Tag Archives: Cogeco

221 Posts, Make that 222…

26 Wednesday Mar 2014

Posted by in Parry Sound, Reflections

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… with this post.

Time to change it up a little. Since the first post at ParrySounds.com almost four years ago the information available to Parry Sound residents concerning the activities at Town Council have vastly improved. No longer is the interested resident limited to having access to a council meeting agenda that could only be viewed at the library and town office. At this point the meeting agendas and the full council packages can now be accessed online and downloaded for viewing, printing and saving.

At the same time the North Star & Beacon Star have increased their coverage, print and online, of Parry Sound council activities, including the budget meetings that are not covered on Cogeco TV. And of course the full proceedings of council can be viewed live and on the Cogeco cable service (delayed).

The net/net is that there seems to be little value for me to actively cover all of the goings on at Council. Interested individuals can easily get the information they need to understand not only what is on the Council agenda, but also the supporting documentation made available to the Councillors. The final decisions are similarly captured in the Council meeting minutes that are posted online by the Town. Topical items are usually well covered in the local media, Moose-FM for quick next day updates, and online a few days later at parrysound.com (no, not this site but MetrolandMedia’s) and then next week in the North Star and Beacon Star.

It takes a fair amount of time to review the agenda package, research, draft, edit and post the agenda preview, attend council meetings, and then draft, edit and post the council meeting notes; about about twenty hours a month.

So the preview and review posts of Council meetings will be limited to issues I feel are of importance to the community and could benefit from some discussion and investigation. That should make it a little more interesting for all involved.

Starting next week we’ll all save some time preparing and reading these posts. That will free up time for me to look in to some of the other issues impacting Parry Sound that don’t receive the attention they should. We really don’t have an appropriately critical mainline press presence in Parry Sound, they are too dependent on Town advertising dollars and Town ‘access’ to chance ‘pissing off’ Council or Staff.

Hollywood North, or is that Near North? (Parry Sound in Black & White)

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It’s Not the Rolling Stone

01 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by in Green Shoots, Parry Sound, Suggestions

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But it is the cover, and it made the editorial page above the fold.

Wow, now I have a sense of what it feels like to be Stephen, Tony, Justin or Peter.

Let’s get my ‘feelings’ dealt with upfront. The article was balanced and the quotes ascribed to me were fair and appropriate. The editorial though seemed to lack some balance. It might have been appropriate for the North Star to have called me to find out if there was something they were missing. You can’t leave Council meetings early all the time and hope the Cogeco broadcast will fill in the gaps. I recall a young reporter for the North Star earlier this year gave me a call to follow up a deputation I had made to Council prior to writing an article on the issue. I sort of thought that was the way things were done when it came to journalism.

But I managed to ‘snag’ the cover and the lead editorial. I must have really pissed someone off. Even Lac-Mégantic and the potential implications for Parry Sound were forced below the fold.

Let’s look at a what was, and wasn’t said, at least from my perspective.

1. At no point did I oppose the planting of memorial trees. I asked that the issue be considered in the context of a plan. Council unanimously agreed and asked that the creation of a Parks Committee be reviewed by Staff prior to their approval of a memorial tree program. Perhaps Council felt they were being ‘railroaded’ by Staff into a hasty decision.

2. The trees on Tower Hill that were lost to the pine beetle infestation are not located where people would consider planting memorial trees. These trees were literally in the bush, well off the beaten path. They are not on the tidy maintained sections of the garden. But the one memorial tree so far was planted in the garden and not the bush. Why?

3. The Town actually has about $20,000 budgeted for tree replacement but has chosen not to use it. Why? Again I’m not sure.

4. Trees are much like puppies. What was cute and small can grow to exceed one’s expectations. So every tree needs to be planted with a sense of what it will look like in 30 years, and how it will impact neighboring trees, shrubs and grass. They all compete for the same rain, sun and nutrients. I think the birch tree was planted too close to the existing maple tree based on the canopies of the existing birch trees in front of the museum. But hey, perhaps I’m thinking ahead too far. And if you have never planted or dug up a tree it’s not a 30 second process, regardless of the size. And transplanting a tree often leads to the tree slowly dying. Now that’s a real memorial tribute.

5. The sprinkling of ashes is a reality, perhaps one that people in town are not yet aware of, and it has implications. And I suppose that there are members of Staff and Council who don’t know what K2, Spice and Bath Salts are, and what they might imply for the youth of our community. It all may not start here but it will get here.

So where will these memorial trees be planted? If the program is to have any real impact on the town we need to be planning on a couple hundred trees. Where will they go? That’s why the Town would do well to prepare a plan. We certainly don’t want to plant trees that would shade our community gardens. We wouldn’t want to plant trees that would interfere with recreation. Yes you could plant them in the bush area of Tower Hill where many trees were recently cut down, but I suspect there won’t be many takers.

One place these memorial trees might be planted is in a row along Bay Street in front of the Stockey Centre. This was part of the original plan for the centre that was never followed up on by the town. These trees would provide for an imposing view as you head down Bay Street and would obscure the not so pleasant view of the OPP and MNR facilities from the front of the Stockey Centre.

What the Town could use are memorial benches in the parks and recreation areas. We don’t have a budget for them and the Town early this year seriously considered entering into an agreement with a company to place benches in Town in exchange for carrying advertising.

It’s my belief that it’s best to stay ahead of the issues and provide information and perspective to the discussion that can lead to better decisions. It really doesn’t do much to complain about things if you haven’t participated.

I’ll give Jack a call in the next couple of days to discuss the editorial. He may not have written it but he signed off on it. I’ll be interested in learning why they didn’t give me a call before publishing the opinion they did. I spoke with him a couple of years ago prior to my involvement in train safety about whether the North Star had a bias against holding the railways accountable for their impact on the town. This followed an editorial the North Star wrote that was critical of people, not me at that point, who complained about the ever increasing noise and pollution that the trains were ‘delivering’. He explained to me that the opinion expressed in their editorial “Our Opinion” often reflected that of certain people in town, not necessarily the newspaper. I guess that’s one way of expressing an opinion and not being held accountable.

Check out the image below taken in mid-May of this year, before the hardwoods (maple, oak, walnut, basswood, …) had fully leafed out. Those aren’t dead tress you see, they are just waiting for their leaves. If the North Star editorial writers were to climb to the top of Tower Hill they might find their dreams have already been realized.

The View From Tower Hill (May 2013)

ParrySights - The View From Tower Hill(Click to enlarge and see in much greater detail)

Council Meeting Notes – June 4, 2013

06 Thursday Jun 2013

Posted by in Parry Sound, Suggestions, Town Council

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Well I was right about this week’s meeting having the potential to be interesting. At one point I was moved to get up and make a deputation (more on this below). There were a number of split decisions, and even a recorded vote, and a member of the audience was told they were out of order. Since the meeting was recorded and will be broadcast on Cogeco I guess you could call it reality TV. Perhaps not at its best, but perhaps it’s most honest. I’m also starting to suspect that some members of council are thinking about re-election when they make their comments and votes.

Councillors and Mayor Reports, Questions of Staff

  1. The town will be looking into the roofing issues at the library.
  2. There was very poor attendance at the open meeting to discuss the use of the Bobby Orr Community Centre.
  3. June 1st saw the start of the non-smoking by-law, this impacts all town public facilities and parks.

Correspondence and Deputation

Well there were two interesting unscheduled deputations (mine doesn’t count). The first deputation concerned the request to plant a commemorative tree on Tower Hill and lay an engraved memorial stone (about 12” x 24” from what I could tell) for a deceased parent. That number increased to five trees by the end of the deputation. At first glance this seems like a reasonable request. Ah yes, if it’s a single request. But what if others want the same consideration? What if Tower Hill becomes a memorial garden with dozens of trees planted in the lawn area with these small pillars? Seems to me that a tree and a memorial stone is basically a grave site. And if that person’s ashes are then spread in the garden it would be a graveyard. And who decides what trees and what memorial stones go where? Are there prime spots and cheap seats? Should we start lining them in rows? Can we start doing the same thing at the Stockey Centre and Waubuno Beach park? Seems like a cheap way to avoid paying for a gravestone and the purchase of a burial plot. No, I don’t like the idea. This is no way for the town to limit the cost of replanting the diseased trees that were cut down. Public parks are not memorial gardens, and memorial gardens aren’t public parks. Council said that they would review the request and respond in the near future. (This was the deputation that caused me to get up and hastily make some of these points.)

I was just advised that if human remains, including ashes in an urn, are buried on a property, the site is deemed a graveyard and subject to additional conditions of operation.

The second deputation concerned a town resident’s request to operate their ATV on the town’s public streets. They claim this is only to get wood from the town’s transfer site that they can split and give to more needy neighbours. It was labeled a charitable request. I’m not sure but I suspect this individual has access to a pickup truck that could provide the same function. And if not, then perhaps the town or members of the community could agree to drop off a load of uncut logs for his charitable use. It would be interesting to see an ATV with trailer wheeling through town with loads of wood. How much wood can an ATV and wagon even tow? But this request was enough to get Council at odds with each other over the present and future of ATVs in town (more below, 9.1.2).

Consent Agenda

Council approved the Clean Air Day request as well as the request for a Tag Day to support a baseball association.

Resolutions and Directions to Staff

7.1 – council approved the employment agreement for the town’s new Director of Emergency and Protective Services (brought forward from closed session).

9.1.1 – Council approved adding a link to the ‘Stop the Drop’ website from the town’s website with certain disclaimers.

9.1.2 – by a split vote, decided by the Mayor, Council decided to forgo development of a by-law to permit the operation of all-terrain vehicles on Parry Sound streets. The discussion was serious although not heated. The council members in support of investigating an ATV by-law seem to agree that there needs to be a plan and support group to warrant the investment of time and effort of town staff to do this. Neither of these conditions now exist, but the councillors who voted against the resolution (and for an ATV by-law development) seemed to be positioning themselves with pro-ATV groups and voters. In the end we won’t have ATVs on town streets until a more formal proposal is presented by a group that has the weight and experience to contribute to developing the logistics for their safe and reasonable use in and around Parry Sound.

9.2.1 – the issue of allowing customers to change from metered to non-metered water service tied Council and Staff in knots. This issue arose as a result of a customer request to move from metered water use to unlimited in an expectation that they would save money. While it’s worth going back and reviewing the town’s legislative history on the matter there is also the issue of principle. Is the town committed to conservation and moving forward with ‘earth friendly’ policies? Personally I feel we should consider moving everyone to metered water service to reduce use. There are actually people in town who ‘wash’ their driveways. Metering would mean considerable cost to the town to buy and install install the units; wireless I guess. And water consumption would probably drop resulting in lower revenue as metered residences reduce their usage and their costs drop below the flat-rate currently being charged. Anyway, the item was postponed until July 2nd so that Staff could look into what resolutions, directions and by-laws had been passed by previous councils that might impact Council’s final decision.

9.3.1 – Council approved the sale of the old pump house building (former Waterworks) for $242,000 without any discussion. I look forward to seeing this wonderful building receive the attention that the town could not afford to give it.

9.3.2 – the proposal from Century 21 Granite Properties to be the listing agent for the Old Pump House was withdrawn. It will be reactivated should the approved sale of the property (9.3.1) not go through.

9.3.3 – the Smelter Wharf inspections and repairs were approved.

9.3.4 – town staff has had discussions with the Ministry of the Natural Resources regarding the ministry’s wetland review of certain Parry Sound properties. Some understanding was reached with respect to the scope and intent of the review. Staff was authorized to continue discussions with the Ministry.

9.3.5 – the town rescinded the sale of the two lots on MacFarlane Street because of existing by-laws that prohibit the development of residences within 100 meters of an odour producing facility (the water treatment plant). Council decided not to look into revising the by-law.

9.4.1 – Council approved the purchase of two new trucks, one ¾-ton and one ½-ton. But not after reiterating their point that buying used was often a smart idea. The Director of Public Works stated that he had spent 30 hours of his personal time doing online research to find appropriate trucks, and more was required. None of the councillors offered to help with the search in hopes of saving the town some money. Okay folks, the difference between new and used is ‘nickels and dimes’ in terms of the overall budget. Let’s say we can save $12,000 per truck upfront buying used. Over 6 years, that saves about $2,000 per truck per year. It also means we would lose perhaps one year of use per vehicle given that it is used. That probably means about 1/5th of the upfront cost is lost, about $6,000, or $1,000 per year. Add in the fact that the trucks probably don’t meet the town’s exact needs, the possibility that they were abused (they are trucks), the repaint cost (Parry Sound red), and tire replacement and you really don’t save anything. But it looks good on reality TV; councillors taking care of your tax dollars.

9.4.2 – the Fowler Construction proposal to design and rebuild the Smelter Wharf boat launch was approved at a savings of about $100,000 over some earlier estimates. Now that’s the type of savings Council should be spending time looking at. If I remember correctly, none of the councillors suggested we look at how the original $160,000 projected cost for the boat launch could be reduced. But everybody knows how to save money buying vehicles. Savings are more likely to come from the more expensive items, and from those areas where limited information is held between buyer and seller. This disconnect is known as ‘Information Asymmetry’ and it applies to the types of things that council deals with on a regular basis, and often ignores.

9.5.1 – Council approved the negotiation of a one-year contract for the town to provide by-law enforcement services to Carling and the Archipelago after a little bit of politicking. Nickel and dime discussions as far as I’m concerned.

By-Laws

10.2.1 – the by-law to specify the 2013 ‘claw-back percentages’ for properties in Parry Sound was approved without discussion.

A final thought and suggestion. How about we ask people who are asking for new by-laws and major changes to submit their request/proposal with the signature of let’s say 20 town residents if they want to have Council and Staff take any action. This wouldn’t prohibit any resident from raising an issue with Staff and Council. It would limit the one-off ideas that Council and Staff have been chasing in the last couple of months. With 20 people behind an idea there is some sense that the issue is real and deserves consideration. But as we have seen with the ATV request there has been absolutely no third party support for the request to operate ATVs in town. Yet Council and Staff have spent hours researching and debating the request. And it’s not over. If a resident wants to get Council’s attention they should first try selling it to their neighbors, friends and family. Council at their discretion could of course choose to pick up any request for review regardless of how much or little verified support is provided. It’s a bit like the US White House ‘We the People’ website requiring 100,000 signatures within a month to address an issue. If someone takes the time to discuss it with others before lobbing it at Council it shows serious intent. (Yes, I would have been able to get 20 signatures for my earlier petition to receive press credentials for this website.)

These notes review only those portions of the council meeting that I see as having greater importance or general community interest. Please see my earlier Council Agenda Preview post for more discussion and details concerning the various agenda items.

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).

Just another Parry Sound Sunset.

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The 2013 Parry Sound Budget is Approved

24 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Budget/Financial, Parry Sound, Town Council

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Last night’s special open meeting of council resulted in an approved 2013 budget for Parry Sound. The bottom line is that the tax levy is up 1.5% over 2012, due in part to taking a little more than $90,000 from the rate stabilization reserved. This a reasonable increase given the inherent cost of living increases, aka inflation rate, for 2012, and the town’s increased costs. The actual increase for homeowners and businesses will depend on how much MPAC increases their individual property assessments. A 1.5% tax rate increase, combined with a 3% property assessment increase, means you will be paying about 4.5% more in 2013 than 2012. And for a property with a $3,000 per year tax bill in 2012, the increase is about $135, with the hypothetical 4.5% combined levy and assessment increases. Not that big, but still significant. But I’m not not sure what the actual MPAC assessment increases are, so your tax bill increase will vary, but it will be up at least 1.5%.

There were few surprises in the 2013 budget as far as I was concerned. The more interesting points were:

1. The repair of the Smelter Wharf (Salt Dock) boat launch is likely to be on the order of a quarter million dollars. That’s quite a bit of money for the town to spend to provide a free recreational service that competes with private businesses who pay local taxes, especially when we have two other boat launches available. The bad news is that the Smelter Wharf boat launch is unlikely to be open until later in the summer at the earliest, pending repairs. The good news is that repairs to the Waubuno launch are underway and it should be operational before the start of the boating season. The Champaigne Street boat launch is also available.

2. Council continues to wrangle about the purchase of new or used pickup trucks. The Director of Public Works was given the direction to look for and purchase a used truck for no more than $25,000. A new vehicle was estimated to cost on the order of $42,000. I don’t agree with the direction of council, for reasons of cost and distraction.

Doing some back of the envelope calculations I estimate the Director of Public Works time costs the town about $70/hour. If the search for a used vehicle takes 30 hours (research, review, negotiation, inspection, pick up), that adds $2,000 to the negotiated price. And if we need to add a paint job, town trucks are identified by their red colour, the cost of buying used over new is about $3-4,000. So we may be saving about $10-12,000 if we can find a suitable truck for the specified $25,000. To imagine a $17,000 price savings (40% less) the truck will be at least a couple of years old, or have excessive mileage, and a corresponding much reduced warranty period. As an aside, any truck in good condition that is reduced by this large an amount will be quickly snapped up by someone else. The town will probably end up looking at, and kicking the tires of, vehicles that have been rejected by other parties much more familiar with the vehicle and the seller.

But the real cost in my mind is the distraction. While the Director of Public Works may cost the town about $70/hour, he is capable of earning more than 5-times that amount for the town by identifying ways to save money on much bigger budget items like infrastructure repairs and upgrades. So, let’s ask the Public Works department to sharpen their specifications for new vehicles to only that which is really necessary, and then tender for new vehicles. It saves time and potentially supports local businesses, and at the same time represents a relative bargain for the town when all of the costs are added up. If we want to save money by buying used, let’s look long and hard at a replacement for the town’s fire truck which is budgeted at close to $1.5 million. A savings of 20-30% on this cost could pay for as many as ten pickup trucks, all brand new.

3. Staff was directed to prepare a proposal on upgrade options for the skateboard park. There is about $47,000 sitting in reserves for the park that council felt should be put to use for the community.

4. The new school will cost the town about $500,000 in infrastructure upgrades. In theory these upgrades could be ignored, but the cost savings of doing them now, when the roads will already be torn up at the school board’s expense, outweighs the pain of the near term costs.

There was more, but you really needed to be there to catch it all. Sometimes you can’t just sit at home and hope the news will find you. There was no Cogeco or North Star coverage of the meeting. The Moose-FM was represented by their intern. Perhaps there is a role for non-traditional media in Parry Sound, even without media privileges (yes, that was a dig, more digging below).

Digging In and Making Progress

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Council Agenda Preview – July 17th, 2012 Meeting

14 Saturday Jul 2012

Posted by in Green Shoots, Parry Sound, Suggestions, Town Council

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What seemed like a short and relatively non-controversial agenda became much more interesting once I had a chance to review the council package at the library. Here are some of the highlights and my comments. To get the full story I’d advise town residents to review the agenda that is available online and the council package that is made available at the library and the town office. A reminder: the library is closed Mondays.

Item 5.1 – a deputation on the upcoming province wide property reassessment is worth seeing live or catching later on Cogeco. It is unlikely there is a systematic plan to lower assessments, so expect more tax increases.

Item 9.1.1 – concerns a review of service delivery. This is scary, from a tax payer’s perspective. The town is considering hiring a consultant, probably KPMG, to audit the town’s services and identify opportunities to reduce expenses and/or raise revenues by about $900,000 per year. We’ll probably end up paying about $50,000 to be told that the town is already doing a good job and the only opportunities are those town residents are unlikely to accept. But town staff and council will have done the necessary audit and we will all be a little poorer. (Disclosure – I work as a consultant, albeit not is the financial sector, and have first hand experience on what consultants can do and why they are hired. In most cases it’s a CYA exercise.)

Item 9.1.2 – concerns water and waste water arrears. I wondered what this was all about and why we received three separate bills (water, waste water, and water heater rental). I’m not sure I really get it but it seems to be related to the fact that if you have it all on one bill, and only a portion is paid, you can’t be sure what service is in arrears and should be shut off. I hope the new proposals will address the problem. We seem to have an issue with deadbeats who don’t pay their bills. It’s especially a problem when they are renters. Suggestion – require a deposit on the start of service. I’ve lived in many different municipalities and we were always required to put up a $100 or $200 deposit for service to be turned on. Yes, it’s not fair for those who pay their bills. The alternative is paying higher rates to compensate for those people who ‘stiff’ the town.

Item 9.2.2 – offers direction for staff follow up concerning the Ranger Cabin on Tower Hill. (Disclosure – the Anne Bossart of the Tower Hill group is my wife, so I have some additional insights and probably some biases. Take this into consideration.)

My reading of the direction seems to indicate the Director of Public Works is suggesting the cabin is dilapidated and in need of repairs that would cost on the order of $15,000 to $30,000. His preferred approach, which he has presented previously, seems to be to tear down the cabin and replace it with a gazebo. He does not provide a budget for what this might cost.

A philosophy of recycle, reuse and repair is seemingly being exchanged for a philosophy of replace, replace and replace. That may, or may not, be the right thing to do when it comes to trucks and plows, but it really isn’t the right thing to do when it comes to our history and our heritage. It’s a bit like taking Buddy behind the shed to be shot because well, he’s a bit slow on the hunt, the vet bills are adding up, and we’d rather have a younger dog, preferably a different breed.

How about adding a recommendation that the town residents who support rehabilitation of the cabin be given until the end of the year to put together a plan? They’ll get it done, and it will be for much less than the cost of tearing down the cabin and replacing it with a gazebo. With public funding sources identified, a heritage property at stake, and a motivated volunteer group, it may cost the town nothing. Doing the right thing for less – now that’s a bargain that the consultants wouldn’t be able to come up with.

Item 9.5.1 – concerns the charitable waste grant. It looks as though the money budgeted by the town for charitable waste will be disbursed to the groups that have filed requests. This is good.

See you Tuesday.

TOPS Council Agenda Preview – 2012-03-20

19 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council, Urban Development

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A quick look at the agenda for the upcoming Council meeting on the 20th might suggest there is little of any great importance, but that’s why it’s worth digging down a little deeper. On inspection of the council meeting package (available at the library and town office) a number of interesting facts and figures pop up. And there is also a brief mention of the Parry Sound Power in another of it’s many ‘configurations’ and acronyms. Nothing of any great substance is revealed but there are hints of a ‘big surprise’ that seems to be in the offing.

I have summarized below some of the issues and information that struck me as more interesting and revealing. Reviewing the council package and attending the council meeting is the best way to understand what is actually going on. While I believe there is nothing nefarious, there is much going on that never makes the local media.

I won’t be at the council meeting this week, traveling on business, so I’ll be asking for some feedback on what went down. Unfortunately I don’t subscribe to Cogeco cable so I can’t watch the delayed feed. And while the Town receives a copy of the proceedings they claim they are unable to allow me to review the recording. This seems to be at odds with my discussions with CogecoTV but I’ll wait to see what council and staff propose regarding social media and greater transparency before making a bigger issue out of denying the public access to open council session recordings. (Let me know if you make a recording of the meeting that I might be able to borrow.)

Interesting and Notable Agenda Items

There is a closed meeting agenda item related to the Parry Sound Power Gen – Power Generation Project. “Something coming on, I don’t know what it is but it’s getting stronger” – with apologies to Blood Sweat and Tears for use of their lyrics. There is more on Parry Sound Power below. Continue reading →

Council Meeting Summary – 2012-03-06

08 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in Parry Sound, Town Council

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Tuesday night’s council meeting was a rather low-key affair with little on the agenda and two of the councilors absent. The open portion of the council meeting followed a closed session on the subject of Parry Sound Power, and presumably the possible multimillion dollar investment in additional power generation capacity. But we need to keep quiet about it; I think it’s supposed to be a secret. Or maybe it’s a surprise, sort of like when your kids get you a Christmas present and charge it to your credit card. A $16 million surprise. I’ll be providing my thoughts on this whole issue of ‘private company’ secrecy in a day or so.

No raspberries this week. Attendance for the March 6th meeting: council and mayor – 5 (down two), staff – 5, media – 3, audience – 4. The limited audience stuck it out to the end, while staff left after their particular agenda item(s) were dealt with. Maybe we could get a better turnout if staff and council started getting into fights like some of the other municipal councils.

Councilors Reports

Interesting points raised in the councilors’ and mayor’s reports included:
– Parry Sound Power will apparently be offering gas water heaters
– with the high water levels for the last three months Parry Sound Power has been generating hydro continuously which has led to a small operating profit
– no Molson funding will be made available for the Belvedere parking lot because of insufficient community response

Interesting and Notable Agenda Discussions and Decisions

I made a deputation to council on the subject of keeping community in the loop through with traditional and social media. A copy of my presentation is available through this link. Mayor McGarvey responded to one point, a request to make available archival copies of council meetings. He said that he had made a request to Cogeco for archival copies, and that they were ‘considering it’. If you are a Cogeco subscriber, cable, internet or phone, why not give them a call and tell them that you think making a copy available to the community would be a good idea. I will be contacting them. I don’t have cable so I can’t catch up with the broadcast of the council meetings on television, although I do subscribe to their internet and phone service (which is really quite good).

Item 9.1.2, a resolution to address charitable waste was punted by council. The item was pushed back indefinitely until the 2012 budget was discussed and agreed.

Item 9.1.3, a related resolution regarding municipal assistance was similarly drop kicked until after budget discussions.

Item 9.3.1 to prohibit open air fires for the burning of brush in residential parts of Parry Sound was passed. This means people will need to take their branches and leaves to the transfer site for disposal.

Item 9.6.1 is a resolution requesting town staff to pursue opportunities for senior level (provincial and federal) funding to support infrastructure improvements in the proposed Parry Sound / Seguin boundary adjustment area was passed.

There really wasn’t much more discussed than I noted here. Read the official council meeting minutes for more information, they are available now at the Town of Parry Sound website. Information, often with additional background, is generally available at the North Star website a few days after the meeting. But these notes and articles really don’t capture much of the thinking that went into the decisions. The best way to understand what went on is to attend.

Music a la Carte – Rdio.com

23 Monday Jan 2012

Posted by in Sounds, Suggestions

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It’s not often you come across a service good enough that you want recommend it to others. I have found one – Rdio.com.

This is an online music service, available in Canada, that provides access to almost all music over the past 50 years. There are some exceptions, you won’t find the Beatles or Led Zeppelin, but they have the full catalogue of the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and almost all of the artists from the last 50 years. They have lots and lots of jazz, rap, punk and rock. Name the genre and they have it. You are able to play the full album, it’s not a song here and a song there. Unlike Pandora, USA only, you select everything you want to listen to.

The cost is about $6 per month for unlimited streaming. For $11 per month you can also get it on your mobile phone. The quality is good, about 192 kbps. Most of what you listen to on any type of mobile device is probably around 128 kbps, and the better quality downloads from iTunes are 256 kbps. In real terms it sounds great.

At 192 kbps or so an average album takes 60 MB of data. For the average Cogeco cable customer with 80 GB per month you could listen to about 1,000 albums per month and still not be over your limit.

I highly recommend you give it a try if you like music. I’m using Rdio.com to go back and catch up on the music I missed while building a career and raising a family. There was not much extra time or money to buy the albums that were popular at the time. And of course just a decade ago a CD cost $15 or so, and there was almost nowhere you could listen to a full album before you bought it.

In case you are wondering I am not receiving any type of commission or reward for promoting Rdio.com. It’s good and it a great value. Enjoy it while you can, I suspect that there will be limits placed on what you can hear and how much it costs in the years to come. But at this price it’s never too early to discover some great music.

From time-to-time I’ll point out some of my recent discoveries, or rediscoveries. Right now I’m enjoying the Moby and Kraftwerk catalogue. There are many hours of listening pleasure ahead of me. and not so long ago I listened to the CTI collection of jazz from the 60’s and 70’s featuring artists like Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine and Ron Carter.

Council Meeting Summary – 2012-01-17

21 Saturday Jan 2012

Posted by in Parry Sound, Suggestions, Town Council

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This post summarizes the discussion and decisions arising from the January 17th Regular Council Meeting. As usual there were only a handful of people in attendance, mostly those who had items of personal or business interest on the evening’s agenda.

For those of you who did not attend the regular meeting of council on the 17th there was no chance to catch it the next day on cable. Cogeco wasn’t there, nor was the North Star, perhaps because of the weather. The Moose-FM was the only media present and at one point the Mayor looked to James King of the Moose for help in getting out the message regarding council’s change in the viewing options for the BOCC when he realized there was no other way for town residents to be so informed. So the question is: if Council makes a decision and it isn’t picked up by the local media does anyone know about it? This reinforces how important it is for more Parry Sound residents to attend the meetings and see what is happening, as it happens.

There really needs to be some attention paid to recording the proceedings of council and retaining them for public review. Cogeco may be ‘free’ but it is not dependable, and there does not appear to be any attempt by the Town to archive these video recordings. Ask to review the proceedings of a meeting last year, or read a transcript, and you will be told it’s not available. The decisions made by council can be significant and the meeting minutes capture little of the discussion and the subtleties of the decisions.

Get involved and understand the issues. We have a mayor, councilors and town staff that are smart and concerned, but they can benefit from our informed input. Get to know the issues and provide your thoughts with a call, a letter, an email or a deputation. There are more important issues than potholes that council deals with on a weekly basis. Get to know what they are.

Interesting and Notable Agenda Items

Item 9.3.1 requesting budget approval for EMS was approved. The total is $7.8 million for 2012. The EMS Advisory Committee recommended a 9.9% increase in the EMS levy for the year. Parry Sound covers only a small amount of this district wide expense.

Item 9.5.1 requesting an extension of the free dumping of charitable waste for the Salvation army was approved. This is a very reasonable accommodation for an organization that contributes much to the community. Their problem seems less an issue of an inability to manage their operation to reduce ‘garbage’ than it is the actions of in-town and out-of-town individuals using the Salvation Army store as a dumping ground for their garbage. I suspect that some of the garbage, furniture and similar items unsuitable for resale or refurbishing, is coming from communities that do not have transfer station facilities. For those in town, it costs only a few dollars to use the Parry Sound transfer facility, and if you wait for free dump day it costs nothing. There may be some merit in the town considering curbside pick up of large items for free disposal once or twice a year. Yes it would cost the town a little but it would make things easier for the Salvation Army and tidy up our community. Not everyone has the resources to bring items to the transfer station on free dump day. This really is a town and regional problem more than a Salvation Army problem. The extension is a bandage, let’s see how council proposes to help in the longer term.

Items 10.4.1, 10.4.2 and 10.4.3 relating to rezoning applications that were the subject of open meetings in December were approved. No surprises here, and from my point of view the decisions seem reasonable in the context of the requests and the town’s strategic plan.

Here’s a link to the official minutes of the council meeting. There was more agreed at the meeting than I have covered that’s worth taking a look at. I’ll start compiling the minutes as we get through a couple more meetings.

One non-agenda item as noted earlier was the agreement of council to allow people attending the BOCC to view games from the rooms above the rink whenever the rooms were not being rented out. This is a simple way to provide more comfort for spectators until the heating issue in the arena area is sorted out.