Frontenac County Council

Jeff Green | Jan 11, 2023

The first business meeting of the new Frontenac County Council took place on December 21st.

With six new members of Council, three of whom having never sat on municipal council at all before, the new council will be holding an orientation session before their next meeting. But there were a few items on the agenda that needed clearing up before the end of the year.

Warden Ron Vandewal said it would be appropriate at the start for each of the council members to introduce themselves to each other. As if to illustrate that many of the members had never met before, North Frontenac Mayor Gerry Lichty corrected Warden Vandewal's attempt to pronounce his name, in what ended up being a recurring theme for the rest of the meeting.

“It's pronounced Lick-T,” but maybe you should call me Gerry, the North Frontenac Mayor said, after several failed attempts by the Warden.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Judy Greenwood-Spears asked about the state of labour negotiations, and Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender said a full-update on the state of negotiations with union locals representing different categories of workers at both the County owned Fairmount Home and Frontenac Paramedic Services will be forthcoming at the January 18 county meeting during the in-camera sessions.

“When are the contracts up?” asked Mayor Greenwood-Speers.

“They are all up,” said Pender.

The contracts between the County and CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) Local109 (Howe Island Ferry) and Local 2290 (Fairmount Home) have both led to a conciliation process. The County met with a conciliator on December 13 regarding the contact with Local 109, and a meeting is scheduled for February 1st regarding the contract with Local 2290.

The county is also negotiating with OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees Union) Local 462, which represents the Frontenac Paramedics.

Council remuneration for 2023

Council approved their own wages for 2023, in line with recommendations made by the previous council. Warden Ron Vandewal will receive $35,920 this year. Council members will receive $16,320, with Deputy Warden Frances Smith receiving $19,584 (a 20% premium of the pay for a member of council)

All council members also receive a $150 per diem for attendings meetings on external boards that they have been appointed to by Frontenac County Council, and for attending special meetings of council to address time sensitive issues.

When it came to approve the above figures by passing a bylaw, Ron Vandewal cast the only No vote. He has voted against the pay structure for county council members consistently over the last 8 years, arguing that the pay should be lower than it is.

Members of Frontenac County Council also receive payment for sitting on their own township councils

Howe Island Ferry disruptions – informing the low-tech population

In response to a request from Frontenac Islands Mayor Judy Greenwood-Speers, Frontenac County Communications Officer Matt Mills will prepare a report identifying options and costing, for media releases to be prepared advising Kingston radio stations, and CKWS TV, when an interruption of the Howe Island Ferry service is about to take place.

Currently, emails are sent out to those who register for the service, as well as twitter notifications, and there is a live webcam at the ferry.

“For people who are not tech savvy, or are visually impaired, these services do not help them,” Greenwood-Spears said. “That's why I think we should look at some other, low- tech options.”