Parry Sounds ~ Ideas and Opinions, In and Around Parry Sound

This week’s agenda is about as light as I have seen in many months. Is this an early sign of summer? There seems to be little reason to attend this meeting unless you have something on the agenda. I don’t see council turning down any of the requests before them.

Correspondence and Deputations

4.3 – A letter to council seeking information about the former St. Joseph’s Hospital for development purposes caught my attention. I’m not sure how council and staff will respond to this request. The request was sent in a handwritten note from a former resident of the Parry Sound area who represents an investor group. Perhaps I spent too much time in the corporate world but I would have a real problem taking this group seriously. Seriously? A hand written letter? Oh, they want to transform the building into a “Fulltime Residential Hotel Complex”. They are also planning to acquire the surrounding properties. Well I guess it’s something to keep our Director of Development & Leisure Services busy.

Consent Agenda

There are a total of five tag days and awareness month items for approval.

Resolutions and Directions to Staff

9.2.1 – council is being asked to approve bank signing authority and credit cards for council members and senior staff. No issue here in my opinion.

9.2.2 – the owner of 12 Belvedere will receive a refund of about $4,600 for water and sewer charge over-payments for the years 2007 through 2010 if approved by council. That’s a total refund of about $7,400 for the years 2007 through 2012. Oops! I’m glad the error was caught and corrected.

9.3.1 – is a resolution to approve a site plan amendment for 18 Belvedere Avenue that involves creation of an additional residential lot.

9.3.2 – requests approval for the sale of two lots on MacFarlane Street, for $15,000 and $14,000. Interestingly these were the only tenders received for these properties. The party making the tender for these two properties, Cornerstone Carpentry, was the party who made the low-ball unsuccessful bid for the Pump House (former Waterworks) property.

9.3.3 – is a request to remove a fence requirement for the new gas bar at 80 Bowes Street. It seems a reasonable request based on the provided information. As an aside, I think the new gas bar building is rather attractive, certainly by the standards of the minimalist (cheap looking) business structures that been built or renovated in town over the last few years.

9.3.6 – this one is a bit of a head-scratcher. It is approval for a sign at 80 Bowes Street (the new gas bar), that replaces the sign approved last meeting, and is substantially the same. The resolution approved at the last meeting was added to the agenda at the last minute without any information provided to public prior to, or at, the council meeting about the item. There was also no discussion of the resolution at the meeting. Perhaps it should have been delayed and done right the first time, with the appropriate information made available to the public.

9.4.1, 9.4.2 – approvals for the purchase of grass seed, fertilizer, gravel, top soil and crusher dust.

By-Laws

10.5.1 – is the appointment of Dave Thompson, Director of Emergency and Protective Services/Fire Chief, as Fire Chief, Chairperson of the Community Emergency Management Committee (CEMC) and as the Staff Resource Representative for the Emergency Medical Services Advisory Committee with Peter Brown as the alternate for the CEMC

That’s pretty much it. See you Tuesday.

Take a Peek. (click photo for larger version)

Note: Not all agenda items are covered here. I typically skip those items that have little material impact on the town. These items include simple requests for Tag Days (permission to canvas), Awareness Weeks/Months, road closures for civic events, and the like . Want to see everything that is on the agenda? The full agenda can be found at the town’s website (http://townofparrysound.com/pagesmith/14).