City of Ottawa

[J.OT13]

• Video Link

[J.OT13]

Will Sutcliffe stay true to his promise of a "balanced" approach, ensuring representation from all areas of the City, or will he pull a Watson and stack the deck with the usual suspects?

City committees to be formed today

Ted Raymond, CTV News Ottawa
December 13, 2022

We will find out today who will sit on the city of Ottawa’s standing committees and who will chair them.

The nominating committee meets today to nominate councillors who will sit on the various committees, sub-committees and boards that decide which items are presented to city council for approval.

This term of council will have 10 standing committees, one sub-committee, and two quasi-judicial bodies with Councillor members.

The standing committees will be:

• Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee
• Audit Committee
• Built Heritage Committee
• Community Services Committee
• Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services Committee
• Environment and Climate Change Committee
• Finance and Corporate Services Committee
• Planning and Housing Committee
• Transit Commission
• Transportation Committee

The Finance and Corporate Services committee was known as the Finance and Economic Development Committee—a.k.a. “FEDCO”—in the previous term of council. It is made up of the chairs of each standing committee, Transit Commission and up to two members-at-large.

The Built Heritage Committee was a sub-committee last term. Council has also split the Community and Protective Services Committee into two standing committees, the Community Services Committee and the Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services Committee.

The Transit Commission this term will not have citizen commissioners.

The one sub-committee in this term of council will be the Light Rail Sub-Committee. The two quasi-judicial bodies will be the Committee of Revision, made of up one member each from the Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Planning and Housing, and Transportation committees, and the Court of Revision, which will include three or five members of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

Councillors were asked to identify the Standing Committees, the Transit Commission and Sub-Committees on which they wish to serve, in order of preference.

“The Nominating Committee is requested to review the information and make recommendations to Council keeping in mind the need to ensure a City-wide balance and perspective, as well as recognizing as much as possible each Councillor’s previous service, experience and areas of interest,” a report prepared for the committee says.

Council will formalize the committees on Wednesday and committees will begin meeting in the new year.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/city-committees-to-be-formed-today-1.6191709

[J.OT13]

Heavily suburban centric again. Urban Councillors will Chair relatively inconsequential committees (some of those Chairs weren't even on FEDCO last year). At least Hubley is off of transit.

• Video Link

PDF showing how each Councillor ranked their choices.

https://pub-ottawa.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=104171

[Williamoforange]

https://twitter.com/KatePorterCBC/status/1602726353450721285?s=20&t=igKxuQlaeU5LS0aqMSfniw

Looks fine to me. 3 "Urban chairs" of 12 committees so 25 percent... Above there pop totals.

[J.OT13]

Here are your city of Ottawa committee members

Ted Raymond, CTV News Ottawa
December 13, 2022

The city of Ottawa’s nominating committee has named chairs, vice-chairs and members for the city’s standing committees, subcommittees, and boards.

The nominations announced Tuesday will rise to council Wednesday for approval.

This term of council will have 10 standing committees, one sub-committee, and two quasi-judicial bodies with Councillor members.

STANDING COMMITTEES AND SUBCOMMITTEES

Agriculture and Rural Affairs:

Chair: George Darouze

Vice-Chair: Clarke Kelly

Members: David Brown, Catherine Kitts, Matthew Luloff

Audit Committee:

Chair: Cathy Curry

Vice-Chair: David Brown

Members: David Hill, Wilson Lo, Theresa Kavanagh, Catherine Kitts, Allan Hubley, Marty Carr

Built Heritage Committee:

Chair: Rawlson King

Vice-Chair: Stéphanie Plante

Members: Clarke Kelly, Ariel Troster, Jeff Leiper


Community Services Committee:

Chair: Laura Dudas

Vice-Chair: Jessica Bradley

Members : Ariel Troster, Marty Carr, Steve Desroches, Wilson Lo, Allan Hubley, Theresa Kavanagh

Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services Committee:

Chair: Riley Brockington

Vice-Chair: David Hill

Members: Allan Hubley, Laine Johnson, Stéphanie Plante, Clarke Kelly, Laura Dudas, Matthew Luloff, Sean Devine, Steve Desroches, Jessica Bradley

Environment and Climate Change Committee:

Chair: Shawn Menard

Vice-Chair: Marty Carr

Members: Riley Brockington, Cathy Curry, Rawlson King, Tim Tierney, Matthew Luloff, David Hill, Theresa Kavanagh, David Brown, Sean Devine

Planning and Housing Committee:

Chair: Jeff Leiper

Vice-Chair: Glen Gower

Members: Theresa Kavanagh, Tim Tierney, Catherine Kitts, Clarke Kelly, Cathy Curry, Ariel Troster, Wilson Lo, Laura Dudas, Laine Johnson, Riley Brockington

Transit Commission:

Chair: Glen Gower

Vice-Chair: Cathy Curry

Members: Riley Brockington, Marty Carr, Wilson Lo, Tim Tierney, David Hill, Jeff Leiper

Transportation:

Chair: Tim Tierney

Vice-Chair: Catherine Kitts

Members: Steve Desroches, Sean Devine, George Darouze, Glen Gower, Jessica Bradley, Matthew Luloff, Ariel Troster, Laine Johnson, Laura Dudas, Wilson Lo

Finance and Corporate Services Committee:

Chair: Mayor Mark Sutcliffe

Vice-Chair: Catherine Kitts

Members: George Darouze, Cathy Curry, Rawlson King, Laura Dudas, Riley Brockington, Jeff Leiper, Glen Gower, Tim Tierney

Members-at-Large: Matthew Luloff, Catherine Kitts

Light Rail subcommittee:

Chair: Steve Desroches

Vice-Chair: Cathy Curry

Members: Tim Tierney, Glen Gower, Jeff Leiper

The Finance and Corporate Services committee was known as the Finance and Economic Development Committee—a.k.a. “FEDCO”—in the previous term of council. It is made up of the chairs of each standing committee, Transit Commission and up to two members-at-large.

The Built Heritage Committee was a sub-committee last term. Council has also split the Community and Protective Services Committee into two standing committees, the Community Services Committee and the Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services Committee.

The Transit Commission will not have citizen commissioners this term.

The one sub-committee in this term of council will be the Light Rail Sub-Committee. The two quasi-judicial bodies will be the Committee of Revision, made of up one member each from the Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Planning and Housing, and Transportation committees, and the Court of Revision, which will include three or five members of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

The nominating committee named five members to the newly-created light rail subcommittee, but Coun. Theresa Kavanagh asked if it could be expanded to six members, with her as the sixth, to create a balance of men and women on the committee and because of the effect of LRT on Bay Ward in Stage 2. That request will have to be debated by city council on Wednesday.

BOARDS

Councillors have also been named to various boards.

Here is which councillors will sit on each board:

Ottawa Police Services Board:

Mayor Mark Sutcliffe, Marty Carr, Cathy Curry

Ottawa Public Library Board:

Chair: Matthew Luloff

Council Members: Jessica Bradley, Rawlson King, Catherine Kitts

Ottawa Board of Health:

Chair: Catherine Kitts

Council Members: Rawlson King, Glen Gower, Theresa Kavanagh, Laura Dudas, Marty Carr

Hydro Ottawa Holding Inc.:

Laura Dudas for the mayor, and Cathy Curry

Ottawa Community Housing Corporation:

Chair: Theresa Kavanagh

Council Members (in addition to Mayor ex officio): Marty Carr, Stéphanie Plante, Glen Gower

City of Ottawa Superannuation Fund:

David Brown, Marty Carr, George Darouze

Ottawa Community Lands Development Corporation, in addition to the Mayor:

Clarke Kelly, Laine Johnson, Jeff Leiper

Crime Prevention Ottawa:

David Hill for the Mayor, Allan Hubley

Ottawa Film Office:

Sean Devine (for the Mayor)

Shaw Centre Board of Directors:

Jessica Bradley. Stéphanie Plante

Rideau Valley Conservation Authority:

Shawn Menard, George Darouze, Theresa Kavanagh

Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority:

Clarke Kelly, Glen Gower, Cathy Curry

South Nation Conservation Authority:

George Darouze, Catherine Kitts

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/here-are-your-city-of-ottawa-committee-members-1.6191709

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Williamoforange

https://twitter.com/KatePorterCBC/status/1602726353450721285?s=20&t=igKxuQlaeU5LS0aqMSfniw

Looks fine to me. 3 "Urban chairs" of 12 committees so 25 percent... Above there pop totals.

This is certainly an improvement over the Watson era.

[Williamoforange]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

This is certainly an improvement over the Watson era.

Yep now they're overrepresented as committee chairs..../s

[SL123]

Menard seems to be the councilor with the least amount of committees.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by SL123

Menard seems to be the councilor with the least amount of committees.

Not surprised. He seems hard to work with.

[SL123]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Not surprised. He seems hard to work with.

Yeah I'm not surprised to see this at all. Only confirms what I thought about the guy.

[Proof Sheet]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Not surprised. He seems hard to work with.

He would get in an argument in a room by himself. He made his support of Councillor McKenney for mayor so blatent which probably played into it.

[rocketphish]

'A new tone': Returning councillors praise Sutcliffe's approach to committee chair appointments, with (almost) all veterans matched with leadership roles
Another (ad-hoc) committee of mayor and councillors to deliberate today

Taylor Blewett, Ottawa Citizen
Dec 13, 2022 • 33 minutes ago • 3 minute read

It may sound like inside baseball, but the assignment of committee and board posts was an early test of Mayor Mark Sutcliffe’s resolve to improve relations around the council table.

And according to some of those on the outside of last term’s so-called “Watson Club,” the new mayor is off to a good start.

At a Tuesday meeting, Sutcliffe and an ad-hoc committee of returning city councillors passed a list of recommended appointments to council’s 11 committees and various board seats, as well as those to fill chair and vice-chair positions.

Sutcliffe told reporters afterwards that he thinks the choices set “a new tone moving forward and a new level of expectation that I’m going to work with everyone on council and everyone on council is going to work with me.”

The doling out of committee jobs, including chair positions, has been a charged process in the past. In 2018, for instance, just two of the nine members appointed to planning committee represented wards inside the Greenbelt, and a last-ditch attempt to add two urban councillors was shut down by Watson and a council majority.

Shawn Menard was one of those rejected additions, and said that Tuesday felt “very different” from appointment day, four years ago.

“There’s a team environment that’s being fostered here,” said Menard, on his way to a meeting with the mayor ahead of the following day’s council meeting, on the heels of being endorsed to chair the environment and climate change committee.

All of those tapped to chair committees and boards are returning councillors from the previous term, with the exception of Riverside South-Findlay Creek Coun. Steve Desroches — who is still technically a council veteran, having represented his ward between 2006 and 2014. He’s the pick to chair the new LRT subcommittee, created by council last week.

The only returning councillor not recommended for a chair position was Kanata South’s Allan Hubley. His standing in the appointment process had been one to watch, on the heels of an LRT inquiry report that highlighted that Hubley as transit commission chair had access to information about the LRT system, through a WhatsApp group with top bureaucrats and the mayor, that the commission said council ought to have had, but wasn’t given.

All council members were surveyed on their appointment preferences, and Mark Sutcliffe said the process of finalizing the list of recommendations that nominate committee passed Tuesday involved multiple meetings with its members: Riley Brockington, Cathy Curry, Glen Gower, Theresa Kavanagh, Catherine Kitts and Tim Tierney.

Bay ward’s Kavanagh was also part of the nominating committee as a rookie councillor back in 2018, and said this year’s process was markedly different – she got to see the list of recommendations and share any feedback she had ahead of time, while her first look at the list in 2018 came when she took her seat for the nomination meeting.

“It was impossible to raise questions, the way it was structured (in 2018). So, big difference,” said Kavanagh, selected this term to chair the board of Ottawa Community Housing and sit on a total of four council committees.

The planning and housing committee is set to be chaired for the first time in years by an urban councillor: Kitchissippi ward’s Jeff Leiper, who was passed over for the job in 2021 after the longtime chair, Barrhaven’s Jan Harder, resigned. Instead rural councillor Scott Moffatt and suburban Stittsville Coun. Glen Gower became the committee’s co-chairs.

Leiper said Tuesday he was “really pleased” to get the change to lead planning committee, and saw in the mayor’s approach to committee picks an effort to be more inclusive of downtown voices.

“I think under the previous mayor. It would have been very difficult to imagine that myself and Councillor Menard, two urban councillors, would be chairing committees,” said Leiper

“The media has heard over and over again that everybody intends for this be in a more collaborative, a more collegial and more inclusive council, and today was another sign that that may in fact manifest itself.”

Council will have the final say on the various appointments, with an opportunity to make changes ahead of voting.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...ayor-and-councillors-to-deliberate-today

[rocketphish]

Council approves budget crafting around 2.5 per cent cap on property tax increase
Many of the dissenters expressed their concern that a budget built under this revenue constraint would mean even less capacity to deliver the projects and services that residents say they want.

Taylor Blewett, Ottawa Citizen
Published Dec 14, 2022 • 4 minute read

Arguing that the new city council’s first budget can be both “compassionate and fiscally responsible,” Mayor Mark Sutcliffe secured support Wednesday to craft it based on a municipal property tax increase of between two and 2.5 per cent.

It was what Sutcliffe campaigned on, and was universally endorsed by councillors who represent suburban and rural wards outside the greenbelt. But wasn’t something most urban councillors chose to get behind, at least at this stage in the budget process.

Many of the dissenters expressed their concern that a budget built under this revenue constraint would mean even less capacity to deliver the projects and services that residents say they want, while external economic circumstances — from inflation to provincial housing-supply Bill 23 — pressure city finances.

“These are absolutely difficult times financially for the residents of our city, but they’re also difficult times financially for the bottom line of our city,” said Knoxdale-Merivale Coun. Sean Devine, one of nine councillors who voted against including a maximum 2.5 per cent tax increase in directions for the crafting of the budget. That increase won’t get final approval until the budget does, in the spring, and marks a change from four years of three per cent increases under former mayor Jim Watson.

“My experience of trying to maintain city services over the course of the last eight years with arbitrarily low tax caps has been that city services continue to deteriorate,” said Kitchissippi ward. Coun. Jeff Leiper. “Our staff do their best, but we can’t keep asking them to do what they need to do with the same resources. They need more resources from us.”

The police services board, transit commission, Ottawa Public Library and Ottawa Public Health board were also asked, with Wednesday’s vote, to draft their respective budgets based on the same two to 2.5 per cent tax increase assumption.

Gloucester-Southgate Coun. Jessica Bradley supported the overall increase, but dissented on the police board component.

For the average urban home, assessed at value of $415,000, a 2.5 per cent tax hike works out to an $104 increase on the household’s property tax bill, with the city-wide levy rising by $66, the police levy going up by $17 and the transit levy increasing by $21, according to city staff calculations.

A two per cent tax increase would collect $22 less from the average urban home.

Alta Vista ward Coun. Marty Carr said she’d felt conflicted about whether to support the mayor’s budget direction on taxes — she campaigned on position that they should rise by at least three per cent.

“My word is full of roads and sidewalks in desperate need of repair. My aging community facilities, two of them are being used to house the homeless population.”

But Carr said she’d also heard from homeowners struggling to pay their taxes because their pensions are not indexed to inflation, those with kids who can’t cover their mortgages with the increase in interest rates, and some residents forced to find extra sources of income — including picking up bottles or scrap metal.

“I would be remiss to not acknowledge that for struggling homeowners … every little bit makes a difference.” However, Carr added, “I am also terrified of the cuts to programs and services.”

Sutcliffe has repeatedly asserted that he would make no such cuts while delivering on a plan to have taxes rise just 2.5 per cent at most in each of his first two years.

“I intend to work with all of you to challenge city staff to find savings and efficiencies so we have more resources to invest in the priorities of our residents,” he told his council colleagues Wednesday.

“Just like families across Ottawa have to tighten their belts this year more than ever, we need to work together to ensure that the city does the same.”

The councillors who voted against the mayor’s proposed tax increase for budget-building were Theresa Kavanagh (Bay), Laine Johnson (College), Rawlson King (Rideau-Rockcliffe), Ariel Troster (Somerset), Riley Brockington (River) and Shawn Menard (Capital), as well as Carr, Devine and Leiper. All of the other councillors voted in favour of it, as did the mayor.

The draft 2023 budget will be tabled at council on Feb. 1. Various committees and boards will consider the components they’re responsible for over the course of the month, including hearing from members of the public who want to provide feedback.

Council will deliberate and take a final budget vote — including approval of the property tax increase — on March 1.

The public will have an opportunity to weigh in ahead of the tabling of the draft budget through the city’s consultation website, Engage Ottawa, and through any consultation opportunities their ward councillor decides to arrange.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-new...-5-per-cent-cap-on-property-tax-increase

[DarthVader_1961]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-brownfields-grants-pause-review-cip-1.6686946

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by DarthVader_1961

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-brownfields-grants-pause-review-cip-1.6686946

As expected.

[rocketphish]

City of Ottawa approved $90M in brownfields grants in 5 years
Zibi project's $60M grant approved under old rules when incentives were higher

Kate Porter · CBC News
Posted: Dec 27, 2022 4:00 AM ET | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

The City of Ottawa has approved more than $150 million in tax breaks for developers who clean up contaminated sites since the program began 15 years ago, although it has paid out far less than that.

City council voted to pause the brownfields grant program earlier this month while it awaits a review. Some council members including Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and Coun. Shawn Menard want to make sure the city doesn't offer subsidies to encourage the redevelopment of former gas stations, print shops and other derelict sites where developers would likely build anyway.

By the time the program was a decade old in 2017, the city had approved grants exceeding $70 million, often with little discussion.

Those included multi-year tax breaks worth several million dollars each for the expansion of the Rideau Centre and the 900-home redevelopment of the former Oblates lands in Old Ottawa East.

Since then, however, the city council of 2014-2018 approved the largest brownfield grant to date — up to $60.8 million for the major Zibi redevelopment on Chaudière and Albert islands on the Ottawa River in 2018.

Nearly $30 million followed for various projects, including $10.5 million in the final months of the last term of council.

Last June, council approved up to $4.3 million in brownfield grants over 10 years to Lofty Riverside GP Inc. for a planned tower on Bank Street between the Billings Bridge Shopping Centre and the Rideau River.

It also approved up to $665,000 to Claridge Homes over 15 years for the triangle of land between Baseline and Merivale roads and Clyde Avenue, where the developer intends to build 10 residential buildings of nine to 13 storeys each.

While council has approved tens of millions of dollars under the program, Don Herweyer, the city's interim general manager of planning, real estate and economic development, notes the actual payment can be far less in a given year.

That's because construction can take many years, and payments too are spread out. Council also approves the upper limit of a brownfield grant, but the actual remediation costs might be lower.

As for the extraordinarily large grant approved for the Zibi redevelopment in 2018, Herweyer points out it was approved under older rules — before the city reduced the level of brownfield incentives.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/brownfields-grants-data-from-2017-to-present-1.6693607

[J.OT13]

I think these grants were key to getting Zibi off the ground. But the Rideau Centre, I'm not sure it made much of a difference.

I imagine NCC will be decontaminating anything and everything at LeBreton before putting them up for bidding, so these grants won't be needed.

[LRTeverywhere]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

I imagine NCC will be decontaminating anything and everything at LeBreton before putting them up for bidding, so these grants won't be needed.

Lots already done luckily, the main section a number of years back was dug out and remains a giant pit.

[rocketphish]

Mayor Sutcliffe calls for trust, affordability in 2023 opening remarks
New mayor's address to council much briefer than some from years' past

CBC News
Posted: Jan 25, 2023 2:27 PM EST | Last Updated: 2 hours ago

Ottawa faces a "challenging time" and council will need to keep life affordable for residents in 2023 while also winning back their trust, Mayor Mark Sutcliffe says.

Sutcliffe delivered a brief address Wednesday to kick off the first council meeting of the year — one much shorter than state-of-the-city speeches delivered by former mayor Jim Watson, some of which lasted close to an hour.

Speaking for roughly 12 minutes, Sutcliffe cited challenges like the rising cost of living, the ongoing housing crisis, more people struggling with homelessness and mental illness, and the recent LRT shutdowns.

He also expressed optimism that after a tumultuous 2022, council would "put the events of last year" behind them.

"There's no question that after the convoy and the light rail inquiry, many Ottawa residents finished the year feeling like our collective reputation has been damaged," Sutcliffe said.

"Despite all that, I am filled with hope."

Sutcliffe, whose election campaign included a promise to raise property taxes no more than 2.5 per cent, said affordability "must be a priority" as council gets set to table its 2023 budget next week.

"We'll need to communicate transparently on the state of our finances, and the much-needed improvements we need to make in housing, transit, emergency and social services, the environment and public safety," he said.

That transparency, Sutcliffe said, goes hand in hand with a wider need for council to rebuild public trust — although he acknowledged there would be bumps along the way, particularly when it comes to the transit network.

"It's not going to be perfect. There will be service challenges. There will be unforeseen weather events. There will be communications issues. There will be other obstacles and events. No public transit system in the world runs at 100 per cent efficiency."

Sutcliffe said he'd already noticed a "spirit of collaboration" around the new council table, a marked contrast from the acrimony that at times dominated the last months of Watson's tenure.

"Let's continue to be respectful to each other," he urged. "Because we're all working hard, and we all want the same thing: a better city for everyone."

With files from Trevor Pritchard

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/sutcliffe-remarks-first-council-meeting-2023-1.6725698

[Truenorth00]

Watson 2.0.

Just look at how quickly he jumped on the story about Ottawa being an overrated tourist destination but not a peep when the LRT is down. Exactly what a "pro-business" mayor who doesn't actually use transit would do.