Council Highlights – February 24, 2026

Council heard a presentation from Sharon Halladay with the Lanark County Child and Youth Services Collaborative. She spoke about a new toolkit that helps create municipal spaces that are welcoming for youth, children, and families. The toolkit was developed by the Lanark County Child and Youth Services Collaborative and Every Kid in Our Communities. It gives future councils and municipal departments a guide to help build communities where families want to live and work. Council received the presentation as information.

A public meeting was held for a municipally initiated zoning by-law amendment to update zoning rules, including what can extend into required yard areas. Council will discuss this item at a future meeting.

Council approved making sewer and water capacity available for the equivalent of 200 new residential and non-residential units in 2026. This is on top of the 10 units set aside each year for infill development, as well as 10 affordable housing units from 2025 that were not used. The amount of unused capacity in the water and wastewater systems will be checked each year to make sure changes in demand and treatment capacity are tracked and reported to Council. 

Updates and merging of the Tax Registration Policy and Tax Collection Policy were endorsed by Council. One major change is reducing the number of notices in the tax registration process from three to one. Another change shortens the response time from 125 days to 30 days. This updated policy helps staff and Council address concerns from taxpayers more easily and gives staff clear guidance to make billing and collection fair, consistent and transparent.

Council received the review of the Strategic Asset Management Policy as information. The policy shows the major gaps across roads, bridges, vehicles, facilities, and other municipal assets and gives recommendations and options for Council to consider so these assets can be managed properly over their full life cycle. The policy outlines possible future funding sources as well, such as grants, reserves, money collected through taxes, and borrowing. 

Council approved staff to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with Lanark Community Alliance to develop affordable housing on municipally owned land at the southeast corner of Adelaide Street and McDermott Street. This agreement lasts four years and is similar to the one signed with the same group in 2022 for a project at 34 Victoria Street. Since then, the Municipality has started building the new Mississippi Mills Childcare Services facility on part of the land. The rest of the property is still covered by the agreement until it ends on March 14, 2026.

Committee of the Whole also heard the following items, which will be brought forward for approval at a future Council meeting:

• Approval of updates to the Reserves and Reserve Funds Policy for 2026.
• The recommendation report for the 195 and 197 Adelaide Street zoning by-law amendment.
• Quarterly reports for Protective Services, and Community and Economic Development.

Upcoming Meetings:

• Hybrid Council Meeting – Tuesday, March 10, 2026, 6 p.m. Committee of the Whole meeting to follow Council.
• Hybrid Council Meeting – Tuesday, March 24, 6 p.m. Committee of the Whole meeting to follow Council.