GUELPH – Housing, critical services, sound decision making and valuing staff are key priority areas identified in the County of Wellington’s updated strategic action plan.
Dubbed a “refresh” rather than a “tear down” Wellington County’s 2023 Corporate Strategic Plan Update, Proudly Moving Forward Together builds on a 2019-23 plan called Future Focused. People Invested.
A summary of the plan was presented at the June 29 county council meeting by Ian Duff of McSweeney and Associates, a consulting firm hired to guide the process, which involved a document review and a comprehensive consultation process including one-on-one interviews and workshop sessions with council members and staff.
“This is the starting point. This isn’t the ending,” Duff told council.
“This was not a tear-down, it’s not rebuild. It’s also not an operational plan … It’s not a review of ops per se, it gives you the structure and the framework to move forward,” he added.
“The purpose of this document is not to set the county on a completely new path, reinvent the work the county is doing, make drastic changes to the strategic direction of the county, nor just rubber-stamp the continuation of previous themes and actions,” states an executive summary of the plan.
“Instead, this strategic plan seeks to review what is similar to 2019 in Wellington County, what has changed, and how the corporation can adapt and improve within the confines of the new reality it finds itself,” the document states.
A community snapshot provided in the plan notes the county’s population grew from 81,400 in 2001 to 103,010 in 2022.
The average age of county residents is 42 (same as the Ontario average) with 57 per cent of the population having some post-secondary education.
Average employment income among county residents is $58,551, slightly higher than the Ontario average of $56,350.
The average dwelling value across the county is $1,158,198, compared to a provincial average of $972,540.
The snapshot indicates 21% of the county’s population spends 30% or more of household gross income on shelter costs, compared to 24% in that situation province-wide.
As a corporation, the County of Wellington employs over 900 people and controls an operating budget of $277.9 million.
The summary shows that many of the issues facing the county remain unchanged from the previous strategic plan, including:
- finding housing solutions;
- providing services and infrastructure;
- managing growth;
- communicating with residents; and
- continuing to acknowledge that “people are the energy that drives Wellington County.
“Staffing, staff safety and well-being, housing staff, having/retaining the best people, are all critically important to drive the organization successfully,” the summary points out.
With respect to new or different challenges, the strategy indicates several areas of more urgent focus, including housing.
“While this was a burgeoning challenge in 2019, it is a significantly greater challenge today. A shift from planning to adapt, to actionable building, is considered to be needed essentially immediately,” the report states.
Duff told council they would be hearing about the housing issue “more and more.
“It’s not just providing solutions for people that are experiencing homelessness, it’s not just about making sure that you’re helping developers go through the process of providing homes. People need places to hang their head at night, people need places to live. And that’s something that comes up over and over again. The demographics are shifting. You’re going to have more elderly, you’re going to need more seniors care … it was assessed, now it’s urgent.”
The summary points out the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for continued and enhanced staff well-being, safety, health and wellness and the waitlist across Wellington County’s Long Term Care facilities is getting longer as more support is needed.
“This growing need is not expected to slow down in the coming years,” the summary states.
People experiencing homelessness is a rising challenge, “no longer being isolated to only urban areas,” but moving across the entirety of the county.
While growth was starting to become an issue in 2019, the planning sessions revealed “it is now a significant daily challenge.”
Communicating with people in a variety of mediums is more necessary – especially since the pandemic began and virtual mediums are becoming expected more often, the summary states.
Also “sustainability” is more prevalent in the language being used within the corporation and the county more broadly.
“There is a more pressing shortage of workers in the community – not just general labour but identifying how to attract the right and the best people to work at the county is paramount,” the summary notes.
Another change is the need for climate change and mitigation strategies which has emerged since the 2019 plan was prepared.
Strategic actions emerging from the planning exercise include continuing to implement, update and communicate the status of the county’s housing and homelessness plan.
To assist in solving the current housing crisis, the plan calls for:
- mapping out roles of various stakeholders across the different levels of government, not-for-profit, and private business sectors and assessing the county’s role in providing solutions;
- ensuring the Wellington Terrace Recruitment Strategy remains a top priority; and
- making a decision regarding whether or not to proceed with the proposed Continuum of Care project.
To ensure provision of critical services the plan calls for:
- working with the City of Guelph to update the Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Service Master Plan;
- preparing a new communications and information program aimed at ensuring a smooth transition to the individual producer responsibility recycling collection program when it rolls out in Wellington County;
- continually assessing residents’ need for quality child care spaces, identifying any gaps and opportunities in the provision of child care;
- safeguard the continued and safe disposal of rural septage;
- working with member municipalities and assessing the current process of septage removal and disposal, with the goal of ensuring that as the county’s population grows member municipalities have the capacity to accept and dispose of septage at their municipal wastewater treatment facilities; and
- updating the county’s 2019 Wellington Walks trails map and hiking guide and consider adding new public spaces now being readily accessed, but not yet recognized.
A focus on strong decision making calls for:
- continued implementation of the county’s long-term financial sustainability strategy and updating of the annual budget and 10-year plan;
- accommodating provincial regulations by working with all county’s departments to update the long-term asset management plan;
- continuing with the implementation and progress reporting of the county’s climate change mitigation plan;
- working with member municipalities to create a set of standard criteria which member municipalities can use to evaluate their abilities to withstand extreme weather events resulting from climate change; and
- continuing to establish benchmarks or criteria from which the county can base decisions on capital planning.
Under the priority heading of “Cherishing the county’s most valued asset – it’s staff,” the following actions are recommended:
- ensuring recruitment and retention remains a top priority for the county;
- continue reporting on human resources’ successes in the county;
- continue implementing and growing the county’s wellness strategy;
- begin embedding the notions of the wellness strategy into human resources policies;
- continue “capturing and sharing” the county’s corporate culture; and
- engage staff and build out a comprehensive human resources strategy.
Following the presentation, councillor Diane Ballantyne expressed concern the plan doesn’t focus more on childcare under the area of providing critical services.
“The almost lack of mention of childcare at all in the strategic plan is problematic, especially when we’re very specifically articulating the importance of long-term care, the decision around the continuum of care. Those are very important, as is childcare, yet it’s not overtly articulated,” she commented.
“I probably should clarify the priority actions aren’t the only actions,” said Duff.
“We actually have a specific action around childcare, specifically how to look at making sure you’re providing those spaces to support … so there is mentioned of it, it just isn’t one of the priorities but it is an action to be developed,” he added.
Councillor Mary Lloyd asked if council would be given some time to study the plan “or are we today asked to endorse the plan as it’s written in this agenda?”
“Are we going to walk away with this and then come back to talk about it in July? Or are we expected to endorse it now, even though there may be some pieces that are not quite overtly being stated?” asked Ballantyne.
“I think this is a framework,” said Warden Andy Lennox.
“I strongly believe that we need to define what those specific actions are and hold ourselves to account,” added Lennox, who suggested council approve the plan as “a working document.”
In separate motions, council voted in favor of receiving the consultant’s delegation and accepting the strategic plan as a working document.
While the document contains little in the way of specific actions to be taken, Lennox told the Advertiser in an interview after the meeting, it will lead to further discussion and, ultimately, action.
“I like to use the example of the housing file. I mean, it’s clearly the biggest one that drew the most attention. And there are numerous different actions we could take. And so we need to have some more discussion about what that will be. It would be a bit premature for me to guess what that would be. But I think it certainly will involve public education and more discussion around that. And when I say discussion, I mean a broader community-wide discussion,” he said.
One specific action named in the plan was to “make a decision” on the proposed Continuum of Care seniors community project.
The Continuum of Care proposal, which would see a supportive seniors community established on a 15-acre parcel of land at the 209-acre Wellington Place campus has been under discussion since early in 2018.
Asked how that could play out, Lennox said “we’ve been trying to get some provincial and federal contributions to that project, which we haven’t been successful so far, we’re still working on it.
“We’re going to have to make a decision … whether we continue down that path, or whether we just say we either go it alone, or we’re going to just shelve the project for a period of time. But I think sooner, rather than later – I think before the next budget is passed – we will have to come to some sort of resolution on that.”
In February, council defeated a motion proposed by councillor Campbell Cork to hold a special meeting to discuss the possibility of moving county administration offices from Guelph to its Wellington Place campus in Centre Wellington.
At the time, several councillors suggested the idea could be discussed during strategic planning sessions.
Lennox said the issue was discussed “indirectly” during the process.
“That housing file also talked about how we house our staff. And I think a greater study of what our long-term needs will be is one of the actions that will come out of that,” said Lennox.
“That’s a bit speculative on my behalf, but that’s kind of what I expect, is it will take a much longer-term view – what are our needs? And that will help direct what the next steps might be,” he added.
