Members of the Haliburton Highlands OPP and Canadian Mental Health Association welcomed 108 golfers to Pinestone Resort Sept. 5 for the Eric Nystedt Memorial Charity Golf Tournament.

The event raised $23,000 with proceeds split between the three Haliburton County food banks, the two heat banks, Special Olympics, Places for People, and Born Again Bargains in Minden.

It will also support the Haliburton Highlands detachment’s Eric Nystedt Memorial Fitness Award. Cst. Joel Imbeau, one of the organizers, felt it was important to remember Nystedt, a Haliburton Highlands OPP constable who was killed in the line of duty on July 3, 1993.

Nystedt’s mom, Marylou Buerkle, and brother, Scott, attended a banquet in the evening.

“We had a really great turnout – lots of smiling faces on the course… we’re really happy with the total.

The money will do a lot of good in Haliburton County,” said Imbeau, noting organizers are considering holding the event again in future.

The work of determining County council’s priorities for the next five years is underway, with plans to ask residents what they want their municipal government to focus on between 2025 and 2030.

Councillors decided to scrap hiring a consultant to develop a strategic plan, and instead have County staff direct the process. A working group has been struck and CAO Gary Dyke, during an Aug. 28 council meeting, got the green light for the approach, timeline and general principles they would like to follow.

He noted the County does not have a strategic plan, although they have been talking about the need for one since 2022.

“Strategic plans are an excellent tool to guide staff and council, and inform the public about the direction of the municipality…,” Dyke said. “These plans consist of clear objectives, strategic actions and desired outcomes.”

As part of the plan, he said staff would assess the current state of the County, including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges. They’ll talk to residents, business owners, community organizations, councillors across the Highlands and municipal staff.

After all the talking, they will come up with a clear vision for the County with “specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timebound goal objectives,” Dyke said. He added they will build accountability.

They plan to talk to the community from about Sept. 23 on, via a digital public survey, and virtual or in-person meetings. They hope to bring the final plan to council next May. The budget is approximately $50,000.

Councillors weigh in

Warden Liz Danielsen said while the staff report was “excellent… I have to completely disagree with us going in this direction. I think this is an additional burden on staff.

They’ve all got full-time jobs and this has added to their jobs substantially.”

She added, “I think this is a process that needs, to some extent, to be done by independent bodies. In particular, I have concerns about the consultation portion of the process. I think sometimes it’s better to have an independent person doing the consultation as opposed to staffers talking to people in the public or organizations who already have preconceived notions about what the County should, or shouldn’t be doing.”

Coun. Lisa Schell agreed it is extra work for staff but said she did not think a consultant “would have been as detailed, as well thought-out and these people know us.”

Coun. Walt McKechnie has never been a fan of consultants, other than when “needed in areas we are not experts at. I think we’re the experts here. A consultant is going to spend most of his time talking to you and the rest of our council and the rest of our staff.”

Dyke said they are making work plan adjustments to accommodate the strategic plan.

Coun. Bob Carter questioned the scope of the work, including just one month for public consultation. He added “we need to hear from the public as to where we’re going. Do we have a desire that Haliburton County should grow to 25,000 people at some point, or try to grow to 50,000. Some rural communities have grown from 12,000 to 17,000 in a couple of years. Do we want that type of growth or do we want something different? Should we go out and get factories? What is it we want to do?” He believes the strategic plan should be integral to the vision.

Coun. Murray Fearrey added, “a lot of people would like to see tremendous growth, but we can’t keep up with the infrastructure. Who’s going to look at that? How do we keep up with hospitals, sewer, and water?”

Coun. Jennifer Dailloux said a “key potential challenge is how do you delineate a general vision for the future of the County, and what this building is able to achieve? If you went out to the community with general questions; what do you want to see? they might say we want the Minden ER to come back, we want a school further north, we want any number of other things that are great for our County but we have no particular control over and I just wonder if you’ve had an opportunity to think about what does that look like?”

Director of planning, Elizabeth Purcell, said any survey would “make it very clear what is within our control and purview within the County and what isn’t.” She added there would not be a lot of openended questions, allowing people to “go off on random tangents.” Dyke said there is room to discuss advocacy work by the County.

Carter said, “I think we need to be looking at the overall picture and situation. If people want us to have tremendous growth, we don’t have the infrastructure, don’t have the hospitals, schools, doctors, those become very important points when we start getting that strength and weaknesses analysis.

“When we get from the public that ‘hey, this is ideally where we want to go to’ and then we look at the strengths and weaknesses that we have, then is when we have to start tempering things, or trying to put pressure on people to change, whether it be school boards, or hospitals, whatever. There has to be a balance there of questions. We have to let people dream also… maybe a theme park is the way to go.

He was referencing a talk by Peter Kenyon at a Teeny Tiny summit in Minden in July, in which the speaker talked about the town of Kulin, in Australia, reinventing itself by building a water park.

Minden Hills coun. Shirley Johannessen has asked staff to investigate the possibility of flashing lights for the pedestrian crosswalk at Water Street and Bobcaygeon Road in the downtown area.

She would further like the public works department to consider signage to let motorists know of other roads that provide access to Hwy. 35.

She made her comments at an Aug. 29 council meeting.

While thanking staff for making a longer stretch of Water Street a community safety zone, and installing mobile speed devices, Johannessen said she is worried about pedestrian safety across the downtown.

“The area where Water Street and Bobcaygeon Road meet has been an incredible eye-opener this summer,” she said. The councillor added there is probably a road safety report in existence for the busy intersection, but it likely needs updating.

“The (vehicle) back-up on Water Street has been concerning. The safety of pedestrians is our first priority. Currently, they are beelining it across the courtesy crosswalk to get to the other side for safety. Can we not install flashing, dedicated lights for the crosswalk?”

Johannessen, who works at the nearby Dominion Hotel, added, “the honking and yelling of near hits and misses has been disheartening. We need to make it safe for people visiting the downtown core.” She added directing people to other roads to Hwy. 35 would lighten the load on the downtown core.

Director of public works, Mike Timmins, said he was not opposed to flashing lights but the discussion would have to go to the 2025 budget. He feels it would be “pricey” but is willing to come back with budget estimates.

The councillor also wanted clarity on fire hydrant replacement along Hwy. 35, noting water would have to be turned off to businesses.

Timmins said he and a representative of the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) had visited nearly every Hwy. 35 business to inform them of the works expected to take place over the next month. He said they would do their best to keep businesses up-todate and minimize disruption.

On Tuesday, the township said water main maintenance is happening Thursday, Sept. 5 along Hwy 35. The affected area is expected to be from Booth Street to the end of the water main north of County Road 21. Addresses 84-90 Water St. may also be affected. Residents and businesses in the affected area may experience reduced water pressure or a complete loss of water for a short period of time. The water shutdown is planned to take place early in the day to limit disruption to businesses. Township staff will make every effort to avoid complete water loss, however it may be necessary for the repair to take place. If discolouration is experienced in the water, run faucet(s) until the discolouration clears. Normal discolouration during this process includes rusty or cloudy coloured water.

Council chamber roof

Council voted to award the tender to replace the roof over the council chambers.

It will go to ICI Roofing Ltd., for an estimated cost of $121,600 plus HST and will include a $10,000 electrical contingency. A second bidder, Industrial Roofing Services Ltd., was more than $330,000.

Timmins said they had budgeted $110,000 for the job. He said the shortfall could be funded from property reserves, which has a $333,000 balance.

Council is, however, holding off on replacing 14 bollards along the Riverwalk that were damaged by vandals in May.

Staff were looking to approve a tender at a cost of $6,400 plus HST, funded from the park reserves.

However, coun. Ivan Ingram thought it made sense for staff to investigate other lighting options, since the bollards are close to the ground, and can be easily vandalized or damaged by equipment, “something that will stand up better to the environment and vandalism,” he said. For example, he mentioned more like a taller streetlight. Coun. Tammy McKelvey agreed, saying the bollards are, “hard to come by, almost obsolete.”

Director of community services, Candace McGuigan said staff would look into it and report back to council.

Support for CAS

McKelvey asked that a motion passed by Highlands East, against Children’s Aid Society cuts in Haliburton County, be pulled for discussion, with Minden Hills approving a similar motion in support of the local social services agency.

Coun. Pam Sayne agreed with McKelvey, “I think we need to jump on this and respond right away. There might not be information on this, but there are kids out there who need this help yesterday.”

The CAS announced in July it would be closing its Haliburton storefront next year and laying off one full-time staff member.

As students across Haliburton County return to school this week, Trillium Lakelands District School Board (TLDSB) director of learning Wes Hahn said he’s worried about violence and bullying within the local system.

In a report to TLDSB trustees Aug. 28, Hahn discussed results from student and teacher consultations held last spring where one of the common themes reported, particularly on the student side, was a lack of safety at school.

“Violence and bullying continue to be a concern across the province, but we’re worried about TLDSB. It’s interrupting student learning… it’s keeping them from attending school,” Hahn said.

Students commented on the lack of available safe spaces, noting washrooms as a “problem area” Hahn said. He noted washrooms have become a popular hangout space for some, with an increased presence of vaping at high schools.

While punishment forms part of the board’s solution for bad apples, Hahn believes directly engaging with students to press home the “very real” consequences of bullying for victims to be key. He noted this, along with other measures, would be key priorities for TLDSB this school year.

“We’ve already had our mental health team focus on supports, making sure caring adults are with students, educating them, helping them learn about the components of school life. It’s not a quick fix, but we have to get at this work… to make a difference,” Hahn said.

The director said TLDSB administration is working with certain schools to design better washroom facilities.

Hahn said one of the other primary concerns shared by students surrounded how they’re being taught in the classroom.

Trustee Deb McInerney felt it was “pretty significant” that youth felt they required better pedagogical methods and more relevant instruction. Hahn agreed.

“This is one of those areas that has been around since the beginning of time with teaching – how do you connect with kids, make it the most meaningful learning we can? It’s always a challenge,” Hahn said. “Kids said it would be nice if they came in at 11 a.m. and left at 2 p.m. and brought their guitar. That’s not quite possible, but we have to actively engage them [to improve].”

Hahn noted students are excited about opportunities afforded to them through co-op placements and hands-on tech programming.

Addressing the board’s five-year strategic plan, adopted in 2022, Hahn said, “we have been doing good things and are on the border of doing even better and greater things.” He said administrators have used evidence-based research over the past three years for all its key decisions.

Quoting author and education coach and facilitator Shane Safir, Hahn said the best way to make a difference across TLDSB schools is to continue to engage with and listen to students. And accept when something isn’t working.

“Confronting the brutal facts about where we stand is important. It doesn’t help to hide it, to not tackle it. It won’t go away unless we open it up and start doing the work,”

Hahn said. “We want to hear our students’ voices. They have a lot to say and don’t hold back.” Hahn noted student consultation will take place again this year.

Phones off

TLDSB is enforcing a new ‘off and away’ rule when it comes to cell phone use in the classroom.

The rule applies to the entire school community and also prohibits personal tablets and smartwatches. Students will be asked to turn off devices at the beginning of each instruction period and put them away to limit distractions and promote healthy relationships and meaningful engagement in the classroom, TLDSB says.

“The research tells us that excessive personal mobile device use limits attention, learning, relationships, and belonging in schools,” said Tanya Fraser, TLDSB’s associate superintendent of learning responsible for mental health services.

The change was one of the recommendations outlined by the Ministry of Education when it updated school board codes of conduct in April.

There are exceptions – students will be allowed to use their devices if they’re required for documented health and medical purposes, to support special education needs, or if directed by a teacher.