FRONT PAgE_FRONT PAgE 8/13/13 10:31 AM Page 1
Founded in 1897
Year 116 No. 33 - DRYDEN, ONTARIO - WEDNESDAY, AuguST 14 , 2013
Business lobby to play role in service review
InSIdE
Conservationists form flotilla at Farabout Peninsula. See pg. 8
A&E
by Jon thompson
A growth year for the Trout Forest Music Festival See pg. 9
SPORTS
Wednesday Night Races A pretty summer stand of Black-Eyed Susans has a front row seat to the action at the Dryden Yacht Club’s weekly Wednesday Night Races. In this scene, boats jockey for favorable starting position. Photo by Chris Marchand
Council discusses easing ATV restrictions on city streets by Jon thompson
Trails reopening after storm damage See pg. 13
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In the first update to local AllTerrain Vehicle (ATV) laws since 1988, Dryden administration is proposing the vehicles be allowed on most city streets. A proposal that will be voted upon in September was presented to City Council on Aug. 12 based on a Greenstone bylaw that would allow for licensed, insured four-wheel vehicles to drive under 20 kilometres per hour within city limits. Helmets will be required for ATV street use and safety concerns would limit riders from crossing the overpass or underpass. Travel hours would be limited to 6 a.m. until 1 a.m. Mayor Craig Nuttall cited support from both the Dryden Police Services Board and the Dryden District Conservation Club as he endorsed the changes. “One old guy went down fishing and he took his ATV. He got
stopped by the police and the police says, ‘you have to leave your ATV there and you have to walk home.’ That’s ridiculous. This is not Toronto. This is a small community and people want to go fishing down the dock or they want to clear a neighbour’s driveway with an ATV. Let’s do it.” The proposal met resistance from Couns. Ken Moss and Shayne MacKinnon, who expressed caution over safety. “Putting in some law that you expect someone to drive 20 kilometres an hour, I think is kidding yourself,” Moss expressed. “Why do they have to be out until one o’ clock in the morning? I’m saying to council I’m not prepared to vote for this.” MacKinnon called for a more comprehensive report including Ontario injury statistics, public consultation and law enforcement capacity, also objecting to
Bass tournament stages return by Chris Marchand
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the omission of golf carts and side-by-side vehicles from the proposed bylaw. “There’s a snow machine bylaw in this town and there’s some really great work that has been done on snow machine trails. Snow machines are able to go through Dryden on appropriate streets from one trail to the next. This isn’t the same because ATVs are restricted from those trails.” Coun. Martin MacKinnon dismissed his colleagues’ dissent, insisting the proposal is a practical solution to a law-abiding constituency. “People want to plow their driveways using their ATV. They want to go around the corner and up to Dad’s and they want to plow his driveway, too. Right now, if they do that, they get fined,” he said. “As usual, this council seems to want to choose to build a molehill into a mountain again. This is a very simple thing.”
The weekend will see the return of a local fishing tournament that hasn’t run since 2009. The Dryden Bass Tournament is a one-day only live-bait tournament sending teams of anglers out into the Wabigoon Chain of Lakes (excluding Dinorwic) in search of their best five-fish limit of bass. The weigh-in will be staged on the grounds of Riverview Lodge, Sunday Aug. 18 at 3 p.m.
“It’s a different type of fishing,” says tournament organizer and frequent competitor Sheila Church. “It’s a lot of spouses fishing together, or parents fishing with their kids because it is only the one day.” Church adds she hopes to pull together 30 teams under relatively short notice this year. Weighmaster Bob Nelson applauds Church for taking on the tournament which has sat dormant for four years.
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An informal business lobby will have a formal role in Dryden’s coming Service Delivery and Operational Review. City Council voted to create a mechanism within the autumn review that would allow for a newlycreated consortium of local business owners to provide logistical research to “assist the city to reduce staff levels that may keep us from moving forward in developing the most appropriate and efficient city operations.” The lobby has offered to develop job descriptions for municipal employees, provide service level comparisons with similarly-sized municipalities and help to determine services that would best be provided by other parties. “It’s inclusive, not exclusive and certainly, I think commits to the spirit of what council is intending here that we sometimes do need some help,” explained acting city manager, Debra Kincaid. Coun. Sid Wintle introduced the motion, pointing out only two representatives of the business community were consulted in the last services review in 1999 and that keeping taxes down is a core priority for the private sector. “They’re concerned about tax increases. The business community can’t handle any more significant tax increases. They think they can help us,” he said. “They don’t want to be joined at the hip with us or tell us what to do,” added Coun. Ken Moss. “They want to explain what is available to us but it would have to be asked for. All they’re saying is, we’re short-staffed, we’re overworked, the budget’s coming, ‘here are some of the things we can do for you.’” Coun. Brian Collins was hesitant to provide an inside track for business within the democratic process. “I’m sure there’s lots of expertise there but there’s lots of expertise that’s not necessarily in business. How do they get involved? I’m thinking, people from the education sector, people from the hospital sector, people from the social service sector. How do they get involved?” Mayor Craig Nuttall and council responded it is open to all groups who reach out to provide input. “I’m open to talk to anyone and I think councilors are,” Nuttall said, citing three meetings he has held with Wabigoon Lake First Nation. He praised the work of Treasury Metals’ Norm Bush, who “saved” the Dryden Mill and is now the public face of the new business consortium. Nuttall is confident the review will draw on the expertise of its members and produce a 2014 budget within the city’s means. “Our budget is coming up and I’ll tell you right now that our budget this year – so far as I’m concerned – should be zero (per cent tax increase) or less.”
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