Category Archives: Uncategorized

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Dentist to arrive in Westport by mid-July

As you are aware, we have been looking to recruit a dentist to the Village for the past year.  I just had a pleasant chat with the doctor who is setting up his practice at 41 Main St.

Dr Zulfar Moledina, a dental surgeon, with a large practice in Kanata can’t wait to work in our beautiful community. He hopes to open the doors by mid-July.  Dr Moledina was happy for me to share his bio with you (below).
This is great news!!!!!

Dr. Zulfar Moledina DDS

In 1989, I graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Doctor of Dental Surgery degree (D.D.S).

For over 27 years, I have been in practice in the Ottawa/Kanata area.  I am a long standing member of the following associations:  Ottawa Dental Society, Ontario Dental Association and the Canadian Dental Association.

I enjoy all aspects of Dentistry: however Orthodontics, Implants and Cosmetic Dentistry allow me to be creative and the results are very rewarding.

Outside of the office I enjoy traveling, golf, fitness programs, hiking and cycling.

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Confusion about financing the rehabilitation of the waste water treatment plant…

At the May 5 Westport Council mtg, the different grant options available from both the federal and provincial governments to finance the infrastructure work at the waste water treatment plant were discussed.  The consultants expect that an additional $2M will be necessary to finish the work in 2017.  Three different grant options were discussed by Council.  The successful applicants for the government(s)’s grants will receive either 50% (federal green infrastructure grant) , 66% (federal/provincial small communities fund grant – the availability of this grant is now in question) or 90% (provincial – ontario community infrastructure grant).  The timing of when these grants will be available is not known, but on May 5 we had reason to believe that the small communities fund was imminent.  Council needed to make a strategic decision on which grant to apply for – as a successful application on one makes the same applicant ineligible for another infrastructure grant.

To give Councillors some perspective on what the impact would be of each grant, the tax roll was used.  Calculations were provided on $2M (no grant), $1M (50% grant), $330K (66% grant), $200K (90% grant) loans over 25 years.  A motion was passed on grant applications.

The confusion has come about as a result of using the tax roll instead of the water and wastewater ratepayer list.  For this confusion, I apologize.

I want to be clear that no decision has been made nor has the discussion occurred at Council on whether the portion not covered by government grant would be added to the tax roll or water and waste water bills.  At some point, Council will have the debate and make a decision.  On May 5, the decision was limited to which grant applications to apply for.

Your input is important.  Please contact a councillor of your choice or myself at 273-9195 to share your concerns.

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Update – from the PORT to the FORT

I have heard from many of you asking how much we raised for FORT MAC yesterday? The street teams were out in force, the silent auction had 85 donations!, there was a steady line up of people lined up wanting to make donations directly to the Canadian Red Cross and other ways people gave.  I know that there is still money coming in from other initiatives that occurred yesterday, so you will need to wait for the final amount.  I can tell you that when I left the event at 10:00 last night, the amount was over $18,000.  WOW! WOW! WOW!  So stand by for the final amount, which will be doubled by the federal government.  Well done everyone and thank you.  You do it with PRIDE in our village, our community and our country!

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UPDATE – Garbage Bags to Garbage Tags

At last night’s Council meeting the decision was made that, effective July 1, the large Westport garbage bags will no longer be available.  Garbage tags will be used on large clear garbage bags after that date.  You can continue to use large Westport garbage bags, if you have them after July 1, without attaching a tag.  Small Westport garbage bags will be available until 2018.  We are in discussions with three downtown Westport businesses and expect to announce in the next few days where the tags will be available for purchase after July 1.

So the good news is that we listened to your complaints to get rid of the garbage bags and to find locations with convenient operating hours where garbage tags could be purchased.  However, there is a price increase for the tags – they will cost $2.50 each.  I suspect some of you might wonder how changing to tags would result in a price increase, so here is some information that will help explain.
Our auditor strongly recommended that when we design/produce the tags, they be numbered sequentially.  This adds significantly to the cost of a tag – an additional 28%. We also heard from many people that we need to source out a tag that will stick to the bag, and not provide flimsy tags that come apart when applying them to the bags.  Thirdly, the garbage tags for the Township of Rideau Lakes are for sale in the Village for $2.50.  The Village needs to provide a similar priced product to avoid confusion at point of sale or the possibility of a lesser priced Westport tag being placed on a township garbage bag, which will either cause confusion in Portland or increase the cost of our garbage pick up.  Finally, the business owners need a small amount of compensation for selling Village garbage tags.
The Village will be putting out more detailed information in the next few weeks, however I wanted to update you on this decision of Council made at last night’s meeting.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact the Councillor of your choice or me @ 273-9195.