Frontenac County Council

Jeff Green | Oct 29, 2015

County takes safety insurance in house, savings to follow

When an actuarial accountant turns on the microphone to make a presentation at a morning council meeting, it can leave many staring longingly at the coffee pot in the corner of the room.

Yet, when Bruce Neville of Nexus Actuarial Consultants took the floor, he brought, in suitably measured tones, the kind of message that perked up the ears of Frontenac County Council at their monthly meeting last Wednesday (October 21).

Neville pointed out that, like a number of neighboring municipalities have already done, Frontenac County can opt to stop paying about $600,000 each year into the Workplace Safety Insurance Program, and instead pay the same amount into a reserve fund each year for the next five years until a $2.5 million reserve is established. After that, the county will only have to pay claims as they come (about $125,000 each year on average, leaving savings of as much as $475,000 each year.)

It took Neville about a half an hour to explain the ins and outs of the money transfers that are involved, with County Treasurer Marian Vanbruinessen interjecting on occasion for clarification. County staff have also canvassed other municipalities within Eastern Ontario who have taken this kind of step. Renfrew County reports substantial savings. Lennox and Addington says it has saved in excess of $1 million and Lanark County reports savings of $320,000 per year since it made the change in 2013.

“So, we will pay the same as we do now for a few years and then begin to save money each year,” asked South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal.”

“Essentially, the answer is yes,” said Bruce Neville.

Council voted to take on the change as soon as possible.

Private roads study to clear the way for OP approval by province

One of the hurdles in the way of securing approval for the first ever Frontenac County Official Plan by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing of Ontario has been the county's insistence, in line with the wishes of its member municipalities, that the ministry bend in its demand that further lot creation not be permitted on private lanes.

The ministry has been insisting that only through the use of expensive planning tools, either plans of subdivision or the creation of vacant land condominiums, can new lots be created outside of the public roads system.

Plans of subdivision require a developer to build a road that is up to a municipal standard, after which time the road is taken over by the local township. Plans of condominium require that a corporation be established among those who live on the private road, and that the condominium corporation come to a binding agreement over road maintenance with the township.

“The problem with both of these planning tools is that they only work for developments of a relatively large size, where there are enough lots being created to justify such a costly outlay for all the studies that are required for either of them,” said the county's manager of planning, Joe Gallivan. “They don't fit the pattern of incremental development that has been occurring in Frontenac County, and insisting on them would harm property owners and the townships where they live.”

Gallivan said that he is now confident that the ministry is finally developing an understanding of how Frontenac County plans to manage lot development on private roads and is poised to approve the County Official Plan by the end of the year.

One of the measures that the county has taken to provide comfort to the ministry has been to undertake a $60,000 private roads study .

Brian Whitehead of Jp2G Consultants, presented a preliminary report on the study to Council last week.

One of the first pieces of information in the study is a comprehensive inventory of private lanes in Frontenac County. Whitehead found 980 private roads in Frontenac County, of which 545 (58%) are located in South Frontenac. There are 5,808 dwellings on private lanes in Frontenac County, 2774 of which (47.8%) are located in South Frontenac and 1406 (24%) are located in North Frontenac.

However, of the 980 lanes, most (821) are not viable for any further development, and of the 159 that can accommodate more lots, 73 can only accommodate one more lot, and 35 can accommodate two more lots.

In fact, of 980 private lanes, only 19 could ever see more than five more lots created under any circumstances. Of those 19, two are located in North Frontenac, four in Central Frontenac, 10 in South Frontenac, and three in Frontenac Islands.

“When those numbers are considered, it is clear that the outcome of permitting lot development on private lots will not be that large, and this should make things easier for the ministry,” said Brian Whitehead.

His final report is due later this fall.

No matter how it is measured, absenteeism remains high

Council received the quarterly absenteeism report for county employees. Earlier reports had tallied up the total number of days lost to absenteeism, but this new version set targets based on industry standards. For paramedics the target is 12 days absent due to illness per 12-month period, for nursing staff the target is 10 days, and for non-nursing staff it is 7 days. The stated goal is for 80% of employees to be off sick less than the target.

By that measure, only 65.4% of unioni zed and 56.3% of non-unionized employees at Frontenac Paramedic Services were at or below the target for absenteeism, and only 64.2% of nursing staff at Fairmount Home were at or below the target, all three missing the goal by a substantial amount.

On the other hand, employees working in corporate services, both unionized (80%) and non-unionized (83.3%) met the goal, as did unionized non-nursing staff at Fairmount Home (86.7%) and non-unionized non-nursing staff at Fairmount Home (100%)

Community Improvement Plan (CIP) approved for Harrowsmith

The Village of Harrowsmith will be the next community whose businesses and homeowners will be eligible for community improvement grants, joining existing CIP communities Verona, Sharbot Lake, Marysville, and the entire Township of North Frontenac.

Councilor salaries set

After considering a proposal that would have seen a major increase in salaries, Council settled on an increase in base salary coupled with a decrease in the number of meetings that are eligible for per diems. The net effect is to maintain salaries at the same level they have been at for the past four years. The salary for the warden has been set at $22,500, that of deputy warden at $10,025 and councilor at $9,088.

With payments of $4,000 in expenses and an average of 7 per diems for meetings outside of the boundaries of the county, the average councilor is anticipated to receive a total of $14,138 in 2016. The estimated total pay for the deputy warden (including 10 per diems) is $15,525, and the warden (including 15 per diems) is $28,500. One-third of the salaries paid out to members of council is tax-free income. The total estimated cost for members of Council in 2016 is $128,500 including all expense and per diem payments.