South Frontenac Council - Aug 2/16

Jeff Green | Aug 03, 2016

Council celebrates firefighters

South Frontenac Council's celebration for long serving firefighters, which took place before the August council meeting on Tuesday night (August 2), started on a poignant note, as Fire Chief Rick Cheseborough requested that Mayor Vandewal call for a minute of silence in recognition of the recent death of a volunteer firefighter, Patrick Pidgeon, in Amherstview.

That start underlined the kind of sacrifices that have been made by the six South Frontenac volunteer firefighters and their families over the years. In addition to recognition from the Ontario Fire Marshal's office, the township also presented certificates to the men. Captains Rick Nelson and Brian McCarthy were both on hand to receive their 30-year pins, and firefighter Mike Noonan received his 25-year pin. Firefighter Steve Young (25 years), Captain Mark McDermott, and Deputy Fire Chief Tom Veldmand could not make it to the ceremony and will receive their pins in a private ceremony.

Council approves organizational review 'light'

South Frontenac Council has approved a proposal by the Corporate Services Committee to hire a new manager for Development Services at a salary of about $100,000 per year.

The approval puts in place only one of the positions contemplated by a consultant's report that was presented to Council in March, which envisioned the creation of up to six new positions, most of them at the management and senior management levels.

The new manager of Development Services will oversee the planning and building departments and economic development efforts and will also play an integral in the township's efforts to assume responsibility for plan of subdivision and plan of condominium approvals by 2019. Those approvals are now under the jurisdiction of Frontenac County.

Once the new position is filled, which is not likely to happen until late October, a senior management team will be in place to oversee the work of township staff and “to develop an implementation plan for the strategic plan, as well as required policy and long term needs”, said a report that was adopted unanimously by Council at their August 2 meeting.

The management team will include CAO Orr, Treasurer Louise Fragnito, Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth, and the new manager of Development Services.

As part of the new structure, the Recreation Supervisor Tim Laprade will report to the public works manager, and Human Resources/Legislative Service Compliance Officer Sherry Cornell will report to the treasurer.

The new structure will greatly reduce the number of staff who report directly to CAO Orr, which was one of the key needs identified in the organizational review that was presented to Council back in March.

Some of the other recommendations in the report, such as the hiring of a communications person, a full time deputy clerk, and a fire safety officer, are to be deferred, but not for long.

The final recommendation in the corporate services report that was adopted is “that the 2017 and 2018 recommendations be brought forward for decision in advance of the corresponding budget debate”. The 2017 budget will be discussed in October.

Council adopted the Corporate Services Committee's report and all nine of its recommendations in a unanimous vote.

The net cost of the plan, including salaries and some one-time spending, will be about $41,000 in 2016 and $127,000 per year going forward.

Fencing approved at the Point Park, but school board support proves elusive

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth presented the results of a tender for the construction of a fence around the new and improved football field at the Point Park, and recommended that the township award the contract to the lowest bidder, Lennox Fencing, for $60,130 plus HST.

The field is the home of football and soccer for Sydenham High School, and the Limestone District School Board has paid 50% of the $300,000 cost of renovations thus far. The proposed motion to grant the contract to Lennox Fencing approved the $60,130 cost “under the understanding” that the Limestone Board would pay half of that back to the township.

“I have been having some difficulty getting a response about this from the school board,” said Segsworth. “They don't seem to want to call me back and we need to approve it now if we want the fence in place when the kids get back to school in September.”

Segworth said that he did not really think a fence was necessary but Rec. Committee members felt that a fence was necessary

Councilor Norm Roberts said, “I feel the fence is required because you are going to have vandalism otherwise,” a point of view that was echoed by other members of Council.

Councilor Mark Schjerning said, “The purpose of the fence is two-fold: to keep cars off the field and to prevent vandalism.”

The only thing of concern was the wording of the motion.

“We can't force the school board to pay their share so why include them in the motion at all?” said Mayor Ron Vandewal. “We have to do it anyway.”

Councilor John McDougall said he is reluctant to move forward without the school board at the table, but the need to get the project done by September won out.

“Working with the school board has been interesting all along,” said Segsworth, “but I don't want to say anything more than that.”

Council voted to award to contract with no reference to the school board.

Speed limit changes approved

“Speed, speed, speed. It's an issue we deal with all the time, and its almost always about requests to lower speed limits,” said Mark Segsworth in presenting proposals to lower the speed limit to 60 km/hr on a number of township roads. They include an 800-metre section on the Westport Road; over 2 km on Duff Road; 1.5 kilometres of Greenfield Road; 2.7 kilometres on Alton Road west; 1.6 kilometres on Henderson Road; 2.75 kilometres on Murton Road; 400 metres on Walker Road; and two sections of Canoe Lake Road, one of which is 1.3 kilometres long and the other 400 metres.

One road was deferred so Council can clarify where the speed limitation will start and where it will end. That was North Shore Road, where 10 km is proposed for a reduced speed limit.

“We really should have taken the public works manager's suggestion that we make 60 km per hour the default speed lmit and only put up signs on roads where the speed limit is 80 km/hr. We would have saved money in the long run,” said Ron Vandewal.

Ron Sleeth goes on a rant

When it came time at the end of the meeting for Council members' announcements, Councilor Ron Sleeth said, “I have more of a rant than an announcement.”

He then proceeded to speak in rapid succession about a number of measures taken by Frontenac County at their meeting in July, including adopting the new county logo, which he describes as “empty”. He also complained about the proposed spending to renovate the county office, and a proposal to hire a second communications officer.

“It just boggles my mind what is going on there,” he said, “I would like to thank our mayor and Councilor McDougall for trying to protect our money there, since it is our ratepayers who put in 60% of the money, and my district, Storrington is the largest in South Frontenac and we have no direct representative there.”

John McDougall said, “I have to disagree with you about the logo, which is really much more than that when you look at it and hear the entire presentation, which will be presented at our Council. But as for the rest of it, you're spot on.”

“That logo and branding was paid for with grant money, so while it is all taxpayers' money it does not come directly from our ratepayers,” said Ron Vandewal. “But I do see where you are coming from.”