Thursday marked the 2 year anniversary since I was elected to the City Council! Not much time for reflection right now. Since Dec 3, 2020 will be the actual halfway mark of serving the 4 year term (the swearing into office meeting was 5 weeks after the election) I hope to write down some highlights and share some thoughts about the job.
Meanwhile here are 2 of the many current issues Council members and City staff are deeply involved in, both of which are complex and have been simmering for for awhile, plus 3 City virtual meetings next week:
a) the ongoing effort to move food/clothing hand-outs from Memorial Park to a city owned property behind City Hall adjacent to Midtown Mall Court, in response to the city's obligation to act in the public interest ;
b) as a result of the investigation into the past year's finances (June 2019 to June 2020) of the BIA and ultimately the 5 hour Special Council meeting on Thurs, Oct 22, which included the Financial Transactional Audit Report by the City's Commissioner of Finance, Council is now attempting to determine the preferred option going forward of the members of the BIA. Staff was directed to come back with an appropriate method to conduct a survey of the levied membership. In summary the members will be asked to vote on whether they prefer 1) continuing with the added levy for the BIA on their taxes; or 2) dissolving the BIA and the City investigate taking over the activities normally performed by a BIA.
Mon Oct 26th @ 9:30 a.m. Regular Council meeting http://app.oshawa.ca/.../10-26/AGENDA_2020-10-26_CNCL.pdf
Wed Oct 28th @ 6:00 p.m. Committee of Adjustment with 6 applications for variances: 80 Oakes Ave; 67 Eastlawn St; a further application for 116 Verdun Rd; two applications for 225 Gibbons St; and continued review of application for 1069 Ripley Cres. http://app.oshawa.ca/.../10-28/2020-10-28%20-%20Agenda.pdf
Thurs Oct 29th @ 1:30 p.m. Special Council meeting to receive a presentation from IBI Group with respect to the Neighbourhood Traffic Management Guide Study. Unfortunately the City has not yet posted any material related to the Consultant IBI Group's study.
Side-note: I actually have a Notice of Motion on this point on Monday's Council meeting Agenda, middle of page 27: "that the City Clerk will ensure that all consultant presentations are placed on the City’s website in an accessible format when meeting Agendas are published".
Meanwhile here are 2 of the many current issues Council members and City staff are deeply involved in, both of which are complex and have been simmering for for awhile, plus 3 City virtual meetings next week:
a) the ongoing effort to move food/clothing hand-outs from Memorial Park to a city owned property behind City Hall adjacent to Midtown Mall Court, in response to the city's obligation to act in the public interest ;
b) as a result of the investigation into the past year's finances (June 2019 to June 2020) of the BIA and ultimately the 5 hour Special Council meeting on Thurs, Oct 22, which included the Financial Transactional Audit Report by the City's Commissioner of Finance, Council is now attempting to determine the preferred option going forward of the members of the BIA. Staff was directed to come back with an appropriate method to conduct a survey of the levied membership. In summary the members will be asked to vote on whether they prefer 1) continuing with the added levy for the BIA on their taxes; or 2) dissolving the BIA and the City investigate taking over the activities normally performed by a BIA.
Mon Oct 26th @ 9:30 a.m. Regular Council meeting http://app.oshawa.ca/.../10-26/AGENDA_2020-10-26_CNCL.pdf
Wed Oct 28th @ 6:00 p.m. Committee of Adjustment with 6 applications for variances: 80 Oakes Ave; 67 Eastlawn St; a further application for 116 Verdun Rd; two applications for 225 Gibbons St; and continued review of application for 1069 Ripley Cres. http://app.oshawa.ca/.../10-28/2020-10-28%20-%20Agenda.pdf
Thurs Oct 29th @ 1:30 p.m. Special Council meeting to receive a presentation from IBI Group with respect to the Neighbourhood Traffic Management Guide Study. Unfortunately the City has not yet posted any material related to the Consultant IBI Group's study.
Side-note: I actually have a Notice of Motion on this point on Monday's Council meeting Agenda, middle of page 27: "that the City Clerk will ensure that all consultant presentations are placed on the City’s website in an accessible format when meeting Agendas are published".