May ROMA Board Meeting Highlights

• Taking action on 'trains and drains':  ROMA has taken action on the matter of the Drainage Act and the challenges with CN and other railways. Railways have told many rural communities that they will no longer share the cost of work done on municipal drains on their property, as required by the Act. CN has applied for a ruling to the Canadian Transportation Agency to resolve an issue with the City of Sarnia over the costs. ROMA is seeking to have status as an intervener in this case because of the broader risk to rural municipalities across Ontario. Federally regulated industries must be held to the same standards as all property owners, including following local laws, bylaws and regulations.
• Rural access to services: ROMA's Board has begun working with a consultant to dig into how to improve rural access to services like health and social supports. Innovative approaches are needed to ensure these services are available in rural Ontario. This was a key theme of in ROMA’s Opportunities for Rural Ontario plan for action. Findings will be shared at the 2024 ROMA Conference.
• Improving Safety through Speed Cameras:  LAS, AMO’s business services arm, is developing an Automated Speed Enforcement Service that will allow municipalities of any size the opportunity to make roads safer and reduce speeding in safety zones. The service will include everything from the technology to ticket processing.  It will be piloted in Barrie, with a plan for rollout to all of Ontario’s municipalities by late 2023.  

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*DISCLAIMER:  Any documents attached are final versions. ROMA assumes no responsibility for any discrepancies that may have been transmitted with this electronic version. The printed versions of the documents stand as the official record.