Part 1: Housing, Ukraine Partnership, and Speed Enforcement – 01/18/2024
- PECConnect
- Jan 18, 2024
- 6 min read
The County’s Committee of the Whole met at Shire Hall in Picton on Thursday, January 18, 2024, for a working session where councillors vetted major initiatives before they move forward to a final decision at a later Council meeting. Councillor Roy Pennell chaired the meeting, opened with housekeeping notes about the public record and respectful conduct, and reminded everyone that Committee decisions still require final ratification at Council.
The room included Mayor Steve Ferguson and councillors from across the County, along with senior staff. The meeting moved briskly, with councillors digging into practical details, asking how programs would work on the ground, and pushing for clarity on costs, rules, and scope.
View the entire PEC Council meeting, or continue to speaker comments and councillor votes>
Leeward House and Housing Supports
The most detailed discussion focused on a Housing Department report about Leeward House, a proposed transitional housing project aimed at addressing homelessness in the County, alongside a new set of housing access and stabilization services intended to help residents find housing and keep it.
The meeting first heard a public comment from Jack Winberg (President, Rockport Group), speaking in support of the project and describing it as a positive private-public partnership. He told council it had been a pleasure working with County staff and offered to answer questions, reinforcing the message that community partners were prepared to help the County move quickly.
Elis Ziegler (Affordable Housing Supervisor) then presented the report and explained how the work ties back to earlier County direction, including the County Housing Plan and the push for immediate, practical responses to homelessness. The presentation framed the initiative as both a direct service response and part of a broader systems approach, where housing is treated as a community-wide issue that requires coordination across agencies.
A key piece of the plan is a housing registry, described as a way to better track available rental units and give the County a clearer picture of its rental stock. The discussion also emphasized eviction prevention and mediation, with councillors raising questions about how quickly supports could be up and running, especially given active housing pressures in parts of the County. Ziegler explained that this program was expected to move quickly once final approvals were in place, with work happening alongside community partners and the legal clinic to bridge practical gaps residents face when trying to respond to housing instability.
On the transitional housing side, councillors asked how Leeward House would operate day to day, including what supports would be available and how residents would be set up to move toward longer-term housing. The discussion repeatedly returned to wraparound supports, individualized goal planning, and the reality that residents will arrive with different needs. Questions touched on barriers that can make transitional housing hard to access, such as rules that might exclude people based on personal circumstances. Ziegler described work underway to develop policies and procedures grounded in sector best practices and focused on safety, clarity, and setting people up for success in a shared living environment.
Councillors also pressed on how the transition would affect people already living at the property. The discussion referenced the need to find alternative housing in a way consistent with the Residential Tenancies Act, and the meeting reviewed the expected changeover timeline and the supports that would be involved in helping current residents relocate. This part of the conversation carried a clear tension: councillors wanted the County to address homelessness urgently, while also making sure current residents were not mishandled or left behind in the process.
The meeting also covered operational realities, including whether there were adequate funds for staffing and operating costs, whether the property’s zoning matched the intended use, and how residents would stay connected to the wider community, especially given the rural location. Public transportation came up directly, with discussion about the possibility of working with County Transit to create route diversions or other practical connections.
By the end of the discussion, the committee supported a motion to receive the report and advance the necessary agreements, including a Memorandum of Understanding related to homelessness prevention funding and direction to proceed with a lease agreement related to operating the transitional housing facility.
Friendship City Policy and Krasyliv, Ukraine
The second major topic shifted from housing to international community-building. Staff presented an update on a potential Friendship City relationship with Krasyliv, Ukraine, along with a proposed Friendship Policy and a draft Terms of Reference for a working group that would include community participation.
The discussion stayed focused on what the County would be committing to, and what it would not. Councillor David Harrison asked directly about financial obligations, raising concern about how these relationships can grow over time and whether they can create pressure for spending. Staff explained that the proposal was intended to be structured differently than long-running twinning arrangements, with limited immediate costs and an emphasis on community involvement, sponsors, and fundraising if activities were pursued. A small amount of funding was noted for practical needs like translation.
Councillors and the Mayor also referenced the County’s prior connections with Ukraine through earlier municipal initiatives and a past visit to the County. Mayor Steve Ferguson noted that the Mayor of Krasyliv had previously visited the County in 2019, and several speakers framed the Friendship City approach as a concrete, community-oriented way to stay engaged.
The committee ultimately supported a motion to receive the report, adopt the proposed Friendship Policy, approve the Terms of Reference for the Krasyliv Friendship Working Group, and direct staff to begin recruitment for working group membership.
Automated Speed Enforcement and Where It Should Apply
The final major discussion dealt with road safety, through a resolution from Councillor Sam Grosso calling for the County to explore an Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) program and return with a report by Q4 2024.
The conversation quickly made clear that councillors were trying to balance two things at once: the desire for safer roads, and concern about how automated enforcement might feel in a rural municipality where speed limits, road conditions, and enforcement expectations vary widely.
Councillors asked practical questions about who would design the program, what the cost could be, and how it would actually operate. A key clarification emerged: ASE would be restricted to school zones and community safety zones, and those zones must be designated through municipal bylaw.
That detail helped bring the discussion back to scope. It was not just a general “anywhere in the County” tool, and councillors recognized that deciding where community safety zones exist, and whether new ones should be created, would be central to any future program.
Several councillors raised concerns about ensuring the County does not create a system that feels arbitrary, especially in rural areas where officer discretion currently plays a role in how speeding is handled. Others pointed out that community safety zones can exist outside “urban” areas, and that residents in some non-urban locations consistently complain about speeding and would welcome enforcement tools tied to posted rules. Questions also touched on whether committees like the Traffic Advisory Committee would be involved, and how the County should think about baseline speed limits and enforcement thresholds. The committee voted to direct staff to explore creating an ASE program and return with a report by Q4 2024.
Key Takeaways
The County is moving forward on Leeward House and related housing supports, with a clear intention to build transitional housing capacity and expand hands-on services like a housing registry and eviction prevention supports that aim to keep residents housed.
Council is formalizing how it approaches international community relationships through a Friendship City policy, starting with steps toward a structured relationship with Krasyliv, Ukraine that relies on a community working group and defined terms, rather than an open-ended commitment.
The County is setting the stage for a serious look at Automated Speed Enforcement, but the biggest future debate will likely be about where it can and should apply, since it is tied to school zones and community safety zones that must be created and defined by bylaw.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a meeting with an approximate duration of 1:28:40. Due to the length of the meeting, our team was not able to independently review the full recording in its entirety. As a result, we relied on software-generated transcription, automated summarization, and automated recognition of speakers and participants, which may not be entirely accurate. All transcriptions, summaries, and related content are prepared by our team in good faith and on a reasonable best-efforts basis. The content is provided for general informational purposes only and is intended to support public understanding of the topics discussed. While reasonable efforts have been made to present the information accurately, automated processes may result in errors, omissions, or unintended misinterpretations. This article does not constitute an official, certified, or verbatim record of the meeting, and it should not be relied upon as such. Readers are encouraged to consult original source materials, official minutes, or recordings where available for confirmation or clarification. Questions, requests for clarification, or suggested corrections may be submitted to hello@pecconnect.ca for review and consideration.
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