Grey County Committee Meeting Transcript — July 23, 2025

00:04:54 Speaker 01: it that we'll get started. I'll

00:04:55 Speaker 01: call the meeting to order. Is

00:04:56 Speaker 01: there any declaration of interest related

00:04:58 Speaker 01: to any item on today's agenda?

00:05:01 Speaker 01: Not seeing any. If one should

00:05:02 Speaker 01: arise during the course of the

00:05:04 Speaker 01: meeting, of course, you can declare

00:05:05 Speaker 02: at any time. I don't believe,

00:05:07 Speaker 02: Madam Clerk, we have any delegations.

00:05:10 Speaker 03: Nope. Items for direction and discussion.

00:05:12 Speaker 03: The first, we have a couple

00:05:13 Speaker 03: capital presentations. The first one is

00:05:16 Speaker 04: from Community Services, and Anne Marie

00:05:19 Speaker 05: and Erin will be taking this

00:05:21 Speaker 06: one. Welcome, Anne Marie and Erin.

00:05:24 Speaker 07: The floor is yours. Good morning,

00:05:32 Speaker 07: everyone. Do I have to do

00:05:33 Speaker 08: anything to project, or good to

00:05:38 Speaker 09: go? Thank you. So, good morning.

00:05:41 Speaker 10: This is an overview of how

00:05:43 Speaker 10: housing. puts together their capital budget.

00:05:51 Speaker 10: Okay, so today we're going to

00:05:52 Speaker 10: talk a little bit about our

00:05:54 Speaker 10: assets that we have in the

00:05:55 Speaker 10: housing department, how we evaluate, how

00:05:59 Speaker 10: we do our project estimation and

00:06:01 Speaker 10: selection, what funding sources we have,

00:06:03 Speaker 10: how we ensure that we're on

00:06:05 Speaker 10: track for budget, and also looking

00:06:06 Speaker 10: at any energy efficiencies or major

00:06:09 Speaker 10: future projects. So we have housing

00:06:21 Speaker 10: locations throughout Gray County. We have

00:06:26 Speaker 10: quite a few units. We have

00:06:29 Speaker 10: about 500 units alone in Owen

00:06:31 Speaker 10: Sound, and the rest of them

00:06:33 Speaker 10: are scattered out throughout the county.

00:06:36 Speaker 10: We've recently added a motel, and

00:06:38 Speaker 10: we've also added our transitional housing.

00:06:44 Speaker 10: We're going to divide our capital

00:06:46 Speaker 10: assets today into our housing properties,

00:06:48 Speaker 10: our machinery, and our equipment for

00:06:51 Speaker 10: discussion. We have twenty nine apartment

00:06:54 Speaker 10: buildings that are about seven hundred

00:06:56 Speaker 10: and sixty one units. Our transitional

00:06:58 Speaker 10: housing has twelve units. Short term

00:07:01 Speaker 10: shelter is twenty two units. We

00:07:04 Speaker 10: have two hundred and nineteen family

00:07:06 Speaker 10: homes, and they consist consist of

00:07:10 Speaker 10: townhouses. semi-detached, and detached single houses.

00:07:16 Speaker 10: Machinery. We have a number of

00:07:17 Speaker 10: different types of machinery in the

00:07:21 Speaker 10: housing department: generators, hot water boilers

00:07:23 Speaker 10: and tanks, elevators, fire alarm systems,

00:07:27 Speaker 10: cameras, bobs, security, life safety systems,

00:07:29 Speaker 10: washers, dryers, fridges, and stoves. And

00:07:32 Speaker 10: our washers and dryers are all

00:07:35 Speaker 10: commercial style. We have a lot

00:07:36 Speaker 10: of equipment. We have tractors. so

00:07:39 Speaker 10: we basically have tractors on all

00:07:40 Speaker 10: of our sites in order to

00:07:42 Speaker 10: maintain our snow and our lawn

00:07:43 Speaker 10: because we we do that in

00:07:46 Speaker 10: house. We have weed eaters and

00:07:49 Speaker 10: pressure washers, leaf blowers, and we

00:07:51 Speaker 10: also have two service vehicles for

00:07:52 Speaker 10: our carpenter and painter, and they

00:07:55 Speaker 10: are old ambulances that we have

00:07:58 Speaker 10: bought from paramedic services and

00:08:03 Speaker 10: refurbished into service vehicles. Replacement value.

00:08:05 Speaker 10: What is it worth? We have

00:08:07 Speaker 10: a total two thousand twenty three

00:08:09 Speaker 10: value of two hundred and thirty

00:08:11 Speaker 10: six million three hundred and thirty

00:08:14 Speaker 10: six thousand, and that is based

00:08:16 Speaker 10: off of our asset management. So,

00:08:23 Speaker 10: how do we evaluate, and what

00:08:25 Speaker 10: how do we prioritize what our

00:08:27 Speaker 10: needs are? So, we have our

00:08:29 Speaker 10: building condition assessments, and we do

00:08:30 Speaker 10: use our building condition assessments when

00:08:32 Speaker 10: you're looking at a ten year

00:08:36 Speaker 10: plan for. Ten-year plan for such

00:08:38 Speaker 10: a you know so many assets.

00:08:40 Speaker 10: We do rely on that to

00:08:41 Speaker 10: give us a guide. So it's

00:08:43 Speaker 10: not like it's gospel, but it

00:08:46 Speaker 10: is a guide for us to

00:08:47 Speaker 10: use, and it does provide us

00:08:49 Speaker 10: with that ten-year outlook. Even though

00:08:52 Speaker 10: it is just based on inflationary,

00:08:54 Speaker 10: it still gives us something that

00:08:55 Speaker 10: we can start with. We use

00:08:57 Speaker 10: our ten-year capital plan in which

00:08:59 Speaker 10: we work with finance in order

00:09:01 Speaker 10: to put together, and then of

00:09:03 Speaker 10: course we have staff input and

00:09:07 Speaker 10: consultation. from outside sources. So this

00:09:08 Speaker 10: is just an example of what

00:09:10 Speaker 10: our building condition assessments look like,

00:09:11 Speaker 10: and again, they give us a

00:09:15 Speaker 10: value of what the replacement would

00:09:17 Speaker 10: be, and again, what it might

00:09:19 Speaker 10: be in future dollars. And it

00:09:21 Speaker 10: also gives us an idea of

00:09:22 Speaker 10: what we have right now, materials

00:09:24 Speaker 11: that are being used, and what

00:09:27 Speaker 11: we're using at the current time.

00:09:28 Speaker 11: We do a lot of visual

00:09:29 Speaker 11: inspections, so we do have custodians

00:09:31 Speaker 12: on site every day at all

00:09:34 Speaker 12: of our our sites, we have

00:09:35 Speaker 12: property supervisors that look after any

00:09:38 Speaker 12: of the maintenance, operating any concerns

00:09:40 Speaker 12: that might happen with the the

00:09:42 Speaker 12: building, and we have an architectural

00:09:43 Speaker 12: and design manager who puts together

00:09:46 Speaker 12: all of our capital projects and

00:09:47 Speaker 12: manages the the projects themselves. And

00:09:51 Speaker 12: we work with a number of

00:09:53 Speaker 12: consultants. So for cost estimation, if

00:09:54 Speaker 12: we're looking at our one to

00:09:55 Speaker 12: two windows, so for instance, things

00:09:59 Speaker 12: that we're going to be doing

00:10:01 Speaker 12: in 2026 or 27, we would

00:10:04 Speaker 12: look at previous years' tenders. So,

00:10:06 Speaker 12: for instance, tenders, especially since COVID,

00:10:07 Speaker 12: have changed quite a bit. So,

00:10:08 Speaker 12: we saw steel going up, and

00:10:10 Speaker 12: now we see steel coming down.

00:10:12 Speaker 12: So, we have a look at

00:10:14 Speaker 12: what those tender results were over

00:10:16 Speaker 12: the last few years. We use

00:10:19 Speaker 12: square foot calculations for things like

00:10:21 Speaker 12: roofs, parking lots, concrete flooring, that

00:10:23 Speaker 12: sort of thing. We also look

00:10:24 Speaker 12: at, so for instance, steel. We

00:10:25 Speaker 12: know that there's tariffs on steel.

00:10:27 Speaker 12: So, when we're putting out our

00:10:28 Speaker 12: RFP right now, we would ask

00:10:29 Speaker 12: that Canadian steel. We would ask

00:10:31 Speaker 12: that Canadians still be used. So

00:10:34 Speaker 12: we look at some of those

00:10:35 Speaker 12: ways in order to maintain our

00:10:37 Speaker 12: costs. We use unit costs for

00:10:39 Speaker 12: determining bathroom and kitchen rebuilds. So,

00:10:40 Speaker 12: for instance, we had a kitchen

00:10:42 Speaker 12: rebuild done two years ago, and

00:10:44 Speaker 12: it came in at this price

00:10:47 Speaker 12: per unit. Then we would look

00:10:49 Speaker 12: at pricing that or something similar

00:10:52 Speaker 12: to it. We also do use

00:10:54 Speaker 12: a consultant expertise for things like

00:10:55 Speaker 12: air makeups or elevators. Obviously, we

00:10:56 Speaker 12: don't have anybody in house that

00:10:58 Speaker 12: can do those, so we do

00:11:00 Speaker 12: go out and get. the expertise

00:11:01 Speaker 12: for that, and we ask our

00:11:03 Speaker 12: local suppliers about costing. We have

00:11:05 Speaker 12: a lot of great relationships for

00:11:06 Speaker 12: a big customer in a lot

00:11:07 Speaker 12: of our areas, so they're good

00:11:09 Speaker 12: to let us know what the

00:11:11 Speaker 12: trends might be. If there's doors,

00:11:12 Speaker 12: they see a cost that you

00:11:13 Speaker 12: know storm doors are going to

00:11:16 Speaker 12: rise in the next year or

00:11:17 Speaker 12: something that, and we will often

00:11:22 Speaker 12: adjust our our calculations or sometimes

00:11:23 Speaker 12: even our projects based on local

00:11:25 Speaker 12: input. When we're looking at

00:11:26 Speaker 12: that three to five year window,

00:11:28 Speaker 12: again we're relying more on that

00:11:29 Speaker 12: building. condition assessment. It's really difficult

00:11:31 Speaker 12: to determine what a price will

00:11:35 Speaker 12: be three years out. So we'll

00:11:35 Speaker 12: look at what that inflated or

00:11:37 Speaker 12: that inflationary rate is, and then

00:11:40 Speaker 12: we'll also look at the trend.

00:11:42 Speaker 12: So we know right now if

00:11:44 Speaker 12: you know steel was up two

00:11:48 Speaker 12: years ago and it was already

00:11:49 Speaker 12: beyond the the rate of inflation

00:11:50 Speaker 12: that was was already guesstimated for

00:11:52 Speaker 12: the for five years from now,

00:11:55 Speaker 12: then we will look at that

00:11:56 Speaker 12: and we'll make notes on on

00:11:58 Speaker 12: why we're we're making some of

00:12:01 Speaker 12: those. changes, and for six years

00:12:03 Speaker 12: to ten years, we basically do

00:12:05 Speaker 12: use our unit pricing, and then

00:12:06 Speaker 12: again, putting in any of those

00:12:07 Speaker 12: projected labour costs that we might

00:12:09 Speaker 12: see based on trends. So it's

00:12:11 Speaker 12: really a guessing game from the

00:12:12 Speaker 12: six to ten year, and that's

00:12:14 Speaker 12: why we do focus more on

00:12:16 Speaker 12: our year one and year two

00:12:19 Speaker 12: when we're looking at costs. Now,

00:12:21 Speaker 12: when it comes to determining what

00:12:22 Speaker 12: needs to be done, we'll often

00:12:23 Speaker 12: prioritize based on what we're seeing

00:12:25 Speaker 12: in our in our units. So

00:12:27 Speaker 12: for instance, we may have a

00:12:29 Speaker 12: roof that we thought might only

00:12:29 Speaker 12: have two years left, but it's

00:12:31 Speaker 12: looking okay. And over here, we've

00:12:33 Speaker 12: got a roof that we thought

00:12:35 Speaker 12: might have four years, and you

00:12:36 Speaker 12: know we're reporting issues with it.

00:12:37 Speaker 12: Any equipment that we're having issues

00:12:39 Speaker 12: with, so for instance, if we've

00:12:40 Speaker 12: an HVAC and we look and

00:12:42 Speaker 12: we think, okay, we've had this

00:12:44 Speaker 12: amount of dollars in the last

00:12:46 Speaker 12: in repairs in the last two

00:12:47 Speaker 12: years, we should probably move that

00:12:49 Speaker 12: up. And yes, our windows will

00:12:50 Speaker 12: probably last another year, so we'll

00:12:52 Speaker 12: move those forward. So we do

00:12:53 Speaker 12: look at what is going on

00:12:55 Speaker 12: in the. building, and that's the

00:12:58 Speaker 12: nice part about having someone in

00:12:59 Speaker 12: the building every day. Is that

00:13:00 Speaker 12: and management there every week that

00:13:02 Speaker 12: you know there is going to

00:13:04 Speaker 12: be things like that recorded, so

00:13:06 Speaker 12: we can easily figure out if

00:13:07 Speaker 12: there's anything that needs to be

00:13:09 Speaker 12: changed. And we also sometimes have

00:13:11 Speaker 12: emergency situations that come up. We

00:13:12 Speaker 12: might have an elevator that goes

00:13:15 Speaker 12: down or something like that that

00:13:17 Speaker 12: may end up costing us some

00:13:18 Speaker 12: funds too. And again, we look

00:13:19 Speaker 12: within our year if we can

00:13:20 Speaker 12: make it work or if we

00:13:21 Speaker 12: can find parts to get us

00:13:24 Speaker 12: through. to the next year and

00:13:26 Speaker 12: put it back into the budget

00:13:29 Speaker 12: for the next year, our funding

00:13:30 Speaker 12: sources are levy, provincial funds, federal

00:13:32 Speaker 12: funds, and reserves. With our levy,

00:13:34 Speaker 12: we have an average increase of

00:13:36 Speaker 12: about seven point nine one over

00:13:39 Speaker 12: the ten last ten years. That's

00:13:41 Speaker 12: our annual increase, and that does

00:13:44 Speaker 12: allow us to maintain the repairs

00:13:46 Speaker 12: that we need to do and

00:13:46 Speaker 12: still remain and still keeps us

00:13:48 Speaker 12: as flush. If we didn't have

00:13:50 Speaker 12: that increase, then we would not

00:13:52 Speaker 12: be able to maintain the buildings.

00:13:55 Speaker 12: that we are, that the way

00:13:59 Speaker 12: we are, and we would also

00:14:02 Speaker 12: see, you know, a decrease in

00:14:03 Speaker 12: in the value of of our

00:14:04 Speaker 12: housing. Provincial funding, the Canada Ontario

00:14:08 Speaker 12: Community Housing Initiative does have a

00:14:10 Speaker 12: component of it that we can

00:14:12 Speaker 12: use for either new development or

00:14:15 Speaker 12: capital repairs. It's around five thousand

00:14:16 Speaker 12: to seven thousand dollars, or sorry,

00:14:18 Speaker 12: five hundred thousand to seven hundred

00:14:20 Speaker 12: thousand dollars a year. So it

00:14:22 Speaker 12: does it does. give us a

00:14:24 Speaker 12: bit of money. That money changes

00:14:26 Speaker 12: from year to year, depending on

00:14:27 Speaker 12: what we get from the province.

00:14:30 Speaker 12: It's also supposed to be used

00:14:31 Speaker 12: for our nonprofits. So it stretched

00:14:32 Speaker 12: over all of the multiple many

00:14:34 Speaker 12: many units that we have. It's

00:14:36 Speaker 12: not a lot, but it does

00:14:38 Speaker 12: help out. And we did some

00:14:40 Speaker 12: use some of this safe restart

00:14:42 Speaker 12: funding for our air makeup unit

00:14:44 Speaker 12: replacements. A lot of our buildings

00:14:45 Speaker 12: were built in chunks, and so

00:14:46 Speaker 12: you know we have timeline chunks.

00:14:48 Speaker 12: So we have a lot of

00:14:48 Speaker 12: things. that always come up at

00:14:50 Speaker 12: the same time. So when you've

00:14:52 Speaker 12: got eight roofs that all need

00:14:53 Speaker 12: to be done within a couple

00:14:56 Speaker 12: years, and eight air makeup systems

00:14:58 Speaker 12: that need to be done, the

00:15:00 Speaker 12: safe restart funding was was a

00:15:02 Speaker 12: great asset for us. Federal funding;

00:15:05 Speaker 12: these are one time dollars. The

00:15:07 Speaker 12: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation had

00:15:09 Speaker 12: a project out for affordable housing

00:15:12 Speaker 12: repairs, so we did apply and

00:15:14 Speaker 12: we were successful in obtaining the

00:15:15 Speaker 12: funds. They pay for thirty percent

00:15:20 Speaker 12: of the overall funding in in

00:15:21 Speaker 12: the. Funding in the three years

00:15:22 Speaker 13: that were the two years that

00:15:25 Speaker 12: we're using it, so that's did

00:15:27 Speaker 12: cause us to move up some

00:15:32 Speaker 12: of the projects, knowing that we

00:15:33 Speaker 12: could get 30% of of them

00:15:34 Speaker 12: funded by by the feds. That

00:15:37 Speaker 12: fund does not exist anymore. And

00:15:38 Speaker 12: reserves. So we do have a

00:15:41 Speaker 12: number of reserves. We have our

00:15:42 Speaker 12: capital renewal and replacement, our computer

00:15:45 Speaker 12: reserve, our affordable housing fund, which

00:15:46 Speaker 12: is the one percent per year

00:15:48 Speaker 12: that's put into for development. That's

00:15:50 Speaker 12: put into it for development, and

00:15:51 Speaker 14: we have our Golden Town Capital

00:15:56 Speaker 14: Renewal Replacement. When we took over

00:15:58 Speaker 14: Golden Town in 2018, it came

00:16:00 Speaker 14: with a reserve, and we're still

00:16:02 Speaker 12: using that to for the repairs

00:16:05 Speaker 12: that are at those three buildings.

00:16:09 Speaker 12: As you can see, our Capital

00:16:11 Speaker 12: Renewal Replacement Reserve, we are with

00:16:12 Speaker 12: the seven percent that we're putting

00:16:15 Speaker 12: into it each year. We are

00:16:18 Speaker 12: looking at maintaining a healthy reserve.

00:16:20 Speaker 12: It's not huge, but it does.

00:16:25 Speaker 12: allow us that if in any

00:16:26 Speaker 12: year we did have an emergency

00:16:28 Speaker 12: repair or we saw some materials

00:16:30 Speaker 12: skyrocket, then we were we are

00:16:31 Speaker 12: able to to weather any of

00:16:33 Speaker 12: those changes. We have a five

00:16:35 Speaker 12: year capital spreadsheet that we're using

00:16:37 Speaker 12: right now, and it's an internal

00:16:38 Speaker 12: staff tool that we've developed in

00:16:39 Speaker 12: order to review the capital plan.

00:16:40 Speaker 12: So it allows us to look

00:16:42 Speaker 12: at what our our budget and

00:16:45 Speaker 12: what our actual is. It allows

00:16:47 Speaker 12: us to keep track of you

00:16:49 Speaker 12: know what money is going in

00:16:52 Speaker 12: and out, how we're doing for

00:16:54 Speaker 12: the year, and it includes any

00:16:55 Speaker 12: changes that that might come along.

00:16:57 Speaker 12: We do have monthly meetings to

00:16:59 Speaker 12: update our capital tracker, monitor changes,

00:17:01 Speaker 12: and to talk about you know

00:17:04 Speaker 12: any projects that are maybe not

00:17:06 Speaker 12: going off the rails a little

00:17:09 Speaker 12: bit, or that are delayed, or

00:17:10 Speaker 12: ones that we feel we may

00:17:12 Speaker 12: have to move up or move

00:17:13 Speaker 12: down in years to come. We've

00:17:15 Speaker 12: just started working with our Questica

00:17:19 Speaker 12: capital. model, and excited that we'll

00:17:22 Speaker 12: be able to no longer have

00:17:24 Speaker 12: to use our Excel spreadsheet, and

00:17:27 Speaker 12: that we will be able to

00:17:29 Speaker 12: switch over to a better system

00:17:30 Speaker 12: with that. Energy efficiencies—we are always

00:17:32 Speaker 12: looking at energy efficiencies within our

00:17:34 Speaker 12: buildings when we're doing replacements. Air

00:17:37 Speaker 12: makeups, of course, are that are

00:17:39 Speaker 12: programmemable. That are have been one

00:17:42 Speaker 12: of our things that we've been

00:17:44 Speaker 12: putting in lately. Our windows, our

00:17:48 Speaker 12: plumbing fixtures, and also our LED

00:17:49 Speaker 12: lighting. The LED lighting, we have

00:17:52 Speaker 12: noticed a difference in our in

00:17:56 Speaker 12: our cost for electricity, even in

00:17:59 Speaker 12: this building. So that has been

00:18:01 Speaker 12: quite a good investment. We've had

00:18:03 Speaker 12: a couple of programmemes. So we

00:18:09 Speaker 12: worked with the energy programme through

00:18:10 Speaker 12: Erin. I've forgotten. Thank you. Clear

00:18:13 Speaker 12: result, and we were able to

00:18:14 Speaker 12: get a number of different features.

00:18:15 Speaker 12: We were able to get appliances

00:18:17 Speaker 12: replaced, washers and dryers, light bulbs.

00:18:20 Speaker 12: So we've saved quite a bit

00:18:21 Speaker 12: of money on that. And same

00:18:22 Speaker 12: with our heat pumps. We were

00:18:24 Speaker 12: able to get heat pumps into

00:18:26 Speaker 12: our project at Victoria Village. It

00:18:26 Speaker 12: was electric heat there, and now

00:18:29 Speaker 12: with the heat pumps, we're able

00:18:31 Speaker 12: to save some money on that.

00:18:33 Speaker 15: That one is just recent, so

00:18:36 Speaker 15: I don't have any cost as

00:18:38 Speaker 15: to how much we are saving

00:18:39 Speaker 12: there. But I know we received

00:18:43 Speaker 12: about over six hundred thousand dollars

00:18:45 Speaker 12: worth of incentives through the. energy

00:18:46 Speaker 12: programme through Clear Result. We have

00:18:48 Speaker 12: a number of major capital projects

00:18:50 Speaker 12: coming up. We have a couple

00:18:53 Speaker 12: of elevator replacements. We have, or

00:18:56 Speaker 12: sorry, it is two elevators that

00:18:58 Speaker 12: are being replaced at our high

00:19:01 Speaker 12: rise. They are original to the

00:19:03 Speaker 12: building and definitely in need replacement.

00:19:09 Speaker 16: We have a kitchen rebuild. We

00:19:13 Speaker 12: have in suite radiators in which

00:19:17 Speaker 12: we're looking at putting new ones

00:19:20 Speaker 12: in and window replacements. coming up.

00:19:21 Speaker 12: So these are our 2025, 20,

00:19:23 Speaker 12: 26 larger capital projects that we

00:19:25 Speaker 12: have going. Some of our risks.

00:19:28 Speaker 12: So locally, local contracting capacities. Sometimes

00:19:29 Speaker 12: there isn't always the availability right

00:19:32 Speaker 12: away for some of our needs.

00:19:35 Speaker 12: So that continues to be a

00:19:37 Speaker 12: bit of a risk for us.

00:19:40 Speaker 12: Obviously, supplier timelines. Trying to get

00:19:42 Speaker 12: some parts, especially if they're

00:19:46 Speaker 12: not. made in Canada, can often

00:19:49 Speaker 12: take time. Some of our external

00:19:50 Speaker 12: stakeholders, we don't always have control

00:19:51 Speaker 12: over their timelines or or who

00:19:52 Speaker 12: might be coming to our buildings.

00:19:53 Speaker 12: Unforecasted requirements, code requirements, elevators are

00:19:55 Speaker 12: once are famous for new codes

00:19:56 Speaker 12: coming in, and then we have

00:19:58 Speaker 12: to have somebody come in and

00:20:01 Speaker 12: and make sure that we get

00:20:03 Speaker 12: up to code. And of course,

00:20:05 Speaker 12: we can't always foresee those, so

00:20:06 Speaker 12: they're not always budgeted. So those

00:20:09 Speaker 12: are sometimes things that have an

00:20:10 Speaker 12: impact to our budget. finance-related funding

00:20:11 Speaker 12: approval timelines from the province can

00:20:12 Speaker 12: always be a challenge. When it

00:20:15 Speaker 12: comes to some of our budgets,

00:20:18 Speaker 17: we just received our co-ee allocation

00:20:21 Speaker 18: last week, so of course we

00:20:24 Speaker 18: didn't know it in order to

00:20:28 Speaker 19: be able to budget for it

00:20:34 Speaker 19: this year. And inflationary pressures, and

00:20:36 Speaker 19: of course, recently tariffs. And I'd

00:20:37 Speaker 19: be happy to answer any question.

00:20:39 Speaker 20: Thank you, Anne Marie. Lots of

00:20:42 Speaker 20: things go into the decision making.

00:20:43 Speaker 20: Councillor Nielsen, thank you very much,

00:20:45 Speaker 21: Chair. Just a question regarding like

00:20:48 Speaker 22: unit turnover and inspections. We're saying

00:20:51 Speaker 22: we have a manager on site

00:20:53 Speaker 22: who's inspecting the building. Are they

00:20:54 Speaker 22: able to? I guess my question

00:20:56 Speaker 22: is, do they only enter the

00:20:59 Speaker 22: in units when there's a complaint

00:21:01 Speaker 22: or or call service made? And

00:21:02 Speaker 22: then two, when it comes to

00:21:03 Speaker 12: budgeting, is it just a reserve

00:21:06 Speaker 12: that we have in terms of

00:21:08 Speaker 12: the turnover? and just if you

00:21:09 Speaker 12: can explain that, thanks. So it's

00:21:13 Speaker 12: part of our operating actually. So

00:21:14 Speaker 12: when if it's one of our

00:21:16 Speaker 12: apartment buildings, we have an operating

00:21:17 Speaker 12: line for turnovers, and we do

00:21:19 Speaker 12: annual inspections of all of our

00:21:21 Speaker 12: buildings, and we do have a

00:21:22 Speaker 12: maintenance request form for someone to

00:21:24 Speaker 12: put in. So if it's something

00:21:26 Speaker 12: small that our custodian can go

00:21:28 Speaker 12: in and do, they will. But

00:21:29 Speaker 12: often, maybe it could require a

00:21:30 Speaker 12: plumber or something like that. So

00:21:32 Speaker 23: that does come out of our

00:21:37 Speaker 24: operating. We base that based on

00:21:44 Speaker 24: previous years. So, in the last

00:21:46 Speaker 25: three years, we spent this much.

00:21:49 Speaker 26: We're hoping that we're only going

00:21:52 Speaker 26: to spend that much at that

00:21:54 Speaker 27: time. So, that is how that's

00:21:57 Speaker 27: done. Any other questions in the

00:21:59 Speaker 28: committee? Councillor Gregg, sorry if the

00:22:01 Speaker 28: question has been asked already, but

00:22:05 Speaker 29: the increases in the ten-year capital

00:22:09 Speaker 29: projections are those already accounted. for

00:22:11 Speaker 30: in the asset management plan increase

00:22:13 Speaker 31: that we've already counted for in

00:22:28 Speaker 32: the levy, or is that proposed

00:22:32 Speaker 33: new spending above and beyond those

00:22:35 Speaker 33: already built-in increases in the AMP?

00:22:40 Speaker 34: Sorry, that question would be then

00:22:43 Speaker 35: for this, as well as the

00:22:45 Speaker 33: tourism and economic development, is similar.

00:22:49 Speaker 33: Thank you for the question. So,

00:22:50 Speaker 33: in the budget, we allocate 100%

00:22:54 Speaker 36: of the asset management plan dollars

00:22:58 Speaker 37: to transportation, and anything else is

00:23:00 Speaker 38: above that because the bulk of

00:23:03 Speaker 38: the asset management plan, of course,

00:23:04 Speaker 33: is infrastructure. So, anything that you

00:23:07 Speaker 33: see as a levy increase is

00:23:09 Speaker 33: that's that's 100 above the the

00:23:10 Speaker 33: asset management plan, and I'd say

00:23:16 Speaker 33: probably the same with most municipalities.

00:23:18 Speaker 33: There's there's never enough money, so

00:23:21 Speaker 33: they housing does a very good

00:23:26 Speaker 33: job of prioritizing based on how

00:23:28 Speaker 33: much money there is and what

00:23:32 Speaker 33: you can do with the funds.

00:23:34 Speaker 33: The same as the other departments.

00:23:36 Speaker 33: One other thing I'll say. So,

00:23:39 Speaker 39: Amory mentioned in her presentation the

00:23:42 Speaker 40: transitional housing units and the supportive

00:23:45 Speaker 40: housing units. So, the the one

00:23:51 Speaker 40: over by Salvation Army and the

00:23:52 Speaker 41: former motel down the street. Both

00:23:54 Speaker 42: of those were not in the

00:23:57 Speaker 42: twenty twenty three asset management plan

00:24:00 Speaker 42: because they did not exist. So,

00:24:03 Speaker 42: those will create a change when

00:24:04 Speaker 42: we present the next. asset management

00:24:09 Speaker 42: plan, so I don't know if

00:24:10 Speaker 42: it's been asked yet, but when

00:24:12 Speaker 42: we look at increases of seven

00:24:15 Speaker 42: percent, ten percent, twenty-two percent, ten

00:24:18 Speaker 42: percent, seven percent, has it been

00:24:21 Speaker 42: asked at what point we can't

00:24:22 Speaker 42: afford that? And can staff report

00:24:24 Speaker 42: back to council as to what

00:24:27 Speaker 42: four percent or five percent per

00:24:28 Speaker 42: year would look like? Because those

00:24:30 Speaker 42: are just simply unsustainable increases, and

00:24:32 Speaker 42: what what happens after the ten

00:24:34 Speaker 42: years? Do we do we stay

00:24:37 Speaker 42: on a continuum of asking the

00:24:40 Speaker 42: taxpayer for another seven percent, nine

00:24:43 Speaker 42: percent, ten percent? Because there's a

00:24:45 Speaker 42: lot of taxpayers in Gray County

00:24:49 Speaker 42: said would say that's just not

00:24:51 Speaker 42: something that we can sustain. And

00:24:54 Speaker 42: we had incredible growth numbers at

00:24:56 Speaker 42: the County of Gray since 2018,

00:24:57 Speaker 42: and it is expended. And at

00:24:59 Speaker 42: some point, I. think we've got

00:25:02 Speaker 42: to come to a discussion about

00:25:04 Speaker 42: evaluating that ten-year capital, the

00:25:06 Speaker 42: three-year capital, the five-year capital, and

00:25:08 Speaker 42: we assess it like you would

00:25:09 Speaker 42: assess a bridge in your own

00:25:11 Speaker 42: municipality. You would take a look

00:25:15 Speaker 42: at your your bridge inspection report,

00:25:17 Speaker 42: and many municipalities have said we

00:25:18 Speaker 42: can't afford it. Some municipalities started

00:25:20 Speaker 42: closing bridges thirty years ago, but

00:25:23 Speaker 42: I think at some point we

00:25:25 Speaker 42: have to have a discussion about

00:25:27 Speaker 43: what we can afford. and and

00:25:29 Speaker 43: that's not to speak ill of

00:25:31 Speaker 43: the report or or the efforts

00:25:33 Speaker 43: of staff. You're doing a great

00:25:34 Speaker 42: job with with what with the

00:25:38 Speaker 42: resources you have and operationally trying

00:25:44 Speaker 42: to contain the the budget increases

00:25:49 Speaker 42: as best you can. But when

00:25:51 Speaker 42: it comes to oking as a

00:25:52 Speaker 42: budget committee, those types of projected

00:25:56 Speaker 44: increases, I think it it behooves

00:25:59 Speaker 44: us to have a much greater

00:26:02 Speaker 45: discussion and much more insight into.

00:26:05 Speaker 45: just the the extent of those

00:26:08 Speaker 45: expenditures, because I think there's a

00:26:12 Speaker 45: reasonable discussion to be had that

00:26:14 Speaker 45: those increases are just not sustainable

00:26:16 Speaker 45: and affordable. Thank you, sir. Despite

00:26:18 Speaker 46: the fact that we're not building

00:26:21 Speaker 46: a budget today, those are good

00:26:22 Speaker 47: questions. The presentation was simply to

00:26:26 Speaker 47: demonstrate how the requests. How the

00:26:30 Speaker 47: request is determined, and what might

00:26:35 Speaker 47: be needed to maintain our buildings

00:26:37 Speaker 47: or our assets at the current

00:26:39 Speaker 47: state of repair. Once we get

00:26:41 Speaker 47: to the budget, that's when those

00:26:42 Speaker 47: questions need to be asked and

00:26:43 Speaker 48: answers given. I would suggest, but

00:26:46 Speaker 48: good questions, but maybe not deeply

00:26:48 Speaker 48: deeply diving into that today. So

00:26:49 Speaker 48: I'm going to go across here

00:26:51 Speaker 48: and. I'm going to go across

00:26:53 Speaker 49: here, unless, and I'll come back

00:26:56 Speaker 49: to you. Is that all right?

00:26:58 Speaker 49: Order. Do you want a quick

00:27:01 Speaker 49: follow? All right, go ahead. Go

00:27:02 Speaker 49: ahead. My only follow up to

00:27:04 Speaker 49: that, I would agree with largely,

00:27:06 Speaker 49: but it it does leave staff

00:27:09 Speaker 49: in a very difficult position to

00:27:11 Speaker 49: be able to pivot in the

00:27:12 Speaker 50: moment without having any sort of

00:27:16 Speaker 51: preparation time to us to give

00:27:21 Speaker 51: options or further insight to counsel.

00:27:23 Speaker 52: Once you're into the budget process

00:27:26 Speaker 53: and you're right into that document,

00:27:29 Speaker 53: it's just hard. I think for

00:27:30 Speaker 54: any It's just hard, I think,

00:27:33 Speaker 54: for anyone to to exert that

00:27:34 Speaker 55: type of flexibility in the moment

00:27:37 Speaker 55: to to respond. But that would

00:27:38 Speaker 56: be my only comment there. Okay,

00:27:44 Speaker 56: Councillor Mackey, and then Councillor Nielsen.

00:27:45 Speaker 56: Thank you, Chair Millen, and through

00:27:46 Speaker 10: you to Anne Marie. The heat

00:27:49 Speaker 10: pumps that have been installed there

00:27:52 Speaker 10: are some issues with them. Can

00:27:54 Speaker 10: you just talk about the evaluation

00:27:56 Speaker 10: process? How long that is? to

00:27:59 Speaker 10: make sure that the cost benefit

00:28:03 Speaker 10: analysis is in the best interests

00:28:04 Speaker 10: of the the county. Thank you.

00:28:05 Speaker 10: So yeah, so like I said,

00:28:07 Speaker 10: the heat pumps have only been

00:28:08 Speaker 10: in for a little bit. We

00:28:10 Speaker 10: do not pay the heating bills

00:28:11 Speaker 10: at Victoria Village. It is our

00:28:13 Speaker 10: tenants that actually pay the heating

00:28:16 Speaker 10: bills, so the electrical bills. So

00:28:18 Speaker 10: the idea was to bring down

00:28:20 Speaker 10: that. so far we have not

00:28:21 Speaker 10: actually had to pay for the

00:28:24 Speaker 10: repairs. It has been Clear Result

00:28:27 Speaker 10: that has been doing any of

00:28:29 Speaker 10: the repairs that we've had. So

00:28:31 Speaker 10: I think we're a little probably

00:28:32 Speaker 31: too early to let to be

00:28:41 Speaker 31: able to say what the it

00:28:43 Speaker 31: might be, but it hasn't cost

00:28:44 Speaker 31: us anything. So at the same

00:28:46 Speaker 31: time we're hoping that this will

00:28:53 Speaker 31: bring down the cost of the

00:28:54 Speaker 31: electricity for our tenants. And Clear

00:28:55 Speaker 31: Result has it was a entirely

00:28:56 Speaker 12: free programme, and same with any

00:28:59 Speaker 12: of the concerns that that we're

00:29:00 Speaker 12: dealing with at this point. Thank

00:29:00 Speaker 12: you for that. Do we have

00:29:01 Speaker 12: an evaluation process, or are we

00:29:03 Speaker 12: planning on having an evaluation process

00:29:06 Speaker 12: to make sure that it's beneficial?

00:29:10 Speaker 12: Certainly. So we'll look at what

00:29:11 Speaker 12: the costs were. Again, we don't

00:29:13 Speaker 12: get those bills, but when we

00:29:14 Speaker 12: do have vacant units, we do

00:29:19 Speaker 19: get. You know, we pay for

00:29:21 Speaker 57: the heat. when no one's in

00:29:24 Speaker 58: there, so we will be able

00:29:27 Speaker 58: to tell if if the heating

00:29:28 Speaker 58: bills have come down. They had

00:29:30 Speaker 58: proven, or they had given us

00:29:32 Speaker 58: some information of of projects that

00:29:33 Speaker 58: they've done on other sites that

00:29:36 Speaker 58: did show a decrease. So we're

00:29:38 Speaker 58: hoping that we'll be able to

00:29:40 Speaker 58: replicate that for sure. Councillor Nielsen,

00:29:41 Speaker 58: thank you very much, Chair. In

00:29:43 Speaker 58: regards to provincial and federal funding

00:29:45 Speaker 58: that are coming, the can you

00:29:47 Speaker 58: just speak to the? consistency of

00:29:48 Speaker 58: the dollar figure? Like, is the

00:29:49 Speaker 59: dollar very similar month year over

00:29:53 Speaker 10: year over year for the Cochi

00:29:57 Speaker 10: funding, and then for the federal

00:29:59 Speaker 10: funding showing more for the capital

00:30:02 Speaker 10: side of projects? Is there federal

00:30:04 Speaker 10: or provincial funding that comes in

00:30:05 Speaker 10: that supports more of the operational

00:30:07 Speaker 10: side as the operations increase, given

00:30:08 Speaker 10: the age of the buildings and

00:30:09 Speaker 10: we're talking tenant turnover and stuff?

00:30:10 Speaker 10: So, can you speak to those

00:30:11 Speaker 10: two funding? So, the federal funding

00:30:12 Speaker 10: was one-time funding. So. there has

00:30:15 Speaker 10: not been nothing else announced. The

00:30:16 Speaker 10: provincial funding that we get is

00:30:18 Speaker 10: we just did receive our funding

00:30:20 Speaker 10: amounts and it has pretty much

00:30:23 Speaker 10: it's gone up slightly, but it

00:30:26 Speaker 10: does stay the same. And we

00:30:28 Speaker 10: have a whole bunch of things

00:30:29 Speaker 10: that we do with that funding,

00:30:31 Speaker 10: not just capital. We have to

00:30:33 Speaker 10: do rent supplements out of it,

00:30:36 Speaker 10: any new builds, anything that goes

00:30:39 Speaker 10: to maybe our our dorm hostels

00:30:41 Speaker 10: that we may be supporting. So

00:30:43 Speaker 10: we get the funding, but again,

00:30:45 Speaker 10: it's usually around that one point

00:30:47 Speaker 10: one million to one point. 1

00:30:50 Speaker 10: million to 1.3 to do everything.

00:30:52 Speaker 10: So only a certain part of

00:30:54 Speaker 31: that can go towards any capital

00:31:02 Speaker 60: or any new builds. So it

00:31:05 Speaker 60: is minimal. We receive no operating

00:31:07 Speaker 33: funds, hardly any operating funds anymore

00:31:10 Speaker 33: from from the nothing from the

00:31:11 Speaker 33: provincial funding. We do get a

00:31:15 Speaker 33: small amount for federal funding, which

00:31:18 Speaker 33: was going towards mortgages. Which as

00:31:20 Speaker 33: our mortgages have have gone away,

00:31:22 Speaker 33: it's gone down. So there's not

00:31:24 Speaker 33: a lot of funding coming in

00:31:26 Speaker 33: for housing from the feds or

00:31:29 Speaker 33: the province. Merlu, I just like

00:31:32 Speaker 33: to add some context. So, in

00:31:35 Speaker 33: two thousand one, there was a

00:31:38 Speaker 33: process called devolution, and that's where

00:31:40 Speaker 33: there were a number of services

00:31:46 Speaker 33: transferred from the province to our

00:31:48 Speaker 61: level, and it was to be

00:31:50 Speaker 33: what was called revenue neutral. So,

00:31:55 Speaker 33: at that time, they took a.

00:31:58 Speaker 33: Time they took away some things

00:32:00 Speaker 33: from us, and they gave us

00:32:03 Speaker 33: housing, paramedic services, provincial offences, etc.

00:32:04 Speaker 33: So at that time, the province

00:32:06 Speaker 33: knew that there was an aging

00:32:08 Speaker 33: infrastructure that was given to municipalities,

00:32:12 Speaker 33: and part of the thought process

00:32:14 Speaker 33: was they were streamlining delivery of

00:32:16 Speaker 33: services, and the level of government

00:32:17 Speaker 33: that was closest to the deliverable

00:32:20 Speaker 33: services was considered. the the most

00:32:25 Speaker 33: optimum place to be in charge

00:32:28 Speaker 33: of service. So it's it's a

00:32:31 Speaker 33: nice way of saying you're closer

00:32:32 Speaker 33: to the constituents, so you're more

00:32:34 Speaker 33: in tune with what's going on.

00:32:36 Speaker 33: But the fact is, we were

00:32:38 Speaker 33: given aging infrastructure, and then no

00:32:40 Speaker 62: further funds or one time funds,

00:32:46 Speaker 62: which are not predictable and sustainable.

00:32:48 Speaker 12: So then it becomes a cost

00:32:51 Speaker 12: to the property taxpayer. You're not

00:32:53 Speaker 63: wrong, Councillor Gray. Wrong, counselor Greg,

00:32:55 Speaker 63: but it is a balance. For

00:32:57 Speaker 63: example, Toronto boarded up units that

00:32:59 Speaker 63: they couldn't afford to fix. Is

00:33:05 Speaker 63: that what we want to do?

00:33:07 Speaker 63: And you're trying to ensure that

00:33:11 Speaker 63: people have a place to live

00:33:13 Speaker 63: because we have a substantial wait

00:33:15 Speaker 64: list, which Anne Marie can give

00:33:17 Speaker 65: numbers on. Yeah, our wait list

00:33:20 Speaker 65: right now is. up to around

00:33:22 Speaker 65: twenty three hundred, and usually about

00:33:24 Speaker 65: seventy percent are from Gray County

00:33:26 Speaker 65: on that list. So that's where

00:33:27 Speaker 65: we're at, definitely. And we are

00:33:29 Speaker 65: mandated to keep the buildings that

00:33:32 Speaker 65: we have. Thank you, Emory and

00:33:34 Speaker 65: Mary Lou, for that. Any other

00:33:38 Speaker 65: questions on this particular piece, Councillor

00:33:42 Speaker 65: Carlton? Thank you, Chairman. I guess

00:33:43 Speaker 65: on the same item that Councillor

00:33:45 Speaker 65: Greg was addressing. That Councillor Greg

00:33:47 Speaker 65: was addressing, when I look at

00:33:49 Speaker 65: that, say twenty twenty six and

00:33:51 Speaker 65: twenty twenty seven, where the increase

00:33:53 Speaker 65: in dollars would be two hundred

00:33:56 Speaker 65: thousand each year. If we cut

00:33:59 Speaker 66: that in half, we're at a

00:34:03 Speaker 66: hundred thousand. And how well are

00:34:04 Speaker 66: we maintaining our buildings on half

00:34:06 Speaker 67: the dollar value? Which means then

00:34:10 Speaker 67: the value that overall asset is

00:34:12 Speaker 67: now depreciating in worth. So I

00:34:14 Speaker 67: know ten and a half, nine

00:34:15 Speaker 67: and a half percent looks like.

00:34:17 Speaker 68: a lot, but if it's only

00:34:24 Speaker 69: two hundred thousand a year that's

00:34:27 Speaker 70: actually going to the maintenance of

00:34:30 Speaker 70: those assets, it's not a lot

00:34:32 Speaker 70: of money going in from that.

00:34:33 Speaker 71: If that's if I'm reading that

00:34:37 Speaker 72: correctly, thank you. And I just

00:34:42 Speaker 72: like to say too that in

00:34:43 Speaker 72: previous budgets, when we have had

00:34:46 Speaker 73: to lower, we have cut our

00:34:49 Speaker 73: capital in housing, and that's probably

00:34:50 Speaker 73: why we are looking. at increases

00:34:52 Speaker 73: right now, and why we are

00:34:53 Speaker 74: a bit behind in what we

00:34:58 Speaker 75: were doing. Okay. All right. Well,

00:35:02 Speaker 76: thank you, Anne Marie. And we

00:35:05 Speaker 77: will now go to a similar

00:35:09 Speaker 77: presentation from Economic Development, Tourism, and

00:35:15 Speaker 77: Culture. And Savannah is going to

00:35:23 Speaker 77: take this. Welcome, Savannah. The floor

00:35:46 Speaker 77: is yours. Good morning. Thank you

00:35:47 Speaker 74: very much. Oh, do you need

00:35:50 Speaker 74: me to switch this? I'm moving.

00:35:53 Speaker 74: You're so good at this. Excellent.

00:35:55 Speaker 74: Okay, so I'm going to talk

00:35:56 Speaker 74: to you this morning about Economic

00:35:58 Speaker 74: Development, Tourism, and Culture Department, and

00:35:59 Speaker 74: how we determine our capital budget.

00:36:01 Speaker 74: Um. Oh, okay. Hold on. Um,

00:36:04 Speaker 74: this notepad doesn't work either. Do

00:36:05 Speaker 74: you have a? Oh. Oh, you're

00:36:07 Speaker 74: going to test the glasses today.

00:36:08 Speaker 74: I clicked on the screen. I

00:36:10 Speaker 74: don't appreciate you. I don't like

00:36:12 Speaker 74: so deep. There we go. Thank

00:36:13 Speaker 74: you very much. Okay, so a

00:36:14 Speaker 74: little agenda for our presentation today:

00:36:17 Speaker 74: we're going to do a departmental

00:36:20 Speaker 74: overview really quickly, talk about some

00:36:21 Speaker 74: of the major capital assets we

00:36:23 Speaker 74: have, and then spend some time

00:36:25 Speaker 74: talking about how we identify our

00:36:27 Speaker 74: projects, where the funding sources are,

00:36:29 Speaker 74: a lot of time around the

00:36:30 Speaker 74: project planning and prioritization because this

00:36:32 Speaker 74: is something that. we spend a

00:36:33 Speaker 74: great deal of time on, and

00:36:35 Speaker 74: then determining and tracking our budget.

00:36:38 Speaker 74: And of course, if there's any

00:36:39 Speaker 74: questions throughout or at the end,

00:36:41 Speaker 74: just let me know. So, the

00:36:44 Speaker 74: Economic Development Tourism Culture (EDTC) department,

00:36:45 Speaker 74: we deliver in Economic Development and

00:36:48 Speaker 74: Tourism. So we include the Business

00:36:50 Speaker 74: Enterprise Centre, which does not have

00:36:51 Speaker 74: capital. Sydney Campus, Gray Bruce Local

00:36:53 Speaker 74: Immigration Partnership, which we had until

00:36:54 Speaker 74: March 31st of this year. It

00:36:56 Speaker 74: is no longer under Gray County.

00:36:59 Speaker 74: It is now with Bruce County,

00:37:01 Speaker 74: so that will be off of

00:37:03 Speaker 74: our books beginning. next year. Gray

00:37:08 Speaker 74: Roots Museum and Archives, and we

00:37:10 Speaker 74: have the main building, and then

00:37:13 Speaker 74: Morrison Heritage Village at Gray Roots.

00:37:15 Speaker 74: So thinking about our biggest assets,

00:37:17 Speaker 74: we really do have two massive

00:37:19 Speaker 74: facilities in our department. Gray Roots,

00:37:22 Speaker 74: the main building, is 40,000 square

00:37:24 Speaker 74: feet, and we sit on 20

00:37:25 Speaker 74: acres. And right beside it is,

00:37:27 Speaker 74: of course, our beautiful Morrison Heritage

00:37:29 Speaker 74: Village, which has 13 historic buildings,

00:37:31 Speaker 74: as well as a bandstand and

00:37:32 Speaker 74: a caboose, and that sits on

00:37:33 Speaker 74: 10 acres of that 20-acre property.

00:37:35 Speaker 74: Of that twenty-acre property, Sydney Campus

00:37:36 Speaker 74: is a ten-acre property, and that

00:37:37 Speaker 74: is forty-five thousand square feet, situated

00:37:39 Speaker 74: right beside Georgian College and the

00:37:41 Speaker 74: Harbour Owen Sound. And then we

00:37:43 Speaker 74: also have two vehicles in our

00:37:44 Speaker 74: department: one tourism vehicle and one

00:37:45 Speaker 74: Grey Roots van. And the van

00:37:46 Speaker 74: we use a lot for collection

00:37:47 Speaker 74: movement when we're going to people's

00:37:49 Speaker 74: homes to bring collections back, or

00:37:50 Speaker 74: when we need to move a

00:37:52 Speaker 74: bunch of people, but not too

00:37:53 Speaker 74: many. because we're not licenced for

00:37:54 Speaker 74: that. So just we'll keep that

00:37:56 Speaker 74: on the record that we only

00:37:58 Speaker 74: are transporting the number of people

00:38:00 Speaker 74: that we can. Having these two

00:38:02 Speaker 74: vehicles though saves us a ton

00:38:03 Speaker 74: of staff mileage because we're able

00:38:05 Speaker 74: to just fill the gas tank

00:38:07 Speaker 74: when we're going to all of

00:38:08 Speaker 74: the different meetings. And because our

00:38:10 Speaker 74: department spends a lot of time

00:38:11 Speaker 74: in the community, we really do

00:38:16 Speaker 74: everything we can to rely on

00:38:18 Speaker 74: taking these vehicles because it is

00:38:20 Speaker 74: a cost savings at the end

00:38:21 Speaker 74: of the day. We fully own

00:38:24 Speaker 74: both of them, and as you've

00:38:25 Speaker 74: heard in several budget conversations that

00:38:27 Speaker 74: we've had, we inspect them every

00:38:29 Speaker 74: year. They were. due for replacement

00:38:32 Speaker 74: years ago, but it makes no

00:38:33 Speaker 74: sense. They are working perfectly fine.

00:38:35 Speaker 74: They are well maintained. Our transportation

00:38:37 Speaker 74: department maintains them for us. So

00:38:39 Speaker 74: until we hit a day where

00:38:41 Speaker 74: that doesn't make sense anymore, we're

00:38:43 Speaker 74: going to keep rolling those forward.

00:38:44 Speaker 74: So thinking project identification, we really

00:38:45 Speaker 74: do take strategic direction first from

00:38:46 Speaker 74: the corporate strategic plan and then

00:38:48 Speaker 74: from our EDTC master plan. And

00:38:50 Speaker 74: one of the biggest changes that

00:38:51 Speaker 74: we made through that strategic direction,

00:38:53 Speaker 74: you'll remember from budget conversations as

00:38:56 Speaker 74: well. was around putting a hold

00:38:57 Speaker 74: on any new builds in Morrison

00:38:58 Speaker 74: Heritage Village for the next ten

00:39:01 Speaker 74: years, and that was a strategic

00:39:04 Speaker 74: decision because we're already struggling to

00:39:06 Speaker 74: maintain them. So that is part

00:39:08 Speaker 74: of where those strategic directions come

00:39:11 Speaker 74: from. And then, just like Anne

00:39:14 Speaker 74: Marie, and I'm sure many other

00:39:15 Speaker 74: departments as well, we really do

00:39:17 Speaker 74: rely on the building condition assessment

00:39:19 Speaker 74: to identify the status of our

00:39:20 Speaker 74: assets and projected replacement date and

00:39:23 Speaker 74: cost. But again, this is not

00:39:24 Speaker 74: used as a set in stone

00:39:26 Speaker 74: plan; it is a guide. And

00:39:29 Speaker 74: this is something that we are.

00:39:30 Speaker 74: constantly reviewing and doing those on-the-ground

00:39:31 Speaker 74: checks. So the funding sources we

00:39:33 Speaker 74: have, the majority of our capital

00:39:35 Speaker 74: budget is funded from reserves, which

00:39:37 Speaker 74: are built through annual levy contributions.

00:39:39 Speaker 74: Where it's appropriate, we will look

00:39:41 Speaker 74: for grants and sponsorship to offset

00:39:42 Speaker 78: those county contributions. Or sometimes, on

00:39:48 Speaker 74: rare occasions, we're able to leverage

00:39:51 Speaker 74: other county commitments and we're able

00:39:52 Speaker 74: to fully fund capital projects. So

00:39:54 Speaker 74: two examples of that are the

00:39:56 Speaker 74: Thomas Weldon Theatre and the makerspace

00:39:57 Speaker 74: equipment. which were federally funded, and

00:40:00 Speaker 74: then with our vehicles, when it

00:40:01 Speaker 74: does come time, or any other

00:40:04 Speaker 74: assets that we have, we would

00:40:07 Speaker 74: look for fair market value when

00:40:09 Speaker 74: it is time to sell them,

00:40:10 Speaker 74: and those proceeds would then offset

00:40:12 Speaker 74: the cost of that new acquisition.

00:40:14 Speaker 74: So the vehicles are a good

00:40:15 Speaker 74: example of that. Project planning and

00:40:18 Speaker 74: prioritization, as I mentioned at the

00:40:19 Speaker 74: beginning, this is an area that

00:40:21 Speaker 74: we spend a lot of time

00:40:23 Speaker 74: thinking about and looking at. Thinking

00:40:24 Speaker 74: about and looking about, so we

00:40:26 Speaker 74: do a lot of on-the-ground assessments

00:40:27 Speaker 74: and review to make sure that

00:40:28 Speaker 74: what is in that BCA is

00:40:29 Speaker 74: actually what makes sense. That the

00:40:31 Speaker 74: timelines look accurate. Sometimes things break

00:40:32 Speaker 74: sooner than anticipated, so I've got

00:40:34 Speaker 74: a couple examples up here. So

00:40:35 Speaker 74: the Honda Pilot and our riding

00:40:37 Speaker 74: lawnmower, they are fine. So we

00:40:38 Speaker 74: keep pushing those back, even though

00:40:40 Speaker 74: our assessments are telling us that

00:40:42 Speaker 74: they should be done now. Our

00:40:44 Speaker 74: visual assessments and condition assessments that

00:40:46 Speaker 74: we are doing tells us

00:40:48 Speaker 74: that we can push those. back,

00:40:49 Speaker 74: but the Synem exterior doors, for

00:40:53 Speaker 74: example, that was in our BCA

00:40:55 Speaker 74: for a couple of years. From

00:40:58 Speaker 74: now, we had to move that

00:40:59 Speaker 74: forward because the wind was blowing

00:41:01 Speaker 74: them open, and that's a security

00:41:04 Speaker 74: concern when we've got alarms going

00:41:06 Speaker 74: off at night and staff coming

00:41:08 Speaker 74: in. Same with the schoolhouse roof,

00:41:11 Speaker 74: which you've got a report coming

00:41:12 Speaker 74: back again tomorrow because the roof

00:41:13 Speaker 74: is failing earlier than expected. So

00:41:15 Speaker 74: those are being brought forward. Our

00:41:16 Speaker 74: Gray County Gallery replacement and makerspace

00:41:18 Speaker 74: development; those projects were prioritized because

00:41:20 Speaker 74: we were able to leverage funding.

00:41:23 Speaker 74: So fifty. So 50% funding from

00:41:27 Speaker 74: the federal government for our gray

00:41:28 Speaker 74: gallery replacement, and then with the

00:41:31 Speaker 74: makerspace it was 100% because it

00:41:32 Speaker 74: was leveraging other dollars that the

00:41:35 Speaker 74: county had invested in Sydney, and

00:41:37 Speaker 74: gray roots reserve contributions. These are

00:41:39 Speaker 74: something that are continuing to rise,

00:41:40 Speaker 79: and that really is due to

00:41:43 Speaker 74: the reality of costing. So when

00:41:46 Speaker 74: we are doing those ground truth

00:41:47 Speaker 74: assessments and we're talking to our

00:41:50 Speaker 74: contractors and we're looking at trends,

00:41:51 Speaker 74: we're trying to understand what the

00:41:52 Speaker 74: costs are going to be. COVID

00:41:54 Speaker 74: kind of broke our good system

00:41:55 Speaker 74: of understanding that regular inflation. It

00:41:57 Speaker 74: is not like that anymore. Costs

00:42:00 Speaker 74: are rising significantly, and now you

00:42:02 Speaker 74: add tariffs on top of it

00:42:03 Speaker 74: and supply chain concerns. It is

00:42:04 Speaker 74: absolutely impacting our ability to, you

00:42:07 Speaker 74: know, look towards the future and

00:42:08 Speaker 74: figure out what those costs are

00:42:10 Speaker 74: going to be. So when we're

00:42:13 Speaker 74: determining our budget, the majority of

00:42:14 Speaker 74: our capital budget is focused on

00:42:16 Speaker 74: maintaining two facilities. So normally, when

00:42:18 Speaker 74: we think about capital, we think

00:42:20 Speaker 74: about big, shiny, new things. But

00:42:23 Speaker 74: that's not the reality of what

00:42:26 Speaker 74: our capital budget is. It really

00:42:28 Speaker 74: is focused on maintenance and maintaining

00:42:31 Speaker 74: what we have. So anytime we're

00:42:33 Speaker 74: looking to add something new, we

00:42:34 Speaker 74: would be doing a business case

00:42:37 Speaker 74: to understand what are those future

00:42:39 Speaker 74: operating and capital budget implications because

00:42:41 Speaker 74: it would be net new to

00:42:44 Speaker 74: the budget as a whole. Looking

00:42:50 Speaker 74: at our BCA for gray roots,

00:42:52 Speaker 74: there are 86 different line items

00:42:54 Speaker 74: that are covered in there, and

00:42:56 Speaker 74: that's between the buildings. the equipment

00:42:58 Speaker 74: that's within those buildings, things like

00:42:59 Speaker 74: heat pumps, water softeners, fire roof,

00:43:00 Speaker 74: all of those items get captured

00:43:01 Speaker 74: in that BCA and gives us

00:43:04 Speaker 74: that kind of line of sight

00:43:05 Speaker 74: as to where things will go.

00:43:08 Speaker 74: And for Sydenham Campus, we have

00:43:10 Speaker 74: sixty-six line items as well. Then

00:43:11 Speaker 74: we also do annual contributions to

00:43:13 Speaker 74: prepare for cyclical expenses, so things

00:43:14 Speaker 74: like gallery updates, riding lawnmower, equipment

00:43:16 Speaker 74: improvement. websites because those are expensive,

00:43:18 Speaker 74: so we try and save for

00:43:19 Speaker 74: them each year, so that we

00:43:22 Speaker 74: don't have these spikes coming to

00:43:26 Speaker 74: you in budgets that we can

00:43:29 Speaker 74: try and balance things a little

00:43:32 Speaker 74: bit better. And we'll look at

00:43:36 Speaker 74: that when we do get to

00:43:38 Speaker 74: the last two budget slides. So

00:43:40 Speaker 74: we do try really hard to

00:43:42 Speaker 80: maintain a modest annual contribution to

00:43:48 Speaker 80: our reserves, but it is getting

00:43:49 Speaker 80: more difficult due to pricing swings.

00:43:50 Speaker 80: But I do want to

00:43:52 Speaker 80: make a note too that the

00:43:54 Speaker 80: percentage. increase is deceiving, and I

00:43:54 Speaker 74: really struggle with percentages versus the

00:43:58 Speaker 74: dollar value itself. Because when you

00:43:59 Speaker 74: look at the EDTC percent, for

00:44:01 Speaker 74: example, 2.03% in 2028 is actually

00:44:02 Speaker 74: $2,300 is what that equates to.

00:44:04 Speaker 74: The 22.2% increase at Gray Roots

00:44:06 Speaker 74: in 2026 is actually $22,500. So

00:44:08 Speaker 74: even though the percentages look large,

00:44:09 Speaker 74: the actual dollar amounts are low

00:44:11 Speaker 74: because our overall dollar amounts are

00:44:15 Speaker 74: low. So that practice of how

00:44:17 Speaker 74: do we come together to determine

00:44:18 Speaker 74: the budget? We really are monitoring

00:44:19 Speaker 74: throughout the year, understanding where the

00:44:22 Speaker 74: year-end projections might be, so

00:44:24 Speaker 74: that we know we can go

00:44:26 Speaker 74: into reserve, looking at that reserve

00:44:29 Speaker 74: continuity plan, so that we can

00:44:30 Speaker 74: try and save those spikes along

00:44:31 Speaker 74: the way and keep things as

00:44:33 Speaker 74: flat as possible. So we're always

00:44:35 Speaker 74: looking at new estimates and timing,

00:44:37 Speaker 74: inflation, supply chain, and then what

00:44:38 Speaker 74: is in our strategy? What are

00:44:40 Speaker 74: we, you know, supposed to be

00:44:42 Speaker 74: doing? No supposed to be doing,

00:44:44 Speaker 74: and assessing future impacts. In years

00:44:46 Speaker 74: one to three, we do a

00:44:47 Speaker 81: lot of comparing estimates in the

00:44:49 Speaker 81: BCA with real time information. So

00:44:51 Speaker 81: we get that from contractors having

00:44:52 Speaker 81: contractors and staff evaluate. The one

00:44:54 Speaker 81: interesting part about our department, which

00:44:55 Speaker 81: we're very excited to have Aaron

00:44:57 Speaker 81: in his new role, is that

00:44:59 Speaker 81: we have two large facilities, and

00:45:00 Speaker 74: I don't actually have a facilities

00:45:03 Speaker 74: manager at all in my department.

00:45:05 Speaker 74: So I have facilities technicians who

00:45:06 Speaker 74: can do on the ground repairs,

00:45:08 Speaker 74: but I don't. have anyone strategically

00:45:09 Speaker 74: looking at it. So it's pulling

00:45:11 Speaker 74: Jill and Steve and me and

00:45:12 Speaker 74: Aaron where we can, and it's

00:45:13 Speaker 74: just been a bit of a

00:45:15 Speaker 74: a mucky thing trying to do

00:45:17 Speaker 74: because we don't have the expertise

00:45:17 Speaker 74: that we need in our department

00:45:19 Speaker 74: fully. So that's an area that

00:45:21 Speaker 74: we are trying to fix through

00:45:22 Speaker 74: our lean assessments, and now looking

00:45:23 Speaker 74: forward to Aaron's new role so

00:45:25 Speaker 74: that we do have that. Because

00:45:27 Speaker 74: one example is with our you

00:45:28 Speaker 74: know timelines of things we were

00:45:30 Speaker 74: supposed to do another roof at

00:45:31 Speaker 74: Grayroot this year, our Grayroot. Gray

00:45:34 Speaker 74: root this year, our gray roots.

00:45:34 Speaker 74: It was the final of the

00:45:36 Speaker 74: roofs, but because of the issues

00:45:38 Speaker 74: we had last year, and because

00:45:40 Speaker 74: we don't have a facilities person,

00:45:41 Speaker 74: we did not do that roof

00:45:44 Speaker 74: this year because we need to

00:45:45 Speaker 74: make sure we have the right

00:45:48 Speaker 74: people, resources in place, and plan

00:45:50 Speaker 74: in place. So it will happen

00:45:53 Speaker 74: next year. But that's just an

00:45:54 Speaker 74: example of some of those on

00:45:57 Speaker 74: the ground adjustments that we're making.

00:45:58 Speaker 74: And then thinking four to nine

00:46:00 Speaker 74: years out, as Amory said, it

00:46:04 Speaker 74: is really hard to know what

00:46:07 Speaker 74: something's going to be costing next

00:46:09 Speaker 74: year, let alone four to nine

00:46:10 Speaker 74: years from now. So they really

00:46:12 Speaker 74: are best estimates. And then looking.

00:46:14 Speaker 74: to that BCA and the tools

00:46:16 Speaker 74: that we've had to this point

00:46:17 Speaker 74: have been a spreadsheet that we

00:46:18 Speaker 74: are tracking expenses. But we're really

00:46:19 Speaker 74: excited about the Questica Capital modules

00:46:21 Speaker 74: and what that will do for

00:46:22 Speaker 74: staff efficiencies in doing this planning.

00:46:25 Speaker 74: So the last two slides here

00:46:29 Speaker 74: just captures from what our ten-year

00:46:30 Speaker 74: forecast looks like. So you can

00:46:32 Speaker 74: see that 2.03% that I was

00:46:33 Speaker 74: talking about is in 2028 there

00:46:34 Speaker 74: for economic development, tourism, and culture.

00:46:36 Speaker 74: and then for gray roots. And

00:46:37 Speaker 74: part of the reason why you

00:46:39 Speaker 74: see that twenty-two percent spike is

00:46:41 Speaker 74: because through budget twenty twenty-four we

00:46:42 Speaker 74: did make cuts to our capital

00:46:45 Speaker 74: contributions. And then when we look

00:46:47 Speaker 82: over the long term, we're actually

00:46:51 Speaker 82: going in the hole. We don't

00:46:55 Speaker 83: have enough money to maintain the

00:46:59 Speaker 83: facility based on those cuts and

00:47:01 Speaker 84: based on the new numbers coming

00:47:03 Speaker 84: out from contractors for HVAC roofs,

00:47:05 Speaker 84: any of those big scale items.

00:47:08 Speaker 84: Those prices have really gone up.

00:47:10 Speaker 85: So because of that, we now

00:47:12 Speaker 85: have to play catch up to

00:47:13 Speaker 85: make. sure that we have enough

00:47:17 Speaker 85: money to be able to pay

00:47:21 Speaker 85: for those based on what we

00:47:24 Speaker 85: know today. So that was just

00:47:25 Speaker 85: an example that we wanted to

00:47:28 Speaker 85: be able to point out. But

00:47:30 Speaker 85: that's the end of my questions.

00:47:33 Speaker 85: Please let me know. Thank you,

00:47:34 Speaker 85: Savannah. Are there any questions from

00:47:37 Speaker 85: the committee, Councillor Green? Two initial

00:47:40 Speaker 86: questions. One, I wonder what the

00:47:44 Speaker 86: if you could just inform me

00:47:45 Speaker 86: approximately what the weighting of the

00:47:47 Speaker 86: capital contributions are for gray roots

00:47:48 Speaker 86: relative to your entire department, because

00:47:50 Speaker 86: the gray roots percentages are instrumentally

00:47:50 Speaker 86: higher than your department as a

00:47:51 Speaker 87: whole. So I'm just wondering, kind

00:47:54 Speaker 87: of proportion wise, what that might

00:47:55 Speaker 87: be. And second question is, you've

00:47:56 Speaker 87: got some vehicles right now that

00:47:57 Speaker 87: are you've been able to maximize

00:47:59 Speaker 87: beyond their projected lifespan. Are you

00:48:01 Speaker 87: continuing with the reserve contributions for

00:48:02 Speaker 87: those? vehicles, in which case we're

00:48:04 Speaker 74: in a good place, or have

00:48:07 Speaker 74: we been redirecting those planned reserve

00:48:10 Speaker 74: contributions for the fleet to other

00:48:15 Speaker 74: uses? Thank you for your question,

00:48:16 Speaker 74: three, Mr. Chair. I'm going to

00:48:17 Speaker 74: ask my finance friends to help

00:48:18 Speaker 74: me with your first question because

00:48:19 Speaker 74: I actually don't know that off

00:48:21 Speaker 74: the top of my head, but

00:48:22 Speaker 74: I'm sure they can help me

00:48:23 Speaker 74: here. Your second question: No, we

00:48:24 Speaker 74: have not redirected because that would

00:48:26 Speaker 74: hurt us at the end of

00:48:27 Speaker 74: the day when it comes to

00:48:30 Speaker 74: having to actually buy the vehicle.

00:48:31 Speaker 74: so those dollars have continued to

00:48:32 Speaker 74: go towards a future vehicle. Now,

00:48:33 Speaker 74: what is in there is a

00:48:34 Speaker 74: future potential for a EV as

00:48:35 Speaker 74: part of climate change and and

00:48:36 Speaker 74: corporate direction. But we also need

00:48:37 Speaker 88: to wait until we find a

00:48:49 Speaker 89: time when that price point makes

00:48:52 Speaker 89: sense because we need a larger

00:48:54 Speaker 33: vehicle because we're bringing a tent

00:48:57 Speaker 33: with us everywhere we go when

00:48:58 Speaker 33: we're going to community events and

00:49:00 Speaker 33: other areas, and we can't fit

00:49:01 Speaker 33: that in the back of a

00:49:04 Speaker 33: smaller vehicle. So that's one of

00:49:08 Speaker 33: the considerations as well. but we

00:49:12 Speaker 90: haven't done any formal research into

00:49:21 Speaker 90: what kind of vehicle we'll be

00:49:22 Speaker 91: looking at down the road. But

00:49:25 Speaker 91: we are still saving for it

00:49:27 Speaker 91: so that we don't have to

00:49:29 Speaker 91: come back and say we don't

00:49:31 Speaker 91: actually have enough. Can you help

00:49:33 Speaker 91: us bump this up? Thank you,

00:49:37 Speaker 91: Mr. Chair. The operating levy in

00:49:39 Speaker 91: 2025 for Gray Roots is one

00:49:41 Speaker 91: million seven hundred seventeen thousand four

00:49:44 Speaker 91: hundred dollars. The capital is one

00:49:47 Speaker 91: hundred one thousand three hundred dollars

00:49:49 Speaker 92: for a total of just over

00:49:54 Speaker 85: one point eight million. And if

00:49:56 Speaker 85: I take the capital divided by

00:49:59 Speaker 85: the total, it's a five point

00:50:00 Speaker 85: six percent of the levy. No,

00:50:03 Speaker 85: sorry. Let me just clarify a

00:50:04 Speaker 85: little bit more. If expenditures at

00:50:06 Speaker 85: greater Expenditures at Gray Roots were

00:50:09 Speaker 85: to go up sixteen percent or

00:50:10 Speaker 85: twenty-two percent or nine percent, but

00:50:12 Speaker 85: your overall department goes up only

00:50:14 Speaker 85: one percent or down six percent.

00:50:19 Speaker 85: What is the scale in terms

00:50:21 Speaker 93: of the the capital work that's

00:50:24 Speaker 93: done on behalf of Gray Roots?

00:50:26 Speaker 93: Like, is is it eighty percent

00:50:29 Speaker 93: of your department, ninety percent, sixty

00:50:32 Speaker 93: percent? Like, that's that was the

00:50:35 Speaker 93: question. Oh, okay. Well, if a

00:50:37 Speaker 93: hundred percent of your capital requirements

00:50:45 Speaker 93: for gray roots and your gray

00:50:46 Speaker 93: and your percentage goes up twenty

00:50:49 Speaker 93: two percent for for capital needs,

00:50:51 Speaker 93: then the department as a whole

00:50:53 Speaker 93: goes up twenty two percent. But

00:50:55 Speaker 94: that's not the case. The gray

00:50:57 Speaker 74: roots might go up nine or

00:51:01 Speaker 74: ten percent, but your department's only

00:51:02 Speaker 95: going up one or two percent.

00:51:07 Speaker 95: So that's that's what I'm wondering.

00:51:10 Speaker 95: Sorry, I'll I'll try, Commissioners Chair.

00:51:12 Speaker 95: Sure. So, for next year, for

00:51:13 Speaker 95: example, 2026, when Gray Roots is

00:51:15 Speaker 96: looking at a 22% increase, can

00:51:19 Speaker 96: you see our 2026 overall projection

00:51:27 Speaker 33: from EDTC? Because that 22% is

00:51:30 Speaker 33: to 22,500 in comparison to 1.5

00:51:36 Speaker 33: million of operating 1.8 overall Gray

00:51:38 Speaker 24: Roots, and if you add the

00:51:44 Speaker 97: active tourism component in there, I

00:51:47 Speaker 98: feel like that's much much less.

00:51:52 Speaker 98: so it's not. We're going up

00:51:54 Speaker 99: twenty percent in capital. Edtc is

00:51:56 Speaker 100: not going up twenty percent, and

00:52:01 Speaker 100: I think we could probably find

00:52:03 Speaker 100: that number in the budget. But

00:52:04 Speaker 100: we'll look for that. Yeah, sorry.

00:52:08 Speaker 100: Just even comparing those gray root

00:52:09 Speaker 98: numbers that that Savannah just noted,

00:52:12 Speaker 98: we're talking just over a percent.

00:52:16 Speaker 98: So I would assume that would

00:52:18 Speaker 98: be less than one percent for

00:52:21 Speaker 98: the overall Edtc budget. in twenty

00:52:23 Speaker 98: twenty five one percent is seven

00:52:26 Speaker 98: hundred fifty eight thousand three hundred

00:52:33 Speaker 98: dollars. Okay, that answers your question.

00:52:36 Speaker 98: Good. Any other questions from committee

00:52:38 Speaker 98: members, Councillor Raffles? And it's on

00:52:40 Speaker 98: related degree routes as well to.

00:52:42 Speaker 98: Gray roots as well too, yeah.

00:52:45 Speaker 98: The numbers you just said Savannah,

00:52:47 Speaker 98: you know the percentages seem high,

00:52:49 Speaker 98: but the numbers are low. But

00:52:50 Speaker 98: in this case, maybe the percentages

00:52:51 Speaker 98: work in your favour because in

00:52:53 Speaker 98: the in the next nine years,

00:52:58 Speaker 98: this budget's going up from a

00:53:01 Speaker 98: hundred thousand dollars in capital to

00:53:03 Speaker 98: two hundred thirty-one thousand, a hundred

00:53:07 Speaker 98: thirty thousand dollars. About one hundred

00:53:09 Speaker 98: and thirty percent, one hundred and

00:53:11 Speaker 98: twenty-five percent in ten years. The

00:53:13 Speaker 98: capital budget continues to rise. It's

00:53:16 Speaker 98: one of those things, yeah. We

00:53:18 Speaker 98: death by a hundred cuts here.

00:53:20 Speaker 101: That's where my concern is. It's

00:53:26 Speaker 102: not yet ten thousand this year,

00:53:30 Speaker 102: ten thousand next year, twenty thousand

00:53:31 Speaker 103: the next year, twenty-five thousand. Yeah,

00:53:34 Speaker 103: in. ten years' time, I think

00:53:36 Speaker 103: we're going to look and be

00:53:37 Speaker 103: the frog. What the heck? The

00:53:38 Speaker 103: water was kind of cool, and

00:53:39 Speaker 103: now in ten years' time, whoa,

00:53:40 Speaker 74: it's boiling! What happened? That's where

00:53:43 Speaker 74: my concern is in this, of

00:53:44 Speaker 74: where we're projected to go as

00:53:46 Speaker 74: we continue to add and try

00:53:48 Speaker 74: to maintain what's in there. It

00:53:49 Speaker 74: was great that we had a

00:53:51 Speaker 74: lot of donations to get some

00:53:53 Speaker 74: of those buildings. there, but there

00:53:54 Speaker 74: was no funding to maintain and

00:53:55 Speaker 74: keep them there in that 100

00:53:58 Speaker 74: to 120 year old state. More

00:54:01 Speaker 74: of a statement than a question.

00:54:02 Speaker 74: If I can, chair, I would

00:54:03 Speaker 74: still take a crack at answering

00:54:06 Speaker 74: that statement. So I guess two

00:54:08 Speaker 74: things, because I don't want to

00:54:09 Speaker 74: lose the one thing I don't

00:54:10 Speaker 74: want to lose sight of is

00:54:13 Speaker 74: when you're looking at our 10

00:54:14 Speaker 74: year capital forecast, that's not what

00:54:16 Speaker 74: we're spending. to do. That's the

00:54:19 Speaker 74: money that we're putting away into

00:54:21 Speaker 74: reserves so that we don't have

00:54:23 Speaker 74: these big spikes as we go.

00:54:25 Speaker 74: So, an example: the heat pump

00:54:28 Speaker 74: project last year was three hundred

00:54:29 Speaker 74: twenty-five thousand dollars. So, instead of