Jeff Green | Feb 03, 2016


Ambulance service committee to be established

Councilor Tony Fritsch proposed the establishment of a council committee, which will include members of the public, to deal with persistent threats to the continued existence of a 12-hour a day ambulance service based in Denbigh and a 24-hour service in Northbrook. A recent report by the Emergency Services department of Lennox and Addington County calls for the closing of the Denbigh base and the transfer of hours to the base in Loyalist Township.

“The impact of that change would be felt throughout Addington Highlands,” said Fritsch, “because there would be no back up should the Northbrook ambulance be out on a call.”

As a member of L&A Council, Reeve Henry Hogg has seen repeated attempts to cut the Denbigh service, which was a 24-hour service until it was cut back in 2011. He said that one of the committee's main roles would be to contact neighbouring municipalities, particularly Frontenac County, for support in maintaining services in both Denbigh and Northbrook.

“Most of the calls from Denbigh go into Frontenac County, as do many from Northbrook, and pressure needs to be brought to bear on them. So far they have not responded to us when we tried to contact them about the pending loss of service,” he said.

L&A County Council has deferred debate on the future of the Denbigh base to budget deliberations, which get underway this week. The Emergency Services budget is not on the agenda at that meeting, but will be at a subsequent meeting, on February 10 or February 17.

More concerns about Flinton Library and its neighbour

Librarian June Phillips appeared before Council on Monday to express more concerns about how the Library property is being affected by the new tenants of the former United Church, which is located next door.

Last year the township agreed to transfer a small piece of land to the new owner of the church to enable a septic system to be installed.

Phillips is now concerned about materials that are located on a right of way between the two buildings and about the location of the survey lines that have been drawn to mark off the new boundaries of the former church property.

Reeve Hogg said that she could contact the bylaw office to deal with materials cluttering the right of way, and said if there are issues with the survey they can be looked at as well.

Requests

Peter Rasenberg will be able to use the Finton rink free of charge on February 6, assuming there is ice, for a fundraising tournament. All monies raised will go to the Hockey Skills program.

Land O'Lakes Community Services has made their annual request for funding support at a level of $1.25 per household in the township. The request has been deferred to budget deliberations, which will get underway in two weeks, before the regular meeting in Denbigh on February 16.

Water issues at new fire station

It seems that the cost of improving the quality of the water at the new Northbrook fire station will be absorbed by the township.

Chris Bent of Jewell Engineering, Belleville, sent a letter to Council in mid-January, in which he pointed out that the contract documents with the design-builder of the hall, TaskForce Engineering, stipulate only that a well be drilled on the property and a water supply provided to the building from the well. There is nothing about water potability in the contract.

“It was noted that residential dwellings in the vicinity of the fire hall draw potable water from wells on their properties. As a result, there was no concern regarding poor well water quality in the area of the fire hall site, and therefore, no consideration for the inclusion of an allowance for water treatment in the contract schedule of prices,” Bent concluded.

Fire Chief Casey Cuddy said that when the project was first being considered, water potability was to be included by Jewell, “but somehow it got pulled out as the process went along.”

“We need to get this dealt with,” said Councilor Bill Cox, “we have a nice new fire hall and we need to have potable water there.”

Possible remediation includes a water treatment system or a new well. The existing well is 300 feet deep, according to Cuddy.

Stylish privy in place

Volunteer carpenters in Denbigh have built and installed a new privy at the Denbigh ball-field. All that is left to do is install tin for the roofing, but the privy is ready for use now.

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