Wheels on the bus go ’round and ’round
After a week of confusion, regional council has set the record straight on Niagara Specialized Transit.
The service, councillors heard Thursday, is for residents with a disability that prevents them from using conventional transit and proved to be enormously popular as it was expanded with ridership jumping to 30,000 from 12,000 rides. The surge also threatened to swamp the budget.
At a public works committee meeting, councillors learned staff had told the service provider to stay within the budget, which was projecting a $420,000 shortfall.
That necessitated telling users Niagara Region would cap the number of rides per day at 50 shortly. The limit was down from 100. The idea went over with users like a lead balloon. They pleaded their case to the public health committee, which quickly found a solution.
Fort Erie Coun. Sandy Annunziata characterized the reaction from the public as “one part anger and two parts confusion.”
Region CAO Carmen D’Angelo promised council he would make necessary budget “adjustments” to find the extra money to eliminate the deficit and maintain the level of service at 100 rides a day.
Lincoln Mayor Sandra Easton said statistics showed 97 per cent of NST trips were for medical purposes, education or work.
“This is becoming an essential service,” she said. “We can’t just cut it off.”
Shaping Niagara
Council received a report on the Shape Niagara project which gathered information from residents, community partners, organizations and businesses. The exercise was undertaken to provide the next council with necessary information to set its strategic plan.
The strategic plan underpins council’s priorities.
The first part of the report was presented Thursday by Maciej Jurczyk, the Region’s director of internal control and organizational performance. It included six areas of focus that were identified by months of outreach. The areas are: infrastructure, services and transportation; economy and growth; health and wellness; governance, advocacy and proactive leadership; environment and environmental protection; and driving sustainable development and quality of life.
The first part of the report is available at .
The second report with additional background information will go to the next council at the beginning of 2019 for the full strategic planning process at that time.
Burgoyne Bridge material released
Council voted to release the Burgoyne Bridge audit and supporting material provided to the OPP after its anti-rackets division found no criminal wrongdoing.
The bridge was a subject of a multi-year council task force that took a deep dive into what caused the estimates for the price of the bridge to double to more than $90 million. The document released to the public will be redacted to remove the names of individuals and business.
St. Catharines Mayor Walter Sendzik asked what would happen to the task force going forward.
“It is time to wrap it up,” said Niagara Falls Coun. Selina Volpatti, the task force chair.
Sendzik pushed for a final accounting of the overall cost of the investigation so the public could see the funds weren’t spent “frivolously.”
More seats for NPCA?
Councillors voted to send to an expert who is performing a governance review for the Region a proposal by St. Catharines Coun. Bruce Timms to add two seats to the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority board of directors.
Timms suggested adding the seats for Niagara because Hamilton has asked for two additional seats. The additions would bring seat apportionment in line with the levy apportionment.
University of Western Ontario professor Andrew Sancton is performing the review.