New provincial rules make BIA run a “tighter ship”
At the request of city staff, municipal advisors from the Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs attended the annual BIA meeting Jan. 10, to present changes to the Municipal Act which affect the way in which the BIA conducts business.
Sean Fahey and Carolina Khan began their presentation with a reminder of the purpose of a BIA, which is to promote the physical improvement and marketing for the area they represent, before launching into an explanation of the BIA’s responsibilities, which include accountability and transparency under the same rules as City Council. They must provide public notice of meetings and audited annual financial documents, along with adhering to the definitions of open and closed meetings under the Act.
Fahey highlighted a provincial announcement of an intended $500 million over three years to help small business by lowering costs, promoting growth, and creating greater flexibility and small business tax breaks.
City clerk Donna Delvecchio announced that she and BIA coordinator Marsha Coppola have been studying and readying a number of major policies, such as procurement, and new terms of reference for consideration by the membership. When they are ready, the membership will receive copies of the recommendations, with a vote for acceptance.
Concerns about past difficulties in getting a quorum (50 percent of the membership + 1) to pass major items because many businesses consist of just the owner, who is not able to close up shop and attend the meetings, resulted in plans to hold the vote at various locations and times so more might attend.
But this may not be necessary, since Delvecchio was informed by the Ministry that the BIA executive can pass the new policies and present them to members present at a general meeting. Council may then, in turn, pass them.
Longest Canadian Corps Member Passes
Thorold ‘s Canadian Corps lost its longest serving member when William Ellison recently passed away.
He served more than 70 years at Unit 44, and was also a member of the Thorold Legion, Branch 17. Bill’s entire career was spent at the Ontario Paper Company. He retired in 1992.
He loved coaching soccer with his friend, Rolie Parker, who started the Thorold soccer league as an alternative for children who didn’t want to play baseball.
Born Aug. 13, 1927 to Harry and Ivy Ellison in Thorold South, Bill enjoyed playing hockey on homemade ice rinks as a boy, and became better known as “Chirp.”
While in high school, his family went to England to see his parents’ homeland and while there, the war broke out. They had to stay eight months, hiding under beds and trying to “lay low,” which left a huge impression on Bill. The family managed to make it out of England and while on the ship back to Canada, rescued a group whose ship had been attacked, and brought the survivors back with them.
When he returned home, Bill decided to join the army with his best friend, though they were both under age. He trained at camp but before seeing action, Bill was called home because his mother—who had been battling leukemia for many years—passed away. During her illness, he and his siblings—Audrey and Jack—had been separated and lived in different homes.
Bill attended high school for half a day and worked at his grandfather’s hotel in the Thorold Inn during the second half of the day. He became enchanted by his sister Audrey’s friend, Bertha, who worked at a “fancy clothing store” and was a talented jazz and jive dancer. After following her around, he convinced her to date him.
While they were engaged, Bill was working at a factory where a steam pipe broke and badly burned his legs. He had to learn to walk again just before they had planned to get married. They eventually were wed in March, 1950.
“They were madly in love and Bill was so heartbroken when she passed away in 2006,” at which time he moved to Cobblestone Gardens Retirement Home. He later moved to Millennium Trail Nursing Home, where he succumbed to Alzheimer’s Disease on Jan. 17.
Bill leaves behind his son Jeff, daughter Tara Van de Laar, and their spouses, as well as six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, and his sister, Audrey. He is predeceased by his daughter, Debbie. A funeral was held Jan. 22, with special services by the Corps and the Masonic Mountain Lodge 221.
Handmade vendor show to benefit Distress Centre
Twenty-nine-year-old Nathan Collins died April 26, 2014, and his suicide prompted his close friend, Jessica Kramer, to host a fundraiser for the Distress Centre of Niagara.
“It really affected me,” said Kramer. “I was with him the night it happened and I didn't recognize any of the warning signs until I had heard the news and had time to process what happened. Suicide is such a taboo topic that people are either afraid to talk about or do not know enough about. The Distress Centre provides a 24/7 help line for those in distress or crisis, and they hold workshops to educate people about suicide awareness.”
More information is available here.
Kramer, a St. Catharines resident, said she’s participated in many vendor shows in this area, “and I've always thought about planning my own. I knew when planning this event that I wanted the proceeds to go to a local charity. One of my vendors suggested the Distress Centre of Niagara. I had never heard of it before, but after reading their website, I knew it was a perfect fit.”
Sweet Legs St. Catharines, Scentsy and Mama Misfits Cheesecakery are among the 25-plus local vendors scheduled to appear on Saturday, March 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Club Belvedere. The majority of merchandise will be handmade. Additional featured vendors include Sugarbaby Creations, Sense of Bling, Quirky Works, Elaine's Bath Boutique, Happy Bees Honey, UpCycle Canada, Avon, Silly Lilly's, and Simply Add OILS, among others.
There will also be a raffle table, set up similar to raffles at stag and does, in which people can buy tickets to win prizes. One hundred per cent of the proceeds from table sales and raffle ticket sales will be donated to the Distress Centre.
Club Belvedere is located at 57 John St. in Thorold.
Cycling sparks tourism and city growth
Forty communities across Ontario have now been designated as “Bike Friendly Communities” (BFC) by the Share the Road Cycling Coalition.
Toronto and Ottawa have been designated as Gold status communities while nine are listed at the Silver status, including Pelham.
Thorold has maintained a Bronze award through its continued efforts to stay bike-friendly, encouraging cyclists to visit our community.
The Share the Road Cycling Coalition is a provincial cycling advocacy organization working to build a bicycle-friendly Ontario. Members work to enhance access for bicyclists on roads and trails, improve safety for all bicyclists and educate citizens on the value and importance of safe bicycling for healthy lifestyles and healthy communities.
The process involves an in-depth application, which is submitted by the city. Thorold’s Manager of Engineering, Sean Dunsmore, who was responsible for renewing the application, told ThoroldNews the process is fairly involved.
“It's about a 30-page application and has a lot to do with cycling infrastructure in the city. But it also includes an educational component and rules about bicycling.”
He said the city works with Thorold's Active Transportation Advisory Committee (TATAC).
And we work with the Regional Health unit and the police,” all of whom are involved in securing the Bike Friendly designation.
Dunsmore said the city has to provide proof of effort in improving bike paths, bike lanes, bicycle safety and other components, proving a concentrated effort to meet all the criteria set forth by Share the Road.
“They also provide us with a report card highlighting our strengths and weaknesses, so we can move forward toward a Silver or Gold designation,” he said.
Thorold's Tourism Agent, Susan Morin, said the designation is great for Thorold.
“Six municipalities of 12 in Niagara are designated and that means Niagara has become a premiere destination for cyclists, both on the Niagara Circle Route and other delineated routes within those communities,” she said.
“We have neighbourhoods in Port Robinson and Port Robinson West with hundreds of new homes. So if you have the mentality of having active transportation in mind, we're becoming much more appealing to our younger buyers who are going to be having families. Niagara is known as a retirement community but Thorold has a foot forward in being more progressive in having a bike friendly designation.”
For further information, visit here.
Migration of the monarchs featured by Thorold Garden Club
The “Bug Lady” is coming to Thorold, and bringing her passion for monarch butterflies with her.
“In February, we are lucky to be having Margaret Pickles as our speaker at the Thorold Garden Club,” said Patsy Ingoldsby, long-time member of the club that has beautified the city for decades. All are welcome to Holy Rosary Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m., where “Margaret is going to share with us the story of the monarch butterfly and its amazing migration. She has followed this story as it unfolded over the years and has travelled to California and Mexico to see the overwintering sites.”
“The Garden Club has been promoting planting our gardens, or at least part of them, to the benefit of bees and butterflies, especially the endangered monarchs. I must say we have had more sightings in our gardens this past year. It will be an interesting subject. I am sure Margaret will speak about what we can do to help as well.”
Pickles is a science professor at Niagara College who’s become known as the “Bug Lady” because of her enthusiasm for sharing with others “all things interesting” about insects. She loves to tell people just how “cool” bugs are. Her interest in bugs began at age seven, when she started her first butterfly and moth collection.
She acquired a bachelor degree in biology with a specialty in entomology at the University of Guelph and later completed a Master of Science and Teaching at McMaster University. She worked for several years at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto before starting her own business visiting schools with her Science is Alive programs—including Discover Dinosaurs, and Bugs Are Cool.
In 1996, Pickles and her husband moved to Niagara Falls, so she could fill the position of Assistant Curator at the then newly-opened Niagara Parks Butterfly Conservatory. While there, she also taught Entomology at the School of Horticulture. Since 2007, she’s been a professor at Niagara College, where Pickles spends most of her time teaching chemistry and human biology while often working in a nature connection. A few years ago, she introduced a new course, Bugs Among Us, offering students an opportunity to learn about insects, their role in society, and even eat a bug if they are so inclined.
Holy Rosary Hall is located at 35 Queen St. S. in Thorold.
Mayor, CAO hope to share costs with other municipalities
With police and fire services accounting for the largest bite out of every tax dollar, Mayor Ted Luciani believes the city must find ways to mitigate the costs.
In an interview with ThoroldNews, Luciani said that efforts are already underway to curb the rising expenditures.
He’s certain that fire services can benefit from working with adjacent municipalities.
“Bunker gear, for example, is very expensive and once contaminated in a fire, it has to be replaced; it’s useless,” he said.
“If we can find ways to improve procurement of bunker gear and fire trucks, we can save those dollars.”
Luciani and Thorold’s CAO Manoj Dilwaria have already met with their counterparts in Niagara Falls and Welland, Luciani reported.
“If we need bunker gear and trucks and other municipalities in Niagara need some as well, we can get a much better price in joint tenders. And if you can save even one point a year on taxes, that’s a big savings over time,” Luciani said.
The Mayor added, “Dilwaria has been instructed to meet again with the CAOs of Welland and Niagara Falls to look beyond fire services and see if there are other ways to submit joint tenders and generally improve the way we work.”
Smaller municipalities have been struggling with escalating costs of full-time firefighter salaries. Salary negotiations invariably wind up in front of an arbitrator.
“In wage negotiations we go to arbitration and we lose,” Luciani stated. “I don’t know of one municipality that has won at arbitration. They always side with the firefighters.”
In 2014, Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) President Russ Powers addressed those concerns at the provincial level.
“When it comes to wage and benefit increases, police and fire are in a class of their own. It’s not fair to others, and it’s not sustainable,” he argued.
Powers said that arbitrators do not consider the ability of each municipality to pay for these services, but instead, “They’ve been allowed to base their awards largely on comparisons with other essential workers across the province.”
He said smaller municipalities are forced to pay salaries comparable to first responders in Toronto.
Thorold was cited as an example in a Globe and Mail article to punctuate that situation.
Luciani maintains that, until that system changes, other ways of finding savings must be sought.
“We’re also looking at ways of attracting commercial growth,” the Mayor continued. “We’re growing residentially but not commercially. And, for every $1 raised through residential taxes, it costs the city $1.25 in services.”
“I’m hopeful that by late February Dilwaria will come back to council with the results of his meetings with Niagara Falls and Welland with a progress report and some recommendations,” he concluded.
Murder in March
What do Trinity United Church, the Thorold Community Theatre, and Club Capri have in common?
It’s a mystery. A murder mystery.
To help fund the church’s community suppers—which run free of charge the third Tuesday of each month—and maintain the church’s hall, they’re putting on a show.
“We have a really good working relationship with the Thorold Community Theatre people,” said Elaine Swart, a 45-year member of the church where TCT hosts its plays throughout the year. “They have been wonderful supporters.”
So when TCT producer Marilyn Colbert suggested a murder mystery fundraiser, Swart said she was eager to hop on board, especially since “All the lights have to be changed” in the community hall.
“It’s a beautiful building and we just want to try and maintain it the best we can, so we do as much fundraising as we can.”
According to Colbert, TCT president Brian Cranford said, “We want to do this for the church.”
All members of the theatre troupe are volunteers, and appreciate the performance space, added Colbert.
“They are a great venue for us.”
Swart said in addition to TCT, the church’s community hall also hosts the Ontario Early Years group and the Air Cadets, along with various events.
While Club Capri will provide the venue and chicken parmesan, Caesar salad and dessert, TCT actors will provide the murder and mystery.
