Fairweather Road will remain for fair weather drivers.

It’s an area which is prone to flooding. In the spring, public works crews leave the flooded road sign by the side of the road for the season knowing that there will be at least a dozen instances when the road will be under water.

Enniskillen Township has to repair the bridge on the gravel road between Rokeby Line and Shiloh Road and as it was pricing the job, staff considered whether replacing the culvert and adding another one might stop flooding in the low lying area.

Ray Dobbin, who provides drainage services for Enniskillen Township, says adding a second culvert to the project would boost the cost from about  $62,000 to nearly $100,000. And he said there were no guarantees the move would make the road flood free.

“It is still going to flood every year…instead of 11 days we might have eight days,” Dobbin told council.

“So it is just the question on whether $25,000 or $30,000 is going to make any difference (because) we don’t know how many days  of flooding it is going to cut,” says Mayor Kevin Marriott.

And there would likely be further delays if the project were expanded. Clerk Duncan McTavish says adding an extra culvert in the area would change the flow rates and the township would likely have to prepare a study for the St. Clair Region Conservation Authority on downstream flow rates if it were to move ahead.

“And they you are still left with the point of overflowing  on the road,” says McTavish.

Council decided to move ahead with the original repairs. “I’m not sure if that road warrants that kind of money,” says Councilor Mary Lynne McCallum. “It’s not that high traffic of a road.”

– Heather Wright

Coyotes have been feasting on a local sheep farmer’s flock and it is costing the Village of Oil Springs a lot of money.

Since May, 23 sheep have been killed by coyotes on Charles Fairbank’s land inside the village limits. It’s the first time in a decade there has been a problem he says.

“We’ve had a llama (which coyotes are afraid of) and we have had no kills whatsoever for 10 years prior,” he says. “We had an extensive problem before that.”

But after 10 years of guarding the flock, Fairbank says “the coyotes have figured out how to get around the guard animal.”

The landowner hired a trapper to stop the coyotes. “The trick is to get rid of the one coming in and doing the damage.”

Since the trapper has been on Fairbank’s land, the killing has stopped. But it hasn’t put an end to the village’s financial problem.

Farmers are entitled to the replacement cost of the animal killed under the provincial government’s Wildlife Damage Compensation Program. A qualified inspector comes out to the farm to make sure the kill was due to a wild animal and then the cash is paid out.

But it is up to the municipality to pay for the inspector; about $100 per visit. Only a third of that cost is reimbursed by the province.

So far, Oil Springs has spent about $660 on inspector’s visits.

Village council will invite a representative from the Ministry of Agriculture to a meeting to figure out what can be done.

“We need to at least look to see if it is cheaper to place a bounty on them or to hire a trapper,” says Councilor Kathy Gadsby.

– Heather Wright