Day 1 of Norfolk County’s 2020 Budget talks has wrapped up.
Norfolk County Councillors went over staff’s recommended changes in both closed and open sessions, discussing everything from their phone system to the potential closure of the Delhi Kinsmen Pool.
Before the day kicked off though, Jason Burgess, General Manager of Corporate Services, explained to Councillors that the tough choices they would have to make would help the County fix its financial future.
Some of the tough choices made by Councillors included the pending closure of the Simcoe Seniors Centre on Pond Street, which would lead to the County relocating over 700 seniors to the Simcoe Rec Centre.
At the recommendation of County staff, they chose to close both the Teeterville Museum and the Teeterville Women’s Institute buildings, declare them surplus and then sell them.
Additionally, they decided to permanently close the museum portion of the Norfolk County Archives and Eva Brook Donly Museum with the artifacts collected by the Norfolk Historical Society going to the museums in Delhi, Waterford, and Port Dover.
To help with the efficiencies of local arenas, the Council chose to move the ice from the Simcoe Rec Centre to Waterford during the summer.
They will also be identifying one arena in Norfolk for closure before seeing if any individuals or groups could run the arena at their own expense, and, if there are no offers by the fall, the arena would be designated surplus and a buyer would be found.
Some of their more creative solutions included a search for an alternative management model for the Simcoe Farmers Market, a decision to ask the former Lynnwood Arts Centre board of directors to resume management of the Norfolk Arts Centre and to identify 140 acres of municipal land, declare it surplus, and sell it to find revenue for the reserve funds.
Once back in open session, Council had more tough choices to make, including the decision to reduce their Winter Maintenance Service Level closer to Provincial standards.
Councillors also examined ways to change the way the County provided grant funding, opportunities to improve the Port Rowan marina’s revenue and the consolidation of halls and community centres to community groups.
Toward the end of the day, Council approved County staff’s decision to end the complaints and compliance position, which was being paid for by a reserve fund, and instead, create a new HR position to continue those responsibilities.
Finally, Council unanimously decided to keep the Delhi Kinsmen Pool open, at least for the year, following an outpouring of support for the pool in the Community.
They did, however, ask staff to examine alternative ways to fund the pool to keep it’s expenses down.
To wrap up the day, we sat down with Jason Burgess to go over some of the big moves of the day and what the impact may look like.
You can hear our full interview with Burgess below.