- Ian Boddy
It is amazing how quickly two years flew by! I pledged to change how we were conducting City business, to better explain our decisions, and to build consensuses with council, citizens and neighbours. My goal was to be forward thinking in the long term best interests of Owen Sound. I wanted to review our services to become as efficient as possible, and to developstrategies to attract growth to our tax base to bring our taxes to a competitive level for everyone.
TO DATE
This council has accomplished a lot already. Each councillor brings something unique to the discussion. New and incumbent councillors have learned and grown together. New ones have discovered that they can't do all that they thought possible before the election. They have learned to adapt to those limitations and move forward with fresh ideas. We have learned to compromise on our ideals and work together to make the best decisions possible.
We have improved communication at city hall. We are explaining our reports and committee decisions in more detail. This has helped our citizens understand what we are doing and has made us more accountable at the committee level. We are communicating with our staff better through our senior management team. Morale has improved. It is important for our staff to know that we will support them while they carry out our directions. We have built better relationships with developers and with our neighbours. We have consulted more thoroughly with citizens than in the past but we must continue to improve that.
WHAT I HAVE LEARNED
I have learned that we have limits in what we can achieve and how quickly. Council has been aggressive in our desire to move forward, but neither we nor staff have the budget or time to do all we wish to right away. I thought we would get the Service Review completed in the first six to eight months and move to developing
and initiating the Growth Plan. To compete this agenda, it will take consistent focus for several years. I now realize we won't complete or see the full outcome in one council term.
SOME OF OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
We completed "Strategic Plan 2020, Making Our Vision Clear" to guide the city into the future. This process included consulting at public meetings, reading written submissions and a lot of input on-line.
We have conducted a thorough review of the City's services. We looked at the best practices of other comparative municipality's and listening to public ideas through a public meeting, questionnaires and on-line. The total savings found was $880,000. We have also requested an OPP Costing. This may find further savings.
We have proceeded with the infrastructure to develop the Sydenham Heights area on the east hill. This is our most important decision of our first year. It will open up development of these lands and create growth. This will benefit the City for years into the future.
We brought in low tax increases in 2015 and 2016, while not handcuffing future councils. In 2016 we set aside one percent of the tax increase towards capital and reserves. This balanced approach will pay dividends now and in the future.
We reviewed the water/waste-water asset financial plan. We reduced the previous large rate increases to benefit citizens now, while continuing to build a reserve.
We reviewed our Development Charge Plan. We chose to stimulate growth by waiving charges on housing starts for two years. This was one of our first tough decisions. How we dealt with it established the character of this council. We learned how we will handle future challenges.
We restructured the city departments and our committee system to be more efficient with staff time while maintaining public input through committee members. Staff now spend less time preparing reports and attending various meetings, and now spend more time completing their tasks.
We committed to keeping City Hall in the downtown core. Given the age and condition of the building, the renovations will be expensive but it will be more efficient and functional for the next half century.
We have moved the downtown river precinct plan forward. The beautification around the river from the 8 th street to the harbour. We have started to develop a downtown revitalization plan as well, listening to retailers, building owners and the public.
We kept the bus terminal open at the current location by increased revenues. We got Grey Coach to return and we are leasing part of the building.
We committed to new winter road procedures to reduce the volume of salt spread, and better manage costs. This will continue to be monitored.
Bad luck came in threes. Frozen water pipes, arsons and the 8 th street land slide all hit in the first year.
WHERE WE WILL GO IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS
We will develop a new Official Plan. We want to make it easier for investment here and to provide jobs while protecting the character of the City with consistent policies.
We will develop a Growth Plan to set out strategies for driving the economy forward. It will require input from public and private sectors. It will need to be ambitious but achievable. It will guide significant measurable growth in the city and region with the goal of developing, attracting and unleashing enterprise that will bring benefits for generations to come.
The next two years will fly by just as quickly as the past two, but with the support of the community, we will continue to work together to keep moving our City forward.
