From Sewage to Eco Park: How to Get Things Done on Council

Years of service with volunteer organizations and elected office have taught me that having a “good idea” will only get you so far. You also need to know HOW to see your ideas turn into reality. Like so many other things in life, we can post all we want on social media but that doesn’t make it real. What turns good ideas into reality is the hard work and know-how that goes on behind the scenes. We’ve all seen election promises and social media posts that go nowhere. Promising or posting doesn’t make it happen. Being able to leverage relationships, work with others, and understand how things work, that’s what gets it done.

Let’s take the decommissioning of the Holland Landing lagoons as an example.

When I was first elected to Council in late 2018, my first meeting was with the Regional Chair (who I knew from my previous elected work) to talk about, among other things, what it would take to finally decommission the sewage lagoons that had been stinking up our town since the 1970’s. He set me up with a meeting with the General Manager of Capital Infrastructure who was in charge of this facility. In that meeting, I set out to learn WHY the lagoons were still there, and stinky, and WHAT the plan and timelines were to have them decommissioned. Spoiler alert: It wasn’t anytime soon.

From there I went to our Town staff, still on a mission to understand the WHY.

·         WHY had nothing been done?

·         WHY had Council not been more vocal about this issue?

·         WHAT had been tried and

·         WHAT did a realistic path forward look like?

Armed with this information, I spoke with my colleagues to gain their support. Sadly, they actually laughed: “We’ve been asking for years. It’ll never happen. Save your breath.” No disrespect to those who had been on Council for a long time, a quick search of minutes of Council meetings shows decades of discussions and advocacy on this subject. So, I laid out for them what I knew and where I saw an opening for us to make a difference, how together we could FINALLY make this idea a reality.

I worked with the Region to have them come to Council to present on this topic. I worked with our staff to bring a Report and draft motion to Council so that we could formalize the decades of advocacy into a compelling call for action. I worked with my colleagues to understand their concerns, issues they wanted addressed and where they saw pitfalls. By the time it hit the Council table, everyone was on board and it passed unanimously.

With this unanimous resolution from Council, we could continue our advocacy with the Region and with the Province.

Fast-forward to 2024: the Region announced that the lagoons would no longer be in regular use and that they would be decommission by 2028.

But it doesn’t end there. I knew how important these lands were to migratory birds, local wildlife and residents who hike in the area, so I continued the advocacy to ensure the lands were protected from future development by having them designated in our new Official Plan (OP). This past June, the OP received the unanimous consent of Council and within that document the land is now designated as a “Significant Eco Park”.

"These lands are Region-owned and currently accommodate sewage lagoons. This designation recognizes the opportunity, through appropriate decommissioning and remediation, to turn this land resource into a significant Eco Park that has the potential to accommodate an environmental preserve for local flora and fauna, and to accommodate a range of ecological education and recreational facilities." East Gwillimbury Official Plan 2026

This is not a blog about how one person can do something on their own. If that’s your takeaway, you’ve missed the point. It’s about how an idea can become a reality by knowing HOW to work together, HOW to bring people along. Being curious to understand WHAT has already been done and WHY things are the way they are and WHERE there is an opportunity for positive change. And, to continue working towards your goal, even when they say it can’t be done.

So, when election candidates propose “great ideas”, be curious:

·         Ask HOW they will work with others to accomplish this

·         Ask WHAT they actually know about the issue beyond ‘it sounds good’

·         And ask WHY they think this has not already been done and listen for an understanding of what hurdles they may face

This will show you WHO understands the difference between having a great idea and making it a reality.