Feature Article September 16, 2004
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Property Owners Association proposals rejected by NF Council - and other items from council meeting on September 9
by Jeff Green
Please, dont make us the enemy, was how David Elliott, the Vice President of the Mazinaw Lake Property Owners Association (MPOA) ended his remarks to members of the North Frontenac Council last week.
Elliott was bringing forward three proposals by the Property Owners Association, which they hoped would have an impact on taxation within the township in the coming years. They would like to see a representative from cottage associations given a non-voting seat at long-term budget deliberations that are tentatively planned for this fall. Elliott also said they would like to set up a periodic and ongoing dialogue between township council and administration with an advisory committee made up of three knowledgeable representatives of the cottage associations. Finally, the MPOA wants the townships website to be used to provide periodic financial summaries for all taxpayers.
These proposals were brought forward to the Mayor and Council at a public meeting on August 28. At that time, all of the representatives of Cottage Associations voiced their support for them. David Elliott appeared in the hopes of receiving a definitive response from Council.
The response was certainly definitive, although it wasnt the one that Elliott had hoped for.
Mayor Maguire had the Councillors respond in turn, starting with Councillor Will Cybulski, who was seated on the far right. Cybulski said I feel that it takes quite a bit of time to get a strong feel for the workings of the township. In other words you cant be an occasional participant in township affairs and have a full understanding of all the factors that go into budgeting. I made a three-year commitment and took an oath when I joined Council. As to bring other people into our budget deliberations as partners, I have a problem with that.
Councillor Hunter agreed with Cybulski, and said All our meetings are open, but I would like to see more public meetings take place before the budget is passed to allow for input.
Councillor Dave Smith also spoke of the commitment made by Councillors.
The hours that we put in would certainly surprise some people. We consider the budget in detail. I think we have the budget situation well in hand, he said.
Councillor Bud Clayton was more conciliatory. Mr. Elliott is offering us some aid and we appreciate it. But I think the meetings would end up getting unruly. I also wonder who would pick the people, what kind of process that would be?
Mayor Ron Maguire, who had initiated the meetings with cottage association representatives that precipitated the proposals by the Mazinaw Association, said I dont disagree with anything that Council has said. But I dont want something like this to jeopardise what has been accomplished in the consultations we have already had with cottage associations, which, judging from emails I have received, were very positive events. Addressing David Elliott directly, Maguire said, We dont want to make enemies here; we want to be able to hear everyones opinion and make use of their expertise.
He then discussed the multi-year planning exercise, which has not been fleshed out in any public forum at this point, seeming to downplay the process.
I have an interest in multi-year planning. Its my background, and its something Ive been trying to sell to Council. Its going to start in the fall. Its not something that will be put in place in three months. Its going to take years to set in place.
David Elliott admitted later to frustration at the response by Council but said he was not angry. He said he would report back to the Mazinaw Property Owners Association, who will then decide what to do next.
At the Council meeting, a question and answer session made it clear that many of the members of the audience were unhappy about the tax situation. A few people reiterated the initial concern expressed by the MPOA that the overall amount of tax paid by residential ratepayers in North Frontenac has increased by 15 to 20 per cent in each of the last two years, and they wanted to see that trend stopped.
Like a sleeping giant now awakened, Cottage Associations, who represent a large number of ratepayers, will be expressing their concerns and proposed solutions to Council in one way or another.
Other items from North Frontenac Council
Grading of Private Roads North Frontenac Council has had a tradition of rotating their summer evening meetings between Cloyne and Ompah, and judging from the reception they received in Ompah for the final meeting of the summer, they might be glad to return to Plevna for their evening meetings during the colder months.
There were plenty of people in the gallery at the meeting, and most of them seemed to have one gripe or another with Council, as was expressed throughout the Council meeting and in the question and answer period that followed.
Grading of Private roads: A resolution was presented to deal with a recent controversy over township graders being used on private lanes and so-called non-maintained township roads. The resolution proposed that Council reinstates the long-standing policy of Township Forces and Equipment doing work on private roads, and billing for the same. This practice had been suspended at the previous council meeting, after a controversy sprung up in August over grading that had been done earlier that month on Sunday Lake and golf course roads.
The resolution set out three conditions which must be met before any such road is graded using township equipment. First, all efforts to find a private contractor to do the work must be exhausted, the resolution says; there must be no immediate township work pending; and the road to be worked on must be capable of accommodating township equipment.
The resolution did not meet with uniform approval from Council. Councillors Will Cybulski and Betty Hunter both argued that it would be best for the township to cease doing work on any road that it is not already committed to maintaining.
I still have the concern about what happens if our equipment is damaged, said Councillor Cybulski.
I agree, said Councillor Hunter, I ask - when it is that the township doesnt have plenty of work to catch up on with its own roads?
Councillor Bud Clayton said, I thought the resolution handled all these issues.
Mayor Ron Maguire said, If we adhere to this resolution in its strictest form, we would never get a chance to do any grading of private roads.
So why pass it at all? a member of the gallery interjected.
Glenn Manion, a private construction contractor who was in attendance, was then recognised by Council. Referring to the grading of the road into Sunday Lake that had caused the controversy in the first place, he said, I dont know if Council realises this but I was phoned and asked to grade that road. I was then phoned back and told that the township had done it.
The resolution was passed in a 5-2 vote, with Councillors Hunter and Cybulski voting against it.
Reduced speed limits -At the previous Council meeting, Sgt. Jeff McCann responded to a question about how the township should go about establishing 50 km per hour zones on various roads. To that end, the roads committee met and came to Council with a list of proposed locations for 50 km zones within the township. A resolution was proposed dealing with locations throughout the township. The exact location of the proposed 50 km zone on road 509 near Ompah led to a debate. The resolution wanted the 50 km/hr zone to run from Palmerston Road through the village, but both Councillors Betty Hunter and Gleva Lemke, who live in the area, argued that the 50 km zone should begin further down the road to Plevna, at the Mosque Lake road. They said that a gravel pit near that road, which is used by township trucks, is a low-visibility location, and one spot on the school bus route is dangerous as well.
Roads Committee members were reluctant to accept the Mosque Lake road option, because they felt it was too far from the Village of Ompah and would be ignored.
Councillor Will Cybulski agreed with the roads committee. If people see a 50 km zone and then see no reason for it, they will just start driving faster anyway, he said.
Councillors Hunter and Lemke were not swayed by this argument, and voted against the resolution, which passed 5-2.
Coincidentally, on the day after the Council meeting, a single vehicle accident occurred on road 509 between Mosque Lake and Palmerston roads. A car ended up flipped over in a ditch at the side of the road. OPP Officer Cavanaugh, who attended, was not available to comment on the incident, and the preliminary OPP report made no mention of the speed at which the vehicle had been travelling.
Grant Applications: North Frontenac has been preparing applications for some small grants for economic development related projects, in the range of $5,000, that may become available in October. The Economic Development Committee reported to Council that six applications were being prepared for submission. Projects being applied for include signage for township halls and promotional brochures for the township, among others.
Public Meeting: It has been the intention of Mayor Maguire to set aside about 15 minutes at the end of each Council meeting for the public to express concerns and ask questions of Council. On this occasion, roads and taxes, were on the tops of the minds of those in attendance. Among the questioners was a man who lives on Mosque Lake road, one of the roads that is covered under the Crown Land Stewardship Program between the township and the Ministry of Natural Resources. The township charges fees for the use of the roads and uses that money to cover maintenance. The CLS program has been less than successful since its inception a few years ago. It is renewed annually and will be the subject of a meeting between the MNR and the township in early October. The man from Mosque Lake says he spends 11 months of the year on his property, but he can only access it via ATV and snowmobile because of the condition of the road. Councillor Clayton said that $6,000 has been spent this year grading and maintaining the road. We saw no sign of road grading and didnt see any loads of gravel this year, the man replied.
