Nov 23, 2015 - The One with Business Retention and Expansion
Council Highlights – November 23, 2015
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Tonight we held our November Committee of the Whole meeting. It was a rough start as it was snowing as we came into the meeting. Just like the conservative views of Trudeau, I’m just not ready…for snow that is! Moving on… there wasn’t a great deal on the agenda tonight so let’s get to it:
Trans Aqua Correspondence
Superintendent Paul Beauchesne Updates
Department Reports: Asphalt Plant – Niagara Rd, Business Retention and Expansion
By-Law – Abstaining from voting
1. Trans Aqua is looking for municipal support as they seek provincial and federal funding for the facility upgrades that they must do to comply with federal regulations that they must become a secondary treatment facility. We passed a motion to recommend to the Regular Council Meeting that a resolution be passed providing a letter of support for Trans Aqua to our provincial and federal representatives and indicating that this project is a priority for us.
2. RCMP Superintendent Paul Beauchesne was in attendance and provided a few updates for Council. He reminded Council that we can encourage residents to contact the RCMP directly about traffic concerns in Riverview as they have a file open. He also issued a reminder to residents to ensure you lock your vehicles over the holidays as there has been an increase in break in activity lately.
3. Department Reports
We briefly discussed the possible impact of an asphalt plant being created off Niagara rd. This is outside the town limits thus we have no jurisdiction or real influence over its establishment but Council did discuss what environmental impact it may have on the town (ex: excessive truck traffic, odours, etc…). With the close proximity to our Mill Creek development, there was some concern of an impact but it appears there is a large enough buffer. I don’t have a great deal of info on this project but to my knowledge the project has slowed down or stopped temporarily so they can have further consultation with residents and collect more data. Feel free to correct me if you have some additional information.
Our Economic Development Director, Shane Thomson, has been working on a Business Retention and Expansion program. So far in the process, his team has interviewed 53 businesses and has collected some data on common challenges facing our business community. This information has helped document the current landscape of businesses in town and will be used to build the next economic development strategy for the town. I know that Council is thrilled our businesses are being given a voice on the future growth of our town.
4, By-Law re: Abstaining – We looked into the issue of Councillor’s abstaining from voting. The majority of Council was in favour of amending our by-law to prevent a Councillor from ever abstaining from a vote unless there is a conflict of interest (ex: I never vote, or stay in the room, for conversations or motions related to the Boys & Girls Club as it would be a major conflict of interest). Our current by-law wasn’t clear enough and left it open to interpretation. The general feeling was that it is the duty of an elected official to publicly cast a vote, yay or nay. Council passed a motion to recommend to the Regular Council Meeting that the by-law be amended. First, Second and Third readings will be presented to Council.
That’s all for this update! Thanks for taking an interest in the governance of the town. As always, if you have any questions, comments or concerns, please let me know! Just a reminder that the Mayor’s Tree Lighting will be this Thursday, November 26, at 7:00pm at Town Hall. Hope to see you there!
