Frontenac County Council

May 28, 2015

Negotations to ramp up this summer for K&P Trail

Anne Marie Young, the Manager for Economic Development at Frontenac County, reported to a meeting of Frontenac County Council last week (May 20) on the next steps in the ongoing effort to complete the K&P Traill.

She said she will be setting up meetings with property owners living along road 38 between Tichborne and Sharbot Lake.

A number of property owners have pieces of the former K&P rail line running through their property, and the county will be seeking easements to allow those sections to be upgraded and turned into publicly accessible 4 season trail. With the trail now almost completed between Orser road, at the bottom end of the county, and the hamlet of Tichborne, only that final piece remains. Once it is finished the K&P will be a link between the Cataraqui Trail which passes through Harrowsmith and the Trans Canada Trail at the trailhead in Sharbot Lake

“That section is all we have left to complete, but as Council knows it is a complicated section,” said Young. Sections of trail in the 9 kilometre stretch were sold by Canadian Pacific to the abutting property owners. Young said that she will be working with some trail supporters in the local community to help her approach those property owners to seek easements so the trail can go through.

As far as financing construction on the final section, which will cost about $500,000, she suggested that the county could apply to a recently announced federal funding program for infrastructure projects related to the 150th anniversary of Canada in 2017.

“The program has a tight time line. It was announced last Friday and the deadline for applications is June 9th” said Young.

In order to jump on the grant opportunity, Council approved a motion authorizing staff to prepare the application, and committed to funding 50% of the $500,000 cost of the project if the matching grant comes through.

Thus far, the cost of the trail, which has turned into a multi-million dollar project, has been covered through a series of grants. Some county funds, which have come through a federal gas tax rebate, have also been used, although no direct property tax dollars have gone into the project.

“I think we will have a good chance at this grant,” said Young, “after all John A. MacDonald's funeral train travelled along the K&P, so the prospect of marking the 150th anniversary by bringing that rail line back to life as a trail is something we will certainly make note of in our application.”

Ombudsman unease

In his monthly report, County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender focused on the factr that the provincial ombudsman will soon be turning his focus onto the actions of municipal councils. The ombudsman, Andre Marin, currently has a staff of 22 and a budget of $11 million per year, both of which may be doubled in short order.

As of September 1st of this year, the Ombudsman's office will have the authority to investigate decisions of school boards throughout the province, and on January 1st of 2016, municipalities will be open to it's scrutiny.

“The ombudsman does not have the authority to overturn decisions of elected bodies, but by publicizing flaws in how decisions were made he can change things simply through moral suasion and public pressure,” said Pender.

Pender added that municipalities have the ability to appoint their own ombudsman, but even if they do, the provincial ombudsman will be able to over-ride the authority of any municipally appointed individual.

“In the past, ombudsman's only launched investigations after receiving a complaint, but now they can act on their own volition, based simply on media reports or their own concerns,” he said.

“This is being presented by you as a threat,” said a member of Council.

“I would not characterize it as a threat, so much, but I think Council should be aware that the world around us is changing and you would better be ready to change. I would suggest in my 30 years in the municipal world there hasn't been a widespread abuse of transparency, but council members may indeed face increased oversight.”

Items that council members, both at the county and the township level, need to be concerned with, according to Pender, is that the content of phone calls and emails are within the purview of the ombudsman.

Aspects of Council decision-making that sometimes raise concerns are conversations between council members that take place outside of official meetings, and whether in-camera meetings always take place for legitimate reasons.

Absenteesim at Fairmount Home continues to raise concerns

The monthly absenteeism report, which was initiated under the former Council over concerns about sick time among staff at Frontenac Paramedic Services, is now showing a large increase in sick time at Fairmount Home.

During the first four months of 2015, absenteeism is up by 44% over the same time period in 2014, which itself was 12% higher than the winter of the previous year. In 2013, between January and April, 2934 hours were lost to sick time. That number rose to 3305 in 2014, and jumped to 4783 this winter.

Steve Silver, the interim administrator of Fairmount, said that he will be looking at the situation with his staff.

Councillor John McDougall asked whether the monthly absenteeism reports could be augmented with some more contextual information.

“The numbers don't tell the whole story,” he said, referring to the fact that, for example, Fairmount was hit with a flu outbreak this winter, which may explain some of the increase in sick time.

“Colleen Hickey [Manager of Human Resources] has been working on a new version of the absenteeism report which we expect to have available for the June meeting. Hopefully, Council will find it more helpful,” said Kelly Pender.

Meanwhile, absenteeism at Frontenac Paramedic Services is down by 16% for the first 4 months of 2015 as compared to 2014.

Joe versus the ministry

Manager of Planning Services Joe Gallivan said that he expects that by the June meeting he will have received the Ministry of Municipal Affairs detailed response to the 1st ever Frontenac County Official Plan, which was submitted for ministry approval late last year

“Judging from the ministry response to the Lennox and Addington Official, I'm not optimistic. That response is long, detailed, and prescriptive, which is what we are afraid will happen in our case as well,” said Gallivan.

He added that on some of the key issues, particularly permitting new lot creation on private roads under clearly defined conditions, County Council has given him direction to make the case to the ministry and to the Ontario Municipal Board, if necessary.

The ministry is expected to insist that new lot creation be restircted to pubcli roads, except in cases where either a plan of subdivision or a plan of vacant land condominium is undertaken by the applicant.

Gallivan pointed out that 60% of properties in Frontenac County were developed on private roadways. He then said that a $60,000 study the county has recently completed demonstrates the viability of private roads in the county, and that changes in the new Provincial Policy Statement which favour the counties' position have all given him confidence in the stance the county is taking.

“If as I now expect, this does go to the OMB, we will be prepared to make a very strong case,” he concluded.