(L to R) Emma Douglas , Jennifer Argyle, and Kora Kamps Sissons play the lead character Tesah Carter at three stages of her life in the original musical Turtle Crossings by Craig Godfrey, which will be   by North Frontenac Little Theatre from Thursday to Sunday at Granite Ridge Education Centre in Sharbot Lake. The three of them were photographed while waiting back stage at the dress rehearsal on Tuesday night as a 4th Tesah, Elly Larocque, was on stage. For details about performance times and where to purchase tickets, visit www.NFLT.ca

Massive insurance savings through joint insurance RFP.

Central Frontenac has cut its insurance cost by 2/3rds through a joint request for proposal for insurance services that was undertaken by the four Frontenac Townships and Frontenac County, with the help of a consultant. Insurance companies were asked to quote on providing a single policy to cover all 5 entities, and to quote in each individually. In the end, by choosing the lowest individual offers, each of the townships and the county have realised savings. But none as much as Central Frontenac. Aon Insurance offered to provide “as good or better coverage than we had in the past” said Treasurer Michael McGovern, “at a greatly reduced price.”

Council agreed to sign a three year contract, to cover 2017 and 2019 with Aon at a price of $129,628 each year. In 2016 the township paid over $300,000 for insurance.

“The savings are about $175,000 this year, and when I saw the numbers I looked over the policy very carefully to make sure I wasn’t missing anything,” said McGovern. He said he also received assurances from the consultants, Cameron and Associates, that the policy was sound.

Money to be set aside for Arena Floor

Council decided to follow the advice of the Frontenac Arena Board and will set aside $50,000 to go towards a new floor when the time comes to replace the 40 year old floor at the arena.

Councilor Brent Cameron, who is on the Board, said that the “floor does not need to be replaced this year, or next year or even the year after, but it will need to be replaced, and it could cost up to $700,000.”

The arena supervisor will be proposing that the board do an in-depth analysis of the floor as part of the 2017 budget to determine how long it will last and how much it will cost to replace.

The estimated share of the cost to Central Frontenac is $287,000, so $50,000 would help mitigate against financing costs when the time comes. South Frontenac Township is also committed to creating a $50,000 reserve over the summer, but as they move towards finalising their 2017 budget this month, that commitment is in danger of being lost in the face of other budgetary constraints.

Holiday closure – The township office will be closed on Friday, December 23rd at 4:30 and will not re-open until Tuesday, January 3 at 8:30 am.

New approval process for waste sites

Interim Public Works Manager Mike Richardson, who said he will be leaving the township’s employ at the end of next week ( note - he’s said that before) encouraged the township to employ Golder and Associates to complete some site plan work on the Olden Waste site in order for the site to comply with a new approval process. In place of the Certificate of Approval Process that has been in place for years, a new process, the Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) process. Richardson said that making the change is voluntary for now, but will be mandatory soon. Council agreed and Golder will begin working next month with the expectation of completing the new approval process by February.

Engineering work for 4th Depot Lake Road Culvert Replacement

Council has contracted with Greer Galloway to the tune of $8995 to engineer and administer of a large culvert replacement on 4th Depot Lake Road.

Canada 150

Bill Bowick, and his sidekicks Rose Marie Bowick and Ray Fletcher brought an update about the activities of the Canada 150 committee. Bowick said that plans were proceeding for events throughout the centennial year, starting with a New Year’s Eve Dance in Sharbot Lake and a New Year’s Day levee in Arden. Other events that are planned include a heritage costume dance, a writing project by the United Church Women, a sharing circle by the Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, and special events at the Frontenac Heritage Festival in February, Canada Day, and at the Parham Fair in August.

The Flinton Gold Mine

It is too early to predict either a gold rush or an environmental disaster for the village of Flinton, but Jimmy Sun, President and legal counsel for the Union Glory Gold group of companies, is bullish on the old Addington Mine property.

His company purchased both the surface and subsurface rights to the property, and an adjacent property from Imperial Minerals some years ago, and in a letter to Addington Highlands township staff from earlier this month, he talked about the exploratory activity his company has been carrying out at the property, which is located off Flinton Road (Concession 4, Lot 24, Kaladar).

“We have in the last few years carried out some preliminary work. Last spring some drilling turned up encouraging data and we have since decided to conduct more drilling in an effort to better understand the potential of the property. This drilling should be completed by the end of November,” he said in his letter.

Sun also pointed out that the property was a producing gold mine in the 1930’s. He invited the township to contact him for more information.

Patricia Gray, from the township office, contacted Mr. Sun after meeting with a consultant who was doing a socio-economic study for Union Glory Gold as part of their exploration activities. In addition to contacting Mr. Sun, Gray also spoke with the regional geologist with the Ministry of Mines and Northern Development who said the company is doing some diamond drilling and also doing studies on streams and water in the vicinity of the potential mine site.

“The geologist advised me that the company is complying with requirements at this time,” she said in a report to Council.

Gray also reported that, again according to the geologist, any mining activity is a number of years away and that public consultation will be required if the project proceeds to that stage.

Union Glory Gold has another project in Eastern Ontario that is further along the process of development. It is located near the town of Tudor in the township of Tudor and Cashel, located south and east of Bancroft in Hastings County. The company estimates the Tudor property contains up to $2 billion in gold deposits, according to information that is posted on their website.

Union Glory Gold is based in Toronto and Hong Kong. It lists the Tudor gold project, an iron ore project in Shefferville, Quebec, and the Addington project, on its website.

At their meeting in Denbigh on Monday (November 21) Addington Highlands Council received Patricia Gray’s report on the Flinton gold mine project for information purposes.

(Other items from Addington Highlands Council)

Free rental for NAEC formal dances

Council agreed to provide the Flinton Recreation Centre free of charge for the Christmas and Spring Formals put on by the North Addington Education Centre Student Council. Joel Hasler and Dave Kerr, staff advisers to the student council, wrote to the township making the request because with decreasing enrollment the increasing cost of DJ’s, the students are having trouble breaking even on the dances.

New CBO/facilities manager/bylaw officer position created

As part of an organisational restructuring process, the township will be hiring a full time Chief Building Official who will also have responsibility for bylaw enforcement and will manage township buildings. Until now it has fallen to members of council to oversee buildings such as the former Denbigh schoolhouse and the Land O’Lakes Family Health Team.

Taylor named volunteer of the year, Guardian Pharmacy as Outsanding Business

Northbrook’s Robert Taylor, the driving force behind the Land O’Lakes County Music Hall of Fame this past year, has been involved in community activities for many years. Tobia’s Guardian Pharmacy is a core business in Northbook, along with the Bank of Montreal and Foodland stores. They will both be honoured at the township Christmas Dinner next month.

Kingston Frontenac Public Library Board and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 2202 are jointly announcing a tentative agreement on the union's 2016 employment contract.

Minutes of settlement were signed by officials of both the Library and CUPE on Thursday afternoon.  No details of the deal are being released pending ratification by the Board and by CUPE members.

"This tentative agreement was reached after positive and productive discussions between the Library and CUPE," said Shelagh Quigley, Director of Human Resources and the Library Board’s lead on union negotiations. "We feel it reflects the needs of our staff and the Library as a whole."

"We feel it was a good negotiation and hopefully our members are pleased," said Lori O’Connor, President of CUPE Local 2202. "We will be recommending acceptance at our ratification meeting.”

Cool weather is soup weather. Luckily, the annual VISIONSoup community fund raising event will be held at the Grace Centre, 4295 Stage Coach Road, Sydenham, on Saturday, November 19 from 11:30am to 1:30pm.

Guests will receive a beautiful hand-made pottery bowl to keep, which will be filled with delicious soup from local restaurants. All proceeds will be shared between the Loughborough Christmas Hamper campaign and the Southern Frontenac Community Services Food Bank.

“We are excited to be running this event again this year,” said Josey Steel, one of the pair of organizers who plan the event.

“We are contacting restaurants and getting more and more signed on to donate soup. We expect the final tally will be almost 20 soups!” adds Leslie Reade, the other half of the dynamic duo. “Sometimes people in our community need a helping hand, and we know that these two charities do a lot to help those in need in our community. This is a way we can give back.”

The cost for VISIONSoup is $25 per person, plus a food bank donation. Tickets can be purchased at Trousdale’s General Store, Sydenham Chiropractic Clinic, Sydenham Veterinary Services, and the Southern Frontenac Community Services office at 4419 George Street.

New this year, tickets can also be bought online, through our website: www.sfcsc.ca

Kim Cucoch of the North Frontenac Food Bank, flanked by members of the OPP Auxiliary at the fall 'stuff the cruiser' event in front of Mike Deans Grocery store in Sharbot Lake, on Saturday, October 29. A steady stream of store customers made food and cash donations from 10 until 2. The cruiser needed to be emptied more than once as food kept accumulating.