| May 22, 2013


Ompah fire hall renovations set for this year

North Frontenac Council has accepted one of the options presented to them by Steve Sunderland, the volunteer chair of the Ompah Fire Hall Design team.

The option calls for repairs to the floor of the building, and changes in orientation and entranceways, which will facilitate its use as a fire hall as well as a public space and the home of the Ompah Library.

Because it calls for a new entranceway that juts out from the existing building, the preferred option does not conform to Council's original stipulation that the renovations not include any changes in the footprint of the building. Nevertheless, the estimated cost of construction is a shade less than the $180,000 maximum that has been set for the project.

Sunderland also presented a second option, which would see the building being expanded at the front in order to create extra garage space to provide storage capacity for the rescue boat and other items that will not fit in the $180,000 design.

If the township agreed to the second design, it would cost an extra $67,000. However, if it becomes necessary to build the addition at some time in the future, the cost for the addition would go up to $112,000.

“The reason for that is there would be savings in other parts of the project if we build the addition now, and I estimated added costs having to do with increasing construction costs over time,” said Sunderland.

“I think it would be silly not to consider building the expansion now,” said Councilor Lonnie Watkins. “It would be a waste to see in five years that our needs have changed and we have to start spending twice as much money. Better to do it now. Didn’t the firefighters have $50,000 available for the fire hall?”

“The $50,000 was a commitment that was made for a new fire hall only, not for a renovation,” said Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Robson.

“We are going to have lessening needs, not increased needs,” said Councilor Wayne Good.

In a straw vote to see if the expansion had any support among councilors, only John Inglis and Lonnie Watkins said they favoured it.

Deputy Mayor Fred Perry asked Steve Sunderland if the Ompah Hall and library users had been contacted about the proposed changes.

“Yes they have, and they seemed excited about the prospects for the future of the space. They really saw the benefit of the changes that are being proposed,” Sunderland said.

In terms of the time frame for construction, Sunderland said that it was only in the last few days that the design team for the project has been finalised and “it will take about 4-6 weeks for that part to be done, and then we can get started.”

Plans are still in place to complete the project in 2013.

“I just want to comment that Steve has done an incredible amount of work on this,” said John Inglis.

“That’s certainly true,” said Mayor Bud Clayton, who then addressed Sunderland directly: “I’m sorry, but we can’t give you free taxes for this.”

North Frontenac wins granting sweepstakes

Members of North Frontenac Council were all smiles this week as they announced that the long-awaited reconstruction of the Mississippi Bridge on Road 509 at Mississippi Station, currently a one-lane structure, will finally be rebuilt as a two-lane bridge.

The township's application to the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiative (MIII), a relatively small (in provincial terms) infrastructure program that was announced last year, has resulted in a grant for $1.89 million, enough to fund 90% of the $2.01 million project. The township will have to cover the other $189,000.

In the last 10 years, the township has applied for funding to rebuild the bridge, which sits on the township's most important arterial road, at least four times, with no success.

The difference this time around may have something to do with the proactive efforts North Frontenac has made in developing Asset Management and Service Delivery Review protocols.

When the MIII program was announced last fall, the province indicated that municipalities that had not initiated those kinds of long-term financial planning tools would not be eligible for infrastructure grants in the future.

“While some other townships are just now starting to put their Asset Management Programs in place, we have ours completed, as well as our service review,” said North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton, indicating that the government is sending a message to other municipalities that they should get on with adopting the long term planning protocols in short order.

The $1.8 million grant represents only 0.4% of the $450 million MIII program. However, on a population basis, North Frontenac Township, with 1,900 people in a province of 13.5 million, has only 0.007% of the total population. This makes North Frontenac one of the big winners in this latest round of infrastructure funding.

Township Public Works Manager Jim Phillips said that the detailed engineering and design work on the project will take the rest of this year to complete, and he expects that construction will start next spring.

The approval of the project is unofficial until such time as the provincial funding is formally announced and is subject to the passage of the 2013 provincial budget.

Coincidentally, it was confirmed on Tuesday that a budget deal has been reached between Ontario NDP leader Andrea Horwath and Premier Kathleen Wynne, ensuring that the Ontario budget will be approved by the legislature and there will be no election this spring or summer.

Mandatory septic re-inspection program faces legal wrangle.

The Mississippi Rideau Septic System Office has been running a septic re-inspection program for several years in North Frontenac. In recent years the program has become bogged down because a number of property owners have consistently refused to respond to requests to have their systems inspected.

Back in January, Council decided that a mandatory program is necessary in order to do the necessary inspections on those properties, and they decided to expand the contract with Mississippi-Rideau to include what is called a Discretionary program, so inspections can be done at the discretion of the township rather than the convenience of the property owner.

The Discretionary program has hit a snag, however. Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington Public Health, which handles septic approvals for the township's building department, has raised legal questions over the authority to do mandatory inspections.

Lawyers for Public Health and the township will now look at the matter. In the meantime, the township is going ahead with plans for the voluntary program only.

Community Profile Completed – The Economic Development Task Force, with significant assistance from the County of Frontenac, has completed a 20-page Community Profile, which will be uploaded this week to the County website.

“A community profile is a necessity if we are going to be able to attract investment,” said Task Force Chair Betty Hunter.

Dark Skies Application – The township has applied to the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada for official recognition as a Dark Skies Preserve.

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