Tag Archives: Archipelago

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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The Smart Community

16 Friday May 2014

Posted by in Parry Sound, Reflections, Seguin Township

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I was invited to attend a West Parry Sound Smart Community presentation yesterday evening that provided an update on the project. In short the project is intended to provide most, if not all, West Parry Sound municipality residents with access to reliable high speed internet. With the exception of Parry Sound most of the communities have limited access to affordable higher speed internet services such as cable and rely on a patchwork of services that include cellular, satellite and DSL. In general these services are not particularly reliable, fast or reasonably priced. One Seguin resident noted that they pay $105 per month for 15 GB of data through one of the cellular providers. Service can be very spotty and unexpectedly change if one of the suppliers decides to reorient one of its towers. The arrival of summer with cottagers and campers in the provincial parks means what was reasonable service is likely to be swamped with the influx of these seasonal users.

There is a definite need for better internet service for communities outside of Parry Sound. The West Parry Sound Smart Community has the objective of developing and implementing a plan to provide this type of service. Vianet has agreed to work with the West Parry Sound Smart Community and provide high-speed fiber service. This service will depend on the installation of infrastructure that is estimated to cost on the order of $30-$40 million. The status of the plan was the topic of last night’s discussion. Rather than summarize the presentation I’ll add my thoughts on the realities of the plan. There is a short summary of the presentation at parrysound.com (no they are not a sister or brother blog to parrysounds.com ;-).

Key Thoughts/Points:

  1. The plan is to provide fiber from end to end with speeds on the order of 100 Mbps. This is very fast and more than almost any residential and most business infrastructure can fully exploit, like your car that can hit 200 kph but you are limited to 100 kph. Right now cable provides about 10-25 Mbps, and cellular 2-5 Mbps (LTE can be higher).
  2. The cost will be split 1/3 Vianet (~$10 Million) and 2/3 regional municipalities (~$25 million). The regional municipalities will look to provincial and federal governments to cover the cost.
  3. The case is being made that high-speed internet is a necessity to attract businesses. That may be the case for ‘onesy and twosy’ type high tech entrepreneurs. Real businesses will also require additional infrastructure, i.e., water and sewer service, that only Parry Sound currently provides. It seems that better internet service really will have its greatest impact on residential satisfaction. The municipalities will be able to offer low taxes and cheap high-speed internet service. Businesses will be interested but unlikely to bring in a 50 person business that depends on septic systems.
  4. Doing some back of the envelope calculations it seems the creation of a Smart Community high-speed internet service will cost about $1,500 to $3,000 per potential user. I have not included Parry Sound in the calculations because we already have reliable internet service in most of the town (cable, DSL and cellular). And we are likely to have higher speed fiber based internet service by the early 2015, without any additional federal or provincial funding.

I’m happy to see this initiative being undertaken by the West Parry Sound District municipalities, but I don’t want to see the Town of Parry Sound paying for it. We carry the burden of providing significant infrastructure services for Town residents, visitors and the outlying communities. We will be ‘wired’ at no cost to the Parry Sound residents regardless of whether the Smart Community initiative succeeds or fails. We are big enough and concentrated enough to be able to attract these services without federal or provincial support and subsidy.

It’s the outlying municipalities that depend on Parry Sound for many of their services who need to find the resources to pay for this type of infrastructure upgrade. Parry Sound has been investing heavily in infrastructure, we don’t need to be subsidizing our neighbouring municipalities’ wish for faster and more reliable internet services. By most any definition Parry Sound already is a “Smart Community”.

Show me the fiber! (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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Council Meeting Notes – January 21, 2014

23 Thursday Jan 2014

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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Well after Tuesday night’s meeting of Council I have come to understand that when it comes to the Town it’s better to miss deadlines than it is to meet them. Better to apologize or obfuscate than lead. Budget’s falling behind? That’s okay we’ll cram. There may be mistakes and too little time spent on the details but it will get done. In breach of AODA legislation? Well it’s not really fair anyways and we’ll get around to it.

After a day to think about it I realize I was sorely disappointed with the way the Mayor dressed down volunteers at Tuesday night’s deputation. [Full disclosure, my wife was one of the volunteers.] Their transgression? Putting together a preliminary plan for a Market Square Park upgrade to provide for a more people friendly location and applying for TD Green Streets funding without running it by Council. The application was filed a week or two ago to meet the application deadline and the plan was presented to Council at their first meeting of the New Year (there is only one in January). Interestingly this is a no lose situation. The Town can always turn down the funding if the application is successful.

Lead, follow or get out of the way. But don’t get ahead of Council or you will be reprimanded in public.

This really was out of character for the Mayor and Council to criticize volunteers in a public session of Council. What’s going on? It smelled like a set up. Should we be provided with more information about what is being discussed in closed sessions of Council? There is a formal process for asking just those types of questions.

Councillors Reports and Questions of Staff

Nothing of real importance was raised.

Correspondence

4.1 – Belvedere Heights Board of Management with an invoice for Parry Sound’s annual contribution to the operation of Belvedere Heights in the amount of $108,053.24. [Received and forwarded to Staff.]

4.2 – A request from the Royal Canadian Legion to support advertising in the Military Service Recognition Book being developed to recognize Veterans both past and present in print form. [This was later addressed as a Consent Agenda item. The Town agreed to take a $545 ad in the publication.]

4.3 – A Municipal Blue Box Recycling payment of $11,216.55 for 3Q2013 in the amount. [Noted and forwarded to Staff.]

Deputations

5.1  – Anne Bossart regarding Doors Open Parry Sound. [A request for funding to support Doors Open Parry Sound was put on the list for discussion as part of the 2014 budget. Doors Open Parry Sound is scheduled for September 27th.]

5.2 – Lis McWalter-DBA and Anne Bossart regarding Market Square Park. [This had an interesting outcome that deserves some discussion and follow up. It’s not often that volunteers receive a public ‘dressing down’, but that was the case here. It seems the Mayor and Council are none too pleased with individuals with too much initiative. This was a case of no harm, no foul, but it seemed to have resulted in a 10-minute misconduct penalty. Some apologies were offered after the session but too little and too late in my opinion. Lead, follow or get out of the way; but if you choose to lead watch your back in Parry Sound. I’ll have more on this in a future post.]

Consent Agenda

Council agreed to an open meeting of Council on February 11th at 6:00 PM to review the 2014 budget. As was mentioned at the meeting things are more than a little behind schedule.

Resolutions and Directions to Staff

9.1.1 – Asset Management Plan for the Town of Parry Sound. Council endorses the Asset Management Plan, as a living document, for the Town’s Roads, Bridges, Water Treatment, Water Mains, Wastewater Treatment, Sanitary Sewer Mains and Storm Sewers as prepared by Tulloch Engineering, attached as Schedule “A”. [CARRIED]

9.1.2 – Pre-budget approval – Hanging Flower Baskets. [CARRIED. Okay, how about we put an additional $15K in the 2014 budget to pay for hanging flower baskets in 2015? That way they can be ordered even earlier and we can avoid wasting Council’s time discussing whether it is appropriate to consider pre-budget approval items. Frankly I don’t really see why the outlines of a budget can’t be hashed out by Christmas. Yes, I realize the final numbers don’t come in until February but having watched the last two budgets being ‘cooked’ I have come to realize that 95% of the items that are actually reviewed and debated could be agreed with what is available to Council in October. And 75% of the Town’s budget really isn’t even up for discussion or review, it’s just a roll-over from the previous year with cost of living increases. I simplify, but not very much.]

9.1.3 – Public Transit System and achieving AODA compliance. [CARRIED. After much ‘hand wringing’ Council agreed to this direction but insisted that a letter be sent to the Province and surrounding communities letting them know this is ‘not fair’. It has been more than two years since the legislation was passed and only now are we letting the Province know we don’t like it? This is an item that was discussed a year ago with an agreement that a plan would be put forward by August of 2013. It’s now put off until August of 2014, with a proposed public transit service cut-off date of year-end 2014. How about we get Town Staff some help on this. We have no problem paying an engineering consulting group $25K to tell us how to fix a sagging gabion wall, how about some money getting a consultant in to help us with the public transit challenge. It’s an issue many communities are facing. I see that our neighbouring municipalities have hired a consultant to help them understand the issues of installing their own police force. That’s often the best way to address issues that are ‘one ups’ and require a specialized knowledge of legislation and available remedies.]

9.2.1 – Request to Amend the No Smoking By-law. That a ratepayer’s request to amend Bylaw 2012-6087, Smoking Bylaw, to include entrances at multi-unit dwellings in the smoking prohibition section, be denied. [CARRIED, which means the Town will not regulate smoking in non-public areas. The right decision in my opinion, it’s neither easy to judge nor would it be easy to enforce. If you have a problem speak to your neighbours and/or speak to your landlord. We shouldn’t expect that everything is covered by law or by-law.]

9.2.2 – Permit Parking Request. That the property owner’s written request for an additional parking permit in front of their building at 19 Parry Sound Road, be denied. [CARRIED, after some discussion. It’s a problem, but not one that should be fixed by having the Town demand other property owners give up their space. Once again it’s an opportunity to work with neighbours on a solution rather than expect the Town to legislate a solution.]

9.2.3 – Partnership Community Living – People to People Program. That Council support in principle the partnership with Community Living to assist with their educational program – “People to People” and provide a letter of support for the funding application. [CARRIED]

9.3.1 – Departmental Business Plans and Key Performance Objectives (KPO’s). That the 2014 Departmental Business Plans be approved as attached Schedule “A”; and that the 2014 Key Performance Objectives Summary for all departments be approved as attached Schedule “B”. [CARRIED]

9.4.1 – Tom Thomson, Signage Partnership. [CARRIED]

9.4.2 – Consent Application 146 and 154 Louisa Street. That Council supports Consent Application No. B36/2013(PS) for a lot addition. [CARRIED]

9.4.3 – Lot Grading Report Follow-up. That Council receives for information the Lot Grading Report, dated December 3, 2013, attached as Schedule “A”, and that Council directs that no further action be taken with respect to the Lot Grading Report, dated December 3, 2013. [Resolution – CARRIED. Direction – DEFEATED. Council received the report and directed Staff to return with a proposal that would provide property owners with some relief in the case of unreasonable erosion issues arising from new construction.]

9.6.1 – Request for CN & CP Bridge Structural Engineering Reports. That Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railways be requested to provide the Engineer’s Bridge Structure Report(s) for all the railway bridges within the Town of Parry Sound to the Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Parry Sound. [CARRIED, with a couple of qualifications, all of which make sense.]

By-Laws

10.2.1 – Shared By-law Enforcement Services with The Township of the Archipelago. Being a Bylaw to execute an agreement between the Corporation of the Town of Parry Sound and the Township of the Archipelago for By-law Enforcement Services for a period of one year. [CARRIED. Council understood that this is a ‘sweet deal’ for our neighbours and asked Staff to review the actual costs of providing the services. This will be part of the decision process for any 2015 renewal. A couple of interesting figures were provided in the discussion; the Archipelago used less than 15 hours of By-Law services in 2013, while Carling used more than 250 hours. If we round that up to 300 hours (about 8 full-time weeks) and assume both municipalities pay $555 per month regardless of service use we can estimate an income of about $24,500 for the Town related to contract By-Law services. Well that will pay for the flower baskets but perhaps those eight weeks would be better spent addressing issues like meeting the Town’s AODA compliance obligations.]

10.5.1 – Letter of Agreement with MTO for Dedicated Gas Tax Funds for Public Transportation. A by-Law to authorize a Letter of Agreement between the Province of Ontario and the Corporation of the Town of Parry Sound, related to funding provided by the Province of Ontario to the Municipality under the Dedicated Gas Tax Funds for Public Transportation. [CARRIED]

10.6.1 – Parry Sound Hydro Corporation. A by-law to confirm the proceedings of the October 12, 2012, November 19, 2012, February 11, 2013, March 19, 2013, April 22, 2013, July 26, 2013, September 17, 2013, October 24, 2013 and November 19, 2013 Meetings of the Board of Directors for Parry Sound Hydro Corporation. [CARRIED]

I Get It. (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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These notes review only those portions of the council meeting that I see as having greater importance or general community interest. See my agenda preview posts for additional comments.

The official minutes from council meetings are available at the Town of Parry Sound website, no later than the Friday following the meeting. The full council proceeding are available on video through Cogeco. Schedule details are available from the town office (705-746-2101).

Council Agenda Preview – March 5, 2013

05 Tuesday Mar 2013

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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Agenda Highlights:

Correspondence and Deputations:

4.1, 4.2, 4.3 – there are three letters of correspondence. All three are interesting in their own way, and I offer a few comments.

Near North District School Board (NNDSB) is requesting quick town review and approval for investments in water supply, road upgrades and sidewalks. The NNDSB is prepared to make these investments at their own cost, but with town approval. It is not that simple of course. The NNDSB also included proposals for the Town of Parry sound to co-invest in upgrades to these investments that would improve town facilities, at a price that could exceed $500,000. And they want a quick decision to allow pre-construction of the new school to start this spring. I’m sure this will be a topic for the budget discussion review on the 6th.

The West Parry Sound District Museum Board is requesting a $25,000 grant for 2013. This is a regular request and represents the direct financial support the Town of Parry Sound provides to the museum, in addition to the outstanding loan.

The Belvedere Heights Board has presented the 2013 annual levy for Belvedere Heights. The amount for 2013 is a little less than $100,000. What is interesting is the attachment that lists the weighted assessments for the various surrounding communities. Parry Sound’s ’weighted’ assessment is about $717 million and Carling’s is $775 million. The assessment for the Township of the Archipelago’s is $1.7 billion, and for Seguin almost $2.8 billion. These figures provide a good idea of where the ‘money’ really is, as far as property assessments are concerned and makes one wonder why some communities are so reticent to support facilities in other municipalities that their own residents regularly use. Oh, yeah, it’s because they like to keep their taxes low for the benefit of the seasonal residents who claim they don’t use those services.

There are no scheduled deputations this week.

Resolutions and Directions to Staff

9.1.1 – is resolution to discontinue negotiations with Creative Outdoor Advertising. This is the group that would place benches in Parry Sound with advertising on the back. I’m not sure why the discussions are being terminated but I’m in agreement. The upside to the town was on the order of $1,000 per year and would have, in m opinion, ‘junked’ up the town. If the councillors would like to see more revenue from advertising perhaps should consider placards, sort of like the Bobby Orr Community Centre, displayed at council meetings that would be seen during the council meeting replays on Cogeco. Each of the councillors could have their own brand in front of their microphone. Some councillors would be able to get more than others for their their ‘seat’ location based on their actual contributions at the council meetings.

9.2.1 – is a direction to develop a records retention policy.

9.4.2 – Ribfest is back for 2013, from July 11th to 14th. This is a resolution to lift the noise restrictions for the duration of the event.

9.5.1, 9.5.2 – these are a pair of resolutions to accept the annual water treatment and waste water reports. These reports make for rather interesting reading. I’ll probably prepare a post next week summarizing the town’s water operations.

9.5.3 – this is a resolution to accept the proposed video surveillance policy. It’s worth noting that the town regularly has video surveillance of the Municipal Office, the water booster station at Church and Isabella (the high school challenge), the dog pound, the public works yard and the transfer station. So, be on your best behaviour when in these area – you’re on candid camera. The policy and program makes sense to me.

9.6.2 – this is a resolution to accept the IBI Report recommendation for the Argyle EMS station.

By-Laws

10.2.1 – is a by-law to increase the cemetery fees, and follows last meeting’s acceptance of the fee increase by council (about 10%).

10.4.1 – is a by-law to renew, with revisions, the Now That’s Catering agreement for catering services at the Stockey Centre. The revised agreement provides the Stockey Centre with a little more flexibility with respect to food privileges for non-profit organizations.

10.4.2 – is a by-law to rezone town property for the proposed Age in Place development beside Canadore College. At this point I find the proposed rezoning non-controversial and look forward to the start of construction.

10.4.3 – is a by-law to declare surplus and put up for sale the lots carved out of the William Street Park. This is the next step of the planned disposal of town property to capture value for the properties and to spur additional development. The town is proposing to put the proceeds into a reserve.

10.4.4 – another by-law, this one to close up the Sarah and Clara Street road allowances. These are small non-existent streets off George Street and the process is part of the preparations for the sale of lots on George Street. This of course will ultimately depend on the agreement of the province as the lands proposed for rezoning and eventual development were given to the town with the provision that they were to be used for non-residential and commercial uses.

There’s a bit more on the agenda, but really not worth mentioning here. See you tonight (I will be there).

Click on the link below and it will take you to http://www.parrysights.com, where I have combined the Bridge Art photos into two videos. This will link you to Part 1.

Bridge Art – The Video (Part 1)

Parry Sound Bridge Art – 1

Council Meeting Summary – December 18, 2012

19 Wednesday Dec 2012

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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Last night’s meeting had a little more excitement than usual as an unexpected roadblock arose for what was expected to be a non-controversial issue. There were a couple of last minute items added to the agenda that will impact the town going forward. And the latest information on heating in the BOCC is that it should be operational Friday, the 21st, in time to handle the bit of a freeze we expect this weekend. (Assuming of course the world doesn’t end as suggested by the Mayan Apocalypse wing-nuts.)

Some information was provided concerning the tree removal that is ongoing on Tower Hill. Apparently there is concern that the problem with diseased trees is spreading beyond Tower Hill to the adjacent MNR property. I hope that we will be presented with a comprehensive plan to remediate and appropriately replant the garden and plantation (the forested area as it was originally called). There are many experienced resources the town has available to ask for advice and help. I expect to provide a post on the Tower Hill tree situation in the next couple of weeks with some before and after photos. There are still more trees that need to come down so the Public Works group will be busy for some time to come as their schedules permit.

Unless budget cuts are enacted there will be Christmas tree pick up in the New Year.

 Meeting Highlights:

4.1 – the letter to council with comments on the Official Plan was forwarded to the Community Development department.

6.4.3 – was a last minute addition to the agenda that came out of the earlier closed meeting and concerned a settlement with property taxes for the Lakeland Long Term Care facility. I am not sure I caught all of the details but apparently the facility will be paying property taxes to the town in the amount of $123,000 per year. Of this total the West Parry Sound Health Centre is responsible for 15%, and the province 85%. The town intends to return the hospital’s portion as a donation, so there is no net impact on the hospital’s financial position as a result of the settlement. (Note: this was a last minute agenda item that was only briefly discussed and explained, so the town should be consulted for details. I apologize in advance if any portion of this summary is incorrect or misleading.)

8.1 – a resolution in support of the Township of the Archipelago’s statement related to their concerns about low water levels in Georgian Bay was carried. There is a plan to hold a multi-community meeting on February 6th hosted by Parry Sound and the Archipelago to discuss and address the challenges of the low water.

9.1.1 – a resolution for the Public Works department to submit an Expression of Interest for provincial infrastructure funding was approved. After much debate about what program(s) would be identified, and discussion of the town’s asset management plan, it was agreed that first priority would be given to Forest Street. The province has apparently increased the size of the fund to $90 million, with individual project funding of up to $2 million.

9.3.1 – council approved a direction to send a letter to the provincial government requesting the restrictive covenant on the George Street properties be lifted to permit their sale as property lots by the town. There was a sense that the province would not act quickly on this request, but a time frame was not offered by staff.

9.4.1 – a resolution regarding recognition certificates and plaques was approved.

9.5.1 – a resolution supporting revisions to the current draft of the Official Plan that would permit the Old Pump House to be used for a variety of non-residential purposes elicited considerable discussion before being carried. As it now stands the property has a special designation that permits it to be used as a residence, but none of the uses suggested by the Waterfront Committee. Even uses that would be permitted by a residential designation, for example a bed and breakfast or home business, are not permitted, as the property is not now zoned residential. With this understood, council approved the resolution as drafted. There were concerns raised by several members of council about parking issues that might arise with some of the suggested uses. But these it was agreed, could be addressed later when an application was actually made to adapt the property for one of these uses.

10.3.1 – a by-law permitting six separate residential units in the existing building at 48 Cascade Street was approved.

10.3.2, 10.3.3 – council approved by-laws permitting the sale of town properties on Emily Street and Railway Avenue, as well as Ye Olde Pumpe House (sounds 18th Century and exclusive doesn’t it).  An interesting discussion arose as to whether the town and the public were better served by the current process of requesting bids for properties or using a real estate firm. My sense is that the use of a real estate agent is better, even if it costs the town a percentage of the sale price. This approach would permit the ‘average Joe’ to express an interest and purchase the property. As it is now the process is familiar only to developers who know what the process is, and have an idea of what a fair market price might be. How does the average person figure out where to get the forms, how to fill them out, much less determine a reasonable price? So the ‘average Joe’ doesn’t bother and the developers get the property at a ‘commercial’ rate, not one that might be upped by the interest of non-developers. This is particularly true of these single lots that are being offered for sale. Perhaps a town resident wants to build a house for themselves or help a sibling or child. They really aren’t in a position to bid on the house with a reasonable expectation of being successful. So, for bigger pieces of real estate, let’s say something that would support a five or ten house development, keep the current bid process, the ‘average Joe’ really wouldn’t be interested. But for individual lots, and Ye Olde Pumpe House, let’s use a real estate agent. It’s a more inclusive process that may actually bring in more money, even after a real estate commission.

10.4.1, 10.4.2 – council approved by-laws establishing billing and collection procedures for water and waste water services, and the setting of an interim tax levy for 2013 pending the approval of a final budget.

10.5.1 – a by-law to enter into a 5-year agreement with Festival of the Sound to rent the CP station for use as its headquarters was passed, but not before some interesting maneuvering. What started out as a reasonably innocent request for information on whether the Festival or the town were responsible for snow removal (the town was in the proposed lease), turned into a couple of amendments and three separate votes. The councillor who raised the initial question suggested that it wasn’t fair that the Festival would not be responsible for snow removal costs, while the Chamber who rent the CN Station were. (Note: the Chamber does pay for snow removal, but doesn’t pay rent, does pay property taxes and utilities, but sublets a portion of the property and collects rent. Got it?) So an amendment was proposed and passed that effectively stated the Festival would be responsible for comparable costs as were the responsibility of the Chamber. But that would of course mean the Festival would need to review the revised terms with their Board, and the proposed January 1, 2013 start of the lease would not be possible, especially if they suggested additional terms that required council review and approval. (This is getting too long, let me start another paragraph. There’s more.)

So one of the councillors reminded council the deals couldn’t be compared, rent – no rent, snow plowing – no snow plowing, etc., or as they said “it’s apples and oranges”. But since the amendment had been carried by a majority of the council members they could not  go back and vote on the original lease proposal, which at this point seemed reasonable to the majority of council. So it was proposed that a second amendment be put forward and voted on that would specifically state the town was responsible for any cost related to snow removal at the CP Station. This amendment was carried, and all that remained was voting on the original by-law, with the two amendments that offset each other. The by-law was carried with one dissention, the councillor who hadn’t properly read the lease agreement and asked the initial snow-plowing question. So all’s well that end well. The town is in a better position financially and the Festival has a wonderful location from which to build it’s brand and bring even more visitors to Parry Sound to help support the local economy. (Disclosure: our daughter works for Festival of the Sound.)

All in all it was an interesting and entertaining meeting (there is no admission charge and there are lots of great seats). And it was over by 8:30.

The next meeting of council is January 15th. The Mayor’s Levee will be held in the council chambers on the 13th, with more information to follow. See you there, and happy holidays. (Note: I wanted to save this piece of Bridge Art for the start of the NHL season, but no luck, and no hope for anything soon. Enjoy the action at the BOCC.)

Bridge Art – Hockey

Bridge ARt - Hockey

Council Agenda Preview – December 18, 2012

16 Sunday Dec 2012

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After a very full agenda last meeting, the December 18th session isn’t quite as packed. The whole issue of the 2013 budget though still looms large over council and staff.

Those of you who spend time on Tower Hill have doubtless noted the many trees that have been cut down in the last couple of weeks. And there is more work to be done. There were many dead trees on Tower Hill, apparently done-in by pine bark beetles and the stress of the drought this past summer. It will be interesting to see what the town’s plans are to replace the trees. Not all of the trees should be replaced but it would be a shame to leave it as denuded as it is now. This is an investment that will take decades to be fully realized. I’ve been told that the best time to plant a tree is thirty years ago. The second best time is now!

Agenda Highlights:

4.1 – concerns a resident letter to council with comments on the Official Plan. There are some very good comments that I expect the Community Development department will consider for inclusion in the current draft of the plan. The Official Plan is much more important than most people realize because once reviewed and approved by the province it is no trivial task to get approvals for deviations.

8.1 – is a resolution in support of the Township of the Archipelago’s statement related to their concerns about the low water levels in Georgian Bay. In addition to general statements of concern they are requesting the suspension of certain environmental restrictions to permit blasting and dredging of shoreline within the Archipelago. Low water levels are certainly a concern for many. Like droughts, the current low water levels may be a normal deviance from the average, or they may be an indicator of even greater changes as a consequence of global climate change. Let’s be sure not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

9.1.1 – this is a resolution for the Public Works department to make preparations to take advantage of a provincial infrastructure program known as MIII Capital Program Funding. The town has identified more than $8 million worth of projects related to waste water and water supply upgrades that would qualify.

9.3.1 – is a direction relating to the town property on George Street. The direction involves sending a letter to the provincial government requesting the restrictive covenant on these properties be lifted to permit their sale as property lots by the town.

9.4.1 – is a resolution regarding recognition certificates and plaques. It seems that school kids get gold stars while adults get plaques.

9.5.1 – is a resolution supporting revisions to the current draft of the Official Plan that would permit the Old Pump House to be used for a variety of non-residential purposes including:
i) Tea room
ii) Waterworks heritage interpretive museum
iii) Non-licensed restaurant establishment
iv) Artists’ in-residence studio
v) Home-based business
vi) Boutique bed and breakfast

I  expect this revision to the Official Plan will be done in parallel with preparations to put the property on the market.

10.3.1 – is a by-law permitting six separate residential units in the existing building at 48 Cascade Street.

10.3.2 – is a by-law permitting the sale of town properties on Emily Street and Railway Avenue.  Item 10.3.3 is a by-law moving forward the process to sell the  Old Pump House property.

10.4.1, 10.4.2 – are by-laws related to the Finance, Administration and POA Court Services department establishing billing and collection procedures for water and waste water services, and the setting of an interim tax levy for 2013 pending the approval of a final budget.

10.5.1 – is a by-law to enter into a 5-year agreement with Festival of the Sound to rent the CP station for use as its headquarters.

That’s it. I don’t see anything too controversial on the agenda. I hope we will be getting good news about heat at the Bobby Orr Community Centre. Here’s a direct link to the agenda that is hosted at this site if you want to see what what else is being reviewed. Unfortunately you still need to go the library or town hall to see the council package.

See you at the meeting. I’ll also be attending the public meeting of Parry Sound Power (correction – Parry Sound Hydro Corporation) the day before (December 17th, 6:00 PM at town hall.)

Bridge Art – Think Big

Giving a Hand

Parry Sound – Investing for the Common Good

28 Monday May 2012

Posted by in Budget/Financial, Events/Activities, Parry Sound, Suggestions, Urban Development

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I read in the Beacon Star on Friday about how McKellar Township is once again debt free. Again and again I hear criticism from the surrounding municipalities about how Parry Sound has ‘soooo’ much debt. I’m getting tired of it.

Debt by definition is not inherently bad. If we as individuals never took on debt we would never be able to buy a house, or a cottage, or even a car until well after we were able to make the best use of them. Imagine not being able to take a job a few miles away because you refused to take on the debt to purchase a car. Or imagine a nation of renters where the only person who cared about property improvement was the landlord. We’d be controlled by mega-corporations because a private landlord couldn’t or wouldn’t take on the debt to purchase and develop a property. Debt is not bad, poorly managed debt is bad.

So Parry Sound has more debt that the surrounding municipalities. So what? If we can afford it there shouldn’t be any criticism. But people like to suggest that the town’s debt has been taken on for frivolous purposes. I guess this would include the renovation of town hall and the Bobby Orr Community Centre and construction of the the Stockey Centre a decade ago. I suppose they think the town would be better off with a couple thousand septic tanks next to Georgian Bay and a couple thousand wells drawing water rather than a first class water treatment plant.

My sense is that people feel Parry Sound has been extravagant in its capital investments. If things were done properly there should be little or no debt. But as I have noted above debt is not only not a bad thing, it actually can be a good thing. The Great Depression was caused not so much by the stock market crash as it was by the precipitous drop in spending and the clamping down on the money supply. If no one was taking on a prudent amount of debt there would be a much higher level of unemployment.

So what have these ‘frivolous’ expenses contributed to Parry Sound and the surrounding communities? If you live in Parry Sound you surely have a sense of the value of the many investments the town has made in infrastructure and quality of life facilities. But let’s take a look at how the surrounding communities have benefited from the generosity of Parry Sound.

For starters McDougall would not have their municipal water supply if it were not for Parry Sound. There is no way they could afford to build and operate a similar first class water supply operation.

How popular would the West Parry Sound area be for permanent and seasonal residents if the closest retail centre was Bracebridge or Huntsville? For Carling, McDougall, McKellar and most Seguin residents it would mean an 80 km drive one-way to get more than the most basic of supplies or a restaurant meal and entertainment. That would really increase the cost of living here. And do you think these retailers would be willing to locate in areas where they had to depend on wells and sewers and there was not a core population to service and draw employees from?

And what would the local cottagers and residents do for entertainment on a wet weekday or weekend, or a fine spring, summer or fall weekend? You can take only so much of the outdoors in black fly and mosquito season. I wonder how many of the people attending the free events at the Stockey Centre (Bands on the Bay) and the town dock, or using Wabuno Beach, or free skating at the BOCC, or launching their boats at municipal ramps, are the people who pay Parry Sound taxes. At other towns they charge $5 to $10 to launch a runabout. And how about the ‘out of town’ seasonal residents who drop by to pick up a few gallons of drinking water from the Parry Sound municipal taps? The tourists who stay at the hotels, motels and campgrounds in the surrounding municipalities probably would not be staying there if it weren’t for the availability of Parry Sound’s investments.

So get over it McKellar, McDougall, Carling, Seguin and Archipelago. If you are able to deny reasonable services and facilities to your permanent residents in order to keep your seasonal residents from complaining about taxes, go ahead and do it. But please don’t shake your head in dismay about the debt that Parry Sound is carrying.

I have an idea, how about the bunch of you get together and build a regional swimming pool? We can’t afford it but we would be more than happy to use yours for free, or for a nominal charge, the same way you use many of our facilities. We’d be delighted to drive a few kilometers to use it. We promise not to chastise you for your debt. We will actually thank you for helping to stimulate the local economy, some of which might even trickle down to Parry Sound.

We’re Getting Bigger and Better

18 Saturday Feb 2012

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The recent Official Plan presentations to the public and town council provided a wealth of information on the opportunities and challenges facing Parry Sound as it looks toward the next 5, 10 and 20 years. The Official Plan is currently in the review and draft stages with the intention that a final draft of the plan will be provided to the public in the May/June time frame. A draft of the talking points related to the plan is available now, and the opportunity exists to provide your input. The official plan documents are available on the Town of Parry Sound website homepage. Here is a link to get there directly.

While there is much to say about the official plan and what it implies I will focus on some of the new figures that are included in the supporting documents and what they might imply for Parry Sound.

Parry Sound faces a number of challenges. With a relatively small population, and reasonably high service demands, per capita administration and public service costs can be high. This higher cost is not related to extravagance, it’s a function of increasing public expectations. The town is somewhat penalized by providing a number of services and facilities for the surrounding municipalities for which it receives limited compensation.

Let’s look at some encouraging numbers that will impact the thinking of town council and staff as they prepare and review the Official plan. We have achieved population growth. After a decade of seeing the population figures for Parry Sound drop, the 2011 census figures show a strong increase from 2006 to reach a total of 6,191 (+6.4%). We currently have 3,037 private dwellings, of which 94% are occupied on a permanent basis. This translate into an average of 2.2 persons per permanent residence. It’s worth noting that population figures do not include seasonal residents, these individuals are considered residents where they declare their ‘usual residence’. This gets to be important as we look at the surrounding municipalities which have a very high proportion of cottagers.

While Parry Sound grew, Seguin’s permanent population dropped from 4,276 in 2006 to 3,988 in 2011. While there are 4,348 residences in Seguin, only 37%, or 1,627 are permanent residences. This translates to 2.4 residents per permanent household. The drop in population may be an ominous sign for the permanent residents in Seguin. As the tax base becomes more and more concentrated in seasonal residents there is likely to be pressure on the elected officials to reduce services that are not needed by seasonal residents in an attempt to reduce costs and taxes. And with a majority of the residences, and the ability to pretty much declare as many ‘residents’ for voting purposes as they wish, it seems the seasonal population in Seguin will be able to dictate to council what they will and won’t accept in terms of local improvements that would primarily serve the permanent resident population.

McDougall showed no change in this period with a population of 2,705 permanent residents in 2011. About 65% of the residences in McDougall are occupied on a permanent basis, with an average 2.5 persons per residence.

McKellar showed an increase in permanent residents, rising from 1,080 in 2006 to 1,144 in 2011 (+5.8%). Permanent residences accounted for 36% of all residences, a figure similar to that for Seguin, suggesting again that there will be pressure to limit services so as to limit tax increases. The average persons per permanent residence was 2.2.

Carling showed the largest percentage population increase, 11.1%, rising to 1,284 permanent residents in 2011. The proportion of permanent residents was 33%, again suggesting a much larger proportion of seasonal (cottage) residents relative to the permanent population. The average persons per permanent residence was 2.5.

The Archipelago had the lowest permanent population of the surrounding municipalities, 566 in 2011, a slight drop from 2006. About 9% of the residences were considered to be permanent or primary residences. The average persons per permanent residence was 2.2.

So if you are a Parry Sound resident the population figures are good news from a services and taxes basis. More people and more residences mean a larger tax base to support current services. But this will come with more activity in town as we add people on a permanent basis. I see this as a benefit. More people mean more energy, and more energy leads to greater opportunity. If you want a quieter, less expensive place to live you may want to consider one of the nearby municipalities. But then I’m sure we’ll still be seeing you on a regular basis because Parry Sound has what you want and need, even if it’s a half-hour drive away.