More bitterness over EV Charges at NF Council

There was a light agenda at the regular meeting of North Frontenac Council last Friday (October 10).

Not enough to keep councillors in the chairs for more than 45 minutes, even with a 15 minute question and answer session with a couple of observers, who were following the meeting over zoom.

During his report to Council on his activities since the previous meeting, Mayor Gerry Lichty said that along with Chief Administrative Officer Kory Klatt and Manager of Community Development Brooke Ross, he had a phone call with an official with Hydro One. They discussed the exorbitant base charge the township is paying to operate an EV Charging station, as a public service for residents and tourists alike.

“They made it clear that we are not alone,” said Mayor Lichty. Apparently, someone installed one in Tobermory, and when they received the first bill, they shut it down. They are telling us they know exactly what we are sitting with, but it has to go back to the Ontario Energy Board.”

Lichty added that North Frontenac continues to lobby the local MP and MPP and the Ontario Wardens Caucus for support, and Community Development Manager, Brooke Ross, is going back to the funders to see what they say.

“At least now we have an understanding of what is happening,” said Lichty. ”They originally gave us 13% (discount), there was discussion of 50 (%), but that is not going to happen. There is going to be a further reduction but it is not going to be as much as we thought. We are continuing to work on it.”

“This grant that we got, I believe, was taken up by quite a number of municipalities. Why are we, little North Frontenac, the ones leading the charge on this?” said Deputy Mayor John Inglis.

“I think we should contact the chair of AMO directly on this,” said Councillor Roy Huetl, and Mayor Lichty said he would.

“You mentioned that in Tobermory they shut them down right away. What’s the option for us to shut them down, instead of paying more and more each month,” asked Councillor Wayne God

“We asked the granting agencies about that and have not heard back,” said Lichty, but Good persisted in his objection.

“This is just going to get worse over the wintertime, there is not going to be much revenue to cover these losses, so they are going to go up, and up,” said Good.

“Apparently if we shut them down for more than two weeks, we have to report that,” Lichty said.

“Well, I think they should be shut down, forever. We shouldn’t have put them into service to start with.” said Good.

“I don’t agree,” said Huetl. “I think they are a good thing, we just have to find a solution.”

“I think this is a lesson, when you jump into things without doing a full investigation of how it works. You need to take operating costs into consideration,” said Good. Councillor Good then commented on another project.

“We should have taken that into consideration with that roof over the arena as well. That’s going to be way over.”

Essential Services Fair

Attendance at the Fair this year was down from previous iterations of the bi-annual event, to about 100 visitors.

“When you have more vendors and service personnel than people attending, it is a concern”, said Mayor Lichty.

Fire Chief Adam Robinson said that he is going to look at what happened this year and in previous years, and will come back to Council with a report, later on in the year. The next scheduled Services Fair is scheduled to take place in 2027.

Meeting Dates for 2026

Council will meet 13 times next year, every three weeks, before being replaced by a new council, after the municipal election next October. The first meeting of the new council will be November 16, 2026, and the new council will set their own schedule after that

Of those 13 meetings, 9 are scheduled as Friday morning meetings at 9am, and four (between May 21 and August 13) are scheduled at 5pm on Thursdays.

Councillor Huetl asked why so few meetings were scheduled for late afternoon when residents who work during the day would have a better opportunity to attend.

Mayor Lichty pointed out that it is preferable for both council and staff not to finish later into the evening, and later when asked the same question from a member of the public, he pointed out that in most cases, attendance by the public was still minimal at evening meetings, and that the meetings are available live on Zoom, and are posted within 24-48 hours on Youtube.

Emergency Preparedness

Grant Application

Council approved a proposed application for a $50,000 grant to the Emergency Preparedness Grant Program, which is providing $5million for communities with a population under 100,000, under a program extension announced in mid September, with an application deadline at the end of October.

The upper limit for the grant is $50,000 and the funding covers 100% of the cost.

Emergency Services staff proposed that the township apply to the program for the purchase of two solar powered “Mobile Communications Towers” which cost $25,000 each.

“The mobile communication towers (portable changeable message signs) will be utilized by the Fire Department and or Roads Department to identify road closures, detours, hazardous conditions, manage emergency scenes, crowd management etc.” said a report to Council, in support of the application.

The money cannot be used for vehicle purchases or upgrades, new construction, par facility upgrades, according to the report.

Council approved the grant submission.

EDTF to Meet With Central Frontenac

At their meeting in mid September, The Economic Development Task Force (EDTF) welcomed two members of the Central Frontenac Economic Development Committee, Community Services Coordinator Chris Nelson and council member Duncan McGregor, where they received an update on the activities in Central Frontenac.

A joint meeting between the two committees is being set up for late October in Sharbot Lake, to talk about some potential shared opportunities.

Councillor Absent

Councillor Stephanie Regent was absent from the meeting.