Barrie council meeting ends on optimistic note
There was optimism from one of Barrie's longest-serving councillors Wednesday night, pleased with what he called a successful and efficient meeting.
Councillors were in the chambers on Wednesday for back-to-back meetings, first the planning committee followed by general committee. Towards the end of the meeting, Ward 9 councillor Sergio Morales, now in his third term, said this meeting left him optimistic about what is to come.
"I just want to announce that I'm hopeful right now," Morales said. "I'm hopeful the way this meeting went. It is 8:06, and we did amendments, we listened to each other, there was more questions than statements…We are curious. We are hungry…and I have not seen this in a while."
Morales' optimism over finding cohesion amongst his fellow councillors comes one day ahead of provincial legislation that gives enhanced powers to the mayors of Ontario's two biggest cities.
While those powers are not set to come to Barrie, Premier Ford has suggested he would like to see the powers expanded. However, Barrie's new mayor says he prefers to work by consensus.
"My take is that we don't need them," the mayor said to CTV News ahead of Wednesday's meeting. "I'm somebody who likes to work with my colleagues, I like to hear other perspectives, I like to take advice from other people. We have a very talented council with diverse backgrounds that I think brings a lot to the table, and I would never want to go around that. I think that's what's going to make us so successful."
Nuttall has said that he would like to improve the city's intergovernmental relationships, saying there is no room for partisanship around the city council table.
"Our job is to do what's in the best interest of the city of Barrie, not in the best interest of any political party," he says. "I really want to make sure that we are seen as a partner for the provincial and federal governments. They aren't the same political stripes; that's okay; we'll work with both of them equally."
Wednesday's meeting comes a few days after a rare weekend sitting of council. On Saturday, councillors joined together with all four of Barrie's MPs and MPPs for a strategy session, outlining the critical priorities for the coming term.
"There is a look at investment in infrastructure, investment in the community, a thriving community; there's affordability, jobs, economy, the balance of those things; affordability of housing, making sure that we have a focus to be able to get housing through City Hall and hopefully have the development community build it," says Nuttall. "The final one is community safety, and so those are the five areas that we're going to focus on for the next four years."
On Wednesday night, councillors were briefed on the operations of the City's Corporate Asset Management division. The team of 17 full-time staff that analyzes data, helping councillors do infrastructure renewal planning and planning for future growth, amongst other things.
However, there is concern over the impacts of Bill 23, provincial legislation aiming to incentivize developers to build more homes by eliminating development fees that the city relies on. The mayor says staff have estimated the move will impact about $ 100 million dollars in lost revenue for the city.
The mayor says he needs more information before expressing his exact thoughts on the legislation.
"This is the problem with ominous bills; when a government comes out with a bill that is very far-reaching and impacts a whole bunch of different places, oftentimes you have to wait for the regulations to come out to understand what the actual granular level effect is, where the rubber hits the road if you will," the mayor says.
There was also advancement of some procedural bylaw changes. The mayor introduced a discussion to have cell phones removed from sensitive, in-camera discussions.
Councillors will meet once more on Dec. 14 ahead of a Christmas break.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
As GC Strategies partner is admonished by MPs, RCMP confirms search warrant executed
The RCMP confirmed Wednesday it had executed a search warrant at an address registered to GC Strategies. This development comes as MPs are enacting an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power, summoning one of its contractors to appear before the House of Commons to be admonished publicly for failing to answer questions related to the ArriveCan app.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.
Government proposes new policy for federally regulated employees to disconnect from work
In their 2024 budget, the federal government wants to amend the Canada Labour Code, so employers in federally regulated sectors will eliminate work-related communication with employees outside of scheduled hours. If implemented, this would affect roughly 500,000 across the country.
Earthquake jolts southern Japan
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 hit southern Japan late on Wednesday, said the Japan Meteorological Agency, without issuing a tsunami warning.