Steady as She Goes at Frontenac County

Jan 25, 2017

It was not exactly a barn burner of a meeting when Frontenac County Council held their monthly meeting last Wednesday (January 18).

Council received a presentation from Mark Segsworth, who sits at a planning table with industry, municipal and provincial officials that is looking to develop a new waste diversion system for Ontario. The goal is to achieve 80% diversion rates from landfill in Ontario by 2050. Currently, even relatively successful diversion programs in rural areas, such as the one in North Frontenac, have reached the peak of their success. North Frontenac diverts over 50% of consumer waste when calculated by volume. However, when calculated by weight, the way provincial bodies do, the diversion rate is much lower.

“The only way to attain these goals is for changes in the way goods are produced.  As responsibility for waste diversion shifts in the direction of producers, they are looking at taking over waste management in the future,” said Segsworth, but he added that “this whole planning process will take a long time to come about, and what will happen in rural areas is not clear at all. Except for me, everyone at the table looks at waste from their urban reality, as an industrial problem.”

Segsworth added that even if all waste management is privatized in cities, municipalities may still have a role to play in rural areas. Waste management is one of the largest expenses that rural municipalities face, and there are no likely scenarios to replace landfill sites when they are full.

Councilor John Inglis pointed out that “preparing for post-landfill future was one of the goals that we identified in our strategic plan, but nothing has really happened with that goal. We were going to work through the Eastern Ontario Warden's Caucus (EOWC), but I have not heard that they are taking this on. Do we know anything about that?”

Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle said that the EOWC “has a lot on its agenda and tends to focus on one or two items at a time. Other things end up at the bottom of the pile.”

Pender sees budget pressures coming
In his monthly briefing to Council, Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender provided a report card of sorts on how the county has responded to a set of recommendations that were adopted several years ago following a report by the management consulting firm KPMG. In most cases, he said the objectives have either been accomplished or are being worked on.

He also pointed to a number of costs that will put significant pressure on budgets and ultimately taxation both at the county and township levels over the next five years. The most pressing is the diminishing financial role on the part of federal and provincial governments in support of social housing. As mortgages for housing units built in the early 1990's run out, so will subsidy dollars from those levels of government, but rents must remain on the geared to income scale for most social housing units. Keeping them in operation will cost more money for the county over the next two to five years. Frontenac county is responsible for 55 senior's units in the Maple Ridge and Meadowbrook buildings in Sydenham that are operated by Loughborough Not For Profit Housing, for McMullen Manor in Verona which is operated by the Kingston and Frontenac Housing Corporation, and for 19 houses in the vicinity of Sharbot Lake which are managed by North Frontenac Not-for-Profit Housing.

Pender also reported that costs from the Kingston Frontenac Library, Public Health, and Social Services are all rising faster than the rate of inflation, which is the counties' target for budget increases. The potential for downloading from the province may increase substantially after the next election, he said, and increased costs due to new regulations are also likely. Wage settlements through negotiation or arbitration will also push the budget, and the cost of providing long term care is rising faster than increases in provincial grants as well.

“We have been able to cut costs through finding efficiencies and we will continue on that track, but that can only take us so far,” he said.

All this indicates that the 4.15% increase in the county levy for 2017 (mitigated to 3.15% based on a calculation for growth) may be a harbinger of further and higher increases in the future.

Legal matters – county to stand pat
Finally, there were two legal matters discussed, and in both cases county lawyers recommended that Council not take any action at all.

Council received a report from Wayne Fairbrother of  the law firm of Templeman Menninga. As reported in the News last week, Erik Gillespie, a lawyer representing the  Hartington Community Association (HCA) sent an email to the county on December 6 which contained allegations of breach of confidentiality and conflict of interest on the part of two members of council, John McDougall and Ron Vandewal. Fairbrother prepared a report for the county in response which said the allegations were groundless. Council passed a motion receiving Fairbrother's report and directing “staff to advise Mr. Eric K. Gillespie that the County of Frontenac will take no further action related to his correspondence dated December 6, 2016”.

County lawyer Tony Fleming presented his opinion regarding a policy change that has been controversial on Howe Island.  A long standing policy of restricting the use of the Howe Islands Ferry to passenger vehicles during the morning and afternoon rush hours has been reversed by Frontenac Islands Council. This was done at the request of farmers on the island who use the ferry to bring supplies on to the islands and to deliver products to markets. Residents who say this hinders their ability to get to work and appointments on time appealed to the county to bring back the restrictions. Fleming reported that the restrictions were never legal in the first place and recommended that the county not intervene in any way. Council took Fleming’s advice, to the chagrin of some Howe Island residents who were in attendance.