Peterborough city council will be meeting as general committee at 6 p.m. on Monday (March 23).
The general committee meeting will follow a closed session at 5 p.m. on three matters related to litigation or potential litigation that are subject to solicitor-client privilege and a matter related to signs that is subject to solicitor-client privilege.
Here are some highlights of what’s on the agenda:
Public meeting on draft Community Planning Permit by-law
During a statutory public meeting under the Planning Act, city council will consider the city’s draft city-wide Community Planning Permit (CPP) by-law and consider next steps for final approval of the by-law and implementation of a Community Planning Permit System (CPPS).
According to a staff report, the CPP by-law aims to modernize the city’s planning framework to conform with its 2023 official plan, while accelerating development approvals to meet targets and commitments under the Ontario Building Faster Fund and the Federal Housing Accelerator Fund.
The CPPS would replace the city’s existing zoning by-law by consolidating multiple approval processes into a single framework, with the aim of reducing approval timelines and supporting increased housing supply.
“The implementation of a city-wide CPP by-law will modernize development standards and significantly streamline the development approvals process,” the staff report reads. “Once enacted, the framework of the CPP by-law will empower the city to collect tangible community benefits, such as affordable housing by leveraging increased building heights.”
The city released the draft CPP by-law to the public on January 19 and, as part of the consultation process, undertook four in-person open houses, a virtual open house, an online survey, working sessions with community and business advisory groups, roundtable sessions with Indigenous groups, and briefings with the mayor and councillors.
Public comments made during the meeting will be provided to city staff for review, and will help inform the recommendation report that city staff will bring forward to council by June 30, along with a timeline for implementation.
Amendment to council’s code of conduct to prohibit use of racial slurs
On January 19, city council directed city staff to review and amend the council code of conduct to explicitly prohibit the use of racial slurs regardless of context or circumstance.
The direction came in response to public delegations responding to a December 2025 report by the city’s integrity commissioner that found Mayor Jeff Leal had not contravened the code of conduct when he used the N-word during a guest lecture at Trent University on March 19, 2025.
While the integrity commissioner described the slur as “odious” and said the mayor’s use of the term was “not acceptable,” he found that the code of conduct does not currently apply to speech made in an academic setting where the mayor was not acting in his official capacity. He suggested council may wish to amend the code to address conduct that occurs outside council chambers but affects community trust.
A staff report recommends that the section of the code of conduct that states that members of council must not “use indecent, abusive or insulting words, or expressions toward any other (member of council), and member of staff or any member of the public” be amended to read “use indecent, abusive or insulting words, expressions or racial slurs.”
Report of the Office of the Ombudsman’s review into complaints about a closed session
The Office of the Ombudsman has concluded that a closed session held on September 3, 2025 to discuss a staff report about renovations to two police stations did not contravene the Municipal Act.
The previous day, council meeting as general committee had voted to defer an update on the project to renovate and expand the city’s police stations that included a $25.4 million increase to the project budget. Councillor Alex Bierk had put forward a motion to defer the report back to city staff for details on what costs are related to mandatory versus discretionary requirements.
Bierk’s motion was up for final approval at the regular city council meeting on September 3 when councillor Gary Baldwin — a member of the police board — put forward a motion to move the discussion into closed session, referring to an unspecified matter of solicitor-client privilege and related communications.
The motion was approved, and council moved into closed session. Around half an hour later, councillors Bierk, Joy Lachica, and Keith Riel left the closed session. It was later revealed that the police chief, as well as the chair and vice-chair of the police services board, were invited into the closed session.
When council returned to open session, they voted against Bierk’s motion and approved the staff report, thereby approving a $25.4 million increase to the project budget, for a total estimated budget of $91.9 million — an increase of over 38 per cent from the originally approved budget of $66.4 million.
“We got railroaded last night in our attempt to defer the police renovations budget,” Bierk later told kawarthaNOW. “Council was pulled into an unplanned closed session, and when the discussion shifted from solicitor-client privileged advice to discussing my motion, I left. I believe those conversations and other elements of what happened — which I am not at liberty to discuss — were completely out of order and should have taken place as part of the public debate.”
The Office of the Ombudsman subsequently received complaints about the closed session and began a review. In his letter to council, which does not identify the complainants, Ombudsman of Ontario Paul Dubé concludes that the move into closed session was appropriate as the city solicitor provided legal advice to council, which councillors subsequently discussed. He also states that the police chief provided “information relevant to the legal advice which council was considering.”
“Although the police chief is not legal counsel, information provided by non-lawyers may still fall within the exception for solicitor-client privilege if the information is needed to meaningfully understand and discuss the legal advice being sought,” Dubé writes.
“The information provided by the police chief was necessary for the purpose of receiving solicitor-client privileged advice. The information was intertwined with the city solicitor’s legal advice to council and was used by council to meaningfully understand and discuss that advice. Accordingly, council’s closed session discussion fit within the exception for advice subject to solicitor-client privilege.”
Amendments to portfolio chairs by-law
In response to a direction from council on January 19 that city staff review the portfolio chairs by-law and report back to council with recommended amendments, a city staff report is proposing changes to the by-law that would come into effect on the first day of the next term of council.
Council’s direction followed a report by the city’s integrity commissioner into a city staff complaint against councillor Keith Riel, alleging that he treated a staff member of city’s people and culture division disrespectfully in relation to the city’s eviction of a homelessness encampment in July 2024 and creation of a temporary shelter.
While he dismissed the complaint against Riel, the integrity commissioner noted Riel’s emails to staff were expressing “frustration that he and the other portfolio co-chair did not receive advance information about the location of a temporary shelter during the eviction of an encampment” and that the portfolio by-law gave him “a reasonable belief that responding to media and public inquiries was part of his role and gave him a reasonable belief that he should receive from staff the information necessary to handle those inquiries.”
The integrity commissioner also found that the city’s portfolio system “perhaps blurs the line between the role of councillors and the role of the staff” and that council may want to consider clarifying expectations around portfolio co-chair roles, access to information, and staff relationships “given that the managerial and operational responsibilities reside with the city’s staff.”
The proposed changes to the portfolio chairs by-law includes collapsing the “Community Services (except Homelessness)” and “Community Services (Homelessness)” portfolios into a single “Community Services” portfolio (thereby also reducing the number of co-chairs for those portfolios from four to two) and changing the authority to appoint councillors as portfolio co-chairs (and revoke those appointments) from the mayor to council.
Another change includes the section of the by-law pertaining to the roles and responsibility of portfolio chairs so that they no longer “consult with third parties,” “consult with individual members (of council),” and “consult and share information with the commissioner (responsible for the portfolio) including respecting matters under consideration by the commissioner related to the portfolio.” Instead, the proposed section now only reads that a portfolio chair “may share information with the commissioner including respecting matters under consideration by the commissioner related to the portfolio.”
The proposed changes also strike out the section of the by-law that states that a portfolio chair may establish and dissolve citizen advisory committees, as well as the line that “a member who is not a portfolio chair should share with the portfolio chairs any type of motion relating to the portfolio.”
Councillor motions on guaranteed basic income, Alto high-speed rail, parking meters, and “orphaned garbage”
Motions from four individual councillors are also on the agenda for Monday’s meeting.
Councillor Matt Crowley is proposing a motion that council call upon the provincial and federal governments to implement guaranteed basic income for all Canadians and the provincial government to reinstate its cancelled basic income pilot.
Councillor Kevin Duguay is proposing a motion that council formally express its full support for the inclusion of Peterborough as a designated station stop within the planning and development of the Alto high-speed rail network.
Councillor Joy Lachica is proposing a motion that fines for parking violations be suspended for vehicles parked at non-functioning parking meters, and that those parking spaces continue to be available until the parking meters are repaired.
Councillor Alex Bierk is proposing a motion that fines against downtown property owners and business owners for “orphaned garbage” left by others on city property and owner boulevards be paused until July 1 and that city staff report back to council “with recommended amendments to improve clarity and fairness in enforcement.”
