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Feature Article - March 8, 2007Provincial Conservatives are betting on short memoriesbyJeff Green
With a provincial election coming up this fall, the Conservative Party of Ontario is ramping up their election campaign strategy. In their attempt to return from the electoral wilderness back to power at Queen’s Park, the conservatives are hoping to start by winning back some of the rural ridings that they lost in the last election, when they won only 24 seats to the Liberals’ 72.
To that end, a white paper called ‘Strong Rural Communities: Building Ontario’s New Foundations’ was released about a week ago.
In the introduction to the 25 page report, it is described as a “kind of mid-term report on our work to develop a plan for rural communities.”
Indeed, the report is more a discussion of the problems faced by rural Ontario , and the failings of the current government, than of solutions, which are still under development and will no doubt form part of the party’s election platform.
The report devotes a considerable amount of space to the farm income crisis but it also talks about the fiscal relationship between the provincial and municipal levels of government in a rural context.
The problem for the Conservatives is that the Liberals have only been in power for four years, and in the eight previous years a Conservative government was responsible for a wholesale re-organisation of municipal and provincial jurisdiction and funding arrangements, changes which are still having a tremendous impact.
While the Liberals have tinkered with some of these arrangements, it was the conservatives who put these arrangements in place. The section of the report entitled “Unfair fiscal relationship Who does what” starts with a statement; “Making municipalities pay an excessive share for funding of provincially mandated requirements hurts all communities, but the impact on smaller rural municipalities is even more pronounced because fewer property tax payers are available to shoulder the burden.”
Wait one minute.
Is this not a description of provincial downloading, whereby the province transferred the responsibility, but not all the funding support, for everything from ambulance service to road maintenance? And wasn’t it the Harris Conservative government that did all the downloading back in the mid-nineties, transferring the tax burden from provincial income taxes to municipal property taxes?
The Conservatives could convincingly argue that the Liberals have not reversed any of the downloading that the Conservatives put in place, but that would require admitting the downloading was an expensive mistake that should be reversed, which is not something they are likely to do.
They will have a difficult job convincing people that they can solve the problems in rural Ontario without investing provincial money, and they will have an even more difficult job explaining where they are going to get the money that is needed. Conservatives have spent four years railing against tax increases, so that does not seem to me among their options.
The McGuinty Liberals produced a “Rural Plan” two years ago, and it has not led to any improvements in the rural economy. The Conservatives are right when they say rural Ontario is suffering economically under the Liberals, but they still bear a lot of responsibility for current situation.
The Conservative party is wooing rural voters that are still paying the costs for policies the Conservatives themselves put in place.
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Feature Article - April 26, 2007Letters to the Editor
History on Pine Lake
I own a cottage on Pine Lake, which my husband, my kids and I share with my parents and my brother.
I have been coming to Pine Lake all my life. My father, Frank, has been coming all his life. It's this way because my great grandfather James Derue built this cottage in 1950 and it's been in my family ever since. In fact, it was the first one built on the lake.
At that time, my great grandfather was the local entrepreneur in Ardoch. He and his wife, Elsie, owned and operated the general store and the saw mill. They opened and managed the Pine Lake cottages and trailer park. Even though that was in the 1950s, people still remember and talk about them today.
Last summer a group of people clear cut two pieces of land at Pine Lake -- one beside my cottage and the other across the road. Three weeks ago they drilled a well. They say they are planning to build an office building, a community centre, a parking lot and Pow wow grounds to accommodate 1700 people. They even speak of one day building a seniors home.
I am told by the Ministry of Natural Resources that this group does not legally own this land, that they have not obtained a building permit nor have they conducted an environmental assessment that has been approved by the province to ensure that environmental and safety concerns are addressed. Apparently they have hired someone to do their own assessment, which is not the same thing.
Frankly, I am confused. Why do we have a building code and environmental assessment regulations? Are they meaningless or optional? How can a group of people not abide by our laws and then justify their actions by saying they have history here?
I have history here. I also do my best to follow the laws of our country because I want to live in peace with my neighbours. All I ask is that my neighbours do the same.
Janette Derue-Lane
Re: Ontario Roadsides -
Recently when my grandson Mason Lowery and I were walking along a stretch of Hwy.41 and saw the mess on the roadside, we decided to do some cleanup. It is most frustrating when you see what people toss out the window as they pass by. This ATV trailer full of garbage is some indication of the magnitude of things left on our roadsides.
It took just one-half kilometer to fill this trailer. I think it’s deplorable the way we treat rural Ontario roadsides. I believe we live in the greatest province in this country - why do we not have the good sense to take care of it? It might be tradition to live with rough surfaces, but at least we can attempt to keep the roadsides clean. Maybe if we did our part in keeping Ontario clean, we might encourage the provincial and municipal road departments into helping out with the roads in their jurisdictions. It would sure be nice to see our roadside grass mowing being carried out again as it once was, and the brush cut -- not only to keep it looking nice, but also consider the safety factor for drivers and their families using these roads. Wildlife can be in front of you too easily with the vegetation growing along some portions of our roadsides.
For what it’s worth, last year my wife and I drove to Alaska, across Canada and back through the USA, some 23,000 kms. And I must tell you, as much as I love Ontario, it was most depressing when we came back and looked at the roadsides in Ontario compared to what we had become accustomed to seeing.
I say to you, if we all pull together and do our part, we can make Ontario roadsides second to none and something we can all be proud of.
- Larry Hartin
Dear Editor
Mayor Gutowski must have been a figure skater in a previous life. That was an impressive display of gliding around in circles to set up for the big spin that she performed in her letter that was published here last week. Since creative thinking seems to be in short supply on Central Frontenac council (and let’s not forget that the current mayor and three of the councillors were part of the previous council), here’s a plan that will mitigate the ridiculous mess that they have created. Move the Kennebec road crew and their equipment back to the Arden municipal garage. Move the Olden Fire Dept. into the new four-bay extension recently built onto the Olden municipal garage to house the Kennebec equipment. Take the $465,000 slated for the new fire truck garage in Mountain Grove, add to it the $118,000 that Bill Snyder is so desperate to spend hard topping his favourite side road and there will be plenty to spend on salt domes for Arden and Olden ($240,000 each - Frontenac News, May 25/06) with enough left over to build a nice lounge for the Olden fire crew. Or the $15,000 shortfall can simply be made up by the decreased operating costs that not driving the Kennebec equipment back and forth on the highway all day will provide. That way Mr. Snyder’s neighbours can have their pavement. . . but no lounge for Olden. I wonder if they’ll pave my road too if I keep complaining.
The facilities at the new Sharbot Lake fire truck garage along with the empty municipal garage beside it (the stupidity of that should live forever) and surrounding empty township yard should be plenty to service any of the training seminars Mayor Gutowski lauded, although you have to wonder how many generations will go by before any revenue generated will be worth bragging about.
-Patrick Maloney
Re: “Consolidate rural schools”
I read with dismay the front-page story on the proposal to close and "consolidate" our rural schools. Here is yet another Mississauga"consultant" beingpaid by our tax dollars to recommend the further evisceration of our communities.
With oil and gas prices skyrocketing,supplies dwindling, and global climate change transforming everything around us, further centralization is the last thing anyone but an ostrich should be contemplating.
What on earthcan they be thinking?
In his book, "The Long Emergency", James Howard Kunstler describes North American society as "sleepwalking into the future". If the Limestone Schoolboardshows any sign of taking seriouslythe Mississauga proposalsto close our few remaining small rural schools, we the people should give them a sharp awakening.
Helen Forsey
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Feature Article - July 12, 2007Business retention and expansion survey yields mixed results
byJeff Green
The Economic Development Department of the County of Frontenac has completed a comprehensive survey of businesses throughout the county.
The business retention and expansion report was presented to a county council meeting in June, and to a joint meeting of the four municipal councils that make up Frontenac County last week.
In general the survey revealed that while many businesses are less than satisfied about some aspects of doing business in the county, there is little doom and gloom about the future.
Seventy percent of the 168 businesses surveyed rate their community as an excellent or good place to do business; 43% will be expanding their establishments in the future, and only 4 of the surveyed businesses were planning to relocate outside of their own municipality in the future.
Agricultural operations (incl. forestry, fishing and hunting), made up the majority of the businesses surveyed in South Frontenac (38%), whereas Accommodation and Food Services (the category that encompasses most tourism operators), made up 50% of the respondents in North Frontenac. In Central Frontenac, Accommodation and Food Services (21%) and Arts, Entertainment and Recreation (21%) were the most popular categories.
While it has been widely reported that farming has been on the decline in recent years, the survey showed some optimism in the Frontenac County farming community. Forty per cent of those surveyed said their financial situation has improved over the past 3 years, while 22% said it has deteriorated, and 53% expect their financial situation to improve over the next three years while only 8% expect it to deteriorate.
Among the priorities for improvements to local agriculture, access to a local abattoir was most often cited (by 84% of respondents) followed closely by processing/marketing facilities (81%) and drainage (81%).
Perhaps in recognition of the burgeoning residential pressures on some prime farmland in the county which happens to be located within a short drive of the City of Kingston, conflicts with non-farm residents was noted as a priority by 67% of the agricultural operators who answered the survey.
Tourism operations are spread throughout the county, and 45 of the 168 businesses surveyed identified themselves as tourism-related. The bulk of these are located in Central and North Frontenac, but all regions were represented.
While a small majority of the businesses surveyed are open year round (56%), most agreed their business is mostly or entirely based on summer traffic (86%). About half of the businesses said that the seasonal nature of their operations is a barrier to expansion, but on the positive side, 44% of those surveyed said they have plans to expand their operations.
Dianna Bratina, the manager for Economic Development for Frontenac County, directed the survey process. She said that the results “confirmed many things that I have learned about the business climate in the county, and will form the basis for future activities.”
The survey is a tool that was developed by the province, and Bratina said that the results that were released to county councilors last month are based on the parameters set out by the province.
“In the coming months we will be looking at the information from a more specific, county-based perspective,” she said.
A leadership team made up of municipal appointees from the four Frontenac municipalities, and other interested parties, such as Terry Shea from the Land O’Lakes Tourist Association, have begun to work on an action plan based on the results of the survey.
County council will consider the survey results at their August 1st meeting, and Dianna Bratina will be making presentations and seeking feedback from municipal councils and at public meetings in the early fall.
She anticipates formulating an action plan for implementation in 2008.
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Feature Article - July 12, 2007Garrison Shores mess heading for a resolution?CFCouncil, July 9, 2007
byJeff Green
It’s been over 25 years since people began purchasing lots in a vacation property development at Garrison Lake in the former Kennebec Township.
The original developer is long gone, as are many of the original owners of lots. The lots that were purchased have never been legal, because they do not conform to legal definitions, and property owners have found over the years that they cannot sell their properties because they have never been able to get proper deeds.
In the 10 years since Central Frontenac was created, a succession of councils has attempted to normalize the Garrison Shores development, and after their meeting this week they might just be on the verge of accomplishing that task. But pitfalls remain.
A draft decision by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) called for two wording changes to a proposed Official Plan amendment dealing with Garrison Shores.
While the township’s planning consultant Glenn Tunnock agreed with one amendment the MMAH had proposed, he did not agree with the second. However, the MMAH has indicated they now accept Tunnock’s argument, and the Official Plan amendment seems to have their blessing.
“At your meeting next month, you will have a zoning bylaw amendment before you, which, if approved, will allow this to proceed to the county for the condominium approval process to begin, and the members of the Garrison Shores Association should have their deeds by next year,” Tunnock said. “The zoning bylaw amendment you will see next month will be the most detailed you will ever see,” he added.
So, it seems everybody is happy. Except for Jeff Dubois.
Dubois owns a vacation property at Garrison Shores, and he has been a vocal critique of the proposed solution, an opinion he expressed once again to council this week. Chief among his complaints is the fact that some of the lots at Garrison shores will now include the waterfront, which he argues should have been held in common among the members of the association as it has been in the past.
Glenn Tunnock and Julian Walker, the lawyer for the Garrison Shores Property Owners Association, both said that the establishment of these lots is reasonable under the circumstances, and that access to the water is guaranteed for all property owners.
Dubois has indicated in the past that he is contemplating requesting an Ontario Municipal Board hearing on this matter, and at every stage in the process he has ensured that his contrary position has been presented to council, which is something the municipal board requires before it will order a hearing.
PORTABLE SKATEBOARD PARK – Lori Hamilton (youth co-ordinator) and Sue Leslie (Executive Director) from the Child Centre came to council with good news and a request. The Child Centre has received a $39,687 grant form the Ministry of Health Promotion for a youth initiative. Of that grant, $12,150 is for equipment.
The intention is to purchase a portable skateboard park, to be shared by communities in Central and North Frontenac. “We are looking for the townships to transport the equipment from community to community, provide a place to store the equipment in the off season, and provide insurance,” Lori Hamilton said.
Councilors wanted to know where the park is to be located.
“We are planning to leave it in each community or two weeks,” Hamilton said, “We were thinking of putting it in Plevna for two weeks, and in Arden where there have been problems with youth, and in Sharbot Lake.”
Councilors from Hinchinbrooke and Olden wondered about Parham and Mountain Grove, and Lori Hamilton said that could be done next year.
In the end, council agreed to do what was requested of them.
Resignations from Rec. Committee – Michelle Greenstreet, Ann Howes and Dave Willis all tendered their resignations to the Oso District Rec. Committee. In her resignation letter, Michelele Greenstreet, who has been chairing the committee, wrote, in part, “in my years on the committee I was hoping to see the four districts merge into one and start working together as a whole community. However, with the lack of concern and support of council I feel I am wasting my time on goals toward recreation in this community.”
In her letter, Ann Howes wrote that her volunteer hours have moved in a different direction. She also wrote, “I am also disappointed in the new council, as far as their lack of commitment to helping out numerous volunteers who sit on these rec. committees.”
The verbal resignation from Dave Willis, as well as the written ones from Ann Howes and Michelle Greenstreet, were deferred until the September meeting of the committee, on the urging of Frances Smith, the councilor assigned to the committee.
In an additional note to the minutes of the June 27th meeting of the committee, Frances Smith wrote that the committee is not interested in putting on next year’s Canada Day celebration. “Everyone is tired and frustrated and will take a break in 2008. If another recreation committee would like to take it on, great, if not, then it appears that a celebration may not happen.”
The council meeting ended before the letters and minutes were considered, and they were deferred until next month.
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Pine Meadow Seeking Municipal Supportby Jeff Green
Volunteer board member Ernest Lapchinski and Administrator Kim Harvey from the Pine Meadow Nursing Home came to Frontenac County Council last week, cap in hand.
The nursing home is looking for a commitment of $20,000 to $25,000 per year from Frontenac County to enable the home to keep up payments on a long-term loan they are contemplating seeking from Infrastructure Ontario. Pine Meadow is a 60-bed nursing home located in Northbrook. Its catchment area includes Addington Highlands Township, where it is located, and the adjacent townships of North and Central Frontenac as well.According to the presentation, 60%-70% of the residents in the home come from North Frontenac and Addington Highlands, and 17% come from Central Frontenac.
The Pine Meadow Nursing home is a not-for-profit facility that is owned by Land O’ Lakes Community Services, and is under the direction of a volunteer management committee. Management consultation is provided by a company called Extendicare. The home has an annual budget in the range of $3,000,000, and is supported through client fees, fundraising, and the Ministry of Health.
“For a few years, we have been trying to convince the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care that Pine Meadows should receive funding for an expansion so that it can provide private and semi-private rooms instead of four-bed, ward-style rooms, but we have been unsuccessful even though the ministry says that all nursing homes must be upgraded, although they have not said when,” said Ernest Lapchinski to Frontenac County Council.As a fall back, the management committee is contemplating spending $400,000, of which $250,000 would be a loan from infrastructure Ontario, $100,000 is in a reserve fund, and $50,000 is coming from the community. This would allow the home to eliminate many of the four-bed wards, and improve storage and other deficiencies in the home.
The County of Frontenac owns its own home, the Fairmount Home for The Aged, a 128-bed facility that is located in Glenburnie. A few years ago, Fairmount Home underwent a $17 million expansion project, upgrading its status as a long-term care facility to an “A”, and going from 96 to 128 beds.Fairmount has the same funding sources as Pine Meadow, but it has an additional source, municipal funding. In 2007, Fairmount received over $1 million from Frontenac County ratepayers, $682,000 in operating funds, and $335,000 for debt retirement. The home receives funding from the City of Kingston as well.
For Ernest Lapchinski and the Pine Meadow board, municipal support is not only needed to enable them to keep up loan payments, “It is an issue of fairness. WE are the home of choice for people living North of 7 in Frontenac County, and we receive no support from their municipality”, he said.
In responding to the Pine Meadow presentation, Frontenac Islands Mayor Jim Vanden Hoek said that the county should develop a policy to deal with these kinds of requests, which have come up before during his tenure on county council. He commented on the reference to county support for Fairmount Home by saying “We have a formal requirement, a legislated requirement, to the Fairmount Home.” Vanden Hoek said that he doesn’t think there are residents from Frontenac Islands in Fairmount Home either, but the county has to maintain a nursing home as a commitment to the province.
County Warden and North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire said “For as along as I’ve been here it’s been a topic for people in the top half of the county that don’t have Fairmount on their radar screen. It’s always a frustration.”
County Council received the presentation from Pine Meadow, but no decision on the request was made at this time. It may surface again during 2008 budget deliberations.
Pine Meadow is making a presentation to Lennox and Addington County this week, and will be asking for the same amount of support.
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Feature Article - January 17 2008 Central Frontenac Council gets schooled on Lake Trout by Jeff GreenA delegation of provincial government biologists and officials from three ministries gave a presentation to Central Frontenac Council on Monday night in support of the province's insistent proposal that Eagle Lake and Crow Lake be added to the township's list of “highly sensitive” trout lakes.
This would restrict new lot creation on those lakes to 300 metres (1000') from the shoreline, as is the case for the two other highly sensitive trout lakes in the township: Sharbot Lake (west basin) and Silver Lake.
Laurie Miller, from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, began the presentation by telling council that, “of the 250,000 lakes in Ontario, only 1% contain lake trout, but this still represents 25% of lake trout lakes in the world, so Ontario has a role to play in preserving the species. Eastern and Central Ontario contain 1/3 of Ontario's lake trout lakes.”
Cam McCauley, a biologist from the Ministry of Natural Resources, talked in some detail about the science of lake trout.
“They need deep, well-oxygenated cold water lakes to survive,” he said, “and summer is a critical period for them because the water is at its warmest at that time. Once a lake trout population becomes critical, it can take 50 years, if you do the right things, to bring the species back. If you lose the habitat, you lose the lake trout. Once we lose lake trout, the reality is that not a lot of other species can fill in. Walleye are more of a warm water species, and they don't do well in lake trout lakes.
McCauley said that each trout lake contains its own genetic strain of the species, so the loss of a lake is significant to the genetic diversity of lake trout generally. They are also the species at the top of the food chain in a lake, and the health of the trout population is an indicator of the general health of the lake.
Lake trout lakes are rare in southern Ontario, and Frontenac County, with 21, can thank the Frontenac Spur (the southernmost extension) of the Canadian Shield for the trout fishery that county anglers enjoy.
Victor Castro, from the MOE, explained that the conditions of Crow and Eagle Lakes have not really changed over the past 25 years, but that the ministry has developed a new system, based on improved science, to measure the oxygen levels in lakes. The new benchmark that the government is using is 7 mg of oxygenation for every 1 litre of water. By that measure, Crow and Eagle Lake, which are at about 6 mg/litre, are under oxygenated.
Phosphorous that leaches into lakes eventually leads to a decrease in oxygen, and Castro said there are several sources of phosphorous in lakes, including; rain, surface runoff, sediments in the lake, upstream lakes, agricultural land uses, and shoreline development.
“Shoreline development is one factor that we can affect through policy,” Castro said.
For that reason, all four lake trout lakes in Central Frontenac are now deemed “at capacity” for development. The development of new lots will be restricted in the amended Central Frontenac Official Plan, but they will be permitted under certain conditions. This will not affect lots of record on those lakes, except when they are being redeveloped.
Alida Mitton, a planner with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, said that conversions of cottages to year-round homes are not considered redevelopments by the ministry, but major changes such as a campground being turned into a different kind of resort, are.
In those cases, the developer will be required to show that the redevelopment will not lead to an increase in the nutrient load on the lake.
Central Frontenac councilors did not raise any questions about the policy direction in which the ministries are going, but they wondered why this information did not come to them before they initiated their Official Plan amendment in 2005.
Laurie Miller said that the information is quite recent, and in future, “As information becomes available from the MNR and the MOE, we will get it to you as soon as possible.”
“The Highly Sensitive” designation is not unique to Central Frontenac. In the current South Frontenac Official Plan, there are seven “highly sensitive” lakes designated, including: Bobs (Green Bay), Big Salmon, Potspoon, Loughborough (west basin) Buck (south and north basin), Knowlton and Garter. There are also seven trout lakes in the township: Big Clear, Birch, Canoe, Crow, Desert, Devil, and Gould, which have been classed as “moderately sensitive”. Of these the MOE has changed the designation on five.
North Frontenac has a long list of “highly sensitive” trout lakes, and only four: Brule, Round Schooner, Mazinaw, and Palmerston, that have been listed as moderately sensitive.
Waste Management Committee report -A trip to the dump could change in Central Frontenac, if the township’s waste management committee has its way.
A long-awaited report from the committee was received by Central Frontenac Council at their first meeting of 2008 in Mountain Grove on Monday night (January 14).
Council did not discuss the report at length, deferring that until the next meeting. The committee, which is chaired by Councilor John Purdon, and includes two other members of council, three members of the public, and two staff members, made 16 recommendations in their report.
They looked at everything from solid waste disposal, recycling, hazardous waste, e-waste, re-use possibilities and central composting, as well as education.
One change, which the report calls an “example initiative” is a “voluntary clear bag program”, which would see garbage dumped for free provided there are no materials in the bag that could be diverted in some way, either through recycling, composting, or other means. Under this scenario, only garbage contained in coloured bags would require a $1 bag tag.
The report also recommends that a hazardous waste recycling day and an e-waste recycling day be held this year, and that the township promote the creation of a materials re-use committee, which will have the mandate of setting up a re-use centre along the lines of an existing centre in Lanark Highlands.
Although council did not discuss the report as a whole this week, they approved two recommendations, which authorized township staff to set out requests for proposal for the purchase of new recycling bins, and new waste bins for the transfer station at Elbow Lake south of Parham.
Other items from Council: Municipal infrastructure grant – Chief Administrative Officer John Duchene informed council that at their next meeting he will be presenting a road safety construction project that includes 12 road projects, at a total cost of about $400,000, which the township can use as its submission to a municipal infrastructure program whose deadline is February 15.
Fire hall completion delayed – The projected completion date for the Mountain Grove fire hall is now May. The early onset of winter is cited as the main reason for the latest delay. CAO Duchene said the delay will not result in increased cost to the township.
December building permits drop – After a solid construction year, only four building permits, for $13,000 of construction, were issued in December. This compares to $448,000 in December ’06, and $322,000 in December ’05.
Over the year, permits were sold for $8.8 million in total construction, including 40 new residential units. In 2006, 33 residential units were started, and in 2005, 49.
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Feature Article - January 24, 2008 Addington Highlands Council – Jan 21/08 by Jule Koch BrisonJewell Engineering will prepare a proposal for rebuilding the Flinton Bridge to be submitted to the Ontario government’s new Municipal Infrastructure Initiative. The deadline for applications is February 15, so council will need to have all the details at their next council meeting.
Council voted to endorse a resolution from the Township of North Grenville, asking the Ontario government to commit 1/8th of Provinical Sales Taxes to municipalities to fund Municipal Infrastructure Programs.
Over the holidays, cars were left parked on County Road 30 for several days, hindering road maintenance. Roads Superintendent Royce Rosenblath expressed some frustration that has not been able to get the names of the owners of the cars from police. He said they told him they would contact the people involved.The OPP will attend the next council meeting.
Plans are being made for the whole council to take a roads tour next year. “It will take more than two days,” commented Royce Rosenblath.
Members of the Weslemkoon cottage association had attended a recent meeting of the waste management committee and requested extra open hours at the waste sites. They requested that the Weslemkoon waste site be open Monday to Friday and on weekends as well. The waste site attendant told Councilor Eythel Grant that he doesn’t have the time to keep the dump open for those hours. Council will look into increasing the open hours at the waste sites.
The next AHEAD (Addington Highlands Economic Advisors for Development) business breakfast will be at the Kaladar Community Centre at 8AM on Friday February 1. Guest speakers will be Pierre Cliche,former Vice-President of K Mart Canada, and Gillian Chapman, representative of the PELA CFDC. Tickets are $7 each.
Council went into closed session to discuss a bylaw appointing a new building inspector.
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Feature Article - March 27, 2008 Councilors give warden's vision the cold shoulder By Jeff GreenFor the past three months Frontenac County warden Jim Vanden Hoek has been promoting a plan for a new economic development role for Frontenac County. One of the pieces in that plan is the establishment of a fund to be used as seed money for viable projects which could enhance tourism and address the lack of commercial property assessment in the county.Part of his plan has been to engage township councilors from throughout the county. To that end he visited each of the four township councils during the winter, and also made a presentation to a joint council meeting in Sharbot Lake that was attended by at least half of the township councilors from Frontenac County.
Last week, at a subsequent joint county council meeting at Fairmount Home, Vanden Hoek put some questions to the township councilors.
He prefaced his request by projecting a sharp increase in municipal taxes in future years if the tax base in the county is not broadened through commercial assessment. “The premise that I've been coming at is that our tax rates are going up, have been going up for a number of years, and unless we do a number of things, they will continue to go up,” Vanden Hoek said.
He then listed three ways to reverse this trend: “One, the province invests heavily; two, we invest in economic development and spur growth in investment; and three, we cooperate on service and administrative delivery to create operating efficiency. We need to be aggressively pursuing all three strategies.”
Strategy number two was dealt with at the meeting.
Vanden Hoek asked for a show of hands on the plan in general, and received majority support thanks mainly to the councilors from South Frontenac and Frontenac Islands. The vote was 11-7.
However, asked whether they would support a $50,000 special levy as part of the county tax bill, which Vanden Hoek said would amount to $2.50 per ratepayer, there was no support.
There was some support to a further request that the fund be established using county-controlled gas tax rebate money, even though this would limit the kinds of projects the fund could support, but even then most of the councillors sat on their hands.
To a final question, how many of the councilors were opposed to the initiative entirely, no hands went up.
A second aspect of Warden Vanden Hoek's initiative has to do with the makeup of county council. His decision to go directly to township councilors with his financial request is coupled with a stated intention to seek a reform of the council structure. The issue of reform has been more warmly received by township councilors than the financial request.
Currently, the mayors from the four Frontenac townships make up the county council. This even number complicates voting procedures. In effect, if more than one mayor opposes any proposition, the proposition is killed. Other concerns have been raised about the small number of councilors, and from the perspective of South Frontenac Township, which contributes 60% of the assessment base but has only 25% of the vote on council, the issue of fairness has been raised.
David Hahn, a long-time councilor from the Bedford District of South Frontenac, said. “We're doing way better now than we did seven years ago. I think it's a good effort, and I appreciate it”, he said.
Gary Smith, from Kennebec District in Central Frontenac, said, “The four-member board, with a rotating chair, is not a good structure. When the name was changed from Frontenac Management Board to Frontenac County in 2003, the functions had changed. The magnitude and responsibilities of the county had changed, and the political process should change as well.”
Warden Vanden Hoek said that he would be bringing the subject of the makeup of council forward. “My understanding is that any changes must be approved one year before a municipal election in order to take effect with that election,” he said, “so we do have some time to consider what we want to do.”
The next municipal election is slated for November of 2010.
South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison said that Jim Vanden Hoek's initiatives of the past few months have been important, and point the way to future reform of the county. “I'd like to thank Jim for having the courage to try and engage the councilors. I commend him for this process; it is now a more open forum than we've had in the past.”
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Feature Article -April 3, 2008 Municipal Budgets by Jeff GreenCentral Frontenac Budget Deliberations ContinueCouncilors are going over small and large budget items in marathon sessions at the Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake this week, hoping to trim down a projected tax increase in Central Frontenac this year.
Last month, staff presented council with a budget increase of 5.4% in the municipal tax rate.
By April 1, staff had made some cuts to bring the increase down to 3.9%
Council has been working towards eliminating another $100,000 from the budget, which would bring it down to a 2.4% overall increase over last year.
If they succeed in that task, the taxes paid for a property valued at $150,000, for example, would be just under $2,140 in Central Frontenac.
The township received a grant of $1,596,263 as the result of the recent provincial budget, and that money is being put towards an aggressive road construction program. The funding is part of a province-wide, one- time roads and bridges grant from the province.
Central Frontenac Council will continue working on their budget later this month with a view toward finalizing it before May 1.
North Frontenac Ratepayers: Saved by the Grant?North Frontenac Council has been working on their 2008 budget for months, and had reluctantly concluded they would have to bring in a hefty tax increase this year.
The increase came about in order to continue a maintenance program on Hwys. 509/506. In 1998 the township received $3.5 million along with responsibility for the roads, and has spent $350,000 each year on a paving and maintenance program. The money is now gone.
As a result, the township share of the municipal budget was set to be increased by 17.55% this year, and even when mitigated by a cut in the county rate, the total tax rate was up by 8.93% over 2007.
This would result in a North Frontenac homeowner whose house is assessed at $150,000 paying $2030 in 2008, up from $1863 in 2007.
Then, the township received news of a $1,362,831 grant from the province of Ontario.
If only a portion of this money, $350,000 (the amount budgeted for maintenance of 506/509) is used to offset the 2008 budget, that same $150,000 property owner would pay $1915.
North Frontenac Council is holding a special meeting today, April 3, to revisit the budget in light of the new funding.
South Frontenac Budget Nears CompletionSouth Frontenac councilors had their last crack at the township’s 2008 budget on Monday evening, March 31. The budget will be up for discussion at a public meeting later this month before being approved.
The decisions with the most impact on the budget were made back in January, when a five-year road maintenance and upgrading program was approved. As a result, the 2008 budget will have different impacts for ratepayers of the four districts that make up the township, with the net result being a flattening out of the tax rate overall in anticipation of the amalgamation of the roads department next year.
Ratepayers in Bedford will see the largest increase in their taxes this year: 4.6%. 2008 is the first year of an aggressive paving program, which will see many of the arterial roads in the district being paved by 2012.
In Portland district, the tax rate will be up by 3.3%, and in Loughborough it will be up 1.4%. Storrington district ratepayers will see a tax decrease of 1.6%.
The net effect of all these changes is that ratepayers in all districts will be paying almost identical amounts in 2008.
Using a property valued at $150,000 as an example, taxes in Bedford will be $1780.67 in '08; in Portland they will be $1780.57, in Loughborough $1789.48 and in Storrington $1797.15.
These figures include charges of $150 for garbage pick-up in three of the districts. In Bedford, where residents bring their own garbage to dumpsites, the garbage fee is only $20.
The township learned last Friday that they will be receiving $2.5 million in one-time infrastructure funding from the province, but with the details not yet available, council decided not to include the money in their budget estimates for 2008.
Public works Manager Mark Segsworth said that a $300,000 application for funding to complete the Rutlege Road bridge under another provincial program, the Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiaitive MIII, has been turned down, so some of the $2.5 million might go to that project. Engineering work is already being done for a major repair on the Loughborough Lake bridge, slated for 2009 or 2010. That project is expected to cost over $1 million, so the township should have no trouble finding uses for the new provincial money, which is earmarked for road and bridge repairs.
Among other initiatives in the budget is a three-year, $1.5 million salt containment plan, with the construction for three salt domes being anticipated. This work will not have an effect on the property tax rate because it is being funded through a federal gas tax rebate that the township will be receiving every year.
Segsworth revealed that the winter maintenance budget proved inadequate this year, as the result of an unprecedented number of storms. Fortunately there was a $270,000 winter maintenance reserve fund to draw upon, which was entirely depleted this year, along with an additional $8,000.
In 2009, the winter road maintenance budget will be the same as the actual costs for this past year.
“I can’t see us getting a winter next year that is worse than the one that is almost over,” said Segsworth, “and if we have an easier winter next year then we will be able to build up that reserve again.”
The fire budget had a 0% increase, thanks in part to a transfer of $30,000 from a fire salary reserve fund, which had risen to $100,000 in recent years.
The most contentious issues in the budget meeting had little impact on the overall thrust of the document. Council remains divided on a plan to hire a third full-time building inspector when the contract for a temporary worker runs out in May.
In a 5-4 vote, council approved the building department budget, which had a 0% increase. They will have another chance to debate the hiring of a third full-time inspector in May, however, as the budget approval only put the money in place. The decision to hire or not will come back to council.
Strorrington councilor John Filion also took exception to a plan to have the bylaw officer actively search out people who do not purchase tags for their pet dogs, which could include home visits.
“You three are communists,” he said, pointing across the table to Councilors Hahn, Hicks and McPhail, who had voiced their support for the idea.
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Feature Article - May 8, 2008 South Frontenac CouncilBy Wilma KennyHigh-speed Internet Subsidy Voted Down
Council discussed the recommendation "that Council authorizes the reimbursement to Council members who wish to take advantage of high-speed internet connection and reimburse the installation costs plus the monthly charge for this service." The motion for this, and the amendment that would have had taxpayers cover only the monthly charges were both defeated. "I don’t want charity," commented Councillor Fillion. Councillors will continue to receive their information from the township via fax machines.
Future Library and Municipal Offices
In reply to Councillor McPhail’s query about the status of an expansion to accommodate the library and municipal offices, Mayor Davison said he had a new report related to this on his desk, and was trying to fit it into a busy agenda. "There’ll be a lot to talk about." No date was set.
East Bedford Residents Unhappy
Councillor Hahn said that the residents of Eastern Bedford feel they will be badly served by the cancellation of the emergency response agreement with Westport. (Westport is the only municipality that charges a fee for automatic aid.) A heated and inconclusive discussion followed: the Fire Marshall will be consulted for his assessment of the situation.
Harrowsmith Storage to Expand
Council approved a zoning by-law amendment which will permit expansion of the industrial storage operation just south of Harrowsmith. A site plan and agreement will address the issues of demolishing one house on the expanded property and relocating the other house from the original property.
