Central Frontenac Council - Apr 29/14

Jeff Green | May 01, 2014

Procedural bylaw:

Much of the meeting this past Tuesday, April 29, was devoted to a discussion of the new procedural bylaw that is slated for adoption at the next meeting of Council. The item that generated the most debate was the matter of accepting input from the public during the meetings, with three neatly lined up rows of empty chairs at the back of the meeting hall giving the debate a surreal edge.

While the process for becoming a delegate to council will remain as it has always been, how to deal with more spontaneous input is not as clear cut. Councilor John Purdon proposed that a public question period at the end of meetings be considered.

Chief Administrative Officer Larry Donaldson said that if Council was inclined to allow the public to comment on proposals before council, an opportunity could be worked into how motions are presented to Council.

Councilor Heather Fox, who was the Clerk/Administrator for Central Frontenac between 1998 and 2006, said, “In my time as clerk as well as my time on Council I don't think we've ever refused someone the opportunity to talk about an issue. It's always done at the discretion of council, but I don't see why we should put anything new in the bylaw,” she said.

A motion to institute a public question period at the end of council meetings received no support and no other proposal came forward. Recognizing members of the public during meetings will remain at the discretion of Council.

The yawning chairs at the back of the hall nodded their approval.

Tender awarded: Crains' Construction of Maberly was awarded the contract for rehabilitation of 4.9 kilometres of the Henderson Road, including surface treatment, at a cost of $571,039, which is under the budget of $640,000 for the project.

“When do you think they will start on it?” asked Mayor Gutowski of Public Works Manager Mike Richardson.

“If I know Crains', they are probably already at it," he replied, then added “I really don't know. I haven't discussed it with them, but my guess is they will get at it pretty quickly. They have another large contract underway but they have the capacity to do more than one job at a time.”

Graders at work: Councilor Wayne Millar asked Richardson about grading of township roads.

“We have all four graders working and three more on contract, which is what we did last year at this time as well. They have been at it for five days and it will take another five to complete all the gravel roads, so by some time next week they should all be done,” he said.