“ BMRA serves in an advocacy role with Town Council and staff on behalf of ratepayers to ensure and enhance our community’s quality of life.”

New Year’s Resolutions

7 Recommendations for Council

It is again that time of year when making New Year’s Resolutions are popular (whether they are actually followed is another matter).

In the spirit of the season, the BMRA put together a list of resolutions that we hope to see Town Staff and Councillors follow.

This will be the last full year for our current Council before the 2026 election year, and there is much important work that needs to get done.

Overall, we believe it is critical that decisions made by Staff and Council are made

through a lens of what will provide the greatest long term benefit to the entire Town. Too often, it seems that more immediate, short term considerations are impacting decision making. This leads to inefficient processes, and a muddled view of Townhall’s long term vision for TBM.

With that as the overall backdrop, here are the proposed 2025 resolutions for TBM

Townhall.

1 Priorities

Identify key priorities, define deliverables, report on progress made, and accept accountability

A request from the BMRA, both for this Council and prior ones, is to clearly state their

top priorities for the upcoming year. Interestingly, a recent Collingwood Today story

asked our Council members what they considered to be the most important areas to

make progress for the Town. There were some elements of consistency, including

Affordable Housing, infrastructure development and demonstrating fiscal prudence.

But based on their individual responses, it would be hard to construct a top five list that all of Council would endorse.

Townhall has yet to clearly communicate to their constituents what they are committing to accomplish in 2025. And once they have confirmed the priorities, will they regularly

report on the progress being made in meeting their defined objectives? We would

expect to see that from our Council and Staff.

An opportunity to implement the required discipline and accountability presents itself

through the development of an updated Strategic Plan in 2025. The prior Plan, which

covered the period ending in 2024, presented a large number of initiatives. However,

measurement and reporting on progress made was lacking, so it did not serve its

intended purpose. The new Strategic Plan must not make the same mistake.

2 Infrastructure

Break the Infrastructure Logjam

TBM is falling further behind in the vital expansion, and maintenance of our

infrastructure. Just based on the number of units already in the development “approval pipeline”, our water and wastewater capacities must be increased. And project delays are literally costing TBM ratepayers millions of dollars due to construction inflation and process inefficiencies.

To make the required improvements, Staff and Council must;

i) Inform Town residents of the major projects being planned, in a timely manner

ii) Engage and respond to the community’s questions and concerns

iii) Make engineering and investment decisions as part of a well defined project process and timeline to avoid costly delays. Adopt solutions based on the highest engineering standards that work in the best long term interests of the broader TBM community.

3 Value for money

Apply cost and benefit disciplines to all Town expenditures, including those with a Sustainability focus

The KPMG study was supposed to have identified opportunities to streamline

operations, and determine what services the Town could reasonably cut back, or even

eliminate. That would allow for greater cost efficiencies, and ensure that some form of a “Spend for Impact” mindset becomes part of the way that business gets done at

Townhall.

We are waiting to see whether that approach is evidenced in the 2025 TBM

budget.

The first cut at the budget showed a 10% tax increase. There is clearly work to

be done to bring this year’s spending to an appropriate, responsible and acceptable

level. Council must balance the need to limit rates of annual tax increases, with

ensuring the viability of the Town’s long term financial position.

4 The Official Plan

It’s time to bring the Official Plan Review to a successful completion

We ask both Staff and Council commit to applying the document’s Planning standards faithfully to steward our growth.

The OPR has been a long, drawn-out exercise. The original timeline would have seen it completed in 2024, but that target was not hit. It needs to be concluded so that an

updated vision for the Town, and approach to development management can be put in

place.

5 Housing Strategy

Create one, finally!

It seems that the Town has been making decisions on development proposals in a

disconnected, one-off manner. The provision of affordable housing is a stated intent,

but without a plan to make it happen. And the Town’s growth must be managed in an

integrated fashion, incorporating a range of considerations, such as;

i) Protection of our natural environment

ii) Availability of infrastructure capacity

iii) Housing formats and access to commercial entities that will enhance community

“liveability” - and make it more viable for residents to decrease their reliance on driving

to access what they need day to day

iv) Maintain the character of our Town’s various neighbourhoods and regions

6 County Relationships

Better Represent TBM’s Interests with the County

As our members are aware, fully 40% of our property tax dollars go to Grey County,

which represents about 30% of the County’s total tax levy.

However, little is shared with us regarding how those funds are spent, and on what basis annual increases are determined.

Of concern, over the past couple of years the County has been proposing changes to current processes and organizational structures, such as more integrated Planning services, and exchanging County and Municipal road responsibilities.

Without receiving clear answers as to the rationale for these proposals, and the potential impact on TBM finances, it is impossible to feel confident that they will prove to be in our best interest.

We need Townhall to be more open in providing information related to our County tax levy.

7 Work Together

Council and Staff Must Work Collaboratively and Productively

We all know that for Townhall to operate effectively, the two sides must have respectful working relationships, and focus their combined efforts to achieve shared objectives.

Too often, that does not seem to be the case. We need to see leadership from our

Mayor and CAO to improve the working environment. Without that, realizing this list of

resolutions won’t be possible.

Conclusion

The BMRA hopes these suggestions resonate with those working at Townhall, and that their application will bring about meaningful improvements to the delivery of the Town’s services and investments.

Happy New Year to All

BMRA

It’s time to renew your membership!

$25, by etransfer to join.bmra@gmail.com

Comments or Questions?

Please forward this email to interested friends & neighbours

Not a member, yet? Click to Join.

Copyright (C) 2025 Blue Mountain Ratepayers Association (BMRA). All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe

January, 2025