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Wednesday, 18 March 2020 11:53

AH Council meeting

COVID-19 and how it pertains to municipal business dominated proceedings at Addington Highlands regular Council meeting Tuesday afternoon in Denbigh.

“That would be fair to say, yes,” said Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Reeve Henry Hogg, who was self-isolating because he’s just returned from a trip to South America that included stops in Chile, Argentina and Brazil.

“It was a great trip,” Hogg said in a separate phone call while he was waiting for a conference call on government plans and guidelines for conducting municipal business during the current crisis. “But I’ve still got a week of self-quarantine to go.”

But, as dominated by COVID-19 as the meeting was, Council did manage to get some business done.

“We distanced ourselves from each other,” Fritsch said. “But we did manage.

“We decided that our Township will compensate employees who were at home such as librarians and others whether we sent them home or they had to go home on their own.

“And the main thing is that we’re closing the municipal offices to the public until further notice but staff will be at work.”

He said they are in the process of developing a protocol as to how the Chief Building Official and Planning Secretary will interact with the public on a one-to-one basis when they need to.

“And there was discussion as to the hiring of a handy person position,” he said. “We discussed duties such as minor repair and things like painting.

“It will have no budget impact as those costs are already built-in to operating budgets for thing like halls.”

Finally, Fritsch said the budget meeting scheduled for March 19 has been deferred to the morning of April 7 (before the regularly scheduled Council meeting).

“That’s assuming the Council meeting goes ahead,” Fritsch said. “A lot can happen in that much time but we do need to conduct business.We’ll see how it all unfolds."

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS
Wednesday, 18 December 2019 12:36

AH Council

There wasn’t a whole lot going on at Addington Highlands final Council meeting of the year in Denbigh Tuesday afternoon, according at the Reeve Henry Hogg.

“We did meet in closed session as we have a union contract coming up but I can’t talk to you about that,” he said Tuesday evening.

The union contract will have implications for compensation for non-unionized staff as well as Council however but that won’t be discussed until the union contract is finalized.

Other than that, they did have a presentation from the County on physician recruitment and retention but Hogg was skeptical that much would come out of it.

“I guess the way the province is going, we’re not sure what will happen,” he said. “If things are headquartered in Kingston, we won’t be too important to them up here.

“They have a couple of hundred thousand people down there and we have a couple of thousand. I can’t see us being a high priority. But I’ve been up on that soapbox before.”

Another soapbox is the high costs of insurance.

“It just gets more expensive every year,” he said. “But we have to have it and the province also mandates that we have to have Workers’ Safety and Insurance Board coverage for our firefighters. And the maximum ceiling for that is going up to $95,400 (from $92,600 in 2019).

And as a matter of housekeeping duties, it was also time to transfer “underspents” to reserves, with any unused funds being moved into the appropriate reserves.

When it was pointed out that Addington Highlands seems to have more unspent funds to transfer than many municipalities, Hogg said: “maybe we’re a little closer with what we spend.”

Council also received an end-of-the-year report on emergency preparedness, when had one particular aspect that caught Hogg’s eye.

“Cyber attacks are something we’re seeing more of these days,” he said. “I see there was one on health care records just the other day. We have some security measures in place but we’re going to investigate further. But these guys always seem to be one step ahead of you and they can hold you hostage.”

Hogg said Council is now done until the middle of January but noted that the concrete has been poured for the new office addition.

“We may be meeting in new Council chambers by summer,” he said.

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS

Rosie’s Café and General Store grand opening

Rosie’s Café and General Store held its grand opening last Saturday (August 31), and the overwhelming response from the public, which included a line-up all the way to Hwy. 41 at one point, reflected the fact that the permanent and seasonal residents in the Denbigh area have already made up their minds about the new café.

They don’t just like the food, the service, the latte’s (and as of last week, the fuel), they like the commitment that Jenelle and Joseph Rosenblath have made to enhance the range of retail services in the village.

Ever since Stop 41 closed, several years ago now, Glaeser’s Countryt Store on Bridge Street, has been keeping the community supplied with groceries and other goods.

Rosie’s Café and General Store, which is located on Hwy. 41, also has groceries available, along with food to eat in or to go, and has brought gasoline  back to Denbigh. The closest gas has been in Griffith 17 km. north, or 30 kilometres to the south in Cloyne.

“We’ve been open since Canada Day weekend,” said Jenelle Rosenblath, “gas only came two weeks ago. We’ve had a lot of community support all summer, even without the gas.

Jennelle, who works at the Lakelands Family Health Team clinic in Denbigh, when she is not helping out at the café, said that she and her husband Joseph were interested in buying the property and starting up a store ever since Stop 41 closed but it took a long time for the property to be listed. It was listed last summer and they made an offer on it and took possession last September. It then took months to complete all the necessary environmental assessments because of the old gas tanks that were buried on the site, before they could open at all.

The fuel tanks that they are using are all above-ground so there will be no hidden leaks in the future. Over the next couple of weeks, diesel fuel will be added.

Joseph, who has been running his own property maintenance business, is now running the store. The two of them, who are both from the local area, have a lot of family history in retail within the local area. They have been using their contacts to stock the store with local and regional products, such as Madawaska Coffee, meat from Palmateer’s abattoir in Tweed, cheese from Empire Cheese and baked goods from Doohars, both of Campbellford.  They are renovating the top floor of the building to house a gift shop and perhaps some hunting and fishing supplies.

“This is our home town,” said Jenelle, “We’ve always watched this place, and we know how important it is to the local community because we are from here. All summer and at the grand opening we have been supported by everyone and it makes us even more committed to making this business work for us and the community.

“Our Grand Opening celebration was a huge success, as we had many more people stop in than anticipated! We are so blessed to have such a supportive community and great visitors that took the time to stop in. The support shown by members of council and the fire department was great to see as well.”

Rosie’s Café is open 7 days a week from 7am until 8pm. The hours may be shortened over the winter, but the Rosenblaths are committed to remaining open 7 days a week all year round.

And as the poster announcing the grand opening said, “Gas is back in Denbigh”

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS

Library services are primarily funded and managed by local municipalities and that buffers them from impacts resulting from provincial budget cuts.

But they are not immune.

As part of their 2019 budget, the Progressive Conservative government under Premier Doug Ford cut half of the funding for Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS), an organisation that works with Ontario libraries to help ensure equitable access to library services across the Province.

One of the programs that SOLS has run ever since it was established in 1989 is the inter-library loan service. With this service, library users anywhere in the Province have access to publicly available books and other materials from all of the libraries in Ontario.

At least that was the case until last Friday. In response to the 50% cut in their budget, SOLS informed all the libraries that they serve that the program has been suspended.

The following notice was posted on the SOLS website by Chief Executive Officer Barbara Franchetto: “It is with great sadness that I have to inform public libraries in Southern Ontario that the SOLS interlibrary loan delivery service will permanently cease to operate, effective April 26th, 2019. I know this is very sad and disappointing news but given the enormity of the cut to our operating budget, there is no alternative. Even under our previous budget allocation, it was becoming difficult to sustain the service because of ever increasing operating costs.”

Patricia Enright, Chief Librarian/Chief Executive Officer of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library (KFPL), said that she was surprised when she heard about the funding cut in the provincial budget, and saddened when she received word last Thursday that the inter-library loan service was being discontinued.

“It’s a service that has been part of Ontario libraries since before I started working in libraries over 30 years ago. It’s particularly important for small libraries that do not have large collections of their own, and those libraries will be hit hardest, I think,” she said in a phone interview on Tuesday morning (April 23).

KFPL serves the City of Kingston and Frontenac County, and members throughout Frontenac County can order materials from all KFPL branches, including the large Kingston branches, which are then delivered to their local branches. This service is not affected by the cut. However, access to materials from other libraries across the Province has been suspended, as of last week.

This accounts for about 4,500 deliveries each year from libraries across the Province,” said Enright, “a small fraction of the number of materials that the library loans out each year. Our patrons use the service mostly for out of print books and academic materials. It is one of the tools that we have always used to help patrons find the information they are looking for, if we don’t have it in our library.”

Enright added that while the courier system operated by SOLS is being shut down, there is a chance that an alternate delivery system can be found to get the service back on stream. They will know if those efforts are successful sometime in May.

Another service that SOLS offers is a bulk purchasing service for Ontario libraries, both for physical materials and digital services, such as Ancestry – an online genealogy service.

If that service ceases, it could lead to added costs, or less service, in libraries across the Province.

The Kingston Frontenac Public Library also receives a provincial operating grant of approximately $300,000, which represents 4% of its operating budget.

“We have been assured that those grants will not be affected by any cuts, at least for the current year,” said Enright.

Closing down the inter-library loan program will have a greater impact on the Addington Highlands (AH) library than it has on the Kingston Frontenac Library.

The small library, which has branches in Flinton and Denbigh, serves a population of 2,300 permanent residents. Head Librarian Bonnie Leon said that the AH library patrons were making use of the service over 500 times a year, which is significant for such a small population, as compared 4,500 inter-library loans in Kingston and Frontenac, which has a population of 150,000.

“As a small library, we have a limited collection of items, so cutting us off from Inter-Library loans will be felt right away,” said Leon. “Since this is the first week after the announcement, nobody really knows about it yet, but many people will be disappointed when they find out.”

Leon said she is hoping that some arrangement will be made, but realises that costs will likely go up if a service such as Canada Post is the delivery method for materials. The Addington Highlands library receives about 10% of its funding, $11,000, from provincial grants, which are remaining in place for 2019.

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS

A request from the Too Far, Too Fast organization for Addington Highlands to declare itself an ‘unwilling host’ for any marijuana distribution operations once it becomes legal July 1 seemed to garner the most discussion at Council’s regular meeting Tuesday afternoon in Flinton.

“Is there any point to declaring ourselves unwilling?” said Coun. Tony Fritsch. “The government did say municipalities would have some input but we haven’t heard from them yet and they likely wouldn’t listen to us anyway.”

“A lot of things are like that,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

Clerk-treasurer Christine Reed said she understood that the 14 municipalities who would have sales outlets have had some input.

“It used to be with alcohol a municipality could declare itself dry but who’s to stop somebody from going to Kingston or Belleville to get it?” said Dep. Reeve Helen Yanch.

“And what’s in it for us?” said Hogg.

“You mean other than cost?” said Fritsch.

“They’re not telling us anything,” said Coun. Bill Cox. “Will they be giving us anything?”

“I’d like to have some input if it’s available in our area,” said Fritsch.

“Our only option might be to wait until they say ‘hey, Addington Highlands, we’re looking at this in your area,’” said Reed. “We have had a couple of calls about zoning and where you could put a greenhouse.”

“When a taxpayer starts his own business, they call it a ‘grow-op,’” said Cox. “When the government does it, it’s a ‘greenhouse.’”

Community Transportation grant
Clerk-treasurer Christine Reed sought out and received Council’s approval to begin drafting an application to the Community Transportation Grant Program for a five-year grant that would lead to the implementation of of a twice-monthly bus service to various locations such as Napanee, Belleville, Renfrew and Bancroft for various services. The service would be available to the general public and there would be a fee.

She said the funding would be used to cover staffing and administrative costs as well as the busing costs.

Reed said the actual routes are still being determined in consultation with Land O’ Lakes Community Services and the community to determine interest in such a program.

“Thought would have to be given to the sustainability of the program at the end of the five years when the funding was depleted,” she said.

“So, the assumption we’re making is that after five years the fund could be zero because nobody can afford to administer it,” said Coun. Tony Fritsch.

“There used to be bus service every week but we just couldn’t sustain it,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

Newsletter changes
Clerk-treasurer Christine Reed presented Council with a draft newsletter.

“A lot of people don’t notice the newsletter and it’s been the same for about 10 years so we’re trying a little different format,” she said.

“There’s no mention of my phone number anywhere on it,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

“It’s on the website and people can call the Township for it,” said Reed.

“They usually call me to find out the Township number,” said Hogg.

“I think it would be wise to put the Council members’ names in,” said Coun. Bill Cox.

“But no pictures,” said Hogg.

“I guess they know who you are since they voted you in,” said Cox.

Dump hours
Roads/bridges supervisor Brett Reavie got Council’s approval to change winter hours of operation at Township dump sites to eliminate operating in the dark.

Although it won’t be immediate, Kaladar will change to 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

“There’s no lights and after dark it becomes a safety issue,” Reavie said.

He’s also looking at changing the winter and summer hours at Vennachar and summer hours at MacKavoy for the same reason.

He said they’re still working on snow removal at Weslemkoon and “it’s probably going to be April when we’re done.”

Still with dump sites, Reavie said the Ministry has asked for information on two of the dump sites that were closed.

“They asked for information on Denbigh and Kaladar and that’s what I gave them,” he said.

“There’s a house on one of them,” said Coun. Bill Cox.

Reavie said he has yet to receive any negative feedback on the previous recent changes to dump procedures and fees.

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS

Addington Highlands Council voted to move its meetings to Tuesdays from Mondays at its regular meeting Monday afternoon in Flinton.

The move was made to avoid having to schedule around holiday Mondays and to make it easier for residents to attend, said Dep. Mayor Helen Yanch.

The move will come into effect for the Jan. 2, 2018 meeting and continue for meetings in both Flinton and Denbigh. Meeting times remain 1 p.m. in Flinton. Denbigh meetings are at 1 p.m. for January, February, March, November and December and 7 p.m. for the remainder of the year.

The only comment on the meeting change came from Frontenac News Publisher Jeff Green, who said in an email: “Tuesdays are difficult for us to cover Addington Highlands meetings as it is our production day. We do cover other councils on that day and adding Addington Highlands will make it more of a stress. With the change, we should still be able to cover the Flinton meetings, but the evening meetings and even the afternoon meetings in Denbigh will be an issue.”

“The time of the meetings should be there to serve the community,” said Coun. Tony Fritsch. “I have no issue with Monday or Tuesday.”

Speed device slows traffic
Roads supervisor Brett Reavie told Council that the speed measuring device on the road into Flinton seems to be having the desired effect.

“Comments from neighbours are that people seem to be slowing down,” he said. “Although after awhile, it could lose its effectiveness as people get used to it being there.”

“I want to see how high I can get it,” joked Reeve Henry Hogg.

Hospice services
Carrie Salsbury, community coordinator for The Heart of Hastings Hospice, addressed Council on the plan for extending their services into Addington Highlands and North Frontenac Townships.

“The Local Health Integration Network has asked the Heart of Hastings Hospice to work with agencies in Lennox & Addington and Frontenac Counties to coordinate end-of-life hospice services,” she said. “I have been meeting with health care agencies, community groups, social service agencies and individuals to better understand the needs of the community and to tap into systems, services and communications links that already exist.

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS

It seems that every time Lennox and Addington County Council considers making changes or upgrades to its ambulance service, the question of whether to keep the Denbigh service up and running comes up.

It happened again last week, at a meeting of Council on November 15. Council is intent on establishing a service in Stone Mills township, and one way to help finance it would be to cut the 12 hour a day service based out of Denbigh.

“I am getting tired of continuing to have to argue that even though there are not a lot of calls to Denbigh, the service is essential because of the distances involved. There are also two provincial highways that meet at Denbigh, 41 and 28,” Hogg said when contacted over the phone after the meeting.”

A motion was passed at an L&A Council meeting last year which instructed staff to look for a location in Denbigh where a permanent base can be constructed, but that has not led anywhere. And when the agenda came out for a discussion about the proposed Stone Mills base, one of the options on the table was cutting the Denbigh service and serving the north from the Northbrook base, which has a 24 hour a day service.

At the meeting last week Council decided to proceed with a new based in Stone Mills, seek a permanent location for the Loyalist base. An in camera session followed, and after that the following motion was passed: that the current ambulance service level be maintained in Denbigh, and that council direct staff to proceed with the purchase of ambulance vehicles as required.”

One of the concerns about the Denbigh service is that the current location for the ambulance is in a rental property.

While the details of the in camera session were not revealed, the minutes from the meeting say that after the in camera, Warden Lowry “reported that Council considered a potential property acquisition in closed session.”

Township float for Northbrook and Denbigh parades

At the Santa Claus parades on December 2 in Northbrook (10 am) and Denbigh (6pm) there may be a new float.

In response to a proposal by Teri Woods, the wife of township road crew member Rodney, council accepted her offer to decorate a trailer for use in both of the parades. Council will also spend $200 for candy, etc. To give out during the parades, and members of council will ride in the parades as they wish.

Council meeting times set to change

In response to a proposal from Councillor Helen Yanch, meetings will be held on Tuesdays starting in January. The first meeting of the month will take place on the first Tuesday of each month at the Flinton Recreation Centre at 1pm, and the second will take place in Denbigh on the 3rd Tuesday of the month. In the months of January to March, November and December, the meeting will take place at 1pm, and from April until October it will take place at 7pm.

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS

(Addington-Highlands, ON) - On October 6, 20017 just before midnight (11:30pm) officers with the Kaladar Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police responded to a 911 call from a residence on Slate Falls Road.
While the homeowner was out of town an unknown suspect broke into the home causing damage and taking personal property.

The Napanee OPP is looking to speak with anyone who may have information related to this crime. Please contact Napanee OPP at 613-354-3369 or 1-888-310-1122. Should you wish to remain anonymous, you may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), where you may be eligible to receive a cash reward of up to $2,000.

From; Juliane Porritt Media Relations Officer Napanee OPP
Contact; 613-354-3369 ext. 6755 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS
Wednesday, 02 August 2017 14:05

Discovering the richness of Rose Hill

The general public will have a unique opportunity to visit Rose Hill Nature Reserve on Saturday, August 19th to explore the new trails and learn about the rich biodiversity found there. Rose Hill is a 358-acre wilderness property in the rugged, hilly landscape north east of Denbigh in Addington Highlands.


In the spring of 2017, the Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust (MMLT) engaged a professional ecologist to prepare a scientific report describing the natural history and ecological features of the Nature Reserve, as well as conduct fieldwork to inventory the species on the property. At our August 19th event, visitors will hear about some of the discoveries of the field study and learn about the ecological significance of Rose Hill.


An initial field study was conducted in 2012 when the first 100-acre parcel was acquired by the Land Trust. That first report stated that one of the most remarkable aspects of this property is its lack of invasive plant species which gives a pretty good indication of its relatively untouched, wild condition. This year’s study will provide MMLT with the necessary information to prepare a long-term management plan for the Nature Reserve. Land trusts are mandated to protect the properties in their care forever, which in legal terms means a 999 year commitment, renewable.


Over the past year, area volunteers have extended the trail network by opening up a long-unused trail around Fufflemucker Pond. Visitors will be guided along the trail from and to the lovely picnic spot beside the pond where we’ll gather to hear Cathy Keddy, the Chair of MMLT’s Ecological Stewardship Committee, share the findings of the field study to date. After lunch, you can meander along the trail around the perimeter of the pond looking for the rare species described.


Registration for the nature walk is at 10:30 a.m. at the Brodey Trail entrance on Rose Hill Rd. Admission is $10. Bring along a picnic lunch to enjoy beside Fufflemucker Pond. Don’t forget your camera – the scenery is beautiful and you may catch a shot of something special.


Directions to Rose Hill Nature Reserve are provided below:


From Kaladar at the junction of Hwy 7 and Hwy 41, travel north for 65.4 km to Rose Hill Rd. and turn right.
Area residents from the east can take Buckshot Lake Rd. from Plevna to Hwy 41.
Follow Rose Hill Rd. for about 1.6 km to the Brodey Trail entrance (marked) to climb to Fufflemucker Pond. Parking is at the road side.

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS
Wednesday, 14 December 2016 16:10

Charges Laid in Denbigh Bus Collision Case

Charges have been laid following the investigation into a single vehicle collision involving a bus that occurred on October 14, 2016 at 9:57 a.m.

Officers with the Kaladar, Renfrew and Killaloe detachments of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) responded to a report of a bus in the ditch on Highway 28 just east of Highway 41 in Denbigh, Township of Addington Highlands.

Approximately fifty seniors were on board the bus.  Many suffered minor injuries.

The driver of the bus, 67 year-old Robert BELL of Stone Mills Township, has been charged with Careless Driving contrary to the Highway Traffic Act.

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS
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