Tall ships, ‘insta-moment’ anchor and more: Here’s what happened at Brockville’s July 16 general committee meeting

At the regular meeting of The City of Brockville’s General Committee on Tuesday, July 16, a variety of items of interest were discussed. Here’s a rundown of what happened:

Building Permit Fee Review Study

The meeting began with the procurement results from the Building Permit Fee Review Study. Council previously approved a capital budget allotment of $45,000 in 2024 for the completion of the study

On May 24, 2024, staff issued a public tender, which resulted in the contract being awarded to Watson & Associates. City staff assessed the submission from Watson & Associates and concluded that the proposal substantively met the requirements of the tender. The proposed cost of completing the work was $30,000, within the budget allocated for this project in the 2024 Budget.

Tall Ships

The next item on the agenda was in relation to organizing the 2025 Tall Ships Festival. A citizen committee will be established effective September 1, 2024, to collaborate in organizing the 2025 festival.  

After applying in 2023, it has now been confirmed that the City of Brockville will be a port of call for the Tall Ships Festival between June 19 and 21, 2025. Councillor Severson explained, “This year’s process was a little bit different in that we had to submit a proposal for the hosting, but I do think the city has done a wonderful job of hosting events in the past and will do so again.” 

Mayor Wren took a moment to make a public appeal to the community.

“I do hope some younger, more energetic people will see these requests,” he said. “The Rotary Club just let us know that because of advancing age and declining numbers, they’re not able to do the Santa Clause Parade this year… These people who have given so much to their committees and community over the years have some younger people stepping up and helping them.”

The matter of establishing a citizen committee was carried unanimously.

In addition to the citizen committee, staff will be hiring a part-time festival and events coordinator contract position with a commitment of 15 hours per week. This position would fulfill a term from Aug. 1, 2024 to July 31, 2025, and will be funded by the Tall Ships reserve created from the 2019 and 2022 Tall Ships Festivals. 

According to the staff report circulated in advance of the meeting, “The Tall Ships Festival brings approximately 40,000 visitors to the City of Brockville and the coordination of the event takes approximately 1,500 hours of staff time.”

The report continues, “This position will be responsible for the coordination of the event and will serve as the main point of contact for any outside agencies, contractors, vendors, etc. The position will also oversee the Tall Ships Festival Committee, should it be re-established, and will work with city department staff to ensure all are aware of the logistics related to the event.”

Councillor Fullarton stated, ” Having a dedicated staff is an important part of the festival and it’s unrealistic to expect that volunteers can carry the whole thing and all the responsibility it entails. To resource them with extra paid staff whose sole role is to do this is very important.”

Councillor Deery clarified, “When you read this it almost sounds like we are creating a new position and that is not the case. I want to make sure the community is aware that this is just to say that we’ve been devoting this time at a cost in the past, and now we’re having a specific person dedicated to this role for a very specific period of time on top of their other jobs and tasks.” This matter was also carried unanimously by the committee.

Railway Tunnel

The fourth item on the agenda was the approval for the purchase of 225 custom light guards for the Brockville Railway Tunnel. These light guards were purchased from Kilmarnock Enterprise at $20,550, funded by city reserves.

In May 2024, staff presented the council with a follow-up report outlining various remedial options for repairing and enhancing the lighting system and components in the Brockville Railway Tunnel. As a result, Kilmarnock Enterprises, based in Smiths Falls, proposed a solution that involves manufacturing custom clear plastic guards made from 1/16″ polycarbonate, which would attach to the top of each light fixture.

The staff report details, “Installed, the light fixture is protected from the overhead dripping identified as the source of damaging mineral deposits responsible for the failure of the light fixtures by the manufacturer.” 

Fullarton shared her excitement at this development, saying “ When I was reading the report I was happy to see that a local company has come up with a solution.”

Director of Operations Phil Wood noted, “This is a custom fabricated solution for this issue. This is not something that you could buy or offer off the shelves. This is something that Chad Davis (Parks Supervisor) was able to work with a local fabricator to come up with so we have a lot of encouraging signs it will work well but it is untested.”

Wood explained that the committee, and eventually the council, have three viable options they can choose from in terms of purchasing these fixtures. They can purchase the fixtures one by one, purchase all 225 in bulk, or simply buy 56 fixtures to start, which amounts to one of the 14 pedestals.

Councilor Deery thanked Chad Davis for his work, reiterating that this solution is much more cost-effective than their original plan.

“This is significantly less money than we were initially anticipating. We were looking at a $600,000 bill to try to come up with a solution right through the original manufacturer.”

Council unanimously agreed to move forward with discussing a purchasing order with Kilmarnock at the upcoming meeting. 

Reynolds Park anchor

Later on in the evening, the committee shared the exciting news that they have accepted the donation of an anchor from Save Ontario Shipwrecks (SOS), which will be displayed publicly at Reynolds Park. Reynolds Park is a newly developed park, situated right along the banks of the St. Lawrence River. The design of the park includes a prominent centrepiece area, which has yet to be filled. Members of the local chapter of the SOS recreational diving group and Creative Arts Source Inc. have proposed a concept display for this location using an anchor artifact retrieved from the river itself.

Fullarton expressed her support for the item at hand, stating: “ The SOS group is an amazing group that has done so much work on the waterfront by installing the stairs to make the entryway safer and now installing this anchor to create some added interest. I think this looks like a great idea and can certainly see lots of people wanting to take pictures around this statue.”

Councillor Hobbs added, “It provides us with one of those ‘insta-moments’ where people can go down and take their photos with the infamous anchor. It really is good for marketing.”

After Hobbs’ statement of approval, the matter was unanimously carried by the committee.