City council met Saturday at Barrie City Hall to discuss the development of their strategic priorities for the 2022-26 term.
In the session, which began at 9 a.m. and lasted until about 3 p.m. in the Sir Robert Barrie Room, council identified five goals that will guide the strategic direction of the city over the next four years.
The five priorities for the 2022-26 term are affordable living, community safety, a thriving community, infrastructure investments, and responsible governance.
Bryn Hamilton is one of four new councillors, having won the Ward 10 race in the October election. When asked if she foresaw herself working this long on a Saturday, Hamilton joked it wasn’t her first thought.
“It’s a long meeting and not how I generally spend my Saturdays, but my background is in governance and strategic planning, so I think today is one of the most important days that council has as a group,” said Hamilton. “This requires cohesion and identifying what our priorities are for the next four years, so it’s a big day.”
Just over halfway through the meeting, Hamilton was asked how it was going with council members.
“We are aligned. It has been a very respectful dialogue. I feel we have had some good discussion and we seem to all be on the same page in terms of where we want to focus our energy and attention for this term, which is nice,” she said.
Another goal is to make Barrie an affordable place to live by encouraging a range of housing options to make housing attainable. Council wants to have an open-for-business environment to help encourage job creation while also developing and attracting talent to support employers.
Community safety was chosen to support neighborhood safety and crime prevention, as was the need to address speeding and aggressive driving to ensure street and pedestrian safety.
Council members said they want to work with community partners to implement a community safety and well-being plan, and they also decided to support community-based policing initiatives.
One portion of the meeting centred on the topic of making Barrie a thriving community by promoting equity, diversity, and inclusivity. Council plans to create and foster programs and opportunities to support community wellness, as well as growth in arts and culture, and to expand and maximize access to parks and recreation opportunities while continuing to support a vibrant downtown.
Infrastructure investments will seek to make it easier to move around the city, fix roads that need attention, and update and improve current infrastructure. Council chose to support active transportation and pedestrian connections and to implement climate action plans.
Responsible governance was the fifth initiative chosen, which council said would see it support the services the community needs while keeping tax increases low. Maintaining a focus on city core services was key, as was financial stewardship, which includes finding efficiencies and innovation. Council said it would advocate to other levels of government for support and also ensure accountability and transparency for its decisions.
Staff will now work on developing action plans for each strategic direction. The action plans will include key performance indicators to monitor the success of the plan over the next four years.
Mayor Alex Nuttall echoed Hamilton’s sentiments on how this council was working through the day together.
“There is a sense that everyone is coming to the table with great ideas and input from different parts of the city, and doing it in a respectful tone,” he said. “We’re halfway through the meeting and, so far, it has been wonderful communication.”
Nuttall said the balance of housing and job creation is going to be “very important moving forward for the City of Barrie.
“Those issues, along with our finances and our ability to facilitate the city’s growth, will be key initiatives coming out of today.”
Barrie-Springwater-Oro-Medonte MP Doug Shipley and Barrie-Innisfil MP John Brassard joined council for the planning and strategy meeting, and as both are former city councillors, they said in a joint statement they were excited to move forward with council.
“As a former Barrie city councillor, I know first-hand the excellent outcomes this council can achieve when it works collaboratively,” said Shipley.
Brassard followed that by stating he appreciated the invitation to be part of the strategic planning process with the mayor and city councillors.
“It’s critical that if we are to find solutions to the challenges facing our residents and businesses and opportunities going forward ... all of us work together, and today’s session made that commitment,” he said.
