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Lafleche moves ahead with waste transfer station
no waste would re m ain on-site and there would not be a drain in the building. While no agree m ents are m ade, King said the co m pan y has discussed taking m unici- pal solid waste with local m unicipalities. Garbage could be hauled to the transfer station, rather than directl y to Moose Creek. The facilit y would also take industrial, co m - m ercial and institutional (IC&I) and con- struction and de m olition (C&D) waste fro m areas including Ottawa. Lafleche later in- tends to add phase 2, for blue box rec y cling. The m ain concerns of the public regarded traffic. Several long haul (30-tonne) trucks, as well as 25 to 100 garbage trucks (six- tonne) would be entering the industrial park dail y on weekda y s. St-Guillau m e Road alread y has traffic congestion proble m s, es- peciall y during rush hours. The Ministr y of Transportation is conduct- ing a traffic stud y on the Rockdale -417 interchange and on the St-Guillau m e and Burton intersections.
CANDICE VETTER candice.vetter@eap.on.ca
VARS | Lafleche Environmental, a division of TransForce, which operates the landfill, composting and recycling facility near Moose Creek, held an open house No- vember 1 at Russell Township Hall to show plans for the proposed waste transfer sta- tion at the Vars Industrial Park. Lafleche proposes to build the transfer station on about 25 acres, just west of the current industrial park, on land purchased fro m the Township this y ear. Waste would be dropped there then trucked to Lafleche’s Moose Creek facilit y for either rec y cling, co m posting, or disposal in the landfill. Phase 1 of the project would be a large trucking y ard with a central building. Waste would be sorted indoors then hauled out again. Lafleche president Brian King said
Photo Candice Vetter
Maggie, the Harris Hawk, is shown with trainer Kyle Marleau at the Lafleche Environ- mental open house held at the Russell Township Hall November 1. Maggie is used to hunt seagulls and starlings at the Lafleche landfill, composting and recycling facility near Moose Creek. Lafleche is proposing a waste transfer station at the Vars Indus- trial Park in Russell Township.
Russell named in ombudsman’s latest report
Ontario Ombudman’s first report on “Sun- shine Law” investigations. The Cit y of Clarence-Rockland and Russell Township each had one paragraph dedi- cated to the m in the Open Meeting Law En- force m ent Tea m (OMLET) report released to news m edia and the public on Oct. 30. The focus of the report is on violations of On- tario’s “Sunshine Law”, the provincial stat- ute that concerns public co m plaints about secret m eetings or discussions b y councils or council m e m bers that break the rules in the Municipal Act about topics that m a y be talked about in-ca m era, or behind closed doors, and those which m ust be debated and discussed during an open public m eet- ing. O m buds m an André Marin noted in his re- port that m ost m unicipal councils in Ontar- io follow the rules of the Municipal Act ver y well. But others, he noted, have proble m s either because so m e council m e m bers do not understand the legal restrictions that appl y to in-ca m era m eetings or out of con- te m pt for both the rules and the role of the O m buds m an’s Office. “So m e (councils) are shockingl y secretive, suspicious and resentful of the ver y idea the y can be investigated,” Marin stated in his report. “And m an y are well-intentioned but baffled b y the co m plexit y of the law.” The O m buds m an’s office is sending out infor m ation packages on the Municipal
Acts’s rules for procedure for in-ca m era sessions and also the authorit y of the O m - buds m an’s Office to investigate co m plaints under the Sunshine Act. At present the O m - buds m an’s Office is li m ited to investigating co m plaints and m aking reco mm endations to councils regarding violations. “As O m buds m an, my interest is the pub- lic interest, ensuring that m unicipalities respect the law,” Marin stated. “Municipal officials m ust understand that the inves- tigation of public co m plaints about their m eetings is part of the responsibilit y that co m es with their positions in local govern- m ent.” In so m e A m erican states there are pen- alties for council m e m bers who violate in- ca m era rules of procedure, ranging fro m fines to jail sentences. In Ontario , the o m - buds m an has no authorit y to lev y penalties for Sunshine Law violations. Since the Sunshine Law was passed in 2008, Marin and his staff have investigated m ore than 300 co m plaints about violations. During the y ear covered b y the first OMLET report, the O m buds m an’s Office investigat- ed 45 co m plaints, including several about Clarence-Rockland council, one about Rus- sell Township, and one about the United Counties of Prescott-Russell council (UCPR). The Clarence-Rockland case su mm arized in the report concerns “a series of infor m al m eetings involving four of nine council
m e m bers in Dece m ber 2010 that attracted a lot of public speculation.” The OMLET in- vestigation deter m ined that the council m e m bers involved “were seeking infor m a- tion that would undoubtedl y influence future decision- m aking, and violated the spirit of the open m eeting provisions.” Another co m plaint concerned discussion about “poor qualit y client services” during a Ma y 2011 in-ca m era session that did not fall within the Municipal Act guidelines for a closed-door topic. One other co m plaint concerned an in-ca m era session in June 2011 during which several ite m s were add- ed to the agenda at the last m inute for dis- cussion. “OMLET advised council that m atters should not be discussed in these circu m - stances unless the y are urgent,” stated the report, “and called on council to a m end its procedure b y -law to require a for m al resolution before a new ite m is added to a m eeting agenda.” Russell Township’s m inor variance co m - m ittee ca m e under OMLET review following a co m plaint about notices of its m eetings. The OMLET report noted that because of its m akeup, the m inor variance co mm ittee is a local board that is also subject to the Mu- nicipal Act rules about in-ca m era sessions. The O m buds m an’s Office reco mm ended that township council pass a procedures b y law to provide public notice about board of variance m eetings.
GREGG CHAMBERLAIN gregg.chamberlain@eap.on.ca
TORONTO | Two municipalities in Prescott- Russell received special mention in the
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