Part 1: Climate planning, Wellington Manor, and the next phase of County transit – 02/12/2026
- PECConnect
- Feb 12
- 5 min read
Updated: May 8
Councillor Brad Nieman (Chair) opened the Committee of the Whole meeting at Shire Hall on Thursday, February 12, 2026. Before the agenda got rolling, Nieman invited Mayor Steve Ferguson to speak first.
Ferguson used those opening minutes to acknowledge a tragedy in Tumbler Ridge earlier in the week, drawing a direct line to how small communities feel these moments. He said flags were lowered, both municipally and the Canadian flag, and he asked everyone to stand for a minute of silence.
After that, they welcomed the public and reminded everyone that motions made at Committee are not final until the regular Council meeting on February 24, when Council can approve, amend, or change what came forward. With no audience comments registered, the agenda was confirmed and the meeting moved into its main items.
View the entire PEC Council meeting, or continue to speaker comments and councillor votes>
Climate Action Plan Final Report
The first major presentation came from Angus Ross and Don Wilford, who presented the Climate Action Plan Final Report and described two years of work by the group and supporting contributors.
Ross and Wilford framed the report around urgency and real-world impacts, including longer droughts, potential growth in vector-borne disease risk, and extreme heat. Wilford also focused on what he described as rapidly changing insurance realities, including risk-based pricing and the growing dominance of water-related losses. They described a shift in how insurers map and price perils like flood, hail, and wildfire, and warned that in some floodplain situations insurance could be hard to obtain or very costly.
On emissions, the presenters walked through County-scale estimates and where emissions were coming from. They said the largest categories were buildings, transportation, and agriculture, with solid waste much smaller by comparison. They highlighted data work involving Hydro One, Enbridge, and MPAC, and said their analysis showed a heavy dependence on fossil fuels for heating in County buildings.
Agriculture was addressed using Holos, a program developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, which they said allowed them to model the County “as a farm” with local crop and livestock inputs. They also explained the limits of what they could find, pointing to missing fuel sales data as a major gap, especially given the County’s tourism traffic and its relationship to local transportation emissions.
The working group also spoke about what they saw as realistic targets. After testing a range of changes like replacing oil furnaces with heat pumps, improving efficiency for some gas and propane use, and increasing EV uptake, they said a 10 percent reduction target was more realistic than higher ambitions, based on what their modeled scenarios showed.
A recurring theme in their “next steps” was embedding a climate lens into staff reports, alongside budget and strategy considerations, and strengthening policy direction in the Official Plan. They also referenced the impact of Bill 17 and suggested alternative tools that do not mandate building standards directly, like development fee incentives or faster approvals tied to greener choices.
In questions and comments afterward, County staff and Council members emphasized the value of having a measurable baseline. Mayor Ferguson asked about consumer cost impacts, and the presenters said they did not complete a cost-benefit analysis in this report. Councillors also asked about Heidelberg and the scale of its emissions relative to the community, and Ross described ongoing contact and the idea of exploring lower-carbon fuels, based on examples from other Heidelberg facilities.
A motion to receive the presentation carried.
Tax waiver request leads to a pause and more homework
Next, Linda Conley (Wellington Legion Manor Corporation) appeared as a deputation to request that Council designate Wellington Manor as a municipal capital housing facility and waive the tax bill to help keep the building financially stable and rents affordable.
Conley described Wellington Manor as the only affordable rental building located in Wellington, though available to seniors from across the County. She laid out rising operating pressures, including a hydro bill she said was $8,000 for the last month, and explained current rents and how rent revenue helps cover subsidized units. She also described the building’s role as a supportive community for seniors, sharing examples of residents being able to stay independent because of informal daily support from neighbours.
After the deputation was received, Committee moved into the staff report related to a new municipal capital facilities agreement for 68 Maple Street. Discussion quickly shifted into whether to proceed immediately with a full tax exemption mechanism, or pause while staff review broader financial relief options for seniors and renters within the existing municipal grant framework.
Nieman raised an alternative motion directing staff to explore financial relief options for affordable seniors housing within the current municipal financial relief grant program and report back in early Q2 2026. Staff noted that the existing program is geared to low-income households for tax and water or wastewater grants and does not currently contemplate renters in the way this situation raises. The discussion also touched on Pellis, including questions about how many units are subsidized and whether Pellis funding could be better coordinated.
The direction to explore options carried, and the original capital facilities recommendation was then deferred to align with the upcoming review work.
County Transit Strategy 2028
The final major public item was the County Transit Strategy 2028 report. Vincent Detournet (Transit Coordinator) told Committee staff were asking Council to endorse the overall direction of County Transit Strategy 2028, while implementing it more gradually than the report outlines. He said endorsement did not commit new funding that day, but would allow staff to pursue external funding and bring future decisions back to Council.
Julianne Snepps (Programs Supervisor) described the Ontario Transit Improvement Fund (OTIF) as a key potential funding stream, emphasizing its focus on regional collaboration and the possibility of multi-year funding with a municipal match that increases over time.
Councillor Janice Maynard raised concerns about relying on grant funding that could shrink over time and said she wanted more detailed long-term costing before endorsing service recommendations. She also asked about employer participation, given workforce and commuting needs. Detournet pointed to business support for the summer connector buses, describing a mix of funding sources and business contributions.
Maynard put forward an amendment to make the endorsement “subject to future funding,” but the amendment failed. The main motion, including endorsement of the strategy and related agreement steps with Quinte Access Transportation Company Inc., carried.
The meeting then moved into closed session and later returned to adjourn.
Key takeaways
Council received a detailed climate report that sets a baseline for County-wide emissions and points to practical tools like a climate lens in reports and Official Plan direction.
Wellington Manor’s tax waiver request was not approved on the spot. Committee chose to defer the capital facilities approach while staff review broader financial relief options and related partnerships.
Council endorsed the County Transit Strategy 2028 direction and continued work on funding and agreements, even as some members flagged long-term cost and fairness questions.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a meeting with an approximate duration of 2:00:10. 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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