March 28, 2013
Vol. 13, No. 12
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County budget in limbo after defeat
Fate of Parham Library still unknown I
F
rontenac County Council met for over five hours on March 8 to work through their 2013 budget, and they devoted most of their regularly scheduled meeting on March 20 to the same topic. Finally, after cutting another position, a part-time finance clerk ($24,000), and making a number of other cuts, it seemed like it was time to vote. Overall county spending was slated to be up by 5%, to over $40 million from $38 million in 2012, but because most of those costs are covered by payments from the Province of Ontario and the City of Kingston for ambulance and long term care services the county provides to Kingston residents, the amount to be paid by county taxpayers (about $8.25 million) was actually down marginally from 2012, - 0.34% Nonetheless, when the votes were all counted, the budget was defeated by 6 votes to 3. For the record, the draft budget was supported by both representatives from Central Frontenac, Mayor Janet Gutowski and John Purdon, as well as John Inglis from North Frontenac, and No votes came from North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton, David Jones and Mayor Dennis Doyle from Frontenac Islands, and John McDougall and Mayor Gary Davison from South Frontenac (Davison has 2 votes because he is the mayor of the largest township) Although it was not clear until the vote took place that the budget was not going to pass, there were indications earlier in the meeting that certain members of the council were not happy with the direction the budget was taking. “We see actual spending from last year and then we see that staff are asking for more than that, so we say cut the budget. And every time we do that we are told we can't do it. Are they saying we should just sign the check and be quiet?” said Gary Davison early in the meeting. “We ran a surplus last year of $250,000 and now we can't drop the budget. That's nonsense,” said David Jones. For her part, Warden Gutowski wondered what council was really after. “Council asked for a line by line budget instead of giving clear direction to staff. And now some of you don't like the numbers you are seeing,” she said. Although the budget document as a whole was rejected, three items received pre-approval: the $2 million re-build of the Frontenac Auditorium at the Fairmount Home/County offices complex in Glenburnie; the building of a new ambulance base in North/Central Frontenac; and cutting a 12hour shift from the Palace Road ambulance base in Kingston. When contacted later, Warden Gutowski said she did not know what the six members of Council who voted against the budget are looking for. “Before the vote I asked if anyone wanted to look further at any part of the budget, and no one put up their hand. So I called the vote, and it went down. I can see no direction coming from that vote, so we’ll just have to see what happens at our next meeting. I have no plans to call any additional meetings.” County Council meets next on April 17.
Country Church reunion It was standing room only on March 24 at Sharbot Lake Pentecostal Church as a large crowd came out to relive old memories with the original Country Church band. The popular bluegrass gospel group, which was formed in 1992 and has played hundreds of concerts, received a standing ovation at the end of the reunion concert. L-r: Janice Wilson, Howard Dudgeon, Gilbert Whan, Ron Clark, Jim Heney and Bruce Walker. Ron and Jim have not played with the band since the late 90s.
by Julie Druker n a verbal report to Central Frontenac council regarding the fate of the Parham Library, chief building officer, Jeremy Neven, reported that moving the library portable to township property as a temporary solution and ensuring that it has adequate washrooms facilities could likely impose a cost of close to $40,000. He said a similar project cost North Frontenac Township $38,000. This opened up a storm of disagreement among councilors after it was established that moving the portable to the Parham fire hall was not an option since there are not adequate washroom and parking facilities there. Asked if it would be possible to rent the current facility from the school board in the interim, Cathy MacMunn replied that she was continuing to look into that as a possible option. Mayor Gutowski strongly opposed putting money into moving the portable to township property at this time. “We do not have anything allocated in the budget for this
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Service jewels awarded to Oddfellows and Rebekahs by Julie Druker
T
hough Harrowsmith's Oddfellows and Rebekahs obviously have not been around for such a length of time, on March 23, some of their members were recognized for a total of 700 plus years of dedicated service to the organization. The lodges’ award ceremonies take place every five years and at this year’s event 23 men and women, accompanied by a large contingent of friends and family, attended the special jewel presentation at the Golden Links hall. The hall is the home of the 101year-old Harrowsmith Oddfellows (Athena 306) and 68-year-old Harrowsmith Rebekahs (Princess Elizabeth #358) lodges. The celebration was attended by over 100 guests, including representatives from Lyn, Cobourg, Brooklyn, Kingston and Gananoque, and was headed by MCs Wayne Gard and Sandra Clow. Following a sumptuous ham dinner with all the fixings that was prepared by two new Kingston members, Bob Dorey and Kevin Nickerson, the ceremony began. Charles Benson, the Sovereign Grand Guardian of The Sovereign Grand Lodge, was one of the speakers and he spoke about this year’s theme: Make a Difference. “Looking at the number of the years that people here in Harrowsmith have served shows that these people are making a difference and following the principles of friendship, love and truth and are taking that out into their community. This is a great organization where people can learn about these three basic principles, and how they can be spread around the community, and put into practice in order to help make a better world,” Benson said. The Oddfellows and Rebekahs serve the community wherever and however they are needed. The organization has raised funds for Camp Trillium and for eye and leukemia
research and they also regularly raise funds for the purchase of hospital beds, wheelchairs and walkers for those in need while also tending to the immediate needs of individuals and organizations in the community. Benson also touched on how the general membership in the club has been on the decline for a number of years. “We are presently losing more members than we are gaining because for years we were not worrying about broadcasting to the community what exactly it is that we do. In the past we just did it for the sake of doing it. Now we see that we need to let people in the community know what is that we do and to shine that light out there so people know about us and understand the kind of work that we do,” he said. That message seems to be getting out and early in the ceremony two younger members of the community, Samantha Rattray and Ryan Baker, received their new membership
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pins. Samantha said that she was encouraged by her mother, a Rebekah, to join and felt that joining the organization would be “a new fun thing to do”. The couple have children aged 6 to 16 who regularly attend the club’s youth dances they said that they are looking forward to helping out at the dances, dinners and bingos. “Our children love the youth dances, so helping out is our way of giving back to the community. Volunteer work is great thing to be involved in and it really helps out a lot of people in the community. We are hoping to encourage some of our friends to join too,” Ryan said. It was by far the older members of the organization, many of whom have served over half of their lifetimes, who owned the spotlight at the ceremony. Sister Hilda Hodgson, who is 89 years of age, received her 55-year jewel. She was accompanied to the podium by son David and daughter Darlene. She said she was happy to see many of her old friends and said that she has not been around as much in
Members of the Oddfellows and Rebekahs of Harrowsmith were awarded jewels on March 23
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