Burlington City Council Passes Recommendations from July 8 and 11 Committee of the Whole Meetings

Committee & Council Meetings
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If you missed our Burlington City Council meeting on Monday, July, here are some of the highlights of what we did — for a full recap of all the recommendations carried by Council from the July 8 and 11 Committee of the Whole (COW) meetings, please click the link: Post-Meeting Minutes - Committee of the Whole_Jul08_2019 & Post-Meeting Minutes - Committee of the Whole_Jul11_2019 / Post-Meeting Minutes - Regular Meeting of Council_Jul15_2019.• Burlington Transit's five-year business plan update (TR-03-19) — moved by meThe 2020–2024 Burlington Transit Business Plan will guide the implementation of transit service improvements over the next five years. Burlington Transit hired Dillon Consulting to conduct a peer and policy review, develop vision and mission statements, outline strategic directions, and develop a growth strategy for the next five years.The Appendix A to the report includes a summary of the key strategies and recommendations that are being proposed within the Five-Year Business Plan. Internal consultation (Transit andCity staff) has helped guide the development of these strategies.The recommendation to table the transit department report and refer debate and approval to the Committee of the Whole meeting on Nov. 4, 2019 was approved.

MY TAKE:This is excellent work. Burlington Transit and our Director of Transit Sue Connor have listened to Council and the public. We are moving well along and towards our climate and transit goals. • Award of RFP-204-19 design build and install LaSalle Marina floating wave break (CW-31-19) and LaSalle Park Marina Agreement and Operating Model (CM-05-19) — former moved by me, latter moved by Councillor Paul SharmanThe recommendation for the design build and install of the floating wave was to:

  • Award of the contract to Kropf Industrial Inc., 1 Quebec Drive, Seguin, Ontario P2A 0B2, for $3,438,914.31 including HST 13%; and
  • Approve the purchase of the extended warranty from Kropf Industrial Inc., for $107,350.00 including HST 13%; and
  • Authorize the Manager of Procurement Services to issue a purchase order and/or sign any associated contracts/agreements with the bidder named above subject to the satisfaction of the City Solicitor; and
  • Charge total cost of $4,000,000 (Net HST) to capital order PR0150, financed from the Hydro Reserve Fund, with a minimum $2.1 million repayment by the future LaSalle Park Marina operator through the annual license agreement. (This was a motion I brought forward.)

The recommendation was approved by a 4-2 vote with me and Councillors Galbraith, Nisan and Sharman voting for, and Councillors Stolte and Bentivegna voting against. Councillor Kearns was absent during the July 15 Council meeting.

The recommendation for the LaSalle Park Marina Agreement and Operating Model was to:

  • Table city manager's office report CM-5-19 on alternative operating models for the marina at LaSalle Park to the Committee of the Whole meeting on Sept. 9, 2019 at which time staff will provide a recommendation on a preferred operating model for the marina.

The recommendation was approved by a 5-1 vote with me and Councillors Galbraith, Nisan, Stolte and Sharman voting for, and Councillor Bentivegna voting against.

MY TAKE:The way I saw it, we had three decisions to make — with the first being, did we want a wavebreak? And I have always said I support having a marina and boating use at LaSalle, which gives us a revenue stream. If we have boating there, then we need some sort of a wavebreak. I liked the idea of a floating wavebreak because it doesn’t create the problems our local Trumpeter Swan group brought forward during these discussions and it’s cheaper at approximately $3 million.The second question was then how do we finance this? Taxpayers should not be 100 per cent on the hook for this. This question has always been the one we needed to get right. And we expect the $2.1 million to be repaid from whomever operates this back into Hydro Reserve Fund.The third question is who will run the LaSalle Marina? But that was not something that had to be dealt with at the July committee and council meetings, but it is a question we will eventually have to deal with and figure out.RELATED LINKS:

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