From: Robert Ogilvie <[email protected]>
Date: March 29, 2007 10:05:15 AM EDT (CA)
To: Bob Ogilvie <[email protected]>
Subject: Aylen Survey

Hello Folks,

The attachment below contains the summary (in red) of the responses I received to the questionnaire circulated by email earlier this year. MANY THANKS TO ALL WHO REPLIED! I've also included all comments received as they are as interesting as the survey itself. The responses and comments will guide me at Council and collectively they are quite instructive, as you'll see.

As you'll see, Aylen Lakers are united in their desire to see taxes kept in check and water quality maintained. I've raised both these issues at Council and the taxation question will be front and centre as we begin deliberations on the new budget. Both the province and the municipality are looking at mandatory septic inspections, but it will take some time (at least a year or two) for an inspection system to be put in place. I'll keep you posted on any developments here; meanwhile, this might serve as a "heads up" to any of you who have been considering upgrading your existing systems.

The wider range of responses to other questions reflects the different perspectives and needs of our residents. For example, while most folks are generally satisfied with the road surface (which was graded yesterday), some year-around people would like to see upgrading, perhaps even paving at some point. (You'll find that the comments really help explain this divergence in thinking.) Most feel that winter plowing is (more than) adequate.

People are satisfied with garbage pick up but would like to see recycling in some form. Council has looked at this issue, but unfortunately, recycling isn't as high a priority in other areas of South Algonquin, so the battle continues on that front. Hopefully, we'll make progress but it likely won't be as rapid as most of us would like to see. I'll raise the issue raised again at the next Waste Management meeting.

Our community is more than satisfied with the Hospital and health provision up here, but I should add that the ongoing shortage of physicians in the region is placing a great strain on hospital services and on the local physicians. One bit of good news here is that a Physician Recruiter has been hired by the townships in the St. Francis Memorial Hospital catchment area (including South Algonquin) and we hope this will result in progress. If anyone has ideas on how to increase our odds of recruiting physicians to the region (when the entire province is underserviced), I would be delighted to hear you.

The range of your responses to the firefighting issue reflects the complexities involved. All are agreed that the ALCA system of manning our own pumps works very well, and most recognize that our distance from the Madawaska Volunteers makes assistance from the Township problematic. Those who commented spoke very highly of the service we now have. The township is working on a Civic Addressing system, and when that is in place, it will make locating each cottage much simpler. This will aid our local firefighters and will make ambulance and other emergency services more efficient. (Whitney will have a full-time ambulance service in place on April 15th.)

Anyhow, please look at what your friends and neighbours have said and I would be delighted to hear from you about any issues of interest or concern.

It's sunny and cool on your Lake this morning. There are 4 ice fishermen near the Bluff as I type, and there was a moose blocking the road (near the gravel pit) yesterday. I took me 20 min. to get around him....

Regards,

Bob

Survey Results - click here.