Councillor McCann Meeting Report (May 19, 2015)
On Friday, May 15th, 2015, I had the pleasure and honour of representing Mayor Jamie McGarvey, Council, Town Staff and residents at a FedNor Announcement made at Crofter's Food Ltd. in Seguin. The Honourable Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board and Member of Parliament for Parry Sound—Muskoka on behalf of The Honourable Greg Rickford, Minister of Natural Resources and Minister for FedNor announced to those on hand, that a repayable contribution of $822,323 would be granted to Crofter's to help the company increase its output capacity by 2.5 million cases annually, boost sales and exports to national and international markets, reduce its operational costs and energy consumption and create 10 full-time jobs.
In speaking to the gathering, I was excited to say how proud I was the first time I read a Crofter's label. It read, "Made in Parry Sound"! The success of this company at this juncture is testament to the hard work, commitment, dedication and enthusiasm the Latka family has for their business, their employees and for the Parry Sound Area. The Crofter's plant in Parry Sound will continue to operate at full capacity. The Seguin plant will be better equipped to produce larger jar sizes.
Mr. Gerhard Latka, President of the company, sends his sincere appreciation and gratitude back to Parry Sound for being so helpful and supportive of their endeavours over the years.
On Thursday, May 14th, along with Councillors Paul Borneman and Bonnie Keith, I attended the Monthly Regular Meeting of the Parry Sound Industrial Park Board Meeting. This was a short meeting. One of the issues discussed was maintenance and upkeep of the Park's Water Filtration System. Like our water filtration plant here in Parry Sound, the Tony Agnello Water Treatment Plant, the park uses a membrane system. Strategically replacing the membranes over long periods of time is necessary, but at the park, the life expectancy of the membranes used is shorter. At certain times of the year, such as in the autumn when leaves begin depositing into the water source, among other issues, the water can take on a discolouration and the filtration process can be tougher on the membranes. As you can imagine, Parry Sound's water intake from Georgian Bay is much cleaner.
On Friday, May 8th, I sat in with Councillors Paul Borneman and Bonnie Keith, Peter Brown, Public Works Director, Dave Thompson, Director of Emergency and Protective Services & Fire Chief, Rob Mens, Parry Sound C.A.O. on a teleconference call to two Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) staff members. As a member of this organization, Parry Sound staff can avail themselves of support, advice and the collective experience and knowledge gained over the years by the members. Our goal was to seek advice and direction on how we would deal with issues we have been experiencing with CN. They left us with some hope and have advised of new legislation which hopefully will open the doors of communication and certainly leverage our town with its collective membership. Although our recent issues had to do with CN, especially the extended road blockage, the FCM can help us overall in dealing with the train companies and other major matters.
I attended the Special Parry Sound Council Meeting on May 12th, 2015, to review the 2015 Quarterly KPO & Financial Summary. Council approved the KPO report. The "Quarterly Financial Review - Q1 2015" prepared by the Director of Finance dated May 12, 2015 was received and approved.
It was suggested that the senior staff could enhance the KPO reports making use of percentage of completion status rates to better compare with budget terms. The KPO Summary is provided to and reviewed by Council on a quarterly basis. This is a great example of Municipal Government transparency at work. These meetings are held to discuss the financial report and provide Council with the opportunity to ask questions, all in a public forum. Such questions relate to capital and operating budgets. In the same manner, KPO's implement the objectives of your Council and the open dialogue presents discussion allowing for clarification and for amendments.
On Thursday, May 7th, 2015 I attended the Park to Park Board Meeting, this time in Rosseau at the Community Centre. The 2015 Season is well under way. As you may be aware, this system provides everyone with a multi-use trail which extends some 230km for walking, cycling and riding! The organization unveiled its new web site a few weeks ago. It is very informative, easy to navigate and now has provisioning to buy Trail Passes on line. Passes are available for one day, two days, a week and there is an annual pass also. Please check out the new web site, http://www.parktoparktrail.org/.
Looking ahead, I am excited to attend the 12th Annual Bobby Orr Hall of Fame Induction Ceremonies this Saturday, May 23rd at the Charles W. Stockey Centre and the Bobby Orr Hall of Fame. Congratulations to this year's inductees; Ernie Eves as Honoured Member, Les Tabobondung as Athlete, Wilfred 'Bucko' McDonald as Builder, and the 1956-57 Junior 'C' Shamrocks as Team.
And finally, an historic event, one final chance for the public at large to walk through the halls and classrooms of Victory School before its doors close for good this June. Everyone is invited to attend the Victory School Open House and enjoy various exhibits, dedications to each decade in various classrooms, multi-media presentations, special ceremonies at 2:30 and more. There is a special dinner at the Royal Canadian Legion in Parry Sound, bowling at Georgian Lanes and a matinee movie at the Strand Twin Theatre on Sunday afternoon.
