Grey County County Council Meeting Transcript — November 13, 2025

00:05:29 Speaker 01: bring the meeting to order. Warden

00:05:31 Speaker 01: Matrosov sends her regrets. She's attending

00:05:33 Speaker 01: an event down in Oakville, I

00:05:35 Speaker 02: believe, today for the Great Lakes

00:05:37 Speaker 02: St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, which. is

00:05:41 Speaker 02: kind of ironic, given certain things.

00:05:44 Speaker 02: Anyway, call to order. Declaration of

00:05:48 Speaker 02: interest. Is there any regarding today's

00:05:50 Speaker 02: agenda? Not seeing any. Oh, yeah,

00:05:54 Speaker 02: we can do that too if

00:05:58 Speaker 02: you want. And I told, I

00:05:59 Speaker 02: told Tara right off the top.

00:06:03 Speaker 03: I said, I hope the rust

00:06:04 Speaker 03: doesn't show too hard. But apparently,

00:06:05 Speaker 03: it's it's here. We go. Yeah,

00:06:08 Speaker 03: buckle up. Here we go. We're

00:06:10 Speaker 03: gonna have fun, but it won't

00:06:12 Speaker 03: be smooth. So let's stand for

00:06:14 Speaker 04: old Canada. Oh, Canada, our home

00:06:24 Speaker 04: and native land. True patriot love

00:06:30 Speaker 04: in all of us command. With

00:06:37 Speaker 04: glowing hearts, we see thee rise,

00:06:42 Speaker 05: the true North, strong and free.

00:06:46 Speaker 05: From far and wide, O Canada,

00:06:50 Speaker 05: we stand on guard for thee.

00:06:55 Speaker 05: God keep our land, glorious and

00:07:01 Speaker 06: free. Oh. Oh Canada, we stand

00:07:09 Speaker 06: on guard for thee. Thank you,

00:07:14 Speaker 06: Madam Clerk. Would you do the

00:07:21 Speaker 06: roll call, please, Councillor Mackie? Councillor

00:07:30 Speaker 06: McKay, Councillor Carleton, Councillor Pringle, Councillor

00:07:31 Speaker 06: McQueen, Councillor Nielsen, Councillor Patterson, Councillor

00:07:39 Speaker 06: Dickert, Councillor Kentner, Councillor

00:07:41 Speaker 06: Keaveny, Councillor Body, Councillor Gregg,

00:07:45 Speaker 07: Deputy Warden Milne, Councillor Dobrine,

00:07:49 Speaker 07: Warden Matrasov sends her regrets

00:07:53 Speaker 07: today. Alternate Councillor Hope, Councillor Bourdinon,

00:07:58 Speaker 07: Councillor. Eccles, Councillor Hutchinson, we have

00:08:01 Speaker 07: all members and attendees today,

00:08:05 Speaker 07: with the exception of Warden Matrosovs.

00:08:09 Speaker 07: Thank you, and we do welcome

00:08:10 Speaker 07: everyone here this morning. So, before

00:08:14 Speaker 07: we begin, I want to acknowledge

00:08:15 Speaker 07: with respect, we are gathered on

00:08:19 Speaker 07: the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe

00:08:21 Speaker 07: Nation, the people of the Three

00:08:23 Speaker 07: Fires, known as Ojibwe, Odawa, and

00:08:25 Speaker 07: Potawatomi Nations. We give thanks to

00:08:27 Speaker 07: the Chippewas of the Saguenay and

00:08:29 Speaker 08: the Chippewas of Nawash. And the

00:08:32 Speaker 08: Chippewas and Nishnawbe collectively as the

00:08:33 Speaker 08: Sauging Ojibwe Nation, the traditional keepers

00:08:35 Speaker 08: of these lands and waters since

00:08:38 Speaker 08: time immemorial. To our south lies

00:08:39 Speaker 08: the traditional territories of the Six

00:08:42 Speaker 08: Nations of the Grand River and

00:08:44 Speaker 08: the Haudenosaunee. We are dedicated to

00:08:46 Speaker 08: honouring Indigenous history and culture, and

00:08:49 Speaker 08: committed to moving forward in the

00:08:51 Speaker 08: spirit of truth, reconciliation, and friendship

00:08:53 Speaker 08: with all First Nations, Métis, and

00:08:55 Speaker 08: Inuit people. Okay, now we're back

00:08:58 Speaker 08: to the question I wanted to

00:09:05 Speaker 08: ask earlier: Is there any declaration

00:09:06 Speaker 08: of interest related to any item

00:09:08 Speaker 08: on today's agenda? Not seeing one.

00:09:10 Speaker 08: Any, if one should arise, you

00:09:13 Speaker 08: can declare it at any time.

00:09:15 Speaker 08: Adoption of the minutes: We have

00:09:16 Speaker 08: the minutes there from the October

00:09:19 Speaker 08: 23rd, both council and committee of

00:09:21 Speaker 08: the whole, and we have the

00:09:23 Speaker 08: closed committee of the whole meeting

00:09:24 Speaker 08: minutes from October 23rd. So we'll

00:09:26 Speaker 08: take the first one. from the

00:09:29 Speaker 08: twenty third, Councillor Ackles and Councillor

00:09:32 Speaker 08: McKay. Any discussion? All in favour?

00:09:38 Speaker 08: That is carried. Similarly, the closed

00:09:41 Speaker 08: meeting minutes of the October third

00:09:46 Speaker 08: council meeting. Someone care to move

00:09:49 Speaker 08: that? Councillor Keaveny, Councillor Hutchison. Any

00:09:50 Speaker 08: discussion? All in favour? That is

00:09:53 Speaker 08: carried. We have no closed meeting.

00:09:56 Speaker 08: matters, no reports. We have two

00:09:59 Speaker 08: bylaws. Someone care to move there

00:10:02 Speaker 08: regarding purchase and sale of lands

00:10:05 Speaker 08: in City of One Sound and

00:10:07 Speaker 08: the confirming bylaw, Councillor Gregg and

00:10:09 Speaker 08: Councillor Debrine. Any discussion? All those

00:10:12 Speaker 08: in favour? That is carried. News

00:10:16 Speaker 08: today. Before we get into other

00:10:21 Speaker 08: news, I would like to acknowledge

00:10:24 Speaker 08: the tragic. passing of three students

00:10:26 Speaker 08: and the critical injury injury of

00:10:29 Speaker 08: one additional student from John Deffenbaker

00:10:32 Speaker 08: Senior School in Hanover earlier this

00:10:34 Speaker 08: week. On behalf of Warden Matrasovs

00:10:37 Speaker 08: and Greene County, I want to

00:10:40 Speaker 08: extend our sincere condolences condolences to

00:10:42 Speaker 08: those families, friends, classmates, teachers, and

00:10:45 Speaker 08: all of those who are touched

00:10:49 Speaker 08: by this profound loss. Very tragic.

00:10:51 Speaker 08: Any other news? Celebrations here this

00:10:56 Speaker 08: morning, Councillor Debrine, please. Good morning,

00:11:00 Speaker 08: Deputy Warden, and good morning, County

00:11:07 Speaker 08: Council guests. I just—I know it

00:11:09 Speaker 08: seems distant time frame away, but

00:11:13 Speaker 08: our Dundalk Santa Claus Parade will

00:11:16 Speaker 08: be held the first Saturday in

00:11:19 Speaker 08: December, which will be before we

00:11:21 Speaker 09: meet again. So I just wanted

00:11:23 Speaker 09: to. make mention that the Dundalk

00:11:25 Speaker 09: Santa Claus Parade will be held

00:11:27 Speaker 09: at 6 p.m. on December 6th.

00:11:28 Speaker 09: Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Oh,

00:11:33 Speaker 09: Councillor Nielsen, go ahead, please. Thank

00:11:37 Speaker 09: you very much, Deputy Warden. Even

00:11:42 Speaker 09: though you were trying to skip

00:11:43 Speaker 09: Oh Canada, I just wanted to

00:11:44 Speaker 09: comment on the wonderful Remembrance Day

00:11:46 Speaker 10: celebrations across Gray County. I know

00:11:48 Speaker 10: many of us attended, probably as

00:11:51 Speaker 10: many as we could, in multiple.

00:11:52 Speaker 10: Probably as many as we could

00:11:54 Speaker 10: and multiple ourselves, and it just—I

00:11:58 Speaker 10: had an interesting conversation with my

00:12:00 Speaker 10: children about it, and some of

00:12:02 Speaker 10: their classmates that, unfortunately, don't seem

00:12:05 Speaker 10: to understand the importance or or

00:12:08 Speaker 10: fully understand why it's such a

00:12:11 Speaker 10: a special day for Canada. So,

00:12:13 Speaker 10: it was just a great opportunity

00:12:14 Speaker 10: to kind of remind my own

00:12:16 Speaker 10: children and and have a wonderful

00:12:18 Speaker 10: time in the community, talking to

00:12:20 Speaker 10: veterans, talking to community members who

00:12:22 Speaker 10: have lost. their own family members

00:12:25 Speaker 10: and various aspects. So, just commenting

00:12:28 Speaker 10: on that. Thank you, Dean. Anyone

00:12:35 Speaker 10: else, Councillor Keaveny? Please. Good morning,

00:12:37 Speaker 10: Mister Deputy Warden and County Council.

00:12:38 Speaker 11: And I just wanted to share

00:12:40 Speaker 12: that Mayfield will be hosting our

00:12:43 Speaker 12: Christmas on the Bay, December the

00:12:45 Speaker 12: fourth to the seventh, in our

00:12:47 Speaker 12: Market Square with seventeen cabins full

00:12:49 Speaker 12: of vendors, so you can do

00:12:50 Speaker 12: your Christmas shopping and there. Christmas

00:12:52 Speaker 12: shopping, and there'll be fun and

00:12:54 Speaker 12: activities and entertainment and food and

00:12:56 Speaker 12: drink for everyone. So Meaford is

00:12:57 Speaker 12: a place to be. December fourth

00:13:00 Speaker 12: to the seventh. Thank you. Thank

00:13:05 Speaker 12: you, Shirley. Anyone else? Councillor Cantner,

00:13:07 Speaker 12: please. Yes, I'll just add that

00:13:08 Speaker 12: tonight is the night to be

00:13:11 Speaker 12: in Meaford as well. It's Dragon's

00:13:12 Speaker 12: Den, and this has been going

00:13:13 Speaker 12: on for years now. And if

00:13:16 Speaker 12: you want to see a really,

00:13:18 Speaker 12: really entertaining and informative programme, be

00:13:20 Speaker 13: at Meaford Hall tonight, seventh. Be

00:13:23 Speaker 13: at Mefford Hall tonight, seven thirty.

00:13:26 Speaker 13: And again, we have a group

00:13:27 Speaker 13: of of dragons and a group

00:13:29 Speaker 13: of slayers, and it's going to

00:13:34 Speaker 13: be very, very exciting. A lot,

00:13:35 Speaker 13: a lot of money being risked

00:13:37 Speaker 13: on budding entrepreneurs. And we, the

00:13:40 Speaker 13: amazing thing is, I think about

00:13:42 Speaker 13: a third of downtown Mefford is

00:13:44 Speaker 13: made up of former slayers. So

00:13:47 Speaker 13: it's a great, great show. And

00:13:50 Speaker 13: I encourage people if they're interested

00:13:52 Speaker 13: in in economic development to take

00:13:56 Speaker 13: this. in. Thank you. Thank you,

00:13:57 Speaker 14: Ross. Sounds exciting. Anyone else, Councillor

00:13:59 Speaker 14: Body? If I may, I just

00:14:01 Speaker 15: want to follow up on Councillor

00:14:07 Speaker 15: Nielsen's comments. I learned at the

00:14:09 Speaker 15: Legion from a upper regional person

00:14:10 Speaker 15: that veterans aren't easily allowed into

00:14:12 Speaker 15: schools to share the stories anymore.

00:14:13 Speaker 15: When we grew up, we learned

00:14:15 Speaker 15: from our parents the horrors of

00:14:18 Speaker 15: war and why we don't want

00:14:19 Speaker 15: to go to war and and

00:14:22 Speaker 15: and. all of that. Now, a

00:14:24 Speaker 15: veteran has to do a record

00:14:26 Speaker 15: check. Apparently, they have to have

00:14:29 Speaker 15: it listed 14 days in advance,

00:14:32 Speaker 15: so parents can protest if they

00:14:34 Speaker 15: don't want their children learning learning

00:14:37 Speaker 15: about the horrors of war. And

00:14:39 Speaker 15: I fear with those types of

00:14:40 Speaker 15: rules that the next generation isn't

00:14:42 Speaker 15: going to understand those horrors the

00:14:47 Speaker 15: same way as most of us

00:14:51 Speaker 15: in this room did, listening to

00:14:53 Speaker 15: our parents growing up. Removing poppies

00:14:57 Speaker 15: from the workplace—that's I find really

00:14:58 Speaker 15: disturbing in this country. And if

00:14:59 Speaker 15: you have any influence, any input

00:15:01 Speaker 15: into boards of education, I would

00:15:04 Speaker 15: hope that you would share that

00:15:06 Speaker 15: this isn't this isn't appropriate. We

00:15:09 Speaker 15: need to allow our veterans into

00:15:14 Speaker 15: schools to spread that story down

00:15:16 Speaker 15: to the next generation. Thanks. Thank

00:15:17 Speaker 14: you, Ian. Anyone else? Okay. Well,

00:15:20 Speaker 14: thank you for those. You know,

00:15:23 Speaker 14: motion to adjourn from our council

00:15:25 Speaker 14: portion of the meeting. Councillor Patterson,

00:15:32 Speaker 14: Councillor McQueen, all those in favour?

00:15:34 Speaker 14: That is carried. We'll just move

00:15:35 Speaker 14: over to our committee of the

00:15:36 Speaker 14: whole. Thank you, Rob. We'll bring

00:15:40 Speaker 16: our committee of the whole meeting

00:15:41 Speaker 16: to order this morning. Is there

00:15:43 Speaker 16: any declaration of interest on this

00:15:45 Speaker 16: agenda? Seeing none. Of course, you

00:15:46 Speaker 16: can. declare it at any time

00:15:48 Speaker 16: it one arises. We have two

00:15:50 Speaker 16: delegations here this morning. The first

00:15:51 Speaker 16: is David Willis. He's with us

00:15:53 Speaker 16: here this morning. There he is.

00:15:56 Speaker 16: Come on up to the podium,

00:15:58 Speaker 16: sir. He's going to be speaking

00:16:05 Speaker 08: to us regarding Keystone funding and

00:16:07 Speaker 08: services. So, good morning, sir, and

00:16:10 Speaker 08: welcome. The floor is yours. Are

00:16:11 Speaker 17: we good? Sorry to have my

00:16:12 Speaker 17: back to some folks. Not intentional.

00:16:14 Speaker 17: My understanding is I've been invited

00:16:16 Speaker 17: to come and speak a little

00:16:20 Speaker 17: bit about Keystone and the programme

00:16:23 Speaker 17: that we have, and how the

00:16:24 Speaker 18: funding from this body supports our

00:16:27 Speaker 18: operations across both, mostly focused on

00:16:28 Speaker 18: Gray County, but Bruce County as

00:16:30 Speaker 18: well. And so, without further, I

00:16:32 Speaker 18: will jump into just giving you

00:16:34 Speaker 18: a sense of what Keystone Child,

00:16:38 Speaker 18: Youth, and Family Services is. We

00:16:40 Speaker 18: are the lead agency for Gray

00:16:42 Speaker 18: and Bruce Counties. That is a

00:16:45 Speaker 18: legislated function by. the Ministry of

00:16:47 Speaker 18: Health that came into effect probably

00:16:48 Speaker 18: mid 2013 2014, and what that

00:16:52 Speaker 18: means is that we're the system

00:16:55 Speaker 18: planners for child and

00:16:58 Speaker 18: youth mental health both countings. We're

00:17:01 Speaker 18: also the the organisation that supports

00:17:03 Speaker 18: evaluation, that supports funding opportunities, and

00:17:06 Speaker 18: supports grassroots organisations in building up

00:17:10 Speaker 18: their capacity to support children and

00:17:12 Speaker 18: youth and mental health services across

00:17:14 Speaker 18: the region. We lead. local needs

00:17:17 Speaker 18: assessments and engage with youth and

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

00:17:20 Speaker 18: the system priorities in three to

00:17:23 Speaker 18: four-year blocks. Which means we are

00:17:25 Speaker 18: accountable to the ministry and the

00:17:29 Speaker 18: provincial government to deliver on those

00:17:32 Speaker 18: plans. We are currently in the

00:17:33 Speaker 18: process of developing the next four-year

00:17:35 Speaker 18: priorities for the ministry. We also

00:17:37 Speaker 18: serve as the key point of

00:17:40 Speaker 18: contact with the ministry of children,

00:17:42 Speaker 18: community, and social services. and for

00:17:43 Speaker 18: those who are aware of our

00:17:45 Speaker 18: ministries, we lived in MCCSS when

00:17:47 Speaker 18: it was called MCYS, and then

00:17:50 Speaker 18: it was yanked out and put

00:17:51 Speaker 18: into Ministry of Health. Some services

00:17:53 Speaker 18: still remain in MCCCS. Some services

00:17:56 Speaker 18: are in Ministry of Health, and

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:19:02 Speaker 18: Telelink Mental Health, where we are

00:19:05 Speaker 18: one of thirty agencies across the

00:19:07 Speaker 18: province who have specialized access to

00:19:10 Speaker 18: over fifty child and youth psychiatrists

00:19:12 Speaker 18: who specialize in. zero to eighteen.

00:19:14 Speaker 18: We have supported classrooms through our

00:19:17 Speaker 18: partnerships with Blue Water. I'm not

00:19:19 Speaker 18: sure if folks realize, but right

00:19:22 Speaker 18: beside this building, we have a

00:19:25 Speaker 18: 13-bed live-in treatment facility that was

00:19:28 Speaker 18: a partnership with Bright Shores. Within

00:19:30 Speaker 18: that building, there are two Blue

00:19:32 Speaker 18: Water School Board classrooms where we

00:19:34 Speaker 18: have 16 desks where 16 students

00:19:35 Speaker 18: who are struggling within the the

00:19:37 Speaker 18: regular. education system come and spend

00:19:40 Speaker 18: up to six months or a

00:19:42 Speaker 18: year with us to get them

00:19:44 Speaker 18: back on track and moved back

00:19:45 Speaker 18: into the the regular education system.

00:19:47 Speaker 18: We also have intensive in home

00:19:49 Speaker 18: treatment. So as part of our

00:19:50 Speaker 18: continuum of services, if we have

00:19:52 Speaker 18: a client who is with us

00:19:54 Speaker 18: in our live in treatment, and

00:19:55 Speaker 18: I'll speak a little bit about

00:19:57 Speaker 18: this further in the deck, we

00:19:58 Speaker 18: recognize that kids who come into

00:20:01 Speaker 18: live in treatment when they are

00:20:02 Speaker 18: released from live in treatment or

00:20:04 Speaker 18: they graduate from live in treatment,

00:20:05 Speaker 18: they often Live-in treatment; they often

00:20:06 Speaker 18: go back to an environment and

00:20:08 Speaker 18: circumstances that bring them right back

00:20:10 Speaker 18: to the reason why they came

00:20:12 Speaker 18: into care in the first place.

00:20:14 Speaker 18: And so, part of our mandate

00:20:16 Speaker 18: and our new programmeming has been

00:20:17 Speaker 18: that we embed child and youth

00:20:19 Speaker 18: workers in the home with the

00:20:21 Speaker 18: family up to a year after

00:20:22 Speaker 18: their discharge from our live-in treatment,

00:20:23 Speaker 18: so that that transition both into

00:20:27 Speaker 18: the community and into school is

00:20:28 Speaker 18: seamless, and that if they need

00:20:32 Speaker 18: a tune-up, they can come back

00:20:34 Speaker 18: in and we can support them

00:20:38 Speaker 18: to sort of get them back

00:20:39 Speaker 18: on track. When we think about

00:20:42 Speaker 18: prenatal and six years community support,

00:20:44 Speaker 18: Healthy Beginnings, which is a programme

00:20:45 Speaker 18: that is funded through this this

00:20:47 Speaker 18: council, in partnership with the Ministry

00:20:49 Speaker 18: of Education, they support new moms

00:20:50 Speaker 18: and dads and caregivers who are

00:20:52 Speaker 18: struggling with with the youth that

00:20:53 Speaker 18: they have, and we support them

00:20:55 Speaker 18: in healthy eating, healthy management. We

00:20:57 Speaker 18: give them a break sometimes so

00:20:59 Speaker 18: that they can catch their breath.

00:21:01 Speaker 18: Cradle Link is the same thing.

00:21:03 Speaker 18: We have volunteers that actually sit

00:21:06 Speaker 18: in the hospital and. hold babies,

00:21:09 Speaker 18: so that they have that skin-to-skin

00:21:13 Speaker 18: contact. Writer Futures Early On centres

00:21:16 Speaker 18: in building resiliency. I think those

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

00:21:20 Speaker 18: group. We also specialize in fetal

00:21:22 Speaker 18: alcohol spectrum disorder, which, if folks

00:21:25 Speaker 18: recognize, is a lifelong disability. It's

00:21:27 Speaker 18: not a mental health challenge; it's

00:21:28 Speaker 18: an actual disability, and so we

00:21:31 Speaker 18: are supporting youth up to the

00:21:33 Speaker 18: age of 21 to function. with

00:21:35 Speaker 18: what we would consider an external

00:21:40 Speaker 18: brain beside them, supporting them and

00:21:42 Speaker 18: making better decisions, so that they,

00:21:45 Speaker 18: so that they are moving in

00:21:45 Speaker 18: the right path with the right

00:21:48 Speaker 18: supports, coordinated access mechanisms for children

00:21:50 Speaker 18: and graybeards. This this this supports

00:21:51 Speaker 18: youth up to seventeen years of

00:21:53 Speaker 18: age with complex needs, and this

00:21:55 Speaker 18: is a part of a larger

00:21:56 Speaker 18: programme that Keystone has taken on

00:21:58 Speaker 18: as the leader in, on behalf

00:22:00 Speaker 18: of the Ministry of Community and.

00:22:02 Speaker 18: Social Services, and that is for

00:22:03 Speaker 18: those kids and families who have

00:22:04 Speaker 18: failed out of our system, that

00:22:07 Speaker 18: they have knocked on every door,

00:22:10 Speaker 18: they have they have been enroled

00:22:12 Speaker 18: in every service possible, and we

00:22:13 Speaker 18: are simply not supporting them in

00:22:15 Speaker 18: a way that is possible. So

00:22:17 Speaker 18: we're the flow-through organisation where we

00:22:21 Speaker 18: support the family, and we we

00:22:23 Speaker 18: liaise with the Ministry to ensure

00:22:26 Speaker 18: that they have funding in order

00:22:27 Speaker 18: to support and purchase the services

00:22:30 Speaker 18: that they require for that specialized

00:22:32 Speaker 18: youth. We also provide respite services

00:22:35 Speaker 18: for autism spectrum disorder families. We

00:22:36 Speaker 18: are in a, I would say,

00:22:39 Speaker 18: a crisis mode in this county

00:22:41 Speaker 18: around autism. We have no permanent

00:22:42 Speaker 18: services to support kids and families

00:22:43 Speaker 18: with autism. So, with the very

00:22:46 Speaker 18: little money we get, we provide

00:22:47 Speaker 18: an opportunity for parents to step

00:22:49 Speaker 18: back, take a breather, maybe hire

00:22:54 Speaker 18: someone to come in for a

00:22:56 Speaker 18: few hours to support their child

00:22:58 Speaker 18: while they are regrouping and able

00:23:00 Speaker 18: to come back into the family

00:23:02 Speaker 18: situation and. to and to support

00:23:04 Speaker 18: the client. So, what we are

00:23:06 Speaker 18: really excited about at the moment

00:23:08 Speaker 18: is our new live-in treatment programme

00:23:11 Speaker 18: and our step-up, step-down programme, and

00:23:12 Speaker 18: that is literally right beside this

00:23:13 Speaker 18: building. It is the old withdrawal

00:23:16 Speaker 18: management site that the hospital had.

00:23:17 Speaker 18: Through partnership with them, that that

00:23:20 Speaker 18: ownership was transferred to us. The

00:23:21 Speaker 18: Ministry of Health was kind enough

00:23:23 Speaker 18: to invest about two and a

00:23:24 Speaker 18: half million dollars to move it

00:23:27 Speaker 18: away from looking like a withdrawal.

00:23:29 Speaker 18: management centre, and make it look

00:23:31 Speaker 18: more like something that kids and

00:23:34 Speaker 18: youth would feel comfortable in. There

00:23:36 Speaker 18: are currently 13 beds in that

00:23:37 Speaker 18: in that building. Six of those

00:23:40 Speaker 18: are dedicated for step up, step

00:23:42 Speaker 18: down, and that is a programme

00:23:44 Speaker 18: in partnership with the hospital systems

00:23:47 Speaker 18: across both of our counties. So

00:23:49 Speaker 18: what happens is there are 11

00:23:51 Speaker 18: feeder hospitals that that try to

00:23:53 Speaker 18: access the two pediatric beds in

00:23:55 Speaker 18: the Owen Sound Hospital as what's

00:23:56 Speaker 18: called a schedule one facility. Owensound

00:23:59 Speaker 18: Hospital isn't even funded to be

00:24:01 Speaker 18: a Schedule One for you, but

00:24:04 Speaker 18: they are managing to to supply

00:24:06 Speaker 18: two beds for us when kids

00:24:09 Speaker 18: who are in such crisis that

00:24:11 Speaker 18: they need to be admitted against

00:24:14 Speaker 18: their will. So oftentimes we see

00:24:15 Speaker 18: kids who land in the emerge,

00:24:16 Speaker 18: who are quite serious, maybe in

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

00:24:20 Speaker 18: not admissible, which means that they're

00:24:22 Speaker 18: not really they shouldn't be in

00:24:23 Speaker 18: a bed in the hospital. but

00:24:24 Speaker 18: they're not safe enough to go

00:24:25 Speaker 18: home. So our step up, step

00:24:27 Speaker 18: down programme is that intermediary area

00:24:29 Speaker 18: for those kids. So we get

00:24:32 Speaker 18: a call from the hospital, and

00:24:33 Speaker 18: they say to us, and this

00:24:35 Speaker 18: could be at any day, any

00:24:37 Speaker 18: time of day or night. We've

00:24:38 Speaker 18: got a seventeen-year-old youth who has

00:24:40 Speaker 18: been self-harming, who has, you know,

00:24:41 Speaker 18: run into the into the law

00:24:42 Speaker 18: several times. We can't release him

00:24:43 Speaker 18: without someone to support him. Family

00:24:45 Speaker 18: doesn't want him. So we will

00:24:47 Speaker 18: show up at the emerge at

00:24:50 Speaker 18: two in the morning, and we

00:24:52 Speaker 18: will do an intake for that

00:24:54 Speaker 18: child into our step up. step

00:24:56 Speaker 18: down programme, where they are given

00:24:58 Speaker 18: what's called a thirty day assessment

00:25:00 Speaker 18: and stabilization opportunity, where we bring

00:25:01 Speaker 18: in psychiatry, we bring in psychology,

00:25:02 Speaker 18: we bring in social work, and

00:25:05 Speaker 18: we work with that client and

00:25:07 Speaker 18: family to best understand the needs

00:25:08 Speaker 18: in that moment for that youth,

00:25:11 Speaker 18: and that may be one of

00:25:14 Speaker 18: a continuum of services. It may

00:25:16 Speaker 18: be community counseling and support in

00:25:19 Speaker 18: the home. It may be admitting

00:25:21 Speaker 18: into our unit so that they

00:25:23 Speaker 18: can stay now up to a

00:25:25 Speaker 18: year. if that's what's required, and

00:25:27 Speaker 18: we can do intensive in-home or

00:25:30 Speaker 18: intensive in-school support as well. We

00:25:32 Speaker 18: also have the ability to step

00:25:35 Speaker 18: back up when that client is

00:25:37 Speaker 18: in crisis again. So the partnership

00:25:40 Speaker 18: allows that bilateral flow between the

00:25:44 Speaker 18: hospitals and us, and that is

00:25:46 Speaker 18: that has been a very busy

00:25:47 Speaker 18: programme, is all I can say.

00:25:48 Speaker 18: The next programme on this on

00:25:51 Speaker 18: this deck, which is launching in

00:25:53 Speaker 18: January. I think, is something that

00:25:56 Speaker 18: has been very much needed in

00:25:57 Speaker 18: this in this county for a

00:25:59 Speaker 18: long time, and that is an

00:26:00 Speaker 18: urgent access programme. And so, as

00:26:01 Speaker 18: I was speaking earlier about the

00:26:03 Speaker 18: eleven feeder hospitals, what happens often

00:26:05 Speaker 18: is that a child or a

00:26:06 Speaker 18: youth lands in one of those

00:26:08 Speaker 18: hospitals, and they can be sitting

00:26:11 Speaker 18: there and they emerge up to

00:26:13 Speaker 18: a week waiting for a bed

00:26:14 Speaker 18: in Owensend. And if there are

00:26:17 Speaker 18: no beds in Owensend, they are

00:26:19 Speaker 18: blocked into that hospital system and

00:26:21 Speaker 18: remain there. System and remain that.

00:26:23 Speaker 18: So we have signed agreements with

00:26:24 Speaker 18: the three hospital systems. We have.

00:26:26 Speaker 18: We are now in the process

00:26:28 Speaker 18: of hiring eight crisis workers, who

00:26:30 Speaker 18: will be deployed wherever those clients

00:26:32 Speaker 18: and families need that support in

00:26:34 Speaker 18: the emergency room, in the family

00:26:36 Speaker 18: home, in the school. It doesn't

00:26:38 Speaker 18: matter where at this point. We

00:26:40 Speaker 18: will support that family and and

00:26:42 Speaker 18: bringing down the temperature, so that

00:26:46 Speaker 18: we can then start working with

00:26:48 Speaker 18: the client and family to support

00:26:49 Speaker 18: what's next, and that could be

00:26:52 Speaker 18: anything from landing. next door to

00:26:55 Speaker 18: community counseling, and a broad range

00:26:58 Speaker 18: of other services. So that actually

00:27:00 Speaker 18: launches in January. We have a

00:27:02 Speaker 18: we have a what was our

00:27:04 Speaker 18: old living treatment in downtown Owen

00:27:07 Speaker 18: Sound that has been completely renovated,

00:27:09 Speaker 18: and will become a hub for

00:27:12 Speaker 18: crisis services. So when families want

00:27:13 Speaker 18: to come in and do counseling,

00:27:16 Speaker 18: they will have a dedicated space

00:27:17 Speaker 18: for them and the clinicians and

00:27:22 Speaker 18: the and. the youth, it will

00:27:24 Speaker 18: also be a walk-in crisis. So

00:27:26 Speaker 18: if kids are experiencing something in

00:27:27 Speaker 18: the community and they need immediate

00:27:29 Speaker 18: support, we will be there with

00:27:31 Speaker 18: doors open, waiting to support those

00:27:34 Speaker 18: youth. The other this next slide

00:27:36 Speaker 18: is really just an indication of

00:27:36 Speaker 18: where our focus is, and as

00:27:39 Speaker 18: you can see up there, seventy-one

00:27:41 Speaker 18: percent of our clients come from

00:27:43 Speaker 18: Gray County, and that's about seventeen

00:27:45 Speaker 18: hundred and seventy-five clients per year.

00:27:46 Speaker 18: Now, this isn't, and what I

00:27:48 Speaker 18: want to stress is when we

00:27:50 Speaker 18: see 2,500 clients, those are new

00:27:54 Speaker 18: clients every year. Those are not

00:27:55 Speaker 18: repeats; those are individuals showing up

00:27:57 Speaker 18: for the first time. And so,

00:28:00 Speaker 18: that's an indication of the need

00:28:04 Speaker 18: within our two counties, and specifically

00:28:05 Speaker 18: within Gray County, for mental health

00:28:09 Speaker 18: services. And it surprises me every

00:28:11 Speaker 18: time I look at our data

00:28:13 Speaker 18: to recognize that there is that

00:28:14 Speaker 18: level of need within within this

00:28:16 Speaker 18: region. The other piece that you

00:28:19 Speaker 18: know, and and this is maybe

00:28:21 Speaker 18: a little bit outside of what

00:28:24 Speaker 18: we're supposed to be having a

00:28:26 Speaker 18: conversation about, but this is about

00:28:28 Speaker 18: two of the programmemes that are

00:28:30 Speaker 18: funded through this this this council

00:28:32 Speaker 18: on behalf of the Ministry of

00:28:34 Speaker 18: Education, our Early On Centre and

00:28:37 Speaker 18: our Building Resilience Centre. And my

00:28:38 Speaker 18: understanding in being invited here was

00:28:40 Speaker 18: to, in some ways, justify the

00:28:42 Speaker 18: funding that we receive from this

00:28:44 Speaker 18: council to support. child and youth

00:28:46 Speaker 18: mental health in this region, and

00:28:49 Speaker 18: in the past we have been

00:28:50 Speaker 18: very lucky to have the council

00:28:52 Speaker 18: come to us at the end

00:28:54 Speaker 18: of your fiscal year to say

00:28:57 Speaker 18: we have some surplus, and we

00:28:59 Speaker 18: can support a deficit if you

00:29:02 Speaker 18: have a deficit. What I would

00:29:03 Speaker 18: say is we have never not

00:29:05 Speaker 18: had a deficit in these two

00:29:07 Speaker 18: programmemes, and so this is the

00:29:10 Speaker 18: first year that we are recognizing

00:29:15 Speaker 18: from council that there is no

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

00:29:21 Speaker 18: or ability to cover those deficits,

00:29:23 Speaker 18: and so what you're seeing in

00:29:25 Speaker 18: front of you is, in fact,

00:29:26 Speaker 18: what we are projecting as a

00:29:29 Speaker 18: seventy-three thousand dollar deficit in these

00:29:31 Speaker 18: two programmemes. We are committed to

00:29:32 Speaker 18: these programmemes in a big way,

00:29:37 Speaker 18: but we are also realistic on

00:29:43 Speaker 18: how we can support our staff

00:29:45 Speaker 18: and the programmeming to continue. So,

00:29:47 Speaker 18: if you look down at the

00:29:49 Speaker 18: bottom, we started. this journey

00:29:51 Speaker 18: for early on in 2010 with

00:29:55 Speaker 18: a with a budget of 230

00:29:57 Speaker 18: or 234,000. 15 years later, we're

00:29:59 Speaker 18: at 242, and that represents it

00:30:01 Speaker 18: represents cost of living increases. It

00:30:02 Speaker 18: represents unionized agreements and increases that

00:30:03 Speaker 18: come with that. It represents the

00:30:05 Speaker 18: cost of doing business, transportation, building

00:30:08 Speaker 18: supplies. Doesn't stretch far enough for

00:30:10 Speaker 18: us. So unfortunately. we are in

00:30:11 Speaker 18: a position where, if if we

00:30:14 Speaker 18: do not find some other alternate

00:30:15 Speaker 18: source of funding, that we are

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

00:30:22 Speaker 18: of the funding that the council

00:30:23 Speaker 18: provides us to cover these deficits.

00:30:27 Speaker 18: I recognize that that is not

00:30:29 Speaker 18: the ultimate, or that that is

00:30:31 Speaker 18: not the intent of this, but

00:30:34 Speaker 18: our funding agreements with the Ministry

00:30:35 Speaker 18: of Health and NCCSS forbid us

00:30:36 Speaker 18: to to reallocate funds outside of

00:30:38 Speaker 18: ministry funded programmemes, and so it

00:30:41 Speaker 18: is a dilemma for us. We

00:30:42 Speaker 18: have. we've undertaken a broad range

00:30:46 Speaker 18: of conversations across the province with

00:30:48 Speaker 18: other early on centres to understand

00:30:50 Speaker 18: what they're doing and what they're

00:30:51 Speaker 18: doing well, and what we're not

00:30:54 Speaker 18: doing or what we're doing and

00:30:56 Speaker 18: not not in the same way

00:30:57 Speaker 18: as others are. And what we've

00:30:59 Speaker 18: come away with is a commitment

00:31:03 Speaker 18: to continue our early on and

00:31:04 Speaker 18: building resiliency programmemes because we recognize

00:31:06 Speaker 18: the value that they provide to

00:31:09 Speaker 18: the county and the kids. Early

00:31:10 Speaker 18: on, in particular. I I spent

00:31:13 Speaker 18: some time in Ottawa a couple

00:31:14 Speaker 18: weeks ago with an early on

00:31:16 Speaker 18: centre where they have speech and

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

00:31:20 Speaker 18: on centres, and it is a

00:31:23 Speaker 18: transitionary opportunity for those kids who

00:31:24 Speaker 18: identified as needing more support than

00:31:26 Speaker 18: just the early on centre, moving

00:31:28 Speaker 18: into the other services that are

00:31:30 Speaker 18: that are available for them, in

00:31:32 Speaker 18: a seamless way. And as lead

00:31:36 Speaker 18: agency in Grey and Bruce counties,

00:31:37 Speaker 18: our obligation is to ensure that

00:31:38 Speaker 18: every kid lands. where they need

00:31:40 Speaker 18: to land, and our early on

00:31:45 Speaker 18: centre should be a conduit for

00:31:47 Speaker 18: those who require more service to

00:31:49 Speaker 18: seamlessly move into those programmemes. And

00:31:53 Speaker 18: so that's our hope, that's our

00:31:54 Speaker 18: goal, and and we are going

00:31:59 Speaker 18: to work as as hard as

00:32:01 Speaker 19: we can to ensure that those

00:32:03 Speaker 19: services continue with the support of

00:32:04 Speaker 19: this council. And with that, I

00:32:07 Speaker 19: would yield back to council and

00:32:10 Speaker 19: 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 20: a a large part of the

00:32:58 Speaker 20: situation tables are youth situations in

00:33:01 Speaker 20: our community, not so much adult

00:33:04 Speaker 20: situations. Absolutely, yeah. Any other questions,

00:33:10 Speaker 20: Councillor Kentner? Please. I guess we

00:33:12 Speaker 20: could really question you all day,

00:33:14 Speaker 20: I think, on this topic, but.

00:33:16 Speaker 20: Is the situation getting worse? Like

00:33:19 Speaker 20: I worked with you, you know,

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

00:33:24 Speaker 21: been there. But is it getting

00:33:25 Speaker 21: worse? And maybe some reasons why.

00:33:26 Speaker 21: Thank you. Oh, do we have

00:33:28 Speaker 21: all day? All right. Short answer

00:33:31 Speaker 21: is absolutely. And a great example

00:33:33 Speaker 21: that I can give is COVID.

00:33:36 Speaker 21: We are as a population. and

00:33:38 Speaker 21: particularly as youth, dysregulated coming out

00:33:41 Speaker 21: of COVID. So, when you isolate

00:33:44 Speaker 21: youth for three years, and they

00:33:49 Speaker 21: have a little bit of anxiety

00:33:50 Speaker 21: or a little bit of depression,

00:33:52 Speaker 21: three years later that is full-blown

00:33:53 Speaker 21: mental illness, and and we are

00:33:56 Speaker 21: seeing that in spades. Our numbers

00:33:57 Speaker 21: continue to go up. The acuity,

00:33:59 Speaker 21: the severity of those clients continues

00:34:00 Speaker 21: to increase, and so, as an

00:34:03 Speaker 21: odd but interesting piece of data.

00:34:04 Speaker 21: Eating disorders tripled during COVID, which

00:34:06 Speaker 21: means that kids were sitting in

00:34:09 Speaker 21: front of their computers, taking in

00:34:12 Speaker 21: all kinds of information around body

00:34:15 Speaker 21: image, around you know things that

00:34:17 Speaker 21: sort of support that emergence of

00:34:20 Speaker 21: eating disorders. And now we have

00:34:22 Speaker 21: this huge need for eating disorders

00:34:24 Speaker 21: programmeming across the province, so not

00:34:25 Speaker 21: just the province but the country.

00:34:27 Speaker 21: So we are we are seeing

00:34:28 Speaker 21: more addictions in our in our

00:34:30 Speaker 21: presentations. Autism is increasing at a

00:34:31 Speaker 21: rapid rate. and the comorbidities. So

00:34:33 Speaker 21: the, so the, you know, it

00:34:34 Speaker 21: isn't just anxiety. It's anxiety, depression,

00:34:40 Speaker 21: OCD, and other things showing up

00:34:43 Speaker 21: at the same time. And so

00:34:44 Speaker 21: we are, you know, what we

00:34:47 Speaker 21: would say is that 2,700 kids

00:34:48 Speaker 22: we could move through in a

00:34:50 Speaker 22: year. Some of those kids now

00:34:52 Speaker 22: stay with us for several years

00:34:54 Speaker 22: because it is that intense. So

00:34:56 Speaker 22: it is, it's a, it's a

00:34:58 Speaker 22: challenge. Any other questions? Oh, Counselor

00:34:59 Speaker 22: McQueen, go ahead. Councillor McQueen, go

00:35:01 Speaker 22: ahead. Thank you, Mr. Deputy Warden,

00:35:03 Speaker 22: and thank you for your presentation.

00:35:04 Speaker 22: Certainly learned a lot here this

00:35:13 Speaker 22: morning. Just in your brief time

00:35:15 Speaker 22: here, two things. I don't know

00:35:18 Speaker 22: if you're able to provide this

00:35:19 Speaker 18: information to our lower tier councils

00:35:22 Speaker 18: because I think information is important

00:35:24 Speaker 18: for to share what you're just

00:35:26 Speaker 18: talking about this morning. But from

00:35:28 Speaker 18: the private sector or from personal

00:35:30 Speaker 18: donations, is that something you receive

00:35:32 Speaker 18: as well, or can can receive?

00:35:35 Speaker 18: The short answer is yes. The

00:35:37 Speaker 18: longer answer is it is never

00:35:39 Speaker 18: enough. And and as a as

00:35:40 Speaker 18: an organisation that is funded through

00:35:42 Speaker 18: ministries and other mechanisms, I don't

00:35:44 Speaker 18: think it's good business sense to

00:35:51 Speaker 18: use donation dollars to fund operations.

00:35:52 Speaker 18: And so what we do with

00:35:54 Speaker 18: donation dollars is we do test

00:35:57 Speaker 18: pilots, we do proof of concepts.

00:35:59 Speaker 18: If there's a if there's a

00:36:02 Speaker 18: repair to a playground that is

00:36:05 Speaker 18: falling apart, we will. take those

00:36:09 Speaker 18: donation dollars and we will use

00:36:10 Speaker 18: that to rebuild the, rebuild the

00:36:12 Speaker 18: playground. That's what we do. Thank

00:36:14 Speaker 18: you again for that. A few

00:36:15 Speaker 22: years back, we had an individual

00:36:16 Speaker 22: that was in our museum in

00:36:19 Speaker 22: Blesserton, and we got the name

00:36:23 Speaker 22: Museum Rob. You know, we're going

00:36:25 Speaker 22: with, but he he sort of

00:36:28 Speaker 22: engaged with the youth, in a

00:36:29 Speaker 22: sense of pride and ownership. and

00:36:32 Speaker 22: he was quite successful, and he

00:36:33 Speaker 22: and he just got kids involved,

00:36:35 Speaker 22: and you know the Hanley Institute

00:36:37 Speaker 22: and other ones you know that

00:36:38 Speaker 22: are out there are doing great

00:36:39 Speaker 22: things. It's it's it's. I don't

00:36:41 Speaker 22: know if it's it's kids today

00:36:42 Speaker 22: don't have that pride and ownership

00:36:43 Speaker 22: or not. I don't know, but

00:36:45 Speaker 22: sometimes individuals can can make a

00:36:47 Speaker 22: big difference, and obviously your your

00:36:48 Speaker 22: your your groups doing that. But

00:36:52 Speaker 22: again, I just think it's awareness,

00:36:54 Speaker 22: and you know probably if there's

00:36:56 Speaker 22: good news stories, people like to

00:36:57 Speaker 22: hear those good news stories, and

00:36:59 Speaker 22: that could generate your funding as

00:37:00 Speaker 22: well. And that's what I'm saying

00:37:02 Speaker 22: is sometimes it's in the stories

00:37:07 Speaker 22: and the good news stories that

00:37:08 Speaker 22: you share. And you know, because

00:37:11 Speaker 18: you know, to see a deficit

00:37:13 Speaker 18: and see a programme that you're

00:37:16 Speaker 18: offering greatly reduced because of well,

00:37:17 Speaker 18: your funding from 2010 until now

00:37:19 Speaker 18: has hasn't changed a lot. And

00:37:21 Speaker 18: I guess the advocate, the advocating

00:37:23 Speaker 18: to the province as well is

00:37:25 Speaker 18: that happening as well, and and

00:37:28 Speaker 18: is there a role there as

00:37:32 Speaker 18: well? I would I would describe

00:37:33 Speaker 18: it as we chase the dollars.

00:37:34 Speaker 18: We are like I probably have

00:37:35 Speaker 18: ten different business cases that I

00:37:38 Speaker 18: continually circulate into the ministries for

00:37:39 Speaker 18: funding. And if there is any

00:37:45 Speaker 18: opportunity for one-time funding, we grab

00:37:46 Speaker 18: it. We've become very good at

00:37:48 Speaker 23: 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 24: to come and talk to us

00:38:28 Speaker 24: today. Thank you. All right. Moving

00:38:30 Speaker 24: on, we have one more delegation.

00:38:32 Speaker 24: Greg Jones will be attending online.

00:38:35 Speaker 24: There he is from Skyline. He's

00:38:36 Speaker 24: going to be talking to us

00:38:37 Speaker 24: regarding development charges, deferral, and conditional

00:38:40 Speaker 24: exemption agreement today. So, Mister Jones,

00:38:44 Speaker 24: the floor is yours, sir. Well,

00:38:46 Speaker 24: thank you, Deputy Warden. Can you

00:38:48 Speaker 24: hear me? Okay. Yes, we can.

00:38:51 Speaker 24: Awesome. Apologies for not being able

00:38:54 Speaker 24: to attend in corporeal form today.

00:39:11 Speaker 24: My name is Greg. Jones. I'm

00:39:14 Speaker 24: the president of Skydev, part of

00:39:16 Speaker 24: the Skyline Group of companies, and

00:39:23 Speaker 24: I'd love to take the opportunity

00:39:26 Speaker 24: to tell you a little bit

00:39:30 Speaker 24: about Skyline and and about our

00:39:33 Speaker 24: development in Owen Sound and the

00:39:36 Speaker 24: development charges policy that you have,

00:39:38 Speaker 24: and how it's exciting to be

00:39:41 Speaker 24: able to invest in rental housing

00:39:42 Speaker 24: in the County of Grey. With

00:39:46 Speaker 24: that, I'll start a presentation. Can

00:39:50 Speaker 24: you see that? Okay, or should

00:39:53 Speaker 24: I? Oh, we can see it.

00:39:57 Speaker 24: Yeah. Okay. All right. So, a

00:40:00 Speaker 24: little bit about Skyline. We started

00:40:02 Speaker 24: in. the '90s, with student rentals,

00:40:03 Speaker 24: eventually we started buying apartment buildings.

00:40:06 Speaker 24: We have an apartment reit, an

00:40:07 Speaker 24: industrial reit, a retail reit, and

00:40:10 Speaker 24: a clean energy fund. Together, we

00:40:12 Speaker 24: have about ten billion of real

00:40:15 Speaker 24: estate assets in Canada. Now, the

00:40:17 Speaker 24: most relevant portfolio is we own

00:40:20 Speaker 24: and manage over twenty thousand rental

00:40:22 Speaker 24: apartments across Canada. about twenty percent

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

00:40:28 Speaker 24: housing in the county of Grey.

00:40:32 Speaker 24: So we are a landlord today,

00:40:37 Speaker 24: and we provide housing for people

00:40:40 Speaker 24: today in in the county. We

00:40:43 Speaker 24: have an industrial rate of about

00:40:46 Speaker 24: ten million square feet of high

00:40:52 Speaker 24: bay industrial warehousing. We have breads

00:40:54 Speaker 24: and meds with our retail rate.

00:40:56 Speaker 24: We're we're in small town Ontario

00:40:58 Speaker 24: across Canada. We don't own anything

00:41:01 Speaker 24: in major cities. We're all second.

00:41:04 Speaker 24: We're all secondary and tertiary markets,

00:41:08 Speaker 24: investing in grocery stores and pharmacies

00:41:10 Speaker 24: primarily. We are the biggest producer

00:41:12 Speaker 24: of bio. I'm sorry, but I

00:41:16 Speaker 24: can't help you with that right

00:41:20 Speaker 24: now. Right about that, we're the

00:41:23 Speaker 24: biggest producer of biogas in Canada,

00:41:25 Speaker 24: with our plant in Elmira and

00:41:29 Speaker 24: Lethbridge, Alberta. Co-founders and myself. as

00:41:32 Speaker 24: Skydev, we're currently building about one

00:41:33 Speaker 24: thousand five hundred rental apartments in

00:41:36 Speaker 24: Ontario at the moment. My partners

00:41:39 Speaker 24: are a couple of guys from

00:41:42 Speaker 24: Walkerton, Ontario, and Fergus, Ontario. What

00:41:46 Speaker 24: have we done recently? We've delivered

00:41:48 Speaker 24: over six hundred rental apartments in

00:41:50 Speaker 24: communities like Chatham, Tecumseh, Ravenhurst, Welland,

00:41:52 Speaker 24: Collingwood. We even do supportive housing

00:41:54 Speaker 24: as a pro bono initiative. for

00:41:57 Speaker 24: nonprofits, trying to make a difference,

00:42:00 Speaker 24: create meaningful value in in the

00:42:02 Speaker 24: communities we're investing in. What are

00:42:04 Speaker 24: we building right now? We're building

00:42:12 Speaker 24: in the town of Simcoe, near

00:42:21 Speaker 24: Port Dover, the city of Belleville,

00:42:21 Speaker 24: city of Owen Sound, which we'll

00:42:25 Speaker 24: we'll cover, and the city of

00:42:27 Speaker 24: Barry. We I'll just show you

00:42:29 Speaker 24: some imagery quick of our development

00:42:33 Speaker 24: in Collingwood. what it looks like

00:42:35 Speaker 24: today, where we are leasing rental

00:42:38 Speaker 24: apartments now. We always have great

00:42:39 Speaker 24: indoor outdoor amenity spaces. Just giving

00:42:41 Speaker 24: you a flavour of what we're

00:42:44 Speaker 24: working on. This is Simcoe, Ontario.

00:42:47 Speaker 24: I'll show you a quick clip.

00:42:48 Speaker 24: We're building 199 rental apartments in

00:42:51 Speaker 24: the county of Norfolk. I don't

00:42:52 Speaker 24: know if you can hear the

00:42:54 Speaker 24: music, but no, we're not, we're

00:42:55 Speaker 24: not, we're not hearing the music.

00:43:18 Speaker 24: We can see the video. Belleville,

00:43:19 Speaker 24: we have two buildings here: 166

00:43:20 Speaker 25: rentals with the central amenity building.

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

00:43:28 Speaker 26: right on the 400. You'll see

00:43:30 Speaker 26: some towers coming up. We have

00:43:32 Speaker 26: 565 apartments under construction at the

00:43:34 Speaker 26: moment. Here's a quick. drone video

00:43:37 Speaker 26: of what it looks like today.

00:43:42 Speaker 26: Give you an idea of what

00:43:45 Speaker 26: we're doing and what we're building

00:43:48 Speaker 26: and what we're investing in. All

00:43:51 Speaker 26: these projects are 100% rental apartments.

00:43:52 Speaker 26: So, gives you a bit of

00:43:54 Speaker 26: an update there of what we're

00:43:56 Speaker 26: working on, what we're investing in,

00:43:58 Speaker 26: discussing the development charges, policies, and

00:44:06 Speaker 26: exemptions. The policy in place from

00:44:08 Speaker 26: the County of Gray is what

00:44:11 Speaker 26: makes rental housing possible in the

00:44:15 Speaker 26: area. We're investing big time in

00:44:17 Speaker 26: Owen Sound, and I'll just show

00:44:20 Speaker 26: you some pictures. The we have

00:44:22 Speaker 26: three buildings. under construction of eight,

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

00:44:30 Speaker 26: apartments, and we're, I mean, great

00:44:34 Speaker 26: views of the bay and the

00:44:37 Speaker 26: water. We broke ground a few

00:44:39 Speaker 26: months back, and you'll see some

00:44:41 Speaker 26: the buildings coming up over over

00:44:46 Speaker 26: the winter. The here's another photo.

00:44:48 Speaker 26: We're because of the policy of

00:44:51 Speaker 26: the county of Gray exempting development.

00:44:53 Speaker 26: charges for rental housing projects. We're

00:44:54 Speaker 26: also looking at making our Osmond

00:44:56 Speaker 26: Shores project in Meaford rental. Presented

00:44:59 Speaker 26: that to council a few weeks

00:45:00 Speaker 26: ago, as well as a destination

00:45:02 Speaker 26: boutique hotel. Just some quick renderings.

00:45:04 Speaker 26: So, I mean, we're investing in

00:45:08 Speaker 26: rental housing across the province. We

00:45:11 Speaker 26: are investing in the County of

00:45:12 Speaker 26: Grey big time because of. Great

00:45:13 Speaker 26: big time because of the policies

00:45:17 Speaker 26: in place, where you know you're

00:45:19 Speaker 26: you're able to build rental housing

00:45:22 Speaker 26: for regular people. Just we're targeting

00:45:25 Speaker 26: the average income in the area.

00:45:27 Speaker 26: You have a lot of retirees

00:45:29 Speaker 26: that sell their homes and make

00:45:32 Speaker 26: housing available to other people, and

00:45:35 Speaker 26: are able to move into a

00:45:36 Speaker 26: turnkey lifestyle with elevators, as well

00:45:39 Speaker 26: as some big projects in the

00:45:42 Speaker 26: area where you have basically workforce

00:45:44 Speaker 26: housing for people. to be able

00:45:46 Speaker 26: to live in and have great

00:45:49 Speaker 26: views of the water in both

00:45:52 Speaker 26: Oceansound and Meaford. So today we're

00:45:55 Speaker 26: talking about Oceansound and the request

00:45:57 Speaker 26: for exemption. I just wanted to

00:46:01 Speaker 26: share from a business perspective, being

00:46:03 Speaker 26: able to say, "Hey, we have

00:46:04 Speaker 26: an exemption on this on this

00:46:06 Speaker 26: property to be able to build

00:46:10 Speaker 26: more rental housing." What that allows

00:46:14 Speaker 26: me to do is get more

00:46:17 Speaker 26: investment. so it's not just people

00:46:20 Speaker 26: renting apartments. It's attracting investment in

00:46:23 Speaker 26: rental housing. It's not a very

00:46:24 Speaker 26: good yield. It's a, it's a

00:46:27 Speaker 26: long-term ownership situation where we own

00:46:31 Speaker 26: and manage buildings for decades. So

00:46:33 Speaker 26: we're, you know, we're implementing sustainable

00:46:35 Speaker 26: technologies because it saves money. We

00:46:38 Speaker 26: do solar, we do all all

00:46:40 Speaker 26: the all the LEDs and all

00:46:43 Speaker 26: the the things you can do

00:46:45 Speaker 26: to save on energy and make

00:46:48 Speaker 26: it. Save on energy and make

00:46:49 Speaker 26: energy. Kind of like our our

00:46:51 Speaker 26: Skyline Energy Fund does, literally makes

00:46:52 Speaker 26: money out of garbage and sunshine.

00:46:57 Speaker 26: So we're always after those initiatives.

00:46:59 Speaker 26: We build rental housing across the

00:47:01 Speaker 26: country and own and keep it

00:47:03 Speaker 26: for a long period of time.

00:47:08 Speaker 26: What the ask today is is

00:47:10 Speaker 26: to allow for an exemption on

00:47:13 Speaker 26: the entire development to mirror. what

00:47:16 Speaker 26: the city of Owen Sound has

00:47:20 Speaker 26: done, where we're able to attract

00:47:23 Speaker 26: more investment in rental housing. There's

00:47:26 Speaker 26: nonprofits interested in the property. I

00:47:28 Speaker 26: have more investors that are ready

00:47:29 Speaker 26: to to start the next building

00:47:31 Speaker 26: and the next building as they

00:47:32 Speaker 26: fill up. But for absorption, we

00:47:35 Speaker 26: started with the first three, and

00:47:39 Speaker 26: we'd like that confidence to to

00:47:41 Speaker 26: move forward and continue to invest

00:47:42 Speaker 26: in more rental housing for the

00:47:44 Speaker 26: county of Grey. For the County

00:47:45 Speaker 26: of Gray, and so the requested

00:47:47 Speaker 26: motions really similar to option two

00:47:49 Speaker 26: in your staff report, where we're

00:47:54 Speaker 26: asking for a ten-year agreement, exempt

00:47:58 Speaker 26: the first phase, and delegate staff

00:47:59 Speaker 26: 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 27: busy fellow with with your partners.

00:48:51 Speaker 26: Are there any? We do, as

00:48:54 Speaker 26: you mentioned, there is a staff

00:48:57 Speaker 26: report upcoming in this meeting later.

00:48:58 Speaker 26: Maybe not so later, depending on

00:49:01 Speaker 26: how council feels about it. But

00:49:04 Speaker 26: anyway, there is a staff report

00:49:05 Speaker 26: there. Are there any? But for

00:49:08 Speaker 26: now, are there any questions from

00:49:11 Speaker 26: council? Councillor Niels. Thank you very

00:49:15 Speaker 26: much, Deputy Warden. Just a quick

00:49:16 Speaker 28: question: You you spoken to the

00:49:18 Speaker 26: You've spoken to the purpose-built rental

00:49:19 Speaker 26: units. Is there a percentage that

00:49:20 Speaker 26: is being targeted for affordable housing

00:49:23 Speaker 26: rental units in this project, or

00:49:25 Speaker 26: is it just market rate? Mr.

00:49:28 Speaker 26: Jones, through the deputy warden, it

00:49:30 Speaker 26: is all market housing. We try

00:49:33 Speaker 26: to build more supply for the

00:49:34 Speaker 26: province of Ontario. We're we're open

00:49:36 Speaker 26: to additional grants to create deeply

00:49:37 Speaker 26: affordable. rentals, but we do try

00:49:38 Speaker 26: to target the average income in

00:49:45 Speaker 19: in a community. And if we

00:49:48 Speaker 19: charge too much, they would just

00:49:49 Speaker 19: buy a home. So we have

00:49:51 Speaker 19: to keep it affordable. From my

00:49:53 Speaker 19: perspective, deeply affordable, open to additional

00:50:01 Speaker 19: grants to make it more affordable.

00:50:05 Speaker 19: Just it's just math for us.

00:50:08 Speaker 19: We don't we're not against it.

00:50:13 Speaker 19: We do it all the time.

00:50:16 Speaker 19: City of Berry, we did ten

00:50:17 Speaker 19: percent affordable in the first tower

00:50:19 Speaker 19: through grants. through their CIP programme.

00:50:22 Speaker 19: Okay, thank you. Any other questions

00:50:25 Speaker 19: from council? Okay, not seeing any

00:50:26 Speaker 19: further questions for now. Thank you

00:50:29 Speaker 19: very much, Mr. Jones. And as

00:50:35 Speaker 19: 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 29: appetite to move the skyline report

00:51:30 Speaker 29: up to the first item? Anyone

00:51:31 Speaker 29: object to that, Councillor Nielsen? You're

00:51:32 Speaker 29: good with that. Do we need

00:51:33 Speaker 29: a motion, Madam Clerk? No, I

00:51:35 Speaker 29: think we'll just go on consensus.

00:51:37 Speaker 29: I don't see any objection, so

00:51:39 Speaker 29: we'll deal with item seven D

00:51:40 Speaker 29: first, which is the Skyline report.

00:51:42 Speaker 29: If someone would like to make

00:51:44 Speaker 29: make the motion to that is

00:51:46 Speaker 29: recommended, Councillor Debrine and Councillor Hutchison.

00:51:49 Speaker 29: Okay, welcome, Scott. Floor is yours,

00:51:52 Speaker 29: sir. Yeah, thank you. Good morning,

00:51:53 Speaker 29: Deputy Warden, and members of Council,

00:51:55 Speaker 29: and those that might be. The

00:51:57 Speaker 29: council and and those that might

00:51:58 Speaker 29: be tuning in today. So this

00:51:59 Speaker 29: report, as as indicated in in

00:52:00 Speaker 29: the title bar, was a team

00:52:04 Speaker 29: effort. This was was done by

00:52:06 Speaker 29: Mary Lou and and Lacy and

00:52:07 Speaker 29: myself. I'm just the lucky one

00:52:10 Speaker 29: that gets to speak with you

00:52:11 Speaker 29: because maybe I like hearing my

00:52:14 Speaker 29: own voice the most. I'm not

00:52:16 Speaker 29: sure, but I'll try not to

00:52:17 Speaker 29: to go over what Greg

00:52:21 Speaker 29: has already shared. And and and

00:52:24 Speaker 29: first off, I do want to

00:52:27 Speaker 29: reiterate the fact that staff are

00:52:31 Speaker 29: thrilled that companies like Skyline are

00:52:34 Speaker 29: are choosing to invest in our

00:52:35 Speaker 29: communities and. and more importantly, choosing

00:52:37 Speaker 29: to invest in rental housing. For

00:52:39 Speaker 29: years, many years ago, we were

00:52:42 Speaker 29: seeing a slowdown in rental builds,

00:52:43 Speaker 29: and and so the past, you

00:52:45 Speaker 29: know, five or six years, we

00:52:48 Speaker 29: we've really seen an increase in

00:52:49 Speaker 29: the number of rental units, and

00:52:51 Speaker 29: we're really thrilled that that both

00:52:53 Speaker 29: local developers and and those from

00:52:55 Speaker 29: maybe slightly further afield are choosing

00:52:58 Speaker 29: to invest in in rental in

00:52:59 Speaker 29: our communities in that regard. Just

00:53:01 Speaker 29: as a bit of background to

00:53:04 Speaker 29: council, for the last number of

00:53:06 Speaker 29: years, county staff have regular. County

00:53:07 Speaker 29: staff have regularly entered into what

00:53:09 Speaker 29: we call development charges exemption agreements

00:53:11 Speaker 29: for purpose-built rental housing, and and

00:53:13 Speaker 29: so these these agreements are under

00:53:15 Speaker 29: policy eleven dash one that that

00:53:18 Speaker 29: council has delegated certain signing authorities

00:53:20 Speaker 29: to the director of finance and

00:53:23 Speaker 29: director of planning in that regard,

00:53:25 Speaker 29: and would allow within certain limits

00:53:27 Speaker 29: the county to enter into an

00:53:29 Speaker 29: exemption agreement whereby the developer doesn't

00:53:31 Speaker 29: have to pay the development charge

00:53:34 Speaker 29: up front. The development charge upfront,

00:53:36 Speaker 29: and furthermore, if if they abide

00:53:38 Speaker 29: by the the terms of the

00:53:41 Speaker 29: agreement for the duration of the

00:53:43 Speaker 29: agreement, they actually never have to

00:53:45 Speaker 29: to pay the development charge. And

00:53:48 Speaker 29: in broad strokes, usually what that

00:53:50 Speaker 29: agreement says is from from from

00:53:53 Speaker 29: the signing of the agreement, you

00:53:54 Speaker 29: have five years to to build

00:53:56 Speaker 29: development, and then from first occupancy,

00:53:57 Speaker 29: you need to keep the development

00:53:59 Speaker 29: as rental housing for a minimum

00:54:01 Speaker 29: of twenty years. In that regard,

00:54:03 Speaker 29: the development charge exemption agreements that

00:54:06 Speaker 29: the counties entered into to date.

00:54:07 Speaker 29: have not been tied to affordability,

00:54:10 Speaker 29: but they are tied to to

00:54:12 Speaker 29: being long-term rental units. So somebody

00:54:15 Speaker 29: can't condominiumize their development, if you

00:54:17 Speaker 29: will, and and nor do nor

00:54:22 Speaker 29: do they allow for short-term rentals

00:54:24 Speaker 29: on a nightly basis. In that

00:54:26 Speaker 29: regard, so at a background level,

00:54:29 Speaker 29: that's that's what what the development

00:54:32 Speaker 29: charge exemption agreements do. As we

00:54:33 Speaker 29: heard from Mr. Jones, these agreements

00:54:35 Speaker 29: have been very successful. We've talked

00:54:38 Speaker 29: to developers that that have told

00:54:42 Speaker 29: us that. that this really turned

00:54:43 Speaker 29: the tide between investing in gray

00:54:46 Speaker 29: or investing in another community. It

00:54:49 Speaker 29: really made them consider and reconsider

00:54:51 Speaker 29: investments in rental housing in that

00:54:53 Speaker 29: regard. And we're thrilled because that's

00:54:56 Speaker 29: the vision that county saw, a

00:54:58 Speaker 29: county council saw a few years

00:55:01 Speaker 29: ago, and to see it pan

00:55:03 Speaker 29: out and to see more units

00:55:05 Speaker 29: being built in that regard is

00:55:06 Speaker 29: is simply wonderful. And so to

00:55:07 Speaker 29: get into sort of the the

00:55:09 Speaker 29: meat and potatoes of of this

00:55:12 Speaker 29: particular development. as Mr. Jones noted,

00:55:14 Speaker 29: they are looking at building 712

00:55:16 Speaker 29: rental units across eight buildings. There

00:55:18 Speaker 29: will be 168 one-bedroom units, 544

00:55:21 Speaker 29: two-bedroom units. They have gotten permits

00:55:23 Speaker 29: and started construction on their first

00:55:25 Speaker 29: phase, which is 267 units across

00:55:28 Speaker 29: three separate buildings. As Mr. Jones

00:55:30 Speaker 29: mentioned, it's our understanding that City

00:55:31 Speaker 29: of Owen Sound has entered into

00:55:34 Speaker 29: a similar development charges exemption agreement

00:55:35 Speaker 29: for the duration. of of the

00:55:38 Speaker 29: the 712 units, rather than just

00:55:40 Speaker 29: the first phase. In this regard,

00:55:42 Speaker 29: I will note that staff are

00:55:44 Speaker 29: recommending that the county just enter

00:55:46 Speaker 29: into phase one for now, and

00:55:48 Speaker 29: that we consider future phases as

00:55:51 Speaker 29: as they get closer to coming

00:55:54 Speaker 29: online. In that regard, certainly we've

00:55:57 Speaker 29: had other developments whereby we we

00:55:58 Speaker 29: entered into a development charges exemption

00:56:00 Speaker 29: agreement for phase one, and then

00:56:02 Speaker 29: when they were ready to do

00:56:05 Speaker 29: phase two, they came back and

00:56:06 Speaker 29: and we entered into a second

00:56:08 Speaker 29: agreement in that regard. Certainly, understand

00:56:10 Speaker 29: from from Mr. Jones and his

00:56:12 Speaker 29: colleagues' perspectives why they'd want to

00:56:14 Speaker 29: enter into a development charges agreement

00:56:16 Speaker 29: for for the entirety upfront would

00:56:17 Speaker 29: certainly assist with with long term

00:56:20 Speaker 29: planning and financing in that regard.

00:56:21 Speaker 29: But from a staff perspective, we've

00:56:24 Speaker 29: seen a lot of change in

00:56:26 Speaker 29: the development charges sphere over the

00:56:28 Speaker 29: last five or six years. We

00:56:30 Speaker 29: are coming up on a review

00:56:32 Speaker 29: of the county's development charges. background

00:56:34 Speaker 29: study and bylaw next year, and

00:56:38 Speaker 29: and so that's the opportunity for

00:56:42 Speaker 29: for council and staff and the

00:56:44 Speaker 29: community to provide feedback on on

00:56:47 Speaker 29: what's appropriate within those development charges,

00:56:48 Speaker 29: and and some of what's appropriate

00:56:49 Speaker 29: might also be those those policies

00:56:51 Speaker 29: around the the exemption agreements in

00:56:53 Speaker 29: that regard. So what staff are

00:56:56 Speaker 29: recommending here is is just the

00:56:58 Speaker 29: slightly more cautious approach of entering

00:57:00 Speaker 29: into the development charges exemption agreement

00:57:04 Speaker 29: for phase one, and then considering

00:57:06 Speaker 29: each future. phase as they come

00:57:07 Speaker 29: along, based on both the legislation

00:57:08 Speaker 29: and the county's own policy, as

00:57:11 Speaker 29: as they come out in that

00:57:12 Speaker 29: regard, I should also mention there's

00:57:14 Speaker 29: a bit of an error in

00:57:15 Speaker 29: the report, and and and Mr.

00:57:17 Speaker 29: Jones's team was nice enough to

00:57:19 Speaker 29: alert alert us to that, and

00:57:21 Speaker 29: that comes in the financial and

00:57:24 Speaker 29: resource implications section. What you'll see

00:57:26 Speaker 29: in that financial and resource implications

00:57:29 Speaker 29: section is is the county staff

00:57:32 Speaker 29: have said that the total development

00:57:34 Speaker 29: charges would be approximately three point

00:57:36 Speaker 29: three million. Approximately 3.3 million for

00:57:40 Speaker 29: the entire thing, and 1.2 million

00:57:42 Speaker 29: for Phase One. County staff, in

00:57:45 Speaker 29: in preparing this, misinterpreted the development

00:57:46 Speaker 29: charges legislation in this regard around

00:57:49 Speaker 29: development charges rate freezes. And and

00:57:51 Speaker 29: not to let myself off the

00:57:53 Speaker 29: hook here, but it's easy to

00:57:55 Speaker 29: misinterpret because there's changes about every

00:57:56 Speaker 29: four months in this regard. But

00:57:57 Speaker 29: nevertheless, we misinterpreted it, and and

00:57:59 Speaker 29: so there is currently a rate

00:58:01 Speaker 29: freeze in place, which dates back

00:58:03 Speaker 29: to the. 2022 development charges rates.

00:58:07 Speaker 29: So, if we were to carry

00:58:09 Speaker 29: that forward, and and that rate

00:58:10 Speaker 29: freeze is in place for a

00:58:12 Speaker 29: time limited period, but it is

00:58:14 Speaker 29: currently in place for for certainly

00:58:16 Speaker 29: the the pulling of the first

00:58:17 Speaker 29: building permits, and depending on how

00:58:19 Speaker 29: quickly the development proceeds, it could

00:58:21 Speaker 29: be future building permits too. But

00:58:22 Speaker 29: that 3.3 million dollar number for

00:58:24 Speaker 29: the entire project goes to about

00:58:26 Speaker 29: 2.6 million, and that 1.2 million

00:58:27 Speaker 29: for phase one goes to about

00:58:28 Speaker 29: 990 thousand. So the the dollar

00:58:30 Speaker 29: values are lower, but it doesn't

00:58:32 Speaker 29: change the staff recommendation in that

00:58:34 Speaker 29: because for the total development they're

00:58:36 Speaker 29: 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