For the actual wording of the motions indicated, click the "Motion #" at the end of each listing.


REPORT ON COUNCIL
- January 8, 2001

Committee of the Whole met at 1 pm. Council convened at 7 pm.

1. DEPUTATIONS:
a) John Gignac spoke about the establishment of the Huronia Communities Foundation, which will use interest from donated capital to support worthy causes in Tiny Township.

b) Judith Grant urged Council to reconsider its December 11 motion to have Ainley & Associates Limited prepare a peer review of The Planning Partnerships' report on the Pebble Ridge Golf Course [see the Report on Council for December 11] and to select a different firm to do a review.
After explaining how it had come into her possession, she gave the Clerk/CAO and the five members of Council copies of the report of the report of "The Discipline Committee of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario ...in the matter of a complaint regarding Ainley & Associates Ltd." In 1995 Ainley & Associates had conducted well water sampling in the Balm/Ossossane area of Tiny in such a way that the general picture probably looked worse than it was. According to the report, the Discipline Committee of the PEO found Ainley & Associates "guilty of Professional Misconduct" and Ainley "agreed that there was a basis for concluding that there was professional misconduct." [Click here for Judith Grant's full Deputation.]

c) Patricia O'Driscoll also addressed Council about the same matter. She explained her involvement in laying a formal complaint against Ainley & Associates about their biased sampling of well data in the Balm/Ossossane area. She read to Council the definition of "Professional Misconduct" from the Professional Engineers Act. She raised many important questions about Ainley's behaviour towards Tiny Township. She urged Council to rescind its motion retaining Ainley and Associates to do the peer review.
In the question period at the end of the meeting, as the result of a remark by Deputy Mayor Salisbury that John Thompson (retained by the previous Council as Tiny's part-time Manager of Public Works) had been President of Ainley at the time of the faulty sampling, she revealed that Ainley had tried to shift the blame for its misconduct onto Thompson and that a subsequent disciplinary hearing found Thompson completely blameless. [Click here for a summary of Patricia O'Driscoll's deputation.]

2. RENOUF WATER SYSTEM: In a letter dated December 20, 2000 and received on January 4, 2001, from the Ministry of the Environment, the Township was required to "assume operation of the [Renouf] Water Works to ensure it is operated and maintained in a safe manner for the residents," and a series of deadlines were imposed. There has been a meeting with the Renoufs, records and maps of those served by the system have been asked for (possibly some 109 households, 12 of them permanent: the numbers change in every report). Some test results have been obtained. The boil water order is still in effect. Notices are to be sent to users of the system and a meeting held with them.
What is not clear is who is to pay for the creation of a new system, and the Province's intentions in this regard are not obvious. Is the Township to bill the Renoufs for all the work it does, the cost to be handed on to the users? Everyone else in Tiny has paid for a well or for participation in a Township-run small water system. The principle in Tiny is "user pay." The Public Works Manager made it clear at the December meeting of Council that it would be much more expensive for users of the defective Renouf system to pay for the creation of a new system than it would be for each of them to drill wells.
The Township has the option of appealing the Province's decision that it take over the Renouf system. And there are good reasons why such an appeal should be made, namely that there are cheaper alternatives and that it is not the Township's responsibility to supply water to any household. [During a special meeting of Council on January 11 for which Councillor Pierre Paul Maurice was absent and much of which was in camera, Council decided 4-0 "That the Township Solicitor be directed to appeal to the Environmental Appeal Board the report from the Ministry of the Environment dated December 20, 2000." It also, confusingly, decided 4-0 "That R.J. Burnside and Associates Ltd be retained to undertake the studies and assessments required in order to comply with the report from the Ministry of the Environment dated December 20, 2000.]

2. APPOINTMENT OF TOWNSHIP SURVEYOR: David W. Lambden was appointed Township Surveyor (a motion inadvertently neglected at the December meeting of Council). He is to compile a Register of Municipal Lands, beginning with those on the shore. [Motion #: 12/01]

3. FULL-TIME RECREATION CO-ORDINATOR: At the moment Tiny has a part-time recreation co-ordinator. It was felt that, subject to budget deliberations, it would be wise to have a full-time co-ordinator.

4. JACKSON PARK BOAT LAUNCH: The Clerk/CAO reported that there were three options--
(i) Extend the concrete portion further into the bay (costly and ineffective due to flat, shallow bay)
(ii) Construct/improve a boat launch at another location (Balm Beach or Woodland Beach? - same problem with water level)
(iii) Wait for water level to rise in the Spring.
He recommended that no additional funds be spent.
At the urging of Councillor Bob Buchkowsky, it was decided to get estimates for dredging.
At the urging of Deputy Mayor Gordon Salisbury, it was decided to get estimates for additional concrete slabs to extend the boat launch.

5. BATTLE OF GEORGIAN BAY: This mock naval battle is to take place at Balm Beach on Thursday, August 23, 2001 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm (and on subsequent days it will be performed in Penetanguishene and Midland). Roads in the area around Balm Beach are to be blocked off during the event.

6. FIRE SAFETY HOUSE: It was decided that Tiny would make a contribution of $15,000 toward the $70,000 cost of this educational trailer (the balance to be raised from Midland, Penetanguishene, Tay and area businesses). It is to be used to teach fire safety to students. It simulates conditions during a fire -- doors heat, it fills with smoke -- and students learn very quickly the value of such things as a planned escape route.

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Deputation to the Council of Tiny Township
8 January 2001
By Judith Grant, President, Federation of Tiny Township Shoreline Associations

Mayor Klug, Deputy Mayor Salisbury, Councillors, my presentation concerns Motion #903/00 [see the Report on Council for December 11], and specifically the choice of the Ainley Group to do a peer review of a report prepared by the Township's own planning consultants, The Planning Partnership. The Planning Partnership was chosen to serve as the Township's planning consultants after a careful consideration of several firms. The Ainley Group was one of those competing for the job. It was not one of the finalists. The finalists were Reinders and The Planning Partnership, and when The Planning Partnership was selected, it was chosen unanimously. It is very odd to have a lesser talent chosen to assess the work of a greater talent.

During the lead up to the recent election, a number of peculiar things happened, not the least of which was the arrival in the mail of a brown paper envelope at my home in Toronto on September 6. It contained a report. There was no return address, no covering note, no hint as to who had sent it, apart from the postmark that, on investigation, turned out to be one of the mail sorting centres in Toronto. A day or two later George Lawrence of Tiny Residents Working Together telephoned me to say that he had received a brown paper envelope with no return address, no covering note, containing the same report. Like me had had checked to find out what he could about the sender from the postmark and had discovered that it came from the same mail sorting centre as the one addressed to me. He had called me, thinking that I might have sent it. I had not. The two of us were equally mystified as to why the report was sent to us. Around about that time Carey Moran of the Free Press observed to me that she was sick and tired of receiving mysterious brown paper envelopes, so I suspect that she too has a copy of the same report, though I don't know for sure.

What the envelope contained was a report of "The Discipline Committee of the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario . . . in the matter of a complaint regarding the conduct of Ainley & Associates Limited." It lists the documents considered by the Discipline Committee concerning the way Ainley went about water sampling in Balm Beach. In essence, what they were charged with was sampling in such a way that the general picture probably looked worse than it was. This is an area where scrupulous care and the highest standards are extremely important. According to the report, the Discipline Committee found Ainley & Associates guilty of Professional Misconduct and Ainley agreed that there was a basis for concluding that there was professional misconduct.

I urge you to reconsider your decision to ask this particular firm to assess the work of The Planning Partnership.

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Summary of Deputation to the Council of Tiny Township
8 January 2001
By Patricia O'Driscoll, Deputy Mayor 1997-2000.

Patricia O'Driscoll also addressed Council about the same matter. In 1996, as secretary of the Federation, she had uncovered the biased sampling of wells in the Balm/Ossossane area. On behalf of the Federation, she requested Dr. Dickinson, a Water Resources Engineer and Professor Emeritus, University of Guelph, to review the initial and second surveys of water samples. Dr. Dickinson's concern about the biased second sampling led to the Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO) laying a formal complaint against Ainley & Associates alleging that, during the 1994-97 Environmental Study about water in the Balm/Ossossane area of Tiny, Ainley had "(a) selected a biased sample of well data when a representative sample was required and (b) reported the results from the biased sample as if the data were representative of the whole ..."

The PEO decision of April 28, 1998 shows that on March 4, 1998, Ainley's President and CEO and the PEO signed an agreed statement of facts before the Discipline committee of the Professional Engineers of Ontario and agreed that Ainley was guilty of Professional Misconduct.

Pat O'Driscoll read, to Council, the definition of "Professional Misconduct" from the Professional Engineers Act, an Ontario Statute. It reads: "conduct or an act relevant to the practice of professional engineering that, having regard to all the circumstances, would reasonably be regarded by the engineering profession as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional".

She raised many questions. Has Ainley ever advised Tiny that it can't rely on the 1995 second well sampling as an indicator of the state of water quality in the Balm/Ossossane area? Has Ainley ever offered to repay any of the very big dollars earned from the Environmental Study which was based on the flawed survey? Has Ainley ever apologized for the wrong they did to Tiny and its taxpayers? To all questions, her answer was: "Not as far as I know".

She urged Council to rescind its earlier motion retaining Ainley & Associates to do a peer review of The Planning Partnership's report on the Pebble Ridge Golf Course.

In the question period at the end of the meeting, she responded to Deputy Mayor Salisbury's remark that the former President of Ainley at the time of the faulty sampling had been later retained by the previous Council as Tiny's part time Manager of Public Works. Pat O'Driscoll said that, after agreeing to its own Professional Misconduct, Ainley had tried to shift the blame onto the former President. However, a subsequent disciplinary hearing before the PEO found he was completely blameless.

[For background information about water sampling and the Environmental Assessment in the Balm Beach/Ossossane area see the following articles under "issue archives":
Spring 1996 - Environmental Assessment for Tiny Doesn't Wash
Fall 1996 - Saga of Fiscal Gullibility on a Runaway Train
Spring 1997 - A Further Report on the Class Environmental Assessment, the Runaway Train Sidetracked
Fall 1997 - Runaway Train's Fuel Gauge Reading "Empty"]


Motion #:12/01

WHEREAS the Council of The Corporation of the Township of Tiny, by By-law 00-118 has established the position of Township Surveyor as surveyor for the Corporation as provided by Section 210 of the Municipal Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.M.45, as amended;

AND WHEREAS the Council of The Corporation of the Township of Tiny recognizes that the official records of the right, title and ownership of roads, access ways, parks and other lands that may be property of the Township require the attention of a lands records specialist;

AND WHEREAS most of the duties that Council now requires to be performed by the Township Surveyor appointed under By-law 00-118 have been and are continuing to be provided by Ontario Land Surveyor, David W. Lambden, consultant in surveying, land use and resources studies, land registration and information management;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Council of The Corporation of the Township of Tiny approves:
1. That David W. Lambden, Ontario Land Surveyor be appointed as Township Surveyor.
2. That the presently existing contractual assignment to advise Council on Township ownership of shorelands is continued as a separate contract which the parties agree shall include the compiling of a REGISTER OF MUNICIPAL LANDS as required by Section 193(7) of the Municipal Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.M.45, as amended by S.O. 1994, c. 23, s. 55: first, of the lands of the Township on the shoreland plans; second, at the discretion of Council, of the lands of the Township on plans inland from the shoreland plans; third, at the discretion of Council, for all other lands of the Township, including public highways and other public ways; and, fourth, provide direction and assistance for the full transfer of techniques and methodology to the staff of The Corporation of Tiny.
3. That the remuneration for services shall be established by agreement between David W. Lambden and the Chief Administrative Officer/Clerk subject to approval by Council.


Personalities - Bob Klug bent on not offending anyone - not comfortable yet with the peculiar ways of doing things in Tiny - has moved the clerk into the circle with the Council, right next to him, during committee of the whole so that he's right there to consult with

Gordon Salisbury - with Frank repository of memory about the previous 3 years, playing role of senior statesman and enjoying it, with Gordon Salisbury, on subcommittee of Council and staff to assess seven applications of firms to do engineering assessments of the Township's water systems, not clear whether the others involved in setting up the committee, a committee set up in a way Salisbury would ordinarily disapprove

Bob Buchkowsky -

Frank Hughes - asked some tough questions about the way the recommendation about consulting engineering firm arrived at.

Pierre Paul Maurice - as expected, knowledgeable about waste management on farms and about issues to do with the first department. In those areas speaks easily, knowledgeably, and with authority.