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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCompass Kitchener - 02-06-13 COMPASS KITCHENER MINUTES February 6, 2013 – 4:00-6:00 Caucus Room, KITCHENER CITY HALL Present: Theron Kramer Chris Hyde Sarah Marsh Tristan Wilkin David Yoon Chris Kopar James Howe Karim Fathi Mark Paul Moni Lagonia Diana Bumstead Staff: Mark Hildebrand Jenn Grein Sue Weare Janice Ouellette Karla Cote Regrets: Holly Duff 1. Review and Approval of Minutes  Subject to one correction to a committee member’s name, the minutes from January 9, 2013 were approved by Compass Kitchener. Moved by Chris Hyde, Second by Mark Paul. Carried. 2. Follow-up to minutes Mark and Karim will be joining the Voter Turn-out sub-committee.  Moni will be joining the Civics 101 sub-committee.  Chris Hyde to be added to the Strategic Plan sub-committee.  3. Subcommittee/CK Relations Theron expressed the importance for the sub-committees to be clearly connected to the full Compass  Kitchener advisory committee and continue with updates so members remain engaged and up to date on all progress taking place. Theron provided clarification on sub-committee processes. Sarah added that sub-committees often report  back to the full group before making any major decisions and seek the full committee’s support prior to moving forward. Eg. Report card group does not seek approval on each adjustment to measurements, however when they recommended moving to a two year reporting cycle, they sought approval from the group before proceeding. The number of sub-committees has increased in the last few of years for various reasons. Previously, the  full group would focus on items together. Compass Kitchener will need to consider availability of staff resources, when moving forward with  additional actions or subcommittees. Would be beneficial to have guidelines on when items should return to the committee for decision,  however it’s difficult to determine hard and fast rules, they will need to be flexible. Sarah and Janice will work together to develop a document of examples of decisions made by sub-  committees vs. the full committee as well as best practices of other committees. Compass Kitchener agreed to discuss sub-committee break out time within future CK meetings on the  March agenda. 4. Voter Turn-out – Diana Bumstead Randy Gosse attended Compass Kitchener in the past to provide information and a recommendation on  internet voting. His report to Council came to the same conclusions that the Voter Turn-out sub- committee came to – i.e., that the experience of internet voting in other communities does not necessarily increase voter turnout in municipal elections. Research by the Voter Turn-out Committee concluded that in order to increase voter turn-out broad community engagement between elections needed to be increased. This and outreach to marginalized groups is the main thrust for the recommendations in the report sent previously to CK members. At this point in time, no formal report to council is required as outlined in recommendation 3, given that Randy’s report has already been received and accepted by council. One of the key segments with low voter turn-out is the general population, making it equally important for  us to reach out to all residents, not just identified groups. January 18, 2011 CITY OF KITCHENER - 2 - The committee discussed the degree of detail analyzed with the turn-out information from the last  election. Theron outlined information considered by sub-committee, indicating the spread between municipalities was not large. The group also agreed to the importance of considering what is working well for similarly sized municipalities, and potentially partnering with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) for advertising elections. It’s beneficial for the sub-committee to remain in contact with the Office of the City Clerk, however not  necessary for them to participate on sub-committee. One member suggested there may be a larger concern here that residents are not involved in our  community, and by considering only voter turn-out the sub-committee is only considering one small piece of the puzzle. Sarah clarified, there is a full pillar within the Strategic Plan, focused specifically on Leadership and Community Engagement. This is a key focus area for the city as a whole. Consensus that the Voter Turn-out sub-committee continue to consider how these recommendations will  move forward. 5. Other Business Report Card sub-committee: Karla has developed a plan on how to move forward. The group is drafting a logic model for inputs and  expected outcomes which will seek to inform the report card moving forward. Would like to take this to other advisory committees as well as reach out to staff and return to Compass Kitchener with feedback and updates before preparing a report for council. With approval, data collection would start for 2013. There would not be a report card for 2012. Currently, the group is working off of past Environics and Who Are You, Kitchener? (WAYK) processes,  which are over three years old. The next Environics survey is planned for Fall 2013, followed by WAYK in spring of 2014, and the first full updated report card in the summer of 2014. At this point, the sub-committee has not yet decided if the report card should run annually, or every other  year. This will be recommended in the near future. Local Environmental Action Fund (LEAF): Theron provided a very brief background on the LEAF fund for new committee members, highlighting the  recommendations put forth by the committee as heard from the community through consultation in the spring 2012. He provided a summary of the presentation to council as well as other delegations presentations council  considered at the first meeting. Various motions were considered by council that day, as alternatives of Compass Kitchener’s  recommendations. Ultimately, it was decided that final decisions would be made on budget day on January 17 and that the  Compass LEAF Report would be referred to the November 26 meeting for discussion. After the meeting, Council was polled on what they wanted to see done with the dollars remaining in the fund. On November 26 again the report was not discussed as the items brought forward by individual council members were the focus. Staff were asked to return with a report on how these dollars could best be utilized for trail development, with a number of councillors requesting that the report also include options for support for natural areas On January 17 staff presented their report with no $ allocated to natural areas. With budget finalization,  Council agreed to provide $1.4M to trails, $500K to debt reduction, and $600K to parks (including Huron Natural Area, and $320,000 to eradicating the Emerald Ash Borer.) This sums $2.82M as the fund had decreased by the time budget day arrived. Further, Council decided to reduce funds to the Community Environmental Improvement Grants (CEIG).  This decision was not in line with Compass Kitchener’s recommendations. Concern was raised that the Compass Kitchener report may not have been fully considered due to  various delegations and discussions at each of the Council meetings. The group agreed a larger concern is that there is no longer seems to be leadership within our community  for environmental stewardship as development and maintenance costs for trails will be coming from this additional funding rather than part of the infrastructure funds for the city. Additionally, there are no funds January 18, 2011 CITY OF KITCHENER - 3 - in place for development and care of natural areas, as highlighted as key in the Environmental Strategic Plan. Council provided many thanks to the committee for the time and effort expended.  The committee agreed, it is vital that residents feel heard when they have been engaged, and for good  engagement to continue, even if the decision of Council alters from the recommendations put forth. Meeting adjourned at 6:00 pm. Next meeting: March 6, 2012 Location: Caucus Room Attendance: CK Attendance 2013-14.xls