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The South Marysburgh Mirror September 2023 /11 COUNCIL CORNER John Hirsch Councillor, Ward 9 South Marysburgh August - It was water month - and I don’t mean all the welcome rainfall! There have been a flurry of reports and open houses around development of the County’s water and wastewater systems and how to handle anticipated growth. Two key areas of inquiry should be important to you. First is the Regional Water Supply Master Plan which was the subject of an open house in Bloomfield on August 17 (another meeting will be held in Ameliasburgh in September). Secondly is the redevelopment of Wellington’s water and plants to upcoming growth. There was a major public meeting in Wellington on August 31 which | hope you attended. | will publish details in my daily email. Despite much misinformed media reporting, | want to assure my readers that | believe the work that has been done on population increase is valid and that we are correct in pro- ceeding with the planned projects. | would note a few things not well reported. We now utilize a process of requiring developers to pay for their portion of wa- ter and wastewater servicing costs up front when we approve their projects. This has already been done in Wellington for the Kaitlin project and we have the money in the bank. Sec- ondly, the portion of the new plants needed to service ex- isting users (roughly 18% of the cost) is not put on the backs of only Wellington rate payers. It is spread (like all such costs) over the entries water users’ base. Finally — why have we not seen shovels in the ground in Wellington as soon as we had expected? This is mostly to do with the current high interest rate climate which should subside soon. We have assurances building will commence early next year. Council News e Council completed work approved its Strategic Plan, includ- ing priorities and goals in each of the 5 strategy pillars Council approved a project to create a public art policy and plan with help from County Arts Council received the report on possible savings for 2024 from the CAO Council agreed to a recommendation to create a bylaw appeals committee Council approved a new 5 year agreement with the Wel- lington Dukes Council awarded a tender for 2023 spot road repair ¢ Council awarded a tender for a replacement street sweeper Other | participated at the 2023 Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference where were able to meet privately with three ministries to pursue these issues— funding for the new H.J. McFarland home; support for out health care PULSE initi- ative; help with affordable housing and rent controls. At the conference, the government announced a new fund- ing called the Building Faster Fund which will provide $120 million for smaller municipalities like ours to meet housing targets. They also announced they are looking again at potential amalgamation of health units. lam continuing my five days a week community email. It has been modified to focus on Covid only in the Saturday edi- tion. The rest of the week it includes timely notices, communi- ty events, etc. So if you are not already subscribed, just send me your email address and | will add you to the list of over 300 families. IF you have not been receiving my email, please look in your junk mail or spam folder as there have been some is- sues with the County email system. | can be reached by phone, text and email. irsch@pecount 613-846-0046 And don’t forget, for immediate service the County help line is available: 613-476-2148 ext. 1023 For complaints, pothole requests, etc. Email: info@pecounty.on.ca Or submit a request using the online form on the County web- site: www.thecounty.ca Bylaw complaints: bylaw@pecounty.on.ca For weekend or 24 hour situations go to the who to contact page: www.thecounty. -hub/who-to-call/ Walker's Garage Complete Automotive Service 613 476 2837 1955 County Road 17 Milford, ON KOK 2P0