Ompah fire hall savings to be diverted?

It was a proposal that did not sit too well with some of the Ompah residents attending Monday’s meeting of North Frontenac Council. Noting that the township has $250,000 put aside for a solution to the Ompah fire hall situation, and Council has already decided to spend no more that $180,000 renovating the existing hall, Councilor Wayne Good asked that the extra $70,000 be put towards buying a replacement tanker truck.

“I can’t see taking money from a building fund and applying it to a vehicle. They aren’t the same kind of asset,” said Councilor John Inglis. “I don’t think I can support that.

“We are facing a 10 or 12 per cent increase in our budget this year,” said Good, “that $70,000 would bring it down a point or two.”

“Since it is about the money, I think we should just defer this to the budget,” said Councilor Betty Hunter, a course that was followed.

At their last meeting, Council decided to take two tankers out of service and only replace one of them. This will leave the Ompah fire hall with no tanker. By cutting down the number of vehicles in the Ompah station, they were able to approve a renovation to the 1,500 square foot hall for $180,000 rather than building a new 3,000 square foot hall for $300,000.

As far as the building project for the renovated fire hall is concerned, the township is forming a new task force to oversee the project. Mayor Clayton suggested that if the township itself acts as the general contractor to the project they would be able to hire local contractors without circumventing their own procedural bylaw. CAO Cheryl Robson said she would look into it.

Waste Site Report – Guy Laporte from AECOM Consulting brought his annual report on the state of the township's waste sites and diversion efforts. He said the monitoring wells that AECOM has installed have shown that any groundwater impacts at the sites are being contained within the buffer lands that the township owns surrounding the dumping areas. The only exception is the Mississippi site, and the township is in the process of purchasing increased buffer lands to deal with that issue.

Recycling and waste diversion in the township have continued to grow, cutting into the volume of waste at the sites and continuing to add years to the projected life of township dumps.

“At this point we estimate you have about 50 years of dump life left,” he said.

In terms of recycling, Laporte pointed out that sometime in 2010 the number of bags of recycling moved ahead of the number of bags of waste going into the dumps each year, an event that coincided with the introduction of clear bags for waste.

In 2012 the most avid recyclers in the township were the users of the Plevna site, which saw 1.45 bags of recycling for every bag of waste. The lowest ratio, 1.05/1, was at the Ardoch site.

Also, for the first time, the township exceeded a 50% diversion rate. The rate was 54%, up from 33% last year. It is calculated by using a provincial estimate of 1.5 kg of waste generated per person per day, and then estimating the weight of all the waste that goes into the waste sites.

A star is born – Township recreation co-ordinator Cory Klatt went ice fishing on Sunday, but instead of using an ATV to get around, he buzzed from lake to lake in a helicopter as a local guide/co-host of the taping of an episode of “Captured”, the fishing and adventure show hosted by Ashley Rae of Napanee that is being filmed in the Land O’Lakes.

“It was quite an experience” said Klatt, “and the producers couldn’t believe how much ice there still is on our lakes.” The show will be aired sometime this fall.

"Declared surplus" does not mean closure of township halls

In discussing a letter from Ed Schlievert, which requested a public meeting to discuss the potential closure of a number of township halls, council agreed to bring the topic to the public as part of a public meeting in May when the topics of building a new municipal hall/township office complex and changing he composition of council will be discussed.

Council agreed to the request, but there were a number of comments about the letter.

“We have never said we are going to close the halls” said Councilor Hunter, “it is more of an accounting process by KPMG who prepared our service delivery report”

“There really are only three halls involved,” said Councillor Wayne Good. “The Barrie Hall is not included because it has a rental property and a library attached to it. It will not be surplus, and the Ompah Hall is being turned over to the fire department, so we are only talking about the Harlowe, Snow Road and the Clar-Mill halls.”

“I fail to understand why people can travel 50 kilometres to shop in Northbrook or Sharbot Lake but they can’t travel 20 km to a township hall,” said Mayor Clayton. “I will say this, ever since 1998 the biggest detriment to amalgamation in North Frontenac has been the community halls; they keep people from meeting together and working together as one township.”

Seniors of the Year – The township has decided to make Edith Beaulieu and Marie White its nominees for a provincial Senior of the Year award program.

Council scraps free Amnesty Load program

In a report to council, Waste Management Supervisor Kyle Labbett recommended that council cancel their amnesty load program. He cited “high costs and no identifiable benefits”.

The program, which has run for years, gave residents an opportunity to clean their properties of unsightly debris by allowing them one free truckload of garbage per year. In his report Labbett said that community groups now help with mass community clean ups and that none of the neighboring townships run amnesty load programs.

His report also cited negative financial implications running the program. Though the program cost the township $30,700 in 2011, the cost decreased significantly in 2012 to just $17,000. Labbett said the decrease was due to “a significant number of loads being paid for by excess bag tags (when the old tags were switched over to clear bags last year).” He also said that the costs do not factor in the loss of space at waste sites.

“Eliminating the free loads will help to prolong the life of our waste sites, which will keep costs down in the future” his report concluded.

Councilor Tom Dewey was the lone councilor who spoke against ending the program.

“I think we should give it another year. A lot of seasonal residents use the program to clean up their residences. I am also afraid that a lot of big items like chesterfields might end up getting dumped elsewhere,” he said.

Dewey’s concerns went unheeded, as council voted to end the amnesty program.

Frontenac Corridor Assessment approved

Council passed a motion supporting an assessment of the County’s major roadways (roads 506, 509, 38, 95 and 96) by the firm D.M. Wills Associates Ltd. in partnership with the County and the four townships at a cost of $10,740. The proposal resulted from a resolution by the County of Frontenac requesting that the townships' four public works managers collaborate in the areas of transportation and waste management. The plan will asses the corridor and develop a long-term capital plan that will be part of a comprehensive 10-year Asset Management Plan. The company who landed the contract is also carrying out bridge inspections for South, Central and North Frontenac townships. Mayor Janet Gutowski was pleased with the passing of the resolution, and stated, “This is good news. It’s nice to see that something good is coming out of these meetings.”

Council sluggish on changing governance structure

Mayor Janet Gutowski said that action needs to be taken quickly if a change in council composition is to be put in place before the next election. She supports making a change and said that her main motivation in promoting the change is to allow the public to determine who will be representing them at County council.

Currently the township's representative at County Council is appointed by council and not the public at large.

In a document on the subject that she submitted to council, Gutowski stated, “It is my opinion that Central Frontenac Council should formally consider a review of its governance structure and hold a public meeting for the purpose of determining if a bylaw to restructure council should be considered.”

The topic fueled much discussion. Most councilors said that they wanted to keep some degree of the current ward representation system in place, with at least four ward-elected councilors. Some suggested that the three other representatives be elected at large. Though it was determined that the cost savings would be minimal, roughly $14,000 per year per councilor, most councilors did not seem averse to downsizing.

The exception was Coucilor Bill Snyder who said he was happy with the system as it is. Councilors then discussed the possibility of a referendum on the subject to be included on the ballot at the next election, but that would mean that the change would not take place until the following election. With no one wanting to move forward immediately on the issue council ended the discussion by agreeing to visit the issue again at their next meeting on March 26.

Landscaping to proceed at proposed Multi-use Cultural Centre site in Sharbot Lake

Council passed a motion to contribute a yet to be determined amount of funds to the landscaped portion of the site for the proposed Multi-use Cultural Center. Councilor Frances Smith who is on the committee, said that the funds, which she said might amount to $5,000, would be used to clean up the trails, define the parking and perhaps plant some shrubs to make the site area more presentable. Council supported the motion, with the funds to be determined at budget time.

Delegate requests immediate attention to flooded roads

In a delegation to council, David Kendall brought to council's attention the dire state of Bebris, Baker Valley and Red Oak roads. Kendall outlined the current state of the roads, saying that spring flooding has made them dangerous and almost impassible for area residents. He asked that council consider making immediate upgrades to rectify the situation, since his correspondence with Public Works Manager Mike Richardson leads him to believe that budget restrictions will not allow for any further upgrades in the near future.

Following his presentation Council agreed to pass on the information to staff and asked staff to report back about possible upgrades at the next meeting.

County inches close to the budget finish line, and close to minimal tax increase.

Frontenac County Council met for five hours last Friday, March 8 to work through their 2013 budget in anticipation of passing the document at their regular meeting on March 20.

At the beginning of the meeting, council received a report by Treasurer Marion VanBruinessen, which outlined the impacts of changes that had been made at the previous budget meeting on February 21. According to the report, the requisition to the Frontenac municipalities at the start of the meeting stood at $8.35 million, just over $71,000, or 0.86% higher than the 2012 requisition.

After poking and prodding at the budget on Friday, only another $20,000 in savings was realised, leaving the requisition at about $50,000 up over 2012. Council was not able to complete their work on the budget, but they are still expecting to have the job completed on March 20.

Fairmount Home auditorium redevelopment approved: Kingston City Council to be approached for $1.4 million

“We've been led to the water; it's time we took a drink,” was how South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison described the decision by Frontenac County Council to go forward with a $2.175 million redevelopment of the auditorium at the Fairmount Home long term care facility.

The project was included in the 2013 Frontenac County Capital budget document, so when council came to the relevant page, they were confronted with a decision that has been at least five years in the making.

“This is our opportunity to commit to the Fairmount auditorium,” said Councilor John McDougall.

Because Fairmount Home is a jointly funded operation between the county and the City of Kingston, approval of the project by the county is not sufficient. The city will have to be on board as well, to the tune of about $1.4 million.

“I don’t recall the city councillors making specific mention of this,” said Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle.

“We have gone to RULAC [the Rural Urban Liaison Committee] with reports, but the project has not been presented to City Council. Staff at the city are aware of it, but we had no authority to bring it to city council until it was approved at this table,” said county treasurer, Marion VanBruinessen.

“The ball is in our court, essentially,” said Warden Janet Gutowski.

“But even if we say yes there will be one more hurdle,” said Doyle in response.

A fundraising camping has brought in $200,000 towards the project, and $496,000 is slated to be taken from the Fairmount Home capital reserve fund. Therefore the decision county council was facing did not involve any new taxation.

“I don’t think we have any choice but to endorse this project. We have remained silent about it while the money was being raised,” said North Frontenac Councilor John Inglis.

Former Frontenac Islands Mayor Jim Vanden Hoek addressed that very point several years ago. The proposal for a fundraising campaign was brought forward by Fairmont administrator Julie Shillington in September of 2010, and at that time Vanden Hoek urged council to defer any decision on fund-raising until they had made a decision on the project,

“Even though they are not asking us to commit to doing the upgrade, once a fundraising campaign is underway and the public has committed money, how can Council say no to the project?” Vanden Hoek said at the time.

Last week, Vanden Hoek’s prediction came true, as council unanimously supported the auditorium redevelopment project.

The Fairmount auditorium is not currently in use. It has a leaky roof, as well as major electrical, heating and air conditioning issues, which have rendered it unusable by residents of Fairmount Home or as a gathering place for county and public functions.

If the project does receive funding from the City of Kingston, the concept plan for the space includes: a covered entrance and a lift, a lobby, storage, accessible washrooms, space for vending machines and resident games tables, a kitchen with a pass-though, a greenhouse, and removable walls that give it the capacity to be split into three separate spaces.

It is not clear when the matter will be raised at City Council, but if it is deemed to be a budget item it will have to wait until next fall, when they consider their 2014 budget.

In the heat of debate on a motion that was directed at her, Frontenac County Warden Janet Gutowski announced that she will step down as warden at the end of this year.

She said that she will be doing so “mostly because being the warden of a county is a large responsibility. To be a county warden you are the head of not just one but two councils, and there is not a lot of remuneration. I have said all along that I think two years is an appropriate term. So today I am serving notice to the citizens of Frontenac County whom I serve and I was elected to serve that I will stepping down as warden at the end of December.”

Last November, Gutowski raised eyebrows, and the hackles of her fellow county council members, when she did not step down after one year as warden, as had been the tradition in Frontenac County for 147 years.

She also refused to leave when Council overwhelmingly passed a motion of non-confidence last December.

As she approached the end of her second year as warden, the question of whether she would hold on to the position until the end of this council’s term in the fall of 2014 started to be raised, and that speculation is now gone.

The announcement came out in the midst of a debate at a council meeting last Wednesday (September 18) over a motion that was aimed at restricting her activities as head of council.

The motion, moved by Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle, and seconded by South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison, called for pre-approval in the form of a resolution from council before any member of county staff or council could attend a meeting with a federal or provincial minister, and would also require that any request for such a meeting “include any meeting notes to be discussed with the minister.”

The motion came about as the result of scenario that unfolded this past summer.

At the July council meeting, a staff report about the draft county Official Plan (OP), which was presented as an information report, made reference to a short meeting on the OP that staff was trying to set up with the Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs, Linda Jeffrey, at an Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference in August.

In discussing that report, objections were raised about the draft Official Plan and about the wisdom of promoting the plan to the province in its current form. A motion to receive the report about the draft OP, for information purposes only, was defeated.

By defeating the motion, several members of council thought were also clearly indicating that staff should not pursue the meeting with Minister Jeffrey.

That meeting did take place, however and Warden Gutowski gave interviews about the meeting to some media outlets, with the result that those members of council who thought they had nixed the meeting in the first place ended up finding out that it had taken place by reading about it in newspaper accounts.

Their anger spilled out at a Committee of the Whole meeting of county council in early September, leading Doyle to bring forward his motion last week.

Dennis Doyle’s motion was seemingly headed for defeat before Gutowski made her announcement.

No arguments were made in favour of the motion, and three councilors said they would not be supporting it.

Councilor John Purdon said it was “too heavy a weight to have within our procedures” and Councilor John Inglis said it was “overly restrictive and really not workable.” North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton said he would not be supporting it either.

Once she had given everyone an opportunity to speak, Gutowski said she would like to say something. She said that in her opinion the motion was directed at her personally but would hinder the ability of any future warden to carry out the responsibilities of the job. Therefore it would be helpful if Council knew what her intentions were going forward.

Gary Davison did not see how Gutowski’s announcement was relevant to the motion, and continually raised a point of order as she was speaking, saying “What has this got to do with the motion on the floor?”

Warden Gutowski waved off his protestations, saying “I have the floor now and I will speak,” and completed her statement.

The motion was defeated, and another bitter meeting of Frontenac County Council came to a merciful end soon after.

Under Frontenac County rules, only the four mayors are eligible to run for county warden. Janet Gutowski will be leaving the post and Gary Davison has indicated he will not seek the position, which he has already held on two occasions. This leaves only Dennis Doyle and Bud Clayton as potential candidates in the election for warden that will likely be held in January.

For the purposes of warden elections, there are no weighted votes. By virtue of being the mayor of the largest municipality in the county, Gary Davison has two votes on all substantive motions before the council, but not in a warden or deputy warden election. This makes a tie vote among the eight members of council a very real possibility.

In fact when Janet Gutowski was elected warden in November of 2011, it was as the result of her name being pulled out of a hat after a 4-4 vote between herself and Bud Clayton.

North Frontenac to move towards smaller Council

Faced with long-term financial challenges, which were highlighted in a recent Services Review by the auditing firm KPMG, North Frontenac Council is looking inward first.

At a meeting last Thursday, Feb. 28, Council took the first steps toward shrinking their own numbers from seven to five, which would bring annual savings of $30,000 in salary costs to the township.

Although the cost savings represent only about 0.5% of the township's spending, a five-member council would also put North Frontenac more in line with the norm for other townships of a similar size in Eastern Ontario.

Council has until the end of 2013 to make changes that will take effect in the 2014 election year, so the discussion last week was preliminary, but one future scenario was supported by a number of councilors.

It would see the current ward system remain intact but would cut ward representation to one councilor from the current two. The three wards that make up North Frontenac: Barrie, Clarendon and Miller, and Palmerston/Canonto, take their shape from the pre-existing townships of the same names that came together in 1998 to form North Frontenac.

In addition to three ward-elected politicians, the mayor and deputy mayor would be elected at large in a township-wide vote. Currently the mayor is the only one who faces a township-wide vote, and the deputy mayor is elected from among the ward politicians at the first meeting of Council in its four-year term.

With the expansion of Frontenac County Council in 2010, a second North Frontenac representative was also chosen by Council to serve with the mayor on County Council.

The new scenario would see the deputy mayor serve as the second County representative. A deputy mayor who is elected from the entire population of the township would be eligible to serve as Frontenac County warden, a position that cannot be held by a ward politician.

In discussing the changes last week, the idea of a five-member council received almost unanimous support.

Fred Perry, the current deputy mayor, expressed the only sceptical note, saying, “My only concern is about the workload for the five people, particularly with two of them having extra obligations to the County.”

Mayor Clayton said that one of the ways to deal with this might be to minimize committee and task force work for councilors. North Frontenac Council is also unique in the region in that council members are assigned portfolios, such as health, youth, social services, communications, green energy, etc., but that system may be altered under a five-member council.

One of the underlying concerns surrounding the North Frontenac ward system is the disparity of population in the three wards (45% of the population lives in Barrie ward; 35% in Clarendon Miller and 20% in Palmerston Canonto).

One proposal that would address that concern would be to eliminate the ward system entirely.

“How do other councilors feel about everyone being elected at large?” asked Councilor John Inglis.

“Everyone at large could lead to a stacked vote if people from one ward really work hard or spend a lot of money. I personally favour the ward system,” said Mayor Bud Clayton. “With the mayor and deputy mayor being elected at large, potentially three members of Council could come from one ward. That would be enough.”

“I don't know what I would like to see. I don't think I've had enough opportunity to decide,” said Councilor Wayne Good. “I think this is premature.”

CAO Cheryl Robson was directed to bring back a report on the options for a change in composition. If Council follows though and makes a tentative choice, the matter will go to a public meeting before coming back for a final decision.

One way or another, it seems clear that North Frontenac Council will be smaller after the 2014 municipal election.

NF Council decides to renovate old fire hall

North Frontenac Council has decided to spend $180,000 to renovate the existing Ompah fire hall rather than committing $300,000 for a new hall on a lot they had purchased for that purpose.

The decision was made in response to the final recommendations by the Ompah Fire Hall Task Force, which was chaired by Councilor Gerry Martin, and included Councilor John Inglis and five members of the public. The task force put two options before Council, although a slim 4-3 majority of task force members supported the option of a new fire hall

Before discussing the fire hall options, Council looked at another fire service matter, the status of two older tanker trucks, and made a decision that made the renovation plan for the Ompah fire hall a viable option.

After receiving a report from Fire Chief Steve Riddell, Council decided it was necessary to take two 1988 vintage tanker trucks out of service. An analysis by Dan Korocil from the Ontario Fire Marshal's office had concluded that the trucks cannot be driven safely when the water tanks are half full or empty, and no attempts to compensate by installing new baffling on them will suffice.

“I’ve driven old tankers and you get into a situation where you are driving an unsafe vehicle,” said Fire Chief Riddell.

Council decided, by a 7-1 vote, to replace only one of the tankers, at an estimated cost of over $100,000. The newly purchased tanker will be housed at the Plevna fire hall, and a 1996 vintage tanker currently located at Plevna will go to the Snow Road hall, leaving the Ompah fire hall with a pumper truck but no tanker.

“I feel a grave error has been made,” said John Inglis, “I don’t agree with the idea that North Frontenac does not need a tanker at the three locations to provide adequate fire suppression service. How can we say we offer fire suppression from Ompah without a tanker? I want to say on the record that I think Dan Korocil is wrong in his evaluation.”

Among the two fire hall options, only a new hall, at 3,000 square feet, would be big enough for the number of vehicles currently in service in Ompah. By removing the tanker, however, the renovation option becomes viable, according to the task force report.

A motion to move forward with a new fire hall was narrowly defeated, with Mayor Clayton's no vote proving decisive. Councilors John Inglis, Lonnie Watkins and Betty Hunter voted in favour of building a new hall, while Councilors Wayne Good and Gerry Martin as well as Deputy Mayor Fred Perry had voted against it.

Although the vote was 4-3, only one member of Council, John Inglis, wholeheartedly supported the long delayed project.

Before the vote, Betty Hunter said, “I promised at a public meeting last August that I would vote for a new hall but I believe that if a fire hall is built the community will lose the community hall and the library. But I said I would vote for a new fire hall and I will.”

“I promised a new fire hall at one point as well,” said Mayor Bud Clayton in response, “but the facts change.”

At the time of the recorded voted, Lonnie Watkins did not respond at first, looking down at the council table for a few moments before nodding and saying yes.

In a subsequent vote to renovate the existing building, there were 5 votes in favour, with Councilors Inglis and Hunter voting against the proposal.

The debate over the fire hall proposal was coloured by the recent services review the township has undergone. Councilors expressed a reluctance to commit to keeping two township buildings in Ompah, a new fire hall and the old fire hall building, which also houses a community hall and library. The services review singled out both the fire services and the township halls as high cost services in North Frontenac.

The township has invested about $50,000 in purchase costs, environmental assessments and remediation for the lot where the ill-fated fire hall, and at one time also a Frontenac County ambulance base, were to be constructed.

Cemetery Contracts Awarded

Council awarded the contracts for sales and administration ($10,200/yr) and grave excavation and maintenance ($22,100/yr estimated, based on a three-year average of demand,) to the firm of D.G. Young Concrete Burial Vaults.

Only five of the nine township cemeteries have winter snow removal, and one of these is presently being serviced by the township. The Public Works Manager confirmed that the other four cemeteries could be included in the township’s snow routes without compromising services for public roads. Tenders for grass cutting had been awarded in late 2012.

Cumpson Family Fundraising Event

Council approved Arena Manager Jim Stinson’s request to allow the Cumpson family to hold a licensed fundraising event at the arena, to help cover medical and related expenses for Drew Cumpson. Cumpson was involved in an accident in 2011 that left him immobile. The fundraising event will be held at the Frontenac Community Arena on May 4, 2013.

Growth Study Report Approved

Council endorsed the growth study report submitted by MHBC Planning, which justifies continuing to allow limited residential development in rural areas. The report states that although the settlement areas can continue to be the focus of growth in the township, these areas do not have sufficient designated land to accommodate all projected future residential growth to 2036.

Frontenac Corridor

Public Works Manager Segsworth reported that the Public Works Managers of the four Frontenac Townships are collaborating on the management of the Provincial Highways (506, 509, 38, 95 & 96) which have been downloaded to the Townships. They have termed this network of arterial roads the Frontenac Corridor, recognizing the benefits of managing this corridor as a single asset, to ensure consistent standards and maximize funding opportunities.

The first step is to conduct an assessment of the condition of the roads, and develop a long term capital plan for maintenance and upkeep. Council agreed that they, in partnership with the other townships, would ask the County of Frontenac to finance the proposal of D.M. Wills Associates to undertake a Frontenac Corridor Road Assessment, for $10,740.

OGRA/ROMA Conference

Councillor Vandewal and Mayor Davison gave verbal reports on the conference they attended last week: both commented on the strong rural emphasis.

South Frontenac Family Day Winter Carnival

Councillor McDougall spoke of the success of this event: over 500 attended. He thanked all the volunteers, making particular mention of event organizers Dan Bell and Pam Morey.

Conflict of Interest - At the beginning of the meeting, Councilor Adam Snider said that he should have declared a pecuniary interest on an invoice in the accounts at the previous council meeting.

Donation Request - Council agreed to a request from Land o’Lakes Community Services for a donation of $1 per household.

Back Up Generator - Lakelands Family Health Team sent a letter to council requesting that the township pay for an automatic standby generator at the Addington Highlands Community Centre (AHCC) – Denbigh. The letter said that power outages at the centre continue to have a negative impact on the clinic’s operations there, not only because the clinic has to close, but also because of the loss of expensive medications that must be maintained at specific temperatures.

Councilor Tony Fritsch said it is his understanding that presently when the power goes out, someone retrieves the medications from the centre and takes them to another fridge. A year and a half ago the township looked into getting a standby generator and the cost would be around $15 - $20,000.

Reeve Henry Hogg said that the family health team should do its own fundraising for a generator as the township isn’t responsible for its tenants’ back up systems.

However, as the centre is eventually going to be an emergency centre and the township is applying for a Trillium grant to put in kitchen facilities there, council discussed whether a generator could be worked into the application, but concluded it could not.

Councilor Fritsch said that since the main concern right now for the family health team is the refrigeration of medications, there are other ways of ensuring that the fridge will stay on during a power outage, such as a battery backup.

Community Centre Repairs - Councilor Tony Fritsch reported that there have been a succession of water problems at the AHCC, which have cost around $2000 to $2500 to fix.

Memorial Plaque - The township is proceeding to acquire a plaque to recognise the retired volunteer firefighters of the pre-amalgamation Denbigh Fire Dept.

Purchasing Policy - In regard to the township's Purchasing Policy Review, council decided that they need to have a list of pre-qualified contractors who have all the certifications for WSIB, training, etc.

Pine Meadow Building Permits - Pine Meadow Nursing Home requires a building permit to have work done on the fans above its stoves, and Councilor Bill Cox brought forward a request for the township to waive the fee, which council agreed to do.

Lawsuit - CAO Jack Pauhl told council that a court case against the township would not be going ahead because the complainant has not produced the necessary paperwork. “It’s sort of a good news, bad news scenario,” he said, because the township will not be able to recoup any of the money it has already spent on the case.

Frontenac County levy increase at 1.2%, and falling

About an hour into a budget meeting last week (February 20), it was looking like Frontenac County Council would never finalise their 2013 budget.

In an attempt to go line by line through the budget, Council was mired on page 11 of a 118-page document and they were not making much headway.

It turned out, however, that once they were through with page 11, the $100,000 governance budget, Council moved pretty quickly through the Fairmount Home and Frontenac Paramedic Services budgets, which each sit at around $10 million.

At the start of their deliberations, Treasurer Marian VanBruinessen presented them with a revised budget that contained a $185,000 (2.26%) increase over 2012 in the requisition to the townships (who collect the money from their ratepayers as part of the municipal tax bill)

Without addressing any of the major issues in the budget, Council was able to cut about $85,000 from the budget last week.

They made most of those cuts by looking at budget lines such as the travel, training and conference fee budget on the governance page. The budget was set at $38,500, but in 2012 only $18,680 was spent under that heading, so Council cut the 2013 line to $20,000, trimming the overall budget by $18,500

A final budget meeting date has been set for Tuesday, March 12 at 9 am, and it is expected that the 2013 budget bylaw will be formally approved at the regular meeting of Council on March 20.

The expectation is that there will be a push to find another $100,000 in savings in order for the budget to come in with a 0% increase in the cost to local ratepayers for county services.

Warden catches flak for community projects

It did not take long for members of Frontenac County Council to find a way to express their enmity towards Warden Janet Gutowski at their meeting on Feb. 20.

They first held a long and contentious in camera meeting on the subject of labor relations, which ended with members shaking their heads as they left the meeting room for a break. South Frontenac Council member John McDougall said, “It is always good for people to be able to express strong opinions”

Once the open session started, what seemed like an innocuous report for information about small-scale sustainability projects that were funded by the County in 2012 brought some pointed comments.

“Too many of these projects were done in Central Frontenac. These things should be funded at the local level, not by the County. If Central Frontenac wants to spend their money in this way, good for them, but why should we all be paying for this?” said Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle.

The projects in question, which were funded out of a $50,000 funding envelope that was taken from Federal Gas Tax rebate funds that the County receives, included the following: grants for lake plans to the local associations from Buck Lake (South Frontenac) Canonto Lake (North Frontenac) and Sharbot Lake (Central Frontenac); two grants to the Sharbot Lake Farmers Market (one for a local food project and for venue revitalisation), grants to the Central Frontenac Mature Living Complex, the Friends of Arden, and a grant to the Frontenac Stewardship Council.

Anne Marie Young, the County Manager of Economic Development, oversees the grant application process. She said, “We use an application process, which we have kept as simple and straightforward as possible for groups from across the County.”

“Well, some of the mayors are more active in promoting these things than others” said Dennis Doyle.

“I agree. I am pretty active in my township,” said Gutowski.

John McDougall pointed out that it might be the responsibility of the County itself to promote the small-scale sustainability grants. “I spent six years on the local grant team for the Trillium Foundation,” McDougall said, “and Trillium spends a lot of time promoting their programs to the public. This program may not be vetted as much as it should have been.”

In the end, County Council accepted the report on small-scale sustainability grants in 2012 for information.

Gas tax rebate going to townships

Frontenac County Council has finally made a definitive decision regarding the future of the Federal Gas tax rebate funds that it receives.

Ever since 2005, Frontenac County has been receiving Federal Gas tax rebate funds. Half of the funding, which is over $1.6 million in 2013, goes directly to the lower tier municipalities according to a formula that is based on the number of permanent residents. The other half has been flowing directly to Frontenac County for 8 years.

From the start, members of Frontenac County Council have been debating whether the County should simply transfer its half of the money directly to its member townships, based on the fact that all of the roads and bridges in the County are owned by the townships and not the County.

A series of steps were required before a decision on allocating the money could be made by Council, and this led to the development of the County Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP), and its related projects. In the interim the money has been steadily accumulating.

Over the past few years, the County has been spending some of the money on Community Improvement Plans in Verona and Sharbot Lake, on the K&P Trail, and on other projects. At the same time, County Council has begun to authorize the transfer of more and more of each year’s funds to the local townships.

A motion was put forward at the County meeting last week by Dennis Doyle of Frontenac Islands to transfer the remaining bank balance that the County holds, ($1.73 million) as well as the $817,000 it will be receiving in 2013, to the local townships according to a population-based formula. The motion also directed that all future gas tax rebate funds be transferred as well.

In response to the motion, Gary Davison from South Frontenac said, “I think the $1.73 million should be left to sustain the ICSB projects, which I have always said should be cut down to a few key areas, and all the new money should be transferred. I propose an amendment to that effect.”

“I’ll second that,” said Bud Clayton, the mayor of North Frontenac.”

“Our intent was just to stop the squirreling away of funds; this continued stockpiling of funds has got to stop, so the amendment is fine by me,” said David Jones.

“I should point out, in terms of the ‘squirreling away of funds', that last year $625,000 of the gas tax funds were transferred to the townships, and over $200,000 was also transferred for community improvement plans and over $10,000 went to North Frontenac and Frontenac Islands for trails,” said County Treasurer Marian VanBruinessen.

In a recorded vote, the motion to transfer 2013 and future gas tax rebate funds to the townships passed by a margin of 6-3 (Warden Gutowski, and Councilors John Inglis and John Purdon voted against it)

Community Para-medicine survives.

In spite of opposition from some quarters, a proposal to spend $1,500 to fund a pilot community para-medicine clinic on Wolfe Island received support from Council.

The clinic will be set up on a bi-monthly basis, making use of personnel who will already be in place at the paramedic station on the island. It will provide blood pressure and other medical testing for patients who require them.

While the members of Council from Frontenac Islands supported the idea, concerns were expressed by councilors from South Frontenac that paramedics could be duplicating services that are already available from family doctors, community support agencies, and others.

“There are programs out there that cover all this stuff. If we expand this to the rest of the County I think we are going to duplicate services,” said Gary Davison from South Frontenac.

“One of the ideas behind this is to identify those people who are not accessing those services, and point them in that direction,” said Emergency Services Chief Paul Charbonneau, “some people are calling 911 because they don’t know who else to call, not because they need to go to hospital. One of the outcomes of para-medicine is to get those people the community supports they need. The long term savings from this comes from a reduction in 911 calls.”

“I would say that if we don’t approve this and if we kill community para-medicine for $1,500 it would be the biggest travesty we have committed at this table,” said Bud Clayton.

The proposal was accepted.

Service Delivery Review

Council and senior staff met early for a half-hour seminar presented by Kent Fitzhugh, of the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. Fitzhugh described processes which can help Councilors develop the most effective, cost-efficient ways of providing services to taxpayers.

Growth Management Study

Recent changes in Provincial development policies have clearly stated that as much as possible, all future development should take place in settlement areas. The province has emphasized the importance of ‘efficient land use’, and ‘livable and healthy communities.” As a result, it has become harder for the township to justify the creation of housing severances in rural areas.

Council retained Jamie Robinson, a planning consultant, to review the situation. Robinson tallied the number of potential housing lots in the township’s thirteen settlement areas, and those in the rural areas, using the Township’s present development policies. He then matched these figures to the County’s growth projection rates until 2036, to show that the settlement areas would be able to provide only slightly more than half the needed lots. Robinson said that the population projections seemed on the high side, but that they supported the Township’s policy of permitting limited development outside the hamlets. Both Loyalist Township and Tay Valley have recently had provincial approval to permit rural severances. He did warn that the province was unlikely to look favourably on subdivision development outside settlement areas unless it occurred on a waterfront.

Fire Report

Fire Chief Chesebrough brought Council up to date on the transfers of machinery between stations as a result of replacing one pumper truck and one tanker. The Township’s nine fire stations responded to 449 calls in 2012.

Roads Report

Mark Segsworth and David Holliday outlined details of a road maintenance program for the Township, ranging from early prevention to full reconstruction, which they recommended as the most cost effective plan for protecting the township’s investment in its roads. Holliday emphasized the importance of timing: preventive work done early results in the longest extension of pavement life. Several Councilors said they had heard appreciative comments about the road department’s efficient snow removal following the recent storm.

Cemetery Boards Uncomfortable with Recent Changes

Council directed CEO Orr to hold a joint meeting with representatives of all the cemetery boards, to clarify Council’s new policies concerning amalgamation of cemetery management. “There is no need for them to meet with Council about this: we have set the policies: it is up to staff to administer the policies,” said Councilor McDougall. “They say we don’t listen to them, (whenever) we don’t agree with them,” added Vandewal.

“Shop South Frontenac” Explained

Last week, Councillor Naish had asked about the township’s involvement with a recently-distributed pamphlet featuring some of the small businesses in South Frontenac. He was particularly concerned that many businesses had not been included.

CAO Orr had not been present for that meeting, so he gave a brief verbal update on the project, which had been completely funded by the Community Futures Development Corporation, and had been produced on a short deadline. “We have no central listing of all the enterprises in the Township,” said Orr, “but they advertised the project as broadly as possible: any boost we can provide to local small business is important.”

Changes coming to local waste site

Waste Management Supervisor Kyle Labbett brought a number of updates and proposals to a meeting of Central Frontenac Council this week (February 12).

First, he informed Council that as of February 1st the township's recycling program has expanded. The township now accepts most forms of styrofoam, including cups and flat styrofoam trays, as well as plastic grocery bags, bread bags, wood pellet bags, etc. All recyclable materials must be cleaned.

This expansion of the recycling program comes on the heels of the release of recycling results in 2012, when the township went to a clear bag system for waste. Cans and plastics were up 29% in 2012 over 2011 and mixed fiber (paper) recycling was up 15%.

A further change is coming to the recycling program, since Council approved the recommended purchase of large, 40 cubic yard recycling bins to replace the ageing 16 yard bins that are currently in place. Buying the new bins is tied in with setting up hauling contracts with a private hauler to transport them.

The entire cost of the purchase of the bins and a new compactor is prohibitive, $200,000, but according to a report from the Waste Management Committee, because of more efficient operations over 10 years there will be a savings, and over 15 years the township will not only have paid back the $200,000, but will be ahead by another $184,000.

Council gave the Public Works department its approval to seek proposals for bins, a compactor, and a hauling contract.

Labbett proposed that Council enter into a contract for a hazardous waste recycling day on July 20 from 9 am to 2 pm. The estimated cost of the one-day event is $30,000 and last year the township received a rebate of $26,000 from Waste Diversion Ontario. Council approved Labbett’s proposal.

Council also gave the go-ahead to establish year-round dump hours of 8 am to 12 noon, and 1 pm to 5 pm, eliminating summer and winter dump hours.

Arden dump site to formally close – Although the Arden dump has not accepted any waste since 2007, it has technically been in limbo, and it has a limited amount (600 cubic metres – about 30 dump truck loads) of potential dump space available.

But the costs involved in re-opening the dump in order to make use of that space is prohibitive.

“It will save us money to forego the 600 cubic metres and go through the steps to formally close the dump,” said Labbett. Again, Council concurred.

After dealing with all the waste matters, which took over an hour to work through, Public Works Manager Mike Richardson said to Council – “I promise not to bring Kyle with me the next time I bring a report.”

Let’s not be so easy on CP, says Richardson

Mike Richardson commented on a proposal by CP Rail to put in a signal stop at the railway crossing on Eagle Lake Road. In a letter to the township, CP said that the federal government is cutting back on subsidy money for these kinds of projects.

Under the system that applies until now, the government would cover $219,000 of the $273,00 cost, with the township paying $34,000 and CP $20,000.

With the change the Feds will only pay $136,000 and they recommend that CP cover the difference, bringing their cost to over $100,000.

Not wanting to spend that kind of money, CP is asking Central Frontenac to double their commitment, so both Central Frontenac and CP would pay $68,000.

“CP rail would be happy if we said yes to this but I think we should be a little bit miserable with them over this,” said Richardson.

He suggests that the township go to the County or to the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus to seek support from others in the same position, and Mayor Gutowski said she will indeed bring the matter forward to those bodies.

Road allowance for habitat – The township's lawyers, Cunningham and Swan, have agreed to waive their fees to stop up and close a road allowance for the proposed Habitat for Humanity project on a lot on the east side of Road 38 just north of Tichborne. Council agreed to waive their fees as well to help the project along.

Recreation guide to go ahead – Council agreed to pay $1,500 towards the production of a Central and North Frontenac Recreation Guide for 2013, an increase from the $900 they contributed in 2012. The increased cost came about because Northern Frontenac Community Services backed out of the guide, which is produced by the Frontenac News.

CF Budget target set

After listening for two days as department heads went through their budget requests, Central Frontenac Council has asked the interim CAO Cathy MacMunn and Treasurer Michael McGovern to make some cuts to the proposed budget and bring the document back to council. The target that council set was for the overall budget, including education and county rates, to stay within a 2.5% tax rate increase. With the average property seeing an increase in assessment of 2.73% this year, that would mean the average Central Frontenac ratepayer would end up with an increase of over 5% in their 2013 property tax bill.

The preliminary township budget that McGovern presented to Council called for an increase of $700,000 in the levy to ratepayers for local services, and he will have to cut about $280,000 to get to the level that Council is asking for. Council expects to finalise their 2013 budget later this month.

Township planner to pay the price for budget shortfall

Central Frontenac has employed the services of Tunnock Consulting ever since the township came into existence in 1998. The township pays Glenn Tunnock a small retainer of $2,500 each year so that he will handle all planning work that comes forward from local residents and developers for zoning bylaw and official plan amendments, site plan agreements, etc. The fees charged to applicants cover Tunnock's fee for completing the work. Glenn Tunnock has also written the township’s Official Plan and Comprehensive Zoning bylaw and the updates to those documents as well, and he charges the township for that work.

With an official plan review scheduled for this year, Council is now reconsidering their relationship with Tunnock.

As council was going over the budget for planning in their 2013 budget, Mayor Gutowski said, “There is a way to save money here. There is $16,000 in the budget to pay Glenn Tunnock for an Official Plan Review. If we switch to the County for planning services, there will be no charge for the review.”

Council's interest was piqued.

“Could we just have the County do the Official Plan Review, and leave everything else as it is?” asked Councilor Norm Guntensperger.

“I'm not sure that we can pick and choose,” said Gutowski. “The offer to do all of our work for free was part of an offer to take over the entire service.”

“I move that we have staff investigate having the county do our planning, so we can cut $16,000 from our budget,” said Guntensperger.

The motion was carried, setting the stage for a change.

The Frontenac County Planning department already provides service for the Township of Frontenac Islands and has an open offer to take on the work from North Frontenac Township, which also uses the services of Tunnock Consulting.

Frontenac County has two planners on staff, and their salaries are covered through county-wide taxation.

South Frontenac Township, which saw $30 million in new construction activity in 2012, has its own in-house planning department.