City of Owen Sound Council Highlights: September 23, 2024
City of Owen Sound Council Highlights: September 23, 2024
Nine downtown video cameras installed; City to enter joint policing talks with West Grey; Council to keep a 7-week summer break in 2025
Here are the key decisions and highlights from the September 23, 2024, meeting of the Owen Sound Council.
Marilyn Struthers and Liz Buckton gave a deputation on Affordable Housing in Owen Sound on behalf of The Institute of South Georgian Bay. There was a lengthy follow-up discussion that we’ll dig into this week.
Members of the community asked questions in Public Question Period about:
homelessness and overnight shelter,
public use of Sound Street Beach at 2nd Ave & 27th St W,
and how the City will respond to the province’s plan to limit bike lanes to side streets.
Video cameras promised over a year ago are now installed and operational downtown.
Council received an update on River District video cameras.
Council unanimously approved Mayor Ian Boddy’s request to enter talks with West Grey Police.
Councilor Jon Farmer requested a friendly amendment to remove “potential implementation of joint municipal police services” from the motion. Boddy argued it should stay as West Grey approved it. The amendment was not put forward.
In response to a question from Councilor Middlebro, Boddy stated that Saugeen Shores are not interested in discussing joint police services and that Hanover has been in the past.
City staff presented the draft 2025 Council and Committee Meeting Calendar.
Councilor Marion Koepke and Deputy Mayor Scott Greig each said they feel 6-8 weeks is too long a summer break for Council and they would like to see a meeting in August, as there is still business to discuss.
Councilor Travis Dodd moved the motion without any changes to the schedule, and it was approved with 6 in favour and 3 opposed. There will be an approximately 7-week break of Council next summer.
Short-Term Rentals update - there are currently 23 licenses approved by the City and one in the queue, according to the City Clerk.
Vision 2050 - Phase 1 Update
The Mayor delivered an update on “Vision 2050” survey results from the Strategic Planning Ad Hoc committee. The City received over 1000 survey responses, and 5,000 responses to open-ended questions. The results are being circulated among city staff, council, and select community stakeholders, with the final report expected to be published “in the coming weeks.”
Boddy noted that Phase 2 takes place in October and November 2024 with three days of “community engagement and capacity building sessions” taking place from November 8-10.
Tom Thomson Art Gallery Update & Governance Concerns
Councilor Melanie Middlebro delivered minutes and updates from the September 4, 2024, meeting of the Tom Thomson Art Gallery Committee. Councilor Carol Merton raised concerns with the quality and accuracy of data being used to make budgeting and other planning decisions, particularly as statistics delivered recently were determined to be incorrect.
Director of Community Services, Pam Coulter, stated that most of Merton’s questions had already been answered in the committee meeting. However, no corrections for TTAG attendance or budget projections have been released since then. Coulter said those figures should be available to the committee at their November meeting.
Before moving on to the next order of business, Mayor Ian Boddy stated that many fundraising activities are done by volunteers, not staff, and that “You walk a fine line.” The purpose of his statement and who it was directed to were unclear. The figures in question were prepared by City and Gallery staff.
River District Board Updates - Community safety & foot patrols
Councilor Travis Dodd asked the City Manager to share information from the River District meeting on September 11 with Council as a whole. You’ll find the highlights from that meeting here:
Corporate Services Committee updates from the September 12 meeting were also delivered by Councilor Middlebro.
City staff have proposed changes to the Capital Budget Policy that will lock in the items on the five-year Capital Plan so there will be strict criteria for revising a project once approved.
Middlebro said there was a lengthy discussion, “primarily with members of Council on the committee who question the necessity of this and raised concerns about tying the hands of future councils as the 5-year capital budget exceeds the term of Council.” The committee accepted that staff report for informational purposes.
City Manager Tim Simmonds gave his monthly City Manager’s Update, which was 9 minutes long this month. Simmonds commented that most of the public left the gallery before his presentation, and perhaps he should have been moved earlier in the agenda.
However, despite this being presented in a PowerPoint format and our repeated requests that it be included in the meeting package for the public record, his presentation is not attached to the agenda. We’ve been instructed to look for this information on a separate page on the City’s website. At the time of publication, the last one available on that page is from July.
If you’d like to see the monthly City Manager’s Update presented in a format people can read and understand, or at least shared as part of the meeting package, please send your suggestions to council@owensound.ca.
Source: Monday, September 23, 2024, City of Owen Sound Council meeting recording