SHARBOT LAKE. Central Frontenac's chief building official told the township's septic committee on June 18, 2025 that "since 2023, 3% of issues have been corrected" under the township's mandatory septic re-inspection program. The figure appears in the committee's own minutes, attributed to Andy Dillon. The minutes do not define which problems that figure counts. It is consistent with what the committee's minutes have shown for seven years: the program finds failing systems, and the township has largely not been able to make owners fix them.
The program is mandatory. Council created it through By-Law 2018-49, passed October 9, 2018, and the by-law's current Schedule "B" states that "all sewage systems in the Township of Central Frontenac are subject to the Mandatory Septic Re-inspection Program." The by-law grounds the program in the Building Code Act and the Municipal Act. The program bills owners and writes orders for what it finds. In October 2023, Dillon told the committee that "86% of 2022 issues have not been started" and that he did "not have the time to continue with the enforcement of these issues," according to that meeting's draft minutes. By June 2025, the corrected share since 2023 stood at three per cent. The program exists to keep failing systems from leaching into lakes such as Sharbot Lake, Crow and Eagle, and by the committee's own numbers most of the fixes it orders go uncompleted.
What the inspections find
The inspections have turned up problems in every season on record. In the program's first full season, Eric Kohlsmith of the Mississippi-Rideau Septic System Office (MRSSO) inspected 191 systems on 185 properties; 108 had no issues, 62 required remedial work, and 19 required full replacement, according to the December 9, 2019 committee minutes, which are marked draft. Reviewing the 2022 report in March 2023, then-chair Susan Irwin noted that while 45 per cent had no problems, "50% did have issues," and 36 per cent were flagged with issues, according to that meeting's minutes. The 2024 season produced 282 inspections across 270 properties and turned up 101 with minor issues and 32 needing replacement, the June 2025 minutes record. In 2025, the program logged 96 inspections, with about 37 per cent needing remedial work, 15 per cent replacement and 48 per cent compliant, according to the committee's April 8, 2026 minutes, which are marked draft.
In April 2024 the committee was told that of 44 replacement orders from 2022 and 2023, 12 had been replaced and 32 remained open, and that of eight 2024 replacement orders, none had been completed, according to that meeting's draft minutes. Dillon told that meeting his department "does not have the resources to be involved with the reinspection program," and that 99 per cent of the outstanding orders were for grey-water pits and outhouses rather than failing septic tanks, with some owners "not interested in correcting the issues." Building inspector Crystal Nedow told the June 2025 meeting that every Class 4 system with major issues found the year before had been replaced or was scheduled for replacement. The June 2025 minutes also note that "limited data is currently being entered due to staffing constraints," and that the 2025 season was cut to a target of 100 inspections, down from the 300 a year the by-law calls for, because the township could not resource more.
What it costs the owner
Owners pay for the program. The inspection fee is $125, adopted by By-Law 2026-17 on April 14, 2026, which raised it from $100 and amended Schedule "B" to set it. The fee is invoiced after inspection, and an unpaid fee is added to the tax bill within 30 days. There is also an annual administration fee the township pays MRSSO, cited in the committee record at $1,500 to $1,800. When an owner does not comply, the next step is an order to comply, which the June 6, 2023 minutes describe as a $600 charge added to the tax bill. The committee record is not consistent on that figure: the March 20, 2023 minutes put it at $650, the June 6 and October 3, 2023 minutes at $600. The order-to-comply charge does not appear in the by-law's Schedule "B," which carries only the inspection fee. By April 2026 the township had a draft Sewage System Standards By-law out for public comment, which its minutes describe as adding Administrative Monetary Penalties to enforce the existing standards rather than change them.
In March 2023, Dillon recommended dropping the inspection fee and funding the program from the tax levy, saying a mandatory program needs real staffing to work. The recommendation was not adopted, and council raised the fee to $125 in April 2026.
Seven years, one office
The same office has done the inspection work since the program began, because the by-law designates it. By-Law 2018-49 appointed "the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, through its Mississippi-Rideau Valley Septic System Office," and the current Schedule "B" keeps that designation. Having a conservation authority deliver septic inspections is a common and lawful municipal arrangement, and nothing in the committee record shows a procurement rule was breached. For more than seven years the township kept the single designated provider without testing the market, even after a committee member proposed it. In November 2021, Dillon "suggested putting out an RFQ" for the inspection and data work, according to that meeting's minutes; no request for quotations appears in any later committee minute on file, and the June 18, 2025 minutes record a motion re-hiring the office outright, with no competitive language.
At its April 8, 2026 meeting, the committee weighed a proposal from a private firm, Envision Consultants, to take over the program. Envision said it would do so only at 600 to 700 inspections a year for about $200,000, enforcement included. The committee set that against keeping the work with the conservation authority or bringing it in-house, and asked staff to prepare a cost comparison. Its draft minutes record the 2025 program cost about $23,314, the 2026 budget about $89,530, and no recommendation yet to council.
The minutes also record one committee member repeatedly raising his own software. Community member Art Dunham disclosed at the March 20 and June 6, 2023 meetings that he holds an ownership interest in Vitalvolunteers Inc., which the minutes describe as a cloud-based program for online data, reporting and payment. At the April 24, 2024 and June 18, 2025 meetings the pecuniary-interest item recorded "None declared," though at both Dunham brought software to the committee: the April 2024 minutes show him circulating how-to videos for a program he "created/manages," and the June 2025 minutes show him offering to help township IT with bulk data uploads. Deputy clerk Jody Legue cautioned in June 2025 that touching the live system would require a confidentiality agreement given the personal information it holds. The minutes record that Central Frontenac "does not currently use this program."
The mandate in practice
Central Frontenac's by-law has compelled every system into the program and billed every owner since 2018. By the committee's own minutes, the inspections find failing systems and the orders get written, but most go uncompleted for years, and the yearly inspection count has shrunk for lack of staff.
North Frontenac is moving toward a similar mandate, and toward the same office. Its program has been voluntary since 2005, with thin uptake: 53 inspections out of 540 packages the township sent out, by NFNM's North Frontenac reporting. On March 20, 2026, North Frontenac council voted under motion 97-26 to adopt, in principle, mandatory septic inspection at the point of sale, directing staff to work out costs, user fees, staffing and a draft by-law first. NFNM's reporting put the proposed threshold at systems older than ten years. The resolution names the Mississippi-Rideau Septic System Office to run it, the same office Central Frontenac has used since 2018. North Frontenac is adopting the mandate to lift the compliance its voluntary program did not get; Central Frontenac has had that mandate since 2018, and its record shows the township can compel the inspection but has not been able to compel the fix.
The councillors who built the program are on the record, and the official who launched it still leads the township. Mayor Frances Smith convened the committee at its 2018 start and chaired its early years; councillors Tom Dewey and Phillip Smith sat with her at the founding meeting, and by 2019 Bill MacDonald had joined as a council representative, sitting through 2021 alongside Dewey and the mayor. By 2023 the council seats had turned over: Councillor Susan Irwin took the chair, Councillor Bill Everett became vice-chair, Councillor Nicki Gowdy joined, and Smith remained ex officio. Smith still signs the program's by-law: hers is the mayor's signature on the April 2026 amendment, its most recent change in terms. The shortfall the record describes is one of staffing and resources, in the building official's own words, and the minutes lay it at no committee member's feet.
Andy Dillon, Central Frontenac's chief building official and the official quoted throughout this account, resigned effective June 2, 2026. Mayor Frances Smith announced the departure at the May 26, 2026 council meeting and gave no reason, and nothing on the public record connects the resignation to the program or its enforcement record; North Frontenac's chief building official is covering while the township recruits.
The most recent committee minutes NFNM has obtained are from April 8, 2026. NFNM is still seeking the June 15, 2026 minutes, the township's enforcement log behind the correction rate Dillon reported, the inspection office's service agreement and the amounts paid, and the general fees by-law behind the order-to-comply charge, and will report what they show.