South Frontenac names a new road after Bill Robinson

Craig Bakay | Jun 07, 2017

South Frontenac Council voted to name a new road after former Councillor Bill Robinson at its regular meeting Tuesday night in Sydenham.

The road, which is part of the project to re-configure the intersection of Road 38, Colebrooke Road, Wilton Road and Ottawa Street in the hamlet of Harrowsmith, where Robinson was a long-time resident, is bounded by the K & P Trail and will connect Colebrooke and Wilton Roads west of Road 38.

There had been one letter suggesting the new road be named 150th Way but Councillor Brad Barbeau, who replaced Robinson suggested that a little park that will also be created as part of the intersection re-configuration, might be named 150th Park instead.

“That way we’d have Centennial Park at one end of Harrowsmith and 150th Park at the other,” Barbeau said.

“The park likely won’t be done on Canada’s birthday but OK,” said Mayor Ron Vandewal.

Coun. John McDougall, Robinson’s fellow Portland representative, said the road naming was appropriate.

“Not only did he get a lot of community support but he was a Korean War veteran,” McDougall said. “This is recognition for all he contributed.”

Robinson was South Frontenac’s longest serving municipal politician when he died in office late last year.

SF has lowest rate of taxes among his clients, auditor says

“I think it’s fair to say when looking at the numbers, that 2016 was a good year for South Frontenac,” auditor Howard Allan, of Allan and Partners LLP told Council. “We had a couple of meetings with (CAO/Clerk) Wayne Orr and (Treasurer) Louise Fragnito but they were on minor housekeeping matters.

“I think you’re in good hands.”

Allan noted that “a budgeted $700,000 surplus turned out to be around $1 million more than that” as revenues were more than budgeted for and expenses were less.

“We look after many municipalities in Ontario and this one has the lowest rate of taxation,” he said.

“We’ve had prudent financial management but we’ve been completely unsuccessful at securing grants,” said Coun. Ron Sleeth.

Wild parsnip spaying – township to switch to Clearview
Council approved Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth’s plan to spray for wild parsnip.

Segsworth said the areas to be sprayed are the same as last year but “if anybody comes out and tells us to ‘stop spraying that stuff around here’ we’ll stop.”

He said they’ll be trying a new herbicide this year.

“Based on our recent investigations, Clearview appears to be a more effective way to manage invasive species within the roadside,” Segsworth said. “As stated in a Public Health Ontario brief, the effects of Clearview are specific to plants resulting in low toxicity to non-target species.

“This does not appear to pose a significant risk to human, animal or pollinator health.”

Coun. Ross Sutherland said he’d like to see the parsnip plants cut down and over-planted with something the parsnip can’t grow back through.

Coun. Alan Revill said: “we have to do something because this is a nasty weed and there are some liability issues.

“Also, this stuff is growing in some areas where we don’t have the equipment with enough reach to mow it.”

Sutherland said he’d like to see a long-term plan for dealing with noxious weeds.

“Our long-term plan will change soon enough,” said Mayor Ron Vandewal. “I’m already getting emails on pragmites.”

Planning to plan
Council approved Coun. Ross Sutherland’s motion to have the manager of development services provide a report on the process for monitoring and final approval of conditions on subdivision developments.

“My only concern is that I don’t want to be micro managed with this,” said Mayor Ron Vandewal. “I don’t want this to come up every time a councilor gets a call on a project and I’m afraid that’s where we’re headed.”