Perth County Warden Jim Aitcheson says the county has a number of things to tackle in the new year.
That includes finishing the official plan and trying to do more regarding affordable housing. Aitcheson says the county is also excited to go ahead with a new program that has been tested in some neighbouring regions.
"One of the big things we're going to do this year is roll out a great paramedicine program. We were able to get a bit of funding from the province and that's going to be a big benefit to our area over the years. It's going to reduce a lot of the EMS visits to hospitals with transporting patients. Medical professionals will be able to deal with more things right at someone's home, and it should be a big cost savings if we can get it up and running properly."
Aitcheson notes that the county will also be doing an internal review.
"We're going to do an organizational review, to see if there's areas that we can get a bit more efficient. It's a dollars and cents thing, because it seems every year we have to do more with less."
Of course, the official plan is also taking major precedent in the new year, and Aitcheson shares that quite a bit of legwork for the plan is done, but there are some kinks left to iron out.
"We've got a long ways through a lot the mapping and some of the changes we want to make. The big thing is, if there's different designations on properties, as an example, the residents have to be notified and there has to be public consultations, so there's still some finer points we have to go over yet."
The official plan should be ready for submission to the province by August, Aitcheson says. Going hand-in-hand with the plan is a focus on affordable housing, which is not unique to Perth County, as Aitcheson notes it seems to be a problem everywhere. But, it is a major focus for county council in 2022, as well.
"Affordable housing, the prices just keep going up and up and up, and people ask me a lot, 'Well, what can you do?' And there are a couple things, like denser housing areas, more rental properties, but we are working on it. We know the provincial and federal governments are rolling out a bunch of money toward affordable housing, but we haven' seen all the details yet."
Perth County created an affordable housing committee task force earlier this year to try and help plan or offer up ideas to address the issue in the county.
