Part 1: Land Sales, Health Care Pressures, and Major Infrastructure Decisions - 06/27/2023
- PECConnect
- Jun 27, 2023
- 6 min read
The County Council met in person at Shire Hall in Picton on the evening of June 27, 2023, for a regular Council meeting that combined routine municipal business with several weighty discussions affecting land use, health care access, roads, and public amenities. The meeting was chaired by Mayor Steve Ferguson, with all members of Council present except Councillor Bill Roberts of Sophiasburgh, who sent regrets. The meeting followed an earlier closed session and formally opened to the public at 7:00 p.m.
The meeting began with a traditional land acknowledgement and procedural housekeeping, including declarations of pecuniary interest. Councillor David Harrison declared a conflict related to a later public works contract involving a company owned by his son, while Councillor Roy Pennell declared an interest connected to a zoning bylaw affecting property near his own. These disclosures set the tone for transparency that carried through the rest of the evening.
View the entire PEC Council meeting, or continue to speaker comments and councillor votes>
Council also agreed to amend the agenda to allow a late addition related to the 2023 PEC Resident Summer Pass, specifically to consider access for temporary migrant workers. That amendment required waiving parts of the procedural bylaw and was approved before Council moved briefly into closed session to deal with a land transaction.
Sale of Municipal Industrial Park Land
When Council returned to open session, the first major decision involved the sale of two parcels of municipal industrial park land on McDonald Drive in Picton. Based on a report from staff, Council approved the sale of both parcels to Scott Wentworth Landscape Group Ltd. for a combined total of $145,000. The discussion itself was brief, reflecting that the details had already been handled in closed session, but the decision mattered because it involved disposing of municipally owned land intended for industrial and employment uses. The approval also authorized the necessary bylaws to finalize the sale.
Notices of Motion and Community Announcements
Council then moved into announcements, which included several notices of motion to be brought forward at a later meeting. These ranged from proposed changes to the taxi bylaw, to requests for cost estimates related to the McFarland House, to a future motion on expanding eligibility for the County’s tax relief program.
The announcements section also highlighted upcoming Canada Day celebrations across the County, with councillors outlining events in Picton, Wellington, Ameliasburgh, Athol, and elsewhere. While largely informational, these updates reinforced the role Council plays in supporting and promoting community life alongside policy and governance work.
Regional Health Care and the Ontario Health Team
One of the most substantial portions of the meeting came with a deputation from Debbie Korzeniowski, Executive Director of the Prince Edward Family Health Team and a member of the Hastings Prince Edward Ontario Health Team Stewardship Group. Korzeniowski provided Council with an in-depth overview of how the Ontario Health Team was formed following provincial health system restructuring and how it now brings together roughly 40 health and social service organizations across Hastings County, PEC, and Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory.
Her presentation focused heavily on primary care access, noting that a significant portion of residents in the region do not have a regular family doctor or nurse practitioner. She explained that the region’s older population, higher levels of material disadvantage, and rising mental health needs are all placing strain on the health system.
Council members asked questions about physician recruitment, food security, transportation barriers, and how the Ontario Health Team is attempting to redesign care delivery through collaboration rather than isolated services. Council formally received the deputation after discussion.
Health PULSE and Regional Collaboration
Following that deputation, Chief Administrative Officer Marcia Wallace delivered a presentation on Health PULSE, a partnership between major regional institutions including municipalities, hospitals, and Loyalist College. Wallace explained that Health PULSE is not a new organization, but a coordinated effort to speak with one voice when advocating to the province about rural health care challenges.
Her presentation emphasized the region’s heavy reliance on hospital emergency departments, shortages of health care workers, an aging population, and the lack of community-based services that could prevent hospital admissions in the first place. Wallace described how shared data and collaboration are helping the region better understand growth trends and workforce needs, and how this work could lead to new models of care closer to home. Council members raised questions about long-term care capacity, seasonal population pressures during tourism months, and workforce retention. Council voted to receive the presentation.
Public Comment Supporting Health PULSE
Council also heard from Stacey Daub, President and CEO of Quinte Health, who spoke in strong support of both Health PULSE and the Ontario Health Team. Daub described how disconnected planning had been in the past and argued that coordinated advocacy is essential if rural communities are to be treated equitably within Ontario’s health system. Her comments reinforced the themes raised earlier in the evening about collaboration, shared data, and the need for provincial recognition of rural health realities.
Major Infrastructure and Capital Decisions
The meeting then shifted back to operational matters. Council approved the purchase of a tandem axle dump truck with winter implements at a cost of just over $409,000, along with additional funding from the roads equipment reserve to cover cost increases.
A more debated item followed with an update from the County Road 49 Rehabilitation Working Group. Staff outlined advocacy efforts to both provincial and federal governments and proposed that up to $1 million in tourism-related revenues be considered as part of the County’s contribution toward rehabilitating the heavily used roadway. An amendment seeking to defer the decision did not pass, but Council ultimately approved directing staff to allocate the funds for consideration in the 2024 capital budget, signalling seriousness about addressing long-standing road conditions without committing to immediate spending.
Council also approved a major sanitary sewer reconstruction project on West Mary Street in Picton, valued at approximately $1.89 million, with most costs expected to be recovered through connection charges paid by developers. This project was framed as necessary to support approved development while also improving aging infrastructure for existing residents.
Expanding Access to County Beaches
One of the more community-focused decisions came with the approval of changes to the 2023 PEC Resident Summer Pass. Council agreed to expand eligibility so that temporary migrant workers living and working in the County could access Wellington Rotary Beach and designated parking areas free of charge. The discussion acknowledged administrative barriers that had unintentionally excluded these workers, despite Council’s original intent to treat all County residents fairly.
Staff confirmed that broader eligibility questions, including students and seasonal workers living outside the County, would be reviewed as part of the 2024 tourism management plan.
The remainder of the meeting moved through consent items, committee reports, and a series of bylaws, including zoning amendments, trail regulations, and site plan control designations. Council passed a confirmatory bylaw to validate the evening’s proceedings and adjourned at 9:03 p.m.
Key Takeaways
Council is increasingly focused on regional collaboration, especially around health care, recognizing that the County’s challenges cannot be solved in isolation.
Major infrastructure investments, from roads to sewers, continue to dominate Council’s agenda, with careful attention to how costs are shared between taxpayers, developers, and tourism revenues.
Council is actively revisiting access and equity in County programs, as seen in changes to the resident summer pass, with more review expected as programs evolve into 2024.
Disclaimer: This article is based on a meeting with an approximate duration of 3:05:28. 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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