REPORT ON COUNCILJune 25, 2007Committee of the Whole Meeting: 9:00 a.m. – 3:35 p.m.Regular Evening Meeting: 7:00 p.m. – 7:15 p.m.All Members of Council present.
CONFIDENTIAL / CLOSED SESSION: 2:30 p.m. – 3:34 p.m.
SEVERN SOUND PROPOSAL FOR INVESTIGATION INTO BEACH WATER QUALITY IN THE SUMMER OF 2007 APPROVED: The focus of investigation continues to be potential sources of bacterial contamination impacting the three beaches selected in 2003, namely Balm Beach, Jackson Park Beach and Woodland Beach. “The transport of sediment related bacterial contamination will be a particular focus of the field work as well as the continued investigation of sources in discharges and the water column.” The budget is $23,958 We note that this proposal arrived so late that Council had only two options: accept the course of action proposed or cancel it. There was no time to question its proposed goals, value or scope. We also note that the date for submission of the final report about investigation activities since 2003 is June 2008, timing that does not give Council time to make decisions about the direction that research might take in 2008.
COMMUNITY RECREATION COMMITTEE STRUCK: The Committee is to meet on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Councillors Claire and Cornell are to the be Council representatives with Bonita Desroches as the staff liaison. The citizen appointments to the Committee are: Bob Allan, Michelle Locke, Helen Lovejoy, Helmut Paddags, Marg Redmond, Betty Robitaille, Sheila Webb
COUNCIL MEETING SCHEDULE TO REMAIN AS IS : Clerk Ruth Coursey provided information about the by-laws governing Council meetings and also a schedule showing the hours and days when surrounding municipalities meet. The general feeling of the four new members of Council was that the status quo – two meeting days a month on the second and last Monday, with Committee of the Whole beginning at 9 am and the Regular Meeting of Council at 7 pm works well as they continue to learn their jobs and that the appropriate time to consider whether changes should be made is about a year hence. Mayor Peggy Breckenridge drew attention to the fact that most other municipalities have shorter meetings, many of them lasting just two hours. Discussion revealed that such brevity often depended on a committee structure that was not represented in the Clerk’s comparative schedule. Apart from the decision to review their meeting schedule in a year, Council made one other decision related to meetings and that was to allow evening oral presentations to Council if a daytime time slot presented difficulties to the applicant.
BUILDING ACTIVITY DOWN: In S. Jamie Wilson’s (the Chief Building Official’s), monthly report, it became clear that building activity in Tiny is substantially down from 2006. Where 219 building permits were issued to the end of May in 2006, only 174 were issued in 2007. Not surprisingly, the total construction value, which stood at $12,202,000 at the end of last May, is also down standing at $7,905,000 at the end of May 2007.
BOATING RESTRICTION APPLICATION STALLED: Henk Blom, Manager of Public Works, reported that the views of the Office of Boating Safety, Transport Canada, have not changed since February 23, 2002, when the application to extend the 10 km speed limit from the current 30 metres to 200 metres along the entire length of Tiny’s shoreline was rejected. Transport Canada feels that· while a “large segment of landowners” were consulted, only “a very small segment of the boating population” was notified and considered· the need for the proposed restriction was not documented. “The Township has not shown the incidents of enforcement under s.43 of the Small Vessel Regulation…. The Office views the rights of the boating public to be paramount and must ensure that this right be reduced or relinquished only for exceptional necessity.”· the Township must show that there have been attempts at enforcement but that such enforcement is ineffective, and must further indicate how it will ensure that, if the application is approved, it has the resources for enforcement· the Township must investigate alternatives to placing a Boating Restriction· the Township should focus its application to a specific stretch of shore, rather than asking for a blanket restriction.Council received the report, and took no action.
HOSPITAL NEWS RELEASE DISCUSSED: A number of points were made in the course of the discussion of the proposed amalgamation of the two local hospitals – a matter of some concern to Council as it had committed $10,000 this year to support physician recruitment. Concern was expressed about birth control information not being supplied and about it being difficult to recruit doctors under the proposed Catholic structure. It was noted that the proposed amalgamation has to be ratified by the members of the Huronia District Hospital, that memberships cost $5 and that the vote is to take place within 60 days. Councillor George Lawrence observed that the doctors are disgruntled.
