Mayor Wants To Raise The Flag High In North Frontenac

Jeff Green | Apr 09, 2025

Property owners living near two proposed cell tower sites in North Frontenac, learned the limits of their power to alter, or stop cell tower projects, at a meeting of North Frontenac Council, last week (Friday, April 4).

The residents were able to push the township and EORN (the Eastern Ontario Regional Network) into re-opening the municipal approval process, to support the construction of the towers, on the grounds that the public consultation process for the towers had not been completed properly, because of a lack of notice.

The process then played out at a public meeting last month, but as EORN Director of Communications Lisa Severson pointed out in her presentation, the federal body that regulates these matters only considers a narrow set of issues as relevant to the approval process.

She pointed out that potential effects of a nearby tower on property values, and concerns over the impact of  a nearby tower on the health prospects of neighbouring property owners are “not considered relevant to the approval process”.

Council passed a motion of concurrence in both cases, and the construction projects are both slated to be completed in 2025. The motion passed in a 4-2 vote. Councillor Stephanie Regent and Deputy Mayor John Inglis cast dissenting votes. Councillor Wayne Good was absent from the meeting.

Fire Department Annual Report

Fire Chief Adam Robinson brought his annual report to Council on the department's activities in wards 2 and 3 of the township. Robinson first talked about some of the public education activities of the department, including the annual public school fire and safety education day, at Clarendon Central Public School. He said the department also did  door to door alarm checks at 101 township residences, where they handed out a number of smoke alarms to residents who did not have them installed. The department also participated in a S.A.L.T (Seniors and Law Enforcement Talking) event at the Ompah Community Centre, among other activities.

The department answered 153 calls for service, in the year, the second most, behind 155 in 2022. Of those calls, 70% were medical calls, and 29% were “fire and rescue” calls, which included 15 vehicle fire calls and 5 property fire calls.

The highest call volumes were in July and August.

“When we get our influx of seasonal residents, business goes up,” said Fire Chief Adam Robinson.

Robinson said that the department also celebrated Fire Captain Dillon Boles, for his 15 years of service.

When asked about recruitment and retention, Robinson said retention is an ongoing issue, and there are 5 new recruits working their way through accreditation with the department.

Mayor Lichty pointed out that with ambulance service being sporadic in a rural area, because the ambulance stationed in Robertsville can be called away at any time and may not return at all during a 12 hour shift, the first response service offered by township firefighters is extremely important to township residents.

Questions about the deal with the Ottawa Valley ATV club.

The township signs annual agreements with the Eastern Ontario ATV club (EOTA), based in Tweed, and with the Ottawa Valley ATV club (OVATVC) , which is associated with the Ontario Federation of ATV clubs. These agreements allow members of the clubs to ride their ATVs on the network of Crown Land roads in North Frontenac.

Council agreed to sign the agreement with EOTA without comment. As part of the agreement, EOTA provides $25,000 to the township, which finances road maintenance on the Crown Land road network.

Similarly, The (OVATVC) paid $20,000 to the township in 2022, 2023, and 2024, but this year they told township they can not afford to pay that much.

“Township staff and OVATVC members have met and discussed the proposed financial contribution and financial constraints the OVATVC is seeing …  It is recommended that we enter into the 2025 Agreement with OVATVC with the proposed financial contribution of $6,500” the report concluded. 

Councillor Fred Fowler, who happens to be the township rep on the EOTA board,  said the township should not sign the agreement with the OVATVC, but should seek a $20,000 contribution from teh OVATVC’s parent organisation,  the Ontario Association of ATV clubs.

“This permission allows not only Ottawa Valley members to use our roads, but all members of the Ontario Association. They should have the money available if Ottawa Valley doesn't, Fowler said.

Chief Administrative Officer Cory Klatt said that it would be difficult to do that, according to what he learned from OVATV club members when talking about this issue, and said “Ottawa Valley members do a lot of maintenance, and brushing, on side trails throughout the township, which is an added benefit.”

Council ultimately approved the agreement, with Fowler casting the only dissenting vote.

Frontenac O.P.P Detachment Board

Last November, with the approval of Council, North Frontenac joined the newly established Frontenac OPP Detachment Board. There is a council rep (Stephanie Regent) as well as a citizen rep, from North Frontenac, on the board, which has met in Sharbot Lake three times since the board was established in November of last year. The three townships are funding the work of the board, each paying 1/3 of the costs.

The board's budget is $50,000 for the first year. “This includes annual honorariums for each member; per diems for conferences and Zone 2 Meetings; membership fees; travel expenses; legal expenses; insurance for the board, and costs for administration of the board” said a staff report regarding the $16,767 charge to North Frontenac for 2025.

“Question. What benefit does the township receive from this board? To me it has become another added expense to the municipality” said Councillor Hermer.

“It's very frustrating to receive this, when the O.P.P. Already raised their rates this year, and we are now called upon to fund another committee that they should be supporting,” said Councillor Fred Fowler.

The board is coming to Council to present in late May, CAO Klatt told Council, giving Council an opportunity to question them on their activities and costs.

“It is a mandatory thing,” said Klatt.

Councillor Fowler added,“Nine thousand for honorariums, per diems and membership fees. It looks like a cash grab, and we get nailed for almost $17,000, especially when we got a bill for service from the OPP last year that is way over what it should be. I just find it so frustrating. I realise it is a mandatory thing but this is a budget of $50,000 for a group of people to meet 3 or 4 or 6 times a year. I'm really frustrated with it.”

CAO Klatt said the honorarium for members of the board is $1,000 per year, including mileage.

Council did, in the end, approve the expenditure, with Councillor Fowler casting a dissenting vote.

Economic Development Task Force (EDTF) Work Plan

The Task Force's 2025 work plan includes preparing a welcome package for businesses, supporting tourism by hosting a number of annual events, including Summer Fest and Winter Fest, and continuing to work on social housing.

Mayor Lichty said “I want everyone to understand that it is lay people, no one is getting paid for this, there is no $50,000 budget for this, but I see this work plan has a lot of the same things that happened over the previous year ... What about advertising.We have a summer student, they will probably be computer literate, why not have them do some advertising like Naturally L&A does all the time. We have talked about the CIP (Community Improvement Plan). That is a perfect opportunity for the Economic Development group to spend a meeting, looking at the CIP – what works and what doesn't ... I think we should send this back and have the committee look at their work plan again. The same plan may come back, that's fine, but they should look at it again. ”

Councillor Regent, who chairs the task force, said she agrees with what Lichty was saying, and will bring the matter to the next meeting.

Deputy Mayor Inglis, who served as chair of the EDTF for many years, said “I don’t know what Council wants from the EDTF. I left the chairmanship of this EDTF, I still sit on it, because it was my feeling that this council does not want to fund economic development ... it sounds like the mayor is dissatisfied with the direction of the EDTF, but at the same time Council does not want to fund it, so I'm in a quandary.”

The next EDTF meeting is set for later this month.

Flying the Flag

At the end of the meeting, Mayor Lichty gave notice of motion for the next meeting. He will be proposing that North Frontenac purchase new Canadian flags to fly at all township facilities; including beaches, works yards, and waste sites. He also wants to purchase Canadian pins for council members to wear.

“Given where we are in the tariff situation, I think we should adopt a more aggressive Canadian stance,” he said. “It is probably going to cost $1,000 or $2,000 to do this, I have no idea.”