Dear Fellow North Frontenac taxpayers:

Pauline and Steve Smart | Sep 09, 2015

Of all that is being downloaded to municipalities by the provincial and federal governments, our Council deems it necessary to discuss options to address what they consider to be a spacing issue in the current building they occupy (actually the staff occupies this space…none of our elected officials, including our mayor reside in this building!!). Some of the reasons noted are cramped office conditions, no potable water and no council chambers.

Possible options include: Renovate existing building - $511,250; Renovate and expand - $900,000; Build a brand new municipal office - $1.6 M!

We have received no real justification for this other than a canvass of the staff's supposed needs. The current building in which they reside is valued at over $1.6 million. How is another $1.6 million building going to measure up? Add on? I respectfully disagree. At the beginning of this year, staff had to be moved to a trailer where they functioned for six months. Although it was inconvenient, they managed!

No potable water issue? This has been the case since day one! Moreover, councils continued to approve future builds on this land! When I asked council and mayor at the special meeting if they had received pricing on a filtration system to correct this systemic problem, the answer was that they have not looked into this…why not!?

Figures reported out by Council regarding this project are incomplete and therefore very misleading. What about the incurred costs to maintain their current office building when they move? Council is well aware of the current issues surrounding community halls in this township historically claiming it too expensive to maintain these buildings. So why are they even contemplating adding another building into the mix?

Here is what many of us took away from our tour of the office: Poor use of space; Work stations were too large; Large, walled offices for single users that could easily accommodate 2 or more people; Archive files take up a huge amount of office space. Get a storage container on site, wire and heat it and move the files there. That new found space would easily accommodate the mayor!!

Council reports that there are five separate consultants' reports but these consultants were specifically asked to consult on whether the existing space with the existing staff is adequate. They were not asked to look at the existing space to see if it could be better utilized! Here is what they should have been asked to consult on…Give us a report detailing whether our current staff complement is in par with other like-sized townships. What is the size of their municipal office space in relation to ours? Do they employ a CAO? If they have one, did their CAO also make the sunshine list? That’s right people; our CAO is on the sunshine list! Is this in line with other like-sized townships? To my knowledge, these questions have never been asked. How about looking into the “how can we make do with what we have” option? Our elected Council should be asking for more data and options before deciding or voting on a proposed project of this magnitude!