Seniors' housing emerging as a common objective

After a tumultuous 18 months that resulted in a lawsuit (which is still active), the departure of the chief administrative officer for a friendlier location, and some lingering personal and political grievances, there was a noticeable shift in the tone and pace of the monthly Frontenac County Council meeting last week.

Newly minted warden, North Frontenac mayor Bud Clayton, put forward some of his personal agenda items for the year, including a push for more youth involvement in municipal politics, and then Council went about its business without much fuss.

Part of the change has to do with the fact that Council meets twice a month now, and much of the real debate takes place at the more informal Committee of the Whole meetings, so council meetings are more for formal approval of items that have already been discussed.

At a relatively short in camera meeting, Council approved a new corporate structure, which changes some of the relationships between the top managers (the still vacant chief administrator position, the treasurer and the clerk) but refrained from making any of the downgrades to some of the junior management positions that were rumoured to have been put forward as options in the non-public sections of a service delivery review that was recently completed by consultants from the firm KPMG.

One of the interesting indications that there has been a change in the relationship between the council and the county was the lack of debate when Warden Clayton suggested that the County Sustainability Planner Joe Gallivan sit in on the ongoing meetings between the public works managers of South, Central and North Frontenac. These meetings have led to talk of joint contracting for services in the areas of waste management and road maintenance.

“The County may have access to grants that the townships might never be able to get, and sometimes it is easier to put in one application instead of three,” Clayton said, and a no-fuss vote of approval followed.

In the past two years, similar proposals by former CAO Liz Savill led to vigorous calls for the county to keep clear of township business.

The test of this new-found calm at the county will come next week, when the 2014 budget is tabled.

Two items that will be included with the budget also promise to be contentious. South Frontenac Mayor Davison will be looking for a complete costing for the planning services that the county will be doing for three of the four townships, not including his own, to ensure in his own mind that South Frontenac ratepayers are not subsidizing planning costs for other townships.

The other issue that will finally be front and centre will be the question of how to deal with county reserve funds. Chief among them is the $4.5 million working fund reserve, which by all accounts can be cut down substantially without causing any undue risk. Also in play is $1.6 million in accumulated reserves from federal gas tax grants. While Council has allocated all future gas tax funds to the townships, this money is still sitting in a county reserve. The debate will be centred on whether that money should be paid out to the townships as well, or left where it is to fund on-going sustainability projects and community improvement plans that are in place in Verona and Sharbot Lake, and Marysville on Wolfe Island.

One possible outcome of the reserves discussion would be the allocation of $1 million or more to fund a seniors' housing initiative that was formally initiated when council passed a bylaw establishing a task force to explore seniors' housing initiatives at locations throughout the county.

The task force setup itself is based on the idea of collaboration between the county and local advocates for housing. It calls for county council members to engage members of the public from each township to work on specific projects.

The first project that is on the horizon is in Marysville, where there is a piece of land on offer within the hamlet, and the hope is to build a small scale project, under five units.

The big question for the Marysville project, and for all future projects as well, will be financing. As of yet there is no developer on the horizon and that might be because it is difficult to make a profit building small-scale housing projects, particularly those that are being marketed to seniors

South Frontenac Council - January 7

Review of Council Remuneration: Mayor to get salary bump

Several months ago, Council directed the CAO and the treasurer to set up a citizen led working group to recommend compensation rates for the Council to be elected in 2014. The current base honorariums were set in 2007, with increases tied to the percentages negotiated with union staff under the collective agreement. The 2013 honoraria are: Mayor $19,422; Deputy Mayor $13,656; Councillor $11,630. Half-day meeting rate is $50, full-day $150.

A three-member group of individuals representing both private and public experience in human resources and senior management was selected from township residents. (Christine Bell, Lois Burrows and Sandy Cameron.)

Sandy Cameron presented their recommendations, which were based on reviews of comparable townships. They were as follows: Mayor’s compensation is to be changed to annual honorarium of $28,816, with no provision for additional meeting fees. This will be phased in over four years, beginning at $24,471 in 2014. Both Deputy Mayor and Councillor’s compensation are to remain as they are, plus meeting fees, which will remain unchanged. The method of adjusting the annual honorarium will remain tied to the percentage change negotiated for unionized employees, and the honorarium for attendance at conferences will continue to be paid following the existing policy.

Council accepted the recommendations as presented.

Committee Appointees

Council representatives on the 2014 Committee of Adjustment will be: Pat Barr, Ron Vandewal, Bill Robinson, and Cam Naish. Larry York will serve on both the Storrington District and the South Frontenac Recreation Committees.

Frontenac AccessibilityAdvisory Committee

Neil Allan, Chair of the FAAC, submitted a written update on the work of this committee, which was jointly established among the four Townships and the County in 2002, to work with Council and the community at large to raise awareness and understanding of the needs of people with disabilities, and to help identify and address these needs.

2013 Year in Review

CAO Orr presented a list of projects and initiatives accomplished throughout the Township by Staff and Council over the past year.

Letter of Thanks

Councillor McDougall suggested a letter of thanks be sent to the Verona Free Methodist Church for their quick and helpful response to the recent evacuation of McMullen Manor, caused by a small fire in the residence. The church provided immediate shelter and meals over an eight-hour period.

Mayor Davison suggested that the housing management be asked what emergency plans they intend to put in place for possible similar events in the future.

“Pick a fight with a young person and they’ll hurt you; pick a fight with an old one and they’ll kill you.” On Tuesday evening, when Ron Sleeth passed along this warning his father gave him when he first entered local politics, there was loud applause and cheering from the audience of more than 50 Storrington and Perth Road residents, most of whom were seniors. They all had come to a South Frontenac Committee of the Whole meeting to protest the new rental rates for Storrington Centre and Harris Park Hall.

On December 3, Council had approved standardized user fees and user agreements for township facilities (halls and playing fields), as recommended by the South Frontenac Recreation Committee, in consultation with the four district Recreation Committees.

The fee agreed upon was $50 for four hours for the hall alone, or $70 if the kitchen was used. The rate for three hours or less was $25/hr (no savings here…) Eleven people spoke, briefly and eloquently, of the many community groups that have used these meeting facilities, some continuously for more than forty years, many of them seniors. Speaking for Leland Helping Hands and Perth Road Crafters, Cheryl Berg said, “Harris Park Hall is the heart of our community.” Built by the community, the hall had been turned over to the township in 1985, though the user groups have continued to make contributions to the upkeep and maintenance of the hall. However, none of the non-profit groups now using the hall can afford to pay $50 to $70 per meeting.

Sharon Paterson, of the Storrington Retirees, said that not only had the seniors’ group helped obtain the original provincial money to build the hall, but many of the furnishings, particularly in the kitchen, had been purchased through New Horizons for Seniors grants.

Sleeth, former Reeve of Storrington, had been Warden of Frontenac County at amalgamation. He reminded Council that at that time, there had been agreements that nonprofit groups would have free use of all halls, including Storrington, in perpetuity.

Representatives from group after group spoke of fundraising that went back into the community in a variety of ways, and of music, sewing, euchre, bingo, shared meals, 4H groups, Christmas baskets, blood donor clinics, and the varieties of social contact so vital to healthy communities, and particularly supportive to seniors.

All expressed their disappointment in the lack of communication throughout the whole process of setting up a fee structure.

Council also has received a letter from Don Amos, of Northern Frontenac Community Services Corp, describing the devastating effect hall fees would have on the programs for children, parents and caregivers that they offer free of charge at the Perth Road and Storrington halls. He asked whether, if hall fees could not be waived, a not-for-profit rate could be set up.

Mayor Davison said that the township’s annual building maintenance budget is $300,000: recently one of the halls was reroofed for $20,000.

Stowe led off the councillors’ responses by saying he had assumed too much; he had not realized how many non-profit groups would be seriously affected by the fee schedule.

He thanked the speakers for their clear but considerate presentations, and suggested that the policy be put on hold and returned to the recreation committee for review and revision. The rest of Council agreed.

Mayor Davison apologized for the poor communication between Council and the various user groups, via the recreation committees.

He held up the sheet with the fee schedule: “I see no way this document has any validity at all.” He assured the group representatives that they would owe no fees until the issues have been resolved.

Budget Update

Treasurer Fragnito brought Council up to date on the most recent MPAC report, the (higher) police costs, and the most recent estimates of gas tax funding. Council decided unanimously not to change any of the current budget lines until all the numbers are in.

County review points to political stagnation, missing Christmas party

An organizational and service delivery review prepared by the KPMG consulting group for Frontenac County provides a varied shopping list of 27 “recommended opportunities” for county's consideration.

These recommendations have a vast range of scope and implications. For example, Recommendation #7 “Re-implement a staff Christmas party" should be easy to accomplish, but # 23 “Work with the townships to develop a plan to increase the level of shared services in the county” is not as simple a task.

Aside from making specific recommendations, the author of the report, Bruce Peever, made reference to the political stalemate that, in his view, has been holding the county back. Peever wrote that the stalemate represents two divergent views about the role of the county relative to the Frontenac townships.

“There is a belief among some members of Council that the County should remain a management board delivering a minimal level of service through contracted services with the private sector ... In contrast, there is an opposing position that believes county government should be at the forefront of providing shared municipal service delivery, coordinating and guiding the townships in how they deliver their services,” he wrote.

The lack of consensus has thwarted efforts at developing a strategic plan for the county, and has “frustrated staff” in Peever's view. His report tends to side with those, chief among them being out-going warden, Janet Gutowski, who favour a more central role for the county.

“The key finding of this report is the need for the county's member municipalities to work together under shared services agreements so that collectively the county can achieve the necessary economies of scale to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the county's operations,” said the report.

However, the report also calls for the county to release more money to the townships. It recommends that all federal gas tax money that the county receives should be transferred to the townships, and that savings the county has realized from provincial uploads, which it says “will create $3.3 million in vacated tax room” for the 2014 county budget, should enable the county to cut its levy to its member townships and free them up to spend more in direct services for ratepayers.

“If the County is considered as one community, then the uploading of social services is a tremendous opportunity to improve the financial sustainability of the member municipalities,” according to the report.

The report also pointed to a centralization of control of county activities in the office of former Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Liz Savill, who left for a job as CAO of Northumberland County last month.

It points out there are 12 positions in the county who “report directly to the CAO, including several administrative and technical staff” leading to “a widespread belief throughout the organization that there are too many positions reporting directly to the CAO, limiting her ability to provide strategic leadership.”

One expression of this problem is the fact that all the mail that comes to the county is delivered directly to the CAO's office and is then distributed to each of the departments, a job that would more efficiently be done by the receptionist.

In terms of efficiencies and costs for county services, the report notes that the major services offered by the county, such as land ambulance, Fairmount Home and ferry services to Frontenac Islands are all well run, although in some cases costs are higher than other similar-sized operations in other municipalities.

The report also encourages the county to lobby for changes in provincial legislation that would make it possible for the county to transition Fairmount Home from municipal ownership to a not-for-profit corporation

As far as IT and GIS operations, contracting out services is recommended instead of adding to the departments, and it says that the communications officer at the county should become a full-time permanent position.

The report was only presented to committee last week and will be considered by council in an in camera session this week. Some of the recommendations, if implemented, could impact pay grades.

(See Editorial)

North Frontenac pulls back from hall redundancy.

After meeting with user groups from the Snow Road, Harlowe, and Clarendon and Miller halls, North Frontenac Council decided to rescind part of a bylaw they passed last July, which stipulated that the halls were to be declared as surplus property in the future. Mayor Clayton had maintained that declaring the halls surplus did not necessarily mean they would be closing, only that they would no longer be in line for re-building at the end of their useful life. However, he has also talked about a township preference for building a single, central hall and township office.

Councilors have been hearing from hall users ever since the bylaw was passed in July, and at their meeting the clause about declaring the halls surplus was removed.

Asset management plan finalized

Vicki Leakey, from KPMG, presented the final version of the North Frontenac Asset Management Plan to council. Municipalities in Ontario are required to have these plans in place if they are to be eligible for provincial infrastructure grants next year.

Some municipalities have produced basic documents that were created by sending data to a consulting firm and receiving a template-based document back. In North Frontenac's case, KPMG has met extensively with staff and council and the plan has been under development all year.

The North Frontenac plan encompasses paved roads, bridges, equipment, and all township-owned buildings. Next year information about gravel roads will be added.

Leakey's report concludes, as she told council last month when presenting a draft, that the township has done a good job of investing in infrastructure needs over the last 10 years, and by parceling off an added 2% in taxation towards infrastructure spending into the future, they will come closer to keeping up with the requirement for rebuilding roads, bridges, equipment, and buildings as they age and need to be replaced. Leakey costed out the rebuilding at $7.5 million.

“There is not a municipality in Ontario that is not falling behind, at least to some extent, and North Frontenac is probably doing better than most,” Leakey said.

One factor that is not in North Frontenac's favour is its negative growth rate, which among other things, means less money is available from property taxes. The report presented it in stark terms. “While the province's population increased by 19.5% between 1996 and 2011, North Frontenac's population dropped by 3.9%.”

And those who remain in North Frontenac are ageing. Thirty-nine percent of the total personal income among township residents is derived from pensions, while the provincial average is 14%.

“The greater reliance on fixed income pension reduces the ability of the municipality to raise funds through taxation,” said Leakey's report.

OPP billing questions

The township supported efforts by other municipalities to scuttle a proposed new billing system for OPP services that would see the township charged on a per household basis, including seasonal as well as permanent residents. Township staff calculate this would bring the North Frontenac bill from $205,000 to $1.15 million - a 458% increase.

“It's funny how they bill us for the seasonal residents but when it comes to grants they look only at our permanent residents,” said Mayor Clayton. “They like to play both sides of the coin.”

Gallivan says province likely to overhaul County OP

Lindsay Mills, the lead planner in South Frontenac Township, brought his concerns about the second draft of the Frontenac County Official Plan to a Committee of the Whole meeting of Frontenac County Council last week (December 4).

Mills repeated many of the points he had made the previous evening to South Frontenac Council. He acknowledged that a number of issues he had raised with the first draft of the plan had been addressed and said “the lead in to the plan is extremely good, really well done.”

However, Mills then said that the plan still oversteps its stated intention to be a “high level document” by getting too heavily involved in manners that are already covered in the townships' own Official Plans.

“If this is really a high level plan it should just say that there should be certain policies in place and perhaps outline the process that should be followed by the townships, but this plan sets out the policy in too many cases,” Mills said.

He also said that the plan “tends to involve the county in just about everything,” noting renewable energy, forestry, and roads as examples where the townships have always worked independently but now may need to co-ordinate their efforts with County staff.

“In my view this plan dances around the point, and in too many cases I can't see what the point really is. It is ok to have motherhood statements, but they always seem to want to talk about working collaboratively and adding another layer of bureaucracy. The County plan should leave a lot more up to the local councils; there is too much overlap as it stands” Mills said.

He noted, for example, that the county plan refers to a 30-metre setback for any new construction on waterfront properties. “These kinds of specifics should not be in any Official Plan, they rightly only belong in zoning bylaws. By including it here it will mean that many of the minor variances we currently approve internally will require an Official Plan amendment,” said Lindsay Mills.

South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison and Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle both spoke out in support of Lindsay Mill's position.

However, County Warden Janet Gutowski pointed out that while she appreciates Lindsay Mills' concerns, “Our real challenge is going to be to satisfy the province. The province speaks with the provincial policy statement and they are going to say 'this is what you can do and this is what you cannot do'. Joe has been working to satisfy their requirements.”

Joe Gallivan said he has made a number of changes to the first draft of the plan based on Mills' remarks and the input of others as well, and would be willing to consider wording changes to the second draft as well, but said he expects the Ministry of Municipal Affairs will want more, not less, in the way of detailed, prescriptive language in the document.

“Cross-jurisdictional issues are a priority in the plan that I’ve put before you today. The County Official Plan has to have a vision, and it has to have some backbone, or else the province will not approve it,” he said. “I can tell you that Renfrew is working on the update to their plan, and when the ministry responded to their draft plan it was in the form of a 34-page letter with very prescriptive policies, so I would say I expect it is going to be tough for us.”

Members of County Council spent two hours going over the second draft of the OP in detail, and made a number of suggestions regarding revisions.

Council then agreed to send the draft document to the ministry for informal comment.

Once the County Official Plan is approved, the County will replace the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing as the approving body for all changes to township Official Plans, the hope being that this will give local representatives an ability to control the direction of development within the County.

Frontenac Transportation Service wants $10,000 for 2014

The good news for Frontenac County is that the business plan that was put in place when the Frontenac Transportation Service was founded three years ago has held true. The agency has been able to operate well within the parameters of a $86,000 annual grant it received from Frontenac County each year.

David Townsend, the executive director of Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCS), which is a partner with Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS) in FTS, brought that news to a meeting of Frontenac County Council last week.

However, looking forward to the 2014 County budget, Townsend said that FTS will be looking for an increase in its grant in 2014.

Of the $86,000 FTS received from the County in 2013, $46,000 was slated for administrative costs, and each of the two agencies were allocated $20,000 to help their own clients access FTS services.

FTS makes use of volunteer drivers to deliver clients to appointments. The drivers are paid 42 cents per kilometre when there is a client in their vehicle, and 22 cents when they are driving an empty vehicle from their home to the client's home. Clients are charged 50 cents per kilometre, and the extra 8 cents per kilometre is used to help cover administrative costs. In most cases, it is government agencies, such as Ontario Works, or the Ontario Disability Supports Program who pay for FTS rides for their clients. Dispatch for the service for the entire county is done out of an office in Sharbot Lake, under the direction of NFCS.

Both Northern and Southern Frontenac Community Services have seen an increased demand from their own clients for rides to programs that they run for the vulnerable members of the population.

“We have seen a steady growth in demand for FTS rides since the integrated service was created in 2011,” said Don Amos, the executive director of Northern Frontenac Community Services, in a telephone interview. “Our own agency subsidizes rides for children to access daycare and other Child Centre programs; for disadvantaged youth to access youth programming; and for low-income seniors to access our seniors' programs and other seniors' services. This is a population that needs support in order to remain in their rural homes in Frontenac County,” Amos said.

The growth in ridership has been particularly dramatic in South Frontenac, where many of the users of the service are seniors who use the service to get to SFCS's popular Adult Day Program. There has been a 48% increase in the last two years, from 3697 rides in 2011 to 5470 rides in 2013.

The increase has been less dramatic in North and Central Frontenac at 24%, from 2559 rides in 2011 to 3184 in 2013.

In his presentation to Frontenac County Council, David Townsend pointed out that because of the growth in ridership, only $37,000 of the $46,000 that the county paid in to FTS in 2013 was needed for administrative costs. He asked that the $9,000 surplus be allocated on a 50/50 basis to SFCS and NFCS because each agency used more than the $20,000 they received from the county in 2013 to subsidize rides for their own clients and have had to do extra fundraising for transportation.

Townsend also said FTS will be asking for $96,000 in 2014, about $36,000 for admin costs, and $30,000 for each agency to cover for rides for the vulnerable populations that they serve.

In response a number of County Council members, including Warden Gutowski and South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison, expressed support for FTS and the way it has followed the business plan that was put in place with the assistance of County Council and the Queen’s business school in 2011.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle, noted that residents on the Wolfe and Howe Islands are not eligible for FTS service, and asked David Townsend if there was any way to address that.

“We will be meeting with the VON [Victorian Order of Nurses] which is responsible for the Islands, to see if we can work something out,” said Townsend.

Save Money: Support Bill 91

“It’s absolutely the right thing to do,” said Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth, who gained Council’s agreement to join North and Central Frontenac Townships in advertising for support of the proposed Waste Reduction Act. If successful, this new legislation would require the producers of paper and packaging to fund up to 100% of Blue Box costs. This should reduce taxpayers’ waste diversion costs, as well as encouraging producers to develop more easily recyclable or minimized packaging.

Segsworth admitted that this was “a bit of a last-minute effort,” for Bill 91 has been stalled in debate, and seems in danger of becoming lost. “It’s like throwing snowballs into the furnace, but still worth a try,” agreed Mayor Davison. The complete Bill 91 can be read on the Provincial website: www.ontla.on.ca.

Sydenham Water Rates to Rise

Treasurer Louise Fragnito led council through a slide presentation, which provided a history of the development and funding of the Sydenham water plant, along with proposed rate changes for residential and commercial users, as well as non-users. It breaks the rates down into capital, operating and volumetric costs, and provides a financial forecast for the years 2013 to 2018. This presentation will be part of a public meeting slated for late February.

Closing of Unopened Road Allowances

Council showed its customary reluctance to close and sell unopened road allowances. Both were requested in Bedford district: one near the corner of North Shore and Leland Roads was denied: the other, beside a water access lot near crown land on Bob’s Lake, was held over pending further information.

Committee of Adjustment

Pat Barr and Cam Naish will replace Del Stowe and Larry York as Council reps on the Committee of Adjustment: all citizen members will remain the same.

Council sceptical of Weslemkoon requests

Jon Keeble, the president of the Weslemkoon Property

Owners Association, appeared before Addington Highlands Council to talk about a number of concerns, the main item being dump hours.

Properties on the north end of the lake are served by the Hartsmere dump and those at the south end by the Weslemkoon dump.

“Right now the two dumps are open on alternate Sundays. I’m hear to argue that they should both be open on Sundays, at least during the peak summer season of mid-June to mid-September,” said Keeble. “I think that would stop much of the bag tossing at the gate that goes on now.”

Keeble estimated that the cost of a part-time dump attendant to cover the extra hours would be up to $4,200. “As a group we pay $1 million in taxes and we don’t receive much from the township,” he said.

Reeve Henry Hogg said the township alternates hours at the sites in order to maximize the efficient use of its trained waste site attendants.

“We have never had much luck with part-time attendants in the past. Often they didn’t show up,” he said, “and I don’t think the vandalism we have seen at the Weslemkoon site has anything to do with Sunday hours.”

“I’m not sure either,” said Keeble, “there is a lot of anger out there over taxes.”

Mr. Keeble was not aware, until he was told at the meeting, that a recycle bin had been set fire to at the Weslemkoon dump last month and will cost $20,000 to replace.

MoE says decision pending on Denbigh waste site

The township has been working for several years to get approval to re-open the Denbigh Waste site, and an application for a Certificate of Approval from the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MoE) has been with the ministry for over a year.

During a presentation about waste site monitoring that came about at the request of Council, three MoE representatives came to Council. They explained how the monitoring works, but added one bit of new information. A response from the ministry regarding the Denbigh site should be available within two months.

Curious, scary numbers in asset management report:

Council did not seem to know how to respond to a draft asset management report that was completed by a Toronto consultant with little input from township staff or Council.

The report looked at all the fixed assets owned by the township – municipal buildings, roads and bridges, trucks and equipment, etc. and put a lifespan and a replacement value on each item. It then put a dollar figure on how much it will cost, over time, to keep the township's infrastructure from deteriorating.

“We need to have this report done in order to apply for infrastructure grants from the Province,” said Clerk/Treasurer Jack Pauhl.

“Yes, but what are we supposed to do with it?” asked Councilor Helen Yanch. “We can’t afford to adopt it.”

“I read this and it paints a pretty grim picture. But I realise that if you did the same thing 20 years ago it would paint the same grim picture, and we are still here,” said Councilor Tony Fritsch. “It says we have to raise taxes for capital upgrades by 6.35% per year, every year. It’s not going to happen.”

“Not unless you want to raise taxes by 10%,” said Reeve Hogg.

“Not next year,” said Deputy Reeve Bill Cox, referring to the upcoming municipal election.

Council decided to send some corrected information to the consultant and then wait for the final report before deciding how to deal with it.

“We will need a special meeting for this; it will not be a ten-minute conversation,” said Tony Fritsch.

Township Planner pans County Plan

South Frontenac Planner Lindsay Mills presented a highly critical assessment of the second draft of Frontenac County’s Official Plan to a meeting of South Frontenac Council on Tuesday night (December 3)

“This is supposed to be a high level document,” said Mills, “but the County is setting policies, rather than directing the townships to set their own policies.”

Some of Mills’ concerns: Although the County plan addresses commerce in hamlets and resorts, it does not mention roadside/highway commercial use. It still wants all housing development to occur in hamlets. It introduces a 150-metre set-back from shorelines, and assigns far too much authority to lake plans, which in Mills’ opinion, tend not to be sufficiently objective.

According to Lindsay Mills, the County appears to want to take over approval of Community Improvement Plans: “Why?” he asks.

Council agreed that the county and township roles in planning were not being clearly configuration of this document.

Lindsay Mills will be presenting his position at a meeting of Frontenac County Council this week.

2014 budget finalised

At the last Committee of the Whole, Council directed staff to make further budget cuts, in response to a greater than expected drop in provincial transfer funding. Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth was asked to cut his budget by $77,000. Segsworth reported that he could do this by cutting $20,000 from gravel resurfacing, $10,000 each from building maintenance at Keeley yard, and equipment maintenance at Hartington yard, and

$37,000 from Keeley sand and salt supply. “I think what’s proposed here is reasonable,” said Segsworth.

Council agreed with Fire Chief Chesebrough’s recommendation to purchase a 3/4 ton truck for station 5, and to replace the chief’s 1/2 ton truck, after Chesebrough listed the extensive repairs needed by both current vehicles.

Council passed the revised preliminary 2014 combined capital and operating budget which will require raising $13.6 million in taxation, a $700,000 increase from 2013. The impact of that increase on ratepayers is buffered by growth in the township. The acerage property will see and increase of 2.91% in their taxes. 1% of this increase will go directly into capital reserves.

Private Lane Upgrading Assistance Program

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth recommended Council approve payment (a total of $60,000) to seventeen private lane associations to assist with work done on their lanes. These township grants, which do not subsidize gravel resurfacing, will cover up to 50% of the total cost of private lane improvements, once they have been completed. Segsworth said many residents on private lanes still do not seem to be aware of this program: for more information check the Township website or call the Public Works Department.

Portland Waste Disposal Site

Mark Segsworth, in consultation with AECON engineering and Quinte Conservation Authority is recommending a 5 metre sand buffer zone and partial capping of the Portland waste disposal site to manage the seep at the edge of the landfill.

Standardized User Fees for Township Recreation Facilities and Halls

Council approved standardized user fees and user agreements for Township facilities (halls and playing fields), as recommended by the South Frontenac Recreation Committee. These agreements will provide a record of use and operating costs of the various facilities.

Dog Agility Trials Approved for Bill Day Farm

Council approved a special event for dog agility trials to be run by organizer Jennifer Laird, on the weekend of June 6-8, on the Bill Day property just east of Harrowsmith. This will include overnight accommodation for up to 20 travel trailers/campers.

Vandewal becomes Deputy Mayor

Councillor Ron Vandewal took the oath of office as Deputy Mayor for 2014.

By Julie Druker and Jeff Green

CF Council supports grant proposal for HPS Community Centre

The Central Frontenac Community Recreation Centre sub-committee is looking into the viability of turning Hinchinbrooke Public School in Parham into a community recreation centre to be used by various agencies and groups in the area. On Tuesday afternoon, (Nov. 27) a delegation led by Sue Leslie came to request council's support for an application to the County of Frontenac for a grant to have an architect create conceptual drawings for the proposed centre. The drawings would accompany a business plan. Leslie requested that council approve a motion to support their grant proposal. She also wanted Council to make a $5,000 cash contribution and to direct staff to prepare a Request for Proposal should the grant application to the County be accepted.

Lastly, she requested a commitment by council members to continue to be a part of the subcommittee. CAO Larry Donaldson pointed out that the school would not likely be put up for sale until 2015 and that the township is seventh or eighth in line in a list of about 15 potential buyers. After some discussion about $5,000 that was already set aside in the township budget for an earlier unsuccessful grant proposal to the Frontenac CFDC by the Hinchinbrooke School group, council agreed to Leslie’s requests and passed a motion granting the group $5,000.

Mandatory septic inspection - lake association members to do the heavy lifting over septic re-inspection

Members of a number of the more active lake associations in Central Frontenac will be joining an ad hoc committee of Central Frontenac Council in the new year. The committee is expected to report back to Council early next summer with a proposed design of a mandatory septic re-inspection program that will likely focus on waterfront properties in the township.

Jeremy Neven, the township's Chief Building Official, will sit on the committee as the staff representative and will bring his knowledge of the Ontario Building Code to the process since it is under the building code that the inspections are permitted.

Terry Kennedy from the Kennebec Lake Association and Ken Waller from the Sharbot Lake Association attended the meeting.

“On behalf of our associations, we are willing to do a lot of the research into how this is being done elsewhere and how it can be done here,” said Terry Kennedy.

“In addition to ourselves, we recommend that someone who does not live on the water be asked to join the committee to provide an alternate perspective,” said Ken Waller.

Two Council reps will also be sought for the committee, which received the go-ahead from Council.

Surprising data about Crow Lake

After delivering a brief update on the activities of the public works department, Mike Richardson was asked by Councilor Wayne Millar if he had looked into some of the concerns that were brought to Council last month by Karen Lahey of the Oaks Resort in Crow Lake.

“Surprisingly, the results of a speed study showed that the average speed of vehicles passing through Crow Lake is 23 km per hour, and the 85th percentile speed was 47 km per hour. I drive that road every day and would have thought the speeds were higher than that,” Richardson said.

Among other measures aimed at safety within Crow Lake is the installation of guide rails, which Richardson will look at. “There used to be rails there, but they have been broken by vehicles that went off the road,” Richardson said.

Building activity lags

Building activity sat at just over $5 million in value, 10 months into the year, according to a report by Jeremy Neven of the building department. Twenty-one new seasonal or residential units have been started this year. At the same point in 2012, 24 new units had been started and the total value of construction was $5.9 million. As of the end of October 2011, 28 units were underway and the total construction value was over $7 million.

New tipping fees finalized

A new tipping fee schedule for township dumps was brought to Council a month ago. At the time Council directed that the new schedule be posted for comment on the township's web site.

“I did not receive any comments from the public," said Waste Site Co-ordinator Kyle Labbett, "and I’m bringing back the identical schedule for Council to consider."

“I think we should bite the bullet and approve this,” said Councilor Norm Guntensperger.

A bylaw will be brought to the next Council meeting for approval, and the new schedule will come into effect on January 1.