On Saturday May 25, 2019 shortly before 12:00pm, a Frontenac Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer was conducting speed enforcement on Highway 15 near Washburn Road. The officer stopped a vehicle travelling at 54 kilometers over the speed limit.

The driver, a 21-year-old from Amherstview Ontario, was charged with stunt driving which resulted in the licence and vehicle being seized for seven days and the driver was given a summons to appear in Provincial Offences Court in Kingston at a future date to answer to the charge.

On Sunday, May 26, 2019 shortly after 7:00pm, a Frontenac Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer was conducting speed enforcement on Perth Road near Davidson Side Road. The officer stopped a vehicle travelling at 30 kilometers over the speed limit.

As a result of the investigation, the 20-year-old driver, was charged with speeding, no insurance, cannabis accessible to the driver and a three-day licence suspension after registering a warning on the roadside alcohol screening device. The driver was given a summons to appear in Provincial Offences Court in Kingston at a future date to answer to the charges.

On Saturday May 25, 2019 just after 4:30pm, a Frontenac Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer was conducting speed enforcement on Highway 401 near Sydenham Road. The officer stopped a vehicle travelling at 38 kilometers over the speed limit.

As a result of the investigation, the 34-year-old driver from Glenburnie was charged with speeding and driving with a suspended licence.

On Sunday May 26, 2019 shortly after 3:00pm, the same officer was near the area of Highway 401 and Montreal Street and observed the same driver, operating the same vehicle as the day before.

As a result of the investigation, Lawrence Mc Ewen was charged with breach of probation, breach of a weapons prohibition, fail to comply with probation order, possession of a prohibited device and suspended driving. The accused was held for a bail hearing at the Ontario Court of Justice in Kingston.

Arrest results in weapons charges

On Saturday, May 25, 2019 shortly after 9:00pm, Frontenac Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officers were patrolling the Kingston and Pembroke trail. The officers saw an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) and spoke to the driver.
As a result of the investigation, the 21-year-old driver, John Badour of Central Frontenac Township, was arrested on warrants that had been issued by the Ontario Court of Justice. The accused was held for a bail hearing and was charged with possession of a weapon, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and carrying a concealed weapon.

Going into last Friday night’s 4H rally/signup night at Glenburnie United Church, president Joanne Dickson was a bit concerned that the inclement weather might have an adverse affect on the number of people who showed up.

She needn’t have worried. The place was packed.

“I certainly didn’t expect this many people,” she said. “At least not all at once.”

Every year about this time, Frontenac 4H holds a similar event where prospective members can find out what they offer, and previous members get a chance to try something new.

In all, they offer 15 ‘clubs’ ranging from beef (2 clubs), dairy (2 clubs), horses, goats, rabbits, cake decorating, community involvement, swine, poultry, photography, gardening and clover buds for kids aged 6-9, where they learn a variety of skills.

“It’s not just for the country people, it’s for everywhere,” Dickson said. “It all depends on the kids and their parents ability to get them to meetings.

“It’s for anyone ages 9-21 and they can learn skills that aren’t taught much, such as sewing or preserving.”

And, she said, 4H is very involved in a variety of communities including Fairmount Home and Communities in Bloom.

“Some people think they can’t join because they don’t have any animals but we have people who will lend them animals to care for,” she said. “One year, we had a sheepless sheep club.

“We also teach kids to be part of the community, instead of being in front of a computer screen or TV.”

Like most volunteer organizations, 4H could use some ‘leaders’ who typically teach skills they’ve learned through 4H or elsewhere.

“We’d love to have somebody lead preserving again and there have been some boys who would like woodworking but you have to have the leaders,” she said.

Dickson herself has been in 4H since she was 10 years old, specializing in dairy and homemaking clubs. Her daughter chalked up more than 60 projects in her tenure.

And in many of the clubs, the term project relates to showing livestock at area fairs and competitions such as the Parham Fair, the Odessa Fair, where they also work the gates. One of their members, Rachel Clow, was the 4H dairy champion at the Royal Winter Fair.

4H in Canada celebrated 100 years in 2013 and in Ontario in 2015.

If you’d like more information, visit the 4H Ontario website and click on the Frontenac 4H link.

Lisa Hirvi, the Administrator of Fairmount Home, presented the broad outline of the strategic planning exercise that Fairmount staff has undertaken to a meeting of Frontenac County Council last week.

Fairmount Home, a 128 bed long term care facility, is located on the same property as the Frontenac County Offices in Glenburnie, in rural Kingston. The Home is owned and operated by Frontenac County. It is not only the largest and most valuable physical asset of Frontenac County, it is also one of the two largest services that the county offers. Upper tier municipalities in Ontario, such as Frontenac County, are required to operate or participate in funding a long term care facility and Fairmount satisfies that requirement for Frontenac County. Although access to long term care facilities is not effected by municipal borders, residents of the southeastern portion of Frontenac County have made Fairmount their home of choice, as it is for many residents of Kingston and other municipalities in the region.

Over ten years ago, Fairmount made a commitment to the Gentlecare philosophy, which the Home defines in the following way on their web page: “resident-focused care which empowers residents to make as many choices as possible. Staff knows each resident and responds to their social as well as psychological and physical needs. They put the resident first before the task at hand and acknowledge that risk is a normal part of life. Most importantly, they treat the residents as they would wish to be treated.”

The new Strategic Plan reasserts the commitment to Gentlecare, listing it as the key means of accomplishing the #1 goal identified in the Strat Plan: “to provide quality care and meet the diverse and unique needs of our residents”.

The other goals that were identified in the plan include: being the preferred place to work and volunteer in the local health care sector; expanding engagement with broader community and system partners, and; ensuring Fairmount operates efficiently while striving for continuous improvement.

Among the key goals identified in the plan is to identify the generational needs of staff and incorporate flexibility.

“This is something we have had to do recently,” Hirvi pointed out, “as the Administrator and Director of Care positions have turned over. We will deal with other challenges as we move forward, and making sure we are a good place to work is important in enabling us to recruit people.”

In receiving the report, one of the members of Frontenac County Council asked about the necessity to promote and market Fairmount, given that the home already has a long waiting list and has had one for years.

“We need to maintain and enhance our contacts with the community and with our funders, in the interest of patients. Fairmount is a community asset, we need to have a public profile,” Hirvi said.

After Hirvi’s presentation was received and the plan was adopted, Frontenac County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender informed Council that the Province of Ontario had just put out a “Request for Expression of Interest” in creating new long term care beds.

Although Councilors expressed concern over potential increases in costs, Pender pointed out that if Fairmount were 50% larger, certain administration costs would not go up, leading to efficiencies and relative cost savings. “With 172 beds there is still only one Administrator, one Director of Care, one food service,” Pender said.

By responding to the call, the county would not be making any commitment.

“It will be up to council to decide whether to go ahead with anything, Pender said, also pointing out that the debenture for the most recent expansion of Fairmount will be paid off in 2022.

“We could build without having to make any change in our budget if it only meant continuing with a new debenture after 2022,” Pender said.

Council instructed Pender to prepare a submission to the Request for Expressions of Interest.

When Frontenac County was defining its brand last year, one of the key insights was that the first group that needed to be the target of a branding campaign were the residents of Frontenac County.

Then, after the new brand was launched this summer, the first job of Alison Vandervelde, who was hired in August on a three-year contract as a field officer for the county’s Economic Development department, was to get out to the key linchpins of the region - local business owners - and convince them to adopt the brand.

Starting just after Labour Day, Vandervelde began contacting businesses, visiting them in the now familiar Frontenac County Smart Car, and adopting them as brand ambassadors. Her goal was to sign up 100 brand ambassadors by the end of 2016.

So far she has signed up 35, including four in one day last week.

“I don't know if we will get to 100 by the end of the year, even though there is no lack of businesses that are interested. It just that now that we are engaged in conversation with so many businesses about how they can use the brand and connect with other businesses, more of my time is taken up,” she said.

The goal of 100 sign ups was only meant as a way to kick-start the program, and the response from the businesses and from the promotional campaign on the County Facebook feed has already shown Vandervelde that there is an appetite among business owners to develop their own brand as a part of something larger.

“A number of businesses are really taking the INFrontenac idea to heart, and are using it in their packaging, on their storefronts, wherever they can,” she said.

Among some of the businesses there is also a feeling of solidarity developing.

“You see a business like Gray's Grocery selling Gilmour's meats; the Cardinal Cafe using Gray's Grocery bread and meat from Seed to Sausage; The Point Restaurant selling Cheesecakerybakery desserts. They are not doing this to promote the In Frontenac brand, but they are businesses that are already working together and want to work together more. They also recognize that the cross-promotion from INFrontenac can only help them,” she said.

One of the other immediate impacts of the brand ambassador program has been to the social media profile of Frontenac County.

Every new brand ambassador is posted on the Frontenac County Facebook page, and since September 1 that page has increased its profile radically in every category.

The number of views for Frontenac County Facebook posts for the three months preceding the brand ambassador campaign (June 1 to August 31) was 65,000. During the same period the number of engagements (likes, shares, comments, or clicks) was 2543.

In September and October, a two-month period (the brand campaign started on September 7), the number of views has jumped to 177,801 and engagements have jumped to 11,558.

“These are large increases, partly because we have joined up with the Facebook profiles of our brand ambassadors, some of whom are pretty adept at marketing through social media. It has also meant that the other messaging on the Frontenac County Facebook page has reached more people because more people like our page,” she said.

The next phase of the brand ambassador campaign started a couple of weeks ago with a bulk email to all the current ambassadors. The goal of the email was to introduce the businesses to each other.

“I hope that you will use this information to connect with each other, as everyone seems very interested in working together … and keep on using the hashtag #infrontenac to help build our online story of adventure and community,” was the message in the email.

One of the benefits of Vandervelde’s new job (she was the communications officer for the County formerly) has been the opportunity to get out and meet people all across the county and see what they are trying to accomplish.

“That's the real bonus of this job,” she said.

Last week in North Frontenac was a great example of that. Among the four businesses she visited was the Polished Spa. “Holly Labow aims to exceed the typical spa experience in her elegant, private spa room at Polished Spa on Brown’s Lane off Ardoch Road. It's such a beautiful spot and a unique building. She sees value in the brand ambassador program,” said Vandervelde.

As the leader of a revolution, North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins has turned out to be a little gun shy.

At the regular meeting of Frontenac County Council in Sharbot Lake on October 19, Higgins put forward a notice of motion to suspend the hiring process for a new economic development officer for the county, even though the job had been advertised and a short list of candidates had even been selected.

The county’s current economic development officer, Anne Marie Young, will be retiring at the end of the year. She recently received the award for Developer of the Year by the Ontario East Economic Development Commission, and just this week she accepted an award in Saskatoon on behalf of the county from the Economic Developers Association of Canada for the #INFrontenac brand that was introduced this past July.

Higgins’ notice of motion led to a special meeting to be called this week, on November 2, to discuss the economic development officer position and the possibility of contracting out the functions of the office instead of hiring a new person.

Higgins was not alone in questioning the new position. Earlier in that October 19 meeting, both Deputy Warden Ron Vandewal and Frontenac Islands Councilor Natalie Nossal talked about contracting out economic development in the context of a debate about providing an emergency grant to help the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation (FCFDC).

Nossal and Vandewal voted against the grant, not because they do not support the FCFDC, but because they thought it might be better to contract out economic development to the FCFDC, thus providing a boost to the agency and saving the county the need to hire a new person to run the department.

Ron Higgins is a former member of the board of directors of the FCFDC, an unpaid position.

However, this week, Higgins said in an interview with Elliot Ferguson of the Whig Standard that his “concerns were addressed after talking with [Frontenac County CAO Kelly] Pender and seeing the external job posting for the position.”

He also indicated that he probably would support the position when it comes to a vote.

CAO Pender prepared a report for that special meeting, and included the job description for the economic development officer.

In his report, Pender noted that earlier in her tenure, Anne Marie Young spent as much as 50% of her time working on bringing the K&P Trail project to fruition, and also spent a lot of time supporting sustainability initiatives, including community engagement, following the release of the Directions for Our Future document. He also said that working on trail development has decreased to 25% of Young's time in the past 18 months as the project nears completion, and work on sustainability initiatives has decreased with the folding of the county sustainability committee and the transfer of 100% of federal gas tax funds to member municipalities.

Focus for the role has shifted to the development and implementation of a new economic charter, working with businesses and local and regional governments on economic development initiatives, and other related tasks.

Pender’s report also provided a comparison between the contracting out model and an in-house hire for the position.

The comparison came out strongly in favour of the in-house model in terms of direct oversight and transparency, although it provided no detail to support some of its assertions. For example, Pender’s report said that the contracting model would result in “no direct reporting to the council or the public” and that “grants to individual businesses can be made discretion of the board” of the contracting agency.

(For the results of the vote on contracting out of economic development services, which took place on November 2, look to Frontenacnews.ca or our Facebook or Twitter feeds)

Update - By a vote of 5 to 2, Council supported a motion to proceed with hiring an Economic Development Officer. Ron Vandewal cast both the nay votes (He has two votes on council by virtue of being the Mayor of South Frontenac, which contributes 70% of county taxes.)

Frontenac County Council has approved a staff plan to take $300,000 from a reserve fund geared at helping low-income residents remain in their homes, and use it to purchase land that is required to complete the K&P Trail.

Some of the money will be used to buy land for the stretch of trail that runs from Tichborne to Sharbot Lake, and some for a lot in Verona that has been earmarked as a parking lot/trailhead.

The remaining $100,000 is to remain in the reserve fund “pending finalisation of the K&P Trail land acquisition project and the Verona Trail Head Project” according to a report from Treasurer Marian Vanbruinessen and CAO Kelly Pender.

Pender explained to Council, at their meeting in Glenburnie on September 21 that the reserve fund was created in 2014 to buffer against the possibility that the Province of Ontario was going to pull its funding for the Kingston/Frontenac Renovates program. That program provides grants of up to $3,500 and forgivable loans of up to $10,000 to low-income homeowners in Kingston and Frontenac County to pay for major repairs. It has been more widely accessed in Frontenac County than in Kingston over the years. Since that reserve was created, using county tax dollars from 2014, the province has renewed its commitment to fund Kingston Frontenac Renovates until 2019.

In his report, Pender said that three things may happen at that time: the province may continue to fund the program; the province may pull out and the program will end; or the province may pull out and the City and County may step in to fund it themselves.

Under that third option, the County would then have to seek more money from taxation.

“There is some urgency here,” Pender said of the need to find money for land purchases. “We have made offers to purchase which will come through in the near future and we have no money set aside to cover all those offers when they come through.”

The K&P trail has been a central project for the Frontenac County Economic Development Department, and has been identified as the county legacy project for Canada 150 next year. The trail links the Cataraqui Trail in South Frontenac with the Trans-Canada Trail in Shabot Lake. It was created by using the track bed from the former K&P Rail line, which Frontenac County purchased several years ago from its previous owner, Bell Canada.

The trail is complete from the southern border of Frontenac County until the CP rail crossing at Tichborne. The next eight kilometres of former track bed has been sold off to over 20 adjacent landowners and the county has been in negotiation with those landowners, seeking to secure the entire length in time for work to commence in the spring of 2017. The goal is to have the Kingston to Sharbot Lake trail completed by next summer.

Some members of Frontenac County Council were sceptical about diverting money from Kingston Frontenac Renovates to the trail.

Councilor Natalie Nossal, from Frontenac Islands, said, “I'm sorry but that is $400,000 that the county set aside to fill a void that did not transpire, not for this purpose.”

Councilor John McDougall, from South Frontenac, is the county rep on the Housing and Homelessness Committee for Kingston and Frontenac.

“Kingston Frontenac Renovates has never been discussed as something that might lose its provincial funding. As far as anyone knows the funding is solid. I think this money could be used for the trail. I think it is a good idea,” he said.

Earlier in the meeting, the council received a presentation by Sheldon Laidman, Manager for Housing from the City of Kingston, whose department handles money transfers from the Province of Ontario for Loughborough Not-for-Profit Housing in Sydenham; McMullen Manor in Verona; and North Frontenac Not-For-Profit Housing in Sharbot Lake, representing a total of over 100 units of social housing.

Laidman said that the province is pulling out of its financial support for those and all other social housing units in Ontario over the next 10 years, and the county should start thinking about how it will continue to support those properties, as it will still be obligated to offer discounted rent-geared-to income for low-income families and seniors.

With that earlier, sobering presentation in mind, Mayor of Frontenac Islands Denis Doyle said, “Putting that money into a fund for our future rent-geared-to-income commitments is closer to the intention for the money than this is.”

“That money was not collected for trails,” said North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins.

County Warden and Central Frontenac Mayor, Frances Smith said, “We have made commitments for purchases and we have money available that we do not need now, and may not need in the future. Whatever we do, we have to pay for the trail now and for our social housing commitments as well,” she said.

Smith then asked Anne Marie Young, the Manager for Economic Development for Frontenac County, “How did your spending on these properties go beyond what you had available?”

Young replied that $80,000 had been set aside for the land purchases, “which is about half of what was needed, at a minimum.

In the end the transfer from reserves was approved, with both representatives from Frontenac Islands and Mayor Higgins from North Frontenac voting against it.

(Yup, there is an editorial about this one – see page 2)

The new Frontenac County logo was unveiled at the summer meeting of Frontenac County Council in Glenburnie last week (July 20)

Jon Allison, from RedTrain of Kingston, presented the crest-shaped logo and the accompanying InFrontenac tagline with a slide show that outlined the potential uses of the materials for marketing everything from products produced by Frontenac County businesses, to tourism experiences in the county, and the concept of “Frontenac”.

The logo features three swatches of colour: grey representing rocks; green representing agricultural fields; and blue representing water. At the bottom there is a maple leaf, a reference to Canada, and sitting on the swatches of colour there are four trees, which represent the four Frontenac townships.

The graphic renditions of the trees are meant to represent Balsam Fir trees, Jon Allison said.

The word “County” has been deliberately left off the branding materials, except when it is used to identify the county administration itself.

“The idea is to establish the Frontenac identity on its own, not as a political jurisdiction,” said Jon Allison in explaining why RedTrain came to the conclusion that the concept of Frontenac needs to be freed from the bounds of the county to be able to live in the minds of both residents and visitors alike.

He said this determination came from interviewing residents of Frontenac County.

“What do they think now? Those who live/work in the area say 'We love it here. It is our piece of heaven'. But they also say they don’t really think of it beyond the area they live or work in. What do we want them to think? 'I am proud to say I am from Frontenac. It is a large region with incredible diversity and lots to offer. It is so great to see that more and more people are discovering us',” said Allison, in his presentation.

Before the logo was discussed by members of Council, Allison presented numerous applications for it, from billboards, newspaper/magazine ad campaigns, social media applications, and large banners and signage.

The response to the logo by members of Frontenac County Council was muted, at best.

“I'm surprised we got this far with only one option to choose from,” said Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle. “I'm missing the wow factor here, and without the explanation I would not know what those colours are supposed to mean. I've also never seen a Fir tree on Wolfe Island.”

Councilor Natalie Nossal, also from Frontenac Islands, thought that the maple leaf at the bottom of the crest looked messy. “It looks to me like something floating in a river.”

South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal said, “For me, at least, the word county needs to be there, even in small letters at the bottom.”

The representatives from North Frontenac, Mayor Ron Higgins and Councilor John Inglis, had both seen the logo and tagline when it was presented to the North Frontenac Economic Development Task Force in June. They indicated that as they have become more familiar with the materials, they have grown to like it more and more.

“I like the simplicity of it. I can see this is a brand identity that is going to catch on,” said Higgins.

“The question I have is, where do we go from here?” said Warden Frances Smith.”

That question was answered soon enough. After Council voted to adopt the new branding materials, which came at the end of a three-hour meeting, county staff unfurled some large banners that had already been made up using the logo, advertising “Food to Fork – InFrontenac”, and “Adventure and Tranquility – InFrontenac”.

In the parking lot by the office there was also a brand new Smart Car, with the new logo and tag lines already decaled all over it.

“I guess they weren't exactly waiting for us to approve it,” said Dennis Doyle.

Frontenac County staff presented a report last week that outlines the projected costs for three different options to reconfigure the county's administrative offices.

As usual with reports concerning potential construction projects in the public sector, it provoked sticker shock among members of Council.

The county offices are located in what is known as the Old House, a building that the county purchased in 1965 on a 7.7-hectare lot for $78,000. At that time the property was located in Pittsburgh Township, which was part of Frontenac County. The Fairmount Home for the Aged was built on the property and an annex was built between the two structures. In 1998 Pittsburgh Township joined the new City of Kingston, but Frontenac County maintained ownership of Fairmount Home and the Old House, which was, and is still being used to house Frontenac County’s administrative offices.

The complex also houses the administrative offices of Frontenac Paramedic Services, which was established in 2002 to provide land ambulance service to Frontenac County and the City of Kingston.

The Old House still looks and feels like a house, with offices located in renovated bedrooms off a circular staircase to the second floor. There is also an unused living room that is located between the administrative wing and the Clayton Room, a medium-sized meeting room that was used for County Council meetings when there were only four members of Council but is now only used for committee meetings.

Accessibility issues throughout the building, in particular access to the second floor, as well as operating expenses are what led council to start looking at long-term options to bring the offices to an efficient, modern standard.

The most inexpensive option that was presented is to make minimal changes the building, and simply “Renovate for washroom accessibility + improved reception + improved office productivity.” The cost estimate for that project is over $833,250.

The second option was to abandon the second floor of the Old House, move the staff that are housed there to the current Frontenac Paramedic Services (FPS) offices, and move the FPS headquarters to leased space in the City of Kingston. The cost estimate is $854,000 for construction, but this option would also result in extra annual leasing costs for FPS.

The final option was to completely renovate the Old House and turn it into a two-storey, accessible office building and build an addition. The cost for that project is an estimated $4.4 million

The report also presented two related, lower-cost versions of this option. One of them includes the addition but limits the renovation to the Old House to making a first-floor washroom accessible. It comes in at $2.5 million. The final option presented was to do some renovations to the existing Old House building and build a small addition. It comes to $2.8 million.

County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender, who wrote the report, recommends the final option that was presented, for $2.8 million.

He said that it “provides the best value by ensuring that all current deficiencies are addressed while providing for all space needs for the foreseeable future. It also keeps FPS administration within the current facility, while not eliminating future options for alternate uses of the FPS suite and/or the second floor.”

Although Council agreed to set up the task force, the prospects that the project will proceed according to the time lines that Pender included in his report are minimal. The task force is expected to report back in time for the project to be included in this year’s budget deliberations in the fall.

“I haven't seen a number here that I can support,” said South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal. “We could build a stand-alone building for less. There is no way I would support this.”

Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle said, “I've got a worry about the cost of all this. Once we get into this it could lead to a levy increase. It should be deferred until budget at the very least.”

Councilor Natalie Nossal from Frontenac Islands, the council point person for Frontenac Paramedic Services, said, “It is not optimal to move FPS to a new location, away from the administration. That would make [the second option] unacceptable.”

Councilor John McDougall said that the task force should be given leave to look at other options as well.

“I think the options are somewhat limited,” he said.

A motion to set up a task force to work with staff to come up with a recommendation was approved. It is unclear if the task force will report back in time for the 2017 budget.

New personal support worker shift at Fairmount – Yes

Council supported a recommendation from Lisa Hirvi, the interim administrator for Fairmount Home, to increase the complement of personal support workers in the home by one 7 ½ hour shift per day.

In the report that accompanied the request, Hirvi said that the increasing frailty of residents when they enter the home has made it hard for staff to keep up with the demand for care. She also wrote that the home has received more in transfers from the province this year than budgeted. She recommended that the position be brought in on a trial basis until the end of the year so a more permanent commitment can be considered when the 2017 budget is being considered.

Councilor John Inglis from North Frontenac said, “I support this position. At the same time I think we should look further at the fact that Fairmount remains at the high cost end for municipally-run homes.”

The vote in support of the new position was unanimous.

Second communications officer – Not now

Council did not accept a staff proposal to create a new communications officer position. The staff proposal was to fund the position partly from the Frontenac Paramedic Services (FPS) budget, which would have only a minimal impact on Frontenac County ratepayers who pay only a small portion of the FPS budget since the Province of Ontario and the City of Kingston pay the lion's share.

They were also seek support from the Frontenac townships through individual fee-for-service agreements.

One of the larger parts of the new position’s responsibilities would be to manage the ever-increasing county and FPS social media profiles.

The net impact on the 2017 budget would be an increase in the Communications budget from $80,000 to $115,000.

Council was in not in a mood to spend the money.

“I think I need to hear from my Council before I support this,” said Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle.

South Frontenac Councilor John McDougall noted that the proposal did not come with an endorsement from the four township CAOs, who meet regularly to discuss prospects for shared services among themselves and the county.

North Frontenac Councilor John Inglis had the line of the day, when he said that North Frontenac does not need help with Twitter and Facebook because, “We have a mayor who is pretty slippery when it comes to social media”, a reference to Mayor Ron Higgins, who uses Twitter on almost a daily basis to comment on municipal and other matters.

Although Council did not agree to set up the new communications position, they did not reject it entirely either.

The proposal will be forwarded to each of the townships for review and comment by October 19.

VCA comes calling

Wayne Conway of the Verona Community Association (VCA) appeared before the monthly meeting of Frontenac County Council last week (June 15). He was looking for support for a new electronic sign project in Verona.

The sign, which will be used to promote community events and public service information from the Township of South Frontenac and the County, will be located at the same location as the existing VCA sign at the corner of Road 38 and Burnett Street.

The VCA has raised $30,000 to purchase the sign; the Verona Lions Club has committed $2,500 for the installation; and the Township of South Frontenac has agreed to pay the ongoing power bill to keep the sign shining.

Conway was looking to Frontenac County to cover the $1,000 (approximate) one-time cost of installing power to the sign.

Conway pointed out that the location of the sign in Verona is central to residents of Frontenac County who travel to Central and North Frontenac, as well as residents of South Frontenac.

“The county would be interested in using this sign to promote their events as well. Notices may include information relative to public awareness; warning messages such as severe weather recovery; unforeseen disaster circumstances; K&P Trail information; county events; plowing match; Open Doors; special celebrations, etc. ,” he said.

Council received Conway's presentation and will consider the proposal.

Comprehensive Private Lane Study

One of the key elements in the development of Frontenac County's first ever Official Plan was a concession by the Province of Ontario over further development of residential properties on privately owned lanes.

As a matter of policy, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing had been insisting that all new building lot development be restricted to roadways that either become township roads (through a plan of subdivision process) or form part of a vacant land 'plan of condominium', wherein a corporation made up of adjacent landowners is responsible for their maintenance.

Both of those options are expensive and would hinder the ability of existing county residents to create small numbers of new lots, one or two at a time, and bring new construction and new people into the townships.

Joe Gallivan, Director of Planning and Economic Development Services for Frontenac County, promised the Ministry of Municipal Affairs that if the ministry was willing to temper its demand that private lane development be banned, the county would undertake a study of the issue with a view towards creating a set of rules that satisfy the underlying concerns of the province.

The main concern has to do with ensuring that the roads are up to a reasonable standard and that emergency personnel – ambulance, fire and police – can get through when necessary.

A study was commissioned to look at the existing private roads in the county, and make recommendations for future development.

Brian Whitehead, of Jp2g Consulting of Pembroke, prepared a comprehensive report on the matter, which included an inventory of all the private lanes in the county, and looked at which of them are candidates for further development.

The study concluded that only 15% of existing private lanes have the potential for further development and recommends that only up to three new lots should be added to those lanes.

It also recommends that lanes that are or are likely to be used for permanent year-round residential use should not be privately owned.

Whitehead said that while the inventory shows that there should be only limited increase in development on existing private lanes, once the measures are adopted there will be potential for the development of new private lanes in remote areas of the county where there is still waterfront available for development.

In receiving the report, members of council noted that it represents a major effort on the part of the consultant and Joe Gallivan.

“I think we have persisted in our efforts, and by working with the ministry but not backing down to them, we have saved ourselves the expense of an OMB hearing on our Official Plan, which would have been expensive and might not have yielded a good result. This way we have served our residents' interests while satisfying the ministry. I think we have Joe, and Brian, to thank for this,” said Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle, who was serving as Warden when the County Official Plan was being finalised.

Planning Advisory Committee formed

Council dealt with the deferred matter of forming a planning advisory committee, the makeup of which was a contentious issue at their meeting in May. One of the changes made to the original proposal was to soften the requirement that each of the four mayors who sit on county council must sit on the advisory committee. In the new version, the mayor can designate the second member of council from their township as the committee member.

As well, the scope of the committee's role will be subject to review in two years.

On one potentially contentious matter, the version of the committee's mandate that was passed last week is the same as the proposal that was deferred in May. It is the Planning Advisory Committee's role to conduct public hearings on plans of subdivision and plans of condominium, as outlined in the following proposal in the document:

“It is also recommended that the PAC also hold the formal public meetings as required by the Planning Act for subdivision and condominium applications. Currently these meetings are held by each township council at the request of the county. Having the PAC hold these meetings will result in a more transparent and accountable process, as the public will be aware that they are speaking to a committee of county council, and that four of the eight county council members will be present at the meeting.”

2015 audit results

Howard Allan, from Allan Chartered Accountant, made a presentation to Council on April 20 to discuss his firm's audit of the County for 2015.

“I think we can say that the 2015 audit went well for the County of Frontenac,” Allan told Council. “The management team of the County was very co-operative and I think the County is well served by their staff... Our firm looks after Leeds-Grenville and the County of Lanark, which are both in Eastern Ontario and kind of similar. I would say that the financial position of this County is as strong, or stronger, than those two counties.”

Allen spoke out in favor of the county's long-term financial plan and its reserves policy. “Reviewing your reserves is a very positive step,” he said.

The audit report shows the County sitting with just under $5 million in net financial assets at the end of 2015.

“Our rates of taxation are continuing to fall as assessment increases and re-assessments happen every four years. Even in dollar amounts, the overall (tax) increases have been fairly modest, particularly when you consider our growth,” he said.

He added that the rates of taxation in Frontenac County are much lower than in other counties because of the fact that the lower-tier municipalities look after the road works in Frontenac.

“Often, in other places, there's a big county road system that is looked after by the upper-tier and that has budgetary implications,” he said.

“We had some extra revenue from the OPP that we hadn't planned for,” Councilor Dennis Doyle said. “What happens with that money now that the townships incur the costs for policing? Does that eventually find its way down to the townships?”

“Any amounts that are surplus at the end of the year follow our reserve fund policy,” County Treasurer Marian VanBruinessen said. “Council can consider where those surplus funds go. The reserve fund policy suggests the first order of business is to get the stabilization reserve up to where it should be. The next one is the capital asset plan.”

Allan's report also recommended that the County review its processes regarding the security of electronic records.

County approves new stretchers

Council approved the purchase of new stretchers for their ambulances. After testing out two different brands they chose the Stryker Power Pro XT. The net cost of the stretchers is $735,000, after the County transfers $62,441 out of their equipment reserve. The balance of this is split with the City of Kingston, which will end up paying just over 78% of the cost, or $578,592, leaving $156,408 for the County to cover. The city portion will come to the County over the next eight years, as the County will be paying for the stretchers up front from their reserves.

Planning advisory committee to be formed

Council discussed new changes made to the Planning Act and how best to form a planning advisory committee. In a report prepared by Joe Gallivan, the Director of Planning and Economic Development, it says the intention of the amendments made to the Planning Act is to “improve community consultation” and to promote more “meaningful involvement for the public in the developmental approval process.”

This committee would act as a “connection between the operations of the Planning & Economic Development Department and the strategic direction of Council.”

One suggestion from staff is that the committee be formed by the four mayors as well as three citizens, with one citizen acting as the chair of the committee.

“The composition of such a committee should include some influential members of the community, such as someone from the Frontenac Stewardship Foundation,” North Frontenac Councillor John Inglis said. “I'm generally concerned that we're missing out on larger scale environmental issues in big planning ideas. We all want economic development ... but I think there has to be influential input on planning issues on the environmental side.”

“I want to discuss all proposals on this,” North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins said. “I'm not in favour of all four mayors (automatically) being part of it. We need people with expertise in planning.”

“I believe the four mayors are the ones that need to be on this committee,” Warden Frances Smith said. “The sooner we get this in place the better, as there's already stuff coming to us that we don't have a lot of detail about.”

“You really have to be cautious of the makeup of committees because it can really skew what happens in a township if they're going to make the recommendations for planning,” Deputy Warden Ron Vandewal said.