Residents OK levy to save links
Stonebridge will operate till 2029
A special levy is locked in for property owners who live around Stonebridge Golf Course, to protect a portion of the golf course land from bulldozers. Most residents in the community voted in favour of buying the land for $7 million to prevent Mattamy Homes from redeveloping it. Turnout for the vote was 65 per cent. The special levy will be added to property tax bills for 3,431 households and one commercial property. Homeowners can expect to pay between $166 and $460 on their annual tax bill for the special levy between 2021 and 2029. Under the deal, Mattamy can apply to redevelop a different part of the golf course land and will be required to continue operating an 18-hole golf course until at least Oct. 30, 2029.
Parking dispute ends
Council gave city management the green light to sign up Precise ParkLink for five more years to manage on-street parking, despite a lengthy legal fight. The contract extension will end the legal dispute between Precise and the city. Precise first approached the city in 2007 with a solution to the city's management of on-street parking. The initial 10-year deal between the city and Precise is scheduled to expire on Oct. 31, 2021. The contract came with a revenue guarantee for the city. It led to Precise having to pay $9.7 million over the first five years of the contract for missing the revenue guarantee and covering much of the cost of the parking equipment. Precise disputed the way the city was calculating the revenue guarantee. The legal fight lasted five years. In ending the legal dispute and signing the contract extension, the city agrees to pay back $680,000 to Precise and add an extra $105,000 in payments for the pay-and-display equipment, with Precise still paying most of the equipment costs. Council also backed a plan to hire two full-time staff, at a combined cost of $200,000 annually, to manage the parking contract.
New paramedic chief
The city has gone inside the municipal government to find its new chief of the Ottawa Paramedic Service. Pierre Poirier will lead the paramedic service after serving as head of security and emergency management. He started on Tuesday as paramedic chief. Poirier is also a former deputy chief of the paramedic service. He is a trained advanced-care paramedic, and is bilingual. Poirier takes over from Myles Cassidy, who retired as paramedic chief in late 2019. Amanda Mullins, program manager of event central, will fill in as manager of security and emergency management until the city hires Poirier's permanent replacement.
New to police board
Coun. Rawlson King is joining the Ottawa Police Services Board, taking the spot being vacated by Mayor Jim Watson. Before his election in 2019, King served as co-chair of the Ottawa Police Service community equity council. Today, King is council's liaison for anti-racism and ethnocultural relations. Watson joined the police board in September 2019 after Coun. Keith Egli stepped down for health reasons. Under provincial law, the mayor automatically gets a seat on the police board, but council can appoint a designate. Coun. Diane Deans, the police board chairwoman, is the mayor's designate.