HomeMy WebLinkAboutCompass Kitchener - 05-02-12COMPASS KITCHENER MINUTES
May 2, 2012 – 4:00-6:00
Schmalz Room, KITCHENER CITY HALL
Present: Theron Kramer Kim Knowles Holly Duff Tristan Wilkin
Sarah Marsh Chris Kopar David Yoon Diana Bumstead
James HoweSue MorganChris Hyde Hanan Mohamed
Staff: Shelley Adams Jenn Grein
Other Guests: Councillor Janecki
Regrets:
The Compass Kitchener Advisory Committee met on this date, commencing at 4:05 p.m. Theron welcomed all
members to the meeting.
1. Approval of Minutes
?
The minutes from April 4th were approved.
Moved by Sue Morgan, Second by Holly Duff.
2. Update from Subcommittee
Civics101 - Chris, Holly and Janice met with Ernie Ginsler, Rotary is looking at doing a pilot project for
?
introducing civics to youth, the program discussed has been used in the United States, and pairs up
students with mayor and council. On the Elementary side, one teacher has confirmed, one is awaiting
confirmation and one has declined participation in the program.
LEAF Consultation – there has been a series of meetings – Theron, Diana, Tristan, Hanan, Shelley, and
?
Jenn are participating. The group has reviewed the survey, next it will be approved by Jeff Willmer,
Pauline Houston and Communications and Marketing. Public meetings have been scheduled – Saturday,
June 9, 9:30-11:30 and Tuesday, June 12, 5:00-7:00. An all committee will be held on Tuesday, May 29,
4:00-6:00, Theron requested Compass Kitchener members to participate as facilitators, and provided a
sign up sheet. Additionally, we will have a table at the Kitchener Market to connect with people on
Saturday morning(s) – dates yet to be determined.
Voter Turn out Subcommittee – has received a report from a student working with the city – they will be
?
meeting next week to review this report. The committee includes Theron, Sue, Diana, and Shelley.
3. Report Card Grading
Kim thanked everyone for getting their marks in, all your effort is very much appreciated! This meeting will
?
be spent reviewing the groups marks, starting with the average mark each grade and considering the
ouliers so the group can work towards consensus. With all the feedback received, the report card group
will develop a final document.
Each member of the Report Card sub committee reviewed the priority area they focused on, highlighting
?
marking received from committee members, and outlining comments through the review.
Discussion:
Leadership and Community Engagement
Members commented that the organization needs better tool to measure community engagement.
?
Satisfaction was pretty good, but need to work on tracking and increase experience from good to
?
excellent.
One piece may be missing – youth civic engagement is large piece of the youth strategy which is just in
?
the beginning phases of implementation. Will need to consider this strategy and that this is a priority
moving forward in this area.
Surprised at satisfaction level of volunteers.
?
The question was asked if there is a reason for this area having % where others do not? There is no
?
reason, just the way Chris worked with information. Important to include here how effectively public was
consulted.
January 18, 2011
CITY OF KITCHENER
- 2 -
There is currently no system in place. Working to ensure it is meaningful and it achieves meaningful
?
result. It is not very easy to find reports/meeting information on the current system in place on the
website.
A member asked, If there is no data available, should we be reconsidering how we mark? All answers in
?
this are subjective, and we did not want to put numbers to this since it is still subjective - one person’s
75% can be completely different than another’s. This is the reason the visual was selected.
Arrows in each of the sections were roughly averaged, with the final grade considering the narrative
?
section, indicating the overall feeling. A narrative will be prepared for each area, and distributed to group.
All committee members are being included in the process, all results – arrows as well as comments – are
?
included in the results being presented here tonight.
Comments and marking needs to mesh better – marks seem good but comments reflect otherwise.
?
Downtown
Percentages will not be included in the final presentation or documentation
?
Info on people living/working downtown to be provided by Shelley.
?
Office vacancy is high due to new development but this may not be a good enough reason – when
?
planning to build, the owner would know how much space is being developed and should fill accordingly.
Shelley clarified, there is often a time gap here, and this should be something we keep an eye on over the
years – if it continues, it would be considered an issue, however generally speaking, developers will build
to accommodate growth over the years, not just for what is required at this point in time. It’s also
important to note the city doesn’t always have control over this item.
Environment
Some information that was received outside of the Report Card Working Groups provided summaries
?
indicates no extra trails were developed, and there will be no funding for the bike plan. This is the reason
for the outlying mark.
th
Shelley indicated the report outlining the 5 best bets will be going forth to Council on Monday, May 7,
?
and Compass Kitchener will have more details then.
The group discussed acknowledging REEP in the report card. If they are specifically referenced, is it
?
leaving anyone else out? It was clarified, in the absence of our own engagement and education relating to
environmental programs, REEP and groups like this do the work, so it may be appropriate to specifically
mention them. This will be left to the committee to make a final decision.
Quality of Life
Do we have $/capita info for arts and culture. Region has some of this info, and there has been an
?
increase over last year, due to increase in population. They indicate that $1 from local, $1 from federal
and provincial, and one from private business goes to Arts and Culture Funding. It’s worthy to note that
the city has reached the $1 per capita mark. Is there any ability to comment on what we get out of making
this investment? Kim to follow up with Mark and Shelley.
If we look at the report card overall, truly everything fits under Quality of life. This process is based on the
?
structure the city uses, which was initially decided by Compass Kitchener, so we will continue forward this
way, but acknowledge this.
City chose not to designate some properties Heritage properties, they are now going back to be reviewed,
?
however there is a significant backlog, and it leaves these properties in potential danger. We could report
on how long this backlog is taking to move through and provide feedback on this.
Development
New comers need more support as far as employment goes. There is a newly formed WRIEN group that
?
could be referenced here. What we know from data is that immigrants may need more help integrating
into the community, not just finding a job.
Diversity
Workforce Census data to be provided to subcommittee to use as benchmark.
?
It’s difficult to consider mandatory attendance at AODA training, as it is a legal requirement.
?
January 18, 2011
CITY OF KITCHENER
- 3 -
Interesting that this section has the least amount of grades received. The group agreed it’s mainly due to
?
the lack of information. Moving forward, it’s important to find data and still grade, even if it indicates
needs more data in narrative.
Shelley expressed some concern as the subcommittee made the decision on what to measure, then did
?
not give a grade due to lack of data.
A suggestion was made to include grading and indicate it only reflects 2 of the sub areas, further clarify
?
why in the narrative.
Based on the committees conversation, the sub committee will review, revise as appropriate, and send
?
out to all of Compass Kitchener, including the narrative sections.
As the first time through this new process, all the work the subcommittee has put in to make this happen
?
is very much appreciated! Thanks to all for the efforts!
4. General Business
Volunteer appreciation reception – Jenn will send out to group. This event will be taking place Thursday,
?
May 24, from 5:30-8:30 at the Rotunda in Kitchener City Hall.
Youth awards are begin tonight at 7:00pm!
?
The Safe and Health Advisory Committee, along with Waterloo Regional Crime Prevention Council is
?
hosting a Janes walk this weekend.
Meeting adjourned at 6:05 pm.
Next meeting: June6, 2012
Conestoga Room – Kitchener City Hall
Attendance:
F:\Compass
Kitchener\2012\Compass Kitchener Attendance 2011 2012.doc.xls