Council Preview
By John Swartz
Orillia council meets Monday, May 26 at 2 p.m. There are no presentations or deputations and after the formality of opening the meeting they will move straight to the public forum and then into closed session.
They have two items in closed session. One is to discuss a land purchase in the Horne Business Park. That may be oddly worded because this city is usually selling land in the business park rather than buying land. The other is to review a grant to Information Orillia. They have a report from councillor Janet-Lynne Durnford on that subject.
This is unusual, to have discussions about grant applications in closed session beyond the scope of the grants committee. There is a report further down the agenda in the open part of the meeting to approve a number of grants to these organizations:
– Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital Foundation – $1,500
– Alzheimer Society of Simcoe County – $1,500
– Hillcrest Lodge – $1,000
– Orillia Fish and Game Conservation Club – $1,500
– Orillia Horticultural Society – $1,500
– Born to Read Committee – $1,000
– Orillia Concert Band – $1,500
– Orillia and Area Black Community Association – $1,500
– Orillia Vocal Ensemble – $1,500
There is a note that the grant application from Streets Alive the received as information, which means their request for $1500 is denied. Streets Alive asked for financial help restoring the letters A and T, which were damaged during the fire downtown.
The original intent of the grant fund was to streamline requests from various arts and cultural groups into dedicated application periods, and be scrutinized by the same eyes for all applications. In recent years grants have been made to groups one would not normally think fit the description of arts and culture.
In this budget year the fund was increased and provision made for sports organizations (which when you think about it is part of our culture) to apply for grants. Sports organizations had been requesting funds from council for things like tournaments and special events, but those tend to come in to council as the need arises, rather than with some forethought through the grants committee system. It appears being a mechanism for arts and cultural groups to get municipal assistance and support has been expanded to any group.
The 2025 budget was increased from the $32,000 annually allocated (which remained unchanged since inception) to $50,000. Before the grants noted above were approved, the balance of that fund was $39,500.
Reports
When counsel returns to public business there are two reports from staff about committees of council. One is from the accessibility advisory committee about something called the Accessibility Champions Awards Program. This is something new for which council added $1000 to the 2025 budget.
The award is intended to be given to people, businesses, and community groups that advance the cause for accessibility. The report also includes an addition to the policy manual which sets out a nomination process between March 1 and April 1 annually. The committee expects to make their first awards in 2026 during the last week of May.
The commemorative awards selection committee also has a report to make amendments to the municipal policy related to the Order Of Orillia and the Orillia Hall of Fame.
The committee wants to make the awards presentations not dependent on happening at a council meeting. They would prefer to do something in the evening. This is the second time this year the argument, which was voiced at the time council change their meetings from the early evening to the afternoon, that more people would be able to attend an evening meeting/presentation.
How High Is The Snow?
Staff have a report asking council they be allowed to do more work on 19 recommendations from a working group to improve snow removal. They want to go ahead to devote time to determine resources, feasibility, and cost of implementing any changes.
The changes are grouped into four areas. Under communications they want a campaign to get people to not shovel snow onto the roads. The committee would also like by-law officers to be more proactive going after people who shovel snow onto the road. They also want to be able to hire private contractors to, clear snow on private property to, “create capacity for driveway snow.” That means digging out snow pack at the bottom of driveways.
Specifically for the downtown there is consideration for the city to take over clearing snow downtown and at the same time increasing the downtown tax for this item. Downtown Orillia currently is responsible for clearing sidewalks but experience shows there is little room to clear snow to once the roads of been plowed and snow banks created. In this writer’s experience many other municipalities of the size of Orillia clear out all the snow from downtown cores within 24 to 36 hours after a major snowfall.
Relating to roads and sidewalks there is a recommendation to buy two more plows, or hire contractors to do that work. The committee also said clearing sidewalks at crosswalks needs to be improved. One way of doing so is to better coordinate plowing sidewalks by concentrating on major routes that connect to each other (i.e. there is not real benefit to clearing Fittons Road to get to the store if Laclie Street sidewalks haven’t been done)..
Generally, while driving following storms the past two winters has been much better since the city started using salt, the committee wants to examine going back to sand. They also want to make sure any planning related to reconstruction of downtown streets is done with consideration to snow clearing.
Waving The Flag
Council asked staff at the April 28 meeting to look at the feasibility and cost of installing a flagpole in the Aqua Theatre. Staff say it would cost $17,000 and there already is a flagpole at Terry Fox Circle and one at the port building; the best time to put in a new pole at the Aqua Theatre is when one of the other poles has to be taken down. Council has a recommendation to receive the report, which means do nothing, and an alternative motion to go ahead and spend the money in 2026.
Speaking Of Storms
Staff have a report that council authorize $360,000 for brush and tree wood removal at the landfill. The landfill is being used to stockpile all the wood with the intention of chipping it and removing it to somewhere else. Staff are suggesting the money requested should first come from any grants received related to storm cleanup or from the tax rate stabilization reserve. Staff believe the city’s costs for this are eligible for the province’s Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance program.
The staff say nine tenders were received to do the chipping and removal work, but the tender call closed on May 20 and they are still reviewing them.
Cleanup is still going on, as could be evidenced by the sound of chainsaws inaction this past weekend. Staff say to date 4100 tonnes of wood as been delivered to the landfill and they expect that number to be as high as 6000 tonnes by the end of June. They also received 59 tonnes of other storm related debris.
So, How Are We Doing
Staff have something new for council. It’s called the tri-annual budget performance report. It appears staff will be forwarding the performance analysis they do every four months anyway to council.
While nice to have, the problem is, with the first report of the fiscal year and being only for four months of operation, it does not take into account most of city spending, with the exception of snow removal, takes place during the summer months.
The more useful report to analyze spending against budgets would be the one due in August. If things are out of whack by then it would be very apparent, and staff are pretty good at coming to council when expenses are greater than budget. Anyone trying to make hay out of discrepancies now is either trying to stir a pot or not taking timing into account. As it is, staff are not highlighting any issues in this report.
Take The A Train, Please
Not that Orillia has a train system but we do have public transit and notwithstanding the above section of this preview there is a problem with the transit system expenses. TOK Transit, which operates the city’s buses, has sent a letter to council asking for a review of their contract which does not expire until 2027. It was renewed in 2021. Unless you’ve been living on an island without internet the past few years you don’t need an advanced degree to understand costs have gone haywire.
The company is also advising the city negotiations with labor are indicating bus drivers are asking for a larger raise them was provided for in the contract the company has with the city now. Bus drivers currently get $21.55 per hour while most systems in the GTA are paying $10 more per hour, and most other municipal transit systems are paying $20 more per hour. They note that Barrie Transit drivers are getting $29.56 per hour and Lynx Transit drivers are getting $24 an hour. The company says the union is asking for a 38% increase over six years and that in view of what drivers are making in other municipalities and the results of negotiations recently completed elsewhere (TOK also operates York region transit and those drivers just got a 29% increase over six years) it is not an unreasonable request. However the contract the company has with the city only forecast at 2 or 3% annual increase.
This poses a problem for staff morale, driver retention, and membership dissatisfaction with their union which the company says may lead to staff switching unions to one that is more aggressive. They are also warning of the possibility of a strike after July 1.
As if that’s not enough, the cost of general maintenance of the fleet has risen dramatically (from $300,000 annually at the start of the contract to almost $800,000 at the end of the last fiscal year) and the cost of replacement parts for older buses in the fleet have gone higher than Elon Musk’s rockets can reach. The company provided the city with a short list of common replacement parts which in total have risen 62%.
While the company would like the city to agree to reopening the contract, they would also like the city to consider a contract extension beyond 2027 now. They are dangling a carrot because the company wants to build a tire retreading facility somewhere in Ontario, but if it was built in Orillia, they would also tack on a maintenance shop to replace the one they have now in which only two buses at a time can be serviced. would create 20 new jobs. They say building such a facility only makes sense with an operating contract extension.
The company said they will fulfill the contract under the current terms if they have to, even though they have lost money and will continue to lose money, but it would be nice if the City played ball. The letter is under the correspondence header, which means council needs to determine how to direct staff for a report.
The End Is In Sight
There are no motions and there are no by-laws unrelated to actions at previous council meetings.
Council meetings are open to the public or can be watched on the City’s Youtube channel.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia)
