March 24, 2025
Council approved updates to municipal service fees and confirmed appointments for weed inspectors and city officers. The meeting was otherwise procedural, with council confirming agendas and minutes from previous sessions.
March 10, 2025
Council punted a decision on the Woodside Street lands, deferring it for two years until a report comes back by March 31, 2027. A motion to declare surplus property at 172 something failed to pass. The rest of the meeting involved routine approvals of previous meeting minutes and bylaw confirmations.
February 24, 2025
Council approved boulevard gardens for residents while requiring them to maintain the plantings, and authorized road and storm sewer improvements on MacDonell Street between Central and Squier as local improvement projects. The meeting was otherwise procedural, with council confirming its agenda and minutes.
February 10, 2025
Council approved Thunder Bay's 2025 operating budget of $385 million, which will require $219 million in municipal taxes. The budget covers the city's core operations plus separate rate-based budgets for water, sewer, waste, parking, and boater services, each designed to break even after reserve contributions. The remainder of the meeting consisted of routine procedural approvals including confirmation of previous meeting minutes and a board appointment to Synergy North.
January 13, 2025
Council gave its negotiating team updated direction for talks with the paramedics union representing SNEMS workers, though the specific terms of that mandate weren't detailed publicly. The rest of the meeting consisted of routine procedural items including confirming minutes from previous meetings and adopting resolutions.
January 6, 2025
Council approved Thunder Bay's 2025 interim property tax levy and formally appointed Municipal Law Enforcement Officers to enforce parking rules across the city. The rest of the meeting involved routine administrative confirmations of previous meeting minutes and agendas.
December 9, 2024
Council approved $13.8 million in borrowing for city capital projects including infrastructure and facilities improvements, along with finalizing a condo development on John Street Road through six new by-laws. The meeting was otherwise procedural, with council confirming minutes from recent meetings and approving a correction to a property description error.
November 26, 2024
Council approved updates to the Corporate Policy Manual and confirmed procedural items from November meetings. However, a significant defeat came when councillors rejected a proposal to allocate one-time funding for waterfront development projects in the 2025 budget, along with a companion request to seek matching funds from provincial and federal governments—meaning the city's waterfront plans outlined in its 2024-2026 Action Plan will move forward without this budget support. Council also rejected a separate proposal to have Councillor Foulds' September memo reviewed during budget discussions on Infrastructure and Operations.
November 4, 2024
This meeting consisted entirely of procedural items with no substantive policy decisions or public business discussed.
October 28, 2024
Council approved up to $5 million in infrastructure funding for a Temporary Village Initiative from the Renew Thunder Bay Reserve Fund, plus $1.5 million annually for operations, though administration still needs to analyze two proposed sites and report back with final costs and location recommendations. In a notable rejection, councillors voted down a Human Rights-Based Community Action Plan that would have been sent to federal and provincial housing ministers, with the motion failing 5-3. Council also approved the 2025 budget meeting schedule, with the capital budget to be presented to Committee of the Whole on November 4 and November 25, and selected Option 3 for community engagement on both operating and capital budgets.
October 7, 2024
Council increased the hotel tax from 4 percent to 5 percent and boosted funding for the Affordable Rental Housing Funding Program to expand affordable housing development in the city. The meeting also included routine procedural approvals of previous meeting minutes and by-law updates clarifying parking enforcement officer rules and the City Manager's job duties. Councillor Trevor Giertuga served as Acting Mayor for the session.
September 23, 2024
Council decided to recycle the James Whalen Tug, the historic vessel currently at Kam River Heritage Park, while preserving select pieces for future display at a cost not exceeding $415,000. The city will also explore relocating a VIA Train historical artifact and will return with specific options later for how and where these preserved items will be publicly showcased. Beyond that, the meeting was largely procedural, with council confirming minutes and agendas from recent sessions.
September 9, 2024
Thunder Bay City Council took action on nuclear waste transport, formally requesting the Nuclear Waste Management Organization keep used nuclear fuel stored near its source rather than shipping it through the city, and asked federal and provincial officials to review the city's hazardous materials routes. Council rejected a proposal to delay advocacy on nuclear safety principles pending more information, choosing instead to move forward with the Proximity Principle discussion. The council also confirmed routine administrative items including meeting minutes and by-laws from the session.
August 26, 2024
This was an entirely procedural meeting where Council confirmed the agenda, approved official minutes from previous sessions, and passed By-law 318-2024 to formally record the day's decisions. No substantive policy changes or spending decisions were made.
August 12, 2024
Council approved updated parking enforcement bylaws and new user fees for city operations on August 12, along with a storm separation infrastructure contract. The meeting also formalized advocacy positions on social services administration and immigrant nominee programs, though the specific details of those positions weren't disclosed in the agenda summary. The rest of the session consisted of standard procedural items including confirming meeting minutes and approving four reports.
July 22, 2024
Council's July 22 meeting was entirely procedural, with members confirming the agenda and adopting minutes from the previous committee meeting without substantive debate or new decisions.
July 15, 2024
Council established new distance guidelines for homeless encampments in Thunder Bay, requiring them to stay at least 5 metres away from trails, sidewalks, parking lots, and bridges, though staff will study whether that buffer should increase to 10 metres by mid-August. The city is pursuing a shelter pilot project and calling on Ontario and federal governments to boost funding for social assistance, mental health crisis services, and a national homelessness strategy. Council also updated parking enforcement officer rules under the municipal law enforcement by-law.
June 24, 2024
Council appointed a new City Manager and Fire Chief while rejecting a proposal to sell three small parkette properties at Holly Crescent, Thistle Crescent, and Thornloe Drive. A decision on selling two other vacant city properties at 172 and 168 Street was pushed to January 2025 for further consideration. The rejections suggest council wants more time to evaluate how best to manage the city's surplus real estate.
June 3, 2024
Council approved a $42.7 million indoor turf sports facility after a confusing sequence where they first defeated the proposal, then passed it moments later—the final version commits the city to designing and building the facility through a design-build process with ongoing operating costs starting in 2026. Council also delayed a decision on an infrastructure and engineering report until June 24, with the vote narrowly passing 10-3 in favor of the postponement. Three routine resolutions covering a contract, cemetery by-law amendment, and lease agreement were also ratified.
May 27, 2024
Council locked in 2024 tax rates with payments due in August and October, while granting the Polish Combatants Association a 10-year property tax exemption on their Lakehead building. Two major infrastructure projects also got the green light: replacement of the McKellar River Bridge deck and sanitary sewer work on Burwood Road plus storm sewer upgrades on Central Avenue. The meeting was otherwise procedural, confirming minutes and bylaws from previous sessions.
May 6, 2024
Council approved an increased agreement with Pioneer Ridge for food and nutrition services and ratified a franchise agreement with Enbridge for natural gas utility services. Beyond those two substantive decisions, the meeting consisted mainly of procedural confirmations including approval of previous meeting minutes and formal verification that the May 6 proceedings followed proper legal protocols.
April 22, 2024
Council completed routine administrative business on April 22, confirming the agenda for the next day's meeting and approving minutes from two earlier Committee of the Whole sessions. The only substantive action was formal adoption of By-law 108/2024 to seal the proceedings from the April 23 meeting, a standard procedural step with no policy changes or new decisions affecting residents.
April 8, 2024
Council overhauled Thunder Bay's parking regulations by approving three updated by-laws governing where residents can park, how the municipal code treats parking violations, and enforcement officer authority. Beyond the parking changes, council also green-lit infrastructure contracts for sewer and watermain work plus asphalt road rehabilitation projects. The remainder of the meeting involved standard procedural approvals including confirming prior meeting minutes and the day's agenda.
March 25, 2024
Council remained deadlocked over a Hillcourt Estates land sale, with multiple tie votes preventing progress on whether to move forward or delay the project, ultimately deferring the decision to March 2025 and extending the general land sales deadline to March 31, 2026. In other business, council approved seven routine administrative by-laws covering fee updates, procurement rule changes, and staff reorganization adjustments, and confirmed minutes from earlier meetings.
March 4, 2024
Council approved the first phase of the West Cell capping project and settled a related legal action, moving forward with work on the city's closed landfill site. The meeting was primarily procedural, with council confirming minutes from February committee and ward meetings and passing a minor amendment to an existing city by-law.