- It's always good when you turn it on.
Welcome to the regular meeting
of the Corporation of the Town of Lincoln
for March 20, 2017.
First item on the agenda
is the national anthem,
and I would ask you to
stand and address the flag.
(instrumental music)
♫ O Canada
♫ Our home and native land
♫ True patriot love
♫ In all thy sons command
♫ With glowing hearts we see thee rise
♫ The True North strong and free
♫ From far and wide O Canada
♫ We stand on guard for thee
♫ God keep our land
♫ Glorious and free
♫ O Canada we stand
♫ On guard for thee
♫ O Canada we stand
♫ On guard for thee
- Thank you. Please be seated.
Ladies and gentlemen, we
have a full complement
of staff here this evening,
and we have members of
the public attending,
which is always welcome to see.
On my far right is Tony Brunet,
Deputy Mayor and Councillor,
Councillor Lynn Timmers,
Councillor Dave Thompson,
Councillor Rob Foster.
To my far left, Councillor
Paul MacPherson,
Councillor Dianne Rintjema,
Councillor J.D. Pachereva,
and Councillor Wayne MacMillan.
To my left is Mr. Mike Kirkopoulos,
the CAO, and to my right,
Mr. William Kolasa,
the Clerk of the Town of Lincoln.
And in the second row
of seats, on the right,
we have Carrie Beatty,
who is our Senior Communications Advisor,
Kathleen Dale, the Director
of Planning and Development,
and Dave Graham, the
Director of Public Works.
In the audience, we have... unfortunately,
we don't have any extra spaces here,
or we'd have Councillor Bill
Hodgson sitting with us,
but Regional Councillor
Bill Hodgson is with us
this evening, and so we'll be engaging
in some discussion with him
a little bit later on the agenda.
Councillors, are there any
declarations of interest?
Councillor Rintjema.
- Thank you Madam Mayor.
I have been in and still am in the process
of seeking information and legal advice
in terms of my status under the Municipal
Conflict of Interest Act
regarding report PL 1711
for the eight-story apartment building
proposed for the property behind my house,
which is in tonight's agenda
under the public minutes of March 13.
Again, currently, I'm in the
information-gathering phase.
I'm seeking with
specificity whether or not
I do have a conflict to declare.
My hope is to be able to participate fully
in the decision-making process.
I don't want to shirk my
duty as a decision maker,
but I also don't want to break the law,
so I'll be returning with
a decision on my status
before we go into decision-making mode.
And tonight, for the consideration
of those public meetings
I'll leave the room.
- Actually, I'm going to ask
the Clerk for clarification on that.
Mr. Clerk, can you clarify for us,
without engaging in what is
clearly Councillor Rintjema's
personal decision,
whether or not the passing of minutes
implies that she needs to leave the room?
It's my understanding that it did not,
but I would appreciate some
clarification on your part.
- Through you, Madam Mayor.
Normally, the adoption of minutes,
particularly if you were in
attendance at the meeting
and declared an interest at the meeting,
does not constitute a...
An interest or a conflict situation.
In this case, the Councillor
was not present at the meeting.
This is the first meeting
at which she is attending.
She has indicated that
she is still researching,
but out of an abundance of caution,
she will be stepping out of the room.
The process she is pursuing
seems a very cautious
and prudent one for the purposes of
this meeting, until such time as she has
a clear indication as to whether or not
she is in a conflict position.
So...
- Thank you for that. Thank you.
I just wanted to make sure that...
I wanted to ensure that
you did not have to leave
if it wasn't necessary.
- Thank you, Madam Mayor.
- That's fine. Thank you very much.
Anyone else?
The next item is the
confirmation of agenda.
Is there any suggestions
for any adjustments
to the agenda?
Very good.
The adoption of the
previous Council meeting.
I have a motion moved
by Councillor Timmers
and seconded by Councillor
Brunet that the minutes
of the March 6, 2017 regular meeting
of Council be adopted as circulated.
Any errors or omissions?
The pleasure on the motion?
The motion is carried.
Is there any business
arising from the minutes?
There being none, we move
on to the mayor's report.
Ladies and gentlemen, our last
meeting was March 6, 2017.
There's a few items of community interest
that I'd like to note for you.
One was the celebration of
the one-year anniversary
of the Just Cooking restaurant,
which is an Italian restaurant in Vineland
and has become quite a gathering place
within our community.
On Saturday, I attended,
and there may have been others as well,
the retirement for Ed Cotras,
who operated Ed's Auto
Service for 54 years.
He made heavy equipment
repairs, heavy truck repairs,
and farm equipment, and
operated a towing business.
54 years of work,
by any standard is very substantial
and certainly commendable.
54 years of operating
your own small business
is certainly a major commitment,
and we wish him well.
He has certainly served
this community well.
I also attended an education session
at Cave Spring Cellars
regarding their BioGill cleansing system
for waste water.
And I bring this to your attention tonight
because it's very important
for us to understand
that there's a good deal
of innovative technology
that is going on in farming
in the 21st century.
This BioGill cleansing
system is the first for any
Canadian food and beverage company
to set up, and the process includes
the removing of organic
material that is infused
in waste water for wine making.
And what happens with these particles,
they use up water's oxygen,
and eventually there
is direct harm to fish
and fish
productivity.
Today, I met with the expert resource
that Mr. Kirkopoulos,
on behalf of the town,
has hired to assist Council
with the development
of our code of conduct.
The code of conduct is
in the second reading
in the legislature,
and it will be a requirement
for all municipalities.
The consultant will be meeting
with all Councillors individually
to collect their input, and then together
we will gather to develop
a value-based reference
that's intended to encourage
the highest standards
of ethical behavior to uphold public trust
and the integrity of governance
and the town's reputation.
The principles that are
identified in a code of conduct
are those recognized as being significant
in the performance of political office.
So Councillors, you can
expect that she'll be in touch
with you over the next week or two.
I have some other items that
we're going to be tabling
under the Regional Councillor's report,
however, at this time, I
want to regularly remind you
that Lincoln is in a
state of continuous change
that will bring an improved
economy and quality of life
to our citizens.
And on that note, to remind
you that you live in Lincoln,
where everyone strives
to be a good neighbor,
and children are encouraged
to achieve their very best.
Through my time at the
beginning of each meeting,
and other public engagements,
I hope to send a message
that lets our citizens know
that Lincoln will
deliberately set itself apart
by instilling consideration
and a sense of achievement
in our everyday lives.
You are a part of those achievements,
and this is how we do it here.
Many thanks for opening your
homes to us this evening,
and on behalf of Council, thank you.
We'll move on now to the
Regional Councillor's report.
Bill, please... Councillor Hodgson,
please come and join us at the table.
- Have to turn on the microphone.
- Good. Welcome, Bill.
Thanks very much for coming tonight.
Your timing is perfect.
There are a couple of issues
that we were planning to have a look at,
and the first one is
the confidential report
regarding the Burgoyne Bridge.
I'm going to make a little
bit of an introduction
and then
you can participate if you wish.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm
bring this to your attention
tonight because there was quite a...
Quite a brouhaha in the media about this,
because it was a leaked document,
and this is in spite of the fact that
a memorandum that was
circulated by the Regional Clerk
to both Councillor Hodgson and myself,
outlined very specifically
what the responsibilities
were of Regional Council
in regard to this report.
And so tonight, I want to acknowledge that
there is a report,
it was circulated for
Regional Councillors' review,
it was a confidential document,
because we did not wish
to have any further steps
in regard to any required investigations
to be interfered with by information
being in the hands of people that really
shouldn't have had it.
It could very well have an impact
on the outcome of that review.
So compliance to policy
around confidentiality
is not just a big city problem.
It requires due diligence
at all levels of government
to ensure that staff,
through their policy
and procedural bylaws,
are producing a transparent
reporting to Council
and thus informing
decisions, accountability,
throughout ethical
policy, ethical behavior.
And that will stand,
for those of us who live in a fish bowl,
which is our choice, and
what we should expect
as public servants.
There are more steps to be taken
before a public report can be made,
and I will ensure that we
speak about this again.
Councillor Hodgson certainly will come,
and we will speak to this again
as there are millions
of tax dollars involved.
So Councillor Hodgson,
if you have any comments,
please feel free.
- I can just say maybe a few words on it.
It's not a...
It's not a fully secret document anymore,
and the mayor has outlined
that as a problem.
It becomes a problem because
nothing's ever quite as simple
as all of us would love to assume.
And there's a bit of
disappointment, I think,
around the whole exercise
of doing both the value for money audit
and then the forensic
audit that was launched
after an anonymous...
basically, an anonymous tip
suggested conflicts of interest
may well have affected
the cost of the bridge.
Unfortunately, the audit itself
doesn't really speak to
the cost of the bridge.
And the value for money audit
found... while it found irregularities
in terms of recording meetings, details,
discussions, some documents
that should have been
in files were not, and these are problems.
And I wouldn't want to
suggest for a moment
those are not problems,
but those are... I think I
would best characterize them
as systemic or corporate problems,
and there's going to be a lot of...
And there needs to be,
and it's already begun,
changes at the Niagara
Region to try to fill some of those.
And again, I just used
the word technical there.
They are potentially costly
gaps in appropriate recording.
And I think that's what
has been exposed the most.
The unfortunate thing,
again, about the release
of the document is that
the bar of proving...
What was the term?
I believe it was started as...
The forensic audit was started with a look
for fiduciary impropriety.
And that's something that actually
hasn't emerged at the moment.
And I suspect the reason why
the request was made to have a
police department look at it,
that somebody suspects
something more.
I just think we need to
keep it all in context.
It doesn't answer the question,
which is, why did the bridge,
and by the way, I'd like
to correct the record.
It did not double, actually, in cost.
By the time it became a project,
it was in the area of, I believe,
$72 million was the estimate.
And it did end up in the area of 93.
And there are...
I won't go into it,
but there are some technical reasons
why those costs went high.
Again, should those technical reasons
have been uncovered?
That's a matter for engineering
experts to determine.
It was discouraging.
I recall during some of the reporting
over the last couple years
that we did not have
better explanations
about what had been missed,
technically, in the planning stages.
But again, I don't think we
can make excuses, any of us.
Those of us who were on
Regional Council at the time
ultimately have to bear the responsibility
for both the processes in place
and for the fact
that some of the cost overruns,
while they were technically unavoidable,
we certainly should have known about them
and been able to articulate
them to the public better
than happened.
So I'm gonna leave it at that.
I think the other little comment...
Actually, I wanna make one more comment,
because I think it is
important in the big picture.
In the last, whatever it is, 15 years
that I've been involved
in the municipal field,
there hasn't been,
there has never been a job posting
that I can remember
that didn't actually
suggest that preference
would be given to someone
who has experience in the private sector,
and so in the world of public works
and in the world of
roads, bridges, water, and waste water,
we necessarily have situations where
a new employee will probably have worked
for a private sector consulting company.
And so it's pretty easy,
when you start scratching the surface,
to understand why someone might suggest
there's a conflict of interest.
There's only a handful of
advanced engineering companies
that do the work
in the municipal field.
So I just want to point that one out.
And it's not an excuse.
It just helps to
understand the fact that you might end up
with pretty close acquaintances
who were once client
and customer,
and suddenly, they're an employee.
So I didn't find it as
different to understand
as perhaps some others might have.
And I think it's important that we
keep that all in mind, always.
And I think it's a great,
again, if we're gonna learn anything
about the deep dive
into this world of conflicts
or apparent conflicts of interest,
we need to be aware that perhaps
in our enthusiasm
to ensure that we brought
private sector employees
into the public sector,
that we probably should've anticipated
some of these issues
coming to the fore.
That's the end of that one for now.
But there's certainly more to come.
I'm just not holding my breath
to get an answer as to why that price...
And that's what I think
the vast majority of people in the public
wanted to know, is,
where did that price end up
landing where it did?
But I'm not sure that either of the audits
are actually going to arrive there.
- So, I mean,
who knows how far the report
has been circulated now?
I certainly didn't feel that
was my...
I didn't feel that it was appropriate for
it to be circulated,
just because someone else did it.
But I think it's not
appropriate for us to
pretend that this wasn't
big news in the last week,
because it was.
There's a lot of people asking questions.
To the points that
Councillor Hodgson just made
about how you
blend private and public employees,
and the question can be asked,
"Are the safeguards there?"
I think that would be
a very fair question,
and that's one of the
things that they looked at.
What were those procedures to ensure
that people who had an association
could declare that?
And how would it be document,
and where would it be filed?
Those are the things
that we'll be looking for
for sure in the new procedures.
All right.
Another topic, ladies and gentlemen,
that's very
important for the Niagara region
and also for
each municipality is the Niagara Transit
Service Delivery and Governance Strategy.
On Thursday, the 23rd of March,
Councillor Hodgson and I will be
part of the Regional
Council debating this.
We have a consultant's report
from Dillon Consulting.
My purpose for tabling this this evening
is threefold.
To make sure that all councillors know
that this document is in the public record
of the meeting that is coming up.
I'd like to hear a few comments
from Councillor Brunet
about any discussions
that he's aware of that took place
at the Transportation
Committee at the region.
I have a question for Mr. Kirkopoulos,
just for the very narrow purpose
of ensuring that we will
have it on a future agenda
posthaste
and then talk on just...
Allow Councillor Hodgson
to make comments as well.
So we have this document now.
It's a public document.
The document is seeing the light of day
for the first time at Regional Council
on Thursday night.
And there is a recommended model
that is coming forward,
and that report is
coming from deliberations
between St. Catharines,
City of St. Catharines, City of Welland,
and the City of Niagara Falls.
So Councillor Brunet,
would you make a few comments please?
- Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Yeah, I appreciate that, as
this Council's representative
on the transportation steering committee.
I have an opportunity to go up and
sit on that committee
with Councillor Hodgson
and, you know, over the
last two and a half years,
we certainly get a chance to talk about
all kinds of stuff,
whether it's governance of airports
or now inter-municipal transit.
Don't always agree, as
in municipal transit,
at what's being discussed there,
but certainly
this Dillon report now speaks to
the Niagara Transit Service
Delivery and Governance Strategy
as we move forward,
so just a couple of comments.
From the executive summary,
for those listening at home,
I just wanted to bring,
highlight, basically, why,
when the region's looking at this
in terms of how they move forward,
what is the need for
inter-municipal transit
to municipalities?
So from the executive report,
the inter-municipal transit
has a number of benefits
to the region, to each local
municipality and its residents,
notably, the introduction
and improvement and expansion
of inter-municipal transit,
providing cross-boundary mobility
to education, employment, and
medical and other services.
Supporting transit ridership
to future GO Transit service
in Niagara, which, obviously,
is important to us as we look forward
to a GO station, and a GO
bus is already stopping
here in Lincoln.
Facilitating economic
development by businesses
that are seeking a connected workforce.
Contributing to a high quality of life
for Niagara residents,
and supporting sustainable
community development.
So with that said,
certainly, we've been hearing...
You know, this is coming down the pipe,
so a number of councillors
from Lincoln Council
as well as myself have been up to Grimsby,
and we've been partaking
in all the symposiums
and the workshops that
took place last year.
And on March 9, the Transit
Investigation Committee
for Grimsby accepted report
and it appears, I mean,
it has to come back
to their F and A in June,
but it would appear that Grimsby,
after going through the
process of a Dillon report,
looks like they're
probably gonna defer this
for a couple years.
So it's interesting to see
that that council
and that municipality
has really engaged in that,
but is now, upon reflection,
looking at a lot of things.
So I think that's interesting.
Some of the questions that
I think we need to ask
as we move forward as a council,
just in my opinion,
is what does the community want?
What do our residents want?
It's one thing to move
people within Lincoln.
I think it's another thing to
move people within the region,
and are they the same?
Does someone that live in Lincoln,
are they sitting at home
and they're concerned
about mobility freedom?
We have a GO bus.
It's now stopping at Ontario Street,
taking students to community...
to Niagara College,
and I think that's a huge win.
That's a great win for us,
and we need to celebrate that.
But when we talk about mobility freedom,
what does it mean to the residents?
And is that a link that
they're looking for
to get to the hospitals,
to get to their doctors,
to get to the Y,
and are there people out
there that are looking
to get across the region?
So I think those things are important,
but certainly, there's no doubt
that as all the things
that we're talking about
as a council, when we
talk about development
and how we move people
and traffic congestion,
and all the things that we as this council
are being faced with,
as well as an active transportation
that we've just launched
in December of 2016,
these are all important things
that we're going to have to reach out
to our community and get some input
from our residents and from
transit experts, in my opinion.
It's one thing for us to go to our CAO
and get staff reports,
but I think we really need
to link in transit experts
as well as listening to
the residents of Lincoln.
But there's no doubt about
it, as we move forward,
we all know we've got an aging population
and connectivity is gonna be huge.
Everyone is gonna sit at
home and say, "At what cost?"
Everyone you talk to when it comes
to inter-municipal transit,
it's all done at a deficit.
No different than our
libraries and our arenas.
So it's not a money-maker
in any way, shape, or form.
So I guess those would be my comments,
Madam Mayor.
- I'm going to go to Bill
and see what Bill would like
to add to it,
and then Mr. Kirkopoulos,
I'll be asking you
for some
information about how we go forward.
- I think, I mean,
we have had the discussion
about inter-municipal transit
for a long time.
And I happen to be one of those
who is quite convinced that actually,
to be a modern,
forward-looking community,
we would need connections.
And if we're going to provide
employers, I think the
number one, and the key for,
say, if we want to call
us a center of excellence
for agriculture,
we know what we want is advanced
manufacturing,
the high end on the supply,
on the whole supply chain.
If we're going to have that,
we need to have the connections.
The exercise between
Welland, Niagara Falls,
and St. Catharines is a
really complicated one.
And I have experienced...
the closest thing
that I have experienced with that
was when we amalgamated
the two school boards.
So we had seven collective
bargaining units,
and we had to reduce it to four.
But we had a special law provided
by the province of Ontario
to do it.
So as employers, we had employer rights,
and we were able to secure
some incredible efficiencies,
and I think, well, I
can remember the number.
It was 19% reduction
in central office staff
by bringing the two
school boards together.
And that took about a
two-year transition period.
Unfortunately, the transit commission
and the transit departments of the cities
don't have any extraordinary tools,
so this discussion has been
forever.
It's very difficult,
and it's got to a point now
where they recognized...
where they've recognized
there is so much cost
that they're going to incur
to stay modern and current,
even as a single city system,
it's going to be more
effective and more efficient
to do it together.
And I think that's what lies,
I think, at the basis for a pretty big,
important step forward.
It does not deliver new services
to West Niagara, although it's clearly
one of the priorities of
any kind of steps forward.
It's not gonna happen next year, I guess.
But it is... I believe it really has...
We're to the point where
Niagara's going to have to
make a couple extraordinary steps
to make themselves inter-connected.
And I'm not a transit user in that sense
of in Niagara,
but I do know
that if they had that unified system
where there's one fare,
one fare box,
one type of
system for payment,
life becomes
much more efficient,
convenient, and transit
becomes more attractive.
Tony's quite correct.
It's a cost item for all municipalities,
and there's no getting around it.
But quite simply,
with the interconnectedness that GO,
enhanced GO services are going to give us,
quite simply, we need to be part of it,
and we need to be part of a solution.
I certainly understand...
I understand where Grimsby...
It's a small town, and if you're talking
about a local transit
that does deliver similar
to what you might have
in the City of St. Catharines,
yeah, you're gonna probably pause
and say, "Is that the kind
of system we're looking for?"
And that's why I believe
that if we can get
the three big...
the three independent
transit systems to merge,
that will present the
opportunities for the type
of connections that will
probably be most effective
and most valuable for our community,
whichever way you wanna look at it.
Whether through the eyes of a student,
through the eyes of seniors,
and developers who are building homes
and more high-density developments,
these are things,
these are services that we need
to try to make a step forward.
So that's my view on it.
There's no easy first step,
but I believe the region,
my belief is the region will support it,
and then it will be
coming back to all of the
12 municipalities who
haven't decided already
to go ahead with the
triple majority approval.
So that'll be an important
opportunity, again,
for you to have that discussion.
You'll have a much more
detailed handle, I think,
on costs, how it really
is going to impact us
from a cost point of view,
and then Council will have to try to make
the best informed decision they can.
And I'll be supportive whichever way
this council goes,
but I am a supporter of connections
at least the connections
between inter-municipal
core hubs or core areas.
I'm not so much convinced
that in a small town,
door-to-door is the way
we're gonna ever go,
unless we grow bigger than
I think we're going to grow.
- Thank you very much for that, Bill.
Now, the question that I'm
going to ask Mr. Kirkopoulos,
because we're not getting into
a debate here this evening,
is what that next step is going to be,
because we do need to
have a fulsome discussion
before we get to the
triple majority situation.
So Mr. Kirkopoulos,
what do you have to say about that?
- Through you, Madam Mayor.
And I think, just to pick up on
where Councillor Hodgson left off,
the next step, once the
region approves this,
should they approve it on Thursday,
is the triple majority piece
which will lead it to come before all 12
local area municipalities.
Our goal is to make sure
we come back to Council
with an update on what
is in that business plan,
that business case, the executive summary
that I think has been sent around,
and that Council has reviewed,
to take Council through, I think,
some of the comments that
Councillor Brunet made
with respect to, what are we looking at
from an intra-municipal transit?
We've had that discussion
around this table
as well as, what does
inter-municipal transit mean,
and what are the
potential costs associated
with each of those?
Some of that data is
within the reports you have
in front of you,
but our goal would be to come to
one of the next Committee of the Wholes
and to have that broader
discussion and a presentation,
as well as to highlight
some of the other things
that we're doing in preparation
for whatever type of transit
finds itself in this community.
And our focus to date
really has been around
GO bus service and the advocacy
and the desire of this
council to move that forward.
We're working on some upgrades
to the new Park and Ride,
and I can provide you some updates
from that particular perspective.
I think as was highlighted,
we did receive the recent announcement
that GO is having
a drop-off at Niagara College,
and I think when we talk to the students
that are getting on the bus
in our particular location,
that was one of the needs
and one of the desires
that was expressed.
At Council's direction,
I'm also gonna be meeting
with the Niagara West CAOs
and having a conversation
now that Grimsby's had their own dialogue
with respect to transit
within their own boundaries,
again, to highlight and to bring them
up to speed on what we're
doing from the perspective
of the intra-municipal transit pilot,
and as well, just to see
amongst the West Niagara CAOs
and municipalities where we're at.
So I anticipate being in front of you
at the next Committee of the Whole
with an overview and a presentation.
- Thank you very much.
Thanks. Thanks very much, Bill,
for taking part in that, and
maybe we can have a discussion
about how you can participate
during the Committee of
the Whole discussions,
because I think your background would be
quite relevant there.
So Councillor, I think
you also had some issues
that you wanted to bring
forward this evening.
- I won't go on,
but the two, they're really
both to thank Council
for resolutions that you passed
that are tremendously important
to parts of our community,
and the broader community
right across Niagara.
And the first one is
your resolution in support
of the irrigation working
group that we put together
through our Agricultural Action Committee
at the region.
Irrigation is one of those things
that actually is difficult
to keep traction going.
There's so much private investment
and private sources and
permits to take water.
Once we get into a wet year,
the interest...
It's tough. The farmers
are very, very busy.
This year was so extraordinary though.
The irrigation committees
of the grape growers,
Tender Fruit,
Town of Niagara-on-the-Lake
have an irrigation committee
with their own already-existing system.
All of a sudden, there is
no more beatin' around the bush.
We need some major
investments partnered with
other levels of government
to try to ensure that we
improve the access to water
during these extreme weather events.
There's no reason to believe that
last summer is a one-off,
knowing what we do about
the extremes of climate change.
So that one is really
just a thank you for that,
and Mayor Easton, of course,
is on the APAC committee,
and was at the meeting with
the irrigation working group
actually so that she knew
exactly what our strategy is,
and we're trying to get
some resources at the region
to help us get the next steps forward
on an irrigation strategy.
There's that one, and then
the other one I wanted
to thank you,
I understood entirely why Council
kind of waited a little
bit before they wanted to
have an opinion as a Council
on the topic of the requested
investigation of the Niagara Peninsula
Conservation Authority.
Your decision, finally,
to make a statement was much appreciated,
and again, I certainly want you to know
that I understood
exactly why you hesitate.
I know when I was mayor, I always said,
"We don't have opinions on things
"we don't need to have opinions on."
Unfortunately though, it's
got to the point where,
and I think
for any of you who've been
following the situation
at the Conservation Authority,
there's a bit of a...
It's a very frustrating exercise,
and I can tell you that
my position, ending up as, I guess,
the one out of 15 on the board
who very much supports
having an audit done
of some of the practices
and business practices at the NPCA
come more, not so much
from specifics of any
story I've heard.
It's the fact that the general public
are being ignored.
They're being insulted.
And they're being belittled.
They're being called
special interest groups,
and it's not becoming of an elected body
that spends tax dollars.
So just want you to know
that I know there's a
resolution again coming tonight
at the City of St. Catharines,
whether they pass it or
not, I don't know of course.
But we did, in January, did manage to get
the NPCA to agree to
hold itself to account,
and what happened two weeks
or three weeks later then
was a complete, basically...
They say they're following the resolution,
but really, a grade two
student would understand
you're not following the resolution.
'Cause the resolution provided
for an independent consultant,
an independent investigation.
And it explicitly laid
out responsibilities
and accountabilities, and the
staff were not part of it.
Because they're the ones who
are involved in the decision-making
that is being questioned.
So at any rate, I guess I would just say,
happen to agree with some
of the people who say,
"If you have nothing
to hide, hide nothing."
And unfortunately, there's
just some digging in
and some stubborn opinions that are
making it very, very
difficult for the community
to have and to regain
the public trust, and the
trust that's so important.
You can't do the work of
a conservation authority
without the public trust,
without working with people
as opposed to going at them
and calling them special interest.
So I just wanted to thank you,
'cause you did finally make that statement
and you joined a chorus of municipalities.
The right thing is to, quite simply,
have some third party look at things.
We're not gonna change.
We can't undo the past,
and we're not looking
for a pound of flesh.
What we're looking for is an opportunity
to push the reset button
in the relationship
that the NPCA has with the public.
And they've missed a couple opportunities
in the last couple months.
So we're gonna just stay with it,
and I know that they're
including all... the four MPPs
from Niagara have all voiced
their concerns along with municipalities.
So just stay tuned. I guess
that's all I would say.
Thanks for that.
- Questions. Councillor Foster?
- Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Thank you very much, Bill.
Just a quick thing
that I wanna go through
but I just wanted to say
I'm glad you made mention
of what's going on
with the Burgoyne Bridge,
although I had to say,
I was down at the Meridian
Center the other night
and I was looking at...
It's a beautiful structure,
when it's all said and done.
It's going to be a great
landmark for St. Catharines.
- $90 million'll get ya.
- Yeah, but it, you know,
something it... hopefully in the end,
everything's good with that.
So quick question to you.
You and I've been back
and forth through email
on this a little bit, but,
both for you and Mayor Easton,
there's some pretty
significant development
is about to be taking place
within the Beamsville area.
And so I know there's a review
of traffic that's going on
with the region as well as our
town being involved with it,
and we're about to embark
on our own review as well,
but just...
I'm hoping that the
region is keeping in mind
some of the traffic flow,
particularly getting
into the Beamsville area,
and making use of some of the other routes
that could potentially be
designed to pull people in
and get them away from Ontario Street.
- Yes, and I know
we had that discussion the other day,
and it is timely, and
Councillor Brunet knows
we've had some pretty lively discussions
at the Transportation
Committee at the region
regarding the direction of
the transportation planning,
the big picture planning for the region.
I think it's fair to say that things
have been a little slow,
and it's a little difficult, I think,
even applied to you.
I didn't know who to get an answer from,
because we've had so many staff changes
that it sometime has thrown
kinda the corporate memory
into a bit of a tizzy.
But clearly, I think the
transportation strategy
is going to be finished
in the coming year.
There seems to be a focus on,
I think the Mayor's been in
some of these discussions
where they wanna take
big chunks of transportation issues
in each municipality
and essentially treat it as a project
and come up with the
solutions looking at it.
So I believe that's where we're going,
and maybe Councillor Brunet
has some other thought
on where it's going,
but I believe that's it.
And we talked a lot about complete streets
and what that means to us.
We talk a lot about
trying to find those alternate routes
so that the traffic is relieved
and the safety issues that some of us have
can be alleviated.
So those were all good points.
I will just end it with this one too,
'cause this afternoon,
so I just did get notice
from the acting director
of transportation that
they will be putting up
appropriate signage for
the absence of bike lanes
on the Victoria Avenue overpass.
So they got back to me
fairly quickly on that one,
and they'll be putting up Bike Lanes End
and Share the Road signs.
And I'm not sure there's
any painting on the road,
but it hopefully will
address some of the concerns,
'cause there was, yeah.
There's absolutely nothing
on that particular overpass.
- Councillor, did they
mention Ontario Street at all?
- Not in that email.
- Okay. All right.
- We'll have to remind them.
- Okay.
Yes, actually,
and even on the topic of
the infrastructure gap,
the discussion hasn't been
fleshed out very well at all,
but on Wednesday at Corporate Services,
we'll have another discussion,
and the whole issue of
infrastructure gap is a big one.
The projects are of such a size now
that they need to be cohorted
in a way that puts the right
kind of controls in place
when you're dealing
with those big projects,
and that means project managers
and certainly more staff
that's going to have to
lead these things,
or we could end up with more issues.
So we'll see where that takes us,
and we really have not had any discussion,
I don't think, that you could draw
any conclusions from.
Did I see another hand up on this side?
Okay. On this side?
Any questions?
And Councillor MacPherson,
my apologies.
Do you remember your question
when you had your hand up before?
Councillor Hodgson was talking about
the transportation.
- I'm okay.
I think just in the general discussion,
we're gonna move to a broader discussion
on the whole intra-municipal transit.
- Right.
- So I don't think-
- That's the intention.
- We don't need to talk
about that tonight.
Thank you.
- Okay.
Councillor Hodgson, did
you have anything else?
Very good. We appreciate your coming.
Thank you very much, and
we'll see you soon. (laughs)
Thank you.
- It will be earlier the next time.
- Thank you. We appreciate that.
All right, Councillor.
We move on now to Councillor reports.
And I can't remember where
we started last time,
but I think I'll start this
time with Councillor MacMillan.
- Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.
Just a couple of things that have happened
over the last little while,
bring your attention, or
bring attention to Council.
At Heritage Committee,
at our last meeting,
we elected a chair and vice chair.
Karla Mackey has been returned as chair,
and Vic Dirkson was
returned as the vice chair
for this... 2017.
And the other issue is the information
that was brought to us
at the library board,
and at one of the recent meetings,
we were informed that the
library had gone through
an accredication process.
And I'd just like to
take a couple of minutes
just to walk through the process
so that Council understand
exactly what happened
in the accreditation process,
and the results of that process,
as far as our library is concerned.
So in the accreditation process,
there's a team of two visitors
or two auditors that come to the library,
and they evaluate it
against specific guidelines.
If the audit measures are reached,
the library would then be recommended
to the accreditation council,
and once approved, then
become an accredited library,
which is a recognized achievement
within the Ontario
public library community.
So our own Lincoln Public
Library's had its audit done
in 2016, in October.
It was reviewed and approved
by the Ontario Public Library
Guidelines Monitoring
and Accreditation Council
in December,
so the library did receive its certificate
at the Ontario Library
Association Conference
in February.
So Lincoln Public Library
successfully achieved its third
accreditation over the past few years.
So I want to congratulate
our library staff.
It is a major achievement, once again,
that was bestowed upon our libraries,
bestowed by the Ontario Public Library
Accreditation Council.
So again, congratulations
to our library staff
for the work that they're doing.
Thank you.
- Thank you very much,
Wayne, and Mr. Clerk,
you'll make note of that
achievement in the minutes.
Thank you.
Councillor Pachereva.
- Thank you, Your Worship.
First off, I'd just like to
thank Councillor Rintjema
for delivering the minutes
of the Finance and Admin
Committee for me
last Council meeting as I had
to fly up to Sault Ste. Marie
and attend to my son,
who was in an accident.
So I appreciate Dianne for doing that.
So mine's gonna go back a little bit
because I had everything written out.
So March 1 I attended the launch
at the Scotiabank Center along
with yourself, Your Worship,
for the Canada 2021 games,
and hopefully, you know, fingers crossed,
we'll be finding out some good
news about that next week.
On March the 2nd, we had our third
Niagara Investment in Culture
Grad Committee meeting
and we made the recommendations,
and those recommendations went
to our Culture Committee
on Thursday, March 9,
and they're coming forward
at the Planning and
Development Committee meeting
on March 22.
So the NIC Program process,
the adjudication panel,
was made up of three regional councillors,
Councillor Hodgson was one of them,
two Culture Committee members,
I was one and our vice
chair, Joe Henriques,
and six members of the community.
For 2016-17, there were 28 applications
for funding received,
requesting approximately $456,000.
The adjudication panel approved
funding to 25 projects,
seven of which will receive the
full funding they requested,
and then remaining will receive a portion
of their funding request.
Funded projects are located in
10 of the 12 municipalities,
although there is potential
for some of them to travel.
The projects include
festivals, music performances,
theater productions, video creation,
museum exhibits, and youth programming.
There's a total of $300,000 budgeted
for the Niagara Investment
in Culture Program,
and the 25 projects that will be funded
in the 2016-17 year range
from $2,500 to $30,000.
That evening at our Culture Committee,
Mayor Doug Joyner from West Lincoln
is continuing on as the chair,
and Joe Henriques is our
public member, and he's gonna
continue on as vice chair.
We reviewed our culture plan,
and we wanted to make some
recommendations going forward
on how we should concentrate on it.
And I brought forward to take a look
at promoting and marketing Niagara
as a cultural destination to
both residents and tourists.
And my other one was,
recognize and celebrate the
contributions of culture
to the Niagara community.
A third offshoot of that
is creating kind of a...
And some of the other committee
members had the same idea,
but having sat on the
NIC adjudication panel
for the last two years,
creating a NIC culture awards program.
Whether it's, you know,
you don't wanna pick winners and losers,
but whether it's best
festival or best volunteer
or best use of the money, things like that
to really recognize those
people that take the time
and effort to fill out these
grant application requests.
Having done that, it's a thankless job.
The money's nice, but in culture,
it often goes a long way
to get a pat on the back,
to get recognized by your
peers, and, you know,
have someone kind of to
strive for that brass ring.
So that's one of the things
that I'm gonna bring forward.
I would ask Council to have a look
at our cultural plan.
I can get you copies of it.
If there's anything on
there you would like
me to bring forward, I
would be more than happy to.
The other thing, too, though,
and Your Worship, you pointed it out,
we had a presentation
that night about...
From Niagara-on-the-Lake,
their UNESCO committee.
So they are seeking a
pursuit of designation.
They've been at this for probably
better part of 10 or 15 years.
So it's a parks application.
Parks Canada has a tentative list,
and this is the first time
in 14 years that they've
sought applications.
The only cultural designation
in the Province of Ontario
is at the Rideau Canal in Ottawa.
So they're seeking the same designation,
and it's a cultural landscape.
So taking the look at
the cultural landscape
of Niagara-on-the-Lake,
because it goes back
hundreds of years to the
time of the Civil War,
the time of the War of 1812,
when it became a melting pot
where people sought refuge,
not only in Niagara-on-the-Lake,
but Niagara as a whole.
So it was really interesting.
They hear in December of 2017
if they're on the short list.
Another two to three
years to develop that.
Then Canada will put together
two or three submissions
to UNESCO.
To date, the group has
probably put in about,
actually, there's $30,000 of seed money
that's already been committed by the town,
and they'll need another
$75,000 to $100,000
to complete the process.
So we wish them luck in doing that.
It's quite a
large venture, and
I think we could gain some culture
and economic spin-offs
from their designation.
- Very good. Thank you very much.
I was quite... I had not read their...
I hadn't read their application
before the submission,
so it was very interesting to read that.
Is that it for you, Councillor?
- Actually, no.
You know what?
I'd be digressed if I didn't mention,
Councillor Brunet and I,
we attended the Lions Breakfast
yesterday at the Lincoln Center,
and I don't know whether it was
because Councillor
Brunet bought breakfast,
but my gosh, it was tasty.
(laughter)
So I would recommend everyone.
It's the third Sunday of the month.
We invited Councillor MacPherson
to come along with us,
but...
- Too late.
- He was... yes.
- He got up and ate his breakfast already.
(laughter)
- Councillor Rintjema, thank
you very much, Councillor.
- Thank you, Madam Mayor.
On Saturday morning, I attended
an accessibility round table
convened by Sam Oosterhoff.
Members of our Joint
Accessibility Advisory Committee
had reached out to him
a couple of months ago,
and he attended one of their meetings.
And after that, he took it upon himself
to organize this round table,
and it was held at Grimsby Town Hall,
and it was well-attended.
It was good of him to do this.
He's trying to gain more
understanding of what's happening
in this area as far as accessibility goes.
There was about 30 people there.
We typically, when we
think of accessibility,
we think of people in wheelchairs.
But the Accessibility for Ontarios Act
is meant to address many challenges
like hearing impairment, sight impairment,
et cetera.
There were five
hearing-challenged young adults
participating, and Sam had
a very good interpreter
there on hand, which really
brought home one of the issues
that they talked about,
which was that while some
of them were in school,
they struggled quite a bit in Ontario
trying to get what they
needed in order to learn.
They needed a skilled interpreter,
not just any interpreter,
but a skilled interpreter,
and quite a few of them
struggled with that.
They ended up with people
that weren't helping them,
that really didn't know
what they were doing,
and they were missing
a lot of information.
And not only did they need an interpreter,
but some of them also need,
because when you have an interpreter,
you have to be looking
at their sign language,
so they weren't able to take notes.
And quite often, they had to choose
between an interpreter and a note taker.
So this is one of the things
that came out of this
discussion primarily was
education and quality of education
for people with disabilities.
And another issue that was discussed
and that Sam is going to take back
is the general... there was
criticism about the lack
of enforceability for the Ontario...
For the Accessibility for
Ontarios with Disabilities Act.
Participants talked about municipalities
and how some are better at others
than keeping up with AODA requirements.
They said that the Act is
full of shoulds and mays
and not enough shalls and wills.
And speaking of will,
I was proud to be there
representing Lincoln
knowing that our clerk
regularly updates us on our compliance
with AODA regulations, and
that we consistently meet them.
Another point that was
made was that Premier Wynne
appointed, at the beginning of her term,
a first-ever accessibility minister,
Tracy MacCharles.
A good move, but the
concern is that there was
plans to create a committee
to identify standards
for accessibility, and that
that hasn't happened yet.
So that's something Sam's
gonna take back as well.
Accessibility's not
something that we discuss
regularly here at Council
because we have a strong
committee that we have,
that we participate in,
and we pay for each year with, I think,
four other municipalities.
And we use them for consulting,
and they do a very good job.
But roughly 1.85 million people in Ontario
have disabilities as
defined under the AODA.
And that's a significant amount,
out of 13.6 million people.
So it's clearly something
that we should keep
at top of mind at Council
as we make decisions
on things like community design,
education,
residential development,
our business areas,
poverty and affordable housing,
employment and economic development,
recreation and leisure,
transportation,
the very old,
and the very young,
and everyone in between.
So I'm looking forward to
hearing what comes out of that.
And the only other thing I have to discuss
is at the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce,
the OBAAs,
the Outstanding Business
Achievement Awards
are taking place March
29, and they're sold out.
So if you haven't got your
ticket yet, you're not going.
- Great. Thank you very
much. Very informative.
Councillor MacPherson.
- Thank you, Madam Mayor,
and one item I have,
I did attend the monthly
Beamsville BIA meeting
last Thursday.
A number of things on the agenda.
We talked about the plans
for the farmer's market
for this summer.
We have established, as
I've mentioned before,
a subcommittee for the market.
Plans are moving along nicely
for a June 1 start through Labor Day.
Looking for vendors,
so contact Maryanne Lapitan of the BIA
if you're interested out there.
We also had a discussion on the start
of a beautification subcommittee
that we have some interested people
that are wanting to get involved
in downtown beautification,
so that's very encouraging.
And we had some preliminary discussions
about getting that subcommittee going.
We talked about Canada 150 and
the project for downtown,
and it was felt as though
it would be appropriate
that we meet with the Canada 150 group
and get on somewhat the same page,
understand what the plans are,
and how we play a role as
the BIA in those plans.
So that meeting's going
to happen tomorrow.
We also
went through the 2017 BIA budget
and approved it as the BIA,
and now we'll bring it back to the CAO.
And finally, our executive
director, Maryanne Lapitan,
and a BIA board member, Jennifer Turner,
are going to attend
the Ontario BIA Conference in Toronto
April 2 to 5.
And I think there's a lot
of things we can learn
by going to that conference,
and the networking opportunities,
and just how other BIAs are doing things.
I think we can really gain some insight
down at that conference.
So that's the summary I have.
Thank you.
- All right. Councillor,
I have a question.
I didn't hear any mention of...
under the beautification that there was
any push from the BIA
to see changes with those two empty spots
on the main street.
Is that an invisible thing, or are we...
- No, I think that will
certainly be part of it.
If I personally have not talked about it,
they certainly have.
Almost every meeting.
It is a discussion,
and I think that that
committee, subcommittee,
can certainly pursue options
for that downtown...
that part of downtown
and push for
development, ultimately.
I mean, that's what we
wanna have happen there
is development.
But that will be part of
that subcommittee's role,
I see.
- Okay.
It's too bad.
The time just keeps going on,
and there just doesn't seem to be
any interest at all.
I think it's good they
formed a committee, at least.
Thank you.
Councillor.
- On a positive note,
though, Your Worship,
there is a For Lease sign in the
storefront street-level unit
at Kimberly's building, finally.
So that wrong has been righted.
So that's a win
for the group.
- Good work on the part of
our by-law officer, Chris Collings.
- If I may, Madam Mayor,
I would say that there's probably a...
Who owns it? Who owns the issue?
Is part of what we're struggling with.
Is it a Town of Lincoln issue?
Is it a BIA issue?
Is it hey, what can we do?
The owners will do what they wanna do.
So there's certainly
some that feel as though
it is the town's area of responsibility.
So I think that we probably
need some discussion
around that and how do we
move the rock
down the road?
- It's definitely a partnership.
I wouldn't say that they were responsible.
But they certainly have
an important perspective
that we don't wanna miss out on.
Thank you very much, Councillor.
Councillor Brunet.
- Thank you, thank you, Mayor Easton.
I have
report other than to
emphasize what Councillor Pachereva said.
As many of our service clubs
throughout the community,
the Lions Club,
that's a great event they
put on, that breakfast.
They're all-hands-on-deck.
Full complement of members out there.
They put on a great breakfast,
and I thank Councillor Pachereva
for sending me the text,
and it was my opportunity to buy.
So I'm sure he's holding
the 50/50 winnings
as a secret, but thank you very much.
(laughter)
- Thank you.
Councillor Timmers?
- Thank you, Mayor Easton.
I have a couple of things.
Councillor MacPherson had
brought up Canada 150 Committee,
which I am a member of.
I just wanted to
talk a little bit about
what's going on at Canada 150.
As it is now spring, we're waiting
for those tulips to start
coming up through the ground.
So I'd encourage all the
residents and everyone
to be watching for them.
As part of that, we are going to be
going back to all of our public schools
and presenting them with
that engraved trowel
and getting pictures of their gardens
when they're finally in full bloom.
There's also going to be a
photo contest being launched,
so there's details to come on that.
We're gonna have a photo
contest all across Lincoln
for people to send in pictures
of their tulip gardens.
And there are some pretty
good prizes, as well.
Just for your information,
you can go on the Town of Lincoln website.
There's a button on the front page
for the Canada 150 Committee.
What we're looking for is,
there's applications there,
so anyone who wants to volunteer,
we're looking for volunteers.
There's all kinds of things
going to be happening in Lincoln.
So there's an application for volunteer
if you'd like to volunteer,
and there's also an application
for people to tell us
about their events.
We really want you to let us know
what you're planning out there.
Whoever you are, if you're the BIA,
or you're businesses in town,
or community groups, we really wanna know
what you've got in mind for Canada 150.
So lots of exciting
stuff around the corner,
and I've gotta check my tulips tomorrow,
because they're still under snow.
So maybe that's it for me tonight.
- Councillor, two things.
When you report at the next meeting,
could you bring a detailed
report on the main
projects that the Committee is working on?
And also, are you in a position tonight
to tell us about the song?
- I can't really give you too much detail
other than we have the
music at this point.
We do not have lyrics.
We are currently, and that's something
I should actually announce.
We are looking for someone who's out there
that could possibly
write the lyrics for us
for our Canada 150 song.
We have not yet found anyone
that's volunteered to do that,
so that's something we're working on.
We are gonna be doing a press release
with a lot of detail about what's coming,
but absolutely, I can bring
back more detail, for sure.
- Be great.
I think it would be a great opportunity.
I had a meeting early on in the process
with representatives from
the Lincoln Concert Band
and asked them if they had
connections to be able
to have a song written,
and they did that.
And so it's going to be
a song about Niagara,
and so it'll be sung all over the region,
so it's pretty nice that
the Lincoln Concert Band
were so instrumental in
getting the music written.
The score. That's wonderful.
We can have some more
discussions about the lyrics.
Thank you very much, Councillor.
There's a lot hard work being
done with that committee.
There's no question.
The celebrations are
going to be really fun
and really exciting legacy
projects ahead of us,
which is going to be
great for the community.
Councillor Thompson.
- I have nothing this
evening, Madam Mayor.
Thank you.
- Councillor Foster.
- I have nothing to add
this evening either,
although it seems that
I think I'm gonna be out
every night for the next two weeks,
so I'm going to have a
25-minute report next time.
(laughter)
- Good enough. Fair enough.
And Mr. Clerk, thank you very much for
your participation in ensuring
that we got a good report card
on our accessibility compliance.
That's always good to know.
We have no delegations this evening.
And Mr. Clerk, do you happen to have
any correspondence that
we don't know about?
- Not at this time.
- All right, thank you.
And we move down to reports.
I have a motion, moved
by Councillor Timmers,
seconded by Councillor Brunet
that the minutes of the
Infrastructure Committee meeting
of March 8, 2017, be adopted,
and the recommendations contained therein
be approved and acted upon.
Councillor Brunet.
- Thank you, Madam Mayor.
So we had a full complement of members,
other than Councillor
MacPherson sent his regrets,
and Councillor Timmers sat
in for Councillor MacPherson.
We had a full staff there.
Director of Public Works, David Graham,
Manager of Roads and Fleet, Lee Ripenburg,
and Manager of Technical
Services, Walter Neubauer.
So the first report that we had,
Councillor Pachereva,
being the former chair,
is very passionate of a number of things,
and one of those things
is living snow fence.
So he brought a motion forward
for us to consider that
the Town of Lincoln
work with the Niagara region to establish
a living snow fence program.
So we had quite a bit of
discussion about this.
There are a number of
moving parts for sure.
And certainly we talked about
the environmental issues,
we talked about the economic benefits
of using living wind breaks,
whether it be bales of hay,
or whether it be corn or hedges,
so there was considerable discussion.
As chair, I tried to be
prepared for the meeting,
so one of the things that
I found out in the archives
that living snow fences have
been around for a long time.
As an example, the Grand
River Conservation Authority,
since 1954, has planted
with landowners more
than 26 million trees.
So this is something that's
been going on for a long time.
We all agree, the committee agrees,
that it needs further discussion.
There's many opportunities
that we can look to,
whether it's Brock University,
whether it's University of Guelph,
whether it's the Niagara
Peninsula Conservation Authority.
So there was good discussion,
and it was decided that we
need further deliberations
and bring it back for staff
to investigate further
and report back to the committee.
The next report was PW 1703.
It was a summary report.
It was a PowerPoint
presentation that was put on
by Mr. Ripenburg with
regards to what we do
throughout the municipality,
and a roads summary report
for the fiscal year of 2016.
So just very quickly,
just to give a brief background
in terms of what we do
throughout the municipality
and why we do it,
back in 2012, I believe it was,
we had a roads need
study that was developed.
So following that completion of the 2012
road needs study,
there was a significant backlog of needs
that were identified, and
so staff have been working
to develop what we call a
pavement preservation strategy
that encompasses different
preservation practices
with an overall philosophy
of keeping the good roads,
while not forgetting about the bad roads.
So just to talk about the infrastructure
and the overview of what the
municipality looks after,
we have 305 kilometers of
municipally-owned roadways,
49 bridges, and 130 culverts.
The breakdown on that is about 67% rural,
and the remaining being
urban and semi-urban.
It was a great presentation put on by Lee.
We talked about and we saw, visually,
how we're investing in the roads.
An interesting stat,
from the year 2010 to 2013,
we were averaging nine
kilometers of roadway per year,
over the four-year period.
So about 3% of our entire network
was being looked at.
And currently, now, from
the years 2014 through 2017,
we're averaging 27
kilometers of road per year
over a four-year period,
which makes up just
under 9% of our network.
So there's no doubt that this Council
is listening to the concerns
of our residents and our roads,
and we certainly are making
a big investment there.
The report talked about the different ways
that we look at that,
whether it be pavement preservation
through single surface treatment,
hot mix overlay, crack
sealing, and microsurfacing.
We talked about the Annual
Capital Road Resurfacing
and Rehabilitation
Program we've invested in.
And it was a great report.
Talked about roadside
ditching and crack sealing
and the signage that goes on
throughout the municipality.
We highlighted some of the town projects
that will take place in 2017,
the Drake Avenue and neighborhood
water main replacement,
the culvert replacement program.
We have four culverts that
are replaced this year.
The bridge rehabilitation
detailed design work
for bridge 17 on Dutch Lane.
The salt management plan and
how we move forward with that
and best management practices,
and how we're using technology
within the Public Works
Department in terms of
how we look after
not only our staff, but our
vehicles in tracking data
and looking at key performance indicators.
Certainly, the report highlighted
that as we move forward
and as we grow within the municipality,
we've got approximately 13
kilometers of urban roads
that will be added to our network
over the next few years, and so certainly,
we have to be cognizant of staff
as this Council, as we move forward
and Director Graham and Lee
certainly made us aware of that.
So it was a great report.
The committee received
that as information.
The next report was PW 1704,
the Capital Road Resurfacing
and Rehabilitation Program
tender results,
so the tender, the low
bidder on the tender
was Norjohn Contracting at $1,255,811.
We had a discussion about
some additional work
that was being considered,
and so we discussed Konkle Road,
as well as Zimmerman road,
and we had considerable
discussion on that,
the pros and cons.
And so we received the report,
received the tender results,
and made a recommendation
that Council award
the 2017 Capital Road
Resurfacing and Rehabilitation
Program to Norjohn for the
tendered amount that I mentioned
as well as awarding the tender
with additional provisions
of Road A, Konkle Road,
and B, Zimmerman Road,
resulting in an estimated
budget overage of $111,333.50.
We had information through the CAO
through the Director of Finance
as how that could be funded,
and I believe it was from the gas fund.
The next report was PW 1705, Drake Avenue
and Surrounding Neighborhood
Road Reconstruction,
and again, we talked
about the tender results
from that project.
And we had a discussion about that.
Council passed a motion
to award the contract
for Drake Avenue and
Surrounding Neighborhood Road
Reconstruction Project
for the tender amount
of $2,835,500.10
to Nexterra Substructure.
The tender did come in over budget,
and Council is recommending
to approve the allocation
of additional funding required
to complete the project
as outlined for additional
funding requirements
to come from that project,
as well as awarding the firm
of Urban Environmental Management, UEM,
to be retained to provide
contract administration
and full investigation services
at the cost of $130,000, excluding HST.
Then we had a report, PW 1706,
which was the Drake Avenue and
Ontario Street Intersection.
Traffic signal request update.
What might seem to be something
that might not have a lot of discussion
or might be fairly minute
certainly morphed into
quite a bit of discussion,
and again, I guess it's,
you know, it's what is
important to our residents,
and what's important to this Council
and this municipality?
Ontario Street is
certainly a regional road,
and so we had a report come back
advising that after the
completion of a traffic study
that the Niagara region
concluded that the traffic signal
was not warranted.
So committee certainly
had a lot of discussion.
I point out that Councillor
Foster was there that evening.
He's not on the committee,
but he was certainly
there representing Ward 1
and making sure that as infrastructure,
we were certainly hearing his concerns,
as well as Councillor Rintjema's concern,
and his constituents,
that we need to be
cognizant as we move forward
with all the development
we've got in some other areas
including Vista Ridge and Cherry Heights
that we need to be cognizant that,
even though this report's
coming back from the region,
that this might not be
warranted at this point,
that we need to be very
aware that in future,
this might not be the case.
So we had good discussion about that,
and we advised that further
discussion is required
with the region of Niagara to develop
a more holistic approach to determine
whether those lights are required.
So it was some very
good discussion on that,
and I think it was warranted.
The last report that evening was PW 1707,
and was proposed traffic bylaw amendments
for Vinewood Park,
extension three subdivision.
Councillor MacMillan
certainly gave some input
into that development and to why
and what the reasons are for that,
and offered some good insight.
So Council amended the
Town of Lincoln bylaw,
89-2000, Schedule C, to
allow for the implementation
of on-street parking restrictions
within the Vinewood Park
extension subdivision.
We had some great councillor inquiries.
Councillor MacPherson,
as I alluded to earlier,
was not there, but his
concerns were certainly
brought forward by Councillor Timmers
in terms of a status update
on the Jordan Village
improvement E.A. study.
We talked about roadside
ditching conditions
on Bethesda Road and Young Street
that Mayor Easton brought forward.
We talked in terms of the standards
of pedestrian crosswalks,
and how, as we move forward
with an aging population,
we need to be talking to the region
in terms of how those
crosswalks work today
in terms of the time allotted to get
across those intersections
and how we might wanna
influence those things moving
forward with the region.
We also had discussion about the sign
that had just been put up by the region
coming down Mountain Street
to help improve truck traffic
and make people aware, drivers
that are coming down there,
that they're moving into a school district
and they need to slow down
as they come down that crest.
So all in all, it was a very good meeting,
and we adjourned at 10:00 P.M. Thank you.
- Thank you very much.
Are there any questions?
Councillor Foster.
- Thank you, Mayor Easton.
Not so much questions,
but just some comments
and follow-up.
First of all,
Councillor Brunet runs a great meeting,
so that was a lot of fun
going through with that.
No disrespect to the previous chair.
(laughter)
He's correct in that we did have
a sensational discussion around
the concept of traffic
lights and where warrants
come into play.
And there's a number of
traffic intersections
within the Beamsville area,
and of course throughout the town,
but we've discussed Stadelbauer and King
for a long time now.
We've discussed Drake and Ontario,
we've discussed Friesen and Ontario,
and I think it's really important
that we have a good
discussion with the region
about where they come up with
these numbers around warrants.
The simple reality is that Ontario Street
is a hugely busy street.
So if the warrants are coming about
because of what's coming
down Ontario Street,
well, then, maybe there's
a slightly different story
that's going into play with this.
If it's just simply
ones that are coming out from
the particular subdivision,
that may also be an interesting
way that they've gone.
Anyway, we need to have a
better discussion with them,
and I think part of this
traffic study that's being done
through the region,
and I know you and Councillor Hodgson
are gonna be actively involved with that,
but I simply think
there are some traffic issues
that we have to deal with
within our municipality,
and we need to make the
region understand that
no matter what they're coming to us with,
these things simply have to be done.
Anyway, I thought it was
a really good discussion.
So thank you.
- Very good. Councillor Pachereva.
- Yeah, I was just gonna throw
in my two cents about that.
Having attended the
public information center
for the Drake Avenue reconstruction.
We were talking about that.
That was front and
center, one of the items
that the residents brought up,
was looking at having
a stoplight established
at this intersection.
And we were told about the warrants.
So the warrants were coming back,
and they were saying there
wasn't enough traffic on Drake.
So we made a point that
evening, and we said,
"Can you let us know
when this traffic study's
"taking place?"
If I live in that neighborhood,
I don't live in that neighborhood,
but I will not go out Drake.
I will go up and around to John Street.
But if I know that there's a traffic study
taking place about the eminence of a light
possibly going in,
then I would make every effort
to use that intersection
to get the counts up.
And then I think it was
Councillor MacMillan that night,
too, brought up the fact that
there's a light installed
at the corner of Regional
Road 81 and Third Street...
First, in preparation
for the new hospital.
There is not the warrants there to...
warrants to warrant, the traffic there,
to justify that light.
So you can't talk out of
both sides of your mouth.
You can't say that they must
go in based on traffic now
and then in other places
you put in for traffic
in the future.
Councillor Foster pointed
out those new subdivisions
coming on board.
We could use that.
So it's great to have
Councillor Hodgson here tonight.
So hopefully, Bill, you can
take those concerns back.
Fight for us for a light there.
Light at Stadelbauer.
And then further going forward,
a light at Hillside and Mountain Street
to access the new subdivision.
The Mosani development.
Thank you.
- Councillor Brunet.
- Thank you, Mayor Easton.
The one thing I alluded to,
I wanted to keep this to the end,
and then it just eluded me.
So during the evening, during the meeting,
we had a lot of discussion
about what we're doing
as a municipality when it comes to roads,
and a lot of times, we all,
as councillors and as staff,
where we're always getting
emails and questions about,
"Why do you do certain things?"
The comment was made at the meeting
how many times we get a question about,
"Why are you paving in two-foot strips?"
So one of the things
that the Director of
Public Works, Mr. Graham,
is working on is a document.
It wasn't ready to go, but
committee was able to receive
this document in terms of what
the Public Works is doing.
So we had quite a bit of
discussion about how we can
get this out to our residents.
So we're always talking
about what we're doing
and why we're doing it,
so I do know that Director
Graham has spoken to the CAO,
and I believe, through you, Madam Mayor,
maybe the CAO can just talk,
but I believe there's
a communication piece
that we're working on so that,
through Carrie Beatty and our finance,
we can get this out through our tax bill,
through you, Madam Mayor.
- Mr. Kirkopoulos.
- Through you, Madam Mayor.
The councillor is correct.
Following up from that
meeting, Director Graham
did share with both myself and Ms. Beatty
that we would be... that
committee had directed us,
put a comprehensive
communication plan together
around some of the road
work and infrastructure work
that Council has undertaken.
I think one of the
items that was discussed
is a tax insert,
and so we will communicate
via email back with Council
as we finalize those details,
including that particular piece.
- Okay.
Councillors, from the discussion
that we've been having,
I'm interpreting that there...
We have asked for more information.
We have a study that's
going to be taking place
in the Lincoln Square area.
Do we have a gap here in
terms of the next step
for ensuring that all this
information can be taken
collectively to the regional staff,
or is it a bit fragmented?
Mr. Kirkopoulos, if you could answer that.
- Through you, Madam Mayor.
While it may appear, I think,
the way sometimes this
information comes forward
that it does appear to be fragmented,
I can assure you, Director
Graham is taking notes,
and we're following up on
everything that does come forward.
I don't believe it's fragmented.
We do have a transportation master plan
that we're undertaking as
a local area municipality.
There's one simultaneously
right now underway
at the region.
In addition to that, while
we are doing something
in Lincoln Square,
we're also hearing the concerns
relative to stop signs,
stop lights, and the traffic
flow in the community.
So I don't believe there is a gap.
I think that follow-up will be happening,
and it's something that Director Graham
and Commissioner Ron
Tripp will be meeting on
moving forward.
- Very good. All right.
Thank you very much for that confirmation.
All right. Your pleasure on the motion?
The motion is carried.
We move on to the public
meeting minutes of March 13.
I have a motion
moved by Councillor Thompson,
seconded by Councillor Foster,
that the minutes of the public
meeting of March 13, 2017
be received.
Any questions to the motion?
Your pleasure on the motion?
The motion is carried.
And I have a motion moved
by Councillor Thompson,
seconded by Councillor Foster,
that the minutes of the
planning committee meeting
of March 13, 2017 be adopted,
and the recommendations
contained therein be approved
and acted upon.
Councillor Thompson.
- Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.
So we did have an early start at 6:00 P.M.
on the 13th, and I appreciate
committee's indulgence
on that as we have a fairly heavy workload
and we may be attempting
to do the same thing
moving forward, having the
public meetings at 7 o'clock,
and some of the other
stuff a little earlier,
just to keep things movin' along.
One of the first housekeeping
items that we had
was in and around the maintenance period
for Vinewood Park Estates,
three subdivision.
So we had a report on that.
We also had a report on Lincoln Square
letter of credit reduction,
which is a normal process
in the Planning Department.
We also had the building activity report.
What was noticed was that
higher single detached houses
in 2016 in comparison to a
larger number of townhouses.
Larger agricultural products,
we're increasing the construction values.
57% of the permits were residential,
and the rest were a combo of industrial,
commercial, institutional, agricultural.
Then we had a report on the status
of active residential developments.
We spoke about the Lincoln
Square parking and traffic study
which you just alluded
to a few moments ago,
the intent is to begin
this after the completion
of Tim Horton's on John
and Ontario Street.
It was done by IBI, originally,
prior to the building of
the subdivision there.
They previously did the
traffic analysis reports
so the process should be much quicker
engaging them in this for the
report we're looking for now.
And then,
we had Director Dale put
forward her 2017 work plan.
There are a lot of projects on the go,
so expect very heavy
planning committee meetings.
The work plan highlighted
department changes
such as the addition of bylaw services,
the accomplishments Q1 through Q4 in 2016,
and some of the 2017 major projects.
So some of the significant
things from 2016 were
obviously some significant
OMB wins for the town.
First of all, the refusal
of the Shire OMB repeal,
and also one supporting
our center of excellence
and official plan with the
bench approving request
support of that particular application.
It was very good to see the OMB
understanding where we're going with this.
And obviously, final,
last but not least was definitely our O.P.
Our official plan was
actually finally approved,
so now we can move forward on that.
The report also spoke to
enhanced customer service
and proactive resolution to issues.
The fact that the City View Public Portal
is up and running,
helping with efficiency,
and we're working on strategies
to encourage the uptake
for use of that portal.
Some of the priorities and
major projects of 2016,
and I'll just run through
them very quickly,
because there are a lot of them,
and I don't wanna keep
everybody sort of...
The report is obviously online,
and available for folks to
peruse at their leisure,
but certainly, some major things
were the completion of the
Prudhomme's Secondary Plan,
completion of the
Community Improvement Plan
for Prudhomme's,
the Committee of Adjustment review,
completion of the Special Events Policy
and implementing bylaws
including the noise bylaw,
preparing a Heritage Grant program,
providing staff to support
the Heritage Committee
and assume responsibility for
the Heritage review function,
providing staff to support
the Active Transportation Committee,
implementation of a parking strategy,
completion of ticket tracer implementation
for administrative monetary penalty,
which is a system we've gone
to in our bylaw enforcement
with regards to parking,
update in the bylaw
complaints process and policy,
reviewing with Council for
consideration other bylaws
and developing plans for updating.
As we normally go through
a term, we obviously update
the bylaws in a certain order.
Various bylaws that we're
gonna be looking at updating,
the science bylaw, both on
private and public properties,
the noise bylaw, parking bylaws.
Some of the other projects
that we're looking for
that are major in 2017 are
development of fees and charges
to offset the cost of enforcement
and increase revenues,
assuming responsibility for
road closing and updates
in the road closing policy,
development charges bylaws update,
which we're trying to get done
as expediently as possible
as we're working through
a lot of new development,
initiate some software to track
bylaw enforcement complaints.
The staff in the Planning
Department will be finalizing
the text of the new official plan
to reflect the approval
the ministry has given.
Initiate some design work
for proposed gateways,
initiate zoning bylaw review,
initiate community improvement
plan for the industrial area,
(laughs) and the list goes on.
Certainly the regional GO Mobility Hub
and study implementation secondary plan,
the regional comprehensive review,
digitizing approved building permits,
digitizing site plans,
and then there's obviously
some major developments
that are gonna be going on in 2017.
Those are also addressed in that document
that Director Dale put forward.
The next thing we had on our agenda
was the Active Transportation
Committee meeting minutes
of January 27.
And Councillor Brunet was nice enough
to speak to those minutes.
A few of the high points,
certainly committee finalized
the terms of reference
for that committee.
Walter Neubauer is
preparing a presentation
regarding the existing
projects that are underway
to come back to the next meeting.
The region's transportation master plan
will be before committee in May,
and hopefully we may be able
to align some municipal pieces
into that transportation master plan.
The public may also
give input through PICs,
in relation to that
transportation master plan,
which will be communicated
out to the public
so they know when these PICs are
by the Communications
Department here at the town.
Suggestion will be
conveyed back to the region
about the possibility of a wayfinding app,
and a request that Lisa
Galant from the region
would be invited to discuss
bike-friendly opportunities
with the committee at a future meeting.
Mr. Vays will also bring
back a revised work plan
for the committee to the next meeting.
So that pretty much
wrapped up those minutes.
Certainly, I was excited
to see our first CIP
for the Vineland area brought forward
in one of our reports by Kyle Dirkston
for the corner of Victoria
Avenue and King Street.
We had a zoning bylaw
application amendment
by Hilda Glasbergen for a nanny suite,
and that was approved by committee.
And then we started the
public meeting at 7 o'clock
for the Greenlane application
for Ron Ticciarelli.
And then we went on til about 10:30,
so that pretty much wrapped it up.
Thank you very much, Madam Mayor.
- Yes, that was a good job. Pretty tight.
It's okay.
Thank you very much.
Questions, councillors?
Councillor Pachereva.
- Yeah, through you, Your Worship,
just a point of clarification,
because it was mentioned that night
during the public meeting
that some people didn't
receive notification,
some people did.
I just noticed that
the third name on that list
should be Jim and Lori
Borsodi, not Borsooi.
So I think not getting notification,
or then if you do get notification,
you spell your name wrong.
That might be a point of ire,
so we don't want to do that.
Just asking, though, going forward,
and I know Councillor
Brunet has raised this,
the minutes dealing with
the Active Transportation
were from our January meeting.
We're gonna be having our third meeting
on Thursday night.
How do we get those to come
in a more timely fashion?
So we've had two meetings,
and there's some really excellent stuff.
Chair Brunet is doing a fantastic job
getting a work plan down.
We wanna get those minutes out,
along with the presentation
from Mr. Neubauer,
because we want Council to
be aware of what we're doing.
So I know we kind of chastise
the library board when
their minutes fall behind.
Wanting to make sure
that that doesn't happen
to our own standing committee.
- Is that a question for Mr. Kirkopoulos?
- It would be.
- Thank you. Sir.
- Through you, Madam Mayor.
To the councillor, I think what we can do
is ensure that we add them
to the weekly correspondence
so they can get out in a more
timely fashion, Councillor.
And then, I see the councillor's face,
and then through that,
we can make sure that they
appear on the next agenda.
That would be the quickest
way to get them out.
Those minutes are happening
on a weekly basis,
so I would suspect that that would be
the quickest way to get it out.
- Councillor?
- No, those minutes happen once a month.
So rather than have those
come on a weekly thing,
I think it gets marginalized.
So we need them to come to a committee
to be spoken to, but we need them to come
in a more timely fashion.
- Okay, are you in debate with
Mr. Kirkopoulos through me?
- I think he was confused with Canada 150
and Active Transportation.
- Well, we'll allow him
a moment to clarify that.
- Yes.
- Through you, Madam Mayor.
(laughs) I will ensure that those minutes
are sent out as quickly as possible
once they are finalized and
following each of the committees
that happen on a monthly basis.
And I'm aware that the
committee's happening
on a monthly basis.
My indication was that the
summary of correspondence
occurs on a weekly basis,
so we will ensure that the minutes
from the monthly meeting is added
to the following week's
summary of correspondence.
- Satisfied?
- Yeah.
- Very good.
Thank you for the question.
Councillor Rintjema.
- Further to that,
are we receiving the Canada 150 minutes
in the correspondence weekly?
- Mr. Clerk?
- Through you, Madam Mayor.
As quickly as we can.
Now, unfortunately the
Canada 150 committee
meets on Thursday in the
afternoons, I believe, usually.
And we do the correspondence
circulations on Friday.
So we're not always able to get
the meetings directly.
We have, I believe, caught up to date
and last week's Thursday
meeting will be coming out
this Friday's correspondence.
So yes, they're coming as
quickly as we get them.
- Okay, thank you.
- Anyone else?
Your pleasure on the motion?
None opposed, the motion is carried.
Thank you very much, Councillor Thompson.
We have the Council Business Planning
Committee of the Whole,
a motion moved by Councillor Foster
and seconded by Councillor Thompson,
that the minutes of the
Council Business Planning
Committee of the Whole
meeting of March 15, 2017
be adopted and the
recommendations contained therein
be approved and acted upon.
Councillor Foster.
- Thank you, Mayor Easton.
I guess you would say this was the third
of the triumvirate of long meetings,
when it was all said and done.
We started at 7:00 and finished
about three minutes to 11:00
and even then, I think we
probably could've gone on
for another two hours in
the discussion of the items
that evening.
And I'll try and narrow it down
to about a two-minute discussion here,
although it doesn't give full justice
to the breadth of what we did talk about.
We had three regional reports came to us,
and presentations.
The first was from Stuart Hendry,
and it was concerning increasing
broadband availability
within Niagara region.
And we were specifically
looking at the issues
around the Town of Lincoln with that.
There are opportunities coming up for
increases in improvements to fiber,
and of course the recent CRTC ruling
on accessibility for
people around broadband
is quite important,
so anyway, it was a
very interesting report
on where the region is going to,
and there will be further
discussions at a future
corporate priorities meeting,
because we kinda cut off
the discussion of that,
and decided we would be
discussing that further
at a future meeting.
Second report was affordable
housing in Niagara.
Kathy Cousins and Jeffrey Sinclair
gave us a review of that.
Statistics are very stark, very surprising
for our municipality.
Very surprising for Niagara in general.
The Niagara region is doing good work,
but there is a huge need,
and so anyway, this
gave us a big of context
to this particular need
and how it affects Lincoln.
And again, everyone was very passionate.
That particular discussion
went on for quite some time
on that particular issue that evening.
Third report was from a Sinead McElhone.
She was from the Niagara
Region Public Health Unit,
and she was providing statistics to us
on basically the health of the community,
and it was kind of a, I
guess, an ancillary report
to what we had about
both affordable housing
and other issues that we have
that were coming forward.
Again, a very interesting
series of statistics
on the whole area of public health.
And again, that went on
for a long discussion,
because it's amazing.
Actually, she gave us
a 42-page presentation,
but as you're getting into it,
it's really quite fascinating
looking at how public health
and how affordable housing
and how all of these things
tie themselves together
within Niagara region.
So it gave us all an
awful lot to think about
when we were coming out from that.
We did deal with three reports.
First of all, the Ontarios
Long-Term Affordable Housing
strategy update,
the review from the municipality
as well as the region.
We received that report.
We also had the coordinated
land use review highlights,
and again, a report that came on
that we received that has
come back through staff.
The third item of the evening
was the open air fire bylaw review.
And essentially, with
that particular review,
what is being recommended
by the fire chief
through the public
consultations that have gone on
up til now is essentially a balance
between safe and responsible use of fires
for recreation within the community,
and also the legitimate agricultural uses
that go on with that,
versus making sure that people are doing
what they say they are
going to be doing with this,
so enforcement of bylaws,
et cetera, within this.
We accepted the report that evening,
and in fact, it's going
to go to a public meeting.
As yet to be determined
when that particular meeting
is going to happen.
But we will be doing a public meeting
to review that, to go through this,
to just outline exactly what
it is, where Council is going.
So that's it. Thank you.
- Thank you very much.
Very good.
Yes, this Council
is becoming very clear on what
catches the attention of
people in our community.
Hockey.
600 people involved in a policy.
Fire bans. 1,000 people
commented across the town.
That's pretty remarkable.
Anyway, the recommendations
from the public
were pretty clear.
Thank you very much, Councillor.
And as a bit of a follow-up
regarding the public
health social indicators,
I had a discussion today with
Dr. McElhone,
and also one of the staff
who is responsible for massaging this data
even to a greater extent,
and Councillor Timmers has agreed to come
to another meeting,
where we can get more detail on that area
on the map where it was shown
that the early data
for emotional maturity
was quite a concern.
So we're going to see
what else we can find out
about that, and then talk about who else
needs to be involved
from the community level.
They're probably going to
bring another senior manager
from Public Health to
discuss this with us.
I think it's very difficult to attack
huge problems,
but that seemed to be one
that jumped out on us.
That information, and we'll see if we can
start to work out a plan
for dealing with it.
So I'd like to thank Councillor Timmers
for agreeing to be part of it.
All right, any other
questions or comments?
Your pleasure on the motion?
Oh, I'm very sorry. Councillor Thompson.
And I even had your name written down.
- That's quite fine.
Thank you, Madam Mayor.
I just wanted to thank
the region for coming in
and putting forward these reports.
I'm sure that based on the
discussion level we had
in all of these presentations,
I believe a lot of us were kind of shocked
with regards to what the data was saying.
I appreciate the CAO lining this up
for us to come in,
and yeah, I was just blown away.
So really thank them for that.
- Thank you.
Councillor Brunet?
- Thank you, Mayor Easton.
I'd just like to echo
Councillor Thompson's comments.
In the last two weeks, I think we've been
pleasantly surprised to see
an inundation from the region.
We had Chair Caslin here
with the State of the Union address.
Tonight, Councillor Hodgson
and these three groups,
and there's no doubt
this is a very complex,
very deep
situation when we start talking
about affordable housing
and poverty,
but we've been hearing
it for quite some time.
So I think some of the data,
I was shocked.
A lot of it is data, and it's information,
but just to see her presentation
and see how we can look at
that and drill down on it
within our municipalities
and even in our wards,
some of that information
that we could be using,
I think is really interesting.
We really look forward
to seeing how this gets
moved forward, and glad
to see Councillor Timmers,
who seems to have a background in this,
who speaks very articulately about this
every time we talk about it.
Glad that she's steppin' up on that,
and I wish her all the best on it.
Thank you.
- The next time we meet,
we'll meet at the call
of the regional staff,
because they're going to
be doing some drilling down
with this information,
and it's going to be Lincoln-specific.
And then we'll bring that
report back to committee.
An appropriate committee.
Anyone else?
All right, your pleasure on the motion?
Any opposed? The motion is carried.
Next item on the agenda is
confirmation of compliance,
section 34 of the Planning Act.
We have a number of items.
I have a motion moved
by Councillor MacMillan,
seconded by Councillor Rintjema,
that Council has
considered the requirements
of paragraph 17 of section
34 of the Planning Act,
RSO 1990, and concludes that
no further public meeting
is required in the matter of the following
proposed amendments to
zoning bylaw number 9314-Z1.
Number 2017-18-Z488 to amend zoning bylaw
number 93-14-Z1 as
amended re: Glasenbergen.
Your pleasure on the motion?
None opposed. Motion is carried.
And we have bylaws.
A motion moved by Councillor Rintjema
and seconded by Councillor Pachereva,
that league be given to
introduce the following bylaw:
number 2017-16 to amend traffic
and parking bylaw 89-2000,
Vinewood Park, extension three,
number 2017-17, to authorize
the site plan agreement
with Michael and Rebecca Glasbergen.
Number 2017-18-Z488, to amend zoning bylaw
number 93-14-Z1 as amended, Glasbergen.
Number 2017-19, to authorize
the development charge
reduction grant agreement
with Kyle Dirkson.
Number 2017-20, to authorize
a residential grant agreement
with Kyle Dirkson.
Number 2017-21, to authorize
a landscaping grant agreement
with Kyle Dirkson.
Number 2017-22, to authorize
a site plan agreement
with 1650607, Ontario Limited.
Pleasure on the motion?
None opposed, the motion is carried.
I have a motion, moved
by Councillor Rintjema,
seconded by Councillor Pachereva,
that bylaws number 2017-16, 2017-17,
2017-18-Z488,
2017-19, 2017-20,
2017-21, 2017-22,
read a first time, be now
read a second and third time,
and finally passed,
and that the mayor and clerk
sign and seal the said bylaws.
Pleasure on the motion?
Motion is carried.
None opposed.
Are there any councillor inquiries?
Councillor Pachereva.
- Thanks, Your Worship.
Just a question to Mr. Kirkopoulos.
We've got the rather exciting
announcement last week
about the GO Bus stopping
at Niagara College,
and I understand he has some news
with his discussion on Metrolinks
about some improvements to our stop.
- Mr. Kirkopoulos?
- Through you, Madam Mayor,
to answer specifically
the councillor's question.
I did have a conference call last week
with the facility development supervisor
of bus facilities and
infrastructure with GO Transit
regarding the Beamsville GO
Bus Park and Ride location.
What he did inform me of is
that he would be back to me
this week with more details,
but that we would be
discussing in the interim
a temporary bus shelter
and appropriate seating
in that particular area.
We would look at right
sizing it and doing something
in the interim while more
detail design happens
with GO and Metrolinks for
a more permanent station.
Simultaneous to that, I've also been
in conversations with Director Dave Graham
respecting the sidewalk there.
I think the two things we heard
about that particular stop
was sidewalk connectivity
from a safety perspective
as well as just protection
against inclement weather.
Now, more of that is focused
in the winter months,
but when we get into the summer months,
getting away and out of heat
would also be something
that we would look at.
We do have a quote on the sidewalk,
and it'll be something
that Director Graham and I
bring back as soon as possible,
likely to a future
infrastructure committee meeting
and/or a Committee of the Whole,
in terms of updating
Council on that particular
undertaking.
- So possibly two to three months?
- Through you, Madam Mayor,
I think the timeline that
the supervisor at GO gave me,
between ordering and installation,
would likely be 14 weeks.
14 to 16 weeks.
So taking us into the end
of June or early July,
just in terms of the procurement
of those types of materials
and the pouring of the
concrete pad, et cetera.
- Very good.
Thank you very much.
Councillor Pachereva,
you had another item?
- Yeah, just another item.
Just a shout-out to Mr. Graham
and the entire Public Works
staff on the excellent
job they did last week
with our snowmageddon.
And a follow-up to that is,
fortunately, I got to make
the trip to Windsor and back
on Thursday.
And I came across... there was
a time when I had to exit the
401 because of an accident.
So I was looking around
for some traffic updates,
but there was a rather
interesting article on the radio,
and it was about the
Chatham-Kent library system.
They have a seed library.
We're a center for
excellence in agriculture.
Chatham-Kent and all of their libraries,
you can go in with your library card,
you can get out seeds.
You can plant the seeds.
At the end of the year,
bring back the extra seeds,
and they do that.
So maybe Councillor Foster
or Councillor MacMillan
could bring that up at
the next library meeting
as something new.
New business.
I think it's kinda cool,
and it would integrate our library
with what we're trying
to do as a municipality.
- (laughs) Oh, my.
Yes, for those that didn't hear,
Councillor Foster is
looking for seed money.
(laughter)
Councillor Hodgson.
Seed libraries don't usually
go to the local library.
Do you have anything to add to this?
We have seed libraries.
You have nothing to add?
Okay.
Very good.
All right.
Good. Thank you very much,
Councillor, for that.
And Mr. Kirkopoulos.
Is that something that (laughs)
that you can speak at SMT this week
to the chief librarian about?
It's quite all right.
You don't have to answer.
(laughter)
I just wanted to make
sure it got passed on
to the right person.
Councillor MacMillan.
- Madam Mayor, it might make a good blend,
because the library's very much involved
in community gardens.
So it'd be
a good extension to that.
We'll certainly take it
to our meeting tomorrow.
- Tomorrow, oh, good timing.
Okay, very good.
Councillor Rintjema?
- Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Inquiry about the
upcoming OSUM Conference.
I don't know if we had a discussion
about who's planning to go to that.
I'm not sure. I think
it's the beginning of May.
- Mr. Kirkopoulos, how
are we handling this now?
- Through you, Madam Mayor.
I think our representative,
Councillor Foster,
had highlighted that that
conference was happening.
I think what we've gotten away from doing
is having the public dialogue
on those particular things,
and instead, if there's
an expression of interest,
working to ensure that that
occurs in that fashion.
So if the Councillor has
an expression of interest
in terms of OSUM and the benefit to OSUM,
please let myself and/or Andrea know,
and then we can work to
facilitate that from happening.
- Okay, thank you.
- Keeping in mind, Councillor,
that we have a budget.
Budget's been approved,
and we'll be working
within those guidelines.
- Okay, thank you.
- Okay, so, anyone else?
Okay.
Is there any notice of motion?
None.
Announcements.
Mr. Kirkopoulos, I understand
you may have an announcement for us.
Is that correct?
- Through you, Madam Mayor.
Thank you.
I do have an announcement.
It's more of a preliminary announcement.
You'll recall, I updated
you a few weeks ago
about the Jordan Historical Museum,
an endeavor that we were looking at.
An idea had come through the community
a number of years ago that
even predated me being here,
that had talked about an effort
to see if we could maintain the house
from it being demolished.
It was something as we
started going down the process
of more detailed design on the site
and starting the migration
from the current location
to our temporary location at Beam Street,
we had seen if there
was interest in anybody
purchasing the house and
moving it from that location
before we were to demolish it.
So a way to really maintain the house,
save the house from demolition.
There are some distinct heritage features
with respect to the house.
I think in the story that Mr. Edwards did,
my comments were general around
looking to see and entertaining
any potential offer.
There's a cost to us demolishing,
so I think what we went out to market
to look for was there would be anyone
who would incur all the costs of moving
the particular house, and
then at the end of the day,
save the municipality
those particular costs.
And I think there was some sentiment
in the community
that it would be a nice thing to do.
It would be a nice thing
to save this particular heritage property.
I can tell you, we received a few offers.
I did review those offers.
There is a tentative deal to be had
on this particular location,
and so once that period
where it's non-revokable passes,
I can update Council further on that.
But some good news.
Local buyers, whether they
decide to keep it local
or move it to a neighboring municipality
has yet to be determined,
but we have seen some interest,
and I will update Council
further once it's finalized.
- Councillors, there had
been some public discussion
about it, and
in discussion with Mr. Kirkopoulos,
we wanted to make sure that councillors
also had access to that information.
So that's actually a good news story.
There was a member of the
Heritage Committee, actually,
that had the idea.
It was brought up at one of
the public meetings in Jordan
that we should try and
sell the house.
It's coming along, so that's very good.
Thank you very much.
Councillor Foster and Councillor Brunet.
Councillor Thompson.
- Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Just a reminder, this
upcoming Friday evening
is the 20th anniversary
dinner of the Rotary Club.
It's gonna be at 20 Valley
Golf and Country Club.
And our guest speaker for
the evening is Tim Houdak,
and actually, I'm quite
looking forward to it.
Now that he has the partisan gloves off,
it'll be very interesting
to hear what he has to say
about not only politics, but real estate,
where he's now involved
with within the province.
So anyway, I'm quite
looking forward to it.
I hope as many of you
can attend as you can.
Thank you.
- Apparently, the tickets are all sold.
Is that correct?
Is that what I heard you
say, Councillor Rintjema?
- No, no.
I was talking about the OBAAs.
- Okay.
- There's still a few.
- There's still a few?
Okay.
All right, fair enough.
Well, maybe you can do something
about that, each of you.
Councillor Brunet.
- Thank you, Madam Mayor.
Just very quickly,
I know she's much too modest to comment,
but we've got a new
communications senior person
in Carrie Beatty,
and I think she's doin' a marvelous job,
and that was certainly
seen front and center
as Councillor Pachereva commented.
Last week, it's my understanding
was the first time I believe in 11 years
that all 12 municipalities
shut down for the day
because of the snow,
but I can tell you, I had the
opportunity to come in here.
The CAO called me and said
they needed a wing man
in the truck, so I was up there plowin'
up in Camden, keepin'
Councillor Timmers' roads clean.
But the point I'm tryin' to make is
the CAO, the Director of
Public Works, and Carrie Beatty
were here like NASA,
like Houston.
(laughter)
It was all hands on deck.
Carrie Beatty went out
in one of the plows,
and did some live streaming
with Lucas Dykstra,
one of our drivers.
And it was picked up by CNN.
So the municipality of the
Town of Lincoln was on CNN.
So hats off to Carrie Beatty and our CAO
who are doing a marvelous job
communicating to our public
through social media.
- Yeah, that was pretty
(laughs) pretty neat.
Mike also went out, and he tells me
it's a pretty bumpy job.
Do you have any comments?
- Through you, Madam Mayor.
- We'll make you go again. (laughs)
- No, no.
I mean, I did have the
opportunity to go out
with our frontline staff,
and I think just to echo what
Chair Brunet just said,
our Public Works staff,
our frontline staff,
do phenomenal work.
I think, if you haven't
gone out with them,
and most people don't get that chance,
like I do to go out with them,
I think one of the questions I asked,
"Do you think anybody
knows the level of skill
"that's required to do this job?"
And one of our drivers, I
went out with one of our
other drivers, and he
said, "Absolutely not."
I can tell you it was a bumpy ride.
You're definitely hoppin'
all over the place
when you're in these vehicles.
And there's a level of precision.
They didn't let me touch the controls.
I didn't wanna take out any mailboxes
or any parked vehicles,
so they didn't let me touch the controls,
but we definitely went
up a couple of roads.
I was out there for a little over an hour,
and when you think about 13-hour shifts
that our folks do,
kudos to them.
They have an immense
amount of respect from me
in terms of what they do,
and I'll echo the same
comments in terms of
the work that Carrie is doing
in communicating that.
I was happy to see CNN pick that up.
I can say in all the
years I was in Hamilton
doing a similar role like
Carrie earlier in my career,
I never had CNN actually
pick up anything I did,
so kudos to Carrie and
Dave and his entire team.
- Yeah, it was a pretty
efficient operation.
Everything was well looked after.
So thanks to everybody involved.
Councillor Thompson.
- Yes, thank you, Madam Mayor.
I just wanted to highlight the fact
that we have the Prudhomme's
Secondary Plan update
coming up next week.
On Wednesday, March 29,
there are two opportunities for...
Two sessions, I guess you'd call it.
One is at 4 o'clock and
the other one is at 6:30.
And it will be held at the
Lincoln Community Center
on Central Ave. in Beamsville.
Certainly emailing Diane Campbell
in the Planning Department
to sort of let her know you're coming
would be much appreciated.
Once again, that's for the
Secondary Plan for Prudhomme's.
And it'll be on March 29,
a 4:00 P.M. session and a 6:30 session.
Thank you.
- Thank you very much, Councillor.
And Councillor Timmers.
- Thank you, Mayor Easton.
I wanted to talk about something
that I've been working on
in our community.
Last summer, through partnering
with Niagara Regional Housing,
Literacy Link in Beamsville,
Organization RCT, I was
able to put together
a program that's running out
of the 3278 Queen Street,
the Niagara Regional
Housing building there,
for seniors.
And the program is called
Connecting Seniors Through Computers.
And with the partnership
of a lot of people,
we also had staff help here
with John Brown, our I.T. manager,
we were able to open a computer lab
in the Queen Street location.
And it's been so successful,
it's been just fabulous.
The participation is way up there.
We have about 20 students who come out
every Thursday morning
for a three-hour class.
The instructor is a
professional adult tutor,
who is Nancy Siciliani,
and she's fabulous.
Anyway, so it's been
running since the summer,
and we've been approached
to open our second location,
which I'm really, really excited about.
It's all done through
volunteers and through donation.
And we are currently planning
an open house for April 11
at the 30 Robinson Street
seniors building in Grimsby.
We'll be cutting the ribbon.
We have our computer lab
set up and ready to go.
And it's really exciting, and
it's some very, very, positive
things coming out of that
program with seniors.
Finally getting them connected
to family and friends
through Facebook.
Every one of our students
has been able to apply
through RCT, which is
Renewed Computer Technology,
and it's based on...
it's geared to income.
So you can purchase a computer or a laptop
at a very, very minimal cost,
depending on your income.
So every single one of our students
now has a laptop in Beamsville.
Their skills have come.
It's just incredible.
They're now doing Facebook
and email and Pinterest
and all those fun things that
everyone else likes to do.
So now we're moving on to Grimsby.
So I just wanted to announce that,
and I'm really excited about it.
And I should mention,
through help with the Niagara Regional,
Tim Rigby, who's a manager
of the Beamsville site,
was just fabulous.
We met with him, and he
said, "What do you need?"
It's just kind of been going from there.
And it's been very, very
positive experience.
Thank you.
- That's great, Lynn.
Who's the lead agency on that?
- Well, it's Niagara
Regional Housing buildings,
but it's been through
myself and Nancy Siciliani.
We've approached them,
and we pretty much have
been taking the lead.
They've been providing
the space and a computer
and wi-fi within their building,
but other than that, it's the two of us
that are launching it.
- Excellent.
- It's really exciting.
- That's great.
Congratulations on that.
- Thank you.
- Is there anyone else?
Councillor Rintjema.
- I have a question
for Councillor Timmers.
There's an open house
in Grimsby on April 11.
What time and where is it?
- Yes, it will be at the Niagara
Regional Housing building
on 30 Robinson Street in Grimsby
at 11 o'clock in the morning on April 11.
- Okay, thank you.
- And Councillor MacPherson.
- Thank you, Mayor Easton.
Next Tuesday evening,
it's a week tomorrow night, March 21,
we will be hosting a 13th
Street public meeting
at the Jordan fire hall
from 6:00 to 8:00 P.M.,
and this is for all those east enders
that are in and around
the 13th Street area
between 4th Avenue and Horton Avenue.
Couple of years ago, we
had a significant storm
that wiped out the road.
It's been closed since.
And this is your opportunity
to come out and talk
with our town planners
about the plans for that area.
So for those that are
in and around 13 Street,
next Tuesday, March 21, Jordan fire hall,
6:00 to 8:00 P.M.
See you there.
- Very good.
And I'd like to announce
that tomorrow morning
at 9:15 I'm going to be at
Tim Horton's in Vineland
meeting with a number
of the local farmers.
We have four or five things
that we're gonna be discussing,
including making sure that everybody
has the date of that PIC,
as well as the servicing requirements.
Just some general discussion
about Prudhomme's,
and they're of course very
interested in the report
around the coordinated review
in terms of what we asked
for and what was approved
or not approved.
So just an opportunity to
have some more community
conversation with them.
All right.
We moved on.
No closed session.
And we have our final
bylaw of confirmation.
I have a motion moved
by Councillor Rintjema,
seconded by Councillor MacPherson,
that league be given to
introduce the following bylaw.
Number 2017-23, to adopt,
confirm, and ratify matters
dealt with by Council resolution.
Your pleasure on the motion?
The motion is carried.
And a motion, moved by
Councillor MacPherson,
seconded by Councillor Rintjema,
that bylaw number 2017-23,
read a first time,
be now read a second and third time,
and finally passed,
and that the mayor and clerk
sign and seal the said bylaw.
Your pleasure on the motion?
The motion is carried.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the business of this Council
having been completed
as circulated,
and posted,
I now call the meeting adjourned.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Clerk.
Mr. Kirkopoulos.
