Valdy indeed filled Grace Hall last Saturday night, with both his music and an enthusiastic audience. Beginning with his classic, ‘Play me a Rock & Roll Song’, he went on to show us just how satisfying an evening of real folk singing can be.

An accomplished musician, Valdy’s guitar playing was rich and complex, with wonderful rhythms. His songs were full of warmth, humour and great stories. He related to his listeners with a comfortable familiarity.

Some came with armloads of well-loved Valdy records for him to sign, which he did as if he had all the time in the world, although some of us knew he had a three-hour drive still ahead of him that night, and a short sleep before an afternoon gig in Halliburton.

South Frontenac Council met as a Committee of the Whole on Saturday morning (November 12) to go over the 2017 township budget. Parts of the budget had been brought to committee meetings as far back as early September, but this was the first time the entire package was presented. The budget numbers were no surprise, as the township has embarked on a 10 year budget and infrastructure plan which calls for an increase of 2.2% per year over that time. The biggest structural change in this years budget is a revenue neutral change for the township which will, however, impact some ratepayers.

The township is scrapping a $180 waste management user fee to each household. The revenue that those fees generated (about $1.2 million) will now come from general taxation. What that means for ratepayers is those whose property is valued under the township average of about $250,000 will end up paying more than $180 towards the waste management budget and those who's property is worth less will pay less.

Aside from that change, staff proposed some cuts to the budget to meet the 2.2% target. These include the following cuts: a 35,000 grant for Ken Garrett Park, a $35,000 grant to the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation (which was only to be enacted if Frontenac County decided not to support the agency this year), $53,000 in public works staffing costs for a mechanic and a light equipment operator, $50,000 that was to be placed in a reserve fund for the Frontenac Arena, and $6,600 for operating costs for an outdoor movie screen at Harrowsmith Park. The total cuts amounts to a savings of $180,327.

The net result of all those changes is to bring in a budget with an increase in the total levy to ratepayers for township purposes of about $750,000 this year. That increase is covered by new assessment (ie growth) of 0.85% and from the 2.2% average tax increase.

Among other changes that were made to some of the budget proposals that came to Council earlier in the process was a scrapping of the plan to repair and resurface the Sunbury and Westport Roads, multi-million dollar projects that were to be financed through borrowing. $150,000 has remained in the 2017 budget for engineering work on Sunbury Road, which will make it “shovel ready” should a large infrastructure grant become available.

Among major road projects still on the books this year are two large jobs. One is the Harrowsmith intersection upgrade and reconfiguration which will cost over $1.5 million all told, with $1 million of that coming from 2017 taxes. The other is the Bedford Road north of Sydenham which will cost $1 million to upgrade. Another $600,000 will be spent on Green Bay bridge #28, $350,000 on Randy Clark Road, $300,000 on Buck Bay Road, and $250,000 on Bradshaw Road.

The largest project on a township building is a $1 million project at the Storrington Centre, of which $550,000 will come from 2017 taxation and the rest from reserve funds. That project includes accessible washrooms, an updated septic system, parking lot improvements, retrofitting, a kitchen upgrade and space reconfiguration.

At the meeting on Saturday, there were two additional requests for funding that were considered. One came from Mike Nolan of the Tett Park Association. Tett Road runs off of Perth Road near the border with the Township of Rideau Lakes. On behalf of the association, Nolan asked that the road be paved and that streetlights be installed at the junction of Tett and Perth Roads. Council instructed Treasurer Louise Fragnito to put $10,000 in the budget for the street lights but put off the paving project. The other request came from Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCS), which is looking for $25,000 to help cover some unexpected planning and building department fees from the township related to the new portables the agency has brought on to its Grace Centre site in Sydenham.

“We perceive the cost increases to be the result of major changes required by the Building Department. Many of these changes appear to have lacked clear communication and interpretation of building codes. This has also resulted in major deviations from our original plan,” said SFCS Executive Director David Townsend in a letter to Council.

Council referred the SFSC request to Chief Administrative Officer Wayne Orr, who will be talking to David Townsend about the situation.

The township budget will be on the agenda at the next regular Committee of the Whole meeting on November 22nd . A number of changes will be made based on recommendations from last Saturday's meeting.

The budget is set for adoption on December 3rd .

Council opened with a minute of silence in memory of Eileen Sleeth, recognized as one of South Frontenac’s 2016 Volunteers of the Year, and wife of Councillor Ron Sleeth.

Fees for Sale of Public Lands and Road Allowances

Deputy Mayor Sutherland and Mayor Vandewal disagreed sharply on the question of whether or not the current system of pricing closed road allowances was being “fairly and equitably” applied. Sutherland had brought a notice of motion proposing to ask the Corporate Services Committee to consider updating the formula for sale of public lands. Vandewal said “I think it (the current system) works well as it is, now.” Councilor John Mcdougall cautioned against legislating all the flexibility out of the process. When Sutherland said he thought the present system was unfair because Council has not always charged everyone at the same rate,

Vandewal asked “Didn’t you vote to reduce the Boy Scout Camp fee?” Sutherland accused the Mayor of being out of order. Eventually all but Vandewal and Roberts voted to refer the issue to the Corporate Services Board for a recommendation.

FIT Solar Resolution Support

Following David Hahn’s delegation at the last Committee of the Whole on behalf of Wintergreen Renewal Energy Cooperative, Council agreed to reconsider their decision not to support the Wintergreen project. They had previously rejected it because the applicants had not followed the required procedure in bringing their application forward. It was approved this time around.

Lobbying Strategy

The Township has been unsuccessful in obtaining grants or other financial support for major infrastructure funding, such as Sunbury Road and Road 38. Council agreed to ask the CAO to prepare a report recommending a Township lobbying strategy which might help bring our needs to the attention of Provincial and Federal officials.

Terms of Committee Chairs

Council passed an amendment to the Procedural bylaw clarifying that the Chairs of the Committee of Adjustment and South Frontenac Recreation Committee should serve for “no more than a period of two consecutive years.” This restriction will not apply to any of the other township committees.

Insurance RFP

The County issued a joint insurance RFP for all lower tiers as well as the County for insurance coverage, services and premiums. This RFP was structured to try to obtain cost savings by jointly selecting one server across all municipalities. However, because the savings by municipality were not consistently from the same provider, each municipality was left to select its own provider. South Frontenac chose JLT Canada’s bid of $230,000, for a savings of $102,014 for the next two years, with an option to extend it one more year, depending on “reasonable price adjustments and satisfactory service.”

New Building Official

The motion to appoint a new Chief Building Official was briefly introduced by Mayor Vandewal; “We all know about the new Building Official.” The motion passed. A reading of the bylaw reveals the person’s name is Ryan Arcand. There was no other information given. The bylaw is to take effect December 05/16.

No Development Services Manager

CAO Wayne Orr announced that no suitable candidate had been found for the newly created position of Manager of Developmental Services, and the position will be re-posted in the New Year. For the time being, the Planner/Deputy Clerk and the Chief Building Official will report directly to CAO Orr.

Fermoy Hall

Council agreed to release up to $5,000 of the $30,000 budgeted for Fermoy Hall so the electrical portion of the work can be done this year.

Search is on for Canada 150 Community Leader

Council has been tasked with choosing one or more local people to “act as official community voices in Canada 150 events in the municipality”. As the deadline is near, Councillor McDougall suggested that staff and Council make recommendations within a week. The list will be passed on to the Public Services Committee, for a final recommendation.

The Sydenham Golden Eagles Junior Football team got off to a great start in their game against the Frontenac Secondary School Falcons at Richardson Stadium in Kingston on Saturday afternoon (November 5). The two teams had been the class of the KASSAA (Kingston and Area Secondary School Athletics Association) League this year and were facing each other in the final.

The Golden Eagles got an early interception, and quickly scored a touchdown midway through the first quarter. They rode that momentum throughout the first half, and went to the locker room with a 12-2 lead at half time.

In the third quarter, however, the Frontenac Falcons began to establish their ground game, chewing up 5 or 6 yards a pop using effective mis-direction to keep the Sydenham Golden Eagles front line off balance. This in turn made their passing game more effective. Late in the third quarter they scored a touchdown, and after a successful conversion the score was Sydenham 12, Frontenac 9 as they headed into the 4^th quarter.

The Falcons defense kept shutting the Golden Eagles down, and while the Golden Eagles defence was able to keep them in the game, the Falcons marched down the field as time was running out. A final defensive stand by Sydenham prevented what would certainly have been a game winning touchdown, but the Falcons settled for a field goal with 2 minutes to go to tie the game at 12.

As the clock ran down, the Golden Eagles finally penetrated into the Falcons end. A punt at the buzzer made it into the Falcons end zone for a potential game winning safety but was easily run out to the 10 yard line by the returner.

In the overtime shootout both teams failed to score from the others 35 yard line on the first try.

Then on the second attempt, the Frontenac Falcons re-established their running game, earning two quick first downs. With the ball just outside of the ten yard line, a pass and run took them to the 2 yard line. That was all their front line needed, as they pushed the defensive line back on the next play and the ball was run into the end zone.

The Golden Eagles had one more chance but failed to get a first down, and it was over. They went down to a 19-12 season ending defeat.

With an undefeated season, and a close 2 point win in the semi-finals, it was successful season for Sydenham and will likely bring good results at the senior level over the next two years.

Last Saturday afternoon, a crowd of friends and co-workers gathered to honour Bert Korporaal on his retirement from 40 years of park work, the last 30 as Assistant Parks Superintendent of Frontenac Provincial Park.

Bert has played an important role in the development and preservation of Frontenac Park, a popular 12,000 acre wilderness in South Frontenac. A dedicated woodsman, he’s well known for his love of the outdoors and his willingness to go the extra mile to help others enjoy the trails, lakes and campsites. Many commented on his friendliness and generosity.

Part of Bert’s responsibility has been to protect the park: from poachers, rule-breaking fishers (the two, not four-legged ones — the park has both), illegal campers who build fires in the duff, and those who scatter garbage. He makes no compromises with law-breakers, and his memory is good.

Bert’s looking at a number of options for retirement and has had several job offers, but for the immediate future, plans to enjoy hunting season.

One-stop event on aging well for seniors, their families and caregivers November 18 and 19

The County of Frontenac is organizing the Frontenac Seniors Expo, a one-stop event on aging well for seniors, their families and caregivers, on November 18 and 19 in Sydenham and Sharbot Lake.

The Frontenac Seniors Expo takes place at the Grace Centre in Sydenham on Friday November 18 between 10 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. and at the St. James Major Church in Sharbot Lake on Saturday November 19 between 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 p..m. Admission is free with lunch provided. Keynote speaker is Rhonda Lovell of Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox & Addington (KFL&A) Public Health.
“The County is pleased to support a plan for age-friendly communities in Frontenac so that residents can live fulfilled lives without having to locate to urban centres,” said County of Frontenac Warden Frances Smith.

Earlier this fall, the County of Frontenac retained MMM Group Limited, a WSP consulting company, to assist with the preparation of an Age-Friendly Community Action Plan. This project is funded by the Government of Ontario. An age-friendly action plan sets out a framework for a community to improve its age-friendliness and ensure all residents can remain active members of the community at every stage of life.

For further information about the Frontenac Seniors Expo contact Anne Marie Young at 613-548-9400 extension 330 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The meeting began with a minute of silence for remembrance.

FIT 5.0 Solar Projects

Two proposals were brought to Council hoping for Township endorsement which, although not essential to the final project, can be a help in getting further approval. The Icarus (Rutledge Road) application will come forward to next week’s Council meeting for consideration. The second one, Soventex/Wintergreen, brought by David Hahn, had been turned down by last week’s Council meeting, on the grounds that they had not done the required preparatory presentation. They will therefore have to wait for a formal notice of motion to reopen the matter.

OMB Review

The province is seeking input into their current review of the OMB process. The Association of Municipalities has provided a position paper and a guide to the consultation. Described as “a dense document” by Councillor McDougall, this will be brought back for further discussion and recommendation at the next Committee of the Whole meeting, after Council members have some time to study it. The two core principles of the OMB reform seem to be: a greater role for municipalities, and the establishment of some form of adjudication process.

Committee Chair Term Appointments

Staff requested clarification of the policy that chairs of committees should serve a maximum of two years. The Corporate Services Committee has asked how broadly this policy should apply: what about sub committees? Committees like the Pumpkinfest or the Verona Community Association, which, as Councillor Mcdougall commented, “Aren’t really our business.” After a discussion, council opinion was fairly evenly split. The question will come back to Council next week for a vote.

All-Day Budget Meeting

Council will meet this Saturday beginning at 9:00 to work through the 2017 budget.

Cool weather is soup weather. Luckily, the annual VISIONSoup community fund raising event will be held at the Grace Centre, 4295 Stage Coach Road, Sydenham, on Saturday, November 19 from 11:30am to 1:30pm.

Guests will receive a beautiful hand-made pottery bowl to keep, which will be filled with delicious soup from local restaurants. All proceeds will be shared between the Loughborough Christmas Hamper campaign and the Southern Frontenac Community Services Food Bank.

“We are excited to be running this event again this year,” said Josey Steel, one of the pair of organizers who plan the event.

“We are contacting restaurants and getting more and more signed on to donate soup. We expect the final tally will be almost 20 soups!” adds Leslie Reade, the other half of the dynamic duo. “Sometimes people in our community need a helping hand, and we know that these two charities do a lot to help those in need in our community. This is a way we can give back.”

The cost for VISIONSoup is $25 per person, plus a food bank donation. Tickets can be purchased at Trousdale’s General Store, Sydenham Chiropractic Clinic, Sydenham Veterinary Services, and the Southern Frontenac Community Services office at 4419 George Street.

New this year, tickets can also be bought online, through our website: www.sfcsc.ca

and a challenge for the High School next door

A long parade of costumed children from Loughborough Public School trudged through Sydenham last Monday on a special mission. Each carried an item to leave at Southern Frontenac Community Service’s Food bank.

Their donations represented the culmination of a two-week campaign organized and administered by two grade eight students, Alexis Flear and Cassi Yeatman.

“We were looking for some kind of project to help the community,” said Alexis.

One of their teachers suggested the food bank, and the girls went into high gear. They got in touch with Vicki English the food bank coordinator, obtained lists of the food items most needed, passed their enthusiasm along to the school community, and organized the food into boxes as it rolled in. The LPS teachers offered a pizza lunch for the classroom with the most donations. When the piles of boxes and bags threatened to block the main hallway, food bank volunteers came with a truck. The final count was over half a ton of food, with an estimated value of $3,000. “Grade eights usually do special projects,” said Cassi, “but we hadn’t expected such a great response!”

“I’ve never seen anything like it this time of year,” said English.

As a thank-you, English and her team of volunteers handed out treats from SFCSC to the 350 or so trick-or-treaters who came through the village Monday evening.

LPS Vice Principal John Mooney sees a lot of value in giving students leading roles in projects like this one. “We try to teach them how to be become organized and active… not just work horses,” he said, “the best way to learn is by actually doing.”

According to Mooney, a part of the curriculum for young students is to learn more about their community. Events like these do just that: they give students the opportunity to have an active role in doing something good and learning a bit more about their own community. “We really want to give students the opportunity to be a part of their community,” he said.

According to Mooney, this is certainly not the end of fundraising at LPS and there will be at least one more food drive to take place this year.

Meanwhile, Cassi and Alexis both grinned when they’re asked what their next project will be.

“Maybe a school dance: we’ll let you know!”

Next up - SHS

Two Sydenham High School students are challenging students at their school in the donate with a “One Bag Challenge” that is now under way

Student organizers Cheyenne Rattray and Jillian Bandy, say that Sydenham High School students are being asked to donate a bag of food to the food bank, and then challenge their peers to do the same through social media, much like the Ice Bucket Challenge.

“There are many people who access the food bank, some who rely on it regularly, and others who find themselves in a time of crisis,” says Rattray. “Even if students can only donate a few items, we want them to post about it on social media, to raise awareness that hunger happens in our town too, not just bigger cities,” says Bandy “and other students will respond to the challenge, and we hope it keeps going and going.” She adds that students can tag their post with #SydHS1bagchallenge.

The one bag challenge food drive at Sydenham High School ends on Monday, November 14.

Father Giuseppe Gagliano is still a young man as he prepares to take on a large rural ministry, the St. Francis Regional Ministry outside of the City of Sherbrooke in Quebec’s eastern townships.

As a 27-year-old Anglican priest, it will be a challenging assignment.

However, it will be no more challenging than his first placement as a minister, when he was 24 years old.

“Officially, I came to Sydenham as a curate, since I was just out of Divinity School, but although a curate usually serves with an established priest in a larger congregation, I was more or less on my own,” he said from the chapel at St. Paul’s church, on George Street in Sydenham last week.

Gagliano was preparing for his final two services at St. Paul’s on Saturday night and Sunday morning. After that he will have some time off to recharge before moving to the eastern townships in the new year.

When Fr. Giuseppe arrived in Sydenham in 2013, “The bishop basically said to me, ‘Here are the keys; you go for it.’ I did have a supervisor to advise me, but I don’t think I came here with too many expectations. I was open to whatever I would find. I had never been to Sydenham; it was a completely new experience. What I found was a beautiful church and a welcoming congregation and community, and an active parish. I felt at home right away.”

Fr. Giuseppe was new to Sydenham when he arrived, but the area was already known to him. After growing up in Wellington County, he enrolled at Queen’s as an undergraduate, and it was through attending services and joining in activities at St. George’s Anglican Church in Kingston that he realized he had a calling. After graduating from Queen’s with a major in religious studies and a minor in politics, he attended Yale for a master’s in Divinity, and studied for the priesthood at the affiliated Berkeley Divinity College.

One of the things he has brought to St. Paul’s in Sydenham has been a contemporary service, which is held on Saturday evenings.

“We use different music than the Sunday service - different instrumentation, guitars, piano, drums, as well as a mix of different and more familiar elements to the service, which has made it popular, particularly for some of our young families,” he said.

One thing that doesn’t change between the two services is the sermon, however, and the discipline of writing a sermon each week and making it relevant has been one of the challenges he has had to deal with.

“I use a lot of my own references, to politics, Monty Python, Star Wars, reflections on English poetry, anything I can think of to speak the truth to the congregation, and if I am able to speak the truth, the message should work in both the traditional and contemporary services. It really is a matter of trust between us, and while there were some close calls, I have always been able to come up with a sermon each week.”

Over his time at St. Paul’s he has developed a rapport with the church community.

“My youth was likely an issue for some people at the start, but over time it has become more of a running joke than anything else,” he said.

He said that when he came to Sydenham he had knowledge, but in time has learned to value wisdom over knowledge.

“I also learned that teaching and change must go hand-in-hand, if you are going to change things you have to explain why and be open to revising your plans.”

He comes away from his time in Sydenham with more faith than he had before.

“Seeing the power of God so deeply in the lives of people, and being invited into people’s lives so deeply is a great privilege.”

He said that the greatest joy in his time at St. Paul’s was found in small, intimate gestures that he was privy to. “Sometimes you see really beautiful things that others don’t necessary see: the way people treat each other; the way people treat the church; the way that they are generous without announcing their deeds. These are the lived experiences of ministry.”

For their part, the St. Paul’s congregation seem to feel the same way about Fr. Giuseppe.

Parishioner Helen Lamb summed it up this way: “Our lives have been forever changed and enriched by this humble, joyful, and extremely intelligent young man who is so passionate about his faith and incredibly sincere in his love and concern for others.  We all love him - men, women, young, old - and his presence at St. Paul's and in the Sydenham community over the last three years has been a gift to everyone who came in contact with him …  We shall miss him terribly but will continue to follow his journey in the church from a distance, always cheering him on and blessing him for his time with us.”

A farewell potluck was held for Fr. Giuseppe on Sunday afternoon. There wasn’t a dry eye in the church.