By Sue Tiffin

Published May 8 2018

The following are brief reports of items discussed at the May 2 meeting of Highlands East council.

Highlands East firefighters will be trained to carry and administer naloxone to opioid overdose victims in an effort to prevent overdose and deaths.

“We typically respond to several calls a year involving illegal drugs” wrote Chris Baughman acting fire chief in a report. “Last year Haliburton County paramedics responded to 22 overdoses with two being confirmed as opioid use. Though the frequency of calls here has remained low they have seen increased call volumes to the south and in the GTA. With the large influx of tourists and cottagers in the summer means it could easily be here. The risk also remains high to our firefighters who may be exposed to such drugs while responding to a medical call if the patients aren’t being truthful about drug use. We also have a high risk due to the remote areas in which we respond where the ambulance may have a delayed response.”

The cost of the kits are covered by the Ontario Naloxone Program. Baughman said training to use the kits would be a component of the first aid training program already in place.

Special meeting to discuss Glamorgan facilities and roads

The public is invited to a special meeting of council discussing current and future projects pertaining to municipal facilities and roads within Glamorgan. The meeting will be held on May 24 at 7 p.m. at the Robert McCausland Memorial Community Centre.

A good year according to audit

“It was a good audit and a good year for the municipality said Richard Steiginga of Collins Barrow Kawarthas who attended council to present findings of a 2017 audit.
The municipality has almost $4.8 million in financial assets an increase from just more than $4.3 million as reported in 2016. Total revenues were almost $9.6 million with $5.3 million of that being from property taxation. The full report is available online through the Highlands East website at www.highlandseast.ca.

Eleven calls in April for fire department

Four downed Hydro lines six medical assists and one carbon monoxide call were attended to by Highlands East fire department in April.

A time for flowers

Approximately $200 per ward ($800 total) will be spent from the beautification fund on flowers which will be planted and maintained in communities throughout the municipality by volunteers including Master Gardeners.

Students hired in Highlands East

Jacqueline Curphey and Tanya James have been hired as sewage disposal system maintenance inspectors and were to begin their summer positions with the municipality on May 7. Four candidates were interviewed for the positions.

The property/parks and recreation department hired a data entry clerk to assist office staff with data entry for the new Stone Orchard cemetery database. A student performing general maintenance duties was also hired. In total seven resumes for the jobs were received.

Septic re-inspection program follow-up

To date 65 of the moderate and 25 high/very high deficient septic systems flagged in last summer’s septic re-inspection program have been brought into compliance.

More than 903 properties on seven lakes were inspected with 685 being low risk 96 determined to be moderate 71 noted as high and 39 listed as very high. Letters were sent to property owners detailing deficiencies and corrections needed to be made.

“Additional letters have been sent out to 85 property owners this winter letting them know that a response is required or orders may be placed on their property which could lead to legal action against them” said Laurie Devolin chief building official in her report. “We have been getting responses to these letters and are hopeful that we will be able to get these systems upgraded to a safe condition during the summer season of 2018.”

Cemetery clean up

Highlands East parks and recreation department has started clean-up in area cemeteries.
“This clean-up will take a good portion of the month but every effort will be made to have them looking decent for Mother’s Day on May 13th” wrote Jim Alden property supervisor in his report.
Alden said depending on weather and burials clean-up could run into June.