Five Things You Should Know
By John Swartz
Updated.
There a few things happening in Orillia City Hall is behind you need to take note of.
Of high importance are the 2021 budget deliberations. They begin Monday at 1 p.m. Council chambers are still closed to public participation and watchful eyes. Rogers TV has been showing council meetings live, however budget meetings happen during the daytime and will not be shown. The meetings will be recorded and available to watch afterwards and you can find them on the City’s website.
Meeting dates and times are: Nov. 16 @ 1 p.m.; Nov. 19 @ 1 p.m.; Nov. 25, 26, 30 and Dec. 1 @ 9 a.m. The final meeting, a special meeting of council to approve the budget is Dec. 7 at a time yet to be determined.
Manufacturing Forum
The manufacturing community might be interested in viewing Simcoe County’s Virtual Manufacturers’ Forum on November 17. You must register to view the 8:30 a.m. to noon forum and you can look over the agenda here.
“The virtual forum will focus on trends that are shaping the future of manufacturing, including the impacts of the pandemic. The agenda includes keynote addresses on energizing workplace cultures and managing market volatility, information on business and funding supports, and an industry panel discussion on challenges and opportunities in the current market.“
Forum partners are the county, cities of Barrie and Orillia, Georgian College and Lakehead University.
Policing Priorities
The Orillia Police Services Board and Orillia OPP want public input regarding policing priorities for a new 3-yer action plan. There is an online survey here to fill out by noon, November 25 and you can choose to join the meeting to speak to their written submission. A link to the December 3, 3 p.m. meeting will be sent by email to those who do the survey.
Note, at present, while you can fill out the survey in your browser, there is no submission button and in Chrome the only option is to save the document as a pdf. Normally, one can save a pdf document and then open it in a word processing program like Word, fill it out, save it, then email the completed form to kpreston@orillia.ca, but that process is also not working. SUNonline/Orillia, will make an inquiry regarding how to do the survey online and update this story.
UPDATE: There was an issue on the City Hall side of the internet making a submit button work. This is seems to affected the ability to save the file on one’s own computer. To fill out the survey, using Chrome and Adobe Acrobat Reader, use the download button (it’s an arrow) on the upper right side of the window to download the form to your computer. Open the file, which should happen outside of Chrome in an Acrobat window. Fill it out and save it. Attach the saved file to an email addressed to kpreston@orillia.ca .
Winter Parking
While using municipal parking lots is free of charge until New Year’s Day, overnight parking restrictions start November 15. Parking is not permitted in those lots, or on any street from midnight to 7 a.m. daily. There is a ticket available to those who park on streets or in parking lots, and the vehicle could be towed. The restrictions end April 15, 2021.
Citizen Of The Year
The City’s Citizen of the Year nomination period is starts November 30 and submission must be made by noon January 7, 2021. Nominees must be residents of Orillia, or surrounding townships, or Rama. Contributing to the betterment of Orillia through volunteerism and accomplishments during 2020 are the criteria.
Members of the selection committee are Leslie Fournier, Michael Gordon, Stan Mathewson and Gini Stringer (all former Citizens of the Year) and Frank Matys Nathan Taylor and Rick Purcell. Mayor Steve Clarke is a non-voting member of the committee.
Visit the City’s website after November 30 for nomination forms.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia)
