Budget meetings Tuesday November 28th and Wednesday November 29th

Well, overall the two budget deliberation meetings can be summed up with “Who’s on first?”…. “I’m confused”…. “This is very confusing” …..”Everybody is confused”. You may very well feel that way while you read through this week’s blog. In fact, I’ll be shocked if you don’t. I’m not sure if I managed to make sense of it or not. But I tried or at least will try. Hang on with both hands. I also apologise in advance if I mix up any numbers…..there were numbers getting thrown around all around me. If I’ve made any errors that need fixing, let me know, I’ll fix them no problem and no charge. I think council spent more time debating HOW to debate the budget than actually debating the budget. If you manage to read this to the end, you deserve a prize.

Tuesday November 28th — Day One 6:00 – 10:00

All members of council were in attendance. There were about 15 members of the public in attendance at the very beginning of the meeting and a lot of staff. The meeting was scheduled to start at 6:00 and finish at 10:00.

First up, were the community grant presentations. Any organisation who has registered with the town ahead of time gets go before council to ask for a monetary donation for their organisation / charity.

Councillor Fryer declared a conflict of pecuniary interest for the Rose City Gymnastics grant since his daughter works there.

Rose City Gymnastics 

On the agenda, it says Tom Deslippe, General Manager, however it was a lady who addressed council. I didn’t catch her name. She asked to have the rent waived in the amount of $12,095 in order to use the Libro Centre for a gymnastics tournament. She said it’s a two year event and she hopes to be back in Amherstburg next year. She felt that the Gymnastics Tournament would be a great features and said that Councillor Fryer had been after her for years to come to Amherstburg.

Amherstburg Community Services – Kathy DiBartolomeo , Executive Director

Ms DiBartolomeo spoke about all of the wonderful services that they provide to our community, in particular our seniors.

Amherstburg Food and Fellowship Mission – Tim McAllister

Mr McAllister was not there to present.

Amherstburg Freedom Museum – Mary-Katherine Whelan, Curator/Administrator

Ms Whelan was requesting $6,500 for their historical museum that offers rich history about the experiences of the Black Culture and the Underground Railrooad.

Amherstburg Historic Sites Association-Stephanie Pouget-Papak, Curator/Administrator

Miss Pouget-Papak spoke and explained about the variety of historic sites and programming available. She was asking for $8,500 stating that visitor numbers had greatly increased, however, many came during the free admission events. She read a letter written by one of the summer students about her experience working for the Park House Museum and I almost got my wallet out and gave her a donation on the spot. It was truly an impressive presentation.

SNAP, Spay & Neuter Assist Program-Tim Stocker and Karen Lloyd

This was the first time that Mr Stocker and Ms Lloyd have asked council for a grant. They trap stray cats and then get them neutered or spayed. They said they’ve done over 140 cats in the area.

Council asked several questions of this couple, to clarify things.

Cat Assistance Team – Renee St. Pierre

This is another group that also traps stray cats and gets them spayed or neutered. They’ve done 72 feral cats so far this year. Ms St. Pierre presented a few focus areas in town. Her partner, Carla Leardi also spoke. They answered LOTS of questions from council…..lots and lots and lots (in my opinion of course). I think they talked about cats for a good 20 minutes. Let me preface this with….I am a cat lover. I have 2 that are treated like a king and queen in my house. However, I know I was tired of the cat talk. I can only imagine what any dog people in the gallery must have been thinking.

The Garrison – Leah Prentice

Ms Prentice was looking for money to do a pilot project to help with unity, equality and tolerance. I remember when she presented to council a few months back, it seemed the program was centered around nature, native peoples rituals, teachings, crafts etc. She spoke for a while about her own personal life story, however, her presentation wasn’t very specific to what The Garrison would have to offer on a “concrete” type basis. Councillor Meloche asked about the tangibles. Councillor Pouget asked a few questions about the organisation too. It seems they’ll be based out of The Fort Restaurant in the bushes, outside in the nature.

Cecidia DiBiasso – adlscholarship

I apologise if I did not get the name right or the scholarship name right. Ms DiBiasso was requesting $10,000 (over 2 years) towards a scholarship for a University of Windsor student that was a first or second generation immigrant. She presented the various criteria that would need to be met for the scholarship.

By now, it was 7:35, all the people looking for grants had presented, so council decided it was break time. So, it was break time.

Around 7:55 the meeting resumed and the discussion of how to proceed with the budget began. Brace yourselves. The discussion went on and on and on.

The Mayor suggested that council work off of page 15 of the budget, since it had all the proposed increases in a summary form. Councillor Pouget asked why they weren’t doing the budget deliberations line by line, department by department as per past practice. She also wondered how they would flip back and forth without referring to specific pages. The Mayor explained that working off of page 15 was still department by department, but it was summarised. Councillor Pouget felt that they had advertised 2 days of deliberations and a possible third and yet it seemed now that perhaps the budget would get rushed and done in one night. The CAO spoke and explained that the public had had the chance to attend the public session, to use the Talk the Burg site and also email any questions.

At this point, I looked around the gallery. There were 3 members of the public there (including me), the rest were all town staff or members of council. I take that as a sign the public really isn’t too concerned about the budget.

There was more commentary between Councillor Pouget, the CAO and the Mayor. (Personally, I kind of agreed with Councillor Pouget….the summary is written in about a 3 font size and is hard to read, going page by page is clearer, but probably longer….., well it is over 300 pages, that’s pretty long, like a novel…..)

Councillor Fryer said he liked the summary of page 15 and was okay working with that. However, he then started asking questions about the MPAC increase and what the proper and true number would be for tax increases. He felt that the residents are looking at a 4.3% increase. Mr Rousseau, the Treasurer, said that the ESTIMATED growth factor is 2.73% and has been factored in to the budget. He explained that the town can only control the mill rate, which was currently proposed at 2%. There was more discussion between Councillor Fryer, Councillor Pouget and the Treasurer around various percentages and dollar amounts. The CAO weighed in that they had provided guidance to council. (It didn’t seem like it at the moment…..what the heck ?  It’s been 3 weeks with the budget in hand now…...)

Councillor Courtney then said that she can live with using page 15 as a guide to debate the budget.

Councillor Meloche then spoke about the value of homes. He felt that more homes are valued around $350,000, not the $200,000 that administration uses to give dollar figures for the tax rate. The CAO said that in fact, $200,000 is the value of the average Amherstburg home.

Now the Mayor was looking for a show of hands so that maybe, maybe, they could actually proceed and actually debate the budget. He asked for a show of hands of who was okay with using page 15 as a guide instead of going page by page, line by line. The majority were okay with that, so it was off to the races.

Dinner for volunteers

First up was the dinner for the volunteers with a dollar value of $3,300. Councillor Pouget asked who would be invited to this dinner. The CAO named the Horticultural Society, Friends of Bellevue and others. He explained that this was a new line item and that it was a good idea to recognise volunteers. This carried.

Parks and Recreation Committee

There was a $1,500 proposed increase for this committee. Councillor Pouget asked some questions and asked for a total amount of their budget. The two committees now combined was $3000 and needed an extra $1,500. Councillor Pouget asked administration for the page numbers. (instead of using page 15). Councillor Fryer wanted to use the issue papers, which are documents within the budget with the grand totals. Councillor Lavigne then expressed that they were changing from the original page 15 form and it was muddying the waters and it was confusing. (I would agree…..the room was filled with confused people….actually the room wasn’t full, but the people there were confused…..) Councillor Pouget said that she didn’t feel it was muddying the waters. She felt that the budget is one of the most important duties for councillors and expressed her dissatisfaction of not going line by line but working off of one page.

The Mayor pointed out that there was a motion on the floor for the $1,500 increase. The Treasurer then spoke and offered to bring up the departments like in the past. Councillor Lavigne seemed to lose his patience and said they should either do the budget line by line but if council uses the issue pages within the budget, then it’s a total of $4,500.

Are you following along so far???? Sorry for the confusion, it was a recurring theme.

Then the Mayor said they have to dispose of the motion on the floor before they can move on. Councillor Courtney felt it made sense to follow page 15 with the $1,500 increase. However, Councillor Fryer had worded the motion to make the total $4,500……the confusion!!!! Ugh!!! Finally, Councillor Fryer withdrew his motion about Parks and Rec Committee.

Then, Councillor Meloche made a motion to work via increases only. (i.e. page 15) This carried.

Then Councillor Courtney made the motion to increase the Park and Rec Committee $1,500. It carried.

So, here we were I did not note what time it was…….but it was confused o’clock.

I’m not going to summarise each line of the budget, my fingers may fall off if I type all of that. I’ll try to stick with the highlights. Minimise the confusion, if that’s even possible.

Grants to organisations

The Clerk suggested that council deal with each request individually.

Councillor Fryer declared a conflict of pecuniary interest for the Rose City Gymnastics grant since his daughter works there.

First up, was the Rose City Gymnastics grant of $12,095. Administration felt that the economic spin off for hosting the tournament in Amhertstburg would be big. They’re anticipating 5000 visitors plus 1000 competitors. Council had a few questions, but this carried relatively quickly. (Side note…..saw an interesting post today on Facebook……someone pointed out the double standard of raising ice rates for our local users, yet foregoing $12,095 to allow a Windsor group free use of the arena……interesting perspective…..Council cut $100,000 from the arena budget 2 years ago, now raises rates yet allows free rental ……)

Then there was a motion to give $5,000 to Amherstburg Community Services, $1,500 (I think) to the Food and Fellowship Mission, $6,500 to the Freedom Museum and $8,500 to the Historic Sites. The total for all the grants came to $33,900 so my math / notes is off somewhere, but oh well. I’m sure you get the picture.

The grants carried and represented a small decrease in the budget.

Part time committee coordinator

This current council added several new committees early in their term. Then this year, they disbanded several and combined some too.

The Mayor pointed out that this position was not included in the original numbers of the budget. The position was proposed and not approved last year either. Well, it wasn’t approved again this year. (It would have cost $29,517)

Policy Coordinator Contract

This position was going to cost $76,238. The CAO pointed out that a third of the town’s policies are outdated and need updating. Councillor Pouget did not like the cost and wanted administration to find a co-op student to do this. Councillor Fryer made a motion NOT to approve the position. There was a lot of back and forth about this. Blame got thrown around. After tons of back and forth, the motion carried and the full time policy coordinator contract was voted down.

Then, Councillor Courtney made a motion for a part-time job of the same position and this carried. (cost $38,119)

Full Time Communications Officer

The CAO explained that Amherstburg is one of the few communities that does not have a Communications Officer. He expressed concerns about the message in the community and that it’s important to deliver an accurate message and dis-spell untruths. (Is that possible in Amherstburg? Inaccurate messages and untruths helped some of our current members of council get elected…..I think…..) The CAO felt that social media is important and it’s important how the message gets delivered.

Councillor Lavigne made a motion to deny the position and Councillor Pouget seconded. (Draw your own conclusions.) Councillor Lavigne felt that council as a whole uses the mayor as a voice box, he goes to all of the events and uses social media. The Mayor thanked them and the motion carried. No Communications Officer for Amherstburg. (I can’t help but wonder if the Mayor feels alone as the “voice box”, since the other members of council extremely rarely comment on social media, if at all……same with events…..some members of council come to some, but many come to few, if any…..?)

2018 Salary and Benefit Increases

The amount was $739, 832 . Councillor Pouget wondered if any positions were new, but administration said they were all current. The non-union staff increases had been passed a few months ago. Councillor Fryer pointed out that this portion of the budget included an increase to the council compensation for 2018. (I do have to thank him for his honesty here, I would have missed it and wouldn’t have caught until later at home when I tried to go through the budget line by line…..yuck.) Anyway, they voted and it carried. After the vote, a recorded vote was requested. Don’t worry. It was unanimous. All 7 members of council voted for the pay increase.

On March 9, 2015 council had voted not to take a pay increase for four years. According to my math, four years hasn’t gone by yet. Here’s the article :

Amherstburg councillors vote for zero pay increase for next four years

Here’s a couple of interesting quotes from the article : “We’re all more than happy to take no wage increase for four years and reduce our per diem compensation,” Lavigne said.”

And another : “This council is giving their good example,” Pouget said. “And we’re not just taking a wage freeze for the next four years, what we’re doing is taking a wage deduction.”

Financial Analyst

Mr Rousseau, the Treasurer, pointed out that he has requested this position four times now in each budget. Councillor Fryer immediately made a motion NOT to approve the position. Councillor Courtney seconded. The Treasurer and the CAO pointed out that this position was a recommendation in the Deloitte Report. It seems a financial analyst looks for savings and new and more efficient ways of doing things. There was a lot of back and forth and administration was driving it home that it was a necessity. Councillor Courtney withdrew her second, but Councillor Pouget then seconded the motion. Administration continued to explain the importance, then Councillor Pouget withdrew her second. Finally, Councillor Meloche made a motion to approve the position (cost $95,644) and Deputy Mayor DiPasquale seconded. It went to a recorded vote.

In support : Councillor Courtney, Deputy Mayor DiPasquale, Councillor Lavigne, Councillor Meloche, Councillor Pouget and Mayor DiCarlo

Opposed : Councillor Fryer

By now it was almost 10:00 on Tuesday night. The meeting was scheduled to finish at 10:00. Councillor Fryer made a motion to extend the meeting until 10:15. Every one was exhausted. Every one. Council seemed to vote reluctantly to extend the meeting until 10:15.

Then, Councillor Fryer made a motion, something about accepting the next 4 items all related to the fire department (since the fire department brass were all there). Well, guess what? Nobody seconded the motion. So that was that, meeting over for Tuesday night.

Wednesday November 29th 2017

The meeting on Wednesday started at 2:00. I was unable to be there at that time, but Marc Renaud stepped in and took notes. He said he even sat in “my chair” LOL. Here are his notes :

They dealt with fire 2018 items 1 to 5, went through OK. Questions on number 2..memberships which is contractual firefighter

Fire overtime page 60. Councillor Pouget questioned the amount of overtime. The Chief explained the new health and safety trainer firefighter cut out 52 Saturdays from the budget on overtime. Motion passed

Councillor Meloche questioned  the budget for fire saying it went up over $600,000 over four years. It was explained that they have additional cost related to the issues in fire.

Legislative services 137 to 145, number one to seven passed.

Council questioned the by-law part time position, then went in-camera for 45 minutes.

They came out and reported that they discussed the hundred thousand dollar cost reduction, that had been in last year’s budget.

Marc Renaud (above)

Me again now. 🙂

I arrived around 5:20. It seems council had taken a dinner break at 4:30 and was supposed to resume at 5:30……well, they finally resumed around 5:57…..

**Deputy Mayor DiPasquale was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.**

Councillor Fryer immediately made a motion to reconsider for the public works position. There were some issues and confusion about who could or could not second the motion….since it was being reconsidered. Finally, it got figured out and they voted to reconsider the motion.

Councillor Fryer then made a motion to move items 1 to 8 and number 10 for the public works department (basically, excluding the Supervisor Roads & Fleet position). Councillor Pouget seconded. Councillor Fryer then spoke about how he feels it’s not necessary to have 3 managers over 6 employees and that we need more boots on the ground doing the work rather than someone supervising. Councillor Pouget felt the position would be hard to justify to the public. There was a lot of back and forth between Councillors Fryer, Pouget and Meloche. The savings is noted as $113,408.

Then Councillor Courtney spoke and expressed how everyone had agreed about this before supper, and now they don’t. She wondered what they ate for supper. (I wonder what they discussed during supper…….seems very strange to agree to something, have dinner (together?) and then change your mind……hmmmm...)

Administration explained that it is one department but with several divisions, so it was not as clear cut as council seemed to think. They argued, they continued, it went on and on and on. Councillor Fryer felt that the town is not repairing roads all the time. The director of Engineering pointed out that the managers have multiple responsibilities, not just roads, also water, waste-water, drainage and that work is done all year long. Then it got into a debate about supervising the contractors that are hired to replace roads. The CAO pointed out that if a subcontractor has a Ministry of Labour complaint issued, they will also name the town. (Just to be clear I have over 5 pages of notes on this discussion, but man, my fingers and eyes and ears are tired……so tired…..) Anyway, it finally went to a recorded vote to approve everything except the one position (Supervisor Roads & Fleet) for Public Works.

Support : Councillor Fryer, Councillor Lavigne, Councillor Pouget

Not support : Councillor Courtney, Councillor Meloche, Mayor DiCarlo

THEN, Councillor Fryer made a motion to defer this until all of council is present.

The Mayor had to actually ask if everyone understood what they voted on. Councillor Pouget seconded the motion for deferral. Councillor Courtney felt the wording for the motion was bad.

The deferral was a tie vote again, so it failed.

Councillor Lavigne mentions that Councillor Fryer should make his motion again. The Mayor said he was looking for a motion but make it simple, one line at a time. Councillor Courtney said she had an issue only with the job of Roads and Fleet.

Then Councillor Fryer made a motion to NOT concur with #9 the Roads & Fleet Manager, seconded by Councillor Pouget.

Once again, there was a 3-3 tie so the motion failed.

Then, there was a motion to approve items 1-8 for Public works, and that carried.

Mr Rousseau, the Treasurer said he was removing the $113,000 from the budget but the computer was updating so it would be a few minutes to get the new rate. The Mayor explained that the Roads and Fleet position was never there, so it’s still not there. Councillor Fryer asked for the new rate. I guess he missed the part about the computer updating…..

The confusion was all over the place. I looked at a friend and asked “Who’s on first?” It seemed appropriate.

Then, council called for a 5 minute break.

So 14 minutes later, they resumed the meeting. I guess it took 14 minutes for everyone to figure out which end was up.

Capital Budget

Councillor Lavigne said that he didn’t see anything in the capital budget to adjust, so he made a motion to accept it as is. Councillor Fryer seconded.

The Fire Chief gave an explanation about some equipment, but it didn’t change the numbers, so it was all good.

I noticed that council had new big papers, with the budget lines on them, in colour. Councillor Pouget kept referring to them, but I didn’t have a copy, just the electronic copy on the overhead projector.

Councillor Pouget questioned an $80,000 Branding item in the capital budget.

Ms Ibrahim spoke and explained how this was a town-wide image enhancement. (Is $80,000 enough??? LOL just kidding) She explained that a marketing plan is needed and branding is necessary for our strategic plan. She explained how other communities have attractive tourism branding. At the moment, the first hits for Amherstburg on the internet are council meetings, notices about moved garbage days, fog advisories etc……(Yikes…..do we really want council meetings being the first hit? boring…..) She mentioned that these are not good first hits, does not present a good image and that it’s not “sexy”. (Yep, couldn’t agree more….definitely nothing sexy about council meetings LOL.) Councillor Fryer pointed out our outdated signs to the town’s entrance.

Councillor Pouget then questioned about why the brick sidewalks were being replaced with pavement again, within the budget. Administration said that they’re looking at doing Crown Ridge next since the sidewalks are narrow,  and very up and down.

So finally, it went to a vote. Council removed Belle Vue from the vote, and it all carried. (Coucillors Pouget and Lavigne have a conflict with Belle Vue). The two line items for Belle Vue carried easily.

And there we sat…..almost 7:15 and it was over. The confusion, the exhaustion, the wonderment, was all over.

The Treasurer announced that the mill rate was officially .83%. Councillor Fryer pointed out that 8 of the positions were approved and the the increase was under 1%. (I’m not sure 8 positions were approved may have been 7, maybe 6……too tired to go back and count them up….)

The two levies each went up .75%……so grand total 2.33%.

To those of you who managed to make it to the end of this…..I hope it made sense, even a little bit of sense…..I tried desperately to make sense of the confusion, the chaos…..we laughed, we cried…..well mostly, we cried…..okay, I cried…..tears of confusion, but not hysteria. Okay, I didn’t literally cry. Oh wait, I did cry from laughter on Tuesday night. I guess that’s good right? On the upside, this is council’s very first budget in four years that was debated on time and should be in place for January 1. Do you think it’s because they were voting themselves a raise?

 

 

Monday November 27th Regular Town Council meeting

Well, let me preface this blog with my personal thoughts……After what I witnessed this evening, I think every single member of council will be running for reelection. Every single member of council had commentary, questions, niceties (well, except for one presentation, maybe two….), it wasn’t like the usual meetings that I’ve become used to attending. There were also quite a few members of the public in the gallery, I like to see that.

Here’s my summary with my thoughts and commentary….if you don’t like my inner voice, stop reading, she had a lot to say.

Recognition :  Allan Gignac, Public Works Equipment Operator – Long Service Award Recognition

The first order of business tonight was some well-deserved recognition for Mr Al Gignac. He’s been working for the town for 30 years! Human Ressources made a short speech about his early years and his years serving the Town of Amherstburg. We had a few laughs and Mr Gignac was presented with his plaque. Congratulations!

Delegations

Request to Use Portion of Toddy Jones Park for Annual Garden Tour- Dr. Allan Halowski, President, Amherstburg Fort Malden Horticultural Society

First up, Dr Hawloski explained a hiccup with the 2018 planned Garden Tour. It appears that the annual garden tour is scheduled for June 9th and 10th 2018. However, a local church has booked the Toddy Jones Park on June 10th for an annual picnic. It seems Dr Halowski was asking to use the North-East corner of the park for a ticket area and a beginning area of the tour. He feels this will not interfere with the church’s picnic. The Mayor asked if he’d be willing to use the entrance area of the Navy Yard Park for the tent and ticket sales. Dr. Halowski felt that parking may be an issue in that area. Councillor Pouget asked if they would need use of a tent, but it appears they’re taking care of that themselves and that it won’t interfere with the picnic. Then Councillor Meloche made the motion to approve the request and allow the Fort Malden Horticultural Society to use the North East corner of the park. Councillor Pouget seconded. There were a few small questions and council was about to vote……then, thankfully Ms Rubli, Manager, Licensing and Enforcement, pointed out that administration should speak to the church, since they paid for the use of the whole park and that it would be prudent to let them know. (Ya think? Geez. I was thinking that the whole time, yet nobody on council seemed to realise or care? Imagine paying a fee to use the entire park and then find out council let someone use part of it, for free, and didn’t even have the good manners to ask you first?? Thank you Ms Rubli! ) So, then the motion was amended to allow the use of the north east corner on condition that it was okay with the church and if not, they would find a spot for the Horticultural Society somewhere in the Kings Navy Yard Park. This carried.

Bell Canada Announcement – Calvin DeLeavey, Senior Manager FTTH, Bell Canada 

There wasn’t any information about this on the agenda, so, drum roll please……Bell Canada was before council to announce they’d be delivering Fibre to the Home (FTTH) in Amherstburg. They will be bringing fibre optics all the way to each house and will allow for unparalleled internet speeds. (Ooooohhhhh I am so excited! When the internet goes down in this house, it’s nothing short of sheer panic…..first world problems I guess. ) This will be a private investment and won’t cost the town any money. (Even more exciting LOL) Mr DeLeavey from Bell explained that it’s broad band but with way more reliability and flexibility and they are planning to roll this out in the second quarter of 2018.

Then, each member of council gushed and thanked them. (Don’t get me wrong, I think this is a great initiative! However, the gushing and back patting screamed “re-elect me”, in my opinion.) At the end, Mr. DeLeavey gave a bunch of t-shirts to the Mayor. He said if we wanted one to go see the Mayor afterwards LOL.

Delegation – Ice Rental Increase and User Surcharge – Marc Renaud, President, Amherstburg Minor Hockey Association

This delegation was added on a supplementary agenda. Mr Renaud spoke about the pending increases to the ice rental fee amounts in the 2018 budget. AMHA (Amherstburg Minor Hockey Association) was told it would be a $6.00 per hour increase. He said that AMHA met with Skate Amherstburg and the Amherstburg Admirals hockey team, who are the 3 main user groups of the ice at the Libro Arena. He presented an alternative scenario to what administration had proposed. Mr Renaud seemed to feel that the organisations that use the ice less than 12 hours, the non Amherstburg residents and the adult groups should have a higher increase and the the 3 main users then take a lower increase of $4.00 per hour. Here are the options presented, I hope I got the numbers right….(There is also an ice surcharge being proposed, but that was not debated.)

Option 1. (Administration’s proposal) $6.00/hour increase. 2000 hours of ice X $6 = $12,000 divided by 550 players = $22.82 per player (figure skaters $13.50 per person).

Option 2. (three ice user group’s proposal)  2000 hours of ice X $4 = $8,000 divided by 550 players = $14.54 per player ($9 per figure skater)

Mr Renaud said that the 3 groups represent 54% of the users. He felt that non-residents and adult groups should pay more and off set the costs for the organised ice sports. He used the following quote “Kids in sports stay out of court”. He then went on to compare Amherstburg’s fees to Essex’s fees and they are currently very similar. Mr Renaud understood the need for an increase but wanted a reasonable increase.

Then the flood gates opened. There was a lot of back and forth between Councillor Fryer and Mr Renaud. He felt that the AMHA could get rid of the early bird discount to help make up the costs. Councillor Fryer also talked about how he talked to his daughters and his wife and got their opinions, since they are also hockey players and parents. (Gasp! Inner voice……you’re asking your kid’s opinions???? Did you ask the resident’s opinions??? I don’t know.) Councillor Fryer talked about how the hockey families are buying things from the concessions stands and often come in to the arena with Tim Horton’s coffee. He felt it’s a small amount that the town is asking for and that the rates are competitive. Councillor Fryer then mentioned that only 8 people were at the public budget meeting. (Blush. Could he be reading my blog? I wrote that there were only 8 people there, because I was one of them. ) Mr Renaud pointed out that he was one of the people at the public engagement session for the budget. (Even though Councillor Fryer was not there. ) There was more back and forth between the two individuals. Then Councillor Lavigne jumped in. This went back and forth a lot too. Councillor Lavigne went on about how he had 4 kids go through the skating programs and that it’s a better facility that costs money. He pointed out that he made the motion to freeze the rates for AMHA last year. Mr Renaud pointed out that in Amherstburg 550 players are footing the bill, whereas in other communities it’s 1000 + players paying the bills. Councillor Lavigne seemed to compare Amherstburg’s rates with LaSalle and Tecumseh, rather than Essex, like Mr Renaud did. (Inner voice was screaming…………..LaSalle and Tecumseh are generally wealthy communities. They don’t have any geared to income housing, yet Amherstburg has 3 areas and a 4th area on the way……………..I’d be curious to see the median incomes in each of these communities compared to Amherstburg……..I think Stats Canada would have that information……may make for some interesting research sometime.) Councillor Pouget then spoke and said she did not agree with Mr Renaud’s proposal. She felt that people think that council is unreasonable but they’re being fair. She also felt that it was not accurate that Mr Renaud said they had a 2.6% increase two years ago when in fact it was 1.6%.  Councillor Courtney then spoke about her son and grandsons who play hockey and that hockey is expensive. She felt that if parents can afford to pay for hockey they can afford to pay a little more and that parents will find the money.

At this point, the Mayor moved forward an item on the agenda since it was related to this delegation.

Proposed Capital Surcharge on Ice Rentals Comparison

Councillor Fryer made the motion (Councillor Pouget seconded) to move forward with option #1 that had been proposed by administration :

OPTION #1

In brief, this is the option that administration has recommended. It involves a capital surcharge set at $6.00 per rental unit of time  for sport facilities and park bookings and $3.00 for rental unit of time for room rentals.

This carried.

I would just like to take a brief walk down memory lane…..two years ago, this very same council cut $100,000 from the arena budget. Just like that, poof! Then this past year, at the same meeting they gave $100,000 to the ERCA Foundation, they then cried poor about the arena repairs and needs…….Do you think these were well thought out, strategic moves? Or just moves without thinking about tomorrow?

Brace yourselves Amherstburg, taxes are going up and for those of us with young kids in activities at the arena, well, we’re about to pay more for those too. (I’ll try to contain my sarcasm.)

Dog Control Services

It appears that administration is recommending a one year agreement with the Windsor Essex County Humane Society to provide dog control officer services and pound facility for the town. Looks like they need to set aside $40,000 in the budget in regards to this.

Councillor Meloche seemed to feel this was a lot of money when the town only received 40 calls last year about dogs. The CAO explained that they issued an RFP and explored options and that the Humane Society is the best option. Councillor Meloche felt that down the road the town needs to reduce this cost. Councillor Pouget wondered if the town could recover some of the costs. Ms Rubli explained that they review each case when they receive animal control reports and that there are fines in place for multiple infractions. She also felt that the dog tag program has greater numbers and is well advertised. Councillor Meloche seemed to be the only one concerned about the $40,000 price tag.

Then, this carried.

King’s Navy Yard Park Heritage Designation

Okay, before I begin, I have one question : Why? Why? Why? Why is council so interested to have the entire King’s Navy Yard Park designated as a Heritage site? I’ve read through the report and it’s riddled with quirks, problems, and issues. To me, it seems like a lot of time and energy (and probably money) has gone into this “issue” and I truly don’t understand why.

Councillor Meloche immediately made the motion (seconded by Councillor Courtney) to approve option 1.

With this option, the town would initiate the development of a Heritage Conservation District Plan for the King’s Navy Yard Park (KNYP from here on out) AFTER the completion of the waterfront development (former Duffy’s property.)

Councillor Fryer then asked the CAO to explain options #2 and #3 to the residents. (Why does he feel we don’t understand? Why does it matter to have two options explained to us that aren’t going to even be voted on, since option 1 was on the floor?) Mr Galvin, Director, Planning, Development and Legislative Services went on to explain the pro and con chart that was included in the agenda. He explained how the issue of designating the Navy Yard Park as Heritage got dicey with several quirks. Councillor Pouget thanked Mr Galvin and the Heritage Committee for being fair to allow council to proceed with plans for the old Duffy’s property and not have to go back for permission. Councillor Meloche felt option #1 provided flexibility.

This motion carried.

Personally, I think designating the Kings Navy Yard Park as Heritage will tie people’s hands for years to come. Perhaps the next council will revisit this issue before it becomes something that impedes progress. It’s already designated as a park and therefore protected. I believe it’s common knowledge that Heritage designations can be problematic on a lot of levels. But that’s just my thoughts.

Unfinished Business and New Business

This is the point where members of council can bring up any unfinished items and new business items. Once again, an election must be looming, because there were several items brought up, but nothing of interest, at least to me. I think people wanted to hear themselves speak.

I had packed up my pen and my book at this point since council was just going through some house keeping items before they would go in-camera (AGAIN), but I had to pull my pen out and open up my book again, for this :

By-law to Appoint Property Standard Officers for the Town of Amherstburg

“That B.J. Wilder, Nicole Rubli and Angelo Avolio are hereby appointed Property
Standard Officers for the Town of Amherstburg.”

This seemed simple and straightforward…..It seems that only Mr Wilder is currently allowed to inspect properties if there is a property standards complaint. This new by-law was simply adding this authority to Ms Rubli and Mr Avolio (The Chief Building Official). One would think this was no big deal. One was wrong. Suddenly, there was a motion to defer this. The CAO explained that if there were a complaint during the next 2 weeks, ONLY Mr Wilder can attend, however, there is a property in Amherstburg that he can not attend (???Don’t ask me why. no idea.) Councillor Pouget wondered if it could be discussed in-camera possibly tomorrow , since there is a budget meeting. The Mayor explained that it could only be brought back at the next regular meeting, which is December 11th. Then I heard it would be a recorded vote. I frantically dug for my pen.

Motion to defer :

In support : Councillor Courtney, Deputy Mayor DiPasquale, Councillor Fryer, Councillor Pouget

Opposed: Councillor Lavigne, Councillor Meloche, Mayor DiCarlo

So, for some strange, unbeknown reason to me, this was deferred and will go in-camera on December 11th.

So, now, it was time to go in-camera, which meant I got to leave and council had to stay. They were going to discuss :

SPECIAL IN-CAMERA COUNCIL MEETING
That Council move into an In-Camera Meeting of Council directly following
Regular session pursuant to Section 239 of the Municipal Act, 2001, as
amended, for the following reason:
ITEM A – Grant Group Community Concerns – Section 239(2)(b) – Personal
matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board
employees.

Overall, the meeting finished shortly after 7:30. Not bad. However, budget deliberations are scheduled from 6:00 until 10:00 tomorrow night. Then again, Wednesday from 2:00 to 8:00 and Thursday (if needed) from 9:00 until 4:30. It’s going to be a busy week! Hope to see some people out to watch the budget “line by line” deliberations. Looking forward to seeing how council handles giving themselves a raise….or not…..

In preparation for Monday November 27th Regular town council meeting

Well, Monday’s agenda is a mere 136 pages!!!! At first glance, I was very excited about that. Then I started to scroll through to see what’s up for discussion and it may be a fairly heavy agenda, even if it’s not very lengthy.

Recognition :  Allan Gignac, Public Works Equipment Operator – Long Service Award Recognition

This is nice to see. Mr Gignac has been working for the town for 30 years! He’s up for some well-deserved recognition.

DELEGATIONS

Request to Use Portion of Toddy Jones Park for Annual Garden Tour- Dr. Allan Halowski, President, Amherstburg Fort Malden Horticularal Society

It appears that the annual garden tour is scheduled for June 9th and 10th 2018. However, a local church has booked the Toddy Jones Park on June 10th for an annual picnic. It seems Dr Halowski will be asking to use the North-East corner of the park for a ticket area and a beginning area of the tour. He feels this will not interfere with the church’s picnic. I wonder if council will agree?

Bell Canada Announcement – Calvin DeLeavey, Senior Manager FTTH, Bell Canada

This item is listed on the agenda, however, I don’t see a delegation form. I guess I’ll have to wait for Monday night to see what the big Bell Canada Announcement is….

Proposed Capital Surcharge on Ice Rentals Comparison

“As part of the 2018 Budget, Administration is proposing a capital surcharge on all
rentals of town recreation facilities (including parks). This capital surcharge would be
placed into a reserve solely used for any capital improvements/repairs or purchases
specific to recreation facilities.” (from the report). It seems the user groups are okay with the capital surcharge, however, it seems everyone has a different number in mind. Also, there seems to be different ideas for the use of the surcharge money.

It seems council has 2 options (although there is always a 3rd option of doing whatever they want to do….)

OPTION #1

In brief, this is the option that administration has recommended. It involves a capital surcharge set at $6.00 per rental unit of time  for sport facilities and park bookings and $3.00 for rental unit of time for room rentals.

OPTION #2

This option seems to be proposed by the three principal ice users, Amherstburg Minor Hockey Association, Skate Amherstburg and Amherstburg Admirals. It appears that this would be a tiered surcharge on ice rentals only and it would separate the capital surcharge between the ice users and non ice-users.

I expect some interesting debate about this issue on Monday night.

Dog Control Services

It appears that administration is recommending a one year agreement with the Windsor Essex County Humane Society to provide dog control officer services and pound facility for the town. Looks like they need to set aside $40,000 in the budget in regards to this. Ultimately, it’s up to council to decide what to do on Monday night.

King’s Navy Yard Park Heritage Designation

Okay, before I begin, I have one question : Why? Why? Why? Why is council so interested to have the entire King’s Navy Yard Park designated as a Heritage site? I’ve read through the report and it’s riddled with quirks, problems, issues. To me, it seems like a lot of time and energy (and probably money) has gone into this “issue” and I truly don’t understand why.

Here’s the long and the short of it…..

Once again, two options :

Option 1 

With this option, the town would initiate the development of a Heritage Conservation District Plan for the King’s Navy Yard Park (KNYP from here on out) AFTER the completion of the waterfront development (former Duffy’s property.)

Option 2

With this option, the town would publish and serve “Notices of Intent to Designate” for 5 parcels of land within the KNYP as being cultural heritage value or interest and that the “Notices of Intent to Designate” for the remaining 3 parcels be prepared AFTER the completion of the waterfront development (former Duffy’s property.)

It seems that part of the KNYP is designated Heritage under an old bylaw. This council wished to have the entire park designated as Heritage. There is a map of the park included in the agenda, dividing it up into 11 parts. Part 1 is already designated Heritage. Part 2 appears to be owned by Parks Canada, so it can not be designated. It appears that council is looking to designate areas 3 to 11, however, some of the parcels involve the area that will eventually be developed.

Going back to my question of why……Found this interesting sentence in the report : “It is important to note that designation of municipally-owned lands does not provide
Council with additional control of the area. ”  Personally, I think this whole wild chase to designate the KNYP is all about that, control. There are several “complications” listed in the report. Also, to put a little more perspective on the trickiness of this whole situation, there is a table prepared with pros and cons to each option prepared within the report.

Is this an example of a situation where something was well enough and should have been left alone? Will have to see what council decides.

Accounts Payable

Well, some very good news….we paid a big fat zero in legal fees this week!!! Woo hoo! We did, however, seem to purchase a lot of anti-freeze?? LOL. I didn’t total it up.

And then, at the end of the meeting, yet again, council will go in-camera….:

SPECIAL IN-CAMERA COUNCIL MEETING
That Council move into an In-Camera Meeting of Council directly following
Regular session pursuant to Section 239 of the Municipal Act, 2001, as
amended, for the following reason:
ITEM A – Grant Group Community Concerns – Section 239(2)(b) – Personal
matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board
employees.

Overall, Monday’s meeting has some fairly lofty decisions to be made.

Also, there are 3 budget deliberation special meetings scheduled next week:

• Tuesday November 28th 6 PM til 10 PM
• Wednesday November 29th 2 PM til 8 PM
• Thursday November 30 – if required 9 AM to 4:30 PM

It’s going to be a very busy week for council!

Public engagement budget presentation Saturday November 18th

Before I begin, let me just tell you that I really didn’t feel like going to today’s budget presentation. After some coercion and pressure, I decided to go, but I really wasn’t in the mood LOL. But, it was a rainy Saturday afternoon and my other option was to help my husband clean out the crawl space, so off I went to the meeting. I’m still not sure if I made the better choice lol.

There were several members of the town’s top administrators in attendance who also participated in the presentation. Notably CAO Miceli and Mr Justin Rousseau, the Treasurer did the bulk of the presentation.

Also in attendance were Mayor DiCarlo, Deputy Mayor DiPasquale, Councillor Meloche and Councillor Pouget.

When the meeting started, there were 5 members of the public in attendance, however a few more trickled in later….I believe the final grand total was 8 members of the public in attendance.

The CAO began the presentation and explained they would take any questions at the end.  He began with the timelines of when the budget had been presented to council (November 6th), today’s public engagement session and then the deliberation meetings to come :

Special council meetings for budget deliberations :

• Tuesday November 28th 6 PM til 10 PM
• Wednesday November 29th 2 PM til 8 PM
• Thursday November 30 – if required 9 AM to 4:30 PM

If all goes according to the plan and time table, the budget would be up for final consideration at the December 11, 2017 meeting. (Just a quick reminder, not one budget time table has gone according to plan yet for this council……perhaps maybe this fourth and final budget will be the first to go according to plan?)

He pointed out the progress Amherstburg has made during the past 3 years or so….we’ve gained control of our financial situation, secured our future, council and administration is more open and transparent and that there has been a tax surplus each year. (Ya, please don’t get me started on how this council gave away $100,000 of our tax surplus to the ERCA Foundation…….to me, it’s not reassuring news that we’ve had surpluses when council decides to just give away a chunk of it……but I digress, sorry if I sound like a broken record.)

The CAO also pointed out some of the recommendations from the Deloitte Report and the importance of investing, for example Human Resource shortages, debt repayment, increase in development charges and seeking shared service opportunities. The CAO pointed out that at the beginning we were in 4th place for taxes compared to our peers (other local communities) and that we remain in 4th place for taxes to this day. He referred to the Community Strategic Plan and how it has helped determine the common vision and direction for Amherstburg.

The CAO spoke of the importance of financial stability and reserves as well as infrastructure, commercial and industrial business development, a high quality of life and festivals, celebrations and the historical aspect of our town. These were all issues that were common areas of importance in our Community Strategic Plan.

Mr Rousseau, the Treasurer, took over the presentation and talked numbers. He mentioned that our operation expenses were going up about $1.4 Million. He also said that the proposed tax increase would mean about $48/year based on a house assessed at $200,000. He also listed the new jobs proposed in the budget (more on that later.) Mr Rousseau explained also that they were seeking an increase of .75% for each of the two levies. He explained the extensive investment in infrastructure that the town needs, that we have approximately $4,000 per resident in infrastructure. This is a great thing, meaning that we have a lot of wonderful services, however, the downside is that we have to pay to maintain those.

CAO Miceli spoke again and explained the importance of being proactive, not reactive in regards to infrastructure and that planning is key. He felt that the levies established in 2015 should remain and continue into the future. He recognised the challenges and problems faced by council in regards to financial decisions but felt that they need to make decisions based on responsibility, not popularity. (Side note……it’s election year…..those who will be seeking another term I bet are going to aim for popularity…..just my opinion. I bet I’ll be able to guess who’s seeking reelection just on how discussions go during the deliberations…..) The CAO went through some history of tax increases accepted by the current council :

• + 4.26 % (including 2 levies of 2% each) 2015
• + 2.3 %  for 2016
• + 1.87 % for 2017

The CAO explained that even with the proposed 2% increase (plus the levies?) we we would still maintain our 4th place position in regards to tax levels with our neighbours.

The floor was then opened for questions.

There was one gentleman who spoke quite at length about the tax increases. He felt that most residents are not aware of the assessment tax that also affects how much tax is paid by the individual. He felt his taxes had increased much more than the 1.87% of last year because of his assessment. The Mayor spoke and explained that each situation, in regards to assessment, is individualised. Some people’s assessments go way up, others up a bit or remain the same. (I wonder if any ever go down? Doubt that lol) The gentleman felt that nobody tells the people about the growth factor (assessment). Mr Rousseau said it’s always included at the beginning of the budget and that last year it was estimated at 1.5% and was acknowledged at the beginning of the budget. There was more back and forth between the gentleman, the CAO and the Mayor. It was heated. I did not write it all down, since I felt the information was too individualised and not general enough to be pertinent for myself or the general public. Basically, the MPAC assessment will vary from house to house and there is no way for the town to control MPAC assessments.

Then, a second gentleman spoke. He wondered if the unfunded liability had been factored into the budget. (Unfunded liabilities are future pension payments, benefits for retirees if applicable, etc….). Mr Rousseau explained that it’s an estimate for the future retirees and that it is not factored into ANY town’s budget, therefore not in Amherstburg’s either. The CAO explained and reiterated that unfunded liabilities are not included in any municipal budget. The gentleman then expressed concern about a municipality in the United States that suffered an economic crash due to unfunded liabilities and he felt it should be acknowledged. CAO Miceli explained that we’re in Canada and have a very different political and taxation system than the U.S. (I am one proud Canadian! I also think it’s important when one makes comparisons to compare apples to apples……for example, if someone wanted to compared Amherstburg to Essex or Kingsville in regards to taxation, that would be much more accurate than comparing us to a town in the U.S.A.) The CAO then explained that OMERS is responsible for pension payments and cautioned not to compared us with U.S. models.

So, then I asked a question. I asked if it would be possible to explain the 10 new positions being proposed, in regards to costs and roles/responsibilities. Mayor DiCarlo quickly grabbed the microphone and started to talk. I did my best to keep up. He explained that several of the positions are not new. He said it appeared in the media that there were 10 new permanent full-time positions being created but now that he’s had time to read through most of the budget, he can see that this is not the case. He explained that in some cases it’s simply a job change. For example, in Human Resources they’re eliminating the Health and Safety position but replacing it with another position.  Therefore the position is not “new”, but just a change over. He felt that in keeping things open and transparent, a new job or new titled was presented, however, they’re not technically “new” positions. He said several do not involve increases, so there is no cost to offset. He explained a few are contract positions, and when the contract is finished, so is the job. He said these would be considered a sideways shift and would not increase the tax rate. The costs would be offset in other areas. He felt it was very necessary to clarify this for the residents. Mayor DiCarlo then cited that a position in the building department would go from part-time to full-time and would not create a large difference. He said, more than once, that there are not 10 new permanent full time positions that would be put on the taxpayer’s backs. The Mayor said that many are restructuring, shifting or contract positions. He explained that with the new legislation coming from the province, there are some new positions to provide certain services, for example in the Clerk’s Department, however, the position would be a contract position. He also said that sometimes at a certain point if the work load is not going away, a contract position may have to become permanent.

CAO Miceli then spoke. He said they’ve identified 5 new full-time positions, but that 2 of the 5 are conversions (changed positions). There are also 2 new part-time positions. He cited the Deloitte Report and the recommendation of having resources and staff where required. He said that they have identified the costs (page 15 of the budget) and that they are open and transparent. (I just opened page 15 of the budget and I agree, it’s all there…..however I’m no expert at reading financial reports and I don’t want to start throwing numbers around for fear of making mistakes, because I probably would…..if you’re good at reading these documents, check page 15 of the budget, then come explain it to me LOL)

CAO Miceli cited an example. In the tourism department,  there is a request for a new contract position since tourism is up 38% in Amherstburg. (AWESOME NEWS!!) At the moment, this department has 2 full time staff and one is a senior position. This person has been unable to use her vacation allotment for 3 years due to the work load. The CAO felt this was not sustainable, nor in the employee’s best interest. The CAO felt that according to the Strategic Plan tourism is a priority, therefore more resources are needed in this department. He reiterated that it’s all in the budget for each position.

Councillor Pouget then asked if administration could touch on Bill 148 and the proposed changes to the municipality.  The CAO said that one proposal had been removed, which was to pay the on call firefighters. That would have impacted the budget by + $1.27 Million. However, that part is now off the table. (phew). He said that the minimum wage increase and the equal pay for equal work is still on the table and is allotted for in the budget.

Councillor Meloche then asked if all on-call positions were now exempt from being paid. CAO Miceli stated that snow removal and public works were not exempt, however, it is part of their collective agreement and has been allotted for.

Mr Marc Renaud then spoke about the ice fee increases and the capital surcharge for Amherstburg Minor Hockey. There was much back and forth between the CAO and Mr Renaud about this issue. It seems that both the CAO and Mr Renaud (for AMHA) each have a different cost model for payment and both will be presented to council for the budget. The CAO felt that Amherstburg has the second lowest rates for hockey in the region. He looked at the median and wants to be fair toward all of the taxpayers. Mr Renaud cited some numbers and pointed out that other areas have 1,000+ hockey players and that Amherstburg has around 500 players. Mr Renaud said he was okay two years ago when the rates were raised and this year he’s okay with a small increase, but not an increase to the ice time rate as well. He feels this is unfair and that 30 kids are already involved in the Jump Start Program (I believe they offer financial aid for kids to play sports if the parents are unable to pay.) Mr Renaud seemed concerned that the burden of paying the largest amount would be put on the ice users and wondered if other users of the Libro were being impacted the same way.  Again, there was much back and forth between Mr Renaud and CAO Miceli. This should make for an interesting discussion during budget deliberations……

At this point, it was 2:35 and nobody had any more questions. Administration offered to stay and answer any questions one on one if anybody had any. I didn’t. I left. I came home in the pouring rain on this dreary Saturday afternoon….

Overall, I’ll admit, for whatever reason, my heart wasn’t really into it this afternoon….maybe it was the dreary, rainy day…..maybe it was the idea of a Saturday afternoon meeting…..maybe it was the idea that council gave away $100,000 of our tax surplus 6 months ago, and now they’re asking for more of our money……maybe I just wasn’t in the mood…… but regardless, I went, I survived, I wrote and here it is!

All in all Amherstburg, if you’re looking for my opinion read on. If you’re not, stop here. I think overall, it’s a fair budget. No one wants to pay more for anything, but I do feel the increase is minimal. I can appreciate we have a lot of infrastructure that needs maintenance and the feds and province aren’t going to come and pay for it for us. In terms of the “new” positions, I do feel that town hall runs lean in general, even though I know some people disagree. As it stands right now, I will support this budget. The Mayor, the CAO and his staff have worked very hard to turn this ship around and I think they’ve earned the benefit of the doubt. The Mayor has remained open and transparent on social media and I think that has to be acknowledged.

Considering there were only 8 members of the public in attendance at today’s meeting, I think that, in general people must be okay with the small increase. However, I can not leave the following unsaid. I was and am disgusted that our town council unanimously voted to give away $100,000 of our tax surplus money to the ERCA Foundation for the trails. I will not forget that and I hope the rest of the tax payers of Amherstburg don’t either.

 

 

 

Monday November 13th Regular Town Council meeting

Well, I arrived for the meeting wondering to myself if tonight would be the first or second meeting of this year that would not be accompanied by an in-camera meeting, only to discover a supplementary in-camera agenda to discuss :

SPECIAL IN-CAMERA COUNCIL MEETING

ITEM A – Property Acquisition/Disposition Verbal Update 

I also arrived without my seat cushion since I knew tonight’s agenda was light. Very light. So light, that in fact this meeting could have wrapped up in 15 or 20 minutes if not for the issue that I think some councillors like to hear their own voices. Personally, I think there’s some posturing starting for re-election, but what do I know? Overall, the meeting lasted about 35 minutes, so still relatively quick and relatively painless.

Meadow View Estates Subdivision-County of Essex File No. 37-T-16001, Applicant 1352120 Ontario Limited, Servicing Progress Report and Road Naming

If you may recall, this new proposed subdivision was discussed at a previous meeting this summer. The whole thing almost got deferred or denied because several members of council did not like the choice of the street names. I believe the proposed names were of the developers children. (I never did see what the proposed names were…..) Anyway, council finally after some debate approved the subdivision but asked for a report for different street names. It seems the town had exhausted the previous list of street names, which I believe, were last names of Amherstburg war veterans. So, now, there is a new list of street names to choose from and the following are the proposed street names for this subdivision :

• Pearson Street
• Caldwell Court
• Ironside Street
• Meadowview Avenue

This item was up first and there seemed to be some hesitation from council to open the discussion. Finally, Councillor Meloche made the motion to accept the recommendation (seconded by Deputy Mayor DiPasquale) and to proceed with the new street names from the new approved list. Councillor Pouget seemed pleased about the new list of possible street names and was happy that the developers had agreed with the names on the list. However, she said she had a problem with the street name “Meadowview Avenue” since it was an exemption and not contained on the list of pre-approved names. She felt this would be setting a precedent for other developments and hoped that the current developers would reconsider and choose another name based on the approved list.

Ms Belanger, Manager of Planning services, explained that the old list had been exhausted some time ago and gave examples of other subdivisions that were developed on their own “theme”, for example the Monopoly subdivision and the Canard Valley Estates. Ms Belanger explained that the developer chose 3 names and asked for Meadowview for one road since the subdivision has been known by that name for some time. She also explained that Meadowview doesn’t offend the policy.  Councillor Fryer expressed some concern about the long stretch of road named Meadow and wondered if it could somehow be broken up. Councillor Courtney mentioned that the name of one of the streets, Ironside Street was very similar to Ironwood located in the Pointe West subdivision.

Councillor Pouget explained that council had approved a list of street names at the September 2017 meeting.

At this point, one of the developers, Norbert Bolger stood up to speak. He said that originally there had been no list of names and they were told to just put their proposed names forth. They had proposed naming the streets after their children but council rejected that proposals. He said he had just recently received this list and had a hard time picking names for the streets. He felt that the people on the list had made small contributions to the town (they were not veterans).  He also felt the confusion with North/South (if needed) for Meadowview Avenue would not be a big deal. He also felt that one name was similar, but again, not a big deal, since it was on the approved list.

Councillor Pouget felt it wasn’t fair to say these names were not historically significant and began to read an example or two from the list, citing the name and the person’s contributions. She felt these people played a major role in developing Amherstburg and it included former Mayors and Reeves and did not think it should be hard to find possible names from this list.

At this point, it went to a vote. It was not a recorded vote, but I kept my eyes open for hands that went up to vote in favour. I saw Councillors Courtney, Meloche, Lavigne and Deputy Mayor DiPasquale’s hands go up, so it finally passed. The streets are named.

Consent Correspondence and Information Reports

Usually these things just fly through. Consent correspondence is letters that council received often from other municipalities about issues those councils consider important. They can also make a motion to support things and send correspondence in return. Information reports are just that, reports that council receives to be kept aware of issues. Again, usually sails through.

Tonight, some of these items were discussed quite a bit. However, honestly, I feel they’re too boring to write about. I think, as I mentioned above, some on council enjoy hearing themselves speak and are probably gearing up for the next election which is about 11 months away.

One thing that was interesting was that Councillor Pouget read back a motion from September 2016 where council requested monthly reports from the police department, the fire department and the building department. The police department has been providing them, it seems the fire department wasn’t aware and didn’t know about this (?????? what????) and Councillor Pouget seemed to want to know why the building department hadn’t been providing reports. Mr Galvin, Director of Planning, Development and Legislative Services explained that there had been a change over with the Chief building official and they were also working new software and limited resources, but the reports will come. (Personal opinion here…….while I understand council wanting to be aware of the goings on within the structure of town hall, all of these reports take time and cost us money……..there are a number of new positions proposed in the 2018 budget……I would have to guess it has to partially do with the constant request for reports from council………..maybe not, but maybe……..want lots of reports? need more staff and money……ease up on report requests, less staff, less money……at least that’s what I think.)

There was also some discussion about the Alma Street and Howard Avenue intersection due to the recent, fatal accident. Council passed a motion to regrind the rumble strips leading up to the intersection.

Then, Councillor Pouget made a motion something to the effect of providing a full report on the recent hiring of a full time firefighter, including the job posting and information from the 2017 budget to be discussed in-camera. This carried. (Yet another in-camera meeting on it’s way…..)

There were a few more items discussed, but overall, nothing of great interest, at least not to me.

At 6:35 PM, the public portion of the meeting wrapped and council went in-camera to discuss the supplementary in-camera meeting item :

SPECIAL IN-CAMERA COUNCIL MEETING

ITEM A – Property Acquisition/Disposition Verbal Update 

Overall, it was a relatively quick and relatively painless meeting. On a scale of 1 to 10, it was about a 5. It did have a few interesting things that transpired.

This Saturday, November 18th is the public information session about the 2018 budget at the Libro Centre, 1:00 until 3:00. I haven’t decided yet if I will attend. Should I or shouldn’t I?

 

 

In preparation for Monday November 13th regular town council meeting

Monday night’s agenda is a mere 351 pages but there appears to be a first…….NO IN-CAMERA MEETINGS ARE ON THE SCHEDULE!!!! This is either a first or maybe a second for the year. Good news. All will happen behind open doors rather than closed doors this week.

Let me begin by saying there is not much of excitement on Monday night’s agenda. However, that doesn’t mean that something out of the ordinary can’t happen Monday night and make things exciting after all. Who knows? Here are the few items on the agenda about which I can find something to say…

Meadow View Estates Subdivision-County of Essex File No. 37-T-16001, Applicant 1352120 Ontario Limited, Servicing Progress Report and Road Naming

If you may recall, this new proposed subdivision was discussed at a previous meeting this summer. The whole thing almost got deferred or denied because several members of council did not like the choice of the street names. (I never did see what the proposed names were…..) Anyway, council finally after some debate approved the subdivision but asked for a report for different street names. It seems the town had exhausted the previous list of street names, which I believe, were last names of Amherstburg war veterans. So, now, there is a new list of street names to choose from and the following are the proposed street names for this subdivision :

• Pearson Street
• Caldwell Court
• Ironside Street
• Meadowview Avenue

Those look like nice choices.

There is an informative report about how street names are to be designated and includes a list of new possible names. There is a “street name inventory” of possible names which seem to consist of historically significant people for Amherstburg (most from the 1800s), a list of past mayor’s names that have not already been used as street names and early doctors in the area. If any of you are history buffs, it does make for an interesting read.

Click to access 2017%2011%2013%20-%20Regular%20Council%20Meeting%20Agenda%20Packet.pdf

Read pages 31 to 38 for the historical aspects.

INFORMATION REPORTS

Normally, I don’t comment on information reports, unless there’s something really interesting-looking but since Monday’s agenda is light, quite light, well, here’s some information reports that council will be receiving. Information reports are received for just that reason, for information, and do not require direction from council. However, sometimes council will ask questions or discuss information reports and maybe make motions about it.

Environmental Registry Posting Seeking Comments on a Policy
Proposal Titled a Guide to Cultural Heritage Resources in the Land Use
Planning Process

This report seems to stem from a provincial guideline about planning. I rarely attend planning meetings, so this is not my forte. It looks like it is to help with planning mostly in regards to cultural planning, heritage planning and archaeological resources. Sorry, that’s all I’ve got. The review draft is 65 pages. I don’t think I’m going to summarise that LOL.

 Monthly Activity Report – APSB Meeting of September 19, 2017

This police report is so comprehensive that it starts at page 53 of the agenda and doesn’t finish until page 257. It has information about the number of calls dispatched and the reasons. Basically, it has information about everything…..all 200+ pages worth. I don’t think I’ll be summarising this either LOL.

October 18, 2017 – November 7, 2017 Accounts Payable

Now, this one, I always like to check. I like to see what we’ve paid out in legal fees as well as if anything else of interest stands out. This week, we paid out around $21,000 in legal fees. We also paid ERCA a 4th quarter general levy installment of $17,301.80. And then, we again paid ERCA a 4th quarter general levy installment of $28,799.45. Why would we pay two 4th quarter general levy payments of two different amounts? That seems weird. All I know is that it looks like we just paid ERCA $46,101.25 this week. I’m sure there’s some logical explanation right?

Overall, not a big agenda at all for Monday night. Maybe it will all be said and done relatively quickly. It’s probably a good thing the agenda is light, council should probably be using this time to read the budget thoroughly in order to be prepared to debate it in about two weeks time, right?

 

 

Monday November 6th special town council meeting (budget presentation)

Well, tonight’s meeting wrapped up relatively quickly considering that it started late. It was close to 6:10 and the only members of council who were present were Mayor DiCarlo, and Councillors Lavigne, Meloche and Pouget. Around 6:10 Councillor Courtney came in and then the Mayor finally called the meeting to order.

**Councillor Fryer and Deputy Mayor DiPasquale were absent tonight.**

So, there were 5 members of council present tonight for the budget presentation. There were also 5 members of the public (including me) present for the budget presentation too. We were one for one. So that means that around 71% of council was present for the meeting. As for the residents, if we have a population of 21,000, that means that the budget was presented to 0.0238095238% of the residents LOL.

Let’s just say that there was a lot of misplaced credit and even misplaced blame this evening, in my humble, blogger opinion.

Result of Open House Meeting / Change to Vacancy Rebate Program

This was an item coming back to council from a little while ago. As it currently stands, vacant commercial buildings are given a tax break while they remain without tenants. The provincial government is now giving municipal governments the ability to change this if they wish.  From the report : “Council supported the proposal of the elimination of the current vacancy rebate with a goal to eliminate the Vacancy Rebate Program beginning in the 2018 and agreed to a county wide open house in order to engage the local business community and hear any concerns that the community may have.”

This item was passed with no discussion. It will now move to the county council level.

2018 User Fee By-law

For the above item, it simply stated “report to follow”. I was unable to read the report to try to summarise it. I was hoping for some discussion from council so that I could figure this out, however, the only comment came from Councillor Courtney. She said she saw that the user fees would be going up at the Libro Centre and that there is communication between the user groups and administration. She acknowledged they may not all agree but that they are communicating. She also noted that the Libro Centre needs upkeep and that that money will have to come from tax dollars.

This passed without any more discussion.

2018 BUDGET PRESENTATION – 2018 Operating and Capital Budget

CAO Miceli started the presentation of the 2018 budget titled “Future Growth and Investment”. He began his presentation with a “history lesson”. The CAO ran through various headlines, quotes and goings on from November 2013 through to June of 2014. He repainted the grim, unhappy times of early 2014 in regards to our debt. Personally, and in my opinion, I feel that he laid too much of the blame at the feet of the previous council. And then in turn, gave way too much credit to our current council. First, the previous council had how many CAO’s? It was a revolving door. This current council has had a huge added benefit of having stability not only with the CAO but also with administration in general. (Ironically, I think early in this council’s term they were looking to fire Mr Miceli, but realised it would cost too much money. But that’s just what I think.) CAO Miceli outlined the steps that this council has taken to gain public confidence and trust. The 41 recommendations from the Deloitte Report were implemented in 18 months. The organisational structure has changed and continues to be reevaluated. There has been an employee evaluation system implemented. There has also been a pay as you go funding payment structure for debt, the town’s procurement policy, levies, shared resources (example, police dispatch) and a strengthened budget process. (In my opinion, I think administration has had a much bigger role implementing these things than council…..)

CAO Miceli also cited the implementation of the Community Based Strategic Plan. The plan includes:

1. Marketing and promotion
2. Economic Development (how? They disbanded the committee and the Manager of Economic Development left about 2 + years ago……)
3. Investment and Infrastructure
4. Fiscal sustainability

CAO Miceli cited several goals that the current council/administration has achieved (I didn’t catch them all, but got most of them):

• Belle Vue purchase
• Duffy’s purchase
• Meloche Road
• Demolition of Duffy’s
• Communities in Bloom award
• Canada 150 celebration
• demolition of the old arena
• sidewalk improvements
• corrected mechanical issues at the Libro Centre
• new subdivision – Meadowview and Kingsbridge expansion

Then Mr Rousseau, the town Treasurer took over the presentation. He presented the time table for the 2018 budget.

Public engagement session (Libro Centre) Saturday November 18th 1 PM til 3 PM.

Special council meetings for budget deliberations :

• Tuesday November 28th 6 PM til 10 PM
• Wednesday November 29th 2 PM til 8 PM
• Thursday November 30 – if required (ha ha) 9 AM to 4:30 PM

Then, if all goes according to the plan and time table, the budget would be up for final consideration at the December 11, 2017 meeting. (Just a quick reminder, not one budget time table has gone according to plan yet for this council……perhaps maybe this fourth and final budget will be the first to go according to plan?)

He said that the budget, as presented, holds a 2% tax increase. He then explained how there are some new departmental overviews, for example, legal fees are moved to legislative services, cell phone costs are moved back to their respective departments etc. Our 2017 operations expenses were $22.7 Million and 2018 is set for $24.1 Million. This would mean a cost of about $48 per year for a house valued at $200,000.

There are several (I think 10) new positions being proposed in the budget. I didn’t catch them all, but it looks like a Policy Coordinator (contracted), a Communications Officer, a Supervisor Environmental Services, a Supervisor for Roads and Fleet Services, an Engineering Technician, a Financial Analyst, a Tourism Coordinator, a part-time By-law Enforcement Officer, an Assistant Planner and a Human Resources Officer (contracted).  (The budget is supposed to be posted on-line tomorrow night, so I’ll see if I can check out the electronic copy…..the paper copy…..the font is way too small for these old eyes….but I think I managed to read them…..maybe…..)

And then…………..wait for it…………..the Treasurer told council they’re looking at the continuance and the possible consideration of raising the two levies. They are recommending a .75% increase to each of the two levies………Yes, 2% overall, plus another 1.5% to the levies…..did your jaw just hit the floor?

As far as capital spending goes, roads are the top dog and then fleet and equipment (seems the fire department has 2 major fire apparatuses that need replacing….). Mr Rousseau pointed out that Amherstburg has the highest amount of infrastructure in the region, which means, more costs to fix it.

CAO Miceli then spoke about council being aware of the challenges when they were elected. He seemed to feel that they can make decisions that are popular for reelection or continue with the growth and development needed. He stressed that now is the time for them to lead.

A quick overview of current council’s tax increases :

• + 4.26 % (including 2 levies of 2% each) 2015
• + 2.3 %  for 2016
• + 1.87 % for 2017

And this year, well……we’ll have to wait and see.

The CAO then offered to answer any questions. The only question came from Councillor Meloche. He asked how the budget will be impacted by Bill 148 (minimum wage increase etc) at the provincial level. Mr Rousseau said the minimum wage increase has been built into this budget, however, they will be monitoring other effects the Bill could have for “call in” pay (volunteer on-call firefighters) as well as any equal pay requirements. He said they will continue to monitor it.

Then, there were no more questions and the meeting was finished just before 7:00.

I guess that gives me some time to call the ERCA Foundation and see if we can get our $100,000 back.

 

 

 

In preparation for Monday November 6th Special town council meeting (budget presentation)

Well, Monday night’s special meeting is for the budget deliberation, however, it looks like there are another couple of items on the agenda too. The agenda is only 40 pages, but there is a report for one item that is still to come. Here we go….3 items :

Result of Open House Meeting / Change to Vacancy Rebate Program

This is an item coming back to council from a little while ago. As it currently stands, vacant commercial buildings are given a tax break while it remains without tenants. The provincial government is now giving municipal governments the ability to change this if they wish.  From the report : “Council supported the proposal of the elimination of the current vacancy rebate with a goal to eliminate the Vacancy Rebate Program beginning in the 2018 and agreed to a county wide open house in order to engage the local business
community and hear any concerns that the community may have.”

The report to council goes on to outline the various ways the open house meeting was advertised as well as other ways that property owners could express their support or their concerns. It seems the open house meeting had poor attendance. It appears that all of the local municipal governments support doing away with the Vacancy Rebate Program. However, they need County Council to request “permission” from the province to then be able to move forward with this change.

I would have to guess that council will support this to bring it to County Council.

2018 User Fee By-law

For the above item, it simply states “report to follow”. So, I am unable to read the report to try to summarise it. I will have to listen with ears wide open Monday night to try to figure out what this is about.

2018 BUDGET PRESENTATION – 2018 Operating and Capital Budget

And the icing on the cake so to speak, the 2018 budget presentation. Like last year, the CAO will present the proposed budget to council so that all of the information becomes public. We know that a few weeks ago council approved administration working out a budget with up to a 2% tax increase.

Here is the time line :

Public engagement session (Libro Centre) Saturday November 18th 1 PM til 3 PM.

 

Special council meetings for budget deliberations :

• Tuesday November 28th 6 PM til 10 PM
• Wednesday November 29th 2 PM til 8 PM
• Thursday November 30 – if required (ha ha) 9 AM to 4:30 PM

Then, if all goes according to the plan and time table, the budget would be up for final consideration at the December 11, 2017 meeting. (Just a quick reminder, not one budget time table has gone according to plan yet for this council……perhaps maybe this fourth and final budget will be the first to go according to plan?)

I will most definitely have my ears wide open about the upcoming budget! Count on it. Maybe there will be more members of the public there Monday night to hear it with me? That would be great!