New Recycling Options Approved

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth and his staff have turned what could well have been bad news for the recently opened bale and shrink wrap facility into very good news for township residents. This facility was opened last May when Target Recycling of Ajax agreed to receive baled wrap (from hay and boats). However, the township has not been able to supply a sufficient quantity of baled plastic to justify the transportation costs to Ajax, and there is no closer processing site for this material.

After negotiation, a revised agreement based on redirecting our e-waste to Target Recycling was prepared for Council’s approval. The Keeley Road depot will now accept electronic waste, including small kitchen appliances, dehumidifiers, microwaves, etc (this is new), and mixed hard plastics, such as lawn furniture, children’s outside plastic toys, etc (also new). Target will provide bailer, bins and transportation, and will rebate the Township $186/tonne for e-waste, and 2.5 cents per pound for plastics.

The Keeley Road depot for household hazardous waste, e-waste, small appliances, hard plastics, bale-wrap and shrink wrap is open during the winter on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month, between 3 & 7 pm.

Dock to go

In an unanimous recorded vote, Council agreed that an illegal dock which has been placed on the Township road allowance on Cronk Lake, Loughborough district, must be removed by the owner by May 1st.

Christmas office hours

Following a review of activity at the township administrative offices over the days between Christmas and New Year 2012, the Corporate Services Committee recommended the office be closed over the same period in 2013, with staff using accumulated vacation time to cover the three intervening non-statutory days. This early decision will help staff to plan their annual vacation time.

Permits down, value up

The 2012 building report summary showed that, although the overall number of permits (474) was down by almost 50 from 2011, the actual construction value of $30.6 million was above the average of the past three years.

Frontenac County budget debate: Green Energy Task Force falls prey to budget wrangle

The tone of the 2013 Frontenac County Council became clear when they met on January 17 to consider this year’s budget.

The debate was centred on the budgetary recommendations that were contained in a report by the finance committee, particularly the creation of a contract position in the finance department and a committee support clerk position in the administration office.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Doyle said that as the result of a decision by his own township council to cease contracting out their financial services to Frontenac County as of the end of July, the finance clerk position will not be necessary.

“When Frontenac Islands contracted the service with the county we were told there was ample capacity in the finance department to provide the service without any hiring. We thought of it as a win-win situation, with us paying $40,000 for the service and the county getting a financial benefit. But now we are told there needs to be a new person hired. We don’t want to be responsible for increasing staffing levels at the county,” said Doyle.

“We provided that service as a cost-benefit for $40,000, but we were not aware at the time how much work would be required. I am prepared to stop all services to Frontenac Islands starting next Monday,” said County Treasurer Marion Vanbruinessen, adding, “I am particularly offended that after all of the hours we have spent bringing Frontenac Islands finances to a proper standard, you are questioning our use of resources.”

At this point Dennis Doyle said, “I want to apologise to Marion if something I said indicated we are not happy with the contract. We generally agree we would not continue with the contract, but we are not looking at winding it up next week.”

With the Frontenac Islands contract already set to run out at the end of 2013, the finance position, which is itself a contract position for 2013, was left in the budget.

Dennis Doyle was successful, however, in blocking the hiring of a new committee support staff person.

In a written report, CAO Liz Fulton wrote that the new full time equivalent position, at a cost of $60,000 would be “dedicated to council/committee support (preparation, research, outreach and follow-up work), which would free up the existing administrative staff to complete other tasks that have gone begging since the county has developed a number of committees in recent years.”

“It is just not sustainable to bring in more staff to keep committees going,” said Dennis Doyle. “I support the trails committee but I’ve got to question whether we need to kept the Green Energy Task Force going. I propose we wind that committee up. We would not only save $20,000 in expenses but we would go some way to alleviate the work load on staff. I make motion that the Green Energy Task Force be disbanded, effective immediately.”

In the information package before Council, CAO Savill described the role of the Green Energy Task Force (GETF): “The GETF is committed to pursuing initiatives (offering benefits community-wide and to individual property owners) that will transform Frontenac County into an innovative, healthy, smart, sustainable region that will attract new businesses and residents.”

Dennis Doyle, who sat on the GETF himself, said “anything the task force does should be done by Council as a whole."

“I have a tendency to agree with Councilor Doyle. If he does not see any tangible benefit, then maybe it is time to wrap it up,” said North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton.

“I think there is a courtesy aspect to this, I think the chair of the Task Force should be invited to Council before it is disbanded. However I don’t get a sense of focus to the Green Energy Task Force and I don’t see a benefit to our activities,” said South Frontenac Councilor John McDougall, also a member of the GETF.

"I think this council is bereft of courtesy after what the warden has done. Extending a courtesy is a nonsense,” said David Jones.

“Here, here,” said Dennis Doyle.

The motion was carried and the task force is gone.

Doyle then asked CAO Savill if the committee support position was still necessary.

When she said it was, Gary Davison moved that the Sustainability Advisory Committee also be eliminated, and Dennis Doyle immediately seconded the motion.

“I disagree with this,” said John McDougall. “The sustainability advisory committee has quite a reach into the community. It helps to guide projects that we fund using gas tax rebate dollars. It is probably a more valuable committee than you would expect, especially when you consider the Economic Development budget.”

“I think we are looking at running a tighter ship,” said Davison.”

“Can staff live with the current complement if we keep the Sustainability Advisory Committee in place?” Dennis Doyle asked of CAO Savill.

“I think we can give it a try, but the service will not be at the same level as it is to date,” she said.

With that, Davison and Doyle agreed to rescind the motion, leaving the Sustainability Advisory Committee in place, at least for the time being.

The implications of the changes made by the finance committee and council on the 2013 budget will be calculated and included in a revised budget, which will come before Council at an afternoon meeting on February 20.

What makes Frontenac County paramedics so prone to illness?

In the past year, sick days among paramedics working for Frontenac County Paramedic Services in both Kingston and Frontenac County have gone up by 23%.

Even more alarming, the total is up by 93% over four years going back to 2008.

While it will take time to determine why the paramedics working for the service are so prone to illness, Paul Charbonneau, the Chief of Paramedic Services for Frontenac County, is taking measures to deal with the financial cost that results from paying replacement workers as well as the workers who are off sick.

One of the budgetary mitigation measures that Charbonneau brought to Frontenac County Council last week was a plan to cut down on the number of ambulances on the road in the City of Kingston during the day time hours.

There are seven ambulances working the day shift in Kingston, and from now on if two of the eight scheduled workers on the day shift are not available due to illness, they will not be replaced and only six will be available.

“Through scheduling we will make sure that response times will not be adversely affected by this measure,” said Charbonneau, “but we need to do something in the short term to deal with the year over year increase in costs related to sick leave. They are unsustainable.”

Charbonneau said that the service has no discretion over paying for sick time according to the collective agreement with the paramedics, but the measures taken last week are projected to cut replacement hours to 11,000 in 2013, from 16,000 in 2012.

The projected savings of $250,000 are relatively small when seen in the light of an overall budget of almost $10 million for salaries and benefits for Frontenac Paramedic Services, but they did help keep the global budget for the service to a 1.64% increase.

Frontenac County ratepayers pay about 10% of the total budget for Frontenac Paramedic Services, with the other 90% coming from the Province of Ontario and the City of Kingston.

With some of the sick leave costs addressed in the short term, Charbonneau said that the service will be endeavouring to determine why sick leave keeps increasing year over year.

Central Frontenac in tough again over budget

by Jeff Green

They are already paying the highest taxes in Frontenac County, and Central Frontenac ratepayers are facing another tax increase in 2013.

Central Frontenac Council received a draft budget report from Treasurer Michael McGovern at their meeting on Tuesday afternoon (January 22).

After making some cuts to the budget in anticipation of Council’s wishes, including cuts to a proposed road project on White Lake Road and the curtailing of a project on Wagarville Road, as well as the elimination of a $60,000 expenditure at the new Olden ball field, the levy to ratepayers for township activities is still set to rise by over 12%, from just over $5.6 million in 2012 to just under $6.3 million in 2013.

Some of those added costs are to be covered by increased assessment, but as it stands the township residential rate is set to go up by almost 8%.

Township taxation accounts for about 2/3 of the total property tax bill, and with the education rate (1/6) and Frontenac County rate (1/6) factored in, the total tax rate increase now sits at about 5%.

To put all that into perspective, a homeowner with a property valued at $150,000 in 2012 will see an increase in the range of $145.

The budget is by no means set, however, as Central Frontenac is set to begin a line by line consideration of the budget later this week, a process that will stretch into mid-February.

MPAC explains devaluation of Provincial Park

by Julie Druker

Following a request from Councilor Norm Guntensperger for an explanation by representatives of MPAC about the significant devaluation of Sharbot Lake Provincial Park in 2012, three representatives from MPAC, Bev Disney, Kathy Blake and Dawn Leahy made a presentation to Central Frontenac Council on Tuesday night (January 22).

As the result of re-evaluation, the 2012 assessment of Sharbot Lake Provincial park decreased in value from $1,255,000 to $449,000, a drop of $806,000.

The representatives explained that “MPAC conducted a thorough review of Provincial Park valuations across Ontario in response to Requests for Reconsideration and Assessment Review Board Appeals on 19 Provincial Parks.” The resulting analysis showed inconsistencies in the historical valuations. The Ministry of Natural Resources provided up to date information regarding regulated park acreages and boundaries, development and non-development zones and current capital costs for buildings in the parks.

That data, taken with MPAC's sales analysis regarding bulk residential land, vacant waterfront land and vacant commercial land, was used to come up with the current 2012 valuations. The numbers show that the values of non-development and waterfront land in the park amounted to $324,500 with approximately 200 acres of waterfront valued at $1,635 per acre.

At this point in the presentation Councilor Guntensperger asked how it could be possible that waterfront be valued so low where in his estimation the market value for residential waterfront is often 50 times that price per acre and in many cases more. Leahy explained that the value given takes into account the fact that much of the waterfront will never be sold due to it being part of a park so that actual market value does not apply in these circumstances. Councilor Guntensperger also wondered if MPAC calculates the revenue coming in from the parks and if those revenues are taken into consideration when making the valuations. Leahy said no. This led Councilor Wayne Millar to ask why the township then is not given that revenue.

The news did not get better for council when the MPAC representatives brought to council's attention the fact that about 40% of the land taken up by the park is un-patented crown land, and is deemed non-taxable according to the Municipal Tax Assistance Act. This means that beyond the 2013 tax year the taxes acquired from the park may fall even lower. "Well that totally takes the wind out of my sails,” said Mayor Janet Gutowski

Plans for Multi-Use Centre

Brian Basterfield of Basterfield and Associates, made a presentation of the final plans for the proposed Multi-Use Centre in Sharbot Lake. The impetus for the study came from a committee formed by members of the Central Frontenac Railway Heritage Society, and was funded through grant money.

The proposed building, which Basterfield said could be built in two phases if necessary, includes a trail head section and a second storey multi-purpose room, and would be built where the K& P and Trans-Canada trails meet near Cannon Road and Elizabeth Streets in Sharbot Lake.

The proposed cost of the building comes in at a hefty price tag of $2 million. Members of council said that though this is not a project that might happen anytime soon, many felt that it was a good idea to have a plan in place for the future should grant money become available and should council decide to go ahead with the project.

Northbrook fire hall to go to design phase: At Tuesday night’s council meeting in Denbigh, Fire Chief Casey Cuddy presented the plans for a new fire hall in Northbrook, and several questions were raised.

Councilor Helen Yanch asked if the plans take into account the changes that are being proposed for the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). One proposed new requirement is six feet of clearance in washrooms instead of the current five feet.

While Councilor Tony Fritsch felt that the extra foot could easily be accommodated by the plans, Cuddy said it would make the building’s footprint bigger.

Cuddy said that the plans meet all the current accessibility requirements and that if and when new legislation does come into effect, there will be no requirement to retrofit existing buildings or ones that are already under construction.

As the upper level of the fire hall is not for public use, there will be no need to put in an elevator or accessible washrooms on that floor.

Public Works Manager Royce Rosenblath brought up a case he had seen, where the Ministry of Labour required that barriers be put in a new fire hall where the offices and vehicle bays were all on one level. He said that because of exhaust emissions and other concerns, the floor of the bays needs to be several inches lower than that of the offices.

Another question that engendered much discussion was whether the township should go for a design/build tender or separate the two parts of the project.

In the end Council decided to tender out the design of the fire hall first in order to get an estimate of the costs involved. They also decided that as it is uncertain when or what changes will be made to the AODA, they will meet its existing requirements.

Casey Cuddy will look further into the requirements for different levels for the fire hall and will also seek recommendations from other fire departments for a suitable company to do the design work. The plans will be finalized for the next council meeting. A motion to hire a consulting firm to help with the design phase of the project was passed by council but tabled until the next meeting.

Solar rooftop project proposed at NAEC: Queen Street Solar Co-operative, a non-profit renewable energy developer, is applying to build a 300kw solar rooftop project at North Addington Education Centre. The project would be owned by members of the public, whom the co-op hopes would include Cloyne and area residents. Council voted to support the project.

Algonquin Land Claim motion:

Council passed a motion to issue a press release stating that the township was “not consulted nor involved in the Land Selection Process for the Draft Agreement in Principle for the Algonquin Land Claim and were only notified after the Land Selection process was complete.” The township directs residents seeking information to contact the information centre of the Algonquin Land Claim directly, at 1-855-690-7070 or by email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Central Frontenac Council was given a guided tour through two of their largest departments last Thursday, January 14, and a session dedicated to the other departments was postponed because of a threat of freezing rain on Tuesday, January 29, setting up a meeting today, February 1.

While the Council did a lot of listening as Public Works Manager Mike Richardson took them through his budget, they did not make any changes. Richardson is asking Council for $420,000 for two new tandem trucks and $152,000 for a tractor/mower-brusher. In terms of road construction, the budget proposes to spend $45,000 on engineering and bridge studies; $80,000 paving Elm Tree Road between Bridge Street and Arden Road; $40,000 to patch a section of Road 38 near York Road; and $215,000 paving 4.5 kilometres of Oak Flats Road.

There is also $200,000 to cover the township's share of a large bridge and road-paving project on Wagarville Road. The township has applied for a $1.84 million grant to cover 90% of the cost of that project. If the grant does not come in the township will cut the roadwork out of the project, but the bridge replacement itself remains a top priority for the roads department.

Although the above-mentioned construction projects and equipment purchase requests are new, they are not necessarily the cause of the significant increase in the 2013 budget, because a similar amount was spent in 2012 on other road projects and equipment purchases.

The largest single cause of the budget shortfall facing Council is the fact that while the township ran an operating surplus of $311,000 in 2011, helping keep the 2012 budget in line, preliminary calculations show an operating deficit of between $90,000 and $140,000 in 2012. The 2013 budgeting process will have to accommodate that difficult reality.

Aside from that, the draft budget includes smaller, but significant increases in most of the departmental budgets, the largest being a $100,000 increase in the corporate services department budget. Policing costs are up by $40,000 to $767,000, something that Council must simply grin and bear.

So far, while Council has been listening and waiting, a number of the councilors have indicated they would like to see the budget reduced to an increase at or near the 2% inflation rate, which would require a decrease of a half a million dollars from the draft budget that is before them now. Still others are looking for a 0% increase.

The budget will be discussed at a meeting this afternoon at the Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake, and if it is not finalised, another meeting will have to be scheduled.