Peterborough County Council has directed staff to investigate the process and details of implementing a Home Energy Efficiency Retrofit Program for residents.
During the June 24 County Council meeting, council received a delegation from Rebecca Danard, Director of Energy Programs, Climate Action Partnership outlining what a BetterHomes Retrofit Program may look like in Peterborough County.
separatelyIn the same meeting, a report from staff was also presented outlining what would be required of the County and individual townships should they wish to proceed with such a program. Selwyn and the City of Peterborough are both currently undertaking a BetterHomes program seperatly from the County.
BetterHomes Selwyn is set to offer 150 homes within the township retrofit loans starting in 2027.Staff proposed that the County start their program with only 50 homes, at a cost of almost $2M, throughout the entire County, according to the staff report presented to council, 17 per cent of residents within the County are experiencing energy poverty.
This means that they spend 10 per cent or higher of their after-tax income on energy costs. The Peterborough County energy poverty rate is three times higher than the national rate (5.6 per cent) and three and a half times the provincial rate (4.8 per cent).
Valerie and Fred of Worth Barking About, a natural dog treat business, set up as vendors at the Doggone Days of Summer event hosted at the Buckhorn Community Centre. More pictures from the event are inside this edition!
The Township of Selwyn is updating their parking by-laws to ensure consistency throughout the municipality.
Bryden Erdmann, emergency & risk management advisor for the township presented a report to council on June 23 outlining his recommendation to consolidate the township’s parking by-law and appoint provincial offences officers for enforcement through a third party.
His report stated that this update was needed because the township had various parking by-laws for different wards.
Erdmann explained to council that this by-law is not a complete rewrite of the townships parking regulations but rather a consolidation of all of the existing parking by-laws from
the Smith, Ennismore, and Lakefield Wards.
Erdmann said that the former Village of Lakefield had a comprehensive parking by-law established in 1988, while in Smith Ward, parking regulations were only established for specific problem areas and there were no parking restrictions established for the Ennismore Ward.
The by-law would also upload the responsibility of Queen Street and Bridge Street in the Village of Lakefield to the County of Peterborough.
Under the former by-law, the township was able to regulate the parking by-laws on these roads, however because they are classified as highways, new legislations mandates the County enforce any parking regulations.
Janice Lavalley has left the building.
The Selwyn Municipal Office Building, that is.
Lavalley, who has worked for the municipality for 37 years attended her last council meeting as an employee on June 23, 2026.
Her years of service were recognized at the council meeting.Mayor Sherry Senis said that Lavalley joined the former Ennismore Township in September 1988 in a municipal training program.
Less than a year later she was offered the position of deputy clerk/treasurer.Senis said that in January 1998 the former townships of Ennismore and Smith were amalgamated and Lavalley was named clerk/deputy treasurer of the new township.
Three years later there was another amalgamation with the former Village of Lakefield and in 2001 she was again named to that position.
She became CAO of what is now Selwyn Township in 2008 when the former CAO retired.
“For 37 years she’s been a steady hand in guiding our township administration,” Senis said “Elected officials come and go every four years but throughout these changes Janice has been a constant source of expertise, stability and sound advice."
This short documentary is a portrait of a tiny town, Lakefield, Ontario, and its independent weekly, the Herald. Across North America, newspapers are dying, but in Lakefield, Terry McQuitty, the town paper’s publisher, carries on a rich, 150-year-old tradition. Set to the pace of small-town life, Unheralded is a testament to the vital role newspapers can still play, and the close bond between reporter and reader.
