Parry Sounds ~ Ideas and Opinions, In and Around Parry Sound

This coming week sees a rather full meeting agenda for Town of Parry Sound Council. The notable items are briefly commented upon below. The agenda itself follows.

Closed Session b) – proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality or local board: (property appraisal). I wonder if this has anything to do with the property the Town purchased from the Province on Oastler Park Drive across from the Canadian Tire building.
Closed Session c) – labour relations or employee negotiations: (CAO employment agreement workplan).Hmmm!

9.3.1– Council Members 1/3 Tax Exemption. Councillor and Mayor remuneration is proposed to increase along with their benefits. The annual cost to the Town is about $35,000.

10.2.2- Site Plan Development Agreement with Infrastructure Ontario (OPP Station – 1 North Road). It looks as though the OPP facility move is ‘moving’ forward. That should mean a little less traffic in Town and ultimately the availability of prime waterfront real estate for development. A map showing the location of the new facility is included at the end of this post.

As always, refer to the full Council Agenda Package at the Town’s website for all included materials. The full package this week is 94 pages.

Heads Up – I have crunched the numbers on what amalgamation would likely mean for individual municipality tax rates. I’ll roll out the analysis in series of posts starting early this coming week.

Closed Session

b) personal matter about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees: (EMS Advisory Committee Appointments);

c) proposed or pending acquisition or disposition of land by the municipality or local board: (property appraisal);

d) labour relations or employee negotiations: (CAO employment agreement workplan);

e) litigation or potential litigation, including matters before administrative tribunals, affecting the municipality or local board: (assessment appeal); (property matter);

Correspondence

4.1– Ed Horba, Project Manager, Transportation, GHD. Noise By-law exemption request for Highway 400 work at Parry Sound

4.2– Stephannie MacDonald, Town resident. Appreciation for Operations staff’s work fixing watermain break on February 24th on Riverdale Road

4.3– Marsha Rivers, CEO, Belvedere Heights. 2019 Municipal Levy for Belvedere Heights.

4.4– Rebecca Pollock, Chair, Parry Sound Active Transportation. Request to allocate in the 2019 budget, monies to determine the feasibility of applying the road diet concept to Parry Sound’s arterial roads, including any necessary engineering and planning reviews.

4.5– Leah Harris, Town resident. Request that after-hours water service bills to shut off water be removed from their account.

4.6– Municipality of Neebing. Request for resolution of support to appeal to both AMO and ROMA to split Zone 9 into 2 geographical districts; and to ROMA, to limit the vote to one per municipality at its annual general meeting election for zone representation.

Deputations

5.1– John Cochrane, Near North District School Board Trustee Zone 4. Update on new Parry Sound High School

5.2– Becky Pollock, Executive Director, Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve. Proposed “Community Energy Plan” for the biosphere region

Resolutions and Direction to Staff

9.1.1– 2018 Water System Summary Report. Resolution. Whereas the Town of Parry Sound owns and operates the Parry Sound Drinking Water System (M.O.E. Designation Number 2200000585) which has been categorized as a “Large Residential” Drinking Water System, and Whereas Ontario Regulation 170/03 (as amended) under the Safe Drinking Water Act S.O. 2002, C. 32 requires, according to “Schedule 22 Summary Reports for Municipalities” that all large Municipal Residential Drinking water systems have a report prepared no later than March 31st of each year addressing the items detailed in the Regulation, and that the report is given to members of Council in the case of a drinking water system owned by a municipality;
Therefore, be it resolved that Council of the Town of Parry Sound hereby acknowledges receipt of the report titled: “Town of Parry Sound Tony Agnello Water Treatment Plant, Large Municipal Residential Drinking Water System Summary Report 2018”, as prepared by Kyle Hall, Manager of Water Systems.

9.1.2– RFP – Biosolids Haulage & Beneficial Re-use/Disposal. Resolution. That Council accepts the proposal from WESSUC Inc. for biosolids haulage and beneficial re-use/disposal in the all-inclusive amount of $20.33/ mÑfor a three-year term,to:
1. Locate, licence, certify or re-certify field(s) as or when required for the purpose of biosolids application and beneficial re-use, including soil testing and pH adjustment as required;
2. Provide the Town, the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks and farmers with all required documentation;
3. Haul and apply biosolids on licenced disposal sites.
This proposal being the lowest of two proposals received.

9.1.3– 2019 Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiatives Annual Conference. Resolution. That pursuant to By-law 2002-4549 which requires prior Council approval for attendance at seminars, conferences and conventions outside the Province of Ontario; Council authorizes the Director of Public Works to attend the 2019 Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiatives Annual Conference to be held in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, June 5 – 7, 2019.

9.2.1– Revision to 2018 Land Ambulance Budget. Resolution. That the Council of the Town of Parry Sound approve the revised 2018 Land Ambulance Budget that includes an additional $309,357 incurred for higher than normal sick time occurring in the 2018 fiscal year.

9.3.1– Council Members 1/3 Tax Exemption. Direction. That staff be directed to implement remuneration increases of elected officials retroactive to January 1, 2019, as recommended in this report and consistent with Council direction as set-out in By-law 2015 – 6554.
Direction for Staff Follow-up: That staff bring Council group benefits options (health/dental) for consideration to a future Council meeting.
Direction for Staff Follow-up: That upon approval of Council direction regarding: remuneration increases retroactive to January 1, 2019; and consideration of Council group benefits (health, dental); staff present a comprehensive compensation by-law for Council members to a future Council meeting.

9.3.2– Request for Faster Response time from Provincial & Federal Grant Funding Authorities. Resolution. Whereas the Town of Parry Sound supports Bill 47, Making Ontario Open for Business Act, 2018; and
Whereas the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) promotes and stimulates economic development initiatives in Northern Ontario by providing financial assistance to projects that foster the economic growth and diversification of the region; and
Whereas the NOHFC Northern Business Opportunity Program provides funding which is of special interest to small and medium-sized advanced manufacturing businesses from outside of Northern Ontario; and Whereas such businesses wish to establish their operations in Northern Ontario with support of the NOHFC funding; and
Whereas processing of NOHFC Business Expansion and New Investment Projects applications currently takes more than 8 months;
Whereas lengthy processing times are a challenge in Northern Ontario where construction seasons are shorter due to the climate and various environmental restrictions at certain times of the year; and Whereas, in some cases, lengthy approvals result in losing out on investment opportunities and applicants abandoning their applications and their plans to locate in Northern Ontario; and Whereas these delays adversely affect the objectives of the Program.
Now therefore be it resolved that the Town of Parry Sound supports the Provincial Government’s focus on how to cut government red tape, improve government programs and services; and That NOHFC Business Expansion and New Investment funding application procedures and processing times should be reviewed with the objective of reducing approval timelines to 6 months or less. That NOHFC expedite the application process by retaining more than one audit firm to undertake the auditing of the applications. That a copy of this resolution be forwarded to: the Honourable Vic Fedeli, MPP, Minister of Finance; the Honourable Greg Rickford, MPP, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines/Minister of Indigenous Affairs; Mr. Norman Miller, MPP, Parry Sound – Muskoka.

9.3.3– Director of Finance Recruitment – Sub-Committee of Council Appointments. Direction. That pursuant to the Town hiring policy, the Sub-Committee for the hiring of the Director of Finance position be composed of the following Members of Council:
_________________________________________

9.4.1– Motorized Mobile Ice Cream Truck. Resolution. That Council for the Corporation of the Town of Parry Sound hereby grants permission for Mr. J. Athanasiou to operate one motorized mobile ice cream truck for the time period of May 10th, 2018 to September 30, 2018 on municipally owned roads and lands of the Town of Parry Sound subject to the following conditions:
Note: see full agenda for details. (Not included in this Council Agenda Preview)

9.5.1– “Right to Approve” Landfill Developments. Resolution.
WHEREAS municipal governments in Ontario do not have the right to approve landfill projects in their communities, but have authority for making decisions on all other types of development;
AND WHEREAS this out-dated policy allows private landfill operators to consult with local residents and municipal Councils, but essentially ignore them;
AND WHEREAS Ontario’s proposed “Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan” states that the province will grant municipalities a “greater say in siting of landfills”;
AND WHEREAS municipalities already have exclusive rights for approving casinos and nuclear waste facilities within their communities, whether to host cannabis retail in their communities, AND FURTHER that the province has recognized the value of municipal approval for the siting of power generation facilities;
AND WHEREAS the recent report from Ontario’s Environmental Commissioner has found that Ontario has a garbage problem, particularly from Industrial, Commercial and Institutional (ICI) waste generated within the City of Toronto, where diversion rates are as low as 15%;
AND UNLESS significant efforts are made to increase recycling and diversion rates, a new home for this Toronto garbage will need to be found, as landfill space is filling up quickly;
AND WHEREAS municipalities across Ontario are quietly being identified and targeted as potential landfill sites for future Toronto garbage by private landfill operators;
AND WHEREAS other communities should not be forced to take Toronto waste, as landfills can contaminate local watersheds, air quality, dramatically increase heavy truck traffic on community roads, and reduce the quality of life for local residents;
AND WHEREAS municipalities should be considered experts in waste management, as they are responsible for this within their own communities, and often have decades’ worth of in-house expertise in managing waste, recycling, and diversion programs;
AND WHEREAS municipalities should have the exclusive right to approve or reject these projects, and assess whether the potential economic benefits are of sufficient value to offset any negative impacts and environmental concerns;
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Town of Parry Sound calls upon the Government of Ontario, as part of its “Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan” to formally entrench the right of municipalities to approve or reject landfill projects in or adjacent to their communities;
AND THAT in the case of a two-tier municipality, the approval be required at both the upper-tier and affected lower-tier municipalities;
AND FURTHER THAT the Town of Parry Sound encourage all other municipalities in Ontario to consider this motion calling for immediate provincial action;
AND THAT the MOTION adopted by Council be forwarded to the DEMAND THE RIGHT COALITION OF ONTARIO MUNICIPALITIES.

By-laws

10.2.1– Appointment of Will Williamson as a Building Inspector. By-law 2019-6898. Being a By-law to appoint Will Williamson as a Building Inspector for the Town of Parry Sound.

10.2.2– Site Plan Development Agreement with Infrastructure Ontario (OPP Station – 1 North Road). By-law 2019-6899. Being a By-law to authorize a Site Plan / Development Agreement with Infrastructure Ontario (OPP Station – 1 North Road).