By Jane Kent
Student of the Year
Alesha Graydon has been announced as this year’s recipient of Gravenhurst High School’s Student of the Year bursary. Speaking to Graydon during the June 15 virtual meeting, Mayor Kelly commended her on her wide variety of accomplishments and beating out “a lot of applicants this year.” She has been involved with youth council, orientation, GHS’s legacy project and robotics. She will be attending Wilfred Laurier (Brantford campus) for Community Health and hopes to get into health policy.
Accessible dock project
In August 2020, Staff and Committee members went to the Muskoka Wharf to review potential accessible dock options that could be installed there. Council received a report outlining four options with a recommendation for option one, The Jenny Lift. It is a manually operated arm that lifts an individual from the edge of a dock onto a watercraft. The lift can adapt to multiple vessel heights and types, to a maximum weight of 250 lbs. Boston Pizza/Dock of the Bay was proposed as a suitable location due to proximity to accessible parking. There were some concerns noted regarding the operation of the arm, whether it would be limited to Town staff or available for public use. Further research and budget considerations will be made.
Invasive species update
Council received a report on the state of invasive species in the area, namely phragmites, giant hogweed and Japanese knotweed. In 2019 a licensed provider was hired for treatment and eradication. Manager of Operations, Caroline Kirkpatrick said that “since it takes three years to eradicate and we are in year two now, successful eradication is hard to determine at this juncture. However, based on the contractor’s 2020 Invasive Species Report, there has been noticeable success in eradication of some of the smaller stands of these invasive plants”.
Coun. Sandy Cairns said, “we have some serious problems around town, but it is being addressed.” She reminded the public that these plants cannot go into the landfill or compost or brown bags.
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