Feature Article May 27, 2004
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Central Frontenac Township Council meeting May 25
High School students finish Tourist Information booth Sharbot Lake High School students in Geoffrey Murrays shop class have just about completed a new Tourist Information Booth for the Land O Lakes Tourist Association, Association General Manager Terry Shea reported to Central Frontenac Council. Shea has been making the rounds of councils, introducing himself and explaining the work of the tourist association. He described Geoffrey Murray as a real bulldog in his zeal to get this project accomplished. The students are now waiting for an opportunity to tear down the old booth and put the new one in, which requires approval from Brewers Retail Corporation, the owners of the site.
Who should pay for shotgun damage to 911 signs Ralph Kirchen addressed Council about his 911 sign, which was destroyed by 20m gauge shotgun shells on or around May 4. Kirchen said he is aware that the township bylaws state that homeowners are responsible for replacing damaged or destroyed 911 signs, at a cost of $75, but said in a situation like this where I as a homeowner and you as a corporation had nothing to do with this signs destruction, it seems unfair that I would be charged with the entire replacement cost. The pole on which the sign stood is intact, and the question of whether it would cost $75 to merely replace the 911 sign and not the pole was raised by Council.
In the end, Mayor MacDonald told Kirchen, Leave this one with us, and we will see what we can do. We will revisit this.
In Camera delegations There were two in camera delegations. One was Kai Hulshof on unknown business, and the other was Connie Arney, who was appearing to present a petition in behalf of Doug Arney, recently fired as dump attendant in Mountain Grove and Arden. After meeting with Council, Connie Arney said she was disappointed with the response from Council to her concerns.
Seniors of the Year: Four seniors of the year have been chosen from the four districts of the township. They will be honoured at a ceremony to be held in late June. The four are: from Kennebec - Marsden Kirk, Olden - Elva Price, Oso - Teresa Ferguson, and Hinchinbrooke - Melville Good.
Bag tag sales Councillor Jack Nicolson presented a motion that, if adopted, would have put Central Frontenac on the road to having a new recycling regime. It called for replacing bag tags with clear garbage bags, having them available at stores throughout the township, and providing a free bag for every bag of recyclables turned in at township dumps.
The new system would be similar to the one that is in place in Addington Highlands and is being established in North Frontenac Township, except it would replace bag tags with garbage bags.
Mayor MacDonald seemed flustered by the scope of the recommendations, saying to Nicolson, What has suddenly changed about our waste disposal that we would want to start all over again with a new system?
Councillor Janet Gutowski, who seconded Nicolsons motion, spoke in favour of having staff investigate selling bag tags in places other than the township office, which Gutowski said would be good for cottagers who find themselves needing to use the dump on weekends when no bag tags are available for sale.
Township Clerk Heather Fox pointed out that a system is in place whereby people who dont have bag tags can present themselves at dumps and fill out a form with the number of bag tags they are short, and then pay later on at the township office. If, within 10 days, the bill is not paid, the individual will be invoiced, Fox said.
Several councillors, including deputy Mayor Faye Putnam, said they were unaware of this program.
In the end Nicolsons motion was defeated easily.
Grass cutting tender the tender for grass cutting along 550 km of township roads was given to Scotts Snowplowing and Grass Cutting for $14,400.
Letter from Gary Vest A letter was received from Gary Vest and Maria-Elena Tierno, of Arlington, Virginia concerning their building proposal on Kennebec Lake. The letter seemed to indicate that proposal to amend the zoning bylaw was being withdrawn, in response to the reaction it had engendered at Council on May 10, when a number of Kennebec Lake residents opposed it. But when contacted later from Virginia, Mr. Vest said that subsequently to sending the letter he has talked to township staff and has decided to leave his application stand and follow the process through. The letter apologized for all the difficulty that has been caused by our application to amend the zoning bylaw. Later on, it talked about how the project was designed to be environmentally benign. We intended the 3.19 acre area to be an example of the latest environmental and energy conservation practices and a place where our family and friends could join us at our private residence to enjoy each other and the environment.
Gary Vest told the News that he had intended to have the proposed carriage house built as soon as possible and had planned to be on site to supervise the building of the larger residence, which is proposed at over 9,000 sq. feet, but we have no fixed timelines and we will let the planning process proceed according to the processes the township has in place.