Open Council

Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee

Open Council

Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee

June 23, 2021, at 4:00 PM

Original link

1.   Disclosures of Pecuniary Interest

That it BE NOTED that no pecuniary interests were disclosed.

2.   Consent

2.1   London Economic Development Corporation Activity Update 2020

2021-06-23 Submission - LEDC Activity Update

Moved by M. Cassidy

Seconded by A. Hopkins

That the London Economic Development Corporation Activity Update 2020 BE RECEIVED for information.

Motion Passed (14 to 0)

2.2   London Community Grants Program Innovation and Capital Funding Allocations (2021)

2021-06-23 Staff Report - London Community Grants Program

Moved by M. Salih

Seconded by J. Morgan

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Neighbourhood and Community-Wide Services, the report dated June 23, 2021, titled “London Community Grants Program Innovation and Capital Funding Allocations (2021)”, BE RECEIVED for information.

Motion Passed (14 to 0)

3.   Scheduled Items

3.1   Not to be heard before 4:05 PM - Housing Development Corporation, London - 2020 Annual General Meeting of the Shareholder Annual Resolutions

2021-06-23 Staff Report - AGM - HDC

Moved by P. Squire

Seconded by S. Lewis

That the following actions be taken with respect to the 2020 Annual General Meeting of the Housing Development Corporation, London:

a)      the presentation by S. Giustizia, President and CEO, Housing Development Corporation, London BE RECEIVED;

b)      the financial statements of the Housing Development Corporation, London year ended December 31, 2020 BE RECEIVED;

c)      the staff report dated May 11, 2021 titled “Housing Stability for All Plan 2020 Update and Priorities for 2021” BE RECIEVED.

Motion Passed (14 to 0)

3.2   Not to be heard before 4:20 PM - London Hydro Inc. - 2020 Annual General Meeting of the Shareholder Annual Resolutions

2021-06-23 Staff Report - AGM - London Hydro-1

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by M. Cassidy

That the following actions be taken with to the London Hydro Inc. 2020 Annual General Meeting of the Shareholder Annual Resolutions:

a)      the by-law appended to the staff report dated June 23, 2021 entitled “A by-law to ratify and confirm the Annual Resolutions of the Shareholder of London Hydro Inc.”, BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting to be held July 6, 2021; it being noted that the by-law will include an appointment for only one “Third Class” Director, A. Hrymak; and

b)      the consideration of the remaining Third Class Director vacancy BE REFERRED to the Corporate Services Committee, in order to consider applications (following a call for applications), conduct interviews, and make a recommendation to the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee, as the Shareholder.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

3.3   Not to be heard before 4:40 PM - London & Middlesex Community Housing - 2020 Annual General Meeting of the Shareholder Annual Resolutions

2021-06-23 Staff Report - AGM - LMCH

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by M. van Holst

That the following actions be taken with respect to the 2020 Annual General Meeting of the London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc.:

a)      the presentation from London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc. BE RECEIVED;

b)      the proposed by-law appended to the staff report dated June 23, 2021 as Appendix “A” entitled “A by-law to ratify and confirm the Annual Resolutions of the Shareholder of London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc.”, BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting to be held on July 6, 2021 to:

i)      ratify and confirm the Annual Resolution of the Shareholder of London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc.; and,

ii)      authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute the Annual Resolution of the Shareholder of London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc.;

c)      London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc. Audit Findings Report for the year ended December 31, 2020 BE RECEIVED;

d)      the financial statements of the London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc. year ended December 31, 2020 BE RECEIVED; and

e)      the following BE APPOINTED to the London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc.:

Aynsley Anderson, term ending December 31, 2021 (First Class);

John Millson, term ending December 31, 2021 (First Class);

Tammy Brooks (Tenant) and Shellie Chowns, term ending December 31, 2024 (Second Class);

Maria Manno (Tenant) and Gary Bezaire), term ending December 31, 2025 (Third Class);

Michael van Holst and Phil Squire, City of London, and Adrian Cornelissen, County of Middlesex, term ending with the term of Municipal Council (Fourth Class).

it being noted that the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee received a communication from R. Wilcox, Vice-Chair, Board of Directors, London & Middlesex Community Housing with respect to this matter.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

Voting Record:

Moved by J. Morgan

Seconded by S. Lehman

That, on the recommendation of the Interim Board of Directors, London & Middlesex Community Housing, the following appointments to the London & Middlesex Community Housing Board of Directors, BE APPROVED:

a)    First Class:  Aynsley Anderson and John Millson

b)    Second Class: Shellie Chowns (Community Member) and Tammy Brooks (Tenant Member); and

c)    Third Class: Gary Bezaire (Community Member) and Maria Manno (Tenant Member).

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

London City Council Member appointments (2) to the London & Middlesex Community Housing Board of Directors

Majority Winner: P. Squire; M. van Holst

4.   Items for Direction

4.1   3rd Report of the Governance Working Group

2021-06-23 GWG Report

Moved by J. Morgan

Seconded by S. Lewis

That the following actions be taken with respect to the 3rd Report of the Governance Working Group from its meeting held on May 17, 2021:

a)     on the recommendation of the City Clerk, the following actions be taken with respect to the Advisory Committee Review:

i)     the report dated May 17, 2021 entitled Advisory Committee Review - Interim Report VI”, BE RECEIVED; and,

ii)     the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to report back to a future meeting of the Governance Working Group with respect to the feedback related to the draft Terms of Reference appended as Appendix A to the above-noted staff report; and,

b)     clause 1.1 BE RECEIVED.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

4.2   Strategy for Core Area Land and Vacant Buildings - Councillor M. Cassidy

2021-06-23 Submission - Strategy for Core Area Land and Vacant Buildings

Moved by M. Cassidy

Seconded by J. Morgan

That the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to report back on a proposed strategy that sets out potential tools that may assist in reducing core area land and building vacancy, including, but not limited to:

a)      a review of existing incentive programs and any recommended changes to them;

b)      a review of existing planning processes / permissions and any recommended changes that would allow for the conversion of vacant commercial/industrial land/space into residential, including affordable housing;

c)      an assessment of the related strategies in Our Move Forward – London’s Downtown Plan, and the Downtown Parking Strategy for any recommended updates or changes;

d)      any recommendations that build on the Core Area Action Plan to support increased safety and security of person and property in the core area, and

e)      an assessment of how a new strategy could be integrated with the work of the London Community Recovery Network.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

4.3   Confirmation of Appointment to the Hamilton Road Business Improvement Area

2021-06-23 Submission - Appointment-Hamilton Road BIA

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by A. Hopkins

That, Mark Simpson BE APPOINTED to the Hamilton Road Business Improvement Area for the term ending November 15, 2022.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

4.4   Consideration of Appointment to Eldon House (Requires 1 Voting Member)

Moved by E. Peloza

Seconded by S. Lewis

That Megan Halliday BE APPOINTED to Eldon House Board of Directors for the term ending November 15, 2022.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

Voting Record:

Appointment to Eldon House Board of Directors

Majority Winner: Megan Halliday

4.5   Consideration of Appointment to the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority (Requires 1 Voting Member)

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by E. Peloza

That JJ Strybosch BE APPOINTED to the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority for the term ending November 15, 2022.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

Voting Record:

Appointment to the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority

Majority Winner: JJ Strybosch

5.   Deferred Matters/Additional Business

None.

6.   Adjournment

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by P. Squire

That the meeting BE ADJOURNED.

Motion Passed

The meeting adjourned at 6:44 PM.

Full Transcript

Transcript provided by Lillian Skinner’s London Council Archive. Note: This is an automated speech-to-text transcript and may contain errors. Speaker names are not identified.

View full transcript (2 hours, 54 minutes)

[5:24] the sound check from council chambers. The sound check from chambers.

[7:27] Sound check from chambers. We can hear you, Barb, thank you. Thank you. Colleagues, we’ll start in just a moment.

[13:09] Colleagues, I’ll ask screens on, please. Thank you very much. And colleagues, again, I apologize, the delay was mine.

[13:45] I’d like to welcome the public to the 10th meeting of the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee, the virtual meeting held during the COVID-19 emergency. We’d ask you to check the city website for current details of COVID-19 service impacts. Meetings can be viewed via live streaming on YouTube and the city website. The city of London is committed to making every effort to provide alternate formats and communication supports for council standing or advisory committee meetings and information upon request. To make a request for any city service, please contact accessibility@london.ca or 519-661-2489 extension 2425.

[14:24] To make a request specific to this meeting, please contact SPPC@london.ca. Colleagues, I’ll look for any disclosures of opinion or interest. I see a hand up, but I think that hand up has been there for a little bit. I wonder if that, thank you. Yep, my bad. Thanks, Councillor Sui. I see no disclosures. We have two items on the consent agenda, but colleagues, we’ve been asked to separate those.

[14:58] The first 2.1 is the London Economic Development Corporation Activity Update 2020. And I’ll ask colleagues if there are any questions. Mr. Mayor, I’ll just look to speak to number 2.2 when that comes up. Thank you very much. Dean, I’ll look for a motion to receive. Oh, excuse me, I’m sorry, Councillor Squire, please. Thank you very much. Mr. LaCocia, late last year, Council approved in principle the idea of a film office and an allocation of funds towards a film office, which was, to some of us, was quite exciting.

[15:42] Since then, I’ve heard that maybe London Economic Development Corporation has some expertise in that area, may help us in that area, may get involved in that area. So I’d really appreciate an update on if there has been involvement, because I think working together is a great way to move forward on a film office, sharing the expertise that I know your office may have. So maybe you could update me without committing to anything. I suppose that hasn’t happened. I’ll look to staff for response, please. Through your worship, thank you for the question.

[16:15] Happy to provide an update. So in late April, we received the official go ahead to do some work behind the film office. Since then, we’ve done numerous different pieces to move that agenda forward. The first one is creation of collateral materials, marketing tools, websites, and databases. That work is well underway, and we expect location databases, workforce inventories, and other marketing collaterals that we can use to market London in markets such as Toronto and Montreal and others to be completed in the next month or so.

[16:53] In addition to that, we’ve had business development efforts underway to attract new productions to London. Happy to update you that we have had five productions secured so far. They have committed to shooting in London and are in different stages of securing their production locations. We’ve also partnered with post-secondary, both Western and Fanshawe, on their creative arts training programs. And the idea is to start developing co-ops and internship and experiential learning outcomes at a very early stage as we start developing this. In terms of the Four City Film Festival, we’ve partnered with them to do a nationwide pitch competition to attract more independent film productions to London.

[17:39] This would also include portion of the production being shot in our downtown core areas to provide relief to hard-hit mainstream businesses. Some of the economic impacts from the productions happening in London is already starting to take place. We’ve received anecdotal evidence from small companies such as hair salons and makeup artists that have already been used with some of the productions that have come to London. But like I said, we’ve already started doing that since late April, but it’s shown really tremendous positive impact already.

[18:12] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Baccodia, Councillor Square. That is good news. And I have to say that after we approve the film office, many people who I spoke to pointed to the expertise that the LEDC had already developed in this area. And so I’m pleased that you’re involved. I don’t think that’s by accident. So thank you very much and really I look forward to getting updates on this as we move into the future. It’s obviously an interesting area and I’m glad that it’s sort of moving ahead, that it isn’t sitting around at meetings and things like that, that things are actually starting to happen.

[18:47] So thank you for that update. Thank you, Councillor Cassidy. Here, worship and I’m glad that Councillor Square brought up the film offices. Just one part of what LEDC is doing. And I know as a member of corporate services community, we see, we’re probably the first committee that sees the results of the work of the LEDC because we get the first notice when there’s a sale of the industrial land that’s held by the city of London. And it’s always a file that has included substantial involvement from LEDC and often city staff will put that right in the report that the work they did alongside LEDC is what led to these businesses coming to London and purchasing our industrial land.

[19:36] And then after it’s gone through committee and council, then those sales, those land sales are reported out publicly at council. So that is a really tangible evidence of the hard work that’s happening at LEDC. And I was personally very happy when we approved giving oversight of the film office with some funding as well to the LEDC because I knew that that was really good news. I knew that they would apply the same kind of principles that they apply and all their other sectors that they’re looking after.

[20:10] I know that they would apply those principles to the film office and it’s wonderful to hear the kind of early successes that they’re having there. So looking forward to more great work from LEDC. Also want to comment that this report is probably the most comprehensive and detailed with metrics and actual real data from any of the agencies that we fund. So, and that’s always being the case with LEDC and looking forward to getting more of this kind of data and information from that.

[20:41] So thank you to you Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much, Councillor. Any other comments or questions? Seeing none, I’ll look for a motion to receive the report with our thanks to Mr. Locodio, moved by Councillor Cassidy, seconded by Councillor Hopkins. Thank you, we’ll call the question. Closing the vote, the motion’s passed 14 to zero.

[21:24] Thank you, colleagues. I’ll turn your attention to 2.2, the London Community Grants Program Innovation and Allocations 2021. Councillor Suley, your first on the list. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I’m really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really ecstatic and excited about this report. That’s a lot of release, Councillor. Yeah, no, I had the opportunity to communicate with staff and I needed a double check because the numbers really jumped in my eyes. And if my colleagues follow along, you may recall the motion that myself and Deputy Mayor Morgan brought back some time ago regarding allocating 25% of funding to support anti-racism, anti-oppression, and equity, and inclusion projects for community grants.

[22:09] And when you look at the numbers today, you’ll see that 86.5% of the allocation is going to support anti-racism, anti-oppression, equity, and inclusion projects. And actually five out of the eight projects and organizations have never received funding from the city of London. So this is a job well done all across. I wanna thank Deputy Manager Smith, City Manager Livingston, and all the people involved in this process. I think it worked out phenomenal. And I really wanna thank Council as well for helping driving this to make this a reality because this is a win for every Londoner.

[22:45] And this is the win that we really, really needed in these times. So I really mean it when I say thank you very much and I’ll move the motion. So move, do you have a seconder for that? I see Councillor Morgan’s seconding on my list. I have Councillor Turner. Thanks Your Worship. Thanks to Councillor Sillie. And I, in the beginning when this came up in terms of the allocation, I had concerns mostly because I was worried that there might be some exclusions from those who had previously received funding and that might be kind of pushed out a little bit.

[23:20] I think the report illustrates quite well how the policy has worked. And I’m actually glad to see the way that it has been executed and implemented. And I think it’s making some significant headway in this area. This is certainly to Councillor Sillie and Morgan, W. Mayor Morgan, I would say well done. And the policy has been reflected quite well than what’s been reported here. My question would be for staff. One of the things that’s happened here is we see the categories building a sustainable city, strengthening our community, growing our economy, creating a safe London for women and girls and the anti-racism and oppression equity and inclusion projects.

[24:03] In all of these, most of them hit the strengthening our committee and anti-racism and anti-oppression equity and inclusion projects. Only one hits the building a sustainable community, but none of them hit any of the other categories. Is when measuring against those things, are we looking to try and achieve balance in some of those other areas? Or do we see perhaps that the strengthening our community might actually lead into the other areas as well? Ms. Smith, do you wanna take that?

[24:35] Thank you. Through the chair, that’s a really good question. And we looked at that. And I think we’re gonna look at for the next round, how our applicants respond to that because they tend to pick one only, where they can pick multiple. For example, when I asked my staff the same question, when we look at creating a safe London for women and girls, there’s five projects that the panel and would have chosen that align nicely with that, along with scraping our community, and same with building a sustainable city. So we’re gonna look at how we word that in our application for the next year, so that people can choose and articulate the rational why.

[25:15] It’s okay to choose more than one area of focus. Councillor Chen. That’s great to hear. Thank you. I know of Councillor Hopkinson, let’s please. Yes, thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to the previous comments that were made. I really do share the excitement of Councillor Sallie, as it relates to this grant program coming forward. And the word that staff have done on this, supporting the anti-Black racism and anti-indigenous racism and anti-oppression diversity situation.

[25:55] It really, really shows that there’s a lot of excitement here. So thank you, Councillor Sallie and Councillor Turner for your comments too, ‘cause I know this was a conversation that we’ve had throughout the program. I do want to also make a comment here as it relates to five of the 10 funded recipients have not been previously funded. I think that’s really, really important to see that. I know there have been concerns in the community before that we tend to go with one group all the time, but this really shows that we’ve really opened it up to other groups participating.

[26:35] I’m really pleased to see one of the programs coming forward when it comes to the NEDIS GC program through Reinforce London. That’s really important. I don’t know, I was really pleasantly surprised to see that because we know the provincial government is getting out of the business of native seeds and the importance of keeping that base to promote the native tree seed program is really important, so great to see that support as well. So thanks again.

[27:11] Thank you, I have Councillor Cassidy next on the list. Thank you, Your Worship. I’m just jumping off of Councillor Turner’s questions and Ms. Smith’s responses to that. So I just want clarification that in the categorization columns, that’s based on how the applicants, how they felt that their application met, the criteria? Through the chair, that is correct. Councillor Cassidy, go ahead. Thank you, Your Worship. So just wanna say, I think in the budget process as well, we sort of saw that it looked like there was a lack, specifically on the pillar of creating safe London for women and girls, that there seemed to be a lack of items and some community members brought it up.

[28:03] So no part of the budget or very little of the budget is geared towards that. And I felt it was more of that same idea of not really thoroughly looking deep into the details of that something might meet that criteria as well as another. So I’m wondering, just a comment that staff can take away if they like, in the future, perhaps when the grants have been awarded and we have the recipients and we know who they are, maybe staff could do that sort of deeper dive.

[28:39] And for example, I see for the Southwest Aboriginal Health Access Center and secure places for children and families to gather and learn. I just looking at that brief description would believe that that meets that criteria of creating a safe London for women and girls, as well as Boys and Girls Club, that program as well. So I just thought perhaps, especially as grant applicants learn this process and learn to look what we’re looking for, that city staff could sort of provide that information in the report on their own so that it’s a clearer picture of really what targets these grant recipients are hitting.

[29:25] But in all in all, excellent report, really happy to see these awards going out. And I’m hoping for a day when we might expand this program and we see the great work that we are allowing to happen in London through this program. So thank you very much to staff. Thank you, Councillor, Deputy Mayor Morgan. Yes, thank you, Your Worship. I’d like to make a few comments on this as well. And I’ll try not to repeat the great comments my colleagues have made. I will say on the components of the strategic plan that are addressed by this report particularly, I would just remind colleagues that this is one piece of a very large puzzle, just one piece, the way that community organizations through the granting program contribute to our strategic plan.

[30:12] The city obviously does a whole lot of initiatives on the strategic plan, but we also align our strategic plan on the budget process with boards and commissions. And so what we have is a whole bunch of different organizations who all have different capacities to contribute to the strategic plan in different ways, all doing so. And if we just look at one chart and one report, I think we can miss the bigger picture. We even would in this chart miss the multi-year stream of the granting program, which may have covered off some of the other components. So although I think some great comments have been made, I would just remind everybody that this is just one piece of one way that we try to achieve components of our strategic plan.

[30:51] The next thing I’ll say is, and I appreciate the comments my colleagues have said about both the percentage of the successful applicants that are contributing to advance our anti-Black racism and anti-Indigenous racism, anti-oppression, diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives, and that five of the 10 are new. I think it’s also important to look at how many applied. And of that, there were 51 applications with requests of almost 3 million.

[31:22] And 23 of those applications were new. In other words, we have established a program here that is drawing in new and interested parties who feel that they can contribute to the city and fulfill the obligations and the commitments of our strategic plan in different ways. And although it is exciting to have new applicants applying, there are existing ones who with the new focus that has been established of a minimum of 25% of funding towards the new initiatives. There’s also existing applicants who were able to take their existing programs and provide a bit of a refocus on that.

[31:58] And I think that that is good work as well. It’s not just bringing in new parties, but allowing those who have applied to the granting program in the past, the opportunity to refocus and help achieve and contribute to a council priority. So kudos to them as well, the returning successful applicants who have allowed to a little bit of refocusing on their applications, as well as all the new ones. And to the ones who were not successful this time, obviously, there are future years to apply again. And we appreciate all of their interest and all of their energy in trying to assist us in creating a better city for all.

[32:40] Thank you, Councillor Deputy Mayor Morgan. I’m now gonna refer to Councillor Lewis, please. Thank you, Your Worship. Deputy Mayor Morgan really outlined one thing that I wanted to emphasize really well. So I won’t go over that completely. I will offer the comment to staff as they think about how they’re revamping this in future years. I’m not necessarily going to be excited to see an applicant check three, four or five boxes over the strategic plan off.

[33:13] If those check marks are there as a very tenuous connection, thinking that somehow that that’s going to increase the chance of funding, which I’ve seen happen in other application processes in other previous components of my life. So I won’t, I would encourage staff not to be too broad because too tenuous of a connection actually creates a little bit of a false sense that we’re doing something in one area of our strategic plan than others. But I am likewise very excited to see so many new groups being approved here.

[33:49] I don’t think it’s a good thing when we see the same names on this report year after year after year. I think organizations should have to go out and reinvent how they’re doing things if they’re just coming back to us because this is the way that they’ve always done it. That becomes a problem for me personally in terms of how we’re granting things. But I’m also very pleased with what’s coming out of this report because to me, what I see here are a very strong range of people focused action items. Something that’s gonna make an impact on people’s lives.

[34:23] And that’s where I think the community grants program should have its strength and focus for the most part. When we talk about, for example, growing our economy, I’m not sure that the community grants program is an area where we should see growing economy checked a lot. I think there’s room for private sector partners and other boards, agencies and commissions to be filling those gaps. Finally, I’ll just say, as a matter of courtesy, I’m pretty sure we’re restricted to one really a month. So since Councilor Saleh has used up his quota for the first six months of the year, I’ll happily loan him two of my realies in the future.

[34:58] Thank you, any other comments or questions? Thank you, this has been appropriately moved and seconded, we’ll call the question. Councilor Caiabaga, posing the vote.

[35:48] The motion’s passed 14 to zero. Colleagues, thank you. I’m gonna turn your attention to when the first is Housing Development Corporation, the 2020 Annual General Meeting of the shareholder annual resolutions. First, we’re gonna hear a presentation from Steve Justizia. If you’re ready there, Mr. Justizia, we would invite you to go ahead, please. Thank you, Your Worship. And before I turn things over to Mr. Justizia, Mr. Cooper, I’m gonna just address the committee if I could for a brief moment.

[36:24] Please go ahead. I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you first, Mr. Cooper. Go ahead. No problem, Your Worship, thank you very much. As mentioned, Mr. Justizia and I are here today to provide the shareholder update for Housing Development Corp. I want to really highlight the great work that the Corp has done in the past year during a pandemic. The work that we’ve done as the corporation and working with other service teams in the city to prepare our 2020 update for the Housing Stability Action Plan. This included a number of HCC activities.

[37:00] We also want to recognize the plans that are underway to realign HCC staff and service back into civic administration. I think that work is ongoing and is a very important work. But before turning things over to Mr. Justizia, I just want to take a moment to acknowledge the HCC staff. Like many of us, we’re working through a pandemic. We’ve gone through some organizational review and obviously our housing needs in our community are escalating. Our team here at HCC has remained dedicated to that work alongside our city colleagues.

[37:33] And although I wear two hats, I think recognizing the work that HCC and the team here at the city and have done is monumental. Our community partners and our ability to quickly adapt and change our housing needs on the fly have been monumental. So I think the team at HCC are knowledgeable and passionate group and we look forward to continue to work with the city as our organizational plans to fall. With that, I’ll turn it over to Mr. Justizia. The presentation is in the package and I believe he is starting on slide two or slide three.

[38:08] Go ahead, Mr. Justizia. Thanks, Greg and through the chair. Good evening, everyone. I’ll try to call out the slide numbers if that helps. Our comments are brief because we actually integrated a lot of the update this year into the Housing Stability Action Plan, which I believe is also on your agenda. And my first slide related to the highlights is your page three and recognizes the work that we do as part of the city’s housing team to map and respond to local housing needs. The excerpts that are on your screen reflect that what you already know, few units, growing population in need, a little change in some of our income levels that are related to those and the rapid increase of the housing prices.

[38:56] To slide four, the response to this is still focusing within the city’s strategic plan and the housing plan, of course, but with a much greater focus on the priority needs of specialized populations, especially over the past year and working with partners, creating as many units as we possibly can now, which includes, of course, the rapid housing work that we are doing, but also creating that important pipeline for the future. The achievements that are listed on slide four, highlight that in 2020, in addition to the work that we did in development, also working with the private sector, related to the 32 units of housing that were acquired through a bonus zoning.

[39:41] And these future units are now being aligned to prioritize populations through the agreements that we have with the city’s housing stability service area. And I think we’re one of the few municipalities doing this work, certainly to this level. And although bonusing will be ending soon, we see a future beyond bonusing. And of course, our secondary plans, including those for strategic areas like Masonville, will become the bridge to bonusing between bonusing and future inclusionary zoning policies. So we are working with staff, with developers, on exploring how these practices can make affordable housing part of every community.

[40:19] To slide six reflects some of the development plans, including the 72 unit development that was approved for funding and has already started construction at 744 Dundas Street by into all community homes. Great operator and an important part of our community for sure. And I also want to tie this back to the work that was done within council’s strategy, with an approach that focused on specialized housing as defined within the strategic plan and working with partnerships, including the partnership that they have now with housing stability services.

[40:55] Slide seven starts speaking to the pipeline and starts with the pandemic and the, of course, the work that is dominated by that. Our work flexed to respond to these needs. And I want to echo Craig’s comments about the work of our staff and that includes the city staff, of course, as well, in quickly responding. We were very fortunate to have a 122 baseline and a state of readiness prior to that. So that we were able to go from land acquisition in 2019, of course, the, this being a former city site, surplus land, to zoning approval in 2020, to construction and occupancy in 2021.

[41:37] And I think that reflects the value of having a specialized team that can work across an enterprise wide city of experts, both within our group and within the city. And I encourage you all to take a look at the get involved site to see progress updates by our construction partner, Ellis Don. The next couple of slides speak to the building of that pipeline. And of course that pipeline starts with the next project at 403 Thompson Road and advances to the project that, but the other sites that were identified in your December report related to urgent housing needs.

[42:16] We also have the lands at the school, the school sites that were acquired in 2020. So we’ve moved from site acquisition, obviously to demolition of the, of the properties, the buildings and now next we will be working through the application public participation and development processes together with our municipal service partners. And as we transition in as part of that, the slide nine reflects the projects to date. And of course, what needs to be said here is that public infrastructure is absolutely a product of many things, direct development investments, negotiated agreements with private and nonprofit.

[43:01] So it’s really across the board. And then to slide 10, the transition steps that we are underway right now will guide, of course our next steps over the course of the next year, as will the council’s 3,000 unit challenge related to 3,000 units in the next five years. The final slide reflects the financials. And as noted in that slide, the 2020 drawdown is mainly associated with the acquisition of the school sites and the work that we were doing to initiate the rapid housing initiative.

[43:37] So without Mr. Chair, I and Mr. Cooper are available to respond to your questions. Thank you. Thanks very much. I’ll look to see if there are any questions from colleagues, Councillor Squire. First of all, I can’t help myself. I’m noticing the flag behind Mr. Cooper’s head. I have to say that hockey is still being played and that if he wants to jump on the bandwagon, I’m available anytime. So we can have that discussion. I just wanted to talk briefly about affordable and what affordable is because I think it’s something that I certainly, I know I talked to Councillor Hopkins the other night about it.

[44:17] There’s definitions I know of what affordable is and they’re fairly broad and I think the public doesn’t really, they have something in mind themselves as to what they think affordable is. So can you tell me, definitionally or conceptually, what does affordable mean to the city of London and what does it mean to you as you’re going forward? So, thank you for the question through the chair. I think the key to affordability is understanding that affordability is a relationship between cost and your income and in your package tonight is the Housing Stability Action Plan 2020 update.

[44:59] And one of the things that I point out in there is that when we talk about affordability in London, if you look, I believe there’s a pie chart in that in that that reflects that 60% of our London renters have incomes of under $52,000. Most people would not, I think, assess that so many of our community in our community have had fairly moderate to lower incomes. And in that realm, if you have an income of $52,000, then you’re looking for a housing unit to be less than $1,000 per month, all inclusive.

[45:40] We don’t have one bedroom units available at $1,000 per month. So when we talk about affordable housing, we used to talk about it in the context of the lower income populations. And I think to the councilor’s question, right now, affordable housing in that relationship with income means a lot more. It goes, I would say, to those first three sections of the pie chart. Councilor Scrum, thank you for that. That’s very helpful.

[46:11] I think it’s important that people realize that, that they understand that, that all of us need affordable housing, our kids need affordable housing. It’s something that we need everywhere. So to just follow up on that, one of the first planning meetings that I was back on, the committee, you had several applications in front of the committee, including one that interested me on Thompson Road. And the reason I was interested is, because they were all bachelor apartments, what I’d call bachelor apartments, just one unit. And you stressed how you had found that that was something that was really needed in the market and there was high demand.

[46:45] And actually people from the community were pro, seem to be perplexed by that also. And they didn’t really view that as a positive that a building would have bachelor. So can you help me why that’s a good thing from your point of view, to build a building with that very specific type of apartment in it? Absolutely, and through the chair, I think all of council knows that I’ve been a strong advocate all along for mixed housing and mixed meaning, income, family structure populations. We also advanced within council strategy specialized housing, the need for housing for specific populations where the need existed.

[47:25] And that includes the work that’s being done by Interwell, for example, which also has a predominance of the same kind of unit. In Thompson Road, this was part of the three projects that we put forward as part of the rapid housing initiative and the urgent housing needs in London. So these are really identifying a very specific part of our community. Within that, there will still be mixed. So there will still be a mix of populations. There will still be mix of levels of support, but the need is so big related to one bedroom and bachelor units that in our work with the housing stability services and Mr. Cooper and his other role, this was an absolute need for our community right now.

[48:13] Councilor, just to finish off, one of the things I noticed, and this is why words are important, I think, and one of the things that I think jarred us a bit when we were hearing that application was the constant use of the word low income housing, low income housing, low income housing as a negative. And I guess just finishing off, I’d like to say that if a person has a low income, that’s a product of many things. And it’s certainly not a product of not being a good member of society and a member of London in a need for housing. So I know those applications were actually a little rougher than I thought they would be in terms of approval, but I was happy in the end to get them through.

[48:50] And I was happy that as a council, we stood behind that concept of housing for everyone regardless of that income range that they fall in. So thanks for your work. Thank you. Other comments or questions? Councillor Hummer. Thank you. I wanted to ask through the chair, what’s about the units that are being achieved through bonusing? I know that that’s a relatively new area and it’s great to see that there’s been 32 units that have come that way.

[49:25] I just wonder about the time that it takes to sort of be able to use those units because we’ve had different approaches for different planning applications. Sometimes the building has to be constructed before the units are available. Sometimes the units are actually provided in some other properties that the same owner owns. And I just wonder what you’re seeing in terms of how quickly those units that are achieved through bonusing are actually hitting the market. I just based on what you’ve seen so. Mr. Justices. Through you, Mr. Chair. The units that are advanced through bonusing are being advanced at a very early time in the development cycle.

[50:04] They are being advanced at the time where zoning permissions are being sought. So given that there is a natural time between zoning permissions and completed construction. So to answer the councilor’s question first, that duration of time could be minimum generally, three years, depending on what you’re talking to, two to three years. So we don’t have the units coming on. Because of that, we recognize that there was also an opportunity where if a developer is advancing to units quickly. Now the bonus is always ascribed to the land.

[50:39] It is part of these zoning permissions on those lands. But there are mechanisms to be able to have secondary agreements that transition those bonus units to other available units. And because the bonusing discussions are, they’re discussions. They’re discussions more than they are negotiations because our development community has been very active participants in what you’ve seen come before, your planning committee. I say that because there’s often opportunities to seek out other ways of gaining access to units.

[51:16] So there have been a number of cases now where through the bonusing conversations we’re actually trying to look to see whether or not there’s other ways of being able to activate affordable housing and other ways of being able to access units that already exist. Councilor, thank you. Any other comments or questions? Councilor Verhost. Thank you, Worship.

[51:48] And also thanks for the report and the work going forward on these. I guess I have a few questions. One, do we have any more school sites on the horizon? Those are pretty exciting to the community because not only can we have some intensity but there’s room for providing some park as a park land as well. So I guess that’s my first question. Do you wanna stop that there? Then we’ll ask Mr. Justizi, we’ll come back to your next question.

[52:22] Thank you through the chair. There’s a good conversation last night about this at CAHPS, I believe. And the caution is always presuming anything related to school sites until they have entered into a very prescribed process related to the school’s identification of surplus lands, which is a government into the Education Act. In when it gets to that level, of course we have the priority permissions that are provided to us as a service manager to explore them. But we always have conversations going on.

[52:57] We always have relationships with potential sites, not just with schools. We are working closely with our own realty services and with school sites, but nothing to the council’s question that advances as there is nothing currently in the surplus realm. Councillor. Okay, thank you. So, and back to the issue of affordable housing and I think I sometimes think just as easy or just as well to call it housing people can afford. And I wish you would speak just a little bit to some of these projects, maybe the one on Thompson Road, maybe some of the others.

[53:41] How is it that we were able to gain the efficiencies, et cetera, in order to make the housing affordable for people when it’s constructed? I’m sure there’s a tight answer to that. Go ahead, give that a try Mr. Jacisio please. Thank you, I think Mr. Chair. The reality is that we are advancing lands and we are creating a pipeline. So the more work that we are able to do ahead of time to ready the lands and to ready the sites and to work with other governments and to work with our partners, those are all those pieces that come together to create affordable housing.

[54:25] So the more of that that can be done in advance, the more likely we are to advance affordability within the project. I hope I’m answering the council’s question. That’s right, host. Yes, I think so. So there we are, we’ve got some excellent work with the other levels of government and we’ve also, because we’re doing the work ourselves, are gaining some efficiencies. So I’m kind of excited to see that we’re building something that was always my hope for the HDC. It would, it facilitated many affordable units, but I think when we envisioned, initially envisioned it, we saw it as a corporation that would actually build some things as well.

[55:13] Those things are happening. So that’s nice to see. So thank you, Your Worship. Thank you. Any other comments or questions? Councillor Layman. Thank you. I just want to follow up a bit on council rent wholes and councilor Squire’s comments regarding affordability. We hear a lot about affordable housing, which is, you know, around 80% of market rent. And I wonder what I’d like to ask staff. I hear also about rent geared to income.

[55:51] And I want to know, is that falls strictly under London Middlesex Community Housing or does it also fall into the projects that HDC is developing? Go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah. So through the chair, when you’re talking about rent geared to income, it’s actually a specific term that refers to regulated projects that we generally call social housing. 3,300 roughly of those units are within London Middlesex Housing Corporation.

[56:26] The balance of roughly the 8,000 of those units across London and Middlesex are with 63 other providers who like London Middlesex Community Housing. Deliver those units within a very prescribed approach within regulation. Their access to those units is done through the social housing wait list. And in general, there is a funding mechanism both for the building and for the administration of those units to the rents because those rents are really established at a very low rate for the most part.

[57:01] So rent geared to income, if you’re talking about the sort of the formal language of rent geared to income, generally is described to those social housing units. Rents based on income is what we do. And rents based on income is really around the affordability that I think the previous counselors were talking about. Counselor. Thank you, I think saving 20% of rent certainly goes to the bigger picture of affordability in London.

[57:37] However, I’m just thinking right now of our most vulnerable and how they get a roof over the head and 20% reduction of rent, I don’t think it’s cutting it. So I just wanted to clarify that, make sure that those questions, I’ll bring that up and we discuss this with London Middlesex Community Housing later today. But before you got off the stage, I want to just make sure that you could comment on that. So thank you. Thank you, any other comments or questions? So colleagues, we do have a motion in here, which is on page 33 of your package that on the recommendation of the city manager, the independent auditors report of KPMG for the shareholder of housing development corporation dated December 31, 2021 be received.

[58:25] Do I have a mover please? Councilor Squire, seconded by Councillor Hopkins. Thank you, any comments or questions? And let’s call the question. I’m sorry, Clerk. My apologies, Mr. Chair, I missed the mover on that. Councillor Squire. And notwithstanding, as we’re about to vote, I do want to acknowledge Mr. Cooper and Mr. Justices for their presentation and Mr. Cooper, dreams spring eternal, we’ll see how the Canadians do, there we are.

[59:05] Go ahead, Clerk. Thank you, Mr. Chair. We’ve rolled all of the recommendations into one, if the mover and seconder are comfortable with that, then we can just do one motion for all of the HDC matters. Mover is comfortable, secondary are you comfortable? I have two yeses there, Clerk. So we now can call the question, thank you. Closing the vote, the motion’s passed, 14 to zero.

[59:49] Thank you again, I appreciate the presentation. Now colleagues, in front of us from London Hydro, the 2020 Annual General Meeting of the shareholder, Annual Resolutions, and we have a presentation, I believe we are joined by the Chair, Mr. Valenti and the CEO, Mr. Sharma, are you there? Thank you, Your Worship. Yes, it’s Dave Valenti here, and Dr. Sharma’s with us as well. Go ahead, please. Thank you. So thank you, Your Worship, and council members for the opportunity to present today.

[1:00:23] Vene and I are in attendance, the rest of the board viewing. You’ve been provided with our advanced 2020 summary slide deck, our annual report, and our 2020 report on progress. So in the interest of time, I guess I’ll rather than walk right through the entire presentation, I’ll limit my comments to a brief summary to allow for questions afterwards for Vene and myself. So let me begin with saying that certainly despite the unprecedented, you know, pandemic challenges that London Hydro has faced this year as we all have, we continue to manage our operations safely and efficiently, and with really an attempt to maintain our service levels to the customers of London Hydro.

[1:01:11] So all of that was tried, we tried to balance that with ensuring the health and safety of our dedicated employees who were interacting on a regular basis, basis within the community and amongst themselves. And I’m happy to say that all of our staff and management exceeded all of our expectations. So thank you to them. I guess fortunately, 2020 marked another year of a fairly strong financial performance and industry leadership for London Hydro. We focused on a continued focus on prudent capital investment and reinvestment.

[1:01:48] We spent about $44 million of critical capital infrastructure really to maintain that longevity, its safety, reliability and efficiency. We continue to focus on those strategic investments for London Hydro and the community at large. Our total asset base grew in 2020 to $550 million with net asset and shareholder value growth of about 7% year over year. We earned a competitive normalized rate of return on equity of about 6% and we managed to provide the city with a sustained annual dividend of $5 million once again.

[1:02:29] So we’re pleased to do that. We also continued to care for our customers by maintaining costs and rates in the lowest quartile among Ontario utilities. In fact, it’s important to note London Hydro had the second lowest cost of service but customer among comparable utilities in the province. So we’re very proud to be able to manage our costs for our customers. This was all accomplished honestly while we continued to try to maintain the high quality and reliability of service levels to the community and what they’ve grown accustomed to.

[1:03:06] And those efforts, I’m pleased to say, earned us a 93% customer satisfaction rating from our residential and small business customers. So we’ve really tried to engage with them, understand their needs and react to those appropriately. We also continued to service our customers with innovative and award-winning tools to streamline our customer service delivery and response. And we’ve been trying to assist them really proactively in managing their own edge costs. So trying to fill and provide tools for them to be proactive in their power management.

[1:03:45] So in addition to that, as you all know, in February of this year, the council voted for implementation of a new CO structure to capitalize on the potential new green button and related opportunities. We met with civic administration in March. Hydro, we’ve developed a draft roadmap for implementation on how that process could move forward. And we’ve got plans to meet with administration again in May, July to work towards some joint recommendations to council.

[1:04:18] So overall, I guess 2020 really proved to be another strong year for us, both financially and a service level performance at London Hydro. And I’d like to publicly acknowledge again all our staff, manager team and certainly my fellow board members for their hard work and commit that, you know, especially during these times. So we had a number of challenges, obviously, but we managed through them. So who does solve them? At this time also, your worship, I’d like to publicly acknowledge the 15 years of service to the board of London Hydro by Marilyn Sinclair.

[1:04:59] Marilyn is her time this year from the board. She joined us in 2005. During that time, most of those years, she led the corporate governance and risk management committee so well. She served us with her insights in a jar manner, matters and marketing and brought to the table her extensive corporate governance acumen. So Marilyn had graciously continued to serve on the board these last few years to ensure appropriate experience and transition when we had our significant board turnover.

[1:05:36] So we really want to thank Marilyn for her years of service, not only the London Hydro, but to the management team, to the employees and certainly the community of London. She’s going to be missed around the table. Her collaborative approach is always refreshing, always insightful and prepared. So we wish Marilyn the best and we thank you for her service. So your worship really, that kind of concludes my brief overview of the presentation, just to highlight what was in the slide deck. And certainly, Venea and I are here to answer any questions that we may have.

[1:06:14] Thanks very much. Any comments or questions for Mr. Valenti and team? Officer Homer. Thank you. I appreciate the report. Very much a very difficult year for a lot of businesses. And I’m glad to see that London Hydro has vanished through. Seems to be very well. My question is about the note you have in the financials about the swap agreements and the interest expense.

[1:06:50] And I wonder if you could just speak either you or perhaps Venea about what’s going on there. It doesn’t look if I’m reading the financial statements as a report correctly. It doesn’t look like a huge problem right now, but it was a bit alarming when I read it without the notes and the explanation. And after you’ve maybe explained what’s going on, I may have a follow-up. Mr. Valenti? Sure. I’ll actually, Venea, if you want to speak to that first. Thank you.

[1:07:23] Through your worship, Mayor, good question. We all get confused when we read about swap agreement in the financial statements. They’re very confusing. But the simple fact of the matter is one of our long-term loan is coming to an end, June 2022. And in late 2020, we found the interest rates were fairly low. And we decided as a strategy to capitalize on that. So that we can replace the swap that is coming to mature in 2022, June, and replace the low interest rate.

[1:08:00] So I believe all in on the swap that we have currently with the Royal Bank, which is coming to mature on June 2022, is at 2.62%. And this swap that we have arranged is 1.89%. So quite a significant savings for our customers, because this costs our customers at the end of the day. So that’s what we have done. And what you see right now in the financial statements is unrealized loss, which really reflects the higher interest loan that we have with the bank that is coming to mature in June 2022.

[1:08:42] The one that is low interest loan is going to change that unrealized loss to unrealized gain, because our interest rates are now, as you know, are going up on swap. We have a locked-in low interest rate. So that is what we have done. It could be confusing, and a living confusing, actually, next year, even more when you see 21 financial statements. Thanks, Rama. Thank you very much. I appreciate the explanation. It doesn’t clarify what’s going on. Thank you.

[1:09:14] Thank you. Any other comments or questions for our guests? Thank you very much, Mr. Villainty and Mr. Sharma. By the way, I’d like to echo Gabe’s comments with respect to Marilyn Sinclair’s work. I’ve had the privilege of working with her in other capacities. And I know she brings tremendous commitment to all the work she does. Councillor Van Halst, is your hand up? Yes, thank you, Your Worship. And I also wanted to take the opportunity to thank my colleagues on the board and our CEO, Mr. Sharma.

[1:09:53] The work done at London Hydro is excellent. London’s infrastructure is becoming more and more solid every year and more robust. And I think London’s served very, very well by the work that’s done by London Hydro. I also want to thank Marilyn Sinclair for her work on the board. It’s been wonderful working with her. So that’s— sorry to see her go.

[1:10:30] But she’s enjoying her retirement now. She’s served the city in a number of capacities. And I guess I also, if it’s appropriate, Your Worship would be happy to move the items that are here. I would also hope to renew the appointment of Mr. Andrew Raimack, whose class— third class category is coming up for renewal.

[1:11:13] So I’d like to move that. And then with respect to number F, looking at the applications, I hope that would leave us looking to interview for one member. And I’m hoping we could— I hope we can do interviews. I think that’s an important thing. We’ve done that in the past every time. Perhaps we could come up with a list of perhaps four people that we could interview and then make that decision as a recommendation from the CSC committee who usually performs those interviews.

[1:12:05] So that’s what I would hope to do. So that would mean to be clear, Councillor, that the terms of reference, which would include the applications currently received, as well as those who might respond, be considered a feature CSC meeting. Is that correct? Yes. So I think we have in the past on interviews, I think that that’s an appropriate thing. And we’ve often created a short list. And I think we have a procedure for doing that.

[1:12:42] So that would be my suggestion at this time. Thank you. And with the terms of reference, obviously, to be established at CSC or based on precedent or whatever CSC determines. Do you have a seconder for that? I have Councillor Cassidy’s second need. Thank you, comments, discussion. Councillor Almer.

[1:13:18] I’m a little unclear about what exactly is being proposed. I think what Councillor Greenholz is proposing is that you would like to appoint, recommend to council right now that Andrew Heimak be reappointed and then have SPBC now narrow down the list to, say, three or four people who we might want to interview at CSC and then decide a recommendation to council from CSC about who should be the other vacancy, so the other vacancy is that what Councillor Vanholz is— Well, before I go back to Councillor Vanholz, the other is I’ll turn your attention to page 185 where the staff recommendation in terms of the proposed bylaw, Appendix A, be ratified and confirmed, related to the annual resolutions of the shareholders.

[1:14:02] So that’s all part of this with the exception, as you’ve indicated, of the final appointment, which relates to the vacancy created by the pending retirement. Councillor Vanholz, do you want to add anything to that? No, Your Worship, I think that’s fine. Is that clear to you, Councillor Almer? Or all of us, I’m not trying to put you on the spot. You posed the question.

[1:14:35] Is that helpful? Any comments or questions with respect to this? I see Councillor Hopkins, go ahead, please. Yeah, thank you. So we just voting for one new member then just as the report suggests, two, we’re now going forward with confirming Andrew Hormack, who is already on the board and just confirming that he’ll go for another term, and then interviewing for one spot as opposed to two.

[1:15:23] That’s correct, Councillor Hopkins. Yes, so we are, if we support the recommendation, then Mr. Raimack would be reappointed to the third category, and we would be putting in place a process to select the final individual for the board. Councillor Hopkins, I think you said you’re good. If I can just, through you to staff, just ask the question, that why was it suggested that we consider two voting members in our agenda?

[1:16:05] I think I can answer that only because there was the vacancy prompted by Mr. Raimack’s reappointment requirement and the retirement of Ms. Sinclair, but I’ll let the clerk confirm that. Through the Mayor, that’s correct. If members refresh their e-scribe, they’ll see a draft motion, should be the first one that you see, there are a series, but just look at the first one. What I would ask for is some clarity as to whether or not it is the wish of the committee to re-advertize some of the candidates that are on the current agenda have already been interviewed by this corporate services committee.

[1:16:57] I’ll go back to the mover on that, Councillor Anhost. Do you have a thought on that? Thank you, Your Worship. So, can I ask through you, to the clerks, if this opening was posted or advertised? Mr. Mayor, it’s Kathy Saunders. I just wanted to add to Ms. Westlake’s power’s response to Councillor Hopkins’ question.

[1:17:33] Although London Hydro had recommended a reappointment, we still would show it as a vacancy until Council has made a decision. So, we didn’t pre-determine that Council was going to reappoint the member recommended. So, that’s why you show too vacancy. With respect to Councillor Van Hoel’s question, the process is and has always been in the City Clerk’s office that if we have applications on file, we do not re-avertize. We place those applicants forward.

[1:18:09] We would only advertise if we have no current applications or if Council directs us to do so. In this circumstances, applicants came forward in 2019 as Ms. Westlake’s power indicated they were not appointed, but they’d ask that we retain their applications on file. We reached out to them in the beginning of June to ask them if they wish to leave their application to go forward and they all indicated that they did. And that’s why we did not advertise.

[1:18:42] And I would add to that, Councillor Van Hoel’s, that your motion does not include providing an ad or going beyond the individuals on this list. So, if it is the will of Council to ask the clerk to do that, that would have to be incorporated into the motion. Okay, thank you very much, Your Worship. So, it has been a couple of years since we looked for candidates who would be interested. I do believe that there are a number more than one that had hoped to apply.

[1:19:24] I think it might have been waiting for a posting. So, perhaps I could amend the motion if it’s fine with the seconder that in light of that, that we delay this, the process in F until the next SPPC meeting. That would allow us to post that and any other, any applicants that have changed their, that have in the last two years now become available to be board members might have the opportunity to apply as well.

[1:20:06] So, I would, I would look to Councillor Cassidy to see if she would be willing to alter the motion that we simply refer part F to our next SPPC meeting. Councillor Cassy, go ahead. I’m not sure if I’m looking at the right motion, the one that I see F is that the following be appointed to the London Hydro Board of Directors and that would be Andrew Raimack. So, is that part that the mover wants to refer or did you want to add an item that says advertise for the final vacant?

[1:20:52] Let me add some clarity to that first by going to the clerk. Thank you through the chair. The motion that I have prepared for the committee’s consideration, I’ve just noticed a typo in it, so now I’ve fixed that, is that the following actions be taken with respect to the London Hydro Inc 2020 annual general meeting of the shareholder annual resolutions. Part A, the bylaw appended to the staff report dated June 23rd, 2021, I’m fixing another typo.

[1:21:32] Entitled the bylaw to ratifying confirm the annual resolutions of the shareholder of London Hydro Inc. be introduced at the municipal council meeting to be held on July 6th, 2021. It being noted that the bylaw will include an appointment for only one third class director A, Raimack. And part B, the consideration of the remaining third class director vacancy B referred to the corporate services committee in order to consider applications following a call for applications, conduct interviews and make a recommendation to council.

[1:22:10] So let me. That’s, thank you. Is that a clerk? Is that clear, Councillor Van Holst, and are you comfortable with that as your motion? I would be comfortable with that, your worship. So it seems that the, there would be a call for more applications. And then the ones that we have on our list now, including any other ones, would go to the corporate services committee and they would conduct some process including interviews and then make a recommendation.

[1:22:49] That’s correct. Okay. Councillor Caster, thank you. And Councillor Cassidy, indicate she’s prepared to support that motion. Any other comments or questions? Mr. Mayor, it’s happy. Yes, go ahead. I just want to clarify one procedural matter. SPPC sits as a shareholder. So ultimately, the recommendation would, if corporate services are undertaking their interviews and making a recommendation, they would make a recommendation to council.

[1:23:23] And then it would have to ultimately go back to SPPC ‘cause SPPC is the shareholder. So in this circumstance, because it’s a shareholder position, it may be more appropriate for SPPC than to the interviews to speed up the process. Otherwise, we can work around the CSC as well. Councillor Friend, I’ve got Deputy Mayor Morgan looking to weigh in. Yeah, so on this matter, I recall doing interviews at the corporate services committee for the hydro board in the past.

[1:24:04] Could not this simply make a recommendation through SPPC to council so that it would just flow back through that process if the clerk feels that the shareholder needs to authorize it. That way, we could proceed as directed and it wouldn’t go to council, then SPPC then back to council, but just corporate services to SPPC to council, if that’s what we need to do. Let’s go back to the clerk and ask that question, Ms. Saunders. Yes, Mr. Mayor, that would work as well. So corporate services could make a recommendation to submit the nominee to the next SPPC meeting. We could go that way with, there may be a council meeting not held in between, but we have had to do that before under circumstances, so we can make it work.

[1:24:49] Thank you for that. I’ll look to the clerk for just some final wording on that. Through the chair, it’s not posted yet, but I will post it. I have amended part B to read the consideration of the remaining third class director vacancy, be referred to the corporate services committee in order to consider applications following a call for applications, conduct interviews, and make a recommendation to the strategic priorities and policy committee as the shareholder. Thank you.

[1:25:21] So well, that’s being posted. I’ll see if there are any other comments or questions. Deputy Mayor. Yes, just for disclosure to my colleagues, you may recall, you probably don’t recall, but when we first appointed Mr. Raimak, I declared a conflict because at the time he held a position at Western University, which was an individual who signed off on the final step of my merit-based salary increase. He no longer holds that position anymore, so I have no conflict on this matter. We hope you carry on with your merit-based increases then, Councillor, thank you very much.

[1:25:56] Any other comments or questions? So we’re having a little fun here. Just let us know when it’s posted to the clerk and we’ll be okay, it is up. Any other, and I’ll give you a moment to review that, please. And then we’ll call the question. Any comments or questions, colleagues further? Seeing none, we’ll call the question. Closing the vote, and the motion is passed, 13 to zero.

[1:26:55] Thank you, colleagues. I want to share with you the Councillor Turner’s had to leave the meeting. And that is my practice vice council when that has happened. Let me add my thanks again to Mr. Valenti and Mr. Sharma for their presentation. And now I’ll turn our attention to 3.3, the London middle six community housing, 2020 annual general meeting, and turn it over to the Chair, Mr. Yeomans. Thank you very much, your worship, and good afternoon, everyone. Our submission is of course included with the agenda, including our financial statements and the auditor’s report.

[1:27:32] I’m also joined this afternoon by members of our senior leadership team. And our presentation’s a little bit different this year than in the past. So of course, as everyone appreciates last May Council approved an interim board to help guide the organization as it transitions back into a community-based board. On behalf of the board, I’d like to highlight areas of focus for the past year. It’s really been an important year for us to focus and prepare for the future. There’s a lot of important change that’s on the horizon. The significant strategic focus of the board and SMT has been on preparations for those initiatives in addition to our day-to-day operations.

[1:28:07] I’ll be going over a number of themes with you this afternoon as well, all relating to our obligation to be a good landlord with our existing tenants, to renew our housing stock and to advance opportunities to expand in order to assist the community need for more affordable housing. Starting with COVID-19 as a responsive landlord, we made COVID-19 a mitigation of priority for our tenants. We had a COVID task force that met formally on a weekly basis and informally to address emergent matters as a result of monitoring and provincial changes. We undertook a number of measures associated with this, including increased cleaning, restrictions and reduced usage of common facilities, a lot of exposures and potential and active cases in our buildings where that information was available and appropriate.

[1:28:50] We had regular communications as well with our tenants using physical means and also digital opportunities as well. Importantly, ensuring that we have tenant relations staff on site was a really key priority for us as well, to ensure that some of our tenants that have heightened mental health concerns were able to be addressed and supported during this difficult time. Policy development was another key thrust for us this year as well. There’s lots of important governance work that was done in 2020 by administration and by the board. Our focus really was on continuous improvement to advance the sophistication of our organization, to provide guidance on relationships with our tenants and to best prepare for our new initiatives such as enhanced building security and regeneration.

[1:29:32] Our policy reviews also included an anti-racism, anti-oppression lens, especially for the use of force policy and it will include training sessions associated with unconscious bias and anti-oppression as well. In our package submission, you can also find the list of policies that were approved by the board this year. Moving on, building safety and security was another key priority for us this year as well. And this is thanks to Council’s leadership in improving business case 19 with the multi-year budget. So we’ve really been able to advance and improve safety and security in our buildings in 2020. The specific actions this year included hiring a security manager and community safety specialists.

[1:30:09] A number of security cameras were installed led sites throughout our portfolio. We increased the presence of our community safety unit staff in buildings to address tenant concerns and to create a visible commitment to change as well. And then finally, we also developed an emergency preparedness policies and procedures associated with those as well to make sure we’re ready to address an emergency that arises. At LMC, we’re proud to be the second agency board and commission to have an approved and published asset management plan. This is particularly important to the condition and age of our buildings and the associated assets.

[1:30:43] I’d like to extend a big thanks as well to the city’s asset management team for their advice and assistance to align our approach with one conducted by the city for their asset management plan. Our AMP though has identified that we have a lot of work to do. We have an infrastructure gap of approximately $159 million. And we’re seeking to have our core assets in fair condition by 2029. Thankfully this year though, we’ve been fortunate to receive $40 million in CMHC funding. That will be a great help in making a dent in this infrastructure gap. This has been the result of a lot of hard work in 2020 for the application and preparing for hiring of a dedicated project manager so we can make sure we hit the ground line.

[1:31:24] After a number of years of discussions planning and analysis, 2020 was a big year for LMCH regeneration. In December, the board approved our Southdale property as the first site to take advantages of opportunities for increasing our housing stock. Tenant and community conversations have begun for visioning and for feedback to inform the site concept to identify concerns upfront. This initiative involved a lot of preparation in 2020 including the hiring of a dedicated project manager to ensure delivery of the project, the creation of a tenant relocation policy to help guide transitions and displacements during construction.

[1:31:58] And we’re continuing our discussions with the city on our site plan application and with construction anticipated in the summer of 2022 for our first building and then phasing over the next several years. I’m also excited to highlight for the shareholder that new in 2020 was the creation of the organization’s first ever tenant advisory council. This is thanks in large part to the hard work of our community engagement team and the TAC is composed of 13 tenant members. It’s been established as an advisory committee to provide input suggestions and feedback on the system related matters affecting all tenements in our corporation.

[1:32:35] The council meets once a month and is led by two tenant co-chairs. And it’s a welcome new addition to our organization. I want to thank the members who are contributing their time and experiences to bettering the LCH. I’d like to wrap up this year as well by highlighting that there’s a lot of work that’s on the horizon. We’ve highlighted some of this in our publication as well. Although this is a 2020 report, we think it’s important that you’re identifying and aware of the key priorities for us as we go forward. This year in particular, we’ve been really working hard with the Middlesex London Health Unit to establish mobile vaccination clinics and a number of our buildings as well in response to COVID-19.

[1:33:14] There’s of course been the formation of the new community based board and we’ll be doing improved onboard onboarding and training associated with that as well. It also comments the recruitment of a new CEO who will be selected by the new board. This individual will be instrumental and continuing to advance strategic initiatives of the organization. And finally, LMCH’s strategic plan has now reached its horizon. The new board will be tasked with developing the new plan to position LMCH well for the future. So in closing, I’d like to thank and recognize the hard work of Andrea McKenzie, who stepped into the leadership role of interim CEO last January.

[1:33:50] Our organization is greatly benefited from Andrea’s priority setting skills, experience and empathy as well. Andrea unfortunately couldn’t be with us tonight, but she’s taking a well-deserved vacation and we hope she’s having a good evening with that too. So finally, I wanna thank you as the shareholder for your support by making housing and your housing priority. And we’re happy to answer any questions you might have. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I wonder if there are some questions it appears there are. So we’ll start with Councillor Squire. Thank you very much, Mr. Yeoman, for your report. I think the first thing I wanted to say is that certainly when I started as a Councillor, I think about seven years ago, the infrastructure gap and the functioning of LMCH in its future was viewed rather pessimistically, even by the people who were serving on the board, through no fault of their own.

[1:34:37] But when I’m listening to you today, I get a sense that things like the infrastructure gap and the challenges you’re facing are being managed. And I think that’s very important certainly to me as a Councillor to know that you’re doing that. So I wanna thank you and the other staff who served on the board for doing that. I’m entrusted very much in the reimagined Southdale. And I’m interested in you letting me know or commenting on how is that project going to be different from what most people recognize an LMCH building being in sort of its present form?

[1:35:12] Is there gonna be something different about it in terms of the mix of residents and those sort of things? Is there something you can help me with today that will provide some positive news, I hope? Shum? Through you, we’re sure happy to provide lots of positive news ‘cause we’re really excited about this initiative. So yes, the council’s correct. We’re targeting a different mix of housing opportunities as well for this project. We’ll of course have the social housing opportunities that the site currently has, but we’ll also be providing opportunities for affordable housing as well.

[1:35:45] And we’re exploring opportunities in the future to actually add market units as well to the portfolio too. So that could be for the Southdale site and some other sites going forward as well. So we think it’s gonna be a really great opportunity to really mix up the community quite well and also to look at different housing forms that could be located on the site. Presenting it’s a pretty underutilized townhouse walk. Thank you, Ms. Square. So I did meet with Ms. Mackenzie earlier in the year and I sort of got that preview from her. I can’t tell you how important that is, the idea that we’re moving to a different way of delivering housing.

[1:36:24] And earlier, you know, we talked a little bit about stigmatizing people in terms of their income levels and the type of housing that they were looking for. And I think the step we’re taking re-imagined Southdale that you’re setting the stage for is really important in that regard. I know that the biggest challenges in housing will come when you don’t have the diversity in the housing and the people who are living there. So I think that’s the future of London Middlesex Community Housing. I’m glad we’re getting started and I’m glad that things seem to be on the right track. So thank you for your report.

[1:36:58] Thank you, Councillor Square. Any other comments or questions? I pardon me, Councillor Hopkins, please. Thank you. And thank you, Mr. Yeoman, for the report as well. I think it’s really some good news here. I just want to go back to Councillor Squire’s comments about the townhouses on Southdale and we’re starting that regeneration project, which I think is not only needed, but again, it is the start of how we bring back our housing in London Middlesex Community Housing.

[1:37:48] I think it is really, really important. It’s been a concern. I know when I was on the board, how do we do this? How do we get started? It’s great to get the funding and the money. And we know as a council, we’ve put lots of money into housing as well. So lots of good news here. The tenant advisory council, I know when I was on the board, that was a conversation that almost can this happen? And it’s really great to see the advisory council being set up with 10 members moving forward. So great news.

[1:38:22] I do have a quick question, Mr. Chair, through you to Mr. Yeoman about the infrastructure grab. He mentioned 150 million. I know we’ve received about 40 million, but if he could expand further on how concerned should we be about this infrastructure gap, I would think as we move forward, it would only build and get greater. Mr. Yeoman? Through you, Your Worship. So as I mentioned, the $40 million is a great success story for the city writ large.

[1:38:57] And thank you for council’s leadership on putting that forward through the multi-year budget. It will, of course, be making a dent in the infrastructure gap. We still have quite a long way to go. 56% of our assets, according to the asset management plan are in poor condition. So we have a long legacy that we have to address going forward. I imagine we’re going to be looking at some funding requests that’ll be coming up to the next multi-year budget process. Councillor. Yeah, thank you for that. For the heads up, I’m not surprised. And I’m looking forward to knowing a little bit more on how we can bring that infrastructure gap.

[1:39:35] I just want to make a quick comment as well. And a big thank you to staff. I really appreciate, I know where the stakeholder, this is normal, but I do want to speak to the reports that we’ve received here tonight from staff given that housing is a big conversation. And it’s very, very complex as well. And how we understand it is important to council. So I want to thank staff, not only at the London community housing, but all the staff that are involved in this and bringing these reports to council so we can understand the decisions that we have to make forward.

[1:40:18] It is really, it really important. And I know at the time that goes into this and how complex it is that it’s, I just want to encourage you to continue with these reports. I know we didn’t even really, we touched upon the housing stability for all plan. And again, London middle sex community housing was mentioned in that too. But how that plan brings everything together. I know having coming as we get out of COVID, the concerns and the challenges are going to be adding to the housing challenges that we already have.

[1:40:57] So I just want to encourage staff to continue giving us the information that we need to make these decisions. Thank you, Councillor, I have Councillor Cassidy. Your worship, I just want to throw you, say thank you to Mr. yeoman for this presentation. And thank you to the entire team at LMCH. When I think back about a year ago, where we were and how daunting this task seemed of turning this ship around.

[1:41:30] And not just, you know, when something is really challenging and there are so many parts that need to be addressed and almost a feeling of hopelessness there, it can feel like an impossible task. And I just want to say the team at LMCH, the interim board, the staff there, they’ve given me that feeling of hope again and optimism and to see the report that’s been presented tonight.

[1:42:02] It’s really, you know, rather than just fix one thing or deal with these repairs or deal with those renovations that need to take place, they’ve hit everything all at once with the Lieutenant Advisory Council, working through a pandemic setting up public clinics at the LMCH locations for their tenants. This asset management plan, improving safety and security. All of this happening all at once and really making great progress at every step of the way.

[1:42:39] I’m really happy to see the work that’s taken place over the last year and a bit. And the really hard work and dedication that’s been shown here. And I just want to say thank you for that. I’m looking forward to continuing to hear good things. I’m looking forward to that funding request because we know that community housing in London before the last multi-year budget was woefully underfunded. And that last budget started to see that shift taking place. And so I’d like to see us continue down that road and really do some really good things in this area.

[1:43:14] So again, thanks a lot. Thank you. If I can paraphrase what you said briefly, Councillor Cassidy, if it’s hard, most people can try and if it’s impossible, we give it to Mr. yeoman’s and his team. There we go. Well done. Thank you. I have a Councillor Van Holst on the list. Thank you, my colleagues have said it very well. I’ll be brief. The importance to housing for London of the LMCH can’t be overstated. It’s crucial that this piece work well for us and it’s beginning to work out well.

[1:43:53] So thank you. Thank you. Councillor Layman. Thank you, through you, Chair, to Mr. yeoman. You spoke about enhancing the security of our facilities there. I wonder if we could speak to the progress being made on the availability of on-site social services for the tenants of LMCH. Mr. Chairman. Through you, Your Worship, I’m happy to do that. So we’ve had actually a lot of good success with working with our partners this year.

[1:44:26] The Canadian Mental Health Association has secured permanent office space that are William Dundas and some co-locations to provide mental health support. And that’s a really great new change. Addiction Services in Tones Valley is also a security permanent office space in our locations as well. We’ve had a lot of good partnerships with the social work program at Fanshawe College this year and the Masters of Social Work students at King’s College as well. Also, we’ve got a lot of really good community cleanups with London Police Services at our family sites. So we’re doing a lot of outreach to really help our tenants from a programming perspective and also to help address some of the unique needs that our tenants have.

[1:45:06] Councillor? I find that very encouraging. Thank you, Mr. Yeoman. I think that’s a very important piece of the puzzle. It’s important to provide shelter, but it’s also very important to have accessibility of these services as though suffering transition into lots of streets and into more permanent housing. So thank you very much. I encourage you to continue on those efforts. Thank you. Any other comments or questions for Mr. Yeoman? Let me add my thanks, Mr. Yeoman.

[1:45:41] I appreciate it very much on behalf of council. Oh, I see, Councillor Hummer, go ahead, please. Thank you for that, Mayor. I thought you saw me when I had my hand up earlier, but there’s two brief. I just had a question for Mr. Yeoman through you about, there was a lot of staffing, it increases, it proved in the business case, 19, you know, to help bring up the staffing levels. Obviously the pandemic would have impacted, I think the ability to hire a lot of those people and to fill out all those positions.

[1:46:14] How does that look in terms of the overall staffing levels within community housing, say, for the rest of 2021? And how’s it going in terms of overall implementation of that rather large scale up and resources? Mr. Yeoman? Through you, Mr. Yeoman. So we’ve had quite a campaign this past year for hiring as the council indicated, we’ve got a number of key positions. We’ve hired, as I mentioned, our security manager, three community safety specialists. We’ve hired a project and facility coordinator to handle pest control as well. Of course, we’ve got our reach match in the Southdale coordinator that’s been hired.

[1:46:50] We also have a coordinator and project manager who’s been hired related to CMHC funding as well too. So we’ve actually been able to attract a lot of really great talent to the organization and hopefully that will continue in the years to come. Councilor Omer? Thank you. Any other comments or questions? So colleagues, there’s a couple of things we need to do. Again, thank you, Mr. Yeoman. A couple of things we need to do as it relates to the board composition. And this was established through our council meeting on April 23rd.

[1:47:24] We have two members of council that need to be appointed. And we’ve had two sitting members, Councillors Palosa and Kavaga. And we have two individuals, excuse me, four individuals that have to be appointed, at least two, coming from the tenants of LMCH. So with that, I know that Deputy Mayor Morgan wants to move motion, go ahead, please. Yes, and bear with me colleagues ‘cause I wanna explain my reasons for doing this.

[1:48:01] So if you see the attached letter to the added agenda from the Housing Corporation, you’ll notice in that letter that a part of the sharehold agreement has the board reviewed the director qualifications as outlined in the agreement and make recommendations to municipal council. And this is a particularly different time for when we appointed ‘cause we have to reconstitute the whole board here. And although normally we’re just selecting a couple of positions as the different class directors would come up, I think given that the board has considered the diversity of the services as well as the qualifications of the directors outlined, they’ve made some recommendations.

[1:48:43] And if there are no significant objections to colleagues, I think one of the ways we could proceed here is and that I’d be willing to move the motion is to appoint the recommendation, the recommended directors from the Housing Corporation. That includes the two continuing first class directors who are interim members. And it would then require us to appoint second and third class directors of which I think there’s an advantage to divide the tenants so that there’s some continuity of having a tenant on the board since we’re required to do so, as well as the two recommended community members, knowing that then we would have a staggered board that then would come up for renewal and we could go back to perhaps a more normalized process of interviews and elections and those sorts of things.

[1:49:29] So if there isn’t significant objection from my colleagues, I’d like to put that on the floor that we appoint the members that are mentioned in the letter. And I’ve suggested the clerk slot them into the different spots and that we deal with the council appointments after we conclude that particular process. So I would be willing to put that on the floor. If I hear everybody having significant objections to this, I’ll probably end up withdrawing the motion, but I’d like to see if it floats for now and see if we can take care of this as efficiently as possible. Before I look for a seconder for the benefit of the public who is watching who may not have access to this letter, the interim members as referenced by the deputy mayor are Ainsley Anderson and John Milson and from the community, Shelly Chowns and Gary Bizare and tenants Tammy Brooks and tenant Maria Meno.

[1:50:23] Do you have a seconder for that? Councillor Lehman, comments or questions? Seeing none, we’ll call the question. Closing the vote and that motion is passed, 13 to zero.

[1:51:06] So colleagues, that takes us now to the staff recommendation, which had to incorporate to include the board appointments. And so you’ll see Appendix A, which is the proposed by-law to ratify and confirm the resolutions of the shareholder, annual resolutions, excuse me, of the shareholder of London and Middlesex Community Housing Inc. And therefore I’ll look for a mover of the staff recommendation as, oh, I’m gonna go back to the clerk ‘cause she sorts me out on such things, go ahead. Sorry, thank you, Mr. Mayor.

[1:51:41] There is still the blank space of the Councillors, thank you. Sorry, that’s why we have clerks and more than one clerk and only one chair ‘cause they’re much wiser. So we have here, community for colleagues to either nominate or self-appoint for the two staff positions that are there. I wanna acknowledge I have got Councillor Hopkins who wishes to be recognized, go ahead, please. Mr. Chair, I know Deputy Mayor Morgan had already had a suggestion or a motion coming forward.

[1:52:23] Should that go first or do we just go into the nominating Councillors? Yes, excuse me, I’m sorry. Just to be clear, in the vote we just had, we approved the motion put forward by Councillor Morgan. So now we’re to your point, we’re now dealing specifically with Councillor Nominations. And if I may ask for you just in the floor that we have someone from the county on the board. Yes, actually that will be incorporated in the motion and I appreciate you bringing that to my attention.

[1:53:00] The county has put forward the Deputy Mayor of North Middlesex, Adrienne Quinosan. Thank you for bringing that to Council’s attention. Sir, Councillor, you still have the floor if you wish? Councillor Hopkins. Yes, if I may and maybe just following up with that, if just to make sure that there’s no one else on Council that we’d like to make to put their name forward, I think that should be considered as well. Yes, at this point I’ve had no indication from Councillors either who have stood and wish to stand again and/or would rather, or would like to put their names forward now.

[1:53:40] Nothing’s been brought to my attention, Councillor. If I may, so we assume then that no one else is interested in the position. No, I’m not prepared to make that presumption just that it’s not been brought to my attention. That’s all, it may have been missed or it was thought that it might be brought forward today in some fashion. That’s all I know. And I must, I apologize, let’s just clarify with the clerk if there’s any other indications.

[1:54:12] Clerk? Through you, Mr. Mayor, we have had no indications from any current members of Council. So be that those who are currently standing or are currently the representatives or anyone from Council. So it’s a clean slate and again, that’s no indication that anyone can’t allow their name to stand or should they wish, or if others would like to have their name stand as well. So Councillor Hopkins, you still have the floor if you wish. No, I just think it’s important that any Council member should have the opportunity now if they’re interested in putting their name forward.

[1:54:55] Great point and that’s absolutely correct. I have Councilor Vanholz now, please. Thank you, Worship. I’d like to put my name forward to serve on this board. I’ve so noted, Councilor Cassidy, I have, I’m recognizing you next. Thank you, Your Worship. And Councilor Kayabaga had to leave for a family matter that’s taken her away, but she is interested in sitting on this board. So I would nominate Councilor Kayabaga. Thank you. Is there anyone else that, Councillor Lewis, I have your attention there, you have mine at least.

[1:55:31] Thank you, Mr. Chair, and through you, I’d like to nominate Councilor Squire. Thank you, I see Councilor Squire, did you— Just a clarification, I think, first of all, if I’m like any other Council, I have no idea that this was going to happen today. It’s not on the agenda. The Council nominations were not put out. But that being said, when does it, it would be interesting to know when does this board meet? Does it meet once a month? What day of the month does it meet? I think Councilors have busy schedules and I certainly need to know when they’re monthly meeting it. Can we go to the clerk or to Mr. Yeoman?

[1:56:11] Through you, Your Worship, I’m happy to help with that. So the board meets every third Thursday of every month. We also have standing committees as well that board members are part of, given the size and composition of our present board, we’ve been operating as the committee of the whole, so that would be meeting every other month or so. But I imagine the new board will have a more refined committee structure. Thank you. It doesn’t address the question, though. Although it was in the reference, I’m not sure it was absolutely spelled out, Councillor Squire, but to come to your point, it certainly is in the document that we have in terms of the general meeting of the Sherville.

[1:56:55] That’s fine. That’s when it comes out. I’ll let my name stand. Anyone else wish to allow their name to stand? So colleagues, what we have is we have three individuals for two positions, which means we will have an election, and I think that will take a few moments to do. So please bear with us, and we will organize that now. Thank you.

[1:57:28] I’ll let you talk amongst yourselves. I’ll ask the clerk just to explain the voting process we’re about to go through.

[1:59:48] Based on the existing council policy, a selection has been created in eScribe. Members will have two votes to cast for the three nominated Councillors. Colleagues, any comments or questions about that? I, Councillor Squire, do you have to cast two votes? Are you required to cast two? Or can you cast one? Through the chair with apologies, we haven’t used this for a little bit.

[2:00:30] I believe that you are able to submit just one vote. You can vote for up to two candidates. In the political world of my former life, that would be called Plumping. Having said that, colleagues, we’ll get that up in just a moment. Now on your screen. Closing the vote, and Councillors Squire and Van Holst received the most votes.

[2:02:09] Thank you very much, colleagues. Now with that, I’m now going to turn us to the recommendation, and that election completes the necessary information for the proposed by-law, which is Appendix A, and for that, I’ll look for a mover, please. Councillor Lewis, seconded by Councillor Van Holst. Any comments or questions? Seeing none, we’ll call the question in a moment. Good, Clerk, if you could just read the motion just for clarity, please.

[2:03:58] Thank you through the chair, that the following actions be taken with respect to the 2020 annual general meeting of the London and Middlesex Community Housing Inc. A, the presentation from London and Middlesex Community Housing Inc. B received Part B, the proposed by-law appended to the staff report dated June 23rd, 2021 as Appendix A, entitled a by-law to ratify and confirm the annual resolutions of the shareholder of London and Middlesex Community Housing Inc. be introduced at the Municipal Council meeting to be held on July 6th, 2021, to one, ratify and confirm the annual resolution of the shareholder of London and Middlesex Community Housing Inc.

[2:04:43] And two, authorize the mayor and the city clerk to execute the annual resolution of the shareholder of London and Middlesex Community Housing Inc. Part C, London and Middlesex Community Housing Inc. Annual Findings Report for the year ending December 31st, 2020 be received. Part D, the financial statements of the London and Middlesex Community Housing Inc. year ending December 31st, 2020 be received. And Part E, the following be appointed to the London and Middlesex Community Housing Inc.

[2:05:19] Board of Directors, Ainsley Anderson, term ending December 31st, 2021 first class, John Milson, term ending December 31st, 2021 first class, and Shelly Chowns, term ending December 31st, 2024, second class, Maria Mano and Gary Bezair, term ending December 31st, 2025, and that would be third class.

[2:05:51] And Michael Vanholst and Phil Squire from the City of London, and Adrian Hornal listen from the County of Middlesex for the term ending with the term of the Municipal Council. Thank you very much. We will call the question. Closing the vote and the motion is passed 13 to zero.

[2:06:36] Thank you colleagues and for the benefit we are now on item four items for direction. And the first 4.1 is the third report of the governance working group. I’ll call on it if you may or please. Yes, the third report of the governance working group has just one item just to recap. For colleagues, we received an interim report number six on the advisory committee review. And we have received that and then asked specific, thank you, you’ll move to accept the report.

[2:07:11] Yeah, just let me finish it. And so I’m gonna move the whole report, but we’ve received that and directed staff to go and get feedback on that draft terms of reference from the advisory committee. So they’re in the process of doing that. Thank you very much. Before we ask the deputy mayor to move the report and get it on the table, I will invite any comments or questions on the governance working group as reported. Seeing none, I refer to put that on the floor. Formally, Councilor Deputy Mayor, yes. Seconded by Councilor Lewis, any other comments or questions?

[2:07:48] Seeing none, we’ll call the question. Closing the vote and the motion is passed 13 to zero. Thank you, Deputy Mayor. I don’t believe for the query land and vacant buildings.

[2:08:23] This has been brought forward by Councilor Cassidy, perhaps I could ask you to speak to it, please. Thank you, your worship. I sound like camera froze for a second there. Yeah, the letter is pretty self-explanatory. I did have, I had multiple conversations with the city manager and with the deputy city manager, George, Mr. Cott’s best about this as well. So we did quite a bit of work to ensure that this is something that staff can support. I also had some conversations with Councilor Kayabaga as she represents one of the core areas in the city.

[2:09:03] And she was going to second this, but with a family or emergency taking her away. I do know that Deputy Mayor Morgan had a friendly amendment that he wanted to put forward. So I might yield the floor to the deputy mayor. He also had indicated that he would be interested in seconding with the friendly amendment if Councilor Kayabaga wasn’t able to. So I will yield the floor to the deputy mayor if you want to recognize him. Good, Deputy Mayor. Yes, colleagues. And I’ll ask the clerks, I gave them some languages before the meeting that could be put up on the screen.

[2:09:41] The change that I made to the motion, and I’d be happy to second it with the change, is the motion is exactly the same, but it says, including but not limited to, and then A, so basically I want to include but not limit the context of the report and add some specificity. A, a review of existing incentive programs and any recommendations to change them. B, a review of existing planning processes, permissions, and any recommended changes that would allow for the conversion of vacant commercial space or land into residential, including affordable housing.

[2:10:14] C, an assessment of the related strategies in our move forward, London’s downtown plan, and the downtown parking strategy for any recommended updates or changes. D, any recommendations that build on the core area action plans to support the increased safety and security of person or property in the core area. And E, an assessment of how the new strategy could be integrated with the work of the London community recovery, knowing that staff could use these to build the terms of reference for the new strategy, and obviously come back to council with these things included as well as any others that they felt were applicable.

[2:10:51] Thanks very much. It’s been moved in seconded comments or questions from colleagues, Councillor Square. You know, I’m very torn about this motion. And first of all, I made it clear, I think in the past, or the past time we met that I was growing more and more concerned about focusing on the core area rather than the city as a whole. And I know that the quote from the mayor talks about affordable housing. It’s certainly, the quote does not say anything about in the core area only. It refers to larger goals. And it’s becoming more and more difficult for me as the Councillor for a ward that is not the core area to continue to say, well, let’s support these initiatives in the core area, but what’s going on in the ward that many of us represent outside of the core area.

[2:11:42] And, you know, I’m very aware of that because I continue to get reports in my ward about these issues that are facing areas. And I’m just having some difficulty in again supporting something that focuses almost entirely while it does focus on the core. So I’m not sure, you know, we talk about land vacancy. You know, land vacancy, I’m not sure even what that means. I’m assuming that means land with parking lots on it.

[2:12:15] And we already have policies in place that deal with whether we approve parking lots or not. So I’m a worried about what that means. Redevelopment of areas is very much involved in the private sector, repurposing buildings. I don’t even know at this point in time. And I appreciate that it’s been broad and whether, you know, if you had just said repurposing buildings, I wouldn’t have supported it because I’m not sure that is even the primary thing we have to do moving forward. And I’m going to be quite frank now. When I say this, I’m concerned about decisions with regard to priorities in our city, falling first to staff and then coming to us for approval.

[2:12:57] You know, I was elected as a city councilor and I’m going to be blunt again. I don’t always need staff to take the lead on what I think is important for my ward and the people in my ward. So I’m not afraid of this coming back, but it’s one more thing that’s coming back in relation to one area of the city. And I’m not going to continue to be comfortable with that. I’m not going to continue to be comfortable when I continue to hear from commercial tenants in ward six who suffered the exact same problems as we’re seeing in the core area.

[2:13:36] Exact same problems. And so I’m very hesitant about this. I don’t have any problem with this motion passing. If it passes, that’s fine. But on principle, at this point in time, I do have trouble supporting it. Thank you. Next to Councillor Lewis. Thank you, Chair. And I’m going to share a couple of things and I’m going to sound like Councillor Squire here a little bit, but I’m going to try not to repeat what he said too much. I had two concerns with this when I saw it on the agenda. The first is exactly what Councillor Squire said that it focuses only on the core.

[2:14:14] I have vacant industrial, vacant commercial in my ward. I have vacant pieces of land in my ward and I too am tired of seeing only strategies that address the core needs when there are needs across the city. If core area was not in this, I would have been a little more comfortable. I was also uncomfortable with the lack, honestly the lack of direction I felt that it was too broad. I think that the amendment that Councillor Morgan has added makes me more comfortable in supporting this. But I would say that even in the clauses themselves, when we’re talking about recommendations that build on the core area action plan and assessment related to our move forward, London’s downtown plan and downtown parking.

[2:14:58] There we are again, core, core, core. And the core is very important to the city. There is no doubt about that. It absolutely, when you’re talking about property values and the assessment for municipal tax revenues that come through the core, in terms of the size of the core versus what it pulls in, yes, it punches above its weight there, but these problems are not limited to the core. So I’m again, I’m hesitant to support something that’s focused solely on core needs when it is not just a problem in the core.

[2:15:33] Is it more visible in the core? Certainly, I would not argue that because I think it is more visible in the core, but it’s not a problem that’s limited just to the core. So look forward to hear what other people say. Right now, I’m not sure where my voter land on this. Councillor Cassidy. Thank you, Your Worship. First of all, I’m gonna, I didn’t wanna rise on a point of personal privilege, but I’m gonna make a comment regarding personal privilege. I’m a city councilor as well.

[2:16:05] I decide what motions I bring forward, and I certainly don’t need staff to hold my hand. It’s something that there is a lot, there are a lot of moving parts, and I’m glad for Deputy Mayor Morgan to bring forward his amendment that adds some specificity. And frankly, those are all part of the things that staff are working on. And so tying it all together in a very specific way for council to see makes a lot of sense, but city staff are working on a number of things.

[2:16:41] So they did ask me to, if I could, make the motion very broad so that they can tie all of these plans and strategies together. It’s in the motion, it says very specifically, it may assist a set of potential tools that may assist in reducing core area land and building vacancy. So it doesn’t limit it if there are areas of the city where these kinds of tools could also help those areas and they will, they will.

[2:17:15] But the fact of the matter is, is the vast majority of our empty buildings and vacant land do reside in the core areas. The other thing is that city staff, as I said, have plans to bring various reports forward and they see a good fit with setting out a strategy, a very specific strategy like this to tie these other strategies together.

[2:17:49] And the way I see a potential for things to work is a very, a different application, but similar to how we’ve done the industrial land development strategy without the idea of city council or city hall purchasing things and owning them, the way we do industrial land. But if there can be a reimagining of a similar strategy or some tools put in place for the city to address these multiple concerns and address the challenges that we see in the core area.

[2:18:25] An industrial land development strategy, there was a lot of pushback way back when that strategy was first developed, but we’ve had huge success in attracting investment here in London. I’ve spoken to city councilors in other towns where they have said they lost investment to the city of London because of our, because we had service land ready to go and they did not. I’m not saying we wanna do that same thing in this area, but that was a strategy that was developed to spur economic development.

[2:19:02] And this, I want city staff to come back to us with a strategy that could be developed to address these kinds of problems. And that’s, that’s all I’ll say. I’m very hopeful that council will support this, that this committee will support this because I think it’s, it’s where we need to go. Thank you, I have councilor Vettel. Thank you, Your Worship. I can certainly relate to councilor Cassidy in this. There’s been a number of occasions where I brought specific ideas forward and it was asked that the emotion be made more broad because other pieces could be fit in and then it seems to lack a little bit of clarity.

[2:19:51] I’m gonna ask two things. First, a question of the mover and then a question from staff. But first, to councilor Cassidy, if I may, were there any specific ideas for reducing core area and land building? They can see that that spurred this motion. Councilor Cassidy, you wanna respond to that? So it’s, the idea of a strategy is something that I’ve been thinking about for almost my entire time on council and talking to people in the community about the idea of having a strategy.

[2:20:34] And it’s always been industrial, it was industrial land development strategy that got me thinking about it. Having many conversations with Jeanette McDonald, the former managing director at Downtown London, spoken to people at LEDC, spoken to people at the chamber and having those kinds of conversations, I finally decided to bring it forward. I think when we have a serious lack of housing units in the city and we have a big concentration of open vacant buildings and open land, we see the proactive approach of the housing development corporation in finding land and building on it or working with partners in partnership to build affordable units.

[2:21:28] Why not again, bring the various strategies together and tackle multiple issues at the same time? Councilor Anhol, she had a question for staff. Okay, thank you. And I appreciate Councilor Cassidy’s suggestion is prompt. It may be a very good idea to have a strategy like this. Some of my questions through you, your worship to staff who in our which department would be taking this on.

[2:22:00] And what do they see bringing back based on the changes that Councilor Morgan has proposed? I would have missed Livingston as there’s someone that you might reference. Through the chair, it’s George Costes. It would likely be my service area that would be bringing this back through our planning and economic development group or possibly through our economic supports. Notwithstanding, it’ll still be within our area.

[2:22:33] And it’s across the board initiative. It wouldn’t just be our area that completes all the work. It’s all our service areas that would be engaged through our SLT discussions. In terms of a report back, we’ll likely bring something to you back in the fall, possibly a document maybe with the terms of reference because there’s a lot of moving parts to this. There’s a lot of players. There’s the BIAs, there’s some septed discussions with regarding crime prevention.

[2:23:07] And so there’s a number of initiatives that we would like to engage on. So I think it’ll be wise for us to report back to you first, probably in the fall with some sort of a strategy on how to develop the strategy, I guess, but it’d be more of a terms of reference document. Commissioner Host. Okay, thank you. Well, I think that’s a pretty prompt reply given the breadth of the issues that we’re dealing with here. So I might support this just because I’m interested in seeing what that might be like.

[2:23:45] So thank you. Thank you, Casro Hopkins. Yeah, thank you. And I wanna thank Councillor Cassidy for bringing this forward. I have no concerns with this. I know she’s spoken in the past about a strategy. And I’ve often wondered what does that look like and how will that come about given all the plans and policies that we have in the downtown core. So I’m quite comfortable supporting this. I would be fine with a broad report back, but the friendly amendment from Deputy Mayor Morgan is fine with me.

[2:24:20] I am just pleased that we’re having this conversation and a better understanding about the core and building up on our core area action plan too. I know I’ve had Councillors or mayors reach out to me wanting to understand a little bit more about what we’re doing downtown and being quite impressed that we are doing a lot to try to bring it together. And I know my residents wouldn’t have a concern. So I’m not sure what the concern is here.

[2:24:54] I’m trying to figure out why I should be worried about this. I am not at all being convinced that I shouldn’t be worried and really looking forward to seeing what staff comes back to us so we can have a better understanding how all these parts are going to be moving as we try to recover as well through the pandemic and very happy to support it. Thank you, anyone else? I have Councillor Lewis, please go ahead. Oh, pardon me, before I do, I know you’ve spoken once and I want to ignore you.

[2:25:29] As does anyone who is not yet spoken, I wish to have a comment. Not that you can’t jump in after Councillor Lewis, but go ahead, Councillor. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And through you, I have first a question to our staff and I expect it would be Mr. Costafist who would answer. Councillor Cassidy did reference that while it specifically mentions core area in the preamble that staff would be looking at potentially opportunities that could benefit the entire city.

[2:26:05] I just want to get his response. Would you be looking at something that is not limited to the core in some of these incentive planning process reviews? Mr. Costafist? Through the Chair, sorry, I was trying to unmute. Of course, usually with a lot of our policy work, there’s many policies that apply city-wide and are more appropriately applied city-wide rather than just in individual or area-specific locations. So absolutely, I think there would be benefit to the broader city with this review.

[2:26:46] Councillor Lewis. Thank you, Chair. Then through you, I’d like to ask the mover and the seconder if they would consider in clause B, where it references vacant commercial land slash space into residential, if they would be amenable to vacant commercial slash industrial land slash space. If we’re looking at conversions that not only are commercial, but in some cases, some light industrial land that might be converted, certainly that would make it more relevant to my ward.

[2:27:20] And I would guess some other wards, Councillor Salise’s ward jumps to mind, although I don’t propose to speak for him. But I think that that would make this a little more broadly applicable to other wards in the city and would help me be more supportive of it. Well, I know I’ll go back to the mover and seconder and get their sense. Since this amendment portion came from the deputy mayor, maybe I could start with him, if that’s a right, Councillor Cassidy, get his sense and then go back to you? Yes, given this point in the process and that staff would be coming back with items, I don’t mind including that piece, commercial slash industrial.

[2:27:57] I don’t think that broadens it appropriately and that’s fine. Councillor Cassidy, you’re good? I agree, 100%. Thank you, anything else, Councillor Lewis. That’s everything for me. Thank you, Councillor Square. I listened to what Mr. Cotsett said. And he was asked about it benefiting other areas of the city and he seemed to suggest in a way of wood.

[2:28:33] And I’m still not, that doesn’t, isn’t clear to me. And the reason it isn’t clear to me is because of the language. The language of the entire motion mentions all plans related to downtown. It doesn’t say anything about any other, I mean, to me, I beg to differ with Mr. Cotsett. He just clearly directed to the core. And I think we should say that, that this is a plan related to doing these things in the core. If it didn’t say that and there was a broader scope to it, I’m gonna be much more comfortable with it.

[2:29:04] But it doesn’t say that and I’m a person of words and the words up there say what they say. So I’m gonna beg to differ with all due respect to the staff answer. And I think my point is that I took the position some time ago that I wanted to see how all of the various plans up here on this board, how were they working? What were the metrics? What were the results we were getting? And now today, it seems like we’re back with another approach, which I’m not sure, I’m just not sure what it is.

[2:29:37] Is it incorporating all of these different things? Is it new policy? So that’s where my, that’s where I’m coming from. And when we’re trying to recover from COVID and those things, I’ve always maintained the citywide approach is the best and that’s where I am. But I don’t mean any disrespect when I disagree. I mean, I disagree with things all the time. It’s not disrespectful. It’s just that I disagree and I’m entitled to do that. So I don’t know how I’m gonna vote on this, but I have to go back to ward six and say, here’s what we’re doing for ward six and the problem for having a ward six and the difficulties business is having a ward six.

[2:30:19] And this certainly doesn’t enable me to do that. I’d like to ask the Deputy Mayor to take the chair. I have the Mayor on the list. Thanks very much colleagues. This is an interesting discussion because it’s one where everybody’s correct. I listen quite intently to Councillor Lewis and he’s correct. The problems are not limited to the core and he’s also correct that the core is more visible than any other piece of the city unless it happens to be your ward where you are traveling and traversing mostly. Councillor Squire is also right.

[2:30:53] The challenges that we face are not just in the core, clearly they are city wide. But I think Councillor Caskin and Deputy Mayor Morgan are also correct. Many of the problems that are referenced exist throughout the core and throughout the city. But let me also add that the core is the heart of our city and if the heart isn’t healthy, then you know what? Our city’s not healthy. The model that we’re building on is one I think where, when we tie this in to the important work of the London Community Recovery Network.

[2:31:29] When we tied into the core area action plan and the important work that it is trying to do. When we look at the words because words do matter and I looked at the amended motion and it says a review. It says in B, a review. C, it says an assessment. D, any recommendations build on the core plan to increase safety and security of person and property. E, an assessment. So my sense is we are not talking about taking this back to basics.

[2:32:05] We have done tremendous work. Our staff have done phenomenal work. I think in trying to understand what the issues of the city are. But we have a core area action plan for a reason. And when visitors come to the city, where do they go to? They start in the core mostly. But I will tell you this, this is a city wide issue. I spoke with the chair of the city mayors of Canada today and I said, I need you to help me and help all mayors across the city, across the country. Because the problems that we have around poverty and homelessness and vacancies are not exclusive to London.

[2:32:46] They’re endemic right across the country. And it will be a discussion that we have. ‘Cause I said, I’ll take all the juicy bits and steal all the best ideas that we can. But all we’re doing here, as I read this and as I know the intention is, is to summarize and put forward where we are and come up with some recommendations that help the heart of our city, that help the heart. And you know, anything that helps the heart helps the rest of our community, all of our wards, all of our city.

[2:33:19] So I’m asking councillors to consider this as one broad move that truly supports the greater good of our city. And I sincerely believe that if it’s good for the downtown, ultimately it will be good for all of our city. And I accept that when Mr. Caspa says, lessons learned, will be those that we will apply where we can and as we can. This isn’t a problem that just occurred, but I think working together in the spirit of this is how we can go forward. So I’m prepared to support it.

[2:33:51] That’s it for me, Deputy Mayor. I’ll hand the chair back to the mayor. I have Councillor Halmer on the list. Good, Councillor Halmer. Thank you, and I appreciated what you said, Mayor. I think that’s a good way of approaching this resolution that’s been brought forward by Councillor Cassidy and modified by Deputy Mayor Morgan. I think it’s going in the right direction. And there are a lot of things that are focused on the core. And I’m not going to get into why that is. I don’t think that’s really the issue that’s in front of us.

[2:34:26] But I do want to say that, you know, there’s lots of great parts of the city. And I think we have to recognize that they are different from each other, you know, different parts of the city need different things. And that’s why we have things like the Industrial Land Development Strategy for the places where we have industrial land and things like the downtown plan for where we have the downtown. And we don’t want to build industrial land in the downtown or put it downtown in the industrial land. And I think we all understand why we have different kinds of approaches for different things. And although many of the issues that are being experienced either through the pandemic or generally in the core, even before the pandemic, they do happen in other parts of the city for sure.

[2:35:06] The severity of those issues can be significantly higher. And it changes from time to time. And I think we have to be open-minded about how we can improve things and change things to kind of constantly be making things better. I’m going to give one example. So we have a number of incentive programs that are offered in the downtown and in an old East Village. One of the things that people are doing these days is trying to put in some shutters to cover their windows when their businesses are not operating. So they want to just sort of secure the front of the property. They have to get engineering drawings for that.

[2:35:42] It costs a fair amount of money to install them. And so an incentive program that would help people with that particular problem would go a long way. I was talking to a business owner about this gap in the incentive programs. The very next day, his windows were broken again. That gives us the eighth or ninth time this particular business that dealt with this same kind of problem. And what they really need is to put shutters over the business when they’re not there. So they don’t have to do things like sit in the business overnight to make sure that somebody doesn’t break a window or try and break in. And unfortunately, that kind of severity, that kind of frequency, it’s not limited to this one business.

[2:36:19] Unfortunately, it does happen to other businesses, but they all have the generally the same problem, which is they probably need an incentive program that’s going to help them with things like shutters for the time being. And I think we have to be open to, how can we change this, the issues that people are running into are changing. So just leaving it all the same. I don’t think that’s the right approach. I think we have to be open to changing things. The big picture incentive programs like the development charges grants, I think we’ve done the right things already on those where we put in some metrics about performance. We’ve sort of built in a sunset for when those are going to drop down and how you would eventually not be offered.

[2:36:55] And I think those are going in the right direction. We need to do the same kind of thing with the other incentives. And I don’t think it’s a matter of taking away incentive programs that’s seeing where it’s there a gap and can we fill it in? Is there something we can do that would be responding to the issues that are there right in front of us? And the level of vacancy also commercial and a vacancy in particular is not the same throughout the city. That is something that varies quite substantially. And the core has a lot of vacancy right now, especially in certain kinds of office buildings and office space, other kinds of office space. You can’t find it at all.

[2:37:27] And so I think we need to look at those issues in particular because they underutilized vacant buildings or land. I think that’s an opportunity in the core that just doesn’t exist. Like there’s not a lot of vacancy in six frankly. There’s not a lot of vacant land in word six either. There’s not a lot of vacant land in the north part of my word. It’s really in the southern part where there’s vacancy, surface parking, empty buildings, industrial things that need to be repurposed. And I think that’s where we can focus our attention with this motion, which I think is trying to strike that balance of what we already are doing a number of things.

[2:38:00] Well, let’s make sure it’s working. And if there’s something we can change to make it better, let’s do that. So I appreciate Councillor Cassie bringing forward and the modifications that were suggested by Deputy Mayor. Councillor Squire, we have you on the list. Thank you. So this is the way I’m gonna look at it from my point of view. So supporting this to me means that we’re gonna be assessing the things that we’re doing in the core area. And we’re gonna be looking at the things that are working, the things that aren’t working, how much money they cost, what are the metrics as to whether they’re working.

[2:38:34] But I am comforted somewhat by the fact that we’re not spending new money in this particular case. We’re not taking on any new programs. So I’m prepared to support it tonight for the fact of getting a report back. But I’m gonna be very diligent when the report comes back to see what it is actually saying, what it is suggesting, how the things it’s suggesting will provide solutions. And that’s how I will be treating it. Because as I said in the last meeting, when it comes to continuing to put money into downtown and say we’ve got a new program that’s gonna do something, I am becoming skeptical.

[2:39:11] And so from the point of view of staff, I hope they come back with something that’s specific, that has measurements and indicates is it working or not? Because I think in that way, this will be a value to me in my attempts to find out if we are doing the right things in the core. Because I’ll tell you at this point in time, I am not convinced from what I see in the core and from the many, many emails I’m getting from people running stores and restaurants and the difficulties that we’re having that we’ve got it right.

[2:39:44] So that’s what I’m going to do today. Deputy Mayor Morgan. Thank you and I appreciate the comments that were just made by Councillor Squire. I wanted to mention why I’m supportive of this approach, even though I represent one of the most suburban areas in the city. And that’s because Councillor Squire just said it, the correspondence I’m getting is from the downtown area and the challenges that land and business owners are having is starting to outweigh the correspondence I’m getting from challenges that I face in my ward.

[2:40:17] And I think downtown can be a phenomenal economic engine for the city that allows us to support investment elsewhere when it’s functioning well. But the pandemic has been particularly hard on that part of the city and those who operate in businesses and own land there. It’s also hard on the populations who live there. And I think as much as it can be a great economic driver during good times, it can also be quite the drag on the city economically when it’s not firing on all cylinders. And so I think an assessment of that area and what is working, what isn’t, how we can tweak and adjust those programs is appropriate, how we can pull some of these things together.

[2:40:56] We’ve got in this multiple strategies that we have adjusted over time. But we now have, for example, the land and recovery network and we’re developing strategies along that. We’ve got things that we can pull together to get them to pull in the same direction. It’s certainly a challenge that we need to tackle. And I think the whole city does well when we actually tackle it. And so I’m looking forward to what comes back from this. Like the motion says, it’s including but not limited to these items.

[2:41:32] That certainly means that some of these items may not be viable for incorporation into a future strategy. And there may be things not listed here that needs to come into it. But that’s the approach we’ve got. And I hope colleagues support it today. I have no other speakers on the list. I do so, Councillor Lehman. Thank you, Mayor. You know, I appreciate the discussion. I was of two minds on this. We all have recognized a couple of things. One is, as Ameris said, the core is a heartbeat of the city.

[2:42:06] And I think we all agree on that, I certainly do. I think a successful city has a successful core. We know we have severe challenges downtown. I think in our four-year budget, we went a long way to addressing those. However, the pandemic has really heightened the challenges that we have. You know, vacant buildings are vacant because the owners can’t find tenants. And so why are their businesses and residents not coming downtown?

[2:42:43] You know, I think it goes a long way to the challenges that we’re facing. So I didn’t know how this would change that. But as I listened to the discussion and with the amendment from Deputy Mayor, and from what I heard, it’s evolving into kind of, you know, taking a comprehensive view of all the things that we have done, you know, through the LCRM, the core action plan, core name for response units, et cetera.

[2:43:20] To kind of see where we’re at and where we have to go. You know, I think, you know, I look at D, I think D is a very important part when it addresses the safety and security of person and property in the core area. I certainly hope we do not come to a time when shops downtown are shuttering up at six o’clock p.m. I’ve been concerned about this for a while. I think I’m hoping that we will have a vibrant downtown that we will not see that or the need for that.

[2:43:55] And we will have people feel safe, property owners will feel that they’re being protected. We’re making great strides in seeing development downtown for residential. We’ll add people, you know, activity to the core. It’d be interesting to see what we face with, you know, office workers coming back after the pandemic eases up. So there’s definitely some variables that are still out there.

[2:44:29] So I’m gonna support this ‘cause I see it again as a comprehensive look at, you know, the things that we have done and where we need to maybe focus our attention to get London’s downtown up to where I think it should be and where I think it will be. I think there’s enough feeling amongst the council and for sure and the citizens of London that that’s what they wanna see. So I’m gonna support this. Thank you.

[2:45:02] I have no other speakers. So with that, we will call the vote. Opposing the vote, the motion is passed, 13 to zero. Colleagues, it’s 635.

[2:45:34] I would normally ask for a small break but we just have a few items and I’m just and I’m not imagining that we have time for that. So with your indulgence unless there’s an update to finish those few items, if we might please. So with that, the next item is the confirmation will point me to the Hamilton Road Business Improvement Area. I wonder, Councillor Van Holz, who’d like to put that on the floor. Absolutely, your worship, thrilled to put this on the floor, Simpson has moved into the area with his family law practice and has came to us at the BIA and said he hoped to sit on the board and contribute to the work we’re doing and that’s thrilling.

[2:46:20] He’ll be a great representative. So I hope we’ll support this, thank you. Thank you, do we have a seconder? Councillor Hopkins, any comments or questions? Then let’s call the question. Opposing the vote and the motion is passed, 13 to zero.

[2:46:57] Colleagues, we have our next item which is the consideration appointment to Elden House, which we are looking to add one voting member. We have three individuals who have put their names forward, their resumes were attached for your consideration in the file. Blyth Almond, Megan Holliday and Diana Tapp-Lashfordly. So with that, I would, I know that we will go through a voting process. Unless there is a motion from the floor, we have a ballot ready, which would include all three individuals and I’ll beat the clerk to the punch and say you would vote for one.

[2:47:40] I see no comments from colleagues, therefore the ballot will come up on your screen shortly. Your worship? Councillor Plaza. Thank you, through you, I just was wondering if that Elden House put in any requests of what they were looking for in a board member or a Gaffin skill set they’re looking to fail or if that’s just not to complete a council’s discretion. It’s a fair question. I have not received any information, but I’ll go to the clerk to see if in fact, Elden House has provided any direction with respect to the skills matrix.

[2:48:24] You worshiped, did you mean me? The city clerk? Or Barb, sorry. You know, you are both equally wise. And if both of you say that you have received or not received, I will accept it. Why don’t I start with you, Ms. Saunders? I have not directly received anything from them. I know they are working on some bylaws in other matters as they move along, but I have not received anything specific. I might ask Barb if she’s received anything. I have nothing to add to what’s been provided, thank you.

[2:48:59] That would be the answer, Councillor Ploeser. Thank you. Thank you. Any other comments, questions, direction? Seeing none, we will call the ballot. Closing the ballot and Megan Halliday received the majority of support.

[2:50:26] Thank you, then colleagues. I’ll require a motion to support the appointment of Megan Halliday to Elden House. Councillor Ploeser, seconded by Councillor Lewis. We’ll call the question. Closing the vote, the motion’s passed, 13 to zero.

[2:51:19] Thank you, and colleagues, the last item formal item is the consideration appointment to the lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority. We are looking for one voting member, two individuals, Nedgela Scapour and John Joseph Strybosch have put their names forward. If colleagues have any comments or commentary in failing that, I will move it right to ballot. Burke will go to ballot. Now available for the closing the vote and J.J. Strybosch received the majority of support.

[2:52:24] colleagues, I’ll require a motion to be Strybosch as the representative for the lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority, Councillor van Mirberg and seconded by Councillor Ploeser. Let’s call the question, van Mirberg. Closing the vote and the motion’s passed, 13 to zero.

[2:53:19] colleagues, I have no deferred matters nor additional business to deal with before we adjourn. You know, I get asked, and I’m sure all colleagues around the horseshoe and online hear the comments with COVID and the tragic circumstances lately. And some of the very serious issues that we’ve all had to deal with, is this something you signed up for? I don’t think it’s anything you can ever sign up for, but you do your very best in support of this great community. But the other folks that support this great community so incredibly well is our staff.

[2:53:52] I will say it every time I have an opportunity to share a meeting, how appreciative I am of the work that you all do, to make our jobs easier to give us the information we need on a timely basis and to work above and beyond. So, it’s limited and I ask you to pass that appreciation onto all of our staff at the city with sincere thanks. And whenever I say that, I think the clerks are included when I say all our staff, but if in case that isn’t clear, they do a tremendous job and we’re very grateful. So, with that, I’ll look for a motion to adjourn, please. Councillor Lewis, two hands.

[2:54:26] Second by Councillor Squire, always there. I appreciate that. By a show of hands, screen’s on. Let’s just all do it with energy. Motion’s passed. Thank you, colleagues. Meeting adjourned.