Addington Highlands will continue to hold meetings in both Flinton and Denbigh

Craig Bakay | Aug 11, 2021

Addington Highlands Council addressed the question of what to do with about $128,260 in excess COVID funding that remains after they spent $55,114.68 in 2020 and about $56,000 in 2021 in covid-related expenses at its regular (online) meeting Aug. 3. And in so doing, Council also made some other decisions that have been hanging around since the pandemic started.

“There’s a whole bunch of things tangled up together here,” said Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch.

The first thing to be decided was if Council still wanted to hold meetings in both Flinton and Denbigh, and if so, where in Denbigh, and, if meetings would be simultaneously streamed on the Internet.

Ward 1 (Denbigh area) representative Fritsch and Coun. Kirby Thompson assured Council that Denbigh meetings were indeed still important and there seemed to be a consensus of opinion that continuing to stream them live was a good idea, especially after urging from Reeve Henry Hogg.

“As I see it, 50 per cent of our taxpayers are non-residents and it would be good for them to be able to participate,” Hogg said.

Once that was decided, a Denbigh location needed to be chosen.

Fritsch pointed out that the Denbigh Township Hall, where Council had been meeting, probably wouldn’t be suitable if streaming equipment had to be stored there.

“You’re not going to want TVs on the walls when you’re renting it out for dances,” Fritsch said. “And, we’d need to get an internet connection and there’s nowhere to store equipment.”

CAO/Clerk-Treasurer Christine Reed said that the Addington Highlands Community Centre was already a designated as the alternate emergency operations centre and that would mesh well with having a Council meeting space as well as other improvements such as increased Internet connectivity and other improvements being such as a generator and air quality equipment.

Fritsch also noted that the gym itself wouldn’t be suitable but there are two classrooms in the building that they’ve been discussing uses for.

The new Council chambers in Flinton were built with meeting streaming capabilities in mind and so wouldn’t require additional renovations or gear.

Costs to equipment the AHCC for internet streaming would be in the range of $18,000 for speakers, microphones, cameras, mixer, etc as well as about $2,000 for a large TV. Internet cost is about $115 per month.

Once those expenses were out of the way, Council approved spending for portable traffic signals and electronic signs to be shared by the Public Works and Fire Departments.

Other projects that were approved in principle were a potential new entrance for the Pharmacy at the Land O’Lakes Medical Centre and a more esthetic windbreak for the centre to be used when outdoor screening iCrown Land Stewardship Program in AH?

In an effort to control what he called “out-of-control camping on Crown Land,” Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch moved creation of a committee to examine the possibility of a Crown Land Stewardship program for Addington Highlands. Said committee would report back to Council by the end of the year.

In passing the measure, several members of Council expressed concern over just how successful such a program could be.

“It’s going to be a lot of work,” said Coun. David Miles.

“And a lot of money,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

“It would be, yes, but there are other people who have done it and we can consult with them on how to go about it,” said Fritsch.

“I know North Frontenac has spent many years on it and I know they spend about $20,000 a year on their online booking system,” said Hogg. “It may be a long time before it’s revenue neutral, if ever.”

(Editors note – The Crown Land Stewardship Program in North Frontenac was established at the request of the Ontario government. Soon after municipal amalgamation in 1998, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources informed the township that they were no longer to willing to maintain the roads on crown land in North Frontenac that were used to access hunt camps and cottages that had been in place for decades. The Ministry offered financial support to the township to cover road maintenance some of the costs on the condition that the township would enter into a land use permit. It was called the Crown Land Stewardship Program and has eventually also been developed as North Frontenac Parklands)

Clean audit

Addington Highlands received a clean bill of financial health from auditors Secker, Ross & Perry.

“We didn’t have any deviations from our plan, which you should take as a good thing,” said auditor Adam Young. “There were no unexplained transactions and no disagreements with the management team.

“It was much smoother this year because we had a year of covid under our belt.”