Comings and goings

Jeff Green | Jan 11, 2017

As we start a new year there are changes afoot with the News and across Frontenac County as well.
First, readers of this paper will likely already have noticed a byline that is familiar to many but not in the pages of the Frontenac News.

I have spent years sitting at the small press table at council meetings up and down the county trying to figure out how to coax Craig Bakay into a rant while we were working for different papers. It wasn’t that hard, as he is a pretty opinionated guy and he is not shy about sharing his opinion, especially on some of his pet topics (ie peeves), of which there are many.

He also has a well earned understanding of the way politics are done in Frontenac County, and has a feel for what I like to call local colour, the interesting and quirky personalities that make up the community we are a part of.  We rarely agree about anything, which makes things interesting sometimes, but we have now been friends long enough to have seen each other through some of life’s challenges, which brings less bite to political differences.

In any event when I learned that Craig had decided to stop working as a freelancer for the Frontenac Gazette and other publications, it was at the same time that I was facing the loss of Jule Koch, my work partner and managing editor of the Frontenac News.

Needing to concentrate on the operational aspects of the paper, I asked Craig to come on as a reporter, at least on an interim basis, and luckily he agreed. He will be covering Central Frontenac Council, and working with Wilma Kenny on South Frontenac Council, with Jonas Bonnetta on North Frontenac Council, and myself on Addington Highlands Council. He will also be doing general coverage each week, and photo work. I will continue to do editorial writing and feature writing, in addition to my role as publisher and supervising editor.

Our commitment to our readers and our advertisers is to continue to provide comprehensive coverage of life in Frontenac County, Addington Highlands and western Lanark County and indeed to enhance that coverage.
We also learned in recent weeks of changes in staffing, both at Frontenac County and in North and Central Frontenac. As reported elsewhere in this issue, Jeremy Neven will be resigning as Chief Building Official for North and Central Frontenac in May, and it was also announced last month that Marian VanBruinessen will be retiring from her position as Treasurer for Frontenac County in the late spring. Marian has been in her position since municipal amalgamation in 1998 and perhaps before that, and she is the longest serving member of the senior staff at the county level by a long shot. The budget that was approved by Council in December was at least the 19th she has prepared for the Frontenac Management Board or Frontenac County.

Finally, North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins announced in late December that he will be running for re-election in 2018. Although it is way too soon for some of us to think about an election that is still 22 months away, Higgins said that he was committed to providing notice of his intentions at the halfway point of his mandate. Of course, he added that circumstances might change, but that with continued support from his wife Wendy, and continued good health, he is ready to commit to 6 more years working for the residents of North Frontenac. He also said the next municipal election will be the final one in his political career, win or lose.

Finally, Canada 150 is upon us, and after the kickoff levee in Arden, there are events being planned throughout the region all year. We will provide complete coverage in the coming weeks and months.