On a tie council vote the outcome is that the motion is defeated, which is what happened during the recent Midland special meeting regarding a minor housekeeping building permit fee increase bylaw.
However, that was just the tip of a larger iceberg on indexing, and who pays for what in Midland, that escalated throughout the meeting.
The meeting was held on an emotional night where Coun. Jim Downer’s seat was declared vacant, and was fraught with two hours of power fluctuations and micro-outages as council pushed through the agenda items.
For the public meeting portion, building department staff explained that while the June 2023 building permit fee amendment was approved for an annual increase indexed by the annual budget increase, an oversight meant that the passed bylaw itself didn't include the index increase.
Adding the recommended annual increase to the building bylaw would ensure the fees be adjusted every year. The matter was noted as simply a formality for housekeeping, and included questions from council.
Coun. Catherine MacDonald began by pointing out a wording discrepancy between the bylaw and its general provision, which launched staff into a much deeper back-and-forth led by Bill Meridis into the need for the increase, and his reasoning against it.
CFO Lindsay Barron responded: “As we stand, at the end of this year we’re expecting less than $40,000 left in that (building reserve fund); it can’t sustain another short year. Doing nothing now puts us in a bad position.”
Council were reminded that they were not to "redebate" the matter without a two-thirds majority, which occurred, and after MacDonald requested further clarification on the discrepancy, Meridis called for a recorded vote which tied (nay: Ball, East, Meridis, Prost; yay: Bald, Gordon, MacDonald, Patel) and the entire building permit fee increase bylaw was defeated.
Later in the meeting, a presentation by managing partner Sean-Michael Stephen of Watson & Associates was given regarding an extensive development charges background study, explaining how to recover capital costs within the municipality.
Mayor Bill Gordon brought the topic back to the earlier defeat of the building permit fee bylaw, openly wishing that the development charge presentation had been given before that discussion and recorded vote.
“What happens when we don’t collect from the people who are building these homes and selling them for a profit? Everybody else in the town of Midland pays,” said Gordon. “And that sucks. That is an inequity that we are putting in ourselves. We are forcing everyone else to pay so that someone who’s the beneficiary of a product or service can get a break.
“We’ve decided to embrace non-resident fees to try and fix that inequity,” Gordon added. “We’ve decided that free parking in the town of Midland right now is not a long-term sustainable thing because everyone’s paying for that otherwise, and all the costs with it.”
A further complication arose when Stephen had to leave due to time constraints, with Barron pointing out that he was involved with the building fees study that council had previously approved.
“The public meeting was on building fees. As much as they are definitely tied to development and the ‘growth pays for growth’ mindset, they really are two different things,” Barron explained. She noted that the development charge study would take place over upcoming months.
“The indexing is an important part of previous bylaws, and that annual inflation that does help when costs do change,” Barron added, stating the need to make sure they were aligned.
Several on council agreed with Gordon that having the development charge study after the building permit bylaw could have been beneficial, but Coun. Sheldon East countered with Meridis in agreement that their earlier vote had been for council to control the rates each year.
The development charges study was received for information, with Gordon describing the presentation as having “spurred lively debate, which is always wonderful”.
The building permit fee increase bylaw and the development charges background study presentation and slides are available in the council agenda on the town of Midland website.
Council meetings are held every third Wednesday, and can be viewed on Rogers TV cable channel 53 when available, or through the livestream on the Rogers TV website. Archives of council meetings are available through Rogers TV and on the Town of Midland’s YouTube channel.
