Dysart building official announces retirement

By Angelica Ingram

Published Sept. 27 2016

The following are brief reports of items discussed at the Sept. 26 meeting of Dysart et al council.

After more than 17 years on the job Dan Sayers will get to enjoy the benefits of retirement come spring.

The chief building official announced that he will be retiring at the end of March 2017.

Sayers has been working full-time for the municipality of Dysart since 1999 he told the Echo . Prior to that he worked part-time for Dysart for two years.

“I was on loan from the old township of Glamorgan for a few years” he said.

Originally from Toronto Sayers moved to the area more than 30 years ago because of his wife who is from the Highlands.

Sayers 66 says he is looking forward to retirement and that it’s “time for him to go.”

“It’s a stressful busy job” he said. “As you get older it makes it more difficult … I feel kind of out in left field with the electronic age shall we call it. I’m not up on all that.”

Working in the building department is a second career for Sayers who worked in the printing business when he lived in the city. Sayers announced his retirement during the regular council meeting saying it was time for him to “take it easy.” Dysart Reeve Murray Fearrey said Sayers would be missed which was echoed by other councillors.

A pair of residents from the Old Donald Road and area made a delegation to council requesting better high-speed Internet be brought to their area.

Jean Tyler and Adrienne Clark brought forth a petition signed by 48 residents from the area requesting DSL high-speed. The community which is southwest of Haliburton has a lot of businesses and young families who require reliable Internet said Tyler.

One of those residents is Clark who has three young children one of whom has a disability. Clark explained that she is using an unreliable Internet provider right now and she needs better Internet to be able to get support for her daughter from organizations such as the War Amps.

Fearrey acknowledged that reliable Internet is a problem and they are working to remediate that.
Tyler said Donald Road was not the only area that was a “black hole.”

A letter submitted along with the petition stated “we the residents of Old Donald Road and area respectfully request of Dysart council that you negotiate lobby encourage or otherwise do all in your power to encourage Bell Canada to install high-speed DSL through the phone lines of Old Donald Road and Tom Bolton Road Haliburton Ontario. With the funds provided to the rural community from the federal and provincial government to be used for the economic improvement in the rural community we felt that the DSL is best able to serve the community on the bus routes and farms. These are on the side roads around the county such as Old Donald and Tom Bolton road. These businesses and bus routes count on the capacity to have access to DSL for their present work and future development. The future of our county depends on the ability to have access to high speed in business.”

Tyler said the issue was discouraging young people to move to the area or stay in the area.
“If there’s anything we can do let us know” she said.

Plans for a new skate park are moving along as councillors continue to investigate relocating the park to the area next to the A.J. LaRue arena where the former ball diamond was located.

Councillor Derek Knowles suggested council hire a firm to conduct further research into the viability of installing a skate park next to the municipal building and how that would impact drainage and parking in the location. Councillors were in favour of moving forward with the idea.

Deputy-reeve Andrea Roberts said she thought relocating the skate park would turn the new location into a real “recreation hub.”

The location is adjacent to the arena community centre curling rink and squash club.