Municipality of McDougall Mayor
Dale Robinson

MAYOR'S MESSAGE - MAY 19, 2005

Municipal activity has been hectic since my last report. In February, Councilor Kim Dixon, Public Works Supervisor Tim Hunt and myself made deputations on your behalf to three Provincial Ministries at the Rural Ontario Municipal Association annual meeting. We discussed the four laning of Highway #69 with Jean Marc Lalonde Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister Of Transportation. Our deputation to Ric Bartolucci, the Minister Of Northern Development and Mines was based on NOHC Funding for the Nobel water system. We had an audience with Leona Dombrosky, Minister of The Environment, to discuss the Environmental Assessment to address our waste (garbage) management for the next 25 years as the current cell at the landfill comes to the end of its life. It is extremely difficult to convince the Province how difficult they are making it for small Municipalities such as ours to deal with all the regulations that the Province is dictating.

The 2005 budget has now been finalized after great deliberations and effort by both Council and Staff. As our capital lifecycle planning continues we have a huge shortfall between available funds and the capital works that need to be addressed. The tax rate in McDougall will rise by 6.3%, which translates, into an $83 increase for a house assessed at $159,000. We were able to advance some road projects such as the North Road ditching and Miller Drive resurfacing ahead of the lifecycle program. Highlights of the budget are as follows:

*The operating budget increased $265,000 over 2004 and was approved at $3,560,114. We continue to lose revenue through special property reassessments and the Province has introduced a new municipal funding program that in the long term will see our costs rise.

*Our water system costs have increased sharply as we hired more staff to meet Provincial requirements. This cost was tempered by taking over the services at the Parry Sound Area Industrial Park. Both the Nobel and Park water/waste water systems benefited financially and gained more qualified operators by this consolidation.

*Our commitment to fund the West Parry Sound Health Center by $1.4M is almost completely funded, we hope to have this fully funded in the next 2-3 years.

* Government regulations have changed the certification requirements for Chief Building Officials and we will be hiring a new CBO mid-summer.

*Council approved their donation operating grant budgets to external groups and organizations at $172,882. The largest benefactors are $73,000 toward the West Parry Sound Health Center Commitment, the Parry Sound Library $31,000, Kinsmen Park Capital $17,000, Bobby Orr Community Center $11,240, Parry Sound Industrial Park $15,000, Parry Sound Tourist Information Center $9,765 and the Parry Sound Museum $4,357.

*The capital budget for the current year request was $7,513,198 of which $4,941,452 was approved. This is to be funded as follows $2,982,000 from Government Grants, $902,692 from Reserves, $595,000 from Long Term Debt and $443,760 from the general tax levy. Approx. $481,000 will be spent on roads for resurfacing, ditching, brushing, frost heaves, culverts etc., $3,538,146 will be spent on the water project with a final $1,000,000 to be spent in 2006. The waste management system (landfill) has $663,540 of planned capital expenditures for on site water treatment and EPA studies. With a special one time grant of $50,000 from the Province we are able to replace all of our outdated breathing apparatus for the Fire Dept. In general government the municipal office will see a new roof , some computer equipment upgrades will be made and a new web page is in the works for mid summer all at a cost of $66,100.

In late February, our Council and the Town Of Parry Sound agreed to reopen the negotiations of a Water Purchase Agreement (WPA) as a solution to having the Nobel Municipal system comply with the Ontario Drinking Water Regulations by the deadline of December 31, 2006. These negotiations have gone well and both Councils have signed a Memorandum Of Understanding. However, once again our fate is in the hands of the Provincial and Federal levels of government. In order for the WPA to proceed we require the funding agencies and the MOE to give permission. Present indications are that they will be forthcoming.

Our new Official Plan is still in the hands of Municipal Affairs for processing and approval. I met with the representative from Sudbury responsible for this approval and was told to expect to have the approval by the end of July 2005.

Our Environmental Assessment for one or more waste disposal solutions has been completed and submitted to the MOE . This took over two years of extensive assessment including several public consultations and cost over $200,000 . The preferred solution was to add a new landfill cell at the existing site. We requested that the MOE give us priority attention and process the application, which would see the McDougall landfill operate for the next 25 years . The Minister of the Environment has advised me that they might not be able to meet their own process of approval within six months. The MOE has suggested that we make an application for a short-term capacity Certificate Of Approval that will provide approximately 4 years of landfill capacity. Our staff and consultants have been directed to pursue this course of action, which has a price tag of about $15,000.

The MTO have tendered out the first stage of Highway #400 from Mill Lake Bridge to Lake Forest Drive. We have their assurance that they will not open the additional lanes until the entire Nobel Bypass is constructed. We had lobbied for this condition, as the dumping of four lanes directly into the Village would be disastrous for local residents. Unfortunately, MTO has now backed down on an earlier commitment to design and build future water crossings under the new highway. Council is still demanding that this be done as agreed. We have also asked the MTO to provide a recreation corridor along #69 before they turn it over to McDougall. They have agreed to do this but given their recent actions we will have to hold them to their agreements.

Please have a Happy and Safe summer in McDougall.

Click here for the Mayor's Report from Ja 2005

Click here for the Mayor's Report from June 2004