Paper ballot returns for 2014 municipal election

The “stop up and close” of Clinic Road in Morrisburg became official on June 26th with the passing of a by-law during the South Dundas council meeting.

Clerk Brenda Brunt told council that there would be an easement for Morrisburg Public School’s (MPS) snow removal.

The MPS crossing guard station at the corner of Clinic Road and Ottawa Street will be rerouted to Second Street for the coming school year in September.

Chief administrative officer Stephen McDonald said that “closing Clinic Road will have no impact on the parking area” for the clinic.

The road closure was just one of many necessary steps in remaking the old high school.

According to McDonald, “tenders on the high school project have been invited from six pre-qualified general contractors.”

“Tenders close in July and a recommendation will then go forward to council.”

Until that time, information on when and how construction will proceed is unavailable. 

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Mark MacDonald and Jim McDonell have agreed to join The Social Development Council of Cornwall & area to raise awareness and get a taste first-hand what it feels like to make the impossible choice between rent and food every day by participating in Cornwall’s 2nd “do the math” challenge (DTM2)!

DTM2 is a five day challenge of surviving only on the contents of a food bank hamper where thousands of Ontarians participated throughout the year since last fall and came together to bring awareness around poverty and the existence of widespread food insecurity and chronic illness related to poor nutrition.

This year, the Social Development Council of Cornwall and area’s local “do the math” team will be launching its 2nd challenge on Wednesday September 28th, 2011 starting at 9 a.m. at the Agape Centre where the participants will start the challenge with an actual appointment with the food bank to pick up their challenge hamper.

“With last year’s overwhelming response and overall empowering experience, and with the support earlier this summer from Cornwall City Council’s municipal resolution to support the Put Food in the Budget’s call for the $100 per month Healthy Food Supplement, we felt it necessary to launch DTM2 again this fall,” says campaign leader Michelle Gratton.

The community is once again invited to participate in this five day long hands-on awareness piece with their friends and family.  

Followers and supporters will be able to support the participants, leave comments and hear about the entire experience by following along on the SDC’s Community Blog site at 4sdcblogging.wordpress.com.

Initially launched in August 2009, this campaign features an interactive website where visitors are asked to add up the monthly expenses they think necessary for a single person on social assistance.

This budgetary exercise vividly illustrates that, after housing, clothing and transportation, most people have no money left over for food and must rely on food banks and drop-in meals to survive.   

For more information on the campaign or to find out how you can participate, please contact the Social Development Council at 613.930.0211 or mgratton@sdccornwall.ca.

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The first major review of South Dundas’ personnel policy since amalgamation, 14 years ago, has revealed a number of quirks that council is planning to change.

“I’ve never been anywhere else that I’ve gotten paid to go to a council meeting,” said Steve McDonald, South Dundas’ chief administrative officer at a special council meeting. McDonald’s career in municipal administration spans 30 years.

The day-long session, held October 31, gave council the opportunity to conduct a lengthy, line-by-line review of this and other policies.

Once council approves a bylaw change to the existing policy, the practice of paying managers to attend council meetings will come to an end in South Dundas.

When the new policy comes into effect, township heads of department will, instead of receiving $100 per meeting attended, be entitled to time in lieu.

Changes to the policy will also formalize the now informal system, require proper documentation and put a limit on the amount of time in lieu that can be accumulated and used in one year.

Another 14 year practice, fairly unique to South Dundas, is to pay more for overtime on Sundays than Saturdays. Currently, overtime on Saturdays is paid at the standard time and a half, but on Sundays the rate is double time.

When South Dundas councillor Jim Graham asked why Sundays are treated differently than Saturdays, the only answer was, “That’s the way it has always been done.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s right,” said Graham, who suggested that practices like this one that are fairly unique should be backed up with some documentation to explain why.

“While most of this policy is fairly standard,” said CAO McDonald, “some things in it are unique.” His only explanation of these quirks, that were put into place long before he arrived in South Dundas, was that they likely represent what municipal officials of the day decided to include, representing the ‘best of’ the four policies of the former municipalities.

“Some of these policies are still here, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be changed,” said McDonald.

When proposed changes come into effect staff will only receive a day off for Remembrance Day if it falls on a weekday. 

The practice of January 2 being considered a holiday will be gone. Instead staff will be granted a floating holiday to use at their discretion. 

The floating holiday was a concession to show council’s appreciation of staff their efforts to keep the township office open between Christmas and New Year’s. Most municipal offices shut down for the entire week.

South Dundas councillor Evonne Delegarde suggested eliminating the two half days off that staff get on New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve, however the remainder of council did not agree.

The Township of South Dundas has 30 full time staffers, including nine department heads (managers), five part time employees and 15 seasonal employees.

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