Enhancements to Point Court to go to tender after all

Craig Bakay | Aug 07, 2019

One of new CAO Neil Carbone’s first acts at his first solo Council meeting was to overrule a suggestion that work for improvements to Point Court in Sydenham go to a suggested vendor.

Council had originally budgeted $8,000 for improvements

However, an anonymous donor to come forward with a $25,000 donation, as long as the township expands the scope of the work and puts in two Pickleball courts in addition to a tennis court.

The improvements are estimated to cost over $32,000.

The donor also suggested the Canada Court Company to complete the work at a cost of $32,377.

However, Carbone was concerned that the procedure contravened the Township’s Procurement Policy and was worried “it could set a precedent where donations were involved.”

Coun. Alan Revill asked if that could cause a delay, saying he’d heard concerns that that could jeopardize the donation.

Carbone replied that while a delay could affect the donation, he didn’t see it being a concern in this case.

“Any delay would be minimal,” Carbone said. “And once we get RFPs, we can award the contract straight away because it won’t have to come back to Council for approval.”

Desert Lake Road Culvert

Council approved the bid of Akman Construction Inc. for the Desert Lake Road culvert replacements in the amount of $555,910.15 including the non-rebatable portion of the HST.

Council also approve the expenditure of up to $100,000 from the 2019 Linear Asset Capital Contingency allocation to cover a shortfall in budgeting in order to move ahead with the project.

The contingency amount will cover $55,910.55 for the construction tender and an estimated $25,000 for consultant fees for contract administration and inspection of the project.

About $30,000 has been spent prior to 2019 for the design of the project.

The estimated total cost of the project including design, construction and inspection is about $630,000.

Rec Committee appointees

Council named its rec committee appointees for the period ending Sept. 30, 2020.

Coun. Doug Morey and Coun. Ross Sutherland will serve on the Community Programing and Events Committee.

Coun. Norm Roberts and Coun. Pat Barr will serve on the Recreation and Leisure Facilities Committee.

Assistant Fire Chief

Council passed a bylaw naming Alexander Bennett as Assistant Fire Chief of Fire Prevention and Training. In the absence of the Fire Chief, Bennett would carry out the duties of Fire Chief.

Development Charges bylaw passed

Without further debate, Council passed its new developmental charges bylaw.

“That comes into effect tomorrow,” said Mayor Ron Vandewal.

Quotes on Special Council meeting.

Claire Dodds, Director of Development Services said “this is just the beginning of the process. Staff is recommending that Council endorse the next steps and proposed timeline for undertaking the preparation of a new Official Plan (and) that Council direct the director of development services to release a Request for Proposal to engage a planning consultant to prepare a new Official Plan for South Frontenac.”

The Special Meeting Tuesday night was Phase 1 of 8 phases. Phase 7, which is adoption of the new Official Plan by South Frontenac Council, is scheduled for August of 2021. Phase 8, which is the approval of Frontenac County, is scheduled for October of 2021.

That prompted Mayor Ron Vandewal to observe: “As we can all see, this won’t be over tomorrow, it’s a two-year process.

“Does that mean everybody is going to get everything they want? Probably not.”

Coun. Ross Sutherland expressed concern that there may be confusion with the ongoing Strategic Plan preparations.

“Some people may think comments they’ve made regarding the Strategic Plan are enough and that they won’t have to repeat them for the Official Plan,” Sutherland said. “And there may be some overlapping.

“I want to make certain that comments on the Official Plan don’t get lost.”

Dodds said her department would take every measure possible to ensure that doesn’t happen.