City Council

4:14Okay, everyone, I'd like to call the meeting to order. Thank you for joining us. This is our city council meeting for Wednesday, May 31st 2023.

4:22It's 545 p.m. So we're starting now and right off the top as is described on the open agenda. We are looking for an option to move into closed session under a couple items.

4:34Before I go into those, there's any disclosure of pecuniary interest or any general nature thereof for the closed items that anyone needs to be aware of.

4:43So hearing and seeing none.

4:45And the two items that are listed is June 2023 public appointments to the Guelph Police Services Board.

4:54That's section 239 to be of the Municipal Act relating to personal matters about an identifiable individual, including municipal or local board employees.

5:03And the second is the memorandum of agreement between the City of Guelph and the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, local 231.

5:12That is under section 239 to D of the Municipal Act related to labor relations or employee negotiations. Those are the only two items being considered.

5:21Can I look to a member of council to move us into closed session? Councillor Goller is willing to move it and Colosson is willing to second that.

5:32Is anything further on those?

5:34Hearing seeing none. Is anyone against moving into closed on those two items?

5:39Hearing and seeing none. It's unanimous for those watching or listening later on to this.

5:44We're just going to have a quick closed meeting discussion about this and I will give a high level summary when I come back out of the closed meeting. Thank you.

52:26Okay, everyone. I'd like to call the meeting to order. Now earlier we did have a closed meeting.

52:35And that closed meeting was on two subjects as outlined on the open agenda.

52:42June, 2023 public appointments to the Guelph Police Service Board. And the second one was the memorandum of agreement between the City of Guelph.

52:51And the Ontario Public Service's Employees Union, local 231.

52:57I'm going to give a statement in regards to the second one and then I'm going to go to Councillor Allt in regards to the first one.

53:05So in regards to the second one.

53:08It's my privilege to say that we're very happy that we did give direction to staff

53:17in finalizing and executing this agreement with the union.

53:23And I just really wanted to on behalf of Council

53:26indicate that we really appreciate both bargaining groups, our staff on the city side and of course the union themselves for

53:35working towards an agreement and we look forward to that being executed. So thank you very much. That's the summary in regards to that.

53:45And now I'll just go to Councillor Allt please in regards to the appointment for the Police Services Board as he has a motion to bring forward an open session.

53:54Thank you, Mayor Guthrie. And if I could ask clerks to kindly please put that up on screen.

53:59I'm very happy to move the motion that Ajay Sharma be appointed to the Guelph Police Services Board for term ending November 15th, 2026

54:08or until such time as a successor is appointed. I don't believe that I think the grammar is wrong but I think we know what it means.

54:15And I believe that it was Councillor Downer who is willing to second it. So for consistency's sake, Alt and Downer.

54:24Thank you. So anything further on that in the open session?

54:27Hearing none, I'll call the vote. Is anyone against this appointment?

54:33Hearing and seeing none, that's unanimous. So thank you to the Police Services Board for the recommendation and to Ajay on being successful for joining us.

54:43We look forward to having you work in that capacity.

54:48With that, that is the summary from the closed session. So again, just calling the meeting to order for the open session now.

54:56More formally. And I would like to ask us all to please stand as we recognize our National Anthem.

55:04Thank you very much. I will say just a little nudge. This side of the room was quite good today with the National Anthem.

56:58I didn't quite hear a little bit over here. So this side's got to do a bit better. But that was well done.

57:04All right. Just continuing on a moment of silent reflection.

57:17Great. Thank you. And a territorial acknowledgement. As we gather, we're reminded that Guelph is situated on treaty land that is steeped in rich Indigenous history

57:26and home to many First Nations Inuit and Métis people today. As a city, we have a responsibility for the stewardship of the land in which we both live and work.

57:35Today, we acknowledge the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation of the Ineshebrak peoples on whose traditional territory we are meeting.

57:43Now, is there any disclosure of pecuniary interest or general nature thereof for any of the items in front of us tonight?

57:50I don't hear or see anybody. So consider that matter closed.

57:54Just for formality, Councillor Gibson did give regrets for tonight's meeting.

58:00So right away, we have the confirmation of open minutes for April 18th, 25th, 26th, 2023.

58:08And the open committee of the whole meeting that was held on April 4th, 2023, to be confirmed as recorded and without being read.

58:15Would someone please be willing to move that for me?

58:19Councillor Downer will and Councillor Allt will second that. Is there anything on the minutes before I call the vote?

58:27Okay. I don't hear or see anything. So I'll call the vote. Is anyone against the minutes?

58:34Okay. That's unanimous and we'll move on.

58:37So we have the consent agenda.

58:40And I believe I'll just go through each one. I believe I know what a couple might be pulled.

58:47But I'll just quickly go through. So the 2022 year end operating

58:52budget monitoring and surplus allocation report. Just want to make sure anyone else wanted to pull that.

58:59Nope. Okay. And then the 2022 year end capital budget. And I believe Councillor Downer would like to pull that one. So that's fine.

59:06And then the 2022 long-term financial statement, the reserves and debt.

59:12Nothing on that one. The e scooter motion from Councillor Goller.

59:17Nothing on that. And then we are going to get into the council consent,

59:24which is the Guelph Police Service downtown, which Councillor Goller has asked to have that

59:29pulled as well. And then we already took care of the police services board appointments. So just those two.

59:35So I'm looking for Councillor Bushenthal. Thank you so much. I was willing to move the consent.

59:41And sir, Councillor Caron is willing to second anything further on that.

59:46I'll see you're here. Anybody. So we're good. I'll call the vote on consent. Anyone against consent.

59:52And again, that's unanimous. Thank you very much. So let me move over to Councillor Downer for a moment

59:59on the 2022 year end capital budget monitoring report

1:00:03with something further for us to consider. Go ahead. Yeah. So I think we can,

1:00:08this is a third one, like you have one and two. So I don't know if everybody wants to vote on that

1:00:13first or and then I'll do nine member three. Yep. Great. So you're willing to move the first?

1:00:18Yeah. Yeah.

1:00:20Cron willing. Thank you. Cron, your award meet is seconding that.

1:00:24So is there anything on those two before I call the vote only on those two?

1:00:28Doesn't look like it. Okay. I'll call the vote on that. So is anyone not in favour of those recommendations?

1:00:35Again, no one's not in favour. So that's unanimous as well. I'll go to you for the third motion you're

1:00:39presenting. Okay. So I would ask if the clerks could put up the motion and this is the heritage

1:00:46motion that I had been talking about a few times to that I was going to bring forward

1:00:52from the surplus. So it's not necessarily from the surplus. It's gone in and now it's coming out.

1:00:57So the 500,000 be approved for PL 076 heritage initiatives and be funded from the Grocery

1:01:05Reserve Fund number 156 to expedite the timing of the Ward West Cultural Heritage Study and assist

1:01:12with heritage initiatives tied to the changes to the Heritage Act and associated deadlines

1:01:17contained in Bill 23. I think Councillor Caron wanted to second it. Okay. So I'm going to start out by

1:01:27saying something positive about the provincial government. You might be surprised.

1:01:35Have a heart. But I think they actually recognise that heritage is significant, is important in

1:01:43Ontario and it's important to this council. I mean, one of the things that when we brought

1:01:48forward the OR, we wanted to do the whole cultural heritage action plan, they said yes. Okay. Go ahead

1:01:54and do that. And they asked us what did we think was a good heritage asset? When we got the changes

1:02:01back from OP 80, they maintained sight lines to the Basilica of Our Lady. They didn't just take

1:02:08those out. And I would say too that in Bill 23, like a number of other things, they could have just

1:02:14implemented the elimination of the register completely immediately. And they did. They said,

1:02:22okay, councils, you have two years to get your Heritage Act in order. Pun intended. So I would

1:02:31say that's positive. They're recognising that heritage is something important for us to preserve

1:02:38and to consider as we look to build out. So many have been asking me, many in the public and on

1:02:45council actually, now that I'm on Heritage 12, what can we do with this two-year deadline? How can

1:02:51we deal with that deadline of the individual designations and to expedite that? Because in

1:03:00reality, we're probably only going to be able to get with the current capacity about 10 to 15

1:03:05designations done before that deadline's done. And that leaves a lot of heritage assets in the

1:03:11city vulnerable. But doing cultural heritage landscapes sort of covers off doing more than

1:03:17that. You get more done. So we have the OR, the downtown, old part of the downtown being done. And

1:03:23we had paused Ward West to do the Ontario Reformatory because the province asked us

1:03:30what was important there. So this motion reinitiates that process and moves it forward from

1:03:36the original 2024 time that we were looking at doing that. We had paused it. And

1:03:46that way we'll be able to cover off more properties rather than looking at things

1:03:51one by one. Also, I want to point out that these are done in phases. The study is done first to

1:03:56determine what would be heritage assets in Ward West. Not everything probably will be. And then

1:04:03there's guidelines around how to create some predictability in there for development.

1:04:10That doesn't mean there can't be demolition, can't be infill. I live in a heritage district.

1:04:14We've had infill houses. We've got tiny houses in backyards going in. Lots is happening in our

1:04:19neighbourhood. And recently the town of Erin has used their 2022 surplus to do heritage work

1:04:26due to Bill 23. So I think this is probably, and that's all I've read about, I think this is

1:04:31probably happening across the province. People trying to, councils trying to find innovative

1:04:35ways to sort of deal with that two year deadline. So the Ward West is a priority in the downtown

1:04:42secondary plan. That did not change with the amendments to Bill 80, OP80. The Ward West is

1:04:50a priority in the cultural heritage action plan. The 400,000 would be up to 400,000 to do the

1:04:57heritage study. And then the $100,000 to have a contract staff person. And the contract person,

1:05:08my understanding from in discussions with staff would be used to do the public engagements,

1:05:14actually for all three projects, for the downtown, for the Ward West, and then for the plan for the

1:05:19OR, because we already did the study. That frees up our planning, our heritage staff's expertise to

1:05:25deal with the designations that need to be done. Because if they have to do the public engagement

1:05:31parts for all of those, they don't have time to do designations. So that sort of frees that up.

1:05:36So it's sort of a bigger bang for our buck. And moving it all forward, after our deadlines,

1:05:41then I'm not quite sure what we're going to be able to do with heritage, but you know, probably

1:05:46more heritage districts, but what that's down the road to consider. So I did want to say that I

1:05:53couldn't bring it to heritage wealth, because our meeting in May was, was council, there wasn't

1:05:59anything completed to put on the agenda. But I have, I did email the, the chair and the rest of

1:06:06the, the committee members, and I had a very positive response for this motion to move forward.

1:06:13There already is a motion on the books from heritage wealth when we pause the Ontario

1:06:19Reformatory, when we pause the Ward West before to do the Ontario Reformatory that they would

1:06:26actually have liked us to have done the Ward West concurrently with the Reformatory. So basically

1:06:32heritage wealth has already sort of approved this before, and they also approved the, the work that's

1:06:38been done. So those are my comments. And yeah, so that's that's it. So I'm looking at any questions

1:06:49and I think staff would ever be here to answer anything else about my rollout.

1:06:54Hey, thank you. I, I think you've explained it quite well. So thank you. Is there any questions?

1:07:00Do we need any questions from staff? Doesn't look like it. Okay. Any comments needed here? Or can I

1:07:07just call the vote? Go to, go to call the vote. All those not in favour raise your hand. It's

1:07:18unanimous. Easy peasy. Thank you very much. We're going to move on to the Councillor Goller,

1:07:28the 12th police services downtown initiative. Maybe just as we just did with the last one,

1:07:33would you move the one, the receipt of the memo at least? Yes. And who would be willing to

1:07:39second that Councillor Allt will second that. Any questions on just receiving the memo?

1:07:45No. No comments on that. No. Okay. Oh, okay. Yeah. Councillor Keaton. Sorry, did you have a

1:07:53question or comment? I just had a request for information on the program that I was going to

1:08:01request through either you or Councillor Allt as police board members. I can do this after.

1:08:12No, no, this is the right time. It has to do with the memo. Then we can go to yours after

1:08:19the question. Councillor Goller. Okay. Councillor Keaton, I've lost you on the screen,

1:08:24but I can hear you. Did you want to ask something specific? Yeah. Sorry. Is it going off the screen?

1:08:30Let me see here. Where are we back? Yes, you're here. Yep. Sorry. My iPad is being

1:08:42lost here today. So I just had a question for the police board members to forward to the chair of

1:08:49the police board and get back to us based on some community comments that I've received on

1:08:54both ends of the issue. I'd just like to know how the police department is addressing equity with

1:09:00the new downtown police initiative, but I wanted to kind of give a bit of context. So I'm the police,

1:09:05like I'm a child of a police sergeant and a female perceived white person. So I have

1:09:08considerable privilege in police conversations and I've had to go to the police twice in wealth

1:09:12and both times I felt very comfortable and my issues were resolved to my satisfaction.

1:09:17But not everybody's had this same experience with police, depending on their backgrounds.

1:09:22And this isn't a commentary on our local force, but rather a systemic issue within North America.

1:09:26So the downtown I understand is perceived as unsafe by some demographics because it visibly

1:09:31and has people, some bar coppers and some people suffering from addiction. But similarly, the police

1:09:37are perceived as unsafe by other demographics. And this kind of came about when I had heard of the

1:09:43woman who was attacked in, I believe it was Kitchener and she had asked for the police to

1:09:49not show up in uniform in her neighborhood. And this was a response from her. So I was thinking

1:09:55this is probably something very similar with our community potentially. And even my daughter,

1:10:02who has had zero bad experiences with police, asked why the army was downtown one time when she

1:10:07saw a heavily outfitted police officer in regular patrol during the afternoon on a Saturday. She

1:10:11said, I'm really nervous because she never sees people dressed like video games. So I was just

1:10:15wondering what steps are being considered to address the need for all people to feel safe

1:10:20downtown, including those who are historically uncomfortable with heavily uniform police.

1:10:29Okay, yeah, I, I'll let counselor, because it was to counselor, I think we're on the same page,

1:10:33well, let counselor, all to speak. Thank you very much, Mayor Guthrie, through you to counselor

1:10:39Kate and I heard very clearly your concerns. I'm going to suggest that that we as members of the

1:10:46police board acting currently as counselors are not in a position to necessarily answer this,

1:10:52but I would suggest that the appropriate route to go perhaps would be to contact

1:10:57Chair Peter McSherry by the police services board for a formal response either from

1:11:04from chair McSherry or from Chief Kobe or the board or perhaps all three.

1:11:09And Mayor Guthrie, I don't know whether that reflects your concerns or not.

1:11:12You have summarized it perfectly. Because it is an operational matter, we are not in a position to

1:11:19be able to answer on behalf of the outside entity being the board that it is. It's the spokesperson

1:11:24who is the chair or the chief. So did may I ask you a question, Counselor Kate, and did you reach

1:11:30out, did you reach out to the chief or to the chair before bringing this question to us today?

1:11:37No, I haven't because I'm sure the process. No, it's okay. I'm not calling you at all. I just

1:11:41want yeah, it's it I just want I was just curious. So yeah, good question. Any question is a good

1:11:47question. Just want to make sure that yeah, and this is for everybody just so they know.

1:11:51It would almost be similar in a way like it'd be similar like in a way almost if a public health

1:11:57question got asked, right, to the chair or to the executive director or CEO of public health,

1:12:04instead of our appointments here just because that's the spokesperson from a governance perspective

1:12:08that needs to answer those questions. So it's not a dismissive answer because it's not worthy of

1:12:13a response. It's just where the question is placed. That's all. I just wasn't sure if I was supposed

1:12:18to ask you as representatives to ask them or if that was something that I don't know any counselor

1:12:24can reach out for sure. In fact, any community member could reach out. Yep. Perfect. Thank you

1:12:29very much. Yeah, no, thank you. Okay, so I'll call the vote then on the memo of just receiving. Okay.

1:12:36All right. Is anyone against just receiving the memo? Okay, so that's unanimous. And then

1:12:43Councillor Goller go ahead with your motion that you wanted to bring forward. Thank you and through

1:12:47your worship. I ask for the memo. I'd like to move that the Gulf Police Services Board

1:12:53request that April 20, 2023 to use $260,000 of the police operating contingency reserved

1:13:01be approved. And I have a seconder, Councillor Oroch. Okay, thank you very much. So we have a

1:13:07seconder. I have a question for Councillor Allt, please. Thank you very much. Through you, Mr.

1:13:14Mayor. To Councillor Goller, I have no problem with the motion at all, but I believe for the public,

1:13:19I was wondering if you could please provide some clarification on what its intent is.

1:13:24Absolutely. I am one of the counselors that sits on the board of the downtown BAA along with

1:13:30Councillor Downer. And one of the main issues that we're hearing from our downtown businesses is the

1:13:35need for more of a police presence in the downtown. And from residents that live in the downtown,

1:13:43I'm hearing from many of my constituents who are in Ward 2 that they are often feeling unsafe

1:13:48when they are out and about in the downtown. And that is mainly due to a large presence of

1:13:56community members who are assets and services at Royal City Mission and other downtown locations

1:14:02who may be dealing with mental health issues, with addictions issues, who may be experiencing

1:14:10homelessness. And there's just not enough services and supports available in terms of

1:14:19mental health supports, addiction treatment facilities in the city. There is a big gap.

1:14:24And one of the things that the police presence do is they provide a bit of comfort for the

1:14:31community members and for the downtown businesses that when they have an issue

1:14:36with in the downtown, there's someone that they can access. So it has been quite a positive

1:14:42experience. Last summer, there were resources reallocated to have additional police who were

1:14:50previously in schools. They were put in the downtown for the summer. And there was a very

1:14:54positive response that just the extra people walking around keeping an eye on things made a

1:15:00positive impact. And by all intents, we really should have other levels of response to the

1:15:09issues of homelessness, of addictions of mental health. But in the absence of an immediate response,

1:15:17we do want to see an ICA. We as the community members that live and that go to downtown,

1:15:24and we as the downtown businesses want to see more of a police presence just to help with

1:15:30everyday maintaining the comfort in the downtown. I hope that answers your question,

1:15:36Councillor Allt. Thank you. I do have a couple of follow-ups and perhaps also a clarification

1:15:42because I do want to be clear that it is the chief of police responsibility to assign staff where

1:15:47it is considered to be appropriate. But this particular request is in tandem with a request,

1:15:53I believe, from Chief Kobe as well. So it's not out of the ordinary. But I do have one very

1:16:00important question for you, Councillor Goller, and it stems from your comments. And I'm sure I

1:16:06know the answer already. You are not in your remarks implying that the downtown is unsafe for

1:16:12anyone, whether they be shoppers, consumers, or the homeless receiving support or whatever. I presume

1:16:19that's the case. Is that right? Well, so this is the challenge that the downtown,

1:16:27depending on where you are, you could be going downtown and when there's a number of people

1:16:35that are congregating on the streets, if someone is experiencing a mental health crisis,

1:16:41you could feel unsafe. Absolutely. And I think that having more presence of people that can

1:16:45provide supports, direct people to the right services, that is helpful. I think we are getting

1:16:51to the point where I have constituents who are writing me a letter saying, you need to declare

1:16:56a state of emergency. We have a mental health crisis in the city and we need action immediately.

1:17:02So I'm not going to get into debate with all due respect to things. I do feel quite safe downtown.

1:17:07And while I do not disagree with you about a mental health crisis in Guelph, in Ontario,

1:17:12and in Canada, I do not think that we should necessarily confine our concern for that too,

1:17:17policing in the downtown. Absolutely not. This is one of many responses that are needed.

1:17:27Really what we need is provincial funding and federal funding for housing,

1:17:31for mental health supports, for addiction treatment. But even if that funding is made

1:17:36available at some point, it takes time. We saw with Grace Gardens that funding was given to

1:17:41build permanent supportive housing and then it takes time to build the permanent supportive housing.

1:17:46I think there will be other meetings later next month. We have county coming to talk to us about

1:17:55social housing and the cost for that. And at that time, we can have more conversations about this,

1:18:01what we can influence from a municipal perspective. I think this is one of many tools

1:18:05that are needed to address the issues. All right. Thank you to the two of you.

1:18:14I think I would just like to comment just on, I think, over the overall conversation.

1:18:23I just feel like I need to sort of say something. So I'm glad Councillor Allt sort of jumped in.

1:18:29I just don't want there to be a constant connection of a narrative that those experiencing

1:18:37homelessness or mental health and addictions equals some kind of a unsafe atmosphere or

1:18:45immediate only police response that's required because even as all chiefs everywhere will say,

1:18:54we cannot police our way out of this. So I just want to say that kind of out loud.

1:19:00And then the other thing though I would say is one of the things that I'm really proud of for

1:19:07the police services is that they are very much data driven and they are collecting a ton of data

1:19:14over this pilot project. And that is what this is. It's a pilot project to actually see like how

1:19:20many interactions are happening. What type of interactions are they and what raises itself

1:19:27to where an arrest or a charge was actually done, which is where an actual police officer is needed.

1:19:33Where are the interactions where they weren't? And to be able to collect this data through this

1:19:40pilot program, which is what this funding is to go towards, will enable the police board,

1:19:45the public to be able to weigh and have a conversation later on in the year after the pilot

1:19:50project is done to see not only the data and the metrics captured in that, but also to get a sense

1:19:58of feedback, just normal feedback, exactly as you said, Councillor Coller, from citizens,

1:20:03from businesses, from the DGBA, from us and so on. So has the overall narrative and response for

1:20:12the last month or so that this pilot project's been going been positive? I would say yes for all

1:20:17those reasons. But I think I'm really interested. I'm sure we all are. What's the real numbers in

1:20:23the data and the metrics? How is it working? And that's a fair question to be asking when we

1:20:30are looking at giving $260,000 to a project. We do need to have that to discern

1:20:38where we go in next steps. So I just want to make sure people are clear that we're not going to police

1:20:43our way out of this. This is a response not so much always attached to the narrative of some of

1:20:49the issues experienced in the downtown, but it will give us the ability to have another conversation

1:20:54at a board level, I'm sure, later on. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure I was trying to be as

1:21:00clear as I could there. Just did not leave it sort of hanging. Councillor Caitlin, I saw your hand

1:21:05go up and then I saw O'Rourke and Caron. Okay. Go ahead, Caitlin. Thank you. Through you to Councillor

1:21:14Gullard. I'm just a little bit confused. Is this the same thing as what was proposed earlier?

1:21:22So are we just moving funds from the reserves that exist into the police reserves for this pilot

1:21:29program or is this something new? This is not something new, Councillor Caitlin. When it comes

1:21:36to the budget, there will be a request at that time for this to be made permanent, but maybe.

1:21:43But for now, this is just, yeah, it's not a new program. Okay. Would we be getting a presentation

1:21:52on the outcome of it before the next steps? If you don't mind, I'll answer that, Councillor Caitlin.

1:21:59Yes, we have been indicating that all of this will come back to the police board. Thank you very

1:22:05much. You got it. You got it. O'Rourke and then Caron. Thank you, Mayor Guthrie. Through you,

1:22:11I have two questions just for clarification and then a comment. I'm wondering, so through you,

1:22:21Mayor Guthrie, Councillor Gullard brought the motion, but Councillor Allt and yourself are on

1:22:26the police services board. So I'm just wondering if there's a reason why it wasn't tabled by one of

1:22:32you and if you have any concerns about this? Well, I can't move motions here because I'm the chair.

1:22:41That is true. So that's okay. I wish I could. I'd have 10 motions at a time. That's good.

1:22:47And before the meeting, Councillor Gullard just indicated that he wanted to make sure it went

1:22:53forward. Okay. And Councillor Allt immediately was like, yeah, and I'll second it. There's no reason

1:22:57why there was one or over the other. It was just getting it done. Okay. But Councillor Allt,

1:23:03you need to answer because you were asked, I guess. That's fine. That's fine. Okay. Second question?

1:23:08Second question just for clarification. This is taking funds from the police's own surplus account

1:23:15and then transferring it so that they can use it. This is part of their surplus. This

1:23:20is theirs really, right? The answer is yes, but I think our CFO should make sure the mayor is saying

1:23:28the right thing. So through the mayor to Councillor Allt, that's correct.

1:23:33Terrific. Thank you, Ms. Baker. And through you, Mr. Mayor, just a comment around,

1:23:40definitely, golf police are very data driven. We've seen that. They know where they have the

1:23:44highest incidence. There's a lot of desire from the community to have community-based policing,

1:23:50in part to de-escalate some of the interventions. And there was an officer previously, I think,

1:23:56Officer Mark, and he was kind of beloved by everybody so that when there's a problem,

1:24:01the officer is not showing up in a moment of crisis. They're a person who has been helpful or

1:24:07they have been present. It means we've got first responders who are walking around downtown and

1:24:12knowing people. And I think that's, I think it's important. And I will say, I think it's important

1:24:18that we recognize the good work that our police officers do because, frankly, there's a trend

1:24:25nationally and they can be very vulnerable. So I appreciate their presence and their work

1:24:30downtown and throughout the city. Thank you very much. And Karan, please.

1:24:35I could not have articulated that. My comments as well as as Councillor Awerke and just

1:24:40encouraging those who are watching and anyone who reads the media out of this meeting to please

1:24:45come downtown because that data driven approach means we need our citizens, we need people shopping

1:24:50and coming downtown for all the right reasons and to be able to have that comparative data. And

1:24:58I certainly feel safe downtown and I hope our residents do as well.

1:25:01Great. All right. Thank you. And thanks for the discussion and and context there. I appreciate

1:25:09it. It's been moved and seconded. So I'll look to you okay, Councillor Allt? Yeah. Okay. I'll look

1:25:15to call the vote then. All those not in favour, please raise your hand. Okay. So that's unanimous

1:25:22as well. Thank you so much. And as I said, the public appointment has already been done.

1:25:28So I'm going to look to Councillor Billings, please for bringing forward the adoption of

1:25:34bylaws. But I will just say that on the first bylaw, 20792, we are going to just be adding the words

1:25:42as amended. So go ahead, Councillor Billings. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I will move.

1:25:51And seconded by Councillor O'Rourke that bylaws numbered 20792 and 20230803 are hereby passed as

1:26:05amended. Thank you. And just because we need to just make sure transparently we're telling people,

1:26:11well, what is the as amended thing? It's just a clerical thing, but I'll just want the clerk

1:26:15to say it out loud so everyone knows what it is. Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And my apologies,

1:26:19Councillor. That first bylaw as amended is 20797. And that's not a not a falter or

1:26:26matter that that Councillor Billings made a mistake on that was an error in terms of the

1:26:30typo on the page. So it's bylaws 20797 and 2080320920797 is as amended. Thank you.

1:26:40God, thank you. All right. It's already been moved. I'm so sorry. I missed the seconder.

1:26:46It was Councillor O'Rourke. Yes. Always there at a second. Appreciate it. Anything on these bylaws?

1:26:55Hearing and seeing none, I'm going to call the vote. Is anyone against the bylaws as amended?

1:27:02And we're good. That's unanimous as well. For the mayor's announcements, I just want to say it was a

1:27:07great national accessibility week flag raising a couple of days ago. Many of you were there or

1:27:14supported online and in your commentary. So I just want to thank council and staff for that.

1:27:20And just to say that there was a little bit of a an accountability ask that we just don't look at it,

1:27:27you know, once a year during the flag raising. And that's very fair commentary. And so I say it to

1:27:32myself as much as I say it to everyone else. You know, in all that we do, there's sort of another

1:27:37lens that we should always constantly be looking through when it comes to these issues. And so

1:27:41thank you for those that are raising it. And I wish everyone all the best as they continue

1:27:48looking through that lens, at least for this week and hopefully for beyond, because it is an important

1:27:54matter. With that, I'm looking for adjournment. Councillor Caron is willing to do that.

1:28:00Claeson is seconding for me. And I don't think anyone would be against that, but I'll call the

1:28:06vote anyways. Is anyone against adjournment? Doesn't look like it. That means it's unanimous. Have a

1:28:11great night, everyone. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.