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Mono Council recognizes nurses week, hears concerns from residents

May 13, 2021   ·   0 Comments

By Peter Richardson

Mono Council took some time during their May 11 meeting to recognize National Nurses Week, which runs from May 10 to 16 this year.

Mayor Laura Ryan made the proclamation, recognizing the contributions of all nurses and frontline workers, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The theme this year is “We Answer The Call”, which showcases the many roles nurses play in a patient’s health-care journey.

Racism issues

Following the proclamation was public question period where Anthony Hosein asked what the Town was doing regarding racism in Mono, speeding on the Mono-Adjala Townline, and paving over gravel roads. In each case he requested to know the action plan and the current status

In regards racism, Mayor Ryan replied that she was part of the County’s committee on racism and that they were working on the problem. She said that municipalities would follow the County lead in implementing the outcome of the committees’ decisions. Mayor Ryan added that Shelburne has a committee that is actively researching various plans of action and models to combat racism there.

Speeding and road conditions

In regards speeding on Mono-Adjala Townline, Mayor Ryan noted that this had been brought up at the recent Town Hall and that Deputy Mayor Creelman as well as the Police Services Board are aware of the issue and working on it with the OPP.

As for the road conditions and possibly paving the Mono-Adjala Townline, Mike Dunmore of Mono’s Public Works department explained that there was a plan for road improvements and the Townline in question was on it. However, it was not a high priority.

The traffic count did not, at this time, warrant paving the road. Currently, the Blind Line was the priority followed by 20 Sideroad.

Mike noted that since 2009 there has been 2.9 million dollars spent on Mono-Adjala Towwnline between 20 Sideroad and Rosemont. He said that paving it would cost 6.7 million dollars and the traffic counts just do not warrant the expenditure.

Mayor Ryan cautioned the the resident, Mr. Hosein to be careful in what he wishes for, as statistics would indicate that should it be paved, the road would become a thoroughfare, between Rosemont and Hockley Road. This would likely increase the number of people speeding and the potential for accidents due to the deep ditches and topography of the road.

Mayor Ryan warned that increased vehicle and motorcycle traffic would likely occur and speeding problems would be double or more with a pavement road instead of gravel.

Parking lot expansion

Mark Hicks, of Dickson Hicks Architects, came to Council to request an exemption from a Council approved amending agreement for the Orangeville Christian School. The School wants to expand its parking area to facilitate a future school expansion and add a 2nd exit for vehicular traffic, onto County Road 16. This would improve site circulation and enhance student safety during vehicular drop offs and pick-ups.

Coun. Ralph Manktelow questioned why the extra parking was being added now, when not needed? Mr. Hicks explained that it was also a major safety concern for the students and that this would allow for that to be addressed. The motion was approved by Council.

Alternative voting methods

Moving on, the hiring of a company to supply the alternative voting methods was brought before Council. Town Clerk, Fred Simpson had prepared a report suggesting that the Town continues to use Intelivote Systems Inc., of Nova Scotia to facilitate telephone and internet voting in Mono.

This firm was one of only two that supplies this service and had been utilized by the Town in its 2018 elections with great success.

All of the surrounding municipalities excepting Orangeville also used Intelivote for their alternative voting source.

Council accepted the recommendation.

Integrity commissioner

Next up, Council sought to appoint an Integrity Commissioner. This proved to be the only contentious issue of the night, with both the Deputy Mayor and Coun. Manktelow opposing the appointment of Commissioner Guy Giorno, the existing Commissioner. Thy argued that an application process should be utilized, or an RFP, in order to look at all potential applicants and as a means of supplying transparency to the process, as this was done with all other Town appointees, such as engineers etc. Deputy Mayor Creelman also questioned the cost variance between Mr. Giorno and others, doubting that it was accurate. County Council had just appointed a new Commissioner at a substantially increased cost over Mr. Giorno, who had been the Commissioner.

Mr. Gioro had previously handled three issue for the Town, without complaint. His rate for being the Integrity Commissioner would be a yearly retainer of $200 and an hourly rate of $130, for a period of three to four years. By comparison, Mr. Harnick, the new County Commissioner was charging a $2,000 retainer and a fee of $300 per hour and these terms would be the same or similar should he be hired by Mono. Although Mr. Giornos costs are much lower than the County appointee, his work is without question and has been completely satisfactory to staff. Spending 10 times the amount, hardly seems prudent or fiscally responsible in these economic times and in a 3-2 vote, Council agreed to appoint Mr. Giorno as the Integrity Commissioner.

Police Services Board

The issue of the ongoing Police Service Boards was brought up, again, by Deputy Mayor Creelman. He commended on the fact that Grand Valley had endorsed the concept, put forward by Mono and drafted by himself, of having three boards in Dufferin County, one for Orangeville-Shelburne and two for the rural municipalities. However, he was quite concerned that Mulmur and Melancthon had endorsed the idea of rural boards but had not specified one, or two boards.

Mayor Creelman strongly opposes a single board as he believes it would be too large, would not work and ultimately would not be accepted by the Province, who would then force a solution upon the County.

He questioned the Mayor about the thoughts of the ad hoc committee set up by Warden Darren White, consisting of all the mayors but was told that, having been unable to attend the meeting, Mayor Ryan was unable to answer. She said she would find out, at the upcoming County Council meeting. Mr. Creelman expressed his concerns that a proposal would be sent to the Attorney General, before the committee’s findings had been vetted by all the municipal councils, but would leave it at that until the County Council meeting.

Parking issues at trails

Finally, in reports from staff and Council, a few salient points were brought up. CAO Mark Early reported that the Mono Cliffs Park Superintendent has notified him that they have most of their summer staff on duty at the park, so policing of the park will be more stringent now.

Early added that the Town’s request to have the Park put on the Province’s reservation system is still in play. The expectation is that it will be put in the system and this should help greatly with the parking issues.

Meanwhile, Coun. Fred Nix noted that the Bruce Trail Conservancy will not be able to issue parking tickets for Mono, after requesting it at their last meeting. Their security firm has advised them that it will not be possible.

Deputy Mayor Creelman said that parking on the Second Line, for Mono Cliffs Provincial Park is perhaps not exactly what the Town had hoped. He said that perhaps the parking area is too generous and noted that when he visited recently, it was a zoo. He suggested that councillors should visit the 2nd Line and see for themselves and perhaps make changes to the no parking areas.

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