New Public Works Manager to Arrive in March

Jeff Green | Jan 25, 2017

Central Frontenac Council held a short in camera session at the end of their regular meeting on Tuesday afternoon (January 24) and then emerged to pass a motion to enter into a contract with Bradley Thake.  After the motion passed Mayor Frances Smith announced that Brad Thake will begin work in the township on March 13. In a release accompanying the hiring, Smith said: “Mr. Thake has many years of supervisory experience in municipal/highway road maintenance. With his extensive road maintenance, contract management and public relations experience in both the private and municipal settings, he will be an asset to Central Frontenac. We look forward to welcoming Brad as an integral part of our administration.”

Mr. Thake is originally from the Westport area where the Thake family name is very well known.

Central Frontenac has been looking for a full time public works manager since early last summer. In the interim former Public Works Manager Mike Richardson has been working at the township on an part time basis. When Thake comes on Richardson will retire from the township for the third time. He helped out when his first replacement did not work out.

Road to close for emergency construction
Mike Richardson appeared before Council to present a report on plans to replace a large culvert. The culvert is located on Fourth Lake Road in the southwest portion of the township, in the vicinity of Wagarville, 5th Lake and Echo Lake roads. In order to do the work the road will need to be closed for 3 weeks, between February 6 and 27.

Richardson said that closure signs will go up this week in advance of the road closing so people who use the road regularly will have advance notice.

Oso dump to close in two years – closure plan coming into effect
With the Oso dump, which is located off Crow Lake Road, set to close in as little as two years, Richardson was contacted by the ministry to begin the work of putting together a closure plan.
A Ministry of the Environment and Climate change official met Richardson at the site on November 3 and requested that a written plan be submitted. Richardson said he communicated with the offical this week and it turns out the township has some time to complete a plan. The consulting company Golder will work in 2017 to put a closure plan in place.

Central Recreation committee resurrected.
Lesley Merrigan, chair of the District 3 (Oso) Recreation Committee submitted a grant application to the Ontario Ministry of Tourism and Recreation on behalf of Central Frontenac Recreation to purchase portable sporting equipment for residents of the township. Before submitting the grant she asked for input from the three other committees in order to come up with a preliminary list and used pricing from a Toronto based online sporting goods retailer The grant came through for $25,000, and in order to decide exactly what to buy, where to locate it and how to make it available to township residents, Council decided to resurrect a committee that has existed in name only for almost a decade. The Central Recreation Committee was set up in 2003 with a view towards establishing township wide recreation, but it was never effective and had not met for years as each of the 4 district committees have  carried on with their own activities. Council appointed Councillors Victor Heese and Bill MacDonald to the committee. Also invited to attend will be the four district committee chairs; Merrigan (Oso), Cory Thompson (Olden), Bob Teal (Hinchinbrooke), and Wanda Harrison (Kennebec). Mayor Smith will sit as an ex-officio member. The committee will meet to deal with the grant.

“Good luck to you” Councillor Riddell said to the two members of council who were named to the committee, in reference to the committees’ underwhelming history.

“This has been a difficult group to get together,” said Frances Smith, “but it is time.”

Fire department to deploy Narcan – Councillor Riddell announced that the Fire department will be adding Narcan to its tool kit for emergency first response. Narcan is the drug that is used for poeole suffering from overdoses of opioids, particularly Fentanyl and Carfentanil, which can be deadly even in minuscule doses.

Pigs on the beach
Council approved a proposal to bring the popular Victoria Day weekend Day of the Pig event to the Sharbot Lake beach this year. The event has until now been presented by Seed to Sausage at their facility on Road 38 near the Oconto cemetery, but the site is small and is adjacent to a major road. Mike McKenzie of Seed to Sausage will work with the Oso Rec Committee to co-ordinate the event at the new site and they will deal with logistical problems that may arise. It is not guaranteed that all the bureaucratic hurdles will be cleared to bring the event to a public space, but Council support was necessary to move it forward. The Day of the Pig draws food enthusiasts from as far away as Toronto and Ottawa and provides an opportunity for local specialty food producers to show off and sell their products.

“I say bring it on,” said Councillor Bill Macdonald. “This will be good for everyone.”

New chair of Arena Board
Deputy Mayor Brent Cameron announced that he has been replaced as the chair of the Frontenac Arena Board by Councillor Sherry Whan. Cameron remains on the board along with two members of South Frontenac Council.