by Shaun McLaughlin
Residents have packed the Council chambers for our last two meetings, July 29 and August 12. There are at least four good reasons to attend the September 2 meeting. We have just three meetings remaining before the election: September 2 and 16, and October 7.
For the Council portion on September 2, the consent agenda includes a motion presented on August 12. It calls on Council to formally withdraw any implied support for the Enerdu generating station expansion.
The Committee of the Whole (CoW) portion of the meeting includes the following:
Microbrewery
A public meeting under the Planning Act will give residents a glimpse of the proposed Cartwright Springs microbrewery in rural Pakenham. A quality craft brewery, as proposed by Andre Jean Rieux, is exactly the type of imaginative and sustainable industry that improves Mississippi Mills. It helps attract even more artisan food businesses, such as last year’s widely acclaimed Hummingbird Chocolate and the artisan-supporting Dandelion Foods grocery store.
Note: From a good source, I heard another microbrewery is proposed for Ramsay.
Heritage
The CoW will debate the new by-law to restrict major construction and demolition in Almonte’s heritage district for up to one year. One councillor has already suggested he will ask to delay it. (If passed, it will appear on the September 16 Council agenda for final approval.)
Wetlands
The CoW agenda includes a new motion I suggested to support the recent report on saving the Appleton Wetlands by Al Seaman, Joachim Moenig, Mike O’Malley, Howard Robinson and others from the Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists (MVFN) and Riverwatchers. It calls on staff to arrange a meeting of Town Councillors with the new Ontario Resources Minister, Bill Mauro, to ask him to open the water management plan for the Mississippi River upstream from Almonte. That could lead to a lowering of the maximum allowable water level.
In December 2013, several of us on Council met with David Orazietti, then the province’s Resources Minister, and his staff in Queen’s Park. We presented preliminary scientific research from the MVFN. We requested that his ministry open the water management plan. The minister turned down the request but said he’d reconsider when the MVFN completed its final report. So, this new motion aims to take advantage of the small opening Mr. Orazietti gave us last year.
Any meeting with the minister will likely occur after the October election. It would give me great pleasure to lead the group as mayor.
