Derek E. Silva

Spreading knowledge & understanding

  • March 25, 2020 COVID-19 Update

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    Video version of the text below

    Hi everyone, I wanted to give you a frank, open reminder on what you should be doing to protect you and your family from the COVID-19 coronavirus, as recommended by the top health professionals in the country, the measures we have already taken locally here in Middlesex Centre, and other measures we’re considering to help provide some financial relief.

    The municipality has already taken steps to help ensure that we don’t provide you spaces to congregate. The municipal office is closed, the arenas and community centres are closed, and recently the playgrounds were also closed.

    Yes, you are free to walk around the neighbourhood, but those walks should be restrained to people that live in your home.

    We all understand that we need to go out and get the essentials. However, only one person per family should be going on those grocery runs. You should refrain from as much physical contact with products on the shelves as possible, and stay as far away from other shoppers as you can. Taking more people with you, unless you have no other choice, or going out more often than needed defeats the purpose of the public health recommendations in place.

    • You should be staying 2m, or 6′, away from people you don’t live with at all times.
    • You should be refraining from engaging in any non-essential shopping. Get your groceries, do your best to get them all in one shot and get creative if the store you’re at doesn’t have what you want, and then go home.
    • Wash your hands. Sanitize surfaces outside you come in contact with, or avoid contact entirely if you can.
    • And if you do not work at an essential workplace, or you can do your job from home, stay home. I know there are lots of qualifiers to that specific recommendation, but you must do your best to do so. Ignoring this recommendation will cause this pandemic, and the social distancing recommendation, to go on for months and months.

    As for what we can do or will do locally to help ease some of the burden being placed on the residents of this municipality, no decisions have been made at this time. However, some Councillors are sending around some ideas, and our staff are looking into what we can do, and will be bringing forth reports for Council to consider as soon as possible.

    Some things we could do include:

    • Temporarily removing the infrastructure lifecycle fees from water bills
    • Temporarily removing the portion of user fees that go towards our reserves from water bills
    • Removing any penalties for late payments of water bills or property taxes for a period of time
    • And so on.

    I think it’s important to note that Council has chosen to continue to pay our staff, many of which live locally right here in Middlesex Centre, including our part-time staff. We have chosen to engage them in this effort to clean up and sanitize our facilities and get started on projects that would have started later this year. This keeps paycheques going to some of the people that need it most, including our part-time staff.

    We also need to accelerate a change to our municipal Council meeting procedure by-law in order to allow for virtual meetings, and once that’s in place we can continue to host Council meetings in a new way. That should also come shortly.

    For now, staff are working on a preliminary set of options and recommendations that Council should see on Monday, and then we can discuss those and hold a meeting to begin making decisions after that. If you have a suggestion that would make a meaningful impact on you and your neighbours, please send them to silva@middlesexcentre.on.ca, or text it to 226-909-1189. I would prefer to get these in text format so I can easily compile them, boil them down to the most common suggestions, and send them around to staff and Council as quickly as possible.

    Thanks for reading! Please feel free to say hi if you see me, but do so from at least 2m away. Enjoy your day.

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  • Council Preview: Dec 18, 2019

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    Welcome to the preview of the last Middlesex Centre Council meeting this year! It’s been a wonderful, if trying, year full of learning, research, trying new things, and moving important issues forward.

    If you would like to read the full agenda and associated reports, click here.

    At the moment we don’t have any closed sessions scheduled for this Wednesday. 🤞

    Delegations & Presentations

    • Ingersoll Mayor Comiskey will be here to talk about landfill approval processes on behalf of “We Demand the Right.” There is a lengthy motion that he is looking for support to ask the provincial government to “formally entrench the right of municipalities to approve or reject landfill projects in or adjacent to their communities” and make both tiers of government in a two-tier system (like Middlesex Centre and Middlesex County’s) have to approve it.
    • We will then have a presentation from the Ontario Federation of Agriculture regarding animal activism.
      • I just want to say up front that I have no issue with people speaking their minds and making their voices heard on an issue. However, vandalism, breaking into private property, releasing animals, etc. is several steps too far. If you want change, go about the proper channels and get legislation changed in Ontario. You should not take it upon yourself to damage another person’s property and livelihood.

    Court of Revision

    Government Drain No. 1 will have it’s final day in Council before it’s voted on and either approved or denied.

    Consent Agenda

    • Building report, a slower month than Nov 2018 but still ahead of 2019’s totals.
    • Based on a cost analysis, staff are recommending that the 2020-2022 contract for animal control be awarded to Hillside Kennels from Innerkip, Ontario.
      • I have received a number of messages from residents who have concerns with Hillside Kennels and the distance residents would have to travel to either drop off an animal, or pick up their dog or cat if found astray. These concerns are not going unnoticed, thank you for sending them.
    • Staff are providing a much more thorough update on the current status of the municipality’s asset management program: what’s been done, and the timeline for completion. We’re currently on track to complete is several years ahead of the regulated requirements, and are hoping to obtain a provincial grant in order to pay for 2020’s costs.
    • We have the latest financial update, all of which looks tracking fairly normally.
    • After an RFP process, staff are recommending we maintain our banking relationship with Bank of Montreal for the next five years.
    • And we have a slew of tax write-offs because of buildings razed by fires, classification changes, etc.

    Staff Reports

    • Staff are putting forth an updated and enhanced Respect in the Workplace Policy that adds additional protected grounds of discrimination, better processes for handling and managing a request or complaint, updated investigation and resolution processes, and bringing it in line with the necessary changes introduced by the province’s Bill 168.
    • Staff are seeking final approval of the 2020 budget.
    • Staff are also seeking to convert a contract water/wastewater operator position to a full-time position. It’s been a contract since we brought water and wastewater in-house several years ago, and is clearly a need if we haven’t been able to go without this sixth position in the department.

    There are no items for Committee of Adjustment, and no Public Meetings affecting Ward 4.

    Notice of Motion

    My motion to reduce the unposted speed limit from 50 km/h to 40 km/h will be debated and voted on this Wednesday! I have a good feeling that I have Council’s support, but if you don’t live in Ward 4 (Komoka and Kilworth) and want your Councillor to vote in favour, please get their contact info and let them know!

    Here is the full motion:

    THAT the Council for the Municipality of Middlesex Centre directs staff to bring back a by-law to amend By-Law 2018-092 to the next regular Council meeting for adoption in order to reduce the unposted speed limit on all Middlesex Centre roads within settlement areas from 50 km/h to 40 km/h beginning on May 1, 2020;

    AND THAT a request be sent to Middlesex County encouraging the County to enact the reduction of the speed limit on all County owned roads in Middlesex Centre within settlement areas from 50 km/h to 40 km/h;

    AND THAT staff be directed to purchase and erect the appropriate signage at the edges of our settlement areas, and some of our busier streets that intersect with County Roads (e.g. Tunks Lane, Kilworth Park Drive, Jefferies Road, Queen Street) as deemed appropriate;

    AND THAT staff be directed to inform residents of the reduction of the speed limits through such avenues as the municipal website, social media, email newsletter, utility and property tax bills;

    AND THAT staff be directed to work with OPP on an enforcement campaign after education has been ongoing for 60 days;

    AND FURTHER THAT staff be directed to report back to council with the financial implication of implementing the vision zero speed reduction program.

    Correspondence

    Some interesting items you may wish to read include the Middlesex Centre Archives’ newsletter, news of the County’s new Warden for 2020 (Lucan-Biddulph Mayor Cathy Burghardt-Jesson), and the Lower Thames Conservation Authority’s 2020 parking passes.

    The by-laws put forth ratify any agreements made during the course of this meeting, will confirm myself as the Chair of the Committee of Adjustment for 2020, and a few other miscellaneous items.

    If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please let me know!

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  • Council Recap: Dec 4, 2019

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    If you missed the preview, you can read it here.

    Truly, there isn’t much to say about this meeting. Municipal staff went through each section of the 2020 budget presentation, identifying areas of expense, possible grants, areas of uncertainty (OCIF 2020 grant from the province), and so on. Council voted to receive the report. No significant objections were made by any Councillors.

    And then, my notice of motion to reduce the default, unposted speed limit in Middlesex Centre from 50 km/h to 40 km/h was made known to all of Council and the public, to be debated and voted on on Dec 18.

    By-laws were passed and, after a few hours, we were done!

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  • Council Preview: Dec 4, 2019

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    As always, thanks for opening up this Middlesex Centre Council meeting preview and taking an interest about how your user fees, property taxes, development charges, etc. are spent. Here is the full agenda for the December 4 Council meeting.

    This meeting, since it’s a special meeting, will start at 09:30. It’s a light agenda in terms of the number of items, but the operating budget presentation will likely last a few hours.

    Staff Reports

    • Staff are looking for Council’s direction on whether to apply for the province’s Municipal Modernization Program. If successful, the funds would pay for completing our asset management plan which needs to happen anyway.
    • And then we will look at the 2020 draft operating budget, and the 2020 budget book.

    2020 Budget Highlights

    Capital Budget

    • Councillors Heffernan and Scott were on the budget committee this year (I was previously on the committee in 2017 with Deputy Mayor Brennan)
    • Slide 29 highlights how capital projects will be funded in 2020
    • Overall, capital expenditures has not changed much from last year, but the focus of them has.
    • One way or another, we should finally be implementing live streaming in 2020. The $45,000 currently earmarked is, in my opinion, far too high but is based on an estimate provided by County IT. That estimate included a lot of devices that I don’t think we need, and the CAO and I have spoken about this several times. I’m confident we can get the actual spend down to the $20,000 to $25,000 range.
    • The Wellness Centre will see a small infusion of cash to replace a dehumidifier, cooling tower catwalk, floor scrubber, resurface gym floor, furniture, and some rink boards.
    • A $2,285,000 line item for Old River Road to perform some substantial work to improve the strength and performance of the road.
    • $500,000 to service the land north of the Wellness Centre.
    • A little over $1,000,000 to properly demolish the Kilworth Wastewater Treatment Facility.

    Operating Budget

    • Policing costs are increasing by 6.24%
    • Insurance costs are increasing by 9.7%
    • Conservation authorities increase of 8.4%
    • Middlesex Centre will receive $0 from multiple provincial and federal grants, leading partially to a $1,866,748 decrease in grant revenue that has to be made up
    • Hydro costs increasing by $31,234
    • New asset management software at $20,000
    • Increasing the level of service on playfields including topdressing, fertilizing, aeration and third party grass cutting
    • $610,000 will be spent on maintaining our entire 278km gravel road network including grading and dragging and the application of new gravel on a bi-annual basis to resurface the roads, and applying calcium for dust control once per year

    All this leads to a potential property tax increase of $98 on an home currently assessed at a value of $400,000.

    This could all change if the municipality continues to receive Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund funding, but the province has not told us what the future holds for that program.

    Notice of Motion

    After a long period of research, discussions and seeing what some other municipalities would do, I am finally bringing forth a motion to reduce the unposted speed limit from 50 km/h to 40 km/h! This includes a comprehensive education program and an arrangement with OPP to help us enforce the new by-law if and when it comes into effect.

    If you have any questions, comments or concerns, please let me know!

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  • Council Recap: Nov 27, 2019

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    Hello there! It’s been a very busy few weeks with back-to-back-to-back meetings, the reasons of which I have already discussed. We have another Middlesex Centre Council meeting happening this Wednesday at 9:30am, but in the meantime here is a recap of the Nov 27 meeting.

    Delegations & Presentations

    • Mr. Logtenberg presented the bridge needs assessment from his firm.
    • 105(!!) bridges across Middlesex Centre. The majority of them fall under “Fair” condition, quite a few in “Good” or “Excellent” condition, but 10 with less than a score of 40 and therefore need to be repaired or replaced fairly soon.
    • Mr. Logtenberg identified some examples of quick wins to bring some bridges up to standard while also doing standard repairs.
    • Questions around pre-fab, different materials, culverts, and other things. PWE has some operating budget for repairs, but it’s a fairly small number. PWE will be taking this report and prioritizing items over next few years to keep bridges in good shape. Report received for info.
    • Cara Finn, Director of Economic Development for the County then did her presentation.
    • County maintains a local business directory (http://investinmiddlesex.ca) that’s free for businesses to join, and is searchable by community.
    • There is http://workinmiddlesex.ca — job fairs, youth forums, experiential learning, workforce attraction, and employer round tables.
    • There’s also http://visitmiddlesex.ca designed around tourism. Cara can get you hooked up regardless of how economic development can help you.
    • Presentation received.

    Consent Agenda

    • Cllr Heffernan asked questions regarding animal control by-law revision to include regulating cats.
    • Consent agenda approved and received. The animal control by-law was later passed and now includes regulation of cats at large (like we thought it did until recently).

    Committee of Adjustment

    • Application for minor variance at 125 Erie Ave was approved, subject to 20 day appeal period. I asked question regarding lot coverage max (still 35%) and asked the applicant about when they knew setback minimums (they knew when purchasing the property).

    Public Meetings

    • Items 10.1 and 10.2 passed quickly.
    • Lots of discussion around item 10.3. This isn’t new territory for us, allowing a dwelling unit above a garage (especially in a rural area). After some time, we voted and it’s approved.

    Staff Reports

    • Item 8.1 deferred back to staff based on Council feedback received.
    • Long discussion about Item 8.2 and 2020 capital budget. In the end the direction was to keep the new Ilderton fire engine in the 2020 budget and sell the existing one once we get it, and to include the dog park in the budget.

    Correspondence

    We discussed the CN correspondence, staff are waiting for more info and an action plan from CN. Correspondence received for information.

    And then all the by-laws were passed! That’s it for Nov 29. If you have any questions, please let me know.

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