Brighton Councillors John Martinello (centre) and Roger McMurray (right) raise their hands to speak at the regular council meeting on September 19, 2016. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)
Council meetings could be web-streamed
It may be a lot easier to take in Brighton Council meetings soon.
A notice of motion was put forward by Councillors John Martinello and Roger McMurray, who say they would like to see the report in front of them by November 7 on starting live internet streams of regular meetings.
Councillor Martinello tells Quinte News one of the biggest reasons for proposing the idea, is improving accessibility for residents.
Meanwhile, Mayor Mark Walas thinks it was a great idea and could alleviate some residents’ concerns about how councillors are interacting.
Currently, Belleville, Quinte West, Prince Edward County and Cobourg are all streaming their council meetings.
If the motion ends up going through, any equipment and work costs would be added to the 2017 budget.
Cooey Metals property comes up again
Brighton staff is asking the Ministry of Environment to come to town and give an update on the Cooey Metals property.
The property on Prince Edward Street has been contaminated with environmental waste and is affecting development and business opportunities in the area.
Councillors John Martinello and Roger McMurray have put forward a motion, inviting the public appear at a public meeting and let people know what is going on with the property and what a clean-up plan might look like.
Council approves pair of work contracts
Brighton Council has given the OK for a Mississauga company to study the municipality’s water and wastewater rates.
Watson and Associates Economists Limited was the selected candidate, at a cost of $27,600, far below the $40,000 council had budgeted for the work.
The bid was in the middle of the pack of six received.
The last water and wastewater rate study was done in 2011 and the town is mandated by the province to do a new study, to cover the next six years.
Director of Finance Linda Widdifield says Watson and Associates was chosen because of their breadth of experience, qualifications and public consultation process.
Brighton Council also went with the cheapest of three bids, to do drainage work on Chapel Street.
QBT Excavating Limited will do the work at a cost of just under $25,000 plus HST.
Update made to Brighton’s reserve policy
The town of Brighton is making a change to its reserve policy.
Council has decided to allow staff to transfer any extra funds from the sale of surplus equipment, straight into departmental reserves.
Until now, staff had to bring a report back to council requesting to move those funds and Director of Finance Linda Widdifield says this move will make life a lot easier.
The reserve policy had last been updated in November of 2009.
Calls for fire services up in August 2016
There were more calls for service to the Brighton Fire Department in August of this year, compared to the same month last year.
Firefighters were called out to 37 incidents last month, compared to 24 in August of 2015.
Eleven of those calls came in the urban area, south of the railway tracks and crews were delayed by trains three times, but with no severe consequences.
The majority of the calls last month were false alarms, or no-loss outdoor fires.
There were only two severe fires in the municipality last month, with damages totalling $55,000.
You can see the full August 2016 fire department report below:
