South Frontenac Council

Wilma Kenny | Dec 09, 2020

Mayor Vandewal congratulates Ray Leonard by shaking hands Covid-style upon Leonard’s having taken the “Declaration of Office” as Deputy Mayor.

Public Meeting re Zoning By-law Amendment

A virtual meeting to seek public comments on a proposal to rezone a lot of record on Eel Bay, Sydenham Lake drew a question about property lines from resident Roxanne Saunders, and several queries from Council.

Sutherland asked whether the unopened road allowance (which would have to be crossed to access the lot in question) actually meets the bay where it could be used as public access. (Answer: only a survey could answer that.)

Morey asked how a sewage system could be accommodated; Planner Woods said that an environmental impact assessment done in July showed there is a ‘bowl shape’ on the southern portion that could accommodate an engineered septic system with a small leachate field. This same report made a number of recommendations, including an engineered and approved stair system to the shoreline, accommodation for turtle nesting, and no further removal of vegetation.

Staff recommended that Council defer making a decision to ensure that the applicant updates the site plan drawing to include the recommendations listed in the Environmental Impact Assessment, and to allow the applicant the opportunity to explore options to create legal access to the property. Council agreed.

Private Lane Upgrading Assistance 2020 Report

The Public Services Department reported $100,083.53 in subsidies provided to private lane upgrades in 2020: at total of 33 lanes benefited from this program.

Capital Budget ReAllocation Questioned as “False Budgeting”

The motion in question was: “That Council re-allocate $536,000 of unexpended funds from the Sunbury Village Project ($140,000), 2020 Hard Surface Preservation ($116,000), Petworth Culvert Project ($36,000) and 2019 Contingency funds ($244,000), to fund 2020 cost overruns for the Green Bay Causeway and North Shore Road projects.”

Councillor Sutherland asked “when there are ‘underages’ in projects, should the decision to reallocate funds become Council’s decision?” Treasurer Fragnito said that if the remaining funds came from reserves, they would be returned to reserves; if they came from working funds, they would be returned to working funds, and reallocation within capitol projects should come to Council for decision. Segsworth said that when it became apparent that the North Shore Road needed total redoing, Council was informed and approved doing the total project. Therefore Public Works drew funding from the Bellrock Road project and redirected it. “It was not the normal route, but I felt the money was well spent. Some projects run over, others are under (budget). I acknowledge it should probably have come back to Council, but sometimes it takes a long time for the final bills to come in. We got the last ones just last month. There were some mistakes made and I’ll take the full responsibility for getting there.”

Mayor Vandewal asked for a recorded vote, saying “If a project goes over budget and is covered by money from reserves, that means we are making false budgets. If a project comes in under budget, we never hear of the money being put back into reserves.”

The motion was defeated in a tie vote: Leonard, Morey, Roberts and Vandewal were opposed; Revill, Ruttan, Sleeth and Sutherland were in favour.

Ruttan asked why they were had made a motion, since the bills had already been paid: Vandewal replied that this was his way of making the point that he was not in agreement with paying bills ‘this way’.

Acting CAO Dodds said that a new approach being introduced for the coming year would provide more up-front information for projects, breaking down budget details into design, materials, etc, and might help prevent unanticipated overruns.

Fire Department Capital Budget Report

Fire Chief Knott was on hand to speak to his draft budget: Sutherland congratulated him on this year’s very low volunteer attrition rate: of 98 firefighters, only 5 had, for various reasons, left the department. “You have been doing something right, to keep your staff so well.”

Mayor Vandewal asked why a full hundred bush firefighting suits were necessary in one year: could they not be phased in? Knott replied that bush fires occurred in all segments of the Townships, and the suits were individually fitted, so could not be shared. Revill said he was ‘generally supportive of the Fire and Rescue plan.”