KILLALOE – A quick hour-and-a-half meeting can cover a lot of territory.
On paper, the agenda of the July 23 meeting of the Killaloe-Hagarty-Richards (KHR) Town Council was a short one, covering not much more than three property matters, but the bulk of the meeting was devoted to reports from various departments, all of which, more or less directly, concerned the Province’s entry into “Phase Three” of its post-pandemic response.
The morning Zoom meeting began with CAO Sue Sheridan’s report, which included a discussion of water rates in the municipality, which, it was observed, have not increased in 10 years. It was noted that over the last while to balance the water budget, given the tax shortfall, money has had to be drawn from the reserves. A meeting was set for August 5 to discuss the matter more at length and to figure out what cost increase to recommend to Council.
Sheridan also commented on a letter received from Greenville Environmental, which indicated that the township had managed a 44 percent waste diversion rate – a very good rate, according to Greenville for a municipality of KHR’s size. Mayor Janice Visneskie Moore congratulated not only the Waste Department for this, but the town as a whole.
In his report, Works Superintendent Dean Holly, discussed regular maintenance work being done and an update on the town’s acquisition of a new half-ton truck.
He also presented figures for waste exporting cost; cost recovery was discussed as well. The mayor moved to have the waste management committee to look into this further. For the record, the mayor noted, such committee meetings are now being held in the council chambers with social distancing measures in place.
By-Law Enforcement Officer and Chief Building Official Tyler Mask presented his report too. He indicated that 50 building permits, representing $2 million in property investment, have been authorized. He stated that he is doing site visits daily, and that many people in the municipality are concerned about the implications of the new OPA (official development plan of Ontario). Mask stated that he has heard a lot of concern from people about it and gets asked a lot of questions about its implications. He stated that he directs people to the county if he does not know the answer to their questions.
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