Swing into Spring with The Foursome at UCP

The Morrisburg Pentecostal Tabernacle’s Reverend Duncan Perry and wife Sandra, will be heading to Africa on October 12th along with 14 volunteers from other Pentecostal Churches.

According to Perry, this particular trip was organized by Sandra Gill, the Women’s Ministries Director for the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.

He told the Leader that Gill “has done several of these trips (and she) does them once or twice a year.”

Gill is the one responsible for bringing Perry and his wife together with the other 14 travelers, of which there are five couples and four women traveling solo.

Perry shared that  going on a mission has been “something (he’s) wanted to do for a number of years.”

He “likes exposing people to missions.”

“Our congregation is very mission minded. We give a fair chunk of change to missions every year.”

Perry’s group will be heading for the Villages of Hope (VOH) – Malawi in Lilongwe where, according to the VOH website, “over one million children (age 0 – 17) have become orphaned” as of 2009.

Perry said that HIV/AIDS is responsible for the large numbers of orphaned children.

Malawi, also known as the “warm heart of Africa,” is a country in the southeast of Africa bordered by Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique.

The VOH “provides the children of Malawi with food, shelter, health services, and education.”

To go on this mission, the group was expected to raise $6,000 and Perry says they’ve actually raised $10,000, so they will “be able to do more than (they had) anticipated.”

Perry told the Leader that there are “no administration fees” and that “all” of the money will go straight toward helping the children of Malawi.

In addition to money, Perry and his group will be taking along things like clothes, tools, food, and even Tim Horton’s coffee.

While there, they will be doing a host of different things including house repairs due to termite damage, painting, windows, installing new screens, and fixing playground structures.

In addition, the women will be working in the schools and ministering to the women of Malawi.

At present, Perry says there are “about twelve missionaries” in Africa. “One, (a woman from Ottawa), is in a very remote part of Kenya.” He says “she hardly ever sees anybody.”

Perry has tremendous respect for those full-time missionaries who volunteer for these stations, saying  they’re “the heart of God. They’re amazing people.”

As for Perry himself, he says that this trip is “going to be an eye-opener.” He believes that his “outlook on life is going to be drastically changed.”

He even talked of doing missions once or twice a year following retirement.

Perry explained that while this trip happened to be planned for Africa, it just as easily could have been  planned for one of a number of other mission countries, like India or El Salvador for example. He shared his wish to do mission work in India.

To get ready for this trip, the group had to be immunized against yellow fever, typhoid, Hepatitis A and B. In addition, they will have to take malaria pills and “travelers diet” pills while there.

The group will arrive back in Canada on October 28th.

Perry promises to take lots of pictures to share upon his return.

[…]

The Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus, at its annual inaugural meeting held in Kingston last week, elected Warden Eric Duncan of the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry as its chair for 2015. 

Peterborough County Warden J. Murray Jones was elected  as the vice-chair.

“I am honoured to chair the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus and to have the opportunity to work very hard to support all property taxpayers in the 103 member municipalities across the  EOWC region,” said Eric Duncan. “The EOWC takes pride in doing its homework and coming up with new ideas that contribute to positive change in our municipalities.”

“One of our major concerns is the ever escalating cost of policing, whether OPP or municipal,” Duncan continued. “We will work with groups such as the Association of Municipalities of Ontario looking at all options to reduce the burden to local taxpayers of providing emergency services.”

Both Duncan and Jones were elected to their new positions by acclamation. Chair Duncan is also mayor of the Township of North Dundas, while vice-chair Jones is mayor of the Township of Douro-Dummer.

The EOWC has established three key priorities for the coming year.

1. Beginning the implementation of the key actions proposed in the Eastern Ontario  Economic Development Strategy.

2. Working in tandem with the Eastern Ontario Regional Network to prepare and submit an Eastern Ontario cellular infrastructure network improvement project.

3. Continuing its research and advocacy efforts on matters related to the  financial sustainability of municipal government in Eastern Ontario.

[…]

Jamie Pollock, an accountant from Craig Keen Despatie Markell LLP, presented the 2011 auditor’s report to council during the May 15th South Dundas council meeting.

“There is a $642,503 surplus moved into the working capital reserve,” began Pollock, “so you had a good year.”

Following this, Pollock went through the details, breaking down the figure into departmental numbers and statistics.

The sum of it all, according to Pollock, came down to “you had a very good year. Administration did well. You should congratulate your administration staff.” 

He informed council that the net financial assets were just under $5.1 million, “so it went up by $1.1 million,” he said. “So, you’re still in a very strong financial position that way.”

The non-financial assets such as vehicles, buildings and so forth were declared to be in the $63 million range.

He said the expenses amounted to $9.9 million and then proceeded to congratulate council on the new sewer plant in Iroquois, which is 100% government funded.

He cautioned council about possible future financial issues, bringing to attention the issue of aging landfill sites. Pollock pointed out that one is at capacity and the other has approximately four to five years left before it’s full.

He also pointed out that “there’s nothing set up to finance” the closing of the two landfill sites. 

“It’s a large liability coming and you have nothing set aside to address this.”

“You should set up a reserve to help finance that cost. If you don’t do anything,” he predicted, it could lead to a “general spike in taxation rates to cover that cost.”

He ended the topic, strongly suggesting that council “get ready to avoid a massive tax spike.” 

Moving toward the conclusion of his report, Pollock told council “you have a good collection of your taxation dollars from year to year.”

He informed that the working capital is at a good ratio and that the working reserves, in terms of the percentage used for expenditures, is also at a healthy level.

“You’ve always been strong with your reserves,” he said.

Following Pollock’s presentation of the auditor’s report, deputy-mayor Jim Locke said, “it sounds like a good report card to me,” pointing out that “all the recommendations for 2011 were adhered to.”

“It’s a great position we’re in,” agreed mayor Steven Byvelds saying he’d like to “especially thank staff for monitoring our budget and making sure things are done on time and on budget.”

“We do acknowledge the landfill issue and maybe that’s something we’re going to have to look at.”

“Council is aware of the water/sewer deficits,” he continued, suggesting they may have to “look at user fees.”

Council accepted the draft financial statement at the May 15th meeting. 

Going forward the township treasurer will provide council with a follow-up draft at the next council meeting. 

Once that has been approved, the report will become available to the public.

[…]