City of Waterloo Council Summary November 25, 2024

** The council summary below provides a snapshot of the major items presented at Monday’s council meeting. The council meeting webcast is available on the City of Waterloo YouTube page. Please refer to the minutes for an official record of the meeting.

Waterloo continues to update digital opportunities for service

Staff provided Council with an update on the first year of digital service strategy implementation, including the groundwork for major infrastructure projects and building on existing accessibility and user-testing practices. Digital staff have worked on several new service offerings over the past year, ranging from smaller, targeted services (‘Book a ride for seniors’) to large City-wide platforms (‘Get an online parking permit’). Digital staff have also advised on numerous internal projects, providing advice and guidance on implementation to meet corporate digital standards.

Staff are looking forward to continuing to advance the City’s digital opportunities for the future objective in 2025, with projects that include:

• Relaunch of waterloo.ca website.
• Internal CRM (customer relationship management) implementation and scoping for public-facing ‘City Account’.
• Approved digital components list.
• New/refreshed portals for building permits, business licenses and parking.
• New public engagement and park bookings platforms.

Staff identify priority locations for traffic calming, and road, pedestrian and cycling safety

Council received the first annual report on the City's Road Safety Countermeasures and Traffic Calming Implementation Plan. The report summarizes findings from collision and operating speed analysis on City of Waterloo roads and builds on the work underway as part of the City’s 2021 Transportation Master Plan and commitment to vision zero principles. Vision zero is the belief that everyone has the right to move safely in their community, with the goal to end traffic related injuries and fatalities, while increasing the safety and mobility for all.

The report prioritizes locations (intersections and mid-blocks) in the City of Waterloo for road safety measures, pedestrian safety measures, and cycling safety measures, as well as traffic calming measures to reduce higher than expected operating speeds. Collision countermeasures and traffic calming measures will continue through 2025, including ongoing public safety education and overall speed limit reduction.

-30-

Media contact:

Cari Van Niekerk

Director, Corporate Communications

cari.vanniekerk@waterloo.ca