In November 2021, London District Catholic School Board trustee Bill Hall observed, “St. Anne’s is bursting with students.”
He made the comments outside St. Anne’s Catholic Elementary School (pictured below) as then Elgin-Middlesex-London MPP Jeff Yurek announced provincial funding for a permanent expansion to the school which hosted more than a dozen portables on its grounds.
This is at a school that opened in 2009.
In June of last year, the school board was successful in its bid to add a couple more portables while the addition is undertaken at St. Annes’s.
At the June 13 city council meeting last year, Coun. Steve Peters observed, “I was at St. Anne’s recently and the number of portables that are already on the site and now adding more, we need a commitment from the provincial government to deal with this inappropriate way for students to be learning.”
Category Archives: community grants
St. Thomas Police Service five-year collective agreement “meets the modern moment” – Chief Marc Roskamp
It’s being deemed a “groundbreaking” contract with its commitment to resources to support the wellness of uniform and civilian members of the St. Thomas Police Service. A contract likely to be emulated across the province.
The five-year deal was negotiated over the summer with the current agreements set to expire at the end of this year.
Wage increases of three per cent are included in the first three years of the deal, increasing to four per cent in the fourth year and five per cent in the final year (2028).
Other highlights include the updating of maternity and parental leave provisions as well as sick and family leave provisions.
Specialty unit remuneration has been adjusted and this would include role positions like breath technicians.
We sat down this week with St. Thomas Police Services Board chair Dan Reith to delve into the deal.
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Preventing the community from ever getting into this homelessness bottleneck again
In November of last year, Danielle Neilson reminded city council that the solution to homelessness is housing and housing with supports.
Neilson is the city’s Homelessness Prevention and Housing Programs Coordinator and at that meeting of council, she presented a thorough overview of the homeless situation in St. Thomas, including an analysis of unsheltered homelessness.
She observed, “. . . this is not only the result of increased demands on our emergency shelter beds, some of my firsthand experiences with people living unsheltered in St. Thomas revealed other factors as well.
“Such as needing lower barrier supports that are matched more appropriately to someone’s mental health or addiction challenges that may result in unpredictable behaviours.
“Having personal belongings or accumulating personal belongings at a rate that exceeds the shelter’s ability to store them.
“Having a complete desire to live unsheltered, even when housing options are available.
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‘It’s not always about drugs . . . It’s about losing that job’ – St. Thomas municipal candidate Rose Gibson
She has yet to win a seat on city council and yet no candidate in the St. Thomas municipal election has more campaign experience than Rose Gibson.
This is her sixth run for the roses and, on that alone, you have to respect her tenacity.
In 2018 she finished 10th in a 19-candidate field, less than 500 votes away from knocking Jim Herbert out of the running.
Her first outing was in 2000 and she returned to the fray in 2003, 2010 and 2014. Of note, each time she secured more votes than in her previous attempt.
And that vote differential four years ago is the driving force in this campaign, advised Gibson.
“I have a good group of people who really believe in me. I think the voters last time believed in me.
“You know there is an area that you learn where you made your mistakes and I realize that.
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‘Our once-thriving downtown core is at a critical threshold’ – St. Thomas lawyer Hilary Vaughan
In a deputation last Monday (Sept. 12) to city council she stressed was devoid of “ill will, malintent or hidden agenda,” Hilary Vaughan hit one out of the park with her no-nonsense presentation on the complex issues plaguing downtown.
In a six-and-a-half-minute span, the St. Thomas lawyer delivered a tell-it-like-it-is synopsis, warning the core area is at a critical threshold.
Her closing remarks left members momentarily flummoxed. Vaughan made it clear she was not open to questions, instead it is time to “find a real solution, in real-time, for real people.”
That can be done by striking a working group to tackle the increasingly dire situation.
Because the picture she painted of the downtown core’s immediate prospects is bleak.
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What was old is new again: Police foot patrols in the core of St. Thomas are about ‘enhancing the value of our downtown’
Earlier this month, the province announced the St. Thomas Police Service is to receive $786,925 in funding for community-based safety and policing initiatives.
That should be tempered by the fact funding is spread over three years.
A portion of the money will support an initiative to deal with a modern-day reality in the majority of communities across Ontario while the remainder will support a local program that is a throwback to policing from a bygone era.
In the first scenario, the funding will allow for a uniform officer to remain with the Mobile Outreach Support Team (MOST) to ensure a public safety presence.
As Chief Chris Herridge observed a year ago in this corner, “Our community is facing increasing social-related issues resulting in a rise in crime and a feeling of being unsafe in our downtown.
“We immediately need a ‘boots on the ground’ professional health team (mental health, medical, addictions, housing, etc.) in our downtown in partnership with the St. Thomas Police Service who will assist when public safety is a concern.
“The police require a team of experts so we can triage these health-related calls and the appropriate assistance/supports can be provided.”
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‘People should be able to assess their own risk and make their own decisions’ – Matt Millar, New Blue Party of Ontario
Founded in 2020, the New Blue Party of Ontario is led by Jim Karahalios, the husband of Belinda Karahalios, former PC MPP for Cambridge and now the party’s first MPP.
She was turfed from the PC caucus after voting against Bill 195, the Reopening Ontario Act, which she described as “an unnecessary overreach on our parliamentary democracy.”
New Blue identifies itself as “an anti-establishment centre-right political party.”
The party aims to field candidates in all ridings for the June 2 provincial election.
It has put forward Matt Millar, a life-long Lambeth resident, as its prospective candidate for Elgin-Middlesex-London.
A third-generation fruit farmer who also operates a small tech support company, Millar advises the party is all about less government involvement.
“The reason I got into this is I just want people to have more control over their own lives. I don’t want the government to be overbearing and forcing people to do things they don’t want.”
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The long and winding road toward a firm – yet fair – community grant policy in St. Thomas
Perhaps the city’s alleged new community grant process isn’t quite yet carved in stone.
We wrote about the grant policy last week in advance of Monday’s (Sept. 13) council meeting where Dan Sheridan, the city’s director of finance, recommended members deny small funding requests from the STEAM Education Centre and Big Brothers Big Sisters of St. Thomas Elgin because the money, according to Sheridan’s interpretation, is to be used for operating expenses.
Council heeded Sheridan’s advice but there was a notable sense of discomfort with the decision from several quarters.
Which, once again, opened up a debate over what is and what should the community grant policy look like.
Prompting this opening salvo from Coun. Steve Wookey.
“For the benefit of myself and everyone watching, I just want to review this very quickly.
“These grants are not meant for day-to-day operations. That’s where I have a little bit of a different assessment of it currently than the folks in treasury do.
“In my mind, the over-arching concept here is, does this help get something off the ground.”
A critical consideration put forth by Coun. Wookey as it could be applied to both funding applications before council on Monday.
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Is it safe to say St. Thomas finally has a community grant process in place?
Well, a new wrinkle in the city’s much-maligned grant policy.
As evident in the agenda for Monday’s (Sept. 13) council meeting, the city’s director of finance is now a gatekeeper in the grant application process, taking some of the heat off the mayor and council.
And, it’s not good news for two of the more recognized organizations in the city.
In his report to council, Dan Sheridan reminds members “Successful applications under the current (grant) policy are more likely to be for special events or one-time start-up funding for new community initiatives that align with council’s strategic priorities.”
Sheridan continues, “Grant applications that request funding for expenses that an organization incurs through its normal course of operations are not recommended for approval.
“These could be salaries, advertising or facility repairs, for example. Even costs that are one-time in nature can be considered operating costs if they are used to support the organization’s normal course of operations.”
Quite a tightening of the rules in what has been a loosey-goosey undertaking in the past.
