Frontenac County Council - Oct 22/13

Jeff Green | Oct 24, 2013

Planning plan irks Davison

It seems everyone at Frontenac County Council is happy to have the County planning department provide planning services to the lower tier townships at a discount rate.

Everyone, that is, except for the representatives from the largest of the local townships, South Frontenac, which is large enough to have its own two-member planning department to handle as much as $30 million in annual development in the township.

In a report from Joe Gallivan, Manager of Planning for the County, a proposed contract to provide planning services for Central Frontenac Township was described. The contract is identical to the one that is in place with the Township of Frontenac Islands, which provides cost-free service for the townships' own planning needs, although private applicants and developers continue to be charged for planning permits and approvals.

“There would be no charges for any planning questions or consultation with a citizen, developer, or township staff. We will also offer to meet at the township office for face to face meetings at no charge, and to attend any meeting where a planning issue is being reviewed … no charges for any township-initiated planning project such as an Official Plan update or a revised Zoning By-law or any other township planning requirement."

Before County Council rubber-stamped the terms of the contract, which has already been accepted by Central Frontenac Council, South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison took issue with the deal.

“I find this amazing. I think planning is a local responsibility. I don’t think the county, all these people here, should be supporting your planning,” he said to the representatives from Central Frontenac.

Joe Gallivan said that there is excess capacity in his department to take on the work, and because fees will be charged for service to the public, there will be savings realised in his department’s budget.

“To me, unless all the costs are charged back to the lower tier, the county is subsidizing planning for those municipalities, and since South Frontenac pays 60% of the budget, that means South Frontenac ratepayers are paying for their own planning and the planning in the other townships as well. To me that is not cost recovery; that is not a business plan. If you want my support for this, 
I need to see full cost recovery, including salary, travel time; everything that is done must be paid for,” said Davison.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle said, “The services the county has offered to us have been excellent. I want to say that. Perhaps we can look at the costs, but in reality it is a win-win for all of us. These people are here anyway; we are not talking about reducing staff.”

“Maybe you aren’t, but I am,” said Davison.

Warden Janet Gutowski removed herself from her position as meeting chair in order to comment on the matter from the perspective of Central Frontenac.

“There is an aspect beyond the financial one for us. In terms of inviting business to our community it is very different calling in a consultant,” she said.

Davison moved that the matter be deferred until full cost recovery could be included in the contract with Central Frontenac, but that was not supported by Council.

“I think we should go ahead and make adjustments as we go along,” said Central Frontenac Councilor John Purdon.

“I certainly can provide details about cost recovery if Council wishes,” said Joe Gallivan.

In the end the proposed contract with Central Frontenac was approved in its original form.

The vote on the motion was passed by 5 votes to 4.

The councilors from North and Central Frontenac (four in total) all supported it as did Mayor Doyle from South Frontenac.

Gary Davison (who as mayor of South Frontenac has two votes) as well as John McDougall (South Frontenac) and David Jones (Frontenac Islands) voted against it.

Managers to hold ship steady as County seeks new CAO - Council bickers but adopts staff plan

In the aftermath of the unexpected resignation of Chief Administrative Officer/Clerk Liz Savill, Frontenac County Council has adopted a plan put forward by members of the county's management team.

Treasurer Marian VanBruinessen will add the CAO's duties to her treasurer's responsibilities and Deputy Clerk Jeanette Annini will handle the role of county clerk. Angelique Tamblyn, the executive assistant to the CAO, will take on the deputy clerk role.

In a report prepared by Human Resources Specialist Colleen Hickey in consultation with VanBruinessen, Fairmount Home Administrator Julie Shillington and Chief of Paramedic Services Paul Charbonneau, the hiring process for a permanent replacement for Savill was also discussed.

The report recommended that the firm KPMG, which is currently conducting a Service Delivery Review for the County, be asked to expedite aspects of their review that relate directly the role of the CAO/Clerk. That way a search for a new CAO, which will involve hiring an executive search firm, can commence within the next few weeks.

The search, which will ultimately result in an interview process overseen by a three-member council committee and a final decision by the entire council, is expected to take several months.

In discussing the proposals in Hickey’s report, members of Council expressed relative degrees of unease.

North Frontenac Councilor John Inglis said, “My concern is simply with the role of council in this process. My own experience is that I have had no input, and in a case where I am an employer that makes me uncomfortable.”

Warden Gutowski then said, “This is the first meeting since we learned about this, and this is your opportunity for input.”

She added that staff making recommendations for Council’s consideration is the normal process, is covered under the Municipal Act, and “has been the tradition in Frontenac County for 150 years.”

Inglis said, “I thank you for putting me in my place once again, Warden Gutowski.”

“When you were schooling John Inglis there, I thought you might burst into flames,” South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison then said to Warden Gutowski. "That analogy about 150 years reminds me of another tradition that you didn’t see fit to follow yourself.”

Aside from the sniping that has been the hallmark of Frontenac County Council, the only alternative proposal to the staff plan came from Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle.

He suggested that, in order to ease the burden, particularly on the treasurer, an interim CAO be sought to cover the post until the search for a full time person can be completed.

Colleen Hickey said that it would take 8-12 weeks to find an interim person, time that might be better spent focussing on a permanent solution.

David Jones, councilor from Frontenac Islands, said he “did not think it would be wise to pursue an interim CAO. I think we would be going backwards. I should point out, however, that it surprises me that just months ago we were being told that everyone was overworked and we needed to hire more people, and now there is enough labour capacity to cover for the CAO.”

South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison agreed with Jones, but to Dennis Doyle’s point he said, “I do believe we may need to put a temp person forward for the finance department. More support staff will be needed.”

In the end, by a vote of 8-1, the staff proposal was accepted by Council. Dennis Doyle entered the only nay vote.