Feature Article April 10, 2003
LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb HomeFMB takes ambulance service in-houseby Jeff Green During a special meeting that only lasted 9 minutes, the Frontenac Management Board made a decision that surprised no one, least of all irate politicians from the City of Kingston, and will begin running the ambulance service for Kingston and Frontenac County on January 1, 2004.
Officials from the City will be exploring legal options to stop the FMB from doing this. It is as yet unclear what the outcome of the explorations will be.
The estimated start up cost of taking on the service will be $480,000, of which the City will be paying a large share. In meetings on the issue, Kingston Community Services commissioner Lance Thurston argued that the $480,000 figure was unrealistic, and will probably be much higher.
Now that the decision has been made, the FMB implementation strategy will be put in place. This should keep the staff busy. In April alone, they are planning to advertise for staff, organize an office to administer the service, carry out a review of the current system, look at base locations for the new service, design a crest, produce a procedure manual, and develop a recruitment plan and a communications strategy. As well, the strategy calls for finalizing the organizational structure and working on a Certification plan for the new system.
