Communications Coordinators meeting

Also available via Zoom, for those invitees unable to attend in person. The link will be distributed by email the week before the meeting.

Introductions

Invited guests:

• Ashfield-Colborne-Wawanosh Township: Glen McNeil, Tom McCarthy
• Maitland Valley Conservation Authority: Phil Beard, Ben Van Dieten, Patrick Huber-Kidby
• Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks: Ted Briggs

Communications Coordinators and designated alternates:

Healthy Lake Huron

Ted Briggs, Great Lakes Advisor, MOECP

Ontario's Healthy Lake Huron – Clean Water, Clean Beaches partnership addresses shoreline water-quality concerns and promotes safe clean beaches from Sarnia to Tobermory. It is led jointly by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation, and Parks and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs. It was created in 2011, motivated in part by previous work of the ACLA, Bayfield, and Bluewater lakefront groups. The priority HLH project in our area is the Garvey-Glenn watershed.

(Ted will give a brief update via Zoom.)

ACW Township

An update on recent activities of interest to the lakefront communities.

Glen McNeil, Mayor

• For the 2025 budget, Council approved a 2.75% increase in the tax rate, resulting in a 5% increase in the total Township levy.
• Each year, Council attempts to improve at least one lakefront road. This year, Huron Sand Road will be resurfaced.
• ACW is now designated as one of the province's Strong Mayors municipalities.
• In the 2022 municipal election, the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and the five Councillors were all elected "at large". Council has received a petition asking for the creation of five electoral districts, with one Councillor to be elected from each, starting with the 2026 municipal election:
  1. Ashfield West -- Ashfield ward on the west side of Highway 21
  2. Ashfield East —- the rest of Ashfield ward
  3. Colborne West —- Colborne ward on the west side of Highway 21
  4. Colborne East —- the rest of Colborne ward
  5. Wawanosh -- the existing ward boundaries
  The petition argues that this will provide better representaion for ACW's distinct "communities of interest". Council will be discussing the petition at a future meeting.

Tom McCarthy, Public Works Superintendent

• Last year, ACLA requested that ACW extend the June-September weekly lakefront garbage/recycling pickups to include May and October. At the time this agenda was created, ACW had not yet received a cost from Waste Management.
• In 2026, curbside pickups will shift from recycling bags and tagged garbage bags to WM-provided wheeled carts. The charge for garbage pickup will shift from the $2.50 tags to a surcharge on the tax bill. Pickups will be every other week.
• These carts come in 64- and 32-gallon sizes, and are not practical for the lakefront sideroads that are not navigable for curbside pickup, so "dumpster" bins will be provided for garbage and recycling bags at their main-road interections.

Maitland Valley Conservation Authority

Phil Beard, General Manager and Secretary/Treasurer

• We are still waiting to hear what additional changes the Provincial Government has planned for conservation authorities.

Ben Van Dieten, Agricultural Stewardship Supervisor

• Stewardship work in the North Shores watersheds, some of which has been undertaken with funding provided by ACLA and the Maitland Conservation Foundation.

Patrick Huber-Kidby, Planning and Regulations Supervisor

• The federally-funded Southern Lake Huron Adaptation Action Plan seeks to pilot several efforts toward coastal resiliency:
  • develop guidance for local development policies using up-to-date shoreline knowledge (sediment budget, hazard mapping, and risk assessments);
  • develop guidance that local municipalities can access when infrastructure or buildings are threatened by coastal processes;
  • pilot nature-based solutions through sediment bypass at Goderich, connecting beach-building sediments across the shoreline./li>

ACLA administrative matters

Treasurer's report

Beth Ross, Mid-Huron Beach

• Bank balance as of April 2025 was $_,___.
• Income was $_.__ in bank interest.
• Expenses were $___ for annual website-hosting and domain-registration fees, $__ for bank charges, and $200 for renting the Kingsbridge Centre basement for the 2025 meeting.
• Motion to accept the Treasurer's report: moved by ___, seconded by ___.
• Cheques payable to "ACLA" for the annual voluntary contribution from each local association ($10 per member) should be sent to:

  Beth Ross, ACLA Treasurer
  122 St. Patrick Street
  Goderich ON, N7A 2L7

Issues from the floor

Adjourn

The meeting adjourned at __:__. Next year's meeting will be at 9am on Saturday May 9, 2026; method and location TBD.