Owen Sound Committee - Community Services Meeting Transcript — February 18, 2026

00:00:18 SPEAKER_661: The first item on the agenda following the call to order is the election of chair And perhaps just before we do that I would ask that

00:00:28 SPEAKER_661: we go around the room and introduce ourselves I'll maybe save the staff at the back of the room who are here tonight for orientation for a bit later But if we could start with Councillor Middlebro

00:00:42 Ian Boddy: I am Councillor Melanie Middlebro and I am a firstterm councillor I

00:00:49 Melanie Middlebro: am Connie Eid and I'm a resident of Owen Sound and a public member

00:00:55 Melanie Middlebro: Good evening I'm Marian Capkia counselor with the City of Owen Sound on my third term and previously were two terms as chair of this committee

00:01:06 SPEAKER_017: I'm Allie Bastille Bastido I'm a resident of Owen Sound and public committee member

00:01:15 Pam Coulter: Hi I'm Royden Thompson citizen of Owen Sound and public member of the committee And this is my first committee meeting

00:01:24 Travis Dodd: My name is Travis Dodd I'm been councilor for 12 years and I think I've sat on this committee for almost all 12 of them

00:01:33 Travis Dodd: Good way to go out

00:01:56 SPEAKER_021: Councillor Kukraysia can you hear us Okay

00:01:59 SPEAKER_021: Yes I can hear you

00:02:02 SPEAKER_661: Thank you When we come back from this technical issue we'll go to you next

00:02:07 SPEAKER_661: Okay Thank you

00:02:10 SPEAKER_022: Okay everyone So we're good to start the meeting again Here we're just not going to be live streaming it

00:02:16 SPEAKER_022: so we'll post the recording tomorrow

00:02:23 SPEAKER_022: I think we're good to just pick up where we left off

00:02:27 SPEAKER_022: Okay over to you Councillor Kukraysia

00:02:30 SPEAKER_023: Thank you I am Councillor Smith Kukraysia firsttime councillor for the City of Fort Sound Thank you

00:02:41 SPEAKER_662: Good evening everybody and welcome I'm Tim Simmons the City Manager

00:02:46 SPEAKER_661: And good evening I'm Pam Coulter Director of Community Services

00:02:56 SPEAKER_024: Good evening I'm Rebecca Ellerdm I'm a senior advisor on external relations and investment attraction

00:03:04 SPEAKER_022: And I'm Christina McLean and I'm the committee and executive support coordinator and also the recording secretary for all of the committees

00:03:12 SPEAKER_022: So with that we'll move ahead to the next item on the agenda which is election of a chair

00:03:20 SPEAKER_022: So we can go ahead and open the Florida nominations for the position of chair I think the only person who is unable to be chair is Councillor Kepke

00:03:30 SPEAKER_022: So any nominations Councillor Kepke

00:03:33 SPEAKER_022: I'd like to nominate Councillor Middlebro

00:03:37 SPEAKER_022: Councillor Middlebro do you accept that nomination I do

00:03:43 SPEAKER_022: Okay Any other nominations for chair

00:03:47 SPEAKER_022: Seeing none so Councillor Middlebro is acclaimed as the chair and she can assume the chair for the rest of the meeting

00:04:47 SPEAKER_667: Okay so we'll move on to number three which is the election of the vice chair So I will open the floor for nominations

00:04:56 Travis Dodd: Councillor Dodd Thank you Madam Chair I would nominate Councillor Kepky

00:05:02 Ian Boddy: Councillor Kepky do you accept the nomination Yes I do Thank you

00:05:07 Ian Boddy: Are there any further nominations

00:05:11 Ian Boddy: Seeing none I will acclaim Councillor Kepky Keupkey as vice chair of the committee

00:05:16 Ian Boddy: At number four this evening call for additional business Is there anyone with additional business this evening

00:05:22 Ian Boddy: Seeing none so we will move on to number five declarations of interest Does anyone have anything to declare this evening

00:05:31 Ian Boddy: Yes Go ahead

00:05:33 Pam Coulter: Thank you Yes I have a declaration of interest with item seven A which is the presentation by Savannah Myers for the Team Gray Memorandum of Understanding My interest is that I am employed by the Gray the County

00:05:49 Pam Coulter: of Gray and I work in the Economic Development Department

00:05:56 Pam Coulter: Okay thank you

00:05:58 Ian Boddy: At number six this evening is confirmation of minutes At six a we have the minutes of the Community Services Committee meeting held on January twenty first twenty six I believe these minutes have come to council and they were approved with

00:06:12 Ian Boddy: one change Can you let us know what that change was

00:06:16 Ian Boddy: Through you Chair The change was with respect to item five B and the multiyear support for summer folk and that resolution was not approved by council

00:06:26 Ian Boddy: Okay Thank you If there's nothing further from anyone then I will call a question All in favor of those minutes

00:06:38 Ian Boddy: Oh Okay Then we need someone to move the minutes Councillor Dodd

00:06:43 Ian Boddy: And if nothing further I'll call the question All in favor

00:06:46 Ian Boddy: And Sunith is also voting in favor so that carries

00:06:50 Ian Boddy: At number seven A we have deputations and presentations We have a presentation from Savannah Myers from Gray County regarding a Team Gray Memorandum of Understanding So we welcome Savannah

00:07:11 SPEAKER_025: Thank you so much Good evening everybody Thank you for having me to talk about the Team Gray Memorandum of Understanding This is a really exciting project that has been ongoing for some time I'm going to walk you through a little

00:07:24 SPEAKER_025: bit about how we got here what the overview of this Team Gray MOU is and then I know you have a report later on in your agenda from Rebecca that will be seeking your endorsement and signing to go forward to

00:07:34 SPEAKER_025: council So without Without ado the Team Gray MOU This was one of the very first priorities that came out of our Economic Development Tourism and Culture Master Plan That master plan identified priority number one as leadership and collaboration so that

00:07:49 SPEAKER_025: we can build cohesion Our role at Gray County is to represent the whole to look at the full region the opportunities that exist in every single corner and be able to tie the threads together so that we can put our

00:08:00 SPEAKER_025: best foot forward a strong voice forward and we can have a stronger collaboration

00:08:06 SPEAKER_025: where everybody can win at the end of the daythat's really what it's about

00:08:10 SPEAKER_025: So under priority number one this was identified as something that all of our member municipalities were looking for We wanted to seek clarity we wanted to define roles and we wanted to make sure that we could work strongly together as

00:08:23 SPEAKER_025: we move forward through implementation of the master plan

00:08:29 SPEAKER_025: The MLU could apply to everything that we do but that's too big We needed to start somewhere so we are starting with priority number one and number two under that Team Gray MOU So focusing on leadership and collaborationthat is economic

00:08:44 SPEAKER_025: development leadership forum That's training education networking opportunities to have sometimes difficult conversations sometimes exciting conversations but to get us all into the same page Thinking about advocacy and how do we connect all of our voices so that we're going with

00:08:58 SPEAKER_025: one larger strong voice when we're talking to upper levels of government When we're talking to partners such as Georgian College or others what can we do together

00:09:07 SPEAKER_025: Thinking about opportunities to look at our municipalities and potential boundary partnerships boundary adjustments We saw a great example come out with Hanover and West Grey That conversation has been ongoing for decades and they have now partnered together working with the

00:09:20 SPEAKER_025: county to unlock some of that land for future development And then the Team Grey MOU

00:09:25 SPEAKER_025: being number one point four to redefine those roles responsibilities resources Expectations

00:09:32 SPEAKER_025: and under investment readiness that really goes hand in hand with leadership and collaboration because there's a lot of work that we have to do to be investment ready There's lots of things that we would love to be able to land

00:09:40 SPEAKER_025: business that we would love to be able to bring local business to expand but if we don't have the right resources in place if we don't have the right tools it's really difficult to do that So under investment readiness we're

00:09:53 SPEAKER_025: looking at a data sharing program That's where the county can do a larger buy of data for all of our municipalities and then we can all speak from the same data set Looking at systems mapping so again that regional view

00:10:05 SPEAKER_025: in our master plan One of my favorite lines in that whole plan talks about how we share the same geography but we have a very different view When you're on the ground in your municipality you're focused on the ground within

00:10:16 SPEAKER_025: your boundaries When we're at the county we're looking across all of those boundaries erasing them to see what potential there exists So it's being able to map those things together Looking at shared tools and templates at the county level so

00:10:29 SPEAKER_025: that we don't have to duplicate effort nine times What can we share as a template to be able to advance that work and save you resources on the ground as well

00:10:38 SPEAKER_025: Thinking about municipally owned employment lands that's where we start to take those first tools and templates and those first

00:10:44 SPEAKER_025: set of mapping and then look at what does that mean on the ground Assessing and identifying what lands are available today what lands could be available tomorrow and what work needs to be done on that to bring them To fruition

00:10:57 SPEAKER_025: and that allows us to then look at significant regional economic development projects What this MOU is also helping us to differentiate between when we come to rules is realizing that the county we're not staffed or resourced or mandated to come

00:11:11 SPEAKER_025: down and work on the ground in our municipalities We can't go and make the relationships with all of your businesses We can't pound the pavement in every municipality and build those really strong relationships with landowners and business owners That's what

00:11:23 SPEAKER_025: you have staff locally to be able to do we need those connections to come together And then looking at welcoming communities infrastructure and this work really comes through the Gray Bruce Local Immigration Partnership and understanding how can we meaningfully integrate

00:11:37 SPEAKER_025: and retain residents So this is what the MOU is focused on Even though we could go right across our full department we could go across the master plan we could go to other departments This is the scope and scale of

00:11:48 SPEAKER_025: what we're talking about with the MOU for a start Someday maybe we expand as we get better at what we're doing

00:11:54 SPEAKER_025: but it really is a madeingray approach and I think this part is really important because it is understanding that we're formalizing the collaboration that already exists This isn't brand new This isn't something that we're kind of pulling out of our

00:12:05 SPEAKER_025: hat Gray County and our member municipalities we work really well together So this isn't to say that we're not This is just to strengthen what already exists and to realize that both individually and collectively we need to plan and grow

00:12:18 SPEAKER_025: together And the italicized Size line at the bottom there It really reinforces why this matters and why we're never as the county going to come in and say Owensound you need to do this You need to be this We think

00:12:31 SPEAKER_025: that this is where you need to go We'll offer suggestions but it really does matter about the priorities and the character that you have on the ground in all nine of our municipalities because that's where the regional strength comes from

00:12:43 SPEAKER_025: It is understanding that collection of the nine unique municipalities that when we put it together we really have a story to share

00:12:50 SPEAKER_025: and And it helps us decide what we want the county to look like collectively We don't want growth to happen to us We want to be able to decide what does our future look like What is it that our community

00:13:00 SPEAKER_025: supports And it's likely going to be different across the nine municipalities which gives us great opportunity for the future

00:13:08 SPEAKER_025: So the MOU has two very distinct yet related parts The first one applies equally to all municipalities and you'll see it in the attachment of the staff report from Rebecca that It talks about the purpose and the guiding document being

00:13:20 SPEAKER_025: our master plan guiding principles and then roles and responsibilities for the county What we will do for you and all of our nonmember municipalities the expectations that we have for our municipalities and the role that you will play and then

00:13:33 SPEAKER_025: what are the shared commitments that we have to one another That applies across the board no matter what so long as we're all signing on to this And Gray County Council has already committed to this point So now I'm going

00:13:44 SPEAKER_025: to see all of our member municipalities and you are our Our third stop which is very exciting

00:13:49 SPEAKER_025: The annual project work plans those are project by project basis So that gives us a template to be able to say that project X in Owen Sound is going to look like this Whether it's proposed by the city it's proposed

00:14:01 SPEAKER_025: by the county or we're coming together to propose something it gives us a really good line of sight of where we might go on a particular project You may have one as a municipality You may have ten as a municipality

00:14:12 SPEAKER_025: You may have none because you don't have the capacity or The opportunity at your doorstep at that moment and that's okay But that does not take away from that overall commitment of what the MOU is saying in terms of our

00:14:22 SPEAKER_025: shared responsibilities our individual responsibilities

00:14:28 SPEAKER_025: So why an MOU This is something that we were asked a couple times You know if you're already doing this work why do you need an MOU It is really meant to strengthen that collaborative relationship that already exists between Gray

00:14:39 SPEAKER_025: and our member municipalities but to clarify roles and responsibilities because there's often confusion and sometimes investment readiness moves really quickly so we need to be able to clarify who needs to do what so we're not stepping on toes along the

00:14:51 SPEAKER_025: way

00:14:52 SPEAKER_025: It also helps us during staff transitions That's a reality of municipal work We have a lot of staff transitions across the board So how can we develop a framework that is easy for somebody to come into and understand This is

00:15:02 SPEAKER_025: my role This is what I need to bring to the table

00:15:06 SPEAKER_025: Having the work plans gives us those mechanisms for proposing evaluating implementing projects and then we're able to avoid duplication Of effort and optimize the resource resources because none of us have resources to waste We need to be really meaningful and

00:15:17 SPEAKER_025: thoughtful about what we do with the resources that we have and then it helps us operationalize those discussions that we're having through the leadership series and really understanding what economic development across Gray County can look like

00:15:29 SPEAKER_025: and why now and not two years ago when we had the economic development tourism and culture master plan developed there were things that we had to do first We had foundational research that needed to be done We had preparatory work

00:15:43 SPEAKER_025: to understand what could be possible how we could work together and get some of those foundational pieces of those tools and templates in place Data being a great example we have now purchased Environics Analytics It is one of the best

00:15:56 SPEAKER_025: data sources that we could possibly have We've done that on behalf of our municipalities and we're getting comfortable with what that tells us what opportunity there might be and where some of those challenges are But there was real work that

00:16:07 SPEAKER_025: had to be done first So in order to position the teams for success we introduce those tools we introduce the templates and the shared platforms while we also developed a deeper understanding So lots of conversations in the last two years

00:16:18 SPEAKER_025: to understand the situation and the reality on the ground Now having those processes and that perspective we're armed and able to move forward So with a shared understanding the time seemed right to formalize the collaboration So here we are heading

00:16:32 SPEAKER_025: into year three of the master plan and now what we're looking to do also is seek that commitment to leverage and adopt tools that we're investing in because the last thing we want to do is spend money on something and

00:16:43 SPEAKER_025: not use it So we need to be able to all come to the table for that

00:16:47 SPEAKER_025: It was a lengthy process to get to this point Lots and lots of conversation with CIOs and EDOs many rounds of engagement many rounds of editing right up until the day before it went to County Council and was published But

00:17:01 SPEAKER_025: we were very thankful that at the end of the day we did get council endorsement on December 11th committee of the whole had endorsed it Then council formally endorsed it in January and this is the recommendation you see before you

00:17:13 SPEAKER_025: which is what will come in Rebecca's report following this But we'll be seeking your

00:17:19 SPEAKER_025: no your recognition of this MOU and your endorsement to go to council so that we can get it signed and we can continue the good work that we're doing together So I will leave it there and if you have any

00:17:29 SPEAKER_025: questions please let me know

00:17:32 Ian Boddy: Okay thank you for that And Go ahead Councillor Kepu Is

00:17:38 Melanie Middlebro: there any financial attachment to all of this by the municipalities

00:17:44 Melanie Middlebro: Sorry

00:17:47 SPEAKER_025: Thank you Great question Through you Chair there is not There is no commitment financially to sign this Anything that we may propose or recommend down the road that would be a conversation that you would have through your annual budgets The

00:18:01 SPEAKER_025: only commitment at this point is a thousand dollars to fifteen hundred dollars for the data which has been part of your approved budget already And Gray County is putting in thirty seven thousand dollars towards that So

00:18:13 SPEAKER_025: that's the only commitment we have at this point Everything else will always come through your councils first

00:18:20 Ian Boddy: Does anyone else have any questions for Savannah

00:18:23 Ian Boddy: No Do we need a motion to receive

00:18:30 SPEAKER_022: You don't But if you wanted to talk about item 10C2 Now you could go ahead and do that recommendation while we're on the topic

00:18:43 SPEAKER_667: Okay thank you Savannah So we will move directly then to reports of city staff 10C1 which is

00:18:52 SPEAKER_667: report C2 There's two

00:18:56 SPEAKER_667: there We want number two 10C2 10C2 report C CM 26009 from the Senior Advisor External Relations and Investment Attraction regarding the Team Gray Memorandum of Understanding So we'll turn it over to Rebecca

00:19:14 SPEAKER_024: Hello committee Welcome Chair Middlebro I introduced myself earlier I am Rebecca Ellerdm I am a Senior Advisor here at the city working on External Relations and Investment Attraction And over the last year I've

00:19:31 SPEAKER_024: had the opportunity to work very closely with our Gray County staff and also to attend a number of the economic development workshops that are referenced within

00:19:42 SPEAKER_024: the staff report attached to my report and within my report itself

00:19:47 SPEAKER_024: This includes the Warden's annual economic development luncheon which typically takes place in the spring and also the annual Annual Economic Development Leaders Forum

00:20:02 SPEAKER_024: which takes place in the fall

00:20:06 SPEAKER_024: So through these partnerships and through the monthly

00:20:10 SPEAKER_024: data meetups the quarterly Economic Development Advisory Committee and Economic Development Officer working groups the real value that I've seen through the past year of coming into this role and

00:20:27 SPEAKER_024: getting up to speed very very quickly in this new capacity is that you have access to a a network of knowledge across the counties from people who are sharing their knowledge sharing their best practices coming

00:20:43 SPEAKER_024: together to talk about our shared priorities and also the unique concerns that we each individually bring to the table So I found it incredibly valuable We use the EnviroAnalytics Analytics data platform on a regular basis we are able to

00:20:59 SPEAKER_024: have the top tier information that is also used by a lot of the federal and provincial agencies that we are coming to and asking for support from or advocating to and so it really just helps to ensure that when we

00:21:15 SPEAKER_024: come to those tables we are armed with the best information and we are seeing the same figures that they are seeing We're not just relying on on data that is now four or five years out of date we are seeing

00:21:27 SPEAKER_024: the best researchtested industrystandard predictions for where we are at now in advance of the next census survey So it's been very valuable to have this kind of close collaboration and our

00:21:43 SPEAKER_024: recommendation is that in consideration of the staff report CM 226009 respecting the team grade Gray memorandum of Understanding that the Community Services Committee recommend that City Council direct the City Manager to execute the

00:21:59 SPEAKER_024: Team Gray Memorandum of Understanding substantially in the form attached to the report

00:22:05 SPEAKER_024: I'm happy to answer any questions particularly as we have Savannah here at this point

00:22:13 Ian Boddy: Okay thank you Does anyone have any questions for Rebecca

00:22:18 Ian Boddy: Seeing none does someone want move the recommendation in the report

00:22:22 Travis Dodd: Travis

00:22:24 Travis Dodd: Thank you Madam Chair And I will just like highlight on the fact that there is a great partnership between the County of Grey and the City of Owen Sound on multiple fronts whether it's economic development even with our tourism side

00:22:35 Travis Dodd: of things

00:22:36 Travis Dodd: So we're always very thankful for the work that Grey County is doing But I'd be happy to move the recommendation

00:22:43 SPEAKER_667: That's great Anything further from anyone before I call the question

00:22:48 SPEAKER_667: Sunit anything from you No Okay so I will call the question All those in favor

00:22:57 SPEAKER_667: One two and Sunit is five So that carries

00:23:03 SPEAKER_667: So Christine are we moving back to seven B then Okay So then we will move to seven B We have a presentation from the committee and executive support coordinator and director of community services regarding committee orientation and introduction

00:23:21 SPEAKER_022: Okay back to me

00:23:23 SPEAKER_022: So this is just going to be a short introduction presentation We had the new members here a few weeks ago for a more fulsome orientation So I'm just going to go over a few quick housekeeping slides and then I'm going

00:23:35 SPEAKER_022: to turn it over to Pam to kind of give some departmental background info

00:23:44 SPEAKER_022: So here's an Overview of the city's committee structure There's three standing committees one advisory committee which is the Art Gallery Committee and one ad hoc committee right now And each of the standing committees has a mix of council members and

00:23:59 SPEAKER_022: public members

00:24:03 SPEAKER_022: So minutes from all of these committees go to council for final approval as council has the ultimate decisionmaking authority So that's why in report recommendations you'll see

00:24:13 SPEAKER_022: that the committee recommends that city council do X Y or Z and while council does hold this final authority committees do have a very important role in providing advice and recommendations to council hosting public meetings or open houses and monitoring

00:24:28 SPEAKER_022: and evaluating performance of programs and services

00:24:34 SPEAKER_022: So this committee typically meets the third Wednesday of every month The interactive calendar that's on the website is up to date and everybody has received Outlook

00:24:44 SPEAKER_022: calendar invites Please note that there's no meetings currently scheduled for the end of the year as the election takes place in October

00:24:56 SPEAKER_022: So agendas are published every Friday before the meeting and I send out an email ahead of time letting you know that it's been published and with links to access everything Agendas are to be read before the meeting and then please

00:25:10 SPEAKER_022: let me know if you are unable to attend a meeting to ensure quorum is met It's always too bad when everybody gets here and we're unable to have the meeting And then also let me know if you plan to attend

00:25:19 SPEAKER_022: electronically so I can get you all set up with a Teams link

00:25:24 SPEAKER_022: And then here's the mandate of the committee So it's the purpose of all of us being here So it's to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and actions to support the work of council in achieving visions goals and

00:25:37 SPEAKER_022: objectives in a number of other plans Plans and strategies that we have to review provide feedback and participate in policy development in areas relating to community services to engage support and work with partners and to review and provide feedback on

00:25:52 SPEAKER_022: work plans which is part of the report that we have coming up next and to monitor performance of work plan implementation

00:26:01 SPEAKER_022: I'll also note that it's not listed here but this committee also serves as the city's community heritage committee I believe it is

00:26:09 SPEAKER_022: Municipal Heritage Committee So now I'm going to turn it over to Pam and she'll give a bit of a background on the department and kind of the work that they do

00:26:20 SPEAKER_022: Thank you Christina

00:26:25 SPEAKER_661: So Community Services Department They work with Council in this committee to create a complete community one that really values the natural environment cultural Cultural diversity has historic streetscapes and a vibrant waterfront trying to provide

00:26:41 SPEAKER_661: a sense of belonging welcoming residents and visitors So the department works really hard to grow the city providing opportunities for collaboration innovation and partnerships You'll hear and see these things in what we will do together This idea of collaboration

00:26:58 SPEAKER_661: innovation and partnerships

00:27:04 SPEAKER_661: So sorry the divisions in community services and I'll just

00:27:08 SPEAKER_661: include building services planning and heritage parks open space and cemetery The Tom Thompson Art Gallery

00:27:19 SPEAKER_661: sorry arena operations which includes facility booking and recreation programs The Tom Thompson Art Gallery tourism and events as well as the River District who is governed by an independent board This committee also deals with matters

00:27:35 SPEAKER_661: relating to business development and investment attraction and is part of the city manager's office but it does report through this committee

00:27:45 SPEAKER_661: So our organizational structure you'll see starting at the lefthand side

00:27:51 SPEAKER_661: we have well if we start at the top we have the director There's an administrative assistant who spends about twothirds of their time working at Greenwood Cemetery and then we have a dotted line to our River District Coordinator Vivica who

00:28:06 SPEAKER_661: you'll hear later from this evening Then we have the Director and Chief Curator of the Art Gallery Culture Tourism and Events

00:28:18 SPEAKER_661: the Chief Building Official the Manager of Parks and Open Space and then we divide that into Cemetery and Parks In Parks full time we have two attendants To two arborists and one horticulturalist and then in the summertime

00:28:35 SPEAKER_661: we have 14 seasonals

00:28:38 SPEAKER_661: We have the manager of arena operations and under that area facility booking and our summer or our recreation programs as well as then the

00:28:50 SPEAKER_661: arena operators We have seven four fulltime at the Bayshore and three at the rec center and then the manager of planning and heritage along with Two senior planners

00:29:02 Pam Coulter: So who are this cast of characters So

00:29:06 Pam Coulter: Kevin Lythorn is our chief building official Eckert Pastrik our manager of parks and open space Sabine Robart here this evening Ryan Gowen manager of arena operations and then Aiden And we'll hear from Jen also later tonight

00:29:23 Pam Coulter: as we get into tourism

00:29:26 Pam Coulter: So our Interesting facts

00:29:29 Pam Coulter: There's lots to choose from but here's a few things that kind of cross into these areas So last year we processed 65 planning applications and that was a 25 increase

00:29:43 Pam Coulter: from the year before

00:29:45 Pam Coulter: There was 8418 facility bookings

00:29:50 Pam Coulter: completed and it represents over a dollars in revenue 250 Fifty hours of lastminute ice and this was sort of an innovative approach to what you do with that one hour of ice that isn't booked

00:30:04 Pam Coulter: Four hundred and eightythree children were registered in 2025

00:30:08 Pam Coulter: sport camps and summer programs which created a lot of fun and great experiences for children during the summer months The city's tree inventory now includes 25000

00:30:20 Pam Coulter: trees located in city parks About 21 Of those are ash trees which isn't at this time a great statistic with the emerald ash borer At Greenwood Cemetery last year we did 159 interments 101 of those

00:30:36 Pam Coulter: were cremations and that's about 64 percent which is a trend toward cremations over fullsize interments

00:30:45 Pam Coulter: Greenwood Cemetery is the resting place of three Victoria Cross recipients and prize for anyone who can can name those So we'll come back to you at the end of the presentation

00:30:58 Pam Coulter: Construction value last year two hundred and thirty three million

00:31:04 Pam Coulter: dollars which

00:31:06 Pam Coulter: was an incredible year for us With fees nearing a million dollars with the revenue that we generate from our partnerships with Georgian Bluffs and Meffert offering building inspection services over a million dollars So it really was A record year and

00:31:22 Pam Coulter: so many staff work to support that work of the development team planning building but also engineering services as well as staff in finance

00:31:34 Pam Coulter: We issued permits for 566

00:31:37 Pam Coulter: residential units 35 of those were affordable And if you've been driving along the Eddy Sargent Parkway and look sort of to the east you'll see SkyDev coming up out of the ground which is really exciting

00:31:50 Pam Coulter: Staff did 1217 building inspections last year

00:31:56 Pam Coulter: Part

00:31:57 Pam Coulter: of what makes Own Sound such a great place to be we had 24 free live music concerts last year five movies and a cumulative attendance of more than 8500 people The Home and Cottage Expo featured 132 indoor

00:32:14 Pam Coulter: exhibitors and 23 outdoors and I talked about partnerships and that's a really great event with the home builders and the Knights of Columbus and the city sharing the the planning and work of that event led by Jen Wright

00:32:30 Pam Coulter: and then sharing the revenue

00:32:34 Pam Coulter: So what was great about twenty five We completed the arena floor board and glass replacement at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Center Ryan led that project It was on time on budget and has had such a positive impact If you've

00:32:48 Pam Coulter: been in that space it's so bright and new and it's safer for the the players there Substantially completed are the Owen Heights and Comeret Playground replacements And for those that weren't with us last year they

00:33:04 Pam Coulter: those projects came through this committee

00:33:08 Pam Coulter: Last year we had our first year of Derby camping along the harbor during the summer fishing derbies and it really brought some order to the use of that public space

00:33:18 Pam Coulter: The official plan and zoning bylaws

00:33:22 Pam Coulter: were initiated and are now nearing completion We have that final report coming back to council in March and those are really key planning documents that will guide the growth of this community for the next 20 years

00:33:36 Pam Coulter: We're working hard to configure the planning module in Cloud Permit and so that will allow We have building online and we hope to have a soft launch for the planning

00:33:48 Pam Coulter: applications in the spring this year

00:33:52 Pam Coulter: Last year was a year of a lot of change from the province of Ontario and there was we navigated tried to understand and implement four provincial bills that changed a lot of different pieces of legislation including the Planning

00:34:09 Pam Coulter: Act In the area where Rebecca works created and launched the external relations and investment attraction plan and secured six delegations for the city at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference

00:34:24 Pam Coulter: Tourism had a wonderful partnership last year with the Grayslough Conservation for the Salmon Discovery Day located at Harrison Park and that was a super event And we also had our third Hockey Fest which came out of the Hockey

00:34:40 Pam Coulter: Day in Canada celebration this year featuring lots of fun things to do With the highlight being the university game in the afternoon before the Santa Claus parade we also had a new

00:34:56 Pam Coulter: tourism app launch last year

00:35:00 Pam Coulter: So what we have to look forward to this year Things that will come through the committee and

00:35:08 Pam Coulter: we'll touch on So

00:35:10 Pam Coulter: historically staff have developed work plans and they were presented to the committee And they included our core service as well as projects including capital This year we've tried to take a more organizational approach to work plans and so you'll see

00:35:25 Pam Coulter: in the business plan that's attached to the report tonight There's core services for each division and then there's a compiled list of projects Really trying to take a holistic view

00:35:38 Pam Coulter: So many projects require organizational support both within City Hall and with external partners But trying to really present the overall scope complexity and volume of projects that are

00:35:55 Pam Coulter: underway at any one time we really tried to be mindful this year of our work plan acknowledging and trying to balance you know as much as we'd like to do it all with What we can reasonably do and deliver

00:36:10 Pam Coulter: So with that we're going to launch cloud permit for planning applications We're going to finalize those updates to the official plans zoning bylaw as well as for the first time have urban design guidelines for the city We're working on updating

00:36:26 Pam Coulter: the city sidewalk patio guidelines so that's going to come to this committee next month Along with

00:36:33 Pam Coulter: we'll consult with the river District on that we're continuing to work on establishing service levels for parks and cemetery in those service areas The Weavers Creek boardwalk replacement If you're someone who likes to walk at Harrison Park that came to

00:36:49 Pam Coulter: committee in December and council had approved those minutes The Kelso Beach at Nayswash Park playground and splash pad Another partnership here with the Scenic City Order of Good Cheer and the design of that playground and splash pad upgrade will come

00:37:05 Pam Coulter: back through this committee this year

00:37:09 Pam Coulter: The commemorative forest monument

00:37:11 Pam Coulter: we're finalizing that design It was reviewed again by committee last fall and finalizing that design and hope to go out to tender that work for construction later this year And then lastly the Greenwood Cemetery Chapel design is so close to

00:37:27 Pam Coulter: completion and then that work will be tendered

00:37:32 Pam Coulter: Stone or Orchard software So this is a module that will be used at Greenwood Cemetery and be our interface as we sell lots and niches there

00:37:43 Pam Coulter: We'll be reviewing the city's ice allocation policy which was requested through this committee We've been working with Minor and Junior Lacrosse and so next week council will see that agreement for the installation of the turf floor at the Bayshore There's

00:37:57 Pam Coulter: a project that benefited from the municipal accommodation tax Ryan will be replacing some unit heaters at the Bayshore

00:38:06 Pam Coulter: This will be the first year of the home and outdoor show sort of a new format for that show And Jen's here tonight If there's questions on that this year's Savor

00:38:18 Pam Coulter: will refocus on promoting local culinary to people outside of Olmstead having a more tourism a regional tourism approach to that event and then

00:38:31 Pam Coulter: noting the community impact lab that was at committee last month in partnership with with Gray County So with that

00:38:41 Pam Coulter: lots to keep us busy and lots to be excited about this year And happy to take any questions

00:38:47 SPEAKER_029: Thank you Does anyone have any questions for Pam

00:38:52 SPEAKER_029: No questions

00:38:55 SPEAKER_029: Okay

00:38:56 SPEAKER_029: Then thank you for that We will move on number eight this evening public forum I'm not seeing

00:39:05 SPEAKER_029: anyone here in the chamber Number nine correspondence received for which direction is required We have none

00:39:12 SPEAKER_029: so we will move back to reports of city staff at number ten and at ten a one We have report CM 26004 from the director of community services regarding committee orientation and 2026 annual organization organizational work plan So

00:39:29 SPEAKER_029: are we going back to Pam for that

00:39:35 Pam Coulter: Don't thank you Chair And I don't have a lot to say on this I touched on the

00:39:41 Pam Coulter: the organization our core service the projects that were sort of celebrated last year and the things that are highlighted in the work plan for 2026 So the recommendation is in consideration of the committee orientation and the 2026

00:39:58 Pam Coulter: organizational work plan that committee would recommend council receive the report for information

00:40:06 Ian Boddy: Thank you Did someone want to move the motion to receive the report

00:40:12 Ian Boddy: Ali thank you And if there's nothing further I'll call the question All those in favor

00:40:18 Ian Boddy: And Sunith has also got her hand up so that carries Thank you At 10B we have tourism culture and events We have a report from the events coordinator and River District coordinator regarding 2025 tourism yearend wrapup So we welcome

00:40:35 Ian Boddy: Jen and Vivica

00:40:40 Ian Boddy: Yes Pam

00:40:42 Pam Coulter: If I could as Vivica and Jen get to the podium tonight I just I really want to say thanks to these two ladies Last year we had a vacant position Position in tourism and under Aiden's leadership Jen and Vivica stepped

00:40:58 Pam Coulter: in to fill that role in tourism And as you'll hear tonight they did a wonderful job So I just want to acknowledge the work that they did last year to keep us going and thank them for that

00:41:16 SPEAKER_033: Thank you Good evening As Pam so lovely said that we were kind of split the difference this year on tourism and I think I

00:41:26 SPEAKER_035: think we've conquered We survived Okay

00:41:30 SPEAKER_033: The purpose of this report is to present a wrap up for the tourism for tourism to the end of twenty five

00:41:41 SPEAKER_033: As Pam mentioned earlier we launched the tourism app and that is because the Today's tourism landscape and trip planning happens almost entirely online Visitors are discovering destinations through mobile devices before they

00:41:57 SPEAKER_033: ever step foot into a visitor center

00:42:00 SPEAKER_033: The tourism app represents our shift towards a digitalfirst visitor experience that aligns with modern travel behavior and Vision 2050 Prosperous City

00:42:13 SPEAKER_033: In 2025 we beta launched in the summer of 2025 It's a free mobileoptimized travel guide available through app stores It's designed to support locationbased discovery and selfguided exploration

00:42:28 SPEAKER_033: Features include curated attractions and insider tips trail details and cultural highlights river district features natural assets like English Falls and the Bruce Trail

00:42:40 SPEAKER_033: This supports independent flexible exploration which is how most travelers now prefer Experient experience destinations

00:42:49 SPEAKER_033: This is important because it extends visitor services beyond the physical tourism center strengthens data collection opportunities for further planning supports sustainability by reducing reliance on printed materials In 2026 we would like to expand content including the Corkscrew

00:43:05 SPEAKER_033: City tour integration add exclusive inapp content and push notifications for events enhance storytelling Through seasonal content aligned with nature's gateway which I'll speak about shortly grow downloads through targeted digital marketing

00:43:22 SPEAKER_033: campaigns

00:43:24 SPEAKER_033: We also continue refining based on analytics and user feedback The tourism app is not replacing visitor services it is evolving them Its position zone and sound is an accessible innovative and responsive to how people travel today

00:43:43 SPEAKER_033: The salmon tour showcases one of Owen Sound's most unique natural assets the annual Chinook salmon migration along the Sydenham River It represents the perfect blend of conservation education outdoor recreation and economic impact

00:43:58 SPEAKER_033: Social media post achieves top views in 2025 We had over 200000 views over 99000 reach and many event responses This demonstrates extremely high engagement and strong regional interest That

00:44:14 SPEAKER_033: was also specific to the tour itself and doesn't include all of the marketing things we did for the specific Salmon Discovery Day

00:44:24 SPEAKER_033: This was delivered in partnership with Gray Sable Conservation Authority on October 4th 2025 It was a selfguided style event encouraging exploration across multiple stops These stops were the Westside Boat Launch We utilized the space as a great parking

00:44:41 SPEAKER_033: facility for a lot of people to come in

00:44:44 SPEAKER_033: we walked to the Community Waterfront Heritage Center down the River Precinct Boardwalk the Farmers Market the Art Gallery where participants were treated to some cookies and coffee and a nice break while taking in a portion of the film all too

00:44:57 SPEAKER_033: clear

00:44:59 SPEAKER_033: The Mill Dam with Sydney Sportsman Association for another learning opportunity

00:45:04 SPEAKER_033: Harrison Park where participants were able to enjoy some naturespecific vendors and of course the beauty of the city's jewel in the crown and finally up to the arboretum where Cafe Gu offered a salmon tasting

00:45:19 SPEAKER_033: This included accessible shuttle services to improve inclusivity This worked very well as a method to make the event accessible and honestly give parents a way to get their kids back to their car

00:45:34 SPEAKER_033: Featured Featured educational components conservation storytelling and even an anatomically correct inflatable salmon to engage families Fun fact that I learned this year in the late 1960s Pacific Chinook salmon were introduced

00:45:50 SPEAKER_033: to the Great Lakes to control invasive alewives and that had caused massive dieoffs in the 1950s and 60s This restored ecological balance after native lake trout declined in the mid 1900s Since I've never heard of alewives I think it's clear

00:46:05 SPEAKER_033: the salmon done a great job

00:46:10 SPEAKER_033: This year we worked with Park Bus Park Bus is a Canadian transportation services that connects major urban centers like Toronto Ottawa Montreal Vancouver and Halifax to national parks provincial parks conservation areas and outdoor recreation destinations

00:46:26 SPEAKER_033: It provides affordable scheduled bus trips that reduce reliance on personal vehicles improves accessibility to nature and supports sustainable tourism making it easier for visitors to experience destinations like Owen Sound without needing to drive

00:46:41 SPEAKER_033: This was our first year partnership directly with Park Bus They brought in two full buses for the Salmon Discovery Day

00:46:50 SPEAKER_033: Participants explored the River District Harrison Park local dining while on a guided tour Clear feedback was visitors were incredibly impressed with the beauty the accessibility and diversity of experiences I know the this firsthand because I did the guiding walk and

00:47:06 SPEAKER_033: there were many oohs and ahs about our beautiful foliage that time of year the quietness of the city and just this general beauty

00:47:15 SPEAKER_033: This also attracted independent day trippers from across Ontario having run into one family that had driven up from Paris Ontario

00:47:23 SPEAKER_033: This demonstrates the power of naturebased tourism It encourages day trips and overnight stays supports local Restaurants and businesses and reinforces Owen Sound identity as connected to conservation and outdoor recreation In 2026 we'd like to continue a partnership with ParkBus

00:47:40 SPEAKER_033: expand experiential components further investigate appbased guides for selfdirected tours increase regional digital targeting during peak migration season and the salmon tour is not just an event it's a signature seasonal experience that connects nature

00:47:57 SPEAKER_033: education and economic Activity in a measurable way

00:48:03 SPEAKER_033: Finally for me

00:48:05 SPEAKER_033: nature's gateway This is a unified destination narrative It positions Owen Sound as a natural starting point for exploring Grey County and the Niagara Escarpment while reinforcing arts culture and culinary experiences

00:48:22 SPEAKER_033: as a reason to stay

00:48:25 SPEAKER_033: Visitor feedback consistently shows people come for nature they stay for food culture entertainment and community atmosphere The campaign bridges that connection

00:48:35 SPEAKER_033: In 2025 during our summer and fall campaign we had wonderful results over 4900000

00:48:45 SPEAKER_033: views

00:48:47 SPEAKER_033: or impressions 33795

00:48:51 SPEAKER_033: clicks to our website

00:48:57 SPEAKER_033: And it ranked fifth on the most visited page on OwensoundTourismca based on Google Analytics

00:49:05 SPEAKER_033: We also recorded 45193 user interactions which is a very large number And those are when people start clicking on things on the page and kind of go away from that page

00:49:16 SPEAKER_033: such as clicking on links to the restaurants or places to shop

00:49:23 SPEAKER_033: This or this campaign was set up with seasonal longform cornerstone articles example top ten things to do in Owen Sound this fall

00:49:32 SPEAKER_033: Supported by Facebook Instagram TikTok Spotify Google Ads both textbased and Google AdWords and video through the Google Universe like YouTube

00:49:44 SPEAKER_033: The summer and fall campaigns were dollar matched with funding secured through the Owen Sound Tourism Development Fund or MAT

00:49:51 SPEAKER_033: This moves us from eventbased marketing to contentdriven destination marketing allows consistent storytelling across seasons costeffective creates reuse across platforms measurable digital results and aligns with the budget for modern traveler

00:50:08 SPEAKER_033: behavior

00:50:10 SPEAKER_033: We get to reach our potential visitors on several platforms to influence their travel plans and the development of their travel funnel

00:50:20 SPEAKER_033: In 2026 we want to continue seasonal content strategy across all four seasons Expand into winter and shoulder season promotion Strengthen the merchandise alignment with campaign messaging Jen has done exemplary job this year of building out some nature's gateway merch

00:50:37 SPEAKER_033: It's downstairs It's wonderful You should buy some

00:50:41 SPEAKER_033: And we hope to increase funding applications to expand our market reach

00:50:48 SPEAKER_033: We also hope to integrate the tourism app and digital itineraries to support this campaign

00:50:55 SPEAKER_033: Nature's Gateway positions Owen Sound not just as a top stop along the way but as a starting point It creates a clear identity strengthens brand recognition and drives measurable tourism growth aligned with council's prosperous city priority

00:51:15 SPEAKER_033: I know but I have my

00:51:17 SPEAKER_033: notes

00:51:18 SPEAKER_033: gonna just quickly switch off Thank you

00:51:22 SPEAKER_033: Thanks Vivica All

00:51:24 SPEAKER_033: right

00:51:27 SPEAKER_037: So branded merch and our visitor center City branded merchandise is available through retail partners the On Sound Attack as well as for sale tourism at the Tom and at our city hall right downstairs helping extend the city's brand You'll also

00:51:42 SPEAKER_037: notice on the bottom there we have our Nature's Gateway Tshirts in various colors as well as the hoodies that are now available with the logo we designed for the Nature's Gateway program One exciting thing we did during the summer was

00:51:58 SPEAKER_037: we utilized a mobile iPad with Square to sell city merchandise offsite meeting customers at events festivals and community gatherings which boosts revenue brand visibility and captured impulse purchases

00:52:12 SPEAKER_037: where interest is the highest such as Canada Day And the hottest street sale in 2024 The tourism services transitioned from the former CN rail station to a shared service model with the Tom Thompson Art Gallery as part of the service

00:52:25 SPEAKER_037: review This pilot project shifted tourism toward a yearround integrated visitor experience aligned with evolving industry practices Relocating tourism to an active cultural space has engaged visitors already exploring the gallery which gives us the ability to promote local attractions

00:52:42 SPEAKER_037: dining events and longer stays in Owen Sound The shared model fosters collaboration with arts and culture partners while modernizing visitor services beyond a seasonal center

00:52:53 SPEAKER_037: Visitor data from 2019 to 2025 shows consistent seasonal trends peaking in summer with strong activity confirmed by Grey County and Veronix data Five tourism summer ambassadors boosted engagement through community events hotel and business outreach and supportive city programming last

00:53:09 SPEAKER_037: summer

00:53:11 SPEAKER_037: In 2026 we'll work to enhance the shared tourism and Tom Art Gallery experience with improved messaging interactive engagement a vibrant atmosphere and selfguided activities We'll also strengthen digital engagement outside the city and continue to collaborate with our partners neighboring

00:53:27 SPEAKER_037: municipalities and local businesses Tourism in Owen Sound is evolving to reflect how visitors now discover and experience destinations by prioritizing digital engagement partnership and integrated visitor experience Owen Sound is well positioned to strengthen its identity as

00:53:43 SPEAKER_037: nature's gateway and continue delivering economic and cultural benefits to the community

00:53:51 SPEAKER_037: So the municipal accommodation tax which I believe you're all familiar with in Owen Sound has had a positive impact on tourism development and marketing which has supported economic growth visitor attraction and community initiatives The mat tax reinvests a portion

00:54:08 SPEAKER_037: of visitor spending into tourism promotion and destination development supporting Owen Sound visitor economy the MAT funds enhanced destination awareness It supports events and improves visitor services and attracts new visitors to our city The tourism drives

00:54:24 SPEAKER_037: the local economy through spending on accommodations dining retail attractions and events With MAT providing a sustainable funding model funded by visitors rather than taxpayers and provides a dedicated revenue stream That supports tourism marketing and destination development

00:54:40 SPEAKER_037: without relying again on those municipal taxes Matt keeps Owen Sound competitive with other Ontario destinations already with that percentage being taken off enabling participation in regional and provincial marketing and strategic responses to travel trends and

00:54:56 SPEAKER_037: revenue support initiatives that highlight Owen Sound's strengths in outdoor recreation arts and culture culinary experiences and festivals A ninetythree thousand dollar funding pool was awarded in the fall intake to ten local organizations and project leads which will support

00:55:13 SPEAKER_037: initiatives that enhance tourism cultural cultural vibrancy and yearround visitation in Owen Sound Our direction with this in 2026 that funding will continue to support strategic tourism programming including expanded digital marketing

00:55:29 SPEAKER_037: yearround promotion and datadriven strategies to attract overnight visitors It will enhance events and partnerships with regional and provincial tourism organizations maximizing marketing impact and visitor engagement We will continue to apply for MAT funding to strengthen Owen Sound's Nature's

00:55:45 SPEAKER_037: Gateway brand which will increase the length of stay visitor spending and overall economic benefits to the community MAT helps position the city as a competitive a vibrant yearround destination with measurable economic and cultural benefits

00:56:09 SPEAKER_037: We got one more Looking ahead here we go

00:56:12 SPEAKER_037: So looking ahead to 2026 you'll see there a lot of the things that we're that we have in place We have our Nature's Gateway We have our summer students out active at events We have our email subscription We have our

00:56:24 SPEAKER_037: app and we have our brochures So we will continue to focus on digital engagement to meet visitors where they are Where they are however still supplying our popular eats dining guide complete with a map of the city along with the

00:56:37 SPEAKER_037: Owen Sound Tourism brochure which includes a map of Harrison Park We are working to improve visitor services at the shared Tom Tourism and Tom Thompson Art Gallery space with clearer messaging interactive features and refined service delivery We will also continue

00:56:53 SPEAKER_037: to strengthen our digital presence via the Owen Sound Tourism app and targeted marketing campaigns We will continue to collaborate with Grey County RTO Seven Tourism Ontario our neighboring municipalities and local businesses to deliver inclusive sustainable and accessible experiences

00:57:10 SPEAKER_037: We will also continue to use visitor analytics and feedback to improve our services adapt our marketing strategies and respond to emerging trends Visitors and the community will continue to receive our monthly tourism and events newsletter delivered to over 1500 emails

00:57:25 SPEAKER_037: which receives a 54 open rate We are also Excited to onboard our summer tourism and events ambassadors who will play a very vital role in connecting our visitors with everything Owen Sound has to offer They will be attending signature events

00:57:38 SPEAKER_037: across the city They will be engaging directly with the public and ensuring that visitors receive uptodate brochures maps and local information By being present at key attractions and events our ambassadors help to showcase the city's unique experiences support local businesses

00:57:54 SPEAKER_037: and ensure visitors leave with a lasting positive impression of Owen Sound Thank you

00:58:01 SPEAKER_037: We ask that you the committee accepts this report and presentation

00:58:08 Ian Boddy: Okay Thank you That's a lot of great stuff that the two of you have accomplished over the year with a very small staff So it's amazing what you guys have done and thank you from all of us on council for

00:58:22 Ian Boddy: sure Does anyone have any questions or comments Ellie do want to go

00:58:28 SPEAKER_017: Yeah not a question but again just extending kudos I had wanted to share that I had several friends and family from out of town reach out and saying like Have you seen this This looks really cool Can we do this

00:58:36 SPEAKER_017: when we come up Whether that be online or through the app So just wanted to extend that it is really well received and it's presenting the things to do and see here in such a clean

00:58:49 SPEAKER_017: order of and exciting to look at Honestly it's great Thanks

00:58:54 SPEAKER_017: Marianne go ahead

00:58:56 Melanie Middlebro: Thank you I just want to thank both of you for your creative enthusiastic personalities I think that adds a lot to what happens here and the creativity that

00:59:09 Melanie Middlebro: tourism's come a long way in Owensound and you've certainly added to that The I just wanted to ask maybe the director of the gallery

00:59:23 Melanie Middlebro: since the tourism at the Tom is moved to the Tom can you tell us

00:59:27 Melanie Middlebro: results of activities at the Tom Or I don't know if either of these ladies can

00:59:40 Pam Coulter: We we through the chair we will be bringing a report back through the service review committee sort of looking at the second year of the pilot of tourism at the Tom You'll see in here we're recommending and we're working on

00:59:54 Pam Coulter: some physical changes So when you go in it looks still very much like you're going into an art gallery So we're trying to work together to create a space that says you're entering an art gallery but it's also tourism So

01:00:11 Pam Coulter: some of those changes we're working on for spring this year but still continuing to integrate tourism with the Tom and then also having when the students are here from the May long weekend till September getting them out at

01:00:27 Pam Coulter: River District events supporting Janet events out at Canada Day and sharing with residents and visitors all the great things to do and see around On Sound every every day

01:00:42 Melanie Middlebro: Thanks for that Again though thank you so much for your creativity in the events that you bring to the visitors and to the residents in the local area

01:00:53 Melanie Middlebro: without your enthusiasm it I don't think it would have gone as far as it has and it's just so great to see I know a lot of people attend a lot of these events and I know you are both there

01:01:04 Melanie Middlebro: Various things at weekends and holidays and we certainly appreciate what you do

01:01:12 Ian Boddy: I had a question about the drastic difference in the the visitor Numbers down ninety 90 Do you have any further insight into that And just because of the shared space with the Tom I'm wondering if the Tom has seen the

01:01:27 Ian Boddy: same sort of decrease in visitor numbers as well

01:01:33 SPEAKER_037: Through you Chair So the answer to that question So Vivek and I are overseeing tourism with our tourism marketing coordinator not in the role She's off on a leave So we weren't aware that she was tracking visitor numbers at

01:01:49 SPEAKER_037: events So our summer students didn't track the numbers of people coming up to the booth space So we didn't know to be able to capture those numbers in our last in 2025 So that would likely make that difference up

01:02:03 Pam Coulter: Pam do you want to add Go ahead Pam And thank you And just if I could the next step is we're just like we did for the Tom because we have seen

01:02:14 Pam Coulter: Positive positive attendance over there even last year with the closure for the relocation of the collection But

01:02:22 Pam Coulter: we'll develop an SOP for the students and make sure it's part of the training that what counts as a visitor It's somebody you know that comes in for service there at the Tom But if you're out at Canada Day and

01:02:34 Pam Coulter: you're having an interaction not just everybody that goes past the the space but you have an interaction that would count But that did Make a dramatic difference this year but we'll develop an SOP and make sure that's part of the

01:02:47 Pam Coulter: training

01:02:50 Ian Boddy: Okay great Anything further Go ahead

01:02:55 Pam Coulter: Thank you Yeah I just wanted to say it's very exciting to see the city moving more forward with like a digital first approach with all of the marketing activities that you guys are working on Just in regards to the app

01:03:07 Pam Coulter: is there an opportunity through like the user data that we're getting On that to better inform how we might do market activities or different zones that we wanted to target or different demographics just kind of curious on what analytics we

01:03:18 Pam Coulter: might be getting from that

01:03:22 SPEAKER_033: So since we soft beta launched it in September of twenty five right now it's fine tuning the app before we go wide with it We want to ensure that it's functioning properly and will best represent Owen Sound So we haven't

01:03:38 SPEAKER_033: been collecting a lot of data but we have received feedback on things that work or things that were you know glitching and those kinds of things to be able to get to a point where we can feel really proud to

01:03:47 SPEAKER_033: have it for the 2026 season

01:03:52 Ian Boddy: Anything further

01:03:54 Ian Boddy: Does someone want to move the recommendation to receive the report Marian Thank you If there's nothing further I'll call the question All those in favor

01:04:03 Ian Boddy: And everyone's hands are up including Sanit so that carries Thank you

01:04:12 Ian Boddy: Okay so we will move on to Report Ten C One from the Senior Advisor External Relations and Investment Attraction regarding initiatives to support investment readiness So we'll go back to Rebecca

01:04:28 SPEAKER_024: Thank you Chair Hello again committee

01:04:33 SPEAKER_024: So tonight I really had a pair of Reports reports that I think fit really nicely together

01:04:39 SPEAKER_024: So now that we have

01:04:42 SPEAKER_024: you know already discussed some of the work that we've already been doing with Gray County on investment readiness this report really pairs nicely with that because it is a a bit of a bundled basket of the different initiatives that we

01:04:55 SPEAKER_024: are working on to promote and support investment readiness And I really want to emphasize the readiness part of it because this is about taking Proactive steps to kind of essentially lay down the topsoil to encourage like future growth

01:05:12 SPEAKER_024: So there isn't much in this report There's no seeds We're not growing anything radical We're just laying out some topsoil so that we have the right conditions to support those future initiatives

01:05:25 SPEAKER_024: So I'm going to read out the recommendations of this report and then we're going to go through them kind of one by one So the recommendation before you is that in consideration staff reports CM 26010

01:05:38 SPEAKER_024: respecting initiatives to support investment readiness the Community Services Committee recommend that City Council direct staff to number one collaborate with Gray County on investment readiness initiatives including assessments or feasibility studies required to support site packaging

01:05:54 SPEAKER_024: activities Number two apply for grant funding to implement the External Relations and Investment Attraction Action Plan 2020 2025 to 2027 and three bring forward a bylaw to amend the board and committee bylaw to establish

01:06:10 SPEAKER_024: a harbour development task force as outlined in the terms of reference attached to the report and appoint the members that accept an invitation from staff

01:06:20 SPEAKER_024: So essentially we are recommending taking a proactive approach to support these initiatives Many of these opportunities require a very distant longterm outlook to anticipate and prepare for future infrastructure needs We've done a lot of that work

01:06:37 SPEAKER_024: now through the Vision 2050 longterm strategic plan and as part of that community engagement and through the surveys and the working groups we heard consistently that people were interested in activities to support job creation

01:06:54 SPEAKER_024: and also in waterfront revitalization

01:06:58 SPEAKER_024: So with that in mind when we look at number one to collaborate with the with Grey County on investment readiness initiatives part of that work includes preparing a cityowned site for

01:07:14 SPEAKER_024: listing on the Invest Ontario Partner Portal

01:07:19 SPEAKER_024: So that means that we are looking at identifying

01:07:24 SPEAKER_024: preparing and preserving employment lands for future development and we're working very closely with Gray County on that type of initiative So the first recommendation is necessary to advance that work by enabling us to collect more detailed information

01:07:41 SPEAKER_024: that will

01:07:43 SPEAKER_024: support and advance the development initiatives to contribute to the city's longterm prosperity So recommendation number one is basically saying we are identifying employment lands and working to package them for a marketing

01:07:59 SPEAKER_024: opportunity through the Investment Invest Ontario Partner Portal and this is a new agency of the province We met with representatives in summer 2025 They also did a presentation at one of the Grey County

01:08:15 SPEAKER_024: Economic Development

01:08:17 SPEAKER_024: Leadership Forum events in the fall and we continue to work very closely with our Grey County counterparts on different opportunities related to site packaging

01:08:29 SPEAKER_024: Number two is applying for grant funding to implement the external relations and investment attraction action plan

01:08:37 SPEAKER_024: So for the committee members who were here previously you'll remember that I brought to you a beautiful plan and this is going to help me to reduce the amount of money that we put towards implementing it

01:08:51 SPEAKER_024: So essentially we are eligible through the Rural Ontario Development Program to apply for up to 50

01:09:00 SPEAKER_024: costshare funding for any of the activities for a number of activities that would go towards implementing an existing economic development action plan or strategy

01:09:12 SPEAKER_024: So through their business retention and expansion program stream I've identified a number of the initiatives in the build capacity and build opportunity section of the I call it the area action plan and in order

01:09:29 SPEAKER_024: to you know

01:09:32 SPEAKER_024: complete some of those initiatives which would include for example professional fees related to the site packaging activities So that might include any assessments any legal fees that would promote those initiatives costs

01:09:47 SPEAKER_024: related to events such as the May 2025 Canadian Innovation Week event which would be eligible for funding under this opportunity a skills development symposium around grant writing that would be promoted to businesses

01:10:03 SPEAKER_024: organizations and creative professionals and essentially we've gone through that list of our planned activities and found eligible expenses that we could apply for this funding for that could reduce the amount that we pay for

01:10:20 SPEAKER_024: these activities by up to 50 or in certain cases enable us to do a better job of promoting these activities Marketingrelated materials is one of those examples where for example we could begin work now to gather

01:10:37 SPEAKER_024: like digital assets photography etc to support a renewal or refresh of our community profile

01:10:45 SPEAKER_024: in advance of the 2027 release of the next census survey data so really it's about that longterm outlook and applying for funding now so that as

01:10:58 SPEAKER_024: these costs come up it doesn't mean that we have to spend that money but it means that if we do have those expenses and we do incur those expenses that we have access to a pool of funding that is available

01:11:09 SPEAKER_024: to reduce the cost to the city and to the taxpayers

01:11:13 SPEAKER_024: Number three Is to bring forward a bylaw to

01:11:18 SPEAKER_024: amend the board and committee bylaw to establish a harbour development task force as outlined in the terms of reference attached to this report So once again this is coming out of the Vision 2050 longterm strategic plan and is also in

01:11:34 SPEAKER_024: alignment with action plans at multiple jurisdictional levels that's referenced within the report One that I really in particular want to highlight is the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Cities Initiatives Economic Transformation Action Plan where Owen Sound is actually part

01:11:50 SPEAKER_024: of an integrated regional economy that would rank as the world's like third largest economy and also holds 84 percent of North America's surface freshwater And I know that when we think about Owen Sound we think you know we're a municipality

01:12:06 SPEAKER_024: of like you know 22000 to 24000 people

01:12:11 SPEAKER_024: You know what do we have What are we doing Talking about an international economic action plan and the reason why is that we do have a role to play as part of this Great Lakes freshwater economic corridor and developing this

01:12:26 SPEAKER_024: ecosystem And when these much better funded initiatives are talking about bringing half a million new businesses focused on sustainability to the area to this broader region and creating 18 million jobs we

01:12:42 SPEAKER_024: want to make sure that some of that comes to us and that means laying some of the foundational groundwork to support that growth as it as it begins to happen So this economic transformation action plan was adopted in the fall

01:12:58 SPEAKER_024: by the city's initiative and this is really where the topsoil analogy comes in We're laying out the topsoil to create conditions for future growth by bringing all of the partners together today to talk about different opportunities

01:13:15 SPEAKER_024: and options related to the Owen Sound Harbor we want the city to lead this conversation because this is our harbor But we also want to support collaboration with our regional partners because that helps us to derisk any future opportunities that

01:13:29 SPEAKER_024: come our way Because we already have people at the table we already have alignment between the different partners and the different people who would be involved in in determining the outcome of any future opportunities and it's also a better and

01:13:43 SPEAKER_024: more efficient use of staff time because instead of me going out and talking to 12 different individuals on every opportunity we're creating a space where we can have these discussions and have the same information and kind of have those like

01:13:58 SPEAKER_024: 201 and 301 level conversations instead of starting from the scratch each time And the other reason why I really feel strongly about this recommendation is that it's going to allow me to bring you more confident recommendations As we saw with

01:14:13 SPEAKER_024: recommendation number one sometimes we just don't have all of the information we need to say Hey we should do this or Hey we should do this By creating this task force it it's going to allow me to go talk to

01:14:26 SPEAKER_024: people who have expert knowledge or special knowledge related to different opportunities and options and then come back to you with those confident recommendations that you need to advise council

01:14:39 SPEAKER_024: So the third and final recommendation is to establish this harbor development task force

01:14:45 SPEAKER_024: in accordance with the proposed terms of reference And I'm happy to take any questions

01:14:52 SPEAKER_024: Thank you I see Travis's hand up

01:14:55 Travis Dodd: Thank you Madam Chair and thank you for the report I will note I agree with recommendations one and two I think it's vital that We do have some of our

01:15:06 Travis Dodd: investment properties ready to go It's a great partnership that we can have with Gray County I agree with that We obviously at any time there's grant funding We need to take

01:15:15 Travis Dodd: to capitalize on that I struggle with your recommendation number three and I won't be supporting the recommendation number three And even when I if I do move forward with these recommendations I won't be moving I wouldn't vote in favor of

01:15:26 Travis Dodd: that And the purpose of that is when

01:15:31 Travis Dodd: we read through all the pieces we talk about

01:15:35 Travis Dodd: the Great

01:15:37 Travis Dodd: Lakes Initiative We talk about the other areas of what AMO has done One thing we haven't even that's not noted in that section at all is our official plan Our official plan is being passed next month That is the framework

01:15:51 Travis Dodd: of what our harbor is going to look like or what the zoning of it should be I think when we have we go out there with what is going to be approved from public consultation from our official plan that's going

01:16:03 Travis Dodd: to be passed next month and then at the same point go out there and try to have a discussion with which I'll read out the

01:16:11 Travis Dodd: composition of the board the mayor and would be now Councillor Middlebro two members of the indigenous community which is which is we should have that Four seats would be representatives of Grey County and Grey County municipalities that are located on

01:16:26 Travis Dodd: the shoreline of Georgian Bay and the following four being institutional or community experts

01:16:32 Travis Dodd: So I struggle with the fact of I hear what you're saying about cooperation with our outside municipalities I extremely struggle with the fact of bring in Mefford to tell us what we're going to do with our our harbor

01:16:45 Travis Dodd: The fact of when you don't have skin in the game and you're going to tell someone what they're going to do on a financial component I don't think is appropriate in this sense I think about you Made a comment saying

01:17:01 Travis Dodd: that it would be more efficient on timing I think that we're setting ourselves up for a position of failure To be completely fair and honest

01:17:11 Travis Dodd: when we are going to have these meetings set up with individuals that are you know are going to come in with very highlevel needs

01:17:21 Travis Dodd: and

01:17:22 Travis Dodd: requirements Maybe it's divestiture Maybe it's dredging Maybe it's brownfield development Maybe it's these pieces The vast majority of the lands that are outside of the harbor are not owned by the not publicly owned

01:17:34 Travis Dodd: There is we have a small area that's owned by the public Vast majority of it's privately owned Vast majority of it's zoned mixed use or industrial So I think when you bring in someone and they say I want to do

01:17:47 Travis Dodd: X and then it comes back and you provide that as you would to committee to council to say hey we heard this great recommendation Recommendation It's going to be X and council says we don't have the funding for that We

01:17:58 Travis Dodd: don't have the ownership of that Transport Canada owns that We can't do that

01:18:02 Travis Dodd: We have to go back and say no and then it puts council and the city in a very bad position negative light where that person says Well why did you ask me Why did you ask me if you're not going

01:18:12 Travis Dodd: to even do what I asked you do

01:18:15 Travis Dodd: Instead I would much rather

01:18:18 Travis Dodd: look at you taking a different approach of what are the priorities that Oland Sound is trying to achieve with harbor divest or harbor revitalization I'm not going to say divestiture because we're not going down there Well maybe you will but

01:18:31 Travis Dodd: it won't be my term The

01:18:35 Travis Dodd: there is a lot of I know we're saying that we're not talking about cost when we have an open dialogue with the individuals that we're naming

01:18:45 Travis Dodd: Financials is a component of the discussion It will ultimately come down to financials and until we know what the priority from council is on the financial component or even what our priorities are from the corporation's perspective I

01:19:01 Travis Dodd: think it's a little bit premature for us to bring a meeting in with all these individuals and then say What do you think What would you like it to look like

01:19:09 Travis Dodd: I just struggle with that how that is going to be perceived

01:19:15 Travis Dodd: in the end So that is my perspective on the third part fully supportive of recommendations one and two but at this point I think with recommendation three I just cannot support that as it's written Based

01:19:31 Travis Dodd: off of one the composition of how the task force would look but two I also believe that our official plan is going to really

01:19:40 Travis Dodd: drive what

01:19:43 Travis Dodd: we're going to do with those lands That's you know highlevel public consultation During that and then coming back from that I would rather see yourself do a work an actionable work plan that comes back and saying what are the city's

01:19:57 Travis Dodd: priorities for these pieces Like are we talking about putting up an ice cream stand on the harbor wall Are we moving music to the market Those things are very operational very easy We could do that tomorrow Or are we talking

01:20:10 Travis Dodd: about talking to a developer about are you going to put a condominium on a piece that you have listed as industrial those are completely

01:20:21 Travis Dodd: different discussions and I think we need to have an idea of what the city is trying to achieve before we go into one of those meetings That's my personal perspective

01:20:35 Ian Boddy: Thank you Does anyone else have any questions or comments Go ahead Councillor Keppie

01:20:40 Melanie Middlebro: Thank you Through you I agree with Councillor Dodd that I think we're jumping the gun a bit by establishing this task force I have concerns on the composition particularly because it ends up in an even number and most committees

01:20:56 Melanie Middlebro: should be an odd number to avoid a tie on votes And again I don't support representatives from the other municipalities I think that would be very challenging

01:21:09 Melanie Middlebro: for us ourselves So just a few comments

01:21:14 Melanie Middlebro: Allie go ahead

01:21:17 SPEAKER_038: Thanks for the report Yeah I think I'm intrigued by the idea of it but I could see it being a big mandate Is when I was looking at it and wondering if it needed some more targeted approach throughout it Not

01:21:29 SPEAKER_039: necessarily disagreeing with aspects of it for sure but did see

01:21:34 SPEAKER_039: it is a big mandate to bring to a task force I was curious You listed four invitations going to institutional or community experts how would that invitation be determined by who What qualities are we looking Would you be looking for

01:21:50 SPEAKER_039: in that Yeah just kind of curious how that person would be selected because it's yeah maybe a bit It could be open to interpretation what that means

01:22:03 SPEAKER_024: Through your chair All right lots of questions Love this All right so I'm going to try and kind of go around order so I think it's a great point with the official plan

01:22:16 SPEAKER_024: This recommendation is really in alignment with the long term vision of the strategic plan but it's also in alignment with the official plan as it currently stands in section two point two point three economic vitality where as part of the

01:22:30 SPEAKER_024: official plan of the City of Oceansound we are mandated to implement an economic development strategy in conjunction with the County of Grey focused on attracting and retaining businesses and that achieves the creation of a positive investment climate and partnerships among

01:22:45 SPEAKER_024: educational institutions businesses industries and government So this really is about supporting that initial work and creating a confident recommendation so that I can come back to you in September and say Hey we spoke to a bunch of our partners

01:23:02 SPEAKER_024: and this is what we are recommending to proceed with in terms of a harbor development you know work plan For example the current harbor master plan was last updated in the year 2000 and so right now we are operating

01:23:19 SPEAKER_024: kind of on a like that's that was 26 years ago And so when we're discussing these different opportunities

01:23:28 SPEAKER_024: which could be any number of the ones that you mentioned and when we're discussing these different opportunities we really want to create a forum to have those preliminary conversations so that we aren't just coming to you with a fully baked

01:23:42 SPEAKER_024: idea that already has buyin from different private individuals and saying Hey here's this opportunity Yes or no We want to have those advanced conversations so that we can really dig into what those priorities are We have the direction from the

01:23:56 SPEAKER_024: official plan We have the direction from the strategic plan but we need a bit more information especially in regards to different action plans Strategies strategies

01:24:06 SPEAKER_024: you know technical briefings like different things where there's just so much information as it relates to you know our harbor and other opportunities And I also want to reassure you that the way that the task force is structured it does

01:24:20 SPEAKER_024: create like a larger window because we didn't want to preempt any specifics around like what this harbor development task force might consider but we also wanted to create it basically a broad basket so that we could bring different opportunities

01:24:37 SPEAKER_024: to the table the task force would not have any binding authority on the committee or council and that's also why we we added the extra seat to make it an even twelve and also did not put in a requirement for

01:24:50 SPEAKER_024: quorum because really this is a more of an informational task force It's designed to create a forum where staff can seek out specialized advice and expert knowledge from a group of you know individuals

01:25:06 SPEAKER_024: with a vested interest within the context of the Owen Sound Harbour It's not about the other municipalities telling us what to do It's saying that we recognize that we are a regional player and that we're part of these broader economic

01:25:19 SPEAKER_024: ecosystems and ecological ecosystems And that means needing to understand the perspectives of the different regional partners and collaborators that we have It's an It's in alignment with the team grade MOU It's in alignment with other work that's going to be

01:25:34 SPEAKER_024: like happening at the county level in the future and it really is about laying that foundational relationships and building that trust and respect amongst the partners so that we can go into these conversations with less fear because we know what

01:25:50 SPEAKER_024: their perspectives are and we know what all of these different recommendations could be before we're bringing them to you So we can we have a space to discuss them more thoroughly and in more detail so that when I come to

01:26:04 SPEAKER_024: you I can be confident in saying Hey this is a recommendation The task force is nonbinding It's really a space to share information discuss ideas

01:26:16 SPEAKER_024: It will not bind the committee to any specific recommendation

01:26:21 SPEAKER_024: It's really about making sure that you have the best information possible to make those recommendations to council

01:26:30 SPEAKER_024: In terms of the the composition we spoke about it with different partners We wanted to ensure that this composition

01:26:42 SPEAKER_024: was in that it reflected the different action plans and strategies best practices contemporary best practices at the local regional national international levels We We again chose to do the 12 members

01:26:59 SPEAKER_024: and to not have a quorum because it's really about providing a forum for information and discussion and then bringing back a more confident recommendation to the committee And in terms of the community members I'm really glad that you asked We

01:27:14 SPEAKER_024: chose to we have a few specific individuals in mind We didn't want to list them out just in case anyone says no but some examples of the kinds of institutional or industrial or other partners that could be involved in a

01:27:29 SPEAKER_024: committee like this would be Georgian College for their marine innovation programs

01:27:34 SPEAKER_024: We have the city's boat launch operator who is also deeply engaged in tourism initiatives We have the Owen Sound Transportation Company who is an active user of the harbor and like you mentioned Councillor Jod we also have a number of

01:27:51 SPEAKER_024: you know private landowners who own land surrounding the harbor and who or industrial partners who actively use the harbor as well and so we really want to create a space where there will be you know four members of the

01:28:07 SPEAKER_024: task force that would be relied on to provide that kind of extra outside perspective that we are that we are able to get on a on a oneonone basis but instead of having to go to each and every single partner

01:28:19 SPEAKER_024: and say Hello we would like to talk to you about a technical briefing and an action plan and etc By bringing all of these different perspectives to the table it means that everyone is sharing the same information We can go

01:28:33 SPEAKER_024: through the different opportunities that might be available today in a way that they were not available a year ago or five years ago through this Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Cities Initiative and we can go through all of those recommendations

01:28:48 SPEAKER_024: and opportunities together Share that information and then come back to you within the current term of council with recommended future steps And and I don't want to presuppose what any of those future steps could be Whether it's a decision to

01:29:02 SPEAKER_024: continue to have a harbor development task force in the future or if that recommendation is to have certain actions stay at the staff level and the rest move up to the county level But really it's about I don't have enough

01:29:16 SPEAKER_024: information right now To make a confident recommendation to you and this is me asking for a forum where I can go and gather that information and gather those perspectives and then come back to you in September and say Hey we

01:29:29 SPEAKER_024: talked to these folks these are their perspectives and this is our recommended next steps

01:29:38 SPEAKER_024: Marianne go ahead

01:29:40 Melanie Middlebro: Just quickly I'm curious why there's only two Owens Sound representatives but yet there's four from the county and Georgian Bay shoreline To me it seems heavily weighted in the county and other municipalities area

01:29:57 SPEAKER_024: Thank you Chair That's because I get to talk to you guys every day Really it's about in the alignment with the Team Gray Memorandum of Understanding and in alignment with the fact that there is there would be one representative from

01:30:12 SPEAKER_024: Meaford Town of Blue Mountains Georgian Bluffs and then Gray County would have a seat as well Once again like the these the the voting structure is really like there's nothing really to be voted on necessarily This is about

01:30:28 SPEAKER_024: sharing information discussing you know recommendations as a collective and then providing that recommendation So it's not it's not that own the the mayor and the chair would be able to be outvoted on this

01:30:45 SPEAKER_024: It's about bringing back a report on the different opportunities and options and creating a space to discuss those So it's not going to bind us It's Owen Sound is not going to The Owen Sound Council will have the final say

01:31:00 SPEAKER_024: and in similar to what Savannah was saying earlier in the presentation on the previous report this is about us getting to decide what our future looks like Like Owen Sound will retain the ability to decide what the future of our

01:31:14 SPEAKER_024: harbor looks like This is just about gathering those other outside external perspectives so that when we go forward with the next steps we know what everyone what everyone's perspectives is And we've had those preliminary discussions

01:31:30 SPEAKER_024: so that if an opportunity comes our way and we need to act quickly and we need to act fast we're not trying to assemble like a garden bed from scratch and trying to form those relationships and those partnerships that would

01:31:42 SPEAKER_024: be absolutely essential to advancing any of those initiatives especially the ones that require a more regional approach You can't build those relationships quickly You cannot build that trust quickly and we as a municipality can't move that quickly

01:31:59 SPEAKER_024: compared to the private sector and other municipalities that are more ready than us And so by creating this forum I really do feel that it's about creating those conditions for future growth without binding us to any

01:32:15 SPEAKER_024: one course of action and it's going to allow me to come back in September with you know recommended next steps and have more confidence in the recommendations that we bring to you

01:32:28 SPEAKER_024: Go ahead

01:32:30 Melanie Middlebro: Just a follow up So you don't see direct competition in

01:32:35 Melanie Middlebro: Town of Blue Mountains Harbor Meaford Harbor Owen Sound Harbor

01:32:41 Melanie Middlebro: do you not see any stealing of ideas between those municipalities for harbor initiatives

01:32:50 SPEAKER_024: But what if they have some good ideas that we can use

01:32:53 SPEAKER_024: And sorry through your chair through your chair I think that in the spirit of the regional collaboration that we've committed to and that our residents have expressed a desire for

01:33:05 SPEAKER_024: this way we bring everyone together and we show that leadership that really says listen we have ideas you have ideas our communities have different priorities but we want to hear from our regional partners so that we know that like

01:33:22 SPEAKER_024: you know for example if a ferry service comes to the area and they want to service multiple ports or or you know there's another version of the own sound transportation company that has a

01:33:33 SPEAKER_024: an idea of expanding you know Perry Sound or something like that or they want to include like or a water taxi service comes to the area or something like that None of this is happening by the way This is just

01:33:44 SPEAKER_024: pure speculation as an example If we if an opportunity like that comes our way right now we don't have the relationships or the foundations to say yes to an opportunity like that It would probably take six months and a lot

01:34:00 SPEAKER_024: of coordination between the different collaborators And by that point the opportunity could move on and we've seen that happen before in the past And I don't want that to happen again And so by bringing all of the players to the

01:34:13 SPEAKER_024: table who would have an interest in collaborating on waterfront initiatives I really feel that this isn't going to be about you know you know reducing the competition We can still compete with Blue Mountains but this is about sharing perspectives

01:34:30 SPEAKER_024: and and finding the areas where our values and our priorities do align and building on that foundation and building that trust and those relationships to advance the future opportunities that come our way

01:34:47 Travis Dodd: Travis go ahead Thank you That was a lot

01:34:51 Travis Dodd: I'll be honest

01:34:54 Travis Dodd: We have an industrialized harbor We have a mixeduse harbor We've got someone coming to P and H we've got something dropped dropping off across the road at Miller Meferd has a I'm pretty sure 100 recreational harbor Tangle Blue Mountains 100

01:35:10 Travis Dodd: recreational harbor Who was the third Most probably say you want to invite Georgian Bluffs Okay so again Wyarton Big Bay

01:35:19 Travis Dodd: So those ideas are going to generally conflict with the ideas when someone says they should This is the success they're having with a recreational harbor compared to someone who's saying I'm having using it for a commercial purpose I The I

01:35:29 Travis Dodd: think the part where my piece comes here is you're bringing even the people that you named as your institutional or community experts that be a part of this discussion are all going to have their own separate personal wants

01:35:45 Travis Dodd: requests for it Again

01:35:50 Travis Dodd: those are all great ideas to brainstorm but the fact of putting 12 people for six meetings to brainstorm give these ideas Say there's not anything binding to it Of course there's not anything binding to it Everything's bound by council and

01:36:05 Travis Dodd: a budget

01:36:06 Travis Dodd: But when you bring all of that information through these areas there's going to be an expectation You've got you're going to invite P and H or you're going to invite Miller and say What would you like us to do And

01:36:19 Travis Dodd: they say X and we say thanks and we go back and say Nah we're not doing it That's not a great I don't think collaborative side to it I think we're setting ourselves up in a position especially when we set

01:36:32 Travis Dodd: a formal board that there will be some expectations of what what is the committee or what is council willing to financially contribute to the project That is the end result Let's let's not kid ourselves If this is just about to

01:36:46 Travis Dodd: collect information then you know reaching out to the four people that you're saying is the institutional and community experts I don't know how that is an extremely challenging piece more so than organizing six meetings I'm not going to dive into

01:36:59 Travis Dodd: any more of it because I think I've provided my feedback on it But I will say I have no problem supporting one and two I think number three there needs to be something coming from the corporation as what we're trying

01:37:12 Travis Dodd: to utilize as a priority And if that means you still have maintained informal communication with the individuals that have a stakeholdership within the harbor I think that's something we continue to move forward with I'm just not set on this and

01:37:25 Travis Dodd: I you can I will tell you I've beat the drum of collaboration on a regional level No

01:37:35 Travis Dodd: offense to me for Georgian Bluffs or Tanner Blue Mountains I do not need to hear their perspective on what they're going to tell us on a financial component for our harbor

01:37:44 Travis Dodd: That is not something I'm interested in The county has a not to put you in a bad spot county is going to download a pile of things onto us Our budget is going to grow drastically in the capital within the

01:37:58 Travis Dodd: next six months

01:38:01 Travis Dodd: So hearing more ideas of what these what we can do and what others believe that we can do with

01:38:10 Travis Dodd: that's not what I'm interested in right now We we need to mend some bridges right now with the county on financial and capital components and I don't think adding them into another discussion is going to be beneficial So

01:38:27 Travis Dodd: I'm ready to move some recommendations unless someone else has any other comments

01:38:34 SPEAKER_017: Go ahead Ali This is just a small question related to the Rural Ontario Development Program I see it's due next week I've asked a similar question before but if it is before if this is approved like recommendation two does it

01:38:46 SPEAKER_017: need to go council before You you can take action on that that

01:38:52 SPEAKER_024: Through you Chair I believe that

01:38:57 SPEAKER_024: in terms actually I defer to Tim on more of the process of this But I believe that with the committee direction we can still submit the application However if the council recommendation is not to proceed with it then we

01:39:13 SPEAKER_024: just wouldn't be able to accept the grant opportunity

01:39:19 SPEAKER_024: Tim go ahead

01:39:21 SPEAKER_662: Thank you through you chair Yeah generally we want council sign off on grants before we apply for a grant We don't want to be in a position to apply and then say Sorry we're not applying However with Rod if this

01:39:34 SPEAKER_662: is approved Rod comes out

01:39:37 SPEAKER_662: a few different times So if not the one in ten days there they'll be another intake on it

01:39:43 SPEAKER_662: And I think staff depending Again

01:39:46 SPEAKER_662: looking at if what happens with the recommendations if recommendation three is voted down and replaced with something else or just voted down and not replaced with anything I think there'll be opportunities that having recommendation two in place to apply for

01:40:00 SPEAKER_662: rod

01:40:01 SPEAKER_662: funding will help as we move forward And at that time too if an opportunity arose we would still come back with Hey we have permission to do this but here's what we're going to go forward with and outline sort of

01:40:12 SPEAKER_041: what's going into that grant Go ahead

01:40:17 SPEAKER_017: And just to kind of add on the final comments about the task force I definitely want to say that like I also am really supportive of engagement in some way But I'm wondering I don't know if it's the task force

01:40:27 SPEAKER_017: term that's throwing me but I would love to see engagement with these people that you're talking about happen in some way Yeah So that's mostly didn't want to discourage Phil he hits wholesale saying no to that But I think I

01:40:40 SPEAKER_017: am also struggling with the term task force I'm not sure if it can be

01:40:44 SPEAKER_017: amended I know is a loaded word so it's not recommending that right now But but wondering if that just needs to be rejigged in some way to capture that accurately

01:40:56 Ian Boddy: Travis do you want to move it and then I'll give my comments after that since it'll be on the floor

01:41:04 Travis Dodd: Well I will not move number three so it not be on the floor I will move

01:41:09 Travis Dodd: options recommendations Number one and two at this time

01:41:13 Travis Dodd: Okay

01:41:15 Ian Boddy: just because I haven't had my chance to comment I agree with both the councillors in

01:41:22 Ian Boddy: their concerns I was concerned with with the

01:41:26 Ian Boddy: the composition of the task force I was also concerned with the timing of it Like the minutes from this meeting wouldn't even go to council until March ninth and then assuming if it did get approved then you would have

01:41:42 Ian Boddy: to somehow get this all put together have six meetings with people and then bring

01:41:49 Ian Boddy: report back to council for September There's only two council meetings in September and then we are done And there will be a whole new council

01:41:58 Ian Boddy: So my concern was the timing on that and why pushing it through so quickly Why not just extend it into the next term of council for

01:42:08 Ian Boddy: for that council to have their say My

01:42:12 Ian Boddy: other question is why are we working

01:42:17 Ian Boddy: on this And and I feel like the task force and defining it the way that you did is actually exclusionary because you're determining four people that you're going to pick from wherever to come

01:42:30 Ian Boddy: and give their comments when there could be an any number of people who have ideas about the harbor And and my question is the the harbor and downtown urban design master plan from 2000 Why is it from 2000 Don't we

01:42:44 Ian Boddy: normally have regular updates on these things And is there an update coming forward

01:42:53 Pam Coulter: The 2000 downtown and harbor front master plan I think remains actually pretty relevant And the downtown river precinct Was called the Riverworks in that plan but I guess I would say to you that plan you know along

01:43:10 Pam Coulter: it's referenced still in our official plan and I would say to you it's still relevant There's still lots of recommendations in there that we can work on

01:43:23 Pam Coulter: Yeah so I guess I in my opinion it's still a relevant plan I think I should say I think this aims to create something little bit different

01:43:37 Pam Coulter: Okay

01:43:40 Ian Boddy: So my I think my struggle is well we have the plan and so why aren't we just working off of the plan that's already existing And if we need to change the plan then is that not the where we should

01:43:50 Ian Boddy: go first Is to to update the the plan that we have which you would then go out and consult and you know put it out to the public for ideas and consultation if that would be a better route and as

01:44:05 Ian Boddy: far as you know members of the county and Georgian Bluffs and Meferd because they do share the shoreline with Owen Sound I feel like the memorandum that we just put forward is almost a better starting point for that It's

01:44:21 Ian Boddy: economic development Grey Countybased Maybe that there's a project plan that might come out of this

01:44:29 Ian Boddy: memorandum process that we're just getting started on and maybe that's a better route But I agree with the other members of council and I would not be supporting the task force portion of this as well I think it's a good

01:44:43 Ian Boddy: idea and I

01:44:46 Ian Boddy: the idea of harbor development excites me and I want to see more happen But I feel like this isn't we're not there yet So

01:44:57 Ian Boddy: Tim go ahead

01:44:59 SPEAKER_662: Thank you Chair I was just going to maybe add in a bit more on the

01:45:05 SPEAKER_662: Harborfront Master Plan as you talked about Should that maybe just be a refined or updated et cetera And I think the notion is and Pam sort of

01:45:15 SPEAKER_662: hit the nail on the head with this is something different When you look through that plan there's a lot of again as it's called an urban design plan rather than I think the notion of this is Initiatives initiatives to support

01:45:28 SPEAKER_662: investment readiness so more of a hardcore economic development look at the harbor rather than

01:45:35 SPEAKER_662: you know looking at what that

01:45:38 SPEAKER_662: placemaking aspect like That's part of it and so it has to refer back to that What it what the streetscape looks like what the built form looks like and so it refers back to that But I think this is more

01:45:49 SPEAKER_662: of a harder look at the economic development side of things So that's the only reason why it's I think when we looked at the plans itself why we said

01:45:59 SPEAKER_662: should that be updated or should this be something different that comes forward So just hopefully I didn't make that less clear But

01:46:08 SPEAKER_662: okay

01:46:09 SPEAKER_662: I'll go back to Marion

01:46:12 Melanie Middlebro: Just one additional question

01:46:14 Melanie Middlebro: Can you explain why it's being wanted to be called a task force as opposed to a working group

01:46:23 SPEAKER_024: So the task force was based on reviewing our current board and committee bylaw

01:46:33 SPEAKER_024: It is related to having a

01:46:37 SPEAKER_024: I think one second

01:46:42 SPEAKER_024: It's related to essentially being able to go and speak to a body of special experts I believe Let me just grab this here

01:47:06 SPEAKER_024: A task force means a group of experts the majority of which are not on council who collaborate to achieve specific goals tasks or projects within a set timeframe A task force results in an end product such as a report to

01:47:18 SPEAKER_024: council or the completion of a project A task force is subject to less stringent procedures to allow for more flexibility with deliberations So that was the reason why we chose the task force as opposed to any kind of standing committee

01:47:33 SPEAKER_024: or ad hoc committee because we're really not there yet I felt that a task force was the most appropriate way to gather that group of experts to allow for deliberation and consideration of different opportunities In terms of the timeline

01:47:50 SPEAKER_024: if it is a compressed timeline and the intention was to bring this forward to committee today have it go to council by midMarch issue the invitations and ideally have the first meeting at some point

01:48:06 SPEAKER_024: in April We are probably more expecting to have three or four meetings We said up to six just to allow for you know some additional leeway in case there were additional meetings needed but really it was about

01:48:22 SPEAKER_024: creating a more focused forum to talk about the harbor specifically as opposed to you know team gray MOU opportunities which would involve kind of all of the municipalities But I think Tim might have some more

01:48:35 SPEAKER_024: information

01:48:38 Melanie Middlebro: Maybe the city manager can elaborate on a working group or the director as opposed to task force

01:48:46 SPEAKER_662: I think it's

01:48:48 SPEAKER_662: It could have been either

01:48:50 SPEAKER_662: to you Councillor Kepkii I think working group or task force and it was just chosen at the time to be a task force rather than a working group I don't think there's Rebecca's laid out all the reasons at least when

01:49:02 SPEAKER_662: the procedurally of why task force was chosen but terminology wise it could have been either chosen and maybe whatever this go It depends on how committee votes anyways I mean it Could be a moot issue in a few minutes

01:49:19 SPEAKER_662: Is there anything

01:49:22 Ian Boddy: preventing Rebecca and the city manager and other staff from continuing this process without an official task force or

01:49:34 Ian Boddy: could

01:49:35 Ian Boddy: we just ask for a report back to Council or Committee on Harbor Development that would give you the opportunity to explore Other options Go ahead Travis

01:49:46 Travis Dodd: Thank you Madam Chair And I don't mean to be rude in this My motion was just on items one and two and we're right into item three And about total detail so far off of the motion And I think when

01:50:00 Travis Dodd: we place a motion whatever it may be whether it's a secondary report or something that comes back we could probably dive in a little bit further on the roles of the what why is what But at this point I would

01:50:10 Travis Dodd: just kind of try to bring committee back on to where We're just trying to vote on options one and two right now

01:50:17 Ian Boddy: Okay Does anyone have anything further on options one and two in the recommendation

01:50:23 Ian Boddy: Sunit you're good

01:50:26 Ian Boddy: Okay So then I will call the question on the recommendation only items one and two All those in favor

01:50:37 Ian Boddy: And Sunit also has her hand up So we have passed recommendations one and two Does any anyone have any subsequent motions that they want to bring forward on recommendation three

01:50:48 Ian Boddy: No

01:50:51 Ian Boddy: Ali

01:50:53 SPEAKER_017: I don't I don't know the the wording or necessarily the procedure of asking for this but it's I'm almost wondering if a report that includes engagement with some of these stakeholders is what more we're looking for And again I don't

01:51:05 SPEAKER_017: know what if

01:51:08 SPEAKER_017: Task force has a specific definition as where I'm finding out here I don't know if engagement as a term means a specific thing as well here

01:51:15 SPEAKER_017: because I agree collaboration here is important But I and I don't want to lose the opportunity for us to do that and have that as something that we comment on

01:51:26 SPEAKER_017: So yeah I'm wanting to find something for us to go forward with here that represents that this is good work for us to be getting

01:51:33 SPEAKER_017: input from these people That is not necessarily as binding as a task force or work group

01:51:40 SPEAKER_017: So yeah sorry it's a bit of an openended I don't know if there is something Maybe I'm looking to the city manager for recommendation if there is a way for us to

01:51:49 SPEAKER_017: not lose that entirely that initiative but also not

01:51:54 SPEAKER_017: because I agree with your point on wanted to maybe not exclude anyone from the conversation So if there's a way for us to make this more of an engagement opportunity with these people

01:52:06 SPEAKER_017: does anyone want to take that on

01:52:09 SPEAKER_017: or comment

01:52:12 Travis Dodd: Travis

01:52:13 Travis Dodd: Thank you Madam Chair I do think a lot of that's going to come back when what the city does I know we note that the official this meeting of the current official plan We are approving a new official plan next

01:52:23 Travis Dodd: month

01:52:24 Travis Dodd: which contained a lot of public consultation

01:52:28 Travis Dodd: So I do think before we you know when we talk about a rush of things I'd like to see council may say no to everything in the official plan next month and say no we're not doing anything with the harbor

01:52:39 Travis Dodd: and it's all going to be changed Zonings going to be changed to X Y Z Again that's kind of why I feel like you almost need to have the official plan which is the groundwork of what we need passed first

01:52:51 Travis Dodd: then adding on to these other areas of saying okay now we're going to have our official plan This is what the city is saying My concern is if you have two different things if they're one saying this is the official

01:53:01 Travis Dodd: plan that we're saying what we the view of it and two we come out with a secondary document that has contradictory

01:53:10 Travis Dodd: information in or conclusion or saying hey actually never mind we want to put a condo here and we want to or they goes other way and says everything goes in industrial

01:53:21 Travis Dodd: What are we going to do

01:53:23 Travis Dodd: I do think there needs to be a secondary report that comes back to this committee and that could include things like what's our land banking I'm not sure when that was updated What's it look like for our not land banking

01:53:35 Travis Dodd: but our land Come

01:53:39 Travis Dodd: on Travis use your words today

01:53:41 Travis Dodd: Our inventory of land Do we have understanding what the environmental conditions are of those pieces of land

01:53:48 Travis Dodd: Does that mean that we should be talking to certain individuals What are who owns what Brownfield development or brownfield grants That's going to have to be a discussion with certain people that are owning those properties I think informal discussions is

01:54:01 Travis Dodd: still important with those stakeholders but I do think there needs to be

01:54:06 Travis Dodd: almost like an actionable work plan that comes back to this committee that details what we're looking in the scope of work our deliverables What what does the city see as a priority We've had a lot of public consultation of saying

01:54:17 Travis Dodd: what they want the city to look like You know music on the market Those small little things that can be implemented very easily outside of those big ones Of someone's going to say

01:54:29 Travis Dodd: I want to bring my boat in That's going to be at thirty feet so you need to dredge the harbor Like there's going to be this huge variety of responses here and so I do think we need to have informal

01:54:40 Travis Dodd: discussions continue on And I think we need to move forward with how do we beautify revitalize or develop our

01:54:47 Travis Dodd: area But I think there's some other information that we need to have that maybe can be added from

01:54:52 Travis Dodd: the harbor plan currently My perspective I don't know how to word that anyway That's going to sound nice

01:55:00 Travis Dodd: but I think that's in my mind I think that's something that it gives an idea to this committee It gives an idea to council kind of where they say their priorities are or what they're looking to do before we go

01:55:12 Travis Dodd: and bring everyone together and say and then go back and say council didn't agree with any of

01:55:20 Travis Dodd: that Tim you want to take a stab at it

01:55:23 Travis Dodd: It's through you chair It's a stab

01:55:25 SPEAKER_662: And I it may be off the mark but

01:55:29 SPEAKER_662: perhaps something like that staff report back to committee outlining the correlation between the updated official plan and harbor development and proposed next steps

01:55:42 SPEAKER_662: It allows the official plan to come forward We can then as opposed to committee having to go through and pick out all the pieces the economic development or what council determines what the harbor is

01:55:54 SPEAKER_662: we can pull that together into a you know into a succinct piece a report Come back to committee have that correlations made and then propose some next steps based off of the conversation that we've heard tonight Also

01:56:11 SPEAKER_042: would you like to move that then Marian

01:56:15 SPEAKER_042: I will move that recommendation

01:56:18 SPEAKER_042: Okay so we have a recommendation on the floor Does anyone want to speak anything further to that recommendation

01:56:25 SPEAKER_042: then I will call the We're all

01:56:28 SPEAKER_042: clear on what we're voting on Then I will call the question All in favor

01:56:35 SPEAKER_042: Sunit did you have your hand up I didn't see No Okay But we have one two three four five So that carries So thank you

01:56:46 SPEAKER_042: Okay So that moves us on to Parks and Open Space at Ten 10D D We have a report from the director of community services regarding park naming 823

01:56:58 SPEAKER_042: Fifth Avenue East So we will go to Pam

01:57:03 Pam Coulter: Thank you Madam Chair The city's naming and renaming policy CSO87 really provides a transparent framework for considering requests for renaming as well as naming

01:57:15 Pam Coulter: Based on the work of a working group last year And recommendation from that group to this committee and then to council In December a decision was named to rename the former Ryerson Park So there's some important points

01:57:32 Pam Coulter: from that recommendation that are relevant as we move forward and that includes we were directed to process to initiate the process to name the park to proceed in accordance with the policy and staff were to prioritize

01:57:48 Pam Coulter: Prioritize name with a local locational reference

01:57:52 Pam Coulter: So the

01:57:54 Pam Coulter: sections seven through twelve of the policy that are linked in the report really apply to a naming It's a slightly different process than a renaming As mentioned council has direct not directed a specific name but did in their earlier resolution

01:58:11 Pam Coulter: support priority to a name with a locational reference This certainly aligns with the policy in terms of Section Nine

01:58:22 Pam Coulter: So in term when when we think about the previous process although we didn't ask for names there was a lot of emails with some name suggestions and they included Old School Park Eighth Street Park Boyd Street Park W

01:58:38 Pam Coulter: Douglas Park who was the first principal of Ryerson School Friendship Land and I won't say

01:58:46 Pam Coulter: it In its Anishinaabe

01:58:49 Pam Coulter: words and then over Jackson Park So given council's direction that the future name have a locational preference I'm suggesting we take the two individual names off the list So in terms of next steps

01:59:05 Pam Coulter: we would work on our city public engagement platform We would create a project there with some background information on the opportunity to name this park there would be then online voting on those four names with

01:59:21 Pam Coulter: an opportunity if you had a great idea that's not on the list to add a new or different name that's not on the list Then we would we would also consult There had been an offer through the Son Environmental Office

01:59:37 Pam Coulter: for two people to participate in this and and we would engage with those individuals

01:59:44 Pam Coulter: and then that engagement and the work through the survey would be reported back to the committee There would be a name selected We would give 10 days' notice before that would be formally adopted by bylaw So in terms of sort

02:00:00 Pam Coulter: of that next steps they're outlined in the time and scheduling This sort of builds on a process that's been going on for a little while So I appreciate that the new members won't have the same background as as

02:00:16 Pam Coulter: people who have been here But the recommendation is that the committee would recommend council would direct staff to undertake the public engagement regarding four potential park names including Eighth Street Park Boyd Street Park Old School Park and Friendship Land in

02:00:32 Pam Coulter: Anishinaabe as outlined in the report

02:00:38 SPEAKER_029: Okay thank you Does anyone have any questions or comments Allie go ahead

02:00:43 SPEAKER_029: I just had a question about

02:00:46 SPEAKER_017: receiving names through an online platform I know you mentioned they're going to be the list of names and then if there's going to be option to give a give another name This

02:00:57 SPEAKER_017: is speaking as a resident of that neighborhood I've heard a lot of conversation People are saying like Oh I'm excited for when they open up emails to receive names So I'm a little worried that maybe this is being presented in

02:01:09 SPEAKER_017: a way that is not maybe fully representing that we are open to receiving new names and also maybe wouldn't capture that So how we are selecting them after we go through this engagement process I don't know if it's by

02:01:22 SPEAKER_017: proportional like we got the most votes for this one so that's when we're going with But if there's someone who has a great name who's coming forward there's no opportunity for someone else to then respond to it saying that is

02:01:31 SPEAKER_017: the name I would choose

02:01:33 SPEAKER_017: So mostly just wanted to highlight that I think that there will be some misunderstanding from the public because there are I've had several conversations with people that they're waiting for their opportunity respecting that there isn't a process going on and

02:01:45 SPEAKER_017: maybe highlighting that if there's a way for us to maybe tweak how we are doing our engagement or the timeline of how this is coming about so that we are getting all of that representation

02:01:54 SPEAKER_017: Yeah

02:01:59 Pam Coulter: Through the chair I think it's a great point and people were excited about the naming so there had been some offers or suggestions of names

02:02:10 Pam Coulter: because there will be a report that will come back after the feedback And a

02:02:16 Pam Coulter: couple of thoughts while there will be a survey the our city platform allows engagement in a few different ways So there's the who's listening So

02:02:25 Pam Coulter: you could just put forward a name that way When we bring that feedback back and we say Hey here's the results you You know people weren't very engaged but they you know there was lots of ideas for new names And

02:02:38 Pam Coulter: here's five more that maybe we should add to the list And if we have to add a step and in you know engage twice we can certainly do that based on the feedback that we receive So we'll try to make

02:02:50 Pam Coulter: sure on the our city platform that there's enough information so people understand that we're open to receiving you know an additional name and that you

02:03:02 Pam Coulter: You know that it could be added to or when it comes back to committee you could say Hey GPRs let's go out on on these three names We really think those sort of capture the essence of the location of the

02:03:15 Pam Coulter: park and and what we're trying to achieve

02:03:20 Pam Coulter: Mary go ahead

02:03:22 Melanie Middlebro: Through you to the director Is there a way of controlling the voting to allow only one vote per whatever

02:03:32 Pam Coulter: It's a great question I'll have to ask our communication folks

02:03:38 Pam Coulter: if we can you know if there's two people in the household both of them probably deserve to vote if they're voting from the same computer You know it's beyond me but we can ask that

02:03:52 Pam Coulter: You know people only vote one time in the preamble

02:03:56 Pam Coulter: We probably can't enforce it

02:03:59 Travis Dodd: Travis go ahead Thank you Madam Chair So when they do that do you have to put in contact information You have to put your email name anything Is there any kind of piece of that in there where you'd be able

02:04:10 Travis Dodd: to say Hey Travis Dodd Seventeen at Gmail dot com has just kept doing it three different times like or is there a way for you to start filtering out those duplicate processes

02:04:21 SPEAKER_661: Those are great questions and I just don't know but

02:04:26 SPEAKER_661: I know That that our communication folks will know

02:04:32 SPEAKER_661: Anyone else

02:04:35 SPEAKER_661: Travis go ahead

02:04:37 SPEAKER_661: I'll move the recommendation

02:04:39 Ian Boddy: Okay so the recommendation has been moved If there's nothing further then I will call the question All in favor

02:04:46 Ian Boddy: And Sunith also voted so that carries Thank you

02:04:51 Ian Boddy: So we have nothing from Arena Operations Building Facility Booking bookings or planning and heritage so that moves us to number 11 which is matters postponed for which we have none At number 12 motions for which notice was previously given we

02:05:07 Ian Boddy: have none At 13a we have a memorandum from the chief building official and manager of planning and heritage regarding development updates So we will welcome Kevin

02:05:27 SPEAKER_044: Thank you Madam Chair It was a long sit there sore getting up But so January development updates a little sparse as January typically is for the building department But I just want to reiterate that we did have a banner year

02:05:40 SPEAKER_044: last year with record setting for us As Pam alluded to earlier the SkyDev building site they were on East Basia Road by the soccer complex They have the first building They're now up to the fourth story so building staff actually

02:05:55 SPEAKER_044: starting tomorrow doing inspections through that for fire stopping and they're planning on having a couple model suites open in about a month or two to to have people come in and start looking at that building We had some applications received

02:06:09 SPEAKER_044: for an eleven unit townhouse up on Ninth Avenue East

02:06:13 SPEAKER_044: The the BDO building there was talk earlier of making that into all residential The developers come back to us now and has a A plan for some coworking spaces so we issued some permits for that A new tenant fitup permit

02:06:28 SPEAKER_044: for Cruise Ship Centers of Expedia across the road there and about the Macaw Cahill Building a new office for an engineering firm is going in there And with that take any questions

02:06:41 Travis Dodd: Okay Does anyone have any questions for Kevin Travis Thank you Madam Chair Kevin you've done You and your team have done a fantastic job and I just think that you know Please take it back to your department But how appreciative

02:06:52 Travis Dodd: we are for the hard work that you're doingnot only for all the work that you're doing for us but also we know that we sometimes contract you out to other municipalities So thanks for being flexible and allowing that to happen

02:07:02 Travis Dodd: as well But you're absolutely right Banner year You guys worked extremely hard and you deserve a lot of appreciation

02:07:10 Travis Dodd: We obviously wouldn't see the growth that we're seeing without people like yourself So thank you so much for everything that your team does and I Just can't highlight that enough And then I will move receipt of the

02:07:24 Travis Dodd: correspondence

02:07:26 Ian Boddy: Anyone else have any questions or comments for Kevin No I echo the the comments of Councillor Dodd It's been amazing to see the growth happening and thank you for all the work that your department has done So

02:07:39 Ian Boddy: we have a motion to receive So I will call the question All in favor

02:07:44 Ian Boddy: And that carries with Sunith also voting Okay so at number 14 we have no additional business this evening No does anyone have a notice of motion

02:07:56 Ian Boddy: Seeing none then it is 747 and I will call the meeting adjourned Thank you everyone