Council Preview
By John Swartz
Orillia council will meet at little early Monday, March 30 at 1:45 p.m. because they will hold a special meeting for tax appeals. There will be a total of $2,935 written off, mostly because of building demolition. Which properties are a mystery, since in recent years only tax roll numbers and not addresses are listed.
Two presentations follow. One is for the 2025 Citizen of the Year, and the other to recognize Dan Rowe ( a City employee) for coming with the idea to recognize people who have demonstrated exceptional civic pride.
Then there will be a deputation by Insp. Todd Landon, Detachment Commander, S.Sgt. Ted Donglemans and Sgt. Matthew Stoner of the Orillia OPP Detachment to discuss the Community Mobilization Unit’s (CMU) structure and goals.
The CMU’s purpose is for a team of officers to focus on community issues leading to strategies to connect community partners, promote community safety and reduce calls for service.
The powerpoint presentation is loaded with initialisms that are not explained so clarity is not easy to figure out, but there are different levels of officer involvement and some programs proposed are school and youth programs, community safety programs and community events.
Mental health and addiction cases are a significant part of the attention being given.
When that and the following public forum conclude, council will have a closed session with two items on that agenda.
One is addressing persistent IT skills. What does that mean? Leave up to computer geeks to come up with a description far removed from the problem. It’s not that skills acquired are persistent, it’s that skills one has today will be obsolete in 5 years or less, and it’s assumed the discussion in closed session is about the municipality’s vulnerability regarding current staff and skill development/learning.
The other item is about negotiations and options regarding the Foundry Park pickleball court construction.
Facing The Music
When council returns to meet in public the first item is a report about the Champlain monument. A separate piece was published earlier on this matter and can be found here.
Next, councillor Tim Lauer has a motion to create a community greenhouse working group. This is following an unsuccessful bid to reopen council’s previous decision regarding the re-development of the Seymour Conservatory in Couchiching Beach Park, but picks up the shovel from a deputation by the Sharing Place Food Bank and the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit and possibly build something somewhere else.
The plan council originally had for the conservatory was to largely renovate and keep the greenhouse function. The plan advocated otherwise was to renovate and turn it into a place where people can learn to grow their own food, along with a greenhouse function.
The committee would be made up of three councillors, a staff person from Development Services and Engineering, a staff person from Environment and Infrastructure Services, Chris Peacock, of The Sharing Place Food Centre and Charlotte Knegt, of the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit.
Next, engineering has a report on a request for all-way stop at Matchedash and Elgin Streets. Staff did two studies in 2025. One, the traditional traffic manual study, found none of the criteria were met. Staff did observe a number of rolling stops, so they did a safety study and found of the four levels of risk which looked at speed and time differences between vehicles occupying the intersection all were of a medium or low risk.
Consequently, staff does not recommend changing to a four way stop.
Next, council asked for a report to replace trees along Colborne and West Streets which were lost following last year’s ice storm. Staff report they already have a plan to remove stumps and plant ten trees in this year’s budget.
Next, environment and infrastructure has a report on the City’s role in the Lake Simcoe Watershed. Staff say of the six goals of the Rescue Lake Simcoe Coalition’s report, Protect Our Plan, five directly relate to Orillia. They are:
- phosphorus reduction
- pathogen reduction
- maintain dissolved oxygen
- improved stormwater and wastewater performance
- subwatershed monitoring.
Staff say most of the recommendations from the RLSC have already become standard practice in Orillia, and of the others, staff support in some way according to The City’s involvement required and influence.
Staff recommend council support in principal the RLSC plan and communicate the City’s position to the province and feds.
Still with water, environment staff want council to change the scope of an already approved budget. They are in progress for a aeration system retrofit, but now want to include planning and design work for a system wide modernization of the waste water treatment plant.
Staff say there is already $52 million of planned projects over the next ten years, but its piece work and they want o have a coordinated plan for the whole system. They say having such a plan will put the City in good stead when funding programs from other levels of government materialize.
Motions
An action by staff to reject a deputation from the Federation of University Women Orillia, stating in May 2024 council already supported the Town of Bracebridge motion to petition the province to declare an epidemic of gender-based violence is up for new direction to allow the deputation.
There two enquiry motions. Councillors Jay Fallis and Jeff Czetwerzuk would like a report by June 29 reviewing municipalities that have implemented reduced speed limits, which may be used to determine the feasibility, costs, and implementation of a reduced speed limit program in Orillia.
Mayor McIsaac would like staff to report on the feasibility, implications, and requirements to advance all road resurfacing projects planned for 2027 into the 2026 construction season.
Council meetings are open to the public or can be watched on the City’s Youtube channel.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia)
