Ideas for North Hastings

March 2, 2017

We had a really bright spot at a recent council meeting in Hasting Highlands.

A heads up would have been nice

If the municipality wanted to put up the price of the shore road allowance — in other words the piece of property between the lake and the owners property — they should have sent out some information with the taxes to inform people what they were up to. There are a lot of seasonal people that this could affect.

Water: we are all in this together

The Bancroft water and sewage issue, and the increase in cost for people already struggling to keep up with utility and housing costs and put food on their tables, is on all of our minds.

Response to Mayo Schmidt, CEO of Hydro One

Recently you wrote a letter to residents in our area telling them you take your charges for electricity delivery in our area seriously. You and your team are working hard to get things figured out on how to do things better — or at least make your charges understandable on the bill.

What does it cost Hastings Highlands to sell lakeshore land?

The surprise ending at last Wednesday’s council meeting in Hastings Highlands left a packed gallery of ratepayers speechless. At the previous meeting Councillor Alex Walder made a motion to raise the sale price of lakeshore road allowances to abutting landowners — which passed in a recorded vote four-three, with Councillor Nancy Matheson, Deputy Mayor Gregg Roberts, and Councillor Tracy Hagar voting nay, and Mayor Vivian Bloom voting yes to break the tie. The new cost raised the current price three-fold for the remaining ratepayers, estimated about 80 per cent who may need to purchase their abutting lakeshore land.

Thank you, municipal staff

Just a brief note of thanks to Adrian Thomasini, Denver Mayhew and our Hastings Highlands treasurer David Stewart and all the crew who worked to repair Hwy 62 between Maynooth and Maple Leaf last summer.

Harper has no problem selling weapons to terrorists, I do

To the Editor, Four almost a decade Stephen Harper and his boy’s club have been systematically dismantling our economy and lining their pockets at the ...

Is Hastings Highlands gouging ratepayers?

Municipal councils do not usually cite “judiciary responsibility” to impose a more than three-fold price increase on the purchase of their lakeshore land — especially when the abutting owner, as the only buyer, also bears the total survey and legal costs to acquire a deed for the land — normally a cost to the seller.