Issues facing Towship

Water and wastewater facts, 78 Colgan lawsuits and climbing, council refuses to support Bob Meadows to suspend the Everett earthworks agreement

Suspension of the Everett earthworks agreement : Attached below is the 20 minute video recording of the March 2026 council meeting split i two parts where Bob Meadows put a motion asking council to suspend the Everett earthworks agreement due to lack of updated documents. No one on council supported Bob Meadows. I have also attached the extract from the staff report where staff inform council the township could now face legal liability as they approved the earthworks. This is why we have lawsuits, why did council approve the Everett earthworks fully aware that there were lack of updated documents?
Colgan lawsuits : I have attached below a list of total 78 lawsuits filed by Tribute Colgan against purchasers of homes in Colgan. The township has already been named in 7 of the lawsuits by the purchasers of homes. Will the balance 71 purchasers also include the township as co-defendants? Where is all the money going to come from to defend all these lawsuits legal fees and any settlements if the township is found at fault as the emails from council clearly state that documents were not available and the Land Tribunal has provided emails that they did not approve any changes to the legal binding conditions. Will the past council who are responsible for the lawsuits that included Scott Anderson, Annette Bays, Deborah Hall Chancey aka Deborah Hall, Jonathan Pita and Ronald O’Leary who approved the Colgan development and all the current council besides Bob Meadows who removed the hold on Colgan let the residents know how the council plans to pay for all these lawsuits if the township is added as a co-defendant. These lawsuits do not include the lawsuit from the past township treasurer. As the 4 past councillor’s Annette Bays, Jonathan Pita, Deborah Hall Chancey aka Deborah Hall and our current Mayor and past councillor Scott Anderson petitioned both meetings, one to terminate the treasurer and the other to approve the subdivision agreement as I refused to call the meetings as past Mayor they should be paying for all these lawsuits along with the engineers, consultants and staff who have created this financial and legal mess for the residents and the Township.

Water and wastewater facts :

Regional system : Is a Regional water and wastewater system viable? Claims have been made by certain council members that one of the solutions to water and wastewater reduced rates is a Regional system. I have attached below the document from the County of Simcoe showing that this Regional system was discussed and researched in 2021 and 2022 by the County of Simcoe when I sat on Simcoe County Council and it was found to NOT be a viable solution financially. The last row in grey at the bottom of the report shows water and wastewater discussed as part of the RGR (Regional governance review).

Will growth really reduce water and wastewater rates? The claims being made that growth will reduce water and wastewater rates cannot be justified with factual costing analysis and subsidized rates. As per past costing the debt was to be paid off in 2025 now it has been moved to 2030 and the debt repayment keeps getting postponed and growing. With growth comes new wastewater plants and new wells. This new infrastructure needs maintenance and the new residents added on to the new system in these developments are required to pay for these costs through their water and wastewater bills. So, how is new growth going to reduce rates when new infrastructure is being added? Rates could only be reduced if the new developments used our existing infrastructure without adding new systems thereby adding more homes to the existing system to reduce capital and operating costs which could result in lower rates. Current growth in Colgan has not reduced the rates.

What is the future of Water and wastewater? Provincial Bill 60 and Bill 98 addresses the provincial plan for water and wastewater. The water and wastewater public corporation Act authorizes the provincial minister of Municipal affairs to remove water and wastewater services from local governments (municipalities) and assign them as “water and wastewater public corporations”. These independent public corporations will be authorized to take over water and wastewater services in municipalities. Bill 60 and 98 are awaiting third reading before Royal assent and becoming law. So, any talk of a regional system is nothing but false promises and giving residents false hopes of reducing the current water and wastewater rates.

The water and wastewater debt : The water and wastewater debt taken from working funds (general taxation) as a LOAN is unsustainable. This all started in 2014 when councils in order to get votes froze the water and wastewater rates rather than do what was recommended in the township water and wastewater study (watson report) and raise the rates around 10-15 cents each year as was done until 2014 and we had no water and wastewater debt.

The residents on water and wastewater need to realize that they have not financially benefitted from these subsidized and frozen water and wastewater rates. These subsidized rates are similar to a buy or use now pay later scheme. I will explain it below.

The developers in Colgan and Everett both refused to put this debt on the people purchasing their homes. It makes absolute sense as this debt was incurred for water and wastewater used by existing homes on municipal water and wastewater and not by new development. Why would a person buying a home in Colgan or Everett pay the debt caused by the township subsidizing the bill for water and wastewater used by residents on the municipal system. In the same way why are people on private wells and septic paying to subsidize a system that they do not use? This is similar to asking all the township residents to pay for another resident’s hydro bill as that resident cannot afford to pay their hydro bill. The township forcing the residents of Colgan to pay for past debt and then refusing to disclose the Colgan accounts is one of the many reasons for the lawsuit from purchasers of homes in Colgan.
Do residents really benefit financially from subsidized and frozen rates? As the municipal water and wastewater rates are subsidized, residents on water and wastewater are now left with a debt (LOAN) that has to be paid back PLUS interest. Had residents on water and wastewater just accepted the annual raise you would not incur this additional interest costs. So, did you really save any money when you have to pay back the loan PLUS interest? As this subsidy was a loan not a free grant how did the residents on municipal water and wastewater benefit financially from a LOAN? This subsidized and frozen water and wastewater rates is nothing but a political way to keep residents happy while burdening them with future loans and interest on the loans.
Is subsidizing / freezing water and wastewater rates really benefiting you? I will explain this with an example. Let’s take two homes both on municipal water and wastewater, one home is assessed for property taxes at $500,000 and the other home at $1,000,000. The way the subsidy works is the difference between the subsidized / frozen rates and the actual rate is covered by taking money from working funds also known as Municipal property taxes. For example the home assessed at $500,000 pays $500 in property taxes and from this $500, 20% or $100 is used to subsidize the difference between the subsidized / frozen rate and the actual rate. Now take the example of the home assessed at $1,000,000 who pays $1,000 as property taxes and from this $1000, 20% or $200 is used to subsidize the difference between the subsidized / frozen rates and the actual rate. Based on the above two scenarios the home owner assessed at $1,000,000 is now subsidizing the home owner assessed at $500,000 by $100 (difference between $100 and $200). Think of this financially, would you not be better off paying a slightly higher rate and having control on your own bill for water and wastewater rather than you subsidizing a home assessed at a lower value for municipal taxes?
In 2021-2022 when I was Mayor, majority of council made a one time billing of $200 to residents on the municipal system to avoid increasing the water and wastewater debt (LOAN) and some residents complained about the $200 one time payment. Did you all realize that by paying that $200 one time payment you reduced the debt and interest on the debt? Had we not billed that $200 in 2021-2022, today that $200 would have been around $224 with interest. So, how are residents benefiting with the debt (Loan) and. Interest?
Subsidizing rates resulted in numerous leaks in water pipes as repairs were not done and you were paying for all this treated water leaking and it was adding to your debt. So, you are paying for water leaking that you did not even use.
Remember, no one in this world gives you subsidized rates for free, there is always a catch somewhere and in this case you are left to pay all the debt plus interest. Ask yourself did you really benefit financially from these subsidized / frozen rates ? How did you benefit if you have to pay back the loan with interest or did the politicians who put the subsidized rates in place benefit by keeping you happy to get your votes?

I have nothing against any politician and encourage people to stand for elections. All that I ask is that candidates run their campaigns on facts and what can really be done to reduce the water and wastewater rates. There are mechanisms in place that council could use but council has refused to look into other ways to address the water and wastewater rates as council preferred to just rubber stamp staff reports rather than investigate whether the staff reports recommendations were in the best interest of the residents. When Bob Meadows and myself raised concerns with inaccuracies in the staff reports we were told that we are micromanaging and harassing staff. Now we are all left paying the price with unsustainable debt and lawsuits while those staff have left and gone.

Simcoe County RGR (Regional Governance Report)

March 2026 council video recordings (two parts) showing no one on council supported Bob Meadows motion to suspend the Everett earthworks agreement although Bob informed council of lack of updates documents and reports.