Addington Highlands Continues Strategic Priorities Discussions

Craig Bakay | Feb 15, 2023

Addington Highlands Council finished up its General Discussion on Strategic Priorities (continued from Jan. 31) before its regular meeting on Feb. 7, looking at a large number of topics: communication and ratepayer priorities, roads and waste sites, community facilities, parks and playgrounds, tax rate, economic development, cell coverage and broadband, and organizational structure and staffing.

“We’ll be starting off where we’re at and building on it as we move on,” said Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch, kicking off the communication discussion.

There was much back and forth regarding the best way to communicate with ratepayers, including ideas for more print options as opposed to electronic means.

“We all know that there are some people who will never see electronic communications,” he said.

“We’ve already started with a roads policy,” said CAO/Clerk-Treasurer Christine Reed.

Roads and Waste Sites

“I think with most of this stuff, we’re already there,” said Coun. Kirby Thompson. “We have a plan each year as to what’s going to be tar and chipped, etc.”

“Yeah, and it’s coming more with our asset management software that the County is helping us with,” said Roads and Waste Supervisor Brett Reavie.

“I was talking to our waste attendant and there’s more recycling coming in than garbage,” said Thompson.

“The grinding of brush and wood is going well and that’s making those items take up a lot less space, so that our waste sites should last longer.

“And it costs a lot to close them (more than $700,000 to close Kaladar).”

“We’re still having problems with large bulky items like couches and mattresses,” Reavie said. “They have springs so when you compact them, they just bounce back up.”

Community Facilities, Parks and Playgrounds

“We’re generally able to get larger projects done and smaller projects like maintenance are scheduled in the budget every year,” said Reed.

“We do a fantastic job on our large projects like the Health Centre or the HVAC system in the Denbigh Community Centre,” said Fritsch. “But we struggle with the smaller jobs like getting something painted because we can’t find anybody to do them.”

Tax Rate

“Our goal is to keep the tax rate between 2.5 and 3 per cent,” Reed said. “But we could do better in communicating where the tax dollars go.”

“We produce a variety of information,” said Fritsch.

“Our ratepayers are more than welcome to call and talk to any of the councillors or the Reeve,” said Coun. Helen Yanch.

“I think all we can do is just keep putting the information out there,” said Coun. Ken Hook. “We can’t lose doing that.”

Economic Development

“We have the AHEAD committee and County Economic Development and we do what we can to support them,” said Reed.

“Our county is doing a great job and I think our role is to support them, like when they’re offering grants and such,” said Hook. “I just wish we had more projects we could put our teeth into ourselves.”

“It’s always been a challenge for the AHEAD committee to grab something tangible,” said Fritsch. “We spent a lot of effort on promoting Bon Echo in winter, trying to get some traction and then you walk away and the tires go flat.”

Thompson suggested letting aspiring business owners know the County has a program to help them get going.

Cell Coverage and Broadband

“My pet project,” said Reeve Henry Hogg. “I hate to tell you this but the Eastern Ontario Regional Network has advanced things to 2026 instead of 2025 for completion.

“I think they were really premature in their announcement — they got a lot of people excited and now it’s dragging on — the whole duty to consult and archeological assessment has caused delays.

“I’m not making excuses, I’m just passing the word.”

“Talking to a lot of people last fall and asking them ‘what’s your issue’ this was it,” said Thompson. “I don’t know what to do other than lobbying because you can’t tell Bell to do this or Rogers to do that.

“I barely have internet, let alone cell service.

“I have to put my finger out the window to get internet.”

Organizational Structure and Staffing

“I believe one of our duties as Council is to keep in good discussion with staff so that collectively we’re keeping abreast of new duties and/or accountabilities,” said Fritsch.