Owen Sound Council Meeting - Regular Meeting Transcript — April 14, 2025

00:10:04 Speaker 01: It's 5:30 p.m., and I will call the meeting to order.

00:10:08 Speaker 01: It's April 14th.

00:10:10 Speaker 01: City Council is gathered here in the chambers.

00:10:13 Speaker 02: All are present, and Mayor Boddy is joining virtually this evening and is online.

00:10:21 Speaker 02: So, our first item before us is a call for additional business.

00:10:25 Speaker 02: Looking to my right, Councillor Farmer, then Councillor Koepke, go ahead.

00:10:29 Speaker 02: Thank you, through the chair.

00:10:30 Speaker 03: I'll be speaking to my participation on behalf of the city at the flag raising for Parkinson's Awareness Day and Week last week.

00:10:39 Speaker 03: Thank you, your Acting Worship.

00:10:40 Speaker 04: I have two items regarding waste.

00:10:43 Speaker 04: One is green bins, and the other is the leaf and yard waste site.

00:10:48 Speaker 04: Thank you, and Councillor Merton.

00:10:52 Speaker 04: Through you, chair.

00:10:54 Speaker 04: I have one item, which is an update on the Small Community Solutions Conference.

00:11:00 Speaker 04: Thank you.

00:11:01 Speaker 04: Anyone else to the left?

00:11:03 Speaker 04: Any from staff?

00:11:04 Speaker 04: Not seeing any.

00:11:05 Speaker 04: Mayor Boddy, any additional items?

00:11:10 Speaker 04: Yeah, I'll just update Council for what's tonight and why.

00:11:15 Speaker 04: Okay.

00:11:16 Speaker 04: Thank you.

00:11:20 Speaker 02: Item three is declarations of interest.

00:11:23 Speaker 02: Are there any declarations to be made at this time?

00:11:26 Speaker 02: Okay, I'll go to Councillor Hamley first, and Councillor...

00:11:32 Speaker 02: Thank you.

00:11:34 Speaker 02: Declaring a direct pecuniary interest in item eleven A, which is the Court Security and Prisoner Transport Agreement with the Province of Ontario, and eleven C,

00:11:46 Speaker 05: which is the 2025 Provincial Gas Tax Letter Agreement with the Province of Ontario.

00:11:50 Speaker 05: And the nature of my interest is that I work for the Province of Ontario.

00:11:52 Speaker 05: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

00:12:00 Speaker 06: I would be declaring a disqualifying interest regarding the request for the public deputation regarding the Kwanas Club, as I am a member of the Kwanas Club.

00:12:14 Speaker 04: And Councillor Koepke, I too will have to declare a disqualifying interest, as I am a member of the Kwanas Club.

00:12:23 Speaker 02: All right, and not seeing any further, and if one should arise, you have the opportunity to announce at that time.

00:12:29 Speaker 02: Item four A: Our minutes of the closed session of the regular council meeting held on March 10th, 2025.

00:12:35 Speaker 02: Councillor Dodd, thank you, Deputy Mayor.

00:12:40 Speaker 06: Moved by myself, seconded by Councillor Farmer, that the minutes of the following council meetings be adopted as printed.

00:12:45 Speaker 06: The closed session of the regular council meeting held on March 10th, 2025.

00:12:48 Speaker 06: The special county of Grey.

00:12:50 Speaker 06: The special county of Gregg joint all council's meeting held on March 21st, 2025, and the regular council meeting held on March 24th, 2025.

00:12:59 Speaker 06: Any questions to any of those minutes?

00:13:02 Speaker 06: Not seeing any.

00:13:03 Speaker 02: All in favour of those passing, and that's carried unanimously.

00:13:07 Speaker 02: Thank you.

00:13:09 Speaker 02: Next item, Councillor Dodd.

00:13:13 Speaker 02: Thank you, Your Acting Worship.

00:13:13 Speaker 06: Moved by myself, seconded by Councillor Farmer, that City Council now move into the Committee of the Whole to consider public meetings, deputations, and presentations.

00:13:19 Speaker 06: Public forum.

00:13:21 Speaker 06: Matters arising from correspondence, reports of city staff, consent agenda, committee minutes, matters postponed, motions for which notice was previously given, and additional business.

00:13:30 Speaker 02: And all those in favour, and that's carried unanimously.

00:13:36 Speaker 02: So this evening we have no public meetings, but we have two deputations and presentations.

00:13:44 Speaker 02: We're delighted to welcome two groups this evening.

00:13:47 Speaker 02: The first of which is a deputation from Susan Davy, Linda Van Elst, and Tim Brown of the Kawana's Club of Owen Sound regarding the hundredth anniversary of the Kawana's Club of Owen Sound.

00:14:01 Speaker 02: Please approach the podium and welcome.

00:14:09 Speaker 02: Good evening, Deputy Mayor and members of Council.

00:14:14 Speaker 02: We are here with the Kiwanis Club of Owen Sound.

00:14:15 Speaker 07: With the Quanis Club of Owen Sound to talk about the one hundredth anniversary gala, we weren't there at that time, but we're here now.

00:14:23 Speaker 07: Anyway, my people are my Kiwanis: Linda Van Elst, who is a co-chair, Susan Davy, who's the other co-chair, and our incoming president, Mr. Tim Brown.

00:14:35 Speaker 07: And we're here to talk about our gala on May the tenth at the Bayshore in Owen Sound.

00:14:42 Speaker 07: I just want to talk about some of the activity that has gone on over a hundred years with the City of Owen Sound and Kiwanis Club.

00:14:49 Speaker 08: In one thousand, nine hundred and twenty-five, naturally with our hundredth anniversary, Kiwanis Club was formed in Owen Sound, and shortly thereafter, the City of Owen Sound was looking to build a new arena.

00:15:04 Speaker 08: And the City of Owen Sound came to the Kiwanis Club and said, "Will you partner with us to raise funds to build the new arena?"

00:15:12 Speaker 08: And that was one of the starts of our work.

00:15:15 Speaker 08: That's gone on over a number of years with the City of Owen Sound.

00:15:20 Speaker 08: Since 2001, we've donated over $600,000 to a number of different facilities here in the City of Owen Sound.

00:15:31 Speaker 08: They include the soccer complex, happened in 2001, the fully accessible playground at Harrison Park.

00:15:39 Speaker 08: The Harrison Park, that was in twenty ten.

00:15:44 Speaker 08: The Skate and Bike Park in two thousand and fourteen.

00:15:49 Speaker 08: The Chapman House Children's Room in twenty fifteen, and the OSHaRE Kitchen in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty.

00:15:59 Speaker 08: So we've worked with the City of Owen Sound, and we look forward to many more years of a continued good partnership to provide facilities for the kids and our community.

00:16:09 Speaker 08: So, thank you.

00:16:13 Speaker 08: This is really short and sweet from all of us because, for those of you who know us, you know we like talking.

00:16:18 Speaker 09: However, we're focusing on the gala tonight, and we have had a long, long history with the City of Owen Sound.

00:16:27 Speaker 09: And in fact, I brought tonight a little prop.

00:16:30 Speaker 09: So, this is a bunch of photos from one thousand, nine hundred and forty-nine, which is probably published; it was compliments of the Kiwanis Club of Owen Sound, August 1949, a souvenir from Owen Sound.

00:16:46 Speaker 09: So we had a long, long history, and I know a lot of you have helped us out at events, and we're very thankful for all of that.

00:16:55 Speaker 09: And our two Kiwanis members.

00:16:57 Speaker 09: Anyway, tonight we're hoping that perhaps the City of Owen Sound would consider being a sponsor to our gala by sponsoring us the rental of the Bayshore for the night of the gala,

00:17:12 Speaker 09: so we're hoping that you might consider that for us.

00:17:21 Speaker 02: Okay, that was short and succinct.

00:17:24 Speaker 02: Well within ten minutes, I was expecting to hear a lot more covering a hundred years of activity in the community.

00:17:33 Speaker 02: Yeah, I knew it would be tight if we squeezed it to a minute a decade, but you've done so much for the community over a hundred years,

00:17:41 Speaker 02: and I see Mayor Boddy's hand up virtually before I go around to any questions and comments in the room.

00:17:47 Speaker 02: So, Mayor Boddy, to you at this time.

00:17:52 Speaker 02: Yeah, I've got a question for Ms. Coulter first, and then I'll follow that up.

00:17:55 Speaker 02: I think with a motion, we've got a policy on waiving fees.

00:18:03 Speaker 02: How does this cover it?

00:18:10 Speaker 10: Thank you for the question, Your Worship, and through the acting Deputy Mayor, the City does have a policy regarding waiving rental fees for groups like Kiwanis that has continued to work with the City.

00:18:27 Speaker 10: The way the policy is written, if there's an identified programme or service or capital project that's underway that is, and they're using the facility to raise funds for that programme or capital project or service,

00:18:42 Speaker 10: the City can waive that rental fee in accordance with the policy.

00:18:46 Speaker 10: We look for a budget pre and post, and that policy gives us the ability to waive the rental fees.

00:18:54 Speaker 10: In this case, the rental fees about fifteen hundred dollars.

00:19:01 Speaker 10: I'll go back to you, Mayor Boddy.

00:19:03 Speaker 10: Thank you, Deputy Mayor Greig.

00:19:04 Speaker 10: So, first of all, congratulations to the Kiwanis for a hundred years.

00:19:08 Speaker 10: That's pretty amazing.

00:19:09 Speaker 11: And think of how many kids have benefited during that period of time from what they've done.

00:19:15 Speaker 11: The policy is kind of doesn't contemplate the Kiwanis that raise money and then pick things to sponsor.

00:19:26 Speaker 12: It doesn't contemplate that the Kiwanis do the Santa Claus parade every year, and I think we're up to the eightieth, or the music festival that I think we're at ninety-third or ninety-fourth music festival.

00:19:39 Speaker 12: Clearly, we've benefited from skateboard parks, bike parks, soccer complex, playgrounds at Harrison Park, etc. And so I think the policy kind of misses, but shouldn't.

00:19:50 Speaker 12: So with that, my motion is that, notwithstanding policy CR-3-7, sorry, CRC-3-7 regarding waiving rental fees, acknowledging a history of capital projects and the ongoing programmes of Kiwanis Club of Owen Sound,

00:20:10 Speaker 12: I would move that the City waive the applicable rental fee for the one hundredth anniversary event being planned in May to be held at the halls of the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre,

00:20:23 Speaker 12: and that the appropriate amount be transferred from the Council grant budget to facilitate booking to offset this revenue.

00:20:32 Speaker 12: Thanks.

00:20:34 Speaker 12: Okay, thanks, everybody.

00:20:35 Speaker 02: So, Councillor Merton, did you also have your hand in the air?

00:20:39 Speaker 02: Go ahead.

00:20:41 Speaker 02: First of all, thank you so much for everything that you do for our community.

00:20:45 Speaker 02: It's wonderful.

00:20:47 Speaker 13: In addition to the motion that's just been put on the floor, I certainly would appreciate receiving information that I can use on my Councillor Facebook page, and to share to promote your event.

00:20:59 Speaker 13: So I would ask consideration of that as you move forward towards May.

00:21:03 Speaker 13: Thank you.

00:21:06 Speaker 13: Thanks, Councillor Merton.

00:21:07 Speaker 13: Councillor Farmer, next.

00:21:09 Speaker 13: Thank you, through the Deputy Mayor.

00:21:10 Speaker 13: Just, I'm curious about for folks to maybe hear more.

00:21:13 Speaker 03: Is the gala a celebration of a century only?

00:21:16 Speaker 03: Is it also a fundraiser?

00:21:18 Speaker 03: And is there anything else that we should know about current projects of Kiwanis?

00:21:22 Speaker 03: Quanis, I maybe even passed a music festival sign on my way here.

00:21:30 Speaker 03: Sorry, we need retraining.

00:21:32 Speaker 03: This is not a fundraiser.

00:21:34 Speaker 09: This is a night when we're going to celebrate everything that Kiwanis has done for this area for the hundred years, and certainly I want to extend a personal invitation to all of you.

00:21:44 Speaker 09: I hope that you can come and support this as well, and support our members who've done all the hard work that go into this because every...

00:21:52 Speaker 09: Project that we do, there's a lot of work behind it.

00:21:57 Speaker 09: So, yes.

00:22:01 Speaker 09: Okay.

00:22:02 Speaker 09: Thank you very much for the questions.

00:22:04 Speaker 09: Any further questions?

00:22:06 Speaker 09: Not seeing any.

00:22:07 Speaker 02: So we do have a motion on the floor, and I'd like to see all in favour of that motion.

00:22:14 Speaker 02: Please raise your hands, and that is carried unanimously.

00:22:18 Speaker 02: Thank you very much.

00:22:20 Speaker 02: A hundred years—it's amazing, amazing what has been done and contributed to the community from the Kauanas, and to a large degree, you've just done so much to build the community over a hundred years.

00:22:38 Speaker 02: So it's great to be able to be part of celebrating your work and contributions over the past century.

00:22:48 Speaker 02: It's hard to believe to say that.

00:22:49 Speaker 02: But anything in closing, back to you.

00:22:56 Speaker 02: I will get trained again.

00:22:59 Speaker 09: Really, I just want to thank, on behalf of all of us in all Quonies, to thank the City for everything that you help us out with as well.

00:23:07 Speaker 09: And I know there's an exciting event coming up soon for the bike rodeo.

00:23:13 Speaker 09: That's the City, the Optimist Club, the Quonies Club.

00:23:17 Speaker 09: The Qantas Club that's going to be happening right down here in front of City Hall in just a few weeks, which is a huge undertaking as well.

00:23:24 Speaker 09: So I just want to thank all of you and the City for everything they do for us.

00:23:31 Speaker 09: It is certainly our pleasure.

00:23:33 Speaker 02: Thank you very much, and thank you for the time taken this evening to make the presentation and request.

00:23:40 Speaker 02: So we have a second deputation this evening, which is welcoming Jörmundur Tag regarding the Earth Day Grey Bruce 2025 Earth Day celebration.

00:23:57 Speaker 02: Welcome to a celebration unlike any other.

00:24:04 Speaker 02: Today we unite under the banner of Earth Day, not just to commemorate, but to ignite change.

00:24:11 Speaker 02: Our mission is to champion a movement that inspires climate action, embraces responsibility, and fosters hope for future generations.

00:24:24 Speaker 02: So we have incredible projects at the back wall.

00:24:27 Speaker 02: We have four schools out of the nine, ten, twelve schools that showed up at our second ever Youth Climate Action Conference.

00:24:36 Speaker 02: We have our incredible repair cafe, OSHaRE, over in the corner that you go hang out and have something to fix if you want.

00:24:46 Speaker 02: As we were doing research, we learned about riparian ecosystems, and those are just like the homes of animals that live along the riverbanks.

00:24:54 Speaker 02: And our rivers didn't really have many trees along the riverbanks, so we wanted to help riparian ecosystems.

00:25:00 Speaker 02: We also just wanted to get our entire community involved.

00:25:04 Speaker 02: We didn't just want to be the only ones.

00:25:06 Speaker 02: We informed them about it and told them that they're welcome to join in, and we're getting our school involved, and classes going down.

00:25:16 Speaker 02: We just wanted to let you know that climate change is real.

00:25:19 Speaker 14: But I know that some people don't believe in climate change or think that climate change is like not big.

00:25:25 Speaker 14: Like it's going far off.

00:25:27 Speaker 14: We all need to start talking about it and helping with our Earth just to make it a better place.

00:25:33 Speaker 14: Our project is trees for trees.

00:25:36 Speaker 15: We had a bake sale at our school, and we raised four hundred and sixty dollars.

00:25:42 Speaker 15: It doesn't have to be a huge project, but doing something is better than nothing.

00:25:46 Speaker 15: I would like encourage them to join Green Team and help plant more plants around their yard, Mattsaur.

00:26:10 Speaker 15: With me, presented on the wall, is Tom Thomson's artwork, Northern Lights.

00:26:15 Speaker 16: This artwork was the inspiration behind our upcycling Tom project with Keppel Sarawak School and the Owen Sound Waste Watchers.

00:26:25 Speaker 16: All of the students at Keppel took inspiration from Tom's great piece that he completed in 1915.

00:27:45 Speaker 16: Nice, but thanks for having me here, Deputy Mayor, Mayor, Council, and staff.

00:27:52 Speaker 16: That was last year's Earth Day, and it was a very exciting event.

00:27:58 Speaker 17: I'm not sure who was there, but I want to talk about this year's and see how it works.

00:28:05 Speaker 17: Ah, yeah.

00:28:06 Speaker 17: So this year I will talk a little bit about the new exciting things that we're doing.

00:28:13 Speaker 17: The poster that this sign was made by an Edhill Grade Four student, and Cat Scott made this into the final poster.

00:28:27 Speaker 17: I hear this thing has to warm up sometimes.

00:28:31 Speaker 17: So do I. Help.

00:28:38 Speaker 17: Ah, yeah.

00:28:40 Speaker 17: Okay.

00:28:42 Speaker 17: Pun.

00:28:43 Speaker 17: Okay.

00:28:44 Speaker 17: Okay.

00:28:47 Speaker 17: Let's go.

00:28:51 Speaker 17: So again, we have a full event starting at 11 in the morning with a water ceremony, then youth bands for the whole time.

00:28:58 Speaker 17: Spends for the whole time, and we have a new thing this year.

00:29:03 Speaker 17: It's a green economy fair, which I will talk more about later.

00:29:08 Speaker 17: Also, what's new is community sustainability conversation at the library, and we have a poetry workshop, and story time, and all kinds of exciting things for all ages.

00:29:21 Speaker 17: So, if you want to come, please come.

00:29:24 Speaker 17: And if you have kids and you have grandkids, they are all invited.

00:29:27 Speaker 17: So that's the water ceremony at 11 to 11:45, with Elder Shirley John and the M'Wikwedong drummers.

00:29:39 Speaker 17: Hopefully, it's a bit warmer this year, and then we have the economy fair and the youth climate action project at Saint Andrew's Hall, which is new this year, and it's a really exciting thing.

00:29:51 Speaker 17: We want to show and give opportunity to the community to look at what jobs are there.

00:29:58 Speaker 17: So, so climate change environment is not just about recycling and turning off the lights.

00:30:03 Speaker 17: There are some real jobs there, and so we invited all kinds of professionals, farmers, scientists, teachers to present there, and then the students will present again their climate actions,

00:30:17 Speaker 17: which is not easy because they had 30 snow days this year, which made it very difficult to get anything finished.

00:30:28 Speaker 17: These are some of the presenters.

00:30:29 Speaker 17: For instance, Andrea Matrasovs from Tarnov Mountain will be there.

00:30:33 Speaker 17: She will speak about as a civil servant, like what role can civil servants play in terms of climate change and environment.

00:30:41 Speaker 17: John Anderson, that some of you know, he's a scientist.

00:30:44 Speaker 17: He works in this field.

00:30:45 Speaker 17: Simona Freiberg and so on.

00:30:47 Speaker 17: And actually, at the very bottom here, we have City of Owen Sound with the Green Bin Project, which will be presented there, which is really great.

00:30:55 Speaker 17: Does anybody of you eat Zogin yogurt?

00:30:58 Speaker 17: Because they will be there too.

00:30:59 Speaker 17: It's a really great yogurt and kefir.

00:31:01 Speaker 17: Okay.

00:31:02 Speaker 17: Then the youth climate action projects.

00:31:05 Speaker 17: They work really hard after the youth climate action conference in the fall to come up with projects.

00:31:12 Speaker 17: Then the library auditorium.

00:31:15 Speaker 17: We have the Owen Sound Dance Academy again.

00:31:17 Speaker 17: They always prepare an extra piece for this event.

00:31:22 Speaker 17: Then we have poetry with Freda and Murk.

00:31:27 Speaker 17: They are fairly young poets.

00:31:31 Speaker 17: Actually, Freda is a high school student at St. Mary's, and they're also quite new in the community.

00:31:39 Speaker 17: And then we have the community conversations.

00:31:43 Speaker 17: Megan Miles will lead those.

00:31:47 Speaker 17: So it gives opportunity for people who are concerned.

00:31:50 Speaker 17: You know, we talk about climate anxieties and stuff like this.

00:31:53 Speaker 17: So, what can we do?

00:31:55 Speaker 17: How can we get engaged?

00:31:56 Speaker 17: What works?

00:31:59 Speaker 17: And then, the same two poets for a poetry workshop at the boardroom of the library,

00:32:07 Speaker 17: which will be really exciting to give an opportunity on writing poetry to write about the issues that we are concerned about.

00:32:16 Speaker 17: And then we have crafts and face painting and actually we got now also a henna tattoo artist being there, and this is really exciting.

00:32:27 Speaker 17: Story time with Nadia, you all know Nadia, so this will be at 2 o'clock, and then the Tom Thomson Art Gallery is involved again with their student projects,

00:32:40 Speaker 17: and the big parade at the end with a Durham Sounding Band starting at 2:30.

00:32:46 Speaker 17: Has anybody ever seen the?

00:32:46 Speaker 17: I'll be part.

00:32:46 Speaker 17: I was in the.

00:32:47 Speaker 17: I'll be part of the parade.

00:32:51 Speaker 17: It is really exciting, and you got a bit of an impression in the video.

00:32:55 Speaker 17: But you always can use more people, or can have more people there.

00:32:59 Speaker 17: So that's kind of the feel of it.

00:33:03 Speaker 17: Yeah, we have Ron Schwitzer.

00:33:07 Speaker 17: He's a great artist, and he makes these sculptures with the students or with anybody, and then they bring it there.

00:33:15 Speaker 17: This year we did fish, so we had a sign making workshop on April 5 at the library, which was really great.

00:33:22 Speaker 17: We had about 77 people making all kinds of signs.

00:33:29 Speaker 17: Stop ocean pollution.

00:33:30 Speaker 17: It's really great to see the community come together for things like this.

00:33:40 Speaker 17: This is a newcomer family.

00:33:42 Speaker 17: They are refugees from Syria.

00:33:43 Speaker 17: Fishies from Syria.

00:33:47 Speaker 17: So, Earth Day, Grey Bruce, Saturday, April 26.

00:33:50 Speaker 17: Don't forget it.

00:33:53 Speaker 17: It's the day the fish take over the city.

00:34:13 Speaker 17: Don't miss it.

00:34:16 Speaker 17: And thanks to the city for helping us with some things, support on special events, details, security, barriers, promotion, and your presence at the event.

00:34:30 Speaker 17: Okay, and we are a very small team.

00:34:31 Speaker 17: We're only four years old, so we are very young.

00:34:34 Speaker 17: However, we celebrate the Earth.

00:34:36 Speaker 17: And how old is this planet?

00:34:39 Speaker 17: I don't even know, but it's several billion.

00:34:42 Speaker 17: So I mean, it's kind of competing with the other presentation earlier.

00:34:46 Speaker 17: Still, that's it.

00:34:48 Speaker 17: Thank you.

00:34:49 Speaker 17: Any questions?

00:34:51 Speaker 17: Thank you very much, Yocum.

00:34:53 Speaker 02: It's a special time of year to celebrate a lot of Earth-oriented events, and certainly this is a culmination that you've put on in the city for several years now.

00:35:04 Speaker 02: I'll go to Councillor Farmer first.

00:35:07 Speaker 02: Thank you.

00:35:08 Speaker 02: A couple of questions to the chair.

00:35:09 Speaker 03: I assume I'm correct in picking up that if we're going to come, where something fishy that underwater, fish, or the ocean is the theme.

00:35:18 Speaker 03: I'm also assuming it's rain or shine, given the nature of the event.

00:35:21 Speaker 03: If you could just confirm theme and weather dependency, just whether it's weather dependent or only a fair weather thing.

00:35:32 Speaker 17: If it was only fair weather, we wouldn't have had any.

00:35:35 Speaker 17: I think last year was pretty bad in snow when I came there, and I was pretty stressed out, but it worked really great.

00:35:40 Speaker 17: This time, a lot of events are inside, and I looked at the weather forecast.

00:35:45 Speaker 17: It's supposed to be 13 degrees and sunny, so any weather works, and you can be outside.

00:35:52 Speaker 17: Some of the face painting, and if you want a henna tattoo, it might be outside when the weather is good, and we have youth bands at the bandshell.

00:36:01 Speaker 17: Lots lots of stuff going on inside out.

00:36:04 Speaker 17: Yeah.

00:36:06 Speaker 17: Well, the fish just happened last year.

00:36:08 Speaker 17: There were birds.

00:36:09 Speaker 17: This time it's fish.

00:36:09 Speaker 17: I don't know what else Ron comes up with, but if you want to make science, you know, it's really great having science to walk around with.

00:36:16 Speaker 17: You know, about preserving our biosphere and so on.

00:36:20 Speaker 17: You're very welcome.

00:36:22 Speaker 17: Any other questions?

00:36:31 Speaker 17: Thank you.

00:36:32 Speaker 03: Through the Deputy Mayor again, a question to City staff.

00:36:36 Speaker 03: Are we currently actively planning to promote in any ways?

00:36:41 Speaker 03: I just took a quick look at what looks like the City event calendar, and it doesn't look like Earth Day is on there yet.

00:36:49 Speaker 03: I don't know if that's an Earth Day committee responsibility or if that's an Owen Sound thing.

00:36:56 Speaker 03: But are we where are we with actively promoting more than this presentation today?

00:37:04 Speaker 03: Through the Mayor to Councillor Farmer, yeah, I think every year we've actively promoted it through our social media and other things.

00:37:10 Speaker 18: And I think on the calendar that Councillor Farmer was talking about, so the Earth Day folks should get in there and get it registered online.

00:37:21 Speaker 18: Okay.

00:37:22 Speaker 18: Any follow up, Councillor Farmer?

00:37:25 Speaker 18: Thank you.

00:37:25 Speaker 03: Just through the chair to clarify, and that's at events.owensound.ca for you or any other organisation wanting to help promote.

00:37:32 Speaker 03: Okay.

00:37:32 Speaker 03: Thank you.

00:37:33 Speaker 03: Any further questions?

00:37:33 Speaker 02: Not seeing any, and not seeing one on the screen.

00:37:43 Speaker 02: This is work that's undertaken each year by the city.

00:37:46 Speaker 02: I do note the agenda says request for support, but is that something something that I look at staff and just see you can accommodate that internally?

00:37:54 Speaker 02: You don't need direction from council.

00:37:58 Speaker 02: Through you, Deputy Mayor.

00:37:59 Speaker 02: That's correct.

00:38:01 Speaker 02: All right.

00:38:02 Speaker 02: Thank you very much for the deputation this evening, and we certainly wish you just perfect conditions on Earth Day to celebrate this year again, Yolcum.

00:38:20 Speaker 02: Okay.

00:38:20 Speaker 02: Thank you very much.

00:38:22 Speaker 02: Item eight is public forum.

00:38:27 Speaker 02: Do we have any questions to be asked?

00:38:30 Speaker 02: I'm not seeing any members in the audience this evening with a question during the public forum, so we are down to item nine A,

00:38:38 Speaker 02: which is correspondence from the County of Grey regarding centralized planning model request for support in principle.

00:38:46 Speaker 02: I perhaps will look to staff to just introduce that item before council.

00:39:00 Speaker 02: Thank you, Your Acting Worship.

00:39:01 Speaker 10: I wasn't prepared for this, but Council will recall there was a closed meeting last summer, maybe August or July of 2024, which led to an October 2024 staff report from the staff to Council,

00:39:19 Speaker 10: outlining a number of questions for the County of Grey.

00:39:24 Speaker 10: Those were sent to the County of Grey.

00:39:28 Speaker 10: There was a joint meeting of all lower tier councils together with the county, not that long ago, which this resolution came out of.

00:39:39 Speaker 10: So that staff report provided a bit of a summary of the feedback they'd received, and this is the resolution that's presented for consideration of council.

00:39:49 Speaker 10: Okay, thank you very much.

00:39:50 Speaker 10: I'll go to Councillor Merton first.

00:39:53 Speaker 10: Through you, Deputy Mayor.

00:39:54 Speaker 13: Premier, I understand this has been sent March 21st.

00:40:00 Speaker 13: There is no doubt recently, with the intent of the provincial government to enact strong mayor powers for 169 more municipalities, including Owen Sound,

00:40:12 Speaker 13: that it may or may not have some impact on this model that's being proposed tonight or this request for consideration,

00:40:26 Speaker 13: and I'm wondering whether we need to have additional information or clarification regarding what impact a strong mayor power may have on the planning functions coming forward.

00:40:43 Speaker 13: Because from what I've been reading, it has the potential to change certainly some things.

00:40:54 Speaker 02: I do see that there is a date of no later than May ninth.

00:41:02 Speaker 02: Perhaps entertaining a postponing motion just for two weeks might be a direction that is desirable.

00:41:09 Speaker 02: I'll go back to you, Councillor Merton.

00:41:13 Speaker 02: Through you, acting chair, chair, deputy mayor.

00:41:16 Speaker 02: I'm not sure what the proper title is.

00:41:18 Speaker 13: However, I would make the motion that we postpone a decision pending further information that we anticipate maybe coming over the next couple of weeks for clarification,

00:41:32 Speaker 13: and certainly would request that that question be directed certainly to county staff.

00:41:43 Speaker 13: Councillor Hamlin, next.

00:41:45 Speaker 05: I'm just agree with the motion in principle.

00:41:48 Speaker 05: I just think we probably need to put a date on it.

00:41:50 Speaker 05: Like I think, probably April 28th, the next meeting.

00:41:54 Speaker 05: I think probably because we're having, we're supposed to be having a meeting with the entire county on Thursday, I believe.

00:42:01 Speaker 05: So I'd ask for a friendly amendment to add that date.

00:42:05 Speaker 13: Through you, yes, that friendly amendment will work.

00:42:08 Speaker 13: Thank you.

00:42:12 Speaker 13: Okay, staff's captured that.

00:42:13 Speaker 13: Councillor Capu, next.

00:42:16 Speaker 13: Thank you, your acting mayor.

00:42:18 Speaker 04: Just a question on how will we receive this information?

00:42:21 Speaker 04: Are you looking for a staff report, or or how are we getting the effects of the strong mayors with respect to planning?

00:42:32 Speaker 02: I'll go to city manager to respond there.

00:42:39 Speaker 18: Through you, Deputy Mayor Greig, yeah.

00:42:42 Speaker 18: So we have two upcoming meetings, as Councillor Hamlet referred to one at the county, and then we're having a meeting April 28th here in Owen Sound, specific to Owen Sound questions.

00:42:53 Speaker 18: I think the feedback from those meetings would have to be the response, rather than a staff report.

00:43:02 Speaker 18: Okay.

00:43:03 Speaker 18: Any other questions?

00:43:05 Speaker 18: There's a motion on the floor to postpone to the April 28th meeting.

00:43:08 Speaker 18: This item of correspondence.

00:43:10 Speaker 18: Not seeing any further questions.

00:43:12 Speaker 18: All those in favour.

00:43:15 Speaker 18: And that, and those opposed.

00:43:18 Speaker 18: I see one opposed.

00:43:20 Speaker 18: That motion is carried.

00:43:26 Speaker 18: We are to items reports.

00:43:28 Speaker 02: The city staff under ten A a report from the director of Public Works and Engineering regarding the water treatment plant filter upgrade project update to you, Laura.

00:43:40 Speaker 02: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

00:43:42 Speaker 02: So this project, or sorry, this report is essentially seeking approval from council to approve additional contingency funding for this project.

00:43:55 Speaker 19: It's been going on for a long time, and along the way, we've had a couple of design tweaks that we need to accommodate.

00:44:01 Speaker 19: So we have used some of our contingency money in order to sort of streamline processes and not have to come back to council to ask for more money if there are any other unforeseen expenses

00:44:16 Speaker 19: that may crop up,

00:44:19 Speaker 19: we're proposing essentially to request that council approve an additional two hundred sixteen thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars, or eight hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars.

00:44:33 Speaker 19: Oh, eight hundred or three hundred and fifty.

00:44:37 Speaker 19: Eight.

00:44:37 Speaker 19: I'm going to say eight hundred and fifty.

00:44:38 Speaker 19: Although the motion says three hundred fifty.

00:44:39 Speaker 19: The motion says 350 to preserve the remaining contingency that we have left in the project for any future unforeseen expenses.

00:44:51 Speaker 19: I'll go to Councillor Hamley first.

00:44:55 Speaker 19: Just first a couple questions.

00:44:57 Speaker 05: So, first of all, I think because we don't necessarily see the work being done, you know, this is a pretty huge infrastructure project,

00:45:08 Speaker 05: and we really tend to I think we take for granted the importance of clean drinking water and so this is a really really great project,

00:45:16 Speaker 05: but I'm just wondering where exactly are we in in the timeline of actually executing on the project.

00:45:26 Speaker 19: Through the deputy mayor, I would estimate that the project is about sixty-five to seventy percent complete at this point, which should put us at completion in roughly October.

00:45:40 Speaker 19: Just for council's context, one of the more amusing unforeseen circumstances that came up were we had to receive this large blower unit, which is what it sounds like.

00:45:56 Speaker 19: It's a large piece of mechanical equipment that blows air through the mechanical processes.

00:46:06 Speaker 19: It was so large that we needed to cut a new door into the side of the building to actually put it inside.

00:46:14 Speaker 19: So these are some small things that the designer may not have considered when they were specifying the equipment, but we still get stuck having to deal with them.

00:46:29 Speaker 19: So that is an example.

00:46:30 Speaker 19: There have been other smaller things, but that's one of the main ones.

00:46:33 Speaker 19: And then I'm really interested.

00:46:37 Speaker 05: How do you actually keep treating water while you're doing the work?

00:46:43 Speaker 19: Through the Deputy Mayor to you, Councillor Hamley, we have four cells altogether.

00:46:49 Speaker 19: So we have taken essentially half of the plant's capacity out of commission.

00:46:59 Speaker 19: We were struggling a little bit when we had the runoff and the snowmelt at the same time because there was an awful lot of sort of suspended solids in the water.

00:47:10 Speaker 19: But on a general day-to-day basis, we keep up to normal consumption rates with the two functional cells.

00:47:19 Speaker 19: So we always have a little bit of redundancy in the system.

00:47:24 Speaker 19: As Council will recall, we also were down a cell for quite a prolonged period of time when we had the flocculator, the walking beam flocculator, out of commission.

00:47:35 Speaker 19: So these are things that we sort of build in with redundancy through our treatment process.

00:47:45 Speaker 05: All right, I'm happy to move the recommendation, Your Worship.

00:47:48 Speaker 05: Okay, thank you.

00:47:49 Speaker 02: I'll go to Councillor Merton, and then Councillor Farmer next.

00:47:53 Speaker 13: Through Deputy Mayor, I'm wondering if the Director of Corporate Services could assist us in understanding where the money and understanding where the money will come from, that will plump up the contingency fund.

00:48:05 Speaker 13: Will this be a loan, a debenture?

00:48:07 Speaker 13: Where do we get that money from?

00:48:18 Speaker 13: Thank you.

00:48:19 Speaker 13: I was just reminding myself.

00:48:20 Speaker 13: So this project was always anticipated to be partially grant funded and partially funded through debenture.

00:48:26 Speaker 20: So once the project is at completion, we'll determine what that difference is, and the entire amount won't be debentured at this time.

00:48:34 Speaker 20: So this would just be added on to the existing debenture that we'd already anticipated.

00:48:42 Speaker 03: Through the Chair, I'll echo Councillor Hamley's comments on water being important, especially following the Earth Day presentation.

00:48:48 Speaker 03: Just a point of clarity: is the motion to apply that to the budget separate from the contingency?

00:48:54 Speaker 03: Are we applying it to the contingency?

00:48:56 Speaker 03: Does it matter if it's just all that amount of money lumped to that project?

00:49:00 Speaker 03: Thank you.

00:49:04 Speaker 19: Through the Deputy Mayor to Councillor Farmer, I suppose the easiest way to explain it would be that it's pre-approval for contingency.

00:49:18 Speaker 02: Not seeing any further questions in the room.

00:49:22 Speaker 02: Councillor Boddy's not showing any questions, so all those in favour of that recommendation passing, and that's carried unanimously.

00:49:32 Speaker 02: Thank you very much.

00:49:35 Speaker 02: And item ten B is a verbal report regarding Grey County Council.

00:49:41 Speaker 02: This time, I place Councillor Dodd in the chair.

00:49:52 Speaker 02: Thank you.

00:49:52 Speaker 02: I've been waiting a long time to sit in this chair.

00:49:56 Speaker 02: So there's going to be a change of order here.

00:49:58 Speaker 02: Just kidding.

00:49:59 Speaker 06: I'll move back to the Deputy Mayor for his comments.

00:50:10 Speaker 06: Thank you.

00:50:10 Speaker 02: And I've got two county meetings to report from since our last council meeting.

00:50:15 Speaker 02: Great, County Council endorsed the recommendation to reduce the multi-residential tax ratio, similar to our actions at this table.

00:50:23 Speaker 02: Council received a Treasurer's statement outlining the remuneration and reimbursement of councillors for 2024.

00:50:29 Speaker 02: Council received an update on the creation of green development standards.

00:50:33 Speaker 02: Staff will continue engagement with local municipalities and the development industry before reporting back with a final set of metrics and an implementation recommendation.

00:50:43 Speaker 02: The programme hopes to deliver benefits spanning environmental, through reduced energy consumption, improved water management, and green space expansion, and enhanced climate resilience; socially, through access to green space and mixed-use housing; as well as economic,

00:51:00 Speaker 02: through increased property values and building longevity and reduced municipal infrastructure costs.

00:51:06 Speaker 02: The plan considers being developed as a flexible point-based framework.

00:51:10 Speaker 02: Council approved an official plan amendment, which amends the County's rural designation permitted uses.

00:51:16 Speaker 02: Changes within are not specific to the urban centre of Owen Sound.

00:51:19 Speaker 02: Other than attempting to further support driving some developments to primary settlement areas,

00:51:25 Speaker 02: and Council approved furthering the Urban Roads Download and road exchanges to public information sessions and to negotiate new road agreements with affected municipalities.

00:51:37 Speaker 02: Previously, I had notified Council of the download coming with approximately $7.3 million of transitional funding over ten years for Owen Sound supporting the download.

00:51:47 Speaker 02: With new calculations generated from asset management plan, capital costs, and inflation increases, the ten-year transitional funding for Owen Sound is approximately $10.2 million.

00:52:00 Speaker 02: As proposed, the current increase to the County levy is $1.24 million, supporting the initiative.

00:52:06 Speaker 02: And resulting from the meeting of last week was an update on the climate adaptation plan.

00:52:12 Speaker 02: The community-wide plan will identify infrastructure and services impacted by climate change and responses.

00:52:19 Speaker 02: Staff will be participating in various engagement over the next month, including one that the presenter mentioned earlier, but climate conversations at the upcoming Earth Day festival.

00:52:35 Speaker 02: And just going offside like that makes me lose my point here.

00:52:40 Speaker 02: But oh, as well as an online public survey posted on the County website and promoted on social media, and finally, Council supported the creation of a joint municipal services committee,

00:52:53 Speaker 02: which did arise from motion at this table to further look at collaboration opportunities and service sharing between municipalities.

00:53:05 Speaker 02: I ask for Council support of the verbal report and welcome any questions.

00:53:09 Speaker 02: All right.

00:53:09 Speaker 02: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

00:53:10 Speaker 02: Any questions from Council?

00:53:11 Speaker 02: So, Councillor Middlebrooke.

00:53:15 Speaker 02: Thank you, through you, acting Chair, for the acting chair.

00:53:21 Speaker 02: Mike, I have some questions on the Urban Roads Exchange Download process, and wondering what it actually means for this municipality.

00:53:36 Speaker 02: Like, how many kilometers of roads are we taking on?

00:53:38 Speaker 02: What are the ones where the condition of these roads?

00:53:44 Speaker 21: I believe you said we're getting funding for this from Grey County, but I'm just—I want to make sure that we're not getting ourselves into something that we're not ready for here.

00:53:59 Speaker 02: I can respond to some of that.

00:54:02 Speaker 02: I know that we're taking on just under 15 kilometres of urban road downloaded to Owen Sound.

00:54:12 Speaker 02: Further conversation, I might defer to the Director of Public Works and Engineering in terms of projects, timelines, etc. At our end, through you, Deputy Mayor.

00:54:31 Speaker 02: So, staff, do you have a number of concerns?

00:54:38 Speaker 19: Yes, that still need to be worked out about this download process.

00:54:44 Speaker 19: We have been offered the opportunity to comment along the way.

00:54:49 Speaker 19: However, it doesn't really seem like our comments have been taken into consideration in a significant way.

00:54:59 Speaker 19: Primarily, the county has already committed through various conversations to funding various projects within the city through various means; two in particular that have been committed to in the last little while through development charges:

00:55:18 Speaker 19: being the east end of Eight Street East, that they had committed to reconstructing curb-to-curb with DC funding.

00:55:31 Speaker 19: Further, the culvert extension that will be required to accommodate a turning lane at the Skydive property on East Bayshore Road.

00:55:43 Speaker 19: These are costs that they had already essentially committed to, but they're—they don't figure in anywhere in the costing formula.

00:55:52 Speaker 19: And our understanding is that development charges or pre-planned projects after the date of October 20, 2026, essentially just ceased to exist.

00:56:10 Speaker 19: So, our understanding is that development charges collected from properties within Owen Sound are not being conveyed separate from the $10 million dollar transfer funding formula.

00:56:25 Speaker 19: Nor are any contemplated projects.

00:56:29 Speaker 19: For example, I went through some of their reports from their road transfer task force, and there was one in October of 2024 that stated that on Grey Road Five, somewhere within Owen Sound,

00:56:44 Speaker 19: they had a planned project in 2027 to the tune of $10 million for a roundabout and traffic signals.

00:56:52 Speaker 19: Well, that's just outside of the construction cutoff date, and that would wipe out our entire transition funding in one project.

00:57:02 Speaker 19: So there are some concerns about the funding being adequate.

00:57:07 Speaker 19: The other part that they seem to be resistant to address is that they've calculated the value based on their overall county highway network.

00:57:20 Speaker 19: Whereas, if you have 1,000 kilometres—I don't know how many they have, but let's say they have 1,000 kilometres of rural county highway—and we're talking about 16 kilometres of densely serviced urban two-to-four-lane highway,

00:57:38 Speaker 19: they have significantly different per-kilometre values.

00:57:43 Speaker 19: And on top of that, we have the bridges that we would be assuming along with the road transfers.

00:57:50 Speaker 19: So there are a number of concerns that we've identified that we would like to continue working through with the county.

00:58:01 Speaker 19: Thank you for those comments.

00:58:03 Speaker 19: Anyone further?

00:58:04 Speaker 19: Councillor Farmer.

00:58:06 Speaker 19: As a follow-up to that, through the chair to staff: I'm curious when we might know what the full extent of that transfer on our capital deficit might be,

00:58:15 Speaker 03: given the currently proposed timeline of this project.

00:58:19 Speaker 03: But I'm also wondering if there's a way for this council to petition for a staging of ownership during that transition,

00:58:26 Speaker 03: or a formal request for transparency for those calculations to make the per-kilometre funding and asset-specific funding adequate.

00:58:38 Speaker 03: Given that if you've got 1,000—to steal those—imagine your numbers.

00:58:43 Speaker 03: If you've got 1,000 kilometres and X number of bridges, and if we're taking over a few of those bridges, that's a more significant capital; it's a more expensive capital asset than the per-kilometre cost.

00:58:54 Speaker 03: And I'm wondering how we make sure that this process is done in a way that is both transparent and adequate.

00:59:00 Speaker 03: Given that it is a gift being bestowed upon us, Deputy Mayor, I guess I can attempt to answer some of those concerns.

00:59:15 Speaker 03: But just attempting to provide the perspective from the committee: at the county staff didn't want to entertain an evaluation depending on every capital project on its own or in isolation,

00:59:35 Speaker 02: and felt more comfortable using the asset management plan to support the transitional funding.

00:59:43 Speaker 02: They saw more equity in that.

00:59:45 Speaker 02: I might use Owen Sound as an example.

00:59:47 Speaker 02: We are very well resourced in our planning processes and our structures, and perhaps have a more dialed-in value of certain projects as compared to others.

01:00:05 Speaker 02: Some municipalities may not just have that level of detail.

01:00:09 Speaker 02: So there was—I think some security in using the asset management financial data to kind of lead to the projections that staff were using in determining that $12 million,

01:00:29 Speaker 02: as opposed to saying well this project's worth $10 and this project's worth $6 million and going about it on that basis.

01:00:36 Speaker 02: I guess that hopefully that answers some of the transparency concerns that you were just speaking to.

01:00:45 Speaker 02: Follow up from Councillor Farber: I'm curious, through the chair to staff, whether it would be helpful to add the weight of council's request to some of that correspondence.

01:00:56 Speaker 03: Were we to move staff to draft a letter for council's review, outlining the specific concerns resulting from this change, for our consideration to formally send to the county's committee overseeing this work?

01:01:14 Speaker 03: Deputy Mayor, I would say: speaking on behalf of the committee, we were not looking for letters of support from every lower-tier municipality, and probably in doing so, we'd never move an initiative forward.

01:01:29 Speaker 02: So that wasn't a path to this point that was determined as a direction that we'd want to go to solicit from every lower-tier municipality their comments or preferences on taking part.

01:01:50 Speaker 02: Knowing more about the capital projects might be beneficial.

01:01:55 Speaker 02: Like Councillor Middlebrooke spoke to Eight Street, as well as the director, a culvert replacement.

01:02:04 Speaker 02: I think we certainly would want to be fully aware of what those projects would be in the more immediate five-year and ten-year capital plans.

01:02:15 Speaker 02: But I think we certainly have a more working knowledge on the specific projects in front of us as opposed to some of our peers.

01:02:26 Speaker 02: So, yeah, we certainly were not looking to solicit correspondence from each municipality on supporting it or not supporting it.

01:02:39 Speaker 02: Does anyone have anything further before I go back to Councillor Farmer?

01:02:43 Speaker 02: Okay, John.

01:02:46 Speaker 02: Thank you again, through the chair.

01:02:47 Speaker 02: Just to clarify: not suggesting sending a letter of support or not support.

01:02:52 Speaker 03: Hearing that is not been the process that the committee or county council have undertaken.

01:02:57 Speaker 03: I'm interested, maybe similarly to Councillor Middlebrooke, in making sure that we have a really good idea of what this is going to cost,

01:03:05 Speaker 03: because it does seem given the current horizon of our asset management process and capital planning budgeting process that there are some really big-ticket items that we haven't been planning for that the county has,

01:03:20 Speaker 03: that we're not necessarily planned to get the funding for, and that could be a big deal.

01:03:25 Speaker 03: I don't feel like I've got enough information through a verbal report on what that would look like, and I'm really interested in amplifying the need to make sure that if we're getting something,

01:03:34 Speaker 03: the known carrying costs of that are included in the funding, and whether that's best done through a letter from our counsel requesting that,

01:03:43 Speaker 03: or if that's just something that we need to request more information from staff on.

01:03:47 Speaker 03: This seems like a scary box with maybe a big number in it, and I don't know.

01:03:52 Speaker 03: And I want to open the box.

01:03:54 Speaker 03: All right, thank you, Mayor Boddy.

01:03:56 Speaker 03: I see you on the screen.

01:03:59 Speaker 03: Thank you, Travis.

01:04:02 Speaker 03: I think we're way out ahead of this in the discussion here.

01:04:06 Speaker 03: At some point, they're going to have to figure what they're doing at the county.

01:04:09 Speaker 12: It's got to come as a proposal negotiated with staff.

01:04:13 Speaker 12: Then our staff will come to a report with council for us to consider at that time, with all the numbers.

01:04:19 Speaker 12: So the county committee, county staff, our staff aren't really ready to start putting numbers to it, and there's no use having numbers or more information until we're ready to make a decision.

01:04:30 Speaker 12: So that report will come at some point, and we can consider it then.

01:04:37 Speaker 12: Okay.

01:04:38 Speaker 12: That's great.

01:04:38 Speaker 12: Thank you, everybody.

01:04:40 Speaker 12: Any further questions?

01:04:42 Speaker 12: Sorry.

01:04:44 Speaker 12: Yeah.

01:04:44 Speaker 12: Any further questions or comments regarding that?

01:04:48 Speaker 12: Yeah, John.

01:04:49 Speaker 12: Thank you, through the chair to the Deputy Mayor.

01:04:51 Speaker 12: I'm wondering for both green development standards and climate adaptation plan public engagement processes: is it possible for staff to forward that information for engagement to our various committees to promote that with Owen Sound?

01:05:11 Speaker 03: My question is: like, do you mean our internal staff at City of Owen Sound or county staff?

01:05:21 Speaker 02: Through the—if I may, through the chair.

01:05:23 Speaker 02: Just I'm moving if it needs to be that formal,

01:05:27 Speaker 02: or requesting that information about opportunities to participate in that public engagement be included in correspondence to Owen Sound at least three main standing committees to promote engagement with our own committee members.

01:05:50 Speaker 03: Well, I don't know.

01:05:52 Speaker 03: The green development standards have been created to this point in harmony with working with municipal staff to this point, so there's already been contributions made.

01:06:07 Speaker 02: I guess if it's just public feedback, then like I was saying earlier, the county staff are engaging in different forums in the community and using an online survey to solicit some of that input.

01:06:26 Speaker 02: So I'm not sure if there's anything to be gained by sending it, but.

01:06:33 Speaker 02: Thank you, Mayor Boddy.

01:06:36 Speaker 02: Do you still have another question?

01:06:39 Speaker 02: Yeah, yeah.

01:06:39 Speaker 02: It's just to respond to that.

01:06:41 Speaker 02: Each of you should have a green card in front of you that Scott and I brought back from Grey County.

01:06:45 Speaker 02: That would be great to take to the committees and share that information with everybody on the committees.

01:06:52 Speaker 12: I think they're looking for participation and ways to participate and trying to get that word out there.

01:06:58 Speaker 12: So that's why we brought the cards back to give to each of you, and I couldn't grab enough to give to everybody in all the committees.

01:07:05 Speaker 12: But please take those and share them with your committees.

01:07:08 Speaker 12: Thanks.

01:07:10 Speaker 12: Thank you, Mayor Boddy.

01:07:11 Speaker 12: That's a great idea, and then maybe committee chairs can bring those and have those added to correspondence for our standing committees.

01:07:18 Speaker 06: Okay.

01:07:18 Speaker 06: Any further questions or comments regarding the Deputy Mayor's verbal report?

01:07:23 Speaker 06: I see none.

01:07:24 Speaker 06: You've moved to receive.

01:07:27 Speaker 06: Okay.

01:07:28 Speaker 06: All those in favour?

01:07:30 Speaker 06: Just passed.

01:07:30 Speaker 06: Thank you.

01:07:50 Speaker 06: Okay, and just before I continue, I'll go to Councillor Hamley first.

01:07:54 Speaker 02: Just maybe before we get into it, I did notice the bylaws, Deputy Mayor, and just back to my declaration of interest, 21-D and 21-F for the corresponding bylaws for my interest.

01:08:06 Speaker 05: And I've also noted, actually, there is another one, 21-B, which is the agreement with the Ministry of Transportation on the Community Transportation Grant Programme as well.

01:08:21 Speaker 05: Okay, so that staff have noted that on third reading those items.

01:08:27 Speaker 02: All right, thank you, Councillor Dodd, for stepping in there.

01:08:31 Speaker 02: We are into item eleven, the consent agenda.

01:08:35 Speaker 02: And before I go to the clerk, just to go through these, are there any items Council wishes to pull aside, vote differently?

01:08:46 Speaker 02: Not seeing any.

01:08:47 Speaker 02: To Brianna.

01:08:54 Speaker 02: Through you, Deputy Mayor Greig, on the consent agenda this evening is a report on 2025 court security and prisoner transport, a report on the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority lending agreement amendment,

01:09:05 Speaker 02: a report on the 2025 provincial gas tax letter of agreement, a report on the ratification of a tentative settlement with QP Local 1891 for outside workers,

01:09:15 Speaker 22: and a report on a contract extension for Flix Bus Transit Service use of One Sound Transit Terminal.

01:09:21 Speaker 22: There are minutes for receipt from the Library Board and Police Board, and business licences were issued to Jersey Mike's at 1660 20th Ave East, Muse Medical Aesthetics by Leah at 345 8th Street East,

01:09:33 Speaker 22: Pure Harmony Mobile Wellness at 1352 3rd Ave East, and Hong Tai at 101 10th Street East.

01:09:40 Speaker 22: Final approval was issued for a City Hall illumination request for Doctor's Day, and the last item on the consent agenda is the information package.

01:09:48 Speaker 22: A full listing is available at 11J.

01:09:51 Speaker 22: Thank you, Councillor Dodd.

01:09:54 Speaker 22: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

01:09:56 Speaker 22: Moved by myself that, in consideration of the items listed on April 14, 2025, consent agenda, City Council receives items 11A to 11J and approves the recommendations contained in items 11A to 11E.

01:10:07 Speaker 06: And all those in favour.

01:10:14 Speaker 06: And that's carried unanimously.

01:10:18 Speaker 06: And we'll just go to 11A.

01:10:22 Speaker 02: I'll go to Councillor Farmer first for 11A.

01:10:24 Speaker 02: Question.

01:10:25 Speaker 02: Um.

01:10:25 Speaker 02: Thank you.

01:10:26 Speaker 02: Through the Deputy Chief staff, I'm curious when it comes to court security.

01:10:30 Speaker 03: The last I heard, the Solicitor General's office was working on a review of the issue and funding, and that was before the election.

01:10:36 Speaker 03: Have staff, the Police Board or OSPS heard any update on that review, or when it's expected to be completed?

01:10:43 Speaker 03: I'm wondering if there's an opportunity to repeat our advocacy there, along with ratifying this agreement, to say thanks, and we still would like the province to cover all of that.

01:10:54 Speaker 03: But I'm curious to hear the state of that, if any news has been heard.

01:11:03 Speaker 03: Good day, City Manager.

01:11:05 Speaker 03: Through you, Deputy Mayor Greig, Councillor Farmer.

01:11:09 Speaker 18: Yeah, there has been ongoing conversations.

01:11:11 Speaker 18: I know the Police Chief has met with the Attorney General since the election had discussions on court security, and that still remains part of our overall package in talking with the province on various issues.

01:11:27 Speaker 18: So, just working through the list here.

01:11:29 Speaker 18: Is there any questions?

01:11:33 Speaker 18: To I mean, I would just note the Conservation Authority Board sent a letter of thanks to City of Owen Sound for their support in moving forward with the renovation and the subsequent financing agreement.

01:11:49 Speaker 02: They're quite thankful for Council's support.

01:11:54 Speaker 02: And next item probably is minutes of the board and committees, the library minutes from November.

01:12:02 Speaker 02: Councillor Koepke, anything there you wish to speak to?

01:12:06 Speaker 02: Thank you.

01:12:07 Speaker 02: Board members received a presentation on the very successful Repair Cafe programme, which is a partnership with the Georgetown Bluffs Climate Action Team and the library.

01:12:17 Speaker 04: The Repair Cafe is hosted in the library auditorium on the second Saturday of each month from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

01:12:25 Speaker 04: Library memberships continue to increase, and the value of physical material borrowed by members at the library equated to over four million in 2024.

01:12:36 Speaker 04: Various meetings, events, and programmes that took place at the library were identified.

01:12:41 Speaker 04: The CEO and staff were commended for the dedication and commitment to providing services and programmes at the public library.

01:12:49 Speaker 04: Thank you.

01:12:51 Speaker 04: Thank you.

01:12:51 Speaker 04: Any questions?

01:12:52 Speaker 04: Not seeing any.

01:12:54 Speaker 04: Next item is minutes for receipt from the Owen Sound Police Services, Councillor Merton.

01:13:02 Speaker 02: Through you, Deputy Mayor.

01:13:04 Speaker 02: In addition to the minutes of the February 26, 2025, Owen Sound Police Service Board included in our Council agenda package.

01:13:13 Speaker 13: I wish to highlight the following:

01:13:15 Speaker 13: Chief Ambrose advised the board that the option exists for businesses to remove people who are trespassing by contacting the police service and providing the police service with the authority to act on behalf of the

01:13:28 Speaker 13: business.

01:13:30 Speaker 13: Chair Thompson provided the board with information relating to the Owen Sound Transportation Bylaw.

01:13:36 Speaker 13: This included the bylaw was up.

01:13:38 Speaker 13: The bylaw was updated in May 2020 to incorporate the licensing of ride-share licences.

01:13:44 Speaker 13: Some examples include Uber or Lyft.

01:13:47 Speaker 13: The Owen Sound Transportation Bylaw covers taxi drivers, is administered by the Owen Sound Police Services Board, and any questions should be directed to the Owen Sound Police Service Board.

01:14:00 Speaker 13: Increased rates for taxi operators and a reduction in licensing fees was made in February 2024.

01:14:08 Speaker 13: The chair clarified that under the Municipal Act, a municipality may delegate licensing, regulation, and governing of owners, drivers of taxicabs, and other vehicles used for hire, including rates and fares to be charged.

01:14:24 Speaker 13: The Corporation of the City of Owen Sound passed Bylaw Number 1996-153 to delegate the licensing power of taxis to the Owen Sound Police Services Board.

01:14:38 Speaker 13: Chief Ambrose announced Inspector Fluney's retirement, and I'm just pulling up the information.

01:14:44 Speaker 13: His last official day on work is April 25th, but with the accumulation of time, vacation time, lieu time, he's actually going to be attached to his email and phone until June 30th.

01:14:59 Speaker 13: Anyone who wishes to send him best wishes on his retirement may do so.

01:15:05 Speaker 13: Chief Ambrose expressed gratitude for his significant contributions to the organisation, and his years of dedicated service.

01:15:14 Speaker 13: Chief Ambrose provided the update on the 2023 to 2026 operation plan.

01:15:21 Speaker 13: The fourth six-month progress report marks the plan's halfway point, showing that 90% or 45 actions are in progress, four actions are completed.

01:15:33 Speaker 13: One will start later in the year, and the report highlights significant ongoing efforts, with some initiatives nearing completion, and others integrating into long-term practices.

01:15:46 Speaker 13: And that is my report on those minutes.

01:15:50 Speaker 13: Okay, thank you very much.

01:15:51 Speaker 13: We certainly wish them all the best in retirement.

01:15:55 Speaker 02: We wonder what Detective Fluni will do with his 50s, retiring so young.

01:15:59 Speaker 02: Councillor Farmer.

01:16:00 Speaker 02: Councillor Farmer.

01:16:03 Speaker 02: Thank you, through the chair.

01:16:04 Speaker 02: A question coming out of the minutes.

01:16:06 Speaker 02: The progress report on the operations plan notes that beginning in January 2025, just past, OSPS will be taking a different approach to how individuals with problematic substance use disorders are dealt with in public spaces.

01:16:18 Speaker 03: Chief Ambrose spoke along similar lines at the small communities conference, as reported in the Sun Times.

01:16:24 Speaker 03: And I'd like to hear more about these changes and the implications.

01:16:27 Speaker 03: But I'm unclear whether that's best done through written correspondence or a request for an update of Council or committee.

01:16:33 Speaker 03: What do you think is the best format for more information and discussion on that topic for this Council?

01:16:42 Speaker 03: Through Deputy Mayor, in response to that issue, I reached out to the chair, the board chair, and I have some additional information to share.

01:16:54 Speaker 13: The operations plan referencing C.C.S.3 was unanimously approved by the board in March of 2023, and it received public support.

01:17:08 Speaker 13: The information that was provided in the newspaper and the quotes from Chief Ambrose to explain the rationale behind the change in the operations or the enforcement action that you've referenced, Councillor Farmer.

01:17:24 Speaker 13: So a quote from that particular article by Chief Ambrose says, "The problem that I see is the pendulum's probably swung too far.

01:17:35 Speaker 13: Despite the harm reduction efforts and saving lives, more people are dying every year.

01:17:41 Speaker 13: And without enforcement, the visible effects of substance use have become more problematic."

01:17:47 Speaker 13: The community is concerned, and he said he receives calls daily because of the visibility of substance abuse within the city, and there's disorderly behaviour and public use, has increased significantly in the last few years.

01:18:04 Speaker 13: The board chair went on to provide the information.

01:18:08 Speaker 13: The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police's position has changed, and it no longer supports the decriminalization of drug possession, in small amounts,

01:18:22 Speaker 13: unless enough supports for people who use drugs are put in place," Chief Ambrose noted.

01:18:28 Speaker 13: "The plan moving forward, we're looking at returning to enforcement of the CDSA, which is the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, for possession charges for public drug use.

01:18:40 Speaker 13: We may or may not lay charges in those cases," Chief Ambrose said.

01:18:46 Speaker 13: "When the question is raised about how do we obtain more information, Chief, the board chair certainly felt that the article in the Sun Times provided the information that was requested about the change,

01:19:01 Speaker 13: and he also indicated that under the Community Safety and Policing Act, board members or individuals are not permitted to direct or be involved in the operational issues of a police service.

01:19:18 Speaker 13: That was the response from the board chair.

01:19:22 Speaker 13: Anything further, Councillor Farmer?

01:19:23 Speaker 13: Go ahead.

01:19:25 Speaker 13: Through the chair, the chair.

01:19:26 Speaker 13: If if that's the response, I would request that staff add the referenced article to the minutes for this particular meeting, so that we have all the information in one place.

01:19:44 Speaker 03: Councillor Merton, you wish to respond to that?

01:19:47 Speaker 02: Perhaps then I'll go to the clerk afterwards.

01:19:51 Speaker 02: I do feel it's important information for the public to have, so I would look to the clerk whether, in capturing the minutes, if we can include that that information.

01:20:04 Speaker 13: Thank you.

01:20:06 Speaker 13: Go ahead, Brianna.

01:20:08 Speaker 13: Through you, Deputy Mayor Greig.

01:20:09 Speaker 13: If it's council's wish, we can add it when we republish the agenda for archival purposes with the minutes from that board meeting.

01:20:23 Speaker 22: If you wish to make a motion to that effect, I'll ask you to do so.

01:20:29 Speaker 23: These were just being provided for information for council, and that has been done.

01:20:35 Speaker 23: So I think anything further should require a motion.

01:20:38 Speaker 23: So I'll look to you.

01:20:39 Speaker 23: If you wish to make a motion, please do.

01:20:41 Speaker 23: But I think the question was asked and response was provided.

01:20:47 Speaker 23: Through the chair, in the interests of full transparency and accessibility, I would move that the relevant information be added to the republished agenda and minutes of republished agenda for this meeting.

01:21:03 Speaker 03: Motion's made.

01:21:03 Speaker 03: Any questions to the motion?

01:21:08 Speaker 03: Not seeing any.

01:21:09 Speaker 03: All those in favour?

01:21:15 Speaker 03: And those opposed, and that's four, four, and I'm opposed.

01:21:21 Speaker 02: So that motion is defeated.

01:21:25 Speaker 02: So we will move forward.

01:21:31 Speaker 02: We have now down to eleven J. There is item eleven two, or item two within eleven J. I think Council has some interest in, if I may, the clerk has that on the screen,

01:21:49 Speaker 02: regarding the strong mayor powers.

01:21:52 Speaker 02: This is within the correspondence portion of the consent agenda.

01:21:55 Speaker 02: If I could just go to Mayor Boddy to speak to that item of significant public interest at this time.

01:22:05 Speaker 02: Thank you.

01:22:08 Speaker 02: I really don't know where to begin or what to say.

01:22:11 Speaker 02: Last Wednesday we were at the service committee meeting, and followed by a online seminar that I was on.

01:22:19 Speaker 12: And in the middle of that, came in this letter advising us that strong mayor powers had been added to a whole bunch of smaller municipalities.

01:22:31 Speaker 12: Didn't see it coming.

01:22:32 Speaker 12: No warning.

01:22:33 Speaker 12: Didn't ask for it.

01:22:35 Speaker 12: Don't know how that.

01:22:38 Speaker 12: Well, I know how it affects us, but I don't know that it will affect us, depending how we how we deal with it.

01:22:43 Speaker 12: I'd like to get more information so we fully understand it and make rational decisions based on all of the best information out there.

01:22:52 Speaker 12: I'm frankly quite happy the way this council works now, and I think unless there's some way that benefits this council in the way it works now,

01:23:06 Speaker 12: then we'll find a way to continue to do what we're doing, from my point of view, but we need a lot more information for me to really be able to wrap my head around it.

01:23:16 Speaker 12: I suspect now that it's been given by the province that they're not going to take it away.

01:23:22 Speaker 12: I don't think it's something that we can say we want it, we don't want it, we reject it.

01:23:26 Speaker 12: We can say that, but I don't think it's going to make any difference.

01:23:29 Speaker 12: So I think we're going to have to figure out best how to deal with it in a way that's responsible and continues as best we can, trying to build consensus and strong majorities at councils.

01:23:48 Speaker 12: We all make the decisions.

01:23:51 Speaker 12: I frankly can't see me as mayor making decisions about staffing, about budget.

01:23:56 Speaker 12: Like that's just not going to happen without everybody involved.

01:23:59 Speaker 12: And I don't know how it could.

01:24:01 Speaker 12: But other than that, I don't know what to say until we until we get more information.

01:24:08 Speaker 12: Okay, thanks, Mayor Boddy, and we do have opportunity this Thursday yet with a joint meeting being conducted with Grey County,

01:24:15 Speaker 02: and we have a special meeting on April twenty eighth to accommodate this topic as well.

01:24:24 Speaker 02: Councillor Farmer, I'll go first, and then Councillor Koepke.

01:24:28 Speaker 02: Thank you, through the chair.

01:24:29 Speaker 02: I see the expansion of strong mayor powers as extremely concerning for a host of reasons, as we discussed in 2023, most notably the concentration of power in the hands of one member of council,

01:24:39 Speaker 03: the potential impact on staff, as the mayor will soon have the power to unilaterally fire and hire senior staff and rearrange department structures, and the impact on council discussions,

01:24:48 Speaker 03: with the power to create or disband city committees and appoint the chairs and vice chairs of those committees,

01:24:54 Speaker 03: veto jointly approved bylaws and pass bylaws with less than the majority support under the loosely defined banner of provincial priorities, with council having no recourse to challenge the actions or the justification for them.

01:25:06 Speaker 03: These risks are well articulated by the Association of Municipal Managers, Clerks, and Treasurers of Ontario,

01:25:11 Speaker 03: which notes that the way that these powers have blurred the political administrative authority between the roles of head of council and chief administrative officers,

01:25:19 Speaker 03: threatening the neutrality of the public service and politicizing local government leadership.

01:25:24 Speaker 03: We don't need to look further than Arilia, where the mayor, upon receiving these powers only weeks ago, immediately cancelled the upcoming contract of the newly selected and council approved incoming CAO,

01:25:35 Speaker 03: replacing them before the scheduled start date had even occurred, with a handpicked appointee.

01:25:40 Speaker 03: Callaghan's mayor made a similar decision, and a member of that council had to resort to a freedom of information request to see the details of the appointed CAO's contract,

01:25:49 Speaker 03: which exposed significant financial liabilities if they happen to be fired without notice.

01:25:55 Speaker 03: Which is something that any future mayor could do at the drop of a hat, thanks to these powers.

01:25:59 Speaker 03: From my perspective, this clearly creates the conditions for an abuse of this power and singular manipulation of city processes.

01:26:06 Speaker 03: And while we've heard from the current mayor that he doesn't plan to use these special powers after they come into effect on May first,

01:26:13 Speaker 03: there's no guarantee that a future mayor with a different perspective on democracy would not decide differently.

01:26:19 Speaker 03: I think that this council should join other councils across Ontario in responding to the province's expansion of these powers by saying we don't want them and we don't think they're appropriate.

01:26:27 Speaker 03: I'll also highlight here that the public comment period for this change in regulation is still open online, and that anyone can provide feedback to the government on these changes until April 16th.

01:26:38 Speaker 03: I'm willing to move such a motion, but I understand if Council would rather wait to make a statement after the meetings that are coming up over the next few weeks.

01:26:46 Speaker 03: And as we and staff prepare for those meetings, I would specifically request clarity and additional information about whether the municipality's procedural bylaws can in any way limit the use of these powers,

01:26:58 Speaker 03: or whether they're superseded by those provincial regulation over our own bylaws.

01:27:05 Speaker 03: I'd love to know more about whether one mayor's delegation of the new powers to councillor staff, as many strong mayors have done across Ontario so far,

01:27:13 Speaker 03: whether that can persist beyond the tenure of an individual council, whether we can institute any bylaws or procedures to ensure that decisions made with strong mayor powers,

01:27:23 Speaker 03: as well as contracts entered into under that authority will be available for council's information, avoiding the freedom of information debacle that Caladen saw.

01:27:32 Speaker 03: And I'm also interested in knowing more about what the government is referring to when their press release claims that these enhanced powers come with increased accountability for heads of council and maintain essential checks and

01:27:43 Speaker 03: balances through the oversight of councillors.

01:27:45 Speaker 03: I've not seen that in the way that those powers are described, and I'd love to know more about what that can look like because I think this is really bad.

01:27:53 Speaker 03: Okay, thank you.

01:27:54 Speaker 03: There's some good questions in there, and I'm looking at staff, and I see them nodding that they'll be able to capture some responses back in the report.

01:28:02 Speaker 02: Back when we discuss the topic in the twenty-eighth, Councillor Koepke.

01:28:09 Speaker 02: Thank you.

01:28:09 Speaker 02: I'll be brief.

01:28:11 Speaker 02: I'm rather miffed at the ministry, and certainly wonder why there are eight other people around this table, when one person is being given all the power.

01:28:21 Speaker 04: It certainly is more and more valid that you only have seven around this table, as opposed to paying, sorry, six councillors, as opposed to paying eight more councillors.

01:28:33 Speaker 04: But I'm miffed.

01:28:36 Speaker 04: Councillor Merton.

01:28:38 Speaker 04: Through you, acting chair, chair, mayor.

01:28:46 Speaker 04: It would perhaps be helpful.

01:28:49 Speaker 04: I'm sure all of us around the table have similar questions, concerns, and I'm wondering if it would be helpful for all of us to direct our questions, concerns,

01:28:59 Speaker 13: and suggestions directly to the clerks if they would be willing to accept that, so that we have a concerted compendium,

01:29:09 Speaker 13: and we can start to circulate that either through the county or certainly when we meet together.

01:29:15 Speaker 13: But there are important questions to be asked.

01:29:18 Speaker 13: There's other.

01:29:18 Speaker 13: Ask.

01:29:18 Speaker 13: There's other.

01:29:19 Speaker 13: We know we've received input from AMO, but there is a Healthy Democracy Project, and we need to perhaps reach out and say, "What is the stance?"

01:29:29 Speaker 13: I know I've written to the Healthy Democracy Project directly, the lead, to say, "Where is the stance of the Healthy Democracy Project in relation to this?"

01:29:39 Speaker 13: So I think that it's time to ask questions.

01:29:44 Speaker 13: The decision may be already made, and will be announced.

01:29:47 Speaker 13: And will be enacted May 1st.

01:29:49 Speaker 13: But how we move forward based on the answers to our concerns and questions will help to guide not just this council, but the councils of the future.

01:29:58 Speaker 13: Thank you.

01:30:00 Speaker 13: Thanks, Councillor Burton.

01:30:01 Speaker 13: And I see the clerks were nodding,

01:30:02 Speaker 13: so that that request will certainly be able to be accommodated over the next couple weeks to submit questions and have staff be able to incorporate that back into the twenty-eighth meeting.

01:30:14 Speaker 02: So, okay, not seeing anything further around the table at this time on that item.

01:30:22 Speaker 02: We are down to item twelve, which is committee minutes, and the first minutes are of the community services.

01:30:31 Speaker 02: Councillor Koepke.

01:30:33 Speaker 02: Thank you, members.

01:30:35 Speaker 02: Received a presentation from the city's community and business development advisor, and the Grey County Economic Development, Tourism and Culture Director respecting Grey County's 2024 annual report on economic development, tourism, and culture,

01:30:52 Speaker 04: which focused on foundational work in building capacity internally for member municipalities and Grey County's regional role by placing a higher priority on supporting community partners through programmes and events.

01:31:07 Speaker 04: Who we are and what we have to offer, demographics of our region were highlighted since 2001, noting that there has been a strong shift to a more senior population.

01:31:19 Speaker 04: Agriculture tends to lead in local industry and exports over $240 million dollars.

01:31:25 Speaker 04: Priorities identified were as follows: leadership and collaboration, building cohesiveness; investment ready, building capacity; business retention and expansion, building pride; entrepreneurship and innovation, building networks; destination development, building place.

01:31:46 Speaker 04: The second presentation received by members was from Dave Shori, Executive Director of the Owen Sound Campus of Georgian College, who provided an update on the enrolment and various programmes offered by the college.

01:32:00 Speaker 04: He highlighted that regional college campuses in rural serving regions are irreplaceable infrastructure that ensures people in rural places have access to affordable higher education and can graduate with a credential that addresses local workforce needs.

01:32:20 Speaker 04: Dr. Nadia Brusson, Associate Dean and Professor Troy Dowell provided additional information and statistics on the various programmes offered by Georgian.

01:32:31 Speaker 04: Information was received on the city's recently applied research partnership with the college and Harry Lam.

01:32:37 Speaker 04: The college and Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre, where students were commended for presenting the following projects for consideration: green roof technology installation proposal, water reclaimer system,

01:32:52 Speaker 04: optimizing HVAC performance by integrating ice bank with air handling systems, dehumidifier integration of three systems, refrigeration system, desiccant wheel and heat exchanger and cooling tower.

01:33:11 Speaker 04: Paul Crawford and Phil Godfrey, representing the Scenic City Order of Good Cheer,

01:33:16 Speaker 04: were present regarding a draft contribution agreement with the city for replacement of the playground and revitalizing the splash pad at Kelsey Beach at Nawash Park.

01:33:30 Speaker 04: A donation in the amount of $250,000 has been committed by the organisation over five annual payments starting in 2025; the organisation was thanked for the generosity and dedication,

01:33:45 Speaker 04: and continued enhancement of assets to the city.

01:33:49 Speaker 04: A one-year extension to the proposal for use of the historic former CN station by the Community Waterfront Heritage Centre was agreed upon.

01:33:58 Speaker 04: CWHC has expanded the space they use in the building to enable them to provide social enterprise and a social prescription for seniors.

01:34:07 Speaker 04: The city's tourism is enhanced in this space by CWHC by providing a brochure rack featuring city and other brochures, along with selling city merchandise.

01:34:20 Speaker 04: Members approved a request from the Oceanside Agricultural Society to construct a new building and replace a building that was destroyed by a fire on lands known as Victoria Park.

01:34:31 Speaker 04: Details of the building will be provided through the city's minor site plan approval process, and a building permit will be required for the 75 foot by 36 foot structure,

01:34:43 Speaker 04: which will be located generally in the area where the lounge building stood.

01:34:49 Speaker 04: Members discussed and approved a staff report regarding the replacement of a mural at 851 Second Avenue East and the allocation of funding for the design and production of the mural and accessory information signage.

01:35:03 Speaker 04: Given the redevelopment of the building, a new mural is planned, featuring photographs by J. James, a historical Owen Sound photographer who focused on the harbour, industrial sector, and downtown core.

01:35:17 Speaker 04: While the mural will meet many of the policies and fundamentals of the city's public art policy, it is outside the definition of public art as outlined in the policy.

01:35:28 Speaker 04: The annual 2024 and February 2025 development updates were provided, noting 2024 year-end saw a record of 211 preconsultations, featuring just over $39 million in construction, with 337 building permits being issued,

01:35:48 Speaker 04: and $373,408 in building permit fees being collected.

01:35:53 Speaker 04: Development charges collected in 2024 were just over $475,000, and $80,000 in community improvement plan funding was issued.

01:36:05 Speaker 04: February 2025 saw 23 building permits being issued, with revenue of just under $18,000 in building permit fees, and a construction value of just under $2 million.

01:36:16 Speaker 04: Also contained in the information package, the manager of planning and heritage provided an update on various site plan approvals that have taken place.

01:36:26 Speaker 04: Information regarding the turtle stewardship programme of the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority was received.

01:36:33 Speaker 04: Committee requested the city manager to provide an updated version of the flag flying, proclamations and public awareness campaigns policy, including a guideline section for circumstances under which national flags can be displayed.

01:36:50 Speaker 04: A closed meeting followed respecting Volunteer of the Year, Senior of the Year, and Youth Volunteer of the Year nominations.

01:36:57 Speaker 04: Without your acting worship, I move approval of the minutes of the Community Services meeting held on March 19, 2025, and the recommendations contained therein.

01:37:09 Speaker 04: Thanks, Chair Koepke.

01:37:10 Speaker 04: Any questions?

01:37:13 Speaker 04: Councillor Farmer.

01:37:16 Speaker 04: Through the chair, just to clarify, my understanding of the motion connected to the rebuilding of the building beside the grandstand was that staff would be collaborating on potential changes to that.

01:37:30 Speaker 03: That was stated differently in that report.

01:37:34 Speaker 03: Is there an update since then, or did I misunderstand it at some point?

01:37:40 Speaker 03: I will claim sleep deprivation as a result of small children.

01:37:45 Speaker 03: Look to Director Coulter.

01:37:50 Speaker 03: Thank you, and through you, the minutes are there.

01:37:54 Speaker 10: They do require minor site plan approval and obtaining a building permit, and it references the next steps outlined.

01:38:02 Speaker 10: We have been in touch with the Agricultural Society about the potential relocation of the building.

01:38:08 Speaker 10: They were headed to a meeting of their board a couple of weeks ago.

01:38:13 Speaker 10: I would also report we had committed to connect the Agricultural Society and another potential partner on, perhaps collaborating on a building that might feature washrooms, and that building at least has taken, or sorry,

01:38:28 Speaker 10: that meeting has taken place.

01:38:30 Speaker 10: So we will continue to explore the exact location of the building through that minor site plan approval.

01:38:40 Speaker 10: Okay, not seeing any further questions.

01:38:42 Speaker 10: All those in favour, and that's carried unanimously.

01:38:46 Speaker 02: And I will at this time vacate the chair and...

01:38:47 Speaker 02: I'm vacating the chair and appoint Councillor Dodd back.

01:38:53 Speaker 02: Twice in one day.

01:38:55 Speaker 02: Wow, it's nice to be back.

01:38:59 Speaker 02: We missed.

01:39:00 Speaker 02: It's good.

01:39:00 Speaker 02: Jeez.

01:39:02 Speaker 02: Where do I start?

01:39:06 Speaker 02: All right, through you to the Deputy Mayor.

01:39:13 Speaker 02: Thank you, Councillor Dodd, and just like to report from the minutes of the Operations Committee in March,

01:39:20 Speaker 02: that committee received a project update from Tatum Engineering regarding Phase Three of the Looping Water Main Construction Project, enabling main replacement along Ninth Avenue East from the southerly city limits to Sixth Street,

01:39:32 Speaker 02: and including a 200-metre section of Sixth Street and intersection reconstruction.

01:39:37 Speaker 02: The project proceeding to tenders to replace water main, replace and upsize storm sewer for 440 metres,

01:39:44 Speaker 02: which will abandon a water main on private property at Superior Street and complete sidewalk addition for one hundred and eighty metres from the current end to Superior Street.

01:39:53 Speaker 02: The project being tendered will consider construction in two thousand twenty-five and two thousand twenty-six with an approved budget of six point one four five million dollars.

01:40:02 Speaker 02: And I'll just pause for a second.

01:40:04 Speaker 02: And this is a little bit of a project akin to comment Councillor Hamley made earlier about a significant project at the water treatment plant.

01:40:13 Speaker 02: The first phase.

01:40:14 Speaker 02: The first phases are somewhat discreet and hidden that most residents in the city would not be aware of the work undertaken the last couple years to get to where we are tonight,

01:40:26 Speaker 02: or ready to move forward in terms of facilitating the reconstruction of Ninth Avenue East and the water main and sanitary underneath.

01:40:34 Speaker 02: So there's been a lot of work to get to where we are now, but it's pretty well hidden.

01:40:40 Speaker 02: And if you're not a Grey County employee who drove in the driveway last year to see their driveway all dug up to enable the wireman going through,

01:40:48 Speaker 02: you're maybe not aware of the work so far.

01:40:51 Speaker 02: Committee received correspondence from the City of Toronto regarding expressions of interest for residual waste.

01:40:58 Speaker 02: Committee just received it.

01:41:00 Speaker 02: Staff presented the list of repaving projects to committee for 2025 and 2026.

01:41:05 Speaker 02: The city is partnering within the county tender again this year.

01:41:10 Speaker 02: The budget has returned to seven hundred thousand dollars this year from four hundred thousand dollars in two thousand twenty-four,

01:41:15 Speaker 02: and a quick calculation appears to be about three kilometres of resurfacing this year for six kilometres of total lane kilometres.

01:41:23 Speaker 02: Committee received a report on two thousand twenty-four collision statistics.

01:41:28 Speaker 02: Most collisions are reported in clear, dry conditions, and the highest collision intersections remain the same as two thousand twenty-three, and were in order: Tenth Street and Ninth Avenue East, Tenth Street and Second Avenue East,

01:41:42 Speaker 02: and Tenth Street and Third Avenue East.

01:41:44 Speaker 02: Worst intersections for injuries were Tenth Street and Sixth Avenue West, Sixteenth Avenue and Twentieth Street East, and Fourteenth Street and Second Avenue West.

01:41:55 Speaker 02: There were twelve instances involving pedestrians up from seven in two thousand twenty-three, and ten instances involving cyclists up from two in two thousand and twenty-three.

01:42:04 Speaker 02: Committee received the two thousand twenty-four annual wastewater reports.

01:42:08 Speaker 02: Of note is that the treatment plant's average daily flow is eleven thousand three hundred forty-two cubic metres per day, equivalent to forty-six percent of the plant capacity, and down slightly from the year prior.

01:42:19 Speaker 02: There was one date in April and two back-to-back dates in August of collection system overflows, similar to the year prior, but with a reduction in the total volume of overflow from the year prior.

01:42:32 Speaker 02: Five properties participated in the basement isolation storm sewer disconnection subsidy, which was three more than the year prior, and committee received a report respecting the drinking water quality management standard.

01:42:46 Speaker 02: An external audit, which was a recertification audit, was conducted earlier this year in January, and associated with the renewal of the drinking water licence and waterworks permit.

01:42:57 Speaker 02: The audit identified several strengths, including staff commitment to the DWQMS, evident continual improvement culture, strong communication processes, and thorough internal audit processes.

01:43:09 Speaker 02: One minor noncompliance was identified, and a corrective action plan was submitted and approved by the auditor.

01:43:16 Speaker 02: And committee approved the notice of motion for a report back from staff respecting a snow windrow clearing programme.

01:43:23 Speaker 02: I welcome any questions and ask for council's endorsement of the recommendations contained therein.

01:43:28 Speaker 02: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

01:43:29 Speaker 02: Any questions regarding the operations minutes?

01:43:32 Speaker 02: Councillor Farmer.

01:43:34 Speaker 02: Councillor Farmer.

01:43:35 Speaker 02: Thank you, through the chair.

01:43:36 Speaker 02: I was intrigued by the two thousand twenty-four collision statistics report.

01:43:40 Speaker 03: That type of data has the potential to inform road safety decisions and aligns with our city that moves pillar of the strategic plan.

01:43:46 Speaker 03: But reading the report, it looks like the data is not consistently reported enough for us to draw specific conclusions.

01:43:53 Speaker 03: Are there any opportunities to work with OSPS to improve that data so that it can better inform some of our strategies or projects moving forward?

01:44:14 Speaker 03: Through the chair, to Councillor Farmer, we did discuss that at the committee meeting, and staff...

01:44:21 Speaker 19: We committed to try to work with the police.

01:44:26 Speaker 19: We're not sure to what level they can customize their tracking.

01:44:30 Speaker 19: They're tracking.

01:44:32 Speaker 19: I don't know if it's an Excel spreadsheet or if it's some kind of more sophisticated form that they have.

01:44:39 Speaker 19: But we will have a conversation with them about whether or not there is an ability to track information that's a little bit more useful to us because there was a high percentage of collisions that

01:44:50 Speaker 19: were reported that were on private property.

01:44:53 Speaker 19: So the overall statistics make it look like there are a lot.

01:44:57 Speaker 19: It makes it look a lot worse than it actually is, and the other problem is that we don't see any detail at all as to what the mechanics of the collision were.

01:45:11 Speaker 19: It'll just say whether it was driver error or pedestrian.

01:45:16 Speaker 19: Like it doesn't really give you any indication as to what the actual circumstances leading up to the incident were.

01:45:24 Speaker 19: I doubt that they'll be able to give us like the level of detail of the actual incident reports,

01:45:30 Speaker 19: but a little bit more information would be helpful to be able to interpret the data in a more useful way.

01:45:39 Speaker 19: Great, thank you, Deputy Mayor.

01:45:41 Speaker 19: And I would just note for committee's interest: a key takeaway is how we respond to that data and worst intersections for injuries.

01:45:51 Speaker 02: Two of those three intersections, one of which, Fourteen Street and Second Avenue West, is being reconstructed this year by Grey County,

01:46:00 Speaker 02: and the intersection of 16th Avenue and 20th Street East is in the perhaps near future for the city as well as in terms of reconstructing.

01:46:11 Speaker 02: So, some of those intersections are on our current plans.

01:46:18 Speaker 02: Thank you.

01:46:18 Speaker 02: Any further questions?

01:46:20 Speaker 02: I see none.

01:46:22 Speaker 02: The Deputy Mayor has moved the recommendation.

01:46:24 Speaker 02: All those in favour.

01:46:26 Speaker 02: That is passed.

01:46:27 Speaker 02: Thank you.

01:46:40 Speaker 02: And thank you, Councillor Dodd.

01:46:43 Speaker 02: That completes our minutes of committees.

01:46:46 Speaker 02: We are item thirteen matters postponed, of which we have none.

01:46:50 Speaker 02: Motions for which notice was previously given.

01:46:51 Speaker 02: There are no motions at this time.

01:46:54 Speaker 02: We're to item fifteen, discussion of additional business, and I will first go to Councillor Farmer.

01:47:01 Speaker 02: Thank you, through the chair.

01:47:02 Speaker 02: I just wanted to say that I have the honour of representing council last week at the flag raising for Parkinson's Awareness Day and Week, joined by representatives of PSO,

01:47:12 Speaker 03: which is the Parkinson's Society of Southwestern Ontario.

01:47:15 Speaker 03: It was recognizing April as Parkinson's Awareness Month and April 11th as Parkinson's Awareness Day.

01:47:20 Speaker 03: Other speakers included the MP.

01:47:21 Speaker 03: Other speakers included the MPP Paul Vickers, Stephen Owen from PSSO, Trevor from the YMCA who runs Rocksteady Boxing at the Y as a Parkinson's specific programme,

01:47:31 Speaker 03: as well as Will McEwen and Tim Green who both live with Parkinson's.

01:47:35 Speaker 03: The theme for this year's awareness campaign is "More than You Can See," as they work to raise awareness about the non-motor symptoms that people with Parkinson's disease can experience.

01:47:43 Speaker 03: We heard that the disease is not defined just by those stereotypical tremors that might be visible, but there's really a whole basket of symptoms that vary by individual.

01:47:52 Speaker 03: There are resources to support folks living with Parkinson's and their caregivers locally, including resources and support groups run by PSO, Rock City Boxing, and our very own YMCA,

01:48:02 Speaker 03: which was highlighted because exercise and social connection are both helpful in addressing Parkinson's symptoms and the progression of the disease.

01:48:10 Speaker 03: Lots of folks were there.

01:48:10 Speaker 03: It was a beautiful day, and it's.

01:48:13 Speaker 03: I think that's why we have a community flagpole.

01:48:15 Speaker 03: So wanted to highlight that.

01:48:18 Speaker 03: Okay.

01:48:18 Speaker 03: Thank you, Councillor Koepke.

01:48:20 Speaker 03: Thank you.

01:48:20 Speaker 03: I bring thrilling news.

01:48:22 Speaker 03: Hooray!

01:48:23 Speaker 03: Starting the first week of June, residents will be able to use green bins to dispose of organic waste such as food scraps, soiled paper, pet waste, and other compostable materials with curbside collection every week.

01:48:38 Speaker 04: Beginning in mid-May, every eligible residential property will receive a curbside green bin, a kitchen catcher pail, and an information pack.

01:48:46 Speaker 04: And an information package, delivering free to your home.

01:48:51 Speaker 04: The bins should not be used until the first green bin collection in June, on the same day of the week as residential regular garbage collection takes place.

01:49:03 Speaker 04: Green bins will be collected every week.

01:49:07 Speaker 04: To help residents better manage their waste, the city is also introducing the Recycling Coach app, coming in the next few weeks.

01:49:16 Speaker 04: This interactive app provides residents with a "what goes where" option to help residents identify the correct disposal methods of a variety of items, including green bin materials, garbage, hazardous waste, and yard waste.

01:49:31 Speaker 04: And if I may be so bold as to quote the Mayor in the media release, the green bin programme isn't just a new waste collection programme in Owen Sound;

01:49:40 Speaker 04: it's a bold step towards a greener future by making it easier to divert household waste from landfills.

01:49:48 Speaker 04: We're taking real action to reduce our environmental footprint and build a more sustainable city.

01:49:54 Speaker 04: I encourage everyone to take part.

01:49:56 Speaker 04: Small actions can make a big impact.

01:50:00 Speaker 04: More information on the Green Bin Programme can be found at ownsound.ca/greenbins.

01:50:06 Speaker 04: And my second bit of news is: you know, it's spring when the leaf and yard waste site is open, and today the site opened,

01:50:16 Speaker 04: so I think there were lots of vehicles lined up out there.

01:50:21 Speaker 04: But I would ask the Director to remind everyone who is eligible to put waste at that site.

01:50:30 Speaker 04: Thank you, Councillor Capkis, through you, Deputy Mayor, the municipalities that have agreements with us currently.

01:50:37 Speaker 19: So obviously, it's City of Owen Sound residents.

01:50:41 Speaker 19: We have an agreement with Georgetown Bluffs, and my understanding is hot off the presses.

01:50:48 Speaker 19: We are about to have an agreement with Miford as well.

01:50:51 Speaker 19: So it'll be those three municipalities that have access free of charge to our compost site.

01:51:01 Speaker 19: Thank you, Councillor Koepke.

01:51:03 Speaker 19: Councillor Merton, next.

01:51:07 Speaker 19: Through you, Deputy Mayor.

01:51:09 Speaker 19: I don't know how you follow and act like that with the exciting news.

01:51:14 Speaker 19: So I'll look to the Clerk to put up three images because I'd like to speak to the Small Communities Solutions Conference, which was held March 29th, 2025.

01:51:27 Speaker 13: So for those who are tuning in, there will be three profiles that you will see.

01:51:33 Speaker 13: The first is about the conference, and the description below the image.

01:51:38 Speaker 13: Below the information about the conference, we asked the question, and if Brianne, did you mind going?

01:51:45 Speaker 13: Yeah, thanks.

01:51:46 Speaker 13: We asked the question if you had to describe the conference in three words, and we did a word cloud.

01:51:51 Speaker 13: And so there are different descriptive words that came back from the participants, as well as from the speakers.

01:51:58 Speaker 13: So the other two slides will be those speakers who actually attended, and provided their wisdom for those who participated,

01:52:07 Speaker 13: and then the third slide will be the committee of which I was delighted to participate in the planning committee, and also those who were our sponsors.

01:52:17 Speaker 13: So the Small Communities Solutions Conference.

01:52:20 Speaker 13: I'd like to give you some quick facts. 109 people were in attendance, which included the organizers, Owen Sound volunteers, speakers, presenters, media participants.

01:52:32 Speaker 13: There were 12 speakers.

01:52:34 Speaker 13: Two community sing sessions, ten table presenters, and one community meal.

01:52:41 Speaker 13: The key themes and insights.

01:52:44 Speaker 13: In addition to an asset mapping approach, surveys showed a strong desire for collaboration, learning, and actionable solutions to address pressing community challenges, with a particular emphasis on affordable housing, homelessness, and community engagement.

01:53:02 Speaker 13: This event was a connector, strengthening existing partnerships and identifying new opportunities for collaboration with leaders and organisations, both locally and further afield.

01:53:15 Speaker 13: Participants left with a shift towards action-oriented solutions, and moving beyond the bricks-and-mortar thinking.

01:53:23 Speaker 13: This event provided models for tackling complex issues that face many of our communities, reinforcing the idea that local solutions can be informed by best practices and adapted to the individual community's needs.

01:53:38 Speaker 13: It highlighted structured approaches to community challenges, increasing an awareness of available supports, with successful strategies to navigate barriers to change.

01:53:50 Speaker 13: Survey responses included: there is hope, commitment, and a shared community motivation that demonstrated that the event was a success.

01:53:59 Speaker 13: Demonstrated that the event successfully energized attendees, and reinforced a sense of possibility for change.

01:54:08 Speaker 13: The Harmony Centre website, the page harmonycenter.ca, will be updated when the final report is available.

01:54:16 Speaker 13: And I just received this evening the draft final report for the committee to actually look at, and it will also include a message from the Harmony Centre board chair Jeff Alley.

01:54:28 Speaker 13: So I wanted to update the committee, and the exciting news is the work for healthy communities doesn't stop there.

01:54:38 Speaker 13: And I have joined the planning committee for the Healthy Communities Partnership Conference that we hope will happen in spring of 2026.

01:54:47 Speaker 13: Stay tuned; date has not yet been determined.

01:54:50 Speaker 13: Where a lot of the key lessons and action orientation hopefully will flow in from one conference to the other.

01:54:57 Speaker 13: Thank you.

01:54:59 Speaker 13: Okay, thanks, Councillor Merton.

01:55:01 Speaker 13: And finally, I'll go to Mayor Boddy with an item of additional business.

01:55:08 Speaker 02: First of all, thanks to Councillor Farmer for attending the flag raising.

01:55:12 Speaker 12: It was Thursday when Deputy Mayor Greig and I were up at Grey County and couldn't do both.

01:55:18 Speaker 12: I'm not there because I'm here, and I'm here in Ottawa for the Canadian Nuclear Association conference, which starts tomorrow.

01:55:27 Speaker 12: Mr. Simmonds is coming up as well.

01:55:30 Speaker 12: This is a great conference around nuclear energy and all the suppliers to the nuclear industry, as well as isotopes.

01:55:42 Speaker 12: So, engineers, scientists, construction companies, contractors, big construction companies, certainly Stevcon from Owen Sound that builds amazing packaging for isotopes and for major components that are going to Bruce Power and elsewhere, BWXT,

01:56:04 Speaker 12: which is also known, Sound Building, building big vessels that are going to Bruce Power and to OPG down in Darlington and the Whitby area.

01:56:16 Speaker 12: So it's a great opportunity to network with different companies that may be looking at locating in the area.

01:56:23 Speaker 12: Some of them, no doubt, will be involved with the Ontario Pump Storage if it gets approved, and even the engineering and the processing that's ongoing.

01:56:33 Speaker 12: It catches a corner of hydrogen, etc. So it's a great opportunity to network and sell on Sound to a specific industry that is in the clean energy frontier area,

01:56:49 Speaker 12: and you know most of it will be located, of course.

01:56:51 Speaker 12: But will be located, of course, over Portage and Way, closer to the plant in Carden.

01:56:56 Speaker 12: But some of it will be in the area as we move forward, especially with isotopes and the opportunities with regard to Georgian College and Bright Shores with their new research centre.

01:57:09 Speaker 12: So that's where I am today, and I'll report more when I'm back.

01:57:12 Speaker 12: Thanks.

01:57:15 Speaker 12: Hey, thank you very much, and Council certainly wishes you and Tim a successful week up there at that conference.

01:57:23 Speaker 02: So this time we are to item sixteen, motion that committee of the whole rise and report.

01:57:30 Speaker 02: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

01:57:30 Speaker 02: Moved by myself, that the committee of the whole rise and report.

01:57:34 Speaker 02: All those in favour?

01:57:36 Speaker 02: That's carried unanimously.

01:57:39 Speaker 02: And we are now within formal session.

01:57:42 Speaker 02: Item seventeen, motion to adopt proceedings, committee of the whole.

01:57:46 Speaker 02: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

01:57:46 Speaker 02: Moved by myself, seconded by Councillor Farmer, that the action taken in committee of the whole in considering public meetings, deputations, presentations, public forum, matters arising from correspondence, reports of city staff, consent agenda, committee minutes,

01:57:58 Speaker 06: matters postponed, motions for which notice was previously given, and additional business be confirmed by this council.

01:58:04 Speaker 06: And all those in favour, carried unanimously.

01:58:09 Speaker 02: We are to item 18.

01:58:12 Speaker 02: Any notices of motion?

01:58:14 Speaker 02: Not seeing any.

01:58:15 Speaker 02: Number item 19.

01:58:17 Speaker 02: Motion to move into closed session.

01:58:20 Speaker 02: And before we vote on that, I will just note: before we move into closed session, if the motion carries,

01:58:34 Speaker 02: I would like to note that if you are watching this meeting on Rogers Cable TV or the Rogers TV website,

01:58:40 Speaker 02: their feed will not reconnect to this meeting when we return to the open session to report out of the closed session and review the bylaws.

01:58:48 Speaker 02: If you would like to view the remainder of the open session, you can watch the live stream on the city's council and committees web page at www.owensound.ca/meetings.

01:58:55 Speaker 02: The video recording of the meeting will also be posted on this web page following the meeting.

01:59:06 Speaker 02: And to Councillor Dodd.

01:59:09 Speaker 02: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

01:59:09 Speaker 02: Moved by myself and seconded by Councillor Farmer, that City Council now move into closed session to consider: A) minutes of the closed session of the Community Services Committee meeting held on March 19, 2025;

01:59:21 Speaker 06: B) minutes from the closed session of the regular council meeting held on March 24, 2025;

01:59:25 Speaker 06: C) one matter regarding the proposed pending acquisition of land by the municipality and advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose respecting property on Sixth Street East;

01:59:37 Speaker 06: D) one matter regarding the proposed pending disposition of land of the municipality respecting property on Twenty-Fourth Street East; E) respecting property on 21st Street East; and finally,

01:59:45 Speaker 06: F) one matter regarding personal matters about identifiable individuals respecting board and committee public appointments.

01:59:52 Speaker 06: Thank you, and all those in favour.

01:59:56 Speaker 06: That's carried unanimously.

01:59:59 Speaker 06: So at this time, we are going to move into closed session, and we'll just take a moment to structure.

03:04:54 Speaker 02: All right.

03:04:55 Speaker 02: So, item twenty is reporting a closed session, and it is 8:25 p.m.

03:05:03 Speaker 02: And city council is returning to the open session during the closed session.

03:05:06 Speaker 02: City council reviewed minutes of the closed session of the Community Services Committee meeting held on March 19, 2025; B) reviewed minutes of the closed session of the regular council meeting held on March 24, 2025;

03:05:18 Speaker 02: C) discussed one matter regarding the proposed or pending acquisition of land by the municipality, and advice as subject to solicitor-client privilege, including communications necessary for that purpose, respecting property on Sixth Street East,

03:05:29 Speaker 02: and direction was provided to staff; D) discussed one matter regarding the proposed or pending disposition of land by the municipality, respecting property on Twenty-First Street East, and direction was provided to staff;

03:05:40 Speaker 02: and E) discussed one matter regarding personal matters about identifiable individuals respecting board and committee public appointments and direction was provided to staff.

03:05:51 Speaker 02: Item 21: Bylaws.

03:05:54 Speaker 02: Thank you, Deputy Mayor Greig.

03:06:01 Speaker 02: The bylaws listed for approval on tonight's agenda include the confirmatory bylaw, a bylaw to execute a second amending agreement with the Minister of Transportation respecting the Community Transportation Grant Programme,

03:06:12 Speaker 22: a bylaw to execute an amending agreement with the Township of Centre Wellington and a second amending agreement with the Township of Chatsworth, Township of Wellington North, Northern Credit Union, and Six and Ten Mini Mart,

03:06:22 Speaker 22: respecting the bus stops for the Guelph One Sound Transportation bus service.

03:06:25 Speaker 22: A biolitec authorises the mayor and clerk to execute a transfer payment agreement with the Solicitor General, respecting the payment agreement or with the Court Security Prison Transportation Programme.

03:06:36 Speaker 22: A biolitec authorises the mayor and clerk to execute a Master Servicing Agreement with Bayshore Street Developments, respecting 3195 East Bayshore Road;

03:06:43 Speaker 22: a bill to authorise the mayor and clerk to execute a letter of agreement with the Minister of Transportation respecting dedicated gas tax funds for public transportation programme;

03:06:51 Speaker 22: a bill to authorise the mayor and clerk to execute a lending agreement with Great Salt Lake Conservation Authority respecting funds to renovate their administration centre; and lastly,

03:07:00 Speaker 22: a bill to ratify the memorandum of settlement with QP 11891 and authorise the mayor and clerk to execute a collective agreement with QP 11891.

03:07:07 Speaker 22: Councillor Dodd.

03:07:08 Speaker 22: Councillor Dod.

03:07:09 Speaker 22: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

03:07:11 Speaker 22: Mayor.

03:07:13 Speaker 22: Thank you, Deputy Mayor.

03:07:14 Speaker 22: There we go.

03:07:17 Speaker 22: Moved by myself, seconded by Councillor Farmer, that bylaw number is 2025-027 through to and including 2025-034 be passed and enacted.

03:07:27 Speaker 06: And all those in favour.

03:07:29 Speaker 06: And that is carried unanimously.

03:07:31 Speaker 06: Thank you very much.

03:07:32 Speaker 06: And at this time, 8:28 p.m., we are adjourned.

03:07:37 Speaker 02: Thank you, everyone.