Committee meetings continue to be held in a virtual format.
Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability: the agenda for this meeting on July 5 included two investigative reports from Burlington Ombudsman ADR Chambers, both finding that the city followed its processes and procedures appropriately. The first report related to a branch falling from a city-owned tree onto a car in 2020 and the second related to a request for electronic reports from the building department.
A report from the mayor’s office regarding virtual attendance at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Conference, June 1–4, 2021, is included. Mayor Meed Ward, Councillors Galbraith, Kearns, Nisan, and Bentevigna, and staff attended. Among the speakers were Justin Trudeau, Erin O’Toole, Jagmeet Singh, and Annamie Paul. Topics in various sessions included gender equity, budgets, pandemic responses, housing affordability, anti-racism, food security, online harassment of women and elected officials, rural connectivity, and homelessness. As a result of the conference, Burlington will make changes to the proclamations approved in Burlington, to ensure that they “uplift our community, not further divide.” Councillor Nisan was re-elected to the FCM Board.
A report about the city’s election policies survey includes reference to a 20-question survey answered by 300 residents from March 31 to April 23, 2021. As a result of the survey, several tactics to increase voter turnout will be pursued. 94% of respondents said that candidate information should be publicized by the city, with 6% disagreeing. Respondents indicated their comfort with various voting options: paper ballots (80% very comfortable), internet voting (63%), mail-in ballots (49%) and voting by phone (24%). 61% said they are not supportive of establishing a campaign contribution rebate program. Ward boundary review was mentioned in the report and has been written about in a separate article by Rick Craven.
Also in the agenda is a finance report kicking off the staff’s preparation of the 2022 budget. A number of confidential reports are listed in the agenda, including a legal update on appeals to Official Plan Amendment 119, Zoning Bylaw 2020.418 and the interim control bylaw.
Community Planning, Regulation and Mobility: two reports were included in the agenda for this July 6 meeting, one that recommended replacing downtown parking occupancy sensors in all municipally-owned off-road parking facilities and one about a request for traffic assessment in the Sheldon Creek community.
Environment, Infrastructure and Community Services: this meeting will occur tomorrow, July 8; the agenda includes a report about Burlington Central High School’s 100th anniversary reunion, planned for June 3 and 4, 2022, and a report about the city entering into an agreement with BurlingtonGreen for an electric mobility strategy. Three other reports will be of interest to Burlington residents. A recreation, community, and culture report recommending discontinuation of the seniors’ membership at the Burlington Seniors’ Centre, a new annual community event to be called Celebrate Burlington (April 10, 2022) to replace the former Kite Festival, and a renaming process for Ryerson Park.
Meeting agendas and minutes are available on https://www.burlington.ca/en/your-city/Agendas-and-Minutes.asp by choosing the meeting calendar and clicking on the respective meeting agenda, meeting package, or minutes. Recommendations from each of these committees will be considered by city council on July 13, 2021.
