OrilliaMatters welcomes letters to the editor at [email protected]. Please include your daytime phone number and address (for verification of authorship, not publication). This letter is in response to a letter from Oro-Medonte Deputy Mayor Ralph Hough regarding water connection fees in Horseshoe Valley, published May 26.
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My name is Walter Dickie, and I am a former councillor of Medonte Township. I was also a councillor for the amalgamated Township of Oro-Medonte for two terms until 2004. I would like to correct some misinformation in a letter to the editor signed by Ralph Hough as deputy mayor of Oro-Medonte.
Mr. Hough states in his letter, “For years many of the Zone 1 residents of Horseshoe Valley have asked successive councils to have their water, that for decades has been provided by a private supplier, to be connected to the township system.”
Here are some facts that are difficult to reconcile with Mr. Hough’s statement:
- The Township of Medonte Bylaw 82-6 dated Oct. 12, 1982, states that the Township of Medonte assumed responsibility for water system service plan 1531. This plan included all of the subdivision plans on the north side of Horseshoe Valley Road, currently referred to as Zone 1. Bylaw 82-6 allowed for the collection of fees for a reserve fund.
- The Township of Medonte charged, collected, and retained reserve funds for Zone 1 commencing in 1982. Ten per cent of the water rate was dedicated to a capital reserve fund, which was held by the township.
- The Township of Medonte owned the system and paid Horseshoe Valley Resort to operate and maintain the system for the township.
- Upon the amalgamation of Oro and Medonte townships in 1994, all assumed roads and water systems and reserve funds in the former Township of Medonte came under the jurisdiction of the township of Oro-Medonte.
- Users of the Zone 1 water system have been paying their water bills directly to the Township of Oro-Medonte since amalgamation in 1994. Horseshoe Valley Resort continued to operate and maintain the system but not own it.
- On March 26, 2003, then-councillor Hough and myself put forward Motion CW-22 to have the Township of Oro-Medonte adjust the water rate for Horseshoe Valley Zone 1, operated by Horseshoe Valley Ltd., to $575. It should be noted that the township has no authority to adjust rates on a private system, but they do in the case of this public-private partnership.
At a mayoral candidates’ meeting held on Sept. 28, Mayor Harry Hughes is still disputing these facts and directing the township to use an expensive Toronto legal firm to defend the township’s position.
Some questions that need to be asked when candidates knock on your door for support:
- Where are the reserve fund monies?
- When did the township relinquish ownership of Zone 1?
- Why are monies being wasted on litigation? Was mediation with all the facts on the table attempted?
Walter Dickie
Oro-Medonte
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