MEDIA RELEASE: COUNCIL MEETING - NOVEMBER 21, 2017

November 23, 2017

For Immediate Release

Thursday, November 23, 2017 - Port Hope, ON

Below is a summary of key items discussed at the Municipality of Port Hope regular Council Meeting held on Tuesday, November 21, 2017. The full agenda and staff reports are available on the Council Portal.

Student Mayor for the Day
A full morning of meetings and a tour of Municipal buildings and facilities, followed by chairing the regular council meeting in the evening is how student Mayor for the Day recipient, Adam Jamnicky, spent his time “in office” on Tuesday, November, 21, after winning the student Mayor contest, an initiative that the Municipality launched during Local Government Week in October.

The grade seven St. Anthony Catholic Elementary School student met with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor during a morning meeting, to discuss some of the ideas and suggestions that he had for the Municipality, which included installing LED lights to streetlamps, fixing our municipal roads, expanding some of the Municipality’s sports programs and increasing Port Hope’s environmental initiatives.

The Municipality would like to congratulate Mr. Jamnicky on a job well done.

Naming of Ball Diamonds
Council authorized the naming of the Town Park junior baseball diamond to the “Gord and Hazel Isaac Ball Diamond”.

Members of the community approached Parks, Recreation and Culture (PRC) staff with a proposal to recognize the contributions of Gord and Hazel Isaac to the community by issuing naming rights to the small ball diamond at the Town Agricultural Park (Town Park Jr). Gord and Hazel Isaac were well known in the Port Hope community for their contributions to programming and park stewardship. For more information, please read the full report.

Fire Services Modernization Implementation
After review of the Fire Services Modernization Implementation Report at the November 7 Committee of
the Whole Meeting, Council approved the following items:

1) Modernized organizational statements: Organizational statements provide inspirational words that clearly and concisely convey the purpose, direction and driving forces of the organization. The department was canvassed for the insight into establishing a new set of organizational statements that are known, understand and committed to as we continue to modernize the fire service. The department’s update statements include a Motto, Vision, Mission and Values. Please see the report to review the statements.

2) Organizational structure: Modernizing the roles of full-time staff into areas of responsibility will instill accountability, provide leadership, strengthen team effectiveness, enhance safety and guide the department in preserving legislative compliance and industry best practices.

3) Complement of volunteer firefighters of seventy-five (75): Volunteer firefighters are essential to the delivery of fire protection services in MPH including public education activities such as smoke alarm and carbon monoxide alarm programs, participating in community events and responding to calls for service. The present complement of volunteer firefighters is seventy-five (75) with a recruitment program that is on-going and strategic recruitment that optimizes the availability of the community is the objective.

4) Continue to operate the fire services out of three stations in their current locations: The PHFESD delivers fire protection services from three stations. A review of incident responses, including assembly times, response times, apparatus and equipment requirements and manpower needs to all properties within the geographical areas of the Municipality was conducted using actual, historical data and theoretical increases, and geographic information systems available. This review allows the department to visualize, question, analyze and interpret data to understand patterns and trends. The FSWG recommends that all three stations continue to provide the current levels of service out of our existing stations and locations.

Minutes from this meeting will be available pending approval at the next Council meeting on Tuesday, December 5, 2017, at which point they will become the official record of the meeting.

A recording of the November 21, 2017 Regular Council meeting and the Committee of the Whole meeting is available at porthope.ca/council-communications.

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For more information, please contact:
Kate Ingram
Communications / Community Engagement Coordinator
905-885-4544 x2248
kingram@porthope.ca