Grey County Committee of the Whole Meeting Transcript — November 13, 2025
Hook: Thirteen Bed Facility Static Budgets
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.
Top Newsworthy Developments
- Keystone Funding Supports Gray County Mental Health: David Willis of Keystone Child Youth and Family Services explained their legislated role as system planners for Gray and Bruce Counties, managing child and youth mental health priorities since mid-2013. The organisation operates a thirteen-bed live-in treatment facility adjacent to the building that supports students through Blue Water classrooms while providing intensive in-home care after discharge from residential programmes.
- Capital Forecast Shows Increased Funding Needs Scott Taylor Discussed Concerns: Council reviewed a ten-year capital forecast showing corporate funding needs for 2026, representing an increase driven by transportation services and housing portfolios.
- Council Debates Funding for Experimental Acres Programme: Council members debated funding for experimental agricultural acres and Gray Ag Services, with some arguing that taxpayer dollars should not support projects outside core county responsibilities while others emphasized the value of small-scale innovations like fence rows. Councillors expressed concern over budget constraints but agreed to retain the programme line item pending reviews on grant distribution methods rather than eliminating it entirely.
- Council Debates Scope of Climate Plan Review: Council members debated an amendment to a climate action plan review, arguing that limiting the scope to target reviews ignores financial implications and potential savings from maintaining green initiatives. Speakers insisted on receiving a fulsome report detailing both costs of removal and benefits of maintenance before voting.
- Council Approves Easements and Land Sale for OPP Station: Council approved easements for Bright Shores to maintain a hospital sign and light poles adjacent to Grey Gables following the completion of stormwater upgrades on four acres previously transferred in July 2020. The Council also authorised an agreement with Gray Highlands to sell land required for constructing a new OPP station in Markdale, where Gray Highlands will cover all construction costs including design and drainage works.
- 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.
Key Topics & Sections
Meeting Details
- Jurisdiction
- Grey County
- Body
- Committee of the Whole
- Date
- November 13, 2025
- Transcript Status
- Machine transcription, lightly cleaned
- Official Source
- View official meeting page
- Agenda Page
- View agenda page
- Original Video
- View original meeting video
- Meeting Portal
- View eScribe meeting page
Related Discussion
HelpOS discussion thread link pending.
Transcript Notice
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors in wording, speaker identification, punctuation, or timestamps.
It is an unofficial convenience copy provided for reading and searchability.
For the official record, refer to the original source materials published by the relevant authority, including the official video, agenda, minutes, and meeting records.
Full Transcript
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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