Council tackles busy agenda, announce transit fare increase, Hydro save

The onslaught of a late March blizzard was the backdrop for Monday night’s regular Council meeting that saw a number of presentations and motions come forward.

One of such presentations saw a frustrated local business person voice his concerns over lengthy delays and detours in the reconstruction of a bridge that severely impacts access to their business area.

The owner of Lamis Garden Center is frustrated that construction work scheduled to take two months and commenced this past November has dragged on with no end result other than yet another promise to have it completed for this coming April, being less believable or adequate, with his concerns being the slow case that has so far occurred.

The North Bay Rate Payers Association also made an appearance, letting council know their concerns that the city’s transit bus fees, in their view, are an essential service that needs to be kept affordable and thinks council should more tightly scrutinize their business activities, especially non-essential services like sports complex’s and entertainment venues.

In the end, council did up the transit fees by 25 cents and a majority of councillors felt that it was only fair since the price of gas, insurance and for that matter, everything, has gone up on everyone in the city and bus riders should not expect a privileged position of exception, even though a quarter makes a difference to some.

Again, tobacco concerns regarding open air patios and smoking in public parks became an issue, with council referring it to Committee for further study.

Also announced was an expansion at Canadore College of student residences that will be seeing an exception from developmental taxes from the city’s coffers.

Another interesting announcement came straight from the Mayor’s mouth after council wrapped, saying that the Ministry of Transportation and the City of North Bay have linked their systems so that individuals with unpaid driving tickets and parking fines could be restricted from renewing their licenses until fees are repaid.

With over 11 million dollars of lost ticket revenue from over the years, the new rules could have major impacts on those who don’t pay their fines.

Finally, on a positive note, it was also announced that North Bay Hydro, for the time being, is safe from being regulated into a forced sale or redistribution to a larger regional power company, with the Provincial Liberal Government backing down on their plan to re-align hydro in Northern Ontario.