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MA: COUNCIL GLEANINGS - Ian Murray ~he agenda for the 10'h Session of ouncil, March 12, contained 315 pages, with more items than usual of interest to Island residents. By the way, a Council agenda consists ofaction taken by Council from the previous meeting (or meetings)- the Minutes - plus items to be discussed at the upcoming meeting. The agenda for every Council meeting is available on the Loy- alist web page on the Friday before the Monday meeting which gives Council members and others the weekend to read, think, and, possibly, make plans. *** The following motion was adopted at the March 5lh Ad- ministration meeting: "1. That Council authorizes the Treasurer and Director of Engineering Services to implement ferry charges, effective May 1, 2007 in the amount of$8 for a single vehicle, $16 for trucks and a bulk ticket rate of$100 for 30 tickets 2. That any budgetary shortfall be provided from the Am- herst Island Ferry Reserve Fund..." "A public meeting will be held in the Council Chambers on March 26 at 7 pm" to formally adopt the necessary by- law. cil regarding the ferry rate issue. These may be seen on the Loyalist web page, in the agendas section. This includes 2 stration Committee agenda for the final budget review." A delegation representing three Kingston hospitals - KGH, HDH and Providence Continuing Care Centre a stated that these facilities "serve more than 500,000 residents and work closely with the County of Lennox & Addington Hospital in Napanee". These hospitals need to be upgraded. The HDH "needs to be reconfigured with more clinics and more elevators". . The KGH "requires an expansion of the Cancer Centre and a new mental health inpatient unit". . _ . "The Providence Continuing Care Centre has no air condition- ing in the building. They require a new hospital combining St. Mary's ofthe Lake and Mental Health Services in a location on King Street West. . "The provincial government is supporting all the above~noted plans. It will cost approximately $300 million to implement these plans." Ten per cent ofthis amount must be raised locally before the province will put in any money, The delegation requested $50,000 per year for the next four years from Loyalist Township. 4 . This request was "referred to budget deliberations for further discussion". *** "Ouncil agreed to "enCOUrage County Council to move for- v ard with the construction plans" for the roundabout at the inter- As near as I can tell there have been 11 letters sent to Coun- ' . w ones in the current agenda package. I [he Treasurer has revised the Administration Allocation to {:31 i $99,400. Her report "will be included in the April Admini- ' section offormer provincial highways 2 & 133. The estimate to construct the roundabout is $250,000. *** 1V "0.71738 311/1 The Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority has acquired 700 acres ofthe Bayview Wetland. "Loyalist Township is put- if ting $150,000 towards the acquisition." I *** The negotiations with OPSEU were carried out in closed ses- .C.' sion. Fortunately, 3 of the 6 Council members are not married to ' union members so there was a quorum. I'll try to remember to .' 5 ask what happens if the next Council is made up ofmore than 3 members with union member spouses. *>k* Council is advertising for a Capital Asset Project Analyst. PHOTO BRIAN Lii--rLE *** OVER 40 [SLANDERS SHOWED UP FOR THE COUNCIL MEETING RE-- GARDING FERRY PRICES There is a list ofqualifications that the successful candidate must have; the education, experience and skills required is impressive "Reporting to the Treasurer, this position is responsible for developing Loyalist Township's financial reporting framework so it includes complete and consistent information about all of Loyalist Township's fixed assets." The province has mandated that a municipality's fixed assets must be accounted for perhaps so that elected officials can com- pare their municipality with others ofsiniilar size, This is, I be» lieve, already being done for municipal services so that compari- sons can be made such as how much it costs to maintain a kilo- metre of gravel road, how much is spent on emergency services per capita and so on. It will be interesting to learn what the mud and gravel road in front of our house is worth and how this number is arrived at. $010}: New Entrance Culverts will now cost $1700 for a 6~metre cul- vert and anything over the 6 metres will be charged at $100/m. *** From Fire ChiefWayne Calver's "2006 Loyalist Township Emergency Services Report": "In January 2006 the 1975 Intemational Fire Pumper was re- {Cmiiimrezl mi page 4) 3