Regional Councillor Report
March 8, 2004
Submitted
by:
Colleen Jordan
Health
& Social Services Committee - February 19, 2004
Presentation
Ed Goerz - Executive Director, Cornerstone Community Association
Mr. Goerz provided
information regarding the serious
financial challenges that shelters are facing due to the
inadequacy of the per diem funding level capped at $38.00 per day by
the Province. ( Note: Province funds 80% on the $38.00 cap) Mr.
Goerz suggested that the actual costs of providing emergency shelter
would be more in the range of $63.00 per day.
Fund raising efforts have not been able to augment the
shortfall. Cornerstone has depleted their reserves from a reserve
amounting to a 5 month operating reserve to a 2 month operating
reserve. It is expected
that the reserves will be completely depleted by the end of the year.
There are also issues regarding the unpredictability of per
diem funding which impacts on human resource planning and scheduling.
The committee
asked staff to report back to Health &
Social Services with a comparison of Provincial funds provided
to other G.T.A. Regions, cost impact if the per diem is
increased to $47.00 and other options to meet the operational costs
which are not met by the hostel operators with the current per diem.
Note: A report
to H & S.S. on Jan. 29, 2004 indicated that the City of Toronto
had increased the per diem to $47.00 and Halton Council recently
increased their per diem to $48.00 plus providing $60,000.00 from
Provincial Homlessness funding. Waterloo
increased the per diem to $47.00 temporarily then rolled it back and
provided an operating grant of $290,375.00 to area hostels to offset
operating deficits.
The Committee also
approved motions requesting that the Minister of Community and Social
Services increase the emergency hostel per diem of $38.00 . In
addition; the Committee requested that Regional staff report back in
the fall of 2004 on the financial status of hostels and the
possibility of redirecting any anticipated savings in 2004
homelessness funding. These
motions were endorsed by Regional Council at their March 3, 2004
meeting.
T.R.C.A. - Toronto Region
Conservation Authority - February 27, 2004
A presentation was
provided by Mike Price, General Manager, Water & Wastewater Service,
City of Toronto in regards to the City of Toronto’s Wet Weather Flow
Management Master Plan. The
goal of the plan is to reduce and ultimately eliminate the adverse
effects of wet weather flow on the built and natural environment in a
timely and sustainable manner and achieve a measurable improvement in
ecosystem health of the
watersheds.
T.R.C.A.
expressed their congratulations to the City on completion of the plan
and expressed interest in assisting the City of Toronto with
implementation. The T.R.C.A. also endorsed a motion to promote a
consistent approach to wet weather flow management among all
municipalities throughout the Toronto watersheds through inter regional
workshops and joint projects.
Regional
Council - March 3, 2004
Durham
Community Strategic Plan
Regional Council
received an update report regarding the implementation of the Community
Strategic Plan approved by Council in July 2003.
In January 2004, at the retreat, Regional Councillors were
presented with the linkages of the Plan to the business planning
process. Department
heads in consultation with staff have subsequently developed comprehensive
strategies as well as indicators to monitor the progress of each
strategic action. A summary
of the 40 strategic actions and the relevant progress indicators were
provided. Progress will be reported in the Annual Report
Card expected to be presented in July 2004.
Transit
A motion was
approved that in planning a Regional Transit System, specialized transit
be kept as a separate service from the conventional service.
This motion was referred to the Regional Transit Implementation
Committee.. (Note:
Currently APTA specialized
service operates under the umbrella of A.P.T.A. however separate from
the conventional service. A
separate dispatch and specially trained transit operators provide this
specialized service.)
Correspondence
received from Oshawa
Council and Pickering Council indicated their support of the transit
bylaw to transfer responsibilities to the Region.
Whitby Council’s correspondence indicated their Council does not support the bylaw but instead supported that they continue to participate in the Regional
Transit Implementation Committee to make recommendations on
inter-municipal transit linkages where warranted and appropriate In
addition; Whitby recommended that the Region undertake a business case
analysis to determine cost, benefits and implications associated with
further amalgamations of local transit services.
Water Supply
and Sanitary Sewerage Systems 2004 Current & Capital Budgets
The budgets were
approved in the amount of $78,823,750.00 for water systems and
$70,511,150.00 for sanitary sewerage systems.
The budgets meet the available revenue from both user fee rates
(previously approved at an overall increase of 7%) and Development
Charges Reserve Funds. The
programs address needs related to the operation, maintenance and repair
of existing infrastructure as well as the design and construction of new
capital works to meet growth related requirements.
Election
Regional Chair
Mayor Mutton,
Clarington announced that he and Mayor Parish, Ajax would be bringing
forward a motion at the next meeting that
“the Council of the Regional Municipality of Durham petitions
the Minister of Municipal Affairs to introduce legislation that would
amend the Regional Municipality of Durham Act to provide for the direct
election of the Chair of the Regional Municipality of Durham during
regularly scheduled Municipal Elections commencing with the Municipal
Election scheduled for November 2006."
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