Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/713712
•Continued from page 1 It's an issue Holman will be bringing to the minister this coming week at the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) conference in Windsor in his role as the Rural Ontario Municipal Association Chair and AMO rural caucus. "ROMA is concerned about the MPAC billing of temporary trailers, wind turbines, billboards, solar developments and com- mercial properties which cost rural municipalities unreasonable amounts. In some cases as their assess- ments do not cover their policing costs," said Hol- man. In urban areas a com- mercial property with one address, but multiple busi- nesses is charged as one household. "I think it's blatantly unfair that the taxpayers are having to pay for policing services for facil- ities that will never have a policing call such as bill- boards, wind towers and solar developments. On the other hand commercial properties are being charged as one. It is cer- tainly great for those who have that benefit but it doesn't contribute a fair amount based on demand," he said. The Review-Mirror August 11, 2016 – 16 Unfair that taxpayers have to pay for addresses that will never have a police call: Holman By Margaret Brand The Review-Mirror Rideau Lakes residents will get the opportunity to learn more about potential changes to ward represen- tation and council size at meetings Aug. 27-28. A consultant from StrategyCorp began con- sultations this week with council members who were scheduled for 45- minute individual inter- views beginning on Tues- day. At press time the town- ship didn't have a sched- ule of locations and times for the meetings but a final schedule for all five wards might be available later this week. The individual inter- views allowed councilors to be frank in their thoughts and their role as a representative of a ward. While the consultant will be learning from councilors before the con- sultation with the public this month Mayor Ron Holman is hoping that as part of the process coun- cilors will be learning from the public before they make a decision on how to proceed. "I'm hopeful residents will come up with other options we haven't put forward," said Mayor Ron Holman. "The purpose of hiring a consultant was to hear from the residents. We will have lots to say on it. We felt it was fair to hear from the residents first without each councilor giving their perspective. "They are the ones we serve so we should hear from them on how they want to be served. We want to hear from them without their being influ- enced by 10 different members of council," said the mayor. Cost of the consultant is $20,000, to deliver options to council this fall. "There is still going to be the opportunity for the public to make comments. It could be a survey. We don't' want them to think the last opportunity is the public meetings. Not everyone can attend," said Holman. Meetings on potential electoral changes Aug. 27-28 Lion Don Baker got a surprise on Monday morning when he was raking the Lions beach and found this mermaid beauty crafted of sand shells and weeds.