Item - 2024.IE10.1

The Infrastructure and Environment Committee recommends that:

1. City Council establish a system of administrative penalties for Red Light Camera and Automated Speed Enforcement contraventions under, and in accordance with, the requirements of Ontario Regulation 355/22 made under the Highway Traffic Act, R.S.O. 1990, to be effective November 1, 2024.

2. City Council authorize the City Solicitor to amend City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 610, Penalties, Administration Of, so that it reads generally as set out in Attachment 1 to the report (December 21, 2023) from the City Solicitor, Chief Technology Officer, General Manager, Transportation Services, Director, Court Services, and Controller, such proposed replacement City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 610 to come into force on November 1, 2024.

3. City Council continue the Administrative Penalty Tribunal, expand the mandate of the Administrative Penalty Tribunal, and approve the updated Tribunal governance structure outlined in Attachment 2 to the report (December 21, 2023) from the City Solicitor, the Chief Technology Officer, the General Manager, Transportation Services, the Director, Court Services, and the Controller, such expanded mandate and updated Tribunal governance structure to be effective November 1, 2024.

4. City Council deems that any authorizations it has given prior to November 1, 2024 for City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 610, Penalties, Administration Of, including the establishment of by-laws as designated by-laws and the establishment of penalty amounts, continue to apply to the proposed replacement City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 610 and its schedules, as necessary.

5. City Council authorize the City Solicitor to introduce any necessary bills to amend the proposed replacement City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 610 and its schedules to reflect any changes to the text and / or schedules between the date that City Council adopts this Item and November 1, 2024, that being the date that the proposed replacement City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 610 comes into force, to update the proposed replacement City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 610 to incorporate any changes made to the current City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 610 and its Schedules in the interim, as required, and to make any additional required amendments deemed necessary by the City Solicitor, in consultation with the General Manager, Transportation Services, Director, Court Services, and Controller, to the proposed replacement City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 610, including any amendments required as a result of any legislative changes.

6. City Council authorize the continued delegation to the City Solicitor to appoint Screening Officers, who will be City employees, as required by O. Reg. 611/06 and delegate to the City Solicitor the additional authority to appoint Screening Officers, who will be City employees, required by O. Reg 355/22 to respond to requests for review of penalty notices issued under the City’s administrative penalty system established under that regulation.

7. City Council direct City staff to update the policies, guidelines and procedures that apply to the existing Administrative Penalty System as needed to give effect to the system of administrative penalties, procedures and the Administrative Penalty Tribunal as generally outlined in this report and make them publicly available on the City’s website.

8. City Council authorize the City Solicitor, in consultation with the City Clerk, to introduce any necessary bills to amend City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 217, Records, Corporate (City), City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 441, Fees and Charges, and Chapter 219, Records, Corporate (Local Boards) and to adopt new record retention schedules, subject to the approval of the City’s external auditor as required by s. 201, to give effect to the system of administrative penalties, procedures and the Administrative Penalty Tribunal as generally outlined in the report (December 21, 2023) from the City Solicitor, the Chief Technology Officer, the General Manager, Transportation Services, the Director, Court Services, and the Controller, and generally outlined in Attachments 1 and 2 inclusive to the report (December 21, 2023) from the City Solicitor, the Chief Technology Officer, the General Manager, Transportation Services, the Director, Court Services, and the Controller, such amendments to come into force on November 1, 2024.

9. City Council authorize the General Manager, Transportation Services, to negotiate, enter into and execute an agreement(s) with His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario, as represented by the Minister of Transportation, for the access and use of licence plate registration information in relation to administrative penalty proceedings for red light camera violations, on terms and conditions as generally outlined in the body of the report (December 21, 2023) from the City Solicitor, Chief Technology Officer, General Manager, Transportation Services, Director, Court Services, and Controller and on such further terms and conditions satisfactory to the General Manager, Transportation Services, and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor.                

10. City Council authorize the General Manager, Transportation Services to negotiate, enter into and execute an agreement(s) with His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario, as represented by the Minister of Transportation, for the access and use of license plate registration information in relation to administrative penalty proceedings for automated speed enforcement violations, on terms and conditions as generally set out in the report (December 21, 2023) from City Solicitor, Chief Technology Officer, General Manager, Transportation Services, Director, Court Services, and Controller, and on such other terms and conditions satisfactory to the General Manager, Transportation Services and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor.

11. City Council authorize the Director, Revenue Services to negotiate, enter into and execute, on behalf of the City, an agreement(s) with His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario as represented by the Minister of Transportation and His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario, as represented by the Attorney General (MAG), for the access and use of licence plate registration information and for the City's access to the Defaulted Fines Control Centre to transmit requests to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles to refuse to issue or validate vehicle permits for unpaid administrative penalties for the purposes of the administrative parking penalty program, on such terms and conditions as generally set out in the report (December 21, 2023) from the City Solicitor, Chief Technology Officer, General Manager, Transportation Services, Director, Court Services, and Controller and on such other terms and conditions satisfactory to the Director, Revenue Services and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor.

12. City Council authorize the Director, Revenue Services to negotiate, enter into and execute, on behalf of the City, new agreement(s) with His Majesty the King in Right of Ontario, as represented by the Attorney General (MAG), in relation to camera systems administrative penalty enforcement programs, for the City's access to the Defaulted Fines Control Centre to transmit requests to the Registrar of Motor Vehicles, to refuse to issue or validate vehicle permits for unpaid administrative penalties, and for the remittance of penalty amounts collected by the Minister of Transportation to the City; and the arrangement(s) for the portion of the administrative penalty to be remitted by the City to MAG to be credited to the victims' justice fund on such terms and conditions as generally set out in the report (December 21, 2023) from the City Solicitor, Chief Technology Officer, General Manager, Transportation Services, Director, Court Services, and Controller and on such other terms and conditions satisfactory to the Director, Revenue Services and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor.

13. City Council authorize the General Manager, Transportation Services, to negotiate, enter into, and execute a new or amended agreement(s) between the City of Toronto and the Partnering Municipalities, said Partnering Municipalities generally as listed in Attachment 5 to the report (December 21, 2023) from the City Solicitor, Chief Technology Officer, General Manager, Transportation Services, Director, Court Services, and Controller, for Automated Speed Enforcement administrative penalty violation processing and for their cost-sharing of the expenses of the joint municipal processing centre and to amend such agreement(s) each time a new Municipality is added to such agreement for the duration of the contract between the City of Toronto and Redflex Traffic Systems (Canada) Incorporated, for the provision of Automated Speed Enforcement services, on terms and conditions generally as set out in the report (December 21, 2023) from the City Solicitor, Chief Technology Officer, General Manager, Transportation Services, Director, Court Services, and Controller satisfactory to the General Manager, Transportation Services, and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor, and authorize the General Manager, Transportation Services to include all necessary budget and staff changes required to support other municipalities as part of the annual budget submission.

14. City Council authorize the General Manager, Transportation Services, to negotiate, enter into, and execute a new agreement(s) between the City of Toronto and the Partnering Municipalities generally as listed in Attachment 6 to the report (December 21, 2023) from the City Solicitor, Chief Technology Officer, General Manager, Transportation Services, Director, Court Services, and Controller, for Red Light Camera administrative penalty violation processing and for their cost-sharing of the expenses of the joint municipal processing centre and to amend such agreement(s) each time a new Municipality is added to such agreement for the duration of the contract between the City of Toronto and Traffipax LLC., for the provision of Red Light Camera services, on terms and conditions generally as set out in the report (December 21, 2023) from the City Solicitor, Chief Technology Officer, General Manager, Transportation Services, Director, Court Services, and Controller and satisfactory to the General Manager, Transportation Services, and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor, and authorize the General Manager, Transportation Services, to include all necessary budget and staff changes required to support other municipalities as part of the annual budget submission.

15. City Council authorize the City Solicitor to introduce the necessary Bills to give effect to City Council's decision and City Council authorize the City Solicitor to make any necessary clarifications, refinements, modifications, technical amendments, or by-law amendments as may be identified by the City Solicitor, in consultation with the General Manager, Transportation Services, the Director of Revenue Services, and the Director of Court Services, in order to give effect to Recommendations 1 to 14 inclusive.

16. City Council direct the General Manager, Transportation, in collaboration with other departments as appropriate, to enhance public communications in the summer and fall of 2024 on the City’s increasing enforcement of road safety rules, including speed limits and red lights, and why they are necessary to make our city a better place to live.

The purpose of this report is to provide City Council with an overview of the governance and administrative requirements to expand the City of Toronto's Administrative Penalty System to include Red Light Camera and Automated Speed Enforcement violations effective November 1, 2024. The report requests City Council approval of several recommendations to establish an expanded Administrative Penalty System. Under the Highway Traffic Act and Ontario Regulation 355/22: Administrative Penalties for Contraventions Detected Using Camera Systems, the City can establish an administrative penalty and dispute resolution process for specific Highway Traffic Act violations issued through camera systems.

This report responds to City Council's direction through Item 2022.IE27.8 – Update on Vision Zero Management Strategy and Related Initiatives to report back to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee with an update and any necessary recommendations to give effect to the operation of an Administrative Penalty System for the Red Light Camera and Automated Speed Enforcement programs.

Adopting an administrative penalty structure for Red Light Camera and Automated Speed Enforcement disputes will move forward Vision Zero, increase public safety, and increase efficient dispute resolution with the additional benefit of allowing more efficient use of limited court time in provincial courts. It will also allow the City to better manage the addition of cameras to both programs as per Council's direction, while maintaining a speedier dispute resolution timeline.

The Administrative Penalty System expansion project includes the procurement of a new adjudicative case management technology solution. The acquisition of a modern, robust, scalable, and versatile technology solution is necessary and will ensure the long-term viability of the City's Administrative Penalty System. The current case management system for parking violations is the Parking Tag Management System. This system was modified in 2017 to temporarily support the program and cannot be further modified to support expanded Administrative Penalty System operations. A new technology solution will allow for the efficient administration and management of administrative penalties for automated speed enforcement, red light camera, and parking and will allow for any future needed expansion of the Administrative Penalty System. Capital funding for a case management solution to replace the Parking Tag Management System has already been approved by Council through the capital budget.