Zorra Council briefs: Senior and volunteer of the year awarded

Zorra Township Mayor Marcus Ryan awards council’s 2025 Volunteer of the Year award to Jim Conn, Lynne Dietrich and John Uren, representatives of Brown’s Corners Community Group on June 18. (Connor Luczka Photo)

Connor Luczka, Echo Correspondent

This year’s Senior and Volunteer of the Year awards went to people who have been dedicated to making the community a better place when others might have said “that’s not my job,” according to Zorra Township Mayor Marcus Ryan.

Nancy Smibert from Kintore was honoured as 2025’s Senior of the Year, as awarded by Zorra Township Council on June 18. Right after, the Brown’s Corners Community Group was awarded the Volunteer of the Year designation.

As Ryan said, Smibert may be seen around town at any given moment collecting garbage from roadways and ditches.

“Is it her’s? No, it’s anybody’s. It’s our garbage, everybody’s garbage,” Ryan said. “Everybody who goes to Tim Hortons and then just throws it out on 23rd Line, or 15th Line or whatever, into the ditch, and Nancy goes around and she picks it all up and cleans up all of our roadways everywhere she rides her bike and has for years. Nobody asked her to do that. She just said it should be done. I she do it. And she did.”

Like Smibert, Ryan explained that during the COVID-19 pandemic many citizens, especially in the northern part of the township, struggled with staying connected to their community. With a lack of local media, Brown’s Corners Community Group decided to create a weekly e-newsletter to keep their neighbours informed and connected.

“And again, it is due to a group of people who just said, ‘We're going to do what needs to be done,’” Ryan reiterated. “They didn't ask for permission from anybody. They didn't ask for money from anybody. They just said, our community needs this. Let's make it happen.”

Each year, township council awards citizens of the community for doing their part in making Zorra a better place to live, based on the nominations of citizens from across the township.

Asset management plan update adopted by council

Council formally adopted the 2025 asset management plan (AMP). The whole plan, which is updated and improved upon yearly, itemizes all of the township’s $338 million assets and categorizes their condition and replacement costs.

There are six groups of assets: the largest transportation services at $134.9 million, bridges and culverts at $101.4 million, facilities at $69.2 million, urban stormwater at $20.1 million, the fire department at $8.5 million, and recreation services at $3.9 million.

To fully fund the timely maintenance and replacement of said assets, an annual investment of $6.73 million is required, though an annual target of $5 million is recommended. This year’s capital contribution from the township is $3.45 million, leaving a $1.55 million deficit.

To curb that shortfall, a two per cent tax levy increase would be required, though Coun. Paul Mitchell suggested that when it comes time to do the 2026 budget, council and staff may have other options. He suggested utilizing the funds already collected from taxpayers and in reserve to address shortfalls in the AMP – although he acknowledged that it is still early days.

“I think it’s something we have to look at,” Mitchell said. “…We got to increase the capital levy by two per cent before we even talk about anything else. If we can find another way to reduce that, that’s what I’m trying to get across.”

Coun. Katie Grigg, like all the councillors around the horseshoe, praised staff for their diligence, and reminded the public that the way the township keeps its assets updated is a continuum that spans multiple generations of taxpayers, and everyone has a part to play.

“If my kids are playing on the playground that someone else paid for, we should be paying the appropriate amount, so that we all contribute and we all benefit from all the things. And I think this is the closest we've been to getting to that point of the appropriate funding.”

Regardless of how council decides to fund its assets, Coun. Kevin Stewart, citing a news article on the large gap in funding for the City of Hamilton’s assets, said that the AMP is a vital document for the municipality’s long-term success.

“It highlights the importance of having this data, and it's a starting point,” Stewart said. “It's already very accurate … But I was encouraged as well, as you were going through the report, that every year there's plans to make improvements to it and to make necessary changes … It's meant to be that live document that gets updated every single year. So, I think it's an amazing document, an amazing tool.”

The update was adopted by council unanimously, save for Coun. Crystal Finch who was absent that meeting.

The entire plan is available on the township’s website.