Draft SDG Counties strategic plan unveiled

CORNWALL – Nearly a year after taking office, SDG Counties councillors got a first look at the strategic plan that was developed from consultations earlier this summer.nnSDG councillors met with consultant Suzanne Gibson to develop a guiding document for the council during their term late May. The resulting draft was presented before council at their September 18 meeting.nnThe plan focuses on four strategic priorities with various items covered by each priority.nnUnder the heading Partnerships and Collaboration, the draft document focuses on the areas of infrastructure, housing priorities, health care – specifically physician recruitment, and staff retention/succession planning for the Counties.nnThree areas were listed under Advocacy and Governance – advocacy for lower-tier municipalities with upper levels of government, encouraging collaboration with Cornwall and Akwesasne. Rural education is part of the focus under advocacy, including support for the SDG Rural Education Committee. Lastly, a review of governance, looking at possibly moving from a yearly warden term to a two-year term for warden.nnBranding is another priority for the Counties, using “SDG Counties” as its corporate brand throughout all departments and initiatives.nnThe last of the four priorities in the draft strategic plan is a focus on Green Living in SDG. The plan calls for continued stewardship of Counties-owned forests, long-term sustainability, and marketing the region as “a leader in environmental sustainability.”nnCouncillors during the meeting offered minor “wordsmith” corrections to the plan.nnCouncillor Andrew Guindon (South Stormont) clarified that the look at governance included a review of changing the term of warden to a two-year term, which CAO Maureen Adams confirmed.nnCouncillor Jason Broad (South Dundas) told council he wanted to see a “scorecard” with regular reporting to council. Adams said that there is annual reporting of key accomplishments and that can be adjusted.nnThe final document will be presented for adoption at a later council meeting.nnAlso at SDG Council:nnIt may still be 2023, but SDG Counties staff are planning next year’s budget already. That budget will be presented to Counties Council at a pair of scheduled meetings, December 6 and December 7 (if needed).nnAnother meeting was scheduled to look at service levels. This stemmed from requests at the August council meeting when councillors agreed to hire more staff for the Transportation Department.nnCouncil will review existing service levels at a Committee of the Whole meeting October 30 to discuss if changes need to be made to services such as snow plowing, roadside mowing, and road conditions.nnCAO Maureen Adams said the review would cover all operations of the Counties, but the transportation department would likely take the most amount of time.nnDiscussions at the COTW meeting may impact upcoming budget deliberations in December.nnCouncil approved a new flag policy, specifying order of preference for flag flying, and rotating individual lower-tier municipal flags depending on who is mayor. The policy added the Chief Administrative Officer as a person who can make discretionary decisions for speciality flags or when flags are half-masted.