Councillors in a testy mood
Posted Jul 29, 2010 By Jack Evans
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Tweet ThisEMC News - Belleville - Maybe it was the approaching municipal election, or maybe the toll of a summer heat wave, but despite a summer hiatus for a few weeks, members of Belleville City Council were quite testy at Monday's meeting.
Key sore points included purchase of four vehicles for the city's fire department and some parking bylaw changes.
The fire vehicle purchase was the second time around as council, earlier this year, turned down the fire chief's request for four motor vehicles because it was $2,500 over budget.
The new deal was for four half-ton trucks and based on tenders received, he arranged a deal with the local Peter Smith Chevrolet dealership for four new Silverado trucks at less than the budgeted figure, and they are 2011 models, he noted. Other bidders were for 2010 models.
Councillors Tom Lafferty and Egerton Boyce queried why the purchase went from sedans to trucks and questioned the fuel efficiency of the trucks.
Other members defended the recommendation on grounds that council had not made any request for certain types, but gave the chief a $90,000 budget. Since the purchase was less than that, there should be no problem. The recommendation passed on a deeply split 5 - 4 recorded vote.
Parking on East Hill streets in the area of the hospital remained a concern. One recommended bylaw change was for no parking on Chatham Street, either side, between Bridge and Queen streets.
Councillor Bob Dolan said that will simply move the problem one block north and called for a full city-wide review of the parking bylaw to resolve many lingering problems. His idea was to allow a maximum of three hours on-street parking anywhere in the city per day.
The original recommendation carried.
Councillor Jack Miller challenged a parking ban on both sides of recently reconstructed Harder Drive. The reply was that street is part of a new study to implement suitable bicycle lanes, also there remains a safety consideration for children using the school and Mary Ann Sills Park.
Miller also questioned some downtown sidewalk repairs and wondered if it is time to reconstruct entire blocks rather than spot sections.
Councillor Garnet Thompson questioned roof repairs on a building at the North Park Street parks department complex to make sure the building is still used.
Most other business as recommended passed without comment.
Council also received a presentation on new "Smart Meters" for electricity billing purposes. Terry Robertson, Veridian's Manager of Metering, said the meters are now installed on about 97 per cent of city homes and their use will encourage people to "change their lifestyle" to make more use of off-peak rates. Under current electrical costs, residents would pay only 5.3 cents per kilowatt hour for off-peak, eight cents for mid-peak and 9.9 cents for on-peak.
The new system is targeted to go into service this November with the first bills set for January, 2011.
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