North Frontenac Council - July 20/10

Jeff Green | Jul 22, 2010

North Frontenac to embark on Blue Box promotion campaign

North Frontenac Township has received a $5,000 grant from Waste Diversion Ontario for a communication campaign that is aimed at increasing recycling in the township.

The campaign will be targeted at the tourist and seasonal populations as well as permanent residents of the township, and will include a direct mailing campaign in addition to new signage. Highway signs will be posted at entrances to the township proclaiming North Frontenac a “Proud Green Community” and will ask visitors to “help us watch our waste”.

The focus of the campaign is to augment the blue box program in the township. It follows on the heels of other measures that have brought the level of recycling in North Frontenac from 13% of the waste stream to 43% over several years.

A few years ago North Frontenac introduced a $2 garbage fee along with a system whereby a free tag was handed out by waste site attendants for each bag of recycling, and last summer a clear bag system was brought into place

One of the targets of the campaign will be informing residents and tourists what can be recycled in North Frontenac and what the recycling procedure is. For example, the following paper products can be recycled in North Frontenac: newspapers, flyers, magazines, catalogues, envelopes, computer/printer paper, paper cups, paper plates, tissue paper, and greeting cards. But before they can be recycled they must be either placed together in a paper bag or tied together.

Laminated copies of the recycling list and the procedure are available for all tourist operators in an effort to make it easier for them to encourage their clients to follow North Frontenac's aggressive recycling program.

The goal of the promotional campaign is to bring the number up to 60% at the end of the three-year campaign.

A copy of the detailed proposal that township staff prepared in order to secure funding for the new initiative was presented to council at their July 15 meeting. “I'd like to mention that this plan is very well produced, very well written and researched. My compliments to staff for this work,” said Mayor Maguire about the successful funding application.

In addition to the $5000 that has been received from Waste Diversion Ontario, the township has committed $1,700 over three years to the promotional campaign.

OMPAH COMPLEX TASK FORCE – The township formally appointed a number of people from the Ompah area to a task force that will report back to Council in September about the future of the building that currently houses the Ompah fire hall, the Ompah town hall and the Ompah library. The fire hall is scheduled to move to a new building that will be co-located with a new ambulance base.

The task force will be seeking public input about possible uses of the site in the coming weeks, and will then put together a proposal for the township’s consideration. A member of Council will chair the task force, and township staff member Cory Klatt was assigned to the task force as well.

GREEN ROOF GO-AHEAD – Council agreed to look for a suitable building to put solar collectors on to take advantage of the Micro-FIT program, in line with a county-wide initiative.

NO AGENDA, NO ATTENDANCE – Mayor Maguire reported that he has not attended the last two Rural Urban Liaison Committee meetings (RULAC) even though he is a member of the committee. RULAC meetings are monthly sessions with representation from Frontenac County and City of Kingston politicians to talk about common issues. “I did not receive an agenda package in time to read and digest it before the meetings,” he said, “and for the second meeting they didn't send the agenda at all until after the meeting was over. As I told the CAO of the County, ‘no agenda, no attendance',” Maguire said.