Owen Sound Committee - Corporate Services Meeting Transcript — March 12, 2026

00:00:01 Christopher Stevens: Perfect.

00:00:12 Melanie Koepke: Okay, welcome everyone.

00:00:13 Melanie Koepke: It is March the twelfth, and I will be chairing the meeting as Councillor Kukreja is joining us virtually this evening.

00:00:22 Melanie Koepke: So this is the Corporate Services Committee meeting, and it is five thirty.

00:00:26 Melanie Koepke: I'll call the meeting to order.

00:00:28 Melanie Koepke: At number two this evening is call for additional business.

00:00:31 Melanie Koepke: Is there any additional business this evening?

00:00:34 Melanie Koepke: Seeing none.

00:00:36 Melanie Koepke: At number three, declarations of interest.

00:00:39 Melanie Koepke: Does anyone have anything to declare this evening?

00:00:43 Melanie Koepke: No. Okay, so we move on to number four, which is the confirmation of minutes, which is the minutes of the Corporate Services Committee meeting held on February twelfth, twenty twenty-six.

00:00:53 Melanie Koepke: These were presented to council and adopted.

00:00:56 Melanie Koepke: So I just need someone to move these minutes, Franklin.

00:00:59 Melanie Koepke: Thank you.

00:01:00 Melanie Koepke: So I will call the question.

00:01:02 Melanie Koepke: All in favor?

00:01:04 Melanie Koepke: And everyone has their hand up, including Suneet.

00:01:06 Melanie Koepke: So that carries.

00:01:09 Melanie Koepke: At number five, we have no deputations and presentations this evening.

00:01:13 Melanie Koepke: At number six, public forum.

00:01:15 Melanie Koepke: There's no one here.

00:01:17 Melanie Koepke: So we go to number seven, which is correspondence received for which direction is required.

00:01:22 Melanie Koepke: At seven a, we do have correspondence from Carolyn Babin, an Owen Sound resident, requesting to review fireworks policy, including private sale and use.

00:01:35 Melanie Koepke: So we just put it on the floor.

00:01:37 Melanie Koepke: If there's any discussion, does anyone have any discussion on the fireworks policy?

00:01:43 Melanie Koepke: Go ahead, Monica.

00:01:46 Monica: Yeah, I guess I was just wondering if the city has conducted any or reviewed any research on the environmental or social impacts associated with the use of traditional fireworks.

00:01:59 Melanie Koepke: I'm not sure who we would ask that.

00:02:02 Melanie Koepke: Who would be in charge of our fireworks policy?

00:02:05 Melanie Koepke: Phil?

00:02:08 Phil Eagleson: Yeah, fireworks are regulated by Natural Resources Canada.

00:02:14 Phil Eagleson: It's sort of a weird place where they land.

00:02:17 Phil Eagleson: They also with explosives regulations and mining as well is sort of wrapped into there.

00:02:22 Phil Eagleson: And I'm not aware of any specific studies on the environmental impact.

00:02:28 Phil Eagleson: They certainly are small explosions in the air, but I'm not sure when the last time was done.

00:02:38 Phil Eagleson: We reviewed our fireworks bylaw sort of recently.

00:02:42 Phil Eagleson: I don't have the exact date, but within the last four years, we made some updates there to allow for other types of shows, so the non-explosive, the drone show, the laser show, that kind of thing.

00:02:57 Phil Eagleson: They're certainly not as often held, just because of the cost of them out there and the limited number of people putting them on.

00:03:07 SPEAKER_044: Any follow up to that?

00:03:11 SPEAKER_044: Are you good?

00:03:14 SPEAKER_044: Okay.

00:03:14 SPEAKER_044: Anyone else?

00:03:15 SPEAKER_044: Frank.

00:03:18 Franklin: Through you, Madam Chair.

00:03:19 Franklin: I would just like to ask, how do the neighboring municipalities kind of regulate the private fireworks?

00:03:28 Phil Eagleson: Very similar to ours, we have the bylaw that states when they can be set off, who can purchase.

00:03:35 Phil Eagleson: What dates the year we approve of?

00:03:39 Phil Eagleson: And ours very much falls in line with our neighbors in Grey Bruce.

00:03:43 Phil Eagleson: I did see this correspondence come through last week, I think, and I did a quick survey of Grey Bruce, and there's none restricting, no other municipalities restricting traditional fireworks in the state.

00:03:58 Phil Eagleson: Anyone else?

00:03:59 Phil Eagleson: Carol, go ahead.

00:04:01 Carol Merton: Through you, Chair.

00:04:02 Carol Merton: From time to time, we do get letters, certainly through the council emails as well.

00:04:10 Carol Merton: The issue is also around those members in our community who suffer from PTSD and for whom it's a traumatic event.

00:04:19 Carol Merton: Some in the past have indicated to me that they have to go down and put themselves in a quiet space, knowing that this is going to happen because it has an impact on them.

00:04:30 Carol Merton: I think the concern from the public member.

00:04:36 Carol Merton: I'm wondering if staff would be able to even bring back a report that gives a cost analysis.

00:04:45 Carol Merton: Should we choose an alternative way?

00:04:48 Carol Merton: Because obviously costing is important too.

00:04:54 Carol Merton: But to just be able to explore what options might be available, we're in a different place technologically, and it might be helpful just to provide additional information back to committee to explore this and see if there is an alternative that could be proposed and taken to council for consideration and decision.

00:05:20 SPEAKER_044: Does anyone have anything further, Daniel?

00:05:29 Daniel: Through you, Madam Chair.

00:05:31 Daniel: It does mention she mentioned in her letter increase fire risk.

00:05:34 Daniel: Does the fire department see an increase in calls due to public and private fireworks use?

00:05:42 Phil Eagleson: We monitor the private fireworks use very very closely, and it's been consistent year after year.

00:05:49 Phil Eagleson: We do get a couple calls a year, mostly they're a complaint call.

00:05:53 Phil Eagleson: I don't know of any fires actually starting from them, and then the public display shows are done by professional companies over the water.

00:06:03 Phil Eagleson: We have no concerns there whatsoever.

00:06:05 Phil Eagleson: We have a long tested approval process with them, where we walk the site.

00:06:12 Phil Eagleson: We have setbacks for safety reasons of the visitors, the viewers, and they have to clean up the site afterwards.

00:06:24 Melanie Koepke: Anyone else?

00:06:26 Melanie Koepke: My only question within the city, because I haven't reviewed the bylaw, I don't think in the time that I've been sitting around this horseshoe.

00:06:33 Melanie Koepke: Do we require permits for private people to have fireworks?

00:06:39 Phil Eagleson: No, we don't allow public or sorry, private displays.

00:06:44 Phil Eagleson: However, they can purchase them and they can set them off on the dates that we specify in the bylaw, but we don't approve those per se.

00:06:53 Phil Eagleson: We approve the public displays, the big ones from the companies.

00:07:00 Melanie Koepke: Okay.

00:07:00 Melanie Koepke: If there's nothing further and no formal motion, then we just need a motion to receive.

00:07:06 Melanie Koepke: Someone.

00:07:08 Melanie Koepke: Okay, Franklin.

00:07:08 Melanie Koepke: Thank you.

00:07:09 Melanie Koepke: So, if there's nothing further, I'll call the question.

00:07:11 Melanie Koepke: All in favor?

00:07:13 Melanie Koepke: And that carries, including Suneet.

00:07:16 Melanie Koepke: So that moves us to number eight, which is reports of city staff at eight a under communications.

00:07:21 Melanie Koepke: We have a report from the communications advisor regarding external communication strategies.

00:07:28 Melanie Koepke: So we welcome Carly.

00:07:32 Melanie Koepke: Thank you.

00:07:36 Melanie Koepke: Yeah.

00:07:36 Melanie Koepke: Thank you, Chair and Committee.

00:07:39 Carly: I'll be speaking to the report on the City of Owen Sound's external communication strategy and highlighting some key pieces tonight.

00:07:49 Carly: This strategy was built with plenty of feedback and ideas from a variety of voices, helping to shape the plan.

00:07:57 Carly: Starting with an internal analysis, we looked at current communication tactics, past engagement data, and insights from other city initiatives, including the 2021 Citizen Satisfaction Survey, with staff and council members, we conducted 18 specific interviews and additional surveys across various roles to better understand communication impacts on their day-to-day operations and resident interactions.

00:08:23 Carly: We gathered insights from 38 municipal communicators across Canada to identify best practices and trends, and provide some municipal benchmarking with other cities.

00:08:33 Carly: And last but certainly not least, community survey provided 192 detailed responses to help inform strategy development through the engagement process.

00:08:46 Carly: And as expected, we heard clearly that there are opportunities to improve the consistency and coordination of how the city communicates.

00:08:54 Carly: Residents interact with the city largely through information, whether that's updates on projects, service changes, decisions made by council or at committees, or other opportunities to get involved.

00:09:07 Carly: Communication is often the main way people experience and understand what the city is doing.

00:09:13 Carly: When that communication is clear and timely and easy to access, it helps people better understand what's happening in their city and why decisions are being made.

00:09:21 Carly: This strategy is about providing guidance to help us strengthen that communication, making sure the information we share is clear, coordinated, and reaching people in the ways that they expect today.

00:09:33 Carly: The strategy's main goal strong sorry strong communication also plays an important role in building trust.

00:09:41 Carly: Residents may not always agree with every decision that council makes, but clear and transparent communication can help build confidence that the decisions are thoughtful, informed, and made with the community's best interests in mind.

00:09:54 Carly: Building trust, being the main goal of the external communication strategy, is a valuable one.

00:09:58 Carly: It helps build foundations for successful relationships.

00:10:02 Carly: This also aligns with Vision 2050's priority of fostering mutually beneficial and respectful relationships.

00:10:10 Carly: As it is, this strategy is built around four objectives or themes that were developed based on feedback gathered in the process of building the strategy.

00:10:20 Carly: These highlight the areas where the city can make meaningful and influential changes to improve communication efforts.

00:10:27 Carly: As seen on the screen, the objectives are one, proactive, consistent, and expected communications; two, improving two-way communications; three, is improving information access; and four, is utilizing additional communications channels.

00:10:43 Carly: The strategy outlines 17 recommendations across the four objectives.

00:10:48 Carly: As each recommendation is implemented, communications staff will be using best practices to achieve the desired outcomes.

00:10:56 Carly: Each recommendation supports the strategy's overall direction, and progress on the recommendations will be reported back annually.

00:11:06 Carly: So this strategy is about improving coordination and consistency in how we communicate with residents.

00:11:12 Carly: It helps us use the channels we already have more effectively, and also gives staff a clear framework for making communication decisions.

00:11:19 Carly: It's important to note that this strategy has been developed with no additional budget allocations, no new staff positions, or new infrastructure required.

00:11:29 Carly: It's about combining what's desired with what's achievable and realistic with current resources.

00:11:36 Carly: The external communication strategy will be implemented in phases over three years to allow for steady, manageable change.

00:11:44 Carly: And by balancing the recommendations that require different levels of effort each year, we can keep progress moving across all objectives without adding resources.

00:11:55 Carly: When it comes to measuring success of this strategy, individual metrics will help track progress on specific actions.

00:12:02 Carly: But the real measure of success will be residents' confidence in city information, their understanding of services, and their sense that the city communicates in a transparent, responsive, and reliable way.

00:12:14 Carly: Progress towards this main goal will be evaluated through the 2027 and future citizen satisfaction surveys.

00:12:20 Carly: Yearly reports to committee will outline progress on the strategy's recommendations, including successes and challenges.

00:12:30 Carly: The next phase of the project is to roll out the communications plan to share the strategy publicly and among staff, and this will be followed by the phased implementation of the recommendations over the three-year period.

00:12:45 Carly: And finally, the recommendation in the report is to direct staff to bring forward a bylaw to adopt the external communications strategy.

00:12:54 Carly: And I'm happy to take any further questions or offer a beautiful printed copy of our external communications strategy.

00:13:04 Melanie Koepke: Thank you, Carly.

00:13:05 Melanie Koepke: Does anyone have any questions or comments on the external communication strategy?

00:13:10 Melanie Koepke: Go ahead, Franklin.

00:13:12 Franklin: Through you, Madam Chair.

00:13:13 Franklin: I just have a question for residents who are not active online.

00:13:17 Franklin: How will they receive updates and information?

00:13:20 Franklin: Yeah.

00:13:23 Carly: Thank you.

00:13:23 Carly: Through you, Chair.

00:13:24 Carly: That is definitely a theme that was captured in the engagement and feedback, and that will be recognized under Objective Four about using additional communications channels, and definitely with a focus on offline options as well.

00:13:40 Carly: So we're sure that we're sharing clear and consistent messages online and offline.

00:13:48 SPEAKER_048: Any other questions, comments?

00:13:52 SPEAKER_048: Monica, go ahead.

00:13:55 Monica: Through you, Madam Chair.

00:13:56 Monica: So, I understand that the strategy emphasizes the use of the city-owned communication channels.

00:14:03 Monica: I'm wondering if social media will still be used as a communication tool to reach residents who may not be frequently visiting the website or the newsletters or other platforms that are specified in the report.

00:14:18 Carly: Yep.

00:14:18 Carly: Yep.

00:14:19 Carly: Great question, and absolutely, I don't see that changing anytime.

00:14:22 Carly: I know one of the recommendations is about building a social media guidelines to help us even better steer which social media platforms we're using and when and what sort of messaging is going on there.

00:14:35 Carly: So, go ahead, Daniel.

00:14:40 Daniel: Through you, Madam Chair.

00:14:41 Daniel: Recommendations like the regular newsletter, increased offline communication have material and labor costs.

00:14:47 Daniel: Have they been broken down as to what these recommendations may require from your team to see if they can be absorbed into the existing budget without impacting the team's current responsibilities?

00:14:59 Carly: Yep, that's definitely a major consideration.

00:15:02 Carly: Is not adding additional time or expenses to staff's day-to-day efforts and so breaking down the costs.

00:15:16 Carly: It will be implemented into regular work, and that's I think a lot of it is about using what we've already got and being more efficient or effective with what we've got instead of adding new or more.

00:15:31 Melanie Koepke: Neil, anything?

00:15:32 Melanie Koepke: No, good.

00:15:33 Melanie Koepke: Any other questions, comments?

00:15:35 Melanie Koepke: So there is a recommendation attached to the report to for city council to bring forward the bylaw.

00:15:42 Melanie Koepke: Does someone want to move the recommendation?

00:15:45 Melanie Koepke: Monica, thank you.

00:15:47 Melanie Koepke: If there's nothing further, I will call the question.

00:15:49 Melanie Koepke: All in favor?

00:15:51 Melanie Koepke: And that carries unanimously.

00:15:53 Melanie Koepke: Thank you.

00:15:54 Melanie Koepke: Thanks, Carly.

00:15:56 Melanie Koepke: So at eight b this evening, under parking and bylaw enforcement, we have a report from the bylaw enforcement supervisor regarding the 2025 Bylaw Review, and we will turn it over to the clerk.

00:16:11 Briana Bloomfield: Through you, Chair, to committee.

00:16:13 Briana Bloomfield: I'm pleased to introduce Riley Brujis, who has recently been promoted to Bylaw Enforcement Supervisor.

00:16:18 Briana Bloomfield: Riley will coordinate and oversee the work of the Bylaw Team with a focus on customer service, continuous improvement, and effective enforcement.

00:16:27 Briana Bloomfield: And with that, I'll turn it over to Riley, who put this staff report together and is going to present it to you.

00:16:37 Carol Merton: Thank you for the introduction, Brianna.

00:16:39 Carol Merton: And through you, Chair, I just have a few slides here to provide an overview of the 2025 Bylaw Enforcement Annual Report.

00:16:46 Carol Merton: Everything from these slides is part of the report and is attached to the agenda.

00:16:51 Carol Merton: In 2025, Bylaw Enforcement was managed by the City Clerk and included two full-time Bylaw Enforcement Officers.

00:16:57 Carol Merton: One, some Enforcement officers.

00:16:58 Carol Merton: One summer student, two hours per month of administrative support from the corporate services facilitator.

00:17:05 Carol Merton: Bylaw Enforcement operates Monday to Friday, eight thirty to four thirty, but through a condensed work schedule, officers have extended their hours to seven thirty a.m. to five fifteen p.m. where necessary to be able to respond to service requests outside of that time.

00:17:21 Carol Merton: Bylaw Enforcement defines the overall caseload of the division as a service request.

00:17:27 Carol Merton: This refers to any formal communication received that requires a response.

00:17:32 Carol Merton: Service requests are broken down into investigations, which is where Bylaw Enforcement investigates a potential violation of a city bylaw, as well as inquiries and other matters, which refers to all of the other service requests such as questions, civil matters, matters forwarded to other agencies such as animal control, police, fire, and public health.

00:17:49 Carol Merton: In 2025, Bylaw Enforcement responded to a total of 1,160 service requests, which consisted of 922 investigations and 194 inquiries.

00:18:01 Carol Merton: This chart shows that the number of investigations have been steadily increasing since 2019, with a slight dip in 2025 compared to 2024.

00:18:31 Carol Merton: In contrast, inquiries and other matters have been consistently decreasing since 2019, which is a positive sign that communication strategies have been effective.

00:18:40 Carol Merton: Within a single investigation, an officer may inspect a property or location more than one time to ensure compliance.

00:18:42 Carol Merton: In 2025, Bylaw Enforcement completed 1,435 inspections, indicating that on average, each investigation required approximately one and a half inspections.

00:18:44 Carol Merton: Through the city's Bylaw Enforcement policy, it requires that a complaint be submitted for an investigation to be completed.

00:18:49 Carol Merton: In most cases, in certain circumstances, an officer will respond proactively to offenses that are observed while on patrol, or if there is a health and safety concern.

00:18:58 Carol Merton: This chart here shows that the breakdown of complaints and officer-initiated proactive response in 2025 approximately 40 investigations, or four percent, were initiated directly by an officer without a complaint from the public.

00:19:07 Carol Merton: In 2025, Bylaw Enforcement reorganized the way that service requests are tracked internally.

00:19:21 Carol Merton: Service requests are broken down into the categories of animals, licensing, people, property, and vehicles.

00:19:27 Carol Merton: The five category groups the type of offenses or bylaw violations and the way that each one is enforced through different compliance tools.

00:19:35 Carol Merton: This chart provides an overview of service request categories and the underlying bylaws, or topics that are covered by each category.

00:19:45 Carol Merton: In 2025, forty-two percent of all service requests related to property, the majority of which were property standards and yard maintenance concerns, followed by snow removal and signs.

00:19:56 Carol Merton: Another thirty-one percent of service requests related to people, the majority of which were encampments, noise nuisances, and waste management concerns.

00:20:06 Carol Merton: This chart shows the largest categories that service requests related to in 2025.

00:20:11 Carol Merton: The top five service requests included yard maintenance, property standards, encampments, traffic, noise, and nuisances.

00:20:22 Carol Merton: Interior maintenance standards under the city's property standards bylaw apply to and protect the city's residential rental housing supply.

00:20:29 Carol Merton: This chart breaks down rental maintenance standards concerns into six subcategories.

00:20:35 Carol Merton: The majority of complaints related to vital services, which includes heat, electrical, water, those that nature, followed by pest control issues, and then followed by water damage and mold concerns.

00:20:46 Carol Merton: When it comes to encampments, by-law enforcement responds proactively and by complaint to encampment locations that are established in the city's parks and open spaces.

00:20:59 Carol Merton: This chart provides an overview of encampment investigations.

00:21:02 Carol Merton: A total of one hundred and ten encampment investigations were initiated in two thousand and twenty-five; ninety-seven of which were complaint-based and thirteen were officer-initiated proactive response.

00:21:12 Carol Merton: Encampments were found at fifty-four unique locations, indicating that encampments were spread out around the city.

00:21:18 Carol Merton: At encampments, by-law enforcement spoke to fifty-seven different individuals that could be identified.

00:21:26 Carol Merton: By-law enforcement uses a variety of compliance tools during investigations.

00:21:30 Carol Merton: Depending on the type of violation, compliance may include education, notices of violation, orders, remedial action, or laying charges.

00:21:40 Carol Merton: In 2025, 190 investigations, or approximately 21%, required an escalation to compliance tools beyond education, voluntary compliance, or verbal warnings.

00:21:54 Carol Merton: In addition to responding to complaints and performing inspections, by-law enforcement is responsible for all of the administrative functions of the division.

00:22:01 Carol Merton: This chart provides a comparison of administrative statistics from 2021 to 2025.

00:22:10 Carol Merton: Looking at some of the work that we did in 2025, by-law enforcement provided comment and supported the introduction of various bylaws and strategies.

00:22:18 Carol Merton: Worked with the city's communication team on media releases to educate the public.

00:22:22 Carol Merton: Participated in meetings with RentSafe, Owen Sound, Owen Sound Fire and Emergency Services, and Greybridge Public Health to better understand rental property concerns, collaboration opportunities, and solutions.

00:22:32 Carol Merton: And completed service review project one C five, which resulted in new and increased fees to assist with cost recovery for service provided.

00:22:40 Carol Merton: Amendments to the by-law enforcement policy to allow for more proactive enforcement and increased staffing levels, which is anticipated to be fully implemented in two thousand and twenty-seven.

00:22:52 Carol Merton: In two thousand and twenty-six, by-law enforcement will continue under the management of the city clerk and will include one by-law enforcement supervisor, one full-time by-law enforcement officer, one part-time by-law enforcement officer, one summer student, as well as a George Eng co-op student that will be working between September and December, as well as continued administrative support from the corporate services facilitator.

00:23:18 Carol Merton: Looking at the work plan for two thousand and twenty-six, by-law enforcement will work to improve the training program for new officers.

00:23:26 Carol Merton: They will continue to meet with RentSafe law enforcers to study and promote safe and healthy rental properties, introduce legislation such as the Vital Services Bylaw and updates to the Property Standards Bylaw, create a schedule for routine by-law reviews to ensure they remain updated and relevant, and complete a parking management review focused on policies, permits, fees, and fines.

00:23:46 Carol Merton: In two thousand and twenty-six, by-law enforcement will begin providing proactive enforcement in the River District once a full staffing complement is implemented.

00:23:57 Carol Merton: Once implemented, by-law enforcement will provide a minimum of four foot patrols per week and one waste management audit per month.

00:24:04 Carol Merton: In the annual report next year, a breakdown of proactive enforcement will be provided as well.

00:24:09 Carol Merton: There was a recent court case that received some attention in the media, and it was requested that a review of that case be provided for information.

00:24:22 Carol Merton: In *Ruck v. the City of Mississauga*, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice considered a constitutional challenge to the City of Mississauga's nuisance weed and tall grass control bylaw, which prohibited property owners from growing grass over 20 centimeters and from allowing nuisance weeds on their property.

00:24:39 Carol Merton: The City of Owen Sound's yard maintenance bylaw has very similar provisions, but it has a more restrictive maximum height of 15 centimeters for grass.

00:24:50 Carol Merton: Ultimately, the court found that the bylaw did infringe on the applicant's right to freedom of expression, confirming that gardening and maintaining a naturalized area is a form of expression that is protected under the Charter.

00:25:03 Carol Merton: Under Section One of the Charter, a right may be limited if the limitation can be justified as a reasonable limit in a free and democratic society.

00:25:11 Carol Merton: The court found that while the purpose of the bylaw was pressing and substantial, the infringement was not justified, as there were alternative ways to meet the goals of the bylaw that would minimally impair the rights of the applicant.

00:25:24 Carol Merton: The sections of the bylaw that were found to infringe the Charter were ultimately struck down by the court, meaning that Mississauga can no longer enforce those sections of the bylaw unless they make amendments to it.

00:25:34 Carol Merton: This decision applies only to the City of Mississauga bylaw and does not affect enforcement of Owen Sound Yard Maintenance Bylaw.

00:25:41 Carol Merton: City staff believe that there are key differences between Mississauga's bylaw and our own that would prevent a similar ruling.

00:25:48 Carol Merton: Specifically, Owen Sound's bylaw includes an exemption allowing the creation of a garden or a naturalized area, which a person could use to express themselves; Mississauga's bylaw did not allow for an exemption.

00:26:00 Carol Merton: In conclusion, city staff believe that Owen Sound's bylaw is defensible to a Charter challenge, but staff will continue to monitor this ruling and will review the yard maintenance bylaw in full in 2027 as part of a larger bylaw review schedule.

00:26:14 Carol Merton: Enforcement of the yard maintenance bylaw will remain unchanged until that time.

00:26:21 Carol Merton: This slide is just a reminder on the best ways to submit by-law complaints or questions.

00:26:25 Carol Merton: Complaints can be submitted through Cloud Permit, which reduces the administrative workload on the division and also allows users to see the status of their complaint live.

00:26:34 Carol Merton: Alternatively, complaints can be submitted by email to enforcement@owensound.ca or by phone to 519-376-4440, extension 1905, and a paper copy of the by-law complaint form is also available at the Service on Sound desk.

00:26:52 Carol Merton: Finally, the recommendation in the report is that the Corporate Services Committee recommends that City Council receive the report for information.

00:26:59 Carol Merton: And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions that you guys have.

00:27:03 Melanie Koepke: Okay, thank you for that report, Riley.

00:27:06 Melanie Koepke: Neil, go ahead.

00:27:10 Neil: Through you, Chair.

00:27:10 Neil: First, I'll move that we to support the recommendation.

00:27:15 Neil: Riley, I'm not familiar with the organization RentSafe On Sound.

00:27:18 Neil: Can you tell me who they are and what they do, please?

00:27:26 Carol Merton: Sure.

00:27:27 Carol Merton: Through you, Chair.

00:27:28 Carol Merton: The RentSafe On Sound collaborative is a component of RentSafe Ontario, which is a larger organization that is looking to promote healthy and safe living environments in rental properties.

00:27:41 Carol Merton: Environments and rental properties.

00:27:42 Carol Merton: So it's a it's a newer organization that's been doing research into what sort of situations tenants are in, but also what situations landlords are in, and how they can bring them together to create a better rental area as a whole.

00:28:02 SPEAKER_048: Anything else?

00:28:03 SPEAKER_048: Anyone, Monica, go ahead.

00:28:06 Monica: Through you, Chair.

00:28:08 Monica: I have a question regarding the data on the compliance tools used in 2025.

00:28:13 Monica: So the report notes that there were 17 encampment cleanups in 2025.

00:28:18 Monica: I'm wondering if you can provide a little more information on the process by which those are carried out, in particular how the personal belongings are handled.

00:28:27 Monica: Thank you.

00:28:31 Monica: Thank you.

00:28:32 Carol Merton: Through you, Chair.

00:28:33 Carol Merton: That's a great question.

00:28:37 Carol Merton: Mr. Chair, that's a great question as well.

00:28:52 Carol Merton: When law enforcement receives a complaint about encampments, we work very closely with Great Grey County Housing as well as S.O.S., which is the emergency medical response team, to work with encampments.

00:29:02 Carol Merton: When we go out to an encampment, we often go out with Great Grey County Housing, so they are able to work with those residents to find housing.

00:29:09 Carol Merton: When we do an encampment cleanup, it's because either someone has found alternative housing or they've abandoned the encampment.

00:29:16 Carol Merton: So at that point, we give some time for them to take their belongings and anything that's left at that point is taken to the dump.

00:29:29 Franklin: Good.

00:29:30 Franklin: Anything, Daniel?

00:29:31 Franklin: You're good.

00:29:32 Franklin: Franklin, go ahead.

00:29:32 Franklin: Through you, Madam Chair.

00:29:38 Carol Merton: Which bylaws have generated the highest number of repeat complaints?

00:29:41 Carol Merton: Thank you.

00:29:42 Carol Merton: Through you, Chair.

00:29:43 Carol Merton: I would.

00:29:43 Carol Merton: I don't have that answer off the top of my head, but if I were to make a guess, it would be either the Property Standards Bylaw or the Yard Maintenance Bylaw.

00:29:52 Carol Merton: With those with those bylaws, it's often a vacant property or a rental property where a landlord may not be as focused on the property.

00:29:59 Carol Merton: But I can certainly get a for sure answer back to you if you would like that.

00:30:06 Carol Merton: Carol, go ahead.

00:30:09 Carol Merton: Through you, Chair.

00:30:11 Carol Merton: I have a request and a question.

00:30:14 Carol Merton: So I'll start with the request first, because I'm asking for something.

00:30:18 Carol Merton: I want to thank you, Riley, for responding to my emails, and also Brianna as well, to provide additional information.

00:30:28 Carol Merton: I'm requesting consideration for a rental renovation licensing bylaw to be included within your two thousand and twenty-seven bylaw review schedule.

00:30:39 Carol Merton: There is a value to both the tenants and also the landlords who want to complete renovations to protect both sides.

00:30:53 Carol Merton: And my request is for consideration to include that within the two thousand and twenty-seven review.

00:30:59 Carol Merton: Is that possible?

00:31:03 Carol Merton: Yes, for sure.

00:31:03 Carol Merton: We can definitely get.

00:31:05 Carol Merton: Sorry.

00:31:07 Carol Merton: Okay.

00:31:08 Carol Merton: Yes.

00:31:08 Carol Merton: If there is a motion, yes, we can certainly make that happen.

00:31:15 SPEAKER_052: Through you, Chair.

00:31:16 SPEAKER_052: Oh, go ahead.

00:31:21 Briana Bloomfield: Through you, Chair.

00:31:22 Briana Bloomfield: If I could just speak to that as well, the plan is for Riley to bring back a report with a draft schedule.

00:31:28 Briana Bloomfield: So it might be better to have that included as part of that overall schedule, so you can see it holistically with all of the other bylaws and sort of where that might fall.

00:31:38 Briana Bloomfield: And I think that is something that could be included as part of that schedule that would then come back to committee for review and approval.

00:31:49 Melanie Koepke: Now we do have a motion on the floor already to receive.

00:31:52 Melanie Koepke: So if we should vote on that, and then she can make the subsequent motion.

00:31:58 Melanie Koepke: Okay.

00:31:59 Melanie Koepke: Does anyone have anything further?

00:32:02 Melanie Koepke: Go ahead, Carol.

00:32:06 Carol Merton: Through you, Chair.

00:32:11 Carol Merton: So I'll ask my other question then.

00:32:12 Carol Merton: Bylaw obviously has an important function in ensuring that standards are complied with.

00:32:17 Carol Merton: But my understanding, as well, sitting on the Police Services Board, is that Police Services also has a function around supporting the bylaws.

00:32:29 Carol Merton: When you create reports, does it capture anything that the Police have dealt with, or how do we make sure that it's a comprehensive report?

00:32:39 Carol Merton: Because sometimes things happen on weekends, as well as later in the evenings.

00:32:51 Carol Merton: Yeah, that's that's correct for sure.

00:32:54 Carol Merton: Police do provide a lot of service outside of our hours of operation.

00:32:56 Carol Merton: We do not include Police statistics in our reports.

00:33:01 Carol Merton: When we did the service review project, we did look back, and I don't have the numbers off the top of my head, but I believe in two thousand and twenty-four, Police responded to about five hundred bylaw enforcement calls.

00:33:16 SPEAKER_053: Not sure if that answers your question, but through you, Chair, I think sitting around the table, it would be really helpful to have comprehensive information on the total number of bylaw calls that occur, whether they're dealt with directly, and I would assume some of those may result in investigations that you have to follow up on.

00:33:42 Carol Merton: So, I'm not exactly sure of the process or how that can evolve, but even to be able to understand citywide, you know, what the activity is around the demand for bylaw enforcement and action, whether it's through the department or through our Police Services, would be helpful to have.

00:34:04 Melanie Koepke: Brianna, I'm not sure whether you would remember because that service review this came to us on the bylaw staffing and we had the whole numbers and was there anything in that report on the entire number of bylaw like that would have been responded to, including because we were discussing the different hours that we could go to if we had more staffing and all that stuff.

00:34:27 Melanie Koepke: Would that be in that report?

00:34:29 Briana Bloomfield: I can't remember.

00:34:31 Briana Bloomfield: Through you, Chair, there was statistics from two thousand and twenty-four in that report.

00:34:39 Briana Bloomfield: So it just looked at that previous year from Police Services, and they were quite willing to give us that information.

00:34:46 Briana Bloomfield: So certainly something we can connect with them on for future reports.

00:34:52 Briana Bloomfield: Okay.

00:34:52 Briana Bloomfield: Does anyone have anything further?

00:34:55 Melanie Koepke: So I will call the question on the report recommendation to receive for information purposes.

00:35:06 Melanie Koepke: Is that what we're doing here?

00:35:09 Melanie Koepke: I don't have it in front of me.

00:35:11 Melanie Koepke: Yes.

00:35:12 Melanie Koepke: So the recommendation is that City Council receive this report for information purposes.

00:35:13 Melanie Koepke: So that is the question that I will call, as that has been moved by Neil.

00:35:18 Melanie Koepke: So all in favor?

00:35:20 Melanie Koepke: And that carries unanimously.

00:35:23 Melanie Koepke: And then I will turn it over to Councillor Merton.

00:35:26 Melanie Koepke: Through you, Chair.

00:35:27 Carol Merton: Thank you.

00:35:27 Carol Merton: And I'll look to Brianna for specific wording if I don't get it right.

00:35:32 Carol Merton: But I'd like to move that in the two thousand and twenty-seven schedule when it's brought forward to committee to review, that included within that is a rental renovation licensing bylaw as part of that schedule.

00:35:52 Melanie Koepke: Okay, we got the thumbs up, so good job.

00:35:57 Melanie Koepke: Are we all clear on this motion?

00:36:00 Melanie Koepke: Does anyone have any questions or concerns or comments with regard to this?

00:36:06 Melanie Koepke: Seeing none, then I will call the question.

00:36:08 Melanie Koepke: All in favor?

00:36:10 Melanie Koepke: And that carries unanimously.

00:36:12 Melanie Koepke: Okay, thank you, Riley.

00:36:15 Melanie Koepke: So that brings us to 8C under Fire.

00:36:18 Melanie Koepke: We have two reports at 8C.

00:36:20 Melanie Koepke: One, we have a report from the Fire Chief regarding a fire apparatus purchase report.

00:36:25 Melanie Koepke: So we'll turn it over to the Fire Chief, Phil.

00:36:29 Phil Eagleson: Thank you.

00:36:31 Phil Eagleson: I wish I had a little cheerier report to bring to you tonight, I guess.

00:36:35 Phil Eagleson: We always want to see our project be on time and under budget, and this one certainly wasn't on time.

00:36:40 Phil Eagleson: It dragged on for twenty-plus months, and we're over budget on it.

00:36:45 Phil Eagleson: But we don't regret any part of it.

00:36:48 Phil Eagleson: It was worth the wait.

00:36:49 Phil Eagleson: It was worth the extra effort.

00:36:51 Phil Eagleson: We didn't incur any costs that weren't absolutely necessary for the safety of the vehicle and the longevity of the vehicle.

00:37:00 Phil Eagleson: Yeah, we traveled to Ohio.

00:37:02 Phil Eagleson: We were through a U.S. election and some part shortage and some sometimes we weren't real welcome at the border or felt that way maybe, but the trucks home to eliminate or mitigate a bunch of costs, we were able to do a lot of the things local to finish the project and get it across the finish line.

00:37:25 Phil Eagleson: And I'd like to thank Firefighter Martini and Firefighter Cooper for bringing it here tonight, so you could see it on your way in.

00:37:32 Phil Eagleson: We are very proud of the truck, and it's going to serve the city for a long time.

00:37:38 Phil Eagleson: Not only is it the perfect combination between our current engines and our larger ladder truck, it's an older technology.

00:37:52 Phil Eagleson: So we're very optimistic that it'll save us a lot of maintenance money over the next fifteen to twenty years.

00:38:00 Phil Eagleson: It doesn't have the complexities of systems.

00:38:02 Phil Eagleson: We can work on it mostly in-house with our own firefighter mechanic, and that brings some value to the whole project.

00:38:10 Phil Eagleson: I hope everybody had a chance to look at it quickly.

00:38:13 Phil Eagleson: It's essentially a brand new truck, and we're very happy with it.

00:38:19 Phil Eagleson: Wanted to report on the overall project and show it off a little tonight.

00:38:29 Melanie Koepke: Okay.

00:38:30 Melanie Koepke: Does anyone have any questions for Phil on the report?

00:38:34 Melanie Koepke: Go ahead, Neil.

00:38:37 Neil: First, I'll move.

00:38:37 Neil: I'll move the recommendation.

00:38:39 Neil: I guess my main question is, and I would apply to lots of other different things, but we've you know we've got a significant cost overrun here, so I assume there was a process or procedure that was followed to get those costs approved along the way, and so my question is, what is that process, or in this case, what happened?

00:39:02 Phil Eagleson: It was negotiation.

00:39:04 Phil Eagleson: Basically, we entered the project with a very rough estimate.

00:39:09 Phil Eagleson: Nobody's ever rebuilt a old farmhouse or an old car refurbished.

00:39:15 Phil Eagleson: An old car refurbish an old car.

00:39:16 Phil Eagleson: Till you get into it, you don't know the costs of it fully.

00:39:21 Phil Eagleson: As they were getting into the project, they found more things, and some of them were highlighted in the report that we had to do to make it a viable apparatus.

00:39:31 Phil Eagleson: And with that, they did treat us very well.

00:39:35 Phil Eagleson: Certain some of the things were shortage that we didn't foresee.

00:39:42 Phil Eagleson: We had an exchange rate that was volatile at best for the almost two years of the project, and we are still negotiating some outstanding costs to try to bring it down even more.

00:39:56 Neil: That probably wasn't very clear.

00:40:02 Neil: What I'm thinking about is internally in the city in the fire department.

00:40:06 Neil: How does that you know when you find out.

00:40:09 Neil: You know, when you find okay, we're going to have a run overrun here.

00:40:11 Neil: Do you like?

00:40:12 Neil: Who do you call, or who makes that decision?

00:40:18 Phil Eagleson: On this project, we were sort of right on budget all the way along, checking in on a monthly basis, and then right at the end, we got a bill that we weren't quite expecting, and we are negotiating further on that bill right now and looking at those overages.

00:40:35 Phil Eagleson: But it's not a.

00:40:38 Phil Eagleson: It was very atypical project where where you can call up and say, okay, we need another half million dollars for gravel or something like that, and have an approval process through most of the last twenty months.

00:40:51 Phil Eagleson: I didn't have a firm value to ask for more money for.

00:40:58 Melanie Koepke: So just to be clear, this did come to Council at.

00:41:02 Melanie Koepke: Did come to Council in the beginning, and we did approve an upset limit.

00:41:07 Melanie Koepke: I believe of the four hundred.

00:41:10 Melanie Koepke: Was it four hundred or four somewhere in that neighborhood?

00:41:15 Melanie Koepke: And I don't know whether Kate wants to chime in on the process, basically for procurement or however we do things if they're because for certain amounts you have authority to approve, and like we have different approval processes.

00:41:33 Melanie Koepke: Does that come into play with this, or is just part of the fleet reserve?

00:41:36 Melanie Koepke: So we just took it out of there.

00:41:46 Phil Eagleson: Sorry, yes, Madam Chair, the entire project is funded by the fleet reserve.

00:41:52 Phil Eagleson: Okay.

00:41:53 Phil Eagleson: Good.

00:41:53 Phil Eagleson: Okay.

00:41:55 Franklin: Anything?

00:41:55 Franklin: this side?

00:41:57 Franklin: Frankly, go ahead, through, Madam Chair.

00:41:59 Franklin: I have a couple of questions.

00:42:01 Franklin: Actually, one is how does the city's fleet age compared to industry standard?

00:42:08 Franklin: Number one, and number two is what's the typical replacement cycle for a fire apparatus?

00:42:15 Phil Eagleson: So, twenty years is standard for fire apparatus.

00:42:18 Phil Eagleson: The city has two types of fire trucks: engines, which are our pumpers, and they're the smaller, less expensive truck.

00:42:25 Phil Eagleson: They're our workhorse that goes to every call, and they don't have ladders on there for them to do some things.

00:42:34 Phil Eagleson: And they're around a million and a half right now.

00:42:37 Phil Eagleson: The cost of fire apparatus, and you can see my previous reports, has just gone crazy in the last five years, and it's more than double what they were five years ago, and we're dealing with that.

00:42:50 Phil Eagleson: We're looking for every solution to that cost.

00:42:53 Phil Eagleson: So twenty years is a good solid industry standard.

00:42:57 Phil Eagleson: However, what we hope to achieve in Owen Sound is replace our pumpers, our engines, to the less expensive vehicles.

00:43:05 Phil Eagleson: At before that twenty years, or at that twenty years, and extend the life of our aerials, our two aerial trucks, which are much more expensive.

00:43:12 Phil Eagleson: They're over three million dollars, and get more years of service out of them, offsetting the cost of them.

00:43:22 Phil Eagleson: So use our engines more, use our aerials less, only use them when they're needed, extend them out to twenty-five, or dare I say it, more years of service, and keep our engines at around eighteen years of service.

00:43:39 Melanie Koepke: Did that answer your question?

00:43:40 Melanie Koepke: You're good.

00:43:41 Melanie Koepke: Anything further?

00:43:42 Melanie Koepke: Nothing, Mr. Further, nothing this way.

00:43:50 Melanie Koepke: Okay, so Neil has moved the recommendation in the report that City Council received the report for information purposes.

00:43:51 Melanie Koepke: If there's nothing further, then I will call the question.

00:43:55 Melanie Koepke: All in favor?

00:43:56 Melanie Koepke: And that carries unanimously.

00:43:58 Melanie Koepke: Thank you.

00:43:59 Melanie Koepke: So we'll go back to Phil for 8C2, which is a report from the fire chief on an update on fire apparatus engine five.

00:44:10 Phil Eagleson: Again, not the report I'd like to bring you.

00:44:13 Phil Eagleson: I think Council and committee are aware that we were in an accident, and what we thought was at first a fairly minor accident in December turned out to be much more damage than first visible.

00:44:30 Phil Eagleson: Like I just mentioned in the previous report, once you get in and get the trucks opened up, you see what's really damaged there, and our engine five has frame damage and cab damage, and we very quickly got it down to the original manufacturer and brought it on Dario, and they got it in the next day, and started taking it apart.

00:44:53 Phil Eagleson: They've had a hard time finding parts.

00:44:55 Phil Eagleson: It's they're still exploring.

00:44:58 Phil Eagleson: As of four o'clock today, the options for repair, rechassis or replace, and we're working with our insurance company to look at what those options may look like.

00:45:11 Phil Eagleson: But I feel it's in the right spot.

00:45:14 Phil Eagleson: We have a relationship with Dependable and trust them on.

00:45:18 Phil Eagleson: They're the most likely to have the knowledge of that vehicle and repair it or replace it if needed.

00:45:27 Phil Eagleson: And I just thought.

00:45:30 Phil Eagleson: And I just thought several months have gone by, and I should update committee on that accident, that truck.

00:45:36 Phil Eagleson: Hope to in the next couple of months have a report coming back to council or committee to consider options on what to do next with that truck.

00:45:49 Phil Eagleson: I guess if there's a silver lining here, the timing was just perfect.

00:45:54 Phil Eagleson: We got the truck you saw tonight, the refurbish truck back just days before the accident.

00:46:00 Phil Eagleson: We can't dip below three vehicles and operators in service, and we were just within a few days of having the one delivered here when the other one was in the wreck in the motor vehicle accident.

00:46:16 Melanie Koepke: Okay.

00:46:17 Melanie Koepke: Does anyone have any questions for Phil on this one?

00:46:20 Melanie Koepke: Nothing.

00:46:21 Melanie Koepke: Franklin, go ahead.

00:46:21 Franklin: Thank you, Madam Chair.

00:46:23 Franklin: Three, Madam Chair.

00:46:24 Franklin: So, does the Engine Five situation affect the operational coverage or response capabilities?

00:46:34 Phil Eagleson: Thank you for the question.

00:46:36 Phil Eagleson: And if we didn't have the new ladder trucking service, it absolutely would.

00:46:41 Phil Eagleson: At any given time, we have not just breakdowns, regular service, and we have one truck offline.

00:46:46 Phil Eagleson: We can't go below one truck offline or two in service.

00:46:51 Phil Eagleson: So the ladder four you saw tonight is the perfect blend between a ladder truck and an engine, and it covers off both our aerial apparatus and our engines.

00:47:03 Phil Eagleson: So it does both duties.

00:47:06 Phil Eagleson: And Engine Five, right now, as I report, being out of service is not impacting our level of service in the community.

00:47:16 Phil Eagleson: If we have another issue come up tonight with another truck, well then I won't sleep as well.

00:47:22 Phil Eagleson: But for right now, we have three fully functional apparatus, and we're we have good service.

00:47:32 Melanie Koepke: Just for my own information, so the truck that was damaged you described I think as a pumper tanker truck, but the other one is an engine ladder truck.

00:47:47 Melanie Koepke: What is the difference between those other than the ladder?

00:47:50 Melanie Koepke: Like, does the other I would assume the one carries water and the other one I don't know.

00:47:57 Phil Eagleson: Short answer is nothing really.

00:47:58 Phil Eagleson: We're throwing around three different names, but the truck the ladder five did have some capacities to deliver the water into the back as.

00:48:08 Phil Eagleson: To a remote scene where we don't have fire hydrants, extremely rare in our town, where we're well covered by fire hydrants, but it was purchased from another municipality, and it had that capability when we have it.

00:48:24 Phil Eagleson: We have not used it as a tanker very often.

00:48:28 Phil Eagleson: I'm not suggesting we need a tanker, but it was considered a pumper tanker, and then an engine is just another name for a pumper.

00:48:37 Phil Eagleson: Okay.

00:48:40 Phil Eagleson: The ladder's clear.

00:48:44 Phil Eagleson: It does not have a ladder, and it's about two million dollars less money.

00:48:50 Melanie Koepke: Perfect.

00:48:50 Melanie Koepke: Thanks for clearing that up.

00:48:52 Melanie Koepke: Okay.

00:48:53 Melanie Koepke: No other questions for Phil on this one.

00:48:56 Melanie Koepke: Seeing none.

00:48:57 Melanie Koepke: Neil, move the recommendation.

00:48:59 Melanie Koepke: Correct.

00:49:00 Melanie Koepke: Okay.

00:49:00 Melanie Koepke: So I will call the question.

00:49:02 Melanie Koepke: All in favor?

00:49:03 Melanie Koepke: And that carries.

00:49:06 Melanie Koepke: So that brings us to the end of our staff reports for the evening.

00:49:10 Melanie Koepke: At number nine, we have no matters postponed.

00:49:12 Melanie Koepke: At number ten, we have no motions for which notice was previously given.

00:49:17 Melanie Koepke: At eleven, we have no correspondence provided for information.

00:49:21 Melanie Koepke: At number twelve, we have no additional business.

00:49:24 Melanie Koepke: Does anyone have a notice of motion?

00:49:27 Melanie Koepke: Seeing none, then I will call the meeting adjourned.

00:49:31 Melanie Koepke: It is six twenty.

00:49:32 Melanie Koepke: Thanks, everyone.

00:49:33 Melanie Koepke: That was good feedback tonight.

00:49:34 Melanie Koepke: Great meeting.