In December, Council reviewed a request from Steve Saunders, of Scanlon Road south of Sydenham, for a letter confirming: a) the Township has no objection to his establishing a private shooting range on his (75 acre) property, and b) there is nothing in the Township’s by-laws which would prevent this use. Private shooting ranges fall under the jurisdiction of the Federal Firearms Act which is administered by the Chief Firearms Officer, of the Provincial Ministry of Community Safety and Corrections.

Although not required to, Council decided to hold a public meeting for feedback from residents before proceeding: tonight’s meeting was advertised for four weeks in this newspaper, and on the township’s website. On January 09, Saunders came to COW to try to clarify the nature of his request.

Approximately 60 people, including three children, attended the meeting, and 17 made presentations. Mayor Vandewal opened the public meeting by saying that it would follow the same rules as a statutory meeting, ie: presentations should not exceed 10 minutes, presenters need not repeat points that had already been made, and listeners should be respectful of the speakers. All 17 presentations were succinct: 12 were opposed, 5 in favour, and one undecided. As well, several others who did not speak had sent letters, two or three in favour and a couple opposed.

Those opposed cited dreading the noise of day-long firing, danger to children, neighbours and users of the Cataraqui Trail, loss of property value, frightening horses, and overall incompatibility with the rural and tranquil nature of the area.

Councillor Revill, who was not in attendance at the meeting, sent a report which stated that an unapproved ‘range’ (which Saunders had said he had operated for 18 years) was not legal. Saunders clarified this by saying he had used the term “range’ unadvisedly, for that implied the use of restricted firearms. A person is not forbidden to use an unrestricted firearm on his own property for target practice. Revill’s report also said Saunders was not a member of an approved gun club, and therefore could not have a firing range on his property. Saunders is a member of the Canadian Forces Base Club.

Saunders gave a lengthy reprise of his January presentation, which seemed to add to the evening’s confusion. He also called up Constable Snider of the SF OPP, who reconfirmed the correct definition of the term ‘range’ and said that, as an officer of the peace, it was his opinion that although it was legal for a person to discharge a lawful firearm in a safe manner on their own property, “a regulated range, which is subject to routine and unannounced inspections, is the safest option.”

“You could be sent to the principal for this,” quipped Mayor Vandewal, after Saunders refused to wind up his presentation after more than ten minutes. Vandewal asked three questions: Will this be a private range? (‘yes’); Is the range permit transferrable if you sell your property? (‘no’); Will the range be open to the public? (‘no’).

Saunders asked how his initial simple letter had turned into this meeting, and went on to criticize planner Mills for not having publicized the meeting as he would have if it were a planning issue, spoke of the daily noise of the neighbouring sawmill, called Revill’s letter ‘misinformation’, and pointed out that in spite of his having done target shooting for the past 18 years, more and more houses continued to be built in the neighbourhood, so property values seemed not to be dropping.

Councillor Schjerning read a lengthy letter of support for his motion to facilitate Saunders’ request. Councillor Sleeth moved an amendment: “given the concerns raised tonight, (I recommend) we first refer this to the Corporate Services Committee, asking them to contact the Provincial Firearms Officer and our lawyer for clarification.” Sutherland seconded this, and the amendment passed with only Schjerning opposed. Saunders was clearly frustrated by this outcome.

The Corporate Services Committee meets Tuesday Feb 13, in the Council chambers, at 8:30 am. The meeting is open to the public.

Desert Lake Causeway Concerns
Bill Pedersen came with three questions about the Desert Lake Causeway: have the plans been set for the rebuilding of the causeway; might it be possible to replace some of the sand that washed away in the high water this summer; could the township clean up the ‘orphan lot’ at the west end of the causeway, and thus improve sight lines along the causeway? Public Works Manager Segsworth said the work was planned for the fall, but the plans weren’t drawn up, and there was time for public consultation: at present, his department is doing flow calculations on Holleford Lake. Councillor Sutherland reminded Sigsworth that they had talked about adding a sign indicating a portage point for the James Auld waerway. The sand replacement question should go to the Cataraqui Conservation Authority. The “orphan lot’ is a small triangle beside the road on the edge of a marshy part of Holleford Lake. Interestingly, Pedersen said it was originally the site of the Desert Lake dump. Once the dump was abandoned, it had been covered over and a tourist cabin, now derelict, had been built on top. A reminder that we’ve made some big steps from the not too distant days when a wetland was considered the optimum location for a waste site.

Hidden among the communications reports to South Frontenac Council this week was the quarterly report by one of the most active volunteers in the township, and likely one of the most active trail cyclists in the township, Robert Charest from the Perth Road area. Charest is a member of the township’s trail committee, and he reports on the upkeep of the trails to Council.

His interest in the trails started when he moved to the area in 2005, and finding that he lived right on the Cataraqui (Cat) Trail he took to trail cycling. Cycling, along with kayaking and skiing in the winter, has become a way of life for him. He uses the trails near his house often.

He has taken on responsibility for maintenance on some sections of the trail, including the picturesque section that’s runs northeast between Perth Road and Chaffey’s Locks just over the county line.

He spends some time each spring and autumn cutting up deadfall along the trail with a chain saw, He also takes the trail to go to Sydenham to buy groceries and rides regularly on the whole Frontenac County Trail system, including the new K&P sections.

In this month’s report he summarised some of his observations about the trail from the past year. The first point he made is that trail usage is up, both for cyclists and hikers, the busiest section being the Cat Trail section between Sydenham and Perth Road. He also made note of the improvement in the section that runs west from Harrowsmith to the Lennox and Addington County border, which was resurfaced using $17,500 in township funds.

“We have a nice trail surface from the Loughborough/Portland Boundary Road all the way to the Strathcona Paper Plant [near Napanee], a 30 kilometre stretch. The trail ends at the plant, and one of Charest’s wishes for 2018 is to see the trail extended another 12 or 13 kilometres into Napanee. On the other end of the trail, he would like to see a Cat Trail extension from Smiths Falls to Carleton Place, a 30 km stretch.

But along with those loftier goals he had some more specific recommendations that can be implemented more easily, and cheaply.

Those include, among others: new signage to mark the distance between hamlets of main roads; identifiable shirts for trail volunteers to make it easier for trail users to access information and assistance; picnic tables or benches and garbage cans at the parking lots on Road 38 and Perth Road; a large trail map in Sydenham, and resurfacing of a section of a small section of trail near Sydenham.

Finally, Charest thinks “South Frontenac should become an off-road cycling hub,” linking Kingston, Sharbot Lake, Napanee, and Carleton Place.

“Harrowsmith and Sydenham should ante up the offering of services and facilities to cater to all these cyclists,” he concluded.

It was likely a coincidence that the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation (FCFDC) chose to hold an event about the future of local food production on Groundhog Day. But with Maple Syrup producers laying low, farmers sorting their seeds, and restaurants in winter survival mode, it was a good time to get everyone together.

Katherine Howes is doing her thesis on Frontenac County as part of her work towards a post-graduate degree in Rural planning and development at Guelph University. She also has a farming background in Parham, and set the stage for the event with a short power point on her findings thus far.

One of the aspects of the local food industry that Howes has looked at is access to production facilities for small scale and startup food producers. She did so on the basis of the results of Business Retention and Expansion study that was conducted by the Frontenac County Economic Development department in 2012. The study identified commercial kitchens as a “key piece of infrastructure that was needed to grow local food processing in Frontenac County” she said in her presentation.

She contacted all the church and community halls in the county that have kitchens that are, or could be, used for commercial production.

“It was determined that a large number of community kitchens in the county are underutilised and that they have the potential to be upgraded to commercial kitchen facilities, given enough financial support”.

While her research found the owners of the halls are receptive to making more use of their kitchens, the demand among producers is mixed.

For her research, Howes has also interviewed producers.

Of the eighteen producers she has conducted extensive interviews with, seven use commercial kitchen space, but of those producers who are thinking of getting into a new, value added product, only 22% are considering looking for commercial kitchen space.

There was little or no interest in taking advantage of either of the two regional food hubs which offer kitchen and storage space, at least partly because they are located too far away, in Smiths Falls and Hastings County. While there is a need for more commercial kitchen capacity, producers in Frontenac are more inclined to look either at some local rental spaces that are available or can be developed, or at renovating existing kitchens or building new ones to commercial standards so they can work at home.

After the presentation, the main business of Friday’s event centred around conversations at three tables on specific topics: creating consumer awareness, coordination for growth, and infrastructure. Among the diverse participants at the event were farmers, farm group representatives, value added food producers, and representatives from local municipalities and provincial ministries. Participants found their own tables based on their interests and the conversations were broad, but the intention of the event was to focus on finding a way to move forward on the issues that were brought up at the tables.

At the Infrastructure table, issues were raised both about dealing with municipal regulations around zoning and building permits, and about provincial regulations as they apply to food businesses.

“It would be ideal if there were a simple list of requirements, so I know what I have to do to get up and running as a legal producer, no matter how long the list was. But I can’t get that, I don’t know where I would go to get that, and it makes it hard for my timelines and my finances” said Alan Zahara, who is developing a new food business in the Hartington area.

South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal participated in the infrastructure table. He acknowledged that the township has not been able to streamline its own processes and provide all commercial developers, not just those in the food industry, with the kind of list Zahara was referring to, but said it goes both ways.

“We sometimes have people coming to us who think they can go ahead and construct new buildings or do renovations without engineer’s drawings, without professional support for their applications,” he said.

At the table that was looking at consumer awareness, Alison Shannon from Sun Harvest Greenhouses of Glenburnie (just outside Frontenac County) said that the Infrontenac branding initiative has “has led to a lot of awareness and cooperation among producers. Maybe the consumers, the eaters, are the next focus,” she said.

Others mentioned that creating awareness about the availability of local food is an issue that producers face everywhere, and in a county where people are scattered throughout and travel to other centres on a regular basis for food, it can be hard to build a local presence.

The two farmers markets (in Sharbot Lake and Verona) and some of the food stores, such as Local Family Farms in Verona and Lavallee’s Inverary Store are options for consumers to access local products, but there was a feeling that more can be done in the future as far as marketing ‘local’ is concerned.

The networking event was part of an initiative that the FCFDC has taken on for the township of South Frontenac, which has funded a study to identify the gaps in infrastructure and services for food producers and processors.

A final report will be coming to South Frontenac Council later this year.

As the day was wrapping up, Anne Prichard of the FCFDC wanted to let any of the participating producers know that, in response to one of the infrastructure needs that has been identified, there is a developer in South Frontenac who is looking at building fridge and freezer storage space, and she wants to hear from anyone who might need some. That invitation is open to all producers as well who might have a need. She can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the square footage and type of product that needs storage.

In addition to a chilli lunch prepared by Local Family Farms, samples of a new Frontenac County product that will soon be available, goat yogurt from a Harrowmsith area farm, was available for sampling. The thick, Greek version, and lighter Balkan version were popular among the crowd. Samples of the tasty, still warm, fresh goat milk was a little less popular, with some participants saying they preferred their milk cold.

Members of North Frontenac Council made short shrift of the 2018 township budget on Monday morning (January 28), working through the entire document, approving a couple of small tweaks, and approving it in principle in time for a late lunch.

The only major change they made to the document was to fund half of the $110,000 increase in the Ontario Provincial Police requisition with reserve funds instead of tax levy dollars. A $55,000 cut in the levy represents almost a 1% difference, dropping a projected increase of 2.37% in the draft budget to 1.41% in the final document. In real dollars, North Frontenac ratepayers will kick in $5.85 million this year, $88,000 more than the $5.77 million they paid in 2017. The other factors that make up the property tax bill will not have a major impact this year either, since the increase in Frontenac County taxes of about $60,000 is offset by a decrease in education taxes of about $45,000.

North Frontenac township did face some increased costs this year, including $50,000 as a first payment towards an Infrastructure Ontario loan to cover repairs and upgrades to the township office. They are also spending $100,000 extra for winter road maintenance, as well as the $55,000 extra for policing. On the other side of the ledger, the township benefited from an increase in its Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) allocation. The OMPF is a fund set up by the Province of Ontario to help rural and remote municipalities. This year the allocation to North Frontenac jumped by $234,000, to over $1.6 million.

“We did really well this year from the OMPF, and that helped us to cover some of the increased budget pressure,” said Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Robson.

Among new spending in the budget is $35,000 towards funding the phase-in for increased planning costs. At their regular meeting on Friday, January, 26, the township decided to stay with Frontenac County Planning Services even though costs are set to rise as the department adds a new senior planner. Some of the $35,000 increase in the line item for planning is to cover year one of the phase-in of those costs ($11,000) and the rest ($24,000) to cover township staffing costs related to planning.

Mayor Ron Higgins said he is very pleased with the budgeting process this year, “and in all four years we have done well. We have build up our reserves to the point where we could use $55,000 to offset increased OPP costs this year and keep the increase to 1.4%, under the inflation rate.”

He said he is “thrilled with the levy increases this council has been able to bring in, and with the impact of some of the changes that have been made at the staff level as well, which have paid off both in terms of cost and in terms of service.”

On the issue of the contract with Frontenac County for planning service, which is set to rise each year for the next three, he said that he does not see North Frontenac ever pulling out of the contract.

“We could never get a better price for planning services by going to a contract planner,” he said.

Central Frontenac Council and staff met at the Oso Firehall Tuesday to have a second round of budget talks and while Treasurer Michael McGovern estimated they managed to cut about $10,000 out of the 2018 budget, it still looks like the Township plans to spend almost $348,000 more than it did in 2017, an increase of about 4.75 per cent.

On Tuesday, Council looked at the Fire, Public Works and Facilities budgets, with Corporate Services still to come.

There are still cuts likely to be made, for example, $7,500 for heat and $1,500 for electricity for the old library building in Mountain Grove.

In fact, Mayor Frances Smith told staff she wanted to see a report on all of the Township’s buildings within 60 days after Fire Chief Greg Robinson reported that the fire department has three buildings in Mountain Grove “one of which we use and two that we don’t.”

One of those buildings is used by the rec committee at the rink and Robinson said it could be used for fire equipment storage, which would make the old firehall in Parham surplus, meaning that property could be sold.

The former Hinchinbrooke Public School is expected to cost $8,000 but that could be considerably higher if the oil tank has to be removed.

In fact, several staff members suggested there were buildings and facilities that could be liquidated to reduce operating costs.

And there was some suggestion that even halls that are used are costing a lot. For example, Kennebec Hall brings in $3,000 in revenue but costs $20,000 to operate. Mountain Grove Hall costs $19,000 to operate while generating about $1,000 in revenue. Piccadilly Hall brings in $1,250 in revenue but only costs $8,500 to operate. Oso Hall (the busiest hall in the Township) is expected to cost $18,798 but brings in $5,500.

Coun. Phillip Smith cautioned that Council also has to look at ongoing commitments, using the proposed rink project in Sharbot Lake as an example.

“We’re worried about $5,000 for heating a hall but the ongoing costs for a refrigeration unit at a rink would be considerable,” Smith said.

Council instructed staff to go over the changes and recommendations already made and set Feb. 9 at 9:30 a.m. at the Oso Firehall for its next budget deliberations.

Lennox and Addington County Warden Bill Lowery said something that is music to the ears of Denbigh residents last week in the context of the announcement that the county has purchased the property in Denbigh that it has been leasing for 15 years to house an ambulance base.

“Lennox and Addington County’s purchase ensures that ambulance service will continue to have a location in Denbigh,” he said.

The continued operation of a service based in Denbigh has been debated a number of times by Council, as pressure to upgrade service to the population centres in the southern rim of the county had put pressure on the ambulance budget.

The Denbigh service was pegged back from a 24 hour to a 12 hour service 5 years ago, and its continued existence has been debated at least twice since then. Over a year ago, county staff were instructed to try and find a suitable piece of property for a new base, but that did not happen.

The fall back option was to purchase the existing building, which had been identified as deficient in its current state, and renovate it. And that is what will happen now.

“The County will continue to operate one ambulance for twelve hours per day from the newly purchased base”, said a media release last Friday, and “will make improvements to the building including installation of an automatic generator to ensure operations are not disrupted as a result of power outages.”

Addington Highlands Reeve Henry Hogg said that he is “relieved” that the property has been purchased because it signals that the service will be maintained in Denbigh after all the threatened closures in recent years, but he noted that even with planned upgrades the Denbigh base will not be on par with the bases that have been built elsewhere in the county in recent years.

“It at least gives Denbigh a foot hold, even if it is not being built to the standards of the other bases,” he said.

The Denbigh ambulance service was established in 1982 by the Province of Ontario, with local volunteers playing a key role, as a pilot project to provide service to remote corners of L&A, Frontenac, Greater Madawaska and Hastings Counties. It was subsumed under the County of Lennox and Addington when ambulance service became a municipal responsibility in 2001.

The trains keep on rollin’, the whistles keep on blowin’ and Crow Lake Village resident Donald Lafleur hasn’t given up his battle to at least cut down on the whistle-blowing part.

Lafleur was at Central Frontenac Council’s regular meeting Tuesday evening in Sharbot Lake to reiterate his request, as well as summarizing his bureaucratic adventures in seeking relief which includes a lengthy record of emails with various people at Transport Canada.

In December of 2016, Lafleur came to Central Frontenac Council asking for relief from the train whistles each time the train passes a crossing. He presented various documentation including Transport Canada’s procedure for whistling cessation, an eight-step process which includes the municipality making a request for cessation.

At the May 23, 2017 meeting of Central Frontenac Council, the following resolution was passed: “That the Council for the Township of Central Frontenac has reviewed all correspondence regarding the Train Whistle Cessation and based on costs and legal advice received, Council has elected not to proceed with the request.”

Lafleur said the issue was at least worth another look.

“Every time a train goes by, it whistles four times at each crossing,” Lafleur said. “There’s a crossing at each end of the hamlet plus we hear it from other crossings as far away as Tichborne.

“Some of them may not be as loud as when it comes through Crow Lake but each time we hear 24 whistles.”

He said he has confirmed that the trains in question are Canadian Pacific trains.

He said he and his partner took a train trip from Kingston to Toronto recently and “I would say more than half of the crossings didn’t have whistles.

“We’d be more than happy to do whatever is necessary to assist Council in this matter.’

Council passed a motion to receive Lafleur’s presentation.

Planner, for now
While Mayor Frances Smith recommended to Council they accept Frontenac County’s proposal to hire another planner “for the time being,” she also suggested there was still plenty of negotiation required before signing on for the long term.

At the Jan. 17 meeting, Frontenac County Council authorized the addition of a senior planner position, the reasoning being the increased workload the County planning department faces doing planning for North and Central Frontenac and the Frontenac Islands.

“There’s a three-year phase-in where our (Central Frontenac’s) costs would be $39,000 a year,” Smith said. “If that gets up around $60,000 a year, [which is slated to be the case in 2012 according to county staff calculations] then it might be more feasible for us to look at hiring consultants or to join with North Frontenac for planning.”

Clerk administrator Cathy MacMunn said the matter is scheduled for discussion at the next CAOs’ meeting and suggested North has similar feelings on the matter, a suggestion that surfaced at North Frontenac’s last Council meeting.

Changes to tax sale policy
As of Jan. 1, 2019, procedures regarding the tax sale process with the process beginning after properties fall into the two-year arrears category as opposed to the current three-year position. Treasurer Michael McGovern received Council’s permission to notify residents of the changes in their tax bills.

Coun. Brent Cameron expressed concern that “this catch some people off guard” because the three year window has been around a long time.

McGovern said the changes will mean he will have “about 100 more cases” than he regularly deals with because of the changes and he’s considering informing those people on coloured paper.

No plans yet for new council member
Council didn’t address the Council vacancy that opened up with the resignation of Jamie Riddell but Smith said it was scheduled for discussion at the next meeting (Feb. 8).

Eagle Lake pilot for septic program
The septic re-inspection committee announced that the 300 properties on Eagle Lake have been slated for its “pilot project.”

A cost sharing proposal for land use planning services currently being provided by Frontenac County for three of the four Frontenac Townships was approved by Council at their monthly meeting on January 17.

The proposal, which calls for hiring of a senior planner on a three year contract basis with the expectation that the position will become permanent, also calls for townships who have been receiving free planning from the department to slowly start paying the full cost of the service.

And that may be a tall order.

The County Planning department has been the contract planner for Frontenac Islands, North and Central Frontenac for several years now, under an arrangement that was solidified just under 3 years ago.

In February of 2015, County Council decided that township generated planning work, including updates to Official Plan and Comprehensive Zoning Bylaws, would be carried out by the county department free of charge. The county does charge for planning work that is initiated by residents or developers, such as zoning bylaw amendments and site plan agreements. But in those cases, it is the applicant who pays the county fee. Essentially, the townships have enjoyed a free service, much to the dismay of South Frontenac Township

South Frontenac has its own department and thus covers its own costs. Since South Frontenac ratepayers cover over 60% of the Frontenac County budget, their members of County Council, Ron Vandewal and John Mcdougall opposed the scheme, which they said amounted to South Frontenac paying for their own planning and also 60% of the planning costs of the other townships

The debate at that meeting included the following exchange, as reported in the News at the time.

Councilor John McDougall from South Frontenac said “I favour a full cost recovery model, which is the fairest way to do this.”

Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle, who was also the county warden at that time, pointed out that the two planners on the county staff were not working at full capacity, “The planners are already being paid. Any money that is raised from privately initiated planning applications will help cover those salaries, and South Frontenac gets the most benefit from that. It really is a win-win.”

South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal did not see Doyle's logic.

“I hate to say this but if we don't have enough work for the people we have, then we might consider looking at staffing levels to save money. To me, if any service is going to be offered by the county to one or more townships, it should be paid for by them. Otherwise it's not fair to taxpayers in the townships who do not use the service,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of Central Frontenac, Mayor Frances Smith said that her own council had made the decision to sever its relationship with its long serving contract planner Glenn Tunnock on the understanding that the county department would provide “free service and only private applications would be billed. If that changes then we will have to look at our options again.”

Three years later, the two member county planning team is now over capacity, in large part due to planning demands generated by the three townships, which now accounts for over 40% of their work plan.

Faced with either paying overtime, not being able to provide services in a timely manner, or hiring a third planner, county staff are proposing hiring a planner on a contract basis for three years.

Based on consultations with the Chief Administrative Officers of the member townships, recognising that any other model would “drive up costs for South Frontenac ratepayers” for a service they do not use, county staff are now proposing phasing in a full cost recovery model for the service.

Reserve funds will be used to curtail the impact on local townships budgets in North and Central Frontenac and Frontenac Islands over the next three years, after which time the program can be evaluated. But based on the way the service is being used, the projected costs as of 2021 will be about $61,500 per year for Central Frontenac, $47,500 for North Frontenac, and $36,000 for Frontenac Islands.

While this is popular with McDougall and Vandewal, it is not sitting well with some of the council members.

“We were assured that there was no need for new people if we went for this, but now only three years later we are told something else.” said Councillor John Inglis from North Frontenac.

Trying to put the situation in positive light, county Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender said, “the good news is that there have been more planning applications than before. Our economic development initiatives seem to be having an impact.”

Referring to what she said three years, ago, Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith said, “we are going back on the agreement that we would do planning for a nominal cost. I agree we need to pay more, but to pay $61,000 in year four and beyond is a lot of money for Central Frontenac ratepayers.

Kelly Pender said that the townships will have to decide whether they support this because the county cannot support the service within the current planning budget.

“We either add another planner or we get out of the day to day planning business for the townships,” he said.

Noting that the three year phase-in gives an opportunity to evaluate the service before committing to paying the full cost, North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins said “I have no problem supporting this.”

In the end, the proposal received unanimous support at the county table, but each individual council will be faced with their own decision whether to opt in or out.

When Council reconvened from a closed session for their regular meeting, CAO Orr announced that they had just accepted Fire Chief Rick Chesebrough’s resignation; after more than 14 years of service for the township, Chesebrough will be leaving at the end of this week.

Later, Orr said this did not come as a surprise; “It’s been in the works for some time now: he did the math, and realized he was eligible.”

On behalf of Council, Mayor Vandewal congratulated Chesebrough, wishing him “many years of health and happiness.”

Council then passed a motion to appoint Terry Gervais as acting fire chief.

Support for Seniors Active Living Centre
Following last week’s presentation by David Townsend of SFCSC, Council moved to allocate 20% of the net annual operating costs to support SFCSC’s proposed Seniors Active Living Centre funding application, to a maximum of $12,000 annually over the next three years in a combination of cash and in-kind services to be negotiated annually with the Township.”

It has been suggested that with the ongoing support of the township, the SFCSC Board may wish to consider inviting a member of Council to sit on their Board.

Tax Sale Policy
Council approved a revised tax sale policy which incorporates the legislative changes from Bill 68. Two related by-laws authorized the treasurer to enter into extension agreements and provided for an administration fee to be charged once the tax sale process is undertaken.

Details about the sale of properties in tax arrears and a flow chart describing the process are available on the Township website, or at the Township office.

Township Granted $80,882 for Commuter Cycling Program
The township’s application through the Public Works department for funding from the Ontario Municipal Commuter Cycling Program has been successful: it will be applied to one of two projects planned for this coming year: fully paved bike lanes between Harrowsmith and Sydenham, or a bike lane adjoining a pedestrian sidewalk along the south side Bedford Road between the end of George Street and Alton Road in Sydenham. Public Works Manager Segsworth also plans to fit in a bike lane on the north side of Bedford; Mayor Vandewal questioned whether this might narrow a busy stretch of road too much. Segsworth replied that because of the busyness of the road, it was also a very dangerous stretch for bicycles.

Storrington Centre Upgrades
Council directed staff to issue an RFP for improvements to the Storrington Centre, to include a new optic system, accessible washrooms and entrances, kitchen upgrades and a new folding wall. $333,000 has been approved in the 2018 capital budget, for this. Councillor Sleeth thanked the Township’s Public Works staff and the Storrington Recreation Committee for all their help in planning the project.

Back-up Generator for OPP Station
Council has approved purchase of a backup generator to provide overall backup power for the OPP building at Hartington. This had been held up when Councillor Revill questioned whether a second generator was needed. Further investigation showed that the existing generator on site at the OPP station only provides fire pump back-up power for the sprinkler system.

Briefly
On the recommendation of Corporate Services Committee, Council agreed to extend the contract with Frontenac Municipal Law Enforcement Inc. for a further two years from March 1, 2018 to Feb 28, 2020.

The 2018 members to serve on the Committee of Adjustment will be: Al Revill, Ross Sutherland, Brad Barbeau and Ron Sleeth.

There being no further questions for the planner, Council approved the zoning of a new waterfront lot on South Basin of Buck Lake, Loughborough district.

Council adopted the Corporate Services Committee’s recommendation to maintain the Township’s current investment strategy and to issue an RFP for investment advisory services.

A proposed by-law to amend speed limits on Rutledge Road was, on Councillor Revill’s recommendation, referred to the Public Works Committee for discussion.

A request from the Too Far, Too Fast organization for Addington Highlands to declare itself an ‘unwilling host’ for any marijuana distribution operations once it becomes legal July 1 seemed to garner the most discussion at Council’s regular meeting Tuesday afternoon in Flinton.

“Is there any point to declaring ourselves unwilling?” said Coun. Tony Fritsch. “The government did say municipalities would have some input but we haven’t heard from them yet and they likely wouldn’t listen to us anyway.”

“A lot of things are like that,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

Clerk-treasurer Christine Reed said she understood that the 14 municipalities who would have sales outlets have had some input.

“It used to be with alcohol a municipality could declare itself dry but who’s to stop somebody from going to Kingston or Belleville to get it?” said Dep. Reeve Helen Yanch.

“And what’s in it for us?” said Hogg.

“You mean other than cost?” said Fritsch.

“They’re not telling us anything,” said Coun. Bill Cox. “Will they be giving us anything?”

“I’d like to have some input if it’s available in our area,” said Fritsch.

“Our only option might be to wait until they say ‘hey, Addington Highlands, we’re looking at this in your area,’” said Reed. “We have had a couple of calls about zoning and where you could put a greenhouse.”

“When a taxpayer starts his own business, they call it a ‘grow-op,’” said Cox. “When the government does it, it’s a ‘greenhouse.’”

Community Transportation grant
Clerk-treasurer Christine Reed sought out and received Council’s approval to begin drafting an application to the Community Transportation Grant Program for a five-year grant that would lead to the implementation of of a twice-monthly bus service to various locations such as Napanee, Belleville, Renfrew and Bancroft for various services. The service would be available to the general public and there would be a fee.

She said the funding would be used to cover staffing and administrative costs as well as the busing costs.

Reed said the actual routes are still being determined in consultation with Land O’ Lakes Community Services and the community to determine interest in such a program.

“Thought would have to be given to the sustainability of the program at the end of the five years when the funding was depleted,” she said.

“So, the assumption we’re making is that after five years the fund could be zero because nobody can afford to administer it,” said Coun. Tony Fritsch.

“There used to be bus service every week but we just couldn’t sustain it,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

Newsletter changes
Clerk-treasurer Christine Reed presented Council with a draft newsletter.

“A lot of people don’t notice the newsletter and it’s been the same for about 10 years so we’re trying a little different format,” she said.

“There’s no mention of my phone number anywhere on it,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

“It’s on the website and people can call the Township for it,” said Reed.

“They usually call me to find out the Township number,” said Hogg.

“I think it would be wise to put the Council members’ names in,” said Coun. Bill Cox.

“But no pictures,” said Hogg.

“I guess they know who you are since they voted you in,” said Cox.

Dump hours
Roads/bridges supervisor Brett Reavie got Council’s approval to change winter hours of operation at Township dump sites to eliminate operating in the dark.

Although it won’t be immediate, Kaladar will change to 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays.

“There’s no lights and after dark it becomes a safety issue,” Reavie said.

He’s also looking at changing the winter and summer hours at Vennachar and summer hours at MacKavoy for the same reason.

He said they’re still working on snow removal at Weslemkoon and “it’s probably going to be April when we’re done.”

Still with dump sites, Reavie said the Ministry has asked for information on two of the dump sites that were closed.

“They asked for information on Denbigh and Kaladar and that’s what I gave them,” he said.

“There’s a house on one of them,” said Coun. Bill Cox.

Reavie said he has yet to receive any negative feedback on the previous recent changes to dump procedures and fees.