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HomeMy WebLinkAboutSafe & Healthy - 2005-01-11SAFE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES JANUARY 11, 2005 CITY OF KITCHENER The Safe and Healthy Community Advisory Committee met this date, commencing at 4:10 p.m. Present: Chair, Councillor B. Vrbanovic S. Bergstra, M. Bowman, S. Fohring, C. Schneider, A. Bender, D. Schnarr, B. Thomlison, D. Bitovski, T. Beaulne. P. Doherty and S. Franzen were in attendance for part of the meeting. Staff: F. Pizzuto, General Manager, Community Services Department S. Adams, Director, Community Programs and Services S. Wright, Manager, Downtown and Community Development J. Dean, Safe City Co-ordinator L. Korabo, Committee Administrator Councillor B. Vrbanovic, Co-Chair, called the meeting to order and undertook introductions. 1. SAFE & HEALTHY COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE - ORIENTATION Ms. J. Dean distributed the following for the Committee's information: A Report Card summarizing the Committee's work in 2004; a listing of Working Groups and their current membership; an excerpt from the Committee's current Work Plan; and, a copy of the revised Little Black Book. Referring to the information circulated, Ms. Dean provided a history of the Committee, its various Working Groups and annual projects. In reviewing the 2004 Report Card, she noted various opportunities for members to become actively involved outside of regular Committee meetings. With regard to Working Groups, members were asked to consider volunteering for any that may be of interest to them and were also encouraged to submit ideas for the establishment of new groups. Several members raised questions of clarification concerning the Working Groups and the relationship of the Downtown Strategic Plan to the work of the Committee. Ms. S. Wright provided a verbal outline of the Strategic Plan, which contained 63 action items identified by various stakeholders. She noted that discussions were underway to determine which action items would move forward to implementation. Ms. S. Adams suggested that prior to the next meeting, staff review the Strategic Plan and extract action items which the Committee may consider undertaking. Ms. Wright offered to provide members with copies of the Strategic Plan - Phase 3 (Implementation) for reference. It was also suggested that members would benefit from receiving a copy of the 'City Hall 101' reference binder which generally outlines the workings of City Hall. 2. APPOINTMENT - CO-CHAIR Councillor B. Vrbanovic opened the floor for nominations for the position of Co-Chair. He noted that the term of the Co-Chair could be either 1 year or 2 years. Ms. S. Franzen nominated Mr. D. Schnarr and no other nominations were forthcoming. On motion by Ms. S. Franzen - it was resolved: "That Mr. Dennis Schnarr be appointed Co-Chair of the Safe & Healthy Community Advisory Committee for a term expiring November 30, 2005." 3. ELECTRONIC MINUTE DISTRIBUTION Ms. L. Korabo advised that the Office of the City Clerk has discontinued hard copy distribution of Council and Committee minutes to staff and questioned if Committee members would be agreeable to receiving meeting minutes electronically. She asked that those members who wished to be placed on the electronic distribution list advise her as soon as possible. SAFE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES JANUARY 11, 2005 -2- CITY OF KITCHENER 4. WORK PLAN Ms. J. Dean advised that the graphics for the Youth Website are almost complete and a meeting will be held in January with Communications staff who will create an image from the graphics for inclusion in the website. Mr. P. Doherty advised that members of the 'Violence in Sports' working group had planned to attend a 'Speak Out' seminar in order to determine if its content was valuable and easily adaptable for other minor sports; however, noted that the seminar is full. As an alternative, he has a video of the seminar available and will circulate it amongst members. 5. STAFF RESPONSE - HOMELESSNESS DISCUSSION DOCUMENT Ms. J. Dean advised that she and Ms. T. Beaulne attended a meeting organized by the Region of Waterloo designed to gather feedback on its Discussion Document on the topic of homelessness. They provided input based on Committee discussions from the October 2004 meeting. For the benefit of new members, it was noted that the Region of Waterloo is addressing its role and that of area municipalities on the subject of homelessness over the next 2 year period. In closing, she advised that copies of the Region's Feedback Summary will be distributed once it becomes available. 6. NEW BUSINESS Mr. D. Schnarr noted that he had learned that Highland Hills Mall, located adjacent to Forest Heights Collegiate, had hired a security guard to patrol over the lunch hour. He stated that the Mall has experienced vandalism by high-school students and questioned if there was an opportunity for the School Boards to work with Police to address this issue. Ms. S. Adams commented that similar vandalism issues had been experienced at Your Kitchener Market; however, staff worked to engage local high-school students by offering them Market discounts. It appears that the students have developed a sense of ownership of the Market and a significant drop in vandalism has been noticed. It was noted that the Community Safety and Crime Prevention Council has recently hired two staff to facilitate bringing groups together to work out problems similar to those being experienced by the Highland Hills Mall. Ms. C. Sadeler, who is being seconded for one year by the City of Kitchener, may have more information on this program. Ms. T. Beaulne offered to contact the City of Waterloo to determine what their approach is regarding student vandalism given the proximity of two universities. Councillor B. Vrbanovic suggested that the Committee may wish to consider organizing a forum in the future involving representation from the Committee, local School Boards, the Community Safety and Crime Prevention Council and the local Youth Advisory Council. 7. ADJOURNMENT On motion, the meeting adjourned at 5:30 p.m. Linda Korabo Committee Administrator