Tag Archives: Archipelago

Wet Dreams? Part 1

01 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by in Parry Sound, Reflections, Urban Development

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In a series of four articles I will try and lay out some of the more obvious issues concerning a municipal pool in the Greater Parry Sound area. I will alternatively refer to this as ‘pool’, ‘aquatic centre’ or ‘recreational complex’. There is a difference between the three terms that may come into play in the discussion. A pool is something we already have in Parry Sound and in the local area, by my count at least three in local hotels. These are rather modest facilities, in some regards not much more than ‘super-sized’ hot tubs that provide a valuable service to many in the community. The next step up in terms of size and facilities is an aquatic centre. I would imagine that this might include two pools, one for more exercise-oriented use that could host competitive meets, and the other targeted to recreational use, perhaps with an extended shallow area for children. It might also have a diving pool. I imagine that a recreational complex would combine an aquatic centre with a full gymnasium or exercise centre. Big – Bigger – Biggest.

At this point in the process I have shifted my position on the desirability of a pool to one of neutral. I have in the past suggested that a pool is not something the Town needs, even if it wants it. That position was based on my research into the costs and my observations on how the various communities were cooperating. Why bother to even consider a pool if the costs would be very high and there was little prospect for regional cooperation. It seems that in the past couple of years there has been a shift to more cooperation, in principle at least, when it comes to the issue of an aquatic centre that can be used and shared by the area municipalities.

The issue of cost remains the biggest issue and will be the topic of a separate post. If a pool was ‘free’, and let’s remember nothing is actually ‘free’, it seems to me that the plans for a pool would be underway, if the pool were not already built.

I will relate my thinking about the cost of a pool to my thinking about personally purchasing, servicing and enjoying a Porsche. I don’t own a Porsche for many of the same reasons we don’t have a municipal pool already. In both cases somebody needs to come up with the cash for the initial purchase/build. Since neither of us could afford a Porsche or a pool from our bank accounts we would need to take out a loan. The question would be whether we could afford the monthly payments. In the case of the Town they could. It might mean raising taxes or deferring other infrastructure projects. In the case of my new Porsche it would mean taking on a second job or cutting expenses. Perhaps I could sell my property and move to Carling or Seguin where I would save thousands annually on taxes but still have access to Parry Sound services. Though, perhaps not the high speed internet access I need for work. Dang, not an easy solution but perhaps the Province and the Feds will build the internet structure I would need. But that’s another issue that only confuses the discussion of a pool.

So, even if I could make the necessary sacrifices to buy a Porsche I would need to face the operating expenses. It’s a Porsche, so it wouldn’t be cheap. Expenses that would require more income or additional sacrifices. Annual operating expenses is probably the biggest issue for any aquatic centre, recreational complex or municipal pool. In the case of Parry Sound that would mean raising taxes or cutting back on other services. Perhaps we could get folks to agree to reduced snow removal services.

But, if three friends in the area were to go in on the purchase of Porsche Boxster I might be able to swing it. Cutting the upfront and ongoing costs by three quarters might make it manageable. I really wouldn’t need it full time. It’s not practical in winter, so I would still need my Honda Civic. Having access to the Boxster a couple days a week would be more than acceptable, especially if one of my neighbours would keep it in their garage. Hmmm! Seems like something I might be interested in. I would of course be much more interested if one of my neighbours were to buy the Porsche and let me use it for ‘gas money’.

I think that’s not an unreasonable analogy for the issues underlying a municipally owned and operated pool. I wonder if it would be easier to find three other people to chip in for a Porsche than get the local municipalities to chip for a pool. Each of the local municipalities has their own concerns that range from land use to infrastructure demands to cost. But I’m getting ahead of myself, more on this in future posts.

My bottom line is that I’m very much okay with the idea of a pool, aquatic centre or recreational complex if it doesn’t cost me anything in capital or operating costs. I’m probably still okay if the tax payer related costs were minimal and users would be responsible for the larger part of the expenses. I’m not that interested in using a pool. That’s just not what I’m interested in. If I want to get wet I can use one of the local beaches. If I want to exercise I can bike, walk, hike, ski or snowshoe depending on the season. I suspect that’s one of the reasons people have concerns about a municipally supported pool. They may feel they will be paying for a resource they don’t use. Not everyone who pays for the pool will use the pool.

That’s the case for me with the Stockey Centre and the Bobby Orr Community Centre. I don’t use them. At this point these two facilities cost the taxpayers of Parry Sound more than $500,000 per year and the Town is now preparing to put in another $2 to $3 million in necessary renovations and repairs. These costs will need to be paid for with a bond paid off over 20 years that will add to the current $500,000 in costs. It’s not the case with a hospital. Everyone hopes they don’t use it but are willing to pay for it to be there if and when they do need it. Let’s realize that a municipal pool is a quality of life expense, like my Porsche.

Actually, the Porsche analogy isn’t really appropriate. I don’t want a Porsche at any cost. A pool? A pool I might be okay with. It depends on the cost

The next post will offer some back of the envelope calculations on the cost to build and operate a pool. They won’t be right, but they’ll be closer to right than wrong.

 

 

 

2016 Sunshine List Mashup

05 Wednesday Apr 2017

Posted by in Budget/Financial, Parry Sound, Reflections

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Or, fun with figures.

I wasn’t going to post about the recently released 2016 Sunshine list, but I was ‘egged’ into it. I really don’t have a problem with what people are paid as long as they are doing their job and they are earning what they are paid. Given my regular interaction with the senior staff in Parry Sound I won’t complain. They seem to be ‘earning their pay’.

More interesting I thought was to look at how the 2016 Sunshine List looks across the West Parry Sound District, and what it reflects. Mashing together the 2016 Sunshine List and the recent 2016 Census figures provided for some interesting insights. Here are the figures, with some explanation. (Apologies to Whitestone for being excluded.)

(Click on any of the tables for a larger view.)

The table above summarizes the combined salaries and benefit figures reported for the area municipalities. Each of the municipalities uses slightly different titles for the various senior management positions so I have associated them to the best of my abilities. In the case of the Archipelago and Parry Sound there are a couple of positions that don’t fit the standard categories, these are Corporate Services and Emergency and Protective Services respectively.

This next table relates the cost for each position as a function of fulltime residences. It reveals a number of significant discrepancies in terms of the cost of all Sunshine List senior staff for municipalities, from a low of $47 per person, to a high of $1,167. But this is really not a fair comparison as some of the municipalities have far more seasonal than fulltime residents. Unfortunately, the census data doesn’t provide information on seasonal resident numbers. So let’s look at the same Salaries & Benefits figures as a function of the total Private Dwellings in each municipality. This includes both fulltime and seasonal properties.

This figure is closer to a reasonable estimate of Sunshine List ‘efficiency’, but it does not include the impact of businesses. If the number of business properties were to be included I suspect that Parry Sound would show a much more favourable ‘efficiency factor’.

So there are the 2016 Sunshine List figures with a little bit of analysis. A set of figures from the 2016 Census report that a I found interesting relates to municipality fulltime population and the number of private  dwellings (below). The numbers range from a high of 5.1 dwellings per person (Archipelago), to a low of 0.5 dwellings per person in Parry Sound. The difference obviously is the large number of seasonal residences in the Archipelago, Carling and McKellar. Those simple figures tell you everything you need to know about why amalgamation will not be something the municipalities spontaneously decide to do. It’s possible to imagine a Parry Sound and McDougall amalgamation, and perhaps an Archipelago and Carling amalgamation if they wanted to get better efficiency. The ‘business models’ are reasonably aligned. But don’t even think about it, much less talk about it. It’s a bit like integration in the U.S. South in the 60s. It took Federal legislation to make that happen. In the case of West Parry Sound it will take Provincial legislation. With Bay Street just a short walk away from the Provincial Legislature it’s – not – going – to – happen. Ever!

Notes:

  1. The 2016 Sunshine list is a bit of a bear to work with. I didn’t come across a simple PDF version as in earlier years. It’s available as a variety of data dumps. The easiest in my opinion was the CSV format file that can be searched with Excel.
  2. The municipalities that have only a single person hitting the Sunshine List may well have personnel just under the $100,000 cutoff, who would not be included in this report.
  3. It’s interesting to see how many police officers are on the Sunshine List. In the end, I think our neighbouring municipalities took the prudent course of action by biting the bullet and continuing on with OPP service.

 

Shine a Light – Municipal Politics

23 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by in Reflections

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Yesterday’s North Star ran an article about concerns regarding the behaviour of councillors during Township of the Archipelago’s council meetings. Here’s a link to the online version of the article.

Having attended some 150 or so meetings of the Town of Parry Sound Council I have yet to see any type of inappropriate behaviour on the part of the councillors in terms of language or respect. Yes, there have been a few occasions where one or more of the members of Council have rolled their eyes, or displayed ‘oppositional’ body language, but these have been very few and are not a part of the culture of the Town of Parry Sound Council. While I may not agree with all of the decisions of Parry Sound Council I do respect them as a group, and as individuals, for their professionalism.

The reported situation with the Archipelago brings back memories of what was going on at McKellar council meetings a couple of years ago. Since the North Star did a series of articles reporting on the behaviour of members of the McKellar Council it seems that things have headed in a more professional direction, to the benefit of all.

Shining a light on the proceedings of councils, be it through the ‘official media’, bloggers, or concerned residents who call out this type of immature and irresponsible conduct is a necessary part of the system of checks and balances. I applaud Anne Stewart for calling out Archipelago Council about her concerns. It takes courage to stand up and say what is often too obvious.

“Boys will be boys” is no longer an acceptable response to inappropriate behaviour. Too many organizations have been exposed as having a culture that is sexist and/or racially insensitive. After a period of ignoring the issue, and then of trying to explain the behaviour really isn’t what it seems to be, followed by explaining the behaviour is not reflective of the true ‘intent’ of the individuals, an organization finally starts to take responsibility. The next step, not always taken by many organizations, is to implement changes in culture, behaviour, and actions. If the problem starts at the top, then the change needs to start at the top.

A suggestion for the Archipelago; start recording and broadcasting your council meetings. Let the public see what goes on at your meetings and let them decide if the conduct of Council is appropriate. Decisions are no longer being made in backrooms in an all-boys club.

The availability of inexpensive recording devices, and easy ways to share the observations, has shone a light on how we as a society operate. Sometimes the light is unwelcome, but it is so necessary.

REDAC Regional Market Plan Reflections

10 Saturday Sep 2016

Posted by in Parry Sound, Reflections, Seguin Township

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A few thoughts after reviewing the REDAC Regional Marketing Plan issued June 2016.

Positives:

  1. The report was not too shy in identifying some of the issues and challenges facing the region in terms of increasing economic development.
  2. There was a clear understanding that it is one thing to prepare a plan, and another to fund and effectively implement the plan.
  3. The plan appropriately identified the need for monitoring and assessing the effectiveness of any marketing programs.

Oversights:

Several meaningful issues were overlooked in the report. Was it a case of simply not recognizing the issues, or was it a case of ‘sweeping it under the carpet’. My sense of some important points that were overlooked:

  1. Services
  2. Tax differentials
  3. Housing value
  4. Railways

Services:

The services available to homeowners and businesses varies considerably throughout the area studied in the REDAC report (Parry Sound, McDougall, Seguin, and Carling). These include:

  • Municipal water
  • Municipal sewer
  • Natural gas

There was mention of the need for better internet connectivity. For the most part it’s not that big an issue except at the residential level. Wireless service is actually quite good, and for businesses it is not an unreasonable expense if it impacts business and profitability. They aren’t streaming video at work. Businesses out in the backwoods of the region really can’t expect ‘fibre’ type service, and if they really needed it they would not be located where they are. Homeowners who want to stream video at home have an issue as wireless can be expensive. Better, actually mostly cheaper, internet services are a nice to have that would help attract people and businesses to the area.

Real businesses that employ people and serve customers on site, not the retired consultant type shop, need water and sewer service. Yes, a well and septic bed can do the job, but it raises an unreasonable burden of effort for businesses that have other things to think about. Think about the new high school to be built in the area. Will they locate somewhere that depends on wells and sewers? Perhaps, but given their preferences they would rather not be doing weekly water tests to make sure the kids aren’t drinking contaminated water following that big rain. And how big a septic bed is needed for a high school of 1,000 students? Right, just about the size of a football or soccer field.

A bigger issue is the availability of natural gas. Electricity is expensive, especially for uses like heating. Natural gas is remarkably inexpensive, but it requires an infrastructure that is only available in Parry Sound and a relatively select number of addresses in the other municipalities. Propane is an option, but it’s not nearly as cheap or convenient as natural gas. I suspect a large number of people who installed electric baseboards when electricity was cheap regret not putting in more insulation, or installing a furnace and ducting that could be used with propane, a heat pump, or natural gas when it arrived along their road.

Tax Differentials:

The tax rates on property in the five municipalities vary about three-fold, with Seguin at the low end and Parry Sound at the top. Taxes reflect a balance of what services municipal residents and business want to receive and how much they are willing to pay for them. The lower taxes in the surrounding regions do not arise from happenstance, they reflect the interests of the taxpayers.

Municipalities like the Town of Parry Sound are stretched in terms of the taxes they can collect and the services they are expected to deliver. Adding new taxable residents and businesses is a priority as much of the infrastructure is already established and any increased revenues from new residents and businesses would be ‘profitable’, and help support necessary infrastructure upgrades for all. Economic development that leads to increased property values is very much in the interests of Parry Sound. The only real revenue the Town has is from the taxation of property and government grants.

The other municipalities do not have the same needs for more development and greater tax revenues. This is reflected in their lower tax rates. Economic development is something that is nice to talk about, because it reflects positively on councils. But do they really want it? Is it possible that more development will lead to a requirement for new services that might mean higher tax rates? Nobody likes to raise property taxes, especially if your municipality depends on being the low tax provider.

I think the residents of these municipalities would rather not promote development. Many of them like it the way it is. Seasonal residents are complaining about the development of certain lakes and are calling for a moratorium on new cottages. And I’m not sure that people really like the idea of losing the small town, or cottage area, feeling that comes with more development. If permanent and seasonal residents can enjoy low taxes and the services of a town like Parry Sound next door or Bracebridge a little further away, why do they need more ‘economic development’? There is no benefit, only the potential for change and higher taxes.

The tax differential between municipalities drives much more than was ever suggested in the REDAC report.

Substandard Housing Value:

This mostly applies to the Town of Parry Sound. Housing in Parry Sound is by Toronto standards cheap;  but it is a poor value. There are any number of reasons for this, none of which are easily fixed by politicians. In more affluent regions many of these houses would be leveled and replaced with the types of housing that young families need and can afford. The development of well-designed condo facilities offers some hope for better value housing in Parry Sound, but this type of housing will not appeal to those with families who want a backyard. They can get that type of housing in the Barrie, Orillia and Owen Sound areas, where there are also the jobs to support the associated cost of this housing. Chicken and egg, or egg and chicken?

The Railways:

Again mostly a Parry Sound issue. Canadian National and Canadian Pacific together run about twenty or more heavy freight trains through Parry Sound every day and represent a serious deterrent to business investment and residential development. Not surprisingly, the most substantial recent residential development, Silver Birch, is located far from the railway tracks. Bt it comes at a price, Highway 400 with it’s noisy weekend summer traffic. One development in Parry Sound close to the tracks, and subject to crossings that see trains going both ways, has struggled despite offering attractive ‘Southern Ontario’ single family homes. The issue is not just the risk of a Lac Megantic type event, or even the occasional road blockages, it’s the day-in, day-out, sound of air horns blasting at six crossings and the squeal of the wheels as they round the many curves, day and night. Why build a business in Parry Sound if you can build in Seguin or McDougall?  Oh, there’s the issue of services and infrastructure. Why not just go to communities like Orillia, Barrie and the ‘suburban’ areas of Muskoka, where you are not subject to trains in the same manner and you have access to more customers (retail and service), cheaper transport costs (manufacturing), and a larger employment pool?

 

Parry Sound Bay and Beyond can become an attractive destination for both people and businesses. The trouble is that there are too many other Southern Ontario municipalities that are already much more attractive. Once these destinations reach their limit to host businesses and new homes people will begin to look at Parry Sound Bay and Beyond. That is unless we can get our act together, work together, and create the infrastructure to compete. But area municipalities, with the exception of Parry Sound have more than enough money to continue operating as they have for the last twenty years, for another twenty years, without attracting any new residents or businesses. These municipalities have little motivation to do anything new. They just need to pretend to be interested lest permanent residents and businesses think they don’t play nicely with others.

Provincial and Federal civil servants are quite happy to facilitate and fund discussions of economic development in the West Parry Sound area. It their job to do it. And they are well paid jobs. By gosh they will do their best to get it done, regardless of the odds. It reminds me of the continuous negotiations in the Middle East between the Israelis and the Palestinians facilitated by the United States. The US State Department is tasked with getting a real agreement between these two parties and they try their best. It’s their job, even though there is no prospect of any type of agreement. At this point Israel has everything it needs in the region. It has the wealth, military strength and political influence to ensure nothing is taken from them. It is not in their interest to negotiate. Any appearance of willingness to negotiate is strictly a function of making nice with the President of the United States who gets it in their mind every now and then that they want to gain statesman status by brokering a grand peace agreement.

Final Thoughts

I started out this review of the REDAC Regional Marketing Plan expecting to be critical of Whitestone, McKellar and The Archipelago for not participating in the REDAC economic development process. Looking at things a little more closely I have come to realize that they are perhaps the only honest brokers in the region, willing to admit that not only do they not need regional cooperation, they are actually better off without it. I will give a pass also to the Town of Parry Sound. I believe they do support regional economic development because they desperately need the increased tax base to manage tax rates and support additional infrastructure necessary for the larger community.

Even Parry Sound tax rates are on the low end for Northern Ontario as was presented in a survey of Northern Ontario municipalities. I visited Elliot Lake in August and was impressed by the upkeep of the town and the facilities it offers. But it benefits from a population base about twice that of Parry Sound, a much larger geographic area (715 sq. km, versus 13 sq. km), and a tax rate 40% higher.

Regional economic development is something to keep Municipal, Provincial and Federal employees busy, and employed. If Ontario and Canada really want to see additional economic development in the area they need to provide incentives to McDougall and Seguin to hand over enough land to Parry Sound to allow for real economic development, by a municipality that is interested in economic development, and with established infrastructure. Incentives to McDougall and Seguin might include support for policing expenses, and/or broadband infrastructure, and/or an area athletic complex. But that would be a bribe I suppose. Given America’s experience with the billions they have pumped into the Middle East, I expect it wouldn’t work too well here. Take the money and run.

Aside: reading yesterday’s Beacon Star I saw that Seguin has started thinking about their 2017 budget. Their high priority items are summer weekend support for a nursing station in Rosseau, taking responsibility for unassumed roads, and a tennis court. All this with a potential 0% increase in taxes. Seguin is doing just fine with their current business model. Why take on development that might mean responsibility for building the services accompanying business and non-seasonal resident growth? It might mean tax increases and unfamiliar faces. That’s okay, the area municipalities have their cake and are able to eat it as well. They  seem to be riding as high on property values as were the Middle East oil kingdoms were when oil was $100 a barrel. As long as property valuation stay high, and seasonal residents don’t become permanent residents and expect Toronto level services, it’s all okay.

Mismatched Objectives, Taking Off and Heading to Port.
(Best to just get out of each other’s way.)

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Update: tracking down a link for the Beacon Star article I came across a squabble between Carling and the The Archipelago about phone bills. Yup, sure, let’s invest more in regional cooperation. (Not!) The Town of Parry Sound needs to take on a Singapore or Hong Kong frame of mind. Small is beautiful. It may not be cheap but it offers great value. Can we erect borders?

 

 

District Policing – Reaching Consensus

18 Friday Dec 2015

Posted by in Reflections, Safety, Seguin Township

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It seems that consensus is being reached among the regional municipalities to forego local policing. Instead, the communities will depend on the services of the Ontario Provincial Police, even if might be more expensive.

I agree with the decision, and I believe that investigating the alternatives was an important exercise. Without a clear idea of the costs and the implications it would have been an option that would have hung over the local municipalities. ‘Would we be better off with a local force? would it be cheaper? Well, maybe yes, and maybe no.’ It would have been a serious distraction to have left it hanging out there. At least the numbers and analysis have been completed and it seems there might be savings, there might not, but there was a guarantee of upfront investments, oversight requirements, and quite possibly headaches in the years to come.

I liken the situation to a person with a longer laneway who has benefited from their brother-in-law, a professional, plowing his snow for a well below market price, because well, he lives next-door and he wants to make sure his sister is able to get in and out safely. The brother-in-law moves away and the the husband finds out what it really costs to plow his laneway. His first thought is to get his own truck and blade. Yes, it would cost a bit upfront but it would save money in the long run. And it would be far more economical if he could defray his costs by plowing his neighbours’ laneways. He might need to take a loan, and there would be a need to store the equipment, repairs, the time to do the plowing, but by gosh he would be saving money.

Well, it might be cheaper if he can buy the equipment at a reasonable cost and his neighbours agree to participate. But he will now need to get up early and plow not only his snow, but that of his neighbours. And there probably won’t be a winter vacation, and …. And what if he finally decides he no longer wants to plow snow? How easy would it be to sell the equipment, and how much would he lose?

In the end I suspect that Township of Seguin Council and others realized there was more in the way of pain and liability than was offered by the potential savings. That was probably also the case with the other municipalities.

It needs to be remembered that the local municipalities were receiving below market pricing for their policing costs up until this year. It can be argued that the previous pricing was fair because these municipalities made limited use of policing services. That may be true, but it’s a little like health care coverage. Although I may not require the types of services that are used by many others I am still required to pay a similar amount in terms of federal and provincial taxes as those who do. It’s effectively an insurance plan and I consider myself fortunate that I only have to pay for coverage and not use the services. Going forward the OPP costs are now scaled to include basic ‘insurance’ and a ‘usage’ component. The less you require, the lower your policing bill. But there will always be a basic cost that is a function of your population. It’s like an automobile insurance policy with an annual premium and a deductible. Have too many accidents or tickets and your policy cost will go up. But even if you are a perfect and lucky driver you still will be paying more for your basic premium than you think is fair.

I take care of my own snow rather than use a service. The area is small, I can do a more careful job and at the same time protect the landscaping. I also have the time, and in the process get some exercise and save a few bucks. And I prefer to enjoy the snow rather than ‘get away’, so it all lines up. If I had a larger piece of property I would surely toy with the idea of getting bigger equipment, but I hope in the end I would make the right decision and hire a professional with the equipment to get the job done.

MetrolandMedia has good coverage of the policing issue at www.parrysound.com if you want to dig into the details.

Eyes Wide Open (Parry Sound in Colour)

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Council Agenda Preview – September 1, 2015

30 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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Break’s over. Back on your heads. Well after a relaxed summer it’s back to business in a big way. There is more of importance on this agenda than I am going to summarize in this post. Take a look at the agenda package to see what it is that I haven’t included. The summary is available at the Parry Sound website, and the full package is available from the menu at the top of this page.

What’s not on the agenda and has been gaining momentum is the creation of a West Parry Sound Recreation Centre Advisory Committee, or more explicitly a swimming pool committee. Parry Sound has already approved the formation of the committee and Seguin Township and the Township of the Archipelago confirmed their participation. It’s exploratory at this stage but I’m hoping they will keep the public informed as to the ongoing developments. I believe a pool can be defined as a hole in the ground that you throw money into.

Let’s look at the agenda.

Public Meeting

2.1.1 – Proposed Zoning By-law Amendment – Z/15/2 (6963510 Canada Incorporated) – Louisa Street. This rezoning will approve a long list of uses for the property, from auto repair garage to service station to machine or welding shop to warehouse to building supply outlet, with no more than a 25% retail component. It a property off Louisa Street past Starbucks on the left side. There has been some earth moving going on in this location for the last couple of months. The property is owned by 6963510 Canada Incorporated, which has Alan Furbacher of Brampton Ontario listed as the only Director.

2.1.3 – Proposed Zoning By-law Amendment – Z15/4 (Van Gelder – 48 Bowes Street). The final proposed Zoning By-law Amendment is an application to amend an existing Special Provision 26.67 zone to permit a Business or Professional Office and an accessory dwelling unit. This is the property directly across from Forest Street and beside the lot that had the house burn down a couple of years ago.

Deputations

5.1 – Mr. Frank Hinde. Re: Three near misses encountered on Great North Road and Bowes Street while trying to cross the street. This is rescheduled from last meeting.

Resolutions and Directions to Staff

9.2.1 – Olympic Sailing Bid. Resolution. Now therefore be it resolved that Council of the Town of Parry Sound supports Sail Parry Sound’s recommendation for 2024 Olympic sailing to be held in Parry Sound. Hmm, this is thinking big. Well we have the most necessary part, the Big Sound and great sailing. Unfortunately we don’t have the sewage and garbage that is being offered at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Will this result in the Toronto Olympic bid being downgraded? I’m not sure about the Toronto Olympic bid, but if the bid is filed I think Parry Sound would be a great site for at least a portion of the sailing competition. I imagine that Kingston would also be part of any plan for Olympic sailing, they are close to Toronto and have hosted it before.

 9.3.1 – Information Technology – Infrastructure Replacement. Resolution. Hmm, this is an emergency, single supplier, expense of about $123,000 to basically replace the existing in-house network. It means hardware and software. I am surprised to see that an option for hosted servers is not included. This generally offers substantial savings, provides expert support and regular hardware and software upgrades. In my opinion there is a bit of a conflict here. The consultants that did the assessment, discovered the problems, and prepared the hardware and software recommendations, are also the folks who are being considered as the sole source supplier for the upgrade. We multiple tender $5,000 expenses, but not this? We pay people good money to make sure the Town is getting the best value for their money, so I’m sure they are on top of it. I am a little surprised by the mention in the R&R report of the “recent “retirement” of the Town’s IT Co-ordinator Dan DiNicolo”. Retirement – really? Was there a retirement celebration?

9.3.2 – POA Write-offs for Under Payments. Resolution. It seems a large number of ‘nickel and dime’ deadbeats haven’t paid a variety of Provincial Offence Act fines, about 1,200 of them at an average of about $11.60 each, for a total of almost $14,000. The Town and the Province suggest writing them off as there is no profit in pursuing them.

9.4.1 – Fluoride system upgrades for the Tony Agnello Water Treatment Plant. Resolution. More bucks, and the reason many municipalities have decided to forego fluoridation – the cost. The proposed upgrade to the system is estimated to cost about $250,000 between engineering and construction.

9.4.5 – Waubeek St. Reconstruction – Expression of Interest. Resolution. This is the next major road priority for the Town. In this case it concerns an application to the Province under the Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF) – Capital Program. I’m glad to see we have a plan and are prepared for these funding opportunities.

9.5.1 – Regional Marketing Plan. Resolution. That upon the recommendation of the Regional Economic Development Advisory Committee (REDAC), Council accept the proposal received from HCA Mindbox in the amount of $60,300 (HST extra), for the development of a Regional Marketing Plan.

By-laws

10.4.1 – CN Agreement – Isabella Street Grade Crossing. Being a by-law to execute an agreement with Canadian National Railway Company for modifications at the grade crossing of Isabella Street including the installation of flashing lights, gates, bell and constant warning device. This has been a long time coming, but it takes time to get the necessary railway and Federal agreements and approvals. I am a bit surprised that there is no mention of Canadian Pacific. It is a double track arrangement but perhaps CN is the contractor on behalf of the two railways. The Town’s portion of the project is $42,000 plus any other civil work that is the Town’s responsibility. This amount is not budgeted but won’t be an expense for 2015, more likely 2016 and/or 2017.

10.4.2 – Funding Agreement – Emily Street. Being a by-law to authorize the execution of a New Building Canada Fund – Small Communities Fund Agreement between Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario, as represented by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and The Corporation of the Town of Parry Sound. The Town is responsible for one-third of the project cost, about $765,000. It is expected that most of the Town’s portion will come from the water and wastewater reserves. That explains in part why water costs are what they are. It’s not the water, it’s getting the water to you and the waste to the sewage plant. You can pay it now, or you can pay more later. We may be exercising the paying more later option in this case, but not as much as a few years from now.

10.5.2 – NOHFC Funding Agreement: Regional Marketing Plan. Being a By-law to authorize the execution of a funding agreement between the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund (NOHFC) and the Town of Parry Sound for the development of a Regional Marketing Plan. This covers 90% of the expense noted in Item 9.5.1.

One thing I have noted is that the summary agenda, what’s available on the Town’s website, never seems to include the cost of the various items before Council. You need to read the full package to get those costs. I think it would be best if the public had access to these figures without having to ‘dig for them’.

I won’t be at the meeting this Tuesday. It’s more important to read the full agenda package than listen to the debate. Council will make their decisions regardless of who is in the audience. Better to get on top of the issues before the meeting and let people know what’s going on so that they can reach out to Staff and Council prior to the meeting or attend the meeting and make a deputation.

Enough Said! By Request. (Parry Sound in Colour)

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Municipal Policing – Mayberry or Ferguson?

24 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by in Reflections, Safety, Seguin Township

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The North Star has featured a series of well written articles in the past month concerning the deliberations at Sequin Township Council regarding the option of creating and operating a municipal police force. Seguin is hopeful that other area municipalities, particularly the deep-pocketed municipalities of Carling Township and The Archipelago, will join with them to share and defray the start up and ongoing operational costs of a municipal police force. Seguin is looking to save at least 20% of their eventual Ontario Provincial Police bill. The area municipalities have yet to feel the full impact of the OPP cost changes because the Province has decided to phase the increases in over a five-year period.

Here are some things the Staff, Council and residents of the surrounding municipalities may wish to consider as they debate and decide on local policing.

OPP protection is less a service than it is insurance. The insurance includes competent and capable policing that acts to deter crime. It’s like home insurance. After paying home insurance for more than thirty years, with no claims, it would perhaps have made better sense to self-insure. I would have saved a bundle of money over the past three decades. But would I have had the necessary protection if there were a major fire, or a flood, or a burglary? Could I have qualified for a mortgage without insurance? The municipalities make the argument that they have only a limited number of calls for the police per year and the effective cost per call is too high. Well if you keep your calls for service down you will have lower costs in the long run because the costing is calculated on a per resident charge plus a call for service formula.

Get over the sticker shock. The surrounding municipalities have been living a subsidized existence when it comes to policing costs. This was the reason for the revised two part cost formula implemented by the Province, a, a basic cost per residence (insurance cost) and a cost per incident (service cost). It’s like a service contract on a furnace where you pay a flat fee per year and that gets you a free cleaning, but you pay a deductible if you have a furnace problem and need extra service. The municipalities will still be paying less than that charged to the ‘lawless’ residents of Parry Sound with the new pricing model, and won’t have the ‘pleasure’ of OPP vehicles rushing through their towns to get to a neighbouring municipality.

Do-it-yourself may be more expensive. As expensive as it seems to establish a police force, it will cost even more to dissolve a police force. I have heard that the second happiest day of a boat owner’s life is the day they buy their boat. There are estimates that it will cost about $2 million to set up a municipal police force between the expenses for equipment and a new facility. That figure doesn’t seem to sit well with some members of Seguin Council and they think it’s too high. It’s not! I have yet to see a major project come in under budget. Budget for the $2 million, add in another 25% for unforeseen circumstances, and work like the devil to come in under budget. Don’t start with the thought that you can do it do it for even less. And remember, if you decide it doesn’t work the wind down costs would the same, or even more. Separation packages for police officers aren’t cheap, and specialized used equipment usually gets sold for 25 cents on the dollar.

Will the possible savings represent good value? That 20% savings Seguin is hoping for amounts to what, $250,000 or so annually? Yes that’s a big figure, and if your business model is to be the low cost, low service, municipality then you have a bit of a problem. So you will pay about $2 million upfront to perhaps save $250,000 per year. Hmm, that means an eight-year pay back not considering inflation. Add in even limited inflation and it gets to be ten years. Add in cost overruns and it more like twelve years. And if it doesn’t work out and you start getting the municipal police problems seen in too many small community police forces and you decide to wind it down. Ouch, ouch, ouch. But why not get a few of your neighbours to join in and share the pain, I means the savings?

Small police forces too often lead to big problems. An article in USA Today noted that small police forces don’t have the resources to provide qualified oversight, do proper training, and properly monitor performance. Read the article and don’t assume that Seguin is Mayberry and you will have Andy Griffith and Barney Fife running the show. Actually that might be a great example of the type of policing you will get, except this is real life, not a television script.

Someone needs to take responsibility. Do local councils really want the responsibility of managing a police force? In the case of Seguin, Carling and The Archipelago perhaps they have the time to keep a close eye on a police force in terms of costs and quality control. They don’t have much to worry about beyond road maintenance and making sure they don’t anger the seasonal residents by doing anything that might raise property taxes. Parry Sound Council has their hands full running a real town with real services in addition to managing services for the District. But hey, if the municipal policing thing really doesn’t work out the councillors can always choose to not run for reelection and let someone else clean up the mess.

I look forward to following the OPP deliberations at Seguin Township Council, and may even drop by for a couple of meetings. From what I have read things are starting to heat up. Why watch reality television, when you have council meetings? It’s not as scripted and there is no post production editing.

Handle With Care!

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Council Agenda Preview – April 21, 2015

20 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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You may have noticed that there was no follow up on this site from the last meeting of Council. The most interesting item on that meeting’s agenda in my opinion, Tony Romanelli, RCC Media, regarding an electronic billboard on the CN Trestle on Bowes Street, was cancelled, so I did not attend. I understand it was a packed house with people there in support of the Open Streets Parry Sound Initiative. In the end there were no surprises. The minutes for the meeting are available at the Town’s website.

This week’s agenda looks a little bit lighter, but probably will not be that short. There is an extended deputation, 30 minutes have been set aside for a presentation by the Municipal Property Assessment corporation (MPAC).

Public Meeting
2.1 – A public meeting respecting a housekeeping amendment to the Town of Parry Sound Zoning By-law 2004-4653 under Sections 34 of the Planning Act, as amended. The purpose of the proposed Zoning By-Law amendment is to amend the Zoning By-law to permit the renovation of existing buildings in the Business Improvement Area for residential units. I’m not sure what this is all about, we’ll need to see the presentation at the meeting.

Correspondence
4.6 – Letter – Don Dudek, owner of 34 Seguin Street. Re: Support for the Zoning By-law Amendment regarding amending the cash-in-lieu of parking provision. This letter supports an elimination or revision of the cash-in-lieu of parking requirement for downtown properties.

Deputations
5.1 – Terrilynne Bannon, Municipal Relations Representative, Municipal Property Assessment Corporation. Re: Education and Training Session about MPAC. The presentation is available as part of the Meeting Agenda Package. You can download it from this site or request a copy be emailed to you by contacting Parry Sound Town Hall.

5.2 – Bernadette and Erick Phillis, residents of Seguin. Re: Lack of public transportation in Parry Sound. I’m still confused by this on a couple of points. The first is what resources are we as a municipality expected to provide, the second is what resources are the neighbouring municipalities expected to provide. Is there a double standard? Perhaps some information will be provided in the presentation.

5.3 – Dan DiNicolo, IT Co-ordinator, Town of Parry Sound. Re: Overview of the Town’s new website. This should be interesting. I have one beef with the new site as outlined in a recent post, but all-in-all it’s a great improvement.


Resolutions and Direction to Staff
9.3.1 – Tower Hill Heritage Garden. Resolution. That the efforts of the Tower Hill Gardeners that are part of the Civic Beautification committee of the Parry Sound and District Horticultural Society at Tower Hill continue; and That it be resolved that Council approves in principle the plans identified in the report attached as Schedule “A”, to continue to beautify the Tower Hill site, in consultation with and approval from the Director of Public Works. See the full agenda package for information on what’s in the plans.

9.3.4 – RFP Wharf Repairs – Seguin River Parkette. Resolution. That Council accept the proposal from Schlager Excavating in the amount of $21,700.00, taxes extra, for repair of the wharf located at the Seguin River Parkette. If you have been by this area, it’s by the Chippewa III, you will have noticed barriers alerting people to keep away from the crumbling decking.

9.3.5 – Gas Tax for Transportation Options. Direction. That Council directs staff to negotiate an agreement with the West Parry Sound District Community Support Services (CSS) for the provision of a specialized transportation service. This may address the lack of public transportation for users of specialized transport. Again I ask, what services do our neighbouring municipalities provide for their residents. Do their residents all move to Parry Sound when they need additional services? We already dedicate a large portion of our limited space for District service buildings that do not pay municipal taxes.


By-laws
10.2.1 – Adoption of 2015 Budget By-law. Being a By-law to adopt the Operating and Capital Budget Estimates for the Year 2015.

10.2.2 – Striking tax rates for fiscal year 2015. Being a bylaw to Strike the Tax Rates for Municipal Purposes for the Year 2015.

10.4.1 – Agreement to permit access onto Town lands in the Archipelago to evaluate the properties. Being a By-law to authorize the execution of two agreements for the access and assessment of Town owned lands by Henvey LP. This is a bit weird, and is a result of Town management of EMS services for the District. The agreement requests approval to assess certain EMS sites in the Pointe as Baril area as part of a transmission line installation review. I’m sure there is more to it than that, but this may get you started. If you are interested contact the Town of Parry Sound for more information.

There is more, but now that your interest has been raised you are going to check out the full agenda at this link, or the Town’s website for the summary agenda but not the full package (boooooo!).

Don’t Worry – We’ll Still Watch What Goes on at Council.
 (Parry Sound in Glorious Colour)

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Local Policing. A Bargain. Really?

11 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by in Reflections, Seguin Township

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I read with interest the CBC article by Neil Mcdonald titled – “Ferguson’s predatory police are not the only ones”. It’s worth a read and underlies the premise of this post. Here’s a link to the article on the CBC website.

His article discusses the US Federal Government’s report on the very serious misuse of police powers in Ferguson, Missouri. The report suggests the local police were more interested in creating revenue from ticketing and fines, presumably to validate their jobs, than protecting the public. Neil Macdonald suggests that Ferguson is not the only community to face this type of police behaviour. The article notes that, “A law-abiding, mentally impaired employee of a local convenience store — a black man — was such an easy target that he was arrested 258 times in four years, often dragged out of his bedroom in the back of the establishment.” Note the words – law abiding.

So with the objective of saving money the surrounding municipalities are looking at creating a local police force that would be accountable to the local councils and staff. What would be their accountability? How would they be supervised and monitored? Would the police force be asked to create enough revenue to offset a portion of their costs? Might policing become a net profit centre? Those tourists seem like easy pickings, sort of like Canadians driving through Georgia for their winter vacation in Florida.

Yes, I know this is Canada and we don’t behave like those morally suspect capitalist Americans. We would never allow a similar situation. Or would we? Have local police forces across Canada ever focused their attention on revenue generating issues rather than protecting the public? All members of the public? There are how many missing Aboriginal women in Canada that it seems neither the politicians nor the police want to find or investigate their disappearance.

I’ve mentioned this before but it’s worth repeating. A former Parry Sound resident who grew up in town, and was in high school in the 70’s, told me that he often wondered when the local police officer approached a group of students whether he was looking to bust, or looking to sell. This was a time when Parry Sound had its own police force, and I’m told there were some very serious conflicts of interest. The Town with time eliminated the police force and brought in the OPP. Yes, this was a high school student who perhaps bought into the local gossip about the local police. But perhaps it wasn’t gossip, perhaps it was fact. Regardless, a police force that does not have the trust of the people they are tasked to protect is unable to do their job. If you can’t trust the police are you likely to ever cooperate with them?

Are the OPP perfect? No, there are too many individuals with borderline personality disorders who are attracted to policing because of the discretionary power it provides them. But there is a system, a province wide system, in place to monitor and weed out those who either don’t fulfill their roles, or who abuse the system and the people. It’s much harder to do if you have a police force that is managed by individuals who have no experience doing this, and who may carry political or personal agendas.

So I wish the local communities luck with their plans to implement local policing. It can be done, it can be successful, but great care needs to be taken that rot doesn’t set it.

Ferguson seems to have rotted right to the core, police, staff and probably the politicians. But hey, that’s there not here. We’re different aren’t we?

I’m happy to pay a bit more for policing and have it operated professionally. Not perfectly, professionally.

 Cleaning Up! (Parry Sound, Night Crawling)

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Council Agenda Preview – January 20, 2015

20 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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Tonight’s agenda weighs heavier on the deputation end of things than usual. Most of the items before Council seem related to updating policies and procedures. I’m glad to see the Town is working on issues that may not be urgent but are still important.

Public Meeting 

2.1.1 – Application B/5/2014(PS). It is proposed to be rezoned from a Marine Residential (RM) zone to a Marine Residential holding (RM-h) zone. It’s hard to figure out from the attached documentation but it appears to be the property across Emily from the recently constructed Habitat for Humanity home, back a hundred feet that doesn’t seem to have access to a public road. It seems the Town is putting additional restrictions on the property rather than loosening them perhaps to permit the owners to sell the property. There is no information in the council package regarding the nature of the holding provision. Additional information may be provided at the meeting.

 

Correspondence

4.1 – Letter. Fluoridation of the Town’s Water Supply. This letter expresses concern about the addition of fluoride to the Town’s  water supply. A couple of thoughts; the difference between a medicine and a poison is the dose, what can heal can also kill if taken in excess. People may be surprised where raw materials for products that are consumed by humans are sourced. A regularly prescribed hormonal supplement for the treatment of post menopausal symptoms is still sourced from the urine of pregnant mares. I expect the Town will look into the available evidence concerning the benefits and risks of public water fluoridation and return with a reasoned response. 

4.2 – Belvedere Heights’ 2015 Operating Levy. No surprises here, but it’s interesting to see the relative municipality assessments. Parry Sound is in the fourth spot with $777 million of assessment behind Seguin with $2.9 billion, Archipelago with $1.8 billion and Carling with $870 million. Got to love those high end seasonal residences, don’t call them cottages. Too bad they don’t like to pay for infrastructure, not even the high speed internet they are ‘pining’ for. Perhaps they can get taxpayers from the Province and the rest of Canada to subsidize their ‘need for speed’. 

4.4 –  Letter. High Water Levels on Lake Manitouwabing.

 

Deputations

5.1 – Perry Harris, CEO, Parry Sound Area Chamber of Commerce. Proposed Designated Information Centre, Year in Review. This includes a pitch requesting financial support for the Chamber’s tourism initiative in the Town’s 2015 budget to fill the gap left when the Travel Centre at the 400 was closed a year ago.

5.2 – Tony Romanelli, RCC Media Re: Digital Billboard on the CN Train Bridge crossing Bowes Street. I am concerned that this puts commerce ahead of safety and common sense. My letter to Council is linked here. We have had three traffic related deaths in the Town in the past decade, let’s not create a situation that adds to the number.

5.3 – Petition to construct sidewalks to the new elementary school. Makes sense, let’s keep the kids safe if we are requiring them to walk to school. Shouldn’t this expense be shared with the School Board?

 

Consent Agenda

8.1 – Support of Funding Request from Near North District School Board to Ministry of Education regarding joint school campus in Parry Sound. Parry Sound is joining the McDougall initiative in this matter.

 

Resolutions and Direction to Staff

9.3.1 – Resolution. Stockey Centre Catering Service Agreement. Staff is suggesting the Town contract with a new caterer as the current contract holder has decided not to apply for renewal.

9.5.1 – Direction. Strategic Planning Ad-hoc Committee be established to develop an outline to develop the 2015 – 19. The Plan is based on a similar format to that undertaken in 2011 and submit the outline to Council February 3rd for approval.

 

By-laws

10.1.1 – By-law. To appoint a Treasurer for the Corporation of the Town of Parry Sound.

10.1.2 – By-Law. To authorize temporary borrowing to meet the current expenditures of the Town of Parry Sound until taxes are collected and other revenues are received.

10.1.3 – By-law. To approve an Investment Policy for the Corporation of the Town of Parry Sound. This is a bigger issue that is well described in the council package. The proposal is that the Town invest in conservative financial instruments that are not simple interest bearing accounts.

10.1.4 –  By-law to define the purchasing policies and procedures for the Corporation of the Town of Parry Sound. This is a large document that defines and refines the Town’s purchasing and contracting policies. A necessary read if you are a current or future supplier.

I will be at the meeting tonight to attend the open meeting and listen to the deputations and Councillor reports. The rest of the agenda seems to offer the prospect of providing little more than what is in the council package.

 

The Way It Was – Before the Freeze (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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