South Frontenac Committe of the Whole, June 8

Wilma Kenny | Jun 16, 2021

Township Burn Permit By-law

On October 6, 2020 Fire Chief Knott had proposed a new by-law to regulate open air burning within the township. This included the introduction of a permit system which would make it possible to quickly notify people of burn bans, and keep the fire department informed of the locations of permitted burns at any given time. There was some discussion about additional public consultation but the by-law (2020-54) was ultimately passed by Council that evening without any changes. However, due to public reaction and the questions raised, on December 15, Council passed a motion to reconsider the new by-law. This resulted in repealing the new burn by-law, with direction to staff to bring it back again in 2021 with the intent to undertake additional public consultation.

Accordingly, on June 8/20 Chief Knott presented Committee of the Whole a copy of the proposed by-law, with updated sections highlighted, and an accompanying rationale for the introduction of a burning permit process. Updates included newly-defined terms (eg evaporators, outdoor fireplaces); the differentiation between Recreational Fires and Open Air Fires; stronger definitions and penalties for burning garbage; an updated fee schedule, and penalties for non-compliance. Two municipal comparisons were provided, along with a summary of the ways in which these proposed bylaw changes would align with the Township’s strategic plan.

A lively discussion followed. Chief Knott said Central Frontenac has just implemented a burn by-law identical to the one proposed for South Frontenac: it is too soon to comment on how it is being received in the community. He added that SF is one of the few municipalities in the area who do not have a permit system.

Morey said he felt it would be best to make the program free, at least to start. Ruttan asked how other systems were dealing with non-compliance/refusal to buy permits. He commented on how hard it was to give and get up-to-date information on burn bans. Deputy Mayor Barr said she liked the permit idea, but emphasized the importance of advertising the program well. Mayor Vandewal agreed about not charging, saying the program would be “the cost of doing business.” He also asked for more financial statistics from municipalities that have been using this system: do they show overall cost savings? Sutherland asked about the advantages of this particular program; ‘Is there a different way to do it?” Revill said he would like to see recreational fires exempted.

Township Clerk Maddocks said “Basically, you have given us our directions: we will do public consultation first, then bring those results and the statistics (you have requested) back to Council.”

CAO Carbone, in response to questions about the consultation process, said they would hold a virtual online open house for questions, and conduct both paper and online surveys.

Sutherland said he had confidence that staff would conduct consultation and incorporate the findings into the draft bylaw; Vandewal reiterated his need to see statistics and information on cost savings before the by-law came back for a vote.

Council ended up unanimously approving two of the three staff recommendations: 1) that “Committee of the Whole provides feedback to staff regarding the original burn permit proposal and amended Burning By-law 2020-54”; and 2) that “Committee of the Whole supports moving ahead with community consultation on the proposed Open Air Burning Permit System.”

The third staff recommendation: “Based on the community consultation, Committee of the Whole supports staff bringing forward an amended Open Air Burning By-law for consideration by Council.” was set aside for consideration once the first two have been accomplished.

CAO’s Review of Council/Committee Structures

CAO Carbone brought a report recommending that “Committee of the Whole supports a review of the Township’s Council, COTW and Standing Committee Structures to be brought forward to Council along with recommendations for possible changes.”

Carbone noted that Council had approved a review of its Council/Committee structure and procedural by-law as a priority action item in its 2019-2020 Strategic Plan. What followed was a summary of “perceived challenges with the current Council, Committee of the Whole, and Standing Committee structures and procedures, intended to prompt further discussion. If approved, staff would form a small working group to review, research and develop recommendations to be brought back to Council for discussion. Should Committee wish, Councillors could be identified to participate in the internal working group.

Current Processes

Carbone identified some ‘unorthodox and challenging issues’ in the current system, beginning with the fact that it was rare to find all three of: Standing Committees, Committee of the Whole (COW), and Council. The goals of a review would be to become more efficient, more effective and more transparent to the public.

Reactions Ran the Gamut

Sleeth: “The system works now. I want to retain the committee structure; it permits more back and forth.”

Sutherland thinks the current system is not working: “We’re running a $30,000,000 budget for 20,000 people, using rules we don’t know or apply. We need to rework this, perhaps hold longer meetings, have more COW meetings like this one, with back and forth discussion. Council could then be more formal, business-like and structured…we could become more transparent, accountable.”
Roberts wants to keep the committees, “In case we do need them.”

Revill listed the three committees: Development, Corporate Services and Public Services, asking why they didn’t meet regularly. He felt Public Services had held good discussions.

Ruttan said he would be happy to do a review: “I enjoyed tonight’s discussions, and feel we need more transparency. I can’t say what is the best system, but I’m ‘all for a better mousetrap’.”

Leonard said from his relatively short time on Council, he thought “It seems to be going all right as it is: things are working fairly well.”

Mayor Vandewal said he thought the roles of COW and Council had become blurred, and agreed that COW was the place for discussion, without the pressure of making immediate decisions. He said the committees he had served on in the past (as a Councillor) had been dreadful and non-productive. He was in favour of a review.

CAO Carbone said staff was just looking for Council’s direction to initiate a review: at this stage, no specific changes are being proposed.

Council agreed unanimously to embark on a review, but with no specific timeline.