News

 Don Lewis, Manager of Planning and Enforcement for South Dundas, raised the issue of “sign pollution” at the January 17th council meeting.

Discussion over the portable signs in Morrisburg and Iroquois revolved around three main concerns: visual aesthetics; road hazards; and, fairness in advertising.

“My main concern,” said Mayor Steven Byvelds, “is sign pollution.”

However, he also pointed out that “we’re spending over two grand to do our own signs.”

“Right now,” he continued, “we’re not equal. We allow whatever goes on.”

He suggested that staff “come up with a policy on signs.” The policy, it was pointed out, would have to be in conjunction with procedures at the County level since many of the signs are situated on county roads.

Both Councillors Jim Graham and Evonne Delegarde expressed concern for public safety. “A lot of those signs are obstructing drivers from seeing,” said Delegarde.

Graham added, “if you can cut down on sign pollution, you’re making it safer.”

Deputy-mayor Jim Locke had “mixed feelings,” but agreed with the rest of council that signs should be “kept up and back from the road.”

Byvelds encouraged Lewis “to find a solution to this problem.”

He closed the subject, saying, “I think we need some direction. I’m going to bring it up until I see some action.”

[…]

The formerly named Station Road which leads to the CNR tracks north of Morrisburg has gotten a new name, Jones Road.

At the January 17th South Dundas council meeting, Hugh Garlough, Manager of Public Works, recommended that council change the name based on a recent review of township road maps and by-laws.

Garlough explained, “we found out this road was named Station Road by the Village of Morrisburg in 1960. This conflicts with Station Road in Iroquois as well as Marine Station Road in Matilda.”

Jones Road is named after Eddie Jones who, according to Garlough, worked for the CNR before and after  the Seaway Project. 

[…]

At the January 17th South Dundas council meeting, council members unanimously agreed to support the city of Waterloo in a resolution intent on making the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) accountable for assessment delays, which result in lost tax revenue.

The decision came in response to a letter sent by the city of Waterloo to municipalities throughout Ontario requesting that they “endorse the City of Waterloo’s resolution and forward their endorsement to the Premier of Ontario, Minister of Finance, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing, and the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.”

The resolution itself requests action from the provincial government and from MPAC to improve services.

The letter stated that “the city of Waterloo has experienced a loss in tax revenue because MPAC appeared not to have sufficient resources at the local level to systematically ensure all assessments are retroactively applied for the current and two prior taxation years in a timely manner. In this one instance, the city of Waterloo lost approximately $20,000 in tax revenue.”

South Dundas treasurer Shannon Geraghty responded to the letter, saying “I think we experience the same frustration they do.”

“Having these assessments in a timely manner would be better for the township,” he added.

Council agreed that MPAC is not working quickly or efficiently. “They seem to be running on their own time,” said Councillor Archie Mellan.

Mayor Steven Byvelds wrapped up the discussion, saying, “I support the resolution too. They (MPAC) need a little reassurance that they are not doing their job.” 

“Invoices like this get way behind,” he continued, adding, “I do find it ironic since MPAC is paid out of our taxes.”

[…]

At the January 17th South Dundas council meeting, Councillor Archie Mellan inquired about the status of the new generator for Williamsburg. 

“With the power outage on Friday (Jan. 13),” he said, “I’m just wondering where we are on this?” 

With no answers forthcoming, South Dundas Manger of Public Works, Hugh Garlough, volunteered to oversee the situation.

[…]

[…]

On January 17th, South Dundas council was visited by Marie-Eve LaRocque of The Economic Development and Employability Network of Ontario (RDEE Ontario) and Danika Bourgeois-Desnoyers of Place aux Jeunes Ontario – SDG.

LaRocque and Bourgeois-Desnoyers introduced council to their “newest project” called Place aux Jeunes Ontario – SDG, which means Make-Way-for-Youth SDG. The project “aims to promote and facilitate the integration of bilingual post-secondary graduates in Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.”

As Bourgeois-Desnoyers pointed out, “studies and statistics show youth have the tendency to leave after high school and they don’t come back.”

She went on to explain that the project, Make-Way-for-Youth SDG, has two components: Discovery Days for youth aged 18 to 35; and, Teens Place aux Jeunes for youth aged 14 to 17.

Discovery Days  provides young adult professionals with several opportunities: “training workshops, meetings with potential employers, and discover of different attractions in the area.”

Teens Place aux Jeunes provides bilingual teens to take part in activities that reinforce their “feeling of belonging to their native region.”

The objective behind the project is to strengthen rural communities by preventing “out-migration of youth,” as well as by “attracting young professionals to settle in the region,” and by promoting “the integration  of bilingual young graduates in the region.”

According to LaRocque’s presentation, RDEE “is the only national network which specifically supports economic development of francophone minorities in Canada.”

Funding for the shared project,  Make-Way-for-Youth SDG, comes from the Fondation franco-ontarienne and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

Following the presentation, Mayor Steven Byvelds thanked both LaRocque and Bourgeois-Desnoyers for coming. 

“There’s not a lot of francophone in the region,” he said. 

“It’s certainly interesting,” he added.

[…]

Change is in the air for many of the United Churches within the Seaway Valley Presbytery.

Presbytery Chair, Wendy Wright MacKenzie revealed that last year the Seaway Valley Presbytery received “a number of requests from the people in the pews for help in addressing over-all declining membership.”

“We realized that the people knew their community better than anyone else,” said Wright MacKenzie, “and so in January 2011, 85 people gathered to dream about what the church might look like in a changing world.”

“In March 2011, over 800 people gathered at North Dundas High School for a vote to divide the Presbytery up into districts in order to continue a process of visioning and change. There was an overwhelming YES vote.”  

“Since that time, the congregations have been doing self-reflections and analysis. By November 28th, all congregations within the Seaway Valley Presbytery voted on whether they wanted to be in conversation with other churches to discuss possibilities for the future,” she continued.  

“At this time, we have 13 churches already in conversation, visioning and dreaming of what it might look like when following a different model of being ‘church’.”  

Iroquois United Church Reverend Janet Evans revealed that the “Iroquois United Church has a team of four people who will be meeting with some local churches – Brinston, Hulbert Valley, Williamsburg – to see where we might go from here.”

 The United Church in Williamsburg was recently listed for sale. The congregation, like so many  others, has grown too small to manage the upkeep of such a large and outdated building. 

Retired Reverend Ralph Taylor recently joined the Williamsburg United Church to help the congregation through the upcoming changes.

Taylor said that he is there on a renewable six-month contract, but will stay “as long as it takes.”

As for the decision to sell the church in Williamsburg, Taylor admitted that it wasn’t an easy choice to make for the congregation. “Some are more excited than others and some are anxious,” he said.

“The congregation is getting older and the cost of maintaining (the church) means they’d just be focused on maintaining, not on missions,” said Taylor.

He admitted that the choice is ‘heart wrenching’. “But what other choice do we have at this point?”

Currently, Williamsburg’s United Church congregation is meeting at the J.W. MacIntosh Seniors Support Centre on Sundays.

The congregation will return to the church in March, if it hasn’t sold. When it does sell, the congregation will seek an alternative location in the area.

Taylor admitted that “eventually they’ll be joining another congregation, but it will take a little while.”

With this news, comes the question of what will happen to the many other United Churches within South Dundas. How will they fare in the months and years to come?

According to Evans, “people from Iroquois United Church are both excited and nervous about the changes that will inevitably come our way.”

“Iroquois United Church, for example, has been able to support a full-time minister which means that the present minister has time to care for all of the shut-ins who are associated with our congregation,” she explained.

“Perhaps more people will have needs when several churches work together under a new model. Lay people may have to undertake more of the church’s work.”

“No one really wants to lose their building but that may or may not happen under a new structure,” she said, adding, “new structures could mean, however, more people coming together to offer their gifts and talents in God’s service.”

Wright MacKenzie said, “we realize that everything in life changes.” 

“The way to experience our worship needs an extreme makeover,” she added, pointing out that “the world is changing and so we have to look at new ways of what it means to reach out to the community. The way we ‘do worship’ does not appeal to the younger generation so we need to also look at some other options.”

“This is still very much a work in progress so it is exciting to see what the congregations come up with as they talk together.”

“Change is always somewhat nerve wracking but God will be with us as we journey into the future,” reminded Evans.

The Presbytery, according to Wright MacKenzie, will continue to offer help and support in whatever way possible.

As for the years to come, she said, “time will tell what this looks like in the future. This is completely in the hands of the people in the pews.”

[…]

 On January 19th, South Dundas council approved Recreation Program Coordinator Ben Macpherson’s request to create a new logo for South Dundas Recreation.

This week, Macpherson is launching the South Dundas Recreation Logo Competition, which is open to South Dundas residents of all ages, except for those who are employees of the township.

In addition to incorporating the title ‘South Dundas Recreation’, Macpherson is looking for a logo whose artwork “reflects the values of the township of South Dundas and South Dundas Recreation in so much that any artwork will be tasteful and reflective of healthy living.”

As for why Macpherson has chosen to pursue the creation of a logo, he said, “South Dundas Recreation wants to make healthy active living a priority and in doing so want to become more visible in the community.”

“Branding will, over time, help develop an instant recognition of any program or activity run by or in partnership with South Dundas Recreation and the township.” 

“The underlying goal is to foster community ownership.” What do you think a South Dundas Recreation logo should look like? The township is giving residents artistic reign; giving residents ownership of the final product. 

“As part of the competition, the winning artist and logo will be launched on the cover of the next South Dundas Recreation Guide, due out the first week of March.”

“The guide will be delivered to every household in South Dundas and will also be available to pick up at a variety of places throughout the township,” said Macpherson.

He challenged, “we want to see the creativity that we know exists in the Township of South Dundas.”

The contest will close at 4:30 p.m. on February 21st. For a list of guidelines, see the accompanying advertisement.

[…]

Williamsburg farmer Gordon Garlough, who has given much of his time to volunteering, both in the farming community and in the Dundas community in general, was recently honoured as the Dundas Federation of Agriculture’s ‘Volunteer of the Year’.

The Awards were made to mark the Ontario Federation of Agriculture’s 75th Anniversary. Regional and county level volunteers were recognized and from these one volunteer was recognized as the overall provincial leader.

The provincial award was won by Donna Lunn from Elgin County located along the north shore of Lake Erie.

Garlough, who lives on the Bouck’s Hill Road at Williamsburg, was nominated at the local level by the Dundas Federation of Agriculture (DFA).

In her nomination proposal, DFA president Jacqueline Kelly-Pemberton said, “Gordon Garlough for over three decades has given endlessly of his skills, time and energy to help agriculture move forward, locally, provincially, nationally and internationally.”

“His volunteer experience holds a long list of community involvement with the United Church of Canada-Williamsburg Congregation and the Canadian Food Grains Bank. He has hosted, through the International Livestock Management Schools, farm students from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Indonesia and Latvia. and he has participated with the CFA and the Agricultural Institute of Canada in two partners projects with the former  Soviet Union.”

At the Dundas County level, Garlough has served as a director, president and vice-president. He was a provincial director with OFA from 1981 to 1992.

“…Gordon exemplifies the word volunteer, by always demonstrating his career commitment to agriculture.

As one of the regional/county Volunteers of the Year, Garlough received a commemorative anniversary farm gate sign. 

The OFA represents 37,000 farm families across Ontario. Based in Guelph, it works to champion the interests of Ontario Farmers.

[…]

Many of the current Winchester Hospital Heelers were on hand to celebrate the hand over of 75 per cent of the funds they raised in early 2011 to the WDMH Foundation. Peter Linkletter, Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation (ORCF) Board Chair, addressed those in attendance and presented a cheque for $75,372. WDMH Foundation Board Chair, Diane Crummy was on hand to inform those present that the Heelers have raised over $500,000 towards cancer care in this region and applaud the Heelers for their commitment to this cause and specifically in helping to purchase the WDMH Digital Mammography machine. 

[…]