Owen Sound Committee - Service Review Implementation Ad Hoc Meeting Transcript — July 16, 2025

00:00:19 Speaker 02: I'll call it to order.

00:00:20 Speaker 02: Is there any additional business?

00:00:23 Speaker 02: Seeing none.

00:00:24 Speaker 02: Declarations of interest.

00:00:26 Speaker 02: Seeing none.

00:00:28 Speaker 02: We have no minutes to confirm.

00:00:30 Speaker 02: We have no deputations or public presentations.

00:00:35 Speaker 02: We have no one here for Public Forum number seven.

00:00:39 Speaker 02: We have no correspondence at number eight.

00:00:42 Speaker 02: A Senior Manager, Strategic Initiatives and Operational Effectiveness, Lean Continuous Improvement Implementation, and B-Attraction.

00:01:03 Speaker 03: Good evening, everybody.

00:01:05 Speaker 03: I'm pleased to bring the report forward, CM 25017, which is the implementation of the Lean programmememe here at the City.

00:01:15 Speaker 03: So, Lean Continuous Improvement is really a toolkit of methodologies to ensure efficient and effective services, which provide value for the customer, whether the customer is external or internal.

00:01:25 Speaker 03: We've had an implementation team in place since 2023-24.

00:01:31 Speaker 03: I've lost track of what year it is.

00:01:35 Speaker 03: Sorry, there for a second about a year.

00:01:37 Speaker 03: And as part of that, we've been working on developing potential governance models, including identifying potential measures of success, project closure calculations, developing a selection criteria matrix for projects, and pathways to identify future process improvements.

00:01:53 Speaker 03: And then we undertook two pilot projects over the last six months to trial various Lean tools and as a way to build capacity with frontline staff throughout across the organisation.

00:02:05 Speaker 03: Because one of the key elements of Lean is really empowering frontline staff to make changes in their work areas.

00:02:11 Speaker 03: The pilot projects that we did was an employee reimbursement process and a yard and space optimization initiative at three work sites across the organisation.

00:02:20 Speaker 03: Undertaking these two Lean projects as pilots was a crucial step in establishing a culture of continuous improvement.

00:02:26 Speaker 03: It was an opportunity to really engage frontline staff in trying various Lean Continuous Improvement tools in a safe environment without fear of failure, because that's what Lean is all about.

00:02:36 Speaker 03: We try something; it might not be right.

00:02:37 Speaker 03: We tweak it.

00:02:38 Speaker 03: We continue to make it better as we go.

00:02:41 Speaker 03: I won't go through the pilots in detail.

00:02:43 Speaker 03: They were included in the report, but I just wanted to highlight the measures of success for the employee reimbursement process improvement.

00:02:50 Speaker 03: The measures of success, the improvement will result in a staff time savings of 89.4 hours per year, a reduction of 24 percent, which can be reinvested in other activities.

00:03:02 Speaker 03: In the second pilot, the yard and space optimization, the measure of success was that it was easier to access inventory in the reorganised space,

00:03:10 Speaker 03: and a significant number of items which were no longer required were able to be sold on GAV deals or scrapped, resulting in the City receiving approximately $2,500.

00:03:20 Speaker 03: Both pilots also provided the opportunity to identify lessons learned for what we would do on future continuous improvement projects, and those are highlighted in the report as well.

00:03:31 Speaker 03: So, moving forward on our continuous improvement journey, the six pillars of a Lean organisation have been the basis for developing the programmememe, and those are governance, capability,

00:03:41 Speaker 03: which is training of staff and incorporating into everyday work, and we've had some good opportunities there to incorporate it into the new onboarding programmememe that came to Service Review as a separate project.

00:03:53 Speaker 03: And as well, we've partnered with the City of Barrie, who has an extensive Lean team within their city staff, and they provide in-house training.

00:04:02 Speaker 03: So we've partnered with them to have our staff attend some of their training, as well at substantial savings.

00:04:08 Speaker 03: Going forward, in the Make It Happen pillar, we're going to adopt a top-down and bottom-up approach to identify future improvements, utilising our current staff suggestion box;

00:04:19 Speaker 03: staff will be able to identify process improvements through that way, which will then be assessed against the selection matrix.

00:04:26 Speaker 03: And we've developed various templates and tools such as process mapping, data collection, and 5S.

00:04:32 Speaker 03: And going forward, we're going to develop additional templates for visual work, 5Y analysis, and the Plan-Do-Check-Act.

00:04:41 Speaker 03: In order for the programmememe to be impactful, we wanted to develop meaningful metrics and measures of success were drafted, connecting back to the programmememe goals, and those are highlighted on page six within the report.

00:04:52 Speaker 03: So the measures of success are number of people trained in Lean in the twelve-month period, utilising the employee engagement survey, specific questions identified within that survey, the number of processes mapped,

00:05:04 Speaker 03: the number of continuous improvement projects completed and tracked, increased capacity in terms of number of staff hours which can be reinvested, shortened process lead time and hard cost savings or cost avoidance,

00:05:18 Speaker 03: and then we put in some targets for the upcoming year, which we'll then assess and see if we need to tweak the programmememe going forward.

00:05:26 Speaker 03: I really want to highlight the implementation Lean team; it included myself, Greg Nichol, Carly MacArthur, Kim Saraby, and Wade Nixon.

00:05:35 Speaker 03: It was a cross-functional group, and staff really delved into both learning about continuous improvement and Lean tools, and then helping spread that word throughout their work areas and really focusing on building a strong programmememe.

00:05:46 Speaker 03: So going forward, we'll bring forward annual reports providing updates on Lean projects as well as an update on the overall programmememe measures.

00:05:54 Speaker 03: And I'm happy to take any questions you may have.

00:05:57 Speaker 03: Thank you.

00:05:58 Speaker 03: Questions, Marion.

00:06:01 Speaker 04: Thank you.

00:06:01 Speaker 04: I will move the recommendation.

00:06:03 Speaker 04: However, just a odd question: you notice you identify six pillars, but I only count five, so am I missing something?

00:06:14 Speaker 04: I count governance, capability, Make It Happen, Tools, and Measurement and Monitoring.

00:06:19 Speaker 04: Unless you're splitting one of those, is it five or six?

00:06:23 Speaker 03: So, your member body, I apologize.

00:06:25 Speaker 03: I combine Measurement and Monitoring together, so that's why they call it six pillars.

00:06:30 Speaker 03: But I've combined those into two because I think it's one and the same.

00:06:36 Speaker 05: Quick question, just previous to us undertaking this and this was indicated through the Service Review.

00:06:43 Speaker 05: Did we have project projects which were similar, or why did we not undertake similar activities before the Lean training?

00:06:52 Speaker 05: Now, and what is required on an ongoing annual basis just to maintain it, Michelle?

00:06:57 Speaker 05: Administratively.

00:07:00 Speaker 03: Thank you, Mayor Boddy.

00:07:02 Speaker 03: So I think always staff have always looked for ways of how we can improve our work.

00:07:06 Speaker 03: This just provides more formalized tools to capture that.

00:07:10 Speaker 03: So when we're making changes, one of the things that's historically happened, and this is not the City, this is every organisation that undertakes an improvement, you undertake an improvement in one area,

00:07:20 Speaker 03: but it might impact another area.

00:07:22 Speaker 03: And Lean is really about looking at the full flow of the process and making sure you're documenting the changes that you're making.

00:07:29 Speaker 03: It's about education in terms of ensuring that everyone is aware of the new process and following the new process and testing that process to make sure you are achieving those savings.

00:07:38 Speaker 03: I would say what's new and different is the project closure calculations, really capturing the impact of that change.

00:07:44 Speaker 03: We probably haven't done a great job of documenting in the past.

00:07:47 Speaker 03: We make tweaks; it's better, and anecdotally we say it's better.

00:07:51 Speaker 03: But this allows us to really track to that going forward in terms of support.

00:07:56 Speaker 03: We've outlined that my role will continue to sort of support the overall programmememe and teams that are undertaking continuous improvement initiatives.

00:08:04 Speaker 03: But this really is about empowering all staff, and that requires capability and training, which we've built into the operating budget.

00:08:15 Speaker 06: Thank you, Mayor Boddy, and to committee.

00:08:18 Speaker 06: Yeah, I just wanted to add on that because I knew Michelle probably wouldn't say this.

00:08:22 Speaker 06: Part of that, Deputy Mayor Greig, is Lean operates well as we've looked at other municipalities and private corporations from a hub perspective, and our hub is one person, so our hub is Michelle.

00:08:35 Speaker 06: As we know, and as Michelle had said, I think staff work hard to find different ways of operating and use of their tools that they have.

00:08:47 Speaker 06: But having one person organised and keeping this front and centre, rather than corners of desks, and hopefully it gets to, and hopefully it doesn't get to you know,

00:08:56 Speaker 06: it's just that whole notion of the coordination and the effort of one person leading this and driving this forward and keeping the rest of the administration on staff is really an important element to this.

00:09:10 Speaker 06: No questions?

00:09:11 Speaker 07: Okay, so I'll call the question.

00:09:12 Speaker 07: All in favour?

00:09:14 Speaker 07: That is carried.

00:09:14 Speaker 07: So that was the motion moved by Marion at 8B, Manager of Information Technology and Operational Effectiveness.

00:09:25 Speaker 07: Oops, I just jumped lines, didn't I?

00:09:27 Speaker 07: Review of mobile technology options to inform the IT needs assessment.

00:09:40 Speaker 07: I should know that, eh?

00:09:45 Speaker 08: So the purpose of this project is to review the City's current mobile device environment and provide recommendations that will inform our future decisions and ensure capability with our existing systems, such as cloud permits,

00:09:59 Speaker 08: you know, locates.

00:09:59 Speaker 08: Permits, you know, locate GIS, road patrol, as well as upcoming systems as we implement those work order management systems, HRS digital time coding, and help to better support those products.

00:10:12 Speaker 08: Some of the key findings in here are that our mobile devices are often outdated.

00:10:19 Speaker 08: They're not standardized, so we don't try to buy the same type all the time, and they're inconsistently bought and managed.

00:10:28 Speaker 08: Procurement is reactive, lacking life cycle planning, and a lot of that is many of the devices that are acquired are acquired from individual projects, sometimes projects that are managed by IT,

00:10:41 Speaker 08: sometimes that are projects that are not managed by IT.

00:10:44 Speaker 08: So, in the case of a skate upgrade, the vendor would supply equipment, but it wouldn't be part of an overall replacement project at that time.

00:10:53 Speaker 08: So, in five or six years, that equipment is then out.

00:10:55 Speaker 08: That equipment is then outdated and it's not part of a plan to actually replace.

00:10:59 Speaker 08: So we're trying to address those things as well.

00:11:02 Speaker 08: There's limited use of our mobile device management system, and that has an impact.

00:11:10 Speaker 08: Devices are often not ruggedized for field use, lack battery capacity and resilience.

00:11:17 Speaker 08: There are gaps in integration with some of our enterprise systems, and that's based on how they're acquired and how they're actually used, and there's a lack of consistent training,

00:11:29 Speaker 08: so people understand exactly what you can do with them and how they can actually be used.

00:11:35 Speaker 08: Some of our next steps is to complete a mobile device audit.

00:11:41 Speaker 08: That's to do a complete inventory of mobile devices.

00:11:44 Speaker 08: Like I said, some of these devices were acquired by the individual divisions.

00:11:50 Speaker 08: They are sitting in drawers sometimes, and then two or three years from now, we actually get a call saying they're now outdated.

00:11:57 Speaker 08: Can we get them replaced?

00:11:58 Speaker 08: So we want to ensure we actually know exactly what is out there, assess their condition, and whether they're actually in our system from an inventory and management system.

00:12:11 Speaker 08: We want to standardize device specifications by developing minimum standards for ruggedization, battery, screen visibility, and align these devices.

00:12:21 Speaker 08: Align the device specifications to system capabilities and expand our use of MDM capabilities to ensure that all devices are in our system, properly inventoried, properly managed, improving our level of security, remote support,

00:12:42 Speaker 08: and lifecycle tracking.

00:12:46 Speaker 08: There is no immediate financial impact, but it will guide our future capital and operating budgets.

00:12:55 Speaker 08: Questions?

00:12:58 Speaker 08: Go ahead.

00:13:00 Speaker 08: Thank you, through your chair.

00:13:02 Speaker 09: So, when you're talking about ruggedization and these different ratings for the field conditions, like, can you give me an idea of the difference in price for, let's say,

00:13:16 Speaker 09: a phone or an iPad that is just generic.

00:13:19 Speaker 09: I go to the store and buy it.

00:13:20 Speaker 09: Versus what you're talking about, is there a big cost difference?

00:13:25 Speaker 08: Yes and no. In some cases, when we're doing minimum specifications, we may opt to add on to an existing piece of equipment that is non-ruggedized to make them ruggedized.

00:13:38 Speaker 08: So, as an example, the cases that we're actually providing for phones, we may end up going with a different style that makes them more ruggedized.

00:13:48 Speaker 08: In certain cases, depending on their actual usage, we actually will then look at acquiring devices that are ruggedized, and there is an increased cost, usually about 25% more.

00:14:02 Speaker 08: Anyone else?

00:14:04 Speaker 08: Move it.

00:14:06 Speaker 08: I'll move the recommendation.

00:14:09 Speaker 10: Call the question on favour.

00:14:11 Speaker 10: That's carried.

00:14:12 Speaker 10: Thank you.

00:14:15 Speaker 10: HC Deputy Chair.

00:14:15 Speaker 10: H.C. Deputy Treasurer, process for annual fees and charges.

00:14:19 Speaker 10: Welcome.

00:14:24 Speaker 11: Good morning.

00:14:25 Speaker 11: Through good morning, Mr. Chair and other members of the Service Review Committee, I'm not going to go through this report in great detail today, as similar reports have already been provided,

00:14:35 Speaker 11: presented to each standing committee and to Council.

00:14:38 Speaker 11: So this will just be a brief summary.

00:14:40 Speaker 11: So the Service Review Initiative 4C3 was aimed at improving transparency, consistency, and efficiency in the reviews of fees and charges.

00:14:49 Speaker 11: It was the responsibility for this review that was brought over from the Clerks Division into the Finance Division just to have better financial oversight and to review costing with a lot of these fees and

00:15:01 Speaker 11: to identify any that were being subsidized and not fully covered by the user fee model.

00:15:07 Speaker 11: And the big change also was in 2025; fees were reviewed by the standing committees before being brought to Council.

00:15:13 Speaker 11: This was a request, I believe, late two thousand and twenty-three from Council.

00:15:18 Speaker 11: This pilot approach allowed for earlier and more meaningful feedback from Council, and in particular, our Public Committee members, giving them the chance to speak on those.

00:15:27 Speaker 11: Overall, feedback has been very positive.

00:15:31 Speaker 11: Starting in two thousand and twenty-six, we are moving towards our three-year rolling review cycle, which will allow departments to focus on a portion of their fees each year.

00:15:40 Speaker 11: Just to point out as well, that is a minimum review, not a maximum.

00:15:45 Speaker 11: So, if there are other fees that Council, Committee, staff, or regulatory changes indicate that we need to review sooner, we will bring those up.

00:15:52 Speaker 11: It's just to identify that we will review at least one of them in more depth every three years,

00:15:58 Speaker 11: and this will also just allow staff to have a more fulsome review within their work plans rather than having to focus on their whole schedules all at once.

00:16:08 Speaker 11: As for next steps with this project, as we wrap it up, a formal fees and charges policy will be developed by the end of two thousand and twenty-five,

00:16:17 Speaker 11: just to document our findings and create some standardized templates and processes for us throughout this process, and just identify clearly those roles and responsibilities associated.

00:16:28 Speaker 11: So at this stage, it will plan to stay under the Finance umbrella as we move forward.

00:16:33 Speaker 11: The policy will ensure consistency in our review process across departments, and like I mentioned, require use of standardized templates.

00:16:40 Speaker 11: We also wanted to just clarify the process for proposing new fees or removing outdated ones, and identify the best timelines to do so.

00:16:49 Speaker 11: This policy will conclude Service Review Project Four C Three, and will provide a strong foundation for continued improvement of this project.

00:16:56 Speaker 11: So the recommendation in this report before you is that Committee receive the report, the update for information purposes.

00:17:03 Speaker 11: I would just say if there's any additional feedback or anything you'd like to see reflected in the upcoming policy, I would be open to that feedback now if you have any,

00:17:11 Speaker 11: and I can incorporate that as needed.

00:17:14 Speaker 11: So I will also take any questions if there are any.

00:17:17 Speaker 11: Thank you.

00:17:18 Speaker 11: Questions?

00:17:19 Speaker 11: Comments, Marian?

00:17:20 Speaker 04: I don't have any questions or comments other than it's good to see this finally finished, and I will be happy to move the recommendation.

00:17:30 Speaker 04: Comments?

00:17:32 Speaker 05: I would just note that I think it's been really good what staff have done in terms of introducing this through the Committees compared to 10 or 11 years ago when I started.

00:17:42 Speaker 05: Both Councillors and Committee members, the public has much more insight into all these charges and whether they raise a question or not.

00:17:52 Speaker 05: At least they have the opportunity to see all these line items and hopefully it provokes some thought and perhaps it does generate the odd questions where they could be asked.

00:18:02 Speaker 05: So I'm pleased with where staff have landed so far.

00:18:05 Speaker 05: Thanks.

00:18:07 Speaker 10: Nothing, Dad.

00:18:08 Speaker 10: No. Okay.

00:18:10 Speaker 10: Call the question on favour.

00:18:12 Speaker 10: That's carried.

00:18:13 Speaker 10: We're zooming through.

00:18:37 Speaker 12: Your Worship, Service Review Project One C Five is to analyse moving from a compliance model to a proactive approach, with a focus on efficiencies, dollar savings, and employee impact.

00:18:48 Speaker 12: On Lake Christine, my overview is not going to be short.

00:18:51 Speaker 12: I am.

00:18:51 Speaker 12: I have put together a PowerPoint presentation to walk you through this report.

00:18:55 Speaker 12: I will note that the Fire Chief is here.

00:18:58 Speaker 12: He was the project sponsor, and Riley Bruges.

00:19:00 Speaker 12: And Riley Brudjes is one of our Bylaw Officers, and he helped put this report together, and may be able to help respond to your questions.

00:19:10 Speaker 12: The City's Bylaw Enforcement Division contributes to the health, safety, and well-being of the community.

00:19:16 Speaker 12: They foster compliance with City regulatory bylaws through education, awareness, promotion, advice, and enforcement by way of a warning, fee order, certificate of offence, or laying information under oath before Justice.

00:19:27 Speaker 12: Bylaw Enforcement Viol Enforcement is part of the Corporate Services Department and is managed by the City Clerk.

00:19:34 Speaker 12: It consists of two full-time Bylaw Officers, one summer student, and two hours per month of admin support from the Corporate Services Facilitator.

00:19:42 Speaker 12: Animal control and parking enforcement in the River District and special events are undertaken by third-party contractors.

00:19:51 Speaker 12: For the last year, Bylaw Enforcement Officers have been working 7:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., four days a week.

00:19:57 Speaker 12: One officer works Monday through Thursday, and the other works Tuesday through Friday.

00:20:01 Speaker 12: The summer student works Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30 between May and August.

00:20:09 Speaker 12: The City's Bylaw Enforcement Policy establishes the City's standards for receipt, investigation, and resolution of regulatory bylaw complaints.

00:20:16 Speaker 12: The City has approximately 50 regulatory bylaws that require enforcement.

00:20:22 Speaker 12: Bylaw Enforcement Officers primarily operate through a complaint process where bylaw violations are enforced after a complaint is filed.

00:20:30 Speaker 12: Bylaw Enforcement Officers will, however, proactively respond to violations that are an immediate health or safety concern, observed by an officer being actively committing, or observed at a hotspot location designated by Council.

00:20:45 Speaker 12: This chart provides statistics on bylaw enforcement service requests in the last six years.

00:20:50 Speaker 12: Service requests include all calls, emails, and online submissions that require action from Bylaw Enforcement.

00:20:56 Speaker 12: Investigations are any complaints, proactive enforcement, or observed violations where case file was created.

00:21:03 Speaker 12: Investigations demand significantly more resources than responding to inquiries.

00:21:10 Speaker 12: Inquiries and other matters include general inquiries, calls forwarded to Animal Control, and civil matters.

00:21:17 Speaker 12: This chart shows that the number of investigations required to maintain order is increasing, while inquiries are decreasing.

00:21:25 Speaker 12: Also, that bylaw investigations between 2019 and 2024 have increased by 36%.

00:21:32 Speaker 12: A breakdown of investigation categories from 2024 is outlined in this chart.

00:21:37 Speaker 12: Over the last six years, the yard maintenance, property standards, traffic, zoning, noise, and waste management bylaws have been most often resulted in investigations.

00:21:49 Speaker 12: Along with responding to complaints and performing inspections, law enforcement is also responsible for other administration and proceedings, such as providing comments on business licence applications, completing property inquiry requests for orders issued,

00:22:03 Speaker 12: providing files for freedom of information requests, preparing court disclosure packages, preparing briefs and defence material for property standard appeals, monitoring property cleanups, issuing parking tickets, laying charges, and attending court as required.

00:22:18 Speaker 12: This chart shows that significant time is spent on administration and proceedings.

00:22:21 Speaker 12: With many of the statistics rising in 2024, the law enforcement division has a high turnover rate.

00:22:29 Speaker 12: Over the last eight years, there has been a turnover of nine officers.

00:22:34 Speaker 12: Contributing factors include limited growth opportunities within the organisation, being a stepping stone to a career in policing, unmanageable workload that leads to stress and burnout, and regularly interacting with upset individuals, including law violators, complainants,

00:22:49 Speaker 12: and those requesting increased enforcement.

00:22:53 Speaker 12: These transient periods occur at various times of the year and are unpredictable.

00:22:58 Speaker 12: During staff turnover, the division is reduced to a single officer, which severely limits the division's ability to respond to service requests and complete the necessary follow-up.

00:23:08 Speaker 12: Hiring a new Bylaw Enforcement Officer can take up to 12 weeks.

00:23:12 Speaker 12: Once a new officer is hired, training begins immediately.

00:23:15 Speaker 12: Although the City has been fortunate to attract talented individuals, every municipality has its own bylaws, procedures, and technology, so training is always required.

00:23:26 Speaker 12: Information from comparator neighbouring municipalities was compiled through email responses and publicly available reports.

00:23:33 Speaker 12: The staff report includes a large chart on the structure of enforcement in comparator municipalities.

00:23:39 Speaker 12: The chart on this slide highlights that unsound bylaw officers respond to a large number of service requests with the limited number of staff.

00:23:46 Speaker 12: Amongst municipal comparators, the median for service requests per officer is 320, with the unsanctioned officers being well above the median at 516.

00:23:58 Speaker 12: During a preliminary meeting with the Police Chief and two inspectors to discuss the Service Review project, it was identified that parking enforcement was an area where the City could provide additional support,

00:24:09 Speaker 12: and it was also suggested that a review of bylaw hours of operation be undertaken.

00:24:12 Speaker 12: The Owen Sound Police Service provided data related to bylaw enforcement and animal control calls in 2024.

00:24:21 Speaker 12: A total of 505 calls were received, broken down as follows: 217 noise complaints, 148 animal control calls, and 140 municipal bylaw calls, including issues such as fireworks, open-air fires, parking noise, encampments, fishing, dogs off-leash,

00:24:38 Speaker 12: and yard maintenance.

00:24:42 Speaker 12: Of the 505 calls, 90 were made during regular operating hours, and 50 were made on weekends or holidays between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

00:24:51 Speaker 12: Of the 140 calls made between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., they can be broken down as follows: 80 animal control complaints, 24 noise, 14 encampment, 14 parking, and 8 miscellaneous.

00:25:04 Speaker 12: Now that staff have a clear understanding of the types of enforcement calls the public are making to police services,

00:25:10 Speaker 12: efforts will be made to improve communication with the public to ensure bylaw-related complaints are directed to the appropriate municipal divisions, such as bylaw enforcement and animal control.

00:25:19 Speaker 12: Staff will also coordinate with police dispatch to clarify procedures for redirecting on police matters appropriately.

00:25:28 Speaker 12: Staff were considering extending the hours of bylaw enforcement from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. to support police services.

00:25:35 Speaker 12: So the 2024 statistics were examined with that in mind.

00:25:39 Speaker 12: Of the 505 calls, 31 occurred between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.

00:25:44 Speaker 12: Specifically, 17 noise, 10 parking, 2 encampment, and 2 fire-related issues.

00:25:52 Speaker 12: At this time, staff are not recommending changes to the hours of operation of bylaw enforcement to support police services.

00:25:58 Speaker 12: Reasons noted in the report include that there is low call volume after hours, the animal control contract includes provisions for after-hours response, most bylaw matters can be handled during regular hours.

00:26:10 Speaker 12: Police are better equipped for after-hours enforcement, and increasing the hours of operation would increase operational costs for limited benefit to the community.

00:26:19 Speaker 12: Police have also applied for a grant for special constables, and should this grant application be successful, police will have additional multi-purpose officers that can be utilised for after-hour bylaw enforcement response.

00:26:31 Speaker 12: With respect to supporting police services with additional parking enforcement, for a full review of parking services is anticipated, and part of that review will be to look at overnight parking enforcement,

00:26:42 Speaker 12: in particular as it relates to snow removal.

00:26:48 Speaker 12: Proactive enforcement versus complaint-driven enforcement is about how an offence is identified.

00:26:54 Speaker 12: Proactive enforcement means that bylaw officers are actively looking for violations without them being initiated by a complaint.

00:27:00 Speaker 12: A proactive model is done equitably across the entire municipality or specific jurisdiction.

00:27:06 Speaker 12: The majority of comparative municipalities either enforce bylaws based on complaint or hybrid model.

00:27:12 Speaker 12: A hybrid model means that officers enforce certain bylaws proactively and other bylaws on a complaint basis.

00:27:19 Speaker 12: Whether a municipality enforces bylaws proactively or by complaint, bylaw enforcement divisions do not operate as self-funded entities because typically their primary goal is to achieve compliance and maintain community standards rather than generate revenue.

00:27:33 Speaker 12: Pros to proactive enforcement include reduction in complaint calls, public not required to call and complain, a greater number of properties being kept to a minimum standard, neighbourly relations maintained,

00:27:47 Speaker 12: and reduction in number of repeat offenders.

00:27:50 Speaker 12: Cons to proactive enforcement include increased cost to taxpayers to hire additional bylaw enforcement staff and increase the number of bylaw vehicles, increased time spent on paperwork for non-violators,

00:28:01 Speaker 12: increased number of violators who will be required to expend funds to reach compliance with City bylaws, differing income levels will make it difficult for some to comply, increased court expenses,

00:28:12 Speaker 12: reduction in response time due to increased portfolio, reduction in compliance rates, reduction in officers' availability to assist with general inquiries, increased complaints relating to new style of enforcement,

00:28:25 Speaker 12: members of the public feeling targeted by the municipality, could be seen as government interference and could create a volatile climate for officers.

00:28:35 Speaker 12: Should Council be interested in more proactive enforcement, then as outlined in the staff recommendation, staff will be looking for direction on the following: the bylaws to be enforced proactively,

00:28:44 Speaker 12: the jurisdictions that would be enforced proactively, such as the entire City or the River District, and the time frame for the proactive enforcement, for example, all year or May to October.

00:28:56 Speaker 12: Once direction is provided, staff would report back with service level and cost implications that would result from a change to the current enforcement model.

00:29:05 Speaker 12: Where proactive and complaint enforcement models are about how offences are identified, compliance and immediate penalty approaches are about how offences are addressed.

00:29:16 Speaker 12: The compliance model is a community-focused approach with the goal being to achieve a healthy and safe environment.

00:29:21 Speaker 12: Violators are given an opportunity to comply with bylaws prior to issuing a ticket or order.

00:29:25 Speaker 12: Currently, the Owen Sound Bylaw Officers primarily operate on a compliance model approach, except for active offences witnessed by the officer, such as dogs off-leash, parking, temporary encroachment permits, graffiti, littering, and others.

00:29:41 Speaker 12: Immediate tickets are often utilised in these instances, based on the officer's discretion.

00:29:46 Speaker 12: The goal of an immediate penalty approach would be to increase revenue generation.

00:29:51 Speaker 12: With an immediate penalty, officers would issue a ticket or order immediately, without providing the violator an ability to comply with the City's bylaws.

00:30:00 Speaker 12: Utilising an immediate penalty model will increase the time officers must spend on administrative tasks and decrease the time spent on education and patrols.

00:30:08 Speaker 12: An immediate penalty approach will shift the focus away from prevention and trust building and may create a volatile working environment for the officers.

00:30:16 Speaker 12: Staff have not identified an Ontario municipality that enforces immediate penalties for all classes of bylaw offences.

00:30:23 Speaker 12: Compliance is always the ultimate goal.

00:30:26 Speaker 12: While an immediate penalty model would generate additional ticket revenue, this approach is also likely to lead to higher legal costs and increased public dissatisfaction, particularly if bylaw enforcement remains a service that is not self-funded.

00:30:39 Speaker 12: Should Council be interested in transitioning from a compliance model to an immediate penalty model, direction for a staff report will be required.

00:30:49 Speaker 12: Option one in the staff report is to make no changes to staffing or service levels relating to bio enforcement.

00:30:52 Speaker 12: Levels relating to bylaw enforcement.

00:30:54 Speaker 12: This option is not being recommended by staff for the following reasons: offices are unable to manage current caseload effectively, high turnover rates will continue, level of service expectations from the public, Council,

00:31:07 Speaker 12: and staff are not achievable.

00:31:08 Speaker 12: City of Owen Sound has the highest caseload and lowest staffing levels compared to other municipalities.

00:31:14 Speaker 12: Service requests continue to rise year after year, and the community continues to request more bylaw presence, particularly in the River District.

00:31:25 Speaker 12: Option two recommends the addition of bylaw enforcement staff.

00:31:29 Speaker 12: Staff propose the addition of a full-time bylaw enforcement supervisor and a bylaw enforcement officer.

00:31:35 Speaker 12: A bylaw enforcement supervisor is a common position amongst municipalities and would fill a gap for the organisation that has existed for several years.

00:31:44 Speaker 12: Benefits of having this position include attraction and retention of bylaw enforcement officers, as there will be opportunity for advancement within the division, attraction and retention of a bylaw enforcement supervisor,

00:31:55 Speaker 12: as it will be a managerial position outside of police services.

00:32:00 Speaker 12: Reduction in administrative burden on current officers, as they will no longer be required to attend meetings, support regulatory bylaw updates, or undertake research, which will provide more time for responding to service requests and inquiries.

00:32:14 Speaker 12: More timely improvements to City regulatory bylaws, improved communication for new or updated bylaws, greater support for public education and outreach, and stronger oversight of the parking and animal control contracts.

00:32:29 Speaker 12: Option two also recommends the addition of a bylaw enforcement officer.

00:32:32 Speaker 12: Benefits of having this position include dedicated enforcement in the River District, additional staff to be utilised during periods of staff turnover, ability to flex hours of operation,

00:32:43 Speaker 12: ability to address a larger number of bylaw infractions, enhanced visibility and presence in the community, greater support for public education outreach, and reduced workload on existing staff.

00:32:56 Speaker 12: Option three is to replace the division with an alternative service delivery model.

00:33:00 Speaker 12: There are some municipalities that contract out bio enforcement services, but urban municipalities such as City of Owen Sound typically maintain in-house bio enforcement to ensure direct oversight, specialized expertise, and consistent service delivery.

00:33:14 Speaker 12: Reasons why we shouldn't contract out include union and legal implications, minimal cost savings, lack of consistent approach, reduction in response and compliance rates, loss of City ambassadors and community-minded approach,

00:33:26 Speaker 12: and loss of internal expertise for reporting and bylaw drafting.

00:33:30 Speaker 12: Reasons why bylaw enforcement shouldn't be moved to police services is because there would be union and legal implications, less consultation with Council committees and City staff,

00:33:39 Speaker 12: and loss of internal expertise for reporting and bylaw drafting.

00:33:44 Speaker 12: Staff are not recommending an alternative service delivery model because the minimal cost savings do not outweigh the significant operational, legal, and service quality risks.

00:33:54 Speaker 12: Maintaining in-house bio enforcement ensures continued collabouration across departments, consistent and specialized service delivery, and a community-oriented approach that aligns with the city's values and operational needs.

00:34:07 Speaker 12: The report recommends changes to the fees and charges bylaw to increase revenue for the bio division.

00:34:11 Speaker 12: The Bylaw Division fees and charges can be utilised to limit the burden on the tax levy and to charge more of the cost of bylaw enforcement to the offenders requiring the service.

00:34:21 Speaker 12: Staff recommend the addition of a one hundred and fifty dollars reinspection fee, an increase to the work order fee from eighty dollars to one hundred and twenty dollars,

00:34:29 Speaker 12: and an increase to the administrative fee for property cleanups from fifteen percent to twenty-five percent.

00:34:37 Speaker 12: Regardless of whether additional staff are added, staff recommend that the bylaw enforcement policy be updated to permit proactive enforcement in the River District, so that should resources become available,

00:34:46 Speaker 12: staff are not in breach of the policy.

00:34:49 Speaker 12: Additionally, staff recommend that the bylaw enforcement policy permit proactive enforcement of repeat offences of the yard maintenance bylaw.

00:34:56 Speaker 12: This is a task well suited for the summer student, as the yard maintenance bylaw involves minimal enforcement steps and can be efficiently monitored and documented by the summer student.

00:35:09 Speaker 12: The overall recommendation in the report is that, in consideration of staff report CR25-076 respecting Project 1C5 provision of bylaw services,

00:35:19 Speaker 12: the Service Review Implementation Ad Hoc Committee recommends that City Council direct staff to bring forward a bylaw to amend the fees and charges bylaw to include a $150 reinspection fee,

00:35:31 Speaker 12: increase the work order fee from $80 to $120, and increase the property cleanup administration fee from 15% to 25%.

00:35:37 Speaker 12: Two, provide notice of the amendment to the fees and charges bylaw as required by the notice bylaw.

00:35:45 Speaker 12: Three, bring forward a bylaw to amend the bylaw enforcement policy to permit proactive enforcement within the River District and for repeat offences under the yard maintenance bylaw,

00:35:53 Speaker 12: and include a bylaw supervisor and bylaw enforcement officer position in the Mayor's 2026 budget for consideration by the Mayor.

00:36:02 Speaker 12: With that, I'm happy to take any questions.

00:36:06 Speaker 12: Who's going first?

00:36:09 Speaker 12: Go ahead.

00:36:10 Speaker 04: Thank you very much for the presentation, Brianna.

00:36:14 Speaker 04: That looked like quite a comprehensive review that was undertaken.

00:36:20 Speaker 04: Just curious if you can just off the top tell me who was on the project team for this first.

00:36:30 Speaker 12: Through your Worship, the project team included myself, our bylaw officers, the project sponsor was the Fire Chief and the Chief Building Official.

00:36:40 Speaker 04: Okay, so lots of experience on that team.

00:36:44 Speaker 04: You talked about the comparators, and can you give me an idea of how many municipalities actually do a proactive approach?

00:37:02 Speaker 04: Is it a low percentage or a higher?

00:37:04 Speaker 12: Through your Worship, in Attachment One of the report, it gives an overview of the ones we looked at, and there are very few that do strictly proactive.

00:37:21 Speaker 12: There's often a hybrid type model.

00:37:25 Speaker 12: Okay, thanks for that.

00:37:28 Speaker 04: So, by hiring additional officers, a supervisor, and an additional officer, revenue generated from that will it balance out somewhat in kind of picking up those positions?

00:37:48 Speaker 12: Unfortunately, Bylaw would not be a self-funded division.

00:37:52 Speaker 12: Certainly, if more tickets are issued, we would receive more revenue, but it would definitely not cover the cost of additional staffing.

00:38:00 Speaker 04: I notice in the report it identifies some penalties that are given, and the chart showed a lot more inquiries compared to the actual penalties that were given out.

00:38:18 Speaker 04: So there's court time and writing up offences and all of that time.

00:38:28 Speaker 04: Is there?

00:38:29 Speaker 04: Is that because we try and work with people and get them to do what they need to do, through you, Your Worship?

00:38:38 Speaker 12: That is correct.

00:38:39 Speaker 12: We try to.

00:38:39 Speaker 12: We give them lots of opportunities.

00:38:41 Speaker 12: We work with them.

00:38:42 Speaker 12: There's lots of back and forth between the officers and the individual to help them gain compliance.

00:38:48 Speaker 12: But certainly, if we're not seeing results, then we would move to a ticket or court action.

00:38:58 Speaker 12: I think that's all I have at this time.

00:39:01 Speaker 12: Okay, who's trying to go next?

00:39:03 Speaker 05: Thanks.

00:39:03 Speaker 05: I do have some questions.

00:39:05 Speaker 05: Can you speak, Brianna, to the actions identified in the River Precinct and the Yard Management Bylaw that will benefit from enhanced or more proactive enforcement,

00:39:15 Speaker 05: and what are the intended and planned benefits and the outcomes regarding a service response of a proactive nature, and what would be presumptive or hopefully intended financial benefits.

00:39:33 Speaker 05: So, if it's working, we are not going to see X. What does that look like, Your Worship?

00:39:43 Speaker 12: I will start, but certainly I will provide an opportunity for Riley to add in.

00:39:50 Speaker 12: We would be able to provide a lot more education.

00:39:54 Speaker 12: That is, of course, our always our first goal to make sure that people are aware of the rules.

00:39:58 Speaker 12: And there's lots of people coming and going within the River District, so we need to really have continued education because if you get a new tenant, lots of times they don't understand the rules,

00:40:07 Speaker 12: for instance, relating to waste management.

00:40:09 Speaker 12: So we can certainly help with more education.

00:40:12 Speaker 12: We can do a lot more blitzes, like we did recently with the waste management, to try to locate offenders and work with the property owners relating to property standards of the building, other facades,

00:40:31 Speaker 12: and things of that nature.

00:40:33 Speaker 12: And with the yard maintenance, although there aren't that many with repeat offences, usually once we work with them, they want to try to keep up with that yard maintenance.

00:40:47 Speaker 12: But certainly, if there are repeat offences, then we can keep on top of it and not make the neighbours continuing to have to call if they continue to have yard issues.

00:41:05 Speaker 13: Thank you, through you, Chair.

00:41:07 Speaker 13: Just to kind of go over the two recommendations there.

00:41:11 Speaker 13: So one was relating to proactive enforcement in the River District, and one was for the yard maintenance.

00:41:16 Speaker 13: So with the River District, this new position would be focused on doing a lot more patrols in the River District, walking patrols, walking through and just trying to see what's going on.

00:41:30 Speaker 13: When it comes to any sort of proactive enforcement or a lot of the issues we see downtown—dogs off leash, dog excrement, garbage,

00:41:39 Speaker 13: stuff like that—you really need to see the offence to be able to effectively enforce it.

00:41:45 Speaker 13: So having someone in the downtown focused on looking for those violations will definitely help us be able to enforce more often.

00:41:53 Speaker 13: As far as the yard maintenance bylaw, the majority of people in town are working to keep their properties maintained.

00:42:03 Speaker 13: What we're seeing a lot of times is people that don't live downtown or don't live in Owen Sound are the people that are being the repeat offenders,

00:42:12 Speaker 13: and they just have no interest in maintaining their properties.

00:42:16 Speaker 13: So we believe that having proactive enforcement for repeat offenders will increase how quickly we can respond to things.

00:42:25 Speaker 13: People won't have to complain to us.

00:42:28 Speaker 13: A lot of times, people don't want to do that.

00:42:30 Speaker 13: So, being able to respond to those repeat offences without having people having to call in will certainly help there.

00:42:39 Speaker 13: Okay, thanks for that.

00:42:40 Speaker 05: It sounds like in a way you want to kind of blitz on certain items downtown, which I think I'm kind of supportive of, particularly waste management issues, which are ongoing.

00:42:53 Speaker 05: And sometimes you certainly need a little bit more of a stick.

00:42:57 Speaker 05: It seems unfortunately there's even business owners, and we get the emails, and that's still not good enough.

00:43:05 Speaker 05: So when I'm walking the streets, I still see that we have even businesses and people that are involved and have are really integral stakeholders in the downtown, and still not complying.

00:43:17 Speaker 05: So when I see that, it certainly makes me think much more of a stick is needed than just education, because they're getting emails, they're educated, they're still not complying.

00:43:31 Speaker 05: Years ago, about ten years ago, we only had a property standards bylaw, and perhaps could you speak to?

00:43:39 Speaker 05: We created a yard maintenance bylaw, and that was a recommendation from Bylaw staff.

00:43:41 Speaker 05: Recommendation from Vital Staff to create more efficiencies.

00:43:45 Speaker 05: It continues just to kind of mushroom.

00:43:51 Speaker 05: Are you seeing the benefits of what we did in severing it from the property standards ten years ago?

00:43:57 Speaker 05: It still seems that yard maintenance is a big concern, and I'm just wondering also along, alongside that, have you seen this the call volume?

00:44:09 Speaker 05: We've made it easy for people to report a concern.

00:44:12 Speaker 05: Have we made it really easy, and that's contributing to it?

00:44:17 Speaker 05: I guess also a follow up to your first comments about the proactive enforcement.

00:44:23 Speaker 05: Again, I'll go circle back to garbage.

00:44:25 Speaker 05: It's an easy one to target.

00:44:28 Speaker 05: Identify the problem, fix the problem.

00:44:33 Speaker 05: What then, if you fix the problem?

00:44:36 Speaker 05: What might you have for intentions with the staffing resources?

00:44:38 Speaker 05: The staffing resources that could be brought on, and then, secondly, is this a discussion that's had at the CAO level?

00:44:49 Speaker 05: I know we're undertaking a Municipal Services Committee at the county.

00:44:53 Speaker 05: Is there a role for this type of expansion, working with our neighbours?

00:45:04 Speaker 05: Through your worship, there were a few questions there, so I'll try to respond to the ones that I remember.

00:45:12 Speaker 12: And with your last question about speaking with the county, I have not consulted with them.

00:45:19 Speaker 12: But each municipality does have their own bylaws, so they have different rules that the officer would have to become familiar with.

00:45:27 Speaker 12: Not that that can't happen.

00:45:29 Speaker 12: Riley actually did that for a municipality in Bruce County, so he understands sort of the ins and outs of how that would work.

00:45:40 Speaker 12: I don't know that some of our Grey County neighbours would have the same issues that we have, but certainly that is something we could consult with them with,

00:45:51 Speaker 12: or maybe at a city manager's or a CIO's meeting.

00:45:54 Speaker 12: That's something that could be discussed.

00:45:57 Speaker 12: What else did you ask about the yard maintenance?

00:46:02 Speaker 12: What the person would do after if there if there was ever the waste management issue was solved in the River District, I think that there's always going to be work downtown.

00:46:15 Speaker 12: They could be going from property to property, working on you know garbage locations or garbage bins within the facility that they're supposed to have, the facade issues, just walking around downtown.

00:46:28 Speaker 12: There's hopefully there will be more and more people coming into the River District, and they can see a bylaw presence within the community.

00:46:37 Speaker 12: Did you want to add?

00:46:43 Speaker 13: So, one of your questions related to the benefits of the yard maintenance bylaw versus enforcing through the property standards bylaw.

00:46:52 Speaker 13: The main benefit to that is that property standards really is focused on the building.

00:47:01 Speaker 13: So, with that, there's a lot of restrictions in the Building Code Act that say how much time we need to give someone to comply.

00:47:10 Speaker 13: There's an appeal process, stuff like that.

00:47:13 Speaker 13: Whereas the Yard Maintenance Bylaw is much more simple.

00:47:15 Speaker 13: Your grass is too long.

00:47:17 Speaker 13: You have garbage sitting in your yard.

00:47:19 Speaker 13: Things like that.

00:47:21 Speaker 13: So pulling it out of the Property Standards Bylaw has made it so that we can respond quicker.

00:47:27 Speaker 13: We can force people to comply with the bylaw more rapidly, and if they don't, we can work towards doing that property cleanup much quicker.

00:47:36 Speaker 13: As far as the position goes, if the new bylaw officer position goes, if there ever became a point where the waste problem in the downtown was completely solved,

00:47:51 Speaker 13: I could certainly see that position moving into more of a proactive rental standards enforcement, which was one of the recommendations from the RentSafe project was having proactive enforcement of rental units,

00:48:06 Speaker 13: so that could potentially be something that we could look into.

00:48:10 Speaker 13: The other option is we could look at this position as a pilot project, a contract position, and review it after a year and see where we're at from there.

00:48:22 Speaker 05: Okay, thanks for the responses.

00:48:25 Speaker 05: Are there any peaks and valleys for call volume through the year, like, do you see anything significant that should be highlighted?

00:48:35 Speaker 13: I would definitely say that we have much more call volume in the summer.

00:48:41 Speaker 13: Mainly, our January and December are our low call volume, where we can really kind of catch up on all those calls that piled up.

00:48:51 Speaker 13: Pretty much from the start of May until October, November, we are pretty full.

00:48:59 Speaker 13: I'm not sure if that answers the question you were going for, but no, it's helpful just to know where that workload might be distributed more so through the year.

00:49:10 Speaker 05: Just also, and I don't know if this is something the GIS could do, but might be interesting.

00:49:14 Speaker 05: Or I just thought it might be interesting if heat mapping could be overlaid against the city in terms of where all that call volume and response comes from that's needed.

00:49:25 Speaker 05: So, are there neighbourhoods that literally have zero complaints through a year?

00:49:32 Speaker 05: But I wouldn't want to throw that out and create work.

00:49:35 Speaker 05: But in the world of IT, which I'm a real novice at,

00:49:40 Speaker 05: I don't know if that would be something that they can flip a switch and basically turn on a neat feature like that just to see where that call volume kind of emanates from.

00:49:50 Speaker 05: I am in support of expanding the department somewhat, I'm not convinced of a bylaw supervisor,

00:50:03 Speaker 05: but I think certainly the report identifies there's a real need to enhance the supports around the positions that are there now.

00:50:13 Speaker 05: Certainly, even in the enforcement officer position, I think the call volume demonstrates that.

00:50:20 Speaker 05: That said, even when you look at the charts and you see municipalities, municipal comparators like Stratford or Cobourg, that are using both, the call volume doesn't necessarily go back down to four or five hundred.

00:50:34 Speaker 05: It's still sustained at high levels.

00:50:38 Speaker 05: That's perhaps just an expectation of the public.

00:50:41 Speaker 05: Now they're they're just making them we have to respond to more complaints across the province.

00:50:48 Speaker 05: Doesn't seemingly matter what municipality and what system the complaints are, they're just piling in.

00:50:58 Speaker 05: So, in seeing those numbers, I am in support of some service expansion.

00:51:04 Speaker 05: In terms of a supervisor, I'd probably want to know more about the whole department then, and how it's shaped, as opposed to more of a mini department within a bigger department.

00:51:20 Speaker 05: So I think those are my comments.

00:51:22 Speaker 05: This time, I have no concerns with increasing those fees and charges to collect a little bit more against the work that's needed because it's significant.

00:51:32 Speaker 05: We want more service.

00:51:34 Speaker 05: We just don't want to pay for it.

00:51:37 Speaker 09: Melanie, thank you, through you, chair.

00:51:41 Speaker 09: That was going to be one of my main questions: was the seasonality and how is there.

00:51:49 Speaker 09: a way that we can address this from a seasonal standpoint?

00:51:53 Speaker 09: Because it is primarily, you know, when the weather changes, and I just struggle with the idea of bringing on full-time people when it's a seasonal issue that we're dealing with.

00:52:07 Speaker 09: Is there a way that we can add more of a seasonal component to this?

00:52:13 Speaker 09: Like the summer student that you have now, could we double up on that?

00:52:16 Speaker 09: Would that make a difference, through your worship?

00:52:23 Speaker 12: Although yes, May to October might seem like a busier time because with the yard maintenance and property standards concerns, but they really are all year round.

00:52:34 Speaker 12: They can be working on properties, the facades outside throughout the year, doing a contract position.

00:52:45 Speaker 12: Like similar to a summer student, they just can't be as effective as a full-time officer.

00:52:54 Speaker 12: There's turnover.

00:52:55 Speaker 12: Luckily, we've had this one, this summer student for two years, which we were so thrilled about.

00:53:00 Speaker 12: She's doing an excellent job, which limits the amount of you know having to go through the hiring process and the training process, get them familiar with the bylaws.

00:53:09 Speaker 12: These summer students typically don't have bylaw enforcement experience, so there's certainly a lot of work if we're not going to have somebody there consistently.

00:53:19 Speaker 12: And there's always enforcement work that can be done throughout the municipality.

00:53:26 Speaker 12: Yes, waste might seem more prevalent in the summer, but there's still garbage days all year long.

00:53:32 Speaker 12: You get into a lot of snow complaints throughout the winter.

00:53:35 Speaker 12: People putting their snow on other people's yards.

00:53:39 Speaker 12: People not shoveling the sidewalks.

00:53:42 Speaker 12: Things of that nature.

00:53:46 Speaker 12: Thank you.

00:53:48 Speaker 14: Is there a way that we can utilise existing staff in specific departments?

00:53:54 Speaker 14: I'm thinking, like when it comes to the property standards, like with facades and that sort of thing.

00:54:02 Speaker 14: Can we utilise someone in the building department who maybe isn't busy all year round?

00:54:08 Speaker 14: For instance, the STR coordinator position that we created, I believe they deal with the bylaw issues to do with STRs.

00:54:17 Speaker 14: Can we do more of that in specific departments to deal with specific bylaws by division?

00:54:27 Speaker 12: Through your worship, also in case the director wants to add anything, as she does oversee building, but they are also supporting Georgian Bluffs,

00:54:37 Speaker 12: so they are sort of doing double duty as it is right now.

00:54:41 Speaker 12: Our building staff is supporting Georgian Bluffs.

00:54:44 Speaker 12: Our STR person was a full-time building person and now are doing part-time STRs.

00:54:53 Speaker 12: So we've already sort of added on to their job duties.

00:54:58 Speaker 12: Certainly, we could, like, we do have our chief building official and our deputy building official appointed as bail officers.

00:55:05 Speaker 12: So we certainly can use them when we are getting an abundance of calls.

00:55:10 Speaker 12: For instance, with the Derby camping coming up, we're going to be utilising building staff to support that initiative as well.

00:55:17 Speaker 12: So we certainly can continue to use our building team when needed.

00:55:27 Speaker 15: Mr. Mayor, through you and the committee, I'll remind that recommendation number four in the report is not for this year.

00:55:34 Speaker 15: It's for the 2026 years when this would start.

00:55:37 Speaker 15: So, with your support today, staff could bring a more holistic look at different options of sharing staff, of summer students, of a hybrid model.

00:55:49 Speaker 15: We could bring a more complete staffing model to council for the budget discussions.

00:56:06 Speaker 14: Are there ways that we can, like through service review and this process, we've been looking at, you know, every policy, everything in the city.

00:56:17 Speaker 14: Have we done the bylaws?

00:56:19 Speaker 14: Like, are we looking at the bylaws?

00:56:20 Speaker 14: And are there changes that we can make that can kind of, like, we just did the one for No Mow May and increased grass heights.

00:56:28 Speaker 14: Are there things that we can do that are simple little changes that might affect call volume through Europe?

00:56:37 Speaker 12: That's another great question.

00:56:40 Speaker 12: There are fifty regulatory bylaws, and currently we just do not have the capacity to put the time into reviewing those bylaws regularly.

00:56:48 Speaker 12: That was going to be part of the supervisor's role to create a schedule and review those annually to see where we can make necessary changes.

00:56:57 Speaker 12: And there are bylaws, to be honest, that we'd like to add.

00:57:00 Speaker 12: For instance, you see a lot of shopping carts throughout the city.

00:57:04 Speaker 12: Municipalities have shopping cart bylaws, but that would take time to create and then coordinate with all the businesses that have shopping carts.

00:57:15 Speaker 12: So, yes, we need to look at those.

00:57:18 Speaker 12: We do have like the yard maintenance bylaw has been working well.

00:57:22 Speaker 12: We do them sort of ad hoc when there's requests, but we don't have a consistent approach to reviewing those regulatory bylaws.

00:57:32 Speaker 12: Okay, I'm in support of number one.

00:57:35 Speaker 09: I'm in support of number two and number three.

00:57:37 Speaker 09: No problem.

00:57:39 Speaker 09: I'm struggling with adding two full-time positions, so I don't know where we want to go with this.

00:57:45 Speaker 09: I agree that we need more support.

00:57:48 Speaker 09: I'm still thinking of the grant that the police have put in and what kind of difference that will make and how we work around whether or not that happens,

00:57:59 Speaker 09: but I'm generally in support of the first three.

00:58:06 Speaker 04: Thank you, Worship.

00:58:07 Speaker 04: Through you to staff.

00:58:08 Speaker 04: First of all, I'd like to move the recommendation.

00:58:12 Speaker 04: All four bullets.

00:58:14 Speaker 04: I can certainly see the benefit of having a supervisor to free up the other enforcement officers to actually do their boots on the ground work.

00:58:25 Speaker 04: And like you say, the enforcement.

00:58:25 Speaker 04: And like you say, the supervisors certainly got a lot of backlog to catch up on, in creation of bylaws and catching up with, just bringing everything together and making it work.

00:58:37 Speaker 04: One question I did have, though, is: Have you made a presentation to the River District, or have they requested your presence at a meeting to discuss their issues?

00:58:48 Speaker 04: And is there any possibility of any financial support from the River District for a proactive approach.

00:58:56 Speaker 04: Through your worship, oh, I'm sorry.

00:59:01 Speaker 12: Through your worship, I have not gone to the River District yet.

00:59:07 Speaker 12: I wanted to go to this committee first.

00:59:10 Speaker 12: Certainly, the Director of Community Services can speak to the fact that they do regularly bring up concerns.

00:59:16 Speaker 12: I was at their last meeting, and concerns were raised again about the River District.

00:59:22 Speaker 12: I had wondered about whether or not there would be any ability for them to support this type of initiative, but I have not gone to them,

00:59:30 Speaker 12: and I don't know if the director has anything to add.

00:59:37 Speaker 16: Through you, your worship, I really appreciate the sort of notion of including and updating the River District Board.

00:59:45 Speaker 16: I think, like me, they would be really excited about the opportunity around proactive enforcement, things like dog waste, household waste, cigarette butts, garbage that is cleaned up one day and right back the next day.

01:00:03 Speaker 16: I think it would be really well received.

01:00:06 Speaker 16: In terms of funding from the River District, the Municipal Act I think is pretty clear on the mandate around beautification, promotion, and marketing.

01:00:17 Speaker 16: I don't know if proactive bylaw enforcement falls under that, but we maybe would need a legal opinion on whether or not their budget could be allocated, you know,

01:00:29 Speaker 16: subject to the board setting aside some funds for that.

01:00:33 Speaker 16: But it's certainly something we could look into.

01:00:38 Speaker 04: In my mind, and I'm sure a lot of other people's minds, beautification is more than flowers.

01:00:44 Speaker 04: It's keeping things clean.

01:00:50 Speaker 06: Through you, Mayor.

01:00:51 Speaker 06: I'd also note too.

01:00:51 Speaker 06: I know numerous times the River District Board and through their block captains and stuff have been trying to work with the business owners at street level to take the self-initiative to clean in front of

01:01:03 Speaker 06: their stores,

01:01:03 Speaker 06: wash the sidewalk off, sweep, etc. I don't know how well that really takes with any of them, but it's another educational point that we have been working on.

01:01:18 Speaker 10: I'm blown away from that.

01:01:22 Speaker 10: By that, from all the years of experience, my family's had in downtown that used to be our responsibility.

01:01:28 Speaker 10: This goes back to John Tamming's final speech when he was leaving council as about the more expectations on municipalities to carry the freight.

01:01:42 Speaker 10: We wash the windows and wash the streets every Saturday morning.

01:01:45 Speaker 10: The Chinese restaurant next door closed.

01:01:47 Speaker 10: We watched their windows about once a month.

01:01:50 Speaker 10: We cleaned.

01:01:51 Speaker 10: If there's dog poop in the street, we just cleaned it because we didn't want it tracked through our place.

01:01:57 Speaker 10: If it snowed, we shoveled the sidewalk in front of our place and the empty place next door because we wanted people to be able to get to our door.

01:02:04 Speaker 10: We shoveled a thing in the snowbank so people could get through to their cars because we wanted them to get to our business.

01:02:10 Speaker 10: And it just amazes me that there's an expectation now that someone else is going to do it for us, and that causes me some concern with this.

01:02:24 Speaker 10: Some of this is we're moving into a gap because we have to, but I also worry about what expectations that we're creating.

01:02:33 Speaker 10: So if we're not waiting for a phone call, a complaint, we're going to be proactive.

01:02:39 Speaker 10: Are people going to start saying, "Well, I didn't need to phone, but yeah, the city" doesn't do anything about my neighbour, and they're supposed to.

01:02:46 Speaker 10: I shouldn't have to phone.

01:02:48 Speaker 10: Well, they'll just go on Facebook.

01:02:50 Speaker 10: So, so I have some concerns about that.

01:02:53 Speaker 10: I've got a note about cost of enforcement of property standards.

01:02:55 Speaker 10: I don't know what I was going after there.

01:02:56 Speaker 10: There are questions about parking issues.

01:03:02 Speaker 10: Is that just downtown, or is that all over the city?

01:03:05 Speaker 10: In front of parking in front of my house, parking in front of my laneway?

01:03:11 Speaker 12: Through your worship, I had mentioned parking as it had come up with our meeting with police services,

01:03:16 Speaker 12: as they felt that certainly with the snow-clearing efforts in the winter and having cars that are parked there overnight and needing them towed and of those types of things,

01:03:27 Speaker 12: they could you know rather have a bylaw officer or parking officer deal with that rather than a police officer and have a more coordinated approach.

01:03:34 Speaker 02: One of the noise things there is noise complaints during the day, and that surprised me because I would have thought they'd all be at night.

01:03:43 Speaker 02: Because who's got time to complain about noise during the day?

01:03:48 Speaker 02: That's another one that's pretty hard to be proactive on because you got to be at the right place at the right time while somebody's acting up.

01:03:57 Speaker 02: Charter of Rights issues.

01:03:59 Speaker 02: If we go proactive, do we get into Charter of Rights issues?

01:04:03 Speaker 02: In that you are looking for a violation.

01:04:09 Speaker 02: Without having a complaint about a violation, you chair.

01:04:17 Speaker 02: I think that's a good question, and I appreciate you asking that.

01:04:20 Speaker 13: I would say no, simply because we are, at least with what we're proposing, we're looking at a very specific area for specific problems.

01:04:34 Speaker 13: So I don't see any Charter issues there?

01:04:38 Speaker 13: Do you have a specific section that you're worried about?

01:04:41 Speaker 13: Okay.

01:04:43 Speaker 10: Ten years ago, I would have been able to answer my own question.

01:04:47 Speaker 10: It's just in the background.

01:04:52 Speaker 10: Option two.

01:04:55 Speaker 10: I didn't really understand that.

01:04:57 Speaker 10: So, are we talking about right now?

01:04:58 Speaker 10: We've got two employees.

01:04:59 Speaker 10: Are we talking about going to three?

01:05:00 Speaker 10: Are we talking about going to four?

01:05:06 Speaker 12: Through your worship, the recommendation is to include two new positions, so we'd be going from two to four.

01:05:14 Speaker 12: Did somebody move this already?

01:05:17 Speaker 12: Marion did.

01:05:17 Speaker 12: Okay, Scott.

01:05:19 Speaker 05: Just one question, and Melanie and Ian both kind of hit on this subject.

01:05:24 Speaker 05: We have road supervisors that, as part of their role, is driving in winter.

01:05:30 Speaker 05: Have we considered enabling them?

01:05:35 Speaker 05: And through simple radio control, the individual in the snowplow has a vehicle on Fifth Street.

01:05:42 Speaker 05: They radio the superintendent is driving in the roads because they're patrolling anyway,

01:05:47 Speaker 05: and that individual is able to respond in a way that meets the need and does not require police then to be currently doing it.

01:05:59 Speaker 12: Through your worship, certainly we could appoint specific people to be officers, but again, we just need the time to work with the staff on the training.

01:06:10 Speaker 12: And I don't know what their capacity would be to undertake that work.

01:06:14 Speaker 12: But that's where we need that review of parking enforcement.

01:06:17 Speaker 12: And there's lots of different things that could be improved with parking enforcement.

01:06:22 Speaker 12: The fines are way lower than any other municipality.

01:06:26 Speaker 12: We they should be higher to cover our costs.

01:06:29 Speaker 12: But it's just a matter of, we just don't have the capacity to take on those reviews at this time, and that's where we'd be looking for that supervisor to improve those things.

01:06:42 Speaker 10: One more question from me that maybe catches a corner of the plate of this, but not all of it.

01:06:48 Speaker 10: Garbage and furniture on Main Street.

01:06:53 Speaker 10: Again, not there to see which tenant put it out and it came down from upstairs.

01:06:58 Speaker 10: Are we able to hold the landlord?

01:07:00 Speaker 10: Do we now have bylaws that we can hold the landlord responsible for the cost of that, or is that something we could add?

01:07:09 Speaker 13: Thank you for the question, Chair.

01:07:11 Speaker 13: As of right now, we do not have that.

01:07:14 Speaker 13: That has been proposed before to, I think it was to senior leadership, but it wasn't accepted at that time.

01:07:23 Speaker 13: But I believe that Heidi has been looking at updates to the waste management bylaw to consider those changes.

01:07:31 Speaker 13: Okay, good.

01:07:31 Speaker 13: Thank you.

01:07:32 Speaker 13: Oh, go ahead.

01:07:34 Speaker 17: I do have one follow-up question here, and this is perhaps to the Director of Public Works.

01:07:39 Speaker 17: But with we're contracted with circular materials right now for the Producer Responsibility (P.R.O.) currently is exempting downtowns, but that may change.

01:07:51 Speaker 17: Should that be part of the consideration here?

01:07:54 Speaker 17: That future need that might be changing, through your worship to Deputy Mayor Greig.

01:08:07 Speaker 17: I don't.

01:08:09 Speaker 18: Things are so uncertain with circular materials; they don't even know themselves what they're going to be doing yet in the future.

01:08:18 Speaker 18: I don't think so.

01:08:21 Speaker 18: I think the best we can do is make a decision that has the ability to either be changed or is open-ended, so that it can be interpreted however you need it to be.

01:08:32 Speaker 18: I wouldn't lay any hard and fast rules based on what the trend line is looking right now.

01:08:40 Speaker 18: We have been issued a letter that indicates that they're reconsidering considering small businesses as ineligible, but that could still change.

01:08:53 Speaker 18: We really don't know.

01:08:57 Speaker 18: Okay.

01:08:57 Speaker 18: Any other questions?

01:08:58 Speaker 14: Yep.

01:08:59 Speaker 14: Go ahead.

01:09:01 Speaker 14: So, if we support this recommendation as is, this is going into your budget consideration.

01:09:08 Speaker 14: But we will have time at budget to revisit and decide at that point.

01:09:13 Speaker 14: Is that correct?

01:09:16 Speaker 10: If you can wait till Monday night, there's a really good report coming on the Mayor's budget proposal.

01:09:21 Speaker 10: Mayor's budget process, but yes, easiest answer is yes.

01:09:27 Speaker 10: But it's there's a process, through your worship.

01:09:33 Speaker 12: Just because they don't have that report in front of them, that the budget would come forward from the Mayor, and then Council would have an opportunity to amend that budget.

01:09:43 Speaker 12: So certainly, you would have an opportunity if he decided to keep those in.

01:09:48 Speaker 12: You would at that time have an opportunity to amend the budget to remove.

01:09:49 Speaker 12: Okay, I'm going to call the question.

01:10:03 Speaker 12: I think.

01:10:04 Speaker 12: So, all in favour?

01:10:06 Speaker 07: One, me, two.

01:10:08 Speaker 07: Posed, posed two.

01:10:13 Speaker 07: So that didn't carry.

01:10:15 Speaker 07: Subsequent, Marion Kent.

01:10:22 Speaker 04: Can we split the recommendations as in?

01:10:26 Speaker 10: Not after we voted on it, so we'd need a subsequent motion to pick out parts.

01:10:31 Speaker 10: But so I would move one, two, and three.

01:10:42 Speaker 10: Currently, everyone understands that.

01:10:46 Speaker 10: Good with it.

01:10:48 Speaker 10: Questions before I ask?

01:10:52 Speaker 10: Okay, I'm going to call the question.

01:10:53 Speaker 10: All in favour?

01:10:54 Speaker 10: So that is carried.

01:10:55 Speaker 10: Now, what are we doing with four?

01:10:59 Speaker 04: Can I move a recommendation or motion to item four?

01:11:04 Speaker 07: The clerk says yes.

01:11:07 Speaker 07: Christina said yes.

01:11:13 Speaker 04: Just given that it's going to the budget and there's.

01:11:16 Speaker 04: still is time for consideration.

01:11:18 Speaker 04: If you don't like what the next stage is telling us, I think we need to give this an opportunity.

01:11:31 Speaker 10: Well, Briana, technically, this committee doesn't approve this.

01:11:35 Speaker 10: I can consider it in the mayor's budget anyway.

01:11:40 Speaker 05: I was just going to say.

01:11:41 Speaker 05: I guess I understand the need and for the recommendation.

01:11:45 Speaker 05: And the desire, but we just—I voted because we are at a disadvantage in terms of our population and our current tax load on our residents.

01:11:58 Speaker 05: That's that's really why I had to vote against just including the two roles.

01:12:08 Speaker 05: Could we have information from staff?

01:12:11 Speaker 05: The report indicates two hundred and fourteen thousand dollars for two officers for expansion of the need.

01:12:18 Speaker 05: What does each role entail financially, and perhaps could a dollar value be inserted into the 2026 budget for consideration?

01:12:29 Speaker 05: And then council could go up and down in terms of that value.

01:12:35 Speaker 06: Through Mayor, sorry, a question to Brianna.

01:12:38 Speaker 06: Our next service review is September.

01:12:42 Speaker 06: And without consultation, quietly here on the side, do you think that aspect that Deputy Mayor spoke about could be brought back to service review for the September ninth,

01:12:52 Speaker 06: which is still well ahead of the budget?

01:12:57 Speaker 10: Grant is nodding her head yes to that question.

01:13:01 Speaker 10: So then we would be looking for a motion to table Marion's motion, or else withdrawing it, but tabling it until that next meeting.

01:13:15 Speaker 12: Through your Worship, I wonder if you could direct staff to bring forward a report for the September meeting,

01:13:21 Speaker 12: and just explain if it's relating to both positions or what one position would look like for the municipality.

01:13:32 Speaker 10: So you'd be looking for a motion to table this and bring back information with regard to the breakdown of the fund.

01:13:38 Speaker 10: Breakdown of the financial implications.

01:13:44 Speaker 04: Do I need to withdraw my previous motion first?

01:13:48 Speaker 10: We're still going to need that motion to get the information back.

01:13:54 Speaker 04: Okay, then I will table my motion, pending a report coming back to the next service review from the city clerk regarding both positions, I think that's a motion from Marion to table.

01:14:15 Speaker 04: Correct?

01:14:16 Speaker 04: Would be still a motion?

01:14:19 Speaker 04: I thought I thought Marion had moved at number four as is the second time.

01:14:31 Speaker 10: So then, okay.

01:14:34 Speaker 10: It's a motion to postpone four to the next meeting.

01:14:38 Speaker 10: And okay, everybody understands it.

01:14:45 Speaker 05: Yeah,

01:14:45 Speaker 05: I think really page twenty-one and twenty-two of the report is kind of just blowing it up a little bit from those dozen or so bullet points that exist and providing a little bit more insight.

01:14:55 Speaker 05: I think so.

01:14:57 Speaker 10: So, if we all understand that motion, I'll call the question on favour, and that is carried.

01:15:05 Speaker 10: Good.

01:15:05 Speaker 10: So I think that gets us through our reports.

01:15:10 Speaker 10: Number nine.

01:15:11 Speaker 10: We have no matters postponed.

01:15:12 Speaker 10: At ten, we have no motions which were previously given.

01:15:17 Speaker 10: We have no correspondence at eleven.

01:15:19 Speaker 10: We've got no additional business.

01:15:21 Speaker 10: Notices of motion, seeing none.

01:15:26 Speaker 10: So 10:15, we can adjourn it.

01:15:27 Speaker 10: I think we've had some good reports and some great questions that probably staff appreciated.

01:15:35 Speaker 10: So, with that, 10:15, we're adjourned.