was second cut in

02:21:41 Speaker 34: those 10 acre fields. So this

02:21:48 Speaker 34: year in the stewardship agreements, we

02:21:49 Speaker 34: incentivized money for people, farmers, to

02:21:56 Speaker 34: plant trees back and create those

02:22:02 Speaker 34: fence rows, fence rows, or creating

02:22:06 Speaker 34: winds or barriers for the hot

02:22:13 Speaker 34: winds that dry out your land.

02:22:19 Speaker 34: so there's little wee things,

02:22:25 Speaker 34: and I go back to this

02:22:29 Speaker 34: experimental acres that the little things

02:22:34 Speaker 34: that can come out of here,

02:22:41 Speaker 34: successfully or not, are small things

02:22:48 Speaker 34: that can, if they're successful, they

02:22:52 Speaker 34: can be communicated onto the farmers

02:22:55 Speaker 34: of Gray County and throughout. But

02:22:59 Speaker 34: if you don't know, if you

02:23:07 Speaker 34: don't try, so maybe there's opportunities

02:23:08 Speaker 34: for other sources of funding. But

02:23:11 Speaker 34: I think it's been quite successful.

02:23:17 Speaker 34: We had at that stewardship Gray

02:23:23 Speaker 34: Bruce meeting I had a few

02:23:29 Speaker 34: weeks. back, representatives from Great Egg

02:23:31 Speaker 34: Services talked about this experimental lakers,

02:23:35 Speaker 34: and I would say maybe maybe

02:23:37 Speaker 34: they need to come to this

02:23:42 Speaker 34: body and talk a little bit

02:23:43 Speaker 34: more in depth of what they're

02:23:46 Speaker 34: doing to give a little bit

02:23:47 Speaker 34: of more insight of what they're

02:23:52 Speaker 34: doing, and and I'm sure Lori

02:23:53 Speaker 34: would be quite happy to come

02:23:54 Speaker 34: here. But going back to the

02:23:59 Speaker 34: egg services, this is run under

02:24:00 Speaker 34: them, and they do an amazing

02:24:02 Speaker 34: job on the shoestring budget that

02:24:03 Speaker 34: they have, and they they just

02:24:05 Speaker 34: can't figure. out for a little

02:24:10 Speaker 34: bit of money how far this

02:24:12 Speaker 34: could go. So I'll leave it

02:24:17 Speaker 34: at that. Thank you. Any other

02:24:21 Speaker 34: any other questions? Discussion? Not, Councillor

02:24:24 Speaker 34: Pringle. Yeah, thanks, sir. Everyone. Yeah,

02:24:29 Speaker 34: I'm. We support behind Councillor beside

02:24:33 Speaker 34: me here. Also on that too.

02:24:36 Speaker 34: The the Grey Agri Services does

02:24:41 Speaker 34: such an amazing job with the

02:24:47 Speaker 34: little bit of funding that. they

02:24:50 Speaker 34: get and working within the county,

02:24:52 Speaker 34: I would like to see it

02:24:55 Speaker 34: maybe to be tweaked on how

02:24:58 Speaker 34: you get the grant money and

02:25:00 Speaker 34: how that's all all done down

02:25:04 Speaker 34: the road. But I don't want

02:25:06 Speaker 34: to see the opportunity for it

02:25:08 Speaker 34: to disappear right off the right

02:25:12 Speaker 34: off the budget. I think there

02:25:16 Speaker 34: is value there and maybe needs

02:25:19 Speaker 34: to be tweaked on who we

02:25:20 Speaker 34: who we allow to do what

02:25:21 Speaker 34: things. So as far as the

02:25:24 Speaker 34: environmental or experimental goes. I did

02:25:29 Speaker 34: go through the list of what

02:25:35 Speaker 34: was done, and there's a few

02:25:37 Speaker 34: things I picked out there that

02:25:38 Speaker 34: maybe didn't really qualify, in my

02:25:40 Speaker 34: mind, as to being something that

02:25:44 Speaker 34: is you know actually needed as

02:25:47 Speaker 34: to being an experimental project. But

02:25:50 Speaker 34: I don't want to see it

02:25:53 Speaker 34: disappear. I think there's going to

02:25:55 Speaker 34: be some. There's valid information comes

02:25:58 Speaker 34: from that on small properties, whether

02:26:02 Speaker 34: it be five acres, two acres,

02:26:04 Speaker 34: one acre, to make a decision

02:26:10 Speaker 34: on all. On possible benefits down

02:26:16 Speaker 34: the road, and it's part of

02:26:17 Speaker 34: it. It's part of agriculture. It's

02:26:19 Speaker 34: all part of it. We expand

02:26:23 Speaker 34: and change all the time. So,

02:26:26 Speaker 34: I'm also in support of not

02:26:29 Speaker 34: removing it from the budget. Yep.

02:26:33 Speaker 34: Okay. Thank you. Any other discussion

02:26:35 Speaker 34: or questions? Not seeing any. I'll

02:26:39 Speaker 09: call the question. Councillor Eccles, are

02:26:41 Speaker 09: you voting, or are you asking

02:26:44 Speaker 09: for a question? Go ahead. It's

02:26:46 Speaker 09: not about as much of a

02:26:49 Speaker 09: question as it would be a

02:26:51 Speaker 09: statement. It's not about experimental acres

02:26:54 Speaker 09: and gray agri services. We support

02:26:55 Speaker 09: a we support the gray agri

02:26:59 Speaker 09: services with housing, office space, quite

02:27:02 Speaker 09: a bit in that. I questioned.

02:27:05 Speaker 09: strategically, how far do we go

02:27:08 Speaker 09: into these programmemes? If we're into

02:27:12 Speaker 09: supporting this programme and distributing property

02:27:17 Speaker 09: taxpayers' money, where's the next? Or

02:27:19 Speaker 09: what's the precedent that it's set,

02:27:23 Speaker 09: strategically? is it Viking surveys, an

02:27:24 Speaker 09: industry? Is it cranberry ciderry? Where

02:27:25 Speaker 09: in it is this part of

02:27:29 Speaker 09: what Gray County should be going?

02:27:31 Speaker 09: How far outside of what we're

02:27:33 Speaker 09: here to do is this got?

02:27:35 Speaker 09: Is this God? We've expanded tremendously.

02:27:38 Speaker 09: I was a farmer, and we

02:27:41 Speaker 09: did, you know, I had test

02:27:45 Speaker 09: plots of corn, alfalfa, a lot

02:27:48 Speaker 09: of that. But being an independent

02:27:53 Speaker 09: businessman, how much is dependent? on

02:27:54 Speaker 09: this, and I don't think that

02:28:00 Speaker 09: getting at what we're wanting to

02:28:05 Speaker 09: do—that this is the right way

02:28:07 Speaker 09: to do it. That's why you

02:28:10 Speaker 09: know, second of the motion to

02:28:11 Speaker 09: put it on the floor. We've

02:28:13 Speaker 09: heard a lot of debate about

02:28:16 Speaker 09: Bill Gates, very visionary, in a

02:28:19 Speaker 09: couple of those letters that have

02:28:21 Speaker 09: came to us over the last

02:28:24 Speaker 09: few days, last two weeks. Then

02:28:26 Speaker 09: again, there was another. There's a

02:28:28 Speaker 09: couple of other ones that said

02:28:30 Speaker 09: he doesn't even live here, so

02:28:33 Speaker 09: we shouldn't even listen to him.

02:28:36 Speaker 09: So I'm slightly confused about what

02:28:40 Speaker 09: to believe, and what even is

02:28:43 Speaker 09: in that op-ed that Bill Gates

02:28:46 Speaker 09: gave. But in my mind, it's

02:28:48 Speaker 09: more of where we have as

02:28:50 Speaker 09: a county, and my. friend across

02:28:51 Speaker 14: the row said about

02:28:54 Speaker 14: uploading and downloading, and how much

02:28:56 Speaker 14: of this is that download? Is

02:29:00 Speaker 14: it in our interests and our

02:29:03 Speaker 14: use of taxpayers' dollars, property taxpayers'

02:29:07 Speaker 14: dollars, to get the best out

02:29:11 Speaker 14: of this for us to be

02:29:14 Speaker 14: doing it? I was thinking last

02:29:19 Speaker 14: night, what's the next thing? Canada

02:29:21 Speaker 14: hasn't won a World Series in

02:29:25 Speaker 14: thirty-some odd years. Should we put

02:29:27 Speaker 14: putting Grey County taxpayers' money into

02:29:31 Speaker 14: winning a World Series for us?

02:29:33 Speaker 14: It's kind of a bad example.

02:29:36 Speaker 14: But the thought is, it's over

02:29:38 Speaker 14: where we should be. I think

02:29:42 Speaker 14: we've got to get back to

02:29:44 Speaker 14: doing what we do right and

02:29:47 Speaker 14: do good. and do well. And

02:29:51 Speaker 14: then we can make an impact

02:29:53 Speaker 14: on climate change. And I'm a

02:29:55 Speaker 35: great supporter of that, because I

02:29:56 Speaker 35: think I'm the only person here

02:29:58 Speaker 35: who drove an EV here today.

02:30:01 Speaker 35: I'm committed to climate change. But

02:30:02 Speaker 35: I'm committed to Gray County doing

02:30:07 Speaker 35: what Gray County should be. doing,

02:30:11 Speaker 35: not just what we're mandated, but

02:30:14 Speaker 35: what we should be doing. And

02:30:17 Speaker 35: this, in my mind, is probably

02:30:20 Speaker 35: something that yes, could be left

02:30:23 Speaker 35: to Gray AgriServices to deliver. But

02:30:25 Speaker 35: is it Gray County' responsibility to

02:30:28 Speaker 35: be funding it? And I think

02:30:30 Speaker 35: we've stepped way out of our

02:30:34 Speaker 35: bounds on that. Is that? five?

02:30:36 Speaker 35: Thank you. Thank you, sir. Any

02:30:38 Speaker 35: further comments, Councillor Debrine, and then

02:30:41 Speaker 35: Councillor Body. Thank you, and through

02:30:43 Speaker 35: you, while I, I absolutely agree

02:30:45 Speaker 35: that we need to look at

02:30:47 Speaker 35: every opportunity to reduce our budget

02:30:50 Speaker 35: and to look for ways what's

02:30:52 Speaker 35: necessary and what's not necessary. But

02:30:54 Speaker 35: I'm, I'm reminded that agriculture is

02:30:56 Speaker 35: one of our primary employers. and

02:31:03 Speaker 35: contributors to the GDP, and that

02:31:04 Speaker 35: Gray County, I hear this at

02:31:05 Speaker 35: AMO all the time, is a

02:31:06 Speaker 02: model to be followed, and people

02:31:10 Speaker 02: look to our agricultural community and

02:31:11 Speaker 02: the advancements that they are making

02:31:13 Speaker 02: by doing these small things. Small

02:31:15 Speaker 02: actions can can create tremendous results,

02:31:18 Speaker 02: and so while I'm I'm supporting

02:31:21 Speaker 02: I'm supportive of looking at all

02:31:24 Speaker 02: opportunities to reduce our budget. I

02:31:27 Speaker 02: am supportive of having it as

02:31:29 Speaker 02: a line as long as we

02:31:31 Speaker 02: don't lose sight of it. To

02:31:34 Speaker 02: Councillor Pringle's comment is, maybe we

02:31:35 Speaker 02: needs to be tweaked. Maybe we

02:31:38 Speaker 02: need to scale it back a

02:31:43 Speaker 02: bit. Maybe there's a different vetting

02:31:45 Speaker 02: opportunity, but that comes from staff

02:31:46 Speaker 02: advising us on the benefits, pros,

02:31:48 Speaker 02: the cons, and. so I'm I'm

02:31:49 Speaker 02: looking forward to our deliberations on

02:31:53 Speaker 02: the budget, and I I support

02:31:54 Speaker 02: the budget and finance committee's approach

02:31:58 Speaker 02: and their work in providing us

02:32:00 Speaker 02: suggestions and recommendations. But at the

02:32:02 Speaker 02: the bottom line is is is

02:32:03 Speaker 02: what is good, and what do

02:32:05 Speaker 02: we need? What do we need

02:32:06 Speaker 02: to do now? What do we

02:32:07 Speaker 02: need to do? in the future?

02:32:09 Speaker 02: I'm, I'm on the fence about

02:32:12 Speaker 02: the experimental acres or to the

02:32:15 Speaker 02: level in which we contribute it,

02:32:17 Speaker 02: contribute to it. But I don't

02:32:18 Speaker 02: want to lose sight of it

02:32:19 Speaker 02: because I think it's done some

02:32:22 Speaker 02: remarkable work and some great initiatives

02:32:25 Speaker 02: have come out of that that

02:32:26 Speaker 02: other agricultural farms can then model.

02:32:29 Speaker 02: Thank you, Councillor Body. Thank you.

02:32:32 Speaker 02: Warden. I wonder if somebody can

02:32:34 Speaker 02: answer this question. The opposition to

02:32:36 Speaker 02: this seems to be all around

02:32:39 Speaker 02: climate change, but as I'm looking

02:32:40 Speaker 02: at the gray agricultural services, specifically

02:32:42 Speaker 02: 2025 experimental acres projects, I'm not

02:32:44 Speaker 02: seeing the climate change factor in

02:32:46 Speaker 02: there. Remedial mulch for fruit trees,

02:32:50 Speaker 02: forage trials for strip grazing, pasturized

02:32:52 Speaker 02: poultry for soil fertility, overseeding turanet.

02:32:55 Speaker 02: Overseeding turan to extend fall grazing,

02:33:02 Speaker 02: late summer seeding of hay, creation

02:33:07 Speaker 02: of apple guilds. Good projects. I

02:33:08 Speaker 02: get from Councillor McQueen that these

02:33:11 Speaker 02: are agricultural. I'm I'm missing the

02:33:15 Speaker 02: connection with climate change on those.

02:33:17 Speaker 02: That's that's. I don't understand how

02:33:21 Speaker 02: they tie in. To the climate

02:33:24 Speaker 36: change discussion, it it seems like

02:33:28 Speaker 36: we're talking about two different things

02:33:30 Speaker 36: altogether. Thanks, Mary Lou. Do you

02:33:34 Speaker 36: have a response to that, or

02:33:36 Speaker 08: is Randy will have a go

02:33:39 Speaker 08: at it? Randy, please. Thank you

02:33:42 Speaker 08: for that. And and if I

02:33:42 Speaker 08: might turn to Nile or Linda

02:33:44 Speaker 08: to to help with this as

02:33:51 Speaker 08: well, I think in terms of

02:33:56 Speaker 08: the projects that we've we've we've

02:33:59 Speaker 08: seen in terms of some of

02:34:00 Speaker 08: that seed funding being provided to

02:34:02 Speaker 08: to various projects, it's. it's around

02:34:03 Speaker 08: the whole opportunities to adapt to

02:34:05 Speaker 08: some of our our weather our

02:34:09 Speaker 08: changing climate and and opportunities to

02:34:11 Speaker 08: look for how how we might

02:34:12 Speaker 08: be able to use technologies or

02:34:17 Speaker 08: use different different approaches to be

02:34:20 Speaker 08: able to adapt. So it's it's

02:34:23 Speaker 10: it's may and some of that

02:34:23 Speaker 10: may be also to in terms

02:34:26 Speaker 10: of just further sustainable farming practices

02:34:28 Speaker 10: and experiment. Farming practices and experimenting

02:34:30 Speaker 10: with some of those those pieces.

02:34:35 Speaker 10: So, so I'd say it's it's

02:34:37 Speaker 10: definitely in line with what the

02:34:40 Speaker 10: overall kind of climate change umbrella.

02:34:44 Speaker 10: When you look at it from

02:34:45 Speaker 10: both a mitigation and an adaptation

02:34:48 Speaker 10: perspective, the the projects are are

02:34:50 Speaker 10: definitely in alignment with some of

02:34:51 Speaker 10: the actions that are identified in

02:34:52 Speaker 10: going green and gray with respect

02:34:54 Speaker 10: with respect to the agricultural aspects.

02:34:57 Speaker 10: And I guess if I might,

02:34:59 Speaker 10: if you. indulge the chair for

02:35:01 Speaker 10: a minute, I might tell you

02:35:04 Speaker 10: a little story. Some of you,

02:35:07 Speaker 10: some of you, might have heard

02:35:09 Speaker 10: me say this before, but Gray

02:35:11 Speaker 10: County and Bruce, to an extent

02:35:13 Speaker 10: as well, still maintains a lot

02:35:15 Speaker 10: of the legacy infrastructure on our

02:35:18 Speaker 10: farms. We still have basically 100-acre

02:35:19 Speaker 10: lots. They're split up into 10,

02:35:21 Speaker 10: 25, 30-acre pieces. But it's all

02:35:23 Speaker 10: essentially there. It's been there for

02:35:25 Speaker 10: a lot of years. People are

02:35:27 Speaker 10: moving into our area and buying

02:35:28 Speaker 10: up hundred acre parcels that have

02:35:30 Speaker 10: no background in agriculture. Essentially, they

02:35:32 Speaker 10: don't know what they don't know.

02:35:35 Speaker 10: There are some of us, myself

02:35:37 Speaker 10: included, Councillor Eccles, McQueen. There may

02:35:38 Speaker 10: be others that have farmed all

02:35:39 Speaker 10: our lives. We'd never consider doing

02:35:41 Speaker 10: any of the things that have

02:35:41 Speaker 10: been in experimental acres because, just,

02:35:43 Speaker 10: I just wouldn't because I probably

02:35:46 Speaker 10: don't know. if it would work,

02:35:48 Speaker 10: and I just wouldn't. It's not

02:35:52 Speaker 10: what I do. But there are

02:36:00 Speaker 13: people that are willing to go

02:36:04 Speaker 13: out on a limb and try

02:36:05 Speaker 13: stuff because they don't know what

02:36:16 Speaker 13: they don't know. And if some

02:36:21 Speaker 13: of that experimental stuff works, then

02:36:23 Speaker 19: maybe the rest of us take

02:36:30 Speaker 13: a second look at it and

02:36:32 Speaker 13: say, well, maybe that would work

02:36:36 Speaker 13: on my farm. So it's it's

02:36:38 Speaker 13: not so much about going green,

02:36:42 Speaker 13: although there's an element of that

02:36:43 Speaker 13: in it. It's about what's what

02:36:46 Speaker 13: will help sustain agriculture in Gray

02:36:49 Speaker 10: County, specifically, if not the rest

02:36:52 Speaker 10: of the province? So, just a

02:36:53 Speaker 10: little bit of a, I don't

02:36:54 Speaker 10: know if that's a story or

02:36:56 Speaker 10: not, but anyway, I'll, I'll stop

02:36:58 Speaker 10: there. Anybody else have any other

02:36:59 Speaker 10: thoughts? If not, I'll call the

02:37:01 Speaker 10: vote. An affirmative vote would retain

02:37:03 Speaker 10: it out of the budget. A

02:37:04 Speaker 10: no vote would put it back

02:37:06 Speaker 10: into the draft budget. Okay. All

02:37:08 Speaker 10: the all those in favour, remove

02:37:11 Speaker 10: it. Go ahead. What's your point

02:37:12 Speaker 10: of order? Just if you could

02:37:15 Speaker 10: please explain that further, because the

02:37:17 Speaker 10: motion is an approval of the

02:37:18 Speaker 10: committee minute, the minute recommendation. So

02:37:20 Speaker 10: a yay should be approving the

02:37:23 Speaker 10: minutes forthcoming from committee. Correct. Sorry,

02:37:25 Speaker 10: maybe I stated it reverse. I

02:37:28 Speaker 10: apologize. So, an affirmative vote would

02:37:30 Speaker 10: sustain the recommendation from the committee,

02:37:31 Speaker 10: and no vote would overturn that

02:37:33 Speaker 10: recommendation. Okay, we all understand that.

02:37:34 Speaker 10: Now that the chair's got it

02:37:36 Speaker 10: through his thick skull, I'll call

02:37:37 Speaker 10: the vote. All those in favour?

02:37:39 Speaker 10: Those opposed? That motion fails. Okay.

02:37:41 Speaker 10: Now, thank you, Mary Lou. Now

02:37:43 Speaker 10: on to number four: the staff

02:37:46 Speaker 10: repair report on the implications of

02:37:47 Speaker 10: removing the Go and Green and

02:37:48 Speaker 10: Gray initiative for the consideration of

02:37:51 Speaker 10: the 2027 budget. Councillor Nielsen. Thank

02:37:53 Speaker 10: you very much, Stephanie Warren. I

02:37:56 Speaker 10: do want to move an amendment

02:37:57 Speaker 10: to this one. I understand the

02:37:59 Speaker 10: the premise of trying to get

02:38:01 Speaker 10: my red light, Tom. I understand

02:38:07 Speaker 10: the premise of trying to get

02:38:09 Speaker 10: more information. from staff, and I

02:38:11 Speaker 10: think the way we word

02:38:14 Speaker 36: direction to staff and the way

02:38:16 Speaker 36: we word the motion influences the

02:38:18 Speaker 36: data that we receive back from

02:38:19 Speaker 36: staff. And so, in this situation,

02:38:20 Speaker 36: I think the motion's words wouldn't

02:38:25 Speaker 36: actually get the right data back

02:38:27 Speaker 36: to this body to make an

02:38:30 Speaker 36: informed decision. You are preempting the

02:38:33 Speaker 36: decision, and you are giving direction

02:38:35 Speaker 36: to staff to bring a specific.

02:38:37 Speaker 36: set of data, so I'd like

02:38:39 Speaker 36: to make an amendment to the

02:38:41 Speaker 36: motion to remove the words implications

02:38:44 Speaker 36: of removing the Going Green and

02:38:47 Speaker 36: Gray initiative for the consideration of

02:38:48 Speaker 36: the budget, and insert, bring back

02:38:52 Speaker 36: a report on an updated review

02:38:54 Speaker 36: of the targets established in Going

02:38:57 Speaker 36: Green and Gray for the presented

02:38:59 Speaker 36: to be presented prior to the

02:39:01 Speaker 36: budget, and the difference here is

02:39:04 Speaker 36: what we need to do is

02:39:06 Speaker 36: have an actual discussion on the.

02:39:08 Speaker 36: merits, the successes, the challenges of

02:39:11 Speaker 36: going green and gray. Where do

02:39:15 Speaker 36: we need to pivot and put

02:39:17 Speaker 36: energy into? Where do we need

02:39:20 Speaker 36: to put it? Pivot and maybe

02:39:22 Speaker 36: invest more funds into it, rather

02:39:25 Speaker 36: than asking staff for the report

02:39:27 Speaker 36: that says we're pulling out regardless

02:39:28 Speaker 36: of what the data says. And

02:39:30 Speaker 36: there is a difference in terms

02:39:31 Speaker 36: of what that report will bring

02:39:34 Speaker 36: back. And so that's why they've

02:39:36 Speaker 36: removed that amendment. Thank you, sir.

02:39:38 Speaker 36: Is there a seconder for that?

02:39:40 Speaker 36: Councillor Dubreuil will second that motion

02:39:44 Speaker 36: on the amendment. is there any

02:39:46 Speaker 36: discussion, Councillor Apple? s I'm not

02:39:48 Speaker 36: clear on what that was. There

02:39:51 Speaker 36: was, what is? Can we get

02:39:53 Speaker 36: it up on the screen? Can

02:39:57 Speaker 36: everyone see that on their screen?

02:40:01 Speaker 36: okay, Councillor Apples, you're good with

02:40:04 Speaker 36: that, or are you under? Sorry,

02:40:06 Speaker 36: yes. If the amendment succeeds, then

02:40:08 Speaker 36: we'll we'll also put up the

02:40:10 Speaker 36: the amended motion. But for now,

02:40:13 Speaker 36: it's the amendment that's on the

02:40:15 Speaker 36: screen. Councillor Nielsen, thank you very

02:40:16 Speaker 36: much, Deputy Warden. Just for more

02:40:19 Speaker 36: clarity, for my. friends across the

02:40:21 Speaker 36: aisle. The premise here is, we

02:40:22 Speaker 36: need we need to receive a

02:40:25 Speaker 36: report on how going green and

02:40:29 Speaker 36: gray is working. It was established

02:40:30 Speaker 36: in 2022. My understanding from discussions

02:40:33 Speaker 36: with staff is that there is

02:40:36 Speaker 36: already an intent from staff to

02:40:44 Speaker 36: bring back a review of this

02:40:46 Speaker 36: programme, as we should with all

02:40:48 Speaker 37: big policy and big programmeming that

02:40:53 Speaker 37: the county puts on. The difference

02:40:57 Speaker 37: here is what we're asking staff

02:40:59 Speaker 09: to bring back. The motion that

02:41:00 Speaker 09: came out of the budget and

02:41:06 Speaker 09: finance committee. gives direction from two

02:41:10 Speaker 09: staff to bring back a report

02:41:13 Speaker 09: on removing us from going green,

02:41:17 Speaker 09: green and grey, without actually asking:

02:41:20 Speaker 09: Is it being successful? Are we

02:41:24 Speaker 09: seeing benefits? Is the investment coming

02:41:27 Speaker 09: in with to fruition? Is there

02:41:31 Speaker 09: certain aspects of going green and

02:41:34 Speaker 09: grey that maybe aren't working, but

02:41:36 Speaker 09: certain other ones are, and we

02:41:38 Speaker 09: should pivot our investment into those

02:41:44 Speaker 09: areas? The motion coming out of

02:41:47 Speaker 09: the Budget and Finance Committee is

02:41:49 Speaker 09: strictly remove it from the 2027

02:41:52 Speaker 09: budget, and to me, that is

02:41:55 Speaker 09: not getting the information. this county

02:41:58 Speaker 09: actually needs. So my motion is

02:42:00 Speaker 09: to change that direction and have

02:42:03 Speaker 09: staff bring back a clear direction

02:42:05 Speaker 09: and a clear report on the

02:42:07 Speaker 09: Folsom going green and gray, so

02:42:10 Speaker 09: that council then can make an

02:42:13 Speaker 09: informed decision on whether or not

02:42:14 Speaker 09: there's merits of changing the amount

02:42:17 Speaker 09: of investment we are making into

02:42:20 Speaker 09: this action. Councillor Gregg, I will

02:42:27 Speaker 09: oppose the changing of the wording.

02:42:28 Speaker 09: The the actual wording implication. The

02:42:30 Speaker 09: actual wording implications is appropriate because

02:42:33 Speaker 09: right now we have two positions

02:42:35 Speaker 09: which are grant funded. We are

02:42:38 Speaker 09: undertaking, and this is part of

02:42:40 Speaker 09: the conversation that we had at

02:42:41 Speaker 09: budget meeting. It initially was just

02:42:42 Speaker 09: to reflect the 2026 budget, and

02:42:45 Speaker 09: through discussion, we realized the conversation

02:42:46 Speaker 09: is so broad. There's it's multifaceted

02:42:50 Speaker 09: that we've got national grant funding

02:42:53 Speaker 09: programmemes that we're leveraging for EV

02:42:56 Speaker 09: charging stations. We've got partners that

02:42:58 Speaker 09: we've been working. with and the

02:43:00 Speaker 09: establishment of building standards, so we

02:43:03 Speaker 09: have some of these positions that

02:43:06 Speaker 09: right now are rate funded, not

02:43:11 Speaker 09: levy funded. They have a fixed

02:43:18 Speaker 09: funding date at this time. So

02:43:19 Speaker 09: I think for that reason, an

02:43:22 Speaker 09: updated review of the targets is

02:43:24 Speaker 09: not sufficient when you're actually wanting

02:43:26 Speaker 09: to reflect the intent of the

02:43:29 Speaker 09: the report coming forward. It's not

02:43:31 Speaker 08: automatically to remove it from the

02:43:34 Speaker 08: 2027 budget. it's a report back

02:43:37 Speaker 08: to council on the implications, and

02:43:40 Speaker 08: one of those implications, and it's

02:43:41 Speaker 08: not a target. One of the

02:43:43 Speaker 08: implications could be we've lost that

02:43:45 Speaker 08: revenue, that grant funding stream. So

02:43:47 Speaker 08: the implication now is it's going

02:44:15 Speaker 08: to fall onto the levy because

02:44:17 Speaker 08: someone's going to pay for it.

02:44:19 Speaker 38: And as a council, now you're

02:44:20 Speaker 35: having a whole different discussion about

02:44:22 Speaker 35: the report than you're going to

02:44:25 Speaker 35: have when you're just having an.

02:44:26 Speaker 35: updated review of the targets because

02:44:29 Speaker 35: an updated review of the targets.

02:44:30 Speaker 35: That's almost a subjective, warm and

02:44:33 Speaker 35: cozy feeling about you know, do

02:44:34 Speaker 35: we like how much we've done?

02:44:37 Speaker 35: Could we do more? Yes. Is

02:44:38 Speaker 35: that good enough? Probably, maybe not.

02:44:41 Speaker 35: We don't know. But implications reflects

02:44:43 Speaker 35: better, and there is nothing that

02:44:46 Speaker 35: beholds the council to the removal.

02:44:48 Speaker 35: So to the removal or the

02:44:51 Speaker 35: continuation of it in the budget

02:44:54 Speaker 35: for 2027. At that point,

02:44:56 Speaker 35: you know, I could move for

02:45:00 Speaker 35: a budget that we buy cameras

02:45:02 Speaker 35: and put them over the highways

02:45:04 Speaker 35: so we have real-time camera for

02:45:07 Speaker 35: people for the public to go

02:45:08 Speaker 35: on and look at our roads.

02:45:10 Speaker 35: In you know, you as councillors,

02:45:11 Speaker 35: you can move anything, but a

02:45:19 Speaker 35: review of the targets does isn't

02:45:21 Speaker 35: as fulsome as the initial intent

02:45:22 Speaker 35: of that. reporting back should be,

02:45:25 Speaker 35: Councillor Dubreuil, please. Thank you, and

02:45:29 Speaker 35: through you to the to the

02:45:33 Speaker 35: question and to the original recommendation.

02:45:37 Speaker 09: The way it is worded implies

02:45:41 Speaker 09: that the Budget and Finance Committee

02:45:43 Speaker 09: is recommending we exit green and

02:45:46 Speaker 09: gray. I listened to the meeting,

02:45:49 Speaker 09: and. the wording is to bring

02:45:53 Speaker 09: back a report that specifically addresses

02:45:55 Speaker 09: the implications of exiting, going green

02:46:00 Speaker 09: and grey. It does not necessarily

02:46:03 Speaker 09: include a progress report on the

02:46:04 Speaker 09: successes of going green and grey.

02:46:07 Speaker 09: And my understanding was that staff

02:46:10 Speaker 09: always intended to councillor Nielsen's point.

02:46:13 Speaker 09: Lars Nielsen's point earlier, that staff

02:46:16 Speaker 09: would be bringing a progress report

02:46:18 Speaker 09: on going green and gray. It's

02:46:21 Speaker 09: a policy set by this body,

02:46:23 Speaker 02: and that progress report would allow

02:46:25 Speaker 02: us to have the information to

02:46:27 Speaker 02: determine whether or not we proceed,

02:46:29 Speaker 02: whether or not we stay with

02:46:32 Speaker 02: the status quo, or maybe we

02:46:33 Speaker 02: scale it back. But to bring

02:46:40 Speaker 02: a report. that only provides the

02:46:43 Speaker 02: implications of exiting, going green and

02:46:45 Speaker 02: gray doesn't give us a full

02:46:47 Speaker 26: picture or all of the information.

02:46:51 Speaker 26: So I understand the motion that

02:46:52 Speaker 26: Councillor Nielsen is putting forward is

02:46:54 Speaker 26: to review the targets established, but

02:46:56 Speaker 26: I don't think it goes far

02:46:57 Speaker 26: enough. Even then, I I. I'm

02:46:59 Speaker 26: not I'm not sure that I

02:47:02 Speaker 26: have a question or an. amendment

02:47:03 Speaker 26: at this time. I just think

02:47:05 Speaker 26: that that allowing the progress report

02:47:06 Speaker 26: to proceed as it was originally

02:47:07 Speaker 26: intended, so that we have the

02:47:09 Speaker 26: information, and at that point in

02:47:10 Speaker 26: time we can decide whether or

02:47:12 Speaker 26: not this is a programme that

02:47:14 Speaker 26: we want to continue. I guess

02:47:16 Speaker 26: my actually I do have a

02:47:18 Speaker 26: question through Deputy Warden. Does the

02:47:20 Speaker 26: Budget and Finance Committee, in its

02:47:23 Speaker 26: terms of reference, allow for them

02:47:25 Speaker 26: to or is it within their

02:47:26 Speaker 26: purview to make recommendations to exit

02:47:29 Speaker 26: a policy that was set by

02:47:32 Speaker 26: this by this body, regardless of

02:47:35 Speaker 26: whether it's a financial, the financial

02:47:36 Speaker 26: piece, the budget piece. I guess

02:47:38 Speaker 26: I would say, as chair of

02:47:40 Speaker 26: that particular committee, lucky me. I

02:47:41 Speaker 26: would say that the the committee

02:47:43 Speaker 26: has not. actually put forward the

02:47:46 Speaker 26: motion to exit the programme. The

02:47:48 Speaker 26: motion, as Councillor Greg rightly pointed

02:47:49 Speaker 26: out, the motion that was supported

02:47:52 Speaker 26: was to request a report on

02:47:54 Speaker 26: the implications of leaving the programme.

02:47:56 Speaker 26: And in that respect, I think

02:47:58 Speaker 26: the committee is within their purview.

02:47:59 Speaker 26: Although I'll defer to the clerk

02:48:02 Speaker 26: or the CEO on that particular

02:48:03 Speaker 26: matter. Thank you, Tara, and and

02:48:06 Speaker 26: and through you, Deputy Warden. Uh,

02:48:07 Speaker 26: so just looking at the terms

02:48:11 Speaker 26: of reference, just uh outline the

02:48:12 Speaker 26: scope of responsibility for the budget

02:48:14 Speaker 26: and finance. Committee shall include providing

02:48:16 Speaker 26: input in the creation of the

02:48:19 Speaker 26: county's first multi-year operating budget, that

02:48:20 Speaker 26: was of course in context of

02:48:22 Speaker 26: last year, reviewing the draft operating

02:48:24 Speaker 26: capital budget documents prior to preparation

02:48:25 Speaker 26: of the budget package for council,

02:48:27 Speaker 26: reviewing operating capital budget reports on

02:48:28 Speaker 26: a quarterly basis, recommending the annual

02:48:30 Speaker 26: schedule for capital and operating budget

02:48:33 Speaker 26: preparation and presentation for council approval,

02:48:34 Speaker 26: reviewing financial and fiscal policies, practices,

02:48:38 Speaker 26: and procedures as required. review reports

02:48:39 Speaker 26: with significant financial focus, such as

02:48:41 Speaker 26: development charges revenue, development charges background

02:48:43 Speaker 26: study, investment revenue, reserve fund studies,

02:48:47 Speaker 26: and review the strategic asset management

02:48:50 Speaker 26: plan and policies, and make recommendations

02:48:52 Speaker 26: to council. So that's the list

02:48:54 Speaker 26: of the scope of responsibility with

02:48:56 Speaker 26: respect to the budget finance committee.

02:48:58 Speaker 26: It's part of the terms of

02:49:00 Speaker 17: reference. So I would suggest. that

02:49:03 Speaker 17: yes, they're within their purview to

02:49:05 Speaker 17: put forward the motion that is

02:49:10 Speaker 17: on the floor, or the original

02:49:11 Speaker 17: motion, Councillor Debrine. So I suppose

02:49:14 Speaker 17: that my my question is more

02:49:16 Speaker 17: to: Is this original motion tainting

02:49:18 Speaker 17: the report to only include the

02:49:19 Speaker 17: implications of exiting going green and

02:49:20 Speaker 17: gray, as opposed to a progress

02:49:22 Speaker 17: report on the benefits? the progress

02:49:24 Speaker 17: to date, and recommendations at that

02:49:25 Speaker 17: point in time of whether or

02:49:27 Speaker 17: not to continue with our trajectory

02:49:28 Speaker 17: or scale back or remove. My

02:49:34 Speaker 17: concern is that this is too

02:49:36 Speaker 17: limiting a focus for staff, in

02:49:39 Speaker 17: that the this body will not

02:49:40 Speaker 17: get a fulsome picture of going

02:49:42 Speaker 35: green and gray and its progress.

02:49:44 Speaker 35: I guess in response, I would

02:49:46 Speaker 35: say that budget ultimately is always

02:49:49 Speaker 35: a decision of council, and the

02:49:53 Speaker 35: budget and committee, or budget and

02:49:54 Speaker 35: finance committee, is simply an advisory

02:49:56 Speaker 35: committee to make recommendations, and that's

02:49:58 Speaker 35: what they've done. Okay, Councillor Mackey

02:50:00 Speaker 35: is next, and then I have

02:50:03 Speaker 35: Councillor McQueen, and then Councillor Carlton.

02:50:04 Speaker 35: Thank you, Deputy Warden. Yeah, I'm

02:50:06 Speaker 35: I'm torn on the on the.

02:50:08 Speaker 35: wording too because there is the

02:50:10 Speaker 35: implication of actually removing a cost-benefit

02:50:13 Speaker 35: analysis on any programme that we

02:50:14 Speaker 35: have. I think is important. I'm

02:50:17 Speaker 35: not sure right now what benefits

02:50:19 Speaker 35: we are getting. I know what

02:50:22 Speaker 35: the costs are. I know there's

02:50:24 Speaker 35: an affordability crisis out there. We're

02:50:28 Speaker 35: all dealing with our lower-tier budgets,

02:50:30 Speaker 35: and we're putting off work because

02:50:31 Speaker 35: we can't afford to do it.

02:50:34 Speaker 35: So roads aren't getting done because

02:50:37 Speaker 35: we got we got to keep

02:50:40 Speaker 35: a tax rate you know below

02:50:43 Speaker 35: a certain percent because people can't

02:50:46 Speaker 35: afford a huge one. We know

02:50:48 Speaker 35: we're at six point nine percent

02:50:50 Speaker 35: right now, and budget and finance

02:50:51 Speaker 35: was tasked with looking at ways

02:50:54 Speaker 35: to reduce that. I pay a

02:50:56 Speaker 35: lot of income tax to the

02:50:58 Speaker 35: government. I pay a lot to

02:50:59 Speaker 35: the Ontario government. All who have

02:51:03 Speaker 35: climate change initiatives, property taxes continue

02:51:05 Speaker 35: to go up. You know, probably

02:51:08 Speaker 35: at a rate higher than any

02:51:09 Speaker 35: of us would like. And I

02:51:12 Speaker 35: hear from a number of seniors,

02:51:13 Speaker 35: and not not just seniors, but

02:51:14 Speaker 35: people in general. that can't afford

02:51:16 Speaker 35: these significant tax increases. So it's

02:51:18 Speaker 35: difficult to try and reduce any

02:51:20 Speaker 35: programme because there's merits to all

02:51:22 Speaker 35: the programmemes that we have throughout

02:51:24 Speaker 35: the county. But as Councillor Aclo

02:51:26 Speaker 35: said, there is our lane to

02:51:30 Speaker 35: stay within. And you know what

02:51:32 Speaker 35: are we supposed to be doing?

02:51:34 Speaker 35: We have social services, we have

02:51:35 Speaker 35: ambulance, we have bridges, we have

02:51:36 Speaker 35: roads, we have lots of mandatory

02:51:37 Speaker 35: long-term care. We have lots of

02:51:39 Speaker 35: mandatory services that continue to require.

02:51:42 Speaker 35: more and more funds. We hear

02:51:43 Speaker 35: about the downloading from the problems.

02:51:48 Speaker 35: Yes, that's happening all the time.

02:51:51 Speaker 35: We can't control that. Going green

02:51:55 Speaker 35: and gray is one thing that

02:51:56 Speaker 35: we have some control over. So

02:51:57 Speaker 35: knowing if that programme is working

02:51:58 Speaker 35: when we are spending a lot

02:52:00 Speaker 35: of money, and I do know

02:52:02 Speaker 17: that we will be spending more

02:52:03 Speaker 17: and more as we get deeper

02:52:05 Speaker 17: into that programme. So that's why

02:52:07 Speaker 17: I think a thorough review of

02:52:09 Speaker 17: going green and gray is necessary.

02:52:11 Speaker 17: You know, to look. after the

02:52:12 Speaker 17: best interest of our tax code.

02:52:13 Speaker 17: There's one person paying the tab,

02:52:14 Speaker 17: and someone can't afford it. Thank

02:52:16 Speaker 17: you. Thank you, sir. Councillor McQueen

02:52:17 Speaker 17: is next. I don't disagree with

02:52:19 Speaker 17: Councillor Mackey in the sense of

02:52:21 Speaker 17: taxes and keeping them down, and

02:52:23 Speaker 17: I I just wonder. This is

02:52:25 Speaker 17: a question to the amended motion

02:52:28 Speaker 17: that should it say also the

02:52:29 Speaker 17: targets establishment, growing, going green and

02:52:31 Speaker 17: gray, and also a financial model

02:52:34 Speaker 17: presented. Model be presented, or the

02:52:36 Speaker 17: financial, the financials of it, or

02:52:37 Speaker 17: or the or the funding. However,

02:52:41 Speaker 17: going to my colleague, Councillor Greg,

02:52:42 Speaker 17: and you mentioned about the funding

02:52:44 Speaker 17: and some of that. I think

02:52:45 Speaker 17: it would be good for us

02:52:47 Speaker 17: to have that information in that

02:52:48 Speaker 17: report, or maybe it's maybe it

02:52:49 Speaker 17: would come back in that report.

02:52:52 Speaker 17: It doesn't need to be in

02:52:54 Speaker 17: the motion. I'm asking for clarity

02:52:58 Speaker 17: on that part. Thank you, and

02:53:00 Speaker 17: through you, Deputy Warden. with respect

02:53:02 Speaker 17: to and so since since obviously,

7.f Budget and Finance Committee minutes dated October 29, 2025

Council members debated amending the climate action plan review scope, insisting on comprehensive data regarding financial implications of removing green initiatives versus their maintenance benefits before voting. The committee emphasized that staff must provide detailed reports comparing targets met against missed goals rather than merely reviewing established objectives. Council subsequently approved easements for Bright Shores to maintain a hospital sign and light poles adjacent to Grey Gables following stormwater upgrades on four acres previously transferred in July 2020.

02:53:04 Speaker 39: Budget and Finance Committee staff have

02:53:06 Speaker 39: had a chance to take a

02:53:09 Speaker 39: look at some of the previous

02:53:12 Speaker 39: motions passed by Council with respect

02:53:14 Speaker 39: to when the first going green

02:53:15 Speaker 39: and grey plan was was first

02:53:17 Speaker 39: established, and I'll just read the

02:53:20 Speaker 39: one motion that that was passed

02:53:22 Speaker 39: in 2022 that the climate change

02:53:24 Speaker 39: action plan and a net zero

02:53:26 Speaker 39: greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050

02:53:28 Speaker 39: be endorsed to help guide corporate

02:53:31 Speaker 39: strategic plans. and priorities, and that

02:53:35 Speaker 39: staff also be directed to explore

02:53:37 Speaker 39: more aggressive corporate target dates and

02:53:38 Speaker 39: bring updated target reviews each term

02:53:41 Speaker 39: of council. So, in order to

02:53:42 Speaker 39: inform each term of council, as

02:53:45 Speaker 39: part of some of the work

02:53:47 Speaker 39: plan considerations for 2026, based on

02:53:49 Speaker 39: based on staff discussions, we would

02:53:52 Speaker 39: be bringing forward a review of

02:53:55 Speaker 39: of the of the overall programme.

02:54:01 Speaker 02: As part of that overall programme,

02:54:04 Speaker 02: we'd be looking at the financial

02:54:06 Speaker 02: Programme would be looking at the

02:54:11 Speaker 34: financial aspects with respect to the

02:54:14 Speaker 34: overall programme, where there's there's where

02:54:18 Speaker 34: we've seen some some great success,

02:54:21 Speaker 34: where there's opportunity to maybe tweak

02:54:23 Speaker 34: some some some items, where there's

02:54:24 Speaker 34: maybe some further emphasis that should

02:54:30 Speaker 34: be provided in certain areas, based

02:54:31 Speaker 34: on where we have seen some

02:54:38 Speaker 34: more success than maybe other areas.

02:54:40 Speaker 34: So that would be part of

02:54:42 Speaker 34: that work plan, anyways, as part

02:54:48 Speaker 34: of the progress report based on

02:54:49 Speaker 34: that previous motion. and so so

02:54:51 Speaker 34: with that, I think in terms

02:54:54 Speaker 34: of the reviewing the overall target

02:54:57 Speaker 34: reviews is looking at the overall

02:55:00 Speaker 34: progress of of that prior to

02:55:03 Speaker 34: the next term of council. In

02:55:05 Speaker 34: order to do that, the work

02:55:06 Speaker 34: has to be done in 2026

02:55:09 Speaker 34: in order to inform what that

02:55:11 Speaker 34: may look like from a financial

02:55:15 Speaker 34: perspective and what's included as part

02:55:17 Speaker 34: of the work plans going forward

02:55:18 Speaker 34: in 2027 and 2028 to help

02:55:21 Speaker 34: inform those proposed budgets. So so

02:55:22 Speaker 34: that's where again, upon further reflection,

02:55:24 Speaker 34: staff looked at some of those

02:55:27 Speaker 34: pieces. We've looked at then. This

02:55:30 Speaker 34: is something that we would already

02:55:35 Speaker 34: have to do as part of

02:55:39 Speaker 34: the work plan. It's part of

02:55:41 Speaker 34: the previous direction from council, and

02:55:45 Speaker 34: and so that's something that I

02:55:48 Speaker 34: think would be part of that

02:55:52 Speaker 34: review coming forward, unless again, otherwise,

02:55:55 Speaker 34: as further directed by County Council.

02:56:00 Speaker 34: You, Mister Deputy Warden, thank you

02:56:02 Speaker 34: for that clarity because then we

02:56:07 Speaker 34: don't have to add more words.

02:56:10 Speaker 34: I just need that. More words

02:56:14 Speaker 34: that just need that clear. Just

02:56:16 Speaker 34: one other comment I do want

02:56:21 Speaker 34: to make was when I became

02:56:25 Speaker 34: warden in December of 2019. One

02:56:26 Speaker 34: of the first things I brought

02:56:30 Speaker 34: forward was the suggestion of creating

02:56:33 Speaker 34: a climate change committee in this

02:56:35 Speaker 34: body, and it was it was

02:56:37 Speaker 34: endorsed. And we started. That's where

02:56:41 Speaker 34: we sort of started. I know

02:56:43 Speaker 34: some of those that were maybe

02:56:44 Speaker 34: back that time, and that was

02:56:48 Speaker 34: sort of the start of us

02:56:50 Speaker 34: looking at climate change as a

02:56:51 Speaker 34: as a county council and and

02:56:53 Speaker 34: all that stuff, and sort of

02:56:55 Speaker 34: transferred to maybe where you're talking

02:56:57 Speaker 34: about. Mr. Ciel and that sort

02:57:02 Speaker 34: of thing, but I mean this

02:57:04 Speaker 34: body has sort of has has

02:57:07 Speaker 34: endorsed the the concept of looking

02:57:13 Speaker 34: at it right back to that

02:57:15 Speaker 34: days of of those committees and

02:57:17 Speaker 34: that committee went through 2020, and

02:57:22 Speaker 34: you know what happened in 2020,

02:57:25 Speaker 34: but it still stayed the course.

02:57:29 Speaker 34: I mean, COVID hit and we

02:57:31 Speaker 34: had to beer off and stuff

02:57:34 Speaker 34: like that, but we certainly started.

02:57:37 Speaker 34: That's where it started with the

02:57:40 Speaker 34: committee and recommendations that came forward.

02:57:42 Speaker 34: So thank you, Mr. Deputy. Work,

02:57:43 Speaker 34: Councillor Carlton. Thank you, Deputy Warden,

02:57:45 Speaker 34: and I think our CAO answered

02:57:47 Speaker 34: part of my concern is that

02:57:59 Speaker 34: we're putting a motion on the

02:58:01 Speaker 34: floor that was already dealt with

02:58:02 Speaker 34: through the original plan to do

02:58:03 Speaker 34: those progress updates as we went

02:58:06 Speaker 36: forward, and I think we're circumventing

02:58:10 Speaker 36: that report and trying to focus

02:58:11 Speaker 36: it in a direction maybe it

02:58:13 Speaker 36: wasn't intended to go. My second

02:58:17 Speaker 36: comment would relate to comments about

02:58:18 Speaker 36: what our role is here. at

02:58:19 Speaker 02: the county, and I think it's

02:58:21 Speaker 02: a two-part. We have a role

02:58:23 Speaker 02: to manage things for the better

02:58:24 Speaker 02: of our residents now with what's

02:58:29 Speaker 02: needed now, but we also have

02:58:32 Speaker 02: a role to play in planning

02:58:34 Speaker 02: for their future and ensuring that

02:58:36 Speaker 02: the future is going to be

02:58:37 Speaker 02: one that's affordable. And I think

02:58:39 Speaker 02: being aware of climate change and

02:58:40 Speaker 02: what needs to happen there is

02:58:42 Speaker 21: important. I'll end with that. Thank

02:58:44 Speaker 21: you, Councillor Carleton. Any other discussion,

02:58:46 Speaker 21: Councillor Eccles, and then Councillor Debrine.

02:58:48 Speaker 21: Thank you, Mr. Warden. Today, I

02:58:51 Speaker 21: guess I'm reading this a lot

02:58:52 Speaker 21: different. The implications of removing and

02:58:54 Speaker 21: getting dealing just with the amendment.

02:58:56 Speaker 21: The implications of removing when I

02:58:58 Speaker 21: voted for this and whatnot. was

02:59:00 Speaker 21: pretty much what Randy had said

02:59:01 Speaker 21: there a few minutes ago, Mr.

02:59:04 Speaker 21: CEO. It's not about yes, what

02:59:08 Speaker 21: implications or what's going to happen

02:59:10 Speaker 21: if this was removed. Out, I

02:59:12 Speaker 21: could go with fine. Let's change

02:59:13 Speaker 21: the word and say the implications

02:59:15 Speaker 21: of maintaining going in green. It's

02:59:16 Speaker 21: one of the other. You're going.

02:59:18 Speaker 21: One or the other. You're going

02:59:19 Speaker 21: to have to. I would expect,

02:59:21 Speaker 21: and I had expected staff to

02:59:22 Speaker 21: do the implications of removing. We're

02:59:26 Speaker 21: going to lose, you know, some

02:59:27 Speaker 21: of the targets, whatever the target

02:59:29 Speaker 21: was. If we remove it, we

02:59:31 Speaker 21: may not, you know, we're not

02:59:33 Speaker 21: going to have it. And to

02:59:34 Speaker 21: get to that point, I think

02:59:36 Speaker 21: we got. It's the understanding, and

02:59:37 Speaker 21: my understanding of it was to

02:59:38 Speaker 21: give us a report. If we

02:59:40 Speaker 21: remove it, yeah, this is going

02:59:41 Speaker 21: to happen. It's going to have

02:59:42 Speaker 21: this implication on the budget. It's

02:59:44 Speaker 21: going to have implications of where

02:59:46 Speaker 21: we, you know, got to going

02:59:48 Speaker 21: green and gray. But it's not

02:59:56 Speaker 21: about just the report. Would be

02:59:57 Speaker 21: very limited if it was just

02:59:59 Speaker 21: about the financial or the impact

03:00:03 Speaker 40: of removing. The impact of remove—it's

03:00:04 Speaker 40: got to be what we would

03:00:06 Speaker 40: lose as well. So the idea

03:00:07 Speaker 40: of this amendment, the amendments—I think—changing

03:00:10 Speaker 40: it altogether. It's just focusing in

03:00:11 Speaker 40: on review of the targets. I

03:00:12 Speaker 40: want a full review, a full

03:00:14 Speaker 40: of what this means with this

03:00:15 Speaker 40: programme. If we remove it. yeah,

03:00:18 Speaker 40: we're going to gain this, this,

03:00:20 Speaker 40: and this. Possibly, financially, whatever. But

03:00:23 Speaker 40: if we remove it, we're going

03:00:24 Speaker 40: to lose this, this, and this.

03:00:25 Speaker 40: Would be in the report. So

03:00:27 Speaker 40: the thought that this motion is

03:00:30 Speaker 40: saying, oh, we're only going to

03:00:32 Speaker 40: find out what, you know, the

03:00:34 Speaker 40: bad part. No, the report. I

03:00:35 Speaker 40: would hope that staff will bring

03:00:38 Speaker 40: it to. us with all of

03:00:43 Speaker 40: the data. If it makes you

03:00:44 Speaker 40: feel better, I'm not going to

03:00:45 Speaker 40: vote for the amendment. I'm going

03:00:49 Speaker 40: to oppose it because I think

03:00:50 Speaker 40: it changes. It's not an amendment;

03:00:54 Speaker 40: it just changes the whole motion.

03:00:55 Speaker 40: I would put forward a amendment.

03:00:59 Speaker 13: If whatever happens with this one,

03:01:03 Speaker 13: I would put forward fine. The

03:01:06 Speaker 13: implications of maintaining. Because it may

03:01:09 Speaker 09: come out that maintaining going in

03:01:11 Speaker 09: green is going to do us

03:01:13 Speaker 09: wonderful things, and projected that we'll

03:01:19 Speaker 09: be saving the county millions of

03:01:22 Speaker 09: dollars. But one way or the

03:01:22 Speaker 09: other, it's just a word. the

03:01:27 Speaker 09: The report should be wholesome, full,

03:01:28 Speaker 09: and be going on both sides.

03:01:30 Speaker 09: And what Randy had said. and

03:01:33 Speaker 09: that was said in the committee

03:01:36 Speaker 09: that yes, there would be a

03:01:38 Speaker 09: report. I think this is just

03:01:40 Speaker 09: making sure that that doesn't get

03:01:42 Speaker 10: lost. Councillor Dubreuil. Point of order

03:01:43 Speaker 10: is that the member has already

03:01:44 Speaker 10: spoken to the amended motion on

03:01:46 Speaker 10: the floor once, as per our

03:01:48 Speaker 10: procedural bylaw. Unless there's indulgence, that

03:01:50 Speaker 10: council speak more so. Okay. I'll

03:01:51 Speaker 10: hold off on Councillor Debrine until

03:01:53 Speaker 10: anyone else else that hasn't spoken

03:01:54 Speaker 10: wishes to. To the amendment, Councillor

03:01:56 Speaker 10: Nielsen, I can't remember. Have you

03:01:57 Speaker 10: spoken to the amendment other than

03:01:59 Speaker 10: making the motion? I know you

03:02:01 Speaker 10: made the motion, so I'll I'll

03:02:04 Speaker 10: go past him as well. Councillor

03:02:05 Speaker 10: Borden, y'all, please. Thank you, Deputy

03:02:09 Speaker 10: Warden. Through you, I I think

03:02:10 Speaker 10: to count the Councillor Eccles' comments,

03:02:11 Speaker 10: it is a matter of wording.

03:02:12 Speaker 10: The amendment to me does not

03:02:14 Speaker 10: go far enough. because a review

03:02:15 Speaker 10: of targets is it going to

03:02:18 Speaker 10: be targets established and goals met?

03:02:21 Speaker 10: So if we're looking for a

03:02:22 Speaker 10: fulsome report, I think the initial

03:02:27 Speaker 10: motion we wouldn't have had this

03:02:28 Speaker 10: conversation. We said the implications removing

03:02:32 Speaker 10: or maintain me. It's it's a

03:02:35 Speaker 10: simple it's a simple word process

03:02:36 Speaker 10: that I think everybody wants a

03:02:39 Speaker 08: fulsome report. It's just a matter

03:02:42 Speaker 08: of I can't support the amendment

03:02:49 Speaker 08: only because it just says a

03:02:53 Speaker 08: review of targets that does nothing

03:02:56 Speaker 08: to to dictate a fulsome report.

03:02:57 Speaker 08: So. Some report, so I think

03:03:00 Speaker 08: it's just a matter of if

03:03:02 Speaker 09: it was removing or or maintaining,

03:03:07 Speaker 09: then we get a full report.

03:03:11 Speaker 09: What are our targets? What have

03:03:12 Speaker 09: we met? How this will affect

03:03:17 Speaker 09: us as we go forward? That

03:03:23 Speaker 41: that's the kind of report I

03:03:25 Speaker 41: I'd like to see. the the

03:03:27 Speaker 41: The amendment to it to me

03:03:29 Speaker 41: does not go far enough in

03:03:32 Speaker 41: to the original recommendation of the

03:03:34 Speaker 41: of the of the group. And

03:03:42 Speaker 02: just as a last point, is

03:04:03 Speaker 02: I I'm happy that the group

03:04:10 Speaker 02: meets and and the committee and

03:04:16 Speaker 42: makes recommendations because. there's still 18

03:04:20 Speaker 09: people to make the decision on

03:04:44 Speaker 09: that. It's just a at a

03:04:47 Speaker 09: local level when you have a

03:04:50 Speaker 09: committee of council, they bring it

03:04:52 Speaker 02: to all of council, which we're

03:04:54 Speaker 02: doing today. So I have no

03:04:56 Speaker 02: problem with any committee making recommendations

03:04:59 Speaker 02: to this council. That's just my

03:05:02 Speaker 02: comments, Mr. Warden. Thank you, sir.

03:05:06 Speaker 02: Anyone else, Councillor Deckard? Please. Thank

03:05:07 Speaker 02: you, Deputy Warden. As I reflect

03:05:12 Speaker 02: back on on that meeting, you

03:05:15 Speaker 02: know the discussion that we had.

03:05:16 Speaker 02: varied from just saying no, we

03:05:22 Speaker 02: want to. Our proposal would be

03:05:28 Speaker 02: to cut it to actually coming

03:05:34 Speaker 02: back to to staff and saying

03:05:37 Speaker 02: we need to know the implications

03:05:40 Speaker 02: of cutting it. And I think

03:05:53 Speaker 02: that's really what our desire was

03:06:18 Speaker 02: here. It is so we were

03:06:20 Speaker 02: making an educated decision down the

03:06:21 Speaker 01: road, and and therefore you know

03:06:22 Speaker 08: the motion as it was presented

03:06:24 Speaker 08: in from the meeting minutes, I

03:06:26 Speaker 08: think is is really gets us

03:06:28 Speaker 08: to where we want it to

03:06:30 Speaker 08: be. If we all recognized around

03:06:33 Speaker 08: that table, we need to know

03:06:37 Speaker 08: more about what this action would

03:06:39 Speaker 08: do. So I, I can't support

03:06:42 Speaker 09: the amendment. I would support the

03:06:44 Speaker 09: original motion. Okay, thank you, sir,

03:06:51 Speaker 09: Councillor Hutchison. Well, thank you, Deputy

03:06:53 Speaker 09: Warden. This time, I'd like to

03:06:55 Speaker 09: call the vote, please. Is there

03:06:56 Speaker 02: is there anyone else that has

03:06:58 Speaker 02: not spoken to the motion yet,

03:07:00 Speaker 02: the amendment? I'm going to go

03:07:02 Speaker 02: back to Councillor Debrine if no

03:07:09 Speaker 02: one else. Councillor Debrine. my question

03:07:11 Speaker 02: through you, Deputy Warden, was more

03:07:13 Speaker 02: of on procedure. I am uncom.

03:07:14 Speaker 02: I'm not totally sold on the

03:07:22 Speaker 02: amendment, and I wanted to understand

03:07:30 Speaker 02: from the clerk procedure of an

03:08:04 Speaker 02: amendment. But I will just allow

03:08:06 Speaker 02: the the question to be called,

03:08:12 Speaker 02: and I can propose an amendment.

03:08:15 Speaker 02: Okay, Councillor Nielsen, I give you

03:08:17 Speaker 02: the last word. You. Neilson, I

03:08:18 Speaker 02: give you the last word. You

03:08:20 Speaker 02: were the motion. You made the

03:08:23 Speaker 02: motion for the amendment. I actually

03:08:26 Speaker 02: really appreciate that, Chair. The wording

03:08:27 Speaker 02: of the motion. I understand and

03:08:29 Speaker 02: respect the conversation we're having, which

03:08:30 Speaker 02: is exact, which is fantastic, actually.

03:08:32 Speaker 02: The motion was working with staff

03:08:33 Speaker 02: to try to find a motion

03:09:46 Speaker 02: that would amendment that would work

03:09:48 Speaker 02: to get to the place where

03:09:49 Speaker 43: we were before this motion. The

03:09:51 Speaker 07: motion from the budget and finance

03:09:53 Speaker 07: committee came. That staff have already

03:09:54 Speaker 07: have the direction to bring forward

03:09:57 Speaker 07: a report. That's the goal of

03:09:58 Speaker 07: the. motion. That was the goal.

03:10:01 Speaker 07: The wording was working with staff

03:10:03 Speaker 07: to bring that forward. So, if

03:10:05 Speaker 07: if council's position is they want

03:10:08 Speaker 07: to move a motion to have

03:10:10 Speaker 07: implications of one or the other,

03:10:11 Speaker 07: or if the council wants to

03:10:14 Speaker 07: have the report that staff are

03:10:16 Speaker 07: already working on, is kind of

03:10:21 Speaker 07: where we're standing here. My motion

03:10:25 Speaker 07: is trying to direct staff to

03:10:27 Speaker 07: keep carrying carrying on with the

03:10:29 Speaker 07: direction they've already received, rather than

03:10:31 Speaker 09: having a different report come forward

03:10:33 Speaker 09: that has different implications. Okay, I'm

03:10:36 Speaker 09: going to call the question on

03:10:38 Speaker 09: the amendment. All those in favour?

03:10:39 Speaker 09: Opposed? That motion fails. So now

03:10:42 Speaker 09: we're back to the amended, or

03:10:50 Speaker 09: back to the original motion, as

03:10:52 Speaker 09: unamended. Councillor Debrine, please. I'd like

03:10:53 Speaker 09: to propose an amendment that just

03:10:54 Speaker 09: disappeared. Sorry. That says that in

03:10:57 Speaker 08: keeping. with the goal, is that

03:10:59 Speaker 08: staff bring a progress report on

03:11:00 Speaker 08: the targets established and the cost

03:11:01 Speaker 08: analysis of going green and grey

03:11:02 Speaker 08: to be presented prior to or

03:11:04 Speaker 08: in consideration of the 2027 budget?

03:11:06 Speaker 08: Okay, thank you. Is there a

03:11:07 Speaker 08: seconder for that motion, Councillor Mackay?

03:11:13 Speaker 08: It's so close. It's close. Well,

03:11:14 Speaker 08: we're getting on here. I need,

03:11:18 Speaker 08: I need lunch. Anyway, okay. It's

03:13:19 Speaker 08: been moved and seconded. Discussion on

03:19:30 Speaker 08: the amendment. We'll wait until. Can

03:42:18 Speaker 08: we get it up on the

03:48:28 Speaker 08: screen? Maybe restate your your amendment,

03:53:46 Speaker 08: please, Councillor Debrine. Let staff prepare

03:56:23 Speaker 08: a report on the targets. So,

03:56:26 Speaker 08: remove the implications of removing, and

03:56:27 Speaker 08: replace it with the targets. and

03:56:31 Speaker 08: cost analysis. So, in consultation with

03:56:35 Speaker 01: the clerk, she is suggesting that

03:56:37 Speaker 01: we. have already voted down the

03:56:46 Speaker 01: notion of a report on the

03:56:48 Speaker 01: targets, but if you would revise

03:56:50 Speaker 01: your motion, your amendment to just

03:56:58 Speaker 01: include the financial implications, then that

03:57:00 Speaker 08: would be sufficient. That was my

03:57:03 Speaker 08: goal. Thank you. All right, we'll

03:57:05 Speaker 08: get this onto the screen here.

03:57:08 Speaker 08: Ah, yeah, no kidding, no kidding.

03:57:12 Speaker 08: I'm going to be talking to

03:57:16 Speaker 08: the warden after this. I can

03:57:19 Speaker 08: tell you that her timing is.

03:57:22 Speaker 08: I'm having fun. I don't know

03:57:24 Speaker 08: about the rest of you. We'll

03:57:26 Speaker 08: get there. We'll get there. Good

03:57:29 Speaker 08: discussion. I haven't got any other

03:57:32 Speaker 08: stories right now. Uh huh. Uh

03:57:33 Speaker 08: huh. Okay, I'll read the motion

03:57:35 Speaker 08: back. It's, I believe it's on

03:57:37 Speaker 08: the screen. Yes, it is. That

03:57:42 Speaker 08: the motion be amended to insert

03:57:44 Speaker 08: a clause requesting staff to bring

03:57:47 Speaker 08: forward a report on the financials

03:57:50 Speaker 08: of going green and gray prior

03:57:52 Speaker 08: to the consideration of the 2027

03:57:55 Speaker 08: budget. Does that meet your description?

03:57:56 Speaker 08: Go ahead. Point of clarification, then,

03:57:58 Speaker 08: where is that being inserted? Because

03:58:00 Speaker 08: it's important to understand that. it's

03:58:06 Speaker 08: a progress report on the targets

03:58:10 Speaker 08: as well. So, well, it's not

03:58:11 Speaker 08: the the the piece about the

03:58:16 Speaker 08: targets is not being inserted because

03:58:20 Speaker 08: that was not part of the

03:58:23 Speaker 08: original motion, and the piece about

03:58:26 Speaker 08: the targets was already voted on

03:58:29 Speaker 08: and lost, so we can't include

03:58:32 Speaker 08: that. And it's covered in the

03:58:33 Speaker 08: twenty two twenty twenty. two motion,

03:58:35 Speaker 08: the direction that was all already

03:58:37 Speaker 08: given, so that is kind of

03:58:40 Speaker 08: taken care of, so to speak.

03:58:42 Speaker 08: So, where are we inserting this

03:58:45 Speaker 08: clause, and what are we removing?

03:58:46 Speaker 08: It's being suggested that we break

03:58:47 Speaker 10: for lunch. but it it kind

03:58:49 Speaker 10: of defeats the the notion that

03:58:52 Speaker 10: we have. As you you know,

03:58:53 Speaker 10: we have people interested in the

03:58:55 Speaker 10: gallery. I was hoping we could

03:58:56 Speaker 10: deal with this report prior to

03:58:58 Speaker 10: lunch, so that folks wouldn't have

03:59:00 Speaker 10: to come back. Just before I

03:59:03 Speaker 10: go to you, Councillor Nielsen, the

03:59:07 Speaker 10: clerk is still trying to. I

03:59:11 Speaker 10: want to get this motion on

03:59:14 Speaker 10: the floor or on the screen

03:59:17 Speaker 10: first before we go any further.

03:59:19 Speaker 10: Maybe. Yep. Thank you for your

03:59:22 Speaker 10: indulgence on that. While we suggested

03:59:24 Speaker 10: a spot to insert that amendment,

03:59:26 Speaker 10: so where you read the motion

03:59:28 Speaker 10: be amended, insert the clause directing

03:59:30 Speaker 10: staff to bring forward a report

03:59:33 Speaker 10: on the financials of going green

03:59:35 Speaker 10: and gray. That's the proposed amendment

03:59:37 Speaker 35: and the highlight. And the highlighted

03:59:40 Speaker 35: section underneath is what that would

03:59:43 Speaker 35: look like if it went through.

03:59:47 Speaker 35: So that's staff repair report and

03:59:51 Speaker 35: the implications of moving going green

03:59:54 Speaker 35: gray and bring forward a report

03:59:56 Speaker 35: on the financials for consideration prior

03:59:59 Speaker 35: to the 2027 budget is what

04:00:05 Speaker 35: staff have suggested. But looking for

04:00:06 Speaker 35: further input if if required. That's

04:00:09 Speaker 35: not exactly what I intended. We're

04:00:10 Speaker 35: kind of repeating what we're saying.

04:00:13 Speaker 13: Eating what we're saying, asking for

04:00:15 Speaker 13: a report on the implications of

04:00:16 Speaker 13: removing going green and gray. My

04:00:21 Speaker 13: intent was to the staff to

04:00:22 Speaker 13: bring the report they intended to

04:00:24 Speaker 13: bring in the first place, that

04:00:27 Speaker 13: included the financial implications of that

04:00:29 Speaker 13: plan. But I. Okay, I'm going

04:00:33 Speaker 13: to suggest we're going to break

04:00:35 Speaker 13: for lunch so that we can

04:00:38 Speaker 13: get this sorted out. This is

04:00:41 Speaker 13: why it's appreciated if you want

04:00:45 Speaker 13: amendments or. otherwise, bring them to

04:00:48 Speaker 13: the clerk prior to the meeting

04:00:50 Speaker 13: so that we're not trying to

04:00:52 Speaker 13: do this on the fly. I

04:00:54 Speaker 13: can appreciate how the discussion has

04:00:55 Speaker 13: unfolded, but let's break for lunch

04:00:56 Speaker 13: and we'll come back with the

04:00:57 Speaker 13: amended motion. Let's try to be

04:01:00 Speaker 13: back by say one forty, and

04:01:04 Speaker 13: I apologize to the gallery. Okay.

04:01:07 Speaker 13: One minute warning. Okay. thank you,

04:01:10 Speaker 13: Rob. We'll bring the meeting back

04:01:15 Speaker 10: to order. I trust everybody got

04:01:16 Speaker 10: a few bites, at least. So

04:01:17 Speaker 10: we're back to the proposed. amendment

04:01:18 Speaker 10: to the main motion. The amendment

04:01:21 Speaker 10: is okay. So the motion has

04:01:23 Speaker 10: not been actually made yet. So,

04:01:25 Speaker 10: Councillor Debrine, are you prepared to

04:01:27 Speaker 10: move the motion to amend? Thank

04:01:28 Speaker 10: you. Through you, if I could

04:01:30 Speaker 10: see what we finally landed on.

04:01:32 Speaker 10: I think I would like to

04:01:35 Speaker 10: move the motion. Okay, so the

04:01:38 Speaker 10: amendment is proposed to be to

04:01:42 Speaker 10: insert in the main motion, modifying

04:01:44 Speaker 10: or maintaining the actions within. So

04:01:47 Speaker 10: the the the amended motion would

04:01:48 Speaker 10: read that staff prepare a report

04:01:50 Speaker 10: on the implications of removing, and

04:01:52 Speaker 10: then the amendment starts modifying or

04:01:54 Speaker 10: maintaining the actions. That's the end

04:01:58 Speaker 10: of the or within. That's the

04:02:06 Speaker 02: end of the amendment, and then

04:02:07 Speaker 02: the Going Green and Gray Initiative

04:02:12 Speaker 02: for the consideration of the 2027

04:02:13 Speaker 02: budget. I so move. Is there

04:02:14 Speaker 02: a seconder? Councillor Carlton will second

04:02:17 Speaker 02: that. Thank you. Any discussion on

04:02:18 Speaker 02: the amendment? Not seeing any. I'll

04:02:20 Speaker 02: call the question. All those in

04:02:22 Speaker 02: favour? That is carried. Now we're

04:02:25 Speaker 43: back to the motion, the original

04:02:28 Speaker 43: motion as amended. Do I need

04:02:30 Speaker 43: to read it again? Okay. Any

04:02:33 Speaker 08: discussion on the motion as amended?

04:02:34 Speaker 08: Not seeing any. I'll call the

04:02:37 Speaker 08: question. All those in favour? Votes.

04:02:41 Speaker 08: Go ahead, Councillor Nielsen. I pulled.

04:02:43 Speaker 08: I pulled the Councillor Eccles. Last

04:02:45 Speaker 08: last minute. Last minute comment. Just

04:02:49 Speaker 08: for clarity, for myself, from. staff,

04:02:53 Speaker 08: passing this motion changes direction to

04:02:57 Speaker 08: staff that was previously given back

04:02:59 Speaker 08: in 2022 when we created Green

04:03:02 Speaker 08: and Gray, and the motion to

04:03:03 Speaker 08: bring forward a review of the

04:03:06 Speaker 08: Growing Green and Gray plan in

04:03:12 Speaker 08: 2026. This motion will supersede that

04:03:12 Speaker 08: motion and give direction that this

04:03:14 Speaker 08: is what we're looking for this

04:03:16 Speaker 08: time. And if we vote against

04:03:17 Speaker 08: this motion, we still get that

04:03:19 Speaker 08: report. And if we vote in

04:03:22 Speaker 08: favour, this one supersedes that one.

04:03:25 Speaker 08: That's all. I'm just wanting clarity

04:03:27 Speaker 08: for everybody around the horse. Clarity

04:03:28 Speaker 08: for everybody on the horseshoe, as

04:03:30 Speaker 08: unclear as that was. I'm looking

04:03:32 Speaker 08: for clarity. Right, Rainy, you want

04:03:34 Speaker 08: to speak to that, please. So,

04:03:36 Speaker 08: the 2022 motion indicates that staff

04:03:39 Speaker 08: would bring forward a report regarding

04:03:40 Speaker 08: the targets with respect to going

04:03:42 Speaker 08: green and gray. So that could

04:03:44 Speaker 35: be, you know, similar to what's

04:03:46 Speaker 35: identified as part of this motion,

04:03:48 Speaker 35: but this helps clarify. I think,

04:03:50 Speaker 35: in terms of what information will

04:03:51 Speaker 35: be brought back by staff as

04:03:53 Speaker 35: part of that comprehensive report, to

04:03:55 Speaker 35: give the information that this council

04:03:57 Speaker 35: needs in order to determine what's

04:03:59 Speaker 35: what's what's kept, what's changed, what's

04:04:01 Speaker 35: potentially removed or shifted. I think

04:04:03 Speaker 35: this motion would give that further

04:04:05 Speaker 35: clarification. Thank you, Randy. Last call

04:04:08 Speaker 35: for questions. Councillor Carlton. Maybe this

04:04:09 Speaker 35: doesn't mean anything, but who

04:04:11 Speaker 35: is the report coming back to?

04:04:14 Speaker 35: Budget and Finance, or County Council?

04:04:16 Speaker 35: I think at this stage, staff

04:04:18 Speaker 35: would recommend that this report come

04:04:20 Speaker 35: back to Council. So committee of

04:04:22 Speaker 35: the whole initially, but then to

04:04:23 Speaker 35: Council. Yeah, may as well. Okay,

04:04:25 Speaker 35: I'm going to call the question.

04:04:27 Speaker 35: All those in favour? Opposed to

04:04:29 Speaker 35: any? That carries. Thank you very

04:04:32 Speaker 35: much, ladies. and gentlemen. Now we

04:04:34 Speaker 35: move on to the fifth recommendation

04:04:37 Speaker 35: from the Budget and Audit Committee,

04:04:39 Speaker 35: or Budget and Finance rather. You're

04:04:41 Speaker 35: jumping ahead. You were hoping. You

04:04:43 Speaker 35: were hopeful. You were hopeful. I

04:04:44 Speaker 35: need a mover for that recommendation.

04:04:48 Speaker 35: There, Councillor Nielsen, second to by

04:04:49 Speaker 35: Councillor Body. Councillor Nielsen, you have

04:04:51 Speaker 35: a question. Thank you very much,

04:04:53 Speaker 35: Deputy Warden. Just commenting. number five.

04:04:55 Speaker 35: It says the report regarding the

04:04:57 Speaker 35: ten-year capital forecast come forward, but

04:04:58 Speaker 35: it does say removing the experimental

04:05:01 Speaker 35: acres, which was a loss. So

04:05:03 Speaker 35: I guess that will automatically change

04:05:05 Speaker 35: and update. Just for clarity, I

04:05:07 Speaker 35: heard disregard. So I'm going to

04:05:09 Speaker 35: do that. No, sorry, I I

04:05:11 Speaker 35: didn't understand your. Go ahead, try

04:05:15 Speaker 35: it again. My apologies, Deputy Warren.

04:05:17 Speaker 35: I was talking a little fast.

04:05:19 Speaker 35: Just I'm making sure I'm on

04:05:22 Speaker 35: the same page with the clerk.

04:05:23 Speaker 35: Was that their one section of

04:05:26 Speaker 35: item number five says we're moving

04:05:28 Speaker 35: funding for the experimental Lakers project?

04:05:29 Speaker 35: That motion lost earlier. I was

04:05:31 Speaker 35: just more commenting that this will

04:05:33 Speaker 35: automatically be updated through the clerk's.

04:05:35 Speaker 35: So it's moving it here does

04:05:38 Speaker 35: not reestablish that idea. I'm going

04:05:40 Speaker 35: to say correct. All those in

04:05:41 Speaker 35: favour? That carries. Number six, the

04:05:42 Speaker 35: final one, the report regarding the

04:05:44 Speaker 35: capital project status update report as

04:05:47 Speaker 35: of. 31 of August of

04:05:48 Speaker 35: this year be received for

04:05:51 Speaker 35: information. Someone care to move that,

04:05:52 Speaker 35: please, Councillor Carlton, Councillor Pringle. Questions?

04:05:54 Speaker 35: All those in favour? That is

04:05:56 Speaker 35: carried. Apparently, it's been brought to

04:05:58 Speaker 35: my attention that we have not

04:05:59 Speaker 35: actually received the minutes yet. And

04:06:00 Speaker 35: here I thought we'd spent the

04:06:01 Speaker 35: last I don't know two days

04:06:05 Speaker 35: debating the minutes. but apparently we

04:06:06 Speaker 35: have not done that yet. So

04:06:10 Speaker 35: I need someone to move that,

04:06:12 Speaker 35: please, Councillor Deckard and Councillor Nielsen.

04:06:16 Speaker 35: Any discussion? All those in favour?

04:06:17 Speaker 35: That is carried. Perfect. Okay, Randy,

04:06:19 Speaker 35: you're up. We're going to talk

04:06:20 Speaker 35: about now Roma delegations. So Randy,

04:06:22 Speaker 35: the floor is yours, sir. Oh,

04:06:25 Speaker 35: oh no, no, we're doing the.

04:06:26 Speaker 35: Yeah, we have the two. Yep,

04:06:28 Speaker 16: yep. No, we have six A

04:06:30 Speaker 16: and six B, I think. Say

04:06:31 Speaker 16: in six B, I think. Am

04:06:34 Speaker 16: I wrong? Oh, okay. Oh man,

04:06:35 Speaker 35: I was really hoping to move

04:06:37 Speaker 35: this along. Try again. Okay, seven

04:06:39 Speaker 35: B is the item that we're

04:06:40 Speaker 35: going to entertain now on the

04:06:43 Speaker 35: budget, and it is regarding easement

04:06:46 Speaker 35: and memorandum of understanding. So,

04:06:48 Speaker 35: Randy, the floor is yours, sir.

04:06:50 Speaker 35: I don't know if we need

04:06:52 Speaker 35: a. mover and second for at

04:06:55 Speaker 35: least the first recommendation. Yes, we

04:06:57 Speaker 35: do. We need a mover and

04:06:59 Speaker 35: secondor, Councillor Hutchison and Debrine. Thank

04:07:01 Speaker 35: you very much. Thank you, Deputy

04:07:03 Speaker 35: Warden. Good afternoon, everybody.

04:07:05 Speaker 35: So I'll be as quick

04:07:08 Speaker 35: as I can with respect to

04:07:11 Speaker 35: this matter. The report I'm presenting

04:07:13 Speaker 35: today deals with two matters. First

04:07:15 Speaker 35: matter is updating Council on optioning

04:07:17 Speaker 35: back the lands adjacent to Gray

04:07:19 Speaker 35: Gables from Bright Shores, as directed

04:07:21 Speaker 35: by Council, and to recommend easements

04:07:23 Speaker 35: for Bright Shores as part of

04:07:26 Speaker 35: that land transfer. process. The second

04:07:27 Speaker 35: matter is to present a proposed

04:07:29 Speaker 35: MOU as per the previous direction

04:07:32 Speaker 35: from council, that outlines the terms

04:07:35 Speaker 35: of the potential sale of the

04:07:37 Speaker 35: portion of these lands to Grey

04:07:39 Speaker 35: Highlands to support the future development

04:07:41 Speaker 35: of an OPP station in Markdale.

04:07:44 Speaker 35: So, just to give some further

04:07:45 Speaker 35: background, in July 2020, Grey County

04:07:47 Speaker 35: transferred lands to Bright Shores as

04:07:48 Speaker 35: part of Grey County's contribution for

04:07:51 Speaker 35: the Markdale Hospital project. During that,

04:07:52 Speaker 35: the planning for that hospital project,

04:07:54 Speaker 35: it was determined that. stormwater upgrades

04:07:56 Speaker 35: were required on the approximate four-acre

04:07:58 Speaker 35: parcel adjacent to the south driveway

04:08:00 Speaker 35: entrance to the Grey Gables and

04:08:01 Speaker 35: Hospital properties. In order for the

04:08:03 Speaker 35: stormwater works to be eligible for

04:08:06 Speaker 35: provincial funding at that time, Brightshore

04:08:08 Speaker 35: is required to own the lands.

04:08:10 Speaker 35: The agreement allowed the county to

04:08:12 Speaker 35: repurchase the lands once the stormwater

04:08:15 Speaker 35: works were completed, and those stormwater

04:08:16 Speaker 35: upgrades are now finished. On May

04:08:18 Speaker 35: 22, 2025, the council passed a

04:08:19 Speaker 35: motion directing staff to opt. Directing

04:08:21 Speaker 35: staff to option those those lands

04:08:23 Speaker 35: back from Bright Shores, and to

04:08:25 Speaker 35: negotiate an agreement with Great Hinds

04:08:26 Speaker 35: to sell portions of these lands

04:08:29 Speaker 35: for a proposed OPP station. As

04:08:30 Speaker 35: part of the terms of optioning

04:08:31 Speaker 35: back the lands from Bright

04:08:35 Speaker 35: Shores, the county agreed to provide

04:08:36 Speaker 35: Bright Shores with an easement permitting

04:08:39 Speaker 35: access to the lands where the

04:08:42 Speaker 35: South Driveway Hospital sign was to

04:08:44 Speaker 35: be installed. The actual location of

04:08:46 Speaker 35: that sign moves slightly from its

04:08:49 Speaker 35: intended location, and as such, Bright

04:08:52 Speaker 35: Shores has requested that the easement.

04:08:53 Speaker 35: be amended to align with its

04:08:55 Speaker 13: present location, and that's shown in

04:08:59 Speaker 13: Figure One, outlined in blue. This

04:09:04 Speaker 13: easement will allow BrightSource to access

04:09:07 Speaker 13: the lands to erect, repair, maintain,

04:09:08 Speaker 13: change, or remove that's that hospital

04:09:10 Speaker 13: sign should they need to do

04:09:12 Speaker 13: so. BrightSource has also requested an

04:09:15 Speaker 13: additional easement to access and

04:09:17 Speaker 13: maintain the light poles that were

04:09:19 Speaker 13: installed as part of the Markdale

04:09:22 Speaker 13: Hospital project, and these are installed

04:09:24 Speaker 13: along the shared entrance, and that's

04:09:25 Speaker 13: outlined in red. on Figure One.

04:09:28 Speaker 13: Staff have no concerns with these

04:09:31 Speaker 30: requests, provided that they do not

04:09:32 Speaker 30: interfere with the future use of

04:09:34 Speaker 30: the lands by either the county

04:09:37 Speaker 30: or Gray Highlands. So it's recommended

04:09:40 Speaker 30: that easements be prepared for council's

04:09:44 Speaker 30: consideration, subject to further consultation with

04:09:47 Speaker 30: Bright Shores and Gray Highlands on

04:09:51 Speaker 30: the specific presences of the easement.

04:09:54 Speaker 30: So that's dealing with recommendation number

04:09:56 Speaker 30: one. I don't know if we

04:09:57 Speaker 30: want to just deal with that,

04:09:59 Speaker 30: and then I can go into

04:10:01 Speaker 30: the report on recommendation number two.

04:10:05 Speaker 30: Let's do motion one first. Are

04:10:06 Speaker 30: there any questions on the easement

04:10:09 Speaker 30: recommendation? Not seeing any. All those

04:10:11 Speaker 30: in favour? That is carried. Okay,

04:10:12 Speaker 30: Randy. Thank you, Deputy Warden. So,

04:10:15 Speaker 30: as noted earlier, part of the

04:10:17 Speaker 30: motion that was passed by County

04:10:18 Speaker 30: Committee the whole on May twenty

04:10:21 Speaker 30: second also directed staff to negotiate

04:10:23 Speaker 30: an agreement with Gray Highlands that

04:10:25 Speaker 30: would commit to selling a portion

04:10:27 Speaker 30: of the subject lands. This motion

04:10:30 Speaker 30: was based on a request received

04:10:33 Speaker 30: earlier this year from Gray Highlands

04:10:35 Speaker 30: requesting that the county consider transferring

04:10:37 Speaker 30: a part of the subject lands

04:10:39 Speaker 30: to the municipality. Gray Highlands is

04:10:42 Speaker 30: planning to construct a new police

04:10:45 Speaker 30: station in Markdale for the OPP,

04:10:47 Speaker 30: as the current Markdale location is

04:10:50 Speaker 30: slated for future residential development. Grayhounds

04:10:52 Speaker 30: Council also recently directed Grayhounds staff

04:10:55 Speaker 30: to begin negotiations for the development

04:10:57 Speaker 30: of a new OPP regional facility

04:11:00 Speaker 30: in Markdale. A media release from

04:11:02 Speaker 30: Gray Highlands issued last month

04:11:04 Speaker 30: notes that the new facility is

04:11:07 Speaker 30: proposed to serve as a repository

04:11:08 Speaker 30: for Serve as a reporting centre

04:11:10 Speaker 30: for policing services across Grampians County,

04:11:13 Speaker 30: supporting multiple municipalities and potentially expanding

04:11:14 Speaker 30: expanding service in the area. A

04:11:17 Speaker 30: draft MOU has been prepared, outlining

04:11:18 Speaker 30: the key terms as directed by

04:11:21 Speaker 30: Council, including that the county commits

04:11:26 Speaker 30: to selling only the land required

04:11:27 Speaker 30: to support the build, the build

04:11:29 Speaker 30: be designed as compact as possible,

04:11:31 Speaker 30: utilising the least amount of land

04:11:35 Speaker 30: as possible, that Greyhound covers all

04:11:38 Speaker 30: the costs with respect to the

04:11:44 Speaker 30: build design, stormwater. Bill design stormwater

04:11:47 Speaker 30: relocation legal survey that the existing

04:11:50 Speaker 30: stormwater and drainage works for Greggville

04:11:51 Speaker 30: site and shared entrances must be

04:11:53 Speaker 30: addressed in the design. If the

04:11:54 Speaker 30: OPP station does not proceed, the

04:11:56 Speaker 30: commitment is withdrawn. The sale price

04:11:58 Speaker 30: will be based on an appraisal,

04:12:00 Speaker 30: and that future agreement of purchase

04:12:05 Speaker 30: and sale will come back to

04:12:08 Speaker 30: council for approval. Staff have worked

04:12:10 Speaker 30: with Bright Shores and Greyhound staff

04:12:12 Speaker 30: in preparing the draft MOU, and

04:12:15 Speaker 30: it's recommended that a bylaw be

04:12:17 Speaker 30: brought forward for council's consideration. to

04:12:19 Speaker 30: authorise the warden clerk to execute

04:12:21 Speaker 30: the MOU, subject to any further

04:12:22 Speaker 30: minor revisions recommended by the parties.

04:12:24 Speaker 30: At this stage, there's no direct

04:12:25 Speaker 30: financial impacts to the county. Greyhounds

04:12:29 Speaker 30: will cover, like said, all the

04:12:31 Speaker 30: costs related to the transfer. The

04:12:32 Speaker 30: county has engaged an appraiser to

04:12:34 Speaker 30: determine the land value of the

04:12:37 Speaker 30: eventual sale, and the results of

04:12:39 Speaker 30: that appraisal will inform the agreement

04:12:42 Speaker 30: of purchase and sale, which would

04:12:43 Speaker 30: again come back to council at

04:12:45 Speaker 30: a future date. So that's dealing

04:12:50 Speaker 30: with the second recommendation and the.

04:12:51 Speaker 30: second recommendation in the in the

04:12:53 Speaker 30: report. Thank you, Randy. And I

04:12:58 Speaker 30: neglected to get a mover and

04:13:00 Speaker 30: seconder for that. Councillor Patterson

04:13:02 Speaker 30: and Councillor Hutchison. Any discussion or

04:13:05 Speaker 30: questions on that report? Not seeing

04:13:09 Speaker 30: any. I'll call the question. All

04:13:12 Speaker 30: those in favour? That is carried.

7.c CCR-CW-08-25 Delegation of Duties By-law and Policy Update 2025

Council approved an update to the Delegation of Duties Bylaw and Policy for Grey County aimed at streamlining administrative operations by shifting signatory authority from senior officials to relevant staff members. The new provisions empower department heads, the CAO, and specific directors like those in Long-Term Care or Economic Development to approve non-financial operational items without prior council reports during emergencies or restricted election periods. Staff retain approval rights for amendments following signed agreements while major financial decisions remain subject to standard budget processes requiring full Council endorsement.

04:13:16 Speaker 30: Thank you, Randy. Now we have

04:13:18 Speaker 30: a report seven C from the

04:13:20 Speaker 30: clerk's office. It is regarding delegation

04:13:23 Speaker 30: of duties, bylaw and policy update.

04:13:26 Speaker 30: Is there a mover and seconder?

04:13:27 Speaker 30: Councillor Mackey. and Councillor Pringle. Madam

04:13:31 Speaker 30: Clerk, you have the

04:13:33 Speaker 30: floor. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Warden.

04:13:37 Speaker 30: This report is before you today

04:13:39 Speaker 30: as an update to the Delegation

04:13:42 Speaker 30: and Duties Bylaw. It is a

04:13:46 Speaker 30: policy that's required by the Municipal

04:13:48 Speaker 30: Act. As a municipality, Grey County

04:13:50 Speaker 30: exercises its decision-making abilities through council,

04:13:53 Speaker 30: and a Delegation of Duties Bylaw

04:13:55 Speaker 30: allows for certain authorities to be

04:13:57 Speaker 30: delegated to staff. or other bodies

04:14:00 Speaker 30: to approve on its behalf. It

04:14:02 Speaker 30: does help with streamlining and efficiency

04:14:05 Speaker 30: of municipal operations. It is a

04:14:07 Speaker 30: very important bylaw in that regard,

04:14:10 Speaker 30: and staff are able to approve

04:14:13 Speaker 30: administrative and operational items on council's

04:14:17 Speaker 30: behalf and carry out their their

04:14:19 Speaker 30: work. The current bylaw, as written,

04:14:20 Speaker 30: was updated in twenty twenty.

04:14:21 Speaker 30: It currently offers little flexibility for

04:14:24 Speaker 30: staff when they're carrying out operational

04:14:26 Speaker 30: matters, both for the staff that

04:14:29 Speaker 30: are doing the work and then

04:14:30 Speaker 30: the agreement staff in the clerks

04:14:32 Speaker 30: department who are supporting them, the

04:14:39 Speaker 30: bylaw also doesn't delegate signatories out

04:14:40 Speaker 30: past the warden and clerk for

04:14:43 Speaker 30: many of the items, so it

04:14:46 Speaker 30: it does often rest with the

04:14:48 Speaker 30: warden and clerk to sign as

04:14:50 Speaker 30: the signing officer of the organisation.

04:14:52 Speaker 21: This new bylaw does propose to

04:14:54 Speaker 21: shift that signatory to the staff

04:14:56 Speaker 21: who are actually approving the documentation.

04:15:00 Speaker 21: It will also allow staff to

04:15:03 Speaker 30: approve and sign documents that are

04:15:05 Speaker 30: non-financial or procured in accordance with

04:15:08 Speaker 30: the purchasing policy, where the subject

04:15:10 Speaker 30: matter is administrative or operational nature,

04:15:13 Speaker 30: and relate to the management of

04:15:15 Speaker 30: Gray County. It will also allow

04:15:17 Speaker 30: staff to sign amendments and terminations

04:15:21 Speaker 30: where that follow an agreement that

04:15:24 Speaker 30: has been signed, and other ancillary

04:15:26 Speaker 30: docs if there are no

04:15:32 Speaker 30: financial changes or implications to Gray

04:15:33 Speaker 02: County. There are a number of

04:15:36 Speaker 02: other delegations and changes listed in

04:15:37 Speaker 02: the report, but there are some

04:15:39 Speaker 02: that are worth just specifying during

04:15:41 Speaker 02: the presentation here. So there is

04:15:43 Speaker 02: a new section that includes special

04:15:46 Speaker 02: circumstances or emergencies when it's necessary

04:15:48 Speaker 02: to act within the normal mandate

04:15:51 Speaker 02: of a department, and giving the

04:15:53 Speaker 44: department heads the ability to act

04:15:55 Speaker 44: where needed. There's a reporting requirement

04:15:57 Speaker 44: that comes along with that. There's

04:15:59 Speaker 44: a delegation to the treasurer and

04:16:01 Speaker 44: clerk to appoint deputy treasurers and

04:16:03 Speaker 44: deputy clerks as needed. It specifies

04:16:06 Speaker 44: a section where certain staff are

04:16:08 Speaker 44: able to bring certain types of

04:16:10 Speaker 44: bylaw forward without a prior report

04:16:12 Speaker 44: to the whole. These reports include

04:16:13 Speaker 44: traffic matters, minor nature, heritage tax

04:16:16 Speaker 44: rebates, the Teague matters, tax increment

04:16:18 Speaker 44: grants. Thank you, and staff appointments

04:16:21 Speaker 44: as. well. There is a delegation

04:16:23 Speaker 44: of authority to the CAO to

04:16:24 Speaker 44: act during the restricted acts slash

04:16:26 Speaker 44: lame duck periods. In the year

04:16:28 Speaker 44: of a municipal election, there is

04:16:29 Speaker 44: a portion that exists in the

04:16:31 Speaker 44: current bylaw already, but this proposal

04:16:34 Speaker 44: would shift the rest of the

04:16:35 Speaker 44: eligible duties to the CAO to

04:16:37 Speaker 25: allow the CAO to act during

04:16:40 Speaker 25: restricted acts and lame duck. Historically,

04:16:43 Speaker 25: we've always brought a standalone bylaw

04:16:46 Speaker 25: forward, which delegates those duties during

04:16:48 Speaker 25: an election year, but having it

04:16:51 Speaker 25: incorporated into this bylaw would negate

04:16:54 Speaker 25: the need to do that. But

04:16:55 Speaker 25: it would just of note to

04:16:58 Speaker 25: council if there were staffing changes

04:17:00 Speaker 25: in the future, and or CEO

04:17:02 Speaker 25: was absent for a portion of

04:17:04 Speaker 25: that time, we would have to

04:17:06 Speaker 25: go back and and change that

04:17:11 Speaker 25: bylaw if if council wished just

04:17:13 Speaker 25: to do so. There is a

04:17:15 Speaker 25: delegation of authority to the museum

04:17:19 Speaker 25: manager and or the director of

04:17:21 Speaker 25: economic development. Tourism, and Culture to

04:17:22 Speaker 25: approve or deny the exceptions at

04:17:24 Speaker 25: the museum. Sorry, delegation of authority

04:17:27 Speaker 25: to the Director of Long-Term Care

04:17:32 Speaker 25: to approve and sign temporary bed

04:17:33 Speaker 25: licences, signing waivers for all department

04:17:38 Speaker 25: heads, agreements with federal and provincial

04:17:39 Speaker 25: governments, agencies, institutions, and community partners

04:17:41 Speaker 25: for county undertakings, programme delivery, and

04:17:45 Speaker 25: administration. That's a summary of the

04:17:47 Speaker 25: changes in the. report. What the

04:17:49 Speaker 25: bylaw doesn't do is allow staff

04:17:51 Speaker 25: to approve or sign documentation that

04:17:53 Speaker 25: for things that haven't been approved

04:17:53 Speaker 25: by council. So those those will

04:17:55 Speaker 25: still have to go through the

04:17:57 Speaker 25: budget process and be approved by

04:17:59 Speaker 25: county council. Or if they're considered

04:18:04 Speaker 25: administrative and operational, that would shift

04:18:06 Speaker 44: to staff approving and signing. It

04:18:08 Speaker 44: also doesn't remove any. decision making

04:18:11 Speaker 44: from council. That is retained by

04:18:14 Speaker 44: virtue of being council, and it

04:18:17 Speaker 44: can be revoked at any time,

04:18:19 Speaker 44: with the exception of one item,

04:18:23 Speaker 44: which is the head for the

04:18:24 Speaker 44: purposes on and FIPA. That was

04:18:26 Speaker 44: actually previously delegated many years ago,

04:18:27 Speaker 25: but it's incorporated into this bylaw

04:18:30 Speaker 25: as well for clarity. That's kind

04:18:32 Speaker 25: of a summary of the report.

04:18:34 Speaker 25: And happy to take any questions

04:18:36 Speaker 25: with there. Thank you, Tara. Are

04:18:37 Speaker 25: there any questions, Councillor Bourdon? Thank

04:18:39 Speaker 25: you, Deputy Warden. Through you, thanks,

04:18:40 Speaker 25: Tara. Just on page three, the

04:18:42 Speaker 25: top of page three, agreements with

04:18:43 Speaker 25: federal and provincial governments, agencies, institutions.

04:18:45 Speaker 25: Can you just extrapolate that further?

04:18:47 Speaker 45: That's is that just the execution

04:18:48 Speaker 45: of them? Because those some of

04:18:50 Speaker 45: those agreements should come to this

04:18:51 Speaker 45: council. I'm just just for clarification.

04:18:52 Speaker 45: So the way it's proposed in

04:18:54 Speaker 45: the bylaw is it would be

04:18:56 Speaker 45: the blanket agreements with federal and

04:18:57 Speaker 45: provincial governments. There's no threshold in

04:18:58 Speaker 45: there, but as long as the

04:19:00 Speaker 45: programme or activity has been approved

04:19:02 Speaker 45: by council, if it hasn't been

04:19:06 Speaker 45: approved by council, then those agreements

04:19:07 Speaker 45: would still have to come back

04:19:09 Speaker 45: for actual endorsement. Okay. Any further

04:19:12 Speaker 45: questions? Call the question. All those

04:19:14 Speaker 45: in favour? That is carried. Thank

04:19:15 Speaker 45: you, Chair. Now we're moving on

7.e EDTC-CW-14-25 Continuation of GTR and GOST in 2026

Council approved the continuation of GTR and Ghost Transit Systems operations until August 31st, 2026, utilising existing OTIF funding without requesting additional financial resources. Councillor Gregg confirmed that projected fare revenue estimates for January to March are inclusive within a total levy budget increase rather than separate figures. The administration clarified that future user fee adjustments remain undetermined pending an ongoing study and will be presented back to council alongside opportunities for public feedback.

04:19:20 Speaker 45: to 7E because we've already dealt

04:19:23 Speaker 45: with D. This is a report

04:19:25 Speaker 45: from Stephanie Stewart regarding continuation of

04:19:27 Speaker 45: the GTR and the Ghost Transit

04:19:33 Speaker 45: Systems in 2026. Stephanie, welcome. Floor

04:19:35 Speaker 45: is yours. Wait, I need a

04:19:37 Speaker 45: mover and seconder. Sorry, Councillor Keaveny

04:19:40 Speaker 45: and Councillor Hutchison. Thank you, Your

04:19:41 Speaker 45: Worship. Good afternoon, County Council. So,

04:19:43 Speaker 45: my report this afternoon is just

04:19:44 Speaker 02: to seek your approval to extend

04:19:51 Speaker 02: operations of the GTR and to

04:19:53 Speaker 02: participate in the Ghost Transit service

04:19:56 Speaker 02: until August thirty first, twenty twenty

04:19:58 Speaker 02: six, ensuring continued transit access during

04:20:00 Speaker 02: the transition to a potential new

04:20:02 Speaker 02: regional system. The province has approved

04:20:04 Speaker 02: OTIF funding to support both these

04:20:05 Speaker 02: services, and staff have confirmed from

04:20:08 Speaker 02: contributing partners that they will also

04:20:10 Speaker 02: support this idea. There are no

04:20:11 Speaker 35: further financial requests outside of this

04:20:13 Speaker 35: previously. sorry, outside the previously approved

04:20:16 Speaker 35: three county levy of one hundred

04:20:18 Speaker 35: and forty-five thousand for twenty twenty-six

04:20:20 Speaker 35: budget considerations, as per my last

04:20:22 Speaker 35: report. At this time, I'd like

04:20:24 Speaker 35: to take any questions. If you

04:20:26 Speaker 35: have any, okay. Thank you, Stephanie.

04:20:28 Speaker 35: Any questions, Councillor Gregg? Please. Thank

04:20:30 Speaker 35: you. And just a couple questions,

04:20:31 Speaker 35: just to confirm some of the

04:20:33 Speaker 35: numbers in the charts on

04:20:37 Speaker 35: page five. The ghost has

04:20:39 Speaker 35: been a great service, benefiting people

04:20:40 Speaker 35: up and down Highway Six. I've

04:20:43 Speaker 35: rode it many times and. good

04:20:46 Speaker 35: to see the revenues shown on

04:20:48 Speaker 35: on the chart as well. But

04:20:50 Speaker 35: the connectivity's been terrific, and and

04:20:53 Speaker 35: valued in the community for sure.

04:20:54 Speaker 35: One question, Stephanie: the chart

04:20:56 Speaker 35: shows fare revenue for the GTR,

04:20:59 Speaker 35: January to March of eighty seven

04:21:00 Speaker 35: hundred dollars. It also showed really

04:21:03 Speaker 35: positive, increasing ridership numbers above that.

04:21:05 Speaker 35: It just had me thinking that

04:21:07 Speaker 35: eighty seven hundred strikes me as

04:21:10 Speaker 35: not maybe being correct. Is that

04:21:12 Speaker 35: is that the actual fair revenue

04:21:14 Speaker 35: that is generated over three months,

04:21:18 Speaker 35: or is that just an error

04:21:20 Speaker 35: in the report? And second question

04:21:22 Speaker 35: is just to confirm: this year

04:21:24 Speaker 35: was one hundred one thousand of

04:21:26 Speaker 35: levy funding to the transportation department,

04:21:28 Speaker 35: and this increase projected to increase

04:21:30 Speaker 35: by forty three thousand. I think

04:21:32 Speaker 35: about one hundred forty four for

04:21:34 Speaker 35: twenty six. The ninety six thousand

04:21:36 Speaker 35: seven hundred is inclusive. within that

04:21:38 Speaker 35: 144 and not on top. I

04:21:40 Speaker 35: just wanted to confirm that.

04:21:42 Speaker 35: Thanks, your worship. So, in regards

04:21:45 Speaker 35: to your first question about fair

04:21:46 Speaker 35: revenue for the GTR, that's an

04:21:48 Speaker 35: estimate for 2026, and that was

04:21:50 Speaker 35: confirmed through our finance team looking

04:21:54 Speaker 35: at our previous fair revenues

04:21:57 Speaker 35: and calculating and projecting forward. I

04:21:58 Speaker 35: can double check just to make

04:22:01 Speaker 35: sure that I have that correct

04:22:02 Speaker 35: and report back to council in

04:22:05 Speaker 35: case I have had a typo.

04:22:08 Speaker 35: and in regards to the ninety-six

04:22:12 Speaker 35: thousand seven hundred, that is inclusive.

04:22:14 Speaker 35: Thank you for that. And when

04:22:15 Speaker 35: we are looking at next

04:22:18 Speaker 35: year's budget, what's the fair revenue,

04:22:21 Speaker 35: the cost per ride, and what

04:22:23 Speaker 35: the staff consider when you're looking

04:22:26 Speaker 35: at increases to user fees and

04:22:28 Speaker 35: charges and so forth? Through your

04:22:29 Speaker 35: worship, thank you for the question,

04:22:32 Speaker 35: Councillor Greg. So. that's still all

04:22:33 Speaker 35: to be determined in the study

04:22:38 Speaker 35: that we're currently undergoing. We will

04:22:40 Speaker 35: bring all of those options

04:22:42 Speaker 35: and possibilities back to council to

04:22:45 Speaker 35: make those educated decisions, so that

04:22:48 Speaker 35: we're all on the same page

04:22:50 Speaker 35: and happy and satisfied with the

04:22:53 Speaker 35: project moving forward and what the

04:22:55 Speaker 35: future may look like. So there

04:22:59 Speaker 35: will be opportunities for councillors

04:23:02 Speaker 35: to participate in councillor-specific kind of

04:23:06 Speaker 35: workshops to be in your feedback

04:23:07 Speaker 35: as to what you'd like to

04:23:10 Speaker 35: see transit look like in our

04:23:13 Speaker 35: region, and then also as a

04:23:16 Speaker 35: member of the general public, you

04:23:19 Speaker 35: can come out to any

04:23:21 Speaker 35: of our community stakeholders. meetings and

04:23:24 Speaker 35: share your feedback there as well.

04:23:25 Speaker 35: But I will assure you that

04:23:28 Speaker 35: we will bring the back fare

04:23:29 Speaker 35: policy to this council to

04:23:31 Speaker 35: give you the opportunity to

04:23:34 Speaker 35: let us know what you think.

04:23:36 Speaker 35: And could you just confirm

04:23:38 Speaker 35: what that current fare is on

04:23:41 Speaker 35: the GTR for that route? Through

04:23:44 Speaker 35: you, your worship, the fare cost

04:23:47 Speaker 35: for the GTR is five dollars

04:23:49 Speaker 35: to go between Dundalk and Orangeville.

04:23:50 Speaker 35: Okay. Any further questions? Not

04:23:53 Speaker 35: seeing any, I'll call the question.

04:23:56 Speaker 35: All those in favour? It is

04:23:58 Speaker 35: carried. Thank you, Stephanie. Next report

04:24:00 Speaker 35: is from the CAO. It is

04:24:03 Speaker 35: regarding Roma delegations. Didn't take that

04:24:05 Speaker 35: long to get back to that

04:24:06 Speaker 35: one. Randy, the floor is yours.

04:24:09 Speaker 35: Oh, I need a move.

04:24:11 Speaker 35: Well, I don't think I need

04:24:13 Speaker 35: a mover and seconder on that

04:24:16 Speaker 35: one. Do it. Thank you, Deputy

04:24:18 Speaker 35: Warden, and through you and to

04:24:20 Speaker 35: to County Council. So, staff have

04:24:22 Speaker 35: been working at trying to track

7.g ROMA Delegation Requests

Council staff recommended a series of delegation requests to various provincial ministries focused on housing affordability and rural college funding for Georgian College's Oceansound Campus. The agenda also included advocacy for skilled workforce development, long-term care flexibility at Rockwood Terrace, transportation safety improvements along Highway 26, healthcare staffing retention, waste management recycling extensions, court security directives, and watershed protection under the Conservation Authorities review.

04:24:25 Speaker 35: as many of the potential delegation

04:24:27 Speaker 35: requests for Roma through various discussions

04:24:28 Speaker 35: that have occurred through County Council

04:24:29 Speaker 35: as well as at various subcommittees.

04:24:31 Speaker 35: So, based on that tracking of

04:24:33 Speaker 35: lists, and and you'll see it

04:24:35 Speaker 35: on the screen, which we just

04:24:37 Speaker 35: finalized as of as of yesterday.

04:24:39 Speaker 35: This this is the what we're

04:24:40 Speaker 35: recommending as as be our delegation

04:24:43 Speaker 35: request for Roma. of course, will

04:24:45 Speaker 35: take any direction from Council with

04:24:47 Speaker 35: respect to adding or removing any

04:24:48 Speaker 35: of these delegation requests as Council

04:24:51 Speaker 35: sees fit. But I'll just provide

04:24:54 Speaker 35: an overview of what we're recommending.

04:24:56 Speaker 35: First, would be to the Ministry

04:25:01 Speaker 35: of Municipal Affairs and Housing, discussing

04:25:02 Speaker 35: strategies to improve housing affordability, encouraging

04:25:03 Speaker 35: activation of approved developments, especially those

04:25:06 Speaker 35: that have sat dormant for

04:25:09 Speaker 35: some time, support resilient housing technologies

04:25:14 Speaker 35: to reduce fossil fuel reliance and

04:25:19 Speaker 35: long-term ownership costs. and advocate for

04:25:20 Speaker 02: increased base funding and retention of

04:25:23 Speaker 02: Georgian Colleges' own sound campus to

04:25:25 Speaker 02: be able to move forward with

04:25:31 Speaker 02: provincial priorities, including building more housing.

04:25:34 Speaker 02: That's something that last point we

04:25:34 Speaker 02: probably want to weave through each

04:25:36 Speaker 02: of the delegations in terms of

04:25:38 Speaker 02: the importance of of maintaining those

04:25:41 Speaker 02: rural college campuses in order to

04:25:42 Speaker 02: keep our skilled workforce to be

04:25:44 Speaker 02: able to move forward with these

04:25:47 Speaker 02: projects as well as aligning with

04:25:49 Speaker 02: the provincial priorities. With provincial priorities,

04:25:55 Speaker 02: second delegation request that staff would

04:25:58 Speaker 02: recommend is a request to the

04:26:04 Speaker 02: Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation,

04:26:06 Speaker 02: Trade, and Ministry of Finance,

04:26:09 Speaker 02: and this specifically would be around

04:26:14 Speaker 02: the topic of of the importance

04:26:16 Speaker 02: and critical role of rural college

04:26:19 Speaker 02: campuses in developing a skilled workforce

04:26:22 Speaker 02: in order to again advance some

04:26:25 Speaker 02: of those provincial priorities, such as

04:26:26 Speaker 02: building more housing and skilled workforce

04:26:30 Speaker 02: to support new and expanding industrial

04:26:33 Speaker 02: operations, energy projects, as well as

04:26:35 Speaker 02: even opening. up the Ring of

04:26:38 Speaker 02: Fire, and advocating for the increased

04:26:41 Speaker 02: base funding to sustain. In in

04:26:42 Speaker 02: our specific example, the Georgian College

04:26:44 Speaker 02: Oceansound Campus. Second staff delegation request

04:26:47 Speaker 02: recommendation is to the Ministry of

04:26:48 Speaker 02: Long Term Care. Through that delegation,

04:26:50 Speaker 25: we can provide updates on the

04:26:54 Speaker 25: new Rockwood Terrace and request flexibility

04:26:56 Speaker 25: on occupancy timelines beyond the current

04:27:00 Speaker 25: 14-day occupancy window that's required. Address

04:27:04 Speaker 25: delays in transitioning residents from. the

04:27:05 Speaker 25: behavioural support transition unit due to

04:27:08 Speaker 25: provincial bed allocation priorities, continue discussions

04:27:10 Speaker 25: and implications on the legislative changes

04:27:13 Speaker 25: for personal support workers and resident

04:27:14 Speaker 25: support personnel, and further address and

04:27:18 Speaker 25: discuss any updates with respect to

04:27:19 Speaker 25: the new bed allocations for Great

04:27:21 Speaker 25: Gables and future use of existing

04:27:23 Speaker 25: Rockwood Terrace when the new home

04:27:26 Speaker 25: is operational. The fourth delegation request

04:27:29 Speaker 25: is to the Ministry of Transportation,

04:27:30 Speaker 25: advocating for intersection control. system support,

04:27:32 Speaker 25: improved signage for emergency and pedestrian

04:27:34 Speaker 25: safety, seeking commitments to partner on

04:27:36 Speaker 25: the East-West Corridor options assessment to

04:27:40 Speaker 25: address Highway 26 congestion, and in

04:27:43 Speaker 25: conjunction with Simcoe County and the

04:27:44 Speaker 25: South Georgian Bay municipalities, and request

04:27:46 Speaker 25: improved coordination and communication during weather-related

04:27:47 Speaker 25: road closures. The next delegation request

04:27:49 Speaker 25: will be to the Ministry of

04:27:50 Speaker 25: Health, requesting increased offload. Increase offload

04:27:52 Speaker 25: nursing support, permanent funding for social

04:27:54 Speaker 25: navigators, and collabourating with Gravurs OHT

04:27:56 Speaker 25: and municipalities to improve recruitment and

04:27:58 Speaker 25: retention of physicians and healthcare professionals.

04:27:59 Speaker 17: Next delegation request to be to

04:28:02 Speaker 17: the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and

04:28:05 Speaker 17: Parks, advocating for and this is

04:28:06 Speaker 17: something that's coming out of the

04:28:07 Speaker 17: waste management community practice discussions, advocating

04:28:09 Speaker 17: for extending recycling collection under the

04:28:11 Speaker 17: EPR model to small institutional, commercial,

04:28:13 Speaker 17: and industrial properties. and express concerns

04:28:14 Speaker 17: about landfill impacts from new regulations

04:28:15 Speaker 17: excluding those properties from municipal collection.

04:28:16 Speaker 17: To the Ministry of the Solicitor

04:28:18 Speaker 17: General, seeking clarity and funding for

04:28:20 Speaker 17: new armed security directives at provincial

04:28:21 Speaker 17: offences courts, and request a review

04:28:22 Speaker 17: of fence fines to align with

04:28:24 Speaker 17: enforcement costs and reduce reliance on

04:28:28 Speaker 17: property tax. And the last and

04:28:29 Speaker 17: final request that staff are recommending

04:28:31 Speaker 17: is to the Ministry of Natural

04:28:32 Speaker 17: Resources and Forestry. to discuss proposed

04:28:35 Speaker 17: changes to the Conservation Authorities, advocating

04:28:37 Speaker 17: for consistent watershed management and source

04:28:39 Speaker 17: water protection, emphasizing the value of

04:28:40 Speaker 17: sea lands for recreation and climate

04:28:41 Speaker 17: resilience, and reaffirming Grey County's commitment

04:28:43 Speaker 17: to participating in the upcoming review

04:28:44 Speaker 17: of the Niagara Government Plan. Just

04:28:45 Speaker 17: on that last one, staff are

04:28:47 Speaker 17: working on a report. We're planning

04:28:48 Speaker 17: to bring that forward to the

04:28:49 Speaker 17: December eleven th committee of the

04:28:50 Speaker 17: whole meeting with respect to the

04:28:51 Speaker 17: proposed changes to Conservation Authorities. So

04:28:53 Speaker 17: this is again. due to the

04:28:55 Speaker 17: deadline of the Roma request of

04:28:56 Speaker 17: November nineteenth, kind of being a

04:28:57 Speaker 17: bit proactive and submitting a placeholder

04:28:59 Speaker 17: request should council wish to do

04:29:02 Speaker 17: so. So those are the delegation

04:29:05 Speaker 17: requests that staff are recommending. Happy

04:29:07 Speaker 17: to take any further direction from

04:29:11 Speaker 17: council. Okay, thank you, Randy. Is

04:29:13 Speaker 17: there any requests or need to

04:29:16 Speaker 17: expand that list or shorten it?

04:29:19 Speaker 17: Okay, everybody seems happy with that,

04:29:21 Speaker 17: but I do need a mover

04:29:24 Speaker 17: and seconder to recommend. or to

04:29:27 Speaker 17: accept the recommendation. Councillor Nielsen,

04:29:30 Speaker 17: Councillor Mackey. Oh darn it, McKay,

04:29:32 Speaker 27: McKay, I was close. Sorry, Scott.

04:29:35 Speaker 27: I know, I know. Okay, so

04:29:39 Speaker 27: we have a mover and seconder.

04:29:43 Speaker 27: All those in favour? That is

04:29:46 Speaker 27: carried. Thank you very much, Randy.

04:29:48 Speaker 27: Okay, we have the two consent

04:29:49 Speaker 27: items. that I think we'll deal

04:29:51 Speaker 27: with now before the close session,

04:29:54 Speaker 27: we have six A and six

04:29:57 Speaker 27: B. I think was it Councillor

04:29:59 Speaker 27: McQueen that asked for six A,

04:30:09 Speaker 27: or was it Councillor Greg? Councillor

04:30:10 Speaker 27: Greg asked for six A. So

04:30:12 Speaker 02: you'll move that recommendation, or do

04:30:15 Speaker 02: you wish to change the direction?

04:30:17 Speaker 02: Is there a seconder for that?

04:30:19 Speaker 02: Oh, you didn't. Sorry, sorry, I.

04:30:22 Speaker 02: misunderstood. Someone care to move that

04:30:24 Speaker 02: recommendation, Councillor McQueen, seconded by Councillor

6.a CCR-CW-07-25 Proposed 2026 County Council and Advisory Committee Meeting Calendar

Council members debated maintaining electronic participation options for meetings despite a preference for in-person attendance, ultimately approving the calendar while reserving future opportunities to revise procedural bylaws regarding virtual access.

04:30:27 Speaker 02: Nielsen. Okay, that is regarding the

04:30:29 Speaker 02: County Council and Advisory Committee meeting

04:30:32 Speaker 02: calendar. Anyone wish to have questions

04:30:34 Speaker 02: discussion, Councillor Greg? Thank you, and

04:30:36 Speaker 02: through you, Warden, Deputy Warden. At

04:30:37 Speaker 02: the top of the second page,

04:30:39 Speaker 02: it states it is anticipated. that

04:30:43 Speaker 02: electronic participation will continue in order

04:30:44 Speaker 02: to support attendance for those with

04:30:45 Speaker 02: variable schedules. I see a real

04:30:47 Speaker 02: benefit in having members present in

04:30:49 Speaker 02: the chambers, and I can understand

04:30:51 Speaker 02: at times the requirement to join

04:30:53 Speaker 02: virtually. But if this is the

04:30:57 Speaker 02: moment the council should be having

04:30:59 Speaker 02: a discussion about what our practice

04:31:01 Speaker 02: is, I didn't want it to

04:31:02 Speaker 02: to pass by. I understand we

04:31:04 Speaker 02: went through our period of. of

04:31:06 Speaker 02: COVID, and it was certainly necessary,

04:31:07 Speaker 17: but I think at this time

04:31:09 Speaker 17: it is very beneficial to be

04:31:12 Speaker 17: able to look across the, the

04:31:13 Speaker 17: council floor at your peers, and

04:31:15 Speaker 17: see the hands that go in

04:31:17 Speaker 17: the air, the hands, the the

04:31:18 Speaker 02: interest, the engagement, and so forth.

04:31:21 Speaker 02: And I just wondered what appetite

04:31:23 Speaker 02: there is from council to have

04:31:28 Speaker 02: some sort of a parametre on

04:31:30 Speaker 02: in in person attendance. for a

04:31:33 Speaker 02: component of the year, a percentage

04:31:35 Speaker 02: of the meetings, a certain number

04:31:37 Speaker 02: of the meetings, or so

04:31:40 Speaker 02: forth. It's certainly something that I'd

04:31:43 Speaker 02: be amenable to. Okay, is there

04:31:46 Speaker 02: any discussion in that regard, Councillor

04:31:47 Speaker 02: McQueen? Thank you, Deputy Ward. I will say there is merit to having it leaving it in there to a certain degree because, one, if you come down with the flu or you don't want to, you know, feeling well, you can still participate. And I think few weeks, Councillor. And I think a few weeks ago or recently you you were you didn't come because you didn't want to spoil everybody else with your second part is weather. I know myself, I'm an hour away, and there's a lot of weather between here and there, and same with others. So you have that option as well if if it's inconvenient and risking your life and all that kind of stuff. So I mean, how do you put a number on that? I don't know. I think generally it's been working well in most parts. I know myself, I will try to be here, but I think there is that flexibility. that if you didn't have it, you you would miss a meeting on those two those two examples where you can still participate, still be part of it. So I certainly feel very strongly that it stays in there, and I think, you know, I don't think any of my colleagues would like to catch something that if I'm not feeling well. And I think that's one of the big ones that came out of COVID and that realization. But I think in most part we do come here, and I would agree. I see the colour of your eyes. I can't quite tell right now, but. you know, I think it's important if we can that we come. I don't know if it's being abused or not, but I just, I think it's important to have that flexibility. Okay, thank you. Any other discussion, Councillor Debrine? Through you, we're approving the calendar and, in general, the support attendance virtually. Would this, would that not require notice of motion to revisit the procedure bylaw, or develop an electronic participation policy? so that we could look at best practices across. I don't know that I think anticipated that the electronic participation would continue as it currently stands, unless otherwise a member brings notice motion for it. I would say fair enough, but I have no further amendment to this point. So we're just talking about the calendar, as you pointed out, but if. there was a notice of motion to give further direction to reconsider, we could do that. But at this point, there is not such an amendment proposed. Any further discussion? Yeah, there is an update coming for the procedural bylaw, not too distant future, I understand. So there will be another opportunity if so inclined. to do that. So on the calendar itself, I'll call the vote. All those in favour? That is carried. Seven B or six B rather is regarding the Gray County Egg Services Centre annual report. I think Councillor McQueen wished to move to receive that. Is that correct? Yes. Is there a seconder for that? Councillor Ackles will second that. Councillor McQueen. Thank you, Deputy Warden. And I only raised it because of the discussion we had about two hours ago. but I will follow up with the egg office if they would certainly do a presentation to this, especially with the experimental acres. Very good. Any other discussion on that one? Not seeing any. I'll call the question. All those in favour? That is carried. Okay, we do have a closed session. I believe that we're ready for that, Madam Clerk. We are okay. So the closed session request is that the Committee of the Whole does now go into closed session pursuant to Section. Two Hundred Thirty Nine, Part Two of the Municipal Act, Two Thousand One, is amended to discuss one litigation or potential litigation, specifically the Eden Oak subdivision, and B, or two, a proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality, specifically a land acquisition. So I need a mover to go into closed session. Councillor McKay, Councillor Patterson will second that. All those in favour? That is carried. I'm not sure which staff we need to stay.

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