Council Preview: Dec 19, 2018

Welcome to another Middlesex Centre Council meeting preview for December 19, 2018! I’m sorry this one is coming to you later than usual.

You can find the meeting agenda here, which has a special start time of 5:30pm.

We’ll be starting with a presentation from Middlesex Centre’s independent human resources contractor, Marianne Love, on what she has found for salary increases in 2019. This is a report Council receives annually.
On average there is a 1.84% increase proposed for similar municipalities in 2019, and a median of 1.89%. Overall she is recommending a 2% increase in the salary grid for Middlesex Centre in order to remain competitive and ensure we can attract and retain talented staff. She also recommends that staff only receive a full step up on the salary grid based on performance, not the annual adjustment made.

After we vote on adopting the previous meeting minutes, we will have presentations from:

Upper Thames River Conservation Authority – Ian Wilcox, with the 2019 UTRCA Draft Budget & 2018 Budget Fact Sheet
YMCA – Sofia Caldwell, Centre Manager for Middlesex Centre YMCA
Tiffany Farrell, our Director of Corporate Services, will make her presentation about the Treasury Department and what it does (she was not here last week, so she will present this week)
And then the 2019 Budget Survey Results will be presented

First up is the November Building Report
- A strong November has put is in front of 2017’s pace in terms of building permits issued and development charges collected
Then the Budget to Actual November 2018
- Any items worth noting are already identified in the far-right column, like why some of the percentages are so low compared to where they would be expected to be at this time of year (largely due to reduced expenses or bill timing)

First up, the Building Division is asking for a pre-approval (in advance of the full budget being approved) for $13,000 to be spent on the implementation of an electronic building permit application submission process
Second, there is a report on tax adjustments and a recommendation that an amount of taxes owing be written off
Lastly, there is a recommendation to approve the aforementioned 2% cost of living increase to the salary grid

Items of note within Ward 4 include:

85 Queen St – by-law enforcement were called in because of a complaint, and identified that Kevlar Property Maintenance has been improperly using the site. Kevlar would like a temporary usage permit to continue using it in this manner for three years, and our Planning staff is recommending that the application be denied
10125 Oxbow Dr – this is the third time this item is on the agenda. The first time the applicant asked that it be deferred, and last time our staff asked that the issue be deferred in order to get a better gauge of the full scope of development proposed, as this initial three-lot severance is just the first phase of a development that will span around 80 lots on the south side of Oxbow Drive, east of the Komoka water tower. Planning staff is recommending the initial lot severance be granted

Nothing terribly significant here for residents. ROMA is looking for new board members from the area, but I’m going to leave it to other colleagues across Southwestern Ontario to fill those spots until the next ROMA AGM. At that time, in 2020, I may seek a spot at the table. We’ll see what else is going on at the time. 🙂
The Ontario government has also released its new environment plan for consulation. If you’re interested, you can read AMO’s correspondence and get involved!

And that’s it for the last Council meeting of 2018! If you have anything you’d like to chat about, let me know!