Council Info - January 17, 2018

August 01, 2025

Council Info is a summary of discussion and the major items presented at Council meetings. It is circulated immediately following each meeting. You are encouraged to quote from and copy this information. Please refer to the minutes for an official record of the meeting.

Regional Council reaffirms support to Children's Groundwater Festival

Council reaffirmed its ongoing financial support to the Waterloo Wellington Children's Groundwater Festival in the amount of $30,000 for a five-year term. The Festival, now in its 23rd year, continues to be an important program for educating local children and their parents about water protection and conservation. To date, over 97,000 students have participated. Including adults and volunteers, this results in a total of over 130,000 members of the community who have been educated on water protection and conservation related topics since the Festival began.

Ontario Early Years Child and Family Centres

Starting January 1, 2018, local Ontario Early Years Centres will collectively be known as EarlyON Child and Family Centres. Council approved the selection of the KW YMCA as the EarlyON Child and Family Centres lead agency until December 2021. The YMCA will work with other existing partners to transition current programs under the new brand. Region of Waterloo Children's Services now oversees provincially-funded child and family programs and is responsible for administering funding to community agencies providing EarlyON services.

Temporary winter overnight drop-in

Council approved a temporary winter overnight drop-in for emergency shelter overflow. The shelter will be operated by the House of Friendship at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Kitchener from January to the end of April 2018. The drop-in will provide a flexible, cost-effective response to the recent demand for emergency shelter (primarily from adult men). The focus of the drop-in will be to provide access to services and supports that help shelter participants to find housing.

Tenders/Contracts:

The following tenders/contracts were approved by Council:

  • $2,868,292.02 to Century Group Inc. for Grand River Transit (GRT) Fairway Road station.
  • $1,890,000 to Century Group Inc. for Waterloo Regional Police Services investigative services building renovation.
  • $1,275,280.56 to FAAC Incorporated for GRT transit bus simulator system.
  • $794,366.65 to MTE Consultants Inc. to provide engineering consulting services for environmental assessment, preliminary and detailed design, contract administration and construction inspection services for Fairway Road Improvements from King Street to Lackner Boulevard in Kitchener.
  • $449,301.06 for the acquisition of two Dell VXRail server applications.
  • $265,300 to Watson and Associates Economists Ltd. for consulting services for a development charge background study and draft development charge by-law.
  • $122,000 to Sustainable Waterloo Region for consulting services to deliver the services of the TravelWise Transportation Management Association for 2018 and 2019.
  • $57,615 to WSP Canada Group Limited which reflects an increase in funds for the Master Environmental Servicing and Community Plan for a total contract price of $800,810.


For more information, contact: 

Bryan Stortz, Director, Corporate Communications, 519-575-4408
Regional Clerk's Office, 519-575-4420

 

Next meeting:

Wednesday, February 7, 2018