Alexander Leach, Editor
WHITEWATER REGION – The Regular Council Meeting for the Township of Whitewater Region convened at 4:48pm on November 18.
The meeting is to discuss the Capital Budget draft, moving into Committee of the Whole with Councillor Charlene Jackson at the head.
Mayor Mike Moore said that Item number 4, the Capital Budget presentaion, on the agenda was skipped over, and revisited at the end.
Mayor Moore announced the ribbon-cutting at the Westmeath Arena, on Friday, November 27th, after the completion of a year of renovations.
“The building will be back to use for what is allowed at this time.” he said, mentioning that masked would be required.
ALLOCATION OF ICE RINK FUNDS
The first motion was that Council of the Township of Whitewater Region approve allocating the remaining Community Recreation Grant funding of $10,100.00 for arena slab programming and other recreation initiatives for the remainder of the 2020-2021 ice season on a first come first served basis.
“The recreation has certainly taken a hit next year.” Said Jordan Durocher, head of Parks and Recreation.
He said that with Covid-19, the march Intake of funding was delayed until September.
Due to the closure of Westmeath and Beachburg due to cancelled ice season, he said that the remaining funds can be reallocated for recreation initiatives.
He said the money would be allocated to various community partners.
Councillor Charlene Jackson asked if they had any actual requests.
He said that there had been “some informal inquiries” to use of the funds, including ball hockey.
Jackson asked if there would be additional expenses to raise the arena temperature.
He said that they were only able to raise the arena temperature by five degrees, from “5C to 10C on a -2 day”
He said there would be additional cost.
Councillor Jackson wanted to defer the decision until they had a solid idea of what the money would be allocated more. “I don’t want to
CAO Robert Trembley interjected to explain that they community plans would have to be approved by the committee before it was claimed.
“The point is not to spend the money to spend the money, the point is to make the money available for use with partners.” he said.
Councillor Nicholson said “I really see this as a user issue. If someone wants to heat the facility, we should treat that as a separate user use.”
Robert Trembley said they would speak to the treasurer regarding that.
Councillor Nicholson also suggested about the money used to fund the creation of the outdoor arena.
Councillor Mackay asked about having an oval on the fairgrounds, but said they were unable to put money into it because “we don’t have a fair this year and we might not have one last year”, but he said there were volunteers willing to work at it.
Councillor McLaughlin asked CAO Trembley if the limit to apply for was up to $5000 dollars.
CAO Trembley clarified that the limit was 20 percent of the money, or up to 2,000 dollars.
McLaughlin said that 2000 would not be sufficient for such things as outdoor arenas, and would have to be brought back.
“We want to make sure we support as many groups as possible.” Trembley said. “If it was in excess of the policy, we would bring it back [to council].”
Councillor Nicholson stressed that he did not want to expend all the money on arenas, but “agreed that should be prioritized.”
The motion was voted on, and was carried.
WHITEWATER METALS
Council of the Township of Whitewater Region approve the Site Plan Control application for Whitewater Metals Inc. to permit the redevelopment of 18391 Highway 17.
Due to the cancellation of the November 4th meeting ,it was delayed until this meeting.
Ivan Burton called it “a success story for the community.”
He said it would include a new access point from Turcotte Road for Kevin Frey’s business, including.
Councillor Nicholson suggested ‘a ribbon-cutting ceremony” with the Mayor “smiling with all his teeth.”
Councillor McLaughlin asked if there would be a new 911 address for Turcotte Road, which Burton confirmed.
Mayor Moore asked if the highway would handle the removed highway entrance.
Burton said that it was the responsibility to the owner.
The motion was voted on and carried.
LEG final Report
The Council voted to adopt the LEG Service Delivery Review Final Report, prepared by Dillon Consulting Limited in partnership with Performance Concepts Consulting, as a guiding document in defining key strategies for greater efficiency and effectiveness in partnership with other municipalities, subject to annual budget approval; and Direct the Chief Administrative Officer to report back to Council in Q1 2021 on a detailed action plan, including management response to recommendations made by the consultant team, in conjunction with participating municipalities.
CAO Trembley ssaid that Whitewater Region was ‘one of the last municipality to join’ the coalition.
“It is a lot.” Trembley said. “So what we’re doing now is adopting it, rather than approving it, as a guideline document, subject to approval by the CAO and the financial committee.”
He said the CAOs did not have time to approve everything without some time.
“This is to accept it now and we’ll come back in Q1 with a more detailed response.”
Councillor Jackson said that “a lot of their recommendations are to have a central location. I don’t want to use the ‘A’ word – amalgamation.”
“I’m not sure where they got some of these recommendations and how they would work. It certainly doesn’t suggest the municipalities are independent.”
“I’m not in favor of a lot of these decisions because our autonomy is not in favour.”
Mayor Moore said that “it seems like they want o set up another tier.”
Councillor Olmstead said it was “not at all what he envisioned. “I hope we haven’t been led down the garden path, being led . It almost looks like they want to add another layer of review. I don’t really care for it.”
“If their idea was to baffle everyone…well we all read it, so i don’t think it will be effective.” Mayor Moore said.
CAO Trembley suggested they “go for the low-hanging fruit and go with what works.”
“The service delivery group does have promise. The chief administrators are talking. We want to come back with what is efficient and effective.”
Councillor Jackson said that she wanted the report to be refused and then amended before they approved.
CAO Trembley said that they wanted to change it ‘to receive the document’, so they could return with a more detailed plan for amendment.
The motion was voted on and carried.
BRUM CREEK REPLACEMENT
Reeve Regier put forward the motion to replace the Brum Creek Forester’s Falls Dam.
Mayor Moore said that ‘everyone was in favour’ of replacing the dam and that the county planned to improve the road as well as replace the dam.
He said that it was a recommendation and that it would then come back to it next meeting.
“This is better for the environment.”
Reeve Regier said that the public meeting “went very well”.
Mayor Moore said that they had 150 supporters for the option to replace.
They then voted to adopt the minutes for October 21st’s meeting.
The motion was carried.
