Dysart et al Mayor Andrea Roberts made a call to order amidst “tension” at the council table over cuts proposed by Coun. John Smith Feb. 14.

The call came during a discussion over the Haliburton Village town dock at a special budget meeting, with the budget including $30,000 to replace it.

Smith questioned the need for the dock, noting how much the township spends on the village compared to other parts of the municipality. He then raised issue with the amount the municipality spends on the Haliburton Highlands Museum, which is projected to have a net cost of approximately $149,348 in 2019. Smith has repeatedly proposed cuts to the museum budget, a call that has not received support from the rest of council.

“Cottagers, we tell them we can’t afford to fix the roads, that’s the discouraging part of it,” Smith said. “The museum in recent years has consumed $1 million.”

“I am going to call you out of order,” Roberts interjected. “Not speaking to it again. I want some decorum again. John, you’re creating a lot of tension in the room … your opinions are valuable, you are duly elected, but let’s try to have a little bit more respect here.”

“I haven’t been disrespectful to one person in this room,” Smith replied. “If you can’t disagree with people, then what’s the sense of being here?”

The discussion moved past the disagreement. But Smith again found himself at odds with the rest of council when he suggested cutting into the $50,000 operating grant the municipality provides for the Rails End Gallery.

“Past councils have taken the approach, we have a whole bunch of little things,” Smith said. “What would make Halliburton an attractive place to be? Nobody talks about the Rails End Gallery, nobody talks to the museum.”

“They do talk about it,” Coun. Larry Clarke responded. “We got one of the largest artist communities in the country.”

“Recreation, culture, vibrancy in our community is highly regarded here,” Roberts said. “Without the $50,000 operating grant, they (the gallery) wouldn’t survive and I think they’re a very valued, historic asset.”

No other councillor raised their hand to support the idea of cutting the art gallery grant.

Smith said the municipality spends too much on things that are not needed and said there needs to be metrics for return-on-investment of tax dollars.

“We’re spending $16 million this year in terms of money for our community and a lot of it, from my point of view obviously, too much goes into things, ‘it’s nice to have,’” Smith said.

Highlands East is preparing a short-term rental questionnaire in an effort to understand the community’s feelings on the topic.

Council voted to proceed with a two-month public review for the draft questionnaire during its Feb. 12 meeting. The questionnaire seeks to gather public input on the issue of short-term rentals and is modelled after one completed in Minden Hills last fall.

Chief administrative officer and treasurer Shannon Hunter said this is a way to get an idea of how the public feels about short-term rentals.

“This is fulfilling what council stated that they wanted to do was reach out to the public to receive public input from all Highlands East residents on how they feel, or maybe impacts that they have, positive or negative impacts they have, on short-term rentals,” Hunter said.

The draft questionnaire includes questions such as whether a person has personally experienced short-term rentals being associated with unwanted behaviours and whether they see short-term rentals as being positive for economic development.

Another portion of the questionnaire also asks about whether the municipality should regulate short-term rentals and requests opinions on possible regulatory options, such as limiting the number of days a short-term rental can be rented in a year.

However, the questionnaire received a lengthy response from Ryan Bailey, an area cottager who spoke out against the municipality’s work on the short-term rental file at its Jan. 16 council meeting. In a mass email to council members, Bailey questioned the winter timing of the public review period for the survey, given the number of seasonal residents impacted by the matter.

Bailey also questioned whether more research and data collection should be conducted before a survey, such as a cost estimate on the implementation and enforcement of short-term accommodation regulations and a study on other provincial municipalities addressing short-term rentals.

“How can residents possibly make informed submissions through a survey without first understanding the facts and data of the matter?” Bailey said.

Hunter commented on council receiving a “communication from ratepayers” prior to the meeting.

“Some of the concerns had to do with the questionnaire being put out, the cart before the horse,” Hunter said. “However, council stated they wanted to seek input from all residents. Their input on their feelings not on any particular bylaw or scenario.”

“We’re solely seeking input on a draft document,” Hunter later added.

Deputy mayor Cec Ryall said the municipality is facing serious challenges in dealing with short-term rentals.

“We’re getting bogged down before we can get out of the starting blocks,” Ryall said.

The draft questionnaire on short-term rentals will be posted on the municipal website, according to a staff report. The public input period will go until April 30.

Dysart et al council worked to pare down a preliminary 2019 budget featuring a 7.35 per cent tax levy increase through an all-day budget session Feb. 14.

Council pored through the budget line-by-line over the course of the day, outlining where the municipality would spend over the next year and searching for ways to find savings.

A new percentage is set to be calculated for the municipality’s next budget meeting March 14, factoring in the various adjustments council made to the budget.

But Mayor Andrea Roberts said a low budget would not necessarily be correct for the municipality.

“A lot of the increase in our budget is related to climate change and to roads and to maintaining those roads,” Roberts said at the start of the meeting. “While it’s always nice to come in and propose a really low budget that will make everyone happy, we need to do what’s best for Dysart.”

Transportation services, the largest portion of the budget, is being increased by 10 per cent this year. Council opted at its Jan. 10 meeting to proceed with the largest road work package brought forward by staff, which includes over $1 million in roads construction.

Council also approved an approximately $1.26 million tender for 2019 road resurfacing during the Feb. 14 meeting.

Environmental Services fee upped

Council went forward with a four per cent increase to its environmental service fee, though indicated they would keep the rate the same for the rest of the term. The percentage ups the user fee from $613 to $638 per energy recovery unit.

Without any increase, the budget projected a $20,000 deficit in environmental services. Roberts noted the previous council had raised the fee by five per cent in 2015 but there’d been no increase in the intervening years.

Coun. Walt McKechnie said a two per cent increase would cover increased operating expenses, while another two per cent would allow for savings for future capital projects.

New condenser gets funding

Council unanimously passed a resolution to spend $84,000 for a new condenser at A.J. LaRue Arena in 2019.

In a staff report, manager of parks and recreation Andrew Wilbee said the current condenser is undersized for summer operation and requested a larger one be installed.

“Replacement of the condenser will reduce the wear on our equipment, reduce energy consumption and stress on the compressors, thus extending their life,” Wilbee said. “It has now become imminent to upgrade this portion of the system as the summer months have become warmer over the last few years.”

Arena improvement plan

After some debate, council supported earmarking $30,000 for development of a plan to improve the upstairs community room of A.J. LaRue Arena.

Recreation program co-ordinator Andrea Mueller said the space is in need of improvements.

“We’ve had to turn people away because it’s not accessible,” she said during the meeting. “The kitchen needs a major overhaul.”

Coun. Walt McKechnie said it would be difficult to find the money to fix the room even after a plan is developed.

“I’m all for trying to make it better for our community but we’ve got some big things on our plate and we don’t have any money right now,” he said.

But council opted in favour of keeping the money in the budget.

“This building has been in there a long time,” Coun. Nancy Wood-Roberts said. “But to truly make it a community centre, it has to be accessible.”

Dysart et al is introducing a new software system to help it identify which roads take priority for repairs and improvements.

The municipality’s new infrastructure committee discussed Decision Optimization Technology (DOT) during its inaugural meeting Feb. 7. The software will be used to evaluate the municipality’s roads, with engineers driving every road during the summer, according to director of public works Rob Camelon.

“It will give us a real good overview of where our network stands,” he said. “From there, we have to tell it where we want to be.”

The software is also meant to eventually replace the municipality’s roads needs study, which has been used to guide roads work since 2014. The six-year study is set to expire in 2020, Camelon said.

However, committee member and Coun. John Smith said the municipality has not kept pace with the recommended capital funding level set out in the 2014 road needs study. He said over the duration of the study, there has been a cumulative funding gap of about $1 million and the municipality needed to do more to communicate its intentions for roads.

“We either need to be candid with our property owners, our residents and say ‘sorry, we’re not going to get that done,’” Smith said. “Or we need to recognize there’s a backlog of work to be performed and we got to get the funding in to catch up.”

Committee chair Patrick Kennedy said not providing more funding to capital projects was a conscious decision to try to keep taxes down. But he added council would need to be transparent if the DOT software study recommends more funding than council is willing to provide.

“If the study comes up and says we need $1 million a year and council says ‘you know what, we can only afford $600,000 a year,’ we should be transparent about that,” Kennedy said.

Committee considers reserve funding

The infrastructure committee also considered putting money into the municipal budget for infrastructure and equipment reserves.

Camelon proposed $100,000 for an equipment reserve and $50,000 for an infrastructure reserve annually as a rough baseline for the discussion.

He said the reserves would be good to prepare for larger projects and will help the municipality have money on hand to push for grant applications.

“If we have something in an account, an infrastructure account, if we knew there was money coming down for shovel-ready projects, we can do up an RFP (request for proposal),” Camelon said. “Have it shovel ready in six months.”

Mayor Andrea Roberts said it would be a wise idea to start building up reserves, with parameters.

“The purpose of having an infrastructure committee is for that future planning,” Roberts said. “We need a safety net.”

Kennedy said the committee can make decisions on its reserve funding as it gets a better understanding of its current funding

For 10-year-old Atom hockey player Tavia Harris, participating in the all-girls M-Power Hockey summer camp in 2017 was a strong learning experience.

“That was around the time I just started playing hockey. We figured it would be a good experience for me,” Harris said. “It was really fun. We had a lot of ice time and it was just fun playing with a lot of different girls.”

The week-long camp was run by M-Power Hockey founder Mandy Cronin. The Toronto-based hockey school launched its first-ever overnight summer camp in Haliburton in 2017, renting Hockey Haven facilities and using Hockey Haven’s booked ice time at A.J. LaRue Arena.

Cronin said she was drawn to the locale due to its outdoor recreation. Besides hockey skills, the camp also sought to offer campers leadership development, Cronin said.

“I started this business so I could make sure all these young girls would have access to all of us females who now can play professional female hockey,” Cronin said. “A lot of lack of confidence in young girls. My goal is to have more of these camps where we can have young girls come and their mutual connection is hockey.”

The camp in Haliburton succeeded in 2017, Cronin said, attracting approximately 30 attendees.

“Everybody loved the camp, rave reviews, couldn’t wait for the next summer,” Cronin said.

But next summer never came for the camp.

Cronin said there was a split with Hockey Haven. Efforts to secure facilities and ice-time through Hockey Haven did not work out.

Hockey Haven owner Troy Binnie said M-Power wanted to run a camp program different from Hockey Haven’s. He said outside groups that use Hockey Haven’s camp facilities are expected to use its camp programming but can be independent with on-ice activity.

“I like Mandy, I have no problems with her, but I’m running a business,” Binnie said. “I’m also running a brand and our brand is Haliburton Hockey Haven.”

M-Power Hockey instead made arrangements to use Bark Lake Leadership and Conference Centre for camping in 2018.

However, when it came to ice-time at A.J. LaRue Arena, which Hockey Haven had booked for 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. throughout the summer, Binnie said he could not give the time up.

“We use the ice every day,” he said. “Our programs are running all day long … so I’m not going to give up my ice-time.”

Without Hockey Haven, Cronin reached out to Dysart et al to secure summer daytime ice. She said those efforts proved unsuccessful, due to Hockey Haven having daytime ice booked throughout July and August.

“Very disheartening that going all the way up the ranks in this municipality and nobody can negotiate to get us just two hours of ice a day for our girls,” Cronin said.

However, the municipality did offer evening ice-time. After weeks of back-and-forth, Cronin said she was provided with an evening ice slot, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Dysart et al Mayor Andrea Roberts said summer ice would not even be in place at A.J. LaRue Arena were it not for Hockey Haven’s usage. With respect to M-Power Hockey, Roberts noted they were offered some ice time.

“They were offered ice time last year and didn’t take it,” Roberts said in an email.

But Cronin said the evening ice slot was problematic as it would impact the camp’s night activities, as well as being difficult logistically due to the drive from Bark Lake.

Ultimately, Cronin said she had to cancel the 2018 camp due to how long the process took to secure the ice, with prospective campers already signing up for other camps.

Haliburton cottager Christine Jurusik sent two daughters to M-Power Hockey camp in 2017. She said they loved it and were devastated when they found out they could not go back in 2018.

She said girls sleepaway camp is an “entirely different experience” than a co-ed camp and can help teenage girls more easily be themselves.

“I’m saddened to think the people who make the decisions about appropriating ice-time wouldn’t reserve a portion of the ice-time exclusively for girls hockey,” Jurusik said. “Traditionally, girls hockey has taken a second seat to boys hockey with ice-time.”

Binnie said Hockey Haven attracts about 70 girls to its programs each year, offers female instructors and also has girls teams use its facilities. The camp reportedly had a growing enrolment of 650 campers total in 2016.

Binnie said Hockey Haven has not really considered a girls-only hockey camp program like M-Power Hockey ran in 2017.

“There’s a need for those (camps) that are just girls. We’re just not really set up for it,” Binnie said. “You shut down a week, then the boys don’t get to play … how would you do a good balance? The only way you can do a proper balance, I think, is to keep it co-ed and the options are open for anybody.”

Trying to get ice-time for summer 2019 has also proven difficult, Cronin said. She said she first asked the municipality about getting that ice in February 2019, without response, to try to avoid a repeat of 2018’s cancellation.

In an e-mailed comment, Roberts said because of their contract, Hockey Haven still had daytime summer ice booked.

When Cronin reached out to the municipality again in September 2019, she said she was told no ice was available – not even evening ice.

At a Sept. 24 council meeting, Dysart et al council voted to proceed with a new contract for Hockey Haven, which extended their ice-time to include both daytime and evenings in 2019.

Elizabeth Foote, Harris’s mother, said it is a struggle to get fair play for girls hockey in the County of Haliburton. She added ice-time should be allotted for M-Power Hockey’s camp.

“This is just disheartening in 2019,” Foote said. “We’re supposed to be beyond that. We’re supposed to include everybody.”

Residents of Highland Wood Long-Term Care Home were all relocated by Feb. 7 due to leaks in the facility from melting snow and ice.

In a Feb. 6 press release, Halliburton Highlands Health Service (HHHS) said due to the leaks, several Highland Wood residents were being relocated to other parts of the building and neighbouring long-term care facilities. In a follow-up press release Feb. 7, HHHS said all Highland Wood residents were being relocated after a detailed inspection of the roof.

HHHS president and chief executive officer Carolyn Plummer said the leaks in the facility have been extensive.

“In multiple areas, including hallways and resident rooms,” Plummer said in an email. “Our maintenance team has been working around the clock to divert water off the roof and to monitor leaks inside the building as the ice melts and the rain falls. Despite this, there is a risk for more leaks to occur. For this reason, it is no longer safe to keep residents in the facility.”

The roof of the building was scheduled to be repaired in the spring, Plummer said. It is too soon to know the cost of the repair, she further said.

A total of 28 residents in the facility have been relocated to other facilities in the northeast part of the Central East Local Health Integration Network, Plummer said. For privacy reasons, she said she could not provide more details on specific locations.

The Feb. 7 press release said the residents were being “relocated into facilities that will provide the same comfortable home environment that they experienced at Highland Wood.”

Plummer said in an email it is too soon to know what the root cause of the leaks was, but it is likely due to the snow and ice build-up melting with recent milder temperatures and rain.

It is also too soon to know when Highland Wood residents will be able to return, she said.

“We will be doing everything we can to have Highland Wood operational again as quickly as possible, Plummer said in an email.

There has been no relocation at the facility like this before, Plummer said.

She added there has been an outpouring of support from the community in response to the situation.

“Staff from across all departments of the organization, as well as many of our volunteers and the HHHS Foundation staff have stepped in to help out, and we’ve had support from the municipality, EMS, fire department, the team at Extendicare, and many others in the community who have reached out during our time of need,” Plummer said. “This is an incredibly caring and generous community, and I can’t even begin to express how thankful I am for everything that has been done to support us and our residents.”