Burlington City Council Passes Recommendations from Jan. 16 CSSRA Committee Meeting

If you missed our Burlington City Council meeting on Monday, Jan. 27, here are some of the highlights of what we did — for a full recap of all the recommendations carried by Council from the Jan. 16  Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability (CSSRA) Committee meeting, please click the links:

• Post-Meeting Minutes - Corporate Services, Strategy, Risk and Accountability Committee_Jan16_2020 /
• Post-Meeting Minutes - Regular Meeting of Council_Jan27_2020

• STRUCTURE FOR TWINNING RELATIONSHIP — Clerks Department Office report, moved by me at committee.Approve the proposed structure for twinning relationships contained in Appendix A (Twinning structure) of clerks department report CL-02-20.Carried unanimously by Council.Staff report: CL-02-20 Structure for twinning relationships; Appendix: Appendix A Twinning structure (report CL-02-20).MY TAKE:I wholeheartedly support what our committee has brought forward to us in the structure of our twinning models. This is established practice in many other communities, such as Toronto and even in Apeldoorn too. We are providing the framework committee and council want to make further decisions in regards to any potential future twinnings or friendship cities. • OFFICIAL DELEGATION TO APELDOORN, THE NETHERLANDS — Clerks Department report, moved by me at committee.Authorize travel of an official delegation to Apeldoorn, the Netherlands in May 2020 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of twinning between the City of Burlington and the City of Apeldoorn, comprised of the Mayor, Councillor liaison to the Mundialization Committee, City Manager or designate, a member of Clerks staff, Chair of the Mundialization Committee and the Chair of the Apeldoorn sub-committee to be funded from the Corporate Mundialization Initiatives account and the Mundialization Reserve Fund; andApprove the purchase of a commemorative gift up to a value of $2,000 including shipping, as the official gift from Burlington to Apeldoorn on the occasion of the 15th twinning anniversary; andApprove the purchase of a key to the city to present to the Mayor of Apeldoorn, funded from the Mundialization Committee's budget.Carried unanimously by Council.Staff report: CL-03-20 Official Delegation to Apeldoorn, NetherlandsMY TAKE:There is tremendous value in the twinning relationships we have established that go back 30 years. A trip exchange occurs every 5 years only, the balance of the relationship being by mail, email or other means. The City of Burlington receives direct economic benefit when a delegation from one of our twin cities along with their citizens visit us, including hotel, restaurants and tourism. Other substantive benefits are outlined in several public reports on the trip that have come before council and were approved.The annual budget for the Mundialization Committee is $17,250.  Delegations make up such a small amount of the total budget that it works out to pennies per $100,000 current value assessment (CVA) of Burlington properties (it was approximately $0.04 in 2019).  In addition the total budget for all of the City’s advisory committees is $54,200 – that means Mundialization represents more than 30 per cent of the total of all advisory committees.In addition, with paperless technology, email and mobile phones, council members continue to do city business while on any trip — often while on holidays throughout the year, and regularly during evenings and weekends. This city business includes reading and writing reports, responding to constituent emails and queries, liaising with staff on city matters, providing updates to constituents and more. You get more than weekday, full-time hours out of all council members at any time of the year, whether we are in the city or elsewhere. It’s a 24/7 calling. — Burlington Mayor Marianne Meed Ward—*Posted by John Bkila, Mayor’s Media and Digital Communications Specialist