Had to attend to some other business so only attended the first hour of the January 16th Council meeting. A portion of that hour was taken up with a presentation looking to raise funds to purchase at CT scanner for Bancroft hospital. Hopefully that effort is successful in the long run. Other items on the agenda were preparations for the upcoming AMO conference and an in-depth dig into the 2022-23 budget for explanations into why some things were "off the mark." One good bit of news is that it looks like the province will reimburse the municipality for about 93% of the additional expenses incurred as a result of the May windstorm.
Mayor Kim is taking over as the Crowe Valley rep for the municipality as she wants to make sure that residents complaints about the CVCA are dealt with to her satisfaction. To add insult to injury, the CVCA will be looking for something like a 30% increase in their levy to the municipality in 2023. It seems about every 3rd or 4th year they have these huge increases, while service gets worse. Political commentary here: Conservation Authorities either need to be properly funded by the province, or they need to be eliminated. Their lands could become part of Ontario Parks and their flood control mandate should be shifted to the various planning departments which did not exist years ago, but now serve the same, and redundant, purpose.
For those driving between the US and Canada, the trip seems to be pretty much back to normal. Several recent crossings both at the 1000 Islands and the Windsor tunnel have gone quickly.
Internet service on the lake has been handed off to Northern Rural Net. There are a few alternatives. There is a company called MapleWiFi that is offering unlimited cellular data packages that can be turned on and off on a monthly basis. Nice for seasonal use. After a lot of "site searching" I had success in installing a Starlink dish. Got it to have 98% up time. Gives around 250Mbps down and 10Mbps up. It does need a tree free view to the north. The municipality installed Starlink at their office and they are loving it too.
The Limerick chain of lakes are in fisheries zone 15. Bass season is scheduled to open June 24, 2023, and closes on November 30. Lake trout season will open for ice fishing on January 1, 2023. Limerick is a SINGLE line for ice fishing lake.
