December 17, 2019: Mayor's Report
December 3rd
I attended the Planning Meeting followed by the Council Meeting.
December 4th
I attended a special ad hoc meeting at the Board of Health to deal with an administrative matter.
December 4th, p.m.
I participated in an interactive exercise at the Board of Health called a blanket exercise which was put on by members of the aboriginal community. The purpose of the event was to raise awareness to the lifestyle of the aboriginal people and demonstrated how through treaties, or lack of, their lands and lifestyle have been negatively affected. We have all learned of the federal government's commitment of reconciliation to improve relations which have been poor in the past. From issues regarding land ownership, the lack of clean drinking water on reserves to children being forced from their homes and placed in residential schools. There were 29 participants in the exercise and at the end there was some very emotional discussion from individuals who had been the victims of personal experiences from bullying and racism to discrimination. It was extremely educational and informative.
December 7th
I attended the Santa Claus Parade and I was honoured to ride in our new plow truck. I was told the parade was 37 minutes and personally I thought it was one of the best. I would like to take the opportunity to thank staff for their participation. Thank you to the Lion's Club for organizing the parade details, to all who entered decorated floats, to the bands, the Shriners, the horses and the costumed riders, and all individuals who marched in the parade. Thanks to the Lions Club for their contribution of hot chocolate and hot dogs and providing a venue for visits with Santa.
December 9th
The personnel committee participated in a conference call with our consultant to review the guidelines for a pay review.
December 12th
I went to Toronto to attend a ROMA Meeting on December 13th.
ROMA is the Rural Ontario Municipal Association and I sit on the rural caucus. ROMA is actively advocating for issues involving rural Ontario. AMO's submission on Bill 132 - Better for People, Smarter for Business Act 2019 was discussed. AMO provided municipal perspectives on Bill 132 with members of the Standing Committee on General Government. There are four key components to this Bill and the Bill affects fifteen Acts that impact municipal responsibilities.
Safe Drinking water Act and the Aggregate Resources Act; Briefly, where an application is submitted to the province to extract aggregates from below the water table, the licence would be approved by the province. This could leave municipal council members vulnerable. The Safe Drinking Water Act identifies a duty of care for owners of drinking water sources. If drinking water is contaminated, the Act reads such that individual council members can be jailed. Without a concurrent amendment to the Safe Drinking Water Act, Council members will be responsible for decisions on applications that the province makes. There are other complications as well.
Line Fences Act, 2019, changes will be difficult to transition in a short time. AMO is recommending that the province undertake a consultation on the use of the Line Fences Act and provide a method to resolve issues under dispute.
Proposed amendments in the Bill shift toward replacing various penalty regimes with Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs). This will be more prevalent at the County level.
Proposed amendments to the Pesticides Act. The Bill repeals provisions in the Act which currently prohibits the use of prescribed pesticides that may be used for cosmetic purposes. There is a lack of details and until they are provided by the Province, AMO is not in support.
Highway Traffic Act - The Ontario Drive Clean program has been wound up. Vehicle emissions testing is being moved from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks to the Ministry of Transportation. This may require greater emissions testing for municipal fleets thereby increasing municipal costs.
The Province provided discussion papers on Public Health Modernization and Emergency Health Services Modernization. There was significant discussion on both papers. However, I have reported previously that there is a Public Consultation process across the Province and Jim Pine, CAO, Hastings County is the special adviser to the Minister of Health. At the meeting Peter Eoman presented the Board with a presentation and I have provided copies to the CAO. We were advised that the first update will occur at ROMA conference.
December 17th
I attended Hastings County Planning and Development and Finance, Property and Personnel Meeting.
This afternoon, Tonia and I attended the facilities and distributed Christmas Wishes to staff.
At this time, I would like to thank Council and staff for their service over the past year and extend a very Merry Christmas to them and to members of the municipality.