Frontenac County Council - Jun 27/13

Jeff Green | Jun 27, 2013

Everyone Lawyers Up As County Feud Lingers

The ongoing enmity between Frontenac County Warden Janet Gutowski and at least four members of Frontenac County Council was played out again last week.

On Wednesday, June 19, as the council's monthly meeting was just beginning, the normally perfunctory task of accepting the minutes from the previous meeting was held up when Councilor David Jones said that “because of a legal issue with one of the items in the minutes I move that they be deferred.”

The item in question was a motion from the May 15 council meeting that included an allegation of corruption on the part of the warden.

That motion reads, in part: “WHEREAS Councillor Gutowski has on more than one occasion breached her Oath uttering promises and rewards in an effort to conspire with Staff to move County Councillors to vote ‘"in a biased, corrupt or in any other improper manner".

BE IT RESOLVED Councillor Gutowski has lost the trust of Council by violating her Oath of Office and Council rescinds all privileges of office immediately.

FURTHER MORE, Councillor Gutowski's peddling of political favours shall be referred to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

AND FURTHER MORE, the Township of Central Frontenac appoints a replacement Councillor to County Council as soon as possible.”

The May 15 motion was moved by Jones, seconded by Dennis Doyle of Frontenac Islands, and was supported by Councilors John McDougall and Bud Clayton.

Councilors John Purdon and John Inglis and Gutowski herself voted against it. South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison was not at the meeting.

Since Council does not have the authority to rescind privileges or ask for a replacement, the motion led only to a referral to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

When the motion was passed on May 15, Gutowski said she would be consulting her solicitor about it, and after the June 19 meeting the four councilors confirmed that they have received a letter from a lawyer representing Gutowski. Although they did not share the specifics, the letter apparently asks for either a retraction of the motion, an apology, or both.

When asked if a letter had been sent, Gutowski only smiled.

For his part, South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison, who has been a harsh critic of Gutowski in recent months, said “I feel a bit left out.”

Citizen chair steps down from county service review committee

Walter Knott, a resident of Frontenac Islands who is a retired accountant, is no longer the chair of the Frontenac County committee that is conducting a comprehensive organizational review of county operations.

Knott appeared before a meeting of Council last week (June 19) to provide an update of the committee’s progress.

Instead he read a prepared statement that said the review should not continue at this time.

“There is a much larger issue 'hiding under the bed', so to speak, and it is a two-headed monster. It is the massive amount of cash held by the county, some $17 million, which I believe is at the heart of some of the stresses of this council,” he said.

The two heads that Knott was referring to are the $2.4 million the county holds in 'deferred revenue' and $14.1 million in 'the reserve group'.

According to Walter Knott, the county has been over-taxing for years, and holding the money in reserves.

“I believe that collecting excess taxes over a long period was unethical, and for me that is a major problem ... My conscience requires me to urge council to put the review on hold until the excess funds matter is settled,” he said.

The reserve fund issue was the subject of a Committee of the Whole meeting on June 5, and a subsequent discussion is scheduled for July 3.

“I'm not sure that Walter Knott is aware that we are tackling the reserve issues at the same time as we take on the services review,” Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle said, after Knott had left the meeting. “When he is informed I think he might be persuaded to return to the committee.”

After hearing Walter Knott's allegations of over-taxing and accumulating reserves, the News looked to Frontenac County’s most recent posted financial statements and those of neighbouring counties. At first blush Frontenac County’s reserve position does seem unusually robust as a ratio of annual revenue.

Lennox and Addington (2012): Revenue $60 million; reserves $10 million (17%)

Lanark County (2012): Revenue $67 million; reserves $16 million (23%)

Hastings County (2011): Revenue $115 million; reserves $14 million (12%)

Frontenac County (2011): Revenue $35 million; reserves $13.5 million (38%)

It should be noted that municipalities don't necessary calculate their reserve funds in the same way, so side by side comparisons like the one above can be misleading. For example, of the $13.5 million in Frontenac County reserves in 2011, $1.4 million is listed under “ambulance capital” which is a joint fund with the City of Kingston. Lennox and Addington, Hastings and Lanark Counties do not have joint funds with other municipalities.

Frontenac County Official Plan

Frontenac County is slated to have an Official Plan in place within a year.

Joe Gallivan, the Manager of Sustainability Planning for the County, has been preparing the County’s first Official Plan, and he presented a draft plan to a meeting of county council last week.

“I suggest that members of council read the document, call me if you have any questions, and then we can go through it at the Committee of the Whole meeting on July 3. After that we will go to public meetings,” Gallivan suggested when he tabled the document.

One of the benefits of the plan, according to Gallivan, is that once it is in place, the local townships will be able to make changes to their own plans without seeking approval from the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing.

The Official Plans for South, Central, and North Frontenac have all been faced with delays, sometimes for years, over disagreements with the ministry over certain provisions.

The county plan will have to pass muster with the ministry before it is approved, and there are certain aspects of it that may be a hard sell, according to Joe Gallivan, who knows the ministry well because he worked there before coming to work at Frontenac County.

One has to do with the fact that the plan is not a detailed document.

“We did not want to duplicate the detail in the township plans. This is what I call a high level document. It is designed to complement what is already in place at the townships. The ministry is not used to that,” Gallivan said.

On a more particular note, the Frontenac plan does not call for development to be focused in the built up hamlet areas, which the province prefers.

“Frontenac County is different. With the exception of Sydenham, there is no sewer and water in the hamlets, and there is no reason to discourage the kind of rural development that people want. I don't know how the ministry will react to that either,” he said.

While the draft was received without much comment, South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison did take issue with some of the wording regarding a regional roads system in the county.

“On page 27, in item 4.2.2 about regional roads, I see words, like 'provide, develop, explore, work' all in regards to the county doing stuff with roads. You say you want to give us direction but the townships have already given you direction that we do not want you to work on our roads. We have the capacity between us, as township road departments, to do all the work that is needed on those roads. I will be speaking against that part of the document,” Davison said.