South Frontenac Council - Oct 3/13

Jeff Green | Oct 03, 2013

Run for Council, win an i-pad

Next year's municipal elections will have more at stake than a small name plaque and the license to rail against the empire building at Frontenac County; each member of Council will also get an i-pad.

In line with a proposal to release all information to the council and the public via e-agendas and eliminate the hefty agenda package that is currently available on demand, i-pads will be handed out to new councilors. $6,000 will be set aside in next year's budget for nine new devices. E-agendas are already available at the township web site, under the council tab, using the CivicWeb system.

Asset Management – spending money to make money

Treasurer Louise Fragnoto presented her recommendations for consulting services to complete an asset management plan for the township. The province has indicated these plans need to be in place as a prerequisite for municipalities to be eligible for infrastructure grants. There is $125,000 set aside in the township budget for this, of which $84,000 has been spent on software. After evaluating the responses to an RFP that the township put out in August, Fragnoto recommended giving the contact the RV Anderson Associates for $27,200 plus HST.

“We'll get this back with our first grant,” said Councilor Ron Vandewal.

“Whatever,” said Mayor Davison.

Website upgrade

Council accepted the bid of $19,700 from eSolutions to rebuild the township website.

“eSolutions has done over 100 different municipal websites,” said CAO Wayne Orr.

“Whenever the current site goes to the council page a picture of a squirrel comes up. Do you think they can change that?” asked Councilor Naish.

Fire hall equipment study – new Perth Road and Sydenham fire halls in the near future?

Fire Chief Rick Chesebrough asked that Council approve spending $10,000 for water grating to deal with flooding at Station 2 (Burridge) and $6,000 for a door frame at Station 7 (Latimer Road)

However he said that he did not recommend going forward with wall and window repairs at Station 5 (Perth Road) or wall and floor repairs at Station 6 (Sydenham)

“We will be preparing a report on health and safety issues within five weeks, which will include a detailed project plan for the buildings themselves,” Cheseborough said. “These buildings are quite dated.”

The continued viability of the Perth Road and Sydenham Stations should be determined before money is put into them, Cheseborough added, implying they may need to be replaced in the near future.

Both Councilors Vandewal and Stowe applauded Chesebrough's recommendations, which were accepted by Council.