At its regular meeting Tuesday afternoon in Flinton, Addington Highlands Council passed a resolution to respond to Lennox & Addington County’s request regarding the upper tier’s involvement in physician recruitment in time for the County’s budget deliberations.

“Henry (Reeve Hogg) and I met with our Family Health Team for feedback,” said Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch. “The main points were that they do currently have an attractive vacancy for another doctor.

“It would be very easy for a physician to slide into as it doesn’t require any approvals and the Team has all the administrative support functions like HR and scheduling.

“Plus, we have an initiative with North Frontenac that would make it financially attractive.”

But, he said, there is the “rural factor” in that some doctors don’t want to practise in the country, especially when there’s talk of a “satellite” operation in the sparsely populated north of the township.

“And when I was on County Council and this came up, housing was brought up as an issue,” said Coun. Helen Yanch.

“Often potential employment for a spouse is a factor too,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

Newsletter

Council approved the content of its newsletter to be included in the tax bills, adding information about the Denbigh Community Food Bank and the Land O’Lakes Community Services Food Bank.

Community Foundation for Lennox and Addington

Bob Childs, executive director of the Community Foundation for Lennox & Addington addressed Council to give them an idea of what his organization does in Addington Highlands.

“We’ve just produced a booklet called Vital Signs that is a report on the quality of life to share information with the public,” he said.

Childs said that they are a registered charity that this year will provide $125,000 in the area — half in bursaries and scholarships and half in community grants and endowments.

For example, their two biggest recipients last year were the Cloyne and District Historical Society and the Mazinaw Fund.

He said two of their most generous contributors are in Addington Highlands.

Seedlings

Council approved the purchase of 100 seedlings from the Lennox & Addington Stewardship Council to be planted on Township-owned lands.

“I think it’s a good idea, but you need somebody to get it done,” said Coun. Helen Yanch.

“Well, it’s not like we’d be ordering 5,000 trees,” said Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch. “We can probably get community groups to plant them.”

Roads and Waste Supervisor Brett Reavie suggested that at least half the trees planted should be hardwoods to be planted at ball fields and parks for shade.

“Pines aren’t very good for shade,” he said.

Council decided on 50 evergreens at $0.85 each and 50 deciduous shade trees at $1.50 each.

Not, not quiet for roads crew

“I don’t want to say it’s not quiet but it has not not been quiet,” Roads and Waste Supervisor Brett Reavie told Council. “The guys have been going full bore.”

Reavie also told Council he’s completed a draft of the roads needs study.

Central Frontenac staff presented a 2020 budget last Friday morning (January 24) in Sharbot Lake that featured a 14.8 per cent increase in the tax rate.

Put another way, that would represent an increase in the levy to ratepayers off 24% per cent or $2 million than last year. Put yet another way, that represents an increase of $185 for every $100,000 of property assessment.

“Even if you say it fast, it still makes one puke,” said Mayor Frances Smith. “We recognize all of these projects here have to be done but realistically, what can we afford to do?”

As the meeting drew to a close, Council instructed staff to come back with a much more modest budget.

While Clerk-administrator Cathy MacMunn asked a couple of times what sort of increase would be acceptable — 4, 5 or 6 per cent, Dep. Mayor Tom Dewey insisted “we have to do better than five.”

“Aim for 3 per cent,” said Councillor Bill MacDonald.

Treasurer Michael McGovern suggested they could take out a loan for a new $700 pumper for the fire department and $1.4 million for roads.

“Maybe borrowing is an option but we’re still going to have to find savings,” said Councillor Brent Cameron.

And speaking of the fire department, Cameron also commented that this year’s fire budget increase only amounted to about $40,000. But the fire budget has increased substantially in recent years.

In 2016, the fire department budget was $838,054. Following a consultant’s report suggesting deficiencies in both equipment and computer software, that went up to $1,054,222 in 2017.

In 2018, the budget presented by then-fire chief Greg Robinson raised that to a whopping $1,634,702.

In 2019, that was lowered somewhat to $1,442,134, which would appear to be a new-normal, with this year’s fire budget pegged at $1,483,059.

And while CAO MacMunn insisted this was in no way a “wish list” budget, there was one curious line, $13,000 for “social media,” which she explained was to hire a consultant to “set up their social media presence and train a couple of staff members.”

Every 1 per cent levy increase represents $82,000 or an additional $9 for every $100,000 of assessment.

Council is holding more budget meetings in early February.

While the majority of South Frontenac Council supports a flat playing surface facility requested by the South Frontenac Stocksport Club, they’d like a little more information as to the multi-use aspects of the facility before committing $85,000 to it.

Actually, in its submission to Council last fall, the Stocksport Club said they’d commit to raising $25,000 of the total $100,000 price tag but CAO Neil Carbonne told Council staff could live with $15,000 from the club to start in order to get construction going in the spring rather than waiting for the full amount which could drop the start time to late summer.

Stocksport representative Karl Hammer told Council last fall that his group is applying to host the 2021 world championships, which would bring in significant visitors to the Township for such an international event.

Councillors Alan Revill and Ron Sleeth both had reservations about the project without knowing what other kinds of events the facility would support such as concerts, theatre in the park or perhaps even a farmers market (Dep. Mayor Ross Sutherland’s suggestion).

Many of the proposed uses would likely require a roof of some sort and since the final specifications for the facility were unclear, Council asked staff for a more detailed proposal before committing the funds.

The facility would be located in Harrowsmith’s Centennial Park.

“I think this gives us an opportunity to add another facility to our Township,” Sutherland said. “I’ve looked around for a good flat surface for things like cycle events and dog trials and there just aren’t any flat surfaces.”

“I do hear the concerns that there aren’t enough people participating in the sport to warrant a facility but if you don’t have a facility, you won’t have participants,” said Coun. Randy Ruttan. “I’m impressed with (the proponents’) enthusiasm and I support this.

Carbonne said that nothing would happen with the facility until the money from the club is received.

Senior Planner position approved, cap on private lane grants

Council approved the creation of a senior planner position, put a $7,000 per project cap on the private lane assistance program and a request for four noise bylaw exemptions for events at Desert Lake Resort between the hours of 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Town hall I Perth Road

Dep. Mayor Ross Sutherland and Coun. Randy Ruttan announced they’ll be holding a Town Hall meeting at Harris Hall in Perth Road Village on Saturday, Feb. 8 at 10 a.m

11 months ago, with potential purchasers having contacted the township, Central Frontenac Council declared the building and land surplus to its needs in order to clear it for sale. A few weeks later, however, it became apparent that selling off the former fire-hall and the 1/2 acre parcel where it is located would not be that simple a proposition.

First of all, a ½ acre lot is undersized, and in order to make the land parcel viable for general and commercial, it would have to have adjacent lands added to it. But there are no suitable lands that can be added since the firehall is located next to the former Hinchinbrooke school on one side and the Parham Fair grounds and ball field on the other side. The well on the property served not only the fire hall but the fairgrounds and ball field as well, so a new well for those important township assets would need to be drilled if the lot were sold.

For those and a couple of other reasons, the township’s planner, Megan Rueckwald, recommended that the township look into keeping the building open as a storage facility, and spend the money required, to repair its roof and remove some drywall that has developed mold.

Councillor Nicki Gowdy said she had no problem keeping the building but said “I don’t think we need it for storage. Couldn’t we do something else with it?”

“If we wanted to use it for something else the cost of repairs would be higher. The storage use would be less costly,” said Councillor Victor Heese.

Council agreed.

Dewey unhappy with EOTA snub.

A proposal to approve the allocation of grant money from the Rural Economic Development (RED) Fund that may or may not be forthcoming, caused some consternation for Councillor Tom Dewey. Dewey is a long time Central Frontenac Council representative to the board of directors of the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance (EOTA), an ATV tourism marketing and trail not-for-profit corporation, based in Tweed. The County of Frontenac has applied for RED funding to upgrade the section of the K&P trail between Sharbot Lake and Clarendon, which is owned by Central Frontenac Township and is covered by a maintenance agreement between the township and EOTA.

“EOTA was not informed about this application, even as a courtesy,” Dewey said.

Mayor Smith said that the RED grant “is for a construction and upgrade project, it has nothing to do with maintenance”.

“As you know, Frontenac County pulled out of a maintenance agreement with EOTA for the K&P between Verona and Sharbot Lake just this month, replied Dewey, “and that was without notice as well. I can’t support this.”

Dewey’s was the only dissenting vote. If the grant application is successful, the RED money will replace existing grant money that Frontenac County has earmarked for the trail upgrade this year, freeing up money for the county to spend on other projects.

Sharbot Lake Public School Property – pilot project for communal servicing?

Frontenac County Manager of Planning and Development Services Joe Gallivan has been working on developing a new planning tool, communal servicing, in Frontenac County.

Because none of the Frontenac hamlets have municipal water and sewer systems in place, opportunities for residential development are restricted by the requirement for a well and septic system for each residential or commercial building.

The site of the former Sharbot Lake Public School is a prime example. The school was located on a two-acre lot, and Central Frontenac Township has been hoping to maximise the use of the lot in the near future. Pending some further evaluations of the existing septic system on the site, the township is hoping that it will be possible to put up two single story buildings on the site, each containing 5 one-bedroom apartments suitable for seniors.

Each of the buildings will require its own well in order to comply with provincial water regulations.

Joe Gallivan made a presentation, and urged council to apply for a $30,000 grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) Green Initiative Fund, to explore the possibility of communal servicing for the site.

If communal servicing is viable, the site would have a single, professionally managed water service and septic system, and would be capable of supporting up to 40 housing units and/or commercial entities.

“The technical challenges for septic capacity can be overcome with existing technology, which has advanced in recent years,” said Gallivan.

A 40-unit development would have to be developed and financed by a private sector developer, whereas the existing plan for two, five-unit seniors buildings would likely be developed by the township and managed by the local not-for profit housing corporation.

The biggest impediment to communal service is that the township would assume financial liability if the communal servicing system ever failed and the developer went out of business.

So far, few municipalities in Ontario have been willing to take that liability on.

“The financial model is the make or break issue for this, said Gallivan, “creating a municipal services corporation to handle the liability may turn out to be the answer.

Gallivan added that the FCM has indicated to him that they would welcome an application for funding for this kind of pilot project.

Council passed a motion directing staff to prepare the grant application.

A report by the consulting group KPMG, six months in the making, is being presented to a special meeting of Frontenac County Council this week, and all members of the four Frontenac townships have been invited to hear the presentation.

The KPMG study considered whether Frontenac County has lost out in provincial grants over the last few years, because unlike neighbouring municipalities, the county plays no role in road maintenance and construction. While the Frontenac municipalities are eligible for infrastructure grants, Frontenac County is not.

The report, which was posted on the county website last Friday (January 24) says that Frontenac County has been short-changed over the last three years as compared to its neighbouring counties (Lanark, Lennox and Addington, Leeds and Grenville, and Hastings).

“Since 2016, the Frontenac County and its townships have received significantly less grant funding when compared to their peers. In 2018, Frontenac County received an average of $3 million less in grant funding than their comparator group,” it says.

The second question the report looked at is what can be done to change this scenario.

KPMG was given two options to consider. Both call for the county to establish a kind of virtual roads department. Under the first option, the in-house option, KPMG was to look at a scenario whereby the county would hire its own engineering staff to support the roads network and prepare grant applications.

The second option, the out-sourcing option, was for the county to be only indirectly involved. It would see the county hire an “independent engineering firm on a retention basis to work in conjunction with township public works managers” when necessary.

Before the report was even commissioned, South Frontenac differed from the other townships. While the other three said that both the in-house out-sourcing options should be considered, South Frontenac supported only the out-sourcing option but they were out-voted

Under either option, the ultimate goal is to enable grant applications to be submitted to provincial and federal granting programs for large scale roadwork, under the county banner.

The KPMG report concluded that each option would result in significant costs. They both require $200,000 in start up costs, and would take some time to be fully operational. By 2024, the in-house option is projected to cost $625,000 annually, and the out-sourcing option is expected to cost $500,000.

While these costs might seem high, KPMG estimates that there are 480 kilometres of regionally significant roads in Frontenac County (including Road 38, Perth Road, roads 509/506, Road 95/96 on Wolfe Island and Road 22 on Howe Island) which will require a $32.5 million investment in maintenance over the next 5 years.

The KPMG report favoured the in-house option but said it should be explored further, a process that will cost an additional $26,000.

South Frontenac Council looked at the KPMG report at their own council meeting on Tuesday night, in order to provide direction to Mayor Ron Vandewal and Councillor Alan Revill, the townships representatives on Frontenac County Council.

CAO Neil Carbonne was quite specific in laying out South Frontenac’s own ideas about a regional roads system.

“The reason it’s on the agenda tonight is that there’s a meeting about it at County and South Frontenac is the only council that initially did not support the in-house option at all,” he said.

Carbonne said meetings with his counterparts and public works managers from the other townships suggest they’d all be on board with a system where there was a joint management board or an arrangement that would see South Frontenac taking the lead.

“We don’t want it to be in-house with the County,” he said.

“Do we need to spend $26,000 (for a KPMG study) to tell us it could be a board?” said Mayor Ron Vandewal. “I don’t want to see anything that would even remotely endorse County involvement.”

“I have some serious concerns,” said Councilor Alan Revill, “I suspect it will be an uphill fight to do in-house without the involvement of the County.”

“I’m not sure this isn’t a boondoggle we don’t want to be any part of,” said Coun. Ron Sleeth. “I can’t suggest we get in bed with the County and put the work in their hands.”

“What we’re looking at is an option that was never at the table, because the only in-house option KPMG was looking at was county based” said Carbonne.

“The way to do what we want to is to explore that different in-house option.”

South Frontenac council decided to endorse the KPMG recommended in-house option, with one change, that the new KPMG study “consider multiple governance structures and service delivery models.”

Sydenham area resident Ann Barlow came as a delegate to explain, from her perspective as a senior citizen without a driver’s license, the importance of the Frontenac Transportation Service.. This service provides access for grocery shopping, transport to Kingston for medical and other appointments, and in Barlow’s case (she is a watercolour artist, specializing in local scenes and subjects), has made it possible for her to develop a small business marketing fine art cards featuring local fauna, flora and landscapes. Because she has outlets in Kingston, Sunbury, Sydenham and Keplar, Barlow hires RFTS so she can visit the outlets monthly to maintain her displays. The County’s decision to not include funding support to RFTS after 2020 means her monthly business travel costs will increased by nearly 50% next year, which threatens the viability of an already low-profit enterprise.

Barlow concluded: “Although the County receives Provincial and Federal cash for ‘use of roads’, you seek to gain an additional $48,000 by adding to the financial stress…of the 223 low-income ‘unique individuals’ who depend on the drive service. When you made your decision to cut funding we were not consulted and our needs were not considered. Surely there are better ways to achieve your economic goals than by hurting vulnerable seniors in the community.”

Barlow was frustrated by Mayor Vandewal’s reply that her request would have to go to the County early next fall, when the 2021 budget is being planned.

Until last year, Frontenac Transportation Services has been run by Rural Frontenac Community Services, which is based in Sharbot Lake, under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Southern Frontenac Community Services, which is based in Sydenham. It received $96,000 in Frontenac County funding. The MoU fell apart last year, and the two agencies requested $48,000 each from Frontenac County for 2020, and the county granted the money but said it was the last year for funding and the two agencies should look elsewhere for support next year.

Mayor Vandewal told Barlow that the county has asked both Rural Frontenac Community Services and South Frontenac Social Services for their statistics and business plans related to transportation services, but to date the two agencies appear not to be working in cooperation on this issue. Vandewal said there have already been many complaints from residents about this lack of County support for transportation services. Deputy Mayor Sutherland suggested that if the two agencies could not work together, perhaps the County needs to assume full responsibility for this essential program.

Councillor Revill complimented Barlow on the clarity of her letter, and he and Mayor Vandewal assured her that they would bring it to County Council’s attention.

At this point, CAO Carbone shut down the discussion, saying this meeting’s purpose was to receive delegations, not to debate topics that were not on the agenda.

2019-2022 Strategic Activities Draft Report

CAO Carbone presented the final draft of the Township’s Strategic Plan for the remainder of this term: it is an ambitious and detailed report, available in full (draft) form in the agenda notes online for the Jan 21 COW meeting. One interesting suggestion among many was to review the possibility of relying less on the standing committees (which sometimes cancel meetings for lack of agenda items) and more on the Committee of the Whole.

Overhead Wires a Hazard for Birds

Eliza Murphy of Sydenham came as a delegate to Council to address her concern about the hazards presented to birds, specifically herons, flying from Sydenham Lake across George St at or near the bridge to fish in the creek. While living nearby, Murphy has seen two dead herons and a dead osprey on or near the bridge.

She has spoken to both Ontario Hydro and Bell Canada, and each have agreed to ‘investigate a solution for the problem of the wires crossing the George St bridge’. She listed references to several possible solutions including coloured (but not reflective or metallic) tab-markers to make the wires more visible. Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth agreed to follow up with Hydro and Bell.

Murphy also asked whether the township could consider constructing an animal underpass each side of the bridge when the roadway across the bridge is reconstructed (originally planned for two years ago, now postponed to at least 2021.) Turtles crossing in the spring continue to be killed in spite of many rescues by drivers and villagers, and this is also a foot-crossing area for numerous other animals; otters, beavers, muskrats, ducks and geese.

Senior Planner Position to be Created

During budget discussions in December of 2019, staff recommended the creation of a new Senior Planner position to accommodate the growing workload within the Development Services department. Council approved the funds for this new position in the 2020 operating budget; however, Council requested further information about the intent/role of the position prior to proceeding.

CAO Carbone’s report provided this information, and asked Council’s support to move ahead in advertising the position, with an anticipated start date of April. Councillor Sleeth asked whether a head-hunter would be necessary, and Planning/Building Director Claire Dodds replied that this hiring would be done in-house: positions for both Senior Planner and Planner will be advertised at the same time, and a good selection of applicants is anticipated.

“Where will we put them?” asked Councillor Revill.

Carbone said that the 2020 budget has provisions for non-structural renovations to the downstairs area, which will make better use of the space.

North Frontenac put the brakes on changes to its Safe Property and Noise bylaws made by its solicitor at its regular meeting last Friday in Plevna.

Coming on the heals of a discussion where CAO Cheryl Robson reported that complaints are up to 49 so far this year, compared with 16 last year, Coun. Fred Fowler said he has been getting complaints about the bylaws leading to those complaints.

“I’ve been getting a lot of complaints, less than 10 but a lot more than I thought I’d be getting, about how unfriendly we are,” Fowler, who retired after an extensive career in may facets of law enforcement. “These are absolute liability offences, meaning that even if you have a good excuse, that doesn’t matter.”

Robson said that most of the complaints are the result of a bylaw and are “black or white.”

“I agree with you Fred,” said Coun. John Inglis. “But our complaints are complaint driven.

“Some of the bylaws today just make my eyes roll.

“For example, the safe properties bylaw says grass must be under 15 cm.

“And the noise bylaw uses the word ‘reasonable.’ What does that mean?”

“I think we all agree that there’s some ridiculous content in these bylaws,” said Mayor Ron Higgins.

Inglis suggested a committee made up of Higgins, Robson and Fowler take a look at these bylaws.

“This is a good idea to slow these down,” said Robson. “Some things are legislation that has to be in there but some things are your discretion.”

“I think we’ve rushed through bylaws in the past,” Higgins said. “Because we haven’t realized the implications until later.”

Robson said that the lawyers often include sections aimed at reducing liability risk for the municipality.

“As soon as you start reducing risk, you’re perceived as unfriendly,” said Inglis. “(But) you cannot get zero risk.”

Efficiency?

An “efficiency study” contracted for by North Frontenac Township and completed by SP Maloney Corp didn’t sit too well with at least one member of Council.

“I think we wasted $6,850 to tell us what we were already aware of,” said Coun. Vernon Hermer. “It was an organizational drag with lengthy meetings and unnecessary emails.

“(The study) just added to inefficiency with all those interviews.”

“Yeah, we learned a lesson on this one,” said Mayor Ron Higgins. “I’ll leave it at that.”

Addington Highlands Council reserved approval for fee waivers and grant requests until the budget is discussed later in the year at its regular meeting Tuesday in Flinton. And that’s likely to be the procedure for all such requests in the future.

The first request was for a waiver of rental fees was from Rob Heyman to hold a wild game dinner at the Flinton Hall to help pay expenses for his youth group to go to a youth convention.

The second request was from the Cloyne and District Historical Society for $500 to help preserve their archives.

While it’s likely both requests will be approved, (“we’ve waived these kinds of things before,” said Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch) CAO/Clerk-Treasurer Christine Reed said she’d like to put all these requests along with departmental budgets together just before the actual budget process in something of a departure of how they’ve done things in the past.

“Traditionally, we’ve brought every little bit to Council piece by piece,” Reed said. “So, we’re proposing staff put all the requests together and present them all at one time so we can see the impact of all the requests.

“I’ll add it all together first.”

She said that a big part of their budget is the Kaladar/Barrie Fire Department so its budget will have a big impact on the Township budget.

“There are no big ticket items on this year’s budget like the new truck last year,” said newly appointed Kaladar/Barrie Fire Department Board chair Coun. Kirby Thompson.

Reed said the Township budget needs to be passed by the first meeting in May according to the Township’s procedural bylaw.

• • •

Under new business brought forth by Coun. Helen Yanch, Council increased the fee paid to trappers for trapping nuisance beavers to $75 from $50, effective Jan. 1.

• • •

They’re be one more draft of the Township newsletter before it goes out in the tax bills.

“We’ve never had the information on dog tags before,” said CAO/Clerk-Treasurer Christine Reed. “And there’s still a little bit of space left.”

Reeve Henry Hogg suggested putting in office hours for the CBO/Facilities Manager.

“He does have a pamphlet of his own with that on it,” said Reed. “And the office is open whether he’s there or not.

“He’s in the office more than most we’ve had but he does take the job of facilities manager quite seriously so if there’s something needs doing, he’s often out doing it.

“But we can put the office hours in there if you wish.”

• • •

Reed also apologized for the state of the rink in Flinton but offered this by way of explanation: “It’s a struggle maintaining ice on an outdoor facility without a compressor when the temperature goes above freezing.

“The fact that we had ice for the Christmas holidays is remarkable to me and we’re hoping for colder weather so we can make up the ground we’ve lost.”

After investigating complaints from ferry operators, Frontenac County integrity officer, Laura Dean, concluded that Councillor Bruce Higgs has breached the code of conduct for members of municipal councils.

The code, which is part of the Ontario Municipal Act, restricts how members of municipal councils interact with municipal staff who are carrying out their day to day duties.

Higgs violated the code on at least two occasions, Dean concluded, but she did not recommend that he be penalised. The only prescribed remediation is that he must issue a written statement and read it at a meeting of council. The statement must demonstrate his understanding that he “does not have the authority to independently engage in operational or procurement issues in the county, including with respect to the ferry,” according to Dean’s report.

The entire matter stemmed from an unusual circumstance on July 12, when Higgs learned that because the ferry operator, who was assigned to the shift, had called in to say he could not cover the shift because of vehicle problems, and with no other operator being available, the ferry had shut down.

Councillor Higgs obtained the phone number of the staff member who was absent, and phoned him, “purportedly to offer assistance to enable the operator to attend his shift” Dean wrote.

This was a breach of the code of conduct, specifically section 5.1 (e) which says that members of municipal council will “respect to the administrative and managerial chain of command by (ii) giving direction to staff only as council and through the CAO [Chief Administrative Officer] and (iii) refraining from becoming involved in the management of staff.

This incident was reported to the county soon after it took place and the county manager of legislative services, Janette Amini, contacted Councillor Higgs about the breach and delivered a memorandum to him about it.

“We understand that Councillor Higgs expressed regret and assured county staff that he understood.”

The matter may have ended at that point, avoiding an integrity commissioner investigation, but for some further events.

In mid-September, Councillor Higgs, who is the Frontenac County Council liaison to the county’s emergency and transportation department, attended the Canadian Ferry Association conference in St. John, New Brunswick.

At that conference, Higgs spoke to some people in the ferry industry, and one of them talked to him about drive systems, which determine how fast a ferry can travel. He also talked to someone about how the ferry hits the dock when it arrives and departs, and the person had ideas how to fix the problem but needed a photograph of the drive wheel.

On September 19, the county and the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) received an unsolicited email from a marine company “following up on discussions about potential improvements to the ferry”.

On September 20, Higgs went to the ferry docks and asked a ferry crew member to remove the safety guard covering the ferry’s drive wheel in order to get a picture. The ferry crew member, who has since resigned, alleged that at that time Higgs misrepresented himself as “either a marine engineer, and MTO employee, or both”, according to a formal complaint, which triggered the integrity commissioner investigation.

Investigator Dean concluded that Councillor Higgs contravened three separate sections of the code of conduct, for intervening in operational and procurement matters.

Dean said that it does not appear that Higgs did so “with any malicious intent but his actions, …, created a clear safety risk and had the potential to undermine or even jeapordize staff’s working relationship with the MTO with respect to procurement matters.”

She concludes her report by saying that while Higgs will not be penalised in this case, “any future code violations of this nature by him may warrant the imposition of a penalty.”

Bruce Higgs, a first term municipal politician, is the deputy mayor of Frontenac Islands by virtue of receiving the highest number of votes to council, on the island where the sitting mayor, Dennis Doyle, does not reside. As deputy mayor, Higgs was appointed as one of two Frontenac Islands representatives to Frontenac County Council.

The Howe Island Ferry is operated by Frontenac County under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. There has been some controversy surrounding the operation in the last 15 months or so. Howe Island residents complained last year, when the county ended a prohibition on farm vehicles using the ferry during the morning rush hour. A lawsuit has been filed by disgruntled Howe Islanders against Frontenac County. Then in July, the ferry did not operate during one shift, in the incident that led to Councillor Higgs issues with the code of conduct.

In North and Central Frontenac, the 9-1-1 system was made possible through a volunteer effort. Volunteer crew chiefs were given sections of road to cover and volunteers drove the township with measuring guns to establish the civic addressing system upon which the system was based.

The system was officially up and running on December 8, 2004.

In South Frontenac the efforts were supervised by a contract worker, but volunteers were involved as well.

Even though the systems were established only 15 years ago, one of the assumptions that it was based one is no longer the case, that 9-1-1 emergency calls come from land-lines.

Kevin Farrell, manager of continuous improvement/GIS for Frontenac County, made a presentation to Frontenac County Council this week outlining how the Next Generation of the 9-1-1 system will be unfolding over the next few years. He pointed out that, using an urban example to illustrate his point, “Uber drivers are in possession of more accurate data about where people are located than paramedics are.”

That’s because the explosion of information being transmitted wirelessly at all times, is not being fully utilised by the 9-1-1 system. Next Gen. 9-1-1, as it has been dubbed, is all about making use of all the information that is available, in order to get to people in need faster, with less human effort.

For Frontenac County, most of the required changes fall into the general category of data management. Between the county, which runs the GIS (Global Information Systems) for the townships, and township employees on the ground, constantly updating information, the job will centre on ensuring that the existing data is in the form it needs to be in, when it is time to provide new data sets to the new system.

The civic addressing signs, which are located at the side of the road, are the locations that are provided to emergency personnel by the system. One of the changes in the new system will be to provide the location of the homes on those properties as well, which in some cases are located well off the roadway.

The phone numbers from land lines associated with each property are part of the current system, so when a call is made from a land line, dispatchers have that information and can dispatch crews, even if the caller does not remember their civic address in the heat of the moment.

This is not the case for cell phones, however, and as Farrell pointed out in his presentation, 70% of 9-1-1 calls now come from cell phones, 20% from land-lines and 10% from Internet based phone systems (aka Voice Over Internet Protocol - VOIP).

The current system has developed what his presentation described as “band-aide solutions to locate mobile phone users”. One of the main goals in developing Next-Gen 9-1-1, is to make full use of the information that is now available from multiple sources, including: text, images, video and data.

Preparing for it will not involve re-doing the work that was done by volunteers early in the century, however.

“This civic addressing data, which has been continually updated by township staff since the system came online, will remain” said Farrell in a phone interview before making his presentation to Council, “but it will be a challenge to provide updated information to the system, in the time-frame that they are now looking for.”

Township building and public works employees are always gathering new information when putting up new signs or overseeing new construction, and that information is provided to the system in batches. In the future that will have to be done within 72 hours, so a new way to easily get new entries into the system, needs to be developed.

The new 9-1-1 data system will have a national scope and will be under development for some time.

“This presentation provides a heads-up to Council about what is coming, and to let them know what our department and the townships are going to be working on,” Farrell said.