Town of Petawawa Council Briefs
All fine with town’s audit - An audit of Petawawa’s consolidated financial statement deemed everything acceptable and ethical.
Welch LLP, independent external auditors, went through the town’s documents up to Dec. 31, 2017, to ensure that there was no mismanagement of funds. What was discovered was that the financial statements were without major issue. The annual audit goes through all the town’s finances and reviews them to make sure they are correct.
The details of the report were presented to council on June 11.
Fire department receives $5,000 grant - The Town of Petawawa Fire Department was chosen as one of the recipients of Project Assist.
It will be receiving a $5,000 credit, which will be used by Dec. 31 to purchase firefighting training materials. This grant comes at an opportune time as there is a mandatory certification that the firefighters must undergo. Having this money to spend on training will help ease the burden. Project Assist gives these funds to eligible fire departments within Enbridge Gas Distribution’s service area.
“This is the second time that we have received $5,000 from Project Assist,” said Fire Chief Steve Knott, adding his team is grateful for the funds.
Summer job subsidized - The Canadian Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA) has provided Petawawa with funding to hire a community ambassador for the summer.
This job is part of the CPRA’s Summer Work Experience Green Jobs Initiative. These wage subsidies are available for municipalities, Indigenous communities and other sectors looking to hire young people for green jobs. This initiative supports the creation of 1,000 new green jobs across the nation in the summers of 2018 and 2019 by helping offer wage subsidies. The subsidy covers up to 50 per cent of the position’s salary.
Fire deaths in Ontario on the rise - Statistics from the Fire Marshal’s Office indicate that there has been an increase of fire-related death in Ontario, confirmed the Town of Petawawa Fire Department Chief Steve Knott.
From January 1 to June 11, 2018 there have already been 46 fatalities. This is seven more than the previous year, which topped out at 92 fire fatalities for 2017. These deaths did not occur in Petawawa; rather, they are from all across the province.
“It seems that no matter how much we spend on public education and on fire prevention and enforcement, we are losing way too many lives,” said Knott. “And that’s not even through the whole year.”
According to the Fire Marshal, there were 54,457 fires from 2012 to 2016, with 49 per cent occurring in residences. The cause of fires has not changed much, with 18 per cent from cooking accidents and nine per cent from bad wiring. Twenty per cent is reported as undetermined while about eight per cent are suspected to be arson or vandalism.
