Last Friday’s North Frontenac Township Council meeting began with a definite air of surrealism.

Before entering the Council chambers, everyone, councillors and staff included, was led by firefighter Robert Rutherford, one at a time, to Geoff Culp and Marc Guilbault, who asked questions (have you been out of the country, have a sore throat, etc) and took people’s temperatures. (The reporter’s temp was 36.5 C.)

Once screened, it was inside to a skeleton Council consisting of Mayor Ron Higgins, Coun. Fred Perry and Wayne Good. Coun. Fred Fowler arrived 20 minutes late to complete a quorum. Dep. Mayor Gerry Martin along with Coun. John Inglis and Vernon Hermer were advised not to attend due to underlying medical conditions.

Friday was actually two meetings, the first of which was a public meeting to present the 2020 budget.

“We have continued to maintain a great fiscal outlook for the Township with healthy reserves, fiscal management and priority setting based on our strategic plan,” Higgins said in his opening remarks. “I would like to thank Council and management for their continued commitment and management of our fiscal responsibility. That commitment and our healthy reserves has allowed us to keep our annual levy at, or close to, the annual consumer price index and avoids higher than necessary taxation. Doing so has not been easy based on the continued level of Provincial and Federal policies that at times puts a huge strain on how a municipality can respond and sustain our municipal responsibilities.”

For the record, the 2020 budget is set at $6,197,558 to be raised in taxation or a 3.09 per cent increase over 2019’s $6,001,535.

“This has gotten right out of hand,” said Herbert Kent, when the Mayor asked for comments from the public (Kent was the lone member of the public who attended). “Our businesses can’t handle it.”

Once the budget was passed into law, the regular meeting continued.

Higgins told Council that on March 17, he was part of a conference call with several other heads of council and Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing Steve Clark.

“The Minister told us that a bill has been passed that will allow us to hold electronic meetings,” Higgins said. “Everybody knows our bandwidth in NF isn’t that great.”

“Another push for better internet,” said Perry.

“How will the public be able to listen in?” said Fowler.

Higgins said that all that would have to be determined.

“We’ll have a meeting with staff after this meeting to discuss what we need to go about this,” Higgins said. “If we can’t get it done soon, we’ll probably have to cancel the April meeting.”

CAO Cheryl Robson they did have funds to potentially upgrade the computer systems.

“We’ll see what we need to buy.”

One aspect of such a system would be that the public must be able to track it online and likely all votes would have to be recorded votes.

• • •

Council and committee members remuneration figures for 2019 were released, including mileage, conference expenses, training and office expenses.

Coun. Fred Fowler received $22,310.15; Coun. Wayne Good — $18,179.74; Mayor Ron Higgins — $28,561.54; Coun. Vernon Hermer — $19,181.83; Coun. John Inglis — $20,935.94; Coun. Gerry Martin — $19,610.94; Dep. Mayor Fred Perry — $23,281.09.

• • •

Coun. agreed to draft a letter signed by the Mayor and Coun. John Inglis (Economic Development Task Force)to present to a potential private donor for a substantial amount of funds towards the building to house the donated Fred Lossing telescope at the North Frontenac Star Gazing Pad near Fernleigh.

“It was advised that it may be helpful to offer a possible large donor an opportunity to have the potential building named after him/her . . . and a plaque be mounted on the building advising same,” said a report from the EDTV.

COVID-19 and how it pertains to municipal business dominated proceedings at Addington Highlands regular Council meeting Tuesday afternoon in Denbigh.

“That would be fair to say, yes,” said Dep. Reeve Tony Fritsch, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Reeve Henry Hogg, who was self-isolating because he’s just returned from a trip to South America that included stops in Chile, Argentina and Brazil.

“It was a great trip,” Hogg said in a separate phone call while he was waiting for a conference call on government plans and guidelines for conducting municipal business during the current crisis. “But I’ve still got a week of self-quarantine to go.”

But, as dominated by COVID-19 as the meeting was, Council did manage to get some business done.

“We distanced ourselves from each other,” Fritsch said. “But we did manage.

“We decided that our Township will compensate employees who were at home such as librarians and others whether we sent them home or they had to go home on their own.

“And the main thing is that we’re closing the municipal offices to the public until further notice but staff will be at work.”

He said they are in the process of developing a protocol as to how the Chief Building Official and Planning Secretary will interact with the public on a one-to-one basis when they need to.

“And there was discussion as to the hiring of a handy person position,” he said. “We discussed duties such as minor repair and things like painting.

“It will have no budget impact as those costs are already built-in to operating budgets for thing like halls.”

Finally, Fritsch said the budget meeting scheduled for March 19 has been deferred to the morning of April 7 (before the regularly scheduled Council meeting).

“That’s assuming the Council meeting goes ahead,” Fritsch said. “A lot can happen in that much time but we do need to conduct business.We’ll see how it all unfolds."

Joe Gallivan (Director of Planning and Economic Development) and Megan Rueckwald (Manager of Community Planning) came to Council as a delegation from Frontenac County. They brought an update on population projections for South Frontenac and outlined some of the planning advantages of introducing privately owned communal water and sewage treatment services in South Frontenac.

“The timing couldn’t be better”, said Gallivan, referring to the Township’s current updating of the Official Plan, and the projection that 80% of the County’s population growth over the next few decades is projected to occur in Southern Frontenac. He described how communal services would make it possible to develop smaller lots, to create infill and more ‘walkable’ communities. One issue is the requirement that the municipality support communal systems by assuming some responsibility for the greater degree of financial risk.

Mayor Vandewal said the first five years would be critical: if the municipality could hold some of the responsibility for that period, it would allow time to build up a reserve and become self-supporting for maintenance issues, much as the Sydenham water treatment plant has done. 

Councillor Morey referred to last week’s delegations of residents upset about a subdivision setback being changed to permit a smaller front yard setback. “Might this tightening of space and greater density discourage people?”

“This will be the Township’s decision,” said Gallivan; “There are people coming from the city who don’t know anything about septic systems, and might prefer not to have to learn how to live with one.”

Vandewal added that there would probably be a market for people who couldn’t afford large lots and houses.

Claire Dodds (Township Director of Development Services), said “This would give us a viable alternative to the current lot size, which right now we do not have. We can set the limits, the parameters. It might be a good way to provide more units for seniors.

Councillor Ruttan agreed; “Smaller lots could provide a wider range of living choices for our residents.

Deputy Mayor Sutherland asked if there was any room for consideration of the effects of climate change; Rueckwald replied that the development consultation process could take these concerns into consideration. Mayor Vandewal summed the discussion up; “What’s most important is that our Township plans and controls how future growth takes place.”

Lake Ecosystem Advisory Committee

Following a request from Council, CAO Carbone brought a draft of terms of reference for a proposed Lake Ecosystem Advisory Committee for discussion. This committee could meet quarterly and would provide a new conduit through which council and senior staff could receive feedback from Lake Associations annually in advance of the budget process, and would also provide feedback to the township as it develops a lake study grant program.

Its priority would be to “promote and support growth that meets the community’s needs while maintaining the integrity of our natural environment.”

Deputy Mayor Sutherland asked why there was no provision for a secretary for the committee: Carbone said that staff would provide clerical support.

Mayor Vandewal said it was important to be clear that this is an advisory committee, to make recommendations to Council for consideration, but it would be subject to the Official Plan, the Planning Act, and other applicable township policies.

Strategic Plan Action Items

In discussing the final draft of Council’s Strategic Plan’s action items, Mayor Vandewal said that he had heard comments that positioning South Frontenac as a community leader was all the staff’s idea, so that it was important to emphasize that the Strat Plan is the result of staff-Council collaboration.

CAO Carbone agreed: “even when staff initiates an idea, they look to council for support and direction; we do not act unilaterally.”

Vandewal said that the staff/Council interrelationship was essential:

“If it was all left up to Council, probably nothing much would happen.”

Ad Bags Litter Roadsides

The problem of plastic-bagged Frontenac This Week advertising bundles littering roadsides led to a lively discussion: while some residents may look forward to these, many of the bags just pile up along streets and roadways.

Previous discussions between the Township and the distribution company have led to many promises but no resolution. (Other than the papers along the Mayor’s road have recently been stuffed into mailboxes.) Staff agreed to try to find a resolution: they will also check with other municipalities to see how they have dealt with the problem.

Lakeshore Clearcutting

Deputy Mayor Sutherland and Mayor Vandewal distributed photos of a swath of clearcutting on the Sydenham Lake shoreline just outside the village. In spite of clear evidence that all trees and undergrowth have been removed, and much of the brush has been burned on the ice, so far there seems to be nothing in the Township’s regulations that can prevent this. Only when a building or development permit is issued can a site plan with shoreline protection be instituted.

“Go ahead and start the projects,” Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith told staff at the end of the Township’s final budget meeting for 2020.

The bottom line now is a 3.5 per cent increase in the tax rate (or 8.23 per cent on the levy) which is a far cry from the 14.8 (24) per cent numbers presented at the Jan. 24 meeting.

This means the Township will be asking its ratepayers for $8,896,524 in 2020, up from $8,219,860 in 2019. That represents $48 more per $100,000 of assessment for taxpayers, or a $96 increase for the average household.

“We’ve brought it down $1,151,000 overall,” said Smith.

While there were cuts and savings to all departments, the biggest cut came from the Public Works Department, where the fog-sealing treatment for surface-treated roads was put off for at least a year, netting a $200,000 savings.

“As long as we get to it before the road deteriorates,” said Public Works Manager Tyson Myers.

Most of the other savings were realized by transferring funds from reserves or not making as large a contribution to reserves.

Treasurer Michael McGovern said pulling from reserves was preferable to taking out loans but expressed concern at the level reserves are getting to.

“We are the lowest per person per household in terms of reserves,” he said.

In a report to the Frontenac County Planning Advisory Committee, the county planning department outlined some of the positive changes in the updated PPS, a document that provides the context for what kinds of property development gets the go-ahead from municipal planning departments.

“It is the opinion of staff that the changes to the PPS, 2020 are positive for rural Eastern Ontario and provide better opportunities for rural economic development, “ wrote Jenni Kapusta, community planner with the county, in the report.

The Frontenac County department has been advocating for more positive language in the updated document towards privately owned communal water and sewer services. Sydenham is the only community in Frontenac County with public water, and there are no public sewage systems in the County. Further, there are little or no prospects that any Frontenac Community will be able to put in those systems.

The new wording in the document provides leeway for privately owned alternatives to be explored.

“Where municipal sewage services and municipal water services are not available, planned or feasible, private communal sewage services and private communal water services are the preferred form of servicing for multi-unit/lot development to support protection of the environment and minimize potential risks to human health and safety,” says the new PPs, which will be active in Ontario as of May 1.

Frontenac County Manager of Development Services, Joe Gallivan, has been advocating for this new language in the PPS.

The key piece that remains for private communal servicing to be viable, according to Gallivan, is the financial one, because municipalities face the financial liability if the private developers go out of business.

“There needs to be some mechanism to shield municipalities from liability without making it too expensive for developers to bring these projects to market,” Gallivan said.

Frontenac County is about to submit an application to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities for a grant to support a case study for such a mechanism, using the former Sharbot Lake Public School site as a case study.

Another positive change in the PPS, in the view of the planning department, is a simplified process for changing the boundaries of settlement areas.

Gallivan also said that, from his reading of the new document, environmental protections are just as strong in this version as they were in the 2014 PPS, which will stale-dated on April 30.

“It does not look like they have weakened the language at all,” he said,

It wasn’t on the agenda at Central Frontenac Council’s budget meeting last Friday in Sharbot Lake, but Coun. Victor Heese announced the rec committees are getting together to revamp the annual Canada Day celebrations.

Essentially, Canada Day itself remains unchanged, with plenty of activities scheduled for Oso Beach in Sharbot Lake with music and the fireworks finale.

But, what’s new this year is the annual K & P Trail Day, which had been celebrated in September the past three years, will be moved up to July 4.

The two days in between, July 2 and 3, will be designated as “community days” with events and activities culminating in a four-day festival.

“We found that the Trail Day wasn’t all that well-attended,” Heese said. “There were plenty of trail riders but they essentially just want to to ride the trails. Once the lunch was over, that was it.

“Plus, July 4 is the American National Holiday and given all our American visitors, we wanted to do something to tie in with and honour them.”

While just what will be going on during the two community days is still under development, the regular Wednesday night acoustic jam at the beach is still a go, moving to Thursday night for just this one week.

The jam goes from 6:30 p.m. (or so) and is open to anybody that wants to join in, regardless of musical genre.

The Oso waste site will continue on as a transfer station when it reaches capacity as a landfill sometime in the next five or so years, Central Frontenac Council decided at its regular meeting Tuesday afternoon at Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake.

Public Works Manager Tyson Myers had recommended against the conversion to a transfer station but told Council his plan was based purely on operations and cost. He freely admitted he was leaving any and all political considerations to Council and invited Cambium project manager Stephanie Reeder to answer any questions Council might have.

Coun. Victor Heese began the discussion pointing out the cost to set up a transfer station had been listed at $100,000 initially and $40,000 per year after that. Heese calculated that for the vast majority of Central Frontenac residents, a transfer station at Oso would save them five minutes a trip, at best. He did concede that it would somewhat alleviate the obvious inconvenience for Crow Lake area residents but asked “do we want to spend $100,000 plus $40,000 per year to save people five minutes?”

Coun. Bill MacDonald said that he didn’t remember setting up the Hinchinbrooke transfer site being near that expensive.

Reeder responded that the big costs are in site preparation and bins.

“There’s going to be some tree falling necessary and a lot of flattening to make the site sufficient for the transportation involved,” she said.

MacDonald asked if there were some way they could mitigate costs — even now — such as reducing hours.

“Instead of 30 hours a week, could we reduce it to 15 — and I want you to know right now I won’t be running in the next election,” MacDonald said.

“If you live in the very south end of the Township, you’re looking at a very long drive ahead of you regardless,” said Coun. Brent Cameron. “But I think Bill’s idea would be something people in the south would be very interested in.”

Reeder said that regardless of what the Township does, with the Olden site, it still has about 40 years of capacity left.

“The Province considers that a lot,” she said. “But that $40,000 per year budget could be changed depending on what you accept at the site. Hinchinbrooke hours could be changed too.”

“We could look at fewer hours for Olden as well,” said Dep. Mayor Tom Dewey.

“There’s efficiencies to be had in hours,” said Myers.

“So, when it closes, it will be a transfer station, whether that happens before that will be to be determined,” said Cameron.

• • •

Coun. Bill MacDonald asked Public Works Manager Tyson Myers if there could possibly be some room for members of the public in the safety classes he’s scheduling for his public works crews.

“I know there are some small businesses out there that would like to get the training for their people but can’t afford it on their own,” he said.

Myers said that he’d put together a list of the courses offered and “look into it.”

• • •

Mayor Frances Smith said they decided to keep a $1,000 grant to SA.L.T. in the budget even though the Seniors and Law Enforcement Together has received a provincial grant.

“It’ll be there in case they need it,” Smith said. “It doesn’t really change anything in the budget and we want them to know how much we value them in the community and that they can come to us each year if they need to.”

Frontenac County is hoping to take over the K&P trail between Sharbot Lake and the North Frontenac border. The trail section is owned by Central Frontenac Township.

The county has plans to upgrade the trail to make it as accessible as the 55km K&P trail section that was completed last fall between the county border with the City of Kingston and Sharbot Lake.

The K&P line north of Sharbot Lake was purchased by Oso Township sometime in the 1980’s. Central Frontenac Mayor (and Frontenac County Warden for 2020) Frances Smith remembers the purchase because she was the clerk for Oso Township at the time.

“As I recall, it was Marathon Realty, the real estate arm of Bell Canada, who owned it. I think they told us to name our price, since they didn’t want it anymore. We offered something like $5,000, and it was a done deal. But I’m not exactly sure about the date or the cost. It was a long time ago,” she said.

The trail has been used by snowmobiles, ATV’s, walkers, runners, cross country skiers, and cyclists, ever since, and a number of people access their seasonal and permanent dwellings from it.

The trail has many interesting features. It straddles four waterways (Sharbot Lake, Black Lake, Little Round Lake and Bolton Creek) runs through a culvert under Hwy. 7, passes major rock cuts, some swampland and thick woods, before reaching Clarendon Road and the only station on the old K&P line that is still standing.

It is maintained in a limited fashion by the township under a contract with the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance (EOTA), and is groomed by the Snow Road Snowmobile Club in the winter time.

“We haven’t really invested much in it. When issues are brought to us, about trees over the trail or other maintenance matters, we call EOTA and they make arrangements to deal with the problem,” said Smith. “Other than that, we have basically left it alone since we bought it.”

The trail floods sometimes in the spring, and where it passes over open, swampy land, it is pretty rough, but passable.

All of these trail maintenance issues are familiar to the Economic Development department at Frontenac County, which has worked for years to forge a continuous trail to Sharbot Lake from the border with the City of Kingston.

With that project complete, the county plans to upgrade the existing trail between Sharbot Lake and the old station at Clarendon Road this summer, but they need ownership of that section of trail in order to work on it.

Central Frontenac Township inherited the trail when it absorbed Oso township in 1998.

At their meeting last Wednesday (February 20), Frontenac County approved a motion, put forward by staff requesting that the trail north of Sharbot Lake be conveyed to them in order to enable them to work on it.

“With construction planned for later this year on the Frontenac K&P Trail from the Village of Sharbot Lake to Clarendon Station in 2020, it is staff recommendation that ownership of these lands be transferred from the Township of Central Frontenac to the County of Frontenac. As the primary investor in the infrastructure, it is in the County’s best interest to own, maintain and manage the improved asset to ensure long-term sustainability of the infrastructure,” said the staff report accompanying the motion.

It will be up to Central Frontenac Council to decide if they want to convey the trail to the county.

“Should the Township of Central Frontenac respond affirmative to this request, a detailed review of the properties will be undertaken prior to a legal agreement and conveyance.”

In a phone interview Frances Smith said that the matter has not yet been raised at the Central Frontenac Council table and she cannot speak for Council, but she did not see, on the face of it, any reason for her council to raise any major objections.

“The county wants to Improve it and make it more accessible to our residents and visitors alike, and take over responsibility for maintenance.”

Frontenac County has budgeted money to upgrade for the 14km. section between the trailhead in Sharbot Lake and Clarendon Station, this year, so the conveyance needs to be completed shortly.

The Sharbot Lake & District Lions Club is offering to spruce up the gazebo across from the Township office in Sharbot Lake.

In a letter that was accepted for information at Tuesday’s regular Central Frontenac Council meeting, Lions secretary Bill Pyle said: “re: the gazebo across from the Township office seems to be in need of some TLC.

“With Council’s permission, the Lions are willing to take a close look in the spring and see what is needed to spruce it up . . . the Lions would do any needed minor repairs and paint or stain the gazebo. We understand that there is a neglected flower bed beside it and we would see what we could do to restore it as well.”

Pyle went on to say that if there appears to be any major structural difficulties, they would consult with Council before proceeding and invited members of Council to join them in inspecting the gazebo and flower bed.

Dep. Mayor Tom Dewey volunteered to go and Mayor Frances Smith pointed out that since she is a Lion, she’d probably be there too.

Council passed a resolution to express thanks and appreciation to the Lions but didn’t give its permission. Part of the resolution was for staff to contact the Lions to coordinate and confirm the scope of the repairs and bring a report back to Council.

Coun. Bill MacDonald observed that “there were no fire calls anywhere in Central Frontenac in January and asked Fire Chief Jamie Riddell if he could offer an explanation.

“I like to give credit where it’s due,” Riddell said. “It’s a credit to our volunteers who go out and do fire prevention and door-to-door smoke alarms.”

There were however, eight medical calls, four vehicle accidents and one carbon monoxide call in January.

Council passed a resolution to finalize an agreement with Rideau Valley Conservation Authority on behalf of Mississippi Rideau Septic System Office to complete the septic re-inspections contemplated under Bylaw 2020-04 for the 2020 Year.

Council also received for information the annual report on Council remuneration in 2019 for information.

Mayor Frances Smith received $24,450.15 plus $900 in per diem and $894.85 in mileage. Deputy mayor Victor Heese received $17,269 plus $375 in per diem, $443.30 in mileage, $359 in professional development & conferences. Coun. Tom Dewey received $15,137.20 plus $1,425 in per diem and $2,097 in mileage. Coun. Cindy Kelsey received $15,137.20 plus $600 in per diem, $368 in mileage and $194.30 in professional development. Coun. Sherry Whan received $15,1137.20 and $167.20 in mileage.

Coun. Bill MacDonald, Brent Cameron, Elwin Burke and Nicki Gowdy each received $15,137.20.

Each member of Council also received an expense allowance of $800.

The council meeting began with an acknowledgment of Dr Duncan Sinclair’s appointment to the Order of Canada: Mayor Vandewal presented him with a plaque, and everyone in the room rose, clapping. Dr Sinclair is being honoured for his contributions to the Canadian Health Care system as a teacher, university administrator and advisor, and for his leadership in Ontario Health Care reform.

Dr Sinclair, a long-time resident of Buck Lake, is a familiar figure at community events and served for several years as a member of the Southern Frontenac Community Services’ Board. And yes, his son is Gord Sinclair Jr, the Tragically Hip’s bassist.

In his brief acceptance speech, Sinclair said the appointment had come as “a great surprise: I have a lingering suspicion that some bureaucrat has made an egregious error, and mixed up his files.”

‘Meals Community Champions’ Week Coming Up in March

Joanne Silver, Coordinator of the SFCSC Meals program, said that over 8,000 hot or frozen meals had been served this past year to residents of South Frontenac. The hot meals, now delivered twice a week, are affordable, well-balanced and tasty, and come with the option to also purchase frozen meals. Silver pointed out that there are a lot of intangible benefits too: the meals help lower food costs, are convenient for people who find getting out for food shopping or cooking for one is difficult, and the volunteer drivers are friendly, providing emotional as well as nutritional support.

She invited Council members to come ride with the volunteers March 17 or 19 when they do their rounds. Both Mayor Vandewal and Deputy Mayor Sutherland said they had participated last year, and had enjoyed the experience; ‘The drivers are much more than delivery people.”

Main Street Revitalization Funding

Mark Segsworth, Director of Public Services, showed illustrations of new village entrance signs, street name signs (‘blades’) and benches and planters proposed for the Township. These will be funded by a ‘Main Street Revitalization” grant of over $51,000 from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The Public Services Committee identified the need for updated village entrance signage for certain hamlets and the need for business section directional signage for the village of Sydenham specifically, given that its business core is the only one not located along a major roadway.

Councillor Revill said that North Frontenac had designed its signs to match the County’s signs in shape and colour, and asked whether South Frontenac should do the same. Councillor Ruttan said he was not too keen to align with the County, and CAO Carbone advised caution about aligning with the County before the Township had completed its rebranding exercise. Roberts and Sutherland liked the signs, and there was no objection to approving this use of the funding. Later, when the use of metal benches was questioned on the grounds that they could become uncomfortably hot in the summer, Segsworth said they had been chosen because “they are durable and can withstand skateboards.”

Bylaw Enforcement Contract Extended until April 30

The clerk’s office has said that due to the transitioning of by-law enforcement to the clerks department there is a need to review and identify by-law enforcement needs and implement improved reporting mechanisms prior to simply extending the contract for a longer term or going back out to the marketplace through the Request for Proposal process.

During the 2020 Budget deliberation process, Council heard several references to the need to possibly require more enforcement of by-laws in several areas throughout township departments. Staff are hoping to compile better data in all aspects of Bylaw Enforcement in the coming year so that they can better assess what areas need more resources.

Public Health Offices Withdrawing from Sewage System Inspection

As part of a Ministry of Health decision to modernize and improve Public Health Services, the KFL&A Public health has decided that beginning in 2021, they will withdraw from providing sewage system inspections to municipal governments. In any case, legislative oversight for sewage systems is found in the Ontario Building Code, not the OPHS. They have offered transitional support to local municipalities during the coming year.

Sewage inspection services will be integrated into the township’s building department.