Sf_council_09-50

Jeff Green | Dec 17, 2009

The shape of Frontenac County Council will change after the municipal election next October. In place of a four member Council made up of he Mayor’s of the four constituent townships, there will be 2 representatives from each township, the Mayor and a Council appointee. In an added wrinkle to the new 8 member Council, the Mayor of South Frontenac will have two votes, making it an 8 member, 9 vote Council.

The new model was approved at Frontenac County Council on November 18th, and was ratified in an uncontested vote at South Frontenac Council on Tuesday Night. It has now been ratified by all the member Councils.

Out-going County warden Janet Gutowski and North Frontenac Township Deputy Mayor Jim Beam attended the meeting in Sydenham, and thanked the Council for approving the change.

Opening statement by the Mayor

Mayor Davison had opened the meeting by reading a prepared statement that referred to "a recent number of verbal exchanges of a personal nature, in Council." He said this was not acceptable behaviour, and if repeated, the offender would be expelled from the council chamber.

Library Presentation Architect Gerry Shoalts presented floor plans and simulated views of the planned Sydenham Library, which has been adjusted to come within the established budget. The new drawings show a slightly smaller, more rectangular building than the previous one, but have not sacrificed any of the major features. Later in the meeting, Council voted to authorize the inclusion of a steel roof in the library tender and to accept and fully fund the incremental cost of steel over asphalt. (est. $40,500.)

Dangerous Intersection in Sydenham

Village resident Sherry Kirkham spoke to Council of her concern about the intersection of Wheatly and Rutledge roads. She said that three accidents had occurred there in the last year, alone. She highlighted two issues: cars coming down the hill west on Rutledge rarely are travelling at the posted speed of 40km, and vehicles including small busses parked in front of theHigh School block the view-lines of cars attempting to turn left from Wheatley onto Rutledge. Both Deputy Mayor Vandewal and Mayor Davison agreed that the parking in front of the school was a problem. Public Works Manager Segsworth agreed to look into the problem.

Desert Lake Road Reconstruction

Mark Segsworth reported that work would be continuing on the Desert Lake Road:

"We're trying to improve safety: a significant amount of rock has to be taken out." Because of the amount of rock to be removed, the 7.4km from Canoe lake Road/Bedford Road to Bauder Drive and the Hinchinbrooke north intersection has been divided into sections: the Deyos Corner section will be postponed for now, in order to stay within the budget created by the Federal/Provincial grants. Council approved Mulrooney Trucking Ltd.'s bid in the amount of $1,032,303.12. Blasting will be carried out during the winter.

Trailer By-law Extended

Council voted to extend the time-line for compliance with the prohibition of the use of trailers on private residential property until December 31, 2015. By that time property owners must have made a decision on construction of a permanent structure, or they will be required to remove their trailer as of that date. All trailers covered by the by-law must have been licensed in 2005 & inspected by the Health Unit. No new trailers will be permitted outside designated areas, and once removed, a trailer cannot be replaced.

Composition of South Frontenac Council

Councillor Hahn served notice of a motion he intends to bring in January, which would formalize the way in which any changes to the composition of township council could be made.

Councillor Fillion said he felt Council was not working, and that half the councillors were alienated. He asked for an investigation into what he described as withholding of information, saying he was not aware of the numbers of voters in the districts until he received his meeting package last Tuesday, at the meeting. Mayor Davison pointed out that the information packages had been available for all councillors on the Friday before the meeting. Councillor Robinson said that he supported Councillor Fillion.