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The Beacon (Continued from page 3) COUNCIL GLEANINGS placed on Amherst Island with a 1992 GMC Topkick IOSOGPM Fire Pumper. The new truck has made a great improvement in pumping and training operations for Amherst Island fire station. This year we upgraded the Self Contained Breathing Appara- tus (SCBA) at the Bath and Amherst Island stations. All SCBA's have been standardized in the department thus making training and maintenance of SCBA's easier.... The installation of a Dry-Hydrant at the Amherst Island dock to allow drafting water for fire fighting purposes has been com- pleted and training has been conducted." *** Emergency calls by station: Amherst Island, 35; Amherstview, 114; Bath, 68; and, Odessa, 128. Medical calls accounted for 24% of total calls; a decrease from 31% in 2005. Non-emergency calls, including false alarms and other inappropriate callouts account for 30% of the total calls and 10% of wages. The total reported fire loss for the year was $950,500. Two EFR scenario based trainings were conducted at the Am- herst Island Station. All personnel from the Amherst Island Sta- tion attended the training facility twice for an extended evening training. *** Council received a number of letters from Grade 5 public school children, I assume as a classroom project. This is my favourite: "Dear Mr. McEwen, My name is Madison and I'm a student at Amherstview Public School. I was wondering if you have thought about the W. J. Henderson arena. I have some things maybe you could think about. It would be nice if you made some adjustments to it. Some things I thought about was that I know some skaters, figure skaters and I'm a figure skater too and we would like to know if you have thought about making a girls' change room. We think you should think about this because we don't like the smell of hockey players and we think hockey players only really need 5 change rooms. That is including change rooms for tour- naments. Everything else is great! If you maybe could make these ad- justments to it we would thank you so much. Thank you for reading this letter. From Madison." *** There were 2 letters to Council objecting to Lafarge's proposal to burn tires. Once again, those interested are invited to see these letters on the Loyalist web page. *** Anyone interested in the proposed severing of the property to the right of the ferry line-up area at the Stella dock is referred to pages 301 to 304 in the March 12 Loyalist agenda documents. Severing a piece of prOperty in a built up area can be a compli- cated and expensive process. **** The agenda forth tained 193 pages. ' The first agenda item 18 t the 10'h Session of Council. e 1 1th Session of Council, March 26, con- he confirmation of the minutes from The next item is the Public Meeting for the adoption of the Miscellaneous Fees By-law which includes Amherst Island ferry user fees. There were 2 more letters from Island residents con- cerning the proposed ferry ticket increases. They can be seen on the Loyalist website. Following 2 delegations on mainland matters, Council will consider reports from 5 departments: Engineering, Planning, Recreation, Treasury and Clerk's. The Engineer's report contains a recommendation to Council that municipal vehicles pay the full fare "and that the fees be charged to the appropriate Township departments". This is in response to "the current public perception that the municipality is receiving a much better deal than the local residents and that the municipality is not paying their fair share for municipal vehi- cles when utilizing the Amherst Island Ferry service." Had the 1428 municipal vehicle crossings last year been billed at $6 per trip rather than the bulk ticket rate, "the additional revenue would have been approximately $5000". The Cemeteries Committee, a committee within the Recreation Department, has made the following recommendations to Coun- cil: that the grave purchase for a resident be increased from $500 to $600; that the grave purchase for a non--resident be increased from $650 to $800; and, that a burial for a casket be reduced from $600 to $550." The Treasury Department reported the following remuneration and expenses for Council members in 2006: Reeve Clayton McEwen, $25,576.79 remuneration, $92.16 benefits, and $10,452.28 expenses; Deputy Reeve Carl Bresee, $15,620.87 remuneration, $92.16 benefits, and $3000.00 expenses; Council- lor Duncan Ashley, $13,825.58 remuneration, $92.16 benefits, and $3804.41 expenses. Figures for the rest of Council can be found on the Loyalist website. Jackie Sylvester as a member of the Committee of Adjustmen received $350.00 remuneration and $202.00 in expenses. Judith Harrower as a member of the Cemeteries Committee received $135.34 for expenses. Ameena Jaffer of Amherstview sent a letter to Council (and the Whig Standard) regarding the closing of the Amherstview After Hours Clinic. This closing is certainly not a good thing for Island residents as many of us have used this clinic rather than go into the emergency wards in Napanee or Kingston. A petition objecting to this closing is also in the agenda documents. Douglas Lamb sent Council a letter thanking whomever was responsible for putting a seat in the Millhaven shelter. I am sure a letter like this is appreciated by both staff and poli- ticians as they are far more likely to be blamed than thanked for their work.