North Frontenac Council - Sep. 11

Jeff Green | Sep 13, 2012

Ompah fire hall project survives Council vote

In a vote of 5-2, North Frontenac Council agreed this week to move the Ompah fire hall project forward, although there is still no guarantee about the size of the building or even that it will be built at all.

Councilor John Inglis prepared a motion for Council's consideration, in which he recommended that the township order a stage 2 environmental assessment to be initiated on the property that the township purchased for the project several years ago. At a cost of $27,000, the assessment will either give the property a clean bill of health, or it could determine that a clean up is required, at an unknown cost.

The cost of the assessment will be paid for from about $400,000 that has been set aside for a fire hall.

Included in that $400,000 is a commitment from the Ompah firefighters to raise $50,000 for the project. They have raised $42,000 thus far.

In his original motion, Inglis called for a task force to be created to oversee the project, including the design and construction of the building, and that the township's Chief Building Official (CBO) George Gorrie take on the role of project manager as well.

Councilor Hunter said that delegating so much authority to a task force, which would be made up of members of the public and up to three members of Council, would lead to delays because a task force must come to Council for approval before taking any action.

Township Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Robson said that she asked George Gorrie about managing the project, and “he said there may be a problem because it is his job as CBO to inspect the work from a neutral perspective.”

Inglis agreed to changes to his motion to the effect that the task force will only oversee the building design, and that township staff will step in to put together any tender documents that are required. The motion was also changed to call for a project manager to be hired.

Deputy Mayor Fred Perry, said Inglis' motion “sort of puts the cart before the horse. Before we go out and build a 4,500 square foot building we should wait for our fire chief to tell us what we really need, and to make some decisions about what kind of services we are prepared to offer from Ompah, Snow Road, and Plevna.”

Although he eventually supported the modified version of Inglis' motion, Mayor Clayton also expressed the concern that the township would be better served if council waited until a new Core Fire Services bylaw is passed later this month.

“We do need a fire station in Ompah, I have no doubt about that, but what size it needs to be, and what kind of equipment it needs to house is another question. It might be that we can renovate what is already there to provide the service we need to provide. I would suggest at least this - that the motion should be changed to call for a ‘fire hall solution in Ompah' rather than ‘a new fire hall in Ompah’ because we don’t have all the information we require yet”, said Clayton.

While Inglis agreed to the other proposed changes to his motion, he put his foot down when it came to whether the motion commits the township to a new building.

“That was not my intention in preparing the motion,” said John Inglis to Clayton. “I would prefer to let it stand as it is.”

Councilor Wayne Good insisted that the motion clearly state that all costs that arise from the environmental assessment of the property, including the cost of using township equipment as well as any clean up costs, be taken off the $400,000 that is available for the project.

When it came time to vote on the amended motion, Councilor Good and Deputy Mayor Perry voted no, and Councilors Watkins, Martin, Inglis and Hunter, as well as Mayor Clayton, voted yes.

While the vote was clear, the next steps are not.

The environmental assessment will be initiated, but the establishment of a task force and its terms and conditions will have to come back to Council later this month.

Given that the scope of the project is yet to be determined, hiring a project manager and setting out a tender for construction are also on hold.

Not only will the costs of the environmental assessment be taken off the $400,000 set aside for the project, CAO Cheryl Robson told the News that a number of costs related to the failed fire hall-ambulance base project with Frontenac County have not come in from the County yet, and Council may want those costs taken off the $400,000 as well.

Assessment increases muted for the next four years.

Over the past four years, property values across the region rose at less than half the rate they did in the previous 4-year period.

That was one of the points made by Bev Disney from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) when she appeared at a meeting of North Frontenac Council this week.

Disney came to inform Council that ratepayers throughout the township would be receiving notices in the coming days about their property valuations. These values, based on MPAC's determination of the value of each property as of January 1, 2012, will be phased in over 4 years.

Each year, local municipalities determine municipal taxes by multiplying the tax rate that the local council sets by the property assessment value that MPAC provides for individual properties.

While Disney said that the average increased value for waterfront properties throughout the region (Lanark, Frontenac, and Lennox and Addington Counties) was only 15% between the last assessment date, January 1, 2008, and the 2012 assessment, in North Frontenac itself the numbers are a bit different.

The average increase in North Frontenac is higher - 23.1% for year-round single-family dwellings on water, and 24.6% for seasonal dwellings on water. The overall average increase for residential properties in North Frontenac was 10.9% for the period.

This means that the share of taxation in North Frontenac will continue to shift towards waterfront ratepayers.

Any tax increases will be doubled for them, and even if the local tax rate remains flat, the average waterfront ratepayer will see a 6% increase in taxes each year while non-waterfront ratepayers will see an increase of only 2.5%.

In addition to bringing this global information, Bev Disney talked about improved service for individual ratepayers. Assessment notices, which will be coming out late this week in North Frontenac, will include information to enable individuals to access aboutmyproperty.ca, which includes information about some of the features that MPAC took into account in assessing each property. Property owners are encouraged to look carefully at this information.

“If it turns out that we think there is a garage on the property and there isn't, for example, it might affect the value we have assigned to that property,” Disney said.

Property owners will have until April 1 next year to file a Request for Reconsideration of the value MPAC has assigned to their property.

If, after a Request For Reconsideration is completed, the property owner is not satisfied with the result, a formal appeal can be made to an external review board that is not affiliated with MPAC.

“One of the changes that has been made in recent years is that a Request For Reconsideration must take place before an appeal can be launched,” said Bev Disney. “This actually works in the property owner's favour because the appeal process is complicated and has a cost, whereas the Request For Reconsideration is more informal and is free.

Disaster relief: The township will donate $100 to flood relief in Thunder Bay, consistent with similar donations for fires in Goderich and Slave Lake, Alberta in recent years.

New floor and shelving at Clar-Mill Hall: Council approved the installation of new flooring and shelving at Clar-Mill Hall, at the expense of the Clar-Mill Community Volunteers. The township will cover insurance costs for volunteer labourers.

Fire code compliance at community halls – the township has completed a fire safety inspection of its five community halls, resulting in a long list of repairs and upgrades to all five halls. The repairs are prioritised; some need to be done immediately while others can wait for one or two years and be included in the 2013 and 2014 township budgets.

Among urgent requirements are an exhaust system for the stove in the kitchen of the Clar-Mill Hall and work on the furnaces at the Clar-Mill, Ompah, Snow Road halls. As well, changes that are not costly but must be made immediately include removing table lamps that use lamp oil from the Harlowe Hall as well as cleaning and organizing the basement and removing all stored items in the furnace room, and completing some work on the basement window at the Barrie Hall.

Solar Voltaics at township office/garage – Council approved spending $3,300 on an engineering study to determine the feasibility of a Solar Voltaic Microfit system on the roof of the township office/roads garage.

Bylaws of interest – North Frontenac will accept hazardous waste from residents of Addington Highlands, and the terms were set out in a new bylaw.

As well, a bylaw was approved establishing fees that can be charged for fighting outdoor fires. The use of a pumper, tanker, equipment van/truck, or emergency van can be billed at $200 per hour per piece of equipment, and firefighters will be compensated at the same rate of compensation the township pays them to fight any fire.