Body: Council Type: Agenda Meeting: Regular Date: October 27, 2020 Collection: Council Agendas Municipality: Frontenac County
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Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee Tuesday, October 27, 2020 – 10:30 a.m. Community Room, Sydenham Library 4412 Wheatley Street, Sydenham Meeting to be held in combination of in person and Virtual Electronic Format, and live streamed on the County of Frontenac’s YouTube Channel https://youtu.be/PMb1ByEPga8
AGENDA Page 1.
Call to Order
Adoption of the Agenda a) That the agenda for the October 27, 2020 meeting of the Joint Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee be approved.
Disclosure of Pecuniary Interest and General Nature Thereof
Adoption of Minutes
Deputations and/or Presentations
Reports to the Accessibility Advisory Committee a) 2020-096 Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee –Update Report
3-7
This report is for information purposes only. b)
2020 Celebrating Accessibility Awards [Nominations to be distributed under separate cover] That be selected as the 2020 recipient of the County of Frontenac Celebration of Accessibility Award
Township Updates a) Township of North Frontenac b)
Township of Central Frontenac
c)
Township of South Frontenac
d)
Township of Frontenac Islands
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Page 8.
Communications
Other Business
Next Meeting
Adjournment
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AGENDA ITEM #a)
Report 2020-096 Committee Report To:
Chair and Members of the Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee
From:
Jannette Amini, Manager of Legislative Services/Clerk
Date of meeting: October 27, 2020 Re:
Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee –Update Report
Recommendation This report is for information purposes only. Background The Accessibility Advisory Committee is mandated to assist County and Township Councils in enabling persons with disabilities to have equal access to all opportunities within the County as well as work with Council and the community at large to identify and address the needs of persons with disabilities within the community. Comment The follow is a list of accessibility updates and activities that have occurred during 2020:
- K&P Trail Update For the Committees reference, the following motion was approved by County Council at its regular meeting held May 20, 2020 e)
2020-051 Planning and Economic Development Options to provide motorized access to the K&P Trail from Bellrock Road to Craig Road
Motion #: 87-20
Moved By: Seconded By:
Deputy Warden Vandewal Councillor Higgins
Be It Resolved That access be extended for ATV use on the Frontenac K&P Trail from Craig Road south to the Verona Trailhead at Bellrock Road until November 30, 2020; and, Further That staff be directed to post “community safety zone signage” and post speed to 20 km/h; and,
2020-096 Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee –Update Report
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AGENDA ITEM #a)
Further That staff report back to Council on this pilot initiative no later than Q1 2021. Carried 7:1 (See Recorded Vote) Yeas:
Councillor Doyle, Councillor Higgins, Councillor Higgs, Councillor MacDonald, Councillor Martin, Warden Smith, Councillor Vandewal (7)
Nays:
Councillor Revill (1)
Absent: (0) As a result, the K&P Trail from Craig Road south to the Verona Trailhead at Bellrock Road was opened to the use by ATV’s until November 30, 2020. A Report was presented at the regular meeting of the Community Development Advisory Committee in August of this year regarding a K&P Trail Stakeholder Survey. The committee requested that additional questions be added to the Survey as well as a working group be established to evaluate the appropriate use of the Frontenac K&P Trail in the pilot area. The additional questions included: 23. As part of a pilot project in 2020, the County provided 4 km of additional motorized access between Craig Road and the Verona Trailhead at Bellrock Road to improve ATV access to local businesses and safe loading and unloading at the Trailhead location. In 2021, the County should: □ Make ATV Access to the Verona Trailhead through Verona permanent □ Continue the pilot project for another year □ Return to the policy of ATV access beginning at Craig Road. 25. In general, how do you feel about the overall condition of the Frontenac K&P Trail surface? 26. Are there any specific maintenance or infrastructure issues on the Frontenac K&P Trail that you feel the County should address? 27. Frontenac County would like to identify ideal spaces for benches and rest areas to support increased trail use for all ages and abilities. Is there a location that you feel would benefit from a bench or rest area? 28. Are there any other amenities or improvements that you would like to see the County make to the Frontenac K&P Trail? (Please feel free to be specific) The survey is open until November 30th and members of the Committee are encouraged to complete the survey which can be accessed through the following link K&P Trail Survey. If any members of the Committee are interested in participating in the working group, kindly advise. Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee –Update Report October 27, 2020
2020-096 Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee –Update Report
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Sharbot Lake to Clarendon Station – Construction is now complete from Sharbot Lake to Clarendon Station. In this leg of the trail, the surface is very hard packed, as noted by the AAC in previous consultations that the hardness of the surface is importation. Accessible wayfinding signage has been ordered and will be added in the coming weeks. 2. Transportation Services for the County of Frontenac As part of the 2020 budget, the County of Frontenac provided the Southern Frontenac Community Services and the Rural Frontenac Community Services with funding in the amount of $48,000 each through a 1 year contract to assist in transportation in the County. This funding has been in place since the mid 2000’s, although up until 2019, transportation services for service agencies operated solely under the Frontenac Transportation Services. In 2019, the funding was subsequently split between both agencies, each now operating its own transportation service for its respective area. As previously reported, during the 2020 budget deliberations the decision was made by Council to advised Rural Frontenac Transportation Services and Southern Frontenac Transportation Services that all future funding from the County would cease. As a result of public pressure regarding the need for this service, both agencies were invited to attend the September 16, 2020 Public Meeting of Council if they wished to make a funding request for 2021. Each agency attended, making the same funding request as in previous years, that being $48,000 respectively. Based on current data, RFCS projections for 2021 is to provide 7,000 one way rides annually to over 250 unique people, with close to 40% being seniors. SFCS projections for 2021 is to provide 5,720 rides for 150 unique seniors. For the Committees perusal and to see how each agency utilizes these funds to provide its services to residents, as well as how their respective services were affected this year by the COVID-19 pandemic, a copy of the RFCS and SFCS presentations are attached to this report as Appendix A and B respectively. At the 2021 budget deliberations, the Committee of the Whole has recommended to Council that funding for both of these transportation agencies should continue and that this funding become a line item in annual budgets moving forward. 3. Accessible Document Conversion As previously noted to the Committee, 2019 was an accessibility compliance reporting year, in which the County of Frontenac reported non-compliance due to the documents on its website not being in an accessible format. As part of that report, the County identified mitigation strategies to rectify the issue and bring the County into compliance. Part of that mitigation strategy was the investigation, and subsequent purchase, of a license with Equidox to remediate these documents. On March 12, 2020 an email from the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility was sent to the Manager of Legislative Services/Clerk regarding the County’s 2019 Accessibility Compliance Report. Within that communication, it should be noted that the Accessibility Directorate recognized that this is a challenging time and that many organizations have been impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak and that the Ministry Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee –Update Report October 27, 2020
2020-096 Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee –Update Report
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for Seniors and Accessibility continues to encourage compliance with all appropriate accessibility requirements under the AODA as organizations adapt operations during these difficult times. In response to that email, it was advised that as part of the County’s 2019 Compliance Report, it had reported noncompliance as it had come to the County’s attention that its website contained pdf documents that were not fully accessible. It was also noted that the County was looking to rectify this by investigating software solutions that convert pdf’s to accessible pdf’s. Earlier this year, the County signed an agreement with Equidox which has developed a fast and easy-to use web-based software solution that converts inaccessible PDF documents into WCAG 2.0 AA-compliant HTML and accessible PDF and EPUB 2 content. The County have 2 staff who are currently going through all of the documents on its website to bring them into compliance and it was hoped that it will have all documents completed by the end of the year which will then bring the County into compliance. The Administration Clerk and the Executive Assistant to the CAO and Director of Corporate Services have taken the lead on this project, which included in-depth training of the software and remediating existing pdf documents into accessible documents. This process can take anywhere from 15 minutes to a number of days, depending on the type of document. Although, Equidox helps with the remediation of existing pdf documents; documents such as Consultant Reports, Financial Reports and Official Plans remain difficult to remediate due to the complex details, specialist knowledge and charts within these documents. On October 14, the County was once again contacted by the Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility as a follow up on previous emails where the County had indicated that it required additional time to meet the requirements for accessible websites under section 14 of the Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation. Within that communication, it was asked that the County confirm if it still required until the end of the year to come into compliance and if so, the Ministry would provide the County with a compliance plan with a due date December 31, 2020, or if the County had met the requirements, to complete and re-submit the 2019 Accessibility Compliance Report. Unfortunately, due to the number of documents still requiring remediation, and, the time required to remediate comprehensive documents, at this time, the County will be advising the Ministry that remaining with the status quo would not place the County in compliance by December 31, 2020. As a result, it will be pulling all documents that have not yet been made accessible off of the website by year end and then slowly adding them on as they are put through Equidox, thus bringing the County into compliance. The following process will be taken in determining a cue line for remediating documents:
- The Communications Officer will advise of the most popular documents viewed;
- The most popular documents will be remediated by staff as their time permits;
- A brief description will be added to the website for the most popular views advising that the document is available by request. If the request requires that Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee –Update Report October 27, 2020
2020-096 Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee –Update Report
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the document be in an accessible format, that document will be set as a priority in the cue list; 4. Only “in demand” documents will be added back to the County’s website; 5. All new documents being uploaded to the County’s website will be required to comply with the regulations. Strategic Priorities Implications Priority 1: Get behind plans that build community vitality and resilience in times of growth and change. This priority responds to high interest as well as concern shared broadly across the County that communities in the Frontenacs be well supported with infrastructure and services essential to vitality and sustainability in today’s world. Financial Implications There are no direct financial implications associated with this report. Organizations, Departments and Individuals Consulted and/or Affected Richard Allen, Manager of Economic Development Eric Korhonen, Township of North Frontenac Donna Longmire, Township of Central Frontenac Sherry Corneil, Township of South Frontenac Darlene Plumley, Township of Frontenac Islands
Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee –Update Report October 27, 2020
2020-096 Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee –Update Report
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