Unifor Local 4268, the union representing school bus and transit drivers in Owen Sound and City transit contractor First Student Canada ULC are currently engaged in labour negotiations. The City of Owen Sound has received a 72-hour notice of strike action effective 12:01 a.m. Sunday May, 24, 2015 if a mutually agreeable Memorandum of Agreement has not been reached by that time.
Should such a strike occur then both Conventional and Specialized Transit services in Owen Sound would be suspended for the duration of the job action.
The East Bayshore Bus route will be temporarily altered beginning Monday May 25, 2015, due to the closure of 3rd Avenue East between 18th Street East and Malibu Hill.
3rd Avenue East will be closed to through traffic between 18th Street East and Malibu Hill from Monday May 25, 2015 until the fall for reconstruction. In order to avoid the construction, the East Bayshore bus will detour south at 27th Street East, back along the normal route to the bottom of St. Mary's hill and then north to the north end of the Bayshore Arena north parking lot. From there it will return on its normal route back to the Transit Terminal.
City officials report that Phase 2 of the 3rd Avenue East (Grey Road 15) reconstruction project will commence May 25, 2015.
The City anticipates that Phase 2 of this extensive project will be completed by the end of November, 2015. 3rd Avenue East will be closed to through traffic between 18th Street East and East Bayshore Road. This area is only accessible to local traffic and emergency services during the closure and will be signed accordingly.
South bound traffic entering the City on East Bayshore Road will be diverted to 9th Avenue East via Detour 4 (D4). D4 will direct traffic back to 3rd Avenue East at 15th Street East. North bound traffic on 3rd Avenue East will be diverted at 15th Street East to 9th Avenue East via Detour 3 (D3). D3 will direct traffic to East Bayshore Road via 28th Street East.
Mayor Ian Boddy announced today the appointment of the City of Owen Sound's new City Manager, Wayne Ritchie, CPA, CGA.
Ritchie is a lifelong resident of Owen Sound. He worked as the Manager of Accounting for 11 years for Georgian Bay Energy, once known as the PUC (Owen Sound Public Utilities Commission), prior to joining the city in 2001 as Director of Financial Services.
"I am pleased to have this opportunity, and I look forward to working with members of Council, citizens, and all City staff," said City Manager Wayne Ritchie.
Mayor Ian Boddy stated, "Mr. Ritchie is an excellent choice to move into the role of City Manager. He brings to this position administrative experience and knowledge in the City of Owen Sound's operations and he has already established a great relationship with staff."
The Mayor and Council look forward to working with Mr. Ritchie in his new role.
by Anne Finlay-Stewart
Another long day for Council and City staff. From 1 to 4 they were meeting with the consultant to discuss the most recent draft of the city's Strategic Plan. After the mission and vision statements, the longest conversation was about the Financial Sustainability piece, including "diversifying revenue sources" and "reducing the city's footprint" which, according to former City Manager Ruth Coursey means decision making about the number and level of city-provided services. The other three "pillars" of the plan are Economic Prosperity, Environmental Integrity and Society and Culture.
Verbs got a lot of attention, mostly around how they might be interpreted by the public, and how success will be measured. Does "support" imply financial assistance? How will we measure progress in "encouraging ethnic/cultural groups"?
At 5:30 Council met in-camera to discuss six matters, including litigation, land disposition and personnel matters. In less than six months in office, this Council has surpassed the 45 matters discussed in-camera (behind closed doors) over the last ten months of the previous Council's last term. Yet another in-camera meeting will be held May 13.
Just for comparison, Meaford Council went in-camera only six times in 2014.
The regular meeting began, as advertised, without any prayer or silent reflection. A public meeting on this subject was the first order of business, and only one citizen spoke. A pastor and member of the area's Evangelical Ministerial Association, Harry Zantingh, told Council that he was disappointed by the decision to amend the procedural by-law, but that it would in no way interfere with the private and communal prayers offered regularly for the city's decision-makers.
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