Council Archives — Lindsay Advocate

City council highlights from recent committee of the whole highlights

Published on January 15, 2020 in Municipal by Lindsay Advocate

Mayor says development charges should spur job creation for Kawartha Lakes

Susan Blayney has been a long-time volunteer with the Environmental Advisory Committee and is stepping down from this role. Chair Pat Warren and Councillor Richardson presented a certificate of appreciation to Susan for her work on several initiatives. Susan was the driving force behind Kawartha Lakes being named as a Bee City. The Pollinator Pathway project is Susan’s latest project and she invites all who would like to add their properties to the list to register. Shelley Candel, Director of Bee City Canada attended to thank Susan by saying, “You’ve made Kawartha Lakes a better place.”

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Pat O’Reilly new deputy mayor as voted by Council

Published on December 11, 2019 in Municipal by Lindsay Advocate

Pat O’Reilly, councillor for Ward 7 was elected as the Deputy Mayor of Kawartha Lakes for the 2020 term, effective January 1. Doug Elmslie ended his one year term as Deputy Mayor and made the nomination for Pat O’Reilly.

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Taxes to increase 3.5 per cent under pressure from provincial cuts, winter control costs

Published on December 4, 2019 in Municipal by Lindsay Advocate

At the Special Council meeting on December 3, Council approved the 2020 Operating Budget. There will be a 3.5% increase to the tax levy, slightly below the forecasted increase in the long term financial plan.

Council received a presentation from Jennifer Stover, Director of Corporate Services. Stover noted that the Operating Budget is $205 million of a total municipal budget of $305 million. The Capital, Water and Wastewater and Special Project Budgets were adopted by Council on November 26 totalling $100 million.

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Don’t get in the way of progress

Published on November 24, 2019 in Opinion by Trevor Hutchinson

Kawartha Lakes City Council recently voted to reject a motion by the municipal Heritage Committee to designate the properties at St. David Street and Riverview Road in Lindsay as a site of “cultural heritage value and interest.” The motion also barred staff from continuing the process to designate the site officially. I don’t think that motion went far enough.

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Safeguarding our heritage: It’s time to stop tearing down our history

Published on November 22, 2019 in Community/Just in Time by Sara Walker-Howe

Heritage buildings are more than just old bricks and mortar. The Empire State Building, Big Ben, and Casa Loma all bring tourists to their cities, and yet form more than just backdrops on selfies or fill check-boxes on bucket lists. Heritage buildings are community assets. They represent the physical portion of a city’s identity — what would Paris be without the Eiffel Tower? In this rapidly changing world, heritage buildings provide a sense of continuity by serving up memorable experiences for generation after generation.

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Mayor says development charges should spur job creation for Kawartha Lakes

Published on November 6, 2019 in Municipal by Lindsay Advocate

At the November 5 public meeting, Kawartha Lakes Council heard from staff, consultants and members of the public about proposed changes to the Development Charges By-Law and related Policy.

The meeting began with a presentation that outlined the Development Charges Background Study prepared by Watson and Associates. The purpose of Development Charges (DCs) is to recover the capital costs associated with residential and non-residential growth within the municipality. DC revenue helps fund growth-related expansion of such services as water and wastewater facilities, roads and other infrastructure.

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Council to prioritize capital projects, remain ‘nimble’ in wake of provincial changes

Published on September 23, 2019 in Municipal by Lindsay Advocate

Council met on September 17 and 18 to hear from staff across all departments about the driving forces shaping the 2020 budget. The main themes will be prioritizing the timing of capital projects and remaining resilient in the wake of known and potential funding cuts and reorganization of service delivery by the province.

Ron Taylor, CAO, summed up the discussions by noting, “We have a 2020 capital budget that is very ambitious at almost $50 million. It includes a number of new and significant projects that invest in our roads, downtowns and parks. Council has acknowledged the need to prioritize projects in light of many unknowns at the provincial level. The timing of capital projects will be critical to ensure we stay on course with our financial plan in order to keep services affordable for residents.”

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Council eyes tear-down of east-side historical properties to allow for apartment building

Published on September 19, 2019 in Community/Just in Time/Municipal/Opinion by Jamie Morris and Sara Walker-Howe

It’s a property with a now well-documented past but an uncertain future. There are competing interests and City Council and its Planning Advisory Committee have some decisions to make.

You can see the property for yourself if you turn off King Street onto St. David, towards Logie Road. Number 3 St. David, one of the property’s two houses, will be on your right. It’s a large red-brick, gable-front Victorian with a wrap-around porch, set back from the road on a well-treed lot (there’s a towering walnut, some maples and others).

Take the first right onto the extension of Riverview and past a line of mature pine trees you’ll find 4 Riverview, the second, smaller house — a typical Ontario Gothic cottage.

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Council reviews High Water Bill Adjustment Policy

Published on September 12, 2019 in Municipal by Lindsay Advocate

At the Committee of the Whole meeting September 10, Council recommended changes to the High Water Bill Adjustment Policy be forwarded to the Regular Council Meeting of September 24 for adoption.

At the July 16 Committee of the Whole meeting, Council heard a presentation from Jennifer Stover, Director of Corporate Services on the purpose of and related areas of concern within the High Bill Adjustment Policy. Those concerns have been incorporated into the new policy recommendations.

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Conservative cuts to library system now mean user fees for some book loans

Published on September 3, 2019 in Community/Municipal/Poverty Reduction/Provincial by Roderick Benns

Free inter-library loans are back at the Kawartha Lakes Public Library system, even after the Ontario Conservatives slashed budgets across the province. But ‘free’ comes at a cost, as this will now impact the collections budget and has also created a new type of user fee for books that come from universities.

In April the Advocate reported that funding for two key services – the Southern Ontario Library Service (SOLS) and the Northern Ontario Library Service (NOLS) were cut in half. SOLS – of which Kawartha Lakes system is a member of — supplies courier service that moves material between different systems. About 200-250 items per month for local patrons are moved about through other libraries, showing the popularity of the system.

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