South Frontenac Council

Wilma Kenny | Apr 22, 2015

The regular meeting convened slightly late, due to a closed session with the Township solicitor, re the Johnston Point developer’s appeal to OMB.

Auditor’s Report

In his spoken report to Council, auditor Howard Allan softened what seemed to be a somewhat critical report, describing most of the issues addressed in detail as ‘housekeeping’.

These included comments about adherence to the township's procurement policy. In two cases, the purchase of gravel and an equipment rental contract, more than $25,000 was spent on an item that was 'sole sourced' and the transactoin was not then recorded in the minutes of a council meeting, which Allan said should always happen in the future. He expressed concern over reconciliation of items such as bag tag sales, building permit and development charges and tonnage charges at landfills.

As well, he pointed to long standing un-funded cost of $471,000 for Sydenham that the township is hoping to cover with future development within the village. Allan recommends that since this will likely not be settled within this term of Council, it should be financed in some way as the township looks at water rates and long term capital plans for the water system.

Allan said that, despite the issues he highlighted, over all 2014 had been a good year for the Township; “We believe the financial management at the township is very good: operations are breaking even and revenues are coming in for capital projects.”

However, the province is introducing a new indicator called ‘asset consumption ratio’ which advises a municipality to be setting aside sufficient capital reserves to be able to comfortably address the accumulated amortization of infrastructure as it ages. South Frontenac’s capital reserves for this purpose presently are almost 9% (slightly lower than the previous three years), while 20% is suggested to be a more appropriate figure.

To address this, Allan recommended drawing up a ten-year financial plan, something the township is much closer to having now than ever before. He praised Treasurer Fragnito and CAO Orr for their excellent work. Mayor Vandewal agreed that the Township “has been very well served by its staff.”

Larcon Rezoning Application

Planner Mills recommended rezoning in the southern edge of Harrowsmith, which would combine two applications dealing with the same property: a lot addition which would enlarge an existing industrial lot where a storage business is located, and a severance to create a residential lot with reduced frontage. Pat LaLonde, a resident who lives across the road from the property in question, expressed concern that the expansion of the industrial property would result in the filling of a drainage ditch, and would lower her property value by introducing storage lockers right across the road from her home.

Mills explained that there was a 20 metre setback from the front property line, and emphasized that the Official Plan encouraged industrial development in hamlet areas.

Later in the meeting, Councillor Revill requested the final reading of the rezoning by-law be deferred until the planner had an opportunity to make recommendations about berms or plantings to shield industrial activities on the property. Mills said he would meet with Ms LaLonde to discuss what combination of set-back and berm might allay some of her concerns. The motion was deferred.

Johnston Point

Councillor Sleeth brought back his notice of motion to have an independent peer review of the environmental study on the Johnson Point subdivision, but asked to remove the requirement that the developer cover the cost of this. At Mayor Vandewal’s suggestion, he replaced it with the requirement that if the cost of the peer review came above $3.000 it should come back to Council for approval. The motion passed.

Councillor Sutherland’s information report about Johnson Point which had been distributed to councillors April 14, was included in the Agenda material, to go on record. It includes a county map that chractersizes the entire bay which is next to Johnston Point as a wetland, and quotes section 5-2-10 from the OP which quite clearly requires a Lake Impact Assessment, and makes no mention of trout lakes.

Light from Communication Towers

Councillor Robinson said he had had complaints from Colebrook Road residents about the bright flashes of light from the new tower on Highway 38. Orr said this was outside Township control: these lights are mandated by the Province for aviation safety.

Death and Taxes

Treasurer Fragnito sought Council’s approval to cover the Cemetery 2013 & 14 deficits of $28,427 from Township’s cemetery lot addition reserves. When asked why cemetery rates could not be raised instead of using taxes to subsidize the cemeteries, CAO Orr said the deficit is as high as it is, because sales of burial plots dropped off when the rates were raised two years ago.

“Eventually, people will have to start purchasing plots again, and the situation will begin to rectify itself,” he said.