Feature Article - April 6, 2006

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Feature Article - April 6, 2006

Frontenac County budget lands with a 6%increase

by Jeff Green

Frontenac County staff took longer to put the county budget together this year because of financial software problems and some last-minute changes to provincial funding for ambulance service.

In fact, the final draft budget was presented to the Frontenac mayors last Thursday even though the ambulance subsidy levels were still not available, and the actual spending figures for the county in 2005 had not yet been finalised.

The final draft called for a 6.2% increase in the county levy to taxpayers, down from 10.7% in the previous draft. The county levy makes up about 22% of the overall property tax bill.

The change came about mostly because of increases to provincial transfers for the Fairmount Home for the Aged and the Frontenac Ambulance Service, which together account for the bulk of the county budget.

The Frontenac mayors met twice on Thursday, from 3-6 and from 9-9:30 before giving final approval to the budget estimates. Some final tinkering brought the budget in with an increase to the taxpayers of 5.96%.

These final changes resulted from the elimination of a $20,000 site development study for the basement of Fairmount Home, and of a $5,000 provision for tax rebates. These cuts were offset by an increase in the pay for members of county council of $1,500 per year for councillors and $2,500 per year for the warden.

The tinkering of the final budget numbers did not satisfy North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire.

During a two-hour afternoon meeting, Maguire made several proposals. He wanted to see some budget cuts, and to pay for more of the budget using the county’s accumulated reserve funds. His proposals had been outlined in a memo he sent to county staff and the mayors earlier in the week.

It contained 19 suggestions, ranging from a $1500 cut in the $3,500 county advertising budget, to an increased $200,000 draw down of county reserve funds.

“I will not be in favour of any tax increase in our basic budget. Indeed, I would like to see a modest tax decrease …” Maguire wrote in the preamble to his budgeting memo.

County Warden Bill Lake said that bringing in a tax decrease, or even keeping the budget increase to the 3% rate of inflation, was not so simple.

“There is nothing we can do when hydro rates go up 6 or 10 per cent. Or when the province makes demands on us that cost more money to meet. Sometimes costs go up and you have no control over that,” Lake said.

Frontenac Islands Mayor Jim VandenHoek was reluctant to change the depleting county reserve funds.

“I can’t consider these proposals of Mayor Maguire without a sense of what this would do to our reserves. As the budget stands now, are our reserves up or down?” he asked of County Treasurer Marion VanBruinessen as the first part of the budget meeting drew to a close. “Could you get us that information before we come back.”

Following a supper hour joint council meeting, where members of council from the four townships met to discuss various issues, the mayors returned to finalise the budget.

Marion VanBruinessen informed Mayor VandenHoek that the reserve funds will see a decrease of about $300,000 in 2006.

The county maintains a variety of reserve funds, some of which are directly connected to programs whose costs are shared with the City of Kingston . The main fund that is accessed to supplement the county’s own operations is a $2.5 million working capital reserve fund.

At that point, Mayor VandenHoek moved that the $20,000 study and the $5,000 charitable rebate line be cut, and that the rest of the budget be approved as presented by staff.

Mayor Maguire asked for a recorded vote, and then registered the only no vote. The budget was approved.

In a subsequent interview, Mayor Maguire said he had voted against the budget because he thinks the budgeting process is flawed. He mentioned that there was not enough time allotted to consider the many issues he raised around the budget.

“All in all I found the process unsatisfactory. We were pressed for time when we finally had a chance to go over the budget, and I could sense that the Warden was very conscious of that,” he said. “The second thing is, and this is a theme that I had pursued last year, that we just had too much in reserves. I don’t get much traction with the other mayors on that one.”

Maguire admitted, however, that the county’s auditors told him the county’s reserve funds are in line with other clients they serve.

“There is no magic rule in regard to reserves, as far as I know,” said Central Frontenac Mayor Bill MacDonald, “and we are drawing down reserves this year. The bottom line, for me, is that we have a good staff at the county, and they present us with information, and you have to go with the information you have. To go any more in depth, would almost become an exercise in micro-managing.”

As the result of an average increase of 22% in property assessment throughout Frontenac County , the tax rate will be decreasing by over 13% in spite of the overall levy increase of 6%. Taxpayers will pay about $287 for every $100,000 of assessable property they own, compared to $330 in 2005.

(Late breaking change: On Tuesday afternoon, Warden Lake informed the News that he received a fax from the Province of Ontario detailing the increase in the provincial transfer for ambulance costs. He could not reveal the figures, but said they were higher than the amount that had been estimated by the county in preparing their 2006 budget. The budget will thus be re-opened at the April 19 county council meeting, and the provincial transfer will be used to mitigate the 5.96% increase)

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Feature Article - April 6, 2006

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Feature Article - April 6, 2006

SouthFrontenac Council

byWilma Kenny

ATV By-law

After voting not to discard a one-year ‘sunset clause,’ Council passed a by-law regulating the operation of ATVs on municipal highways. Representatives from the South Frontenac ATV club thanked them for their cooperation, saying club membership had risen over the past year. All agreed there were less problems with ATV use of the roads than had been feared, although some concerns remain about lack of helmets, carrying passengers and abuse of private property.

Councillor Roos asked what was being done to prevent ATVs using the Cataraqui Trail, which remains a problem. The club representatives said they didn’t see why the Cataraqui Trail didn’t just charge membership and allow trail use. The mayor noted that the trail was being monitored by the OPP, and fines for trespassing were steep, up to $800.

Granny Flat

The mayor broke a tie vote to approve Heath Gurr’s application to build a temporary second dwelling (a ‘granny flat’) near his home on Buck Lake, Bedford District. This will be located above a garage and will have its own septic bed. Councillors Stowe and Vandewal pointed out that such additions were usually attached to the main house, and shared septic facilities with the house.

They also questioned the appropriateness of its being located up a flight of stairs. It was pointed out that even though the present property owner was acting in good faith, it would be easy for such a flat to become a second cottage on the property. The temporary dwelling by-law requires all kitchen and bathroom facilities to be removed after 10 years, or once the need for occupancy ceases, or if the property is sold.

Septic Reinspection

Council accepted KFL&A Public Health Unit’s proposal to undertake inspections of 200 sewage systems at Green Bay of Bob’s lake and part of Sydenham Lake , at a cost of $9,471. Almost $4,000 toward this will come from funds not used by the program last year. The remainder comes $1838 above the proposed 3% budget increase for 2006, but works out to much less per inspection than the proposal submitted by the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, which would have inspected only 100 systems.

Township Organizational Review

As part of this review, all councillors and staff will be interviewed in mid-April for their thoughts on a range of issues, including workloads, communications, area rating, long-range planning and service delivery.

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Feature Article - May 25, 2006

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Feature Article - May 25, 2006

Seniors of theYear and other matters:CentralFrontenac Council

by Jeff Green

At their meeting this week, councilors from each of the four districts of Central Frontenac announced the names of the people that will be honoured as Seniors of the Year at a ceremony in June. The honourees will be: Rosemary and Peter Wadham ( Kennebec ); Mauveen (Moe) Bush (Hinchinbrooke), posthumously; Velma Price (Olden); and John Lee (Oso).

OPP boats do get cleaned Sergeant Jeff McCann of the Sharbot Lake OPP detachment appeared before council to dispel rumours that the patrol boat the OPP uses to patrol local lakes does not get cleaned when it is moved from lake to lake.

Concern had been expressed that the boat is simply transported between lakes, in which case it would run a great risk of transporting zebra mussels from lake to lake.

“We clean all of our boats,” said McCann,” but that is not to say that our boats are zebra mussel free. In order to ensure that we should have to take out the intake valve, and take the boat apart each time, which we don’t do. But we do scrub the boats down each day.”

The marine patrol officer generally works on a single lake each day, and then brings the boat back to the station for cleaning. “If he is called to another lake for an emergency or some other request in the middle of a day, then the boat is not cleaned in between. But that rarely happens,” McCann said.

Sergeant McCann also responded to an unrelated question from Mayor Bill MacDonald concerning the reported refusal of the OPP to attend at a car fire on Hwy. 7 when their presence was requested by the Olden Fire department.

“I know of that incident,” McCann said, “and it shouldn’t have happened. I don’t know if it was a mistake at the Comm [communications] Centre or what, but if the fire department requires the police to stop traffic or provide support order for them to do their job, the police should be there. If it ever happens again, I encourage the fire department to call me the next day, and I will find out what happened immediately.”

Meeting with cottage associations Councilor Gutowski wanted to know if council would like the Economic Development Committee to set up a meeting with cottage association representatives as was done last year. After some debate, council decided to ask the committee to set up a meeting.

Recreation survey Councilor Gutowski also proposed that a meeting be set up between the four recreation committees in the township and individuals and user groups that use recreational facilities to see if any changes or improvements are required. A long debate ensued concerning the role of recreational committees; the failure of the Central Recreation Committee; the advent of soccer as a more popular summer sport than baseball; and other issues.

In the end it was decided that council would invite submissions on recreational facilities from the general public through the township’s website.

Engineering for Road 38 reconstruction Three tenders were received for the engineering that is required for the $6 million road construction project on Road 38. The lowest bid was from Genivar Consulting of Brockville , $50,000. G.D.Jewel submitted a bid of $83,560 and McIntosh Perry submitted an $87,000 bid. Public works Manager Bill Nicol recommended choosing Genivar in his written report, but he also told council that he met last Friday with Steve Archibald, the former Public Works Manager from South Frontenac who is now working for McIntosh Perry, and that Archibald was in attendance and wished to address Council before the tender was granted.

Deputy Mayor Frances Smith said that it might be a problem if council allows a representative from one company to speak without inviting the other companies.

When asked if it was feasible to delay awarding the tender until the next council meeting in order to invite the other companies to address council, Bill Nicol said that would delay the construction project until October, which he did not recommend. Nicol also said he was confident Genivar could do the job.

The tender was awarded to Genivar Construction, and Steve Archibald left the meeting without addressing council.

Brush burning banned at Mountain Grove Waste Disposal site A report by the Public Works Manager outlined difficulties with burning brush at the Mountain Grove dump. At one point last summer, a fire got into the waste at the dump and burned for 3 days. An alternate burning site at the dump is not suitable because it is on too steep a grade. The report recommended that brush burning only be permitted at the Elbow Lake site south of Parham.

Councilor Nicolson said this would be too far for people from Kennebec and Olden to travel with their brush, but the proposal was accepted nonetheless.

Burn Barrels in villages Fire Chief Mark MacDonald will be invited to the next meeting of council to discuss concerns that have been expressed by residents to Councilor Murray over the impact on neighbours of burn barrels being used in built up areas of the township.

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Feature Article - May 25, 2006

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Feature Article - May 25, 2006

Moving money down the line

by Jeff Green

Frontenac County Council has agreed to distribute $1.04 million in one-time funding from the provincial government to the Frontenac townships. The decision came at a county council meeting on May 17.

The funds initially came to the county through the provincial Move Ontario initiative, a $400 million fund that was contained in the 2006 provincial budget. The money has been earmarked for northern and rural communities to help with road and bridge projects.

The townships also received Move Ontario funds directly from the province, which allocated an identical $1.04 million directly to them back in March. That money was distributed according to the number of permanent residents in each township. Thus, South Frontenac township received $697,590, Central Frontenac $193,659, North Frontenac $76,537, and the Frontenac Islands $69,610.

Frontenac County does not maintain any roads and bridges, and a staff report in April recommended that the county’s share of the money be distributed among the townships; but an issue remained over how the money should be divided up.

North Frontenac Township argued that it was unfair to distributing the funds according to the number of permanent residents in each township would be unfair because almost 80% of the population base in North Frontenac is seasonal, and that the Move Ontario money should be divided up according to property assessment values within each township.

“The county collects money from the townships according to assessment and should pass money out in the same way,” argued North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire when the matter was first discussed at a county council meeting on April 19.

South Frontenac, on the other hand, whose population dwarfs that of the other three townships, argued that the money “came in to the county according to population and should be divided up in the same way,” in the words of South Frontenac Mayor Bill Lake at that same meeting.

A subsequent meeting was scheduled between senior staff of both the county and the four townships, resulting in a recommendation that the county share of Move Ontario funding be distributed according to weighted assessment. A motion to that effect was unanimously approved by county council on May 17.

As a result, the county will forward $606,581 to South Frontenac, $176,456 to Central Frontenac, $160,380 to North Frontenac, and $93,981 to the Frontenac Islands .

Although allocating the Move Ontario funds is now out of the way, the council and staff of Frontenac County are still charged with the similar, but more complicated matter of federal gas tax funding.

Based on an agreement with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), the federal government has published a schedule of payments over five years with amounts going directly to the townships and an identical amount going to the county.

Although the gas tax funding is similar to Move Ontario in that it has been promoted as being devoted to rural infrastructure, there are added restrictions concerning how the gas tax funds can be used, and an annual report on their use must be supplied to AMO.

County staff recommended that further study be done before county council decides what to do with these funds.

For 2005, Frontenac County received $238,000 in gas tax money, and spent $30,000 from that money on a county-wide global information systems study. The rest of the money, some $208,000, has not been allocated

Over the five-year agreement, the county will receive just under $2 million in federal gas tax money.

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Feature Article - May 7, 2006

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Feature Article - May 7, 2006

Leaves and grass don't pass:SouthFrontenacTownship

by Wilma Kenny

An apparently low-key proposal to allow the Portland landfill site to accept leaves and grass clippings quickly turned into a heated discussion at a meeting of South Frontenac Council this week.

In making the proposal, the Portland District councilors did not plan to apply for the [$1,000] certificate of approval which would allow the organic waste to be composted, and were not prepared to accept yard waste from the other three districts.

Deputy Mayor Ron Vandewal objected to the motion’s reference to this being a district issue, saying "If we ever intend to move ahead toward amalgamation, and if this is an issue the whole council is voting on, then why are we still calling it a district issue?" He said he would support it only if the landfill were to accept yard waste from across the whole township.

Councilor Del Stowe said the proposal would place pressure on the Bedford waste site to also accept yard waste. Both he and Councilor Hahn said they would prefer that the waste be composted, and Hahn added that he felt all the township landfill sites should have the same rules across the board.

The motion was defeated in a recorded vote: Councillors Smith, Robinson, Davison and Mayor Lake voted in favour, Councillors Roos and Hahn were against, and Councillors Barr, Stowe and Deputy Mayor Vandewal abstained. [CAO Burns noted that abstentions count as negative votes.]

Other notes from South Frontenac Council

Waste Water Workshop

Council endorsed Frontenac Environmental Partnership’s upcoming local workshop on septic systems. The FEP is an umbrella group representing 25 lake associations and other groups interested in caring for the County’s natural resources. Their workshop will be at the Bedford Hall June 18, from 1:30-3:00, and is open to all who are interested. Topics will include the mechanics and maintenance of septic systems, and discussion of alternate systems such as composting toilets and grey-water disposal.

OPP Report

Two recent daylight break-ins in the Storrington area included theft of a variety of power tools, electronic equipment, DVDs, jewelry, guns, bows and ammunition. Police are looking for two suspects, a woman described as in her 40's, rough-looking, with shoulder-length blonde straggly hair and a bearded man. They are driving a small grey car, possibly a Toyota Tercel. Mid-April also saw two incidents of destructive mischief in Sydenham.

MNR Rabies Report

The MNR’s Rabies Research Unit reported that Ontario ’s programs of research and control have been so successful that broad areas of Southern Ontario are free of fox and raccoon rabies. Last year, there were only 334 cases of fox rabies, down from 1,500 annual cases prior to 1998, when control measures including trap-vaccinate-release and aerial vaccine baiting were initiated. Only one case of raccoon rabies was confirmed last year, even though there are many more in neighbouring New York State . The Ministry wishes to remind people that they are encouraged not to move or relocate raccoons, foxes or skunks.

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Feature Article - May 7, 2006

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Feature Article - May 7, 2006

North FrontenacFireHall construction well underway

by Jeff Green

The foundation has been poured and the carpenters are hard at work trying to meet an early June target date for the completion of the new Clarendon and Miller fire hall at the North Frontenac township office site on Road 506. And thanks to some work by Councillor Fred Perry, new sources of funding are coming to the fore to help pay for the hall.

Armed with the information that donations to municipal projects are 100% deductible for income tax purposes, Councillor Perry has been canvassing local individuals and businesses to support the fire hall construction project.

“It’s preferable for many people to support something in their own community for a 100% deduction than to donate elsewhere for a lesser deduction,” Perry said to council last week.

It was announced at the meeting that the first donation has been received: $5,000 from Don and Sandy Raycroft, the owners of the Plevna Freshmart and North of Seven Restaurant.

The fire hall is being built at a cost of about $275,000, with almost $100,000 needing to be raised through the township’s 2006 tax levy and donations.

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Feature Article - May 7, 2006

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Feature Article - May 7, 2006

Draft budget calls for increased spendingin Central Frontenac

by Jeff Green

Central Frontenac Council has spent many hours pouring over their 2006 budget over the past two weeks. The draft budget which they have been considering calls for an increase of $615,024 (16.56%) in the levy to taxpayers over last year.

Two major areas of increase include the fire department ($400,000) and waste management ($200,000).

Because of a relatively large increase in property assessment this year (16.25%), this increased taxation can be achieved while the township decreases the township tax rate by a little less than 1%. Coupled with decreases of 14.7% in the county tax rate and 10.8% in the education rate, if the draft budget were approved as is, the overall tax rate charged to ratepayers in Central Frontenac would decrease by 5.8%.

The burden of paying for the increased township spending would thus fall on those who received notice of large property assessment increases, some of which were in the range of 40%, when the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation completed property assessments last year.

According to one estimate, if the 2006 draft budget is approved without any changes, the average household in the township will pay almost 10% more in municipal taxes.

Council made several relatively minor changes to the budget during their two days of work, and they will meet again on Monday, May 8th at a regular Council meeting in Mountain Grove to consider amended budget numbers as presented by Treasurer Judy Gray. If there are any major budgetary adjustments to be made they will likely occur at that meeting.

Last year, in order to offset a 10% increase in the levy from the County of Frontenac , Central Frontenac decreased their own levy to taxpayers by 6% as compared to the previous year.

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Feature Article - May 7, 2006

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Feature Article - May 7, 2006

AHflat lines their budget

by Jeff Green

It took only one meeting for Addington Highlands Council to work through their 2006 budget, approving a levy to taxpayers that is almost identical to the amount collected in 2005.

Taxes will be going up for Addington Highlands residents, however, as the result of an increase of 7.2% in the Lennox and Addington County budget. About $85,000 more will be collected from Addington Highlands taxpayers’ pockets in 2006 than was levied in 2005 to fund municipal services such as county roads, ambulance service, long term care, Ontario Works, social housing, and others.

A healthy increase in the property assessment base for Addington Highlands, almost 15%, will result in a significant decrease in the tax rate charged on local tax bills.

Addington Highlands Council was pleased to be able to keep their own budget from increasing.

“We’ve had some budget increases over the past few years, so it’s nice to be able to not increase the budget this year,” said Reeve Hook.

“I think the residents will appreciate it,” said Councillor Louise Scott.

One item that did increase with this year’s budget is Council’s pay. For 2006, the Reeve will receive $12,000, the deputy Reeve $9,000, and Councillors $7,000 each. As well, the mileage rate for all members of Council as increased to 40 cents per kilometre from 38 cents.

Budget documents have not been finalised, and the formal approval of the budget will take place at the next Addington Highlands Council meeting, on April 16 in Denbigh.

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Feature Article - May 11, 2006

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Feature Article - May 11, 2006

Two halls are better than one

by JeffGreen

Central Frontenac Fire Chief Mark MacDonald said he is committed to building a new fire hall in Mountain Grove by the end of next year, adding that preliminary negotiations are underway to secure a 17-acre parcel of land for a fire hall and centralized training centre for the township’s four fire crews.

MacDonald appeared before Central Frontenac Council on Monday night, and took the opportunity to respond to community concerns that have sprung up since he informed council that the Oso Fire Hall in Sharbot Lake needs to be replaced as soon as possible, at an estimated cost of $500,000.

Eighteen months ago council made a commitment to replace the Olden Fire Hall in Mountain Grove.

“I could have come to council and presented a budget which included two new fire halls this year, and let council face the hard decision, but logistically speaking I knew it would be impossible to build two fire halls in five months,” MacDonald explained, “I was presented with a structural safety issue in the case of Oso and an issue of age and size in the case of Olden.”

Money was placed in fire department reserves in 2004 for the Olden Fire Hall, and that money will remain in place, according to Mark MacDonald. “We are not spending Mountain Grove’s allotment to build Sharbot Lake .”

MacDonald’s comments came about after Councillor Jack Nicolson had presented a series of written questions about the circumstances surrounding the Sharbot Lake Fire Hall. Nicolson and several other councillors were concerned that the matter had not been brought to council’s attention earlier, particularly at the point when the township’s building inspector decided to hire an engineering consultant in order to determine whether the existing Sharbot Lake Fire Hall could be repaired.

Nicolson also questioned the high cost of the proposed Sharbot Lake Fire Hall, and raised the possibility of finding efficiencies by undertaking two fire halls under a single request for proposal.

Even before all of these questions about fire halls were raised, Mayor Bill MacDonald said he thought the matter should be deferred until the council sits down late this week to hammer out their 2006 budget.

“We don’t have all the information we need to proceed, and we will have more to work with when we meet on Thursday to do our budget.” Bill MacDonald said.

The mayor took issue with how the matter has been circulating in public, mentioning a letter from a captain from the Olden crew which was published in the Frontenac News last week. The letter, entitled “Does Amalgamation Work” questioned whether building a new fire hall in Sharbot Lake will lead to putting the Mountain Grove Fire Hall being put off indefinitely.

Bill MacDonald said, “I was disappointed in that letter because it characterises that everything goes to Sharbot Lake . I was disappointed as well that the letter goes right back to amalgamation. I want to respond to the letter by saying council is not opposed to building a fire hall here [in Mountain Grove].”

As of this writing no decisions have been made, although most councillors seem to be resigned to the fact that the Sharbot Lake Fire Hall needs to be replaced this year, and Mountain Grove next year.

The only site for the Sharbot Lake project that has been seriously proposed is the former township garage site on Road 38 south of the village. Fire Chief Mark MacDonald would like to see a one-storey, six-bay fire hall built this year at that location, and a four-bay fire hall built on a 17 acre site in Mountain Grove in 2007.

None of this can be completed without spending some money, and Council is facing these fire hall matters five months before a municipal election.

Council will be attempting to complete their budget deliberations today, Thursday May 11, starting at 3:30 at the Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake (Budget deliberations are open to the public).

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Feature Article - May 11, 2006

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Feature Article - May 11, 2006

Public meeting on GarrisonShores -- CFCouncilMay 8, 2006

by JeffGreen

Central Frontenac Council continued their attempt to bring the ill-fated Garrison Shores waterfront development in line with their Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw at a public meeting earlier this week.

Garrison Shores was established in the early ’80s as a development of 100 plus properties around a small lake near Arden . The concept was that people would purchase small lots and would jointly own a larger parcel, including much of the shoreline around Garrison Lake .

Legal problems beset the development from the start, and the original developer was long gone when property owners began realizing that they could not sell their lots because they did not own legal deeds.

In 1997 a plan to legalise the lots was brought forward, but it was never approved, and when Kennebec Township , the original township where the development took place, was amalgamated into Central Frontenac, the new township inherited the Garrison Shores headache.

Nine years later the township has prepared a plan to create a special amendment to both their Official Plan and Comprehensive Zoning Bylaw to permit the existence of the development as it is, and provide for the possibility of further development on the site that gives protection of the water and the surrounding countryside.

One of the key elements to the plan, according to the township’s planning consultant Glen Tunnock, is that no further development can take place on the 53 legal Garrison Shore lots without a hydro-geological study being undertaken to determine if the land can withstand the new use.

Currently Garrison Shores is comprised of 35 seasonal dwellings, three permanent dwellings, and one seasonal mobile home, The 53 lots on the site will be divided into four clusters by Tunnock’s proposal.

The proposal was supported by Mr. Walker, the lawyer for the Garrison Shores Owners’ Association, and all of the property owners in attendance at the public meeting - save one.

Jeff Dubois took issue with one aspect of the proposal, whereby 18 of the Garrison Shores properties will now extend to the water, into territory that was previously an eight metre buffer zone that was owned by the group as a whole. Dubois made reference to the opinions expressed by Quinte Conservation and the Garrison Shores Association’s lawyer back in 2002 that the buffer should remain in the hands of the group to ensure it is left in a natural state for the protection of the lake.

Glen Tunnock countered that the new plan calls for a vegetative buffer of 15 metres around the lake, even if the land will be individually held. Dubois argued that the shoreline would be better protected by collective ownership, and said it would be less of a stretching of the township’s Official Plan to go with collective ownership of the shoreline.

Now that the requisite public meeting is over, the township will wait for comments from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing before proceeding any further. If the plan is approved, it will be forwarded to Frontenac County , but the possibility of an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board remains open to Mr. Dubois.

LHINs come calling Paul Huras and Georgina Thompson from the regional Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) made a presentation to council concerning health care reform. The LHINs will be assuming managerial control over a wide range of health care services in the coming years. Hospitals, long term care facilities, and home care agencies, among others, will come under their purview. Ambulance service, which is municipally delivered and funded, is not part of the LHINs framework.

Ball field improvements Brett Harvey asked for council’s permission for a group to initiate improvements to the bleachers at the Sharbot Lake ball field. Harvey told council that $10,000 has been raised by James Webster, and while most of the money has been used to purchase new shorts, socks, and jerseys for each and every child playing in the baseball league, money remains for bleacher improvements and a roof. All of the materials for the project have been donated, and the adult ball teams have volunteered to do the work. Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, council accepted the offer.

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