Part 1: Ice Access, Election Sign , and Long-Term Care – 03/12/2026
- PECConnect
- Mar 12
- 6 min read
The County’s Committee of the Whole met on March 12 with Councillor Roy Pennell serving as chair, and while no final decisions were made that day, the meeting gave residents a clear look at what council members are currently trying to sort out before matters return to council on March 24. The discussion moved through three main areas: how arena ice is booked and used, how election signs should be regulated for the 2026 municipal election, and how the H. J. McFarland long-term care redevelopment is progressing.
The meeting opened with routine approvals, including confirmation of the agenda and a note that any motions passed at committee would still need final council approval later in the month. From there, members got into the substance of the afternoon.
View the entire PEC Council meeting, or continue to speaker comments and councillor votes>
Ice allocation and the problem of empty rink time
One of the first major items was an update to the County’s ice allocation policy, presented by Lisa Sverson. She explained that the policy change comes out of the approved Parks and Recreation Master Plan and is meant to clean up the language while also dealing with a practical issue: too much ice time ends up sitting unused.
The biggest change discussed was the removal of the old 10-day cancellation approach. Sverson said that when blocks of ice are returned that far in advance, it can still be hard to reactivate them in a useful way. The goal now is to make it easier to fill open slots and create more day-to-day use.
A lot of the discussion focused on what residents have apparently been noticing already: open ice in the arena, staff on site, and people still having trouble actually booking that time. Councillor Phil St-Jean raised concerns about delays in the current booking process and said people are hearing back too slowly, sometimes after the time they wanted is already gone. He also questioned why unused ice cannot be turned around more easily for public use or offered at a lower rate if it would otherwise sit empty.
Sverson said the policy is meant to help address exactly that. Under the proposed approach, last-minute ice could be booked within seven calendar days at a discounted rate, with the actual fee to be added later through the fees and charges bylaw. She also said staff are working on an online booking system so people would not need to wait on a booking coordinator to respond. The idea is that available ice could be posted online, connected to a QR code, and booked directly.
Even so, some operational questions remained unresolved. Sverson said she still needs to confirm what can happen when someone has already paid for a block of ice but then does not use it. She said she was not yet sure whether that hour could ethically or procedurally be sold a second time, though she acknowledged council’s interest in finding a way to activate empty ice instead of leaving it unused.
The exchange mattered because it touched on a bigger County issue that goes beyond hockey. This was really a conversation about how public facilities are managed, how quickly staff can respond to community demand, and how to make better use of municipal space that is already being paid for.
Election signs and where council wants the line drawn
The second major discussion dealt with the framework for the 2026 municipal election, especially the rules around election signs. The clerk described the proposed changes as mostly minor updates from the 2022 version, with the intention of balancing campaigning rights, safety, and community appearance.
That item quickly turned into a broader discussion about how long election signs should be allowed to stay up, where they can go, and whether council should be doing more to address their environmental impact. Questions came up about signs on public lands and road allowances, and staff clarified that signs can be placed in public road allowances, but not in the travelled portion of the roadway or in a way that interferes with safety.
Mayor Steve Ferguson raised one of the biggest concerns of the discussion: timing. He said a long sign season could compete visually with local businesses during tourism season and suggested a later sign start date. Other members pushed back for different reasons. Chris Braney argued that restricting sign timing too much could favour incumbents and make it harder for new candidates to gain visibility. St-Jean made a similar point, saying most candidates do not rush to put signs up as soon as they are allowed anyway.
The environmental side of the issue also stayed front and centre. Councillor Bill Roberts said it seemed inconsistent for the County to declare a climate emergency while still allowing large amounts of sign waste to end up in landfill. Councillor David Harrison asked whether signs are recyclable, and several members discussed reuse, repurposing, and the general waste created by campaign materials.
In the end, committee supported an amendment so that election signs would be allowed starting August 22, the day after nominations close, rather than earlier in the campaign season. There was also clear interest in having staff continue looking into possible limits on sign numbers and what other municipalities are doing, though no final direction on that issue was settled during this discussion.
H. J. McFarland redevelopment update
The final major item was an update on H. J. McFarland Memorial Home and its redevelopment project. Staff reported that construction of the new long-term care home is about 30 percent complete and that the budget remains aligned, with contingencies still in place. There has been a 12-day weather-related delay, but staff said mitigation efforts are underway and the building is still expected to be closed in by fall.
The update went beyond construction. Staff also spoke about operational readiness, including staffing plans, recruitment strategy, training, and preparation for the ministry occupancy process due in October 2026. There was also an update on fundraising, with plans being developed for a $1 million campaign to support enhanced resident spaces such as a main street café, pub, and stained glass mural.
A major point of progress was staffing. Staff said the addition of 10 part-time PSW positions has already led to a 68 percent reduction in PSW agency staffing compared with the same time last year, and that the home expects to eliminate reliance on agency PSWs entirely as onboarding continues. The home also reported progress on dementia care training, family engagement, student placements, and the Meals on Wheels program.
That report mattered because it showed the County is not only building a larger facility, but also trying to strengthen the workforce and care model before the new building opens.
Key Takeaways
The County is trying to make arena ice booking more flexible and more accessible, especially for last-minute users, but there are still unanswered questions about how unused paid ice can be reopened to the public.
Council members are already wrestling with how the 2026 municipal election should look in practice, especially when it comes to sign timing, fairness for candidates, and sign waste.
The new H. J. McFarland build is moving ahead with construction, staffing improvements, and planning for the transition, which is important not just for current residents and families, but for the broader future of long-term care in the County.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a meeting with an approximate duration of 2:17:15. 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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