Whitby Council Highlights - March 2024

On March 18, Council voted in favour of a motion directing Town staff to do a “comprehensive review” of Whitby’s Procedure By-law. Staff will report back to Council before the summer recess with recommended amendments based on a scan of practices at other municipalities and consultation with Council members. The procedural matters being reviewed include Council remuneration, delegations, meeting start and end times, notices of motion, speaking limits, and the appointment of a Deputy Mayor. The goal of the review is to address meeting efficiency and enhance public participation.

Council has approved a new Administrative Penalty System (APS) to streamline how parking tickets are issued, as well as the process to dispute them. Under the current system, Town staff issue parking tickets at the time of the offence, and disputes or challenges are heard before the Ontario Court of Justice, Provincial Offences Court. A Town report notes this is “a slow, time-consuming and frustrating process for municipal staff, residents and the public.” The new APS model will see the Town introduce an in-house quasi-judicial process for hearing and resolving parking ticket disputes, thereby removing the process from the court system. APS has been implemented by many Ontario municipalities, including the City of Oshawa. APS will allow tickets to be issued faster and without the need for the infraction to be served at the time of the offence. The Town has acquired licence plate recognition technology, which will allow by-law officers to do parking enforcement at multiple schools during pick-up and drop-off times. The new by-laws will not come into force until May 1, 2024, to allow time for Town staff to transition to the new system and communicate the changes to the public.

Council is asking the Province to amend the Get it Done Act to include the removal of tolls on Hwy. 407 East from Brock Road in Pickering to Highway 35/115. In February, the Province announced new legislation will be introduced this spring through the Get it Done Act, which -- if passed -- will prohibit Ontario from introducing new tolls on provincial highways and potentially require public consultation before considering new tolls. The motion approved by Council on March 18 notes that if this legislation is approved, Hwy. 407 East would become the only tolled provincially owned highway in Ontario “resulting in unfair economic impacts to Durham Region residents and businesses.” The motion also references upcoming work to widen Winchester Road in Whitby, which will necessitate reducing Winchester Road to one lane of traffic in one direction over two construction seasons. Removal of tolls on Hwy. 407 East “would improve overall travel times and alleviate the traffic impacts on surrounding Regional and local municipal roads during the Winchester Road construction.” The motion approved by Council will be circulated to the Premier and the Minister of Transportation, all Durham MPPs, all Durham municipalities, the City of Kawartha Lakes, the Township of Cavan Monaghan, the City of Peterborough the Ontario Trucking Association, and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture.

A report from Town staff that went to Council on March 18 provides an overview of Mayor’s Community Development Fund activity (MCDF) for 2023. The fund is financed by the annual Mayor and Council’s Golf Tournament and Mayor’s Gala. In 2023, MCDF provided $189,624 in monetary grants and silent auction awards. This included lead grants of $15,000 for Feed the Need in Durham to support a new “market model” food bank in Whitby; $15,000 for Victim Services of Durham Region to support the Teen “In Real Life” education program for local youth, and $15,000 for Melly’s Place to support training and skill building for adults with intellectual disabilities. An additional grant of $25,000 was awarded to Lakeridge Health Foundation to support fundraising for a new hospital. As well, 45 community grants with a total value of $119,624 were awarded in 2023. Council received the report for information.

On March 18, Council approved a revised Public Notice Policy to reflect the fact that Metroland Media ceased print publication of the Whitby This Week newspaper in September 2023. The Town’s existing Public Notice Policy was approved in 2016 and referenced certain public notices being distributed via the print newspaper. Notices previously provided via community newspaper will now be provided through the Town’s website, under the “Latest News” section. “The benefit to this approach is that the website homepage is highly visible to residents generally interested in the Town and its activities, and the website allows members of the public to subscribe to receive email notification when a notice is published,” the report notes.