The Township of Oro-Medonte provides valuable services to residents, business owners, and visitors; ensuring opportunities for success through environmental stewardship, and responsible and sustainable growth, to ensure a safe and healthy environment for current and future generations.
Milestone Report
Financial Sustainability
Community Engagement & Trust
Employment Lands
Community Safety
Well Planned Development
Strengthen Operational Capacity
Strategic Plan - Implementation Status
The following table outlines the icons used to indicate the current status of actions taken for each objective in the Strategic Plan.
Complete
In Progress
Not Started
Deferred
On-going
Goal 1
Financial Sustainability
The Township will identify and implement new revenue sources, determine options to build necessary infrastructure reserves while balancing other financial demands of the Township, and implement plans that will result in improved cost efficiencies.
Objectives
Completion of the Township’s Asset Management Plan.
Status
Development of a long-term financial strategy to address Township infrastructure.
Refinement of business planning process to consider and optimize opportunities for new/expanded revenue sources and cost reduction.
Outcomes & Accomplishments
- Comprehensive review of fees and charges, including development charges and all service areas, increasing user-fee/external revenue and reducing reliance on tax funding.
- Secured $10,155,000 in compensation through the City of Barrie Boundary Facilitation Process.
- Anticipated receipt of $5,846,834 in Provincial Ice Storm funding ($3,504,720 received in early 2026 with remainder anticipated by year-end).
- Initiated long-term financial plan through the 2025/2026 budgets, implementing plan to continue to invest in infrastructure and increase annual contributions to reserves to address the infrastructure reserve deficit. Long term financial plan to be developed and be incorporated into 2028-2029 business planning and updated strategic plan.
- Initiated prudent investment strategy to increase returns on Township investments by 2.5% above historic returns (to be completed by year-end).
- Joined the County of Simcoe Insurance Pool, projecting savings of over $1.35 million over the first five years.
- Resolved multiple legacy files, reducing organizational risk and liability exposure.
- Secured external grants and capital contributions totaling more than $2,000,000 for 2024-2026.
- Strategic investments in capital and operations that reduce long-term operating costs, including:
- Vehicle GPS and fleet standardization
- Drainage program improvements
- Technology automation across operating areas, reducing manual processes and improving data-driven decision-making.
- Enhanced financial controls and policies, including updated purchasing bylaw.
- Reduced costs associated with legal fees by engaging legal counsel strategically and prioritizing early resolution of issues -avoiding costly hearings and controlling outcomes. Ex. Official Plan Appeal.
Goal 2
Community Engagement & Trust
We are committed to enhancing communication between the community and the Township, providing opportunities for the community to engage with us, and ensuring members of the public are aware of Township service levels.
Objectives
Development and implementation of customer service metrics across Township departments.
Status
Recruit, train, recognize, and retain volunteers to maintain service levels/service delivery model, and evaluate effectiveness of volunteer model.
Enhance the community’s understanding of Township services and standards through engagement in the budget/business planning process, and information provided through the Township’s communication channels.
Conduct regular satisfaction surveys to evaluate service delivery.
Development and implementation of a Community Engagement Policy.
Outcomes & Accomplishments
- Established Township Engagement Policy and Launched Engage Oro-Medonte, strengthening engagement with residents and the business community. Projects include: Planning dashboard
- Zoning By-law review
- Short-term rental regulation engagement
- Redesigned 2025/2026 budget process
- Enhanced project-specific engagement
- Established customer service standards and ongoing survey protocols, enhancing a customer-focused culture and continuous improvement in service delivery.
- Expanded use of data and performance metrics, improving accountability and public trust through enhanced reporting.
- Implementing online and telephone voting for the 2026 Municipal Election to increase voter participation and accessibility.
- Developed a Recreation Fee Assistance Program, reducing financial barriers and supporting inclusive community participation.
- Increased volunteer engagement in Fire and Emergency Services recruitment by 300%, with volunteers completing 5600 hours of training required for Provincial certification. This commitment and dedication has positioned the Township to achieve Provincial training requirements ahead of schedule, strengthening community readiness and emergency response capacity.
- Established employee engagement program, including pulse surveys, and updated the Township’s performance management program to enhance employee engagement, organizational alignment, and service delivery excellence.
Goal 3
Employment Lands
The Township will develop a business plan to establish necessary infrastructure for employment lands, assist private landowners wishing to sell and/or develop zoned employment lands, and work with the County of Simcoe regarding business opportunities.
Objectives
Development of a Business Plan and strategy to enable creation and development of employment lands inclusive of servicing.
Status
Outcomes & Accomplishments
- Ongoing advocacy with the County of Simcoe and the Province of Ontario to establish additional employment lands as identified in the Township’s updated Official Plan. Provincial approval of County of Simcoe Official Plan #7 recognizes the importance of the Lake Simcoe Regional Airport and the Township continues to advocate for the approval of non-decision lands, which were justified through the adoption of the new Township Official Plan. The approval of the non-decision employment lands will continue to be a priority to achieve employment lands objectives.
- Industrial/Commercial/Institutional (ICI) development activity: 35 new ICI projects representing approximately $91 million in construction value (2024 & 2025)
- Approximately 15% of developable industrial park lands remain available for development
- Investment Readiness Strategy in development for 2026–2027, which will provide Council & staff with a targeted business attraction plan that reflects current servicing and environmental limitations, land availability, zoning and access.
- Development of an updated public-facing inventory/map, supporting investment attraction.
Goal 4
Community Safety
The Township will actively continue to work and liaise with community stakeholders with the goal of addressing safety concerns in identified areas throughout the Township.
Objectives
Identification of community safety hot spots and establishment of improvement plan(s) to reduce safety incidents.
Status
Implementation of the Couchiching Community Safety and Well-being Plan.
Outcomes & Accomplishments
- Emergency Preparedness and Response: Effective response and recovery from the 2025 Ice Storm, including restoration of essential services and ongoing emergency management program development to strengthen community resilience.
- Implementation of 14 new Community Safety Zones across the Township to reduce speeding and improve road safety.
- Roadside safety improvements, including installation of 1,260 metres of guiderail at priority locations since 2023.
- 2025/2026 winter maintenance service standards met in 2026 with a record snowfall of 542 cm of snow (average snowfall is 335 cm).
- Replacement of the Warminster Hwy 12 Pedestrian Crossing, fully funded by the Province, improving pedestrian safety and accessibility.
- Achieved zero non conformances in municipal drinking water quality audits, demonstrating exceptional operational performance and full regulatory compliance.
- Fire and Emergency Services Training:
- 12 newly certified airboat operators, the largest roster since the program began.
- 5600+ hours of training required to achieve certification.
- Development of Short‑Term Rental (STR) licensing and regulatory By-law and framework (on target for mid-2026 implementation) to enhance community safety and accountability by ensuring eligible operators meet clear standards, reducing problem properties, and strengthening the Township’s ability to address concerns efficiently and effectively.
- Development and implementation of an Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS), improving efficiency and effectiveness in managing municipal offences.
- Installation of stand-by generators at the Jarratt and Hawkestone Community Halls, enhancing community support capacity during emergencies. Proactive replacement of aging generators to support critical infrastructure.
Goal 5
Well Planned Development
To the best of the Township’s ability, we will maintain municipal boundaries, enable development of an integrated community within the Horseshoe Valley Settlement area, and establish a Tree Canopy By-law for new development, for the purpose of preserving tree canopy coverage throughout the community.
Objectives
Work with municipal and provincial stakeholders to protect Oro-Medonte’s boundaries and ensure well planned regional growth.
Status
Ongoing implementation of the Township’s guiding Master Plans (i.e. Official Plan, Craighurst Secondary Plan, Road Network Plan, Parks and Recreation Master Plan, Economic Development Plan, Fire Master Plan, Master Servicing Plans etc.) to ensure the development of complete communities, and protection of the Township’s rural character.
Review of policies to protect the Township’s natural environment.
Enable development of an integrated community within the Horseshoe Valley Settlement area.
Working with stakeholders and the community, develop a placemaking strategy for the Craighurst community.
Outcomes & Accomplishments
- Advanced land needs discussions with Barrie and Orillia, resulting in:
- Land transfers representing less than 0.78% of Township land
- Over $10 million in compensation for lands transferred to the City of Barrie.
- Implementing Township’s First Growth Management Plan to be completed in early 2027, which will assess future land needs for housing and employment and outline how and where the Township should grow over the next 30-40 years.
- Opened the Simcoe Woods Community Centre (Phase 1) and Horseshoe Heights Public School, supporting community growth and recreational amenities.
- Developed and implementing the 2024–2029 Energy Management Plan and the 2025 Oro-Medonte Climate Action Plan, establishing measurable goals for energy conservation, emissions reduction, and environmental sustainability.
- Advocacy for Protection of the Oro-Moraine, including identification of green infrastructure asset and ongoing advocacy for enhanced provincial protections.
- Zone 1 Water System Implementation: 96 homes were connected in 2025 and another 72 are anticipated to be connected by end of 2026.
- Initiated Comprehensive Zoning By-law Review, to be completed in 2027, modernizing and updating zoning regulations and aligning them with updated Official Plan policies and growth objectives.Outcomes will include improved clarity, reduced variances, and alignment guiding planning policies.
- Completed 10 large drainage outlet projects to address legacy drainage issues reducing flooding in priority areas and resulting in a 58% reduction in drainage related service requests since 2020.
- Collaborated with Georgian Communities on the development of the Craighurst Master Plan, supporting a coordinated approach to phased growth, servicing, and placemaking. Opportunities for engagement are being reviewed for 2026 implementation.
- Servicing growth – Design of Shanty Bay Drinking Water Storage Expansion, Construction of Horseshoe Highlands Elevated Tower Rehabilitation and Warminster Reservoir Expansion by year end. Continued phased buildout of Craighurst servicing.
- Ontario Land Tribunal Decision on Remaining Appeals to the Official Plan – resolved outstanding appeals through settlement avoiding the cost of full hearing.
Goal 6
Strengthen Operational Capacity
The Township will undertake a number of initiatives to enhance and ensure operational efficiencies.
Objectives
Modernization and integration of the Township’s Information Technology Systems.
Status
Strategic human resources management including maintaining necessary staffing complements and succession planning.
Continuous improvement efforts for the purpose of enhancing project/program management throughout the Township (i.e. appropriate business planning, maintaining governance practices, ensuring appropriate training for staff and Council).
Undertake a corporate service review to determine long term service and human resource needs.
Outcomes & Accomplishments
- Advanced digital transformation/service delivery through modernization of systems and processes that improve operational efficiency, expand digital access to services, and strengthen a culture of continuous improvement and citizen centric service delivery.
- Developed and implemented a People and Culture Strategy that enhances recruitment, employee development, and engagement through modern, digitally enabled HR practices.
- Developed a digital Performance Management Program for all staff, incorporating competencies and annual goals to support organizational development, alignment, and accountability.
- Completed service reviews across operating areas, identifying issues, opportunities, and plans to integrate municipal best practices and support continuous improvement.
- Strategic investment in people, projects, and equipment is ensuring that the right work is carried out by the right people, at the right time and in the right way, resulting in more efficient and more effective service delivery, and that the Township is positioned to meet the service needs of a growing population.
- Supported by integrated financial planning and performance outcomes, established enhanced planning and control systems to strengthen governance oversight, improve transparency and reinforce accountability.
Contact Us
Township of Oro-Medonte Administration Centre
148 Line 7 South
Oro-Medonte, ON L0L 2E0
Phone: (705) 487-2171
Fax: (705) 487-0133
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