City Hall Corner

Updates from Councillor Hill on City Hall meetings and policy

November 22, 2024

It’s officially budget month! Council had three committee hearings for budget this week including two committees I sit on, Environment and Emergency . The budget process is a little different from normal committee meetings as the big motions to change budget items will typically be held until the final council meeting (in this case on December 11th). That doesn’t mean you can’t ask some interesting questions! At Environment and Climate Change, I put questions to staff about the Solid Waste Department and the Climate Change Master Plan. You can watch my questions here.

At Emergency Preparedness and Protective Services, we had a chance to review the budget proposals of the majority of the City’s first responders (the exception being Police who have their own budget as part of the Ottawa Police Services Board). I am very appreciative that staff implemented my direction from last year’s budget to hire a new fulltime mental health resource for our Firefighters. You can watch the President of Ottawa Professional Fire Fighters’ Association speak to the impact having additional mental health support for his members has*here*. I also had a chance to follow up on the inquiry I submitted in September on increased penalties for illegal dumping. With the implementation of the three garbage bins limit we need better tools as a city to combat bad actors who by dumping their waste in city parks or in their neighbors lawn make their garbage everyone else’s problem. I was assured by staff that we’d see a full update on that process at our February meeting.

Looking Ahead:

Next week brings another three opportunities to review the 2025 budget, starting with Transit Commission on Monday then followed by Community Services Committee on Tuesday and Transportation Committee on Thursday. We will also be going through what will likely be a short council meet on Wednesday.