Councillor Earl Funk was in the mayor's chair today for Open Door. 

He says one issue that came up was a resident who had some safety concerns regarding potentially illegal basement suites throughout the city. He notes many of them only have one egress and small windows which may not be sufficient to get people out quickly in the case of an emergency. 

"The problem is now in winter any rentals can be unsafe with Christmas lights, you're also stuck more inside, heaters are running and if they're not safe these can be a fire hazard." 

In addition, Funk adds as we head into winter, snow buildup around these basement windows are another potential concern for getting out quickly. He says council is aware of the issue. 

"The city is aware of these basement suites and we're right now in the process of how we can effectively deal with them. We're also studying other communities to see how they're dealing with them. The problem is the big hot decision so to speak because some of them could be illegal."

Otherwise, Funk notes Open Door was very positive today. He says a resident came in to commend the city for clearing the windrows left by snow plows after plowing residential streets because it's not something that's done in many other cities.