A plan for how Bradford can both mitigate and adapt to climate change, the option for the town to join others as a founding subscriber to the County of Simcoe’s pooled insurance plan, a motion endorsing a report on homelessness, plus more are all on the agenda for Bradford West Gwillimbury’s regular council meeting set for 7 p.m. Tuesday evening in the Zima Room at the BWG Public Library.
Climate change strategy to chart a course
A report from chief administrative officer Geoff McKnight recommends council adopt the BWG Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Strategy, and direct staff to implement it into town policies and programs.
Developed by Climate Compass Advisors (previously Delphi Consulting) in 2024, the strategy is intended to guide the town on managing its programs, services and infrastructure by explaining the impacts of climate change on the community and developing ways to mitigate and adapt to those impacts, including a prioritized list of 108 action items.
The very first recommendation is to for the town to ensure all municipal planning and development takes climate into consideration, but other examples include upgrading municipal buildings for energy efficiency, promoting sustainable developments, as well as ensuring access to green space and tree canopies.
While fulfilling all the actions “may seem daunting,” McKnight noted in his report that “a good number of them are already incorporated into existing town practices.”
He also explained that any time actions come with a cost, staff will present an analysis to council, who are then expected to decide whether or not to spend those funds during annual budget deliberations.
The long list of recommendations are broken into four main categories — strong governance; resilient, low-carbon infrastructure; thriving natural environment; healthy and prosperous community. They were based on a policy review, climate vulnerability assessment, greenhouse gas inventory, and consultation with the public and various organizations including: the County of Simcoe, Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, utility companies, conservation authorities, school boards, and more.
The consultant worked with a team of town staff and with help from the green initiatives committee, who endorsed the current strategy at their Jan. 22 meeting.
Town could save $1.94 million on insurance
A report from legal, risk and insurance manager Vanessa Morum recommends the town become a founding subscriber to the County of Simcoe’s insurance pool.
That’s intended to allow the county’s 16 member municipalities to pool their resources in the hopes of sharing risk and reducing costs by about 10 per cent, similar to the insurance pools created by Waterloo Region in 1998 and Durham Region in 2000 — both of which remain in operation with stable membership, according to the report.
In Bradford’s case, that’s projected to save about $1.94 million in direct insurance costs over five years.
In her report, Morum explained Bradford has experienced “significant” increases to premiums in the last several years, due to its growth, an increase nationally in claims related to “catastrophic” events such as floods and forest fires, and limited competition among insurance providers.
In 2024, Bradford’s municipal insurance rate reportedly increased 8.5 per cent, following an increase of 14.5 per cent in 2023.
The county began investigating its own insurance pool in late 2022, and a feasibility study showed potential savings for all municipalities for three major coverage areas, liability, property and automotive.
Beyond those three areas, the town would still need to purchase its own coverage, such as for cyber insurance and environmental damage.
The pool is proposed to have three layers, the first of which is a deductible ranging from $10,000 to $100,000 for each municipality, depending on the frequency and severity of their claims.
Beyond that is the pooled layer for claims that exceed the deductible up to $500,000 and beyond that is commercial insurance for “extreme” events.
In addition to variable deductible rates, each municipality is also expected to be assessed for their individual contribution to the pool based on their risk profile.
The insurance pool is set to launch on June 1, and be governed by an advisory board, to which each participating municipality is expected to appoint one member.
Call to end chronic homelessness
A motion included in the agenda calls on council to endorse a report from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) about homelessness in Ontario.
The motion also calls on the provincial government to increase funding and take significant, long-term action on affordable housing, mental-health services, and income supports to address homelessness.
“Ontario’s homelessness crisis has deepened significantly,” warns AMO’s Jan. 9 report.
The motion highlights some of the report’s key findings, including that 81,515 people were estimated to have experienced homelessness in Ontario in 2024, a 25-per-cent increase since 2022.
Of those, 41,512 people were estimated to have experienced prolonged or repeated (chronic) homelessness, a number which has tripled since 2016.
The report identifies issues beyond just affordable housing, reflecting “deep gaps” in income security, mental-health care, social welfare, education and justice systems.
At the same time, the report found a “significant shift” with municipalities increasingly taking on a larger share of costs, particularly for housing programs.
If the province were to dedicate about $2 billion, the report found it could prevent and resolve homeless encampments within about eight years. A further investment of $11 billion to boost the supply of supportive, transitional and community housing and increase prevention programs over the next 10 years could end chronic homelessness in Ontario, according to the report.