North Frontenac Council - Sep 2/16

Jonas Bonnetta | Sep 07, 2016

County makes branding presentation to North Frontenac

Anne Marie Young, manager of Economic Development for the County of Frontenac, and Alison Vandervelde, the Community Development officer, made a presentation to Council on September 2 to explain their process of implementing new branding for the County.

“We started this from the ground up,” Young told Council. She said that she hopes the new logo will attract “adventure seekers, potential investors, and business owners.”

“It looks like a girl guide badge or a boy scout badge,” Vandervelde said in explaining how the concept came together. “The crest inspires that kind of adventure.”

Along with the logo, the branding company RedTrain came up with the tagline “In Frontenac” to be used with promotional material and online.

“The tagline is really the beautiful part as it is what we make it,” Vandervelde said.

They explained to Council how people have started implementing the “In Frontenac” tagline on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram and how it starts to build a story of what Frontenac is.

“It's a good measurement for us too to see how many people are using it,” Vandervelde told Council. She said that people have been tagging photos of themselves paddling, camping and eating in the area with the hashtag #infrontenac.

“Is there funding available for us to implement this new branding in our township?” North Frontenac CAO Cheryl Robson asked.

Young said that the County has received funding for rolling out the new brand but she couldn't elaborate yet on what that funding is or how much.

“I'm excited about it because it's a whole new exercise,” Councilor John Inglis said. “It [the County] has been more or less invisible.”

Malcolm and Ardoch lake plans presented to Council

Brenda Martin, chair of the Malcolm & Ardoch Lake Stewardship Committee (MALSC), Glen Fowler, president of the Malcolm and Ardoch Lakes Landowners' Association (MALLA), and Mary Gessner from MALSC, presented the summary of their lake stewardship plan for both Malcolm and Ardoch lakes to council.

They explained to Council that their priorities on the lakes are water quality and water levels, land use development, and fisheries and fish habitat.

Martin said that the water quality and water levels are presently in a “good state” and that MALLA has done additional sampling on the lakes to recognize any changes. She said they continue to educate their members on water issues.

Martin also told Council that the Ardoch condominium proposal is what prompted MALLA and MALSC to develop the thorough report on their lakes, and that their approach was more reactive than proactive.

“This Council is a safety net for North Frontenac,” Fowler said. “It's the most rural and undisturbed part of Frontenac County. If you're promoting economic development through that [new] logo then North Frontenac needs to be very protective of what goes on here. Our lake plan tries to be that reference document just for our views and we hope it's consulted when changes are about to take place.”

“We've seen the mistakes made in the past and we don't want to see them in the future,” Deputy mayor Fred Perry said. “I have ownership here. I live here.”

Another priority for MALLA and MALSC is the fishing habitat; in particular they are concerned about over-fishing of the lakes.

“Is there anything that Council can do to put a word into the ministry to have some presence periodically up here?” Gessner asked. “Ours are pretty small lakes and the public access can lead to some issues we're seeing now, like some abuse.”

MALLA told Council they had reached out to both the OPP and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in regards to one individual that they claimed has been over-fishing “for a couple of seasons.”

“He fishes from 4am till 10am in the morning...” Mayor Ron Higgins told Council. “...dumping fish in his livewell. Whether he is transporting or keeping them for his own use we don't know. I called the TIPS hotline and they said they'd be out there in three days. By then the perpetrator is already gone.”

“Every morning I make my coffee and there he is in front of my house,” Councilor Gerry Martin said.

“It's very stressful and very upsetting,” Martin said. “All the good you do for your shoal enhancement and fish habitats can be ruined in one fell swoop.”