Owen Sound Council Meeting Transcript — June 24, 2026

00:01:47 Speaker 01: Good evening.

00:01:47 Speaker 01: This is the Community Services Committee meeting on June 24th.

00:01:51 Speaker 01: It's five thirty p.m., and welcome everyone.

00:01:54 Speaker 01: We have a few guests in the audience, and members present.

00:01:58 Speaker 01: There are two members absent: one is Councillor Middlebro', and the other is Ali Bosfield.

00:02:11 Speaker 02: I'll start the meeting; I've called it to order and asked for any additional business items.

00:02:22 Speaker 02: I believe staff have some.

00:02:26 Speaker 02: Thank you, Madam Chair.

00:02:29 Speaker 02: We have two items.

00:02:37 Speaker 02: The first is a change order for the Owen Heights and Comerat Playground.

00:02:52 Speaker 01: I believe that's Report 62, and the second is an update regarding the marker tree and request for additional budget funds; I believe that's Report 63.

00:03:13 Speaker 01: They were sent to committee earlier today, and there should be a hard copy on your desk.

00:03:33 Speaker 01: I would note when we get to this item tonight, we will need a motion to waive the procedural bylaw.

00:03:43 Speaker 01: Thank you.

00:03:48 Speaker 01: Next is confirmation of the minutes.

00:04:00 Speaker 01: Council has seen these minutes and approved them; however, at the committee level, we also need to show our approval of the same.

00:04:20 Speaker 01: Looking for a motion to approve.

00:04:24 Speaker 01: Royden has approved.

00:04:26 Speaker 01: All those in favor?

00:04:28 Speaker 01: That's carried.

00:04:32 Speaker 03: Thank you.

00:04:38 Speaker 03: Oh, backing up just a little: Declarations of interest.

00:04:47 Speaker 03: Are there any members who have a declaration?

00:05:06 Speaker 03: Royden: Yes, I have a declaration of interest as it relates to Item 8A regarding the report for the agreement to pilot a community impact lab.

00:05:24 Speaker 03: That agreement includes Grey County, for which I am an employee of the county.

00:05:35 Speaker 03: So during that discussion, I will be stepping out of the room.

00:05:39 Speaker 03: Thank you.

00:05:49 Speaker 03: And should any other members indicate a declaration at this time, we'll note that as well.

00:06:01 Speaker 03: Next are deputations and presentations.

00:06:16 Speaker 03: First, we have a presentation from Cassandra Dillman, who is the intermediate planner for Grey County, regarding the Age-Friendly Action Plan.

00:06:28 Speaker 03: So we'll welcome you to the podium.

00:06:33 Speaker 03: Good evening.

00:06:34 Speaker 03: Thank you.

00:06:39 Speaker 03: Let me just make sure all of this works before I start here.

00:06:46 Speaker 03: Great.

00:06:47 Speaker 03: Thank you.

00:06:58 Speaker 03: So my name is Cassandra, and as mentioned, I'm a planner at the county, and part of my role there, I also lead the county's Age-Friendly Action Plan.

00:07:23 Speaker 03: So thank you so much for having me tonight.

00:07:37 Speaker 03: I'm just going to quickly go over age-friendly community planning: a bit about the project timeline, some of our successes, and some next steps.

00:08:01 Speaker 03: So first off, an age-friendly community is designed so that everyone—this means children, youth, adults, older residents—can live, work, and play in safe, accessible, and welcoming spaces.

00:08:21 Speaker 03: Some communities choose to focus their age-friendly community planning solely on seniors; at the county, we have chosen to include all ages.

00:08:41 Speaker 03: And really through this work, we are asking that question: How can we support independence and social connections across the lifespan?

00:08:58 Speaker 03: To guide age-friendly community planning, the World Health Organization has developed a framework.

00:09:10 Speaker 03: Part of this framework includes eight dimensions of an age-friendly community.

00:09:23 Speaker 03: So you'll see that up on the screen.

00:09:43 Speaker 03: Really, they've divided parts of our community into those physical infrastructure elements: your housing, sidewalks, outdoor spaces; and then more of those softer social services or social infrastructure, if you will—civic engagement, health services,

00:10:02 Speaker 03: and social inclusion, respect, things like that.

00:10:11 Speaker 03: So Grey County's Age-Friendly Action Plan is built around those eight dimensions.

00:10:21 Speaker 03: And why are we talking about this?

00:10:34 Speaker 03: Really, I think when communities are designed for those with the greatest needs, then everyone benefits.

00:10:55 Speaker 03: So it aligns with the principles of good planning: you know, being the right thing to do, supporting walkability and inclusion, vitality, reducing downstream health costs, and helping communities stay sustainable for all ages.

00:11:16 Speaker 03: We'll have a presentation up next—a little bit more about that one—and also locally, we have changing demographics.

00:11:42 Speaker 03: So right now, one in four residents in the county are over the age of sixty-five; by 2035, that's projected to be one in three, and those over the age of eighty-five will double.

00:11:59 Speaker 03: We also know that rural communities have unique challenges: distance, transportation options, seasonal conditions.

00:12:12 Speaker 03: We know there are barriers for residents accessing services and feeling more isolated.

00:12:30 Speaker 01: For some project background: in 2021, the county received a grant from the province to complete a strategy and an action plan.

00:12:46 Speaker 01: That work was completed in 2022; that same year, the county joined the World Health Organization's Age-Friendly World Network.

00:12:57 Speaker 01: Then in 2023, the Age-Friendly Communities Committee was established.

00:13:12 Speaker 04: So this is a network of county and municipal staff, community partners, residents who are actually engaged in their communities in age-friendly work.

00:13:29 Speaker 04: There's a wide variety of perspectives on the committee; it's a place to share resources, collaborate on projects, and generally support plan implementation moving forward through 2026.

00:13:51 Speaker 03: The county was recognized as an age-friendly community by the province, and then a status report on the action plan was published earlier this year.

00:14:12 Speaker 03: The action plan is ambitious: there are over one hundred action items identified by the community, and really it's that community plan.

00:14:25 Speaker 05: So developing that strategy and the action plan was a collaborative effort.

00:14:38 Speaker 05: There were community partners who provided their feedback; over seven hundred residents also shared their ideas through focus groups, audits, surveys—a whole host of engagement to identify those top priorities.

00:15:07 Speaker 01: And as we all know, the county is a two-tier government, so the action plan naturally interacts with a bunch of different plans and existing municipal services and community initiatives.

00:15:38 Speaker 01: So it's meant to support collaboration between the county, member municipalities, stakeholders, local agencies, and really also align with other county plans, policies, and decision-making.

00:16:00 Speaker 01: Some progress we've made: we have completed over half of the action items; there has been progress on all eight of the community dimensions.

00:16:34 Speaker 01: I'll sort of mention fifty percent—sometimes that isn't a great celebratory number—but considering this is often work done behind people's desks,

00:16:47 Speaker 01: I think there is also a lot of real work through this progress and status report.

00:17:01 Speaker 06: We really want to highlight which items are within the county scope and mandate versus those requiring community partners; so those are highlighted.

00:17:15 Speaker 06: I think thirty-seven of the fifty-nine outstanding action items relate to community partners.

00:17:29 Speaker 06: Something that might need a community partner would be creating a pedestrian guide, as identified in the action plan: sidewalks are typically municipal infrastructure,

00:17:46 Speaker 06: so it might be best to work with a community partner to develop a pedestrian safety guide.

00:18:01 Speaker 06: But something like updating an official plan policy is something we have implemented and put into the county Official Plan.

00:18:14 Speaker 06: I think just for time's sake, I'll skip through this slide deck; but if anyone has questions, please let me know.

00:18:34 Speaker 06: Some of those successes throughout the report card—if you did look or will look—there are a lot of community stories about success stories we really wanted to highlight.

00:19:00 Speaker 06: So some of those successes range from millions of dollars invested in housing and transit to staff creating a virtual courtroom at the county building, resurfacing the rail trail, adding cycling signs, supporting student placements,

00:19:16 Speaker 06: and even forming an Indigenous advisory circle at Great Roots.

00:19:27 Speaker 06: I think all that work shows what happens when we apply an age-friendly lens: asking questions like "How can this project or policy be more age-friendly?"

00:19:38 Speaker 06: There is great work happening in our communities.

00:19:49 Speaker 06: Some next steps are to continue implementing the plan, build relationships, grow the committee, and advance the work we're doing.

00:20:05 Speaker 06: And then there were just some really minor refinements council had accepted that will help with implementation going forward; this concludes my presentation.

00:20:15 Speaker 06: Thank you so much.

00:20:22 Speaker 06: I'll ask everyone to remain if there are questions from members around the table.

00:20:30 Speaker 06: This looks like great progress.

00:20:43 Speaker 06: When I first heard about age-friendly communities, of course I was thinking only of seniors, and I'm so glad all ages are included in Grey County—making it more inclusive.

00:21:03 Speaker 06: And certainly the information you've provided is valuable; I never thought municipalities had such a part to play in everything as well.

00:21:13 Speaker 06: So that's great.

00:21:18 Speaker 06: Are there questions around the table or comments, Suneet?

00:21:23 Speaker 06: To you, Madam Chair.

00:21:26 Speaker 06: Just a quick question.

00:21:31 Speaker 06: It's an excellent plan, and thank you.

00:21:41 Speaker 06: And excellent visual as well.

00:21:43 Speaker 06: Very easy to read.

00:21:49 Speaker 06: Just a quick question.

00:22:06 Speaker 06: Transportation was identified as one of the biggest challenges, and we see that because literally, I think Owen Sound is the only municipality that has transit, but again, it has its own limitations.

00:22:30 Speaker 06: And do you, in your planning, do you foresee any of the municipalities having that transit within the municipalities, like other than the regional transit?

00:22:48 Speaker 06: Thank you, and through the chair, I think that's a great question.

00:22:54 Speaker 06: I would love to have a better answer.

00:23:02 Speaker 06: I don't know of any other municipalities in Grey.

00:23:18 Speaker 06: I will say, like there is the community transportation master plan, and there is some funding, and they are looking into more of like a regional transit through the county.

00:23:40 Speaker 06: But in terms of another municipality in Grey investing in their own transportation system, no, I don't have any knowledge of that.

00:23:49 Speaker 06: Travis, go ahead.

00:23:51 Speaker 06: Thank you, Madam Chair.

00:24:02 Speaker 06: And just to jump off that, that'd be a great thing, maybe if the county would like to oversee.

00:24:17 Speaker 06: We have this great transit system here in the City of Owen Sound that could definitely be expanded.

00:24:38 Speaker 06: So maybe in some of your follow-up reports, where you respond back to your committee saying options out there.

00:24:56 Speaker 06: Owen Sound's always willing to work with our upper tiers on seeing if a transit system might work better at an upper level than on a lower tier.

00:25:09 Speaker 06: Others around the table?

00:25:10 Speaker 06: No others.

00:25:12 Speaker 06: Any comments from staff on this particular plan?

00:25:19 Speaker 06: And I'm sure that they've worked together with you on their portions.

00:25:27 Speaker 06: And one other question: You said that the county had made changes to their official plan.

00:25:38 Speaker 06: I wondered if the city needed to make changes to their official plan to come in line with this.

00:25:46 Speaker 06: Thank you through chair.

00:25:55 Speaker 06: So the city's OP does include policies for age-friendly design, including transportation and urban features as we bring new developments online.

00:26:09 Speaker 06: At this point, we didn't get comments from the county that our OP needed to be updated regarding those types of policies.

00:26:20 Speaker 01: So we're assuming at this point, no. Thank you for that.

00:26:32 Speaker 01: Anything further from yourself then?

00:26:34 Speaker 01: No, nothing further.

00:26:37 Speaker 04: Thank you.

00:26:45 Speaker 04: With that, thank you so much for bringing this forward and new bit of information for us to absorb.

00:26:57 Speaker 04: Thanks so much.

00:27:06 Speaker 06: Our next presentation is from Megan Miles, Sustainability Planning Program Coordinator at Grey County, regarding Green Development Program update.

00:27:16 Speaker 06: There we go.

00:27:18 Speaker 06: Thanks.

00:27:22 Speaker 06: Yeah, thanks so much for having me today.

00:27:41 Speaker 06: I'm pleased to share an update about our recently approved green development program, which is a collaborative initiative across three counties and twenty-four municipalities.

00:27:58 Speaker 06: It was approved by Grey County Council on March 26th, and Wellington and Dufferin followed suit in April and May.

00:28:19 Speaker 02: And now we're at the exciting point of getting ready to accept applications this summer.

00:28:41 Speaker 02: So it's a voluntary recognition program to celebrate and support local leadership in new residential development projects, specifically homes that are more energy efficient, resilient to extreme weather, and more affordable over the long term.

00:29:10 Speaker 02: So through this initiative not only can we build better but we can also position our region to benefit from the transition to higher performance construction leveraging our existing clean energy expertise and continue to grow

00:29:23 Speaker 02: a future-ready workforce.

00:29:39 Speaker 06: So we've applied lessons learned from over 15 other Ontario municipalities with similar programs aligned with provincial policy to develop a program that's low barrier for local builders and gives us a chance to celebrate local

00:29:59 Speaker 06: achievements and innovation that's already happening in our communities.

00:30:10 Speaker 06: So the program provides an overarching supportive framework of 18 metrics or development features that a developer may incorporate into their project.

00:30:28 Speaker 06: In direct response to industry feedback these metrics are voluntary so only impacting those who opt in.

00:30:44 Speaker 01: Consistent across the three counties making it easy for developers to understand and implement and flexible.

00:31:18 Speaker 06: So it's a menu of options that they can pick and choose features that make sense for their project or site.

00:31:33 Speaker 06: Similar to LEED or other certifications these metrics are how projects achieve points to then achieve bronze silver or gold certification levels.

00:31:45 Speaker 06: So it recognizes builders what they're already doing but making it more visible and valued.

00:32:14 Speaker 06: Of course we need our regulatory tools such as planning policies but this gives us another tool to support future-ready development—more of a carrot than a stick.

00:32:29 Speaker 06: Metrics were designed originally for ten-plus units so larger projects but any scale of development can participate.

00:32:44 Speaker 06: We also want to better understand and address barriers to implementing these features.

00:33:05 Speaker 06: So we're working with Georgian College and Sustainable Waterloo Region on a regional industry readiness assessment to identify opportunities to strengthen local capacity within the construction sector.

00:33:22 Speaker 01: Once again why are we doing this?

00:33:29 Speaker 01: So Grey County is growing and we want to make sure that the housing we build today is ready for tomorrow.

00:33:58 Speaker 07: So our most recent growth forecast estimates over 14,000 new units in the next 25 years and we know that it's much cheaper and less disruptive to build better now than to retrofit later.

00:34:23 Speaker 07: So we want to make sure that these homes can accommodate both the changing demographics as Cassandra talked about earlier as well as our changing climate.

00:34:41 Speaker 07: If we're serious about long-term affordability we need to consider the lifetime costs of these buildings so both capital and operational.

00:35:03 Speaker 07: As little as one to four percent capital investment can provide up to fifty percent energy savings annually and also aims to reduce the burden on both the electricity grid as well as municipal infrastructure.

00:35:32 Speaker 07: There's the obvious social and environmental benefits of healthier and safer communities with more green space and less pollution but also in terms of the local economy the green building industry is growing with Canadian jobs

00:35:51 Speaker 07: expected to double by 2030 from pre-COVID numbers.

00:36:03 Speaker 07: So our goal is to support local contractors in this transition to make sure that we're ready to leverage key opportunities.

00:36:12 Speaker 07: So how did we get here?

00:36:28 Speaker 07: In 2024 we received multi-year federal funding to develop the program which has been an iterative process of researching best practices aligning with changing provincial legislation as well as listening to municipal staff and over one

00:36:46 Speaker 07: hundred industry stakeholders.

00:36:55 Speaker 07: Now in the past few months we've received approval from three county councils which brings us to the point of implementation.

00:37:13 Speaker 07: In terms of the application and review process it's been designed to ensure that it won't interfere with the usual development process and timelines.

00:37:33 Speaker 07: Based on feedback from municipal staff we're implementing a county-coordinated program meaning that the county planning would receive and review the completed application or scorecard as well as supporting documentation.

00:37:57 Speaker 07: City staff have participated in municipal engagement sessions that helped inform the program and we met with city staff earlier this year to support confirm support for this approach.

00:38:20 Speaker 07: Recognizing that the city is the approval authority on all planning applications we would also greatly appreciate the city's support in promoting the program among local builders and developers.

00:38:41 Speaker 07: So here's an overview of the metrics across three categories: natural environment community and transportation and built environment.

00:39:03 Speaker 07: We developed the point thresholds which you can see at the bottom in a way that the energy and carbon merit as well as the bronze levels are really quite accessible entry points for a project

00:39:33 Speaker 07: to get recognized by just focusing on a few metrics over time I think it will be really valuable to see which features are most prevalent across developments and where more support is needed.

00:39:52 Speaker 07: As we've heard from builders themselves as well as other municipalities incentives really drive participation especially in a voluntary program.

00:40:09 Speaker 07: Initially we're implementing a recognition program and so that recognition will happen through county channels social media and awards presents.

00:40:24 Speaker 07: Social media and awards presentation as well as a program logo that the company can use for marketing purposes.

00:40:44 Speaker 07: However in the meantime we continue to explore opportunities for incentives and potential alignment with local community improvement plans other existing incentive programs which some municipalities have expressed interest in.

00:41:12 Speaker 07: In terms of the regional readiness work the full report will be completed later this year but just a few nuggets of things that we've learned and heard so far there's mixed levels of readiness both

00:41:28 Speaker 07: across the sector and across different features.

00:41:42 Speaker 07: So for example generally there's sufficient expertise in things like stormwater management and trees and energy efficiency but less specialized expertise in climate risk or embodied carbon.

00:41:58 Speaker 07: In one instance a developer referenced needing to use electricians from outside the region for net zero builds.

00:42:23 Speaker 07: In terms of materials they can generally get what they need but it does require more planning to order ahead so just those longer lead times and we also heard that there was an opportunity to

00:42:38 Speaker 07: integrate more green development content into our local training and apprenticeship programs.

00:42:54 Speaker 01: While we haven't officially launched the program yet I want to highlight some local projects in Owen Sound that are incorporating key features one being Bayshore Terrace by Graham Construction so that's 30 units by the

00:43:24 Speaker 08: Bayshore all heating and cooling will be done by heat pumps so essentially carbon-free they're using super-insulated concrete forms or ICF construction they're using condenser washer dryers which have a huge 70% savings on energy as

00:43:35 Speaker 08: well as balcony enclosures.

00:43:50 Speaker 07: So it's a sunroom that can open to a balcony which supports passive heating and cooling which is pretty neat there's also the SkyDev development on East Bay Shore Road which has built-in solar readiness they're

00:44:07 Speaker 07: also aiming towards a 40% energy reduction high-efficiency lighting low-flow fixtures and naturalized spaces.

00:44:30 Speaker 01: On the affordable housing side Sinclair Place by Lutheran Social Services they're planning to incorporate geothermal heating once again each unit will have a heat pump efficient ICF construction and they've also done energy modeling as

00:44:49 Speaker 01: part of their CMHC application.

00:45:26 Speaker 01: And then the townhome project that Habitat for Humanity is starting this year they'll be incorporating increased levels of insulation that go above and beyond code Energy Star windows and doors fully electric heat pump as

00:45:43 Speaker 09: well as weather resilient exterior walls and roofs.

00:46:03 Speaker 09: And then from outside of Owen Sound one of our early supporters of the program and one of our letters of support was from Sinclair Homes or Bay Bounds Development outside of Meaford on the right-hand

00:46:28 Speaker 09: side which is a fully net-zero development meaning it will produce as much energy as it consumes.

00:46:47 Speaker 09: And the first phase is fifty-five units but could be up to four hundred when it's fully built out so those are just a few potential projects but you all know your communities best so if

00:47:07 Speaker 09: Council or committee members are aware of other projects that might be interested in being an early participant or staff please let us know.

00:47:29 Speaker 09: In terms of next steps we're finalizing program documents and getting ready to accept applications this summer then we'll continue to promote the program and provide one-on-one support then of course with any new program we'll

00:48:06 Speaker 09: be closely monitoring outcomes and looking for ways to tweak and improve the program but overall we're really excited about the opportunity to work collaboratively with the construction and development industry to meet them where they're

00:48:30 Speaker 09: at and highlight the leadership and innovation that's already happening.

00:48:50 Speaker 09: Having local examples and case studies of different types and scales of development will help showcase what's practical and possible in our communities so thanks so much and happy to take any questions thank you very

00:49:23 Speaker 09: much this sounds like another wonderful incentive for builders questions from members of committees to you madam chair thank you for the report just a quick question what about the EV charging stations if municipalities want

00:49:52 Speaker 09: any incentives or assistance with that is that available through this program and also would the county invest in having those EV chargers in some of the county-owned buildings so from within the scope of this

00:50:10 Speaker 09: project we do have an EV readiness metric.

00:50:28 Speaker 09: So if a developer is to incorporate a certain percentage of EV chargers into their development then they'll get points for that metric so that's certainly something that we're encouraging.

00:50:48 Speaker 09: In terms of broader funding and efforts towards installing more public or municipally owned EV chargers that's outside the scope of this project but the county has been working on it.

00:51:12 Speaker 09: We received funding and we've installed twenty fleet chargers at different Grey County locations and in terms of public chargers supportive so there's a broader rural recharge project that several counties have been involved with and

00:51:39 Speaker 09: basically that's trying to advance charging infrastructure especially across kind of our rural region to make sure there's adequate coverage.

00:51:55 Speaker 09: So that's been an ongoing project that continues to chug along, and hopefully those chargers will continue to get installed.

00:52:02 Speaker 09: Other questions from members?

00:52:07 Speaker 09: Do staff have any comments on this?

00:52:12 Speaker 09: I just wondered what is the next step for our particular council?

00:52:24 Speaker 09: Thank you, and through you, we're certainly happy to promote the program as we do development approvals.

00:52:45 Speaker 09: I think the recent updates to the city's official plan, along with the urban design guidelines, really sort of dovetail nicely with the green development standards.

00:53:09 Speaker 09: The recent changes to the Planning Act make it mandatory that they are voluntary, but so many of the things that are here have benefits long term for the developers and people who will live there,

00:53:36 Speaker 09: and then they're just part of what we do: stormwater management, planting native species.

00:53:47 Speaker 09: Planting native species, complete streets, transit accessibility.

00:53:59 Speaker 09: So all of those things, it's just applying a new lens in terms of how you think about them and score them.

00:54:11 Speaker 09: So we're certainly happy.

00:54:23 Speaker 09: I have a note here to make sure that we're working with Carly and you to promote these to people who are building and developing here.

00:54:39 Speaker 09: I did have one question.

00:54:48 Speaker 09: If the chair would indulge me, is there any thought that this applies to new?

00:55:05 Speaker 09: But would you ever look at retrofits for an existing building that's being retrofitted, as there's real sort of energy value in conserving those buildings?

00:55:18 Speaker 09: Yeah.

00:55:32 Speaker 09: So outside the scope of this particular project, because we've sort of designed it in a way to be kind of alongside the planning and building process.

00:55:56 Speaker 09: Obviously, lots of municipalities are doing retrofit programs, and there's community efficiency financing, like our Dufferin and Wellington counties have explored; that's not something that we're looking to do at the county level at this point.

00:56:16 Speaker 09: But obviously, building retrofits are still part of our Going Green and Gray action plan.

00:56:24 Speaker 09: So, as opportunities arise, we're very open.

00:56:35 Speaker 09: There's some really local improvement charges and using those mechanisms is what other municipalities have done.

00:56:53 Speaker 09: So, yeah, always keeping our eyes on pockets of funding from upper levels of government or opportunities to incorporate those types of programs.

00:57:06 Speaker 09: Thank you.

00:57:10 Speaker 09: I wondered if you mentioned about potential projects.

00:57:20 Speaker 09: So, if there is a development that's already ongoing, as soon as the program is launched, are they able to make an application?

00:57:29 Speaker 09: Oh, there we go.

00:57:34 Speaker 09: So, yeah, through you, chair.

00:57:41 Speaker 09: They were hoping to launch, kind of do a soft launch of program intake within the next month.

00:58:02 Speaker 09: We'll have those applications ready, and then we'll have the program fully launched by fall, so there'll be a dedicated web page on the county website,

00:58:25 Speaker 09: and then we also will be preparing like a very short two-pager that either can be provided through the Planning and Development Office that we can use for promotional purposes.

00:58:44 Speaker 09: And then we've also started reaching out individually to projects that we're aware of, having one-on-one conversations with those applicants, and yeah, especially early on,

00:59:01 Speaker 09: we recognize with a new program we are available to do that one-on-one support to get the program off the ground.

00:59:13 Speaker 09: And are you reaching out to the Home Builders Association as well?

00:59:20 Speaker 09: Thank you.

00:59:21 Speaker 09: Yes.

00:59:28 Speaker 09: So we've been working closely with the Grey Bruce Home Builders Association.

00:59:38 Speaker 09: I attended their meeting this past spring.

00:59:52 Speaker 09: so they've been promoting and sharing information as well, and also participated in the industry engagement and surveys that we did earlier this spring.

01:00:02 Speaker 09: So we'll continue to work with them, and yeah.

01:00:19 Speaker 09: Okay, I was curious to know: Does the City of Owen Sound have to do any council approval to participate in this program, or is just something that you're offering?

01:00:42 Speaker 09: I would defer to city staff, but from our perspective, not at this time.

01:00:57 Speaker 09: It's been fully approved by all three county councils, and so simply, just...

01:01:17 Speaker 09: I guess I don't know if you'd want any formalization of it in order to have staff to continue to participate, or if just the current direction.

01:01:31 Speaker 09: But we aren't necessarily needing anything specific at this time.

01:01:40 Speaker 09: That's great.

01:01:48 Speaker 09: I just was curious whether we had to sign a buy-in agreement or anything like that.

01:02:01 Speaker 09: But you're looking for us to promote it to developers, and I'm sure that will take place.

01:02:12 Speaker 09: So everyone's okay with that.

01:02:15 Speaker 09: Thank you so much.

01:02:22 Speaker 09: Our next presentation is from the Art Gallery Director and Chief Curator regarding the tourism update.

01:02:27 Speaker 09: Welcome, Aidan.

01:02:43 Speaker 09: Thank you, and through the Chair, it's my pleasure to bring an update on tourism services on behalf of our Tourism and Marketing Coordinator, Melissa Cranny, who prepared this presentation and also wrote the presentation.

01:03:05 Speaker 09: So, this update is really to provide just a brief overview of some of the initiatives that are currently underway.

01:03:28 Speaker 10: Highlights include our Nature's Gateway marketing campaign which launched in 2025 and has continued this year; the visitor services location revamp, merchandise and branding updates, and the launch of a new tourism experience,

01:03:45 Speaker 10: as well as the addition of our seasonal student tourism team.

01:03:55 Speaker 10: So, a more detailed year-end report will be provided a little bit later this year.

01:04:03 Speaker 09: We'll start with the Nature's Gateway campaign.

01:04:26 Speaker 09: So, Tourism staff have been rolling out this destination positioning for Owen Sound, which highlights the community as a gateway to outdoor recreation, natural beauty, and authentic experiences.

01:04:44 Speaker 09: The campaign includes updated branding, messaging, and advertising initiatives designed to increase awareness of Owen Sound within key Ontario drive markets, including the Greater Toronto Area.

01:05:04 Speaker 09: And if you take a look at the picture there, you'll actually see our billboard for Nature's Gateway right downtown Toronto.

01:05:29 Speaker 10: But also reaching out to Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Hamilton, Barrie, and surrounding regions; and these efforts really aim to attract new visitors and encourage overnight stays here, strengthening Owen Sound's profile as a year-round destination.

01:05:47 Speaker 09: Promoting Harrison Park camping also connects into this idea of the Nature's Gateway focus.

01:06:04 Speaker 09: The campground offers visitors an opportunity to stay right here in Owen Sound in one of our most recognized natural assets, while enjoying easy access to trails and waterfalls.

01:06:20 Speaker 09: There are outdoor recreation events, downtown amenities close by; and increased campground occupancy really helps develop those overnight stays for Owen Sound.

01:06:38 Speaker 09: And if they extend their stay, we're also increasing visitor spending within our community.

01:06:55 Speaker 09: As part of the tourism brand refresh, staff have been working through existing merchandise inventory while preparing for the launch of a new collection this year.

01:07:20 Speaker 09: A merchandise clearance initiative is helping to reduce that older stock that we have and making room for new things to come in; which leads us to the brand refresh.

01:07:39 Speaker 09: So, new Tourism merchandise collection is designed to promote and highlight us as the Nature's Gateway,

01:08:01 Speaker 11: and the collection includes apparel and retail products that represent the community and provide additional opportunities for people to become interested and engaged, as well as generating revenue for us.

01:08:25 Speaker 11: This summer, Tourism is launching a new guided experience called Owen Sound After Dark: Whispers of the Sound; and the tour combines local history, ghost stories, shipwrecks, and community folklore.

01:08:52 Speaker 09: It's led by a passionate local storyteller with a love for theater and historical mystery.

01:09:08 Speaker 09: It's an immersive two-hour walking experience through the city's most haunted, mysterious, and legendary locations.

01:09:22 Speaker 09: The experience encourages local exploration, supports evening tourism, and provides visitors with a unique way to experience our city.

01:09:42 Speaker 09: And a test pilot of this actually took place as part of the City's Social Fund Club; and we had resounding positive feedback from their experience of that tour.

01:09:55 Speaker 09: So it's going to be great.

01:10:02 Speaker 09: Tickets are on sale now: they're $20 in advance, $25 on the night of.

01:10:19 Speaker 09: Upcoming tours include July 8th, 15th, 23rd, 31st; August 5th, 7th, and 19th; and tickets can be purchased at the Tourism desk.

01:10:38 Speaker 10: And all of these dates and information is available on the tourism website owsoundtourism.ca.

01:10:57 Speaker 10: Over the past two years, Tourism visitor services has integrated into the Art Gallery customer service area, creating a shared public facing service hub.

01:11:13 Speaker 05: And this initiative has really strengthened our collaboration between the two divisions.

01:11:30 Speaker 05: It's also helped us to refresh our visitor information displays and enhance the overall visitor experience.

01:11:43 Speaker 05: Key improvements for this year include stronger branding identifiers and signage; a new brochure display wall which you'll see there; a prominent exterior banner that's going to be installed shortly,

01:11:57 Speaker 05: and it will identify both the Art Gallery and Tourism services.

01:12:09 Speaker 05: We will also have two dedicated 30-minute parking spaces to improve accessibility and convenience for visitors.

01:12:24 Speaker 05: The two dedicated parking spaces will be located adjacent to the Tourism Services, Library, and Art Gallery facilities.

01:12:39 Speaker 05: And these spaces are really intended to provide convenient, short-term access for visitors seeking tourism information, maps, brochures; anything that they want to know:

01:12:56 Speaker 05: local recommendations etc. And this enhancement really will help us improve accessibility and visitor convenience, wayfinding, making it easier for residents and visitors to access Tourism services;

01:13:15 Speaker 05: and while it might seem like a relatively small change, it really does contribute to a more welcoming environment.

01:13:28 Speaker 05: It makes things more friendly for people that are coming, and complements the broader improvements that we've made through our Visitor Services integration project.

01:13:36 Speaker 05: The locals love it here.

01:13:44 Speaker 05: Tourism Ambassador Program engages local businesses as partners in promoting Owen Sound.

01:14:06 Speaker 05: So by providing them with resources: local knowledge; frontline staff can confidently recommend attractions, events, dining, shopping, and other experiences to visitors that are coming to Owen Sound.

01:14:19 Speaker 05: And the program helps strengthen destination awareness.

01:14:25 Speaker 05: It encourages exploration of our city, and it really does support the local economy.

01:14:39 Speaker 09: In tandem with that, we actually... sorry I flipped too soon there.

01:14:57 Speaker 09: We have completed the development of the new Tourism Owen Sound mobile app which is intended to launch formally in July but is up and available;

01:15:17 Speaker 09: and it provides visitors and residents with easy access to attractions, events, trails, businesses, and tourism information, helping enhance their trip planning and overall experience.

01:15:34 Speaker 09: The Salmon Tour and the Historical Walking Tour are both currently available on the app, and staff are working to add many more.

01:15:57 Speaker 09: Our seasonal student team will be at a full complement by June 28th which is just around the corner; and they will include a total of four students that support a variety of tourism initiatives.

01:16:25 Speaker 09: An additional summer student will be dedicated to supporting events delivery, and their work includes frontline visitor services, content creation, brochure distribution, event support, photography, and assisting with Tourism marketing projects throughout the summer season.

01:16:50 Speaker 09: You will likely see them out at Canada Day; The Hottest Street Sale; Harris Street Sale (Harrison Park); many of our major sites and events.

01:17:07 Speaker 09: And so looking ahead, Tourism staff will continue to focus on initiatives that support destination development, visitor attraction, community engagement.

01:17:26 Speaker 09: And key priorities include really expanding that destination marketing effort, building awareness about Owen Sound as Nature's Gateway through targeted campaigns with storytelling.

01:17:46 Speaker 09: Staff will continue to explore new tourism products and experiences that encourage visitors to stay for a longer period of time and explore more of our community;

01:18:03 Speaker 09: and we will also look for opportunities to enhance visitor services through improved visitor information, accessibility, and wayfinding.

01:18:22 Speaker 09: The Tourism merchandise program evolves, and we're going to have new retail offerings as I mentioned this year.

01:18:40 Speaker 09: And finally, Tourism will continue to support all of our local events, festivals, and community partnerships that contribute to the visitor experience; strengthening our economy and showcasing Owen Sound as the vibrant place to live, visit,

01:18:57 Speaker 09: and invest in that we all know it is.

01:19:02 Speaker 09: And with that, that concludes my update report.

01:19:12 Speaker 09: I'm happy to answer any questions.

01:19:16 Speaker 01: Thank you Aidan.

01:19:17 Speaker 01: That's... that sounds exciting.

01:19:26 Speaker 01: Questions around the table from members: Morgan.

01:19:31 Speaker 09: It's amazing.

01:19:32 Speaker 09: It's great.

01:19:35 Speaker 09: Wonderful.

01:19:35 Speaker 09: Everything.

01:19:38 Speaker 09: Kudos to your team.

01:19:41 Speaker 09: Quick question.

01:19:51 Speaker 09: Your team; a quick question about the clearance sale: How much inventory do we have to get rid of?

01:20:12 Speaker 09: I shouldn't say "get rid of" or sell off from last year, or is it... is it a lot or is it manageable?

01:20:26 Speaker 01: Thank you for that question.

01:20:31 Speaker 01: Through the Chair.

01:20:43 Speaker 09: To answer that question, I would say it's fairly average; and we do have some legacy inventory that may be from previous years even to that date.

01:21:03 Speaker 09: So that you know will be marked down in accordance with how old and that kind of thing.

01:21:10 Speaker 09: It is.

01:21:16 Speaker 09: So I would say it's an average inventory.

01:21:30 Speaker 09: Just to ask: Will you be taking that type of inventory to, say the Salmon Spectacular or places that you'll be at?

01:21:40 Speaker 01: That's a great question.

01:21:45 Speaker 01: And through the Chair to you all; yes absolutely.

01:22:00 Speaker 01: We'll be taking that inventory out and trying to liquidate it at the various different events: Hottest Street Sale, Canada Day etc. Because that's a great opportunity.

01:22:11 Speaker 09: So many people...

01:22:14 Speaker 09: It's a great opportunity.

01:22:16 Speaker 09: So many people.

01:22:20 Speaker 09: It is proven successful for us in the past.

01:22:23 Speaker 09: Thank you.

01:22:24 Speaker 09: Other questions?

01:22:25 Speaker 09: Go ahead Royden.

01:22:27 Speaker 09: Through you Chair.

01:22:37 Speaker 09: Yeah thank you for just going through all the initiatives that you are doing, kind of coming up this year.

01:22:48 Speaker 09: On the Business Ambassador front; you mentioned there's business partnerships.

01:22:56 Speaker 09: What all are those businesses doing to help promote Owen Sound?

01:23:07 Speaker 09: And is it a variety of industries or who's kind of involved in that?

01:23:25 Speaker 09: As I understand it, The River District is primarily involved in this initiative and so they've worked together: Our Tourism Marketing Coordinator with the River District coordinator;

01:23:52 Speaker 01: and so together they're focusing on the businesses primarily in our core that can help to be ambassadors for our city and train them and provide them with the resources that they need to talk to

01:24:07 Speaker 04: people when they come to town,

01:24:14 Speaker 04: and you know give them options for where they want to go, where they want to eat,

01:24:28 Speaker 04: where they might want to stay etc. Will they maybe make a presentation to The River District Board on that topic?

01:24:35 Speaker 04: Thank you through the Chair.

01:24:39 Speaker 04: Yes absolutely we can do that.

01:24:44 Speaker 04: Others' comments.

01:24:47 Speaker 04: Okay thank you so much Aidan.

01:24:49 Speaker 10: Ambitious summer.

01:24:55 Speaker 10: Okay, next we have public forum, and I don't see any members of the public present to ask questions.

01:25:08 Speaker 10: There are no correspondence items.

01:25:11 Speaker 10: We'll move into reports.

01:25:20 Speaker 10: And number eight A is an External Relations and Investment Attraction Report from the Senior Advisor of External Relations and Investment Attractions.

01:25:30 Speaker 10: So I'll ask Rebecca to come forward.

01:25:34 Speaker 10: Through your chair, thank you all.

01:25:38 Speaker 10: I'm very excited to introduce you.

01:25:42 Speaker 10: For those of you who have recently joined the committee,

01:25:59 Speaker 10: and provide an update to those of you who have been on the committee and were there in January when we first brought this idea forward of bringing a community impact lab to Owen Sound.

01:26:37 Speaker 09: So back in January, we had a presentation alongside Nicole Norris, the director of social innovation for Georgian College, on this opportunity to bring a community impact lab to Owen Sound.

01:26:58 Speaker 09: And when we talk about this lab, it can seem very high level.

01:27:15 Speaker 09: It's essentially a space that acts as an innovation lending library and teaches people, guides them through a journey to develop innovative ideas or solutions to complex challenges that a community might be facing,

01:27:37 Speaker 09: and the entire idea is that these are community-led solutions, and that it's about innovation that is co-designed with community.

01:27:52 Speaker 09: The best way that I can explain it that really makes sense is that this is social infrastructure capacity enabling social infrastructure.

01:28:09 Speaker 09: So if you think about it, we build the roads, but we don't buy your car.

01:28:26 Speaker 09: We might help teach you how to drive or enforce some safety rules around it.

01:28:39 Speaker 05: So this is building a road, a better road, so that the collaborations that are already in existence in our region can do so on, you know, like a safe,

01:28:58 Speaker 02: secure pathway that is fully trucked out and ready to go, and able to support them in achieving their goals.

01:29:15 Speaker 02: And I think that in terms of the city's role in some of these collaborations and partnerships,

01:29:34 Speaker 02: we hear a lot of a desire for the city to become more involved as an institution and to lend its authority and its power.

01:29:53 Speaker 02: And some of this work that you will see through the lab and through this report and the potential federal research grant that we've applied for,

01:30:11 Speaker 02: that's going to really help us to understand like what role a municipality could or should play in these types of partnerships.

01:30:32 Speaker 02: So, since we last presented to the committee at the time, we were tasked with coming back to you with an operating and business plan,

01:30:44 Speaker 05: and the five thousand dollars was allocated from the Vision Twenty Fifty Implementation Reserve Fund to support the initiation of this initiative.

01:31:04 Speaker 05: However, there was a bit of a plot twist in April when instead of demoing this community impact lab space in a suite in Sydenham Campus that Georgian College leases from Grey County, they moved in.

01:31:25 Speaker 05: So we arrived to help support demonstrations of what a lab could look like, and found it fully furnished, resourced, ready to go.

01:31:36 Speaker 05: And you can see here we have some of the tours of the space.

01:31:49 Speaker 05: This exists now at GUNY campus, just up the street.

01:31:59 Speaker 01: On the top right, this is at the Healthy Communities Conference.

01:32:21 Speaker 01: You can see one of Georgian College's social innovation fellows leading the conference in a rural social innovation activity that was highly regarded and referenced by numerous attendees in their feedback on the conference,

01:32:38 Speaker 09: which is included in the report.

01:32:42 Speaker 09: So this is the space you come in.

01:32:54 Speaker 09: There's a ton of resources on the wall explaining how to use the space.

01:32:58 Speaker 05: It's very welcoming.

01:32:59 Speaker 05: It's very bright.

01:33:07 Speaker 05: There are a ton of tools and resources: post-it notes, markers, etc., all supplied by Georgian College's Department of Social Innovation through this program.

01:33:18 Speaker 05: There are resource maps.

01:33:23 Speaker 05: You can kind of see one on the blackboard at the front of the room.

01:33:32 Speaker 05: That one is a future states modeling canvas, where it shows, okay, so here's the current state of things.

01:33:38 Speaker 01: Here's the desired future state.

01:33:48 Speaker 01: How do we shift between what's currently in existence and the desired future state?

01:33:55 Speaker 01: And it teaches those kinds of systems level thinking.

01:34:04 Speaker 02: So, it teaches systems design, and can help guide people through that process of creation.

01:34:24 Speaker 02: A very popular canvas with all of the people that participated in these tours over the last six weeks or two months now is the policy design map,

01:34:54 Speaker 02: and this teaches people and groups to go through every aspect of policy design, including potential opposition.

01:34:59 Speaker 10: How is this going to be funded?

01:35:05 Speaker 10: What are some of the bylaws that could be required?

01:35:09 Speaker 10: Like, does this require you know all of these things?

01:35:21 Speaker 10: And it's a capacity enabling exercise for our residents to bring us these ideas, having already gone through some of the steps that we would be going through collectively.

01:35:42 Speaker 10: And there might be an opportunity to engage more closely in that type of work going forward.

01:35:57 Speaker 10: So really exciting to have these resources in our community, and instead of spending the five thousand dollars to set up the lab and get tables, desks, chairs,

01:36:22 Speaker 01: like you can see that's fully outfitted and the chairs are quite comfortable.

01:36:40 Speaker 01: Instead of having to spend our money on setting up the lab, now we get to activate it.

01:36:55 Speaker 12: So the agreement to pilot a community impact lab, which is essentially the business and operating plan for the lab.

01:37:07 Speaker 12: This is following a template that is used by Jordan College in their Simcoe Muskoka labs.

01:37:23 Speaker 12: They were really initiating this pilot in Simcoe Muskoka, and they are applying what they've learned from the initialization of those labs to the Owen Sound Lab.

01:37:34 Speaker 12: So this is a non-binding agreement.

01:37:49 Speaker 12: It's for twelve to eighteen months where it identifies roles for each of the three partners: Georgian College is providing the resources; Grey County has provided an in-kind contribution of the space,

01:38:04 Speaker 12: and the City of Owen Sound is providing a contribution of being the engaged community partner.

01:38:13 Speaker 12: We're doing a lot of outreach.

01:38:19 Speaker 12: We're supporting reaching out to groups that might be interested in using the lab.

01:38:33 Speaker 12: We are a partner in a federal research grant that is going to enable greater use of the lab.

01:38:52 Speaker 12: Really, our job is to be the cheerleaders for the space, and to help ensure that people know where it is and how to use it,

01:39:04 Speaker 12: and to eventually support the development of a regional innovation network.

01:39:16 Speaker 12: And on that note, we were at the Planning and Economic Development Advisory Committee of Grey County last month,

01:39:33 Speaker 12: and there's already some initial interest from other municipalities to set up their own community impact lab in their municipalities.

01:39:59 Speaker 04: So this could be in a community space like a library, it could be in a council office, it could be in a chamber of commerce, anything like that.

01:40:29 Speaker 01: And our goal over the next eighteen months would be to champion the Owen Sound Lab and support the development of these other labs so we can create our own connected regional innovation ecosystem.

01:40:51 Speaker 13: So that initial eighteen-month pilot, we're proposing that it take place from September 2025 to March 2028.

01:41:09 Speaker 13: There is no new financial commitment required from the city; it's already there.

01:41:20 Speaker 13: So really, we're just figuring out how to open those doors.

01:41:30 Speaker 13: So that brings me to the social innovator in residence pilot.

01:41:39 Speaker 13: This is a really exciting initiative.

01:41:46 Speaker 13: We get to be the chance of that.

01:41:54 Speaker 13: We get to have the chance to pilot something with Georgian College's Department of Social Innovation.

01:42:16 Speaker 13: This was an idea proposed by their director on how we could activate the space and essentially create an opportunity for the community to co-design it with us to make sure that our community impact lab

01:42:33 Speaker 13: isn't just replicating what works in another community;

01:42:38 Speaker 13: that this is truly ours.

01:42:44 Speaker 13: Part of how we are doing that is by gathering widespread community support.

01:42:57 Speaker 13: We had fourteen letters of support for the Community and Colleges Social Innovation Fund and Cirque research grant.

01:43:09 Speaker 13: We had hundreds, like well a hundred people or so go through tours of the space,

01:43:24 Speaker 13: and now we've identified a kind of three-part pilot that we can use to apply our five thousand dollar commitment towards.

01:43:37 Speaker 13: So this would fund about sixty hours of a social innovator in residence.

01:43:51 Speaker 13: Part one is very capacity building; so this would be a micro Social Innovation for Community Impact Micro Certificate that is offered by Georgian College.

01:44:09 Speaker 13: We would be supporting a cohort, a local cohort, by offering in-person office hours with the social innovation fellow at the community impact lab.

01:44:21 Speaker 13: So this would be open to any community members.

01:44:30 Speaker 01: This micro certificate has like kind of three steps.

01:44:41 Speaker 08: The first step is fully free; it just teaches people how to use the different resources at the lab.

01:45:01 Speaker 08: The second step has a small cost commitment, and essentially you're working your way to becoming a certified social innovation fellow.

01:45:18 Speaker 08: So this is creating a pathway for our community members to formalize some of their training and to create more facilitators that can help guide groups through the space.

01:45:43 Speaker 08: So if you were a community group that wanted to use the space, you could either send one person to get trained, and they could guide your group through it going forward,

01:46:02 Speaker 05: or if you had some funding, you could hire a facilitator to help lead you through some of the exercises or design like a journey to help support like a strategic plan or something like that.

01:46:32 Speaker 05: So that goes into community consultation hours and co-design; so that kind of idea of having a dedicated social innovator to guide you through some of that, like project consultation kind of thing.

01:47:02 Speaker 01: We are planning to offer thirty hours of dedicated facilitator time to a few community groups in exchange for their feedback and support in co-designing the ecosystem.

01:47:21 Speaker 02: And one partner that has already enthusiastically pitched us a detailed and specific and lovely project proposal is the Youth Climate Action Conference,

01:47:41 Speaker 02: and this hits a lot of those metrics that we are looking at with Vision Two Fifty Long Term Strategic Plan.

01:48:01 Speaker 02: It engages youth; it promotes sustainability; and it means that we can do the co-design of the lab in a way that's going to hit many different demographics of our community,

01:48:19 Speaker 02: including the youth that we hope will be using this lab space long term, and then the center section.

01:48:41 Speaker 02: This is the real question that I have for you today because I read: I would really love to have the committee and council's feedback on what we want the initial scan club to be.

01:49:04 Speaker 02: So a Scan Club is essentially a large-scale trend analysis done in collaboration with community.

01:49:21 Speaker 02: In Simcoe Muskoka, they've done a lot on the future of belonging; they've done things around different interest groups.

01:49:42 Speaker 02: In our case, we are proposing that we do the future of housing and food security, the future of healthcare access and recruitment, or a third topic proposed by Councillor Committee.

01:50:03 Speaker 02: Keeping in mind that we don't just have to do one: One is what we have the budget for initially.

01:50:16 Speaker 02: If we get the federal research grant funding, we will do more of these.

01:50:30 Speaker 05: So any topics that aren't used in this initial Scan Club, we will have an opportunity to do more of these in the future supported by Georgian College.

01:50:53 Speaker 05: And the idea is that with this facilitator they gather all of these trends and insights; they help people categorize them and arrange them and sort through them on trend day,

01:51:15 Speaker 05: and they come back to us with a report with actionable insights.

01:51:32 Speaker 01: So if you think back to the process we used for our Vision Two Fifty strategic plan, it's like that except we have these resources within our community,

01:51:47 Speaker 14: and the community is gathering to advance these ideas.

01:52:00 Speaker 14: And some of these ideas might be suitable for federal grant opportunities backed by Georgian College as a social innovation project or research project.

01:52:15 Speaker 14: All right so this is an example of what would be happening during the Scan Club.

01:52:28 Speaker 14: There would be weekly virtual meetings where people would gather to discuss the topic.

01:52:41 Speaker 14: Throughout the week, there would be an online platform where people could upload articles, pictures, things that they're noticing around their community.

01:52:57 Speaker 14: It doesn't have to be like a linked or anything like that;

01:53:27 Speaker 01: they could just take a photo of a house in their neighborhood or take a picture of something happening within their community and it would all be uploaded into this kind of compiled library.

01:53:53 Speaker 01: And then on trend day, they all come together sort through and categorize the different trends that they're noticing and come out of that with different insights.

01:54:23 Speaker 01: So here we have a couple examples: We have the fact that OSHaRE served nearly 328,000 meals in 2025, and we know that figure is increasing.

01:54:40 Speaker 01: And we're seeing a lot of food insecurity and housing precarity in our community.

01:55:01 Speaker 01: The Community Foundation of Grey Bruce just released their Vital Signs report which has a number of really interesting metrics across several factors of our community.

01:55:18 Speaker 13: And Brightshore has just announced a My Care Steps program in partnership with Seraphin Health.

01:55:28 Speaker 13: So this is an app that helps to support care coordination.

01:55:45 Speaker 13: So if you are going through the health system and you need to coordinate between, say, a massage therapist and getting fitted for special shoes; you have a primary care doctor;

01:56:01 Speaker 13: you need to go get X-rays:

01:56:17 Speaker 13: This person can help to coordinate all of those different steps and all of those different medical professionals and help guide you through that path because that can be very overwhelming whether you're elderly or a

01:56:36 Speaker 13: new parent.

01:56:48 Speaker 13: So that's a really positive example like hey there are things happening in our community making it easier to access health care, but there are also still some barriers and challenges.

01:57:09 Speaker 13: So we would be looking for guidance on whether you'd like option one, option two, or a third option.

01:57:35 Speaker 13: These are a couple of the research papers I attached to the report today in case there are any nerds like me who are really excited by research papers.

01:58:14 Speaker 13: But I also just wanted to demonstrate that this is a methodology supported Canada-wide and something people are paying attention to noticing and we could play a significant role leading this next era of Canadian innovation.

01:58:49 Speaker 13: So the recommendation before you is to direct staff to bring forward a bylaw to authorize the mayor and clerk to execute an agreement to pilot a community impact lab in collaboration with Georgian College and

01:59:03 Speaker 13: Grey County,

01:59:18 Speaker 13: and to provide direction on the initial subject matter for a six-week Scan Club to identify trends challenges and opportunities as part of the proposed scope of work for a social innovator in residence pilot.

01:59:36 Speaker 13: All right I'm happy to take questions.

01:59:41 Speaker 01: Thank you.

01:59:47 Speaker 01: Questions around the table: Morgan.

02:00:00 Speaker 01: Thank you for this; it's wonderful, detailed, and I think it's going to be a lot of fun to see where it all goes so.

02:00:20 Speaker 02: A couple questions: The first one since the room has set up and we don't need that five thousand dollars for that,

02:00:37 Speaker 02: confirm are you asking or is the five thousand going to go to those sixty hours of social innovation fellowship?

02:00:50 Speaker 02: All of that; so it's going to be redirected to those three areas.

02:00:56 Speaker 02: Okay that's a yes.

02:00:59 Speaker 02: So I'll just continue if that's okay.

02:01:12 Speaker 02: And with that so the social innovation fellow who will come in and guide the person where does that person come from?

02:01:33 Speaker 02: Are they coming from Georgian through you chair we have a person in mind who is actually instrumental in developing their micro certificate; they are local, and we're essentially going to operate at Georgian College's recommendation.

02:02:01 Speaker 02: But we do have a candidate in mind who is local and could be in-person at the Owen Sound Lab which was very important to us.

02:02:22 Speaker 02: It's great to have such close collaboration with Barry Campus but what we really want to see is more activation of the Owen Sound space.

02:02:45 Speaker 02: So having a social innovator in residence who is local to the community is very important to us,

02:03:01 Speaker 05: and who has that experience and support to do some intensive research-based methodology around developing reports feedback and designing the ecosystem.

02:03:26 Speaker 05: This is something where they piloted this in Simcoe Muskoka; this is first time they've created a community impact lab outside of that initial ecosystem so having experienced candidate is very important to us.

02:03:55 Speaker 05: Thank you, through you Madam Chair it mentions upon success of eighteen twenty-four month agreement then move into three to five year agreement what does success look like?

02:04:07 Speaker 02: What are we measuring?

02:04:22 Speaker 02: Through your chair if the director of social innovation was here she would throw her hands up and be like "We don't know yet."

02:04:38 Speaker 02: Success is what we decide that looks like.

02:04:56 Speaker 04: To me a successful pilot would be space regularly used by community groups; feedback collected through their use of space participation in these things like Scan Club positive.

02:05:28 Speaker 02: If eighteen months find no one using space everyone hates it then obviously indicator maybe idea tried didn't work I don't think going to see that.

02:05:39 Speaker 13: Think metrics we'll use measure success engagement positive feedback and particularly if other municipalities opt set up own impact lab so develop more coordination across region when look letters support regional provincial ones had Grey Bruce

02:05:40 Speaker 13: Makers Community Foundation Grey Bruce Nuclear Innovation Institute Clean Energy Frontier of Grey Bruce Huron Counties Sauganashu Nation Brightrose Health System which again is Grey system great Bruce welcoming communities Great Bruce four county labor market

02:05:40 Speaker 13: planning board social finance affordable housing group from institute South Georgian Bay like these are regional partners idea if successfully pilot Owen Sound Lab expand into other communities can coordinate some work not just within.

02:05:41 Speaker 13: the City, but kind of share the load across the region.

02:05:41 Speaker 13: So these will be regionally supported ideas addressing some of those complex social needs.

02:05:41 Speaker 13: So similar, really, to what we saw earlier today with the Going Green and Gray initiative, the Age Friendly Communities initiative.

02:05:41 Speaker 13: These are regional partnerships, and this is another example of how we are going to enable those regional partnerships to thrive.

02:05:41 Speaker 13: Others around table: dance?

02:05:41 Speaker 13: Great initiative.

02:05:42 Speaker 13: I have one question, and it's—it's more of a—I don't know if that's a technical nature.

02:05:42 Speaker 13: It's with respect to the proposed recommendation number two.

02:05:42 Speaker 13: I'm just wondering how it works.

02:05:42 Speaker 13: I don't know if that's a question for you or for others around the table: You're asking Council to provide direction.

02:05:43 Speaker 13: How?

02:05:44 Speaker 13: Typically, Council takes something from a committee or staff report.

02:05:46 Speaker 13: To me, this is a little too vague, and I think it needs something more specific so it doesn't get lost or kind of disappear into the ether.

02:05:46 Speaker 13: Perhaps I'm being—go ahead through you, Chair.

02:05:46 Speaker 13: So I provided two options within the report: If the Committee wanted to either vote on them or discuss them amongst yourselves.

02:05:47 Speaker 13: Both of the proposed options—the Future of Housing and Food Security; future of healthcare access and recruitment—were drawn from relevant topics that have been discussed extensively by Council and committee.

02:05:47 Speaker 13: So I felt pretty confident advancing those two, but less confident about making that determination.

02:05:47 Speaker 13: And as representatives of the public, I thought that as a way of co-designing this scope of work,

02:05:47 Speaker 13: it would be great to have feedback from the public members and from the Councillors on this Committee to advance one of these options to Council.

02:05:48 Speaker 13: Or if you are also having a hard time choosing, suggest option three: That Council could determine a topic.

02:05:48 Speaker 13: The important thing to remember about this is that we will do ideally multiples of these scan clubs over time, so no topic is going to be left out.

02:05:50 Speaker 13: If we can identify—you know—many aspects that we'd like to explore, these are just the initial two that I thought would be useful for us to begin with.

02:05:50 Speaker 13: And so, in terms of adjusting the recommendation: We're happy to.

02:05:50 Speaker 13: But I would welcome the feedback from the Committee in terms of advancing one of those two options.

02:05:51 Speaker 13: Morgan, I appreciate that you have given us the options.

02:05:51 Speaker 13: My concern is—I'm afraid—the options are too broad, and I don't like it.

02:05:51 Speaker 13: It's hard when you have such a broad topic for it not to turn into complaining.

02:05:51 Speaker 13: And I know we'll have an experienced social innovator fellow to help reign it in on track with that.

02:05:52 Speaker 13: But yeah, I worry that it's—it's a little too broad.

02:05:52 Speaker 13: My other one is the transportation: You know—that's a big one—but it is Grey County; It's not just Owen Sound.

02:05:52 Speaker 13: So those are my two cents.

02:05:52 Speaker 13: Others?

02:05:53 Speaker 13: Travis.

02:05:53 Speaker 13: Thank you, Madam Chair.

02:05:54 Speaker 13: I will be honest.

02:05:54 Speaker 13: I share a lot of the same concerns—not concerns—just—I don't know.

02:05:54 Speaker 13: Essentially, I think even if between the six of us we're just going to be putting up our hands for one or the other,

02:05:54 Speaker 13: and I don't think we have enough background to know which one is going to be more sustainable or would have a bigger impact in that program.

02:05:55 Speaker 13: I'll be honest: I've never heard of a scan club before, so first of all I'm struggling to get my head wrapped around what we're talking about here,

02:05:55 Speaker 13: and then talking about giving us an option of one of the two.

02:05:55 Speaker 13: I will be completely honest; it's going to be a coin flip because I really can't provide an educated recommendation at this point, and I just can't.

02:05:55 Speaker 13: So I'm not sure how we're going to provide that input.

02:05:56 Speaker 13: I'll look to other members of Committee for if they have another different understanding.

02:05:56 Speaker 13: This is an 18-month project that we're working on: How often or how frequently will Committee or Council have updates on that?

02:05:56 Speaker 13: I know—we just had the update.

02:05:56 Speaker 13: We made a comment about what success looks like.

02:05:57 Speaker 13: We're not sure what success will look like until we see it.

02:05:57 Speaker 13: I think we should have some check-in points on what this looks like, what the uptake is.

02:05:58 Speaker 13: I would hate to wait 12 or 18 months to find out that it wasn't successful, or that we aren't doing the things that we need to do,

02:05:59 Speaker 13: or that the scan club things aren't in line, or they're leaning too far out of the purview of Council.

02:05:59 Speaker 13: I do have a concern too: It's great that other regions might be jumping in on this.

02:05:59 Speaker 13: I just want to make sure that we're still focusing on our region and what's betterment for Owen Sound.

02:06:00 Speaker 13: If Owen Sound is going to be financially funding this in the future, being a partner in this,

02:06:00 Speaker 13: we want to make sure that the issues are still present for Owen Sound and that we're not spending our time talking about what's going on in Bruce County or what's going on in Huron County

02:06:00 Speaker 13: or what's going on elsewhere.

02:06:01 Speaker 13: Great to have those connections—but I think we're being this lead: Then it should be about what's going to improve Owen Sound.

02:06:01 Speaker 13: So, first of all, what is the anticipation for follow-up reports back to Committee?

02:06:01 Speaker 13: Is it going to be every three months that you're coming back to provide an input on what success you've seen?

02:06:02 Speaker 13: I struggle to think of not knowing what success looks like or how do we judge whether this is a great use of your time.

02:06:02 Speaker 13: Let's say we're putting 80 hours of your time into it: So, are we getting the best bang out of that for your time as well?

02:06:02 Speaker 13: So, what's your plan moving forward looking at this?

02:06:03 Speaker 13: Thank you.

02:06:03 Speaker 13: I think that—that's a really good point to formalize.

02:06:04 Speaker 13: So far this year, we've been reporting back about every three months.

02:06:04 Speaker 13: There was a verbal update in April: Yes, in April.

02:06:05 Speaker 13: So I think expecting a report back from the social innovator in residence every—I would say maybe four months—so at least three times a year would be a reasonable expectation—and that's something that because this is

02:06:06 Speaker 13: a pilot that we are designing,

02:06:06 Speaker 13: would be reasonable to put into that scope of work.

02:06:07 Speaker 13: The scan clubs this fall cohort: A natural check-in point would be like November/December for the incoming term of Council,

02:06:08 Speaker 13: because that's when I would expect that work to be completed and to have some of those insights to report back on.

02:06:08 Speaker 13: The idea being that the scan club is meant to be broad and a bit general.

02:06:08 Speaker 13: These topics were developed in coordination with the Director of Social Innovation; they're intentionally broad in order to capture that range.

02:06:09 Speaker 13: I think that the Future of Belonging scan club that they did resulted in 20 different insights: So it is meant to be expansive,

02:06:09 Speaker 13: and then through the process of those six weeks and the trend day, they sort through what seems like an overwhelming amount of information, and they sort it into—like—"Okay, so we're seeing this trend.

02:06:09 Speaker 13: Like let's coalesce this here."

02:06:09 Speaker 13: So because we're seeing this trend around housing for example—that we're seeing a lot of rental housing being built—you know—in Owen Sound: So what does that mean?

02:06:10 Speaker 13: Does that mean that we need to look into some of the needs of renters?

02:06:10 Speaker 13: Like, do they need as many parking spaces?

02:06:10 Speaker 13: Do we need to invest in more like walkable infrastructure in that area?

02:06:10 Speaker 13: Does it change how people shop?

02:06:11 Speaker 13: Does it change how people—how big their families grow?

02:06:11 Speaker 13: For example: There's all kinds of things that would feed into that.

02:06:12 Speaker 13: So essentially—it's intentionally broad.

02:06:12 Speaker 13: It does seem big, but it's intentionally meant to have like that wide capture—and it's also something that the entire community can participate in.

02:06:12 Speaker 13: So because it would be this initial scan cover funded by City-owned Sound; it would be focused on Owen Sound residents gathering their feedback and identifying trends and insights into—you know—the topic of choice:

02:06:12 Speaker 13: If we did want to do both of these ideas, it would just mean committing an extra 18 hours of the social innovation fellow's time.

02:06:12 Speaker 13: We do have additional funding in the Vision 2050 implementation reserve.

02:06:14 Speaker 13: If we did want to propose both of these topics or additional topics to allocate another 18 hours of the fellow's time:

02:06:14 Speaker 13: I'm not recommending that at this point because I really would like to do this once and see if it's good value for like the money that we've spent—good value of the hours that I've spent

02:06:14 Speaker 13: on this project—and one of those measures of success that I'm looking forward to is finding out the results of the federal research grant.

02:06:15 Speaker 13: The $5,000 that we committed has already resulted in a matched contribution by Georgian College and an $11,600 in-kind contribution by Grey County for the space itself:

02:06:16 Speaker 13: It's resulted in some significant partnerships and relationship building—and if we can turn that into $360,000—I would say that—that's a very positive return on investment for the City, and that's just the beginning.

02:06:16 Speaker 13: If more of these innovations result in additional grant money coming into the community; if some of the ideas advanced through these labs become social enterprises that result in a stronger, healthier business ecosystem;

02:06:16 Speaker 13: or if some of the complex social issues addressed result in greater social cohesion and a sense of belonging—these are all things that can be easier to define and measure.

02:06:17 Speaker 13: Some are less tangible, but all of that would come through in the reports back to the committee.

02:06:19 Speaker 13: Okay?

02:06:19 Speaker 13: Just for clarity: is this Scan Club always going to be council-led, or are there community groups that could pick up and run a Scan Club themselves?

02:06:20 Speaker 13: Through your chair—or to your chair—this initial Scan Club is being funded through our kind of startup money.

02:06:20 Speaker 13: If we do get the federal research grant, then Georgian College would lead additional Scan Clubs as part of their proposed research project; like, community groups could also facilitate a Scan Club.

02:06:20 Speaker 13: This one is being guided by the City essentially as a way to get things started and gather feedback for the committee.

02:06:20 Speaker 13: So if it's being guided by the City, you're looking at Council making a commitment: What are you looking at?

02:06:20 Speaker 13: The number of people or councillors to be there; staff, etc.?

02:06:21 Speaker 13: No commitment aside from covering the Social Innovation Fellows' time and receiving a report in the future on what insights they gathered.

02:06:21 Speaker 13: There is no commitment from Council to act on any of the insights.

02:06:21 Speaker 13: There's no funding commitment beyond that initial $5,000 already allocated towards this initiative.

02:06:22 Speaker 13: And ideally, if we are able to access federal grant money, these types of initiatives will be ongoing; they'll explore different aspects of the community.

02:06:22 Speaker 13: But right now, we're just kind of focused on—I would say—the next six months: building up to the pilot beginning in September, having some type of opening ceremony at that time,

02:06:23 Speaker 13: and how the first three months of that would go.

02:06:24 Speaker 13: So this is basically getting us to December and trying things out.

02:06:24 Speaker 13: Okay?

02:06:25 Speaker 13: So I'm asking then—not so much financial commitment—but time commitment from councillors.

02:06:25 Speaker 13: How many councillors?

02:06:26 Speaker 13: I know you want a topic commitment.

02:06:26 Speaker 13: However, I remind you: it's going to be a totally different Council coming in November; if this starts in September, the same people aren't around the table.

02:06:26 Speaker 13: So how does that get handled?

02:06:27 Speaker 13: The way I kind of saw this timeline working out once this space became available—and we realized instead of setting up the space,

02:06:27 Speaker 13: we were able to use it far earlier than expected—I would think of this as a gift to the future Council: saying, "Hey,

02:06:28 Speaker 13: here's a topic we've really grappled with over our term and that we don't know all the answers to.

02:06:28 Speaker 13: And here is what our community is telling us about this."

02:06:29 Speaker 13: We did this work for Vision 2050; think of a Scan Club as like how we came to those seven strategic priorities: there were community consultation days.

02:06:29 Speaker 13: I was at the Prosperous Cities one, where you had community partners and members of the public coming together around a specific topic and talking to each other, engaging on that subject.

02:06:29 Speaker 13: So this is—apart from a strategic plan—an opportunity to go to the community and say, "Hey, we know that you care deeply about this subject; we do too.

02:06:29 Speaker 13: This is our opportunity to gather information about where we are now, what our current state is,

02:06:29 Speaker 13: and engage deeply with a particular topic," then present those insights ready for the incoming Council to decide what to do with them.

02:06:29 Speaker 13: So it's kind of like: go ahead.

02:06:30 Speaker 13: So just in my mind—why didn't you pick the topic most recent on Council's table regarding the River District?

02:06:30 Speaker 13: Just curiosity; I'll go to Suneet.

02:06:30 Speaker 13: That was something I was just about to say as well, and also—I totally agree with Councillor Dodd—that these topics are too broad.

02:06:30 Speaker 13: Like, we were at poverty task force meetings hearing them do a lot of work on housing and food insecurity, and the platform brought up information that's already being looked at;

02:06:31 Speaker 13: same thing with the future of health access: recruitment in primary healthcare has been on the agenda, and we're trying to figure it out.

02:06:31 Speaker 13: Are there any others?

02:06:32 Speaker 13: And we can't compare these two to belonging—belonging is a different aspect.

02:06:32 Speaker 13: These two are overcorrelated.

02:06:32 Speaker 13: Do you have any other topics you could come back with so that we can use some example of what's been great with the Scan Clubs done at the Berry Campus?

02:06:32 Speaker 13: Like, my brain is all over the place here; go ahead, Morgan.

02:06:33 Speaker 13: Actually, while we were talking—and I put down "future of downtown"—if we're going broad, maybe it's the future of the River District: And what does that look like?

02:06:33 Speaker 13: That being said,

02:06:34 Speaker 13: how do we not step on toes and make sure whatever topic we end up choosing ensures these people are at the table for the social innovators meeting so they understand we're not trying to take

02:06:35 Speaker 13: this away from them;

02:06:35 Speaker 13: we're trying to help.

02:06:36 Speaker 13: Look at it from that angle.

02:06:37 Speaker 13: The other option too: Do we go to community engagement and say, "Hey, like this is something new—these are four, five, six options.

02:06:37 Speaker 13: Let's choose."

02:06:38 Speaker 13: Do we do a Ryerson Park renaming thing?

02:06:38 Speaker 13: Hey, what do you guys think?

02:06:38 Speaker 13: These are our options; then vote on it.

02:06:39 Speaker 13: Because if we're wanting community engagement, then do we go to the community and get those ideas through you, Chair?

02:06:39 Speaker 13: All right—I'm going to start with Morgan and work my way back around.

02:06:39 Speaker 13: I think that's a great idea actually.

02:06:41 Speaker 13: If that was what Committee and Council wanted to do—putting it up as a survey through our City—we have that platform; so that is an available resource.

02:06:42 Speaker 13: To answer Suneet's question: I think a lot of these broader topics could be done through eventual research-backed projects, so we don't have to take a big bite out right now if we don't want to.

02:06:42 Speaker 13: And actually, this pilot initiative grew out of the July stakeholders' River District meeting last summer that I facilitated.

02:06:42 Speaker 13: In that case, we had trained facilitator Joel Pennington who came in and helped guide over 100 community members through those discussions; it really demonstrated the success of having guided facilitation.

02:06:43 Speaker 13: The feedback—the feeling in that room—was incredibly positive at the end of the day, and there was a strong desire from the community to do more of these types of engagement opportunities with the public.

02:06:43 Speaker 13: I think if you wanted to propose "future of the River District" or specifically downtown revitalization, that would be an excellent third topic.

02:06:43 Speaker 13: In my mind it got wrapped up into housing and food security questions, but it could be used to focus for this initial one and then expanded later.

02:06:43 Speaker 13: So if that is the third topic Committee would like to add to this list—and potentially put out to the public for additional input—I think that's an excellent use of what this platform can be.

02:06:44 Speaker 13: In that case, my recommendation changes to include "future of the River District" as a third option for the initial Scan Club and putting it to the community for input via our City.

02:06:44 Speaker 13: I'll go to Travis and then Pam.

02:06:44 Speaker 13: Thank you, Madam Chair.

02:06:44 Speaker 13: And Pam might hit on something; I'm just about to go on anyway.

02:06:44 Speaker 13: The River District is doing an update, and I'm going to actually go to Pam because she's going to say this way better than me.

02:06:44 Speaker 13: Yeah—and just listening to the discussion, I wanted to make sure Committee was aware:

02:06:45 Speaker 13: River District Board will be initiating work in July 8th—actually at your next meeting—their work on terms of the River District Action Plan.

02:06:46 Speaker 13: Those four key pillars and strategic objectives really remain valid; but updating the actions—we're just in process.

02:06:46 Speaker 13: Council had approved; we received a grant; we're going to hire a consultant to do the River District Revitalization Plan.

02:06:46 Speaker 13: So those two things may already be in motion, not to add confusion—but I wonder: last time Council met,

02:06:46 Speaker 13: and in your joint meeting with Police Services Board you talked about Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan where five issues were identified—addiction/substance use, mental health, crime prevention, housing/homelessness, poverty/income—and those overlap with what Rebecca presented here.

02:06:46 Speaker 13: Has she?

02:06:47 Speaker 13: But their addiction and substance use, mental health, etc.—I wonder if in speaking with that working group on Community Safety and Wellbeing they might be able to say: "Hey,

02:06:47 Speaker 13: we would really benefit from doing some work in this particular area."

02:06:48 Speaker 13: I don't know what that might be—but if you're struggling for a place, that might be somewhere to look for advice.

02:06:48 Speaker 13: And in my mind, I see that as connecting with issues our community is grappling with.

02:06:49 Speaker 13: Travis?

02:06:50 Speaker 13: Travis: Thank you, Madam Chair.

02:06:51 Speaker 13: I'm glad we're going that way because the last thing we want to do—knowing River District has other public sessions going forward with new public input recommendations coming from that—is have a secondary committee doing something

02:06:51 Speaker 13: else and then create conflict or overlapping work;

02:06:51 Speaker 13: obviously just creating issues in the long run.

02:06:51 Speaker 13: We need to recognize when we've had public sessions and consultations: use them.

02:06:52 Speaker 13: Don't try to overcomplicate by doing something similar but different.

02:06:52 Speaker 13: So I think that's a great idea Pam made there.

02:06:52 Speaker 13: I'll get this moving with at least a recommendation here so we can keep going since it's already 7 o'clock,

02:06:52 Speaker 13: Mary—and I know you've got an appointment already with your husband—so I'm going to move the recommendation as written:

02:06:53 Speaker 13: Direct staff to bring forward a bylaw authorizing Mayor and Clerk to execute an agreement to pilot a Community Impact Lab in collaboration with Georgian College and County of Grey,

02:06:54 Speaker 13: providing for initial subject matter for six-week Scan Club.

02:06:54 Speaker 13: How should we word that?

02:06:55 Speaker 13: In consultation with community safety wellbeing plan—or is that too broad?

02:06:55 Speaker 13: I think as you mentioned there were five particular points the community safety/wellbeing group was asked to look at; if that can be included—Rebecca—you had...

02:06:55 Speaker 13: Yeah, I think—I would word it "future of community safety and well-being," then we could use those resources to guide development of six-week Scan Club.

02:06:55 Speaker 13: That's exactly what this was intended to do: recent, relevant—and my professional advice is that's a perfect use of opportunity to initiate conversations and collect insights from broader community without replicating work staff already doing.

02:06:56 Speaker 13: So yeah—thank you, Madam Chair.

02:06:56 Speaker 13: I just want to make sure we're staying in line.

02:06:56 Speaker 13: Whatever our motion needs to be—that's fine; that's the way it is—but I want to ensure: when we go there, how do we use what Pam said?

02:06:57 Speaker 13: Put it in writing so it's not replicating something else we don't need.

02:06:58 Speaker 13: How do we say: "This is what we were told—focus on areas of improvement"?

02:06:58 Speaker 13: How do we ensure it's not just broad and they come back saying: "Hey yeah you should do X, Y, Z"?

02:06:59 Speaker 13: We will wait a second.

02:06:59 Speaker 13: That's not what we were expecting.

02:06:59 Speaker 13: Just before your comment, Pam, I... just before you comment, Pam, I want to identify as well that this will not be happening till after September.

02:06:59 Speaker 13: Correct?

02:07:00 Speaker 13: Yeah.

02:07:00 Speaker 13: So maybe those other river district ideas and so on will be there, so we know what it is to work in coordination with that.

02:07:01 Speaker 13: But go ahead, Pam.

02:07:01 Speaker 13: Yeah.

02:07:02 Speaker 13: So just listening to the discussion, if...

02:07:02 Speaker 13: I sort of understand what you're hoping for,

02:07:02 Speaker 13: that the direction on the subject matter would be that a subject matter for the Community Impact Lab be selected based on the five priority areas in consultation with the Community Safety Wellbeing Planning Group.

02:07:03 Speaker 13: So then you would have those five areas, but have their input in which one of these areas would benefit from this review and analysis.

02:07:03 Speaker 13: I like that, and that at least gives us some direction and provides our side of it.

02:07:03 Speaker 13: So thank you, Pam.

02:07:04 Speaker 13: Well worded.

02:07:04 Speaker 13: You got that?

02:07:04 Speaker 13: We good?

02:07:04 Speaker 13: She will have it.

02:07:06 Speaker 13: Okay.

02:07:06 Speaker 13: Mel Morgan...

02:07:07 Speaker 13: Thank you, and through you, Madam Chair.

02:07:07 Speaker 13: One final note that I want, and it doesn't have to be in the motion or anything, is that whatever we do decide to go forward, we want to be able to move the needle on,

02:07:08 Speaker 13: right?

02:07:08 Speaker 13: And I think we need to take that into consideration because this is our first kick at the can.

02:07:09 Speaker 13: We want to make sure that we choose something that is actually... we can action within.

02:07:09 Speaker 13: Because by the time we go through the process and choose something and do the scan and trend, we're going to have six months, maybe eight months, to actually implement.

02:07:09 Speaker 13: So we want to be able to choose something that's a good first option for the organization or for the city.

02:07:09 Speaker 13: The last one is that just a note... if you can start drafting some ideas for what our success looks like for our next meeting, that would be much appreciated.

02:07:09 Speaker 13: I don't know if that has to be changed in motion or just a request.

02:07:10 Speaker 13: Okay, thank you.

02:07:10 Speaker 13: Motion's on the floor.

02:07:10 Speaker 13: Any other comments on the motion?

02:07:10 Speaker 13: All those in favor of the motion... that's carried.

02:07:11 Speaker 13: Thank you so much for...

02:07:12 Speaker 13: Thank you so much, Rebecca.

02:07:12 Speaker 13: We don't have too much left.

02:07:12 Speaker 13: Well, we'll be fine.

02:07:12 Speaker 13: Next item is, and we'll ask Royden to come back in.

02:07:12 Speaker 13: Next item is the report from the senior planner on the heritage property tax relief program, and the twenty-two-five tax refund application.

02:07:13 Speaker 13: Tax refund applications... and I know she can be brief.

02:07:13 Speaker 13: All right, thank you, Madam Chair.

02:07:13 Speaker 13: And through you, this year for the two thousand and twenty-five tax year, staff have received seventeen complete applications to the heritage property tax relief program from eligible designated heritage properties.

02:07:13 Speaker 13: The city has offered this program since two thousand and nine.

02:07:14 Speaker 13: All the applicants this year have either a heritage conservation maintenance agreement with the city or are subject to a heritage conservation easement and meet other requirements of the program,

02:07:14 Speaker 13: including that they are currently in good standing regarding taxation and have provided proof of insurance.

02:07:15 Speaker 13: This year, city staff have included the former Canadian Pacific Railway station at 1198 First Avenue East among the properties eligible to receive the rebate.

02:07:15 Speaker 13: This property is under ownership of the city and is leased to Mudtown Station... lease to Mudtown Station Inc. to operate as a restaurant and brewery.

02:07:15 Speaker 13: City staff are proposing to download the heritage property tax rebate to Mudtown as the tenant of the property, and as described in the report before you,

02:07:15 Speaker 13: this approach maintains the intent of the heritage property tax rebate program, as outlined in the heritage property tax relief bylaw and the city's community improvement plan.

02:07:15 Speaker 13: Specifically, this property is designated under the Ontario Heritage Act and is subject to a heritage conservation easement between the city and the Ontario Heritage Trust.

02:07:16 Speaker 13: Mudtown, as the tenant of the property, is required to comply with the terms of the easement in accordance with their lease agreement with the city.

02:07:16 Speaker 13: While they are not a heritage property owner, they are required to conduct ongoing repairs and maintenance to certain heritage elements of the property, as outlined in their lease agreement.

02:07:16 Speaker 13: In the same way, a designated heritage property owner would be responsible for those items, and they are also... responsible for the full cost of property taxes in addition to rent,

02:07:17 Speaker 13: as outlined in their lease agreement.

02:07:17 Speaker 13: Therefore, project costs are being borne by the tenant.

02:07:18 Speaker 13: The Heritage Property Tax Relief Program provides a 20% rebate on city, education, and county portion of taxes to eligible applicants.

02:07:18 Speaker 13: This year, the total amount of the rebate is $35,950.

02:07:19 Speaker 13: The city portion... which is twenty-three thousand two hundred and twenty-four dollars and eighty-six cents... is within the allocated budget of twenty-five thousand dollars.

02:07:19 Speaker 13: With that, Madam Chair, the recommendation before you is that, in consideration of Report CS-26-05-9 respecting applications to the Heritage Property Tax Relief Program for the 2025 tax year,

02:07:20 Speaker 13: Committee recommends that Council direct staff to process refunds for those eligible applicants outlined in Schedule A of the report and issue notice to the County of Grey... of the rebates for the two thousand and

02:07:21 Speaker 13: twenty-five tax year,

02:07:22 Speaker 13: and request that they pass a bylaw to authorize a similar refund of taxes for upper tier purposes.

02:07:24 Speaker 13: Thank you.

02:07:25 Speaker 13: Questions?

02:07:25 Speaker 13: Members?

02:07:26 Speaker 13: Motions?

02:07:26 Speaker 13: Through you, Madam Chair.

02:07:26 Speaker 13: Thank you for the report.

02:07:27 Speaker 13: I am happy to move the report as presented.

02:07:28 Speaker 13: Any comments on the motion?

02:07:28 Speaker 13: All those in favor...

02:07:29 Speaker 13: That's carried.

02:07:29 Speaker 13: Thank you, Jackie.

02:07:30 Speaker 13: Next report is from the director of community services regarding Kelso Beach at Neiwash Park, the playground and splash pad concept design.

02:07:30 Speaker 13: Oh, Eckert's going to present that.

02:07:30 Speaker 13: Thank you.

02:07:32 Speaker 13: There we go.

02:07:33 Speaker 13: Through you, Chair Cappy.

02:07:33 Speaker 13: I'm here to outline... the public consultation efforts undertaken and how the feedback received has influenced the final concept design for the Kelso Beach at Nawash Park playground replacement and the splash pad revitalization project.

02:07:33 Speaker 13: Now, since our last community services committee meeting on May 24th, the project hosted a public open house and circulated an online survey that generated 200 responses.

02:07:35 Speaker 13: All feedback received has been reviewed and synthesized to generate the following key takeaways: The design should maintain the core appeal and location advantages of the splash pad, playground, and associated existing amenities.

02:07:35 Speaker 13: It should address critical amenity and service gaps, particularly shade, seating, and age-inclusive play.

02:07:35 Speaker 13: The playground should prioritize durable, high-use play elements such as climbers, slides, and swings.

02:07:35 Speaker 13: And the overall project should focus on incremental improvements that enhance usability, rather than fundamentally changing the preliminary design concept.

02:07:35 Speaker 13: Now, these takeaways clearly express a desire for a revitalization approach that builds on the strength of the existing playground, splash pad, and supporting existing amenities,

02:07:36 Speaker 13: while addressing the most common user concerns centered around additional seating, more shade, stronger connectivity, and improved maintenance.

02:07:36 Speaker 13: Now, the final concept design outlined in Attachment One of the report has been updated based on all the feedback received,

02:07:36 Speaker 13: and will form the foundation for the development of the subsequent detailed design stage of the project.

02:07:36 Speaker 13: The conceptual design improvements that have been integrated include:

02:07:39 Speaker 13: carrying out site grading to make more of the adjacent parkland usable for programmed use by smoothing out the undulations between... the parking lot and the waterfront trail to improve connectivity between the new and existing

02:07:39 Speaker 13: fixed elements,

02:07:39 Speaker 13: and directing surface water to target collection or storage areas.

02:07:39 Speaker 13: It will configure a new pathway to include a variety of strategically located seating opportunities.

02:07:40 Speaker 13: The seating opportunities to be explored will include benches, picnic tables, and seating walls, to name just a few.

02:07:40 Speaker 13: We will integrate trees to provide more shade along the new pathway... strategically placed seating areas, and to increase overall tree density in the areas adjacent to the new playground and splash pad.

02:07:40 Speaker 13: There were no major changes made to the preliminary concept design of the playground since the proposed play elements satisfied the public feedback takeaways.

02:07:40 Speaker 13: The playground will remain in the same location and elevate it slightly to support proper drainage.

02:07:41 Speaker 13: Thematically, it will be linked to the splash pad using a similar design language, centered around a by-the-bay theme... and lastly,

02:07:41 Speaker 13: the splash pad will remain in the same location and be surrounded by the new pathway and additional seating.

02:07:41 Speaker 13: It will include mechanical upgrades to improve water efficiency and system reliability, two new water features that offer higher play value,

02:07:42 Speaker 13: and the cleanup and repainting of the existing spray features that thematically link to the playground.

02:07:42 Speaker 13: The next step... in the development of this project will be to undertake a detailed design and prepare a tender package by mid-July.

02:07:42 Speaker 13: The aim is to have the tender completed by early August, with a proposed construction start in early September.

02:07:42 Speaker 13: So, in summary, the recommendation reads as follows: that,

02:07:42 Speaker 13: in consideration of staff report CS-26-05-7 respecting the final design concept for the Kelso Beach at Nawash Park Playground replacement and the splash pad revitalisation... the Community Services Committee recommends that City Council direct staff to

02:07:43 Speaker 13: proceed with the detailed design and tendering of the recommended final concept design,

02:07:43 Speaker 13: as outlined in the report.

02:07:43 Speaker 13: Thank you, Eckert.

02:07:44 Speaker 13: I know there's been a lot of work put into this, and certainly appreciate the partnerships that we've developed around the city for this project as well.

02:07:44 Speaker 13: Are there any questions... of Eckert on this particular report, Royden?

02:07:44 Speaker 13: I do just have one.

02:07:44 Speaker 13: Do you just have one more out of curiosity?

02:07:44 Speaker 13: Just under the climate and environmental impact section of the report, it notes that there's no anticipated impacts.

02:07:45 Speaker 13: Is the old equipment... is it being repurposed, or what does end-of-life look like for that equipment?

02:07:45 Speaker 13: Through the chair: So the existing play equipment is a wood structure which is at least 25 years old.

02:07:45 Speaker 13: I'm underestimating that; it really does not have a repurpose function.

02:07:45 Speaker 13: Most there are a few components that we have been picking away at because they have simply failed, and you... what we are left with,

02:07:45 Speaker 13: and that's where a lot of the maintenance comments came from in the feedback.

02:07:46 Speaker 13: It's not a lack of maintenance; it's just that the structures cannot be repaired.

02:07:46 Speaker 10: So I think it's well beyond possible reuse, unfortunately.

02:07:47 Speaker 10: Thank you for that, and I also appreciate that Summerfolk will be finished before the anticipated start of this, so there will be no disruption there.

02:07:48 Speaker 10: We're looking for someone to move the motion, Travis.

02:07:48 Speaker 10: Thank you, Madam Chair.

02:07:49 Speaker 10: I'm really excited for this.

02:07:49 Speaker 10: We use this all the time... and it's going to be nice to see this being in full use and back to kind of that playground that we all kind of remember when we were kids.

02:07:50 Speaker 10: So I'm more than happy to move the recommendation.

02:07:50 Speaker 10: I think this is going to be a great addition for the community, and thank you to the senior quarter... [unclear name]... for good cheer for being a part of this project as well.

02:07:51 Speaker 10: Because we wouldn't be able to be here if it wasn't for them.

02:07:52 Speaker 10: So thank you.

02:07:53 Speaker 10: Okay.

02:07:53 Speaker 10: Any other comments?

02:07:53 Speaker 10: All those in favor of the recommendation...

02:07:54 Speaker 10: That's carried.

02:07:54 Speaker 10: Okay.

02:07:54 Speaker 10: Next is moving down there.

02:07:54 Speaker 10: No matters postponed.

02:07:54 Speaker 10: No motions for which notice was previously given.

02:07:55 Speaker 10: Cora...

02:07:55 Speaker 10: Previously given correspondence presented for information: OSHC-2-I didn't do that, oh I'm so sorry... how can I skip over that?

02:07:55 Speaker 10: The yeah, that's been the ongoing project hasn't it?

02:07:56 Speaker 10: So this particular report is regarding the park naming at 823 Fifth Avenue East, formerly known as Ryerson Playground and Ground.

02:07:56 Speaker 10: And I'll go to the director for this.

02:07:56 Speaker 10: Thank you, Chair.

02:07:56 Speaker 10: And so... this report is sort of the second report in the process around naming the park.

02:07:56 Speaker 10: The previous report authority section really reminds us how did we get here.

02:07:57 Speaker 10: The city has a renaming and naming policy that's really been our guide as we've worked through this process.

02:07:57 Speaker 10: Back in March, committee had provided direction: that we use the R-City platform to solicit names... in addition to the four that had been offered through the renaming process;

02:07:57 Speaker 10: and that following that we would proceed with ranked voting.

02:07:58 Speaker 10: So that policy remains really relevant because Council had asked that we look for a name with a locational reference, and when you look at Section Nine of the policy,

02:07:58 Speaker 10: it talks about a neighborhood or planning area street reference, proximity to a natural environment, etc.

02:07:58 Speaker 10: There were 70 inputs... which I thought was terrific from people on the park.

02:07:58 Speaker 10: So the name suggestions are there; and then I've put the honorific names on the right-hand side.

02:07:58 Speaker 10: And to be clear: we're looking at the ones that would go forward—would be the name suggestions on the left—and I believe there's 24 of those.

02:07:59 Speaker 10: The ones on the right, the honorific names... really don't achieve the intent of the policy or what Council asked for in terms of the name.

02:08:00 Speaker 10: In the beginning, we also had committed to doing consultation with Saan.

02:08:00 Speaker 10: And on May 27th, I had a really nice late afternoon in the park with Ben McLeod from the Sault Ste.

02:08:00 Speaker 10: Marie Environmental Office... together with Rita Root, who's a language speaker and an elder—and also a residential school survivor.

02:08:01 Speaker 10: So that was a special time.

02:08:01 Speaker 10: Rita has offered a name; and I'll do my best to share it with you: It's Nisin Bayki.

02:08:01 Speaker 10: Nisin Bayki, and it means "person lowered to the earth," and with the idea of coming down from the escarpment down to the base of the hill, or going down that...

02:08:02 Speaker 10: Boggin Hill—and she shares that the name also connects to the creation story.

02:08:03 Speaker 10: They would like the name considered on its own; but we're okay with it being part of a ranked voting.

02:08:03 Speaker 10: So I've given you a few options: One is a deviation from the policy and select the Anishinaabe name that was put forward by Rita,

02:08:03 Speaker 10: or move forward with the rank voting with the names on the left—including the Anishinaabe name that is provided (that I did a bad job of pronouncing).

02:08:03 Speaker 10: So... the recommendation then is: in consideration of the report, committee would recommend Council direct staff to proceed with one of the options outlined here for you tonight.

02:08:03 Speaker 10: Councilor Dodd, thank you, Madam Chair.

02:08:04 Speaker 10: I'm going to move forward with moving the recommendation which includes option two—which would be including the ranked voting, including the name that was provided by the Anishinaabe.

02:08:04 Speaker 10: That would be using the names that were also from the name suggestions—not the honorific names.

02:08:04 Speaker 10: I will note: those names that were provided in the honorific names... every single one of those names are important people in our community.

02:08:04 Speaker 10: Unfortunately, that just does not meet what that naming policy was asking for.

02:08:04 Speaker 10: We were looking for those name suggestions—even though we all know Billy Bishop, we all know Bob Rutherford or John Duddy Hall—those people deserve names just as much.

02:08:05 Speaker 10: But I'm going to go with option two.

02:08:05 Speaker 10: I'm going to move option two with the ranked voting based off the locational names that were provided.

02:08:05 Speaker 10: Yeah... there's my recommendation.

02:08:06 Speaker 10: Comments on the motion?

02:08:06 Speaker 10: All those in favor of the motion...

02:08:06 Speaker 10: That's carried.

02:08:06 Speaker 10: Thank you.

02:08:07 Speaker 10: Okay, moving on.

02:08:07 Speaker 10: Then matters postponed.

02:08:07 Speaker 10: I noted: there are no matters postponed.

02:08:07 Speaker 10: There are no motions for which notice was previously given; and now we're on to correspondence from the Chief Building Official regarding development update.

02:08:08 Speaker 10: Thank you, Chair—and through you—fairly quickly.

02:08:08 Speaker 10: In May 2026, there were several major projects that received building permits... including Troy Life Fire & Safety receiving a foundation permit for their work on East Bayshore Road.

02:08:09 Speaker 10: So if you're driving out that way, you might see some work happening.

02:08:09 Speaker 10: The Bruce Grade District Catholic School Board received conditional site plan approval and has submitted their building permit applications.

02:08:09 Speaker 10: U-Haul submitted their building permit applications, and the construction values and the fees received are a reflection of that building permit.

02:08:10 Speaker 10: Of reflection of that building permit, so that's a significant development that will occur at the intersection of 20th Avenue East and 16th Street East.

02:08:10 Speaker 10: I think you might have seen some signage and some initial grading happening there, so that should start in the near future.

02:08:10 Speaker 10: We had the public meeting and the technical report for the zoning bylaw amendment for an eight-story apartment building in the East Court Residences just a couple weeks ago, so that zoning bylaw amendment was submitted,

02:08:10 Speaker 10: and we'll see the recommendation report come forward in July.

02:08:10 Speaker 10: And finally, building staff completed professional development training for large buildings health and safety.

02:08:11 Speaker 10: And I'd be happy to answer any questions.

02:08:11 Speaker 10: Are there any questions?

02:08:12 Speaker 10: Okay, seeing none.

02:08:14 Speaker 10: We need a separate motion to receive that report, do we?

02:08:14 Speaker 10: Motion to receive, then.

02:08:15 Speaker 02: That's Lance.

02:08:16 Speaker 02: All those in favor?

02:08:17 Speaker 02: Carried.

02:08:17 Speaker 02: Thank you.

02:08:19 Speaker 02: Next, we have a few site plans.

02:08:19 Speaker 02: If you wanted to just summarize those, through you, Chair.

02:08:19 Speaker 02: There was one site plan approval for an extension to the existing development for self storage in the east Eastridge Business Park.

02:08:19 Speaker 02: So there is a building that was extended, and it did require site plan approval.

02:08:20 Speaker 02: So it's basically the development is already existing.

02:08:20 Speaker 02: It's being built out over a number of years, and the approval will facilitate that build out.

02:08:21 Speaker 02: And I don't know that we need to receive that, do we?

02:08:21 Speaker 02: It's already been to council, just for information.

02:08:21 Speaker 02: Okay, motion to receive for information.

02:08:22 Speaker 02: Received for information.

02:08:23 Speaker 02: That's by Lance.

02:08:24 Speaker 02: Those all those in favor?

02:08:24 Speaker 02: That's carried.

02:08:24 Speaker 02: Thank you.

02:08:24 Speaker 02: I've lost my agenda.

02:08:25 Speaker 02: Here we go.

02:08:25 Speaker 02: Moving on to additional no yes additional items.

02:08:26 Speaker 02: We have two items, and we need a motion to waive the notice provision respecting these two particular items.

02:08:26 Speaker 02: So I'm looking for that motion first.

02:08:27 Speaker 02: Sunites made the motion to waive the proceedings.

02:08:27 Speaker 02: All those in favor?

02:08:27 Speaker 02: That's carried.

02:08:28 Speaker 02: First item is the 2026 capital project update regarding Owen Heights and Comrade Park Playground.

02:08:28 Speaker 02: Eckert, through you, Chair Cappe.

02:08:29 Speaker 02: This report is seeking committee approval for a budget increase to support two contemplated change orders related to the construction work currently being undertaken on the new playgrounds at Owen Heights and Comeret Park.

02:08:29 Speaker 02: On October 6th last year, staff were granted approval to enter into a non-standard procurement with Park and Play Design Limited to leverage competitive pricing received under the Kenetico Group Purchasing Organization program.

02:08:29 Speaker 02: The scope of work for each playground included the supply, delivery, and installation of new playground equipment as well as the related site works.

02:08:30 Speaker 02: However, the related site works were not based on any detailed design information at that time.

02:08:30 Speaker 02: The detailed drawings were completed until early November, and as a result, additional costs were identified.

02:08:31 Speaker 02: These additional costs were related to the civil work when the playground was integrated into the physical context of each park.

02:08:31 Speaker 02: The additional costs were related to grading to balance the cut and fill, modifications made to the accessible path of travel, modifications made to the sub drainage layout based on grades,

02:08:32 Speaker 02: the inclusion of two concrete pads to support benches, and the addition of an accessible swing that was identified during a public consultation process.

02:08:32 Speaker 02: The budget impact of these changes resulted in change orders outlined in this report.

02:08:33 Speaker 02: For Comeret Park, an additional $7,400 is being requested, representing a 5% increase in the original project budget, and for Owen Heights, an additional $12,600 is being requested, representing an 8.5% increase of the original budget.

02:08:33 Speaker 02: I want to note before opening up the floor for questions that none of these identified changes or change orders are related to the quality control issues that have impacted the work completed to date.

02:08:33 Speaker 02: Park and Play is addressing this with no budget impacts to the city.

02:08:33 Speaker 02: So, in summary, the recommendation before you reads as follows: that, in consideration of staff report CS 26062 respecting the Owen Heights and Comeret Park playgrounds project update,

02:08:34 Speaker 02: City Council directs staff to approve the contemplated change order submitted by Parkland Play Design Company Limited for twenty thousand dollars from the Parkland Reserve, including the non-refundable allocation of HST.

02:08:34 Speaker 02: Thank you, Eckert.

02:08:35 Speaker 02: Morgan, you just piqued my interest because you mentioned something about quality control issues.

02:08:35 Speaker 02: Can you speak more to that, please?

02:08:35 Speaker 02: Yes, I sure can.

02:08:35 Speaker 02: So we had, in very basic terms, we did some work late last year, concrete work primarily.

02:08:36 Speaker 02: The weather did not facilitate the concrete curing.

02:08:36 Speaker 02: We had some other construction-related quality issues that basically resulted in some of the work failing.

02:08:37 Speaker 02: When we reviewed it in the spring, due to those quality concerns, we agreed that all of that work needed to come out and be reinstated with better preparation of site conditions and basically new concrete,

02:08:37 Speaker 02: and that's happening.

02:08:38 Speaker 02: It's happening as we speak.

02:08:38 Speaker 02: Basically do it well or not at all.

02:08:39 Speaker 02: Orsoni, through you Madam Chair, I'm happy to move the recommendation as it is, but with a quick question.

02:08:40 Speaker 02: So even with the changes and the last-minute delays, would it still be complete by the tenth of July, as mentioned in the report, and the parks be open to public?

02:08:41 Speaker 02: Through chair Capkey, yeah.

02:08:41 Speaker 02: So one of the reasons that we came in the way we did with this report was that we wanted to take advantage of the construction that was already underway and have it be continuous.

02:08:41 Speaker 02: And so the contractor is sitting and waiting for the decision on this report, and to basically carry on with the work, with the aim of completing it by the dates that we've specified.

02:08:41 Speaker 02: Thank you.

02:08:42 Speaker 02: So the motion's on the floor.

02:08:42 Speaker 02: Any further questions?

02:08:42 Speaker 02: All those in favour of the motion, that's carried.

02:08:43 Speaker 02: Thank you.

02:08:43 Speaker 02: Next report is from the director regarding an update for the marker tree and requests for ecological restoration and cultural recognition at the marker tree location in Harrison Park.

02:08:44 Speaker 02: Pam, thank you Chair.

02:08:44 Speaker 02: The city last year had received a request from Saan about a special tree, a marker tree located at Harrison Park.

02:08:44 Speaker 02: And as you'll recall, our official plan policy and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommendations really supported committee and council's decision to approve the request,

02:08:45 Speaker 02: setting aside some funds for the ecological protection as well as funds for a commemorative plaque.

02:08:45 Speaker 02: So I'm just providing you an update on a few of the items.

02:08:46 Speaker 02: The interpretive plaque has been developed and installed.

02:08:46 Speaker 02: It's on site.

02:08:48 Speaker 02: It looks great.

02:08:48 Speaker 02: We had a really nice dedication there on April 22nd.

02:08:49 Speaker 02: It was really well attended.

02:08:49 Speaker 02: The plan for the ecological protection is on your chairs or on your desk this evening, and maybe Christina if you could show that on the screen.

02:08:50 Speaker 02: But lesson learned for me: when you give an estimate on how much something's going to cost, you should have a better understanding of the scope of work.

02:08:50 Speaker 02: So when we wrote the report last September about this project, so we engaged GSS Engineering.

02:08:50 Speaker 02: The area outlined in red is really you can see the little washroom building there, and then the marker tree is in the center of the green.

02:08:51 Speaker 02: So of course, the path to the washroom went right through them close to the marker tree.

02:08:51 Speaker 02: So getting it out and rooted around and making sure there's a connection on both ends because as you can see, the road that's through that area will be terminated.

02:08:51 Speaker 02: So the road will go left, and the road through the middle will be restored and naturalized.

02:08:52 Speaker 02: There will also be a physical barrier along that edge because if people look like they can drive through there in the campground generally people tend to drive through.

02:08:52 Speaker 02: So I've outlined for you the additional cost: the engineering design materials, that's the granular and the stone we have a firm price from a contractor.

02:08:58 Speaker 02: It's almost ten thousand dollars.

02:08:58 Speaker 02: Brings the total project cost to twenty six five.

02:08:58 Speaker 02: The initial budget allocation was ten.

02:08:58 Speaker 02: So I'm asking committee for support for an additional sixteen thousand five hundred dollars.

02:08:58 Speaker 02: So the recommendation is that the committee would recommend council approve the allocation of additional funds from the park land reserve.

02:08:59 Speaker 02: Questions or motions from the committee members on this issue, Tarb Travis.

02:08:59 Speaker 02: Thank you Madam Chair.

02:09:00 Speaker 02: And I think the question that's going to come from members of council are how did we get from a ten thousand dollar budget to a twenty six thousand five hundred dollar budget?

02:09:00 Speaker 02: We had budget yesterday and you know as we all know things go up and down and council argues and all those pieces.

02:09:01 Speaker 02: So, I guess the question will be: What's the alternative?

02:09:01 Speaker 02: Committee or committee says yes; Council says no. However it goes, what is the alternative?

02:09:02 Speaker 02: What does it look like?

02:09:03 Speaker 02: What happens if nothing is done?

02:09:03 Speaker 02: What kind of state would that site be in if no one moves forward with the additional request?

02:09:04 Speaker 02: Through the Chair, you know, we struggle in Parks with our staff to do the things that we need to do operationally.

02:09:05 Speaker 02: So cutting the grass and doing the trimming and cleaning up the campground.

02:09:06 Speaker 02: You might say, well, maybe our own staff would have time in the fall to do this, but seasonals trail off; we get down to a smaller staff group.

02:09:06 Speaker 02: Therefore, the area would not have the ecological restoration that is planned, and we wouldn't succeed in finalizing the project; it just wouldn't get done.

02:09:07 Speaker 02: I should note: We had reviewed the plan with Son, and they are quite satisfied with the plan as presented.

02:09:07 Speaker 02: So, just a quick question: Before it became a marker tree, so it was like a tree that city staff would maintain, right?

02:09:07 Speaker 02: What if we leave it as this?

02:09:08 Speaker 02: What could go wrong with that?

02:09:08 Speaker 02: Through the Chair, that's a great question.

02:09:08 Speaker 02: And the road goes really close to the tree; I should let Eckhard speak to the impact of the tree having constant traffic—both cars and pedestrians—right by its roots.

02:09:08 Speaker 02: Maybe you can speak to that through the Chair.

02:09:10 Speaker 02: So: The campground is extremely heavily used.

02:09:11 Speaker 02: The tree is more or less in the roadway; root systems are very close to that road, they have been impacted and damaged.

02:09:11 Speaker 02: And really, the goal of all of this work is to preserve and extend the life of this heritage tree—that's where a lot of this work is working towards.

02:09:12 Speaker 02: It is definitely a stressed tree, and all of the objectives of the work we're looking at are removing some gravel material from the road (the hard compacted road),

02:09:12 Speaker 02: allowing the root system underneath it to actually get moisture; that will again help this tree survive another year, another 10 years,

02:09:12 Speaker 02: or even longer than it would given the conditions it is currently trying to survive within.

02:09:12 Speaker 02: We have extensive foot traffic.

02:09:12 Speaker 02: As hard as we try, we still have staff and pedestrian traffic because we maintain this park.

02:09:13 Speaker 02: It is booked solid for three months of the year; there's a ton of activity that happens in this campground on a constant basis.

02:09:13 Speaker 02: We have pedestrian traffic there supporting the trail network.

02:09:13 Speaker 02: Hundreds of people walk by this tree daily.

02:09:14 Speaker 02: All we are trying to do is allow that to happen and protect the tree to the best of our abilities.

02:09:14 Speaker 02: With this, you know, this is probably one of the cheapest, most basic things we can do:

02:09:14 Speaker 02: some armor stone thrown along the edge to adjust the road's edge and make sure pedestrian routes aren't directed towards the area we're trying to protect;

02:09:15 Speaker 02: throw some mulch on top of the tree area so it is clearly identifiable as part of the root zone for the tree.

02:09:16 Speaker 02: Nothing fancy, nothing sophisticated—it's very basic landscape work—and I think also out of respect for Indigenous roots, the marker tree is something that is significant in that regard.

02:09:16 Speaker 02: Do we have a motion on the floor, Morgan?

02:09:16 Speaker 02: Just a quick question: I know budget-wise and everything; this is a great plan.

02:09:17 Speaker 02: Yes, we do need to do all these things to maintain the longevity of this important tree.

02:09:17 Speaker 02: Now can we just do something this year if budget is in question? Can we just do the stone this year and next year for the pedestrian work? Like, I just read that another trail of ours is down there where we might need to put money towards; so do we need to be looking at this with a wider lens? I'm okay to move it whatever we decide. It's an interesting question. Sometimes in the grand scheme of projects and construction work costing ten thousand dollars, having materials mobilized twice will increase those costs. So there is some efficiency in implementing the plan within the red circle sort of one time. Council had a report this week on capital budget; again, I apologize for not having this information in time for that meeting, but funds are available in the park reserve to support this work. Yes? Okay. Morgan has moved the motion. All those in favor? That's carried. Thank you. Next item is notices of motion. Are there any notices? Seeing no notices. The next item is adjournment; I'll declare the meeting adjourned at twenty to eight. Thank you.