WELLINGTON NORTH – Council here has decided to embark on several green initiatives.
At an Aug. 23 meeting, council endorsed a recommendation to have township staff pursue a partnership with the county on a neighbourhood tree planting program.
“In order for trees to flourish, they need to go to the people that want the trees,” CAO Mike Givens told members of council.
“We all know that trees can become a major nuisance issue between neighbours. The intent of the program is to identify people who want trees, and who are going to take care of them, maintain them, and provide an incentive around that.”
Councillor Dan Yake called the implementation of a tree planting program a “work in progress.”
“We’re going to have to look at this from a whole bunch of different angles and see how it goes, but it’s a good start. I’m glad to see that it’s on our radar and that we’ll start to move forward with it.”
Council also supported a recommendation endorsing an annual tree planting day for township staff and council. This would involve the township partnering with the county’s Green Legacy program and possibly other partners as well, to plant trees in and around Earth Day on suitable township-owned lands.
Givens said partnering with the county’s Green Legacy program could help the township fill gaps in the township’s urban areas that are in need of trees.
“As we know, the county has a very, very elaborate tree growing program. Any way that we can tap into that further within the urban area, which I was told was the gap we’re trying to address, I think is great,” Givens said.
“That’s the intent of the neighbourhood tree planting program, is to try to address the urban gap.”
Move to e-billing
Council also voted in favour of endorsing a partnership with Wellington North Power on an incentive program to have customers move to e-billing, in order to reduce reliance on paper billing for electricity, water, and wastewater customers.
Additionally, council directed staff to investigate e-billing opportunities for property tax bills, to further reduce reliance on paper billing.
