Latest / North Shore News / February 6th, 2025

Transcript

February 6th, 2025 · North Shore News

• 0:00
  Welcome to North Shore News and Interviews on Amherst Island Radio.
• 0:12
  Each week we keep you updated on newsworthy events, happenings, and conversations that
• 0:18
  we've had with people in the local community and beyond.
• 0:26
  A new five-year agreement with Lenox and Addington County will see the start-up of a farmers
• 0:30
  market at Greater Napañez Historic Town Hall and Market Square this year.
• 0:34
  The county is expected to engage with businesses in the area focusing on traffic calming measures
• 0:38
  for market day.
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  The town of Greater Napañez was approached by Lenox and Addington's Chamber of Commerce
• 0:44
  regarding their interest in operating a farmers market in the area.
• 0:47
  At their December 10th meeting last year, council directed staff to work with the chamber on
• 0:51
  a draft operating agreement.
• 0:53
  The agreement was presented this week but must undergo revisions before completion.
• 0:58
  Terms for the market's operations were agreed upon but an included lease agreement for the
• 1:02
  use of two offices in the building caused some concerns.
• 1:06
  Mayor Terry Richardson noted the amount of discussion they had on the matter and addressed
• 1:09
  the volunteers, saying the town will go ahead with the market once issues are dealt with.
• 1:14
  I'm hoping that we're not scaring the folks that are sitting in the body of the council
• 1:18
  chambers away because we've spent an exorbitant amount of time talking about how we can't
• 1:23
  do this as opposed to how we can.
• 1:25
  I think it's marvelous.
• 1:27
  I think it's absolutely wonderful that the folks that volunteer to get this thing up
• 1:31
  and running is going to be a benefit to our downtown, is going to be a benefit to our
• 1:34
  market square.
• 1:35
  We will find a way to make it work.
• 1:37
  The proposed lease agreement included the use of a board room on the third floor.
• 1:41
  The proposed fee was $170 a month.
• 1:44
  These costs and the use of the third floor board room were concerns for council.
• 1:49
  CAO Matthew Grant described their reasoning for the proposed $170 monthly fee.
• 1:55
  We took a look at heating utilities maintenance costs.
• 1:59
  We did not include staffing costs for the entire facility.
• 2:03
  And then we basically created what is 2.7% in the square footage of the building and
• 2:11
  added a bit extra because the lease agreement also identifies intermittent use of the third
• 2:21
  floor board room, which would be booked through the municipality's booking system and use
• 2:28
  of the washroom facilities.
• 2:29
  Grant said he felt good about the agreement they had originally proposed.
• 2:33
  I think that the agreement that is presented to council, I'm fairly supportive of.
• 2:40
  And I think it fits in with the direction of the market square advisor committee and
• 2:48
  the larger body of work that's happening.
• 2:52
  Councilor and member of the town's market square advisory committee, Dave Pinnell,
• 2:56
  described his concerns with the use of the third floor board room.
• 2:59
  It concerns me that on the market square committee, we were talking about not having anybody on
• 3:05
  the third floor.
• 3:06
  The third floor would be offline.
• 3:08
  And here now we're opening it up.
• 3:10
  Deputy Mayor Brian Calver noted his concerns with the monthly fee.
• 3:14
  It seems reasonable and I'm not doubting the work that the chamber does as a chamber
• 3:18
  member myself.
• 3:20
  Very valuable asset to our community.
• 3:23
  I just want to make sure we are covering our core costs here.
• 3:27
  Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture, Chris Brown, explained how they decided on
• 3:31
  the amount for the fee.
• 3:32
  We did it off the last three years average.
• 3:35
  There was an anomaly last year that we started coding a different expense to a line that
• 3:40
  kind of threw off the average.
• 3:42
  So we did a three year average utility costs and then looked at the percentage of space
• 3:47
  that they would be using and then use that number to calculate a fair rental fee.
• 3:54
  Richardson made note of the work that must be done in the building first.
• 3:57
  I don't mind the floor plan that we're looking at.
• 4:01
  The office space and for anybody that has seen that office space, I wouldn't say that
• 4:05
  it's expansive by any stretch of the imagination.
• 4:09
  It's actually quite small.
• 4:11
  I think we're all of the opinion that it's going to be some time before we get the downstairs
• 4:16
  functioning to the way we want to get it functioning.
• 4:19
  I mean, we've got to get it first and get rid of all the asbestos and then we'll rebuild
• 4:24
  it the way I think we need to rebuild it.
• 4:26
  Councillor Michael Shank was the one who suggested removing access to the third floor
• 4:29
  boardroom within the agreement.
• 4:31
  After listening to everybody's comments and everybody's concern or anything else, it's
• 4:35
  five year agreement.
• 4:36
  It's been how many years that you haven't had an active farmers market.
• 4:41
  Every other municipality has a farmers market.
• 4:43
  As far as I'm concerned, it's going to be a five year plan refurbishing the town hall.
• 4:49
  I agree and concur with what the mayor said about the third floor that it's out and what
• 4:53
  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
• 5:04
  based events.
• 5:05
  Mayor Richardson put that concern to rest.
• 5:08
  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 does not 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
• 5:40
  motion.
• 5:41
  The motion is that council receive for information the farmers market operating agreement report
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  further that council direct staff to revise the draft agreement to remove any use of the
• 5:54
  third floor boardroom and include rental of the main floor flex space the same as any
• 6:00
  other community group for border and space and that that be brought to the February
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  25th meeting.
• 6:06
  For Amherst Island Radio and the local journalism initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
• 6:12
  This is North Shore News.
• 6:21
  At their meeting this week, Greater Napa Nea Council decided against sponsoring the
• 6:25
  seventh annual juried exhibition and awards show held by the Greater Napa Nea and Area
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  Arts Association.
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  The town has previously sponsored the event dating back to 2019 with 2022 and 2023 excluded.
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  Last year, Greater Napa Nea sponsored the event in the amount of $300.
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  Mayor Terry Richardson noted the decision wasn't personal.
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  It has nothing to do with this organization or this request.
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  You know, there's lots of them out there that will approach us at the town levels to
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  get something because I'm assuming they're thinking that we got lots of money and we
• 6:59
  can throw it around.
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  I think we can all agree that we probably don't.
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  The money has always come from the town's public celebrations operating budget, but
• 7:07
  staff was unsure if there would be enough.
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  Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture, Chris Brown, explained why he brought it to
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  council and noted the council donation budget.
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  The town of Greater Napa Nea has sponsored this event before.
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  The decision was made at the staff level and this is the first time that it's come across
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  my desk and so I just wanted to bring it to council to get some direction.
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  We do have some additional funds in the council donations budget.
• 7:34
  Brown spoke about the difficulty in handling sponsorship requests and noted an extra $2,500
• 7:39
  to deal with them this year in the budget.
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  They come up randomly, right?
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  So it's difficult to budget for because we don't know what sponsorship requests might
• 7:48
  come in, but we have done that ahead of this year's budget to allow council to be able
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  to support some of these sponsorship requests if they do come in and give council some wiggle
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  room there to be able to sponsor some of these events that come up.
• 8:03
  The staff were ultimately told that no money would be given to the event.
• 8:06
  Richardson explained sponsoring it through council could lead to issues.
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  I'll compare it to the requests we get for ice time.
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  We get a number of ice time requests to donate ice time so that charity tournaments, all
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  kinds of things like that happen and we've sort of put an end to that because once you
• 8:24
  open up the floodgates it's near impossible to stop it.
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  CAO Matthew Grant described why the request was brought to council.
• 8:31
  Manager of the reason to bring this forward is one we recognize the way that it was operating
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  in terms of staff members entertaining requests was not the correct way to do that.
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  And also having some clarity around how council wants to handle these kinds of requests in
• 8:49
  the future which are intermittent.
• 8:53
  Manager of executive services and municipal clerk Jessica Walters explained the town's
• 8:57
  current policy.
• 8:59
  Certainly the policy does indicate that the primary vehicle for council grants is those
• 9:04
  two community partnership funds but also the policy states that council will hear ad hoc
• 9:10
  requests throughout the year if they fall outside the budget cycle if council wants
• 9:15
  to hear them so that's an area we could maybe tighten up with more clarity.
• 9:20
  Council put forth a new motion to deny the request and made an addition that will see
• 9:24
  staff revise the town's policy on ad hoc requests so they aren't brought directly to
• 9:28
  council.
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  Council does not support or does not approve the sponsorship request as it falls outside
• 9:34
  the perimeters of the town's community grants policy and further staff be directed to bring
• 9:40
  back a revision of the policy that deals with ad hoc requests.
• 9:46
  A revision will be brought back to council once complete.
• 9:49
  The juried exhibition and awards show titled Uncharted Territory will be held at the Museum
• 9:53
  of Lenox and Addington in March.
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  The arts association noted that sponsorships demonstrate a commitment to the value of a
• 10:00
  thriving arts and culture community and help support programs, workshops and art exhibitions
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  throughout the area.
• 10:07
  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
• 10:12
  This is North Shore News.
• 10:23
  Under Napa-nee, council approved an increase of $15,000 to the cemetery operating budget
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  for 2025.
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  Staff brought the request forward just before council was to review and approve the 2025
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  budget.
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  The money will mainly be used to complete necessary work identified by the Bereavement
• 10:39
  Authority of Ontario.
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  Under the Funeral Barrel and Cremations Services Act, local municipalities are responsible
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  for abandoned cemeteries within their boundaries.
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  According to staff, there are no cemetery reserves established at this time.
• 10:54
  Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture, Chris Brown noted the associated legal implications
• 10:58
  of the work.
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  Town staff have been contacted by the BAO, the Bereavement Authority of Ontario, regarding
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  abandoned cemeteries within our boundaries.
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  And we're working with the BAO and our legal council to ensure that our legal obligations
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  are properly understood prior to undertaking the directed work.
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  As an early settlement area in Ontario, there are many abandoned and unregistered cemeteries
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  within our municipal boundaries.
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  And this is anticipated to be an ongoing area of legal obligation and associated costs.
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  Brown said details of the work will be brought back to council, noting that staff weren't
• 11:35
  prepared before budget time.
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  There are going to be expenses incurred here in 2025 and we don't have money budgeted for
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  it.
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  We're bringing back further reports for council detailing the work that does need to be done.
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  But you know, under the act, this work, we are obligated to complete this work and we
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  didn't know of some of these expenses at the time of budget deliberations.
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  CAO Matthew Grant spoke about the possibility of sharing some costs with related third parties.
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  These may include adjacent properties.
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  I'm confident every effort has been made for burden sharing with third parties.
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  One insured council would be kept in the loop.
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  We know that there is some legal fees, some assessments that needs to be done and there's
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  going to be a cost of the municipality, unfortunately, and we are mandated to do the work.
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  So really we don't have much of a choice in that, but we are going to bring back more
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  detailed reports for council to keep everyone up to speed.
• 12:37
  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
• 12:42
  This is North Shore News.
• 12:52
  Tours of the Fairfield Gutside House will include a small fee starting in May.
• 12:57
  Fees for the vendors market at Bath's Canada Day event have also gone up.
• 13:01
  Council approved a number of new fees this week.
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  Starting May 15, there will be a new $3 admission fee for tours of the Fairfield Gutside House.
• 13:10
  There will also be a new $3 admission fee for the Culture Talks Speaker Series at the
• 13:14
  Bath Museum.
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  The vendor fees for Bath's Canada Day celebration have gone up from $50 to $75 per booth.
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  The motion also included the introduction of gift shops at the Bath Museum, Babcock
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  Mill, and Fairfield Gutside House.
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  Township staff estimate a total of $3,000 in revenue this year from upping the vendor
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  fees at Bath's Canada Day event.
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  The new fees for museum tours and the Culture Talks Speaker Series are estimated to bring
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  in just over $1,700 in revenue for 2025.
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  The new gift shops are expected to see a total of $300 in revenue for the year.
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  Director of Community and Customer Services, Lori McFarland describes the importance of
• 13:53
  the fees.
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  As we come up with our master plan and some of the guidance that's coming through that,
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  we anticipate that this will grow, so it is worth it.
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  It also gives us an avenue that right now we currently don't have anything where we
• 14:09
  can charge for these things, so this gives us an avenue as well for the gift shop for
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  different things that we want to, so it is definitely beneficial.
• 14:18
  Councillor Paul Praderick wondered if the introduction of admissions would decrease
• 14:21
  participation.
• 14:22
  McFarland noted it's something staff are looking at.
• 14:25
  We will be monitoring it closely to see the impacts.
• 14:31
  Our hope is that it won't be impacted that much, and that's partially why we're trying
• 14:35
  to keep it minimal as well.
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  For museum tours and the speaker series, children 13 years of age and under will still remain
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  free of charge.
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  There will also be no charge during the Township's annual Doors Open event, Bath Canada Day,
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  the Fall in Love with Bath event, and Bath's Merry Little Main Street event.
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  The gift shops will mainly feature items that share loyalist Township's history, including
• 14:57
  books, postcards, games, and souvenirs.
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  Specific fees and prices for gift shop items will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
• 15:05
  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
• 15:11
  This is North Shore News.
• 15:20
  Loyalist Township Council approved staff using $25,000 from the Fleet and Equipment Reserve
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  Fund to assess the condition of the Township's fleet of vehicles.
• 15:29
  Council approved staff to seek an external consultant for a detailed review of the Township's
• 15:33
  fleet condition and needs, as well as a replacement strategy and an evaluation of their leasing
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  system.
• 15:39
  Along with a review of existing systems, processes, and policies, staff will be looking
• 15:43
  into fleet modernization as well.
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  They'll be considering green alternatives for future replacements and additions.
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  Staff plan to use the results of the study as a planning and guidance tool going forward.
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  Deputy Mayor Nathan Township then describes the importance of getting the study underway.
• 15:58
  I think this is timely and good to do.
• 16:03
  Having just gone through budget processes, a lot of what the public sees are the fleet
• 16:07
  that we have on the road, and there's always comments about that.
• 16:10
  I think this will serve us to have a strategic approach to our fleet.
• 16:18
  Mayor Jim Hagedor noted the importance of a new strategy going forward.
• 16:22
  I'm glad to see this coming forward.
• 16:24
  We have looked at different strategies.
• 16:26
  We've tried some, and now it's a good time to find out what's working and what's not,
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  and where we should go in the future.
• 16:31
  I think it's very prudent planning.
• 16:34
  The study would also review the Pilot Enterprise Vehicle Leasing Program to determine if it
• 16:38
  should continue in its current form.
• 16:40
  This program includes 13 light-duty vehicles.
• 16:44
  Director of Community and Customer Services, Lori McFarland, describes how the data from
• 16:48
  the survey will help them going forward.
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  It'll be a look at what's happening right now.
• 16:52
  It'll feed into the asset management plan.
• 16:54
  But as part of it, it'll be recommending different strategies for replacement, and we'll incorporate
• 17:01
  that into the asset management plan and how we move forward.
• 17:05
  This work was determined to be a priority for early this year because the data is required
• 17:09
  for the township to start preparing for its long-range financial plan and 2025 updated
• 17:14
  asset management plan.
• 17:17
  Project funding was not included in the 2025 budget as it was originally due to be completed
• 17:21
  in the last quarter of 2024.
• 17:24
  Due to competing priorities and reduced staffing levels, this did not occur.
• 17:29
  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
• 17:34
  This is North Shore News.
• 17:45
  Rock underneath the ground alongside Front Road on Amherst Island is posing a problem
• 17:49
  for the company looking to bring high-speed internet to residents of the island.
• 17:53
  With upcoming construction set to take place on the road, it leaves the company no room
• 17:56
  to dig or plow.
• 17:58
  Explorers municipal and utility access relations specialist Tracy Shalifoo noted the importance
• 18:03
  of the connection along the road and outlined where the company stands on the project.
• 18:08
  It's just one street, but it does provide us connectivity with the rest of the island.
• 18:13
  We have worked with the engineering and planning department.
• 18:17
  We've spoken to the CAO and her team and as well the roads public works department to
• 18:23
  try and find a way, but we're still back at the point where we don't have a solution as
• 18:29
  to how to build on that street.
• 18:30
  Shalifoo described the construction process the company was hoping to set in motion.
• 18:34
  It's always going to include the construction methods that all ISPs use.
• 18:39
  I think the number one method is plowing.
• 18:42
  We'd like to plow in next to the road.
• 18:44
  It's typically the space that's available, but in this particular case it's not because
• 18:49
  of rock.
• 18:50
  The company also looks into being able to use space on existing bell and hydro one poles,
• 18:55
  but in this case it was not possible due to the amount of extra work the companies would
• 18:59
  have to do in order for Explore to use them as well.
• 19:02
  Shalifoo noted that the poles won't work and again mentioned the problem they're facing
• 19:06
  underground.
• 19:07
  We've applied to both to get onto their poles.
• 19:10
  There's too much make ready work required for hydro one and the bell poles can't accommodate
• 19:15
  us.
• 19:16
  So we're left with going underground, which we can't do because of the rock.
• 19:21
  And so now we have a real problem.
• 19:23
  The scope of Ontario's accelerated high speed internet program includes 75,000 homes.
• 19:29
  Shalifoo explains the significance of the program and the project Explore is working
• 19:33
  on for Amherst Island.
• 19:35
  It's really so rural that it doesn't make business sense for a company or an ISP like
• 19:40
  Explore, Rogers or Bell to go and spend $20,000 to go down a road to three homes.
• 19:46
  And so that is the whole purpose behind this project to make it feasible from a business
• 19:52
  perspective to go and connect those homes.
• 19:55
  Shalifoo describes where the need for the program came from, noting the funding that
• 19:58
  the government has provided as well as the deadlines they're facing.
• 20:02
  I think during COVID, there was a lot of outages and lag times and internet service providers
• 20:09
  going down just too much demand to people working from home and it didn't work.
• 20:13
  So problems came up with an initiative to connect the most rural parts of these communities.
• 20:20
  The accelerated high speed internet program as presented by the province, they provided
• 20:25
  funding of $4 billion to bring access to reliable high speed internet.
• 20:31
  So what that looks like from our perspective is we will build this project using our own
• 20:36
  money, our portion of it, and the province will reimburse us once we've met the criteria
• 20:41
  that they have, which is to be on time and on budget by December of this year.
• 20:48
  So we're kind of on the clock with every portion of this build, including Loyalist,
• 20:53
  Amherst Island and Instella.
• 20:55
  The Ontario government also passed the Ontario Connected Act in 2022 to help facilitate getting
• 21:01
  the program underway.
• 21:02
  Shalifu explained that the government helped them identify homes that need high speed internet
• 21:06
  as well as ones the company would need to bring the service to themselves without being
• 21:10
  eligible for funding.
• 21:12
  Shalifu referred to these homes as go it alone homes.
• 21:15
  The government undertook an initiative to find out which homes in rural Ontario don't
• 21:22
  have basic high speed, which is 50 10 service.
• 21:25
  They have identified for us which are the homes that don't and they've given us a map
• 21:31
  identifying the homes.
• 21:33
  And so our engineers go out and design this project to try and run fiber down streets
• 21:38
  or on poles to get to these asap eligible homes.
• 21:41
  Now to go to loan homes, the money spent to connect these homes will be will be our money
• 21:46
  and there will be no subsidy applied to these homes.
• 21:49
  We will spend our own money with the hopes that we'll get a customer out of that one
• 21:53
  day.
• 21:54
  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
• 21:59
  This is North Shore News.
• 22:09
  Loyalist Township Council approved just over $500,000 in additional funding for the Odessa
• 22:14
  West Reconstruction Project.
• 22:16
  Staff came to council stating they were 10% over budget due in part to additional costs
• 22:20
  brought forth by a mistake in the process.
• 22:23
  Engineering and Environment Manager Luke McDonald noted the difference in their original projected
• 22:28
  costs.
• 22:29
  The additional budget that we're requesting is about 10% of the total approved budget to
• 22:32
  date.
• 22:33
  I would state we're 10% over budget.
• 22:35
  Staff have attributed this overage to a number of factors including additional work needed
• 22:39
  on West Street, relocating utility hookups due to a mistake, and extra staffing costs.
• 22:45
  Improperly marked field locates for the gas mains during the design phase of the project
• 22:50
  led to nearly $165,000 in extra costs.
• 22:54
  McDonald explained how this affected the budget for the project.
• 22:57
  He also confirmed that this was not related to the gas leak that took place in Odessa in
• 23:01
  October.
• 23:02
  The gas leak was on a separate project from this one.
• 23:05
  The improperly marked locates led to a conflict with some of our other buried infrastructure
• 23:10
  that we were planning, so additional gas relocations occurred, which increased the cost of this
• 23:15
  project.
• 23:16
  McDonald explained, however, that the township would only be covering a portion of the costs
• 23:19
  incurred by the mistake.
• 23:21
  Our franchise agreement with Enbridge states that any relocations that need to occur within
• 23:26
  the right of way, the township is responsible for paying 30% of the costs, which is where
• 23:31
  those numbers have come from.
• 23:33
  McDonald details the extra work needed on West Street.
• 23:36
  During the work when we were doing, we had not intended to reconstruct that portion of
• 23:41
  West Street between Main and South, but because of the difficulties we ran into with the
• 23:50
  Series A water main pipe, it was determined that that work had to proceed.
• 23:54
  The township approved funding the increased costs from a mix of debt financing and pulling
• 23:58
  from respect to reserve funds.
• 24:00
  Staff noted, however, that there currently isn't any money in the reserve funds.
• 24:04
  Treasurer Shelly Steadall explains the process they'll be taking going forward.
• 24:09
  There is no money at this point in time from the reserves.
• 24:12
  We're trying to finalize and close out some projects so there's possibility that there
• 24:15
  could be some money in the reserve, but at this point in time, it's all debt financed,
• 24:20
  and then we'll be bringing a report back to council that's going to show exactly what
• 24:23
  those amounts are.
• 24:25
  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Ted Evans.
• 24:30
  This is North Shore News.
• 24:41
  Loyalist Township has announced that their Family Day event for 2025 will be taking place
• 24:45
  at the W.J. Henderson Recreation Center.
• 24:48
  As reconstruction is still underway in the aquatic area, the event will be taking place
• 24:52
  mainly in the arena, library, and parking lot.
• 24:55
  The event lasts from noon until 2 p.m. and is free to attend.
• 25:00
  Public skating will be open for the duration of the event, with ice resurfacing taking
• 25:03
  place midway through.
• 25:05
  The skating portion is sponsored by Lorna Willis and Lynn Wimminga.
• 25:08
  Councillor Paul Prater speaks about some of the potential highlights from the day.
• 25:12
  The canteen's going to be open, and at that time, we also hope that some of the Amherst
• 25:16
  U Jets will join the people who wish to participate in that.
• 25:19
  And in the parking lot, we're going to have the Loyalist Emergency Services Truck, which
• 25:23
  is always a popular activity for the young ones to get a look at it and go through it.
• 25:29
  Project lists some of the other activities taking place at the event and offers a note
• 25:33
  to residents.
• 25:34
  We've got a Lego station, a coloring station, some temporary tattoos, maybe a bouncy cancel,
• 25:41
  and just dance, and then a photo booth from Photo Booth Kingston will be there.
• 25:45
  Hope you can join us at the WJ Recreation Center and maybe take away a little bit of
• 25:49
  the winter blouse.
• 25:51
  For Amherst Island Radio and the Local Journalism Initiative, I'm Tat Evans.
• 25:56
  This is North Shore News.
• 25:59
  This has been North Shore News and Interviews.
• 26:02
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• 26:07
  our 100% volunteer team.
• 26:11
  Visit Amherst Island Radio for more details.