Transcript: Union Deal, World Cup Approvals - General Government Committee Meeting - April 13, 2026 | Summary 91

Union Deal, World Cup Approvals - General Government Committee Meeting - April 13, 2026

Ready to go. We're going to start recording. Uh okay. Good um afternoon everyone. This meeting of the General Governance Committee is being held virtually. Uh this meeting is live being live streamed and may be viewed online at ajax.ca/live. Friendly reminder to all participants to please mute their microphone while not speaking. Um as we can tell there might be a slight delay as we are kind of trying this technology completely virtually for the first time, so please bear with us. And um just for a to to council, we'll be kind of enforcing the 5-minute uh speaking speaking rule uh because because there's a lot on the agenda. I will now call this meeting to order. We'd like to begin this meeting by acknowledging that the land on which we gather is situated within the traditional treaty territories of the Mississaugas. More specifically, the Mississaugas of the Scugog Island First Nation, signatories of the Gunshot Treaty of 1788 and the Williams Treaties of 1923. This land is and will continue to be home to the indigenous peoples. Let us acknowledge the mistakes and traumas of the past through authenticity and support truth and reconciliation. Let us engage and celebrate indigenous communities by being leaders of action and acknowledging the United Nations Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's recommendations towards truth and reconciliation. Let us keep these principles close as we continue towards truth and reconciliation and as we move forward with kindness and respect as a community. Uh to council, any disclosures of pecuniary interest? Seeing none, we'll move on. Uh can I get a mo- a mover for the adoption of the minutes of March 9th, 2026? I see uh Council Barer. Thank you. Any questions, comments, concerns? Seeing none then, we'll start the vote. And that passes. Thank you. Um can I get a I should move both. Uh motion um a mover for the March 9th closed meeting, 2026. Can I get a mover to move those minutes? I see Council Moore. Thank you. Any questions, comments, concerns? Seeing none on the speaker list, we will proceed and call to start the vote. And start the vote. There we go. That passes. We have an updated list of agenda items that are pulled. Uh the following items are pulled. We have 4.1, 4.4, 4.5, 4.7, 4.8, 4.11, 4.15. Can I get a mover for the balance of the agenda, please? I see Council Regional Council Crawford. Thank you very much. Any other pulls? Seeing none, we'll start the vote on the balance of the agenda. And that vote We're missing one more vote. There we go. Okay, great. I'm going to just move that over here. We're going to start with item Thank you very much. So that passes. We're going to start with item 4.1, PSA 2026 2026-06, the 2026 FIFA World Cup Tourism Campaign. This has been pulled by uh uh Council Henry. Council Henry? Thank you, Chair. Uh quick question was just with regards to the neighborhoods surrounding um the fairgrounds and to make sure that we had the same kind of parking restrictions if we're going to be holding an event at uh the fairgrounds as we did for the fairgrounds opening. Just to make sure that the existing neighborhood is not disturbed. Can someone speak to that, please? Uh Director Clarry. Good afternoon. Um through Council through um Regional Councillor Sterling Lee to Councillor Henry, um this kickoff event is not anticipated to um be at the scale of the fairgrounds opening. Um the attendance we are anticipating is upwards to between 500 and 1,000 people um compared to the fairgrounds which drew approximately uh 5,000 attendees. Uh we're not As a result, we're not implementing those formal restrictions that we that we saw the last time. However, we do want intend on doing direct communications uh through a letter to um all the neighboring uh houses in the area. And we also intend on doing a special invitation um to them to uh encourage them to walk over and cycle over um as they can. So, in essence, we are not um planning the shuttle service or any on-street parking restrictions um that we had in place for the fairgrounds opening. Sorry. Um I met with um I'm not going to name the staff member, one of your staff um earlier today and I was under the understanding that the street would not be closed. I understood that, but I was under the understanding that the parking restrictions that happened before would happen again. Is that not the case? That is not the case. So, what happens if we have issues within the existing neighborhood? How will that be dealt with? Cuz 500 is still more than like as we know, ARC is separated into three uh parking sections as is and other events are still occurring during that time. There's a parking section for each door almost and there's very little parking for the fairgrounds. So, that is going to spill over into the neighborhood. We're not like I'm concerned about it. Are you not concerned about it? Are we not going to give some kind of relief for the residents? 500 vehicles is still 500 vehicles. Uh through counselor uh Nancy Henry. Um yes, we like Are we saying that there won't be any congestion possibly? Um but we do intend on having parking monitors within the site. We do intend to do uh regular patrols in the area with bylaw. Um there is the the current 3-hour limit that is is allowed um and so we do intend on making sure that um those um are still in place. Um the parking monitors will ensure um the capacity. We've done some other um um possible um things to reduce uh the um um or provide relief in the parking area including the fact that we've booked off the gym within the uh the facility itself. We're not allowing any uh other meetings to take place. So, we are looking at all of those possible Okay, so I I'm hearing what you're saying with regards to the facility. That's really good. I'm not really concerned about the facility itself, but that's good to hear. So, when we talk about um uh the parking and the 3-hour restrictions meaning we'll have more bylaw officers in the area, correct? For that time period? You are correct. Okay. All right. This will be a good trial run. Thank you. That's all I needed. Thank you. Uh counselor Bowyer. Uh thank you, Deputy Mayor Lee. Good afternoon, everyone. This is déjà vu to 2020 and the COVID-19 solution to our meetings. Um I just had a question. First of all, I think this is exciting. Thank you very much for putting together this report and for bringing forward some great ideas. I just wanted to uh ask for a little more information. It's 20 page 24 of the agenda, the pop-up events. Um and maybe someone could speak to sort of what what does that entail? Specifically for the alcohol and the and the timing and the dates and all that kind of stuff, please. Director McGlory. Through uh regional counselor Sterling Lee to counselor Bowyer. Thank you for that question. We are in a unique situation with this uh pop-up uh plan and that is because council must approve a site-specific exemption for this to be permitted. So, that was our first step today was to seek that. Um but by doing that, providing some parameters to council so that they knew what we were planning uh for. If if we if we do work with the with the current uh vendor at at the site, we would be working with them on possibly two Canadian games and one other possible game uh game. The reason why we're sticking to that format is because obviously it's not one of the pilot sites that council has pre- previously approved, but we wanted to provide this vendor an opportunity. All the activities would take place indoors. There would be no um events happening at the in the exterior space. Um the three dates that we're talking about, two for sure would be the two uh uh Canada games after we host the first one. It would be on June 18th at approximately 6 Thursday 6:30 6:00. It's a Thursday evening, not a weekend and same with the uh last Canada event which is scheduled to take place on June 24th. It's a Wednesday and that's an afternoon game at 3:00 p.m. So, basically that's the the timing that we're looking for plus a possible third one. However, that being said um we've been recently advised that the vendor uh may no longer want to host um these event these matches and so primary reason for them hosting was to take the relief off of staff capacity to organize another two events. So, um at this point in time um because we know the importance of these matches and we know that the community will be looking for some opportunities to participate in specifically these Canadian matches, we will look work with our local vendors to see if they're or so sorry, local businesses to see if and if they're going to partner with the town. That's great. Okay, thank you very much. Um and I guess as the time as the plans firm up and and schedules are made, you'll be letting us know what's happening, correct? Through counselor Bowyer, you are correct. Um and then we also intend to have this uh great calendar that exists to provide all the opportunities to the public. Thank you very much. Looking forward to it. That was my question uh Deputy Mayor Lee. Thank you. Thank you. Sorry, you guys can hear us talking in the background. We're just working through AV issues, but I think we're getting through it. Uh counselor Henry for a second time. Thank you. Just to clarify um Director McGlory. Um when you spoke about uh may not want to host uh because I did have concerns if there was going to be a host game uh a a host viewing party down at Rotary. So, just to clarify, that is off the table now. I don't have to bring up all those questions. Uh through uh counselor Bowyer, we are still uh sorry, through counselor Henry. We are still um seeking that site-specific exemption for two plus the one in case this vendor changes their mind within the next few days. We're still trying to negotiate that. Um this was to seek council's approval uh for that um site exemption to the municipal policy our municipal alcohol policy. Um so, I'm not saying that it's off at this point in time negotiations have stopped, but I still want to be able to have that in case or seek that approval in case we do pursue it with this vendor only. Um uh if the vendor still opts not to proceed, we will be looking to local businesses to support and partner with. So then, I do have to uh note my concern. Um when we looked at doing something with alcohol policy before with regards to Rotary Park, we did have some um communication from the community that they didn't want to have the alcohol that close to where children are playing. And before the concern was having strangers come into the community from Durham region, be that well, even people in our community and be that close to the children's play area, but now we're talking about bringing in strangers from other countries possibly to the children's that close to the children's play area for viewing parties. So, again, it's it's a community concern that was brought to my attention. I don't know about other counselors, but um I'm not as inclined to uh want to see that down at Rotary Park. ARC sounds fabulous. We have enough distance from the children's play area, but for this particular vendor at Rotary, it's exactly right beside the children's play area. I've not heard of anything that's going to be put into place for precautionary measures uh to keep that separation in place. There's been nothing that I've heard. Is there is there a plan in place for that? Through counselor uh Henry. Um this would be an indoor um event, a pop-up. I think some of the the other scenarios were outdoor events similar to what we're going to be hosting down at Paradise when we were talking about it. This is exclusive to this site only. Again, capacity is very limited at this at this particular site. Of course, we'd have the same measures that any um that's required with any SOP including security and and extra and extras employees down at that site. Um all those measures would be put in place uh if if this vendor were to pursue um this uh opportunity to partner with us. So, indoor only, no outdoor patio? You are correct. And any uh temporary fencing separating it from the children's play area for those who or or are you saying that nobody could go outside from the indoor venue with alcohol? Is that what you're saying? Correct. Okay. Okay. Thank you. That's it. Thank you. Thank you for the discussion. Can I get a mover? Seeing no other um comments, can I get a mover to view reports? I see counselor Bowyer. Thank you. Any more questions, comments, concerns? Seeing none, we'll start the vote. Waiting for counselor Bowyer. Uh counselor Bowyer for the vote. There you go. Thank you. And that passes. Thank you. We are now on to item 4.4. That's FIN-2026-06, the 2025 development charges reserve funds, the Treasurer's annual statement. This is moved by Regional Councillor Crawford. Regional Councillor Crawford. Thank you, Chair Lee. Um Can you hear me okay? Yeah? Can you hear me? Okay. Good. Good. Um so, my first question, and I have asked this I'm sorry, what? Okay. Um I passed these questions on to staff, so they would have What? Am I good to go? Sorry. Let me reset. Let me reset. Uh just so Council knows, I'm going to remove myself when I'm not speaking. It seems to be causing a delay on our side. Regional Councillor Crawford, you're doing great. We can hear you loud and clear. Uh please, your 5 minutes starts now. Thank you. Just so you know, I passed these questions on to staff, so they would have the heads-up before the meeting. Um the town deferred the 7.7 million dollars in DCs in 2026. What percentage of the total DCs is that does that represent in 2025? Uh through the chair to Regional Councillor Crawford, um that's uh about 90% of the total DCs are deferred uh to a future date. Okay, that's a lot. [laughter] So, what risk exists then if the uh rental um residential projects are delayed beyond 2028? Do we would we have enough cash flow for the current projects? I'm guessing not. So, through the chair um the the risk of of delaying beyond 2028. So, these projects, just to so you're all aware, uh they're rental they're residential uh rental residential projects, and their uh payment of DCs will be done in six installments starting on the first occupancy uh date, and then every year thereafter. So, already, once they get their occupancy permit, there will be a deferral for another 5 years after that. So, uh cash will be collected over time, and that um you know, does reduce the cash flow that's available to allocate to capital projects in our forecast, um which would mean that we would either have uh the choice to defer some of our DC-funded projects or take on DC debenture, which would be collected through future um DC collections. So, this uh dollar figure that we're seeing here, is that made up of the three current projects? So, Medallion, um Matrix, and the 310 Kingston Road? Is that what that makes up? So, the the the 7.7 million is just Medallion and Matrix at this point. Oh, okay. Okay. All right, that's good to know. Um I think you pretty much answered all the questions after that. You kind of rolled it all into one answer, so that's great. Thank you so much for that. Thank you, Chair Chair Lee. You're welcome. Thank you. Any other questions, comments, concerns from Council? Seeing none, we will start the vote. Regional Councillor Crawford, do you have another comment? Um no, I just wondered if you needed me to move it. Yes. Yes, we did. Every time you did that, we it. Yeah, sorry. I was trying to catch it before that. Apologize. No, no, no. No, no. We're juggling literally 19 screens right now, so we appreciate that. Um okay, we are on to the next item, which is, I believe, 4.5. Let me just pull that right here. Thank you. That is um FIN-2026-08, the 2025 operating results and year-end reserve allocation. That was moved by Mayor Collier and Regional Councillor Crawford. Uh not seeing Mayor Collier, so we will go to him straight to Regional Councillor Crawford. Thank you again, Chair Lee. This I'm just wondering what the main drivers were to allow uh the town to end with end up with a surplus in 2025. What happened? So, through the chair to Regional Councillor Crawford, um some of the major um revenues that weren't anticipated included uh we received about 2 million dollars in WSIB rebates from uh WSIB's declared surplus. So, that is revenue that was not anticipated at time of budgeting, um and it did assist with offsetting some of the pressures that we were feeling. The uh other pieces are the tax penalties and interest were higher than um budget, um and that was a in the two to the tune of about 1.7 million dollars. Um another thing that um contributed to the surplus is the interest earned on short-term investment. Uh we did not uh contribute those to capital reserves as we typically would have in the past to help offset some of these pressures that we were feeling, and um those are some of the major um items that have helped uh you know, reduce the surplus and also um help us um set some funding aside as well to deal with future pressures. So, the winter uh certainly impacted our budget this year uh because of the volume of snow and the length of time that it it stuck around. Have we ever considered putting in a specific weather-related reserve? Uh even just a small contingent contingency reserve to be able to I mean, climate is like all over the place these days. And we might not need it, but then when we have winters like our past winter, we have a little bit to fall back on. So, through the chair, we we have that is definitely something that staff have discussed in the past. Our current stabilization reserve does allow us to use uh the funding that is set aside in that reserve fund to deal with uh weather-related events if we had needed to use it. So, um the stabilization reserve under our current policy um needs to be topped up to about 5% of our our net revenues, which is what we've used our surplus this year to do. Uh just to make sure we have sufficient funding to deal with economic uncertainties, winter control events, uh and and things like that into the future. I think we used to call it a rainy day event fund, wasn't it? Um I don't I don't think it was ever called that. [laughter] Well, Yeah. We do know that there are, you know, financial um uh fluctuations, and we do not want to pass those uh temporary fluctuations off to, you know, a future tax increase, so that's why we maintain a reserve for those specific situations. So, um with the decline in the in the building permits, the parking fees, casino revenues, Lexicon, um how exposed is the town in their operating budget? What I can say is that we do um try to best foresee and mitigate impacts on our operating budgets. Um we do have robust budgeting policies uh requiring active management and review of our budget accounts throughout the year. Um the costs and revenues that are determined to be one-time uh in nature, we typically don't budget for those because we know they're not recurring. Um we deal with those through our operating budget management policies, and we don't want to count on one-time revenues and put that into our our our budgets for in the future um if we're not certain or or fairly certain that those collections uh won't happen. Um the town has also not used casino age tax or Lexicon revenues in funding our operating budget. So, when we experience fluctuations and and decreases in those amounts uh in in those collections, um our our operating impact on our tax rates is not directly impacted by that. So, we, you know, we we we have a bit of leeway and some time to make up those those revenue shortfalls. Um so, that's another way we do it. Uh same with some of our reserves, the building appeals reserve is a is a reserve where we also um set aside some funding to deal with the ebbs and flows of building permit activities. And in years where building permit activity is low, we draw from those reserves. And in years where it's a it's a positive year, we contribute to those reserves to help offset those direct impacts. Excellent. Thank you so much for all those answers. Um I'm happy to move it, Chair, um uh when the time comes. Thank you. Thank you. Moved by Regional Councillor Crawford. Um just my quick question to the Director of Finance. Um 732,000 um against um Yeah, against our overall budget, that's pretty much a bull's-eye. So, now, like, what were our previous years? Was it roughly in those in that range, or is it drastically higher or drastically lower? Through the uh to the chair, it does fluctuate. We do try to manage as best as we can to our budget. I mean, um you know, it it overall, it it is um from a percentage perspective, it is quite a small percentage uh in comparison to the overall. Again, you know, uh a budget is set at a point in time, and revenues and and expenditures do fluctuate. We do try our best to manage within our budgets, our policies, and where we can uh contribute um to our reserves to offset um you know, future costs. Great. Appreciate that. Um okay, seeing no other questions, comments from Council, um and this is moved by Regional Councillor Crawford. We will start the vote. And that passes. Thank you. We're on to item 4.7. This is the 2027 FIN 2026-07, the indexing of municipal development charges. This is moved by Mayor Collier. Um, does any other members of council have any questions, comments, or concerns? Seeing none, can I get a mover for the motion, please? Or the report, please? I see Regional Councillor Dies. Thank you. And seeing none, we'll call the vote. And the thumbs up and the nod from the clerk. All right, we are on to item 4.8, OES-2026-04, waste management in outdoor public spaces. This was moved and ordered by Regional Councillor Crawford, Councillor Henry, and Councillor Bower. We will start with Regional Councillor Crawford. Thank you, Chair Lee. My question, the first question is, are the illegal incidences increasing, decreasing, remaining the same, and what enforcement tools do we have to control that? Through the chair to Regional Councillor Crawford. [clears throat] With respect to the number of incidences, they seem to be generally stable over the last 4 years when we've sort of looked at the number of requests that have come in. We're typically in around 130 on an annual basis. So, we sort of range between about 120 and 135 in each of the last 4 years. And there's a couple of things that happen when we identify illegal dumping within the Town of Ajax. From an operations standpoint, we typically have a a 24-to-48-hour sort of response time in turning it around and and responding and dealing with it specifically. In certain situations where there's further investigation, we will engage our bylaw services as well. So, there are situations when we do involve bylaw where they typically their service level is to respond and begin their investigation within a 5-day period with the idea of completing the investigation within a 30-day period. So, we do have have established timelines and service levels that I would say we meet probably 95% of the time. So, I think we have a pretty good internal system and process whereby we do follow up on those illegal dumping opportunities and have a proactive approach as it relates to trying to resolve them. Actually, that was my next question. So, thank you for just rolling all that into one question. I do know that whenever a resident has notified me of illegal dumping, it seems that it gets cleaned up like right away. Honestly, I really appreciate the work that you guys do to keep the keep the town clean. So, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thanks, Chair Lee. Thank you. Councillor Henry. Thank you, Chair. My questions with regards to again the illegal dumping, but also to the waterfront strategy plan. And I wanted to know um with regards to like we're we're seeing a lot more garbage or hearing about a lot more garbage in the Facebook groups in the summer from residents going to let's say Costco or wherever getting a large pizza taking it down and leaving the remainder behind. I'm not naive enough to think that folks are going to take their empty garbage home with them. So, I'm kind of looking at our trash recyclers down there and what that looks like. And I know that last year the team did increase some morning pickups and then again same day evening pickups which did help with that. Has there been any any plan to increase that this year? What does that look like for the waterfront area? For the waterfront, I think we've got our established service levels that from our perspective we meet sort of the sort of the requirements that we observe sort of from the town in terms of the number of receptacles we have along the waterfront as well as the frequency of delivery. What I will say is that those are obviously monitored sort of day-to-day, week-to-week. And at any point in time, if there is a need to adjust our service levels then that's something we can do sort of in real time. So, so typically, and it's sort of laid out in in the report, although not specific to to area, there are different service levels in terms of cans that get um maintained on a daily basis or multiple times every 2 days, every 3 days, every 5 days, every 7 days. So, that's based on feedback that we get from our frontline staff and their observations that they're making in the field in terms of adjusting service levels. So, again, it's not a static program. We we are always looking to adjust if it's warranted to adjust our service levels from a collection standpoint. So, it's not something you've looked at doing for this upcoming season. And the the reason I asked that is because I know there was some talk last year about as receptacles get damaged and you have to replace them, you might be looking at something a little bit different for the waterfront area. I believe I spoke I I I someone on your team about that last year and I'm just wondering, have you looked at that for this year? Have you looked at like a different type of receptacle for the waterfront area, something that holds a large larger garbage piece? Cuz there's nothing worse than going into those Facebook groups and seeing like all this garbage stacked so yay high on top of the receptacle cuz it cannot fit into the current receptacle model we have. Whereas when I go over to Whitby and other lakeshore municipalities, I'm seeing different styles of receptacle models that are containing and holding all the garbage in it. Are we looking at anything like that? At this point in time, we've introduced sort of multi-stream containers and that's something that we are continuing to look at. Um, if there [clears throat] from our standpoint a need to differentiate from the current um style that we currently have, we would. But at this point in time, we are continuing with the same style of receptacles that we currently have along the waterfront and within our park system. Okay. And my last comment statement, we all know that up in Ward 2, Blowers Crescent Blowers Crescent is been an issue in the past. We have a lot of illegal dumping happening there. We need another cleanup. Um, but I would like to I I don't know if it's possible to have some kind of signage installed up there. But, you know, any residents that are listening to this meeting today, that is not a place to dump your garbage because bylaw has been very good about finding out who the garbage belongs to. And you don't want that to happen. So, please Dave flag that for Director flag that for a big cleanup because there there's a lot of garbage up there right now. And as we've mentioned in the past, much of it is on on private property. So, we would deal with bylaw from a property standards perspective, but we would not be entering onto private property for a cleanup. So, that's something we do in partnership with with bylaw services unless it's within a right of way. 100%. It's I believe it's on the public property. It's on It's on the boulevards. We we we coordinate and would coordinate the cleanup along the along the boulevards along with you. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. That's it for me. Thank you. Thank you. Councillor Bower. Thank you, Deputy Mayor Lee. Thank you, Councillor Henry. I see there's been lots of extra help I am Ward 3 today. I appreciate it. We're very popular ward. So, I just had a question for Director Meredith. Page 74 of the agenda lists the frequency of pickup and how many receptacles or locations have daily pickup, every 2 days, every 3 days, etc. And then a couple pages later on page 76 there's a list of locations that the data collected in the past 2 or 3 years. These locations have been identified as high priority areas for litter collection. They list about eight or nine. So, my question is, are these locations I guess they would be part of the daily pickup list. Is that correct? I think the Sorry, through the chair to to Councillor Bower. I think there's two things that that we're talking about here. The levels of services is with respect to the frequency of our garbage cans that get sort of collected by our garbage trucks. And they have their their certain routes that that provide that level of support. The litter collect The litter collection is more the the road side litter or litter within the park system. So, this is not necessarily is not necessarily the garbage cans. This is where we're observing litter that we are allocating staff to go and and collect litter that is on the ground in these open space areas. Okay, I understood. So, it's a different thing. Thank you very much for that. And then just for clarification regarding pickups along the waterfront during the summer. Very popular [clears throat] to hang out there. I think the last time I checked there's receptacles every half cone along the trail and um but what I think I heard you say is that the garbage is are collected, but if there is bins if there are bins that are overflowing you can we can request Perfect. I think what we would do is if there are bins that are increasing more frequently and we need to adjust our levels of service to pick them up more frequently then that's something that we can look at through our um sort of resources that we have specifically on weekends. Okay, that would be great. And if if it's possible I would love to receive a list of those actual locations on page 74 where it's the the streets that are picked up the collection daily every 2 days every 3 days etc. We I I would be interested to see what those locations are. Is that possible? Thank you very much. Uh Deputy Mayor Kelly, uh those are my questions. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Councillor Taylor Morin. Thanks for letting me chair. Um three points. Number one excellent report. Been around here for about 8 years now. I don't remember seeing anything this concise in regards and really really good points in there. So, kudos to everybody who put the report together. Secondly there's a group of people in this town called dog walkers and they have incredible insight and if you ever want to find out what's happening with garbage on our paths in our in our laneways talk to the dog walkers. They're out there three four times a day. I hear from them all the time. So, and here's my question. In laneways I'd asked just the other day staff for a dog waste pet waste dispenser in a laneway. And I was told that it wouldn't warrant the laneway that I was talking about because the cost of the waste dispensers that go into the ground are very expensive. I believe in the report it states they're about $12,000 each. So, is there a B option for waste? I know before we used to have them where they're just you know sort of on the surface. They're specifically for the dog bags and at least gives the residents a chance to dispose. Is there a B option or do we only have that one very expensive option? Through the chair to Councillor Taylor Morin. With respect to the pet waste containers we've have the locations. They are generally located within our parks and open space system. We've identified they're either in sort of our community parks in proximity to our leash free parks and it is something that we will be looking to introduce as needed on a future basis as we you know, redevelop our parks as we introduce new parks as we introduce new leash free parks throughout town as well. So, so there will be additional infrastructure that's added and it's not just the cost of sort of the one-time capital cost of acquiring the containers themselves. It's also the operating costs that go with each of these facilities on on a daily basis. So, I'm not sure when you say laneway that that would generally meet the locations that we typically look at for a pet Are you talking like a a vehicle laneway? If I may give a little more more information. It's a walkway and specifically between Ravenscroft and Heatherly. Sorry, atly atly. There's a there's a small walkway. So, laneways as you say is is the wrong terminology. And in that walkway there used to be a pet waste container and now there isn't because it was being abused or I think it was the garbage was quite a few years ago early first term here. For me it's just sorry like 2019 2020. And now there's uh the little pet waste this is probably needs to be taken offline, but that are always there. So, the residents are obviously saying hey can you put a pet waste things with whoever's doing that can put them into the hole. But it but it you know, less expensive. Um [snorts] I have a few thoughts on people that would leave pet waste bags sort of at a location where there's no bin, but that's a separate problem. So, what I would say is that we would have pet pet waste containers in close proximity to that location that those residents could take advantage of. Um I know as we look to introduce new parks whether it's Westney Heights Park, whether it's some of the other parks that we will be looking to redevelop in the area not only this specific area, but other parks around town that we will be adding new waste containers for pet waste that in my mind should be convenient for for residents to have access. Okay, just to close a loop here, do we have or will we have a more affordable option like you know, if we had a $500 container or a $1,000 container we could do 24 containers. Is that something on the horizon or are we just going to stick with these those ones are great. They're just really expensive. I would say at this point in time this is the form of pet waste containers that we have in town. We've not contemplated anything else at this point in time. Okay. Thank you. To be continued. Thank you, chair. Thank you. Next we have Regional Councillor Dies. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um did we not Mr. Meredith also used to put out information about you know, picking up after your dogs and taking your waste home which would eliminate some of these problems we're seeing? Uh we did and I even think the region has laid out recent communication just in terms of the compost within your existing homes and the ability for pet waste to be collected through that through that program as well. So, I know the region's made changes to make it more convenient for residents as well. So, in my mind I'll speak to myself personally. I take mine home put it in my compost bin and it gets collected by the region as part of the um the regular [snorts] program that's offered to all residents. I I agree maybe we have to I guess push that information out a little more, but it is it's very helpful for the dog waste, but there's many many people that do pick up their dog waste and take their bags home and I think we need to promote that more and more. We could put a lot of garbage cans out which cost money and cost you know, time for staff to pick them up and and just you know, get rid of that waste, but really it's not a big issue if you can take it home and put it in your green bin. So, can we do some more promotion on that? That's something we can definitely look to do. I'll speak to sort of our team here as well as corporate communications in terms of what we can do to convey that information perhaps more clearly or in in a better way than we currently do. Well, that would be great cuz it is an increasing problem. And you know, what goes into the ground goes into your water. So, I'm always kind of aware of that and it worries me particularly where the leash free area is right on the creek. So, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I was going to give you up with week and a uh made uh Regional Councillor Dies. Can I get a motion I move her for the uh before play? I see Councillor Dies. Thank you and we'll start the vote. Turn me off. [clears throat] Uh yes. Give me a second. There you go. There we go. All right. We're doing great. We're making great time. We are now on to um item 4.11 OES 2026-02 the 2026 corporate asset management progress report. This is pulled by Regional Councillor Crawford. Thank you. Again, I've circulated my questions so hopefully this will won't be fast. This will be fast. Um the report identifies 40 40 million dollars at a very high asset asset very high risk asset category. Um what what would that be made up of? What projects or what part of the asset management plan would that be made up of? Mr. Meredith. [clears throat] Through the through the Sorry. Through the chair to Regional Councillor Crawford. Of the the 40 million I'll break it the two highest components um asset classes relating to that would be approximately half of it is related to facilities um being almost 20 million dollars and approximately 10 million would be associated to sort of the road network. Um and just sort of at a at a fairly high level the primary driver on the facility side of things is the Ajax Community Centre. So of the you know, just under 20 million dollars that we've identified in need of replacement, a large percentage of that ties into the AC ACC. And I guess depending on where we go with the ACC renovation project, as that a project like that would unfold, it would deal with a lot of these asset management items. So again, if we didn't go ahead with the ACC renovation project in the in the future, we would be dealing with these through the capital budget, but when we have our larger renovation projects, you can quite often deal with or address many of the asset asset management related issues, which I would expect a large percentage of this to be taken care of through um a larger capital project. With respect to gets lumped into one project that basically Right. So when we talk So sort of when we would present something like the Ajax Community Centre, we would talk about other projects that takes off the books for us having to do in budget separately sort of through the annual capital budgeting process. With respect to roads some of the larger drivers are are some of our roads that we currently have within the immediate forecast. Um so there's approximately 10 million dollars in what we would deem to be high priority roads and primarily Harwood Avenue sort of south of Bailey Street is is one of those as is certain sections of Rossland Road. So again, we would know both of those projects are budgeted for moving forward. So again, we will be addressing a large dollar value component of what's identified in terms of sort of replacement need. Um just a couple of others are um Salem Road north of Taunton Road is another one that's been identified um in terms of not being in the greatest condition um sort of requiring um some improvements. So we do monitor sort of the level of service and the payment quality index that Council endorsed through the asset management plan. Uh and you'll see many of the roads that are currently identified that comprise approximately the 10 million dollars of priority road related projects are identified within the next three years within our capital program. So then that isn't necess- those projects aren't necessarily paid for in full by the infrastructure levy, correct? You would use Could some of that money come from DC uh funding? This money's typically not dealt with through development charges. Um Okay. They are sort of existing infrastructure that requires basically our existing non-DC reserves or discretionary reserves to to fund these sort of asset replacements. So what will happen is the infrastructure levy increase the um the annual increase that's that Council's endorsed over the last couple of years allows us to deal with these priority projects and will help deal with these deficiencies sort of in the near term as we have have and apply the the percentage increase to the asset management related reserves. Perfect. Thank you. Um so approximately 0.3 million are assets with unknown conditions. What are What What would they be? What would Do we ever intend to identify them or um What What would be in something like that? moved quite far along in terms of having our asset management plan um being reflective of asset conditions that are based on conditions and not age. The only There's three or four areas that over the next year that we should have every thing condition based as opposed to age based. So a couple of examples are street light poles. Right? So right now we've got an age of those, but we will have them more individually assessed from a condition perspective. Um there are some small culverts that we still need to do. We are legislated to do culverts of a certain size. Um but some of our smaller culverts, which aren't covered under the legislation, we need to do and sort of document from a condition standpoint ourselves. Um and then the other is more just some of the outdoor recreation items, whether it's benches, bleachers, tables, those types of assets that we have in the park system that you know, we haven't gone individually and assessed them from a condition standpoint, but those are really the three primary areas. Sorry, and there is a fourth one, which is sort of our walkway lighting system. So that is something in those four areas sort of represent that 0.3% and we do have a plan over the next one to two years to have those assets all migrate to condition based as opposed to age based. Thank you. Um Mr. Chair, I'm a little bit over my time. Is it all right if I have one more question? [snorts] Yeah, go ahead. You're doing great. Okay. Um the next question I think will go to Julie, uh Director of Finance. Um we have uh infrastructure levy with the last three years. How much So to date uh since 2023, we have collected uh 16.3 million dollars from the infrastructure levy. That levy is actually not invested It's not part of the investments. It's um it's uh used on an annual basis to fund our capital program. Um We will have an investment report come forward to the next Council. Um but all of our funds are invested, whether it's in equities or through uh high interest savings accounts. So I will say any any funds that aren't currently being used uh from a cash perspective are invested. Okay. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Thank you, Chair Lee, for the lenience. I appreciate it. I'll move it whenever If I'm the only one talking, I'll move it. Uh no, we actually have Councillor Barrett. Councillor Barrett. Uh thank you, Deputy Mayor Lee. Uh not a question, just a comment. Uh Regional Councillor Crawford already sort of touched base on it. For the um total replacement value of assets, I'm looking at page 116 of the agenda. With an unknown condition reduced from 2.2 million in 2024 to only 0.3 million in 2025. This was accomplished mainly through targeted physical inspections. I do remember the last time a previous time looking at this uh data and I remember it sticking out about um the number of unknown conditions. So I'm I'm really glad to see that that work is being done to make sure that um that that unknown factor is decreased. So thank you very much. No question. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Um Deputy Mayor Lee, I just have one question. So I'm currently sitting on the Works uh Regional Councillor Crawford before me. A lot of times through Works, we would find some obscure part in some larger machinery that, you know, is out of warranty or can't be replaced anymore. How granular are we with our asset management? Do we go into like specific parts of larger, you know, machines or is it just the machine itself? So machines in terms of If we're talking in like the vehicles themselves or more equipment side as it relates to facilities. You know what? I'm I'm just talking in general cuz um you know, I obviously don't have like a water supply plant cuz that's a regional responsibility. But do you have like machinery that has these smaller parts that are sole source or the uh manufacturer doesn't exist anymore and you know, like do you have Are we at risk from that from an asset management point? Or are we Are we even tracking that kind of granular part level for assets? Or do we just generally look at the big picture, the larger items? Um Through the the Chair to Regional Councillor Lee, we do get fairly granular. We do our building condition assessments and audits. So when we look at our facilities, we do go not down to the the nut and screw, but to the um components within our major operating systems. So whether it's electrical, mechanical, security um our fire sprinkler system. Like all of those are systems, but within those, they have different asset components that we do get into and assess sort of by um small component. So there could be Try to think about valuation of assets, but within sort of a 5,000 dollar level like in terms of an an asset like from a dollar perspective, there could be assets with as low a value as that that are part of our asset management plan. So it is quite detailed and specific by facility. Um as it relates to those assessments that we do carry out. So they are condition based. They're not age You know, they generally have a typical life cycle that we use as a guideline, but our building condition assessments allow us to actually look at the the conditions of them and prioritize them for for replacements. And do we still find out if those pieces of equipment are still in warranty, they still exist? Or if the business doesn't exist anymore, we need to now buy the newer machine because XYZ part doesn't exist anymore. Do we check that kind of thing or not? Yeah, typically when we're looking at the asset replacement, they are outside of their warranty periods. We will look at as we replace them, there are some things that we have corporately where we are they may be single source for a variety of reasons, but I would say most of them are competitively bid. I do think when we look at one of the important components on an asset replacement as well as also using the sustainability lens, right? So, when we are replacing, whether it's something relating to heating and cooling or electrical quite often there's more efficient systems that are in the marketplace now that we would look to as opposed to a like-for-like replacement. So, so I would say we This was moved by Regional Councillor Crawford. This was moved by Regional Councillor Crawford. Any questions, comments from certain council? And I also have a Looks like Regional Councillor D'Amico has dropped off the call. Stop the vote from here. I know we only have one item left for the for the presentation. We're actually going to take a 5-minute recess, everyone, just to make sure everyone can connect properly. So, just um it's 1:58. We'll see everyone back by 2:05. Okay, um clerk, let me know when we're back online. We're back online and we will get started. We left off at item 4.13. That is PDS-2026-10. The update to the traffic bylaw 45-2020 schedules 1, 10, and 22. That was pulled by Regional Councillor Crawford and Councillor Henry. Regional Councillor Crawford. You're good. [clears throat] Thank you. Um I have a request to add in a parking sign at 11 Coomer Drive. Is it possible to make an amendment to have that added in? Oh, that is a very good question. I suppose that would be in order. I'm just um I caution you Regional Councillor Crawford because I imagine this will lead to further requests. Have I'm just I am curious Chair Henry or sorry Chair Chair Henry Chair Lee. Is are these all within the current budget or are these unbudgeted? That's what I would like to know, too. Okay. Okay, thank you everyone for your patience. We are going to get through this. We're back to Regional Councillor Crawford. Why don't you start at your justification as to why? Okay, sure. Um so my my I understand and respect that, you know, throwing something onto the floor now is can cause greater issues, but I have been working on this literally since before the last budget and the last bylaw manager and I feel like if I had to wait for the mark the parking master plan to come through, I might not even be around because it keeps getting pushed off and pushed off and pushed off. I'm simply asking for one single parking sign to go up in front of 11 Coomer Drive. That's what I'm asking for. Yeah, through the chair to to Councillor Crawford. Um I'll leave that to council to decide and direct staff accordingly. I just would caution like that location specifically Yeah, that location. It it can't accommodate like even if it we put a no parking sign there, that's fine, but they technically can't park there based on the parameters of the on-street parking bylaw. There's not enough room between the driveways. It's on the bend. It's it doesn't meet a whole bunch of the performance standards. All this would be is a signal that you you can't park there and I guess that's what you're looking for at the end of the day. So I'll let council direct us accordingly. it. I fully understand. I fully appreciate it and yet the amount of times that bylaw has gone out there, the person who is continuing to park there fully does not understand or appreciate the location. Sure. Okay, Regional Councillor Crawford. I'm going to come back to you, that's okay. I've got another item that I need to because we need to yeah. Thank you and I'll bring you back in. Thank you. I'm sorry for being difficult. I'm not trying to be difficult. I understand I can't wait till the next parking plan. Uh the cleanest way to do this procedurally. So let me just hear from everyone else first, we'll go from there. Councillor Henry, you're Thank you. Yes, I agree with the next master parking plan and waiting for in the budget, out of the budget, moved away. I agree with that fully. So my question is page 15 of the report. When I look at this, I'm looking at and I I excuse me, I am having trouble seeing it, but I do believe I am seeing it correctly. The map with the legend with the green and the purple and I'm seeing it coming off of Roslyn going up Standardville for both green and purple. And also part of Hurst in the south part of Hurst coming around the corner going north and then making a right and going to on Hurst towards Church, I believe it is. So when I look at this map and correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm seeing roughly 24 houses from where it goes up north on Hurst, curves around the corner and goes towards Church from where the 40 zone is going to be till the end of the street. I'm wondering why the 40 zone stop there before McCloskey and why not continue it all the way down all the way across going eastbound towards Church because we got cars flying in and around the corner up there coming down like the Indiana Speedway and and something, you know, you're going to see a Ferrari doing and then coming down Standardville Ville and going towards Roslyn. And if it's if we're reducing speeds there anyways, why aren't we just reducing that whole street of Hurst? Why are we stopping 24 houses from the corner? Uh through the chair to Councillor Henry. I can get the exact details related to to, you know, whether there's parameters or minimum maximum requirements, but I'm assuming it's because it's within a certain distance of the school. Standardville also is a different classification of road than Hurst, so there might be different standards related to that. Um but I can follow up with uh Devol and get you some information related to her specifically and why we stopped and started it there. It's clearly outlined in the in the report, 165 m north of Standard Vel, 160 m south of Harris View. That's where the 40-minute is going to be implemented. Uh so there must be a manual or some technical guideline that's that's guiding that that decision. Uh and it's also strictly related school safety community safety zone? So it's probably those are why the parameters are in place. We wouldn't expand it beyond or just continue to add a long street uh as into infinity or however long it was. Uh we'd have to make a decision based on I'm not asking for Yeah, I'm not asking for infinity here, um respectfully, but we have that zone, that area. We have all the kids from Canting Lane coming over to Hurst to get on buses to go down to uh Lincoln Alexander. That's a huge school zone area for pick up and drop off including I in and around the McCloskey zone. So I understand when you're saying community safety zone in relation to the actual existing school, but because this area is a feeder school right now for the kids in Pickering that couldn't have their own school because the property had to have remediation done and they built the school and they have all the kids from Pickering coming over and the kids right across the street on Canting Lane can't even cross the road and go to school in their neighborhood. It's become a very busy school area. Can it be extended knowing that? Is there is there a parameters? If council wants to direct us to extend the 40 limit, 40 km/h limit, uh for the the length of Hurst, um council will have to direct us to uh to do that. But have you looked at that or no? You have not like have you have you looked at that when you when the Well, we proposed first of all through the chair to counselor So you're pretty and circulate the school boards and figure out where the the bus drop-off and pick-up is. Uh you know, in in my personal opinion, I feel people should be walking to school as opposed to getting bus to school or driven to school. Um that that is side. Um what I'm hearing from you is that you'd like the 40 km/h speed limit extended for the full length of Hurst Drive to church. So if that's council's direction, uh we'll take that direction accordingly if if that's approved by council. Okay. So when we go back to motions, uh chair, maybe throw that one in there because it's 24 houses from the corner in in what I'm hearing from the community and the speeding and that in that area, it would be beneficial to extend it to the end of the the 24 houses. And I would caution And chair to counselor Henry, we we want to make sure that we're mirroring the school zone the community safety zone as well. So that may be the reason why the 40 km/h zone is stopping where it is because we can only go so far from schools, etc. for traffic calmed area or community safety zone requirements. Uh that uh dictate that. So you can definitely make the motion. Count we can look at it and then we can report back. So when we talk about mirroring and I will take um my next question. When we talk about mirroring, we know that uh this particular school is and we've talked about this is the one that has uh no parking on either side of the street and that's not done in any other school zone on Hurst. And I've requested that that not be the case because we've we've started with like basically a pilot project on the school that's not mirrored in all the other schools. So when we talk about mirroring and making sure it is as such as other schools, that's that's a good point you've brought up with regards to mirroring. So I you know, I know this is not we're not going to address this in this meeting and I've been told, "Hey, wait for the master parking plan." But that's been pushed out again. So this is the only school um that I'm aware of in in the town that that has the no parking on either side of the street. So I would like to put that motion forward to go to the end of Hurst with the 40 and have that on the floor when the time comes, chair. Thank you. Thank you. We're going to just go to counselor Moran and then we will go from there. Thank you. Counselor Moran. Uh thank you, chair, for the work you're doing and for letting [clears throat] me in. Um my question to uh Director Romanowski through the chair is on McGill, uh as per the list of streets that have all these cool things happening to them. Um on McGill Drive between Sullivan Drive and Domini Drive. Um my request is that we add no parking signs along that stretch. And I will uh give you just a quick 30 seconds of insight. That's a downhill McGill there. Most of us who live in Ajax long times know know it well. When you're coming westbound from uh Old Harwood approaching Sullivan, it's quick. People are down there. It's cumbersome going to ride your brakes. If there's pedestrians around, it's extra cumbersome. So to have parked cars sometimes on both sides really really makes it tough because it tightens it all up. And uh residents who live there are trying to back out of their parking spots like their driveways and it just becomes a big mess. So I know there's a procedure, I know there's protocols, but um I wanted to uh ask the question and then at the very least put it into the record. Thank you, counselor Moran. Um Director Romanowski, no no comment needed because it's just he's going to we just a request. But it but is it the same answer as you gave um counselor Crawford? Reason I asked counselor Crawford, correct? Oh, fair enough. Is that is that the same the chair to counselor Tyler Moran, uh you're asking for no parking signs on both sides of McGill between Domini and Sullivan? That's correct. I I guess if council wants to direct us to to look at that, we'll take that direction. Again, we'll have to evaluate it. There there's there's a parking bylaw that traffic bylaw parking bylaw on street parking bylaw that we would have to reconcile and look at what that looks like, but if that's council's direction for us to to uh look at that and if it's approved by council, we'll we'll carry out that work. Follow-up question. But again, but again, I would re-emphasize like a lot of these things are going to be dealt with through the parking master plan. I I know counselor Crawford and counselor Henry have brought that up. Um it it's not approved in the budget. It is in the forecast for 2027. It would be uh in the hands of the next council to decide on the budget and where to place that project. Uh so I'll leave it in in council's good hands to to figure out where to position that project accordingly. Okay, quick follow-up if I may. Um is it only going to be considered, in other in other words, recognized if council requests it or is this something that our friend Mr. Pandya would hear this question say, "Hey, let's look into this." And you know, actually there is a problem there and it would come from staff. Or is it only going to be considered if we if we if we prompt? Uh through the chair to counselor Tyler Moran, I think you know, we'll look at it as issues come up. I don't think we've received a formal issue or complaint along this stretch of uh McGill. I I'm very familiar with it going back and forth to the the gym along here. Uh I'm using it to get out to Harwood from Westney. Uh it is steep. There's a three-way stop currently at that intersection. It is a busy street with lots of on-street parking, driveways, etc. Um there's also active bike facility on-road bike facility on both sides of the road. Um again, litter My concern comes up comes down to sign litter. Having so many signs out there that nobody knows what they're supposed to be used for. Um also, when you measure it up against the on-street parking bylaw, how how many space people can really park on this part of the street if we're really applying can't park 15 m from an intersection. Uh can't park in front of a fire hydrant. Can't park within 1 or 2 m from driveways. So we we'd have to assess that to determine where is the real parking spot here and where can't we allow someone to park? Right? You might say, "Oh, but both sides of the street, you can fit 10 cars here. You might only be able to park two cars specifically on the street based on the parameters, right? So, we have to we have to look at all that. Yeah, in other words, we have to look at all that. And I know I keep talking about the parking master plan, but the the overall objective of that future project is to look at all of this stuff, whether it's schools, streets, permit process, municipal parking, you know, cash in lieu of parking, like the whole whole everything. Everything, the the whole kitten caboodle when it comes to parking. What street should have on-street parking versus not on-street parking, permit parking, no parking, no stopping, looking at the schools holistically, as I've explained to Councillor Henry in the past, you know, schools all the schools in town have, you know, over the last 40, 50 years have evolved. There's been several that have sat in that transportation role, uh different standards, different streets, different different They're all unique situations, so not one school's just like the other. Um so, really the parking master plan is where that work needs to take place so that we can um comprehensively go through it in a in a in a in a comprehensive and um you know, diligent manner. Okay, thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Council, for your feedback. Um so, we've kind of put Director Romanowski in a awkward position with a lot of these questions and amendments. And you know, like it's I would argue I would argue as Chair, but also argue that these amendments should probably come as notice of motions anyways as they had previously, but I also don't want to shut down discussion. So, here is my suggestion. Um I would probably I would move myself to defer this to Council. Let us ask our respective questions to uh planning, give them the time to pull up any legislation, pull up any kind of studies, pull up anything else that they can answer without putting them on the spot right now, and then kind of going from there. Um and we can just discuss as a council. Again, I'm not trying to shut down discussion. I I understand, you know, people like Regional Councillor Crawford been waiting for a very long time with this, but I'm also uncomfortable, you know, we we we just inserting this into a traffic bylaw just willy-nilly. So, um that is what I suggest. I've not put the deferral on the floor. Um we have Regional Councillor Crawford first. So, you know, I can appreciate um that you you know, what you're doing. I I do appreciate that, and I'm happy to if you if it's waiting for Council, I'll wait for Council. It's 2 weeks. It's been over a year now, so what's another 2 weeks? I'm simply asking for one sign. We're not talking and it's not even really a budget issue because there's a stockpile of signs of no parking signs in operations. It's a matter of a stick and a sign and put it up. That's it. Um but I'm happy I did send this request to Deval. I don't know or Mr. Pandya. I don't know if he's not here or whatever, so I did put the request in or the the heads-up. So, I apologize if he's not here and he didn't get that. Um but you know, what if that makes it simpler for you, I'm happy to uh to oblige by the deferral. Again, it's 2 weeks. It's already been a year. Um and but I just want to make sure that like at Council uh when we go to move Am I Am I putting a motion in now cuz it's already too late for that, too. Uh no, no, no. So, again, um we're not voting on 4.13. 4.13 will come back to us and it'll say referred from GDC, and then show up in the in the minutes or in the agenda. piece by piece because I get it. No, I get I get exactly where you're coming from, but as suspected, um your one sign has now led to uh two, three other uh changes. And so, I just want to make sure we deal with this as fairly and give staff enough time to uh digest this. Okay. Yep, I'm fine with I'm I'm okay with that. I'm not going to argue with that. Appreciate it. We have Councillor Thank you. Councillor Henry next. Hi, yes. I I can wait till Council, but I just don't want to hear at Council that I can't do this on the Council floor. No, I'm telling you right now. I mean, I'll probably be the one chairing Council meeting. Um we will bring this up. Uh each amendment I would suggest you do them separately as opposed to a group, and then Council can then decide um any concerted amendments they wish to do. Uh more more to the point, um those who don't have any requests may want to include their requests at that point. So, I just want to make sure we're giving everyone a fair, adequate amount of time. Uh I would suggest again, not forcing, but anybody who has these amendments, please filter them to staff so they can come with the proper data so we can all make the best decision possible. Yeah, that's not that's not a problem. And I mean, like this was in the report. I'm simply I it was going to happen whether Regional Councillor Crawford asked for this no stopping, no parking, whatever this sign is regardless because it was in the report, and it's literally 24 houses away from the corner to stop that. I don't want to see folks flying around the corner at 50 and then slowing down to 40. That neighborhood is filled with kids, so. But I'm also again, you know, Director Romanowski can now come with any sort of legislative uh you know, notes uh if they uh exist. Yep. Sure. Yep, that's fine. Thanks. Any other comments? I appreciate the discussion. Um sorry, Councillor Henry, did you want to come back in? Oh, no, sorry. No. No, let me click it then. Oh, very good. You're good. Okay, um Great. So, right now we have a deferral on the floor. We're going to defer this to Council. Any other questions, comments, concerns? Seeing none, we will start the vote then. I did. Oh, I have to vote. Right. I can't just sit here. Council, appreciate that. Um that passes. Uh Okay, great. Um thank you. Moving on then. Where 4.14 has already been moved, we are on to presentations. We're on to 6.1 PDS-2026-09, the environmental sustain sustainability project and program status update. Uh we have Director Romanowski. I believe uh you're introducing uh Mr. Richardson, correct? Yes, thank you, Chair. Um yeah, I have Cam Richardson here to go over his uh yearly environmental sustainability and climate change update. Um We It's a sixth annual, so you've probably heard a lot of this stuff uh in some way, shape, or form, but this is really just bringing Council up to speed on all the great stuff that Cam's group's been working on uh this year and and coming up, and kind of just keep looping in uh Council on all the sustainability projects. So, Cam, I'll turn it over to you. Uh Mr. Richardson, you're here. Can you request to speak? The middle of the button in the middle. There you are. There we go. Sorry. Let me reshare my screen here. And just let me know if there's any issues. Uh the only issue is we see a black screen right now. Yeah, now I'm not seeing Let me try it once more. Now I'm not seeing my PowerPoint uh Yeah, neither way. Um we'll send this to Clerks, and Clerks No, we can't do it that way. I'm so used to You want to try one One more time, Cam? Yeah, I'll stop sharing and try again here. Maybe I'll close my PowerPoint and reopen as well. Cam, I assure you it's been a day of turning it on and turning it off again. [laughter] Yeah, we haven't done this for a while, so. We've never done this period in this format, so. All right, let me see here. No, for the Clerks, it's not even giving me the option of seeing the PowerPoint under the window tab. I'll share it. Okay, uh we will share it on our side. Just give us a quick second, and you'll let us know on each new slide. Okay. Is it you? Well, I'm trying to set the record for most recesses in one meeting. Should we call it on? Recessed. Yeah. Okay, it's 2:35. Everyone can join us back at 2:40, and we will try and work out these difficulties. Appreciate everyone's patience. We will get through this. We're back on. And we're back on. Ms. Richardson, thank you for your patience. Uh, please start your presentation. Thank you, everyone. Uh, good afternoon, uh, committee and, uh, Chair Lee. Thank you for having me. Um, as Jeff mentioned, I come every year to provide an annual update on the environmental sustainability and climate change programs and initiatives, and this is my sixth annual update. So, as always, uh, I kind of focus my staff report and this presentation on going through the different sections that we focus on throughout our work plan, and that is mainly climate change adaptation and resilience, um, specifically through our Ajax Climate Risk and Resiliency Plan, our climate mitigation work, and that includes, um, our our energy management as well as GHG emissions targets, our waste diversion initiatives, and then other initiatives such as sitting on external committees as well as some of our education and outreach. So, to start with our Ajax Climate Risk and Resiliency Plan, this this is the plan that really guides all of our climate adaptation actions, uh, to build resilience to, obviously, the climate impacts and extreme weather we're experiencing today, but that extreme weather that we're anticipating we will experience in the next 10 years. So, as you may recall, early in 2025, uh, my team completed the five-year update to the ACRRP Implementation Strategy, and really, we undertook this update cuz we wanted to ensure that emerging trends and new information on climate risk and and vulnerabilities were incorporated into the implementation strategy. And we also wanted to do some deep stakeholder and community engagement and consultation, uh, to help find the any perceived risks, um, actual risks, and how the community feels towards climate resilience. Um, at the same time we released our first-ever five-year progress report that highlighted a lot of the great work that had already been implemented as part of this plan. And when all was said and done, uh, the implementation strategy update was approved by council, and it identified 10 new action items that we're implementing as well as one amended action item. A big part of my team's work over the last several years, and and council has seen many presentations based on this work, is our wetland restoration projects. Um, so over the last several years we've completed major restoration projects, namely at the Carruthers Wetland site as well as the Audley Wetland site. Uh, we've completed a small wetland restoration in the Lower Duffins watershed, about a hectare size, and we have a big future wetland restoration coming up on the former Annandale site. So, starting in 2026, we are also undertaking a pretty significant tree planting initiative. Uh, we will be planting approximately 28,500 native trees and shrubs across 20 acres, almost 21 acres, of our wetland restoration sites. Um, so that will take place mostly throughout 2026 and also into the spring of 2027, and it's really to improve habitat quality, um, habitat connectivity, and also helps with other initiatives like air quality, um, and water retention as well. So, it's just part of our larger restoration goals. Another major focus of ours over the past several years has been, um, invasive Phragmites management. So, again, these are those really tall reeds that you may see driving along, uh, major roads within Durham Region. Um, they're usually 6 to 10 ft tall or can get even taller, and they grow in thick bunches. So, they've been named one of Canada's most, uh, damaging invasive species. So, it's a big focus of ours in Town of Ajax and across the region to manage these. Um, we have an ongoing management program within the Lower Carruthers watershed, and we will be continuing that this year with more, uh, s- um, strategic, um, management of those populations. As well, we continue our successful biocontrol program that we've partnered with UFT on to help, uh, use biocontrol agents, in this case two different moth species, to help control this invasive species. In 2025, we started a new collaboration with with the University of Waterloo, um, and their researchers are coming into our management sites to contact conduct soil collections to really look at the native seed bank within that soil, um, with the hopes that, you know, the what's left, the native seed bank left in that soil after we manage these invasive species, can actually regenerate on their own, um, so that we can grow native species in those sites. And as of early 2025 as well, we are an active member on the Durham Region Phragmites Management Area Working Group. It's a very long title to explain a group across the region of municipalities, government agencies, conservation authorities, indigenous groups, uh, and utility and transportation companies that are really trying to manage Phragmites on a regional level and not just on a local municipal level. We also, with the support of operations, undertake several urban forest initiatives. So, we continue to offer our popular Leaf Backyard Tree Planting Program, which helps residents subsidize tree planting within their own private yards. The operations team is, uh, implementing the five-year restoration and naturalization plan across Ajax, and together with operations last year we hosted community events that planted over 1,000 native trees and shrubs and about 850 wild wildflowers all across Ajax. Uh, and within 2025 we launched the Ajax Mature Tree Conservation Program. So, that program is a rebate-based program, really meant to incentivize proper maintenance of privately owned mature trees within Ajax. So, what we were hearing from the public was it's essentially the same price to remove entirely of mature tree that it is to have a qualified arborist come and prune and maintain that tree properly. Um costs can typically run a thousand dollars or more on some of these large trees. So cost was really prohibitive for Ajax residents to complete some of this work. Um so in 2025, we provided 20 Ajax residents with an rebate of an average value of $385 for their maintenance of their mature trees. This program is fully funded through a tree compensation fund, so non-tax revenue, uh and it is also continuing this year. We've already um actually received several applications for the program in 2026. So also very popular with Ajax residents. Now [snorts] to move on to some of our energy initiatives, you'll have noticed in your uh agenda package today that there's attachment one of my staff report, which is the annual corporate energy report. So we've attached the the report for 2025. Um I'll just note some very high-level um achievements within that report. I do encourage everyone to read that in detail. It has a lot of really great information and and detailed analysis within that report. But really it highlights our completion of both the corporate net zero emissions plan as well as our support for the completion of the Ajax district energy feasibility study. Both of those studies um were included in council's strategic plan as an action item. It's uh shows that we were recognized through the Durham Greener Buildings Awards for for two categories in 2025, namely the Impact Award for our Battle of the Buildings initiative. Um it talks about how we've implemented the Energy Cap Carbon Hub here at the Town of Ajax. It's an automated and integrated GHG analytics and reporting platform. It helps obviously track our GHG emissions on an annual basis, but also helps us uh report to the province um which we are mandated to mandated to through legislation. And a really cool point that's highlighted within the report as well is that compared to 2024, we saw a 35% increase in EV charger usage across the town in 2025. If we compare that to usage in 2023, it's actually a 170% increase. So it shows that they more residents and companies across Ajax are uh transitioning their fleet to electric vehicles. Uh as such our chargers are being used much more frequently. And here's a very quick snapshot of some of the information that's included within the the attachment. Um so if we're comparing to 2019 levels, uh since 2019 we're seeing almost 11% in electricity savings at the Town of Ajax and 13 and a half percent savings in natural gas. The solar PV systems located at the Ops Centre and Greenwood Pavilion generate over 130,000 kWh of electricity every year, which is roughly 90 to a to 100,000 dollars worth of electricity. Um and if we compare our overall energy costs in 2025 compared to 2019, we're actually saving over 162,000 dollars on an annual basis in terms of energy cost, which is really great considering that energy cost has increased every year since 2019. Now if we look at our overall GHG emissions, uh compared to 2019, we see massive savings on our natural gas systems. However, we see a pretty major increase of 370 tons of CO2 equivalent in our electricity emissions. Um and you may be asking yourself why that is because we've saved almost 11% of electricity compared to to 2019, and this graph on the lower right really shows why. So back in 2019, our baseline year for GHG emissions, the grams of CO2 equivalent per kilowatt hour produced in our in Ontario's electricity grid was hovering just over 20 grams. If you fast forward to 2025, we have almost tripled that carbon factor of our electricity grid. We are now well over 60 grams. So when we're comparing GHG emissions of our electricity use in 2025, the emissions are much higher than they would be in 2019. And as you can see on that graph, uh the province expects that emissions factor to continue to grow into 2027-28 until an eventual dip uh as new nuclear generation comes on board. So we're expecting that emission factor of Ontario's grid to continue to increase increase over the next few years, which obviously has a huge impact on our GHG emissions. In terms of waste diversion initiatives, initiatives, we have a few that are housed within planning and development services. So every year we host our annual staff drive that collected this year or in 2025 390 pounds of textiles and 650 pounds of e-waste to divert from landfill. The pet waste diversion program was expanded to an additional two locations bringing the total to 16 across the town. And new in 2026, we will be hiring um a corporate waste coordinator to really um implement waste management planning across the town. It will take on tasks that are currently undertaken by the operations department, but then also look at waste management planning in a in the long term. Um and that position will be housed within planning and development services. And lastly, we do a lot of outreach and education in our department, um but I always take this opportunity to promote our upcoming Ajax Green Living Days uh programs. We have some great programs this year. Uh some have already happened, but there's a lot coming up including a a Greenwood Conservation Area tree planting, our very popular compost giveaway, litter cleanups, as well as a very informative home flood protection webinar that's happening later. And I'd like to take this time to thank uh members of council as well as senior management team for all of the support. Really these programs are are implemented across the board uh throughout every department within Ajax. So I want to take my that opportunity to thank everyone for their support, and with that I can help uh answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Mr. Richardson, to you and your team for your continued vigilance. We have Councillor Henry first. Hello. Can you hear me? Yes. Yeah, okay, excellent. I was having trouble hearing there for a minute. So on page What page is this? Six of your um presentation there, I'm noticing that it is um referring to wetland restoration projects starting in 2026, tree and shub shrub planting will occur across 8.5 hectares of wetland restoration uh sites across Ajax, and Carruthers Marsh Wetlands is one of those. So I want to ask a few questions. Uh the first question is um Prior to doing this, when you go into this area, and it's a big project, I understand. I I took a look at it. It looks uh quite exciting, actually. And I have some folks in the neighborhood that want to be part of it and help when that time comes. Already telling me they want to be part of it. Um what does that look like for We have some encampments in that area. And I know that um staff are going to be dealing with them for um another um event coming up. But should they come back and reoccur, what does that look like prior to you going in and planting the trees and shub shrubs in that area? Is there like a a visual uh spot check done, another cleanup done to make sure that folks are out of that area? What does that look like? Uh through the chair to Councillor Henry. So in the past when we've done large-scale restoration projects, it's something that um our contracted workers and and town staff have gone to inspect in a kind of a pre-site visit to the the construction site. So if there was any encampment issues, we would follow the proper protocol, and I can defer to uh Director McLarty for for that. Um for this site, actually specifically to the Carruthers Marsh Wetland, it is I would say from an uh wetland restoration perspective, it's quite a small tree planting project. In uh and really that I'm saying that because there's very limited equipment used, and all of the trees and shrubs being planted are small enough that they're planted by hand. So planting staff go out with shovels and will plant all of all of the material. Um so I don't anticipate any major um obstructions to public on the trail. trails, uh the work is completed during the week with minimal equipment. So no no obstructions there. Um if staff were to if contracted staff were to see any encampments, again, we would follow the proper protocols for that. And when you say not a large um tree planting, what are we looking at here? How many trees? How many shrubs? Do you know offhand in that area? Um I believe at the Carruthers Marsh site, it's roughly 5 to 6,000 of that total. So so it is the smallest of the three tree planting sites that'll be undertaken in 2026. Um so it's you know, it's total, so smallest? Yes, correct. Yeah. They're just some They're small shrubs in in one-gallon pots or smaller. Um they're not super large trees. So um yeah, that that project will be completed in the spring. Um and and the larger projects are the Oddly Wetland and Annandale Wetland tree planting uh significantly more trees being planted at those sites. So it's nice to hear that's the smallest of the 5 to 6,000. That's pretty cool, right? Um when we look at that, is there uh protection because it's right next to the trail system? Is there like temporary fencing or something put up in and around there? And like I'm asking this for a reason. There was a fire there last week in that in and around that area. And I just want to make sure like when we're going to go in and do this now that we're aware of the situation in that area that, you know, all that hard work doesn't go to waste and the product doesn't go to waste and they're protected and they have a chance to flourish and grow. So, what does that look like? Are we going to be putting some temporary fencing in around or Yeah, through the charity you counselor Henry. Yes, typically at these sites there is some sort of tree protection used. Um, so in this example, we will be using rodent guards. That's really to to deter like browsing by smaller animals at like rabbits. Um, which can really, you know, if they chew the base of the tree, it can instantly kill it if they chew halfway through. Um, so they'll wrap with rodent guards uh on several trees and in this site we actually do have existing uh tree fence areas that are with metal stakes and tree fencing. It keeps the the trees protected from deer browsing. Um, and those are typically up from three to five years so that they get established cuz after that if a deer comes in and chews it down to the root ball, they're rooted enough that they can resprout. So, um, those tree fencing areas are already on site. Um, they're left over from the restoration that occurred in 2022. Oh, that's good. That's very positive to hear. Excellent. So, there will be some protection in that area. I mean, it How often do you check that once it's done? Is that something that you go back and check like every 3 months, 4 months? Yes, what staff will go check it on, you know, pretty frequent site visits to make sure the fencing is all standing um cuz if it were weren't standing, then deer could potentially get in and destroy the new planting. Uh we also do very official follow-ups and monitoring reports um 1 3 and 5 years after the tree planting. So, those are for more technical um with actual measurements for survivability, what species are doing well, what aren't. It can inform future projects and if we need to go in and replant and do some infill planting, we can do that at that time. Excellent. Okay. Well, when the time comes, will we be notified by the counselors of the area or all of council to bring some folks over and help? How does that work? Yes, that's a great question too. Yes, we will provide notice on when the planting is happening and the Oddly and Garrison Wetland site will actually house um community tree plantings as well to help with that. So, we'll have formal events where we can bring out school groups or community members to help with that tree planting. Excellent. I got some folks very excited. They've already got their gloves on ready to go. Thank you. Thank you. Perfect. Thank you. Counselor Bower. Uh thank you uh Deputy Mayor Lee. Good afternoon, Mr. Richardson. Nice to see you. I no question for you. I just wanted to comment. Love your report. Thank you for coming every year. But the uh mature tree conservation program that started last year, I was a recipient. I was an applicant for that program. I actually heard about it from other residents in my neighborhood who had used the program because we have many, many mature giant, beautiful trees that that need uh trimming and maintenance. So, really love that program. I think it was very successful. I'm glad to see that it's continuing. Thank you. No question. That's it for me, chair. Thank you, Counselor Bower. I see no other questions, comments, concerns from council. Thank you again, Mr. Richardson and Mr. Romanowski. Thank you. Okay, we have a closed session CDS-2026-13 uh ratification of Sorry, is that in there? Sorry, give me a second. I know, just making sure. Don't want to say anything I'm not supposed to. Sorry, folks. Give me a very quick second as I reformat my agenda. Okay, thanks for your patience. We are on again. Right, item 7.1 ratification of CUPE collective agreement. To discuss uh we're going to go into closed session to discuss labor relations or employee negotiations section 239 (2) (d) Municipal Act, 2001 as amended. Is there anything else I need to say about that? Okay, can I get a motion to go into closed session then from council? I see Counselor Bower. Any other questions, comments, concerns? Seeing none, we'll start the vote. And that passes. Thank you. We're going to give um clerk just a quick second to All right, we are out. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. Got the point. All right, we're out of close session. Thank you very much. Uh, there is a recommendation on the table for CD CSD 2026-13. Number one, the council ratify the Canadian Union of Public Employees CUPE Local 54 contract changes as outlined therein and renew the collective agreement effective April 1st, 2025 to March 31st, 2028. And number two, that council approves the recommendations recommended salary and benefit enhancements for the exempt on-union and part-time groups as outlined in this report. Can I get a mover for this, please? Uh, we see Councillor, sorry, Councillor Wheaton, Councillor Crawford, excuse me. It's the first one on my list. Thank you very much. Any questions, comments, concerns? Seeing none, we'll start the vote. Sorry, stop vote. And that is Now, we are left to adjourn this meeting. Can I get a mover to adjourn? I see Councillor Bauer. Thank you very much. Any questions, comments, concerns? Seeing none, we'll start the vote. Thank you. Oh, it's okay. Don't worry about it. It passed. That's the important thing. Thank you, everyone, for your patience as you work through this. Uh we will see everyone at council. Thank you.

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