Petworth Road subdivision emerges from the shadows

For months Hartington residents living in the vicinity of Petworth Road have been raising alarm bells about what they thought was coming, a proposed subdivision on Petworth Road that they say will affect the delicate water table in the area. And for months Mayor Davison and other members of Council have said Council can’t respond until an application for subdivision approval is brought to the township. Now, that has happened.

Township Planner Lindsay Mills informed Council that he has received a 49 lot proposal that would connect Boyce Road To Petworth Road, and run along the west side of the K&P trail line has . Mills emphasized that there are still a number of issues to be resolved before the plan can be considered for formal approval: Mayor Davison advised the local residents who were attending the meeting that there will be a public meeting for their comments before any decisions are made.

Mills also brought forward preliminary information about a proposal for 16 lots in Incerary.

Sydenham Water: Rates to Rise

Treasurer Louise Fragnito quoted the Sustainable Water and Sewage System Act (SWSSA) which “seeks to introduce the principle that having consumers pay the full cost of providing water…services will promote water conservation and greater awareness of water and environmental protection.”

However Sydenham residents are using, on average, only 3/4 of the volume that they are paying for, and a raise in rates will be an unlikely incentive to use even less. (35 cubic metres actually used per quarter, vs the 54 cubic metres per quarter for which residents are being charged a base rate of $125.28)

Nonetheless Fragnito argued that in order to bank some reserves toward the calculated annual depreciation of $165,423, and to cover the estimated inflation of operating rates, water rates will need to increase.

Most councillors leaned toward a plan which would see commercial rates set higher than household ones (commercial use is almost three times higher than residential). Councillor Mcdougall said that classing the two seniors’ non-profit apartments in Sydenham as commercial might jeopardize affordable housing. Council was also divided on the question of whether those Sydenham residents who have not connected to municipal water should pay a penalty for non-use of the system.

None of the proposed rate increases would be enough to cover all projected eventual major repair costs. Councillor Vandewal said he was not too concerned about the projected shortfall, as long as current running costs could be covered, with some reserves set aside.

“Even the city of Kingston goes to the (higher levels of government) for help with infrastructure repairs,” Vandewal said.

The next step in the water rates saga will be a public meeting with Sydenham residents.

Dog Tags

CAO Orr reported that the fees charged by the Kingston Humane Society have “dramatically increased” in the past two years, while at the same time the voluntary purchase of dog tags has decreased, resulting in a shortfall that has to be covered from general taxation. As a result, Orr recommended an increase in dog tag and kennel license fees, and in the charge for reclaiming dogs from the KHS, as well as shortening the present five days for reclaiming dogs to the legally required three.

Council seemed to favour these changes, but did not agree with Orr’s recommendation that the deadline for purchase at the least expensive rate be moved forward so it would not coincide so closely with the property tax due date. Although this would have relieved pressure on the township office staff, many people, as Councillor Barr pointed out, would prefer not to have to make two separate trips to the municipal offices.

CAO Orr took advantage of this opening to make a plea for residents to pay their taxes directly through the bank: “Some people get their tax money from the bank, and carry it over to us, so we can carry it back to the bank.”

Budget Note

Saturday November 17, Council is holding a special all-day meeting to work their way through next year’s budget: Orr distributed the proposed budget developed so far: as it stands, it would represent a tax increase to the ‘average property’ of 2.91%.

Waste management – second thoughts

As reported in the article on the Oct. 21st council meeting, council took a cautious approach in response to a proposed letter to the Ministry of the Environment by resident Paul Isaacs concerning the increasing cost of environmental monitoring of township waste sites.

However, at the beginning of this week's council meeting, Councilor Tony Fritsch said “We might have been too hasty with this. I think it is worthwhile for us to raise this with the ministry. The costs are high and the least we could ask for is an explanation about why all the monitoring needs to be done. I think we should set up a meeting with the ministry to talk about our waste monitoring costs. At the very least we should hear from them about it.”

“It always seems that depending on whom they send out to look at things, you get a different story,” said Deputy Reeve Bill Cox. “I suppose it would be worth talking to them about the costs, if only to get a clear explanation.”

Council passed a motion instructing Clerk Jack Pauhl to request a meeting with the MoE.

Blanket support for solar

Ian Rowberry, representing Queen Street Solar, a co-operative venture that sells shares in solar generation projects to small and larger scale investors, came to council to talk about a project they are working on at a location just south of Kaladar and another potential project in Cloyne. These projects are covered under the new rules that were just announced on October 9.

At 500 megawats, the projects are 50 times larger than the MicroFIT projects that have become common throughout the rural landscape on rooftops, backyards and fields. But they are themselves dwarfed by the huge solar farm projects that are also coming on stream. They can be accommodated on a five - acre parcel of land. They also come with requirements for 20 metre setbacks from property lines and vegetative buffers so they should have little or no impact on neighbouring properties.

The awarding of contracts for these projects is being done on a competitive basis, and points are awarded for support from local municipalities. What Ian Rowberry was asking for from Addington Highlands was a blanket motion declaring township support for rooftop and ground mount solar projects.

“The resolution will not grant final approval for any specific project. The township will still have approval authority,” said Rowberry. “It is just a general statement of support on the township's part.”

Reeve Hogg introduced a blanket motion, which will last for one year, and it was approved.

Reeve writes to Minister of Aboriginal Affairs

Back in May, Reeve Hogg wrote a letter to the premier asking for clarification about the impact of the land settlements for the Algonquin Land Claim on property taxes and values. A number of large parcels of land along Highway 41 are included in the land claim's draft Agreement in Principle.

Hogg received a quick response from the premier's office, saying that the letter had been forwarded to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, David Zimmer. Since then Reeve Hogg has not heard back from Zimmer or the ministry.

“I figured I should write directly to the minister since I haven't heard anything,” Hogg told council as they read through the draft of a letter he has prepared.

In the letter Hogg talks about the interests of Addington Highlands residents in the face of the claim.

“The local people have created the infrastructure that serves the area by years of hard work over many generations and deserve the respect of having a say in the future of the area. The lack of openness in the entire [land claim] process is a worry to local people and can only be repaired by including them in all future negotiations by having a choice at the table,” he wrote.

Council asked that Hogg include a request for a meeting in the final draft of the letter.

50/50 offer on Beatty's Curve Road

After a few back and forth letters between the township and Mrs. Gardner, who lives on a piece of un-maintained township road, Council has decided to offer to cover 50% of the cost of gravel and grading on the road, up to a maximum cost of $2250.

All I want for Christmas is a brand new truck

After agreeing to purchase a truck for the work use of Public Works Manager Royce Rosenblath, Council has decided to purchase the truck from Bence Motors at a cost of $40,224. The Bence Motors bid was not the lowest, but the offers from seven retailers were all quite close, and Council decided to stick with a local business under the circumstances. The truck will likely be delivered within four weeks, just in time for Christmas.

Long Term Asset Management Plan

It has been several years since the Ontario government decided that they would like to see local municipalities put together long-term plans to ensure their own viability.

Knowing that municipalities are not in a position to complete larger infrastructure projects without provincial support, the province decided to use the carrot and stick approach. In order to encourage long-term planning, the province announced that not only will municipalities who complete “asset management plans” be put to the front of the line for provincial infrastructure grants, but those that do not complete the plans will eventually be left out altogether.

The province offered up money to help pay for those plans, and municipalities, sometimes begrudgingly, have been working away at the task of cataloguing all of their assets: roads, bridges, fire halls, community halls, offices and garages, etc. This involves assigning a dollar value to each piece of infrastructure, evaluating its state of repair and putting a cost to its short and long-term upkeep and a cost for its eventual replacement.

North Frontenac began preparing the groundwork for asset management 10 years ago, as it was the kind of project that fit the mindset of former Mayor Ron Maguire, a retired federal bureaucrat, and although the current mayor, Bud Clayton, differs from Maguire in many ways, he is on the same page as far as long-term financial planning.

Last week, several years of work was given form in a draft report that was presented to Council by Vicky Leakey of KPMG.

Leakey was reluctant to leave the report with Council, although she did in the end, because some of the numbers are not final (she asked me to give her back my copy before she left, wanting to make sure the numbers are final before they are put to the public).

But the general scope of the report is that North Frontenac needs to spend $13 million over the next 10 years in order to keep its existing infrastructure in good repair and improve those assets that are now, or will soon be needing major work.

The township already budgets for capital projects each year, and Leakey said that given the amount already budgeted each year, “at the end of the day we are suggesting the deficit is about $1 million over ten years”

The good news, according to Leakey, it that with an increase of $107,000 each year in the capital budget, the township should be able to accomplish the goals set out in the asset management report.

The final plan will be presented to Council later in November.

Vicky Leakey did point out, however, that there is a weakness in the report. Gravel roads are not included as assets.

Currently all work on gravel roads is captured in the township's operating budget as part of road maintenance. Asset management deals only with the separate capital budget. An evaluation of the capital needs for the township's gravel roads, (which make up 45% of the roads) is needed, Leakey said.

Over the next few months, the township will be working on an inventory of gravel roads, which includes looking at the state of the base for all the roads, and all the culverts and ditches as well.

Once that work is done, it will be added to the asset management plan.

The roads and bridges aspect of asset management is not likely to cause much controversy in North Frontenac, but when the long-term cost of maintaining township buildings and the viability of the current township office building are concerned, there is little consensus on council, or among the public.

A proposal to receive the draft asset management plan, and then begin considering if a new township office is a viable project, was not well received by some on Council.

“I think we should consider the way the current office is laid out. If you look at the space that is available and completely change the way the offices are laid out in the building, you’d find enough room,” said Councilor Wayne Good. “Before deciding if we can build something, let’s look at what we already have.”

In the end only the motion to receive the draft asset management plan was approved.

by Wilma Kenny and Jeff Green

South Frontenac begins to hammer out budget

The preliminary drafts of the capital budgets for public works and recreation facilities, as well as a report on reserve funds, were presented to a Committee of the Whole meeting of South Frontenac Council on Tuesday night.

Among close to $10 million in proposed spending on public works, $4.48 million is devoted to scheduled road re-paving in line with a 5-year roads plan that Council approved early in 2012.

But Council was more concerned this week with some of the requests coming from the fire department. A new project that came to light when a study was done of the state of repair of the fire halls in the township earlier this year is a $1.4 million cost (to be raised over 2 years) to replace the ageing Perth Road fire hall, and $285,000 is allocated for repairs for the Latimer Road Hall near Inverary.

Rather than budget $1,400,000 for the Perth Road fire hall project, Council asked staff to develop a budget for project planning, costing and blueprints, to be done next year.

Another smaller item attracted some attention. Several members of council questioned the need to replace Fire Chief Rick Chesebrough's 2010 vehicle (which, at his request, does not carry township identification) and currently shows mileage of 306,000 kilometres.

“That seems like incredibly high mileage” said Councillor Ron Vandewal. The replacement cost of the pickup truck is $40,000.

The capital budget for recreation included some additional requests, most concerning the comprehensive $135,000 cost to develop Gilmour Point (in Storrington, near Battersea).

There was general agreement to not do all the Gilmour Point work in 2014, and to start by only completing the parking lot next year at a cost of $50,000.

The budget also includes $50,000 for playground structures.

Councillor McDougall suggested that the township develop a policy regarding playground structures. He suggested that in future the township would provide $10,000 and if the community wanted a more elaborate structure, they would be expected to fund-raise to make up the difference.

In terms of reserve funds, they are expected to drop by about $800,000 over the next year, to stand at just over $13 million by the end of 2014. A reserves policy that has been instituted in the township has established minimum and maximum amounts for various purposes, and the draft budget reflects these targets.

Budget Timeline

At their November 12 Committee of the Whole meeting, Council will receive the draft budget package in its entirety, including the operating and capital budgets, and Saturday Nov. 16 has been set aside for a 9-4 meeting to work on the operating budget. The results of this meeting will be brought back to the Nov. 26 meeting, and Dec 3, 10, and 17 have been set aside for budget debate and passage, if it takes that many sessions.

Sydenham Water - the problem that never goes away

Kevin Riley, manager of the Sydenham water treatment plant, reviewed provincial legislation dealing with operation of municipal waterworks, and the related responsibilities of councillors. He said that the Safe Drinking Water Act, which was developed at least in part in response to the Walkerton crisis, requires councillors and senior staff to stay informed about the legislation and up-to date on the operation of their drinking water system. This is best done through regular reports from operating staff. The municipality must be able to demonstrate they have arranged adequate funding for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the plant, and they should develop an operational plan to be approved by the province. 

Later in the meeting, Treasurer Louise Fragnito reminded Council that the municipal portion of the water plant upgrade ($488,366) was still un-financed. Also, due to increasing operating costs, the existing rate structure is not providing sufficient money for future replacement and improvement costs.

Council discussed a variety of ideas, including drawing from general taxation, working funds or the present water plant reserves, billing the users more, or charging a penalty for non-use.

There was general agreement that it was time to get rid of the un-financed upgrade, and that the system should be user-pay.

“What about all the other villages in the township that are going to need water systems sooner or later? If we use tax money for Sydenham, we’d be opening a big can of worms,” said Mayor Davison. Staff was directed to bring back a proposal that will address this issue.

After learning at a special meeting last Tuesday that Warden Janet Gutowski is not prepared to relinquish her role after one year, as has been the practice for Frontenac County wardens, members of Council will be challenging that decision at this week's meeting.

Two motions are set for debate at the tail end of the final meeting of Frontenac County Council this year.

Recognizing that Council has no authority to force Gutowski to resign, the first motion asked that the procedural bylaw be changed so that after the next election the warden will be elected for a one-year term rather than the four-year term that is currently in place.

In the preamble, the motion says, “It has been a long standing tradition and past practice at the County that each warden has annually resigned and a new warden was appointed each year.”

It then says that “Council (with the exception of Warden Gutowski) does not agree with and/or does not support the warden’s decision and Council requests this be documented in Council minutes,”, and concludes by directing the Chief Administrative Officer “ to prepare and bring back a By-law for consideration in January 2013, changing the term of the Warden to one year only, effective immediately after the next general municipal election.”

The second motion being proposed is directed squarely at Gutowski.

It says in the preamble that council “has lost confidence in the Warden's ability to lead” and later on charges that she “has shown a habit of picking and choosing which clauses of our procedural By-law she is going to follow”.

The motion concludes with the following resolution: “Therefore, a vote of non-confidence is being called and furthermore, Warden Gutowski is being asked by Frontenac County Council to immediately resign from the Warden’s position.”

Among the movers and seconders of the two motions are the three other mayors on Council along with Councilor Jones from Frontenac Islands.

If passed, the motions would not be binding on Warden Gutowski. They would, however, be a definitive indication of the displeasure of Frontenac County at her decision to remain as warden for another year, or perhaps two years.

(Note – this article was written before the Wednesday, December 19 Frontenac County Council meeting took place, and the paper was being printed as events unfolded at the meeting. The next edition of the Frontenac News will not be published until January 10 because of our Christmas break. However, the results of this vote at yesterday's meeting are available via the our twitter feed @frontenacnews and an article detailing all the outcomes of the meeting will have been posted on our website Frontenacnews.ca by the time this paper has been distributed)

South Frontenac Council gave final direction to their treasurer regarding the 2013 budget at their last meeting of 2012 on Tuesday night, December 18.

Until late in the budgeting process, the goal of keeping the increase under 3% was being achieved, but in November the township found out that starting in 2013 its allocation from a provincial grant program will be dropping by $206,000.

$100,000 of that shortfall was covered by an increase in the levy for garbage pickup, which is paid on a per household basis. Council agreed to hand out the same number of bag tags (50) as in previous years, but increased the pickup fee to $120 from $100. The township has about 5,000 households, and thus $100,000 was raised.

The other $106,000 was raised by increasing the tax rate on all properties from 2.98% to 3.53%.

Council considered the option of limiting the increase and taking the extra money from reserve funds, but since the shortfall from the province is a permanent feature, they felt that would only lead to higher tax increases in future years.

The increase was too steep for some members of Council. Councilor Vandewal said, “I know it’s not going to happen at this point, but does anybody really think that we couldn’t find $100,000 in savings if went over the budget again?”

There was no response, and the budget directive was approved 6-3, with Councilors Vandewal, Robinson, and Deputy Mayor Naish voting against it.

The budget bylaw will come to Council in the new year. The final tax rate will be affected not only by the township budget, and by the County of Frontenac levy and the Education tax rate as well.

Robinson fights the tri-axle battle

Prior to the budget discussion, Councilor Bill Robinson tried to save the township $340,000. He proposed a motion to scrap the purchase of a tri-axle truck for the Public Works Department.

“$340,000 is a lot of money to spend for a vehicle. I’ve talked to people in heavy construction who own these kinds of vehicles and they say you have to use them every day in order to make them pay, and we simply don’t have enough use for one. It would be cheaper to rent one when we need it. It will be too big to work on most of our roads,” said Robinson in support of his motion.

A number of councilors spoke out against the motion, saying they had to stick with the advice of the Public Works Department. The motion was defeated 8-1.

Zoning bylaw change draws opposition

Councilor Del Stowe expressed a concern about some changes to the township's comprehensive zoning bylaw that were proposed by Township Planner Lindsay Mills.

The new bylaw will permit the 60 or so waterfront resort owners, most of whom have a number of cabins spread out along the shoreline of township lakes, to put up new buildings on the same footprint as the old ones, even if the buildings are located less than 30 metres from the high water mark.

“If a private cottager wanted to do the same thing if their 50-year-old cottage is falling apart, would they be able to?” asked Stowe of Mills.

“No, they would have to move back 30 metres, and if that wasn’t possible they would have to come to us to ask for a minor variance,” said Mills. “This proposal is here for the viability of the small resorts.”

Del Stowe, as well as Councilors Mark Tinlin and Deputy Mayor Cam Naish voted against the bylaw, which still passed 6-3

$130,000 Petworth Bridge repair

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth came to Council to get final approval to apply for a grant, in conjunction with Lennox and Addington County, for the repair of the Petworth bridge. The bridge is located in South Frontenac, but has always been considered a boundary bridge with L&A County.

"I should let Council know that when we contemplated this project, the grant program was set at $50 million for the entire province, so we kept it to a smaller project. I received an email today saying that the grant program has been increased to $90 million, but the deadline is still January 9th, and we already have agreed with L&A about this project."

Council agreed.

The difference between this repair and most other bridge repairs is that the bridge is not suffering from age-related problems. It was damaged by someone, but the township has not been able to find out who.

“I find it astounding that someone can do $130,000 in damage to a bridge and we cannot find out who it is,” said Councilor John McDougall.

Pay raises for managerial staff

Managerial staff will be receiving a 2.1% raise in 2013, the same raise that was negotiated for unionized staff. 

In a 7-2 vote, members of Frontenac County Council, approved a resolution that reads: “Warden Gutowski has lost the confidence of Frontenac County Council. Warden Gutowski is being asked by Frontenac County Council to immediately resign from the Warden's position.”

Warden Gutowski and John Purdon, both from Central Frontenac, opposed the motion.

Although the motion expresses the will of the Council, it is not binding, and Warden Gutowski did not resign once the motion was passed.

Although it has been the practice for Frontenac County Wardens to resign after serving for one year, according to the county procedural bylaw the warden is elected for the entire term of Council, which runs until the end of 2014.

South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison, who served a s Warden in 2011, the first year of the current term, and then resigned last December, made the strongest statement of any of those who spoke in favour of the motion.

“We had a strategic planning meeting on November 28th, and everything that was brought up there was about understanding our roles, and about teamwork. That does not make any sense to me any more in light of what the Warden is doing. It is total disrespect for 146 years of tradition. It flies in the face of democracy. The understanding is that it has always been a one-year term for warden, and that the Warden serves at the pleasure of Council. The only thing that makes me feel better about this is that dictators tend to not last that long,” said Davison.

John Macdougall, who did not comment when the issue of Gutowski remaining as warden was first raised a week ago, said this time that he would be supporting the motion asking for her resignation.

“In our inaugural meeting, right in the minutes, there are comments about the fact that each mayor would have a chance to be a warden during the four year term of council. I believe in one year appointments because each of us has been elected to build relationships between ourselves and the other townships, the relationship is much stronger if each Mayor gets a turn being Warden.”

For her part, Warden Gutowski was defiant in the face of the statements by many members of Council.

“I was very well aware of the term of warden, had done my research and my homework. I have been concerned that the warden has been changing every year because of concerns about continuity. Under the circumstances, I have made the decision that I will remain as warden for the current time; I have not said that I will remain the warden for an entire year. Frankly, I am embarrassed by this motion,” she said.

After the motion was passed, Gutowski said, “I don't know if members of Council know this, but on the chain of office the name of Phil Leonard is listed as warden for the year 2000, 2001, and 2003.

“He served those years because he was asked to do so by his fellow councillors, not because he refused to leave. He served at the pleasure of Council, the exact opposite of that you are doing” said Gary Davison.

“I don't know what happened. I wasn't here then,” said Gutowski, who then moved on as if the motion had never been passed, saying “we will now move on with our agenda.”

Other members of Council were not as willing to move on, however.

By an overwhelming majority, Council refused to receive a presentation regarding a proposed strategic plan for the coming years.

“This is a very nice report,” said Gary Davison, “Unfortunately I cannot accept it because it talks about co-operation, and we have just seen that there is no such thing as co-operation on this Council.”

“To me this report has been co-opted by the staff. I should also point out that it does not even spell Wolfe Island correctly. The Island was named after the general, not the animal,” said Frontenac Islands Mayor and Wolfe Island resident Dennis Doyle.

The strategic plan, which was funded out of the 2012 budget, was rejected in a vote of 7-2.

After that, the meeting continued for another two hours without incident.

South Frontenac budget increase heads north

At their final Committee of the Whole meeting of 2012 on Tuesday night, December 11, members of South Frontenac Council had their final session on the 2013 budget.

As requested by council, staff presented a budget in November that would result in a tax increase of less than 3% for the average valued South Frontenac home, which is now worth a whopping $214,000.

Subsequently it was revealed that a provincial transfer program was cutting its grant to South Frontenac by $206,000.

At the council meeting on December 4, a number of options were presented to council, and this week council had an opportunity to discuss them.

The first item that was settled concerned garbage pickup. In 2012, the township levied a special charge to all residential ratepayers of $100 to cover the cost of garbage pickup. For that fee, ratepayers receive 50 $2 bag tags. The fee is intended to cover pick up only. Other waste costs such as waste site maintenance and operation costs, tipping and trucking fees for out of township disposal of Storrington District waste, etc. is covered through the general tax levy.

Council rejected a proposal by staff to eliminate the levy and integrate the costs into general taxes.

“I don’t see why people who own vacant lots should pay for garbage pickup,” said Councilor Ron Vandewal and the majority of council concurred.

In order to cover part of the budget shortfall, council decided to raise the $100 fee to $120, with the extra $20 helping to offset the waste management budget. This will bring in approximately $100,000.

As to covering the remaining $106,000 shortfall, Council was leaning towards increasing taxes to cover it. This would bring the tax increase to about 3.5%, and with the extra $20 the increase will be near the 4% mark for residential ratepayers.

“This is a bit higher than I think we want to go,” said newly appointed Deputy Mayor Cam Naish, “but I realise it is not wise of us to take this kind of money from reserves, particularly because that $206,000 is gone forever, not just in 2013."

“I think we should raise taxes a bit more if we have to,” said Councilor John McDougall. “Don’t forget the elephant in the room, the $600,000 shortfall we may be facing if we can’t renew the roads money from the city. If that doesn’t come it will come out of the budget, so we should not keep taxes artificially low and then have to jump them up next year.”

Until this year, South Frontenac has received a grant of $600,000 from the City of Kingston for arterial roads. That agreement ended in 2012 and is in the midst of being renegotiated. If the money is not forthcoming, it would come out of the public works capital budget, which is currently set at $4.5 million for 2013. If the money does not come, a bridge slated for construction in 2013 will likely be put off until 2014, and a 5-year road and bridge reconstruction schedule would have to be adjusted.

Council will make their final decision on the 2013 budget at their final regular council meeting of 2012, on December 18.

Service Delivery Review – CAO Wayne Orr presented a proposal for a service delivery review. Council expressed interest, and the process will likely be undertaken in the new year.

New Deputy Mayor – As is the township's custom, the deputy mayor position was rotated for 2013. Councilor Cam Naish, who received the highest number of votes for Storrington District in the 2010 election, took over from Portland Councilor John McDougall.

Notice of motion – Councilor Robinson will present a motion next week that could impact the 2013 budget. He will propose that the purchase of a tri-axle truck by the Public Works department for $350,000 be deleted from the budget.

By-law Amendments

Planner Lindsay Mills explained a number of ‘housekeeping’ changes in wording needed to clarify parts of the township’s 2005 zoning by-law.

There were two major corrections: 1) to apply zoning to all lakes and water bodies to prohibit floating boathouses and permanent houseboats, and 2) in the recreational resort commercial zones, to no longer permit existing structures located within the 30 metre setback to be reconstructed on a larger scale or closer to the water. Mills noted that these changes would bring the by-law into conformity with the intent of the Official Plan to maintain the rural character of the lakes and keep all development set well back from water bodies.

A further update forbids occupation of a newly-constructed building until the township has issued an occupancy permit. (Formerly, a building could be occupied when it was “substantially completed.”)

Two new fire trucks

Council approved Fire Chief Chesebrough’s recommendation that Arnprior Fire Trucks be awarded the contract to build a pumper ($364,000) and a tanker ($264,000.) An additional $2,000 was approved for radio installations in the vehicles. These were the lowest bids, and the expenditure is part of the long-term vehicle replacement capital budget.

Recreation User Fees Raised

Council approved raises in fees for swim programs and day camp, as recommended by the South Frontenac Recreation Committee.

It was business as usual at a meeting of North Frontenac Council on Monday afternoon, but earlier in the day the accounting firm of KPMG presented a report that put hard numbers to the cost of running the township.

In a presentation about an ongoing services review of township operations, Bruce Peever and Vickie Leakey from KPMG talked about the costs associated with maintaining a roads crew, a municipal office, four municipal halls, four fire halls, and six dump sites/transfer stations in a sparsely populated township.

In a comparison between North Frontenac and other similar sized townships, the expenditures per household on both road maintenance and fire services in North Frontenac are at or near the top.

As well, in canvassing members of council about winter road maintenance, paving programs, waste management and fire services, members of council either said the levels should stay the same or should be decreased. None of them foresee an increase in levels of service in any of the areas.

The services review will carry on in January when council will consider the tax implications of increasing service, maintaining the status quo, or reducing or privatizing services.

Ompah Fire Station Task Force – Councilor Gerry Martin presented the terms of reference for the task force.

The three items on the task force mandate, in chronological order, are: a) to review the needs of the Township of North Frontenac Fire Department and provide options for Council’s consideration, within budget; b) to determine the size of the fire hall with the dollars available; and c) to design and cost out a proposed new Ompah Fire Hall at 3,000 sq. ft.

Councilor Martin made the point that the mandate will proceed in order.

The task force will begin its work in earnest on December 20, when representatives from all the fire stations, as well as the Ontario Fire Marshall's Office will meet at the Ompah Community Centre to outline the functions provided at each station.

On January 17, the task force will meet “To discuss the data collected at the December 2012 meeting, on the present services and level of service provided by the existing North Frontenac Fire Department to determine the actual needs first” in the words of the report. On January 30, George Gorrie, the township's chief building official, will meet with the task force to clarify what a fire station requires under the building and fire codes.

Tentative meetings are scheduled for February 7 and 14 to finalize the report, which is due to be presented to Council on February 25. Task force members include: Councilors Martin (chair – ward 2), Councilor John Inglis (ward 1), and community representatives Russell Gray (ward 1), Carl Tooley (ward 2), Roger Lyons (ward 2), Steve Sunderland (ward 3), and Mike Cleland (ward 3).

Long-term service awards – Presentations were made to a number of staff and volunteer firefighters for long-term service. They included Ken Gould, Ellen Good, Jen Dunham and Cheryl Robson, who all have been with the township for 10 years. Randy Schonauer has been with the township for 20 years. Judy Tooley's service has spanned 3 decades. She started working for Clarendon and Miller Township in 1982 and is still working in the North Frontenac Township office today.

“She started here when she was seven years old,” said Mayor Clayton.

Meeting date change – A council meeting scheduled for February 25 has been changed to February 28, a Thursday, to accommodate councilors Perry and Good’s attendance at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA)/Ontario Good Roads Conference in Toronto.

Schlievert nominated – On the urging of Councilor Martin, Council has nominated Ward 2 resident Ed Schlievert for a provincial award for volunteers in recognition of his years of service to the township.

Council will meet next on January 14, 2013 at 9 am.

Parham Fair in dire straits - seeking new members to keep it afloat

It was with great sadness that John Waddingham, who recently resigned as the president of the Parham Agricultural Society, the organization that sponsors and runs the annual Parham Fair, brought the “dire situation” concerning the fate of the 120-year-old fair to council’s attention this week.

The society has recently lost a number of board and executive members, many of whom are elderly and have been running the fair for upwards of 25 years. “I apologize to all of the citizens of Central Frontenac, Waddingham said, “but the situation is now dire and unless we see people step up before our next annual general meeting on January 15, 2013, I see no way that the fair can continue”

He was visibly distressed about the situation.

“We have advertised and sent out letters asking for new members for a long time now and with very little response, we see no other alternative. It's an impossible situation.”

The positions of president and treasurer, as well as the coordinators of poultry, palace, fair grounds, marketing and fundraising need to be filled. He said that he and other former members of the society would be more than happy to train new members interested in taking over the vacancies. Anyone interested can contact him at 613-374-2728 or by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

MIII grant for Wagarville Road and bridge updates

Public Works Manager Mike Richardson asked for council’s approval to proceed with an application for $2 million in grant money that is being made available for infrastructure projects. Richardson said that if the application is successful, the grant would cover 90% of the estimated $2 million cost to pave the 7.5 km long Wagarville Road, which runs from Parham towards Tamworth and ends at McLean Road, and to repair/replace the Wagarville Road bridge. Studies, drawings and plans are in place to proceed with the project. Council gave its approval

IT department opts for Laserfiche RIO

Though it was not the lowest bid for an electronic document records management system (ERDMS), Charlene Godfrey got approval from council to acquire a Laserfic RIO system at a cost of $30,169 from MC Imaging Technologies. She said that the system offers the best value of the four RFPs that came in and will allow the IT department of the municipality to incorporate a single classification file system that will manage all electronic and paper documents in accordance with various government acts and will promote a more transparent government.

Relocation of “Fire House” Program deferred

Deputy Fire Chief Art Cowdy made a presentation to council recommending that the township accept a proposal from the fire department to contract North Frontenac Telephone Company (NFTC) to provide data management and storage services for the department. Cowdy said NFTC would help fire fighters access computers by giving them a single step data entry so that multiple fire fighters from various stations in the township could enter data simultaneously.

Charlene Godfrey said that the township's IT department was “uncomfortable not being in charge of their own data” and the township should opt for keeping the system in house.

Mayor Gutowski said that she appreciated the frustration of the fire fighters who have been asking for an improved system for a time and was disappointed to see two opposing reports regarding the topic from staff.

After further discussion the motion to go with NFTC was deferred until more information could be brought forward from staff at the next council meeting in January.

MPAC assessment shows Sharbot Lake Provincial Park devalued by 60%

Treasurer Michael McGovern brought to council's attention a report regarding the MNR Provincial Parks Assessment Loss. The report shows a devaluation in the MPAC assessment of Sharbot Lake Provincial Park from $1,255,000 to $449,000, a drop of $806,000. The devaluation results in a net loss to the municipality of $3,989 based on the 2012 tax rate. Councilor Purdon said he was curious as to why so many other parks saw an increase in value. Norm Guntensperger suggested that MPAC be made accountable and suggested that a letter be sent asking them to explain the numbers.