THUNDER BAY – A skeleton crew of nine city councillors endorsed new city strategies on homelessness and digital technology Monday, along with a slight increase to the annual dividend the city receives from Tbaytel.
At the final council meeting of 2021, Mayor Bill Mauro acknowledged the ongoing pandemic had made for “another challenging year,” and expressed his hope local residents would manage to connect with loved ones over the holidays while respecting public health restrictions.
That includes an indoor gathering limit of 10 people, reduced from 25 by the provincial government on Sunday.
Councillors face a frantic meeting schedule upon their return in January, when the intensive process to set the 2022 city budget will begin.
City boosts funding, focus on poverty and homelessness
Council unanimously approved a new poverty and homelessness strategy calling for greater municipal funding and advocacy efforts on the issues.
Actions included in the strategy include building the city's Community Partnership Fund to $1 million, and changing application criteria to ensure housing and other anti-poverty projects are eligible. The city's annual contribution would need to rise to about $300,000 a year to sustain the fund, from the current $100,000, staff estimated.
The recommendations from city administration came in response to a call from Coun. Mark Bentz for the city to do more to confront homelessness.
Digital strategy sets out modernization investments
Councillors unanimously endorsed the city's first comprehensive digital strategy, which envisions major investments to expand the city's IT capacity.
The strategy commits the city to a “digital first” approach to city services, through actions like expanding public WiFi, developing an online tax portal, and offering online payments for services like water billing, parking tickets, and municipal camping.
City ramps up Tbaytel dividend
City council unanimously approved changes to the Tbaytel dividend policy, ramping up the city-owned telecomm's annual fixed contribution to the city to $18.75 million by 2025.
The yearly dividend, currently set at $18 million, translates to a roughly 8.75 per cent reduction to the average resident’s municipal tax bill, city staff estimate.
Push for city tree orchard could return
Council held off on confirming its decision not to move forward with a city tree orchard, foreshadowing a possible call for a re-vote on the plan, which was rejected by one vote earlier this month.
Coun. Peng You initially called for the re-vote Monday, but Coun. Mark Bentz objected it would be opportunistic to do so with several opposing members of council absent.
City staff found growing more trees in-house would save money and help the city meet its climate goals while improving the quality of trees, but a slim majority of councillors balked at the two decades it would take for the initial investment to pay off.
Corporate safety report
Council received an interim corporate safety report outlining health and safety incidents reported between January and September of 2021.
Of 402 total reported incidents, 203 required first aid, 105 resulted in lost time, and 52 required further health care.
By type, that included overexertion/strain (104 incidents), struck or contact by (86), exposure/stress (85), slip, trip, and fall (41), struck against/contact with exposure (34), caught in, on, under, or between (11), contact with (electricity, caustics, toxins) (10), blank (six), crushed or amputated (one), vibration (one), and other (five).
By department, that included 182 incidents in development and emergency services, 108 in corporate services and long-term care, 63 in community services, 55 in infrastructure and operations, and three in the city manager’s office.
A full-year report will be presented in the second quarter of 2022.
Council receives annual Indigenous relations & inclusion report
City council received the annual report from the city's Indigenous relations office, addressing progress on the city's Indigenous relations and inclusion strategy.
Highlights in the report included the addition of a new policy analyst position to the Indigenous relations office in March, an improvement in the city's Seven Youth Inquest grade to A-, and the ongoing rollout of expanded cultural awareness training to city staff.
The city has now implemented or is in the process of implementing 33 per cent of calls to action for municipalities in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's final report, reported manager of Indigenous relations Tanis Thompson.
The department faced staffing challenges after the departure of former manager Regina Mandamin earlier this year, the report notes, while saying the city continued making progress on its goals.
Plans for the coming year include renewing a friendship agreement with Fort William First Nation and reviving the city's Indigenous employee network, council heard.
