A rash of break & enters and thefts in South Frontenac has rattled local residents.
Sitting in his family’s 19th century farmhouse in Battersea, 68-year-old Frank Kirkpatrick talks about the theft of his ATV in August.

“The intrusion is something that sticks with you,” says Kirkpatrick who believes thieves took his four wheeler and two cans of gas hours after a family dinner. “It robs you of your sense of security.”
According to Kirkpatrick, the ATV was used to transport firewood off his farmland. A report has been filed with the police and a claim has been submitted to the insurance company.
“I went out in the morning and it was gone,” says the friendly farmer about his overnight loss which is symbolic of other thefts in South Frontenac Township this summer.

That week was the first time anything had been stolen from the house since it was built more than 150 years ago. That same week, the vehicle of a nearby family was broken into and money/cards were stolen.
“Two nights prior (to the theft of the ATV), the three-point trailer hitch was stolen off my truck,” explains Kirkpatrick. “My brother and I were going fishing. When we backed-up to the boat, the trailer hitch was gone.”
As a well-known fishing guide in the area, Kirkpatrick admits, “If they had stolen my boat, I would have been a wild man.”
Living in his own 19th century historical farmhouse near Kirkpatrick, South Frontenac Township Councillor Ron Sleeth confirms there has been a rash of thefts in the area this summer. The observation was validated by a notice on the township website in August advising residents to lock their property.

According to the township, Frontenac OPP responded to at least eight calls of theft from unlocked vehicles this summer and many calls of theft of personal property.
To counter the problem, residents can:

· Install a security system or motion-detector lights around their property
· Lock the garage
· Change locks when moving into a house
· Install strong locks on all doors and windows
· Keep keys guarded against unauthorized duplication
· Use the peephole before answering the door
· Use automatic timers to control lights when away from house

“People in the country are very trusting of one another and tend not to lock their cars or homes like people in the city,” says Sleeth when asked about the situation. “It’s something we have to be careful of because crime can happen to anyone, anywhere. We need to be more vigilant with protecting our property. Homes and property should be locked up and secured.”
To avoid a repeat performance, Kirkpatrick is now taking precautions.

“There hasn’t been a lock in that garage for 100 years,” he says. “But this is what happens when you get complacent. Everything will be locked from now on.”

A couple of weeks ago a group of enthusiastic gardeners took a bus trip from Perth to see the 150 MosaiCanada celebration in Gatineau. We saw huge sculptures made of flowers and plants representing the history and culture of Canada.

Seeing is believing, a historic C.P. train covered with various coloured plants, a huge Chinese dragon two stories high, a giant Inuktitut or a group of life size buffalo. To make these masterpieces, firstly, the artist designs and makes the armature for the sculpture. This is then lined with black landscape cloth, and filled with soil. The next part is to poke a hole in the cloth and insert the roots or plug of the plants, these are carefully chosen to represent colour and/or texture. For instance long grasses for the buffalo hair, red flowers for poppies, little small sedum for the train walls. Some sculptures even include sound.

Landscaping around the whole park is beautifully designed, using flowers and plants to represent paving stones, water and forest etc..
I was told by a volunteer that 2 1/2 million pots of grain were planted to represent the prairie, which is now turning golden.
Over 15 gardeners are employed daily to keep the sculptures and gardens weeded, watered, and to replace plants which have finished flowering. On the high sculptures they use a cherry picker to reach up and care for the plants.
Another interesting aspect of the exhibition is the choice of topics for the sculptures. Naturally the railway crossing the continent was highlighted with a railway station and a train. The massive Chinese exhibit celebrates the use of thousands of Chinese workers employed on building the railway.

The indigenous display is stunning, with the colossal head of Mother Earth, her long hair trailing into the garden, with flowers and wild life. The various provinces sent sculptures representing their way of life. Culture was represented by artists, with as a huge grand piano representing the world famous pianist Glenn Gould. Sports, with Paul Henderson shooting the winning goal in Russia with Team Canada in 1972.
Many of the colourful plants which are used in the sculptures, such as varieties of Alternanther and Iresineare come from hot countries such as South America and Asia. So unfortunately they will not survive the winter in Canada. If any of us want to try to make these sculptures next year, we will have to start the plants indoors in the winter and plant them out in June.

MosaiCanada has over 40 sculptures to see and enjoy, and what is more, it is free to visit! It also lacks all the commercial booths and trivia of many exhibitions, with just a few souvenir stalls.
This event is at the Jacques Cartier park, open until October 15 from 10am to 7pm daily, rain or shine. Check the website for special events and a map: gatineau2017.ca/mosaicanada-150gatineau-2017/

Recent media attention has reported that a study by environmental scientists Cheng and Basu at the University of Waterloo has found that smaller wetlands are more beneficial to the landscape than larger wetlands. A fundamental reason for this is that small wetlands provide more habitat to grow aquatic plants. An acre of a small wetland provides 10 times as much shoreline as an acre of a wetland 100 times bigger*. Besides shoreline habitat for aquatic plant, the small wetlands also are usually shallower so the plants commonly grow in the entire area of a small wetland. Aquatic plants (we often disrespectfully call them "weeds") take nutrients directly out of the water for their own growth but nutrient-laden particles of silt and organic matter also settle into deposits on the bottom. These processes prevent nutrients from going downstream to 'eutrophy' our lakes. In the north of Central Frontenac and in North Frontenac we are lucky to have one of the largest complexes of wetlands in southern, central and eastern Ontario.

The Kennebec Wetland Complex covers the area from east of Mink and Hungry Lakes all the way west to Road 41 and, north to south, it extends from Highway 7 to within a couple hundred metres of Big Gull Lake. The Kennebec Wetland Complex covers, at least, 2500 hectares or over 6000 acres. It was linked into a "complex" because when it was first surveyed for wetlands (1993), the survey methodology said if there is another wetland within 700 metres of the one you just found, link them together into a "complex". There was another wetland within 700 metres in every direction over this entire area of 6000 acres. The Kennebec Wetland Complex was not only huge, it also earned near maximum scores for production of wild rice, wood products, fish, bullfrogs and furbearers. Water quality improvement by nutrient removal by the Complex was estimated to be near the maximum. The Kennebec Wetland Complex scored so high overall that it automatically qualified as a Provincially Significant Wetland.

The Kennebec Wetlands are depressions in the granite of the Precambrian bedrock. Soil is shallow on the bedrock and without the wetlands, rainfall would run off as it fell. The wetlands catch a lot of the rainfall across 6000 acres. In the severe sudden storms that are becoming common, the wetlands catch enough rain to prevent flooding peaks. Neighbouring watersheds flowing off the Shield but lacking our wetlands register peaks of flow about one day after a severe storm. The Kennebec Wetlands delay the flood peak on the Salmon River for up to four days after a storm. Wetlands in the Complex are a mix of sizes but the majority are the small wetlands that Cheng and Basu reported are the best at nutrient trapping. And thanks to the way this area has been cared for, the loss of wetlands so common elsewhere has not been significant. The Kennebec Wetland Complex is an important feature in our wealth of natural riches. (*The water stored in a two acre wetland touches about 314 metres of shoreline. Water in a wetland covering 194 acres only touches 3140 metres of shoreline. The smaller wetland will support 157 metres of shoreline habitat for aquatic plants per acre but the larger wetland only provides about 16 metres of that habitat per acre of wetland.)

Last year then Frontenac County Warden Frances Smith met with representatives from Via Rail who were working on developing a business case for the Shining Waters Railway line, a fast rail that if built, will bring passenger rail from Toronto to Peterborough, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. They met with Smith because Sharbot Lake was one of the proposed locations for a station along the line.

Smith did not publicize the meeting at the time, thinking the whole thing was a bit speculative and there would be plenty of time to talk about it if it turned out the be a serious possibility. But when the story came out in the community that contractors working for VIA were walking along the abandoned rail line turned trans Canada Trail between Arden and Sharbot Lake evaluating whether the terrain was suitable for a new rail line to be built, things change. Smith brought a short report to Central Frontenac Council about the idea, which was picked up on by The Frontenac News and other media sources at the time.

The idea of a new passenger train traversing Central Frontenac and a station in Sharbot Lake seemed pretty far fetched at the time. After all it has now been generations since Passenger rail in Sharbot Lake. There is Heritage Railway Park, and barely a year earlier the bridge that had enabled trains to pass under Highway 38 had been removed, courtesy of the Province of Ontario. Surely someone at Via or the Federal government would have contacted Ontario before that happened to tell them they were thinking about bring the train back. Also, even if high speed trains were coming to Eastern Ontario (and this has been talked about for 30 years with no action) surely it would end up going through Kingston along the existing rail corridor.

Flash forward to June 29th of this year. Two senior Via Rail officials met over lunch in Kingston with Frontenac County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender and the current Warden, Ron Vandewal.

They had a map with them, which provided some new information. One major piece of information was that the proposed Shining Waters line (which follows Hwy. 7) seems to now be the preferred option for express passenger train service between Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. The second important piece of information is that the stations are slated for Tweed, Sharbot Lake, and Smiths Falls.

In his account of the meeting, Kelly Pender told Frontenac County Council last week that Via was concerned that the existing route (which follows the 401), uses rail lines that are owned by CN rail, and because of the freight business on those lines it is difficult or impossible for Via to be able to offer the kind of speedy service they need to offer urban travellers between Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City. They want to construct a “dedicated line” for passenger and theyn like the Shining Waters Route, partly because it is the most direct connection between Toronto and Ottawa, about 400 km.

Indeed, while Via has not said much about their plans, and apparently they are not that happy that the map of the proposed line has been released to the public, they have been clear that they feel they need to create “dedicated line” for passenger rail.

In a statement on their website, which features a picture of Via Rail President Yves Desjardin Sicilliano, Via said, “The proposed dedicated track, using a new, more efficient train car fleet, is expected to: relieve congestion, particularly in and out of major urban centres; boost economic development and benefits along the railway corridor; Deliver a safer rail infrastructure and a more sustainable rail transportation system; maximize ridership and revenue potential of passenger routes wheere market demand warrants; reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollutants that contribute to climate change and smog; create a self-funding project that will significantly reduce government subsidies within the corridor. The dedicated tracks project would also allow the re-design of the current frequencies operating on the shared environment to better meet regional needs for increased service.”

As the map shows, there are four stations planned between Toronto and Ottawa, Peterborough, Tweed, Sharbot Lake and Smiths Falls.

There are a lot of issues of concern to residents and business in and around Sharbot Lake if this turned out to be a serious proposal, in particular the location of the trail, which passes a few steps from a number of properties on Brewer Road, the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team, the public beach, Maples Restaurant and a number of houses before crossing Road 38 under a bridge that no longer exists.

The upshot that this brings many risks and opportunities to the local community, and there will be winners and losers if it of something like it goes through.
Unlike proposed commercial projects put forward by private developers, Via is a rail company. The funding for the project would come from them and the federal government. They may be inclined to inform the local community of their plans, but they do not need local approval to proceed. They answer only to federal regulations. The Central Frontenac Official Plan Zoning Bylaw may prevent a cottage from being built too close Sharbot or Big Clear Lakes, but a railroad would just roll tight over it.

If it goes ahead it will certainly be a boon to Smiths Falls, as it will be the location of a line to Brockville, joining the two lines, and passengers going back and forth from Ottawa and communities from Oshawa all the way to Cornwall will have to change trains there.

The big questions for Sharbot Lake concern squeezing the train in between two sides of the lake at the causeway and the beach and what that would mean for residents. As well, there is the question of frequency.

In his report to Frontenac County Council, Kelly Pender said there is talk of up to 15 trains a day, but that only a portion would likely stop in Sharbot Lake.
For residents in Sharbot Lake, that could mean a lot of trains speeding by, perhaps whistling as they go, and a few trains stopping. Unofficially, I have heard that Via may consider an alternate route that does not pass over the causeway at the foot of Sharbot Lake, but there are likely to be winners and losers in that case, and they will need to cross Road 38 at some point and no one wants a level crossing.

But the situation is this. If Via chooses Shining Waters they will need to either pass though or near Sharbot Lake one way or another. If this happens, having a station in or very near Sharbot Lake would represent the most significant opportunity for economic development since, well since the train left.
Via Rail seems to want to do this, and they want to do it over the next five years, or even less.

The whole thing is still pretty hard to believe, but the idea that Kingston is being passed over for high speed rail in favour of Frontenac County does have a nice ring to it.

The Frontenac News is developing an online business directory as a key piece of a new website we are launching on April 1st, our favourite day of the year.

Frontenac-Live.ca will be a companion site to our popular Frontenacnews.ca site.

It is oriented to providing information to Frontenac County residents about services and attractions throughout the county, from where to find a plumber to where to launch a boat, how to find a cottage for a week in the summer, where to buy groceries or a burger and fries, or who grew the largest pumpkin last year.

Frontenac-Live is also devoted to serving the tourist industry by featuring parks, trails, lakes, and unique businesses that make Frontenac County a great place to live and visit.

A central feature of the site will be a comprehensive business directory.

Any and all businesses based in Frontenac County can be listed for free in the directory.

We need to hear from anyone who sells anything in Frontenac County, from those who do snow removal to massage therapists, from welders to small engine mechanics and syrup producers and more.

Free listings include name, address, phone  number, email, and a general category (retail, food and beverage, services, accomodation/real estate, and artisans)

These listings will not only go into the Frontenac-Live directory, they will also be provided for use in a business directory which will be hosted by Frontenac County.

We believe there are well over 1,000 businesses in Frontenac County and we want to list them all in these two online directories.

We will also be updating both directories on an annual basis, a key factor in keeping them useful for potential customers, both local ones and those from away. The directories will be useful for permanent residents and the up to 20,000 seasonal residents who make Frontenac County their home for part of the year.

In addition to the free listings we have developed opportunities for enhanced listings for the Frontenac-Live site. These will include a full description of all of the services available from each business, the ability to post photos and video and be listed under multiple sub-categories,  links to web and social media locations and other web content. They will also be directly accessible through google searches. Enhanced listings will also be featured, on a rotating basis, on the Frontenacnews.ca site which attracts 18,000 unique visitors per month. The introductory offer for an enhanced listing is $60 per year (it will go up to $72 when the site is launched)

Anyone who provides a service in Frontenac County is asked to contact us via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Members of the Hartington Community Association (HCA) were certainly off the Christmas list at the Vandewal and McDougall households this year.  Eric Gillespie, a lawyer representing them, sent a letter to Frontenac County and South Frontenac on December 6. The letter pointed out that the two men attend meetings of both Frontenac County and South Frontenac Councils, and says that the two bodies do not have “common interests” in the matter of a proposed subdivision in Hartington that the HCA opposes. This lack of “common interest” Gillespie is referring to comes from the fact that South Frontenac Council passed a motion on August 23rd expressing their opposition to the proposed subdivision, and on the very next day Frontenac County Council ignored that recommendation and approved the subdivision. Vandewal and McDougall supported the subdivision at South Frontenac Council (by voting against the motion that opposed it) and they both voted in favour of the approving the subdivision when it came to Frontenac County on August 24.

As the result of this, and the fact that issues surrounding the subdivision were discussed at an in camera meeting of South Frontenac Council, Gillespie claimed in his letter that there is a “reasonable perception and apprehension” of breaches of confidentiality,  solicitor client privilege, and common interest privilege on the part of the two men. It asks that the two men recuse themselves from any further meetings or communications regarding the matter.

Gillespie’s claim, on behalf of the HCA, is partly based on the possibility that in camera communication and legal advice they would have heard as members of South Frontenac Council could have been used by Vandewal and McDougal to advise their colleagues at in camera meetings of Frontenac County Council.

(Note – In Camera meetings are held in private, outside of public scrutiny, by municipal councils under a set of circumstances that are prescribed by the Municipal Act of Ontario. Minutes from those meetings are not released to the public.)

In response to the letter, Frontenac County sought legal advice from the firm of Templeman Menninga. A letter from Wayne Fairbrother and Samantha Foster of the firm poked some holes in Gillespie’s claim. The first point they made had to do with in camera meetings.

In the words of the letter: “In particular, the letter of December 6, 2016 alleges that in camera meetings were held by the county with respect to the Hartington Application. You have advised that, in fact, there have been no in camera meetings with respect to the Hartington Application. In our view, this fact completely removes the foundation for Mr. Gillespie’s allegations.”

The letter then goes on to deal with the concept of conflict of interest in this kind of case, concluding that in cases where members of council do not have a personal financial interest in a project it is difficult to argue they have a conflict of interest, citing case law to support that position.

The letter concludes that “in our opinion there is no legal basis for requiring council members of lower-tier municipalities who sit on upper-tier municipalities to refrain from participating in discussions on the Hartington Application at both levels of government.”

The entire matter of the Hartington subdivision will be dealt with at a hearing of the Ontario Municipal Board scheduled for this spring.

On Monday Richard Allen, the councillor for Countryside Ward of the City of Kingston, marched into City Hall and informed his colleagues that he was resigning effective immediately. The next day he reported for work as Economic Development Officer to the administrative offices of Frontenac County, which are located across the road from his home near Glenburnie. Before running for Council in Kingston, Allen served as a Director for the Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) He has worked at the Queen’s University Smith School of Business, and earlier as a project co-ordinator with Katimavik. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University in Montreal.

As a member of Kingston City Council, he showed an interest in Frontenac County and was the only member of City Council who attended the Frontenac County Warden’s dinner in November. Allen replaces Anne Marie Young, who retired last Friday after 8 years as Economic Development Officer with the County.

“When we look at projected change in requisition it looks like we are heading towards increases.”

That was the somewhat grim assessment of future budget pressures that will be facing Frontenac County over the next few years by County Treasurer Marian VanBruinessen as Council completed their work on the 2017 budget.

Earlier in the meeting, which took place last Wednesday morning (November 23) Council trimmed $51,200 in special projects, leaving Frontenac ratepayers with a collective bill of $9.37 million for 2017, an increase of $372,216 (4.15%) over 2016. Based on VanBruinessen's analysis, the increase is offset by 1% in growth due to new construction in recent years, leaving a net 3.15% impact on ratepayers.

Council cut a proposed $35,000 one time grant to the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation, as well as a $14,000 fund for community projects, a $1,200 contribution to support the Ontario ATV association AGM in North Frontenac, and a $1,000 membership in the Community Schools alliance in order to trim the increase from $3.72% in the draft budget to the 3.15% impact.

The goal that Council had set for township staff was 1% lower than that. That goal of 2.15% was based on a Consumer Price Index (CPI) report in August that set the annual inflation rate at 1.5%, on top of which a 0.65 % annual increase for ten years has been added by council to go towards the replacement of capital assets.

One enhancement that stayed in the budget was a commitment to reinstating a 12 hour ambulance shift in the City of Kingston. The 12 hour night shift was eliminated in 2013 during tense labour negotiations with OPSEU, which represents the Paramedics, at which time the issue of sick time was raised as well.

Paul Charbonneau, Chief of Emergency Services, told Council last week that response times have remained within the standard set by the service even with one less shift, mainly because Lennox and Addington built a base in Loyalist township, cutting 1,000 cross border calls to Frontenac Paramedic Service (FPS) each year. As well, FPS ceased doing patient transfers for Kingston General Hospital, making paramedics more available for emergency calls.

“That worked for four years, but in 2016 we saw a 4% increase in calls and we project we will continue to see an increase, which will mean we will no longer be able to keep to our response time standard,” said Charbonneau.

In order to soften the blow for ratepayers, Charbonneau proposed instituting the new shift in July of 2017 instead of January. Also, the new shift will only be an 8 hour shift for the first 18 months, only reaching 12 hours in January of 2019. This keeps the impact on the 2017 county budget to $30,000.

There was a short debate about whether to follow Charbonneau’s recommendation to bring a new shift on stream. When challenged,  Charbonneau insisted that it is important for FPS to remain pro-active and not wait for the response times to fall behind the standard before adding a shift.

The Frontenac Paramedics, including OPSEU local 462 President Shauna Dunn, attended the meeting. Afterwards they said they were pleased with the decision to bring back the shift.

“But this is not an enhancement,” Dunn said, “we are only getting back to where we were in 2013 and it will take another two years to get there.”

As of January 2019, there will be five 24 hour ambulances in Kingston,  24 hour ambulances stationed in Sydenham and Parham, and a 12 hour daytime ambulance at Robertsville in North Frontenac.
The 2017 Frontenac County Budget process was aided by a decrease in the Fairmount Home budget, which came about as the result of an increase in provincial funding that was accomplished through the purchase of new tracking software as well as other measures.

“We won’t see those sorts of increases in funding again,” said Councilor John Inglis, echoing the concern expressed by VanBruinessen that in future years Council will find it even more difficult to keep costs to within the rate of inflation, even with healthy levels of growth.

As part of its branding exercise earlier this year, Frontenac County received word from the company it had hired to lead the exercise that there was a problem.

Frontenac County residents did not know what the county did. In many cases they did not know the county even existed though they were living within its boundaries.

“People say they live north of Kingston; in Sydenham; near Sharbot Lake; west of Perth; but they don't say they live in Frontenac County,” said Economic Development Officer Anne Marie Young.

As the Frontenac County brand was developed and implemented, the first goal has been to use the brand to help develop a sense of place among county residents.

At the same time, Frontenac County staff and council have been talking about the effectiveness of county services and have decided to survey residents.

Kathryn Wood of Natural Capital Resources, based in Sydenham, was contracted to develop and implement a resident survey to find out what residents think of how well the county is doing at delivering services and what kinds of initiatives people would like to see the county enter into.

The survey is also a gauge of how well residents understand what the county does

“One of the things we want to do with this survey is to establish a baseline of understanding. If it is repeated in the future we will see how this understanding has changed,” said Wood, when contacted by phone early this week.

In a release last week, the county said that the survey is intended to help determine the direction the county will take in designing and implementing operations over the next five years.

“The survey is designed to gather views on the programs, services and operations of Frontenac County. Responses will help the county in setting priorities and reviewing its five-year business plans,” the release said.

"We want to know how satisfied the residents of the county are with the programs and services we currently offer and what other issues the county should work on in the future," said Warden Frances Smith.

The survey includes a list of services that the county is responsible for, and asks for input on their effectiveness. These include some services it delivers, such as the Frontenac Paramedic Services and Fairmount Home. It includes services that the county is responsible for but are delivered by others. These include social service and housing programs that are delivered by the City of Kingston. Other services, such as the Kingston Frontenac Public Library and Health Units are overseen by boards that include representatives appointed by Frontenac County Council. The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation is also listed as well because it is jointly owned by all municipalities in Ontario.

The survey asks residents what kinds of new initiatives the county may get involved in. Suggestions include transportation; business supports including support for tourism; combating homelessness; helping people “age at home” and many others.

It also asks what role, if any, the county should play in developing shared services between and with the four member municipalities (North, Central, and South Frontenac and Frontenac Islands)

The survey is available online at frontenaccounty.ca by navigating to the News item on the site (Frontenac County Issues Community Engagement Survey). It is also available in a paper version at all township offices (Marysville, Sydenham, Sharbot Lake, and Plevna).

The survey takes about 10 minutes or less to complete. But act fast and get it done; the survey is only running for another eight days. It closes on October 21.

When the K&P trail project was first being floated about 10 years ago, the fact that the section between Tichborne and Sharbot Lake is privately owned was discussed. The logic was to work from south to north, deal with all the complications along the way, and worry about that part when the time came.

Well, the time came last week, and Frontenac County Council had to find some more money.

Those landowners along Road 38 between Tichborne and Sharbot Lake all want to be paid for their land before they will turn it over to the county for the trail, and that is their right.

About $80,000 had been set aside for this, and the county has already made deals to spend a lot more than that, and those deals are set to be finalized in October.

Instead of taking the money from their working funds and financing it by taxation in 2017 (the county keeps a couple of million on hand at all times) county staff offered council a way out: take it from a reserve fund that is not needed, the $400,000 Kingston Frontenac Renovates reserve fund.

On one level that is a good idea. That $400,000 was levied in 2014 because the province had suggested in 2013 that it might stop funding Kingston Frontenac renovates, a popular program that helps low income residents in Frontenac County cover major repairs to their homes.

In the end the Province continued to fund the program and has guaranteed it will continue to fund it until 2019. And in all likelihood it will continue to be funded after then as well.

As Sheldon Laidman from the City of Kingston said, “It is cheaper for the province to put money towards keeping people in their homes than paying for them to live in homeless shelters, so why would they stop funding this?”

And even if the province does pull out, the county politicians of that day can always tax for it again.

So why not put the money into the trail, so ratepayers don't have to be taxed in 2017 because the trail is going over budget again?

Because the money was raised for one purpose and justified to ratepayers on that basis. Now it has been put into a pet project that has less public support.

Years ago money was found in unused reserves to fund the rebuild of the auditorium at Fairmount Home, years after it was collected for ratepayers for another purpose.

We objected to the Fairmount Home auditorium and raise a similar objection here.

Even if it is awkward or embarrassing, as ratepayers we ask that our politicians, and the staff they hire, to spend the money they collect from us on what they tell us they are collecting the money for.

Otherwise why should we trust them with out money at all?

If the $400,000 is not needed for Frontenac Renovates the best thing to at least put it to a similar purpose.

Establishing a fund to cover the pending cost of social housing would be a good start.

One way or another Frontenac County ratepayers are on the hook for paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete the K&P Trail to Sharbot Lake.

The least we can ask for from our politicians is that they be honest about it.