AH Roads & Waste Supervisor pleased with County Agreement

Craig Bakay | Mar 01, 2023

Addington Highlands Roads and Waste Supervisor Brett Reavie told Council at its regular meeting Feb. 21 in Denbigh that a new agreement with Lennox & Addington County for road maintenance “will work out well for us.”

The Township has been maintaining roads and bridges for the County since restructuring in the late 1990s.

Reavie said the new agreement came from a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) meeting in the fall of 2022.

“They changed the way we calculate the rates a little bit for our equipment,” Reavie said. “We now go to 90 per cent where it previously was 70 per cent.

“With the price of fuel going up, this will really help us in the future.”

He said the per kilometre rate for maintaining roads won’t be changing for the roads they did last year.

“Once we get to a five-year average, we’ll be using that to calculate our per kilometre rate that we get for looking after the roads,” Reavie said.

He said there won’t really be a lot of (physical) changes.

“We still do the same kind of work,” he said. “We’re doing roads adjacent to County Roads anyways so it works out well for our trucks to be doing it for the County as well.”

Coun. Ken Hook had a question about one road in particular.

“I heard a rumour that the Flinton Road was going to be resurfaced,” Hook said.

“That rumour is true,” said Reavie. “(But) it’s only from 41 to right around the old Township yard in Flinton.

“We’re not going through Flinton or any on the old Bridgewater Road but it’s in the County budget.”

“That’ll be a big improvement,” said Hook. “It was getting pretty beat up.”

“Yeah, it needs it,” said Reavie.

“It does need it,” said Reeve Henry Hogg. “It must be 30 years since it’s been done.”

Budget meeting set

Council set Thursday, March 23 at 9 a.m. in Flinton for budget deliberations. Addington Highlands generally passes its budget in May.

LOLCS request

Council deferred a grant request from Land O’Lakes Community Services asking for an increase to $1.75 per household to budget discussions.

“Last year, it came to $4,144 but that was for $1.50 per household,” said CAO/Clerk-Treasurer Christine Reed. “We had 2,762 households at $1.50 each.”

“It’s a rather large request,” said Coun. Ken Hook. “It should be deferred to budget.”

Fees waived for Fun Fair

Council passed a resolution to waive the rental and damage deposit fees on Flinton Hall for the 5th Annual North Addington Education Centre Fun Fair on May 19.

Coun. Helen Yanch moved the Township donate $1,000 to the event which was also passed.

Support for County of Huron motion

Council voted to support the County of Huron’s call for stricter laws on the growing of personal marijuana to take into consideration the odours that can be involved.

“We’ve already done most of this but OK,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

“We were told that these new cannabis laws would cut down on the underground economy but the underground economy accounts for 40 per cent of the sales,” said Coun. Ken Hook. “It’s cost 800 jobs in Smith Falls.”

Dog walk

While Council didn’t officially express support for the Land O’Lakes Lions Club first Dog Guide Walk (a fundraiser where people walk their dogs to raise money for Lions Dog Guide programs), Coun. Kirby Thompson made a note of saying he thought the event was “a good idea.”

The walk will begin at 11 a.m. at the Lions Hall on Hwy 41, loop into the parking lot of Pine Meadow Nursing Home and return to the Lions Hall for a total of 2 kilometres.

Brushing

Roads and Waste Supervisor Brett Reavie said brushing on 5th Concession Road was completed sooner than expected allowing them to move on to Hartsmere Road.

“The new excavator is working very well but it’s a brand new excavator so we shouldn’t have any complaints,” he said.