Town councillors have been busy attending various municipal meetings and rural conferences throughout the district as of late.
At last night’s council meeting, Mayor June Caul said she recently travelled with Coun. Wendy Brunetta, Coun. John McTaggart, and town CAO Doug Brown to Toronto for the Rural Ontario Municipalities Association (ROMA) conference.
At ROMA, town representatives met with the minister of transportation to discuss connecting link funding, revisions to winter control standards for sidewalks, and improved bussing for better access to medical care in Thunder Bay or Winnipeg.
They also met with the province’s solicitor general to discuss the dire need for improvements to the over 100 year old jail in Fort Frances and spoke to the minister of health about the town’s physician shortage and retention issue.
As well, all of council, in addition to some town staff, had a full slate at the Rainy River District Municipal Association (RRDMA) annual general meeting on Saturday.
The town brought four resolutions forward regarding the district’s physician shortage, publicly funded daily transportation services, the cost of a district wide community safety and well-being plan and equitable property taxation revenue on railway right of ways.
Following the business portion of the meeting Treaty #3 Grand Chief Francis Kavanaugh delivered a speech to delegates of the RRDMA meeting.
“He spoke about the impact First Nations members have on the economic viability of municipalities right across northwestern Ontario and also stressed the importance of moving forward in the spirit of collaboration and partnership between indigenous and non-indigenous communities,” said Coun. Mike Behan, at last night’s meeting.
He also noted that various guest speakers delivered presentations on asset management, the threat of algae blooms to local waterways, transformation of public health, municipal disaster assistance, wildland fire protection plans and doctor recruitment.
The Rainy River District Social Administration Board and Rainy River Future Development Corporation provided updates on their organizations as well.
Meanwhile, Mayor Caul said council is glad to hear Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF) will remain stable for next year.
“Shrinking funds from the Ontario government makes it almost impossible to afford much needed infrastructure, rehabilitation, and community services without forcing either a huge backlog of asset management commitments or raising taxes to the point where people can’t afford to buy any other essentials,” she remarked.
The OCIF funding will continue to flow to Fort Frances, although it has been reduced, Caul noted.
Also at last night’s meeting, council:
- Approved a report that appoints Jamie Pryde to the downtown BIA;
- referred a letter from S. Gustafson re: purchasing a park bench in McIrvine Park in memory of Dennis (Archie) Livingstone to the Operations and Executive Committee (OEC) for recommendation;
- approved a bylaw to appoint Jamie Holliday as the Deputy Treasurer effective Jan. 13, 2020;
- approved a bylaw re: a transfer payment agreement with Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Ontario as represented by the Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for funding for the reconstruction of a portion of Colonization Road West; and
- approved a recommendation to award the tender for roadway reconstruction of Scott Street (Reid Ave to Colonization Road East) to Makkinga Contracting for a total tender price of $5,007,764.50 including HST and a total contingency allowance of $225,000.00.
