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General Committee – Wednesday, January 24, 2024, 7pm

Updated: Jan 26

The Service Partners' portion of the 2024 Budget


Minutes: not yet available

Meeting Location: Council Chambers


Began 20 minutes late, no explanation


PRESENT: Nuttall, Riepma, Nixon, Kungl, Courser, Thomson, Nigussie, Harvey, Morales, Hamilton

ABSENT: Harris


🗣️🏙️ Public Meetings

  • Nil



🧑‍🏫📑 Presentations

  • Nil



⏸️⏯️ Deferred Business

  • Nil



📝📑 Reports of Reference, Advisory or Special Committees


💰🤷 Affordability Committee



📑🗂 Staff Reports


💰🚧 Funding Requests: Emergency Retaining Wall Reconstruction and Asset Management Plan Update

  • Report: https://barrie.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12592802&GUID=E5E50C74-AE16-429C-B30F-9BE2569B410D

  • Create a new Capital Project in the 2024 Capital Plan for emergency reconstruction of the retaining wall on the south side of Blake Street and the west side of Nelson Square West at 18 Nelson Square West, with $425K in funding

  • Increase funding by $200K for Capital Project EN1470 - Asset Management Plan Updates - Regulatory Compliance and Program Advancement

  • APPROVED on consent


💰📊 2024 Business Plan and Budget - Service Partners

  • HELD by Harvey

  • Report: https://barrie.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=12599761&GUID=ABC26C07-6AF0-4727-809B-2AE2EE88D90F

  • Approve the Barrie Police Services Board request of $67.5M

  • Approve the Barrie Public Library Board request of $9.7M

  • Approve the County of Simcoe request of $30.5M

  • Approve the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority request of $370.8K

  • Approve the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority request of $420K

  • Approve the Barrie Area Physician Recruitment request of $60K

  • Approve the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit request of $2.2M

  • MOTION by Harvey to separate the Police Services Board request from the other items (so that he could vote on the other items, due to a conflict with the BPS item)

    • APPROVED unanimously (by all present)


Library, County, LSRCA, NVCA, BAPR and SMDHU Requests

  • AMENDMENT by Harvey - to add: that the contract support for the Information Referral and Community Navigation position be funded through an external grant funding, and that the Tax Levy by $78,387 [since the County has since indicated it could fund the position]

    • Riepma noted that he had a similar amendment, but which directed the savings for the social worked to go to collections, and urged Council to reject this amendment to vote for his after

    • Disappointingly, but unsurprisingly, there was much negative (and unsubstantiated) rhetoric made against the Library and its management during the discussion.

    • CARRIED by majority [FOR: Thomson, Nigussie, Harvey, Morales, Hamilton; AGAINST: Riepma, Nixon, Kungl, Courser]

  • AMENDMENT by Hamilton - to add: 1) that the Barrie Public Library be requested to identify three to five performance goals reflecting key performance indicators of the City and the Barrie Public Library Board with the goals being established by the end of May; and 2) that the Barrie Public Library's CEO provide a presentation outlining the key performance indicators to the Finance and Responsible Governance Committee in October of 2024.

    • The disparaging comments about library management continued, unfortunately.

    • CARRIED by majority [FOR: Riepma, Nixon, Thomson, Nigussie, Harvey, Morales, Hamilton; AGAINST: Kungl, Courser]

  • AMENDMENT by Hamilton - to add: that staff undertake the following actions prior to any renegotiations taking place with the County of Simcoe for the Shared Services Agreement, and report back to General Committee by the end of 2024: 1) a review of the agreement to ensure it's in alignment with the City Council's Strategic Priorities, and 2) a value-for-service audit of the past three years of the County's financial information, with funding of up to $50,000 allocated from the Council's Strategic Priorities Reserve to undertake this.

    • It's troublesome that certain members of Council balk at $78,000 going directly towards collections to help serve all residents, but are content with spending 2/3 of that amount to investigate the services (legislated by the Province to be) provided by the County, when those figures are already publicly available. Providing services directly to City of Barrie residents seems a much better use of our tax dollars.

    • CARRIED (camera did not catch all votes - please correct any errors!) [FOR: Riepma, Nixon, Kungl, Courser, Thomson, Harvey, Morales, Hamilton; UNCLEAR: Nigussie]

  • MOTION, as amended, CARRIED unanimously


Police Services Request

  • Councillor Harvey declared a conflict under the Police Services Act and left the Chambers for this item

  • AMENDMENT by Hamilton - that Barrie Police Services Board identify three to five performance goals reflecting key performance indicators of the City and the Barrie Police Service with the goals being established by the end of May 2024, and the Barrie Police Chief provide a presentation outlining the key performance indicators to the Community Safety Committee in October 2024.

    • Courser questioned whether this direction might be in conflict with another conversation BPS had been invited to be part of

    • Kungl questioned the different committees indicated for each service partner, and noted priorities of service partners would not necessarily align with the City's priorities - was concerned that not all service partners were being given the same request

    • CARRIED unanimously (by all voting)

  • MOTION, as amended, CARRIED unanimously



💡🗣️ Items of Discussion

  • Nil



📥🔄 Circulation List Referrals

  • Nil



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