North Frontenac Service Delivery review

With more than a little bit of a push from the Province of Ontario, municipal councils throughout Ontario are completing service delivery reviews and asset management plans.

North Frontenac is the first local township to go through these exercises, and on Monday, February 11, North Frontenac Council was the first to receive reports from the auditors at KPMG about their operating costs and the capital costs they face over the next 10 years.

And in the North Frontenac case, the news was not as bad as some councilors thought it was going to be.

“This township is a well-run township in our estimation, given the municipalities we have looked at in recent years,” said Bruce Peever of KPMG after delivering his final report. “Of course you have issues that are not easy to deal with and there is a certain political element to financial decision-making and certain expectations about service levels to grapple with.”

“If we were doing poorly, would you tell us that?” asked Councilor Lonnie Watkins in response.

“We did talk to one municipality that had significant issues. We weren’t necessarily blunt but we certainly weren’t as flowery in our language,” said Peever.

One of the major features of the Services Review report were comparisons with 6 other municipalities of the same approximate size as North Frontenac that are located nearby. These included Central Frontenac and Addington Highlands.

North Frontenac has significantly higher administration costs than the others, but Bruce Peever said there is no uniformity to how different municipalities account for administration costs. He pointed to only a moderate potential for cost savings through re-organizing some job descriptions.

On the other hand, the potential for savings in the Fire Rescue service, Community Services (community halls, economic development, street lights etc.), roads, and waste management are all listed as “high”.

The report concludes that the current fire service, “specifically the wide range of rescue services and the number of fire halls – could be adjusted to provide for cost savings, recognising the associated reduction in service levels and potential for public relations implications.”

Similarly the report concludes that the “operation of five community halls represents an opportunity for consolidation to allow for the construction of a new municipal facility.”

In terms of roads, the report says that “current service levels exceed the minimum service level standards,” but it recognises any reduction in service brings with it “the potential for adverse response by residents”.

The waste management service levels were also flagged as being well higher than the minimum service level standard, and in that case Bruce Peever said the township may consider combined purchasing of engineering and monitoring services with other townships.

Overall, North Frontenac spends less than the average of the 6 comparator townships on waste (73%) and roads (68%).

In a section called “Opportunities For Savings” Peever note that one of the easiest things to do would be to cut Council down from 7 to 5 members (the mayor and deputy mayor, elected at large, and one representative from each of the 3 districts), which would save $38,000 per year.

Closing three halls (Harlowe, Snow Road and Clar/Mill), which is not quite as easy to do, would save about $37,000 in maintenance costs per year and save over $100,000 in capital costs that are going to be required at those three halls.

$80,000 per year could be saved by developing tiered response for winter road maintenance (i.e. cutting back on service to secondary gravel roads) and $15,000 per year could be saved by joint tendering with neighbouring municipalities for purchase of salt/sand/calcium.

Potential changes in fire service, administration, and waste management are noted, but the potential savings were not included in the report.

Because KPMG projects that North Frontenac will need to increase its spending on road and bridge capital improvements by over 3% from 2012 levels, it projects that operating costs need to come down by $161,000 in order to keep taxation at the same level as 2012.

After receiving the information from KPMG, Council moved into a discussion of the 2013 budget.

CF Budget target set

After listening for two days as department heads went through their budget requests, Central Frontenac Council has asked the interim CAO Cathy MacMunn and Treasurer Michael McGovern to make some cuts to the proposed budget and bring the document back to council. The target that council set was for the overall budget, including education and county rates, to stay within a 2.5% tax rate increase. With the average property seeing an increase in assessment of 2.73% this year, that would mean the average Central Frontenac ratepayer would end up with an increase of over 5% in their 2013 property tax bill.

Township planner to pay price for budget shortfall

Central Frontenac has employed the services of Tunnock Consulting ever since the township came into existence in 1998. The township pays Glenn Tunnock a small retainer of $2,500 each year so that he will handle all planning work that comes forward from local residents and developers for zoning bylaw and official plan amendments, site plan agreements, etc. The fees charged to applicants cover Tunnock's fee for completing the work. Glenn Tunnock has also written the township’s Official Plan and Comprehensive Zoning bylaw and the updates to those documents as well, and he charges the township for that work.

With an official plan review scheduled for this year, Council is now reconsidering their relationship with Tunnock.

As council was going over the budget for planning in their 2013 budget, Mayor Gutowski said, “There is a way to save money here. There is $16,000 in the budget to pay Glenn Tunnock for an Official Plan Review. If we switch to the County for planning services, there will be no charge for the review.”

Council's interest was piqued.

“Could we just have the County do the Official Plan Review, and leave everything else as it is?” asked Councilor Norm Guntensperger.

“I'm not sure that we can pick and choose,” said Gutowski. “The offer to do all of our work for free was part of an offer to take over the entire service.”

“I move that we have staff investigate having the county do our planning, so we can cut $16,000 from our budget,” said Guntensperger.

The motion was carried, setting the stage for a change.

The Frontenac County Planning department already provides service for the Township of Frontenac Islands and has an open offer to take on the work from North Frontenac Township, which also uses the services of Tunnock Consulting.

Frontenac County has two planners on staff, and their salaries are covered through county-wide taxation.

South Frontenac Township, which saw $30 million in new construction activity in 2012, has its own in-house planning department.

Snow Road Hall repairs reinstated

The phone lines were buzzing last week in Snow Road and Mississippi when residents found out about a decision that North Frontenac Council has made at a budget meeting a couple of weeks earlier.

After receiving word that a grant application to cover 1/3 of the cost of bringing the kitchens at all of their township halls up to a new safety standard had been successful, Council decided to fore-go over $8,000 of the grant money, thus saving the $17,000 township cost for the upgrade of the Snow Road Hall. At the same time they voted to accept the grant money for the other four halls and commit to upgrading them (Plevna, Harlowe, Ompah, and Cloyne).

After an emergency community meeting on Friday, (February 1), Lori Ryder and Sheila Kittle attended Monday's regular North Frontenac Council meeting to try to convince the council to change their minds.

In making the decision about the Snow Road Hall, council took into account that the Snow Road Snowmobile Club is a suitable location for community events and dinners. However, Lori Ryder pointed out that “The Snow Road Snowmobile Club is a private entity and their rental rates are unaffordable for the Snow Road community. Also, the club gives priority use to snowmobilers during the winter season, and is in fact open 24/7 for such purpose."

Sheila Kittle also pointed out that a number of uses are planned for the Snow Road Hall once the flooring is changed later this year, a project that is being financed through fund-raised dollars.

“The Snow Road upgrade is also the least expensive and the hall is the least expensive to operate and is in excellent repair,” said Sheila Kittle.

Councilor John Inglis was the first to respond.

“When we voted on this it was in ignorance of some of the details. I would be in a position of changing my vote. I think perhaps we made a mistake in the vote,” he said.

In the end Council voted to reverse their decision and will accept the grant money. The township share of the cost will come from parkland reserve funds that come from the sale of road allowances, etc. so it will not impact the 2013 budget.

“It is not true that this is not going to be paid for by taxpayers, however,” said Mayor Clayton. “All the money comes, one way or another, from taxpayers.”

Although the township will now be upgrading all of their halls, they also passed a motion declaring all of their halls, save the Barrie Hall, surplus in seven years, paving the way for the potential closure at that time.

“All these halls are very costly to operate. That's one of the reasons we started looking at costs. It is sort of a wake up call, we have five and they are very costly to run. We may have to have one central one instead, which would be a lot cheaper to operate in the long run,” said Deputy Mayor Fred Perry.

Cell towers: Elizabeth Newell appeared before Council on behalf of Bell Mobility to talk about plans for three cell towers in the central and eastern parts of the township, and a possible fourth tower. She asked that council speedily send letters of concurrence for the proposed towers, and also asked that a section of Mountain Road be maintained on a year-round basis by the township in order to allow access to a planned tower on the Tooley property. Bell is planning to introduce service to customers in those regions within a year.

No reversal on Ice Water Rescue: Councilor Inglis submitted an administrative report asking council to reconsider its decision to cease offering ice water rescue out of the Ompah fire station (the only station in the township that had been offering the service). He did convince Councilor Lonnie Watkins to change his vote, but that was all and the vote for reconsideration was defeated.

Funding requests: Don Amos, Executive Director of Northern Frontenac Community Services, outlined the youth programming offered by the agency in North Frontenac. He requested $5,400 in funding support for 2013.

The township also received a letter from Land O'Lakes Community Services requesting funding support to the tune of $1 for every resident of Barrie ward (about $1,200) to help fund seniors' programming.

Both requests were referred to budget deliberations.

Council also decided to spend $900 on a 2013 Recreation Guide, to be produced by the Frontenac News.

Recycling numbers – good and bad: Public Works Manager Jim Phillips presented a report on recycling in the township, based on the criteria developed by Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO). While township residents have achieved a 55% recycling rate when volume of material is considered – i.e. the landfills receive 55 bags of recycling for every 45 bags of waste - the WDO makes their calculations based on weight, and on that basis they determine that North Frontenac recycles only 25% of material.

“They use weight and since we don't have scales they use estimates that may not have anything to do with the reality in our sites,” said Phillips, “but that is how it is”

WDO pays a rebate to the township to cover recycling efforts, this year that comes to almost $100,000. However the recycling program costs $250,000 to operate, leaving ratepayers on the hook for $150,000

NF wants all gas tax dollars to flow to the townships: In a letter to Frontenac County and the Frontenac townships, North Frontenac requests that all the federal gas tax rebate money that flows to Frontenac County be sent directly to the lower tier townships to help them with their infrastructure needs, since Frontenac County does not have responsibility for local infrastructure. In recent years, Frontenac County has financed sustainability initiatives using gas tax rebate funds, while transferring a portion to the townships for road and bridge repairs.

Revised Committee Structure

For the past year, Council has used a committee structure to guide and streamline discussion at Committee of the Whole: following recent assessment, the Development Services Committee has been discontinued. Council approved the following appointees for the remaining two standing committees: Public Services, Al McPhail, John McDougall, and Cam Naish; Corporate Services, Ron Vandewal, Mark Tinlin, Larry York and Bill Robinson. Committee of Adjustment continues to have two representatives from each district: councillors Tinlin, Vandewal, Robinson and York, and citizen appointees David Hahn, Len McCullough, Larry Redden and Ken Gee.

Public Works

Council approved several tenders recommended by Public Works Manager Segsworth: a half ton extended cab truck from Edwards Ford for $32, 798; consulting engineering services for the James Wilson Road culvert from the Greer Galloway Group, for $29,201; and Smiths Construction Company for supply and application of the Township’s surface treatment in the amount of $447,933. These expenditures 
were all part of the 2013 budget.

Council endorsed the new Waste Disposal Sites Operational Plan, to be implemented on May 1 of this year. The Public Works Department will be hosting public information sessions over the next few months to communicate and promote these changes.

Cemetery Rates Amended

Perpetual care charges have been reduced from $750 to $300 for traditional lots, and from $375 to $150 for cremation lots.

t was a quiet opening of the year for members of South Frontenac Council, with the only cointrentious issue being one that is not yet before Council. There was a sizable crowd of people in attendance at the first meeting, but at the start of the meeting Mayor Davison pointed out that the issue that the crowd came to hear about was not on the agenda.

"I expect you are all here to find out about a subdivision proposal in the Hartington, adn we have two letters about it that as part of our information pacakge, but there is nothing on the agenda about that project tonight. So far the township has not received anything about that project, so there is nothing forn us to o about it. If someone is digging or drilling on their own proeprty it is not a concern of the township until they come forward with something. I just wanted to let you poeple know about that so you aren't waiting here for something to happen that isn't goignt o happen," Davision said.

There were to letters in the information package about a proposed subdivision on Part of Lot 7 Concession 7, Portland District, which was called the "proposed Asselstine suibdivision development by in the letters, whichwere sritten by Dan and Sandra Bell and Bill and Virgina Redmond. The Redmonds and the Bells both live on Boyce Road, and bot expressed cocners about the impact of a ssubdivision on water quality, traffic flow, sewage, etc.

"If we do get a zoning amendment or subdivision application we will hold public meetings," said Davision, "but as of now the township has nothing to look at."

Changes in committee structure

CAO Wayne Orr syubmitted a report listing the committees of Council that have one year appointments attached to them. these inlcuded the Public Services, Corporate Services, and Development Services Commitees as well as the Committee of Adjustment.

BEfore appointing members of Counciln to the committees, questions were raised about the way the committees are structured. While a concensus emerged that the Public and Corporate Services Commitees are working effectively, the need for the Development Servcies Committee, which meets rarely, was questioned. As well, the possibillity of cutting the Council representation ferom 4 to 1 on the Committeee of Adjustment, was raised. ther are four members of the public, one from each ward, serving four year terms on the Committee of Adjustment, and it was put forth that a single Councillor who would chair the committee, might be sufficient.

CAO Orr said that it would be wise tro defer the questrions that were being raised to a Committee of the Whole meeting on Janaury 29th, as long as the existing memebrs of the Public and Corporate Services Committeees could remain in place for anotehr month so the committees can carry on their wrok. This was done.

Kudos to Public Works from Bill Robinson

Councillor Bill Robinson, who has on occasion been critical of the Public Works departmetn over the years, rose to say that the department has done an "excellent job keeping the roads plowed this winter."

Central Frontenac loses another CAO

Cathy MacMunn was appointed as acting Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) for Central Frontenac in a special council meeting that took place on December 20. She replaced CAO/clerk Shawn Trepanier, who had been absent from the position for a number of weeks leading up to the Christmas holidays. On the same day that MacMunn was appointed, the township received a formal letter of resignation from Trepanier.

At the regular meeting of Central Frontenac Council on Tuesday (January 8) Mayor Janet Gutowski said that MacMunn will fill the position until further decisions can be made about finding a new permanent CAO. Asked about details regarding Trepanier's resignation Mayor Gutowski said, “He did not disclose many details but he had been hired as a new person coming from out of the area and that was our one reservation. We were never entirely sure how long he would stay on.”

Shawn Trepanier is the 5th CAO to resign the position in the past 6 years. The others were Heather Fox, John Duchene (twice) and Mark Hall.

CF Budget 2013

Treasurer Michael McGovern requested that council give staff direction regarding the tax rate increase that they would like to see in this year's budget. Staff will be bringing back preliminary numbers at their January 22 meeting. In terms of background, McGovern reported that inflation in Ontario is currently at 1% per year. McGovern also presented some troubling numbers about the state of the township's infrastructure. He said that last year, as in previous years, capital spending by the township, at just over $1 million, covers only 23% of the amortization cost of the aging roads and bridges within the township.

Nonetheless, Council asked staff to keep the budget in tight check.

Councilor Norm Guntensperger said that he supported a 0% increase or even a decrease in tax rates. Councilor Tom Dewey did not disagree but said that a more realistic number might be about 2%. Dewey also suggested looking at user fees and generating more income for hall rentals.

Non resident charged with illegal garbage dumping in CF

In his report, public works manager Mike Richardson reported to council that a non-area resident had been charged and fined $625 for the illegal dumping of six bags of garbage in the township after a by law enforcement officer identified the culprit from a name and address found in the bags.

Richardson also reported that he has received a number of complaints about snow clearing in recent weeks. He said that he was aware of the complaints and will be dealing with them in a timely fashion. He and his crew had their hands full clearing and sanding roads and also managed to remove excess snow from local area businesses in Sharbot Lake, Parham and Arden over much of the holiday season.

Council supports SLFM application to county

Council unanimously supported an application by the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market to Frontenac County for a proposed $17,500 in improvements to the their Oso beach location that will improve the landscape around the pavilion, the parking area and the beaches public washroom facilities. The application asked for council to cover $2500 of the costs with the county reimbursing council for the remaining $15,000.

Dog Tag fees increased

Council passed a motion to increase the fee for a dog tag from $9 to $12 , $3 less than the proposed increase to$15

Firehouse Software Application approved

Council approved, at a cost of up to $2,348, fire house software that will enable multiple users to connect at one time.

Council rejects conditions behind CFDC grant

Sue Leslie asked council to support an application to the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation (CFDC) for $5,000 for an engineering study to establish the structural integrity of the soon to be vacated Hinchinbrooke School in Parham. Leslie represents the group that seeks to turn the school into a community centre.

However, the CFDC said they will only approve the grant if council passed a motion indicating that they intend to purchase the building if the study indicates that the school is structurally sound.

After much discussion council decided not to make that commitment, and the grant will not be forthcoming.

Council did agree to officially ask the Limestone District School Board for any of the building reports they have done for Hinchinbrooke PS in recent years.

At their first meeting of 2013, Addington Highlands Council consider at least two items that could have a significant impact on this year's budget.

Fire Chief Casey Cuddy presented the preliminary architectural plans for a new fire hall in Northbrook. The plans could form the basis of a design/build contract for the fire hall, but the all-important question of cost has not been formally addressed at this point.

Councillors looked at the plans and made suggestions, which Cuddy said will be incorporated into a final set of plans that he will present at the next meeting.

“I think these will work, but we will need a site plan to determine how this building will fit onto the property that we have for it.” said Cuddy.

Property Manager for Township Community Centres

The Addington Highlands Community Centre in Denbigh has become a legacy project for the current Council. It is already the satellite office for the Lakelands Family Health Team, the home of the Denbigh Library, and will soon be housing a cafe, and will have a number of other community uses.

Until now, it has been members of Council who have been overseeing the operation of the building, and when the job description for a caretaker for the building was being developed by Councillor Tony Fritsch, he quickly realised that the building will require someone familiar with building maintenance as well as a number of provincial regulations that pertain to multi-purpose public buildings.

“It really is a building manager that is needed. I think we might consider a one year term contract, so if the person is not suitable or we want to re-think the job we will have that option,” said Fritsch about a proposal he was putting forward to establish the new township staff position to look after all the community halls.

“It's most likely going to cost about $50,000 per year,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

Council approved a motion to accept the position in principle and will consider the matter during budget deliberations.

Extended health benefits – Reeve Hogg asked Council if they would like him to get a quote on extended health insurance for township employees who have worked for the township for over 20 years. The insurance would cover the employees while they are between the ages of 60 and 75, after they have retired from their job with the township.

“I can have a look at this if Council wants me to,” said Hogg.

There are only two employees in position to receive the benefit, if Council goes for it, clerk Jack Pauhl, and roads superintendent Royce Rosenblath.

“What about members of Council who have sat for over 20 years,” asked Councillor Adam Snider, looking over at Reeve Hogg.

“I'm getting so close to 75 that it really doesn't matter,” said Hogg.

Council supported pursuing the idea and Hogg will seek some pricing.

$20,000 contract to Jewel Engineering – The township has received a provincial grant for just over $20,000 to complete an asset management plan.

“There is no point putting this to tender since everyone knows how much money we have available for it,” said Henry Hogg.

Hogg then said that Jewell engineering of Belleville has prepared reports on the state of the townships’ roads and bridges in recent years, so they probably already have most of the necessary information available to them.

“Are you suggesting we just have Jewell do it,” asked Councillor Helen Yanch.

“They have the history, they know the roads,” said Hogg.

A motion to go directly to Jewell to prepare the asset management plan was approved in a recorded vote. There were no nay votes.

Navigo to track township equipment

Royce Rosenblath reported that a Lennox and Addington County initiative to install GPS tracking software on all roads equipment will be in place soon. The software will enable each vehicle to be located at all times, to track the amount of material being spread on roads and much more.

“We keep good logs but this will give detailed and accurate data that would stand up in court, if anything ever came to that,” said Rosenblath.

In a 7-2 vote, members of Frontenac County Council, approved a resolution that reads: “Warden Gutowski has lost the confidence of Frontenac County Council. Warden Gutowski is being asked by Frontenac County Council to immediately resign from the Warden's position.”

Warden Gutowski and John Purdon, both from Central Frontenac, opposed the motion.

Although the motion expresses the will of the Council, it is not binding, and Warden Gutowski did not resign once the motion was passed.

Although it has been the practice for Frontenac County Wardens to resign after serving for one year, according to the county procedural bylaw the warden is elected for the entire term of Council, which runs until the end of 2014.

South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison, who served a s Warden in 2011, the first year of the current term, and then resigned last December, made the strongest statement of any of those who spoke in favour of the motion.

“We had a strategic planning meeting on November 28th, and everything that was brought up there was about understanding our roles, and about teamwork. That does not make any sense to me any more in light of what the Warden is doing. It is total disrespect for 146 years of tradition. It flies in the face of democracy. The understanding is that it has always been a one-year term for warden, and that the Warden serves at the pleasure of Council. The only thing that makes me feel better about this is that dictators tend to not last that long,” said Davison.

John Macdougall, who did not comment when the issue of Gutowski remaining as warden was first raised a week ago, said this time that he would be supporting the motion asking for her resignation.

“In our inaugural meeting, right in the minutes, there are comments about the fact that each mayor would have a chance to be a warden during the four year term of council. I believe in one year appointments because each of us has been elected to build relationships between ourselves and the other townships, the relationship is much stronger if each Mayor gets a turn being Warden.”

For her part, Warden Gutowski was defiant in the face of the statements by many members of Council.

“I was very well aware of the term of warden, had done my research and my homework. I have been concerned that the warden has been changing every year because of concerns about continuity. Under the circumstances, I have made the decision that I will remain as warden for the current time; I have not said that I will remain the warden for an entire year. Frankly, I am embarrassed by this motion,” she said.

After the motion was passed, Gutowski said, “I don't know if members of Council know this, but on the chain of office the name of Phil Leonard is listed as warden for the year 2000, 2001, and 2003.

“He served those years because he was asked to do so by his fellow councillors, not because he refused to leave. He served at the pleasure of Council, the exact opposite of that you are doing” said Gary Davison.

“I don't know what happened. I wasn't here then,” said Gutowski, who then moved on as if the motion had never been passed, saying “we will now move on with our agenda.”

Other members of Council were not as willing to move on, however.

By an overwhelming majority, Council refused to receive a presentation regarding a proposed strategic plan for the coming years.

“This is a very nice report,” said Gary Davison, “Unfortunately I cannot accept it because it talks about co-operation, and we have just seen that there is no such thing as co-operation on this Council.”

“To me this report has been co-opted by the staff. I should also point out that it does not even spell Wolfe Island correctly. The Island was named after the general, not the animal,” said Frontenac Islands Mayor and Wolfe Island resident Dennis Doyle.

The strategic plan, which was funded out of the 2012 budget, was rejected in a vote of 7-2.

After that, the meeting continued for another two hours without incident.

Ompah fire station site gets clean bill of health

The property where North Frontenac Township is considering locating a fire hall in Ompah has finally been given the green light from the engineering company that was hired to complete environmental assessments on it.

The final action that was required under what is called a phase 2 assessment was the removal and disposal of some 15 tonnes of soil, which had levels of arsenic that the engineers, Malroz Inc. describe as “marginally above” provincially regulated standards.

The entire assessment process cost the township about $30,000, which will be taken from the monies budgeted for fire hall construction.

In related news, the Ompah fire hall task force met on December 20. At that time they toured the existing facility, along with Dan Koroscil from the Ontario Fire Marshall's office. After looking at an inventory of the hall's equipment and considering confidential reports from the fire chief and deputy chiefs from Ompah, Snow Road, and Plevna, the task force heard from Dan Koroscil.

He encouraged them to take a business-like approach to the decision about a new fire hall, and to focus their attention on the core fire services that the township is going to be able to offer in the coming years.

The first key decision that the tax force will make could happen at a meeting scheduled for today, January 17, when they are expected to discuss whether to renovate the existing hall and move the equipment around or to build new.

Among the factors that will play into that conversation are concerns over a declining population of permanent residents, and the fact that while the existing hall is “in good shape” it is too small for current operations and there is cracking present in the concrete from the weight of the trucks. On average 60% of the Ompah crew shows up for a given call and the response time is approximately 20 minutes.

More fire issues

While visiting the Ompah fire station, Dan Koroscil of the Ontario Fire Marshall's Office took notice of the vintage tanker truck at the station. Koroscil pointed out that the tanker does not have the sufficient baffling that is required by the National Firefighter Protection Association (NFPA) standards.

Since this fact was included in the minutes from the Fire Hall Task Force meeting that was before Council, another question of liability was raised.

“If that tanker does not meet the NFPA standards, we should be taking it off the road,” said Councilor Wayne Good.

The matter is further complicated by the fact that a similar tanker is in service at the Plevna fire hall as well.

“We did budget to have those tankers replaced, but that is in four years' time,” said Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Robson.

“For me, taking those tankers off the road would be totally irresponsible. We are looking at one risk and not at the other risk, that being that we will no longer be able to fight fires,” said Councilor John Inglis.

“For me you have shown due diligence. You have recognised a problem, and if you show a plan to deal with that problem by bringing the cost of replacing those trucks into this year's budget consideration, you are mitigating that risk. From my experience with the Ministry of Labour, once you recognize the problem and take appropriate steps, you have dealt with the problem,” said Fire Chief Riddell.

Council passed a motion committing to taking the two tankers out of service as soon as it is practical.

Building stats down again in 2012

At first glance the building statistics for 2012, as contained in a report from Chief Building Official George Gorrie, look respectable. In 2012, 106 permits were issued, and over $90,000 in fees were collected for a construction value of $6.23 million.

However, when compared with 2011 and 2010 the numbers portray a downward trend. In 2010, 139 permits were issued, over $140,000 in fees were collected for a construction value of over $8 million. In 2011 permits dropped to 124, fees to $106,000 and construction values were $7.68 million.

The numbers of new residences, on or off the water, was 19 in 2012, down from 26 in 2011 and 33 in 2010.

Tough love for septic re-inspection avoiders

Council decided that in 2013, in addition to carrying out voluntary septic inspections on selected waterfront properties, it will institute a program of mandatory inspections for those properties whose owners who have not responded to the repeated requests for voluntary participation in the program.

In 2012, only 40 re-inspections were completed, out of a goal of 100 per year. The agency running the program, the Mississippi Rideau Septic System Office, reported that the rate of response to requests to conduct inspections dropped off to 30% in 2011 and 17% in 2012.

New provincial regulations allow for mandatory inspections, and in a similar manner to something Tay Valley Township has done, North Frontenac will begin forcing reluctant property owners to allow their septic systems to be inspected. Inspectors will have the authority to order repairs of replacement of systems where necessary, under the authority of the Ontario Building code.

Mississippi Valley Conservation (MVC) budget – North Frontenac will pay $24,122 towards the MVC budget in 2013, an increase of $527 over 2012.

Preliminary Frontenac County budget at 4.97% increase

Members of Frontenac County Council are spending two sessions looking at the 2013 budget.

The newly minted County Finance Committee has already met with Treasurer Marian Vanbruinessen and other members to talk about some of the items, and their recommendations are being incorporated into the draft budget that is being presented to Council.

However the two largest components of the budget, the Frontenac Paramedic Services and Fairmount Home budgets, will be presented directly to the entire council.

The draft budget calls for an increase of $396,000, or 4.97% in the levy to the lower tier townships, who will in turn collect the money from ratepayers.

$200,000 of the proposed increase stems from the decision Council made last year (2012) to keep taxes lower by depleting the working capital reserve fund by $200,000. Unless Council decides to further deplete the reserve, that $200,000 will turn into an increase in the levy for 2013.

The other major increase is in the draft levy for Fairmount Home, which is up by $91,754, an increase of 1.1%.