September 17, 2019: Mayors Report
Sept. 4th – I attended Board of Health Meeting in Belleville. Dr. Oglaza, the Medical Officer of Health, Jo Anne Albert, Chair and Val Dunham, Assistant CEO, have met with MP.s and MPP’s regarding the provincial legislation to reduce the number of Boards of Health within Ontario from 35 to 10. They have been advocating to have appropriate boundaries identified to best represent the needs of this community within Hastings Prince Edward County. They have agreed to appoint a professional consultant to assist with the final decisions.
Sept. 4th – Attended Cemetery Board Meeting. Going forward, there is a shift in burial types from traditional burials to cremation burials. This has two implications; i) we sell fewer grave sites and ii) more cremation burials can be done on existing buried remains of family members. This is sometimes an issue due to “burial rights” since plots/graves are the property of the purchaser and family members do not automatically have burial rights without documented proof of authorization from the owner or they are the beneficiary. The purchase/construction of a niche was discussed and referred to the next meeting.
Sept. 5th – I attended the Emergency Management Planning meeting with staff. Updating the manual is in progress and it is being digitized to make further amendments more efficient.
In the afternoon, Councillor Donaldson and I drove the Twin Sisters Lake Road from McGregor Lane to the end. Staff made improvements to the road in accordance with the approved budget. I have received numerous compliments from property owners stating that the road was in bad need of repair and thanking the works department.
Sept. 12th – I attended and on behalf of the Mayor and Council, welcomed to the official opening of the office of Derek Sloan, the progressive conservative candidate for Hastings Prince Edward, Lennox and Addington . Mr. Sloan has opened his office at 1 Forsyth street in Marmora and it will be attended two days a week. MPP Daryl Kramp, Mayors Tom Deline, Centre Hastings, Jo Anne Albert, Tweed and Mitch Paniciuk, Belleville, and Councillor Bill Sandison were in attendance as well as about 30 area residents.
Sept. 15th – I attended the opening ceremonies for the Terry Fox Run at the fairgrounds. On behalf of the Mayor, Council and residents, I welcomed the participants and gave a brief history of the Terry Fox Run in Marmora. I thanked the organizers, the numerous volunteers and supporters for their contribution to the annual fund-raising event.
Sept. 16th – Typhany and I met with Dawn Ferguson, Staff Sergant, OPP in Madoc. We discussed the OPP responses in Marmora and Lake. Thyphany is leading a group of municipalities in developing a Community and Well Being Plan. Sergant Ferguson complimented her for taking the lead in developing this plan as it will identify certain aspects of community living which can be improved upon and this plan, when developed, will be a good resource for law enforcement as well as identifying needs and providing information to access resources for those in need.
Through the police services board, we will be providing incident reports every two months. This will provide information that can be used with developing the Community and Well Being Plan as well as provide statistics used to calculate billing for services.
Sept. 17th – I attended the Planning and Development Committee and Finance Property and Personnel Meetings at Hastings County. The Planning and Development Agenda included one item specific to Marmora and Lake and it recommended the removal of a condition for access onto Cordova Road. The recommendation was approved.
Jan O’Neill, Mayor of the Municipality of Marmora and Lake