News – Howe Island Ratepayers Association

HIRA BRIEFING NOTE- MARCH 11, 2021

This is a brief note to HIRA members and other residents of Howe Island about the Township of Frontenac Islands council meeting held on Monday March 8, 2021. The meeting was held on Wolfe Island. The public was provided with Zoom access to the meeting. A few of our HIRA directors called into the meeting. Only matters of particular interest to Howe Island residents are highlighted here.

MUNICIPAL BUDGET 2021:

The final budget for 2021 was tabled and received unanimous approval of Council. It is expected that Howe Island property owners will face a 2021 property tax increase of approximately 2.8% over their 2020 tax bill.

ROAD MAINTENANCE INITIATIVES 2021:

Spithead Road: hard surface treatment to be completed this summer

North Shore Road: section of North Shore Rd from Howe Island Drive east to civic address No. 334 will have the roadbed rebuilt this year to improve drainage conditions in the area and provide long term stability for the roadbed. This will entail raising the roadbed approximately 12 inches. Gravel bed will be applied this year. Hard surface will be applied in the spring/summer of 2022.

Baseline Road: from Howe Island Drive west to the municipal buildings will be completely resurfaced ( gravel and hardsurface).

The section of the road west of the municipal buildings to Goodfriend Drive will be patched.

TRACTOR PURCHASE:

Council has approved the purchase of a 2021 Massey Ferguson 4-wheel drive tractor, including a disc mower and grading blade. The tractor is to be used solely by Howe Island staff. It will be used primarily for cutting grass and clearing brush from the roadside but it will be available to Howe Island staff to use as the need arises.

Hi-SPEED INTERNET TEST RESULTS:

Councillor Zborovsky conducted a public survey in February 2021 to assess internet speeds available to residents of the Frontenac Islands. Broadband coverage to Howe Island residents was found to be deficient. Download / upload speeds fail to qualify as hi-speed service. Council has directed staff to contact local internet service providers to arrange a meeting to discuss the results of the survey and to solicit proposals to improve the quality of service available.

WASTE COLLECTION CONTRACT:

Council has extended a three-year contract to Island Property Management to provide roadside waste collection. Details related to the bid are available on the Frontenac Islands website.

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS:

Upgrades are planned for Pat Norris Park but council is still waiting for decisions from senior levels of government on funding requests.

An engineering study has been commissioned to improve ramp access on the township ferry and reduce the boarding challenges faced by residents in times of high or low water. It is to be finalized this year.

Work to upgrade the community recreation/hiking trail is to begin this spring/summer. Council has committed to providing for ongoing maintenance costs in future budgets.

Lighting is to be installed this year at the boat launch located just west of the township ferry landing.

Renovations to the municipal administration office and the library are scheduled for April/May of this year.

End of Council highlights

HIRA Briefing Note February 10, 2021

Township of Frontenac Islands Council Meetings February 2021

Special Budget Review Meeting

The agenda and attachments can be found here:

Special Budget Review Meeting February 4, 2021

Council held a special budget review meeting on the afternoon of February 4, 2021 to review various departmental budgets and to give feedback to staff. Council had directed staff to aim for no more that a 4% increase. It should be noted that a 4% tax increase equates to an increase of $60000 revenue for the Township.

Two items of interest to Howe were the fire dept budget and the roads budget.

Chief Quinn noted the need to build the reserve fund in order to ensure timely replacement of fire vehicles (in order to maintain insurance coverage and meet the requirements of the Fire Marshall fire vehicles must be replaced based on age of the vehicle).
Main items on the roads budget are the upgrading of North Shore Road.

As the budget process proceeds HIRA will provide further updates.

Township of Frontenac Islands Council Meeting February 8, 2021

The agenda and attachments can be found here:

Council Meeting February 8 2021

Issues of relevance to residents of Howe Island

By laws – still working on some amendments to the bylaw for trailers on vacant land to be discussed again next month
Delegation for Community Tree Planting on Frontenac Island looking for $3300. To plant trees on public and private property on Frontenac Island, mostly on Wolfe Island maybe some on Howe. Dennis said they would discuss at next budget meeting maybe give $1000-1500.
There are still no funds for the upgrades to Pat Norris Park as we are waiting for Federal Government also looking for funding from the Municipal Modernization Program joint submission with Frontenac County.
Township also supports the KFL&A Health Unit concerning regional reopening like before Christmas – letter sent to Doug Ford.
Roads: North shore Construction, Spithead surface treatment, Library and office repairs, Trail Maintenance and Baseline Road.
Bruce Higgs asked to extend road repairs to Goodfriend Drive, however all repairs are waiting for budget approval.
Jarda Zborovsky, Councillor for Wolfe Island District is conducting a survey on broadband speed for both islands for all the providers on islands and the towers on both islands. It was suggested HIRA may be able to help to get different areas and service providers on island to do a speed test.
Bruce Higgs asked if a hot patch will be used to fill the potholes in the road. The answer provided was that plant that produces the tarmac may not be open; if not a cold mix will be used.

HIRA Briefing Note January 12, 2021

HIRA Briefing Note- January 12, 2021

This is a note to HIRA members and others on the Township of Frontenac Islands Council meeting held on Monday, January 11, 2021 on Wolfe Island. The public was provided with a Zoom call-in number. A number of our HIRA directors called into the meeting. Only matters of particular reference to Howe Island are highlighted here.

BY-LAW NO. 2021 – 01 2021 – 02

Two standard tax by-laws that are passed every year to Authorize borrowing during fiscal year ending December 31, 2021 and a By-law to provide for an Interim Tax Levy and to provide for the payment of taxes and to provide for penalty and interest if not paid.

BY-LAW NO. 2021 – 03

Bylaw 2021-03 was passed to appoint South Frontenac Building inspectors for use for Part 8 building code inspection of onsite sewage systems. There are 5 inspectors all qualified at the same cost as before but it was done through the Health Unit now to be done by South Frontenac.

Frontenac County Appointment of Warden and Deputy Warden

Please be advised that the Council of the County of Frontenac at its Inaugural meeting held December 16, 2020 appointed Councillor Ron Vandewal as Warden and Councillor Denis Doyle as Deputy Warden of Frontenac County.

Howe Island Trail and Ball Diamond damage by all-terrain vehicles.

Councillor Bruce Higgs brought it to the attention of Rob Dillabough that there has been additional damage done to the Howe Island Trail and to the ball diamond. This will be discussed at the upcoming budget meeting and discussion will be held on the use of cameras and By-law enforcement officer control.

Discussion was also held on individuals not paying on Ferries and the need for protocols or enforcement by our By-law officer.

Council is drafting a resolution on speeding up Covid-19 Vaccines in KFLA and asking that priority should be given to one that is easier to be given and handle than the Pfizer vaccine.

Presentation from Richard Allen Frontenac County Manager of Economic development. Here is the link or it is available on the Township website. There is a slide on Root Radical Howe Island in the presentation.

https://frontenac.civicweb.net/FileStorage/DA1B6C9A2E0D4B4AA7ABF1C0536729D6-EcDev%202020%20Update%20-%20FITWP.pdf

End of Council business

HIRA Howe Island Ratepayers Association

Your HIRA board wanted to thank our Ferry Operators for the great job that they have been doing in keeping our Ferries in operation. There has been no significant interruptions in service so far this winter. Hopefully the rest of the winter will go as smoothly for our ferries.

We also wanted to let you know that we do plan have a number of events this year. We will be organizing our annual Pitchin ( Island roadside pickup) campaign this year. We will be holding it during the week of Earth Day 2021 which is April 22. This year’s earth day theme is “Restore Our Earth.”. We will let you know the details as we get closer to the date.

We also plan to hold our Pancake Breakfast this year. Were planning it for the Labour Day weekend as we hope that the Covid-19 restrictions will allow it by then. The event would be held outside and proper protocols would be in place to allow the event to happen safely.

We would also like to formally announce that we have taken over complete control of our Website www.howeisland.org . Previously it was hosted by a US firm and it was costing us too much. We are looking for new photos of Howe Island to put on the site. If you have photos that you would like to share on the site please follow the photo guidelines listed below..

HIRA Web site photos 2021

Would you like to share some of your favourite Howe Island Landscape Photographs with other islander via www.howeisland.org our official HIRA web site.

In the interest of privacy the photo should not identify individuals, addresses or licence plate numbers as they could end up on the site which is open to the general public.

This means that anyone anywhere in the world will be able to see the pictures.They will not be able to modify or change the photos on the site but they will be able to copy them.

There are pictures on the site today as examples. Other ideas for the photos are as follows: (pictures of ferries, wildlife, barns, agriculture, sunsets, sunrises, trees, gardens, marsh, and ice) Just to name a few. The pictures must be delivered as an attachment to the following email address photos@howeisland.org . The pictures should be in landscape mode and we may have to crop them to use them on the site as they all have to be a similar aspect ratio.

You must be the owner of the picture to submit it to HIRA. Once the photo is submitted you relinquish the copyright of the picture to HIRA.

Your HIRA team would also like to remind everyone that HIRA dues of 10 dollars are due for 2021 if you have not paid in advance or you are not a lifetime member. You can drop off cheques to the HIRA mailbox at the township office or pay one of the executives listed on our web site.