Joanna Green made the deputation to Council pointing to what she described as “poor planning, lack of oversight, systemic operational failure, project mismanagement, and inadequate communication.”

The project, which runs along the Millennium Trail, was estimated at $12 million in 2021. By the time it went to tender in 2023, the estimate was $16.1 million, with another $6 million budgeted for a sewage pumping station that Ms. Green said had been omitted from the original project.

Staff reported in June that the project cost had reached $31 million.

Construction began in fall 2024 with a targeted completion date of June 2025, yet the work is ongoing.

Ms. Green cited a range of concerns, including prolonged construction traffic on residential streets, groundwater flooding at the pumping station site, problems with contaminated soil, changes to the elevation and condition of the Millennium Trail, flooding on Wharf Street, silt contamination in Lane Creek and insufficient municipal oversight.

She said residents were left to identify and report problems themselves.

“Instead of municipal staff catching errors and addressing them proactively, impacted residents were forced to act as unpaid site inspectors,” she said.

The condition of the trail was a particular concern. Ms. Green alleges that excess soil from the pumping station site resulted in portions of the trail being raised several feet above neighbouring properties. While the municipality eventually arranged for two to three feet of soil to be removed from the most affected areas, that added another $1 million to the project cost.

The situation raised questions about how the pumping station could have been omitted from the original tender and whether better planning and oversight could have prevented the groundwater flooding and soil issues.

“Everything you said is correct,” Councillor Braney told Ms. Green. “It’s disappointing.”

Mr. Braney also raised concerns about the soil and environmental issues surrounding the project, asking whether the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks had been contacted.

Chief Administrative Officer Adam Goheen said the County’s geotechnical consultant had prepared a letter regarding the soil and that staff were working with MECP and Quinte Conservation.

Councillor Engelsdorfer asked whether an independent review should take place before Council makes further decisions about large infrastructure projects.

“There does need to be a review to see what went wrong, how it went wrong, and what can be done to prevent this from happening again in the future,” said Ms. Green. “Don’t overpromise and underperform.”

Mr. Goheen said staff are applying lessons from Wellington to projects including the Bloomfield Connecting Links/Main Street and County Road 49. “We’re learning as we go,” he said.

“The steps taken with Bloomfield and County Road 49 are light years ahead of our history with Wellington,” Mayor Ferguson said.

Mr. Goheen said the County had not planned to conduct an external review or provide a formal report to Council, although staff intend to continue examining what went wrong and what could have been done differently.

“We certainly don’t want a repeat of this project,” he said.