Inside Burlington Council’s January Committee of the Whole Meeting

By: Jack Brittle, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Burlington Local-News.ca

 

On January 12, the City of Burlington held its monthly Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss various items relevant to the city and its residents.

 

Lisa Kearns, Ward 2 councillor, spoke about item 7.1 on the Consent Agenda, which approves the city to single-source a fire service predictive analytics and deployment modelling software solution with Darkhorse Emergency Corp.

 

“This is a really important piece of predictive technology that has been looked at for quite some time,” Kearns said. “It has the ability to allow us to use data to determine where the current and future station needs are, reminding everybody that we still need a station in the downtown.”

 

“It also allows us to identify how many specialty trucks, staff members, and other supports are required for operations, and it will also support the technical service rescues like rope rescues, ice and hazmats,” Kearns continued. “So this is a really big technology jump that I know has been welcomed by the entire service, and I’m looking forward to bringing that on board.”

 

The consent agenda item passed unanimously.

 

The first item on the Community and Corporate Services agenda would allow the city to appoint the mayor to the Burlington Economic Development and Tourism (BEDT) board.

 

Paul Sharman, Ward 5 councillor, introduced the motion.

 

“As you all know, we’ve been through kind of an interesting time in the last year with respect to BEDT and certain opinions being expressed,” Sharman said. “And we’ve confused a certain number of matters. And during that period, the mayor, who had previously delegated me to be the representative of the council, got into a position where she wasn’t actually a member.”

 

READ MORE: Debate Continues Over the Future of Burlington Economic Development and Tourism

Sharman said that the mayor’s absence on the board caused “difficulties” and that he and the board wanted her to be “in the tent and not outside.”

 

Kearns asked Sharman if anyone on staff or council had identified what the threshold was for “undue influence.”

 

“I thought deeply about what the point is of having four representatives of the city, including the CAO and three elected officials, on one board,” Kearns said. “It can’t be money because the library board is $12.7 million, which is multifold this board, and there’s just one person, that’s me.”

 

Sharman said that because the BEDT has oversight over billions of dollars, it’s important to have the mayor on the board.

 

“It’s such a strategic organization, and the work that it does is so important to us that it has always had significant representation,” Sharman said. “So from the very beginning, it was always the mayor, two other councillors, and the city manager. I’m hoping that we can actually get some additional staff representation on there in the near future, and that will help us overcome some of the challenges we’ve had in the last ten years.”

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

Item 8.2 on the agenda was regarding three procedural amendments. The motion would direct the city clerk/director of legislative services to report back to the Committee of the Whole with the amendments to a procedure bylaw for consideration.

 

The first amendment states that each member will have a maximum of three minutes to speak on a motion and will be given the option of an additional maximum of three minutes after every member has been allowed to speak.

 

The second says that each member will have the opportunity to ask two questions, for a maximum of one minute per question on a motion, and will be given the opportunity to ask an additional two questions after every member has been allowed to ask questions.

 

It also outlines that question period should not be used as an opportunity to comment or express opinions on the matter being discussed.

 

The third amendment clarifies that the management of both question and commenting periods remains within the authority and purview of the chair of the meeting.

 

Shawna Stolte, Ward 4 councillor, explained the reason for the amendments.

 

“I can only assume that others are as frustrated with the unnecessary wrangling around commenting guidelines as I am, and that we just need some clarity on this,” Stolte said.

 

Stolte said that in 2024, council agreed to limit commenting to three minutes for each member.

 

“That guiding principle worked well for years, until recently, when we’ve had a couple of instances where there’s been a bit of a lack of clarity,” Stolte said. “And some frustration for a number of committee members around our principles on this, on our procedure bylaw. So I’m bringing this motion forward this morning to hopefully get a report back next month from our clerk’s department on being able to make a concrete change to our procedure by law, to allow for a formal limit of two opportunities or three minutes each for commenting.”

 

The motion passed unanimously.

 

The final item discussed was a Motion Memorandum regarding correspondence from the Burlington Cycling Advisory Committee on the Vision Zero Program.

 

According to the group’s website, Vision Zero is “a strategy to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while increasing safe, healthy, equitable mobility for all.”

 

Rory Nisan, Ward 3 councillor, brought forward the motion and spoke to it before it was opened up for discussion.

 

“Vision Zero has been in our strategic plans, it’s being addressed already by staff, but there isn’t a comprehensive plan, unlike other cities,” Nisan said. “There is a route, though, to getting that plan.”

 

Nisan asked Craig Kummer, the city’s director of transportation services, to report back to council in April with “a plan and a budget to advance the Vision Zero work so that it can start in 2026.”

 

Kummer said that the city has “done a lot of work” around Vision Zero, but hasn’t put together a formal framework regarding its implementation.

 

He said the initial plan was to use revenue from automated speed enforcement, but that was cancelled at the “11th hour.”

 

The plan presented in April would include a budget ask for council in order to put the Vision Zero strategy in place.

 

Sharman expressed his support for the motion.

 

“We’ve been wanting this and working and thinking about it, fantasizing about it for years,” Sharman said. “And as a cyclist, I can tell you there have been moments where crossing an intersection has been terrifying, with lights changing at the last minute, and the next thing you know is you’re in the middle of traffic that just wants to run you down.”

 

Sharman asked Kummer if the city had the technology to put cameras on traffic lights, which could influence whether the lights change or not.

 

Kummer responded that the city is currently running a pilot project with said technology on Fairview and Appleby Road.

 

“We haven’t got to a point yet that we can demonstrate and share that with you,” Kummer said. “We’re just doing some testing. But right now, I do have an app on my phone that actually tells me what’s happening at a traffic signal. And certain vehicles actually have the technology to ingest that information and provide real-time data to the driver in the vehicle.”

 

Chris King, the manager of traffic operations and signals, said that staff would have an update later in the year.

 

Kummer said that the report will be specific to Vision Zero and will “identify a framework to move forward, which will likely be a Request for Proposal (RFP)…as well as with a budget ask, because we don’t have that funding currently.”

 

Nisan said that approving the motion would “give them [staff] a chance to give us a framework, and then we’ll have a number in April that we can approve or otherwise.”

 

The motion passed unanimously.