Council Rundown
May 14th, 2024
Meetings of Council on May 14th included a Special Meeting before the Regular meeting for closed meeting item pertaining to a potential acquisition or disposition of land, the Regular Meeting featuring 4 main items and a special meeting following the Regular to deliberate in closed session on the appointment of a community appointee to the Espanola Non-Profit Housing Corporation Board and Training for Council pertaining to Asset Management.
Recommendation regarding Senior Family Membership Category
Council approved a new membership category for the Recreation Complex. As part of the new membership structure at the Recreation Complex, a gap was identified to provide for a category for seniors family which would have typically been covered by the former seniors couple category. To continue with our goals of creating a healthy and active community for all ages, the creation of this membership group will help ease the transition for seniors couples to the new All in one membership. The creation of a “Seniors Family” membership will allow those seniors who purchased the previous “seniors couple” membership to still see a similar savings as prior to the new membership program. This category will help us offer a very economical solution to accommodate those who are within it.
Recommendation regarding Pickleball Tournament Donation Request
Council approved the waiver of facility rental fees at the Recreation Complex for the ice-surface and rink side auditorium in support of the Espanola Pickle Ball Club who is hosting an interclub tournament on June 1st. The tournament is a fundraiser for the club and a portion of the tournament fees are donated to local charities. The waived fees represent an amount of $1,242.
Motions regarding AMO Conference
Council approved that both Councillor Kallioinen and Deputy Mayor Kelly attend the annual AMO Conference in Ottawa in August. Pursuant to Bylaw No. 2834/18, Councillors may attend one conference per year and may attend additional conferences providing they receive Council approval. The Mayor may attend two conferences. The approval from Council was required for Councillor Kallioinen and Deputy Mayor Kelly as per Bylaw No. 2834/18 given their attendance at ROMA in Toronto in January and FONOM in Sudbury earlier this month. Both the CAO/Clerk and Mayor will also be attending AMO in August. In additional to important networking and educational benefits of their attendance at the conference, it is expected that the group will be participating in number of meetings directly with Provincial and Federal Government representatives as part of the Town’s government advocacy strategy.
Motion regarding support for increased Library and Museum Funding
Council approved a member motion moved by Councillor Kallioinen to call on the province to re-evaluating the current funding formula for library services in Ontario. Like many other local government responsibilities, funding from the Province is not sufficiently keeping up with the added costs of operation and capital in today’s economy.
Espanola Non-Profit Housing Corporation Board Appointment
As part of the Special Meeting following the Regular Meeting, Council approved the appointment of Cheryl Kennelly to the Espanola Non-Profit Housing Corporation Board. The Corporation has two seats that Council is responsible for appointing community members to and one of those seats recently became vacant. Following a call for expressions of interest, Kennelly was ultimately selected as Council’s community appointee.
The Council Rundown provides a summary of each Council Meeting. The official record of each meeting is the Meeting Minutes and can be found in the Council Meetings section of the website. Video recordings of meetings are similarly available in the same section. Any questions regarding Council Meetings can be directed to Joseph Burke, CAO/Clerk at [email protected] or by calling 705-869-1540.