Latest / North Shore News / February 21st, 2025

Transcript

February 21st, 2025 · North Shore News

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Welcome to North Shore News and Interviews on Amherst Island Radio.
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Each week we keep you updated on newsworthy events, happenings, and conversations that
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we've had with people in the local community and beyond.
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Artistic director for the Waterside Summer Series, Beverly Harris, was presented with
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the King's Coronation Medal in recognition of her service and outstanding contributions
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to her community, Ontario, and Canada for the arts.
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The award was presented by Canadian Senator Peter Harder.
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Harris has been the artistic director with the Waterside Summer Series for 20 years.
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The series has become well-known in the area for bringing A-list performers to St. Paul's
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Presbyterian Church on Amherst Island.
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Harris described her experience in receiving the award and noted the work of board members.
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It was a surprise for sure.
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It was quite thrilling and humbling, I would have to say, and certainly credit goes to
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a lot of our board members past and present who of course work very hard as well.
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It's not just one person of course that pulls something off like this.
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I certainly share the recognition with all of the people that have worked hard with me
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over the last 20 years to make Waterside what it is.
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And our patrons and sponsors, very, very faithful.
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I guess the pressure on me is that they expect to hear nothing but the best.
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The board handles promotion work and events postings as well as publishing a brochure
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for the Waterside Summer Series.
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Harris describes Senator Harder's connection to the series.
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Senator Harder happens to be a good friend of a couple on the island.
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So when she first told me that I was receiving this, I said, did you have something to do
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with this?
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And she said, absolutely not.
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But because he is a good friend of theirs, he actually has attended Waterside concerts,
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unknown to me, and recently has become a sponsor as well.
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Harris explains the unique experience for attendees of the Waterside Summer Series.
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A sold out concert is only 150 people.
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So it's a very up close, intimate personal experience.
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And the patrons get to schmooze with the performers after the concert as well, which
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doesn't always happen when you go to a concert in a large hall that seats hundreds of people.
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Harris describes how they create a unique experience for performers as well.
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One thing that we do for our performers is that we cover the costs of their accommodation
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for two nights on the island, and we provide all of their food and refreshments while they're
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here.
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After every concert, we have a buffet supper reception, which the performers absolutely
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love because it's like a party.
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And the people that are invited to that are the people that are our sponsors.
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Harris notes the different sponsorship levels and how they relate to the island.
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Depending on the level of their donation, they're categorized as certain kind of owls,
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because of course the island is known for its different owls that brings many birders
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to the island.
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That seems to appeal to people as well, being categorized as a certain kind of owl.
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Harris describes the joy of artists coming back to play again and why they decide to
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do so.
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I find the longer I'm doing it, the easier it seems to become to line up wonderful artists.
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For one thing, they like to come back, and I think it's because we treat them so well.
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And they realize that our audience, a few of them have said to me over the years, they
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can sense how the audience is paying such close attention and is really giving back
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to the performers.
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Harris talks about the food they offer and a feature returning artist.
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Often the performers say, we never get treated like this.
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So often they get handed their check and thank you very much and goodbye and they pick up
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a hamburger somewhere on the way home or whatever I guess.
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But with us, it's a real groaning board and lots of wine and beer or whatever they fancy
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flowing as well.
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In fact, one of the outstanding trios that we have coming this year, the Griffin trio,
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they are Canadian, but they're considered one of the finest trios in the world today.
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And they're coming back to us for their seventh appearance on Waterside.
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So they're on the front cover of our brochure this year.
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Harris highlights the first children's performance they had at the Waterside Summer Series and
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notes another one upcoming in the future.
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The majority of our audience tends to be senior citizens, although last year we had a children's
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concert, a free children's concert, where one of our performers that was going to be
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doing a full concert later in the day did a one hour show for our children.
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And of course, they came along with their parents or grandparents or whoever was bringing
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them.
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That was a big success.
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And we managed to get a grant to cover the cost of that.
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And we're doing it again this year with a trio that we have coming.
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The free one hour children's concert will take place on August 19th at 11.15 a.m.
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The poolank trio will then put on a full concert at 3.15 in the afternoon.
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More information and the full schedule of performances can be found on the Waterside
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Summer Series website.
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For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
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This is North Shore News.
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Loyalist Township Counselor Paul Proderick was elected the new 2025 Board Chair for
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Caterockway Conservation.
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Proderick has held the role of vice chair with the Conservation Authority for the previous
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two years.
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After his confirmation in the new role, Proderick spoke about the work they have ahead of them
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on the board.
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There's much work ahead for the board and its members and I look forward to the challenges
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ahead and working with staff who are the foundation of the Caterockway Conservation Authority.
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Proderick highlighted locations the Conservation Authority looks after within Loyalist Township.
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From a Loyalist Township point of view, the authority has Parrots Bay, which is a beautiful
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trail to go at any time of the year, nature, wildlife and for those that may be canoe or
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kayak it's a great calm area to go.
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And the other thing that many people don't realize that the Conservation Authority also
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manages the Wilton Dam for the Township.
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Proderick explained his interest in the Caterockway Conservation Authority.
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My interest in the authority goes back to the days when I was teaching and it was a good
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way to incorporate environmental studies and environmental awareness to kids who maybe
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don't get a chance to go to such areas and enjoy it, whether it be the water or the nature
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trails or the different programming offered by the authority.
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Proderick spoke about the conservation's upcoming events programming, including Maple
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Madness.
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Programming is at the heart of the authority and I look forward to try and get out and
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see as many different parts of the authority as possible.
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Things like Maple Madness is coming up in March, which is one of the, I would say, foundational
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programs in the community, always well attended and you can register for it online right now
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and that's one that no matter what your age, it's a great chance to get out and enjoy some
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of the programming from the authority.
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Outgoing Chair Gary Oosterhof was elected to be the new Vice Chair.
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Oosterhof is a member of Kingston City Council representing the countryside district.
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Oosterhof has been on the Cataraqui Conservation Board since 2017.
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For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
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This is North Shore News.
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Lenox and Addington Council voted down an enhancement that would help make up a 4.7% increase to
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the county's tax levy.
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This increase would raise property taxes for residents even more than was expected, but
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council wouldn't stand for it.
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The value of all proposed enhancements to the preliminary budget would have been just under
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$370,000, but council decided against an increase from 2.5 to 3% for the roads and bridges capital
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levy.
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Director of Financial Services Mark Day explained the proposed increase to the levy and how
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it would affect property taxes.
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If all those items were included at those values, it would be a total increase of 369,468
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or another 1.03%.
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And the levy change would go up 4.7%, which represents an increase on the average residential
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property of $86.11 from what's in the budget now of $70.71.
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Councilor's voiced their concerns about looming tariffs from the United States.
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Director Henry Hogg spoke about the impact to local residents.
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I have concerns considering what's happening at the southern border of our country about
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any increase right now.
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I just think we really take a good hard look at every cent we spend because there are people
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that are going to suffer because of these actions.
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Councillor John Wise, however, said the impact might not be so bad.
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We still don't know what's going to happen there.
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If we do have some relatively short-term economic turmoil, I think all the governments
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in the country, federal, provincial, territorial will treat that as the same sort of crisis
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we went through with COVID.
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There's going to be borrowing, there's going to be wage subsidies, there's going to be
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support for businesses.
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Yeah, we'll go into some long-term debt, but that's basically what the financial system
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is for.
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I don't think the weight of that is going to fall extremely heavily on residents, at
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least in the short to medium term.
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By the end of discussion, all Councillors agreed to deny the roads and bridges increase.
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For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
10:41
This is North Shore News.
10:52
Staff at Loyalist Township wrapped up over four years of planning with the approval of
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the Amherst View West Secondary Plan.
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The plan acts as a framework to guide future growth and development in the area up until
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2046.
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Work on the project dates back to December 2020 when Council approved the contract with
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WSP Canada to prepare the plan.
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Since the project officially launched in 2021, a number of background studies have been completed
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and amendments have been made.
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Public engagement opportunities were provided throughout the process and the final proposed
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plan is now available to the public.
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The plan focuses on the urban settlement area of Amherst View, bounded by Taylor Kid Boulevard
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to the north, County Road 6 to the west, and Bath Road to the south.
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According to staff, consultation also took place with the following Indigenous communities,
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Alderville First Nations, Curve Island First Nations, Hiawatha First Nations, Métis Nation
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of Ontario, Mississauga of Skugog Island First Nations, and Mohawks of the Bay of Quinty.
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Mayor Jim Hagridorn noted just how long this project has been going on.
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I remember when this started and then suddenly everything was virtual.
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Everything changed, but this still continued and then we were able to come back and complete
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it in person, which is great.
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Project manager with WSP Nadia Desanti explains the engagement program with the community
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and notes what it entailed.
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Over the last four years, we've had online, in-person and hybrid meetings with the community
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and we've had a very robust engagement program with the community at large as well as the
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Indigenous communities.
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In terms of what that involved, we had the draft secondary plan presented to the community
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twice.
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First one was at a public open house last summer and then at the statutory meeting in
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December.
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And then we also had a community workshop.
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We've had a couple of meetings with the Indigenous communities that have been engaged and kept
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informed throughout the entire project.
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Hagridorn thanked all that were involved and shared his opinion of the plan.
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WSP did a lot of work on this.
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It was great.
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They worked well with staff.
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I also want to thank the public that gave input through the whole process.
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We had developers, we have property owners.
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We have just people that are very interested in this development and they all stayed engaged.
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They provided information, suggestions and it really made it so that at this point it's
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the best possible document, I believe, and plan to go forward for the township.
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DeSanti outlines the next steps.
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Following council adoption of the Secondary Plan, Official Plan Amendment, Sonya By-law
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Amendment and Urban Design guidelines, there will be a notice of decision that's issued.
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And there's a 20-day appeal period from the date of that notice of decision.
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Following council adoption as well, the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment and Notice
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of Completion will be issued.
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So the Environmental Study Report, the ESR, will be finalized and it with the Notice
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of Completion will be available for a 30-day public review.
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And once that 20-day and 30-day public review process have ended, we're all done.
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For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
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This is North Shore News.
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Staff at Lenox and Addington County are bringing concerns to their local MPP regarding the
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distribution of funds for electric vehicle charging stations in the area.
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In a letter to Hastings, Lenox and Addington MPP, Rick Brazee, staff also addressed their
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unsuccessful application to the province's EV Charge ON program.
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In November 2024, staff were notified that their application to the program was not
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successful.
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Since then, staff have now become aware of 41 new electric vehicle charging stations
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that were approved for funding in Hastings County and Lenox and Addington County.
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Director of Infrastructure Services, Chris Wager, noted the distribution of the stations.
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Both the 41 stations that were awarded in the Hastings and Lenox and Addington riding,
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39 were located in Hastings while only two were located in the county of Lenox and Addington.
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Both stations are at commercial establishments, including a car dealership and a brewery.
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Wager explained why their application to the EV Charge ON program was not successful.
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Staff did contact the EV Charge ON program team to inquire about the results and how
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we can improve our application for future submissions.
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We're basically told that there was a lot of applicants, good applicants, and it was
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basically broken down regionally to spread the EV charging money throughout the province.
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In the letter, staff noted the unequal distribution of funds in the riding might support the idea
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that there's unbalanced awarding of funds within the entire program.
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For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
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This is North Shore News.
16:29
Lenox and Addington Council approved the purchase of two gas dryers for the John M. Parrot Center.
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The center currently operates three large gas dryers to manage daily laundry operations.
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The replacement of all three dryers is scheduled for this year as part of the county's 10-year
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capital plan.
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Councilor John Wise spoke about the end of burning fossil fuels.
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This is typical of millions of decisions that are going to have to be made in institutions
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and businesses and homes all around the world.
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Our goal at this point in this country and anyone who signed that Paris Agreement is
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in 25 years we're supposed to not be burning any fossil fuels.
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Council approved the purchase of a 135-pound gas dryer as part of the 2025 pre-capital budget.
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That dryer has been purchased and now the other two are accounted for.
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Staff's report outlined options for purchasing electric dryers, but director of long-term
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care services Angela Malcolm noted an issue.
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Two electric dryers would actually affect our generator significantly by putting it
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at 99% capacity.
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There are some options available as to whether we have two gas dryers and one electric versus
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the three natural gas dryers.
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I would be very concerned about the capacity of our generator system because we are so
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reliant on so many of our life safety systems with that generator.
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Analysis on the emissions, installation costs and operational costs of electric dryers compared
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to the center's existing gas dryers was also included.
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But Weiss said there was really no choice.
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Clearly the added cost and the potential strain on the system should there be a power outage
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make this decision fairly clear-cut in the moment.
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Weiss spoke about possible steps for the future.
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It would be good to revisit our climate change policy, put in some more specific analytical
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requirements and long-term capital planning in regard to fully electrifying all our facilities.
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At some point, ideally, JNPC would then have four electrical dryers and a bigger capacity
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generator to back them up.
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Let's start thinking long-term and in the context of full electrification over time
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in all our facilities.
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For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
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This is North Shore News.
19:08
Rubberized flooring in the Best and Bash arena in Napa-nee was a highly contested matter
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as counsel approved their 2025 operating and capital budgets.
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Discussion at the meeting saw counsel amend the budget to reassess how they fund the $70,000
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replacement of flooring surrounding one of the rinks within the arena.
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Originally the budget set out to use $70,000 from the town's levy, but counselor Dave
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Pinal suggested it be taken from the town's reserve funds.
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To have wear and tear on the rubberized floor in the hallways and in the change rooms, I
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think should be coming from the user pay system, much like what the ice resurfacer is and also
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the dehumidifier that we're purchasing partially through the building maintenance reserve.
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I think that if anybody is causing wear and tear on that floor has some sort of close
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connection with the user pay, whether it be you've rented the ice surface, you are there
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for public skating or somebody has sponsored the public skating, and therefore it should
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be different than somebody with skates on causing wear and tear than what the general
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public is.
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Counselor Bob Norrie agreed with Pinal adding his own points.
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I don't even own a pair of skates.
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I don't mind paying for the scrubber because I do 10 banquets and buy supper there once
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in a while, but we're watching game.
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But I mean, us in the urban area pay for the water treatment plant through service fees
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or whatever you want to call it.
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Bag tags are a similar thing, so we've opened that door.
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So I agree, it should just come out of the user pay area because that's where the damage
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happens.
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My running shoes don't scratch it up.
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Mayor Terry Richardson argued it was regular wear and tear.
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We're putting money into a facility that everyone benefits from.
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We can allow it to get wore down.
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There's a lot of other user groups that use it.
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It sounds like we're sort of blaming the hockey players and the figure skaters and the public
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skaters for the wear and tear on a flooring that a lot of other people use as well.
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Counselor Angela Hicks described why she didn't agree with the amendment.
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I am not in favor of taking anything else out of the reserves.
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In my mind, this is a consumable item.
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The roof is the building is still going to be there.
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And in 20 years, we're going to have to replace the floor again because the floor is designed.
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It's the way it's designed.
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It's going to eventually fail.
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It's a consumable item.
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It is not something that is part of the building reserve fund, which is intended to eventually
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replace the existing arena.
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And so the more we dip into that reserve for this type of item, the longer it's going
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to take to build up the reserve again in order to do the arena.
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Counselor Michael Shank noted the importance of reserve funds.
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That's why we're in the predicament we are today.
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Because everybody keeps on sucking from the reserves.
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When I left here, we had a lot of money in reserves.
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And those four years had all went away.
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So we have to start building the reserves so we can afford our fleet.
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God forbid if we happen to have a fire truck go down, you want this municipality to have
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our books in order.
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General Manager of Financial and Information Technology Services and Treasurer Ellen Hamill
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spoke about the looming possibility of tariffs and how it affected their creation of the
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2025 budget.
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There's a lot of moving pieces of this conversation right now up to and including the tariffs
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not happening.
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However, we also need to be prepared that this could impact the municipal budget.
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Hamill noted which areas might be most impacted.
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When we looked at our capital items that we think will be impacted by this, there are
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a few that kind of rise to the top.
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Primarily as it relates to fleet.
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And as we said, those will come back to council and we will have contingency plans in place
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and options for council at that point in time to be able to fund any increase that may come
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as a result of pending tariffs.
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For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
23:20
This is North Shore News.
23:29
A new five-year agreement with Lenox and Addington County will see the start-up of a farmer's
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market at Greater Napañez Historic Town Hall and Market Square this year.
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The county is expected to engage with businesses in the area focusing on traffic calming measures
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for market day.
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The town of Greater Napañez was approached by Lenox and Addington's Chamber of Commerce
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regarding their interest in operating a farmer's market in the area.
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At their December 10th meeting last year, council directed staff to work with the chamber
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on a draft operating agreement.
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The agreement was presented this week but must undergo revisions before completion.
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Officials for the market's operations were agreed upon but an included lease agreement
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for the use of two offices in the building caused some concerns.
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Mayor Terry Richardson noted the amount of discussion they had on the matter and addressed
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the volunteers, saying the town will go ahead with the market once issues are dealt with.
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I'm hoping that we're not scaring the folks that are sitting in the body of the council
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chambers away because we've spent an exorbitant amount of time talking about how we can't
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do this as opposed to how we can.
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I think it's marvelous.
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I think it's absolutely wonderful that the folks that volunteer to get this thing up
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and running is going to be a benefit to our downtown, is going to be a benefit to our
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market square.
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We will find a way to make it work.
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The proposed lease agreement included the use of a boardroom on the third floor.
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The proposed fee was $170 a month.
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These costs and the use of the third floor boardroom were concerns for council.
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CAO Matthew Grant described their reasoning for the proposed $170 monthly fee.
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We took a look at heating utilities, maintenance costs.
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We did not include staffing costs for the entire facility.
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Then we basically created what is 2.7% in the square footage of the building and added
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a bit extra because the lease agreement also identifies intermittent use of the third floor
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boardroom which would be booked through the municipality's booking system and use of
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the washroom facilities.
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CAO Grant said he felt good about the agreement.
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They had originally proposed.
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I think that the agreement that is presented to council, I'm fairly supportive of and I
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think it fits in with the direction of the market square advisor committee and the larger
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community of work that's happening.
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Councilor and member of the town's market square advisory committee, Dave Pinnell,
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described his concerns with the use of the third floor boardroom.
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It concerns me that on the market square committee we were talking about not having anybody on
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the third floor.
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The third floor would be offline and here now we're opening it up.
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Deputy Mayor Brian Calver noted his concerns with the monthly fee.
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It seems reasonable and I'm not doubting the work that the chamber does.
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As a chamber member myself, very valuable asset to our community.
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I just want to make sure we are covering our core costs here.
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Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture, Chris Brown explained how they decided on
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the amount for the fee.
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We did it off the last three years average.
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There was an anomaly last year that we started coding a different expense to a line that
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kind of threw off the average.
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So we did a three-year average utility costs and then looked at the percentage of space
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that they would be using and then use that number to calculate a fair rental fee.
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Richardson made note of the work that must be done in the building first.
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I don't mind the floor plan that we're looking at.
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The office space and for anybody that has seen that office space, I wouldn't say that
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it's expansive by any stretch of the imagination.
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It's actually quite small.
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I think we're all of the opinion that it's going to be some time before we get the downstairs
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functioning to the way we want to get it functioning.
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I mean, we've got to get it first and get rid of all the asbestos and then we'll rebuild
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it the way I think we need to rebuild it.
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Councillor Michael Shank was the one who suggested removing access to the third floor
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boardroom within the agreement.
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After listening to everybody's comments and everybody's concern or anything else, it's
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five-year agreement.
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It's been how many years that you haven't had an active farmers market.
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Every other municipality has a farmers market.
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As far as I'm concerned, it's going to be a five-year plan refurbishing the town hall.
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I agree and concur with what the mayor has said about the third floor that it's out and
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what the deputy mayor said and what everybody else is.
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So just change the thing that you can't use the third floor boardroom.
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Another concern raised by council was the chamber having a monopoly on the town's market-based
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events.
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Mayor Richardson put that concern to rest.
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These folks are willing to try and do a market one or two days a week.
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They don't hold the monopoly on the market in the market square.
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That leaves at least another five days a week, maybe six days a week, depending on how well
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the Chamber of Commerce gets up and running with respect to their market.
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It enables anybody else in this community to hold a market in the market square.
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And it doesn't have to be a farmers market or it could be just about any kind of market
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anybody wants to do.
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Manager of Legislative Services and Municipal Clerk Jessica Walters read the new revised
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motion.
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The motion is that council receive for information the Farmers Market Operating Agreement Report
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further that council directs staff to revise the draft agreement to remove any use of the
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third floor boardroom and include rental of the main floor flex space the same as any
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other community group for boardroom space and that that be brought to the February 25th
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meeting.
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This is the meeting for Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative.
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I'm Tat Evans.
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This is North Shore News.
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This has been North Shore News and Interviews.
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our 100% volunteer team.
29:30
Visit Amherst Island Radio for more details.