New Post Office coming to Plevna Oct. 28

Craig Bakay | Oct 09, 2024

“The hard work has paid off and we are getting a Post Office back,” Manager of Community Development Brooke Ross told North Frontenac Council at its regular meeting Oct. 4 in Plevna.

The township has been in negotiations with Canada Post for some time now after the Ardoch Post Office closed Jan. 22 due to covid.

Canada Post had advertised the position and the Township had offered to provide some sort of accommodation in the form of space in a Township building or portable on Township property but none of that ended up as Canada Post found a suitable candidate on its own.

The new location is just south of Buckshot Lake Road at 7428 Road 506. This new location is scheduled to open Oct. 28,

In the time frame where the Ardoch location was closed, residents had to travel to Sharbot Lake to pick up mail/parcels, adding an additional 25 minutes to their travel time. The Township has had Post Offices in Plevna and Ompah in the past.

K & P Trail

In his capacity as County Council liaison, Mayor Gerry Lichty had some choice words about the institution in his portfolio report.

“The K & P Trail is currently being extended and in another month it will be up to Snow Road,” Lichty said. “Then it will probably sit and vegetate until the expropriations through Snow Road are taken care of.

“That will take it up to the Lanark/Frontenac border.”

He said extending the Trail into Lanark County may take some time because “Lanark has extensive problems as well.

“So now it’s ‘own the land and don’t put anything into it until you’re ready to go.’”

But that in itself wasn’t Lichty’s main concerns.

“So, you’re going to have to go through eight kilometres of swamp, turn around and come back through eight kilometres of swamp because there’s no trail head at that end,” he said.

He said he foresaw a future where if there was a trailhead built, it would probably be at the Township’s expense.

“The northeast end of the Trail is causing us problems,” he said.

But he wasn’t done, taking aim at the communication process at County.

“I had a meeting with the County CAO and my frustration is with the lack of communication that’s coming out of there,” he said. “Until the Trail crossed the bridge (south of Snow Road), we didn’t even know it had been built.

“I had asked when it was going to be built and was told we didn’t have enough money.

“If you want the support of North Frontenac, you’ve got to keep us in the loop.

“Not only do you have one councillor who’s been against this since Day One, now the Mayor’s upset.”

Coun. Fred Fowler, who is North Frontenac’s other representative on County Council, agreed with the Mayor on poor communications.

“I’m on the Planning and Development committee at County Council and we deal with the Trail,” Fowler said. “A few of our meetings have been cancelled and I didn’t have any idea that construction was going on.

“To me, there is a really bad communication problem going on and perhaps I shouldn’t say it but I’m not happy with it and neither are a lot of people up in our area — especially those going through expropriation.

“I was talking with many of the artisans during the Backroads Studio Tour and we found out there are already people coming north to Snow Road and spending their money on local businesses.

“But there’s got to be an end with a parking lot, someplace to park your trailer.

“We can’t just end in the middle of a swamp.”

Mural Project

Economic Development Task Force Chair Stephanie Regent unveiled the latest round of murals to be placed around the Township.

Murals were chosen from local artists Leane and Brian Biley, Roxane Bay, Anne Garrett, Penny Hawley and Michelle Ross.

More Joint Councils

Dep. Mayor John Inglis wondered aloud if there was any talk about additional Joint Council meetings or even making it a regular thing.

‘There hasn’t been,” said Mayor Gerry Lichty. “And I’m not advocating for it.”