The Look Out

At our Annual General Meetingin September, we committed toworking to find some new directorsto broaden our representation andprovide new resources for MC2. Weare pleased to welcome: ElaineCapes, Bob Mitchell, Rita Reitsmaand Ernie Rovet to our Board.

Elaine Capes, a former boarddirector, led our efforts to develop aStrategicPlan forMono in2009. Shewas a Town of Mono councillorfor 4 years and continues to bevery involved in the communityincluding the Headwaters HospitalFoundation. Elaine runs a ridingschool in Mono and works as aconsultant on engagement processesand general management.

BobMitchell, also a former Town ofMono councillor, is retired from asuccessful career in sales, finance andadministration. Bob is involved inmany community projects, includinga new thrift store in Orangevillebenefiting the Headwaters Hospital.Rita Reitsma has been an integralmember of the community for manyyears. She operates a counselling

The BoardGrows....

February 2015

To OurMembersWith the start of a new year, MC2 has a new look!Our website and our newsletter are evolving inexciting new directions. We hope you, ourmembers, will enjoy the changes!MC2 is again calling out to our members to renewyour annual memberships. The $30 per householdmembership fee allowsus to continue toprovideourmany services to the Mono & Mulmurcommunities. Our very popular Town Hallmeetings, our excellent public educational events,ournewsletters,website andother activities succeedbecause ourmembers have decided that supportingour work is an effective way to provide useful

information to all citizens.We are pleased to be able to offer you a mostconvenient new option this year.With the cost of acheque reaching more than $1 in many cases, anduse of the Post Office also becoming ever moreexpensive, ourmembers can now use our website torenew memberships using a credit card and ourPayPal portal. Just visit www.monomulmur.comand click on Become A Member! Easy! We hopeyou will all give it a try this year!You will find amembership renewal formwith thisnewsletter as usual. If youwish to continue topaybycheque, it can be mailed to:

....(Cont. Pg. 4)

Mono Mulmur Citizens' CoalitionP.O. Box 686 STNMAIN

Shelburne, Ontario L9V 3M1

In our last Newsletter we reported onthe results of the recent municipalelections. In spite of the very poorturnout, we have Councils inplace which feature a mix ofexperienced veterans andpromising newmembers.We canonly hope that theseCouncils willlive up to their promise and thattheywill work diligently to deliveron the commitments they madeduring their campaigns. Apartfrom managing the day-todayactivities of Mono and Mulmur,some of the challenges may welldetermine how our communities aregoverned in the future.Engagement: Fromwhat candidatessaid, we should expect that ourCouncils will make a strong effort toengage with, and take input fromresidents, developing mechanisms tohear from voters on a regular basis.Finding effectivemechanisms to gaincitizen participation and interest is apriority. Citizen apathy is a dauntingissue. What mechanisms will eachCouncil put in place to address theneed to get citizen input andinvolvement? There are manytalented people in our communities,with a lot to offer.Howwill Councilsengage these valuable resources? Thecommitments have been made …now we need to see action. The onething we know is that getting a highlevel of involvement won’t be easy,but this needs to be a priority.During the election campaign, somecandidates raised the possibility ofMC2 playing a role in developingapproaches to engaging the public.We are pursuing this idea throughmeeting with Councillors, and if

progress is made we will makepresentations to Councils on how wethink we could work together on thisdifficult challenge. We will keepmembers informed.

Dufferin County: the Councils willneed todevelop strategies todealwiththe major challenges of ourrelationshipwith theCounty.We aretaxedby assessmentwhile our votes atCounty are based on population.Welive in rural communities which aregoverned by aCountyCouncil wherethemajorityof votes areheldbyurbancentres.These issues are complex andwill require in-depth thinking, solidstrategies and aggressive follow upfrom our Councilors. One thing weknow, from experience, is that doingnothing will cost us money and willperpetuate the view that rural areasdon’t need to be accounted for. Wealso need to understand how we ascitizens can support the neededchanges.Amalgamation: Most Counties inOntario faced amalgamation underthe Harris government. Thisfeatured fewer Towns/Townshipsand a significant centralization ofCounty decision making. Dufferin ,one of Ontario’s smallest counties, iscurrently somewhat of an outlier onthis issue, with eight Towns/Townships, plus the County

government. Since the election, thenew Mayor of Orangeville hasopened the discussion regardingamalgamation. There is a great dealof inertia around this issue and

keeping the statusquo is, for many, anattractive option. Butthis issue is certainlylikely to arise, andagain, our localCouncils, with inputfrom citizens, willneed to do someserious thinking onhow to face this issue.Taxation/Budgets:

At the various candidate meetingsduring the past election, questionswere raised about taxation levels andfuture increases. The commonassumption among candidates wasthat the current level of taxes was thestarting point for setting spendingpriorities. This assumption needs tobe challenged as our communities arealready highly taxed, and many costswill increase with inflation. A seriousdiscussion needs to take place on howto freeze or lower taxes, and as anycuts may impact levels of service, thisapproach will need resident input.Long Term Vision: An importantarea for consideration focuses onwhere we think our communitiesshould be in the future. To whatdegree dowewant to urbanize?Whattype of industry do we want, andwhere should it be placed? What isthe role of agriculture in ourcommunities? How do we managezoning to meet with our vision? Andwithin whatever vision we set, whatservices do we need: transportation,internet, health support, jobopportunities, etc. Mulmur has

From Don's Desk....

Page 2

If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind,then what are we to think of an empty desk?

Albert Einstein

recently published a strategic plan,which is a good start, and it will nowneed to implement. If we don’t haveclear road maps into the future weface the problem of making day-to-day decisions without direction. Andit may well be that on some of these

complex issues, joint approaches byMono and Mulmur might providethe best answers.These are all difficult challenges!ThenewCouncilswill have plenty to keepthem occupied. Hopefully, they willface these issueswith a view togettingresident involvement. MC2 willcontinue to provide input on key

issues and to work with Councils, asthey work through the toughquestions. Our primary job will be tokeep our members informed aboutwhat is going on with the newCouncils, and to support theCouncils by working to increaseresident involvement and interest.

From Don's Desk....... Continued from Pg. 2

Board Director, Rita Reitsma hastaken over a number of the secretarialduties from MC2’s long-timesecretary Cathy Noonan. WelcomeRita and thank you! …Rachel Noonan is stepping downfrom her role as layout editor of ournewsletter. Rachel filled in“temporarily” to help us out when wefound ourselves in need of someoneto quickly take over this role. Thatwas 2 years ago!We thankRachel forall her hard work, skill and patienceon behalf of MC2 …We welcome Felicite Morgan to ourcommunications team. Felicite willbe keeping our website up todate once it’s finally completedand has already been instrumental inhelpingus todevelopournew look…

On January 18th, MC2 was apresence once again at the Town ofMono’s annual family event“Winterfest”. Members of our

dedicated EnvironmentCommittee were on handto talk to residents aboutMC2 and the ExtremeWeather public eventplanned for March 28th

(see the flyer on page 5 ofthis newsletter). Our contribution tothe Town’s fundraising SnowflakeRaffle at this event was a year’scomplimentary membership in MC2

and two pieces of original artwork byBoard Director Arnold DeGraaff …

Board Director Lewis Bakercontinues to spearhead MC2’sparticipation in the protest againstopening Dufferin County’s foresttracts to motorized vehicles(excluding snowmobiles). Last year,the community became veryconcerned about a sub-committee ofthe Museum Board working to setpolicy for the use of the Countyforests for the next 20 years. Theprocesses used by the sub-committeewere open to serious questions and itappeared to many citizens that theonly groups who had a significantvoice being heard were theorganizations of motorized vehicle

users. MC2, along with several othercommunity groups, protested inwriting about both the processesbeing used and the idea of motorizedvehicles in the forests. Lewisattended meetings and approachedparticipants in the process and wasone of the important communityvoices who combined to have thiswhole effort set aside until the newCounty Council was in place. Wehave nominated Lewis to sit on thenewly-structuredCouncil committeedealing with this issue.

As well, MC2 has submitted twosuggestions to Council regardingforest issues – that the policy for theuse of County forests should be a 5-year mandate, not the proposed 20years and that only residents/citizensof Dufferin County be permitted tosit on any Council Committees …

Last summer, MC2 wrote a letter,with a number of constructivesuggestions, to Mulmur Councilabout motorcycle noise on thepaved roads of Mulmur. AlthoughMulmur Council set up a committeeto consider options, the problem

So....

what's been

goingon

lately?

... Continued on Pg. 4

winterfest

Dufferin CountyForest Plans

the issue of noise&motorcycleson paved roads...

Page 3

Meetings to attend

persisted. We have received similarcomplaints in Mono. We areplanning to again bring this problemto the attention of our councils. Seethe letter from MC2 member GregBoland on the final page of thisnewsletter...

On January 25th, Don MacFarlanemet with Mono Mayor Laura Ryanand Deputy Mayor Ken McGhee todiscuss how MC2 could supportMonoCouncil in developing ways toimprove citizen engagement. Thepossibility of running joint TownHallmeetings to raise anddiscuss keyissues with the public was proposed.Don is planning to have a similarmeeting with theMulmur Council...

As we look at ways to work with theCouncils on engagement and citizenparticipation, we are also looking at

practice from her home in Mono.Rita is very involved in the expandedand active agenda of MC2'sEnvironment Committee.Ernie Rovet is a long-time residentof Mulmur and an “almost-retired”labour and employment lawyer.Aftera successful career in Toronto, Erniemoved his practice to Orangevillewhere he is currently wrapping up hisfinal cases. He has been a boardmember of the Theatre and the ArtsCouncil inOrangeville, and is an avidrider at his Mulmur farm.We welcome all our new boardmembers and thank them for theirinterest and support.

The BoardGrows........From Pg. 1

some of the major projects MC2

will consider focusing on over thenext 2-3 years.What should be our priorities andhow do we better engage ourmembers in setting our agenda?Don and Elaine Capes areworkingwith theBoard to developan approach to this importantwork …For many years MC2had a groupof members who took notes atCouncil meetings, covering thediscussions and decisions withmore clarity than was available inCouncil Minutes. For a variety ofreasons we have had difficultymaintaining this practice...

The Board has agreed that re-establishing this practice is a priority.We are developing a format whichwill make the taking of notes a shortand focused job, and we are lookingfor enough members to support thisactivity so that each participantwould only need to do the taskfor 3 – 4 meetings per year...

CitizenEngagement

Priorites for theimmediate future

... Continued from Pg. 3 Page 4

www.mulmurtownship.cawww.townofmono.cawww.dufferincounty.ca

Dufferin County Council meets thesecond Thursday of each monthat 7:00 pm at the County Office,51 Zina Street, Orangeville.

Mono Council meets the secondTuesday at 7:00 pm and the fourthTuesday at 9:00 am of every monthat the Town Office, 347209 MonoCentre Road, Mono.

Mulmur Council meets the firstWednesday at 9:30 am and thirdWednesday at 6:00 pm of eachmonth at the Township Office,7580702ndLineEast inTerraNova.

Extreme Weather...

Are We Prepared?A Free Community PresentationSaturday March 28, 2015 10 am to 12 Noon

Monora Park (500 Monora Park Drive, Mono)

Find out how to helpOurselves & Our Neighbours

Sponsored by the Environment Committee of MC2.

www.monomulmur.com

Speakers:Michael Dunmore (Director of Public Works for Mono)

Steve Murphy (Emergency Management Dufferin County).

The Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority

Local Insurance Representative

MC2 community events

Page 5

The LookOutA newsletter published by

the Mono Mulmur citizens' coalition

Don MacFarlanePresident

Rita ReitsmaSecretary

Frances MacFarlaneTreasurer

Members-At-LargeLewis BakerElaine CapesArnold de GraaffBob MitchellCathy NoonanErnie RovetDavid Warren

“Dear Paul Mills and CouncilMembers,I am a resident of Mulmur on thesouth bank of the Pine River. I havebeen noticing a sharp increase in theamount of motorcycle activity eachsummer and am very concernedabout the trend.First and foremost there isconsiderable racing in the sectionfrom north 10th line and I think thesituation is getting dangerous.Secondarily, the noise levels aregetting unacceptable. I am fairly setback and the noise is almost constanton the weekends. The residentsalong the roads must be particularlydistressed.

Since the paving of Second Linethere is a loop that out-of-townbikers like to use. This loop hasmade its way onto variousenthusiasts’ (web) sites causing aninflux of large groups of bikers.As a former biker myself I appreciatea country ride as much as anyone.However, when constant groups of6-10 bikes are riding together thenoise problems for residents isterrible. Exacerbating the situation isthe fact that there is a significantnumber that do not have properexhaust systems such as modifiedHarley’s and sport bikes.I have watched as friends of minehave been forced to move out of the

Forks of the Credit due to thesame problem. The community hasresponded by putting in noiseabatement rules and rumble strips onkey parts of the route. Unfortunately,they responded too little and too lateand property values have beenseverely affected. The traffic thatused to go there has moved on toother areas such as ours and therise of internet sites rating variousalternatives has made thephenomenon more dramatic.Here is one example: http://www.adventuremotorcycleroutes.ca/terra-nova-ontario/ …….

The Lastword is yours....

Below is an excerpt from a letter sent to Mulmur Council and to MC2 by one of our members,Greg Boland...

Your comments on this issue or

anyother arewelcomed. Email us at:

info@monomulmur.com .

Please view the entire letteron our website, along with thelinks and comments receivedfrom some of the riders that

frequent these roads.

Cover Photo: 4th Line in Mono, Credit to Felicite Morgan