Carbone brings new perspective to South Frontenac

Jeff Green | Jan 08, 2020

When Neil Carbone was hired as the new Chief Administrative Officer in South Frontenac last summer, it signaled that the council of the township was ready for a new future. Carbone, who is in his mid-thirties, is from a different generation than the leadership that has forged the four founding townships, that make up South Frontenac, into a single entity.

He also comes to South Frontenac from a job in Prince Edward County, where he served as the Director of Community Development and Strategic Initiatives, a role that has no parallel in Frontenac County. Prince Edward County, which is a single tier municipality, with a population of over 24,000 people, with a diverse local economy thanks to its mix of residential, agricultural and commercial sectors.

“The department underwent an expansion during my tenure. It had an Economic Development focus when I started, and by the time I left, not only had it doubled in size, but had a much broader role as well,” he said in an interview last week from his office in Sydenham. “Not only had we taken on destination tourism marketing, but also customer service and oversight of capital grants and even project management. The department’s role has become one of putting a community lens on everything that the township does.”

An example that he cited was a $4 million water and sewer replacement on the main street in Picton.

“We knew that the businesses on that street do 50% of their business in July and August, so we looked at the cost factor if we set out an RFP [Request for Proposal] that called for construction to shut down for two months in the summer. A contractor found a way to make it work for them, to do it that way, by taking some other work in the region during the summer. It cost about $200,000 more to do the project that way but it made a difference for the business community in Picton,” he said.

When he learned that South Frontenac was looking for a new Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Carbone did some research, and his interest was piqued, by the growth potential of the township and also by its financial position, so he decided to put his name forward.

“I saw a lot of opportunity in South Frontenac. The house is in order financially. It has a very lean organisation and has been building its administrative capacity, a bit pre-emptively, to handle the growth that is coming. I saw coming here as CAO as a great opportunity for me,” he said.

Coming in to 2020, the future shape of South Frontenac is coming into focus.

“I thought that our budget process was very good, very productive for my first budget, and our new strategic plan will form the basis for us to move forward quickly,” he said.

While strategic plans sometimes get lost in the shuffle, as unexpected day to day and external pressures come to bear, Carbone sees the new South Frontenac plan as a call to action, within the context of pressure from growth on the townships’ ability to maintain service levels, increase its organisational capacity and upgrade community amenities.

“When we considered those pressures in the context of increased provincial uncertainty, Council recognized the need to take control of its own destiny, a common theme of the strategic plan and the 2020 budget is a desire to lead, to grow, and to look outside our borders for opportunities to collaborate,” he wrote in a year end township press release.

The plan has four priorities: becoming a regional leader, supporting growth while protecting the environment, enhancing the township’s organizational capacity, and “being a catalyst for the creation of vibrant and complete communities”.

The idea of ‘vibrant and complete’ communities will play out when the township looks at its official plan this year. It involves making a decision to promote development that does not turn South Frontenac into a bedroom community for the City of Kingston.

“They way things are set up now, we are able to develop subdivisions with two acre lots. That limits the people that can move in to our townships and limits the business opportunities. I think the idea of communal servicing, that Joe Gallivan from Frontenac County has been leading, will be something we will talk about a lot this coming year,” he said.

Communal servicing refers to a water and sewer system, similar to a municipal system, to serve a private development. It can substantially increase the density in a development, making retail, commercial, and multi-residential development possible in rural settings where publicly owned water and sewer systems are not viable. There are technical, bureaucratic and financial liability hurdles to overcome, however.

“To realise the growth that has to be in place for complete communities in South Frontenac, let’s identify what those needs to be in place for the developer, lets talk about municipal ownership versus private ownership, let’s put the model together,” he said.

The township will also be undertaking a branding initiative this year, which fits with the strategic plan vision.

“The practise of branding itself is not just about a logo. Your brand is who you are. The act of branding a place is not about creating something new, it is about making sure that everybody sees themselves in the community,” he said.

It also ties in with an evolving role for the township, in Carbone’s view.

“We can establish one to one relations with the City of Kingston, with the Province of Ontario,” he said. “That’s part of becoming a regional leader, which is also in our strategic plan.