South Frontenac Council

Wilma Kenny | Oct 26, 2016

New Planning Fees Proposed

Planner Lindsay Mills presented the committee a proposal for a revised fee structure for planning applications. The intent is to bring these fees more into line with the actual cost of processing applications for development-related services such as Zoning and Official Plan amendments, site plan agreements, etc. Council showed general acceptance of the proposal: it will come before next week’s Council meeting for official approval.

Fence Viewers: where are they when we need them??

Every new Council appoints three official Township “fence viewers”. South Frontenac’s current fence viewers were appointed in 2015. Their role is to resolve line fencing disputes between neighbours regarding who pays for what, and what kind of fencing material should be used. They do not resolve property boundary issues; those are the responsibility of the property owners. Lindsay Mills reported that he has had to call on the fence viewers’ services only three times in the past 13 years. Until recently. With a deadline of thirty days to resolve an evidently tense fence-related standoff in the Township, Mills is becoming desperate. Only one of the SF viewers has agreed to step up. Mills needs three. He has contacted all appointed viewers in Central and North Frontenac, but none of them are available. Mills said he has heard “the full range of excuses.” “Perhaps,” he suggested, “seventy-five dollars a day is no longer enough.” He suggested Council consider increasing compensation, and perhaps appointing a couple of staff members (without remuneration) to the office. Mayor Vandewal said it wasn’t healthy for staff to get involved in this sort of dispute between neighbours, and suggested that it might be more appropriate to use by-law officers for the job. There was general agreement around the table, but no specific direction to Mills concerning the current problem.

Public Works 2017 BudgetPublic Works Manager Segsworth presented the proposed 2017 budget for his department, under the headings of: Facilities ($1,287,512); Transportation ($970,000); Equipment Replacement ($538,500); Environmental Services ($145,000) and Roads and Bridges ($10,000,000). Nearly half of this last figure is earmarked for the Sunbury Road, which is an emergency detour route for the 401. It’s hoped that provincial or federal funding may be available to help with this project, though so far the Township grant applications have been unsuccessful. There was considerable discussion about ways Council might bring this issue more strongly to the attention of the upper levels of government.

Budgeting for the Next Steps of Organizational Review

Mayor Vandewal recommended not budgeting for the Clerk/CAO position split in the coming year, to give two new staff members (soon to be announced) time to settle in.

“These two positions should change the workload greatly.”

Councilor McDougall suggested setting aside a three or six-month budget line for the new Clerk position in 2017.

Councilor Schjerning said perhaps the Fire Prevention/Education Officer positioncould be moved up into next year’s budget. There was general agreement about going ahead to establish a Development Services Committee.

2017 budget discussions will be a primary feature of the November Council and Committee of the Whole meetings.