Meeting held May 7, 2024
Scouts Island declared surplus
Scouts Island was declared as surplus with a view at possibly selling the town property. CAO Jay Barbeau noted that the council term plan includes reviewing certain properties “to make adjustments to their use or to declare them surplus to our needs.” Scouts Island, on the east side of the John Street bridge, is owned by the municipality and has been under-utilized for years, he indicated. “I don’t know the last time it was actually used with the Scouts.” There is a building on the site which would require $72,000 to rejuvenate, with a replacement value of $608K. “We certainly haven’t been expending any funds there in any way, shape or form for quite some time,” Barbeau added.
Stephane Poulin, Director of Community Services, added that there has been no activity at the site for 8 years, that the local Scouts chapter was disbanded and returned the keys of the property to the town. “They used to maintain that property.” Coun. Anne Tessier wanted to know about water and sewer and was told the services were shut off in winter because the pipes are too shallow under the water, and winter road services were not maintained, so the building could not be used during winter months. Clerk Ducharme noted that “at 3.8 acres, it could be divided if someone would want to build a home on it,” but services would have to be reconfigured.
Coun. Rivard countered with another suggestion to keep the land as a green space. “I understand we don’t want driving over that bridge, but (…) a green space hangout spot for the public (…) may be another option.” Barbeau was not enthusiastic, as he started to talk about “risk” in terms of municipal liability. “We would probably have to put a lot of controls and some gating, some fencing to protect the public,” he said, raising concerns about the temporary springtime conditions of increased waterflow above the dam when the spill gates are opened.
Coun. Fern Pellerin mentioned that a Youth Committee has recently been formed, and there is a Scouts chapter in Verner, and there might be some interest to use it. “The building looks sound (…) If there’s nobody interested, for sure you should sell it. But we should make sure, make an effort to check if there is someone interested (…) before we do anything.” Coun. Roch St-Louis advised caution, “To bring youth or kids on that island that has the amount of current that it has right now, we’re not just looking at fixing the building, we’re also looking at adding fencing (…), barriers that they don’t go play in the water. And I think it’s a liability for us as a municipality, and if it’s a surplus that provides us additional funding to put towards other assets in the municipality, I think that’s a good idea.”
Council voted in favour of having the property evaluated for possible sale by declaring it surplus.
Updating old policies
Old policies referencing such thing as the mayor’s car allowance, funeral flower arrangements and bank accounts came under review for the first time since the first decade after municipal amalgamation. The opening of bank accounts and signing authorities was brought into alignment with a bank requirement that such activities need to be established by council resolution.
For flower arrangements, Alisa Craddock said it was a matter of housekeeping, “renaming it so that it’s not Funeral, that it actually reflects Memorial,” as more people opt for different types of commemorations. The limit had been set at $75 for an arrangement or a donation in lieu of flowers, but Craddock informed that “flowers at $75 is getting really difficult to do”. The limit was increased to $125, deemed more reasonable. The policy states that the gifts are intended for “members of council, including members of immediate family, prior mayors, municipal employees or members of the immediate families and retired employees.”
The mayor’s car allowance had been set in 2003 at $500/month, with a slight increase for cost of living in 2008 to $580. There was no clear recommendation from staff, except that Barbeau noted council compensation will be examined in respect to inflation. “I think all councillors do a fair amount of work (…) For those who don’t know how much councillors work for the money that they receive, it’s a stipend. But they put in a lot of time at meetings, going out to represent to constituencies and constituents. The mayor is the only position that’s elected at large, so he or she has additional travel expenses and duties that individual councillors don’t have (…) If you want to remain as is, that’s fine. I’d probably recommend updating the policy.”
Coun. Tessier wanted to know if the compensation was by submitted claim, for actual usage. Craddock explained that it is a pre-determined car allowance that is a taxable benefit, covering insurance, maintenance and fuel, not based on submitted claims.
Craddock added that the decision could wait until such time as a total compensation review is undertaken for everyone on council, which should be happening shortly. Coun. Restoule agreed that any changes should wait for the full report. “I don’t think it makes much sense to change something tonight and then possibly change it again within a month or so.” Council agreed to defer the matter until the compensation review is tabled.
Old hotel site in Verner
An expression of interest to acquire lands located at 1, Principale Street in Verner, was brought to council. The property was formerly the site of the Commercial Hotel in Verner, which caught fire in 2013 and was subsequently demolished. The property was vested to the municipality as a result of a failed tax sale in 2016 and is currently vacant. The request was from Diane Tellier, who had actually sold the said land several years ago, subdividing it from her own property on Paquette Street. She said she wanted to repurchase the parcel in order to make a garden. Council approved the request to purchase.
Administrative Monetary Penalties
CAO Barbeau brought to council that they consider an Administrative Monetary Penalty System (AMPS) that allows for monetary penalties to be imposed by the municipality for contraventions of municipal by-laws. Under an AMPS, Penalty Notice disputes would be handled by the municipality instead of courts, through the use of Screening and Hearing Officers authorized to modify, cancel, or affirm penalties, an approach designed to reduce congestion in the courts and to provide a local dispute resolution system. “French River has been implementing the AMP System for approximately a year now,” Barbeau said, and provided a document outlining French River’s policies.
He explained that the provincial government downloaded portions of the court system to the municipalities, the Provincial Offenses Act (the POA system), whereby municipalities run the courts and collect the fines for certain offenses. West Nipissing along with 4 other municipalities oversee this system at the CAO level. Barbeau indicated that this was lucrative for municipalities at the beginning, when $700-$900K net would be divided and WN received a 15% proportionate share. “I remember cheques for about $180,000.” However, times have changed, and now the system is costing the municipality. “The Board of the POA level wants to possibly end this and then give it back to the province. [AMPS] is an alternative that some municipalities have been implementing (…) to basically implement a penalty directly to the person (…) committing the infraction, and then collecting the money directly from the person, having it not go through POA. The advantage to that is we would collect the money directly and immediately as opposed to waiting for once a year, wonder what we’re going to get. (…) The other advantage is that we have the ability then to put any un-collected fines on taxes. You’re going to pay or you’re going to pay. (…) This system is something that we are considering moving forward with.”
Coun. Pellerin wanted to have an example of how it would work and how someone would fight a charge. Barbeau responded, “Let’s say traffic or parking (…) The fine would go to them directly, but the payment would come back to us. There could be property maintenance files, there could be our famous short-term rental, if somebody’s non-compliant and they’re issued a (…) notice of fine by mail, they would be required to pay and if they didn’t pay they would (…) be put into collections.”
As for someone who doesn’t agree or wants to appeal, “There’s two steps that French River and others are using (…), a Hearing or a Screening officer. After the fine or the administrative penalty is issued, if somebody is in disagreement with that, they can file an application with the Screening Officer [who] would go over the file, determine whether there were any irregularities (…). Then you would have what’s called a Hearing Officer (…), a quasi-local kind of judge dealing with this, and they would go over the evidence and then they would make a final determination as to the penalty.” To depoliticize the issue, it’s taken out of Council’s hands and is put into administrative and/or independent hands to properly manage the complaint, Barbeau stressed.
Coun. Pellerin wanted to know if someone would have to be hired, and if the municipality would just “be exchanging 4 quarters for a dollar”. Barbeau indicated that the Screening Officer would be assigned, not a new hire. “There would be a Hearing Officer that is usually external to the municipality, a little bit like but not a lawyer, somebody who would have knowledge of municipal bylaws.”
Currently, it can be an arduous process to collect fines, added Craddock. “Our folks can go out and lay tickets after tickets and not get any response and not get any collection on the parking tickets (…). [AMPS] provides a simplified manner of getting a better recourse. But as Mr. Barbeau said, we’re just at the beginning stage of what it might look like in West Nipissing.” Staff indicated they would get more information above and beyond the overview provided by French River.
Coun. Kris Rivard reported, “I spoke with a couple of councillors, staff members from French River and they really love this system. It gives them a little bit more stick and I understand that enforcement is sometimes very difficult (…). Some people in the community here have been complaining about certain property standards, dogs, all sorts of things. (…) This may be the system that will help (…) our municipality have more of a backbone when it comes to these things.” Coun. Gagné also thought it was a great idea. “Thanks for bringing this up. I think we can kind of manage it and collect those fees (…) Hopefully everybody follows the law, but you know that’s not the case. I think it’s a good idea.”
Coursol Road surplus property
Community Services Director Stephan Poulin told council that a phase one Environmental Site Assessment for the surplus Coursol Rd. property is required to be able to develop that property into proposed housing, in line with Council’s term plan and housing study. The site is the lot known as Lang’s Park, bordering Front Street and the railway. “The cost of that is around $10,000 and we had budgeted for such a project within Economic Development budget for 2024.” Coun. Tessier wanted to know if that property was still earmarked for a West Nipissing Not-for-profit Housing project. Poulin replied, “I’m not 100% sure that they have the ability to do so at this time, so I think it’s still in our best interest to proceed and get the phase one done (…) and at least we have the data and we’ll have more information on that site (…) to have it developed.”
Coun. Restoule responded, “I think it’s good that we’re being proactive with this and getting this groundwork done; we know what the challenges are with housing and homelessness in our community and the region, so I think by being proactive like this, it puts us in a good position in the event that we are able to proceed with any housing opportunities.” Coun. Rivard concurred, “We really want to see that property developed (…) It will be that much more ready for development instead of waiting for somebody to purchase it and then follow through with those steps.” Council decided to proceed.
Summer Council meetings
Dates for the summer council meetings, reduced to one a month, will be Tuesdays, July 9th and August 13th at 6:30 p.m.
Cache Bay outdoor rink
Council had to decide whether the contract awarded to Deep Construction for the Cache Bay outdoor rink would entail a single large rink or smaller double rinks. Coun. Roch St-Louis, who represents Cache Bay as well as a large portion of southwest Sturgeon Falls, reported that over 50 people came out to consult. “During the meeting, it was basically almost unanimous that the preference will be a double rink (…) However, throughout the meeting it became very apparent that the biggest concern that our residents have in Cache Bay is the fact that we’re going to go from an asset that has approximately 9 months of use to an asset that will have only three months of use.” The concern was that by going from an asphalt platform to a gravel platform, it will take away the basketball courts and “other options for the kids to be able to play and utilize the area throughout the summertime.”
St-Louis noted that there is no asphalt behind the school to install basketball courts. He wanted to know if the vacant piece of land beside the current site could be utilized to build the rink so that the current chunk of asphalt wouldn’t be lost. Barbeau responded that there is a legal document and a legal tender package that companies bid on in good faith, and the awarded contract is legally binding. The only variable still up for discussion was on the one or two rink options. Poulin agreed that “It completely changes the scope of work that we tendered (…) If we were to change the scope of this project, (…) we’d be bound by law to honour what Council has already approved.”
St-Louis said he understood, but asked if the residents could fundraise so that one side has a pad at no additional cost to the municipality, something they could work out with the contractor. Barbeau said his recommendation was to award the contract as is, to comply with the legalities, and then see if they could work with the contractor on possible changes. “But certainly, we as staff cannot recommend (…) violating a bid and a procurement process and quite frankly this overrides Cache Bay. It undermines our entire procurement processes and the integrity of our procurement processes (…) We recommend strongly to Council against that because you’re incurring risk and liability and I guarantee that you will have liability. That being said (…), we can possibly have a conversation with the contractor and see what is possible.” Poulin confirmed that position. Barbeau continued, “The safe route is to just go ahead. (…) We do not have the authority to vary anything legally.”
St-Louis concurred that there was an agreement but reiterated that residents were disappointed that the discussion didn’t come before the contract was awarded. “One last thing, I just want to put it out there and put it on record that if obviously it’s going to be a gravel, (…) I would really hope that as a Council we can support looking at creating an additional asphalt pad (…) so that the residents of Cache Bay can have basketball. (…) A half court basketball is 50 by 50, and a two pickleball court is actually 20 by 44. Just saying you could fit 2 pickleball courts there also. (…) I will definitely bring something forward to look into creating an asphalt pad so that the kids from the community are able to enjoy the summer.”
Coun. Rivard suggested going for the single rink and putting the cost difference, $14,000, into an asphalt pad. However, a single rink would have to be scheduled, whereas in Cache Bay the rink is not scheduled, and kids hop onto the ice at will. Coun. Gagné said he supported a single rink because he liked to have things in West Nipissing standardized, including ice time scheduling. St-Louis said that the people in Cache Bay considered what they wanted, and they want the double rink. Coun. Tessier added, “We can’t change the tender, we’ve got to proceed. But we could go with the two rinks and then expand from that afterwards. So, I’m in agreement with the two rinks and then developing another project to address what they’re missing.” After a few further comments, council voted, and the double rink option was approved.
Youth Advisory appointment
Wyatt Kennedy was appointed to the West Nipissing Youth Advisory Committee.
Run For Health event
Council approved street closures to accommodate the WN General Hospital Run for Health marathon on June 2, 2024, beginning at 9:30 am.
