May 6, 2026, at 1:00 PM

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The meeting is called to order at 1:01 PM; it being noted Councillor E. Peloza was in remote attendance.

1.   Disclosures of Pecuniary Interest

That it BE NOTED that no pecuniary interests were disclosed.

2.   Consent

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by H. McAlister

That Consent Items 2.1 to 2.7 BE APPROVED with the exception of item 2.6.

Motion Passed (3 to 0)

2.1   Extension of Fanshawe College Agreement to Support Downtown Campus

2026-05-06 Staff Report - Extension of Fanshawe College Agreement to Support Downtown Campus

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by H. McAlister

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Finance Supports, the proposed by‑law, as appended to the staff report dated May 6, 2026 as Appendix “A” BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting to be held on May 12, 2026:

a)    to approve an amending agreement between The Corporation of the City of London and Fanshawe College of Applied Arts and Technology to extend the term of the existing agreement for an additional one (1) year, on the terms and conditions set out therein (the “Amending Agreement”); and

b)    authorize the Mayor and the City Clerk to execute the Amending Agreement;

it being noted that the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee received a communication dated May 4, 2026 from L. Thomson, Legal Counsel, Fanshawe College with respect to this matter.

Motion Passed

2.2   Contract Amendment: Dingman Creek Subwatershed Stage 2 Lands: Schedule C Municipal Class Environmental Assessment

2026-05-06 Staff Report - Contract Amendment Dingman Creek

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by H. McAlister

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment & Infrastructure, the following actions be taken with respect to the additional engineering fees for the Dingman Creek Subwatershed Stage 2 Lands: Schedule C Municipal Class Environmental Assessment:

a)     the contract with Kontzamanis Graumann Smith MacMillan Group (KGS Group) BE INCREASED by $181,670.00 in accordance with the estimate on file, to a total upset amount of $1,058,597.00 (including contingency), excluding HST, in accordance with Sections 29.2 and 3.1 of Schedule “A” of the City of London’s Procurement of Goods and Services Policy;

b)    the financing for this project BE APPROVED as set out in the Sources of Financing Report, as appended to the staff report dated May 6, 2026 as Appendix “A”; 

c)    the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all the administrative acts that are necessary in connection with this project; 

d)    the approval given, herein, BE CONDITIONAL upon the Corporation entering into a formal contract in connection with this contract amendment; and

e)     the Mayor and the City Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to execute any contract or other documents, if required, to give effect to these recommendations.

Motion Passed

2.3   Appointment of Consulting Engineer for the 2026 Culvert Replacement Program Contract Administration

2026-05-06 Staff Report - Appointment of Consulting Culver Replacement

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by H. McAlister

That on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment and Infrastructure, the following actions be taken with respect to the appointment of consulting engineers for the 2026 Culvert Replacement Program:

a)     EXP Services Inc., BE APPOINTED consulting engineer to complete the resident inspection and contract administration for the Culvert Replacement Program project at an upset amount of $192,585.00, including contingency, excluding HST, in accordance with the estimate on file, and in accordance with Section 13.3 iii) (a) of the City of London’s Procurement of Goods and Services Policy;

b)    the financing for this project BE APPROVED as set out in the Source of Financing Report, as appended to the staff report dated May 6, 2026 as Appendix “A”; 

c)    the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all the administrative acts that are necessary in connection with this project; 

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

e)     the Mayor and the City Clerk BE AUTHORIZED to execute any contract or other documents, if required, to give effect to these recommendations.

Motion Passed

2.4   Restricted Acts of Council After Nomination Day and Voting Day

2026-05-06 Staff Report - Restricted Acts of Council after Nomination Day and Voting Day

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by H. McAlister

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Legal Services, the following actions be taken with respect to Restricted Acts of Council after Nomination Day and Voting Day:

a)     the proposed by-law, as appended to the staff report dated May 6, 2026 as Appendix “A” BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting to be held May 12, 2026, to delegate certain authority, should Municipal Council’s actions be restricted after Nomination Day and/or Voting Day in 2026; and

b)    the staff report dated May 6, 2026 from the Deputy City Manager, Legal Services BE RECEIVED for information.

Motion Passed

2.5   Next Steps for the Provincial Cargo Power-Assisted Bicycle Pilot

2026-05-06 Staff Report - Next Steps for Provincial Cargo Power-assisted Bicycle Pilot

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by H. McAlister

That on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment & Infrastructure, with respect to the City’s participation in the Province of Ontario’s Cargo Power-assisted Bicycle (cargo e-bike) pilot program, the following actions be taken:

a)    the report BE RECEIVED for information;

b)    the proposed by-law amendment, as appended to the staff report dated May 6, 2026 as Appendix “A” BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting to be held on May 12, 2026, to establish a Pilot Project for Cargo Power Assisted Bicycles for cargo e-bikes alone, to come into force and effect on May 12, 2026 until the end of the provincial pilot on March 1, 2031; and

c)    the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to report back to Committee and Council in May 2028, with an update report on the use of cargo e-bikes in London;

it being noted that the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee received a communication dated April 30, 2026 from V. Lubrano lll, Member, Board of Directors – London Cycle Link and Chair, LCL Advocacy Committee with respect to this matter.

Motion Passed

2.7   LT-2026-107 Limited Tender Co-operative Purchase for Supply and Installation of Arena Refrigeration Equipment

2026-05-06 Staff Report - LT-2026-107 Limited Tender Report Refrigeration

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by H. McAlister

That, on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Finance Supports, the following actions be taken with respect to the procurement for the Supply and Installation of Refrigeration Equipment at three City of London Arenas (Farquarson Arena, Kinsmen Arena, and Stronach Arena):

a)    in accordance with Section 20 (Cooperative Purchasing) of the Procurement of Goods and Services Policy, the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to acquire refrigeration services through the Canoe Procurement Group of Canada (“Canoe”), which has conducted an open and competitive procurement process compliant with applicable Trade Agreements;

b)    in accordance with Section 13.3(e) of the Procurement of Goods and Services Policy, the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to enter into a Limited Tendering Contract with CIMCO Refrigeration for the supply and installation of Refrigeration Equipment at City of London Arenas (Farquarson Arena, Kinsmen Arena, Stronach Arena) at pricing and terms established under the Canoe Framework, as the supplier awarded under the Canoe framework (Contract: 081425-CIM), without conducting a secondary invitational procurement process; and

c)    the Civic Administration BE AUTHORIZED to undertake all the administrative acts that are necessary in connection with the authorization set out in parts a) and b) above.

Motion Passed

2.6   Findings and Next Steps for Provincial Electric Kick-Scooter Pilot

2026-05-06 Staff Report - Findings and Next Steps for E-Scooter Pilot

Moved by E. Peloza

Seconded by H. McAlister

That on the recommendation of the Deputy City Manager, Environment & Infrastructure, with respect to the City’s participation in the provincial Electric Kick-Scooter (e-scooter) pilot program, the following actions be taken:

a)    the report BE RECEIVED for information;

b)    the proposed by-law, as appended to the staff report dated May 6, 2026 as Appendix “A”, BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting to be held on May 12, 2026 to establish a Pilot Project for Electric Kick Scooters, to come into force and effect on May 12, 2026 until the end of the provincial pilot on November 27, 2029 and repeal By-law A.-8344-62, Electric Kick-Scooter and Cargo Power-assisted Bicycle By-law;

c)    the proposed by-law, as appended to the staff report dated May 6, 2026 as Appendix “B”, BE INTRODUCED at the Municipal Council meeting to be held on May 12, 2026, to amend the Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS) By-law (A-54); and

d)    the Civic Administration BE DIRECTED to report back to Committee and Council in May 2027 with an update report on the use of e-scooters in London;

it being noted that the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee received a communication dated March 1, 2026 from G. Rust and a communication dated April 30, 2026 from V. Lubrano lll, Member, Board of Directors - London Cycle Link and Chair, LCL Advocacy Committee with respect to this matter.

ADDITIONAL VOTES:

Moved by E. Peloza

Seconded by H. McAlister

That part a) BE APPROVED.

Motion Passed (3 to 0)

Moved by E. Peloza

Seconded by H. McAlister

That parts b), c), and d) BE APPROVED.

Motion Passed (2 to 1)

3.   Scheduled Items

None.

4.   Items for Direction

4.1   Association of Municipalities Ontario - Board of Directors, Large Urban Caucus

2026-05-06 Submission - AMO Nominations-A. Hopkins

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by H. McAlister

That the following actions be taken with respect to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Board of Directors:

a)    Councillor A. Hopkins BE ENDORSED to stand for election to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Board of Directors, Large Urban Caucus, for the 2026/2028 term;

b)    subject to Councillor A. Hopkins’ successful election to the AMO Board of Directors, Large Urban Caucus, all associated costs to attend the Board of Directors meetings, AMO Conferences and other related commitments (Task Forces, Executive Committee, etc.) for the 2026/2028 term BE APPROVED for reimbursement by The Corporation of the City of London outside of her annual expense allocation; and

c)    Councillor A. Hopkins BE REIMBURSED up to $500 for campaign-related expenses outside of Councillor A. Hopkins’ annual expense allocation, upon submission of eligible receipts.

Motion Passed (3 to 0)

5.   Deferred Matters/Additional Business

None.

6.   Confidential (Provided to Members only.)

Moved by E. Peloza

Seconded by H. McAlister

The Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee convenes In Closed session to consider the following:

6.1    Land Acquisition / Solicitor-Client Privileged Advice / Position, Plan, Procedure, Criteria or Instruction to be Applied to Any Negotiations    

   

A matter pertaining to the proposed or pending acquisition of land by the municipality, including communications necessary for that purpose; advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege; commercial and financial information, that belongs to the municipality and has monetary value or potential monetary value and a position, plan, procedure, criteria or instruction to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of the municipality.

6.2    Land Disposition / Solicitor-Client Privileged Advice / Position, Plan, Procedure, Criteria or Instruction to be Applied to Any Negotiations

       

A matter pertaining to the proposed or pending disposition of land by the municipality, including communications necessary for that purpose; advice that is subject to solicitor-client privilege; commercial and financial information, that belongs to the municipality and has monetary value or potential monetary value and a position, plan, procedure, criteria or instruction to be applied to any negotiations carried on or to be carried on by or on behalf of the municipality.

Motion Passed (3 to 0)

The Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee convenes In Closed Session from 1:26 PM to 1:34 PM.

7.   Adjournment

Moved by P. Van Meerbergen

Seconded by E. Peloza

That the meeting BE ADJOURNED.

Motion Passed

The meeting adjourned at 1:36 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 (41 minutes)

Okay, good afternoon, everyone. I’m happy to take your seats. Thank you for joining us for the ninth meeting of the Infrastructure and Corporate Services Committee under these unusually bright lights today. Please check the city website for additional meeting detail information.

The city of London is situated on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabeg, Konnashoni, Anawampag, and the Adwandran. We honor and respect the history languages and culture that diverse indigenous people call this territory home. The city of London is currently home to many First Nations, Métis, and Inuit today, as representatives of the people of the city of London. We are grateful to have the opportunity to work and live in this territory.

We have a number of visiting counselors with us in terms of committee members. We have myself, Councillor van Merbergen and Councillor Palosa online. City of London is committed to making every effort provide alternate formats and communication supports for meetings on request to make a request specific to this meeting, please contact icse@london.ca or 519-661-2489 extension two, four, two, five. And I just also want to say before we get this meeting started, we do currently have quorum.

We just have three members, but at two o’clock, we’ll be losing Councillor Palosa. So we will lose quorum. So just as a reminder, please keep your comments as brief as possible, just so we can maintain qu orum and get through this meeting agenda. And with that, I’ll look for disclosures of continuing your interest.

Okay, not seeing any. We are on to consent items. I have not had any pull requests. So unless there are any objections, we can do these together.

Looking for a motion. Councilor Van Meerbergen, I will second that. So that would be, oh, sorry, go ahead. Thank you, Chair.

No, I’d like to pull 2.6, consent. Okay, so 2.6 will be pulled. We have 2.1, 2.5, 2.7, any objections to those being done as a block? Okay, I’m not seeing anybody, did you want to move those others?

Councilor Meerbergen, I will second those. So we’re on 2.1 to 2.5 and 2.7. So those are on the floor looking for questions or comments. Councillor Ferri, do you have your hand up or?

Okay, Councillor Hopkins, I think he was pointing to you. So you go first and then Councillor. Thank you, Councillor Ferriero. Thank you, Mr.

Chair. I do have a question on 2.2, which is the Dingman Creek sub-water stage two lands, EA and maybe through you to staff. Really appreciate the update and the work that is going on with the Dinglin Creek Stage 2EA . I understand we have had a number of project delays.

We are expanding the scope of work, as well as the community engagement. Just wondering if staff can just share some more information about what that community engagement would look like, as well as what is the projected timelines for completion. Thank you. Go ahead, Ms.

Meron. Meron? Thank you, through the chair. The additional consultation work is related to the council resolution to have us go back regarding the two zone policy versus the cut fail policy for the official plan amendment.

So that’s the additional consultation work that will be taking place. Follow up, Councillor. And just as a follow up to that expectations on when this work will be completed, is it, do we have an idea or do we still have to go through the necessary community engagements, et c etera? Go ahead to that.

Thank you through your chair, yes. I would expect to complete that engagement this year and be prepared to bring back the official plan amendment to the new council as directed in the new year. Follow-up, Councilor, okay, thank you. Councilor Ferra, go ahead.

Thank you, Chair. Thank you for recognizing me as a visiting member . I’m just here for the item with respect to Fanshawe College’s agreement extension. I did speak with Patricia yesterday on it.

I appreciate the information that you gave me and I’m in full support of it. I just have one question and I do see that the contract as it is written is supposed to be expiring on the 11th of May. And I believe that council will hear this item on the 12th of May. I think if I remember the report correctly, I just wanted to know how, is there any concern there or with this, I guess the committee recommendation here would that be able to just kind of hold that contract and to continue until we resolve it at council?

Okay, just a thank you through you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, so that is something that has certainly been identified and been discussed with our legal team. Certainly approval here at committee pending final counsel approval, I think would be sufficient to give indication that the intention is to continue the agreement and the relationship going forward.

So from our perspective, it’s a slight timing difference, not a concern. Hello, Councilor. Okay, thank you for that. Other than that, that full support of this, Fanshawe has been a good partner with the city, especially with respect to what they’ve done for downtown.

I do see in the note on the addition here that the campus continues to bring in 1,000 students to the downtown daily, which is great. There’s no financial impact here, so I’m in full support of this, and thank you for the work that you do. And yeah, those are my comments, thank you. Okay, thank you.

Looking for other comments, questions? Okay, not seeing any, so we will open the vote on that. Master Palosa votes yes, to see you scribe online’s a bit slow, close and vote. Okay, thank you.

We have no scheduled items, items for direction. We do have a 4.1, which is Councillor Hopkins and for your AMO request. So I’ll look to you for that one. Well, put it on the floor.

Councillor Ramer, we’re gonna be willing to move it. Okay, I’ll second. Okay, go ahead, Councillor Hopkins. Yeah, thank you, Mr.

Chair, for recognizing me. I’m again, not a member of this committee. I am hoping the committee will support my nomination to apply for the AMO board in August. We have elections at the AMO conference.

I am hoping that most members that are applying for elections in August and with the municipal election as well . If you are running, we usually try to keep members’ names on the board. If members are not reelected in the municipal election, then applications are sought to fill in the vacancies of the caucuses. So I am hoping that you can support my nomination .

I do have to run an election at the conference and looking for your support. Okay, thank you. Looking for any comments, questions? Ain’t not seeing any of them that we’re voting.

All right, Mr. Chair, online. Oh, sorry, go ahead. That’s okay.

Just thank you for Councillor Hopkins for her past service and willing to continue the service and advocacy on behalf of London across Ontario. So just thank you for her. Okay, thank you for that. And not seeing any others, we’ll open the vote on that.

Councillor Palazzo votes yes. Opposed in the vote, motion carries, three to zero. Okay, thank you. In terms of deferred matters, we have the item that was pulled, which is 2.6.

Can you put that on the floor looking for a motion to move that? I’ll move it, Mr. Chair. Okay, I will second it so that that is now on the floor looking for comments or questions on this item.

and this is just for a reminder, 2.6 is the findings and next steps for the provincial e-scooter pilot. Okay, go ahead, Councillor McMillan. Thank you, Chair. Perhaps I could start with staff.

I just want to confirm the electric kick scooter that’s being referred to is a scooter that you stand on with two wheels, like just what we grew up with as kids, except without a motor. Now it’s got a motor. Is that basically encapsulating it? Go ahead, Ms.

James. Thank you, and through the chair, yes, that is a scooter that you stand up on. There’s figure one of the report basically shows you a typical example, and that’s one where there’s a deck where the rider stands on it. Follow up, Councillor?

Thank you. Well, it strikes me and it strikes a lot of Londoners because I’ve heard from a number of my constituents that these motorized vehicles, such as they are, are inherently unsafe. The number of different stories that I’ve been informed with, different situations and instances where people with near misses, they’re very quiet. It’s almost like a wild west out there in terms of people not knowing where they’re supposed to be riding these things.

Sometimes you’ll see them on the sidewalk, sometimes they’ll just pop up on the road. The other day I was driving along a busy street and one came flying out between a row of park cars out of nowhere, inches from being hit from my vehicle. Not to mention other instances I’ve heard of from constituents where they’re even putting their garbage out early in the morning. Only to have one of these fly by.

One lady told me, she was putting her blue box out and a mother came by with two kids on one of these e-scooters and almost collided with her, just as she had her head down putting the garbage out, not expecting a motorized vehicle to blow by at court at a seven in the morning on a sidewalk. So again, this so-called pilot, we’re looking at going to the end of 2029. That’s a long time to do the province’s bidding. I will not support this.

Again, it’s inherently unsafe. I think a board is on the irresponsible to continue with this. I think we’re going to be seeing really serious accidents as this may be the uptick goes a little bit higher. So yeah, I will be voting this against this.

Thank you chair. Okay, thank you. I’m going to take the opportunity to speak now as chair and member of the committee. First off, I want to thank staff for doing engagement at my town hall about this.

It was a great opportunity to get feedback from residents. And I think you see that and the results in terms of the mixed reaction, I think, but I will say from the conversations I’ve had, I think there is more of a desire in terms of ensuring, you know, Councillor and Mayor Mergen said, you know, public safety. I think, obviously, ensuring compliance, which I know is called out in this report, and I do have a question for that in a moment, but I just kind of want to start with my comments . I think this is still a core form of mobility for folks.

time’s change. You know, it’s not a kick scooter anymore. It’s electric. We also have to recognize that people use different forms of transit to get around the city.

And this is definitely one, a lot of cities have different pilots with this. I’ve witnessed it in a number of cities in terms of the e-scooters and what they’re doing with them. I think for our own benefit, we do still have to keep this pilot going, see what the province ultimately wants to do with it. I think this is important data though to collect to see what we want to do, how we want to regulate it.

And with that point on regulation, I do have a question for staff in terms of the recommendations. I appreciate there’s the two additional recommendations in there. But from bylaws perspective in terms of being able to follow up with parents issue the amps and then also coordinating with LPS. If you just maybe comment a bit further in terms of how that will roll out.

Thanks for the question chair and in terms of communicating with LPS I can say that we We have a very close working relationship with the road safety section of the London Police Service. They would be the officers who would be responsible for going out and enforcing the Highway Traffic Act provisions of electric kick scooters. We have had several meetings in the past determining what the best path forward is in terms of education and joint enforcement. Our resources on both teams are limited and so we feel that we may have the best impact if we go out at separate times, trying to conduct education within the spaces in which these e-scooters are most readily used.

The difficulty, of course, that we have with compliance and municipal law enforcement officers conducting compliance-related activities is that we don’t have the authority to actually demand identification from individuals operating these vehicles. And so that’s where we rely on the public to provide us with the information that we need to be able to investigate further because we can knock on doors, we can have conversations with folks, and we can certainly conduct enforcement if we have that information available . Thank you and appreciate those answers. And I recognize the struggles.

I mean, in my last town hall, I was speaking with LPS in terms of we have other types of vehicles get modified, whether that’s cars, dirt bikes. It doesn’t really matter what form people will always find a way to modify these things, unfortunately. So, appreciate the report. I think we have have to be diligent in terms of, you know, clamping down on bad behavior and sharing that people are utilizing this in a safe way.

There are always going to be bad actors, unfortunately, with these sorts of things, but I don’t want to strip away a way for people to get around the city, which I know, especially in my ward, a lot of different people get around, don’t necessarily have, not everyone has access to a car, so this is another way for people to get around the city, and I don’t want to take that away from them at this time. recognizing there are still issues, but we are trying to address them. So again, thank you for that. And I will look to Councillor Paluzza.

You have your hand up, go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And thank you to staff on this one.

I know it’s been a conversation at council for some time. And I think in the community, I’m not surprised to see the accounts for JALMA and Bradley area between the population, it being some younger families and a great trail network. I know those are there and hearing community concerns interested in the helmet piece and that people under 16 aren’t supposed to be on them through you to staff having looked at section 3.2 within staff’s report. What kind of advocacy can we or have we done with the two different school boards realizing some of the parents get the scooters or kids’ friends get them and they don’t know that they’re actually unsafe.

They need a helmet and they’re actually too young to be operating them. So have we done any engagement with those school boards directly with those parents and the families. I should staff would like to comment on that, go ahead. Thank you and through the chair.

Yes, we have engaged with the four school boards about e-scooters and depending on the principals’ notifications have been sent out to students. I know at my own children’s school that we did receive frequent notifications that, you know, kids under 16 are not supposed to be riding them. They’re not allowed on the school property. And we would hope that the other school principals are receiving and sending out similar messages as well.

Follow up, Councillor. Thank you. I appreciate that as elected officials and we do our own engagement with different schools. I know sometimes you can have advocacy with them in partnerships and sometimes you’re just kind of shut out.

Also in addition to 3.2 realizing how we also had the bylaw with graffiti, looking for staff’s comment on the opportunity to have things posted within the stores, the physical stores in London who are selling e-scooters to post the bylaw, make people aware. If we have capacity or who would need more capacity, even if it’s just once a year making sure that something’s posted, especially near the holidays or the springtime when they come back into an upswing of sales. And go ahead, staff, you wanna come on that. Thank you and through the chair.

We certainly considered this option when we’re looking at trying to educate and get out to the public. I think the biggest constraint we saw in trying to pursue that initiative was simply that there’s so much availability online. And so the effort for staff resources to go and pursue the sale of these scooters throughout the city, you know the effectiveness is really questionable we feel when there’s so many things going on. That being said this past holiday season we did launch a specific campaign basically encouraging parents not to purchase these scooters as presents for their children during the holidays and I think we can continue to do that each holiday.

Go ahead Councillor for a follow-up. Thank you no I appreciate that I know I’ve come into similar issues with the size of outdoor gazebos and the types of coverings they have on the bylaws and in snow loads and just sometimes people stuff is sold in our local stores and they’re unaware of the bylaws and things that mandate them. I don’t know I think we still have a place to do for public advocacy and getting the word out on our channels not saying we’re not doing it just it takes a while sometimes to get traction that conversation changed within the community also realizing it’s not just children who uses these e-scooters and with the rising price I’m sure more people will be turning them to a as the viable mode of transportation. So thank you for that and I will be supporting the staff report today.

Yeah, thank you looking for visiting Councillors, Councillor Hopkins, go ahead. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. And I want to just start off maybe thanking staff for their engagement in the community.

I attended one of the events and I know there was a lot of engagements throughout the city collecting this information. And I think that’s part of the advantage of having a pilot project is that we’re able to get the data that is needed. I hear loud and clear, Councillor Van Mirberg and about the safety issues, I’ve seen them myself in the ward that I represent and I’ve been , you know, deeply, deeply concerned. But I think the more we engage with one another, educate each other, understand what the rules are.

I think many of us would be surprised that we would even need to wear helmets compared to the amount of scooter use out there that people do not wear a helmet. So I think there’s a big education piece there. I agree, Councillor Palosa, with more work that needs to be done. I think this creates the conversation in our community by having this pilot project.

I I do think it’s an equity situation as well, creating more opportunities for people to move around our city, opening up the roads for cars to use them, and then having the opportunity for bikes and sc ooters to be used by other people. So I think there’s the enforcement piece too, that really helps support the project, supports the enforcement piece, where we can work collaboratively with the community and create more of a safety environment in the city. So I would encourage the committee to support the recommendation. Thank you.

Okay, thank you. Go ahead, Councilor Trussell. Thank you very much and to the chair, I’ll keep this very brief. I wanna start by really thanking the transportation demand management staff, Ms.

Miller and Ms. Mixa. I watched them work, I went to some of these events. And they just were so professional the way they were able to deal with the public.

And they were real credit to the city. They had some difficult questions to answer. And they did it in a very, very unbiased and neutral and professional way. So I have a lot of confidence in the statistics that we have in the staff report.

We, I’m going to avoid talking about other modes of transportation where people feel unsafe and they come up on the sidewalk or hit pedestrians or kill people or do things like that. I’m just going to avoid that. So what I’m going to, oh, sorry, Council Member, if you could just keep it down. Thank you.

Go ahead, Councilor Trozano. So I just want to say I fully support the staff recommendation, But this is an equity question. And this is also a question to sort of recognize that different people have different transportation needs and different budgets and different ways of getting around. In my word, I see a lot of people using these.

I see them using them responsibly and legally. And I think that there are a lot of mobility problems that people who like to use this mode of transportation are facing, and we’re trying to make the streets safer. We’re trying to improve transit. We’re trying to expand our bicycle networking, all ages, all levels of competency.

But I think this is something that’s very important, particularly to youth, and that includes people over 16. And I think we’re gonna do a lot of work on education about why it’s important to have the helmet. We need to be doing that with cycles. We need to be doing that with a variety of different things.

So this is a very balanced and well-thought-out staff report and I’m very pleased to be supporting it. So thank you very much. Okay, thank you, Councillor, looking for any other speakers. Okay, I’m not seeing any rule open the vote on this.

Mr. Chair, could you call A separately? Yes, we can do that. Okay, we’re doing A right now.

We’re all open for voting. Motion carries, 3 to 0. Okay, and we’ll do the rest of them together.