Township resident Frank Smith sent a letter to Council recommending that the township consider taking over the job of septic system approvals and other septic inspections. He said that as a contractor working in the township, “95% of my work is by water access ... in many cases 5-8 miles down the lake in the morning with the building inspector and back down in the afternoon with the health inspector, making things very expensive to operate.”

Councillor Bill Cox said that Kingston Frontenac Health does the inspections for the township and has for years. He made a motion to receive the Smith letter for information.

“I don’t feel like we want to make a change,” he said. “it might end up costing us money.”

Chief Administrative Officer Christine Reed said that when the township hired a full time Chief Building Official/bylaw officer earlier this year, the person they hired, Ken Buxton, has the training and authority to do the inspections.

“It wouldn’t cost us any more money to have him do the inspections,” she said. “but we would be able to keep the fees.”

The fee for the inspection of a new system is about $850, according to Deputy Clerk/Planning Secretary Patricia Gray, there about 20-30 inspections each year for new construction and other purposes.

Councilor Fritsch proposed an amendment to Cox’s motion, asking staff to report back on the operational and financial implications of taking the inspections in house. The amendment was accepted as friendly and the motion was approved.

COFA hopes for clean up at Mallory Lake
Douglas Tocher appeared before Council on behalf of COFA (Conservationists of Frontenac Addington) to talk about a COFA plan to enlist help from students at North Addington Education Centre to do a clean up of the shoreline at Mallory Lake, which is located off Addington Road 5 to the northeast of Mazinaw Lake.

“Mallory Lake is a popular fishing lake, and COFA would like to clean up a mess on the shoreline as far around the lake as we can, with the help of students, who receive credit towards their 40 hour volunteer requirement to graduate,” said Tocher.

Last year, a similar project was undertaken at Deer Rock Lake, west of Flinton.

The township is generally supportive of these undertakings and Council offered to waive dumping fees for anything collected by the students and COFA members.

There is still a major hurdle to be overcome, however, because of the state of repair of much of Addington Road 5.  It is not necessarily suitable for school bus traffic and the students are likely to be coming on to the site via a bus.

“I wouldn’t take a bus in there,” said Reeve Hogg, who owned a school bus company for a many years.

Public Works Manager Mark Freeburn was tasked with looking into the condition of the road and reporting back.

When contacted later, Tocher said COFA needs to make sure the cleanup is a go pretty soon.  The students are only available until June 9 because of the exam schedule.

Tipping fees – its complicated
Earlier this year Council decided that local waste sites would no longer accept bulk construction waste, and made changes to the tipping fees charged.  Last week, the township received a letter from Ken Brown of Brown’s Cottages saying the new rules for trailer loads of waste are unclear. The public works manager and a waste site attendant who was at the meeting, both said there is confusion about dumping items such as “large flower pots, barrels, lawn chairs, large plastic toys, that are not construction waste but do not fit into bags”

CAO Reed said she has looked at the way different neighbouring townships handle waste and there is no uniformity.

After a protracted debate, Council asked staff to consider options for acceptable trailer load sizes, with construction waste continuing to be forbidden at Addington Highlands waste sites.

A year ago, South Frontenac Planner Lindsay Mills proposed some ‘housekeeping’ changes to the Township’s Official Plan, (section 5.10.2). In the course of his presentation, Mills stated that, in his interpretation, the intent of the Township’s Official Plan was to “eventually have all buildings well set back from waterbodies to ensure protection of our lakes.” This was seen as a threat to all nonconforming or ‘grandfathered’ houses or cottages (those currently within the now required 30-metre set-back from the high water line) which might need major structural repairs to remain safe and functional.

“We have so much common ground,” said Jeff Peck, spokesperson for the Sydenham Waterfront Coalition; “we both want to maintain property standards and increase environmental protection. Surely we can arrive at some mutually acceptable way to achieve these goals and still preserve the rights of legal non-conforming structures. We would welcome the opportunity to work with Council to resolve this in a respectful manner, and could withdraw our OMB appeal.”

Briefly, CAO Orr was directed by Council to negotiate a settlement, but when Peck pressed for assurance that Council’s basic intent was to improve property standards and environmental protection, not to remove or push back all legal non-conforming structures, the offer to negotiate was withdrawn, on the grounds that the Township’s lawyer had advised against the Township having any discussion or negotiation of the subject with residents.

Then the OMB hearing, set for February, was set aside until May because the township’s planning department had neglected to send out 30-day notice of the hearing to all who had given written notice of their concern with the issue. This three-month delay has raised the waterfront coalition’s legal costs considerably.

The OMB appeal is now scheduled for May 25/26 at the Township hall, and is open to the public. The Waterfront Coalition has announced a general information meeting for all who are interested, at 10:00 am on Sunday May 21, in the community room of the library in Sydenham.

Very little happened in Tuesday night’s regular South Frontenac Council meeting in Sydenham, a meeting that clocked in officially at 14 minutes.

At 14 minutes, the meeting was (unofficially) the second fastest meeting in Township history, just behind the Phil Leonard era eight-minute gathering at the S & A Club in Harrowsmith that coincided with a Canada-Russia Olympic hockey game (in those days, bills were paid via resolution, thus requiring the meeting) and narrowly edging out the Gary Davison era 18-minute meeting where there was literally nothing to be discussed.

This Council did however manage to buy a new wood-chipper (that came in $4,600 over budget) and pass the tax levy.

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth said the $4,600 could be accommodated from reserves and recommended purchase of the $71,753 Bandit wood chipper to replace the old 1992 Eager Beaver.

Mayor Ron Vandewal expressed some regrets at the purchase however.

“I don’t know if anything will come in under budget again,” he said. “But I’m still holding out hope for the new fire hall.

“(And) I do like the name Eager Beaver better.”

As for the budget, Council approved a tax levy of $18,586,507 resulting from expected revenues of $9,369,373 versus expenses of $27,955,880.

“If it weren’t for the tax bylaw, we wouldn’t be here at all,” said CEO/Clerk Wayne Orr.

“Somebody ask a question, do you know how long it took me to shower for this?” said Vandewal.

By the way, Council cancelled the scheduled May 23 Committee of the Whole meeting and there is no meeting scheduled for the 30th, the fifth Tuesday of the month.

Council will participate however in the Joint Councils meeting in Verona May 31 at 7 p.m.

OMB hearing lingers in Sydenham
South Frontenac CEO/Clerk Wayne Orr said he expects the Ontario Municipal Board hearings on the proposed Hartington development to wrap up this Thursday (May18) although Chair Mary-Anne Sills has said she won’t have a decision then given the amount of testimony she’ll have to consider.

The hearings are scheduled for 10 days which means they could extend to Friday.

So far, Orr said, the hearings have heard testimony from hydro-g, storm water and and planning experts and will now hear testimony from the four principles in the case (developer Terry Grant, the Hartington Community Association, Frontenac County and South Frontenac Township).

On Thursday, the OMB will hear testimony from six residents.

RVCA General Manager to pay a visit
Council did take Coun. Pat Barr’s suggestion that Rideau Valley Conservation Authority GM Sommer Casgrain-Robertson be invited to an upcoming Council meeting to give an update on the Authorities activities in 2016.

“She should have come tonight,” said Mayor Ron Vandewal. “we have the time.”

Trails and Lake Festival
And finally this: Coun. Ross Sutherland is inviting everyone to Sydenham’s Point Park July 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the Sydenham Lakes and Trails Festival.

“Everything is free, including the barbecue,” Sutherland said.

Events include a historic village tour, a canoe/kayak 5k trip around the lake (bring your own canoe/kayak or they’ll provide one), paddling instruction in a dragon boat with the Cataraqui Canoe Club, bicycling skills course, bike repair and helmet fitting.

This will be followed by a barbecue and prizes.

The Oso (Crow Lake) waste site probably won’t last much more than five years but with proper management and diversion techniques, the Olden site could last 17-35 years, with 25 years being a reasonable estimate, David Bucholtz of Environmental Services, Cambium Inc. told Central Frontenac Council at its regular meeting Tuesday in Sharbot Lake.

“A new operations plan is being completed (for Olden) and we’ll have a better idea once it’s submitted to the Ministry from review and approval,” he said.

Currently, the Olden site has a remaining capacity of about 92,000 cubic metres and an average annual fill rate of 2,100 to 4,200 cubic metres. The Oso site has a remaining capacity of about 10,000 cubic metres with an average annual fill rate of 2,000 metres.

He said both sites as well as the Hinchinbrooke transfer station and the two closed sites (Arden and Wilkinson) are monitored for both ground water and surface water contamination and once a “minor action” was taken care of at Oso, all are satisfactory. The Township will need a closure plan for Oso, he said.

One plan in the works that could help is a potential agreement between all County members to increase diversion (in all likelihood in conjunction with the City of Kingston).

North Frontenac Council has rejected the plan, South Frontenac has accepted it and Central voted to accept it as well.

“And I’ll be voting for it at County Council,” said Mayor Francis Smith.

“I’ll be supporting it as well,” said Coun. Tom Dewey, the Township’s other representative on County Council.

• Council approved a new half-ton truck at a cost not to exceed $40,000 for new Fire Chief Greg Robinson. The vehicle is not in the 2017 fire budget and will be financed through reserves.

“It is normal accepted practice for municipalities to provide a vehicle to full-time fire chiefs so that they may respond quickly and safely to emergencies when required, both from home and while on duty,” Robinson said.

Mayor Francis Smith said they had discussed using one of two other pickups in the fleet for the chief but Robinson said both were already assigned to other duties at their respective fire halls.

Robinson said there was another aspect to the vehicle request that would have to be discussed in camera.

When Council announced its intension to go into closed session, it gave the reason of discussion of an identifiable individual.

• Public Works Manager Brad Thake said all the rain lately has kept his department busy inspecting, diverting and cleaning out culverts.

“Water is really weighing on my mind but I think we’re in pretty good shape other than 2nd Depot Lake Road,” he said. “I can’t say when that will reopen.”

“We did a lot of work on that road a couple of years ago,” said Coun. Phillip Smith. “Did we not get what we contracted for?”

“We won’t know until we get the engineer’s report,” Thake said. “But if it should have been done differently, then we may have some recourse.”

And speaking of recourse, Coun, Sherry Whan noted the number of guardrails that need replacing and asked if there was some recourse for that.

“Yes, if the incident was reported to the police, we can recoup some of the cost,” Thake said.

• Jerry Ackerman, despite making a compelling argument to change the name of the road he was born on several decades ago, was turned down by Council.

Ackerman made the case that the road, which runs from Tamworth to Parham is known by many names including Wagarville Road when it leaves Parham to 5th Lake Road to Carroll Road to California Road.

Ackerman made the case for Tampar or Partam Road, as well as simplified signage. If successful in Central Frontenac, he planned to take his proposal to adjacent Stone Mills Township.

However, several Council members, while sympathetic to his arguments, pointed out that there are several reasons road names don’t get changed very often.

“Jerry, as much as I sympathize with you, there’s a domino effect that happens when you change a road name,” said Coun. Bill MacDonald. “Everybody along the road has to change their mailing address on everything including their driver’s licence and all the maps in Ontario have to be changed.

“And the number of people who take ownership of a road name is amazing and they would all have to be consulted.”

“There are many roads like that such as Henderson Road which becomes Arden Road which becomes County Road 15,” said Coun. Cindy Kelsey. “And there are costs involved with every change of address and that can get expensive.”

Council did however make it part of its resolution to have the Public Works Manager look at ensuring adequate signage on the the road, at least that part in Central Frontenac.

Committee of the Whole has been discussing the creation of a new Heritage Committee to advise and assist with matters related to the community’s heritage. Prior to formalizing such a committee, Council has asked Forbes Symon, Manager of Development Services, to arrange for public consultation.

Symon has proposed that a notice be put in the township’s weekly newspaper banner outlining the proposed role and duties of such a committee, and directing residents to the township website where they could indicate whether or not they thought that a Heritage Committee would be a good idea. Results of this survey would then be passed to Council via the Development Services Committee and then Committee of the Whole.

McDougall and Barbeau both suggested that some form of public meeting might draw out broader feedback from the community. Barbeau also asked if a text box for comments might also be added to the simple yes/no question, and CAO Orr suggested a separate open house for further community information and response might be preferable to adding another agenda item to a summer COW meeting, which usually has a full agenda.

Mayor Vandewal said it will also be important to look at whether the community would be in favour of directing some financial resources to such a committee.

CFDC Proposed Project
In the 2017 budget, Council approved a $20,000 grant for the Frontenac CFDC (Community Futures Development Corporation) to undertake an economic development initiative for South Frontenac. It is anticipated that this grant could be leveraged to secure additional funds from other sources. Discussions have focussed on designing a project that would advance South Frontenac’s local food economy. A number of food processors in Southern Frontenac have identified gaps in the infrastructure and services they need to grow their businesses.

The Frontenac CFDC has drawn up a proposal to work with the Township to survey South Frontenac producers and processors for needs and resources, and look at ways connections could be made, and needs addressed.

Councillor Sleeth warned that the focus should be broad enough to include not only organic food producers, but also ‘ordinary farms’. Symon said that the term ‘local’ was very broad, and had many meanings. COW members agreed that this project should be sent on to Council for final approval.

Enforcement of Residential Tenancies Act
As of July 2018, the province’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH) is handing down the enforcement of the Residential Tenancies Act to the local municipalities. Currently, South Frontenac budgets $2,000 to pay the costs of this work by the MMAH, and it’s estimated that this should be sufficient to cover purchasing enforcement services from our present municipal by-law enforcement service providers. The township will review the actual cost of enforcement for 12 months and adjust the annual budget accordingly.

Township Road Closures Due to Flooding: Not!
Mayor Vandewal and several Councillors agreed with Public Works Manager Segsworth’s recent comment that the phones had been “eerily quiet” this past week in regard to flooded roads and washouts. There was general agreement that this was a very positive result of the preventive maintenance that has been carried out in recent years by the Township’s Roads Department.

Committee of the Whole has been discussing
the creation of a new Heritage
Committee to advise and assist with matters
related to the community’s heritage.
Prior to formalizing such a committee,
Council has asked Forbes Symon, Manager
of Development Services, to arrange
for public consultation.
Symon has proposed that a notice be put
in the township’s weekly newspaper banner
outlining the proposed role and duties
of such a committee, and directing residents
to the township website where they
could indicate whether or not they thought
that a Heritage Committee would be a good
idea. Results of this survey would then be
passed to Council via the Development
Services Committee and then Committee
of the Whole.
McDougall and Barbeau both suggested
that some form of public meeting might
draw out broader feedback from the community.
Barbeau also asked if a text box for
comments might also be added to the simple
yes/no question, and CAO Orr suggested
a separate open house for further community
information and response might be
preferable to adding another agenda item
to a summer COW meeting, which usually
has a full agenda.
Mayor Vandewal said it will also be important
to look at whether the community
would be in favour of directing some financial
resources to such a committee.
CFDC Proposed Project
In the 2017 budget, Council approved
a $20,000 grant for the Frontenac CFDC
(Community Futures Development Corporation)
to undertake an economic development
initiative for South Frontenac.
It is anticipated that this grant could be
leveraged to secure additional funds from
other sources. Discussions have focussed
on designing a project that would advance
South Frontenac’s local food economy.
A number of food processors in Southern
Frontenac have identified gaps in the infrastructure
and services they need to grow
their businesses.
The Frontenac CFDC has drawn up a
proposal to work with the Township to survey
South Frontenac producers and processors
for needs and resources, and look
at ways connections could be made, and
needs addressed.
Councillor Sleeth warned that the focus
should be broad enough to include not only
organic food producers, but also ‘ordinary
farms’. Symon said that the term ‘local’ was
very broad, and had many meanings. COW
members agreed that this project should be
sent on to Council for final approval.
Enforcement of Residential Tenancies
Act
As of July 2018, the province’s Ministry
of Municipal Affairs and Housing (MMAH)
is handing down the enforcement of the
Residential Tenancies Act to the local municipalities.
Currently, South Frontenac
budgets $2,000 to pay the costs of this
work by the MMAH, and it’s estimated that
this should be sufficient to cover purchasing
enforcement services from our present
municipal by-law enforcement service providers.
The township will review the actual
cost of enforcement for 12 months and adjust
the annual budget accordingly.
Township Road Closures Due to Flooding:
Not!
Mayor Vandewal and several Councillors
agreed with Public Works Manager Segsworth’s
recent comment that the phones
had been “eerily quiet” this past week in
regard to flooded roads and washouts.
There was general agreement that this
was a very positive result of the preventive
maintenance that has been carried out in
recent years by the Township’s Roads Department.

At a meeting in Harlowe, Meredith Rush-Inglis and Laura Williams, residents of North Frontenac, made a presentation to Council on Mongolian yurts and asked for an exemption from a $300 penalty they were charged for building without a permit.

A yurt is a domed structure originally used in Mongolia by herders who required a portable structure they could pack up easily as the herd moved throughout the year.

Rush-Inglis and Williams had erected a yurt on their property without obtaining a building permit from the Municipality and they were charged a $300 administration fee for failing to obtain a permit before assembling the structure. Rush-Inglis and Williams were asking Council for an exemption from the penalty charge as well as relief from the building permit fee of $1875, which they suggested was high based on the usage of the structure. Their yurt is intended to be used as sleeping accommodations for guests on their property during the warmer months and not as a residence.

Scott Richardson, the Building Inspector, told Rush-Inglis and Williams that their structure required a seasonal dwelling permit and a building engineer's approval of the substructure that the yurt sits on.

“The deck needs to be constructed to a certain standard,” Councillor Gerry Martin suggested.

“The pricing seems out of line,” Mayor Ron Higgins said.

Rush-Inglis and Williams who applied for a building permit in January 2017 and found that the costs of an engineer's approval might be even higher than the permit costs are suggesting to Council a new building category based on the yurt's unique features in hopes of encouraging a safe and affordable housing option in North Frontenac.

This yurt that they constructed cost approximately $8000 and was setup on a platform with an insulated floor.

“I don't have enough information to make an educated decision,” Mayor Higgins said. “I'd like to defer it until we have an admin report from the Chief Building Official (Jeremy Neven).”

Council voted in favour of deferring the decision.

Building Permits Drop In March
Only 3 building permits were issued in North Frontenac during the month of March compared to 12 at that time last year.

These permits totalled just under $5,000 compared to over $25,000 in March of 2016.

This is the lowest amount of permits granted in the last 5 years.

Head Road Bridge Repair Balloons in Price
The Head Road Bridge repair has been awarded to Baltimore Development and Services Inc. at  $447,185.34, which is $112,185.34 over the budget originally set out.

The bridge rehabilitation project was originally estimated, in 2014, by D.M. Wills Associates, a project management firm, to cost the Township $335,000.

D.M. Wills Associates claims increased material supply costs are to blame and probably attributed to the isolated work location.

All ten bids North Frontenac received for the project were over budget.

Inglis Wants a More Creative Waste Solution
Council voted against hiring Cambium, the current Waste Management Consultant for North, South, and Central Frontenac, to conduct a study of potential, regional-wide, waste diversion tactics.

The study, estimated to cost just over $100,000, would be focused on a review of the current blue box program as well as waste audits and current waste management practices and would build a plan to help the Townships reach their waste diversion goals.

“Our strategy was to look at the County as a whole,” Jim Phillips, the Public Works Manager, said. “We're all doing the same thing but a bit differently.”

“Is there a better way to do it?” Phillips asked. “Is there a larger regional approach?”

“Recycling is wonderful but it doesn't deal with the complete waste stream” Councillor John Inglis said. “The County put $100,000 aside to deal with the post-landfill world in, what I thought, were going to be bold and creative ways.”

“I really can't see why we need to spend $100,000 on a consultant to do it,” Inglis said. “It shouldn't be too hard to co-ordinate with the other 3 townships to do that.”

“I blame the CAO,” Inglis said.  “It's kind of scary to look at alternative and new ideas and I think Kelly (Pender) is scared to do it.”

There is some funding available to cover the costs of the project but “in order to apply it has to be more focused on the optimization of the blue box program,” Phillips said.

“From our point of view $100,000 sounds like a lot,” Mayor Higgins said.

South Frontenac Council gave its support to a proposal to explore optimization of waste diversion in Frontenac County at its regular meeting Tuesday night in Sydenham.

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth told Council the proposal was put together by North Frontenac Public Works Manager Jim Phillips and that it came out of a joint meeting between township CAOs and public works managers.

“We felt collectively this was a most reasonable approach,” Segsworth said. “And it’s an opportune time as there is money set aside in the County budget for one of its strategic goals and there is funding available through the Continuous Improvement Fund (CIF).

“Jim Phillips did a great job putting this all together.”

The proposal is to have Cambium Inc., the current waste management consultant for North, Central and South Frontenac, put together a report as to how to improve efficiencies for all of the townships in the County from a financial, social and environmentally sustainable perspective as well as implications from the Waste Free Ontario Act.

“As an aside, this wasn’t approved by North Frontenac at its meeting Friday,” Segsworth said. “I’m a little frustrated with North Frontenac.”

“So, their public works manager is in favour of this but the Council isn’t?” said Mayor Ron Vandewal.

“They defeated the motion,” said CAO/Clerk Wayne Orr.

“Well, I heard there were some frivolous comments and our public works manager set them straight,” said Vandewal.

By comparison, South Frontenac Council was enthusiastic about the proposal.

“This has been four years in the making and I appreciate all the work that has gone into it,” said Coun. John McDougall. “It’s an excellent initiative.”

“I just think this is a good idea,” said Dep. Mayor Norm Roberts.

Segsworth said that at a recent meeting hosted by the City of Kingston and attended by Brockville, Ottawa and Frontenac County representatives, the idea of bringing all recyclables to Kingston received support.

Currently, North and Central Frontenac ships their recyclables to a facility in Belleville.

Campbell Development
Council passed a bylaw to remove the “H” holding symbol from the Campbell development in Inverary so that it may proceed, however staff still had concerns they wanted addressed before any construction begins such as lighting, how a nearby gas station will operate during construction and the location of two doors near a loading area.

So, staff recommended that while the bylaw be passed, the words “subject to the satisfaction of the Mayor and CAO” be added.

Zoning bylaw amendments
Council also passed zoning bylaw amendments that will allow a farm implements operation at the corner of Perth Road and Davidson Road and improvements at Hiawatha’s Hideaway resort on Dog Lake.

Joint meeting
South Frontenac has invited the three other township councils to a joint meeting May 31 at 7 p.m. in Verona’s Lions Hall to discuss an expected move to digital in-field communications as current analog systems become more and more inadequate.

“We’re building a toolkit to increase overnight stays in Frontenac County,” Paul Blais of MDB Insight told a special meeting of North Frontenac Council last week in Clar-Mill Hall. “To do that, we need to establish supply and demand — how do they mesh and where are the gaps?”

Blais and fellow consultant Libby Smith of Terra Consulting are holding similar events in each Township.

On May 1 from 1-3 p.m., they’ll be at the community hall in Marysville on Wolfe Island and from 7-9 p.m. they’ll be at the Storrington Centre in Sunbury. On May 2, they’ll be at St. Lawrence College Employment Services in Sharbot Lake from 9-11 a.m.
Using Ministry of Tourism parameters, Smith gave an outline of “who are our tourists” which ranged from nature lovers, to explorers to outgoing mature couples. She said North and Central Frontenac are part of the RTO 10 tourist zone while South Frontenac and Frontenac Islands are part of the RTO 9 tourist zone.

“You’re employed by the County,” said Coun. John Inglis, who is also a County councillor. “The biggest entity in the County is South Frontenac and I’ve been a little concerned you’d be ignoring us.

“We have our own unique problems here.”

“We’re studying it township by township,” Smith said.

“This study is becoming as much about supporting the economy of tourism as it is about accommodations,” Blais study.

But the conversation quickly returned to North Frontenac’s ‘unique’ problems, with one of the biggest being electronic communications.

“If it rains, my Bell line doesn’t work and that means plastic money doesn’t work,” said one audience member.

“If internet/phone service doesn’t change, this is a waste of time,” said another.

There was a general consensus that when it comes to communications, the ‘Snow Road Abyss’ is a very real place.

“So, even when they’re exploring the wilderness, everybody still wants the comforts of home, you’re saying,” said Blais.

When it came to advertising and promoting the area, most seemed to agree with Coun. Gerry Martin when he said, “The Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance promotes our area more than any other group.”

In response to a request from Council, the recently-arrived Manager of Development Services, Forbes Symon, presented an outline of some of the purposes of a heritage committee, and the process by which one could be created.

There is a definite community interest in the heritage of the Township: both the Portland District and Area Heritage Society and the Bedford District Historical Society are well established groups. Portland created and operates the South Frontenac Museum, and Bedford has a Research Centre on Westport Road.

Five heritage properties were designated by the former Portland Township.

Council has three options: Maintain status quo, expand the mandates of the current heritage societies, or create an new Heritage Committee.

Should Council choose to create a Heritage Committee they would then, under the act, be required to consult with them on an advisory basis when designating heritage properties or dealing with alterations or demolition of these properties. A committee could initiate programs such as new interpretive plaques of heritage locations and features, and assist Council in the research, education, promotion and celebration of the heritage of the community. “It is commonly held that promotion of a community’s heritage contributes to a sense of place and distinctiveness, enhances the overall attraction of a community as a place to live and visit and is a positive influence on the local economy,” said Symon.

In the discussion that followed, there were concerns about the possibility of historical designations becoming ‘heavy-handed’ and restrictive: Symon said this need not be the case: there are many possible levels of designation to choose from, and a committee would need to do research and provide community information first. Mayor Vandewal spoke of the archival material both in the Township Hall and private collections that could soon be lost, if nothing was done to preserve it. There seemed to be general agreement that a Heritage Committee would be beneficial: this will go to Council to be formalized with a by-law.

Littering and Weekly Newspapers/Flyers
Spring’s here, and with it comes an accumulation of a winter’s worth of roadside litter. Council members brought horror stories of piles of plastic-clad weekly newspapers and flyers to the last COW meeting, asking Symon to look into the problem. After talking with by-law enforcement (distribution of weekly newspapers/flyers is a legal practise under the right to advertise) and distribution managers with Metroland, distributors of the Frontenac Gazette, Symon outlined the company’s policies and practices. Metroland has a detailed code of conduct designed to minimize littering problems, including a policy of sending a cleanup crew out to deal with reports of litter.

In spite of this, Mayor Vandewal and Councillor Barr both gave several examples of papers piling up in ditches and cottage driveways. Symon agreed to further discuss specifics of the problem with Metroland, and suggested that anyone with complaints should be encouraged to phone Metroland directly. However, his report gave no number, and tonight’s attempts to contact the distribution company on the Kingston area part of the website got no further than the “click here” button re delivery issues.

Symon’s report also said, “It is worth noting that the Frontenac News weekly newspaper has a different distribution system and uses Canada Post to deliver their product as mail…copies of the newspaper can also be picked up at various community retail stores.”

Road Name to Honour Memory of Bill Robinson
Council agreed unanimously with the Public Works Department’s proposal to name a newly-created road in Harrowsmith in honour of long-time Portland district Councillor Bill Robinson. The road is part of the reconfiguration of the awkward and dangerous mid-village intersection, a project Robinson was much in favour of. Planner Mills recommended Council set the naming process in motion by holding the required public meeting.

Shooting Range: Buck Bay Road
In December, Mr Adam Rayner came to Council with concerns about a neighbour who operates a shooting range on his abutting property. Mills’ report reveals that this range has been endorsed by previous Councils, following complaints from Rayner, as far back as 1994 and most recently in 2007. Representatives of the Chief Firearms Officer say they have been on the site many times: they have to attend the site before each two-year renewal, and have consistently found the range is fully compliant with the Firearms Act and Regulations. Council agreed with Mayor Vandewal’s opinion that there was little more they could do to resolve what was apparently a long-standing quarrel between neighbours.

Frontenac Paramedic services took some initiative a few years ago establishing paramedicine services, which involve making use of paramedic infrastructure and staff capacity to provide services aimed at preventing the kinds of catastrophic medical events that lead to 911 calls for service. To that end, with funding from the county and provincial grant money a wellness clinic in Marysville, on Wolfe Island, was established, and later visiting clinics at Diners clubs across the County have been set up. Now the province has established Paramedicine as an ongoing program and has tasked the Local Health Integration Networks (LHIN’s) with distributing funding to local paramedic services.

It’s all a bit confusing because the boundaries that the LHIN’s are using don’t correspond to our service boundaries,” said Frontenac Chief of Paramedic Services Paul Charbonneau.

While there is only $312,000 available for programming in the southeast LHIN territory, which includes 6 counties  (Hastings, Prince Edward, Lennox and Addington, Frontenac, Lanark, and Leeds Grenville) and the City of Kingston, $58,000 of that money must be allocated to Frontenac Paramedic Services to continue the programs that are already in place.

“We are glad of the guaranteed funding,” said Charbonneau, “and we will be preparing a submission for some new initiatives.”

One possibility is to set up a clinic in a social housing complex in the City of Kingston, where Frontenac Paramedic Services delivers service.

“One of the positive aspects of paramedicine for our paramedics is it can be a good fit for older paramedics,” he said.

Charbonneau is hoping Frontenac County will be able to secure $100,000 or so in funding out of the $362,000 that is available by designing highly effective programs for vulnerable population sectors in Kingston and Frontenac.

No user fees on K&P Traill
Last fall, Frontenac County Council entered into an agreement with the Eastern Ontario Traills Alliance (EOTA) to manage the soon to be completed  K&P Traill between the southern border of the county and the trailhead in Sharbot Lake for an annual price of $400 per kilometre. The Tweed based Not-For-Profit Corporation manages a network of trails across Eastern Ontario, including the popular ATV oriented trails in North Frontenac. It has been very successful over the past ten years as an ATV tourism marketing and trail management agency. Most EOTA trail users pay annual trail fees, and the trails are motorised.

The K&P Trail is a hybrid, however. ATV’s are not permitted from Verona South and are permitted to the north.

The maintenance agreement with EOTA stipulated that no fees would be charged for the section of trail from Sharbot Lake to the South, but at a county budget meeting in November a discussion took place about the amount of funding that the County is spending on trails and some members of council argued that trails should be “self-sustainable”.

According to the staff account from that meeting  “it was questioned if the County should start looking at charging a user fee as most other recreational areas such as Big Sandy Bay and other Trails charge a user fee. Subsequently, an action item was requested to have the Community Development Advisory Committee review the Trails Master Plan to look at including user fees”.

But in a report to Council from Clerk Janette Amini, the fact that a bylaw as passed establishing a no-fee contract, it would require a complicated set of procedures to unpack the contract in order to consider adding fees.

In response to Amini’s report, Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle, who speculated about a fee in the first place, did not comment.

South Frontenac Councilor John McDougall said “we can make it clear now to everyone that there will be no fee to use the trail.”