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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDBIA - 2018-02-28 8:30 am – 10:30 am February 28, 2018 City of Kitchener 200 King Street W. Conestoga Room BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING Minutes Present: Linda Jutzi, Erika Holenski, Phong Tran, Councillor Frank Etherington, Paul Walman, Robert Nyman, Councillor Sarah Marsh, Hilary Abel, Shirley Madill, James Mitchell, Meaghan Hawkins. Regrets: Darryl Moore, Chelsea Huber, Kyle D. Cleaver, Berry Vrbanovic, Cory Bluhm. Guests: Grace Bermingham and TJ Flynn The meeting began at 8:30 a.m., Erika Holenski as Chair. APPROVAL OF MINUTES The following two corrections were brought forward for the January minutes: - Correction on page two regarding the finance committee (it will remain blank). - In-camera minutes were taken by a board member and will be updated separate from regular minutes. Moved by Paul, seconded by Phong “That the Board approve the January 24, 2018 meeting minutes.” Carried Unanimously Approval of the January Financials: Communications/internet budget seems higher than normal allocation - is this the norm? Is the budget set properly for this, as it was less in the past? Linda will investigate this and report back to the Finance Committee. Moved by Robert, seconded by Sarah “That the Board approve the January 2018 Financial Statements.” Carried Unanimously WRPS Update WRPS have been going through stats to date and have noticed there are two addresses in the Downtown that are new in the top five for service – 1 Victoria St. S. and 391 King St. W. – both locations are banks (Scotia Bank and TD). They have been contacted to discuss people going into the lobby at night and overnight stays. James advised they have met with the building manager for Victoria Street and he went through the entire security procedure and the police are going to work with the banks to fix it. This week has seen an increase for calls for service – likely due to the warmer sunnier weather; this is the norm and it will increase as spring approaches. It was noted that the Ziggy’s building/parking lot is also experiencing issues. James said he would go visit them. The drug issue is still present, and they are working through it. James advised he is meeting with the Designer for the Downtown App on Monday. Both, Linda and James st are going to Guelph tomorrow (March 1) to do a presentation on the Discovery Team, and how the BIA and the WRPS have been working together it has been seen as successful and other cities now want to learn. James provided a short overview of the app they are working on for the new members around the table. There were suggestions that the app posting be monitored for pertinent posting. Phong suggested the BIA host a seminar on how to deal with difficult people. James advised that these discussions happened in a separate meeting with Kitchener Security and The Working Centre in partnership with St. John’s are looking into doing this in May. Linda will message the Board after their meeting to set this up. James left the meeting at 8:48 a.m. Safe Injection Site – Grace Bermingham Linda felt the board should have a clear understanding of the safe injection sites and introduced Grace Bermingham. Public Health has been doing a feasibility study for the sites. They had a report to Regional Council in 2016 to explore the feasibility of the site and it was approved. They went back to Regional Council in Fall 2017 with the plan. Supervised injection services are designed to have drug users’ support to prevent dying from overdose and link to other services to help with treatment. This also can include having access to other things like showers etc., they are shown to reduce the number of fatal overdoses, they also reduce public injections, as these individuals have a place to go and inject, place for clean supplies. They are seeing an increase in drug use and overdose based on the proxy measures they use. Grace noted that opioid and drug use is happening across the region but there are concentrated areas in central Kitchener, Galt and the Fairway/King area. 80% of overdoses happen in private homes according the Coroner stats. We are seeing more happening in public, it is important to note that the private home overdoses are generally people hiding their drug use. The study has shown that drug users say they would use the sites ensuring that they are safe for them from judgement, etc. What does a site look like in terms of safety; security is a huge piece - secure access, safety for staff and users. Linda asked about location of the site in the Downtown core – safe zones around the sites will work with the Police, to address how to begin to shift patterns of dealing, use etc. without concentrating activity into one area. It has been suggested to do more than one site to help keep activity controlled. The next step is to select the site, need was determined first, recommendations were presented to regional th council yesterday and they will be voted on at the April 10 meeting. Moving forward Public Health will not take the lead but will be involved in the selection process. Grace left the meeting at 9:20 a.m. ION Update – TJ Flynn Safety campaign and testing is happening now. They are using 3 trains to do the testing right now. Communication through website, social media, print media, television, radio, and road signage. He advised that they are going to work with the Downtown Kitchener staff and the BIA as we get closer to the launch date and see how we can promote. They are waiting on confirmation for the free days of GRT and ION to encourage people to use it. Downtown Incentives Report Hilary Abel advised the report is going to committee on Monday, it has been revised several times, staff are recommending the program continue as is and if there is a need to amend the program to allow for upper story lighting along Queen Street. Mural Program The Mural Project is moving forward. The BIA team is working with the City of Kitchener to understand locations and restrictions. The BIA is also working with Emily Robson, Manager of Arts and Culture, City of Kitchener to create the process for artist submission. The judging committee has been selected. Selection of a site has been difficult due to the amount of construction happening in the core. Eby Street has been selected as a high priority and it also reflects the need to provide more to the East end of our boundary. The funding for the mural will be outlined when more is known. We are expecting to announce the artist at the April Board meeting. Motion to approve program. Moved by Paul, seconded by Sarah Carried Phong reserved his opinion on the matter not against but not for either surrounding. In-Camera ADJOURNMENT