| Oct 10, 2013


Parham fire hall likely to stay put

Lingering questions about the future location for a fire hall in Parham, and the future of the existing fire hall, were addressed by Central Frontenac CAO Larry Donaldson at a meeting of Council on Tuesday, October 8.

In a verbal report to Council, Donaldson said that he met with Fire Chief Bill Young and Chief Building Official Jeremy Neven in Parham to consider some options.

“They both indicated that they did not think the idea of trying to re-purpose the Hinchinbrooke school gym for storage of fire equipment was an optimal use of the space,” said Donaldson. “Bill Young said that the current location of the fire hall or somewhere in that vicinity would be suitable. We also met at the fire hall and it is clear that the existing building is questionable. The building needs to be replaced. It is Bill Young’s recommendation that we build one that is the same or similar to the Mountain Grove Hall. We can even use the same plans.”

Donaldson said that he plans to bring the project forward to the 2014 budget deliberations, with a view towards construction taking place in the late 2014 and 2015 time frame.

Hinchinbrooke school could take “at least two years” to become available

Larry Donaldson also reported that he met with officials from the Limestone School Board to discuss the future of the Hinchinbrooke school building now that it is no longer being used as a school.

“The building is going to be used for storage in the short term, but eventually it will become available. They use a prescribed process to sell off the building, using a prioritised list of institutions who will be offered the building at fair market value. The township is number 8 on the list. If none of those institutions are interested, a public tender process will be entered into, and it will be sold to the highest bidder. It will take at least two years to get to that point.”

Questions about the County Official Plan

Councilor Frances Smith wondered whether anyone on Council is concerned, as she is, about the objections to the draft County Official Plan that have been raised by South Frontenac planner Lindsay Mills.

“He thinks that the plan might bring the county into any decision about development near water, and that means just about everything we deal with,” said Smith. She is concerned that since Central Frontenac will be contracting planning services from Frontenac County as of January 1, the same person who wrote the plan will be tasked with providing commentary on the plan for Central Frontenac.

“I think we should have considered this before contracting our planning with the County,” Smith said.

Mayor Gutowski said that the real problem that the Official Plan will face is that the Ministry of Municipal Affairs will want it to be more, not less prescriptive.

“I do respect South Frontenac’s concerns; however I think there is still great value to the plan and the bigger fight will be with the province to keep the plan as it is. If we can’t agree on a plan in Frontenac County, the ministry might impose one on us and that is not what anyone wants,” Gutowski said.

Councilor John Purdon said, “Many of Lindsay Mill’s stated concerns can be dealt with by way of tightened wording. It is a draft plan after all, subject to revision.”

Contracts awarded

Winter snow plowing contracts for side roads were awarded for the next two years. Scott’s Snow Plowing received two contracts, for the west and central regions; Robinson Excavating received the contract for the east region, and Scott’s Snow Removal and Lawn Maintenance received the contract for the south region.

Greer Galloway group has received the engineering contract for a number of bridges that are slated to be repaired or replaced within the next three to four years. The contract is for $102,645.

A $28,000 Bear Wise grant from the province is to be allocated to Barret’s Farm and Family Centre for the construction of a bear fence for the Olden Waste site. The project will cost $28,546. The $546 will come from the waste sites reserve fund, and the grant will cover the rest

The Kennebec hall's foundation wall will be repaired by Kepler Bell Contracting at a cost of $17,684.50. $10,000 had been set aside for the project, and the remaining $7.684.50 will come from the reserve for playground equipment and repairs.

Boilers will be replaced at the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team at a cost of $22,429. The money will be taken from the Medical Centre reserve fund.

 

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