Part 2: Strategic Plan Direction, Council Priorities, and Voting Alignment – 05/08/2023
- PECConnect
- May 7, 2023
- 4 min read
The meeting opened with Phil Prinzen (Bloomfield-Hallowell), Chair, running the room at Highline Hall in Wellington, with Steve Ferguson and councillors from Wards 1 through 9 listed as present in the official minutes. Brad Nieman (Bloomfield-Hallowell) was listed as regrets.
Staff attendance mattered for this session because the whole point was strategy and implementation. The minutes list Chief Administrative Officer Marcia Wallace, multiple directors, the Fire Chief, and the Municipal Clerk Catalina Blumenberg among staff present. Phil St-Jean (Picton) moved the agenda confirmation, seconded by Sam Branderhorst (Athol), and it carried.
View the entire PEC Council Meeting; or view our recap.
Once Chief Administrative Officer Wallace framed the day, the questions that followed showed where different councillors were already leaning.
Kate MacNaughton (Picton) pushed on process and collaboration, raising concerns about whether there was enough room for genuine conversation between council and staff, and whether time would be built in later for more open discussion.
Bill Roberts (Sophiasburgh) brought the discussion back to outcomes by asking how council would know when it has succeeded during the term.
Receiving the StrategyCorp Presentation
Council formally received the strategic planning presentation by Aidan Grove White of StrategyCorp. The motion was moved by Roberts, seconded by Sam Grosso (Ameliasburgh), and it carried. During the related question period, there were record of several key threads, including how the plan is conveyed to the public, and livability and affordability including housing and cost of living.
In the live discussion, Ferguson specifically raised livability as affordability and the ability for people to reside in the County, while Roy Pennell (Ameliasburgh) pressed hard on communicating the plan clearly to taxpayers and recognizing the County’s geographic spread.
Receiving Staff Goals and Metrics: Who Moved It
When staff presented the Corporate Strategic Plan staff goals and metrics report, the motion to receive it for information was moved by Corey Engelsdorfer (Wellington) and seconded by MacNaughton, and it carried.
This vote matters because it signaled council support for the idea of using measurable goals and metrics, even though council had not yet chosen the priorities those metrics would track.
Council recessed and reconvened with all members present except Nieman, and the round robin workshop portions were not livestreamed due to the interactive nature of the conversation. When the livestream resumed at 3:35 pm, the chair shifted. Ferguson resumed the position of chair, and Prinzen later vacated the meeting at 3:41 pm.
Who Pushed for What in the Group Debrief
In the debrief, different wards emphasized different pressure points.
Roberts was tied to the idea of adjusting wording in the pillars, including adding the word diversified to pillar 3.
Pennell raised communication as a practical problem, including concern about misinformation and the need for an action item related to social media and facts.
Janice Maynard (Ameliasburgh) focused on core service realities and asked for more chances to complete the small table conversations with councillors she did not connect with during the workshop. She also raised infrastructure and service delivery expectations in the debrief themes, including adding core services to the infrastructure pillar.
MacNaughton emphasized housing as a repeated priority, and that both affordable housing and explicitly stating housing were part of the debrief direction.
The endorsement motion is the key decision in this meeting. It was moved by Branderhorst, seconded by Pennell, and it carried.
This vote did not lock in a final term strategic plan, but it did formally endorse the ten year community plan report as the foundation document that staff and council would build from next.
What this means for the locals
This meeting was less about immediate change and more about setting direction. In Picton, the repeated focus on housing from MacNaughton and St-Jean points to continued attention on affordability and availability, issues that are already front of mind in that area.
In Ameliasburgh, where multiple councillors including Maynard, Pennell, and Grosso contributed, the emphasis on communication and core services reflects ongoing concerns about how decisions are shared and how services are delivered across a wide and partly rural ward.
In Wellington, Engelsdorfer’s role in advancing the metrics discussion ties into the area’s position as a growing hub, where tracking growth, infrastructure, and service levels will be important as the community changes.
For rural wards like Sophiasburgh and Athol, Roberts and Branderhorst helped shape the bigger picture. Their focus on outcomes and long-term planning suggests that future decisions will be judged not just on intent, but on whether they actually deliver results.
The biggest takeaway is that Council is aligning itself around a shared framework before making harder choices. The votes were mostly unanimous, which shows general agreement at this stage. The real impact will come next, when these ideas turn into budgets, policies, and service decisions that residents will feel more directly.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a meeting with an approximate duration of 2:51:38. 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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