January 5, 2013

I’ve previously written about my thoughts one year and two years into this Council term. Here are some of the highlights from year three:

• The Northdale Land Use and Community Improvement Plan study was put into force by the Ontario Municipal Board with only two site-specific appeals remaining to be decided. Two mixed-use projects have already been approved by Council in compliance with the new vision. We also hosted the IBM Smarter Cities team, who provided $400,000 of free consulting services. Their final report will be tabled early this year, and I look forward to their advice on how to address the numerous non-land use challenges we face in Northdale. I was pleased to provide my own input into the process along with dozens of local residents, university officials, and business leaders.
• We have kept and will keep tax increases low, including property tax rate increases of 1.89% in 2011,  2.16% in 2012, 1.55% in 2013, and 1.25% in 2014 including storm water costs. On average, these rates are lower than Kitchener, Cambridge, and the Region and have generally been in line with CPI-X, the Bank of Canada’s core inflation rate index. The actual tax rates charged are substantially less (0.78%, 1.09%, 0.51%, and 0.23%) as we transferred $2,400,000 in storm water costs out of the operating budget and into it’s own utility 25% at a time. After years of pushing for better communication to residents of how we use public funds at City Hall, I was also pleased that staff produced an annual report that better highlights our financial position and our key accomplishments.
• We reorganized City Hall, reducing seven departments to three and positioning ourselves to meet new challenges more efficiently and effectively. Without increasing the tax-supported cost of staffing, we were able to add resources to economic development, communications, project management, active transportation and heritage planning, and environmental sustainability. This will allow us to retain and attract jobs in Waterloo, communicate better to residents, drive further efficiency within the hundreds of capital projects the City undertakes, develop a heritage plan to balance our past with future growth, prepare for managing the impacts of LRT, and provide the leadership our community expects of us on the environment.
• Beechwood South residents overwhelmingly approved a special area levy, which allows the neighbourhood to sustainably fund their tennis court and pool facility. I was pleased to provide advice to their executive on how to implement their local solution and navigate through City Hall. I have also engaged other residents in Beechwood and Sugarbush on rental housing issues, empowering them to work with our staff to maintain and improve their quality of life.
• The much anticipated Clair Lake and Clair Creek rehabilitation project is substantially completed. The Clair Lake Community Task Force, comprised of local Beechwood residents, has done a fantastic job of making sure we get this project right. There are still a few implementation issues from our contractor that we will be looking at this year alongside the task force.
• We doubled our neighbourhood matching fund, which has allowed neighbourhoods to fund innovative, local projects that build community. This program matches modest city dollars with neighbourhood fund raising or labour to achieve even bigger things. I look forward to releasing funds in 2014 to allow this highly successful initiative to continue.
• We approved our first Culture Plan, which looks at culture as more than just art galleries and symphonies to recognize the value of all of your creative endeavours, from sports to gardening. Cultural vitality is critical to our economic prosperity, and our plan seeks to enhance the capacity of culture providers and community members to enliven our community. Most of the recommendations can be accomplished within existing resources, which is important as we do not have substantial new resources available over the plan’s ten year time frame.
• Finally, economic development has become a key priority of Council, as we cannot afford to rest on our past successes. Council approved seed funding from our new economic development reserve to support Canada’s Technology for Food initiative (CTFF). This region is home to a significant food and beverage processing industry, and I was proud to support an first-in-Canada initiative to marry our community’s technological expertise with this critical industry. CTFF joined the Mayor and CTT’s recent trip to Germany and the Netherlands, netting some early leads that could generate investment and jobs in Waterloo Region.

On a more personal note, I was pleased to connect one on one with more than a hundred constituents at their homes to answer their questions and hear their concerns. I was also happy to host a Jane’s Walk, touring more than two dozen people through Northdale and our new plan. This last year of the current Council term will continue to present challenges for us to manage on behalf of our community. I will continue to look for your input and involvement as we work to make our City an even more vibrant and inclusive community that supports all of our residents. Feel free to contact me about the issues that matter to you by emailing me at jeff.henry@waterloo.ca