Central Frontenac Council - Jan 12/09

Jeff Green | Jan 15, 2009

Councilors see their money slipping away

Consultant Rob Wood and Anne Marie Young, new Frontenac County Manager for Economic Development, addressed Central Frontenac Council on Monday night about the community consultations that have taken place as the county prepares an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan (ICSP).

The plan is designed to, among other things, set out a framework through which the county would begin spending infrastructure money that it has been accumulating for the past four years.

The county has received about $2 million in gas tax money thus far, and will receive $800,000 per year until 2014. Aside from a few consultation exercises, including the current ICSP process, the money has been banked so far.

Rob Woods talked to council about the common themes that have emerged from the community consultations that have taken place. “We received a message from throughout the county that there is a kind of desire for people to be as independent as they can be, a real sense of kinship and pride about our rural lifestyle ... On the economic and ecological side, people favoured green industries such as growing biomass on low grade land, broadband, protecting our natural splendour and our water supply,” he said

The process will now be setting up task forces to look at five specific areas of concern, and a final plan is slated for presentation to the county by June. An orientation session is slated for Friday January 16, 2 p.m., at the Oso Hall in Sharbot Lake to kick start the task force process.

The areas that the task forces will be looking at include: economic development and communication, land use planning and communication, quality of life, infrastructure and energy, and protection of natural areas. The initiatives that the task forces identify as being key to the future of the county will be narrowed down over the next few months to be presented to county council for funding consideration.

Councilors Gary Smith and Frances Smith raised concerns about where the ICSP is heading.

“What is the statistical significance of the number of people that have been consulted through this process,” asked Gary Smith, “and who’s going to decide what projects are funded? Is it going to be the county or is it going to be the process?”

“It was not a statistical exercise,” Woods said. “We were trying to identify projects and bring out ideas.”

At this point Frances Smith intervened. “Will the gas tax be like an economic development corporation that will spend money on these projects?” she asked.

“They will look at the projects. The process will be fairly extensive. They will look at the projects that will take us forward towards the vision we have for the Frontenacs,” Woods said.

“Who will decide on projects?” asked Councilor Bob Harvey.

“I suppose the county,” said Woods.

Mayor Janet Gutowski said, “Many citizens have come out thus far and if councilors could come out to the orientation session on Friday, they would have a better idea about what is going on.”

“The county is going to become a funding agency with money that I understood was going to stay municipal. This is going to allow for not-for-profit or for-profit corporations to access the money, whereas in other counties the money stays with the municipality. This is one of the reasons why I haven't been attending these meetings,” Frances Smith said.

Councillor Gary Smith then pointed out that a year ago Central Frontenac Council put in a request to the County for $250,000 to fund a salt dome from federal gas tax dollars.

“We haven't heard a thing,” said Gary Smith. “Instead we hear you are going ahead with proposals that have nothing to do with municipal infrastructure.”

Rob Woods then said, “The part I was involved with in all this was to hear about what the community interests are.” 

Railway Museum committee wants council to take a stand

Gary Gilller, representing the 8-year-old Central Frontenac Railway Museum Committee, came to council to present a proposal for a multi-use cultural centre that would incorporate a railway museum and would be built on the site and in the design of the original Sharbot Lake railway station. The site is located across the road from the township’s current offices.

The project has been held in limbo for years over the availability of the site, but Giller said his information is that the site will be included in the pending sale of railway lands for the Trans-Canada trail, which runs though it.

The eight-page proposal, as well as appended drawings, is designed to deal with the township’s space problems (the public works department is currently housed in portables, and the council chambers in the current office have long been turned into office cubicles), and provide for a new library, which is something that the Kingston Frontenac Public Library has been looking for.

The plan that Giller brought forward includes a 1,000 sq. ft. museum, a 2,000 sq. ft. library, a 400 sq. foot meeting room, 500 sq. ft. of office space, and other rooms, totalling around 5,000 square feet of space, all housed in a replica of the Van Horne-designed Sharbot Lake train station. The rough estimate for the cost of the project, which was included in the proposal, is between $1.15 to $1.35 million.

The proposal quotes a township resolution, passed some six years ago, which said the project “would provide an important piece of infrastructure for the region, helping to highlight its history, and which would considerably enhance our tourism potential. Especially if, as conceived, it were to be located along the Trans Canada Trail.”

“I will leave this with you, on the hopes that you will consider it in the near future,” Giller said. “We are at a point now, on the railway committee, where we can only go so far until there is a commitment by the township. We can only raise the expectations on the part of our membership and the public so far without delivering.”

“I think your timing is excellent, with our budget coming up,” said Mayor Janet Gutowski, “I’d like to see council move closer to a decision on this.”

“I’m pretty negative about this project,” said Councilor Bob Harvey, reiterating his long-stated opposition. “With our own space needs and with our dollars I can’t see this happening at this time.”

Other councilors were more positive. “I’d like to remind Councilor Harvey that this could be a solution to our space problems,” said Councilor Norman Guntensperger.

Council will be holding a “visioning” or “brainstorming” session in the next couple of months to consider their space and recreational facility needs.

Salt Dome deferred – A request from Public Works Manager John Simcock to tender brushing and slab wall concrete production for a salt dome at the Olden dump site was considered. Councilor Purdon raised some issues regarding clearances at the proposed site, and council may want to go back to the engineering company to make sure the site is suitable. John Simcock was not in attendance at the meeting so the item was deferred until the next meeting when he will be available.

Kennedy letter, yea - Council received a letter from Terry Kennedy, who described how on December 27, township snowplow driver Dave Whan came to the assistance of a driver who had driven into the ditch on Price Road, and pulled the car out of the ditch before returning to his snowplow route. “I feel that you should be aware that Dave Whan demonstrated a strong community spirit and represented the township exceedingly well”, the letter concluded.

Kennedy letter, nay – Council also received a letter from Judy Kennedy, written on behalf of the Arden Recreation Committee, concerning what she described as a “serious situation at the [Arden Community] Centre.” Last fall, a trench was dug along the north wall of the centre to deal with problems with the foundation and septic system at the centre. “We were hopeful that an expedient solution would be found,” she wrote. However, over the next three months nothing happened and an exposed septic pipe led to a serious problem in the centre.

As of December 20 “the bathrooms reeked of sewage and the kitchen cold pipes were frozen,” and the Kennebec Recreation Committee was concerned that their planned New Year’s Eve Dinner and Dance, for which people had prepaid a $50 fee, would be ruined. Ken Scobie came forward to reconnect the septic pipe.

However the situation became critical on December 30, and Councilor Jeff Matson ended up working all day on what Judy Kennedy described as “a very disgusting job in freezing conditions”, making use of his own equipment.

“To have a situation where, apparently, staff left the township office for the vacation period, knowing this work was not done, seems irresponsible. In the end the evening was wonderful, but only because of Mr. Matson’s interventions.

Council agreed that the situation should have been dealt with but wasn’t. “We are going to have to take action and fix this up so we don’t have this problem again,” said Mayor Gutowski .

Heritage Festival – Carol Coupland attended the meeting on behalf of the Heritage Festival Committee. The festival is slated for February 19-22 this year. The tentative schedule includes a display of heritage life featuring the collection of Dr. Peter Bell at the Crow Lake Schoolhouse, an evening of events at Maples Restaurant, and outdoor events on the weekend.

Coupland asked council for a grant of $2,100, $500 of which is to be spent to transport school children to the display at the Crow Lake Schoolhouse, and $1,600 for eight wooden signs to publicize the festival. The signs are being designed to be reusable.

“Why eight signs?” asked Frances Smith.

“For the entrances to the different communities,” said Mayor Gutowski.

The festival takes place before the township budget will be passed, so the committee was seeking on the spot approval.

Council granted the money.

Juergen Reineke on roads - Juergen Reineke, from the Clarendon Road, made a presentation on winter maintenance and the general state of the roads in the township, which he said was not good. In particular he complained that some roads are being cleared by contractors’ small trucks, which he said is slower than township trucks and leads to a narrowing of the roads as winter snow piles up. He offered to sit on a roads task force if one were to be set up.

Councilor Bill Snyder said “I hate to say this with our Public Works Manager not being here, but when we started contracting out winter road maintenance I was concerned. In another year we have to look at this.”

Community Living parking - Duncan McGregor, who lives on the same street in Sharbot Lake as the Community Living – North Frontenac building, wrote a letter to council concerning parking by Community Living staff on Elizabeth and Garrett Streets. He claimed that the bylaw which permits cars to park at a 90 degree angle in front of the office cuts visibility for drivers and pedestrians, particularly in the winter, particularly since they block visibility to a Yield sign at the intersection.

Council was sympathetic to McGregor’s letter. “We should look at varying that bylaw, at least in the winter time,” said Councilor Frances Smith.