City of Kingston Podcasts

The Municipal Fee Assistance Program , what 's often referred to as MFAP, is an income-based program that provides certain City services for free or at a lower cost :   🚌 Transit passes   💪 Fitness memberships   🦷 Extended health benefits   🎫 PumpHouse Museum and Grand OnSTAGE tickets   🐶 Spay and neuter services   🍅 F resh food pop-up markets   📃 Marriage licence s   W e are joined by Ruth...

Customer service at an organization like the City of Kingston is vital; it's what connects community members with the many municipal services and programs. These frontline staff provide answers to questions and can help solve problems. We invited Emily Caird, Manager of Customer Experience, to tell us more about work that is underway to update our Customer Service Strategy and how you can contribu...

Want to keep up with City Council but can't make it to meetings, whether in person or virtual? Tune into Council Catch-up with Mayor Paterson every Wednesday after a Council meeting! He shares the key takeaways on big topics. Find links to the meeting agenda and reports below so you can dig deeper into what matters to you. View the agenda View the  addendum

Want to keep up with City Council but can't make it to meetings, whether in person or virtual? Tune into Council Catch-up with Mayor Paterson every Wednesday after a Council meeting! He shares the key takeaways on big topics. Find links to the meeting agenda and reports below so you can dig deeper into what matters to you. View the  agenda View the  addendum

T hose who work in land-use planning aim to create healthy, livable and sustainable communities using policies around how city spaces are used and developed. H eritage planners suppor t these goals by recognizing the value heritage properties and landscapes add to a community.   So, h ow do we identify , protect and manag e heritage asset s – and why? Tune in as Joel Konrad, Manager of Heritage Pl...

Want to keep up with City Council but can't make it to meetings, whether in person or virtual? Tune into Council Catch-up with Mayor Paterson every Wednesday after a Council meeting! He shares the key takeaways on big topics. Find links to the meeting agenda and reports below so you can dig deeper into what matters to you. View the agenda View the addendum

Can you remember the last time you tested your smoke alarm or replac ed the battery in your carbon monoxide alarm?   Test ing your smoke or carbon monoxide alarms regularly could save your life. In this episode, Ted Posadowski , Chief Fire Prevention Officer and Richard Vasko, Fire Inspector from Kingston Fire & Rescue (KFR) joined us to talk about all things fire safety . Tune in to learn about F...

Want to keep up with City Council but can't make it to meetings, whether in person or virtual? Tune into Council Catch-up with Mayor Paterson every Wednesday after a Council meeting! He shares the key takeaways on big topics. Find links to the meeting agenda and reports below so you can dig deeper into what matters to you. View the agenda View the addendum View the revised agenda

Want to keep up with City Council but can't make it to meetings, whether in person or virtual? Tune into Council Catch-up with Mayor Paterson every Wednesday after a Council meeting! He shares the key takeaways on big topics. Find links to the meeting agenda and reports below so you can dig deeper into what matters to you. View Agenda View Addendum View Revised Agenda

Despite being home to a medical school, many Kingstonians struggle to find primary care physicians. The shortage of family doctors is a critical issue impacting many residents and the City of Kingston is working to alleviate it. In this episode, we speak with Craig Desjardins, Director of Strategy, Innovation, and Partnerships, about the City's efforts to recruit and retain family physicians. He l...

On June 7 , the City of Kingston launched a new website. Fully rebuilt from the ground up , the new site put s the services community members need front and centre . In our first - ever bonus episode of Tell Me More, the City of Kingston Podcast, we hear from Scott Tulk who managed the team behind the City's website overhaul.   This short bonus episode focuses on the launch of the new site ; if yo...

The City of Kingston is committed to fostering an inclusive and vibrant community that reflects its diverse population. As the city grows, so does its cultural fabric, making it essential to support and nurture this diversity.   In this episode, we speak with Vanessa Mensah, Manager of Indigenization, Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility, about the city's initiatives to support diverse...

T he City of Kingston will be kicking off a new Official Plan and Integrated Mobility Pl an . The city is growing and expected to reach 220,000 people in the next 25 years and these two plans will set the foundation for how the City will plan for future land use and transportation. How we plan today will shape how Kingston is in 2051   In th is episode we speak with Laura Flaherty and Matt Kussin...

Over the last 15 years Kingston Transit has evolved with improvements like the addition of Express Routes or real time tracking but what comes next?    Join us for a conversation about what the future hold with Ian Semple, Director of Transportation and Transit, and Christopher Norris, General Manager of Kingston Transit . From improvements to the customer experience making it easier to ride or pa...

It's no secret that Kingston is steeped in history. Just visit any of the 24 museums and historic sites in the community, including two City-owned museums, and you'll get a sense of how deep our respect for and commitment to the preservation of heritage is. But who takes care of all the stories our city tells? In this episode we sit down with Melanie Banks, manager of Heritage Programming, to talk...

On our first episode of 2024, we meet with Committee Clerks, Iain Sullivan and Christine O'Connor. Their job is to help provide residents with the chance to directly advise City Council and make a difference in our community. Sit back and relax as we tell you more about Advisory Committees. Want to learn even more about The City of Kingston's committees and boards? Visit our  Committees & Boards p...

Innovation requires collaboration, ideation, implementation and value creation – how you do that though, well that's the challenge. What is the Mayor's Innovation Challenge? Why should I participate? Will the construction work taking place outside our podcast studio ruin the season finale? These questions - and more - will be answered. Joining us for the occasion is Amber Bryant-Peller who works o...

Starting in 2025, Kingston will begin transitioning garbage and green bins to an automated cart system . Between now and then there is a lot of work that has to happen. This month Adam Mueller joins us to chat about this switch, why now and how province-wide changes to recycling collection may impact Kingston. Want to stay up-to-date on the waste cart rollout? Sign up for updates at Get Involved K...

Applying the academic with the Queen's University PhD Community Initiative. It matches students pursuing advanced degrees and Kingston organizations who need an academic edge. It's a program that the City of Kingston has benefited from, by leaning on the research skills in the Queen's community. In this episode of Tell Me More, Craig Desjardins , Director of Strategy, Innovation and Partnerships a...

Public engagement is more than a survey. It's a promise and a commitment to use public feedback to constructively improve things. It's not always an easy process and it frequently brings together divergent opinions, beliefs and visions.  This month on Tell Me More, the City of Kingston podcast, Jen Pinarski, Manager of Communications and Public Engagement at the City of Kingston joins us to talk a...

Every year thousands of students pour into Kingston to pursue higher education . Th is month we dive into what the City and community have to offer to students . You' ll hear from Queens University and St. Lawrence College grads who now work at the City, L auren Desroches, a Communications Officer , and S o ren Christianson , a Project Manager in Climate Leadership . They 'll delve into what motiv...

Have you ever wondered how the creative  murals or inspiring sculptures that populate Kingston came to be? Or what's next? In this month' s episode, we have Danika Lochhea d , Manager of Arts and Sector Development and Taylor Norris , Public Art Coordinator at the City of Kingston at the mic . They'll share some insights into the process behind delivering captivating public art, fostering creativi...

What kind of place will Kingston be in 2026? That's the question City Council wrestled with in drafting their strategic plan. This key document lays out the City's goals and priorities for the next four years. Mayor Bryan Paterson joins us once again to share insights on the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan. We delve into the plan's main pillars: including Supporting House Affordability, Leading Environme...

Need to cool down this summer? Let us walk you through one of the City's best summertime destinations, the Culligan Water Park. Darek Osostowicz, the City's Aquatics Supervisor, tells us more about the park as his team prepares to open the park for weekends starting on June 3 and then daily for the rest of the summer starting June 19. Want to find information about the Culligan Water Park? Visit o...

Trees. They shade us, they clean the air, they provide food and they look pretty. For as long as there have been humans we have been writing poetry, stories, myths and more all centred on trees. In the era of a changing climate, trees have taken on new importance as an easy way to absorb greenhouse gases and mitigate the impacts of climate change. Kingston has a department within our Public Works...