If you missed the agenda and preview, you can find it here.
Delegations, Presentations, and Petitions
- We had a lengthy presentation from John Mascarin, along with his colleague Megan (didn’t catch her last name), on the roles and responsibilities he has as our Integrity Commissioner and Closed Meeting Investigator. He went over a lot of case law pertaining to the laws in place, and also briefed us on the changes coming on March 1, 2019.
- One item that should help anyone stay out of trouble is that, as of March 1, Councillors will be able to request advice on a matter. The advice must be in writing, and the responses must also be in writing.
- Beginning at 7pm, Andrew Grunda and Peter Simcisko of Watson & Associates also completed their presentation on development charges; history, context, and current state were all there, along with a brief discussion of the full review that will happen later this year. A good primer for the new Councillors.
- Tony Commisso of Cowan Insurance also came to do a primer and refresher on all the insurance policies Middlesex Centre has in place, 13 of them he highlighted during the meeting.
Consent Agenda & Staff Reports
- Given how much detail I provided in the preview, I will keep this brief.
- Middlesex Centre Council has opted to allow for private retail sales of cannabis in our Municipality. Given the small number of licenses currently up for grabs, and the province’s focus on placing the first ones in communities with a population over 50,000, we’re not anticipating any licenses being applied for in Middlesex Centre, or being issued, in the next few years.
- This does, however, set us up for a higher amount of funding than we would have received otherwise, which will help offset any increases in policing costs or educational programs.
- Council voted to give Watson & Associates the contract for our 2019 development charges study. I made a point to say that while I don’t like sole source contracts, this one makes sense because of the history Watson & Associates already has with the Municipality, and that brining in a new vendor now would actually result in higher costs as they would likely need to duplicate a lot of previous work.
- Council voted to defer initiating the process for hiring a new CAO, with comments citing the need to possibly look for someone with different expertise, experience, and education — for example, someone with a Masters of Business Administration degree, rather than focusing only on individuals with a Masters of Public Administration. Council members were to submit feedback to our Acting CAO and Mayor as quickly as possible, and before the next Council meeting.
- Finally, removing the holding provision over EdgeWater Estates’ phase 1 was approved.
If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please let me know. Thanks for reading!