Al Lunney

I picked up Fifty-Five Plus yesterday and read all sorts of wonderful things about our community:

• an article about Lewis MacKenzie in which he says that the Almonte Hospital was one of the main reasons he chose to live near Almonte
• an article by local journalist Iris Winston about one of our wonderful volunteers, Barbara Taylor
• an invitation to several festivals/events in our community
• a two-page spread advertising Neilcorp’s award winning homes

Posted in Mississippi Mills | No Comments »

Sharon Ryan, the wife of one of my best friends, died suddenly this evening. Her husband, Joe, and I went to a one-room school in Pakenham, then to Arnprior High School where we met Sharon. Joe and I both had successful careers at Ottawa Hydro. Jeri and I always enjoyed going to Pakenham activities as we knew Joe and Sharon would be there and we could get caught up on the news and chat about the good old days. We saw them both just last Thursday at the funeral of another dear friend. You just never know . . .

Posted in Pakenham | No Comments »

I’ve had some enquiries about the construction taking place beside the Tim Hortons on Ottawa Street. It is the site of the new Shopper’s Drug Mart scheduled to be completed in the fall.

Also the apartment building that was proposed at the corner of Perth Street and Highway 29 is back on the books with new owners.

The Town has also received a grant from Valley Heartland to construct new signs for the entrances into Almonte. These signs will be similar to the ones already in the local communities of Appleton, Blakeney, Clayton and Pakenham.

Posted in Almonte, Grants/Funding | No Comments »

On Wednesday, July 9, I attended a committee meeting in Ottawa on source protection of our water resources.

Some background: The Clean Water Act was passed in 2008 and requires municipalities and the local community to work together to protect drinking water sources from becoming contaminated or depleted. The Act is primarily focussed on minimizing risks to municipal drinking water systems. As a result, the Mississippi-Rideau Source Protection Committee was created. The committee is made up of 16 people representing a wide variety of local interests and sectors. Their mandate is to oversee the development of source protection plans for the Mississippi River and Rideau River watersheds.

On Wednesday, July 22, the Source Water Protection Committee will be holding an Open House at the Almonte Old Town Hall to present information on findings to date. There will be an Open House at 6 p.m. with a formal presentation at 7 p.m. Please plan to attend.

More information on the Clean Water Act is available at www.mrsourcewater.ca.

Posted in Clean Water Act | No Comments »

Posted in Celebrations & Festivals | No Comments »

This seems to be the summer for road closures in our community. Highway 29, 2 miles outside Pakenham towards Arnprior, will be closed to all traffic from July 6 to August 17.  A major culvert is being replaced. Detour signs showing the new routes are posted in Pakenham and on the town’s website.

Posted in Pakenham | No Comments »

In April of this year, Council approved the transfer of the administrative staff from the Community Centre to the Tourism Centre in the Almonte Old Town Hall. Calvin Murphy, the Recreation Coordinator and Nicole Guthrie, the Community Cultural Programmer are now located in the new location. As a result, for security reasons, if there are no events taking place at the Community Centre, you will find it locked. Staff telephone numbers remain the same.

Posted in Almonte | 2 Comments »

Council and committee meetings have been cancelled for the month of July both at the county and town level as usual. This allows both council and staff to take a breather and hopefully squeeze in a few holidays. However, the offices are open for business as usual. I will continue to be available during the break. I look forward to continue seeing you at the numerous festivals in our community. Next weekend is Celtfest, with the Almonte Fair the following weekend.

Posted in Council, County, Mississippi Mills | No Comments »

The expansion of the power plant in Almonte was put off schedule when the temporary dam broke and work had to be suspended over the winter months. It is now back on track and I am pleased to report that little damage was done to the project as a result of the broken dam. Crews are working double shifts to get the project back on schedule with a completion date of early fall.

Posted in Hydro News | No Comments »

The town has come to an agreement with the O.P.P. to continue providing police services to Mississippi Mills for the next five years. It has been a long process as council was concerned that we were not receiving the full hours that were committed in the previous contract. Numerous new initiatives came out of these discussions and we have put in place a system that not only keeps track of the number of hours but also the type of work they are performing. The O.P.P have also appointed a new inspector for Lanark County and we are looking forward to working with him in the upcoming years. We have also set up a reserve fund to deal with any future increase in costs.

Posted in Mississippi Mills | No Comments »