Central Frontenac Council -
Oct 14/08
By Jeff Greenr
Don’t assume what
you can unassume – Public Works Manager John Simcock brought
what he called “a pretty hot topic for four or five people in the
township” to Council’s attention during his public works report
to Central Frontenac Council on Tuesday night.
The Bobby Road, which
connects Long Lake Road to Frontenac Road near the hamlet of Mountain
Grove, contains no dwellings and is used “mostly as a shortcut”.
The Public Works department has put “unassumed road” signs at
both ends of the road.
Simcock reported that
“There is a divot of about 11 metres, the road is unstable, and a
culvert has to be replaced. We have to look at some of these roads
and decide which roads we can afford to keep up. It would cost
$9,000, which is not in our roads budget, to repair this road.
Instead we can keep it passable in the summer, grade it twice a year,
stop plowing it in the winter, and call it an unassumed road”.
“In the process of
stepping back from established roads, I think we need to go to a
public meeting. We shouldn’t make a decision arbitrarily,” said
Councilor Normand Guntensperger.
“That’s my
recommendation to Council. It should be posted ‘unassumed’ until
a decision is made about how to proceed,” said Simcock.
“I can’t accept that
we are going to make this an unassumed road. It is used by people,”
said Councilor Philip Smith.
A proposal came forward
that the road receive a temporary fix, and any further decision be
deferred to the discussion of a comprehensive Road Capital
Improvement plan later this fall.
“We can keep filling
the hole in the road,” said John Simcock, “but I’m against that
kind of practice”.
The signs will come down.
New ploughing routes –
As he promised when he came to his first meeting as Public Works
Manager, John Simcock has put together a new snow clearing system for
the coming winter.
The plan includes setting
up 10 fixed snow clearing routes and increasing the number of small
“finger roads” that will be handled by contractors instead of
township employees. However, the most unexpected proposal was to put
out a tender contract for the winter maintenance of Road 38.
“My recommendation is
that it will be for the township to tender this out,” said Simcock.
“This was done a long
time ago, and the prices went up and up and eventually the township
decided to buy a vehicle and take it over again,” said Councilor
Frances Smith.
“By tendering it out we
can see if it is possible for us to save money for our ratepayers. We
are not necessarily going to accept the tenders. If we don’t get
the right bid we can continue to do it ourselves,” said Mayor Janet
Gutowski.
Several councilors had
questions about the rest of Simcock’s proposals, including the
details about the snow clearing routes.
“I see that sometimes
smaller roads are being cleared before more travelled roads,” said
Councilor John Purdon.
“I can guarantee you
that under this program you won’t be waiting as long as you waited
last year for your roads to be cleared. I can guarantee that,” said
Simcock.
“From my perspective
this is the first time we have seen these ploughing routes, and we
can bring this back to the next meeting, but I warn Council that we
might be getting close to micro-managing here,” said Mayor
Gutowski.
The winter maintenance
plan will be brought back to the next meeting, and a meeting in
November will be devoted to the township’s comprehensive capital
road plan.
Water regulations –
The Public Health Unit did an inspection of the township halls on
October 6, and informed Township Chief Administrative Office Mark
Hall that the signs posed at the township halls saying the water may
not be potable, which were put up in order to comply with Ontario
water regulation 170, contravene another Ontario regulation, number
562.
As Hall explained in his
report, the township is left with the option of closing the kitchen
and food preparation facilities in the halls, or removing the signs
and entering into a bi-weekly water testing regime for bacteria, at a
cost of $2,000 to $3,000 for the balance of 2008.
Hall said he did not
recommend purchasing any filtration systems until the province
clarifies the regulations, which is expected to happen in December.
Council accepted the
recommendation to begin testing the water, and keep the kitchens open
in township halls.
School bus drivers
concerned – Council received a letter from Mimi Antoine, who
expressed concerns that have also been expressed by smaller bus
companies in North Frontenac about a new provincial request for a
proposal procurement process. The process would see them bidding for
the school bus routes they have been covering for years, and which
have always been passed along as older drivers retire and sell their
buses to younger drivers.
Drivers fear that large
operators such as Laidlaw Incorporated would bid on entire regions
and put them out of business
“The RFP process will
render my operation of NO VALUE. There are other small operators in
the same position and this market place will be flooded with
depreciated vehicles,” Antoine wrote.
