North Frontenac Council - Oct 30/15

Jonas Bonnetta | Nov 04, 2015

NFCS Requests Continued Support

Louise Moody, the executive director of Northern Frontenac Community Services (NFCS), and Maribeth Scott, the Child Centre program manager, made a presentation to Council on Friday regarding the services that NFCS provides in North Frontenac. They also made a request for funding from Council to help them continue their programming.

“It gives an opportunity for the kids to experience guiding each other and being part of a group,” Moody explained. “They learn self-efficiency, self-determination, communication skills, and problem solving. Each of the skills is linked to higher school achievement, lower dropout rates, and/or better post-secondary outcome.”

The free youth program from NFCS has recently been successful in securing a two-year grant from the Ontario Sport and Recreation Communities Fund. Under this grant, the youth will be given the opportunity to learn about First Nations' sports. This year's program includes an introduction to lacrosse and snowshoeing, and cultural teachings will accompany these activities. NFCS will partner with Clarendon Central Public School and the First Nations community to offer a cultural teaching event for all the northern families.

In 2014, Clarendon Central Public School had 20 students enrolled in the program.

Scott explained that NFCS relies on its relationships with the municipalities as they receive no subsistence funding from the provincial government.

“If we didn't fund this, this would not happen?” Councilor John Inglis asked.

“Absolutely,” Scott replied. “There is no ongoing Evergreen funding for youth programs so we ask the townships to support us and we always have grants on the go.”

Last year, North Frontenac gave NFCS $5400 and they are requesting the same amount of funding for 2016.

The request has been deferred to the 2016 budget deliberations, which are currently in progress.

Sunday Drivers

Residents on Sunday Lake Road are complaining that new speed limit signage is actually increasing traffic speeds on their road. Sunday Lake Road, which was previously unposted, now has signage posting a maximum speed limit of 60km/hr. Residents have complained to Council saying that although it's always been 60km/hr, now that it's posted people feel the need to do the limit, which they suggest is too fast for some parts of their road.

Based upon recommendations the township received while doing a study on the state of their gravel roads, they recently installed new speed limit signs on roads that previously didn't have any signage.

“You had better not take down the signs because you have a study that says you better have signs up,” Jim Phillips, the public works manager, was told after asking their lawyers whether they could just simply remove the signs.

“If they want a lower speed limit because there are children living in the area...” Councilor Dennis Bedard said “You justify it based on what the residents want.”

“We're supposed to represent the people,” Councilor Inglis said. “Our job is to fix it. We can't leave it the way it is. It does not make sense. I would suggest changing all the 60s to 50s.”

Council asked Phillips to look at the gravel roads study again and make recommendations on which roads might need to be changed to a lower speed limit. Council will then make decisions based on the information Phillips presents later this year.

3-Season Maintenance of Norcan Lake Lane

Council agreed to begin 3-season maintenance of Norcan Lake Lane and to incorporate those new expenses into their 2016 budget. The one-time costs associated with bringing the road up to the standards required for 3-season use in the municipality are $7,745 which is $5,000 for brushing the side of the roads and $2,745 for adding new signage. Additionally, Jim Phillips, the public works manager, estimated that resurfacing the road with gravel will need to happen with a cost of $46,620 but he still needs to complete a study to figure out how soon this resurfacing will need to take place.

As well, $13,120 in future maintenance costs will be added to the 2016 budget.