[0:17] Adoption of previous meeting. None.
Delegation. None. Business arising from
[0:23] minutes of previous
meeting. Letters in communication for
[0:27] action. We have none. Letters in
communication for information. We have
[0:31] none. Committee and staff
reports. One. Tracy.
[0:37] No. No.
she assassinated. So, all right. So,
[0:43] this evening we have uh our applicants
for council. Um we're going to go in
[0:48] alphabetical order. So, we'll be
starting with Alan Goodell.
[0:57] Uh well, good evening and thank you for
letting me talk to you this evening. Um
[1:02] last couple days I've racked my brain
trying to figure out what I'm going to
[1:06] talk about. It's uh but I think I mean
most of you I know most you know at
[1:12] least fairly well we went small together
and of course we're on the committee
[1:16] together and and I've talked to pretty
much every one of you over the last
[1:20] couple years we've been back up here but
I want to I want to go back and talk
[1:24] about my beginnings and with that in
mind it's going to give you an idea of
[1:29] what I can bring to the
table. Um, I grew up here. I grew up in
[1:34] Bruce Mines, went to Cass, married
Deborah Girl, and moved to southern
[1:38] Ontario where I worked for a John Mo
dealership for the last 30 some odd
[1:43] years. However, in doing so, I also um
worked along with many um committees uh
[1:51] like for instance Jarvis Cornfest. I was
involved with numerous committees on
[1:54] that. I I belong to different uh uh
board of directors for clubs and
[2:00] associations as well as I became vice
president and president of the largest
[2:04] beekeeping association in Ontario. Um of
course I became a widowerower about
[2:10] eight years ago and that changed a lot
of my plans and I got remarried and lo
[2:15] and behold my wife decided that she
loved up here in northern Ontario again.
[2:18] So we started the plan of moving back
home and I and I have my entire life
[2:23] I've considered this home. People ask
me, "Where am I from?" I said, "Well,
[2:26] Northern Ontario." And I realize that if
we're in if we're talking to somebody in
[2:31] Thunder Bay, this is not northern
Ontario. But when you're talking to
[2:34] someone in Hamilton, this is Northern
Ontario. And I love it up here. I really
[2:38] do. Um, anyways, with the the different
things that I've been involved in, um,
[2:45] specifically, uh, when I was president
of the Beekeeping Association, I learned
[2:49] that when I ask 20 people the same
question, I get 40 answers. And what
[2:54] does that allow me to be able to do? I I
I actually was able to sit down with a
[3:01] group of people with different ideas and
different opinions and sort through to
[3:06] get a resolution to work. And this
happened numerous times over the years.
[3:10] Um
the so again the idea that uh working
[3:17] with a group as a team and resolving
situations is kind of really one of my
[3:24] goals. That's going to move me into what
I would like to accomplish as a council
[3:29] member if I if I'm allowed that
opportunity. and uh I already belong to
[3:35] the the committee for uh economic
development and tourism and I actually
[3:39] really love the way that we're going
with that the the direction we're moving
[3:42] in. I'm seeing little improvements here
and there and and it's it's actually
[3:46] quite a bit of fun. I'm I'm really
enjoying that and all I really would
[3:50] like to do is in the grand scheme of the
entire town, but to move forward with
[3:56] with the direction we're going, you
know, just be another positive voice and
[4:01] a helping hand. And that's really all I
want to accomplish out of this. Thank
[4:06] you.
[4:13] Next, Shane Lance.
[4:19] Apologize. I'm slow. I broke my leg
three weeks ago. Still going.
[4:26] Oh, well, council members, um, the
reason I'm here today is because, um, I
[4:31] grew up in this town. Um, I'm a fourth
generation Good Murphy Le France. And
[4:37] um when the position came open, I
figured that you know it was my time to
[4:42] come back to the community. Um same as
my colleague here said, you know, I went
[4:48] away for a while. I'm recently back and
when I got back, I started to notice,
[4:52] you know, things that have changed and
things that have changed are tourism,
[4:57] it's down, right? That's something we
need to work on. Um crime, specifically
[5:04] drugs is up. That's something that needs
to be worked
[5:08] on. I am not a politician. I will never
claim to be a politician. I don't have
[5:13] any political aspirations beyond this
forum here. Um my interest specific rely
[5:20] on this community, building this
community back to what it used to be,
[5:24] right?
Um and that's pretty much all I've got.
[5:28] I mean, I don't have full five minutes.
I'm sorry. Like I said, I'm not a
[5:32] politician.
Thank you. Thank you.
[5:38] And next we have
[5:44] Good evening
everybody. I do like to talk so you
[5:47] might have to come
[5:50] up. Um so a little bit about me. I was
born and raised in Echo Bay. Um I've
[5:57] lived in Bethlon for 10 plus years. My
husband um was born and raised in
[6:02] Bethlon. We both work locally. He works
for Tele Engineering. I work for
[6:06] Brookfield in War Cliff. Um, we're
raising a 10-year-old son in this
[6:12] community and we really like raising a
child in this community. Um, we have a
[6:20] great hockey program here. We have
excellent recreation programs. There's a
[6:25] lot of positive things for our youth and
I would love the opportunity to help and
[6:29] build on that. Um, I grew up on a farm,
so you know, I am not afraid to get
[6:35] dirty, help out, do the things that have
to be done. Um, as far as my experience
[6:41] in any sort of situation like this, um,
my direct experience, I've worked for a
[6:46] local municipality, um, as a treasurer,
but also as a acting clerk, um, and in
[6:54] several different roles. When you work
in a small municipality, you wear a lot
[6:58] of hats. So um I think I bring a unique
perspective. Um I bring knowledge uh and
[7:06] not really needing much of a learning
curve. I know how municipal government
[7:11] works. My father was on council in Aqua
Bay for 30 plus years. So I'm used to
[7:17] the meetings. You know, I ran meetings.
I did minutes. I worked on the other
[7:23] side of the table that council works on.
Um, I'm well aware of how a small
[7:30] municipality such as this has very
little control over their big items in
[7:35] their budget. So, I'm not looking to
come in here and reinvent the wheel. I'm
[7:39] looking to come in and be a compliment
to the rest of you. I can see on the
[7:43] wall here there's a huge list of
highlights from last year and I would
[7:48] love to help, you know, grow more of
this. I think that's amazing. Um
[7:55] so I as far as indirect um experience
that I have I worked in the construction
[8:02] field I worked for a small family
construction company. I worked for uh
[8:06] Krillian when they built the highway
through Echo Bay. So I do have some
[8:09] infrastructure knowledge um and you know
knowledge on
[8:15] uh you know budget budgetary things for
infrastructure. Um and as far as why I
[8:25] would like to join and why I think I'd
be a good fit. Um, one other thing that
[8:31] I want to mention is that I do find a
lot in small municipalities there is a
[8:35] lack of diversity on councils. Um, I
would love to be another woman on
[8:41] council. Um, I would love to be a role
model to young girls in this community
[8:47] that they can also be a part of local
governance and you know they don't need
[8:53] to think that it's it's a male role
only. Um, so like I said, I'm not
[8:58] looking to come in and reinvent the
wheel and lower taxes or do any of those
[9:03] things. I think the way that council has
gone in the last several years, they've
[9:08] been doing amaz you've all been doing
amazing things and I would like to be a
[9:11] part of that.
Okay.
[9:26] Good evening folks. Uh, thank you for
the opportunity to come and speak to you
[9:30] today. I will say that I'm not much of a
public speaker. I think if any of you
[9:35] know my wife, and I think you all do,
she's a speaker in the family, but uh,
[9:39] I'll do my best. I prepared a little
something to guide me. So, uh, hopefully
[9:42] we get through it. Okay, bear with me.
Um so we we just arrived in the
[9:47] community um a little over two years
ago. Uh we live down in southern
[9:51] Georgian Bay.
Um we wanted to move to somewhere I I
[9:57] spent most of my life living on or
around water. Um so we wanted to come
[10:01] somewhere where we could still live on
the water. Um believe it or not was the
[10:06] closest to us that we could actually
still afford. Um so when we come up here
[10:10] and we looked at the house uh first time
coming into the
[10:13] community immediately felt a familiarity
uh and just a sense of comfort here. So
[10:22] when we moved in it's been very
comfortable since then. Uh one of the
[10:25] first contacts that we had when we got
here uh were Bill and Janine Rosenberg.
[10:29] They were nice enough to come to our
house brought us a nice gift basket and
[10:33] welcomed us to the community which was
very nice. And uh we very shortly after
[10:38] became
friends. Uh my wife was fortunate enough
[10:41] as you know uh while we were still in
the process of moving here the job
[10:47] vacancy to town for an administrative
assistant and Maria applied and was
[10:52] fortunate enough to get that. Um so in
that we were we've now become acquainted
[10:57] with all of you uh with the town with
the council how things work.
[11:03] Um, and for my own part, um, I was a few
months later moving up. Um, I'm
[11:09] self-employed. I'm a contractor. I was
fortunate enough to connect with a local
[11:13] guy here named Steve Netherton. I think
we all know. Um, Steve and I have been
[11:17] working together for the last two years.
It's been a great experience. Uh, it's
[11:21] allowed me to meet many other people,
contractors, suppliers, and everything
[11:25] in the community and, uh, forged some
good new relationships, all of which has
[11:30] been very positive.
uh that along with the rest of the other
[11:34] people that we've met since we've been
here in the town um has really cemented
[11:39] for us that this is where we're going to
be for the rest of our
[11:42] time. Um and also it inspired me to get
active in the community which is
[11:49] something when I lived in the islands
and stuff like that we never had this
[11:54] kind of there were no councils there
were no nothing that we could access
[11:59] anyway. So, um, so I kind of wanted to
get involved somehow. So, I started
[12:03] volunteering first thing. Uh, got
involved with the town of a special
[12:07] events committee, helped with things
like the Easter egg hunt for the kids at
[12:10] Peace Park. Um, did some traffic control
for the community day parade,
[12:14] volunteered for that. Uh, donated a
trailer for community day that they ran
[12:19] their cotton candy thing out of. um also
got involved with the trails committee
[12:25] um prior to its opening and did some
work on the trails with boardwalks and
[12:28] whatnot. And um this past year Marie and
I both joined the drilling club here um
[12:34] got involved in that and I volunteered
with the um ice crew doing the ice prep
[12:38] and maintenance on the ice club. All of
these experiences have been very
[12:43] positive for me. Um they've all just
reinforced that sense of belonging here.
[12:48] um just made us feel that much more
comfortable and it motivated me to maybe
[12:52] want to get involved a little higher
level. Um so uh I also applied to the
[12:58] fire department to be a volunteer that
application still
[13:03] pending. Uh but then this uh position
came up with vacancy on council and I
[13:08] decided to fly for that to get involved.
Uh so some of my past experience I think
[13:13] that
that may add to uh something that I can
[13:17] tribute here are are as
follows. I have had extensive experience
[13:22] uh in municipal water treatment
distribution. I worked for the town of
[13:26] Middle for eight years as a water
operator. During that time I held
[13:30] multiple envir environmental licenses uh
water treatment level one, water
[13:34] distribution and supply level two,
wastewater treatment level one. I also
[13:39] held Blackwood Place testing
certificate. I was responsible for the
[13:43] day-to-day operations of the town's
water system during that time which
[13:46] included daily maintenance and operation
treatment plants, taking of water
[13:50] samples from the wellsight treatment
areas, drug distribution system, and the
[13:54] ongoing maintenance and repair of the
distribution system. This included many
[13:59] different aspects. Anything from the
repair and installation of individual
[14:03] water services to homes and businesses
to water main repair, supervising
[14:08] installation and testing of new
infrastructure by contractors, expansion
[14:12] and installation of new pumping and
treatment systems and maintenance of
[14:15] storage tanks, reservoirs, and many
other duties associated with that
[14:20] municipality water system. I still
currently hold a certificate of Q for
[14:25] plumbing and a gas 2 license.
I've also had experience working with
[14:31] council. Um I worked for the city of
Barry for a period of time. I was hired
[14:35] there
to create a backflow prevention bylaw
[14:40] for the city. Uh I was also uh tasked
with writing and instituting a backflow
[14:46] prevention program for the city. Um so
that involved um of course creation
[14:53] policy. Um it also had involved
extensive uh we had to do an extensive
[15:00] public role of um to the public which uh
required education and information
[15:05] sessions with local contractors,
business owners and the public at large.
[15:11] Um, this also led to me being involved
on some committees such as the Ontario
[15:15] Waterworks Association and also the
Ontario Plumbing Inspectors Association
[15:19] which involve shaping an information
implementation of provincial water
[15:24] regulated provincial water related
regulations and plumbing code
[15:28] changes. I've had a lot of experience
with marine and marine operations as
[15:33] well. I spent a good part of my life
living and working on Georgia Bay. My
[15:37] parents owned and operated a fishing
lodge there for more than 45 years,
[15:40] which is where I was born and
raised. Um, prior to moving to
[15:44] Thessalon, I spent 14 years as a manager
caretaker for a place called Tadak
[15:49] Fishing Club. They're a private members
club on southern Georgia Bay. They own
[15:54] approximately 20 square miles of land
and water on Georgia Bay. Um there I was
[16:00] responsible for the general maintenance
of the entire club which included all
[16:03] its building, mechanical systems, docks,
remote facilities and all related
[16:08] equipment such as a bleed of 14 boats,
uh various pieces of lawn equipment, a
[16:13] scoot or airboat, chainsaws and other
associated equipment. I was also
[16:18] responsible for the club's day-to-day
operations uh which included in the
[16:22] springtime training of staff uh through
the summer supervising that staff
[16:27] providing transportation logistics for
all people and supplies coming to and
[16:31] from the island and also leazing with
the club's executive to ensure a smooth
[16:36] operation.
Um, I was also responsible for
[16:39] patrolling that 20 square miles of
property and enforcing there no
[16:43] trespassing because it's private
property in its entirety, including the
[16:48] water. Um, that involves sometimes
contact with the public. It can be a
[16:53] little unpleasant because people don't
like to be told that they can't be
[16:57] somewhere, particularly when they're on
the water. Um so that gave me some
[17:02] experience in um those kinds of
confrontations and uh you know sometimes
[17:08] deescalating sometimes trying to find
diplomatic
[17:12] solutions. Uh so a little bit of a
public liaison there. Uh I think I also
[17:18] have the ability to be a critical
thinker. I can see situations from both
[17:22] sides and I able to draw non-biased
conclusions.
[17:27] And lastly, I think being self-employed
gives me the flexibility to be here when
[17:31] I need to be here. Um, to build a seat,
let's say. Um, so to wrap things up, um,
[17:38] this is the place, like I say, we've
decided to make our home for the rest of
[17:41] our time. Um, and I think I can make a
positive contribution to this council
[17:46] and get involved in, you know, helping
to maybe shape the town's future a
[17:50] little bit and ensure that it's a viable
community going forward.
[18:05] Hey staff
reports resolve the council
[18:22] acknowledged by Tracy, second by Marcel.
All in favor?
[18:37] [Music]
[18:41] Yeah. So, before we go into close, we're
going to have a quick discussion and
[18:44] close. Um Lindsay is going to escort
everybody out for a few minutes. We'll
[18:49] uh discussion and we'll welcome us all
back in.
[18:53] in a brief moment.
[19:09] will resume the open meeting. Number
three,
[19:11] Marcel opened
[19:21] by Marcel, second by Randy.
[19:30] [Music]
[19:34] Okay, so before we take our open vote,
just want to thank everybody for coming
[19:38] out. But we had a really great
collection of candidates making it a
[19:41] tough
decision. Um hope it doesn't discourage
[19:44] anybody from uh staying on any
committees they're on and continuing in
[19:48] their volunteering capacity. I
definitely want to encourage everybody
[19:52] to uh to run in the next
election. That being said, we'll call
[19:58] the open vote. Thanks. We'll do an open
recorded vote. So I'll call upon you say
[20:03] the candidate that you're choosing for
the for the new counselor position. So
[20:07] we'll start with councelor Marcel
[20:16] and councelor Kevin King
[20:23] and councelor Randy Ranken
[20:32] oh unfortunately councelor Lindsay Talon
is not on doesn't on the vote. And
[20:37] Deputy Mayor Tracy Cook, I just wanted
to add that takes a lot of courage to
[20:42] put yourself out there and as a as a
candidate. So, I really appreciate you
[20:47] all coming and um looking forward to
working with you in other capacities.
[20:52] And I will just add my hope is for
[20:58] Karen in your turn as well.
[21:24] and council appointment number four. be
resolved that in accordance with section
[21:29] 2631A of the Municipal Act
200125, council hereby appoints Karen
[21:35] Orchard as a counselor to serve the
remainder of the 2022 to 2026 term of
[21:40] council for the town of Thessalon
effective upon taking the oath of
[21:44] office. Congratulations
[21:56] [Music]
[22:17] Okay. Moved by Tracy, second by second
by Marcel. All in
[22:22] [Music]
[22:30] favor again just want to thank all the
candidates and congratulate the US
[22:35] counselor for the town of Thessalon and
confirmatory bylaw number
[22:40] 2667.
Resolved bylaw number 2667 being the
[22:45] bylaw to confirm the proceedings of the
meeting of council held on April 8th,
[22:49] 2025. We passed an open council this 8th
day of April 2025.
[22:57] Move by Randy second Marcel. All in
[23:05] favor number six. This meeting will be
adjourned at 6:59
[23:17] p.m. Second Marcel. All in favor.