Council Recap: Dec 12, 2018

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I live-tweeted this council meeting, so I have taken those tweets and edited them down into bullet points. If something doesn’t make sense, let me know and I’ll make the needed edits.

  • Paula Lombardi, our municipal counsel, is currently going over various acts that apply to municipal government. She has already said she will be providing an opinion on the recent Ontario Open for Business Act.
  • The most recent changes to the Municipal Act force municipalities to have policies on tree canopies and natural vegetation. The new Councillors look dumbfounded. Welcome to being a creature of the Province! 😆
  • Paula ended her presentation with a quick overview on sexual harassment, workplace harassment, and took some questions.
  • Now the Clerk, Ann Wright, is telling us a bit about herself, the Clerk’s Department, and the Clerk’s Role. Taking minutes, take recording votes, by-laws, etc.
  • We have moved on to Land Use Planning! Durk and Kelly are here to talk about this. Durk is the head of planning for the County, Kelly is MXC’s planner. Getting brief descriptions of every part of the planning process, from the Planning Act to Building Permits.
  • Planning is done, and now Arnie is presenting for Building Services and By-Law Enforcement. You need a building permit for anything larger than a 3x3m (10×10’) shed.
  • Here are some statistics for what Building Services handles over the past few years. They have issued well over 400 building permits in 2018. Building Services is also self-funded through permit application fees, not funded by property taxes.
  • Took a 10 min break and now onto Public Works & Engineering (PWE). 6 water reservoirs, 5 water treatment & pumping stations, 86km of watermains, 450 water tests per year, 3 wastewater treatment facilities, 50km of WW pipes, 1553 private drain connections, 3 stormwater management ponds, & more!
  • Lots of accomplishments over 2018 as well. Delaware’s water supply from the City of London will end in 2019. Kilworth WWTF will be decommissioned as well, with all waste being treated at the Komoka WWTF. Consolidates ops and reduces costs.
  • PWE also runs two EnviroDepots within Middlesex Centre. Now looking at the development side, where staff reviews planning applications in conjunction with planning staff to comment on road networks, servicing, stormwater, review & approve site plans, etc.
  • Questions about “Scan Van” tech for unbiased road needs assessments, ensuring we don’t do unnecessary road work if an area is about to undergo development, road widening for farm implements, railway crossings, and more. Now, Community Services (a.k.a. Parks & Rec)!
  • Scott is going over Community Services’ services provided, guiding principles, 19 parks, two arenas (and he would like to get some direction during the next Council term re: llderton), and so on.
  • Community Services offers planning, development, and maintenance of parks, sports fields, facilities and trails. Help orgs plan bike races, foot races, fairs/festivals and other special events. Also provide maintenance of fire halls and oversee leasehold properties.
  • Stats & KPIs:
    • $6M op budget
    • $1.7M cap budget
    • $1.2M projected ice rental revenue (12,628 hrs)
    • 5.8km of trails
    • 125.6 hectares of parkland
    • 2,730 hrs pavilion rentals
    • 29,753 hrs Community Hall rentals
    • 8,986 hrs sport field use
    • 4,554 hrs London Life Room rental
  • Community Services started using Freshdesk to manage service requests about 18 months ago. Allows them to easily flag priority and run analytics on adhering to SLA. Avg resolution time is 29 days, 77% resolved within SLA (which is 24 hours for Urgent requests). Will continue to improve.
  • This year they completed a citizen survey, facilitated Scott Moir & Tessa Virtue’s Thank You Ilderton event, LED lighting upgrade at Wellness Centre, new flooring at Ilderton Arena & Community Centre, renewed lease for Prince Andrew school with OPP, and lots more!
  • On to Fire Services! 117 professional, paid on-call firefighters. 5 fire stations located in Arva, Bryanston, Coldstream, Delaware and Ilderton. Only two full-time staff (Chief and Fire Services Coordinator/Educator), 3 inspectors through the County.
  • Lots of different services provided by Middlesex Centre Fire Services, and they do a darn good job.
  • A bit of a spike in 2017 and 2018 number of calls, mostly due to motor vehicle collisions and the number of times MCFS is called. Population is also growing, but MCFS hoping to use education to drive down number of calls in 2019.
  • Number of calls requiring response from a second station is down in 2018, but the MVC numbers are still huge. Almost one call every three days.
  • MCFS started training its firefighters to professional industry standards several years ago, so the upcoming legislation to ensure this is done won’t affect Middlesex Centre much. MCFS completed 212 inspections across 6 different types of properties, up from 114 in 2017.
  • The best way to put out a fire is to stop it from happening in the first place! Lots of public education programs in schools, at London Farm Show, fairs/festivals, social media, and even sports events.
  • Along with educating the public to help prevent fires, especially barn fires in 2019, MCFS also had this video produced to help people understand the dedication our firefighters have. Please take a minute to watch!
  • All done here. A few questions regarding a report from staff on cannabis sales (coming in January), hiring a new water operations manager, a new CAO, etc. We’ll be heading into closed session and then adjourning for the evening. 

Thanks for reading! If you have any questions, please ask.