Sydenham: No More Water Exemptions

The township has recently received new enquiries requesting exemption from the Sydenham Water system. These may have been triggered by the recent increase in water rates: by 2016, a non-exempt residence that is not hooked up and/or is not using the water system will be charged a monthly rate of $104.57, vs the exempt rate of $66.37, a difference of $458.40 per year.

When the system was being set up, exemption requests were considered by Council on an individual basis if the cost to connect were deemed to be “unduly burdensome for the owner.” Total costs including frontage charges and well abandonment had to total more than $25,000. Only a few exemptions were granted.

Some applicants claim their request for exemption was never answered. Current staff can find no records to confirm or deny this. CAO Orr says the original intent of the exemption process appears to have been tied to the debenture calculation, which was finalized several years ago.

Council passed, without discussion, a bylaw revoking the exemption by-laws of 2002 and 2008, stating that they bewlieve all previous applications for exemptions under these by-laws were considered at the time, and that any outstanding exemption requests under these by-laws will be considered denied. The vote was unanimous, with the exception of Councillor McPhail, who abstained.

Long Swamp Road Closed

Public Works Manager Segsworth was granted permission to temporarily close the seasonally maintained Long Swamp Road, pending assessment of the structural integrity of the bridge, and the costs necessary to maintain the existing structure. The bridge is due to be replaced within the next 6-10 years, at an estimated cost of $400,000. However, it has been completely submerged this spring because of the heavy runoff, and there are concerns that the wooden plank decking may have been seriously damaged. Segsworth expects to have a report on the state of the bridge by the July 8 Council meeting.

Council also approved the Public Services Committee’s recommendation “that staff engage additional resources to develop criteria and identify liability with regards to increasing service levels on partially maintained roads.”

Energy Management Plan

Council endorsed Public Works’ Energy Management Plan: Segsworth introduced the ten-page document, a plan required by the Provincial Green Energy Act, by saying “It’s the right thing to do.” The plan will be published on the Township website and paper copies will be available by July 1st.

Cell Towers

Council endorsed Madawaska Township’s motion asking the Federal government to implement a moratorium on installation of cell towers and antennae until they have accepted a safety code that considers “the biological, non-thermal effects of microwave technology on the health of Canadians,” and until it “adopts a truly democratic process for locating new cell towers.”

‘Glendower' Now Official

Council passed a motion brought forward by Councillor Barr from the Bedford Recreation Committee, to replace the old sign on the district hall with one that reads, “Glendower Hall, Township of South Frontenac.”

Property owners appeal for boat launch

Even though he was not on the agenda as a delegate, Kevin Browne, president of the Sharbot Lake Property Owners' Association, was allowed to address council at their meeting on Tuesday afternoon (May 27

Browne talked about an issue that has been simmering among property owners on the east basin of Sharbot Lake for some time, and has come to the forefront this spring because of high water levels.

Although there is a public boat launch at what is known as the government dock on the west basin of Sharbot Lake and a boat launch on Road 38, also on the west basin, there is no boat launch on the east basin.

“I don't think I've heard about access to the east basin as an issue in the past. Is this something new?” asked Councilor John Purdon.

“The issue is that people with bigger boats are having trouble accessing the east basin,” said Councilor Wayne Millar, “and it is more of an issue this year because of high water levels on the underpass.”

“We have looked at the lake. I think what it will boil down to is finding a suitable location and perhaps looking at the cost of ownership,” said Public Works Manager Mike Richardson.

“I have two locations where you may be able to look at something,” said Kevin Browne, presenting a map to Mike Richardson. "As far as the need for a boat launch, there is a convenience factor, there is the fact that emergency vehicles can't access the east basin, and you have the septic pumping issue. We are one of the few lakes without access. We don't need a dock, we don't need parking, just a place to get our boats in the water.”

Council decided to refer the matter to staff to look at.

“I guess we should take a boat ride,” Richardson said to Kevin Browne. “If we can get one on the lake."

Culverts instead of a bridge

On the advice of Public Works Manager Richardson, Council accepted a proposal from Fidelity Engineering to put in two 1500 mm wide culverts in place of the Johnston Road bridge, at a cost of $87,236. Since the bridge project had a budget of $330,000 the township will move on to the next bridge on the replacement list, the Fall River Road bridge, with a view towards completing its construction in 2014.

Gravel tender

Council accepted the only tender for the supply and placement of gravel on various roads, from Crains' Construction for $228,000, which is well under the budgeted amount of $285,000.

“I guess all the other bidders were tired of losing out on the contract,” said Mike Richardson, referring to the fact that Crains' has won the contract in previous years.

Chip Truck Competition
Aubrey Francis, proprietor of a chip truck in Harrowsmith since 2008, expressed concern That another chip wagon has been permitted to open in the village less than a kilometre away. In his opinion, he had not been notified of a recent bylaw change that allows these businesses to be operated within 500 metres of each other. Mayor Davison pointed out that the bylaw amendment that Francis was referring to had been in effect since 2002; six years before Francis started his business. Councillor Robinson asserted that Council should close the second chip wagon, because Harrowsmith was not large enough to support two identical businesses. Mayor Davison responded that Council is bound by the by-laws it has established.
Energy Management Plan
Public Works Manager Segsworth reminded Council that in 2013, a regulation of the Green Energy Act required each Municipality to create a five-year energy management plan by July 1st, 2014. As a first step his department has collated all energy consumption data for 2011, for all Municipal facilities that use electricity, propane and/or furnace oil for heating, cooling or general operations. This will be used as a baseline for developing a plan to reduce energy consumption, with the goal of minimizing environmental impact.
The plan will come before Council for endorsement next week, then will be posted, along with the energy consumption data, on the Township website by July 1st.
Partially Maintained Township Roads
“Historically, we’ve done ‘em the way we’ve done ‘em,” said Segsworth, describing the vague and unrecorded decisions that have, over many years, led to varied levels of partial maintenance on at least 42 scraps of township roads. (Two examples: Gully Road, connecting Freeman to Boundary is not open in the winter, and for most of its length barely one vehicle wide, and Little Long Lake which has 200 metres of swamp separating its two ends.) Now faced with increasing pressure for better upkeep, the Roads department has inventoried these roads. Rather than continue with ad hoc upgrades, Segsworth asked Council to consider engaging additional resources to develop criteria and identify liability with regard to increasing service levels on partially maintained roads.
In a separate report, he said that the additional repair of winter damage on twenty other Township roads will draw $50,000 to $100,000 from the 2014 operating budget, which may require a review of spending priorities
at the end of the third quarter.
New Provincial Planning Policies: Planner
Lindsay Mills reported that on April 30, a lengthy new Provincial Planning Policy statement came into effect. This controls, to some degree, what the Municipality can or cannot do within its zoning by-laws. Mills mentioned new buzz-words such as “production of food and fibre”, “resilient” and “freight supportive”, but made no attempt to interpret them. He listed eighteen general notes on the policies, some of which he described as vague and open to interpretation.
He added that in spite of this, much of the text “appears to be designed for good intentions such as protecting natural heritage and endangered species from encroaching development.” In summary he says that; “It remains to be seen how this policy…will be interpreted to allow development to move forward in South Frontenac and the province as a whole.”

In spite of a plan to “park” $3.5 million in reserves in a number of different funds as they had agreed among themselves to do two weeks earlier at a Committee of the Whole meeting, Frontenac County Council got cold feet at a formal council meeting last Wednesday May 21.

They decided to defer a motion allocating the money until they have a chance to talk about it at least one more time. It will remain in a temporary parking spot as an unallocated reserve fund for at least another month.

The proposal from the Committee of the Whole was to place $2.1 million in a strategic planning fund as follows: $100,000 to Waste Management Planning; $1.5 million to seniors' projects; and $500,000 for economic development. Another $200,000 was to go for Asset Management requirements; $340,000 for capital commitments under cost sharing agreements; $380,000 towards the Frontenac Renovates Program; $30,000 for land acquisition as part of the trails development initiative, $154,000 for community improvement plans; and $100,000 for energy efficiency programs.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle was the first to suggest that the proposal should be deferred.

“We said all along we would not complete the reserve discussion before we finalize our strategic plan, which won't happen until June 18,” he said.

Councilor John McDougall, referring to a long range planning presentation earlier in the meeting by new County Chief Administrator Kelly Pender, said, “I think it is premature to do this now."

Although he supported the deferral, Councilor David Jones said, “If we don't make these decisions soon we are going to be managed out of our chair here. We have to commit ourselves to finishing this and finishing it fast before our time runs out.”

Councilor John Purdon said, “We are not moving too fast or too slow; we are just not moving at all. We are only parking money, one way or another.”

Councilor John Inglis agreed. “I see value in adopting this plan, we are not actually spending any money.”

Nonetheless, the motion to defer was approved.   

New Building By-Law

Chief Building Official Brian Gass introduced a proposed update of the Building Code, which will reflect Provincial policy changes regarding construction. Among the highlights, the new by-law will; 1) allow staff to accept an incomplete permit application so construction can begin while staff are processing the permit; 2) allow staff, in the future, to accept electronic permit applications, once the department has the necessary hardware, software and staffing; 3) facilitate the process of closing building permits and abandoned permit applications.

The proposed new fees will raise the present fee of $10./thousand of project value to $14, and include a ‘reasonable’ increase to solar, wood stove ad demolition permit fees. The current fee schedule is 16 years old: the changes better reflect the true costs of delivering building department services.

During the public meeting, only one person commented: John McEwen spoke of his concerns around the issue of waterproofing both new and existing structures.

Copies of the new building by-law, which Council approved, are available at the Township office.

Rutledge Road Reconstruction

Mark Segsworth recommended K. Mulrooney Trucking’s low bid of $1,322,856 be accepted. References for Mulrooney gave mixed reviews: after having had discussions with the company concerning the very public nature of the project, staff were satisfied with the approach proposed by the contractor.

Due to the size and cost of the project, it has been divided into four parts; A) road and storm sewers from the bridge to Stormhaven Lane and sidewalk on the south side between the High School and Hillside; B) extension of south side sidewalk west to the bridge; C) installation of intermodal bike lane on the boulevard, adjacent to the proposed sidewalk; D) removing and reconfiguring the Mill Street sidewalk “to achieve a vertical alignment more suitable for accessibility purposes.”

Hydro One Permission

Council Granted Hydro One permission to use Garlon as part of its vegetation management program, on the condition that Hydro One reviews the program with Township staff, advises adjacent property owners in advance of spraying, and does no spraying adjacent to organic farming operations.

Pool Fence By-Law

As a result of changing the building by-law, the pool by-law needs to be updated: with the exception of minor wording changes, the technical aspects of how the existing by-law requires a fence around a pool have not changed.

Photo Contest Winners

CAO Orr announced the winners of the township’s photo contest; First - ‘Sugar Bush’ by Tracey Holand; Second - ‘Happy Kayaker on Sydenham Lake’ by Robert E. Charest; Third - ‘4 friends snowshoe against rock face’ by Robert Webster. These can be viewed on the Township website, along with some of the other 105 entries.

South Frontenac Museum

Council made a motion to accept the Portland Historical Association’s carrying out the preliminary investigations in advance of a final decision of opening a Township museum. Councillor McDougall will coordinate a joint meeting of community members interested in preserving local history.

Tappin's Landing dock to be upgraded

The Mazinaw Property Owners' Association (MPOA) has been meeting with North Frontenac staff to develop a plan for the expansion of the township-owned docking facility at Tappin's Landing, which is a major access point for the public and for water access property owners on Mazinaw Lake in both North Frontenac and Addington Highlands.

The association approached the township last August about the project, at which time they said they expected they could raise enough money to build an expansion to the dock.

Up to 80 cars can be parked at the landing on busy summer weekends, according to Deputy Mayor Fred Perry, and the township gave the MPOA leave to develop the project.

On April 15, MPOA President Arndt Kruger advised the township that that the MPOA has raised enough funds to complete the construction. Cory Klatt, the manager of community development for the township, has met with Kruger on site and ensured that all the necessary hoops are being followed in the construction of a township asset.

At their meeting this week the township agreed to spend $600, as requested by MPOA, on the construction. Addington Highlands has committed $3,000 to the project.

Starting next year, North Frontenac will be putting money aside to replace the bridge in about ten years' time.

Community speakers series

John McDougall and Tracy John attended the meeting on behalf of the Sustainability Advisory Committee of Frontenac County. The committee is that proposing that a Community Speakers Series be established, with at least one event being held in each of the four Frontenac townships.

“Hosting an evening in each township means the subject matter will vary by event and be relevant to local residents,” said John McDougall.

Among potential topics are: A Homeowner's Helper (healthy homes, solar water heaters, etc); Developing Resilient Communities (car share programs, encouraging volunteerism, etc); Living Naturally, Living Locally (seed banks and heritage foods, eating locally in the winter, etc.); and A Climate Conscious Community (greening for local business, lake management plans, etc.)

“What we are looking for from you is some idea of topics that might work in North Frontenac,” said McDougall.

“I don't see much about climate change coming from the committee. I would think that adapting to climate change is going to be the key issue in the coming years,” said Mayor Bud Clayton.

Councilor John Inglis said that he has been tracking the temperature regularly at his property since 1994 as part of a program sponsored by Environment Canada and “there has been a clear upward trend over that period,” he said.

“But I think that climate change is an issue on such a broad scale that I wonder what we can do about it as a committee,” he said.

Mayor Clayton asked that members of Council bring ideas for speakers to him, and council endorsed the speakers series as a concept.

NF to join the social media revolution

In order to help publicize the Dark Skies events and ongoing use of the township observation pad on Road 506, Council agreed to set up the first North Frontenac Township-sponsored Facebook site. The site will be accessible on its own and through Northfrontenac.com. It will be managed by a volunteer, although the possibility of township staff working on social media functions was addressed.

IT/911 co-ordinator Evan Sepa, who brought the idea to Council, said the potential for staffing costs devoted to social media may become an issue in the future, but that all depends on the number of messages that a township Facebook page receives. For now, there is no cost.

Wine at farmers markets a slippery slope to wine at chip wagons, Clayton warns

Council expressed understanding but little support for a request from Dr. Ian Gemmill of KFL&A Public Health that they back out of a pilot program that allows the sale of VQAO wine at farmers' markets.

Mayor Clayton, who is the Frontenac County representative to the board of KFL&A Public Health, said “It starts with farmers' markets but when you follow through to the end stage you are looking at wine for sale at chip trucks; and can you see someone running a chip truck refusing a sale because of age?” he said “I'm just using this as an example, but you can see where this is leading.”

Noting that VQAO wine is an Ontario-produced product, and that wine and beer are sold in stores in most jurisdictions, Council decided to receive Dr. Gemmill's request for information instead of adopting it. Mayor Clayton's was the only vote against the motion.

Speed bylaw

A road speed bylaw was approved, although councilors questioned the wisdom of a 40 km per hour limit throughout entire hamlets.

“I tried this morning and had trouble going 40 through Plevna,” said Councilor Gerry Martin.

Public Works Manager Jim Phillips said he will be refining the bylaw by looking at specific sections of road. “I can see Plevna at 60 on the two ends and 40 in the school zone,” he said.

Feature Article January 27, 2005

Feature article January 27, 2005

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Community Reinvestment Funding: municipal officials want province to live up to its commitments.

By Jeff Green

As the four mayors who make up the County of Frontenac Council contemplate levying a 10% tax increase, they are expressing increasing frustration over the unwillingness of the provincial government to live up to their commitments under the Community Reinvestment Funding (CRF) program.

Community Reinvestment Funding is a program that was set up in 1998 to compensate municipal governments for the cost of delivering a range of services that were formerly delivered by the province itself. These services include policing, non-profit housing, Ontario Works, Childcare, and others. The CRF program was designed to pay an amount to the municipalities each year that was based on the previous years costs for delivering the services, then to be reconciled against the actual costs as they are determined. However, CRF funding was frozen at 2002 levels by the Conservative government. Since the election for the Liberals, municipalities have been arguing that CRF funds need to be reconciled for the 2003 and 2004 taxation years, and through the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), they have been participating with the Ministry of Finance in a process to modernize the CRF program.

As budget time for 2005 approaches, the Ministry of Finance sent a letter to municipalities. The letter says that the province is still considering a range of options and recommendations arising from the work of the CRF committee.

It also says we are announcing a stable funding guarantee for 2005 that will ensure that, as a minimum, each municipality will receive at least as much funding in 2005 as they have received to date through the CRF for 2004. In the letter, the Ministry also invites AMO to participate in a focussed consultation with provincial officials that will lead to the announcement of a new funding model in March of 2005.

What worries municipal politicians about this is the lack of a commitment to turn over the reconciliation dollars for 2003 and 2004.

Describing the problem, Frontenac County Warden Bill MacDonald said, In the case of Frontenac County, there is a shortfall of over $1.33 million for costs incurred in 2003 and 2004. This equates to approximately $56 per $100,000 of assessment this year for the CRF underfunding alone.

Elizabeth Fulton, the Chief Administrative Officer for Frontenac County, said that in response to the Ministry letter, municipalities may direct AMO not to conduct further discussions with the government before reconciliation for 2003 and 2004 takes place.

The fear is that the province will try to embark on a new funding scheme that will come into effect for the 2005 or even the 2006 taxation year without compensating municipal taxpayers for the overburdening they have faced over the past two years.

The province is acting like an individual who goes out to get a second mortgage and pretends that their first mortgage doesnt exist, MacDonald told his own Central Frontenac Council this week.

MacDonald had hoped to meet with senior members of the provincial Cabinet and Premier McGuinty on Friday of last week at a session organized between the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus and the provincial government in Kingston last Friday, but an emergency Cabinet meeting was called for that day. The Wardens Caucus met instead with four back bench MPPs from Eastern Ontario.

At that time the Wardens Caucus told the MPPs, We expect a firm commitment from the government to pay municipalities the amounts owed by February 21, 2005. We are all trying to do our budgets and we must be assured that we will not be short-changed by the province again, said Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus Vice Chair and Warden of Lennox and Addington County Clayton McEwen.

All told, the Eastern Ontario Wardens estimate it will cost the province $12 million to pay the money they owe to the 12 Eastern Ontario counties. According to Bill MacDonald, it will cost the province $250 million province-wide.

In an interview this week, MacDonald said he thinks it is the provincial governments fixation with eliminating the provincial deficit in short order that lies at the root of their reluctance to come up with the money for CRF reconciliation.

They are trying to bring the deficit down from $5.6 to $2 billion in one year, MacDonald said. It took eight years to build up the deficit. Why dont they eliminate it over time? At the same time, they are focussing on Healthcare and Education. I may be a simple country mayor, but I say you can have the best hospitals and the best schools in the world, but if you dont have decent roads to drive on youll never get to either of them.

Feature article, March 25, 2005

Feature article March 25 2005

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Central Frontenac Council considering 2% tax rate decrease - and notes from Council

by Jeff Green

In their penultimate kick at the budget can, Central Frontenac Council has, through a straw vote, given tentative approval to a 2% decrease in the tax rate for ratepayers.

The decrease in taxation has come about in spite of two key factors. The township actually has a marginally lower amount of property assessment to apply the tax rate to in 2005 because the bulk of properties have has their assessments frozen for the year. Secondly, the County of Frontenac levy, which accounts for about 20% of the Central Frontenac, came in at an 8.7% increase, and the Education levy, accounting for another 20%, was the same as 2004.

So, before beginning their deliberation on the 60% of the budget that they actually control, Council was already looking at a 1.7% increase. In order to come out with a 2% decrease, it was necessary to curtail their own requirements from taxation by 6%.

To do so required savings from various departments. As well, the potential cost to the township that will come about only if it is successful in a grant application to a Federal/Provincial infrastructure program for repairs to Road 38 will be financed through a debenture, a financing of the project over time.

The township cannot finalise their budget until they receive information on policing costs, and have been using last years numbers for policing in their budgetary considerations thus far.

As well, through the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus, the township has been lobbying for monies that were supposed to be paid to it through the Community Reinvestment Funding (CRF) program, which is supposed to compensate municipalities for the cost of providing services downloaded to them from the Province. The funds are forwarded each year based on previous years costs, and were supposed to be topped up to the actual costs at the end of the year. This has not happened for 2004, and would mean a boon to the township if indeed the Province comes through with the money. Central Frontenac will complete their budget for 2005 in the next few weeks, and any additional monies that may come through the so called CRF reconciliation will go into a reserve fund for the 2005 budget year.

Council will have on more budget meeting, and the budget with then be passed at a regular Council meeting, presumably sometime in late April or early May.

Regular Central Frontenac Council meeting

Central Frontenac Council had a light agenda for their March 22 meeting, partly because they had met just eight days earlier, and that allowed them to spend more time than they normally might have on items of minor financial significance.

? A request came to the township for $100 as a contribution towards a memorial passageway onboard HMCS Cataraqui to honour 52 Kingston area Naval Officers who died in the service of Canada during the 2nd World War.

I would like to see us support this, said Councillor Frances Smith. I think we should keep in mind what these people did for us. But I dont think this should come from Municipal dollars, said Councillor Bob Harvey.

As the discussion carried on, it became clear that while the Councillors did not want to appear disrespectful towards officers who had given their lives for their country, they were reluctant to spend municipal money on the project.

Finally, Mayor MacDonald suggested sending a letter of support and forwarding the funding request on to the Legions in Arden and Sharbot Lake. This allowed Council to avoid voting no to the request without having to spend the $100.

? Later a request from the Tweed News for Central Frontenac to renew a page ad in a tourist brochure they produce for distribution throughout the summer was considered. Councillor Bill Guigue, an outspoken opponent of this expenditure last year, has not mellowed over time.

I know this will pass, but I was against it last year and Im against it this year, he said. Lets look at the ad. What does it say? We have dining and accommodations, beautiful scenery, shopping, those are all unique to Central Frontenac. For $160 we are not getting our monies worth.

Nonetheless, as Bill Guigue predicted, Council decided to renew the ad.

? Unlike the HMCS Cataraqui and the Tweed News requests, a motion from the Town of Hanover was approved without debate, much to the surprise of Mayor Bill MacDonald.

The Town of Hanover requested support for a motion which asserts that Policing costs are getting beyond the ability to pay for most municipalities in Ontario, and that most of police budgets are made up of wages and benefits, negotiations for which do not include municipal politicians. It also asserts there are inequities in the way municipalities are treated in terms of capping on police costs and reconciliation through the Community Reinvestment Fund, and resolves that a municipal representative be appointed to take part in salary deliberations between the Province and Police and that the financial burden of policing be looked at as part of a Community Reinvestment review by the Province.

Mayor MacDonald asked Council how they could spend 15 minutes talking about $100 and 6 minutes talking about a $160 ad, but no time talking about policing, which cost $740,000 to the township this year.

We agreed with the motion, replied Francis Smith.

? Reports from ROMA: Several councillors attended the Rural Ontario Municipal Association Conference in Toronto last month, and were given an opportunity to report back. Councillors Nicolson, Murray, Guigue and Harvey attended. They all said it was a good opportunity to talk to other municipal politicians, and found the workshops useful. However, both Logan Murray and Bill Guigue said the format of the workshops did not foster an in depth consideration of any topic and questioned whether they will go back next year.

Mayor MacDonald said the conference gives an opportunity to meet with the decision makers on the provincial level. Without the attraction of a conference like this, it would be difficult to meet with so many provincial politicians. And if you think all the meetings we had with Ministers through our Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus were polite exchanges, you would be surprised. We said what we had to say.

? Zoning change: Earlier in the meeting, Marcel Giroux appeared as agent for David Seeds, who was looking for a zoning change which would allow the building of an accounting office on a lot on Elizabeth street that was zoned as residential. The small, 0.22 ha (0.54 ac) lot would require a planting strip in order to comply with comprehensive zoning by-law stipulations concerning locations where a commercial zone abuts a residential zone. A report by township planner Glenn Tunnock recommended approval of the application provided proper approval can be obtained from the Health Unit and there were no strong objections from any neighbours to the lot. A bylaw amending the zoning was passed.

? Two road allowance closures, one for King Stinchcombe and one for William Flint, were also approved

Feature article,April 21, 2005

Feature article April 21, 2005

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Fire Hall plan causes ireand other North Frontenac Council Matters

by Jeff Green

Bill Flieler, the former Reeve of Clarendon and Miller township, appeared as a delegate to North Frontenac Council last Thursday, April 13, and presented a petition signed by 314 people, expressing opposition to the planned building of a new fire hall at the old MNR site on Buckshot Lake Road at Plevna.

Chief among their concerns is the fact that the hall will be located several kilometres away from where it is now, at the township office on Road 506 between Ardoch and Plevna. For people who live in the Ardoch and Fernleigh areas, the new fire hall will be further from their homes, and Fleiler said that he has heard from one woman in particular, who lives on a fixed income, and has been told her insurance will go up $400 per year when the fire hall is moved.

In one of their preliminary reports, the Fire Hall Task Force claimed that the change in location would bring the fire hall closer to many properties, even as it becomes a longer drive to other locations. The Task Force concluded that the net outcome was neutral overall.

Flieler also argued that the current location was suitable, and said concerns about carbon monoxide in the township office could be alleviated by blocking of certain doors, and opening other doors. He also said the township office could move to the new location and the fire hall stay where it is for less money than is being contemplated for a new fire hall.

Finally, Flieler complained about a lack of public consultation on the fire hall, reading out an editorial from the April 7 edition of the Frontenac News, Wilma Kennys Rage Against the Municipal Machine.

On this matter, Councillor Will Cybulski responded by saying the fire hall issue and other public issues will be the subject of a public meeting on May 14 at the Barrie Hall, from 9 am to 12 pm.

A lot of the issues Mr. Flieler has brought up will be addressed at that meeting, Cybulski said.

Councillor Bud Clayton said I think Bill is stating his own opinion. Its [the new fire hall] not a done deal by any means.

Later in the meeting, council considered two proposals out of the five it has received in response to a Request For Proposal that had been circulated for the design of a new fire hall. The consideration was complicated by the fact that the lowest, and most compelling bid, was accompanied by an un-requested proposal for a pre-fabricated building to be attached to the existing building on the MNR site, which is to be renovated.

Several councillors thought the prefabricated building might be a good option, but it was not what had been requested in the request for proposal document.

Eventually it was decided that other bidders be given the opportunity to make proposals for a prefabricated building, and a revised Request for Proposal will be prepared.

We have made a firm decision not to decide, said Councillor Cybulski afterwards.

The proposal that includes a prefabricated building would cost about $24,000 for the design contract, but the estimated cost of the project would approach $400,000. Originally the Fire Hall Task Force had been hoping to provide a new fire hall for $300,000. $100,000 has been committed to the project by the Clar/Mill Fire Ladies Auxiliary, and the township will have to finance the rest if the project is approved.

A final decision will not happen until the budgetary implications are looked at, and the public meeting on May 14 takes place.

Other Council matters:

Sunday gun hunting prohibition remains

Councillors Dick Hook and Dave Smith were absent from last weeks meeting, and this might have been a factor in a decision by Council to reject a call from the Ministry of Natural Resources to allow gun hunting on Sundays during the various hunting seasons. Most on Council were sceptical about the claim this would help deal with nuisance deer, saying an expanded season or an increase or increasing the number of doe tags would be much more effective.

The voting broke down along hunter/non-hunter lines. Mayor Maguire, Deputy Mayor Lemke, and Councillor Hunter opposed Sunday gun hunting, and Councillors Clayton and Cybulski voted in favour. The motion was defeated.

SPEED LIMIT BYLAW FINALLY PASSED: After delaying third reading on two occasions so the bylaw could be clarified, Council passed the new speed limit bylaw, stipulating all 50 km/hr zones within the township. The list of 50 km/h zones has been posted on the townships website. Signs will be posted and the OPP will be notified so they can enforce the bylaw when they are present in the township.

POLICING: The Policing Task Force had been committed to bringing in its final report but Councillor Cybulski asked for more time, saying he had not as yet received all the required information. It is highly unlikely, however, that the Task Force will recommend changing from the current policing system, known as Status Quo Policing, to a formal policing contract. Contract policing would be too expensive.

ONTARIO MUNICIPAL PARTNERSHIP FUND CAO/Treasurer Cheryl Robson told Council that she is still looking for detailed explanation as to how the new Ontario Municipal Partnership fund will work, and how much money the township can expect to receive through the fund in future years. She said she will be meeting with other treasurers in the coming weeks and will bring whatever information she can gather to the budget process that is currently underway in North Frontenac.

Feature article,April 7, 2005

Feature article April 7, 2005

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Province announces new plan for transfers to Municipalities

by Jeff Green

Its a case of good news today, but suspicion and nervousness for the future as rural municipalities evaluate a funding announcement last week by the Ontario Ministry of Finance.

The long-standing question of whether the Province would live up to funding commitments made for the 2003 and 2004 fiscal year has been resolved, and this was welcome news for municipal politicians.

In South Frontenac, there will be a one-time payment of $393,000 for 2003 and 2004 costs; in Central Frontenac the total is $357,000, but in North Frontenac it is only $35,000. Addington Highlands will receive $51,000.

Ensuring that the Province paid the outstanding bills was both a matter of principle and of course an important financial issue for us, said Central Frontenac Mayor and County of Frontenac Warden Bill MacDonald.

Still, MacDonald will recommend that Central Frontenac Council keeps the new money in reserve until they determine what the medium to long term implications of a new funding formula are.

Under a new funding transfer program, called the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund, announced the same day, the townships will receive a significant increase in 2005.

The old program, called the Community Reinvestment Fund, was set up to compensate municipalities for costs incurred to provide services that had been downloaded to them from the Province, such as social housing, Ontario Works, land ambulance, and policing.

The Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund is different. It contains four components, two of them relating directly to downloaded services, one which relates to the limited tax base in rural municipalities, and the fourth which gives grants for northern and rural communities in recognition of their unique challenges according to a Ministry of Finance Media Release.

Working through the documentation provided by the government for each township has proven difficult for municipal officials in the few days since the new formula was announced and figures were provided.

Township of South Frontenac Treasurer Debbie Bracken said The problem is there are still a lot of grey areas in the new formula. It would have been nice if they had sat down with us and explained what they were planning to do before presenting numbers to us.

For 2005, the municipalities will receive an increase in funding that amounts to about $80 per household more than they received last year.

In South Frontenac, that means $1.1 million (an increase of $752,000 over what was received last year); in Central Frontenac $1.34 million (an increase of $311,000); in North Frontenac $350,000 (an increase of 262,000); and in Addington Highlands $969,000 (an increase of $218,000).

This looks like a boon for municipal coffers, but municipal officials are concerned with whats missing from the new formula.

Bob Sweet, the chair of the Eastern Ontario Wardens Caucus, a group that lobbied hard for changes, notes, There is no recognition of the spiralling costs of land ambulance, or the funding pressures the Counties face with their thousands of social housing units, nor any support for our decaying roads and bridges in the new arrangement.

Bill MacDonald noted that the arrangement as far as policing is concerned is much more expensive for municipalities than it was supposed to be under the old formula, although the Province never did live up to their end of that bargain.

Under the old model, the cost of policing to municipalities was supposed to be capped at $90 per household, although MacDonald said, In reality Central Frontenac was paying more like $130 per household.

The new formula calls for municipalities to pay all costs up to $150 per household, and poorer rural municipalities will be rebated for 50% of the costs over that figure.

The documentation that accompanied the announcement included wildly different figures for the costs of Policing in different municipalities. For instance, the costs of policing in Addington Highlands is listed at $261 per household, Central Frontenac at $207, North Frontenac at $69, and South Frontenac at $179.

Addington Highlands and South Frontenac have policing contracts, so it is hard to compare their costs with those in Central and North Frontenac, but Central and North Frontenac have identical arrangements and are served by the same detachment, so one township paying three times what the other is paying on a per capita basis is hard to understand.

In fact, the figures used in the Allocation Notice that has been sent out to townships didnt add up for South Frontenac Treasurer I wasted a couple of hours trying to make sense of it, and then decided to wait until they organized some technical briefings, she said, pointing out, for example, that the number of households in South Frontenac are pegged in the document at 9,193 when the current figures for 2005 are over 9,300.

All of these unknowns have led Bill MacDonald to say he wont recommend including any of this money in the 2005 budget deliberations of Central Frontenac.

For one thing, we havent seen any money yet. I would recommend we be very cautious, because we have no guarantee whats going to happen next year. MacDonald summed up his attitude towards the provincial announcement by saying, We havent chewed this long enough to know what the taste is.

Municipal politicians, and municipal treasurers, will be looking to filling in some of the gaps in their understanding of the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund before they begin either spending the money or lowering taxes.