Kenora – City Council Highlights December 13, 2021

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Kenora Update with Eric Melillo MP

KENORA – Politics – The City of Kenora City Council met on Monday December 13, 2021 – here are the minutes of the meeting:

 Monday, December 13, 2021 

1:00 p.m. 

City Hall Council Chambers 

Public access to the livestream meeting can be found at: 

https://kenora.civicweb.net/Portal/ 

Present: Mayor D. Reynard 

Councillor G. Chaze 

Councillor M. Goss 

Councillor R. McMillan 

Councillor A. Poirier 

Councillor S. Smith 

Councillor C. Van Walleghem 

Staff: Kyle Attanasio, CAO, Heather Pihulak, Director of Corporate Services/City Clerk, Charlotte Edie, Director of Finance, Kent Readman, Fire Chief, Kevin Gannon, Director of Engineering & Infrastructure, Adam Smith, Director of Corporate Services, Roberta Marsh, Director of Human Resources 

Call Meeting to Order 

Mayor Reynard called the meeting to order at 1:00 p.m. 

Blessing & Land Acknowledgement 

Delivered by Councillor Van Walleghem 

As we gather, we recognize that we are on Treaty Three Lands which are steeped in rich Indigenous history and home to many First Nations and Metis people today. We continue to be thankful for the partnerships with our Indigenous people. 

We give thanks for the many blessings we enjoy in the City of Kenora. We seek wisdom in our minds, clearness in our thinking, truth in our speaking and always love in our hearts, so that we may try always to unite the Citizens of Kenora. Let these principles guide us in our decision making. 

Public Notices 

Take Notice that as required under Notice By-law #144-2007, Council intends to adopt the following items at this Special Meeting of Council: 

N/A December 13, 2021 Special Committee of the Whole Minutes 2 

Declaration of Pecuniary Interest & General Nature thereof 

i) On Today’s Agenda 

ii) From a Meeting at which a Member was not in Attendance 

There were none declared. 

Deputations 

None. 

1. Strategic Plan Update – Urban Systems 

Kyle Attanasio, CAO provided the main purpose of today’s meeting. We want to ensure there is synergy of the staff feedback and community feedback as we move forward with the final stages of the plan development. 

The previous plan was difficult to measure and report successes tied to that plan. It is important to demonstrate to Council and to the public our progress with the plan and what we have achieved. 

Phase one the consultant reviewed the previous plan and developed an engagement plan. We engaged from June-August with the public with a public survey and engagement booths throughout the community. There was a staff engagement at our staff bbq and staff survey was provided. 

From September to November we received the draft plan and started to put together the initial plan. The managers and supervisory groups have had a number of opportunities to provide feedback into the draft plan. We are firmly in the draft plan and will have one last review of the plan and we will finalize the draft plan. 

The final draft plan will come to Committee of the Whole on January 11th and pass on January 18th. 

Dan Penner from Urban Systems joined the meeting. This presentation will be a further in-depth presentation to Council on where the community is at on levels of service and survey results which provide illuminating information through community results. 

The strategic plan is the overarching plan that informs all aspects of the organization, from decision-making to service delivery. Kenora’s Official Plan is the overarching land use and development Plan that guides growth and development in the community. Supplementary guiding documents and by-laws that align with, support and implement direction of the Strategic Plan and Official Plan. Department work plans are specific year-to-year work plans designed with tangible actions to implement direction from strategic documents and plans. Kenora’s operating & capital budgets are prioritizing programs, projects and service levels based on revenue/expenses and “higher documents”. 

The City’s roles and core mandates and responsibilities are the direct responsibilities are the indirect or are pulled into other areas. These are more of indirect rolls where the community expects us to be part of but is not a core direct mandate. Core services the City of Kenora directly provides to the community and/or has a municipal responsibility to do so. Indirect services that the City of Kenora is not directly responsible but plays some December 13, 2021 Special Committee of the Whole Minutes 3 

level of role, including: advocating, connecting stakeholders, City approvals and processes, funds/contracts but not operates (e.g. police). 

Direct/core mandates include: 

• Utilities (water, sewer, storm water) 

• Transportation, roads and snow removal 

• Recreation services and special events 

• Maintaining parks, trails, beaches and cemeteries 

• Fire services 

• Communicating Council and City affairs 

• Land use planning and development approvals 

• Solid waste management 

• Lake Access (municipal docks/launches) 

• By-law enforcement 

• Library and museum services 

• Promoting economic development 

Indirect/Supplementary 

• Housing 

• First response (e.g. EMS and Police) 

• Health care 

• Public health 

• Child care 

• Environmental stewardship 

• Mental health and social issues/welfare 

• Seniors services / long-term care 

There are a lot of things that we are being expected to do more with less. There are many areas that are downloaded to the municipality and the taxpayers. We have to make choices with all the various downloads to the municipality and it’s important for the taxpayers to understand this. 

Community priorities from the survey results from June-July 2022. 1,001 responses total, response per question varied between 550-1,001. Dan walked through the various results with Council and the priorities according to the community survey results. As a whole, the public is satisfied with the level of customer service they are receiving from the City. From the communication side, the public feels that they are happy with communication from the City as well. 

The top five issues that the public feels is important include: community safety & crime, housing, access to health care, social conditions and local economy and employment. What is Kenora’s role in addressing these community priority areas? The City actively advocates and participates with the All Nations Health Partners and although it’s not our mandate we do participate in health care. With community safety and crime the City is also an active partner, and sits at a number of tables. We don’t deliver the majority of these services but we establish the conditions and advocate for these issues within our community. The reality is we cannot make decisions that drive success in those areas. It makes it very challenging for Council if these are the priorities of the public because we have no direct influence over these identified community priorities. December 13, 2021 Special Committee of the Whole Minutes 4 

The broader objectives are to align with real community needs and priorities, sit within the parameters of the City’s responsibilities as an organization, be tangible, practical and measurable, be realistic and within the human and fiscal capacity of the City of Kenora, Create collaboration through the organization on project / service delivery and create a sense of “self-ownership” over the document. 

Our corporate values and action items were reviewed. Over the next few weeks and into the new year we will develop and revise the new strategic plan. We want to ensure the document is a strong communication tool to the community. We will be reviewing that back and forth with SLT in early new year. Will do a final community review to give the community one last chance to see the plan before we submit in January. The next step for the plan is work planning. The departments take those projects and go granular into the projects. 

Council was comfortable with the process and where the plan is at to this point. Council did not have recommendations to add to the plan at this point and was satisfied with the direction. 

Meeting adjourned at 3:17 p.m. 

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