>> good evening everyone.
I now call the august fifth, 2026
2026 regular meeting of county
council to order.
good evening everyone it is nice
to see you in the audience.
we invite you to join council and
and administration as we take
this time to observe a moment of
reflection and that will lead into
into the singing of our national
anthem.
[singing of 'o canada']
we acknowledge the land on which
the county of essex is located
is the traditional territory of
the three fires confederacy of
first nations, comprised of the
ojibway, odawa and potawatomie
peoples.
we specifically recognize caldwell first nation and other
caldwell first nation and other
first nations which have
first nations which have provided significant historical
provided significant historical
and contemporary contributions
to this region.
we also value the contributions
of all original peoples of
of all original peoples of turtle island, who have been
turtle island, who have been living and working on this land
living and working on this land
from time immemorial.
all members of council are
present in the chambers this
evening.
I believe councillor mcnamara is
expected to arrive later this
evening, and then we will be
joining us virtually?
no?
undetermined at this point?
okay, anyways welcome everybody,
nice to see you.
council members are there any
disclosures of pecuniary
interest?
seeing none, as you know if at
any point during the proceedings
the
the matter is raised for which
you
you have a conflict, please
declare at that time.
before you are the minutes of
the regular county council
meeting, that is the one for
july 15th of 2026.
any errors or omissions to bring
forward?
seeing none, the recommendation
is that the minutes of the
july 15th, 2026 essex county
council regular meeting be
adopted as presented, moved by
councillor shepley, seconded
deputy warden.
any discussion?
all in favour?
opposed?
that is carried, thank you.
under delegations and
presentations, we are going to
start this evening with tyler
reh, tyler is a resident of
essex county, he has joined
council this evening to provide
a
a delegation regarding
artificial intelligence, ai data
centres.
welcome tyler, we will give you
10 minutes for your
presentation.
the clerk will notify you when
there is one minute left and then
then following your presentation
council will
council will have the
opportunity to ask you
questions.
welcome, please go ahead.
>> thank you.
honoured members of county
council, warden, thank you for
your time.
my name is tyler reh, I am a tax
paying resident of harrow from
the town of essex, starting at
about the age of 15 I worked as
an engineer.
I have about 20 years of experience.
my first degree is from the
university of waterloo in 2010,
a
a bachelors of applied science,
systems design engineering.
then I also have my bachelors of
education intermediate senior
math and physics from the
university of windsor in 2011.
my direct experience in
engineering includes a variety
of
of industries most notably I was
a programmer
a programmer for a majority of.
[laughter]
I can programme in more than a
dozen computer languages and a
test engineer with a research and
and development centre working
on noise and vibration analysis
with various automotive
components.
today I am here to address the
blind spot across essex county
and the rapidly expanding
industrial data centres space.
since may 27th when I first
became aware of the approved iso
100-200-megawatt facility come
to
to the southwest transmission
region, I turned my attention to
data centres hoping to have some
action taken against them.
my biased or means, after careful
careful consideration of the negative
negative impacts to the region
outweigh the perceived financial
benefits.
when these facilities bring
investment, our local bylaws are
not ready for them.
they are completely unprepared
for
for the unique infrastructure footprint.
right now we have a fragmented
patchwork in our municipal laws
that leaves communities exposed
to noise, zoning loopholes,
ecological hazards and severe
energy grid strain.
we need a unified framework to
leverage against every local
township and municipality before
these
these projects can even break
ground.
let's look at some of the issues
we have currently around us.
in essex data centres can be
inappropriately lumped under the
standard zoning bylaws as light
industrial.
in amherstburg looking at the noise
noise bylaws to address
continuous low frequency hum,
massive cooling fans, with a
decibel metric.
preferably we will use something
like
like db z.
in lakeshore, we must improve
site control plan bylaws by adding
adding stipulation that can
calculate the massive structural
footprint.
and that it causes extreme water
displacement, and we need to
prevent massive structures from
altering that agricultural
drainage basin.
in tecumseh we must focus on
property standards and nuisance
bylaws to restrict local heat effects
effects from these server
exhausts, in lasalle we need
strict public utility and
development bylaws to offset the
sudden burden on the local
municipality grids.
in kingsville we have to look to
leverage
leverage environmental
protection zoning overlay bylaws
to protect such as ecozones from
these
these facilities footprints.
in leamington we must look at
specific land use restrictions
for industrial land from taking
over prime industrial land.
and finally I will throw in the
city of windsor because they are
probably in the worst state of
anybody.
under theirs, data centres are
hidden
hidden under the zoning
definitions as mere business
offices, they can be both industrial as
industrial as well as commercial
based on the way everything is
written now.
zoning is only part of the
problems we face that are not
actually fully taken care of geq
beyond zoning we face silent
chemical threats, data centres
that rely on advanced cooling
which can have specialized
refrigerants and fire
suppressants.
these can be major sources of
trifluoro acetate, tfa,
precursors.
basically the refrigerants can
break down into a forever
chemical.
when these cooling systems leak
this
this can get into our
wastewater, soil, et cetera.
there is really no way of
getting rid of them.
standard wastewater treatment
plants are completely incapable
of
of filtering out tfa.
it passes directly through a
treatment cycle accumulating primarily
primarily in our local water
systems, agricultural soil and
guarantee our drinking water.
spills and leaks under
10 kilograms do not have to be
reported within ontario.
infrasound frequencies under
20-hertz have been shown to cause
cause issues to plants, animals
and humans.
currently all regulations for
sound are nuisance bylaws set
under dba, so this actually cuts
out the lowest frequencies, and
that's where a majority of the
data center noise comes from.
they have actually been able to
skirt bylaws and basically be a
nuisance but still fall within
the decibel limits set by the
township. >>
>> and then there is the whole
math on energy.
in windsor essex there is
already an energy intensive
region, a few like leamington
they already have 1300 megawatts
of
of applications to sustain the
growth in their greenhouse
industry.
that is before we even get one of
of these large 200 plus megawatt
facilities.
food security is the big economic
economic backbone of our towns
here, I personally like to keep
it that way.
however data from independent
electricity systems operator
reveal our region capacity is
already short when it comes to
transmission stations.
I found a piece of data that
says the independent board's
regional planning forecast shows
by 2032 we will already be
230 megawatts short of meeting
the basic industrial and
development advance, we will
already be in a deficit based on what
what I have been able to figure
out.
the main thing everybody is
worried about in here half the
time is money I will go through
why you won't see as much money
out of this
out of this as you think you
are.
using that 200 megawatts as a
basis, if we use 30-40000000 per
megawatt as our basis, you are
likely to
likely to see the total cost of
the facility between somewhere
six
six and $8 billion.
60-70% of that is spent on the
gpu, technology itself, which we
do
do not make here.
all probably coming from
overseas.
when you see who might actually
become the primary person who is
going to create this facility,
it will more likely not be our
construction companies.
they don't specialize in this
type of building, this type of
infrastructure.
more likely to be alice and don
or pcl construction, that takes
a majority of the initial
contract outside the county.
you are only likely to see a
75-80% of what is remaining of
that 3.8 billion stay in the
counties less than a billion
dollars will actually stay here
in
in the county.
a majority will leave.
on top of that you're thinking
it'll bring jobs.
to 100-megawatt facility is a
maximum of 80 jobs total.
should have somewhere between 5,010,000
5,010,000 square feet per
employee in order to house and
create these jobs here.
if we look at amherstburg
specifically, our official plan,
300
300 square feet as their target.
it will not help us with job density
density whatsoever.
in summary we cannot manage a
21st century technological boom
without data and disjointed municipal
municipal bylaws, I urge county
council to mandate a
synchronized region wide
regulatory framework that will
protect our water, secure our
power grid and put in the safety
of
of essex county residents first.
one particular note I want to
make to the document you are
seeing on the screen, this is a
briefing I created a.
within it I believe it is under
section six, part one.
you will see I estimate about 90k to
90k to do this study.
I expect that having talked to
the deputy cao that amherstburg
they think it's about 200k in
order to I.c.e. Be.
what I would like to see is
overlap and how that money is spent so
spent so we can leverage
learnings here if any particular
township wants to put that in.
I have considerably more
information on time and I'm
hoping to get some
questionnaire, thanks everybody
for your time. >>
>> thank you tyler, walden.
questions council members?
deputy warden? >>
>> through you warden, thank you
for coming and raising this
issue.
until maybe a month ago this
wasn't on the radar.
the fact that you are bringing
education to us, very important
and thank you to all the residents
residents that came out for this
issue.
my question is, based on some of the
the news that has been shared,
you see places in michigan and
others that have these in the
noise itself is just
excruciating.
unbelievable something like that
would exist in this area,
thinking of windsor essex.
my question is do you feel this
is a public hazard, public
nuisance?
if so it would be worthwhile to also
also do your presentation at the
windsor windsor essex county
health unit because there's a
lot of issues you raised that
also addresses because they are
responsible for public health.
>> through you warden and,
specifically to your question on
-- let me rephrase this -- do
you mind repeating the end of
the question?
>> would the regular person
yourself included feel that this
data is a public nuisance and
public hazard?
and if so, would it be
worthwhile to engage the health
unit based on the motions this
evening, there is a report talking
talking about maybe we should do
a task force.
end of the day I support having
that
that town deal with it, we are
all on the same page if it were
to come to the lower
municipalities.
overall with the health unit
being an opportunity for them to
be aware of this as well. >>
>> through you warden yes, we
should have lots of different
people involved.
it would be largely legal putting
putting in some of the bylaws
around this, specifically the
way I think can be -- we can very
very specifically put in bylaws
against them.
we have sound bylaws that our
governed slightly by ontario
laws, can't step on those too
much.
but once you go past it being
sound and related to what you
hear and you go down to the
infrasound that would change it
and
and change the laws sooner
specifically tripping over those
ontario laws.
and I have several peer-reviewed
studies that show it causes
issues to both humans, not being
able to sleep, cardiovascular
related stuff, animals with
stillbirths and stress and
plants have issues with seating
because of the 10-hertz
frequency mimics bees and has
some issues related to
pollination.
yes, it does affect both humans,
animals and plants.
tying that together to show that
we have both residential and
agriculture having setbacks
related to this, that would
provide us our best chance to
keep it away from anything that
would
would cause an issue.
additionally the size of the sound
sound is going to require like three
three kilometres of setback in
every direction
every direction to get rid of
the sound 100%, and to actually
block all of this stuff.
you are looking at 6000 plus
acres of farmland that would have
have to be converted over to do
that.
it is highly concerning to me
specifically for that reason, more
more specifically in that
infrared where we just cannot
hear it.
it's one of those things that you
you can feel.
like when you are in your car
and put the windows down, that's
15-hertz.
you're not really hearing that
you're feeling that.
that's the type of thing that
would come off of these things,
are
are extremely hard to mitigate,
some of these sound waves are
metres and metres long so you
can't even put a 30-foot wall,
it
it will go up and over.
stuff like that is what deeply
concerns me. >>
>> very good, thank you.
>> councillor prue?
>> couple questions attributed
approximately $200,000 to our
deputy cao, miss osborne.
did you ask where she got this?
>> through you warden, she said
it in county council about a
month ago, when I was there when
you guys voted to put this
motion in.
I did not get any more
specifics, that is the number.
>>
>> that was in the county
council. >>
>> in amherstburg council kak.
I may have misspoken. >>
>> okay.
second question, you also named
about a month ago, you found there
there was a facility coming to
southwestern ontario.
we found out later on it was
coming to niagara falls.
where in southwestern ontario did you
did you find that this was
coming to?
>> oliver says on the website it
says it's the southwest
transmission region, whatever
that means for them which I
believe can include sarnia and
all those types of things.
I don't think niagara falls, it
would
would be something else.
they have different ones on
their website.
that one specifically on a third
party website says essex county
specifically, but that is
unsubstantiated third party
evidence, probably should not take
take that as reality yet. >>
>> I don't think anybody at this
table wants anything coming to
essex county. >>
>> exactly.
the southwest transmission
region. >>
>> only one city has -- my third
question, only one city has
taken this on so far and that is
hamilton.
and I understand the opponent there
there was going to take hamilton
to court.
do you have any knowledge what
is happening with that?
>> yes, I do, through you
warden, hamilton itself voted down
down the icb notice at at 10-6
ratio.
the reason being they did not
want to spend the money and make sure
sure that our economic
investment was in the area.
mississauga was the first on ontario
ontario to put in an icb.
there are places that are going
to try this. >>
>> that was a week ago mississauga
mississauga put that in. >>
>> I just saw that.
my question is, the proponent said
said that he was seriously
considering appealing this.
do you know whether the appeal
was launched by the proponent?
>> I do not. >> those
>> those are my questions
thank you. >>
>> thank you councillor,
councillor rogers? >>
>> thank you madam warden,
through you.
did a lot of work on this I
appreciate it.
you seem very passionate and
have a lot of data, a lot of
work, I appreciate that.
question I know you talked about
the interim control bylaws, I wonder
wonder if there's anywhere you
have seen that have taken on these
these studies to kind of dig
into it, as well as the
regulatory framework you are
requesting today?
>> so I have actually been
creating a document, let the cat
out of
out of the bag, with the
majority of that information for
you.
I did not submit it here because
I
I have more work to do on it, but
but there are some places that
I
have tried some things yes,
specifically icb was done this
week, it was
voted for in
mississauga.
they would be the ones to ask for
for exactly what they are doing
down
down that path, ultimately what
the idea is you would study it
to inform whatever your bylaws
are going to be.
the way I would like to see it
studied is under the guise of
infrasound tying in the health
problems with humans and animals
and plants, that we it ties in
residential and agriculture, to
put those setbacks in because that's
that's the main concern I have.
there are other concerns like
fire and flood, not having
electricity.
water is an interesting one,
water quality, having enough of
it.
there's lots of reasons that are
concerning and we should look at
each one of these specifically.
what I would like to see is a lot
lot make it as hard as possible
for these things to exist.
I don't want them in my
backyard.
I'm like 68% of all canadians,
and americans, I don't want them
in my backyard.
that should be the number 1
statistic you guys take away
from this.
nobody wants them here.
>> further?
>> I definitely understand the
concerns.
the question is, so there are
other places, canada, the
states, where they are doing
these studies and they are starting
starting to change some
regulations.
I think for us, we got our
notice of motion coming, which
we will
we will vote on the potential to
take
take those next steps so I think
it is important to know where
else this is happening as a
viewpoint, just for obvious
conversation. >>
>> through you warden there's 12 other states
other states that are in the
process of putting a ban in or
some kind of acting state level.
there have been a few, in
alberta I believe there's also
attempted a interim control
bylaw, mississauga presently
here.
and there are ai data centres already
already existing in ontario and
elsewhere in canada.
specifically, quebec themselves
has stopped taking any more data
centres because of the load on
their
their electricity.
and I believe bc has cut down to
400 megawatts
400 megawatts attributed to data
centres in that province. >>
>> thank you very much.
>> thank you, councillor
deyong? >>
>> thank you warden, thank you
tyler.
appreciate the work you have
done here today.
since I put up the motion we
will vote on later today, I have
been getting some messages from
residents.
some of them are informed like
you are and doing a lot of
research, I have been forwarding
them to administration in hopes
this motion passes and this work
will begin.
I want to encourage you to make
sure the work you are doing is
submitted, administration here
is
is keen and willing to do this
work.
you have done a lot of work already.
I hope you continue to put that
forward
forward and I just want to
thank you for digging deep into
this and bringing up a lot of stuff
stuff that most people have not
heard of and don't know, so
thank you for that. >>
>> anyone else?
councillor shepley? >>
>> thank you warden.
thank you for all the work you
have done.
I noticed -- >>
>> can you pull your mic over?
>> one of the things I wanted to
comment on, when you talked
about the tfa, we currently have
a reverse osmosis machine
calculating technology.
there is some hope for it so you
are aware, and I just want to share
share that with you. >>
>> yeah, that takes about 85% of
the data that is one of the few things that
things that I did not expect
actually that anybody would have
that.
is that in everybody's townships
that they have that?
that would be something to check
on.
>> it's currently just the solid
waste authority.
>> perfect, thank you.
>> councillor walstedt? >>
>> thank you madam warden,
thank you tyler for your
report.
a lot of good information, I
know you worked hard to get it
all together.
I only see these as an outright
ban on these in the strongest
terms, strongest legal way
possible.
so it could be appealed,
everything can always be
appealed, in any way when it
comes to the law.
but just based on infrastructure
alone that it requires and water
and
and union water system for
example, already underway with
expansions and everything else
and other developments.
it takes millions of gallons of water
water for these things.
we talk every day a lot about
farmland being taken, losing 315 acres
315 acres a day now in the
province of ontario, and this
takes up millions of square
feet.
and also like for -- as I said
based on the infrastructure drain
drain as well as health issues
and
and everything else, the quality
of
of life issues people have that
would
would be living near these, I just
just think we need to, whether
we work
we work as a group, as a county
to put everything in place to
let the industry know where we
stand on it as well as in our
individual municipalities and
the bylaws we have to put in
place to do this.
I appreciate what you said about
what is lacking in each
municipality, I'm pretty sure lakeshore
lakeshore will be taking a hard
look at this to do whatever we
can to prevent these
monstrosities from showing up in
lakeshore
lakeshore and the county as a
whole hopefully.
thanks. >>
>> councillor bailey? >>
>> thank you warden and through
you, thank you tyler for being
here this evening and the work
you put into this, for sharing
your expertise.
I think it's important to.
even more importantly started a
conversation in our communities
that
that is very valuable and something
something we have to look at.
I support the collaborative
approach for sure.
I also appreciate you started the
the conversations because
sometimes when council began
thinking about zoning changes,
and
and putting things in, residents
begin to understand or think
that we are changing it to allow
a data center.
certainly of the emails, hundreds of
hundreds of emails we received,
some were understanding that the
processes we have to put
something in place.
and the absence of having
something in place could permit
something
something to occur.
I think residents gained a lot
of
of understanding through the
collaboration.
when you reviewed the proposed
motion, did you feel that it
allows the planning tools that
we
we would need to protect ourselves?
the only thing that I felt in
the proposed, I have come up
with a few amendments because I
felt
felt like it was -- if we put
public resources towards
starting something that we
should study it from the
perspective of having a planning
tools of which to oppose them.
I felt like the proposed motion
was a little bit lacking, I wonder
wonder how you felt about it?
>> through you warden, when I first
first did read it, I think I had
four
four specific points -- trying
to
to remember them all -- one was
actually going back to one of the
the councillors saying that it
requires a lot of water.
it's not necessarily true.
water is the cheapest one which
is
is why they do it.
we don't have to use water.
you can use natural refrigerants
or synthetic refrigerants
instead, or air cooling.
does not have to contain liquid
at all technically.
there is a large way in which
all of these things can happen.
to your point on creating the
laws, we are going to have to do
it
it similar to what you guys did
in 2024 with greenhouses.
either you want to stop the
expansion of greenhouses, you
have to put large setbacks, do
something similar.
that is the one way we can do
this.
we can go through all this work
and do it all, in the province
can
can come in with an mgo or just
say I am taking this land, this
is where it will go. Nothing
nothing you can do about it.
remember that when you are
making all these decisions as well
well unfortunately, the province
is
is really the one that has the
most control
most control in this scenario.
also we don't really have
control over electricity and
really much say on that at all.
but we do have I believe bill
40, where in ontario
specifically, they have to pay
their own way for electricity.
so it won't actually directly
affect our electrical bills.
here in ontario only.
thank you. >>
>> reminds me of many of the auditoriums
auditoriums that a lot of us put
in for -- monitoring -- wind
turbines.
we effectively kept them from our
our municipality.
it can be done, the province
didn't make us do it.
to not do something just because
you are afraid of being stopped
is
is not good enough, is it.
>> no it is not.
again I am here knowing this may
not go anywhere.
I'm willing to put in the work
and
and try, I'm hoping everybody
will too. >>
>> good job.
anybody else?
okay then, we have a number of
things to do here council.
again thank you tyler.
there have been quite a few questions
questions and thank you for that
council.
there are other related matters
on
on the agenda this evening, I
thought it would be good to address
address them at this time so
that our audience if they wish
to leave have the opportunity to
do that, rather than sitting to
listen to the rest of our
evening's business. There
there is a recommendation then
to
to amend the order of business
this evening as follows, the
motion is, the order of the
agenda be amended to consider
correspondence item 10.1 .12,
the public petition ai data
centres, and new business item
14.2, the municipal framework
regarding the development of
data centres in essex county, and
and resolutions item ten .2.1,
town of amherstburg regarding
data centres following
delegations from item 9.1. Looking
looking for a mover and a seconder
seconder so we can consider all
these at this time?
councillor deyong seconded by councillor
councillor verbeke, comments or
questions in that regard?
all in favour by show of hands?
opposed?
that is carried, thank you.
so first we have the public
petition for the ai data center,
that was submitted by tyler reh
this evening and is now provided
for council as information.
so again there's a
recommendation to formally
receive the petitions and the
recommendation is the public
petition regarding ai data
centres presented by tyler reh
be
be received as information. Looking
looking for a mover and
seconder?
deputy warden and councillor
shapley?
any discussion on the motion?
I will ask you to vote
electronically please.
that is carried, thank you.
next up we have the municipal framework
framework regarding the
development of data centres, and
for that we will turn to councillor
councillor deyong to bring
forward her notice of motion, would you
would you like to read it at
this time?
>> I would not necessarily like
to
to read it because it's
something required?
it's lengthy, I mean I can but.
>>
>> madam clerk?
should it be out there?
>> it is displayed on the screen
now, it is in all the agenda
packages. If
if there is somebody that that
would
would like to read it out loud
,
you can skip over the preambles
and simply read the motion
itself.
>> can you tell me where you
want me to start reading?
like the motion itself -- >>
>> now therefore to be
reasonable. >>
>> okay thank you.
now therefore be it resolved the
county
county administration be
directed to in consultation and
cooperation with the
administration of the county's
constituent local municipalities
undertake a review and study of the
the county's land use planning
policy in relation to artificial
intelligence data centres,
applicable to all zones where that
that use is permitted in
the county of essex including
but not limited to official
plans and zoning bylaws.
and let it be that the county
administration be directed to
report back to county council
with an initial report with
respect to the following in
advance of completing a study related
related to ai data centres.
number 1, the scope of work of any
any started to be undertaken
including financial and staffing
resources and any need for external
external consultation, number 2
the
the proposed plan to consult
with indigenous communities,
three, the proposed public
engagement strategy, four,
information on the current
regulatory environment for ai
data centres at the federal
provincial and municipal levels
of
of government as well as any
updates following recent
legislative changes, five,
information from the province's
independent
independent electricity system
operator and electrical utility
service
service providers that operate
within the county of essex on
the potential cost and other
impacts to electrical
infrastructure and c, that upon
receipt of the initial report and
and recommendations council consider whether
consider whether a study is required
required to be completed by third party
third party consultant, whether
additional planning tools are necessary
necessary prior to third party
study being conducted, based on the
the contents of the initial
report and options provided by
administration, and d, that a
copy of this motion be shared with the
with the federation of canadian
municipalities and the
association of municipalities of
ontario to formally request
their support to work with the
federal and provincial
governments and municipalities
to establish a coordinated
regulatory framework that takes
into account environmental,
human and community health
safeguards and clearly outlines
public
public disclosure requirements
as it relates to ai industry
growth and development.
>> looking for a seconder
councillor rogers.
any discussion on the motion?
councillor bailey?
>> sorry did you want to speak
to your motion first?
>> I'm sorry, please go ahead.
>> thank you.
I just wanted to make note that
I
I recognize this as a first step
that
that we know each municipality
is going to
is going to have to implement
its own policies, and the
initial piece of I guess motion
that I put forward to
administration for some
assistance did have heavier
language, it did include
specifically moratorium, and I
understand at the county level it
it may not be the appropriate
step.
local municipality has pending
application probably a
moratorium is in order, certainly what I
certainly what I would do at
kingsville's counsel table if it
came forward.
in addition, the term control
bylaw requires a study period
course of doing a study is in essence
essence kind of the same thing,
especially when we don't have a
pending
pending application.
first step, figuring out what it
is
is that we are trying to
control. There
there is so many different
layers to it.
and I think that we are in a
fortunate position that even
though there hasn't been a lot
of
of regulation at the provincial
and federal level, it is at the
end of the day the
municipalities that are going to
have to live with whatever the
conditions and nuisances and
enforcement and so on that is a
result of this new thing coming
to our communities, and I will
tell you
tell you when the regulation
comes from the top down, usually
we have no say and we have no choice
choice but to deal and we are in
a reactive situation and I think
this motion allows us to get
ahead of this and be proactive,
put
put it in step before it is enforced
enforced upon us.
I hope -- -- I'm certainly open
to
to amendments if it gets to our
end goal.
I also have a motion out of my
local council about the hydro
increases here I asked for word
what their data is based on, we
are not preparing for any huge
growth
growth in any one industry, the
I.c.e. May want to share why it
is they have seen this giant
growth, at the local and county
level.
specifically this motion says we
want to look at where the use is
permitted, then that seems
different depending on where you
live.
I think amherstburg has it as a
list of views.
kingsville doesn't, then
hamilton won't under light
industrial.
when you cannot clearly define things
things you don't necessarily know
know where they will put them
and I think that's part of what
this work has to do, help define
all the parameters that we can
put in controls
put in controls that are
defendable if we are challenged
.
that's at.
I may have more comments at the
end, thank you so much.
>> great, put up your hand and we
we will go from there, how is
that?
start with you councillor bailey
 bailey.
>> recognize that we have been
down this path with battery storage
storage cut green housing, wind
turbine, hydro lines and all
those things, especially in
particular the municipalities
that have a large agricultural
footprint.
I am wondering if you would
consider friendly amendment,
that just adds on that nothing
in this resolution shall be
interpreted as encouraging or
facilitating the development of
ai data centres of essex county
recognizing you did hide some bolder
bolder language that was styled
by, I recognize we do have to
study it.
I am concerned, I have several
amendments in a summarized down
to
to this one because I still
remain concerned that our focus
should really be about making sure
sure that the resolution we have
tonight isn't interpreted in that way
that way and I think having that
language would be helpful.
friendly amendment for your
consideration. >>
>> happy to accept the friendly
amendment.
>> can you repeat what you
proposed?
>> I can, thank you.
part e, confirming that nothing
in this resolution shall be
interpreted as endorsing,
encouraging, or facilitating the
development of ai data centres
within essex county.
thank you to the mover.
>> it'll be a moment until we get
get it on the screen.
councillor deyong and councillor
bailey can you review the
language in the revised motion
?
there is a typo, ignore that for
now.
>> some grammar and spelling
inside, it is fine by me.
fine by the secondary as
well?
okay. I
I got a number of people that still
still would like to speak to the
motion, and I will come to you
deputy warden next. >>
>> thank you I would like to
also propose a friendly
amendment, if we can add a -- I
know
know talks about consulting with
indigenous.
if we can ask for input or
consult with the windsor
essex county health unit, along
with
with the new conservation board
authority board that is in our
area.
so if there's any input or
consultation from that board that would
that would be part of the motion
as well.
>> councillor deyong?
>> I'm looking for some clarity,
is that part of the study rather
than this prereport?
do we want to consult with them
for
for the report that will come to
do
do the study, or consult with them
them as part of the study?
>> through you warden, for
clarification from the mover, I
believe the intent of this motion
motion as it is written is to engage
engage administration at the
county to create a report
advising council on what the
components of said study might
be, and the logistics of
completing said study.
at that instance, all of those
types of things can be included
in that report to council which
will be forthcoming at an
upcoming meeting.
I don't think it's necessary to
include those parameters into
this motion as it is now.
if it's coming back to council
for that consideration. >>
>> that is what I thought, I don't want
don't want to get into defining
what every single thing in the
study is going to be.
I think we will have that
discussion when the report
comes, did you want to do this
or this to make sure the study
parameters are inclusive of all
of
of that? >>
>> that's fine, thank you for the
the clarification that we will
come back
come back and make sure if we need
need to include at that point.
I am fine with the way it is
written now.
thank you.
>> councillor gibb next? >>
>> thank you madam warden.
I don't have any amendments to
offer, this would be quicker.
I just wanted to thank councillor
councillor deyong for bringing
this forward.
it is obvious from the emails
and the messages that we
received that this is an
important concern for residents
of
of essex county.
and I think it is very
appropriate for us to deal with
this at the county level.
from my back porch, I can see
the lights from the greenhouses
in leamington.
the electricity that comes to
amherstburg flows through
lasalle.
using industrial land for
something that won't bring us
good paying jobs affects every
single resident of this county.
I am glad that the county -- I
am hopeful that county council
will move forward with this.
and I think it is important that
we are prepared.
I was just reading, the federal
government is looking to invest
$925 million
$925 million in sovereign ai
compute strategy.
so this is coming, this is coming
coming from other levels of
government, I think it is important
important we are prepared as possible
possible to make sure that if we
cannot ban this calculus we are
prepared to fight back.
I will be supporting this.
I think it was very well
presented.
I want to thank the presenter
for having a concise and very well thought out
well thought out presentation.
this is appropriately dealt with
at
at the county, rather than
having seven individual
municipalities try and create seven
seven different programmes, we
should do the heavy lifting
here.
thank you. >>
>> thank you.
next up, councillor prue?
>> thank you so much, what has
been said about loading this up
too much
too much but I do want to remind
council and staff, when you are
sitting
sitting down to determine what
you are going to study, this is
a
a multi-jurisdictional issue.
it goes far beyond the county it
goes far beyond the local
municipalities.
in fact most of the stuff, water
is
is both a federal and provincial
jurisdiction.
electricity is 100% provincial
jurisdiction.
they are the ones that determine
the
the I.c.e. And provincial
government, what electricity
services come into -- iso -- as
pitiful
pitiful as they sometimes may
be.
the farmland issue, people
talked about not using
farmland.
I thought we were already forbidden
forbidden pretty much from using
farmland.
I know if you go to the
committee of adjustment and each
one of the
one of the municipalities,
somebody wants to use farmland
for
for something else, hardly ever
happens.
because restrictions are so
severe.
I do want to remind the staff when
when they are preparing this that this
that this is a worldwide
phenomenon.
it is not just coming to
essex county.
it is not just coming to ontario
or to canada.
the two leading countries in the
world
world that are pushing this are
the united states and china,
both of whom are way, way, way
along the road, looking I do not
know what for other than world
dominance.
that is where they are heading.
and canada will have to make
that choice, whether or not we
want to go down this route and
if they do, it will be very difficult.
I want to be blunt, if canada
decides they want to go down
this route, or if ontario decides they
decides they want to go down
this route, they can, as the
presenter saidthe jurisdiction
is, there.
so I want to make sure when staff
staff prepares this, that they
look at
look at multi-jurisdictional
arguments and where the county
fits in with all of this.
I know we have a role, but I
want to make sure it is clear
what our role is, vis a vis other
other levels of government.
>> councillor bondy next. >>
>> thank you warden mcdonald.
of course I will be supporting
the motion and I want to thank
all of the members of the public
for being engaged and sending us
a
a lot of emails.
I'm wondering if we can ask our
manager if planning a question
-- I. Would like to know her
thoughts on the motion and if
there is anything else we should
put into it.
and I'm also wondering, my
understanding is zoning
governance a lot where data
centres go.
so I'm worried that while this
study is taking place, that at
the local level, we could be
exposed due to lack of zoning.
that prohibits data centres.
so I'm wondering if there is
something that should all of the
locals start doing in terms of
controlled bylaws while this study
study is taking place.
that is my question, I think our
manager will
manager will be the one to
answer it. >> I
>> I do have her coming later
on, like right after when we do the
the town of amherstburg. That
that is the time to do it.
if we can just concentrate on this
this motion if you don't mind.
good point, definitely that was
my objective. >>
>> thank you. >>
>> thank you.
councillor shepley?
>> thank you madam warden.
deputy mayor de jong, thank you
for
for bringing that forward, it
was well written.
I appreciate the -- conversation
so I hope you can educate me as
well
well as the information
provided.
.. Just looking into them a little
bit that I did, I found one --
it'll probably not do the town
justice, it's in michigan.
there's a centre there that just
screams
screams -- streams 24 hours a
day seven days a week.
I found one after another like
that.
it really changed how I viewed
this topic altogether.
so I will be supporting, I want
to
to know what tools we already
have.
what gaps there may be.
and I would rather spend a
little more time getting this
right than rushing into it and
getting it wrong.
so I think this is the right way
to
to go, thank you for that.
>> thank you.
councillor?
>> thank you warden.
I think the last few speakers actually
actually had all of my questions.
but I will run through it really
quickly that maybe someone can
take notes and follow up
afterwards.
I appreciate the notice of
motion. I
I think it's something we
absolutely need to discuss, I
think it is absolutely a hot topic
topic across north america.
and it wouldn't be right if we
didn't do
didn't do our due diligence.
so my question for
administration, if they want to
record
record it I won't ask it later,
it really is around our authority.
can administration clarify today
what authority essex county
actually has regarding ai data
centres?
specifically what decisions fall
within the county jurisdiction,
what
what responsibilities belong to
local
local municipalities and what
authority rests with the
province.
as our delegate did mention, each
each municipality does have
different bylaws and official plants.
so can a blanket planning bylaw
even be applied?
if the county's role is limited,
then I assume the initial report
will
will focus on jurisdiction and
legal authority before council
determines whether broader
studies should proceed. I
I think that is kind of where --
I'm
I'm trying to understand tonight
what authority we actually have
in this room.
and if we don't have that
authority, then it is on each of us
us to take it back to our
locals.
I know we still have our
meetings in communication with
our lower tier and upper, but I
really just want to understand
what
what we can actually do here and
I don't
I don't want to waste time and
money
money doing a study, only to
find out that we can't -- all of the
the items they told us to put in
place, we can't actually do.
that is my only fear, wasting
time and money when maybe our
focus should be lower. That
that is my question when that
comes forward.
>> through you warden, I will
speak briefly to it.
our manager of planning and I
have had conversations already
in
in anticipation of the
discussion tonight.
and trying to prepare something
for the
for the next meeting of council.
and so to your point exactly, the
the preamble of that report will
talk about jurisdictional lanes
and
and who has what, in order to
get to a clear scope of work for
a
a potential study.
we have already thought of that
and stay tuned.
>> councillor rogers?
>> thank you madam warden.
may be a small note through you,
since this got a notice of
motion out there, there have
been a few calls from a few different
different industries just over
the concern over data centres.
again, this is about the large
ai data centres where I've had
some
some industries reach out,
again, putting information out
there
there with people not really
understanding what this is
about.
so I have an industry that has
data centres on their footprint
and industrial parks, may be
some are a room, maybe some are
the size of this room.
and they have a concern about
regulations moving forward.
so again, as we move forward and
go down this road, I think clear
communication as far as what we
are actually looking to target
and then clearing maybe some of that
that misinformation out there
with our preexisting industries
that exist, that have this type
of
of technology within their
footprints. That
that they are not on the radar,
as
as long as they are not that big.
I think that is just an important
important piece as we move
forward -- as we move forward,
thank you.
>> good point.
anyone else?
councillor?
>> thank you madam warden and
through you.
one of the important things
about living where we live --
and I will give some shout outs
to some of the counties, your
wineries. We
we have a long weekend and I
brought home a retired copper from sterling
from sterling heights and we
went to these wineries and got
to talking about this because he
googled me to make fun of me.
this is what comes up when I
came up.
so this is sort of out to our
colleagues and administration.
there is about 100
municipalities around us in the
detroit area.
sterling heights is one of the
municipalities that has stopped
data centres.
and sterling heights is one of these
these municipalities where we look at
look at the city of windsor, there's
there's lots of industrial
space, where there's lots of big
buildings that are unoccupied.
and what happened in sterling heights
heights is like this.
they looked at the research from
atlantic, and I would hope we research
research across the board.
not that the rules be the same,
but
but that the impact be the same.
the 85-decibel generators, the
diesel
diesel generators to run 50 hours.
all of those types of things
that are not relevant
legislatively, the building is
the
the same, the heat is the same,
the water is the same and what
these other municipalities did
their research for, in the army
as an army guy, we called it
r&d. If
if you can make a phone call to
say sterling heights or some of
these other places that have
built the same thing, I'm hoping
they would share the packages.
this package can be shared with
them as well, again, I would
give up youtube if we could keep
the
the water in the great lakes.
it is very simple for me.
there are certain things that I
want, there are certain things
I
want for my children.
very simple.
I don't need more gifs of cats.
if
if this is going to say that we
can still go to the wineries in
our
our communities and still drink
the wine and play in the water
and not have to worry about this
stuff, let's get it done. But
but as my friend over here said,
let's do it right, let's do it
in a manner that we represent our
our municipalities.
like I said, I'm just asking that we
that we reach out to the u.s.
municipalities in the greater
detroit area that have put
moratoriums on data centres,
while I understand that the
legislation will not be the
same, the economic and
environmental impact studies
would be identical, thank you
madam warden. >>
>> anyone else?
I'm just going to add a few
things if you don't mind.
I am 100% in support of this.
I think it is good to be
proactive, rather than reactive.
that has always been my method
of
of operation.
but I do want to say something,
and it came up when councillor
prue mentioned the greatest data
countries
countries are china and the u.s.
and that makes me think I don't
want to rely on data that is
controlled by the united states
, by
by the country of china.
I think we were realistically,
at some point in time, somewhere
in canada, have more than one of
these data centres.
I don't want them here, I can
tell you that.
but I think that realistically,
we
we have to realize that if we want
want to be independent from
those countries, that they don't
have influence over our data and
our
our information at some point in
time.
somewhere, somehow, in this
country, someone will have to
support a data center.
I am more afraid of that than I
am of the other things.
again, I don't want them here,
I
don't want them in the province
of
of ontario, unless it's really
far north where no people live.
but I think that realistically,
we
we have to realize that if we want
want to be independent,
sovereignly independent,
somewhere, somehow, there will
be.
and ai data center within the
borders of this country.
and we will probably, at some point in
point in time, want that
independence.
again, just putting that realistic
realistic angle on it.
I am in support of it, I don't
want them in my municipality, I don't
don't want them in our region.
but just a cautionary note that
at some point in time, someone,
somewhere
somewhere will be dealing with
this.
so -- gary, sorry.
councillor mcnamara, please go
ahead.
>> thank you very much.
warden, you pretty much summed
up
up what I was going to say at
this stage.
I do support, obviously the
motion, it is a good point to be
cautious and so to have some
uniformity in terms of all of the
the communities and so forth.
but in the same token, the
information, if we are prepared
to make sure that anything that
goes
goes into the cloud and so forth
is
is supported by china or the
united states, then that is going
going to be an issue for us to
deal with in the future.
I firmly believe that a lot of
the industry itself within it has
has not done a really good job
in really putting proper
perspective into it.
and I do believe that there has
to be safeguards in how we do things
things and to make sure that we
protect our water and we
certainly protect our quality of
life, people that are going to
be last to live in proximity to
these areas and so forth.
I think it is a good thing to
take two steps back, slow down,
get the information so that we
can make an informed decision including
including where and when and how
these data centres are to be
built or utilized, wherever.
I think it is a good point.
I want to commend the deputy mayor
mayor for bringing this motion
forward and so forth.
because we need to really be
assured of what is going to transpire
transpire is going to serve us in
in the right way.
thank you madam warden. >>
>> thank you councillor.
okay then, we won't have you read
read the motion again and with
that, I will call the question
and ask you to vote
electronically please.
councillor mcnamara, by show of
of hands, all in favour?
thank you.
I will note your vote.
and that is carried unanimously,
thank you very much.
[applause]
so next up, we have the town of
amherstburg, they sent a request
regarding planning studies for
artificial intelligence data
centres. So
so would a member of amherstburg
like to comment, looking to you,
councillor
councillor prue. >>
>> thank you so much.
this came up on the fly, if I
can put it that way, at our last
council meeting.
the councillor who occasionally
sits around this table, came up
with two motions.
one was for us to do the study
ourselves and the other motion
was to put it to the county council
council because she was aware of
councillor de jong's notice of
motion.
and the council assisted her in
determining that the best option
was to send it to the county.
in so doing, there was not a lot
of
of research done and it became
apparent after we had sent it
that the county does not have
the authority to do a moratorium
 moratorium.
so all I can suggest is that following
following whatever sage advice
we are going to get from the
planner, that we receive it. >>
>> thank you councillor.
so with that, rebecca, this is
your
your introduction.
if you don't mind speaking to the
the restrictions, the limits,
give us some advice on this very
volatile issue, controversial,
maybe not volatile but certainly
of interest
of interest to so many people
and we would like to deal with
it
it in a proactive manner before
it
it is on our doorstep.
>> thank you warden.
can you hear me okay?
so on the question of putting a
moratorium, the methods to do
that do not rest with the
county.
that is not within our
jurisdiction.
if the local municipalities see
fit, the method under section 38 of
of the planning act would mean
interim control bylaw and that would
would have to be considered, at
the local level.
the purpose of, as councillor
de jong said, is to study
something.
so you're putting in place an
interim control bylaw for one
year, for purposes of studying
a
purpose.
it could then be extended for an
additional year, but there are
expectations of outcomes.
and that was discussed this
evening.
so to the amherstburg
resolution, the county could
definitely take on project
management of the study.
this is quite common that we do
things like this, we do this with the
with the agricultural lot study
several years ago in 2015.
with outcomes delivered for each
local
local municipality to put in
place.
we have done this for land based
wind turbines.
it resulted in a county official
plan amendment, in this case the
project
project management of the study
would
would result in potentially a
county official plan amendment,
local official planned
amendments, zoning, new
categorization with data
centres, it could be new
definitions in the zoning bylaw,
site plan control considerations
as well as councillor prue
brought up, a large part of this
involves other jurisdictions.
the federal government and the
provincial government.
so another piece of this could
be
be understanding advocacy and
needs up to the provincial and
federal
federal government and outcomes
that we learn as part of this
study.
as well, I'm aware that this has
already been addressed in
hamilton, they are currently
studying it.
so I think we could learn a lot
to what is already taking place
in hamilton.
we will be keeping an eye on
that.
I intend to contact hamilton
planning department and learn
from what they are already doing
 doing.
that is all I have, unless there
is
is any other questions. >> I
>> I think we had some questions
from councillor bondi.
councillor, did you want to pose
those again?
>> thank you warden macdonald.
I believe the question was
answered, saying that the bylaw
needs
needs to come at the local
level, which I have to talk to
at
at the director at the local level.
I think one of the issues is
it's not something that is
defined yet.
is that true?
or what advice would you provide
to local municipalities that want to
want to do an interim control
bylaw until the county study is
done. >> to
>> to you warden, particularly
the advice is first of all, we
need a commitment that we are
going to undertake a study.
so we need to wait and confirm,
although
although this is coming out this
evening.
so we need confirmation
following the report back from
county
county administration and the direction
direction that we are going to
see with the study.
to your question as well, I did
write
write it down, you asked if you
were exposed.
we have taken a preliminary skin
of
of your zoning bylaws, which
of course permits the land use
of a data center and we can
confirm as well, a data center
is defined in the lakeshore
bylaws in limited zones.
and it's brought to
interpretation because it is not
yet defined. So
so it could be a permitted use,
because
because there is unclear
definitions.
so is there an exposure
presently, yes there is.
but should county council direct
this work.
and we can address the external
consulting support to undertake
this work.
to assist county planning with
expertise and planning policy,
electrical and environmental
engineering potentially.
>> further? >>
>> just to follow up, perhaps to
wear a cao.
right now county council has approved
approved direction to
administration to come back with
information on a study. What
what is our timeline, how far will
will we be exposed?
because some of us can plan motions
motions at our locals to tee up to
to when that report is coming up.
so that we are exposing the least
least amount of time.
>> through you warden, as I
mentioned earlier,
administratively, when we
learned of the notice of motion
that was
that was going to be debated
this evening, the wheels on the
administrative side started to
turn already
turn already and we were working
on that draft report.
so rebecca and I have a goal of the
the september second meeting to
get that preliminary document to
you.
if, for some reason, our
timeline doesn't hold to the
september second, I will let
council know by email.
but our goal at this point,
based on the work already
underway, is to get a report to
county
county council for the
september second meeting.
so our next meeting with council
 council.
>> anyone else?
sorry councillor deyong. >>
>> sorry warden.
I'm just hoping maybe you can
clarify, rebecca, are the local
municipalities able to rely on
the county's study as part of
their interim control bylaw that
is allowed?
>> yes, that would be
considered.
we are studying it jointly.
I have already sent an email to
all of the municipal planners,
told
told them we are looking at
their zoning bylaws.
I advise them of the notice of
motion this evening and that
they would potentially be
invited to participate as part
of a
of a technical planning advisory
committee.
>> maybe then as part of this
report, we can include that step
for local municipalities that this
this is an option that they can
put
put an interim control bylaw
using the county's study on the
issue as their required study of
the topic.
thank you.
>> duly noted, okay, thank you.
anyone else?
then I'm going to suggest that
perhaps the resolution should be
--
-- or the resolution or
recommendation that the town of
amherstburg regarding ai
dentistas be received and filed.
moved by councillor gibb and
seconded by councillor prue.
any further discussion?
then I will ask you to vote
electronically please.
that is a thumbs up, councillor
mcnamara, thank you.
and that is carried unanimously.
so thank you all.
mr. Ray, councillor deyong and
our planner.
[applause]
thank you everyone, thank you
for attending.
and now, council will resume the
regular order of business with
item ten.
item ten is communications.
there are 12 pieces of correspondence
correspondence listed on the
agenda this evening.
one of which council has already
received.
are there any other items that
council would
council would like to discuss?
councillor bondi?
>> thank you warden macdonald.
I understand that we were
invited to the shovel
groundbreaking of the hospital and
and that has been something we
have been following, trying to
invite the hospital committee
here, which maybe doesn't need
to happen any time soon, since
we put the shovel in the ground.
but I think one thing that our
local
local taxpayers are going to
want to know is whether our
commitment is changing from 100 million to
100 million to more or less.
one of the local mpps, mr. Dowey
did
did tell me that of course it is
going
going to be more.
but I don't know if other counties paying
counties paying for their
hospital, I'm not sure if we
will be paying for more, but I
think it's something we need to
have
have in writing that we are not
going
going to pay more.
and I went back and found the old resolution
old resolution saying we are not
paying more. But
but now that the hospital is
being built and our mpp did say
that
that we are paying more, I think
that is concerning and just
wondering if our cao has any
advice on that and if we could
reach
reach out and confirm that we
are not paying more.
>> through you warden.
we have not received any formal
communication from windsor
regional hospital asking
the county of essex for more
money.
and to your point councillor
bondi, a great, groundbreaking
ceremony to shed a positive
light on a long awaited project.
and I will continue to be in
conversation with kristen kennedy
kennedy on any information
relating to the cost.
>> thank you.
so then, there is a
recommendation that the items of correspondence
correspondence listed be received
received and any action
approved.
looking for a mover and a
seconder.
councillor deyong, councillor
gibb.
all in favour by show of hands?
that is carried, thank you.
the resolution listed under item
ten
ten .2.1 was addressed in fact
we will move
we will move on to ten .2.2, which
which is a resolution from the
town of essex dated july 23rd,
2026, regarding lack of access
to municipal recycling diversion
data.
would a member of essex like to
speak to it?
councillor bondi?
>> thank you warden macdonald.
I would like to ask my county
colleagues that we support this
and send this on to circular
materials and send it on to the
solid waste authority as well.
this is what I alluded to at the
last
last meeting, something we did
in essex when we get the reports,
reports, we read the reports and
right now circular materials has
been wishy washy on whether they
are going to give us annual
reports on diversion.
it will be hard to report apples
to oranges or apples to apples
going
going forward on diversion and
I
believe the solid waste authority
authority has a delegation. So
so this is something, if we support
support it they can perhaps use
it to beef up their delegation
.
they don't have one, do they? >>
>> did they get denied? >>
>> through you warden, yes, we
received
received word that the delegation
delegation on that topic was
denied by the province.
>> okay, well -- that is
surprising, sorry.
I would still like to see if
council will support sending
this letter to circular materials
materials since we are the host
municipality here in the county
of
of essex of the landfill, we
would like to know what is going
on.
>> we will just wait until the
resolution is updated, then I will
will read it.
the resolution is that the -- the
the recommendation is the resolution
resolution from the town of
essex, regarding municipal
recycling diversion data be received
received and that council direct
administration to send a letter
in
in support of the town of essex.
and you are good with that
motion then, councillor bondi?
seconded by deputy warden.
perfect.
any comments or questions?
>> madam warden. >>
>> yes, councillor --
mcnamara?
>> I would also suggest that we
also see see that to amo.
for comment.
because it is not only our
authority, but there is others
across the province that have been
been asking for the same request
and
and it was unfortunate that last
week the government turned us
down on the delegation.
>> duly noted, that is good with the
the mover and the seconder?
perfect.
speaking to that, deputy warden?
>> if
>> if we can add a friendly
amendment to send the
correspondence to the minister
of the
of the environment, todd
mccarthy so that they are
aware of this issue and have
them advocate for us for our
region.
>> more duly noted.
that this okay then?
then I will ask you to vote
electronically, please.
I see all of those thumbs up,
thank you counsellor.
and that is carried, thank you
very much.
then we have the consent agenda,
four
four items are listed on it.
a summary of outstanding matters
report for august fifth, 2026,
quarter 22026 quarterly
procurement summary,
implementation by ontario public
procurement requirements and county
county encampment update.
any questions for administration
on
on the items listed on consent?
counsellor gib?
>> thank you madam warden.
for item 11.3, the
implementation of the buy
ontario policy, I'm a little
unclear.
so from the way I read the
report, we are going to give
preferential treatment to a
supplier that has a higher buy
ontario based percentage of
service or product.
does that mean that the county
could, in essence, spend $250,000 more
$250,000 more for a service or
a product
product for a negligible
difference in the buy ontario
percentage?
if it is $200,000 more, but it
only brings the ontario
percentage from 75 to 76%, that
doesn't seem -- it seems a bit
counterintuitive to me.
I would like a little more
information on that, if you
could.
>> melissa?
>> through you warden, that can
be the case.
there is a cap of 25%.
so we have to follow the rules.
but if it is over 25% higher, then
then we have discretion there
where we wouldn't have to go with
with the highest -- whoever is
meeting the content criteria.
but it does give them -- it
won't always be the lowest cost
moving forward with this.
>> so just as a follow up, we
could be spending more for a
negligible difference -- or what
I
I would consider a negligible
difference in the ontario
content of a contract.
is this set in stone?
is this something that the
province has said "we shall do
this?"
or is this something where
council can take it on a case-by-case
case-by-case basis and say the
added cost is not justified by
the increase in ontario content?
>> through you warden, it is
legislation, we do have to
follow it.
however, we are tracking if any
of
of this really affects us and we
would come back to council with
those higher dollar value ones.
I believe our manager of
procurement is here today, but
I
believe we have only had two or
three go
three go out so far and we
haven't had that scenario where
we are paying more for
something. But it
but it is a possibility for the
future, we will be tracking
these to make sure we are at least
least having an eye on how much
this is
this is going to be moving
forward, for budgets moving
forward in the future because it
is legislation
is legislation and we do have to
follow it. >>
>> just one more, I'm sorry.
just because locally, we have
had something happen with this.
will all of the bidders follow
the same pattern?
or will some take something into
account
account that another one might
have missed?
is that something that the
administration is going to look
at?
because there could be a
situation where the county
includes a contingency of
$200,000.01 contractor thinks
well that qualifies for the buy ontario
ontario where another one
doesn't include that. Are
are we going to be sure that
when we get these, they have been
been standardized and we have
checked the math, so to speak?
>> through you warden, so they
do have to attest to the
information that they are
providing us with.
there is nothing in the
legislation that requires us to
audit them.
but they are attesting to if
they are going to use -- we like
these widgets, if they are going
to use widgets and their
construction and it is ontario
or canadian, that we are assuming
assuming that they are attesting
that is true.
there is nothing more that we
would follow up, that is all.
>> councillor prue?
>> on exactly the same item, what
what we have on our monday
council meeting coming up is $165,000 and
$165,000 and I can't find any
difference.
if there is, it is so minuscule that
that it is beyond belief.
what that equates to is $7 for
every man, woman, and child in
amherstburg having to pay that
extra money.
and the province doesn't want to
reimburse us, they don't want to
give us a single penny.
so it means that every taxpayer
is
is going to pay $7 more than the
lowest
lowest bid to satisfy what, I
don't know.
and I don't think this
legislation is very well thought
out.
maybe the county and maybe
monday, when we get to this in
our own council meeting, we should
should send a pretty strong
message off to the province that
this runs contrary to everything
that
that municipalities have been
doing for 20 years.
looking for the lowest bidder,
looking for the best value and
going with that.
because to just leave it out there,
there, if we just leave this
alone, it is going to cost the
county, all of our seven
constituents and municipalities
and all 444 municipalities and
ontario
ontario sooner or later, are
going to be bitten by this and
get no value for a piece of
legislation that doesn't work.
so I don't know whether to make
that motion, I guess I would
have to make a notice of motion
later today.
maybe I will float it at
amherstburg first and then come
back to you, because I don't think
think we can let this stand.
I honestly think that this is
really wrong.
because for 50 years or so, the
province of ontario has told us we
we have to do the lowest bid.
they also told us that we could
not
not differentiate between
canadian and u.s. Buyers.
if we had, especially when you
live
live near the border, you couldn't
couldn't differentiate between
the two.
and that we had to take all bids
on their face.
and all of a sudden we have a
diametrical 180-degree turn for
no perceived value to us.
>> madam cao?
>> thank you warden.
to your comments councillor
prue, I think you are right in
that
that back I believe it was
around 2017, maybe slightly earlier
earlier than that, you will all
recall the cft a..
the requirement to recognize the
global economy.
and our inability to
discriminate against global players
players and you are seeing a
reverse of that and a look
towards ontario specifically.
what I would recommend, and as
director ryan has indicated, what
what we are doing here at the
county is statistically tracking
the
the impacts of this legislation
on our budget.
the recommendation is that each
of
of your locals do the same.
and that we use that data to
inform our advocacy at the
provincial levels.
I know certainly melissa meets
with your prospective treasurers
on a basis and this has been a
topic of conversation.
I know there has also been
discussion around standardizing
the
the approach to the legislation.
so definitely recommending this
evening that each of the locals
track the same way that the county
county is, the data associated
with
with implementing this
legislation so that we do have
information armed to take that
forward
forward and add it to our advocacy
advocacy campaign at the county
level.
as well as with each of you at
the local level.
>> councillor shapley?
>> thank you and through you
madam warden.
deputy mayor and mayor prue --
and
and I've talked to a bunch of
developers and guys that build,
and it seems that there's a lot
of
of discrepancy with how we are
accepting these proposals that
are
are coming in.
and I guess what I'm wondering
is in the event that one of them
is in and someone attests to it,
is
is there a mechanism for someone
to challenge that, that is also
bidding to guarantee that they
are
are leading that level of
ontario and then -- and if they
were
were attesting to something that
maybe this person left out
because they don't feel it was
or whatever, I just think it is
very -- it seems very messy to
me.
>> through you warden, they do
have to attest to it.
the approach that the county is
taking
taking right now is not to
question anything.
however, just like any rfp or
rfp that goes out, if there is
something
something controversial that we will
will look into, we will
definitely look into that at
that time, if that came about.
but that as of right now, we are
not
not dedicating any resources to
do more than they have attested
to it, we are believing what
they are attesting to and that is
is how we are moving forward.
but we can definitely look into
something if someone thought
something wasn't true.
>> anything you would like to
add to that?
>> through you warden, there are
mechanisms within the
procurement policy and our
procedures for proponents to
object.
there are mechanisms to that if
someone did want to challenge how the
how the decision was made.
there is a process and a policy
for that.
>> no further questions then?
there is a recommendation that
the
the administrative reports
listed as items 11.1 through 11.4
11.4 listed on the consent
agenda for august fifth, 2026,
be received as information. Looking
looking for a mover and a
seconder.
any discussion?
I will ask you to vote
electronically please.
and that is a thumbs up for you,
councillor?
and that is carried, thank you.
on to reports and questions, the
first report
first report is the strategic plan
plan governance road map and the
decision framework, over to you,
madam cao.
>> thank you warden, through you
to county council.
so this is a follow up report to
work
work that county council
undertook earlier this year with
the help of strategycorp.
and as you recall, we met to look at
look at where we were tracking
on our strategic plan and build
a road map
a road map to take us into the
next term of council.
so attached to my report this evening
evening is that road map, as
summarized by strategycorp.
I won't go into great detail, but
but essentially that road map celebrated
celebrated what we did achieve,
recognized the challenges that
we faced during the last three and a
and a half years, and also
helped us solidify what things
will
will be moving into the next
term of council. One
one of the key discussions we had
had that day, surrounded beefing
up our ability to sequence and
prioritize and filter the things
that come across our table in
terms of opportunities and
challenges.
and also attached to the report
this evening in the second
appendix is strategycorp
decision filter matrix proposal.
and
and this has been vetted by the
senior
senior leadership team and we do
feel that it fully encompasses
the various components of decision
decision making that we do need
to make sure we satisfy before
projects become more squarely on
the plate of administration from
a
a resource perspective.
so you will see in that filter
matrix, seven different
categories that we are making
sure that we detail and ask ourselves
ourselves as we go through.
the first one is does it meet the
the strategic plan in the first
place, step one.
the second is surrounding
regional benefit and the
conversation of does this impact
us at
us at the county level, is it
our lane?
the third is funding.
we can't ignore how things are
paid for.
so making sure we have a thought
for that in the early stages of our
our prioritization is important.
sustainability.
if we undertake something today,
can we make sure we can sustain
it
it responsibly going forward?
capacity.
do we have resources enough to
get this off the ground? Will
will we need more?
is there awareness around what
that looks like, how we would
fund it?
and the trade off decision of if
we have capacity and we use it
for a certain initiative, are we
okay with the opportunity cost
of
of not having that capacity for
something else?
jurisdiction again ties in to
the regional benefit of should
it
it be in our lane, but more importantly
importantly to our other levels
of
of government perhaps,
responsible or looking into it
and
and making sure we are not
duplicating or overlapping our
efforts.
and finally for a timing and
urgency perspective, this is
something that we want to be more
more intentional about in terms
of that
of that sequencing feedback we
got from county council.
what is important today, tomorrow
tomorrow and into the future?
what can we hold off on, what
are things that we need to
prioritize?
and understanding the timing of
things.
what we can achieve with a
certain.
and let's not overpromise and
under-deliver, let's do the
opposite and under-promising and
overdelivering.
that has a timing and urgency component
component consideration to it as
well.
so this evening, for council's
information, we are looking to
have council approve this decision
decision matrix and if it does
approve this evening, we would
be appending it to our formal
strategic plan and posting it publicly
publicly on our website.
and using it and integrating it
the way we have our strategic
plan more broadly into our
administrative decision making,
budget setting and reporting out
to council.
and with that, I would be happy
to
to answer any questions. >>
>> thank you madam cao.
questions?
councillor bailey?
>> thank you warden and through
you, more of a comment.
I'm thrilled to see it, this is
one of
one of those decision tree matrixes
matrixes that I have been
begging for, it aligns really
nicely, very well done.
10 out of 10, 12 out of 10,
can't wait to see it on the
place mat.
I think it is just brilliant
because it creates this
foundational document that helps
us
us make decisions but doesn't align
align with an emotional response
or the other things that kind of
weigh on you.
so it brings evidence, I think,
to decision making and lets us build
build foundational response when
chambers
chambers may be full and maybe
it's
it's not a popular decision, but
we have run it through this funnel
funnel and we recognize that we
have this foundation to support
us
us through difficult decision making.
hats off, hats off, hats off and
thank you.
>> councillor bondi?
>> thank you warden macdonald.
I also really like it, I want to
take it back to my local to help
streamline the work there.
my one question is, does it
allow for some flexibility in
case something comes up?
for example, about a year ago we
probably didn't think we would
be talking about data centres
tonight.
I am glad we are, we are
responding to the residents.
so I love it.
but sometimes things come up and
I still
I still want us to be able to be
responsive.
>> through you warden,
definitely. As
as you saw with data centres, the effort
the effort that we are going to
be doing, it wasn't on our radar
when we set our strategic plan,
but now we have incorporated it.
nothing about this decision
filter would prohibit ideas or
concepts that administration believes
believes should come to this
table.
but it does give a framework to
help
help council and administration
prioritize whether we act or whether
whether we put it on a shelf and
hold.
>> councillor shapley?
>> through you madam warden, I
like it.
I really just had one question and
and I'm sure you've got a great
answer for it and I'm sure you
already know, but when we are
looking at that regional aspect
and if one municipality is
negatively affected by that same
information will come to us, so while
while we were making that regional
regional decision, we also realized
realized the burden that we could
could possibly be placing on any
individual municipality. >>
>> through you warden, yes.
and it is important that all
reports from administration are
balanced.
that we give you the information
you need to hear, not the information
information we think you want to
hear.
so that is our commitment and giving you
giving you the full picture.
when we talk about a regional benefit
benefit and one of the guiding
principles as well is that on the
the whole, we are looking to
benefit the municipality, that
may result in some things
benefiting a local more or less.
and again, the transparency around
around what that looks like needs
needs to be presented publicly
and to council.
it doesn't mean everyone will
have equal benefit, but a
commitment from this
administration that you will get
the full, unadulterated picture
of
of what an issue will impact the
region.
>> anyone else?
in that case, there is a
recommendation that council
received the report as
information and that council
approved the decision filter
framework.
moved by councillor deyong and
seconded.
any further discussion?
seeing none, then I will ask you
to vote electronically please.
and that is a thumbs up from
you, councillor?
thank you. And
and that is carried.
thank you.
next up, we have the interim
treasurer services, again, over
to
to you, madam cao.
>> thank you warden, through you
to county council.
a colleague of mine, sonya
pritchard who was the cao for a
different county as retired.
historically, a different county has
has been the municipality,
recently to offer the financial
back of house services for the
western ontario caucus.
it has come to be known to me,
that I believe I am now the only
cao
cao who also has a cpa as an
accountant.
so I got a tap on the shoulder,
would I be interested in
temporarily taking on sonya's role
role while they determine a more
permanent solution.
so recognizing that that is a workload
workload commitment and I
believe the report indicates the
time, it is not huge, but there
is some associated with taking
on
on the financial records for the
caucus, it would involve
processing some nominal
transactions and maybe obtaining
the records, monitoring revenues
and
and expenditures, preparing financial
financial information for the
board as required, coordinating
with auditors and financial
institutions and providing
general financial administrative
report, all of which I am quite
familiar with.
and so looking to try to help
the western ontario wardens
caucus in that way in that
scenario, wowc would like that
to be more permanent, that could
also be something I would bring
back
back to this group.
and I believe that because of
the nominal nature of the work,
that is something that I can have
have conversations with the executive
executive director on.
in the county, when we get into
service
service arrangements, would like
to document them and have them
codified in agreement so that
all parties are clear.
so while we are not recommending
that at this stage, if this was
something
something that would become more
permanent, I would be bringing
that back to council with likely
a
a recommendation that it be
formalized in an agreement to
protect both parties.
and we ask that you support the
interim position and if there are
are any questions, I would be
happy to answer them.
>> questions?
councillor deyong? >>
>> what does that mean temporary?
six months, two years?
just curious what the timeline
is. >>
>> through you warden, that is
a
good question.
I'm guessing this will go to the
next
next caucus meeting, which I
believe is friday.
so I hope to have more
information after that.
>> anyone else?
in that case there is a
recommendation that council
received the report as information
information and that council
authorizes the cao to provide
interim treasurer services to
the western ontario wardens
caucus until such time as wowc
appoints a permanent treasurer.
moved and seconded.
any other discussion?
seeing none, I will ask you to
vote
vote electronically please.
and councillor mcnamara is in
favour.
and that is carried, thank you
.
next we have the information
technology services of the 2025 annual
annual departmental update. Turning
turning it over to daryl, our
director of information
technology services.
daryl?
>> thank you.
and through you warden, to
county council, I would like to
walk you through the it
department's 2025 annual report.
where technology stands, what we
have
have accomplished in 2025, and
to
to give a glimpse into where we
are headed next.
first, I want to acknowledge the
work of the it team in 2025.
I am incredibly proud of what this
this team has been able to
accomplish in their dedication
to
to the work of the county.
2025 was a big year on the
security front.
at the beginning of the year we
implemented our detection and response
response service in partnership
with tell
with tell us and field effect.
almost immediately, it allowed
our
our team to flag high priority
threats roughly every ten days
and monitor approximately 430
devices around the clock.
additionally, through our
programme, the it team delivered
mandatory
mandatory cybersecurity awareness
awareness campaigns to county
staff with full compliance on
all training requirements.
on the service side, our team
supported more than 1100 users,
over 800 devices and 17
locations, resolving more than
6400
6400 requests in 2025, most
within eight business hours.
he also modernized how the
county works.
the microsoft 365 rollout
including 5.6 million emails and
files to the file.
including -- improving security,
enabling
enabling synchronous
collaboration and cutting
approximately 144 hours of annual
annual management.
in the fall, it invites a ten week
week competition based project
between
between departments, removed
more than 787000 outdated
records, freeing up over two
terabytes of storage.
and behind the scenes, it kept
21
21 council meetings running,
mostly smoothly.
supported emergency and
community events and
reestablished regular
collaboration with the regional
municipal partners.
I would be remiss not to
acknowledge the technical
difficulties we have experienced
over
over the last few months and I
want you to know we are working
towards long term solutions for
our 2027 budget.
looking ahead, our biggest challenge
challenge isn't a single threat,
it is pace and scope.
artificial intelligence is moving
moving faster than governance
can keep up, and only about a third of
third of our workforce currently
received cybersecurity awareness
training.
we are planning to address these
gaps in the 2027 budget as well.
the information you will find in
the appendix helps summarize the
future vision of the I.t.
organization for the county.
it lays out a path from where it
sits today, centrally setting
security and systems standards
while selection and
administration stays primarily
in each department.
towards a fully centralized
model, one set of standards, one
set of systems and one department
department accountable for
security, performance and
governance end-to-end, allowing
our
our systems to become less de
optimized and more optimized.
all of this was delivered by a
lean team of ten.
finally, thank you to our network
network administrator and our
interim city manager for doing
much of the legwork on this
report.
I thank you for your time and the
the opportunity to share this
with you and I'm happy to take
any questions.
>> thank you daryl.
any questions?
>> I don't really have a question
question but a statement.
I was expecting a really long
presentation, because there was
a
a lot of attachments.
so great presentation, it was very
very informative. Seeing
seeing some of those numbers are
very
very staggering.
you guys really have a hold on
that
that department, congratulations
to you
to you and the team. >> thank you
>> thank you very much.
>> expecting it to be a lot more
boring, you did a great job.
>> I will keep that in mind. >>
>> seriously.
I go back to what councillor meloche
meloche said, really interesting
information.
really, when I thought it came
up before I read it, I thought
this
this is a yawning, but it
wasn't.
this is interesting, thank you
for that.
and kudos to your department. >> thank you
>> thank you very much.
I'm happy to hear it wasn't bad.
[laughs]
>> so with that, anyone else? There
there is a recommendation that
council receive the report as
information.
moved by councillor prue,
seconded by councillor shipley.
any discussion?
I will ask you to vote
electronically please.
thank you for the thumbs up councillor
councillor mcnamara.
next we have the residential
services homes report we have our
our manager of community
services, over to you.
>> good evening warden and
members of county council.
the purpose of my report this
evening is to seek county council
council approval to enter into
a
service agreement with a group
that intends to purchase one of their
their service homes providers.
new beginnings rest home is
located in leamington and is
currently operating as a
residential services home and a
retirement home.
they provide residential care to
a
a total of 45 residents, 36 of
whom are subsidized by the
county.
the home is also registered with
a
a retirement home regulatory
authority, which provides
oversight of the private pay residents
residents that are not supported
and
and subsidized by the county.
in june of 2026 the county was
advised
advised that the current owner
of new
of new beginnings rest home had
accepted a conditional offer
from khanda nand inc., with two of the
of the outstanding conditions
being the rh a. Licensing and
county approval.
the buyer initiated a meeting with
with the county stating its
intent to purchase the property
and
and confirming its desire to continue
continue operating the home as
part of the residential services
homes programme.
the county met with a buyer on
two
two occasions to review the
intentions and long term plan
related to the purchase of the
property.
during these meetings it was
confirmed that there will be no
disruptions to the care provided
to
to the residents that live
there.
in addition, the buyer has confirmed
confirmed that they will
contract with the current owner
to continue operating the home
for a.
of three months, to transition
and to ensure current
functioning and consistency and
care to the residents.
in addition, being that the home
is a registered retirement home,
the buyer had to meet various
educational and staffing
requirements in order to be approved
approved for their license.
they have been informed
verbally, as of today, that they
have met all requirements and
are awaiting receipt of the
official license.
there are no financial impacts
to
to the community services budget
to
to enter into an agreement with
the new owner once the sale of the
the home is finalized.
with that, I am happy to take
any questions. >>
>> thank you.
questions?
councillor shapley?
>> thank you and through you
madam warden.
I'm just wondering?
with this being a new company,
they don't really have a new track record
track record for you to fall
back on. What
what is the administration's confidence
confidence level with them and
--
-- what else was there?
I guess that's about it.
they already said there would be
no
no interruptions for the
residents.
I'm just wondering if you can
speak to any track record or anything
anything to help you come to
that. >>
>> really good question.
as I mentioned in my speaking
notes, we had a few meetings with
with the new owner to discuss
their skills, their experience,
what their plans are.
and one thing I didn't include
in my speaking notes, was that
all three family members that
will be heavily involved in
operating the home have
experience in working within or
helping operate similar
facilities in other regions.
being specifically in
saskatchewan and also the u.k.
one of the owners is a
pharmacist by trade, and his wife
wife is a registered health care
professional.
and the daughter who hopes to
eventually be the sole owner, is
currently
currently undertaking her nursing
nursing degree at the local
university.
so we did our due diligence in
vetting the expertise and the
skills and experience of.
the other thing we did is we
reviewed our -- we always do this
this if there is a new
ownership, we review our
programme standards.
we will continue monitoring the
home, usually when we have a new
operator, we ensure that we
continue our due diligence with
regular visits and ensuring that
all of our standards are being
met.
>> thank you for that, I'm glad
to
to hear it will remain open,
thank you.
>> anyone else?
councillor meloche. >>
>> in your report you do mention
that there
that there will be no
disruptions to the care being
provided to residents. But
but then at the end of that
paragraph, does mention that
they are going to keep a portion
of
of the current staff.
is that a reduction in service
or why would we see such a
change in staff.
that is something that can
disrupt obviously, the home.
>> thank you for your question
and
and through you warden.
any time there is a change in
ownership, with one of our
homes, the old owner has to lay
off staff and the new owner has
to
to rehire the staff.
so their plan is to keep a large
portion of the staff and then rehire
rehire to fill the gaps the
level of staffing will not
change and in fact one of the
requirements for the hra is for
them to hire a manager of the
home that had extensive
expertise in running retirement
homes or in working within a
retirement home environment.
they had very extensive questions
questions and the process was very
very thorough for them to
approve who would be managing the
the home as well.
so we verified the level of
service, that is the standard
with our programme standards.
so they are not going to be able
to reduce that.
and we hope that the more staff
they can keep, the better for
consistency of care and for the
residents.
but that remains to be seen of who
who the actual staff will be at
the end.
>> thank you.
natasha?
>> through you warden, I might
just
just add for comfort of council
and those listening to night, that while
that while it is not the same,
it is similar to expectations you may
you may see in long term care.
in that they are a regulated
organization and are specific to
ontario
ontario as a form of quality of
care, staffing, medication
administration, policies,
practices, best practice
guidelines.
they are in compliance with what
we would expect to see in a
regulated health environment,
just wanted to add that,
thank you. >> thank you.
no one else?
then there is a recommendation
that council receive the report
as information
as information and that council
authorizes the warden and clerk
to execute a service agreement
with khanda nand inc. At 106
talbot street leamington as part
of
of the county's residential
services homes programme upon
completion of the purchase of
that property.
moved by councillor meloche,
seconded by deputy warden.
any further discussion?
I will ask you to vote
electronically please.
and again, councillor
mcnamara, thumbs up?
thank you.
and that is carried, thank you
.
next we have the 2026 build
communities strong fund,
community stream funding
allocation.
for that report we have melissa
ryan, our director of financial
services and our treasurer.
melissa?
>> thank you warden.
through uinta county council.
this report deals with the
allocation of funding received
through
through the building communities
strong fund or bcsf.
so members of council will know
this programme by its previous
name, which was the canada
community building fund.
the name was changed by the
programme and the funding
continues in the same way.
consistent with council's historical
historical approach,
administration is recommending
that the county retain 20% or
just over 2.5 million of the regional
regional allocation and to
distribute 80% or just under 3.8 million to
3.8 million to the seven local
municipalities located based on
the 2021 census data as shown in
appendix a, attached to the
report.
so the funding continues to
support eligible community
infrastructure projects across
the county and local
municipalities.
the allocation remains unchanged
to 2025 but looking ahead, the
county has received future
allocations in both 2027 and 2028 as
2028 as anticipated. And
and with that I will take any
questions. >> speaker-09:
>> speaker-09: thank you
melissa, questions for our
treasurer?
>> thank you warden question, why
why is it still based on the 2020
2020 census?
will that kick in next year
annually? Or
or do they anticipate when the
updated census numbers will come
out?
>> that's just historically what
we have used here.
so we have used that when we do
this
this report to council again, to
make the choice.
>> very good, thank you.
>> no further questions, then there
there is a recommendation that
council approve the report and
the
the accompanying bylaw
number 2026-30 at the
appropriate time.
moved by councillor rogers
seconded by councillor gibb.
and thumbs up from councillor
mcnamara.
and that is carried.
next we have the establishment
of a state of good repair, life
cycle reserve, again coming back
to our treasurer.
director of finance, melissa
ryan.
melissa?
>> thank you warden, through
uinta county council.
this report establishes the
framework needed before 2027 budget
budget deliberations begin in
december.
so administration is
recommending the creation of a
dedicated state of good repair
life cycle reserve for county
roads, bridges and culverts.
this does not require council to contribute
contribute any new funding
today.
the reserve would be established
with a zero balance so there is
no
no impact to the 2026 budget.
historically, the county has levy funded
levy funded the state of good
repair work directly through the
annual capital budget.
going forward, the intent is to
continue levy funding the work
but
but instead of allocating those
dollars
dollars to be spent in a single
year, the funding would be
transferred into this reserve
and drawn from as eligible rehab
projects moving forward.
so if there are funds remaining
at the
at the end of the year, they would
would stay in the reserve and be
available to support future
state of good repair needs.
this gives the county more
flexibility to manage timing, inflation
inflation and larger rehab
projects that might not fit neatly
neatly within one budget year.
it also provides flexibility if
urgent state of repair projects
arise
arise during the year.
particularly where there are safety
safety concerns or where delaying
delaying the work could lead to
higher long term costs.
so rather than relying only on
the
the dedicated source of funding
to
to respond to those needs --
rather than relying on the funding
funding available in a single
budget year, the reserve gives
us a little
us a little bit more flexibility
if there are reserve funds to
use.
overall creating the reserve improves
improves transparency, it allows
council
council to see dedicated funding
for
for existing road infrastructure
aspects it supports greater
flexibility when urgent rehab
needs arrive and helps ensure
any unspent funds remain
available for future roadway
rehab, rather than being treated
as a one year allocation.
with that I'd be happy to answer
any questions.
>> thank you melissa.
questions for the treasurer?
seeing none, the recommendation
is that council receive the
report as information and that
by law 2026-32 be approved at the
the appropriate time.
moved by councillor gibb,
seconded by councillor prue.
any discussion?
then I will ask you to vote
electronically. >>
>> madam warden, if I may?
I just want to add that this is
great fiscal -- being fiscally
responsible.
it is a great opportunity for us
to build proper reserves.
because we need to be ready for the
the unexpected.
in particular when we see what
is happening with that climate
change
change and so forth.
so kudos to the administration
for bringing this forward and I think
think it is a well thought out
practice and long coming.
>> I take it you were in favour
?
>> 110%. >>
>> thank you.
vote.
that's carried now, thank you.
no matters of unfinished
business.
on to new business.
I have the public reporting of
the closed meeting.
that is that council met in a
closed meeting at 5:00 p.m. This
evening as permitted and
pursuant to section 2392f, the
municipal act to receive
information related to the
report number 260805, legal
advice regarding affordable
housing.
and also receive information
related to a verbal report
pertaining to 2974.2, bargaining
update for august fifth.
council was provided with legal
advice and with information
about the bargaining process.
next we have governance review.
warden and deputy warden
election process.
and at the july 15th, 2026
regular meeting of council, councillor
councillor shepley brought forth
a
a notice of motion.
would you like to read your
motion?
>> sure.
whereas the offices of warden
and deputy warden are separate,
leadership positions of county
council, and whereas the selection
selection process should be
clear, fair and transparent for all
all members of council, and
whereas a member seeking
election as warden should not
also be eligible to seek
election as deputy warden during
the same election process.
now therefore be it resolved that
that administration be directed
to bring forward as part of its
procedural bylaw review and update
update recommendations for council's
council's consideration options
for suggested amendments to
section 3.1 of the county's
procedure bylaw, to take effect
prior to the inaugural meeting of
of the next term of county
council, and with one of the potential
potential amendments reflecting
the following.
the nomination.
for both warden and deputy warden
warden closing before voting
begins, a member of county
council can stand for election
for either warden or deputy
warden but not both, and there
shall
shall be a single ballot for
both the position of warden and
deputy warden, such as the
voting takes place at the same
time
time for both positions.
number for, no member may be
elected to the position of
warden or deputy warden without
securing major support from the
members present.
be it further resolved that this
potential amendment be presented
to council for approval as part
of
of the procedure bylaw amendment
recommendations and a part of the
the governance review report,
prior to the inaugural meeting of the
of the next term of council.
>> moved by councillor shepley,
looking
looking for a second.
councillor deyong?
any discussion?
councillor shepley?
>> I will explain briefly my
reasoning behind this notice of
motion.
this notice of motion is not
about any individual, nor is it
about any past election.
it is about strengthening our
process going forward and
ensuring every candidate is
treated fairly under the same
set of rules.
the position of warden and
deputy warden are separate and
important
important leadership roles.
each carry significant
responsibilities and I believe
each
each deserves a candidate who has
has made a clear commitment to
seeking that office.
I also believe that these are two distinct
two distinct leadership
positions and that candidates
should enter the process having
decided which office they wish
to seek.
running for one office and then
if
if unsuccessful immediately
seeking the other can create the
perception that the second
office is simply the fallback
position.
I do not believe that is fair to
the office of the deputy warden
or those committed to seeking
that position from the beginning
 beginning.
I believe that creates an unfair
playing field working for deputy
warden for the outset.
the purpose of this motion is
simple.
everyone should make the same
commitment at the same time
under the same rules.
this motion doesn't change who
can run, every eligible member
still has the same opportunity
to seek either office.
what it changes is when the
decision is made, every
candidate would make that choice
before
before nominations close, rather
than after another election has
already taken place.
I also believe this strengthens
public confidence in the
process, good governance isn't
just
just about doing the right thing,
thing, it is also about avoiding
processes
processes that can create the
assessment that some have
opportunities that others do
not.
even if some would move from one
race to another, the best
intentions the public can still
perceive it as getting two
chances at leadership.
what everyone else receives only
one
one opportunity.
whether that perception is fair
or not, it can affect the
confidence in the process.
by closing nominations for both
positions at the same time,
every candidate begins on equal
footing.
there is one nomination.
, one opportunity to choose and one
one set of rules that applies
equally to everyone.
that encourages candidates to make a
make a thoughtful decision that
makes an office they wish to
serve.
it changes when they choose.
then we strengthen the integrity
of
of the process, reinforce public
confidence in the election, for
both the warden and deputy
warden.
the public expects leadership positions at
positions at the county council
beyond reproach.
even if it works, improving
confidence in the process is a
worthwhile goal, thank you.
>> thank you.
comments, questions?
councillor akpata?
>> through you madam warden,
love it, no issues, no problems.
just one question and I want to make
make sure I understand this.
just me being me.
without securing majority
support from members present, I
have a scenario where there is
three of us
three of us in a room, thus the
majority of members present, no
one
one has called quorum, I just want
want to make sure that -- is
there any other bylaw or rule
when I seek? Because
because all of a sudden it is a
majority of members present, to
me that changes the voting and
that changes the rule right off
the bat.
and I have a problem with that,
I
I can't support this.
just looking for clarification
.
>> the way that this is worded
is the majority of members
present. We
we would not have a meeting if
there
there was not a quorum of
council.
it is necessary to have the
meeting, that is eight members
.
>> like I said, I always -- I.
just want
just want to make sure that the
worst-case
worst-case scenario wasn't
something we would accidentally
do, that's all.
>> councillor meloche? >>
>> that was actually my
question.
just with the wording because the
the wording makes it sound like
you have
you have to have a majority
support, not just the majority
people in the room. I
I want to make sure we are not
putting in language that all of
a sudden
a sudden we get these results and it
and it is not the majority of
people who voted for that one
person, therefore it doesn't
count.
that was my concern.
because the way it was worded
kind of leaves it -- I. Don't
know if there is a way to clarify
clarify it so it is clear, but
that
that was my thought.
>> through you warden, the way
that the motion is worded is
that we present options for council.
so we do have a report in the works
works that will be coming
forward to council based on those
those governance interviews that
we did with each of your
municipalities in members and
alternates over the course of
the past several months.
through those conversations,
there were several
recommendations and opposing
viewpoints, at times, however,
we have come up with several
recommendations that will be
presented to council and we will
work in some options to consider
what councillor shepley has
proposed here.
if this motion carries, that is
we do have other recommendations
that are related to these
things.
but council will have
consideration of those at that
time of the report.
>> councillor prue?
>> just a question, does any
other county council in ontario
do as being suggested now?
it has always been my
observation that there is a second
second round. It's
it's not that this is a whole
election, going back to the people
people with a whole new ballot
system and two weeks later to
choose the second position.
this is all of us sitting around
a
a table, choose one and then all
of us sitting around the table
and choosing two.
can you tell me, does any other
council do
council do it the way that this
is being suggested?
>> through you warden, in
response to councillors
question, I have spoken to the
clerks at the upper tier
municipalities in ontario, we do
meet
meet routinely to discuss
various things.
but this subject has come up
recently in other municipalities
as well. And
and through our conversations,
again with those governments
interviews, I did raise the
question with the other clerks.
if you can imagine, there are
several dozen municipalities,
there are several dozen ways
that they do it.
so some municipalities don't
elect a deputy warden at all. It
it is an appointed position by
the elected warden.
some municipalities do their
inaugural meeting, elect the
warden and at a later date,
elect a deputy warden.
some elect that same night, the way
way that we do it and have done
it
it for many years.
there is many ways to do this
across the province in the upper
tier
tier municipalities and through the
the analysis of those different
ways to do it, I think that we
have come up and based on the
recommendation here, we have come
come up with some solutions that
will work if council has an appetite
appetite to change from
status quo.
>> again, having had that
answered, I'm not going to lose
any
any sleep over this, whether it
goes one way or the other,
really.
but I guess I come from the
union movement years and years
ago.
things were decided at
convention.
and it was absolutely
commonplace to elect the
president of the union and then
to elect any number of executive
officers, should be two or three
or four, vice presidents.
and people wouldn't just drop down.
I don't ever remember anybody thinking
thinking that was an unfair
process.
I don't see how it is an unfair
process.
I do see that some people will look
look at it and say that's not
fair because this person didn't
win
win when given a second chance,
but
but everybody can put their name
in.
so I don't know, I don't see the
necessity for it.
but as I said, I won't lose one
minute of sleep if it passes.
okay, thank you.
>> deputy warden?
>> thank you and through you
warden, I want to thank councillor
councillor shepley, his proposal
is just making what we built
around this table the next step
.
we are not mayors and deputy mayors, if
mayors, if you look at who runs
usually, deputy mayors don't
even run for warden or deputy
warden, that is the past
practice. You
you can look at the past 25, 30 years.
it has always been the mayor's.
so since we are making this step
and we have made the steps, we
are all county councillors.
choosing to choose to run for warden
warden is a different job from
deputy warden.
and the fact that you are
choosing the warden the way the
motion
motion reads is fair.
you will be busy, you have this
level of deputy warden you fill
in, that is a different role.
so you choose, I think it is the
democratic
democratic way of moving forward
with this council.
we are all county councillors.
it avoids -- if you're a deputy
mayor, don't
mayor, don't you dare run for
deputy warden, it takes that away.
I like the motion, it cleans it
up
up and it moves us forward as a
unified council.
and I will be supporting the
motion.
>> councillor bondi?
>> thank you warden macdonald.
I would be interested in seeing
if any other municipalities have
a two year mark where they allow
council to have another election.
that is something I heard this
term.
and the other thing -- it's too
bad
bad we don't engage the members
of the
of the public in some form
because many of the members of
the public would love to be
engaged.
I know that is not possible, but
I'm just saying I wish the
public could have a say in who
would
would be their warden.
the other thing is, I did bring
this up in my governance
meeting, I don't really want to
have
have to write a name, because my handwriting
handwriting is so atrocious that
no matter who the scrutineers
are, they will be able to tell
who I voted for.
so I would like a safeguard in
place
place so that my sloppy
handwriting is confidential and
at this
at this point, I think we are
just getting information to look at
at changing our procedure bylaw
and I will support the motion
tonight, I hope that we get a
lot more information off what other
other towns are doing.
there could be some other
tweaks, some other best practices.
I like out-of-the-box thinking
and I like transparency in elections.
the one caution I have is say a
warden is a trump and the deputy
warden has their name in and they don't
they don't want to work with
that trump, so there is that
caution of pairing a nonsuitable
warden, deputy warden match.
if they are kind of going in at
the same time.
that is something that I thought
I
I should bring up.
but I look forward to furthering
the
the discussion and thank
administration for working on
this.
>> anyone else?
in that case then, I will ask
you to vote electronically.
councillor mcnamara?
in favour?
and that is carried, thank you
.
any other matters of new business
business to bring forward this
evening?
councillor deyong?
>> thank you warden.
it has come to my attention that there
there is a safety concern at the
intersection of the provincial
highway number 3 and county road
29.
I did contact administration,
thank you for jumping on it
right away.
there were three accidents this
week.
and comments on my social media
are accurate, there were several
close calls.
I'm just wondering if
administration has any update and
and if there is anything you can
tell us tonight about that.
>> marissa?
>> through you madam warden,
yes.
thank you councillor for the question.
we have connected with the
ministry of transportation and
shared our concerns.
they have responded back and
acknowledged this and they have
committed that
committed that they are
undertaking a review of the
traffic patterns and signal
timings and will provide us an
update back when they have
completed that review.
>> thank you.
maybe when you are conversing
with them, people are saying
that this similar issue is at other
other intersections, they are
just not as busy.
maybe they are not having
accidents but they are still
having close calls.
maybe they can take a look -- they
they are so wide now, with a road
road closure.
with a review of three or four
and that stretch could happen,
thank you.
>> through you madam warden, certainly
certainly they have noted that.
because so many intersections are
are closed and there are changes
during
during construction, they will
be under review, we will certainly
certainly follow up with that.
>> anyone else?
new business?
seeing none, onto adoption of
bylaws. There
there are four bylaws for council's
council's consideration this evening.
they will be read by the county
clerk.
>> thank you warden.
bylaw number 2026-21 being a
bylaw to authorize the execution
of an
of an agreement between the
corporation of the county of
essex and khanda nand inc.
bylaw number 2026-30 being a
bylaw to authorize the
allocation of funds to the lower
tier
tier municipalities in the
county of essex, being the towns
of
of amherstburg, essex,
kingsville, lasalle, tecumseh in the
the municipalities of lakeshore
and
and leamington in accordance
with section 5.3 of the
agreement with the association
of
of municipalities of ontario, building
building community strong fund.
bylaw number 2026-32 being a
bylaw to establish the state of
good repair life cycle reserve.
bylaw number 2026-33 being a
bylaw to confirm the proceedings
of the
of the council of the
corporation of the county of
essex, regular and closed
meetings for august fifth, 2026.
>> thank you kate. There
there is a recommendation that
bylaws 2026-21, 2026-30, 2026-32
and 2026-33 be given three
readings, and having been ready
first, second and third time, be
finally passed and enacted.
moved by councillor shepley,
seconded by councillor
wallerstedt.
any discussion?
I will ask you to vote
electronically please.
>> and gary is in favour?
>> and that is carried.
I see gary gave us a thumbs up
.
notices of motions to be
introduced for august fifth, 2026.
none?
thank you!
all matters of business have
been addressed, and it was a
really good meeting, thank you
everyone.
with that, the recommendation is
essex county council meeting for
august fifth, 2026 be adjourned
at
at 8:30 p.m.
moved by councillor deyong --
thank you councillor
macnamara.
anybody want to discuss the
motion?
seeing none all in favour by a
show of hands?
that carries unanimously,
thank you, good night!