Addighton Highlands Council Report - July 8 meeting

Jeff Green | Jul 17, 2025

Gary Shortt appeared before Council on behalf of the Lions Club of Land O’Lakes. He talked about the renovations underway at the Lions Hall in Northbrook, which are all intended to make the building a fully functional emergency-response centre for the surrounding region, serving mainly Addington Highlands residents.

The reason for this particular visit was to seek the approval of Council for the township to act as a sponsoring body for a $20,000 grant from the Community Foundation of Lennox and Addington, that will go towards the purchase and installation of a backup power supply generator for the Lions Hall. 

Shortts said that the club has already obtained three quotes for the purchase and installation of the generator. Since the Lions Club is a not-for-profit organisation but not a registered charity, the Community Foundation requires that the grant be sponsored either by a charitable organisation or a municipality. 

Shortts said that the Lions have received some smaller grants from the community foundation for the project, using the Cloyne and District Historical Society as a sponsor, but the foundation recommended approaching the township for this larger grant. Chief Administrative Officer Christine Reed said she has talked with Shortts about the project, and has “no issues” with the township taking on this role. 

Reeve Hogg recommended that Shortts talk to the township building inspector about what to look for when selecting and working with a contractor because the township has installed several generators on buildings in recent years.

“We’ve already had several conversations,” Shortts said, and Council then approved the motion.

Lions Remembrance Day Banners.

Lynne Lowe and Red Emons, also from the Lions Club, appeared before Council to request permission to put up Remembrance Day banners on 6 Hydro Poles along Flinton Road, near the cenotaph, honouring local veterans, in the run up to Remembrance Day.

CAO Reed said that since Flinton Road is a county road, the county will “have to be looped in and this will have to be forwarded to them for final approval.

Councillor Kirby Thompson said that he found the banners quite touching last year, and Councillor Tony Fritsch said that the ceremony held at the Lions Hall which was held when the banners went up, was an uplifting, emotional event. The motion was approved.

Age Friendly Community

Deputy Clerk Patricia Gray reported back to Council on the work being done by the Age-Friendly Community Steering Committee. The Committee has done a survey of community stakeholders, and through that process has identified a large number of services that are available to local residents, but are concerned that not all seniors in the community are aware of everything that is available. They have requested that staff prepare a web page, to be included in the township website, including all the information that has been gathered. Staff is working on the page, as well as a hard copy version, which will be available to the township residents who prefer a print version.

Closure Contract for Denbigh Waste -Site

The tender for the closure of the waste site, according to the strict guidelines from the provincial government, was prepared by Jewel Engineering on behalf of the township. The lowest approved bidder was Hay Bay Sand and Gravel, and Council approved a motion to award them the contract at a price of $441,556 +hst.

Backyard Chickens are Back, But Only Legal Details

With slight trepidation, Reeve Hogg introduced an item about the backyard chickens bylaw, which Council spent a lot of time working on throughout the winter, before adopting it.

CAO Reed said that she has heard back from the courts that minor changes in wording are necessary, in order to create an offense for people who do not comply with the bylaw, and want to dispute the imposition of fines called for in the bylaw, in court.

Council approved the changes.

Integrity Commissioner

In late 2018, Addington Highlands participated with Lennox and Addington County and the other three townships in the county in a request for a quote for integrity commissioner services. The contract was awarded and has been continually renewed until now. The Town of Napanee has indicated they would like to set out a new request for quotation for the service, and asked if the other parties wanted to join in. L&A County will look at the matter later this month. Council decided to join in with the Town of Napanee.

Community Garden Update – Patricia reported on significant headway in the development of a community garden at the Flinton Recreation Centre site, including planter boxes and other structures that have been built through volunteer labour and donations from local businesses.

(Councillor Hook was absent from the meeting, after participating in the World Long Distance Triathlon, Long Distance Aquabike Championships in Ponte Vedra, Spain on June 29.)