Central Frontenac Council - Jan 12/16

Julie Druker | Jan 13, 2016

Brown and Martin appeal to CF council for Pine Meadow funding

In separate delegations to Council, Rev. Jean Brown and Brenda Martin made a request to put aside $50,000 in their 2016 budget to help cover the estimated $112,000 cost of replacing 11 windows at Pine Meadow Nursing Home (PMNH) in Northbrook.

Their request came about because Frontenac County Council turned down a request to fund the $112,00 project back in November of last year. North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins and Central Frontenac Councilor Tom Dewey both voted no to the request, as did the representatives from Frontenac Islands. At a later meeting of North Frontenac Council, $25,000 was allocated to help fund the project, after being proposed by Mayor Higgins. Brown and Martin are both hoping that that Central Frontenac Council will follow suit.

“North Frontenac Council has voted to fix their mistake and we are here requesting that Central Frontenac Council do the same”, Brown said, adding that “Central Frontenac has given nothing to the PMNH and it's time that we get started here.”

Brown said that 50% of residents of the home come from North and Central Frontenac.

She further asked the council to “examine their budget with regards to nursing homes that are supported” and to publish the report in the Frontenac News. Lastly, she asked Council to encourage County Council to re-table their no vote on the issue. Prior to the meeting Brown had sent 600 letters out to local residents of Central Frontenac outlining the issue and inviting readers to write letters to CF council members asking for their support in the matter.

Brenda Martin, chair of the family council at the PMNH, then addressed Council. She said, “The decision at the county table has spurred the family council to take action as well”. Martin said the request to the county represented “a very reasonable 0.014% of their 2016 budget”.

Councilor Tom Dewey said he had not supported the project at the county level “for fear of setting a precedent”.

After the presentations were complete, Dewey put forth a motion to support the project as a one-time expense and to consider the request at Council's upcoming 2016 budget deliberations. Councilor Bill MacDonald agreed. Councilor Victor Heese said that senior care is the responsibility of the county and not of the lower tier councils.

“My concern is that if we support this, which is not in our mandate, we will get similar requests all of the time”, he said.

Reverend Brown replied, “We are asking for this as a way to fix a mistake made at the county level”.

Mayor Frances Smith said that although she agreed with Heese that seniors' care is the responsibility of the county, “municipalities do have the ability to make a grant to anybody, anywhere for anything.”

Mayor Smith closed the discussion by requesting that Brown and Martin make their presentation to South Frontenac and the Islands and make a presentation as well to County Council again in the new year.

In a motion following the delegation, Council agreed to consider the $50,000 request in their 2016 budget deliberations.

Proposals for Tipping Fees on Hard Plastics

Public Works Manager John Badgely recommended that Council consider introducing tipping fees for hard plastics at the township waste sites. Hard plastics would include lawn furniture, toys, laundry baskets and more. Currently there are no tipping fees required for these items. Badgley said there has been a build up of them at local waste sites as the result of a weakened market in hard plastics because low oil prices are making these items cheaper to make new than to recycle.

“Tipping fees would allow us to look into options like grinding these items down and making more room in our landfills,” Badgley said.

Councilor Dewey wondered how the fees would be charged and Badgely suggested making one fee across the board, which would “make things simple and avoid arguments”. Bagdley said that because a grinder could be costly (Dewey estimated anywhere from $50,000 - $80,000), he would look into meeting with public works managers in North and South Frontenac to see if they would be interested in sharing the costs of one.

Council passed a motion requesting that the waste management committee bring more information on the matter back to Council.

Badgley proposes ending the Amnesty Load Program

In his report regarding the 2015 amnesty load program, Public Works Manager John Badgley recommended that Council reconsider a decision they passed last March that will see the program extended until November 2019. He reported that there were 800 amnesty loads in 2015, representing $20,000 in wasted revenue and a shortened life for local landfill sites. Badgley said his aim in ending the program is to extend the life of the township's waste sites by either diverting or charging for these materials.

“The fact is that many residents here, many of whom are summer residents, are using the program to clean up their homes and yards, so really what is happening is that we are taking Toronto's garbage, Ottawa's garbage and everyone else's garbage in our sites.”

Councillor Bill MacDonald said he is on side for canceling the program “I have never used the program and I know what it costs to close a landfill and how difficult it is to open a new one. I also know that once these sites are full we may have no choice but to pay to ship our waste elsewhere.”

Councilor Dewey said he supports the program. “I am not buying the fact that summer residents are taking advantage of this. I know of summer residents who bring their garbage back to the city with them and I also think that the taxes they pay easily balance out the cost of running this program.”

Badgley's recommendation was received for information.

Ad Hoc committee formed for 150th Anniversary

A motion was passed to create a committee to get plans started for a Canada 150 celebration in the township.

“If we are going to do something for this we need to start planning now”, said Mayor Smith. Councilor Victor Heese volunteered to sit on the committee and a second member will be appointed once plans are under way.