[Philbilly]

From the mayor city council meeting

Big meeting of Moncton City Council tonight! We started with a public presentation from the Magnetic Hill Concerned Citizens...and this AWESOME clay sculpture of City Council by Jayden Moore! We then had some poetry from our Poets Laureate (Kayla Geitzler and Jean-Philippe Raîche) and learned about what they will be working on over the next couple of years. Good news: we will now be able to receive our water bills digitally (if you choose!). The Heritage Conservation Board updated us on their progress and we had a high level presentation on our upcoming (Nov 13-15) budget deliberations. The General Operating Budget = $161.8M; Utility Operating Budget = $41.1M and the Capital Budget = $47.3M. The assumptions for the budget preparation and our deliberations are: 1. Net debt will remain at $15.5M for 2020+2021; 2. 75% of capital will go into existing infrastructure (asset management); 3. If we want to increase service levels we will need to decrease other services (or increase tax rate); 4. We will use reserves to fund years where there is a shortfall. Deliberations should be fun!

In Planning Matters we approved a “cash in lieu” situation at Gorge Road and Mountain Road for a new development behind the Second Cup.

And finally, the real meat of the meeting: the engineering report on the north end and Mountain Road. Council voted to revert back to four lanes and add a dedicated bike lane on this part of Mountain Road (in a future budget, but in the meantime, come up with an active transportation plan for the area) and Council voted not to consult the public about the possibility of opening Casino Drive/Muirfield/Twin Oaks and to keep it as is, i.e., no changes.

We awarded a tender to purchase 10 medium duty trucks (Dartmouth Motors=$638,969), awarded a contract for short-term vehicle rentals (EconoLeasing) and awarded an RFP for professional engineering services in the Lewisville and East End for Infrastructure upgrades (Englobe Corp=$365,837