Wilmot’s strategic plan gets failing grade on financial pillars

Lee Griff, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It likely won’t come as a surprise to Wilmot taxpayers, but the township has made no progress on several parts of its strategic plan, and some of them are of a financial nature.

The plan, approved in 2024, includes 39 action items. Recently hired CAO Jeff Wilmer presented council with a quarterly update at Monday night’s regular meeting, noting that eight of the items have seen no progress to date.

“Of those eight, there is a reasonable explanation as to why they haven’t started yet. There is one in particular I wanted to draw attention to … that is of significant concern … and that is the asset-management plan.”

Wilmer noted having a robust asset-management plan is a critical piece of the township’s capital budgeting, both in the short and long term.

“In terms of making sure we have the reserves in the budget to deal with asset management and asset replacement, it is an area of significant concern and I don’t want to sugarcoat this. There is significant work to be done and that’s why this report seeks to draw some attention to that.”

Other areas where no progress has been made include establishing a multi-year operating and capital budget forecast, completing a comprehensive service review to establish a baseline of program and services costs, and developing a financial strategy to support sustainable growth.

Coun. Stewart Cressman asked if the hiring of KPMG to draft the 2026 budget would fit in with any progression on an asset-management plan.

“How would those be married and who will be tasked with the critical piece of informing us about the asset longevity and their expected end date of useful life?” Cressman asked.

Wilmer said the best KPMG can do is work with the information they have, which will be limited aside from some assets the township has been tracking well.

“Our building assets and recreational infrastructure; those we do have a pretty good handle on. It’s the linear assets – water, sanitary and storm sewers. Those are the assets that are of the most concern in terms of the lack of detail about their quality, longevity, the replacement cycle and so on.”

He added it will take some time to get those assets figured out, along with money and the support of council. Having an asset-management plan is something mandated by the Ontario government, something Coun. Kris Wilkinson mentioned when he asked if the township could be on the receiving end of provincial penalties. Harold O’Krafka, the township’s director of development services, said they are working on getting compliant.

“(We have contracts) to address 2024-2025 compliance for asset-management plans. That contract had begun but was paused pending the hiring of the new treasurer, who will work closely with them and director (of engineering Kenneth) Vanderwal and KPMG as well in the long-term financial planning we are doing.”

Council also heard from resident Barry Wolfe, who appreciated the strategic update provided by staff under Wilmer’s leadership, but still felt it fell short of the transparency required.

“This is the first step toward taking the static chart the consultant provided and moving it toward a tracking chart. However, we both acknowledge this is in no way the online dashboard framework that the township originally contracted for and did not get for its money.”

Wolfe added there is no online platform for staff to update the plan’s progress and for council and the community to track every workplan action item as it appears in real time, something he said was a part of the 2023 request for proposal.

“Wilmot knew what it wanted, but unfortunately, didn’t get it.”

Wilkinson asked several questions about the plan, including one about the action item to complete a communications strategy that establishes community engagement priorities and targets, activities, and methods, including optimizing the Engage Wilmot portal site.

“We actually received a presentation early on in our term, and we didn’t really see a final result or final report. I’m curious if you could just explain, maybe, what you mean by refresh and what we can anticipate coming forward?”

Salonen explained the previous council received a presentation and the current members received a report for information early in its term.   

“It was pending that the manager of communications and strategic initiatives was to bring back the finalized version for council approval which never came to fruition.”

Wilmer added the original work done by Redbrick is now out of date, but they have been asked to give the plan a minor update.

“(We asked Redbrick) is there anything in there that was relevant at the time that isn’t relevant now, or something that has emerged subsequently that’s overlooked in that, and (said) we were impressed they were willing and able to do it at a reasonable cost. That is something we expect early in the new year.”