County council, at its meeting July 23, approved giving the Rotary Club of Haliburton $5,000 to put towards developing and installing historical display panels at Skyline Park.

Director of economic development and tourism, Scott Ovell, suggested giving the club $2,500 in 2025 and $2,500 in 2026.

Rotary has already received $5,000 from Dysart et al council, approved at a June 24 meeting – and was seeking matching funds from the County this week. The club will chip in the other $5,000 of the estimated $15,000 price tag.

Chair of the Skyline Park project committee, Charles Wheeler came to the council meeting. He said the overall scope of their larger project includes: new covered picnic shelters with picnic tables; a year-round accessible washroom building; expanded viewing platform; removing trees blocking the view; a new, upper viewing platform; landscaping and the historical display panels.

He said that on May 22, they asked the Dysart cultural resources committee to help develop “the narrative content” of the boards. He said they agreed to assist, along with County tourism staff.

Wheeler said they’ll be installed by the upper viewing platform, off the existing paved parking area. He added they would be used to “frame in” the new platform.

They are looking at having; the history of Haliburton; things to see and do with a map; the history of Skyline Park; an Indigenous and acknowledgement; and a map of the physical geography of Haliburton.

Wheeler said they’d spent $20,000 to date on the overall project, with Haliburton County Development Corporation grants, a Rotary district grant, and a $5,000 donation by a cottager.

He added many retailers had supplied building materials or equipment rental at no, or low, cost. The remaining project cost is estimated at $200,000 over 2025-27. The Ministry of Transportation (MTO) recently committed to building the accessible washroom building and upgrading park fencing.

The remainder will come from Haliburton Rotary, with Wheeler encouraging people to buy tickets for their car draw.

He noted the MTO is responsible for maintaining the park once the project is done, not the County or Dysart et al. Nor do they expect to come back to the County looking for more money.

However, he said the township and County would benefit from building permit fees and “an enhanced Skyline Park that attracts tourists and tourist revenue.”

It’s expected the boards will be installed in spring 2026.

Ovell told council, “these funds would come from the tourism division’s operational budget and can be supported with minimal impacts on operations.”

Wheeler added the park, owned by the MTO, has had little or no capital investment since 1958.

EORN update

County council heard that only six new cell phone towers have been completed in the Highlands with another 23 still to go. However, 25 of 29 land use authorities are complete.

In an update from the Eastern Ontario Regional Network (EORN), it was further noted that all 21 upgrades to existing towers are complete. Three of four new co-locations are also done.

Data for the County is updated by Rogers on the 15th of each month. Data provided for the July 23 update was received on June 15.

Rogers has an aggressive schedule of completing all towers by 2026.

Minden Hills council, at its June 26 meeting, gave CAO Cynthia Fletcher the go-ahead to put out a tender – in hopes of hiring an outside firm to have a look at the municipality’s development application process.

“We’ve had numerous discussions throughout my time here about the need to streamline and modernize Minden Hills’ development application process,” Fletcher told councillors.

She added they had worked “very hard” internally with staff and had made some strides, “but we would very much benefit from a third-party comprehensive review.”

Fletcher said she had done this at two other municipalities. “And it was of great benefit to have somebody, third party, fresh eyes, understands best business practices, to look at, and to review. It would involve input from all of our stakeholders. What it gives us in the end is tangible actions based on industry best practices, and better yet, a road map for implementing change.”

In a written report, she estimated it would cost $60,000 to $70,000 but would not know the final price until the project is bid on. She suggested the money come from the administration reserve, which has a current balance of just over $295,000. She said she would bring the final cost to council.

She stressed the review would, “look at every touch point throughout our development application process. I’ve found this to be a very valuable process to go through, a very valuable document that has allowed me to improve things in other municipalities.”

Mayor Bob Carter asked if there would be runway “to also look at situations of doing nothing, or reducing services, and what would be the impact if we had less resources going towards it?”

Fletcher said that was precisely why a “fresh set of eyes” was needed, including “bringing us what other municipalities are doing. There may be options for council to consider, including service or service levels.”

Coun. Tammy McKelvey expressed concern about spending the money, noting they did not know last year’s surplus number, would have a loan payment for work on Scotch Line and Bobcaygeon roads, are hiring a part-timer to help with short-term rentals, and just found out they were unsuccessful in getting a grant to fix the curling club roof.

However, Fletcher said she viewed it as a one-time cost. She said council did not have to endorse her idea but cautioned the township would not “make significant strides with business as usual and reviewing our development application process from end-to-end. We don’t have the internal horsepower to do that.”

She added, “I’ve been asked repeatedly since I’ve been here ‘fix it’ and I have a way we can potentially fix it, but I need help and support.”

Council approved her request.

Mayor addresses ‘red tape’

Addressing recent criticism over too much “red tape” at the township, Carter said on July 14, Minden Hills is working to review its procedures and requirements to ensure bureaucracy is eliminated and the process streamlined.

“This is a complex task as there are many policies (local and provincial) that influence development requirements,” he said.

In the last year or so, Minden Hills has implemented Cloudpermit Software to modernize application and review processes. Carter added staff have been consolidating the official plan and zoning bylaw documents and schedules to make referencing easier for applicants and staff. He also touched on the development application process review.

“Even with all this change, the township, so far in 2025, has issued more than 120 building permits and is processing more than 110 development applications,” Carter said.

He noted the planning and building permit application process can be daunting for small businesses and homeowners, and “the volume of applications (especially leading into the summer months) overwhelms our resources, and that is another area we are trying to address.

“Minden Hills is open for business and is willing to work with anybody to help in their success. We continue to improve our capabilities and our quality as we grow. “

County of Haliburton CAO Gary Dyke is on a travelling road show of the townships, trying to sell them on phase two of the services delivery review.

Dyke was at Highlands East council July 15.

“Basically, we’re looking at doing a systematic analysis of what the services are provided at both the County and local level, an evaluation of efficiency, effectively, and responsiveness to community needs, but also the needs of both municipal organizations,” he said.

He added, “a lot of the demands being put on local municipalities now, for even-non jurisdictional items, with respect to what we have to allocate with limited resources; we have to make sure we have the best processes around at our disposal to make sure that is being done in the best way possible and get best value for dollar.”

He stressed it’s not solely a costcutting exercise, or a first step toward amalgamation.

The County began the review of 66 services it, and member townships, provide, in 2022. That review found 12 high priority services that could be targeted for efficiencies. Six of them (solid waste management, fire services, economic development, bylaw enforcement, procurement and IT/digital strategy) were addressed in 2022-23.

Dyke said the ones that were implemented were successful and resulted in increased productivity and more efficient service delivery. Some were not, however, such as councillors rebuking the idea of centralizing solid waste management. The CAO talked about some of the challenges that have bogged the review down, including significant staff changes, an “ambitious” scope of work, and no formal service level agreements between the County and townships in the event of disagreements.

He added that for councils and the public, an agreement “clearly defines the accountability levels on the service delivery itself; how do we score ourselves? how do we report out to councils with respect to success, failure, indifference in what we’re doing? and how it’s impacting the ultimate clients, which are the ratepayers.”

Dyke said phase two has identified engineering, communications, human resources, and planning.

As an example, he said the County provides less engineering support to townships than a lot of their Eastern Ontario counterparts.

“If we do look at modifying how the engineering service is delivered, there’s the potential to increase service levels – that will greatly benefit the local municipalities.”

He said in the last two years, Algonquin Highlands, Dysart et al, Highlands East and Minden Hills had spent a combined $800,000 to $900,000 hiring engineering consultants. “It’s worth looking at ‘is there a better way for us to provide that service at both levels” by having an in-house engineer or engineering technician?

Dyke added the service delivery review is not static, but open to further analysis as time goes on. He added for efficiency, prior to filling positions, there could be a thorough evaluation to determine the relevancy and value of each role to the organization’s strategic goals.

The next detailed review and analysis would be done by County and township staff, led by CAOs. Final reports on recommended options would be provided to councils by the end of November, in time for the 2026 budget cycle. The ultimate decisions are up to local councils.

Deputy mayor Cec Ryall commented there may be some direct cost savings, but that is not the focus of why they are doing it. He added when it comes to “better bang for the buck, if we do this right, and we get our ducks in a row … and iron out the duplication, we should be able to get a good opportunity to avoid costs down the road.”

For example, “if we’re spending money on consulting fees, we may find that we now have a need for some kind of a staff function that would make that more cost effective, providing work at a lesser dollar.”

The Haliburton County Development Corporation (HCDC) celebrated Jim Blake’s retirement as a consultant for 25 years by holding a ‘Jim Blake Day’ July 9.

Blake said it all started with the community economic development committee, which had an arts committee subcommittee.

“They started doing a lot of projects, so they started contracting me to help coordinate that. And then, over time, I got involved in the whole operation of HCDC,” he said.

It was hard for him to pick out highlights. He talked about the creation of the Arts Council Haliburton Highlands, and the trails and tours organization, which begat Hike Haliburton. He also assisted in landing the youth hub.

Blake also spoke of the community economic development funding and how a team had “helped, or given start-up money, to around 65 different initiatives or actual organizations, and most of those are still in existence, or a lot of them are still in existence.”

He added, “the accomplishments really are the accomplishments of the community futures development corporation (CFDC).”

Blake said he had a hand in influencing HCDC to focus on the importance of community economic development. “To have a vibrant, sustainable and vital community you need a whole range of things going on, so it’s not just about business. It’s all about the fabric of the community and that covers a broad range, from cultural, to environmental, to social and economic.”

He was part of developing the business incubator, which has now turned into The Link, and is home to the Haliburton Highlands Chamber of Commerce, and Arts Council, all of whom he worked with.

He said his biggest takeaway is “all the incredible things that go on in this community and being able to support people to realize those dreams.

“What a fantastic organization, the Haliburton County Development Corporation, with visionary leadership from the board of directors, who are all volunteers, and Andy Campbell for so long and then Patti Tallman. The fact they had the brilliance to set up this whole community economic development function of the corporation to really work on the vibrancy and sustainability of the community.

“When I go to different conferences and those sorts of things, people are just astounded as we’re a fairly small, rural community but our CFDC has done an enormous number of things. It’s not just about the amount of loans to the community, or the size of our investment fund. It’s really people look at what we do in terms of being a catalyst for community economic development and ask us ‘how can we do that’? And part of it is … one of the philosophies is, as opposed to saying this is the way things should happen, it’s really what do the people of the community want to see happen, and then us supporting them in making those things happen. So, it’s not a topdown thing, it’s really a grassroots thing where people are coming to us and saying ‘can you help us do this’ and the answer is almost always yes, we can help you. It may not be with money but it may be with time or advice or linkages or those kinds of things.”

Tallman, HCDC’s executive director, spoke to Blake’s contribution, saying, “his knowledge has been instrumental, but we know where to find him.” She also commented on all of the projects Blake had assisted them in doing, which has literally poured millions of dollars into the community. “He works late into the night all the time … he just never stops. How appropriate is this to have a Jim Blake day?”