Monday, May 29, 2017

Donations “Overboard” at Ninth Annual Mayor’s Gala

Because of the generosity of sponsors, donors, and participants, the sold-out Ninth Annual Pelham Mayor’s Gala netted $23,600 for four worthy charities and groups!

(L-R) Pete Behring, Treasurer, Pelham Minor Baseball;
Joe Maggiolo, Board Chair, OneFoundation for NHS;
Anne Kirkpatrick, Program Manager, Niagara Nutrition Partners;
Mayor Dave Augustyn; Brenda Langendoen, Program Director,
Horse Cents for Kids. (Credit: T. Lyons.) 
This past Saturday, community volunteers hosted the “Sail the Seven Seas” themed gala at Lookout Point Golf & Country Club.

The Gala showcased great music (thanks to Notre Dame Jazz Combo), exquisite food (thanks to Chef Abby), an amazing live auction (thanks to generous donors), and time to mingle and catch-up with other “passengers.” And, with Ross Macfarlane as emcee and Kevin Jacobi as the nautical quizmaster, the event was a “swashbuckling” great time!

Yet, these festivities supported the work of four local groups.

Horse Cents for Kids provides access to horses and the therapeutic and life enhancing attributes for children 5-18 years old, regardless of their financial circumstances. With the support of the community, the Gala will donate $5,000 to give children from less fortunate families – but who love horses – the opportunity to attend the summer riding program or the Wild West Summer camp. In addition, Bayshore Group generously offered to donate an additional $2,400 to Horse Cents during the Gala!

Niagara Nutrition Partners oversees more than 200 breakfast, snack, and lunch programs in 150 schools throughout Niagara! Amazingly, they help more than 17,000 students each day to fulfill the simple notion that if students eat right they learn right. Thanks to the Gala, NNP will receive $5,000 to support the recently initiated nutrition program at EL Crossley High School.

OneFoundation for the Niagara Health System raises funds to acquire the equipment and technology needed in all six of the Peninsula’s hospital sites to support a wide range of in-patient and out-patient services. Since doctors and medical technicians use their eight-year-old ultrasound equipment 7-days a week for emergency and in-patient exams, the Foundation identified they urgently need to purchase replacement equipment for the Site in Welland. The Gala will donate $3,500 toward this ultrasound equipment.

Pelham Minor Baseball Association provides organized youth baseball for Pelham residents aged 4-18. Their dedicated volunteers offer the opportunity to learn the love of the game and the importance of teamwork while players take part in healthy competition. Since 2017 registrations unexpectantly increased by 36%, the Gala will donate $7,500 to help replace equipment that has reached end of its useful life and also extra equipment needed to meet increased number of players.

Since 2009 and thanks to the generosity of sponsors, donors, and attendees, the Pelham Mayor’s Gala has raised more than a $250,000! These proceeds have supported more than 30 charities, not-for-profit community organizations and service clubs that play a vital role in shaping and improving the Town of Pelham.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Pelham Changing Through the Years

Since Statistics Canada recently released additional information from the 2016 Census, I thought I would write here about the demographics of Pelham. And, since they also provide information for communities from the 2011, 2006, 2001 and 1996 Census, one can compare the make-up and changes of our population over a twenty-year period.

As you may know, Pelham is among the fastest growing communities in the Niagara Peninsula. Since our formation in 1970, we have grown from 9,855 to 17,110 in 2016. That’s a 74% increase!

Other large population increases include Grimsby at 80%, West Lincoln at 76%, and Lincoln also at 74%; compare this with the entire Region’s population which grew by only 33% during that period.

During the last 20 years, Pelham’s population grew from 14,345 in 1996, to 15,275 in 2001, to 16,155 in 2006, to 16,598 in 2011, to 17,110 in 2016. That’s more than 19% population growth over 20 years.

But, the story becomes more interesting when one looks at age groups.

For example, our Town’s population of children and youth (aged 24 and younger) declined slightly (6%) in raw numbers over the last couple of decades. This cohort numbered 4,820 in 1996 and 4,515 in 2016. The number of children and youth represented more than 26% of our population last year and essentially matched the proportion across the Niagara Peninsula (which stood at 27% of Niagara’s total population in 2016).

What about our seniors – those aged 65 and older? In 1996 there were 1,925 seniors in Pelham; in 2016 Statistics Canada counted 4,175. That’s a 117% increase! Seniors now make up 24% of our population. That’s up from 13% in 1996. Across the Region, the proportion of seniors was 21% in 2016.

Statistics Canada provides some very broad categories for comparison over the last 20 years. For example, Pelham’s population aged 25 to 54 (the “working-age” population) declined just over 8% from 6,095 people in 1996 to 5,595 in 2016. This working age group counted for 33% of Pelham’s population in the last census.

So, broadly speaking, where was the majority of our growth concentrated through the last 20 years? Those 55-and-older grew a phenomenal 104% from 3,400 in 1996 to 7,010 in 2016!

(It is important to note that these demographic changes result from both new residents moving here, others moving away, and from the aging of current residents.)

While one must be cautious about broad comparisons from relatively small sub-sets of our population, these numbers obviously show trends. Please rest assured that Council and I continue to consider these demographic realities as we provide public services and develop community economic development initiatives.

Monday, May 1, 2017

Too Long to Release Integrity Reports

An odd thing happened at Regional Council last week. On a vote of 14 in favour and 11 against, Council nearly did not approve the agenda for our April 28 meeting.

What does that mean and why?

The first order of business for any municipal council is to approve the agenda – that is agree on what to discuss and consider during the meeting. It’s usually approved without fanfare and the meeting begins.

But last week, after some other Councillors and I outlined our concern that the Chair neglected to include three Integrity Commissioner’s reports, 11 Councillors spontaneously voted against the incomplete agenda.

You may recall that, after some high-profile public protests, Council reinstated an Integrity Commissioner (IC) on December 8, 2016 and forwarded four Code of Conduct complaints about Regional Councillors. As others made subsequent complaints, Staff forwarded them to the IC.

On February 2, 2017, the IC submitted two reports to the Region on investigations about the conduct of two Councillors. In each case, the IC did not find a breach of the Code of Conduct and did not recommend any action by Council. Therefore, Staff simply published the reports to the public and Council on March 24.

Since then, a Regional Councillor revealed that the Integrity Commissioner investigated him and completed three Code of Conduct violation reports. Further, Staff revealed by email that the IC filed these reports to the Region on February 14, 2017.

In essence, this means that the Integrity Commissioner completed three investigations, determined that a Councillor(s) breached the Code of Conduct, and issued reports to the Region in February with recommendations on how to handle the contraventions.

Why is this important? To use a hockey analogy, if there is bad behaviour on the ice, the referee blows the whistle, stops the game, and makes a ruling. In this case, the referee has blown the whistle, and now we need to know why.

At our meeting last Thursday, I asked the Regional Chair to explain why these reports were not included on either the March 2, March 30, or April 27 Council meeting agendas. (Why did I ask this? With knowledge of these three reports, it is ultimately then the Chair’s responsibility to “ensure the appropriate placement of items on the agenda.”)

Unfortunately, more than 10 weeks later, the reports have yet to see the light of day.

By the end of last week’s meeting, Regional Council directed Staff to include any future Integrity Commissioner reports automatically on the next/subsequent Council agenda. Thankfully, this means that the February reports will finally be dealt with on May 18 – our next meeting.