A sold out crowd attended the Grand River Raceway for the annual Mayor’s Breakfast hosted by the Centre Wellington Chamber of Commerce on Jan. 27.
Past chamber president Janet Harrop said the chamber offers a number of great events and guest speakers for businesses throughout the year.
She said this year’s awards of excellence nominations are open and online applications can be made now, or the chamber office can be contacted for more information.
“I encourage you to nominate a local business, individual or group for the awards,” she told the crowd.
“There are great businesses in our community and this is a great opportunity to showcase them.”
The nomination deadline is April 8, she said, “But don’t wait until then. The sooner we get them in, the better it is for the committee.”
She also acknowledged the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), which has sponsored the Mayor’s Breakfast for several years.
“We very much appreciate their support of this event. OLG also supports many other local community events in our town and throughout Ontario.”
OLG director of municipal and community relations Jake Pastore said, “We’re proud to have been part of this event for the last nine years. We have a long history supporting events of this type … events which help strengthen local economies across Ontario. OLG funds are hard at work across the province.”
Keynote speaker
Harrop introduced keynote speaker Kelly Linton, who was elected as Centre Wellington’s fourth mayor on Oct. 27, 2014.
“He was elected on a platform that included three priorities for change – an engaged community, open and honest leadership, and prioritized spending,” said Harrop.
“Over the past year (Linton) has led a council that is committed to five priorities – reliable infrastructure, economic prosperity, good government, healthy growth, and pride of place.”
Linton said he considered it a privilege to be able to speak at the event.
“Today I wanted to talk a bit about our priorities. We all know that Centre Wellington is an amazing community to live in.”
Linton noted two studies in the past year which seem to agree.
He said MoneySense Canada’s Best Places to Live 2015 guide upped Centre Wellington’s ranking from 59th to 52nd place.
Meanwhile on the working side, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business increased Centre Wellington’s ranking from 58th to 40th place on the list of Canada’s top entrepreneurial cities.
“We are moving in the right direction … but I think we can do a lot better than 52nd and 40th place. I think we have a ton of potential in this community,” said Linton.
He added awards are not everything, but it is great to be recognized as a great community in which to work and live.
The mayor spoke briefly on the division of tax dollars generated locally. He stated 57 cents of each tax dollar goes to the County of Wellington, with 17 cents going to the school board. That leaves the township with only 26 cents from every tax dollar collected.
“We’re basically get one-quarter of the dollar,” said Linton. He noted the county has a lot of services it must provide “so I’m not dissing the County of Wellington.”
“They do garbage collecting, recycling, social services, roads, bridges, libraries … there’s a lot of services the county does provide.”
But on the average home assessed at $318,330 the base taxes are $3,629. Of that $2,066 goes to the county, $942 goes to the township and $621 goes to the school board.
“A lot of people are not aware of this,” Linton said.
Strategic plan
One of the things Linton is excited about is council moving ahead with its community-driven strategic plan for the current term of council.
“That is important because we really have to establish a plan based on what citizens have said.”
Linton said he is proud of the plan because it is being driven by citizen feedback/input … for the first time.
“In 2018, when citizens go back to the polls,” Linton said, “if we did not do what we said, you should vote for somebody else.”
He commented briefly on the five priorities of the strategic plan:
– reliable infrastructure. The township will manage and upgrade infrastructure assets in an environmentally responsible way;
– healthy growth. The township will plan for its inevitable growth, “so that we can retain a vibrant and accessible community and our high quality of life in the future”;
– economic prosperity. The township will help the business community to excel and expand, and to create jobs, so that Centre Wellington’s economic vitality keeps pace with its population;
– pride of place. Acting responsibly, the township will support community initiatives that foster pride in the community and enhance its amenities; and
– good government. The township will make well-informed decisions, operate efficiently, get results, communicate openly, and engage the public in all important decisions.
Linton said when looking at reliable infrastructure, the key question to ask is “how do we fund infrastructure that is deteriorating faster than we can rebuild it?”
He did not believe Centre Wellington is alone in this challenge.
In explaining what Centre Wellington has done to address this, Linton said the township is now in year two of a 2% dedicated capital levy, accelerated this year through a $1.4-million internal loan (from reserves).
Linton stressed the only thing this money will be spent on is bridge replacement – nothing else.
Work on Water Street in Elora continues as well as work on St. David Street North in Fergus. He added the Fergus downtown river parking, landscaping and lighting “was a project well worth doing.”
Linton noted the LED street lighting conversion project resulted in a 57% reduction in electricity consumption from 17,018 to 7,383kWh of average consumption per month.
Linton said goals for this year include the township’s pavement management program to accelerate improvements to local streets.
He said some of the worst sections of streets should be looked after in the coming year.
In addition, work on Price and Mill Streets in Elora (in coordination with Pearle Hospitality) should be completed this year.
Other work includes the Irvine Street bridge near Salem and work on a number of streets and roads throughout the municipality.
This also includes the completion of work on Water Street in Elora.
“It’s been a huge project and I know that people on Water Street will be very pleased when that is done,” said Linton.
“It’s been a long process, and I apologize to them for having to live through that … but at the end of the day, it is going to be a much safer road.”
Linton also provided an update on the township’s closed bridges and bridges slated for replacement:
– Sideroad 20 is now scheduled for 2017 ($1.3-million bridge replacement),
– Sideroad 15 is scheduled for 2023 for a full bridge replacement at an estimated cost of $1,476,000; and
– Metcalfe Street Bridge (county responsibility) in Elora is due for replacement in 2018-19 at a cost of $3 million to $4 million.
Linton stated the Scotland Street Bridge (county) in Fergus is not currently in the county’s five-year plan “but it is on the county’s radar.” He said a bridge inspection report to be completed later this year will uncover if that project has to move ahead earlier.
Linton said part of the problem is that a lot of bridges were built around the same time.
He noted that the township is applying for Connecting Link funding to address replacement of the St. David Street bridge, which has an estimated cost of $2.6-million.
“We’ll see if the province will be on board and help us out on this bridge, because we’d really appreciated it if they were,” said Linton.
Healthy growth
Linton said “We know we are going to continue to grow, but how can we manage growth in a way that will help us retain our ‘small town feel?’”
He said one of the biggest areas of concern in talking to people “is the speed the community is growing and whether they will recognize the community in 10 years.”
He said a clear vision for the community will be outlined through the growth management strategy, which will address questions of where, when and how the community will grow. He added the township does not have complete control because of provincial legislation and policies.
“But we want to do whatever we can as a municipality to develop in the right ways and have balanced growth.”
Economic prosperity
Linton asked “What can we do to remove barriers to jobs and investment, ensuring Centre Wellington is a preferred place to work as well as live?
“The only way we can build a vibrant community is if we have a strong business sector.”
Linton pointed to Centre Wellington’s community improvement plan, the creation of an economic development task force and work to fast track the Elora Mill project.
Linton explained fast tracking the Elora Mill project is to ensure the development approval processes within the control of the township is completed without undue delay. He stressed Pearle Hospitality still must meet planning and regulatory requirements.
“We just don’t want to be the roadblock because of bureaucracy or making them go through hoops that shouldn’t be there,” he said.
Linton hopes there will be a groundbreaking for the Elora Mill project this year.
Pride of place
Linton asked, “What can the township do to generate, promote and support community-driven initiatives than enhance our quality of life in Centre Wellington?”
He pointed to the expansion of the Victoria Park Seniors Centre; community events such as Culture Days, Riverfest, Fergus Scottish Festival, Highland Games and the Fergus Truck Show; moving ahead with the creation of a cultural resource centre to enhance group support; and an increase to programming/recreation classes at the Fergus sportsplex.
He pointed to the Destination Next project to aggressively leverage the area’s natural and built assets, making Centre Wellington a preferred overnight destination.
He commented that Elora was named one of the 10 Most Beautiful Villages in Canada by Culture Trip.
Linton asked “How can we continue to close the gap between local government and citizens and provide value for your tax dollars?” He pointed to the community-driven strategic plan and creation of a three-year capital budget for more effective fiscal planning.
In the area of communication, Linton noted:
– subscription-based eNewlsetters (Fergus Grand Theatre, Infrastructure, Tourism etc.);
– first online citizen survey/questionnaire;
– preparations for live streaming of council and committee of the whole meetings; and
– hiring of a communications coordinator and implementation of a new social media policy.
Goals for 2016 include moving ahead with an online citizen budget input process for the 2107 budget.
He added four town hall meetings are booked:
– Belwood Hall, on Feb. 11;
– Victoria Park Seniors Centre on April 13;
– Heritage River, Sept. 22; and
– Aboyne Hall (on the 2017 budget), Nov. 22.
He noted the township is now on social media at www.centrewellington.ca / facebook – centrewellington or twitter – @CentrWellington.
Linton also noted the township is investigating alternative revenue stream sponsorship opportunities.
“We’ve engaged Cornerstone Sponsorship Management Inc. to help us to generate revenue by leveraging our assets and providing naming rights/sponsorship opportunities to our business community.” Linton said business owners interested in having something named after their company can email him at mayor@centrewellington.ca
“It is a non-tax-based way for the community to generate income and revenue by naming some of our facilities.”
