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Council Report, 1 December 2010 By Holly Franklin After a brief inaugural ceremony and light luncheon at the new Optimists’ Recreation Centre in Aberfoyle, the first meeting of the newly-elected Puslinch Township Council was held. The Councillors, Sue Fielding, Ken Roth, Gerry Schmidt, and Wayne Stokley, were in attendance, along with new Mayor Dennis Lever. The first item of note on the agenda was the grant from the Green Municipal Fund awarded for the Big Lake project which would see many Township gravel pits amalgamated into one large man-made lake for public recreation use, etc. This huge project was a pet of the former Mayor, Brad Whitcombe. He seemed to regard it as his ‘legacy’ to the Township of Puslinch. The FCM is offering a $400,000 grant of tax payers’ monies for the beginning of this project. Councillor Fielding pointed out that it was not a foregone conclusion that the grant would be accepted by this new administration, and that she had a lot of difficulty taking tax payers’ money for something that she thought should be paid for by the very gravel companies who were responsible for the pits to begin with. Ken Roth concurred, as did the rest of the Councillors. Mayor Lever said that he had clearly campaigned against this project, and Wayne Stokley asked if it were possible to defer this decision. Sue pointed out that at least $40,000 has gone into this proposed project already. Brenda Law, Township CAO, said the deadline for signing the agreement is Dec. 15. Dennis will contact the individual gravel companies about the grant, and Council will contact the FCM (Federation of Canadian Municipalities) about deferring the decision. Very nice to see that the first business of this new Council is a serious questioning of what the previous Mayor mandated during his term in office. Smoking outside of the new MURF building – Council is against – would have to be enforced on a complaint basis. No decision reached. Paving of roads in Morriston will be a part of the budget process in the New Year. Councillor Stokley would like to schedule several Town Hall meetings throughout the year. Sue suggested that Council meet a few times and see what the public would like in terms of issues being discussed in this type of forum. It was agreed that the Big Lake project would need a separate meeting, and Dennis suggested an initial target for a Town Hall meeting of before summer. Delegation of Jack and Joyce Ward, concerned about the proposed Suncor project, a “truckers’ rest haven” at the corner of Pinebush and Townline Rd. (west side of Townline) in Cambridge. Their concern is that contaminated water run-off will end up in Puslinch Lake, to the east of Townline. Most residents of the Puslinch Lake area are on wells. Stan Denhoed, Township hydrogeologist, says there’s no guarantee that the contaminated water will end up in the Lake; however, the more building in that area, the more likelihood that some run-off will proceed into the Lake. The water would contain high levels of cadmium, phosphorous, oil and heavy metals that could not only jeopardize drinking water but also the life of the Lake itself. Stan will do a report to the OMB on Dec. 20th about storm water management. Dennis concluded that we are opposed to this project and the proposed run-off into the Lake and we will ask for a delay to get more information about the effects of this project. The response will be sent to the OMB that we need more information to be certain that there will be no environmental impact on the Lake. Roads Department – Jim Howlett. Gamsby and Mannerow, engineers, have billed us $55,000 for engineering fees. Ken Roth pointed out that this is a short road (Ellis Road) – only 1 km. – why are fees so high? The road had a budget of $476,000, and is now at $531,000. Jim responded that we have no control over these costs. Dennis asked if there are rules about engineering costs? Jim said that just because we have a contract for an amount doesn’t mean that’s what the final bill will be. Dennis asked Jim to track the costs so that we know what is being paid for. Jim said he would. Wayne asked about the status of the investigation into dangerous intersections in the Township, and Jim has not done any investigation to date. Sue pointed out a recent fatality at Leslie and Victoria and that the intersection at Hwy. 6 and conc. 1 needs to be closed. Jim said that the section in front of Bryan’s is the problem, not further north on #6. Dennis asked Jim to “please generate a list of dangerous intersections and associated costs, and a list of roads with wide and narrow road allowances?” Building Department – the MURF compressor is very noisy, and has been shut down so that work can be done on it. It’s a vibration noise, not the actual compressor. Ken suggested not paying bills until the problems are fixed. This should be done very soon. New business. Sue Fielding says the objective for Hwy. 6 is to get onto the Province’s 5-year plan. The new name for the MURF will officially be the Optimists’ Recreation Centre. Ken suggested that the Township offices remain open over the lunch hour. |