Island Joint Meeting - May 30/07

May 30, 2007

INCORPORATED VILLAGE OF HILTON BEACH
CORPORATION OF THE TOWNSHIP OF HILTON
CORPORATION OF THE TOWNSHIP OF JOCELYN
CORPORATION OF THE TOWNSHIP OF ST. JOSEPH

Joint Meeting
May 30, 2007

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 by Mayor Hore. Present for the Village were Mayor Hore and Councillors Crack, Hope, Stevens and Sullivan. Present for the Township were Reeve See and Councillors Courtney, Leask and Sharabura. Present for Jocelyn were Reeve Henderson and Councillors Chisholm, Wallace, Ward and Wierzbicki. Present for the Township of St. Joseph were Mayor Wildman and Councillors Cardinal and Ibbitson.

Annette Fischer, Chair and Maureen Wooder, Secretary-Treasurer were present on behalf of the Museum Board. The budget has been approved by the individual Councils. Mrs. Wooder indicated that there is still some uncertainty about the level of grant funding to be received for summer staff. A summary of the summer events was provided. The first is an Open House at 7:00 p.m. on June 14th.

Joe Books was in attendance to discuss emergency management. He presented material on the role of Council in an emergency. Mr. Books serves as the Emergency Management Coordinator for the Village of Hilton Beach and the Township of Hilton. There is a vacancy in the position for the other two municipalities since the resignation of Joe Cardinal. It was decided that, at least in the interim, Joe Books would serve in this capacity for all municipalities. The Joint Emergency Management Agreement will have to be finalized and signed. The contact list in the emergency plan will have to be updated for those Councils that had a change. There will be an exercise involving all municipalities in the fall. Mr. Books indicated that the JEPP grant is now available online and the process is reported to be more efficient. Mayor Hore thanked Joe for his work on behalf of all of the municipalities.

Bob Courtney provided a brief presentation on the possibility of a tree cutting by-law for the Island. There was considerable discussion on the need for restrictions as well as implementation and enforcement. It was decided that an information gathering committee should be formed with representation from each Council, loggers and professional advisors.

The request by the Township of Jocelyn to withdraw from the SJI Planning Board was addressed by Reeve Henderson. Ministry staff will be meeting with Jocelyn Township Council on June 13th.

Hilton Township requested that additional information be provided by Planning Board regarding the administration fee charged by the Township of St. Joseph to the Board. Chair Ibbitson committed to providing this information.

The level of public notice for the zoning by-law was discussed. While notice for the Official Plan and the Zoning bylaw has been beyond the legislative requirements, there is still the perception that there has not been adequate notice. Every effort will be made to ensure that the meetings are well publicized.

The possibility of a joint Island or possibly even wider area tender for professional assistance to prepare the necessary information to meet the new asset management requirements was discussed. It was decided that the area clerks would consider the work to be done and make recommendations on how to most efficiently obtain the necessary information.

Mayor Wildman spoke briefly to the plan of the Algoma District School Board to restructure the classes at the Island Central School. Concern was expressed that this would be particularly harmful to those students who need additional assistance.

There was no other business.

The meeting was adjourned.