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Draft Long Term Community Plan
September 12, 2005
Date: 2005 09 19
To: Village Ratepayers and Residents
From: Council
Re: Draft Long Term Community Plan
This draft plan has been developed over a period of time and is now provided for your review and input.
Please feel free to respond either by postal mail or by email providing your comments and suggestions. All material received will be reviewed and considered.
You are requested to submit your input by October 31st, 2005.
The plan will be finalized by November 30th, 2005.
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VILLAGE OF HILTON BEACH
Draft Long Term Plan
Objectives
To build on the foundation that has been put into place.
To achieve financial stability for the community.
To establish the physical and human infrastructure needed for the short term and long term future of the community.
Background
For the past twenty years the respective Village Councils have worked to essentially save the community from fading into history due to decreasing assessment, decreasing population, marked increase in the average age of the residents and loss of community services.
Both formal and less formal plans have been in place since that time.
Major projects/accomplishments include but are not limited to the following:
Construction of the marina in the years 1988 to 1990 including 105 slips.
Installation of municipal water and sewer infrastructure that allows for increased residential and commercial development.
Purchase of a large tract of waterfront property and renovation of the building that was on site to include eight units for both rental and service provision.
Development of a public park and beach including a half-mile boardwalk connecting the marina and the park.
Renovation and expansion of the Hilton community hall to seat 300 persons as well as smaller meeting rooms in the lower level.
Implementation of a beautification program throughout the community.
Operation of a public Internet access site including, in later years, high-speed Internet access.
Construction of an 80 X 120 all-season recreation surface using community labour with 670 hours of labour donated including the project supervision. An old building was purchased, moved to site and converted to serve as a rink shack.
Operation of an active recreation program including an annual seven week summer program open to all residents of the Island, seasonal residents and visitors.
Active participation in many shared services arrangements with neighbouring municipalities. The Village jointly owns the Hilton Union Fire Department assets with the Township of Hilton. The two municipalities have a joint agreement with the Township of Jocelyn that results in both Departments responding to all fires thus maximizing the protection to the ratepayers. There is cooperation with training as well. The Village and Township have cost sharing agreements for the Hilton Union Public Library and the Hilton landfill. The later will be reviewed as is noted in the plan. The Village purchases road services such as winter control and grading from the Township of Hilton and private contractors eliminating the need for the purchase of road equipment. There is a three party agreement among the Township of Hilton, The Township of Jocelyn and the Village of Hilton Beach for building and by-law enforcement services. The operation and cost sharing of the Planning Board and the Museum are allocated among the four Island municipalities on the basis of assessment. The Village is one of eight municipalities in a recycling program and has an agreement with the City of Sault Ste. Marie for the use of their hazardous waste recycling facility. The Village participates in the East Algoma amalgamated tender for surface treatment, culverts and other items.
Implementation over the years of an aggressive accessibility program before it was a requirement. The Hilton Hall was renovated and expanded to include accessibility although the lower level still needs a lift, the Village buildings are all ramped, the public park and boardwalk have ramps to make them accessible, and the new walkway and fishing/viewing pier at the marina are accessible as well.
Development of an active volunteer corps with a high number of youth volunteers. Both permanent and seasonal residents volunteer as well as those from neighbouring municipalities.
Acquisition of volunteer insurance. The Village of Hilton Beach identified the fact that the standard municipal insurance does not cover volunteers for personal injury or death with the exception of volunteer firefighters. They are covered for what they may do to others and for certain types of litigation against them but not personal injury. Coverage was researched and purchased for volunteers at a cost of $25 per person for all 140 identified volunteers. This information was also provided to other area municipalities, some of which have proceeded to obtain coverage. This coverage will mean that the volunteer is covered without having to sue the municipality. Although the Village has not had such an injury, others have reported that injured volunteers just went without any assistance rather than litigate.
Development of several annual special events over the years from Arts at the Dock which is now in its 19th year to the CL-16 White Sail Regatta which is now in its 2nd year.
Acoustic upgrades to the Hilton Community Hall to improve the acoustics for all activities but in particular the summer concert series which is now in its 10th year. This series has brought many of Canadas professional musicians to the community including Jackie Washington, Cindy Church, Moshe Hammer, Peter Appleyard, Murray McLauchlan, the Gryphon Trio and Jeff Healey.
Construction of a storage building and community workshop at no cost to the community. This facility is well equipped with a considerable amount of tools and equipment supplied by the public. It allowed the Village to construct the docks for the marina expansion in the community, creating much needed employment. It will be used as a community workshop with supervision by a community volunteer during operating hours. Both community and personal projects will be done. As well groups such as the Boy Scouts will be able to use the facility for their projects.
Completion of the work to meet the requirements of the Drinking Water Regulations and the additional requirements of the new legislation will be met by December 31st, 2005 with one minor exception which will be met by June 30th, 2006.
Development of five fully serviced waterfront lots that will bring funds directly to the municipality as well as increase the assessment base and the user fee pool for the sewer and water services without increasing the operation costs of these systems.
Expansion of the marina to bring the total slips to approximately 175. This expansion will enable the marina to host a variety of rendezvous as well as increase the seasonal and transient revenue. This not only brings revenue to the municipality directly but it increases the traffic to the community and the area thus having a positive effect on the local and regional economy.
Provision of safety training to employees and volunteers as it is available. This not only increases the safety on the various sites, projects and programs but adds to the skill set of the workers. Even with the many capital projects that the Village has undertaken, often using unskilled labour, there has not been a WSIB time lost accident. Courses include Standardized Safety Orientation offered by the Safe Communities Coalition, WHMIS, Standardized First Aid and CPR. If there is an accident in the workplace both the municipality and the supervisor can be charged by the Ministry of Labour resulting in high fines for both the municipality directly as well as the supervisor personally. As well WSIB rates would increase. Proof of training is also required by the Village in contracts with contractors.
Creation of an atmosphere that encourages investment. There were two new small seasonal businesses started in 2005 and two new housing starts. Both are rare in the Village and are an indication that the people see the potential of investing in the community.
Attracting special events to the marina. For example the Great Lakes Cruising Club will hold their 2006 rendezvous in Hilton Beach. Dockage revenue alone for this event will be significant.
Current Situation
The Village has had an operating deficit for the past few years. There are several reasons including slow payments from the funders of various projects resulting in high interest costs which are not considered to be fundable, two formula errors on the budget (now corrected) and underpayment of Community Reinvestment Fund grant from the Province for several years.
The Villages debt load is within the parameters set by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs. The municipalitys share of the capital projects undertaken by the Village has been approximately 10%. The community has a very enviable inventory of infrastructure that will directly and indirectly benefit the ratepayers for years to come. This infrastructure will allow for a timely repayment of the debt.
While the municipal tax rate for the Village of Hilton Beach is higher than that of all other municipalities on St. Joseph Island it is in line with that of other municipalities that provide the additional services that neither the Township of Hilton nor the Township of Jocelyn do or that do not have the rural tax base to cushion the tax rate increases as is available to the Township of St. Joseph.
Because of its geographic configuration and the fact that the shoreline had historically been divided into small lots the Village has not had the opportunity to benefit from the payments from subdivision developers. Thus this was not a source of funds for project development, operations or reserves. The Village has developed both The Waterfront Centre property and the Mariners Way property for these purposes.
The Plan
As noted above the Village has had plans for a considerable period. Many public meetings have been held and ratepayer surveys sent out in the development of these plans.
The current plan will address the operating deficit, the establishment of reserves and the completion of a couple of smaller capital projects.
The plan is laid out in chart form which, because it is visual, will make it easier to comprehend. Timelines and activities are projected and will be adjusted as necessary by circumstances, both negative and positive.
September 12th, 2005
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The Long Term Plan Chart (draft) is available only in PDF (Adobe Acrobat) format.
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