Tag Archives: communication

The Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF3) grants are due Friday, October 21. The Village is requesting the maximum amount of $2 million – of which 90% will be grant. I believe that our application is very strong. We are adding an updated Asset Management Plan, which has become a significant component to these applications over the past 12 months.

I have been asked several times over the past few months what you, the residents and business owners, can do to help support our application. At a recent Committee of the Whole meeting, I agreed with the request to provide a sample outline of a letter to the Minister of Infrastructure that could be included in our submission.

If you wish to send correspondence or speak directly to Minister Chiarelli, here is his email and toll free telephone number.

bob.chiarelli@ontario.ca Toll-free: 1-800-268-7095

For anyone who wants to have a letter included in our submission, you can drop it off at Town Hall or send directly to nbressee@villageofwestport.ca. Below is a suggestion only.

The Honourable Bob Chiarelli, Minister of Infrastructure

900 Bay Street, 5th Floor, Mowat Block

Toronto, Ontario, M7A 2E1

Dear Minister Chiarelli

I am a resident or business owner (check one) in the Village of Westport. Our municipal waste water treatment plant has been the subject of a Class C – Municipal Environmental Assessment, received support from the MOECC to proceed with the approved alternate solution and recently was given approval by Municipal Council after reaching the 70% completion stage of the detailed design.

The existing system is called Snowfluent, which treats effluent by turning it into snow. Well, that is how it is supposed to work. For a variety of reasons, it has not worked very well for the past several years. Since 2014, the village has found it necessary to haul effluent to another treatment facility – approximately $800,000 worth of haulage – instead of dumping the waste into Upper Rideau Lake.

We are a small community of under 700 full time residents and need your help for the proposed rehabilitation of the waste water treatment plant, which will remove the public safety concerns and the moratorium on new builds and allow my village to grow.

Please support our OCIF3 application. Our community is depending on you.

Yours truly,

Uncategorized

You Spoke, We Listened

August 3, 2016 robinthemayor

On February 3, 2015, the Council of Westport held a Budget Town Hall meeting to hear your concerns. The following concerns were introduced by members of the public:

By-law enforcement
Litter barrel pickup during the summer season
Garbage bags instead of garbage tags
Speeding on Main St and Rideau St
Recycling, including costs and eligible items for recycling
Plans for the paving of Bedford Street

Now, 18 months later, I can report that Council has acted on your concerns.

We have hired a by-law enforcement officer
Routine litter barrel pickup has been increased during the summer months
We have gone to garbage tags for large garbage bags. There is still a large inventory of small garbage bags
A new 4-way stop was put in place at the corner of Bedford and Main St
The recycling program for the Village of Westport is driven by the Township of Rideau Lakes, as we use its services. We will continue to encourage the Township to widen the eligible items for recycling
We have been unsuccessful in our grant applications to pave Bedford St. The cost is approx $1.5 million and we will continue to keep this issue on our radar and apply for grants as they become available

Please continue to keep Council informed on your concerns and suggestions. This is our Village, your Village.

News

Six Month Update

July 7, 2015 Admin

It has been 6 months since the new Council began its term and I was sworn in as your Mayor. The new Committees of Council were established in February and by March meetings were taking place. Many residents of Westport are members of the committees and I expect amazing things to occur with their valued input and efforts. The Committee of the Whole is a new monthly meeting of Council, a little less formal than Council meetings and is generally the 4th Tuesday and yes, it is open to the public.

Westport Snowfluent Waste Water Treatment Plant

In regard to the waste water plant, I am happy to report that we did not need to transport any effluent this year. Although we had a winter of freezing nozzles and pipe breaks, we processed enough effluent that our lagoon levels were lower this spring than in 2014. We monitored the lagoon levels daily and had a contingency plan in place to transport effluent if the lagoon levels rose beyond predetermined levels during the winter. We are in the process of getting the summer application equipment set up and will be operating under a Ministry of the Environment Emergency Order again this year to lower the lagoons to where they need to be for next winter.

Follow me on Twitter or find me on Facebook for real-time updates and announcements of meetings and all things Westport.

The Village is also moving forward in providing a climate-proof, dependable waste water system and one that will allow growth for the Village. The first step is a process called a Municipal Environment Assessment (MEA). This is a prescriptive process, which is led by an Engineering firm with the assistance of a technical steering committee, which includes several Village residents. The Project Coordinator reports to Council on the progress of the MEA at each Council meeting this year. Please consider joining us at Council meetings to hear what is being proposed.

Council worked with a consultant this winter and spring to develop a Village Strategic Plan, a first for Westport. Many members of the business community and public were interviewed by the consultant for their input. A strategic plan helps Council prioritize its goals in line with the budget. The final plan will be shared with Council at the Committee of the Whole meeting on June 23 at 7:00 p.m.

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Winter turned into spring slowly this year so our “Pulling Together in Westport” spring clean up was held on Saturday, May 9th. Over 40 community members volunteered their time, effort and rakes to get the Village ready for the May long week-end and summer. Thank you to everyone who helped out. Watch for this to repeat in 2016.

Recently, village residents Bob Scott and Mark Herlehy approached me with a proposal to help the arena. They had done a review of repairs and improvements that need to be done. The “wish list” was well thought out, however as the Village has many other pressures, there is only a small amount of money set aside in the budget for repairs to the community centre. And this is when Bob and Mark offered their suggestion, which I accepted!

Those now using the facility or who have fond memories of time spent on the ice or in the stands might consider becoming a “Friend of the Arena” by making a donation. Donations made to the Village of Westport for arena improvements qualify as gifts for income tax purposes and the Village would issue receipts. All donations will only be used for this purpose. For further information contact Mark Herlehy at mherlehy@rideau.net. or Frank Huth at fhuth@villageofwestport.ca.

I hope you enjoy a long, hot summer and that you spend time with loved ones. As always, if you have any questions, please contact a Councillor or myself.