North Frontenac Council - Nov. 24/11

Jeff Green | Nov 26, 2009

Minister pours cold water on NF succession plans

The Ontario Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing has responded to a letter from North Frontenac Council that requested leave to hold a referendum on pulling the township out of Frontenac County.

“Please note that subsection 1(1) of Ontario Regulation 425/00 of the Municipal Elections Act, 1996 prohibits municipalities from submitting a question to electors regarding municipal restructuring,” the letter concludes.

Watson did write that he would consider a proposal to create an alternative structure for North Frontenac but cautioned that, “The decision to change municipal structures is an extremely complex and important undertaking.

Any proposal must show fiscal “self-sustainability for any proposed new municipalities, demonstrate property tax fairness,” and “be endorsed and submitted by the County of Frontenac and the 4 municipalities.”

He urged North Frontenac to “continue to work with the other Frontenac townships and the County itself to resolve the issues at hand which I believe would be best addressed at the local level.”

With Mayor Ron Maguire still away on sabbatical (he will return in December) Deputy Mayor Jim Beam said, “Part of the issue for the province seems to be the creation of a new municipality.”

Beam then pointed out that Frontenac County had just the day before “passed a change to its structure from four to nine votes. This was one of the major issues that we had. They have also given consideration to providing $80,000 to rural transportation, although it is only in the budget but the budget is not approved. Still I think we have made some headway. I was not altogether disappointed with what came back from the province.”

“Still, secession is not a dead issue,” said Councilor Fred Perry.

“For all intents and purposes, it's not happening at this time,” said Beam.

More Crown roads worries

North Frontenac Council continues to struggle with road maintenance issues on Crown and un-maintained township roads.

The latest issue to come to council (at their meeting on Thursday, November 19) concerned the road to the Mackie Lake boat access.

The road is part of a Land Use plan the township has with the Ministry of Natural Resources, which is known as the Crown Land Stewardship Plan. Money flows to the township from the MNR to cover very basic maintenance of former Crown maintained roads under this plan, and the maintenance is all contracted out.

The added wrinkle for Mackie Lake Road is that the township owns and operates the boat launch to the lake that is at the end of the road.

Council considered a proposal to remove the road from the Crown Land Stewardship Program to allow the Mackie Lake Association to make their own arrangements with the MNR over maintenance to the road. If the association is able to fund the maintenance, it is hoped the road will see an improvement over the current minimal maintenance.

“This is the only lake where there is township access to the lake” said Councilor Lonnie Watkins, “and if the MNR takes over nobody is going to look after it. It doesn't sit right for us to refuse to look after it.”

Councilor Wayne Good said, “This is not our property. It is MNR property. If we start taking care of MNR property, where will we be able to stop doing so? We can't afford to take every MNR road on, so we shouldn't take any on.”

Councilor Bob Olmstead said, “With the number of people that live in there and the amount of tax dollars we collect, we should just send a grader in there as needed.”

“It is not our road. What part of this don't you understand?” Good countered.

A vote on the plan to remove the road from the Crown Land Stewardship Program and leave it to the association and the MNR to sort out was defeated in a 3-3 tie vote.

Deputy Mayor Jim Beam said, “If we tell the Mackie Lake Association that the access is guaranteed. It will not go away, but they have to maintain the road, I think that would work for them.”

A second vote was taken on the motion, and this time five of six members supported it, with Councilor Olmstead registering the only dissenting vote.

Frontenac Shores – Council considered a proposal that would allow for the construction of eight units as part of phase 2 of the development of fractional ownership cottages on Mississagagon Lake in Barrie ward (the former Twin Pines Resort property).

The developers, Dave and Pat Storms, have completed six units, and would like to complete phase 2 (which will amount to 28 units if and when it is completed) in stages. They were seeking changes to the site plan agreement with the township in order to allow some of the costs related to phase 2 to be spread out. They were also seeking to move the location of the sewage treatment system from where it had originally been planned to go in.

The township planner said the changes were acceptable, with some revisions that were explained to the applicants, and council ratified the new agreement.

Volunteer and staff recognition – Council approved a $1,000 expenditure for the North Frontenac Fire Volunteers Christmas Dinner, and a further $1,000 for the purchase of a suitable item for all full-time employees as “a token of appreciation for their efforts throughout the year”.

The proposal included council members as recipients of the tokens of appreciation, but council decided to pull themselves off the list.

Free hall for LARC – Lennox and Addington Resources for Children (LARC) asked the township if they could use the Barrie Hall in Cloyne free of charge for the Wednesday morning pre-schoolers playgroup they hold in the hall. The playgroup is offered free to residents and LARC said in a letter of request that they are committed to keeping it free, but the $15 fee for a part-day use of the hall is an impediment.

Council decided to waive the fee.

New Shredder – There must be a lot of sensitive information in North Frontenac because the township office’s shredder, which was purchased just over a year ago for $600, has been shown to be inadequate. A suitable machine has been costed out at $2,500 and council approved the purchase.