North Frontenac Council – Dec 10/12

Jeff Green | Dec 13, 2012

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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