THE
SERVING THE MAPLETON COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY NEWS Volume 48 Issue 17
Drayton, Ontario
1 Year GIC - 2.15% 3 Year GIC - 2.35% 5 Year GIC - 2.55% Daily Interest 1.25%
638-3328
Friday, April 24, 2015
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‘Possible redefined’ for local students at Empowerment Day
by Caroline Sealey DRAYTON - Twenty two school buses lined the outskirts of the parking lot at the PMD arena on April 15. Inside more than 1,300 students, teachers, chaperones and interested community members celebrated Empowerment Day. Student council and staff at Drayton Heights Public School began planning the event over a year ago. World renowned motivational speaker Spencer West was invited to speak at the event for students in Grades 5 to 8 from across Wellington County. Planning for the event went into motion with West’s acceptance as main speaker for the day. Members of student council and staff at the school set up committees and fundraised for months prior to April 15. Arthur native Sarah Smith came on board as the opening act for West. Admission to the event was a donation to the food bank to be shared by the communities of the schools attending. Student council member Jana Bieman said, “We were beside ourselves when we got the email telling us that West was coming. We knew there would be a lot of hard work
Empowering students - LEFT: World renowned motivational speaker Spencer West, of the Me to We foundation, inspired Wellington County students at Empowerment Day on April 15 at the PMD arena. The highly successful event was the culmination of many months of planning by Drayton Heights staff and students council. ABOVE: Local musician Sarah Smith, who opened the event, invited members of the students council on stage to join her in singing Happy Birthday to her father, who was in the audience. photo by Caroline Sealey involved but we were up for the challenge.� Smith began her career as lead singer with The Joys, a Canadian rock band. The Joys performed with Bif Naked, The Trews, Sam Roberts and Bedouin Soundclash. Since turning solo, Smith has recorded albums and her music has been featured on CBC’s Cracked and in a Los Angeles-
based movie Anatomy of a Love Seen. A recipient of numerous awards for her music, Smith will be touring in Ontario, Germany and the Netherlands. She took the stage at 9:30am and performed a number of her own compositions and encouraged students to never give up on their dreams. At one point, members of the student council were called on stage
to help her with a special song. Smith’s father, who was in the audience supporting his daughter, was celebrating a birthday. The jam packed arena sang “Happy birthday to Smitty.� During intermission Smith signed autographs and posed for photos with fans. Wendy Smith was along for the morning to help her daughter with CD sales.
“I am extremely proud of Sarah and happy that she could perform back home. It was a great performance, which I’m sure the teens enjoyed,� Wendy Smith said. West, who began his portion of the show at 10:30am was born in Wyoming, West Virginia. He had both legs amputated below the knee at age two, due to a muscular
disease. By the time he was five, doctors decided surgical removal of the remainder of his legs up to the pelvis was necessary. His parents were told by medical staff that West would never be able to walk or be a functioning member of society. Growing up his parents never treated him any different and taught him to focus on the Continued on page 8
Township addressing ministry concerns regarding water pollution control plant
by Patrick Raftis MAPLETON - The township’s water treatment operated at close to capacity but without incident in 2014, the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) reports. OCWA’s annual performance report on the Mapleton Water Pollution Control Plant was presented to council by public works director Brad McRoberts on April 14. With average daily flows of 684 cubic metres per day the plant operated at about 92 per cent of the design capacity of 750m3/day. “Which is pushing pretty close to our limits,� McRoberts
noted. However, he added, “We did meet all of our effluent compliance requirements.� The OCWA report indicates there were no bypasses, spills or abnormal discharge events in 2014. Council received the report and directed it be posted on the township’s website. While the performance report generated no concerns, a 2014-15 Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) inspection report on the plant did reveal some issues. The MOECC report notes not all raw sewage sampling requirements prescribed by the
Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) were met. McRoberts advised council in a written report that staff will review the ability to collect composite samples of the raw sewage and, if feasible, will implement the appropriate sampling. “If it is impractical then township staff will request an amendment to the ECA,� the report states. The ministry also indicted past annual performance reports on the plant did not meet all the ECA submission and contents requirements. McRoberts explained no further action is required as the
2014 annual report has been submitted with the information required. The ministry also recommended the township consider establishment of a program for assessing sludge accumulation and budgeting for sludge removal work to be conducted sometime in the future. McRoberts stated township and OCWA staff will be establishing a sludge management plan. The following issues were also noted during the inspection: - the time between daily visits by the operator varies significantly. If more than 24 hours pass between visits, the
calculated discharge volume can appear to exceed the maximum permitted daily discharge volume. “In fact, the maximum day discharge volumes as reported all appear to exceed the allowed volume for each discharge month of the inspection review period�; - a review of Moorefield sewage pumping station flowmeter records showed that from 2011 to 2013, one to two days per month were often not recorded. However, record keeping for the Moorefield sewage pumping station improved in 2014, as flows were recorded virtually every day that year;
- the HSI turbo blowers are reported to have experienced long-term breakdowns and they appear to be a chronic maintenance issue at the plant; and - efforts should be made to ensure daily records continue to be maintained of inflow to and effluent from the plant. McRoberts stated township staff and the OCWA will be developing solutions for these issues as part of the 2015 Optimization Project. He also noted funds have been included in the township’s 2015 capital budget to deal with many of the issues highlighted in the report.
Residential development charges rise; commercial, industrial fall under new bylaw by Patrick Raftis MAPLETON - Residential development charges will rise, while commercial and industrial charges will fall under a new bylaw passed by council on April 16. Council approved the bylaw, which updates rates in place since 2009, following a public meeting and the presentation of a development charges background study by Dan Wilson of Watson and Associates Economists Ltd. Wilson noted the consultants facilitated a council workshop, looked at histori-
cal data and conducted extensive discussions with township staff in the course of preparing the study, which indicates Mapleton’s current residential and commercial development charges are the second lowest among 13 other comparison municipalities ranging in size from the Town of Minto to the City of Kitchener. “You’re fairly low on the list. Only Minto is below you,� Wilson told council. However, he pointed out, “that could change, as Minto is currently going through this process.� The report recommended Main St. W. Palmerston
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moving township charges on single detached dwellings from $7,119 to $11,785. Combined with county ($2,805) and education ($1,884) levies, total development charges on a single detached residence in Mapleton will be $16,474. The builder of a single detached residence in Minto currently pays $3,901 to the municipality, plus the same county and education charges as in Mapleton, bringing the total there to $11,808. Development charges for three other Wellington County municipalities were cited in the
comparison study. The highest residential rate of the three is charged in Centre Wellington, at $18,578, followed by Erin at $17,957 and Wellington North at $15,344. County and education development charges are the same in all Wellington municipalities. Waterloo had the highest lower tier rate on the list, at $12,025, but regional and education charges bumped the figure to $31,688. Guelph had the highest municipal charge for a single detached dwelling, at $27,639. With only education charges
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to be added, the total bill for a builder in that city came in at $29,523. Wilson noted the new commercial rates reflect previous discussions, in which council indicated intent to encourage business development. “Your commercial rate is actually going down, so you’re giving a bit of a break to commercial developers in your area,� he said. The study proposed lowering the rates for commercial and industrial development in Mapleton from $3.21 per square foot of gross floor area
to $3 in urban areas and $2.61 in rural areas. The new commercial and industrial rates for urban areas include an 18.3 per cent exemption for non-residential development in areas currently serviced for water and wastewater. Again, only Minto, at $1.47 per square foot, has a lower commercial charge among the surveyed municipalities. The Town of Erin has the highest rate in Wellington, at $7.09, higher than all surveyed municipalities except Guelph. Wellington North, at $2.62, has a slightly higher industrial Continued on page 3
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