-by Anne Finlay-Stewart

Another long day for our city councillors. The afternoon was taken up with discussing and approving a draft Strategic Plan which will be presented at a public meeting on Monday, June 29 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Note the challenge the city has with the timing of any opportunity for civic engagement. They can hold a public meeting when people who rely on public transit cannot come (any time after 6 p.m.), or they can hold it when any 9-5-er would be challenged to attend (any time before 6 p.m.). I attended one that was offered twice to allow both groups to attend, and I was one of 3 participants. Given the whopping 19 citizens that attended the first public meeting about this plan that shapes the direction of our municipality for the next five years, the city cannot be blamed for treating this like the legal formality it has become and just getting it checked off the list within the promised timeframe.
The Strategic Plan itself however, is worth a read and will be posted on the city website by Monday, June 22.  I will try to post the existing Strategic Plan so those interested can make a comparison.

The regular meeting was proceeded by an in-camera meeting with three agenda items, bringing council to an even 50 the number this council has dealt with in their six and a half months. One was about... the disposition of the Scopis lot – no news yet on that. Someone has been recommended to join the Cultural Advisor Committee. And it is now even more official that Wayne Ritchie is the City Manager, and apparently also Director of Finance – a cost saving measure in itself, one could think.

• Minutes of regular, public, joint special and emergency meetings were all approved, and then another public meeting was convened. This one was to rezone the old Goodyear plant from heavy industrial to light industrial so that the current tenants of the RCA plant can move into it, including the Sportsmaker's fitness facility. A snapshot of our past, present and future economies.
• Barbara Olmsted is having a very good year. Earlier named one of three "volunteers of the year", she has now received local and provincial recognition as our "Senior of the Year". She says when she hears those words, Senior of the Year, a big smile comes over her face. "I love every minute of my senior years", she says. She spends between 60,000 and 90,000 of those minutes every year managing the gift shop at our local hospital, raising over $420,000 over 46 years for capital equipment.
• Slightly before the item asking for council's approval of the Artists' Co-op Legacy Mural came up on the agenda, Morag Budgeon reported on the progress of this public art project. A technical detail, because the council unanimously approved and seemed to be somewhat surprised to be asked. The mural, in the alley between 2nd Avenue East and 3rd and visible looking north from the front of the Roxy, is a collaboration between the Artists' Co-op, artist Billy Goodkat, and some students in alternative education programs (hence the reason to get it underway before the end of the school year). An industrial/butterfly renewal theme builds on the gallery of paintings on the north brick wall of the Bleeding Carrot. Not the beginning, not the end of downtown revitalization with art.
• The Tom Thomson Art Gallery was back on the agenda – the subject of a 75-page report from the City Manager on the proposed incorporation. After some comments on the trust agreement between the Gallery the City around the 2600 piece art collection, City Manager Wayne Ritchie suggested that "This is the time for the City to develop any 'out clauses'." Councillor Travis Dodd moved that a sub-committee be created consisting of TTAG representatives, the mayor asnd a city councillor. Ultimately Dodd, Mayor Boddy and Councillor Richard Thomas were appointed to the sub-committee. Stand by for updates.
• Good news on the industrial front.  Buchner Manufacturing, aluminum and steel building materials, presented a site plan for an expansion of their facility in the industrial park, and council passed a blanket support resolution for rooftop solar projects for commercial and industrial buildings.
• The 8th Street East hill "failed" (technical term, used by the engineers) on May 19. Those in charg of the project  are now in damage control mode (non-technical term, used by me.) The homeowners on the south side can now get their cars out. Tarps and tires are preventing rain from saturating the soils, and sub-drains are looking after the groundwater. A drilling rig is making boreholes and taking soil samples, and it will take a few weeks to create a design a plan for stabilization. The good news, the project is only two weeks behind schedule. The (likely) bad news, the cost, and who pays for what ...notably the home that was knocked off its foundation and has now been declared "uninhabitable"...is still unknown.
• And now for an interlude of film and music. The marine archeologist hired by the city has surfaced with footage of several wrecks offshore from the wastewater treatment plant, including what is presumed to be the three-masted schooner, Dan Procter. A lovely soundtrack has been added, and we can hope the images will soon be on the city website for the enjoyment of all of us.
• The minutes of the Owen Sound Municipal Non-Profit Housing Corporation and the Owen Sound Housing Company were passed without comment, but the two groups have yet to make a deputation to Council to help us understand the distinction. We eagerly await their visit.
• Councillor McManaman moved clearly and unequivocally that Owen Sound not support a motion by the Town of the Blue Mountains that weighted votes at Grey County be changed from 1 per 1000 voters in each member municipality to a system based on property assessment. McManaman indicated that it might not be very significant for Owen Sound, but it could be a real democratic loss for the smaller rural municipalities.
• The By-Law Committee included a review of Owen Sound's Animal By-Law in its minutes, reporting briefly on presentations by citizen proponents of backyard laying hens and Public Health's pros and cons around urban chickens. Councillor Brian O'Leary suggested that Council get the subject "over with" by making a motion that the City ban the keeping of chickens within the city. After all, he said "who wants to sit on the porch of their $400,000 house and see chickens across the street?" Councillor Peter Lemon said he "did not believe in" chickens in the city, citing his background in agriculture at the University of Guelph as his credentials for his concerns about "toxic manure" in the storm sewers and hens who are "not quiet". Councillor Marion Keopke repeated twice that the by-law officer has never had a complaint about the chickens that are presently in city backyards (something that cannot be said for dogs, cats and constrictive snakes), but that did not seem to sway opponents on council. Councillor Scott Grieg and Mayor Boddy both made a strong case for letting the committee fulfill its mandate, going through the process of further research and presenting a "thorough, knowledgable and educated report". In the end Councillor O'Leary's motion was defeated with the support of only Councillors Lemon and Thomas.

Constrictive snakes will also be part of the committee's review.

• Lots of kudos (for Pan Am torch run organizers and torchbearers) and promotions (for the Community Waterfront Heritage Centre's annual meeting and the Owen Sound Fund's raffle for an Elvis print) ensued.
• Mayor Boddy spoke about the possible impact of the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on municipal policies and practices, and moved that staff prepare a report on any such implications. No one spoke to the motion, but it passed, with two councillors opposed.