Transcript - Approves Digital Kitchener 2.0 Strategy - 2026-03-09

Approves Digital Kitchener 2.0 Strategy - 2026-03-09 - Finance and Corporate Services Committee

All right. Okay. Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to this meeting of finance and corporate services committee. Uh I'm going to begin by asking if there are any disclosures that can your interest. Not seeing any. We're going to get right into it. has been some um last minute changes to the agenda on on um the first two discussion rooms here. So, I'm actually going to go to um the clerk to fill us in. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. We did receive two development uh charges complaints to section 20 of the act. I just wanted to advise that 1438 Highland Grove West received an appeal this afternoon at 1:37 p.m. due to failure to render a decision. So they this item needs to be removed from the agenda as it not it's not within the committee's jurisdiction. Okay. Very good. So the the first item 5.1 is a well yeah 5.1 we'll not be dealing with at all. And for the second item I'm going to go to our law clerk to fill us in on developments there. Ms. Hughes. Go ahead. Thank you through the chair. Uh the applicant and the city have been in active negotiation discussions uh and have reached a tentative settlement in principle on the 15 Delroy complaint. Uh and that that settlement would lead to the complaint being withdrawn potentially. Uh so to allow time for that settlement to be finalized, both parties on consent are requesting that this matter be adjourned or deferred to the April 20th, 2026 committee date. Okay. So I would take a motion for that. Councelor Councelor has moved the motion. Any discussion? Not seeing any. Those in favor and that's carry unanimous. Very good. Uh and the other item we have on our agenda is the digital kitchener review final report. Thank you. And Miss Aver will have a fivem minute presentation for us. Whenever you're ready. Welcome. Thank you for having me today. Uh so today we're here to ask council to approve the direction of how the city approaches digital services and innovation over the next 5 years. This isn't about approving tools, vendors, or budgets. It's about setting a clear shared framework so future digital decisions are aligned, responsible, and consistent with corporate priorities. Thank you. The last digital Kitchener strategy was approved nearly a decade ago. Since then, digital has shifted from being an enhancement to being a core service delivery, risk management, and resident trust core. This refresh ensures the city's digital direction reflects today's realities, especially around automation, data, and emerging technologies. Next slide. The strategy is grounded in what we heard from residents, staff, partners, and the local tech community combined with research into government best practices. A consistent message was the need for simpler services, responsible use of technology, and a stronger focus on inclusion and accessibility, all which directly shaped the strategy. Next slide. We want to emphasize that this wasn't a single engagement exercise. The strategy reflected hundreds of touch points across customers, staff, leadership, external experts, and other governments. The breath gives us confidence that this direction is both community informed and operationally grounded. Next slide. A key change in this refresh is acknowledging that digital doesn't stand still. Rather than locking the city into a fixed plan, the strategy is designed to evolve, informed by ongoing consultation with experts and partners who help surface risks, test assumptions, and identify opportunities over time. Next slide. The vision reflects a shift away from technology-led thinking towards outcomeled thinking. It centers collaboration, accessibility, and innovation as ways to improve services and unlock value for the community, not as an end in themsel. So the vision we're proposing is digital Kitchener drives a culture of collaboration where community voices guide digital initiatives, services are efficient and accessible, and innovation unlocks opportunities across our city. Next slide. These goals replace the previous one-word pillars with plain language outcomes that are easier to connect to real experiences. For residents, it means focusing on simpler, more connected services, ensuring digital improvements don't leave people behind. Think of residents completing most services and to end online from permit applications to tax inquiries with realtime status updates and proactive notifications. Next slide. A connected and smart city looks like citywide data systems predict when roads, facilities, or equipment need maintenance before issues arrive, triggering timely work orders that reduce disruptions and improve safety. Next slide. This means we could be regularly co-designing solutions with local startups and city staff where challenge-based pilot programs accelerate ideas from concepts to implementation. Continuing to evolve Pitchkitchener as the front door for civic innovation and doing business with the city. Next slide. Imagine a time where community center and public spaces offers real wi sorry reliable Wi-Fi and where residents can take a class to learn key digital literacy skills like how to use AI. Next slide. This looks like real, sorry, near realtime open data powers, dynamic dashboards, and maps that help residents, researchers, and local businesses turn insights into practical solutions and enhance daily life across the city. Next slide. Think of the digital Kitchener innovation lab continuing to evolve into a citywide catalyst where staff and community partners rapidly co-design test skill test and scale new ideas accelerating innovation and delivering better outcomes for residents. Next slide. I'll speak fast. Uh digital Kitchener 2.0 provides a shared strategic compass for how the city approaches digital services, innovation, and emerging technologies. AI and data are treated as core capabilities with an explicit focus on responsible use. Rather than prescribing specific solutions, it sets clear ways of working so the city can adapt responsibly as technology community sorry as technology community expectations and risks evolve while staying aligned with council direction. M we actually have a lot of time in this committee. So take it that. Okay, I'll slow down then. I told Mariah that my grandma tells me I speak like an auctioneer. So I was just going to pull on that. This strategy assumes technology, especially AI, will keep evolving. So, it's designed to be informed by ongoing consultation with external experts over time. This expertise helps staff and council understand emerging technologies and risks. Council continues to set direction, approve budgets, and provide oversight through existing reporting and approval processes. In practice, this lets the city stay current with responsible, sorry, stay current and responsible while keeping accountability with council. Each year, staff will identify a small number of objectives aligned with the strategy. Any initiatives with financial or policy implications will still come to council through existing budget and approval processes. The strategy does not bypass council oversight. Next slide. Sorry, I forgot that part again. One more. One more. If council approves the strategy today, the immediate next step is a coordinated public launch with communications focused on explaining this what the strategy means for residents. After launch, staff will move into ongoing implementation and storytelling, sharing progress and lessons learned as a part of normal reporting. One of the first large projects that aligns with the goal is the strategy is the 2026 pitchkiter program. Council will continue to be involved through existing update, budget, and approval processes. Next slide. Today's decision is about setting direction. If approved, staff will move forward with the launch and identify the first set of annual objectives. Future initiatives will continue to come back to council as required. This gives the organization clarity and flexibility while preserving council's role with oversight and accountability. Next slide. Does anybody have any questions about this strategy or discussion items? Thank you for your presentation. or quite a few questions. Uh beginning with councelor S. Do you want us to wait until the end of the presentation or would you like presentation? know if it was small. Um I mean this is a good I mean good direction something that this council and many of us have continued to uh focus on wanting to us to leverage on change of technology to improve city services. Um I I personally for myself I like to see a lot of small implementation and as we look at stuff will we incorporate pilots where we allow you know that disclaimer hey do you want to participate in this pilot so that we can have a better collection of yeah user data and test data and that way we whatever the final product is going to be uh with whoever we're procuring from we can partner with them in that pilot. If you're doing it from digital lab, we we better improve our our methods ourselves. Will we look at that methodology of doing pilots or are we looking at end product and then launching um through the chair? Is there a bit of an echo? I feel sorry. I feel like I'm hearing um you speak twice. There is a bit. Yeah. If people feel more comfortable sometimes. I'm not sure if that spot's worse. You want to take a seat over there. The council have the same complaint. They hear me speaking twice. I thought I take it myself. Before someone else said it, I thought I saved it to myself. That's why. Did Did you hear Pastor Singh's question or do you want to repeat the project? Piloting. Okay. Um again as you said that we're going to be launching a lot of uh changes to how we do service delivery through kind of the digital evolution uh and AI usage as well where we look at smaller pilots with whichever company we're procuring as sourced software where we pilot and then adapt it to our local market or local usage. Whatever we're doing inhouse through digital labs will we pilot those as well. So the end product is more fine-tuned rather than just launching and then assessing how public's opinion is. Oh, I'll queue. You don't have to worry about Yeah, you can stay. Okay. So yes, I've actually been looking um very recently as a part of the Peach Kitchener program and doing some research around what makes successful cities engage with their local tech community. Um and one of the big big things was pre-market engagement. And so I think there's great opportunity there for us to engage um with local vendors to get a good understanding um for them to get a good understanding of what we're interested in for us to get a good understanding of what's available to us. Um I've been looking at other opportunities that aren't don't always involve a monetary exchange or you know a formal contract. And so I think that I have a whole list that I'll bring back at some point but that that was one of the key pieces of successful cities was that pre-market engagement piece. Okay. um launching smaller pilots for sure. Um part of what I was looking at as well is having ongoing challenges on our website instead of you know sort of an annual pitch competition and then ending it there. Somehow we can uh engage all throughout the year and um as far as smaller pilots within the lab definitely I think that there's a lot that can be done that could give staff back time through smaller integrations and implementations. Okay, that's good. So my only concern is sometimes uh local government is sometimes provides the most you know microlevel service delivery but sometimes we operate like big government and that's why I wanted to make sure that through this kind of digital evolution that we're looking at that um evolving as uh as the needs of our populist through whatever the uh software that we're looking at or change of usage. Um last question um I may key back in with another uh but I'll let others speak. This is a good strategy. It looks like positive steps forward. Where do we a lot of it seems to be staff driven based on collecting how we want to change usage of service delivery. Where can we look to push the envelope because staff will not do that. I think you guys are risk averse. Sometimes you may not want to present an idea that's too in the box. Where do we get to interject every once in a while and say, "Hey, we can do more. We can take a risk here. Let's do something." Thank you. as far as where can council interject to try to move things forward. Um I think that that can definitely be done through our process and so I you will definitely be involved in while we're choosing projects as will CLT. Um there's lots of opportunities and again really building out the pitch Kitchener piece because I I heard what you guys had to say the last time we were here and and during our um engagement session and have really taken a lot of that into consideration when we're looking to evolve the pitch Kitchener uh program. And so I think there will be great opportunities there for you to be physically around the table to have these discussions when we're looking at what kind of pitches should we put out. Um some of the most successful ones that we did during the pilot were autonomous So, you know, tell us what you can do instead of saying here's what we're looking for. And so, I think that's a great opportunity um to learn what is out there and, you know, have counsel around the table to have these discussions with local experts. Thank you. Next with questions is councelor. Thank you, Chair. Am I on? Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Davey. And uh thanks Nicole for uh for your presentation. Uh I guess to touch upon similar to what councelor Singh is and uh you know it's surprising to me that we first approved this uh pro this uh our digital strategy in 2017. Like it really seems like it was yesterday. But uh anyways, I'm wondering if if we as members of council or or does it have to come to finance committee or that we get like a regular update on where things stand because I feel like we've been not getting the full accounting of what's happening in in in the department especially with regards to the innovation lab. So, uh, yes. So, that actually became very evident through all of the engagement that we did and not not just the lab but, um, the city as a whole and doing more storytelling with the community because they are sometimes I call them our investors. Uh, they're, you know, they're allowing us to do these cool things. And so we definitely throughout the roll out of the strategy and the ongoing plan for communications is doing more storytelling for everybody involved. So, you know, sharing these stories with council, giving you content that you can share with your constituents, uh providing regular updates to council and the community. Okay. I really like the way the the phrase our investors. Great great concept. um one of the times appropriate. Chair um prepared to move the recommendation. Very good. Thank you. Uh next is councelor Chap. Yeah. Thank you and thank you for the report. Um I'm just wanted to have a question about um the vision as um written out on page seven and it says ensure every resident can connect and thrive by providing reliable connectivity, digital skills training and equitable access to technology. I just wondered if you could speak to that like what what do we actually mean? Do we really are we going to ensure that every resident has these things? Well, it can certainly be a goal. Um, it is a goal. We have some projects underway. Um, I can give you an example of um some an initiative that we have ongoing with the working center that we're actually going to well it was featured in the the content part of it. And so, uh, we donate our gently used technology to the working center and they work um with their members to to learn solutions or skills to fix technology and then in turn resell it a very affordable price to the community. And so looking for more ways like that, looking how we can partner with our community partners. Another example of the digital literacy piece is some work that we are uh talking about doing with the University of Wateroo. And so that's also through their um future of work program. Uh some one of their goals as well is to increase AI literacy within the community. And so continuing to look at options like that, it's a a very lofty goal for sure. However, I think that we could really rely on our community partners and organizations to help us get there. Okay, that sounds great. Um um and I say this in the context of um you know, we know that there are many people that don't have computers, don't have access to the internet. Um and certainly are, you know, reluctant to do any financial transactions online. Um, and I just wonder um if you could speak to that a bit like how does digital the digital kitchener strategy accommodate those needs or those um those people? Um my grandmother that I spoke about earlier, she's one of those people. And so I think that what we could do is by no means we're going to force anybody to do services online of any sort that they're not comfortable with. And so part of this strategy and other strategies we work we're working on internally like the technology strategy is making sure that we prepare our staff with a technology that they require to serve the people who are coming in person. And so while they want to come in person because perhaps there's a trust issue, we can make sure that the experience that they have in person is topnotch as well. Right. Sounds we're we're cognizant of those of that demographic. Right. Um, my final question has to do with the reference to the STGS throughout the the report. Um, and maybe I'm a bit um, dismissive of STGS in the in in the at the local level. Um, but I just wonder like I just think that the strategy itself stands alone very well without you know referring to SDG11 which ensures access to safety, affordable housing, upgrading um, slums, improving public transport reducing environmental impact for example or SDG16 which refers to peace and security access to justice accountable accountable institutions and it just seems a bit of a stretch to me and I don't think we need it right I don't think we need to try and make it somehow a global transformative um action and like I said I think the strategy on its own stands stands well and firm without um the need to to draw on the STGS and maybe you can speak to that as Um, so they will be more passive in the the printed strategy. I've spelled them out for now because I don't think everybody I don't have them memorized. So they will just be the the logos like we have in our corporate strategic plan and it's really to link back what the city is doing to support the SGS. Uh, that's why they're in there. It's, you know, if you guys all would rather have them out, uh, the mayor asked me to put them in or to make sure that we link to them. I can't say that he wants them in there specifically, but we did definitely do a lot of work around um the SGS in the UN and and the you know the future pact for sorry the pack for future generations those sorts of pieces of it. No, and I'm not suggesting you take it out. I just don't think they they add anything to appreciate it. So, thank you. Thank you. Next is councelor Johnson. Yes. Uh thanks Chair Dy and to kind of piggyback on counselor Chapman's question about how we're helping people in the community to be able to uh to use the resources. One of the things when I when I visit our community centers that I see that gets the most use are our community computers that are that are there and that's amazing. That really is uh providing people with the opportunity to have access to the internet. I see people, you know, doing resumes, printing them off, doing all kinds of things there, which is really great. Um, just wondering about the training in that that we're providing. Not that we should expect our community center staff to do this because they have a lot of other work to do and I know that people can access these services at the library, but when they're there, I'm sure they get a lot of questions. Is this an area of focus for us in terms of training the trainers? I guess uh just to clarify is your question around training our staff to support residents using the technology the hardware. Sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Um those uh systems have been in those uh community centers for a long time. They are extremely heavily used as you suggest and uh the staff do a phenomenal job of assisting folks in there. uh what we've looked at in the past areas we continue to uh I think you need to go to the other micro switch um what we can what we've been looking to do is add in like self-learning uh type uh software on the PCs themselves only so much the staff can do they it is it is phenomenal to see how much they do support the people on those like I' I've seen them assisting with you know uh like the job resume formation all all sorts of things and just navigating the internet because they have the knowledge on how to do those things. Uh but I think to ask them to go too far with that is is a bit of a challenge. I think the real benefit or the real opportunity for us is to leverage a lot of the other partners in um in the first round of digital kitchener we partnered with hive waterl region which was a group that was trying to uh build out digital literacy they were working with KPL we worked with KPL like I think we really just try and find things that where we can uh deliver service together is is really helpful um you know they have added in uh Chromebook uh loaners at the KTL libraries and then we put in uh additional free Wi-Fi outside in some of the common areas around the libraries where we have a community center. So we work with them to try and provide uh additional levels of service and I think in that case uh none of us can do it all together but we can certainly uh try and come up with solutions that work for everybody. Yeah, I appreciate that. And I just I just think in in particular um because our community centers are located in the communities where people are and uh some of them serve some populations that may not may not um you know go to the library for example to access those things but could probably really use some help in you know even if we run some classes or or something at right at the community centers about here's how you access your Kitchener utility bill. um and you know and and show people how they can pay them and things especially now that they're not getting mailed to them. And we have actually done some of that. Um good like there's been a request specifically in cyber security to help people understand what they should be looking for. It's just the challenge of how much can we offer that uh uh without over uh extending our resources. But it's certainly where there's been a uh identified interest and and a group of people, we have actually had uh where our staff have ran classes for them. Yeah. Well, even maybe if we even do it with rack or something. I've had calls from seniors saying, "I'm not sure. I used to always get my paper bill. I don't even know how to download my bill." So, maybe it's something we can look in in conjunction with the people not getting them mailed to them anymore. Anyhow, thank you. Thank you, councelor Odin. Uh, thank you very much, Chair. Can you hear me? We can. Yes. Go ahead. Perfect. So, uh, my question is in line with um where councelor Johnston just ended. Um, I mean, I really love the direction we're going with this. Uh, and I think it's phenomenal. I'm just wondering how do we ensure that uh people are educated in the security aspect of things as we're looking to advance in terms of our technological services innovation and all of that. How do we ensure that they are also educated? Um I got a very convincing email this uh earlier today that I actually thought was from Mayor Barry. I thought it was quite interested. I was close to clicking until I checked the email address and and I laughed when I noticed that it wasn't from him. But that is through some of the, you know, the courses and the programs that we've gone through um at the office. So, I'm just wondering what can we do as we advance in terms of our digital services that we're educating people exactly on what to look out for so they're not quote unquote taking over. They're not logging in some fishing website and quote unquote paying bills whereas their information is being taken. And does that um make us liable in any way whatsoever if someone is quote unquote trying to uh emulate the the website our website and uh getting people's information. Yeah, this will be an ongoing uh challenge as we uh cyber security doesn't uh it's not something you could just train somebody once and one and done. Unfortunately, it is an evolving thing. Um we have actually made available our uh um the same training that we have available for staff. We actually have a a different license available on our uh public access computer. So, we've offered that up. Um you know I think we also uh uh as threats emerge on a regular basis be it through you know building department or um you know quite often uh there's folks trying to emulate city services and we do end up um needing to uh educate the public on you know what they should be looking for and what what would what they can expect from the city uh if we are sending um things and we also want to make sure we're not engaging in um you know sending out emails with lots of links and things and expecting them to to click on it. We need to train them uh through our own actions as well uh on a daily basis. Um I think this is going to be a continuing challenge adapting to new cyber security threats and and helping the public understand. Um, I think everyone's got to take their own uh responsibility for it, but certainly wherever we can assist them and uh and try and raise that bar, I think we can. Thank you. Just something for us to think about. Thank you. Uh, thank you. Next is councelor stretch. Thank you, chair. Um, councelor touched on the question that I had, so I just have a comment. Yeah. Okay. I can actually just ask you to hang on just for maybe I'll come back. Um yeah, so just some questions just a couple quick questions um that I have too and again comes from uh one raised by guest counselor Singh and councelor Angus as well. So will there be like a formal council report check and and what would the frequency of that be? If if not like what would you propose the frequency of that be? Oh, sorry. I got to click in there. All right. Okay. Go ahead. Oh. Oh, you disappeared. Hang on. Go ahead. Thank you. Uh, yes, there will be regular council check-ins. Um, we're still looking at what the roll out and implementation looks like in detail, but definitely in-person check-ins at least annually. I do think there's opportunity for additional check-ins whether it be through email or other form invitations for engagement to participate uh you know when we're ideulating or looking for uh something new or a new pilot but definitely annually at least in person. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. So maybe put some thought towards that now and uh the council meeting because as you're aware for the benefit of the rest of the committee council saying and I met with Miss Amil and um Mr. Bloom as well and Mr. Murray uh on the idea of a formulating an actual innovation artificial intelligence etc committee and I'm prepared to park that notion for now um pending some regular check-ins. So I like to form firm that up in terms of time with the council. I appreciate that. Uh the other question I had is if you can help me prioritize there's a lot of things in this uh in this strategy and they're all very very good things. Um but I am worried about the resourcing that we have and I guess the number one thing that I'm hoping that we're looking at as part of the strategy is again um looking at how we do I don't want to be looking at too too many new things like new ideas new services that sort of thing much more interested in looking at the services we already provide and how we can do them um more efficiently reducing our or reducing our workload per worker increasing productivity um is that I guess question. Is that one of the core intentions of this strategy or do you need to be more specific on that? To clarify, are you meaning online services? No, I mean like everything we do at the city of Kitchener like from our finance department to our planning department like how are we doing everything looking at how we now look at the technologies that are um existing and emerging and how can we apply those uh very new very um fastmoving technologies to what we do um to you know basically to run our city more efficiently and less expensively. So as I mentioned around looking at Pitchkitchener and our most responded to challenge that we put out was the autonomous challenge and it was more asking the community how how what's out there how can we operate better um what should be we be looking at and so I think that could be a combination I seem to be putting a lot on pitch Kitchener but I do think it's a a great opportunity to evolve the program to have those more frequent engagements uh with people who know what's upcoming people who are using our services and we could pair that with uh corporate customer service surveys our residents um after every service we do. And so that is for example a set of data that we took a look at as a part of the digital kitchener strategy and we will continue to work with our internal partners to look to see what perhaps the most complaints are to help us prioritize and make those services better. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. I'm a huge huge fan of Pitchkitcher, but my thing thing with Pitchkitchener is it's it relies on our staff to identify a problem and present it for the community to solve. Right. I'm also looking at um external forces that look at our the way that we do things and identify um where some gaps might be or where technology might stay. I'm just noticing Mr. Chapman's clicking in ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um there are two opportunities that I see in front of us that I would highlight. The first is as you know we have a partnership with community. We fund the organization and we're in the process of discussing a potential renewal agreement with community. Uh you may recall the strategic session we had a number of weeks ago where they brought their expert and residents in and we had a great comment to stay current on upgrades to deploy all of those investments that are happening um where AI is enabling work streams and changing workflows. uh and so we are behind on a number of upgrades and are committing resources to move those forward but I would suggest to look to see what's available already through our vendors in current um additions of enterpriseg grade applications and then to deploy that and so part of the work can be to prioritize where's the greatest opportunity where are the greatest innovations and then commit resources to get that work done that's helpful thank you Mr. Those are all my questions for round two. Councelor Sing. Yeah, thank you. Um, Nicole, I'm glad that you referenced the uh the program that the city does with refurbishing old laptops, tablets, and working with the uh the working center and repurposing these devices that were going to waste, thrown out literally to the to the garbage dump for use of uh you know, families in need that don't have the means of having access to digital uh digital tools. So, uh, I was actually looking at this report. Um, I'm going to give a little bit of a preface. When I brought that, that idea forward, staff looked at a lot of challenges with it, but we were able to look through those challenges. And I think this is a really good program and we have a tremendous win in the community because of it. Now, I'm looking at something additional because part of the report outlines, you know, that uh the ubiquitous usage of technology as well as uh making sure it's equitable for everyone. expanding public wi-fi was the first step the very least everyone having internet access the next step is actually having the tools right so it's great that people can buy it potentially that can't buy it themselves through the working center I'm looking at a motion or amendment to to the the report and addressing as part of the refresh digital kitchener um having these devices that we're repurposing anyways but also having a number of these devices in our various different community centers one is it's Great that people we can give classes to people but if they don't have device what are they going to do with and I I've seen firsthand case where people are hurling around one person two terminals and they're waiting internal lineup if we have the laptops and the tablets they can use it in the community center or sign it out the library does it already uh what I was looking at is a mandating ensuring that we have something that runs in parallel they take it they return it great they don't return it back it's okay too but the very least everyone has a device I wanted to take their feedback first, then I'll share to the committee what the motion the amendment to the motion was as well. Thank you. So, we could certainly look at options. I think the challenge that we would run into is quite often our equipment is getting quite old and we'd be putting that burden of support again back on the community centers. Um the benefit of the program is is the way we have it right now with the working center is is that they're taking those parts and putting them together uh replacing batteries and really uh improving the equipment before it goes out to people. Um I know the libraries generally will only buy like to buy Chromebooks but they'll buy them brand new um so that they're reliable. I think we can uh you know investigate this. It's just we got to be careful of uh what sort of load we might be putting on the folks in the community centers. Thank you. Just want to remind and no fault to you. Sometimes there's more challenges before you have successes. This is very much a similar things that we kind of feared about in the program that we adopted and there's sometimes you have to find solutions and times there are costs related to it too. Um Mr. Would it be okay if I uh the clerk later or maybe perhaps before we go to comments they can show uh the the amendment that I was proposing and it typically doesn't directly go do it. It's similar to what the whole motion was. Go there, explore it, report back in Q3 of how we can adopt this. And just to answer to you, um I'm not saying that, you know, we're only going to be repurposing the program we have right now through the community centers. We have that in tandem, but we just have a number of extra devices that are available instead of just reliance on the terminals that are in the community center. perhaps uh the committee can take a look at the the amendment and then as reporting back you can advise on the challenges and perhaps uh what things that we can do as part of that the amendment. Thank you. Yeah, certainly if you could stop bring on our screens now. Yeah, one second. Just let me quickly finish reading this here. Okay. And sorry, Council Singh, have you talked to staff about this before? Again, that's why it's just more of reporting back in Q3 and seeing if there's feasibility to this and what costs could be related to it. It's very similar to a program we're doing already. We are just looking at these pro these devices that are repurposed already through sale through the working center using some of these devices in our community centers for use as well as for sign out as well. There's terminology here that I think is not necessary. I just put it there extra because in case staff may have concern regarding security device for relocating or whatever. I'm not really concerned about that. I just put the advantage in case that had that concern. They can use as little or as much of the direction of it. just simply what could this program look like in Q3? Okay. Thank you, Mayor Verbanovich, on this. Yeah, sorry. Well, just on this and thank you to councelor Singh for bringing this forward. I think it's certainly an idea that that has some merit. I think it needs to be dealt with separately from the strategy though. The the strategy has been something that's been worked on by months by staff and is is a is a broad policy document. This is a very specific initiative and and should be looked at you know as a as a separate motion. So that would be my my my request uh of you Mr. Chair. Yeah perhaps council sing I'd suggest yeah perhaps best brought back for the council meeting that will also give staff some time to fill you in any you know potential challenges. I'm council. Okay. So it refresh. There you go. Okay. I do not see any further questions. So we are now into comments. You wanted to queue in. I believe councelor uh stretch indicated comment first. Go ahead council stretch. Yes. Thank you. Um my comments really were just around the access to tools piece and counselor Sang really um you know addressed that and spoke to it. Um so there are as you mentioned different community groups already really focusing on this access to tools. O would love to keep um learning from from those experts around what they know about lending but also um wanted to speak from experience that there's also a lot of phone um a need for phone um whether it's you know to borrow to get them people through for a couple of months. often um youth are carrying a load of that dig digital literacy thing and it is often their own networks um and relationships that we know people lean into when they need help figuring something out on the phone or on the laptop or on the computer um on the tablet all of the many different devices. But I think having a range of of tools to be able to offer would be great and and and curious around what um our other partners are are offering and how we could support that work already. Thank you. Up next is councelor. Yeah, thank you chair Davey. Um I I've seen some noticeable improvements in the program in the last little while. So, I don't think it's no coincidence that we're uh seeing some good things coming through. So, just wanted to throw that out there. Um I really really value this program, this strategy. uh when we first brought it out in 2017. Um I had really had a lot more high hopes than where we were, but uh again that's that's that's in the past, but I'm looking forward to the future and seeing where uh where we move with this. So, I'm um and I really like like I said, I was really like the direction where we where we're going and, you know, considering with the with the AI that we've been using and everything else and uh um partnering with uh lo local companies and and I really appreciate the perspective when you said investors. So um so I really really like where this strategy is going and uh you know anything that's designed to create more efficiencies and you know get greater access and you know uh you know designing solutions that are for residents who we always call customers um and other community partners. And so I I I really believe this is the heart and soul of where of where we're going to be moving forward in the next few years, especially with the way how technology is changing. So I really look forward to this and uh uh I do see really great things coming out of this. So I appreciate everything you've done. So thank you. Thank you, Counc. Yeah, same miss. I think since uh we launched out digital Kitchener and then Kitchener digital innovation lab we've seen you more than we've seen anyone else apart from obviously you know from the director of IT I mean we we we are getting a lot more communication I think that has been one of the uh the hurdles a little bit we knew that work is moving forward there's some positives that's coming from the innovation lab but we weren't getting a lot of communication and if members of council feel that way guess what the public is disfranchised even more I think going forward having that greater buy in because we're expecting people to change change in a way that they're not used to. So knowing full well the direction of that change in advance helps people be prepared and it diminishes their their aggravation sometimes when early on they're feeling of having to be have that new literacy of doing things differently. So, as we communicate that out and have more information readily available through community centers, through public input meetings, again, I'm going to refer back to what councelor Davey uh represent our meeting uh his and I's meeting with uh with both of you a couple weeks back in encouraging either a committee or a working group that is there to give guidance to staff and council on advice on where we're missing, where the gaps still exist, where we can leverage more, where we can go for the moonshot projects that perhaps our staff may not be willing to do but they can bring that idea forward and they can get circulated and discussed around this horseshoe and that's what I said where will we be taking risks we are not industry experts we don't know it we expect our staff to be cautious in new technology you sometimes need the outside voices and say hey there's opportunities here some risk some cost but perhaps take a look at it I would love to be that to be a big framework of the refresh of digital But slowly doing things we don't have that advantage. The world does not move slowly in the digital medium. It moves fast and people need to adapt fast and so do we in the government as well. Uh councelor strat already addressed my concern. It's great to have a strategy. It's great to shift over to a digital format but there are many in our community that I don't have the literacy which goes to councelor Johnston that we need to provide that in our community centers or whichever format. At the very least, we have to have the devices. Um, if people can't have the access to devices, guess what? Then we're we're we're removing people from use and access to public service. And that's something we we all will not stand for. So, any strategy that we do needs to ensure that it's equitable and allows to carry people that may not have have access. So, I I would love to have that conversation part of that next ter uh next uh for the council meeting coming. uh even though it would be a separate motion, I would love it come together because then it takes away any negative connotation for people and I have that fear. Hey, we're digitizing but I don't know how to use it. I don't have the device because we're we're we're taking those people into mind and consideration and moving them forward along with us. But I think this is a great step forward. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Vinnich. Well, thank you very much, Chair Davey, and uh sorry to uh staff that I missed the the presentation, but I had a another uh meeting that I had to uh attend to. Um, but I do want to take this opportunity to thank you for all of the the work that's uh that's been done. you know, I I dug out actually my my old digital Kitchener strategy um that that we approved a number of years ago. And uh and I did that um because it came up in a conversation recently and it was a conversation where actually our federal government um in 2019 uh used the city of Kiter as uh as an example uh in terms of the strategy and in terms of the work that the strategy spoke to in the work that we were doing in terms of dealing with digital equity um and which is one of the issues that's being talked about today and in fact um as part of Canada's voluntary uh national review of the SDGs in 2019 um which was Canada's first uh reporting back uh at the United Nations the city of Kitchener was actually part of that story and the work that we were we were doing and and we were being highlighted um at a at a from a global perspective on that. Um when I look at the the you know digital kitchener 2.0 no uh report that's uh that's in front of us. Um and the the broad goals that have that have been set in the uh six areas. Uh I I think they recognize both where where our successes have been. They recognize some of the changes that that are happening in the world around us particularly around uh the use of data the the realities of AI and so on. uh but also making sure that we're not uh resting on our laurels but in fact are continuing to look to to innovate to collaborate uh and to partner in terms of a uh of a culture of innovation both in our organization but also the role that the city of Kitchener plays uh in our relationships and our partnerships with uh with partners uh in the community like uh community like University of Wateroo like the college and at Consu College and uh and others who are are working in these uh in these spaces. So, I'm very excited about this. Um I think it uh it has been a labor of love for the staff who have been uh leading this and uh look forward to seeing uh what the future holds in the space in the months and years ahead. Thank you. Thank you, Councelor Chapman. Yeah, thank you. and likewise, thank you for the report and for the work you do. Um, it's great to see I I think the city city does a great job at digitalizing services and looking at new advancements and opportunities. So, thank you for that. Um, and I really do look forward to seeing how we can ensure every resident can connect and thrive by providing reliable connectivity, digital skills, training, and equitable access to technology. I think that's a great vision and I know it's very ambitious but um if that's where we're headed I I look forward to to seeing it seeing how we advance. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. I'll be supporting us as well. There's certainly some good work here. Um, I remember back when we back in the day when we first were requesting uh the broadening of uh free Wi-Fi throughout the city and how that was a challenge at the time and how Kitchener actually led in that space and continue to um to this day is a early indicator. Um I would I'm very happy with the work that's done here. I would still encourage um focus uh because we are don't have a ton of resources oursel um and I would frank I would encourage that focus based on the discussion we had here today um obviously my personal preference is um in you know using leveraging tools to increase productivity as as as was mentioned but I'm also very much in support and always have been of closing that digital divide as part of this as well um I do think it's very very important um that everyone does have access to the devices that they need I'm personally less worried about um the digital digital literacy piece because the way that the rate that technology is advancing um especially with artificial intelligence which if it understands one thing better than anything else it's language. Um so it's going to be less having to understand how you know things like programming and spreadsheets work and more frankly just being able to um give clear and precise logical directions to the device you're working with. So um anyway, I'm very very happy with where we are and I'm very happy uh to see very looking forward to seeing regular updates in this space because I do think there is massive opportunities here um to to improve everything that we do. Uh that in mind as moved by counceloritis those in favor and that carries unanimously working. Uh Mr. Mayor that concludes finance and corporate services committee. Did you wanted to arrange to special counsel? Five minutes. Thanks everyone.

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