Council seat applicants named

The process to determine who will be a new town councillor is underway, with the identities of the four applicants revealed at last night’s regular council meeting.
Joe Galbraith, Arlene Georgeson, Ed Haglund, and Doug Kitowski submitted their applications for the position by the Feb. 28 deadline.

Mayor Roy Avis said he and the rest of council will interview all four applicants in the next week-and-a-half.
Council then will make its decision as to the successful applicant and officially appoint him or her at its March 25 meeting.
As previously reported, council has until March 29 to appoint someone to fill the vacancy left by the passing of Coun. Sharon Tibbs.
Also at last night’s meeting, which was postponed from Monday due to a lack of a quorum, council:
•agreed to have Allan T. Bedard present a report from the Fort Frances Seniors Advisory Committee re: Huffman School at the March 25 council meeting. Council also referred the report to all four executive committees for input;
•awarded Tender No. 13-OF-01 (a three-year contract for the cleaning and CCTV inspection of sanitary sewer collection system piping) to Robo Rooter at an estimated cost of $198,423.10, incl. HST and a $30,000 contingency allowance;
•approved an amendment to the Continuous Safety Services Agreement (CSSA) with the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA), ensuring that all electrical work on streetlights be included in the agreement;
•endorsed a draft of the town’s letter in response to Transport Canada re: the Fort Frances Airport and the proposed landfill site at Couchiching First Nation;
•deferred a prize donation request from the FFHS “chem-free” grad committee until the annual request for a donation to offset rental fees at the Memorial Sports Centre has been received;
•received Minutes of Settlement re: 1721 King’s Highway (2012);
•agreed to allocate $4,379.25 from the general revenue fund, as well as $367,809.11 from reserve funds, to finance 2012 capital fund expenditures; and
•approved a travel and per diem claim for Mayor Roy Avis, Coun. Ken Perry, and Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft, for attendance at the recent OGRA/ROMA conference in Toronto, in the amount of $1,492.50, $876, and $1,015.76, respectively.