News

 

Almost $25,000 will be spent on trail improvements in the Two Creeks Forest Conservation Area in South Dundas.

Two Creeks Forest Conservation Area is located north of County Road 2, across from the west end of Lakeshore Drive.

The money will come from funding received from the Great Lakes Community Guardian Fund, a fund which helps communities take action to protect and restore their corner of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin.

The upcoming project will mostly consist of signs for educational purposes.

As part of the funding requirement, a public information session regarding the project will take place April 9, 7:30 p.m., at the South Dundas municipal office in Williamsburg.

The purpose is to find stewards to help with trail management, sign installations and educational program delivery through interpretive signs.

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The final step in the 2013 budget process took place at the March 19, council meeting.

At that meeting, South Dundas council approved the bylaw to adopt the operating and capital budget.

Approval of the $5.1 million budget, which consists of $4 million worth of operating expenses and $1.1 million worth of capital projects, will mean the average residential property owner can expect to pay about $15.47 more on the South Dundas municipal portion of their tax bill. 

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The South Dundas Community Playground Committee achieved its initial aspirations when the South Dundas Community Playground was built in Morrisburg’s Earl Baker Park in 2011, but the group still has even grander aspirations.

“The ultimate goal would be to celebrate the beginning of summer 2014 with a grand opening for a Splash Pad,” the committee noted in a recent letter to South Dundas council.

To that end, the committee is collecting data from area splash pads in Brockville, Cornwall and Long Sault and pursuing potential funding opportunities. 

By this summer, the group hopes to have a report on the timing, construction costs and operational costs for such a project to guide planning and fundraising. 

Once the report is ready, the group will begin discussions with South Dundas council regarding use of land, funding contributions and the potential of including a washroom facility. 

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“We have inherited a fantastic situation,” said Shaun Telfer, who with his wife Tracy took over ownership of the Morrisburg Canadian Tire Store nearly a month ago.

“Michel and Ninon (Proulx) did a fantastic job with this store,” said Telfer of the previous owners, who have moved on to a store in Niagara Falls.

With a modern store concept and a fantastic team who are very customer oriented and take great pride in their store, Telfer doesn’t see much need for change in the near future.

“I love it here. We’re very excited to be here and are very impressed with the community,” said Telfer. “We have great customers. They are warm and welcoming .”

Traditionally, the Canadian Tire Store owners in Morrisburg have established themselves as strong community supporters, jumping on board to support various charitable organizations.

That community support is something that the Telfers plan to continue.

“We want to carry on that legacy,” said Telfer.

Also continuing will be the customer-oriented philosophy. “We like to meet, greet and acknowledge our customers and ensure that we are meeting their needs,” he said.

Shaun and Tracy Telfer officially took over the Morrisburg Canadian Tire Store on February 22. This is their second store.

Their first store was a small 3,700 square foot store in Mount Forest Ontario. The Morrisburg Store is a  20,000 square foot store.

Tracy is originally from Espinola. She worked at the Canadian Tire Store there for 25 years and was manager there and ran the garden centre.

Shaun grew up in Manitoba. We worked for the Canadian Tire Store in Winnipeg. For the last 10 years he has been with Canadian Tire’s home office in Toronto, having most recently been a regional manager.

Shaun and Tracy purchased a home here, and are now living in South Dundas.

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The approximately 80 Williamsburg library supporters who packed the Chesterville library March 21, will get another chance to show their support for the small town library.

The SD&G library board, which decided late last year that the Williamsburg and Morrisburg branches of the SD&G library will be consolidated at the new Morrisburg location, later this year, met in Chesterville last week. There, Lisa Vreman, one of many strong supporters of keeping the Williamsburg branch open, in Williamsburg, was allowed to make a presentation.

“One of the most frustrating things about this announcement is that there was no discussion or consultation with the Williamsburg community about this closure,” Vreman told the board.

After her presentation, which outlined the importance of the branch to the small community, which strongly supports the branch, board chairman Bill McGimpsey announced that the board will hold a public information meeting, including a question and answer session, in Williamsburg in late April or early May. 

“We are not hiding anything. This is about the survival of the library system. No one at this table wants to do a disservice to the community. Libraries simply aren’t what they were,” said McGimpsey.

At the upcoming meeting he plans to release details about some alternatives they are working on to maintain some level of service within the community. 

“I was really pleased with the turnout at the meeting,” said Vreman after the meeting. “I think the library board heard a lot about our Williamsburg library that they didn’t know before.”

At the meeting, board member Chris McDonell said that he is not in favour of closing the Williamsburg branch. “This board is here to promote the library, not to close it,” said McDonell. 

When someone in the audience asked if there was any possibility that the branch could remain open until the building that houses the library is no longer available, McGimpsey re-iterated that the plan is to move in to the new location in Morrisburg as soon as it is ready. 

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Antiquefest 2013 is cancelled.

“The members of the Morrisburg and District Lions Club regret that we will not be hosting Antiquefest 2013,” noted Bob Bechard, Lion President on the club’s website. “This decision was not taken lightly, and there remains the possibility it could return in the future.”

The Club is currently working to ensure that its vendors, business supporters and the community understand the complexity of the difficult decision. However, they were not prepared to go into those details at this time.

“Our members have enjoyed hosting Antiquefest and, as a result, this was a difficult decision for the Club,” said Judy Charette, the club’s communications officer.

“Although we have determined it is necessary to step back from the festival this summer, we will re-assess for future years and advise if a decision is made to resurrect Antiquefest,” she added in a prepared statement. 

This year, would have been the 15th year for the event, which had always taken place the last weekend in July.

Antiquefest started in 1998 as a South Dundas event at the Morrisburg waterfront. In its fourth year, it was moved to the Matilda Hall. The Morrisburg and District Lions Club took over the event from the township in 2006, and moved it back to the Morrisburg waterfront, where it had been ever since. 

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Good numbers turned out at the Lutheran Church hall Monday night for the Williamsburg Girl Guide’s official launch of their Cookie Campaign and an open house. “The girls will be taking their cookies home tonight,” said Sparks leader Melissa Ringler explaining that the combination Cookie Launch/ Open House was an effort for the Guide’s to get more exposure during a current Try Now. Join Later recruitment program. “I have seen four families here who aren’t part of our group, so that is very encouraging,” said Ringler. The Try Now. Join Later campaign encourages girls as young as five (Sparks) to give Guiding a try for the months of April, May and June without paying a membership fee. The Williamsburg groups meet every Monday night at the Lutheran Church in Williamsburg, where they work on crafts, play games and get involved in various activities. “The girls do a lot of their own planning for the things they want to do,” says Ringler. “We are a small group, but we have a great time.” Anyone interested in the Try Now. Join Later Girl Guides recruitment campaign can contact Ringler by e-mail at melissaringler@sympatico.ca. The local Guides groups will be out and about selling their cookies over the next couple of weeks. Pictured above, front l-r, are Brownie Maeryn Gilmour and Guide Hailey Guerin. Back, left is Spark Jesse Vezina, with Pathfinder Sierra Swindells.

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Has a County employee gone above and beyond to give you excellent service? 

The United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry is pleased to announce their new Staff Recognition Awards initiative – and is looking for nominations from both staff and the public.

Recognizing those that go “Above the Crowd”, the County Staff Recognition Awards provide an opportunity for County employees to be recognized for any actions or undertakings that are above and beyond the expectations of their regular job responsibilities. 

“We sometimes receive letters and emails telling us about the good work that our employees are doing in the community,” said Counties CAO Tim Simpson. 

“Our staff also recognize the achievements of their co-workers and colleagues. These awards give us the opportunity to recognize these employees for their dedication and leadership”.

Three new awards will be handed out on an annual basis: the Customer Service Excellence award, the Safety Smart award, and the Innovation, Sustainability and Leadership award.

Employees who are a recipient of a County Staff Recognition Award will be recognized at the June 17th County Council meeting. 

County staff who have achieved specified years of service or are retiring in 2013 will also be recognized at this time. 

To nominate a County employee for an award, the public is asked to fill out a nomination form, available online at www.sdgcounties.ca. Further details on these awards can also be found on the County website. 

The deadline for submissions is Friday, May 24th, 2013.

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Almost $140,000 will be spent on consultants this year.

During recent budget deliberations, South Dundas council was presented with a number of different projects for which professional, expert, third party advice of consultants was deemed important.

Studies that were given budget approval were $57,000 for the expansion of the Williamsburg landfill site, and $40,000 for South Dundas’ asset management plan. Both of these studies are necessary, to meet provincial requirements.

Council chose to allocate funds of $30,000 towards a new Fire Master Plan.

This study, is a follow up on the study several years ago that resulted in South Dundas deciding to amalgamate its fire departments and to hire a full time fire chief. 

The purpose of this study is to project where South Dundas should focus its training for delivery of service. It too will focus on the distribution of equipment between the three stations.

“We are biased if we do this ourselves,” said Fire Chief Chris McDonough. “We really need a third party to come in and do this properly.”

This plan will also provide third party advice on future equipment purchases, a key component that prompted council to decide to allocate funds for this study in this year’s budget.

Another study that received budget approval is hoped to alleviate long time parking and traffic issues at the Morrisburg waterfront. Council decided to set aside $30,000 for a professional traffic study of the area. Another $20,000 was earmarked for that project for potential early implementation measures. 

Horticultural consulting, based on recommendations from the community strategic plan, was also approved by council, so $10,000 was set aside for the study and another $10,000 was set aside for the implementation of some of its recommendations.

Not all of the consulting recommendations made the cut at budget time.

A $25,000 study for the recreation programming department proposed to examine the feasibility, content and potential location for a multi-use recreation facility was cut.

Realistically, the bricks and mortar stage of such a project would not be realized for about five years, according to the mayor and CAO.

“I don’t want to spend the money now, and then have the next council put it on a shelf,” said South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds at the March 11, budget meeting. “We should not do the study until the project is realistically within our sights,” agreed South Dundas councillor Archie Mellan.

Council agreed to wait a year to go ahead with the study to allow time to search for funding opportunities.

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Big changes are coming to local water and sewer bills.

Affected by the pending increases will be anyone connected to South Dundas municipal water or sewer.

In 2009, when metered billing came into effect, the council of the day ordered that a complete review of the fee structure be completed after five years.

Staff have been working on the review and presented their findings to South Dundas council at a March 11 meeting.

Since the implementation of consumption-based billing, water consumption has decreased significantly.

“The numbers have dropped significantly, and we don’t think they’ve bottomed out yet,” South Dundas chief administrative officer Steve McDonald told council. 

Basically, the water conservation efforts of Iroquois and Morrisburg residents and businesses served by the municipal water and sewer infrastructure, mean that the municipality doesn’t have $80,000-$90,000 worth of revenue that they thought they would to offset the costs of operating and maintaining the municipal infrastructure.

“We need a more stable revenue base and the only way to get that is with a fixed rate increase,” said McDonald.

According to staff, a rate increase of about 20 percent is needed.

Staff have suggested hiking the fixed portion of the bill and leaving the consumption rate the same.

The mayor disagreed with that thinking.

“I think both rates should go up somewhat,” said South Dundas mayor Steven Byvelds. 

His reasoning; by leaving the consumption charge the same and increasing only the fixed rate, the burden is being shifted away from the big water users. “The big users won’t be paying any more than the small users, even though they use more of the (water/sewer) plant,” he said.

“But if we up the consumption rates, they will probably use less water,” said South Dundas councillor Archie Mellan. 

“There is certainly more stability in fixed charge increases,” said South Dundas treasurer Shannon Geraghty.

Following council discussions, staff were left to put together some options for council’s consideration at a future meeting, before final decisions are made.

The options may show a phased-in rate increase, an increase in the capital levy, increased connection fees and an increase in the proportion of sewer charges for Iroquois residents.

All these increases reflect the need to appropriately cover costs, and to ensure that those using each of the systems are paying to cover their portion of usage.

This long list of needed changes is a direct result of waiting so long for this type of comprehensive rate review.

“We need to do a rate review every year, that way the rates can be adjusted as needed,” said Geraghty.

“We have to review this every year,” agree Byvelds. “Now, we have to pay the price for waiting.”

Williamsburg residents and businesses connected to the municipal sewer system, will also see large increases in their annual fees, however, the fee structure is much less complicated. 

They presently pay $98 per year. Staff is proposing to increase that fee by $40 per year, for the next five years. 

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