Lake Temagami Water Levels (April 9 – 15, 2021)

Lake Temagami Water Levels (April 5 – 11, 2021 )

Of note to all voters in Temagami:

Two motions will be brought forward by Councillor Harding for consideration at the Thursday, April 15, 2021 Regular Council meeting of the Municipality of Temagami that may impact your democratic representation.

(a) One seeks to reduce the size of the Municipal Council from 7 members (6 Councillors and a Mayor) to 5 members (4 Councillors and a Mayor) – prior to the next Municipal Election in 2022: Municipality of Temagami – Motion to Reduce the Size of Council

Item 16.2:

2021-M-055 Notice of Motion – Reduction of Council Members

Draft Motion:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT Council reduce the size of Council to a total of five (5) members, including the Mayor;

AND FURTHER THAT Council directs Staff to take the necessary steps to implement this reduction in the size of Council for the next Municipal Election.

(b) The other seeks to redefine Temagami’s representation through a Ward system – prior to the next Municipal Election in 2022: Municipality of Temagami – Motion to Implement a Ward System for Municipal Elections

Item 16.3

2021-M-056 Notice of Motion – Ward System

Draft Motion:

BE IT RESOLVED THAT Council implement a ward system for the purposes of Municipal Elections;

AND FURTHER THAT the wards be established as the Town (Urban) area, Lake Temagami Area and the Marten River Area;

AND FURTHER THAT one Councillor be elected from each ward with one additional Councillor and the Mayor elected ‘At Large’;

AND FURTHER THAT Council directs Staff to take the necessary steps to implement this change in place for the next Municipal Election.

Should either of these motions pass, they will determine not only how the next Municipal election will take shape, but will also change how your Municipality is governed for at least four years. Such a significant change in governance should take place only after a THOROUGH public consultation process. Yet, Municipal Council will be voting on these motions on Thursday, as a member put through a private notice of motion (which is within his power).

It is vital to the integrity of the governance process that Municipal Council represent YOUR interests and provide proper representation at a Municipal level on your behalf – but, Council needs to know what those interests are and what system best suits you before completely changing the system. Council should not act without asking what you would like them to do through a consultation process.

As always, the public is welcome to join Temagami Regular Council meetings.

Topic: REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING 04-15-21 18:30

Time: April 15, 2021 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Link to Join Council Meeting: https://zoom.us/j/96859317870

Council Meeting Agenda: https://pub-temagami.escribemeetings.com/Meeting.aspx?Id=7ab95966-7b2e-4c71-9f40-4670ccc5c22f&Agenda=Agenda&lang=English

Lake Temagami Water Levels (March 31 – April 6, 2021 )

In early winter, OPG began the annual drawdown of Lake Temagami, as per our standard practice. Our snow survey information (gathered biweekly) was showing lower than normal snow amounts for  much of the winter. With this in mind, OPG began reducing flow at Cross Lake Dam on March 19 to begin a slow, gradual refill of Lake Temagami. The refill strategy is based on a cautious approach keeping in mind that there are still several weeks before the summer minimum elevation target and that depending on precipitation received in April and May, we may need to maintain some storage to assist with flood mitigation if we see large rain events through the spring.  Our most recent snow surveys indicate that the average water content across the Sturgeon River basin is 4 mm, which translates to 3 percent of normal (snow is pretty much gone).

We have received inquiries about ‘lower-than-normal’ water levels across many of our reservoirs this Spring. In many cases, reservoirs were not drawn as deep as normal, and have already begun refilling; in reality many reservoirs are at or above normal for this time of year. The lack of snow along the shoreline and on the lakes may possibly be leading to a perception of lower than normal water levels. With respect to Lake Temagami, for example, our records indicate that the elevation is actually about 11 cm higher than normal for this time of year based on recorded levels between 1950-2021. The water level is only at this level at this time of year about 15 % of the time (i.e., 85 % of the years in this period have recorded lower levels on April 7).

As a reminder, water level and flow graphs can be found at www.opg.com/river.