The Council of the Township of Whitewater Region heard a motion to:
- Receive a report for information purposes as it evaluates the current Township flagpole inventory as well as condition;
- Approve revisions to the Township’s Flag Policy.
Steve Hodson reported that the assessment reported that “some properties have none, some have a lot; some have flags stuck at the top, some don’t have flags at all. There’s a tremendous amount of consistency.”
“We’ve talked about this internally, we’ve purchased some flagpoles, we’ve talked about Canadian flags at each location in the municipality, we’ve talked about locations where we can have three flags. This will offer some consistency within the township.
“What I’d to see is that this report come back in the new year on that recommendation, but bring a recommendation to council as to what is going to happen.” Councillor McLaughlin said. “I would be quite well in favour after I see the report.”
Lane Cleroux that the plan speaks to one flag at each facility, one at each centotaph, and a location in each settlement, and also cleans up the Truth and Reconciliation.
Mayor Moore said it “would be nice to have some money attached to this for next year’s budget. It won’t be this year, it’s not in the budget. We should get an idea of what kind of poles we’re putting up. Whether it’s rope or wire. There’s a lot to come back.”
“The reports and the polices speak to a high-level policy. Every facility gets a flag, every cenotaph gets a flag. Each village or hamlet gets three flags” CAO Trembley said. “There’s no money in the 2022 budget to change them out but you do have a report that says to which one is terrible. We will remove the ones that are terrible, and in the next budget process in 2023 if there’s a bunch of flagpole replacements we can budget for that.’”
Councillor Nicholson asked to clarify what was defined as a municipal facility. “You listed 29 different facilities, but I am not in support of a policy that requires 29 individual flagpoles.”
“I would suggest that what we are looking at is one flag at every single facility such as fire halls, garages, perhaps even the landfill. You will find that several facilities, boat launches for example, I do not recommend they have flagpoles.” Steve Hodson said.
Councillor Nicholson asked about multiple facilities in close proximity, such as the fire hall, library and post office in Forester’s Falls, and if they all required individual flags.
“Forester’s Falls is an interesting one because it has more flagpoles than anywhere else in the municipality, and those are the inconsistencies that I’m talking about.” Hodson said.“We can clean that up, and have three flags for all of them.”
He also suggested the Cobden water plant and sewage plant being in close proximity.
“We just add ‘generally’ to it, so that staff has some common sense with regards to placement.” CAO Trembley said.
Councillor McLaughlin asked for clarification regarding the hamlets, and requested a report, which CAO Trembley said would come in a separate report.
