January 8, 2024, at 1:00 PM

Original link

The meeting was called to order at 1:00 PM.

1.   Disclosures of Pecuniary Interest

That it BE NOTED that no pecuniary interests were disclosed.

2.   Consent

Moved by D. Ferreira

Seconded by H. McAlister

That Items 2.1 and 2.2 BE APPROVED.

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

2.1   1st Report of the Animal Welfare Community Advisory Committee

2023-12-07 AWCAC Report

Moved by D. Ferreira

Seconded by H. McAlister

That the following actions be taken with respect to the 1st Report of the Animal Welfare Community Advisory Committee, from its meeting held on December 7, 2023:

a)    two Voyager Maxi 3 Panel Folding Tabletop Display Kit with PVC graphics and two carrying bags with green background BE PURCHASED for future bird friendly displays at various London Public Library locations; it being noted that the Animal Welfare Community Advisory Committee has sufficient funds in its 2023 Budget; and,

b)    clauses 1.1, 3.1 to 3.3, 4.1, 5.1, 5.2 and 5.4 BE RECEIVED.

Motion Passed

2.2   Single-Source Procurement SS-2024-001: Employment Services Case Management Software

Moved by D. Ferreira

Seconded by H. McAlister

That on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Social and Health Development, the following actions be taken with respect to the staff report, dated January 8, 2024, related to the implementation of case management software for London Regional Employment Services, it being noted that in accordance with Section 14.5 of the City of London’s Procurement of Goods and Services Policy Single Source contract awards greater than $50,000.00 require approval of City Council:

a)    a single source procurement in accordance with section 14.4(e) of the Procurement of Goods and Services Policy BE APPROVED to ESCASES INC. to provide licences for their case management solution at a cost of $293,800.00 for a two-year term;

b)    the approval given, herein, BE CONDITIONAL upon the Corporation entering into a formal contract;

c)    the proposed by-law, as appended to the above-noted staff report, BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting to be held on January 23, 2024, to:

i)    approve the Service Agreement for the provision of case management software for service providers within the London Catchment Area (“Service Agreement”) to be entered into between The Corporation of the City of London and ESCASES INC., as appended to the above-noted by-law;

ii)    delegate the Deputy City Manager, Social and Health Development and the City Manager the authority and power to:

A)    represent the City (City Representative) with respect to the above-noted Service Agreement;

B)    execute the above-noted Agreement on behalf of the City of London;

C)    approve and execute amending agreements and approve additional one-year terms to the above-noted Service Agreement that are consistent with the requirements contained in the Service Agreement and that do not require additional City of London funding; and,

d)     the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all administrative acts that are necessary in connection with this project. (2024-A03)

Motion Passed

3.   Scheduled Items

None.

4.   Items for Direction

4.1   Byron Legion Monument Donation to Springbank Park

Moved by H. McAlister

Seconded by D. Ferreira

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Neighbourhood and Community-Wide Services, the following actions be taken with respect to the staff report, dated January 8, 2024, related to the proposed donation of Byron Monument to the City of London for Springbank Park per Sections 4.1a) and 4.2b) of the City of London Donation Policy:

a)    the donation of the Byron Monument and cash contribution of $200,000 for installation and maintenance from the Byron-Springbank Legion Branch 533 (Monument Consortium) BE ACCEPTED IN PRINCIPLE; it being noted that the preliminary estimate of the total cost of the Byron Monument Project is $400,000 to be fundraised by the Monument Consortium.

b)    that the above-noted acceptance BE CONDITIONAL upon the Corporation entering into a formal Agreement for the work to be done related to the detailed design/fabrication, site placement, construction, ownership/maintenance of this Byron Monument donation at Springbank Park including a written valuation by an independent appraiser or other third-party supporting documentation to substantiate fair market value;

c)    the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to report back at a future meeting of the Community and Protective Services Committee with a formal Agreement related to the above-noted approval; and,

d)    the Byron-Springbank Legion Branch 533 (Monument Consortium) BE THANKED for their generous donation;

it being noted that the communication, as appended to the Agenda and the verbal delegation from Reverend F. Mantz and E. Holder, with respect to this matter, were received. (2023-M12)

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

4.2   Deputy Mayor S. Lewis, Councillor P. Cuddy and Mayor J. Morgan - Municipal Options to Limit or Prevent Renovictions

2024-01-08 - Submission 4.2 - Renovictions - DM Lewis Cncllr Cuddy and Mayor Morgan

Moved by Mayor J. Morgan

Seconded by D. Ferreira

That the following actions be taken with respect to Municipal Options to Limit or Prevent Renovictions:

a)    the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to report back to the Community and Protective Services Committee (CPSC) with recommendations on a spectrum of municipal options to limit or prevent renovictions, including but not limited to amendments to or new municipal by-laws, policies and programs, by the end of Q3 of 2024;

b)    the communications from Mayor Morgan, Deputy Mayor Lewis and Councillor Cuddy and Councillor Trosow, as appended to the Agenda and the Added Agenda BE RECEIVED and BE REFERRED to Civic Administration for consideration with respect to including the potential operational value of N12-N13 filing requirements in the report back; and,

c)    the Civic Administration BE REQUESTED to include, in the report back, the feasibility and impact of extending the Residential Rental Unit Licence applicability beyond the current unit limit, to include the possible extension to all multi-unit residential dwellings of up to and including 4 storeys in height or less, and including those units contained in sub levels;

it being noted that this does not prevent the CPSC from considering additional motions around property standards compliance matters at a future meeting. (2023-C09)

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

5.   Deferred Matters/Additional Business

5.1   Deferred Matters List

2024-01-08 - CPSC 5.1 DEFERRED MATTERS as at December 12 2023

Moved by S. Trosow

Seconded by D. Ferreira

That the Deferred Matters List, as at December 12, 2023, BE RECEIVED.

Motion Passed (6 to 0)

6.   Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 1:41 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 (57 minutes)

Good afternoon. This is the second meeting of the Community and Product Services Committee held in council chambers. Please check the city website, traditional meeting details. And we reviewed on live streaming for YouTube and the city website.

The city of London is situated on the traditional lands of the Dnotanashbak, Haudenosaunee and Lopwak and Adwondron. We honor and respect the history of languages and culture, the diverse indigenous people who call this territory home. The city of London is currently home to many First Nation, Métis and Inuit today. As a representatives of the people of the city of London, we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and live in this territory.

For those online in the gallery in chambers, we have full committee today. And the members of the committee, just because you have a few guests today are myself, Councillor McAllister, Pribble, Trousaou and Ferreira and the mayor. We’re also joined in chambers by Deputy Mayor Lewis and Councillor Hopkins. And online, I believe we have Councillor Hillier as well.

The city of London is committed to making every effort to provide alternate formats and communication supports for meetings upon request. To make a request specific to this meeting, please contact CPSC@london.ca or 519-661-2489, extension 2425. I’m looking to committee for disclosures of pecuniary interest. Saying none on our consent items, we have two items being 2.1 and 2.2, looking for a mover of consent items, unless someone would like it separate, moved to both items by Councillor Ferreira, seconded by Councillor McAllister.

As the staff did have an added report on item 2.2, looking to committee to see if you wanted to hear a verbal update on staff’s report or if you were good to proceed. Is there a preference? Sorry, Councillor McAllister, did you say good to proceed? Okay, so we’re just good to call.

Any questions or comments on items 2.1 or 2.2? Saying none, calling the vote in e-scribe. Seeing the vote, the motion carries, six to zero. Thank you, we have no scheduled items.

And our items for direction, we have two. The first item is the Byron Legion Monument donation to Spring Bank Park. There is a staff report, as well as a request for delegation status, and the delegates are here, joined us in person in the gallery today. So looking for a motion for 4.1 A and B, which would also allow the delegates to speak.

Moved by Councillor McAllister, seconded by Councillor Ferreira. I will go to the delegates in the gallery. The microphone will go live for you. I’m told that they are sharing their time.

So welcome, and please proceed, you have five minutes. Sorry, just one second. Can we just pick that mic a little bit louder up top? Good to have you back, and we just need to hear you a little bit louder.

All right, I’ll speak correctly. Thank you. Is that better? All right.

Well, thank you very much, Madam Chair, and council members and staff. It’s an honor for me to be here. I’ll be a little different from being at this perch, but an honor nonetheless. I’m here on behalf specifically of the Byron Monument, which is a package that you would have received.

First, I’d like to acknowledge staff who have been so tremendously helpful in providing specific direction and clarity to the purpose of what we’re looking to do. I’m joined by a number of people here, Padre Frank Mance, who is really the person responsible for this project from going back several councils, if I might say. In addition to that, we have Barry Murphy, who is with RKLA Architects. We have the past president, but current Vice President of the Korea Society of London.

Kim Weber, we have the Treasurer, past president of the Byron Spring Bank, Legion, Jim Campbell, Dandor Ashanko, past president of the Byron Business Association. We have Kay Yang, the artist responsible for this very important project as well. So in a moment, I’m going to introduce Frank Mance, who’s going to give you the history, and we’ll stay within our five minutes. But most importantly, this is a project that has touched a lot of lives and a lot of hearts, and truly impacts what we are doing to celebrate peacekeepers, to celebrate our war dead, but most importantly, to honor those Londoners who have served and continue to serve in this great community.

So with that, if I might, Madam Chair, I’ll pass it over to Reverend Frank Mance, Padre. Thank you, Madam Chairman and committee members. I would like to thank you for the privilege of speaking to you about a new addition to Spring Bank Park. We called the Byron Spring Bank Veterans Monument and placed in memory of the many thousands of our citizens who by sea on land and in the air offered themselves for our defense and future prosperity during World War I, World War II, Korea, Afghanistan, and many peacekeeping missions past and present.

We must keep their memory and accomplishments foremost in our minds. The Korea War Veterans set it well. Freedom is not free. It has been my honor to be a Padre to thousands of these veterans for over 40 years in hospitals, legions, and military organizations.

To really know the real cost of war, you have to know them and make them part of your life. Many enlisted in their teams and early 20s, and when peace came, they returned home to add their lives to the progress of our community with families, employment, and businesses that built our city and nation. This monument is our way of saying thank you because words are not enough. Our annual Byron Spring Bank Legion Remembrance Day service invites all the citizens of Byron and area, cadet associations, scouts, and political figures.

We cause traffic problems on Commissioner’s Road. We will eliminate this by holding our service safely at the monument. We hope to make this a special family day with many features. The monument will provide an interactive, educational attraction for children and adults by using their phones at special kiosks.

The monument will have great visibility on a high traffic pedestrian walkway. People will be able to walk around its circular form and almost see the stainless steel and quarten figures move. Unique in many ways, it is our expectation that it will attract many visitors. My hope is that it will be a fitting tribute to all our citizens whose lives were given in service, many of whom paid the ultimate price of love poured out for their friends.

We are their friends. Thank you. Thank you for those words in being here today. That concludes the delegates.

Looking to committee to start your questions or comments. Councillor Hopkins, I’ll commence with you and welcome to committee. New technology gets me every time. Thank you, Madam Chair, for recognizing me.

And thank you, Padre, for those words as well. I’d like to, first of all, start off with thinking our deputy mayor with the letter of support that I was very happy to add my name to. One of the important parts of this letter of support is the educational component that is going to go along with this project. I think it’s very, very important as our wars paid away that we do remember, and this is an important part of this project.

I also want to acknowledge the location of this. This isn’t just for Byron. It is in Spring Bank Park, and it’s one of the most beautiful places in our city. And it is going to be there for all of Londoners to see as well.

So I’m very excited about that. I’d also like to thank the city of London. Been a long time, long conversations. Been on council nine years, and it was a conversation back then.

I usually don’t like to signal out staff, but I am going to signal out, Robin. Armistad, for your work, I think you’ve been there for many, many years working on this. And thank you. As an afterthought, I know there’s more work still to be done on this project.

But I’m looking forward to hoping that the existing tree that has grown immensely will be able to be transplanted somewhere in our park. I just want to make that acknowledgment about if we can save it. That would be wonderful. I’d like to acknowledge people that are up in our gallery.

And it’s really important to not only acknowledge Ed Holder, who too has been on this project for many, many years, but also the committee members and the Korean community that has been involved from day one on this project. So many, many things for your commitment to not only honoring our veterans, but remembering those that have fallen. This is really a big part of this project. I want to also sort of point out Reverend Frank Mance, who really, to me, I became aware of this project when he would attend events throughout the community with his concept of what this project could be, many, many years ago.

And when I look at everyone up in the gallery now, it’s really hard to believe that we are here today. And I’m really hoping this committee will support this project going forward. I want to thank the Byron Springbank Legion for your commitment, donations, fundraising, that is going to go along with the commitment that we are going to hopefully get from the city here at committee. I do want to also sort of think that the Legion and Reverend Frank Mance for making me believe that this could happen.

It was one of my favorite sayings is Winston Churchill, who always said never, ever give up. And when I look at you up there, I think it does signal to me and gives me encouragement that through your dedication and hard work, never, ever giving up is where we are here today. So thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you.

Looking for further speakers, I’ll go to Deputy Mayor Lewis next. Welcome to committee. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you for having me at your committee and providing me this opportunity to speak on this.

I will say I am a bit more of a Johnny come lately to this project than Councillor Hopkins or the Honorable Mr. Holder up in the gallery, who’s lucky that he gets to keep the Honorable having been an MP as opposed to the worship that he got as mayor. But it has been an absolute pleasure working with all members of the committee. And I agree with absolutely everything Councillor Hopkins has said.

I also want to extend my thanks both to Mr. Yeoman and to his predecessor, Mr. Stafford and their team who have certainly worked with me for about a year on this particular file. When we had an election and we had a new mayor, I was volunteered by our outgoing mayor that this was now on my work plate.

And I’m happy that he asked me to take this on because it’s been a genuine pleasure to do. Very much like the restoration of the Holy Roller Tank, which I was involved in as well, this project requires our approval and principle so that the committee can then proceed with further actions that it needs to take, including starting the fundraising and getting those asks in to the Royal Canadian Legion command to the federal government and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs and the Ministry of Heritage and those other appropriate funders who will help make this become a reality. But none of that can happen without the conditional approval. And I think it’s important to note in the recommendation that staff are recommending acceptance conditional upon the corporation entering into a formal agreement on this.

But that conditional status allows the group to now start the next phase, which is the fundraising, which is going to pay for the installation, which is going to pay for those educational components. And that is really why this is here before you today so that the work can commence on the next phase of this. There’s a great design. A local artist has contributed to the design of this, and it looks beautiful.

There is a plan ready for where it can be installed and what it could look like. But nothing can proceed in terms of getting the funding in place to make this a reality without our approval today. So I really want to encourage committee to support this. I will be seeing the same thing at council.

And hopefully, with our conditional approval today, I know that certainly our former mayor is really good at fundraising. He showed that prior to his time here. I know he’s got lots of friends in the military and in the community who are eager to see this project take off so that they can be part of it, too. And I know that others will do the same.

It’s no surprise to colleagues. I’ve got a number of friends in the Royal Canadian Legion and in the Canadian forces. And I’ll be reaching out to do my part in helping the committee with its work as well. But we really need to know that council’s OK with this being installed in Spring Bank Park.

And that’s really the heart of the ask before you today is, can will the city allow the Legion to install this monument here? So I hope you’ll support that. I want to thank everybody in the gallery for the work that they’ve done on this so far. Of course, this is just phase one.

The planning, the next phase is the real battle, the deployments to get all the resources we need to pull this off. But there’s a great team up there ready to do it. And I know that, as I said, I’m a Johnny come lately to this file. Both Councillor Hopkins and our former mayor have been involved a lot longer.

And of course, Padre Mance, even longer than either of them. But this is going to be a great addition to our park if we approve this. So I encourage you to support it. Thank you, recognizing Mayor Morgan.

Thank you very much. And I appreciate the comments that my colleagues have made already and with respect to what Deputy Mayor Lewis said about the agreement and principle and it being conditional. I have absolutely no doubt that this will come to fruition on schedule, on design, and with the people who are involved in bringing this together, although it has been a long time coming, I know allowing it to get to this next phase is a really critical step. And I want to talk about the piece that was just mentioned.

And that’s the location of the monument. Spring Bank Park and all of our public parks and spaces are limited assets that we have here in our city, which we have to find really appropriate long lasting historical uses for. And when you think about this monument and what it represents, I think it is a true testament to honoring those who have served, continue to serve, and who have fallen. Because I remember many times going to that park and playing at the playground just along the way with my kids or going to community events in the space just across the way from there, whether they be hosted by a cultural community or a faith-based group or a service group, and making those memories.

And I have the ability to do that with my family because we live in a free and democratic society that exists because of those who served and gave the ultimate sacrifice, some of which gave the ultimate sacrifice in the years preceding. And so what better spot than one of these places where we make family memories, where we enjoy each other’s time, where we embrace nature in all of its glory, to have a monument like this there, to remind Londoners and remind the region and the community, and all who will visit that space, that these sorts of public spaces exist in free and democratic societies because of those who serve and continue to serve to protect the freedoms that we can often take for granted. And so I fully support the proposal for us. I look forward to the work of the committee going to the next phase through the project.

And I just wanted to share my thoughts on echoing my support for this location in our city for such a monument. Thank you. Looking for their comments. Looking to staff as Councillor Hopkins did, we used the question of the pre-tree preservation that’s on the spot.

And if staff wanted to make a comment on that. Thank you, Madam Chair, through you. So yes, the location is something we are continuing to still refine through the process and the associated needs for the installation as well. So we will make best efforts to move the tree if need be, or if not, perhaps then propagating the tree to another location as well would be something we’d look at.

Thank you, I have a nod from the Councillor on that. Just looking to see if any of our online Councillors wanted to speak. Seeing none, last call from questions or comments from committee. Calling the question.

Closing the vote, the motion carries, six to zero. Thank you again to our delegates for being here to work on that. This means it did pass at committee. This goes to a full vote of council on January 23rd, at which point it will be made a final decision.

Thank you. Hey, we have items 4.2 now on our list. It’s a letter from Deputy Mayor Lewis, Councillor Cuddy, Mayor Morgan regarding the municipal options to limit or prevent renovations. Looking to Mayor Morgan to start us off on this one.

So I’ll need a mover. I believe the mayor is moving it. And the seconder is Councillor Ferrer. So it’s now on the floor.

Yes, and I just want to move like a slightly amended motion that was circulated. But given I don’t think anybody in the audience has seen that, I’m happy to read out the amended motion, but I’ll take your guidance. Does the clerk have the amended wording? Sorry, just to confirm, is this the motion that was circulated by Councillor Ferrer?

Okay, thank you. Okay, so that’s going to go up on the screen. That’s what you’ve moved. That’s what you seconded.

So if you want to read it out for any Councillor joining us virtually or those in the gallery so they can see it and hear it. Yes, happy to do that. And what I meant by different motion is different from what was communicated in the agenda package and with respect to the communication that Councillor Troz found made, as well as I know some comments that Councillor Ferrer felt would be valuable. So the motion has been expanded a little bit.

It’s civic administration be directed to report back to the community and protective services committee with recommendations on a spectrum of municipal options to limit or prevent run evictions, including but not limited to amendments or new municipal bylaws policies programs by the end of Q3 2024, be that the communication from Mayor Morgan, Deputy Mayor Lewis and Councillor Cuddy and the additional communication from Councillor Troz that will be received and referred to staff for consideration with respect to including the potential operational value of the N12 to N13 filing requirements in the report back and see the civic administration be requested to include in the report back the feasibility and impact of extending the RRUL applicability beyond the current unit limit to include the possibility possible extension to all multi-unit residential dwellings up to and including four stories in height or less and including those units contained in the sub-levels. And in it being noted that this does not limit CPSC from considering additional motions around property standards compliance matters at future meetings. I’m happy to put that on the floor and have it seconded and that’s just a more complete motion that perhaps addresses many of the comments that I’ve seen colleagues made as well as a submission from Councillor Troz. Hey, I’m gonna pause this there for a moment.

Looking to the gallery, I got word that some of you can hear, some of you can’t, do you need it louder? Okay, we need it louder. I’m just looking to technology to see if we can make however it works, it louder in our friends in the gallery. Just to our friends in the gallery realizing some of you might be first time.

This is with us, welcome, you can eat, you can drink up there, the washrooms out there. We ask that you don’t applause and that you don’t boo as we go through this. And unlike a public participation meeting, you’re more of listening to what we’re saying in the conversation, there’s not an opportunity to go to the speakers at this point and get your feedback. And it’ll be the same thing, any decision made here today, we’ll go to the council meeting on January 23rd, but you have lots of time in between there to write, your Councillor, all of Councillor saying if you support, what we do as a decision today, or if you’d like something different done.

So just for you understand, as we go through this process, there’s no opportunity to speak from the gallery today as it is not a public participation meeting. Okay, so starting my speakers list with our colleagues around the horseshoe, I’ll start with Councillor Ferrer first, and as always, by time, five minutes. It’s a committee, you can speak multiple times, but I still try and keep you to that five minutes. Councillor Ferrer, please proceed.

Thank you and through you. Hopefully this is loud enough that everybody can hear. I first wanna thank the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor and Councillor Cuddy for bringing this to the floor. I thought this is definitely a good recognition of some of the things that we could do as a city to bring more protections to our renters.

And I also really wanna just kind of do a quick note on what’s been happening on the back channels offline and how much work we’ve been doing together. This is a great example of how Council has been able to come together with our requirements, with our opinions and be able to hash something out that works for all of us. So I know that you would not necessarily see this, but on the back end, this is a great example of how Council was able to work together on this one for such a big issue too. I’ll speak to only part C ‘cause that was one that I have been trying to bring forward and I know Councilor Troso has brought that as well.

We did have a renters protection working group working on the back end for a while, bringing some of these issues or some of the requirements that we think that the city should look at. So these are some of the things that we have brought forward. And I do believe that just being proactive and being just to capture more units in the residential rental units licensing bylaw to look into increasing the number of units that is covered within the licensing itself would be a good step. So I’m very happy that we’re having this on the floor.

I’m looking for obviously the support to vote this through because I do know that there’s a lot of members in our community that are looking for something like this, but I just wanted to speak to part C. I’ll leave the rest of the parts for the rest of the floor. Thank you, Councilor McAllister. Thank you and through the chair.

I also want to start off my comments by thanking the mayor, the deputy mayor, Councilor Cuddy, and really the committee members as well in terms of the work that’s gone into this. I definitely have heard a lot of these issues from my own constituents. Particularly pleased to see looking into the N12 and N13. I’ve had a number of folks reach out to me in terms of the abuse of those.

And I definitely think whatever we can do at the local level to ensure that the filing requirements for those are legitimate. I’m sure it would be greatly appreciated by our residents. I think that this is very timely. It’s very important.

It is another facet of the housing crisis that unfortunately I don’t think it’s enough attention. So I’m really pleased to see this before us and I will absolutely be supporting it. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. So I’m on committee first. As Councilor Trost has heard from the committee, please proceed. Okay, well, thank you very much.

And welcome to chambers, everyone. This is such an important issue. This has been a very compelling issue for me. It’s one of the things, it’s one of the things that sort of motivated me to wanna actually get on this council in the first place.

And I wanna say how pleased I am with the progress that we’re making. I like everyone else. I wanna start by thanking the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor and Councilor Cuddy for getting this started. And I also wanna thank people for taking the additional points that I raised in my supplemental motion or amended motion.

Seriously, and I’m just delighted that we were able to reconcile these two. And I think you’ll be hearing more from this committee because one of the things that I certainly intend on doing is following up with some of my concerns that other people have expressed about property standard conditions and how we enforce that. And there’s nothing in this motion that precludes us from coming back to that. I think what we’re, I’m gonna just sit back a little bit.

Maybe I won’t resonate as much. I think what’s really important here is that we are trying— Right, just one second, Councillor. I believe technology is working on the feedback. And just as Councillor Troso speaks, if you can’t hear it, could you just indicate if you can’t hear and he’ll move closer?

‘Cause I know the feedback’s bad too. So, Sam, I’ll let you visually keep an eye on the gallery. Okay, so basically what we’re working on here is somewhat of a comprehensive anti-displacement strategy. That cuts across a number of the different issues that have been raised.

Certainly the incidents on Webster Street have done a lot to bring these problems to the public attention. But there are many other tenants throughout the city who are having to deal with situations that need more remedial action on the part of the city. So I think by addressing the issue of the N12s and N13s and also looking at the question of changing the rental registration by-law to bring in more units and to keep open the possibility of talking about code enforcement matters. I think that we are, this is not everything.

There are other things that need to be done, but I think we’re getting as close to a comprehensive policy as we can. And that’s what Council’s supposed to be doing. And we came into this process with different language and we were able to reconcile it. And I’m just, I’m so pleased, I’m so pleased about that.

So certainly I’ll be supporting this and I’m looking forward to working on this, not just through this motion, but other things that this committee is going to be doing over our term. So thank you very much. And yeah, I’m very pleased about this. Thank you.

I’m going to Councilor Pribble next as he’s on the committee. And I do note that Deputy Mayor Lewis is on my speakers as well. So thank you to my colleagues as well for all the work that has been done in this. I do think I’m glad that it’s open-ended to our staff because I do think there are opportunities on the local level, including the building permits that we are issuing to look at potentially the timeframes of the renovations and to include a reasonable time for such renovations to be done.

I had various conversations with the tenants who are involved in the situation. And one of the things is that I did find out that a lot of tenants that actually are not aware of all the rights that they have. And I don’t know in terms of, I did hear that there’s a certain, that there’s legal aid involved in this, but please do make sure that you are aware of all the rights because certainly two people I talked to last week, they weren’t aware of it and they were kind of confused. So that’s the other thing.

And the last thing is, I do want to say that on the provincial level, the Act and the paragraph 50, there are proposed changes and they should be coming and proclaimed in force in a very near future that should help this situation as well. But again, just reiterate, thank you very much. Great work by the Council, by my colleagues. Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Mayor Lewis, welcome. Thank you, Madam Chair and through you, I know it’s been said and I’m gonna echo it. For those who think that an agenda comes out and that’s where the work stops, as late as I believe it was 1239 with this meeting starting at 1 p.m. That with various discussions over the weekend, again, in person this morning with Councilor Trussow and Councilor Ferreira and myself, where we finally got this language into the clerk with about 21 minutes to spare before the committee meeting started.

Because it’s a continuous project to work on these to get it to a point where everybody can be comfortable and supportive and that was really our goal is, let’s get it to a point where we can agree to move forward with something that we can see some results from this year. I know, I’ve heard from folks in the community, I’ve heard from tenants, I’ve heard from landlords, this doesn’t go far enough, this goes too far. But I’m always reminded on any of these motions that come forward of that old wise adage, how do you eat an elephant? It’s one bite at a time.

And this problem is an elephant and we are not going to solve it all with one silver bullet or one magic wand wave. It is going to take time and some of it we are not going to solve at the municipal level. And I really think it’s important to underline that. A lot of issues around landlord tenant disputes have to be solved by the province and through the residential tendencies act and improvements to the landlord tenant tribunal.

But there are some tools potentially in the municipal toolbox that we can implement that will strengthen some of the protections particularly where the focus is around those who are acting in bad faith. And there are good landlords and there are bad landlords just as there are good tenants and there are bad tenants. And so we’ve got to strike the right balance. And I think that this does that.

I think that this takes a reasonable approach to say to our staff, please. And I want to as well thank our staff. Mr. Catolic and his folks have been more than happy to meet with Councillor Cuddy and myself as we were originally coalescing this motion then the mayor became involved.

So there’s been lots of staff supporting, getting us to a point where we can put something on the agenda today too. So I want to acknowledge the staff in municipal compliance in particular for their help with this. I think it’s important to recognize they’ve put work in on this too. I know that there are concerns about this may not come back fast enough.

I had a conversation with Mr. Catolic just this morning about the fact that he’ll bring it back as soon as he can. But as was referenced in our letter, there are municipalities trying different things out there. Some of them have only been in effect for a few weeks.

Some have been in effect for a couple of months. But we want to get some of that data back too. And that means taking the time to do that environmental scan of other municipalities and hear what their results have been so far. Some of these things may not work.

And it’s not something that we want to spend resources on if it’s not going to work. But if they’re seeing results in other cases in other places, then that’s where we want to grab on to that and say, maybe there’s something here to do. I also want to thank the folks from Acorn who met with me back in November and raised the N12 N13 issue in particular. And when we had our meeting, that was one that really struck me as an opportunity for some municipal tools to become involved around our rental unit licensing.

So I want to acknowledge their work in bringing that to my attention and to Councilor Cuddy’s attention and giving us an opportunity to see what we could do with that and to have some conversations with staff. So that’s how we got to where we are today. As has been mentioned, there’s lots of work to do on this still. There are other items that need to be considered.

And I know that Councilor Trussa was referenced that there’s some more work he wants to do around property standards compliance. I think it’s important to highlight that there is a business case in the budget. I believe it’s P-25. It speaks to providing the municipal compliance division with more resources and bodies to help with some more proactive enforcement.

Of course, as the chair of this committee will know, there’s lots of work ahead in her other role as chair of the budget committee. So we will deal with that through the budget process. But it’s not that these issues are being ignored. It’s that we’re taking the opportunity to focus on what we can do as a municipality within our existing resources, within the tools that are within our framework.

And I will conclude by saying I’ve also had the opportunity to talk to MPP Flax staff about this. As colleagues know, he’s the associate minister of housing now for the province of Ontario. And this was actually well received. They’re interested in knowing if there are things that they need to do to assist us in bringing forward these tools.

And they’re open to ideas from us for other things that the province can do to improve this too. So I want to acknowledge that the nearest provincial government in the nearest provincial representative on the government side has also expressed an interest in seeing how this is rolled out in London and what the effects are as there may be some benefits to learning for the provincial government from this too. So I want to just finish by acknowledging that. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you. And as I said, I time everybody, nobody’s safe. That’s all I had on my formal speakers list at the moment. Mr.

Kootolik, as your name was mentioned several times throughout this conversation, looking to see if you want to make comment or you’re welcome to pass, but just want to give you the opportunity. Thank you and through the chair. We’ll look forward to doing this review. This is an important community topic.

Probably more important, some of the other issues that we deal with on a day-to-day basis. If directed by council, we will develop a full suite of options that will be at a future public participation meeting to look at the issue of bad faith renovations and renovations actually. We’re going to focus on undertaking a gap analysis after talking to several municipalities, both in Ontario. And this is a key topic that’s already been addressed by the province of British Columbia and municipalities within that province.

We’ll also undertake an operational cost benefit analysis and in an effort to recommend the most cost effective process to deal with bad faith renovations. Thank you for those comments. So for our guests in the gallery, the report will come back when it does come back if approved by council at the end of the year, and that will form a public participation meeting. We will formally have here with this committee in chambers, and that will be your opportunity to get to the microphone and speak if you want.

So not today, but that process will be coming if and when approved by council. I had no further speakers until I had Mayor Morgan, please proceed. Yes, thank you, Chair. And although I presented the motion at the start and moved it, I certainly wanted to listen to my colleagues who did both work on this as well as other issues surrounding this area before.

I added some of the comments of my own, which I’ll be brief on. I just want to echo that there’s still a lot of work to be done. This is just the direction to get the staff to come back with the report and the options so that we can start to decide how we carve out the path forward. But to Councillor Trostav’s comments, this is not the only thing that the municipality can do.

And it’s not just the actions that we can take within our sphere of jurisdiction to try to ease the pressure, but it’s also the advocates that think we undertake through the other bodies that were associated with the provincial level, whether that’s Ontario, Big City, Mayor’s, AMO or others, so that there’s a multifaceted discussion about the challenges that the renters and tenants face within the province, both from all the way from the affordability side of things to the renovations and the bad faith actions of some actors within both our city and the province. So I look forward to the report back. I appreciate all of the work that colleagues have done on this and those who have been advocates on this issue for many, many years before even joining Council. Certainly this is not the only thing we’re doing and it links in with other advocacy efforts on other items that are occurring across the province as well.

So I wanted to add that context and I appreciate everybody’s comments earlier today. I won’t repeat any of them. Thank you, looking further for their speakers. Seeing none online or in chambers calling the question, closing the vote, the motion carries six to zero.

Thank you, that concludes that item for those in the gallery, it did pass it. Committee today and it will go to council on the 23rd. That moves us on to item 5.1 being deferred matters. Looking to see if there’s any questions or comments with deferred matters list.

Okay, I’ll need a mover and a seconder for the deferred matters list to accept it. Moved by Councillor Trostoff, seconded by Councillor Ferrera on the question. Closing the vote, the motion carries six to zero. Thank you, that moves us on to adjournment.

I will need a mover and a seconder to adjourn. Moved by Councillor McAllister, seconded by Councillor, this could be you Ferrera. Okay, a hand vote of all in favor of adjournment this day. Hey, it carries, but the fact that Deputy Mayor Morgan, or Deputy Mayor Lewis’s vote does not count.

We are adjourned and thank you to everyone in the gallery for joining us and have a wonderful day.