| Mar 07, 2013


North Frontenac to move towards smaller Council

Faced with long-term financial challenges, which were highlighted in a recent Services Review by the auditing firm KPMG, North Frontenac Council is looking inward first.

At a meeting last Thursday, Feb. 28, Council took the first steps toward shrinking their own numbers from seven to five, which would bring annual savings of $30,000 in salary costs to the township.

Although the cost savings represent only about 0.5% of the township's spending, a five-member council would also put North Frontenac more in line with the norm for other townships of a similar size in Eastern Ontario.

Council has until the end of 2013 to make changes that will take effect in the 2014 election year, so the discussion last week was preliminary, but one future scenario was supported by a number of councilors.

It would see the current ward system remain intact but would cut ward representation to one councilor from the current two. The three wards that make up North Frontenac: Barrie, Clarendon and Miller, and Palmerston/Canonto, take their shape from the pre-existing townships of the same names that came together in 1998 to form North Frontenac.

In addition to three ward-elected politicians, the mayor and deputy mayor would be elected at large in a township-wide vote. Currently the mayor is the only one who faces a township-wide vote, and the deputy mayor is elected from among the ward politicians at the first meeting of Council in its four-year term.

With the expansion of Frontenac County Council in 2010, a second North Frontenac representative was also chosen by Council to serve with the mayor on County Council.

The new scenario would see the deputy mayor serve as the second County representative. A deputy mayor who is elected from the entire population of the township would be eligible to serve as Frontenac County warden, a position that cannot be held by a ward politician.

In discussing the changes last week, the idea of a five-member council received almost unanimous support.

Fred Perry, the current deputy mayor, expressed the only sceptical note, saying, “My only concern is about the workload for the five people, particularly with two of them having extra obligations to the County.”

Mayor Clayton said that one of the ways to deal with this might be to minimize committee and task force work for councilors. North Frontenac Council is also unique in the region in that council members are assigned portfolios, such as health, youth, social services, communications, green energy, etc., but that system may be altered under a five-member council.

One of the underlying concerns surrounding the North Frontenac ward system is the disparity of population in the three wards (45% of the population lives in Barrie ward; 35% in Clarendon Miller and 20% in Palmerston Canonto).

One proposal that would address that concern would be to eliminate the ward system entirely.

“How do other councilors feel about everyone being elected at large?” asked Councilor John Inglis.

“Everyone at large could lead to a stacked vote if people from one ward really work hard or spend a lot of money. I personally favour the ward system,” said Mayor Bud Clayton. “With the mayor and deputy mayor being elected at large, potentially three members of Council could come from one ward. That would be enough.”

“I don't know what I would like to see. I don't think I've had enough opportunity to decide,” said Councilor Wayne Good. “I think this is premature.”

CAO Cheryl Robson was directed to bring back a report on the options for a change in composition. If Council follows though and makes a tentative choice, the matter will go to a public meeting before coming back for a final decision.

One way or another, it seems clear that North Frontenac Council will be smaller after the 2014 municipal election.

NF Council decides to renovate old fire hall

North Frontenac Council has decided to spend $180,000 to renovate the existing Ompah fire hall rather than committing $300,000 for a new hall on a lot they had purchased for that purpose.

The decision was made in response to the final recommendations by the Ompah Fire Hall Task Force, which was chaired by Councilor Gerry Martin, and included Councilor John Inglis and five members of the public. The task force put two options before Council, although a slim 4-3 majority of task force members supported the option of a new fire hall

Before discussing the fire hall options, Council looked at another fire service matter, the status of two older tanker trucks, and made a decision that made the renovation plan for the Ompah fire hall a viable option.

After receiving a report from Fire Chief Steve Riddell, Council decided it was necessary to take two 1988 vintage tanker trucks out of service. An analysis by Dan Korocil from the Ontario Fire Marshal's office had concluded that the trucks cannot be driven safely when the water tanks are half full or empty, and no attempts to compensate by installing new baffling on them will suffice.

“I’ve driven old tankers and you get into a situation where you are driving an unsafe vehicle,” said Fire Chief Riddell.

Council decided, by a 7-1 vote, to replace only one of the tankers, at an estimated cost of over $100,000. The newly purchased tanker will be housed at the Plevna fire hall, and a 1996 vintage tanker currently located at Plevna will go to the Snow Road hall, leaving the Ompah fire hall with a pumper truck but no tanker.

“I feel a grave error has been made,” said John Inglis, “I don’t agree with the idea that North Frontenac does not need a tanker at the three locations to provide adequate fire suppression service. How can we say we offer fire suppression from Ompah without a tanker? I want to say on the record that I think Dan Korocil is wrong in his evaluation.”

Among the two fire hall options, only a new hall, at 3,000 square feet, would be big enough for the number of vehicles currently in service in Ompah. By removing the tanker, however, the renovation option becomes viable, according to the task force report.

A motion to move forward with a new fire hall was narrowly defeated, with Mayor Clayton's no vote proving decisive. Councilors John Inglis, Lonnie Watkins and Betty Hunter voted in favour of building a new hall, while Councilors Wayne Good and Gerry Martin as well as Deputy Mayor Fred Perry had voted against it.

Although the vote was 4-3, only one member of Council, John Inglis, wholeheartedly supported the long delayed project.

Before the vote, Betty Hunter said, “I promised at a public meeting last August that I would vote for a new hall but I believe that if a fire hall is built the community will lose the community hall and the library. But I said I would vote for a new fire hall and I will.”

“I promised a new fire hall at one point as well,” said Mayor Bud Clayton in response, “but the facts change.”

At the time of the recorded voted, Lonnie Watkins did not respond at first, looking down at the council table for a few moments before nodding and saying yes.

In a subsequent vote to renovate the existing building, there were 5 votes in favour, with Councilors Inglis and Hunter voting against the proposal.

The debate over the fire hall proposal was coloured by the recent services review the township has undergone. Councilors expressed a reluctance to commit to keeping two township buildings in Ompah, a new fire hall and the old fire hall building, which also houses a community hall and library. The services review singled out both the fire services and the township halls as high cost services in North Frontenac.

The township has invested about $50,000 in purchase costs, environmental assessments and remediation for the lot where the ill-fated fire hall, and at one time also a Frontenac County ambulance base, were to be constructed.

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