REPORT ON COUNCIL July 30, 2007 Committee of the Whole Meeting: 9:00 am – 3:07 p.m. Regular Evening Meeting: 7:01 p.m. – 7:28 p.m. All Members of Council present.
CONFIDENTIAL / CLOSED SESSION: 11:45 a.m. – 12:27 p.m. and 2:24 p.m. – 3:06 p.m.
SITE 41 AGAIN: On July 9, Council agreed that the Mayor and Deputy Mayor should call a meeting of the North Simcoe heads of Council to discuss future directions regarding waste management in North Simcoe now that County Council had agreed 16-15 (the vote was weighted, so the spread was actually greater than this appears) to fund the first stage of the dump site – i.e. the installation of berms, temporary roads and a test cell — at a cost of $659,000.
Reporting on this meeting, Mayor Breckenridge said that Mayor Dubeau of Penetanguishene, who voted at County in support of Site 41, was persuaded to come when the agenda included growth management as well as future directions for waste management and the proposed hospital merger. Mayor Breckenridge told Council that she feels strongly that it is important to work together with our neighbouring municipalities on waste management in an attempt to mitigate as much as possible the impact of the decision by County Council to go ahead with the first stage of Site 41. Out of the meeting of North Simcoe Mayors and Deputy Mayors came the decision that a letter would be developed by Tiny and circulated for approval to the others, urging the County, in the light of the close vote, to look again at waste management and possible alternatives.
With regard to the same meeting of North Simcoe Mayors & Deputy Mayors, Deputy Mayor Lawrence reported that he felt shocked by Mayor Breckenridge’s statement at it that it was time to move on. He feels that the initial installation at Site 41 might not work out and that it is too soon to “throw in the towel.” He urged Tiny’s Council to pass a motion similar to the one that Midland’s Council passed 9-0 asserting continuing opposition to Site 41, and asked that it, like Midland’s motion, be sent to other municipalities in Simcoe County with a letter encouraging each of them to take a similar vote. That evening, on a recorded vote, all five members of Council voted in favour of the following motion:
“That notwithstanding the June 26, 2007 decision of the Council of the County of Simcoe to proceed with the initial site preparation work on Landfill Site 41, the Council of the Township of Tiny is opposed to this action and respectfully requests that the County of Simcoe invest in County recycling, investigate alternative energy and 21st Century waste management technologies and pursue the immediate development of a County wide Waste Management Strategic Plan;
“AND FURTHER THAT this motion be forwarded to all County of Simcoe municipalities to encourage each municipality to consider passing a similar resolution.”
NORTH SIMCOE HOSPITAL ALLIANCE PRESENTATION: Ron Crane, Acting Director of the Huronia District Hospital Board, came to explain to Council why his Board had recently recommended that HDH and Penetanguishene General Hospital be merged into a single Catholic corporation. He said that the long time “working relationship” between the two hospitals needed to be made more cohesive if they were to have a stronger voice in the region. Huronia District Hospital is non-denominational, and its land, building and equipment is owned by its Corporation; the Penetanguishene General Hospital sits on land owned by the Grey Sisters, while its Corporation owns the building and equipment. The Penetang hospital board, which has a $3.5 million surplus, refused to amalgamate into a non-denominational joint hospital, while the HDH board saw a joint Catholic hospital as a way of eliminating part of its $5 million debt ($3.5 million of which is in a bank loan) and as achieving a joint entity.
In response, the five members of Council asked a series of tough questions. Deputy Mayor George Lawrence asked why Council was not told that amalgamation was being discussed when, earlier this year, Council was asked for a donation of $2.50 per person in Tiny Township toward the hospitals’ capital campaign (and was told that negotiations were confidential at that stage). Councillor George Cornell asked why the Chatham-Kent amalgamation, where one hospital remained non-sectarian and the other Catholic, had not been taken as a model (and learned that the board had taken a cursory look at that situation, but not an in depth look). When Councillor André Claire asked specifically about the withdrawal of reproductive services, he was told that the LHINs would make sure that basic services were covered. Councillor Nigel Warren, who had applied to serve on the Board of HDH and had been rejected after being asked his views on abortion, asked a series of questions about the independence of the current and proposed board from Catholic control and got answers that did not accord with his personal experience. Mayor Peggy Breckenridge asked about the consultative process with the broader community and about HDH’s financial statements, observing that it was very difficiult to assess the hospital’s business case without the latter. Crane’s assertions about the actual level of HDH’s debt ($3.5 or $5 million) were unconvincing.
Council learned that if the proposed amalgamation is defeated by the membership of HDH, then nothing would change.
LEGAL SERVICES FOR TOWNSHIP: Council decided to consider whether to change the Township’s legal service providers. Staff was directed to ask for competitive proposals.
This sort of review is a good idea. During the last Council’s term of office, Burgar Rowe Professional Corporation of Barrie, which handles the Township’s day-to-day legal work, was frequently slow with its responses to requests for advice. On the other hand, we recall that Ian Rowe acted vigorously and effectively for the Township with regard to the Renouf water system.
ELECTRONIC MESSAGE BOARD: Council approved the staff recommendation that an electronic message board be purchased for the front lobby of the township offices at a cost of roughly $2,000. It will be used to make residents aware of events and other useful information. There are plans for a larger electronic sign in front of the Township Offices, but not until the property is landscaped.
PREPARATION BEGINS FOR THE TOWNSHIP’S OFFICIAL PLAN REVIEW: Shawn Persaud, of the Township’s Planning Department, presented two preparatory reports. One drew to Council’s attention recent provincial initiatives to which the Township’s Official Plan must conform, namely the “Provincial Policy Statement”, “Places to Grow: Growth Plan for the Great Golden Horseshoe”, the “Clean Water Act (Bill 43)” and the “Planning and Conservation Land Statute Law Amendment Act, 2006 (Bill 51)”. County Plans and Policy likewise govern local municipal Official Plans, notably, in the case of Tiny, the County of Simcoe’s Official Plan and the County of Simcoe Waste Disposal Sites Study. Many of these documents require the Township to focus future development in its hamlets and to safeguard its natural resources – water, prime agricultural land and the like. Persaud also noted that thoughtful decisions must be made about the Township’s growth – where, how much, and so on.
His second report listed the amount of vacant land designated for development in Tiny’s various land categories (while observing that there are constraints on development in some lots):
Shoreline (below the Nipissing Ridge, near Georgian Bay and Farlain Lake) – 695.62 hectares (1,732.49 acres)
Settlement Areas (Lafontaine, Toanche, Perkinsfield, Wyevale and Wyebridge) – 112.3 hectares (278.9 acres)
Country Residential (in the rural area) – 38.1 hectares (94.76 acres)
Employment Area (the industrial park near the public works yard and the Huronia Airport) – 111.8 hectares (276.77 acres)
POPULATION STATISTICS: Statistics Canada reported that the Census of 2006 revealed that the permanent population of the Township grew from 9,035 to 10,784. In 2006, Tiny’s permanent population occupied 4,337 dwellings (out of a total of 9,072). The median age of Tiny’s population was 46.9 years, well above the provincial median of 39.0.
SAFETY AT JACKSON PARK: In response to a letter from the Rochelle Beach Association, Councillor André Claire asked that staff prepare a report about various safety issues related to the boat launch, among them the installation of buoys and cautionary signage in the Park.
