Council Preview
By John Swartz
Orillia council’s regular meeting on Monday, June 23, will start after the special meeting about the 2026 budget concludes, which will be no earlier than 2 p.m. top of the agenda are two deputations.
With the first, Karie Warnar of Avail Consulting, will present an overview of the 2025-2029 Couchiching Community Safety and Well-Being Plan. The province is requiring all municipalities to create such plans by July 1. The study was done by the County and how this works with Orillia’s adoption of the community well-being study during Steve Clarke’s second term isn’t known because there is no staff report. Presentation documents say, “The Plan should be posted (digitally) to the municipal website within 30 days of adoption.”
The second deputation will be made by Dr. Don Sangster, chief of emergency, and Jackie Junkin, substance use navigator of Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital, about a program called Substance Use Navigator.
It’s a program started by the hospital in February to connect people being discharged from the hospital to substance abuse programs either as outpatients or with other agencies. 80 people are being served by this program already. The presentation states there are about 20 suspected unintentional drug overdoses per week.
There is a funding request of $106,000. Staff say this should be a one-time grant and the program administrators should look for other long-term funding, and the City should help them lobby the province to fund the program. The program had start up funding from the Couchiching Ontario Health Team, which will run out July 31.
When deputations conclude the public forum begins and then Council moves to close session. They have two items on the closed agenda. First is to discuss funding increase for rented transit. The issues are outlined in the last Council Preview here.
Next is a report from development services regarding the Hill Standpipe Project.
Public Agenda
When counsel returns to public Mayor Don McIsaac as a report requesting Council endorsed a letter to Soldiers Memorial Hospital regarding the elimination of ex-officio seats on the board held by the City and the Legion. SUNonline/Orillia will have an analysis of what is happening and how that may be connected to building a new hospital.
Next, the Mayor has a report containing a request Council authorize him to communicate with the province to have Orillia included on list for the provinces Building Faster Fund.
This is a carrot and stick maneuver by the province; if you do what we say (build at least 80% of the number of homes we determined you should build) we will give you a grant – after you’ve already spent the money. There is no guarantee of repayment for something communities can only set the stage for, but not make developers play along.
The mayor says Orillia is not on the list despite several other larger communities like Belleville, Thunder Bay, North Bay and Chatham who were on the list with much lower targets than the almost 4,000 housing units Orillia is required to build.
The Mayor states the city could retroactively get almost $3 million in grants for the 600 housing units built since 2021 and the City stands to gain $13.5 million in total
Development services as a report asking council to include in the 2026 budget $8,000 to install a commemorative crosswalk near the Legion. The same department also has a request for the budget to include substantially changing the intersection at Patrick and Nottawasaga Streets by building a new, extended, curb on one corner. There is no dollar amount attached to this project. They also have a report to send a budget request for $65,000 to make the traffic circle at Forest Avenue and James Street permanent. Currently there is a temporary traffic circle and if council rejects this request the intersection would become a four-way stop.
Housing
There are two reports related to creating affordable housing one is to create an in-house program to help non-profits through the process of getting permits to build. The second report asked Council to approve what is called a Per Door Grant Program to be funded by the CMHC.
The City was awarded $4.5 million, but to get all of it (it comes in annual instalments) 900 housing units, including 100 affordable units, need to be built by 2028.
Storm Recovery
The next two reports relate to the ice storm. Environment services is reporting on things learned from the City’s response to the disaster, which involved being a coordinator for surrounding municipalities and the involvement of several outside agencies.
The other report asks council to allow staff to request the minister of municipal affairs and housing activate the Municipal Disaster Recovery Assistance program. The City stands to recover from the province $6.5M of the $7.3M it expects to spend on clean up. the emergency response was due to end June 30, but several contractors had to withdraw service because of other contractual commitments, and staff say cleanup efforts will likely continue to the end of August.
Round 3
Council will have a special meeting Thursday June 26 at 6:30 p.m. in council chambers regarding Strong Mayor Powers. The differences from the previous meetings on this subject are: it’s at night, it will be livestreamed, the public can speak, and a lawyer, John Mascarin of Aird & Berlis LLP will be on hand by video conference to make a presentation about the new powers and take questions – but first council has to approve the fee of $5,000 for him to appear.
The End Is Near
Councillor Tim Lauer pulled a report from a council information package informing council the City was not successful getting grants to repair the rood of the Barnfield Point Recreation Centre, and to build a skateboard park and a pickleball court. It’s on the agenda for council to direct staff to report further on the viability of those projects.
There are no new motions or by-laws other than routine.
Council meetings are open to the public or can be watched on the City’s Youtube channel.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia; Images Supplied)
