List your classified ads and community events at no charge in The Ridgeway Herald. continued . . .

Contract negotiations between the Town of Fort Erie and its unionized employees have broken off.

Representatives of management and the Canadian Union of Public Employees Local #714 met for two days in December and briefly this morning. The two sides are at odds over contract language covering job postings and layoffs. Wages and benefits were not discussed. The Town will be seeking the appointment of a provincial conciliation officer.

The collective agreement between the Town and CUPE Local #714 expired December 31, 2011.

The union represents approximately 80 full-time and casual employees in both office and operations jobs.

(Town of Fort Erie, Jan. 25, 2012)

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band Wrecking Ball Tour will come to First Niagara Center on Friday, April 13 at 7:30pm. continued . . .

Town operations are “lean and mean,” said the consultant who Fort Erie town council hired last year to root out cost savings and “efficiencies.”

David Berger of Western Management Consultants said the Town compares well with similar municipalities and in some cases exceeds benchmarks.

The two most important points in his 25 recommendations, as he described them, related to council governance. continued . . .

Water bills will go up an average of 4.4 per cent in 2012.

With no members of the public present, no TV camera and only one reporter, town councillors had little to say when the water and sewer budget was presented Dec. 7.

The increase translates into a $4.17 hike on an average water bill of about $98  a month for a customer who uses 16 cubic metres per month. continued . . .

The Town of Fort Erie is not meeting its non-tax revenue targets so a raft of municipal fees are proposed to be hiked and a bunch of new ones implemented.

Fee revenue for planning and building services is way under budget, missing the $650,000 target by more than half.

Planning director Rick Brady said a Regional report covering the past five years shows development activity in Niagara has been soft the past few years but development in Fort Erie the past year has fallen dramatically.

“Some of it is a sign of the times,” he said. “Some of it is because of a general lack of confidence in terms of moving forward with some of the developments.” continued . . .

Provision of water and disposal of sewage is a collaborative effort of both levels of municipal government.

It’s a $16 million business in Fort Erie — more than $1,500 for every household in town. And it’s forecast to grow to more than $18 million in five years.

Financial operation of the water system — technically water and sewer are two components of one system — is separate from taxation. All costs are funded from water billing revenue. Town council deals with it in a separate budget. continued . . .

Published Dec. 7, 2011 — Don Lubberts apologized Monday night for suggesting a week earlier that the town’s clerk and solicitor had falsified the Bay Beach zoning bylaw.

He told council during his apology speech that he was misinformed by Raymond Borja of the Ontario Municipal Board, leading to his assertion that the bylaw was invalid. continued . . .

Photocopy of cheque of the $5,000 donation made to help FEWPA overturn the decision to rezone the Bay Beach lands for a condominium development.

Published Dec. 7, 2011 — When the Friends of Crystal Beach “drew the line” — as described by its president — at removing comments about the group’s position on the Bay Beach condominium project, there was no option but to revoke its bingo licence, said the manager of the town’s bingo authority.

Community Gaming Development Corporation manager Russ Wilson said the website and other evidence showed the group was acting in a political manner which the province forbids in its lottery licensing policy.

Although the group was a “stellar organization” as far as its record keeping and bingo management were concerned, its attempt to “persuade public opinion on a political issue” disqualified it from having a bingo licence. continued . . .

Published Dec. 7, 2011 — Try as they might, councillors Paul Collard, John Hill and Don Lubberts just could not find a way to save the Friends of Crystal Beach from permanently losing its bingo licence.

So they decided to let the province’s Alcohol and Gaming Commission give the bad news.

The three councillors — self-appointed adjudicators in the matter — decided after a three-and-a-half-hour appeal hearing Nov. 24, including an hour in secret deliberation, to follow the advice they rejected more than a month earlier. continued . . .

The dashed line within the red shaded box shows the extent of the offending terrace balcony that town councillors want removed as a condition of site plan approval.

Subject to the Molinaro Group removing part of a second-story terrace on the west side of the building, Fort Erie town council approved the site plan agreement for the Crystal Beach/Bay Beach condominium project Monday night.

Councillor Don Lubberts wants a section of the second floor balcony that acts as a canopy for the south facing lower patio removed.

John Hill, Paul Collard and Rick Shular also supported the amendment.

Whether it’s an acceptable condition is not known.

Consulting planner Ed Fothergill was the only only speaker for Molinaro at the meeting, and he said he could not answer for his client.

Vince and Rob Molinaro, along with their architect, engineer and others, had attended last week when the site plan was deferred for a week after a few hours of discussion. They didn’t come back for another round.

Fothergill told  council that if the site plan did not pass “tonight,”  Molinaro would appeal to the Ontario Muncipal Board.

Removal of the terrace and a pair of “arcade columns” that hold it up would make next door neighbours Jack Murrett and his wife Patty Nowak “a little” happier, Murrett told council.

Neighbours to the east — a large community of toads — are quite thrilled. Opponents croaked when the site plan won the vote.

In another long and convoluted session . . . see The Ridgeway Herald next week.

A bi-national, bi-community commemoration of the Burning of Black Rock during the War of 1812 will take place at the Jarvis Street Coal Dock starting at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10.

Bonfires will be lit in Fort Erie and Black Rock with ceremonies presided by dignitaries and other activities.

It is presented by the War of 1812 Bicentennial Committee, 2nd Lincoln Artillery, Preservation Committee of Black Rock, Riverside Good Neighbors Planning Association and the Peace Bridge Authority. An after party will be held at Rohall’s Corner, 540 Amherst St., with food and cash bar.

Stephen Harper and Barack Obama have agreed to a plan to smooth entry into the United States for Canadian goods and travellers that would see Canada work more hand-in-glove with the massive U.S. security bureaucracy to screen people and cargo for threats.

The Globe and Mail

(Published Oct. 31, 2011) It was a fairly benign affair Fort Erie town councillor John Hill hosted to meet with Ward 4 residents of Ridgeway in his “Town Hall” meeting at the Crystal Ridge Library Oct. 27.

About 60 or 70 people were there — many of whom were seen before at council meetings advocating against the Bay Beach condominium.

Former councillors were there — Ann-Marie Noyes, Richard Berry, Tom Lewis and his parents, Bill Brunton. Current councillors Don Lubberts and Paul Collard were also there. continued . . .

The latest edition of The Ridgeway Herald is out on the street and in better email inboxes everywhere. Featured is full details of the Friends of Crystal Beach bingo licence appeal, coverage of the dizzying machinations around the Bay Beach site plan agreement, Part 2 regarding Ann-Marie Noyes’ freedom of information battle with the EDTC, and councillor Don Lubberts going off half-cocked on town staff and subsequently apologizing. Plus a little something chocolatey. Now with more colour!

To receive your copy and to subscribe, please go to the Contact page and send a secure message.

Charlie Duhamel will try to put Ridgeway in the Guinness Book of World Records on Saturday.

Also known as “Chocolate Charlie”, he will try to make a 240-foot long chocolate bar during Spirit of Christmas festivities.

He and his wife Barbara and many volunteers will pour nearly 400 pounds of Mercken’s chocolate into a length of eavestrough and garnish it with 75 pounds of nuts and candy.

“I used to be in the siding business, you know, eavestroughing. Now I’m in the chocolate business and I just put them together,” he said. continued . . .