Owen Sound Committee - Service Review Implementation Ad Hoc Meeting Transcript — February 11, 2026

00:00:11 Speaker 01: There we go.

00:00:15 Speaker 01: It is nine o'clock in the morning.

00:00:25 Speaker 01: This is City of Owen Sound Service Review Implementation Ad Hoc Committee; calling the meeting to order.

00:00:37 Speaker 01: Is there any additional business?

00:00:46 Speaker 01: Seeing none that way.

00:00:51 Speaker 01: So, none from staff.

00:00:56 Speaker 01: None from council or committee members.

00:00:59 Speaker 01: Declarations of interest: seeing none.

00:01:04 Speaker 01: Confirmation of minutes from November twelfth, twenty-twenty-four.

00:01:07 Speaker 01: Councillor Koepke.

00:01:35 Speaker 02: I'll move approval of the minutes.

00:01:38 Speaker 02: Any discussion; seeing none.

00:01:42 Speaker 02: Call the question all in favor.

00:01:49 Speaker 02: That is carried.

00:01:50 Speaker 02: Number five.

00:01:53 Speaker 02: We have no deputations and presentations.

00:01:56 Speaker 02: Public forum.

00:01:59 Speaker 02: We have no one in the room.

00:02:19 Speaker 02: No correspondence at number seven, so we're down to eight A, which is a report from the Director of Community Services with regard to service levels for Eborac culture and cemetery.

00:02:40 Speaker 02: Good morning.

00:02:54 Speaker 02: The two thousand and twenty-three Service Review identified forty-nine initiatives, and this project looks at the classification of parks and the service level for each.

00:03:18 Speaker 02: This is sorry; this is the third report in a series intended to address the Service Review Project.

00:03:43 Speaker 02: As a reminder, the first report in December of two thousand and twenty-four approved an updated inventory and composition for parks, and applied an eight hundred meter or ten-minute walking distance for neighborhood and community parks,

00:04:07 Speaker 02: as well as for playgrounds.

00:04:24 Speaker 02: The first report identified several important next steps, including collecting park infrastructure and tree information, undertaking condition assessments; all towards establishing service levels.

00:04:36 Speaker 02: So through two thousand and twenty-five, this work has continued.

00:04:48 Speaker 02: We've continued to update the tree inventory, trail condition assessment, playground condition assessment, as well as Escape Park and Duncan McClellan Park.

00:05:02 Speaker 02: This Service Review Project is a big task.

00:05:09 Speaker 02: There are forty-five parks.

00:05:17 Speaker 02: There's over fifty-two hundred unique assets; and so we've divided them into key areas like playgrounds, campgrounds, horticulture, sports fields.

00:05:28 Speaker 02: The list goes on.

00:05:45 Speaker 02: Last December, we looked at specifically the River District, and today our focus will be Eborac culture and cemetery.

00:06:06 Speaker 02: I really want to thank the two supervisors, Ryan and Amanda, as well as the cemetery staff Brad and Joel, and the two arborists Graham and Scott,

00:06:30 Speaker 02: who provided me with information and worked with me to share a lot of data.

00:06:45 Speaker 02: So park staffing: just a reminder; we have a manager who really oversees the strategic leadership of operations and capital.

00:07:20 Speaker 02: We have a Cemetery Supervisor acting as Parks and Open Spaces supervisor, two full-time staff at the cemetery, two seasonal staff, and then in parks we have five staff.

00:07:36 Speaker 02: That includes the two arborists, two park laborers, and then one horticulturist.

00:07:45 Speaker 02: Then we have the summer seasonals.

00:07:49 Speaker 02: So, horticulture really; Arboriculture really.

00:08:02 Speaker 02: This is work to maintain and improve the health and safety of trees in the city, and as I mentioned, we have two full-time certified arborists.

00:08:13 Speaker 02: They work forty hours a week, based at Greenwood Cemetery.

00:08:24 Speaker 02: They start at seven a.m. and work till three thirty.

00:08:34 Speaker 02: In two thousand and twenty-five, we planted eighty-one larger diameter trees, along with two hundred and fifty-five saplings.

00:08:48 Speaker 02: And those saplings were planted as part of sort of a partnership with other groups.

00:09:03 Speaker 02: I mentioned the inventory has continued; and so we've tried to inventory trees in parks.

00:09:17 Speaker 02: For example, in Harrison Park, there's lots of hazard areas and open space areas.

00:09:34 Speaker 02: So there, we tried to catch not every tree along a ravine, but trees that would be within 20 meters of a receptor.

00:09:49 Speaker 02: So a receptor could be a road, a pool; that type of thing.

00:09:58 Speaker 02: So each tree gets a unique ID.

00:10:06 Speaker 02: It is geodetically referenced, and then we collect attributes about its size, species, composition.

00:10:26 Speaker 02: So 25,174 trees are now included in the database, and interestingly that 21% of these trees are ash.

00:10:40 Speaker 02: An up-to-date inventory is like any other asset; an important tool for managing that asset.

00:10:54 Speaker 02: So we have six years of data on this table.

00:11:17 Speaker 02: Using Worktech, which is being upgraded to PURL, and we'll talk about that a little bit in the recommendations: work relating to tree pruning, trimming, removals is logged into Worktech; it creates a ticket.

00:11:40 Speaker 02: When the work is done, that ticket is closed.

00:11:49 Speaker 02: So you'll see in 2025 there were 187 still open and 320 work orders closed.

00:12:08 Speaker 02: These are generated in a variety of ways: they might come through reporting a concern, or be generated through the inventory as well as just staff who are out doing work,

00:12:23 Speaker 02: including all staff in the organization.

00:12:34 Speaker 02: The draft service level document attached to the report has service levels relating to tree inspection and condition assessment, maintenance, removals, tree planting, and re-planting/replacement.

00:12:51 Speaker 02: The recommendations relating to arboriculture begin with fleet and workspace; first is having dedicated workspace for horticulture staff and their equipment:

00:13:16 Speaker 02: indoor storage for bucket trucks and chippers have a much safer and faster start each day, and it also allows them to be proximate with the staff who support work order entry.

00:13:32 Speaker 02: In terms of fleet, in the context of the overall fleet strategy, there are a couple of things we'd like to look towards achieving:

00:13:54 Speaker 02: first is a dedicated vehicle that might also serve as a truck or other purposes, but specifically a dedicated box for chippers.

00:14:25 Speaker 02: Right now, the chipper goes into the back of the bucket truck; so when that's full, all work has to stop.

00:14:37 Speaker 02: They have to take the bucket truck and go empty it.

00:14:47 Speaker 02: Whereas if we had a dedicated chipper truck, somebody could go empty that while work continues.

00:15:07 Speaker 02: Next, a device to lift stemwood: looking right now, we use a tractor, which is not best practice in terms of safety and efficiency for staff.

00:15:26 Speaker 02: So we'd like to look at a device for lifting stemwood; this might include retrofitting an existing backhoe with such a device.

00:15:55 Speaker 02: And lastly, a dump trailer: there are two dump trailers being replaced in the fleet strategy around 2026, and we'd like to exchange two for one while ensuring it's properly sized to take larger stemwood.

00:16:38 Speaker 02: Next is the storm response plan; just making sure that we work with Heidi and the emergency management team in coordinating the role of forestry in that emergency response plan.

00:17:01 Speaker 02: The climate resilience strategy prioritizes native and adaptable species, supported by the draft official plan and urban design guidelines Council has seen a draft of.

00:17:20 Speaker 02: Technology and software: continuing to update the digital tree inventory;

00:17:42 Speaker 02: having arborists use ToughBooks so they have them—we're working to optimize the functionality on those in a truck that's a little bit dated in terms of power supply, so we're working through some issues with that.

00:18:07 Speaker 02: And lastly, the transition to the Pearl Work Order System: it is anticipated there will be efficiencies; while all need for admin support for arboriculture won't be eliminated, there'll certainly be time savings.

00:18:36 Speaker 02: This work is supported by the Community Services Admin Assistant, and as that role has reduced, there's lots of work for that position to take up any time savings.

00:18:51 Speaker 02: In terms of human resources:

00:19:08 Speaker 02: the contracted forestry technician who has done all asset data collection including trees—looking at the role of that position and maybe redefining scope to ensure it serves not just arboriculture but also Parks function.

00:19:39 Speaker 02: The Community Services Admin role with the new Council Coordinator created some capacity within that position; you'll see later this person does timesheets but also has a significant customer-facing interface in terms of trees,

00:19:54 Speaker 03: creating work orders for park staff.

00:20:02 Speaker 03: So this shift in responsibility helps balance Amanda's workload and can be accomplished with no changes to budget.

00:20:17 Speaker 04: Third operations staff: operating a two-person forestry crew really limits our ability to meet duty of care at an operational and safety level.

00:20:31 Speaker 04: Sometimes we'll use staff as third ground persons who aren't necessarily trained, which limits what they're able to do.

00:20:55 Speaker 04: But if we have two arborists and one is on vacation or sick or training, having a one-person crew is insufficient for a lot of tree work; while they continue inspections and maybe minor trimming,

00:21:05 Speaker 04: it impacts productivity.

00:21:11 Speaker 04: So having a third ground person would allow more work in the long term and reduce contracted work.

00:21:39 Speaker 02: The City Manager's report last summer identified an opportunity to perhaps move stump removal together with staff and equipment, which may create our dedicated third person for part of the year.

00:22:03 Speaker 02: And you'll see later when we get to that section (the cemetery) that we're using that staff during winter months when they're not busy to support the forestry crew.

00:22:33 Speaker 02: Limiting other work assigned for arborist staff using bucket trucks: so if you're in River District, you may have noticed you don't see the bucket truck doing decorative banners; we're using a scissor lift for those,

00:22:54 Speaker 02: trying to allow arborists to spend as many of their 40 hours each week working on forestry.

00:23:02 Speaker 02: Oh sorry.

00:23:11 Speaker 02: Next we talk about communication, education and partnerships: working with Communications Advisor on strategy to support use of Report Concerns.

00:23:27 Speaker 02: There's data in the report showing how many Reports Concern are filed; you really see those increasing.

00:23:46 Speaker 02: I think that's a function of a couple things: one, people have learned about it—the City Manager talks about it in each update, promoting its use.

00:24:11 Speaker 02: Also probably reflects condition of ash trees in our urban forest and expanding public role in urban forestry around education on invasives, disease, and best practices.

00:24:33 Speaker 02: Okay so onto Greenwood Cemetery; Greenwood Cemetery has certainly been a significant cultural landmark and repository of the city's history since 1858—almost 170 years, which is pretty amazing.

00:24:56 Speaker 02: The cemetery and staff who work there have provided quiet, respectful end-of-life care for citizens and families living in or having connection to Owen Sound (formerly Owen Sound).

00:25:17 Speaker 02: The cemetery is designated as a park; it also provides important active transportation links within the park and through Nine Bends Trail.

00:25:36 Speaker 01: We'll show part of the cemetery on screen but it's really divided into 11 sections, each unique.

00:26:00 Speaker 01: It has wide range of assets: historic buildings, columbariums, monuments, roads, benches, pillars, turf (not water surface), 850 trees, fences—the list goes on.

00:26:24 Speaker 01: Touched this briefly but staff delivery involves two full-time staff working 7:30 to 4 Monday through Friday during non-winter months; in winter those same two work over a seven-day schedule—one Tuesday to Saturday,

00:26:45 Speaker 01: one Sunday to Thursday—meaning four days we have only one person supported by the Cemetery Supervisor and Manager.

00:27:11 Speaker 02: A couple of stats helpful for trends like province-wide shifts toward cremation from full-size interments: from 2012 to 2025 there was an 18% increase; now 64% of all interments are cremated remains.

00:27:39 Speaker 02: Another stat affecting how we do business is trend toward weekend internments: between 2014 and 2025, that went from 20% to 37%.

00:28:10 Speaker 02: This shift creates pressure in summer where we bring staff in on overtime weekends, also winter months if full-size interment occurs when only one person works—we often rely on park staff coming to support.

00:28:46 Speaker 02: The draft service level for the cemetery includes winter maintenance, summer maintenance, equipment and facility maintenance, internment services (interments), scattering, as well as administration.

00:29:02 Speaker 02: The cemetery is a highly regulated area of business.

00:29:16 Speaker 02: In terms of recommendations regarding fleet and workspace: in context of overall fleet strategy, we rent mini excavator several times a year;

00:29:41 Speaker 01: does it make sense to continue renting or should this be part of our fleet?

00:29:53 Speaker 05: We'd have to do a business case but consider within whole picture.

00:30:10 Speaker 02: We started in 2025 and will continue this year shift toward Stone Orchard—it's an upgrade to software cemetery staff use, allowing digital platform for public online information sharing.

00:30:34 Speaker 02: One thing happening at cemetery office: people come looking to find out where someone may be buried (genealogy or family interest), taking lots of staff time;

00:30:54 Speaker 02: if we can have that online in accordance with BAO rules (interments 30 years or older) it would help.

00:31:17 Speaker 03: Digitizing paper records, reviewing fees and charges really to ensure on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays the fee reflects cost to deliver service.

00:31:30 Speaker 03: In terms of human resources support for timesheets: cemetery administrator traditionally did timesheet entry for Parks;

00:31:48 Speaker 03: with change in duties of Community Services Admin staff this role transitioned from Administrator to Community Services Assistant—depending on time of year can take up to 25 hours a week.

00:32:07 Speaker 02: Also fully training cemetery backup—we're in process and this week is great trial.

00:32:21 Speaker 02: Oh sorry, Scott has question: "Yeah just related to that; when I was reading report it seemed like lot of hours putting those timesheets in.

00:32:36 Speaker 02: Have we got software improvements contributing to reducing that by year 2026?"

00:32:54 Speaker 06: Speaker responded: "I understood movement on who staff doing it—by end of day it consumed a lot of time."

00:33:06 Speaker 06: Through your worship, yeah, we are upgrading Pearl, which Pam alluded to earlier, from Worktech,

00:33:22 Speaker 06: which will allow it [to] provide the platform that will allow for employees to remotely enter their time sheets directly into the system, as opposed to filling out a paper time sheet,

00:33:34 Speaker 06: which then has to be entered by an administrator.

00:33:36 Speaker 06: So.

00:33:40 Speaker 06: By administrator, so the software will be in place.

00:33:47 Speaker 06: Then there'll be a process to bring everyone onto that new timesheet system.

00:34:01 Speaker 06: Have you got a goal per se, like going from 25 hours a week to reducing it to like five hours or three to five hours in terms of time consumption,

00:34:08 Speaker 06: or [to] reduce by like 80 percent?

00:34:13 Speaker 06: Through your worship, I'm not sure.

00:34:17 Speaker 06: We haven't started yet.

00:34:28 Speaker 05: Implementing the software has been what we've been working on so far.

00:34:36 Speaker 05: So making sure the software is in place and up and running.

00:34:51 Speaker 02: We have yet to formulate the team that's going to be doing sort of the more change management piece, which is focused on moving people from paper to digital timesheets.

00:35:20 Speaker 03: So I can't give you an exact figure of what that goal would be, but certainly that would be something that [the] team would be tasked with identifying.

00:35:42 Speaker 03: Just back to that training and position so that they can provide backup support when the cemetery administrator or supervisor is away.

00:35:57 Speaker 03: This week is a great example of that.

00:36:10 Speaker 03: We're a bit of a pilot this week as Amanda's got a well-deserved vacation.

00:36:19 Speaker 03: Modifying the reporting structure for a bit more balance, so we have a manager; we have a park supervisor.

00:36:32 Speaker 03: and then we've had a cemetery admin.

00:36:42 Speaker 03: So right now, we've taken the cemetery admin [and made it] an acting supervisor, leaving the parks supervisor to focus on parks.

00:37:07 Speaker 02: There's still lots of coordination between those two roles, but having the person who is delivering the cemetery work being responsible for the legislative oversight and reporting through the manager, as opposed to that supervisor,

00:37:27 Speaker 02: creates a bit more balance in a role that was pretty overwhelming.

00:37:41 Speaker 02: The use of seasonals: Last year, we did a pilot using the two seasonal roles that support the cemetery.

00:38:02 Speaker 03: So rather than them working in the cemetery five days a week, they were part of the grass crew that was responsible for the city's west side, and we saw some real positive benefits last year.

00:38:24 Speaker 03: So what happens is the entire grass crew arrives; trimming and mowing happen on one day rather than sort of in bits as it's permitted through the week,

00:38:38 Speaker 02: and the grass in the cemetery looks more uniform.

00:39:00 Speaker 07: Leaving the cemetery full-time staff to focus on cemetery tasks: When there are non-interments, there are so many things—installing monuments, markers—lots of work that needs to be done.

00:39:21 Speaker 02: Next, reducing the availability of weekend internments; I've talked about this a little bit both in terms of the summer staffing model and then the winter staffing model.

00:39:43 Speaker 07: But there is a trend toward more weekend internments, maybe because it's been an option.

00:40:01 Speaker 02: If we can move away from Sunday internments—leaving those for cultural or religious reasons only—and have Saturday internments before 3 p.m., we can reduce the strain and burden on all that staff.

00:40:29 Speaker 02: We would make a change to the cemetery bylaw to do that; we would do some consultation with our bereavement partners, the local funeral homes,

00:40:46 Speaker 02: etc. And then it would come back in a report with amendments to the bylaw.

00:41:04 Speaker 02: Talked a little bit about the fee structure but just looking at our costs and making sure that fee structure is in line with those costs.

00:41:24 Speaker 02: And lastly, winter support by cemetery staff seems a bit counterintuitive, but you know they are busy.

00:41:40 Speaker 02: But there are some weeks we might have five internments, and the next week we'll have none.

00:42:02 Speaker 07: So allowing the cemetery staff in those weeks where they have no internments and it's winter time to be third ground support for the Aboriginal Culture crew; we've been trialing that a little bit,

00:42:16 Speaker 02: and it's had really positive results.

00:42:25 Speaker 02: So with that, Your Worship: I know it's a dense report and a lot of information.

00:42:40 Speaker 02: The recommendation is that the committee would recommend council approve the draft service level documents—probably should say—for the cemetery and Aboriginal Culture,

00:43:03 Speaker 07: and direct staff to move forward with the recommendations as outlined in the documents for Aboriginal Culture and Cemetery.

00:43:18 Speaker 02: You had on page sixteen or slide sixteen: you had information on cremation going to sixty-something percent.

00:43:29 Speaker 02: Is that just what's coming to the cemetery, or is that in general?

00:43:40 Speaker 02: Yeah; that is just what is coming to Greenwood [Cemetery].

00:44:00 Speaker 07: Saturday fees: People would most likely want to do a funeral because then they've got more family and friends that can come on the weekend because they don't have to go to work.

00:44:27 Speaker 07: So in a sense, we're allowing them to maintain their income, but there should be an added cost to that; you know, there should be a Saturday fee.

00:44:57 Speaker 03: I think that's more than just the Monday-to-Friday fee: Just because you're allowing people to earn their income, there should be a trade-off.

00:45:12 Speaker 03: It's costing us more to have staff come in on Saturdays, and it should cover that.

00:45:27 Speaker 03: Whatever extra percentage we've got to pay for weekend work should be added as the same percentage to services performed on Saturday.

00:45:37 Speaker 06: I think...

00:45:44 Speaker 06: Other question: Two full-time, two seasonal, one supervisor, one manager—explain the roles for me regarding manager and supervisor so I understand the chain of command.

00:45:57 Speaker 06: Yeah; that's a great question, Your Worship, and it seems like not very many people [for] a lot of management oversight.

00:46:15 Speaker 06: And I haven't tracked—and we don't track how the manager spends his time—but I would think that a significant portion is taken up by the parks and open space portfolio.

00:46:36 Speaker 05: The administrator: the time spent each week dealing with funeral homes,

00:47:02 Speaker 05: families who are coming in to purchase a plot or for service—I'm not sure if someone isn't arriving at the door for an appointment—it's a legislatively heavy area so there's a lot of record keeping and

00:47:27 Speaker 01: reporting that goes along with it;

00:47:34 Speaker 01: financial management working with our finance team.

00:47:41 Speaker 08: So the manager has more strategic oversight, including capital projects.

00:47:53 Speaker 08: The administrator oversees the cemetery; also, the cemetery admin supports campground operations a bit too.

00:48:02 Speaker 08: And then the field staff are delivering that service.

00:48:13 Speaker 08: Sorry, I've probably confused you, and I've used the words "cemetery supervisor" and "cemetery administrator" interchangeably.

00:48:23 Speaker 08: Right now, we've made the administrator an acting supervisor.

00:48:45 Speaker 08: We had a vacancy in the manager's position, and we changed that reporting relationship so that the two portfolios—the park superintendent and the cemetery supervisor—were a bit more balanced,

00:49:03 Speaker 08: as opposed to the cemetery admin reporting directly to the park supervisor.

00:49:18 Speaker 08: We said: let this person who is doing the work be responsible for the work and report directly to the manager.

00:49:30 Speaker 08: So sorry; there's not two positions [of "supervisor"].

00:49:37 Speaker 08: There's one acting role, and I've used the word "cemetery administrator."

00:49:42 Speaker 08: Yeah... so you'll see that now.

00:49:44 Speaker 08: Perfect.

00:49:44 Speaker 08: Okay.

00:49:45 Speaker 08: Good.

00:49:47 Speaker 08: So: The manager is above them.

00:49:52 Speaker 08: Parks and Open Space is separate.

00:49:54 Speaker 08: Okay.

00:49:54 Speaker 08: Good.

00:50:01 Speaker 08: That clarifies it.

00:50:12 Speaker 08: A couple questions: One with respect to forestry work—is that being taken care of in a dedicated workspace at Parks or at Cemetery?

00:50:37 Speaker 08: Now that the Festival of Northern Lights is gone, we're working on transitioning [them] to their new storage space so they are able to store their equipment right now inside.

00:51:05 Speaker 09: Once the festival is fully relocated, it will be in that end bay and provide some much-needed storage for both Parks and Cemetery; but they'll use it together.

00:51:15 Speaker 09: Okay.

00:51:20 Speaker 09: My other question: Does Stone Orchard software do this work together with the Memorial Tree Program?

00:51:33 Speaker 09: It doesn't—it's a different database—but I understand not right off the bat.

00:51:51 Speaker 09: But I think Stone Orchard will be able to be integrated with GIS, and the Commemorative Tree Program will also be integrated with GIS; so it'll all show up on that GIS platform.

00:52:01 Speaker 08: Others, go ahead: A few questions.

00:52:09 Speaker 08: Tough to argue with any of the efficiencies you're looking for, and in terms of considering future capital enhancements or improvements for team members.

00:52:34 Speaker 01: Just a couple questions: You're going to bring some future reporting back—but if I use stump removal as an example, do we even do stump removal in the winter?

00:53:04 Speaker 05: Or does it strike me that there are periods of time during the year where we wouldn't—perhaps in winter—and also in spring?

00:53:07 Speaker 08: I don't presume we cut trees down because of nesting season; or is there a window there that we have to avoid?

00:53:07 Speaker 08: So, what portion of the year can we actually do activities like stump removal when you consider enhanced staffing through your support?

00:53:07 Speaker 08: Stump removal right now is done by Public Works staff, so it doesn't happen much in the winter months because they're pretty focused on snow removal.

00:53:08 Speaker 08: They try to do some catch-up work, so stump removal would be more in line with actual tree removal.

00:53:08 Speaker 08: So, right now we get complaints from residents where a tree has been removed and then they are waiting for the stump to be removed behind it.

00:53:08 Speaker 08: If we can coordinate service locations with tree removal and get the stumps done,

00:53:09 Speaker 08: our plan is that we will continue to do that year-round as much as possible by providing that third staff member—whether part of the year through synergy with Public Works or part of the year using

00:53:09 Speaker 08: Cemetery staff to provide that ground person support.

00:53:09 Speaker 08: Thank you, Chair.

00:53:09 Speaker 08: I just wanted to clarify: Deputy Mayor Greig, you talked about an enhancement regarding stump removal.

00:53:10 Speaker 08: This was also brought up during the Public Works review; it's really a matter of adding a person moving into this team.

00:53:11 Speaker 08: So I just wanted to make sure we were all clear on that because, as the Director said, there is a significant backlog in stump removal right now again because teams get pulled everywhere.

00:53:11 Speaker 08: You then find out from the background how much paperwork is involved when a tree comes down:

00:53:11 Speaker 08: locations are done and that information goes into paper files before being input by an administrative assistant into another system to go to Public Works (PW).

00:53:11 Speaker 08: Then PW takes that information and creates another work order.

00:53:12 Speaker 08: It was probably about a seven or eight-step process from a tree falling to stump removal,

00:53:12 Speaker 08: and the stump removal could lag six to eight months—even up to a year—after a tree came down by no one's fault.

00:53:13 Speaker 08: Many times we get reports of concern saying: "Hey, the City did a great job removing a tree, but the stump has been here now for six months.

00:53:13 Speaker 08: What's going on?

00:53:13 Speaker 08: I can't do anything else in my front yard because that tree was in the right-of-way."

00:53:13 Speaker 08: So they are waiting for the stump removal.

00:53:13 Speaker 08: This whole process should bring efficiency to that area of our business.

00:53:14 Speaker 08: Also with respect to stump removal: if a contractor is removing trees behind your place or in a forested area,

00:53:14 Speaker 08: and those trees have been removed but left standing as stumps in the forested area—does the contractor take those stumps out?

00:53:14 Speaker 08: And what if the person doesn't really want the stump taken out?

00:53:14 Speaker 08: Through your support, I happen to know where you live, Councillor Koepke.

00:53:14 Speaker 08: Because you back into an area that is hazardous, best practice would be to leave that stump in place to provide soil retention; so we wouldn't take that stump out.

00:53:16 Speaker 08: In those areas and open spaces, you'll see that we leave stumps in place.

00:53:17 Speaker 08: With the numbers presented in the report regarding the 20-meter buffer zone: I could use Harrison Park for example.

00:53:17 Speaker 08: I presume we're not counting every tree in Harrison Park,

00:53:18 Speaker 08: but if I use a smaller example like the little park south of 27th Street West with its small woodlot there—the 20-meter buffer zone really is just those 20 meters adjacent to the roadway where houses

00:53:18 Speaker 08: might be located;

00:53:18 Speaker 08: they are not actually counting every tree in that area.

00:53:18 Speaker 08: Okay, needs will change over time especially as ash trees die and we clear them out.

00:53:18 Speaker 08: When you bring another report forward considering equipment: there are certain restrictions such as access issues I think of regarding Harrison Park like the fitness trail and so forth—you'll pay attention to things like weights.

00:53:19 Speaker 08: If you can't get it over the bridge, we don't want something on our fleet that is not able to access some higher-need spots.

00:53:19 Speaker 08: Okay, and one other question: at the start of the report, you spoke about aligning with other similarly sized municipalities.

00:53:19 Speaker 08: Are there parts of the report where you can say this is what we are doing or offering now,

00:53:19 Speaker 08: and this is an action we're taking that represents a service level being offered over and above what others do?

00:53:22 Speaker 08: Through your support: The change to 10 minutes from I think in the Recreational Parks and Facilities Master Plan currently regarding walking distance—so the distance for neighborhood parks and playgrounds was smaller at 800 meters.

00:53:23 Speaker 08: Playgrounds is something we hope to bring as a service level improvement by April, so that change you may see in April where we are recommending it.

00:53:23 Speaker 08: Right now we have 21 playgrounds, and maybe that will be a different number based on that distance and condition assessment.

00:53:23 Speaker 08: We can certainly look for data to say: "Hey, in other communities..." but the change to 800 meters (or 10 minutes) was based on getting ourselves more in line with other communities.

00:53:24 Speaker 08: If I could ask further regarding another report coming back in April or May—if I think of a park like Gariflexa down Seventh Avenue East which has old swings, that's about it;

00:53:25 Speaker 08: behind some bungalows—do staff consider a park like that an opportunity just to plant trees and reforest?

00:53:25 Speaker 08: It stays.

00:53:25 Speaker 06: It is still a park, still in our system as a park.

00:53:26 Speaker 06: We are not changing the designation; we're just changing its profile because the community has changed.

00:53:27 Speaker 06: We still have Parkview around the corner, but it's perhaps an opportunity for enhancing the urban canopy.

00:53:28 Speaker 06: You are absolutely talking about where I think we are going when you see those rings overlap from Parkview and then Owen Heights: the Gariflexa playground won't be as necessary.

00:53:28 Speaker 06: And then what is the need?

00:53:29 Speaker 06: Thank you through your support; I wanted to ask about the arborist.

00:53:29 Speaker 06: From a liability standpoint, we have two licensed arborists doing work on staff, and then we supplement with other people from staff pulling them in.

00:53:29 Speaker 06: Are there liability issues with using staff that aren't licensed arborists?

00:53:29 Speaker 06: Through your worship: The staff we use as ground persons—we would make sure they have training on the equipment or in the area of work where they are working.

00:53:29 Speaker 06: So whether that's operating a chipper truck or just providing ground support like chainsaw operation, we wouldn't be using someone who wasn't properly trained.

00:53:29 Speaker 06: Thank you.

00:53:31 Speaker 06: As far as workload with ash trees: once we actually get that under control and deal with the ash profile—and I'm assuming we're not planting any more ash trees—is this an ongoing concern,

00:53:31 Speaker 06: or will it decrease our workload at some point in the future?

00:53:31 Speaker 06: Yes, that's a great question.

00:53:31 Speaker 06: Unfortunately there are a couple of other diseases, not as prevalent as ash, and we don't have as many of those particular species.

00:53:31 Speaker 06: But beech, for example: there is a beech disease that is really hard on beech trees.

00:53:32 Speaker 06: Right now we're focused a lot on ash trees and ash removals.

00:53:32 Speaker 06: Council allowed us to use some surplus last year, and that contractor is making terrific headway dealing with one hundred and eighty high priority removals.

00:53:34 Speaker 06: Right now, we haven't been doing preventative tree work.

00:53:34 Speaker 06: We haven't been doing as much planting as we could because we've been so focused.

00:53:34 Speaker 06: The other thing that right now every year in the budget there's about seventy-five thousand dollars for contract tree removal.

00:53:35 Speaker 06: We hope once we get through the management of the ash and the trees that are ash removed in those areas that would be receptors, whether it's a house or a park,

00:53:35 Speaker 06: that some of those other things—planting, maintenance, trimming, getting the canopy elevated near sidewalks at street corners—that we'll be able to do that work.

00:53:36 Speaker 06: So there's no end of work.

00:53:36 Speaker 06: Okay, thank you for that.

00:53:37 Speaker 06: My other question, as far as the staffing and the fleet that you're recommending for efficiencies, what is the next step in that process?

00:53:37 Speaker 06: I know we've had a fleet strategy come to us, and is it through the capital side of the budgeting process that we'll see this ask come forward, or how does what is the next step?

00:53:37 Speaker 06: That's a great question.

00:53:37 Speaker 06: We'll Greg Nichols, he's working right now on leading that fleet strategy.

00:53:38 Speaker 06: So in so a great example would be that dump trailer because it's in two thousand and twenty-six.

00:53:39 Speaker 06: So saying rather than replacing two dump trailers, let's get one that suits our needs, that can be shared but is the right size to do that job.

00:53:39 Speaker 06: But yes, if there were changes, it would come back to council through the capital budget update each year.

00:53:39 Speaker 06: Thank you.

00:53:39 Speaker 06: A question on the cemetery side of things.

00:53:40 Speaker 06: So in the report, it said that we were doing winter storage for other cemeteries that don't do winter burials.

00:53:40 Speaker 06: Is it?

00:53:40 Speaker 06: Are we offering an enhanced service by providing winter burials?

00:53:41 Speaker 06: As long as I can remember, Greenwood has done winter burials.

00:53:41 Speaker 06: I'm not sure we would have enough storage not to have that option.

00:53:42 Speaker 06: Winter burials you know if we didn't bury in winter, it would create a significant sort of backlog of work for the spring, so being able to continue to do that work over the winter months.

00:53:42 Speaker 06: There are though rural cemeteries, and we didn't used to charge for that service but now if you're not going to be interred at Greenwood and you're having winter storage there is a fee.

00:53:42 Speaker 06: And in the report I believe it said that for interment right now it's only an eight-hour notification.

00:53:42 Speaker 06: Is that what it is?

00:53:42 Speaker 06: Like you get eight-hour notice, and then you want to change it to forty-eight hours.

00:53:43 Speaker 06: Okay, that makes sense.

00:53:43 Speaker 06: It's a great report, and I think charging and making sure that we are recouping our costs for the Saturday burials and getting the services in line makes sense.

00:53:43 Speaker 06: So yeah, I'm in favor, and I'll move the recommendation.

00:53:44 Speaker 06: Thanks.

00:53:44 Speaker 06: Any other comments?

00:53:45 Speaker 06: Yeah.

00:53:45 Speaker 06: Yeah, I was just going to add.

00:53:46 Speaker 06: Actually, I support that weekend movement too.

00:53:47 Speaker 06: When I was reading the report,

00:53:48 Speaker 06: I was thinking while union membership may be declining as a whole across the country generally collective bargaining units have enhanced wellness days or days off as part of their annual remuneration or benefits so there

00:53:48 Speaker 06: is that component to it and then larger operations larger organizations offer often somewhat similar benefits for people.

00:53:49 Speaker 06: So when I saw that doubling almost over the years to weekends, I also thought it does certainly seem a little bit more fair that we should be recouping the dollars as well.

00:53:49 Speaker 06: It can't be the preference of staff just to be called in and work on weekends even if it's overtime.

00:53:49 Speaker 06: Sometimes people appreciate their time off so I definitely support that.

00:53:50 Speaker 06: Thank you through Mayor.

00:53:50 Speaker 06: I just wanted, as we close up on this one, thank the director and her team for putting this together and these reports.

00:53:50 Speaker 06: At service review we talk about again efficiencies and savings and how can we do things different.

00:53:50 Speaker 06: But these reports are really important.

00:53:51 Speaker 06: I want to stress the importance of these because it's taking that deep dive.

00:53:51 Speaker 06: Because we get a lot of questions whether you know when you're starting out on council or people starting on committees or just general public, well what do those people really do?

00:53:51 Speaker 06: And these reports are really those bookmark things that you can go back to.

00:53:51 Speaker 06: And the report is incredibly long but it shows the quantity and breadth of work that a small team undertakes and what they're trying to balance every day from a prioritization perspective.

00:53:51 Speaker 06: So again I just wanted to bring attention to how important these reports are not just from an efficiency and cost savings, but from a deep dive into what people do on every day.

00:53:52 Speaker 06: Just one more question on burials and this is weekend burials.

00:53:52 Speaker 06: If you eliminate Sundays is there an opportunity though will there be an opportunity if there were special circumstances for religious purposes or some reason that people needed the Sunday to bury how accommodating is that?

00:53:52 Speaker 06: Absolutely for cultural or religious reasons we would still do Sunday internments.

00:53:53 Speaker 06: Yeah.

00:53:53 Speaker 06: We can call the question on that?

00:53:54 Speaker 06: All in favor?

00:53:54 Speaker 06: That is carried.

00:53:55 Speaker 06: Good.

00:53:55 Speaker 06: Thank you Pam.

00:53:55 Speaker 06: That was always interesting.

00:53:59 Speaker 06: I've got other questions that are not directly related that I'll ask later.

00:53:59 Speaker 06: So now I think Janet's up to bat with regard to update on Project 1C1 succession management.

00:53:59 Speaker 06: Thank you Your Worship.

00:54:00 Speaker 06: This is related to Project 1C1 that was focused on establishing two different things: a hiring freeze and implementing a succession management plan.

00:54:00 Speaker 06: So we came last year with the updated recruitment policy which addressed the hiring freeze that was accepted by council, and that has been put in place.

00:54:00 Speaker 06: A succession management program basically has four stages to it.

00:54:01 Speaker 06: One is the development of competencies.

00:54:01 Speaker 06: Two is an identification of the critical roles required to move the organization forward in the long term,

00:54:02 Speaker 06: and identification of high potential individuals within the organization that have the capacity and ability to be able to grow and develop to fill those critical roles when needed,

00:54:02 Speaker 06: and then finally development plans for those individuals once identified to be able to help them get there.

00:54:02 Speaker 06: So this report really focuses on the competency establishment and SLT worked through the Corn Ferry competency framework to identify eight competencies we're putting in place from a leadership development perspective.

00:54:03 Speaker 06: Those are attached in the competency framework.

00:54:04 Speaker 06: We did this through a couple of exercises in terms of narrowing down they have over forty competencies, and to get them down to a manageable number.

00:54:06 Speaker 06: And to get them down to a manageable level that the organization can follow.

00:54:07 Speaker 06: So a competency is a grouping of skills.

00:54:07 Speaker 06: So you can say communication skills their verbal communication skills their written communication skills their presentation skills.

00:54:08 Speaker 06: A competency could be communication and how you interact with others.

00:54:09 Speaker 06: So that's just the difference between kind of competencies and skills.

00:54:09 Speaker 06: And by establishing these it will help us to actually clarify and provide direction when we are looking at hiring new staff from outside.

00:54:10 Speaker 06: Do they have those competencies that we're looking for in those leadership roles, and for appraising staff?

00:54:10 Speaker 06: So how are you doing with those competencies?

00:54:10 Speaker 06: What training do you need, and those kinds of things?

00:54:11 Speaker 06: It will help us to focus our training and development for our leaders.

00:54:11 Speaker 06: We do two people leader sessions every year.

00:54:12 Speaker 06: In the last two we've done them internally so this will help us to focus on what should those trainings provide to those people.

00:54:12 Speaker 06: And I will say that the competencies that were chosen by SLT actually address some of the feedback we've received from staff through a number of different things including engagement surveys etc. So it will definitely

00:54:13 Speaker 06: help everybody to be successful.

00:54:14 Speaker 06: And that's really kind of where we're at.

00:54:14 Speaker 06: The plan is to roll these competencies out at a people leader session later this month depending on your responses and to really work in terms of those development people leader development sessions for 2026 and

00:54:16 Speaker 01: forward.

00:54:16 Speaker 01: Not seeing any other hands going up fast enough.

00:54:17 Speaker 01: So up at the county we've got a shared service committee.

00:54:17 Speaker 01: Then one of the things that came up last meeting is talking about how we can share training and education across the county so that we're not each doing it individually.

00:54:17 Speaker 01: And then basically how to sort of promote within the county if there's somebody that's quite competent instead of hiring from outside the county there's somebody within the county that could move up.

00:54:18 Speaker 01: I don't know if you're meeting with all the HR people in Grey County like the managers and others do but this makes so much sense,

00:54:18 Speaker 01: and it fits into that they should be adopting the same thing sort of making it countywide.

00:54:18 Speaker 01: But are you working with the county in that type of stuff already or is that something that's still coming?

00:54:19 Speaker 01: Thank you Your Worship.

00:54:19 Speaker 01: We are working together as a group.

00:54:20 Speaker 01: We meet quarterly.

00:54:20 Speaker 01: There are examples of training that the county has put on so they did some health and safety training, and they put it out to everybody.

00:54:21 Speaker 01: We need some health and safety training for some of our joint health and safety committees.

00:54:21 Speaker 01: I went out because some of our staff wanted in person so you have to have a minimum number.

00:54:21 Speaker 01: So we go out to all the municipalities and say hey we're looking for this how can we work together?

00:54:22 Speaker 01: So I think there's going to be other training opportunities jointly that comes up about other questions Council anybody?

00:54:22 Speaker 01: I'd move the recommendation don't have anything highlighted or any questions.

00:54:24 Speaker 01: You can't go wrong investing in people so thanks Jan Marion.

00:54:24 Speaker 01: Only thing that I notice is this was done only with members of the senior leadership team all of the other reports have included members around the municipality can is there an explanation for that or

00:54:24 Speaker 01: is it because of the subject matter?

00:54:24 Speaker 01: Through you Mr Mayor, we could have done it but the more people you involve the broader it could be.

00:54:25 Speaker 01: So we're focused on kind of leadership development at this point and SLT is the best group to be able to do that.

00:54:25 Speaker 01: As we look at functional competencies over time that will be done within each kind of department Tim thank you Mayor.

00:54:26 Speaker 01: And just adding to Janet's remarks, we also took feedback from employee engagement surveys. We have an ambassador group made up with various levels of people from the organization that have also had input into this so not a direct one-on-one like whole employee base looking at this but there's been a number of inputs taken from other elements where employees all added their input. Okay so call the question All in favor? That is carried Thank you So no matters postponed No motions which notes was previously given No correspondence received Don't have any additional business No notices Are there any notices of motion Seeing none So with that it's 9:55 We completed our business We're adjourned Thanks