Staff told Algonquin Highlands councillors Nov. 26 they need some help for 2021 in the form of some new hires.

The additions were just one part of the annual, pre-budget, projects and priorities discussion.

CAO Angie Bird said despite COVID, which created logistical and financial challenges, the township was able to complete many planned projects in 2020. However, she said as Mayor Carol Moffatt often says, the community is changing, even more so with the pandemic. She said staff are mindful of those changes and are planning accordingly.

“We continually strive to find efficiencies while providing the best possible service to the public. But we are now at a point where that is not sustainable for the long-term. Additional staff are needed in a variety of different areas to support the increasing workloads,” Bird said.

Some of the staffing requests included a communication coordinator on a contract basis. Treasurer Jean Hughes said the person would do website upgrades including modernizing it for fillable forms and online payment options.

Building and bylaw’s David Rogers is asking for an increase in hours for himself and the deputy chief building official to 40 hours during the busy summer months. They currently work 35 each.

Parks, recreation and trails’ Chris Card has asked for an increase in trails-related staffing and training to accommodate the continued jump in user attendance. He would like one new seasonal trails technician/by-law officer position added. While presenting his report, Card said “we’re now well over 150 per cent higher in attendance in all of our areas with the same staff base that we had back in 2006.”

And director of public works, Adam Thorn, said his department is also stretched. He said they currently hire one seasonal roads operator annually from May to November, but he’s proposing to hire two seasonal operators for annual operations. He said when poor winter weather comes, it is not unusual for staff to work 14-16 days in a row. He said in 2018, staff worked 27 days out of 31 in December.

No dollar figures were attached to the staffing asks but will be presented during 2021 budget talks.

Some other key projects discussed at the meeting included a basement renovation at the municipal office to create three new offices and a new columbarium for cremations. Planning is looking to do a development charges study and bylaw in conjunction with the County and further examine short-term rental regulations. Building and bylaw hopes to complete year three and four of its septic re-inspection program and buy two tablets and software to modernize permitting. Parks, recreation and trails wants to update signage at the Frost Centre trails, campsites, put up swings at the Oxtongue Lake Community Centre, implement better software for water trails reservations, install new lightning protection at the Dorset Tower, possibly replace the peekaboo rock stairs with landscaping, do work at the Skin Lake landing, possibly buy a mobile event stage, and replace a snowmobile and canoe. Public works hopes to do reconstruction on North Shore Road and do work on Bear Lake bridge, the Buckslide Dam bridge and possibly St Peters bridge. It’s looking to purchase three trucks. Thorn also wants to complete a lift for Stanhope library, among numerous other projects at community centres and museums, the airport and landfills. The full lists of projects and priorities can be found on the council agenda for Nov. 26.

Minden Hills Coun. Bob Carter, at a Nov. 26 council meeting, was critical of the local health unit’s response to a recent blue-green algae bloom on Bob Lake.

CAO Trisha McKibbin said the bloom was recently detected by a property owner. That person alerted the Ministry of the Environment Conservation and Parks. The MOECP inspected and took samples. It took about a week for results to come back. The MOECP then contacted the individual, the lake association, the township and the local health unit. At that point, McKibbin said the municipality reached out to the health unit to find out what it should be doing next in terms of communicating the results to the public. She said she was advised there is information on the health unit website, and the health unit directs the public there. She said by then, the bloom had dissipated and the test results determined it was small and isolated with a very low detection limit.

Blue-green algae blooms were also discussed at the Nov. 25 County council meeting, where health unit board representative Andrea Roberts said the health unit’s job “is to show what it looks like and what you should do if you see it. The health unit is doing what they’re supposed to be doing in terms of warning what blue-green algae looks like, what to do if you see it. But it isn’t their responsibility to then contact Mrs.Johnson in Grass Lake to tell her she has it near her property.”

Carter said he thinks health units should do more since blooms are dangerous to animals and humans.

“When we have a bloom, we get the MOECP involved. It takes them a week or so to do the testing after they arrive. And then what do we do once we get that information? There’s now a bloom. If that bloom is on Kashagawigamog, we have about 1,000 or so people that we should notify because there’s an awful lot of people who are living on the lake and rivers, who are taking their water directly from those lakes and rivers and not taking them from wells. And it’s not enough the health unit would send you something if you asked for it. Who’s going to tell the people and how? What is the communication process by which people are going to be notified and then who is responsible for it because if we’re talking death … there’s probably something here that should be codified and put into a process that can alert people,” Carter said.

At County council, it was determined that a delegation will be made to the MOECP at The Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference. Carter said it should go to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLT), however Mayor Brent Devolin said they only get one delegation and the MOECP is the overarching authority for the chain of response.

Devolin said, “I think it’s about responsibility so when these things happen in our community, from individuals to municipalities, to the provincial government, we all have a role to play in this and need clarification on who is responsible in these matters.”

He added the situation reaffirms for him that the County is doing things within its control for lake health, such as the shoreline preservation bylaw and septic re-inspections.

What other County councillors had to say:

• Warden Liz Danielsen: “Health units aren’t consistent in their treatment of this. There are some health units that do communicating to the public and some that don’t … I’m just afraid someone is going to consume too much green algae bloom and sue the municipality for not letting them know there’s a problem. It’s pretty hard to deal with something if they don’t know there is a problem.”

• Coun. Carol Moffatt: “Fully understand the desire of privacy and secrecy in preventing any effect on property values. But I would like to think preservation of life trumps that … Municipalities represent all taxpayers. That’s what I can’t quite reconcile. The right to know versus the need to know, who delivers the message. It’s a little bit more complicated than one might originally have thought.”

MP Jamie Schmale criticized Health Canada for being slow in approving COVID-19 tests when he spoke at the Haliburton Highlands Outdoors Association annual general meeting Nov. 22.

At the in-person AGM at the fish hatchery, Schmale said in his opinion, Health Canada could be more “vigilant and responsive” when it comes to approvals.

“Where I think Health Canada has a role, as we move forward, is rapid testing. Health Canada, in my opinion, has been a little slow in terms of approving some of these tests,” Schmale said.

He said a number of new tests have been approved in the United States and the European Union, adding experts say the EU is the gold standard. However, he said the same tests have been waiting for the green light by the Government of Canada.

Schmale said one test he has personally witnessed takes about three minutes to determine whether someone has COVID, does not, or has ever had the virus and now has antibodies. He said it is similar to a diabetes prick test that presents a small droplet of blood for analysis.

“So, it’s pretty amazing. Three minutes,” Schmale said.

He said with rising numbers across the globe and some Canadian cities going back into lockdown, rapid testing is key.

“Because I can test myself almost daily, and people can take themselves out of circulation. Right now, you could go days without actually knowing you have it. You could be infecting people all along the way.”

Preparing for Christmas, he said families and friends could know within three minutes whether anyone has COVID. He added when it comes to frontline workers in long-term care homes, they could also test themselves before every shift and have an answer within three minutes, thus limiting exposure to vulnerable seniors.

Schmale also touched on vaccines, saying he knows of three that are currently showing good signs of battling the virus with people of all ages. He noted that some require extreme cold so may be more problematic to store and disseminate. He said others are not requiring such extreme storage conditions. Schmale said the news is “encouraging, and will hopefully get us back.”

He added for those who are concerned about being vaccinated, rapid testing remains an important part of the process.

Schmale also briefly touched on his new role in the Opposition Conservative government, that of Shadow Minister for Families, Children and Social Development. He also discussed his Save the Walleye project.

Referendum on MAID

Schmale is also asking constituents to vote on Bill C-7: the Medical Assistance in Dying Act (MAID). Bill C-7 proposes amendments, as MAID is already legal Schmale has committed to voting based on constituent response. County residents are receiving information in the mail and Schmale expects Third Reading before the end of December.