November 9, 2021, at 4:00 PM

Original link

1.   Disclosures of Pecuniary Interest

That it BE NOTED that no pecuniary interests were disclosed.

2.   Consent

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by P. Van Meerbergen

That consent items 2.1 and 2.3 BE APPROVED.

Motion Passed (14 to 0)

2.1   8th Report of the Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Oppression Advisory Committee

2021-11-09 Submission - DIAAC Report

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by P. Van Meerbergen

That it be noted that the 8th Report of the Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-Oppression Advisory Committee, from its meeting held on October 21, 2021, BE RECEIVED for information.

Motion Passed

2.3   Confirmation of Appointment to the Hyde Park Business Improvement Association

2021-11-09 Submission - Hyde Park BIA

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by P. Van Meerbergen

That Curtis Neville BE APPOINTED to the Hyde Park Business Improvement Association for the term ending November 15, 2022; it being noted that the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee received a communication from D. Szpakowski, General Manager/CEO with respect to this matter.

Motion Passed

2.2   LMCH - CMHC Co-Investment - Loan Agreement

2021-11-09 Staff Report - LMCH - CMHC Co-investment - Loan Agreement

Moved by J. Fyfe-Millar

Seconded by J. Helmer

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Finance Supports the following actions be taken:

a)  the proposed by-law as appended to the staff report dated November 9, 2021 as Appendix “A” BE INTRODUCED to:

i)    approve the Credit Agreement, substantially in the form attached, between the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, London and Middlesex Community Housing Inc. and The Corporation of the City of London (the “Credit Agreement”);

ii)    approve the Guarantee, substantially in the form attached to the staff report, between the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and The Corporation of the City of London (the “Guarantee”);

iii)    approve the Operating Agreement, substantially in the form attached to the staff report, between  the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, London and Middlesex Community Housing Inc. and The Corporation of the City of London (the “Operating Agreement”);

iv)    approve the Certificate of Officer, substantially in the form attached to the staff report, for the City of London (the “Certificate of Officer”);

v)    authorize the City Treasurer to approve any amendments to the Credit Agreement, Guarantee, Operating Agreement and Certificate of Officer prior to the execution by the Mayor and City Clerk;

vi)    authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute the Credit Agreement, the Guarantee, and the Operating Agreement;

vii)    authorize the City Treasurer to execute the Certificate of Officer; 

viii)    delegate authority to the Deputy City Manager, Finance Supports to approve further agreements, documents or forms required by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation;

ix)    authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute any further agreements, documents or forms required by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and approved by the Deputy City Manager, Finance Supports; 

(x)    authorize the Deputy City Manager, Finance Supports (or delegate) to execute any financial reports required under the Credit Agreement, the Guarantee, the Operating Agreement, and the Certificate; and,

xi)    authorize the Civic Administration to undertake all administrative acts required in connection with these agreements;

b)  the proposed by-law as appended to the staff report dated November 9, 2021 as Appendix “B” BE INTRODUCED to:

i)    ratify the Resolution of the Shareholder of London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc. to approve the borrowing under the Credit Agreement among London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc., the Corporation of the City of London, and Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation and the Operating Agreement among the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation, London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc. and The Corporation of the City of London, and the granting of security under the Account Security Agreement between London & Middlesex Community Housing Inc. and Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation; and 

ii)    authorize the Mayor and City Clerk to execute the Resolution of the Shareholder.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

3.   Scheduled Items

3.1   Not to be heard before 4:05 PM - Tabling of the 2022 Budget Update

2021-11-09 Presentation - 2022 Budget Update Tabling

2021-11-09 Staff Report - Property Tax, Water and Wastewater Budget

Moved by E. Peloza

Seconded by J. Morgan

That the following actions be taken with respect to the Draft 2022-Tax-Supported Annual Update and the Draft Water and Wastewater Treatment Budgets Annual Update:

a)     the Draft Budget documents BE REFERRED to the 2020-2023 Multi-Year annual budget update process; and,

b)     the overview presentation, as appended to the added agenda, by the Deputy City Manager, Finance Supports with respect to the 2022 Budget Update BE RECEIVED.

Motion Passed (14 to 0)

3.2   Not to be heard before 4:15 PM - London Economic Development

2021-11-09 Submission - LEDC

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by A. Hopkins

That it BE NOTED that the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee received the Annual Update from K. Lakhotia, President and CEO, London Economic Development Corporation.

Motion Passed (14 to 0)

3.3   Not to be heard before 4:15 PM - TechAlliance - Annual Update

2021-11-09 Submission - Techalliance

Moved by S. Lehman

Seconded by S. Lewis

That it BE NOTED that the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee received the Annual Update from C. Fox, CEO, TechAlliance.

Motion Passed (14 to 0)

3.4   Not be heard before 4:15 PM - London Small Business Centre - Annual Update

2021-11-09 Submission - Small Business Centre

Moved by M. Cassidy

Seconded by S. Hillier

That it BE NOTED that the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee received the Annual Update from S. Pellarin, Executive Director, London Small Business Centre.

Motion Passed (14 to 0)

4.   Items for Direction

4.1   London Small Business Centre - Business Case Submission

2021-11-09 Submission - Small Business Centre-Business Case

Moved by J. Morgan

Seconded by M. Cassidy

That the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to work with the Small Business Centre to support an application to the Local Business Accelerator Program and that a municipal contribution of $57,500 BE AUTHORIZED from the earmarked London Community Recovery Network funding, noting that Municipal Council previously authorized $10 Million to be contributed to the Economic Development Reserve Fund to support social and economic recovery measures.

Motion Passed (14 to 0)

Moved by J. Fyfe-Millar

Seconded by M. van Holst

That the committee recess until 6:50 PM.

Motion Passed

The Committee recesses at 6:32 PM, and reconvenes at 6:54 PM.

4.2   Hamilton Road BIA 2022 Budget Request

2021-11-09 Submission - Budget Request - Hamilton Road BIA

That the following actions be taken with respect to the Hamilton Road BIA 2022 Budget request dated October 22, 2021:

a)      the above-noted request BE DEFERED to the 2023 budget process;

b)      the Hamilton Road BIA BE REQUESTED to work with Civic Administration to develop a full business case, with proposed funding source, for the 2023 budget process; and,

c)   that a one time grant of $30,000 be provided to the Hamilton Road BIA from the Community Investment Reserve Fund to establish an operating reserve.

Motion Passed

Voting Record:

Moved by E. Peloza

Seconded by J. Morgan

That the following actions be taken with respect to the Hamilton Road BIA 2022 Budget request dated October 22, 2021:

a)      the above-noted request BE DEFERED to the 2023 budget process; and

b)      the Hamilton Road BIA BE REQUESTED to work with Civic Administration to develop a full business case, with proposed funding source, for the 2023 budget process.

Moved by M. van Holst

Seconded by J. Helmer

That the motion BE AMENDED to add the following new part c):

“c)   that a one time grant of $30,000 be provided to the Hamilton Road BIA from the Community Investment Reserve Fund to establish an operating reserve.”

Motion Passed (11 to 2)

Moved by E. Peloza

Seconded by J. Morgan

That the motion, as amended, BE APPROVED.

Motion Passed (12 to 1)

4.3   Consideration of Appointment to the Covent Garden Market Board (Requires 1 Member)

Moved by S. Hillier

Seconded by M. van Holst

That Justin Dias BE APPOINTED to the Covent Garden Market Board for the term ending November 15, 2022.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

Voting Record:

Appointment of a member to the Covent Garden Market Board.

Majority Winner: Justin W. Dias

5.   Deferred Matters/Additional Business

5.1   (ADDED) RBC Place London Board Appointment Recommendations for 2022

2021-11-09 Submission - RBC Place London

Moved by S. Lehman

Seconded by J. Fyfe-Millar

That the following actions be taken with respect to the appointments to the RBC Place London Board of Directors:

a)      David Smith (Public Health) and Jenny Diplock (Business), Class 3, BE APPOINTED for the term ending November 15, 2023; and,

b)      Dr. C. Schlachta (Health Care), Nora Fisher (Technology), and Tony Soares (Marketing), Class 3, BE APPOINTED for the term ending November 15, 2022.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

5.2   (ADDED) Committee of Adjustment - Member Vacancy

2021-11-09 Submission - CofA

Moved by S. Lewis

Seconded by P. Van Meerbergen

That the resignation of John Fyfe-Millar from the Committee of Adjustment BE ACCEPTED and the City Clerk BE DIRECTED to publicly advertise for a replacement appointment with applications to be considered at the next meeting of the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

6.   Confidential (Enclosed for Members only.)

6.1   Solicitor-Client Privileged Advice

Moved by J. Fyfe-Millar

Seconded by S. Lewis

That the Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee convene, in closed session, to consider a matter related to advice which is subject to solicitor client privilege and communications necessary for that purpose.

Motion Passed (13 to 0)

The Strategic Priorities and Policy Committee convenes, in closed session, from 7:37 PM to 8:03 PM.

7.   Adjournment

Moved by S. Turner

Seconded by S. Hillier

That the meeting BE ADJOURNED.

Motion Passed

The meeting adjourned at 8:11 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 (3 hours, 51 minutes)

Colleagues of crack, if I can ask for screens on, please, clerk is able, she’ll confirm quorum. I can confirm quorum, Mr. Chair. And if I can ask you clerk, typically we will confirm if we are aware that someone has indicated they will not be present for the meeting or part way through, are you aware of any?

I am not. All right, then let’s go. Welcome colleagues and to the public to the 15th meeting of these strategic priorities and policy committee meeting. It’s the 20, excuse me, it’s the virtual meeting that we always have been holding, it feels like always, these days through the COVID-19 emergency.

I would invite the public to check the city’s website for current details of COVID-19 service impacts. Meetings can be viewed via live streaming on YouTube and the city’s 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. Make a request for any city service.

Please contact accessibility@london.ca or 519-661-249 extension 2425. To make a request specific to this meeting, please contact SPPC@london.ca. Colleagues all look for any disclosures of peculiar interest. I see none.

Colleagues, we have three items on the consent agenda. We will be pulling 2.2 as there is advice on this issue. That is related in the confidential portion of the agenda. So with that, I will ask if anyone wants to have any other item pulled up separately.

I see none, so we will be dealing with 2.1 and 2.3. And I’ll ask for any comments from colleagues. Councillor Vanholst, I think you had your hand up. Your worship, I was just gonna move those two items.

Very much. Your seconder for that, please. I see Councillor Van Mirberg and thank you. Comments, questions then?

I see no questions, so with that, Councillor Vanholst, you came in under the wire. Go ahead, please. Okay, thank you. So your worship with respect to the Hyde Park BIA.

I just wanted to thank the exiting member for their service and of course, always our gratitude for people who step up to serve on our boards and commissions as well, so. I think that’s duly, I think that’s appreciated, Councillor. And I do say that it’s important. We always acknowledge those from the public who give back to our community through this type of service.

So thank you for that. Any other comments or questions? Seeing none, I’ll call the question. On 2.1 and 2.3.

Mr. Mayor, I’ll just get it. It’s Councillor Silly, I’m just gonna, having tech issues, I’ll vote manually, yay. But for the remaining votes, I’ll vote.

Very much, Councillor Silly. That’s fine. I’ll vote to you as well. I can’t get my e-scrap up and running yet to be second.

Thank you, Councillor. Chair, this is Councillor Hawkins. I am unable to get my e-scrap up for some reason, it’s not allowing me to do it and I vote yay. Thank you, that’s, we’ve got three colleagues where that’s an issue and that gives me some concern.

So I know that our tech folks are gonna be looking at that. So thank you and I’ll ask you to keep trying to see if we can connect that through. Closing the vote, this motion passes 14 to zero. Okay, we have four items that are scheduled.

And the first is the tabling of the 2022 budget. Before I do that, two things. I believe this is Councillor Faiffmiller’s first SPPC meeting, welcome, sir. And we hope you enjoy these meetings as much as we all do.

And with that, I’m going to turn the chair as this is a budgetary item over to Councillor Ploce if you would please. Thank you, Your Worship. Before us this evening is the tabling of the 2022 budget update for our multi-year budget. The process for this evening will follow similarly to what we have done in the past.

We’re going to receive about a 25 minute presentation from staff going through the budget documents with their slide deck already being provided to members in advance. Important to note is the water wastewater and budget update is actually all within one package this year, which makes it easier for reference for ourselves and the public. Post staff presentation, I will go to members of committee for points of clarification on technical questions. This isn’t an evening for debate about items that we’re passionate about.

So points of clarification and technical questions. So keep track of those as we go. And those conversations will be timed as well at the five minutes as per any committee cycle that we go through recognizing there’ll be multiple opportunities to pose questions. So at this time, I would like to go to staff to begin their presentation.

This is purple. Thank you for the chair. Mr. Murray is going to share his screen to show the presentation.

I’m going to do the first task and then he’s going to walk through the rest. So just to start, I’m very pleased to present to you our 2022 annual budget update. And I think I’d be remiss if I didn’t start to send out a huge thank you to my finance team, and especially under the leadership of Mr. Kyle Murray.

Also a huge gratitude towards SLT and all of the hard work done by their teams in each and every service area to present the budget that we are sharing for you today. So you’ll see today that we have, this is the cover of the budget report. And a little bit different this year is that all three budgets are presented in the same document. So hopefully that will actually make it a little bit easier for the public as well as for council and committee to follow.

And there’s still three separate parts that we’ll be going through. The property tax supported budget, the water budget and the wastewater and treatment budget, but hopefully from that reference. And our budget document is available online on the committee agenda as well as on our website, London.ca, and also will be available through the Get Involved London Engagement Portal as well. So just to walk you through, I’m gonna do a quick refresher in the multi-year budget process and just walk you through what’s new in our documents for 2022, as well as give you a bit of a recap in terms of where we stand going into the 2022 update.

I will have to give a bit of a high level on tax policy and some more key financial principles just to remind everybody. And then we’re gonna start going through the 2022 budgets, the tax supported and then as well through the water and wastewater treatment budgets to give you a high level overview of what is contained in the budget that we present to you today, as well as all of the key dates in the process, including the public engagement process. So this slide essentially represents the visual representation of the multi-year budget process. So this is the second annual update in the 2020 to 2023 MYB, but as you’ll see, we’re in year three of the process.

And this is essentially through the annual update, the opportunity for council to make any required adjustments to the MYB approved in principle at the very beginning. So as you saw after our first MYB approval, the two weeks later COVID hit. So this has been a very much important step in the process to ensure we can evaluate and then allow for any unforeseen circumstances that come forward. So included in the budget document, we have again, three categories of budget amendments, whether it’s a new or changed regulation, a new council direction, or a potential unanticipated cost to revenue driver.

So all of the business cases that are presented fall into one of these three categories that are before you. So looking at new for 2022, we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the new addition that we’ve incorporated into our budget and business cases. So the reporting of environmental, social, and governance considerations has been one of the growing trends in recent years, not only from looking at evaluating specific government decisions, but also it has gained momentum in terms of credit rating agencies that are evaluating and assessing the work that is being done at these levels and how they align into potential credit risks that are incorporated into the city’s potential risk factors when we get a credit rating agency each and every year. So you’ll recall it last year, every budget amendment had a section specific to anti-racism and anti-oppression.

We have built on that and gone one step further so that included in all of the business cases, there is an ESG, which is the environmental, social, and governance section built right into each budget amendment that walks you through all of the relevant impacts based on greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, impacts on potential equity, seeking groups, and any other risks of approving or not approving the amendment. So the hope is that we are gonna continue over the next course of each annual update and through to our next MYB to continue building on this and continue embedding further ESG considerations into our budget process to give Council a very false identification of all the impacts based on their choices. So before we get into the 2022 budget update, I just wanted to take this time to recap where the tax levy stands as we go into the 20, from the 2021 budget update that was done early this year. So the blue line represents the 2021 annual update and all the amended increases that we’re going into this budget with.

So as you can see, there were reductions through 2021 that brought the tax levy down from the original 4.4% to 3.4, but in doing so, that put forward additional increases that through some of the deferrals into 2022. So we’re starting at a 3.9% increase for 2022 and a four year annual average of 3.8%, which represents an average annual property owner impact of $113. So this is the start of our process. And just to put that into context for you and how property taxes relate to the city of London with some comparison municipalities, this slide shows the average residential property taxes for Ontario municipalities with properties, populations greater than 100,000.

I will caution that this is the most recent result available to us. So it’s only 2020. We don’t have the 2021 BMA study. It’s not available till the end of the year, but this does give you even though it’s a year lagging behind some very important context in terms of how London relates to the other municipalities.

So you’ll note the red line is the average at 4,337 per year. London is the green bar and you’ll see is the third lowest from the bottom. So when we go to, we can take a look also at the commercial property taxes. Similarly, this, you can see the red line where the average is in terms of the commercial space.

It’s very specific in this BMA study to prime location commercial office space. So in this case, London is fourth from the bottom and comparison to the average. So again, ranks very, very well. Similarly, we also have the Crawford industrial which shows what BMA refers to as a standard industrial property, a newer build under 125,000 square feet.

And you’ll see the average is the red in the middle and London is again third lowest from the bottom. And so again, fair is incredibly well in terms of, so obviously this is still a year behind, but it does give you some important information just in terms of how London relates going into this year’s budget process. So as we begin the 2022 update, I think it’s important just to put in context again, the link to tax policy and how the budget relates to some of the other decisions that are upcoming for council. So there’s a number of factors that go into determining the tax levy increase for any given property.

Only two of these are controllable within the city. So specifically, the council approved budget increase, as well as any changes in, or specifically any changes in tax policy that the council will set typically in April of every year after we receive the regulations from the province. So the other variables that we have to take into consideration is the education tax policy, as well as any changes in assessed value of the properties, which is under the responsibility of impact. I will note that the province has just recently announced that the existing assessed values will remain unchanged until 2023.

So that will be one less variable that we will see for the next two years that will impact what the tax rate is ultimately going to be. So one of the things that we hear often that isn’t entirely accurate is that based on the assessed value that if your assessed value goes up, your property taxes go up. However, it’s not entirely accurate because it really all works in totality. So that of your assessed value, you only go up or down if you change greater than the average.

So conversely, if you have a decrease that is lower than the average, you would also see that proportionally move as well. So it’s something that is a relative misconception that we try to always ensure that people understand how that all works. It’s all in comparison to the average because it’s set across all of the property taxes as a whole. So as we like to show you in pictured forums, it’s a really good visual representation of how the budget works.

So the two pies in gray on the left-hand side sets out essentially the budget process, which determines how big of a pie is needed to set out the funding to deliver the city services. And tax policy, which then ultimately gets set later in April of next year, determines how that the size of the pie is sliced between various property tax classes, which sets out which class pays how much of the proportionate total. So this is always a good reference just to remember people understand how the two are linked together. So I’ve also included as part of the slides, the key financial principles that are grounded.

I’ve just included them here for your reference. I’m not going to go through them in detail, but I think they’re the foundation of what we have put forward as business cases, as well as what has formed the basis of our multi-year budget. So it’s helpful to have them before you as a quick reference to be able to guide you. So with that, I’m going to turn it over to Carl Murray, who’s going to walk you through the details of the specifics of the 2022 annual update that we have to able for you today.

Excellent, thanks, Annalisa. So for 2022, there are 12 property tax budget amendments. Eight of the budget amendments are operating budget amendments, four of them are capital. Of the eight operating budget amendments, one results in a budget increase, six of them result in budget decreases, and one results in no impact to the tax levy.

For the four capital budget amendments, none of them have a tax levy impact. So if all amendments in the 2022 budget update are approved, the 2022 tax levy increase would decrease to 2.8%, and the four-year average would drop from 3.8% to 3.6%. So as you can see on the slide, the annual average property owner impact, again, using the same reference average property that Annalisa referred to, would drop from $113 to $109. For 2022 specifically, the impact to the average residential property owner would see a reduction of from $117, which was previously forecasted through last year’s budget process to a wise impact of $85 based on the 2022 budget update.

So for this year’s budget process, we’ve suggested a five-step process to work through. So for the first eight operating budget amendments, civic administration is recommending six of those amendments, and we’d suggest that you work through those amendments. First, the remaining two operating budget amendments are for council’s consideration, and we would suggest that you deal with those next as part of step two. Step three would be to work through the property tax capital budget amendments, and then step four would be to deal with the water budget.

So in this year, there are two water capital budget amendments for review. And then finally, step five would be to deal with the wastewater and treatment budget amendments, and there’s only one in this year’s budget update. So let’s get into a few more specifics about the proposed budget amendment. So property tax budget amendment number one relates to reductions that have been identified through zero-based reviews and other budget right sizing that civic administration has undertaken.

So we are very committed to delivering high quality services as efficiently as we possibly can, and we regularly review our budgets to ensure that we align the required resources, which with the service levels that Londoners rely on. So budget amendment number one reflects $3.7 million of reductions in 2022 and 3.2, almost 3.3 million of permanent reductions in 2023 and thereafter. It’s important, I think, to note that all of the reductions incorporated in this budget amendment do not have an impact on service levels. So again, no service level impact associated with the reductions in budget amendment.

Budget amendment number two is a budget increase relating to the Middlesex London Health Unit. So as part of the health units 2021 budget process, they identified approximately 762,000 of budgetary increases, primarily related to inflationary and facility cost pressures. And of that total amount, approximately $640,000 is London’s share. So due to the timing of the health units budget a process which occurred in February, this increase was not approved until after the city’s 2021 budget update process had completed.

And therefore we must capture these impacts this year in the 2022 budget update. Property tax budget amendment number three is a one time, $850,000 request for additional funding from RBC Place London. So as the events recovery industry continues to recover from the impacts of COVID-19, RBC Place continues to forecast cash flow challenges, at least through the first half of 2022. So this one time funding request is intended to help them through the slower months that are anticipated based on the current book of business.

And hopefully get them back to a point where they’re able to sustain themselves based on the events that they’re hosting. So this one time amendment is recommended to be funded from our operating budget contingency reserve, utilizing a portion of our 2020 year end surplus that we set aside last year for future COVID impacts. So because of that, there is no tax levy impact associated with this amendment. Property tax budget amendment four is a permanent reduction of approximately $100,000.

And this relates to an increase in the fine amount for a private parking enforcement program. So this is a service that is offered to private property owners and is really intended to be a deterrent for unauthorized parking on private property. So in this case, the fine is proposed to increase from $45 to $60 to provide a bit of a more significant deterrent against trespassing for the purposes of parking. So while the primary intention of this amendment is not to generate budget savings by any means, it does have a minor $100,000 reduction impact to our budget.

Property tax budget amendment number five is a one-time, one-year reduction in investments in childcare and Ontario works that Council previously approved through the 2020 to 2023 multi-year budget. So you may recall that these investments were temporarily deferred through last year’s budget update due to delays and impacts related to COVID. And for 2022, we’re recommending a further one-year deferral because we anticipate that the funding for these investments will not be required in 2022 as well. So on the childcare side, the construction of additional childcare spaces is not anticipated to be completed until later next year, meaning that this investment will not be required for 2022.

On the Ontario works side, they continue to see reduced caseload as other government supports continue to offset caseload numbers in the Ontario works program. So we do anticipate that these other government supports will slowly begin to wind down. However, we think that the caseload increase in Ontario works will be gradual in its recovery. So we don’t anticipate that this funding will be required in 2022.

I think the important thing to note on budget amendment number five is that these again are one-time, one-year reductions only. These investments will remain in the budget for 2023 and subsequent years as well. So recognizing the level of property tax increase that we’re faced with heading into the 2022 budget update process, Civic Administration put forward budget amendment number six, which recommends reduction to two additional investments that were approved by council through the multi-year budget. So these reductions, if both approved, would result in a permanent $650,000 budget reduction.

And there are two parts. So the first part is a suggested $600,000 reduction to the infrastructure gap additional investment business case approved through the M or B. This is a partial reduction to that business case, which would see the total four-year contribution to the infrastructure gap reserve fund reduced from the approved $9 million over the four years to $7.8 million. The second part of this amendment is the suggested cancellation of the $50,000 per year CIP community building projects additional investment.

So with various funding programs currently being offered by senior levels of government, as well as the ongoing work of the London Community Recovery Network, we feel that other funding opportunities are available to implement some of these projects. And therefore, there’s an opportunity to reduce this investment in this area. I’ll also note that spending in this program has been quite limited over the past couple of years. So there is some previously approved but unspend funding available for these projects over the next coming years.

It’s required as well. So property tax, budget amendments number 7 and 8 are other amendments that civic administration is putting forward for your consideration as opportunities for further budget reduction. So amendment number 7 is related to reductions to neighborhood and athletic grant programs, and it has three parts. So part one is a proposed 50% reduction to the neighborhood decision making program.

And this would result in a $125,000 per minute reduction. Part number two is a 50% reduction to the Neighborhood Small Events Fund, which results in a $10,000 reduction. And part three is a $100,000 reduction to the Athletic Travel Grants Program available to amateur athletes. Budget amendment number eight is a two part amendment.

Part one reflects reduced grass cutting in some parts of city parks, which would effectively see those portions of the parks experienced enhanced naturalization. This would result in a $158,000 per minute budget reduction. Part number two of this amendment is a $100,000 reduction to the proactive tree trimming budget. I think it’s important to note in this case that this would not impact the trimming response to hazard trees.

This is strictly in relation to proactive tree trimming. So it’s not anticipated that this reduction will have significant service level impacts or potential safety concerns. So moving on to the capital budget amendments, step three in the process. Budget amendment number nine is in direct response to council’s direction from earlier this year back in March to bring forward a business case to secure funding for the invasive plant species management strategy for 2022 to 2024.

So this amendment reflects a $375,000 per year investment for those three years, which we are suggesting be funded through the urban forestry renewal reserve funds. So as a result, there is no tax levy impact associated with this amendment. Budget amendment number 10 is related to a handful of transportation capital project adjustments that are required, specifically related to the Sunningdale Southdale Road West and Warren Cliff grade separation projects that are coming up in the next couple of years. So these projects have all progressed from the environmental assessment stage onto the detailed design stage.

And as a result, we now have better information available to inform the budget that’s required for each of these projects. I will note that because each of these projects are largely funded through development charges, there are no tax levy impacts associated with this budget amendment. Budget amendment number 11 proposes to adjust the capital plan for the final expansion option of the W12A landfill as outlined in the environmental assessment process for that project. So you can see here on screen that the 2022 to 2029 capital plan for this project is proposed to increase by 10 million.

But what you don’t see is that there are budget reductions to this project beyond the 2029 period that actually result in the total cost of this project being reduced by approximately $8 million. So this budget amendment is proposed to be funded through Canada Community Building Funding, which was formerly known as the Federal Gas Tax Fund. And as a result has no tax levy impact. Budget amendment number 12 requests funding to support the initial implementation of London Transit’s zero emission bus implementation strategy.

Now, I will note that there still remains considerable uncertainty relating to the total cost of this project until the full implementation strategy for the project is completed in early 2022. But this budget amendment does look to secure funding at the high end of the range of current estimated project costs. And that being said, it is possible that this total cost could be reduced pending completion of the full strategy. So we’re proposing to fund this amendment through the recently announced zero emissions transit fund that is administered by Infrastructure Canada, subject to us confirming further details and specifics on that program.

We anticipate that that zero emissions transit fund will provide up to 50% of eligible project costs. And we are suggesting that the remaining cost of this project be debt financed. And the amendment is not anticipated to have tax levy impact in this multi-year budget period. But I will note that the debt servicing costs would be reflected in our future debt servicing budgets in future MIBs.

So moving on to step four. There are two recommended budget amendments for the water budget this year. Budget amendment number one is the deferral of a pair of water lifecycle renewal capital projects by one year in order to align with a related transportation project on Sunningdale. Budget amendment number two recommends the deferral of five water growth projects by one year.

And this is being done pending completion of a major growth study that’s being undertaken in 2022 to determine the appropriate timing and scope for these projects. So again, a one year deferral of these projects at this time. Both of these amendments have no impact on the previously approved water rate increases, which were previously approved as 2 and 1/2% effective January 1st, 2022 and January 1st, 2023 respectively. Step number five is the wastewater and treatment budget amendments.

And there is just one amendment in wastewater this year, although it has two parts. So because of many energy efficiency initiatives that we’ve undertaken at our pollution control plants in recent years, and particularly at Greenway, we’ve been able to realize operating budget savings in our utility budget. And we estimate this is in the neighborhood of approximately $700,000 per year. So we’re recommending that these savings be repurposed to a new capital project that would create a dedicated capital program that funds projects that address sewage bypasses and overflows at our pollution control plants.

Now this amendment also similar to the water budget amendments. This amendment does not have any impact on the previously approved wastewater rate increases, which were again approved at 2 and 1/2% for 2022 and 2023. So quick note regarding the impact of COVID on our 2022 budget. So you may have noticed other than the RBC place amendment that I talked about, there are no other amendments requesting additional funding to address COVID impacts on this year’s budget.

So you may recall that in our 2021 a year operating budget monitoring report that we brought forward back in September, we are currently projecting COVID impacts for 2022 in the neighborhood of approximately $17 million for next year. This slide outlines some of the major areas that are likely to be impacted. You’ll also likely recall that $12 million was set aside in our operating budget contingency reserve last year from our 2020 surplus in order to fund future COVID impacts. So it is our expectation that we will utilize that funding that we set aside to mitigate COVID impacts as they arise in 2022 if required.

So at this stage, we are not requesting any additional funding for COVID impacts in this year’s budget. And a final note about our 2023 budget update process next year as well. So you may have noticed that the budget amendments this year’s budget updates, assuming they’re all approved, of course, have the effect of increasing the 2023 anticipated tax levy increased to 3.9%. And then again, as a result of some of the one time, one year deferrals that we’ve proposed for this year.

So while this increase is certainly high, I think we’ve been successful in reducing the previously anticipated tax levy increases over the past two annual budget updates. So we remain committed to utilizing the tools at our disposal to continue to identify opportunities for reductions. And we’ll bring those forward as part of next year’s budget update process as well. There may also be other developments over the course of the next year.

For example, the implementation of producer pay responsibility for the recycling program that may also help provide some tax levy relief next year as well. So in terms of key dates in this year’s budget process, the public participation meeting has been scheduled for November 29th at the STTC meeting starting at 4 p.m. We’ll get into budget review and deliberations on December 2nd. And we also have December 3rd set aside if required.

And ultimately, we’re aiming for final approval of the 2022 budget update at council on December 21st. So our public engagement plan for this year continues to be impacted by COVID restrictions, of course. But we continue to be committed to ensuring a wide variety of channels are available for Londoners to get involved and get informed in the process. So we’ll continue to make extensive use of social media and digital advertising throughout the budget process.

All of our budget materials are on our budget webpage. We’re also making extensive use of our Get Involved dot London dot CA website. There’s lots of great resources on there and guidance as well on how to get involved in the process and provide feedback. The third of our three virtual budget information sessions is scheduled for next week, November 17th at 6 p.m.

We’ll be walking through much of the same information that we’re walking through here today. I mentioned the PPM already. And of course, we’re always willing to support your engagement activities as counselors and happy to attend virtual meetings with community groups and advisory committees as well. So that’s all I have for slides.

I’ll turn it back over to you, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Murray, for that presentation of the slide deck. I also wanted to personally thank the finance team for meeting on and off all summer just to help set this process, making sure it was as well informed and smooth as possible and the senior leadership team who answered questions throughout the process and who will continue to do so.

And to my colleagues for entrusting budget chair with me. I thank you now and we’ll see how it goes if I’m as thankful at the end of this process. As we talked about developments as COVID and the pandemic as we’ve developed this budget that staff has presented before you today, I’m going to miss our bone. As recently, there was a provincial announcement as to the $15 minimum wage, looking for her to clarify any financial impacts and how she believes this might affect the budget that they’re tabling tonight.

Yes, thank you through the chair. So that announcement was just made recently. So if you might recall, there was a similar move to go to $15 still in 2019. So we had calculated and there was a business case put forward at that time.

So the analysis to determine exactly what that financial cost is is currently underway. But at this time, we think it’s somewhere in the magnitude between about 300 to just under 500,000. So they’re working on that right now. We believe for 2022, should that proceed that we should be all right to be able to manage it through the process and that as the work is being done to quantify specifically exactly what the impacts are, that we will bring forward a business case to support whatever the magnitude of the financial impact will be as part of the 2023 annual update.

Great to thank you for that. I will now open the floor for questions from committee members, recognizing again, we are looking for technical questions for clarification, not looking to get into debate tonight and speakers will be timed for five minutes, recognizing that we will always come back to you and just sharing the space with others and making sure we stay engaged throughout this process. So I do see Councilor Vanholz hands up. Please proceed.

Thank you Madam Chair. So my Madam budget chair, my first question to three of you to staff is regarding the average tax rates for London. Seems like we’re doing great near the bottom of the scale, but I didn’t want to ask is that, does that have something to do with the fact that we charge separately for the water rates or are those included? Thank you to staff.

Thank you through the chair. Specifically, I believe this is only property taxes. It does not include water and wastewater, but it does include the education taxes as part of their total property. So what they do is they take the total residential taxes and divide it through the number of residential properties to come up with this calculation.

So I believe it does exclude water and wastewater, which is done separately for the city of London. Follow up Councilor Vanholz. Thank you. And perhaps you just remind me about how many or what percentage of cities would treat those separately.

Thank you to staff. Through the chair, I’m not sure what that answer is, but this is specifically only property taxes and they’re not taking into account the other revenues. They would break that out when they do their study. So it is comparing apples consistently across all of the municipalities.

None of them would have that included. Okay, Councilor, you’re satisfied for the moment. Okay, thank you. That’s great.

I think I had five questions if I can proceed. Yeah, you still have some time allotment, please proceed. Right, okay. Thank you.

So I did want to inquire about the neighborhood decision-making where we’re going to reduce that amount. And I wonder what was the just, are the reasoning for those reductions? Thank you for that. And as a reminder to colleagues, some are recommended and some are for consideration.

So could staff please clarify how the four considerations came before us this evening? Thank you for the chair. It’s Ms. Barbara and I can take that one.

So essentially the business cases that you have in front of you, we have a number that are for consideration and a number that are recommended that staff support and believe that Council should move forward with those business cases to amend the rate. Civic administration, and this was a lot of the work that SLT did over the summer, was to look at what our discretionary programs were and what opportunities we have as the civic administration to be able to provide options for Council to consider looking out weighing the investments that it currently makes and programs that where there is choice of whether you wish to invest in those programs versus the tax levy rate, noting that the 3.9% is going in was a very significantly high rate and certainly something that Council may wish to have options to consider to bring that rate down to support the taxpayers. So really it’s a concerted effort to look at what options were items that Council could consider should it wish to look at reducing the tax rate. Thank you.

  • Thank you. Councilor Van Holst. Yes, and I wanted to ask about the proactive tree trimming just to get a better understanding of that. Is that simply in anticipation of the hazard tree trimming or do we just wait till things become a hazard or is the proactive something somewhat different?

So just a better, if you could provide me a better understanding of what we were doing as proactive tree trimming. Thank you for your staff for clarification. Madam Chair, I believe this one would be mine. Proactive tree trimming can include things like aesthetic shaping to improve the shape and growth of the tree.

It can include the removal of small limbs and branches that are not a hazard. We don’t believe this has any impact whatsoever on safety. We still will be doing the type of trimming that’s required to ensure those trees are safe, but this will mean that we see the trees that were shaping a little bit less frequently. This wouldn’t be very dissimilar from what happens in more naturalized areas in the city.

Councilor Van Holst. Thank you, and I wanted to acquire about the $8.1 million that we anticipated wouldn’t be required in the future for the W12. So there was an increase for the landfill, but we were anticipating some decreases in the future. Perhaps you can describe briefly what the nature of those decreases.

Thank you to staff. I apologize, Councilor, could you tell me which page you’re on just so I can make sure I’m, it’s a fairly complicated business case. I wanted to answer the right question. I’m sorry, Ms.

Sharon, I took that off of the, I just wrote it down as I was watching the presentation. So I’m afraid I don’t have the page page with me. If committee could indulge me for a couple of minutes, we can maybe come back to that. I will make sure that I find the right answer.

Absolutely, so Councilor Van Holst, was that your last of five questions? I do have Councilor Lewis, I would recognize next, and we’ll come back to you when Ms. Sharon is prepared. I’m happy to turn the mic over, thank you.

Okay, thank you Councilor Van Holst. Still drawing on my speaker’s list, I will recognize Councilor Lewis, and then we’ll look for more hands preceding that. Thank you Chair, and through you to our staff, just a very, what I hope is a fairly brief and straightforward question on business case P6, which is the reduction in the contributions to the infrastructure reserve. And I’m not sure whether this is something that Ms.

Barbone might want to answer, or if Ms. Sharon might want to weigh in. Given the challenges we all know we’re having with supply chains since the pandemic began, and with considerations for timing and order of operations in terms of knowing that sometimes we have to do one infrastructure project before we can proceed with the next one, does this reduction present any particular barriers to moving forward with the needs of the community in terms of our infrastructure renewal schedule in the foreseeable future? Thank you to staff.

Madam Chair, I can certainly start. So this deferral is not affecting our underground investment program, that is under the white water wastewater budget. Those projects will continue to be scheduled based on both need and the design of the neighborhood. Very important that we start usually at our outlet and work our way back.

So that won’t impact any of our scheduling with respect to underground infrastructure renewal with respect to some of the other ones running through my service area, largely looking at local service condition type projects. But I will let the city treasurer speak to the broader picture. Oh, and thank you. I was gonna say, I do have the answer on the other piece too.

If you don’t mind, they will indulge. Yes, please, Ms. Chair. So because of the decision to go vertical versus to go width-wise, expand horizontally at W12A, the costs are lower for the capital project for W12A expansion.

Thank you for that. I will now perceive a staff for the answer of the prior question. Yes, thank you through the chair. So just to add to what Ms.

Chair had already indicated. So I think really with respect to the infrastructure gap essentially what if you recall from the initial MYB where there was two business cases, one that was an amount that was recommended by staff, certainly noting all of the different, I guess it challenges with the tax levy and lots to do and trying to manage what the rate would be. There were two components and there was a secondary business case that also looked at an incremental amount. So certainly that would allow council to choose the level of investment that it wishes to proceed.

So really this is only a minor reduction in our opinion to the secondary incremental amount. And really it’s looking at it in terms of using it as a bit of a lever in terms of trying to balance the tax levy versus the incremental investment that council wishes to choose. So we do not foresee with the incremental reduction that is put in front of you as part of this budget, any significant challenges in meeting the works that are in the capital budget in the near term. Thank you for that.

Councilor Lewis, a follow up? Thank you, Madam Chair. And actually our city treasurer highlighted my next comment was that this was in fact just a reduction in, I believe it was originally business case 4B and the MYB that there’s still additional secondary infrastructure going in. It’s just not quite as fast as what we had planned in the original MYB approval.

So I appreciate the clarification on that and I have no further questions at this time. Thank you for that. I will recognize Councilor Hillier, followed by Councilor Deputy Mayor Morgan. Thank you very much.

Just a question to staff regarding page 200, the 2030-2031 major capital projects by classification. I’m looking under growth and I’m seeing the road widening projects in the future. And I’m just looking for clarification for staff on my ward particularly on commissioners and Bradley. Are they still scheduled for 2029?

Or have they been put back? Thank you for a specific question with page reference to staff. Thank you, Madam Chair. The schedule that you see presented in the document in front of you is the current schedule.

We are of course looking at all of our DC projects or DC background studies again. So that would be the chance to take a look at if those timings need to change for future multi-year budgets. Councilor Hillier, a follow-up? So do we know if those roads are scheduled for 2029 or have they been changed?

To staff one more time. Thank you, Madam Chair. They’re still scheduled for 2029 originally planned. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor Morgan. Yes, I have a question on, I guess, the process for the business, the budget amendment cases. I know that there’s one that is an increase from the Middlesex London Health Unit. And I probably will have some questions about that one.

Will the Health Unit be invited to attend the any of the budget sessions in the future when we get into the debate portion? And I’m wondering if not, would it be appropriate to extend an invitation to them? Should we have some questions about that particular business case? Thank you for the question.

Recognizing this is one of an increase. If Council wishes to have a representative from the Health Unit on hand, I would recommend that Council make some motion as such. As we all serve on different agency boards and commissions, we have different hats we wear in different places. So if you would like a representative, I would suggest a motion be made.

So I think Councillor Cassidy has a comment I’d like to hear from her too. Councillor Cassidy. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thanks three to the deputy mayor for the question.

I have had a conversation today with a chief executive officer of the Middlesex London Health Unit as Emily Williams. And I did ask her to set aside December 2nd to appear. A motion is certainly welcome and that’s all. Thank you for that update.

Deputy Mayor Morgan, would you like to make a motion for you satisfied that time has been set aside by the CEO? Well, unless if the chair feels the motion as appropriate, I would. But I think our little Councillor Cassidy sitting as a counselor here, she’s a chair of the board. She’s given the CEO’s commitment.

That’s good enough for me to know that they’ll be available to attend and answer some questions. So I’m good on that. Perfect, thank you for that. And would you have any other further questions or comments about the process of the budget?

Just a brief comment. Although it’s on the budget and I certainly don’t want to interfere with the technical questions portion. So I don’t know if the chair is going to allow for a general comment on the budget tabling or not, but I would look at the chair to see when that would be appropriate. A general comment, yes, about process or pulling things apart, but if you can get passionate, advocating for something, not so much.

I’m not gonna get passionate about advocating, but I do want to commend the budget chair and our staff for the work they’ve done in pulling this budget update together. And what I would point to particularly is the continued work on service review. I know we will have a chance to debate P1 as a recommended option, but the way service review has evolved over time, I think is an incredible testament to our staff. And I think the multi-year budget and the budget updates often get criticized.

I think that that criticism is unjustified. And I think freeing up our staff’s time through a multi-year budget process allows them to do the deep dive service reviews that shows the results that you see in these budget amendments today. And so I want to say, I think the multi-year budget process and the process we’re going through is incredibly valuable. And I think you see the results of that value in the business cases that we will consider today, particularly the one related to the deep dive service reviews that were conducted.

They can only do that because they have the time to do so between multi-year budgets during these budget updates. So congratulations to the work they’ve done and to you as budget chair and overseeing this process. Thank you. As the former budget chair, I’m glad you approved to this point in time.

Looking to committee for more questions or comments, I will now reach out to Councillor Hopkins. Please proceed. Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair and for you. I want to thank staff.

I’m giving this report to us. And as we undertake the annual budget update, it’s always an important part of our budget process. So I do have a quick question through you regarding step number five and in particular part B, which is the wastewater and treatment budget in the creating a dedicated program for sewage bypass and overflow elimination. I’m glad to see this here.

I’d like to know a little bit more through you. Without going into the details, will we be able to get more information on this new capital program and the process going forward in the budget? Thank you for that and recognizing this husband and conversation amongst Council for a while and our work on it. Could staff please clarify what this is going to look like and what we could expect?

Madam Chair, we certainly can’t provide some more information as we go into the budget process. These program programs have been happening all along, but they’ve been done as individual projects. We’ve not had generally speaking at a general account that’s allowed us to make upgrades throughout our infrastructure on an ongoing basis versus as part of a special capital project where we’re doing major separations. So this will allow us to do all sorts of routine investment in our system and in our treatment plants without it becoming its own individual project.

So we think it’s a really good realignment and certainly I’d be happy to bring more information as we go through budget debate. Thank you, Council Hopkins. Is there anything specific more you would like to know? Yeah, if I could add to that, I know there is an interest in the public.

I think the more information that we can pass on to what the city is doing with the overflow and the bypasses in our river is really important. We know we’ve had some challenges through the fall with overflows and the more information we can share with the public with what we are doing as a city to address the concerns is important. So thank you. Thank you.

So staff can come prepared for more public overview of what that process is going to look like with details recognizing it has been in the media and has been a topic of this Council. I would look for other questions or comments from committee as I don’t see any hands up at the moment. Recognizing Councilor Helmer. Thank you.

Just a question about debt servicing costs and how sensitive they are to rate increases. I know a lot of our debt is locked in and so we don’t have to worry too much about increasing rates next year. But for the new debt that we might be issuing a next year to pay for capital projects. Looks like we’re in a situation where we might be seeing rates rising up for the first time in quite a long time.

And I wonder if finance staff would like to just weigh in on the sensitivity of the budget to smaller or not so small increases in rates. Thank you for that and to finance staff. I thank you through the chair. I’ll start and perhaps Mr.

Murray may wanna add something in. There is a little bit of capacity there but certainly it is something that we look at for our rates every single year and ensure that based on how that’s going to be forecasted in the future to try to see what that’s going to be. Certainly at this point in time, we believe based on our forecast that we have sufficient but those estimates again could change. So we’re something we monitor on a regular basis and we’ve been very, very fortunate to have some favorable rates even when we issued this year and particularly last year also.

So there’s a little bit of capacity there and our estimates we believe, there is some increase in rates that we can accommodate but there is a sensitivity there that if that perhaps is rises at a greater factor than what we anticipated, then we would have to bring that back. But in the short term, we believe we’re okay. It will depend on how quickly rates rise based on what are to our projections. Thank you, Councillor Halmer, a follow up?

Thank you, I appreciate that. I have a second question, you know, this is the sort of second budget update we’ve had in the pandemic era and there’s still a fair amount of uncertainty out there. You know, the province and the federal government are still making changes pretty quickly and many of the agencies and boards and commissions have particular challenges that, you know, we might not expect them to change rapidly between say August when they are providing budget guidance to us and now in November. But I just wanted to ask a general question, which is, are we aware of any through emerging problems or uncertainties with any of the agency boards and commissions that could be difficult as we’re heading into the budget debate in December.

Thank you to staff. Thank you, through the chair. So other than the minimum wage item, which we’re aware of, there isn’t anything else at this point in time that is imminent and on our radar. Of course, with an election next year, there could be other changes we might need to factor in for 2023.

But at this point, nothing that is going to impact us, we believe in the next six months based on what we know of today. Thank you, Councillor Halmer, a follow-up? That’s it. Thank you, looking to other committee members in chambers or virtually, as I currently have no one else on my speaker’s list.

Last call. Okay. From here, the next steps would be ward budget meetings. Some several Councillors have those planned.

The public participation meeting officially on council is November 29th at 4 p.m. For the public, that is virtual participation and in-person participation is also available. For my council colleagues, what I need from you for December 2nd as we lead into it and we prepare, as you read through these documents in detail, please look for conflicts that we need to flag and pull apart by staff and for the clerks. Any items that you may wish to have pulled to vote on separately as some things are intertwined, please let us know.

It will save time as we go through the process, trying to separate finances out. And as always, the finance team is available for questions and comments and to help with motions that you may wish to make. And I will be reminding you that in writing throughout the process as we near the date of looking for conflicts and motions that you wish to deal with separately. So at that time, this concludes what I have and thank you for this process that we’re at tonight and I return the chair to the mayor.

Thanks very much. So with that, what we’re going to be doing is looking for a motion colleagues to table the 2022 budget update, moved by Councilor Palosa, seconded by Councilor Morgan, Deputy Mayor Morgan. Comments, questions? I see none, we’ll call the question.

Councilor Salih. That’s a guessful. I was indicating my thumbs up. I do see the thumbs up, Councilor.

Questions carried 14 to zero. Thank you. Mayor Palosa, for your first budget presentation, you already acknowledged staffs. So now we’re going to go to the London Economic Development Corporation.

The good news is colleagues that we did not want to hear them before four 15. So the good news is we’re right on schedule kind of. So with that, I’m delighted that we have the president CEO of the LEDC, Capil Ocodio to make his presentation. Capil, we’re going to turn it over to you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And thank you for this opportunity to share some updates with you this evening. As you know, LEDC contributes to the growth of our economy through new investment attraction, retention and growth of local companies, workforce development and business engagement.

These functions are guided by detailed strategies, such as providing access to space, talent, training, capital, and much more. And are measured by key performance indicators. This data is available in our strategic plan on the LEDC website and shared regularly with the city. Slide three talks about our work focusing on developing industry clusters that generate the highest economic activity in our region.

These clusters not only create direct jobs and investments, but also spin off economic activities through supply chains, construction, retail, hospitality and much more. We have referral mechanisms in place as well. So companies that are outside of these sectors are also supported by other local agencies. This year so far, LEDC has facilitated close to $70 million in expansions and foreign attractions.

Companies making these investments have reported over 1,100 jobs being added to the London’s labor force this year. We’ve helped companies secure over $70 million in grants and subsidy programs to various levels of government to support this growth. On slide five, you’ll see our investment attraction portfolio that seeks to attract new external investments, while accelerate portfolio helps existing companies scale up their existing operations. We do this by connecting companies to infrastructure, funding sources, regulatory and permitting processes, research and development and assistance with talent recruitment and retention.

This year, we saw major growth in advanced manufacturing and food and beverage processing sectors, as well as our life sciences industry. We also keep a pulse on companies that may be at risk due to trade issues, loss contracts or changes in the industry. And despite the pandemic, our pipeline of active attraction and expansion files was healthy as we pivoted to new virtual platforms for trade show and lead generation activities. On slide six and seven, you’ll see some examples of companies that are new to London or growing significantly by making capital investments and increasing their workforce throughout 2021.

New jobs and investments in food processing, life sciences, aviation and advanced manufacturing have helped further diversify our economy. Now, as you know, access to talent is the number one constraint facing employers across all industries and regardless of size. Throughout this year, our workforce development portfolio held virtual job fairs, industry consultations, as well as several webinars to assist employers with their hiring needs. We also assisted both Western and Fanshawe in understanding the needs of local employers so their training programs can be designed accordingly.

For instance, we worked with KnightHunter.com, our local technology company in London to integrate our manufacturing and tech job boards with both Western and Fanshawe’s career pages in order to match student talent to growing employers across the region. Similarly, we’re working with Western and Fanshawe to support the growing film television and creative industries areas. On slide 10, you’ll see that at the heart of our programming is business engagement. Throughout the year, we use webinars, social media, newsletters and our COVID-19 business hub to engage with our local and external audiences.

Our major ad campaigns, such as Don’t Tell Toronto, resulted in increased visibility to attract skilled talent in hard-defined areas such as technology and health. On slide 12, you’ll see one of the highlights this year included creation of Film London to develop the film television and creative industries cluster in our area. We’ve added over 80 locations to our database, built a strong roster of resources available for film production and are actively creating a talent database. Since receiving council approval earlier this year, Film London has attracted 15 productions with a value of over $2 million.

We’ve also partnered with the Forest City Film Festival to run a nationwide campaign to attract an independent production to London. In fact, that a contest was held just two weeks ago and the winner is going to start filming in spring of next year. And on that note, that’s it for my formal presentation. And thank you very much.

Thank you very much, Mr. Kilkody. I wonder if colleagues have questions for the CEO. I’ll recognize Councillor Feifmiller, please.

Thank you very much. Great report. One of the things I found really exciting in there was your manufacturing numbers. That seems to be historically in London.

Our manufacturing was strong. But do you see that coming back in London as a strong sector? Mr. Kilkody.

Thank you to the chair. Manufacturing over the last 20, 25 years has evolved significantly. If you asked me this question 10, 15 years ago, the reliance was much heavier on automotive and transportation parts manufacturing. But in this industry, a lot of the automotive supply chains are moving to southern United States and Mexico.

So in order to diversify the manufacturing segment, we focus heavily in food and beverage processing, building products, manufacturing, and defense and aerospace being some other examples. And thanks to that diversification strategy, we’ve held our manufacturing numbers very steadily. It’s been stable around the 35,000 employees mark. In terms of future growth, there is a growing trend across manufacturing industries to rely heavily on automation, industrial internet of things, connectivity, and more technological investments.

Most recently this week, with Nestle announcing a major expansion of the London facility, we’re continuing to see a lot of big players invest in this area, but more through automation and capital and equipment. So certainly the long-term trend is going to be sustained manufacturing, but different types of advanced manufacturing users with more high tech and automation. Councillor Faiff, Miller. Thank you, Councillor.

Thanks very much. Next I have them on the docket, Councillor Van Halves, please. Thank you, worship. And thank you to our presenter as well.

I was excited to hear from the only DC what’s happened in London lately. And of course, throw the hear about the film London website. I was looking at that. By the way, I love the little pun one-stop for real.

That’s a great little tag line for us. I see that we do have the website up and we’re starting to see some resources and talents. I think there’s about 90, a little over 90 resources on there and maybe 40 or so people for talent. And I’m wondering what our plans are for making that, particularly the talent base, searchable for various things if a company or a casting director is looking for some, once a specific look, do we have plans to make that easy for them to find that?

Mr. Locoria. Thank you, through the chair. Yes, so we’ve built up our team on film London and their number one priority right now is to populate the locations and talent databases.

As we’re marketing to new film companies, those are the frequently asked questions around the diversity of locations. We have created an inventory of drone footage, four seasons footage and other collateral like flip books and whatnot that gives these production companies an idea of different production environments. Similarly, on the talent side, just like you point out, the searchability of various skill sets is very important. So the way the database has been built allows talent to list their unique qualifications, their prior experiences through IMDB, links and other industry associations.

We’re also speaking with Ontario Creates, the provincial body for this industry to integrate these databases with their provincial database as well. Because a lot of the talent in this area is mobile. We’re getting inquiries from places in the GTA, Hamilton and so on, where talent would like to look at productions in London as well. So we’re certainly casting a wide net and hoping by the end of the year to have a solid roster of talent that can be put in front of productions.

Councillor Appelst. Okay, that’s great. And is there, I haven’t registered on the site or signed in, I was looking through the talent, but is there in the back end, is there other functions available for production companies looking for talent or are those things planned? Councillor Collea.

Thank you, through the chair. Yes, absolutely, the company that’s built the website and the database have a login function for production companies to go in and mine for different locations or talent. There’s downloadable reports as well that they can customize based on their unique needs. Any else, Councillor?

No, just my gratitude then for having done quite a bit of work in a short amount of time. So I think we’ll be in great shape for 2022. And I’m excited to see what comes of it. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Lehman. Apparently, Councillor Hillier rushed ahead and snuck in ahead of Councillor Lehman, go ahead, sir. That’s all right, thank you very much. Just taking a moment to thank the LEDC when I’m looking at this list and I’m just looking at the diversity of all the different employers that they’ve brought to London, it impresses me.

As Capil knows, my favorite thing to do is to go to these factors when they open up. I just love it. It’s my favorite part of my job. And I see what’s going on right now and it’s just amazing.

If someone could remind Council of how much land is left in the innovation park between Bradley and commissioners, I believe we’re out, are we not? Are we not crossing the road now? Let’s ask Mr. Locodia.

Thank you, through the chair, we’ve had lots of success in the innovation park area. It was built in four phases and you’re quite right, phase one, two, and three are quite well sold. I don’t have the numbers top of mind, but phase four, where Western and Fanshawe operate the research facilities, there’s quite a bit of land left on that side and some smaller parcels in the middle as well. But innovation park has been very popular over the last two, three years.

That’s earlier. I just wanted to say thank you very much. When I look at the employment that’s coming out to this end of the city, it just impresses the hell out of me. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Councillor Lehman. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Mr. Locodia, for your presentation tonight.

In your presentation, you spoke of attracting new businesses and keeping new businesses here in London, and you touched on the tech industry. Obviously, in the future of commerce, the tech industry is critical for growing economies. What I’d like to know is the relationship you have with Tech Alliance, we’re gonna be hearing a presentation from Tech Alliance tonight as well. Can you expand on that relationship?

Because my concerns are duplication of effort or at worst case, working across purposes. So I’d just like to know how that relationship works from your perspective. We may get Ms. Fox to respond to that as well, perhaps, but why don’t we start with you, Mr.

Locodia? Thank you, through the chair. Every industry sector would have a continuum of different supports that are available to companies at different stages of their growth. So that continuum exists from inception through to established companies.

When I say inception, there are a lot of companies that start with the ideation phase, where they have an idea, but they need help with business planning, advisory, startup capital, and early stage mentoring, all the way through to having a business in place, looking for help in recruitment of staff, maybe a bigger facility, expansion funding and things of that nature, all the way through to well established company with a solid track record of growth and looking for getting into external markets or doubling the workforce capacity or things of that nature. The reason why I say that is through that continuum of support, different agencies play different roles. LEDC is not the agency at the inception stage. We do not have business advisors on staff.

We do not have startup capital. We do not operate at the early stage of that continuum. Our services are available to companies where our expertise lies is on the growth side of the spectrum. So I would say that’s the area LEDC plays.

And I’m sure when the Tech Alliance presentation goes on, they can highlight more about their role as well. Councillor Lehman. Thank you. I will be asking the same question in this box.

Thank you. Any other comments or questions from colleagues? I see Councillor Cressy. Thank you and since I’m right in front of you today, Mr.

Mayor, it’s hard to miss me, I guess, right? So through you to Mr. LeCodya, I have a question about the workforce. So as always, your presentation has a lot of information and we know from the work that we do starting in the corporate services committee, we see the land in the industrial land areas that is getting taken up by these companies that are coming to London to invest and grow their workforce.

So that’s my question is, we’re hearing across the country that there seems to be a shortage of workers. So do you have a role to play in that, especially when we see a big employer like Maple Leaf Foods building here in London? We expect their workforce to be over 1,000 employees once they’re fully built up. So what role, if any, does LEDC play in making sure that these companies that are choosing London actually have the people to do the jobs?

Mr. LeCodya. Thank you, through the chair. That is, if there are things that keep me up at night, that’s certainly up there.

So in terms of access to skilled talent, there’s short, medium and long-term solutions that require assistance at all levels of government. For instance, a long-term solution is higher levels of immigration. So that’s at the federal level. But of course, communities like London will get the impact of more immigrants coming to Canada over a longer period of time.

That is not something that will pay immediate relief to small and medium-sized employers over the shorter, medium term. Meanwhile, there’s rapid reskilling and micro-credential opportunities that both Western and Fanshawe are working with, with the provincial government on. They rely on LEDC and our partners in the community to provide them with real-time information on the needs of employers. So we have a role to play there.

In fact, both with Western and Fanshawe, we meet them regularly across our industry verticals for manufacturing, food, tech and health to inform them about what employers are coming down the pipeline, as well as the ones looking to expand. So more actively, programming can be designed to suit their needs. To give you a very specific example, when Maple Leaf decided to announce their new facility in London, the partnership with Fanshawe College was struck almost immediately. So a pipeline of talent could be progressively built over time as their facility was getting up and ready.

So that’s a role we play. In addition to that, we’ve had regular consultations with London Transit to inform them of the need for better connectivity in our industrial corridor. So those are some of the other information pieces that we play in the community. We are also central to the Employment Sector Council, which is a group of over 40 agencies in London that come together to serve different job seekers.

So we help relay the information to these folks as well so they can proactively build their talent pipelines as well. Pastor Cassie. Thank you, Worship. Thank you for that answer, that was excellent.

And especially seeing how active you are and bringing the people together like Fanshawe and the employers themselves to make sure that we’re set up for success here. I also just want to touch on the film office and just say how pleased I am with the success that you’ve had in such a short period of time. I honestly could never have imagined it. And Mr.

Mayor, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to Councillor Van Holst as well because he really did push this concept and this idea early, early on before anybody else was really thinking about it. So thanks to Councillor Van Holst for you and thanks to the LEDC for really taking the ball and running with it and running really far and really fast. Thanks. Thank you.

Other comments or questions? Councillor Van Maryver. Thank you, Mayor. My question is with regard to the nearby states now that things are opening up, particularly Michigan and Ohio.

Certainly before the pandemic, I had occasion in my other position to visit regularly with automotive parts suppliers to try and do business with them. And quite often when you meet with these individuals, these people in these various companies, and you tell them you’re from London, Ontario, they will say things like, wow, that sounds like a far away place to do business or something like, is that the place I drive through to get to Toronto? I’m wondering, do we have a strategy to try and capture that market in Michigan and Ohio? Mr.

Locoria. Thank you, through the chair. We do participate with the Ontario Investment Promotion Agencies as well as the Consider Canada City Alliance, which is a group of the 12 larger offices across the country to market Canada, Ontario and Southern Ontario for overseas investments, U.S. being part of it.

More specifically to the geography you’d mentioned, we participate with the Consulate in Detroit. We exhibit at what used to be the Detroit Auto Show and other opportunities like that to wave the flag. From an automotive industry standpoint, Michigan itself is trying to, and I guess Ohio as well, are trying to figure out with electrification coming down the pipeline what kind of new supply chains can be developed with the electric vehicle segment. Ford has made numerous investments in Michigan.

So we’re watching that industry closely and trying to target growth areas with auto supply chains that might have a value proposition in Southwest Ontario, either based on existing suppliers or raw material or skills. Workforce development is again crucial in that segment as well. A lot of auto parts companies are struggling to find the right talent. So they’re also looking at places like Fanshawe College to tap into the existing skill sets.

Okay, thank you very much. Yeah, I appreciate that. I just would like to emphasize, it’s still the world’s largest market, the United States and we’ve got such close access to it. We can beat a port here on in an hour, less than two hours to get to Windsor.

There’s just so much opportunity that I think we can still derive from our nearby neighbors. And so thanks, Capil, for letting us know that you’re still working in that van. Thank you, other comments or questions? So then colleagues, I’ll look for a motion to receive the report from LEDC.

I see Councillor Van Reibergen, seconded by Councillor Hopkins. We’ll call the question. So silly. Voting manually, eh?

Closing the vote, the motion’s passed 14 to zero. Thank you colleagues for your presentation today, sincerely appreciate it. Thank you very much. And colleagues, now I’d like to turn our attention to Tech Alliance’s update.

Please to welcome the CEO, Christina Fox. Ms. Fox, the stage is yours. Well, good evening.

I’m gonna stay on my first slide for now. We’ve earned reputation for fostering a vibrant and equitable tech community, providing value to industry leaders driving economic growth and propelling ambitious entrepreneurs and tech talent. This evening, I’ll share why. As the regional innovation center for Southwestern Ontario, Tech Alliance empowers world-class ventures and fuels growth in Canada’s innovation economy.

We champion and coach entrepreneurs and amplify and impact businesses. In this current fiscal, we are now considered by the Ministry to be a hub regional innovation center. That means we’re among the big four, alongside Communitech, Mars, and Invest Ottawa. That’s a pretty big deal.

Next slide, we’re the place for dreamers, innovators, and world changing ideas. So today, during Global Entrepreneurship Week, I’m presenting 17 metrics blind to the city’s strategic plan. We’ve forged greater accountability with council and deep into appreciation for our region’s globally competitive innovation economy. Next slide, working in tandem with an accomplished board of directors and inspired team and alongside partners dedicated to enabling innovation and prosperity, we operate with a disruptive mindset that is founder focused.

Today, I’m joined by our full board and staff on the live stream. The numbers from our most recent fiscal year, April 1st, 2020 to March 31st, 2021 are remarkable. I need them better. The KPIs for our current fiscal continue to shatter our own records.

Next slide, why? Because we continue to continue transform our staff structure. I did four new director star board, created new opportunities for innovation to materialize and widen pathways to critical resources. Next slide, you might remember how animated I was about our gorgeous new space last year.

And this time I’m coming to you live from a different spot in our downtown location. Isn’t it incredible? Of course, we’re still disappointed that we haven’t been able to host an open house to show off our co-locating tech companies and ecosystem partners, but I’ll let you in on a little secret. London’s best holiday mixer, Jingle Mingle, is back.

Your invitation will be hitting your inbox on Thursday. Even deep into the pandemic, we harnessed world-class talent, engaging more than 4,500 people, which is an increase of more than 42% since the day I started two years ago. It meant job creation, student newcomer, talent interactions, and ecosystem referrals like never before. Next slide, it means putting businesses first.

We saw an excess of $1 billion in capital raised by companies in London with world-changing ideas. We were in front of all ranks of government with local and national media uptake, and we saw almost an 800% increase in engagement with key stakeholders and political influencers because showcasing the four city and advocating for this tech sector is a talk priority. You know what else is cool? It’s meant more cash for tech alliance to remain among the best.

Some of that increase in investment has come from you through LCRN and we’re grateful. Next slide, fostering an entrepreneurial journey, an entrepreneurial culture, and natural industry collisions with thousands of advisory hours, more than double the year before, demonstrates the value of our mandate as a place for entrepreneurs. We bring people together, leveraging a rapidly growing digital presence, every single number on this slide has increased over last fiscal year. Next slide, we hosted key initiatives and launched new experiences for high potential ventures, industry leaders, and tech talent.

There is something for everybody, no matter the stage of the company. Next slide, the good news. Here’s a couple of neat stories, including a FinTech unicorn in the making, an adventure spun out of Western that landed on Dragon’s Den. We’re proud to support each of these companies.

We’ve made good on our promise. London has been amplified, while strengthening connections to policymakers on behalf of our most promising startups and fastest growing companies to ensure they’re placed post-pandemic, because we need to keep placing bets on innovators in the new economy. Next slide, we recognize the boundless opportunity that accompanies massive economic shifts, continuing to build momentum. As a vital resource, my final few slides display our elevated experience with active community collaboration.

Next slide, in the spirit of prioritizing diversity, addressing inequity and committing to inclusion, there are barriers still to smash for women in technology. Next slide, putting a spotlight on the forward thinkers’ progressive work environments and groundbreaking innovation, we hosted our first ever Limitless. And guess what? We announced this year’s finalist just this morning.

Next slide, on elevating talent, our robust job board is accompanied by the rebuild roster as a solution born from LCRM. And tomorrow morning, you’ll see the announcement in your inbox for the three recipients of the LCRM funded London Innovation Challenge. Next slide, on activating funding for innovation would behave like a scrappy startup with our partners and seeded two maiden lending companies supporting recovery through the design challenge. Next slide, leading a partnership with five economic development shops.

We enabled Main Street businesses with tools to future proof through the 51015 Main Street Innovation Challenge. Next slide, and with an investment from DMS and FedDev, we were able to save the most wonderful time of the year and bring foot traffic to London’s core. Next slide, on activating funding for recovery. We launched Stay Safe, a rapid antigen screening program in five different counties supporting more than 1,000 London SMEs.

Next slide, in closing. At Tech Alliance, we have a common belief that in pursuit of creating spaces where innovation thrives, we are focused on creating meaningful outcomes for equity-seeking founders. There’s more in that to come, and we’ll lift others as we rise. Members of council, our connection to you is important to us.

We are leaders you can count on, always. Thank you. Well, thank you, Ms. Fox, for that I think we like to say often that energetic presentation.

I think the only thing that rivals that was when I believe when Councillor CELLI once had to read certain very lengthy report out of confidential session, but this was extremely informative. Thank you, questions for Ms. Fox, please. I see Councillor Lehman, go ahead, please.

Thank you, Ms. Fox. Yes, for that spirited presentation. I’m not sure if you were listening in on the LEDC’s presentation.

I asked Mr. Poetia his thoughts on the relationship that they might have with Tech Alliance, if there is any crossing functions or duplication, et cetera. I’d like to hear your thoughts on how your interaction with the LEDC is from your perspective. Ms.

Fox? Through the chair, that’s a terrific question. And I would say that there’s a lot of opportunity for collaboration, ensuring that we are staying in our lanes, if you will. I think it’s far more nuanced than perhaps how it was explained.

We work with companies, technology companies, and innovative companies that are enabled by technology at all stages. So it’s not necessarily that we work with startup companies who have an idea. It’s actually that we work with companies of all sizes with industry leaders, tech talent, and founders, including companies who have annual recurring revenue in excess of $1 million. We work with clients who are actually actively trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

We work with companies who are actively raising millions in funds for capital. As I mentioned earlier, really significant capital raised in companies in London. So our advisory team, as well as our entrepreneurs and residents, our growth coaches, and even members of our board, are actively involved in companies that are not related to that stage of business. It’s really more about the continuum, and it depends on industry.

So for example, we’re best suited to be supporting companies of all stages who are SaaS-based businesses. And so I would say that there potentially is some duplication, but this is the space that we’ve grown in, and we’ve worked with companies across that continuum from the very beginnings of our roots. Councillor Lehman. Thank you, and after you is a presentation by London Small Business Center, can you tell me about what collaboration, if any, without organization?

Ms. Fox? Yes, thank you through the chair. I would say, you know, to wrap up, even though in our collaboration with LEDC, we’ve done some great work with LEDC as it relates to Digital Main Street and some of those efforts.

I would say equally with the Small Business Center, working with Steve and his team is highly collaborative. We do a lot of cross promotion of the work that each one of our organizations do. We make a lot of thoughtful referrals between our two organizations. And I would say that there is less duplication, if at all, with the Small Business Center, because we often see that companies that are referred from the Small Business Center have a place for the work that we do and the advising that we offer, including the experiences that we bring to market.

And so I would say, you know, it’s a positive experience with both Capil and Steve’s team on the way that we conduct our business. And support entrepreneurs and companies of all sizes. Councillor Layman. Do the three groups meet at all on a regular basis to compare notes on where things are going, Ms.

Fox? Yes, through the chair, we definitely have our quarterly meetings that are set through the city manager’s office. And then I would say ad hoc. Steve and Capil and I have different conversations, depending on the types of things that we’ve got going on in our organizations.

And I would see even as important, the connectivity between our teams is strong. They are members of our team participate in a monthly call that includes other ecosystem partners in London. And a lot of discussion and sharing happens in those calls. We’re never more than a text or a phone call away to one another and we actively pursue more engaging conversation to ensure that we’re all on the same page and that we’re promoting an amplifying London together and bring value to one another in that regard.

Councillor Layman. Thank you. Thank you very much. I think the three groups are very important for London.

But I think together you can produce a greater sum than each individual. So it’s very important that you speak to each other. I’m glad to hear that you’re in regular communication because that way you’re not duplicating each other’s efforts and nothing slipping through the cracks. So thank you very much.

Thank you, Councillor Vanholst. Thank you, worship. And to our guests, Ms. Box and Tech Alliance, well done.

And I was very excited to hear that we’re, we’ve got lots of companies providing software as a service because those just bring funds into the city. It’s from everywhere, potentially. So that’s very exciting. And I see that you’re doing a great deal of work, connecting people and employers to those seeking employment.

But can you tell me how are the companies themselves doing at attracting technical talent? ‘Cause that is a challenge worldwide. How are we doing here with that? There’s Fox.

Thank you through the chair. There’s a war on talent. We’d be kidding ourselves if we didn’t say that there’s a lot of technical talent in London who have great paying jobs, companies that we’re seeing that are really thriving throughout the pandemic and building really strong cultures within workplaces. So as to attract and retain that talent.

There are job postings that go up every single day on our job board and postings that we’re amplifying. And some of them demonstrate the growth in technology companies for some small shops to much larger shops. And I would say it’s something to keep an eye on for the future with remote work and the ability to both attract talent from other communities but also for our talent to work in other communities. It’s definitely something that we’ll have to keep an eye on and monitor.

I think it is too soon to tell whether or not it’s gonna be a significant issue for London. However, I do think we’ve got a strong base to draw on with Fanshawe in Western and knowing how many employers support the students coming straight out of school and right into their workplaces. I could name a couple of different companies that are known to be among the best for hosting internships for comps I engineering and business students. And I think we’re doing really well in that capacity.

And in particular looking at newcomer talent who come with accreditation to London and find themselves able to find work here in London. Kasra Holst. Thank you and it’s good you mentioned our students. Let me ask you about our younger students, someone coming out of high school.

If they said, hey, I hear that there’s opportunities in the tech sector. What, have you any advice for them? What they might do? What looking at the future?

What’s the shortcut into that field? Just box. Through the chair, if I had a magic eight ball, there’s probably a lot of different things I would say to those students, but the future of work is really undefined. So when I think of my own student who is a third year university student and I think about the questions he might have asked three or four years ago, I’d probably have a different sense of how it is that I would guide him.

But when those questions do come to us from high school students and early in college and university, we always still say, I understand that the future of work is something that’s always evolving and being defined, but you can never go wrong in the areas of STEM. There’s lots of opportunity for students that are strong in math and science and business. But also when we think about what’s traditionally been soft skills, we see that liberal arts are really beginning to deploy more strong or what’s the word I’m looking for. With increasing deployment, I should say, I’m a person with a degree in sociology and I found myself into the field of technology and working very well in this capacity.

We’ve actually just struck up a brand new partnership with Western where we’re actually working with liberal arts students and social sciences and students from the Faculty of Information Media Studies to partner them with technology companies in London and to actually work together with the company to solve challenges that wouldn’t otherwise be solved necessarily with students who have STEM backgrounds. So little known fact that we haven’t quite announced, but I guess it’s out there now. Thank you, Counstrain Holst. Yes, thank you.

Just one more question. I see that the increase in capital raised was over 5,000%. That’s pretty good, that’s pretty good. But so my question is, and maybe interest for other Londoners too, where’s that capital coming from?

There’s Fox. That’s a great question. That capital is coming from everywhere. So would we love to see made in London companies be invested by London investors?

Absolutely. But investment can come from everywhere across Canada. We encourage our companies to be looking at ways to receive or to raise funds for their company. We often see a lot of investment from the US.

We have a company that’s included in our slide deck, a member of our board, Brennan D’Souza, who recently graduated from the Comcast NBC Universal Sport Tech Accelerator. And he is fundraising and he’ll receive investment from the US because there’s a lot of sport tech happening there and there’s a lot of interest in it. So that’s a great question. Counstrain and I would say that investment that can come from anywhere to continue to grow made in London companies is important.

Are we good, Counstrain? Thank you. I have Counstrain or that. Can you hear me?

It’s good, let’s see if I can get the camera working. My apologies in the meantime. We’re working on the web, there we go. Thank you, Ms.

Fox for joining us today. I was gonna ask Mr. LaCocia as well, this question, but since you’re here, when we’re looking at talent coming into London and working with your organization, what are some of the factors in that they’re looking for as they’re perhaps city shopping? What are the things, we’re taking a look at the things that as we can do as municipal leaders, we support organizations like yours and LEDC and Small Business Center to help support the people who are here in terms of our city.

What are the factors that people are looking for in setting up shop? What are the infrastructure requirements, the quality of life things? We saw a lot of the stuff kind of a shopping list from Amazon when they were looking for the Amazon headquarters to, are there similar factors that you’re hearing from the people you’re working with? Ms.

Fox? Through the chair, that’s a great question. And I would say our lane is not necessarily about attracting businesses to London, although on the area of talent, I think the same reasons why we choose to live in London. As a proud Londoner, I think of the opportunities that our city offers us, the varied places that we can work, particularly when you’ve got high credentials that allow for employment within technology companies, but even more so.

When I think of it, founders who are starting their companies here, the same things apply. Are they starting a company that will attract talent that has good culture? Do they have the opportunity to have good commercial leads in the community? Do they have the opportunity to raise their kids or walk their dog in a safe community?

And all of those things matter to all human beings. And I think the same is true for our tech talent and for founders who are starting our community. I’ve heard from founders regularly that they originally started in the GTA or in a community between us and the GTA. And they have found that the support in London is strong.

I had a founder say to me, we moved from another city to London because we knew that we could get the support from tech clients and because London’s just a great place to live and burn your family. So I think, I hope that answers your question without more specifics, but it’s all the same reasons that you and I enjoy being here in the forest city. Coach, for sure. Thank you and through your worship.

Just kind of a follow up to that. Recognizing the work that you’re doing and perhaps some of the barriers and obstacles that you’re facing, are there actions that the municipality can be taking to help clear some of those out of your way? Ms. Fox?

Yes, through the chair, I would say it’s the same thing I said probably two years ago. And that is our cross commitment to amplify London as a great place to live, work, and play. And I think I’m ripping off an old brand. But when I think of it growing our economy, we all have a part to play and amplifying the brand of London.

And that’s what I would ask from council. Perhaps the second is to continue to advocate on our behalf so that we can continue to increase the investment that’s been made to tech lines to keep doing the incredible things that we’ve been doing. You can tell from our metrics that we’ve had a banner year yet again. And we want to keep doing the kind of work that we’ve been doing.

And we want to grow our team. We want to grow our presence. And even more so, we want to make the tech sector a top priority for our community and continue to attract talent, founders, and companies here. Councilor, very good, thank you very much.

Thank you. Any other comments or questions from Ms. Fox? If I might then I’m going to look for a motion to receive the report from tech alliance.

Oh, excuse me. I, the only person who’s directly in front of me is the person I missed. Councillor Caster, go ahead, please. Hey, jinxed myself on my earlier comment.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you through you to Ms. Fox for another spirited and wonderful presentation.

The numbers are, give me a lot of hope and optimism because I want every sector to do well and survive in London. And it’s through great partners like tech alliance and we’ll be hearing from Small Business Center. We heard from LEDC. So these kind of partnerships are important.

But I did want to point out that you’re a little bit different from, especially from LEDC. Also from Small Business Center, you all have your own little niche. So you are a regional tech center and the majority of your funding actually comes from the province of Ontario. So how, how can you just remind us again how big the territory is that you cover and how you reconcile and give all of the communities that you serve, the kind of attention that each one deserves.

Ms. Fox. Through the show, that’s a great question. Our boundaries are Woodstock to Sarnia, St.

Thomas to Gogrich, headquartered right here in downtown London, a question about sort of, how do we service all of those communities? We have been able to, as a regional innovation center, serve communities in very different ways based on the needs that they have, the concentration of technology companies that they have and based on sort of the needs that they share. We’ve got staff who are deployed in each of those regions and we have entrepreneurs and residents in growth coaches who provide advisory support in across that region. The truth is we are located right here in downtown London.

We have a board that represents that region as well and a great deal of our service delivery happens right here in the boundaries of our city. So we are primarily funded by the province with a strong municipal investment by the city of London and the municipal investment of that size is really congruent with other large regional innovation centers, community tech Mars and the best Ottawa are the table that we set at now. And that’s one of the differentiators that when we have a municipal investment, like the city investment tech alliance, we do see a greater concentration of the work that we’re doing in our community. And quite frankly, here’s where a lot of the things are happening for our tech companies.

Councillor Cashier. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Ms.

Fox, for that. I would point out that there’s so much, and especially in the tech industry, I don’t have to tell you this, there’s so much connection between different areas and tech allows people to stay in one area, live in one area, and yet do their business across the region. So I do believe that it’s important to have a regional center or a regional player like yourself. And I’m really pleased to hear that we’re up there with the other big players, and that we’re being recognized for the work that you do, and also for the great work in the tech sector, in London and in our region.

So thank you for the presentation again, and thanks for the great work that you’re doing. Thank you, Councillor. Any other comments or questions from Ms. Fox?

I’m looking directly at Councillor Cassidy again, just in case, there we go. I see none, so with that, I will look for a motion to receive the report from Tech Alliance, moved by Councillor Lehman, seconded by Councillor Lewis. Let’s call the question. Councillor Sallie.

Thank you. Councillor Van Holst. Yeah, you’re sorry. Closing the vote, the motion’s passed, 14 to zero.

Ms. Fox, thanks very much. Your board’s online as well on this call, so thank you all for your participation, sincerely appreciated. Colleagues, we now have the, excuse me, the update from the London Small Business Center, I call on Executive Director Steve Pollard, please go ahead, Steve.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, good evening to everyone, and thank you for this opportunity to provide updates and highlights. At the Small Business Center, we know that behind every business as a person, and often a family. COVID and the many shop local campaigns have helped to highlight that, and we hope that support continues.

We have witnessed firsthand devastation that COVID restrictions have had on business, but we’ve also seen the perseverance of people when everything is on the line. As an economic development partner, our purpose is to create jobs through entrepreneurship, but we also know we are here to positively impact people’s lives. Our goal is simple. It’s to help as many Londoners as possible on their uniquely different entrepreneurial journeys.

Fortunately, the entrepreneurial spirit in London is as strong as ever. As seen in slide three, startups still accounted for the highest segment of our clientele, even through the pandemic. I think this is indicative of our client base, and whether people feel pushed or pulled into entrepreneurship. Many, if not most of the people we serve are seeking a better life, and they feel they can do better on their own than through traditional employment.

We have seen a notable increase in women. In recent years, we have always served more women than men, but this is the first year we broke the 60% threshold. The unemployment rate amongst our investigators and early startups has also stabilized down from the 25% highs that we stopped beginning the pandemic. The industries reflect where we have directed our resources, the most notable being Main Street in a particular retail, which was a direct response to COVID.

We know the food and beverage industry is important to our region, and we continue to build our programming for that sector. Construction and trades was identified as a growth sector with strong job creation potential, and we’re just completing the final year of a tailored programming in that sector. Slide six summarizes our activity by the numbers. The move to online virtual delivery has its pros and its cons.

Moving online has made us more accessible, and we’ve seen a dramatic increase in training uptake. The con, well, that’s that moving online has made us more accessible. It has been a struggle to keep up with the man for personalized service and consultations, and at times admittedly our service standards have slipped. I’ll quickly skip by slide seven, just note that for anyone who wants to learn more about our specific services, I’m always happy to meet.

The impact of COVID has been measurable, requests from existing businesses are up 94%, retail is up 54%. Unfortunately, we only began collecting data on equity seeking racialized groups in January of 2020, which, as you know, was just a few months before the pandemic hit, which means we don’t have a good baseline for comparison. Now, none of these numbers may surprise you, but what is important to note is that without getting into the details of our revenue model, it is of note that we had fewer resources to support these groups than we’ve had in previous years. Now, on a positive note, a project that was a long time in the making finally came to fruition.

With support from FedDev through the growth project at the Western Fair, as well as generous sponsorship from Libra Credit Union, we launched Food Prunar Advantage. LEDC played a critical role in helping to bring all the funding pieces together. Our delivery partners include Windsor Essex, St. Thomas Elgin, and Woodstock Oxford.

We’re currently in conversations with small business centers in Sarnia and Chatham, and we hope to bring them on board soon. So what is Food Prunar Advantage? I’m glad you ask. It’s a program that provides comprehensive online training for food-related startups, and the Food Prunar Advantage’s scale-up program is for early growth food and beverage manufacturing ventures that produce consumer packaged goods who have demonstrated strong potential for growth.

Slide 10 shows the activity to date, and as you can see, the program is off to a running start. And I’ve broken that out by regional impact, as well as local to London for you. I’m going to skip past slide 11, as it will receive some attention in the next agenda item. As noted in previous presentations, we have a small pool of micro-provincial grants available to us through the province’s Starter Company Plus program.

Slide 12 shows the leveraged impact of those grants that were provided to 32 businesses, each received a small amount of $4,000 to $5,000, and as a result, they were able to report 41 new jobs in a six-month period. Slide 13 is the impact summary for the year, 186 new businesses were launched with our support, and 378 new jobs were reported amongst our active clients. And finally, the last two slides are testimonials from some of the people we had the privilege of assisting in the past year. Each month, we profile a new client on our website.

So if you are looking for inspiration, I encourage you to check out their personal stories. Thank you. Well, thank you. Comments or questions for Mr.

Pelerin. That’s our office. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Mr.

Pelerin, for the presentation. I always look forward to these presentations and the updates that were given at committee here. A question and congratulations on the new businesses that were launched, 186. That’s quite a bit.

Do you want to do the follow-ups as to what happens with these new businesses? Nia, just to sort of get some information on how successful or not these new businesses are. Mr. Pelerin, great.

Thank you, through the chair. Great question. The answer is it depends. And it depends on whether or not they are engaged in a sponsored funded program and whether we have the resources to follow up with them.

So generally speaking, if they’re in a program, we will follow up with them sometimes up to two years, but if I’m being honest, at the end of two years, we start to lose the capacity to actually reach those people. As far as general individuals that come through, we update our database regularly. So we have a sense that people are still in business. We have a sense that we’re beating the odds, but we don’t have anything accurate.

That’s right. Yeah, thank you. And just as a follow-up question to that, you mentioned the resources that are needed to have a better idea of how successful or not these businesses are. What are those resources that are required?

Well, if we do a survey of our clientele, I mean, we will typically, you know, businesses don’t, you’ve all done surveys, you know that people don’t respond to them. So if we get a 20, 30% response to the survey, we’re doing well, which means that if we put out a survey, we have to do telephone calls, sometimes two and three calls to get follow-ups, okay? Now again, I’m not talking about individuals who have been doing this for, you know, six months or a year, we will follow up with them automatically. But after two or three years, we start to lose track of them.

We hand them off to other organizations that they go out on their own. So for us to go back, honestly, ironically enough or not, ironically, it was suitably enough, we’re having the same conversation with the province right now and the province is looking at undertaking the job following up with our clients. And they’re also talking to us about whether or not, you know, that’s something we want to bring in house. But putting rough estimates on it, we would need a full-time person just to do the follow-up with the thousands of people that we touch every year.

That’s Robert. Thank you for that. I really appreciate the information. Thank you, next time, Councilor Turner.

Again, my computer’s slow, but I think you can hear me. There we go. My question is, and thanks again for all your work every year. When you come to present, I’m always intrigued and engaged with the work that you’re doing in the community and your center as well.

Last year and a half have been nothing short of extraordinary and significantly impactful in small businesses, particularly at Imagine. In your work with those who are looking to intern into small business and those who are already in. Have there been kind of industries or sectors that have been more attractive or more successful through COVID and the pandemic and those that have been more exposed or taken a few more hits by comparison? And have you seen areas where the municipality has been able to help or hasn’t been able to help?

I guess I asked those because those are the things that are within our realm, rather than those that are at the provincial and federal level. Father? Yeah, I don’t think I’m sharing any breaking news here. I mean, I think we all recognize that, you know, Main Street businesses, the service business, the hospitality industry have all been hit particularly hard.

And we’ve tried to do our part in directing our resources to help those businesses. Other sectors may have done better, but that’s not where our attention has been focused quite frankly. So we have been, you know, putting our energy into Main Street businesses. We’ve introduced new programming.

We have really strengthened our relationships with the business improvement areas. And the city has made changes that have had initiatives that have been supportive. Not just in the way of changing some of the rules and the bylaws to help businesses expand their patios and so forth, but as well as, you know, in improvement incentives and so forth. And quite frankly, later on in this meeting, there’s going to be another opportunity for you to help.

So yes, I mean, the short answer is yes. There are industries that are impacted more. And I think that for the most part, those are August. Pastor, sure.

Thank you and through your worship. So of those who have been seeking over the past a year so to get into small business, I imagine as you said, and you’ve started to see a significant increase in the number of women looking to get into small business. So those who haven’t been as hit but are looking for those opportunities within COVID. What kind of sectors are they getting into?

I should follow up. Thank you through the chair. You know, that’s interesting. And, you know, we do track a lot of metrics on that.

We track a number of sectors ranging from, you know, personal health services, artisanal type businesses, you know, technical businesses, consulting businesses, you know, bricks and mortar businesses, manufacturing wholesale. We track all of them. And the reality is we have not seen a big difference. So as far as before and after COVID, I mean, those sectors have remained barely the same.

And I think, again, part of the reason for that is really the reasons why people go into business. So people are going into business because they’re trying to break free of something. I mean, you know, or they’re trying to improve their quality of life. And they’re bringing with them, you know, a skill set.

And that skill set, you know, or that industry, that area of expertise that they had did not change because of COVID. So, you know, we have not really seen a big change in sectors as far as the startup activity goes. Councillor Trump. And thank you very interesting.

I appreciate your time. Thank you very much, Councillor Unholst. Thank you, Your Worship. And three to our guest.

Again, thanks and well done. And so I was excited to see the, see what new businesses are coming up. And also follow them. There’s numbers, there are a number that you’ve assisted throughout the years that I see still out there doing well and growing.

I noticed here we’ve got momos from the market. So that’s one of my favorite. I’ll from time to time order a custom order of granola as they purchase a huge arm full at $100 at a time. And it’s wonderful.

The question I’ve got is regarding the courses and lessons that you’re teaching in the past have had a chance to attend some. What are people most interested in learning recently? Mr. Fowler.

Again, people turn to us. Oh, sorry, thank you through the chair. People turn to us for the largest volume of people we see turn to us for the basics. I mean, they want to know, what the nuts and bolts are of starting a business.

A big part of that is the rules and regulations around a business and so forth. So those are the staples. Those are the things that we have always done a good job of providing. As far as trends that we might see, of course, the big trend over the last year and a half has been going online.

And we have probably doubled the volume of training sessions that we’ve done to help facilitate that for people to get a digital presence that to move online with their businesses. But still, again, I want to emphasize the majority of what people are looking for, it’s the fundamentals. I mean, what do I need to get started? What are the rules I need to be aware of?

How do I organize my finances? How much money do I need to start? How do I minimize my risk? Where do I find customers?

I mean, those are the things that we offer every single month. And every single month we have good attendance. That’s right, host. Thank you.

Do you notice more niches opening up? People finding a niche market something new or is it more basic things that we would expect to see restaurants opening, for instance? You know, thank you through the chair. You know, Michael, that’s a question I ask myself and ask our staff all the time ‘cause I keep waiting for a niche to show its face to me, something so exciting that we’ve never seen before.

But again, it’s really not what is happening. Like people are just calling upon their regular skill sets and looking to make a change in their lives. You know, if I did have to identify a niche, then it would be for sure it would be the food sector. I mean, we are seeing so many more artisanal type food industries, you know, propping up as consumers are looking for more selection.

Consumers are looking to understand where their food is coming from. They want to know that their food is having a local impact. So I mean, that is absolutely what I would say. I don’t know if that’s a niche or trend, but clearly that’s an area of growth that we are witnessing.

Councilor? Okay, well, I think I would agree just looking at Hamilton Road, we see a number of new restaurants opening up, by the way, with great diversity. So if you’re looking for some exciting ethnic foods at a good price, it’s a great place to be. Thank you.

I think that goes down the road of shameless promotion. Councillor, but thank you for that. Any other comments or questions for Mr. Palmer and Councillor Feilfoehler.

Thank you and through the chair, Mr. Palmer, thank you very much for your presentation. One of the things I think we would all agree, and it’s difficult through COVID to find any shining light that we’re going to see, but I was impressed when I saw your list of other partners, the BIA specifically and other organizations. Do you see that through COVID and through the COVID process that some of those relationships have either blossomed or really strengthened through the pandemic?

Thank you through the chair. And actually an excellent question. And I’m so glad that you asked it. If we are looking for a shining light of COVID, yes, that has been it.

And I think it’s for two reasons. One is because it has, I mean, it really highlighted and it was a call to action for all of us to come together. But two, it was the use of technology and the effectiveness of moving to a virtual world. It’s just made it so much easier to collaborate.

Now, we have connected with the BIAs in ways that we haven’t before and that has nothing to do with the technology. That’s related to the fact that we redirected a lot of our resources to support their main street businesses. But beyond that, I mean, we have seen improved collaborations with other small business centers across the province, like we’re doing some incredible work with other business centers where we’re sharing resources, sharing workshop content, sharing best practices. As a matter of fact, so much so that we have just recently now incorporated a new organization to create an official association of the 50 plus business centers in the province.

And I’m very proud to say that I’m proud to be one of the five founding executives of that not for profit as we bring these organizations together. You take a look at projects like the Food Printer Advantage project and it’s the first time that we’ve gone regional and that program was in the makings pre-COVID. But of course, technology has helped us expand it at a much more rapid pace. And if you’re wondering why we’re collaborating regionally, I mean, one is the reason, I mean, one is the obvious reason that if you improve the economic well-being of the entire region, you’re gonna improve the economic well-being of London.

But more so, and if I’m being more practical about it, we would never have been able to have gotten funding to deliver a program like that just for London. There’s an economies of scale that comes when you partner with other small business center, other regions, which allowed us to go after some bigger sponsorship. And that’s why we did it. So yes, the collaborations are, they are strong.

And I would say it is stronger because of COVID. Councilor Fife Miller. Thank you, kindly. Thanks very much.

Excuse me. Any other comments or questions then for Mr. Fowler? Councilor Cassidy.

Thank you, Your Worship. Thank you, through you to Mr. Palloran as well for the presentation. Thanks for coming tonight.

I’m amazed to see how much you’ve been able to accomplish. I imagine that your services were required more than ever as you did say, you know, you’ve been very busy because of the COVID epidemic pandemic. But, you know, we all know how hard small businesses in particular were hit because of the pandemic. Larger corporations were more probably able to ride it out in the way that small businesses weren’t able and also small businesses were closed down for longer than probably any other type of business.

So I wanna go back in time a little bit. I think it was about five years ago that you actually, so unlike LEDC and like Tech Alliance, you do get some funding from the provincial government. But it was about five years ago that you had a significant reduction in that funding. And so I, again, that adds to my awe for you and my being very impressed that you’ve been able to accomplish so much after you had such a significant funding reduction.

I noticed that your request later on in tonight’s agenda talks about leveraging some funding from the city to get this federal investment, which would be extremely welcome, I’m sure. I’m wondering if you’re hearing anything as the province looks to help small business recover from the pandemic. Is there any talk or possibility that funding might be improved or increased from the provincial government to support the London Small Business Center in particular, but any of the small business centers across the province? Sure, all right.

Thank you through the chair. Nothing specifically. Now, keep in mind that the project that is gonna be on the agenda shortly is both a federal and provincial initiative. We work primarily with the ministry and that’s through FedDev and in our day-to-day operations, we work primarily through the ministry of economic development and development and job creation.

And unfortunately, no, there has not been any talk. I mean, early on in the pandemic, again, I talked about how the small business centers came together. We worked very hard to try to build a case to bring funding. We did get a little bit of funding that allowed us to staff up, to staff up with some virtual advisory support.

It was welcomed when it came. It came a little late in the development of COVID, but it did come. It was good for about nine months. In London, it was a unique situation because we had lost so much revenue because of COVID and we had lost projects because of COVID that when this project came along, it didn’t even replace what we lost.

And for us, it was very much of a net it out because like every other businesses, we were also able to benefit from some of the way subsidy programs. So in that case, the provincial funding had very little impact to us. We are in the course right now, and this is important to note, so it’s a good thing you brought the question up. We are in the process right now of discussing, I’m not gonna say negotiation ‘cause it’s hardly a negotiation, but we’re in the process of discussing our contracts with the province for the next three years.

Our current contract comes to an end in March of 2022. At this point, there has not been any discussion of an increase, although we are certainly holding on to hope that there might be. But what we’re finding is whenever the province makes an increase, they’re looking for a leveraged increase. I mean, they’re not looking for, they’re not gonna pay the whole bill on everything.

So for instance, they may come back to us and say, hey, look, we’re going to expand something like the starter company plus program, which is the program I discussed where you have microgrants, but they may not give us the additional money and administrative support to actually be able to push those grants properly out the door. So that’s where the relationship with the province can be a challenge at times. Having said that, I mean, they are a great supporter. They bring a lot of money into this, into our municipalities, both through us and through tech alliance.

And I’m certainly not trying to dismiss that investment, but it is a struggle. The other struggle I wanna mention is it was brought up that we lost the large credential contract five, six years ago. That has created really unique challenges in that that was the only contract that was really meant to target a marginalized population or an unemployed population. And that was a 20-year contract where the London Small Business Center really became positioned in the community as a resource for unemployed people, as a resource for people who are in career transition and want to look at self-employment.

The problem with the 20-year program is that once that 20-year program believes, then the community still comes to you for that. And so what’s happened now is we’re close to the public only by appointment, but I can tell you the days we’re in the office, people are still knocking on the door wanting help and many of them are still on, and many of them are unemployed. And that’s just the brand that we created over 20 years. And I don’t see that changing.

I don’t see the province actually getting anything specifically to those groups. So those are some of the things we’re trying to work on. Those are some of the reasons we’re trying to organize as a network. Thank you, Councillor Cassidy.

Yes, thank you. Thank you for that answer. I just want to again say, I think you’ve done a great job with the little resources that you have. And I do acknowledge that the technology has been a help, but also a burden because it allows more people to contact you, but I imagine that it helps with some efficiencies.

And I’m pleased to see as well tech alliance, but especially LEDC in the foodpreneur advantage. I’m pleased to see the local collaboration. And I do recognize how important regional collaboration is as well. So again, thank you so much for the presentation.

And you’re doing a great job. And I wish there was some immediate help other than what’s on the agenda tonight as well. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor.

Any other comments or questions for Mr. Feller? I see none. Therefore, I’ll look for a motion to receive the annual update of the London Small Business Center moved by Councillor Cassidy.

I see seconded by Councillor Hillier. We’ll call the question. Thank you. Opposing the vote, the motion’s passed 14 to zero.

Thanks very much. And thank you, Mr. Parliament, for your participation in the annual update. In the items for direction, colleagues, 4.1 does relate to the London Small Business Center as has been indicated.

What you will see in your package there is a communication from Mr. Colerin and the business case that’s been put forward by the London Small Business Center. And I wonder this, because there is a suggestion, a letter put forward by Councillor Morgan specific to the Small Business Center and their business case submission. I wonder if I could call in the deputy mayor to make to open this up.

Yes, thank you, Your Worship. And I would see this as they’ve submitted a communication with the business case, I’m willing to support that business case, so I’ll put it on the floor. But I do know, obviously Mr. Pelerin is still here and can answer lots of questions they have.

But I have been convinced both with the business case as well as the research that I’ve done into my main street and the details of the program that this is a worthwhile venture for us to contribute to and draw in the additional funds and benefits to our local small businesses that would stem from a successful application to the program. So I would be happy to move the motion that I’ve put in my correspondence and then perhaps after that motion’s on the floor, I can provide some more detailed rationale as to why I’m supporting this direction. So if colleagues would like, I could read out the motion, my communication and hopefully we could put that on the screen. Well, I’m sure the colleagues have it, but I think perhaps for the benefit of the public it’d be worthwhile to have to go through that.

Sure, that civic administration be directed to work with the Small Business Center to support an application to the local business accelerator program and that a municipal contribution of 57,500 be authorized from the earmarked London Community Recovery Network funding, noting that municipal council has previously authorized $10 million to be contributed to the economic development reserve fund to support the social and economic recovery measures. Councillor Cassidy. I’m happy to second that, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you very much then. Let’s take it back to the deputy mayor for some opening comments and then other discussion as a program. Yeah, so my support for this stems from its nature as a recovery program. And as was described by Mr.

Pelerin and his other presentation, the My Main Street program really stems from a partnership from the federal government and active to establish an organization that really has two essential programs as being one of them. The purpose of the My Main Street accelerator program is to essentially put talented individuals into the community who can help small businesses both new and existing develop plans to get through and accelerate the recovery, whether they’re starting a new business or recovering from a downturn. Mr. Pelerin and his proposal has outlined specific areas and I’m supportive of the approach that they’ve taken with those areas because this is truly focused on recovery and he’s identified areas that I think have been certainly hit through the pandemic and are in need of some support.

What we get for our contribution, and I will be clear, it does not need to be a municipal government contribution, but someone needs to contribute the money. And certainly we’ve heard through Mr. Pelerin’s presentation as well as Councillor Cassidy’s questions of them, that their budget is certainly not capable of funding this themselves and they’re looking to us to support it. This will draw in not only money to support the ambassadors and the request is for four of them.

So this money would be 25% of that. But once the ambassadors are in place, each of those ambassadors are able to help 10 either newer existing businesses. Each of those businesses can get up to $10,000 of a non-repayable grant directly from the My Main Street program, which means each ambassador themselves can hand out about $100,000 of direct non-repayable grants to London small businesses. If we have four of them, that’s $400,000.

So altogether we put in 57,000 and we get in upwards of 680,000 I believe is the total number coming into their city if you include our financial contribution as well. What do they get? This is going to be ground level support for the acceleration of these local businesses and being successful. They’re going to get the ability to have someone to help them through market strategy.

They’ll get demographics and marketing research. The areas will have a bunch of work done in them so that the businesses and the areas can benefit from that. And the bottom line for me is at the end of the day, regardless of how successful the actual accelerator work is and what the lasting legacies are of that, having $400,000 of direct grants coming into the city of London, I think is a great opportunity for us. There will be 65 of these Main Streets across the province.

That’s what’s funded and we’re looking to acquire four of them. So I think that that’s reasonable for London size. That’s allowable in the program. And I’m certainly supportive of this and I hope it’s very successful.

That’s why I was willing to move the motion and I certainly know colleagues will have some questions. And I think Mr. Pelerin is probably the most appropriate to answer most of them. So the motion’s been duly seconded by Councillor Cassidy.

So any other comments or questions? Councillor Lusch. Thank you, Chair. And through you to colleagues and to Mr.

Pelerin, I just want to share very brief thoughts. I’m supportive of this motion. I think that leveraging this investment makes a lot of sense. But I’m going to say something that I’ve said in previous asks that have come forward.

We again see the focus being put on downtown London, Main Street London, Old East Village and Hamilton Road BIA. And there are more Main Street corridors to London than just in the core. And I say that with all their respect because I know that the core is important to the city’s success. But whether it’s the Hyde Park BIA or the Argyle BIA, there needs to be in the future.

Like I said, I will support this. But as these asks come forward in the future, and I hope all of our partners hear this, I need to see consideration being given to the whole city, not just to the core as important as that is. So I’m going to support this. But in moving forward, we should recognize and I have quite a number of small businesses out in the Argyle BIA that certainly as we recover and renew from COVID have some needs.

Some are struggling quite a bit, others are doing okay. And of course our BIA will continue to do that work for itself, but it seems to be a pattern. And I said this during the LCRN discussions as well, that there’s a big focus on downtown. And I’m sure as we look around, even at the neighborhoods that don’t have BIA’s, I suspect that Councilor Cassidy has a number of small businesses in the Masonville area who are struggling.

I suspect that if we get into the south end of the city, Councilor Palosa has a number of small businesses that are struggling as a result of COVID. And those areas even without a BIA could use some attention when it comes to support in helping them return to the success that they were enjoying pre-COVID. So I hope that there’s an opportunity in the future to look at expanding beyond just the core area. Other comments, questions?

Councilor Feiffner. Thank you, and through the chair, when I read through this, one of the items that for me makes me want to support this is the item on wraparound business support, but I’m wondering if Mr. Palerin can speak to the supports on new and existing businesses, because I do think that part of coming out of COVID while creating new businesses is constantly working to try and support our existing businesses in the city, whether they be in the core or whether they be in other parts of the city. I fully recognize that we need to be supportive of all businesses, but Mr.

Palerin, I’m wondering if you could speak to those wraparound services for both and how those will look. Mr. Palerin, do you have a brief answer to that? I do, it’s important, it’s important again, recognizing that of those 10 grants that are gonna be provided, five are intended to be for new, five are intended to be for existing.

The new is what excited us. We are doing programming right now to try to incentivize, encourage people to start bricks and mortar businesses. And again, part of what hasn’t been said is the business liaison is the ambassadors of this program. Part of their role is also gonna be to do the research to identify what type of businesses could actually flourish in those particular areas, which will help in targeting identifying which, you know, where we should be putting our attention.

So it truly is, it truly does have a startup component that is gonna work very well with the work that we do at the Small Business Center, as well as work being done out of our other support organizations. I mean, both Fanshawe College, Western, also have, you know, business support services. And we share referrals back and forth. And, you know, we’re hoping we can attract some of these individuals to actually take the leap and start these businesses, fill these vacancies.

Councilor Pfeiffer. Thank you for your clarity. Thank you, other comments or questions? I see none, there’s been a motion on the floor.

This has been duly moved and seconded. So with that, we will call the question. Closing the vote, the motion’s passed 14 to zero. Thank you, colleagues and thank you colleagues.

We have, by my addition, half a dozen items still to deal with as once we come out of a confidential session, we have item 2.2 is still to be considered. And with that, at it being 635, it’s my thought that we take a brief biobrake. And what I would like to, that’s for the benefit of all. And what I will do is suggest that we come back in 15 minutes so that would put us at 10 to seven.

So if that works for colleagues, then I’d like to have a motion then please to have a brief break. Councilor Pfeiffer Miller, seconded by Councilor Van Holst, let’s call that question. We can do that by hand, I think. By a show of hands, please.

That motion’s passed. We’ll see you all at 10 to, thank you. Colleagues, we’ll be with you just a moment. Colleagues, I’ll ask for screens on please.

Confirm to the clerk when we have quorum. We have quorum, Mr. Chair. And I’ve been advised, thank you, we have quorum.

And I’ve been advised that Councillor Sillie has had to excuse himself from the meeting and will make efforts to return. And as is my commitment to you, I always still let you know when I’m aware. So with that colleagues, I’m gonna turn back to items for direction 4.2, Hamilton Road BIA 2022 budget request. I’m gonna take the same approach that I took with the London Small Business Center that there is a formal motion on the, that’s been sent to us and so therefore, I’m going to recognize Councillor Palazzo, please.

Thank you, Your Worship. Would you prefer that I read the motion out for people beforehand before I get into my— Well, I think it’s just as it was with the prior motion councilor, I think it’s for the benefit of the public to be aware of precisely what we’re discussing. So I think that would be helpful, please. Circulated to council members beforehand.

My motion will be that the following actions be taken with respect to the Hamilton Road BIA 2022 budget request dated October 22nd, 2021. A, that the above noted request be deferred to the 2023 budget process. And B, the Hamilton Road BIA be requested to work with civic administration to develop a full business case with proposed funding source for the 2023 budget process. And I understand there is a seconder for this Deputy Mayor Morgan, but let’s have a full some discussion on this.

As appropriate, you’ll see in your package as well. A comprehensive letter from the Hamilton Road BIA with regard to what their request is. And the, again, the only communication from council members is the one that was communicated from council Palosa. But I’d like to open this up for discussion.

There is a duly moved and seconded motion on the floor. Since you moved it, you can speak to it, and then I’ll recognize councilor Vanholz next. Thank you. Thank you, Your Worship.

Realizing that the Hamilton BIA did submit a written request to us, they recommend recognize the financial constraints of their small levy and they’re requesting formally that city councilor to consider an annual grant for the Hamilton Road BIA for $100,000. And that one time funding could not sustain their ongoing development long-term. And recognizing they do have the ability to set their own levy, my phone. My motion before you tonight is with the concerns that this is not a one-time ask that is for an annual grant going forward for $100,000.

And that there is no identified funding source. They’re also coming in part way through the budget process as we discussed that earlier tonight. Wanting to make sure that the public has a full opportunity for engagement and that it doesn’t open it up for other BIA’s coming part way through the process, looking for other similar considerations. Thank you.

Well, thank you. Then let’s have discussion on this. And I’m going to recognize councilor that also please. Thank you, worship.

I appreciate that. And I’ll come forward with another amendment as well. But I’ll say that the councilor’s motion is certainly reasonable that a business case is always the best case scenario. Point out though that it’s been a number of years now that we’ve been saying we need to look at how the BIA’s are funded.

And there’s quite a discrepancy between some of them, the all these village BIA receives $140,000 a year from the city. And Hamilton Road is in a similar position. Although it’s true that the levies can be changed right now ours is 5%. And we don’t really see that as a viable option increasing that for this area.

I know that to the PEC I sent some photos of the condition of some of the buildings along our corridor that needed a great deal of repair. But what I didn’t send was pictures of average buildings a number of them have with broken windows in them because our areas sometimes ravaged by someone with mental health issues that seems to happen. So there’s those kinds of costs that people are dealing with. And I’ll also remind colleagues that our goal for establishing the CIP along this corridor was to beautify that because it’s a major gateway to the city.

If you Google directions from Toronto City Hall to London City Hall, it takes you right down the hybrid extension and into Hamilton Road and into London in that direction. So the work needs to be there. Things are improving. So we see some improvement, but it’s not enough what we have to work with.

Now what I’m gonna suggest is, and even if this had been moved, I would have said that the $30,000 which was requested for an operating reserve doesn’t really need to be added in there. So it’s really only the 70,000 that was needed. The $30,000 is something I’m gonna move that we provide on a one-time basis. And here’s the reasoning for that is Hamilton Road’s doing very well at getting grants, but unfortunately we have to pay those funds ahead of time.

And this year we were at a point where if it wasn’t for some quick action from the city, we would have to ask the landlord to let us wait on paying our rent. So it’s those cash flow issues that are a challenge. And one of the reasons we’re doing great in terms of leveraging help really have two part-time employees. And we were able to get through grants, three full-time employees to help us out and would look for more.

But again, it’s a situation where we’re putting money up, up front, there was a number of other programs where that happened as well. And so it’s difficult with that budget we have. So although I think we could wait a year and do that business case. And again, I think we need to think about how BIA’s are funded.

But in this case, I think it is quite necessary that we do something to assist along those lines. So I did prepare a motion. I sent that to the clerks and that along with those of Councillor Palosa, it would be that a one-time grant of 30,000 would be provided to the Hamilton Road BIA from the Community Investment Reserve Fund to establish an operating reserve. And I guess I would look to the mover and the seconder to see if that might be a friendly amendment.

Well, that’s certainly one approach we can take is to see if the mover and seconder, but I’m wondering if you’re suggesting an addendum and amendment to this. And I wonder if, bear with me, I’m going to just circle back first to the mover and seconder and see if they would consider including that you’ve made the ask of them. They can certainly make that as part of their motion or if you’re making an amendment, then that would require a seconder. I would not deem it friendly at this time.

I do not see support from the mover on that. So with that, I would look to, I would look to see if you have a seconder for your, for having an amendment. Councillor Hummer, go ahead. I’m having a seconder, I think it’s a good idea.

All right, thanks very much. So let’s, we talked to the amendment first, comments, questions, but I do have Councillor Lewis next on the list. Thank you, Your Worship. I’ll use this opportunity to speak to both in the way they’re related.

I will say that in terms of a one-time grant, I can be supportive of that. I think it’s reasonable when a BIA is getting established that we give them some hands up to start the process. I think it’s important to recognize that BIA’s are something that grow over time. You don’t come out of the gate and expect to do the same things that a BIA that’s been around for 10, 15, 20 years has been doing.

I think it’s important that BIA’s live within their means. And I will say on the main motion that’s in front of us, I’m unlikely to support it when it comes back in the next budget cycle. I think it’s a really, really slippery slope that we get onto when we start granting on an annual basis funding to BIA’s. We don’t grant funding on an annual basis to community associations to do their business.

And yet, I could easily see a comparison where community associations would say, “Well, we wanna beautify this part of the neighborhood. “Give us annual funding.” The BIA’s should be expected to live on the levees that they can raise from their businesses. And that might mean that they can’t deliver all the programs that they want to deliver or deliver all the programs that they see happening in another BIA, whether it’s in this community or elsewhere. But it’s not, in my opinion, our job to fund the BIA’s with annual operating costs.

I think that’s the purpose of having a levee in the first place. There are, as Councilor Van Halst indicated, and I know that the RGAIA has certainly used it, and I’m sure others have as well, there are opportunities for things like Canada Summer Jobs funding from the federal government. There are main street grants available for BIA’s to apply to activate spaces in different ways that does not require them to come to us and expect us to pay for the operating costs of a BIA off the property tax rate. So I’m gonna be really blunt and upfront.

I will not support this when it comes back in the budget cycle, but I do support the one time reserve fund setup. I think that that’s a very reasonable step to take. I wish I had the opportunity to vote on that outside of this thing that we have in terms of the deferral to the next budget cycle, ‘cause I really don’t wanna have our staff spend a lot of time preparing a business case on this. However, I also think it’s fine to get more information.

So I’ll support this in terms of putting together a case and I’ll support the operating reserve, but I am not going to be supportive of handing out annual operating grants to BIA’s moving forward. Other comments or questions? Tiffany, remember. Yes, I’ll support the amendment.

I think assisting a BIA in establishing an operational reserve is a reasonable thing to do. It gives them a footing to do the types of things that Councilor Van Holst described and certainly, although I’m supportive of and seconded, Councilor Plos’ motion on the permanent $70,000 piece, I think the $30,000 piece is a very reasonable ask and so I’ll be supporting the amendment at this time. Any other comments or questions? Councilor Fife Miller.

Thank you, Chair. I think listening to some of the other counselors here, I can echo some of the comments. I think one of the things we have to be cognizant of though when we’re creating BIA’s here in the city is the word sustainable. We need to create organizations that within themselves are sustainable and fundable at the end of the day.

Councilor Lewis has said that he doesn’t want to fund BIA’s and I can understand that. But I also think that there are areas where the smaller and even the larger BIA’s can work together to incorporate some of their best practices and some of their assistance to help some of the smaller sized BIA’s maybe lift the burden so to speak on what these organizations do and what they mean. But as we’ve grown our BIA’s in the city, I think some of the smaller ones are struggling to be sustainable on their own. And so I think we have to be careful in how we do that.

Thanks very much. I’m going to recognize Councilor Flowser please. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

And I have a question. I’m not sure if Councilor Vanholz can have shed some light on this. Recognizing there’s no budget attached to this. So I don’t know if the reserve fund, what percentage it is of their normal operating budget, like, how did $30,000 come to be the number within this request?

Like what is it based on just looking for some clarity? Councilor Vanholz, do you have a thought on that? Thank you that it came out of a meeting that we had recently where, again, we were worried about being able to come to the costs because of grants that were coming due. So we were scrambling for, I think, 13,000 from the city.

And then there was money from, we looked at the funds from the Canada Works grants, in this instance, we had an odd situation too where one employee dropped out and we got a replacement and then that was delayed. And so that was where the number came from the 70, well, I think that’s my answer. So thank you. - Thank you very much.

Councillor Hopkins, please. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. And I wanted to thank the Councillor Vanholz for his advocacy, for his community.

He does a good job there. And I haven’t heard any reason why not to support this amendment from my colleagues. I think it’s as important that we support all businesses as we, as a city, deal with economic recovery. So I will be supporting the amendment.

Councillor Turner. Thank you, Your Worship, I was just wondering through to staff, Councillor Vanholz, that identified that some funding had been given or is ongoing funding to other BIA’s. I just took a look in our budget book from the 20, from the multi-year budget. And I wasn’t able to see any specific breakdowns of our grants and fundings to those BIA’s.

So perhaps the staff could just kind of give a really quick overview of what we do for others in terms of municipal funding on an ongoing basis that doesn’t come from the BIA’s levy. Well, I think that’s, let’s, I think, Mr. Barbone, would you be in a position or respond to that? Yes, thank you, through the chair.

Definitely in terms of all of the BIA’s funding, the only BIA we’re ongoing city dollars are contributed is to the old East London BIA, and it’s approximately $140,000 annually provided to them. Councillor. Thank you, that’s helpful. Was there rationale in the old East BIA for why we do that for them and not the others?

Mr. Barbone. I’m sorry, I don’t have it through the chair’s room right in front of me, but what I can tell you is that that was done over a period of time. And I believe there were some budget business cases put forward for that funding historically, but their net municipal levy is only $40,000.

So it is one of the smallest of all the BIA’s at this time. Councillor Turner. Well, thank you, I saw Councillor Halmer’s screen come on, so I’d imagine when he speaks, he’d probably have some context as well. Thanks.

Don’t know if Councillor Halmer wants to comment, but you’re certainly welcome to. And I’m not trying to prompt it, but I have no other speakers at this point. Councillor Halmer. Thank you, I’ll give a little bit of context, just about the funding that is going to the old East Village BIA.

For many years, that funding was frozen at a level around 106,000, and it was increased in the previous multi-year budget to the level that sat now. As was pointed out by the treasurer, the levy for the BIA area in old East is around $40,000. In the past, it was more in the order of about $17,000. There was a very large BIA boundary expansion that happened a couple of years ago.

And so the levy has actually increased quite a lot in old East Village. So if you rewind the clock back, say 15, 18 years ago, we actually had a levy area that was one block, basically it was a very small area that was the levy area. And everything else was not in the BIA boundary, it was pretty constrained. But the BIA was providing services all over the corridor because lots of businesses have the same kinds of problems.

And as colleagues will recall, we have in the downtown and in old East Village, the residential development charges grant programs, which are quite substantial. When a new building goes in and there’s a DC grant for hundreds of apartment units, we’re talking multi millions of dollars in DC grants, plus the facade programs and many of these other things that are fairly large in terms of the investment that goes out to people trying to invest in their properties. So the idea is that the BIAs can provide that support to businesses, how do I access this program? How do I get the grant?

How can I apply for it? Work with developers who are coming in to try to build new buildings who would be accessing the DC grants program more efficiently and at a lower cost than the same services provided by city staff, that would probably cost. And so the BIA has been able to do a lot of that work in conjunction with the city staff to deliver those programs, which I would just point out are multi-million dollar programs for a very small cost in the grant scheme of things. The increase in the past couple of years to go up to 140,000 was recognizing that we were going into very significant construction in the core, so not just on Dundas, but on Dundas, Queens, King Street, Adelaide, basically every street in and out of all these village commercial corridor over a many years in a row, and that the communications and business supports that were gonna be required to get through that construction period successfully and as successfully as possible was gonna require additional staff support.

So that’s just a little bit of the background about why that’s happened in all these village. As you see from reports from that area, I mean, it’s tremendous return on the investment. Thanks for the background. I see Councilor Van Hulse, but I’m not gonna recognize him quite yet because I want to determine if others, you’ve had a couple of chances to respond.

I want to give others who have not yet had the chance to provide their comments. Councilor Cassidy, please. Thank you, Your Worship. And I’ll support this.

Happy that Councilor Van Hulse moved this amendment. And it’s good to hear the context from the old East Village area as well because Hamilton Road is the newest BIA in the city. And as Councilor Hopkins pointed out, Councilor Van Hulse has done a good job of advocating for this area in the city. It was struggling before COVID.

And so I imagine the struggles have only gotten worse. And I absolutely believe that at some point the BIA’s need to reach a level of self-sustainability. But we gotta give them a chance. And right now it feels like Hamilton Road needs that chance.

And if we can offer some funding through this grant, I’m actually happy to see the other motion about the business case because I really do believe that the Hamilton Road BIA needs to work with Civic Administration and do some of the things that have been mentioned tonight, some of the things that are going on in old East Village, some of the things that Councilor Fife Miller pointed out about collaborating with other BIA’s that have been well established over time. I see the things that have taken place in old East Village in the short span of time that I’ve been on this council, they’re extremely active and successful BIA in rallying their community together. I always comment on the construction that was taking place a few years ago on Dundas Street. And it was ongoing for two years.

And not a single business went under during that construction, not a single one. And that was the community supporting their local businesses. So that’s what’s possible. I see what’s taken place in old East Village.

I hear what Councilor Halmer is saying as well, that leveraging the local support to help the businesses access programs and things like that in a way that’s the people on the ground doing the work rather than have everybody come to City Hall and meet with city staff and talk about the programs that are available. Having the BIA’s do that work is a really efficient use of their time and of city staff time as well. So I’m supportive of this and I will be curious to see what comes back as far as the business case in the future. Thank you, other comments or questions?

Before Councilor Van Holst takes the floor, I’m actually gonna let him finish after I’ve made a comment if I could and I’ll ask the deputy mayor to take the chair. Yes, I’ll go to the mayor. Yeah, thank you. I don’t like this approach at all.

I think it’s not consistent with what we try to do in terms of thoughtful budgeting. It’s ad hoc planning at best. And this is not the first time that we’ve given special consideration to this newest BIA. I have great, great empathy for what they’re dealing with.

I think Councilor Cassidy made reference to it when we talked about the words we’re going through COVID and all the things that we’ve got to do to survive. But here’s my tear on this. I think we have to give this BIA a fighting chance. And I think it’s on that basis that I’m prepared to support this one time consideration.

Having said that, I’m mindful of what the BIA said themselves. A one-time finding request unfortunately cannot sustain our ongoing development long-term. So where do we go with this folks? That’s the challenge I’ve got.

What are we going to do in terms of something that’s meaningful, sustainable, and helps our business community in those regions where there is a BIA? Do BIA’s need to merge? I don’t know. Do BIA it seems kind of counterintuitive to say that.

But I wonder that. I think what’s clear from this and I great empathy for the Hamilton Road BIA notwithstanding that I don’t like the ad hoc approach is that I think at some point we need to do a more extensive review of how we deal with BIA’s terms of rules, responsibilities, funding, and the like knowing that they are funded through the businesses and their community. I mean, I don’t know if those businesses in that check-off process feel they get value. I don’t want to go down that road at all.

What I do want to suggest though is that I think coming back on an ad hoc basis, and that again, in our term, in this council term, this is now the second time that’s happened. And I think we were very sensitive and thoughtful to it. In fact, I think it was $50,000 the last time if my memory serves me correct. And I think we were all thoughtful and considered about that and said, yes, they need a chance.

And now they’ve come back again and they’ve said, and I’m reading this saying 30,000 isn’t even enough. So I don’t know what enough is ‘cause they don’t know the details sufficiently of the programs. But I think it’s got to be something more thoughtful from a planning process than what we’re dealing with tonight. But let’s help them get through, it would be my suggestion.

And I do support Councilor Close as well. So the amendment and main motion in that ironic twist of pieces to this. But we’ll get there, I’m sure. Councilor Vanholz, go ahead.

Thank you, Your Worship. And I appreciate the support for this one. Allow me to apologize that it didn’t come earlier. But this was a situation that we encountered just this fall, realizing that cash flow challenge so that you’re empathetic about that, I’m grateful.

I’d also point out that there’s a fundamental difference between Hamilton Road and perhaps other BIAs, maybe more than one. The first is that we’ve got a number of dilapidated and empty storefronts, which aren’t able to contribute as well. So we’re trying to fill those. So we’re actually trying to create what is a vibrant business sector.

And there’s some great things going on. The new California Maxi Restaurant opened it up near the International Bakery. Gun saw this barbecue is just putting up a sign, getting ready. They’re one of the rib-fest participants and they’ll be smoking ribs in their trailer in the back and they’ve got a little takeout in a storefront.

That’s great. We’ve seen a number of new business, number of new construction happening up. An old bank building is becoming a dentist’s office. It’s looking beautiful now.

The empty building for a long time at the corner of Hamilton and Trafalgar is becoming a grocery store. So a grocery store, an African grocery store down the street is moving into that place and fixing it up. So things are turning around. So there’s one challenge is actually having businesses.

We’re not a place that’s got big box stores that can be the anchors to support our levy. But here’s the other thing is that the Hamilton Road BIA is really the driver of the community improvement plan. And so there’s many things on the CIP that we’re working on and that beautification that I was talking about could come in a similar way that it does with the old East Village and in part, we picked the $70,000 because it was half of what the city provides to that BIA. And because it was also the same amount that is our levy.

So there’s a $70,000 levy for the Hamilton Road. So we’re much less financed than all these village. But that— 30 seconds counselor. Okay, so, but I do think that there’s another possibility in Hamilton, there’s one BIA where the city covers only the beautification projects.

And so it’s not really dealing with the BIA itself, but supporting those things that really work for the city. So I think that’s another possibility. And maybe if colleagues are interested, we can steer that business case along those directions. And maybe, while we’re passing or chatting, you can let me know if you think that would be something that you could support.

So thank you very much. Well, thank you as well. Colleagues, I see no other speakers on the platform. So with that, we will call the amendment.

Closing the vote, the motion’s passed, 11 to two. Thank you, and now we will call the motion. Somebody read the motion, please. It doesn’t show on e-scrap.

I’ll ask the clerk to do that, thank you. So through the chair, if you hit the chevron in the voting box, you should be able to see the motion. The motion is the main motion as amended, and that’s the approval of the main motion as amended. Thank you, that’s the main motion I’m not aware of.

So the main motion as amended doesn’t describe what the whole motion is. Go to the clerk for your hand. Thank you. The main motion is the motion that was put on the floor by Councillors Palosa and Morgan that the following actions be taken with respect to the Hamilton Road BIA 2022 budget request dated October 22nd, 2021.

Part A, the above noted request B deferred to the 2023 budget process. And part B is the Hamilton Road BIA B requested to work with the Civic Administration to develop a full business case with a proposed funding source. I can’t read the rest of it because it’s shadowed ‘cause I have a voting box open. And then the amendment is the new part C, that a one time grant of $30,000 be provided to the Hamilton Road BIA from the Community Investment Reserve Fund to establish an operating reserve.

Thank you. Closing the vote, the motion is passed 12 to one. Thank you very much. So I’ll now turn your attention on 4.3 consideration appointment to the Coven Garden Market Board.

I’ll turn it over to the clerk to explain now what it is that we are doing with the four names put forward, which will require a single appointee clerk if I could ask you please. Thank you through the chair. The process will be the similar process that has been utilized for other such appointments. There are four names on the ballots.

Each member will be able to select one and we will continue to vote through rounds until one candidate receives 50% plus one of the votes. Thank you with that. We will direct the clerk then please to put those names forward. And by the way, colleagues, when that’s done, we’ll require a motion appropriately moved and seconded to approve the candidate who has that support.

Your motion? Good, Councilor Mothost. Thank you. I was looking for some clarification on how we came to require an appointment.

I noticed there’s a couple of applicants that seem to say they’ve been on the board or have served very recently. Are they, are we renewing something? So I was wondering why previous board members are applying and if I could have some more context on why we’re creating this appointment? That’s fair.

I’m gonna ask Councillor Lehman to just to give some of that context. I think that could be helpful. Thank you. A board member was removed and Council approved that removal.

So we’re replacing that position. And I’ll recognize Councillor Herr for some of that context. Just confirming exactly what he just said, thank you. You said it much more succinctly though, Councillor Herr, I will tell you, thank you.

Does that help Councillor van Holes give you the background? It does, thank you. Thank you. So with that, we will have four names for consideration and we will go through the process as we have done in the past.

Closing the vote, the selection and Justin Diaz has received seven votes. So that is more than 50%. So we will need a motion for that appointment. Motion moved by Councillor earlier, seconded by Councillor van Holes, call the vote.

Closing the vote, the motion’s passed, 13 to zero. Turn your attention now to deferred matters. We have two. One is RBC Place, London Board Appointment Recommendations for 2022.

I’ll cite the letter in your package, page 425, from the CEO of RBC Place, London, Lori De Silva, where she is looking for members to complete their terms. And you will see that that includes David Smith, Jenny Diplock, Dr. C. Shakta, Nora Fisher, and Tony Solarsh.

So that’s the intention. There’s a provision, some background and the like in there with the letter, but to proceed accordingly, we would require a motion to receive this letter, which means to accept those appointments. I move by one of our council appointees to RBC Place, Councillor Layman, seconded by Councillor Fife Miller. Thank you, comments, questions, colleagues.

I see none, we’ll call the vote. Councillor van Holes, closing the vote, the motion’s passed, 13 to zero. Item 5.2, undeferred matters, includes committee of adjustment member vacancy. You will see a letter of resignation from now, Councillor John Fife Miller, from committee of adjustment, and a letter from the acting secretary to the London committee of adjustment to staff and the SPPC, and asking that city council consider filling the vacated position.

So with that, I think there are two parts that we need for this motion. One is to accept the letter of resignation from Councillor Fife Miller. Sorry, at that time, a member, John Fife Miller. To be clear on that, and that secondly, that we directly clerk to put appropriate communications out for satisfying this member vacancy, and she will wordsmith that accordingly, I’m sure.

All in one motion, that’s what I was looking for. So with that, I’ll look for a mover, please. Councillor Lewis, seconded by Councillor van Mirberg and comments, questions. Seeing none, we will call the question.

Posing the vote, the motion’s passed, 13 to zero. Thank you, colleagues. But going to confidential session to deal with an issue, and I’m going to call on the clerk just to provide some background on that for the benefit of the public, please. Thank you through the chair.

The committee would, after passing the appropriate motion, be going into closed session to consider a matter pertaining to advice, which is subject to solicitor client privilege and communications necessary for that purpose, as included on the agenda for this meeting. Thank you, and it’s our intention after that, then to go back into public session and deal with the one outstanding item still on the agenda. So with that, I’ll look for a motion to go into closed session. As for five minutes, second by Councillor Lewis, thank you.

We will call the question. Posing the vote, the motion’s passed, 13 to zero. Thank you again, a reminder of the public hearing back into public session. We’ll ask colleagues who are zoomed in just to give us a few moments as we make the adjustments.

I’ll ask for screens on this. I’ll welcome the public back as well as colleagues, as soon as the clerk confirms for. The forum is confirmed. Thank you very much.

So we’re now back in public session, and I’ll call on Councillor Ploza to report on our confidential session. Thank you, reporting out from confidential session in regards to item 6.1 client. Solicitor client privilege advice, happy report, the progress was made for the item that we went into closed session for. Thanks very much.

So with that, colleagues, I’m now going to take us back to the second item that was originally on the Consented Agenda 2.2, which was pulled for the purpose of this discussion. And that is the LMCHC co-investment loan agreement. And you’ll see on page five of your package details with respect to the recommendation, there are a number of items, but basically that Appendix A, the proposed by-law be introduced with a number of authorizations and delegations. The second that the proposed by-law be introduced, as it relates to borrowing under the credit agreement with LMCHC, the City of London CMHC, and then ultimately that it authorizes the Mayor and Clerk to execute the resolution of the shareholder.

So with that in mind, I will look for a mover and a seconder. Moved by Councillor P5 Miller, seconded by Councillor Halmer, thank you. Comments, questions, colleagues? I see none, so with that, we will, excuse me?

Oh, pardon me, Deputy Mayor, I didn’t see you there. Go ahead, please. Yeah, and of course I’m speaking here as a Councillor, but colleagues know that I also serve on the LMCHC board, and I will say the execution of this agreement is a really important step in the work that is forthcoming for the refurbishment and upgrading of the units at LMC, and we are lucky to have a partner in CMHC and a board that is ready and willing to do the work, and I have every confidence that LMC will be able to execute on this under the parameters of this agreement and we will move forward with both the total amount of funding and of course the forgivable amount, which is excellent, to address over 2000 units within the LMC portfolio, and so that’s a pretty exciting time for tenants as work begins. I know it’ll be an incredible amount of work, and I’m really appreciative of both the work of our staff and developing and bringing forward this agreement as well as the work of the LMCHC staff who will be doing the work of executing it as well on that end, so thank you to my colleagues, I hope everyone is supportive of this and exciting times ahead.

Thank you, other comments for questions? I see none, call the vote. Closing the vote, the motion is passed, 13 to zero. And colleagues, just before we adjourn, it just feels like a week, and it’s only a few days, a couple of days into it, I’d like to thank our staff from the time we’ve last met with regard to the issues that we’ve been dealing with.

You’ve heard many times, even through today’s meeting, how grateful we are for various staff’s roles and the roles that they have played to make our lives just go more organized, focused and clear. So Ms. Livingston, thank you to you, and I would ask that you share that with all staff from all components of the city. In some ways, it’s been a challenging several days, but in other ways, it’s part of what our role involves.

So with that, and I’m talking about incidents as it relates to River Road, amongst others, but our staff have stood very tall in dealing with these things, and we’re resilient and we will continue to deal with it. So to all of our staff, sincere appreciation, and with that, I’ll look for a mover and a second to adjourn, is there a mover? Oh, I see lots, I see Councillor Turner first, and then I see Councillor Hill, your second, let’s do a hand vote on this. I think that’ll work, all those in favor, please.

And colleagues, let me also say thank you to you. It’s been busy and it’s been trying, but I’m extremely grateful for the work that you all do on behalf of the city, with that meeting adjourned.