North Frontenac Council - May 14/12

Jeff Green | May 17, 2012

Gord Mountenay from Mississippi Valley Conservation (MVC) appeared at the request of the township to talk about the dam structure and water management practices that he employs on behalf of MVC on some of the major lakes in North Frontenac. Mazinaw, Shabomeka, Marble, Mississagagon, Big Gull, Kashwakamak, and a host of other lakes within North Frontenac at the upper end of the Mississippi watershed, which feeds Mississippi Lake and eventually the Ottawa river.

Monutenay supervises a draw down of the lakes each fall in order to protect against possible flooding downstream, and then begins to hold back water if necessary in order to bring the lake to a desired elevation for the summer recreational season, which begins this coming weekend. Weighing against these goals are the protection of spawning beds throughout the system.

“With the rain we received last week, it turns out that with the exception of Mississagagon, which is low, the lakes in North Frontenac are now at their target levels for the May long weekend,” said Mountenay.

Earlier in April, he had expressed a concern that the levels were low because of the warm, dry winter, but the rains have come in the meantime.

Councilor Wayne Good asked whether the fall draw down could be minimized in the interest of improving the spawning beds, and Mountenay said the draw down is less now than it had been in the past, but there is still a concern about flooding downstream.

Councilor Gerry Martin asked about the condition of the control dams on a number of lakes, and Mountenay said that most of them are almost 100 years old and will need to be replaced within a few years, but the cost is pretty high.

“We replaced the Mazinaw Lake dam in 1992 and I think it cost about $280,000, so it will take a number of years to put new dams in all the locations that are going to need them,” he said.

Tenders

The township received only one bid for gravel crushing. The bid from Robert E. Young Construction was $66,952.50, which is within the 2012 crushing budget, and the bid was accepted.

The township accepted the bid of $8446 from Sel Warwick for dust suppression on township roads this summer. His was the lower of two bids.

The winter sand contract for wards 2 and 3 went to Crains' Construction for $54,240. Ward 1 sand is provided by Danford Construction for $20,000 in conjunction with them supplying sand to the MTO for Hwy. 41, which brings a cost savings to the township.

Septic reinspection – The township has entered into a contract with the Mississippi-Rideau Septic Office to complete approximately 100 inspections for willing property owners this summer at a cost of $12,000. Based on some comments by Kingston Frontenac Public Health staff, who are the enforcement agency for septic systems, some changes will be made this year in the way the inspections are done.

Building up early in the year. Building permits for a construction value of $1.11 million were taken out as of the end of April, up about $90,000 from the same time last year.