The September 12, 2018 Middlesex Centre Council meeting allowed us to keep moving some important things forward, as you will see below. Lots of small, incremental changes eventually lead to big changes that we don’t always feel, but suddenly seem obvious when you compare certain periods of time. I hope that we will notice a big change 5 – 10 years from now on some of these topics.
- We did start off with a longer-than-anticipated closed meeting. We finally came out of closed around 6:15pm to start the normal Council meeting. Thanks to all those who waited so patiently!
- Court of Revision, which I was a part of this time, stood and listened for any objections to the Watson Municipal Drain. Since these are large, expensive projects that land owners end up paying for themselves through a property tax levy, I knew someone would appear if there was any dissent. No one spoke against it, so we approved the work to begin after hearing the full report at a previous Council meeting.
- We received our EA Danby award from the AMCTO in recognition of Middlesex Centre’s Green Builder program! Since we cannot impose building codes more strict than the Province’s, the Green Builder program provides incentives for home builders to go above and beyond. We have recognized multiple builders since the program started, and it’s nice to get some recognition from a province-wide association.
- County Warden Marigay Wilkins and County CAO Bill Rayburn did a presentation on the items that they see as being the most pressing for County Council over the next term. County Council is made up of the Mayors and Deputy Mayors across the County, minus the City of London, so it is really important for any Deputy Mayoral or Mayoral candidates to read up on these issues as well.
- Geoff Edwards presented a compelling case for some sort of compensation for all the hassle he had to go through on the day of his daughter’s wedding. Council approved refunding half of the non-fixed fees, and so he will receive a $300 refund. Fixed fees like the SOCAN fees, that go back to the music industry, cannot be refunded as we pass that money on to other organizations.
- The Consent Agenda was light. We did spend a few minutes asking Brian Lima, Director of Public Works & Engineering, questions about the MECP’s water distribution system inspection. If there was a big problem, the remediation steps would have been more severe, so the steps being taken should resolve any issues.
- This is something Council takes very, very seriously since Councillors are personally accountable for poor quality water, or tainted water. All you have to do is look up the situation in Walkerton that occurred in the late 90s, or the issues being experienced in Flint, Michigan to see what can happen under poor water system management. If something like that were to happen here, I would personally be accountable and likely sued over it!
- We quickly approved GM BluePlan and Spriet Associates to compile the reports for the Ward Municipal Drain and Pfister Municipal Drain, respectively.
- I am so happy to say that Deputy Mayor DeViet’s motion to have staff report back on adopting Vision Zero was previously supported, and Brian Lima quickly turned around and recommended adopting it! Supported fully, and in 2019 we will have our own Middlesex Centre Vision Zero campaign. This fits very, very nicely with my upcoming motion to change the default speed limit from 50kph to 40kph, making roads safer for everyone and reducing the severity of any collisions that do still happen.
- We received correspondence from the Ilderton BIA and Lions Club asking Council to waive the hall rental fee for an all candidates meeting. We have already done that for the Komoka-Kilworth Business Association to do that, and so we approved waiving the fee for Ilderton’s ACM as well. We anticipate doing the same for Delaware Lions Club in the near future.
- I saw this initiative called Student Vote and thought it’s a great idea! I’ll be calling the principals of Parkview and Our Lady of Lourdes today to speak with them about it.
- Before we approved the by-laws, I asked about Dairy Lane Systems’ site plan control agreement. The site plan itself was not included in the agenda, but I remembered how contentious the public meeting about this expansion went with people complaining about all sorts of noise like metal rubbing on metal, forklifts, etc. Since staff at the time stated those sorts of concerns would be dealt with in the site plan control agreement, I inquired as to whether any measures were put in place to deal with those complaints. I was told that they had, and those complaints during the public meeting were taken into account when drafting the site plan. I hope the upcoming works and those measures will help reduce the number of issues experienced, and I am very hopeful Dairy Lane Systems will continue to be a great, local business employing lots of people, and supporting those families with a good job.
- The by-laws were approved, and Council adjourned!
If you have any questions about what happened at Council on Sep 12, 2018 please email silva@middlesexcentre.on.ca, or call/text 226-448-6774.
Thanks for reading!