HEDDY SOROUR

Elbows Up

The town of Carleton Place is lending its voice in support of Team Canada in the face of U.S. tarriffs. On March 25 town council passed a motion echoing the county and declaring that it will adopt a buy Canadian approach, support the reciprocal measure taken by the province and the federal governments and support all measure that reduce trade barriers between provinces and requests that the province remove any regulatory barriers preventing Canadian municipalities from giving preference to Canadian companies.

“We’re expressing our support for all of Canada with the ongoing tariffs on Canadian goods. Let’s hope cooler heads prevail and that the tariffs which truly support nobody – not Canadians and not Americans ends sooner than later. Let’s get our house in order and get inter provincial trade going and support each other through the vast goods and services and natural resources that Canada has here at home,” said Mayor Toby Randell.

Adopting a Community Safety and Wellbeing plan

The new Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan has been adopted by the town of Carleton Place. On Tuesday evening council received a presentation from Stephanie Gray, Coordinator, Lanark County Situation Table outlining the plan and the 36 partners working together. The comprehensive document was well received and council chose to adopt the plan at the end of the Committee of the Whole on March 25. While the current plan as presented is regional in nature, once it has been approved by all the municipalities within the county and Smiths Falls, an action plan will be developed for implementation over the next four years.

“The implementation plan will break down tasks more specifically for each municipality or sector. Anything we plan will benefit the whole region,” said Gray.

Carleton Place Childcare Services Propose Summertime Closure

Starting in 2026, the Carleton Place Childcare Services will introduce a Summer Closure Week for the facility. The proposed closure is currently slated for the week before the August long weekend.The rationale is that it will give staff guaranteed time off in the summer; will realize cost savings and gives the municipality an opportunity to get necessary maintenance and facility upgrades done while there are no children or staff present. As Tracey Freill, manager Carelton Place Childcare services explained, a planned summer closure ensure that staff get a guaranteed summer break that they can plan for and it offers the opportunity to get maintenance and upgrades to the facility completed at a time when contractors are available. Since 2011 the facility has only closed between Christmas and New Year when most contractors are also taking time off.

“The closure has been vetted through Human Resources. Several day cares in the area have closure weeks, it’s not uncommon,” said Freill.

The proposal has approval from 96 percent of the day care staff, according to Friell.

“I think anytime you get 96 percent of any group that can agree on something you’re doing something right,” said Mayor Toby Randell. “The idea of facility upgrades as well is a great use of the time, and we’re giving users a full year and a bit notice which is ample time,” he concluded.

Coleman Subdivision

It’s been a long time coming but the Coleman Subdivision is finally entering into a subdivision agreement with the town.

“We’ve got 101 units total, we have a contract that’s pretty much ready to be signed,” said Niki Dwyer, director of Development Services. 

Draft approval for this subdivision was issue by the county back in August of 2012. At that time there were 56 conditions to be satisfied and the application has gone through five renewals. Almost all of the condition has now been met with just one more MVCA condition almost cleared.

Deputy Mayor Andrew Tennant raised concerns over traffic flows during construction of Coleman especially when added to the traffic caused by the Lepine building currently under construction on Coleman Street.

“We’re still going back and forth on what our preferred routing is, and we’re trying to minimize traffic on Henry. We will continue to monitor when traffic is heaviest right now and work out the best route,” said Dwyer.

Construction is expected to start within weeks.

Council Remuneration

Carleton Place’s treasurer Trisa McConkey has prepared a report on council remuneration which is available for the public to view on the town’s website. The report is mandated by the province.

Each member of council’s honorarium is listed, as well as any expenses they claimed in the execution of their duties.

“For those that do a deep dive, you might notice council expenses, Andrew Tennant and myself charge expenses at the county first and then it comes to the municipality, and that’s the difference,” said Randell who is also the current County Warden.