By Donald Morton | North Frontenac News Media – NFNM | Friday, December 12, 2025
Council is back in the chamber Friday morning for the last regular meeting of 2025. The agenda is heavy on paperwork and follow-through, but there are some important decisions buried in the stack.
Council starts with a planning decision on a waterfront rezoning for a property on Austris Road. This is a site-specific change with conditions attached, including a holding symbol and the usual technical work on slope, landfill and site plan control. If you care about how tight or loose the rules are on the shoreline, that is the one to watch.
There is a long service-award segment early in the meeting. Council will recognize decades of work from volunteers and staff across fire, roads, administration and council itself, including a fifty-year fire service milestone. It is one of the few times the Township pauses to say thank you to the people who keep the place running.
Under “Business Arising,” council will formally accept the Treasurer’s notice that the 2026 Mayor’s Budget is now deemed adopted. The Mayor has issued a decision confirming he will not veto the amendments council passed earlier in December. Later in the meeting, they will pass the by-law that locks those numbers in for next year.
The main accountability item is the Integrity Commissioner’s report on Councillor Stephanie Regent. Council, as a group, filed a Code of Conduct complaint back in August over her public comments and social media posts about the Economic Development Task Force and affordable housing. The Commissioner has now issued his findings and recommendations. Council cannot change what he found. Their job Friday is to receive the report in open session, decide how to make it public, and decide whether to apply the recommended penalty.
There is also follow-through on a Clar-Mill Community Volunteers grant. Their original plan to use a LEAF grant for a small renovation at Clar-Mill Hall ran into a program delay, so they pivoted to the Community Foundation for Kingston & Area and secured seven thousand dollars instead. The CAO has already moved to protect the funding ahead of the deadline. Council is being asked to ratify that and direct staff to work with the volunteers to get the hall work done.
One of the more serious letters on the agenda comes from the Land O’ Lakes Emergency Foodbank. The Health Unit building in Cloyne is slated to close, which means the food bank has to relocate by March 1, 2026. They serve clients from Kaladar through Northbrook and the Cloyne area and are asking both North Frontenac and Addington Highlands either to help find an appropriate building or to help pay for one. Council has to decide how far it is willing to go to keep that service stable.
Several administrative reports will move quieter but important local files. There is an update on the Plevna rink project. Staff recommend keeping the Township’s EV chargers operating under the current setup and simply monitoring usage, costs and revenue. Council will be asked to support a Seniors Community Grant application to upgrade technology in all five community halls. The Treasurer recommends renewing volunteer firefighters’ WSIB coverage at the maximum level again for 2026, along with keeping the current benefit providers and hiring Gallagher to do a full compensation and pay-equity review. Public Works has also brought forward a proposal to place Diabetes Canada textile-donation bins at the Plevna and 506 waste sites, backed by a by-law later in the meeting. Near the end of the open session, Deputy Mayor Roy Huetl will file a notice of motion for January that would start an Official Plan and zoning review aimed at discouraging rural co-operatives on waterfront properties. That motion will matter to anyone watching the Palmerston Co-op and similar projects.
Council ends the day in closed session to deal with previous confidential minutes and a “personal matters” item focused on attendance at task force meetings. They will come back into open session only long enough to pass any resulting resolutions and adjourn.
NFNM will be following the Integrity Commissioner report on Councillor Regent, the food bank relocation request, the waterfront rezoning, and the co-op notice of motion. A follow-up piece will be published in January 2026. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Be Safe, Respect Your Neighbours.
