October 25, 2012 Vol. 12, No. 42
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Tri-board backs down on bussing RFP
No change for 2013-2014; after that questions remain by Jeff Green ussing contracts between Tri-Board Transportation and its 55 contractors for the 2013-2014 school year will be negotiated in the same way they have been in the past. A number of those contractors launched a law suit charging that the Request For Proposal (RFP) process that TriBoard had undertaken for awarding contracts for the next five years was unfair and discriminated against the smaller operators. Since those operators have no other potential clients for their school bussing services, the plaintiffs charged that the RFP constituted a breach of duty towards. The suit also took issue with a condition in the RFP that gave Tri-Board leave to disqualify any operator who has entered into legal proceedings against them. At the preliminary court hearing, which took place at the Belleville Courthouse last Thursday, October 18, the lawyer for the drivers, Jonathan Lisus, asked Justice Scott of the Ontario Supreme Court for an interlocutory injunction stopping the RFP process while the law suit proceeds. The lawyer for Tri-Board initially argued that the court should reject the suit outright, but when Justice Scott declined to do so, the court was adjourned and negotiations took place in the judges chambers. A couple of hours later, Scott came back and said TriBoard had withdrawn the RFP; that contracts would be negotiated for the 2013-14 year with the existing operators and that the plaintiffs are at liberty to pursue the suit. The matter of who will pay court costs was left to the discretion of the trial judge who ends up presiding over the matter. Mary Stinson, one of the operators who launched the suit, said that the operators consider this a major victory. Steve Wowk, the Chief Executive Office of Tri-Board Transportation, said that the decision to withdraw the RFP does not represent the end of the RFP process. “We decided to withdraw the RFP at this time because if we moved forward to fight the injunction, we would have jeopardised the process, which would have been unfair to the operators who were about to submit bids,” Wowk said. The deadline for responding to the RFP for 2013-2017 was October 31. He also said that the provision giving Tri-Board leave to disqualify any bidders that enter into legal proceedings against them is not unusual. “It is starting to be pretty standard practice” he said, “It does not mean we will disqualify anyone, it just gives us the choice.” Wowk said that Tri-Board intends to defend the RFP document against any legal challenges and re-submit it in 2014 for the five subsequent years. However, it will not be Steve Wowk who carries this forward since he will be retiring later this fall. Mary Stinson said, “Our lawyers told us they did not think we will see another RFP from Tri-Board.” The News attempted to contact Jonathan Lisus on Tuesday (October 23) but he did not return our call before our publication deadline for this week.
B
Forty Clarendon Central students from all grades attended the municipal office for Local Government Week activities on October 15. It was a great opportunity for the kids and teachers to see what is involved with the day-to-day operations in North Frontenac Township. The children visited all the department offices, and were particularly interested in the big maps that Evan Sepa had printed off for them, on which they were able to pinpoint where they live. They were also fascinated with his big printer. After the tour, members of the fire department barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs for the kids.
Proposal for KFL&A riding A
by Jeff Green
t the Frontenac County Council meeting on Oct. 17, CAO Liz Savill presented the submission she will be making to the electoral boundary commission for council’s approval. The submission makes a number of points that have been made by Hastings and Lennox and Addington County and others ever since the proposed boundaries were released in early September. Among other features, those boundaries would split Frontenac County into three ridings. As Savill’s submission acknowledges, all of the other proposals are similar to the current riding boundaries, in which Frontenac County is in a riding that includes Lanark County. Arguing that Lanark County is more oriented to Ottawa and Frontenac County to Kingston, Savill proposes a Frontenac, Lennox and Addington riding that includes the former Kingston and Pittsburgh townships in rural Kingston. This would shrink the Kingston and the Islands riding but would create
a riding anchored by the populations living within proximity to Highway 401, including the Town of Napanee and Loyalist Township, as well as parts of South Frontenac and Kingston. In addition, it would create a riding of Hastings-Belleville and calls for a new riding of Lanark-Carleton, which would include the rural west end of Ottawa and all of Lanark County. Savill points out that Frontenac County has only been coupled with Lanark for the past 10 years. Her proposal is similar to the way things were before that, with the exception of the alteration of Kingston and the Islands, which is an established riding, but one that has grown in population to the point that it is now 17.9% higher than the norm of 106,000. The proposed Kingston and the Islands riding would be closer to the norm, but the Kingston Frontenac riding would be well short of the quota at 90,000. The presentation will form the Frontenac County submission to the public hearing on electoral boundaries on November 8 in Kingston.
Clock is ticking on Parham library branch by Jeff Green he Parham library branch is located in a portable classroom attached to Hinchinbrooke Public School, and with the school being slated to close as early as June 30 next year, members of Central Frontenac Council are starting to wake up to the fact that some planning will need to be done on their part to keep a branch open in Parham or vicinity. Councilor John Purdon, who is the Frontenac County Council representative to the Library Board, sounded the alarm. “The rural branches are just as busy as the urban branches are, on a per capita basis, but in terms of total use the numbers are low, and once the school closes in Parham the numbers may get lower. We can’t have the services in the small branches that they have in the big branches, and the trend is towards more services, more programming and bigger branches. The tendency in recommendations to the board is continually towards decreasing rural branches. I don’t agree, but I would say we need to fix our facilities so we can maintain services. We don’t own the Parham branch;
T
it is on school board property. So we have to think about purchasing the portable and setting it up at some location off the school property. But that is something we need to get going on,” Purdon said. Earlier, in response to a question from Councilor Norm Guntensperger about the viability of the Mountain Grove branch and the possibility of moving it to a new location, perhaps in an addition to the Mountain Grove Fire Hall, Township Chief Administrative Officer Shawn Trépanier said the former township office building that is currently housing the library “is not safe”, a statement he retracted a few minutes later. “We have not had any reports declaring that building unsafe,” Mayor Janet Gutowski reminded council. “It has its challenges but there is nothing about it being unsafe. As far as library branches are concerned, we need to recognise that we have not been paying any of the costs of the Parham branch until now, because the school board has covered it, so whatever we do will increase the budget. We need to do our strategic plan, and we need to determine if we can afford
to have one of everything in all four of the districts.” “This council has already taken a position on four districts, four library branches. To revisit that would take a 2/3 majority vote,” said Guntensperger. Councilor Snyder interrupted. “Parham has a problem right now. We need to start looking at this right away,” he said. Inching towards County Roads – Public Works Manager Mike Richardson reported that at their second combined meeting, the public works managers from all four Frontenac County townships discussed
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