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Present: John Schitka
Leyton Collins
Judy Stephens -Wells
Lori Trumper
Jeff Brown
Staff: Laurie Majcher
Jenn Grein
Regrets: Amber Sare
Roberto Villamar
The meeting began at 4:05 p.m. with John Schitka in chair.
COMPASS KITCHENER MINUTES
July 5, 2017 — 4:00-6:00
Schmalz Room, KITCHENER CITY HALL
Roberto Villamar Adam Hammoud
Lynn Gazzola TangulBilgehan
1. Review of June Agenda
With the addition of the Fall Advisory Committee Gathering under Working Groups, and Resignation under Other
Business,
On motion by Lori Trumper, Seconded by Judy Stephens -Wells, it was resolved:
"That the agenda for July 5, 2017 be accepted."
Carried Unanimously
2. Review of June minutes
With the correction of one typo from item 5,
On motion by Leyton Collins, Seconded by Lori Trumper, it was resolved:
"That the minutes from June 7, 2017 be adopted."
Carried Unanimously
3. Follow up to Minutes
E Nothing at this time.
4. Input to Community Engagement Plan — Leyton Collins
• Leyton provided a brief description of how this draft was brought together, including a broad summary of why each
area of the report was considered for inclusion. Laurie clarified, focus this meeting should be on content of report
rather than layout/formatting of report.
• Laurie clarified that the Compass Kitchener Advisory Committee assists with the development of the Strategic Plan
through assisting with development of the Community Priorities. Further, she advised this engagement will be used
for the future Strategic Plan 2019-2022, rather than 2015-2018 listed.
• Collaboration referenced towards the end of the document is with other committees through future Advisory
Committee Gatherings, rather than between staff groups.
• Additional information regarding engagement through Compass Kitchener to be presented by Laurie, and perhaps
will add clarification to this process.
• Further feedback welcome to Leyton prior to next meeting. Laurie and Leyton to meet to further discuss. Item to be
added to next agenda.
5. Community Engagemen
With use of a PowerPoint presentation, Laurie provided information on Community Engagement in development of
the Community Priorities. She shared information on the purpose of engaging citizens, the city's role in encouraging
engagement, as well as the importance of engagement. The committee discussed engagement on Community
Priorities and the two questions presented with members providing their input/feedback on various ideas discussed.
How will the decisions on priorities for the next term of Council impact people?
0 1 pay taxes and I want some input on where my tax dollars go — invest in those things that are most
highly valued
0 1 plan to grow old in this community and I hope my children do too, so it is important to me what kind
of city this will be in the decades to come
0 As a citizen, it's important to me to know that the city is moving in a positive direction, resolving
problems and taking advantage of opportunities
0 The strategic plan will tell me if this is a city I want to live in based on the values that it represents,
and it will attract other people that share those same values
0 Citizens will feel more connected to a city that they have had a role in creating, and want to have a
voice in the path that is chosen for the future
July 5, 2017 2 CITY OF KITCHENER
What is the level of concern or interest in the community in these decisions?
o People are so pressed for time they are not focused on this
o Those people that have a strong passion or huge problems/issues are probably the strongest
interest in participating
o It may depend on how you frame the issues — if people see it as relevant to their everyday lives they
take more of an interest
o There's a difference between people that have an opinion and those that are opinionated
How important is it to get people involved that may not have an interest?
o It is important to make sure people are aware of how to get involved and that they have access to
opportunities to have input.
o The problem may be a lack of engagement as opposed to a lack of interest — how do we get people
engaged?
o People need to think about the long term, think about what's important to you now and address it
before it becomes a big problem.
o involve the less interested in a different way or time to— work with those groups that have an interest
and test the results of that process with the broader community
o Be cautious about bias resulting from only most vocal citizens — average citizens may shut down if
they can't relate to the outcomes from the process (extreme views)
o Community research may help us identify those people that are experiencing problems that we need
to reach out to and encourage engagement
o We already have a list of community groups and stakeholder groups that we can use as a resource
to involve people
o Starting the process with a community survey using a statistically representative random sample
gives everyone a voice and will help to eliminate any significant bias in the identification of priorities
provided the questions are worded objectively.
o People that are interested because they have issues and/or problems that need to be addressed
have significant barriers that make it difficult for them to participate — there is a difference between a
lack of interest and a lack of access to the process. We need to plan for how we will address both.
■ Laurie provided further information on the Environics Survey and the input received via this engagement method,
which has been used each time we begin the strategic planning process and offers a great baseline of information
for the engagement to grow from.
■ Laurie reminded the committee that they are the team that will ultimately make this move forward; it is important to
use resources wisely and plan on what can be achieved.
6. Student involvement with Community Engagement
■ Members to review information provided and respond to Adam with information prior to next meeting for
consideration.
■ Item to be added to September or October meeting depending on timing of other items.
7. Strategic Action Plan
Open Government
■ Participatory budgeting is a democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend a
portion of the city's budget. The City of Kitchener has partnered with the University of Waterloo to test the viability
of Participatory budgeting concepts within Kitchener. On June 5th, Council directed staff to conduct two
participatory budgeting pilot projects for the design of Sandhills Park and Elmsdale Park, and that both be
completed by the end of 2017. Funding for each project is $100,000. Staff will report back to Council on the
results in early 2018.
Strong and Resilient Economy
■ Make it Kitchener identifies the need to establish a creative hub for arts and the creative sector to support the
economic success of industries like music, film, interactive media, theatre and other disciplines. In December of
2016, Council approved the recommendation to locate the creative hub at 44 Gaukel Street, and directed staff to
issue a call for Expressions of Interest (EOI) to operate the creative hub at that location.
■ On June 26th, Finance and Corporate Services Committee were advised that two proposals were received,
however both of them failed to meet the established financial model criteria. The City will continue to work with key
partners to develop alternative creative hub concepts and operating models.
Safe & Thriving Neighbourhoods
■ Council and residents of Kitchener have requested that interim, low cost traffic calming measures be implemented
on roadways to help alleviate safety concerns until such a time that a formal traffic calming review takes place
and/or on roadways that may not meet minimum traffic calming warrant thresholds. On June 12, Community and
Infrastructure Services Committee approved recommendations to establish two locations per ward to execute radar
July 5, 2017
CITY OF KITCHENER
speed display signs and four locations per ward for flexi-pole display signs that are mounted in the centre of the
roadway to communicate with drivers about things like reduced speed zones ahead, or crosswalk ahead.
Sustainable Environment & Infrastructure
■ The Iron Horse Trail is getting lighting several years ahead of schedule, thanks to provincial funding awarded for
transit and transportation projects across the region. The project will also include widening and resurfacing a one -
kilometer section of trail. The funding, through the Public Transit Infrastructure Funding (PTIF), will allow the city to
install pedestrian lighting between Victoria and Queen streets, up to $400,000, and continue the surface and
corridor improvements from Victoria Street to the CN bridge (north of Gage Avenue), up to $200,000. The trail
improvements and lighting will improve safety and make it easier for more people to take advantage of this vital
transit corridor. The lights themselves will be LED and carefully designed to eliminate light spill and minimize glare
onto neighbouring properties.
Effective & Efficient City Services
■ On June 12th, Community and Infrastructure Services Committee approved 14 recommended changes to the City's
property standards by-law to ensure core services and business processes are effectively meeting the needs of
neighbourhoods by addressing issues with vacant buildings, unsightly storage, exterior lighting, and mold among
other things. In addition, staff have identified a number of opportunities to improve resident education of this by-law
as a way of achieving voluntary compliance without enforcement.
■ John encouraged everyone to review the slide deck and stay up to date on this information as it will be vital when
creating the report card. Laurie reiterated the importance of reviewing this information.
8. Working Groups Update
■ Report Card Working Group — John and Judy met, and have come to understand this is a fairly intensive project.
Laurie has been providing information in the Strategic Action Plan section each meeting and this content will form
the basis for working though the report card, although there may be some additional information. John is suggesting
that we double meetings for October and November to ensure the committee is able to get through content. Further,
the measurement scale will need to be considered, John provided an example of the smiley faces buttons for input
when leaving the grocery or at the airport. A tool of this nature could possibly be used when engaging the
community for input and feedback. Laurie cautioned that Council will request more information than just a positive
or negative and that an additional input should be considered for this process to help Council and staff further
understand reasoning. Further, Judy suggested engagement take place with other advisory committees to assist
with grading. Looking for simplicity on how to engage the community for the report card. Jenn to send out request
for additional meetings.
■ Advisory Committee Gathering of Chairs — Documents shared regarding this, may review at a future meeting.
Purpose was to share between committees and this was accomplished. As an overview, 9 of 11 committees
attended and they were quite engaged. Everyone had the opportunity to provide a summary of what their committee
is focusing on. Time is an issue but they felt this meeting was very valuable, and some even remained after the
meeting to continue conversation. Every committee except Heritage identified a connection to the Strategic Plan.
Jenn to share synopsis with committee chairs/admins.
■ Advisory Committee Gathering (fall) — Jeff and Adam feel they are able to proceed with this meeting. John also
offered to continue to be a resource. Fall meeting will be a larger meeting as it is open to all committee members.
Small budget is available, however this is very limited. Reportcard may be an item for consideration for engagement
at this event.
9. Other Business
■ John advised Birgit has submitted her resignation.
10. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 6:12 p.m.
Next Meeting: August 2, 2017
Location: Schmalz Room