WN Council Highlights - September 5th

Topics: The sale of municipal property, board appointments, new taxi by-law and council is heading to River Valley.

This will be a new series I will attempt to keep on top of. I already follow most of these meetings so I thought I would share the highlights to provide more coverage of the important issues affecting West Nipissing. So here are the highlights from last night’s council meeting. Check back later this week or subscribe for an update on the special council meeting being held tomorrow (September 7th).

Summary

Overall the September 5th meeting was quite uneventful. The only debated topic was regarding municipal property dispositions. The entire meeting (minus the closed session) lasted 1:32 minutes. Other items passed were the new taxi bylaw, municipal board appointments, a new “Heat Relief Response Plan” and an offsite council meeting.

Land Purchases

The item that probably generated the most discussion at this meeting was with regards to requests from residents to purchase pieces of land from the municipality. In particular, a request to purchase one 5M strip of property from the municipality led to a good debate on how the municipality should engage in negotiating the sale of its assets.

A resident needing to rectify an encroachment by a garage he owns but that was mistakenly built on municipal property wants to purchase an additional 5M (16 feet) of road frontage adjacent to their land that belongs to the municipality. A professional appraisal ordered by the municipality based on recent sales and square footage assessed the property at $40,000. The resident has requested council consider a counter offer of $25,000. Mayor Kathleen Thorne-Rochon pointed out that the strip of land in question is currently part of a public community park (however the portion is not being used).

Councillor Rivard said he didn’t mind the counter offer. “I don’t see this property being of much value to anyone else. Especially if he already has a garage built.” Councillor St-Louis agreed with Rivard stating “If we deny it then that land is just going to sit there and it’s not like we can ask him to move his garage.”

Councillor Courshesne and Councillor Restoule seemed to recommend council meet half way on the negotiations.

Councillor Pellerin pointed out to everyone that a fair market professional appraisal was done. His opinion was that “the appraisal should stand.”

Mayor Thorne-Rochon ended the discussions by agreeing with Pellerin. “By accepting counter offers on property that has already been appraised by a professional, we are setting the precedent that everytime someone wants to buy a piece of municipal offer they should counter offer”.

Mayor Thorne-Rochon presented council with three options. Holding firm on the $40,000 value, accepting the $25,000 offer or meeting in the middle.

Surprisingly when she seeked votes on her preferred option (holding firm) she got 5 councillors hands up so that is the way council proceeded.

Subscribed

Council Heading to River Valley

Council discussed the possibility of holding regular council meetings in the outlying communities. The CAO recommended that the first community on the list be River Valley. Council agreed and plans will be taken to host the second council meeting of October at a location in that community where residents will get the chance to come watch.

Board of Health Meeting Minutes

Council accepted the Board of Health Minutes from June. As I had reported earlier this week, these minutes indicated that deputy mayor Restoule has missed a third straight meeting. After seeking comments on the subject, Mayor Thorne-Rochon had responded to myself as well as all of council indicating that a discussion on Restoule’s role on this board could be added to the agenda if any councillor wished to request it. She also stated that “I am confident that any member of council who feels they are unable to maintain their commitment to any of their council committee or board assignments will notify me.”

No councillor proposed further discussion at the meeting.

Heat plan

Council received a presentation on a new “Heat Relief Public Response Plan”. The full plan can be found in the meeting agenda (page 32). In summary staff will look at ways to help residents during designated times of “heat warnings”. This will include opening up public buildings for residents to cool off.

Taxi By-law Passed

Council unanimously passed the new Vehicle for Hire By-law that has been in discussion for a few months now. The by-law can be found on page 68 of the agenda. As of now anyone offering taxi services in the municipality need to obtain a licence.

Appointment to Youth Committee

Council appointed 5 new youth members to the Youth Committee which is expected to start meeting shortly. Council discussed that there are still 2 vacant positions on this board and an effort will be made to reach out to local high schools to solicit a couple more youths to join.

New Member of Police Services Board

The Police Services Board notified council that it would now be responsible for nominating 2 community seats on the board. Previously council was only responsible for one municipal councillor appointment and one community appointment.

Mayor Thorne-Rochon explained that when the municipal board appointments were made last Fall, they had received three applications. Council voted and chose one candidate to sit on that board. She suggested that council hold another vote to decide which of the other willing candidates (Campbell Anderson and J.P. Martin) would sit on the board. Council voted and appointed Campbell Anderson to the Police Services Board.