Regional councillors get update on strategic priority progress
Plan guides budgets and day-to-day operations, including temporary homeless shelter
With the nitty-gritty of the 2024 budget behind them, Niagara Region councillors have turned their attention to the strategic plan intended to guide them through the rest of their term.
Michelle Sergi, commissioner of planning and economic development, updated councillors on the plan’s progress during Thursday’s committee-of-the-whole meeting, saying 86 per cent of its more than 30 action items are underway, before fielding questions about specific projects.
West Lincoln Coun. Albert Witteveen asked staff about expanding a temporary shelter program that recently opened in St. Catharines. The 50-bed modular shelter facility at 29 Riordon St. can be moved and reassembled.
Adrienne Jugley, commissioner of community services, responded that the Region is open to expanding the program to help other Niagara municipalities.
“I do not have an immediate plan yet, but I hope to bring back some more information probably within the next three to four months,” Jugley said.
Region staffers are still learning about the temporary shelter’s strengths and “challenges.”
Councillors approved the strategic plan last July, which includes priorities for a more equitable, prosperous, effective and green/resilient Niagara. Housing falls in the equitable category.
Sergi said the plan is intended to guide the Region’s planning, budgets, corporate business and dayto-day operations to 2026.
“We’ve spent quite a bit of time with our staff to ensure that we’re all aligned and going in the same direction to implement the priorities successfully,” Sergi said. “The vision created is modern communities growing better together, with the mission of the Niagara Region to deliver service excellence through collaborative and innovative leadership.”
The green and resilient priority focuses on reducing Niagara’s carbon footprint and preparing to adapt to climate change impacts by ensuring current and future infrastructure is resilient,
Action items include a “green” fleet, a climate adaption plan and the future South Niagara Wastewater Treatment Plant in Niagara Falls, the largest infrastructure project in the Region’s more than 50year history at a cost of more than $400 million.
Lincoln Coun. Rob Foster said provincial and federal funding is needed to help offset the project’s cost.
“I’m just curious if any progress has been made on that file because that’s a lot of money still coming down the road,” Foster said. “We have to get it built for the development that’s required here.”
Dan Carnegie, the Region’s deputy chief administrative officer, said the treatment plant will be part of the dialogue with provincial and federal officials.
“It’s a continuous advocacy position that forms part of our strategic priorities — it’s embedded in them,” Carnegie said. “We won’t lose sight of it, but it’s a long play with the province and the feds.”
The prosperous Niagara priority includes the Region’s advocacy with upper levels of government for growth-related projects, such as enhancing the transportation network to help support a diverse economy where new and existing businesses can thrive and grow.
The effective priority includes projects that allow the Region to remain an employer of choice by innovatively transforming service delivery in a collaborative and fiscally responsible way.
Some of those projects include shared services strategy, a human resources plan as well as service, effectiveness and accountability reviews.
Action items include the future South Niagara Wastewater Treatment Plant in Niagara Falls, the largest infrastructure project in the Region’s more than 50-year history at a cost of more than $400 million