TOWN STAFF PROPOSES GRANT APPLICATION FOR UPGRADES TO TOWN PARKS

Acting Director Eckford briefs council on a staff recommendation to apply for a matching grant from the province to update local parks, both low-fee and no-fee, as they’ve not received any attention in many years and are in need of updating.

Updates would include improvements to picnic tables through replacement as well as designating at least one table/park as an accessibility table, with either a paved or stone-based pathway leading to that table, again for accessibility. Other improvements would involve obtaining new trash receptacles to replace the aging fleet of trash cans currently in place. And finally, updated signage with the latest town branding to replace the existing signage.

As indicated, the province will match what the town puts up itself and assume 50% of the financial cost of improvements. In the case of these local parks, Mr. Eckford recommends $150,000 to be the sweet spot for the town, as that would yield a total of $300,000 for the project after the government matches the town investment.

Councillor Dick asked how the money would be spent if the grant application were to be successful. In other words, who gets a say in how this money is to be spent.

Mr. Eckford indicated that there was every possibility of having council weigh-in on how and where the funds would be directed, but stressed that the money would have to be directed towards the goals stated in the application for the grant. And so, if accessibility were to be the foundation of the grant, it would also have to be the foundation of how the money is spent. In other words, you have to remain within the spirit and confines of the grant application.

Councillor Legris noted that such grants also have the potential to have the government assume 70% of the project cost in special circumstances. Is this something the town staff would consider, or perhaps have already considered?

Mr. Eckford indicated that, based on Renfrew’s population, a case could be made that Renfrew does fall within the defined “special circumstances,” but that to make that application, the content of the proposal would be put under far closer scrutiny, putting it’s approval at risk if the province deemed it not to meet the threshold for the 70% government share.

COMMENTARY

Not much to comment on here, really. It does appear to be a cost-efficient way to upgrade parts of the parks and recreation mandate at a minimal cost, what with the province throwing in half of the money. For $150,000, we get $300,000 worth of punch to direct towards improvements at these public parks that have, unfortunately, been neglected for a period of time. The grant would allow for improvements that bring those parks up to, or closer to, accessibility standards.

Going after the “special circumstances” grant may be risky, in that the application may be turned down under the closer scrutiny process, and applying for it in the first place may negate the possibility of applying for the 50% grant. In other words, I’m not sure if you could apply for both simultaneously. It may well be one or the other, and if that’s the case, it’s probably the more judicious move to apply for the 50% match than the higher one. Sure you can get lucky, and I’m sure staff would have no problem presenting their case, but still, it just might be that the lesser amount represents the greater chance of approval. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush, as granny used to say.

November 5, 2024

THE LIGHTS AT MA-TE-WAY

THE LIGHTS AT MA-TE-WAY: JP2G ENGINEERING STUDY

SEGMENT 1:

The Committee of the Whole will look at a proposal by engineering and planning consultants JP2G to provide a detailed site investigation and prepare a report with recommendations and cost estimates to replace existing lighting at the Ma-Te-Way complex, and delay any work until 2025.

ACTING-DIRECTOR ECKFORD

Council directed staff in a September meeting to investigate the underground power lines and boxes that provided power for lighting for three ball fields, Tye, Seeley, and Rusheleau. Local electricians attended Ma-Te-Way as part of this inspection, and tested the lines, concluding that the majority of those lines were in need of repair or replacement.

The department recommends having JP2G totally re-design how electricity and lighting can be better provided, efficiently and cost-effectively, for users of the various facilities contained within the park.

One of the local electricians provided some possible solutions and provided estimates for those solutions, ranging from $121,000 to $171,000 before HST. In light of these figures, it was felt that it would be a reasonable move to hire JP2G to do the proposed investigation leading to a redesIgn for a shade under $4000, and that this would be a good first step.

That JP2G project would be undertaken four weeks upon the awarding of the contract, but would conclude too late in the season for any action to be taken on its recommendations this year. That pushes any actual work into the 2025 season. That would mean that “some field usage” would be impacted in the spring. A facility usage report showed that field usage from May 1, 2024 to September 30, 2024 saw only 87.5 hours of usage after 8 PM. The department would recommend a “phased-in” approach to any work, with work being done on Tye first, followed by Rusheleau, followed by Seeley, and then the toboggan hill last. If this were to be the case, a solar-based lighting system would need to be implemented to provide light for the toboggan hill until spring 2025.

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November 4, 2024

PART 2: THE APPENDICES

KEY TERMS

APPENDIX: A document attached to a larger document or publication that contains material-in-depth in support of the broader document. Additional information related to the topic. (plural / appendices)

CHANGE ORDER: A change in the terms of a contract that has already started to be implemented. Changes contained in an order may impact the scope of the project, the cost of the project, or both. In short, something came up that was unforeseen after the contract work started that made the terms of the contract untenable for one or both of the parties involved. A change order will reflect the new reality of the project, and the new cost.

MOBILIZATION: The gathering of the people and materials necessary to begin and complete a task. Ideally with a construction project, mobilization occurs once, at the beginning. Projects extending over two calendar years require additional mobilization, one at the beginning in Year 1, and another to start again in Year 2. Mobilization of human and material resources costs money. The need to duplicate it costs even more money.

KEY PEOPLE: Andrea Bishop

Ms. Bishop is listed on the town’s website as the Manager of Engineering and Asset Management. Yet the others present at the meeting refer to her as Acting Director, but no indication of Acting Director of what. It may be the she has taken on the position of Eric Withers, who I believe no longer serves with the town. If that’s the case, Ms. Bishop would be the Acting-Director of Development, Environment and Infrastructure / Deputy CAO, which admittedly, is a pretty impressive title. I just wouldn’t want to have to stitch it onto a staff hoody because I’d likely need both sides, front and back. Or two hoodies.

I’m not sure entirely what her title may be, but I do hope to get it right so that the title accurately reflects the position held by Ms. Bishop. So apologies in advance if I get it wrong.

APPENDICES A TO D: Active construction projects in the Town of Renfrew

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November 2, 2024

MY VERY FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH DRIVE-BY RACISM

You meet a lot people along the way when you walk regularly, as I do. People like myself, stretching the legs and trying to keep Grandfather Time at bay, people out for the fresh air, people shuffling off to work or shuffling back from it, people out hoping to clear their heads from the weighty matters of life, and people walking their dogs. The common denominator, of course, is people.

These people come in all shapes and sizes, colours and hues, and are all carrying their individual backgrounds with them as they walk, some in the same direction as yourself, others coming towards you and passing by in the opposite direction. Some even on the other side of the road.

In the vast majority of cases, an interaction, albeit brief, takes place, often in the form of a wave, wishes for a good morning, a simple “hi, how are you,” Nothing too crazy. Nothing too involved. Just the kind of stuff you’d see in an old Norman Rockwell painting of a time seemingly gone by — and I appreciate many of you would have no idea who Norman Rockwell might be — but a time that, in that sense never really left us, that basic interaction with strangers along the way, something small towns are supposed to be noted for.

One such stranger is a man with two dogs, a regular along my route for a few weeks, although I’ve not seen him recently. I first interacted with him when he was walking his dogs on a path perpendicular to mine. Owing to the size differential of the two dogs, and owing to the angle upon which I was viewing them, the two dogs actually appeared to me to be one dog. A dog that seemingly had more legs to it than God might have intended. Legs that moved in a way that defied my ability to make sense of the whole thing. Obviously, as we got closer to one another, it became apparent that I was just viewing the two dogs at an angle that made them appear as one, some hydra-legged beast from an ancient Greek tragedy. But no, two dogs, one owner, and everything was as it should be in the world again.

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November 1, 2024

OPP DROP BOMB ON CONNECTIONS CENTRE. DID COUNCIL KNOW?

I feel I need to respond to this.

The Renfrew and Area Connections Centre is closing, effective Friday. The fellow issuing the statement on behalf of Renfrew OPP, Inspector Marc Hemmerick, used the word “pause” in an emailed statement given to Renfrew’s myFM radio. I have to crib the statement from their online site because, well, Inspector Hemmerick obviously doesn’t feel I’m worth responding to, having failed to return my call placed last week with the detachment seeking comment on this very topic

“As of Friday the 1 of November 2024, at 4 p.m., the Renfrew Detachment of the OPP will be pausing our participation at the Renfrew and Area Connections Center while the Detachment, OPP’s Grant Support Team and the Town of Renfrew determine what are the next best steps forward for the grant and the community activities it supports.”

That grant money being referred to was good until March 1, 2025.

This smells of sophistry to me. I’m sorry, but it does. And regardless of the Bright White Shirt — batteries not included — saying “pause,” I hear “close permanently” instead. I may be wrong, but I don’t think I am. Time will settle that argument, but in the passing of that time, and amidst a vacuum of information, a vulnerable local population will be set adrift, and it will done with eyes wide-open by all appearances.

The Inspector, the interim detachment commander, cited changes to The Police Services Act and The Community Safety Policing Act as the rationale behind the closing. As per Renfrew spokesperson Hannah MacMillan, “due to the restructuring of the OPP Detachment Board in Ontario municipalities, the town does hold the funding/grant for the Connection Centre now. “

Not bad for a place that “suggested” they had nothing to do with it outside of providing in-kind facilities for the Centre.

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October 31, 2024

RENFREW TOWN COUNCIL: BUDGET VS ACTUAL

PART 1: BUDGET VERSUS ACTUAL

Budgets are part and parcel of an effort, by individuals and organized groups, to map out in advance a plan for their money. Having one, or conversely not having one, can be the difference between getting ahead, getting by, or falling behind.

So they’re important.

But a budget is only as good as the follow-up examination and evaluation that comes from comparing your stated budget with the actual movement of money in and out for the same period of time defined in the document.

So it is for the folks who toil as part of Renfrew’s Town Council, whether they be elected officials or members of the administrative staff. Budgets in the municipal sense are set out for six-month periods, and are assessed immediately following the conclusion of those six-months.

Hence the term BUDGET VERSUS ACTUAL. It simply means that the comparison described above is taking place in an open Committee of the Whole.

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October 30, 2024

SERIES TO ILLUMINATE THE ISSUES, PROCEDURES, AND “MINUTIAE” OF A TOWN COUNCIL MEETING.

I don’t know how many folks tune into municipal council meetings, either live or taped, on the town’s YouTube channel. I do know, if the last meeting was a fair indicator, how many attend the session in-person. Or rather, how few.

I would completely understand why John and Jane Citizen would feel inclined to find something, anything else to do rather than to take in two-plus hours of paint-scraping minutiae that can be the norm in any gathering of local democracy, both here and elsewhere. I feel bad for the primary participants, both political and administrative, who would have to further endure a closed meeting taking place after the open one, if that were to be the case.

Before moving forward, those opening paragraphs are in no way a criticism of the people or the process. Democracy can be a messy beast, and often it’s in that very minutiae where the key truths lay, those little golden nuggets of information that allow them, the primary participants, and us, the adoring public, to fully understand an issue, good or bad, up or down, left or right.

As well, the very nature of Renfrew Town Council is dramatically different from the norm, in that four of the six town staff participants are new to their roles, all having the prefix “acting” in front of their formal titles. Add this to the fact that all four town councillors present at the meeting are first-term representatives, with only the mayor being an incumbent, just not as mayor. Two others, a reeve and another councillor, have varying degrees of experience, but weren’t there.

It’s only fair to say that all of these people, new, acting, re-purposed, and absent, have a pretty lousy job in front of them, especially given what they inherited from the previous administration, political and staff. These folks were given the most challenging hand I believe I’ve ever seen at any level of government, a hand with absolutely no face-cards and completely devoid of trump. A hand that, had they had a chance to get a quick peek at it in advance, might reasonably have led them to stay off the ballot and let somebody else deal with it all. I, for one, am glad they’re there. It’s been a tough ride, and likely not to get any smoother. I fully appreciate their efforts.

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October 29, 2024

A NIGHT AT RENFREW TOWN COUNCIL: OBSERVATIONS, THOUGHTS, AND COPIOUS NOTES

I attended a meeting of Renfrew Town Council last night, something I’ve not done in a very long time. I wanted to get a sense of the dynamic of the place, the personalities present, political and administrative, official and non-official. As in most such endeavours, information was gleaned, intelligence was gathered.

There were only four members in the public gallery, so I’ll have to assume that the legions of voters and interest groups out there ravenous for news emanating from a council meeting must have been taking it in via livestream. But just like hockey, watching on television and seeing it live and in person are two different event experiences. Seeing it live, up close, physically almost right there in the middle of it owing to the size of the room and its configuration, is far more personal, immediate, and telling.

I was half-expecting to see a ranking officer from the Ontario Provincial Police attending, possibly as a participant, perhaps, like me, as a witness. But I saw no Bright White Shirts in the gallery, so no such luck there. Mine remained the brightest white shirt in the crowd.

Too bad only four of us got to see all of this, but that’s on the public, not council. So it was me, two gentlemen from a senior’s hockey club looking for a reduction of ice-time costs, and a former mayor and councillor busily scribbling notes for the entire two hours of the open meeting.

I had attended to get a look at the several people in the room who had failed to return an email outreach I had made to them late last week. I wanted to see what it was about them that made them feel I could be dissuaded just by being simply ignored, a policy akin to an ostrich, its head, and the sand. One councillor had even blocked my communication attempts, prompting me to wonder if I was embroiled in some sort of adolescent Facebook fight.

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October 23, 2024

GETTING TO KNOW RENFREW TOWN COUNCIL: PART 1

Two years ago, on October 24, 2022, Renfrew residents (well, some of them, anyway) cast their vote for candidates vying for Renfrew Town Council positions.

It’s important to note that only 2,788 out of 6,459 eligible voters cast ballots that day, representing 43.6% of the total number of people in town who qualified to vote.

Hardly a ringing exercise in democracy, but there you go.

Voters got one vote for mayor, and I believe four (maybe five?) for councillor. Eight individuals ran for councillor. A voter did not have to use all of their votes for councillor if they chose not to.

The following graphics will show what percentage successful candidates received of the actual vote, as well as a percentage relative to the potential eligible vote.

Also featured are committee and board assignments, as well as other positions with flowery titles.

So, for your information, here is Renfrew’s Town Council on the second anniversary of their landslide victories.

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October 21, 2024