Addington Highlands Will Select New Reeve on Dec. 2
Addington Highlands Council made the first part of the decision about who will be the reeve of the township for the next 11 months before municipal elections take place, in late October of 2026.
They decided not to hold a by-election to put the matter of replacing the late Henry Hogg before the entire township, which would have come with a $15,000 to $20,000 price tag. They took another option that is available to them under the Municipal Act, and will make an appointment to the position at their next meeting, on December 2.
They can look to the community for a replacement, as anyone who pays taxes in the township is eligible for the appointment, but that would require public notice and would delay the decision. Instead, they will look around the table and will pick a reeve from one of their own number.
Once that decision is made, the council position for the person who becomes reeve will need to be filled, and that will involve an appointment from the public. Depending on who is chosen, Council could offer the position to the candidate in the 2022 election that received the third most votes, in the ward represented by the new reeve. The third most votes in ward 1, were cast for former Public Works Manager Royce Rosenblath, and in ward 2 it was former councillor Bill Cox.
Deputy Reeve Fritsch will remain in the role of acting reeve until the new reeve is chosen.
ALTO Comes To Visit
Joel Wiebe, Senior Advisor of Community Relations with ALTO, the Crown Corporation that is working on the proposed high speed rail project between Quebec City and Toronto, brought a Power Point presentation on the project. The presentation was covered in the Frontenac News on November 6 (see Frontenacnews.ca – type ALTO in search bar) after ALTO reps appeared before Hastings County Council.
“When you look at the actual corridor in Addington Highlands, we are covered with bush roads, side roads, cottage roads, roads to hunting camps, township roads, some are lightly travelled, some are heavily traveled, and this train is not going to have any level crossings. That's a concern that I have of cutting off access for people, because you are not going to be building overpasses for every road. So the impact on our community in that regard, could be negative. I'm interested in knowing how that evolves,” said Deputy Reeve Tony Fritsch.
Joel Wiebe said, “this is my role, coming in and finding out what's important beyond those traffic numbers, snowmobiles, and hunting grounds. We want to know what your community needs are.”
He then referred to the fact that ALTO has not yet settled on the path that the train will take, if it is built.
“We should not get ahead of ourselves. We are trying to come early so we know what concerns that we can feed to our technical team,” said Wiebe. “We need a very level path, which coming through the Highlands is going to be a challenge.”
“Maybe there is nothing, or little benefit, that comes to small communities, but I think it is a great project,” said Councillor Ken Hook.
Wiebe said ALTO will be doing a series of open houses and round table discussions throughout Eastern Ontario early in 2026.
Rogers tower coming in 2026. A long anticipated Rogers communication tower is slated to come to the township next year. A property has been identified and a lease agreement is under development. The township received the first notification earlier this month. The tower is part of the Eastern Ontario cell gap project that is slated to wrap up within the next 18 months.
Community Builder Awards – There were 34 nominations in the five different award categories this year (see page 6 for the results) This was a much higher number than in any recent year.
“Due to the overwhelming number of nominations received, which resulted in multiple nominations for each category, the committee chose to award all five categories,” said a report to Council on the awards.
“This is a great sign of how active the community is right now. It is certainly heartening,” said Councillor Hook.
Changes in Recycling – Starting in the new year, the recycling program will change, when recycling coming from non-residential sources will no longer be accepted for free, under the existing program. As of last year, the program has not been the responsibility of the township. As of January 1st, commercial and institutional recycling will become a municipal responsibility again. A staff meeting is set for November 25 to discuss options, and Public Works Manager Brett Reavie said that he will return to Council with some options at the council meeting on December 2.
Pot Hole Program – A provincial program has been set up, which will provide $10 million to be split between municipalities that have populations under 10,000, to be spent on pothole prevention. The maximum grant under the program is $38,000, and the application deadline is December 12.
Brett Reavie said he will look at the application form, and will report back, in time for Council to approve an application.
