Letter to the Township regarding potential water + tax increase

I submitted the following letter to the Township on March 29th 2011 at around 1:00pm.

Beverly Allen

60 Fourth Ave

Hornepayne, Ontario

P0M1Z0

Township of Hornepayne

Front Street

Hornepayne, Ontario

P0M1Z0

March 29, 2011

Dear Mayor and Council,

I have some questions to help clarity the need for the potential increase in our water bills and property taxes.

Regarding the water project:

1. What was the original quote for the entire water project compared to the current actual costs?

2. What exactly has contributed to these extra costs? Why were these extra costs not known and accounted for in the original quote?

3. Did the municipality have monies set aside for this project before hand? And how much Provincial and Federal assistance did we receive? What is the exact amount that needs to be recovered through the tax payer?

4. How much debt has this project incurred, and how long are you planning on taking to pay that debt off?

5. Before any construction took place, what did the tax payer pay annually for water? What will be the final annual price (assuming this will be our last increase)?

6. Will this be our last increase? Are there any reasons to believe that this project will incur more debt?

7. Why do some of the figures surrounding the project seem so mysterious? Why are they unknown? Why do we have to wait for OCWA’s auditor’s report before we can know if there will be an increase? What additional information does that report contain that the Town Treasures does not currently have? Are the costs of the project in the Township books or in OCWA’s? I can understand operating costs are governed under OCWA, but is there not a budget that they are required to adhere to? And if they have a need to go outside of the budget shouldn’t Council be made aware of that first? Maybe a clarification of the partnership between the Township and OCWA will help me to understand.

8. Was the contractor hired by OCWA or by the Township? Who paid their bills, OCWA or the Township? What was the partnership/relationship between the three? Again, just trying to understand why the Township does not know all the figures involved in the project.

Regarding the potential tax increase:

At the meeting that was held in the gym last spring (2010) regarding the Northstar Center, the Mayor at the time stated that the costs to run the municipal services in the building were equal to the taxes they received from the building. I was under the impression that when the building closed it would all equal out.

1. What was the annual revenue that was collected by the Township from the Northstar?

2. What were the total operating costs for all the services that were in that building?

3. What are the current operating costs of the services that remain?

4. It was stated at Monday’s meeting that $300,000.00 needs to be annually recovered through the tax payer because of the Mall closure. What exactly contributes to this amount?

5. What does the HEDC (apartment building) and CN (new bunkhouse) pay for taxes? Are these figures included in the 300,000.00 or not? If not, will the figure be adjusted before an increase is decided upon?

6. When will we know your decision regarding the tax increase? What information needs to be obtained before the decision can be made and what’s the time line of obtaining it?

`

As you know, it’s my heart’s desire that Hornepayne rise up and re-build the “New Hornepayne”. The vision that I have is not just physical re-building. I would like to see new relationships and partnerships; new systems and new ways of thinking; new recreation ideas and new reasons to come together and celebrate. I believe the first step is to understand the systems that are currently in place, and that’s the reason for this letter. I’m trying to understand the relationships involved, what’s happened up until this point, and where we’re going from here.

This letter will be posted on my blog (http://bevallen4hornepayne.blogspot.com/), and I would appreciate your answer to this letter emailed to me at sowingfaith@hotmail.com because I would like to copy and paste your answers into the blog. Please also send a hard copy for accountability sake; electronic documents can be altered and I wouldn’t want anyone to question the authenticity of what’s posted on the blog. If it only comes on paper I will type it out. Please feel welcome to visit the blog and participate in the conversations. Again, the goal in asking these questions is to gain a greater understanding and to bring clarity.

Your communication to me and through me is much appreciated.

Bev Allen

Regular Meeting- March 21 2011

The meeting opened at 6:00pm.
Congratulations to Denis Mackie our new Road Superintendent!! It was Denis' first day on the job and therefor his first Council Meeting.
The department heads gave their reports, and then they went in-camera so I had to leave at 7:00pm. I did not return to the meeting when they came out of the in-camera session.

CAC Business Brainstorming Meeting

I was at the business brainstorming meeting last night. It seems that because the mall is still standing, people are hesitant to build new. "What if the 'Old' Resurrects?" is of great concern. What's keeping many from re-building our town is the belief that if the mall re-opens it could possibly kill any new business outside of the building.

Is the Mall in our future or not? That question belongs to our Leaders and we need them to answer it before we can move on. What I believe is presently being communicated is "we don't believe anyone is going to purchase the mall, but if that hero appears, then it's still possible." It's a slim chance, but it seems to be enough to deter new business builders. Is the Mall in our Future or not? "Maybe" is no longer an acceptable answer, we need a "Yes" or "No". If we say "Yes" then lets have a plan to support that, and if it's "No" then lets move in that direction. Hornepayne could possibly remain stagnant until we go in one direction or the other.

What's needed is clear vision of what our New Hornepayne will look like. The business meetings themselves are being held to try and establish that. So be encouraged because we are on the right track.

What was pointed out at last night's meeting, and I found very encouraging, was how much Bonnie Claveau and Randy Brown have invested into Hornepayne. They are the forerunners of the NEW HORNEPAYNE. They believed! Let's follow their lead!! ☺

Regular Meeting- Feb 7th 2011

There was a lot of housekeeping items at tonight's meeting.

• The weight training facility is being used by many unpaid members.
• A resident complained about our taxi service. Council decided to inform the Taxi Business owner of the complaint.
• The long distance phone plan is outdated and they are in the process of reducing their monthly fees. Currently the Township pays for 13 phone lines.
  
• The Arena will close for the season on Monday April 4th.
  
• Our current building inspector submitted her letter of resignation. Council accepted her letter. Being a recent renovator, this news makes me sad.
  
• Tracey Gagliardi submitted a letter to inform Council that the figure skating carnival has been cancelled for this year.

This is exciting: They inquired about obtaining the current Public School building and Annex. Their reply stated that the school would need 2.5 million dollars of repairs. As for the Annex, the school board has not yet decided if they will need the space or not. The possibility of obtaining the Annex will be looked at in the future. Gail Jeremy stated that she belives there is mold in the basement, and Heather (who is now head of Health and Safety) stated that she "would not touch that with a ten foot pole".
Mayor Morley's comment on the whole project was, "it's not dead, but it will not be easy."

The next meeting should be on Monday Feb 21st (Family Day), a municipal paid holiday. I'm not sure what will happen in this situation.

Jan 24th

That was a fast 2 weeks. I didn't even realize it was council meeting night! Missed the meeting :(

Regular Meeting- January 10, 2011

I had a good night sleep before writing this, *sigh*.

When our ex-treasurer Janet Battersby resigned, it was announced at last nights meeting that over $10,000.00 was spent in advertising the job in other communities. And we all know that in the end, we filled that position from our own back yard. Someone from Hornepayne was able to fill the position. What a waist of money!

To be fair, I feel I need to mention that I do have my own personal offense with the Township's hiring practices. You know how sometimes things can get under your skin more because you've been "there", suffered "that"? So if I seem more pissed than what you think the situation deserves, that would be why.

Anyway, it was decided at last nights meeting that this is the route that will be taken for the Road Superintendent's job. Before we look in our own back yard, they are going to spend the extravagant monies on advertising elsewhere. Shouldn't we have learned the $10,000.00 lesson? Maybe, just maybe, Hornepayne-ers are capable of filling the "important jobs". ( The Road Super. was classed as "an important job" at last nights meeting).

We're told that we don't have extra money! It seemed to be a big decision to repair our Curling club. But now we're going to throw over ten thousand dollars into advertising a job that could possibly be awarded to someone who lives here? Why not seek out Hornepayne first? If that processes fails to produce someone who is qualified for the job, THEN spend the cash to advertise elsewhere.

This was a perfect opportunity to show that our New Leaders believe in and value the abilities that exists within the town. But, IMO, they've made a $10,000.00 bet against it.

At a time when we have so little, couldn't we use that money for something else?

*sigh*

Cool down Edit ☺:
To be fair to our New Mayor, Willy, and Paul, the actual cost of advertising was dropped on them during the meeting. I'm assuming Heater would have known the past costs, but perhaps not. I think Morley's facial expression spoke concern. Sue actually does a pretty good job overall, but she shouldn't be their only consultant on matters. There's wisdom in seeking advice from more than one person. Just because "this is how it was done in the past", does not mean it should be done that way in the future. If we want different results we have to do things differently. And, It's time for change. Right?

Town Council Meeting- December 20th 2010

I went to the second Council meeting with our new Mayor and Council.

Well, I guess I'll start with the bad news: there is a POSSIBILITY that our water bills are going to be increased by 33% next year. The actual figures will not be known until March, so the final decision will not be made until that time. Mayor Morley has instructed the Office Staff to send out a notice of the Possible increase.

Our Fire Chief Dennis Mackie was in attendance to give a department head report. Our department is in need of Firefighters. Spread the Word! FYI, you have to be 18 years old to join, but they do have a youth program for anyone who is under 18 and is interested in joining the department.

We have 4 new members on the Library Board: Dan Boggess, Cheryl Dane, Heidi Quinn, and Nel Dalcin. Morley is the Township representative on the Board.

Paul has suggested that Council use the Jackfish Journal to keep the Citizens of Hornepayne updated on the Township happenings. Paul get's my big "A+" this meeting! Sue quickly came up with a name for the article "Councilor's Corner", and all agreed with her suggestion. It was also decided that Willy would write the articles.

Willy would like to see each member of Council oversee a department within the Township. In the past they functioned in this system; some years it worked well and other years it did not. The topic of "micromanaging" was discussed, but Willy assured everyone that his intent is not to "micromanage" but to support the department heads.
Sue informed Council of the 5 departments that were used in the past. They were:

1. Recreation
2. Administration and Finance
3. Public Works Department
   
4. Health and Safety
5. Economic Development

Heather was not in attendance at tonight's meeting, and Sue thought the decision should not be made without her input.
If they were to go ahead with this, it can be assumed who will fill each role. Paul would most likely oversee Rec; Morley- Admin and Finance; Willy- PWD; Heather- Health and Safety; Laureen- Economic Development. Seems like a perfect fit to me!

I'm really impressed with our New Mayor and Council. (I'm sure I said this already, but...) Morley seems to be a bold strong leader. He does not strike me as passive or a push over. It's my opinion so far, that he cares for Hornepayne and he's going to do his best to take care of us. In a time when it might feel like we've been taken advantage of in the past, Morley's strengths bring some comfort.

Nobody would argue that Paul is one of the kindest men around, and his heart is an asset to our community. (I could go on and on and on about Paul! ☺)

I've always had good things to say about Laureen. I think she is a good councilor because she is down to earth. She looks at a situation practically and is able to come up with practical solutions. She's not governed by her emotions and she's always looking for the facts. I also consider her to be a creative woman. She constantly keeps her center fresh and new, and I hope we see that pour into our Town.

I like Willy's overall attitude. I think he not only expects a job well done by the employees, but he wants to help them achieve that goal. I would have liked him around when I was employed by the Township.

The next meeting of Council is Monday January 10th, and it will be held down stairs in the Township Office.