council group pictureThe core services review is in, now what is council going to do with it?

The review will be up for discussion Monday night, as will be tipping fees at the dump, an agreement with Infrastructure Ontario, snowmobile/ATV trails and Christmas trees in Hollinger Park.

Follow along our live blog for all the details, starting at 6:00pm.

(Keep refreshing the page as the night goes along for updates!)

We start off with tipping fees with JP Legault.

He says he’s been developing for years, and one of the big things contractors are running into are the tipping fees, which are $75 a tonne.

It’s cheaper to send garbage to Sudbury than to dispose it locally, adding he’d rather spend his money in Timmins.

Doody says many of Legault’s properties are visible in the Timmins area, and is a local entrepreneur.

Campbell asks what would be fair.

Legault says he’ll come back with a report on what it would cost him.  He says if it costs him $50 to send it to Sudbury, he’d like to compromise and pay that amount in Timmins instead.

Dubeau says he’d like to see the numbers, adding it makes sense to support local business.

Legault will have the numbers later this week.

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Now to the property assessment review project with Mark Jensen and David Campbell.

Campbell was hired a couple years ago to find new assessment that hasn’t been captured by the city (i.e. property taxes).

Over 6,600 residential properties have been reviewed since 2013, and received 110 complaints from their online hotline.

Changes sent to MPAC totalled a price tag of close to $16-million.

They say because of these changes, the city will get an additional $264,200 in property taxes in 2016.

Jensen says there’s still more work to be done, with 11,000 properties still to review.

See the numbers HERE.

Dubeau says this is an initiative that really worked well for the city, asking if more staff will be hired for this.

Jensen says they’ll look through the portfolio, and if the issue continuously comes up, they will look at it.

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Now to the debenture agreement with Infrastructure Ontario.

This is still in the works, and will be presented next Monday.

Essentially, this is to convert the existing construction loan application with Infrastructure Ontario for $19,333,334, which is the total amount of the loan of $34,333,334 less of the $15,000,000 construction advances we requested that were paid back, into a fixed Debenture agreement over 25 years.

Campbell asks where the money will come from to service the debt.

Options will come out, along with the water/sewer rates for 2016.

Black asks how close Luc Duval is to having an update on water/sewer, and he says at least a couple weeks.

This will come back.

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We go to a stop-up, close and sell a laneway on 331 Belleview Street.

No questions on this and it will come back at a later date.

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To development charges with Mark Jensen.

Timmins did previously have a development charge by-law in place in 1989 to residential development.

In 2004, council decided to not collect charges as it was too expensive compared to the economy at the time.

See the six-page report HERE.

Black says there are no plans to bring back development charges.  This report is for information review only.

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To a deeming by-law, involving Rainville Health.

They want to merge three properties on Riverside to build on the west end.

No questions on this, and will come back.

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Sale of public land at 84 Dunn Avenue.

This will come back, as will Bristol Road.

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Sale of land, the part of a laneway north of 23 and 25 Father Costello Drive.

No questions on this either, and this meeting is flying by.

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More land sales, this time at 6283 King Street, and will come back.

Same with 427-428 Elm Street South.

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Now to the snowmobile/ATV trails report.

This is a product of the Timmins Snowmobile Club, as well as ATV enthusiasts that called into council.

They want street access, but Palmateer says it’s not a good idea.  He adds to send a report back to the clubs, so they can find select routes that would be safe around town.

Bamford says there’s all kinds of by-laws that people don’t follow, adding there’s trouble to enforce these by-laws.

The people that break the rules are the people council get complaints about.

Grzela says to at least take a look at the report, and see what comes of it.

Campbell says he won’t support this.

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Now to the core services review implementation.

They have a list of things they are looking at currently, which you can see HERE.

The final portion of the review will come out November 16th.

Campbell says some of the in-camera stuff could come out in public at some point, when they get to budget deliberations.

Dubeau says KPMG pointed out in their report that some departments have more employees than required.  Black says some of this is due to things like maternity leaves, replacements, training, etc.

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To the audit of telecommunications with Dave Laneville.

He says this is to make sure the city is getting what they pay for.

Campbell says this isn’t coming with a cost.  Any money to be had will be what the city recovers, minus a percentage in the auditor contract.

This will come back.

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Now to a letter from 11-year old Miah-Yuan Corbeil who wrote to Mayor Black on a Christmas tree at Hollinger Park.

CLICK HERE to see the full letter.

In the letter, she says her school would volunteer to help set the tree up, and would be a great thing for people to come together during the holiday season.

Council is mulling over having a permanent tree that would be there year-round, or bring in a temporary tree that would be set up for December.

Black says if council supports this, he’d like direction on the supplies and the amount of trees needed.

To a vote to have the city get the one tree for 2015, and reach out to businesses to get a tree for free.

Black says the soil isn’t the greatest to have a tree, but the city would make arrangements.

Council votes unanimously to have Miah-Yuan and her class lead the initiative.

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To the special meeting, which is for the Porcupine Health Unit.

They are rallying to get support against a funding model, shifting public health resources to wealthier urban centres.

HERE is their full release on the issue.

Council carries this unanimously.

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Finally, there is a resolution to have new or replacing hires to the city come before council first.

Torlone says they will hire 10-20 seasonal workers this winter and average up to 11 replacements at the Golden Manor monthly.

Some councillors think the timing isn’t right, others disagree.

Plenty of discussion on this from members of council, but not a lot of details are able to come out because it does involve in-camera details.

This will likely be deferred until a formal report on this is presented, as there are many variables.

This motion is deferred, and council is going back in-camera.

So COUNCIL IS ADJOURNED!