Tanker Purchase

In a split vote, North Frontenac Council decided to purchase a 2013 Watermaster Vacuum Tanker for $262,000. The vehicle will be located at either the Snow Road or Clarendon and Miller Fire Station, at the discretion of the fire chief.

By approving the purchase, Council also committed itself to removing the existing tanker truck from the Ompah fire station, leaving it with only a mini-tanker.

In debating whether to go ahead with the purchase, Councilor Lonnie Watkins raised the issue of size. “That’s an awfully big truck. How will it do on the back roads?” he asked.

Fire Chief Steve Riddell said that Central Frontenac has been using the same vehicle for a number of years with good success. “They have similar roads to ours, and don’t seem to have had a problem,” he said. “The other thing that I can add is about water. If you are going to put out a fire you have to do it in the first five minutes. This truck has a large tank and a 2.5 inch hose. It can put out a huge amount of water in a short time, and that’s what is required.”

Councilor John Inglis said he would be voting against the purchase because of his previously stated opposition to removing the existing tanker truck from the Ompah station. “I also think that if we are just starting to look at a Fire Services Master Plan, we should wait until it is completed before spending this kind of money," he said.

In a recorded vote, Deputy Mayor Perry, and Councilors Good, Martin and Hunter supported the purchase, while Mayor Clayton joined Watkins and Inglis in voting no.

Fire Master Plan

As mentioned, North Frontenac Council has appointed a task force with the responsibility to create a Fire Master Plan for the township. The task force will be chaired by Councilor Gerry Martin, and Deputy Mayor Fred Perry and Councilor John Inglis will serve on it as well. CAO Cheryl Robson and Fire Chief Riddell, and at least one member of the public, will join them. (See ad on page 8 for details).

Under the Joint Fire Board agreement between Addington Highlands and North Frontenac townships, Addington Highlands Fire Chief Casey Cuddy has responsibility for fire in Barrie Ward, the largest ward in North Frontenac. When asked if Cuddy would be asked to join the task force, Fred Perry said it would not be necessary.

“We can bring him in to consult, and the fire marshal’s office as well,” said Perry.

Township seeks $364,000 Infrastructure grant.

The latest incarnation of the Ontario MIII (Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiative) includes a $24 million fund that is earmarked for small rural municipalities, those with a population of under 5,000. North Frontenac will apply for $364,000, which represents 90% of the cost of new large culverts at the location where Black Creek runs under Road 509.

“It is identified as a priority project by our asset management plan and our road needs study,” said Mayor Clayton.

Council holds the line on fees for Frontenac Parklands

Council rejected a proposal to raise fees for campsites and road usage in areas covered under the Crown Land Stewardship Program, which is marketed as the Frontenac Parklands by the township.

In line with recommendations from the services review the township recently had completed, the fees were set to rise by 2%. This would have put campsites to $22.50 from $22; weekly road permits to $22.50 from $22, and annual road permits to $45 from $44.

Recreation Co-ordinator Cory Klatt, who oversees the program, said that it has been growing steadily in recent years and he is wary of increasing the cost, saying it might disturb that positive trend. Council decided to keep the prices the same for next year.

Building tops $5 million for the year.

Statistics provided by Chief Building Official George Gorrie show that even though the September numbers are down by almost $1 million from last year, the year's total to date is $5.8 million, up from $4.9 million in 2012. Permit fees sit at $91,000 for 2013, up from $76,000 at the same time last year.

Canonto Lake Plan presented

Jim Holton and Steve Sunderland formally presented the Canonto Lake Stewardship Plan for Council’s consideration. They invited Council to review the plan and consider adopting it as an amendment or an appendix to the township's Official Plan.

The Canonto Lake Association, which spent three years developing the plan, has been approached by both the Malcolm and Kashwakamak Lake Associations to advise them on how to put their own plans together.

“All lakes are different, and that should be taken into account when development is being considered,” said Sunderland. “For example, Canonto Lake drains three times a year, and Palmerston drains once every six years. That makes water quality issues very different on the two lakes."

2012 Year End Audit

Breanne Bradshaw of the accounting firm KPMP reported on her firm’s audit of the township’s 2012 financial statements. She said taxes receivable were down slightly as a percentage of total revenue (a good thing), although overall property taxes had risen, largely as a result of increased assessment. Township assets of $6.6 million were offset by $6.3 million in amortization.

Roads expenses had gone down slightly, due to a mild winter, and the township had received more gas tax money than had been budgeted for. “Luckily there is not much to report: no control deficiencies, illegality, fraud, or abnormal transactions,” Bradshaw said.

She thanked treasurer Louise Fragnito and the staff for their full cooperation during the review process.

Found Money

Fire Chief Rick Chesebrough reported that in September he and CAO Wayne Orr had met with a company called Fire Marque, which is in the business of recovering costs from insurance companies for fire services provided by the municipality.

The business is based on the fact that each insurance company includes a clause in its policy for “peril” coverage: either $1,000 or $5,000 for residential properties or $25,000 for commercial. Evidently this portion of insurance is rarely collected, for the amount is small, and the regulations and procedures for doing so vary from company to company. Fire Marque would invoice the insurance company on behalf of the township, based on the standard incident report. They would then retain 30% of the amount, and pay the township the remaining 70%.

The company has been in business for 20 months, and currently is serving 19 fire departments. Chesebrough emphasized that collecting against the peril clause has no effect on the homeowner’s coverage: it does not affect their policy, reduce their coverage or increase their premiums.

Based on 2012 township fire statistics, last year’s revenue would have been $9374. The Public Services Committee reviewed the proposal and recommended that Council pass a by-law to enter into a contract agreement with Fire Marque for this service. Chesebrough also suggested that any revenue from this be placed in the fire department's capital reserve fund.

Councillor Vandewal said that although he liked the proposal, he did not agree with the revenue going into capital reserve, which already received 1% from taxes: he would prefer it be used to offset operating costs of the fire department.

Councillor York asked whether the fund would be locked in to facilities. Wayne Orr replied that his main concern was that the actual amount in any given year would be unpredictable; it was important not to come to depend on it.

Councillor Bill Robinson said it felt like council was ‘losing control’ and asked why an outside agency needed to be involved in the process.

Orr replied that township staff did not have the resources or in-depth knowledge of the various insurance companies to be able to access the peril funds. Council voted to proceed with a contract with Fire Marque, although Councillors Vandewal and Robinson voted against the proposal.

Council then went into camera to discuss a litigation issue.

Clean audit

In the room in the basement of the Flinton Recreation Centre where the Addington Highlands Council meeting was held on Monday, two men in pin-striped suits were seated at the table facing members of Council.

They were the auditors from Seckler Ross and Perry. The message they brought to Council as they presented the audited financial statements for 2012 was that everything seemed in order and the financial position of the township is substantially unchanged from the 2011 audit.

In addition, they reported that the 2012 audit is considered a “clean audit” in the sense that whatever information they required for the audit had been forthcoming from township financial staff.

A surplus of $564,000 led to an increase in reserve funds and in the working fund reserve.

Some help, but road will remain un-maintained

Council agreed to provide two loads of gravel to the Gardiner family on Beatty’s Curve road to help keep the road in a passable state, provided the Gardiners kick in half of the $1,000 cost.

In a letter to Council, Sue Gardiner, who lives on the road, asked for about $3,000 to $5,000 worth of work as an interim measure “until such time as the township can address the road issue properly.”

“We need to be clear,” said Reeve Henry Hogg, “that we are not about to assume the maintenance on Beatty’s Curve Road. We can help in a minor way, with a similar commitment from the ratepayer, but that road is not on our list of maintained roadways.”

Although Beatty’s Curve is technically not a private laneway, it is what the township calls an ‘un-maintained township road’, and it seems, Council is committed to it remaining that way.

Fire hall site plan almost complete, meeting set for Nov. 17.

The long-awaited Northbrook fire hall may take a step forward next month. A meeting has been set as a prelude to a Request for Proposal process being initiated for the project.

Fire hall funding will not come from provincial granting program. The deadline is November 1 for applications to the latest instalment of the Provincial Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiative (MIII). The criteria for projects that was included in the announcement about the fund included roads and bridges, but not fire halls or other new buildings.

The township is likely to submit an application for roadwork on Bridge Street in Denbigh.

“The engineering work was all done for that project for another grant that we did not get, so it is the only one that we have that is really ready to go,” said Public Works Manager, Royce Rosenblath, who added that the Bridge Street project is priced at around $600,000.

“It’ a shame that road wasn’t fixed 30 years ago,” said Reeve Hogg, “I’ve had to drive over those bumps twice a day for all that time.”

Flinton Recreation Club pulls away from rink.

The township received a letter from the Flinton Recreation Club, announcing that they are no longer interested in doing the hiring of a rink attendant for the Flinton rink, which is located on the recreation centre grounds. The township will now do the hiring themselves, as they do for the Denbigh rink.

Parham fire hall likely to stay put

Lingering questions about the future location for a fire hall in Parham, and the future of the existing fire hall, were addressed by Central Frontenac CAO Larry Donaldson at a meeting of Council on Tuesday, October 8.

In a verbal report to Council, Donaldson said that he met with Fire Chief Bill Young and Chief Building Official Jeremy Neven in Parham to consider some options.

“They both indicated that they did not think the idea of trying to re-purpose the Hinchinbrooke school gym for storage of fire equipment was an optimal use of the space,” said Donaldson. “Bill Young said that the current location of the fire hall or somewhere in that vicinity would be suitable. We also met at the fire hall and it is clear that the existing building is questionable. The building needs to be replaced. It is Bill Young’s recommendation that we build one that is the same or similar to the Mountain Grove Hall. We can even use the same plans.”

Donaldson said that he plans to bring the project forward to the 2014 budget deliberations, with a view towards construction taking place in the late 2014 and 2015 time frame.

Hinchinbrooke school could take “at least two years” to become available

Larry Donaldson also reported that he met with officials from the Limestone School Board to discuss the future of the Hinchinbrooke school building now that it is no longer being used as a school.

“The building is going to be used for storage in the short term, but eventually it will become available. They use a prescribed process to sell off the building, using a prioritised list of institutions who will be offered the building at fair market value. The township is number 8 on the list. If none of those institutions are interested, a public tender process will be entered into, and it will be sold to the highest bidder. It will take at least two years to get to that point.”

Questions about the County Official Plan

Councilor Frances Smith wondered whether anyone on Council is concerned, as she is, about the objections to the draft County Official Plan that have been raised by South Frontenac planner Lindsay Mills.

“He thinks that the plan might bring the county into any decision about development near water, and that means just about everything we deal with,” said Smith. She is concerned that since Central Frontenac will be contracting planning services from Frontenac County as of January 1, the same person who wrote the plan will be tasked with providing commentary on the plan for Central Frontenac.

“I think we should have considered this before contracting our planning with the County,” Smith said.

Mayor Gutowski said that the real problem that the Official Plan will face is that the Ministry of Municipal Affairs will want it to be more, not less prescriptive.

“I do respect South Frontenac’s concerns; however I think there is still great value to the plan and the bigger fight will be with the province to keep the plan as it is. If we can’t agree on a plan in Frontenac County, the ministry might impose one on us and that is not what anyone wants,” Gutowski said.

Councilor John Purdon said, “Many of Lindsay Mill’s stated concerns can be dealt with by way of tightened wording. It is a draft plan after all, subject to revision.”

Contracts awarded

Winter snow plowing contracts for side roads were awarded for the next two years. Scott’s Snow Plowing received two contracts, for the west and central regions; Robinson Excavating received the contract for the east region, and Scott’s Snow Removal and Lawn Maintenance received the contract for the south region.

Greer Galloway group has received the engineering contract for a number of bridges that are slated to be repaired or replaced within the next three to four years. The contract is for $102,645.

A $28,000 Bear Wise grant from the province is to be allocated to Barret’s Farm and Family Centre for the construction of a bear fence for the Olden Waste site. The project will cost $28,546. The $546 will come from the waste sites reserve fund, and the grant will cover the rest

The Kennebec hall's foundation wall will be repaired by Kepler Bell Contracting at a cost of $17,684.50. $10,000 had been set aside for the project, and the remaining $7.684.50 will come from the reserve for playground equipment and repairs.

Boilers will be replaced at the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team at a cost of $22,429. The money will be taken from the Medical Centre reserve fund.

Run for Council, win an i-pad

Next year's municipal elections will have more at stake than a small name plaque and the license to rail against the empire building at Frontenac County; each member of Council will also get an i-pad.

In line with a proposal to release all information to the council and the public via e-agendas and eliminate the hefty agenda package that is currently available on demand, i-pads will be handed out to new councilors. $6,000 will be set aside in next year's budget for nine new devices. E-agendas are already available at the township web site, under the council tab, using the CivicWeb system.

Asset Management – spending money to make money

Treasurer Louise Fragnoto presented her recommendations for consulting services to complete an asset management plan for the township. The province has indicated these plans need to be in place as a prerequisite for municipalities to be eligible for infrastructure grants. There is $125,000 set aside in the township budget for this, of which $84,000 has been spent on software. After evaluating the responses to an RFP that the township put out in August, Fragnoto recommended giving the contact the RV Anderson Associates for $27,200 plus HST.

“We'll get this back with our first grant,” said Councilor Ron Vandewal.

“Whatever,” said Mayor Davison.

Website upgrade

Council accepted the bid of $19,700 from eSolutions to rebuild the township website.

“eSolutions has done over 100 different municipal websites,” said CAO Wayne Orr.

“Whenever the current site goes to the council page a picture of a squirrel comes up. Do you think they can change that?” asked Councilor Naish.

Fire hall equipment study – new Perth Road and Sydenham fire halls in the near future?

Fire Chief Rick Chesebrough asked that Council approve spending $10,000 for water grating to deal with flooding at Station 2 (Burridge) and $6,000 for a door frame at Station 7 (Latimer Road)

However he said that he did not recommend going forward with wall and window repairs at Station 5 (Perth Road) or wall and floor repairs at Station 6 (Sydenham)

“We will be preparing a report on health and safety issues within five weeks, which will include a detailed project plan for the buildings themselves,” Cheseborough said. “These buildings are quite dated.”

The continued viability of the Perth Road and Sydenham Stations should be determined before money is put into them, Cheseborough added, implying they may need to be replaced in the near future.

Both Councilors Vandewal and Stowe applauded Chesebrough's recommendations, which were accepted by Council.

Toilets at Sharbot Lake Beach need immediate attention

The Sharbot Lake Farmers Market is a major user group at the Sharbot Lake Beach. Over the last three weeks the market has drawn over 1,500 people to the beach.

The market also partnered with Central Frontenac township in a successful grant application to Frontenac County that included improvements to the washrooms as a major focus.

And yet, at the August 13 council meeting, Market Manager Mary de Bassecourt and vendor Carol Pepper came forward as a delegation to Central Frontenac Council to talk about maintenance at the beach generally, but specifically about ongoing deficiencies in the washrooms.

“The beach is well used throughout the week. Both customers and vendors have told me they won’t use the toilets at the beach because they are so disgusting … residents have told me they leave the beach, which means they leave public events held there as well as the market, sooner than they normally would because of the state of the toilets. Unless this problem is resolved, the complaints will continue,” said Mary de Bassecourt in a letter to Council.

Mayor Gutowski asked Jeremy Neven, the Chief Building Official, to respond to the concerns raised by de Bassecourt.

Neven, who happens to hold a plumber's license in addition to being a building inspector, said that a number of the specific problems with the washrooms, such as a lack of water pressure and problems with the toilet flushing mechanism, can be dealt with.

For example, the township used the county grant to install a submersible pump in Sharbot Lake to improve water pressure, but the pipe being used to transport the water is too small.

“It’s like driving a racing car on a gravel road, you can only go so fast,” he said. “I am getting prices on full one-inch pipe and automatic flush valves, which should improve the toilets,” Neven said.

He also said he would be looking into new fluorescent lighting in the washrooms as well as taking measures to improve the sight lines for privacy, and making the washrooms more viable as change rooms.

“However, it is still a public washroom, and the effects of vandalism are always going to be a concern,” he said. “Everyone here, staff and council included, take the complaints from the public personally. The beach is an important township asset,” he said.

Members of Council spoke out in support of Neven’s plans, with Mayor Gutowski saying the Sharbot Lake beach is “our crown jewel as a tourism destination.”

Councilor Norm Guntensperger, while supportive of the direction of Council, questioned the long term viability of a farmers' market at the beach.

“I think it is absolutely wonderful that we have a farmers' market in Sharbot Lake,” he said, “but the beach is first and foremost a recreational area. I’m wondering if it is really the ideal location for the market, maybe there is another location in Sharbot Lake where the facility could be established. I don’t remember the beach being a permanent location when we first approved the market.”

“I think the recreational and market use of the beach go well together,” said de Bassecourt. "The economic benefit of the market for other local businesses has been demonstrated, and we leave the beach cleaner when we leave each week than when we came.

Councilor Frances Smith and Mayor Gutowski both spoke out in favour of the continued use of the beach by the market.

“The market enhances the profile of the beach to visitors,” said Smith, “we just need to fix the washrooms and improve maintenance at the beach in general,” she said.

Lions at Oso waste site: The Sharbot Lake & District Lions have installed a small building at the Oso waste site to collect beer, wine, and liquor bottles that residents bring to the site instead of the beer store.

“The Lions come twice a week to pick up bottles, and return them for the refund, using the money for their programs. It helps us keep the glass we collect down, and allows residents to save a trip to the beer store,” said Public Works Manager Kyle Labbet.

Other groups may come forward with similar plans at other township waste sites.

Wagarville Bridge over budget: Five bids that answered a tender for the reconstruction of the Wagarville Bridge ranged from $390,000 to $476,000. Unfortunately the township budgeted only $260,000 for the job.

Since the township has received a $2.1 million infrastructure grant, for which the bridge project was one of the items, Public Works Manager Mike Richardson recommended going ahead with the project, which needs to be done and would likely cost more if delayed by a year. Council agreed and will be contracting Clearwater Construction to complete the work this year.

Trailer licensing: Following the lead of South and North Frontenac, Central Frontenac will be considering taking on property owners who have trailers parked on vacant lots. As bylaw officer Ken Gilpin put it, “When people park and occupy trailers on vacant waterfront lots, they use township services, roads, waste sites etc. just like their neighbours, but instead of paying waterfront residential taxes, they pay a small fraction as owners of vacant lots. This upsets their neighbours and costs the township money.”

The township will consider doing an inventory of trailers, determining which have been in place since before bylaws came into place banning them, in which case they will be a legal non-conforming use and can be charged a fee. Those put in place after the bylaws came about will be ordered removed.

Gilpin suggested Central Frontenac may give some lead time before the removal to encourage the property owners to put in permanent cottages in place of the trailers. “In South Frontenac they were given five years, and when we checked most had been removed well in advance and many new structures put up in their place, improving the township’s tax base,” he said.

Composition of Council - A public meeting, set for early September, will be held to discuss whether the current council structure should be maintained for the 2014 election and subsequent four-year term, or changed. A consultant's report said that the current nine-member council (two representatives from each of four wards and the mayor’s position – elected at large by all voters) is larger than comparable municipalities of the same size.

Proposals for seven, six, and five-member councils are being considered by Council. All of the new alternatives involved cutting the number of ward councilors from two to one.

The five-member option would include four ward politicians and the mayor; the six-member option, four ward politicians, and a mayor and deputymayor/county representative elected at large. The seven-member Council includes four ward politicians, and a mayor, deputy mayor, and separate county representative, all elected at large.

Of the three proposed changes, the six-member council appears to have the most support on Council, but the status quo nine-member council may still be the most popular option. Details about the proposals will be posted on the township’s website and the meeting will be advertised.

Construction back to normal: After a slow 2012, coming after an above average 2011, construction activity figures show 2013 as a return to the norm for Central Frontenac. Permits for $3.45 million in construction have been taken out in 2013, as compared to $2,498 million at the same point in 2012 and $5,344 million in 2011. That total value includes permits for 11 new residences, as compared to eight at the same time in 2012, and 10 in 2011.

Once again this week North Frontenac Council found itself looking with concern to Norcan Lake, in the north-east corner of the township. At their late July meeting Council heard from trailer owners at Frank's Park, who have been ordered to remove add-on rooms and move their trailers back from the water.

This time it was lot owners at a new subdivision in the vicinity of Norcan Lake who have found themselves at odds with the developer, Dave Hill, who also owns Canonto Lodge.

Two families have purchased lots from Mr. Hill based on a promise to extend a laneway, Rosie Lane, onto a lot that is to be commonly held by nine landowners once all the available lots are purchased. That commonly held lot extends to the water, giving the back lot owners access to Norcan Lake.

However as David Milloy, one of the lot owners, pointed out to Council, the road is not complete and what has been built is not prescribed in the plan of sub-division and site plan agreement that Hill obtained from North Frontenac and Frontenac County. It does not reach the jointly held property, leaving the lot owners without water access.

A letter to the township from Milloy and two other lot owners outlines this and a number of other concerns.

“The completion of this project is almost two years late. As the roads are not up to standard, there are safety issues. As the roads are not laid out according to the agreement, there are title issues. We are all taxpayers and we all have title issues. We feel the township has really dropped the ball on this project. We need to know what measures the township is taking to complete this contract. The continued delays and lack of information from the township is unacceptable,” said the letter.

Council met in camera to discuss the matter, because of the potential legal ramifications of their decision. Afterwards they passed a motion which, if accepted by all adjacent landowners, would give the back-lot owners the deeded access they need without requiring Dave Hill to relocate Rosie Lane. Mr. Hill will be required to pay all the planning costs to make this happen.

“Hopefully this will work,” said Milloy, “but I have to wonder how it got to this point. Where has the township been?”

More on Solar Voltaics – On Councilor Lonnie Watkins' request, a report was received from the Ontario Fire Marshal's office concerning fighting fires in buildings that have solar arrays on their roofs.

While firefighters are trained to shut off power to a building before fighting fires in order to protect against electrocution, solar panels remain live in daylight hours even after the power is shut off, complicating the job of firefighters. This was enough for Lonnie Watkins to again say that the planned solar voltaic project at the North Frontenac Township office should be scrapped.

“All you are doing is trying to throw up roadblocks after the project has been approved,” said Councilor John Inglis to Watkins. "Firefighters will find a way to alter their procedures to deal with this. That is what they are doing everywhere in Ontario. The same argument was made when hybrid cars were first on the road. It's time to move on with this.”

AH Council turns down burn ban warning letter

Council members, particularly Deputy Mayor Fred Perry, expressed disbelief that a plan to send a warning letter to property owners who set fires while burn bans are in place in North Frontenac and Addington Highlands, was voted down by Addington Highlands Council.

The template for a letter entitled “Open Air Burning Warning” was prepared by North Frontenac Township staff and presented to the members of the Kaladar/Barrie Joint Fire Board earlier this summer.

Because North Frontenac and Addington Highlands jointly oversee the operation of the fire department in Ward 3 (Barrie) of North Frontenac and Ward 2 (Kaladar) of Addington Highlands, a joint fire board that includes representation from both councils sets policy for the joint department.

“I don’t understand how this happened,” said Deputy Mayor Fred Perry, who has been a member of the joint fire board for almost 10 years. “This was brought to the board, and aside from asking for wording changes, which were made, nobody said anything. And the majority of Addington Highlands Council sits on the joint fire board. Then we hear that their Council turned it down.”

"I asked Mr. Pauhl [AH clerk Jack Pauhl] if there was a reason for the decision, and he just said that the Council thought it was just another piece of paper that was not needed,” said North Frontenac Clerk Jenny Duhamel.

North Frontenac has been pushing for the warning letter in order to facilitate enforcement of burn bans.

“This is very important to some constituents in ward 1” (Palmerson-Canonto) said Councilor Inglis. “A number of residents are concerned about the threat to their property when neighbouring property owners burn garbage or brush during burn bans. They want us to take action.”

“We are being held hostage for fire protection by another council, whom I might add we are subsidizing,” said Mayor Clayton.

“How do we handle this one?” asked Fred Perry. “I’m getting frustrated.”

The council is considering implementing the letter in Wards 1 and 2, although they are loathe to have different policies in place within different parts of the township.

Special meeting on Algonquin Land Claim set for August 30.

Brian Crane, the Chief Negotiator for the Province of Ontario for the Algonquin Land Claim, has responded to North Frontenac Council’s request for a public meeting. He will attend a special meeting of North Frontenac Council on August 30 at the Clarendon/Miller Hall. Crane will outline the elements of the Draft Agreement in Principle (AIP) for the Algonquin Land Claim, and will also take questions from the public as well. The proposed Crotch Lake Provincial Park will also be discussed.

Mayor Clayton also announced that he has been in contact with Chief Doreen Davis of the Shabot Obaadjiwan, who said that she is willing to come to North Frontenac, as will Randy Malcolm of the Snimikobe Algonquin First Nation, to discuss the specific land parcels in North Frontenac that are included in the AIP.

Clayton said that he prefers to wait until after the meeting with Brian Crane on August 30 before approaching Chiefs Davis and Malcolm to schedule a second meeting. “I think we should see what happens on the 30^th. Maybe Brian Crane will answer all the questions. As far as the timing of a meeting with Chiefs Davis and Malcolm, I think we will first see when they are available and go from there,” he said.

Internet concerns: Council expressed frustration over some continuing problems with the Internet service at the township office. There were problems that stemmed from the township's service provider earlier this summer, and over the last couple of weeks a virus affected the township’s ability to communicate by email.

“I suggested before, and I will suggest again, that we set up a backup email account for when the township's email is down,” said Councilor Gerry Martin. “How much can it cost for a single hookup and one email address? We have had staff sending emails from home. That shouldn’t happen.”

Township CAO Cheryl Robson said the township's IT Co-ordinator, Evan Sepa, will prepare a report on the state of the township's Internet service for the next meeting. In the interim, a motion was approved to establish an alternate emergency Internet and email account should the main account go down again.

Concerns over Wild Parsnip: CAO Robson prepared information for Council regarding Wild Parsnip, which has become prevalent at the side of township roadways. “We contacted our bylaw officer and it turns out that Wild Parsnip is not included on the provincial noxious weed list, which is oriented to agriculture, so there is nothing he can do about it,” said Robson.

The information that was presented to Council indicates how much of a threat the plant is to the skin of people who touch it, and the township will be launching a public information campaign to help residents and visitors identify and avoid the plant. Information and links will be posted at Northfrontenac.com. 

A Cold Wind Blows Through Council

The sole August meeting of South Frontenac Council brought with it a number of unusually divisive items, which caused a reluctant Mayor Davison to cast the deciding ballot on at least two occasions.

The most controversial item was also one that could have been the most straightforward, and it is one that brings one of the basic services the township offers, winter road maintenance, into limbo as the winter snow season begins to loom.

The tender bids for 5-year contracts on six routes were presented to Council. The lowest acceptable bids for all the contracts were submitted by Mulrooney Trucking, ranging from $147 to $159 per unit hour. Neadow Construction put in a bid for $180 on two of the routes, Cruikshank's put in bids of $269 on all routes, and Carillon $720 on all routes.

The only complication in the process lay in the fact that two of the bidders, Percy Snider and Scott’s Snow Removal, had their bids rejected. The bids were supposed to include a $5,000 cheque as a bid deposit and a second $5,000 cheque as a performance bond. Both bidders included only one $5,000 cheque with their bid and were thus rejected by Public Works.

Percy Snider’s price, on two of the routes, was almost the same as Mulrooney’s on the two routes he bid on, at $157.15 and $164. Scott’s bid $129 on two of the other routes.

By recommending that all the contracts be awarded to Mulrooney’s, which is a change from current practice, Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth said there might be some impact on response times by crews after the first snow of the season in the first year.

“There will be some growing pains, and we will feel it on the first snow storm of the year, there is no question about it. But there will be savings in the long run,” said Segsworth.

Some members of Council were unhappy with the idea of shutting Percy Snider, a long-time contractor for the township, out of all the contracts.

“I'd like to throw in my two cents,” said Mayor Davison. “I know one of these contractors has worked for us for years and years, and a performance bond is for someone whom we don’t know. I don’t see why they need to submit one.”

Chief Administrative Officer Wayne Orr read from the township's procedural bylaw which states that failure to submit required cheques with a tender bid will result in the bid being disqualified.

“The procedural bylaw is clear, and as staff we have no option but to follow it. Council has the authority to override the bylaw; staff doesn’t. But council will also take on a degree of risk for overriding its own rules to favour one contractor over others,” Orr said.

“Are you aware that there are 12 employees within the township with one contractor - jobs that will be lost?” asked Councilor Bill Robinson.

“We are not arguing that fact,” said Councilor Ron Vandewal, “We don’t know where the employees live; we are trying to get to a process that is open, and hopefully fair and honest.”

When it came time to vote on accepting the staff recommendation to award the contracts to Mulrooney’s, a recorded vote was requested. Councilors John McDougall, Alan McPhail, Ron Vandewal and Pat Barr all voted to accept the contract, and Councilors Larry York, Del Stowe, Bill Robinson, and Deputy Mayor Cam Naish voted no, leaving it up to Mayor Gary Davison, who hesitated before voting no.

CAO Orr asked if Council was going to give any subsequent direction to staff but none was provided. Staff will prepare a report to the next meeting, in early September, on alternatives going forward. A new tender process will be somewhat compromised because the bids on the aborted first tender have now become public knowledge.

Coat of Arms

A less pressing matter, that of whether to spend $5,000 on a painted aluminium coat of arms to hang in the township office, also split council but not as bitterly. The budget for the coat of arms, which was included in the 2013 budget, capped the project at $4,000, and the Corporate Services Committee recommended that Council not move forward, and hang a framed paper copy of the new coat of arms instead.

“I don’t agree with the committee,” said Councilor John McDougall. “If you look at it short term, we can save $1,000. I looked at print copy today, and while it looks fine, on the wall it will be almost unreadable. We have a community that is extremely proud of its history, and for a $1,000 extra we have a chance to honour that history.”

Again in a recorded vote, McDougall, Naish, Barr, McPhail and Davison carried the day and approved the expenditure.

Anger over the tender decision lingered to the end of the meeting, leading Councilor Ron Vandewal to say he was going to vote against a housekeeping bylaw confirming all decisions of council that are approved at the end of each meeting. Vandewal got enough support to defeat the confirming bylaw. It is not clear what, if any impact there will be from defeating the confirming bylaw.

South Frontenac residents will be watching the skies carefully this August and September, however, hoping that there is no early snow coming. The forecast for the next two weeks calls for daytime temperatures in the mid-20s and night-time temperatures in the mid-teens so residents need not worry until at least the 21st of August.

He’s not exactly new to municipal governance, or to Eastern Ontario, and experience is exactly what Central Frontenac Council was looking for when searching for a new CAO this past spring.

After a revolving door scenario for 6½ years, Larry Donaldson’s regional experience and history may be exactly what Central Frontenac needs.

“When I first met the staff, on my first day on the job, the only question that was asked was if I was planning on staying,” he said from his office in Sharbot Lake early this week.

Larry Donaldson was raised in the Village of Lanark, where his mother still lives. His father, Ray Donaldson, a well-known guitarist and pedal steel player, died this past February. Larry went to public school at Maple Grove, and high school at PDCI. He then attended Carleton University and for two summers he worked for the City of Nepean. He also started working part-time for Nepean during the school year as well. When he graduated he was hired on by Nepean as a bylaw officer. Three years later, he went to Kanata, also as a bylaw officer, and eventually took over as manager of the Bylaw and Licensing department. His last job at Kanata was as the city clerk for a year and a half, before municipal amalgamation took place and Kanata became part of Ottawa.

Donaldson then took on the clerk-administrator's job in the newly formed Municipality of Hastings Highlands, and 10 months later moved to the Town of Arnprior as Chief Administrative Officer. He worked in Arnprior for 10 years, until the fall of 2011, when he was let go.

At the time, Arnprior’s relatively newly elected mayor, David Reid said, “We determined we wanted a new voice, a new start. Larry has a lot of skills, a lot of knowledge. Sometimes you need fresh blood.” Within weeks, the CAOs in two other Renfrew County municipalities were let go as well, leading one local paper to run the headline “Bad month for area municipal CAOs”

Larry Donaldson lives in Stittsville with his wife Tammy and two teenage children. He has no plans to leave Stittsville until his children finish high school, but after that he might mover closer to Sharbot Lake.

“Tammy has worked for Lanark County in Perth for the last 20 years, and we own land near the Village of Lanark, so we can look at that when the time comes.”

The fact that Sharbot Lake is within commuting distance from his current home was part of the reason he sought the job as CAO for Central Frontenac.

“I also looked into the organisation itself, understood there had been amalgamation and where it probably stands in terms of amalgamation, and thought it would be a good fit,” he said.

Central Frontenac is similar in some ways to Hastings Highlands, where he worked 12 years ago.

“The lands and rivers, the natural environment is a huge draw in Central Frontenac, and it's similar to Hastings Highlands in that the population doubles in the summer. I know that some commercial investment would help diversify the tax base and bring jobs, but I also know about the challenges that rural municipalities face,” he said.

Central Frontenac is in the middle of a services review that is being conducted by the accounting firm KPMG, and Donaldson sees this as a good time to start off as CAO.

“The results of that review will give direction to Council in terms of how to proceed, and the decision council makes in light of that will give me a sense of what they want me to focus on,” he said

From his experience in the municipal world, Larry Donaldson knows that it is a political environment, and every four years the entire direction of council can change. One of his priorities is assuring that sound operational policies are in place in the municipality.

“The end goal is to have policies in place that cover 99% of what happens on a daily basis. The more we can deal with by way of policies, the fewer surprises there are; the more predictable things are.”

After years where the only predictable aspect of their CAO situation has been that they will call John Duchene back from retirement once a year, Central Frontenac Council is looking forward to some of the predictability Larry Donaldson intends to bring.

There were two items on the agenda at a special meeting of North Frontenac Council on Monday night (July 29).

The first was relatively non-controversial, an amendment to the township's procurement bylaw. The bylaw currently calls for bidding contractors to purchase performance bonds when bidding on contracts in excess of $100,000. This has become a problem because the engineering work for the Mississippi Bridge project will cost about $200,000 and the engineering firms who have looked at the RFP for engineering work are not willing to bid on it because of the cost of the performance bonds.

Treasurer Angela Millar said, in a report to Council, that when she asked a number of other municipal treasurers, including Marian VanBruinessen at Frontenac County and the Treasurer from the City of Thunder Bay, they said they had not asked for bonding for engineering on large projects.

Council passed an amendment to their procurement bylaw excepting engineering work from the bonding requirement.

While this will make it more viable for engineering firms to bid on the Mississippi Bridge, the project will not likely get underway in earnest this year. The township has been informed by phone that the project will receive provincial funding and was told to proceed with engineering work, but it has not been formally announced by the Government of Ontario. It is expected be a 2014 project.

Watkins hits the roof over rooftop solar project

The second item on the agenda proved to be a lot more controversial, even though the outcome was never in doubt. Last month, by a 3-3 vote, council decided, at the last possible opportunity, not to enter into a contract for a Solar photovoltaic microFIT project on the roof of the township administrative building/garage.

The project had been accepted by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), and even with a cost of $12,000 to shore up the roof of the building, the project cost of $56,741 will result in revenue of over $100,000 over the 20-year life of the contract with the OPA - a return of 7.4% per year. It will take 12 years for the initial investment to be paid off, followed by 8 years of profit.

At their regular meeting last week (July 22) a notice of motion asking that the matter be reconsidered was approved, and on Monday night, with six members of Council present, it was immediately clear that four of them, Mayor Clayton, Deputy Mayor Perry, and Councilors Inglis and Hunter, all were going to support the motion to reverse council’s decision. Councilors Martin and Watkins were still opposed to the project, and Councilor Good, who had voted against it the first time around, was not at the meeting.

In the first go-round, on July 2, Councilor Inglis was not present, and the project was defeated in a 3-3 tied vote.

With the prospect of a reversal staring them in the face, Councilor Watkins literally jumped out of his chair to voice his opposition.

“Let me do this,” he said as he moved from his chair around the table to the face council as if he was a ratepayer addressing council. “Let’s pretend I’m a taxpayer. Sell me on this,” he said.

“If you could invest money and make 7% interest, would you do it,” asked Fred Perry.

“Not on this,” said Watkins, “Ontario people have to make up the excess cost.”

Gerry Martin then said, “I think you are raping the citizens by doing this. It is coming from people who pay for hydro. It doesn’t make any economic sense. I don’t think we should add to this.”

The MicroFIT program is designed to encourage small scale solar projects on rooftops and stand alone structures by paying a guaranteed premium price for the power that is generated over a 20-year contract. The projects produce a small percentage of Ontario’s power needs. The premium paid for the power is not subsidised by tax incentives from the province. It is however, worked into the overall price that the Ontario Power Authority charges for power to residents.

In a 4-2 vote, council reversed its earlier decision and the solar MicroFIT will be installed by early November.