PRESENT

Members: G. Kemp, R. Cantin, D. Brousseau, R. Lavictoire, R. Maxwell

Others :
C. Bordeleau, 9-1-1 Bureau Manager; P. Gallant, OCRPS; H. Murphy, Manager, Emergency Measures Unit, E & T Dept.; L. Jenkins, 9-1-1 Manager, Bell
G. Cantello, Legal Department; D. Presse, Clerks Department; P. Maloney, GIS Group.

REGRETS:

R. Lafortune

At the outset, the Board considered the confirmation of the position of Chair.

Moved by R. Cantin

The Board acknowledged new representation from the 9-1-1 Bureau: Inspector Charles Bordeleau and Staff Sergeant Paul Gallant. Also, Rob Acheson introduced himself as the new member on the 9-1-1 Advisory Committee representing the Ministry of Health. He was interested in sitting in on today’s meeting.

CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES

1. 9-1-1 MANAGEMENT BOARD TERMS OF REFERENCE

- Co-ordinator, 9-1-1 Management Board report dated 19 Jan 00

D. Brousseau made note of the fact that the terms of reference are quite dated. Many of the agencies which are referred to no longer exist and there will be further modifications with the new municipal structure. He advised that the Audit Department was requested to prepare a review of the terms, as well as the operation of the service and distributed copies of their proposal dated 10 September 1999. He suggested the Board review the document and provide their comments through Harold Murphy in the Emergency Measures Unit.

In reviewing the paper, Dan Presse, Manager, Projects and Administration, Clerks Department emphasized that this review will be done in two phases, to which he provided a brief synopsis of each. He advised that a series of interviews and consultations will be conducted to determine what the issues are and report back to the Board with revised terms to prioritize those issues and focus on the specifics of what needs to be done. In Phase 1, staff will explore some of those issues with members of the Board and others, in an effort to gauge their importance and whether or not they merit revision or examination.

D. Brousseau advised that the second bullet under Phase 1 is of particular concern to him because he and his staff are responsible for the budget for 9-1-1.

D. Presse agreed to determine the priorities and fine-tune the existing terms of reference so Phase 2 will focus on the issues.

Chair Kemp suggested that Phase 1 include the public’s perception of what they expect from 9-1-1 and how it is operated. He believed they should have an opportunity to provide input so when staff enter into Phase 2, there is an expectation of what is needed. Following up on this suggestion, Councillor Cantin thought a public forum might be a helpful venue in which to communicate. He opined that there was a need for more public advocates for the system.

C. Bordeleau asked whether there will be consultation with other 9-1-1 Bureaus across the country and D. Presse confirmed there will be. Staff will contact Board members and will have further consultation with those people who the members might think would be appropriate. Staff will then report back and discuss what the scope should be for Phase 3.

D. Brousseau added that at that time, staff will establish what the new reporting structure to the new council should be. The reporting relationship, managing the budget and the budget in general are his concerns.

Chair Kemp stated that accountability to the different emergency services will be vital in the new city; they feel they still have some input and influence and can be involved because it is crucial to the response time. He hoped that something comes out of this exercise that affirms 9-1-1 still fulfills its intended role and can still function accordingly. He believed that should be assured with the new structure.

Councillor Cantin advised that the Management Board was given a mandate to prepare suggestions to the Transition Board as to how it thinks things should be in the new city. While he acknowledged the wide variety of experience being brought from the Transition Board, he believed the Board should still give them something to work for, so the end result is a product more beneficial to all taxpayers.

The Board made note of the proposed administrative amendments to the terms of reference prepared by the Co-ordinator, and it was agreed that a copy be forwarded to Mr. Presse as part of this review. Chair Kemp wondered whether it would be appropriate for the Board to accept those administrative changes now and wait for the audit process to be completed before any operational changes are made. The Solicitor advised that it would be appropriate for the existing terms of reference to remain as they are and, as part of their review, Audit staff can incorporate those changes if and as they are necessary.

2. 9-1-1 BUREAU QUARTERLY REPORT

- Co-ordinator, 9-1-1 Management Board report dated 19 Jan 00

R. Maxwell questioned whether or not the Bureau could highlight one particular incident in its next report which would illustrate the length of time it takes between the time a call is received to the time the downstream agency responds. L. Jenkins advised that only the downstream agency could provide that information because the Bureau does not have the technology. D. Brousseau suggested this and other ideas can be addressed during Audit’s review.

The question was asked why the number of abandoned calls increased and while he did not have that information available, the Inspector agreed to answer that question at the next meeting.

Councillor Cantin referred to a recent incident where a house was destroyed by fire and the follow-up media coverage appeared to blame 9-1-1 for an apparent delay in response time. He asked the Inspector to briefly describe the situation. C. Bordeleau advised that the call to 9-1-1 was placed by a young boy from a house on Richmond Road. The operator determined that the address was in Kanata and instructed the boy to leave the house immediately. The call was then downstreamed to the Kanata Fire Department. However, when Kanata received this, the address information that appeared on their screen indicated that the house was in Nepean.

Chair Kemp interjected that once they realized the address was in Nepean, Kanata dispatched the call immediately to that fire department. As it turned out, Nepean Fire was able to reach the blaze first and would have still been able to reach it first if Kanata Fire was to go as well.

Councillor Cantin questioned whether the Board can be reasonably certain, at least for Richmond Road, that this misinformation will not show up incorrectly in future. L. Jenkins confirmed it would not happen again.

D. Brousseau questioned who was to blame for the wrong information in the data base and L. Jenkins advised that it could have been the homeowner or the person who provided the service address or it could have been Bell entering wrong information when it was first determined. C. Bordeleau confirmed that each emergency service has its own data base and D. Brousseau stated that all agencies should have the correct data base at some point in time.

The Board received this verbal report and was satisfied with the process that took place. D. Brousseau suggested flagging this incident for the next Children’s Recognition Awards.

3. DIGITAL MAPPING/PERS

- Co-ordinator, 9-1-1 Management Board report dated 20 Jan 00

The Board acknowledged that the digital mapping has been completed and has been handed over to Bell.

Paul Maloney, Project Manager, GIS advised that on 15 December 1999, staff delivered all the digital data to Bell, which was then transferred to Oshawa and confirmed to be accurate. The information has now been forwarded to Quebec City for secondary testing. His concerns relate to duplicate addressing as illustrated on the lists previously distributed. The short list included the duplication of street names in the same municipality and the longer list detailed the duplications in different municipalities.

With respect to how other municipalities handled these issues, P. Maloney advised that in Toronto, they have carried forward all the same local names. Next year, staff will be involved in a maintenance procedure with Bell to confirm the new legal street names, et cetera and will do similar procedures with them once a month.

Councillor Cantin reiterated the fact that once PERS is in place, there can be no duplicate street names. Since the restructuring will force approximately 50% of the population to change their municipality address, he believed that now is the appropriate time to address the issue of streets which are continuous, but which have a variety of names e.g. Wellington Street. P. Maloney advised there may be an opportunity to examine this when the municipal boundaries disappear. In speaking to the list of duplicated street names, he explained that the road is broken down into segments from one intersection to the next and if the address falls within that range it would not be a problem to rename the road. The have investigated the option of tying in addressing to the postal code system, but the latter will be used as a secondary source of information.

R. Maxwell stated that the sub-committee recommended there be no duplication of the same street name in one municipality and if that recommendation is approved, there will be a lot of changes to be made. When asked how easy this will be to do, P. Maloney confirmed it is not difficult to change street names digitally. When questioned who will be responsible for changing the street names, he indicated that currently the area municipalities send the information to the Region to ensure there is no duplication.

L. Jenkins advised that Bell is prepared to offer PERS by June 2001, based on everything being put into place. She mentioned the need to have a point of contact with an agency representative who has the background and expertise to field questions. This will be an opportunity to update, clarify and improve the existing street system, but confirmed the data base cannot be built with any duplicate street names. All name changes have to be made well before June 2001. The dispatching aspect will be a mirror image of what occurs today. She acknowledged that Bell will have to change its data base for the phone book, to reflect the new city.

She went on to state that those municipalities with duplicate street names will have to change; however, the more extensive list of duplicated names will not affect PERS in 2001 because only the municipal name is changed. From a mapping and routing point of view, all the street names will be referenced as being in Ottawa.

In view of the fact that PERS will not operate with duplicate addressing, the Board Chair asked how Bell intends to respond to a call from a resident once the new city is formed, if the street they live on can also be found in an area which was formerly another municipality. L. Jenkins explained that Bell’s records for January 2001 will show existing addresses. However, there cannot be more than one municipal structure in the data base because it will not work.

R. Lavictoire suggested problems might be avoided if the name of the former municipality is added to the street name, noting this has been done successfully in other municipalities that were amalgamated.

L. Jenkins went on to state that it is different from having a call routed and there will be an eventual need to change duplicate addresses to show Ottawa only. The digital mapping will be unable to differentiate the addresses on a street whose name is duplicated elsewhere in the new city. Chair Kemp thought this could be avoided by simply adding another field to the data base. L. Jenkins agreed they would have to do that, but explained it would not be part and parcel of building the 9-1-1 data base.

L. Jenkins further stated that for 2001, the first priority would be to review the list of duplicate street names in the same municipality, but indicated that the issue of duplicate street names in different municipalities will have to be addressed in the very near future. She noted that some streets of the same name actually cross boundaries, so as long as the address range is compatible, there may not be as many duplicates as it seems. She added that by March of this year, a committee should be established, made up of representatives from every agency, for the implementation of 9-1-1 PERS. She stressed the importance of this move because there is a need to set up a critical path to address the key issues.

Mr. Brousseau was somewhat anxious to reduce the long list of duplicate street names and suggested that if the address ranges are compatible, such information would give the Board an idea of how many streets are in geographic locations, as opposed to different area municipalities. He asked that staff determine the address ranges and provide him with a list of which ones are the same. He was also interested in determining how many people would be affected by having to change their address.

Chair Kemp referred to the migration to PERS by June 2001 and wanted confirmation that Bell will not extend it beyond that date. Ms. Jenkins advised that she wants to support that, and referred to her request to establish a Technical Committee in March. She suggested that representatives of the GIS group should also be involved. The committee will have the authority to draw maps, et cetera, based on service boundaries. She confirmed that information would be required by August or September 2000. She agreed to report back to the Board at its next meeting on the key details.

Chair Kemp thought the Board should send a letter to those area municipalities on the short list, with a request that they conduct a name change process for those streets only.

R. Lavictoire also suggested looking at the complete list when that is done to begin changing the duplications within all the municipalities. Chair Kemp recognized the magnitude of such a project and did not believe the long list could be solved until 2001. He strongly suggested addressing the shorter list as soon as possible.

Councillor Cantin interjected however, that the duplicate street names on the small list are still duplicated elsewhere and suggested all references to the names should be changed. The Board Chair was hesitant to do that because he did not want it to seem that the Board is deciding which municipality will keep the name. He explained that if the municipalities change only one of the duplicate streets, then only those people living on that street will be affected.

C. Bordeleau suggested that the area municipalities should be reminded that they should select a name that is not going to then be duplicated in the new city of Ottawa. D. Brousseau wondered whether this course of events will begin a debate between rural and urban municipalities, especially if the new city of Ottawa does not change its street names that are duplicated in other areas. Chair Kemp reiterated that municipalities with duplicate street names in their own municipality are the main concern right now and they should be encouraged to implement a process to change those names, noting there is no other option.

L. Jenkins recognized the need to as reasonable as possible to accommodate this change, noting that by-laws will have to be prepared before anything is changed. She hoped to see an update by the end of September for those on the short list (all by-lawed). She suggested the emergency zones should also be examined.

Chair Kemp suggested that perhaps those municipalities (Osgoode, Cumberland and Rideau) which have duplicate street names in their own municipalities, should get together and decide amongst themselves which one will keep the street name, because they should be advised that next year, 9-1-1 will be unable to respond to an emergency on a street whose name is duplicated in the same municipality. If they refuse, perhaps they might agree to renumbering those addresses. R. Maxwell suggested it might be helpful to let them know that by changing the street, they will have an opportunity to give it a name of historical significance.

Chair Kemp indicated he would raise this issue with the Fire Chiefs and report to the Advisory Committee next month. He suggested including the larger list of duplicate street names on the agenda on 10 March, with the caveat that the shorter list must be dealt with by the end of September 2000. P. Maloney agreed that through elimination of address ranges and cross-over streets from one municipality to another, the bigger list will undoubtedly be shortened.

4. PUBLIC EMERGENCY REPORTING STRUCTURE (PERS)

- Co-ordinator, 9-1-1 Management Board report dated 24 Jan 00

The discussion of this item was raised and discussed in conjunction with the previous item. The Board acknowledged that PERS would be in place by June 2001.

5. CIVIC ADDRESSING - RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE SUB-COMMITTEE - DRAFT REPORT

- Co-ordinator, 9-1-1 Management Board report dated 20 Jan 00

The Board received the following documentation in reference to this item:

Councillor Cantin provided a brief overview of the report submitted by the Sub-committee. When questioned whether the colour for house numbers was being suggested, he advised that the Sub-committee suggested they be the same as in the rural area; white on blue or white on green. He advised the Board that there are some issues left to be resolved such as the issue of proper signage at shopping malls and underground parking garages as well as businesses displaying their address clearly.

R. Maxwell, Public Representative, stated that the Sub-committee recognized that area municipalities have a responsibility to ensure emergency services can get to the right address, but it is also the responsibility of the homeowner/occupant to ensure the building address is visible. To this end, it was suggested that addressing should be part of occupancy and building permits. Chair Kemp recalled how the municipal Fire Department tried to ensure the latter was adhered to in Kanata, but were informed by builders that they only have to adhere to the Ontario Building Code. Councillor Cantin suggested that once the new city is formed, a building inspector should be appointed whose responsibility it would be to investigate building infractions such as ensuring a dwelling has a clearly displayed address before occupancy is permitted.

Chair Kemp questioned whether the intent is to move this process forward while there are still 11 municipalities, or to wait until there is only one city. Councillor Cantin advised that it was the Sub-committee’s intention to act on this as quickly as possible.

D. Brousseau, Director, Mobility Services and Corporate Fleet Services did not believe the recommendations of the Working Group which are contained within the report, should go forward for endorsement because, in his opinion, they were too drastic. He agreed however, that the Board should send a message to the Transition Board that they must consider this problem and the recommendations of the Sub-committee can be brought to their attention.

There was some discussion about changing street names. For example Wellington Street becomes Rideau Street which becomes Montreal Road, et cetera and Councillor Cantin explained that it would be difficult to direct people to the right section of what appears to be one street, when it has several names associated with it. D. Brousseau believed that changing the names of such streets is a very fundamental change in the community and questioned what the costs would be to make that change. While he understood it may save a life, he believed there should be a cost/benefit analysis done first. He wondered whether there were other technical approaches that can be investigated to determine what the cost will be of changing street addresses for all those people who are affected vs other technical approaches that can be used.

Inspector Bordeleau, 9-1-1 Bureau Manager believed the Board should focus on the fact that because of the creation of the new city of Ottawa, this is a unique opportunity to deal with the issue of duplicate addresses. Chair Kemp opined that something should be presented to the Transition Board, who in turn will make some decisions on how to proceed. He believed they will be careful about what projects they create and pass off to the new municipality. He felt there was a need for a campaign or plan on how to proceed with this initiative, noting that if it is done now, it will involve bringing together all the municipalities.

Councillor Cantin reminded Board members that the Transition Board has powers that supersede all other committees of Council and suggested it would be within their purview to direct how and when this issue is addressed. R. Maxwell thought the Transition Board might suggest a phasing of this process, and perhaps recommend that some funding be provided to assist in changing addresses. He understood that other departments are bringing forward their own plans and ideas to the Transition Board and he maintained this is an opportunity for the Board to let them know that civic addressing will be a problem once the new City of Ottawa is created. He went on to state that the Management Board should advise the Transition Board that a problem exists and here are some possible solutions for their consideration.

D. Brousseau believed there was a need for more information before he would give his support to the suggestion to changing duplicate street names. He did not think the Board should press this situation at this time. He questioned whether there was a technical solution to this problem, instead of having to change street names and addresses. He reiterated his question of the cost associated to make those changes and how many people will be affected.

Chair Kemp indicated his preference for a suggested process because he believed the Transition Board would not deal with processes; if a process is presented to them, they can then determine how quickly they want that to be dealt with; now or when the new municipality is formed. D. Brousseau indicated that the Transition Board will want to know what they can expect with respect to public input.

C. Bordeleau suggested the Transition Board be made aware of this problem, present them with some recommendations on how to address the issues and following that, consultation can take place with the people that are affected by it. Chair Kemp suggested getting acknowledgement from the Transition Board that there is a problem and agreeing to bringing people together to find a solution.

Councillor Cantin suggested that the Management Board recommend to Council, through the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee, to identifying the problem, suggesting possible solutions and seeing if Council agrees to endorse it as a subject to be brought to the Transition Board. How the latter finally decides to deal with the issue he could not guess, but suggested the Board and the sub-committee would provide whatever assistance they can throughout the process. He agreed to allow continuous streets with the same names, but was still not supportive of maintaining discontinuous ones.

Chair Kemp suggested the Board present to the Transition Board that this is something that has to be given all due consideration as we move forward in the new municipality.

D. Brousseau suggested amending Recommendation 1 to add the words "approve that a public consultation program be undertaken on the draft recommendations on page 40". He indicated the public can be advised that civic addressing is what the 9-1-1 Management Board believes is important and then a report can be made to the new city. The question then arose on who would be responsible for that public consultation and D. Brousseau suggested that the Transition Board direct the Planning Department spearhead the consultation process. It is the business of 9-1-1 to respond and the rationale for giving the responsibility for consultation to the Planning Department is because they are responsible for civic addressing.

C. Bordeleau suggested that the Transition Board direct the different planning departments to work with the Region to address this issue. D. Brousseau clarified that a Planning Review Board has been established and suggested this issue could perhaps get placed on their agenda. Chair Kemp suggested that if the Transition Board directs the area municipalities to come together to address the issues identified by 9-1-1, that that would become direction to the Chief Administrative Officer for the new city and who would have the authority to assign it to a group of people.

Councillor Cantin suggested an amendment to Recommendation 2 to add that the Transition Board order the various planning departments to begin the process of resolving the identified problems, including the duplication of street names.

With respect to Recommendation 3, Chair Kemp suggested there is a need for feedback from the local municipalities, as opposed to simply forwarding the report to them for information. D. Brousseau suggested that the Planning Department should lead this. He suggested that following Council’s consideration of the report, a letter be sent to area municipalities transmitting this report and advising them that Council has recommended to the Planning Department to undertake public consultation of civic addressing. He suggested any responses from the municipalities should go directly to the Planning Department.

Chair Kemp suggested that the list of duplicate addresses in various municipalities should be included as part of the package to the Transition Board, so they can be made aware of the magnitude of this problem with same street names in more than one municipality.

D. Brousseau suggested an amendment to Recommendation 4 to ensure it is more complete what the by-law should address. Chair Kemp indicated that the issue of duplicate street names will have to be included in the comprehensive review towards establishing a by-law. The Board decided the recommendation should include reference to street naming, street numbering and discontinuous street names as issues that should be addressed.

Councillor Cantin suggested that the report to go forward to the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee make reference to the fact that the Region established a 9-1-1 program in 1988 to speed up emergency response time. The report should highlight what problems have been occurring and the issues that should be addressed.

Paul Maloney, of the Information Technology Office agreed to revise the list of duplicate street names in different municipalities which was provided to the Board for information, to include address ranges, a confirmation of the 'short list' of names that are the same in the same municipality, and also the number of people that would be affected by the changes to the street names on the short list. The breakdown would also include which duplicate street names would pose a problem because the address ranges flow in an orderly fashion from one municipality to another. This revised list would be submitted in time for the Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee’s consideration of this report.

Councillor Cantin advised the Board that the Sub-committee was a fantastic team and it was a pleasure to work with them. D. Brousseau added that the councillor has shown a great deal of leadership in this regard, noting the issue of civic addressing has been around for many, many years and nothing much has been done until now.

Chair Kemp suggested getting letters of endorsement of this concept from all the emergency agencies prior to the item going to Council. D. Brousseau suggested they endorse the approach the Board has taken today in order to avoid any conflicts. The Board Chair agreed those letters should reflect their agreement that there is a problem with civic addressing and endorsing the Board’s approach that a solution be found. Representatives of fire, ambulance and police on the Management Board would provide those letters.

6. 9-1-1 TRAINING MANUAL

- Co-ordinator, 9-1-1 Management Board report dated 24 Jan 00

L. Jenkins stated this will be replaced next year when PERS is implemented.

C. Bordeleau briefly reviewed some amendments to the Manual which would be forwarded to Councillor Cantin’s office for revision.

7. AGREEMENT FOR THE PROVISION OF 9-1-1 EMERGENCY CALLING SERVICE

- Co-ordinator, 9-1-1 Management Board report dated 25 Jan 00

The Board noted that Vidéotron Communications is offering the provision of 9-1-1 service in the Ottawa-Carleton area. L. Jenkins advised that the information of the service provider will appear on the screen, exactly as it does today.

INFORMATION PREVIOUSLY DISTRIBUTED

1. Year 2000 Program report for the THIRD quarter of 1999 – 9-1-1 Management Board

- Director, Year 2000 Program memorandum dated 2 Nov 99

OTHER BUSINESS

The Board received information from the Nepean Fire Chief transmitting the verdict of a coroner’s jury in Oakville last year. The details referred to communications for 9-1-1. The Chief also submitted an article on the effects of 10-digit numbers, CLEC’s and wireless telephones on 9-1-1 services. These documents will be forwarded to the 9-1-1 Advisory Committee for information.

L. Jenkins asked that the Advisory Committee (at its meeting next month) establish the Technical Committee as discussed during Item 3 today.

Friday, 2 June 2000

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 1:20 p.m.