Uxbridge teen on track to RBC Training Ground
by Justyne Edgell
Anyone who watched the winter Olympics in February might recall those relentless RBC Training Ground commercials that told young athletes they, too, could be a part of the Olympic dream. Well, Uxbridge Secondary School student Robyn Baker is in the running to be one of those elite RBC Training Ground athletes and a possible future Olympian.
This past spring, over 1,500 athletes completed qualifying events and sport specific testing, vying to be among 30 athletes chosen to receive funding for their “journey toward the podium.”
Baker, who is in Grade 12 at USS, was at those qualifying events and has placed among the top 100 athletes. She has been invited to the RBC Training Ground National Final testing later this month.
“I started to play flag rugby in Grade 7 and 8 and then joined the high school rugby team in Grade 9,” says Baker, who used to be a track athlete and attributes some of her sporting success to that training.
“My coach encouraged me to try out for the Ontario team and I just went on from there.”
Photo submitted by Robyn Baker
After applying to the RBC Training Ground regional testing day, Baker competed in front of many different sporting scouts, including one scout who showed interest in her joining a track cycling team. Baker says that, while she knows of athletes who have been scouted for other sports and become Olympians, with her busy rugby schedule and passion for the sport she hasn’t yet explored cycling.
While most of her rugby competing took place over the summer, Baker is playing on the Uxbridge Secondary School Rugby 7s team this fall, working towards LOSSA, as well as the Rugby 15s team in the spring, hoping to get to OFSAA.
This summer, Baker played at the Ontario Summer Games as well as the Canada Summer Games.
As far as next steps, Baker will continue her training through the winter months. “I do hope to play varsity rugby in university and want to represent Canada at the national level in the future,” she says.
Baker will be heading off to Ottawa for the RBC Training Ground Final on Friday, Oct. 21. The final testing includes trials such as a 40m sprint, jumps from a stand still and endurance stationary cycling.
Baker says that while she would love to be chosen as one of the 30 athletes, she’s not really setting any expectations for the finals.
“I’m definitely looking forward to meeting new people from around the country who are all at the same level. I think it’ll be a really great experience and I’m excited to learn from everyone else who’s there too!”
Motorbike collision leaves one teen dead
A 16-year-old Uxbridge male was fatally injured after his motorcycle rear-ended a vehicle on Davis Drive in Uxbridge.
On Monday afternoon, police were called to the area of Davis Drive and Conc. 6 for a two-vehicle collision involving a motorcycle and a motor vehicle. The teen motorcyclist was seriously injured as a result of the collision and transported to a local hospital. He later succumbed to his injuries. The driver of the other vehicle, a 40-year-old female from Uxbridge, was not injured, and remained on scene.
Members of the DRPS Collision Investigation Unit attended the scene to conduct an investigation. The roads in the area were closed for several hours while evidence was collected.
Anyone with information about this incident or who witnessed this collision is asked to call D/Cst. Ryce at 905-579-1520 ext. 5255 (toll free 1-888-579-1520.
Anonymous information can be sent to Durham Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or online at www.durhamregionalcrimestoppers.ca and tipsters may be eligible for a $2,000 cash reward.
Police give update on human remains found on Conc. 6 in spring
Durham Regional Police recently provided an update on the homicide investigation related to Ariel Kaplan, a 32-year-old Toronto man whose remains were discovered in Uxbridge earlier this year. Investigators are also appealing to the public for more information on this case.
Members of North Division responded to the area of Conc. 6 and Allbright Rd. on May 10. Police recovered human remains concealed inside a hockey bag that was retrieved from a private pond adjacent to the road.
Shortly after this discovery, police say the Homicide Unit, in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Coroner, identified the body as Kaplan’s. The results of the post mortem, along with information obtained from the investigation, has determined the deceased was murdered. Toronto Police Service had initiated a missing person investigation on Kaplan in September 2021, and through investigation, police say they now believe Kaplan was abducted from the area of Yonge St. and Sheppard Ave. in Toronto on Aug. 29, 2021, before he was killed and his body disposed of. His last known location was corroborated in part through cell data and interviews.
This case is multi-jurisdictional and the DRPS says it has received the support of the Toronto Police Service in this joint investigation.
Police would like to hear from anyone who had contact with Kaplan in any way around the time of his disappearance and in the weeks prior, and have set up a dedicated toll free tip line for people to reach out to the investigative team. That number is 1-888-579-1520 ext. 5444.
Anyone with information pertaining to this investigation is asked to call Det. Graham of the Major Crimes – Homicide Unit at 1-888-579-1520. ext. 5418.
Anonymous information can be sent to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or www.durhamregionalcrimestoppers.ca and tipsters may be eligible for a $2,000 cash reward.
TOWN HALL – Notes from the October 3 Council Meeting
by Roger Varley
Haunting in Elgin Park: Council approved a request from the Uxbridge Lions Club to hold its second annual Halloween parade in Elgin Park on Sunday, Oct. 30.
Sally Kotsopoulos said the club will need the park from noon to 5 p.m., during which time children and parents will parade in their costumes, take part in various activities and listen to a story-teller at the bandshell.
She said the club hopes to have a piper lead the parade. As well, the club will be looking for student volunteers who need community service hours.
Meanwhile, at the other park: Several residents of the Campbell Drive/Cemetery Road neighbourhood sent letters to council regarding a proposed playground to be erected in the “passive” park in the area. Some of the letters were in favour of the playground, while a couple were opposed.
Councillor Willie Popp noted he was “happy to see residents working together . . . to find a path forward.” He further noted that any such project would have to be addressed in upcoming budget talks.
The letters were sent to staff, who will be tasked with preparing a report on the proposed playground.
And there were other letters: Several residents sent letters opposing a proposed development on Toronto Street South, which they say will negatively impact their homes on Fred Barnard Way, which abut the subject property.
Popp said the letters raise some concerns that “might be of a regional concern that needs to be looked at.”
Council voted to send the letter to the township planning consultant, the applicant, staff and the region.
Uxbridge Scouts celebrate special anniversary
by Roger Varley
Beavers, cubs, scouts and venturers took over Elgin Park on the weekend as they celebrated 100 years of scouting in Uxbridge.
About 75 scouting members – and a number of parents – set up camp in the park and took part in numerous activities, including ball hockey, scavenger hunts, fire building and relay races. The highlight of the weekend was the traditional Saturday night campfire.
As a prelude to the campfire songs and skits, new members were inducted into the various sections. As well, two scouts – Gabriel Dubeau and Travis Taylor-Shields – received their Chief Scout Awards, the highest award a scout can earn. Among the long list of accomplishments required to earn the award, the two lads hiked a total of 100 kilometres each and both spent an accumulated 106 nights camping. On top of the badges, they received plaques and letters of congratulations from the prime minister, the premier, Uxbridge council and the region.
Scout leader Craig Mallat said the 1st Uxbridge Scout group has over 100 registered youth, making it the largest group in the district.
Annual food drive under way
by Roger Varley
The Care-a-Van annual food drive is well under way, gathering food and cash donations for the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank. The drive began on Sept. 15 and continues until Oct. 15.
Cindy Wood, one of the main sponsors of the drive, said the Care-a-Van drive began seven years ago and, since then, the number of people and sponsors involved have increased and the drive now is showing up at more places around town. She said the drive has been successful over the years.
“We usually deliver a truck-load of food to the food bank every week,” she said.
Wood said the food drive used to be held nearer to Christmas and then was moved to the summer, but the fall drive is more successful.
“This is a great time of year for it,” she said.
A schedule of places where the vehicles will be accepting donations is posted every week on Facebook and Instagram.
Bruins lose third in a row
by Roger Varley
An empty-net goal with just 16 seconds left on the clock Friday night gave the Uxbridge Bruins their third loss in a row as the Port Perry LumberJacks downed them 6-4.
In what was generally a scruffy game, the two teams battled back and forth for the first two periods. The Bruins continued to have difficulty on defence, often struggling to clear the puck out of their own end. Port Perry opened the scoring midway through the first period with a power-play marker.
The Bruins tied the game with Peter Kerr’s power-play goal early in the second, assisted by Caleb MacLeish and Anthony Lamanna, but the LumberJacks responded 30 seconds later. The visitors made it 3-1 before Lamanna scored late in the period when his shot on goal bounced high in the air and dropped down behind the LumberJacks goalie. Kerr had the assist.
Bruins.weeklyQuinn Meek, assisted by Stellucio Basile, tied the game with a goal from a face-off early in the third. However, Port Perry scored two within four minutes near the midway mark. Basile combined with Kerr to reduce the deficit to one with just under two minutes left and goalie Noah Acciaccaferri was pulled for the extra attacker, but Cameron Marshall’s empty-netter put the game away.
The Cosmos selected Kerr as player of the game for the Bruins, while Mark Stoop received the nod for the LumberJacks.
The Bruins’ 1-3-0 record puts them in fifth place in the seven-team PJHL Orr Division. The team returns to action at the arena tomorrow (Friday) evening at 7:45 p.m. when they host the Georgina Ice. They then travel to Little Britain for a game against the Merchants on Saturday night before heading down to Clarington to face the league-leading Eagles next Thursday.
What would an independent Uxbridge police service look like?
by Conrad Boyce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
As the Cosmos noted in a recent article on Durham Region taxation a few issues back, policing takes a healthy hunk of the Region budget, 30 per cent this year. The Township of Uxbridge forwarded $31.6 million in property taxes to the Region in 2022; 30 per cent of that total is $9.48 million. So the Cosmos raised the question: for about $9.5 million, could Uxbridge safely and effectively run its own police service, or could the job even be done for significantly less, and save the taxpayer some important money?
In the same article, it was noted that the small town of Deep River, in the upper Ottawa Valley, has been running its own police service for decades, despite the fact that the town is part of the upper-tier municipality, the County of Renfrew, which, like its counterpart, the Region of Durham, also has a police service; in this case the O.P.P., which all of its member municipalities, apart from Deep River, use.
So what is Deep River’s secret? The Cosmos spoke to its police chief, Dean Duchrow, to investigate the fiscal and logistical advantages, and challenges, of running an independent police service.
To begin, the Deep River police serve a much smaller population and geographical area than Uxbridge: about 4,400 people compared to 22,000, and 50 square kilometres to 420. So one fifth the people and one eighth the land. In 2022, the budget of the Deep River Police Service was $1.44 million, about 15 per cent of what Uxbridge paid for policing this same year. Which municipality is getting the better bang for its buck?
Deep River has maintained an independent police service since its founding in 1957, not surprising, perhaps, for a small town which also has its own hospital, yacht club, even a symphony orchestra!
“It’s definitely a matter of civic pride,” admits Chief Duchrow, who spent many years with the much larger York Region Police. “But it’s also a real advantage for our members to know the faces of most of the people we serve, and for them to know us.”
The Deep River service, considering its size, is remarkably self-sufficient; the need to consult outside agencies, including the O.P.P., is rare. The service consists of the chief and two sergeants, each of whom has a three-constable squad under his command, and an administrative assistant. There are two part-time special constables, who often look after guarding and transporting prisoners, and another part-time constable (retired from a long police career) who will fill in as needed for vacation or illness relief. That’s a total of 10 full-time and three part-time personnel.
“Our members are well-trained for any kind of front-line duty,” says the chief, “from crime or accident investigation to public education.”
The physical requirements of the Deep River service are two patrol cars (valued at about $60,000 apiece), an administrative vehicle, an office with five desks (there are rarely more than three officers on a shift), and one holding cell. The cell’s occupants receive an immediate bail hearing, and if they need to be held in custody, they are transferred to Ottawa.
So if the Deep River police can do their work for less than $1.5 million, be highly respected in their community and largely self-sufficient, what would it cost for Uxbridge, with its larger population and service area, to do as good a job. Three, four times as much? That’s still significantly less than the township is paying now with the Region, and it’s safe to say that the DRPS’s officers are not nearly as visible as a locally-based service would be.
As for where the police would be headquartered, it has been suggested that there is a fairly large, nearly-complete office building right downtown that is probably looking for tenants, and has a large parking lot just across the tracks to accommodate a small fleet of squad cars.
Uxbridge ran its own police for almost two decades prior to the emergence of Durham Region in 1974. Could it do it again? When the possibility of saving significant dollars (in tight-money times) is paired with the probability of having a police service much more in touch with the community, perhaps it’s worthy of debate.
The Township Empire: three heritage buildings
by Conrad Boyce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
In this series about the properties that belong to you, the taxpayer of the Township of Uxbridge, so far we’ve discussed our community halls, libraries and museum, as well as all the outdoor recreation spaces with which the municipality is blessed. But in addition to the eight restored buildings at the Historical Centre, the Township owns three other buildings of significant heritage value; two of them at opposite ends of downtown, the third set in the rolling hills on the way north to Leaskdale.
The Uxbridge Music Hall: This well-equipped theatre at 16 Main Street South is the oldest of the three, built in 1902 to house not just concerts and other community events, but as the town’s government centre as well. Until a few years ago, it had a long-term tenant, the Uxbridge Dance Academy, but now is rented exclusively in the short term to a variety of performing arts groups. Unlike the similar Town Hall in Port Perry, the Music Hall has no fixed seating on the main floor, meaning it can continue to host one-off events like wedding receptions.
Photo by OnStage Uxbridge, one of the many user groups of the Music Hall
There is an advisory board to assist the Township in planning for future improvements, as well as a part-time technical manager, paid on an hourly basis, who ensures the building’s sound and lighting systems are properly used and well-maintained. In addition to paying rent on the space, users must apply a surcharge on tickets, which goes toward a fund for improvements.
The Township budgeted about $90,000 for the Music Hall in 2022, expecting to receive about half of that back in rental fees.
The Railway Station: Our “witch’s-hat” station, so often used as a set for historical films and television shows, was opened in 1904 by the Grand Trunk Railway. The primary user, the York Durham Heritage Railway (YDHR), leases the train station from the Township and covers all the utilities. The YDHR has greatly expanded its programming over the last several years, and has its own staff, both paid and volunteer, to manage its activities. It’s important to note that the Township owns only the station; the train cars are owned by YDHR, and the tracks by Metrolinx out of Toronto.
The Township budgeted about $29,000 to maintain the station this year, expecting to recover about two thirds of that in rentals.
The station received substantial damage to roof and windows during the May 21 tornado. Because of its heritage character, replacement windows and shingles can be difficult to source; it’s expected that repairs will be completed next spring.
The Thomas Foster Memorial: It’s safe to say that not many municipalities include a majestic mausoleum (it’s one of the largest in North America) on their roster of properties. To cut a fascinating history short, the memorial, about 10 minutes north of town on Conc. 7 (Reg. Rd. 1), was built during the Great Depression by a former mayor of Toronto with roots in the Leaskdale area. Foster built it as a memorial to his late wife and daughter; on his death in 1945, he joined them inside, and ownership was transferred to a trust company.
After years of neglect, the building was taken over by the Township in 1992, at the instigation of a volunteer group called the Friends of the Foster, which continues to play a large role in fundraising and programming of events (including a popular Friday night concert series from spring through fall). A note that the Friends would very much like to swell their diminishing ranks; see their website for how you can help.
Photo from thomasfostermemorial.com
The Township undertook a refurbishment of the roof recently, and has a number of major improvements planned, including painting of the interior domes and repairs to the exterior stonework. An improvement fund of $10,000 is set aside every year. In 2022, about $50,000 was budgeted for the care of this unique building, of which only a tenth is expected to be recovered through rentals or donations.
Caring for the Departed: Although the Township owns the Memorial, it does not own the cemetery beside it, nor any of the other major ones in the municipality. Cemeteries are usually administered by a volunteer board, or a particular church congregation. Sometimes an older cemetery will be “abandoned” for various reasons. Under the provincial Cemeteries Act, ownership of the cemetery then reverts to the municipality. There are a handful of such grounds in Uxbridge; the Township parks department cuts the grass regularly, and does other minor maintenance, or contracts this responsibility to a third party.
Where Your Tax Dollar Goes – Inside the Township budget
by Conrad Boyce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
As moderator Ted Barris noted at the Cosmos’s all-candidates forum last week, as much as the federal and provincial governments have much larger budgets and much bigger headlines, it is the work of the municipal governments that has a more noticeable impact on our daily lives. And although Durham Region, headquartered in Whitby, is the greater bureaucracy, with almost 5,000 employees and an annual budget of more than $2.2 billion, the Township of Uxbridge, with only 57 full-time and 73 part-time employees, and a budget for 2022 of only $31 million, is much more visible and tangible in what it does for us.
You took out a library book this week? Your kid scored her first goal at the arena? You enjoyed a concert at the Music Hall, or a stroll on the Countryside Preserve? You take for granted that your streetlights will come on at dusk, or that your street will be plowed when that first snowfall hits next month, or that a state-of-the-art pumper truck, complete with superbly trained volunteers, will come to your rescue if your son’s old Ford catches fire in the driveway? You can thank the Township of Uxbridge for all that, whose seven-member council you will be electing on Oct. 24. And as Ted Barris also noted at the forum, because that council makes decisions that have a direct impact on your daily life, your presence at the ballot box is very important. So please vote, or you don’t have a lot of room to complain.
The 2023 Township budget is in its formative stages now, as staff tweaks this year’s numbers to reflect your ever-changing priorities. The new council members will barely have a chance to get comfortable in their chairs before the public consultation begins, with a view to finalizing the budget before the new year is very old. Based on those final numbers, the Township will set its property tax rate. But that’s not the whole story.
To repeat the breakdown from the first taxation story a few weeks ago, the two lower levels of government, as well as the school districts, are primarily funded by property taxes, although every municipality has other revenue streams in varying proportions, such as user fees or grants from senior government. There are four main types of property taxes: residential (84% in the 2022 Uxbridge budget), commercial (8.4%), industrial (3.7%), and farmland (2.1%). The lower tier municipality, in this case the Township of Uxbridge, collects the property tax for the school districts and Region of Durham, and distributes them in varying proportion according to the source. In 2022, 58 per cent of residential taxes went to the Region, 14 per cent to the school districts, 28 per cent to the Township. In the case of commercial/industrial taxes, 43 per cent went to the Region, 35 per cent to education and 22 per cent stayed here with the Township.
The amount you pay on your property varies each year depending on two principal factors: the taxation rates assessed by each of the three taxing entities, and the value of your personal property, as assessed by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, a provincial agency.
The Township budget can be easily broken down into two portions: the operating budget, which as the name suggests, covers the day-to-day business of running a municipality; and the capital budget, which funds improvements to the Township’s physical assets, whether it be a sidewalk, a baseball diamond, the roof of the Foster Memorial, or a fire truck. Capital projects will be discussed next week.
The operating side takes just about 60 per cent of the total budget: $18.8 this year from the $31 million total. Almost a third of that goes to public works, maintaining the infrastructure that smooths your life (more on that in the “Empire” series next week). Another fifth goes toward “general government,” the fabric of municipal regulation. Twelve per cent is allotted to recreation, outdoor and indoor, another 12 per cent to culture and tourism, including the library and historical centre. And nine per cent goes to the
fire service (the other first responders, police and paramedics, are supplied by Durham Region).
A significant part of every department’s expenditures is “amortization,” the depreciation of the physical assets spoken of earlier. Everything, from a popular mystery novel to a hard-working dump truck, wears out sooner or later; the amortization line in the department estimates acknowledges that one day, that item will need to be replaced. Amortization is based on the actual cost of the capital asset at the time of acquisition, not on current replacement cost of the asset. The cost of replacement may come from “reserves,” funds into which the Township puts a little bit every year. User fees may also contribute to those reserves; an example is the Music Hall Improvement Fund: every ticket you purchase for an event at the Hall has a surcharge dedicated to the Fund.
Unlike the senior levels of government, which are free to run up deficits as large as they like until the voter makes them answer for it, municipal governments are obliged by provincial legislation to balance their budgets; the Township’s $31 million in expenditures must be mirrored by similar revenue. Overall, about half of that comes from property taxes, 22 per cent from user fees, 10 per cent from reserves, 10 per cent from senior government grants, five per cent from “debentures,” which are long-term loans budgeted for repayment over several years, and one per cent from “development charges,” fees charged to residential or industrial developers to help pay for infrastructure related to new growth. The last four items, which can vary greatly from year to year, play a greater role in capital budgeting, so these will be discussed more in depth next week.
The Township Empire: our arena and pool
by Conrad Boyce, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
In this special Cosmos series on the funding and management of the Township’s properties, we now turn our attention to the busiest buildings in the municipality, our arena and swimming pool.
Uxpool: The swimming pool, across from the Legion on Franklin Street, was built in 1971. In addition to the main six-lane, 25-metre pool and its attendant dressing rooms, Uxpool, as its known, also has a squash court downstairs, as well as a small hall and classroom upstairs, which can be booked by the public for a variety of uses.
The pool is kept at a steady temperature of 28 C, which is a little warm for most competitive swimmers and public users (except seniors and toddlers!), and a little cool for therapeutic purposes. It’s a Goldilocks alternative.
The pool is heavily used from as early as 5:15 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. for a variety of users, from pre-schoolers literally just getting their feet wet, to highly skilled competitive swimmers. Two hundred and fifty to 300 users will go through on an average day. Pool manager Carolyn Clementson does all the scheduling herself, and is the pool’s only full-time employee. There are also five adult and as many as 30 student part-timers who serve as lifeguards, swim instructors, and program supervisors.
You may recall that when the Township acquired the Fields of Uxbridge, there was excitement about the possibly of a new pool on the site.
“We’ve done the consultation, we have the drawings,” says community services director Amanda Ferraro, “but the project will probably cost about $25 million, so we need grants or partners in order to go ahead.”
The Township currently has about $4 million in a reserve for the purpose.
The Township budgeted about $675,000 for pool operations in 2022, $425,000 of that for wages and benefits. They expect about $280,000 to come back in user fees.
The Arena: The arena on Brock Street West was built in two phases; the west pad and community centre in 1978, the east pad in 1997. The pads are of NHL size, and are each supplied with capacious dressing rooms. The west pad can accommodate 684 spectators, the east 954 (so it plays host to Uxbridge Bruins games). There are two boardrooms and a number of offices leased to user groups. On game days, more than 1,000 participants and spectators can pass through the arena doors.
The ice is on the pads from September through April, when arena manager Hunter Gardner is assisted by five full-time arena operators, four adult contract staff, both full and part-time, and four or five part-time students. In the late spring and summer, the ice is taken out, and the concrete pads are used for ball hockey, lacrosse and assorted large events. Although a great deal of maintenance is still carried out in the summer, two of the full-time staff were transferred to the parks department this season.
The concession stand in the lobby, which operates mostly evenings and weekends, is leased to a private operator. This has also been the case with the pro shop, but the Township is considering taking this operation in-house in the future.
Major user groups like the Uxbridge Skating Club, the Uxbridge Bruins and the North Durham Minor Hockey Association play a strong role in scheduling and advising on future development of the facilities.
The Township budgeted about $1.38 million for arena operations in 2022, with more than $700,000 coming back through ice rental and other user fees.
In the May 21 tornado, a portion of the membrane on the roof of the west pad was torn away, and has been replaced. An HVAC unit above the community centre, which is adjacent to the arena, was ripped off its moorings (a backup is currently in service) and water damage was sustained through the building, with restoration nearly complete.