Part 1: Committee Reviews Major Organizational Report and Updates Open-Air Burning Rules — 06/11/2026
- PECConnect
- Jun 11
- 5 min read
The County’s Committee of the Whole met on June 11, 2026 with Councillor Janice Maynard serving as Chair. The meeting focused heavily on the presentation of a major Service Delivery and Organizational Review, a comprehensive examination of how municipal services are delivered, how the County is structured to provide them, and what changes may be needed to keep services sustainable in the years ahead. Committee members also reviewed proposed amendments to the County’s open-air burning bylaw before moving into a closed session later in the afternoon.
Service Delivery Review Highlights Long-Term Challenges
The largest portion of the meeting was dedicated to a presentation from representatives of Municipal VU Consulting Inc., who were hired to conduct a service delivery and organizational review of the municipality. The consultants explained that their work examined 44 service areas across nine departments and assessed whether the County has the financial resources, staffing structure, and organizational systems needed to maintain those services over the long term.
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The review found that the County faces several pressures that are becoming increasingly difficult to balance. The municipality has a relatively small permanent population but supports a large tourism economy that places seasonal demands on roads, parks, facilities, bylaw enforcement, and other municipal services. Consultants noted that more than 326,000 visitors were recorded in 2023, creating service demands that can resemble those of a much larger municipality.
Financial sustainability was a recurring theme throughout the presentation. Consultants highlighted concerns about infrastructure funding pressures, reliance on property taxes, and the need for stronger long-term planning. They stressed that future discussions should begin with a clear understanding of which services residents expect, what service levels Council wants to provide, and what those choices will cost. According to the consultants, many municipalities struggle when service expectations increase without corresponding funding or staffing decisions.
Another major finding involved what the consultants described as reactive operations. Staff frequently face new responsibilities, complaints, legislative changes, and emerging priorities that interrupt planned work. While responding to immediate issues is unavoidable, the review suggested the County needs better systems for evaluating new demands and understanding what work gets delayed when priorities shift.
Focus on Service Levels and Public Input
Throughout the discussion, councillors repeatedly returned to one central question: what level of service should residents reasonably expect from their municipality?
Consultants emphasized that future planning should begin with clear service-level discussions involving both Council and the public. They suggested that residents be directly engaged in conversations about municipal services, including what services matter most and what trade-offs may be necessary when funding is limited. Rather than relying solely on traditional public meetings, the consultants recommended more informal outreach methods such as attending community events, markets, fairs, and other locations where a broader cross-section of residents can be reached.
County administration indicated that planned summer budget engagement activities could be adapted to support these broader service-level discussions. The review's recommendations are expected to help shape future conversations around budgeting, infrastructure investments, staffing, and long-term planning.
Governance, Technology, and Organizational Structure
The consultants also discussed several organizational challenges that extend beyond finances.
Areas identified for improvement included governance practices, business planning, internal communication, technology systems, records management, and workforce development. The review found that many employees are committed to serving the community but often face inefficiencies created by outdated processes, disconnected systems, or unclear organizational structures.
The report recommended stronger business planning, improved coordination between departments, continued modernization of technology systems, and workforce development initiatives aimed at staff retention, training, succession planning, and leadership development. Consultants stressed that organizational changes should follow service-level decisions rather than come first, arguing that structure should support clearly defined priorities rather than drive them.
County Chief Administrative Officer Adam Goheen welcomed the report, noting that many of its recommendations align with priorities already identified by staff and Council, including asset management planning, financial sustainability efforts, modernization initiatives, and improvements to core municipal services.
Following discussion, the Committee formally received the final Service Delivery and Organizational Review report and later directed the CAO to further develop an implementation plan and report back to Council periodically on progress.
Proposed Changes to Open-Air Burning Rules
The Committee also reviewed proposed amendments to the County’s Open Air Burning By-law.
Fire Chief Patrick Kelly explained that the proposed changes were intended to address two issues. The first was creating clearer authority to regulate consumer fireworks during burn bans. The second was providing better definitions and public understanding of what partial and full burn bans mean.
Discussion focused largely on rules surrounding burn barrels during partial burn bans. Staff originally proposed allowing only campfires during a partial burn ban because emergency response experience suggested burn barrels were more frequently associated with incidents requiring fire department intervention. Some councillors questioned whether burn barrels could still be safely used under certain conditions and expressed concerns about limiting options for residents disposing of materials such as cardboard.
After discussion, the Committee directed staff to revise the bylaw language so that burn barrels would be included during partial burn bans and bring the updated bylaw forward for Council consideration. The broader amendments, including the fireworks provisions, were supported by the Committee.
Key Takeaways
A major review has identified opportunities to improve how municipal services are planned, funded, and delivered. The findings are expected to influence future budget discussions, staffing decisions, and long-term infrastructure planning.
Residents will likely have opportunities to provide input on service levels. Council and staff signalled that public engagement on service expectations could become an important part of future planning conversations.
Open-air burning rules are being updated. New provisions related to fireworks during burn bans are moving forward, while staff have also been directed to revise proposed rules surrounding burn barrels before the bylaw returns to Council.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a meeting with an approximate duration of 2:47:52. 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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