It seems the line drawn in the sand this election in the Almonte Ward is around the Howard Alan Cost Sharing agreement. I recently posted documentation of the process that took place this past term, with agenda/meeting documents and letters from Carleton Place. I do realize that much of the misinformation that is being spread is from that vast amount of information that is on this topic, not only this past term but from the previous council as well. It is lengthy and complex.
I have been asked to provide clarification on the how the Mississippi Mills Public Library (MMPL) board fits into all of this and if I know for sure that the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries said that the Howard Allan Cost Sharing Agreement conflicts Ontario’s Public Libraries Act and the answer is yes.
The MMPL Board is an entity itself, separate of the Municipal Council. On February 23rd 2021, a letter to members of Council was received by the MMPL Board Chair Cathy Peacock, see below:
On March 16th, Council supported the Library Board’s decision to remove itself from the agreement in order to be in compliance with the Library Act of Ontario and to pursue a reciprocal agreement with the Carleton Place Library Board to provide services in the area at no costs to the Mississippi Mills taxpayer.
How do we know we made the right decision?
Because Carleton Place ended the library agreement with Beckwith for the same reason!
On October 12th 2021, according to Carleton Place Public Library chief executive officer Meriah Caswell, the Ministry of Heritage, Sport, Tourism and Culture Industries indicated that “the Howard Allan Cost Sharing Agreement may not be consistent with the options for public library services under Ontario’s Public Libraries Act.” The ministry encouraged Carleton Place to become compliant with the Public Libraries Act by the 2022 funding year. “We do not want to go against the ministry on this,” Caswell stressed. She noted what the ministry provides Carleton Place and that she wishes to remain in good standing. The Inside Ottawa Valley Newspaper explains this very well.
Once again to clear up misinformation that has been put out there:
Mississippi Mills has not removed access to the Carleton Place pool for Mississippi Mills residents, you can still use the facility, Carleton Place however has raised the rates.
Carleton Place chose to raise the rates to an outrageous amount which is what started the debate in the first place and continues frustrating users both inside and surrounding Carleton Place.
The topic also came up recently in the Carleton Place All Candidates night, (this is recorded). One candidate who sat on the Carleton Place Parks and Rec Committee and disagreed with amount of increase that Carleton Place Council raised the pool, stated that the pool rates are the highest this side of Toronto.
I specifically asked the Cost Sharing Committee (Mississippi Mills, Carleton Place and Beckwith) what our options are if our Council don’t agree with the budget amounts given to us from Carleton Place and the answer was, there are no options, agree with it or opt out. We didn’t agree with it, it was unjustified, we still made offers to try and make it work but they were declined by Carleton Place.
A second attempt to negotiate the pool service was voted and carried and again was declined by Carleton Place unless the conditions were met to cover the original increases to the other components of the Agreement.
I was asked how Beckwith was able to negotiate an agreement where Mississippi Mills wasn’t and the answer is I don’t know, that is a question for Carleton Place. At the time both Beckwith and Mississippi Mills negotiated the same amounts, one community received a termination letter the other didn’t, later to find out the offer from Beckwith was very close to the same offer from Mississippi Mills that was turned down.
Did the previous Council ever try to negotiate with the Cost Sharing Agreement with Carleton Place to keep the costs fair and not exceed the current value that they were paying?
Yes they did, the majority of Council at the time asked for a review and recommendations of the spheres of influence used for the cost sharing calculations…. The motion was defeated at the Cost Sharing Committee. (see below):
There is a lot of dialogue on this subject, I believe all this took place over the course of 18 months over the last term. Everything is recorded on minutes; I hope this clears the air on the process and especially on the library portion.