Dysart et al council has said it’s happy for the Haliburton County Farmers Market to move back to Head Lake Park next season, providing the market’s executive agree to new terms that mayor, Murray Fearrey, said protects the township from incurring additional costs and liability.

Angel Taylor and Ron Lofthouse, representing the market, told council Dec. 12 that the most recent season in Haliburton, which ran from May to October, was a disappointment for most vendors.

They said attendance dropped after the event was relocated to nearby Rotary Beach park.

“We count as best we can every person that comes to our markets. In 2022, there were 19,719 people that attended our market when it was in Head Lake Park. In 2023, we saw a substantial drop to 13,607. That’s about a 30 per cent decrease,” Lofthouse said.

Other market locations at the Minden fairgrounds and Abbey Gardens saw a big uptick in visitors, Lofthouse said. Attendance in Minden this year was 18,573, up from 16,004, while the weekly Abbey Gardens event attracted 6,394 in its first year since moving from Stanhope. Lofthouse noted 3,800 people attended the Stanhope market last year.

The pair said there was substantial support from the community to have the event, held every Tuesday from noon to 4 p.m., back in a more central location.

Haliburton Business Improvement Area (BIA) board chair, David Zilstra, wrote a letter in support of the move, saying several downtown merchants reported a decreased presence of shoppers on market days. He said the market is “tucked out of site” at Rotary Beach park.

According to Zilstra, Country Pickins sales were down an average of 40 to 60 per cent on market days this year, with Glecoff’s Family Store noting a 15 per cent drop, and Russell Red Records a 30 per cent decline.

“The connection [between the market and downtown] is now broken, but it can be fixed easily by bringing it back to its old location,” Zilstra wrote.

Taylor noted the market had been located at Head Lake Park for 11 years. She said there were many benefits to that site, primarily accessibility for older residents. Taylor said the market executive would be willing to work with council on a resolution, while offering the township a seat on its board.

Fearrey said he was concerned about damage to the park. He proposed a $1,000 fee be applied to the market for each event in July, August, and September, with a $700 fee applied for any other month. Deputy mayor Walt McKechnie supported that addition.

“I think that’s fair. It will help us build a fund to fix things at the end of the season… we can’t be subsidizing anything [extra] today. People are concerned this is costing taxpayers money,” McKechnie said.

During the meeting, Taylor noted the market has around 40 vendors during its summer peak, dropping to between 20 and 30 in spring and fall. All vendors pay $300 per season to appear at the market.

Addressing concerns coun. Pat Casey and Nancy Wood-Roberts had about increased traffic in the downtown, and a lack of parking, Fearrey felt running the market earlier in the day could help. He suggested new hours of 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., which Taylor felt was workable.

The mayor also stipulated that vendors should park vehicles in the Rotary Beach parking lot, freeing up space at Head Lake Park, and that the market assign an attendant to limit parking along Highland Street. “If they don’t like [the changes], they can get back to us,” Fearrey said.

Places for People (P4P) has wrapped up its inaugural community bonds program, successfully raising $850,000 – money that president, Jody Curry, says will help the organization bring more affordable housing to Haliburton County.

Speaking to The Highlander ahead of P4P’s annual general meeting Dec. 6, Curry said the bonds program sold out in less than three months. She noted this was a new record completion time for Tapestry Community Capital – the Torontobased firm that assisted with the investment drive.

Haliburton County Development Corporation was the first to purchase a bond on July 10, and bookended the effort by picking up a second bond – the last available – on Oct. 3. Curry said 81 bonds were sold to 71 unique investors.

There were three options available – Series A for investments of at least $1,000 locked in for three years, earning three per cent interest paid annually; Series B, which was a minimum of $5,000 locked in for five years, earning four per cent interest; or Series C, which was $10,000 locked in for seven years, earning five per cent interest.

Curry noted Series A investments totalled $93,000, Series B was $205,000, and Series C was $552,000.

“This was a great success. We’re very happy and feel this program puts us on a very good financial footing to move forward,” Curry said. “To all the people who helped get us to the point we are today: thank you.”

Curry noted the bonds are secured by P4P’s existing assets, which she says are valued at around $2.5 million.

The money will be used to clear a handful of existing mortgages and private loans. Asked how this will help P4P bring additional housing units to the Highlands, Curry indicated it will improve the organization’s position for borrowing should any opportunities arise.

“The way I like to describe it is, it makes everything look nice and neat and tidy on our books. We had little bits of money owing against all our buildings – those are now gone. So, when we go to borrow bigger dollars from bigger groups or organizations, or the government, for things we’re working on, we do have some unfettered equity,” she said.

P4P owns and operates five properties across Haliburton County, with 12 affordable housing units. Curry said the non-profit is aiming to more than double its inventory in the coming years, noting “we have a lot of plans in the works.”

Chief among those is a potential joint commercial and residential development fronting County Road 21 off Peninsula Drive. Paul Wilson, owner of Harburn Holdings, pledged one of four lots fronting Grass Lake to P4P last year. A proposal to develop the property has been supported by Dysart et al and Haliburton County councils but has been appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal. An initial meeting was held Dec. 11, with a three-week hearing scheduled for November 2024.

Curry said P4P hopes to build 16 new units there. The commercial space will be rented out, generating income the non-profit can use to subsidize accommodations and offer them at below market rates. Should this project proceed, Curry said another bonds program is likely, with the build expected to cost millions.

The organization is also looking for opportunities to invest in existing rental units, like it did when purchasing a five-plex in Carnarvon in October 2022.

“That would make sure units that are currently in place don’t go by the wayside. We are on the lookout for things like that, because right now it’s much cheaper to buy existing buildings and renovate them than it is to build new,” Curry said.

Ontario’s Ombudsman has rapped the County of Haliburton’s knuckles over an April 27 closed door meeting that Paul Dubé said should not have been held in-camera.

Dubé issued his ruling this month over complaints filed with his office. He said the council meeting, which dealt with the pending closure of the Minden emergency room, “did not fit within the closed meeting exceptions in the Municipal Act.”

Council called the special meeting, inviting then HHHS CEO Carolyn Plummer and board chair David O’Brien, “to gather more information… and to attempt to reverse or delay the closure,” Dubé said. “We were told that an in-camera discussion was planned because the County hoped the HHHS representatives would be more willing to have a full and frank discussion with council in closed session than in public,” the ombudsman added.

He said the County claimed exceptions in sections 239(2)(g) and 239(2)(i) of the Act. Section 239(2)(g) allows a municipality to discuss a matter in which a council, board, committee, or other body may hold a closed meeting under another Act. Section 239(2)(i) is an exception for information supplied in confidence to the municipality by a third party.

According to the closed session minutes, and the people Dubé’s team interviewed, Plummer and O’Brien had an opportunity to speak to council about the decision. O’Brien explained HHHS’ rationale and shared information about staffing levels, labour relations, and bed capacity at the two County hospitals. Dubé said O’Brien and Plummer also provided a plan to ensure patients could access emergency services at Haliburton hospital following the closure.

Warden: ‘learning experience’

Several council members asked questions and expressed opinions, Dubé said, with most disappointed and disagreeing with the decision, and decrying a lack of consultation. Councillors questioned the plan to accommodate patients at Haliburton hospital and requested HHHS delay or reverse its decision, he said.

After Plummer and O’Brien left, Dubé said council continued the in-camera discussion. Chief paramedic Tim Waite talked about the potential effects on ambulance service levels and said he’d reached out to the Ministry of Health about additional funding.

The discussion then turned to possible legal action the County could seek to prevent or delay the closure, although council decided not to take legal steps at that time. Dubé said council then discussed public statements it would make on the matter, with staff told to prepare a press release. Council then came back into open session.

County responsibility

Dubé said with regards to matters permissible under another Act, the exemption has limited application “because very few pieces of legislation contain exceptions that allow a municipality to hold closed meetings.”

He added councillors and staff could not explain why the exception had been cited. “The clerk shared that the County may have assumed that legislation exists that permits the HHHS board to hold closed meetings, which also applied to council. However, the County could not cite the legislation that it believed permitted the closed meeting.,” Dubé said.

To be transparent and avoid confusion, he said a resolution to move into closed session should include a clear reference to the relevant legislation and provision. “My review did not identify any legislation that permits council to discuss the emergency room closure in closed session. Accordingly, council was not entitled to rely on this exception for its in-camera discussion on April 27,” the Ombudsman said.

As for council citing information supplied in confidence by a third party, Dubé said O’Brien told his office information given to council was not considered confidential by HHHS. Dubé said Waite’s information about the ministry was not supplied in confidence either. Dubé did say that when it came to the legal discussion, council was within its right to be in-camera.

The Ombudsman said while the County was dealing with a community in crisis “the open meeting rules continue to apply.

“The open meeting requirements set out in s. 239 of the Municipal Act permit the public to observe the political process. I encourage the County to continue to strive to carry out their business in as transparent and open a manner as possible during all council meetings,” Dubé said.

Warden Liz Danielsen said the meeting was called at an “extremely difficult time. Unfortunately, given the challenges we were facing, as well as our desire to understand an unforeseen hardship placed on our community, our discussions with the board chair and HHHS CEO went beyond what was permissible under the act.”

She felt the Ombudsman was “somewhat” sympathetic to the situation. “However, as always, issues like this become a learning experience for us all.” She said council accepted the finding and recommendations and had directed staff to update their procedural bylaw and provide training to council and staff “to ensure this situation will not be repeated.”

Richard Bradley issued a statement on behalf of The Save Haliburton County Emergency Health Group. They said, “it is extremely disappointing, as we now look back to a meeting that occurred five weeks before the June 1, 2023 closure of the Minden emergency department, where information that all the stakeholders of Haliburton County could have, would have, and should have, had access to was not made available to us.”

A Saturday morning tilt between the Highland Storm U11 Cottage Country Building Supplies and Almaguin Ice Devils featured two top teams vying for the right to crown themselves first in the league.

Both teams brought their A-game – a busy opening period saw the two teams cancel one another out. Heading into the second, James Hamilton gave the Storm the lead, potting after a net front scramble to get the home side on the board. The score remained 1-0 heading into the final frame.

The Ice Devils continued to push hard during the third period, creating several scoring opportunities after pinning the Storm back. They maintained continued offensive zone pressure, but stellar goaltending from Mason Bishop, and a concentrated team defensive effort, halted the comeback attempt.

It was a gutsy effort for the Storm en route to a 1-0 win.

With less than 30 seconds left on the clock, and a competitive game in a hostile barn on a knife’s edge, Haliburton County Huskies netminder Brett Fullerton shut out all the noise, vacated his crease, brought a bouncing puck under control by the boards, gazed down the ice and let fly.

Time seemed to stand still at Lehigh Arena, home of the rival Wellington Dukes, Dec. 1 after Fullerton recorded an uber-rare goalie goal. Not only was it the first in Huskies franchise history, it’s believed to be the first league-wide in more than 11 years.

Officially timed at 19:40, the late tally was the icing on the cake for a Huskies outfit chasing its first-ever win at the venue. It secured a 3-1 result for the blue and white.

The Highlander caught up with Fullerton and several other Huskies players and staff members this week to reflect on the goal. The 19-year-old Ancaster, ON native said it wasn’t planned, noting his instincts kicked in once he realized there was a chance.

“All I remember is them dumping it in and so I skate out to meet the puck, look up and I notice their goalie was gone, so I just shot it. I didn’t even think about it, it kinda just happened,” Fullerton said. “The rest, after that, is a bit of a blur.”

The Huskies social media manager, Noah Giordano, spotted the opportunity before Fullerton had reached the puck. The teams were all square on the ice, five-on-five, after Dukes blueliner Dimitri-Alexander Tzaferis took a tripping call at 18:59. Chasing the game, home coach Kent Lewis brought his netminder, Jack Lisson, to the bench.

“I just said ‘shoot Fully, go for it’, and he did,” Giordano said. “It was insane.”

Captain Patrick Saini was skating back into his own zone when he saw Fullerton leave the net.

“I know he likes to play the puck, so I wasn’t thinking anything of it. Then I notice him look up and I just remember thinking ‘there’s no way he’s trying this right now’,” Saini said. “It’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen playing hockey. You see goalie goals on clips on Instagram and it’s cool, but to see one in-person is nuts.”

Huskies forward Lucas Stevenson had a front row seat.

“I was on the ice and he ended up shooting it up my side – the puck just flew up into the air. It almost hit the scoreboard they have coming down from the roof at centre ice,” Stevenson said. “It looked like it was going to miss just to the right initially, but then it swung left, bounced, and trickled in. We all went nuts.”

Isaac Larmand was watching from the bench with bated breath. He was following the play when one of the coaches called out, “wow, he’s trying it boys.” From his angle, it didn’t look like it was going to go in. Then it did.

“It was just an explosion, none of us could believe it,” Larmand said. “We were all just in awe, coaches included. For him to do that, with a couple of Wellington forwards hounding him, it was a one-in-a-million moment, for sure.”

As those on the ice celebrated, Stevenson told Fullerton to “run the train” and mark the occasion with the rest of the team. He skated by the bench, receiving high-fives from everyone.

After the game, he was presented with the puck, which he has since taped and added the result, date and opponent.

“That’ll be a nice keepsake probably for the rest of my life,” Fullerton said. “It’s definitely something really cool. Not something you ever think you’re going to experience as a goalie. I’m glad I did it… I think this is top of the list now as far as career accomplishments go.”

The teen noted it wasn’t his first attempt – he tried for one last season while playing Jr. B with the Chatham Maroons, and again a couple years back with the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit.

It was a special moment for head coach Ryan Ramsay, who has enjoyed a near 20-year career playing professionally and coaching junior without ever seeing a goalie goal in-person. He said he was delivering some final messages to some guys preparing to hit the ice when he saw the puck fly up into the air.

“I didn’t know who had shot it until it went in and everyone started going crazy,” Ramsay said. “His shot is unbelievable – it’s the hardest goalie shot I’ve seen, and he’s probably the best goalie for coming out and playing the puck [that I’ve worked with]. The kid has got a cannon. Good for him, it was a great moment.”

Fullerton’s family were able to share in the moment while watching the game live online. The goalie credits his heavy shot to his dad, Greg, who set up a shooting room in the family home for he and his brother while growing up.

“It definitely makes it more special knowing they were watching – I owe everything I have in hockey to them. They called me right after the game and said they had a bunch of family friends over at the house for the game, and everyone went crazy when I scored,” Fullerton said.

“This is something that will stick with me forever.”

Fancy spending an hour on a sailing adventure in the Philippines?

While the Haliburton County Community Cooperative can’t transport you there Dec. 13, you can hear all about Andrea Hagarty and Johnny Waite’s tale of their February 2023 trip at the Speaker Series at the fish hatchery Dec. 13.

The two travelled on a 74’ wooden Paraw through the Palawan Islands.

The Cooperative’s Barrie Martin said that in addition to sharing their experiences of sailing, snorkeling and sleeping in traditional bamboo huts on remote islands, Hagarty and Waite “will be telling the incredible story of how the provider, Tao Adventures, has become an integral part of the local economy, providing hundreds of jobs for the wonderful people from this extraordinary corner of the world.”

He said the two have promised to share images of spectacular scenery, stormy seas, and endless adventures.

Hagarty is the long-time proprietor of Bonnie View Inn on Lake Kashagawigamog. Waite is a coach, speaker and international event organizer, having created various adventure races in dozens of countries.

They started dating in February 2015 and, after agreeing to “keep it casual” ended up traveling the world together instead – and got married in December 2015 in Mendoza, Argentina after climbing Mount Aconcagua (the tallest mountain outside the Himalayas).

Since then, they have never looked back and, now retired, have founded The Golden Age of Adventure – a company devoted to creating travel experiences for others.

This is the second time they have been speaker series guest presenters.

“When we spoke about our Aconcagua climb, it took us right back to the mountain ourselves, so we are very much looking forward to revisiting this awesome sailing experience,” the two said.

Martin added, “the season is off to a great start with three very entertaining and informative presentations behind us. We are very excited for the months ahead. Maryam Monsef, Ian Tamblyn, Charlie Angus, Ted Barris, Ruth Walker, Jane Selbie, Wendy Wood and Sandi Luck will be our featured speakers.”

The series happens on the second Wednesday of the month, at 7-9 p.m. at the HHOA Fish Hatchery. Admission is $15 per person payable, at the door. If you would like to receive more information or have a story you would like to tell, please email barrieinthehighlands@gmail.com or call 705-457-7557.

A Minden Hills council decision to disband its committee of adjustment has been criticized by existing members, although the town’s mayor says they are within their rights to make a change.

Committee members have received a phone call and follow-up letter, and the township is advertising for new committee members.

Two of five publicly-appointed committee members – Bill Blakes and Dick Schell – spoke with The Highlander on Dec. 1, as did mayor Bob Carter.

Blakes said he had been on the committee seven or eight years, and dealt with hundreds of applications, with no problems. He added while he suspects the move is because the committee went against the town planner on a couple of recent files, he claims the committee members were not given a reason for the decision.

However, he said his interpretation of bylaw 2084 s. 623 is that there has to be supporting rationale for the disbanding of a committee. “There was no reason given at all.”

Carter said, “I think it’s important that we didn’t fire them. We disbanded the committee with the intention of appointing a new committee. Anybody who was on the old committee could apply to go on the new committee. We can restart the committee at any time. It’ll come down to seeing who else in the community is interested and qualified.”

Carter added when they set up the committee following the last election, they wanted to be able to review its work. “This is sort of like a one-year review, and so, we’re going to reappoint for the upcoming year type of thing.”

Asked if they would reapply, Schell, who said he has been a township volunteer for 43 years and a member of the committee for 27, replied, “no, once bitten, twice shy.”

The committee – for which council chooses members – is looking for people to serve from 2024-2026. The deadline to apply is Dec. 8. The committee considers applications for minor variances from the township’s zoning bylaw as set out in the Planning Act. A minor variance may allow property owners to use their land in a way that does not comply exactly with the requirements of the bylaw. The committee comprises the town planner and five community members.

Carter added the committee is quasi-judicial and its decisions are final unless appealed.

“I’m not saying that everything has to be copasetic and there’s never going to be a disagreement… but they just seemed to be going in the wrong direction, so we want to see if there is a possibility of doing something different. Having said that, in a small community, you can’t make this just business, it’s taken as personal.”

Blakes and Schell said they are taking it personal as word spreads.

Blakes said during meetings, the members look at information from the town planner but also from consultants representing the applicant. He said they had recently voted in favour of the applicants on a couple of cases.

Blakes, who worked for the City of Toronto for 28 years and believes he is highly qualified, said, “they (council) may have authority to do it (disband the committee) but it’s questionable. There is something wrong with this.”