Essex County Council Special Meeting Minutes

Meeting #:
Date:
Time:
7:00 PM - Essex County Road Network Designation Visioning Session
Location:
Council Chambers, 2nd Floor
360 Fairview Avenue West
Essex, Ontario N8M 1Y6
519-776-6441, ext. 1335
Council:
  • Warden Tom Bain
  • Deputy Warden Ken Antaya, Mayor, Town of LaSalle
  • Joe Bachetti, Deputy Mayor, Town of Tecumseh
  • Marc Bondy, Deputy Mayor, Town of LaSalle
  • Aldo DiCarlo, Mayor, Town of Amherstburg
  • Bart DiPasquale, Deputy Mayor, Town of Amherstburg
  • Al Fazio, Deputy Mayor, Town of Lakeshore
  • Hilda MacDonald, Deputy Mayor, Municipality of Leamington
  • Ron McDermott, Mayor, Town of Essex
  • Gary McNamara, Mayor, Town of Tecumseh
  • Richard Meloche, Deputy Mayor, Town of Essex
  • John Paterson, Mayor, Municipality of Leamington
  • Gord Queen, Deputy Mayor, Town of Kingsville
  • Nelson Santos, Mayor, Town of Kingsville
Administration:
  • Mary Brennan, Director of Council Services/Clerk
  • Brian Gregg, Chief Administrative Officer
  • Rob Maisonville, Director of Corporate Services/Treasurer
  • Tom Bateman, Director of Transportation Services/Engineer
  • Renée Trombley, Manager Corporate Communications and Accessibility
  • Katherine Hebert, Council Services Administrative Assistant

All members of Essex County Council were in attendance.

 

There were no conflicts of pecuniary interest declared.

The Warden welcomed members of Council, staff and members of the public and stated that the purpose of the special meeting was for Council to participate in a visioning session regarding the Essex County Roads Network Designation..

Katherine Hebert, Council Services Administrative Assistant joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Renée Trombley, Manager Corporate Communications and Accessibility joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Tom Bateman, Director of Transportation Services/Engineer joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Rob Maisonville, Director of Corporate Services/Treasurer joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Brian Gregg, Chief Administrative Officer joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Mary Brennan, Director of Council Services/Clerk joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Nelson Santos, Mayor, Town of Kingsville joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Gord Queen, Deputy Mayor, Town of Kingsville joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
John Paterson, Mayor, Municipality of Leamington joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Richard Meloche, Deputy Mayor, Town of Essex joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Gary McNamara, Mayor, Town of Tecumseh joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Ron McDermott, Mayor, Town of Essex joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Hilda MacDonald, Deputy Mayor, Municipality of Leamington joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Al Fazio, Deputy Mayor, Town of Lakeshore joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Bart DiPasquale, Deputy Mayor, Town of Amherstburg joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Aldo DiCarlo, Mayor, Town of Amherstburg joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Marc Bondy, Deputy Mayor, Town of LaSalle joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Joe Bachetti, Deputy Mayor, Town of Tecumseh joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Deputy Warden Ken Antaya, Mayor, Town of LaSalle joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.
Warden Tom Bain joined the meeting at 7:04 PM.

Report Number 2017-R001-ADM-0118-BG, dated January 25, 2017 from Brian Gregg, Chief Administrative Officer

Mr. Gregg provided an overview of the goals of the Visioning Session as it related to the designation of the County Road Network goals. He introduced Roger Bryan, a retired Partner, Advisory Services for KPMG, who acted as the facilitator to the discussion. Mr. Gregg outlined 2 fundamental questions:

  1. What do you consider to be the role/purpose/function of the County Road Network?
  2. What factors and influences should be contemplated in developing the criteria to establish whether a road qualifies as a County Road?

Mr. Gregg indicated that the responses to these questions would serve as indicators for the staff to consider when developing a Terms of Reference for a detailed Roads Designation Study. He explained the Terms of Reference would be included in a formal Request for Proposals to engage a consultant and that Council's endorsement of the Terms of Reference, along with the engagement of a working group take place prior to the issuing of the RFP.

Mr. Bryan engaged Council to answer the two questions - in a timed three minute response, in turn, with the order drawn at random.

Question 1 - What do you consider to be the role/purpose/function of the County Road Network?
 
Gord Queen - County Roads are adequate throughways which connect municipalities and moves people and goods throughout the County. County Roads also have to take into consideration linkages for growth areas and take into consideration schools, EMS, Active Transportation and high traffic areas, as well as provide efficiencies, even in emergency situations.
 
Richard Meloche - County Roads connect each municipality in a direct manner. County Roads consider the efficient flow of traffic for commuting vehicles during all seasons. County Roads designation should also consider the long term goals of the County of Essex as it relates to development, tourism and CWATS.
 
Joe Bachetti - The role of County Roads is to connect the municipalities to one another in an efficient manner, while collaboratively working with lower tier municipalities to achieve the goals of the region. Need to define the criteria and make arrangements for critical review of these terms on a 10 year cycle.
 
John Paterson - The need for a County Roads system has changed since the last review took place. Consideration should be taken for giving all roads to the lower tier municipalities and reduce the County levy assessed to lower tier municipalities accordingly.
 
Tom Bain - County Roads are areas of high traffic, with vehicles moving through the County. Municipalities need to work collaboratively with the County to ensure transportation of goods such as greenhouse products and auto parts is efficient. There needs to be a definition for local roads as well. The County of Essex will have to consider the economic impact of the Roads Designations.
 
Marc Bondy -Factors such as residential traffic volumes, commercial traffic, moving goods, type of vehicles that use the roads and also working with the local municipalities are all factors that need to be considered. There needs to be a fair manner that the levy will be decided for each municipality. There has to be a re-evaluation of what is considered to be an equitable apportioning of the levy for County Roads.
 
Gary McNamara - Decisions should be based on quantifiable counts and statistics of traffic flow. Need the discussion to remain at the strategic level. Consideration should be given to what best practices from other two tier municipalities have been and whether those same considerations could be appropriate for Essex County. Engage local municipalities and develop an RFP to engage a consultant to provide an array of options for Council to consider.
 
Ron McDermott - Collaborative engagement with lower tier municipalities on mutual goals for Roads Designation.
 
Aldo DiCarlo - In order to define what is a County Road, we will also have to consider the definition of a municipal road. Definition used in last report seems to still apply. Applying those definitions to existing roads to see if they still fit and then considering a fair process of assessing a levy is paramount.
 
Ken Antaya - County Roads are main throughways that deliver traffic throughout the County of Essex. Need to thing about what serves the County as an entire region and not just each municipality. Need to demonstrate it is a fair system for each member municipality.
 
Al Fazio - Important to consider entire County when acting as a County Council and not only considering our own municipal interests. The goal for a County Road network would be to connect all of the communities in an efficient and direct manner. Points to consider when determining which roads are County roads are traffic count data, growth areas, tourism areas and future planned commercial routes.
 
Hilda MacDonald - Council will have to consider the role, purpose and function of each road and then compare each with the definition of a County Road. There should be interconnectivity between municipalities, servicing more than just one municipality.
 
Nelson Santos - Since the last designation process was undertaken, the geography of the County has not changed, but the municipalities have. The number of municipalities has reduced from 21 which had fairly equal roads to now 7 and the County Road designation is no longer equal. There has been significant development and growth since that time and the needs of the County traffic has changed too. The Role today is trying to adapt connecting communities, corridors, trade as well as accommodate the allocation based on growth, traffic counts, and urban centres. There is a need to maintain and identify corridors and to add or move strategically some roads in the County Roads network.
 
Bart DiPasquale - The County Roads are the most important roads within the area. These roads connect North and South, East and West and everything in between. Also, County Roads keep a direct link into and out of the City of Windsor.
 

Mr. Bryant summarized the major points raised by the members including that the process needs to be strategic and regional, integrating needs of local municipalities and to consider factors like fairness. He then asked Mr. Bateman to provide some comments on what extent some guidance to shape this discussion would be drawn on from other municipalities who have undertaken a similar process.

Mr. Bateman noted that there are guidelines and benchmarks that have been used in the past, as well as used by other upper tier municipalities in Ontario for their own designation exercises. There is no set specific template or criteria for this type of undertaking, as it is a truly unique undertaking for each upper tier municipality. Engaging a consultant to come up with a variety of options to consider for the Essex County road matrix will be key to a thorough review and designation process.

Mr. Bryant opened the floor up for further discussion on what defines a County Road Network. Roger - weigh in on what is a county road network

Mr. Antaya indicated that County Roads and Municipal Roads should be complimentary to each other and one should not dominate the other. He noted that there must be involvement with the local municipalities in this process.

Mr. Paterson questioned whether individual municipalities would be better served economically by assuming all of the roads and responsibility for same, within their areas.? He noted that Council alternately will have to work collectively to better apportionate the levy for County Roads to municipalities according to the County Roads they house.

Mr. McNamara noted that there was a need to look at the economic viability of moving goods and services. There is a need to look at alternative ways to raise money to fund roads, other than property taxes. He raised the issue of considering the application of a development charge for new development in order to mitigate the cost of County Roads. Funding through growth models have worked in other areas and may be applied in this circumstance. He further noted that the Town of Tecumseh sustained a financial hardship because of the land transfer of 2002 to the City of Windsor and that there was an agreement for some improvements to some road in Tecumseh which still have not been completed.

Mr. DiCarlo asked for clarification on whether the goal of today's session was to define what is a County Road or to get into the funding options.

Mr. Bryan advised that those are two different discussions and focus of this meeting was to determine the purpose, design and function of a County Road and also to give consideration to the development of an RFP. He noted that once the criteria of what a County Road should be, then from a Study it can be determined what the Network would look like and then determine how best to fund it.

Mr. Santos noted that if the existing model is determined to still be applicable, then perhaps a revised funding model can be applied to better accommodate all municipalities in an equitable manner. Consider perhaps a hybrid assessment that considers geographic area, kilometers of road, population and assessments combined in some weighted manner.

Mr. Meloche indicated that the best interests of all municipalities will have to be considered which is why the County Roads system should be considered with a regional mindset. Some municipalities are largely urban and some largely rural, and the distribution of County Roads is not balanced.

Mr. Antaya expressed that his concern is for the inequality. He feels LaSalle pays far more of the County Levy for Transportation Services than they benefit from the Service.

Mr. Bryant thanked the members of council for their input on the first question. He noted that the same process would be undertaken for the second question. He stated that Administration was seeking guidance on how administration should proceed with the RFP to define a County Road Network. After this is determined, then Council will be able to decide on a funding model. The role of administration will be to assemble the comments and seek the commonality in responses.

Question 2 - What factors and influences should be contemplated in developing the criteria to establish whether a road qualifies as a County Road?

Aldo DiCarlo -Need to identify the roads that will be most efficient, direct and that will move people and goods most effectively throughout the County. These are County Roads and everything else is a local road.

Tom Bain - The flow of traffic and types of vehicles that utilize the roads will have to be considered. Also, speed limits will have to be taken into consideration, if the idea is to move traffic efficiently and expediently, then there is a need to have an appropriate speed limit, shoulders and traffic signals will be at a minimum. Perhaps should be looking at toll roads.

Ken Antaya -He noted that LaSalle gets no funding from Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) which is supposed to be a source of equalization funding. LaSalle wants to be a good partner but there needs to be a more equitable system.

Ron McDermott - Considers all roads within the County of Essex to be County Roads. The question is defining which roads are the most important among the roads so that the County can assume responsibility for their maintenance.

Al Fazio - To consider the geographic size of the municipality and the kilometers of roads that exist within it is important. There are varying sizes of municipalities within the County of Essex and that should be taken into consideration when designating County Roads and allocating the funding model. The reality is this is a two tier government and the upper tier has the role of maintaining a County Roads system in the best interest of the County as a whole.

Gord Queen - When designating the roads it will either be a County Road or something else, either way hard facts will have to be considered and an equitable manner for the funding of the levy is going to have to considered. Maybe a model that mitigates inequities over a longer time period would be suitable. Will have to consider 5 or 10 year models and these will have to be revisited regularly. If roads are to be transferred to local municipalities, they need to be well maintained, quality roads.

Gary McNamara - Quantifiable data, traffic counts, growth projections and statistics will be of utmost importance to be able to justly designate the County Roads. We will have to answer the question of what the road means to that municipality and what it means to the County. Is it critical to the efficient movement of goods. We will have to establish a network of roads that will benefit all our communities. It would be beneficial to have a forecasted plan on a ten year cycle to revisit the designation plan to see what the status is.

Bart DiPasquale - Important to hear the needs and concerns of each member municipality keeping in mind that we need to make decisions collectively.

Joe Bachetti - Council will need to consider whether there are historical commitments through previous budgets or agreements to maintain or expand certain County Roads.  i.e. through restructuring, and grandfather those provisions into any new model.  For specific roads, status of the assets and road conditions will have to be considered if the transfer of the road is deemed appropriate. Maybe it is time for the County to consider becoming a regional government.

Hilda MacDonald - We must look to fairness in the assessment allocation. This undertaking has been put off long enough and when we consider the importance of moving traffic, moving goods, commuting workers, and attracting out of area economies we will have to have County Roads that efficiently move people through the County of Essex and it's municipalities.

Nelson Santos - We need to consider where people go.  Whether going to centres of employment or moving goods, there is a need to look at destinations. Need to consider connecting links between existing provincial highways and focus logically on the region.  Want to avoid low speed limit roads.  The geography can't be ignored and any new plan needs to reflect the future growth and development.  Need to consider redundant County Roads and perhaps reducing those designations where need be.

Marc Bondy - Suggestion that if looking at a true partnership, need to take all roads off and once a definition of a County Road is established, let municipalities make a case to the County about which of their roads should be a County Road.  Let each local muicipalities decide what roads they want to put forward for consideration as a County Road.  Questioned if there is still a need for connecting links.

Richard Meloche - Agree that traffic counts will have to be considered, it is most important to keep moving people, moving goods, and linking communities.

John Paterson - Still do not think there is a need for a County Road system, but perhaps say that any road that has a speed limit of 90km/h or greater is a County Road.

Mr. Bryant closed the roundtable for the second question of the session. He asked for additional comments if anyone had more to add.

Mr. McNamara added that a Technical Review Committee should be developed to review the RFP.  Engagement of the lower tier technical staff would be valuable to the process.

Mr. Gregg indicated that local municipal engagement is intended for the process.  He stated that Administration has taken extensive notes of the feedback received during the visioning session and will use that to draft terms of reference and then will provide to Council for review, prior to issuing and RFP.  He noted that Administration is aware that Council wishes to move quickly on this.

 Al Fazio - He noted that he was hearing that there is a need to spread funds fairly throughout the County and that all municipalities need to work together.  Pulling out will not solve any issues.

 

 

 

 

Being a By-law to confirm the proceedings of the Council of the Corporation of the County of Essex (January 25, 2017)