SERVING THE MAPLETON COMMUNITY
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 49 ISSUE 41
DRAYTON, ONTARIO
1 Year GIC - 2.02% 3 Year GIC - 2.30% 5 Year GIC - 2.35% Daily Interest 1.00%
638-3328
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 2016
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Driscoll: Service review shows township operating efficiently By Patrick Raftis
Creative night - The Mapleton Splash Pad committee hosted a fundraising Paint Night at Community Christian School on Oct. 6. The committee, consisting of members of the Drayton Rotary Club and Drayton Kinettes, reports 110 women from Kitchener, Cambridge, Lucknow and Mapleton Township attended the event and $1,650 was raised through ticket sales. A second paint night is scheduled for March 2 with sign up in January. Anyone interested should register early to avoid disappointment, organizers recommend. The next fundraiser for the Splash Pad is Mapleton’s Got Talent on Nov. 26. Performers are asked to register with Lori Spaling at 519-638-2232. Photo by Caroline Sealey
Journey for Jasper raises $12,000 PALMERSTON - Over $12,000 was raised by hundreds of participants at the Journey for Jasper fundraiser here on Oct. 1. The funds will go to the Isaac Foundation for research into MPS VI. The event was organized by the family of Pam and Darren More, whose son Jasper was diagnosed with the rare genetic disorder in 2011. In the past the family would participate in one of the large marathon events in either Toronto or Ottawa on behalf of the foundation. “This involved asking for sponsors on our own, travel time and cost to those events, plus registration fees to be apart of them,� explained Darren in an email to the Community News. “All those costs on a personal level don’t bother me, but the thought of that money being spent on things other than research does. So we thought by hosting an event at home, we could avoid those costs and put more money to research.� With no entry fee for the event, participants were free to raise as much as they could on their own and when they
Journey for Jasper - Jasper More, right, and his friend Nate Leisti of Drayton were among a large group of walkers participating in the Journey for Jasper fundraiser in Palmerston on Oct. 1. Submitted photo arrived, they were greeted with a Journey for Jasper (Isaac Foundation) T-shirt and treated to a barbecue lunch after the walk. The 5km route started
at the Lions Heritage Park Pavilion and included the scenic White’s Road Junction Trail. The Mores point out the SEE FUNDRAISER  5
Time to order trees for spring CAMBRIDGE - As the leaves begin to fall, it is time for rural landowners to start thinking about ordering trees from the Grand River Conservation Authority for planting next spring. Private landowners make an immense contribution to the tree cover in the watershed, because nearly 80 per
cent of land is privately owned. Many landowners order trees every year and the GRCA always welcomes new orders and inquiries. Landowners in the Grand River watershed who have at least one hectare (2.5 acres) of land are eligible to order trees. Tree orders can be placed Oct. 3 to March 1.
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Ordering early is advisable, because this means there will be a broader selection of trees. All tree orders can be picked up next spring. The minimum order is 200 seedlings or 20 tall stock trees (this includes saplings, whips and potted).
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SEE GRCA Âť 5
MAPLETON - After three days of discussions on a draft review of municipal services, Mapleton council plans further research, including inviting public input, before deciding on any potential action. In March, council directed township staff to conduct a service review in response to public concerns expressed through a Township of Mapleton Council Report Card survey. Asked to rate council’s overall performance, about 13% of respondents indicated they were very satisfied, 26% were satisfied, 34% were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 19% were dissatisfied and 8% were very dissatisfied. A mission statement approved by council on May 10 indicates the purpose of the review is, “To provide council with a comprehensive awareness of the services offered by the township and to identify those services which should remain as they are, be made more efficient, enhanced, reduced, or eliminated.� A draft service review was presented to council last month and council went through the 188-page report at special meetings on Sept. 29, 30 and Oct. 3. It provides a range of options in terms of maintaining, increasing or decreasing staffing and service in all areas of municipal operations. Mayor Neil Driscoll said the meetings resulted in council asking staff to provide further information on some topics. Once that process is complete, Driscoll said council intends to hold a public meeting. “We want the public’s input and we want to approve something before we go to budget,� he said. The review, which compares the staffing and service levels of Mapleton (population 9,989) to those of three other municipalities, Minto (population 8,334), Wellington North (population 11,447) and AdjalaTosorontio (population 10,603), indicates the township is operating efficiently, given current resource levels, says Driscoll. “It sure shows that we operate efficiently for the
WEEKLY WAG
“The person who doesn’t scatter the morning dew will not comb gray hairs.� - Hunter S. Thompson
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staff that we have, compared to the other municipalities,� he said. “But it then opens it up if the residents want some more services, we need to add more people and/or equipment to do that.� The draft report shows that, based on full-time equivalent figures (FTE) Mapleton has the lowest number of employees per square kilometer and the second lowest FTE number per 1,000 population of the municipalities in the study. Mapleton has the equivalent of 34 full-time employees (26 full time, 17 parttime), while Minto has 41.75 (38 full time, 11 part time), Wellington North 42.3 (37 full time, 11 part time) and Adjala-Tosorontio 29 (29 full time). The report indicates Mapleton’s administration, finance, building and bylaw enforcement department operations are relatively consistent with the comparator municipalities. One area where a significant disparity was noted is economic development. “On a total and per capita basis it is recognized that Minto invests significantly more funds towards economic development initiatives than Mapleton or the other comparators,� the report states. Mapleton has a full-time economic development coordinator who receives some administrative support, for a total of 1.1 FTE in that department. Minto’s FTE for economic development is 2.4, while Wellington North’s is 1.3 and Adjala-Tosorontio does not have an economic development department. Mapleton budgeted $223,489 for economic development in 2016, compared to $605,209 in Minto ($487,709 for economic development, $117,500 for tourism), $152,191 in Wellington North and zero in Adjala-Tosorontio. Driscoll said some consideration is being given to beefing up the economic development department in Mapleton, but he noted the community doesn’t have the same concerns as some of the other municipalities. “There was talk of hiring a helper for the economic development department so they could do more bigpicture things, but honestly
I think council is split. We want to see if our residents are going to see a benefit from doing more in the economic development department before we jump into that,â€? said Drisoll. “We don’t have empty storefronts that we need to be promoting.â€? Driscoll also suggested an additional staff member could be shared with other departments, as well as economic development. The draft report points out that other than economic development, the parks, facilities and recreation department(s) contained the most varied service levels among the comparator municipalities. “It appears that Mapleton and Wellington North are generally on par, however Minto appears to have lower overall expenses per FTE and higher revenues per FTE. This anomaly should be further investigated,â€? the report indicates. Driscoll said council wondered, “Do we need more recreation for kids? Do we need to have a recreation programmer in place to promote a lot of these activities?â€? The mayor said council asked public works director Jamie Morgan “to go back and talk to Minto, North Perth and Wellington North to find out costs, so we know if it’s a revenue neutral program or not.â€? Snow removal is one area Driscoll suggested could be enhanced as a result of the review, particularly sidewalk clearing in urban areas. “One suggestion is we try and contract those services (sidewalk clearing) out in Alma. The same machine does all three towns. One of the recommendations that council has to consider is, do we start putting sand and salt down on our sidewalks,â€? Driscoll explained. “We haven’t had those concerns yet, that people have been falling on the sidewalks, but as one of the councillors stated, even in Drayton when you look at all the hills that our sidewalks are on, it’s just a matter of time.â€? The report notes Mapleton has the second lowest winter maintenance cost (per kilometre maintained) among SEE PUBLIC Âť 3
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