Ontario has a vast and diverse wildlife population. Seeing animals in the wild is a wonderful experience for many people. However, sometimes there are human-wildlife conflicts.
Although wild animals can become a nuisance, they don’t usually threaten human health or safety. The least traumatic and least expensive way of dealing with wild animals is to animal-proof your property before wildlife moves in. By vaccinating and securely confining pets, and teaching your children to respect wildlife and to leave wild animals alone, you can reduce any risk to human health and safety.
Other best practices that we encourage landowners to adopt to prevent and reduce conflicts include:
putting out garbage the morning of pickup instead of the night before;
not feeding wildlife;
keeping pet food indoors.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has posted information online to help landowners with nuisance wildlife. Please visit the Ontario Government's Wild Life and Nature page. Listed on that page are links for preventing and responding to problems caused by specific wildlife species.
The municipality also plays a critical role in preventing and dealing with nuisance animals. In July 2013, the provincial government made changes to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act to enable municipalities to compensate hunters or trappers for the removal of coyotes and other furbearing mammals (such as raccoons and skunks), without Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry permission.
Living with Coyotes
The coyote is a natural inhabitant of rural areas particularly near ravines and wooded regions. Some residents welcome coyotes as part of the local wildlife, while others are concerned for the safety of their pets, children and families.
Coyotes can occasionally cause problems in rural areas as they are predators to livestock such as sheep, poultry and calves. There can also be concerns related to damage to garden crops, foraging through garbage and the possibility of them preying on domestic pets such as cats and small dogs.
It is important to note that there are only a few documented cases of coyotes attacking people in Ontario.
Preventing conflicts with coyotes
Properly store and maintain garbage containers.
Do not store or leave pet food outdoors.
Do not approach or feed coyotes.
Consider the use motion-sensitive lights in yards or gardens.
Normally, coyotes pose no danger to adults but people should be aware that there are potential risks to pets and small children. Coyotes, by nature, are fearful of humans. Attacks by coyotes on people are very rare and there are only a few documented cases in all of Ontario. In all known cases of coyote interactions with people, the coyote had lost its fear of humans because people were feeding the animals.
Fast Facts about Coyotes
The coyote is a small relative of the wolf, weighing on average between 15 & 20 kg. Their thick fur may make them appear to be larger.
The colours of coyotes vary from blonde to reds to browns.
Coyotes are very adaptable and can do well in any area that includes forest cover.
They inhabit natural valley lands & ravines.
They provide benefits to agricultural and urban areas by assisting in the control of small mammals such as mice, rabbits & groundhogs.
Coyotes are most active at dusk, dawn and throughout the night.
Coyotes do not hibernate and may be seen all year round.
Coyotes are generally shy, cautious and non-confrontational, but can be curious and experimental.
Council Resolution: We will allocate the necessary resources to develop and implement a strategic energy management plan that will reduce our energy consumption and its related environmental impact.
Vision
We exercise stewardship in our use of finite energy resources to demonstrate leadership, optimize our delivery of services, and enhance the overall quality of life in our community.
Policy
We will incorporate energy efficiency into all areas of our activity including our organizational and human resources management procedures, procurement practices, financial management and investment decisions, and facility operations and maintenance.
Goals
To continuously improve the energy efficiency of our facilities and processes in order to reduce our operating costs, our energy consumption and the concomitant greenhouse gas emissions.
Overall Target
We will reduce our consumption of fuels and electricity in all municipal operations each year between now and 2020.
Objectives
To implement energy audits on all municipal facilities during the next five years;
To convert all lighting in town facilities, parking lots and street lighting to LED.
We need reliable, low-cost, sustainable energy sources delivering energy to the most efficient facilities and energy-consuming technology feasible.
Stakeholder Needs
Internal stakeholders (Council, CAO, staff) need to be able to clearly communicate the corporate commitment to energy efficiency, and to develop the skills and knowledge required to implement energy management practices and measures. External stakeholders (the Province, community citizens and groups) need the municipality to be accountable for energy performance and to minimize the energy component of the costs of municipal services.
Municipal Energy Situation
Our assessment of organizational capacity for energy management with respect to energy policy; organizational structure; employee awareness, skills and knowledge; energy information management; communications; and investment practices indicates the following: The Town of Mono has pursued many measures to improve the energy efficiency of municipal equipment. Some of these measures include: Interior and exterior lighting upgrades at the town offices and Monora Park Pavilion Proposal to Council for conversion to LED street lighting Approved FIT project for solar photovoltaic applications at Town facilities. As the understanding of corporate energy consumption improves, staff will be equipped with the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions. This improved understanding will also reveal how simple actions like commissioning and maintenance procedures can improve existing equipment efficiency.
How We Manage Energy Today
The management of energy consumption and the energy performance of our facilities and equipment are the responsibilities of: Finance (cost management), Works Department (maintenance), Department managers (operations), the CAO for leadership.
Summary of Current Energy Consumption, Cost and GHGs
Summaries of energy consumption and greenhouse gas may be found in appendices to this plan.
Trends in Energy Consumption
Our energy consumption decreased due to efficiency created by upgrading our buildings with spray foam insulation, high efficiency furnaces and LED lighting retrofits. This trend will continue with additional upgrades and retrofits.
Summary of Current Technical Practices
Our assessment of operations and maintenance practices, facility and equipment condition, and energy performance indicators establishes the following priorities:
Development of standard operating procedures incorporating energy efficiency optimization,
Enhancement of preventative maintenance procedures,
Continuation of our retrofit of lighting system in Mono Centre Community Centre in 2015
Implementation of the LED Street lighting conversion in 2014.
Renewable Energy Utilized or Planned
The Town of Mono aspires to show leadership in the promotion and development of renewable energy systems that are compatible with our asset management and land use planning objectives. As a result, we have applied for and received approval to develop a solar photovoltaic system on the rooftop of the municipal garage/shop building, subject to capacity of the adjoining street hydro system to take the resultant additional current. The town will consider possibilities for additional roof top installations on municipal buildings.
As an integral component of the management structure, the energy management plan is coordinated with the municipality's budget planning process, preventative maintenance plans, environmental management plan, and the overall asset management plan.
We will develop criteria for the design and/or acquisition of new buildings that include energy performance factors and that use as appropriate the principles embedded in performance standards such as LEED and the Model National Energy Code for Buildings.
Business Procedures
We will carry out a comprehensive review of all business processes and modify them as necessary in order to incorporate energy efficiency considerations.
We will carry out the required development of business procedures and communication programs and implement them methodically according to the planned timelines within the resources constraints that apply.
Asset Level
We use department and facility energy team representatives to facilitate the implementation of facility level business procedures and communication initiatives, including energy performance reporting.
Overall Target: We will reduce our overall municipal energy consumption (from all facilities and streetlights) by 5% from 2014 (based on baseline data) to 2019. The baseline was determined by averaging the annual consumption in ekWh for 2011 and 2012 for all facilities reported under Regulation 397/11 plus streetlights as they are such a significant energy consumer.
Green House Gas Emission
Governments at all levels are moving to address emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), in light of scientific evidence on how human activities are affecting the world's climate. For more information on the science, see the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The combustion of fossil fuels in buildings is a major source of GHG emissions that fall under local government influence. Municipalities can lower emissions by improving energy efficiency of buildings and using more renewable energy. The Town of Mono is committed to both objectives through the development and implementation of this Energy Conservation and Demand Management Plan (CDM). We will continue to track and report on GHGs as part of our regular reporting on energy consumption and will evaluate progress in this area against our overall reduction target.
Cost
Summary of Current Energy Consumption, Cost and GHGs: The current energy usage by building is detailed in Appendix A. Our energy usage is updated monthly in the Energy Planning Tool (EPT) and reported annually to the Ministry of Energy.
Energy Consumption: We will review and evaluate our energy plan, revising and updating it as necessary, on an annual basis as based on the Energy Consumption Reports that are submitted to the Ministry of Energy on an annual basis as required under Regulation 397/11.
The Mono Community Policing Committee is run by volunteers who live and/or work in the Town of Mono and meets bimonthly to allow for feedback from committee members, individual residents, and the OPP Community Policing Officer. The committee also operates the Neighbourhood Watch program.
Tax certificates show the amount of money owing against a property. If you are buying a new property you can order a certificate to be sure there are no outstanding amounts owing when you take ownership. Anyone can purchase a tax certificate by submitting a letter requesting a tax certificate, along with the fee payable to the Town of Mono.
You may email a scanned PDF letter request and cheque copy to cathy.crawford@townofmono.com. The original letter along with payment should be placed in the mail the same date as the request.
