After 18 months of work, and three formal drafts, the Frontenac County Official Plan was set for approval at a meeting of Frontenac County Council last Wednesday (October 15).

However the prospect of a split vote on the plan has forced a delay. The representatives on the council from South Frontenac, Mayor Gary Davison and Councilor John McDougall, both indicated they remain opposed to some of the wording in the plan, and since South Frontenac is where most of the development that is governed by the plan will be taking place, a last-ditch bargaining session of sorts has been set for this week.

“Our concern in South Frontenac is that we have a difference of opinion with the county that may not be as large as it seems. We might solve those if we delay this and hold one more meeting,” said John McDougall.

The meeting will be attended by the chief administrative officers of all the townships and the county, a representative from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, as well as county planner Joe Gallivan and South Frontenac planner Lindsay Mills. The goal of the meeting will be to bridge the gap between Joe Gallivan's third version of the plan, and Lindsay Mills' desire for a plan that preserves the independence of his own office. Mills has described the county plan as “too prescriptive and amounting to a power grab by the county.”

One of the issues that is of concern to South Frontenac is the use of the word “shall” in the plan.

Mayor Davison made reference to this in his comments at county council meeting last week, in reference to prescribed setbacks between new construction and the shoreline of lakes and rivers.

“The county plan restricts all new construction to 30 metres from the shoreline,” said Davison. “In South Frontenac we were one of the first jurisdictions to bring in the 30 metre setback over 10 years ago, but we built in some leeway, and this allows our Committee of Adjustment to make allowances for circumstances. If the County plan is approved as it is written now, we won't be able to do that.”

For his part Joe Gallivan said that the county plan will not affect South Frontenac's ability to make allowances in applying the setback rule.

“The plan does not interfere with any municipality's ability to make changes. It will be business as usual,” he said.

As far as the extra meeting, Joe Gallivan asked that the Ministry of Municipal Affairs be invited to send a representative.

“If that meeting is going forward it is essential that the province be there. If the ministry is there they will tell staff from all the townships which sections of the plan cannot be changed,” Gallivan said.

Before leaving the topic, interim county warden Dennis Doyle asked if the County Chief Administrative Officer, Kelly Pender, had anything to say about the matter.

“If I remember correctly, you have a background in planning, don't you, Kelly,” Doyle said.

“I sometimes describe myself as a recovering planner,” Pender said, before delivering a stern warning. “I certainly don't have a problem having a further meeting, but I want be clear about one thing. If this council recommends changes to the Official Plan that do not reflect the Provincial Policy Statement, which underpins all planning in Ontario, county staff will voice opposition to those changes. They would simply not fly with the province. The ministry will be clear on that point, and I agree they need to be at the meeting as well.”

The province has set a target date of March 31 for the adoption of County Official Plans throughout the Province.

As it stands, the third draft of the Frontenac County Plan does not conform to a number of demands that the Ministry of Municipal Affairs has made.

Joe Gallivan has said that he hopes to convince the ministry that the current version of the plan is based on a sound interpretation of the Provincial Policy Statement. If he cannot, the matter could well end up at a hearing before the Ontario Municipal Board, which would provide a final determination of whether the county's or ministry's interpretation of the Provincial Policy Statement is more accurate.

NF coming to terms with OPP costs

North Frontenac Township formally received notification from Derek Needham, the detachment commander of the Lanark County OPP, that the cost of policing for the township in 2015 will be just under $365,000, an increase of $137,000 dollars over the cost in 2014.

Further, Needham projects that costs will increase by $137,000 per year through 2018, and will go up $63,000 in 2019. By that time the costs are projected to be almost $846,000, an increase of $619,000 in annual costs after the five-year rollout of the new costs.

That represents an increase of over 12% in the tax rate if all other spending in the township remains frozen at 2014 levels.

In the short term, when the 2015 budget is being contemplated the township will be facing an increase of almost 3% before they begin to look at any other spending priorities.

Derek Needham will be appearing before Council on November 24 to explain the funding model.

As Council was preparing to accept the administrative report on the OPP billing, Councilor John Inglis said, “Are we not going to discuss this today? This bill is very real. I guess we are giving up protesting this at this point.”

Councilor Gerry Martin said, “It is very unfair to bill us on a per dwelling basis when 80% of our dwellings are empty for at least six months a year."

“The government pays us gas tax on the basis of permanent population only, and we are billed by the OPP on the basis of permanent and seasonal residents. There should at least be some consistency,” said acting Mayor Fred Perry.

Treasurer Angela Miller said, “We got together with Tay Valley, Madawaska Highlands, and three other townships and hired Howard Allen to analyse the data and make a presentation for us to the ministry at the AMO meeting in August. The seasonal versus permanent issue was raised in that presentation. There was no response. We could submit that information again.”

Council received the administrative report for information.

Trillium application for Snow Road hall

John Kittle of the South Palmerston Community Centre Association (SPCCA), which runs the Snow Road Hall, came to council seeking endorsement for an application to the Trillium Foundation to fund the installation of a new air conditioning unit (including a heat pump), a new kitchen and an exercise-friendly red oak floor.

If successful, the $35,000 project will include a contribution of $3,500 from the township, $500 from the SPCCA and $31,000 from Trillium. The project represents phase 2 of a refurbishment project for the hall.

Kittle pointed out that ever since the township told the local community two years ago that unless the hall started being used they were going to consider closing it, there has been a massive community effort to make use of the hall.

“Last month there were 22 bookings,” said Kittle. “It is amazing what has happened. It has rejuvenated not only

the hall but the community as well.”

Council endorsed the grant application.

Rogers cell tower

Graham Lewis appeared before Council on behalf of the Status Group who are working with Rogers Communications. He provided information about an application to the federal government for permission to install a tower that will provide cell service in the far eastern end of the township, an under-served area for cell coverage. Council endorsed the proposal.

Miniature horses can stay at Clarke Road property for now

Two months ago Margaret Mallory and Brian Skillen received the good news that Central Frontenac Township had decided to stay proceedings that would have forced them to remove their two miniature horses, Teddy and Tommy, from the garage on their one-acre property on the Clarke Road.

The stay was to remain in effect until the township had an opportunity to evaluate the bylaw prohibiting livestock on small lots.

At a Council meeting on Tuesday afternoon (October 14) council received a report from Frontenac County Planner Joe Gallivan on the bylaw.

In his report Gallivan said that the current bylaw “does not provide sufficient definitions, policies or requirements regarding livestock and small-scale agricultural uses, such as hobby". He outlined four options for council's consideration.

The first would be to re-zone the property as a rural-exception zone but this would not be suitable given the size of the lot. The second would be to amend the zoning bylaw to clarify agricultural use, essentially classifying miniature horses as pets instead of livestock, but this would lead to confusion about which animals are pets and which are livestock. The fourth option would be to do nothing and apply the bylaw as it stands.

The third, the recommended option, is to conduct additional research into how other townships deal with these kinds of issues and how OMAFRA (Ontario Ministry of Food and Rural Affairs) views the issue, and essentially re-write the bylaw to deal with this and other small-scale agriculture issues on under-sized lots.

This option was supported by Council.

“There are a number of families coming into the township with a view towards starting up small farm operations. It would be good for us to clarify the rules,” said Mayor Janet Gutowski.

To a question about who is going to pay for the work required, Gallivan said that since it is the township that is ordering the work, there will be no charge for it.

Even though the township may not in the end determine that miniature horses would be permitted on one-acre lots since it appears they would not be permitted in any of the townships mentioned in Gallivan's report, Council decided to maintain the stay on proceedings under the bylaw until Gallivan has completed his work.

Chief Administrative Officer Larry Donaldson told Council that the Ministry of the Environment has conducted their own investigation into the converted garage where the horses are housed, a garage that also contains the well head for the property.

“In short, subject to one minor issue (a hole in the well casing that the wires to the pump go through needed to be siliconed shut) the MOE have no additional objections to the situation,” Donaldson said.

Satisfied with the result, Mallory and Skillen, along with 20 or so supporters, left the meeting in a chipper mood. Presumably, back on Clarke Road, Teddy and Tommy were relaxing and enjoying the unseasonably sunny, warm weather, unaware of all the fuss they had caused.

Feds want rent for Sharbot, Crow Lake docks

The last time the township interacted with the federal government over dock facilities was several years ago when the government agreed to rebuild the Crow Lake dock, which was in tatters.

At the time, the government indicated that as a condition of the rebuild, the township would have to resume ownership of the dock. Nothing happened after that as neither side followed up.

Last month the township received a letter from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans stating that rent has not been paid on the docks since 2006, and almost $5,000 is owing. They propose to bill the township about $500 per year for the next five years under a new agreement.

“This letter came as a surprise,” said Donaldson. “As far as we can tell we were never invoiced for this money, which is why we never paid it.”

Given that the cost of major repairs to the docks can run into the tens of thousands, Councilor Frances Smith said, “I think we should pay the $5,000 and sign a lease for as long as we can on this, and hope they leave the docks as they are.”

Councilor John Purdon said he did some research on the Fisheries website and found that of the 399 such docks in Ontario, over 300 have been divested and most of the rest are in the process of being divested.

“Of the 29 that are still in the hands of Fisheries and Oceans, we have two,” Purdon said.

The township of Central Frontenac has announced the upcoming appointment of Steven Silver as interim CAO.

The appointment will be formalised at the next meeting of Council.

Mayor Janet Gutowski stated: “Given the recent announcement and timing of Larry Donaldson's departure for a position at Tay Valley and the timing of the upcoming municipal election, council wanted to get this announcement out to staff and the public as soon as the arrangements were confirmed.”

Mr Silver has broad professional experience. He is retired from the position of CAO of the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville in 2012.

In 2011, he was received the Prestige award from the Association of Municpal Managers, Clerks and Treasurers of Ontario in recignition of the work he had done while CAO of Lanark, Leeds and Genville, and earlier of Frontenac County in pre-amalgamation days.

He recently served as interim CAO in Bancroft. Residing in Kingston, he has been active with the United Way.

His appointment is set to last for six months and among the tasks he will oversee for the newly elected Council which will take office on December 1st will be the hiring of a new CAO and consolidation of the Public Works Department.

Mayhor Janet Gutowski and other members of Council have indicated that Kyle Labett, who has been the waste management co-ordinator, will be taking on the Puibcli Works Manager position on an interim basis.

Public Meeting over Condo Application

Over 60 people attended a lengthy public meeting to review an application for a plan of condominium development on the northeast shore of Loughborough Lake. One primary concern was the short two-week notice residents had in which to study the related documents and prepare a response: several asked for a second public meeting.

Mat Rennie pointed out that at least three of the lots had wetland as their waterfront, asking, “Won’t these people expect to get access to the lake from their property, through these wetlands that are supposed to be protected?”

Ed Koen said the monitoring test on his well was done in April, at a time when the well was not connected to his cottage, yet the report referred to fluctuations due to personal consumption: “Why weren’t these tests done in midsummer, when the water levels are at their lowest?” Another speaker begged the Township to stick to their stated goals and Official Plan: “There seems to be a lot of bending and variances to accommodate this development.”

Mike Keene, planner for the developer, corrected some issues: ie, the developer will be fully responsible for any alterations to Township roads which are needed to accommodate entrance requirements. He said he would need only two weeks to prepare responses to all other concerns raised in the meeting.

In the end, the present Council decided to defer any decision for three months so the incoming Council could deal with it, and recommended a second public meeting so all the residents’ concerns could be fully addressed.

Compensation Refused

Gail Dickenson, co-owner of Hillside Cafe came a second time to Council requesting compensation for loss of more than $12,000 revenue over the summer months due to construction on Rutledge Road. Council refused on the advice of their lawyer, who said that the Municipal Act forbids granting this form of assistance to commercial enterprise. The chief reason seemed to be fear of setting a precedent for both future and past projects.

Naish Resigns

Mayor Davison expressed regret over the resignation of Councillor Naish, Storrington district. Naish notified Council that he had moved outside the Township, so was no longer eligible to sit on Council. He will not be replaced, due to the short time left before elections.

Long Swamp Bridge

The Long Swamp Bridge has been deemed safe enough to be seasonally reopened for the next two years with a 5-Tonne single load limit. Segsworth said a full assessment is planned, to fully evaluate options for rehabilitation, replacement of removal of the bridge.

Reduced Speed Limits

On the recommendation of the roads department and the Public Services Committee, Council approved a by-law establishing speed restrictions on several roads in the Eastern part of the Township.

Museum Support

Council gave their approval to the establishment of the “Township of South Frontenac Old Stone School Museum” in Hartington, so the Historical Society can pursue further funding opportunities and partnerships. This approval is subject to being successful with the accessibility grant application.

Bubba Bowl this Thursday, Oct 9th.

Entry to The Point by foot traffic only.  

A dispute between Frontenac County Planner Joe Gallivan and South Frontenac Planner Lindsay Mills was played out once again on Monday night (September 22) at the Verona Lions Hall.
The occasion was the official public meeting on the third, and presumably final, draft of the Frontenac County Official Plan (OP), which is slated for a final vote by Frontenac County Council on October 15.
The issues raised by Mills, and supported by members of South Frontenac Council and Mayor Gary Davison, centre on specific wording in some of the clauses in the document.
Once passed, and approved by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs, the County OP will be the background document to which all of the local township plans will need to conform.
This represents a change from current practice, wherein the local OPs are approved directly by the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs, an arrangement that has been frustrating to many local councils, because it
leads to delays, and the ministry is seen as being unyielding and too intent on imposing urban planning reality onto rural Ontario.
The reason this is such an issue for the county, the townships and residents, is that the County and township OPs are fundamental documents that ultimately determine the kinds of residential and commercial development
that will be permitted, in which locations, and under what conditions.
At the meeting in Verona, there were environmentalists, developers, and homeowners in attendance. Almost 100 people were there, and not because of the entertainment value of planning talk, but because of the ultimate implications for the future of Frontenac County.
Lindsay Mills’ concerns with the third draft are the same as they were with both of the previous drafts. “The document is too detailed and intrudes into local planning responsibilities in many areas,” Mills wrote.
A prime example of this is the statement in the document that waterfront development be subject to a 30 metre setback from the shoreline.
This is a concept that has been entrenched in the South Frontenac Plan since 2003, so there would seem to be no problem. However, Mills said that in the South Frontenac plan the setback is a norm; it can be altered with the permission of the township’s committee of adjustment.
“By making it a requirement in the County OP, there will be no more leeway for circumstances where the setback is too restrictive,” Mills said.
He also said that in some cases the wording in the document is vague and could ultimately be open to much interpretation.
If Joe Gallivan only had to work out his differences with Lindsay Mills and South Frontenac Council, he might be able to. However when the plan was sent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs for comment, the ministry suggested a number of changes. Some of them are easy enough to accommodate, but others would make the county plan more prescriptive than it already is.
This puts Gallivan, and the county, into a difficult position. South Frontenac will oppose the plan unless Gallivan pulls back the detailed, prescriptive language in the plan, and the ministry will not approve it if he
does not add more restrictions. This reality was noted by Lindsay Mills in his comments, but that did not convince him to alter his demands.
Through it all, Joe Gallivan remains optimistic about prospects for the document to be approved by the County in October and for the ministry to look favourably on it in the end. He said that if the ministry does not yield in the end, the county can appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board, and he said he is confident the county’s arguments will stand up.
The public meeting leaves a number of questions unanswered. Given everything that has happened, it is unlikely that the mayor of South Frontenac will support the County OP on October 15. The County may approve it anyway because there are likely enough councilors who will support it for it to pass. The ministry, in spite of Joe Gallivan’s optimism, will likely demand further changes, which will lead to an OMB hearing.
That is when the opposition from South Frontenac will become a real problem for Frontenac County. The County needs to present a united front to the OMB in order to win an appeal. The trouble is, there is no sense that an accommodation between Frontenac County and South Frontenac is any closer now than it was after the earlier drafts of the OP were tabled.

New Parham fire hall in holding pattern until school property settled.

Central Frontenac Fire Chief Bill Young was asked by Councilor Phillip Smith where the planning stands for a new fire hall to replace the ageing one that is located next to the Parham fair grounds.

The exchange took place at a meeting of Council at the Piccadilly Hall on Tuesday afternoon (September 23). Bill Young said that money for the hall has been put aside but that settling on a location has been delayed, and the township is not in a position to make a decision on their own.

The reason is that the preferred location for the hall is on the corner of Long Lake and Wagarville Roads, on the former Hinchinbrooke School property, which is still owned by the Limestone District School Board.

Township Chief Administrative Officer Larry Donaldson said that staff sent a letter of interest to the board, on Council's instructions, earlier this summer.

“I just received an acknowledgement today that they have received our letter, and that they will not start talking to anyone about the property until October 14th, when the expression of interest period is set to end. We will then have to consider a number of issues, such as whether the building is in a condition for us to take it over; how much it will cost; whether the building and all the property must be sold together, etc.,” said Donaldson.

He added that since the school property is the preferred location, it would be unwise for the township to go ahead and build a fire hall at the other possible location, which is on the lot where the existing hall is, only to find out afterwards that the other property is available and affordable.

“We will have the money set aside for it next year, and we plan to build with the same design as the Mountain Grove Hall, so we are ready,” said Donaldson.

“I just wanted to make sure it is not on the back burner,” said Phillip Smith.

“Oh no, it's on the front burner, but there are too many unknowns with the school property right now,” said Bill Young.

K&P trail north of Sharbot Lake named for Harold Clark

Marcel Giroux came to Council as a delegate, but in keeping with his past as a municipal politician (his last term of office ended in 1985) he had with him a fully drafted motion, just waiting for a mover and seconder.

His proposal was to include the section of the K&P trail that runs from the Cannon Road in Sharbot Lake to Clarendon Station on Clarendon Road in the Frontenac County K&P Trail network.

“The trail is in use, and is in pretty good shape with the exception of a few spots and one hole - which I have a picture of - and will eventually be an asset to the entire trail network. I'm not sure of the legalities of ownership. I leave that to you,” he said.

He had one more recommendation in his motion.

“Harold Clark was the Reeve of Oso in 1980 and he insisted that we buy that piece of trail at the time, If all the other reeves along the trail had his foresight, the entire trail would be complete today. I think we should name that section of trail after him,” Giroux said.

Council took Giroux's advice, and the motion passed in short order.

The details will be worked out later.

North Frontenac Community Improvement Plan

Peter Young from Frontenac County appeared before North Frontenac Council this week to talk about a Community Improvement Plan (CIP) for the township.

The county has set aside $70,000 to help fund a business-oriented improvement plan in each township. All the other townships now have plans in place; North Frontenac is last in line.

Part of the reason is that, based on research about these kinds of plans, which are common economic development tools in small eastern Ontario communities, none of the hamlets in North Frontenac has enough of a business core to be a viable location.

For that reason, Young suggested that North Frontenac might consider designating the entire township as an improvement area, to offer a helping hand to all business ventures in the township.

The plans that have been put in place elsewhere in the County are located in Verona, Sharbot Lake and Marysville on Wolfe Island.

The first one that was attempted, in Verona, has been a success. For every dollar invested in that plan by the county, $11 in private money has also been invested, Young reported.

“One of the projects in Verona was a large one, but even if you leave that one out of it, the ratio is still $4 to $5 in private for every dollar in grant money,” Young said.

All told over $700,000 has been invested in Verona, and the money has mostly gone to giving Verona's Main Street a much needed facelift.

There has been less of an uptake in Sharbot Lake thus far, but the plan has not been in place as long as in Verona. It has been used, however, for signage throughout the hamlet.

“We just got the plan underway this spring in Marysville, and we went door to door to introduce it to businesses. Now that the summer season is over, we are starting to hear from them,” Young said.

It will be up to North Frontenac Council to decide which kinds of projects to fund, although there are some standard rules. For example participants must invest at least as much as the grant, and the grants are limited in size.

“The plan is basically the township's to organize, the county just helps to fund it,” said Young.

Councilor Betty Hunter, chair of the North Frontenac Economic Development Task Force, spoke out in favour of the CIP.

“If we are going to stimulate economic development we are going to have to accept any help we can get,” she said.

Council decided to hold a special meeting on October 22 to get input from businesses and community groups in the township about what their plan should include.

While most of the races for council and mayor in the region did not change much in the final days before the end of the nomination period at 2 pm last Friday, September 12, there were a few surprises.

For a list of all-candidates meetings, click here.

SOUTH FRONTENAC

In South Frontenac, the surprise was about the lack of entries in two wards, Bedford and Storrington. In both cases there are two candidates, who have been acclaimed and will be at the Council table on December 2, when the new four-year term starts.

Not only is it unusual for council seats to be uncontested; in this case three of the four candidates who have been acclaimed will be brand new councilors. In Bedford, Alan Revill will be a new councilor. Revill will be no stranger at the township office, however, since he was the chief building official for South Frontenac until he retired a couple of years back. Pat Barr, who was appointed to Council when Mark Tinlin resigned last year, will be returning. Barr ran for Council in 2010 and finished third behind Tinlin and Del Stowe, who did not seek re-election this time around.

In Storrington District, the two incumbents, Larry York and Cam Naish, stepped down, and only two people put their names forward. Norm Roberts and Ronald Sleeth have found themselves elected as first-time councilors without having to campaign.

There were no last minute changes in the three-way race to replace retiring Mayor Gary Davison. John McEwen, Allan McPhail and Ron Vandewal are all running for mayor.

There are three candidates in Portland: Bradley Barbeau and incumbents John McDougall and Bill Robinson.

There are six candidates for the two vacant Loughborough ward positions: Stephen Bach, Dave Plumpton, Mark Schjerning, Ross Sutherland, Terry Thake, and Frances Willes.

There are also three candidates for Limestone District School Board Trustee from South Frontenac: Lindsay Davidson, Lynda Hawn, and incumbent Suzanne Ruttan.

THE NORTH FRONTENAC SHUFFLE

There is no way around the fact that the North Frontenac election is being conducted under a dark cloud. The sudden death on September 1 of Mayor Bud Clayton, who had been seeking re-election, resulted in an outpouring of grief among members of council, township staff, as well as the township as a whole.

It also set in motion a chain reaction that has affected the mayor's race and the race in at least one of the wards. As we reported last week, Ron Higgins pulled his name as a candidate in Ward 2 and is running for mayor against Claudio Valentini. This guarantees that the new mayor will have no Council experience.

Once the dust settled last Friday, all the current members of council are running for re-election, although two have shuffled to new wards.

In Ward 1, incumbents Wayne Good and Fred Perry are both seeking re-election, and at the last minute, Lonnie Watkins, who is currently one of the councilors in Ward 2 submitted his name to run in Ward 1.

In Ward 2, Vernon Hermer and incumbent Gerry Martin were joined in the race by Betty Hunter, who is a current member of Council from Ward 3.

Meanwhile, in Ward 3, Denis Bedard and Fred Fowler are running, as is incumbent John Inglis.

QUIET RACE IN ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS

There were no last-minute changes to the race in Addington Highlands. The two candidates for reeve, Gerald Bray and long-time incumbent Henry Hogg both put their names in early in the year (Hogg doing so on January 2, the earliest opportunity).

In Ward 2 incumbents Bill Cox and Helen Yanch have been acclaimed to another term in office.

There is a four-way race in Ward 1, however. Eythel Grant and Alice Madigan stepped forward in early August, and Kirby Thompson and incumbent Tony Fritsch jumped in at the beginning of September.

CENTRAL FRONTENAC

In Central Frontenac, there was one late change, as Kirby Bertrim withdrew his name for Hinchinbooke ward.

There remains a two-way race for mayor between incumbent Janet Gutowski and long-time councilor Frances Smith, as well as crowded races in all four wards. The four-way race in Kennebec features Tom Dewey (incumbent), Cindy Kelsey, Jeff Matson (incumbent) and Logan Murray.

There are five candidates in Olden: Justin Gray, Victor Heese, John Purdon (incumbent), Jamie Riddell, and Cory Thompson.

There are five candidates in Oso as well: Bill MacDonald, Wayne Millar (incumbent), Bob Olmstead, Dennis Scott, and Sherry Whan.

There are also five candidates in Hinchinbrooke: Brent Cameron, Heather Fox (incumbent), Jim Lowery, Sharon Shepherd, and Phillip Smith (incumbent).

TRUSTEE RACES JOINED

Steve Magee was looking like the only candidate to replace Ann Goodfellow on the Limestone Board from South and North Frontenac and Addington Highlands, but with two days to go before the deadline, two others joined the race. They are David Kendall and Karen McGregor.

Wendy Procter is being contested for her long-held position as trustee for the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic School Board for Frontenac and L&A Counties by Jodi Cameron.

TAY VALLEY ACCLAMATIONS - NOT QUITE.

Until the last minute, South Sherbrooke ward incumbents Mark Burnham and Roxanne Darling were walking to re-election, but just before the deadline Neil Bova spoiled the party and put his name in, sparking an election campaign. As well, the race for deputy reeve is on now, as Mick Wicklum decided to contest incumbent Brian Campbell.

LANARK HIGHLANDS – three late candidates to fill empty seat

Until a day or two before the nomination period closed, there were no candidates for the Ward 5 council position in Lanark Highlands (formerly North Sherbrooke Township)

Then three people came forward: Bret Hogue, Jeannie Kelso, and Larry McPhee.

There is also a race for mayor between incumbent Peter McLaren and Brian Stewart and for deputy mayor between John Hall and Bob Mingie.

For a list of all-candidates meetings, click here.

The County of Frontenac will accept nominations for the 2014 International Day of Persons with Disabilities Access Award until October 30, 2014.

Community members are encouraged to nominate those individuals and organizations in the Frontenacs who are going above and beyond to help enable persons with disabilities equal access to opportunities within the County.

“Eliminating barriers and promoting inclusion is crucial to building resilient communities,” says Denis Doyle, Deputy Warden of the County of Frontenac. “This award helps bring awareness to accessibility issues across the County and celebrates the forward-thinking people and organizations who are making important, tangible differences every day.”

The County, in partnership with the Frontenac Accessibility Advisory Committee (FAAC), created this award in 2013 to recognize persons, groups or organizations that have made or are making a significant contribution beyond legislated requirements, towards improving access for persons with disabilities in the County of Frontenac.

Improving Access can include the design of new or renovated buildings, an employment program, a transportation system, a recreational or leisure program, or anything that contributes significantly to persons with disabilities living independently.

Nomination forms can be found at www.frontenaccounty.ca and can be submitted at the County Administration Office or at any Township Administration Office.

The winner will be announced at December’s County Council meeting with a luncheon to follow. For more information about this award, visit www.frontenaccounty.ca or contact Jannette Amini, Manager of Legislative Services/Clerk at 613-548-9400 ext. 302 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..