Report on Council:
April 29, 2013
Committee of the Whole Meeting: 9:00 am – 12:21am, 1pm-2:30pm?
Confidential Closed Session 2:30-3:15pm?
Regular Meeting: :00 pm?
Mayor Millar, Deputy Mayor Lawrence, Councillors Warren,Wishart, Claire
Don McNalty Burnside Update on Municipal Drain #2 Woodland Municipal Drainage
Drainage is covered under Common and Statute Law. The Woodland Drain 2 is covered under Statute Law, the Drainage Act. Staff requested a look at the By-law that covers this drain and discovered one from 1967. If the drain is to be enclosed then a new by-law is required and an engineer’s report is required. Don noted however that the enclosure would only benefit one owner.
By-law Update
Summer coverage for By-law Officers is as follows: Sun. to Thursday 9 am – 11 pm, Friday and Saturday 9 am. – 3 am. starting May 17. Starting June 22 Bylaw Officers will partner with the OPP.
Waste Management
There are some wrinkles that still need to be ironed out. Where there are over 4 residential units in one building it is defined as commercial waste and Simcoe is responsible only for residential waste.
Severn Sound Environmental Association
Mayor Millar is encouraging the Association to distribute their minutes in a more timely fashion to eliminate any concerns about transparency. There is a delay because the Board meets only four times a year and the minutes are not distributed until they are approved at the next meeting. Mayor Millar also explained the public relations problem the organization has with respect to the $300,000. deficit. The town of Midland has assumed responsibility for Severn Sound’s financial and reporting process and it’s the idiosyncrasies of their system that makes it appear as though Severn Sound has a $300,000 problem. The Auditors do not have a problem with the deficit. Mayor Millar has suggested as a good practice that the municipality that assumes the operation of Severn Sound Environmental Association arrange a letter of credit option to cover the time lag between payables and receivables.
Fill Control By-law
No controls exist over the placing or dumping or removal of fill in the municipality. The only time the placing of fill may result in action is if the fill placement causes drainage problems on adjoining property. Then the Drainage Act may come into play. Tiny is thinking of passing a by-law which would be consistent with the Environment
First philosophy of the Official Plan, in accordance with the Municipal Act. It would prohibit the placement of fill and or alteration of the grade of the land on lands zoned Environmental Protection One (wetlands, areas of natural and scientific interest ANSI or water courses). It would also prohibit lands zoned Environmental Protection 3 which applies to the Nipissing Ridge. The policy of the Official Plan is to protect this feature from development of any activity which might accelerate natural erosion or break down of the ridge.
Disposal of Septage
Tiny has completed phase 1 & 2 of the Environmental Assessment process to address the disposal of septage. The Recommended solution is the construction of new septage lagoons to deal with septage. The sludge still has to be dealt with; the dumping on the fields won’t stop.
Springwater Township needs to expand their treatment plant to accommodate growth in Elmvale. They approached Tiny to explore the possibility of expanding Elmvale sewage treatment plant to accommodate Tiny and Springwater. There were a number of other opportunities for Tiny to partner, but Councillors Claire, Warren and Lawrence preferred to go with a Made in Tiny solution. Mayor Millar and Councillor Wishart wanted to look at the partnering option.
Huronia Economic Alliance Economic Action Plan for Healthcare
This is the first of 4 action plans that look at health care, agriculture, tourism and manufacturing economic sectors. Midland is looking at Healthcare; Tiny is looking at agriculture; Tay is looking at tourism; and Penetang is examining the manufacturing sector.
Mayor Millar’s position is to support economic development and job creation and since Tiny doesn’t have the economic base to provide jobs (most residents work outside of Tiny) he sees that Tiny needs to take a regional perspective and support the areas that provide jobs to Tiny residents. Deputy Mayor Lawrence disagrees. He wants to keep any funding in Tiny.
Mayor Millar sees Tiny’s strategic plan as a possible model for other municipalities in terms of municipalities working together to achieve regional goals.
