city council group pictureOre truck traffic on Algonquin rolls into city council Monday night.

Council will also discuss next year’s budget process, a loan from Infrastructure Ontario and a sidewalk along MacLean Drive.

Check our live blog for updates, starting at 6pm.

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

Before the presentations, Black is giving his thanks to everyone who made the Great Canadian Kayak Challenge and the Fall Fair a success.

We start off with a presentation from VIP Energy, via Steve Schmidt and Ron Wink.

VIEW THE PRESENTATION HERE.

The project objectives looks at developing and implementing a Corporate Energy Conservation and Management Plan to better manage the estimated $5-million spent per year on energy-related costs.

They’re also going to update the LED street light project.

The company also worked with billing issues involved with Hydro One, and they fixed a $90,000 discrepancy in two accounts alone.

Schmidt mentions work has already been underway with several arenas in town, with an estimated savings of $40,000 a year with a 2-4 year payback.

There’s also savings in plant operations, which can save the city $15-$25,000 a year, with a 2-5 year payback.

Wink is now updating the LED street light project.  He says they’re about 55% complete, with most of the main routes, intersections and areas around schools covered.

He says they’re on schedule, and should have the project done by the end of October.

Doody says he’s gotten nothing but compliments about the project thus far.  He asks how far the lights will stretch.

Wink says in the west, Cook’s Lake to Sandy Falls and all the way out east to Barber’s Bay and the turn off to Iroquois Falls.

—————-

The processing costs for recycling is going up.

Luc Duval and Steve Kukulka is up to talk about this.

It is going up by $10 per metric tonne for the city (Works out to be about $40,000 more per year), as of August 21st because of non-recycled goods being found in the recycling plant in Sudbury, where Timmins ships local material.

Kukulka says to use a clear bag if you’re using a bag for recycling.  He says the plant is also finding grass clippings, rubber hoses, tarps, engine parts, metal pipes, and electrical components.

He adds they did an audit, and found that 46.6% of non-recyclable material were found in blue carts.

Kukulka urges people to refer to the lids of the blue bins to see what materials are accepted as recycling.  Audited bin had garbage buried underneath recycled goods.

Grzela says this is a much needed message to the public.

Duval says they’ll continue to educate the public through advertising.

Rinaldo points out the public is asking for a plant in Timmins, instead of processing the recycling in Sudbury.

Bamford asks if there’s a plan in place to cut down the $40,000 cost.

Dubeau asks about the time frame for the increase.  Duval says they’re looking at the next 4-6 weeks to get contamination numbers in the city.

———————

The Gold Rush Run is looking for police assistance.

The 16th annual event runs October 11th, and Chief John Gauthier says we’re good to go.

No questions from council, and we move on.

———————

Next up is infrastructure funding, and a letter from the Rural Ontario Municipal Association.

Bamford has a bit of an issue with some of the proposed idea, which can be viewed HERE.

Not much more on this discussion.

————————

Now to the sidewalk along MacLean Drive.

The Timmins Accessibility Committee wants a plaque in honour of Brad Bondar, who had a huge hand in getting this project along.  Bondar passed away late last year.

Marks is in support of this, as is Rinaldo and Grzela.  Grzela described Bondar as “tenacious” in having this project done.

This will be deferred to a Wednesday meeting, and for full approval next week.

———————

To celebrate Franco-Ontarian heritage, the committee wants to close Algonquin in front of city hall from 12:30pm to 2:30pm on September 25th for a ceremony.

They expect between 500-800 people to show up for this.

Chief Gauthier says it’ll be a challenge, as they’re asking to close a high-traffic area on a Friday afternoon.

The plan was to get students to walk from the Museum to city hall for the flag raising.

Black says council probably won’t be ready to pass this just yet, and suggests an additional meeting.

Grzela asks it might be good to explore an alternate plan during the meeting.  Rinaldo points out the work already done in front of city hall, saying the work looks great and is very proud of it, thanking those responsible in the process.

Doody says this brings to the forefront what they can do when facing a problem when people declare special days and they hold ceremonies in front of the city hall building.

He says nobody is saying no, just asking to keep safety in mind.

Bamford says as soon as you have kids involved, who could walk between barricades, it could be a dangerous situation and the only full-proof way of doing it is closing all lanes.

Dubeau says we’ve done it all summer long with construction season.

Black points out we’ll probably see this more and more in the future with a full re-construction of the Connecting Link in the near future, so this could be a good test to see how people handle it.

Black says they’ll approve this in principle, and asks Manager of Tourism Guy Lamarche to put together a full plan this week of what they need.

———————

Next is from the Knights of Columbus to fly their flag to celebrate their 20th anniversary in Timmins.

Marks says it would be good to fly the flag later this year, as they do a lot of work in the community, supporting local charities.

Black asks if the Canadian flag is being moved to the pole on top of the building, to free up space.

Bamford points out they should get the 5th and 6th flagpole up, and is still in the process of getting passed.

He says the Knights of Columbus could wait until that situation is resolved, and the flag of First Nations should be put on one of the poles.

“We need to take the time to do this right,” he said.

Grzela asks if there’s lighting available for the top of the building flag, and Jensen says if there isn’t, they can install it.

Rinaldo says it all comes down to community pride, and should definitely be looked at as a whole.

Black brings it back to the Knights of Columbus flag, and Bamford agrees they should fly this flag in the future.

Council votes unanimously to raise the flag in the future.

—————–

Now to the asset relocation project, to allocate statues to different locations around the city.

This is to approve the project to company F.B.M.C. Inc. to do the work for just under $105,000.  They originally bid just under $130,000 but a meeting discovered some savings.

Five locations are pointed out for the project:

  • Golden Manor
  • The “White House” on Main Street South in South Porcupine
  • Victor M. Power Airport
  • Timmins Police Services building
  • Timmins Public Library

Rinaldo asks about Bannerman Park, but Lamarche says there was a long discussion led by then-Ward 2 councillor John Curley and a phone call from the Bannerman Park committee saw them say they weren’t in favour of having a statue.  The quick fix was made, and the statue will now be at the “White House.”

She asks about Northern College, and whether that is a good location.  Lamarche says it’s possible, and nothings been mobilized yet.

Rinaldo says she’s concerned about security, which would be a bit better at the college.  Lamarche points out the discussion involved the cement issue with salt from the road.

Black says if council wishes, some statues can be relocated.

Rinaldo wants to bring forward a motion to move a statue from the “White House” to Northern College.  She says we don’t know what will happen with the building.

Wawrzaszek says the statue should still go to the “White House.”

——————

Black is moving a couple items from the other matters, to help the audience in attendance.

First is the referee room at the McIntyre Arena with Councillor Campbell.

With the arrival of the Timmins Rock, it is necessary at looking at alternatives.

He says by placing referees in rooms next door to teams, it turns into an issue of harassment.

Campbell says they should consider using the PMR room, which is used for storage at the moment.

This would be on the north side of the building, and save the dressing rooms on the south side to be for teams.

Jensen says the cost to convert the PMR room to a referees room would be $21,000 with about five weeks to do the work.

He says they are under a time crunch to get the work done.

Jensen says they’ll be hard pressed to find more storage if they host another event like the U-17 Junior Hockey Championships.

Bamford says we should do things as professionally as possible, and have a referee’s room independent.  He says with large attendance numbers anticipated for Rock games, it’s a time to put money into upgrading recreational facilities.

Doody agrees to have a referee’s room, stating there wouldn’t be a hockey game without referees.

Dubeau says altercations do happen, and keeping referees away from players are a good idea.

Wawrzaszek isn’t in support of this however.  He says talking with people about the PMR room, you could fit two dressing rooms in there along with additional storage.  He adds storage could be used in the new storage building being built.

Black says he’s never seen a dedicated dressing room for a team that only uses the ice for 3.5 hours a week.

He also makes mention of conditions in the women’s dedicated rooms.

Campbell also says the motion will have an amendment, so the Timmins Majors and Schumacher Cubs have dedicated rooms, except for special occasions.

——————–

Next to support a Syrian refugee.

Black is looking to launch efforts to support a Syrian refugee family in Timmins.

The city would match $15,000, which would total $30,000, enough to support a family.

Bamford is the other mover of this item, and says it’s an excellent initiative.

He mentions there are camps in multiple countries in the Middle East, and some families have been in camps for a number of years trying to raise a family.

Bamford says if there’s a target to raise money, it’s a good start and people would feel good about donating and helping out.

Campbell says we’re dealing with “the worst case since World War 2”, and any efforts to help is great.

——————

Jim Howie is up, asking for approval to apply for additional funding from Infrastructure Ontario, and increase the limit.

This would be for the Wastewater Upgrade project, and the amount would be just over $21-million.

—————–

Next is the application for Small Community Fund for the Kraft Creek Bridge.

The project itself is estimated at $4.5-million.

No questions from council, and we move on.

—————–

Request to increase the cost to purchase water meters.

New pricing can be seen in the report HERE.

This will come back.

—————–

Now to the purchase of a backhoe.

It’s a new 2015 Caterpillar, which would cost over $145,000 plus taxes and would have an excavating bucket, loading bucket and a winter snow plow attachment.

Campbell asking about the pricing of the other two bids.

Council is now discussing policy on whether to disclose other bids in these reports.

This will come back.

——————

Now to a pulverizing contract on Connaught and Carrigan.

This will be to re-work the roads, ones that haven’t been treated in a number of years.

The work would be done in Spring 2016, and Interpaving would do the work for just under $79,000 plus taxes.

Wawrzaszek goes into specifics about the condition of the road, saying it should’ve been maintained.

——————

Going up to an other matter, to pass a resolution for a Fentanyl Patch-4-Patch Program.

This was passed at the local Police Services Board meeting last week.  You can view the details on that HERE.

He’s glad it’s being endorsed locally, and hopefully it will catch on.

Scott McKinnon passed away from abuse of the drug on Boxing Day.

Jeff Martin, McKinnon’s godfather, says it’s a needless death and that the resolution will help them towards their final goal.

Martin mentions there is a private members bill out of North Bay, and this resolution would help the city get ahead of the curve.

This will come back.

——————-

CAO Joe Torlone has a couple items on the agenda, the first is the approval for land to Derek Vogl.

This is from a previous council meeting, where Vogl built a deck on land at Reg Pope Blvd that was owned by the city, and the man came to council afterwards to seek approval.

The city later on declared the land surplus and recommended the sale, subject to a few conditions.

Campbell seems confused, and whether there is a resolution.

Bamford says if they say nothing, the sale goes ahead.

“The sale is a done deal,” he said, with Black adding he is correct.

He says he doesn’t want to be seen on the wrong side of the issue, adding he understands fines will be issued.

Grzela says this obviously fell through the cracks, and hopes administration can set something to unmotivate people from doing the same thing in the future.

He mentions people are still using cell phones behind the wheel, but people are doing it a lot less because of the substantial fines in place.

Rinaldo says she’s nervous about this, and is disappointed they weren’t able to stop it.

She says we’ll see more of these cases coming forward.

Campbell doesn’t agree with this, but has no choice but to accept it because there isn’t anything they can do about it.

Dubeau says Vogl is being fined $725, adding the extra $950 for re-zoning is because council forced him to pay it.

Grzela says if $600 doesn’t prevent someone from building a deck, than it’s not going to prevent anyone from doing it in the future.

Black says if council feels they should increase fines, they can look into it.

———————-

To the Senator Apartment access entrance.

This has to do with the laneway between the parking lot and Hollinger Park.

There was an engineering study done, with the recommendation to cut off access and the lane way closed September 28th.

Residents and visitors will have to use Algonquin Boulevard East, adding the synchronization of nearby lights will be adjusted.

This will come back.

——————–

Sale of land for 84 Dunn Avenue.

Wawrzaszek asks when there will be a notice on this.

Jensen says there is an appraisal, and once information comes out, they’ll post it with the notice.

——————

Land sale on Bristol Road goes without questions.

———————

The land of 103 Algonquin East is up for discussion, which Rinaldo says the public has an issue reading the notice.

She calls into question the transparency on this, and says she wants to know what land they’re talking about.

Black suggests this gets put up for discussion at a later meeting.

This will come back.

——————–

To another piece of land sale, this one on Father Costello Drive.

Rinaldo says this is across from the McIntyre Arena, and use the land for parking for the arena.

She wants to keep the land in city hands.

It’s a laneway of Lionscrest, and this will come back.

—————–

Now to the property on King Street.

No questions on this, and the next one on Langmuir was removed.

——————-

Land sale on Elm Street goes without questions.

——————-

Now to land acquisition on Leclair Avenue.

This will be for future residential development in the Kamiskotia area.

——————

Now to the purchase of a four wheel, rubber tire loader.

This will cost just over $189,000, and is outlined in the airport’s 2015 budget.

—————–

Taking a five minute break before we get into budget discussions.

—————

Now to discussions with Torlone.

He asks for direction on what format would follow, and have a figure that’s not written in stone.

They also wants to have council priorities put in before the budget is looked at.

There is a tentative budget schedule, and have one meeting on October 8th to have council bring forward their ideas.

A first budget meeting would be on November 4th, where the binders are given out.

You can view the full proposed schedule HERE.

Campbell asks if they can receive organizational charts, as much of the budget for staff is for benefits and whatnot.

Torlone adds much of it will be done after the core services review, when we know what the full recommendations are.

The first draft is expected October 5th, with meetings with council members and the final report would come October 19th.

Wawrzaszek says he’d like to see one department at a time, saying he felt lost seeing a binder with all the departments at once.

——————

Rinaldo now reading off a note written by David Wall, owner of the Empire Complex.

He has an issue with large ore truck traffic that pass by the building on Algonquin, and worried about the integrity of his building and disruption to residents in the building.

She mentions its intimidating that the trucks are going quick.

View the full letter HERE.

Black says this is something that council needs to discuss, and says the only alternative would be a bypass but that even that might not be an option.

He says it is the provincial highway, and says we don’t have an alternate route that would sustain that kind of traffic.

Black says he won’t deny the trucks are doing damage to the roads, but the condition of the asphalt has something to do with it too.

He also mentions large trucks going to Eacom wouldn’t be redirected, because the mill is in the heart of the city (off Theriault Boulevard).

Black says if they want to look at things like speed limits on the main road, they can.

He says we have 3,500 direct jobs in the mining industry, but says if they want to look at financing options to repair the Connecting Link AND make a bypass, it can be put on the table but isn’t something he’d look at right now.

Grzela says if he made it happen, Black would be “the greatest Mayor Timmins has ever seen.”

Rinaldo says we may need to go to the government and say with the road out of commission with either events or construction, the city can’t do business.

Black mentions when the Canadian Tire stand off happened in June, the smaller roads trucks were driving on took a beating.

———————

Next to a funding application for the TEDC.

It supports the Northeastern Ontario Immigration Portal Project, and wouldn’t just cover Timmins but Northeastern Ontario.

This will come back.

——————

and to the special meeting with all the approvals.

First up is the 16th Annual Gold Rush Run.

It is approved.

Small Communities Fund Application is approved.

Support for NEO Kids, a building they are looking to erect in Sudbury, is approved.

Sale of land at 84 Dunn Avenue is approved.

Sale of land at Bristol Road is approved.

Public land sale on 103 Algonquin East is approved.

Land sale at Father Costello Drive is next.

Grzela mentions the debris on the land, and asks if they don’t sell, they get the land cleaned up.  Rinaldo was mistaken, saying the debris is not on the land she mentioned earlier.

Bamford says to pass a resolution to go past 11pm to finish the meeting.

It is passed., along with the previous report.

Land sale at King Street is approved.

Land sale at Elm Street is approved.

Request to close Algonquin East in front of city hall for the flag ceremony for the Franco-Ontario flag is approved.

Support to raise funds for a Syrian family is approved.

Bamford says anyone looking to donate money can come to city hall, and get a tax receipt as well.

AMO is also asking for money to help the same cause.  The city will donate $300.

Doody says there was a request to all cities involved to donate.

Support of a referees room at the McIntyre Arena is next.

The amendment is to have referees use the current room on the south side, until one is built on the north side in the PMR area on the north side.

It is passed.

Fentanyl Patch-4-Patch program support is approved.

and BY-LAW TIME!

Land acquisition at Leclair Avenue is approved.

Infrastructure Ontario Loan application request is approved.

Agreement for Asset Relocation project is approved.

Pulverizing contract with Interpaving Limited for work on Connaught and Carrigan is approved.

Purchase of a backhoe is approved.

Amend by-law for water meter cost increase is approved.

Purchase of a loader for the Timmins Airport is approved.

and at 11:18pm, COUNCIL IS ADJOURNED!