Economics of Eco-Passages

In front of Council next week, the Long Point Causeway Phase II Wildlife Culvert Project will be seeking approval for 3 additional Eco-passages on Long Point.  The County is acting as a liaison for the design and construction and has not allocated any funds to this project.

Even with such a minimal role in this project, County Staff still managed to draw the ire of Nick Wilson, President, Long Point Biosphere Reserve Foundation.  Hopefully Councilors read enough of the report to find this paragraph :

"Council should be aware that we will not be providing any funding for the proposed
guardrails and anti-fishing fencing at the existing aquatic culvert that were included
in the low bid, These items were inserted in the tender by County staff without our
consent even though we were paying for the preparation of the tender documents
by the consulting engineers. The LPWBRF does not agree that these costly items
are needed to prevent people from fishing at the culvert and does not have any
funding available for such work under its current funding agreements with the
federal and provincial governments."

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

A concerned Citizen recently sent us a copy of a very disconcerting document which we are now releasing to the public for the very first time.

This is a purchase agreement between the financially struggling Long Point Region Conservation Authority and The Nature Conservancy of Canada whereby a 45.2 acre parcel is sold.

The purchase price is $0 but the 2 parties swap a $2 bill and The Nature Conservancy of Canada agrees to 'donate' $360,000 to the Long Point Region Conservation Authority.

A Short Reprieve for Tax Payers

With Norfolk County Council on summer holidays for the past month the Citizen's have had a reprieve of their pocketbooks.  Much like how kids feel about summer, it went by far too quickly and Council entered the doom room last Tuesday.

As per usual Council started with their top secret closed door meeting and second up was an item on the agenda that just seemed to magically appear.  With a reference to a mysterious staff report CSD 14.22 which we were unable to find and does not appear on the agenda, the County rented out 10 acres of land beside the Norfolk County Soccer Park to a farm company for the purpose of growing ginseng.  With prime ginseng land now commanding $900 per acre you can likely bet the County settled for much less.

Not surprisingly another item on the agenda was yet another budget amendment.  We would have liked to have seen a tender for Public Works who desperately needs a different dart board so they can have a better quoting system.  A Port Dover water main replacement project just jumped up another $450,000.  As per usual Engineering fees came in rounded to the nearest $1000 with the total cost for them being $147,000.