Body: RULAC Type: Minutes Meeting: Committee Date: 2015 Collection: Council Minutes Municipality: Frontenac County
[View Document (PDF)](/docs/frontenac-county/Published Agendas/Rural Urban Liaison Advisory Committee (RULAC)/2015/09-09-15 RULAC Meeting Minutes.pdf)
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RURAL-URBAN LIAISON ADVISORY COMMITTEE (RULAC) Meeting Notes Date: Wednesday September 9, 2015 Place: Loyalist Room, 1st floor, City Hall (216 Ontario Street) Time: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Attendees:
City of Kingston: Mayor Bryan Paterson (Chair) Richard Allen, Councillor Gerard Hunt, CAO Sheldon Laidman, Director, Housing & Social Services Wendy McCafferty, POA Court Administrator Susan Nicholson, Director, Legal Services & City Solicitor Melanie Ryttersgaard, EA to CAO
County: Warden Denis Doyle Deputy Warden Fran Smith Councillor John McDougall Paul Charbonneau, Chief of Emergency Services Kelly Pender, CAO
Regrets: Ryan Boehme, Councillor
- Welcome: Mayor Paterson opened the meeting at 9:04 a.m. and welcome representatives from the County of Frontenac and the City.
- Adoption of Minutes of Previous Meeting: The minutes of the June 18, 2015 RULAC meeting were approved as presented. Moved by Warden Doyle, Seconded by Councillor Allen. CARRIED
- Communications: Not applicable.
- County of Frontenac Summary Report Fairmount Home (including financial reporting): On behalf of the Interim Administrator, CAO Pender addressed the Fairmount Home report. CAO Pender noted that he would like to bring to the RULAC table at a future meeting the changing nature of patient care that is currently being provided. Staffing levels will 1
need to be addressed moving forward to reflect the successful aging-in-home strategy that is delaying the arrival of seniors until they are in more significant need for nursing care. When the County is ready to discuss the changing nature of patient care, this will be included on a RULAC agenda for discussion. Emergency Services (Frontenac Paramedic Services) (including financial reporting): Chief Paul Charbonneau reviewed the report presented with the agenda noting the following:
Urban Station study is complete and will be presented by information report to County Council on September 23. The study identifies pressure points where service can be improved by re-location of resources. These areas include Rideau Heights and Kingston’s west end. Frontenac Paramedic Service is interested in investigating co-location opportunities with Kingston Fire. Discussions are ongoing. CAO Hunt indicated that Kingston is supportive of join service. Response time standards will be confirmed by County Council in October following a recommendation that they remain status quo. Deployment models for the Wolfe Island Ambulance Station were reviewed by County Council in August noting that employment status of current staff will mean changes to how the station is resourced. Transition plans are underway with OPSEU Local 462.
Warden Doyle asked what impact the Third Crossing will have on ambulance stations. Mr. Charbonneau indicated that options are open if the Third Crossing is constructed; servicing from Division Street and Elliott Avenue would be a key location. He noted that the ambulance station on Highway 15 was created to focus on the 401 and Highway 15 corridor. However, it primarily ends up serving Leeds & Grenville township providing seamless service delivery for the area. (A seamless system means that neighbouring municipalities must be available to assist other townships when they are unavailable to ensure seamless service delivery. N.B. cross border billing is in place for cost recovery.) Warden Doyle asked if discussions have been undertaken with Leeds & Grenville regarding the issue of seamless delivery. Mr. Charbonneau noted that the Gananoque station has been enhanced with another ambulance, however resources keep moving east (toward Brockville). Ambulances stand by in Mallorytown to service Brockville, leaving the County/City to service west of Mallorytown. Mr. Charbonneau indicated that Loyalist Station may increase to 24 hour service and consideration is being given to putting a station in Stone Mills Township. CAO Pender added that response time standard drives the changes and Frontenac Paramedic Service is somewhat aggressive in terms of response times. In addition, the response time standards developed by the County are conservative based on historical data.
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Mr. Charbonneau noted that the increasing population as a result of building starts in the Cataraqui West area is creating some issues. Regarding the Wolfe Island Ambulance Station, Mr. Charbonneau updated RULAC that due to a review of business practices, Council has decided to move to a different staffing model on Wolfe Island. This will be the end of 40 years of having volunteers in this area, and the last ambulance station in Ontario to be staffed by volunteers. The province is moving toward ensuring that all paramedics have a college education. The station on Wolfe Island will be maintained and the staffing model will be “on-site” and “standby”. Resources from Kingston will not be drawn over to Wolfe Island. Frontenac Paramedic Service is working with OPSEU Local 462 on the transition plan. 5. City of Kingston Summary Report Ontario Works, Childcare, Housing & Social Services: Mr. Laidman, Director of Housing & Social Services, addressed this reporting noting that the budget is trending positively to be under budget. Various factors include one-time administrative costs under Ontario Works to cover software implications. Ontario Works allowances for the County are at 49% even after Q2 which is positive. Budgeting for Childcare for the county is at 47%. Mr. Laidman noted that usually there is less usage of fee subsidies in the first two quarters of the year, but it ramps back up in Q3 and Q4 as children return to school and need before and after school care. Challenges moving forward were addressed by Mr. Laidman as follows: Childcare: this is the first year where we are moving into full-day kindergarten fully. This situation will reflect with childcare providers this year. In October/November, a report to Council will recommend an operating grant to daycares and childcare providers; 4-5 programs of funding will be combined for 47 different providers in the City and County. The formula is being tweaked, and details will be going out to providers at the end of September. Incentives will be included; for example, more points awarded if providers are serving the rural area, more points if providers are serving infants, etc. This is to assist in identifying and addressing gaps in funding needs. Providers are both commercial and non-profit and it is challenging to determine a system that will apply to both. It may be difficult for select providers. Funding will change January 1, 2016. Councillor McDougall asked whether people have moved ahead as childcare funding changes have been implemented. Mr. Laidman confirmed that the system is more predictable now; previous funding was dependent on a number of things including wage enhancement, new programming, special needs, etc. This is a clearer way of predicting funding due to the formula, and will enable better decisions. In addition, the 2016 City budget will include funding for monitoring/assessing childcare locations to review operations. He noted that new commercial daycare centres will
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not be funded; only commercial daycares that existed prior to two years ago will be eligible, along with private daycares. Ontario Works: Mr. Laidman indicated that the Ontario Works review is delayed by province. The goal of Ontario Works in Kingston is that by September 30, 2015 all case managers will be able to address employment assistance again. CAO Hunt added that one of the City’s strategies is to aggressively work on employment opportunities in an effort to close gaps on workers who are under-skilled. Housing: Mr. Laidman indicated that the City is moving forward in the final stages of analyzing operating obligations for the next 20 years. Federal funding is reducing to 0 at the end of 2034 and all operating agreements will be expiring. Unsustainable budgetary impacts exist. Warden Doyle asked if there is any hope that a future government would change the step down federal funding details. Mr. Laidman noted that some lobbying has been undertaken and every municipality has submitted comments through the province regarding the long term housing strategy. This is the way to provide feedback for change. CAO Hunt added that housing is becoming a prime topic at advocacy tables; the City is pleased to see the traction and research that has been done by these organizations. It is unlikely that the federal government will be able to ignore this for long, recognizing, however, that changes will come at a cost somewhere else. Mr. Laidman briefly noted the information reports regarding the upcoming Point in Time count and recommendations of the Housing & Homelessness Plan. In response to a request from CAO Hunt, Mr. Laidman noted that there is a capital program through the City to address housing on City-owned land and a number of initiatives are underway. For example, the City owns 1316 Princess Street and it is now going through the planning process. The City’s planners have been hired to zone the property for resale or for development with a private developer. There will be 200-300 units of some sort right on the transit route. In addition, the City owns a property on Wright Crescent for which a RFP was recently issued; the winning bid was a private developer plus Town Homes Kingston and this development will result in 250 units, including 35 affordable housing units. One of the bigger initiatives is the Rideau Heights Regeneration (coming to Council in November); a 25 year program to redevelop that neighbourhood. Redevelopment includes 500 Kingston Frontenac Housing Corporation (KFHC) units, and the goal is to make KFHC more sustainable through the process. In addition, the City plans to distribute Rent-Geared-to-Income (RGI) units throughout the city and possibly the County to reduce concentration in the Rideau Heights neighbourhood. The Regeneration includes redesigning parks and the community centre. Thirty units of social housing were demolished to make room for the park; this is a positive step
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because we were able to move tenants to other locations without a lot of disruption and are building units elsewhere in the KFHC portfolio. Councillor Allen asked about the upcoming Point in Time (PIT) count and how seasonal differences between January and October (the last PIT count) will be addressed. Mr. Laidman noted that one of the drawbacks of doing the count in January is that the statistics will not be comparable due to the seasonal differences. It is felt, however, that the advantages of participating in the national PIT count outweigh the disadvantages. To assist in offsetting the seasonal differences, the plan includes conducting a semi-count with just the shelters at that time as well to enable a comparison for consistency with the previous year. Councillor Allen asked how precariously housed people (couch surfing, etc.) will be addressed. In response, Mr. Laidman indicated that that information can be estimated but cannot be captured fully. At the last count an effort was made to estimate the number that were missed in the count; however, it is the homeless that are the focus on the count and not the precariously housed. Deputy Warden Smith asked whether people are asked where they came from before the shelter. Mr. Laidman confirmed that this is one of the measures that is being tracked, however the question is usually “where did you live 30 days ago?” which is a difficult question. If the individual is truly homeless, 30 days ago they were likely homeless as well, possibly in a shelter, so the results can be skewed. It is unlikely that they are going to respond with the name of the city or town that they lived in before becoming homeless. Councillor McDougall noted that at the last PIT count, the County was pleased with the process in the rural community and asked if the same process will be followed in 2016. He noted that service providers were pleased to give the information. Mr. Laidman responded that the City is working with the United Way to determine how to conduct the rural PIT as the national PIT count is an urban count. Mr. Laidman indicated that while he hasn’t seen the final plan from the United Way, he believes it to be an urban centre focus and the City and County will be on their own for the rural assessment. Deputy Warden Smith clarified that when the county references “social services” they are talking about health and social services including health services, LHINs and the Ministry of Health effects on the rural community. Provincial Offenses: Ms. Nicholson addressed the provincial offenses report, noting that the provincial court has moved from Wellington Street to 362 Montreal Street. The first court opening was on Tuesday September 8. A grand opening celebration will be planned and invitations sent out. Regarding budget trends, Ms. Nicholson noted that revenue is up in the second quarter due largely to some large fines (over $100,000). Trending in terms of charges is trending downward which is consistent with trending over the past several 5
years. Collection activity continues to be reviewed. A change to the new court location is anticipated to assist in making collections simpler as people will be able to access the collection location more easily. Justices of the Peace will be informed that payment can be made at the court offices at 362 Montreal Street. The Province has announced they are looking at penalties for non-payment of offenses; the City submitted feedback to the proposal earlier this year. CAO Hunt commented that the Province was contemplating enhanced collection tools, for example, driver’s license renewal would be prevented for outstanding fines. Ms. Nicholson and Ms. McCafferty indicated there is nothing new to report at this time on these enhancements, noting that the Province was working toward merging the system so that more delinquent payments could be caught. This is planned but not yet implemented. CAO Hunt indicated that the City has investigated adding fines to property tax bills. The challenge, however, is that if a property is in the name of two persons and one has been fined, the fine cannot be added to the property taxes. If the Province changed the rules, that would be helpful. Warden Doyle expressed his hope that some of the new tools will assist in collection. From the County perspective there are several million dollars outstanding and these should be written off rather than continuing to be addressed. Ms. Nicholson noted that a review is underway and will be addressed. 6. Other Business: Warden Doyle asked if a regional partnership with KEDCO could be of value. Mayor Paterson responded that a regional approach is important. The Eastern Ontario Economic Development strategy (Eastern Ontario Wardens and Eastern Ontario Mayors) is a regional strategy that will feed down into individual agencies so it is definitely underway. A review process with KEDCO has been announced and there will be an opportunity for input to come forward. Mayor Paterson will keep RULAC members updated. Councillor McDougall indicated that the County is dealing with some of the same OMB type issues that the City has dealt with and would be interested in discussing solutions that the City is working on. 7. Confirmation of Next Meeting(s)
The next RULAC meeting will be held at the County offices on Battersea Road in November. CAOs will determine a suitable date and time.
- Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:51 a.m. Moved by Warden Doyle, Seconded by Councillor McDougall. CARRIED. 6
