April 2014
| Business World Magazine | 147
T
he united counties of Leeds and Grenville lay claim to a unique piece
of territory.
They’re in an extreme southeastern nook of the province of Ontario,
where they are home to nearly 100,000 residents over more than 3,300 square
kilometers, have a significant stretch of coastline along the Saint Lawrence River
and share an international border with the United States.
But when it comes to infrastructure challenges, theirs are similar to the ones
being faced by myriad municipalities – both large and small – throughout the
province, the country and the world.
There are a lot of things to fix, and cash is tough to come by.
“It’s always sort of demonstrating that the spending we do is providing good
value, trying to balance conflicting demands for improving levels of service versus
maintaining infrastructure that we already have,” said Leslie Shepherd, the direc-
tor of works, planning services and asset development for the combined counties
for 14 years after an administrative stint in Haliburton County.
“A lot of it’s related to funding and the available money and making the most
of it, and declining to spend it where they can’t justify it – which is often just as
hard as spending it in the right place.”
