Monthly Archives: November 2014

Council Agenda Preview – December 2, 2014

29 Saturday Nov 2014

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This Tuesday sees the start of a new term of Council with two new Councillors. The agenda is quite light with committee appointments, some business, and a little bit of pageantry. Listed below are the items on the agenda that seem to warrant at least a little bit more consideration by the public. If you have any questions or concerns you should address them with a member of Staff or Council prior to the meeting. Or attend the meeting and make a deputation. It is difficult to get things reversed once Council has approved them. Difficult but not impossible.

To make things a little bit easier I will start linking the council agenda package directly from this blog. In the past I have provided a link to the appropriate page on the Town’s website, but the link on that page was not always obvious. This is an interim action pending the launch of the new Town website that I trust will be much easier to navigate.

2.1.1 – A public meeting to consider a proposed zoning by-law amendment to permit the storage and sale of finished dock products and accessory goods. This is the business across from Sobeys on Oastler Park Drive (Old Highway 69). I thought they were already conducting this business on this site. Just now getting around to the paperwork? I note there has been some progress on the multi-unit residential building on River Street close to the dam. I guess they got their paperwork worked out.

4.3 – Letter. Request that the fluoridation of the Town’s water supply be terminated. The Town has noted that this review is currently underway. Between snow storms perhaps?

4.4 – Letter. Request to further pedestrian safety by asking the Town to look into installing a sidewalk through the James Street parking lot to Gibson Street. This is a request from the Downtown Business Association.

9.3.1 – Resolution. EMS Ambulance Replacements for 2015. The request is for a total of three new EMS vehicles for an aggregate cost of about $400,000. This cost is shared with the Province and Parry Sound District municipalities.

9.4.1 – Resolution. Appointments to Boards/Committees/Commissions – Council and Staff. The box has been shaken up a little in terms of Council participation on the various committees. Apparently Councillors get to select their committee appointments on the basis of their votes. The individual with the highest number of votes gets to select first with the individual with least number of votes selecting last. Now all they have to do is get the public to participate on the committees. I do note that a number of past committees were not listed and presumably have been terminated. No more Civic Pride Committee?

10.4.1 – By-Law. To appoint a Deputy Mayor for the Town of Parry Sound for the 2015-2018 term of Council and to repeal By-Law 2011-5545. This process is a little bit silly in my opinion. The Councillors each take their turn with a 7 or 8 month term. It starts with the Councillor who received the least number of votes (Doug McCann) and ends with the Councillor who received the greatest number of votes (Bonnie Keith). So the rookies get the privilege of possibly running Council should the Mayor be absent at a point where they have attended very few meetings. I’d be a little more supportive of the process had the rookies attended a few more Council meetings before assuming office. I saw Councillor McCann at a handful of Council meetings but that’s it. That really doesn’t matter, there won’t be any issues with the Clerk and Deputy Clerk in attendance, but it does raise the question of how the reverse vote order was decided. Were there ‘political’ considerations, perhaps to ensure that the Councillors with the greater number of votes were most likely to look ‘regal’ as acting Deputy Mayor prior to the next election? I’m wasting words on this but the process does seem a bit strange.

I won’t be attending this week’s meeting. There is not much on the agenda and I’m not partial to bagpipes. How about an alpenhorn welcome for future Councils?

Presenting Your New Council (Parry Sound, A Touch of Colour)

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‘Clic on the Pic’ for a better view. Can you tell who is who? Birds of a feather?

 

 

 

 

 

Council Meeting Notes – November 18, 2014

21 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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There were no surprises at a short Tuesday meeting. There were goodbyes for Councillors McCauley and Williams who both chose not to run for office. Well there was perhaps one surprise as Councillor Borneman presided over the meeting in the absence of Mayor McGarvey.

5.1 – Deputation. Jackie Boggs, Deputy Clerk/Returning Officer regarding the 2014 Municipal Election Statistics. The presentation was brief and the materials are available on the Town’s website – here’s the link. (You will need to click a couple of the links to figure out what’s what.) I intend to slice and dice the data and present my take on the numbers in a post next week. There is some interesting information here beyond the voting implications.

8.2 – Resolution. OPP Billing Model for Unorganized Townships. CARRIED. The Town is joining with other Ontario municipalities by means of a letter to request the provincial government ensure that residents in unincorporated townships who receive OPP services pay at least some portion of that cost.

9.1.1 – Resolution. CBDC’s Request for Funding to Assist with Business Growth & Competitiveness. CARRIED. As expected, Council found some unallocated funds to support this project.

9.1.2 – Resolution. Sail Parry Sound – Request for Permission to Make Improvements/Renovations/Addition. CARRIED.

9.2.1 – Resolution. Council of The Town of Parry Sound authorize the immediate disposal of an ambulance to the Britt and Area Fire Department. CARRIED. The Britt and Area EMS station will be receiving one of the vehicles a little bit early. Staff made a convincing argument that this will not compromise local service. It demonstrates why it’s important to have a plan and good people to manage it.

9.3.1 – Resolution. 2015 Council Meeting Dates. CARRIED. Basically every first and third Tuesday of the month with a few exceptions.

Orion Rising. (Parry Sound in Four Colour)

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Clic on the pic for a larger version.

 

Council Agenda Preview – November 18, 2014

17 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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This is the last meeting before the new Council is sworn in and takes office. There is not much on the agenda of any importance and this post will provide the very limited highlights. Of course check out the full package at the Towns website for the full agenda with attachments.

5.1 – Deputation. Jackie Boggs, Deputy Clerk/Returning Officer regarding the 2014 Municipal Election Statistics. I will need to attend as there is no copy of the presentation in the council package.

8.2 – Resolution. OPP Billing Model for Unorganized Townships. The Town is joining with other Ontario municipalities to request the provincial government ensure that residents in unincorporated townships who receive OPP services pay at least some portion of that cost.

9.1.1 – Resolution. CBDC’s Request for Funding to Assist with Business Growth & Competitiveness. Staff is recommending that Council turn down this request on the basis that the 2014 budget has been disbursed and the 2015 program won’t be advertised until the 2015 budget is approved. I’ve seen this Catch-22 ‘stuff’ from Staff before. Staff has suggested a couple of alternative funding approaches and I suspect Council will find a way to make it happen. CBDC is a great supporter of Parry Sound initiative sand it wouldn’t be very friendly to ‘stiff them’ on this small budget item.

9.1.2 – Resolution. Sail Parry Sound – Request for Permission to Make Improvements/Renovations/Addition. This concerns certain improvements that have been previously presented to Council.

9.2.1 – Resolution. Council of The Town of Parry Sound authorize the immediate disposal of an ambulance to the Britt and Area Fire Department. This is a bit different – a fire in a Fire Hall that destroys the emergency response vehicle.

9.3.1 – Resolution. 2015 Council Meeting Dates. Basically every first and third Tuesday of the month with a few exceptions.

How Quickly It All Changes. (Parry Sound in Four Colour)

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Law and Order – Parry Sound Edition (Part 2)

14 Friday Nov 2014

Posted by in Budget/Financial, Parry Sound

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That’s a pretty lawless Town you have there Mayor McGarvey, or so it would seem based on the annual policing costs for the Town of Parry Sound. Or is it? Can so many seniors cause so much of a ruckus? Or is it like one of those old Westerns where the cowboys come in and shot up the town frightening the horses, the women and the children? Let’s look at the numbers to try and understand what’s going on.

It’s worth reading the two preceding posts on this subject (OPP Policing Cost Reductions – No Windfall for Parry Sound in 2015, and Law and Order – Parry Sound Edition (Part 1)) to get the background on policing costs in Parry Sound and make sense of what’s discussed below.

Pasted below is the comparative level of ‘Calls for Service’ for Parry Sound and several surrounding municipalities taken from the November 4th, 2014 Parry Sound Council Agenda package. It looks pretty bad for Parry Sound (blue bars). We lead in each and every one of the Calls for Service areas. Or does it? (Note: data for McKellar and Carling were not included in the package for reasons that weren’t explained.) (Also note that clicking on the charts will provide a larger version that’s much easier to read.)

WPS_OPP_Call_Service_Type_2010-2013And here is the annual trend from the Parry Sound Council package.

WPS_OPP_Calls_Service_2010-2013

 

This data does not however take into account the difference in permanent populations for the various municipalities. It’s not unexpected that Parry Sound would have the largest number of Calls for Service given that it has the largest population, 6,191 versus 3,988 for Seguin, 2,705 for McDougall, 918 for Whitestone and 566 for the Archipelago.

If we factor in the populations and calculate the Calls for Service by Permanent Resident we get a more nuanced sense of the relative ‘lawlessness’ of the various communities. On a per resident basis the Archipelago is a close second! But I guess it really is the ‘Wild West’ out on the islands in November with the wind and the waves.

WPS_OPP_CallsperResident_2010-13-Avg

(Reminder: you can get a larger version of each chart by clicking on them. Just click the back button on your browser to return to the post.)

In terms of Calls for Service per resident Parry Sound leads the way followed by the Archipelago, Seguin, Whitestone and then McDougall. It gets more interesting if we look at the Calls for Service per Resident, by the various call categories. This is similar to the chart included in the Council package but is adjusted for population.

WPS_OPP_Calls-Resident_2010-2013

 

There are a few interesting tidbits that pop out from the data and become more obvious when displayed graphically.

Parry Sound pretty much leads in each of the categories with respect to Calls / Resident except for “Operational 2”, those soft ‘fill out the timecard’ type calls. Even Seguin leads Parry Sound in this category, but of course this is the ‘cheapest’ category in terms of ‘cost per call’. (See this earliest post for costs by category.) But there is no difference between Parry Sound and Whitestone in terms of “Drugs”, but then Parry Sound has the populace to consume but not the land to produce. “Property Crime” in the Archipelago is also close to that of Parry Sound.

What tickles my fancy is seeing that Parry Sound and the Archipelago are pretty much tied for “Traffic” Calls for Service on a per resident basis. I don’t think the Archipelago has any roads. So I suspect that this relates to boating safety enforcement and accident investigation in the great Georgian Bay Biosphere that is contained within their boundaries. There may also be some snow machine stuff as well. And I’ll bet most of the calls have nothing to do with Archipelago residents but rather ‘transients’ and ‘visitors’, a part of the reason for Parry Sound’s higher policing costs.

The information has been sliced and diced to provide insights and a little bit of entertainment. What’s to be made of the information in terms of being a Parry Sound resident? Are there opportunities to reduce policing costs?

Policing costs can and will be reduced as the full impact of the new OPP costing model is implemented over the next five years. That will help quite a bit and allow Parry Sound to allocate funds to other priorities.

There is no question that as you squeeze people closer together, as you do in a town, there will be more friction between individuals. This leads to confrontation, and the need for a referee. That seems to be one of the most important roles the OPP plays in Parry Sound; look at the Operational calls and what they include. Statutes & Acts is another area where people really should turn to the Town for support or a referee, but it’s easier and more dramatic to ‘Call the Cops’.

It would be nice to see a reduction in Drugs and Crimes, but I guess that is part of human nature and what is seen in a town that represents the local urban centre for the District. These sorts of offenses seem to migrate to urban centres where there is more opportunity to ‘do business’ and ‘hide the evidence’. And at the same time there is more opportunity to be seen and reported.

So how do I feel about public safety in Parry Sound? Great! There is no sense that it is dangerous to walk in any part of the town at any time of the day, nor does there seem to be any worry about break-ins. Having a tight neighbourhood is perhaps the best way to ensure property safety.

If we can get past the reflex action of calling the police if the neighbours are too noisy, or the kids are walking across the backyard, or we’ve lost something, it’s likely our costs can go even lower. But I won’t bet on that happening, so we’ll pay a bit more and just enjoy living in a safe and tidy little town where the Canadian Shield meets Georgian Bay.

Law and Order – Parry Sound Edition (Part 1)

12 Wednesday Nov 2014

Posted by in Budget/Financial, Parry Sound, Safety

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Or how about PS Law, or OPP-Parry Sound? Interesting names for a TV series but perhaps we would be better off more like Mayberry with an Andy Griffith in charge. But times have changed, and so have the types of ‘incidents’ seen in a small town. In this post we’ll take a look at the variety of activities that occupy the police in Parry Sound and their associated cost. If you haven’t, go back and read the first post in this series for an introduction to the information presented below. Of course it’s best to read the whole package which was part of the November 4th Parry Sound Council Meeting package, available at the Town’s website.

The cost for policing in Parry Sound for 2015 is expected to be just a bit shy of $2 million. Of that total about half is related to “Calls for Service”. Calls for Service refers to the actions taken by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) in response to calls, traffic enforcement, drug investigations and the like. Basically the day-to-day stuff that the police are expected to perform, but in this case it’s itemized and billed at a per-incident rate. Actually it’s billed according to the type of incident. Some take more time and are billed at a higher rate than others. For example a “Traffic” incident is charged at a 3.3-hour rate while a “Violent Criminal Code” incident is charged at a 14.2-hour rate. This hourly rate is then multiplied by a common per hour rate, about $86 per hour, to come up with the actual charge. So a Traffic incident costs the Town about $283, and a Violent Criminal Code incident about $1,200. Parry Sound’s charges for 2015 are estimated on the basis of the average annual number of incidents between 2010 and 2013. But remember this is not the full cost to Parry Sound, multiply by about 2 to account for the ‘overhead’ of the OPP.

Let’s start with a summary (table below) of the major categories of Calls for Service as provided by the OPP, their four-year average number of incidents, the average time charged per incident, and the estimated direct cost to Parry Sound for 2015.

Calls for Service 2014-11

If we look at the various categories we see that the costs drop in the order: Operational > Violent Criminal Code > Property Crime Violations >> Drugs & Drug Possession > Other Criminal Code Violations > Traffic > Operational 2 > Statutes & Acts.

It’s worth noting that if there was no ‘crime’ in Parry Sound there would still be a need to charge OPP time against something. If you have a certain number of police staff in Parry Sound their time needs to be charged against something. In time I guess staff would be reduced, but in the interim their time needs to be allocated to something. That’s perhaps where the Operational and Operational 2 categories come into play. But let’s take a look at what are the more common calls keeping the OPP busy for each of these categories.

Operational
Animal Issues (Isn’t this a By-Law issue?)
Assist Public
Domestic Disturbance
Family Dispute
Found Items (Property)
Lost Items (Property)
Missing Person
Neighbour Dispute
Noise Complaints (Isn’t this a By-Law issue?)
Phone Nuisance
Suspicious Person or Vehicle
Trouble With Youth
Unwanted Persons

Violent Criminal Code
Assault Level 1
Criminal Harassment
Sexual Assault
Utter Threats to Person

Property Crime Violations
Mischief
Theft

Drugs & Drug Possession
Possession – Cannabis
Trafficking – Cannabis

Other Criminal Code Violations
Bail Violations
Breach of Probation
Disturb the Peace
Fail to Attend Court
Fraud

Traffic
Motor Vehicle – Property Damage
Motor Vehicle – Personal Injury

Operational 2
911 Call / 911 Hang Up
False Alarm

Statutes & Acts
Landlord / Tenant
Mental Health Act
Trespass to Property Act

Those are the bigger items in terms of the calls and offenses that have occupied the OPP in Parry Sound over the past few years. In terms of totals the greatest number of Calls for Service was seen in 2011 with 2,773. This number dropped to about 2,313 by 2013, but the 4-year average used for 2015 Service Per Call billing is 2,549. If we held the number to 2,313 we would save about $100,000.

It’s interesting to note that the two highest cost components of the OPP Call for Service charges are for quite different offences. The Operational calls, costing an estimated $280,000 in 2015 are for ‘soft’ offenses or even public service activities such as family disputes, animal issues, lost and found items, many of which do not seem to warrant the use of the police. The next most expensive category at a bit more than $223,000 is listed as Violent Criminal Code with calls related to assaults and harassment.

So that’s the broad overview of police activity in Parry Sound. Here are a few more figures regarding the costs Parry Sound can expect in 2015 for a variety of Call for Services. It mostly a bit of trivia, but bizarrely interesting. Again double the figures to get the overhead inclusive figures.

Assist the Public – 89 incidents (~$26,000)
Animals – 49 incidents (~$14,000)
Domestic Disturbance – 86 incidents (~$25,000)
Family Dispute – 50 incidents (~$15,000)
Lost & Found – 187 incidents (~$55,000)
Noise Complaints – 85 incidents (~$25,000)
Suspicious Person or Vehicle – 89 incidents (~$26,000)
Trouble with Youths – 83 incidents (~$24,000)
911 call / hang up – 332 incidents (~$34,000)
False Alarms – 122 incidents (~$13,000)
Bail & Probation – 74 incidents (~$45,000)
Mischief – 83 incidents (~$43,000)
Assault & Harassment – 123 incidents (~$150,000)
Sexual Assaults – 15 incidents (~$18,000)
Uttering Threats – 34 incidents (~$42,000)

There you go, a summary of the leading Calls for Services that make our taxes as high as they are because of the OPP costs. And there is nothing that Parry Sound Town Council can do about it except ask people to avoid making unnecessary 911 calls, a $34,000 unnecessary expense.

The next post will take a look at how our Calls for Service Compare with those of our neighbouring municipalities. Didn’t I tell you it was fun reading the Parry Sound Council agenda packages? It’s like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get. (Apologies to Forest Gump.)

Low Cost, Low Tech Surveillance Alternative? (Parry Sound in Four Colour)

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OPP Policing Cost Reductions – No Windfall for Parry Sound in 2015

10 Monday Nov 2014

Posted by in Budget/Financial, Parry Sound, Town Council

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An item in the last Parry Sound Council agenda package, Item 9.5.1, provided considerable background information concerning past and future Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) costs. I would like to thank the Town for making this type of information easily accessible to the Public. While the Town may be obligated to do so, it’s also easy to hide this type of information, especially with the Town’s current website design.

Any review of OPP costs requires at least two posts, three would be better, to be properly presented. This post looks at historical costs and what’s budgeted for 2015. The second post will look at ‘crime in the city’, or where the OPP are spending their time (and our money). The third will compare ‘crime’ in Parry Sound with that of our neighbouring municipalities. If you can’t wait for the next two installments you can retrieve the Council package for the November 4th meeting at the Town’s website (it’s the one labelled 2014 11 04-AD2014).

Let’s get started.

Much has been made of the Province’s decision to rework the cost of OPP services in the province. There had been concerns that the previous allocation of OPP expenses did not fairly apportion costs to the municipalities on the basis of basic services and usage. In response a two-component system was developed and approved. Under this new system municipalities that require policing services will be charged a) a flat per Household/Business (H/B) cost, and b) a cost that is based on the actual OPP services provided in that community (Calls for Service).

For 2015 the standard provincial cost per Household/Business (H/B) rate will be $200.51. For Parry Sound that translates into a cost of $661,081, which is calculated by adding up all of the residences and businesses in town (3,297) and multiplying that number by $200.51.

But wait, that’s not all, we still have to add in the cost of “Calls for Service” and some additional items.

Based on Calls for Service over the years 2010 through 2013, it is estimated that Parry Sound will be charged an additional $302.25 per H/B. Multiply that by the number of households and businesses in Parry Sound and you have an additional bill for $996,505.

But wait that’s not all. (It’s starting to look a bit like a cable or phone bill where the extras seem to pop up out of nowhere.)

There is also the additional cost of “Court Security”. This is for the District Court that serves all of the West Parry Sound District. It may be a district court, but we get to pay for it, all of it. Not only do we have a government building taking up prime real estate but also we pay to ‘protect it’. Add in another $208,953 to our OPP bill for that charge. But wait, the Province does provide us with a grant to offset some of the cost, about $47,000. So ‘hosting’ the provincial court only costs us $161,953, or about $49 per household per year. (This $49 per H/B figure, for the purpose of comparison, is a little less than half what our surrounding municipalities previously paid per household/business annually for all of their OPP services. Yes, all of them, about $100 per H/B per year. It’s possible the Province might address this ‘injustice’ related to the Provincial Court House, but so far it’s our expense.

But wait, that’s not all.

Add another $86,055 to the Town of Parry Sound bill for OPP related Overtime, Prisoner Transportation, Accommodation and Cleaning Services.

In total we will be paying $1,952,597 for OPP services in 2015 versus an estimated $2,092,900 for 2014, a savings of about $140,000, or $42.56 per H/B. That’s about $592.23 per household/business. Not too bad, even with the addition of the Provincial Court costs.

But wait. You didn’t think we would really save that much did you?

The savings of about $42.56 per H/B is too high; we are not allowed to save more than $30.00 per H/B in 2015. So this means that our cost for 2015 will be $1,994,007, or about $605 per household/business. Compare this with the $100 per H/B that our neighbouring municipalities have been paying for the past few years. Of course their policing costs will rise to the defined average of $200.51 per H/B in 2015, plus their Calls for Service.

But wait.

No they won’t, their Base Services rates won’t rise more than $40 in 2015, to about $140. They will also get hit with their Calls for Service charge. What this adds up to in total I’m not sure, but there will be limits to the increase they will be facing in 2015.

The table below summarizes the figures presented above. More details can be found in the November 4th Council package. To make things easier I have extracted the pages related to this issue, Item 9.5.1, which can be accessed here.

An interesting aside noted in the Council package is the observation that Parry Sound has about 2.6 times the calls for service of Seguin Township. A ‘lawless’ little town we have here? Was Wyatt Earp this expensive? We’ll take a look at what the ‘crime’ numbers are in the next post.

One last thought – the projected OPP savings of $140,000 might not actually be realized, and it’s possible the costs to Parry Sound for policing might actually go up. That because the Town has in the past received general OMPF funding to offset some of the costs that the Province has downloaded to the Town over the years, a portion of which was used to offset the unreasonably high OPP costs. But we won’t know about this for a few more weeks. It will be an important element in the Parry Sound 2015 budget deliberations.

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Council Meeting Notes – November 4, 2014

08 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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As mentioned in the preview notes I did not attend the most recent meeting of Council. Here is my takeaway of the items of most interest to me based on the minutes provided by the Town.

9.1.1 – Resolution. Francis Pegahmagabow Commemoration Location. CARRIED. But I am confused. Apparently Council approved a new site for the commemorative statue, but made no note of where it was in the Council Minutes. I will follow up on Monday and find out where it is. I was unable to find any further information with a search of the Town’s website. I guess there is no problem with a last minute change, but there should be a way to let people know what it is if it’s not in the Council Agenda Package.

9.2.1 – Resolution. CBDC’s Request for Funding to Assist with Business Growth & Competitiveness. POSTPONED.

9.5.1 – Direction. 2015 OPP Billing for Police Services. CARRIED.

10.1.1 – By-law. James St. and Mary St. All Way Stop. CARRIED. No complaints, but how does the sign go up before the by-law is passed? In the questions of Staff at the start of the meeting it was mentioned that the sign was up and some motorists had failed to notice it and were driving right through. And then later in the meeting they passed the by-law to authorize (allow?) the sign. I’m a little confused about the order of things.

If you have any question regarding these issues check out my earlier preview post (just scroll down), or head over to the Parry Sound website and take a look at the meeting agenda package.

Artists Round the Skate Park. (Parry Sound in Four Colour)

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Council Agenda Preview – November 4, 2014

01 Saturday Nov 2014

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A new Council has been elected and in the meantime there is business to be taken care of. A number of issues need to be moved forward before the new Council convenes at the first meeting of December. There is nothing on the agenda that would benefit from having the new Council member fingerprints on the evidence. A couple of decisions are being made but the big stuff awaits December.

With that said here are the items that most interest me.

4.1 – Letter. CBDC letter outlining Parry Sound’s business community’s suggestions for growth and competitiveness in the form of a website/OR code creation with a request for funding assistance. More on this as Item 9.2.1.

4.2, 4.7 – Letters. Correspondence regarding the All Ontario Native Fastball Championships Tournament. This follows on earlier concerns that these individuals expressed regarding the tournament and the facilities provided by the Town. I’m at a loss to understand whether or not there is an issue, or it’s a clash between expectations and reality. The Town woiuld like to sweep this under the carpet, but it keeps crawling out.

5.1 – Deputation. Parking Committee Presentation – Research on Free Parking and the Enforcement. This promises to be interesting and follows up the Mayor’s effort to staunch the uprising that occurred in the Spring when meters were being proposed for Bay Street. I have a real suggestion for the Town. Consider leasing the parking lot on James Street across from the theatre to the Downtown Business Association. Make the rate reasonable. Then the Downtown Business Association can allow this parking area to be free to encourage shoppers downtown. This lot is very rarely full and is right on the ‘strip’. So it should be a win-win. That leaves on-street parking metered. If you want free parking it’s there, if you want convenience you need to pay for it. I imagine that people will complain that the lot, even though it’s centrally located, is too far away and the on-street parknig should also be free. Boo-hoo!

9.1.1 – Resolution. Francis Pegahmagabow Commemoration Location. The proposal is to locate it on the Stockey Centre property to the right as you face the complex. Great location and a bit of respect for one of our greatest citizens. Now, will the Town invest a little on landscaping and maintenance to properly honour this individual?

9.2.1 – Resolution. CBDC’s Request for Funding to Assist with Business Growth & Competitiveness. It’s only $5,300 but who uses QR codes? They are so last decade. But hey, what do I know. (Yup, nothing that’s why this blog is so much fun to read.)

9.5.1 – Direction. 2015 OPP Billing for Police Services. That staff prepare a letter, signed by the Mayor, to be sent to the Hon. Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario and the Hon. Yasir Naqvi, Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, advocating for increased provincial funding to offset the costs of providing court security, charged to municipalities, for Provincial Courts. So the great OPP savings may not be as great as we hoped. Bummer.

10.1.1 – By-law. James St. and Mary St. All Way Stop. Well that was pretty quick and a necessary addition for pedestrian safety. Any chance of a stop sign along Gibson Street to slow down the OPP as they speed back to their waterfront offices? Shouldn’t they be setting a better example for the citizenry?

And that folks is all that strikes me as being of any real importance. You may disagree and I encourage you to check out the full agenda at the Town’s website. I won’t be there on Tuesday night so take notes and post them up.

Talking Trash! (Parry Sound, a Touch of Colour)

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