{ "file": "/tmp/tmpdqwou_3r/5433dfeb-30ee-4d11-92aa-16f114bfd066.mkv", "language": "en", "segments": [ { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 875.825, "end": 876.245, "text": "To" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 878.725, "end": 882.885, "text": "our executive committee. Oh, sorry, it's April's Fool. So no, sorry, CDC." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 883.205, "end": 887.545, "text": "So our community development committee for April 1st. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 889.545, "end": 891.685, "text": "clerks, can we get a roll call, please?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 892.025, "end": 894.205, "text": "Thank you, Chair. On the roll, Councillor Tyres," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 894.825, "end": 895.585, "text": "Councillor Yule," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 896.065, "end": 896.825, "text": "Councillor Kelly," }, { "speaker": "Councillor D.J. Kelly", "start": 897.205, "end": 897.605, "text": "Present." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 897.625, "end": 898.665, "text": "Councillor Atkinson," }, { "speaker": "Councillor M. Atkinson", "start": 898.665, "end": 898.965, "text": "Here." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 898.965, "end": 899.745, "text": "Councillor Clark," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 900.585, "end": 901.645, "text": "Councillor Councillor Johnston," }, { "speaker": "Councillor L. Johnston", "start": 903.125, "end": 903.345, "text": "Eric." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 903.625, "end": 906.105, "text": "thank you, Councillor Wyness," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 906.985, "end": 908.145, "text": "Councillor Panzazopoulos," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 908.545, "end": 909.265, "text": "Councillor Schmidt," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 910.065, "end": 910.845, "text": "Councillor Shabot," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 911.525, "end": 912.225, "text": "Councillor Ward," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 913.005, "end": 914.265, "text": "thank you, Councillor Jameson," }, { "speaker": "Councillor M. Jamieson", "start": 915.165, "end": 915.605, "text": "Present." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 915.845, "end": 916.645, "text": "Councillor McClain," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 918.325, "end": 919.525, "text": "thank you, Mayor Farkas," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 920.725, "end": 921.485, "text": "and Chair Dollywall." }, { "speaker": "Councillor, Chair R. Dhaliwal", "start": 922.925, "end": 923.445, "text": "I'm here." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 923.605, "end": 923.965, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 924.645, "end": 926.185, "text": "Do we go to confirmation of agenda?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 927.605, "end": 930.265, "text": "Um yes, opening remarks and then confirmation of" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 930.265, "end": 938.405, "text": "There are no opening remarks unless someone wants to say. Oh, sorry, my apologies. I will go to Council Callie for land acknowledgement. Sorry, Council Callie." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 938.405, "end": 1019.585, "text": "That's right. Thank you, Chair. Okay, I'm a Wastitch, Don is uh Donadada Tonche. Um, indigenous peoples have their own names for this area that they've been using long before settlers named this place Calgary. Uh, in the spirit of gathering today, we want to uh acknowledge that we're gathered on the ancestral and traditional territories of the Blackfoot nations, including the Siksica, the Bikani, and the Gaini First Nations, uh, the uh sorry, Ihic Nakota with uh Wikestabi First Nations, comprising the Chinnake, Bears Pond, Goodstoney First Nations, as well as the Satina First Nations, uh, First Nations. The city of Calgary is also home to the historic Northwest Metis, the Ombawaka uh Metis Government, Metis Nation, Battle River Territory, Nose Hill Districts 5, and Elbo Metis District 6. We acknowledge and give gratitude to the many First Nations, Metis and Inuit, who live here and call Calgary home, the place that they know as uh Yehe Ko Wakispa. Um uh uh pardon me, uh uh they call it uh I'm out of order here, I apologize. Uh Gutsis, the Metis call it uh Otusquine, Mokinsis in Blackfoot Nation, and uh um we thank them all for um." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 1020.005, "end": 1024.925, "text": "uh gathering here with us today as we uh have our community development committee meeting." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1026.545, "end": 1034.565, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Kelly, and nothing to apologize. We are all on the journey to true thermic isolations. Thank you. Can I get someone to move the agenda?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1036.185, "end": 1037.705, "text": "Councillor Kelly to move." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1039.345, "end": 1039.925, "text": "Anyone" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1040.425, "end": 1041.565, "text": "have any" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1041.805, "end": 1047.925, "text": "changes? Nothing. I hear or see none. Can I get someone to move the minutes? Confirmation of minutes, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1048.645, "end": 1050.005, "text": "Councillor Ewell," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1050.425, "end": 1059.885, "text": "thank you. Anyone anything to add? Seeing none, hearing none, that's moved. There's nothing on consent agenda, so we will go to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1061.085, "end": 1071.285, "text": "Before we go to our agenda today, which is uh focus on safety and ending with after police uh fire with water, I'll go to GM Black for some remarks." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_23", "start": 1072.285, "end": 1156.785, "text": "Thank you, Chair Dollywall, and uh good morning, everybody. I know our members of committee are in the midst of a very long stretch of public engagement that's going on, and we are uh so pleased to be able to take a moment this morning to talk about our commitment to public safety. And so, what I wanted to describe is a little bit about the order and the story arc that uh will define our presentations this morning. So we're gonna start from hearing, uh start by hearing from emergency management and community safety with the understanding that especially 911 is likely to be the very first contact for lots of safety responses. Uh of course, there's much more to emergency management and community safety than 911, but we'll start with that business unit. Then uh you may have some questions immediately for EMCS. Then we'll go to the police service, acknowledging that the police are often the folks to whom 911 is referring. Uh we will take some questions uh for the police service and the police commission that I know is here with us today. Uh, and then we will hear from the fire department. There'll be an opportunity for questions uh specifically of the fire department. And then, in fact, if there are uh opportunities or" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_23", "start": 1157.725, "end": 1167.525, "text": "considerations that you want to explore in terms of how this network of three services work together, there will be an opportunity for that as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_23", "start": 1168.485, "end": 1198.685, "text": "The story arc doesn't end there though, because our last presentation this morning will be about the water efficiency plan. And although we don't think of water services in the same category that we may think of those first three services, we know that it's absolutely essential to our community's well being. And specifically, following from the presentation of the fire department, we can't have an effective fire department without knowing that we have a stable and reliable water source." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_23", "start": 1198.985, "end": 1228.805, "text": "So that's something of the arc that you will see this morning. Thank you again for being here. Thank you to all of our members of administration, of the police service, and of the police commission for coming to join us. I see a member of the public as well, so I anticipate that we may have some opportunity for input that way as well. With that, Mr. Chair, I imagine that you may be ready to hear from our Director of Emergency Management and Community Safety, Ian Bushel." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1230.385, "end": 1254.945, "text": "Thank you, GM Black, and thank you for that. Uh like GM Black said, uh, colleagues, let's stay focused on our agenda today. Let's be concise, crisp. We got wonderful people from emergency management and community safety, Calgary Police Service with some folks from Commission, Calgary Fire Department, and our water team. Welcome. And we'll start with item 7.2, which is emergency management and community safety 2025 annual report." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1258.285, "end": 1269.945, "text": "Thank you, Chair. Good morning, everybody. As Katie indicated, I'm Ian Bushel, and I'm privileged to be the Director of Emergency Management and Community Safety, and I'm pleased to be here today to present our first annual report to you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1270.565, "end": 1284.325, "text": "Emergency Management or Community Safety and Community Safety, or EMCS, is a core public safety service that brings together city teams responsible for emergency readiness, safety, and coordinated response across Calgary." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1284.925, "end": 1291.425, "text": "I'm pleased to be joined today by my team, and I'll point them out and they will wave to you. Lori Bailey is our new chief of Calgary 911." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1292.145, "end": 1294.705, "text": "Sue Henry is our Chief of Emergency Management." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1295.205, "end": 1305.225, "text": "Ryan Placaitis is the Chief of Community Standards. Marcy Gonder is the Chief of Public Vehicle Standards. And Lisa Brown is the manager of business performance and strategy." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1305.905, "end": 1306.745, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1308.285, "end": 1313.885, "text": "Our recommendation this morning is that the Community Development Committee recommend the Council receive this report for the corporate record." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1314.865, "end": 1315.925, "text": "And next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1318.025, "end": 1332.425, "text": "EMCS brings together city services, including Calgary 911, Emergency Management, the Peace Officers for both community standards and public vehicle standards, and animal services, to deliver an integrated approach to public safety across Calgary." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1333.385, "end": 1345.625, "text": "We work closely with the Calgary Police Service and Calgary Fire Department to answer calls for help, prepare for and respond to emergencies, and enforce bylaws that support safety and quality of life." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1346.765, "end": 1355.525, "text": "EMCS is often the first point of contact for Calgarians during emergencies and coordinating and is the coordinating function that connects public safety partners during those incidents." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1356.625, "end": 1365.585, "text": "Together, our five divisions operate as an integrated business unit, each with a distinct role, but working collectively to connect and protect Calgarians every day." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1366.565, "end": 1375.225, "text": "We'll provide a brief overview of our services, I'll highlight some key 2025 accomplishments, and I'll outline the pressures that are shaping our work as we look ahead." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1376.205, "end": 1377.105, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1380.785, "end": 1393.505, "text": "Calgary 911 is the first of the first responders, providing call assessment, and coordinated dispatch for emergency and non emergency services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1394.225, "end": 1405.205, "text": "We support police, fire, city police officers, peace officers, and 11 regional fire departments, helping protect both the public and responders through timely information and coordinated response." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1406.105, "end": 1410.225, "text": "911 is that critical link between the public and our frontline services." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1410.585, "end": 1421.025, "text": "And in 2025, Calgary 911 answered over a million calls, up 4% from 2024, with increased demand from our major partners and our regional fire agencies." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1421.985, "end": 1429.625, "text": "We redirected over 2,000 calls to 211, helping connect people to appropriate supports and reduce pressure on emergency response." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1430.505, "end": 1443.805, "text": "And a major milestone was our successful transition to next generation 911 in October, fully a year and a half in advance of CRTC requirements, that improves our system reliability and lays the foundation for our future capability." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1444.705, "end": 1451.545, "text": "The existing 911 center at Whitehorn is now over 20 years old and is in need of significant renovation or replacement." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1452.445, "end": 1466.005, "text": "And looking ahead, our rising call volumes, combined with increasing call complexity, including a 10% increase in time spent on our 911 calls over the past two years, underscore the need to scale up our 911 operations." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1466.685, "end": 1477.725, "text": "Continued investment in staffing, infrastructure, and technology is essential to sustain the safe, reliable services that Calgary expects and as our public safety partnerships continue to grow." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1478.845, "end": 1479.685, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1482.925, "end": 1488.925, "text": "Emergency management coordinates how the city prepares for, responds to, and recovers from emergencies." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1489.585, "end": 1502.485, "text": "Through the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, or CEMA, Emergency Social Services, and Canada Task Force 2, we provide centralized coordination, support displaced residents, and deploy specialized response capabilities." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1503.405, "end": 1514.185, "text": "In 2025, CEMA updated the Municipal Emergency Plan, assessed over 60 disaster risks, and supported such events as the G7 Summit and the Bears Poss South Feeder Main Break." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1515.505, "end": 1521.545, "text": "Canada Task Force 2 also maintained our specialized readiness through three deployments and over 11,000 hours of training." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1522.625, "end": 1537.025, "text": "Looking ahead, we continue to prepare for emergencies that are expected to occur more frequently and with greater complexity. And a full status of emergency preparedness for Calgary will be presented to the Emergency Management Committee in just a few weeks on April the 22nd." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1538.105, "end": 1539.345, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1543.745, "end": 1557.465, "text": "Community Standards supports community and business safety through bylaw enforcement, animal services, education, and targeted actions that help maintain neighborhood quality of life, with our specialized teams addressing complex community safety issues." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1558.225, "end": 1570.865, "text": "In 2025, Community Standards responded to about 110,000 citizen service requests, including animal bylaw requests that increased by 25% and business inspections that increased by 4%." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1571.725, "end": 1582.725, "text": "Our teams also worked with our partners to address encampments, problem properties, and business safety concerns, using education, warnings, and then enforcement to improve our neighborhood safety." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1584.145, "end": 1592.545, "text": "Animal Services continues to face significant capacity challenges, and the Animal Services Center building no longer meets some of the latest veterinary standards." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1593.225, "end": 1605.285, "text": "But despite strong adoption, transfer, foster, and reunification efforts, the longer lengths of stay that have doubled over 10 years ago have increased pressure on our existing facilities." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1606.665, "end": 1610.125, "text": "Looking ahead, our traffic safety pressures continue to increase." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1610.485, "end": 1625.785, "text": "The traffic safety team launched in the spring of 2025, focused on school and playground zones, and issued 3,467 tickets and over 1,100 warnings, reinforcing the need to expand enforcement to support safer roads and safer communities." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1626.945, "end": 1627.845, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1629.925, "end": 1637.685, "text": "The public vehicle standards team supports safe, accessible, and equitable transportation through enforcement and coordinated response with our partners." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1638.505, "end": 1648.405, "text": "Transit Public Safety provides a visible presence that supports rider and operator safety, while the Vehicle for Hire team helps ensure safe taxi and ride share operations." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1649.485, "end": 1659.805, "text": "In 2025, Transit Public Safety responded to up to over 84,000 calls, up 38%, with enforcement activity doubling year over year." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1660.485, "end": 1669.005, "text": "The community outreach team also expanded from one partner to 34 partners across Calgary, strengthening our response and support to complex social issues on transit." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1670.345, "end": 1690.485, "text": "Looking ahead as the transit system continues to expand, as Green Line comes online and social disorder calls increase, up 5% overall and 11% for drug-related incidents since last year, there is a growing need for additional transit peace officers to maintain our visible presence, our coordinated response, and the safety of our riders and operators." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1691.465, "end": 1700.205, "text": "Quarterly data shows that our proactive officer engagement helps reduce disorder over the course of 2025, and so we are making progress." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1700.905, "end": 1708.045, "text": "And the committee will receive a progress report on our LRT Platform Enhanced Peace Officer Presence pilot coming in July." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1709.645, "end": 1710.985, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1712.425, "end": 1721.445, "text": "As our fifth and final division, business performance and strategy is the backbone of EMCS, supporting safe, consistent service delivery across all frontline teams." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1722.765, "end": 1744.405, "text": "In 2025, this division supported operations through public safety technology, our fleet and facilities, learning and wellness, business improvement, and corporate business continuity. They also led those key initiatives such as Next Generation 911 and the implementation of the transit public safety strategy, strengthening our performance measurement and our resource planning to support our day to day operations." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1745.925, "end": 1758.905, "text": "Keeping pace with rapid technology change and increasing service readiness demands across EMCS means this division plays a critical role in ensuring operations remain ready, reliable, and able to deliver our services safely." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1760.165, "end": 1761.045, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1763.265, "end": 1772.605, "text": "As Calgary grows towards a population of 2 million, EMCS is experiencing sustained growth in service demand and increasing complexity across all of our services." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1773.665, "end": 1786.145, "text": "Evolving community needs, along with closer coordination with CPS and CFD, require EMCS to continue scaling our staffing capacity and service delivery in step with our public safety partners." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1787.165, "end": 1796.845, "text": "Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, EMCS is focused on targeted actions to strengthen community safety, officer safety, and coordinated response." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1798.045, "end": 1802.765, "text": "This includes increasing Calgary 911 staffing, our technology and infrastructure." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1802.965, "end": 1812.465, "text": "Strengthening emergency management readiness to address a wider range of risks, and expanding traffic safety enforcement to respond to the growing pressures on Calgary's roadways." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1813.665, "end": 1822.565, "text": "EMCS is also increasing transit safety capacity through the Transit Peace Officer Pilot to improve our visible presence and response on transit platforms." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1823.365, "end": 1832.285, "text": "And as demand continues to grow, EMCS will need to scale our peace officer capacity across all of our areas to maintain safe, reliable public safety operations." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1833.505, "end": 1844.125, "text": "Across all of our services, EMCS will continue to invest in training, accredited skills development, and mental health supports to maintain our operational readiness and our workforce well-being." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1845.545, "end": 1847.805, "text": "EMCS is Calgarian focused." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1848.305, "end": 1858.725, "text": "We know that residents and businesses expect reliability, consistency, and responsiveness. And we are committed to supporting our partnerships and to improving our performance every day." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1859.805, "end": 1860.685, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1862.565, "end": 1868.525, "text": "Thank you this morning, members of committee, for your time, and we're happy to answer any questions you might have for me or my team." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1869.365, "end": 1869.765, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1870.425, "end": 1874.925, "text": "Thank you for your presentation. We're going to open this to public. Anyone in" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1875.245, "end": 1876.965, "text": "chambers or on the phone" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1877.325, "end": 1878.825, "text": "wish to speak to this item?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1880.885, "end": 1884.745, "text": "Again, anyone in the chamber or on the phone wish to speak to this item." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1885.365, "end": 1896.105, "text": "Seeing none, hearing none, we'll close the public speaking portion of this presentation. Item, sorry, we'll go to my colleagues for any questioning of the administration." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 1896.585, "end": 1898.725, "text": "We got Councillor Kelly. Please go ahead." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 1900.325, "end": 1917.725, "text": "Thank you very much for the uh presentation, Director Pushtol. And just wondering as we take a look at this, and I realize that this is an annual report looking backwards, but I'm I'm just wondering uh if you could sort of list for us like what any challenges you're you foresee in 2026 and uh how council might be able to help you meet those challenges." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 1920.525, "end": 1999.725, "text": "Thank you for the question, Councillor Kelly. I think if you got the gist of my presentation, it's that as our population continues to grow, call volumes continue to grow, the complexity of each and every call that we do seems to grow, whether that is because uh of the complexity of the needs of our population, but there's almost no such thing as just a single officer or a single fire truck response anymore. It feels like everything is connected and that that complexity of uh the fabric of our of our community seems to indicate that that every time we go to something, um it just takes a little longer and is a little more uh in-depth than it it used to be. Um as we grow, that means that the support network, whether that's 911 to dispatch those initial resources, whether that's the skills of the peace officers uh or of our uh partner colleagues, it just means that more training is required for our staff. It means more staff are actually required to go to those calls, um, and it means each one takes a little longer. And you can imagine when we answer a million calls every year, that even adding 10, 15, or 20 seconds to every single one of those calls uh adds a massive amount of uh resources needed to support that. So, in general, I would say that our biggest need is just continued, gradual, paced growth that just keeps up with the demand of the services that Calgarians expect from us." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 2001.405, "end": 2017.685, "text": "Uh thank you for that. And then maybe one last follow up question. Just uh uh wondering if you have any suggestions for how council might be able to work with other orders of government to uh help restore public uh restore public safety or the perception of public safety as well in downtown, especially." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2019.205, "end": 2047.505, "text": "We know we have stats that show us and the trends that show us that public safety perception is improved by increased visible presence. When people see peace officers, when they see police officers, when they see uniformed staff, that gives them a perception of safety that makes the place feel safer. We also know that proactively every time that we are out on the street as peace officers, that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2048.145, "end": 2110.925, "text": "That relates to the number of social disorder calls dropping. In other words, social disorder is less likely to happen if you can see a peace officer around or a police officer around, you're less likely to do something you're not supposed to be doing. And so I think you know the continued support network that helps individuals in our community get the support that they need, whether that's through community court, whether that's through the many resources that our partner agencies provide, all of those things help support people that are in need or people that are creating social disorder. When those things are in place as well, we don't get to the bottom of the net where we catch people at the end, where they've missed all of those support services. So I would say that for me, the the provincial government, the federal government can help with any of those supports that provide the necessary resources to keep people from falling into the place that they are where a social disorder becomes their norm for them, or that they just have nowhere else to go." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 2111.545, "end": 2115.145, "text": "Uh thank you very much for the answers to both those questions. Those are all my questions, Chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 2116.065, "end": 2124.245, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Kelly. Before I go to Councillor Atkinson, uh clerks, uh, did we uh make note of Councillor Jameson joining us at 9 34 a.m.?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 2125.025, "end": 2127.345, "text": "yes, we have Councillor Jameson, we also have Mayor Farkas." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 2127.505, "end": 2129.825, "text": "Thank you. Thank you so much, uh Councillor Atkinson." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 2130.045, "end": 2131.045, "text": "Great. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 2131.945, "end": 2138.565, "text": "the transition to 911 uh next generation. Um I'm just wondering it like" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 2139.765, "end": 2152.885, "text": "is how you think that's going to help. You you were seeing this 10% in terms of call complexity. Can you sort of speak to how that is going to help with some of that complexity with this transition to the next generation 911?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2153.985, "end": 2216.345, "text": "Thank you for that question, Councillor Atkinson. So next generation is a system, a complex system of upgraded uh infrastructure that will help support future initiatives when it comes to 911. Good old-fashioned telephones attached to the wall are sort of a thing of the past these days. And so the ways that people want to connect with 911 and the ways that 911 needs to get information, whether that is verbal information from people on the phone, or coming soon through next generation 911, the ability to transmit data, the ability to share photos, pictures, and other things are all coming down the pipeline. I mentioned in my speaking notes that we were a little over a year and a half ahead of the CRTC mandated deadline. Once all, and I believe there's somewhere in the neighborhood of 2009 centers across the country, once they have all transitioned and they still have about a year to go, we will start to see sort of the next phase which allows other technologies to be used at 911." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2217.565, "end": 2269.605, "text": "I don't know that that's going to make it easier. In fact, I think that it's actually going to add to the complexity because people will now be able to text 911, send pictures, live stream, do all kinds of things that they do on their phones these days that have gone from being something that nobody had 20 years ago when Whitehorn opened to something that everybody has one, I have two. There's many technologies that are coming. And next generation 911, which is a switch to sort of the most modern technology, will allow us to transition to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2270.245, "end": 2276.165, "text": "serving the public in a way that that we are maximizing what is sort of the current technology of the day." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 2277.085, "end": 2282.885, "text": "Appreciate that answer. I think, yeah, understanding that it's gonna actually maybe get more complex rather than less." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2282.885, "end": 2302.205, "text": "I think it's actually just going to make it a bit more complicated because there's so many ways of now communicating information." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 2303.025, "end": 2325.005, "text": "Connection with Tweet 211. I think that this is a fantastic 211 is an amazing resource. I love seeing the stats on the community safety, well being. Like it gives a really interesting picture of our community and some of the challenges folks are facing. I'm wondering if there will be any sort of developments with that connection with 211 given the new system, if if you're aware." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2326.005, "end": 2349.145, "text": "Don't know if there's any changes based on next generation 911 or a new system. What I can tell you is that we currently operate, I believe it's four pods in the 911 center that our 211 folks are sitting in. So they're literally in the same room as our 911 staff. So we are able to speak directly to each other between calls, but they're also able to communicate and move those calls around." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2350.325, "end": 2391.345, "text": "Ideally, people call 211 correctly when they need it, not call 911 and then we connect them. So we actually hope that those calls go down and down and down and that we're no longer connecting people from 911 to 211 because they recognize that actually 211 is the right call to make first, so they just make that call directly. But there are a number of other uh important phone numbers and other agencies that monitor 988 is the new suicide hotline, for example. So all of those connections we can make in 911, and I think that's um a great way that we redistribute calls and potentially avoid first response calls, police fire EMS calls when they're unnecessary, if um uh other" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2391.645, "end": 2398.545, "text": "response agencies and other partner agencies can deal with the situation that is c creating that crisis in the first place." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 2400.185, "end": 2428.365, "text": "Um, your animal bylaw requests going way, way up, and you sort of talked about the challenges that's putting on different parts later in the in the system. I'm wondering, are we do are we working on anything to mitigate some of those effects earlier upstream? Like, I don't know if you've been doing analysis around the kinds of requests that you're getting and if there's anything we can be doing in terms of community on a more preventative side rather than reactive side." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2428.945, "end": 2443.245, "text": "The pressure in the Animal Services Center is something that um has grown over the last few years, certainly since COVID. Um but what we are seeing now is that the affordability crisis is having an impact on people and their pets and that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2443.925, "end": 2481.825, "text": "Occasionally, in fact more frequently now, people are making the difficult decision that affordability means we can no longer keep our pet. Pet food is expensive, pet care is expensive, veterinary care is expensive, and so people are giving up their pets. We're also seeing that those in the vulnerable community that have pets, uh, when they find themselves in in tough situations, are either giving up their pet or we're having to house their pet for them because shelters don't allow pets in. So if you are vulnerable and on the street and you have a dog, you can't take your dog to the drop in center. And so what do they do with them? And so we end up" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2482.525, "end": 2493.905, "text": "having to look after those those animals. We have noticed that 10 years ago the average length of stay of an animal in our animal services center was just five or six days. It's now almost two weeks." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2494.665, "end": 2522.705, "text": "And so again, much like uh so many of our other um pressures, it is not that there are necessarily more animals. They just happen to be in our cer in in our care for twice, almost three times as long. Um and so because of those things, that just continues to increase our pressure. And and again, our our Portland uh Animal Services Center built years ago um based on the uh the standards of the early 2000s, and those things have changed. We we don't have enough um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2523.205, "end": 2568.665, "text": "Uh kennels for all of the dogs. The the kennels no longer meet the standard size. They should be a little bit bigger. We don't have enough space literally to care for all of the animals that we've got. Plus, people cannot afford some of the veterinary care that they need. Animals then end up to us, and when they come to us, they are in poor health. And so we where we can look after those animals. We also have things like our SPAY and neuter clinics where our veterinarian does that for reduced costs or or for free where it's possible to do that. So we're just starting to see more, again, increased demand for all of the services that we provide. And when you magnify that with growth and the complexity of some of the things that we are seeing, it just continues to strain our services." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 2569.605, "end": 2606.505, "text": "Yeah, the affordability playing into it. It's very interesting. Transit public safety. So I'm jumping around. You've covered so much. Transit public safety, you've got this sort of 5% overall social disorder calls, but we're also seeing 38% higher call volumes. Just wondering if you can sort of put those in perspective for me, where we're seeing such high call volumes, but not sort of the like we've got 11% higher drug calls and 5% overall social disorder calls, and just sort of the discrepancy." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2606.545, "end": 2607.045, "text": "Certainly." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2607.765, "end": 2613.645, "text": "I'd love to be able to say that one statistic just shows everything that we do and of course everything is complex and interconnected." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2613.905, "end": 2627.565, "text": "One of the things that we've been able to do with council's support over the last few years is grow transit public safety. And as I mentioned earlier in in uh one of my responses, when we are out and about, we see more things. And so part of the driver for increased calls is increased presence." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2628.385, "end": 2687.945, "text": "That's actually good. That means we are seeing that things are not right and we are correcting them. We are stepping in. And so we are seeing that an increased presence of our staff, our distributed district networks that we have implemented over the last couple of years, which are putting our transit public safety staff especially out closer to the transit system more often, is actually seeing that we are catching more people doing social disorder, or we're catching more, I'm finding more social disorder problems. And as we interact with those folks, we are finding more drugs, we are seeing more things. And so there's a bit of a growth of the more we are out there and the more present that we are, the more we are seeing things that need an intervention, and that we are stepping into those. So while we are seeing drug calls rise, social disorder calls rise, many of those are um officer initiated. In other words, we would not have seen those calls unless we'd had officers on the platform. We we also find that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2688.325, "end": 2715.565, "text": "People call 911, people use the text line, people see an officer and report something verbally that they might not have called or they might not have uh texted, but because they saw an officer on the platform, they actually mentioned that they've just seen something on the train or they've seen something. So we're seeing that complexity of the data saying that uh call volume is rising, in part because of just increasing problems, but also because we have more staff that are out and about." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2716.165, "end": 2746.565, "text": "Connection though is that what we see is we um the more visible presence we have, the the less social disorder we are seeing as a result. So it it it is this um correlation that when officers are present, social disorder decreases. And and I can run through the seasonal stats that show you in parts of the year when we are out and about more, we see less disorder, and at times when we're not out as much, uh we see more social disorder." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 2747.725, "end": 2765.165, "text": "No, I've been following the stats in your community uh safety and well-being reports and it does has shown like it's fairly stabilized, right? Like it's not, I think once again this idea of perception versus reality a little bit of what we're seeing in sort of the reports um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 2765.765, "end": 2767.465, "text": "in our sort of like um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 2767.765, "end": 2825.265, "text": "Semi-annual reports, right? For when we're surveying community versus what we see in terms of the stats, the difference there. No, uh that's great. Last thing I just want to touch on. Um, it's it's it's uh a bee in my bonnet and it will be until we uh we don't have the numbers that we do, but tr traffic safety. Traffic safety is I think the biggest problem that we're experiencing in terms of community safety right now, having folks die on our streets. And so uh I appreciate you spoke to it, but I just with this being, I think, such a major focus that we need to focus on for the next year, years to come, um I'm I'm wondering if you can get a give a bit of a uh a sense of what's ahead, the roadmap, uh, how your team this is obviously this does not just fall to you, this is many different departments across the entire organization of the city. Uh, but from your perspective and what your teams are able to do, what we can uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 2826.205, "end": 2829.545, "text": "where you can help drive this uh this problem" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2830.085, "end": 2887.885, "text": "I I will speak to our portion as traffic safety is definitely uh uh Chief McClellan and CPS's um purview. But we have found that our our the introduction of our traffic safety team last year, the beginning of last year, with a focus on school safety and playground zone safety, and um an attempt to understand how we can deal with noise complaints. So um there's sort of two things in there. The traffic safety team has focused in in school zones. Um these are low speed but high high risk. I'll say high risk, the risk being school zones and playground zones are full of our kids, and that's important to us and to our community. And so our our traffic safety team, uh a team of eight, uh, four cars, um, is uh rotates around the city. Uh every morning they're at a different school zone, every afternoon they're in a different school zone, uh, and they focus through different quadrants of the city each week." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2889.105, "end": 2891.485, "text": "What we are finding is that those are areas where" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2892.385, "end": 2893.705, "text": "enforcement is" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2894.205, "end": 2976.345, "text": "I'll use the term fairly straightforward. I think traffic enforcement is far more complicated chasing uh speeders on stony and deerfoot and the real high uh risk areas, and that we leave to the the traffic section of CPS. Um the fatalities are something that are often caused by high speed, and that's not the area that the EMCS traffic safety team is is focused on. We're focused on playground zones and school zones where we know that we can uh interrupt poor behaviors, perhaps convince people to slow down, not to uh jaywalk their kids in the wrong spot, not to be parked in the wrong spot, but also to recognize that at certain times of the day the risk is increased because uh our children are in and out of school and moving around in those neighborhoods. That's an area where we have seen every single day, in every single school zone that we go to, we are catching people who are speeding through school zones or playground zones. It's just poor behavior, and we need to address that. And our traffic safety team has been one way that we can do that. Uh we are also able to be in some of the construction zones for a longer period of time, and we are responding to specific requests for specific areas of enforcement when our partners in mobility or other areas of the city require specific enforcement." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 2976.865, "end": 3000.705, "text": "I would say that we in EMCS are able to focus on sort of the lower end of some traffic safety concerns where we can have a real impact through education of the public. And that is an area where I think there as I said, w we can be in one school zone in the morning and one school zone in the afternoon, and there are hundreds of schools in the city. So this is an area where we could be around a lot more." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 3001.585, "end": 3003.325, "text": "with increased capacity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3003.325, "end": 3003.765, "text": "Absolutely." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 3003.765, "end": 3014.905, "text": "And that's i I'm just wondering I guess to sort of speaking so yours that's a lot about where we are now, if you could speak to where we need to go, like where you see the opportunities uh coming up." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3014.905, "end": 3039.425, "text": "Well, I I would certainly tell you that we could we could quadruple the size of the team. We could be in every quadrant of the city every day and we could be in a different school. Um you know, over the course of um the next budget cycle, perhaps council can invest in in that area. And it is a a relatively small investment in the terms of the number of actual officers needed to be in uh in a different school zone all the time. So I think it's it's one where" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3040.645, "end": 3059.045, "text": "How do we measure our bang for your buck in in that case? We hope there is never a serious collision. We hope there is never a fatality in a school zone or a playground zone. That enhanced presence of EMCS traffic safety officers can contribute to the prevention, I hope, of all of those" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3060.325, "end": 3064.085, "text": "unnecessary incidents that could occur." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 3064.585, "end": 3066.325, "text": "Appreciate that. Thank you very much. Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 3067.485, "end": 3070.665, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Atkinson. Over to Mayor Farkas." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3072.805, "end": 3102.105, "text": "All right, thank you so much. Uh this is certainly a 2025 report, but I had the great opportunity to be exposed to your work on December 30th and December 31st of 2025. And I just wanted to personally extend a thank you to you and your team, sir. Really well executed response on the water main break. It was a really quick crash course for me as mayor, as well, to get exposed to all the various agencies working together at the EOC. So just firstly, a giant thank you to your you and your team." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3103.185, "end": 3103.625, "text": "Thank you, Mayor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3104.985, "end": 3120.445, "text": "Uh jumping into some of the questions, uh the report notes a four percent increase in call volume f call volume, but a ten percent increase in the time spent on those calls. What's driving that increased complexity of the calls and how's that affecting uh response times?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3122.125, "end": 3125.345, "text": "So I would say there are a number of um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3125.705, "end": 3128.505, "text": "drivers of the complexity of call." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3129.445, "end": 3157.845, "text": "Of our calls. Language services are an example where the number of people who are calling now that either it just takes a little longer to get across the message that they were trying to get across, or we actually have to engage one of our language services systems in order to actually translate the call. That adds increasing complexity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3158.145, "end": 3185.545, "text": "Twenty years ago you would have called from a landline. As soon as you called from a specific landline, we got an exact location of where you are. Now we're using cell phone technology that can take a little bit longer, and sometimes that can be the technology gets a little more, I don't want to say confused, but the technology takes a little longer to actually pinpoint exactly where people are. And so all of those things are adding into just adding a few seconds into each call." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3185.765, "end": 3219.705, "text": "We then are finding the complexity of the response required means that we're actually having to talk to more agencies or more units as they respond. And so there are often more combined responses, meaning multiple agencies are responding to the same uh incident. And so again, we it just takes a little longer because there's more radio conversations or there's more telephone conversations that need to uh need to happen. And again, as you add that to just the growth in call numbers, the overall amount of time that we are spending either on the radio or on the telephone continues to increase." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3221.285, "end": 3250.485, "text": "Thank you. I liked Councillor Atkinson's uh forward look. And as I as we're thinking about Calgary's growing potentially to be a city of two million people in this council term, what EMCS service areas are least scalable under your current models? And as a follow-up to that, what early warning indicators should council be thinking at about that maybe signal that the public safety risk is increasing faster than your EMCS capacity or your ability to scale?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3252.065, "end": 3256.105, "text": "Thanks for that question, Mayor. I think um you know I will I will flag one of" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3257.525, "end": 3334.845, "text": "One of my forward-looking concerns that we've got is the actual 911 center itself at Whitehorn, built over 20 years ago from technology in the late 90s in a building that was not built as a 911 center. And so we are several years away from needing it to be ready and operating, but that means that we need several years of lead-in in order to plan effectively and to be ready to construct or do a significant renovation on the current building, which I'm not sure is actually ideal. And so we need to think about what do we need as the city continues to grow. So how do we scale up 911 into a modern, responsive 911 center? And I think that's a new one. I think that is several years away, but it is the kind of thing that we need to think about and plan now. I mentioned also that the Animal Services Center, again, is a building that you can't just add to 5% per year. We need a significant renovation to the Animal Services Center in order to keep up with the demand that the public expects and that we're seeing." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3335.325, "end": 3365.245, "text": "Hundreds in one go. So for example, as we think about the green line being three, four, five years away from actually trains running. The first day the trains are running, we need our full capacity of our peace officers. We can't wait until the very last day and then hire them all. So we need to um increase our staffing in preparation for those kinds of services that we know are coming down the line. And again, we know that people continue to move to this great city and and that the population will continue to grow year after year after year. And that just increases our service demand." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3367.225, "end": 3370.345, "text": "Thank you. And uh two final questions here. Uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3371.445, "end": 3379.785, "text": "second last. Uh the the report references the removal of over a thousand encampments and more than 50 problem properties. And" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3380.465, "end": 3395.845, "text": "Appreciate the work that you're doing on that, but how is success measured beyond just those enforcement actions, uh, particularly in terms of uh sustained neighborhood safety, prevention, other ways to uh uh outreach, understanding that this isn't an issue that we can solely enforce our way out of." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3396.005, "end": 3481.065, "text": "Yeah, thank you for that, Mayor. I I think there were two portions to your question. The first one, I think, is the easy one: problem properties. When we identify a problem property, I'll pick the Ogden Legion as an example. When we get to the point where eventually we can remove the property, we knock it down. It's gone. We no longer have the same incidents occurring inside that building because the building just isn't there anymore. Encampments, we move. Encampments, we encourage the folks to move along. We find them the support they need. We find them housing, we find them shelter, we find all the things we need. But the following day, somebody new moves into that exact same spot. I know that that is a frustration for the public, in that they see an encampment, we remove an encampment, and a week later an encampment is back again. It is usually not the same people. It is somebody new, and it is somebody different. And that's a real challenge in that the encampment locations that people use are frequently good locations in the sense that they are perhaps so uh close to the supports that the folks need, or perhaps they're in a space where they feel like they are a little safer because they are away from prying eyes. Um and the challenge of of uh encampments are that despite our efforts, despite our cleanup efforts, that it's a recurring problem because the core issue of housing and shelter for those folks has not been solved. And so they just keep coming back over and over again." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3482.865, "end": 3487.425, "text": "And then my last question is around officer and staff while being uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3487.825, "end": 3496.005, "text": "uh again incredibly impressive to see how all of the agencies and various business units within the city of Calgary came together there at the EOC." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3496.265, "end": 3504.365, "text": "But given just the the steady baseline, say the the increasing call volumes, the complexity uh that they're facing" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3504.765, "end": 3522.645, "text": "before any type of crisis situation, uh, or a more acute crisis like a feeder main break or a G7 or whatnot, what kind of indicators are are being used right now to monitor their burnout, retention risk, uh, staff wellness, and where what areas are the pressures uh most acute?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3523.725, "end": 3524.865, "text": "Thank you for that question, Mayor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3527.505, "end": 3536.605, "text": "The the biggest indicator is our staff absence. And our staff absence numbers are driven by cumulative trauma over time." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3537.225, "end": 3555.545, "text": "Our peace officers see things on a daily basis that slowly wear them down. Just like our other first responder partners, we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20% of our transit peace officer staff are away at any given point on either leave of some kind or illness of some kind." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3556.565, "end": 3571.445, "text": "911 emergency communications operators and dispatchers listen to multiple phone calls and radio calls of traffic at people's worst moments day after day after day after day, and cumulatively that wears them down, and we have uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3572.205, "end": 3583.005, "text": "an SNA challenge in nine one one as well, in the the sense that we we are on any given day um down by fifteen to twenty percent of the staff that we ideally should have." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3584.445, "end": 3590.245, "text": "We also want to find ways that we can improve the health and wellness of our staff by not" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3590.945, "end": 3591.625, "text": "um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3592.205, "end": 3620.605, "text": "N not driving them so hard every single day. You you can imagine that if you were on the telephone uh for 95% of your shift, how challenging that is to take a lunch break, to take uh just a a break after a bad call and be able to go outside and walk around the building and clear your head. Um we don't have the staffing capacity to be able to give our teams a half an hour break after a really difficult call because the light's always flashing, meaning there's another 911 call pending. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3621.605, "end": 3625.145, "text": "those challenges across all of our teams." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3626.525, "end": 3704.385, "text": "Wear people down over the course of time. And as you mentioned, Mira, when the EOC is open, the EOC is often open 24 hours a day under extremely stressful conditions for days after days after days. And you can imagine that the ability to maintain our focus on the emergency at hand becomes more and more strained after each and every day that we are there. We want to be able to give our staff the opportunity to rotate. We want to be able to give our staff the opportunity to take breaks. We want to be able to build health and wellness programs that build their resilience in advance of the next emergency they see. And so we are doing many great things. The team is doing a ton of great work in trying to build that capacity, capability, resilience of our staff in advance. But the cumulative challenge means that we have a significant number of our staff who are away at any given point. And so while we we may be able to say we have X number of FTEs providing this service, given that we are across 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and we need staff to take their vacation, we need staff to be on training, we actually need a larger number of staff just to be able to maintain the services that we have and to maintain our staff in a healthy workplace where they can continue providing the demanding services that we expect of them every day." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3706.085, "end": 3715.345, "text": "Thank you. And those are certainly themes that I think we're about to hear from uh our respective chiefs. Uh, thank you so much, sir, to and your team for your service to Calgary." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 3715.565, "end": 3715.985, "text": "Thank you, Mayor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 3716.925, "end": 3717.605, "text": "Thank you, Kair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 3718.165, "end": 3718.845, "text": "Thank you, Mayor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 3719.405, "end": 3721.685, "text": "I'll go to Councillor Yule. What a timing." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 3721.825, "end": 3724.125, "text": "You got some special people in audience." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 3724.205, "end": 3737.925, "text": "Yeah, before I get to my questions, I'd like to welcome Hidden Valley School to our uh community development committee. So these are the grade twos at Hidden Valley School. Why don't you guys all stand up and we'll give you a round of applause? This is" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 3745.145, "end": 3776.205, "text": "And you guys are in for a treat today. We are talking to our emergency services. And so your question this week uh is how do stories plant seeds of empathy? And I think our emergency services, like our police and fire, uh, one of the most important things they do is listen to the stories of the people that they're serving. And uh I think that really helps plant those seeds of empathy. So thank you for coming. Uh thank you, Miss Jordan L, for bringing your students in. And I look forward to talking to you guys later." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 3777.005, "end": 3802.045, "text": "So let me get on to my questions. We've kind of circled around some of my questions. One of the things I wanted to ask you with kind of what we're learning about our water system, we serve a lot of regional partners with our water. I was curious like, where are our boundaries with our 911 services? Like, how do we work with our regional partners on our 911 services?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3802.285, "end": 3832.845, "text": "Sure. So uh thank you for the question, Councillor. We answer 911 for the city of Calgary for 11 other regional municipalities, so places like uh Cochrane, Chestermere, uh Airdrie. Uh we also answer 911 for uh a significant portion of Rocky View County as well. Uh in total, we monitor 911 for almost 25 percent of the population of the province. So our area geographically essentially is the area um east, west, and north of the city of Calgary." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 3834.065, "end": 3843.905, "text": "So so with uh I I guess that it kind of em emphasizes the need for the expansion, like w we w not only w is Calgary growing, but our our region is growing as as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3843.905, "end": 3856.345, "text": "Yes, um I believe on one of my slides uh it showed that our regional partners uh call volume is up almost twenty percent. So when we add those um those calls to the calls that we do in the city, um it continues to to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3856.725, "end": 3857.925, "text": "increase our service demand." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 3858.925, "end": 3876.925, "text": "Uh and Councillor Atkinson kind of talked about um traffic safety. I oh like we have a school here today um talking about school zones. I know in the the suburbs where I live uh can be a wild west when at pickup and drop off in in in those areas. Um you you mentioned" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 3877.285, "end": 3885.025, "text": "uh education of the public. What is what does that look like uh to you in in the education of of safety around our schools?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3885.065, "end": 3907.265, "text": "Yeah, so we we take our responsibility of um enforcing bylaws, gaining compliance of our bylaws seriously. But what we want is compliance. So we will try education first. In other words, we will explain the problem, the situation, the reason why whatever behavior is being observed, whatever um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3907.825, "end": 3950.565, "text": "Weeds, fence, trees, litter, uh whatever it is, or driving, in the case of a school zone, why that behavior is contrary to the rules, uh the bylaws. Um, and we'll use education if we can gain compliance the first time. If we can't gain education uh or compliance through education, we'll rely on enforcement and tickets. Um I think things like traffic, people respond to the fact that they got a ticket and a a punishment for their behavior. I think that is more impactful than pulling someone over and telling them they're driving poorly and then letting them go again and just giving them that sort of educational warning. So the traffic team um i issues tickets um for behaviors that are." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3950.985, "end": 3954.505, "text": "um ill advised in our school zones um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3954.645, "end": 3967.725, "text": "as we've mentioned already um whether that is speeding or whether that is stopping in the wrong spot, letting the kids out in the wrong spot, picking the kids up in the wrong spot, blocking intersections, basically contravening the traffic laws inside the school zone." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 3968.325, "end": 3978.745, "text": "And how is a school chosen? Um like is is there is it just kind of a dartboard spin spin the wheel or or do you have data kind of" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3978.745, "end": 3978.965, "text": "So" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 3978.965, "end": 3980.905, "text": "Directing to you to which school you should be going." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3980.905, "end": 3981.745, "text": "not quite a dartboard." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 3981.745, "end": 3981.945, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 3981.945, "end": 4011.725, "text": "We do respond. We meet or we get input from CBE and the other school boards. I know ELT met with the school board as well and had a discussion, including traffic safety. And so then the team uses some of the data we get. We also get requests specifically from schools to come and enforce because they've seen a problem. And so we use a variety of data inputs, including just straight requests can you come to our school? And then we rotate around." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 4012.325, "end": 4016.585, "text": "Is there feedback that goes back to the school on maybe some" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 4017.105, "end": 4021.745, "text": "like suggestions on how they could improve pickup and drop off at all?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4021.965, "end": 4030.765, "text": "I think we've had some really good interactions. One of the areas where I think we can continue to be proactive is to identify" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4031.345, "end": 4060.225, "text": "Areas where perhaps the the design of drop-off pickup locations is not as great and and I know our partners in mobility have those conversations with with the school board as well. So I think we have ways of getting feedback. Again, we we can always do more. We are in one school in the morning and one school in the afternoon. Um it will take us a long time to get through all of the city, but um but we've also gotten some very good feedback from school principals and from the school board itself on how much they appreciate uh the traffic team being present." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4060.365, "end": 4060.605, "text": "Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4060.825, "end": 4061.365, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4063.785, "end": 4065.825, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Yule. Over to Councillor Johnston." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4069.205, "end": 4075.085, "text": "Hoping you can answer this, but uh I noticed some neighborhoods have speed bumps um kind of in" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4077.045, "end": 4078.125, "text": "less busy" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4078.525, "end": 4080.685, "text": "uh streets like boulevards." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4081.085, "end": 4081.645, "text": "Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4082.265, "end": 4087.145, "text": "why is it inconsistent? Because I've asked before if speed bumps could be introduced to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4088.045, "end": 4098.885, "text": "uh some of these neighborhoods and in Ward 14 specifically, where there's been a big issue for speeding uh around school zones and that. So going through Ramsey, I think they had speed bumps, but uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4100.125, "end": 4104.545, "text": "Yeah, I'm just wondering what what why the inconsistency on allowing speed bumps to mitigate speed." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4104.825, "end": 4107.365, "text": "I'm sorry to disappoint you. I cannot answer that question." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4107.365, "end": 4107.565, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4107.565, "end": 4116.645, "text": "Speed bumps are, I think, a mobility challenge or a mob for the mobility business unit. But we can certainly I'll I'll take that back and we can have some conversations." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4116.765, "end": 4119.205, "text": "Okay. Is the person here" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4119.805, "end": 4120.525, "text": "that heard it" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4120.845, "end": 4122.225, "text": "could send a" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4122.925, "end": 4133.625, "text": "Councillor Johnston, there's no one here from mobility as I can see. Uh but yes, you can free feel free to reach out to Troy McLoyd. I've done many times. They look after those speed bumps." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4133.785, "end": 4136.105, "text": "it I just wasn't sorry, I wasn't sure. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4136.445, "end": 4137.225, "text": "No, no, it's okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4137.705, "end": 4140.565, "text": "then the other question was is that uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4142.125, "end": 4143.645, "text": "the volume of" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4144.365, "end": 4148.105, "text": "pedestrian versus vehicle incidents have" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4148.845, "end": 4153.645, "text": "been an issue. But my question is have has that volume increased?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4154.365, "end": 4156.985, "text": "Stayed the same or decreased with the population" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4157.625, "end": 4159.505, "text": "the last five years." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4160.685, "end": 4165.965, "text": "I think if you're asking for overall traffic fatality statistics, I'll leave that to my CPS colleagues." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4165.965, "end": 4166.805, "text": "I can wait for that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4166.805, "end": 4167.525, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4167.525, "end": 4168.245, "text": "Perfect. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 4169.005, "end": 4169.305, "text": "That's it." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4170.325, "end": 4187.385, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Johnston. Uh I don't see anyone else in the queue, so I'm just gonna put myself in for a couple questions. I think you answered traffic safety team. We have eight officers. When uh it was a product of a notice of motion that was specifically focused on noisy vehicles." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4187.705, "end": 4209.205, "text": "Uh it's great that we are focusing on schools and stuff, but that problem is still existing, for instance, in my ward five, I know ward seven. I just want to understand, like you said, we can quadruple the team. Uh that's great. But how can we make sure that that is also part of the mandate that we are looking after those noisy vehicles as we approach spring and summer?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4210.145, "end": 4211.285, "text": "Thank you for that question, Chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4212.845, "end": 4284.905, "text": "The challenge of noisy vehicles is that unlike speeding, you can't just see somebody go by. There's no magic noise gun that captures their noise levels in a way that you can then issue them a ticket. And so the noisy vehicle piece has often been generated by community complaints, and we have used the the aggregated data of community complaints to do targeted enforcement in certain areas at certain times of the day where we have now got a history of there being noise complaints through vehicles. We are then, when we can, pulling over those vehicles, and we've actually had some success. We have issued somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 or 15 tickets last year. Many of them have been for specific modifications to vehicles that we know have been after market modifications that have increased the noise volume. And when we've got vehicles pulled over, we can actually do noise testing of them. But the environment of noise complaints is a little more challenging. So we recognize that it is often a nuisance when people late at night hear." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4285.325, "end": 4297.945, "text": "loud vehicles. Um, whether those are are cars, trucks, motorcycles, whatever whatever they are. But actually catching them is a little more difficult and then proving that they are actually the source of the noise of the complaint has been a bit more complex." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4298.805, "end": 4351.525, "text": "One of the reasons why while we started as a noisy vehicle initiative, the ability for a peace officer to pull someone over requires all of the same skills as a police officer has in terms of being able to effectively execute a traffic stop. So we have to train people to execute a traffic stop. If that was just for noise, or in the case of the traffic team, also for speeding, it's all the same skills. And so one of the benefits of giving the peace officers these skills is we can now deal with a wide ra wider range of traffic issues, including noise. But noise has been more challenging. We continue to work on how we can uh enforce more noise complaints. It's just a a bit more of a difficult environment to be able to catch people and to be able to enforce noise concerns when it comes to vehicles." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4352.725, "end": 4357.325, "text": "I don't think you would allow us to coming in the four year budget cycle to see how we can." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4358.525, "end": 4398.465, "text": "Increase the resource capacity because this has become a real nuisance. My last question is just around transit public safety strategy, we have seen the volumes of calls and tickets and all that go up. My question is, is there gonna be something like an audit or some sort of um success finding or anything coming to council? How effective this new model has been? And secondly, last night when uh I was on the train with Councillor Atkinson, we saw lots of security teams, security guards on it. Is that part of the strategy moving forward? There were like three in every car, which was great. I just want to understand for residents who are listening and watching." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4399.225, "end": 4399.565, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4399.765, "end": 4432.265, "text": "Thank you for that. So a couple of things. The transit public safety strategy was audited by the audit committee. And so that report did go, I believe, last year. We are reporting our transit safety statistics through our community safety and wellbeing report. And so council sees that on a monthly basis, and so you are seeing our indicators. We have no specific deadline from council or ask from council to specifically come back with a transit public safety report." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4433.045, "end": 4490.785, "text": "But we are coming back to council to report on the the pilot project that we are currently doing, which is about enhanced LRT platforms. You mentioned the security guards you've seen. As we are hiring additional peace officers, we have contracted security to sort of fill that gap in. And so what you are seeing at our top, I believe we're at a top 10 uh stations at the moment, is that enhanced presence of security staff. They are occasionally moving from station to station, so that's why you're seeing them on the train. But the point of the pilot project that we are undertaking, we've recently hired staff. We're really just about to launch into it. We've done a whole bunch of public engagement and some statistical analysis up front. We've gathered some data of the sort of the before situation, and we will be coming back to council with a report on that transit pilot project later on in the year to be able to report what I anticipate will be our great success with that pilot project." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4491.305, "end": 4497.165, "text": "Well that's great. Um I love it. Uh I just hope moving forward we can put more focus on" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4497.925, "end": 4511.405, "text": "operators who are driving the buses. They're the most vulnerable. Right now the focus is too much on LRT platforms and they feel left out. But that's a discussion for another day. Uh if you have anything to add, great. Otherwise I'll ask someone to move this item." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_17", "start": 4511.605, "end": 4548.945, "text": "Chair, I will say that we do have the safety enforcement team, so a specialized team of our transit peace officers that are specifically focused on operator safety given the number of uh operator-related incidents we had last year. And we are continuing to work on our overall presence of our staff across the system. So while we are doing a TPS uh platform, LRT platform pilot, we do have teams that are out in our districts, and one of their primary missions is to interact with operators and help with that safety of our operators as they go about their daily work trans uh transporting Calgarians around." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4549.885, "end": 4555.025, "text": "Great, no, thank you. That's uh that's very comforting. Um I'll ask someone to move. Uh can I get a mover, please?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4555.925, "end": 4556.245, "text": "Oh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4556.645, "end": 4561.305, "text": "councillor tires will move it. Councillor Tyres over to you to move. Open." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_10", "start": 4562.105, "end": 4564.185, "text": "Yep, opened uh and uh closed." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4564.725, "end": 4568.085, "text": "Great, thank you. Any any debate?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4570.405, "end": 4571.405, "text": "Oh, Councillor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_26", "start": 4571.405, "end": 4659.685, "text": "Just a commentary. I had the opportunity. I was on my way home on the Thanks Thank A Driver Transit Day. And it was supposed to be relatively straightforward my uh trip on the train, but I had probably the worst best day on transit to get to see some of the behind the scenes. I was actually up in the front with the transit operator in the train through downtown Calgary with Gerginder, and it was at a time when there was a big breakdown in the northwest for some signals there. Essentially, what happened was many trains were stalled for about 30, 45 minutes through the downtown. But I had the uh opportunity to kind of listen to the dispatch, the radio back and forth, and it was tremendous seeing the professionalism from Calgary Transit, as well as how uh this cascade of issues that caused all sorts of other considerations. But thankfully there is such great integration and response. It's not just say uh a train is late in the downtown, it causes now lots of people on platforms, it causes cascade of failures on buses, that sort of thing. But just the the dispatch from transit to the communications to the operators, as well as uh how involved in that, say, police and uh public safety and others were in that, it was just really, really impressive. So again, I just want to repeat my kudos. It's not just on the days that the water main breaks, but it's every single day that we see that level of professionalism and care and attention. So very happy to support uh receiving this report for uh information." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4660.765, "end": 4664.525, "text": "Thank you, Mayor. I'll go to Councillor Atkinson for debate commentary." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 4665.345, "end": 4671.305, "text": "Yeah, I just I just really want to thank this is a uh a huge team that I think is largely" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 4672.005, "end": 4675.765, "text": "maybe not always that visible. They do a lot of the work in the background." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 4676.305, "end": 4688.365, "text": "They're on the phones, they're answering complex calls, they're helping with community safety at a level that is neighbor to neighbor uh and and just like really on the ground. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 4689.285, "end": 4703.605, "text": "We are seeing the impacts that a growing city is having, and I, you know, I think we do need to sort of be looking at some of the ways we can address some of these issues. But uh yeah, I just want to echo the statement that like" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 4703.965, "end": 4732.925, "text": "a big kudos to the individual folks, the variety of folks that are doing this work, from transit to taking the 911 calls, to you know, making sure the the the noise bylaws are adhered to, to making sure that you know our our most vulnerable folks are are finding shelter for the night. Big kudos, thank you to all of you. And then, of course, our emergency response folks getting to actually see you in action. Uh it was" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 4733.425, "end": 4744.965, "text": "It put my mind at ease in a way to see the level of uh professionalism uh in a complex situation and being able to really deliver in that situation. So thank you to all." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4747.145, "end": 4749.245, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Atkinson to Councillor Cali." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 4749.965, "end": 4799.425, "text": "Yeah, just to maybe add into the uh the chorus here a little bit, I think this will be a bit of a theme today for us, looking at what we have on our agenda. Um everybody in emergency management and community safety is is is working to help Calgarians on frequently their worst day that they that they've had. And so a huge kudos to everyone Calgary 911, Emergency Management, Community Standards, uh Public Vehicle Standards, and yes, even the business performance and strategy team who uh helped hold it all together. Uh huge kudos to all of you. Um thank you very much for the annual report here. It was great to see all the great work that you put together over this past year. We are well and truly thankful for everything that you've done, and we look forward to working with you in 2026. Thank you, Chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4800.065, "end": 4803.005, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Cali. Councillor Tyres, for you to close." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 4803.505, "end": 4832.965, "text": "Sorry, that was really uh premature earlier. I was like, let's let's just get this going. Um also wanted to um thank uh everybody from CEMA for the incredible work that you guys did uh during the uh emergency that we have, uh, which was mostly in my ward. So um when we did those tours, uh, you know, checking out um how all those operations come together and all those people come together to um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 4833.585, "end": 4846.465, "text": "to rescue Calgarians and to just make sure that we're all safe. Like we really appreciate the work that you guys do. So thank you so much and thank you so much for your report and uh everything that you do. And closed." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4848.125, "end": 4856.065, "text": "Thank you so much, and thank you from me too. Thank you and keep up the great work. We are in safe hands indeed. Over to uh ESCribe colleagues." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 4870.125, "end": 4871.665, "text": "Councillor Jameson, your vote please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 4878.085, "end": 4878.825, "text": "Well Marcus? Yes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 4879.045, "end": 4879.905, "text": "Oh, thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 4880.705, "end": 4882.945, "text": "Councillor McLean, your vote, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4883.845, "end": 4883.965, "text": "Yes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 4884.525, "end": 4886.085, "text": "Thank you. And Mayor Farkas, your vote, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4886.085, "end": 4886.425, "text": "Yes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 4886.725, "end": 4887.665, "text": "Chair, all the votes are in." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4890.305, "end": 4891.785, "text": "Thank you. Please display the results." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4894.025, "end": 4896.865, "text": "Thank you, colleagues. That says carry 11, nothing. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4897.985, "end": 4905.965, "text": "We'll uh switch over now to the next item 7.3 Calgary Police Services 2025 Annual Report." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4910.205, "end": 4915.305, "text": "We have Calgary Police Services and uh Calgary Commission here." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4945.645, "end": 4946.765, "text": "Chief uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4947.245, "end": 4948.665, "text": "Commission, whenever you guys are ready." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 4949.065, "end": 4949.925, "text": "Floor is yours." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4953.925, "end": 4954.745, "text": "Thank you. Can you hear me?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4956.145, "end": 4956.945, "text": "Uh good morning." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4957.505, "end": 4960.725, "text": "I'm Kelly Ogle, the Dep uh Vice Chair of the Calgary Police Commission." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4961.845, "end": 4962.925, "text": "Good morning to uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4963.545, "end": 4964.485, "text": "Chair Daliwell," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4964.865, "end": 4967.545, "text": "members of the committee, other members of council on board." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4968.405, "end": 4970.105, "text": "Uh thank you for the opportunity today" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4970.485, "end": 4971.105, "text": "to join you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4972.245, "end": 4973.525, "text": "We're very pleased to present" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4973.725, "end": 4975.305, "text": "the Calgary Police Service" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4975.785, "end": 4977.585, "text": "2025 annual report." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4978.865, "end": 4983.305, "text": "You'll see that 2025 was a year of both significant challenges and meaningful progress" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4983.645, "end": 4985.225, "text": "in policing and community safety." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4986.065, "end": 4987.305, "text": "In 2025," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4988.005, "end": 4991.085, "text": "Our oversight included efforts to modernize service delivery," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4992.405, "end": 4997.545, "text": "strengthen workforce health and capacity, and advance accountability and public trust." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 4999.085, "end": 5001.085, "text": "As our city continues to grow," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5002.005, "end": 5008.425, "text": "we see increasingly complex public safety measures that you've heard of some already that include" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5008.785, "end": 5009.805, "text": "rising crime," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5010.865, "end": 5012.705, "text": "persistent social disorder," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5013.785, "end": 5015.325, "text": "traffic safety concerns," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5015.905, "end": 5018.545, "text": "and a growing strain on frontline services." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5019.485, "end": 5022.985, "text": "There were, however, some very encouraging indicators as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5023.745, "end": 5034.045, "text": "Targeted investments and renewed leadership and a continued one-city approach enabled meaningful progress with the safety and well being of Calgarians" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5034.405, "end": 5036.225, "text": "firmly at the center of what we did." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5037.545, "end": 5041.765, "text": "Maintaining this momentum will require continued attention to workforce capacity," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5042.705, "end": 5046.085, "text": "long term financial sustainability, and public confidence." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5046.745, "end": 5049.025, "text": "Priorities that call for thoughtful oversight" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5049.585, "end": 5051.525, "text": "and a shared commitment across council." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5052.465, "end": 5053.385, "text": "The Commission," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5053.785, "end": 5056.385, "text": "our service, and our community partners." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 5057.505, "end": 5062.845, "text": "With that, I'll turn things over to the Chief who will walk you through our 2025 results." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5065.045, "end": 5066.305, "text": "Thank you. Uh thank you, Chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5066.545, "end": 5084.885, "text": "Uh good afternoon. Yeah, good morning, everyone. Twenty twenty five marked the first year I was I was appointed as the chief, and I'm very happy to be here today to present the outcomes of last year. First, we look at how crime and public safety data in 2025 compares to the five year average. And sorry, can we just move to slide two?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5087.985, "end": 5088.465, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5089.145, "end": 5109.865, "text": "Our crime and public safety numbers use a five-year average to avoid comparing unique circumstances that could occur in a single year. Some of the key highlights include significant decreases in homicides down 44% and shootings were down 47%, which can be attributed to operational and investigative work." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5110.545, "end": 5117.165, "text": "Though this work is resource intensive, it considerably improves public safety and public perceptions of safety." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5118.265, "end": 5125.765, "text": "Overall break and enters were down 23%, saw a sizable decrease, and along with vehicle thefts, which were down 20%." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5126.385, "end": 5134.605, "text": "Assaults, unfortunately, were up 18%, and the presence of edged weapons up 5% increased and are both correlated." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5135.265, "end": 5140.485, "text": "The use of edged weapons is often a reflection of the heat of the moment situations that escalate." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5141.745, "end": 5155.785, "text": "Overall robberies up 1.5% remained relatively stable, while frauds up 21% saw a noteworthy increase. Credit card fraud and the defrauding of individuals are primary drivers in this area." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5156.585, "end": 5164.365, "text": "The number of crime guns seized were down 17%, which related to fewer shootings and less guns being on the street." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5165.145, "end": 5173.785, "text": "In 2025, calls for services also increased, with public calls being up 5.1% compared to 2024." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5174.925, "end": 5184.485, "text": "Most calls do not result in charges. There are many instances where significant time and resources go into a file and it does not end with charges being laid." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5184.885, "end": 5193.905, "text": "Unfortunately, Calgary recorded its highest number of traffic fatalities to the question earlier since 2013 with 38 deaths." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5194.185, "end": 5197.025, "text": "Which included 15 pedestrian fatalities." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5197.585, "end": 5200.125, "text": "And we saw, unfortunately, another one last night." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5201.025, "end": 5207.885, "text": "Speed, distracted driving, and impairment were contributing factors in 39% of these collisions." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5209.105, "end": 5216.165, "text": "We also saw 3,224 serious injury collisions, which were also up from 2024." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5216.785, "end": 5220.945, "text": "These traffic numbers highlight the need for continued efforts on this front." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5221.525, "end": 5228.165, "text": "Not referenced on this slide, but worth mentioning, is a concerning trend we are seeing in youth violent crime." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5228.705, "end": 5237.285, "text": "It is such a concern that our most recent and upcoming community town halls are focused on youth and crime on youth crime and prevention." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5238.665, "end": 5243.585, "text": "While service demands have increased year over year, budget growth has remained modest" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5244.225, "end": 5248.565, "text": "relative to population growth, inflation, and call complexity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5249.405, "end": 5255.625, "text": "Over multiple budget cycles, the service has absorbed significant pressure without corresponding investment." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5256.565, "end": 5262.605, "text": "While we saw positive results from our efforts, we have notable vacancies in a number of critical areas." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5263.345, "end": 5270.245, "text": "Of our 830 authorized patrol spaces and patrol, only 653 are currently filled." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5270.785, "end": 5272.885, "text": "Some other examples are the child abuse unit." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5273.405, "end": 5277.965, "text": "Has 15 detectives authorized. We have nine spots currently vacant." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5278.665, "end": 5282.405, "text": "Our homicide unit has 13 detectives. We should have 19." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5283.045, "end": 5289.125, "text": "And our sexual assault unit, our sexual assault investigative unit, has nine detectives, and we should have 15." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5290.065, "end": 5293.065, "text": "And lastly, the domestic violence team has 10," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5293.245, "end": 5294.465, "text": "and we should have 20." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5295.005, "end": 5301.385, "text": "This is a common theme across our units that we need to address to safeguard Calgarians. Slide three, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5302.985, "end": 5307.945, "text": "Through work with community and government partners, we ensured the service continued to be a responsible steward" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5308.345, "end": 5309.645, "text": "of public resources" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5309.985, "end": 5313.505, "text": "while we identified new ways to engage our diverse communities." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5314.065, "end": 5321.945, "text": "These efforts maximized our current resources, found efficiencies, and continued to build a service that reflects Calgary." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5322.685, "end": 5329.565, "text": "We have tried our best to be responsible corporate citizens by prudently asking for only what we need and nothing more." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5330.265, "end": 5338.585, "text": "Necessary efficiencies we focused on included financial, human, operational, strategic, and technological opportunities." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5339.245, "end": 5351.845, "text": "This is displayed through repurposing and right-sizing positions, strategically reallocating resources to community safety initiatives, and leveraging civilian member expertise to increase frontline capacity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5353.185, "end": 5358.805, "text": "These efforts, among others, directly saved money and time, enhanced service and optimized our workforce." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5359.565, "end": 5366.305, "text": "We also modernized processes through initiatives like our service delivery modernization and early charge screening." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5366.925, "end": 5381.425, "text": "The SDM, Service Delivery Modernization, was launched to leverage our existing workforce, manage calls for service, improve frontline deployment, response times, and member well being, and expand online and virtual services." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5382.185, "end": 5390.485, "text": "The new Provincial Police Review Commission, PRC, took on the responsibility of investigating police misconduct complaints." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5391.005, "end": 5397.645, "text": "Our internal professional standards section shifted focus to manage complaints related to police performance," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5398.185, "end": 5399.665, "text": "services, and policy." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5401.025, "end": 5411.205, "text": "This change provides objective oversight into police misconduct and allows for PSS to focus energy on service delivery, performance, and policy related complaints." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5411.985, "end": 5422.665, "text": "In partnership with the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, we started to pilot an early charge screening process where prosecutors review charges immediately after they are laid." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5423.265, "end": 5428.345, "text": "This replaces the previous process that often caused delays and last minute changes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5428.685, "end": 5435.105, "text": "We also bolstered a recruitment strategy to promote careers in policing amongst diverse communities." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5435.625, "end": 5444.885, "text": "Programs such as Indigenous Pathways to Policing and Women's Recruitment Boot Camps ensure the service is reflective of the community we serve." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5445.585, "end": 5446.425, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5447.885, "end": 5467.965, "text": "Carrying on with how we support our members, in 2025, we implemented a new performance assessment process to support member development, align with the CPS leadership competencies, and provide a consistent and structured opportunity for members to engage in performant discussions as they navigate their careers." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5468.805, "end": 5478.425, "text": "To ensure a safe and respectful workplace, we launched CPS Behavior Zones and updated our Respect for Workplace policy and harassment prevention plan." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5478.905, "end": 5482.785, "text": "These additions reinforce our existing processes and initiatives." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5483.605, "end": 5488.145, "text": "To ensure members who are off on leave or accommodated are supported when they return to work," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5488.425, "end": 5491.985, "text": "we strengthened our abilities management and return to work programs." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5493.325, "end": 5504.345, "text": "While we saw 19% of our officers on leave or accommodations, only 6% are completely off, while 13% continue to meaningfully contribute." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5504.545, "end": 5506.525, "text": "By working in accommodated roles." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5507.345, "end": 5509.965, "text": "The world of policing includes unique complexities," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5510.225, "end": 5515.205, "text": "and by better addressing these complexities, we streamlined the process for returning to work." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5515.665, "end": 5516.525, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5518.405, "end": 5523.525, "text": "Two engagement tools provided the service with critical community insights." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5523.985, "end": 5536.525, "text": "The feedback from both the Commission's Community Perception Survey and the Calgary Policing Summit provided direction on how we moved forward as a service to address the concerns and needs of Calgarians." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5537.325, "end": 5547.225, "text": "Last year's summit hosted approximately 350 community leaders, business professionals, industry partners, and elected officials to open dialogue and public safety." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5548.525, "end": 5555.805, "text": "With opportunities for live engagement, event attendees offered valuable insights that will shape future strategies." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5556.565, "end": 5566.625, "text": "The 2025 Community Perception Survey continued to provide a pulse on how Calgarians feel about public safety and the work of the service." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5567.365, "end": 5571.245, "text": "With the majority of respondents, about 80%, view Calgary as safe." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5571.405, "end": 5574.625, "text": "There are concerns related to increases in homelessness," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5574.865, "end": 5579.365, "text": "drug use, and mental health related disturbances in public spaces," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5579.645, "end": 5583.445, "text": "as well as concerns regarding theft, violence, and vandalism." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5584.225, "end": 5591.505, "text": "Though social disorder and mental health crises are not crimes, they do drive perceptions of safety and strain on our resources." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5592.065, "end": 5600.865, "text": "61% of respondents support increased funding for the CPS to hire more officers to address crime and public safety." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5601.525, "end": 5617.005, "text": "Additionally, members including the executive leadership team informally engage the community through countless events that we either hosted or attended, such as our ongoing series of public town halls that we have been hosting since 2025." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5617.405, "end": 5618.525, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5620.365, "end": 5635.785, "text": "Next, we will look at implications and risks the service navigated. We are the third largest city in the country, and to keep us as one of Canada's safest major cities, we set our focus on strengthening frontline capacity and preparing for future growth." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5636.305, "end": 5645.205, "text": "Calgary has grown rapidly in population, diversity, and complexity, yet, our frontline and investigative capacity has not grown at the same pace." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5645.645, "end": 5650.405, "text": "This has tangible impacts on response times, workload, and officer well being." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5651.065, "end": 5656.505, "text": "These pressures are not sustainable in the long term without restoring frontline capacity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5657.185, "end": 5669.345, "text": "The growth of our frontline through strategic workforce alignment, recruitment, and management of our accommodated workforce is critical in meeting the needs associated with population growth." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5670.145, "end": 5678.425, "text": "We have also prioritized stronger traffic safety initiatives, for example, the Drive to Zero campaign that is done in partnership with the city." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5678.985, "end": 5681.245, "text": "Social disorder remains an ongoing issue." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5681.805, "end": 5694.325, "text": "This spurred us to proactively launch Safe for Calgary Operation Order in the downtown core with our law enforcement partners at Calgary Community Safety, Transit Public Safety, and the Alberta Sheriffs." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5694.985, "end": 5703.385, "text": "This operation did see a decrease in public related disorder and focused on connecting those in need with immediate supports." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5704.665, "end": 5714.245, "text": "Operation Jingle All the Way took place at the end of 2025. It aimed to enhance public safety along priority areas of the South Lake." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5714.525, "end": 5718.945, "text": "Of bus and C train lines while also offering support to those in need." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5719.685, "end": 5731.405, "text": "The earlier mentioned service delivery modernization project started to modernize service delivery by finding efficiencies through process innovation and identifying new technology." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5732.325, "end": 5744.005, "text": "Environmentally, we continued to implement energy efficient technology in our facilities. Economic implications included stabilization of staffing, equipment, and vehicles." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5744.665, "end": 5751.925, "text": "We were met with challenges related to revenue for fines and penalties, which also brings us to our service and financial implications." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5752.345, "end": 5758.785, "text": "The Commission and the service worked with Council and removed fine revenue as a budget line item for our service." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5759.605, "end": 5771.005, "text": "We continued monitoring organizational risks. Similar to 2024, funding pressures and public trust remained top of mind as well as workforce capacity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5771.605, "end": 5776.425, "text": "As a service, we mitigated these risks through effective and efficient resourcing." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5776.765, "end": 5778.625, "text": "Next slide and last slide I will speak to." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5781.225, "end": 5785.365, "text": "Thank you. In 2026, we are optimistic about what is on the horizon." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5785.805, "end": 5790.805, "text": "We have successfully set the year's direction through the 2026 Annual Policing Plan." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5791.445, "end": 5802.565, "text": "The current APP Annual Policing Plan concludes the current service plan and is a launch pad for the 2027 to 2030 service plan and budget." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5802.925, "end": 5808.225, "text": "The upcoming service plan and budget is a frontline focused policing budget and strategy." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5808.605, "end": 5813.765, "text": "It is clear the next step after years of efficiency, adaptation, and absorbed growth." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5814.405, "end": 5823.545, "text": "It introduces our new vision together for a safer Calgary, and our priorities include advancing policing, proudly serving, and building relationships." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5823.965, "end": 5828.245, "text": "For Calgarians, this will mean more visible frontline policing and priority areas," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5828.585, "end": 5831.365, "text": "improved response and investigative capacity," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5831.765, "end": 5839.385, "text": "safer public spaces, and continued investment in initiatives like youth programming and Indigenous reconciliation." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5839.845, "end": 5849.385, "text": "It will also mean measurable outcomes related to officer time reinvestment, investigative excellence, service quality, and resource stewardship." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5850.045, "end": 5856.105, "text": "We are also finding new ways to tell this story through the voices of our members and the Calgarians we serve." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5856.685, "end": 5859.645, "text": "And the last slide is for any questions that you may have." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5860.425, "end": 5860.885, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 5863.025, "end": 5871.405, "text": "Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Vice Chair. Thank you so much for for this presentation. I don't see having I don't have any questions in the queue. So it looks like everybody is." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5871.545, "end": 5872.785, "text": "Excellent. Thank you very much." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 5872.785, "end": 5880.065, "text": "Okay. Actually, I I I it spoke too early. Councillor uh tires, please go ahead." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 5880.065, "end": 5918.685, "text": "Sorry, that was last minute. Um, Chief McLean, thank you so much uh for your report. So uh my colleagues and I were invited to the recent policing summit where we got to be there with you and see like how important it is to engage with the community in that kind of setting, especially for the Calgary Police Service and for the Calgary Police Association. You did mention a town hall series that you were doing. I was wondering if you could tell us about any other initiatives, town halls, or events where you're really emphasizing receiving feedback from the community, because I thought that was such an important piece seeing those community leaders and community members engaging with you guys in that way." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 5920.465, "end": 5924.845, "text": "My apologies. My apologies, my fault before you answer. I forgot to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 5925.225, "end": 5934.705, "text": "do one part of my job, if you allow me. Is there anyone in the public who would like to speak to this item here in chamber or on the phone?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 5936.885, "end": 5939.625, "text": "Anyone in public, here in the chamber or on the phone," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 5940.105, "end": 5941.465, "text": "hear none, seeing none," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 5941.985, "end": 5947.045, "text": "with that we'll close the public part of this. Sorry, my apologies. Go ahead, uh, Chief." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 5947.305, "end": 5996.845, "text": "Not a problem, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor, for the question. So, as you've said, we've committed to numerous town halls. We go to several community events. We could probably, my team and I, and many many members of the leadership team, be at events every single night and every single weekend. So every opportunity we get to do that, we have those conversations. Many of our members who are out on the front line with respect to particularly our school resource officers who are out in the schools, when we get the opportunity to speak with parents, we get engagement that way through the surveys that we said. But every opportunity that we're out with the public, we just speak about what it is that we're doing, what our priorities are, ask for that feedback. We get a lot of informal feedback. We also get lots of informal feedback through our through our external website and lots of questions and recommendations through that as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 5997.285, "end": 6012.725, "text": "Yeah, that's excellent. Well we all know that um like that kind of feedback creates good policy and and and um good ways of uh communicating with the public, especially when it comes to police work and that kind of thing. So we appreciate the work that you guys are doing. Keep it up." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6012.725, "end": 6013.405, "text": "Thank you very much." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 6015.025, "end": 6020.445, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Taras. To the point and very precise, thank you. Uh over to Councillor Pentasopoulos." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6020.445, "end": 6029.305, "text": "Thank you so much, Chair. Thank you so much for coming and presenting and uh telling Calgarians exactly your thoughts and more importantly, sort of the vision where you're going uh forward with that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6029.945, "end": 6034.365, "text": "Clerks, do you mind bringing up the crime and public safety slide on attachment two?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6035.205, "end": 6036.105, "text": "So maybe uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6037.745, "end": 6038.185, "text": "one more." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6038.905, "end": 6039.865, "text": "Perfect. Yeah, right here." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6040.585, "end": 6042.125, "text": "Um, you know, you mentioned" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6042.405, "end": 6043.605, "text": "violent crimes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6043.825, "end": 6048.785, "text": "Everyone is is awful, but homicides are down 44% amazing, sex offense is down" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6049.105, "end": 6049.645, "text": "subtly." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6050.785, "end": 6057.805, "text": "But in your commentary, you mentioned we're short. Homicide investigators, we have 14, we need 20. Assault investigators, 10, we need 20." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6058.125, "end": 6064.425, "text": "When you look at this, things like fraud, and that impacts a lot of Calgarians and it's growing. So maybe just speak to that," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6065.225, "end": 6073.425, "text": "putting resources to areas that an outside observer sees we're doing a good job. You're doing a bang, though those 10 homicide investigators are doing a bang up job." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6073.845, "end": 6088.505, "text": "Yet the folks that are in fraud, I'm not going to say are not, but we need more resources. So just help us reconcile that, focusing on those awful violent crimes as compared to where the crime is actually growing and not pivoting resources towards that to get that 21 down to zero or something better." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6091.325, "end": 6097.365, "text": "Thank you, Councillor. I'll just make a quick comment as a as an observer of as we see this stuff as the Commission." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6098.085, "end": 6104.825, "text": "Technology and the ability to trick people with things on the internet andor" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6105.325, "end": 6114.165, "text": "AI has really advanced the ability of someone who's got the wrong idea to do things. I would think that's a starting point, Katie." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6117.325, "end": 6171.325, "text": "Yeah, I I would just say that um those homicide calls in particular, even though that number is down, they're much more complex uh than what they were years ago, and so they take much, much longer to investigate, and um there's many other additional pieces that that we need. But but as the chair said, um technology and partnerships have created some efficiencies. I can tell you that one of the reasons that our homicides are down uh last year in particular, as well as our gun seizures, is that we have some very significant uh criminal offenders who are in jail and who have been incarcerated. So we know that they will be out sometime soon, probably uh this year. And um, so we don't want to take away from those resources. It takes quite some time for areas in those specialty investigative units to get that expertise to be able to thoroughly investigate that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6171.865, "end": 6215.105, "text": "To look at case precedents, case laws, have the involvements with the partnerships. But as you said, Councillor, we are very concerned about the fraud, and that and that's just uh that's just a pebble in the ocean. We know that actually lots of people do not call us because there's lots of embarrassment and um technology um is not helping us with respect to online frauds and online crimes, and so we have to very much so increase those uh capacity and have those additional experts as well. Police officers don't come into the police service as financial crime experts or fraud experts or IT experts, and so we have to balance that and ensure that we're bringing in those civilian subject matter experts as well as training some of our police officers so that we can have that hybrid partnership." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6215.505, "end": 6266.645, "text": "That's a great segue into the next question. And and you know, crime is changing, and and the answer from the chair, I I I I struggle with that answer because crime is changing, so the police needs to change. But but chief, you've spoken a lot about future-proofing the police force and the crime of tomorrow and and how we make Calgary safer. And and maybe just speak to that in in the slide, the service in 26, the the service plan and budget. Um again, a lot on frontline policing, yet if crime is changing, you've talked about using AI just because it's the soup de jour. How are you future proofing the police in anticipation of how crime is changing in Calgary in Canada? So that we're not sort of left, it's criminals are moving very quickly, and if the police force is not moving in tandem, we are gonna fall behind. So so how are you sort of speaking that? How are you thinking about that as you look forward and future proofing the police for uh the crimes of the future?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6266.685, "end": 6333.105, "text": "That's a really great comment. And as I've said earlier in my comments, it's it's not just about asking for more money and more police officers. We have to be more strategic. We have to become additional experts. And that's why you'll see the growth this year when we look at the budget. It's not just about frontline police officers, it's about hiring those subject matter experts. You kind of alluded to it, counsellor, in that truly our criminals are ahead of the game with it with respect to technology. And so we have to get smarter, we have to become more educated, we have to bring in additional experts. So we'll have different kinds of pockets of police officers, you know, potentially that we will look to in the future. The kind of police officers that we're hiring now compared to when I was hired 35 years ago is a tad bit different. And of course, uh you've you've heard me talk often about how much trauma and complexity that they see and that they deal with. And so each year, I think I would say every five year segments, we as a service have to look to see what kind of individuals is it that we're bringing into the service, what kind of individuals is it that we need to have to help us move the service forward." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6333.365, "end": 6353.965, "text": "Because it's not going to be status quo and we have to try and get ahead ahead of the curve. But you you mentioned it, Councillor, uh leveraging IT and getting ahead of IT and things like AI, which opens up a whole can of worms. But bringing in individuals, both sworn and civilian, who understand those complexities and have some of that expertise will help us to be more proactive and ahead of the game." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6354.205, "end": 6386.785, "text": "Yeah, I think you know, Calgary, we pride ourselves being cutting edge on so many, whether it's business, not for profit, and and I think you know you'll get a lot of support in this council on a policing side and utilizing that. And it's a wonderful dovetail. I think you've read my notes about people and the assets. And 20%, as I understand, 19 or 20 percent of of our frontline staff, your team, is on some sort of leave. And you know, maybe just speak to that how you're thinking about that in the budget cycle to address that. And and maybe the the rate number isn't zero, uh, but it certainly hopefully isn't twenty percent. So how does that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6387.185, "end": 6415.865, "text": "Absent just hiring more folks to backfill, and I know that's a short-term strategy, but how do you get those folks through trauma, through lived experiences which we just can't imagine? What's your thoughts? What's your strategy? How are you investing in your plan when you sit down here next year saying, hey, we really took a dent, we really were able to bring what a success. The 500 that were on the sidelines, 100 came back, and and what a joyous event as compared to the 500 went to 600 or 700. So how how can we think about that and how are you bringing that into your budget?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6417.885, "end": 6451.185, "text": "Great question. We think and talk about this every single day, and you must be reading our notes. Because it it is a concern. And and again, not to just say that it's not just about Calgary, but every police service across the country. And you heard uh Mr Mr. Bushel talk about 911 and so forth. It's just an unfortunate reality of what we are dealing with today. And so I would say um, you know, there's a lot of members that get injured on the job, and so we we have to take care of them. They've been involved in traumatic incidents and they've seen things that most people don't get to see, and so" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6451.825, "end": 6592.965, "text": "We have to ensure that, regardless of whether they stay in the Calgary Police Service or go on to another another line of careers, is that they have to be healthy and that they have to be well. And so what we did in fact do and what we continue to do is invest in our human resources area. And first of all, it actually starts with ensuring that we're hiring the right individuals, going back to my my comment that I said earlier. And we can't predict everything that people are going to see, but we have to be very clear and upfront with them that they are coming to see people at their worst time. They are coming to see a lot of tragedy, and they have to be able to be resilient. And that doesn't mean just about bouncing back. That means about how are you going to grow and learn and continue to be able to serve in the police service. But to your point, and I and I know personally that there's, and in fact, I've just met with two individuals over this past week, that there are in that number of 400 that people do want to come back. They want to continue to serve in another way. And so we're actually pivoting as a service to see what more can we offer these individuals so that they continue to contribute to what we want to accomplish as a service. But some of the things that we have done with respect to our in our HR shop is we've looked at our abilities area. We've looked at our placement, as I said. So when individuals aren't coming back, they just know that they're coming to an area where they some may not see as valuable or as contributing. We've got return to work coordinators, we've got different processes. When individuals go off, we do independent medical assessments. And we've brought in things like internal therapy services, uh, contracted services as well. And uh and then, of course, um we've got um additional uh programs before they go off, and we've also invested in there, and that includes things like, and I won't go through the entire list, but it includes things like um early uh early um interven intervention, early warning signs, therapy, peer support. We do lots of critical incident debriefs. Um we've got different programs that we bring in. So we've really looked at a multitude of uh committees and processes and supports, and we really plugged into the rest of our police service partners across the country to ensure that where can we align, where do we have the cap, where do we have the gaps, where can we make um some additional um strides with respect to keeping our people healthy and safe." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 6593.205, "end": 6618.045, "text": "Well I really appreciate that. What what I'm comforted as a Calgaryan and as a Councillor is you may not have all the solutions, but you've got a plan. You've identified the problem. Step one, step two, here's a plan. And we know some will work and some won't, but but you've identified, I think, very clearly, uh, and and that's gives me lots of comfort. And thank you so much for your service and all the public members of the police commission as well. Thank you so much for your service, tireless effort on behalf of Calgary and so thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 6618.145, "end": 6621.385, "text": "Thanks so much. So much, Councillor Pentasopoulos. Over to Councillor Johnston." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6625.225, "end": 6626.205, "text": "So um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6627.105, "end": 6627.745, "text": "do you guys" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6628.285, "end": 6631.905, "text": "look at the direction of the council? Um, so" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6632.945, "end": 6641.085, "text": "the last council's direction had a lot to do with uh well it's called Brazilian Calgary. And so this council has a new direction coming up." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6642.305, "end": 6654.065, "text": "I I'll be honest, I'm not sure exactly the rule of commission versus what council gives to the police services, but do you guys look at our council direction when making decisions going forward?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6658.125, "end": 6659.685, "text": "Or do you just look at the" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6660.225, "end": 6661.205, "text": "what the commission?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6661.365, "end": 6663.645, "text": "We provide governance for the police service." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6665.165, "end": 6666.385, "text": "In the in the" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6666.945, "end": 6669.525, "text": "in all areas of government, governance we would try to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6669.805, "end": 6673.025, "text": "we we will pertain to what good governance would present." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6675.085, "end": 6676.585, "text": "At the end of the day, this" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6676.805, "end": 6677.805, "text": "city council" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6678.965, "end": 6681.925, "text": "holds the purse string for the budget for the police service." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6682.385, "end": 6686.925, "text": "So of course we're we would try to interact as best we can in any way we can, Councillor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6687.185, "end": 6688.785, "text": "with the with the with the" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6689.325, "end": 6699.665, "text": "city's council's direction, which I understand is being developed today, which is also which is as fluid as as the police service is. Does that answer your question?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6700.345, "end": 6703.145, "text": "Um, kind of. I I I guess my" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6705.745, "end": 6722.385, "text": "my my hope is that you guys look at the previous council's direction versus what our direction is. Um as the last council direction um was heavily weighted towards social resilience and social aspects. And and I understand there's a lot of social aspects to policing. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6723.025, "end": 6725.965, "text": "But I think Calgaryans are really looking to us to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6727.145, "end": 6729.785, "text": "focus on the matter at hand and not" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6729.885, "end": 6741.865, "text": "We met with each and every one of you folks after the election. And I know that as as you'll agree that public safety was the number one issue that we discussed among" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6742.005, "end": 6752.165, "text": "council members. And that would be our focus purely sorry at the top of the pecking order of what we're here to do in as a police service. Agreed, Katie?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6752.985, "end": 6756.305, "text": "And we are again fluid" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6756.665, "end": 6757.585, "text": "collaborative" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6758.185, "end": 6762.845, "text": "uh performance between council and commission is exactly what we want." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6765.885, "end": 6769.545, "text": "you guys find the Calgary Police Service is trying to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6771.305, "end": 6772.785, "text": "sometimes uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6773.765, "end": 6778.905, "text": "re image itself or maybe sometimes worries more about PR than" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6780.305, "end": 6782.525, "text": "I I don't want to comment on that. I I think that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6783.005, "end": 6784.905, "text": "the again the the um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6787.045, "end": 6789.245, "text": "the front facing Calgary Police Service" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6790.265, "end": 6796.985, "text": "is I is I I'm extremely proud to be a part of that functionary as a as those that provide governance for that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 6797.425, "end": 6799.545, "text": "So I don't know how I how better I could answer that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6801.325, "end": 6801.905, "text": "um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6805.665, "end": 6808.065, "text": "going over your slide on the" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6809.065, "end": 6811.625, "text": "different types of crimes or going up and down." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6813.045, "end": 6814.625, "text": "For me it comes down to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6816.925, "end": 6818.245, "text": "reported crimes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6819.445, "end": 6824.205, "text": "Right. And so for these numbers, it's very hard to take seriously" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6824.545, "end": 6828.365, "text": "knowing personally how many times I've been affected by some of these" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6828.825, "end": 6829.745, "text": "not the first one," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6830.765, "end": 6832.085, "text": "second one, third one," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6832.925, "end": 6834.825, "text": "not the fourth one, where" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6835.965, "end": 6851.005, "text": "I've filed through the system you guys created and to this point where I don't do it anymore if I get my tool stolen or if I'm assaulted. It just there's no real justice, there's no real follow up. And so I just wonder are you guys able to?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6852.765, "end": 6856.765, "text": "Guess maybe how many unreported crimes are out there." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6860.265, "end": 6868.445, "text": "Uh apologies for the um challenges with that system and so rest assured that we have in fact uh in the are in the process of um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6869.165, "end": 6890.485, "text": "Rebuilding that entire system and trying to make it much more user-friendly. But to your point, and it's a definite concern of ours that we know that there are many people who don't call for a variety of reasons. So I I would I I'd be throwing darts in the dark to to try and guesstimate what those numbers are, but it is a concern for us that people are not reporting and that number does impact what we've got shown here today." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6892.405, "end": 6903.925, "text": "Would would you say what I brought up is being more commonly brought up that people are less likely to report a crime and that producing numbers like this doesn't show the whole picture?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6905.145, "end": 6924.945, "text": "I would agree with you that this only shows the picture with respect to the data and stats that we have. But as I've said, we know that there is a number of individuals. I speak with them often for a variety of reasons as to why they don't call. And so are these numbers different when we take that into consideration? 100%." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6930.505, "end": 6940.205, "text": "And and sorry, maybe you guys can help me with uh population versus these numbers or um traffic versus pedestrian related accidents. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 6941.005, "end": 6948.865, "text": "I'm I'm just curious, like are they on par with population or are are they getting worse even with the the greater population in Calgary?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6950.465, "end": 6988.285, "text": "Definitely when you look at the stats when uh we compared to the numbers last uh over the last several years, uh 2025 was our highest by far since 2020. And there's a multitude of reasons for that. And uh I often talk about um and I don't I don't know what other cities have got, but we looked at to see how many vehicles are actually registered in the city of Calgary, and it's just over a million. Depending on what stat you look at, we know how we were pushing 1.6, 1.7 million people. And as we've said, that these every single fatality is preventable. The majority of them are because of." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 6989.385, "end": 7018.465, "text": "Speeding, distracted driving, or impairment. And I can share with you the fatality that happened last night. Again, another very tragic situation. Our police units were out there, our traffic section was out there. We had the scene cordoned off. We had pylons up, and we had an individual drive through our scene at over 80 kilometers an hour. And we were just fortunate that he didn't injure a police officer or someone else. And the reason why he was doing that was because he was late for work." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 7024.145, "end": 7025.505, "text": "That's fair. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 7026.305, "end": 7046.105, "text": "just off our own dashboard, um citywide collisions are actually down lower than what it was in 2020 with a potential twenty hundred thousand population increase. So all I'm saying is maybe you guys are doing a really good job. Um that a lot of these stats are actually lower, and so that's that's great. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 7047.125, "end": 7048.185, "text": "and uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 7048.685, "end": 7051.825, "text": "With the budget ask coming up here um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 7052.265, "end": 7058.725, "text": "and the risk of not being able to fill those positions with the money. Um that's a question I've had for a lot of uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 7059.345, "end": 7062.605, "text": "of our our own districts and they're just" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 7062.865, "end": 7068.865, "text": "they're like, Yeah, we could ask for all the money in the world, but if we can't find recruitment, it's not gonna do anything. So um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 7069.265, "end": 7071.805, "text": "I'm I'm hoping you guys are able to figure out how to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 7072.685, "end": 7080.565, "text": "retain and keep more police officers. I think the program you guys were thinking about was bringing in retired police officers and redeputizing them and" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 7081.525, "end": 7094.045, "text": "Put 'em on the street. So hopefully you guys can figure that out because I mean our goal is to get police officers, like you said, on the on the street and the the presence of that alone will reduce crime. So um but thank you for coming. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 7094.405, "end": 7094.925, "text": "Thank you, Councillor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 7096.625, "end": 7099.225, "text": "Thank you so much, Councillor Johnston. Over to Councillor McLean." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7100.345, "end": 7109.545, "text": "Thank you, Chair. I apologize that I couldn't be there in person this morning, as uh you might know we've had a lot of long days from together, so had a bit of housekeeping. But" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7110.485, "end": 7114.705, "text": "first off, let me say congratulations to you, Chief, on your new contract." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7115.365, "end": 7121.285, "text": "I think you've shown great leadership and commitment to County Police Services, and it's well deserved. So if I was there, I'd" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7121.545, "end": 7122.505, "text": "clap for you. But" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7123.165, "end": 7123.845, "text": "congrats." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7125.045, "end": 7128.545, "text": "Uh, thanks to the whole force, actually, and uh the police commission." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7129.045, "end": 7133.705, "text": "Mr. Hogel, I hear you've got a couple good counselors on police commission helping you out these days. Is that right?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 7135.165, "end": 7135.985, "text": "Can you name them?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7139.385, "end": 7141.305, "text": "Well, they're not there today in chambers, but" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 7141.305, "end": 7145.225, "text": "No, I will I will say, Commissioner or uh Councillor McLean, that um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 7145.665, "end": 7149.845, "text": "in my several years of uh or three years now of being with the police commission," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 7150.565, "end": 7162.725, "text": "I I can unequivocally say that our relationship with the city councillors that have been on commission has been impeccable and a lot of pulling on the rope together at the same time. I can I would I can affirm that with a hundred percent certainty." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7163.825, "end": 7172.965, "text": "well, thanks for all you do. And and and the whole commission. I mean, there's a lot of time and energy and uh commitment. Uh, but it's a lot of really, really good work that people do, you know, at uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7173.465, "end": 7180.685, "text": "uh expense of their own lives and it's not like you're really getting paid paid so uh again, thank you for all that. But uh getting down to some questions then." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7181.165, "end": 7184.345, "text": "Um Chief, I I again commend you on some of the uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7185.025, "end": 7192.145, "text": "Uh, work you're doing on crime and social disorder downtown with Operation Order. I understand some of those are going to come to a close or be changed, or" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7192.725, "end": 7195.505, "text": "maybe could be more effective. Can you maybe speak to that a bit?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 7196.145, "end": 7213.125, "text": "Thanks, uh, Councillor. Thanks so much for your kind wishes and congratulations. And so we will continue with operations like operation order. The only thing that might change is with respect to the locations and a couple of things, obviously, with lessons learned, but you will continue to see those in our city." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7214.965, "end": 7217.925, "text": "Okay. And I think maybe you can speak to as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7218.385, "end": 7227.305, "text": "You know, a lot of time and uh resources are spent going back and forth to spy hill from downtown. There's always been talk about a downtown police station." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7227.725, "end": 7230.725, "text": "That would come at a great cost. I mean, I know I I think" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7230.925, "end": 7234.425, "text": "there's also some redistrict redistrict being on some of the" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7234.765, "end": 7237.065, "text": "Uh police uh boundaries as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7237.305, "end": 7248.905, "text": "Can you maybe speak to that as well? I mean, if there was to be a police station, we are these safety hubs enough, or we're a smaller operation or bigger, or you want your wish list and maybe speak to the boundaries changing as well, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 7250.825, "end": 7359.585, "text": "Uh thanks for your question, Councillor. And so those boundary changes that just happened have actually been in the works for a couple of years. When we looked at the amount of police officers that we have and the requests for call load, they needed to, and really they needed to go back to what they were many, many years ago. And so there was just some IT difficulties that took us quite some time. So we have made those in relation to the amount of officers that we have to respond to calls and the calls for service. And so that that's why that was done. I think to kind of your point, and so we've got eight police stations. People don't uh I think realize that we've actually got 41 buildings that we lease and own. Many, many years ago we had um pop-up stations, we had satellite stations, and for leasing costs and so forth, we had to give those up. Uh, but uh we have to go back and look at those because of the amount of how big some of our district offices are. And so, but to your point with respect to a downtown police station, and we get asked this often, and uh and and I've you have you've heard me say often that that we serve we serve all of you, and if it's something that um that the that council wants and and wants us to uh embrace and endorse, then of course we are at the table with you. We've got the the um the the the the station that you talked about. We stood up our new uh district office uh just not too far, uh the old telephone building. Um we understand that there's some issues with access and parking and so forth. And then, of course, we do have the downtown station, but it's in Ramsey, it's in the outskirts of the city. And uh as we spoke, as I spoke with the Council uh Commission last week, we did talk about the fact that many other major police services do have a high visible downtown police station. And so if that's something that uh we want to entertain and have a discussion about, and we're at the table and looking for guidance on that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7361.645, "end": 7368.945, "text": "Yeah, uh, I agree. Under resourced and underfunded, but uh we're stretched pretty thin at our budget" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7369.105, "end": 7373.005, "text": "requirements as well. But that's something we can work on later. But I would like to ask you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7373.405, "end": 7379.125, "text": "A little more about the uh I've talked with Councillor Dollywall about this as well, the extortion rings that have been uh plaguing" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7379.485, "end": 7385.345, "text": "our country, not let alone our city. And I think there's been some progress and arrests on that. Or can you maybe give us an update?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 7386.005, "end": 7460.465, "text": "Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Councillor. An absolute priority for us that we have redeployed numerous resources over the past several months. We are Intel driven. We have a joint operation set up with the RCMP. We are connected provincially, nationally, and internationally. And it's atrocious what these suspects are doing to innocent people and have no regard for public safety with respect to going out and setting houses on fires, shooting at people. But we have done lots of positive things behind closed doors. Obviously, we don't come out and speak publicly about some of our operations, particularly those that are covert, but we have actually arrested several individuals. And I think I've shared with some of you in the past that many of these suspects are people who have come in from other countries and who are here on work visas and who are here on student visas. But to your question, Councillor, we have recently made some arrests that have resulted in charges. And this afternoon we will be doing uh giving a news brief on those uh arrests and charges later today." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 7462.525, "end": 7467.185, "text": "Excellent. Well, thanks for uh coming and thanks for the presentation. Keep up the good work. That's all I have." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 7467.785, "end": 7468.685, "text": "Thanks so much, Councillor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 7471.325, "end": 7473.625, "text": "Thank you, Councillor McLean. Over to Councillor Atkinson." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 7475.265, "end": 7483.105, "text": "Great, thank you. Um you mentioned in your presentation youth violent crime, which isn't in the reports. Can you just expand on that? That sounds like something we Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 7483.385, "end": 7542.525, "text": "Yeah, thanks, thanks, Councillor. Su super, super concerning. So we've started to see a high trend of youths between the ages of 12 and just under the age of 18. Out stealing vehicles, out robbing individuals, out assaulting individuals, taking people at knife point, going into businesses and committing swarming. And so we have seen that rise just over these past six months and into the end of last year. And so we're working with the school boards. Deputy Daly, who has many of the school youth programs in his area, we're connected in with them. The last town hall that we did in McKenzie was specifically focused on youth crime. And our next one, actually, that's coming up here at the middle or the end of the month, is also focused in on youth crime as well. So very, very concerning, a trend that we haven't seen in quite some time and quite violent for individuals who are between those ages." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 7543.925, "end": 7560.885, "text": "Thank you. Yeah, it's things to work on. I know you've got your annual policing plan already sort of we're we'll get into that, but the like is there initiatives that you're sort of seeing as a way to start working on that issue? It's um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 7562.685, "end": 7600.105, "text": "I think uh the those partnerships with and and some and some of them are actually not in schools, so it's difficult to to have those relationships and those partnerships. And we have incredible relationships with all of the school boards and so our SR our school resource officers who are doing a phenomenal job in there speaking with the kids who are in are in schools and with the parents, but some of these are individuals who are not in schools, and so we work closely with with social workers and as I said out in the community bringing this to people's attention and um doing as much as we can to tell kids that you've got two choices when it comes to the fork in the road, and when you take this choice, bad things are going to happen. It's just about having those." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 7600.485, "end": 7626.385, "text": "Upfront, blatant conversations, and when we do bring these individuals into custody, having those resources and talk about potential, and I know not to kind of sound philosophical, but what truly are the root causes? Is are there things going on in in different parts of their life that we can engage in? And when there are those opportunities, as I said, through Deputy Daly's area and through our yard team, our mass team, our ISSP team, and so forth, we're engaging as many of the kids that we can." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 7630.765, "end": 7675.045, "text": "Operation order, so the focus sort of on these pieces, uh, operation certainties, the one where I've sort of been able to really dig into the report, but showed something that I've heard from some of the businesses and residents in downtown is that it just sort of moves where the activity is taking place and sort of displaces folks, but displaces them just into other areas. Um I wonder if you can sort of speak to, I mean, you said you're going to be continuing to pursue operation order or these type types of endeavors. Um, but we heard say even in the in the former um report from from bylaw that it's really about public and consistent presence, building relationships, these kinds of things, which operation order feels counter to." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 7676.045, "end": 7806.025, "text": "Uh thanks for your question and for your comments. And so we we understand that that impact that we have when we bring in a hundred plus officers and additional resources is a one-day intervention and engagement. However, there are lots of many uh operational orders that go on in behind the scenes consistently with the Deputy U Brian's folks through the community engagement response teams with our mental health workers, with our social workers. So those continue to happen on a daily basis. You just don't see that big visible surge when we do that. As you know, I've been down the last two operational orders that we have, and the amount of people that have come out, and you know, uh Mr. Bushel talked uh Ian Bushel talked about it earlier, is people just appreciate that visibility. It brings a change when people see police officers, peace officers in uniform. And so your comment about displacement, and of course we're concerned about that, and that's not something that we want to have. Some of that just pushed out into the suburbs, and so we were very focused to ensure that that didn't happen. It may have, but what we learned and what we saw was that in fact it did not happen. Um, and um so I can also tell you that when we hear there there's these concerns of displacement, there's also the concerns about the drug traffickers who go down and target those vulnerable individuals. And there was the concern that when we were down there doing those kinds of things, they would go out, the drug traffickers would go out to different areas, out to the suburbs where some other individuals are and target those individuals. Again, I can tell you we were very strategic with covert and overt operations. We didn't see that. And in fact, when we went and tried to do an undercover drug operation after our last operation order, um our drug, our undercover operators couldn't find a drug trafficker to buy drugs from. And so that that that is a win to us. And so the concern was to your point did they go somewhere else and do that? We didn't see that area, that area. So they went somewhere. They did not go somewhere in this city that we saw them being displaced out to other parts of the city." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 7806.765, "end": 7845.385, "text": "Okay, yeah. And I guess it's more like the the drug trafficking is one side of things, but really where we see with operation order is is sort of social disorder, vulnerable populations, and sort of, and that's where I do hear from the folks sort of surrounding downtown displacement into into those areas, reaching into my office. But even within the downtown and even in your operation certainty report, we see things like businesses in sort of like T D Square, some of these places that are maybe being more disproportionately uh you know uh impacted by sort of the movement of people within within the downtown because of these kinds of things." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 7846.685, "end": 7854.205, "text": "And I totally hear you and and obviously if if you're hearing it, um it's happening and and and we hear different pieces as well, but it's" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 7855.405, "end": 7952.645, "text": "We can't just not do nothing. And so the one piece that we have been very specific about is this wasn't an operation to go around and down there and just arrest i vulnerable individuals and put them in jail. Clearly, if they were committing criminal offenses or if they had a warrant, so for so forth. But it truly was to go down there because we started to get into a bit of a, I think a bit of a culture where we would walk past these individuals and because we were frustrated that we weren't able to connect with appropriate resources or had support from the crowns and so forth, that our members would walk past and would say, someone should do something about that. That's really unfortunate. And what we were doing is we were walking past individuals who were dying on the streets. And so we have said, as a police service, that that's not acceptable to us. That we will, when we see these individuals, we will engage, we will interact, and we will, where appropriate, connect them with the appropriate resources. Even the individuals that we did end up having to take to jail, we ensured that there were resources up at jail. And for example, uh individuals who were indigenous, we had indigenous uh folks there to liaise and there were smudges and so forth. So we really tried to be holistic in our approach. And it's not it's not just about enforcement, but truly as a service, we have taken a stance that these individuals need help, and we play a role in that along with all of our partners, and we will continue to interact and engage and get these individuals connected to resources where and when we can." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 7953.025, "end": 7964.405, "text": "I appreciate that. And it's I know you're dealing with limited resources. To me, the better way to do that is through relationship building, having a constant presence and making sure and and I I get that maybe this is a a" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 7965.105, "end": 7982.625, "text": "a moment in time, right, where you have limited resources, but having to pull folks from elsewhere in the city to do this kind of work and whatever, instead of being able to have long term relationship building people on the ground and really sort of having that presence, that's where I would like to sort of see it go. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 7983.105, "end": 8058.765, "text": "I'll maybe move into now some of your the annual policing plan. This is the look forward where we're heading 2026. Really appreciate getting the insights there. I'm just gonna run through a couple of items. So uh if we could go to uh page five of that, there's um one of your big things focusing on obviously we heard it earlier, this sort of focus on psychological safety of our members. It's super important, right? We don't want folks on medical leave, impacts you know, their health, impacts budgets, impacts our ability to deliver. Um, under goal one, there you've got this proportion of respondents that felt wellness and resilience divisions resources better prepared them to build resilience and the percentage of members on medical leave or accommodated in regular contact with an abilities advisor as per service delivery standards, both as setting baseline. Um, I'm just wondering like how why it is that we're setting the baseline, why we don't have already have sort of a target, something measured that we are actually able to make sure that we are meeting that sort of safety needs of our first responders." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8059.585, "end": 8076.905, "text": "Uh thanks thanks for your question. Um I might turn to uh K Kim Asaley is here. Um but uh what I would say is that um it's just that we've actually just recently brought in those subject matter experts into into the service and so it's some some new programs that we're starting, but I don't know if Kim Asaley wants to add anything to that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8082.725, "end": 8083.385, "text": "Just uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8084.585, "end": 8089.745, "text": "just there's uh I think some folks listening uh online, so just if you could in the microphone, thank you. Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_30", "start": 8092.225, "end": 8125.605, "text": "Can everyone hear me? So I would concur with the chief. Our abilities management program, we are just maturing that and that includes our data. And so, but I I would just re-emphasize that with building out that program, adding more staff, we really want to make sure that we're connecting in with members on leave and that are accommodated quite regularly. So the work right now is to set that standard and then ensure that we have a way to measure it. In terms of the wellness piece, we obviously have quite a few kind of background operational measures related to that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_30", "start": 8126.345, "end": 8150.185, "text": "But I would say that we've asked these questions alongside the Commission in our annual employee engagement survey, but this one was specific that we're gonna uh run within the service, and then we're gonna ask follow up questions to them as well to understand whether or not they're getting the right services at the right time. Uh, because one of the issues is we want to make sure that those in the districts are receiving supports as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8151.525, "end": 8179.225, "text": "So I I recognize how like the the wellness division, great that we're working on that, but like numbers of folks on medical leave should be a stat that I mean what we've heard, right? That we are tracking. So to not sort of have like a number and then that we are like what we're trying to target and sort of work towards on that, I guess I'm I I have a bit of difficulty with that piece when we've heard that there are stats around numbers of members on leave." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 8181.245, "end": 8191.825, "text": "I d I I'm not sure of the question. Like w we're gonna try to do better. Like it we're hop we we're adding resources, and you'll see and and I'm not speaking out of school, in the four-year plan," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 8192.145, "end": 8198.345, "text": "with there's a lot of there's significant resources in the to be added in this area" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 8198.725, "end": 8199.225, "text": "of well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8199.225, "end": 8242.345, "text": "Yeah, I guess it's like do better, yes, measurable how, right? All of the other pieces in here we're seeing 100%. We're just seeing 65%. There's measurable goals within here. And then this one, where we have actually some statistics around number of members on leave, but we're still setting a baseline and not actually like setting targets in terms of what we're actually trying to change here in terms of the numbers of folks on leave. Like, I guess it makes it difficult. Like, why do we not have, if we have the numbers, the statistics in terms of folks on leave, why are we not actually setting a benchmark and a measurable piece that we can then check back in on and make sure that we're we're following through on that?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 8242.345, "end": 8243.385, "text": "Kim will speak to that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8243.465, "end": 8243.865, "text": "Right." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_30", "start": 8244.205, "end": 8271.145, "text": "So, as you said, we do have numbers. It's currently at 6% for our sworn members that are on leave. However, this one was really to ensure that there was accountability around how we approach the service delivery from an HR perspective. And so again, that wasn't the strongest before, I will admit that. And so part of us putting it in here is to build that accountability and baseline around that service delivery and support from HR." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8271.285, "end": 8350.665, "text": "Okay, thank you. I'll maybe jump now to page eight. We've got the sort of, or actually page nine, sorry. So you've got this sort of focus on the relationship with Indigenous folks in our community, which we know are well overrepresented in our vulnerable population, well overrepresented in folks in incarceration. And we've got this, once again, sort of setting baseline piece here. I don't know, speaking to this one, uh goal five, number eight, percentage of member participants in IRT-led sessions that confirmed that they obtained knowledge that had positive practical application in their interactions with the public and service delivery in uh or to indigenous communities. Um, that goal there. And once again, it's sort of setting baseline. Um but I feel like this has been, yeah, such a critical one that I know you have been working on. You did mention earlier your Indigenous recruitment efforts, some of these sorts of things. But I just I guess I worry when other ones have been given focus, targetable measures, and then I see setting baseline. I'm like, is that a goal that isn't really a goal? That's that's what it makes me worry." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8350.685, "end": 8377.925, "text": "Really great comment and and thank you for that. We've had lots of conversations around some of these setting baselines, and I and I totally hear how it's jumping out like it what it is. We just haven't been capturing it. And so that's why we just have to we've got setting baselines. So you might see some probably some adjustments with the commission uh as we move along here, but we did have lots of conversations around there's there's a couple of in here as you've pointed out, um, and it's just that we haven't been correct correct collecting the the stats and the data, and we need to." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8378.145, "end": 8389.665, "text": "Okay, okay. Um can do you do you want to speak at all? I that stood out in your presentation, the Indigenous recruitment efforts. Do you have anything that you want to specifically speak to around um yeah how that's going?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8389.705, "end": 8410.465, "text": "Yeah, I would just say that the team is doing a really great job both in the recruiting unit and in Deputy Daly's area with our Indigenous relations teams. We've got uh great connections with elders, we go to many community events, we did the recruitment camp, um, and so we're we're doing our best and we're having as many conversations as we can and and I see that uh positively trending as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8411.785, "end": 8449.005, "text": "Fair. I'll maybe jump now to page 13. I'll first speak to number uh 17, item 17 on that page. Um sorry, I'm getting there myself. Um item so item 17 is the rate of shooting incidents. And then I guess I'm just like that's that's become my take on this, and maybe I'm wrong in this, but because there's a dash in the 2025 target column that makes it a new target, right? As of this year. That's exactly it. Yeah, so I guess." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8450.025, "end": 8486.045, "text": "I mean, obviously we want to see shootings go down, great, but then I I guess I'm why the focus on that when in the reporting on as we heard earlier, we we heard that you know 47% reduction in shooting and then homicides down 44%. Like, why make that I guess a T key target indicator to track and to focus on when the trends in that are where we want them to be going and uh, you know, and and and is that potentially then pulling away our focus and effort on other areas that maybe need some attention?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8486.685, "end": 8488.505, "text": "And I'm gonna ask Kim to come back up." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8489.145, "end": 8490.485, "text": "If you don't are you able to speak to that?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8491.005, "end": 8496.105, "text": "Just about the the the methodology, and I know we had lots of conversations about setting those targets, Kim." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8496.565, "end": 8498.045, "text": "Are you able to speak to why we have that one there?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8499.745, "end": 8500.965, "text": "I know Rebecca's not here." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8503.365, "end": 8503.985, "text": "Or or" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8504.885, "end": 8505.945, "text": "it's just about the target." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_06", "start": 8513.065, "end": 8555.445, "text": "It's Asif Rashid here. Thanks for the question, sir. The reason why the metric was absent in 2025 and has been introduced in 2026 is because nationally, through our intelligence gathering initiatives, we began to see an uptick in gun activity towards the end of 2025, specifically around the extortion incidents that have been spoken about. And so nationally, some of these trends began in earnest in early 2025, late 2024. We had not began to see the same uptick in Calgary as other jurisdictions had seen. So anticipating that we might see something and working with our intelligence partners, we introduced this as a metric to signal what we were going to expect for 2026. And in fact, our worst fears have played out as the chief and others have discussed this morning." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8556.585, "end": 8558.205, "text": "our worst fears have played out." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_06", "start": 8558.205, "end": 8573.065, "text": "Yes, in that gun violence has trended upwards towards the very tail end of twenty twenty five, specifically around the Christmas season and in the first two months of twenty twenty six. So that's why it's important for us to measure it, so that we can hold ourselves accountable to diminishing gun crime as the year goes on for twenty six." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8573.385, "end": 8579.345, "text": "So if I go back to I guess to the like that um overall like forty seven percent" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8580.185, "end": 8629.625, "text": "Decrease in shooting incidents and then 44% decrease in homicides that was presented in the sort of report. Are we saying that that was largely all focused basically within one season? Like it was very disproportionately, like we've seen a massive. So we where where that's measured on an annual basis, that all of that has really come on in the end of 2025, and we're actually seeing quite an epidemic, and those numbers actually do not, like we actually have a much like this is that actually, I guess I like I'm I'm now I'm actually in like a weird spot where I heard on the one side that we're seeing less shooting incidents, less homicides uh annually, but then now if that's all being crunched in, like, is this something that we really actually need to be?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8630.525, "end": 8637.165, "text": "Really focused on because we have seen actually a spike, and if this was done on a seasonal basis, we would" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_06", "start": 8637.345, "end": 8641.045, "text": "The numbers were done over the aggregate of the whole the year 2025." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8641.045, "end": 8641.345, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_06", "start": 8641.345, "end": 8664.485, "text": "But we knew towards the end of 2025 gun violence started to increase a little bit. So many of the gains to your point were made in the first two or three quarters of that year. For 2026, you talk about the epidemic. So there have been 28 shootings year to date in the first three months of 2026. That compares to this time last year when there were 10 shootings. So yes, it is an increasing, a very important consideration for us and one that we need to continue to monitor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8664.665, "end": 8686.965, "text": "That's exactly what I needed to understand. Okay, so yeah, just that discrepancy between what we're seeing there, 44% and 47%, those dropping, but then to have that as a focus point going forward. Thank you. Yeah, really important. Um I'll maybe jump back to the uh the report page 13. Well, I'll jump into 20. We knew we were gonna go there." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8687.865, "end": 8702.725, "text": "Fatal collisions. Um this is this is I think has to be on all cylinders go, all departments focused on this effort. We are just seeing this climb and uh really need to to tackle it. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8703.205, "end": 8716.325, "text": "I'm wondering, like we the the statistics or the the measurement um both last year and this year was to have it decreased by 25%, and we are obviously trending in the wrong direction. So I guess" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8717.485, "end": 8740.305, "text": "a two-piece. One is to looking back on 2025, sort of the failings there in terms of being able to hit that target, and what makes you think that we will be able to achieve that same target? Like we've set the same target again this year. Um why why the same statistic? Why do we what are we doing differently that's actually gonna help us to bend that curve in the right direction?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8740.305, "end": 8893.245, "text": "Thanks. I I hear your pain and it's uh painful for all of us and just so so tragic as I've talked about so often. And um, you know, we've tried different things, and so some of the things that you would have seen are the individuals who have been impacted by fatalities who have come forward and have shared videos, have been in partnerships with ourselves and the city, and talked about the impact and tried to get people to understand how much this changed people's lives. And so we've tried the compassionate piece, we've tried the intervention piece, we've got the partnerships with MAD, we do the education in the schools, we speak about it all the time on the radio and on the television, we've got the drive to zero campaign, we work with city infrastructure to look at intersections and speed bumps and all of those other things. Um, and it's just it's people are not paying attention, they are not focusing on their one goal, whether as drivers or pedestrians, to get to their destination safely. And enforcement is a big key component of that. And Deputy O'Brien, and I think you've heard me talk about our traffic safety team, that again is short, but I, you know, I'm not continuing to complain, but the facts are that they are they are also short. But we've got our partnerships in the city that we work with, we work with the sheriffs. Um, we are working with uh the GOA with respect to uh photo radar and the prohibitions and so forth on Deerfoot Trail and Stony Trail. We've got the support through the Commission who continues to advocate for that. Um we did see some legislative changes uh in the last quarter with respect to fines and penalties for some things. Uh we've also got the support of the commission where we continue to advocate through and up to the GOA the ability to seize people's vehicles and being able to do that. And so last night, something like that would have been a perfect example. Same time last night, again, it was a stolen vehicle, but an individual driving at 180 kilometers an hour after we deployed a tired deflation device, and he's driving on rims, still trying to get away from the police. And so obviously there's some criminal behavior in there, but driving behavior is atrocious, and and we're trying as many things that we can. We're looking across the country, we continue to look to see what other jurisdictions are doing, and um we're we're making as many changes as we can, we're implementing as many things as we can. We're just we're pleading with the public that they have a responsibility when they get on the roads or when they get behind a vehicle, they have a responsibility, and that's to keep themselves safe and others safe." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8893.745, "end": 8929.505, "text": "Yeah, and I I th I really appreciated um sort of breaking it down speeding, distracted driving impairment, like that those these are yeah, really big problem areas. The one thing that I I want to make comment here is I I appreciate that being in here, performance indicator, but I also think there needs to be a bit of a separation in terms of our mindset around it, in terms of fatal collisions vehicle on vehicle, and fatal collisions vehicle on pedestrian or cyclists, and just targeting those two separately." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8930.425, "end": 8941.385, "text": "There is another level of responsibility that I believe drivers have to folks who are our most vulnerable road users, those outside of the car and w and and those are really" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8942.065, "end": 8969.905, "text": "Really tough to deal with, right? The pedestrian um deaths that we're seeing on our roads. And so just something to that I wanted to sort of point to was that distinction between vehicle on vehicle collisions and fatalities and injuries related there, which obviously we we need to drive on, and and I think a lot of that is the speed and right these kinds of things. Um but also a very targeted focus on our vehicle on pedestrian deaths." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 8969.905, "end": 8998.565, "text": "That's a that's a really good point that we can take away and and and I can assure you that as well with uh traffic safety is one of our core functions obviously with our frontline police officers and uh through each of the district offices they do have a traffic safety engagement enforcement plan that they have in each of the districts and they look at the trends, they look at problem locations, and they go out based on data, based on feedback, based on calls that they get to each of the district offices. But that is certainly something that we will continue to put on our radar as well. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 8998.565, "end": 9028.765, "text": "Appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah. I'm just going to jump now quickly to uh page 17, uh number 28, uh is a sort of uh I think this actually speaks to what Councillor Johnson was maybe speaking to a little bit, but I I do worry about a focus uh on um media sentiment. I think a lot of the targets in here are great. You're focusing on building trust, building trust with indigenous" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 9029.225, "end": 9051.425, "text": "folks in our community, right? Building um I worry that a focus on media sentiment rather than public trust and measuring specifically the sentiment in the media is maybe going to drive the wrong kinds of focus when the focus really does need to be about the police service and their relationship with community, not the police service and their relationship with media." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 9053.365, "end": 9056.045, "text": "Thank you. We'll we'll take that away and have a conversation. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 9056.505, "end": 9109.985, "text": "Great. And then my last one, page 19, number 34. AI. It's in everything. It's all over. But actually, we've we've seen some studies coming out and sort of the negative impacts of AI and sort of how that can really, especially, you know, we a lot of AI training data and whatever has not been maybe done with the data sets that include people of color in the same ways as it includes white folks and these kinds of things where there is problematic pieces to AI. I'm just wondering if you can speak to some of the safeguards that you're also bringing in. So AI coming on within policing, I worry about it with sort of my outside eye, but I'm wondering what you're doing internally that maybe those safeguards that you're putting in place around AI." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 9110.085, "end": 9159.745, "text": "Excellent question. Exciting and scary at the same time for sure. And so it's not just about technology. It still involves people, and we're very, very cautious for what we use AI with, and we're learning many lessons from other police agencies across the country. I can assure you that we do have strong governance, and we've actually got a committee that we have specifically for AI, and it's in the Deputy Chief Corey Daly's area, that has a combination of internal subject matter experts and external subject matter experts, where we are looking to ensure that we have incorporated many of the lessons learned. We're looking down the road to see where it works and where it doesn't work. So we're taking a cautious approach with bringing in as many experts as we can to help us uh to help us build that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_34", "start": 9159.905, "end": 9161.925, "text": "Does that cover it, Corey, or do you want to add anything?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 9162.285, "end": 9164.665, "text": "Deputy Daler just maybe add some more to that, Councillor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_07", "start": 9167.465, "end": 9189.405, "text": "Think that's right. Yeah. Uh thanks, Chief. Thanks, Council, for having us here today. Uh the what the Chief covered off on is we have a an incredibly robust, I'd say, country leading at this point, um, supported by uh CSO Murphy's legal team and our external legal um opinion. So we've worked with uh an external legal company along with our internal AI governance and steering committee." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_07", "start": 9190.045, "end": 9266.925, "text": "That also has seats on or representatives in that internal committee have seats on our Alberta Association Chiefs of Police and our Canadian Association Chiefs of Police, as well as some of us sit on the major city police chief committees to do with technology and AI steering and AI governance. And so that framework that we've developed with our external legal counsel and our internal legal representatives and AI steering committee is leading the work. So specifically to things like bias are included within that framework. And so any AI product that we will intake or want to look at and review within the organization comes through that steering committee and is put through that framework. It's a template that's filled out and it does ask questions very specific, not just to ROI and outcomes and what we're looking at from the productivity of the AI and where that's going to enhance or augment our service delivery, but what is the data that we're ingesting? How does the tool work? Is it AI-enabled tool? Do we have a decision to turn off those products within the technology that we already have? As we're seeing with the types of technology, those things are just being delivered and embedded within products we already own. The email clients you have, you're seeing that right now. So, how are we dealing with those types of products that we already have? And all of that's being put through our governance framework that has been built." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_07", "start": 9267.405, "end": 9274.505, "text": "independently for the CPS in conjunction with our our um our legal governance teams. So hopefully that that answers" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 9274.505, "end": 9296.825, "text": "I appreciate it. And it sounds like you've got quite a a robust look, maybe at the front end, but maybe if you could speak to the ongoing, like how you will be critiquing this is early days, and and so maybe something meets the check boxes at the beginning and gets implemented. But what are the checkbacks? How are we making sure that there's sort of like continued um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 9297.565, "end": 9298.665, "text": "uh I don't know." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_07", "start": 9298.905, "end": 9299.485, "text": "the audits." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 9299.485, "end": 9306.025, "text": "Yeah, the audits of yeah of how it's actually playing out and whether it's leading to to negative outcomes. Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_07", "start": 9306.205, "end": 9403.405, "text": "Great question. And that isn't that is with built in within the framework, but like you say, early days. So a lot of the the auditing will be coming in the next year, two years, three years as we implement these products or phase them out just as quickly as we phase them in. So that is built into the the KPIs, the outcomes that we're looking at on all the products. We do have full auditing capability with all of our technology products that we bring in, specifically through the IT that falls within my bureau. So those types of things and the reporting we'll be bringing back to the chief and the commission. Commission has all the same questions regarding the AI outputs. And like what you say is the we're hearing a lot of things, and we're the same in our industry than any other industry of what AI is going to deliver. We're not necessarily seeing that in the products. There's a lot of hype with the products, so we're taking a slow approach, obviously, a very ethical approach to our AI adoption and within the organization. But we do have built-in audit features to those. So for instance, um on our productivity piece, we're monitoring on a daily basis how many people engage with our co-pilot that we're using, what exactly are they using it for? All of our members know that. We're not monitoring a daily chat feature, but we're monitoring what are they using it for, where are we seeing those efficiencies. Is it report writing? Is it uh analysis to multiple reports into a system for product outputs? Is it actually decreasing officer time on call or the time between calls? So we have all those outputs built in. We just need to have the product in actual application for 2026, 2027 to see if we're actually meeting those, or we'll just bring those products back and look at different things." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 9403.705, "end": 9406.865, "text": "Okay. That's great. Thank you. Thank you for all the answers. Thank you, Chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9408.165, "end": 9409.225, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9409.745, "end": 9418.125, "text": "Before I go to Councillor Ward, a couple things. We could just suspend the procedure by law, finish this item," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9418.505, "end": 9420.145, "text": "and then be back at one," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9422.725, "end": 9423.805, "text": "or we can just" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9425.025, "end": 9426.065, "text": "not take the" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9426.365, "end": 9430.145, "text": "lunch break and go through it. It's up to you. You can think, but I'll go to Councillor Ward." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 9431.805, "end": 9444.105, "text": "Yes, just a quick one for you guys. Um a lot of residents have said that when they call non-emergency one two three four number that they're experiencing really long wait times. What do you think the reason is for that and is there a solution?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 9445.805, "end": 9465.585, "text": "I think uh Mr. Bushel probably spoke about that earlier today when he talked about the same 20% of individuals who are off and um needing additional resources. I don't want to speak on behalf of him as it belongs to the city, but those would just be my couple of takeaways that they're suffering the same um issues that we are with respect to people and capacity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9466.565, "end": 9467.965, "text": "That's good. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9469.365, "end": 9471.885, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Ward. Uh to Councillor Harrison." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_21", "start": 9473.165, "end": 9473.505, "text": "Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_21", "start": 9473.965, "end": 9532.585, "text": "Um, I wasn't going to say much. I was quite glad to listen this morning. I appreciate the report, but um Chief made a what I thought was a beautiful comment offhand. You said it's not just enforcement, it's about service. And um, Vice Chair You'd actually commented earlier as well when speaking with uh Councillor Johnston that you'd been around to see us all. I just wanted to provide the feedback that uh in that meeting that I had with you, I made it quite clear that Ward 9 was seeking support in that non-enforcement facing. We wanted community officers, we wanted to have that experience. And uh over the course of the last few months uh leading up to this report and today, I've received tons of positive feedback from all levels within community, from resident to community association, uh just thrilled with that engagement. Um, and so I just wanted to I think there's something in that statement, a bit of an ethos about it not just being about enforcement, but of service. Um, and you seem to be providing that to my community. So thank you. Thank you for your time today." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9532.985, "end": 9534.045, "text": "Thank you very much, Councillor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9534.725, "end": 9537.405, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Harrison. Over to Councillor Ewell." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 9538.205, "end": 9556.245, "text": "Yeah, I just wanted to uh touch on photo radar. Um we we as a council have been uh requesting the province bring that back. Maybe you could have your perspective on on um uh that as a tool. I think like the focus has been on fine revenue, but maybe speak more about like" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 9556.825, "end": 9564.545, "text": "Uh the safety of our of our officers on major roads like Deerfoot and Stony, um the safety aspect of of photo radar." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9566.565, "end": 9567.865, "text": "This is very frustrating." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9568.765, "end": 9574.305, "text": "Um we feel the same way. Um it's on the public re myself on the public record" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9574.705, "end": 9576.205, "text": "bringing this up and calling" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9576.945, "end": 9580.665, "text": "Deputy O'Brien to c task in the meetings, which is" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9581.185, "end": 9588.605, "text": "Sort of a fast play on just the effect of trying to make the public and the province aware of the ri of what we've got here." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9589.705, "end": 9603.565, "text": "We will continue to put the pressure on the province, um, referencing other jurisdictions like Ontario and BC that have harsher implementation, um, seizure and suspension of vote licenses, but we're pushing a rope here." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9603.885, "end": 9606.045, "text": "We would ask you to continue the pressure," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9606.565, "end": 9609.365, "text": "ask everyone to pressure their MLAs." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9609.985, "end": 9610.445, "text": "Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9611.345, "end": 9616.965, "text": "With the the that said, the province has moved a little bit. I think we have eleven now. Uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9617.385, "end": 9629.905, "text": "they for they they asked us to provide data per for particular replacement of of uh photo radar s uh locations, and we've got, I think, eleven back in since we were able to had to create the data." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9630.245, "end": 9633.405, "text": "And we're going to continue to do that, and we will continue to put as many" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9634.785, "end": 9651.505, "text": "Officers and and uh situations as we can where there's school zones and or construction as as as the law applies. Um having said that again, it's very frustrating going forward at this point with the with the way the legislation is. And I again I don't have anything else to add. It's just uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9652.685, "end": 9654.145, "text": "uh I'm frustrated too." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 9655.085, "end": 9659.885, "text": "And and how does how do the police have to adapt to something like that? Because I I" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9659.885, "end": 9662.105, "text": "I I would with with you uh uh uh uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9663.405, "end": 9672.705, "text": "a hundred percent, Councillor, the safety of the officer, like the the mechanics of pulling, first of all, chasing them down, pulling them over." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9673.225, "end": 9686.565, "text": "Um, while other people are flying by at 130. Like it's it's difficult. And it it it does take away from uh other things we could be doing, and or it puts that officer, those officers at huge risk." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9687.205, "end": 9687.845, "text": "Again," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9688.725, "end": 9689.585, "text": "slow down." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9690.405, "end": 9691.545, "text": "Don't be distracted." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9693.305, "end": 9704.325, "text": "I I I I'll just make a comment. You know, in my in my life, the uh the the invention of the cell phone, people doing this on the f on the fly," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9705.365, "end": 9710.885, "text": "I'm gonna say is oftentimes the the most famous golfer in the world Friday night, it's looking at his phone." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9712.665, "end": 9723.305, "text": "Like it's just a it's an epidemic of of uh of uh personal behavior that needs to change and it it's gonna continue until we change. Sorry, that was an editorial uh if allowed." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 9724.305, "end": 9731.065, "text": "that's fair. Um but chief, like we I I've seen some operations where we've had to use maybe um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 9731.405, "end": 9752.225, "text": "Three or four officers for a setup where we used to use one. Is that is that an accurate state? It's like you have one on the overpass kind of clocking them coming down uh stony trail and then two officers further down to catch them. Is that is that an operation that I d that's just my I just observed that and I thought, well, this is what they gotta do when there's no photo radar." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 9752.225, "end": 9754.925, "text": "Other agencies do other things, but we'll share with you what we do." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 9754.925, "end": 9755.365, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_14", "start": 9755.865, "end": 9809.905, "text": "I'm glad you noticed uh that they were out there, but yes, and so we work with the Alberta sheriffs, but uh in particular there's a prohibition for photo radar with a couple exceptions on Stony Trail and Deerfoot Trail, so on the provincial highways. So the way that we we're uh trying to fix that is by putting uh officers on uh on Sony Trail. The safest way to do that is having officers on foot with uh laser and then uh and then we have chase cars essentially going after uh to to uh do that traffic stop. It is dangerous, uh as uh as the vice chair said, is super dangerous uh for our members. And the other thing that sometimes happens, so if you think, and and I know you know this, you've seen this, but when we have vehicles traveling 170, 180 kilometers an hour, for us to catch up to them, we are now driving dangerous speeds to tr to catch up to them. So what we're seeing is we're having to use uh helicopters." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9809.905, "end": 9818.185, "text": "Sorry, Deputy Chief, I'm just gonna do something procedurally. I'll let you continue. Uh committee, can I get a unanimous consent? We finish this item and then we are back at one." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9818.885, "end": 9820.525, "text": "Thank you. Sorry, continue." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_14", "start": 9820.565, "end": 9865.645, "text": "Oh, that's okay. Um, so often what we're having to do is we're having to deploy resources such as the helicopter, and then we're uh essentially doing air surveillance until that person goes to ground and we can safely uh arrest them. So um it, you know, part of it is the what I would suggest is part of it for our community is they may have heard some miss messaging. They may have heard uh government uh in the province talk about speed in a different way than perhaps it was intended. And so it just seems and when we look at some of the fatals that we've seen, it is because of speed and it's ridiculous speeds. And we're fortunate that uh we're fortunate actually that we are able to stop some of these people that are driving 180 kilometers an hour, uh putting it on YouTube or TikTok or whatever." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_14", "start": 9867.185, "end": 9867.405, "text": "Thanks." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 9868.065, "end": 9878.885, "text": "Well, thank you. And I I just yeah, echo my Councillor's sentiments. Thank you for uh all the the service and and and putting your lives at risk um to to do these things. So thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 9880.365, "end": 9881.105, "text": "Thank you, Councillor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 9881.585, "end": 9883.505, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Yule. Over to Councillor Cali." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 9884.565, "end": 9925.325, "text": "Thank you very much, Chair. Just a couple of really quick questions because I recognize I'm between us and lunch break. First off, thanks for the invitation to the policing summit. It was really great to see how many community partners we had there. And I hope if you do the event again, more community partners will come out as well because it was a great opportunity to be able to have conversations with uh members of the service around the different ways that we can work together. Um, first question was Um uh Chief, you had said uh uh when listing the various units, for example, uh we have 13 detectives in homicide, we should have 13. I'm wondering if you could should have 19. Uh, could you just define me when you say should have? Like what does that actually mean? Or where that where's that phrase come from?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 9925.325, "end": 9946.145, "text": "Yeah, thanks very much. Thanks for your question, Councillor. And so that's the authorized strength that we have allocated for those areas. So over the years it would have fluctuated, it would have grown. So today, in that particular area, we are authorized for 20 detectives to be in there. And because of shortages in other areas, potentially accommodations, illnesses, and so forth, we only have 13" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 9946.765, "end": 9948.205, "text": "detectives sitting in those seats." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 9948.445, "end": 9952.105, "text": "Thank you very much. I appreciate that. That was much more clear for me. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 9957.665, "end": 9987.065, "text": "I just want to commend our the police the the Executive Director Oodland and community or communications director Sapnagupna that put together the summit and for all any of the community partners listening or or um uh please come back to us with what we they could see to improve and yourselves because we really feel that that this is uh uh an it's gonna take us again to another level of being able to satisfy this the citizenry with policing. So I just wanted to make that comment. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 9987.065, "end": 10005.945, "text": "Yeah, I'll I'll echo that because I would definitely love to see even more partners present at that at that event, because I I think it's a great opportunity to interact for sure. Wanna thank you for sharing the 2026 policing plan. That's that's really, really helpful. Um maybe a little bit of apologies. I'm new here. Uh do we have a similar document for 2025?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10007.225, "end": 10013.305, "text": "Almost exactly the same, but different KPIs and some different narrative, but quite similar. We've made some adjustments to make it better." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10013.545, "end": 10018.985, "text": "Uh that one of the things I love about that is the the focus on those key performance indicators. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10019.725, "end": 10028.165, "text": "as we're here obviously talking about the 2025 annual report. Um do we have stats on how we performed against those indicators in 2025?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10028.365, "end": 10032.045, "text": "Absolutely, for every single one of them, we do have a report that speaks to each one of those." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10032.385, "end": 10039.385, "text": "Could we get a copy of that report? Or I guess the question is like, I'm not sure why they weren't circulated as part of this package." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10036.365, "end": 10036.565, "text": "Absolutely." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10039.385, "end": 10040.945, "text": "I'm not sure either, but we will get them for you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10041.645, "end": 10048.985, "text": "Uh that'd be great. And then moving forward into 2026, I'd love to include that information in this presentation next year." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10049.505, "end": 10058.725, "text": "You bet, and thank you. And that uh information with respect to our 2025 annual plan is on the police commission's website, but we can certainly send it over so that you can have a copy for each of you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10059.025, "end": 10087.365, "text": "That'd be great. Thank you very much. As I kind of mentioned there, like I really appreciate that that focus on policing metrics. And uh now that we have operation order sort of significantly enough behind us that we can uh we can do a review of the metrics to sort of assess its success. I'm wondering if you if you could share um what changes we may have seen in either uh in both the number or content of uh related 311 or 911 related calls uh in the downtown area." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10089.285, "end": 10093.585, "text": "Specific to 311 and 211, I cannot answer that question because I don't know." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10094.465, "end": 10095.825, "text": "And I'm not sure if anybody else does." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10096.385, "end": 10100.805, "text": "Probably not. I don't think we've got that information, but we can certainly follow up and see if we can get something for you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10101.005, "end": 10108.945, "text": "That that'd be great. And if we don't have those numbers, um, can you maybe just share how we're r uh assessing the success of the operation?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10109.845, "end": 10157.765, "text": "You bet we have different stats and a dashboard that looks at looks at all of those information, all of that information. We look to see where we've increased with respect to resources. As I said, arresting and enforcement is one component of it. The engagements, the interactions, we look at the displacement. One really key takeaway that we took away from the first operation and the second one is just some additional integration with some of our partners at the city and some additional of our not-for-profit partners. And so we really looked to close that gap when we did the next one and we'll continue to do that again. But we've just got such phenomenal partners in this city with our city partnerships and all of those other folks that we have that are our we all want the same thing. We want this to be a safe city and we want our vulnerable people to be taken care of, and we want the city to be vibrant and people not to be afraid to go into certain areas." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10158.005, "end": 10201.645, "text": "Yeah, we've uh we've talked about this before on the partnership side of things. I I completely agree with you. We have some absolutely amazing partners that I was very happy to see were part of that particular operation. For today, just because we're taking a look at an annual report, I'm I'm really keen to get an idea in terms of are those kinds of things working? Uh, because uh certainly for all of us, when we were out uh knocking on doors uh uh in the election, downtown and transit safety came up over and over and over again. And so uh I'm I would love it if you could send along that dashboard potentially. I'd love to take a look at it so that we can get a bit of an idea in terms of are these kinds of things that we're doing, are they moving the needle on both actual safety and perceptions of safety?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10201.845, "end": 10215.705, "text": "Thanks very much. We can certainly do that, but I can share with you for sure I know that um crime uh and social disorder did decrease. Uh I believe it was by about eight percent, but still it went down after we did that operation order in November." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10215.945, "end": 10220.025, "text": "Yeah, and part of the reason why I'm asking to take a look at it over a period of months is did it stay down?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10220.425, "end": 10221.005, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10221.225, "end": 10222.485, "text": "Uh those are my questions, Chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10223.325, "end": 10239.625, "text": "Thank you, Councillor. Um, I don't see anyone else in the queue. Uh I'm just gonna take a couple of minutes if that's okay. I got a couple couple questions. Um 1,086 per 100,000 people. Uh that's that's the number here. Um that's" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10239.905, "end": 10245.545, "text": "Uh violent crime rate. How does that compare to national average and other municipalities of the same size?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10250.445, "end": 10251.605, "text": "I'll call a friend for this one." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_31", "start": 10256.505, "end": 10270.825, "text": "Thanks, Councillor. Uh I don't have the exact stats, but I know that we're generally uh Canada wide seeing a downward trend. So the the crime severity index has been steadily trending down across the country. So our trends in that regard are quite similar." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10270.825, "end": 10274.265, "text": "In your presentation, Chief, through Vice Chair," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10274.805, "end": 10275.445, "text": "I heard" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10276.445, "end": 10285.925, "text": "the requirements. So obviously, I know what is coming to us in November. I I just got a question from what is the key matrix behind?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10286.285, "end": 10301.005, "text": "You're asking Is it 600 one officer serving 600 people Calgarians? Is it this crime rate ratio 1086 per 100,000? How are you gonna measure your success that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10301.385, "end": 10305.625, "text": "will demonstrate to Calgarians that their tax dollars are at" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10306.885, "end": 10308.265, "text": "is returning a good value?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10311.645, "end": 10311.965, "text": "So" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10313.645, "end": 10314.665, "text": "frontline staffing," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10316.305, "end": 10318.125, "text": "proactive policing as we've discussed," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10319.265, "end": 10321.665, "text": "um those are the key starting points." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10321.945, "end": 10337.345, "text": "The numbers are the there's numbers in the public domain of what we're uh what we're gonna ask for as far as personnel, and I Katie can speak more specifically to that. But um just to continue, as you say, I think that we we as a a police, I uh uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10338.305, "end": 10360.025, "text": "CSO Murphy is quite modest. We are better than other jurisdictions um in most regards of safety and can and will continue to try to do that. I don't know what else to add. Uh we have a you all know that the ask is substantial. Um I want to kind of return to um something that was said about about AI, Commissioner Atkinson." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10361.465, "end": 10363.645, "text": "The correct employment of AI" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10364.365, "end": 10388.525, "text": "with pluses and minuses as we learn will up will add to efficiency. We know that. It's it's this is a proven point that that that we'll get more frontline service because of the ability to use blockchain and all of these tools. Having said that, we we will we will move cautiously. But I I I I I'm confident when and I want again kudos to the management, the ELT and um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10389.285, "end": 10410.465, "text": "Uh the people that work with them putting together our plan for the four-year, um, I've not come across anything in my business life this well prepared in my li in 50 years of doing business. And they are the amount of rigor from each di each division and bureau to put this together is amazing. And you're gonna see uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10410.805, "end": 10415.025, "text": "as we roll it out in the re it's coming spring and fall, um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10416.525, "end": 10421.965, "text": "A lot of uh really good things. I I just know that um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10422.365, "end": 10431.165, "text": "Ka uh Catherine and I were talking about some of the events this morning, uh or some of the things that are uh are are making it up this morning, and it's gonna uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10431.625, "end": 10438.865, "text": "dramatically put us on our front foot going forward with policing. I I I it's broad chair," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10439.345, "end": 10441.445, "text": "um frontline service," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 10441.945, "end": 10443.345, "text": "and putting our staff back to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10443.785, "end": 10444.205, "text": "Great." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10444.205, "end": 10494.025, "text": "Chair, if I may, I'll just add to that. And so there were many things that we looked at to get to that number. And again, that could fluctuate, but I'm often asked, could we use more? And of course, yes, we can use more. But one of the immediate bottlenecks is our amount of police officer trainers that we have, and of course, our infrastructure. And so there were many pieces that we looked at. One of the other things that we obviously looked at, and that's been talked about here before, is the cop-to-pop ratio. And so when we look at, we average it at 1.6 million people. We have the national average is 176 and we're at 139. But overall, what you what citizens are going to see, and we have all those different KPIs, is an increase in community safety, an increase in public trust, and we will be better operationally and we will excel in in how we deploy and what we look at with respect to our operations." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10494.145, "end": 10532.105, "text": "Yeah, um you said three things funding, workforce capacity, and public trust are the key. Um I I I have a couple more questions. Sorry guys, just if you allow me. Um I was looking at Toronto Police Services. They have already started with lots of AI stuff. For instance, some of that is proprietary, I'm not gonna name it, uh recognizing automated license plate program, uh they call briefcam by briefcam, those kind of things. Where do we sit? Have we started that journey or are we waiting? Uh I just want to understand uh and how is is that gonna be part of our four year uh strategic plan? Because you said strategic policing is gonna be key." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10532.565, "end": 10544.165, "text": "Absolutely great question and Deputy Daly might want to pop up here as well, but things like the automated license plate reading, I believe we're days if not weeks away from from getting that and so in addition to some of those other things." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_07", "start": 10546.565, "end": 10642.085, "text": "Without getting into too many of the uh finer details of some of our investigative tactics counselors, great questions. So I'd say that uh before you before you see it and not to speak too much into it, the commission's role and the chief's role, our next row budget, our next budget ask will be robust in the technologies, which will include a lot of the things that you've just talked about, um which are very strategic, which are designed specifically to augment how we deliver service here in Calgary, how we layer those efficiencies on top of each other to provide both our civilian and our sworn staff to be able to be more nimble and pivot to our resources where we need. Speaking specifically to ALPR, um things like Briefcam, I spoke about AI-enabled technologies and just how we can deploy those. So we we we have a bunch of processes in our province. We're the most privacy restrictive province in the country with our legislation. So we have those pieces to work through and those barriers to work through. The good news right now is we have deployed ALPR and we have deployed uh tools such as Briefcam to assist us with our investigative methodologies in response to some of the current crime trends we're seeing in Calgary. Um, we deploy them in this Bureau, uh, the end users uh largely in Bureau of Community Policing and the Bureau of Investigative Services with Deputy Rashid. Uh so we plan to add to those tools and expand those tools very rapidly in the new budget cycle, in the next budget cycle, while we're doing the work to ensure that we're doing those things ethically, um, that they're not bias enabled tools, and that we're also um meeting all of our privacy obligations and requirements that are very important to our community. So happy to take any more questions specific to that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10642.085, "end": 10651.825, "text": "No, I that's that's good with me. Um, because I'm the chair. I said we're gonna be back at once, so I gotta be careful. But uh two more questions. Sorry, guys. I am uh I'm" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10652.185, "end": 10690.405, "text": "Council's rep at FCM, Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Some of the colleagues there brought up a concern that federal government, when they brought in Bill C 14, which is Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, which is I think sitting with Senate, there was not robust or not even enough consultation with the police services who are gonna take that and implement it from uh enforcement capacity that they feel if with this, it will make life better or easier or whatever, but there will not be enough budgeting to support them with this enforcement. Were you guys involved in any of that engagement or consultation?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10691.985, "end": 10717.025, "text": "We have been involved in some consultation at different levels. What I would say is that they are definitely trending in the right direction and they are making amends and they are focusing on some of the concerns that we bring forward. With respect to budget and so forth, uh Chair, I'm not able to speak to that. But we do have different levels of engagement uh in different forums. Um I in my opinion, there's more that still needs to be done, but I think we're definitely headed in the right direction." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10717.205, "end": 10747.505, "text": "Great. My last question is extortion. November budget, I brought up extortion. Residents, at least in World 5, Commissioner, Councillor McLean touched on it. They feel anxiety, they feel fear, and sometimes they just uh they're questioning me uh what is happening? What are what is CPS doing? Other law enforcement agencies. You just mentioned uh that there was something happening at one. Do you feel uh confident?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10747.785, "end": 10753.625, "text": "and saying that we are heading in the right direction and can assure residents that they will see a s" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10755.645, "end": 10764.345, "text": "significant comfort with the actions that you have your w with our service has taken in the last few months and moving forward." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10764.885, "end": 10802.905, "text": "Thanks, Chair. I I totally understand and I empathize with how those families feel in that in that community. It's it's very, very frightening. It's very scary. As I said earlier, these individuals have no regard for safety whatsoever. I am more than confident that we are headed in the right direction. I am more than confident with what we are doing covertly and overtly with our provincial partners and our national and international partners. Sadly, might some of this still continue until we get everyone off the street who's responsible for this, possibly. But I can tell you that we are making a dent and we will continue to make a dent, and it is our number one priority." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10803.345, "end": 10809.025, "text": "Thank you so much, and thank you for answering all the questions. Councillor McLean, are you" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10809.425, "end": 10811.945, "text": "uh there if you if you if you want to move this?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10814.685, "end": 10815.445, "text": "Uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10815.945, "end": 10817.305, "text": "Councillor McLean, you still there?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10818.885, "end": 10824.445, "text": "I guess he's not. Uh I'll leave it to whoever wants to, Councillor Kelly, uh please go ahead." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10826.585, "end": 10857.265, "text": "I just want to say a huge thank you to uh uh to uh both the vice chair and the chief who are here today, and acknowledge the the deputies and the executive leadership team from uh Calgary Police who are here in the audience with us today. Uh we really appreciate you coming and providing this annual report, giving us some detail into all the good work that your team has done over the past year and uh a little bit of a look forward in terms of uh 2026, where we can uh uh we can see where we have room to grow and the kinds of things that you're looking to focus on during that time. So, with that, Chair, open." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10857.885, "end": 10858.945, "text": "Uh any debate?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10861.085, "end": 10869.885, "text": "Don't hear any, don't see any. I just want to say thank you for coming. Thank you, Commission, for all the great work you do. And uh with that, uh please go ahead and" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10870.245, "end": 10871.065, "text": "To your close." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 10872.145, "end": 10872.605, "text": "Closed." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10873.245, "end": 10876.685, "text": "Thank you. And uh clerks, can we open the e scribe, please?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 10887.665, "end": 10888.905, "text": "Councillor Atkinson, your vote, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 10889.845, "end": 10890.245, "text": "Yes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 10890.505, "end": 10892.625, "text": "Thank you. Councillor Johnston, your vote, please. Yes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 10893.665, "end": 10894.505, "text": "Chair, all the votes are in." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10894.725, "end": 10895.825, "text": "Please display the words." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 10900.425, "end": 10914.285, "text": "That's carried seven-nothing. Uh we will be back at 1 p.m. Uh 7.4 coming up, uh, Calky Fire Department, and after that, 7.5. 7.5 had three public speakers. So with that, we'll be back at one. Thank you, committee." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_33", "start": 10914.625, "end": 10915.525, "text": "Thank you kindly everyone." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 13451.485, "end": 13452.285, "text": "Start this" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 13453.745, "end": 13455.685, "text": "clerks. Can we get a roll, please?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13456.365, "end": 13458.525, "text": "Thank you, Chair. On the roll, Councillor Tyres." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13460.165, "end": 13460.885, "text": "Councillor Ewell." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13462.045, "end": 13462.765, "text": "Councillor Kelly." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13463.945, "end": 13464.825, "text": "Councillor Atkinson." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13465.445, "end": 13466.165, "text": "Councillor Clark?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13466.645, "end": 13467.505, "text": "Councillor Johnston?" }, { "speaker": "Councillor L. Johnston", "start": 13467.525, "end": 13467.765, "text": "Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13468.225, "end": 13469.105, "text": "Councillor Wyness." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13469.705, "end": 13470.865, "text": "Councillor Panzoulos." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13473.405, "end": 13475.085, "text": "Councillor Tyres noting you present." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13476.625, "end": 13477.665, "text": "Councillor Schmidt?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13478.385, "end": 13479.085, "text": "Councillor Chabot?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13479.665, "end": 13480.345, "text": "Councillor Ward." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13483.065, "end": 13484.385, "text": "Sorry, did I hear" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13485.205, "end": 13486.865, "text": "Councillor Ward? Did I hear you?" }, { "speaker": "Councillor R. Ward", "start": 13487.685, "end": 13488.765, "text": "Yeah, Councillor ward here." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13488.765, "end": 13489.925, "text": "Oh, thank you. Got you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13490.725, "end": 13491.925, "text": "Councillor Jameson." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13495.265, "end": 13496.005, "text": "Councillor McLean?" }, { "speaker": "Councillor D. McLean", "start": 13497.185, "end": 13497.745, "text": "Yeah, I'm here." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13498.205, "end": 13499.325, "text": "Thank you. Mayor Farkas" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13500.465, "end": 13501.325, "text": "and Chair Dollywell." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 13502.585, "end": 13502.985, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13518.665, "end": 13520.545, "text": "Thank you. Uh thank you very much, Chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13520.765, "end": 13525.505, "text": "Good afternoon, committee. Thank you for the opportunity to present the Calgary Fire Department's annual report." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13526.265, "end": 13527.205, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13530.245, "end": 13534.405, "text": "Administration recommends that the Council receives this report for the corporate record." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13535.145, "end": 13536.045, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13537.945, "end": 13553.125, "text": "To begin, I'd like to take you through some 2025 highlights. As you can see on the slide, the Calgary Fire Department responded to more than 92,000 emergency incidents in 2025, an increase of 5% over 2024." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13553.605, "end": 13558.945, "text": "And 50% over 2020. Over half of these calls were medical in nature." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13559.925, "end": 13575.965, "text": "High performance cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR, has delivered incredible results, with return of spontaneous circulation rates improving fivefold since implementation, meaning that we are saving five times more lives than previously." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13576.625, "end": 13582.245, "text": "Council investments have enabled the upstaffing of six aerial apparatus, ladders and towers." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13582.485, "end": 13586.905, "text": "Allowing us to assemble effective response force 60 seconds faster." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13587.685, "end": 13596.985, "text": "And safety codes officers completed nearly 29,000 inspections, supporting safer homes, businesses, and short term rentals across the city." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13597.685, "end": 13598.665, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13599.865, "end": 13604.705, "text": "Alongside these accomplishments, the Calgary Fire Department continues to face challenges." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13605.425, "end": 13612.525, "text": "Response times exceed council approved targets, driven by growth, core complexity, and system strain." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13613.185, "end": 13620.025, "text": "I'll speak more to call complexity later, but one question I'm sure you have is why do response times matter?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13620.365, "end": 13625.845, "text": "As far as both the staffing, the time targets, as well as how often we achieve those targets." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13626.565, "end": 13636.445, "text": "The most simple explanation is that for a person in cardiac arrest, the chance of survival decreases 10% with every minute that passes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13637.485, "end": 13650.325, "text": "And for fires, flashovers today occur within five minutes, and that sparks exponential fire spread where fire moves beyond the room or structure and doubles in size every 30 seconds." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13651.385, "end": 13661.805, "text": "I would add that all of our targets, particularly around assembly of respon effective response force at serious and escalating fires, are significantly lower than industry best practice." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13662.665, "end": 13671.805, "text": "Facility constraints, particularly at our training academy and our older fire stations, limit our ability to grow staffing and apparatus in established areas." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13672.445, "end": 13681.105, "text": "At the same time, fire safety codes inspections have more than doubled since 2021, significantly challenging our inspection capacity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13681.645, "end": 13690.505, "text": "Together, these challenges underscore the growing strain on our system and the need for long-term strategic investment to sustain public safety." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13691.125, "end": 13692.085, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13693.765, "end": 13698.225, "text": "The Calgary Fire Department's service system functions as an integrated whole." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13698.745, "end": 13708.745, "text": "As you see in the slide, each of our services provide key stops on the road that allow us to keep moving forward and continually improving as a department." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13709.665, "end": 13714.325, "text": "Each service must keep pace with the others so the system does not break down." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13715.305, "end": 13719.485, "text": "Fire safety education reduces risk before emergencies occur." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13720.225, "end": 13724.645, "text": "Training and recruitment ensures our members are skilled and ready to respond." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13725.525, "end": 13732.705, "text": "Inspections and enforcement work with businesses and property owners to reduce hazards in buildings and at events." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13733.485, "end": 13751.065, "text": "Service Excellence enables seamless operations through strategic planning, evidence-based data-driven decisions, technological innovation, procurement, maintenance, and collaboration with city partners to ensure infrastructure is in place and firefighters are properly equipped." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13752.165, "end": 13759.865, "text": "Firefighter wellness is a top focus area as our members face substantial physical and psychological risk every day." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13760.905, "end": 13772.865, "text": "Emergency response includes response to fires, medical events, collisions, hazardous materials, water rescues, severe weather, explosions, and specialized rescues." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13773.825, "end": 13785.385, "text": "Fire investigations determine origin and cause for all fires causing $2,000 or more in damage, and learnings they provide directly feed into supporting prevention activities." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13786.005, "end": 13795.485, "text": "Together, all of these elements create the fire department that Calgarians can rely upon to provide timely, professional service when it matters most." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13796.345, "end": 13797.325, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13798.925, "end": 13803.065, "text": "The Calgary Fire Department has developed Vision 2 Million, or V2M." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13803.425, "end": 13810.145, "text": "The Calgary Fire Department's long-term plan to keep our services sustainable as Calgary approaches 2 million residents." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13810.905, "end": 13816.765, "text": "It ensures that we have a plan to keep pace with where and how the city is growing," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13817.425, "end": 13827.345, "text": "addressing rising, increasingly complex demands and risks driven by densification, development, and other factors." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13827.945, "end": 13837.865, "text": "The plan aligns the Calgary Fire Department's infrastructure, staffing, training, technology, and command capacity with council-approved service expectations." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13838.465, "end": 13849.905, "text": "It provides a phased, accountable, investment roadmap to manage risk, stabilize response reliability, and support Calgary's long term resilience and prosperity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13851.085, "end": 13857.645, "text": "More about Vision 2 million will be shared as we approach the 2027 to 2030 budget planning process." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13858.265, "end": 13859.245, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13860.565, "end": 13864.625, "text": "The Calgary Fire Department must actively manage a growing risk environment." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13865.285, "end": 13880.925, "text": "Council's 2023 to 2026 investments have strengthened our service, but rapid rapid population growth, systemic impacts on social, climate, and technology environments, and evolving building design are increasing incident complexity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13881.625, "end": 13885.545, "text": "I said I would return to core complexity, so I will do that now." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13886.285, "end": 13890.625, "text": "To name just a few emerging and continuing trends, I think of" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13890.985, "end": 13896.065, "text": "I think of lithium ion technology, social disorder, densification." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13896.625, "end": 13904.385, "text": "And threats posed by the erosion of the fire safety ecosystem with changes like single exit stairwells in buildings up to six stories." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13905.565, "end": 13920.365, "text": "Coal volumes continue to rise year over year while procurement timelines, apparatus and facility costs increase, and construction timelines continue to lengthen, making growth aligned investment essential to sustain service reliability." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13921.045, "end": 13921.925, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13923.225, "end": 13931.545, "text": "Council's 2023 to 2026 investments, including those made this past November, continue to deliver results." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13932.085, "end": 13939.685, "text": "Construction is underway for the Walden multi-service site with advanced design progressing for Hotchkiss and Haskane stations." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13940.285, "end": 13948.505, "text": "The Calgary Fire Department will complete the aerial upstaffing in 2026, which will further improve response performance." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13949.125, "end": 13960.065, "text": "We continue to prioritize firefighter safety. We're assessing how to remove per and polyfluoroalcool substances, PFAS for short, you'll be glad to know, from our duty gear." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13960.385, "end": 13969.045, "text": "We've been piloting blue lights and apparatus-mounted cameras to improve safety, and we've also enhanced our psychological safety supports." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13969.625, "end": 13978.985, "text": "And through Vision 2 million, we are strategically planning for what the Calgary Fire Department needs to serve Calgary as it approaches a population of 2 million." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13979.625, "end": 13980.605, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13981.725, "end": 13991.545, "text": "Thank you for the time and opportunity to present to the Community Development Committee. Once again, administration recommends that Council receive this response for the corporate record." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13991.985, "end": 13994.945, "text": "I'm happy to take questions that you may have at this time." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 13995.445, "end": 13995.925, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 13996.185, "end": 14004.025, "text": "Thank you so much, Chief, and thank you for your presentation. We'll open this for any public speakers. Any speakers here in" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14004.725, "end": 14008.025, "text": "Uh chambers or online or on the phone." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14009.385, "end": 14032.165, "text": "Here none, seeing none, we'll close the public part portion of this over to uh our my colleagues for any answers of clarify questions of clarification from the chief. Chief, and thank you for sending us the annual uh uh report well in advance so we could all read it and be ready for this uh this meeting. And thank you for reaching out one on one to all of us. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14032.465, "end": 14032.925, "text": "You're welcome." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14035.325, "end": 14039.105, "text": "Don't see anyone in the queue. Oh, uh Councillor Atkinson, sorry." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14041.285, "end": 14047.325, "text": "Thanks for being here. Yeah. Um couple you just you mentioned blue lights. Yeah. Pilot, can you explain what that is? Yes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14047.325, "end": 14058.525, "text": "Certainly I'd be happy to through the chair. So we've been aware for a long time there's lots of research to suggest that blue lights actually have more penetration in terms of optical" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14058.825, "end": 14062.065, "text": "visibility than red lights or even white lights." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14062.445, "end": 14100.345, "text": "They also uh have the approaching motorists to suspect there may be a police officer there. And for both reasons, they're the they've been proven to be to be successful in reducing traffic speed um at where we're where we have our people working, and we're also often protecting other emergency services with our trucks as well as members of the public, uh people who are trapped in vehicles, all those kind of things. So as as a result of that, and after the province had decided, we we appro take it back a step, I guess. We approached the province initially, and there was no interest uh to allow us because it's a provincial regulation as to who and who cannot use blue lights in the province of Alberta." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14100.865, "end": 14116.525, "text": "Uh but then they started uh showing up on tow trucks, and um you'll probably see them on snow plows, uh, a number of vehicles that are on the road, all all with good reason. Uh so we went back to them and said, you know, can we can we try a pilot of putting blue some blue lights on our firetruck?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14116.805, "end": 14124.745, "text": "And in the US, actually, it's very common for firetrucks to have blue lights if you ever happen to notice, uh, often in combination with red lights as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14125.225, "end": 14154.825, "text": "Uh so we were we were permitted to do a pilot. Um we've actually finished the evaluation of that pilot now. We've gone back to the province and um they've given us the go-ahead to equip uh all of our uh apparatus that we see as necessary that are likely to be on kind of higher speed roadways uh to do that as a first wave. And certainly with new apparatus that we buy, we'll we'll order them with the combination of lights, which won't add any expense. Uh but it's all about visibility, and I think you heard uh Chief McClellan talk about" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14155.085, "end": 14155.685, "text": "um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14156.305, "end": 14186.525, "text": "Uh people driving through scenes, we see that. And and the cameras I mentioned in association with that, we've actually captured images of people who just ignore the fact that there's a firetruck parked to protect. There are pylons out and they drive through the scene at speed. And we were actually we were able to pass that information to Calgary Police from the uh the the the cameras uh that are mounted on the truck as well. So both of them add to our safety and uh really pleased that the pilot was successful for sure." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14187.205, "end": 14194.125, "text": "It's not a great thing to be hearing about. You know, people responding to an emergency and people can't take." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14194.125, "end": 14205.065, "text": "Well, people have been killed in other not not far from here actually. I believe there was a department north of the city where a firefighter was killed a few years ago in that circumstance. And that's just unacceptable." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14205.305, "end": 14235.085, "text": "And it's it's become a like we think of firefighting as or firefighters as fighting fires, but such a large, like as you mentioned, 50% medical calls. Like you're what firefighters are responding to is a lot of uh emergency response on roads and and these these other pieces uh within. I want to dig in on that 50% medical calls. Um is that across the city, like, or is that that's the average across the city" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_04", "start": 14235.085, "end": 14235.325, "text": "Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14236.445, "end": 14241.645, "text": "when you zone in, say, on downtown versus I just I" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14242.725, "end": 14251.405, "text": "I follow those, uh I think I mentioned earlier the community safety and well-being reports that we're getting monthly. And uh one of the most heartbreaking statistics in there, it's" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14251.405, "end": 14252.165, "text": "The overdoses." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14252.165, "end": 14258.425, "text": "it's the overdoses. Yeah. Um and it's the fire trucks and just the year on year that it's" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14259.765, "end": 14262.545, "text": "it's shocking. It's I don't I" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14262.825, "end": 14266.025, "text": "you hear about it, you hear about it being an uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14266.465, "end": 14268.465, "text": "an epidemic, you know, but" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14269.225, "end": 14271.045, "text": "these numbers at it's" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14272.105, "end": 14292.505, "text": "Unquantifiable, really. Like just you can't wrap your head around it. Um, I'm wondering if you can sort of speak to that difference of what we're seeing inner city, the experience that you're having within um the inner city and sort of the the needs and maybe what you're trying to do to mitigate you know the impacts you're having uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14293.105, "end": 14294.225, "text": "because of this. Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14294.725, "end": 14316.265, "text": "Thank you. There's a little bit to unwrap there, but I'll do my best and please uh let me know if I've missed anything. Um certainly uh there there's a variety across the city. I'm actually meeting with many of you right now and sharing what happens in your ward differently. Certainly in the core, um, you know, there's a there's a higher percentage of medical calls, which is driven by" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14316.565, "end": 14319.765, "text": "Um opioid overdoses, unfortunately." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14320.105, "end": 14358.745, "text": "Um, and that and that takes a toll on our people, as I know you're aware, but you know, it's it's not just a problem downtown. In fairness, I mean, uh the opioid epidemic is in the last few years, we we were already kind of in that 50% ballpark even before this epidemic, and we've done some things uh to perhaps reduce some of the lower acuity calls that we that we go to now. And we're we're doing a second wave of that work now, which is even more significant. So we're working with um emergency health services, formerly AHS, EMS. Um, and we've we've kind of set the bar a bit higher about the calls where we think we can add value from l saving someone's life. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14359.325, "end": 14369.285, "text": "and away from perhaps where all we can really do is comfort the person until a paramedic arrives because we don't have the training or the equipment or the ability to intervene with their" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14369.785, "end": 14382.625, "text": "With the the problem that they're presenting with. Um so we're gonna give that a go. And we actually anticipate that could reduce our medical call volume by up to 30 percent if we follow the Edmonton experience, which would be about a 15% impact on our" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14383.025, "end": 14397.785, "text": "uh overall call call volume. Uh we say over 50 percent. Um we it I think it was fifty one percent citywide in twenty twenty five. Like I say, that goes up to about sixty in places and it drops off in other places. And it's not always um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14398.005, "end": 14406.165, "text": "Purely the difference between downtown and the periphery. We have some peripheral communities who have higher medical calls for for whatever reason as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14406.405, "end": 14408.585, "text": "There's another piece of work we're doing right now." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14408.785, "end": 14416.625, "text": "It's kind of frustrating. We thought we'd resolve this. Unfortunately, we go to a lot of calls at the at the drop in center uh downtown" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14416.905, "end": 14419.265, "text": "uh for opioid overdoses, and it it's" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14419.665, "end": 14420.225, "text": "um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14420.985, "end": 14425.545, "text": "they have nurses on scene and at times they've had paramedics on scene, but we still get cold." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14425.725, "end": 14431.245, "text": "Um and and also there there's a bizarre situation where we've had many, many calls over the years to like." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14431.485, "end": 14484.605, "text": "Medical clinics where there's a nurse there and and they're still when they call 911, we get triage to attend. We're trying to cut those calls out of the mix as well, where we know there's a medical practitioner on scene. Um, you know, what what's the value that we're gonna add uh as firefighters? Um of course the the the the magic is that EHS can transport. We can't, except we have in very urgent situations when um uh EHS performance has uh has degraded somewhat. Uh but so we're trying to manage those calls down to your point. Um yes, they're more frequent in the core than they are generally outside of the core. Um it's been as high as uh I think in recent years we've certainly been at 56 percent medical calls, so we've actually already reduced down a little bit. We have seen a spike though, um you know, in tw in the first half of 2024." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14485.385, "end": 14501.785, "text": "The opioid overdoses really started to fall away, but then they picked up again in the last half, and that's continued through 2025. And even this year to date, our stats are showing it's continuing to increase again. We believe talking to our partners, likely in part, if not" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14502.005, "end": 14511.645, "text": "majorly associated with a less predictable drug supply that causes problems. People are mixing different kinds of products, whether it's xylazine or" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14512.125, "end": 14514.285, "text": "methamphenamine or uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14514.745, "end": 14524.185, "text": "meth uh yeah in into the mix which means one that uh naloxone isn't gonna work and secondly uh people don't know how potent what they're taking is" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14525.185, "end": 14527.465, "text": "I hope that answers your questions uh Councillor" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14527.565, "end": 14529.325, "text": "No, that it's that's good. I think" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14531.745, "end": 14533.085, "text": "it's interesting because." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14533.545, "end": 14551.545, "text": "I think you're dealing with this threshold, and you're talking about changing the bar, right? And where the value is from firefighters being there. And part of it is your ability to respond quickly and rapidly and be there on the scene, but finding that right" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14552.545, "end": 14570.325, "text": "level where you're actually able to add value and you're not we're not taxing our firefighters with something where they're not necessarily able to add value, finding that level. But it's it's hard when the interplay is also with an agencies or agencies that we also" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14571.505, "end": 14597.085, "text": "At the city side, don't have as much like like you were mentioning ambulances, like that's not within our our purview. Uh Schumir getting closed down. I'm thinking about what the impacts of that will be, especially in terms of the downtown epidemic, opioid epidemic, and um and just how then that relates to the one that we are responsible for, uh, that are often the first responders, the fire, fire folks. Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14597.085, "end": 14604.405, "text": "if if I may add there's one thing I missed uh Councillor which is even though we're triaging uh to uh to you know we're gonna go to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14605.045, "end": 14609.425, "text": "the higher acuity calls and drop some of the lower acuity calls as a pilot I would add" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14609.725, "end": 14610.465, "text": "um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14610.785, "end": 14620.025, "text": "there are situations where people have a relatively low acuity situation but they are at risk. I can think of an elderly person falling outside on a day when it's minus 20." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14620.265, "end": 14636.765, "text": "And and perhaps not having any serious injury that would trigger a fire response. We're being very careful that we w we are still we're still making it very clear that we're available to go in those circumstances, if only um to take care of something that's not the major part of the emergency, if that makes sense." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14637.405, "end": 14638.405, "text": "Yeah, that's great." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14638.625, "end": 14641.945, "text": "That's a reputational piece and just an ethically that's the right thing to do." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 14642.545, "end": 14645.705, "text": "Appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thanks for the answering the questions." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14646.205, "end": 14648.525, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Atkinson. Over to Councillor Kelly." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 14650.485, "end": 14677.865, "text": "Uh thank you for being here today, Chief. Great presentation. Really uh appreciated it. I also really appreciated the uh the opportunity to sit down with you earlier and uh and and and review the documentation that you provided us uh uh as it relates to individual wards. I note in that documentation that you shared with us, you did have a citywide document that was, if I remember correctly, ISC unrestricted. I'm just wondering why that report was not included within the agenda for public consumption." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14680.005, "end": 14695.745, "text": "I think we could do. I don't think we deliberately didn't include it, if that's what you're asking, because it is unrestricted. Um there are parts that are not. And uh but I think for the yeah, there's any number of documents we could have put in there. We there's a third document that's unrestricted as well, which tells you everything," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14696.325, "end": 14717.645, "text": "probably more than you ever want to know about how we do our business, because we do use a lot of data. We follow uh comparators uh and those kind of things and how how we do how we rate in surveys and those kind of things. Um if you'd like that, I I don't know what the pro process would be to include it now, it's probably too late, but there was no deliberate reason not to, um, if that helps." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 14718.325, "end": 14725.105, "text": "Uh if I may, through the chair, uh task clerks, is there an ability for um our friends in FIRE to add a distribution?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14726.925, "end": 14728.825, "text": "I think uh clerk they can write." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 14730.125, "end": 14733.005, "text": "They can. We don't have anything at the present time, so far as I'm aware." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 14733.685, "end": 14733.905, "text": "But" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14733.905, "end": 14738.945, "text": "We we can get it to you right away. I'm sure during this meeting we can probably get it to you if I've if the folks behind me." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14738.945, "end": 14743.685, "text": "At that point, I think we'll need a motion from Councillor Kelly to add that to corporate record and happy to do that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14744.165, "end": 14759.185, "text": "Also, I each each of you would have received that. Um because you ever everyone around the table, uh the around the horseshoe would get that i during their uh during the pre information that we send for the ward profiles that I've been doing." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14759.645, "end": 14762.425, "text": "So I uh up to you to consider the value, but happy to do that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 14762.745, "end": 14775.865, "text": "I I think it'd be great for just for the corporate record. You got your the the the fire team obviously put an awful lot of work into there, and uh I I think there's great information in there that would be great for the public to be aware of that wasn't included in the actual presentation." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14775.865, "end": 14776.565, "text": "Happy to be." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 14776.605, "end": 14786.065, "text": "Um so maybe I'll ask you then, uh Chief Insurance that do we have uh I don't know if you have anyone from FIRE either online or in the room who can provide us that before we're before we're done with you today." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14787.105, "end": 14789.645, "text": "I'm sure we can get that done very, very quickly." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 14789.725, "end": 14807.925, "text": "Uh then I will leave that to you once you actually have that document, uh either in uh committee clerk's inbox or uh a a hard copy here, I'm I'm happy Chair to make that motion to uh uh to include that. Um maybe just over to GM Black. Any any other thoughts on on that one before I move on?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_23", "start": 14808.985, "end": 14812.585, "text": "No, I'm communicating with folks about how we're gonna get it onto the record." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 14812.665, "end": 14842.505, "text": "Perfect. Thank you so much. Only other question, really, that I have for you is you mentioned in your uh in the verbal part of your presentation uh about social disorder. Um I think you might have touched on this a little bit in uh your answer to Councillor Atkinson's question, but I wanted to maybe d give you an opportunity here to just um uh maybe explain to to my colleagues and I a little bit more when you say social disorder what you're experiencing and and and how that's adding complexity to the work of your team." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14842.605, "end": 14891.045, "text": "Thank you, and thank you for the question. Uh through the chair. Yeah, certainly. I mean, uh the the opioid epidemic has been an element I would consider of social disorder that we consider. Um of course we're also dealing with folks who uh are starting small fires downtown uh to stay warm. There are folks who are unfortunately experiencing homelessness. And then there's the whole encampment uh piece that we're seeing now, encampments um that are starting on fire or um starting fires uh if they're in quite kind of more wild uh grass areas. We've had a number of grass fires that have been started by folks uh from encampments unintentionally, um, but also we've had a number of injuries to folks in in encampment situations and a and a couple of fatalities, if I if I recall correctly. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14891.465, "end": 14913.725, "text": "That's what I categorize. But of course, in our in our the folk the the worker that our folks do in the core, we are free frequently experiencing people with um mental health challenges, addictions, uh all those kinds of things. So I guess for me that's the broader category of what I would call social disorder. I think about it, you know, I did some ride alongs with uh some of our crews a couple of years ago," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14914.645, "end": 14920.905, "text": "and I compared to when I was a firefighter in Calgary in the early nineties, early to mid 90s, riding the trucks." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_01", "start": 14921.405, "end": 14950.065, "text": "It's a different world out there. And I mean I I don't have to tell you that, but it was very evident to me how the the world you know the the world that our folks operate in, which they do very compassionately and confidently, uh it's a different world, and uh, you know, it it it it's stark the difference uh in terms of uh what's happening on our streets, again, particularly in the core, but also in other parts of the city, um that that's uh you know it it is very, very different to uh a decade or two ago." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 14953.165, "end": 14960.545, "text": "Well, thank you very much, and I I appreciate that complexity and all the work that your team are doing. Um I don't think I have any other questions right now, sure." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14961.525, "end": 14974.045, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Kelly. I don't see anyone else in the queue. I all I want to say thank you for your presentation, and uh I'm looking forward to our meeting about my vote. And with that, can I get a mover on this item, please?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14976.045, "end": 14977.125, "text": "Councillor Johnston." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 14979.165, "end": 14980.745, "text": "I don't think I've ever moved something before." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14981.625, "end": 14982.765, "text": "This is your time." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 14983.065, "end": 14984.585, "text": "I don't even know what to do, to be honest." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 14986.965, "end": 14988.345, "text": "I love firefighters." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 14989.385, "end": 14991.105, "text": "We should give them everything they ask for." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14991.745, "end": 14992.365, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14992.785, "end": 14993.665, "text": "With that, you're moved." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14994.085, "end": 14994.505, "text": "That's it." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14994.825, "end": 14995.585, "text": "Any debate?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 14997.545, "end": 14999.845, "text": "No debate for you to close." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 14999.905, "end": 15005.945, "text": "I if I may if I may actually just quickly uh I assume that I need to make this motion uh to to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15005.945, "end": 15006.125, "text": "Yes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 15006.125, "end": 15008.885, "text": "get this in before we close." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15008.905, "end": 15010.445, "text": "Yeah, I totally agree." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 15010.825, "end": 15012.645, "text": "If I may, through the chair to clerk." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15013.285, "end": 15020.965, "text": "uh yes, Councillor Kelly, um, we haven't yet received the materials. So um if if committee would like to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15021.405, "end": 15035.905, "text": "Uh we can distribute the item while you're on. We can distribute the materials while you're on the item without a motion. Um if it comes after the the committee's concluded, I think it would make sense to have a discrete motion to distribute the materials. So the options are" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15036.525, "end": 15047.245, "text": "um conclude the material to conclude this item and deal with the subsequent motion to distribute the materials, or uh postpone this item and distribute them." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15047.425, "end": 15057.445, "text": "Uh when it's to postpone the item to the call of the chair and distribute the materials uh and call the vote on the item uh uh when it's called back by the chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 15057.585, "end": 15069.245, "text": "Well through through the chair. That that sounds like the more complex one. Uh I I think that maybe it does make sense if we can, if we just conclude this item, and then when we get the when we get the item, I can I can I'm happy to make the motion at that point." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15069.465, "end": 15070.065, "text": "We'll prepare that one." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15070.245, "end": 15075.065, "text": "So you want so so I think we cannot conclude. We can postpone at the call of the chair, right?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15075.065, "end": 15077.385, "text": "No, I it we can conclude the" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15077.385, "end": 15078.225, "text": "No amendment. Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15078.225, "end": 15083.725, "text": "committee can conclude the item. We'll prepare a motion for later in the meeting for committee pandertaine to distribute the materials. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 15084.605, "end": 15088.065, "text": "Okay, we'll and with that, that's the" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_23", "start": 15088.065, "end": 15090.005, "text": "I apologize, Mr. Chair. Can you" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_23", "start": 15090.525, "end": 15096.885, "text": "try refreshing or something? It was it sent to you, uh copied to me, and I have it. So" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_23", "start": 15097.565, "end": 15100.725, "text": "I we may just have a little technical glitch." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_23", "start": 15103.685, "end": 15104.245, "text": "It's not there?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_23", "start": 15104.925, "end": 15105.565, "text": "City clerk?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15108.885, "end": 15110.985, "text": "Oh, was it sent to city clerk at Calgary.ca?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15111.745, "end": 15114.445, "text": "Committee clerk. Meeting can we send it to the committee clerk, please?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 15123.645, "end": 15130.465, "text": "Uh and while they're doing that, just to ask the question, um am I able to make the motion while we're in the middle of debate of the previous motion? I assume I am." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15130.465, "end": 15141.605, "text": "If administration if we're in the middle of the item and administration is advancing the materials no motions required, we'll just distribute the materials with respect to the item and it will appear in e scribe and on calgary.ca." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 15142.285, "end": 15142.745, "text": "Like" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 15143.065, "end": 15144.045, "text": "you check your email." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15144.045, "end": 15147.145, "text": "We now have those materials and we'll proceed to distribute those" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15147.765, "end": 15148.745, "text": "at this time, Chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 15149.125, "end": 15149.425, "text": "Thank" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 15150.425, "end": 15156.105, "text": "thank you. And with that I uh conclude my debate that sounded a heck of a lot more like a point of order." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15157.265, "end": 15163.565, "text": "It's all good. Uh we got amended uh recommendation here. Council Johnston, for you to close." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15165.125, "end": 15165.665, "text": "That's it." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15166.085, "end": 15166.705, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15167.165, "end": 15167.645, "text": "Uh with that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15168.865, "end": 15171.625, "text": "With that, clerks, uh, can we open the East Cribe, please?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15188.045, "end": 15189.365, "text": "Councillor Jameson, your vote, please." }, { "speaker": "Councillor M. Jamieson", "start": 15190.725, "end": 15191.165, "text": "Yes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15191.645, "end": 15193.065, "text": "And Councillor McLean, your vote, please." }, { "speaker": "Councillor D. McLean", "start": 15193.565, "end": 15194.025, "text": "Yes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 15194.505, "end": 15195.585, "text": "Thank you, Chair. All the votes are in." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15196.865, "end": 15198.545, "text": "Thank you. Can we display the votes, please?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15211.285, "end": 15227.725, "text": "That's Carried Eleven. Nothing with no opposition. Uh, thank you so much. With that, we go to the last item of the day, which is water efficiency plan and update to the water utility bylaw. We got a team that would like to present. Um, before I do that, um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15228.965, "end": 15229.605, "text": "Okay, well," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15233.725, "end": 15235.465, "text": "you're good to go." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_09", "start": 15241.325, "end": 15242.105, "text": "work." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_12", "start": 15246.025, "end": 15256.725, "text": "All right, good morning uh committee. I'm Director Nicole Newton. I'm just uh gonna provide a few opening remarks. Um so when Calgarians and quite frankly our firefighters turn on the tap today and in the future," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_12", "start": 15257.485, "end": 15268.005, "text": "and as our city continues to grow, they expect the water to be there. What you're being introduced to today is a result of a multi year journey to ensure that water is always available for c for Calgarians." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_12", "start": 15268.885, "end": 15295.765, "text": "Calgary's updated water efficiency plan is a renewed commitment and supports Council's priorities around infrastructure reliability, reducing operational risk, and managing long term costs. Managing water demand helps us better time planned investments in key infrastructure. That means that we're making sure we get the most out of the water system and the infrastructure to keep costs down while also managing water related risks and stewarding an important resource." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_12", "start": 15296.445, "end": 15323.825, "text": "Before we begin today, I would like to advise counsel that there's two revised attachments being circulated by current clerks. One is attachment five, which is the draft bylaw that addresses an administrative error, as well as attachment eight, which provides an updated budget estimate and provides additional detail referencing yesterday's capital budget presentation. And with that, it's my pleasure to introduce counsel to Rahana Rajabali, the manager of natural environment, who will walk Council through the plan and the recommendations before you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15324.245, "end": 15324.585, "text": "Great." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15324.845, "end": 15345.925, "text": "Thank you so much, Director Newton. As Director Newton mentioned, today we are going to be looking into the future of water for our city by introducing the updated water efficiency plan and amendments to the water utility bylaw. I'm joined by colleagues from Water Services, Climate Environment, as well as infrastructure services who are available to answer questions after the presentation." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15346.905, "end": 15353.985, "text": "Before we can look to the future, let's first look at the past because this work has a long history. Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15356.145, "end": 15363.785, "text": "Council's direction to update the water efficiency plan came as part of the 2023 Drought Resilience Plan approval." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15364.385, "end": 15369.525, "text": "This work also aligns with Calgary's climate strategy and water security framework." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15370.345, "end": 15383.485, "text": "But the genesis of this work dates even farther back. The original 2005 30 and 30 water efficiency plan helped reduce our per capita demand by 30%, reaching its target a decade early." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15384.305, "end": 15394.305, "text": "And having achieved that original target is part of why we're updating the plan. The other part has to do with risks that I will outline shortly. Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15395.685, "end": 15404.545, "text": "Committee, to secure our shared water future, today we are seeking your recommendation that Council approve the water efficiency plan," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15405.085, "end": 15419.545, "text": "give three readings to the proposed bylaw to amend bylaw 40 M 2006, the Water Utility By Law, and advanced priority water demand actions from the Water Efficiency Plan in the 2027 to 2030 service plans and budgets." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15420.305, "end": 15423.205, "text": "We all know how important water is. Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15425.205, "end": 15426.265, "text": "As we have heard," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15426.465, "end": 15429.945, "text": "Calgary's water system is the backbone of our city." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15430.265, "end": 15442.425, "text": "Simply put, we need water. It's essential for everyday life, it's essential for public services like firefighting, and it's essential for our continued prosperity as a city." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15442.945, "end": 15446.965, "text": "But our water system faces real risks. Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15448.985, "end": 15457.625, "text": "In the short term, we are dealing with an infrastructure reliability risk on the Barispaw South Feder that my colleagues are actively working to manage." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15458.465, "end": 15470.505, "text": "In the medium term, managing demand helps us better time planned investments in key infrastructure. Like the water treatment plant expansion, a $2.5 billion investment." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15471.065, "end": 15480.105, "text": "This plan buys us capacity in our system, and that buys us runway to better time, a $2.5 billion investment." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15480.865, "end": 15490.445, "text": "But in the long term, there is no escaping the natural resource context that we live in. Calgary is a big city on two small rivers." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15490.905, "end": 15498.205, "text": "Population growth, aging infrastructure, and a changing climate are all increasing pressure on a finite water supply." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15499.025, "end": 15502.925, "text": "Water efficiency helps us across all of these horizons." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15503.665, "end": 15521.145, "text": "For example, by lowering water demand on hot summer days, we can ease some of the strain on our pipes, pumps, and treatment plants, supporting the reliability of our water system in the near term and in the long term, this supports landscapes that thrive without relying on drinking water." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15521.525, "end": 15522.485, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15524.545, "end": 15530.005, "text": "Water efficiency is and has always been a key lever to securing our water system." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15530.545, "end": 15546.765, "text": "This work actually began before the first feeder main break. And while it was rooted in those medium and long term risks I talked about, we are accelerating select water efficiency actions as part of the water transformation program to mitigate the short term risks." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15547.245, "end": 15550.245, "text": "This is detailed in attachments seven and eight of this item." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15551.165, "end": 15556.545, "text": "Now, on the left side of this slide, you see how we developed the water efficiency plan." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15556.885, "end": 15565.525, "text": "The team analyzed two decades of Calgary's water use data to identify trends and opportunities, reviewed leading practices from other jurisdictions," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15566.085, "end": 15572.085, "text": "modeled future water demand, and built on what Calgarians said mattered most through engagement." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15572.925, "end": 15582.365, "text": "We also worked closely with city staff, industry partners, and community organizations to understand operational needs and opportunities." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15582.565, "end": 15588.525, "text": "And all this work ensured that the plan is practical, feasible, and fit for the moment we are in." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15589.385, "end": 15602.745, "text": "The result of this process, as seen on the right hand side of this slide, is a plan that says set a waterwise vision to 2050, a long term goal with interim targets, and 11 actions to move us towards that goal." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15603.005, "end": 15603.885, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15606.185, "end": 15621.625, "text": "Counselors, it's important to highlight that we are working with the least predictable part of our water system, how people use it. The goal is clear, but the path is adaptable. We will monitor results, report regularly, and adjust programs and tools over time." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15622.585, "end": 15652.045, "text": "The planned goal, as you see, is a further 20% reduction in per capita water demand by 2040. This would take us from around 356 liters per capita per day, which is what we had in 2023, down to about 285 by 2040. And this goal, this number applies to all water use residents, businesses, institutions, industry, the city, and system losses. And achieving it will require collaboration across the whole community." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15653.005, "end": 15660.505, "text": "Attachment three of this item is a quick overview, and the plan itself details all of the actions, but I want to highlight just a few." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15661.665, "end": 15688.485, "text": "Addressing water loss is action number one, and action number two is modernizing water meter technology so better data enables both customer and city decisions. These two actions are things we are already doing to serve asset management and system operations objectives. Yet they play a big role in water efficiency. So we are acknowledging that role and that contribution to the goal in this plan." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15689.725, "end": 15700.245, "text": "Number two, to protect water availability during high demand times, this plan proposes an outdoor water schedule. Shape through engagement to be both flexible and meaningful." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15701.445, "end": 15715.245, "text": "Next, assessing water rate options that incentivize efficiency, known as conservation-oriented or tiered rates, is another key action. Tried and tested in other jurisdictions, these rate structures reward efficient water use." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15715.665, "end": 15723.985, "text": "Importantly, a rigorous cost of service study would happen before any proposal to change rates to council, with decision making ultimately resting with council." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15725.305, "end": 15730.725, "text": "This is a cohesive package. All elements are needed to reach our goal by 2040." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15731.745, "end": 15732.585, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15735.025, "end": 15741.965, "text": "In alignment with the water efficiency plan and demand management, we are also proposing several updates to the water utility bylaw." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15742.845, "end": 15753.145, "text": "First, we're introducing that year round outdoor watering schedule. This will help reduce peak summer day demand and make system load more predictable with clear exemptions noted." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15753.945, "end": 15759.805, "text": "Second, we're updating low water use fixture requirements to align with what's in code and what's in market." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15760.605, "end": 15769.865, "text": "Third, we're making practical edits to the outdoor watering restriction stages one and two in response to what Calgarian shared with us in 2024 and 2025." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15770.465, "end": 15778.045, "text": "And finally, we are creating a paper version of a tool already in the city's toolbox for use only when strictly necessary." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15778.365, "end": 15791.145, "text": "While the utility has always had the authority to disconnect service, using a paper order is much faster than sending out crews to turn valves off in an emergency when time matters most. Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15794.105, "end": 15810.605, "text": "Attachment 4 outlines what we heard from online engagement in 2025. Key themes were demonstrating seated leadership, valuing green spaces, supporting Calgarians via programs, and keeping affordability at the forefront. All of these areas are represented in the plan." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15811.365, "end": 15824.065, "text": "We also engage directly with key industry groups. You will have seen the letters from BILD, I understand they're here to speak as well, as well as Landscape Alberta Nursery Trades Association that recognize our collaboration on this effort. Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15826.305, "end": 15834.105, "text": "Ultimately, this plan is about helping the city deliver great services and helping Calgarians live great lives while using water better." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15834.665, "end": 15876.045, "text": "The future we envision, the relationship with water that we need, is about things Calgarians are already doing or want to do. Using rain barrels to capture water you already have, choosing drought-tolerant plants and using that rain barrel to ensure that your landscape thrives and contributes to our tree canopy. Watering on your designated days of the week with the flexibility to water new plants when needed, installing low water use fixtures inside the home and valuing this precious resource, and helping businesses and industry find efficiencies that work for their specific needs. Together, we can optimize our infrastructure and responsibly use shared resources to support our thriving city." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15876.865, "end": 15877.665, "text": "Next slide, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15879.185, "end": 15887.525, "text": "In closing, securing Council's support for the Water Efficiency Plan and changes to the water utility bylaw will modernize Calgary's approach to water efficiency." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15887.965, "end": 15895.065, "text": "To manage our risks today, we need to use water wisely. And by using water wisely, we can help mitigate the risks of tomorrow." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 15895.645, "end": 15897.845, "text": "Thank you. And we remain available for questions." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15898.885, "end": 15918.325, "text": "Thank you so much for your presentation. With that, we'll open it for public speakers. We got three speakers, so I'm gonna make a panel. They're all they don't have any, they're all not against or for their their standards, neither, so we can make the panel. We got Mohammed Mohammed," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15918.745, "end": 15923.745, "text": "we got Brian Hahn and Anne Landry. Please come and have a seat." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15924.605, "end": 15928.305, "text": "Each one of you have five minutes, I believe. Uh we'll uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15928.585, "end": 15930.085, "text": "who's going first from build?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 15940.605, "end": 15941.185, "text": "Mr. Hahn." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 15942.485, "end": 15949.505, "text": "Chair and members of committee, good afternoon. My name is Brian Hahn, Chief Executive Officer of BILD Calgary Region." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 15949.665, "end": 15959.765, "text": "BILD and our members are supportive of administration's proposed renewal of the water efficiency plan and the related updates to the water utility bylaw." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 15960.065, "end": 15969.345, "text": "We want to begin by acknowledging the professionalism, transparency, and depth of engagement demonstrated by the administration team throughout this process." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 15970.125, "end": 15986.745, "text": "Calgary has a strong record in this area. The original water efficiency plan delivered measurable success, most notably achieving the city's long-standing per capita water use reduction objectives, well ahead of schedule, even as the city continued to grow." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 15987.705, "end": 15989.245, "text": "Those outcomes were delivered." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 15990.005, "end": 15991.325, "text": "And those outcomes" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 15991.785, "end": 16000.865, "text": "that were delivered had real benefits to residents and businesses alike, including lower capital and operating costs and improved long term water security." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16002.005, "end": 16014.085, "text": "The renewal plan continues that stewardship tradition, and we support its core objective of protecting a finite natural resource while planning responsibly for future growth." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16015.045, "end": 16029.125, "text": "At the same time, the updated water efficiency plan includes requests for significant capital investments. Bill supports those investments where they are clearly tied to specific measurable outcomes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16029.745, "end": 16043.985, "text": "From our perspective, success should not only be measured in terms of water conservation, but also in terms of what those reductions mean for infrastructure planning, affordability, and fiscal sustainability." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16044.805, "end": 16047.105, "text": "Reduced water system demand" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16047.565, "end": 16051.525, "text": "should translate into deferred or avoided capital expansion," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16052.685, "end": 16061.145, "text": "lower life cycle costs for treatment, storage, and distribution assets, and reduced risk exposure for ratepayers and taxpayers over time." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16062.145, "end": 16069.105, "text": "In other words, efficiency gains should not just show up in leaders saved, but in dollars avoided as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16070.205, "end": 16075.405, "text": "We therefore encourage committee and council to continue supporting administration's work" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16075.825, "end": 16086.805, "text": "while ensuring that performance metrics remain clear and transparent, and capital investments are explicitly linked to demonstrable reductions in future infrastructure requirements." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16087.625, "end": 16105.045, "text": "Build and our members remain committed partners in this effort, and we look forward to continuing collaboration to ensure Calgary's water system is resilient, affordable, and sustainable for decades to come. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'll turn the podium over to my colleague Mohammed Mohammed for a few brief remarks." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16105.385, "end": 16146.045, "text": "Good afternoon. Thank you, Chair, members of committee. As Brian alluded to, my name is Muhammad Mohammed, and I'm speaking today on behalf of BILD Calgary Region in a technical capacity. Before turning to the substance of my remarks, I would like to echo Brian Hahn's comments and begin by recognizing and thanking City Administration for their hard work on the renewal of the wire efficiency plan. Notably, BILD wishes to acknowledge Doug Morgan, Rihanna Rajabali, Nancy McKay, Nicole Newton, Austin Walschuk, Sarah Marshall, Megan Van Ham, Pamela Duncan, Aaron Bolton, Shawowski, Jose Mithon, and Nicole Wolman for their professionalism, technical rigor, and constructive engagement with industry throughout this process." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16147.165, "end": 16158.565, "text": "The collateral approach taken by this team has been evident and appreciated. As Brian has outlined, BILT supports the renewed water efficiency plan as an important continuation of Calgary's strong record of water stewardship." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16159.245, "end": 16174.245, "text": "My remarks are intended to complement his by focusing more specifically on the technical and service reliability benefits that flow from the plant, particularly through addressing water system integrity and continuing to protect withdrawals from the Bow and Elbow River watershed." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16176.245, "end": 16180.505, "text": "Calgary's progress on end user water efficiency has been significant and should not be" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16181.245, "end": 16195.525, "text": "understated. Conservation measures on the customer side of the meter have played a major role in protecting withdrawals from the Bow and Elbow Rivers, delivering clear environmental benefits and supporting long term water security for residents and businesses alike." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16196.225, "end": 16216.445, "text": "It's also fair to acknowledge, as the administration has done, that customer side conservation gains appear to be leveling out as fixtures, appliances, and building practices have become highly efficient. That reality does not diminish the importance of continuing those efforts, but it does highlight the need to pair them with equally strong focus on the city side of the meter." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16217.445, "end": 16225.005, "text": "From a technical and service delivery perspective, wire system integrity and water loss reduction represent the largest remaining opportunity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16225.405, "end": 16234.065, "text": "Calgary's high rate of water loss means that a meaningful portion of treated water never reaches customers, undermining both efficiency and reliability." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16234.805, "end": 16254.385, "text": "Addressing those integrity issues delivers very real service reliability benefits, including fewer unplanned outages and emergency repairs, reduced flushing and retesting following those breaks, improved confidence and system performance during peak demand and emergency conditions, and a more resilient network overall." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16255.265, "end": 16276.345, "text": "Just as importantly, reducing both end-user demand and system losses directly influences long-term capital planning. Lower demand and lower losses translate into deferred or avoided expansion of treatment, storage, and transmission infrastructure, reduced oversizing of new assets, and lower life cycle costs borne by the city, Calgarians, and Calgary businesses." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16276.865, "end": 16299.805, "text": "For building its members, the key message is that continued customer side conservation combined with focused investment on the city's water networks works together to serve the same end objectives. Conserving critical natural resources, protecting the Bow and Elbow River watershed, improving service reliability, and deferring and reducing capital and operating expenditure over time." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16300.485, "end": 16313.405, "text": "As Brian noted, that is why BILD supports the Wire Efficiencies Plant's investments, where they deliver clear, measurable outcomes, not only in leaders saved, but in infrastructure resilience and avoided future costs." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_29", "start": 16313.705, "end": 16325.345, "text": "We look forward to continuing to work with administration and council to ensure that these benefits are fully realized as the plan moves into implementation. Thank you for the opportunity to speak where available for any questions that you may have for us. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16327.925, "end": 16335.185, "text": "Thank you, Mr. Mohammed. Mr. Hahn, have a seat. Ms. Landry is next, and then we'll open it up for any questions to this panel. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16335.945, "end": 16336.805, "text": "Ms. Landry, you're up." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16340.765, "end": 16353.685, "text": "I have some uh four overheads I'm going to be speaking to today, and I have attachments for each uh Councillor today. I have 16 attachments, so you can follow along with my overheads. Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16354.325, "end": 16358.945, "text": "And should I just um put the overheads? Oh, and sorry, this as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16359.625, "end": 16363.445, "text": "Uh should I just put the overheads here as I speak to them? Is that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16363.445, "end": 16365.365, "text": "They were not submitted to clerks." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16365.385, "end": 16367.065, "text": "um fresh from the press?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16367.225, "end": 16368.705, "text": "Oh, okay, great. So" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16368.905, "end": 16370.185, "text": "yeah, sure, go ahead." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16370.245, "end": 16374.225, "text": "Okay, thank you. I'll just get them out. I'll put the first one down." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16375.205, "end": 16376.045, "text": "And" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16380.265, "end": 16382.985, "text": "and you have copies of each of them, of each of the four." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16383.465, "end": 16383.785, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16384.145, "end": 16385.765, "text": "Yeah, we'll make sure" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16385.925, "end": 16389.965, "text": "clerks, they will has to be a motion to get them on corporate record, right?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16390.305, "end": 16392.185, "text": "I don't know if you can shrink" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 16392.965, "end": 16404.905, "text": "Um these would be, I think, the um written materials to support the presentation. So we'll just proceed to distribute these. They will need to be scanned and uh included in that e screen." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16404.985, "end": 16407.145, "text": "Perfect. Thank you. Go ahead, your time started." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16407.145, "end": 16409.325, "text": "can can it be shrunk? I don't know how to do that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16410.545, "end": 16411.505, "text": "Thank you so much." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16418.125, "end": 16558.885, "text": "Thank you for the opportunity to present. My name is Ann Landry. My presentation is supported by my prior presentations to Council, my four overheads, and other information. I consider the city's proposed water efficiency plan important, but I wish to address key issues, including in the plan and what we heard documents, including as may involve steps to meter or bill tenants for water by multifamily residential landlords. I wish to avoid negative impacts in Calgary during a growing housing emergency and a water crisis. Last Friday, I presented in panel 76 at the public hearing to repeal blanket rezoning. I addressed issues involving housing as well as water. I asked for no rebilling, resale of water by landlords, for city water utility by law 40M 2006 to be upheld, and also no investment properties. It is time for citizen-focused bold and targeted action now for urgent rescue and relief for the most vulnerable. For the past more than 28 years, I have rented in the Belt Line and Ward 8 at Boardwalk Reed Skygate Tower and have paid over $350,000 in rental payments. In 2020, my story was in the Globe and Mail, see in Calgary, a builder emphasis on rental, puts pressure on existing tenants. I am a senior and I have a disability post-traumatic stress. In January 2026, I received a rent increase notice from my landlord of up to $255 per month. By email regarding rent renewal effect of May 1, 2026, my landlord requested that I pay for water. There are no water meters in my apartment. I have requested but not received a copy of the rental lease associated with the May 1st, 2026 rental renewal. Last year I did not receive a copy of the lease for rental renewal effect of May 1st, 2025, despite my repeated requests. I am wondering if my landlord's rental lease for tenants addresses water rebuilding, reselling. I am wondering if the rental lease is compliant with the city's water utility bylaw 40M 2006. And with the Alberta Residential Tenancy Act, that seems to make no reference to water. Availability of safe water services seems to be a key component of the adequate right to housing that all Canadians have, as per the National Housing Strategy Act 2019. Going to overhead number two." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16559.465, "end": 16561.305, "text": "Which you also have maybe shrinking?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16563.125, "end": 16625.705, "text": "Overhead number two refers to a lot of data and key issues that I can further discuss with key to your questions. Note that the majority of private apartment rental units in Calgary, approximately 75%, are non-turnover. Column I reveals that Calgary has one of the highest turnover rates of private apartment rental units in Canada, approximately 25%, a leak in apparent unaddressed risk. In 2025, average rents for turnover private rental apartments in Calgary decreased by 5.5%. Average rents for non-turnover private apartment rental units increased by 4.4%. Why is private rental apartment turnover so high in Calgary and how does water fit in? One factor may be landlords' rent increase notices to tenants that may provide for high rental payment increases to tenants, including higher if tenants don't sign a lease versus sign a lease and fees that may not be publicly stated, but that may be requested as per a rental lease, including as may involve water." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16625.845, "end": 16627.885, "text": "This is overhead number three." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16633.725, "end": 16711.245, "text": "Overhead number three reveals that the city's water bylaw 40M 2006 seems to indicate that council sets fees for water. Last year, in my public presentation before the City of Calgay Community Development Committee in June 2025, I informed council that as per my landlord's public documentation, my landlord Boardwalk Reed, was apparently rebuilding water to tenants via what seems to be referred to as a ratio utility billing system, rubs. I requested this practice be halted. I now request that an independent review immediately occur regarding rebuilding submetering of water to tenants by landlords in Calgary, as well as regarding landlord licensing. I also request that Council make an emergency announcement to the public within 24 hours to uphold bylaw M40M 2006, a quick win in order to immediately halt inappropriate rebuilding submetering of water as may occur by multifamily residential landlords or others that may contribute to unaffordable net rental payments for tenants, rent unit turnover, andor homelessness. I also recommend to take a stepped approach to rolling out water efficiency initiatives at multifamily residential landlords while protecting tenants from exorbitant rent and fee increases. I would be happy to further discuss my recommendations. Overhead number four is" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16711.245, "end": 16713.785, "text": "Landry, unfortunately, you're out of time." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16713.785, "end": 16714.165, "text": "I'm out of" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16714.165, "end": 16715.345, "text": "Time is finite" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16715.345, "end": 16716.325, "text": "Okay, there you go. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16716.325, "end": 16719.985, "text": "in this case. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16720.165, "end": 16722.665, "text": "Have a seat. I don't see any questions for this panel." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16722.845, "end": 16723.225, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16723.785, "end": 16731.765, "text": "So, but before you go, Mr. Hahn, I have one question. Oh, sorry, my apologies. Councillor Atkinson has a question. Sorry." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16733.625, "end": 16735.965, "text": "Sorry for Ms. Landry." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16736.305, "end": 16737.025, "text": "Okay, thanks." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16737.025, "end": 16747.805, "text": "Good. Yeah. I'm not gonna ask you to wrap up, but I do want to dig in specifically because you you you mentioned, like I think" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16748.165, "end": 16752.225, "text": "you're you're you're trying to get through your presentation. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16752.225, "end": 16752.945, "text": "Yes, thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16752.965, "end": 16754.425, "text": "but I really" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16754.745, "end": 16756.045, "text": "appreciate" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16756.705, "end": 16758.425, "text": "the position that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16758.785, "end": 16767.425, "text": "Water being delivered from the city of Calgary, there should not be so my understanding as of your presentation is that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16767.705, "end": 16787.445, "text": "uh we are setting the rates, but that potentially folks who are in rental situations are being charged a different rate, a higher rate, f uh with that flow through of water. Is that is that the general gist of of of the vulnerability that you're sort of seeing?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16787.705, "end": 16805.865, "text": "Thank you for quote for your question, and I thank all of council for their dedicated approach to citizen focused accountability. Um, my concern, and you can go to the documents, they're online on June 12th. I've had detail and my PowerPoint is there. My concern is that I have been asked to pay for water." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16807.025, "end": 16812.885, "text": "There is no meter in my apartment. I have received no communication from the city." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16814.425, "end": 16822.665, "text": "That they are changing any aspect of water. I have lived in the same apartment in the same apartment building for 28 years." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16824.485, "end": 16825.665, "text": "And and yeah, so" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16826.985, "end": 16827.625, "text": "um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16828.225, "end": 16845.685, "text": "potentially like the your question is whether um there is metering if like you you there has not necessarily been metering changes made so do you you you don't know how much it is that you're you're is it is it flat rate billing that you're being um in terms of" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16845.685, "end": 16846.865, "text": "I have no idea." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16847.345, "end": 16880.665, "text": "I have no idea what that is. I think there's documents that I provided last June, but that's the situation. I I would expect a communication from the city under Water Utility 40 M2006 to tenants if there is any change. I would expect a change in the utility bill bylaw itself to say water rebilling, reselling is permissible under the bylaw. I I'm not an expert in bylaws, but I looked at the bylaw. I can't see that terminology." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_32", "start": 16881.105, "end": 16894.805, "text": "Maybe council can clarify, is there the ability for multifamily residential landlords to rebuild or resell water without a meter installed or at all? That that would be my question." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 16896.765, "end": 16905.745, "text": "that's great that will be my question to administration as well so uh I thank you for your presentation and uh yeah thank you for showing up today" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16906.805, "end": 16913.985, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Atkinson. Like I said, there's no question in the queue. So I'm gonna ask one question to Mr. Hahn and Bild." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16914.725, "end": 16915.525, "text": "Just for" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16916.465, "end": 16917.205, "text": "and and" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 16917.565, "end": 16957.465, "text": "Uh Mr. Hon, you remember when we passed the last um offside pie law, there was lots of talk about water piping system and all that. Uh City got a report done by ACON about water losses. Right now, 22% water loss in our infrastructure. One of the things that caught my eye there was that we are one of the unique jurisdictions where we are using the same ADD and MDD, average daily requirement or maximum, for both established areas and greenfield. Whereas some other municipalities are using different rates. What is your perspective or take on that?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16958.685, "end": 16963.045, "text": "I think" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16963.565, "end": 16977.505, "text": "the probably the simplest way to try and address it is in the context of the discussion that occurred in December of 23 and January of 24 is where's the benefit received?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16977.825, "end": 16986.525, "text": "And the benefit is received at the end user end, or as uh my friend Mr. Mohammed said, uh at the customer meter." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 16986.965, "end": 17011.045, "text": "And so then it's a discussion as to whether the things like system losses, which was one of the issues that we brought up back then, if that's a system wide cost and should be shared citywide through the utility rate, and that the allocation and the allocation of benefit for infrastructure costs should be based on the benefit actually received, which is the water delivered at the customer meter." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 17011.525, "end": 17013.225, "text": "Does that answer that get your question?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 17013.225, "end": 17021.445, "text": "Kinda, kinda, because uh when I was reading the report, it took me back to the arguments that were made during that bylaw discussions. Um uh no great" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 17021.445, "end": 17025.385, "text": "Good to know that we were on the same page there because it's what goes back to." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 17025.725, "end": 17031.185, "text": "No great, thank you. And I think there's some work happening there. Uh yeah, uh no, thank you. I know" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 17031.745, "end": 17034.905, "text": "you're uh going into next set of your" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 17035.425, "end": 17039.465, "text": "adventures, I want to call it. Uh retiring soon, I heard." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 17039.825, "end": 17050.125, "text": "Uh well I've tried it a couple of times before and it didn't catch, but we'll see if it works this time. I think it will depend on how well things go on the domestic front and how well behaved I am there." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 17050.125, "end": 17054.925, "text": "If if if if we don't see you here, uh uh enjoy your time off." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 17054.925, "end": 17102.865, "text": "I may have one or two more times, but thank you very much for the kind remarks. And if I may, I'd I'd like to echo um both what Mohammed said and what I said about administration's work on this. We're really pleased to see it and pleased to see them sitting uh setting specific targets. And I'd also like, although it's not part of this session, I I'd like to pay a compliment to Chief Dongworth. Uh in an incident that happened about a year ago, um, as I was exiting City Hall, a woman had collapsed, and I probably wasn't the best person to help her, and he was readily available, and he didn't pass it on to anybody else. He stepped right in. And I think that's a real reflection of what we have in Calgary and why all of you are so committed to the service, and why I've chosen to make my home here is because we have Calgarians like Chief Dongworth who step up when they're needed." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 17103.425, "end": 17119.545, "text": "Thank you. Really appreciate it. That goes long ways. And really, I think you shared that this story when you were here last time. And we also want to appreciate Chief Dongworth for doing such an amazing job. Thank you for taking making time and uh thank you and we'll look forward to seeing you again soon." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_08", "start": 17119.585, "end": 17120.305, "text": "Thank you very much." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 17120.305, "end": 17131.025, "text": "Thank you. That's it for uh this panel. Uh is there anyone else in public who would like to speak to this item, either in chambers or uh on the phone?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 17133.585, "end": 17145.605, "text": "I hear no one here in chambers or I or in the or on the phones. So with that, we will close the public speaking portion of this item. We'll open" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 17146.325, "end": 17151.805, "text": "this now to our colleagues for any questioning of the administration." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 17156.705, "end": 17158.125, "text": "Councillor Pentasopoulos." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17160.445, "end": 17174.125, "text": "Thanks so much to administration and uh for sending along some answers to questions some of us had. Let me just pull up my notes. I apologize. So um I won't have sort of verbatim, but I will sort of pick up some questions on" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17174.365, "end": 17180.605, "text": "the presentation and then maybe speak to some of the questions and some clarity around that. Bear with me a second here as I just get my notes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17182.365, "end": 17182.965, "text": "Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17184.105, "end": 17187.125, "text": "maybe uh you know, Clerk, if you could bring up attachment nine," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17187.585, "end": 17189.545, "text": "uh using water wisely," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17190.745, "end": 17192.365, "text": "the 2020 uh page" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17193.205, "end": 17194.725, "text": "PDF 266." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17195.005, "end": 17199.565, "text": "I'll speak that research and best practices. Maybe can you speak through um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17200.305, "end": 17202.225, "text": "who does it right? Who does water" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17202.885, "end": 17204.305, "text": "well?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17205.625, "end": 17223.565, "text": "Canada, the US, you you know, yes, we are in two small rivers, but Canada's blessed with lots of water. Who does a better uh you know, Phoenix, etc.? Like what would be sort of a best practice and maybe just speak a bit about your research and and how that formulated into the efficiency plan, our uniqueness, but also some learnings that we can have from colleagues north and south of us." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 17223.945, "end": 17295.045, "text": "Thanks so much, Councillor Pantozopoulos. So indeed, we did look at other regions that do face a natural context that does have water as a precious resource. And some examples of those include Denver, which whom we spoke to, they have very interesting tools around how they do rate design, for example, in a way that factors in efficiency. They have a watering schedule that is very similar to what we are proposing today. We looked at Las Vegas Water District, for example, and they are ones that when we look at the value and the conservation benefit of water rates, we used their experience to help estimate how that might factor into our water efficiency plan. We also looked at the Water Research Federation and a lot of publications that they do. There's also something called the Alliance for Water Efficiency, and we worked locally with SAIT as well, who helped build on previous projects to understand a more Calgary specific context and the potential for landscape transformation initiatives. So we did look far and wide and across, and there are many cities, both in regions that have water as a precious resource, and even where water is more generally available, that use many of the tactics that we've proposed in this plan." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17295.205, "end": 17297.205, "text": "Did I hear you you said you used some folks from SAITE?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 17297.205, "end": 17297.605, "text": "Yes?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17297.605, "end": 17309.125, "text": "Fantastic. See, that's just wonderful. That that local that expertise, literally a kilometer away, that gets to formulate and see changes there. That's great to hear. Thanks for that. Did you look at any market mechanisms?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17309.905, "end": 17317.645, "text": "You know, obviously as consumption grows, your cost goes, now there's an economic incentive for me to consume substantially less. We've got a base rate of a buck sixty give or take a cube." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17318.245, "end": 17322.565, "text": "If I fill up my backyard hockey rink, I gotta pay five dollars a cube, but if I" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17323.525, "end": 17340.045, "text": "Flush once, what's the saying? Mellow yellow. Going forward, I use less. I don't see it as specifically built-in or demand forecasting, but not sort of market drivers. Any thoughts? Was that included or and why wasn't that part of sort of a final recommended plan, a very clear and concise" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17340.485, "end": 17342.765, "text": "uh scaling of of of costs?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 17343.325, "end": 17407.025, "text": "I'll answer that question in two parts. The first is around how did market transformation in terms of fixtures and what's available out there support us? There was a lot of low-hanging fruit that was plucked with the original water efficiency plan. You can't buy a high-flush toilet nowadays. And so there are there are still, however, communities and households that may not have been able to participate in those earlier rounds. And so we do have some more focused actions to expand access to water efficiency program, including incentives like that, as action seven. So a bit of a catch-up for those who couldn't. But as far as price signal or price as a signal of value, that's exactly what action six is about. And it means two parts. Conservation-oriented rates, also known as tiered rates, are a way that reward water efficiency. So where the total cost of service is the total cost of service, a conservation oriented rate offers a pathway where those who use less water and are mindful of their ranks or their flushing have a pathway towards a more relatively more affordable water bill." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17407.325, "end": 17421.085, "text": "Yeah, I think that's just that's great because you know later on we talk about a capping 904 uh million liters a day and and the cost you know to go to 905 is probably pretty substantial. So you know that uh uh exponential growth as we get sort of there. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17421.625, "end": 17445.205, "text": "Yeah, we we see it everywhere and it it generally, you know, market uh you see in electricity, that uh that's a separate conversation. Uh public and industry engagement. We just heard that the industry folks were very well engaged and and and they really took from um you know the capital spend and their business is is I want to be able to have land to sell and the water, the toilets flush and and the works. But maybe just speak about public and more specifically, I read the report" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17446.325, "end": 17455.725, "text": "changes that you heard from Calgarians that maybe you altered your final report, sort of you know what you were coming in with, and then the final report said, Hey, that's a fairly compelling." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17456.025, "end": 17462.365, "text": "Argument, yeah, let's amend it to meet these needs. Could you just speak to some maybe specific that this outcome was based on" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17463.005, "end": 17467.885, "text": "really impassioned Galgarians saying this, this, and and the data and everything supported it?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 17468.705, "end": 17518.825, "text": "I would be very pleased, Councillor Pantozopoulos, to share that when we heard how much Calgarians value their green spaces, even building on not just what we heard in formal engagement online late last year, but all throughout the outdoor watering restrictions in 2024, we actually made amendments to the water utility bylaw last year to create exemptions for newly planted trees, shrubs, and grass. So there is one very tangible example and an example of how we acted even during the development of this plan on that feedback that Calgaryan shared with us. So the schedule is a great example of how public feedback has shaped it and that flexibility in the schedule, the simplicity of it, and those exemptions for food growing crops, because we also talk to urban food growers and interested parties in that line, are great examples of that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17519.105, "end": 17541.525, "text": "Well, I really appreciate that flexibility, and something I encourage is when this goes out, don't let it go into the wild and come back in 10 years and say, Hey, what did we learn? Have a check in. You know, maybe there's a subtle little change that, hey, we three days a week isn't enough, we need four days of making that up. Or three days is way too much, we can go back to two, that sort of thing, and just that little check in um to make sure we we've got it right. Uh, targets, ILI." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17542.225, "end": 17544.705, "text": "Uh infrastructure leakage index three." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17545.025, "end": 17550.005, "text": "The report that the chair just referenced, in 2015 we had an ILI of three." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17551.025, "end": 17552.365, "text": "It went up to 4.4." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17552.705, "end": 17557.145, "text": "It's one of the worst in class relative to the peer group or what was there." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17557.605, "end": 17560.705, "text": "And now we're sort of setting a base target to where we were" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17561.185, "end": 17562.025, "text": "10 years ago." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17562.845, "end": 17568.045, "text": "Maybe just talk a bit about that. Why was that set? What happened to go from three to four point four?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17568.965, "end": 17571.825, "text": "Why can't we just go back to the way it was to get back to three?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17572.205, "end": 17573.345, "text": "And uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17573.985, "end": 17579.765, "text": "and then maybe it's longer answer, but the goals, objectives, how are we gonna get there? What specific actions measurable" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17580.165, "end": 17582.065, "text": "that we're gonna get that down? Because that's uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17582.485, "end": 17595.145, "text": "you know, look, we have a 20% loss, and and hey, if we got it down to zero, which I know we never can, guess what? We're right there. We've reached our goal and we don't have to put any weight on Calgarians. So maybe a long question, but really focus on that ally, because that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17595.765, "end": 17600.405, "text": "Uh 1% on 500 milliliters a day is 5 million liters, and that's a lot of toilet flashes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 17601.045, "end": 17653.485, "text": "Okay, I will start us off and then I may call on some colleagues to get into more details. So first let me share that water loss alone will not get us to our target. The balanced portfolio of plans that we propose factors in what we think is achievable with the degree of investment that is planned in things like cathodic protection, copper lead service replacement, district metering, leak detection, water main replacement upgrades, et cetera. And those are all detailed in the capital expenditures in attachment eight. Those planned expenditures for the sake of system optimization and asset management are what will help us get towards that ILI of three. And that goal was set on what we felt was achievable. But if you note it is also a goal to 2030, it doesn't take us to the full extent of the plan. So as we get back through sustained investment in" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 17653.965, "end": 17670.125, "text": "general asset management that supports water efficiency, as we get back to that ILI of three, we have the opportunity to look at a more aggressive goal. But it does take us time and it does take us investment in these many actions together that get us there." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 17671.125, "end": 17673.645, "text": "I don't know, Monica, if you want to add anything or" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17674.605, "end": 17684.165, "text": "Maybe just what happened 2015 to 2025, 3 to 4.4, that's a 50% increase. Uh we did spend money on water. What what happened? And why not fix" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17684.945, "end": 17685.625, "text": "what happened?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_04", "start": 17686.585, "end": 17818.705, "text": "Is that yeah. Um the uh one of the hard parts about solving the water loss challenge is that it's not one thing. There's no silver bullet for, oh, we forgot to do this and now we're just gonna go back and flip the switch. It is um hard and sustained effort that will be required to move the needle again from 4.4 down to three. Um some of those activities that we used to do more of, that we have done less of in the recent years and are getting back to basics on, including the list that Rahana rattled off, um, increasing our main replacement. We'd really like to get up to a main replacement of closer to 15 kilometers per year for the past few years. We had been down in the four kilometers a year range. Um that is also bolstered by a cathotic protection program that um we have done less of and are increasing back to about those 2015 levels again of targeting um 30 kilometers for cathodic uh 30 kilometers for additional cathodic protection on an annual basis. Um we are going to be increasing more of our service lines as they are coming due for replacement just based on some of the aging conditions of some of the targeted neighborhoods that we're looking at right now. Um we are also, as you've heard from the variety of water infrastructure pieces, we are investing in the reliability of our system, but we are also investing in additional investigations, so both condition assessment and leak detection on our feeder mains as well as our distribution mains, so we can find more leaks and fix them faster. In addition to the specific asset management practices, we are investing in our system monitoring so we will have a better understanding of where there are some prioritized areas for additional leak location and targeted repair and replacement. So it is a multifaceted approach as represented by the capital summary that has been provided to you guys and will be coming towards you for November budgetary approval, but does make up some of the investments that you've seen already in the 10 year capital investment needs assessments." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17820.185, "end": 17822.825, "text": "Pains me to say Edmonton does it better." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_04", "start": 17822.825, "end": 17823.045, "text": "Uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17823.045, "end": 17834.385, "text": "Um never to be repeated. You know, are there any learnings? Similar size cities, similar vintage infrastructure, they've got the same cement pipes as us, you know, they all that. So so uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17835.365, "end": 17839.285, "text": "What do they do, right? And what can we learn from our friends to the north there?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_04", "start": 17839.285, "end": 17940.705, "text": "Absolutely. I think it's a great question, and we are in very close communication with both them as partner municipalities as well as municipalities across the country. We're not in isolation on any of these challenges. There are some physical differences between our systems. We are a spread-out distribution system, so we've got a lot of different connections to a lot of mains. So we're at over 40 uh 5,500 kilometers of mains that we are going out in a programmatic way to inspect and make sure that they're not leaking. The Epcor system is also large and they do similar leak survey. The one key component that we do bring up that's been identified as a difference is the geotechnical conditions between ourselves and Epcor. We do find that in areas of the city that are particularly gravelly-based, this sandy, gravelly soil is prone to having leaks occur and then disappear underground. They're not coming to surface. Whereas an opposite phenomenon is identified in areas of Edmonton or some of our clay areas where if there were a break in the main, that water percolates up to the surface. So it allows us, allows for faster identification of a leak break at that location so we could go and respond faster. When leaks are dissipating through the ground, it requires that proactive boots on the ground, acoustic listening for all the fittings through the distribution system that we have scaled up, but it is a labor intensive process." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17941.165, "end": 17947.005, "text": "It's kind of 100 years in the making. We had a water report a few months ago that spoke about" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17947.785, "end": 17956.225, "text": "consensus culture, you know, a concern of issues not rising. You know, these capital expenditures, cathodic protection seems very plausible, practical. It's coming today." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_23", "start": 17956.565, "end": 17956.925, "text": "Mm-hmm." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17957.265, "end": 17966.985, "text": "What was the cause of this not being identified five years ago, six years ago? You would have monitored in 2015, 16, 17, um, you know, the uh 14 million for water main research." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 17967.605, "end": 17978.505, "text": "Why wasn't that 10 years ago? What was the cause? Why the urgency now versus a 10-year plan? Because we've had this unfortunate increase from 3 to 4.4. Didn't happen overnight." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_04", "start": 17978.845, "end": 18038.065, "text": "Absolutely. I hear Nancy behind me, and she might want to speak to some of the historical activities. We do have a long history of battling against water loss and being really successful at it. So I'll I'll speak at a high level. But in in the late 70s, our break rates was somewhere to the tune of 1,100 breaks. And for a system of our size, that was significant. And what the city did is it heavily invested in water main replacement and then in cathodic protection when those technologies became available to really reduce that overall water main break number to on the order of 300 breaks per year for the past few years. So the the practices that we are um recommending are mostly not new. The current package represents a scaled up approach because uh our water loss has been increasing over the past few years, and we really need to put some more emphasis towards it." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_04", "start": 18039.025, "end": 18040.265, "text": "Nancy, did you want to add to that?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_03", "start": 18042.085, "end": 18087.945, "text": "Thanks. Just to add, over time and over the decades, there's been different phases in terms of where we affordability at the time was incredibly important. And so we had a look at our practices where we were doing exceptional work on different elements, and the time was to cut back. Revenues had changed, and so cutting back, knowing that we would want monitor that, which is what we're doing, and changing that and bringing that back forward. So would also add we're bringing new tools in terms of metering that will also allow us to help our customers see where they're using water and our in our own system. So over time things change and you try different things and adapt. And I think to your point, Councillor Pantasopoulos, is you're constantly monitoring and adapting. And that's, I think, one of our lessons learned." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18088.225, "end": 18105.085, "text": "We had the the police here, and it's it's it's okay, you know, pilot, fail often, fail quick, fail fast. Let's just keep going and and come back to there. Um on the the the outdoor water schedule, in and in what we heard, there were some Calgaryans that talked about uh unique needs, work schedule." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18105.585, "end": 18106.345, "text": "Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18107.305, "end": 18111.765, "text": "gardens, whatever. There's a whole hundred. I never thought of that. If I work a shift, you know, I" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18112.065, "end": 18118.605, "text": "was gonna say council has a nine to five job, but lately it's been nine till nine. So you you know, even us, we can't go home and water during those hours." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18119.045, "end": 18120.525, "text": "Uh the the the bylaw" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18120.885, "end": 18128.045, "text": "is very prescriptive. It is a bylaw offense, do this, and here's this. Why not start with the voluntary? Why not see sort of how it goes" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18128.405, "end": 18130.545, "text": "and say, hey, do we have some measurable? And if not," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18130.805, "end": 18132.005, "text": "then we get a little more." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18132.525, "end": 18138.445, "text": "Harsher and harsher. Recognizing we're 1.7 million people, give or take, everybody has unique circumstances." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18138.865, "end": 18142.145, "text": "We all don't have sprinklers. Just just why go right to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18142.945, "end": 18150.125, "text": "I won't say the stick, but why not go right to a bylaw thou shalt versus more education and and uh try it that way." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 18151.005, "end": 18242.325, "text": "Thanks, Councillor Pantozoulos. I'll start by saying even with the outdoor water schedule as a bylaw, we always take an education first approach. And this is even true in the case where we had water restrictions in the summer of 2024. It is always an education-first approach. I also want to note that we are one of the last of our neighboring municipalities, if you will, to have an outdoor water schedule. So this is actually quite a common practice. We in fact did work with the Irrigation Association last year for those where there is like an automatic setup on those, you know, for those that have clients that have an automatic system to actually start to trial moving towards that setup, which is easy to do in an automated system because it's it's set it and forget it, if you will. But we have been gradually moving towards this. One of the things about our schedule, which is different from some neighboring municipalities, is that ours has up to 45 possible hours of watering. So it is actually starting with a much more permissive baseline. Not that anybody needs to water their lawn for 45 hours a week, but there is options within that. There are weekend days, there are weekend evenings, and there are weekday evenings. But the reason why we don't want to do it during the day is that we don't want to have that water on the lawn start to evaporate in the heat of the summer. So it is important to set those timings for the cooler times of day. And the most important thing is to spread out the demand and give clarity, right, to Calgarians to understand how best to spread that out so that we're not all watering at the same time." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18242.725, "end": 18244.745, "text": "Great. And I was just gonna ask that whether" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18245.325, "end": 18253.585, "text": "you know larger municipalities in Canada uh that have a uh uh outdoor watering schedule in bylaw. Uh you you mentioned we're an outlier." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18253.925, "end": 18255.885, "text": "Uh what city? Sorry, continue." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 18255.885, "end": 18302.965, "text": "Yeah, we are we are uh uh we've had the time to uh work on this to find a Calgary-specific version of the schedule. There are other municipalities, I mean, you know, even in areas that have more water than us, at, you know, other Vancouver, for example, right? So there are places that have outdoor watering schedules. Uh and our neighbors like Cochrane, Okotokes, uh, Foothills County, you know, it is a common practice, certainly here in Alberta, and it is uh common practice elsewhere, not just from areas that have water uh that come from a uh natural resource context where water availability, the basin, right, has limited water, but even just from an, again, infrastructure efficiency perspective of not having everybody use that water infrastructure at the same time." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18303.825, "end": 18308.485, "text": "W when you think of the the goal, I think yourself, one of your colleagues mentioned um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18308.905, "end": 18319.445, "text": "just fixing the water main leakage alone will not be sufficient. We need sort of all hands on deck. If you could quantify through your modeling, you know, the outdoor water schedule of the hundred" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18319.985, "end": 18324.765, "text": "percent savings, it's one percent. How how did you guys think about that? How did you model it? Did you use" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18325.265, "end": 18345.345, "text": "Best practice, yeah. If you could, what's the uh I guess I'm looking for materiality. If if it's uh you know a material inconvenience to Calgarians and saves one percent of water, should that effort and be redirected to instead of fifteen kilometers of pipe, fix 150? I I don't know what the scale is, but if you just speak to that, it's materiality for effort." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 18345.965, "end": 18442.045, "text": "Actually, if I can ask clerks to pull up slide 15 on the additional slides. And this is this is an alternate way of breaking down what is already in the water efficiency plan. So if you look at the water efficiency plan, oh I've lost my page number. There it's described as kind of a chart over time, but this is a more simplified way that explains how we get to our goal. And you'll notice in there those percentages are like the percentage contribution to that 20% reduction goal. And what you'll notice is that the infrastructure investments, those capital investments in things like cathotic protection, main replacement, metering infrastructure, they kind of get us halfway to our goal. And the numbers for these came from those that research that I mentioned in your first question about how other the experience of other jurisdictions, as well as the summaries from those research resources. And when we forecast that out, we see that it's about half-half between those infrastructure investments that we need to do anyway for system operations and the policies and programs, which are more specific to this plan and in the range of tens of millions of dollars. But what I want to note is even though outdoor watering schedule there shows up as 3% of our total goal, let's recall that on peak day demand, which is what that tactic is really targeting, on peak day demand, it can have a greater impact, right? So you can get a greater degree of savings. This is what it's quantified as as total, because we're also not evaporating our water in the middle of the day. But it really does help to not have everybody water at the same time." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18443.205, "end": 18465.485, "text": "Thank you. I missed this in the presentation, and this is this is fabulous. And it really points to the 80 20. 80% of the headache coming from Calgarians will be in our bylawers and neighbors, uh, the outdoor watering schedule, three percent. Let's say it doubles, you know, the outdoor, so six percent. Um, you know, that's within plus or minus. So so why put that effort in there? Like it seems at the margin, you know, you know, a little more shoulder into" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18465.825, "end": 18471.905, "text": "You know, that's amazing. Like conservation-oriented rates, fantastic. That's halfway there. Like that's that's just a simple" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18472.625, "end": 18478.485, "text": "and max bill change from a buck sixty to a buck eighty. So just just maybe that outdoor watering schedule, it it's" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18479.205, "end": 18488.585, "text": "three percent. And thank you for quantifying that. I I just guessed at 2%. Um, that's gonna be the heavy lifting. Everything else is pretty straightforward. Replace a meter, that's a one time capital." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18489.045, "end": 18516.625, "text": "Water loss, one-time capital, such an effort for three percent. Why? Like like bylaw, well, you've got 50 500,000 homes. You had a lady just talk about you know frustrations now she won't be watering hers living in an apartment, but just sort of the the hassle, rent, or this, like it just seems like all that effort for three percent. Why not start with 97 and then see how we're doing? And if we really need that last inch, we'll come back to that outdoor watering schedule, Calgary and so on July 1st, you're not watering." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 18517.545, "end": 18530.845, "text": "I'll say the thing that isn't shown with this, Councillor Pantozoulos, is also the uh time it takes to get us to our goal. And so the infrastructure investments, as you heard from Monica, they do take time to implement." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 18531.065, "end": 18616.265, "text": "The thing about an outdoor watering schedule and the complementary water efficiency program, so you see also there, it seems like a small percentage of our total goal, but those are those supports that Calgarians told us through engagement that they're looking for. Things like uh incentives to transform their landscape so that it isn't such a thirsty lawn, if you will. That outdoor watering schedule is something that we have the ability to roll out right away. And if you look at those other municipalities, everybody else, you know, who does have them. So, you know, Airdrie, Cochrane, Okatoke, Strathmore, High River, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, all of those have them because it is recognized as a way to do two things spread out that demand so that for peak day, when we do even have an infrastructure reliability risk in the short term, right, that can also help ease the strain off of our pipes and plants. So that outdoor watering schedule, although that's the contribution to the long-term goal, in the short term for those risks that we face right now, it actually helps us reduce the risk that we need to enter into outdoor watering restrictions. And water restrictions are much more restrictive. The schedule is, like I said, 45 up to 45 possible hours spread out. It's like, it's like kids going to school, right? If you, if everybody has to start school at 8 30 a.m., right, then you need double the amount of buses to get all the kids to school. Whereas if you just stagger the start time for school, that same fleet of buses can make multiple runs if some kids start at 8 and some kids start at 9." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18617.485, "end": 18640.185, "text": "Just I just go 8020, 8020 rule. But something no, I appreciate the you know the admins context. I I did have a bunch of questions on the capital, but this certainly addresses it that the um 50% how the dollars expend and and going through. Maybe the one I pull out is just water main research. Um 14 million. What what is that? What what what is the research and what does 14 million get us?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_04", "start": 18640.245, "end": 18692.665, "text": "Yeah, so what that reflects is a bit of a catch-all related to our feeder mains. So this was a program that's been around for decades now and related to the utilization of various feeder main inspection tools to conduct inspections, whether that be condition assessment or leak detection on our feeder mains. So it is a bit of a misnomer, but it is intended to be fairly broad related to inspections on feeder mains. So what that will get us is increasing the length of pipes that we are able to inspect over the next four year cycle. That will help inform future investment requirements as well as in some cases give us pre information so we can do proactive repairs rather than happening into another failure situation. So it's preventative medicine, really." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18693.085, "end": 18694.065, "text": "Okay, I really appreciate that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_04", "start": 18694.065, "end": 18735.345, "text": "I just wanted to jump in really quickly related to infrastructure spending and the 3% on the outdoor watering schedule. Mr. Hannah mentioned that this is more impactful for those peak day demands, and the research has suggested that that could be between a 5 and 10% buffer on those peak days. And for awareness for the council, our infrastructure capacity is primarily driven by those peak days. So any incremental gains that we can get to reduce our maximum day demands or peak day demands is a significant benefit when we're trying to manage our infrastructure timing and capacity." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18735.685, "end": 18762.925, "text": "I I appreciate that. I just think of in a former life, you know, transporting hydrocarbons and you built it for the peak, minus 40 for natural gas, not when it's 10 degrees. It's that two o'clock, it's super hot, and there happens to be four fires. So you build that 904 capital. Maybe my last set of question would just be around the bylaw changes and uh um, you know, specifically about um protections and things. Um and and you certainly did address, but I just wanted to kind of speak through" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18763.525, "end": 18764.245, "text": "um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18764.865, "end": 18773.725, "text": "recognizing the ability for the city to have the power to constrain water consumption. Um totally understand in times of emergencies," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18773.945, "end": 18775.645, "text": "but just want to understand." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18778.525, "end": 18788.005, "text": "The thought, if we could put that into the bylaw specific, there was, you know, you mentioned education first, but the bylaw clearly states the power, thou shalt have the ability. The director of water can do this." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18788.345, "end": 18792.605, "text": "And there's no timeline, there's no materiality. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18793.145, "end": 18804.225, "text": "maybe just walk through why not codify we will do this. We will absolutely an emergency. If there's an emergency, of course. Local state of emergency, we have to constrain something's bad's happening." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18804.845, "end": 18807.325, "text": "But codify a process." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18808.465, "end": 18833.385, "text": "To protect Calgarians. We just heard a renter come up and she was speaking about dollars, but if her landlord chooses not to pay the water bill, as an example, she has no way of knowing and water's cut off. Oh my goodness, now what? And yeah, there's a process, you can dial 311 and and and and they do amazing work, so I'm not discrediting that, but it just just codifying that protections, um, education, additional follow up, warning notices, thoughts on that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 18834.945, "end": 18889.485, "text": "I'd say that the the bylaw itself, uh the order, right, and or the authority for the utility to disconnect service has has always been there. So that authority isn't new. Um there are practices, education, additional follow-up, warning notices, remedial order, timelines for remedial order, further site visits, and follow-ups on remedial orders, tickets, recommendation for further enforcement. I think there is still wiggle room within those steps to be able to right-size that to the specific situation. There might be cases, an example where that authority is also useful would be like cross-connection. That could risk contamination to the entire system. So because there isn't a uh one size fits all process, uh, having that uh rest outside of the bylaw and recognizing that it it does exist within administration process enables the tool to be used quickly in those rare but possible circumstances where the tool needs to be used quickly." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18890.665, "end": 18907.665, "text": "Appreciate it and and outside the scope of today, this is I just sort of triggered it, no question that in the bylaws written very clearly and and I understand the logic. Uh it's just something you know sort of takeaway. I think will be sort of offline at a future meeting. But thank you so much for the background and the capital description and and this. I apologize for missing attachment nine there." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 18907.665, "end": 18909.245, "text": "It's an additional slide." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 18909.245, "end": 18933.265, "text": "Okay, okay, good. No, this is this is wonderful because it it it shows it also shows colleagues that are saying, hey, is this material? But I recognize the peak, and um you know that's an important consideration just to show that that when we spend dollars, lowest hanging fruit is is the you know, cons conservation oriented rates, followed by fixing the water main and then the the metering as well. So thank you so much for the presentation and uh the questions. Really appreciate it." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 18933.685, "end": 18934.085, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 18935.485, "end": 18939.665, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Pentasopoulos. Councillor Tyres." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 18940.705, "end": 18971.945, "text": "Yeah, my questions are more about the regulations on the types of watering that are allowed. Um when reading uh these regulations, like they just seem very circumstantial. So for example, like hypothetically, you can water your raspberry bush at any time because it's considered a food source, but you can't do the same for your six year old hydrangea. But if you planted a new hydrangea any day of the week, you can water any day of the week. Like, am I understanding like the logic there correctly?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 18973.025, "end": 19005.645, "text": "I'm happy to share, Councillor Tyres, that as long as you hand water your hydrangea, you can't, your 60-year-old hydrangea, you still can. So it was really trying to strike a balance between the types of watering that kind of more continuously use water and the targeted watering, where a gardener, and we heard a lot from gardeners between the engagement and the restrictions of the last year, can do that. So there are methods by which you can avoid the ambiguity around that through the watering method, and hand watering is one of those ways." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19005.745, "end": 19010.605, "text": "I think you just created more ambiguity because how do you get the water into the watering can?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19012.005, "end": 19015.925, "text": "You can fill it up for your watering can. Again, it's your hose and your can." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19015.925, "end": 19016.405, "text": "Hose?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19016.405, "end": 19016.745, "text": "Yep." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19016.805, "end": 19017.365, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19017.365, "end": 19019.345, "text": "So it's the sprinkler, that's the definition." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19023.885, "end": 19025.205, "text": "Okay, um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19026.045, "end": 19037.825, "text": "Yeah, I'm just having I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this. Uh okay, so you're allowed to water from a watering can, but not from a hose. But you can put water in a watering can from a hose?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19038.145, "end": 19046.785, "text": "Your the w outdoor watering schedule is really about sprinklers and automated irrigation systems. So it's really about the sprinkler use that that schedule addresses" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19048.145, "end": 19056.565, "text": "Okay, um still not clear. Okay, so now go moving on to sprinklers. So does so any sprinkler use will be not allowed?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19057.105, "end": 19060.865, "text": "during the outside of the hours and the time and the day of the week." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19060.885, "end": 19073.345, "text": "So we're talking like kids that want to run in a sprinkler on a hot day, they have to check the calendar, they have to talk to their parents. Okay, is it Monday, Wednesday, Friday? Good, we can put the sprinkler on. Is that what you're telling me?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19073.985, "end": 19102.305, "text": "Again, it is the outdoor use is targeting the watering of lawns based on sprinklers or irrigation systems. So it's really about trying to reduce the use of treated drinking water to water lawns. I'll also note that that hand watering exemption is for any time of day. New trees and shrubs, uh, as well as new grass, as well as edible crops are the exemption. So it's really about the landscapes. If you look at all of the elements within that outdoor watering schedule, it's really about water use for landscapes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19102.845, "end": 19105.265, "text": "Okay, and how is that going to be monitored?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19106.425, "end": 19143.745, "text": "So it is again an education-first approach, but one can generally see a sprinkler operating. One can see what time of day it is, and one can see what day of the week it is and what address it it is. So there is a pathway to words enforcement, but again, the objective really here is to spread out that demand that without this scheduling could coincide because what happens otherwise is everybody looks and says, Oh, it's going to be really hot on Wednesday. And then everybody defaults to watering on Wednesday. Whereas if we could spread that out and your lawn could handle between a Wednesday and a Thursday option, if we could spread that out a little, then we don't get those peaks stacking on each other." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19144.565, "end": 19160.045, "text": "Okay. So yeah, so now we're relying on neighbors to call on neighbors if you're not watering on the correct day. Like I see so many problems coming up with this. Okay, putting that aside, um, I guess we don't have a lot of time here, but" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19160.865, "end": 19179.105, "text": "if you there's a lot of recommendations here. If you could if council could only approve two out of all of them, which do you think would save the city the most water? And which would make the most meaningful impact? There's a lot of ideas here, but I wanna I wanna know which ones are the most impactful, in your opinion." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19179.545, "end": 19180.625, "text": "Yeah, so from a" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19181.125, "end": 19212.465, "text": "peak day and right now, uh relative importance of right now perspective, the outdoor watering schedule is critical. If you look at the slide that I just pulled up again, clerks, uh slide number 15, from an overall contribution to our target for that 2040 time horizon, conservation oriented rates is one of the tools. And then the other is that combination of meter replacement and water loss. And those capital investments together that are planned will help address system side water loss." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19214.065, "end": 19227.925, "text": "As well as customers, as well as leaks actually with the meters. It helps identify leaks on the customer side a lot. So it really helps with water losses, whether it's customer or city side of the system. And then on the other side you have the policies and programs for Calgarians." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19228.185, "end": 19233.885, "text": "And since you mentioned um uh uh leaks and oh wait, sorry." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19234.565, "end": 19246.465, "text": "Uh meters, um what data are we getting differently from the new meters? It's my understanding that we've already been replacing them. Um can you explain a little bit about what they're providing?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19250.205, "end": 19255.585, "text": "Good afternoon, Shannon Abbott. So within the water meter replacement program," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19256.425, "end": 19278.045, "text": "the key difference between the old technology and the technology we're replacing is that the old technology you get it after you get the meter reading after you've already consumed a month's worth of water. So it's after the fact, if you've had a significant leak, takes a while to detect it, you've already seen a billing impact to your bill. Within the AMI program," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19278.205, "end": 19281.445, "text": "there will be water meter readings every hour." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19281.685, "end": 19292.445, "text": "So if there is an irrigation leak or something happens, we're able to notify the customer well before they get a bill to say, hey," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19293.205, "end": 19308.745, "text": "we see a high consumption alert here on your account. You might want to check for leaks, something might be happening. So they can they can address it like very, very quickly immediately, ideally, so that there's not the billing impact or the water loss impact that we have today with the delay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19309.385, "end": 19320.985, "text": "Okay. I guess the concern with that is because now we've got a director that can turn off your water if you're not obeying the rules, that if they're getting the metering information every hour." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19321.585, "end": 19326.225, "text": "Doesn't that seem like it gives them more of an opportunity to shut off their water?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19327.005, "end": 19330.625, "text": "Uh I don't know. To me it ju it just seems um it seems" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19331.025, "end": 19333.825, "text": "invasive in the way that it's going to be used." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19334.805, "end": 19364.465, "text": "So the the primary premise of AM of the AMI technology is two key things. One is around the leak detection to support customers, because right now, if something happens and they're calling us and saying, why is my bill so high? It's very difficult to support trying to find what happened. Um and if we can say, hey, looks like something might have happened within this window of time, or you've started to have continuous consumption since Saturday to today." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19365.065, "end": 19375.405, "text": "So it helps them troubleshoot. That's really been the premise of doing this work, as well as revenue assurance for us and cost savings for the customer. So" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19375.945, "end": 19384.225, "text": "when a customer has a leak, there's obviously financial implications to that, water uh wasting of that water." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19384.765, "end": 19414.105, "text": "And as well for us, when meters slow down, just like people, when we slow when when we age, we slow down. And meters slow down as well. And so if the meter is not accurately reading the water consumption, we're not properly billing the customer. So there's revenue loss as well, that we're not properly recurring recovering our cost. So those were really like the key primary drivers to doing the AMI program were those kind of two key things. And so," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19414.625, "end": 19426.525, "text": "for example, from when we look at uh 2025 data that we have around leaks, so we have a leak adjustment program that supports customers because of the financial implication. So from" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19427.165, "end": 19443.325, "text": "Just a you know 657 residential cases in 2025 where they've called in for some financial support because of the impact of that high bill, having met the criteria for that, that was 127 million liters of water" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_00", "start": 19443.885, "end": 19453.405, "text": "from those leaks. Um, and it was a cost of $607,450. So that really is the primary business case to do this work." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 19454.625, "end": 19455.325, "text": "Thank you so much." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 19457.485, "end": 19459.845, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Tyres. Over to Councillor Shabot." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19462.645, "end": 19463.145, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19463.805, "end": 19466.485, "text": "Um, thanks for uh thanks for waking me up. No, I'm kidding." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19467.505, "end": 19469.125, "text": "Um so a couple of questions." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19470.005, "end": 19479.445, "text": "The um enforcement is gonna be like most likely complaints based, as you said to Councillor Tears, is that correct? Or is there gonna be some sort of proactive action taken by the city?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19481.645, "end": 19515.585, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Chabot. So just to clarify, the rollout of the proposed schedule would be accompanied by a lot of education materials. And again, we're pairing that landscape and watering pieces together. So even in advance of any communication on the outdoor watering schedule, we're already talking about great gardening practices and setting up your landscapes for success. And then thereafter, again, our approach is really about education first with a long, you know, rollout period, really the entire summer, to help people adjust to what this schedule looks like." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19517.005, "end": 19519.185, "text": "What didn't answer my question?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19521.845, "end": 19524.005, "text": "How is enforcement gonna be initiated?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19525.265, "end": 19535.005, "text": "And again, it would have to there would have to be uh evidence of enforcement. And oftentimes uh the the one who cites that may not necessarily be a bylaw officer." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19536.365, "end": 19550.465, "text": "So it is complaints, it's largely uh complaints based, uh, with our hope though that the education for this year is to help um Calgarians all all adjust and uh and be kind to each other in that adjustment." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19551.645, "end": 19559.765, "text": "Okay. So the question you partially answered my question now. So there's no intent of any proactive." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19560.225, "end": 19562.105, "text": "Enforcement taken by the department." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19563.585, "end": 19569.405, "text": "No, it would be complaints based. We would educate based on those complaints, and then enforcement is the last measure." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19570.165, "end": 19579.965, "text": "Okay, thanks for answering that question. Next question. Um, the issue around toilets, faucets, um, you know, with specific flow rates," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19580.865, "end": 19581.325, "text": "it's" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19582.885, "end": 19586.745, "text": "I I'm I'm not sure how how to interpret that. An older home" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19587.345, "end": 19599.165, "text": "has older faucets and they're functional, and you've got a really good maintenance guy that is replacing uh all the seals and and the washers uh uh that keeps them from leaking." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19599.665, "end": 19600.185, "text": "But" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19600.765, "end": 19603.185, "text": "does not require complete replacement." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19603.705, "end": 19606.905, "text": "Is are they allowed to continue to utilize those those" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19607.765, "end": 19611.185, "text": "pieces of infrastructure? Uh how is how's that gonna be?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19611.405, "end": 19616.025, "text": "Yes, they they are allowed. This is for for new installations only and new builds only." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19616.025, "end": 19616.305, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19616.305, "end": 19616.485, "text": "Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19616.985, "end": 19628.865, "text": "Thanks, I appreciate that. Um you talked about cathodic protection uh and how we're gonna increase the amount of cathodic protection, but if memory serves me correctly, what I learned more recently is the PCC pipe" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19629.265, "end": 19637.885, "text": "it was not designed around around cathodic protection as being even um capable of being incorporated because there's no direct um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19638.225, "end": 19651.745, "text": "Electrical connection between sections. So we are we talking about all new pipes are going to be either metal or have a direct electrical connection between sections so that we can introduce cathodic protection on everything on everything?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19652.665, "end": 19653.845, "text": "I'll turn that over to Monica." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_04", "start": 19654.125, "end": 19684.265, "text": "No, we are not. We do have a variety of pipe mix that's existing in our distribution system, and that cathodic protection represents both going back to some areas that may not have had cathodic protection in the first place or to areas that require a refresh. Those sacrificial anodes they do degrade in time, so they have about a 20 year lifespan, and some of that uh dollars is towards protecting our existing metallic stock." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19685.205, "end": 19694.405, "text": "Okay, that's not the only way of doing cathodic protection. Electrically induced cathodic protection versus a sacrificial anode is obviously another way." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_04", "start": 19694.565, "end": 19694.885, "text": "Yep." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19695.165, "end": 19696.245, "text": "Right? So" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19697.425, "end": 19707.625, "text": "The um you're talking about o old existing metal infrastructure that may not not have had any kind of cathodic protection ever introduced. Is that what you're talking about?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_04", "start": 19709.005, "end": 19742.945, "text": "We're talking about both all of that. Most of our distribution system, particularly the metallic distribution system, the metallic components of the distribution system do have sacrificial anodes for their cathodic protection. We do have some areas where we do have electrically induced cathodic protection, and those would be more towards some of our larger diameter lines for a variety of purposes. So it would be further investment in that cathotic protection program of all varieties as required by the pipe material." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19743.805, "end": 19747.785, "text": "Okay. Uh the the watering of lawn restriction," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19748.705, "end": 19754.365, "text": "uh referencing specific addresses, uh and what I did not see, maybe I missed it," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19755.265, "end": 19761.665, "text": "is whether or not this will apply to the city of Calgary as well, i.e., parks and cemeteries and and such." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19762.985, "end": 19803.045, "text": "Great, thank you. And first let me clarify: this is the outdoor watering schedule. I want to reiterate that that is different from the types of water restrictions that we're in under right now or when one has to reduce the total volume. So the outdoor watering schedule would apply, but certified water managed sites would not need to follow the outdoor watering schedule. So many of our sites are also certified water managed sites, and that allows greater flexibility. A certified water managed site is one where there's already smart irrigation systems and practices in place. And so the flip side of that is that because it's already applying smart watering practices, it has greater flexibility under the schedule." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19803.725, "end": 19809.525, "text": "I'm just thinking from a reputational perspective, uh I'm it probably would not um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19809.965, "end": 19818.325, "text": "look good on us as a city if somebody knew the address of a particular park and they knew that it was outside of the watering, you know, um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19818.685, "end": 19825.545, "text": "um days of the week if we were if they saw our sprinklers turning on first thing in the morning in those areas." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19826.165, "end": 19838.585, "text": "And and then you're saying it were applying it to irrigation systems and automatic watering systems and if we're saying do as I say, not as I do, may not look good reputationally to the city." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19840.005, "end": 19865.885, "text": "No, great question. Again, the city will lead by example. In many city spaces actually use non-potable for irrigation, like golf courses, so that could continue. But indeed, uh the city will lead by example. The schedule does apply to city spaces. I will clarify there is one small exception for city cemeteries because of some of the rules regarding cemeteries and their maintenance. But otherwise, yes, to city spaces, and we will lead by example." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19866.745, "end": 19869.405, "text": "Yeah, some of the golf course draw it directly from the river, right?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19869.805, "end": 19870.485, "text": "Storm ponds," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19872.105, "end": 19872.785, "text": "yeah, as well." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19872.785, "end": 19873.685, "text": "And I thought" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19873.845, "end": 19881.005, "text": "Okay. So some of 'em do have water licenses and licenses to draw directly from the river, unpotted, un untreated." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19881.145, "end": 19881.605, "text": "Correct." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19882.565, "end": 19899.625, "text": "Okay, yeah, my dad used to run a wood golf course and they drew directly from the river. Uh a um the other question I had and and and I'm not sure you kinda answered it, but maybe you can help me to understand. The issue around graduated rates, is that something that's going to be introduced through advanced metering?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19900.765, "end": 19932.445, "text": "So those are two separate things. Advanced metering is just a different granularity of available data that can support the city as well as the customer. Conservation-oriented rates or tiered rates does not require a separate metering system. It really applies to the total volume that is used by a customer. The thing about conservation oriented rates, of course, is that that would have to go through the cost of service study. So there is no proposal at this time for a particular rate structure in front of you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19933.285, "end": 19938.705, "text": "But that is something that is in the in the works are considered wrong. Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19938.845, "end": 19943.805, "text": "Oh, I think that's a great idea. Next and last question. If I were to say," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19944.285, "end": 19955.865, "text": "um this is I all well and good. I I don't necessarily hate any of this, uh with maybe the exception of one thing, which is uh have giving the director the ability to actually turn off a customer's water." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19956.525, "end": 19958.905, "text": "Uh i.e. I think it's 5.1.1." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19959.705, "end": 19963.065, "text": "What if I wanted to pull that and say I just don't like that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19963.545, "end": 19965.665, "text": "and have having that capability and" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 19965.865, "end": 19969.445, "text": "I want to pull that from the the bylaw, how would I go about doing that?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 19971.585, "end": 20019.065, "text": "I think I might need a clerk answer on that. Again, I uh first want to clarify again, let me start by pointing out that the director authority to disconnect service already exists in the bylaw. So the recommendations, what the recommendations before you for today do, add a two things. In the case where there is a paper, uh sorry, in the case where that authority already exists, it offers the director a paper tool complement to that authority to disconnect. And the reason for that is that the paper tool goes faster than crews coming out to turn a valve. One could also see that paper tool as a step towards compliance where that authority to disconnect already exists. The other piece is that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 20019.065, "end": 20021.025, "text": "A paper tool? Paper tool? What what" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20021.025, "end": 20046.665, "text": "A stop use order, sorry. It is a stop use order. So it is directing the customer to stop using the service rather than sending out a crew to turn off valves. So that's what's new. And one other point is again, it is just clarifying that authority within the outdoor water use restrictions as well. The director already had that authority. It's just providing clarity to this would also be a circumstance in which this could happen." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 20047.545, "end": 20065.165, "text": "Okay. I well I I thought that was the case, but but then when I read the bylaw it says the following is added after section five point three as follows. And without having five point three um before me, all I have is these amendments. It's kinda hard to follow the bouncing ball, if you will, if you understand." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20065.285, "end": 20067.545, "text": "I have an extra slide for that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20067.865, "end": 20071.645, "text": "Clerks, if we could go to slide 16 if that assists." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20076.985, "end": 20092.805, "text": "Thank you. So there you go. One through four are already in the bylaw. Five is proposed, but does not circumvent the uh the authority that is already under numbers one or three, for example." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 20094.325, "end": 20097.525, "text": "Yeah, okay. All right. Thank you for that. No further questions for me." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 20099.625, "end": 20101.965, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Shabot. Over to Councillor Atkinson." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20102.725, "end": 20103.925, "text": "great um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20106.645, "end": 20154.525, "text": "Where to start? Yeah, I I I will just actually first echo that I uh what Councillor Chabot said around sort of the graduated rates, tiered rates. I think pursuing that and understanding that and um would be is worth our attention. Um Yard Smart, community demonstration gardens. Cool initiative. I think that's great. I think just one um recommendation would be to make sure that we're not just making beautiful gardens. Those gardens can be quite costly to install at first, and so making sure that we're really focusing also on affordability in our presentation uh gardens to make sure that they're available to a wide range of Calgarians would be a really key piece on that for me. Um uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20155.545, "end": 20156.365, "text": "I'll jump to" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20157.205, "end": 20165.905, "text": "something in the bylaw that I was just um with the outdoor watering schedule, you've got um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20167.005, "end": 20184.085, "text": "Uh you're must not allow use of X uh unless, and then it goes the municipal address for the parcel is an odd number, and the watering takes place between the hours of 1900 and" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20184.465, "end": 20185.605, "text": "100" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20186.365, "end": 20196.085, "text": "on a Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. And I know the intent there, or I think I know the intent, is like it's Wednesday." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20197.025, "end": 20207.665, "text": "And I can do it in the morning or I can do it in the evening on that Wednesday. But the between piece in there, uh, you can't have be between" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20207.985, "end": 20211.765, "text": "1900 and 10 o'clock on a certain day." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20212.585, "end": 20221.405, "text": "Unless you're telling people to water in the other direction between 10 a.m. and 1900. Um, just something that I I don't know." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20221.885, "end": 20261.585, "text": "I I understand what you're saying. I'll do uh so I'll do a couple of things. First, actually, can I just get uh clerks to go to additional slide number 14? This is buried in the report, but easier to read on this slide. Just a kind of more plain language version, right? You're right. It is a really midnight to 10 a.m. on your day. Yeah. Or 7 p.m. to midnight on your day. So I think we can play in language that. If we try to catch the overnight period, then there's confusion on what day of the week applies. So we will make sure our education is crystal clear to say here's the day, and your options are midnight to 10 a.m. or 7 p.m. to midnight on set days." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20261.585, "end": 20278.165, "text": "Yeah, and I think human humans actually will get it. What I was worried about more is that the the bylaw law side of things won't is not necessarily lining up with the the expectations. So just wanted to flag that just in case uh that's at all a concern. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20278.545, "end": 20284.385, "text": "the I'm gonna move actually move into the rental piece now a little bit. Um so first before um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20285.445, "end": 20291.445, "text": "I get into what Miss Landry was sort of speaking to, the low water fixtures. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20292.725, "end": 20307.245, "text": "I I think this this has been like when we we saw the report from the independent panel and and we've discuss discussed it today like low-flow toilets coming on have been a huge, huge change in our water use. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20308.385, "end": 20315.345, "text": "but I guess like one of the things that I I worry about is you have an incentive as a homeowner" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20315.825, "end": 20329.305, "text": "to work on your water efficiency and bringing in low use fixtures because you directly benefit from that. Um but when if and when you're uh uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20329.625, "end": 20338.505, "text": "Renter and you're being charged for that water, the same incentives aren't there, and the same permissions to pursue those lower flow" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20339.145, "end": 20361.765, "text": "alternatives are not there. I'm wondering if there's anything in here, I was poking around a little bit, but specifically aimed at sort of I know that new builds will have those restrictions sort of towards that are will push it that way, but with rental stock of older stock, ways to incentivize landlords to actually pursue low flow." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20362.425, "end": 20363.425, "text": "Uh fixtures." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20363.965, "end": 20436.145, "text": "Great question. So a couple of things. First, I'll share that we actually have a current pilot program in market right now called the Home Upgrades Program. And there is a water efficiency component to that. It is specifically geared towards renters. So that is, again, just part of the pilot work that we're doing on this to uh to help find opportunities like that. And that home upgrades program is addressing A, income-qualified Calgaryans, and right now their current intake is open for renters only. There's also workshops in multiple languages that uh that help uh identify options for water efficiency and even a quick, what's it called, like a quick kit for things like aerators that you can put in. And those are very much renter geared because they don't require any permanent changes. So I'm happy to say we actually already have a pilot program in market that really does look at opportunities with renters. And within the water efficiency plan, Action 7 is all about expanding access to water efficiency programs, to especially look at where Calgaryans may have had barriers towards participating in these efficiency opportunities in the past to help specifically look at incentives for them." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20436.445, "end": 20439.905, "text": "And that pilot's already running, or that's coming online. Sorry, the" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20439.905, "end": 20448.465, "text": "Action seven is the general within the plan. That program that I talked about, the home upgrades program, is already running as a pilot project." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20448.465, "end": 20459.405, "text": "rental one. Okay. Yeah. And what could so just can you give a couple of examples? Like you the aerator is a great example. Like these are these have to be things that you can make adjustments that are not ripping out the" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20459.405, "end": 20460.045, "text": "Exactly." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20460.045, "end": 20461.685, "text": "toilet and putting in a new one." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20461.685, "end": 20495.825, "text": "Exactly. Aerators are a good example. Shower timers are a good example. You know, part of them are behavioral, part of them are fixture related, but the aerator is the best example I can give offhand, right? Where it's not a permanent change, and so it's something a renter can make. And paired with that, for uh for renters, there's also the opportunity to support even things like toilet replacement, right? Where they're not necessarily, they're not burying the cost of that. That's a program cost, and it can support that. So even if the landlord is not incentivized to make that change, there's a pathway for the renter to make that change by accessing this program." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20496.065, "end": 20505.265, "text": "Okay, great. Uh I guess I'll uh yeah, I'll wrap up. Um it's it's fresh to me from the presentation from Miss Landry, but this idea." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20508.165, "end": 20508.985, "text": "Of" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20509.285, "end": 20542.925, "text": "potentially how water charges are being flow flowed through and protections for water as a resource, water is a should be a protected resource, access to water and being charged for water at the same amount. I take issue with the idea, I guess, and I I guess it can you speak to the idea of whether uh a landlord is able to upcharge water to their tenants and if there are any protections in place to prevent that kind of thing from happening." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20543.725, "end": 20561.725, "text": "I think we might have to take that question away with law. I am not able to speak to it directly myself. Um, so sorry, I don't have an answer here. Uh I think law my colleagues from from law are are listening in online, but I think earlier when Miss Landry was speaking, I think they acknowledged that uh," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20561.945, "end": 20562.605, "text": "you know, oh," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20563.745, "end": 20564.085, "text": "maybe." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_18", "start": 20567.965, "end": 20572.945, "text": "Uh Sean Swin from the Law Department. I apologize, I was multitasking, so I didn't catch the question at all." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20572.945, "end": 20582.985, "text": "No, it's okay. So we heard a presentation earlier that was bringing to light that potentially renters" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20583.765, "end": 20587.265, "text": "there can be charges potentially from" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20587.965, "end": 20600.745, "text": "the landlord to the renter that are it's not just a flow through cost. So whether through a lack of metering and just um fixed rate or or um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20600.965, "end": 20602.965, "text": "Yeah, just that that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20603.945, "end": 20628.925, "text": "water is being upcharged potentially in some way to renters on the back end. And I'm wondering if there are any protections in place because I really kind of feel like water use and water access and the fees that you're being charged for water, especially when we are potentially moving to tiered water systems and these kinds of things, that those benefits are extended the whole way through to renters at the end of it." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_18", "start": 20629.665, "end": 20630.205, "text": "Um," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_18", "start": 20630.585, "end": 20651.745, "text": "I'm not aware of any protections. The relationship between landlords and tenants is governed essentially pro provincially through the landlord or sorry, the Residential Tenancies Act, and then set out in the specific lease agreement between any given tenant and landlord. Um, whether or not the city could somehow regulate that relationship." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_18", "start": 20651.965, "end": 20681.525, "text": "I'd be I'm pretty hesitant to give an off-the-cuff opinion on the floor of committee. Um it's something we'd want to look at, but I would, if nothing else, uh stress that we would have to be mindful of all the existing provincial rules that govern that relationship, and we wouldn't be in a situation where we could override or somehow impose something that's inconsistent with that. But that's a lot larger issue than I think is what's before committee today. So it's just again, that's a really much uh top of my head kind of answer." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 20681.525, "end": 20686.925, "text": "No, that's fine. We can dig into it uh later and offline. Uh I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 20690.745, "end": 20691.665, "text": "Councillor J." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20693.825, "end": 20695.005, "text": "Hi there. Can you hear me?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 20697.345, "end": 20698.125, "text": "Yeah, we can hear you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20698.845, "end": 20699.465, "text": "Okay, great." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20700.525, "end": 20701.145, "text": "Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20702.645, "end": 20703.145, "text": "so I" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20703.805, "end": 20706.485, "text": "I do have a problem with some of the language here. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20707.085, "end": 20711.305, "text": "as you as you go through it, it it seems uh some of it seems a bit aggressive and" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20711.625, "end": 20713.365, "text": "I'm not sure if Calgaryans really" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20714.225, "end": 20716.365, "text": "understand a lot of this. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20717.945, "end": 20718.705, "text": "you know, because" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20719.285, "end": 20720.305, "text": "I don't I don't think" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20720.925, "end": 20723.725, "text": "Calgary actually has a water shortage at all. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20724.185, "end": 20727.565, "text": "Calgary imp Calgary really what we have is an infrastructure problem." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20728.305, "end": 20728.825, "text": "I mean," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20729.225, "end": 20735.205, "text": "the plan's own data shows that the city uses only sixty per s sorry, forty-three percent" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20735.525, "end": 20736.225, "text": "of" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20736.485, "end": 20738.765, "text": "its licensed water allocation." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20739.625, "end": 20741.665, "text": "Uh the 2024" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20742.425, "end": 20748.045, "text": "crisis was caused by a pipe breaking, not n you know, not by the river running dry." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20749.305, "end": 20749.925, "text": "Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20751.765, "end": 20753.125, "text": "how how do you" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20753.665, "end": 20758.245, "text": "ha what kind of consultation or I guess what kind of feedback have you heard uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20758.645, "end": 20760.965, "text": "Or if any from Calgarians. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20761.165, "end": 20762.765, "text": "you know, I just want to know what have you heard" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20763.465, "end": 20764.805, "text": "from this uh report?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20767.585, "end": 20783.545, "text": "Uh thanks, Councillor Jameson. I'll address that in two parts. The first is around the plan addressing the infrastructure risks as well as the water availability risks. So I think it is an earlier slide in the presentation, slide number" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20784.725, "end": 20786.305, "text": "five." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20787.325, "end": 20902.645, "text": "Although many Calgarians are most familiar with the outdoor water restrictions related to the feeder main break, actually in 2023 there were outdoor water restrictions in stage one due to drought. And not just Calgary, but many other municipalities in southern Alberta, you know, were very much concerned about drought at that time, as well as leading into 2024. Although our license capacity, right, represents an allocation that we could take, that does not necessarily represent the amount of physical water in the river any given year. And that is something that the fact that our basin is closed to new licenses recognizes that it isn't just about an allocation, it is also about how much water is available in the river any given year. And our water availability will vary from season to season. There will be years where we have a very healthy snowpack, and that snowpack melts nice and slow, and then we don't have a water availability concern. But there will be years where we don't see that same bank of water in our snowpack. And that same, and you have a very, very high demand of water in the summertime because it's very, very hot. And that, and there are uh cases like that in 2023 where we did have to go into outdoor watering restrictions. And we expect to see more of that as we see shifting precipitation, so more winter rain, less winter snow, that can be a bank to draw on in the summer, as well as hotter temperatures that drive higher demand. And so it is not just about water availability, but that absolutely is a driver for the long run. And we saw that across southern Alberta in 2023, and even Calgary did actually apply outdoor water use restrictions in stage one in 2023, in uh from August through uh mid October, in order to address that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20904.165, "end": 20906.945, "text": "I think you had another part and I apologise. I haven't" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20906.945, "end": 20908.745, "text": "That's okay. Uh you know, I I just" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20909.685, "end": 20912.865, "text": "I just don't think uh a lot of Calgarians understand um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20913.265, "end": 20919.845, "text": "uh kind of uh either what's coming or what what what's kind of on us with these restrictions and um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20920.785, "end": 20924.045, "text": "it it does seem a bit aggressive though uh that the um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20924.825, "end": 20928.205, "text": "you know uh Councillor Chabot mentioned it, you know, just the ability" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20928.345, "end": 20931.685, "text": "um to have a household's water uh cut off." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20932.145, "end": 20932.725, "text": "Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20933.465, "end": 20934.325, "text": "you know m" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20935.005, "end": 20936.845, "text": "it might it might be for good uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20937.245, "end": 20937.665, "text": "you know" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 20938.445, "end": 20951.585, "text": "good intention, but I I'm not just I'm not sure if that's exactly how the public uh really will see this. I I think I think they they're gonna see this as as some pretty far overreach. Um your thoughts on that?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 20952.365, "end": 21052.405, "text": "Yeah, I again we did look at engagement with the public, and things that we learned are along the lines of the following. The first is they do want to see Calgary lead with example, and there are infrastructure investments like water loss and meat replacement that help show a renewed uh investment in continuous investment in our infrastructure to support the system side water loss. They also shared with us a lot about green spaces, and the schedule that's proposed really does respond to that. We worked really closely also with Nursery Trades Association. We talked to urban growers and we heard that people value their landscapes. And this plan doesn't necessarily take that away. In fact, this plan really helps support Calgarians with landscapes that will thrive in the future without necessarily relying on drinking water for that to happen. Calgarians also told us that they want support in becoming more water efficient. And that's why we have a lot of different programs that address it. A lot of those actions, you know, like seven, eight, and nine in the plan, are really about helping Calgarians achieve that efficiency through education, partnerships, as well as incentives. And then, of course, Calgarians have shared with us that affordability matters. And a conservation-oriented rate that uh some of your colleagues have raised is also an excellent way to offer that pathway towards affordability and reward water efficiency. So we have factored what we heard into the plan in these ways. And um, and it is not just about the short term, it is about the medium and the long term, while supporting thriving landscapes and still supporting the quality of life that Calgarians uh have shared that they want, and we all want to continue." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21054.125, "end": 21061.305, "text": "Okay. Well, you know, th yeah, thanks for that uh answer. I I didn't realize or I maybe I just didn't see it. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21061.665, "end": 21065.685, "text": "Just the part about the the data that you have on the public engagement." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21065.925, "end": 21066.605, "text": "Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21067.285, "end": 21074.565, "text": "yeah, so I didn't realize you had that data, but you you just mentioned that you did and I must have been uh one of the parts that I had missed because it just appeared" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21075.145, "end": 21077.145, "text": "uh um that that you guys" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21077.545, "end": 21082.125, "text": "I I'm just surprised to hear that, so I must have missed that. It um is that in the presentation," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21082.445, "end": 21083.465, "text": "um the uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21083.865, "end": 21087.425, "text": "the data on on your public engagement or where where where can I find that?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 21087.425, "end": 21088.285, "text": "and attachment for." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21088.945, "end": 21090.425, "text": "It is attachment for okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21091.645, "end": 21092.725, "text": "And um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21094.545, "end": 21095.105, "text": "okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21095.605, "end": 21096.145, "text": "Um," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 21096.485, "end": 21098.405, "text": "no no further questions. Thanks for your time." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 21098.585, "end": 21098.945, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21100.365, "end": 21104.065, "text": "Thank you for answering all the questions, Ms. Raja Balli. I know Councillor" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21104.605, "end": 21110.065, "text": "McLean is in the queue, but he's for the debate, so we need someone to move it. Before I go there," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21110.525, "end": 21112.985, "text": "this plan didn't exist," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21113.365, "end": 21118.485, "text": "didn't come into uh evolution yesterday. It has existed since 2005." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 21119.245, "end": 21123.005, "text": "That's right. There was an original water efficiency plan from two thousand five." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21123.105, "end": 21129.665, "text": "These bylaws didn't come into existence yesterday, after the water main break. They existed before, since when?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_05", "start": 21129.945, "end": 21134.485, "text": "Correct. Uh the water utility two two thousand six, forty M two. It's in the name itself." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21134.485, "end": 21140.925, "text": "Thank you. These plans are" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21141.465, "end": 21159.505, "text": "plans that maybe any other municipality probably has adopted because water is a finite quantity. And we used to be at 500 and some liters. But I don't want to go into debate. Sorry, I will be accused of that. Can I get someone to move this item, please? Thank you once again from uh Councillor Clark to move. You want to open?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_21", "start": 21160.125, "end": 21167.425, "text": "Uh I'll just say um thank you very much for the presentation. It was thorough and thoughtful. Um excellent questions from my colleagues. Happy to move." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21168.485, "end": 21172.565, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Clark. Councillor McLean to debate." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21174.105, "end": 21176.065, "text": "Thank you, Chair. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21177.045, "end": 21178.025, "text": "where do I start?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21178.365, "end": 21184.185, "text": "This has already made it to social media and some of the news, and people think it's an April Fool's joke." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21184.405, "end": 21185.345, "text": "Seriously." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21185.785, "end": 21188.425, "text": "I mean, we've asked people for the last two years" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21189.365, "end": 21194.465, "text": "to restrict their water severely. Um, they've had two years of water uncertainty." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21194.785, "end": 21201.465, "text": "Wasn't their fault. It could only be cold, and some are saying it's the city's own incompetence and neglect to put them there." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21201.965, "end": 21203.985, "text": "We've got 20% of our water" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21204.905, "end": 21213.345, "text": "leaking into the ground that we've known about for years and haven't done anything about, but now we're going to tell people that they have to restrict their water for 20 years." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21214.265, "end": 21230.205, "text": "Like uh Councillor Tyres said, I said playing Big Brother. You can't go out and go walk run through the sprinkler on this day. You can't have a high-pressure shower head. I mean, I like I don't like those little slow, slow flow showers. I don't think a lot of people do." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21230.605, "end": 21233.525, "text": "I see this as a communications nightmare." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21233.865, "end": 21239.085, "text": "I mean, the city right now, we're not looking real good with our water situation, and now we're going to come up with this" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21239.385, "end": 21246.045, "text": "after we've just we're spending billions of dollars trying to repair a pipeline that should have been looked at a long time ago. I'm just saying." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21246.265, "end": 21247.925, "text": "Voting for this now" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21248.685, "end": 21254.465, "text": "is again a terrible comms. I hope we maybe we can there's lots of good parts in this report," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21255.385, "end": 21257.025, "text": "but the restrictions on the public," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21257.625, "end": 21262.785, "text": "maybe we'll see an amendment come before it gets to council, but I can't support this now the way it stands." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21263.145, "end": 21266.105, "text": "Um again, I think it's extremely prohibitive." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21266.765, "end": 21274.385, "text": "It's just not right. Um I'm gonna vote no now. And again, let's maybe if it does pass, we've got to amend this before it goes to council." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 21274.785, "end": 21275.605, "text": "That's all I have to say." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21282.185, "end": 21282.945, "text": "Thank you, Councillor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21284.685, "end": 21290.365, "text": "Yes. Um I I've had a lot of emails and comments about this directed to my office. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21290.965, "end": 21301.385, "text": "I'll briefly go over some concerns. First, a water schedule. I mean, we we don't know people's personal schedules, and it it may very well happen that." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21302.145, "end": 21309.505, "text": "The permitted days for somebody to water do not work with their own schedule, so I I think that's not great. There's also" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21309.925, "end": 21322.205, "text": "um in terms of enforcement, it would be neighbors snitching on each other, which does not, in my opinion, create a vibrant and connected community, something that is often referenced by our administration." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21322.985, "end": 21329.385, "text": "Um even even the little things like the the low use water fixtures, I mean." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21330.525, "end": 21338.445, "text": "If if you install one, I guess that's a good thing, but these can also be disassembled and the flow restrictor can be removed, so now it's just a normal" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21338.985, "end": 21339.925, "text": "shower head." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21340.305, "end": 21342.905, "text": "Um furthermore, s 7" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21343.765, "end": 21349.125, "text": "7 billion liters was the reported water savings in 2023." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21349.745, "end": 21363.605, "text": "If we do an average daily loss of 115 million liters of water per day, which was also reported in 2023, that means in July and August 2023." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21364.185, "end": 21368.305, "text": "7.1 billion liters of water was lost to leaks." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21369.165, "end": 21369.845, "text": "Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_19", "start": 21370.545, "end": 21387.365, "text": "that's that's a massive number. I I can't in good faith ask my residents to adhere to a watering schedule when the organization that I'm responsible for overseeing is achieving those sorts of numbers. So for that reason, I'm I cannot support this." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21389.525, "end": 21390.625, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Tyres." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_11", "start": 21392.445, "end": 21490.385, "text": "Yeah, so we're just coming out of four weeks of stage four water restrictions. Calgarians have been helpful and cooperative in reducing their water usage during the repairs for the Bears Poss South Feeder Main. We've asked a lot of them for an issue that is not their fault. It's the city of Calgary that needs to take responsibility for water infrastructure issues that we currently have. Calgaryans should not be punished because the city allowed our infrastructure to be in such poor condition. We can fix these infrastructure issues without imposing big government restrictions on water use. I have real concerns on the restrictive and overreaching nature of some of the proposed water schedules. I'm worried about the lack of clarity on how these proposals will be enforced and if they will have any real impacts to improve the issue. If these proposals were enacted, their enforceability would be in question. Some of these proposals seem very challenging to get buy-in from Calgarians. As my colleague just mentioned, it's hitting the internet right now and people aren't happy. I'm concerned about the lack of consultation with the community on this issue. I know that there was a survey with uh 1,800 people. It's not enough reason to pursue such a radical plan. But even in that survey, concerns were brought up about inequitable impacts for larger households and even lower income Calgarians. I'm against this plan as it is presented, and we need to go back to the drawing board on this issue. This water efficiency plan wants to reduce water usage by 20%. We are currently leaking 20% water because of poor pipe infrastructure. Let us find other ways to fix our water infrastructure and leakage without these big brother proposals." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21496.565, "end": 21507.205, "text": "Thank you, Committee. Can I get your consensus to finish this item because this is the last agenda item before? Yeah. You have consensus? Thank you. Over to Councillor Pentasopoulos for debate." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21507.545, "end": 21514.585, "text": "Combination of debate, um maybe look through the chair. If if there were recommendations for amendments" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21515.125, "end": 21529.625, "text": "to the plan, is it black and white we have to take uh the plan is presented or can we amend? I know we can make recommendation changes, but if we wanted to amend something here on the floor of council, what sort of that process, or is it a black and white decision?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21530.285, "end": 21537.045, "text": "Community uh CDC says yes or no, never goes to council. How does that sort of work? I apologize." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21537.485, "end": 21549.545, "text": "Yeah, that's a great question. I think the final decision on the bylaw will lie with the council. But clerks, correct me if I'm wrong. Council, this this committee can make recommendations with amendment to council to adopt." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 21551.305, "end": 21572.305, "text": "Thank you for the question, Chair. The Standing Policy Committee, Community Development Committee can amend the recommendations. With respect to the particularly to the proposed bylaw, it cannot amend the text of the bylaw. It can only make recommendations to council to after third after first reading" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 21573.045, "end": 21575.725, "text": "make amendments to the bylaw. So that" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 21576.645, "end": 21581.785, "text": "aspect of the report recommendations needs to be managed separately from the other recommendations." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21582.065, "end": 21587.765, "text": "So so what so what I said was right, we can propose amendments." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21588.465, "end": 21591.285, "text": "That could be brought up at council after first reading." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21591.365, "end": 21591.885, "text": "Correct." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21592.645, "end": 21596.285, "text": "Are you are you proposing to do that, Councillor Pantasoples?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21596.285, "end": 21597.925, "text": "Yeah, I I" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21598.185, "end": 21611.645, "text": "yes, and my only and I apologize, should have been questions to admin. It's it's more the water efficiency plan. There's obviously some things that it it we have to accept everything as approve the plan in its in its totality, or are we allowed to um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21612.405, "end": 21614.885, "text": "make certain recommendations? The logic being sorry to interrupt, Chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21614.945, "end": 21619.745, "text": "So so so let me ask this question to clerks because it looks like amendments are not ready." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21620.005, "end": 21620.565, "text": "Beg your pardon?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21620.565, "end": 21627.785, "text": "Amendments are not ready. We need to Okay. So what is the what if this fails right now? Can it still go to council" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21628.465, "end": 21629.625, "text": "without recommendations?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 21629.625, "end": 21658.045, "text": "If the recommendations of this report basically what council what committee can do is it can approve the recommendations as they are, it can approve them as amended or replaced by other recommendations or can defeat them. If the recommendations of this report are defeated, they will not proceed to council unless uh a member would wish to bring the defeated uh main motion to a future council meeting as of notice of motion." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21659.925, "end": 21663.325, "text": "As an urgent notice of motion, if it needs to come to very next council." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 21663.325, "end": 21674.265, "text": "If it fails, it's in its entirety, section 137 of the procedure bylaw allows a member to bring the failed main motion forward to council in the form of a notice of motion." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21674.865, "end": 21675.185, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21679.645, "end": 21680.065, "text": "Got it." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21681.045, "end": 21682.065, "text": "Yeah. What I'm" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21682.905, "end": 21683.325, "text": "you know" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21684.205, "end": 21691.825, "text": "struggling with is 80% of it works and 20% doesn't. This this will now be debate and and trying to reconcile my head. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21692.365, "end": 21703.525, "text": "you you know, uh tiered watering, material impact, the spending of the $400 million. I think that capital plan is very clear. Um you know, the scheduling, I concur with colleagues." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21704.065, "end": 21710.765, "text": "Some work in progress. Uh it's the 3% 80 20 rule. You don't want to throw the baby in the bathwater. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21712.165, "end": 21715.705, "text": "You know, make amendments on the fly, we certainly could. So I'm I'm" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21716.425, "end": 21718.985, "text": "I I I like that approach of of" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21719.325, "end": 21720.785, "text": "get it on the floor of council," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21721.305, "end": 21732.345, "text": "and then we can as a council go. And I think that that bridging commitment is work with colleagues to potentially amend it and come through. I think it's just dies here. There's change we need. We need everybody here on council. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21732.665, "end": 21747.785, "text": "I I want to spend the 80 percent. I want to get that 80. It's the three percent that I'm struggling with, it's the uh other things that are very important. You know, the the the the thank you, Councillor Ward, bringing up maybe Wednesday, Monday, Wednesday doesn't work because I work shift work as an example. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21748.905, "end": 21757.785, "text": "So for that, I think it it sounds procedurally approve it to get to council, but the commitment then is some heavy lifting. Maybe it is an amendment to go back and" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21759.045, "end": 21773.045, "text": "uh that's all procedural now. Um you know, some sort of revise and come back with a recommend. I yeah, I guess it's a we're catch we're catch 22. Committee only has the ability to approve or reject. So um it's thinking thinking how to do it best. So" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21773.685, "end": 21786.645, "text": "Uh I'd love my colleagues to help address that, you know, because you want to get 80%. How do you salvage the 80%? That sounds pretty good, um, but and not have the 20% that needs a lot of work or potentially a carve out without destroying the uh" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_15", "start": 21787.685, "end": 21797.225, "text": "80%. Because I did hear as we get close to watering season, people want to know what's happening. So maybe my colleagues will cede my time and try to address that question as we go through a debate. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21800.385, "end": 21802.585, "text": "Thanks, Councillor Pantasopoulos. Over to Councillor Kelly." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 21804.625, "end": 21835.905, "text": "Thank you, Chair. Um, maybe I will just say to uh Councillor Panasopoulos this point there we can amend it council after the first reading of the bylaw. So if there's something in there that we want to uh change or pull out, that would be the place to to do it. Uh I admit, honestly, guys, like I uh listening to the presentation today, it reminds me a lot of when I when I first moved to Calgary, uh, and I had my like empty pop can, and I was like, where do I put this? And they were like, in the garbage." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 21836.325, "end": 21849.205, "text": "I was like, what? Like my entire life since I was like a like a little kid, I was like, there's a recycling bin, like you put it in the recycling bin, and then I moved to Calgary and we didn't have one. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 21849.625, "end": 21874.565, "text": "Calgary eventually caught up and did what everybody else was uh was doing. And uh we've certainly uh from my tour of the uh of uh the the landfill we can definitely see the benefits that that's provided uh to to Calgary. Um I don't know when I hear the debate here today it sounds kind of similar to that that uh the watering schedule is the big thing that uh that that sort of everyone is is is talking about. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 21875.465, "end": 21885.625, "text": "My family lives in Okotoks. They've had a watering schedule forever. Every municipality around Calgary has a water schedule." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 21886.745, "end": 21930.945, "text": "It's kind of surprising to me that we're worried about the community how are we going to communicate this? Yeah, it'll be bumpy when it goes out, but people in Okotokes figured it out. People in Airdrie figured it out. I'm confident that we can do the same thing in Calgary if that's the thing that we're concerned about. Might be a little bit bumpy, but I'm confident that in Calgaryans' ability to figure out that they can, just like they know that they take their trash out on Thursday, they know that their water schedule is Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We already have the app set up for garbage day. I'm sure we can add in water schedules to the same app if uh communic communications are our big concern." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 21931.245, "end": 21935.445, "text": "Um yeah, if if we do want to make some amendments to this we can do it at council. So" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 21935.805, "end": 21941.725, "text": "I'm happy to support it, send it to council where we can have a a little bit more debate on the nuances of this if we need to." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_28", "start": 21942.565, "end": 21943.125, "text": "Thank you, Chair." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 21943.585, "end": 21947.085, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Kelly. Over to Councillor Shabot." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 21948.625, "end": 21950.665, "text": "Yeah, I'll be brief. The um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 21950.985, "end": 21960.605, "text": "three recommendations, um, I believe the number one and two uh can stand alone, and number three uh can only stand alone if" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 21960.785, "end": 21966.345, "text": "uh recommendations one and or two are approved because there will be some budgetary requirements to it." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 21966.845, "end": 21970.165, "text": "Um I think if you could call uh them separately." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 21970.705, "end": 21991.165, "text": "And if somebody doesn't like the plan, they can vote against the plan. Somebody doesn't like the bylaw, they can vote against the bylaw. Ultimately, um, I think they should go to council. There's there's plenty of time between now and when this gets to council to work with administration on maybe drafting some amendments that could address some of the things that you think are deficient that then could be introduced on the council floor." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 21991.625, "end": 21999.265, "text": "Um now is not the time to, I don't believe, to to um throw the baby out with a battle bath water, so to speak." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 22000.205, "end": 22003.525, "text": "I think there's a lot of good elements in the bylaw as well as the" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 22004.245, "end": 22007.105, "text": "the um the plan. So" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 22007.845, "end": 22008.445, "text": "for me" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 22008.865, "end": 22010.285, "text": "I don't know. There's" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 22011.105, "end": 22026.025, "text": "I'm still a little bit troubled with the that one reference uh in in the bylaw um that I might want to see if we can tweak it a little bit but uh other than that um not really don't really have a plan uh opposition to the water efficiency plan so" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 22026.625, "end": 22046.125, "text": "Um Mr. Chairman, if you could call them separately and uh I will voice my concerns uh by voting against maybe the bylaw, but likely will support um at least one of the other two recommendations which would then make the whole thing go to council for council to then debate and and decide on what it is that they want to move forward with." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22047.105, "end": 22052.245, "text": "Thank you so much, Councillor Shabot. We will do that. We'll call them all separately. Over to Councillor Yule." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 22053.365, "end": 22066.965, "text": "Yeah, I agree with my colleagues. Getting this to council is important. Like my my background with the Nose Creek Preservation Society, working with some of our surrounding municipalities on the Nose Creek" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 22067.385, "end": 22089.365, "text": "watershed partnership. They're looking at ways that we can use the stormwater from Nose Creek for non potable uses because we know how finite the water is. And so these type of um uh plans are really important uh going forward and in in the future of our city. Um because yeah, water is finite. So that's" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_27", "start": 22089.885, "end": 22090.405, "text": "Yeah." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22092.765, "end": 22096.405, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Yule. Over to Councillor Atkinson." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 22097.705, "end": 22162.025, "text": "Yeah, I want to thank uh the team who's put in a lot of work and all the Calgaryans who have engaged on this plan uh over the years and the iterative approach. I think taking a lot of the learnings that we have had as a as a city under water restrictions and seeing what the way to take some of those learnings are and bake them into the way we live on an everyday sort of scale is really important. I do hear some of the concerns of some of my colleagues around sort of like the idea of snitching on your neighbor and what like how this potentially has negative effects in community, but I also want to point to the many other things that we have bylaws on that require in some way, I guess, snishing on your neighbor, which is like having garbage on your property or not shoveling your sidewalk or leaving, you know, weeds and thistles growing everywhere. Like we have many other things that where we have this sort of shared responsibility and this collective action problem. Um and and and" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 22162.985, "end": 22217.105, "text": "We get through and we we we there's maybe some bumps and some training that sort of needs to get there, but when we decide as a community that this is a uh an issue worth tackling, I think that people can get on board. And I actually think by us being actually such a laggard in this space, like like that we as a municipality are so far behind other municipalities. So many people have been moving here from other places that have these kinds of restrictions, kind of to Councillor Kelly's point, like uh I think that there will be a lot of folks who just sort of get it and think that this is a long time coming. And those um those those sort of folks that maybe have not had that experience, uh, I think they'll find by and large that that the end result is is worth the the small changes to to habits. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_24", "start": 22217.965, "end": 22219.845, "text": "Happy to support. Thanks so much." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22220.705, "end": 22223.225, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Atkinson. Over to Councillor Johnston." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 22234.205, "end": 22235.765, "text": "Yes." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 22236.085, "end": 22239.405, "text": "Speaking to the example of Vokoto's, they have a pipeline." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 22239.725, "end": 22241.825, "text": "construct constricted water system." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 22242.365, "end": 22245.725, "text": "They made a decision not to grow years ago and are now regretting it." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 22246.285, "end": 22249.565, "text": "Again, we need to take care of our infrastructure first." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 22249.845, "end": 22252.885, "text": "If Okotokes had done that, they wouldn't need a watering schedule." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_22", "start": 22255.165, "end": 22255.445, "text": "That's it." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22257.285, "end": 22275.385, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Johnston. There's no one else in the queue, so I'll just chime in. You know, this is not about restrictions. This is about how we consume water, how water is a finite quantity, and we need to save it. 2,8518 liters per day." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22275.745, "end": 22276.725, "text": "2011" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22277.065, "end": 22281.405, "text": "down to 390, 2017, 378." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22282.225, "end": 22285.065, "text": "We are, if we don't preserve," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22285.245, "end": 22287.805, "text": "we will overwhelm the supplier side," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22288.825, "end": 22297.685, "text": "which is more capital intensive, which is going to lead to more infrastructure burden, more failure. We need to start looking at the demand side and" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22298.085, "end": 22300.825, "text": "When the waterline failed, some of my colleagues" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22301.265, "end": 22311.785, "text": "were asking for the independent panel review. Guess what? Independent panel review clearly said this city must do more about the demand management side." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22312.625, "end": 22318.545, "text": "So this report is exactly doing that. And talking about this bylaw. This bylaw" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22319.125, "end": 22321.585, "text": "came into effect in 2006, we heard," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22322.225, "end": 22329.605, "text": "and it was triggered, I think, in 2023, because we were going through such a dry spell, there was a fear of drought. That's it." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22330.425, "end": 22335.085, "text": "This bylaw is all it's saying is responsible use of water. It's not restricting anyone." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22335.665, "end": 22347.985, "text": "Hey, listen, if you want to be a partner in city building, let's do our part. We heard from our uh partners at Build. They're supportive of this plan. So I don't know what we are talking about here. And" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22348.365, "end": 22351.725, "text": "I don't do my governance based on what who what or who" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22352.265, "end": 22361.245, "text": "is saying about me on X or social media. I do it what is responsible and what is needed for this community, which is Calvary. With that," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22361.905, "end": 22385.025, "text": "Uh councillors, uh colleagues, I urge you to support it so we can take it to council. And if any of the councillors want to bring amendments at that time, I think that will be the responsible governance. Uh with that, I'm closed, and I see councillor Schmidt just joined us. I don't know if he wants to chime in, but if not, um I will look forward to Councillor Clark to to close this." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_21", "start": 22389.105, "end": 22389.465, "text": "Okay." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_21", "start": 22389.925, "end": 22437.765, "text": "Yes, thank you. I don't know if it's a blessing or curse to be the last to speak or to close on items like this after all that all these rousing speeches. Um I echo uh the sentiment. Now I'll just say to those uh folks, like the concerns that have been raised through this process, I resonate with them all. I can appreciate it. I think um, but it I would say and and would agree that it is short-sighted to to kill this here at uh committee. This needs to make its way in front of council. We need to go through the process of uh looking at amendments, having the discussions with administration, and tailoring this to better support the needs that we are looking to uh support in community. So uh don't kill this here, support it and let's let's deal with it. Make that statement uh at the vote in council. Thank you. Closed." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22439.065, "end": 22446.085, "text": "Thank you, Councillor Clark. Clerks, can we open the vote and we're gonna call each item separately? One, two, three. Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22454.245, "end": 22455.945, "text": "Colleagues, this is for number one, please." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22467.665, "end": 22469.785, "text": "Councillor Jameson, your vote on recommendation number one." }, { "speaker": "Councillor M. Jamieson", "start": 22470.765, "end": 22471.125, "text": "No." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22472.365, "end": 22473.285, "text": "Councillor McLean, your" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22473.505, "end": 22475.085, "text": "uh vote on recommendation number one." }, { "speaker": "Councillor D. McLean", "start": 22475.965, "end": 22476.445, "text": "I'm no." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22476.985, "end": 22479.205, "text": "Thank you. Chair, the votes are in on recommendation number one." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22479.785, "end": 22481.145, "text": "Can we display the votes, please?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22487.105, "end": 22497.565, "text": "Recommendation one is carried eight to five with Councillor Jameson, Johnston, McLean, Tyrese and vote against it. Thank you. Can we go to number two now? Colleagues said this will be for number two." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22522.245, "end": 22524.625, "text": "Councillor Jameson, your vote on recommendation number two." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 22525.605, "end": 22525.925, "text": "No." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22527.805, "end": 22529.985, "text": "Councillor McLean, your vote on recommendation number two." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 22530.245, "end": 22531.025, "text": "Yeah, no." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22531.505, "end": 22531.885, "text": "Thank you." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22533.665, "end": 22534.005, "text": "Chair," }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22534.285, "end": 22535.125, "text": "all the votes are in." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22535.365, "end": 22536.645, "text": "Can we display the vote, please?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22541.425, "end": 22553.825, "text": "That motion is not motion, sorry, number two is carried on that motion with seven to six with Councillor Chabot, Jamison, Johnston McClain, tires, and vote against it. Thank you. Can we go to number three of this uh these recommendations?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22585.145, "end": 22588.105, "text": "Councillor Jameson, your vote on recommendation number three." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_16", "start": 22589.185, "end": 22589.545, "text": "No." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22590.665, "end": 22593.645, "text": "Thank you. Councillor McLean, your vote on recommendation number three." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 22594.545, "end": 22595.005, "text": "No." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_25", "start": 22595.245, "end": 22595.545, "text": "No." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22596.265, "end": 22597.685, "text": "Thank you. Chair, all the votes are in." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22598.345, "end": 22599.885, "text": "Thank you. Can we display the vote, please?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22606.805, "end": 22616.925, "text": "That motion is carried. Uh just one second, guys. I can barely read there with Councillor Jamison, Johnston McClain, and tires against it. Um" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22617.185, "end": 22617.805, "text": "so" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22618.405, "end": 22622.445, "text": "uh do we vote on uh final as one or no? This is it, right?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22624.565, "end": 22627.085, "text": "S sorry, no chair, that the vote is complete on the side." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22627.085, "end": 22629.145, "text": "Okay, great. So with that we conclude the item." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_20", "start": 22629.305, "end": 22629.725, "text": "Correct." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22630.025, "end": 22632.925, "text": "So colleagues, thank you for so thank you so much. And if you guys" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 22632.925, "end": 22633.265, "text": "Adjourn." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22633.605, "end": 22634.145, "text": "Sorry." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_13", "start": 22635.145, "end": 22636.085, "text": "Motion to adjourn." }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22636.345, "end": 22647.405, "text": "Oh, just one second. I just wanted to say if someone is bringing want to bring amendments to this, please start working now with your colleagues. Thank you. Uh and it's adjournment is moved by Councillor Shabot. Anyone against it?" }, { "speaker": "SPEAKER_02", "start": 22649.805, "end": 22652.625, "text": "Seeing or hearing none, we are adjourned. Thank you, colleagues." } ], "full_text": "To our executive committee. Oh, sorry, it's April's Fool. So no, sorry, CDC. So our community development committee for April 1st. Um clerks, can we get a roll call, please? Thank you, Chair. On the roll, Councillor Tyres, Councillor Yule, Councillor Kelly, Present. Councillor Atkinson, Here. Councillor Clark, Councillor Councillor Johnston, Eric. thank you, Councillor Wyness, Councillor Panzazopoulos, Councillor Schmidt, Councillor Shabot, Councillor Ward, thank you, Councillor Jameson, Present. Councillor McClain, thank you, Mayor Farkas, and Chair Dollywall. I'm here. Thank you. Do we go to confirmation of agenda? Um yes, opening remarks and then confirmation of There are no opening remarks unless someone wants to say. Oh, sorry, my apologies. I will go to Council Callie for land acknowledgement. Sorry, Council Callie. That's right. Thank you, Chair. Okay, I'm a Wastitch, Don is uh Donadada Tonche. Um, indigenous peoples have their own names for this area that they've been using long before settlers named this place Calgary. Uh, in the spirit of gathering today, we want to uh acknowledge that we're gathered on the ancestral and traditional territories of the Blackfoot nations, including the Siksica, the Bikani, and the Gaini First Nations, uh, the uh sorry, Ihic Nakota with uh Wikestabi First Nations, comprising the Chinnake, Bears Pond, Goodstoney First Nations, as well as the Satina First Nations, uh, First Nations. The city of Calgary is also home to the historic Northwest Metis, the Ombawaka uh Metis Government, Metis Nation, Battle River Territory, Nose Hill Districts 5, and Elbo Metis District 6. We acknowledge and give gratitude to the many First Nations, Metis and Inuit, who live here and call Calgary home, the place that they know as uh Yehe Ko Wakispa. Um uh uh pardon me, uh uh they call it uh I'm out of order here, I apologize. Uh Gutsis, the Metis call it uh Otusquine, Mokinsis in Blackfoot Nation, and uh um we thank them all for um. uh gathering here with us today as we uh have our community development committee meeting. Thank you, Councillor Kelly, and nothing to apologize. We are all on the journey to true thermic isolations. Thank you. Can I get someone to move the agenda? Councillor Kelly to move. Anyone have any changes? Nothing. I hear or see none. Can I get someone to move the minutes? Confirmation of minutes, please. Councillor Ewell, thank you. Anyone anything to add? Seeing none, hearing none, that's moved. There's nothing on consent agenda, so we will go to Before we go to our agenda today, which is uh focus on safety and ending with after police uh fire with water, I'll go to GM Black for some remarks. Thank you, Chair Dollywall, and uh good morning, everybody. I know our members of committee are in the midst of a very long stretch of public engagement that's going on, and we are uh so pleased to be able to take a moment this morning to talk about our commitment to public safety. And so, what I wanted to describe is a little bit about the order and the story arc that uh will define our presentations this morning. So we're gonna start from hearing, uh start by hearing from emergency management and community safety with the understanding that especially 911 is likely to be the very first contact for lots of safety responses. Uh of course, there's much more to emergency management and community safety than 911, but we'll start with that business unit. Then uh you may have some questions immediately for EMCS. Then we'll go to the police service, acknowledging that the police are often the folks to whom 911 is referring. Uh we will take some questions uh for the police service and the police commission that I know is here with us today. Uh, and then we will hear from the fire department. There'll be an opportunity for questions uh specifically of the fire department. And then, in fact, if there are uh opportunities or considerations that you want to explore in terms of how this network of three services work together, there will be an opportunity for that as well. The story arc doesn't end there though, because our last presentation this morning will be about the water efficiency plan. And although we don't think of water services in the same category that we may think of those first three services, we know that it's absolutely essential to our community's well being. And specifically, following from the presentation of the fire department, we can't have an effective fire department without knowing that we have a stable and reliable water source. So that's something of the arc that you will see this morning. Thank you again for being here. Thank you to all of our members of administration, of the police service, and of the police commission for coming to join us. I see a member of the public as well, so I anticipate that we may have some opportunity for input that way as well. With that, Mr. Chair, I imagine that you may be ready to hear from our Director of Emergency Management and Community Safety, Ian Bushel. Thank you, GM Black, and thank you for that. Uh like GM Black said, uh, colleagues, let's stay focused on our agenda today. Let's be concise, crisp. We got wonderful people from emergency management and community safety, Calgary Police Service with some folks from Commission, Calgary Fire Department, and our water team. Welcome. And we'll start with item 7.2, which is emergency management and community safety 2025 annual report. Thank you, Chair. Good morning, everybody. As Katie indicated, I'm Ian Bushel, and I'm privileged to be the Director of Emergency Management and Community Safety, and I'm pleased to be here today to present our first annual report to you. Emergency Management or Community Safety and Community Safety, or EMCS, is a core public safety service that brings together city teams responsible for emergency readiness, safety, and coordinated response across Calgary. I'm pleased to be joined today by my team, and I'll point them out and they will wave to you. Lori Bailey is our new chief of Calgary 911. Sue Henry is our Chief of Emergency Management. Ryan Placaitis is the Chief of Community Standards. Marcy Gonder is the Chief of Public Vehicle Standards. And Lisa Brown is the manager of business performance and strategy. Next slide, please. Our recommendation this morning is that the Community Development Committee recommend the Council receive this report for the corporate record. And next slide, please. EMCS brings together city services, including Calgary 911, Emergency Management, the Peace Officers for both community standards and public vehicle standards, and animal services, to deliver an integrated approach to public safety across Calgary. We work closely with the Calgary Police Service and Calgary Fire Department to answer calls for help, prepare for and respond to emergencies, and enforce bylaws that support safety and quality of life. EMCS is often the first point of contact for Calgarians during emergencies and coordinating and is the coordinating function that connects public safety partners during those incidents. Together, our five divisions operate as an integrated business unit, each with a distinct role, but working collectively to connect and protect Calgarians every day. We'll provide a brief overview of our services, I'll highlight some key 2025 accomplishments, and I'll outline the pressures that are shaping our work as we look ahead. Next slide, please. Calgary 911 is the first of the first responders, providing call assessment, and coordinated dispatch for emergency and non emergency services 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. We support police, fire, city police officers, peace officers, and 11 regional fire departments, helping protect both the public and responders through timely information and coordinated response. 911 is that critical link between the public and our frontline services. And in 2025, Calgary 911 answered over a million calls, up 4% from 2024, with increased demand from our major partners and our regional fire agencies. We redirected over 2,000 calls to 211, helping connect people to appropriate supports and reduce pressure on emergency response. And a major milestone was our successful transition to next generation 911 in October, fully a year and a half in advance of CRTC requirements, that improves our system reliability and lays the foundation for our future capability. The existing 911 center at Whitehorn is now over 20 years old and is in need of significant renovation or replacement. And looking ahead, our rising call volumes, combined with increasing call complexity, including a 10% increase in time spent on our 911 calls over the past two years, underscore the need to scale up our 911 operations. Continued investment in staffing, infrastructure, and technology is essential to sustain the safe, reliable services that Calgary expects and as our public safety partnerships continue to grow. Next slide, please. Emergency management coordinates how the city prepares for, responds to, and recovers from emergencies. Through the Calgary Emergency Management Agency, or CEMA, Emergency Social Services, and Canada Task Force 2, we provide centralized coordination, support displaced residents, and deploy specialized response capabilities. In 2025, CEMA updated the Municipal Emergency Plan, assessed over 60 disaster risks, and supported such events as the G7 Summit and the Bears Poss South Feeder Main Break. Canada Task Force 2 also maintained our specialized readiness through three deployments and over 11,000 hours of training. Looking ahead, we continue to prepare for emergencies that are expected to occur more frequently and with greater complexity. And a full status of emergency preparedness for Calgary will be presented to the Emergency Management Committee in just a few weeks on April the 22nd. Next slide, please. Community Standards supports community and business safety through bylaw enforcement, animal services, education, and targeted actions that help maintain neighborhood quality of life, with our specialized teams addressing complex community safety issues. In 2025, Community Standards responded to about 110,000 citizen service requests, including animal bylaw requests that increased by 25% and business inspections that increased by 4%. Our teams also worked with our partners to address encampments, problem properties, and business safety concerns, using education, warnings, and then enforcement to improve our neighborhood safety. Animal Services continues to face significant capacity challenges, and the Animal Services Center building no longer meets some of the latest veterinary standards. But despite strong adoption, transfer, foster, and reunification efforts, the longer lengths of stay that have doubled over 10 years ago have increased pressure on our existing facilities. Looking ahead, our traffic safety pressures continue to increase. The traffic safety team launched in the spring of 2025, focused on school and playground zones, and issued 3,467 tickets and over 1,100 warnings, reinforcing the need to expand enforcement to support safer roads and safer communities. Next slide, please. The public vehicle standards team supports safe, accessible, and equitable transportation through enforcement and coordinated response with our partners. Transit Public Safety provides a visible presence that supports rider and operator safety, while the Vehicle for Hire team helps ensure safe taxi and ride share operations. In 2025, Transit Public Safety responded to up to over 84,000 calls, up 38%, with enforcement activity doubling year over year. The community outreach team also expanded from one partner to 34 partners across Calgary, strengthening our response and support to complex social issues on transit. Looking ahead as the transit system continues to expand, as Green Line comes online and social disorder calls increase, up 5% overall and 11% for drug-related incidents since last year, there is a growing need for additional transit peace officers to maintain our visible presence, our coordinated response, and the safety of our riders and operators. Quarterly data shows that our proactive officer engagement helps reduce disorder over the course of 2025, and so we are making progress. And the committee will receive a progress report on our LRT Platform Enhanced Peace Officer Presence pilot coming in July. Next slide, please. As our fifth and final division, business performance and strategy is the backbone of EMCS, supporting safe, consistent service delivery across all frontline teams. In 2025, this division supported operations through public safety technology, our fleet and facilities, learning and wellness, business improvement, and corporate business continuity. They also led those key initiatives such as Next Generation 911 and the implementation of the transit public safety strategy, strengthening our performance measurement and our resource planning to support our day to day operations. Keeping pace with rapid technology change and increasing service readiness demands across EMCS means this division plays a critical role in ensuring operations remain ready, reliable, and able to deliver our services safely. Next slide, please. As Calgary grows towards a population of 2 million, EMCS is experiencing sustained growth in service demand and increasing complexity across all of our services. Evolving community needs, along with closer coordination with CPS and CFD, require EMCS to continue scaling our staffing capacity and service delivery in step with our public safety partners. Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, EMCS is focused on targeted actions to strengthen community safety, officer safety, and coordinated response. This includes increasing Calgary 911 staffing, our technology and infrastructure. Strengthening emergency management readiness to address a wider range of risks, and expanding traffic safety enforcement to respond to the growing pressures on Calgary's roadways. EMCS is also increasing transit safety capacity through the Transit Peace Officer Pilot to improve our visible presence and response on transit platforms. And as demand continues to grow, EMCS will need to scale our peace officer capacity across all of our areas to maintain safe, reliable public safety operations. Across all of our services, EMCS will continue to invest in training, accredited skills development, and mental health supports to maintain our operational readiness and our workforce well-being. EMCS is Calgarian focused. We know that residents and businesses expect reliability, consistency, and responsiveness. And we are committed to supporting our partnerships and to improving our performance every day. Next slide, please. Thank you this morning, members of committee, for your time, and we're happy to answer any questions you might have for me or my team. Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. We're going to open this to public. Anyone in chambers or on the phone wish to speak to this item? Again, anyone in the chamber or on the phone wish to speak to this item. Seeing none, hearing none, we'll close the public speaking portion of this presentation. Item, sorry, we'll go to my colleagues for any questioning of the administration. We got Councillor Kelly. Please go ahead. Thank you very much for the uh presentation, Director Pushtol. And just wondering as we take a look at this, and I realize that this is an annual report looking backwards, but I'm I'm just wondering uh if you could sort of list for us like what any challenges you're you foresee in 2026 and uh how council might be able to help you meet those challenges. Thank you for the question, Councillor Kelly. I think if you got the gist of my presentation, it's that as our population continues to grow, call volumes continue to grow, the complexity of each and every call that we do seems to grow, whether that is because uh of the complexity of the needs of our population, but there's almost no such thing as just a single officer or a single fire truck response anymore. It feels like everything is connected and that that complexity of uh the fabric of our of our community seems to indicate that that every time we go to something, um it just takes a little longer and is a little more uh in-depth than it it used to be. Um as we grow, that means that the support network, whether that's 911 to dispatch those initial resources, whether that's the skills of the peace officers uh or of our uh partner colleagues, it just means that more training is required for our staff. It means more staff are actually required to go to those calls, um, and it means each one takes a little longer. And you can imagine when we answer a million calls every year, that even adding 10, 15, or 20 seconds to every single one of those calls uh adds a massive amount of uh resources needed to support that. So, in general, I would say that our biggest need is just continued, gradual, paced growth that just keeps up with the demand of the services that Calgarians expect from us. Uh thank you for that. And then maybe one last follow up question. Just uh uh wondering if you have any suggestions for how council might be able to work with other orders of government to uh help restore public uh restore public safety or the perception of public safety as well in downtown, especially. We know we have stats that show us and the trends that show us that public safety perception is improved by increased visible presence. When people see peace officers, when they see police officers, when they see uniformed staff, that gives them a perception of safety that makes the place feel safer. We also know that proactively every time that we are out on the street as peace officers, that That relates to the number of social disorder calls dropping. In other words, social disorder is less likely to happen if you can see a peace officer around or a police officer around, you're less likely to do something you're not supposed to be doing. And so I think you know the continued support network that helps individuals in our community get the support that they need, whether that's through community court, whether that's through the many resources that our partner agencies provide, all of those things help support people that are in need or people that are creating social disorder. When those things are in place as well, we don't get to the bottom of the net where we catch people at the end, where they've missed all of those support services. So I would say that for me, the the provincial government, the federal government can help with any of those supports that provide the necessary resources to keep people from falling into the place that they are where a social disorder becomes their norm for them, or that they just have nowhere else to go. Uh thank you very much for the answers to both those questions. Those are all my questions, Chair. Thank you, Councillor Kelly. Before I go to Councillor Atkinson, uh clerks, uh, did we uh make note of Councillor Jameson joining us at 9 34 a.m.? yes, we have Councillor Jameson, we also have Mayor Farkas. Thank you. Thank you so much, uh Councillor Atkinson. Great. Um the transition to 911 uh next generation. Um I'm just wondering it like is how you think that's going to help. You you were seeing this 10% in terms of call complexity. Can you sort of speak to how that is going to help with some of that complexity with this transition to the next generation 911? Thank you for that question, Councillor Atkinson. So next generation is a system, a complex system of upgraded uh infrastructure that will help support future initiatives when it comes to 911. Good old-fashioned telephones attached to the wall are sort of a thing of the past these days. And so the ways that people want to connect with 911 and the ways that 911 needs to get information, whether that is verbal information from people on the phone, or coming soon through next generation 911, the ability to transmit data, the ability to share photos, pictures, and other things are all coming down the pipeline. I mentioned in my speaking notes that we were a little over a year and a half ahead of the CRTC mandated deadline. Once all, and I believe there's somewhere in the neighborhood of 2009 centers across the country, once they have all transitioned and they still have about a year to go, we will start to see sort of the next phase which allows other technologies to be used at 911. I don't know that that's going to make it easier. In fact, I think that it's actually going to add to the complexity because people will now be able to text 911, send pictures, live stream, do all kinds of things that they do on their phones these days that have gone from being something that nobody had 20 years ago when Whitehorn opened to something that everybody has one, I have two. There's many technologies that are coming. And next generation 911, which is a switch to sort of the most modern technology, will allow us to transition to serving the public in a way that that we are maximizing what is sort of the current technology of the day. Appreciate that answer. I think, yeah, understanding that it's gonna actually maybe get more complex rather than less. I think it's actually just going to make it a bit more complicated because there's so many ways of now communicating information. Connection with Tweet 211. I think that this is a fantastic 211 is an amazing resource. I love seeing the stats on the community safety, well being. Like it gives a really interesting picture of our community and some of the challenges folks are facing. I'm wondering if there will be any sort of developments with that connection with 211 given the new system, if if you're aware. Don't know if there's any changes based on next generation 911 or a new system. What I can tell you is that we currently operate, I believe it's four pods in the 911 center that our 211 folks are sitting in. So they're literally in the same room as our 911 staff. So we are able to speak directly to each other between calls, but they're also able to communicate and move those calls around. Ideally, people call 211 correctly when they need it, not call 911 and then we connect them. So we actually hope that those calls go down and down and down and that we're no longer connecting people from 911 to 211 because they recognize that actually 211 is the right call to make first, so they just make that call directly. But there are a number of other uh important phone numbers and other agencies that monitor 988 is the new suicide hotline, for example. So all of those connections we can make in 911, and I think that's um a great way that we redistribute calls and potentially avoid first response calls, police fire EMS calls when they're unnecessary, if um uh other response agencies and other partner agencies can deal with the situation that is c creating that crisis in the first place. Um, your animal bylaw requests going way, way up, and you sort of talked about the challenges that's putting on different parts later in the in the system. I'm wondering, are we do are we working on anything to mitigate some of those effects earlier upstream? Like, I don't know if you've been doing analysis around the kinds of requests that you're getting and if there's anything we can be doing in terms of community on a more preventative side rather than reactive side. The pressure in the Animal Services Center is something that um has grown over the last few years, certainly since COVID. Um but what we are seeing now is that the affordability crisis is having an impact on people and their pets and that Occasionally, in fact more frequently now, people are making the difficult decision that affordability means we can no longer keep our pet. Pet food is expensive, pet care is expensive, veterinary care is expensive, and so people are giving up their pets. We're also seeing that those in the vulnerable community that have pets, uh, when they find themselves in in tough situations, are either giving up their pet or we're having to house their pet for them because shelters don't allow pets in. So if you are vulnerable and on the street and you have a dog, you can't take your dog to the drop in center. And so what do they do with them? And so we end up having to look after those those animals. We have noticed that 10 years ago the average length of stay of an animal in our animal services center was just five or six days. It's now almost two weeks. And so again, much like uh so many of our other um pressures, it is not that there are necessarily more animals. They just happen to be in our cer in in our care for twice, almost three times as long. Um and so because of those things, that just continues to increase our pressure. And and again, our our Portland uh Animal Services Center built years ago um based on the uh the standards of the early 2000s, and those things have changed. We we don't have enough um Uh kennels for all of the dogs. The the kennels no longer meet the standard size. They should be a little bit bigger. We don't have enough space literally to care for all of the animals that we've got. Plus, people cannot afford some of the veterinary care that they need. Animals then end up to us, and when they come to us, they are in poor health. And so we where we can look after those animals. We also have things like our SPAY and neuter clinics where our veterinarian does that for reduced costs or or for free where it's possible to do that. So we're just starting to see more, again, increased demand for all of the services that we provide. And when you magnify that with growth and the complexity of some of the things that we are seeing, it just continues to strain our services. Yeah, the affordability playing into it. It's very interesting. Transit public safety. So I'm jumping around. You've covered so much. Transit public safety, you've got this sort of 5% overall social disorder calls, but we're also seeing 38% higher call volumes. Just wondering if you can sort of put those in perspective for me, where we're seeing such high call volumes, but not sort of the like we've got 11% higher drug calls and 5% overall social disorder calls, and just sort of the discrepancy. Certainly. I'd love to be able to say that one statistic just shows everything that we do and of course everything is complex and interconnected. One of the things that we've been able to do with council's support over the last few years is grow transit public safety. And as I mentioned earlier in in uh one of my responses, when we are out and about, we see more things. And so part of the driver for increased calls is increased presence. That's actually good. That means we are seeing that things are not right and we are correcting them. We are stepping in. And so we are seeing that an increased presence of our staff, our distributed district networks that we have implemented over the last couple of years, which are putting our transit public safety staff especially out closer to the transit system more often, is actually seeing that we are catching more people doing social disorder, or we're catching more, I'm finding more social disorder problems. And as we interact with those folks, we are finding more drugs, we are seeing more things. And so there's a bit of a growth of the more we are out there and the more present that we are, the more we are seeing things that need an intervention, and that we are stepping into those. So while we are seeing drug calls rise, social disorder calls rise, many of those are um officer initiated. In other words, we would not have seen those calls unless we'd had officers on the platform. We we also find that People call 911, people use the text line, people see an officer and report something verbally that they might not have called or they might not have uh texted, but because they saw an officer on the platform, they actually mentioned that they've just seen something on the train or they've seen something. So we're seeing that complexity of the data saying that uh call volume is rising, in part because of just increasing problems, but also because we have more staff that are out and about. Connection though is that what we see is we um the more visible presence we have, the the less social disorder we are seeing as a result. So it it it is this um correlation that when officers are present, social disorder decreases. And and I can run through the seasonal stats that show you in parts of the year when we are out and about more, we see less disorder, and at times when we're not out as much, uh we see more social disorder. No, I've been following the stats in your community uh safety and well-being reports and it does has shown like it's fairly stabilized, right? Like it's not, I think once again this idea of perception versus reality a little bit of what we're seeing in sort of the reports um in our sort of like um Semi-annual reports, right? For when we're surveying community versus what we see in terms of the stats, the difference there. No, uh that's great. Last thing I just want to touch on. Um, it's it's it's uh a bee in my bonnet and it will be until we uh we don't have the numbers that we do, but tr traffic safety. Traffic safety is I think the biggest problem that we're experiencing in terms of community safety right now, having folks die on our streets. And so uh I appreciate you spoke to it, but I just with this being, I think, such a major focus that we need to focus on for the next year, years to come, um I'm I'm wondering if you can get a give a bit of a uh a sense of what's ahead, the roadmap, uh, how your team this is obviously this does not just fall to you, this is many different departments across the entire organization of the city. Uh, but from your perspective and what your teams are able to do, what we can uh where you can help drive this uh this problem I I will speak to our portion as traffic safety is definitely uh uh Chief McClellan and CPS's um purview. But we have found that our our the introduction of our traffic safety team last year, the beginning of last year, with a focus on school safety and playground zone safety, and um an attempt to understand how we can deal with noise complaints. So um there's sort of two things in there. The traffic safety team has focused in in school zones. Um these are low speed but high high risk. I'll say high risk, the risk being school zones and playground zones are full of our kids, and that's important to us and to our community. And so our our traffic safety team, uh a team of eight, uh, four cars, um, is uh rotates around the city. Uh every morning they're at a different school zone, every afternoon they're in a different school zone, uh, and they focus through different quadrants of the city each week. What we are finding is that those are areas where enforcement is I'll use the term fairly straightforward. I think traffic enforcement is far more complicated chasing uh speeders on stony and deerfoot and the real high uh risk areas, and that we leave to the the traffic section of CPS. Um the fatalities are something that are often caused by high speed, and that's not the area that the EMCS traffic safety team is is focused on. We're focused on playground zones and school zones where we know that we can uh interrupt poor behaviors, perhaps convince people to slow down, not to uh jaywalk their kids in the wrong spot, not to be parked in the wrong spot, but also to recognize that at certain times of the day the risk is increased because uh our children are in and out of school and moving around in those neighborhoods. That's an area where we have seen every single day, in every single school zone that we go to, we are catching people who are speeding through school zones or playground zones. It's just poor behavior, and we need to address that. And our traffic safety team has been one way that we can do that. Uh we are also able to be in some of the construction zones for a longer period of time, and we are responding to specific requests for specific areas of enforcement when our partners in mobility or other areas of the city require specific enforcement. I would say that we in EMCS are able to focus on sort of the lower end of some traffic safety concerns where we can have a real impact through education of the public. And that is an area where I think there as I said, w we can be in one school zone in the morning and one school zone in the afternoon, and there are hundreds of schools in the city. So this is an area where we could be around a lot more. with increased capacity. Absolutely. And that's i I'm just wondering I guess to sort of speaking so yours that's a lot about where we are now, if you could speak to where we need to go, like where you see the opportunities uh coming up. Well, I I would certainly tell you that we could we could quadruple the size of the team. We could be in every quadrant of the city every day and we could be in a different school. Um you know, over the course of um the next budget cycle, perhaps council can invest in in that area. And it is a a relatively small investment in the terms of the number of actual officers needed to be in uh in a different school zone all the time. So I think it's it's one where How do we measure our bang for your buck in in that case? We hope there is never a serious collision. We hope there is never a fatality in a school zone or a playground zone. That enhanced presence of EMCS traffic safety officers can contribute to the prevention, I hope, of all of those unnecessary incidents that could occur. Appreciate that. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you, Councillor Atkinson. Over to Mayor Farkas. All right, thank you so much. Uh this is certainly a 2025 report, but I had the great opportunity to be exposed to your work on December 30th and December 31st of 2025. And I just wanted to personally extend a thank you to you and your team, sir. Really well executed response on the water main break. It was a really quick crash course for me as mayor, as well, to get exposed to all the various agencies working together at the EOC. So just firstly, a giant thank you to your you and your team. Thank you, Mayor. Uh jumping into some of the questions, uh the report notes a four percent increase in call volume f call volume, but a ten percent increase in the time spent on those calls. What's driving that increased complexity of the calls and how's that affecting uh response times? So I would say there are a number of um drivers of the complexity of call. Of our calls. Language services are an example where the number of people who are calling now that either it just takes a little longer to get across the message that they were trying to get across, or we actually have to engage one of our language services systems in order to actually translate the call. That adds increasing complexity. Twenty years ago you would have called from a landline. As soon as you called from a specific landline, we got an exact location of where you are. Now we're using cell phone technology that can take a little bit longer, and sometimes that can be the technology gets a little more, I don't want to say confused, but the technology takes a little longer to actually pinpoint exactly where people are. And so all of those things are adding into just adding a few seconds into each call. We then are finding the complexity of the response required means that we're actually having to talk to more agencies or more units as they respond. And so there are often more combined responses, meaning multiple agencies are responding to the same uh incident. And so again, we it just takes a little longer because there's more radio conversations or there's more telephone conversations that need to uh need to happen. And again, as you add that to just the growth in call numbers, the overall amount of time that we are spending either on the radio or on the telephone continues to increase. Thank you. I liked Councillor Atkinson's uh forward look. And as I as we're thinking about Calgary's growing potentially to be a city of two million people in this council term, what EMCS service areas are least scalable under your current models? And as a follow-up to that, what early warning indicators should council be thinking at about that maybe signal that the public safety risk is increasing faster than your EMCS capacity or your ability to scale? Thanks for that question, Mayor. I think um you know I will I will flag one of One of my forward-looking concerns that we've got is the actual 911 center itself at Whitehorn, built over 20 years ago from technology in the late 90s in a building that was not built as a 911 center. And so we are several years away from needing it to be ready and operating, but that means that we need several years of lead-in in order to plan effectively and to be ready to construct or do a significant renovation on the current building, which I'm not sure is actually ideal. And so we need to think about what do we need as the city continues to grow. So how do we scale up 911 into a modern, responsive 911 center? And I think that's a new one. I think that is several years away, but it is the kind of thing that we need to think about and plan now. I mentioned also that the Animal Services Center, again, is a building that you can't just add to 5% per year. We need a significant renovation to the Animal Services Center in order to keep up with the demand that the public expects and that we're seeing. Hundreds in one go. So for example, as we think about the green line being three, four, five years away from actually trains running. The first day the trains are running, we need our full capacity of our peace officers. We can't wait until the very last day and then hire them all. So we need to um increase our staffing in preparation for those kinds of services that we know are coming down the line. And again, we know that people continue to move to this great city and and that the population will continue to grow year after year after year. And that just increases our service demand. Thank you. And uh two final questions here. Uh second last. Uh the the report references the removal of over a thousand encampments and more than 50 problem properties. And Appreciate the work that you're doing on that, but how is success measured beyond just those enforcement actions, uh, particularly in terms of uh sustained neighborhood safety, prevention, other ways to uh uh outreach, understanding that this isn't an issue that we can solely enforce our way out of. Yeah, thank you for that, Mayor. I I think there were two portions to your question. The first one, I think, is the easy one: problem properties. When we identify a problem property, I'll pick the Ogden Legion as an example. When we get to the point where eventually we can remove the property, we knock it down. It's gone. We no longer have the same incidents occurring inside that building because the building just isn't there anymore. Encampments, we move. Encampments, we encourage the folks to move along. We find them the support they need. We find them housing, we find them shelter, we find all the things we need. But the following day, somebody new moves into that exact same spot. I know that that is a frustration for the public, in that they see an encampment, we remove an encampment, and a week later an encampment is back again. It is usually not the same people. It is somebody new, and it is somebody different. And that's a real challenge in that the encampment locations that people use are frequently good locations in the sense that they are perhaps so uh close to the supports that the folks need, or perhaps they're in a space where they feel like they are a little safer because they are away from prying eyes. Um and the challenge of of uh encampments are that despite our efforts, despite our cleanup efforts, that it's a recurring problem because the core issue of housing and shelter for those folks has not been solved. And so they just keep coming back over and over again. And then my last question is around officer and staff while being uh uh again incredibly impressive to see how all of the agencies and various business units within the city of Calgary came together there at the EOC. But given just the the steady baseline, say the the increasing call volumes, the complexity uh that they're facing before any type of crisis situation, uh, or a more acute crisis like a feeder main break or a G7 or whatnot, what kind of indicators are are being used right now to monitor their burnout, retention risk, uh, staff wellness, and where what areas are the pressures uh most acute? Thank you for that question, Mayor. The the biggest indicator is our staff absence. And our staff absence numbers are driven by cumulative trauma over time. Our peace officers see things on a daily basis that slowly wear them down. Just like our other first responder partners, we have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20% of our transit peace officer staff are away at any given point on either leave of some kind or illness of some kind. 911 emergency communications operators and dispatchers listen to multiple phone calls and radio calls of traffic at people's worst moments day after day after day after day, and cumulatively that wears them down, and we have uh an SNA challenge in nine one one as well, in the the sense that we we are on any given day um down by fifteen to twenty percent of the staff that we ideally should have. We also want to find ways that we can improve the health and wellness of our staff by not um N not driving them so hard every single day. You you can imagine that if you were on the telephone uh for 95% of your shift, how challenging that is to take a lunch break, to take uh just a a break after a bad call and be able to go outside and walk around the building and clear your head. Um we don't have the staffing capacity to be able to give our teams a half an hour break after a really difficult call because the light's always flashing, meaning there's another 911 call pending. Um those challenges across all of our teams. Wear people down over the course of time. And as you mentioned, Mira, when the EOC is open, the EOC is often open 24 hours a day under extremely stressful conditions for days after days after days. And you can imagine that the ability to maintain our focus on the emergency at hand becomes more and more strained after each and every day that we are there. We want to be able to give our staff the opportunity to rotate. We want to be able to give our staff the opportunity to take breaks. We want to be able to build health and wellness programs that build their resilience in advance of the next emergency they see. And so we are doing many great things. The team is doing a ton of great work in trying to build that capacity, capability, resilience of our staff in advance. But the cumulative challenge means that we have a significant number of our staff who are away at any given point. And so while we we may be able to say we have X number of FTEs providing this service, given that we are across 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and we need staff to take their vacation, we need staff to be on training, we actually need a larger number of staff just to be able to maintain the services that we have and to maintain our staff in a healthy workplace where they can continue providing the demanding services that we expect of them every day. Thank you. And those are certainly themes that I think we're about to hear from uh our respective chiefs. Uh, thank you so much, sir, to and your team for your service to Calgary. Thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Kair. Thank you, Mayor. I'll go to Councillor Yule. What a timing. You got some special people in audience. Yeah, before I get to my questions, I'd like to welcome Hidden Valley School to our uh community development committee. So these are the grade twos at Hidden Valley School. Why don't you guys all stand up and we'll give you a round of applause? This is And you guys are in for a treat today. We are talking to our emergency services. And so your question this week uh is how do stories plant seeds of empathy? And I think our emergency services, like our police and fire, uh, one of the most important things they do is listen to the stories of the people that they're serving. And uh I think that really helps plant those seeds of empathy. So thank you for coming. Uh thank you, Miss Jordan L, for bringing your students in. And I look forward to talking to you guys later. So let me get on to my questions. We've kind of circled around some of my questions. One of the things I wanted to ask you with kind of what we're learning about our water system, we serve a lot of regional partners with our water. I was curious like, where are our boundaries with our 911 services? Like, how do we work with our regional partners on our 911 services? Sure. So uh thank you for the question, Councillor. We answer 911 for the city of Calgary for 11 other regional municipalities, so places like uh Cochrane, Chestermere, uh Airdrie. Uh we also answer 911 for uh a significant portion of Rocky View County as well. Uh in total, we monitor 911 for almost 25 percent of the population of the province. So our area geographically essentially is the area um east, west, and north of the city of Calgary. So so with uh I I guess that it kind of em emphasizes the need for the expansion, like w we w not only w is Calgary growing, but our our region is growing as as well. Yes, um I believe on one of my slides uh it showed that our regional partners uh call volume is up almost twenty percent. So when we add those um those calls to the calls that we do in the city, um it continues to to increase our service demand. Uh and Councillor Atkinson kind of talked about um traffic safety. I oh like we have a school here today um talking about school zones. I know in the the suburbs where I live uh can be a wild west when at pickup and drop off in in in those areas. Um you you mentioned uh education of the public. What is what does that look like uh to you in in the education of of safety around our schools? Yeah, so we we take our responsibility of um enforcing bylaws, gaining compliance of our bylaws seriously. But what we want is compliance. So we will try education first. In other words, we will explain the problem, the situation, the reason why whatever behavior is being observed, whatever um Weeds, fence, trees, litter, uh whatever it is, or driving, in the case of a school zone, why that behavior is contrary to the rules, uh the bylaws. Um, and we'll use education if we can gain compliance the first time. If we can't gain education uh or compliance through education, we'll rely on enforcement and tickets. Um I think things like traffic, people respond to the fact that they got a ticket and a a punishment for their behavior. I think that is more impactful than pulling someone over and telling them they're driving poorly and then letting them go again and just giving them that sort of educational warning. So the traffic team um i issues tickets um for behaviors that are. um ill advised in our school zones um as we've mentioned already um whether that is speeding or whether that is stopping in the wrong spot, letting the kids out in the wrong spot, picking the kids up in the wrong spot, blocking intersections, basically contravening the traffic laws inside the school zone. And how is a school chosen? Um like is is there is it just kind of a dartboard spin spin the wheel or or do you have data kind of So Directing to you to which school you should be going. not quite a dartboard. Okay. We do respond. We meet or we get input from CBE and the other school boards. I know ELT met with the school board as well and had a discussion, including traffic safety. And so then the team uses some of the data we get. We also get requests specifically from schools to come and enforce because they've seen a problem. And so we use a variety of data inputs, including just straight requests can you come to our school? And then we rotate around. Is there feedback that goes back to the school on maybe some like suggestions on how they could improve pickup and drop off at all? I think we've had some really good interactions. One of the areas where I think we can continue to be proactive is to identify Areas where perhaps the the design of drop-off pickup locations is not as great and and I know our partners in mobility have those conversations with with the school board as well. So I think we have ways of getting feedback. Again, we we can always do more. We are in one school in the morning and one school in the afternoon. Um it will take us a long time to get through all of the city, but um but we've also gotten some very good feedback from school principals and from the school board itself on how much they appreciate uh the traffic team being present. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Yule. Over to Councillor Johnston. Hoping you can answer this, but uh I noticed some neighborhoods have speed bumps um kind of in less busy uh streets like boulevards. Um why is it inconsistent? Because I've asked before if speed bumps could be introduced to uh some of these neighborhoods and in Ward 14 specifically, where there's been a big issue for speeding uh around school zones and that. So going through Ramsey, I think they had speed bumps, but uh Yeah, I'm just wondering what what why the inconsistency on allowing speed bumps to mitigate speed. I'm sorry to disappoint you. I cannot answer that question. Okay. Speed bumps are, I think, a mobility challenge or a mob for the mobility business unit. But we can certainly I'll I'll take that back and we can have some conversations. Okay. Is the person here that heard it could send a Councillor Johnston, there's no one here from mobility as I can see. Uh but yes, you can free feel free to reach out to Troy McLoyd. I've done many times. They look after those speed bumps. it I just wasn't sorry, I wasn't sure. Um No, no, it's okay. then the other question was is that uh the volume of pedestrian versus vehicle incidents have been an issue. But my question is have has that volume increased? Stayed the same or decreased with the population the last five years. I think if you're asking for overall traffic fatality statistics, I'll leave that to my CPS colleagues. I can wait for that. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. That's it. Thank you, Councillor Johnston. Uh I don't see anyone else in the queue, so I'm just gonna put myself in for a couple questions. I think you answered traffic safety team. We have eight officers. When uh it was a product of a notice of motion that was specifically focused on noisy vehicles. Uh it's great that we are focusing on schools and stuff, but that problem is still existing, for instance, in my ward five, I know ward seven. I just want to understand, like you said, we can quadruple the team. Uh that's great. But how can we make sure that that is also part of the mandate that we are looking after those noisy vehicles as we approach spring and summer? Thank you for that question, Chair. The challenge of noisy vehicles is that unlike speeding, you can't just see somebody go by. There's no magic noise gun that captures their noise levels in a way that you can then issue them a ticket. And so the noisy vehicle piece has often been generated by community complaints, and we have used the the aggregated data of community complaints to do targeted enforcement in certain areas at certain times of the day where we have now got a history of there being noise complaints through vehicles. We are then, when we can, pulling over those vehicles, and we've actually had some success. We have issued somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 or 15 tickets last year. Many of them have been for specific modifications to vehicles that we know have been after market modifications that have increased the noise volume. And when we've got vehicles pulled over, we can actually do noise testing of them. But the environment of noise complaints is a little more challenging. So we recognize that it is often a nuisance when people late at night hear. loud vehicles. Um, whether those are are cars, trucks, motorcycles, whatever whatever they are. But actually catching them is a little more difficult and then proving that they are actually the source of the noise of the complaint has been a bit more complex. One of the reasons why while we started as a noisy vehicle initiative, the ability for a peace officer to pull someone over requires all of the same skills as a police officer has in terms of being able to effectively execute a traffic stop. So we have to train people to execute a traffic stop. If that was just for noise, or in the case of the traffic team, also for speeding, it's all the same skills. And so one of the benefits of giving the peace officers these skills is we can now deal with a wide ra wider range of traffic issues, including noise. But noise has been more challenging. We continue to work on how we can uh enforce more noise complaints. It's just a a bit more of a difficult environment to be able to catch people and to be able to enforce noise concerns when it comes to vehicles. I don't think you would allow us to coming in the four year budget cycle to see how we can. Increase the resource capacity because this has become a real nuisance. My last question is just around transit public safety strategy, we have seen the volumes of calls and tickets and all that go up. My question is, is there gonna be something like an audit or some sort of um success finding or anything coming to council? How effective this new model has been? And secondly, last night when uh I was on the train with Councillor Atkinson, we saw lots of security teams, security guards on it. Is that part of the strategy moving forward? There were like three in every car, which was great. I just want to understand for residents who are listening and watching. Okay. Thank you for that. So a couple of things. The transit public safety strategy was audited by the audit committee. And so that report did go, I believe, last year. We are reporting our transit safety statistics through our community safety and wellbeing report. And so council sees that on a monthly basis, and so you are seeing our indicators. We have no specific deadline from council or ask from council to specifically come back with a transit public safety report. But we are coming back to council to report on the the pilot project that we are currently doing, which is about enhanced LRT platforms. You mentioned the security guards you've seen. As we are hiring additional peace officers, we have contracted security to sort of fill that gap in. And so what you are seeing at our top, I believe we're at a top 10 uh stations at the moment, is that enhanced presence of security staff. They are occasionally moving from station to station, so that's why you're seeing them on the train. But the point of the pilot project that we are undertaking, we've recently hired staff. We're really just about to launch into it. We've done a whole bunch of public engagement and some statistical analysis up front. We've gathered some data of the sort of the before situation, and we will be coming back to council with a report on that transit pilot project later on in the year to be able to report what I anticipate will be our great success with that pilot project. Well that's great. Um I love it. Uh I just hope moving forward we can put more focus on operators who are driving the buses. They're the most vulnerable. Right now the focus is too much on LRT platforms and they feel left out. But that's a discussion for another day. Uh if you have anything to add, great. Otherwise I'll ask someone to move this item. Chair, I will say that we do have the safety enforcement team, so a specialized team of our transit peace officers that are specifically focused on operator safety given the number of uh operator-related incidents we had last year. And we are continuing to work on our overall presence of our staff across the system. So while we are doing a TPS uh platform, LRT platform pilot, we do have teams that are out in our districts, and one of their primary missions is to interact with operators and help with that safety of our operators as they go about their daily work trans uh transporting Calgarians around. Great, no, thank you. That's uh that's very comforting. Um I'll ask someone to move. Uh can I get a mover, please? Oh councillor tires will move it. Councillor Tyres over to you to move. Open. Yep, opened uh and uh closed. Great, thank you. Any any debate? Oh, Councillor. Just a commentary. I had the opportunity. I was on my way home on the Thanks Thank A Driver Transit Day. And it was supposed to be relatively straightforward my uh trip on the train, but I had probably the worst best day on transit to get to see some of the behind the scenes. I was actually up in the front with the transit operator in the train through downtown Calgary with Gerginder, and it was at a time when there was a big breakdown in the northwest for some signals there. Essentially, what happened was many trains were stalled for about 30, 45 minutes through the downtown. But I had the uh opportunity to kind of listen to the dispatch, the radio back and forth, and it was tremendous seeing the professionalism from Calgary Transit, as well as how uh this cascade of issues that caused all sorts of other considerations. But thankfully there is such great integration and response. It's not just say uh a train is late in the downtown, it causes now lots of people on platforms, it causes cascade of failures on buses, that sort of thing. But just the the dispatch from transit to the communications to the operators, as well as uh how involved in that, say, police and uh public safety and others were in that, it was just really, really impressive. So again, I just want to repeat my kudos. It's not just on the days that the water main breaks, but it's every single day that we see that level of professionalism and care and attention. So very happy to support uh receiving this report for uh information. Thank you, Mayor. I'll go to Councillor Atkinson for debate commentary. Yeah, I just I just really want to thank this is a uh a huge team that I think is largely maybe not always that visible. They do a lot of the work in the background. They're on the phones, they're answering complex calls, they're helping with community safety at a level that is neighbor to neighbor uh and and just like really on the ground. Um We are seeing the impacts that a growing city is having, and I, you know, I think we do need to sort of be looking at some of the ways we can address some of these issues. But uh yeah, I just want to echo the statement that like a big kudos to the individual folks, the variety of folks that are doing this work, from transit to taking the 911 calls, to you know, making sure the the the noise bylaws are adhered to, to making sure that you know our our most vulnerable folks are are finding shelter for the night. Big kudos, thank you to all of you. And then, of course, our emergency response folks getting to actually see you in action. Uh it was It put my mind at ease in a way to see the level of uh professionalism uh in a complex situation and being able to really deliver in that situation. So thank you to all. Thank you, Councillor Atkinson to Councillor Cali. Yeah, just to maybe add into the uh the chorus here a little bit, I think this will be a bit of a theme today for us, looking at what we have on our agenda. Um everybody in emergency management and community safety is is is working to help Calgarians on frequently their worst day that they that they've had. And so a huge kudos to everyone Calgary 911, Emergency Management, Community Standards, uh Public Vehicle Standards, and yes, even the business performance and strategy team who uh helped hold it all together. Uh huge kudos to all of you. Um thank you very much for the annual report here. It was great to see all the great work that you put together over this past year. We are well and truly thankful for everything that you've done, and we look forward to working with you in 2026. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Councillor Cali. Councillor Tyres, for you to close. Sorry, that was really uh premature earlier. I was like, let's let's just get this going. Um also wanted to um thank uh everybody from CEMA for the incredible work that you guys did uh during the uh emergency that we have, uh, which was mostly in my ward. So um when we did those tours, uh, you know, checking out um how all those operations come together and all those people come together to um to rescue Calgarians and to just make sure that we're all safe. Like we really appreciate the work that you guys do. So thank you so much and thank you so much for your report and uh everything that you do. And closed. Thank you so much, and thank you from me too. Thank you and keep up the great work. We are in safe hands indeed. Over to uh ESCribe colleagues. Councillor Jameson, your vote please. Well Marcus? Yes. Oh, thank you. Councillor McLean, your vote, please. Yes. Thank you. And Mayor Farkas, your vote, please. Yes. Chair, all the votes are in. Thank you. Please display the results. Thank you, colleagues. That says carry 11, nothing. Thank you. We'll uh switch over now to the next item 7.3 Calgary Police Services 2025 Annual Report. We have Calgary Police Services and uh Calgary Commission here. Chief uh Commission, whenever you guys are ready. Floor is yours. Thank you. Can you hear me? Uh good morning. I'm Kelly Ogle, the Dep uh Vice Chair of the Calgary Police Commission. Good morning to uh Chair Daliwell, members of the committee, other members of council on board. Uh thank you for the opportunity today to join you. We're very pleased to present the Calgary Police Service 2025 annual report. You'll see that 2025 was a year of both significant challenges and meaningful progress in policing and community safety. In 2025, Our oversight included efforts to modernize service delivery, strengthen workforce health and capacity, and advance accountability and public trust. As our city continues to grow, we see increasingly complex public safety measures that you've heard of some already that include rising crime, persistent social disorder, traffic safety concerns, and a growing strain on frontline services. There were, however, some very encouraging indicators as well. Targeted investments and renewed leadership and a continued one-city approach enabled meaningful progress with the safety and well being of Calgarians firmly at the center of what we did. Maintaining this momentum will require continued attention to workforce capacity, long term financial sustainability, and public confidence. Priorities that call for thoughtful oversight and a shared commitment across council. The Commission, our service, and our community partners. With that, I'll turn things over to the Chief who will walk you through our 2025 results. Thank you. Uh thank you, Chair. Uh good afternoon. Yeah, good morning, everyone. Twenty twenty five marked the first year I was I was appointed as the chief, and I'm very happy to be here today to present the outcomes of last year. First, we look at how crime and public safety data in 2025 compares to the five year average. And sorry, can we just move to slide two? Thank you. Our crime and public safety numbers use a five-year average to avoid comparing unique circumstances that could occur in a single year. Some of the key highlights include significant decreases in homicides down 44% and shootings were down 47%, which can be attributed to operational and investigative work. Though this work is resource intensive, it considerably improves public safety and public perceptions of safety. Overall break and enters were down 23%, saw a sizable decrease, and along with vehicle thefts, which were down 20%. Assaults, unfortunately, were up 18%, and the presence of edged weapons up 5% increased and are both correlated. The use of edged weapons is often a reflection of the heat of the moment situations that escalate. Overall robberies up 1.5% remained relatively stable, while frauds up 21% saw a noteworthy increase. Credit card fraud and the defrauding of individuals are primary drivers in this area. The number of crime guns seized were down 17%, which related to fewer shootings and less guns being on the street. In 2025, calls for services also increased, with public calls being up 5.1% compared to 2024. Most calls do not result in charges. There are many instances where significant time and resources go into a file and it does not end with charges being laid. Unfortunately, Calgary recorded its highest number of traffic fatalities to the question earlier since 2013 with 38 deaths. Which included 15 pedestrian fatalities. And we saw, unfortunately, another one last night. Speed, distracted driving, and impairment were contributing factors in 39% of these collisions. We also saw 3,224 serious injury collisions, which were also up from 2024. These traffic numbers highlight the need for continued efforts on this front. Not referenced on this slide, but worth mentioning, is a concerning trend we are seeing in youth violent crime. It is such a concern that our most recent and upcoming community town halls are focused on youth and crime on youth crime and prevention. While service demands have increased year over year, budget growth has remained modest relative to population growth, inflation, and call complexity. Over multiple budget cycles, the service has absorbed significant pressure without corresponding investment. While we saw positive results from our efforts, we have notable vacancies in a number of critical areas. Of our 830 authorized patrol spaces and patrol, only 653 are currently filled. Some other examples are the child abuse unit. Has 15 detectives authorized. We have nine spots currently vacant. Our homicide unit has 13 detectives. We should have 19. And our sexual assault unit, our sexual assault investigative unit, has nine detectives, and we should have 15. And lastly, the domestic violence team has 10, and we should have 20. This is a common theme across our units that we need to address to safeguard Calgarians. Slide three, please. Through work with community and government partners, we ensured the service continued to be a responsible steward of public resources while we identified new ways to engage our diverse communities. These efforts maximized our current resources, found efficiencies, and continued to build a service that reflects Calgary. We have tried our best to be responsible corporate citizens by prudently asking for only what we need and nothing more. Necessary efficiencies we focused on included financial, human, operational, strategic, and technological opportunities. This is displayed through repurposing and right-sizing positions, strategically reallocating resources to community safety initiatives, and leveraging civilian member expertise to increase frontline capacity. These efforts, among others, directly saved money and time, enhanced service and optimized our workforce. We also modernized processes through initiatives like our service delivery modernization and early charge screening. The SDM, Service Delivery Modernization, was launched to leverage our existing workforce, manage calls for service, improve frontline deployment, response times, and member well being, and expand online and virtual services. The new Provincial Police Review Commission, PRC, took on the responsibility of investigating police misconduct complaints. Our internal professional standards section shifted focus to manage complaints related to police performance, services, and policy. This change provides objective oversight into police misconduct and allows for PSS to focus energy on service delivery, performance, and policy related complaints. In partnership with the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service, we started to pilot an early charge screening process where prosecutors review charges immediately after they are laid. This replaces the previous process that often caused delays and last minute changes. We also bolstered a recruitment strategy to promote careers in policing amongst diverse communities. Programs such as Indigenous Pathways to Policing and Women's Recruitment Boot Camps ensure the service is reflective of the community we serve. Next slide, please. Carrying on with how we support our members, in 2025, we implemented a new performance assessment process to support member development, align with the CPS leadership competencies, and provide a consistent and structured opportunity for members to engage in performant discussions as they navigate their careers. To ensure a safe and respectful workplace, we launched CPS Behavior Zones and updated our Respect for Workplace policy and harassment prevention plan. These additions reinforce our existing processes and initiatives. To ensure members who are off on leave or accommodated are supported when they return to work, we strengthened our abilities management and return to work programs. While we saw 19% of our officers on leave or accommodations, only 6% are completely off, while 13% continue to meaningfully contribute. By working in accommodated roles. The world of policing includes unique complexities, and by better addressing these complexities, we streamlined the process for returning to work. Next slide, please. Two engagement tools provided the service with critical community insights. The feedback from both the Commission's Community Perception Survey and the Calgary Policing Summit provided direction on how we moved forward as a service to address the concerns and needs of Calgarians. Last year's summit hosted approximately 350 community leaders, business professionals, industry partners, and elected officials to open dialogue and public safety. With opportunities for live engagement, event attendees offered valuable insights that will shape future strategies. The 2025 Community Perception Survey continued to provide a pulse on how Calgarians feel about public safety and the work of the service. With the majority of respondents, about 80%, view Calgary as safe. There are concerns related to increases in homelessness, drug use, and mental health related disturbances in public spaces, as well as concerns regarding theft, violence, and vandalism. Though social disorder and mental health crises are not crimes, they do drive perceptions of safety and strain on our resources. 61% of respondents support increased funding for the CPS to hire more officers to address crime and public safety. Additionally, members including the executive leadership team informally engage the community through countless events that we either hosted or attended, such as our ongoing series of public town halls that we have been hosting since 2025. Next slide, please. Next, we will look at implications and risks the service navigated. We are the third largest city in the country, and to keep us as one of Canada's safest major cities, we set our focus on strengthening frontline capacity and preparing for future growth. Calgary has grown rapidly in population, diversity, and complexity, yet, our frontline and investigative capacity has not grown at the same pace. This has tangible impacts on response times, workload, and officer well being. These pressures are not sustainable in the long term without restoring frontline capacity. The growth of our frontline through strategic workforce alignment, recruitment, and management of our accommodated workforce is critical in meeting the needs associated with population growth. We have also prioritized stronger traffic safety initiatives, for example, the Drive to Zero campaign that is done in partnership with the city. Social disorder remains an ongoing issue. This spurred us to proactively launch Safe for Calgary Operation Order in the downtown core with our law enforcement partners at Calgary Community Safety, Transit Public Safety, and the Alberta Sheriffs. This operation did see a decrease in public related disorder and focused on connecting those in need with immediate supports. Operation Jingle All the Way took place at the end of 2025. It aimed to enhance public safety along priority areas of the South Lake. Of bus and C train lines while also offering support to those in need. The earlier mentioned service delivery modernization project started to modernize service delivery by finding efficiencies through process innovation and identifying new technology. Environmentally, we continued to implement energy efficient technology in our facilities. Economic implications included stabilization of staffing, equipment, and vehicles. We were met with challenges related to revenue for fines and penalties, which also brings us to our service and financial implications. The Commission and the service worked with Council and removed fine revenue as a budget line item for our service. We continued monitoring organizational risks. Similar to 2024, funding pressures and public trust remained top of mind as well as workforce capacity. As a service, we mitigated these risks through effective and efficient resourcing. Next slide and last slide I will speak to. Thank you. In 2026, we are optimistic about what is on the horizon. We have successfully set the year's direction through the 2026 Annual Policing Plan. The current APP Annual Policing Plan concludes the current service plan and is a launch pad for the 2027 to 2030 service plan and budget. The upcoming service plan and budget is a frontline focused policing budget and strategy. It is clear the next step after years of efficiency, adaptation, and absorbed growth. It introduces our new vision together for a safer Calgary, and our priorities include advancing policing, proudly serving, and building relationships. For Calgarians, this will mean more visible frontline policing and priority areas, improved response and investigative capacity, safer public spaces, and continued investment in initiatives like youth programming and Indigenous reconciliation. It will also mean measurable outcomes related to officer time reinvestment, investigative excellence, service quality, and resource stewardship. We are also finding new ways to tell this story through the voices of our members and the Calgarians we serve. And the last slide is for any questions that you may have. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Vice Chair. Thank you so much for for this presentation. I don't see having I don't have any questions in the queue. So it looks like everybody is. Excellent. Thank you very much. Okay. Actually, I I I it spoke too early. Councillor uh tires, please go ahead. Sorry, that was last minute. Um, Chief McLean, thank you so much uh for your report. So uh my colleagues and I were invited to the recent policing summit where we got to be there with you and see like how important it is to engage with the community in that kind of setting, especially for the Calgary Police Service and for the Calgary Police Association. You did mention a town hall series that you were doing. I was wondering if you could tell us about any other initiatives, town halls, or events where you're really emphasizing receiving feedback from the community, because I thought that was such an important piece seeing those community leaders and community members engaging with you guys in that way. My apologies. My apologies, my fault before you answer. I forgot to do one part of my job, if you allow me. Is there anyone in the public who would like to speak to this item here in chamber or on the phone? Anyone in public, here in the chamber or on the phone, hear none, seeing none, with that we'll close the public part of this. Sorry, my apologies. Go ahead, uh, Chief. Not a problem, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor, for the question. So, as you've said, we've committed to numerous town halls. We go to several community events. We could probably, my team and I, and many many members of the leadership team, be at events every single night and every single weekend. So every opportunity we get to do that, we have those conversations. Many of our members who are out on the front line with respect to particularly our school resource officers who are out in the schools, when we get the opportunity to speak with parents, we get engagement that way through the surveys that we said. But every opportunity that we're out with the public, we just speak about what it is that we're doing, what our priorities are, ask for that feedback. We get a lot of informal feedback. We also get lots of informal feedback through our through our external website and lots of questions and recommendations through that as well. Yeah, that's excellent. Well we all know that um like that kind of feedback creates good policy and and and um good ways of uh communicating with the public, especially when it comes to police work and that kind of thing. So we appreciate the work that you guys are doing. Keep it up. Thank you very much. Thank you, Councillor Taras. To the point and very precise, thank you. Uh over to Councillor Pentasopoulos. Thank you so much, Chair. Thank you so much for coming and presenting and uh telling Calgarians exactly your thoughts and more importantly, sort of the vision where you're going uh forward with that. Clerks, do you mind bringing up the crime and public safety slide on attachment two? So maybe uh one more. Perfect. Yeah, right here. Um, you know, you mentioned violent crimes. Everyone is is awful, but homicides are down 44% amazing, sex offense is down subtly. But in your commentary, you mentioned we're short. Homicide investigators, we have 14, we need 20. Assault investigators, 10, we need 20. When you look at this, things like fraud, and that impacts a lot of Calgarians and it's growing. So maybe just speak to that, putting resources to areas that an outside observer sees we're doing a good job. You're doing a bang, though those 10 homicide investigators are doing a bang up job. Yet the folks that are in fraud, I'm not going to say are not, but we need more resources. So just help us reconcile that, focusing on those awful violent crimes as compared to where the crime is actually growing and not pivoting resources towards that to get that 21 down to zero or something better. Thank you, Councillor. I'll just make a quick comment as a as an observer of as we see this stuff as the Commission. Technology and the ability to trick people with things on the internet andor AI has really advanced the ability of someone who's got the wrong idea to do things. I would think that's a starting point, Katie. Yeah, I I would just say that um those homicide calls in particular, even though that number is down, they're much more complex uh than what they were years ago, and so they take much, much longer to investigate, and um there's many other additional pieces that that we need. But but as the chair said, um technology and partnerships have created some efficiencies. I can tell you that one of the reasons that our homicides are down uh last year in particular, as well as our gun seizures, is that we have some very significant uh criminal offenders who are in jail and who have been incarcerated. So we know that they will be out sometime soon, probably uh this year. And um, so we don't want to take away from those resources. It takes quite some time for areas in those specialty investigative units to get that expertise to be able to thoroughly investigate that. To look at case precedents, case laws, have the involvements with the partnerships. But as you said, Councillor, we are very concerned about the fraud, and that and that's just uh that's just a pebble in the ocean. We know that actually lots of people do not call us because there's lots of embarrassment and um technology um is not helping us with respect to online frauds and online crimes, and so we have to very much so increase those uh capacity and have those additional experts as well. Police officers don't come into the police service as financial crime experts or fraud experts or IT experts, and so we have to balance that and ensure that we're bringing in those civilian subject matter experts as well as training some of our police officers so that we can have that hybrid partnership. That's a great segue into the next question. And and you know, crime is changing, and and the answer from the chair, I I I I struggle with that answer because crime is changing, so the police needs to change. But but chief, you've spoken a lot about future-proofing the police force and the crime of tomorrow and and how we make Calgary safer. And and maybe just speak to that in in the slide, the service in 26, the the service plan and budget. Um again, a lot on frontline policing, yet if crime is changing, you've talked about using AI just because it's the soup de jour. How are you future proofing the police in anticipation of how crime is changing in Calgary in Canada? So that we're not sort of left, it's criminals are moving very quickly, and if the police force is not moving in tandem, we are gonna fall behind. So so how are you sort of speaking that? How are you thinking about that as you look forward and future proofing the police for uh the crimes of the future? That's a really great comment. And as I've said earlier in my comments, it's it's not just about asking for more money and more police officers. We have to be more strategic. We have to become additional experts. And that's why you'll see the growth this year when we look at the budget. It's not just about frontline police officers, it's about hiring those subject matter experts. You kind of alluded to it, counsellor, in that truly our criminals are ahead of the game with it with respect to technology. And so we have to get smarter, we have to become more educated, we have to bring in additional experts. So we'll have different kinds of pockets of police officers, you know, potentially that we will look to in the future. The kind of police officers that we're hiring now compared to when I was hired 35 years ago is a tad bit different. And of course, uh you've you've heard me talk often about how much trauma and complexity that they see and that they deal with. And so each year, I think I would say every five year segments, we as a service have to look to see what kind of individuals is it that we're bringing into the service, what kind of individuals is it that we need to have to help us move the service forward. Because it's not going to be status quo and we have to try and get ahead ahead of the curve. But you you mentioned it, Councillor, uh leveraging IT and getting ahead of IT and things like AI, which opens up a whole can of worms. But bringing in individuals, both sworn and civilian, who understand those complexities and have some of that expertise will help us to be more proactive and ahead of the game. Yeah, I think you know, Calgary, we pride ourselves being cutting edge on so many, whether it's business, not for profit, and and I think you know you'll get a lot of support in this council on a policing side and utilizing that. And it's a wonderful dovetail. I think you've read my notes about people and the assets. And 20%, as I understand, 19 or 20 percent of of our frontline staff, your team, is on some sort of leave. And you know, maybe just speak to that how you're thinking about that in the budget cycle to address that. And and maybe the the rate number isn't zero, uh, but it certainly hopefully isn't twenty percent. So how does that Absent just hiring more folks to backfill, and I know that's a short-term strategy, but how do you get those folks through trauma, through lived experiences which we just can't imagine? What's your thoughts? What's your strategy? How are you investing in your plan when you sit down here next year saying, hey, we really took a dent, we really were able to bring what a success. The 500 that were on the sidelines, 100 came back, and and what a joyous event as compared to the 500 went to 600 or 700. So how how can we think about that and how are you bringing that into your budget? Great question. We think and talk about this every single day, and you must be reading our notes. Because it it is a concern. And and again, not to just say that it's not just about Calgary, but every police service across the country. And you heard uh Mr Mr. Bushel talk about 911 and so forth. It's just an unfortunate reality of what we are dealing with today. And so I would say um, you know, there's a lot of members that get injured on the job, and so we we have to take care of them. They've been involved in traumatic incidents and they've seen things that most people don't get to see, and so We have to ensure that, regardless of whether they stay in the Calgary Police Service or go on to another another line of careers, is that they have to be healthy and that they have to be well. And so what we did in fact do and what we continue to do is invest in our human resources area. And first of all, it actually starts with ensuring that we're hiring the right individuals, going back to my my comment that I said earlier. And we can't predict everything that people are going to see, but we have to be very clear and upfront with them that they are coming to see people at their worst time. They are coming to see a lot of tragedy, and they have to be able to be resilient. And that doesn't mean just about bouncing back. That means about how are you going to grow and learn and continue to be able to serve in the police service. But to your point, and I and I know personally that there's, and in fact, I've just met with two individuals over this past week, that there are in that number of 400 that people do want to come back. They want to continue to serve in another way. And so we're actually pivoting as a service to see what more can we offer these individuals so that they continue to contribute to what we want to accomplish as a service. But some of the things that we have done with respect to our in our HR shop is we've looked at our abilities area. We've looked at our placement, as I said. So when individuals aren't coming back, they just know that they're coming to an area where they some may not see as valuable or as contributing. We've got return to work coordinators, we've got different processes. When individuals go off, we do independent medical assessments. And we've brought in things like internal therapy services, uh, contracted services as well. And uh and then, of course, um we've got um additional uh programs before they go off, and we've also invested in there, and that includes things like, and I won't go through the entire list, but it includes things like um early uh early um interven intervention, early warning signs, therapy, peer support. We do lots of critical incident debriefs. Um we've got different programs that we bring in. So we've really looked at a multitude of uh committees and processes and supports, and we really plugged into the rest of our police service partners across the country to ensure that where can we align, where do we have the cap, where do we have the gaps, where can we make um some additional um strides with respect to keeping our people healthy and safe. Well I really appreciate that. What what I'm comforted as a Calgaryan and as a Councillor is you may not have all the solutions, but you've got a plan. You've identified the problem. Step one, step two, here's a plan. And we know some will work and some won't, but but you've identified, I think, very clearly, uh, and and that's gives me lots of comfort. And thank you so much for your service and all the public members of the police commission as well. Thank you so much for your service, tireless effort on behalf of Calgary and so thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thanks so much. So much, Councillor Pentasopoulos. Over to Councillor Johnston. So um do you guys look at the direction of the council? Um, so the last council's direction had a lot to do with uh well it's called Brazilian Calgary. And so this council has a new direction coming up. I I'll be honest, I'm not sure exactly the rule of commission versus what council gives to the police services, but do you guys look at our council direction when making decisions going forward? Or do you just look at the what the commission? We provide governance for the police service. In the in the in all areas of government, governance we would try to we we will pertain to what good governance would present. At the end of the day, this city council holds the purse string for the budget for the police service. So of course we're we would try to interact as best we can in any way we can, Councillor. with the with the with the city's council's direction, which I understand is being developed today, which is also which is as fluid as as the police service is. Does that answer your question? Um, kind of. I I I guess my my my hope is that you guys look at the previous council's direction versus what our direction is. Um as the last council direction um was heavily weighted towards social resilience and social aspects. And and I understand there's a lot of social aspects to policing. Um But I think Calgaryans are really looking to us to focus on the matter at hand and not We met with each and every one of you folks after the election. And I know that as as you'll agree that public safety was the number one issue that we discussed among council members. And that would be our focus purely sorry at the top of the pecking order of what we're here to do in as a police service. Agreed, Katie? And we are again fluid collaborative uh performance between council and commission is exactly what we want. you guys find the Calgary Police Service is trying to sometimes uh re image itself or maybe sometimes worries more about PR than I I don't want to comment on that. I I think that the again the the um the front facing Calgary Police Service is I is I I'm extremely proud to be a part of that functionary as a as those that provide governance for that. So I don't know how I how better I could answer that. um going over your slide on the different types of crimes or going up and down. For me it comes down to reported crimes. Right. And so for these numbers, it's very hard to take seriously knowing personally how many times I've been affected by some of these not the first one, second one, third one, not the fourth one, where I've filed through the system you guys created and to this point where I don't do it anymore if I get my tool stolen or if I'm assaulted. It just there's no real justice, there's no real follow up. And so I just wonder are you guys able to? Guess maybe how many unreported crimes are out there. Uh apologies for the um challenges with that system and so rest assured that we have in fact uh in the are in the process of um Rebuilding that entire system and trying to make it much more user-friendly. But to your point, and it's a definite concern of ours that we know that there are many people who don't call for a variety of reasons. So I I would I I'd be throwing darts in the dark to to try and guesstimate what those numbers are, but it is a concern for us that people are not reporting and that number does impact what we've got shown here today. Would would you say what I brought up is being more commonly brought up that people are less likely to report a crime and that producing numbers like this doesn't show the whole picture? I would agree with you that this only shows the picture with respect to the data and stats that we have. But as I've said, we know that there is a number of individuals. I speak with them often for a variety of reasons as to why they don't call. And so are these numbers different when we take that into consideration? 100%. And and sorry, maybe you guys can help me with uh population versus these numbers or um traffic versus pedestrian related accidents. Um I'm I'm just curious, like are they on par with population or are are they getting worse even with the the greater population in Calgary? Definitely when you look at the stats when uh we compared to the numbers last uh over the last several years, uh 2025 was our highest by far since 2020. And there's a multitude of reasons for that. And uh I often talk about um and I don't I don't know what other cities have got, but we looked at to see how many vehicles are actually registered in the city of Calgary, and it's just over a million. Depending on what stat you look at, we know how we were pushing 1.6, 1.7 million people. And as we've said, that these every single fatality is preventable. The majority of them are because of. Speeding, distracted driving, or impairment. And I can share with you the fatality that happened last night. Again, another very tragic situation. Our police units were out there, our traffic section was out there. We had the scene cordoned off. We had pylons up, and we had an individual drive through our scene at over 80 kilometers an hour. And we were just fortunate that he didn't injure a police officer or someone else. And the reason why he was doing that was because he was late for work. That's fair. Um just off our own dashboard, um citywide collisions are actually down lower than what it was in 2020 with a potential twenty hundred thousand population increase. So all I'm saying is maybe you guys are doing a really good job. Um that a lot of these stats are actually lower, and so that's that's great. Um and uh With the budget ask coming up here um and the risk of not being able to fill those positions with the money. Um that's a question I've had for a lot of uh of our our own districts and they're just they're like, Yeah, we could ask for all the money in the world, but if we can't find recruitment, it's not gonna do anything. So um I'm I'm hoping you guys are able to figure out how to retain and keep more police officers. I think the program you guys were thinking about was bringing in retired police officers and redeputizing them and Put 'em on the street. So hopefully you guys can figure that out because I mean our goal is to get police officers, like you said, on the on the street and the the presence of that alone will reduce crime. So um but thank you for coming. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor. Thank you so much, Councillor Johnston. Over to Councillor McLean. Thank you, Chair. I apologize that I couldn't be there in person this morning, as uh you might know we've had a lot of long days from together, so had a bit of housekeeping. But first off, let me say congratulations to you, Chief, on your new contract. I think you've shown great leadership and commitment to County Police Services, and it's well deserved. So if I was there, I'd clap for you. But congrats. Uh, thanks to the whole force, actually, and uh the police commission. Mr. Hogel, I hear you've got a couple good counselors on police commission helping you out these days. Is that right? Can you name them? Well, they're not there today in chambers, but No, I will I will say, Commissioner or uh Councillor McLean, that um in my several years of uh or three years now of being with the police commission, I I can unequivocally say that our relationship with the city councillors that have been on commission has been impeccable and a lot of pulling on the rope together at the same time. I can I would I can affirm that with a hundred percent certainty. well, thanks for all you do. And and and the whole commission. I mean, there's a lot of time and energy and uh commitment. Uh, but it's a lot of really, really good work that people do, you know, at uh uh expense of their own lives and it's not like you're really getting paid paid so uh again, thank you for all that. But uh getting down to some questions then. Um Chief, I I again commend you on some of the uh Uh, work you're doing on crime and social disorder downtown with Operation Order. I understand some of those are going to come to a close or be changed, or maybe could be more effective. Can you maybe speak to that a bit? Thanks, uh, Councillor. Thanks so much for your kind wishes and congratulations. And so we will continue with operations like operation order. The only thing that might change is with respect to the locations and a couple of things, obviously, with lessons learned, but you will continue to see those in our city. Okay. And I think maybe you can speak to as well. You know, a lot of time and uh resources are spent going back and forth to spy hill from downtown. There's always been talk about a downtown police station. That would come at a great cost. I mean, I know I I think there's also some redistrict redistrict being on some of the Uh police uh boundaries as well. Can you maybe speak to that as well? I mean, if there was to be a police station, we are these safety hubs enough, or we're a smaller operation or bigger, or you want your wish list and maybe speak to the boundaries changing as well, please. Uh thanks for your question, Councillor. And so those boundary changes that just happened have actually been in the works for a couple of years. When we looked at the amount of police officers that we have and the requests for call load, they needed to, and really they needed to go back to what they were many, many years ago. And so there was just some IT difficulties that took us quite some time. So we have made those in relation to the amount of officers that we have to respond to calls and the calls for service. And so that that's why that was done. I think to kind of your point, and so we've got eight police stations. People don't uh I think realize that we've actually got 41 buildings that we lease and own. Many, many years ago we had um pop-up stations, we had satellite stations, and for leasing costs and so forth, we had to give those up. Uh, but uh we have to go back and look at those because of the amount of how big some of our district offices are. And so, but to your point with respect to a downtown police station, and we get asked this often, and uh and and I've you have you've heard me say often that that we serve we serve all of you, and if it's something that um that the that council wants and and wants us to uh embrace and endorse, then of course we are at the table with you. We've got the the um the the the the station that you talked about. We stood up our new uh district office uh just not too far, uh the old telephone building. Um we understand that there's some issues with access and parking and so forth. And then, of course, we do have the downtown station, but it's in Ramsey, it's in the outskirts of the city. And uh as we spoke, as I spoke with the Council uh Commission last week, we did talk about the fact that many other major police services do have a high visible downtown police station. And so if that's something that uh we want to entertain and have a discussion about, and we're at the table and looking for guidance on that. Yeah, uh, I agree. Under resourced and underfunded, but uh we're stretched pretty thin at our budget requirements as well. But that's something we can work on later. But I would like to ask you. A little more about the uh I've talked with Councillor Dollywall about this as well, the extortion rings that have been uh plaguing our country, not let alone our city. And I think there's been some progress and arrests on that. Or can you maybe give us an update? Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Councillor. An absolute priority for us that we have redeployed numerous resources over the past several months. We are Intel driven. We have a joint operation set up with the RCMP. We are connected provincially, nationally, and internationally. And it's atrocious what these suspects are doing to innocent people and have no regard for public safety with respect to going out and setting houses on fires, shooting at people. But we have done lots of positive things behind closed doors. Obviously, we don't come out and speak publicly about some of our operations, particularly those that are covert, but we have actually arrested several individuals. And I think I've shared with some of you in the past that many of these suspects are people who have come in from other countries and who are here on work visas and who are here on student visas. But to your question, Councillor, we have recently made some arrests that have resulted in charges. And this afternoon we will be doing uh giving a news brief on those uh arrests and charges later today. Excellent. Well, thanks for uh coming and thanks for the presentation. Keep up the good work. That's all I have. Thanks so much, Councillor. Thank you, Councillor McLean. Over to Councillor Atkinson. Great, thank you. Um you mentioned in your presentation youth violent crime, which isn't in the reports. Can you just expand on that? That sounds like something we Yeah. Yeah, thanks, thanks, Councillor. Su super, super concerning. So we've started to see a high trend of youths between the ages of 12 and just under the age of 18. Out stealing vehicles, out robbing individuals, out assaulting individuals, taking people at knife point, going into businesses and committing swarming. And so we have seen that rise just over these past six months and into the end of last year. And so we're working with the school boards. Deputy Daly, who has many of the school youth programs in his area, we're connected in with them. The last town hall that we did in McKenzie was specifically focused on youth crime. And our next one, actually, that's coming up here at the middle or the end of the month, is also focused in on youth crime as well. So very, very concerning, a trend that we haven't seen in quite some time and quite violent for individuals who are between those ages. Thank you. Yeah, it's things to work on. I know you've got your annual policing plan already sort of we're we'll get into that, but the like is there initiatives that you're sort of seeing as a way to start working on that issue? It's um I think uh the those partnerships with and and some and some of them are actually not in schools, so it's difficult to to have those relationships and those partnerships. And we have incredible relationships with all of the school boards and so our SR our school resource officers who are doing a phenomenal job in there speaking with the kids who are in are in schools and with the parents, but some of these are individuals who are not in schools, and so we work closely with with social workers and as I said out in the community bringing this to people's attention and um doing as much as we can to tell kids that you've got two choices when it comes to the fork in the road, and when you take this choice, bad things are going to happen. It's just about having those. Upfront, blatant conversations, and when we do bring these individuals into custody, having those resources and talk about potential, and I know not to kind of sound philosophical, but what truly are the root causes? Is are there things going on in in different parts of their life that we can engage in? And when there are those opportunities, as I said, through Deputy Daly's area and through our yard team, our mass team, our ISSP team, and so forth, we're engaging as many of the kids that we can. Operation order, so the focus sort of on these pieces, uh, operation certainties, the one where I've sort of been able to really dig into the report, but showed something that I've heard from some of the businesses and residents in downtown is that it just sort of moves where the activity is taking place and sort of displaces folks, but displaces them just into other areas. Um I wonder if you can sort of speak to, I mean, you said you're going to be continuing to pursue operation order or these type types of endeavors. Um, but we heard say even in the in the former um report from from bylaw that it's really about public and consistent presence, building relationships, these kinds of things, which operation order feels counter to. Uh thanks for your question and for your comments. And so we we understand that that impact that we have when we bring in a hundred plus officers and additional resources is a one-day intervention and engagement. However, there are lots of many uh operational orders that go on in behind the scenes consistently with the Deputy U Brian's folks through the community engagement response teams with our mental health workers, with our social workers. So those continue to happen on a daily basis. You just don't see that big visible surge when we do that. As you know, I've been down the last two operational orders that we have, and the amount of people that have come out, and you know, uh Mr. Bushel talked uh Ian Bushel talked about it earlier, is people just appreciate that visibility. It brings a change when people see police officers, peace officers in uniform. And so your comment about displacement, and of course we're concerned about that, and that's not something that we want to have. Some of that just pushed out into the suburbs, and so we were very focused to ensure that that didn't happen. It may have, but what we learned and what we saw was that in fact it did not happen. Um, and um so I can also tell you that when we hear there there's these concerns of displacement, there's also the concerns about the drug traffickers who go down and target those vulnerable individuals. And there was the concern that when we were down there doing those kinds of things, they would go out, the drug traffickers would go out to different areas, out to the suburbs where some other individuals are and target those individuals. Again, I can tell you we were very strategic with covert and overt operations. We didn't see that. And in fact, when we went and tried to do an undercover drug operation after our last operation order, um our drug, our undercover operators couldn't find a drug trafficker to buy drugs from. And so that that that is a win to us. And so the concern was to your point did they go somewhere else and do that? We didn't see that area, that area. So they went somewhere. They did not go somewhere in this city that we saw them being displaced out to other parts of the city. Okay, yeah. And I guess it's more like the the drug trafficking is one side of things, but really where we see with operation order is is sort of social disorder, vulnerable populations, and sort of, and that's where I do hear from the folks sort of surrounding downtown displacement into into those areas, reaching into my office. But even within the downtown and even in your operation certainty report, we see things like businesses in sort of like T D Square, some of these places that are maybe being more disproportionately uh you know uh impacted by sort of the movement of people within within the downtown because of these kinds of things. And I totally hear you and and obviously if if you're hearing it, um it's happening and and and we hear different pieces as well, but it's We can't just not do nothing. And so the one piece that we have been very specific about is this wasn't an operation to go around and down there and just arrest i vulnerable individuals and put them in jail. Clearly, if they were committing criminal offenses or if they had a warrant, so for so forth. But it truly was to go down there because we started to get into a bit of a, I think a bit of a culture where we would walk past these individuals and because we were frustrated that we weren't able to connect with appropriate resources or had support from the crowns and so forth, that our members would walk past and would say, someone should do something about that. That's really unfortunate. And what we were doing is we were walking past individuals who were dying on the streets. And so we have said, as a police service, that that's not acceptable to us. That we will, when we see these individuals, we will engage, we will interact, and we will, where appropriate, connect them with the appropriate resources. Even the individuals that we did end up having to take to jail, we ensured that there were resources up at jail. And for example, uh individuals who were indigenous, we had indigenous uh folks there to liaise and there were smudges and so forth. So we really tried to be holistic in our approach. And it's not it's not just about enforcement, but truly as a service, we have taken a stance that these individuals need help, and we play a role in that along with all of our partners, and we will continue to interact and engage and get these individuals connected to resources where and when we can. I appreciate that. And it's I know you're dealing with limited resources. To me, the better way to do that is through relationship building, having a constant presence and making sure and and I I get that maybe this is a a a moment in time, right, where you have limited resources, but having to pull folks from elsewhere in the city to do this kind of work and whatever, instead of being able to have long term relationship building people on the ground and really sort of having that presence, that's where I would like to sort of see it go. Um I'll maybe move into now some of your the annual policing plan. This is the look forward where we're heading 2026. Really appreciate getting the insights there. I'm just gonna run through a couple of items. So uh if we could go to uh page five of that, there's um one of your big things focusing on obviously we heard it earlier, this sort of focus on psychological safety of our members. It's super important, right? We don't want folks on medical leave, impacts you know, their health, impacts budgets, impacts our ability to deliver. Um, under goal one, there you've got this proportion of respondents that felt wellness and resilience divisions resources better prepared them to build resilience and the percentage of members on medical leave or accommodated in regular contact with an abilities advisor as per service delivery standards, both as setting baseline. Um, I'm just wondering like how why it is that we're setting the baseline, why we don't have already have sort of a target, something measured that we are actually able to make sure that we are meeting that sort of safety needs of our first responders. Uh thanks thanks for your question. Um I might turn to uh K Kim Asaley is here. Um but uh what I would say is that um it's just that we've actually just recently brought in those subject matter experts into into the service and so it's some some new programs that we're starting, but I don't know if Kim Asaley wants to add anything to that. Just uh just there's uh I think some folks listening uh online, so just if you could in the microphone, thank you. Yeah. Can everyone hear me? So I would concur with the chief. Our abilities management program, we are just maturing that and that includes our data. And so, but I I would just re-emphasize that with building out that program, adding more staff, we really want to make sure that we're connecting in with members on leave and that are accommodated quite regularly. So the work right now is to set that standard and then ensure that we have a way to measure it. In terms of the wellness piece, we obviously have quite a few kind of background operational measures related to that. But I would say that we've asked these questions alongside the Commission in our annual employee engagement survey, but this one was specific that we're gonna uh run within the service, and then we're gonna ask follow up questions to them as well to understand whether or not they're getting the right services at the right time. Uh, because one of the issues is we want to make sure that those in the districts are receiving supports as well. So I I recognize how like the the wellness division, great that we're working on that, but like numbers of folks on medical leave should be a stat that I mean what we've heard, right? That we are tracking. So to not sort of have like a number and then that we are like what we're trying to target and sort of work towards on that, I guess I'm I I have a bit of difficulty with that piece when we've heard that there are stats around numbers of members on leave. I d I I'm not sure of the question. Like w we're gonna try to do better. Like it we're hop we we're adding resources, and you'll see and and I'm not speaking out of school, in the four-year plan, with there's a lot of there's significant resources in the to be added in this area of well. Yeah, I guess it's like do better, yes, measurable how, right? All of the other pieces in here we're seeing 100%. We're just seeing 65%. There's measurable goals within here. And then this one, where we have actually some statistics around number of members on leave, but we're still setting a baseline and not actually like setting targets in terms of what we're actually trying to change here in terms of the numbers of folks on leave. Like, I guess it makes it difficult. Like, why do we not have, if we have the numbers, the statistics in terms of folks on leave, why are we not actually setting a benchmark and a measurable piece that we can then check back in on and make sure that we're we're following through on that? Kim will speak to that. Right. So, as you said, we do have numbers. It's currently at 6% for our sworn members that are on leave. However, this one was really to ensure that there was accountability around how we approach the service delivery from an HR perspective. And so again, that wasn't the strongest before, I will admit that. And so part of us putting it in here is to build that accountability and baseline around that service delivery and support from HR. Okay, thank you. I'll maybe jump now to page eight. We've got the sort of, or actually page nine, sorry. So you've got this sort of focus on the relationship with Indigenous folks in our community, which we know are well overrepresented in our vulnerable population, well overrepresented in folks in incarceration. And we've got this, once again, sort of setting baseline piece here. I don't know, speaking to this one, uh goal five, number eight, percentage of member participants in IRT-led sessions that confirmed that they obtained knowledge that had positive practical application in their interactions with the public and service delivery in uh or to indigenous communities. Um, that goal there. And once again, it's sort of setting baseline. Um but I feel like this has been, yeah, such a critical one that I know you have been working on. You did mention earlier your Indigenous recruitment efforts, some of these sorts of things. But I just I guess I worry when other ones have been given focus, targetable measures, and then I see setting baseline. I'm like, is that a goal that isn't really a goal? That's that's what it makes me worry. Really great comment and and thank you for that. We've had lots of conversations around some of these setting baselines, and I and I totally hear how it's jumping out like it what it is. We just haven't been capturing it. And so that's why we just have to we've got setting baselines. So you might see some probably some adjustments with the commission uh as we move along here, but we did have lots of conversations around there's there's a couple of in here as you've pointed out, um, and it's just that we haven't been correct correct collecting the the stats and the data, and we need to. Okay, okay. Um can do you do you want to speak at all? I that stood out in your presentation, the Indigenous recruitment efforts. Do you have anything that you want to specifically speak to around um yeah how that's going? Yeah, I would just say that the team is doing a really great job both in the recruiting unit and in Deputy Daly's area with our Indigenous relations teams. We've got uh great connections with elders, we go to many community events, we did the recruitment camp, um, and so we're we're doing our best and we're having as many conversations as we can and and I see that uh positively trending as well. Fair. I'll maybe jump now to page 13. I'll first speak to number uh 17, item 17 on that page. Um sorry, I'm getting there myself. Um item so item 17 is the rate of shooting incidents. And then I guess I'm just like that's that's become my take on this, and maybe I'm wrong in this, but because there's a dash in the 2025 target column that makes it a new target, right? As of this year. That's exactly it. Yeah, so I guess. I mean, obviously we want to see shootings go down, great, but then I I guess I'm why the focus on that when in the reporting on as we heard earlier, we we heard that you know 47% reduction in shooting and then homicides down 44%. Like, why make that I guess a T key target indicator to track and to focus on when the trends in that are where we want them to be going and uh, you know, and and and is that potentially then pulling away our focus and effort on other areas that maybe need some attention? And I'm gonna ask Kim to come back up. If you don't are you able to speak to that? Just about the the the methodology, and I know we had lots of conversations about setting those targets, Kim. Are you able to speak to why we have that one there? I know Rebecca's not here. Or or it's just about the target. It's Asif Rashid here. Thanks for the question, sir. The reason why the metric was absent in 2025 and has been introduced in 2026 is because nationally, through our intelligence gathering initiatives, we began to see an uptick in gun activity towards the end of 2025, specifically around the extortion incidents that have been spoken about. And so nationally, some of these trends began in earnest in early 2025, late 2024. We had not began to see the same uptick in Calgary as other jurisdictions had seen. So anticipating that we might see something and working with our intelligence partners, we introduced this as a metric to signal what we were going to expect for 2026. And in fact, our worst fears have played out as the chief and others have discussed this morning. our worst fears have played out. Yes, in that gun violence has trended upwards towards the very tail end of twenty twenty five, specifically around the Christmas season and in the first two months of twenty twenty six. So that's why it's important for us to measure it, so that we can hold ourselves accountable to diminishing gun crime as the year goes on for twenty six. So if I go back to I guess to the like that um overall like forty seven percent Decrease in shooting incidents and then 44% decrease in homicides that was presented in the sort of report. Are we saying that that was largely all focused basically within one season? Like it was very disproportionately, like we've seen a massive. So we where where that's measured on an annual basis, that all of that has really come on in the end of 2025, and we're actually seeing quite an epidemic, and those numbers actually do not, like we actually have a much like this is that actually, I guess I like I'm I'm now I'm actually in like a weird spot where I heard on the one side that we're seeing less shooting incidents, less homicides uh annually, but then now if that's all being crunched in, like, is this something that we really actually need to be? Really focused on because we have seen actually a spike, and if this was done on a seasonal basis, we would The numbers were done over the aggregate of the whole the year 2025. Okay. But we knew towards the end of 2025 gun violence started to increase a little bit. So many of the gains to your point were made in the first two or three quarters of that year. For 2026, you talk about the epidemic. So there have been 28 shootings year to date in the first three months of 2026. That compares to this time last year when there were 10 shootings. So yes, it is an increasing, a very important consideration for us and one that we need to continue to monitor. That's exactly what I needed to understand. Okay, so yeah, just that discrepancy between what we're seeing there, 44% and 47%, those dropping, but then to have that as a focus point going forward. Thank you. Yeah, really important. Um I'll maybe jump back to the uh the report page 13. Well, I'll jump into 20. We knew we were gonna go there. Fatal collisions. Um this is this is I think has to be on all cylinders go, all departments focused on this effort. We are just seeing this climb and uh really need to to tackle it. Um I'm wondering, like we the the statistics or the the measurement um both last year and this year was to have it decreased by 25%, and we are obviously trending in the wrong direction. So I guess a two-piece. One is to looking back on 2025, sort of the failings there in terms of being able to hit that target, and what makes you think that we will be able to achieve that same target? Like we've set the same target again this year. Um why why the same statistic? Why do we what are we doing differently that's actually gonna help us to bend that curve in the right direction? Thanks. I I hear your pain and it's uh painful for all of us and just so so tragic as I've talked about so often. And um, you know, we've tried different things, and so some of the things that you would have seen are the individuals who have been impacted by fatalities who have come forward and have shared videos, have been in partnerships with ourselves and the city, and talked about the impact and tried to get people to understand how much this changed people's lives. And so we've tried the compassionate piece, we've tried the intervention piece, we've got the partnerships with MAD, we do the education in the schools, we speak about it all the time on the radio and on the television, we've got the drive to zero campaign, we work with city infrastructure to look at intersections and speed bumps and all of those other things. Um, and it's just it's people are not paying attention, they are not focusing on their one goal, whether as drivers or pedestrians, to get to their destination safely. And enforcement is a big key component of that. And Deputy O'Brien, and I think you've heard me talk about our traffic safety team, that again is short, but I, you know, I'm not continuing to complain, but the facts are that they are they are also short. But we've got our partnerships in the city that we work with, we work with the sheriffs. Um, we are working with uh the GOA with respect to uh photo radar and the prohibitions and so forth on Deerfoot Trail and Stony Trail. We've got the support through the Commission who continues to advocate for that. Um we did see some legislative changes uh in the last quarter with respect to fines and penalties for some things. Uh we've also got the support of the commission where we continue to advocate through and up to the GOA the ability to seize people's vehicles and being able to do that. And so last night, something like that would have been a perfect example. Same time last night, again, it was a stolen vehicle, but an individual driving at 180 kilometers an hour after we deployed a tired deflation device, and he's driving on rims, still trying to get away from the police. And so obviously there's some criminal behavior in there, but driving behavior is atrocious, and and we're trying as many things that we can. We're looking across the country, we continue to look to see what other jurisdictions are doing, and um we're we're making as many changes as we can, we're implementing as many things as we can. We're just we're pleading with the public that they have a responsibility when they get on the roads or when they get behind a vehicle, they have a responsibility, and that's to keep themselves safe and others safe. Yeah, and I I th I really appreciated um sort of breaking it down speeding, distracted driving impairment, like that those these are yeah, really big problem areas. The one thing that I I want to make comment here is I I appreciate that being in here, performance indicator, but I also think there needs to be a bit of a separation in terms of our mindset around it, in terms of fatal collisions vehicle on vehicle, and fatal collisions vehicle on pedestrian or cyclists, and just targeting those two separately. There is another level of responsibility that I believe drivers have to folks who are our most vulnerable road users, those outside of the car and w and and those are really Really tough to deal with, right? The pedestrian um deaths that we're seeing on our roads. And so just something to that I wanted to sort of point to was that distinction between vehicle on vehicle collisions and fatalities and injuries related there, which obviously we we need to drive on, and and I think a lot of that is the speed and right these kinds of things. Um but also a very targeted focus on our vehicle on pedestrian deaths. That's a that's a really good point that we can take away and and and I can assure you that as well with uh traffic safety is one of our core functions obviously with our frontline police officers and uh through each of the district offices they do have a traffic safety engagement enforcement plan that they have in each of the districts and they look at the trends, they look at problem locations, and they go out based on data, based on feedback, based on calls that they get to each of the district offices. But that is certainly something that we will continue to put on our radar as well. Thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah. I'm just going to jump now quickly to uh page 17, uh number 28, uh is a sort of uh I think this actually speaks to what Councillor Johnson was maybe speaking to a little bit, but I I do worry about a focus uh on um media sentiment. I think a lot of the targets in here are great. You're focusing on building trust, building trust with indigenous folks in our community, right? Building um I worry that a focus on media sentiment rather than public trust and measuring specifically the sentiment in the media is maybe going to drive the wrong kinds of focus when the focus really does need to be about the police service and their relationship with community, not the police service and their relationship with media. Thank you. We'll we'll take that away and have a conversation. Thank you. Great. And then my last one, page 19, number 34. AI. It's in everything. It's all over. But actually, we've we've seen some studies coming out and sort of the negative impacts of AI and sort of how that can really, especially, you know, we a lot of AI training data and whatever has not been maybe done with the data sets that include people of color in the same ways as it includes white folks and these kinds of things where there is problematic pieces to AI. I'm just wondering if you can speak to some of the safeguards that you're also bringing in. So AI coming on within policing, I worry about it with sort of my outside eye, but I'm wondering what you're doing internally that maybe those safeguards that you're putting in place around AI. Excellent question. Exciting and scary at the same time for sure. And so it's not just about technology. It still involves people, and we're very, very cautious for what we use AI with, and we're learning many lessons from other police agencies across the country. I can assure you that we do have strong governance, and we've actually got a committee that we have specifically for AI, and it's in the Deputy Chief Corey Daly's area, that has a combination of internal subject matter experts and external subject matter experts, where we are looking to ensure that we have incorporated many of the lessons learned. We're looking down the road to see where it works and where it doesn't work. So we're taking a cautious approach with bringing in as many experts as we can to help us uh to help us build that. Does that cover it, Corey, or do you want to add anything? Deputy Daler just maybe add some more to that, Councillor. Think that's right. Yeah. Uh thanks, Chief. Thanks, Council, for having us here today. Uh the what the Chief covered off on is we have a an incredibly robust, I'd say, country leading at this point, um, supported by uh CSO Murphy's legal team and our external legal um opinion. So we've worked with uh an external legal company along with our internal AI governance and steering committee. That also has seats on or representatives in that internal committee have seats on our Alberta Association Chiefs of Police and our Canadian Association Chiefs of Police, as well as some of us sit on the major city police chief committees to do with technology and AI steering and AI governance. And so that framework that we've developed with our external legal counsel and our internal legal representatives and AI steering committee is leading the work. So specifically to things like bias are included within that framework. And so any AI product that we will intake or want to look at and review within the organization comes through that steering committee and is put through that framework. It's a template that's filled out and it does ask questions very specific, not just to ROI and outcomes and what we're looking at from the productivity of the AI and where that's going to enhance or augment our service delivery, but what is the data that we're ingesting? How does the tool work? Is it AI-enabled tool? Do we have a decision to turn off those products within the technology that we already have? As we're seeing with the types of technology, those things are just being delivered and embedded within products we already own. The email clients you have, you're seeing that right now. So, how are we dealing with those types of products that we already have? And all of that's being put through our governance framework that has been built. independently for the CPS in conjunction with our our um our legal governance teams. So hopefully that that answers I appreciate it. And it sounds like you've got quite a a robust look, maybe at the front end, but maybe if you could speak to the ongoing, like how you will be critiquing this is early days, and and so maybe something meets the check boxes at the beginning and gets implemented. But what are the checkbacks? How are we making sure that there's sort of like continued um uh I don't know. the audits. Yeah, the audits of yeah of how it's actually playing out and whether it's leading to to negative outcomes. Yeah. Great question. And that isn't that is with built in within the framework, but like you say, early days. So a lot of the the auditing will be coming in the next year, two years, three years as we implement these products or phase them out just as quickly as we phase them in. So that is built into the the KPIs, the outcomes that we're looking at on all the products. We do have full auditing capability with all of our technology products that we bring in, specifically through the IT that falls within my bureau. So those types of things and the reporting we'll be bringing back to the chief and the commission. Commission has all the same questions regarding the AI outputs. And like what you say is the we're hearing a lot of things, and we're the same in our industry than any other industry of what AI is going to deliver. We're not necessarily seeing that in the products. There's a lot of hype with the products, so we're taking a slow approach, obviously, a very ethical approach to our AI adoption and within the organization. But we do have built-in audit features to those. So for instance, um on our productivity piece, we're monitoring on a daily basis how many people engage with our co-pilot that we're using, what exactly are they using it for? All of our members know that. We're not monitoring a daily chat feature, but we're monitoring what are they using it for, where are we seeing those efficiencies. Is it report writing? Is it uh analysis to multiple reports into a system for product outputs? Is it actually decreasing officer time on call or the time between calls? So we have all those outputs built in. We just need to have the product in actual application for 2026, 2027 to see if we're actually meeting those, or we'll just bring those products back and look at different things. Okay. That's great. Thank you. Thank you for all the answers. Thank you, Chair. Thank you. Before I go to Councillor Ward, a couple things. We could just suspend the procedure by law, finish this item, and then be back at one, or we can just not take the lunch break and go through it. It's up to you. You can think, but I'll go to Councillor Ward. Yes, just a quick one for you guys. Um a lot of residents have said that when they call non-emergency one two three four number that they're experiencing really long wait times. What do you think the reason is for that and is there a solution? I think uh Mr. Bushel probably spoke about that earlier today when he talked about the same 20% of individuals who are off and um needing additional resources. I don't want to speak on behalf of him as it belongs to the city, but those would just be my couple of takeaways that they're suffering the same um issues that we are with respect to people and capacity. That's good. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Ward. Uh to Councillor Harrison. Yeah. Um, I wasn't going to say much. I was quite glad to listen this morning. I appreciate the report, but um Chief made a what I thought was a beautiful comment offhand. You said it's not just enforcement, it's about service. And um, Vice Chair You'd actually commented earlier as well when speaking with uh Councillor Johnston that you'd been around to see us all. I just wanted to provide the feedback that uh in that meeting that I had with you, I made it quite clear that Ward 9 was seeking support in that non-enforcement facing. We wanted community officers, we wanted to have that experience. And uh over the course of the last few months uh leading up to this report and today, I've received tons of positive feedback from all levels within community, from resident to community association, uh just thrilled with that engagement. Um, and so I just wanted to I think there's something in that statement, a bit of an ethos about it not just being about enforcement, but of service. Um, and you seem to be providing that to my community. So thank you. Thank you for your time today. Thank you very much, Councillor. Thank you, Councillor Harrison. Over to Councillor Ewell. Yeah, I just wanted to uh touch on photo radar. Um we we as a council have been uh requesting the province bring that back. Maybe you could have your perspective on on um uh that as a tool. I think like the focus has been on fine revenue, but maybe speak more about like Uh the safety of our of our officers on major roads like Deerfoot and Stony, um the safety aspect of of photo radar. This is very frustrating. Um we feel the same way. Um it's on the public re myself on the public record bringing this up and calling Deputy O'Brien to c task in the meetings, which is Sort of a fast play on just the effect of trying to make the public and the province aware of the ri of what we've got here. We will continue to put the pressure on the province, um, referencing other jurisdictions like Ontario and BC that have harsher implementation, um, seizure and suspension of vote licenses, but we're pushing a rope here. We would ask you to continue the pressure, ask everyone to pressure their MLAs. Um With the the that said, the province has moved a little bit. I think we have eleven now. Uh they for they they asked us to provide data per for particular replacement of of uh photo radar s uh locations, and we've got, I think, eleven back in since we were able to had to create the data. And we're going to continue to do that, and we will continue to put as many Officers and and uh situations as we can where there's school zones and or construction as as as the law applies. Um having said that again, it's very frustrating going forward at this point with the with the way the legislation is. And I again I don't have anything else to add. It's just uh uh I'm frustrated too. And and how does how do the police have to adapt to something like that? Because I I I I would with with you uh uh uh uh a hundred percent, Councillor, the safety of the officer, like the the mechanics of pulling, first of all, chasing them down, pulling them over. Um, while other people are flying by at 130. Like it's it's difficult. And it it it does take away from uh other things we could be doing, and or it puts that officer, those officers at huge risk. Again, slow down. Don't be distracted. I I I I'll just make a comment. You know, in my in my life, the uh the the invention of the cell phone, people doing this on the f on the fly, I'm gonna say is oftentimes the the most famous golfer in the world Friday night, it's looking at his phone. Like it's just a it's an epidemic of of uh of uh personal behavior that needs to change and it it's gonna continue until we change. Sorry, that was an editorial uh if allowed. that's fair. Um but chief, like we I I've seen some operations where we've had to use maybe um Three or four officers for a setup where we used to use one. Is that is that an accurate state? It's like you have one on the overpass kind of clocking them coming down uh stony trail and then two officers further down to catch them. Is that is that an operation that I d that's just my I just observed that and I thought, well, this is what they gotta do when there's no photo radar. Other agencies do other things, but we'll share with you what we do. Okay. I'm glad you noticed uh that they were out there, but yes, and so we work with the Alberta sheriffs, but uh in particular there's a prohibition for photo radar with a couple exceptions on Stony Trail and Deerfoot Trail, so on the provincial highways. So the way that we we're uh trying to fix that is by putting uh officers on uh on Sony Trail. The safest way to do that is having officers on foot with uh laser and then uh and then we have chase cars essentially going after uh to to uh do that traffic stop. It is dangerous, uh as uh as the vice chair said, is super dangerous uh for our members. And the other thing that sometimes happens, so if you think, and and I know you know this, you've seen this, but when we have vehicles traveling 170, 180 kilometers an hour, for us to catch up to them, we are now driving dangerous speeds to tr to catch up to them. So what we're seeing is we're having to use uh helicopters. Sorry, Deputy Chief, I'm just gonna do something procedurally. I'll let you continue. Uh committee, can I get a unanimous consent? We finish this item and then we are back at one. Thank you. Sorry, continue. Oh, that's okay. Um, so often what we're having to do is we're having to deploy resources such as the helicopter, and then we're uh essentially doing air surveillance until that person goes to ground and we can safely uh arrest them. So um it, you know, part of it is the what I would suggest is part of it for our community is they may have heard some miss messaging. They may have heard uh government uh in the province talk about speed in a different way than perhaps it was intended. And so it just seems and when we look at some of the fatals that we've seen, it is because of speed and it's ridiculous speeds. And we're fortunate that uh we're fortunate actually that we are able to stop some of these people that are driving 180 kilometers an hour, uh putting it on YouTube or TikTok or whatever. Thanks. Well, thank you. And I I just yeah, echo my Councillor's sentiments. Thank you for uh all the the service and and and putting your lives at risk um to to do these things. So thank you. Thank you, Councillor. Thank you, Councillor Yule. Over to Councillor Cali. Thank you very much, Chair. Just a couple of really quick questions because I recognize I'm between us and lunch break. First off, thanks for the invitation to the policing summit. It was really great to see how many community partners we had there. And I hope if you do the event again, more community partners will come out as well because it was a great opportunity to be able to have conversations with uh members of the service around the different ways that we can work together. Um, first question was Um uh Chief, you had said uh uh when listing the various units, for example, uh we have 13 detectives in homicide, we should have 13. I'm wondering if you could should have 19. Uh, could you just define me when you say should have? Like what does that actually mean? Or where that where's that phrase come from? Yeah, thanks very much. Thanks for your question, Councillor. And so that's the authorized strength that we have allocated for those areas. So over the years it would have fluctuated, it would have grown. So today, in that particular area, we are authorized for 20 detectives to be in there. And because of shortages in other areas, potentially accommodations, illnesses, and so forth, we only have 13 detectives sitting in those seats. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. That was much more clear for me. Thank you. I just want to commend our the police the the Executive Director Oodland and community or communications director Sapnagupna that put together the summit and for all any of the community partners listening or or um uh please come back to us with what we they could see to improve and yourselves because we really feel that that this is uh uh an it's gonna take us again to another level of being able to satisfy this the citizenry with policing. So I just wanted to make that comment. Thank you. Yeah, I'll I'll echo that because I would definitely love to see even more partners present at that at that event, because I I think it's a great opportunity to interact for sure. Wanna thank you for sharing the 2026 policing plan. That's that's really, really helpful. Um maybe a little bit of apologies. I'm new here. Uh do we have a similar document for 2025? Almost exactly the same, but different KPIs and some different narrative, but quite similar. We've made some adjustments to make it better. Uh that one of the things I love about that is the the focus on those key performance indicators. Um as we're here obviously talking about the 2025 annual report. Um do we have stats on how we performed against those indicators in 2025? Absolutely, for every single one of them, we do have a report that speaks to each one of those. Could we get a copy of that report? Or I guess the question is like, I'm not sure why they weren't circulated as part of this package. Absolutely. I'm not sure either, but we will get them for you. Uh that'd be great. And then moving forward into 2026, I'd love to include that information in this presentation next year. You bet, and thank you. And that uh information with respect to our 2025 annual plan is on the police commission's website, but we can certainly send it over so that you can have a copy for each of you. That'd be great. Thank you very much. As I kind of mentioned there, like I really appreciate that that focus on policing metrics. And uh now that we have operation order sort of significantly enough behind us that we can uh we can do a review of the metrics to sort of assess its success. I'm wondering if you if you could share um what changes we may have seen in either uh in both the number or content of uh related 311 or 911 related calls uh in the downtown area. Specific to 311 and 211, I cannot answer that question because I don't know. And I'm not sure if anybody else does. Probably not. I don't think we've got that information, but we can certainly follow up and see if we can get something for you. That that'd be great. And if we don't have those numbers, um, can you maybe just share how we're r uh assessing the success of the operation? You bet we have different stats and a dashboard that looks at looks at all of those information, all of that information. We look to see where we've increased with respect to resources. As I said, arresting and enforcement is one component of it. The engagements, the interactions, we look at the displacement. One really key takeaway that we took away from the first operation and the second one is just some additional integration with some of our partners at the city and some additional of our not-for-profit partners. And so we really looked to close that gap when we did the next one and we'll continue to do that again. But we've just got such phenomenal partners in this city with our city partnerships and all of those other folks that we have that are our we all want the same thing. We want this to be a safe city and we want our vulnerable people to be taken care of, and we want the city to be vibrant and people not to be afraid to go into certain areas. Yeah, we've uh we've talked about this before on the partnership side of things. I I completely agree with you. We have some absolutely amazing partners that I was very happy to see were part of that particular operation. For today, just because we're taking a look at an annual report, I'm I'm really keen to get an idea in terms of are those kinds of things working? Uh, because uh certainly for all of us, when we were out uh knocking on doors uh uh in the election, downtown and transit safety came up over and over and over again. And so uh I'm I would love it if you could send along that dashboard potentially. I'd love to take a look at it so that we can get a bit of an idea in terms of are these kinds of things that we're doing, are they moving the needle on both actual safety and perceptions of safety? Thanks very much. We can certainly do that, but I can share with you for sure I know that um crime uh and social disorder did decrease. Uh I believe it was by about eight percent, but still it went down after we did that operation order in November. Yeah, and part of the reason why I'm asking to take a look at it over a period of months is did it stay down? Thank you. Uh those are my questions, Chair. Thank you, Councillor. Um, I don't see anyone else in the queue. Uh I'm just gonna take a couple of minutes if that's okay. I got a couple couple questions. Um 1,086 per 100,000 people. Uh that's that's the number here. Um that's Uh violent crime rate. How does that compare to national average and other municipalities of the same size? I'll call a friend for this one. Thanks, Councillor. Uh I don't have the exact stats, but I know that we're generally uh Canada wide seeing a downward trend. So the the crime severity index has been steadily trending down across the country. So our trends in that regard are quite similar. In your presentation, Chief, through Vice Chair, I heard the requirements. So obviously, I know what is coming to us in November. I I just got a question from what is the key matrix behind? You're asking Is it 600 one officer serving 600 people Calgarians? Is it this crime rate ratio 1086 per 100,000? How are you gonna measure your success that will demonstrate to Calgarians that their tax dollars are at is returning a good value? So frontline staffing, proactive policing as we've discussed, um those are the key starting points. The numbers are the there's numbers in the public domain of what we're uh what we're gonna ask for as far as personnel, and I Katie can speak more specifically to that. But um just to continue, as you say, I think that we we as a a police, I uh uh CSO Murphy is quite modest. We are better than other jurisdictions um in most regards of safety and can and will continue to try to do that. I don't know what else to add. Uh we have a you all know that the ask is substantial. Um I want to kind of return to um something that was said about about AI, Commissioner Atkinson. The correct employment of AI with pluses and minuses as we learn will up will add to efficiency. We know that. It's it's this is a proven point that that that we'll get more frontline service because of the ability to use blockchain and all of these tools. Having said that, we we will we will move cautiously. But I I I I I'm confident when and I want again kudos to the management, the ELT and um Uh the people that work with them putting together our plan for the four-year, um, I've not come across anything in my business life this well prepared in my li in 50 years of doing business. And they are the amount of rigor from each di each division and bureau to put this together is amazing. And you're gonna see uh as we roll it out in the re it's coming spring and fall, um A lot of uh really good things. I I just know that um Ka uh Catherine and I were talking about some of the events this morning, uh or some of the things that are uh are are making it up this morning, and it's gonna uh dramatically put us on our front foot going forward with policing. I I I it's broad chair, um frontline service, and putting our staff back to Great. Chair, if I may, I'll just add to that. And so there were many things that we looked at to get to that number. And again, that could fluctuate, but I'm often asked, could we use more? And of course, yes, we can use more. But one of the immediate bottlenecks is our amount of police officer trainers that we have, and of course, our infrastructure. And so there were many pieces that we looked at. One of the other things that we obviously looked at, and that's been talked about here before, is the cop-to-pop ratio. And so when we look at, we average it at 1.6 million people. We have the national average is 176 and we're at 139. But overall, what you what citizens are going to see, and we have all those different KPIs, is an increase in community safety, an increase in public trust, and we will be better operationally and we will excel in in how we deploy and what we look at with respect to our operations. Yeah, um you said three things funding, workforce capacity, and public trust are the key. Um I I I have a couple more questions. Sorry guys, just if you allow me. Um I was looking at Toronto Police Services. They have already started with lots of AI stuff. For instance, some of that is proprietary, I'm not gonna name it, uh recognizing automated license plate program, uh they call briefcam by briefcam, those kind of things. Where do we sit? Have we started that journey or are we waiting? Uh I just want to understand uh and how is is that gonna be part of our four year uh strategic plan? Because you said strategic policing is gonna be key. Absolutely great question and Deputy Daly might want to pop up here as well, but things like the automated license plate reading, I believe we're days if not weeks away from from getting that and so in addition to some of those other things. Without getting into too many of the uh finer details of some of our investigative tactics counselors, great questions. So I'd say that uh before you before you see it and not to speak too much into it, the commission's role and the chief's role, our next row budget, our next budget ask will be robust in the technologies, which will include a lot of the things that you've just talked about, um which are very strategic, which are designed specifically to augment how we deliver service here in Calgary, how we layer those efficiencies on top of each other to provide both our civilian and our sworn staff to be able to be more nimble and pivot to our resources where we need. Speaking specifically to ALPR, um things like Briefcam, I spoke about AI-enabled technologies and just how we can deploy those. So we we we have a bunch of processes in our province. We're the most privacy restrictive province in the country with our legislation. So we have those pieces to work through and those barriers to work through. The good news right now is we have deployed ALPR and we have deployed uh tools such as Briefcam to assist us with our investigative methodologies in response to some of the current crime trends we're seeing in Calgary. Um, we deploy them in this Bureau, uh, the end users uh largely in Bureau of Community Policing and the Bureau of Investigative Services with Deputy Rashid. Uh so we plan to add to those tools and expand those tools very rapidly in the new budget cycle, in the next budget cycle, while we're doing the work to ensure that we're doing those things ethically, um, that they're not bias enabled tools, and that we're also um meeting all of our privacy obligations and requirements that are very important to our community. So happy to take any more questions specific to that. No, I that's that's good with me. Um, because I'm the chair. I said we're gonna be back at once, so I gotta be careful. But uh two more questions. Sorry, guys. I am uh I'm Council's rep at FCM, Federation of Canadian Municipalities. Some of the colleagues there brought up a concern that federal government, when they brought in Bill C 14, which is Bail and Sentencing Reform Act, which is I think sitting with Senate, there was not robust or not even enough consultation with the police services who are gonna take that and implement it from uh enforcement capacity that they feel if with this, it will make life better or easier or whatever, but there will not be enough budgeting to support them with this enforcement. Were you guys involved in any of that engagement or consultation? We have been involved in some consultation at different levels. What I would say is that they are definitely trending in the right direction and they are making amends and they are focusing on some of the concerns that we bring forward. With respect to budget and so forth, uh Chair, I'm not able to speak to that. But we do have different levels of engagement uh in different forums. Um I in my opinion, there's more that still needs to be done, but I think we're definitely headed in the right direction. Great. My last question is extortion. November budget, I brought up extortion. Residents, at least in World 5, Commissioner, Councillor McLean touched on it. They feel anxiety, they feel fear, and sometimes they just uh they're questioning me uh what is happening? What are what is CPS doing? Other law enforcement agencies. You just mentioned uh that there was something happening at one. Do you feel uh confident? and saying that we are heading in the right direction and can assure residents that they will see a s significant comfort with the actions that you have your w with our service has taken in the last few months and moving forward. Thanks, Chair. I I totally understand and I empathize with how those families feel in that in that community. It's it's very, very frightening. It's very scary. As I said earlier, these individuals have no regard for safety whatsoever. I am more than confident that we are headed in the right direction. I am more than confident with what we are doing covertly and overtly with our provincial partners and our national and international partners. Sadly, might some of this still continue until we get everyone off the street who's responsible for this, possibly. But I can tell you that we are making a dent and we will continue to make a dent, and it is our number one priority. Thank you so much, and thank you for answering all the questions. Councillor McLean, are you uh there if you if you if you want to move this? Uh Councillor McLean, you still there? I guess he's not. Uh I'll leave it to whoever wants to, Councillor Kelly, uh please go ahead. I just want to say a huge thank you to uh uh to uh both the vice chair and the chief who are here today, and acknowledge the the deputies and the executive leadership team from uh Calgary Police who are here in the audience with us today. Uh we really appreciate you coming and providing this annual report, giving us some detail into all the good work that your team has done over the past year and uh a little bit of a look forward in terms of uh 2026, where we can uh uh we can see where we have room to grow and the kinds of things that you're looking to focus on during that time. So, with that, Chair, open. Uh any debate? Don't hear any, don't see any. I just want to say thank you for coming. Thank you, Commission, for all the great work you do. And uh with that, uh please go ahead and To your close. Closed. Thank you. And uh clerks, can we open the e scribe, please? Councillor Atkinson, your vote, please. Yes. Thank you. Councillor Johnston, your vote, please. Yes. Chair, all the votes are in. Please display the words. That's carried seven-nothing. Uh we will be back at 1 p.m. Uh 7.4 coming up, uh, Calky Fire Department, and after that, 7.5. 7.5 had three public speakers. So with that, we'll be back at one. Thank you, committee. Thank you kindly everyone. Start this clerks. Can we get a roll, please? Thank you, Chair. On the roll, Councillor Tyres. Councillor Ewell. Councillor Kelly. Councillor Atkinson. Councillor Clark? Councillor Johnston? Yeah. Councillor Wyness. Councillor Panzoulos. Councillor Tyres noting you present. Councillor Schmidt? Councillor Chabot? Councillor Ward. Sorry, did I hear Councillor Ward? Did I hear you? Yeah, Councillor ward here. Oh, thank you. Got you. Councillor Jameson. Councillor McLean? Yeah, I'm here. Thank you. Mayor Farkas and Chair Dollywell. Thank you. Thank you. Uh thank you very much, Chair. Good afternoon, committee. Thank you for the opportunity to present the Calgary Fire Department's annual report. Next slide, please. Administration recommends that the Council receives this report for the corporate record. Next slide, please. To begin, I'd like to take you through some 2025 highlights. As you can see on the slide, the Calgary Fire Department responded to more than 92,000 emergency incidents in 2025, an increase of 5% over 2024. And 50% over 2020. Over half of these calls were medical in nature. High performance cardiopulmonary resuscitation, CPR, has delivered incredible results, with return of spontaneous circulation rates improving fivefold since implementation, meaning that we are saving five times more lives than previously. Council investments have enabled the upstaffing of six aerial apparatus, ladders and towers. Allowing us to assemble effective response force 60 seconds faster. And safety codes officers completed nearly 29,000 inspections, supporting safer homes, businesses, and short term rentals across the city. Next slide, please. Alongside these accomplishments, the Calgary Fire Department continues to face challenges. Response times exceed council approved targets, driven by growth, core complexity, and system strain. I'll speak more to call complexity later, but one question I'm sure you have is why do response times matter? As far as both the staffing, the time targets, as well as how often we achieve those targets. The most simple explanation is that for a person in cardiac arrest, the chance of survival decreases 10% with every minute that passes. And for fires, flashovers today occur within five minutes, and that sparks exponential fire spread where fire moves beyond the room or structure and doubles in size every 30 seconds. I would add that all of our targets, particularly around assembly of respon effective response force at serious and escalating fires, are significantly lower than industry best practice. Facility constraints, particularly at our training academy and our older fire stations, limit our ability to grow staffing and apparatus in established areas. At the same time, fire safety codes inspections have more than doubled since 2021, significantly challenging our inspection capacity. Together, these challenges underscore the growing strain on our system and the need for long-term strategic investment to sustain public safety. Next slide, please. The Calgary Fire Department's service system functions as an integrated whole. As you see in the slide, each of our services provide key stops on the road that allow us to keep moving forward and continually improving as a department. Each service must keep pace with the others so the system does not break down. Fire safety education reduces risk before emergencies occur. Training and recruitment ensures our members are skilled and ready to respond. Inspections and enforcement work with businesses and property owners to reduce hazards in buildings and at events. Service Excellence enables seamless operations through strategic planning, evidence-based data-driven decisions, technological innovation, procurement, maintenance, and collaboration with city partners to ensure infrastructure is in place and firefighters are properly equipped. Firefighter wellness is a top focus area as our members face substantial physical and psychological risk every day. Emergency response includes response to fires, medical events, collisions, hazardous materials, water rescues, severe weather, explosions, and specialized rescues. Fire investigations determine origin and cause for all fires causing $2,000 or more in damage, and learnings they provide directly feed into supporting prevention activities. Together, all of these elements create the fire department that Calgarians can rely upon to provide timely, professional service when it matters most. Next slide, please. The Calgary Fire Department has developed Vision 2 Million, or V2M. The Calgary Fire Department's long-term plan to keep our services sustainable as Calgary approaches 2 million residents. It ensures that we have a plan to keep pace with where and how the city is growing, addressing rising, increasingly complex demands and risks driven by densification, development, and other factors. The plan aligns the Calgary Fire Department's infrastructure, staffing, training, technology, and command capacity with council-approved service expectations. It provides a phased, accountable, investment roadmap to manage risk, stabilize response reliability, and support Calgary's long term resilience and prosperity. More about Vision 2 million will be shared as we approach the 2027 to 2030 budget planning process. Next slide, please. The Calgary Fire Department must actively manage a growing risk environment. Council's 2023 to 2026 investments have strengthened our service, but rapid rapid population growth, systemic impacts on social, climate, and technology environments, and evolving building design are increasing incident complexity. I said I would return to core complexity, so I will do that now. To name just a few emerging and continuing trends, I think of I think of lithium ion technology, social disorder, densification. And threats posed by the erosion of the fire safety ecosystem with changes like single exit stairwells in buildings up to six stories. Coal volumes continue to rise year over year while procurement timelines, apparatus and facility costs increase, and construction timelines continue to lengthen, making growth aligned investment essential to sustain service reliability. Next slide, please. Council's 2023 to 2026 investments, including those made this past November, continue to deliver results. Construction is underway for the Walden multi-service site with advanced design progressing for Hotchkiss and Haskane stations. The Calgary Fire Department will complete the aerial upstaffing in 2026, which will further improve response performance. We continue to prioritize firefighter safety. We're assessing how to remove per and polyfluoroalcool substances, PFAS for short, you'll be glad to know, from our duty gear. We've been piloting blue lights and apparatus-mounted cameras to improve safety, and we've also enhanced our psychological safety supports. And through Vision 2 million, we are strategically planning for what the Calgary Fire Department needs to serve Calgary as it approaches a population of 2 million. Next slide, please. Thank you for the time and opportunity to present to the Community Development Committee. Once again, administration recommends that Council receive this response for the corporate record. I'm happy to take questions that you may have at this time. Thank you. Thank you so much, Chief, and thank you for your presentation. We'll open this for any public speakers. Any speakers here in Uh chambers or online or on the phone. Here none, seeing none, we'll close the public part portion of this over to uh our my colleagues for any answers of clarify questions of clarification from the chief. Chief, and thank you for sending us the annual uh uh report well in advance so we could all read it and be ready for this uh this meeting. And thank you for reaching out one on one to all of us. Thank you. You're welcome. Don't see anyone in the queue. Oh, uh Councillor Atkinson, sorry. Thanks for being here. Yeah. Um couple you just you mentioned blue lights. Yeah. Pilot, can you explain what that is? Yes. Certainly I'd be happy to through the chair. So we've been aware for a long time there's lots of research to suggest that blue lights actually have more penetration in terms of optical visibility than red lights or even white lights. They also uh have the approaching motorists to suspect there may be a police officer there. And for both reasons, they're the they've been proven to be to be successful in reducing traffic speed um at where we're where we have our people working, and we're also often protecting other emergency services with our trucks as well as members of the public, uh people who are trapped in vehicles, all those kind of things. So as as a result of that, and after the province had decided, we we appro take it back a step, I guess. We approached the province initially, and there was no interest uh to allow us because it's a provincial regulation as to who and who cannot use blue lights in the province of Alberta. Uh but then they started uh showing up on tow trucks, and um you'll probably see them on snow plows, uh, a number of vehicles that are on the road, all all with good reason. Uh so we went back to them and said, you know, can we can we try a pilot of putting blue some blue lights on our firetruck? And in the US, actually, it's very common for firetrucks to have blue lights if you ever happen to notice, uh, often in combination with red lights as well. Uh so we were we were permitted to do a pilot. Um we've actually finished the evaluation of that pilot now. We've gone back to the province and um they've given us the go-ahead to equip uh all of our uh apparatus that we see as necessary that are likely to be on kind of higher speed roadways uh to do that as a first wave. And certainly with new apparatus that we buy, we'll we'll order them with the combination of lights, which won't add any expense. Uh but it's all about visibility, and I think you heard uh Chief McClellan talk about um Uh people driving through scenes, we see that. And and the cameras I mentioned in association with that, we've actually captured images of people who just ignore the fact that there's a firetruck parked to protect. There are pylons out and they drive through the scene at speed. And we were actually we were able to pass that information to Calgary Police from the uh the the the cameras uh that are mounted on the truck as well. So both of them add to our safety and uh really pleased that the pilot was successful for sure. It's not a great thing to be hearing about. You know, people responding to an emergency and people can't take. Well, people have been killed in other not not far from here actually. I believe there was a department north of the city where a firefighter was killed a few years ago in that circumstance. And that's just unacceptable. And it's it's become a like we think of firefighting as or firefighters as fighting fires, but such a large, like as you mentioned, 50% medical calls. Like you're what firefighters are responding to is a lot of uh emergency response on roads and and these these other pieces uh within. I want to dig in on that 50% medical calls. Um is that across the city, like, or is that that's the average across the city Yeah. when you zone in, say, on downtown versus I just I I follow those, uh I think I mentioned earlier the community safety and well-being reports that we're getting monthly. And uh one of the most heartbreaking statistics in there, it's The overdoses. it's the overdoses. Yeah. Um and it's the fire trucks and just the year on year that it's it's shocking. It's I don't I you hear about it, you hear about it being an uh an epidemic, you know, but these numbers at it's Unquantifiable, really. Like just you can't wrap your head around it. Um, I'm wondering if you can sort of speak to that difference of what we're seeing inner city, the experience that you're having within um the inner city and sort of the the needs and maybe what you're trying to do to mitigate you know the impacts you're having uh because of this. Yeah. Thank you. There's a little bit to unwrap there, but I'll do my best and please uh let me know if I've missed anything. Um certainly uh there there's a variety across the city. I'm actually meeting with many of you right now and sharing what happens in your ward differently. Certainly in the core, um, you know, there's a there's a higher percentage of medical calls, which is driven by Um opioid overdoses, unfortunately. Um, and that and that takes a toll on our people, as I know you're aware, but you know, it's it's not just a problem downtown. In fairness, I mean, uh the opioid epidemic is in the last few years, we we were already kind of in that 50% ballpark even before this epidemic, and we've done some things uh to perhaps reduce some of the lower acuity calls that we that we go to now. And we're we're doing a second wave of that work now, which is even more significant. So we're working with um emergency health services, formerly AHS, EMS. Um, and we've we've kind of set the bar a bit higher about the calls where we think we can add value from l saving someone's life. Um and away from perhaps where all we can really do is comfort the person until a paramedic arrives because we don't have the training or the equipment or the ability to intervene with their With the the problem that they're presenting with. Um so we're gonna give that a go. And we actually anticipate that could reduce our medical call volume by up to 30 percent if we follow the Edmonton experience, which would be about a 15% impact on our uh overall call call volume. Uh we say over 50 percent. Um we it I think it was fifty one percent citywide in twenty twenty five. Like I say, that goes up to about sixty in places and it drops off in other places. And it's not always um Purely the difference between downtown and the periphery. We have some peripheral communities who have higher medical calls for for whatever reason as well. There's another piece of work we're doing right now. It's kind of frustrating. We thought we'd resolve this. Unfortunately, we go to a lot of calls at the at the drop in center uh downtown uh for opioid overdoses, and it it's um they have nurses on scene and at times they've had paramedics on scene, but we still get cold. Um and and also there there's a bizarre situation where we've had many, many calls over the years to like. Medical clinics where there's a nurse there and and they're still when they call 911, we get triage to attend. We're trying to cut those calls out of the mix as well, where we know there's a medical practitioner on scene. Um, you know, what what's the value that we're gonna add uh as firefighters? Um of course the the the the magic is that EHS can transport. We can't, except we have in very urgent situations when um uh EHS performance has uh has degraded somewhat. Uh but so we're trying to manage those calls down to your point. Um yes, they're more frequent in the core than they are generally outside of the core. Um it's been as high as uh I think in recent years we've certainly been at 56 percent medical calls, so we've actually already reduced down a little bit. We have seen a spike though, um you know, in tw in the first half of 2024. The opioid overdoses really started to fall away, but then they picked up again in the last half, and that's continued through 2025. And even this year to date, our stats are showing it's continuing to increase again. We believe talking to our partners, likely in part, if not majorly associated with a less predictable drug supply that causes problems. People are mixing different kinds of products, whether it's xylazine or methamphenamine or uh meth uh yeah in into the mix which means one that uh naloxone isn't gonna work and secondly uh people don't know how potent what they're taking is I hope that answers your questions uh Councillor No, that it's that's good. I think it's interesting because. I think you're dealing with this threshold, and you're talking about changing the bar, right? And where the value is from firefighters being there. And part of it is your ability to respond quickly and rapidly and be there on the scene, but finding that right level where you're actually able to add value and you're not we're not taxing our firefighters with something where they're not necessarily able to add value, finding that level. But it's it's hard when the interplay is also with an agencies or agencies that we also At the city side, don't have as much like like you were mentioning ambulances, like that's not within our our purview. Uh Schumir getting closed down. I'm thinking about what the impacts of that will be, especially in terms of the downtown epidemic, opioid epidemic, and um and just how then that relates to the one that we are responsible for, uh, that are often the first responders, the fire, fire folks. Yeah. if if I may add there's one thing I missed uh Councillor which is even though we're triaging uh to uh to you know we're gonna go to the higher acuity calls and drop some of the lower acuity calls as a pilot I would add um there are situations where people have a relatively low acuity situation but they are at risk. I can think of an elderly person falling outside on a day when it's minus 20. And and perhaps not having any serious injury that would trigger a fire response. We're being very careful that we w we are still we're still making it very clear that we're available to go in those circumstances, if only um to take care of something that's not the major part of the emergency, if that makes sense. Yeah, that's great. That's a reputational piece and just an ethically that's the right thing to do. Appreciate that. Thank you so much. Thanks for the answering the questions. Thank you, Councillor Atkinson. Over to Councillor Kelly. Uh thank you for being here today, Chief. Great presentation. Really uh appreciated it. I also really appreciated the uh the opportunity to sit down with you earlier and uh and and and review the documentation that you provided us uh uh as it relates to individual wards. I note in that documentation that you shared with us, you did have a citywide document that was, if I remember correctly, ISC unrestricted. I'm just wondering why that report was not included within the agenda for public consumption. I think we could do. I don't think we deliberately didn't include it, if that's what you're asking, because it is unrestricted. Um there are parts that are not. And uh but I think for the yeah, there's any number of documents we could have put in there. We there's a third document that's unrestricted as well, which tells you everything, probably more than you ever want to know about how we do our business, because we do use a lot of data. We follow uh comparators uh and those kind of things and how how we do how we rate in surveys and those kind of things. Um if you'd like that, I I don't know what the pro process would be to include it now, it's probably too late, but there was no deliberate reason not to, um, if that helps. Uh if I may, through the chair, uh task clerks, is there an ability for um our friends in FIRE to add a distribution? I think uh clerk they can write. They can. We don't have anything at the present time, so far as I'm aware. But We we can get it to you right away. I'm sure during this meeting we can probably get it to you if I've if the folks behind me. At that point, I think we'll need a motion from Councillor Kelly to add that to corporate record and happy to do that. Also, I each each of you would have received that. Um because you ever everyone around the table, uh the around the horseshoe would get that i during their uh during the pre information that we send for the ward profiles that I've been doing. So I uh up to you to consider the value, but happy to do that. I I think it'd be great for just for the corporate record. You got your the the the fire team obviously put an awful lot of work into there, and uh I I think there's great information in there that would be great for the public to be aware of that wasn't included in the actual presentation. Happy to be. Um so maybe I'll ask you then, uh Chief Insurance that do we have uh I don't know if you have anyone from FIRE either online or in the room who can provide us that before we're before we're done with you today. I'm sure we can get that done very, very quickly. Uh then I will leave that to you once you actually have that document, uh either in uh committee clerk's inbox or uh a a hard copy here, I'm I'm happy Chair to make that motion to uh uh to include that. Um maybe just over to GM Black. Any any other thoughts on on that one before I move on? No, I'm communicating with folks about how we're gonna get it onto the record. Perfect. Thank you so much. Only other question, really, that I have for you is you mentioned in your uh in the verbal part of your presentation uh about social disorder. Um I think you might have touched on this a little bit in uh your answer to Councillor Atkinson's question, but I wanted to maybe d give you an opportunity here to just um uh maybe explain to to my colleagues and I a little bit more when you say social disorder what you're experiencing and and and how that's adding complexity to the work of your team. Thank you, and thank you for the question. Uh through the chair. Yeah, certainly. I mean, uh the the opioid epidemic has been an element I would consider of social disorder that we consider. Um of course we're also dealing with folks who uh are starting small fires downtown uh to stay warm. There are folks who are unfortunately experiencing homelessness. And then there's the whole encampment uh piece that we're seeing now, encampments um that are starting on fire or um starting fires uh if they're in quite kind of more wild uh grass areas. We've had a number of grass fires that have been started by folks uh from encampments unintentionally, um, but also we've had a number of injuries to folks in in encampment situations and a and a couple of fatalities, if I if I recall correctly. Um That's what I categorize. But of course, in our in our the folk the the worker that our folks do in the core, we are free frequently experiencing people with um mental health challenges, addictions, uh all those kinds of things. So I guess for me that's the broader category of what I would call social disorder. I think about it, you know, I did some ride alongs with uh some of our crews a couple of years ago, and I compared to when I was a firefighter in Calgary in the early nineties, early to mid 90s, riding the trucks. It's a different world out there. And I mean I I don't have to tell you that, but it was very evident to me how the the world you know the the world that our folks operate in, which they do very compassionately and confidently, uh it's a different world, and uh, you know, it it it it's stark the difference uh in terms of uh what's happening on our streets, again, particularly in the core, but also in other parts of the city, um that that's uh you know it it is very, very different to uh a decade or two ago. Well, thank you very much, and I I appreciate that complexity and all the work that your team are doing. Um I don't think I have any other questions right now, sure. Thank you, Councillor Kelly. I don't see anyone else in the queue. I all I want to say thank you for your presentation, and uh I'm looking forward to our meeting about my vote. And with that, can I get a mover on this item, please? Councillor Johnston. I don't think I've ever moved something before. This is your time. I don't even know what to do, to be honest. I love firefighters. We should give them everything they ask for. Thank you. With that, you're moved. That's it. Any debate? No debate for you to close. I if I may if I may actually just quickly uh I assume that I need to make this motion uh to to Yes. get this in before we close. Yeah, I totally agree. If I may, through the chair to clerk. uh yes, Councillor Kelly, um, we haven't yet received the materials. So um if if committee would like to Uh we can distribute the item while you're on. We can distribute the materials while you're on the item without a motion. Um if it comes after the the committee's concluded, I think it would make sense to have a discrete motion to distribute the materials. So the options are um conclude the material to conclude this item and deal with the subsequent motion to distribute the materials, or uh postpone this item and distribute them. Uh when it's to postpone the item to the call of the chair and distribute the materials uh and call the vote on the item uh uh when it's called back by the chair. Well through through the chair. That that sounds like the more complex one. Uh I I think that maybe it does make sense if we can, if we just conclude this item, and then when we get the when we get the item, I can I can I'm happy to make the motion at that point. We'll prepare that one. So you want so so I think we cannot conclude. We can postpone at the call of the chair, right? No, I it we can conclude the No amendment. Okay. committee can conclude the item. We'll prepare a motion for later in the meeting for committee pandertaine to distribute the materials. Thank you. Okay, we'll and with that, that's the I apologize, Mr. Chair. Can you try refreshing or something? It was it sent to you, uh copied to me, and I have it. So I we may just have a little technical glitch. It's not there? City clerk? Oh, was it sent to city clerk at Calgary.ca? Committee clerk. Meeting can we send it to the committee clerk, please? Uh and while they're doing that, just to ask the question, um am I able to make the motion while we're in the middle of debate of the previous motion? I assume I am. If administration if we're in the middle of the item and administration is advancing the materials no motions required, we'll just distribute the materials with respect to the item and it will appear in e scribe and on calgary.ca. Like you check your email. We now have those materials and we'll proceed to distribute those at this time, Chair. Thank thank you. And with that I uh conclude my debate that sounded a heck of a lot more like a point of order. It's all good. Uh we got amended uh recommendation here. Council Johnston, for you to close. That's it. Thank you. Uh with that. With that, clerks, uh, can we open the East Cribe, please? Councillor Jameson, your vote, please. Yes. And Councillor McLean, your vote, please. Yes. Thank you, Chair. All the votes are in. Thank you. Can we display the votes, please? That's Carried Eleven. Nothing with no opposition. Uh, thank you so much. With that, we go to the last item of the day, which is water efficiency plan and update to the water utility bylaw. We got a team that would like to present. Um, before I do that, um Okay, well, you're good to go. work. All right, good morning uh committee. I'm Director Nicole Newton. I'm just uh gonna provide a few opening remarks. Um so when Calgarians and quite frankly our firefighters turn on the tap today and in the future, and as our city continues to grow, they expect the water to be there. What you're being introduced to today is a result of a multi year journey to ensure that water is always available for c for Calgarians. Calgary's updated water efficiency plan is a renewed commitment and supports Council's priorities around infrastructure reliability, reducing operational risk, and managing long term costs. Managing water demand helps us better time planned investments in key infrastructure. That means that we're making sure we get the most out of the water system and the infrastructure to keep costs down while also managing water related risks and stewarding an important resource. Before we begin today, I would like to advise counsel that there's two revised attachments being circulated by current clerks. One is attachment five, which is the draft bylaw that addresses an administrative error, as well as attachment eight, which provides an updated budget estimate and provides additional detail referencing yesterday's capital budget presentation. And with that, it's my pleasure to introduce counsel to Rahana Rajabali, the manager of natural environment, who will walk Council through the plan and the recommendations before you. Great. Thank you so much, Director Newton. As Director Newton mentioned, today we are going to be looking into the future of water for our city by introducing the updated water efficiency plan and amendments to the water utility bylaw. I'm joined by colleagues from Water Services, Climate Environment, as well as infrastructure services who are available to answer questions after the presentation. Before we can look to the future, let's first look at the past because this work has a long history. Next slide, please. Council's direction to update the water efficiency plan came as part of the 2023 Drought Resilience Plan approval. This work also aligns with Calgary's climate strategy and water security framework. But the genesis of this work dates even farther back. The original 2005 30 and 30 water efficiency plan helped reduce our per capita demand by 30%, reaching its target a decade early. And having achieved that original target is part of why we're updating the plan. The other part has to do with risks that I will outline shortly. Next slide, please. Committee, to secure our shared water future, today we are seeking your recommendation that Council approve the water efficiency plan, give three readings to the proposed bylaw to amend bylaw 40 M 2006, the Water Utility By Law, and advanced priority water demand actions from the Water Efficiency Plan in the 2027 to 2030 service plans and budgets. We all know how important water is. Next slide, please. As we have heard, Calgary's water system is the backbone of our city. Simply put, we need water. It's essential for everyday life, it's essential for public services like firefighting, and it's essential for our continued prosperity as a city. But our water system faces real risks. Next slide, please. In the short term, we are dealing with an infrastructure reliability risk on the Barispaw South Feder that my colleagues are actively working to manage. In the medium term, managing demand helps us better time planned investments in key infrastructure. Like the water treatment plant expansion, a $2.5 billion investment. This plan buys us capacity in our system, and that buys us runway to better time, a $2.5 billion investment. But in the long term, there is no escaping the natural resource context that we live in. Calgary is a big city on two small rivers. Population growth, aging infrastructure, and a changing climate are all increasing pressure on a finite water supply. Water efficiency helps us across all of these horizons. For example, by lowering water demand on hot summer days, we can ease some of the strain on our pipes, pumps, and treatment plants, supporting the reliability of our water system in the near term and in the long term, this supports landscapes that thrive without relying on drinking water. Next slide, please. Water efficiency is and has always been a key lever to securing our water system. This work actually began before the first feeder main break. And while it was rooted in those medium and long term risks I talked about, we are accelerating select water efficiency actions as part of the water transformation program to mitigate the short term risks. This is detailed in attachments seven and eight of this item. Now, on the left side of this slide, you see how we developed the water efficiency plan. The team analyzed two decades of Calgary's water use data to identify trends and opportunities, reviewed leading practices from other jurisdictions, modeled future water demand, and built on what Calgarians said mattered most through engagement. We also worked closely with city staff, industry partners, and community organizations to understand operational needs and opportunities. And all this work ensured that the plan is practical, feasible, and fit for the moment we are in. The result of this process, as seen on the right hand side of this slide, is a plan that says set a waterwise vision to 2050, a long term goal with interim targets, and 11 actions to move us towards that goal. Next slide, please. Counselors, it's important to highlight that we are working with the least predictable part of our water system, how people use it. The goal is clear, but the path is adaptable. We will monitor results, report regularly, and adjust programs and tools over time. The planned goal, as you see, is a further 20% reduction in per capita water demand by 2040. This would take us from around 356 liters per capita per day, which is what we had in 2023, down to about 285 by 2040. And this goal, this number applies to all water use residents, businesses, institutions, industry, the city, and system losses. And achieving it will require collaboration across the whole community. Attachment three of this item is a quick overview, and the plan itself details all of the actions, but I want to highlight just a few. Addressing water loss is action number one, and action number two is modernizing water meter technology so better data enables both customer and city decisions. These two actions are things we are already doing to serve asset management and system operations objectives. Yet they play a big role in water efficiency. So we are acknowledging that role and that contribution to the goal in this plan. Number two, to protect water availability during high demand times, this plan proposes an outdoor water schedule. Shape through engagement to be both flexible and meaningful. Next, assessing water rate options that incentivize efficiency, known as conservation-oriented or tiered rates, is another key action. Tried and tested in other jurisdictions, these rate structures reward efficient water use. Importantly, a rigorous cost of service study would happen before any proposal to change rates to council, with decision making ultimately resting with council. This is a cohesive package. All elements are needed to reach our goal by 2040. Next slide, please. In alignment with the water efficiency plan and demand management, we are also proposing several updates to the water utility bylaw. First, we're introducing that year round outdoor watering schedule. This will help reduce peak summer day demand and make system load more predictable with clear exemptions noted. Second, we're updating low water use fixture requirements to align with what's in code and what's in market. Third, we're making practical edits to the outdoor watering restriction stages one and two in response to what Calgarian shared with us in 2024 and 2025. And finally, we are creating a paper version of a tool already in the city's toolbox for use only when strictly necessary. While the utility has always had the authority to disconnect service, using a paper order is much faster than sending out crews to turn valves off in an emergency when time matters most. Next slide, please. Attachment 4 outlines what we heard from online engagement in 2025. Key themes were demonstrating seated leadership, valuing green spaces, supporting Calgarians via programs, and keeping affordability at the forefront. All of these areas are represented in the plan. We also engage directly with key industry groups. You will have seen the letters from BILD, I understand they're here to speak as well, as well as Landscape Alberta Nursery Trades Association that recognize our collaboration on this effort. Next slide, please. Ultimately, this plan is about helping the city deliver great services and helping Calgarians live great lives while using water better. The future we envision, the relationship with water that we need, is about things Calgarians are already doing or want to do. Using rain barrels to capture water you already have, choosing drought-tolerant plants and using that rain barrel to ensure that your landscape thrives and contributes to our tree canopy. Watering on your designated days of the week with the flexibility to water new plants when needed, installing low water use fixtures inside the home and valuing this precious resource, and helping businesses and industry find efficiencies that work for their specific needs. Together, we can optimize our infrastructure and responsibly use shared resources to support our thriving city. Next slide, please. In closing, securing Council's support for the Water Efficiency Plan and changes to the water utility bylaw will modernize Calgary's approach to water efficiency. To manage our risks today, we need to use water wisely. And by using water wisely, we can help mitigate the risks of tomorrow. Thank you. And we remain available for questions. Thank you so much for your presentation. With that, we'll open it for public speakers. We got three speakers, so I'm gonna make a panel. They're all they don't have any, they're all not against or for their their standards, neither, so we can make the panel. We got Mohammed Mohammed, we got Brian Hahn and Anne Landry. Please come and have a seat. Each one of you have five minutes, I believe. Uh we'll uh who's going first from build? Mr. Hahn. Chair and members of committee, good afternoon. My name is Brian Hahn, Chief Executive Officer of BILD Calgary Region. BILD and our members are supportive of administration's proposed renewal of the water efficiency plan and the related updates to the water utility bylaw. We want to begin by acknowledging the professionalism, transparency, and depth of engagement demonstrated by the administration team throughout this process. Calgary has a strong record in this area. The original water efficiency plan delivered measurable success, most notably achieving the city's long-standing per capita water use reduction objectives, well ahead of schedule, even as the city continued to grow. Those outcomes were delivered. And those outcomes that were delivered had real benefits to residents and businesses alike, including lower capital and operating costs and improved long term water security. The renewal plan continues that stewardship tradition, and we support its core objective of protecting a finite natural resource while planning responsibly for future growth. At the same time, the updated water efficiency plan includes requests for significant capital investments. Bill supports those investments where they are clearly tied to specific measurable outcomes. From our perspective, success should not only be measured in terms of water conservation, but also in terms of what those reductions mean for infrastructure planning, affordability, and fiscal sustainability. Reduced water system demand should translate into deferred or avoided capital expansion, lower life cycle costs for treatment, storage, and distribution assets, and reduced risk exposure for ratepayers and taxpayers over time. In other words, efficiency gains should not just show up in leaders saved, but in dollars avoided as well. We therefore encourage committee and council to continue supporting administration's work while ensuring that performance metrics remain clear and transparent, and capital investments are explicitly linked to demonstrable reductions in future infrastructure requirements. Build and our members remain committed partners in this effort, and we look forward to continuing collaboration to ensure Calgary's water system is resilient, affordable, and sustainable for decades to come. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I'll turn the podium over to my colleague Mohammed Mohammed for a few brief remarks. Good afternoon. Thank you, Chair, members of committee. As Brian alluded to, my name is Muhammad Mohammed, and I'm speaking today on behalf of BILD Calgary Region in a technical capacity. Before turning to the substance of my remarks, I would like to echo Brian Hahn's comments and begin by recognizing and thanking City Administration for their hard work on the renewal of the wire efficiency plan. Notably, BILD wishes to acknowledge Doug Morgan, Rihanna Rajabali, Nancy McKay, Nicole Newton, Austin Walschuk, Sarah Marshall, Megan Van Ham, Pamela Duncan, Aaron Bolton, Shawowski, Jose Mithon, and Nicole Wolman for their professionalism, technical rigor, and constructive engagement with industry throughout this process. The collateral approach taken by this team has been evident and appreciated. As Brian has outlined, BILT supports the renewed water efficiency plan as an important continuation of Calgary's strong record of water stewardship. My remarks are intended to complement his by focusing more specifically on the technical and service reliability benefits that flow from the plant, particularly through addressing water system integrity and continuing to protect withdrawals from the Bow and Elbow River watershed. Calgary's progress on end user water efficiency has been significant and should not be understated. Conservation measures on the customer side of the meter have played a major role in protecting withdrawals from the Bow and Elbow Rivers, delivering clear environmental benefits and supporting long term water security for residents and businesses alike. It's also fair to acknowledge, as the administration has done, that customer side conservation gains appear to be leveling out as fixtures, appliances, and building practices have become highly efficient. That reality does not diminish the importance of continuing those efforts, but it does highlight the need to pair them with equally strong focus on the city side of the meter. From a technical and service delivery perspective, wire system integrity and water loss reduction represent the largest remaining opportunity. Calgary's high rate of water loss means that a meaningful portion of treated water never reaches customers, undermining both efficiency and reliability. Addressing those integrity issues delivers very real service reliability benefits, including fewer unplanned outages and emergency repairs, reduced flushing and retesting following those breaks, improved confidence and system performance during peak demand and emergency conditions, and a more resilient network overall. Just as importantly, reducing both end-user demand and system losses directly influences long-term capital planning. Lower demand and lower losses translate into deferred or avoided expansion of treatment, storage, and transmission infrastructure, reduced oversizing of new assets, and lower life cycle costs borne by the city, Calgarians, and Calgary businesses. For building its members, the key message is that continued customer side conservation combined with focused investment on the city's water networks works together to serve the same end objectives. Conserving critical natural resources, protecting the Bow and Elbow River watershed, improving service reliability, and deferring and reducing capital and operating expenditure over time. As Brian noted, that is why BILD supports the Wire Efficiencies Plant's investments, where they deliver clear, measurable outcomes, not only in leaders saved, but in infrastructure resilience and avoided future costs. We look forward to continuing to work with administration and council to ensure that these benefits are fully realized as the plan moves into implementation. Thank you for the opportunity to speak where available for any questions that you may have for us. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mohammed. Mr. Hahn, have a seat. Ms. Landry is next, and then we'll open it up for any questions to this panel. Thank you. Ms. Landry, you're up. I have some uh four overheads I'm going to be speaking to today, and I have attachments for each uh Councillor today. I have 16 attachments, so you can follow along with my overheads. Okay. And should I just um put the overheads? Oh, and sorry, this as well. Uh should I just put the overheads here as I speak to them? Is that They were not submitted to clerks. um fresh from the press? Oh, okay, great. So yeah, sure, go ahead. Okay, thank you. I'll just get them out. I'll put the first one down. And and you have copies of each of them, of each of the four. Okay. Yeah, we'll make sure clerks, they will has to be a motion to get them on corporate record, right? I don't know if you can shrink Um these would be, I think, the um written materials to support the presentation. So we'll just proceed to distribute these. They will need to be scanned and uh included in that e screen. Perfect. Thank you. Go ahead, your time started. can can it be shrunk? I don't know how to do that. Thank you so much. Thank you for the opportunity to present. My name is Ann Landry. My presentation is supported by my prior presentations to Council, my four overheads, and other information. I consider the city's proposed water efficiency plan important, but I wish to address key issues, including in the plan and what we heard documents, including as may involve steps to meter or bill tenants for water by multifamily residential landlords. I wish to avoid negative impacts in Calgary during a growing housing emergency and a water crisis. Last Friday, I presented in panel 76 at the public hearing to repeal blanket rezoning. I addressed issues involving housing as well as water. I asked for no rebilling, resale of water by landlords, for city water utility by law 40M 2006 to be upheld, and also no investment properties. It is time for citizen-focused bold and targeted action now for urgent rescue and relief for the most vulnerable. For the past more than 28 years, I have rented in the Belt Line and Ward 8 at Boardwalk Reed Skygate Tower and have paid over $350,000 in rental payments. In 2020, my story was in the Globe and Mail, see in Calgary, a builder emphasis on rental, puts pressure on existing tenants. I am a senior and I have a disability post-traumatic stress. In January 2026, I received a rent increase notice from my landlord of up to $255 per month. By email regarding rent renewal effect of May 1, 2026, my landlord requested that I pay for water. There are no water meters in my apartment. I have requested but not received a copy of the rental lease associated with the May 1st, 2026 rental renewal. Last year I did not receive a copy of the lease for rental renewal effect of May 1st, 2025, despite my repeated requests. I am wondering if my landlord's rental lease for tenants addresses water rebuilding, reselling. I am wondering if the rental lease is compliant with the city's water utility bylaw 40M 2006. And with the Alberta Residential Tenancy Act, that seems to make no reference to water. Availability of safe water services seems to be a key component of the adequate right to housing that all Canadians have, as per the National Housing Strategy Act 2019. Going to overhead number two. Which you also have maybe shrinking? Overhead number two refers to a lot of data and key issues that I can further discuss with key to your questions. Note that the majority of private apartment rental units in Calgary, approximately 75%, are non-turnover. Column I reveals that Calgary has one of the highest turnover rates of private apartment rental units in Canada, approximately 25%, a leak in apparent unaddressed risk. In 2025, average rents for turnover private rental apartments in Calgary decreased by 5.5%. Average rents for non-turnover private apartment rental units increased by 4.4%. Why is private rental apartment turnover so high in Calgary and how does water fit in? One factor may be landlords' rent increase notices to tenants that may provide for high rental payment increases to tenants, including higher if tenants don't sign a lease versus sign a lease and fees that may not be publicly stated, but that may be requested as per a rental lease, including as may involve water. This is overhead number three. Overhead number three reveals that the city's water bylaw 40M 2006 seems to indicate that council sets fees for water. Last year, in my public presentation before the City of Calgay Community Development Committee in June 2025, I informed council that as per my landlord's public documentation, my landlord Boardwalk Reed, was apparently rebuilding water to tenants via what seems to be referred to as a ratio utility billing system, rubs. I requested this practice be halted. I now request that an independent review immediately occur regarding rebuilding submetering of water to tenants by landlords in Calgary, as well as regarding landlord licensing. I also request that Council make an emergency announcement to the public within 24 hours to uphold bylaw M40M 2006, a quick win in order to immediately halt inappropriate rebuilding submetering of water as may occur by multifamily residential landlords or others that may contribute to unaffordable net rental payments for tenants, rent unit turnover, andor homelessness. I also recommend to take a stepped approach to rolling out water efficiency initiatives at multifamily residential landlords while protecting tenants from exorbitant rent and fee increases. I would be happy to further discuss my recommendations. Overhead number four is Landry, unfortunately, you're out of time. I'm out of Time is finite Okay, there you go. Thank you. in this case. Thank you for your presentation. Thank you. Have a seat. I don't see any questions for this panel. Okay. So, but before you go, Mr. Hahn, I have one question. Oh, sorry, my apologies. Councillor Atkinson has a question. Sorry. Sorry for Ms. Landry. Okay, thanks. Good. Yeah. I'm not gonna ask you to wrap up, but I do want to dig in specifically because you you you mentioned, like I think you're you're you're trying to get through your presentation. Um Yes, thank you. but I really appreciate the position that Water being delivered from the city of Calgary, there should not be so my understanding as of your presentation is that uh we are setting the rates, but that potentially folks who are in rental situations are being charged a different rate, a higher rate, f uh with that flow through of water. Is that is that the general gist of of of the vulnerability that you're sort of seeing? Thank you for quote for your question, and I thank all of council for their dedicated approach to citizen focused accountability. Um, my concern, and you can go to the documents, they're online on June 12th. I've had detail and my PowerPoint is there. My concern is that I have been asked to pay for water. There is no meter in my apartment. I have received no communication from the city. That they are changing any aspect of water. I have lived in the same apartment in the same apartment building for 28 years. And and yeah, so um potentially like the your question is whether um there is metering if like you you there has not necessarily been metering changes made so do you you you don't know how much it is that you're you're is it is it flat rate billing that you're being um in terms of I have no idea. I have no idea what that is. I think there's documents that I provided last June, but that's the situation. I I would expect a communication from the city under Water Utility 40 M2006 to tenants if there is any change. I would expect a change in the utility bill bylaw itself to say water rebilling, reselling is permissible under the bylaw. I I'm not an expert in bylaws, but I looked at the bylaw. I can't see that terminology. Maybe council can clarify, is there the ability for multifamily residential landlords to rebuild or resell water without a meter installed or at all? That that would be my question. that's great that will be my question to administration as well so uh I thank you for your presentation and uh yeah thank you for showing up today Thank you, Councillor Atkinson. Like I said, there's no question in the queue. So I'm gonna ask one question to Mr. Hahn and Bild. Just for and and Uh Mr. Hon, you remember when we passed the last um offside pie law, there was lots of talk about water piping system and all that. Uh City got a report done by ACON about water losses. Right now, 22% water loss in our infrastructure. One of the things that caught my eye there was that we are one of the unique jurisdictions where we are using the same ADD and MDD, average daily requirement or maximum, for both established areas and greenfield. Whereas some other municipalities are using different rates. What is your perspective or take on that? I think the probably the simplest way to try and address it is in the context of the discussion that occurred in December of 23 and January of 24 is where's the benefit received? And the benefit is received at the end user end, or as uh my friend Mr. Mohammed said, uh at the customer meter. And so then it's a discussion as to whether the things like system losses, which was one of the issues that we brought up back then, if that's a system wide cost and should be shared citywide through the utility rate, and that the allocation and the allocation of benefit for infrastructure costs should be based on the benefit actually received, which is the water delivered at the customer meter. Does that answer that get your question? Kinda, kinda, because uh when I was reading the report, it took me back to the arguments that were made during that bylaw discussions. Um uh no great Good to know that we were on the same page there because it's what goes back to. No great, thank you. And I think there's some work happening there. Uh yeah, uh no, thank you. I know you're uh going into next set of your adventures, I want to call it. Uh retiring soon, I heard. Uh well I've tried it a couple of times before and it didn't catch, but we'll see if it works this time. I think it will depend on how well things go on the domestic front and how well behaved I am there. If if if if we don't see you here, uh uh enjoy your time off. I may have one or two more times, but thank you very much for the kind remarks. And if I may, I'd I'd like to echo um both what Mohammed said and what I said about administration's work on this. We're really pleased to see it and pleased to see them sitting uh setting specific targets. And I'd also like, although it's not part of this session, I I'd like to pay a compliment to Chief Dongworth. Uh in an incident that happened about a year ago, um, as I was exiting City Hall, a woman had collapsed, and I probably wasn't the best person to help her, and he was readily available, and he didn't pass it on to anybody else. He stepped right in. And I think that's a real reflection of what we have in Calgary and why all of you are so committed to the service, and why I've chosen to make my home here is because we have Calgarians like Chief Dongworth who step up when they're needed. Thank you. Really appreciate it. That goes long ways. And really, I think you shared that this story when you were here last time. And we also want to appreciate Chief Dongworth for doing such an amazing job. Thank you for taking making time and uh thank you and we'll look forward to seeing you again soon. Thank you very much. Thank you. That's it for uh this panel. Uh is there anyone else in public who would like to speak to this item, either in chambers or uh on the phone? I hear no one here in chambers or I or in the or on the phones. So with that, we will close the public speaking portion of this item. We'll open this now to our colleagues for any questioning of the administration. Councillor Pentasopoulos. Thanks so much to administration and uh for sending along some answers to questions some of us had. Let me just pull up my notes. I apologize. So um I won't have sort of verbatim, but I will sort of pick up some questions on the presentation and then maybe speak to some of the questions and some clarity around that. Bear with me a second here as I just get my notes. Um maybe uh you know, Clerk, if you could bring up attachment nine, uh using water wisely, the 2020 uh page PDF 266. I'll speak that research and best practices. Maybe can you speak through um who does it right? Who does water well? Canada, the US, you you know, yes, we are in two small rivers, but Canada's blessed with lots of water. Who does a better uh you know, Phoenix, etc.? Like what would be sort of a best practice and maybe just speak a bit about your research and and how that formulated into the efficiency plan, our uniqueness, but also some learnings that we can have from colleagues north and south of us. Thanks so much, Councillor Pantozopoulos. So indeed, we did look at other regions that do face a natural context that does have water as a precious resource. And some examples of those include Denver, which whom we spoke to, they have very interesting tools around how they do rate design, for example, in a way that factors in efficiency. They have a watering schedule that is very similar to what we are proposing today. We looked at Las Vegas Water District, for example, and they are ones that when we look at the value and the conservation benefit of water rates, we used their experience to help estimate how that might factor into our water efficiency plan. We also looked at the Water Research Federation and a lot of publications that they do. There's also something called the Alliance for Water Efficiency, and we worked locally with SAIT as well, who helped build on previous projects to understand a more Calgary specific context and the potential for landscape transformation initiatives. So we did look far and wide and across, and there are many cities, both in regions that have water as a precious resource, and even where water is more generally available, that use many of the tactics that we've proposed in this plan. Did I hear you you said you used some folks from SAITE? Yes? Fantastic. See, that's just wonderful. That that local that expertise, literally a kilometer away, that gets to formulate and see changes there. That's great to hear. Thanks for that. Did you look at any market mechanisms? You know, obviously as consumption grows, your cost goes, now there's an economic incentive for me to consume substantially less. We've got a base rate of a buck sixty give or take a cube. If I fill up my backyard hockey rink, I gotta pay five dollars a cube, but if I Flush once, what's the saying? Mellow yellow. Going forward, I use less. I don't see it as specifically built-in or demand forecasting, but not sort of market drivers. Any thoughts? Was that included or and why wasn't that part of sort of a final recommended plan, a very clear and concise uh scaling of of of costs? I'll answer that question in two parts. The first is around how did market transformation in terms of fixtures and what's available out there support us? There was a lot of low-hanging fruit that was plucked with the original water efficiency plan. You can't buy a high-flush toilet nowadays. And so there are there are still, however, communities and households that may not have been able to participate in those earlier rounds. And so we do have some more focused actions to expand access to water efficiency program, including incentives like that, as action seven. So a bit of a catch-up for those who couldn't. But as far as price signal or price as a signal of value, that's exactly what action six is about. And it means two parts. Conservation-oriented rates, also known as tiered rates, are a way that reward water efficiency. So where the total cost of service is the total cost of service, a conservation oriented rate offers a pathway where those who use less water and are mindful of their ranks or their flushing have a pathway towards a more relatively more affordable water bill. Yeah, I think that's just that's great because you know later on we talk about a capping 904 uh million liters a day and and the cost you know to go to 905 is probably pretty substantial. So you know that uh uh exponential growth as we get sort of there. Um Yeah, we we see it everywhere and it it generally, you know, market uh you see in electricity, that uh that's a separate conversation. Uh public and industry engagement. We just heard that the industry folks were very well engaged and and and they really took from um you know the capital spend and their business is is I want to be able to have land to sell and the water, the toilets flush and and the works. But maybe just speak about public and more specifically, I read the report changes that you heard from Calgarians that maybe you altered your final report, sort of you know what you were coming in with, and then the final report said, Hey, that's a fairly compelling. Argument, yeah, let's amend it to meet these needs. Could you just speak to some maybe specific that this outcome was based on really impassioned Galgarians saying this, this, and and the data and everything supported it? I would be very pleased, Councillor Pantozopoulos, to share that when we heard how much Calgarians value their green spaces, even building on not just what we heard in formal engagement online late last year, but all throughout the outdoor watering restrictions in 2024, we actually made amendments to the water utility bylaw last year to create exemptions for newly planted trees, shrubs, and grass. So there is one very tangible example and an example of how we acted even during the development of this plan on that feedback that Calgaryan shared with us. So the schedule is a great example of how public feedback has shaped it and that flexibility in the schedule, the simplicity of it, and those exemptions for food growing crops, because we also talk to urban food growers and interested parties in that line, are great examples of that. Well, I really appreciate that flexibility, and something I encourage is when this goes out, don't let it go into the wild and come back in 10 years and say, Hey, what did we learn? Have a check in. You know, maybe there's a subtle little change that, hey, we three days a week isn't enough, we need four days of making that up. Or three days is way too much, we can go back to two, that sort of thing, and just that little check in um to make sure we we've got it right. Uh, targets, ILI. Uh infrastructure leakage index three. The report that the chair just referenced, in 2015 we had an ILI of three. It went up to 4.4. It's one of the worst in class relative to the peer group or what was there. And now we're sort of setting a base target to where we were 10 years ago. Maybe just talk a bit about that. Why was that set? What happened to go from three to four point four? Why can't we just go back to the way it was to get back to three? And uh and then maybe it's longer answer, but the goals, objectives, how are we gonna get there? What specific actions measurable that we're gonna get that down? Because that's uh you know, look, we have a 20% loss, and and hey, if we got it down to zero, which I know we never can, guess what? We're right there. We've reached our goal and we don't have to put any weight on Calgarians. So maybe a long question, but really focus on that ally, because that Uh 1% on 500 milliliters a day is 5 million liters, and that's a lot of toilet flashes. Okay, I will start us off and then I may call on some colleagues to get into more details. So first let me share that water loss alone will not get us to our target. The balanced portfolio of plans that we propose factors in what we think is achievable with the degree of investment that is planned in things like cathodic protection, copper lead service replacement, district metering, leak detection, water main replacement upgrades, et cetera. And those are all detailed in the capital expenditures in attachment eight. Those planned expenditures for the sake of system optimization and asset management are what will help us get towards that ILI of three. And that goal was set on what we felt was achievable. But if you note it is also a goal to 2030, it doesn't take us to the full extent of the plan. So as we get back through sustained investment in general asset management that supports water efficiency, as we get back to that ILI of three, we have the opportunity to look at a more aggressive goal. But it does take us time and it does take us investment in these many actions together that get us there. I don't know, Monica, if you want to add anything or Maybe just what happened 2015 to 2025, 3 to 4.4, that's a 50% increase. Uh we did spend money on water. What what happened? And why not fix what happened? Is that yeah. Um the uh one of the hard parts about solving the water loss challenge is that it's not one thing. There's no silver bullet for, oh, we forgot to do this and now we're just gonna go back and flip the switch. It is um hard and sustained effort that will be required to move the needle again from 4.4 down to three. Um some of those activities that we used to do more of, that we have done less of in the recent years and are getting back to basics on, including the list that Rahana rattled off, um, increasing our main replacement. We'd really like to get up to a main replacement of closer to 15 kilometers per year for the past few years. We had been down in the four kilometers a year range. Um that is also bolstered by a cathotic protection program that um we have done less of and are increasing back to about those 2015 levels again of targeting um 30 kilometers for cathodic uh 30 kilometers for additional cathodic protection on an annual basis. Um we are going to be increasing more of our service lines as they are coming due for replacement just based on some of the aging conditions of some of the targeted neighborhoods that we're looking at right now. Um we are also, as you've heard from the variety of water infrastructure pieces, we are investing in the reliability of our system, but we are also investing in additional investigations, so both condition assessment and leak detection on our feeder mains as well as our distribution mains, so we can find more leaks and fix them faster. In addition to the specific asset management practices, we are investing in our system monitoring so we will have a better understanding of where there are some prioritized areas for additional leak location and targeted repair and replacement. So it is a multifaceted approach as represented by the capital summary that has been provided to you guys and will be coming towards you for November budgetary approval, but does make up some of the investments that you've seen already in the 10 year capital investment needs assessments. Pains me to say Edmonton does it better. Uh Um never to be repeated. You know, are there any learnings? Similar size cities, similar vintage infrastructure, they've got the same cement pipes as us, you know, they all that. So so uh What do they do, right? And what can we learn from our friends to the north there? Absolutely. I think it's a great question, and we are in very close communication with both them as partner municipalities as well as municipalities across the country. We're not in isolation on any of these challenges. There are some physical differences between our systems. We are a spread-out distribution system, so we've got a lot of different connections to a lot of mains. So we're at over 40 uh 5,500 kilometers of mains that we are going out in a programmatic way to inspect and make sure that they're not leaking. The Epcor system is also large and they do similar leak survey. The one key component that we do bring up that's been identified as a difference is the geotechnical conditions between ourselves and Epcor. We do find that in areas of the city that are particularly gravelly-based, this sandy, gravelly soil is prone to having leaks occur and then disappear underground. They're not coming to surface. Whereas an opposite phenomenon is identified in areas of Edmonton or some of our clay areas where if there were a break in the main, that water percolates up to the surface. So it allows us, allows for faster identification of a leak break at that location so we could go and respond faster. When leaks are dissipating through the ground, it requires that proactive boots on the ground, acoustic listening for all the fittings through the distribution system that we have scaled up, but it is a labor intensive process. It's kind of 100 years in the making. We had a water report a few months ago that spoke about consensus culture, you know, a concern of issues not rising. You know, these capital expenditures, cathodic protection seems very plausible, practical. It's coming today. Mm-hmm. What was the cause of this not being identified five years ago, six years ago? You would have monitored in 2015, 16, 17, um, you know, the uh 14 million for water main research. Why wasn't that 10 years ago? What was the cause? Why the urgency now versus a 10-year plan? Because we've had this unfortunate increase from 3 to 4.4. Didn't happen overnight. Absolutely. I hear Nancy behind me, and she might want to speak to some of the historical activities. We do have a long history of battling against water loss and being really successful at it. So I'll I'll speak at a high level. But in in the late 70s, our break rates was somewhere to the tune of 1,100 breaks. And for a system of our size, that was significant. And what the city did is it heavily invested in water main replacement and then in cathodic protection when those technologies became available to really reduce that overall water main break number to on the order of 300 breaks per year for the past few years. So the the practices that we are um recommending are mostly not new. The current package represents a scaled up approach because uh our water loss has been increasing over the past few years, and we really need to put some more emphasis towards it. Nancy, did you want to add to that? Thanks. Just to add, over time and over the decades, there's been different phases in terms of where we affordability at the time was incredibly important. And so we had a look at our practices where we were doing exceptional work on different elements, and the time was to cut back. Revenues had changed, and so cutting back, knowing that we would want monitor that, which is what we're doing, and changing that and bringing that back forward. So would also add we're bringing new tools in terms of metering that will also allow us to help our customers see where they're using water and our in our own system. So over time things change and you try different things and adapt. And I think to your point, Councillor Pantasopoulos, is you're constantly monitoring and adapting. And that's, I think, one of our lessons learned. We had the the police here, and it's it's it's okay, you know, pilot, fail often, fail quick, fail fast. Let's just keep going and and come back to there. Um on the the the outdoor water schedule, in and in what we heard, there were some Calgaryans that talked about uh unique needs, work schedule. Um gardens, whatever. There's a whole hundred. I never thought of that. If I work a shift, you know, I was gonna say council has a nine to five job, but lately it's been nine till nine. So you you know, even us, we can't go home and water during those hours. Uh the the the bylaw is very prescriptive. It is a bylaw offense, do this, and here's this. Why not start with the voluntary? Why not see sort of how it goes and say, hey, do we have some measurable? And if not, then we get a little more. Harsher and harsher. Recognizing we're 1.7 million people, give or take, everybody has unique circumstances. We all don't have sprinklers. Just just why go right to I won't say the stick, but why not go right to a bylaw thou shalt versus more education and and uh try it that way. Thanks, Councillor Pantozoulos. I'll start by saying even with the outdoor water schedule as a bylaw, we always take an education first approach. And this is even true in the case where we had water restrictions in the summer of 2024. It is always an education-first approach. I also want to note that we are one of the last of our neighboring municipalities, if you will, to have an outdoor water schedule. So this is actually quite a common practice. We in fact did work with the Irrigation Association last year for those where there is like an automatic setup on those, you know, for those that have clients that have an automatic system to actually start to trial moving towards that setup, which is easy to do in an automated system because it's it's set it and forget it, if you will. But we have been gradually moving towards this. One of the things about our schedule, which is different from some neighboring municipalities, is that ours has up to 45 possible hours of watering. So it is actually starting with a much more permissive baseline. Not that anybody needs to water their lawn for 45 hours a week, but there is options within that. There are weekend days, there are weekend evenings, and there are weekday evenings. But the reason why we don't want to do it during the day is that we don't want to have that water on the lawn start to evaporate in the heat of the summer. So it is important to set those timings for the cooler times of day. And the most important thing is to spread out the demand and give clarity, right, to Calgarians to understand how best to spread that out so that we're not all watering at the same time. Great. And I was just gonna ask that whether you know larger municipalities in Canada uh that have a uh uh outdoor watering schedule in bylaw. Uh you you mentioned we're an outlier. Uh what city? Sorry, continue. Yeah, we are we are uh uh we've had the time to uh work on this to find a Calgary-specific version of the schedule. There are other municipalities, I mean, you know, even in areas that have more water than us, at, you know, other Vancouver, for example, right? So there are places that have outdoor watering schedules. Uh and our neighbors like Cochrane, Okotokes, uh, Foothills County, you know, it is a common practice, certainly here in Alberta, and it is uh common practice elsewhere, not just from areas that have water uh that come from a uh natural resource context where water availability, the basin, right, has limited water, but even just from an, again, infrastructure efficiency perspective of not having everybody use that water infrastructure at the same time. W when you think of the the goal, I think yourself, one of your colleagues mentioned um just fixing the water main leakage alone will not be sufficient. We need sort of all hands on deck. If you could quantify through your modeling, you know, the outdoor water schedule of the hundred percent savings, it's one percent. How how did you guys think about that? How did you model it? Did you use Best practice, yeah. If you could, what's the uh I guess I'm looking for materiality. If if it's uh you know a material inconvenience to Calgarians and saves one percent of water, should that effort and be redirected to instead of fifteen kilometers of pipe, fix 150? I I don't know what the scale is, but if you just speak to that, it's materiality for effort. Actually, if I can ask clerks to pull up slide 15 on the additional slides. And this is this is an alternate way of breaking down what is already in the water efficiency plan. So if you look at the water efficiency plan, oh I've lost my page number. There it's described as kind of a chart over time, but this is a more simplified way that explains how we get to our goal. And you'll notice in there those percentages are like the percentage contribution to that 20% reduction goal. And what you'll notice is that the infrastructure investments, those capital investments in things like cathotic protection, main replacement, metering infrastructure, they kind of get us halfway to our goal. And the numbers for these came from those that research that I mentioned in your first question about how other the experience of other jurisdictions, as well as the summaries from those research resources. And when we forecast that out, we see that it's about half-half between those infrastructure investments that we need to do anyway for system operations and the policies and programs, which are more specific to this plan and in the range of tens of millions of dollars. But what I want to note is even though outdoor watering schedule there shows up as 3% of our total goal, let's recall that on peak day demand, which is what that tactic is really targeting, on peak day demand, it can have a greater impact, right? So you can get a greater degree of savings. This is what it's quantified as as total, because we're also not evaporating our water in the middle of the day. But it really does help to not have everybody water at the same time. Thank you. I missed this in the presentation, and this is this is fabulous. And it really points to the 80 20. 80% of the headache coming from Calgarians will be in our bylawers and neighbors, uh, the outdoor watering schedule, three percent. Let's say it doubles, you know, the outdoor, so six percent. Um, you know, that's within plus or minus. So so why put that effort in there? Like it seems at the margin, you know, you know, a little more shoulder into You know, that's amazing. Like conservation-oriented rates, fantastic. That's halfway there. Like that's that's just a simple and max bill change from a buck sixty to a buck eighty. So just just maybe that outdoor watering schedule, it it's three percent. And thank you for quantifying that. I I just guessed at 2%. Um, that's gonna be the heavy lifting. Everything else is pretty straightforward. Replace a meter, that's a one time capital. Water loss, one-time capital, such an effort for three percent. Why? Like like bylaw, well, you've got 50 500,000 homes. You had a lady just talk about you know frustrations now she won't be watering hers living in an apartment, but just sort of the the hassle, rent, or this, like it just seems like all that effort for three percent. Why not start with 97 and then see how we're doing? And if we really need that last inch, we'll come back to that outdoor watering schedule, Calgary and so on July 1st, you're not watering. I'll say the thing that isn't shown with this, Councillor Pantozoulos, is also the uh time it takes to get us to our goal. And so the infrastructure investments, as you heard from Monica, they do take time to implement. The thing about an outdoor watering schedule and the complementary water efficiency program, so you see also there, it seems like a small percentage of our total goal, but those are those supports that Calgarians told us through engagement that they're looking for. Things like uh incentives to transform their landscape so that it isn't such a thirsty lawn, if you will. That outdoor watering schedule is something that we have the ability to roll out right away. And if you look at those other municipalities, everybody else, you know, who does have them. So, you know, Airdrie, Cochrane, Okatoke, Strathmore, High River, Denver, Dallas, Los Angeles, all of those have them because it is recognized as a way to do two things spread out that demand so that for peak day, when we do even have an infrastructure reliability risk in the short term, right, that can also help ease the strain off of our pipes and plants. So that outdoor watering schedule, although that's the contribution to the long-term goal, in the short term for those risks that we face right now, it actually helps us reduce the risk that we need to enter into outdoor watering restrictions. And water restrictions are much more restrictive. The schedule is, like I said, 45 up to 45 possible hours spread out. It's like, it's like kids going to school, right? If you, if everybody has to start school at 8 30 a.m., right, then you need double the amount of buses to get all the kids to school. Whereas if you just stagger the start time for school, that same fleet of buses can make multiple runs if some kids start at 8 and some kids start at 9. Just I just go 8020, 8020 rule. But something no, I appreciate the you know the admins context. I I did have a bunch of questions on the capital, but this certainly addresses it that the um 50% how the dollars expend and and going through. Maybe the one I pull out is just water main research. Um 14 million. What what is that? What what what is the research and what does 14 million get us? Yeah, so what that reflects is a bit of a catch-all related to our feeder mains. So this was a program that's been around for decades now and related to the utilization of various feeder main inspection tools to conduct inspections, whether that be condition assessment or leak detection on our feeder mains. So it is a bit of a misnomer, but it is intended to be fairly broad related to inspections on feeder mains. So what that will get us is increasing the length of pipes that we are able to inspect over the next four year cycle. That will help inform future investment requirements as well as in some cases give us pre information so we can do proactive repairs rather than happening into another failure situation. So it's preventative medicine, really. Okay, I really appreciate that. I just wanted to jump in really quickly related to infrastructure spending and the 3% on the outdoor watering schedule. Mr. Hannah mentioned that this is more impactful for those peak day demands, and the research has suggested that that could be between a 5 and 10% buffer on those peak days. And for awareness for the council, our infrastructure capacity is primarily driven by those peak days. So any incremental gains that we can get to reduce our maximum day demands or peak day demands is a significant benefit when we're trying to manage our infrastructure timing and capacity. I I appreciate that. I just think of in a former life, you know, transporting hydrocarbons and you built it for the peak, minus 40 for natural gas, not when it's 10 degrees. It's that two o'clock, it's super hot, and there happens to be four fires. So you build that 904 capital. Maybe my last set of question would just be around the bylaw changes and uh um, you know, specifically about um protections and things. Um and and you certainly did address, but I just wanted to kind of speak through um recognizing the ability for the city to have the power to constrain water consumption. Um totally understand in times of emergencies, but just want to understand. The thought, if we could put that into the bylaw specific, there was, you know, you mentioned education first, but the bylaw clearly states the power, thou shalt have the ability. The director of water can do this. And there's no timeline, there's no materiality. Um maybe just walk through why not codify we will do this. We will absolutely an emergency. If there's an emergency, of course. Local state of emergency, we have to constrain something's bad's happening. But codify a process. To protect Calgarians. We just heard a renter come up and she was speaking about dollars, but if her landlord chooses not to pay the water bill, as an example, she has no way of knowing and water's cut off. Oh my goodness, now what? And yeah, there's a process, you can dial 311 and and and and they do amazing work, so I'm not discrediting that, but it just just codifying that protections, um, education, additional follow up, warning notices, thoughts on that. I'd say that the the bylaw itself, uh the order, right, and or the authority for the utility to disconnect service has has always been there. So that authority isn't new. Um there are practices, education, additional follow-up, warning notices, remedial order, timelines for remedial order, further site visits, and follow-ups on remedial orders, tickets, recommendation for further enforcement. I think there is still wiggle room within those steps to be able to right-size that to the specific situation. There might be cases, an example where that authority is also useful would be like cross-connection. That could risk contamination to the entire system. So because there isn't a uh one size fits all process, uh, having that uh rest outside of the bylaw and recognizing that it it does exist within administration process enables the tool to be used quickly in those rare but possible circumstances where the tool needs to be used quickly. Appreciate it and and outside the scope of today, this is I just sort of triggered it, no question that in the bylaws written very clearly and and I understand the logic. Uh it's just something you know sort of takeaway. I think will be sort of offline at a future meeting. But thank you so much for the background and the capital description and and this. I apologize for missing attachment nine there. It's an additional slide. Okay, okay, good. No, this is this is wonderful because it it it shows it also shows colleagues that are saying, hey, is this material? But I recognize the peak, and um you know that's an important consideration just to show that that when we spend dollars, lowest hanging fruit is is the you know, cons conservation oriented rates, followed by fixing the water main and then the the metering as well. So thank you so much for the presentation and uh the questions. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Councillor Pentasopoulos. Councillor Tyres. Yeah, my questions are more about the regulations on the types of watering that are allowed. Um when reading uh these regulations, like they just seem very circumstantial. So for example, like hypothetically, you can water your raspberry bush at any time because it's considered a food source, but you can't do the same for your six year old hydrangea. But if you planted a new hydrangea any day of the week, you can water any day of the week. Like, am I understanding like the logic there correctly? I'm happy to share, Councillor Tyres, that as long as you hand water your hydrangea, you can't, your 60-year-old hydrangea, you still can. So it was really trying to strike a balance between the types of watering that kind of more continuously use water and the targeted watering, where a gardener, and we heard a lot from gardeners between the engagement and the restrictions of the last year, can do that. So there are methods by which you can avoid the ambiguity around that through the watering method, and hand watering is one of those ways. I think you just created more ambiguity because how do you get the water into the watering can? You can fill it up for your watering can. Again, it's your hose and your can. Hose? Yep. Okay. So it's the sprinkler, that's the definition. Okay, um Yeah, I'm just having I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this. Uh okay, so you're allowed to water from a watering can, but not from a hose. But you can put water in a watering can from a hose? Your the w outdoor watering schedule is really about sprinklers and automated irrigation systems. So it's really about the sprinkler use that that schedule addresses Okay, um still not clear. Okay, so now go moving on to sprinklers. So does so any sprinkler use will be not allowed? during the outside of the hours and the time and the day of the week. So we're talking like kids that want to run in a sprinkler on a hot day, they have to check the calendar, they have to talk to their parents. Okay, is it Monday, Wednesday, Friday? Good, we can put the sprinkler on. Is that what you're telling me? Again, it is the outdoor use is targeting the watering of lawns based on sprinklers or irrigation systems. So it's really about trying to reduce the use of treated drinking water to water lawns. I'll also note that that hand watering exemption is for any time of day. New trees and shrubs, uh, as well as new grass, as well as edible crops are the exemption. So it's really about the landscapes. If you look at all of the elements within that outdoor watering schedule, it's really about water use for landscapes. Okay, and how is that going to be monitored? So it is again an education-first approach, but one can generally see a sprinkler operating. One can see what time of day it is, and one can see what day of the week it is and what address it it is. So there is a pathway to words enforcement, but again, the objective really here is to spread out that demand that without this scheduling could coincide because what happens otherwise is everybody looks and says, Oh, it's going to be really hot on Wednesday. And then everybody defaults to watering on Wednesday. Whereas if we could spread that out and your lawn could handle between a Wednesday and a Thursday option, if we could spread that out a little, then we don't get those peaks stacking on each other. Okay. So yeah, so now we're relying on neighbors to call on neighbors if you're not watering on the correct day. Like I see so many problems coming up with this. Okay, putting that aside, um, I guess we don't have a lot of time here, but if you there's a lot of recommendations here. If you could if council could only approve two out of all of them, which do you think would save the city the most water? And which would make the most meaningful impact? There's a lot of ideas here, but I wanna I wanna know which ones are the most impactful, in your opinion. Yeah, so from a peak day and right now, uh relative importance of right now perspective, the outdoor watering schedule is critical. If you look at the slide that I just pulled up again, clerks, uh slide number 15, from an overall contribution to our target for that 2040 time horizon, conservation oriented rates is one of the tools. And then the other is that combination of meter replacement and water loss. And those capital investments together that are planned will help address system side water loss. As well as customers, as well as leaks actually with the meters. It helps identify leaks on the customer side a lot. So it really helps with water losses, whether it's customer or city side of the system. And then on the other side you have the policies and programs for Calgarians. And since you mentioned um uh uh leaks and oh wait, sorry. Uh meters, um what data are we getting differently from the new meters? It's my understanding that we've already been replacing them. Um can you explain a little bit about what they're providing? Good afternoon, Shannon Abbott. So within the water meter replacement program, the key difference between the old technology and the technology we're replacing is that the old technology you get it after you get the meter reading after you've already consumed a month's worth of water. So it's after the fact, if you've had a significant leak, takes a while to detect it, you've already seen a billing impact to your bill. Within the AMI program, there will be water meter readings every hour. So if there is an irrigation leak or something happens, we're able to notify the customer well before they get a bill to say, hey, we see a high consumption alert here on your account. You might want to check for leaks, something might be happening. So they can they can address it like very, very quickly immediately, ideally, so that there's not the billing impact or the water loss impact that we have today with the delay. Okay. I guess the concern with that is because now we've got a director that can turn off your water if you're not obeying the rules, that if they're getting the metering information every hour. Doesn't that seem like it gives them more of an opportunity to shut off their water? Uh I don't know. To me it ju it just seems um it seems invasive in the way that it's going to be used. So the the primary premise of AM of the AMI technology is two key things. One is around the leak detection to support customers, because right now, if something happens and they're calling us and saying, why is my bill so high? It's very difficult to support trying to find what happened. Um and if we can say, hey, looks like something might have happened within this window of time, or you've started to have continuous consumption since Saturday to today. So it helps them troubleshoot. That's really been the premise of doing this work, as well as revenue assurance for us and cost savings for the customer. So when a customer has a leak, there's obviously financial implications to that, water uh wasting of that water. And as well for us, when meters slow down, just like people, when we slow when when we age, we slow down. And meters slow down as well. And so if the meter is not accurately reading the water consumption, we're not properly billing the customer. So there's revenue loss as well, that we're not properly recurring recovering our cost. So those were really like the key primary drivers to doing the AMI program were those kind of two key things. And so, for example, from when we look at uh 2025 data that we have around leaks, so we have a leak adjustment program that supports customers because of the financial implication. So from Just a you know 657 residential cases in 2025 where they've called in for some financial support because of the impact of that high bill, having met the criteria for that, that was 127 million liters of water from those leaks. Um, and it was a cost of $607,450. So that really is the primary business case to do this work. Thank you so much. Thank you, Councillor Tyres. Over to Councillor Shabot. Thank you. Um, thanks for uh thanks for waking me up. No, I'm kidding. Um so a couple of questions. The um enforcement is gonna be like most likely complaints based, as you said to Councillor Tears, is that correct? Or is there gonna be some sort of proactive action taken by the city? Thank you, Councillor Chabot. So just to clarify, the rollout of the proposed schedule would be accompanied by a lot of education materials. And again, we're pairing that landscape and watering pieces together. So even in advance of any communication on the outdoor watering schedule, we're already talking about great gardening practices and setting up your landscapes for success. And then thereafter, again, our approach is really about education first with a long, you know, rollout period, really the entire summer, to help people adjust to what this schedule looks like. What didn't answer my question? How is enforcement gonna be initiated? And again, it would have to there would have to be uh evidence of enforcement. And oftentimes uh the the one who cites that may not necessarily be a bylaw officer. So it is complaints, it's largely uh complaints based, uh, with our hope though that the education for this year is to help um Calgarians all all adjust and uh and be kind to each other in that adjustment. Okay. So the question you partially answered my question now. So there's no intent of any proactive. Enforcement taken by the department. No, it would be complaints based. We would educate based on those complaints, and then enforcement is the last measure. Okay, thanks for answering that question. Next question. Um, the issue around toilets, faucets, um, you know, with specific flow rates, it's I I'm I'm not sure how how to interpret that. An older home has older faucets and they're functional, and you've got a really good maintenance guy that is replacing uh all the seals and and the washers uh uh that keeps them from leaking. But does not require complete replacement. Is are they allowed to continue to utilize those those pieces of infrastructure? Uh how is how's that gonna be? Yes, they they are allowed. This is for for new installations only and new builds only. Okay. Yeah. Thanks, I appreciate that. Um you talked about cathodic protection uh and how we're gonna increase the amount of cathodic protection, but if memory serves me correctly, what I learned more recently is the PCC pipe it was not designed around around cathodic protection as being even um capable of being incorporated because there's no direct um Electrical connection between sections. So we are we talking about all new pipes are going to be either metal or have a direct electrical connection between sections so that we can introduce cathodic protection on everything on everything? I'll turn that over to Monica. No, we are not. We do have a variety of pipe mix that's existing in our distribution system, and that cathodic protection represents both going back to some areas that may not have had cathodic protection in the first place or to areas that require a refresh. Those sacrificial anodes they do degrade in time, so they have about a 20 year lifespan, and some of that uh dollars is towards protecting our existing metallic stock. Okay, that's not the only way of doing cathodic protection. Electrically induced cathodic protection versus a sacrificial anode is obviously another way. Yep. Right? So The um you're talking about o old existing metal infrastructure that may not not have had any kind of cathodic protection ever introduced. Is that what you're talking about? We're talking about both all of that. Most of our distribution system, particularly the metallic distribution system, the metallic components of the distribution system do have sacrificial anodes for their cathodic protection. We do have some areas where we do have electrically induced cathodic protection, and those would be more towards some of our larger diameter lines for a variety of purposes. So it would be further investment in that cathotic protection program of all varieties as required by the pipe material. Okay. Uh the the watering of lawn restriction, uh referencing specific addresses, uh and what I did not see, maybe I missed it, is whether or not this will apply to the city of Calgary as well, i.e., parks and cemeteries and and such. Great, thank you. And first let me clarify: this is the outdoor watering schedule. I want to reiterate that that is different from the types of water restrictions that we're in under right now or when one has to reduce the total volume. So the outdoor watering schedule would apply, but certified water managed sites would not need to follow the outdoor watering schedule. So many of our sites are also certified water managed sites, and that allows greater flexibility. A certified water managed site is one where there's already smart irrigation systems and practices in place. And so the flip side of that is that because it's already applying smart watering practices, it has greater flexibility under the schedule. I'm just thinking from a reputational perspective, uh I'm it probably would not um look good on us as a city if somebody knew the address of a particular park and they knew that it was outside of the watering, you know, um um days of the week if we were if they saw our sprinklers turning on first thing in the morning in those areas. And and then you're saying it were applying it to irrigation systems and automatic watering systems and if we're saying do as I say, not as I do, may not look good reputationally to the city. No, great question. Again, the city will lead by example. In many city spaces actually use non-potable for irrigation, like golf courses, so that could continue. But indeed, uh the city will lead by example. The schedule does apply to city spaces. I will clarify there is one small exception for city cemeteries because of some of the rules regarding cemeteries and their maintenance. But otherwise, yes, to city spaces, and we will lead by example. Yeah, some of the golf course draw it directly from the river, right? Storm ponds, yeah, as well. And I thought Okay. So some of 'em do have water licenses and licenses to draw directly from the river, unpotted, un untreated. Correct. Okay, yeah, my dad used to run a wood golf course and they drew directly from the river. Uh a um the other question I had and and and I'm not sure you kinda answered it, but maybe you can help me to understand. The issue around graduated rates, is that something that's going to be introduced through advanced metering? So those are two separate things. Advanced metering is just a different granularity of available data that can support the city as well as the customer. Conservation-oriented rates or tiered rates does not require a separate metering system. It really applies to the total volume that is used by a customer. The thing about conservation oriented rates, of course, is that that would have to go through the cost of service study. So there is no proposal at this time for a particular rate structure in front of you. But that is something that is in the in the works are considered wrong. Yeah. Oh, I think that's a great idea. Next and last question. If I were to say, um this is I all well and good. I I don't necessarily hate any of this, uh with maybe the exception of one thing, which is uh have giving the director the ability to actually turn off a customer's water. Uh i.e. I think it's 5.1.1. What if I wanted to pull that and say I just don't like that and have having that capability and I want to pull that from the the bylaw, how would I go about doing that? I think I might need a clerk answer on that. Again, I uh first want to clarify again, let me start by pointing out that the director authority to disconnect service already exists in the bylaw. So the recommendations, what the recommendations before you for today do, add a two things. In the case where there is a paper, uh sorry, in the case where that authority already exists, it offers the director a paper tool complement to that authority to disconnect. And the reason for that is that the paper tool goes faster than crews coming out to turn a valve. One could also see that paper tool as a step towards compliance where that authority to disconnect already exists. The other piece is that. A paper tool? Paper tool? What what A stop use order, sorry. It is a stop use order. So it is directing the customer to stop using the service rather than sending out a crew to turn off valves. So that's what's new. And one other point is again, it is just clarifying that authority within the outdoor water use restrictions as well. The director already had that authority. It's just providing clarity to this would also be a circumstance in which this could happen. Okay. I well I I thought that was the case, but but then when I read the bylaw it says the following is added after section five point three as follows. And without having five point three um before me, all I have is these amendments. It's kinda hard to follow the bouncing ball, if you will, if you understand. I have an extra slide for that. Clerks, if we could go to slide 16 if that assists. Thank you. So there you go. One through four are already in the bylaw. Five is proposed, but does not circumvent the uh the authority that is already under numbers one or three, for example. Yeah, okay. All right. Thank you for that. No further questions for me. Thank you, Councillor Shabot. Over to Councillor Atkinson. great um Where to start? Yeah, I I I will just actually first echo that I uh what Councillor Chabot said around sort of the graduated rates, tiered rates. I think pursuing that and understanding that and um would be is worth our attention. Um Yard Smart, community demonstration gardens. Cool initiative. I think that's great. I think just one um recommendation would be to make sure that we're not just making beautiful gardens. Those gardens can be quite costly to install at first, and so making sure that we're really focusing also on affordability in our presentation uh gardens to make sure that they're available to a wide range of Calgarians would be a really key piece on that for me. Um uh I'll jump to something in the bylaw that I was just um with the outdoor watering schedule, you've got um Uh you're must not allow use of X uh unless, and then it goes the municipal address for the parcel is an odd number, and the watering takes place between the hours of 1900 and 100 on a Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. And I know the intent there, or I think I know the intent, is like it's Wednesday. And I can do it in the morning or I can do it in the evening on that Wednesday. But the between piece in there, uh, you can't have be between 1900 and 10 o'clock on a certain day. Unless you're telling people to water in the other direction between 10 a.m. and 1900. Um, just something that I I don't know. I I understand what you're saying. I'll do uh so I'll do a couple of things. First, actually, can I just get uh clerks to go to additional slide number 14? This is buried in the report, but easier to read on this slide. Just a kind of more plain language version, right? You're right. It is a really midnight to 10 a.m. on your day. Yeah. Or 7 p.m. to midnight on your day. So I think we can play in language that. If we try to catch the overnight period, then there's confusion on what day of the week applies. So we will make sure our education is crystal clear to say here's the day, and your options are midnight to 10 a.m. or 7 p.m. to midnight on set days. Yeah, and I think human humans actually will get it. What I was worried about more is that the the bylaw law side of things won't is not necessarily lining up with the the expectations. So just wanted to flag that just in case uh that's at all a concern. Um the I'm gonna move actually move into the rental piece now a little bit. Um so first before um I get into what Miss Landry was sort of speaking to, the low water fixtures. Um I I think this this has been like when we we saw the report from the independent panel and and we've discuss discussed it today like low-flow toilets coming on have been a huge, huge change in our water use. Um but I guess like one of the things that I I worry about is you have an incentive as a homeowner to work on your water efficiency and bringing in low use fixtures because you directly benefit from that. Um but when if and when you're uh uh Renter and you're being charged for that water, the same incentives aren't there, and the same permissions to pursue those lower flow alternatives are not there. I'm wondering if there's anything in here, I was poking around a little bit, but specifically aimed at sort of I know that new builds will have those restrictions sort of towards that are will push it that way, but with rental stock of older stock, ways to incentivize landlords to actually pursue low flow. Uh fixtures. Great question. So a couple of things. First, I'll share that we actually have a current pilot program in market right now called the Home Upgrades Program. And there is a water efficiency component to that. It is specifically geared towards renters. So that is, again, just part of the pilot work that we're doing on this to uh to help find opportunities like that. And that home upgrades program is addressing A, income-qualified Calgaryans, and right now their current intake is open for renters only. There's also workshops in multiple languages that uh that help uh identify options for water efficiency and even a quick, what's it called, like a quick kit for things like aerators that you can put in. And those are very much renter geared because they don't require any permanent changes. So I'm happy to say we actually already have a pilot program in market that really does look at opportunities with renters. And within the water efficiency plan, Action 7 is all about expanding access to water efficiency programs, to especially look at where Calgaryans may have had barriers towards participating in these efficiency opportunities in the past to help specifically look at incentives for them. And that pilot's already running, or that's coming online. Sorry, the Action seven is the general within the plan. That program that I talked about, the home upgrades program, is already running as a pilot project. rental one. Okay. Yeah. And what could so just can you give a couple of examples? Like you the aerator is a great example. Like these are these have to be things that you can make adjustments that are not ripping out the Exactly. toilet and putting in a new one. Exactly. Aerators are a good example. Shower timers are a good example. You know, part of them are behavioral, part of them are fixture related, but the aerator is the best example I can give offhand, right? Where it's not a permanent change, and so it's something a renter can make. And paired with that, for uh for renters, there's also the opportunity to support even things like toilet replacement, right? Where they're not necessarily, they're not burying the cost of that. That's a program cost, and it can support that. So even if the landlord is not incentivized to make that change, there's a pathway for the renter to make that change by accessing this program. Okay, great. Uh I guess I'll uh yeah, I'll wrap up. Um it's it's fresh to me from the presentation from Miss Landry, but this idea. Of potentially how water charges are being flow flowed through and protections for water as a resource, water is a should be a protected resource, access to water and being charged for water at the same amount. I take issue with the idea, I guess, and I I guess it can you speak to the idea of whether uh a landlord is able to upcharge water to their tenants and if there are any protections in place to prevent that kind of thing from happening. I think we might have to take that question away with law. I am not able to speak to it directly myself. Um, so sorry, I don't have an answer here. Uh I think law my colleagues from from law are are listening in online, but I think earlier when Miss Landry was speaking, I think they acknowledged that uh, you know, oh, maybe. Uh Sean Swin from the Law Department. I apologize, I was multitasking, so I didn't catch the question at all. No, it's okay. So we heard a presentation earlier that was bringing to light that potentially renters there can be charges potentially from the landlord to the renter that are it's not just a flow through cost. So whether through a lack of metering and just um fixed rate or or um Yeah, just that that water is being upcharged potentially in some way to renters on the back end. And I'm wondering if there are any protections in place because I really kind of feel like water use and water access and the fees that you're being charged for water, especially when we are potentially moving to tiered water systems and these kinds of things, that those benefits are extended the whole way through to renters at the end of it. Um, I'm not aware of any protections. The relationship between landlords and tenants is governed essentially pro provincially through the landlord or sorry, the Residential Tenancies Act, and then set out in the specific lease agreement between any given tenant and landlord. Um, whether or not the city could somehow regulate that relationship. I'd be I'm pretty hesitant to give an off-the-cuff opinion on the floor of committee. Um it's something we'd want to look at, but I would, if nothing else, uh stress that we would have to be mindful of all the existing provincial rules that govern that relationship, and we wouldn't be in a situation where we could override or somehow impose something that's inconsistent with that. But that's a lot larger issue than I think is what's before committee today. So it's just again, that's a really much uh top of my head kind of answer. No, that's fine. We can dig into it uh later and offline. Uh I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah. Councillor J. Hi there. Can you hear me? Yeah, we can hear you. Okay, great. Um so I I do have a problem with some of the language here. Um as you as you go through it, it it seems uh some of it seems a bit aggressive and I'm not sure if Calgaryans really understand a lot of this. Um you know, because I don't I don't think Calgary actually has a water shortage at all. Um Calgary imp Calgary really what we have is an infrastructure problem. I mean, the plan's own data shows that the city uses only sixty per s sorry, forty-three percent of its licensed water allocation. Uh the 2024 crisis was caused by a pipe breaking, not n you know, not by the river running dry. Um how how do you ha what kind of consultation or I guess what kind of feedback have you heard uh Or if any from Calgarians. Um you know, I just want to know what have you heard from this uh report? Uh thanks, Councillor Jameson. I'll address that in two parts. The first is around the plan addressing the infrastructure risks as well as the water availability risks. So I think it is an earlier slide in the presentation, slide number five. Although many Calgarians are most familiar with the outdoor water restrictions related to the feeder main break, actually in 2023 there were outdoor water restrictions in stage one due to drought. And not just Calgary, but many other municipalities in southern Alberta, you know, were very much concerned about drought at that time, as well as leading into 2024. Although our license capacity, right, represents an allocation that we could take, that does not necessarily represent the amount of physical water in the river any given year. And that is something that the fact that our basin is closed to new licenses recognizes that it isn't just about an allocation, it is also about how much water is available in the river any given year. And our water availability will vary from season to season. There will be years where we have a very healthy snowpack, and that snowpack melts nice and slow, and then we don't have a water availability concern. But there will be years where we don't see that same bank of water in our snowpack. And that same, and you have a very, very high demand of water in the summertime because it's very, very hot. And that, and there are uh cases like that in 2023 where we did have to go into outdoor watering restrictions. And we expect to see more of that as we see shifting precipitation, so more winter rain, less winter snow, that can be a bank to draw on in the summer, as well as hotter temperatures that drive higher demand. And so it is not just about water availability, but that absolutely is a driver for the long run. And we saw that across southern Alberta in 2023, and even Calgary did actually apply outdoor water use restrictions in stage one in 2023, in uh from August through uh mid October, in order to address that. I think you had another part and I apologise. I haven't That's okay. Uh you know, I I just I just don't think uh a lot of Calgarians understand um uh kind of uh either what's coming or what what what's kind of on us with these restrictions and um it it does seem a bit aggressive though uh that the um you know uh Councillor Chabot mentioned it, you know, just the ability um to have a household's water uh cut off. Um you know m it might it might be for good uh you know good intention, but I I'm not just I'm not sure if that's exactly how the public uh really will see this. I I think I think they they're gonna see this as as some pretty far overreach. Um your thoughts on that? Yeah, I again we did look at engagement with the public, and things that we learned are along the lines of the following. The first is they do want to see Calgary lead with example, and there are infrastructure investments like water loss and meat replacement that help show a renewed uh investment in continuous investment in our infrastructure to support the system side water loss. They also shared with us a lot about green spaces, and the schedule that's proposed really does respond to that. We worked really closely also with Nursery Trades Association. We talked to urban growers and we heard that people value their landscapes. And this plan doesn't necessarily take that away. In fact, this plan really helps support Calgarians with landscapes that will thrive in the future without necessarily relying on drinking water for that to happen. Calgarians also told us that they want support in becoming more water efficient. And that's why we have a lot of different programs that address it. A lot of those actions, you know, like seven, eight, and nine in the plan, are really about helping Calgarians achieve that efficiency through education, partnerships, as well as incentives. And then, of course, Calgarians have shared with us that affordability matters. And a conservation-oriented rate that uh some of your colleagues have raised is also an excellent way to offer that pathway towards affordability and reward water efficiency. So we have factored what we heard into the plan in these ways. And um, and it is not just about the short term, it is about the medium and the long term, while supporting thriving landscapes and still supporting the quality of life that Calgarians uh have shared that they want, and we all want to continue. Okay. Well, you know, th yeah, thanks for that uh answer. I I didn't realize or I maybe I just didn't see it. Um Just the part about the the data that you have on the public engagement. Um yeah, so I didn't realize you had that data, but you you just mentioned that you did and I must have been uh one of the parts that I had missed because it just appeared uh um that that you guys I I'm just surprised to hear that, so I must have missed that. It um is that in the presentation, um the uh the data on on your public engagement or where where where can I find that? and attachment for. It is attachment for okay. And um okay. Um, no no further questions. Thanks for your time. Thank you. Thank you for answering all the questions, Ms. Raja Balli. I know Councillor McLean is in the queue, but he's for the debate, so we need someone to move it. Before I go there, this plan didn't exist, didn't come into uh evolution yesterday. It has existed since 2005. That's right. There was an original water efficiency plan from two thousand five. These bylaws didn't come into existence yesterday, after the water main break. They existed before, since when? Correct. Uh the water utility two two thousand six, forty M two. It's in the name itself. Thank you. These plans are plans that maybe any other municipality probably has adopted because water is a finite quantity. And we used to be at 500 and some liters. But I don't want to go into debate. Sorry, I will be accused of that. Can I get someone to move this item, please? Thank you once again from uh Councillor Clark to move. You want to open? Uh I'll just say um thank you very much for the presentation. It was thorough and thoughtful. Um excellent questions from my colleagues. Happy to move. Thank you, Councillor Clark. Councillor McLean to debate. Thank you, Chair. Um where do I start? This has already made it to social media and some of the news, and people think it's an April Fool's joke. Seriously. I mean, we've asked people for the last two years to restrict their water severely. Um, they've had two years of water uncertainty. Wasn't their fault. It could only be cold, and some are saying it's the city's own incompetence and neglect to put them there. We've got 20% of our water leaking into the ground that we've known about for years and haven't done anything about, but now we're going to tell people that they have to restrict their water for 20 years. Like uh Councillor Tyres said, I said playing Big Brother. You can't go out and go walk run through the sprinkler on this day. You can't have a high-pressure shower head. I mean, I like I don't like those little slow, slow flow showers. I don't think a lot of people do. I see this as a communications nightmare. I mean, the city right now, we're not looking real good with our water situation, and now we're going to come up with this after we've just we're spending billions of dollars trying to repair a pipeline that should have been looked at a long time ago. I'm just saying. Voting for this now is again a terrible comms. I hope we maybe we can there's lots of good parts in this report, but the restrictions on the public, maybe we'll see an amendment come before it gets to council, but I can't support this now the way it stands. Um again, I think it's extremely prohibitive. It's just not right. Um I'm gonna vote no now. And again, let's maybe if it does pass, we've got to amend this before it goes to council. That's all I have to say. Thank you, Councillor. Yes. Um I I've had a lot of emails and comments about this directed to my office. Um I'll briefly go over some concerns. First, a water schedule. I mean, we we don't know people's personal schedules, and it it may very well happen that. The permitted days for somebody to water do not work with their own schedule, so I I think that's not great. There's also um in terms of enforcement, it would be neighbors snitching on each other, which does not, in my opinion, create a vibrant and connected community, something that is often referenced by our administration. Um even even the little things like the the low use water fixtures, I mean. If if you install one, I guess that's a good thing, but these can also be disassembled and the flow restrictor can be removed, so now it's just a normal shower head. Um furthermore, s 7 7 billion liters was the reported water savings in 2023. If we do an average daily loss of 115 million liters of water per day, which was also reported in 2023, that means in July and August 2023. 7.1 billion liters of water was lost to leaks. Um that's that's a massive number. I I can't in good faith ask my residents to adhere to a watering schedule when the organization that I'm responsible for overseeing is achieving those sorts of numbers. So for that reason, I'm I cannot support this. Thank you, Councillor Tyres. Yeah, so we're just coming out of four weeks of stage four water restrictions. Calgarians have been helpful and cooperative in reducing their water usage during the repairs for the Bears Poss South Feeder Main. We've asked a lot of them for an issue that is not their fault. It's the city of Calgary that needs to take responsibility for water infrastructure issues that we currently have. Calgaryans should not be punished because the city allowed our infrastructure to be in such poor condition. We can fix these infrastructure issues without imposing big government restrictions on water use. I have real concerns on the restrictive and overreaching nature of some of the proposed water schedules. I'm worried about the lack of clarity on how these proposals will be enforced and if they will have any real impacts to improve the issue. If these proposals were enacted, their enforceability would be in question. Some of these proposals seem very challenging to get buy-in from Calgarians. As my colleague just mentioned, it's hitting the internet right now and people aren't happy. I'm concerned about the lack of consultation with the community on this issue. I know that there was a survey with uh 1,800 people. It's not enough reason to pursue such a radical plan. But even in that survey, concerns were brought up about inequitable impacts for larger households and even lower income Calgarians. I'm against this plan as it is presented, and we need to go back to the drawing board on this issue. This water efficiency plan wants to reduce water usage by 20%. We are currently leaking 20% water because of poor pipe infrastructure. Let us find other ways to fix our water infrastructure and leakage without these big brother proposals. Thank you, Committee. Can I get your consensus to finish this item because this is the last agenda item before? Yeah. You have consensus? Thank you. Over to Councillor Pentasopoulos for debate. Combination of debate, um maybe look through the chair. If if there were recommendations for amendments to the plan, is it black and white we have to take uh the plan is presented or can we amend? I know we can make recommendation changes, but if we wanted to amend something here on the floor of council, what sort of that process, or is it a black and white decision? Community uh CDC says yes or no, never goes to council. How does that sort of work? I apologize. Yeah, that's a great question. I think the final decision on the bylaw will lie with the council. But clerks, correct me if I'm wrong. Council, this this committee can make recommendations with amendment to council to adopt. Thank you for the question, Chair. The Standing Policy Committee, Community Development Committee can amend the recommendations. With respect to the particularly to the proposed bylaw, it cannot amend the text of the bylaw. It can only make recommendations to council to after third after first reading make amendments to the bylaw. So that aspect of the report recommendations needs to be managed separately from the other recommendations. So so what so what I said was right, we can propose amendments. That could be brought up at council after first reading. Correct. Are you are you proposing to do that, Councillor Pantasoples? Yeah, I I yes, and my only and I apologize, should have been questions to admin. It's it's more the water efficiency plan. There's obviously some things that it it we have to accept everything as approve the plan in its in its totality, or are we allowed to um make certain recommendations? The logic being sorry to interrupt, Chair. So so so let me ask this question to clerks because it looks like amendments are not ready. Beg your pardon? Amendments are not ready. We need to Okay. So what is the what if this fails right now? Can it still go to council without recommendations? If the recommendations of this report basically what council what committee can do is it can approve the recommendations as they are, it can approve them as amended or replaced by other recommendations or can defeat them. If the recommendations of this report are defeated, they will not proceed to council unless uh a member would wish to bring the defeated uh main motion to a future council meeting as of notice of motion. As an urgent notice of motion, if it needs to come to very next council. If it fails, it's in its entirety, section 137 of the procedure bylaw allows a member to bring the failed main motion forward to council in the form of a notice of motion. Okay. Got it. Yeah. What I'm you know struggling with is 80% of it works and 20% doesn't. This this will now be debate and and trying to reconcile my head. Um you you know, uh tiered watering, material impact, the spending of the $400 million. I think that capital plan is very clear. Um you know, the scheduling, I concur with colleagues. Some work in progress. Uh it's the 3% 80 20 rule. You don't want to throw the baby in the bathwater. Um You know, make amendments on the fly, we certainly could. So I'm I'm I I I like that approach of of get it on the floor of council, and then we can as a council go. And I think that that bridging commitment is work with colleagues to potentially amend it and come through. I think it's just dies here. There's change we need. We need everybody here on council. Um I I want to spend the 80 percent. I want to get that 80. It's the three percent that I'm struggling with, it's the uh other things that are very important. You know, the the the the thank you, Councillor Ward, bringing up maybe Wednesday, Monday, Wednesday doesn't work because I work shift work as an example. Um So for that, I think it it sounds procedurally approve it to get to council, but the commitment then is some heavy lifting. Maybe it is an amendment to go back and uh that's all procedural now. Um you know, some sort of revise and come back with a recommend. I yeah, I guess it's a we're catch we're catch 22. Committee only has the ability to approve or reject. So um it's thinking thinking how to do it best. So Uh I'd love my colleagues to help address that, you know, because you want to get 80%. How do you salvage the 80%? That sounds pretty good, um, but and not have the 20% that needs a lot of work or potentially a carve out without destroying the uh 80%. Because I did hear as we get close to watering season, people want to know what's happening. So maybe my colleagues will cede my time and try to address that question as we go through a debate. Thank you. Thanks, Councillor Pantasopoulos. Over to Councillor Kelly. Thank you, Chair. Um, maybe I will just say to uh Councillor Panasopoulos this point there we can amend it council after the first reading of the bylaw. So if there's something in there that we want to uh change or pull out, that would be the place to to do it. Uh I admit, honestly, guys, like I uh listening to the presentation today, it reminds me a lot of when I when I first moved to Calgary, uh, and I had my like empty pop can, and I was like, where do I put this? And they were like, in the garbage. I was like, what? Like my entire life since I was like a like a little kid, I was like, there's a recycling bin, like you put it in the recycling bin, and then I moved to Calgary and we didn't have one. Um Calgary eventually caught up and did what everybody else was uh was doing. And uh we've certainly uh from my tour of the uh of uh the the landfill we can definitely see the benefits that that's provided uh to to Calgary. Um I don't know when I hear the debate here today it sounds kind of similar to that that uh the watering schedule is the big thing that uh that that sort of everyone is is is talking about. Um My family lives in Okotoks. They've had a watering schedule forever. Every municipality around Calgary has a water schedule. It's kind of surprising to me that we're worried about the community how are we going to communicate this? Yeah, it'll be bumpy when it goes out, but people in Okotokes figured it out. People in Airdrie figured it out. I'm confident that we can do the same thing in Calgary if that's the thing that we're concerned about. Might be a little bit bumpy, but I'm confident that in Calgaryans' ability to figure out that they can, just like they know that they take their trash out on Thursday, they know that their water schedule is Monday, Wednesday, Friday. We already have the app set up for garbage day. I'm sure we can add in water schedules to the same app if uh communic communications are our big concern. Um yeah, if if we do want to make some amendments to this we can do it at council. So I'm happy to support it, send it to council where we can have a a little bit more debate on the nuances of this if we need to. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Councillor Kelly. Over to Councillor Shabot. Yeah, I'll be brief. The um three recommendations, um, I believe the number one and two uh can stand alone, and number three uh can only stand alone if uh recommendations one and or two are approved because there will be some budgetary requirements to it. Um I think if you could call uh them separately. And if somebody doesn't like the plan, they can vote against the plan. Somebody doesn't like the bylaw, they can vote against the bylaw. Ultimately, um, I think they should go to council. There's there's plenty of time between now and when this gets to council to work with administration on maybe drafting some amendments that could address some of the things that you think are deficient that then could be introduced on the council floor. Um now is not the time to, I don't believe, to to um throw the baby out with a battle bath water, so to speak. I think there's a lot of good elements in the bylaw as well as the the um the plan. So for me I don't know. There's I'm still a little bit troubled with the that one reference uh in in the bylaw um that I might want to see if we can tweak it a little bit but uh other than that um not really don't really have a plan uh opposition to the water efficiency plan so Um Mr. Chairman, if you could call them separately and uh I will voice my concerns uh by voting against maybe the bylaw, but likely will support um at least one of the other two recommendations which would then make the whole thing go to council for council to then debate and and decide on what it is that they want to move forward with. Thank you so much, Councillor Shabot. We will do that. We'll call them all separately. Over to Councillor Yule. Yeah, I agree with my colleagues. Getting this to council is important. Like my my background with the Nose Creek Preservation Society, working with some of our surrounding municipalities on the Nose Creek watershed partnership. They're looking at ways that we can use the stormwater from Nose Creek for non potable uses because we know how finite the water is. And so these type of um uh plans are really important uh going forward and in in the future of our city. Um because yeah, water is finite. So that's Yeah. Thank you, Councillor Yule. Over to Councillor Atkinson. Yeah, I want to thank uh the team who's put in a lot of work and all the Calgaryans who have engaged on this plan uh over the years and the iterative approach. I think taking a lot of the learnings that we have had as a as a city under water restrictions and seeing what the way to take some of those learnings are and bake them into the way we live on an everyday sort of scale is really important. I do hear some of the concerns of some of my colleagues around sort of like the idea of snitching on your neighbor and what like how this potentially has negative effects in community, but I also want to point to the many other things that we have bylaws on that require in some way, I guess, snishing on your neighbor, which is like having garbage on your property or not shoveling your sidewalk or leaving, you know, weeds and thistles growing everywhere. Like we have many other things that where we have this sort of shared responsibility and this collective action problem. Um and and and We get through and we we we there's maybe some bumps and some training that sort of needs to get there, but when we decide as a community that this is a uh an issue worth tackling, I think that people can get on board. And I actually think by us being actually such a laggard in this space, like like that we as a municipality are so far behind other municipalities. So many people have been moving here from other places that have these kinds of restrictions, kind of to Councillor Kelly's point, like uh I think that there will be a lot of folks who just sort of get it and think that this is a long time coming. And those um those those sort of folks that maybe have not had that experience, uh, I think they'll find by and large that that the end result is is worth the the small changes to to habits. Um Happy to support. Thanks so much. Thank you, Councillor Atkinson. Over to Councillor Johnston. Yes. Speaking to the example of Vokoto's, they have a pipeline. construct constricted water system. They made a decision not to grow years ago and are now regretting it. Again, we need to take care of our infrastructure first. If Okotokes had done that, they wouldn't need a watering schedule. That's it. Thank you, Councillor Johnston. There's no one else in the queue, so I'll just chime in. You know, this is not about restrictions. This is about how we consume water, how water is a finite quantity, and we need to save it. 2,8518 liters per day. 2011 down to 390, 2017, 378. We are, if we don't preserve, we will overwhelm the supplier side, which is more capital intensive, which is going to lead to more infrastructure burden, more failure. We need to start looking at the demand side and When the waterline failed, some of my colleagues were asking for the independent panel review. Guess what? Independent panel review clearly said this city must do more about the demand management side. So this report is exactly doing that. And talking about this bylaw. This bylaw came into effect in 2006, we heard, and it was triggered, I think, in 2023, because we were going through such a dry spell, there was a fear of drought. That's it. This bylaw is all it's saying is responsible use of water. It's not restricting anyone. Hey, listen, if you want to be a partner in city building, let's do our part. We heard from our uh partners at Build. They're supportive of this plan. So I don't know what we are talking about here. And I don't do my governance based on what who what or who is saying about me on X or social media. I do it what is responsible and what is needed for this community, which is Calvary. With that, Uh councillors, uh colleagues, I urge you to support it so we can take it to council. And if any of the councillors want to bring amendments at that time, I think that will be the responsible governance. Uh with that, I'm closed, and I see councillor Schmidt just joined us. I don't know if he wants to chime in, but if not, um I will look forward to Councillor Clark to to close this. Okay. Yes, thank you. I don't know if it's a blessing or curse to be the last to speak or to close on items like this after all that all these rousing speeches. Um I echo uh the sentiment. Now I'll just say to those uh folks, like the concerns that have been raised through this process, I resonate with them all. I can appreciate it. I think um, but it I would say and and would agree that it is short-sighted to to kill this here at uh committee. This needs to make its way in front of council. We need to go through the process of uh looking at amendments, having the discussions with administration, and tailoring this to better support the needs that we are looking to uh support in community. So uh don't kill this here, support it and let's let's deal with it. Make that statement uh at the vote in council. Thank you. Closed. Thank you, Councillor Clark. Clerks, can we open the vote and we're gonna call each item separately? One, two, three. Thank you. Colleagues, this is for number one, please. Councillor Jameson, your vote on recommendation number one. No. Councillor McLean, your uh vote on recommendation number one. I'm no. Thank you. Chair, the votes are in on recommendation number one. Can we display the votes, please? Recommendation one is carried eight to five with Councillor Jameson, Johnston, McLean, Tyrese and vote against it. Thank you. Can we go to number two now? Colleagues said this will be for number two. Councillor Jameson, your vote on recommendation number two. No. Councillor McLean, your vote on recommendation number two. Yeah, no. Thank you. Chair, all the votes are in. Can we display the vote, please? That motion is not motion, sorry, number two is carried on that motion with seven to six with Councillor Chabot, Jamison, Johnston McClain, tires, and vote against it. Thank you. Can we go to number three of this uh these recommendations? Councillor Jameson, your vote on recommendation number three. No. Thank you. Councillor McLean, your vote on recommendation number three. No. No. Thank you. Chair, all the votes are in. Thank you. Can we display the vote, please? That motion is carried. Uh just one second, guys. I can barely read there with Councillor Jamison, Johnston McClain, and tires against it. Um so uh do we vote on uh final as one or no? This is it, right? S sorry, no chair, that the vote is complete on the side. Okay, great. So with that we conclude the item. Correct. So colleagues, thank you for so thank you so much. And if you guys Adjourn. Sorry. Motion to adjourn. Oh, just one second. I just wanted to say if someone is bringing want to bring amendments to this, please start working now with your colleagues. Thank you. Uh and it's adjournment is moved by Councillor Shabot. Anyone against it? Seeing or hearing none, we are adjourned. 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