South Frontenac Council - Apr. 24

Wilma Kenny | Apr 26, 2012

Sydenham Water Treatment: Finally Running Well

Kevin Riley, PUC Kingston, and manager of the Sydenham water plant, gave Council a verbal summary of the 2011 annual Sydenham water report. He said that, after some initial ‘tweaking,’ the renewed system is working at its optimal level. Trihalomethanes, undesirable chemicals which had resulted from the combination of chlorine with organic residue in the lake water, have now been reduced to levels “well below the province’s compliance levels.” This improvement is the result of switching to a treatment called ”chloramination’ combined with charcoal filtering. The flavour of the water is also improved. However, there have been no further residential hook-ups added to the system this year. The complete report, which includes a detailed chemical analysis of the Sydenham water, is available on the Kingston PUC’s website, or at the Sydenham library.

Waste Site Issues

Guy LaPorte, of AECOM, presented the annual review of the township’s waste sites. He noted that in spite of the population growth having been slower than projected, the volume of waste being dumped last year in the Portland site had increased 30 to 40% over the previous year. Councillor Bill Robinson said he thought this was a result of more waste coming from the other districts, but Councillor Ron Vandewal pointed out that the volumes at the other township landfills had not decreased. LaPorte said that it was important to find out where the additional waste was coming from. He also said that, due to rising construction and trucking costs, the price of digging and trucking the clay needed to close a waste site has risen 30 to 40% since last year.

Later in the meeting, Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth said that the Public Services Committee had deferred their work on the waste disposal sites operational review, in order to concentrate on developing an action plan for the Portland site. However, he is recommending that e-waste be accepted only at the Keeley Road Hazardous Waste Facility, where Stewardship Ontario has agreed to dispose of it free of charge. (The Township has to pay to dispose of any e-waste left at the Portland or Loughborough sites.) Segsworth also hopes to present Council with a proposed reduced operating schedule for township waste sites, now that all households have access to weekly pick-up. He says this should reduce costs, as well as increase recycling.

Budget Update

Treasurer Louise Fragnito brought good news about the federal gas tax funding to come from the County: during budgeting, Council had made a conservative estimate that they might receive $100,000 allocation from the county. However, the county has recently notified South Frontenac that they will get $357,098. This money can be used only for ‘environmentally sustainable municipal infrastructure projects’ within set categories. Any not used in 2012 will remain in the township’s gas tax reserves.

As well, both the county and the education tax rates have decreased from 2011 to 2012. Discussion followed on whether this was an opportunity to add a one-time project to this year’s township budget. Treasurer Fragnito has been asked to prepare more information for discussion at a COW meeting.

Is That a Three-legged Loon?

Councilor Tinlin showed Council a sketch of the proposed new township coat of arms, and explained the meaning of each separate feature. The designer had studied the quilted logos of each of the districts, and the result promises to be rich with references to the township, both current and historical. Deputy Mayor McDougall asked whether the four colours of the First Nations could be included, and Mayor Davison suggested a fishing line could be deleted. All agreed that there was an unfortunate juxtaposition of a loon above three griffin claws from Count Frontenac’s arms. Quipped Councillor Vandewal: “Looks as if that loon’s been nesting at the toe of the Portland landfill.” Council will review one more sketch before making their final decision. There were 32 logo submissions for the banner at the bottom of the coat of arms: the chosen one will be announced at the May 1 Council meeting.