Three reports on the Landfill Monitoring programs at the Mackavoy, Kaladar and Vennachar Waste Disposal sites, including the costs, were deferred to budget time.

The Flinton Recreation Club raised over $900 at their recent fishing derby, which will go towards the rink coverall.

Council voted to support a resolution from the County of Huron requesting that the Mandatory Septic System Maintenance Inspection Program for Huron County proceed in 2010 as a user pay program, and that an application be made to the provincial government for assistance for residential repair or replacement of rural septic systems.

Several years ago the waste sites in North Frontenac were filling up at such a rate that the township was faced with the possibility of shipping garbage away by the middle of this decade.

The township entered into a long-term management plan for the six currently active sites and three closed sites in the township, and developed a more aggressive recycling program. These actions have made a marked difference.

The township now has a projected 21 years of dump capacity available, according to a report to Council by Guy Laporte and Anne Kloosterman of Aecom Consulting, the engineering company that works for North Frontenac. “The recycling program is really working, that's one major difference,” Anne Kloosterman said.

Kloosterman added there are two ways to calculate the amount of recycling that township residents are doing. “Because the operators now keep exceptional records, we know that of every 100 bags they receive, 46 are recycling compared to 54 that go into the dump,” she said.

For several years, North Frontenac has had a policy of “paying” for recycling by giving residents a $2 dump tag for every bag of recycling. Tags are required on each bag of waste. The township has also recently gone to a clear bag system to further ensure that recyclable materials do not end up in landfill.

Basing waste diversion calculations by total weight, however, doesn't yield quite the same result, Kloosterman said. “If we use the empirical prediction that each resident produces 1.5 kilograms per person per day of waste, and look at the total weight that went into landfill last year, we get a diversion rate of 38%, which is still a marked improvement over the past,” Kloosterman said.

Going forward, Kloosterman said, “The first 'R' in the three Rs of waste diversion, 'Reduce', will become more and more relevant. Packaging practices are changing, and so are people's buying habits. If that 1.5 kilograms per person per day is decrease to 1, the diversion rate would jump up,” she said.

Construction waste is another major factor when the total weight of materials going “over the hill” is considered. On that front, Public Works Manager John Ibey said he has been informed of a process by which companies can recycle old shingles into paving materials, so shingles may soon be removed from the waste stream.

North Frontenac also invested in hazardous waste recycling last year, and ten tons of hazardous waste was collected. “That is not a large number but this the really toxic, really gross stuff that you don't want in your landfill site,” Guy Laporte said.

At an e-waste recycling day, 5.1 tons were collected. Guy Laporte said it would be relatively simple for the township to collect e-waste at one or two of its sites, by purchasing an old shipping container and lining it with pallets.

The township invested in a compactor in 2009, and it was used extensively at some of the sites.

“The compaction had a major impact on your overall dump life capacity last year,” said Laporte, “it went from 19 years after 2008 to 21 years after 2009. Now that the sites have been compacted, that dramatic an impact will not continue to occur.”

In terms of the health of the environmental impact of the township’s sites, Aecom does monitoring on an ongoing basis, and deals directly with the Ministry of the Environment for the township. They propose to drill two new monitoring wells in 2010 as part of their monitoring work, one at the 506 site and one at Plevna.

Other items from NF Council –

Plevna medical clinic by the end of the year? Councilor Fred Perry attended an organizational meeting for a Northbrook-based Family Health Team and reported back to Council. The current time-lines that the Ministry of Health is working with call for the satellite clinic at Plevna to be accepting patients by the end of 2010. Council asked staff to invite Kim Bains, the consultant to the project, to attend a meeting of council and bring further details.

Kennel approved – Council approved a zoning application that will permit a breeding operation for small so-called “designer dogs” by a Mr. Whyte at his property on the South Lavant Road.

Council remuneration – It cost North Frontenac ratepayers $137,000 to pay salaries and expenses to the mayor, council, and members of the Committee of Adjustment in 2009. Councillors received $13,884 in salary, $600 in office expenses and varying amounts for mileage, conference and county meeting expenses.

Because Mayor Maguire took a leave for three months, he received less pay for the year ($16,820) than Deputy Mayor Jim Beam ($18,022) did for the year. Including all travel, mileage and conference costs, the total for Beam was $27,570 and Maguire $23,000. Among councillors, Fred Perry received the most overall, $18,600 and Lonnie Watkins the least, $14,713.

AFAR further away – Councilor Fred Perry continues to attend meetings of the Addington Frontenac Area Radio station project (AFAR) and he reported that group is now considering switching gears and seeking an AM band instead of FM. They are also looking at the ongoing costs and commitments that are connected to operating a station. “The complications have been mounting but the committee is still working out solutions to the problems,” Perry said. 

Rutledge Road Study

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth brought a recommendation that a transportation and intersection improvement plan be developed for the 4km of Rutledge Road from east of Sydenham Road to the Loughborough/Portland border.

There are several planned and proposed developments along this corridor. The Gordon commercial project, the Sydenham High School expansion and the ambulance station are already approved, and four subdivisions (Gordon, Zanet, Morgan and Alton) have been proposed.

This portion of Rutledge has five one-way stop intersections, one school zone and one two-way stop intersection.

Mark Segsworth noted that in spite of many changes in the building environment, transportation modes, traffic control technology and other factors that influence intersection design, there have been little or no changes to the facilities at many of these intersections. The purpose of the study would be to assess existing conditions specific to each of the six intersections, and outline any modifications necessary to improve the safety and traffic flow along Rutledge Road. Segsworth also said that such information would have the additional benefit of helping the township be in a better position to negotiate with future developers and better apportion the costs of some of the upgrading.

The firm of AECOM has traffic expertise, and could complete the study by mid-April at a cost of $14,500, which would be drawn from the 2010 roads budget.

Deputy Mayor Ron Vandewal said he agreed with the need for the study, but didn’t like to approve it before the 2010 budget was finalized.

Councilor Larry York said he thought any study would just be guesswork: “We should do it in parts as we go along.”

Councilor John Fillion said he thought the township already had plenty of studies, and didn’t need another.

“We don’t have anything similar to the one being proposed,” Mayor Gary Davison responded.

Councilor Bill Robinson said he didn’t understand why township staff couldn’t do the study, and wondered what use it would serve. “Will it just go on the shelf?” he asked.

Council narrowly agreed to proceed with the study, with Councilors Fillion, Hicks, Robinson and York voting against it.

STORRINGTON ISSUE: Over 30 members of the Sands Road Residents Association, Storrington, brought their concerns to Council about a proposed 15 lot subdivision. Speaking on their behalf, Kelli McRobert listed issues including effect on wells, small size of lots, potential destruction of wildlife habitat, and increased water runoff.

Mayor Davison said there was no subdivision application before Council yet, only preliminary drawings. He said the proposed lot sizes were unlikely to remain unchanged, as they were smaller than normally required. He thanked the delegates for their “excellent presentation”, assuring them that there would be a public meeting before any decision was made.

SYDENHAM WATER TREATMENT PLANT: Kevin Riley of Kingston PUC presented the annual report on the Sydenham Water Treatment Plant, which was accepted by Council.

CAO Wayne Orr reported that the engineering firm XCG is still working on the detailed design and tendering stages of the treatment plant upgrades, but one aspect of the project that can move forward independently is the improvement in the computer operating system, which includes new hardware, software, programming and engineering. These upgrades are designed to allow for improved control for the plant operators who manage the system.

The vendor of record is Dakins Engineering group, and this component of the project is within the scope of the overall budget for improvements to the plant, and is part of the Build Canada Fund proposal. Council approved it.

TAX DOLLARS AT WORK? Council members each had been given a booklet from the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, describing the Rideau Lakes Watershed Plan: several councilors objected to the unnecessary expense of such an elaborate publication. 

CF budget balloons: staff asked to take some of the air out

Central Frontenac Council invited staff from its various departments and representatives from its recreation committees to bring forward their wish lists to the 2010 budget process, and they have spent a number of meetings having the wish lists explained to them.

At the end of their Committee of the Whole meeting late on Tuesday afternoon, March 23, the cozy atmosphere of the 2010 budget process took a decided turn when Treasurer Judy Gray presented Council with a preliminary breakdown of where the budget stands.

In 2009, the township collected $4.378 million from Central Frontenac ratepayers for their own operations, and as it stood on Tuesday afternoon, they were poised to levy $5.935 million from those same ratepayers in 2010, an increase of almost $1.6 million, or 35.6%.

Recognising that this kind of increase was not going to fly, Township CAO John Duchene said he had already talked to Judy Gray and Public works Manager Mike Richardson about the numbers “and we do feel we can find some significant savings. We may have to approach things a little differently in order to do this. I will be approaching other department heads in the coming days. We will get information to you about where we are in advance of our budget meeting on April 13.”

Duchene also pointed out that at least one of the factors leading to the shortfall was a decrease of $200,000 in a transfer from the Province of Ontario to the township under the Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund.

Councilor Gary Smith, who was chairing the Committee of the Whole meeting when the budget discussion was taking place, asked Council if there was a number they would like staff to be working towards.

After consideration Council decided to ask staff to find savings or alternative revenue sources (presumably by taking money from township reserve funds) to cut the tax levy increase by over $1 million from the current budget.

Even if the township can find these savings, Central Frontenac ratepayers will still be faced with an increase of about 11.5% in the taxes they pay for local services.

However, the township portion of the overall municipal tax bill is about 50%, with education and county taxes making up the other 50%. The levies for both education and county taxes are not going up this year, so the overall impact of an 11.5% increase in township taxes would be around a 6% increase on the overall municipal levy.

But $1 million must still be found to make that happen.

Councilor Norm Guntensperger warned against cutting the budget too much. “Personally I hear more from people when we don’t deliver the services they want, particularly when it comes to roads. I don’t think we should be increasing what we do, but I don’t want to see any cuts to the services we do offer,” he said.

Nonetheless, Guntensperger did support the call for a $1 million cut to the levy.

As Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting was about to adjourn, Councilor Frances Smith said, “I just want to point out that I find this a painful way to do budgeting. Asking everyone to come up with wish lists and then asking them to cut them back, and then having to cut them back ourselves just makes it that much harder. It would be better in the future for us to set some targets in advance, and to work from there.” 

Council rejects 1% solution – March 9, 2010

Central Frontenac Council continues to debate the cost of living increase for township staff for 2010.

Several weeks ago, Councilor Gary Smith went to figures from Stats. Canada to determine how much the increase should be. Using the most recent figures, Smith determined that the increase should be 0.4%.

The previous year, Council had given staff a 2.5% increase by rounding up the Stats. Can. cost of living calculation of 2.3%.

“I happen to receive two different pensions, and in each of them I received a 0.4% increase for this year. To be fair to everyone, as a council we should use the same government tables, which are published each year. Using the same tables as last year, we should increase salaries by 0.4%,” said Councilor John Purdon

“If we want to talk about fairness, I think we should recognize that we don’t have collective agreements yet, and if we give an insulting increase like 0.4% that might change,” said Councilor Norm Guntensperger.

“We rounded it up last year, why don’t we round it up to 1% this year?” said Councilor Frances Smith.

“If we want to address salaries, we should be looking at the salary grid, but if we start tampering with cost of living we will be making a mistake,” said John Purdon.

A motion was made for a 1% cost of living increase to all staff salaries in Central Frontenac, retroactive to January 1.

There were four votes in favour (Councilors Guntensperger, Frances Smith, Deputy Mayor Jeff Matson and Mayor Gutowski) and four votes against (Councilors Philip Smith, Bob Harvey, Bill Snyder and John Purdon) and the motion was defeated. Councilor Gary Smith was absent.

Culture if necessary, but not necessarily culture

The steering committee that is looking into the former railway station site across from the Central Frontenac township office in Sharbot Lake with a view towards putting up a public building sent a message to council seeking direction.

“The committee wants the parameters of their task to be spelled out,” Councilor Frances Smith told Council at their meeting on Tuesday, March 9.

The committee has been told to consider what kind of a multi-use cultural centre would be most appropriate for the location, but wants to know what kinds of uses council has in mind.

A written report by Frances Smith explained the committee’s question in this way: “Was it Council’s intention for the committee to 1) develop a business plan for the development of a multi-use cultural centre, with the focus being to strictly accommodate cultural uses, or 2) develop a business plan for the development of a multi-use centre where cultural interests and activities could also be accommodated?”

Smith explained that some members of the committee were not willing work on a project that would include such diverse uses as a library, township offices, and a council chamber, with cultural uses such as a theatre, gallery or archive space only to be included as possible uses.

“I can’t see us building strictly a cultural centre. I don’t think it is warranted for our population,” said Councilor Bob Harvey. “We need a council chamber and we need some other things, but to devote the whole thing to cultural activities is not warranted. No community even twice our size has something like that.”

Councilor Guntensperger said he hopes the school board will construct a theatre with the new high school.

“Maybe the whole project should wait until the High school debate is concluded,” he said.

“I think we should stick to basics. The plan was to build a small building in the style of the old station. It could be used as a library, for archives, that sort of thing,” said Councilor Philip Smith.

Council decided to support option 2, a multi-use building that can accommodate cultural uses among other uses. 

Central Frontenac looks at recreation costs

As part of the 2010 Central Frontenac Township preliminary budget discussions, township staff presented a list of potential expenditures on township recreation facilities at a total cost of over $300,000. About $100,000 was included in the category of maintenance requirements and over $200,000 is included as capital projects.

Some of the capital projects need to be done in the short tem. Among the big ticket items that were bought forward from staff are repairs to the Piccadilly hall at a cost of $52,000, $20,000 for the roof of the Kennebec hall, and $5,000 for a roof at the Crow Lake hall.

Not all of the projects need to be done this year, but there are risks to delaying. When asked if the Kennebec hall roof could wait a year, Chief Building Official Ian Trickett said, “It depends… if a really big wind comes up?” On a more serious note, he said, “The roof does need to be replaced within a year or two.”

“We have in front of us a set of piecemeal requests,” said Mayor Gutowski, “and all this really does is cover basic maintenance; it does not amount to any kind of strategy for the sustainability of these facilities.”

On the discretionary side, there were requests for money from the recreation committees. This list includes improvements to the Parham ball field and fairgrounds totaling $38,400, including $14,000 for playground equipment. For the Sharbot Lake ball field, there was a request for $6,500, including $4,500 for a playground. $21,000 was included for the initial planning and site work to relocate the Olden ball field, and $12,000 to replace the boards at the Arden rink.

Council went through the wish list, without making any final decisions. But there was some discussion.

“I don't know that we can afford to maintain outdoor rinks, for example, in all the different communities when the cost of new boards is taken into account,” said Councilor Bob Harvey. “Maybe we should build one really good facility for everyone.”

“I think a lot of these are not going to happen, but it's useful to know what people want. When we start to crunch our numbers, not a lot of these projects will survive,” said Councilor Frances Smith.

“A budget consists of two parts, there are the expenditures and then there are the revenues. There are various revenue sources, reserve funds, parkland funds, and tax dollars. If we can show our revenue sources, it will make it easier to make decisions on some of these requests,” said Chief Administrative Officer John Duchene. 

NO TAX RELIEF FOR UNITED CHURCH MANSE – Council rejected a request for relief from property taxes by the United Church Centenary Pastoral Charge for the manse of the United Church in Sharbot Lake.

The building houses a seniors’ centre, which is run by Northern Frontenac Community Services and the Alzheimer’s Society. Last year council granted tax relief. “Last year we did it as a gesture of good will, and council did indicate that time that we would not be doing it again,” said Frances Smith. There were no dissenting votes to a motion rejecting the request.

$5,000 FOR OFFICE RENOVATION – Council agreed to spend $5,000 to reconfigure the township office (change the location of doors, hallways, etc.) so the $200,000 + extension that is slated for completion later this month will create a seamless working space.

Mayor says Parham ambulance closing not set in stone - Regarding a decision by Frontenac County Council to build a new ambulance base in Ompah this year, and relocate the Parham base to Sharbot Lake within 3-5 years, Mayor Gutowski said, “The Ompah base has been approved for this year, but as far as Parham goes I think there is still time to revisit that. One of the things in the county budget is a statistics and population study which might change the scenario,” she said. 

Frontenac County Council put themselves, and County staff, through a kind of push and pull exercise throughout the month of February. The result was a change in the tax levy to ratepayers from the 2% increase that was in the draft budget to a net 0.59% decrease.

The exercise was initiated by Frontenac Islands Mayor Jim Vanden Hoek, who took exception to the way that the initial budget accounted for savings that came about because the provincial government has assumed the entire cost of a major social program, the Ontario Disability Support Program

Vanden Hoek argued that if those savings, which amounted to several hundred thousand dollars, were passed directly on to the local municipalities (South, Central, and North Frontenac and the Frontenac Islands) the county tax increase would be over 6% and county council would be more likely to cut some spending.

In the end several projects were cut from the budget, including plans to fix the front entrance-way to the county office, a savings of $150,000, a cut of about $50,000 from the staff training budget, and the elimination of a plan to spend $25,000 to turn the bare bones room where county council currently meets into a multi-media county council chamber and conference room for use by the county and the Frontenac Land Ambulance service.

One of the most costly county operations is the Fairmount Nursing Home, and council considered cutting back on municipal funding for the home.

At the end of the budget discussion on February 17, Council asked the home’s director Julie Shillington to consider the implications of a $100,000 cut to the Fairmount budget. In the end, after a lengthy in camera discussion at their final budget meeting on March 3, council decided to leave the Fairmount Home budget unchanged for 2010. Instead, they looked to controlling costs in future years, after contract negotiations with unionized employees of the home are completed later this year.

Council approved a motion that asks staff to provide “alternative budgeting scenarios for council’s consideration in 2011 and 2012 to address opportunities both leading to reductions and increases” of the Fairmount budget, and “ provide full explanations as opportunities arise and circumstances change.”

Other changes that council made to the budget had to do with the way that a gas tax rebate that the county receives from the federal government will be allocated.

A plan to spend $150,000 on a transportation study focusing on regional roads (Road 38, Perth Road, and Roads 506/509) was scaled back to $40,000, and a plan to develop community improvement plans was scaled back from $75,000 to $30,000.

While these changes will have no direct effect on municipal taxation rates because they were using federal money, there will be an indirect impact, because county council decided to transfer $110,000 in gas tax money to the local municipalities.

The net effect of the four budget meetings that county council held was to transfer about a half a million dollars to the local municipalities.

In an unusual move, the county will levy a 3.74% increase to the local municipalities and then provide a grant equaling 4.33% of that same levy, for a net effect of minus 0.59%.

As they each consider their own budgets this month, each township will have the choice of applying their share of the extra money to their own infrastructure needs, or using it for tax relief for ratepayers. 

Committee puts money up front for Point improvements

Vicky Veldman (L) and Leslie Myles presenting DM Vandewal a cheque for $10,000 from a recent Point Park Improvement fundraiser.

Michael Howe from the Sydenham Memorial Park Improvement Committee told South Frontenac Council about two generous donations to the Point Improvement Committee, one from the Frontenac Soccer Association, for $3,000, and a second from the February 13 community fundraiser dance at SHS, for $10,000. He promised that within the month, the committee would be prepared to discuss more fully the details of the work they hope to undertake at the Point.

OF LAPTOPS AND CHAINSAWS: Council discussed draft policy reviews concerning use of township equipment (which covers a wide range of items, from computers to heavy equipment), employees who are volunteer fire fighters, and transportation of non-employees in township vehicles. These were drawn up in response to concerns within the township, and to develop uniform policies throughout the amalgamated township to ensure fair treatment of all, and in order to reduce risk and liability. With small revisions, these will come before council for approval.

SOLID WASTE COLLECTION: Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth reported that the solid waste Request For Proposals (RFP) need to go out by the end of the month. He and his staff now have compiled the numbers of permanent (7901) and seasonal (2747) households on every road and lane in the township. They also have the numbers of centreline kilometres (775) of township roads. Using this information in consultation with some of the existing contractors, he proposed the establishment of four collection areas, based on the four districts, with boundary adjustments to create more efficient service delivery. He also recommended that commercial properties be treated like residential properties, in that a tag will be required on each garbage bag (they will receive 50 tags per year), and a maximum of two blue boxes could be set out.  Larger businesses would be expected to make their own arrangements for waste disposal, beyond the household level. Councilor David Hahn wanted exceptions made for campgrounds.

“This could create a lot of grey areas,” said Councilor Ron Vandewal.

Mark Segsworth also recommended that contractors be paid on a per household basis for garbage, but per tonne for recycling. The majority of council disagreed with using weight as a basis for paying contractors topick up recycling, preferring per household, the same as garbage.

Segsworth plans to release the RFP on March 31, with a closing date of May 12.

LIBRARY FUNDRAISING: CAO Wayne Orr reported on a recently formed library fundraising subcommittee, which will seek community support to raise funds to enhance the final library project. Details of the campaign will be announced in late April.

Any community members interested in helping with the campaign are encouraged to leave their names with Orr at the township office.

(Deputy Mayor Ron Vandewal chaired the meeting in the absence of Mayor Davison)

Photos: Tracy Holland presenting $3,000 to Deputy Mayor Vandewal, on behalf of the Frontenac Soccer Association, for improvements to the Point in Sydenham.

The Frontenac Stewardship Council will be kicking off an active summer with the presentation of a talk on Climate Change and its potential impacts on the rural lifestyle and landscape at the Clar/Mill Hall in Plevna on June 8 at 7:00 pm.

Gary Neilsen, the Climate Control Project Co-ordinator for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, will start the evening off by providing a cogent explanation of what climate change is. Climate change is the most talked about environmental issue of our day, and yet there is a lack of understanding about how it came about, the effects it could have on our local environment, and what can be done to alleviate and/or react to its impact on our ecosystem.

For example, climate change will likely expand the habitat of certain species, such as the Eastern Blue bird while at the same limiting the habitat of others such as moose.

Neilsen’s talk promises to bring clarity to an issue that is talked about all the time but rarely explained.

After the Climate Change talk, members of the Frontenac Stewarship Council will be available for a meet and greet at the hall.

The Frontenac Stewardship Council is planning a busy year, and one of the goals of the Council for 2010 is to foster more public awareness of its very existence.

Stewardship councils were set up in counties across Southern Ontario in 1996. The Frontenac council is run by volunteers from all four townships within the county. They meet monthly to consider a number of projects that are proposed by other board members, partners with similar interests, and the stewardship co-ordinator, who is an employee of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and works under the direction of the council.

The council was involved with a number of projects over the last year, including holding a Loon workshop in Sharbot Lake and a Forest Product Workshop on Canoe Lake, as well as a family fishing derby at Desert Lake Family Resort. The council also helped to fund a wetland enhancement project on Highgate Creek, an extension of the Cataraqui River in the City of Kingston.

One of the members of the council executive, Jocelyne Steeves, has been working with two teachers on a grade 8 level curriculum “Water Unit box”, which will bring a year-long lesson plan to teachers in schools across Frontenac County. The council is also helping to bring lake assessment information that has been developed by the MNR for many of the 450 large lakes in Frontenac County to the public through its own website.

This year promises to be even busier with the production of “The Naturally Rich Frontenacs” booklet in partnership with Frontenac County. A fish survey, known as a Creel survey, will be carried out on Eagle Lake throughout the summer to give detailed information about the fish habitat in the lake. A fisheries and water quality assessment of Buck and Kennebec lakes will also be carried out and an aquatic vegetation mapping survey of Elbow Lake will take place.

A family fishing day at Verona’s Rock Lake is scheduled for July 10 in partnership with the Verona Community Association and fish and wildlife habitat enhancement is slated for Kennebec, Fourteen Islands, and Bobs lakes. A species at risk project is also being planned, pending a funding application.

Awareness events this year include a Black Bear talk in Northbrook (June 19) and a Bald Eagle talk in Sharbot Lake (July 10) as well as the global warming talk in Plevna on June 8. 

South Frontenac and the Verona Medical Centre

Members of South Frontenac Council were all in favour of the township owning the Verona Medical Centre a few weeks ago. Although they still are, come members are finding the details hard to get their heads around.

At a Committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday Night, CAO Wayne Orr presented a report outlining some of the issues relating to municipal ownership of the clinic.

Most of the discussion centred on the choice of management model. Although there seemed to be general preference to have the management provided by a non-profit community board, not all Councillors agreed.

Councillor John Fillion commented: “Once you have a Board, you get a lot of ideas and opinions, and the whole thing spirals right out of control.” Councillor Larry York wondered how much the Board members would have to be paid.

John McDougall, speaking on behalf of the Verona Find-a-Doc Committee, was emphatic that as a non-profit Board, none of the members would receive remuneration.

He said it was possible in the future that the Board might decide to hire a property manager, but if so, the cost would be factored into the tenant’s rent.

The matter will come back to Council for resolution.

Highly Sensitive Groundwater Areas:

In response to an earlier request of Council, Township planner Lindsay Mills presented a map outlining areas in Southern Ontario where the quantity and quality of the groundwater supply is considered to be of concern. This includes most of the land south of the shield: Mills noted that four particular areas in South Frontenac are rated highly sensitive. Two are in Portland, one east of Hartington and the other south of Harrowsmith along Road 38. The main area in Loughborough district is south of Sydenham, in the vicinity of Stagecoach Road. Mills recommended that when development is being considered in these four areas, a hydro geological study should be done as part of the consent process. Deputy Mayor Vandewal questioned the accuracy of the designations, because none of the areas with dug wells are noted. Councillor Robinson said that as long as a well could pump 3-5 gal/min for six hours, it qualified for a CMHC mortgage, and that should be where the municipality’s responsibility ended.

“Why do we need to be concerned?” he asked.

Councillor Hahn said it was also important to find out what impact a new well or wells might have on existing wells in the neighbourhood.

Lindsay Mills reiterated that is important to be aware of potential water problems in these highly sensitive areas, when planning development.

Composition of Sustainability Committee

Councillor York said that since Bedford had two council members on the Sustainability Committee, he would like to be appointed as a second representative from Storrington.

Bedford Councillor Del Stowe said that he had asked to be part of the committee while it was developing plans for extending waste pickup to Bedford, and now that this was underway, he would be happy to leave the committee.

This led to a wider discussion of the whole question of township committees: their purpose and composition. Some felt the whole issue should be left to the new Council; others suggested the present Council should review the committee structure, and make recommendations to next year’s Council. They agreed to conduct a committee review in September.

Speed Limits on Township Roads

In September, Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth had approached Council with a recommendation to develop standardized criteria, which could be used to evaluate requests for reduced speed zones. At that time Council directed him to search the records for a previous policy. Meanwhile, the Transportation Association of Canada (TAC) has published (Dec 2009) guidelines, along with a program that evaluates various criteria such as: curves, intersections, adjacent land use, width of lanes, parking, pedestrian and cyclist exposure, roadside hazards, etc.

This makes it possible to quickly, objectively and consistently evaluate the speed limit appropriate for any given area, according to Mark Segworth. He recommended Council adopt the TAC guidelines for use in responding to requests for speed limits in the Township, particularly on secondary roads where the speed limit defaults to 80km/hr unless posted otherwise.

“The OPP have been extremely supportive of his efforts to develop an objective approach to addressing speed issues,” he added.

Ron Vandewal objected that the speed limits were too low already, and seldom obeyed. Del Stowe asked whether this would be administered proactively or reactively.

Mark Segsworth said that while it would probably be good to become more proactive, the township doesn’t have the resources to be much other than reactive. “The Township needs to demonstrate due diligence: probably we aren’t resourcing that function as well as we should.”

Councilors Fillion and Robinson were opposed to adopting a speed limit policy, fearing it would lead to unnecessary additional expenses. Councillors Stowe and Hahn spoke in support of the policy. No agreement was reached.

A small but determined group of Ompah residents have been seeking the return of two hours of library service per week to their library.

At the same time they are worried that the board of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library intends to close their library entirely.

It all started when the Plevna library found a new home early this winter. In order to encourage use in the new library, which makes use of a renovated portable classroom, the library board increased the hours that the Plevna library was open by two per week, from eight to 10.

These two hours and previously been provided at the Ompah branch, which is now down to four hours a week, from six.

The rural services sub-committee of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library met in Kingston in April and they considered a request by the Ompah library users to return their two hours of service. They decided to recommend that the branch hours remain as they are.

Janice Arthur, one of the Ompah residents advocating for more hours, attended that meeting.

According to Janice Arthur, not only were the Ompah hours rejected, but the library board chair, Claudette Richardson, indicted that the Library “fully intends to go ahead with the recommendations of the 2004 library services report with respect to Ompah.” The library services report called for the Ompah library to close.

When contacted by the News, Claudette Richardson and Wilma Kenny, the chair of the rural services committee and vice-chair of the library board, both said that no such statement had been made.

Claudette Richardson recalled that the conversation about the library hours ended up delving into a discussion of two issues that could impact rural branch service: accessibility issues as well as new rules that are anticipated regarding safety of library staff in response to a violent attack that took place last year at a library in Ottawa.

“These changes could impact our ability to deliver service at branches such as Ompah, but I certainly did not say there are plans to close the Ompah branch,” Richardson said. “Our recommendation for the rural branches is to leave the hours as they are for this year, and look at them next year.”

In a related development, Marily Seitz and John Inglis appeared before North Frontenac Council on May 13.

They reported that the branch hours at Ompah seem to be stuck at the current four, and expressed their concern that the branch may be facing closure. They also reported that the Frontenac County Council representative to the library board, Frontenac Islands Mayor Jim Vanden Hoek, had arrived late to the rural services sub-committee meeting, after the Ompah hours issue had been dispensed with.

Marily Seitz asked Council the following question: “What follow-up action will Council take to ensure the return of the two hours of service to the Ompah library?”

Mayor Maguire said, “I am disappointed by this. I will bring it back up at County Council again. It is through the county that we deal with the library board so I have to go that route. But people here know that we have had problems with the county.”

The township plans to build a new fire hall this year and free up space at the existing fire hall, which is housed in the same complex as the current, postage stamp-sized Ompah library.

In light of this, John Inglis asked, “Will Council pass a resolution to agree, in principle, to expand the Ompah library?”

“I’d rather wait until we’ve got the ground turned across the road,” said Mayor Maguire, referring to the location of the new fire hall across Road 509, opposite the current one.

When asked, Claudette Richardson was reluctant to make any commitments towards the Ompah branch should the township come forward with expansion plans. “I can’t say anything about a potential plan. If they bring something forward, we will look at it then. All I can say is that we provide the best library service we can, with limited funds,” she said.