Epic council meeting covers triathlon budget, River Mill Parking, Waterloo rental, and more

The Huntsville Town Council meeting this week was a long one. If it airs on Cogeco TV it will be a mini-series.

Here are some of the highlights. Watch Doppler for more stories over the next few days.

Increase to 70.3 Triathlon budget

Council approved the spending of an additional $6,500 in the 70.3 triathlon budget. The money will go toward the ancillary events on that weekend and is in addition to the almost $60,000 that is already committed.

However, ancillary events chair Mandy Davis is confident that the committee can raise at least $6,500 through the hosting of Ironkids to cover the expense. “We have super spectacular news,” Davis said. “We have an agreement with the Ironman group to put the link for registration of Ironkids directly on their website. We anticipate around 400 participants. They pay $20 to participate. They get a t-shirt and a medal. There are some costs associated but that is factored into the $6,500.”

The ancillary committee is a group of community volunteers that is responsible for providing transportation on Saturday and Sunday from Deerhurst to the downtown. They also organize the kids’ zone and entertainment for spectators.

Recap:

70.3 budget is $59,950 plus $6,500: comprised of $25,000 licensing fee, $25,000 donation in cash or kind, $9950 management fee, $6,500 ancillary events. The amount is supposed to be offset through community donations.

Did I say that out loud?

With respect to the airport, when you are at the District, you try not to get excited.
Councillor Nancy Alcock commenting on the possibility of Porter Airlines bringing commercial flights to the Muskoka Airport

The Town has a Tactical Team – seriously, that’s what they are calling it

Rather than hire an expensive consultant to lead the community through a strategic plan process a Tactical Team made up of Town staff operatives has been assembled.

Tactical team members are: Linda Gibson – Deputy Treasurer, Scott Ovell – Community Development Officer, Greg Pilling – Manager of Sales and Customer Service, Jason Krynicki – Executive Director of Transportation Infrastructure, Simone Babineau – Manager of Recreation and Leisure Services, Rebecca Francis – Sustainability Coordinator, Brian Crozier – Property Manager, Kirstin Maxwell – Manager of Development Process

The Team will further develop the six Strategic Objectives identified by Council: Fiscal Restraint, Economic Development, Communication, Roads & Infrastructure, Healthcare, and Sustainability.

The Town won’t be paving paradise after all

The options presented for parking in River Mill Park didn’t impress most of the Town’s councillors and, after lengthy discussion, the resolution was defeated 6-3. Drainage improvements near the Town Docks will go ahead and Town staff have been directed to investigate one-way options for parking in the downtown business area. One possibility: making High Street one-way which would allow for the creation of about 40 angled parking spots on that street. Watch for the full story on Doppler soon.

What’s going on with Waterloo building?

Councillors were flummoxed by the lack of information coming from Town staff on what they’ve been told is a great opportunity to fill the building. Apparently, none of the Councillors have even seen the RFP response that has staff and the mayor, who called the proposed tenant arrangement a consortium, so excited. “It involves a few different parties, one of those parties includes the provincial government possibly and they have a process they need to go through and they are engaged in that process,” said Mayor Aitchison. “If we pull it all together it will ultimately be a tenant that will take all of our costs except for capital maintenance of the outside of the building, it would fill the building with parties that would work well together, it would be complementary uses including University of Waterloo and other universities as well, plus some proprietary new technology that could be created right here in Huntsville. It’s the kind of thing where there’s an awful lot up in the air.” Town staff took at least one of those parties on a site tour of the building yesterday, but no further details are expected to come back to Council until September. Mayor Aitchison promised to get a copy of the RFP response to Councillors.

Where have the Arts, Culture & Heritage and Sport & Recreation Advisory Committees gone?

They were removed from the Committees of Council 2014-2018 Terms of Reference document without fanfare, with no indication why they have been disbanded, and with no discussion at Council.

Adam Brunette, who chaired the Sports and Recreation Advisory Committee told Doppler that the experience was invaluable. He said the committee was originally told they’d be working on strategic initiatives and visioning… “I think the biggest challenge that we had was that even though we had come together monthly for about 14 months we were a little bit unsure of our purpose there. Don’t get me wrong, we had some really wonderful conversations and discussions but then it would either be… this is already on Council’s radar or this is already something that has been looked at, or staff are already working on a plan for this. Or there were other ideas that we kind of thought were too big for just a group of volunteers.” Brunette said the committee was made up of some very knowledgeable people in the field who he believes would be willing to work on an adhoc-committee basis should a major related initiative come forward in future.

Councillor Bob Stone questioned the need for the accessory buildings near the new River Mill Park bandshell

The three buildings – two measuring 6’x6′ and one measuring 9.5’x9.5′ – were intended for use as dressing rooms for performers and short-term storage for events. After reviewing the most recent plan, the other Councillors determined that the structures should go in as planned with the caveat that if the layout isn’t working or the structures aren’t being used as envisioned, they would be removed and returned to Rotary for them to use elsewhere or sell as they see fit.

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