Over 60 citizens present at a public meeting in Denbigh were united in their determination to keep their ambulance services in the Denbigh community.

On June 16, Denbigh resident Paul Isaacs led a public meeting at the Denbigh hall to inform the community at large about the IBI Group’s 2010 Ambulance Service Review Update, which was presented to county council at their June 8 meeting. The public meeting was brought about by Addington Highlands Reeve Henry Hogg, who, though he could not attend, felt strongly that the public should be informed of the issue.

Councilor Tony Fritsch expressed his strong belief in preserving the current service. “Denbigh is the logical location for an ambulance base to best serve in this region and it must be retained”.

AH Councilor Adam Snider then reviewed the IBI report, which recommends that “the northern services be consolidated to a single base along the 41 corridor in the Northbrook/Cloyne vicinity and one ambulance be relocated to Loyalist Township, where it can be put to more cost effective use.”

One reason given in the report for the proposed change is the presence of the Lakelands Family Health Team (LFHT), which now operates clinics in both Northbrook and Denbigh. At the meeting, a number of staff from LFHT made mention of the fact that at no time were they contacted by the IBI group prior to the completion of the 2010 report. Janice Powell, executive director of the LFHT, who also served on the 2008 Community Ambulance Committee, said she was surprised to find her team mentioned at all in the report. “We provide primary care service, not emergency services. We do not have the equipment, or the resources to be providing emergency care, and are open only during regular business hours. As far as I'm concerned the ambulance service has to stay, and I am prepared to come back on the committee to fight for it.”

Susan Peters, nurse practitioner at the LFHT, strongly reiterated that point. “Rural communities are under-serviced to begin with and a decrease in ambulance response times will mean that people will die. I do not have access to first line emergency drugs, nor IVs. The bottom line here is that the ambulance must stay.”

Dr. Tobia of the LFHT also spoke from the audience. “It's really quite simple. One life up here in the north is worth as much as one in the south. The biggest issue here is ambulance response time.” Dr. Tobia cited the projected response times resulting from consolidated service stats taken from the 2010 report, which state that with the new proposal, only 13% of Denbigh calls will be responded to within 15 minutes, a decrease from previous years, whereas in Odessa there will be an increase, to 97% of calls that will be responded to within 15 minutes. Dr. Tobia continued, “The notion of reducing response times is ridiculous, especially when all of the guidelines are proving that survival rates depend on people getting to the hospital sooner.”

Gary Foster, Hall 3 chief with the Kaladar/Barrie Fire Department, addressed the issue of the fire department’s need for ambulance services in the area to deal with serious injuries and medical calls. “We dread the fact that right now this area is less serviced by ambulances than any areas in Renfrew County. I can tell you right now that if service is reduced, the result will no doubt be more deaths.”

Paul Isaacs agreed. “This report does not take into account the types of calls that we get here. Out of the total calls, this service has a higher percentage of serious calls than those in Napanee, which means that while we may have fewer calls, they are of a more urgent nature.” Isaacs also brought up the issue of the shape of the service area as well as the widely spread population. “L&A County is extremely long and narrow, and the majority of the population lies within 30 miles of the lakeshore, which means that the service cannot operate the same way it does in other areas. This is a problem in bureaucracy, which seems to deem that all areas require the same kind of service, which is simply not the case.”

Councilor Fritsch addressed the 2010 report’s account of increased cost in the current service since 2008, which many present at the meeting believed was the result of the province’s discontinuation of volunteer service. “One thing that irks me was the 2008 report’s argument to omit volunteers due to the high cost of managing them. The idea to go to full-time paramedics rather than volunteers was supposed to reduce the administrative costs, but instead the costs have increased, not decreased,” he said.

Deputy Reeve Bill Cox weighed in on the overall costs. “This is not a cost saving proposal in any way. If you look at the report you'll see that cross border service is cheaper than supplying your own.”

Denbigh resident Yvonne Rosien, a former first response volunteer with the now defunct volunteer ambulance service, recalled getting paid $2 an hour as a volunteer and questioned why that service was discontinued. “I have watched a 50-year old woman die when an ambulance was standing by in Northbrook. I want to get other politicians involved and see them out here seeing how this issue is going to affect people in this community. It will affect every single one of us at one time or another.” Audience member Frances Rosenblath said she is alive as result of the ambulance services here. “Fifteen years ago I suffered an allergy attack and went into anaphylactic shock and if it wasn't for the ambulance service I wouldn't be here today.”

Members of the community planned to meet at a second meeting on June 21 in Denbigh, where a plan would be discussed on how to present their recommendations in a unified way to county council.

Affordable Housing post 2011

A presentation was made by Chris Laundry, a social housing consultant working for Lennox and Addington, about the future of the affordable housing sector in the county.

He provided an overview of the way provincial and federal governments have developed the current stock of rent geared to income and low-rent housing since the 1950s, and focussed on the most recent initiatives.

The main reason for his visit, however, was to talk about some of the implications of Bill 140, which was passed at Queen's Park in May. The major impacts of Bill 140 will come clear once some of the major provisions are enacted later this year.

“One of the major outcomes of the legislation will be to clarify the role of the consolidate service managers (CSM) and to streamline applications for affordable housing,” Laundry said.

Lennox and Addington County is a CSM and it operates about 350 housing units in Napanee and throughout the countryside, including some in Flinton.

Laundry said there will be changes that Lennox and Addington will have to deal with, and there may also be opportunities to add new kinds of housing as the result of the new legislation.

Denbigh Community Centre – Councilor Tony Fritsch presented a number of requests from the group working on bringing the Denbigh Community Centre project to completion. He divided the requests into items that need addressing now; items that need addressing in the near future; and “a list of additional projects for investigation.” Of immediate concern are the purchase and installation of a chimney liner ($2,800) and a minor roof repair ($1,500 or less). These were approved.

Northbrook fire hall and township office – Council established a committee that includes Reeve Henry Hogg, Deputy Reeve Bill Cox, Fire Chief Casey Cuddy, Public Works Manager Royce Rosenblath, and Clerk/Treasurer Jack Pauhl to consider a design/build project for a new combined fire hall and township office on a piece of land the township has purchased on Highway 41 south of Northbrook. A house located on the property is being demolished and the project is now ready to be looked at in more detail.

Roads – Royce Rosenblath reported that dust suppression is now being applied to gravel roads within the township. A tender was also awarded for gravel crushing to Genware for $86,000.

Fire – There were six bids received for a new tanker for the Denbigh station. The lowest was $179,739, below the $185,000 budgeted for the tanker. Council gave Fire Chief Cuddy the authority to award the tender, provided he is satisfied that the bidder has met all the requirements in the request for proposal that the township had set out. Cuddy also said he wanted to check with some other fire services to see if they have had a good experience with the company that provided the lowest bid, because they have not been a supplier to Addington Highlands in the past.

Denbigh Ambulance Network – Alice Madigan, the chair of the ambulance network, made a short presentation to Council, imploring council to “do everything in their power to help the community of Denbigh and surrounding neighbours retain the Denbigh ambulance base.”

“I want to point out that both the Denbigh and Northbrook ambulances were out on call the other night and a call came in from Skootamatta. It took over an hour for a response from Marmora. That's the kind of thing we are looking at if the Denbigh base closes. We are on your side,” said Reeve Hogg, who will preside of the debate at Lennox and Addington County Council on ambulance services in his role of County Warden.

Council approves Denbigh Schoolhouse ‘concept’ plan

A 14-member community advisory committee has put together a plan for the redevelopment of the former Denbigh Schoolhouse as a community hub.

The concept plan, which was accepted in principle by Addington Highlands Council at a meeting on February 23, is anchored by a medical clinic, which will be constructed this spring and occupied as a satellite clinic by the Lakelands Family Health Team.

Currently the Family Health Team (FHT) is offering services in the former administrative offices in the building, and no other renovations to the building will happen until the FHT clinic is completed and occupied in the space that at one time was occupied by four classrooms.

The main elements of the concept plan are: to relocate the Denbigh library to a new location across the hallway from the medical clinic; to maintain use of the gym in the building and add banquet facilities to it; and to build a 390 square foot kitchen adjacent to the gym.

Other possible uses that could be housed in the facility are an ambulance base, which would have to be constructed as an addition to the building; a potential drop-in centre / coffee area / gift shop next to the library; a meeting room-classroom; space for the local food bank; and two or three possible locations for commercial office or retail space.

In addition to fitting all of these possible uses into the building, the advisory committee has put together a sequential implementation plan. The building will be called the Addington Highlands Community Centre – Denbigh (AHCC – Denbigh).

According to Addington Highlands Council member Tony Fritsch, who chaired the Community Advisory Committee, the 14-member group “really bonded well as a group to come up with this concept plan. We wanted to then look at the way the project could move forward so the committee, and the community, can see that this will take time, and commitment, to come to life. We didn't want the community to expect everything to be built this spring or summer.”

Among the first priorities is changing the entrance to the building so that is accessed off Highway 28, which involves a new doorway and parking area. The gym will then be oriented to the front entrance. It will not take that much to being the gym back into use, and it is hoped that will happen by the fall of this year. Giving the gym the capacity to function as a large meeting hall will be the next step. To give it the ability to serve as a banquet hall will take longer, because it will require the construction of a 390 square foot kitchen, which will take time and money. The tentative date for the kitchen construction is the fall of 2012.

Moving the library is a priority for this year, and with the effort of the library board it is envisioned that a design and cost estimate can be completed in time for a Trillium Fund application at the end of June. If that application is successful and all the necessary funding can be put in place, construction could start this fall or early in 2012.

The idea of moving the Denbigh ambulance base, however, is something that will be decided by Lennox and Addington County. The emergency services department of the county, which runs the ambulance service, will be looking at the building, and if an addition is built to accommodate an ambulance base adjacent to the clinic, it would be funded by the county. That would be a decision of L&A County Council.

Other potential commercial uses of the building are dependent on business people coming forward with investment proposals.

It is unclear at this point what impact the concept plan will have on the 2011 Addington Highlands budget, which will be considered by council later this month. Money could be put in reserve for the project if council decides to do so.

One thing the advisory committee did not do is make any recommendations regarding the existing Denbigh Hall. The committee did make the following statement, however, in their final report: “There is a strong attachment to the Community Hall. As the AHCC evolves over the next couple of years, it will become more apparent as to the options for this hall.”

One other thing that interested the committee was the idea of seniors' housing. Although the committee quickly realized this initiative would involve a completely separate facility and was thus out of their scope at this time, the community interest in this could lead to a new process.

Other items from Addington Highlands Council – Council met for what ended up being one of the shortest meetings on record in Flinton on Monday, March 7. Reeve Henry Hogg had to leave early, and the agenda was light, so the meeting took less than 15 minutes (normally meetings range from 60 – 90 minutes).

Eythel Grant, the township appointee to Quinte Conservation, reported on a recent meeting. He said that Quinte had considered whether the Flinton dam would be a suitable location for a micro-hydro project, but the up front capital costs would outstrip potential revenues.

Deerock, Deerrock - Quinte calls the whole thing off Eythel Grant said that he had brought the Deerrock signage issue, a pet peeve of Councilor Helen Yanch, to the attention of Quinte staff. All of Quinte Conservation's signage and mapping used Deerock, and Yanch has pointed out for several years that the Lake is named Deer Rock not Dee Rock.

Grant reported that Quinte Conservation “will be looking at the historical record to see what the lake was called in the past, and in any event will not be making any changes until they do new mapping.”

“They can look as hard as they want,” said Yanch, “but it is called Deer rock.”

Addington Highlands Council will not be combing though their 2011 budget for another month or more, but they are already facing an increase in the library budget of $27,000, an increase of over 100% over last year (from $24,800 to $51,800).

June Phillips, the CEO of the two branch library (Flinton and Denbigh) said that as a result of several factors, namely: the completion of a Trillium Foundation grant the library received two years ago; the end of the Community Access Portal (CAP) Internet program in its current form; and the end of a once a month Service Canada contract, the library is facing a loss of almost a 1/3 of its outside funding, putting more pressure on township ratepayers to cover the cost of keeping the doors open.

Phillips recommends cutting some hours, to 15 a week in the winter and 18 in the summer in Flinton, and 13 a week in the winter and 16 in the summer in Denbigh in order to cut the budget to about $70,000 a year from the $95,000 2010 budget.

The township library has had an electronic makeover over the last five years. Services are now fully automated and accessible through Addigtonhighlandspubliclibary.ca, which offers online access not only to the library’s internal resources but to the province-wide inter-library loan program, which delivers books and other materials from across the province free of charge to library users in about a week.

“The two libraries have high speed wireless service available for the public, which is used by township residents and visitors,” said June Phillips, “and I think the ending of the CAP program in a township that still has no high speed Internet access in many locations is a mistake. I hope they revamp it somehow.

“That's a huge drop in funding you are facing,” said Councilor Tony Fritsch.

“We expected this would happen some day,” answered June Phillips. “It's here now. This budget basically keeps us where we are at. If not we will have to move backwards.”

“You've been a miracle worker over the years,” said Councilor Bill Cox to Phillips, “we get a pretty good deal here compared to the amount of money spent on libraries in L&A County.”

Council will consider the library budget request when the township budget is considered in the early spring.

Looking forward, Phillips said that the library in Denbigh would grow drastically if it were moved to the new Community Centre with the Lakelands Family Health Team, which she said would be a vastly improved location.

AHEAD – Larry Pealow, the chair of the Addington Highlands Economic Advisory Development (AHEAD) Committee, made two requests of the township.

He presented council with copies of a Business and Services directory pamphlet that includes 100 businesses and organizations, and received approval to print 5,000 copies of the brochure at a cost of $700. They will be inserted in the interim tax bills and distributed in retail outlets as well.

Pealow also asked for $500 on behalf of the Land O'Lakes Garden Club to kick-start the purchase of plants for the planter box program this year.

At first council considered deferring the request to the budget, but Councilor Helen Yanch pointed out that if the money is needed to buy materials for transplanting, it will be needed before the budget is completed on May 1, so the expenditure was approved on the spot.

Other members of AHEAD, including Andy Anderson and Ken Hook, joined Larry Pealow in a meeting with council that took place after the regular meeting. They were seeking a stronger commitment from council to the committee, because members of council have not been attending AHEAD meetings in recent months.

Construction rebounds in 2010 – The building department reported that construction values were up by $1.47 million in 2010 over 2009. The 2010 total was $4.5 million, up from $3.1 million in 2009. Permit fees also rose in 2010, from $36,500 to $41,800.

Disappointment over Highway 7/41 intersection – “I can hardly believe that the 7 and 41 intersection does not need improvements,” said Tony Fritsch in response to a letter from the Ministry of Transportation that was forwarded to AH from North Frontenac Township. The letter included the following statement about the “long-term” improvement plan for the intersection: “The plan includes turning lanes, grade improvements, approach re-alignments, and future signalization capacities.” It has also identified “a realignment of the current intersection to the west of the existing intersection location. The improvements are not currently scheduled in the Southern Highways Program.”

The Ministry did not indicate if and when the improvements would be scheduled.

“I think they only look at traffic on Highway 7 through there, when there is more traffic going through there on Highway 41,” said Reeve Henry Hogg. “It's been frustrating dealing with them on this. It is a dangerous intersection that needs a stop light.”

Lakelands Family Health Team held an open house at the Denbigh Hall on February 6. The hall was packed with Denbigh and area residents eager to find out about services the Health Team would have available, both presently and in the future. Two Denbigh councilors, Adam Snider and Tony Fritsch, were also present at the meeting. Janice Powell, from Lakelands Family Health Team, headed the discussion and introduced the health care professionals who would be peopling the team. 

Lakelands Family Health Team (Denbigh site) will consist of Dr. Bernard Tobia; Janice Powell, ED; Susan Peters, Nurse Practitioner; Sue Tobia, Program Manager; Marg Schwager, Counsellor; Tammy Keller, Chiropodist; Brenda Madigan, receptionist/clerical staff; and a dietitian, (not yet hired).  Ms. Powell informed the attentive crowd that Dr. Tobia will be in Denbigh at the same time he has been in the past, but that Nurse Practitioner Susan Peters will be in Denbigh five days a week. As nurse practitioner, she can perform any duty a doctor can, except to give out narcotics. Other services the team offers are educational and working programs on illnesses and issues such as Diabetes, chronic pain, mental health, etc. These programs are currently under development, and once this process has been completed, they will be offered to all patients rostered to the Family Health Team.

In 2008, a Community Health Committee was formed to look at health care in our community and what could be done to ensure services for the future. The committee concluded that an application for a Family Health Team would be submitted when the Ministry of Health invited same. This was done in July of 2009 and approved in December the same year. Addington Highlands Township secured the abandoned public school in Denbigh for this project, and will look at the upgrades and renovations needed to upgrade the building to house the Health Team. Although many of the renovations are still in the planning, the first part of the health centre is now resident in one wing. The health team hopes to be able to offer more medical services in the near and far future, including the addition of a second doctor, who will come to the area in July 2012. To access the programs, one must be rostered to the Health Team. For after hours and weekend emergencies, a phone number will be available for people to call.

Lakelands Family Health Team will be an invaluable service to Denbigh and area, as it hosts a growing population of aging and retired residents. Except for services provided now by Dr. Tobia, residents must travel at least an hour to see a doctor and other services. Lakelands Family Health Team will make complete health care available in the immediate area.

Janice Powell opened the floor to questions and the Health Team answered them to everyone’s satisfaction. Several residents at the meeting thanked the Health Team, expressing their gratitude for the health services that are much needed and appreciated, both now and in future.

Finally, everyone enjoyed a light luncheon, consisting of some very tasty and healthy snacks, and had time to visit one on one with the health professionals present.

A similar open house will be presented in Northbrook on Sunday 13 February from 2 – 4 pm, as the Lakelands Family Health Team will provide services for both communities.

Proposals as varied as an indoor swimming pool, a rehab centre, a location for night classes, a Tim Horton's location, office space for Land O'Lakes Community Services and a banquet hall were all thrown into the mix as possible uses for the former Denbigh School at a public meeting last Thursday, January 20.

The school has been renamed the Addington Highlands Community Centre – Denbigh.

“There are no bad ideas” said Tony Fritsch, the Addington Highlands councilor from Denbigh ward who led the meeting along with Councilor Adam Snider. “Funding them may be a different question, but that is not for tonight.”

There were also proposals that would involve less extensive changes to the building, including keeping the gymnasium intact as a public use space and building a community garden and/or outdoor market on the grounds of the building.

Another suggestion was to move the library and public hall functions, for which the existing Denbigh Hall is now used, to the schoolhouse building. The present Denbigh hall costs about $16,000 a year to keep up, plus an average of $10,000 per year for capital costs. It is located on the property next to the school.

“Council will have to look at the cost of maintaining two halls,” Fritsch said. “We all have memories, sentimental attachments to this building, but the new space will cost money to renovate and maintain as well and we have to consider how much use this building will get once the new one is up and running.”

All these opportunities and questions will be considered by a council/community task force that was formed after the public meeting. It will meet tonight, January 27, and for the next three Thursdays to prepare recommendations for council. Members of the public are welcome to join the committee, and all meetings are public.

“We will start by working through the proposals that have come out tonight,” said Fritsch.

The meeting also included an update to the 50 or so people in attendance concerning the Lakeland Family Health Team (FHT), which will be operating a clinic in part of the new community centre starting on March 7.

Janice Powell from the Health Team reported that the clinic will offer full-time service, and will be open 8:30 to 4:30 Monday to Friday, with different health professionals attending at different times. Powell said a Nurse Practitioner has already been hired by the Lakeland FHT, as has a chiropodist, and a dietitian is still being sought. The clinic will operate in temporary quarters while renovations are being completed to the space.

The township will cover the cost of the renovations, which will be getting underway as soon as possible once plans are finalized, and the Ministry of Health will pay $20,000 a year in facility fees to the township after that.

“The ministry said that if they pay for the renovations they would not pay any money for rent, so this is a better deal for the township in the long run,” said Tony Fritsch.

Among the questions that were put to Janice Powell was one about the possibility of a medication dispensary on the site.

“We are working on that one,” she said.

When completed, the Denbigh clinic will have an examination room, a procedure room, a physician and nurse practitioner's office and a reception area.

An Open House will be held at the Denbigh Community Hall on February 6, and at the Northbrook Lions Hall on February 13, from 2 to 4 pm both days.

Addington Highlands Community Centre – Denbigh (AHDCC): Councilor Tony Fritsch reported that the cleanup of the Centre is complete and the transfer of the utilities to the township is well underway. Drawings will be prepared to determine the layout of the Family Health Team’s (FHT) quarters in the building. Fritsch also said that a major part of the project will be to reverse the orientation of the building and move the main entrance and parking to the north side.

Presently the main entrance is on the south side, where there is a steep slope, and also, the well and septic are both located there. The north side, however, is level and has ample room for parking. Dr. Tobia and the FHT have agreed to the change and Fritsch asked for council’s endorsement of the plan.

Councilor Adam Snider, however, suggested that “subject to MTO [Ontario Ministry of Transportation] approval” should be added to the motion, and a discussion ensued as to whether MTO approval would be required or not, as the south entrance is off Centre Street and not directly off Hwy 28.

Roads Superintendent Royce Rosenblath said that because of the existing entrance it was a “gray area”. He could not predict how MTO would respond if their approval were needed.

Fritsch said that the Family Health Team would be put on hold waiting for a decision from MTO. In the end Snider withdrew his amendment and council voted to support the change of orientation of the building.

Reeve Hogg later said that the township will consult with MTO at some point in the future.

A tour of the community centre, followed by a meeting to receive the public’s input and form a Denbigh Community Advisory Committee is planned for tonight, January 20. Sign up sheets for the committee will be available.

Bill MacDonald visits: Liberal MPP candidate Bill MacDonald attended the council meeting in Denbigh to find out what issues the municipality sees as being the most pressing. He said that, of course, he was also asking for their support and cited his many years of experience as a municipal politician and in the educational supply business. He said that there is a “missing link” in the provincial government, namely someone who would voice the concerns of rural municipalities, and he asked council what he could do to help out if he were elected.

In response, Reeve Henry Hogg identified long-range infrastructure support as the township’s biggest need. He said that roads and bridges are the township’s biggest long-term deficit, and that the province gives a portion of gas tax money to cities for transportation but rural municipalities get nothing. Addington Highlands has over a million dollars in bridge needs alone but no funding to pay for the work.

Hogg said that social services have been uploaded to the province, but as the township has had its Ontario Municipal Partnership Funds (OMPF) reduced, there is no net benefit to the township. The OMPF assists municipalities with their social services costs.

Denbigh Homecoming: Bonnie Thompson attended council to ask for their support for a Denbigh Homecoming event that is planned for July 27 - 29, 2012. Thompson is part of a group of friends who are organizing the Homecoming, and they are asking local merchants, organizations and groups to take part in, and perhaps run some of the different events of the weekend. She said the group’s plans have received much support and enthusiasm from residents and former residents, and that the Homecoming is for everyone, not just for people who attended the Denbigh school.

She asked for council’s permission to use the township facilities: the community hall, the recreation park and the new community centre, and whether there would be a charge for their use. Council agreed that as it is a public event there would be no charge.

The question arose, however, of whether the Homecoming could be covered under the township’s insurance. The suggestion was made that the Denbigh Recreation Committee could run the bar and the Saturday night dance but Councilor Helen Yanch pointed out that a similar question was investigated before and it was found that the rec committee was not automatically covered by the township’s insurance.

The township’s insurers will be contacted about the Homecoming.

Deputy Reeve Bill Cox asked Bonnie Thompson whether she could come back with more specific details. She replied that the group does have a more specific schedule but she did not want to bring it to council before she found out whether council would agree to the use of the facilities.

Loss of long-time employee: Royce Rosenblath spoke of the loss of Mike Kerr, a 20-year employee of the township, who died suddenly on January 6. Rosenblath said Mike’s death had left a big hole in the crew. Council appointed Cameron Lloyd as lead hand in Mike’s place.

Blue Box Recycling: Rosenblath reported that the Blue Box recycling is going well and is working as intended to reduce contamination in the recyclables. He said that people can now easily spot, and take out things that should not be in the recycling bins.

Bridge issues predominate at first meeting of the year

Addington Highlands Public Works Manager Royce Rosenblath presented a report on bridge inspections, prepared by Jewel Engineering, to the first council meeting of the year on January 4 in Flinton.

The report notes that of the 14 structures studied, including bridges and major culverts, one was recommended for immediate closure. The Syman’s Bridge crosses over the Skootamatta River on Concession 5, which is technically a township road, but since there are no residents living on the road, it has not been maintained by the township for many years. The road is mainly used for recreational purposes. The bridge has been closed, and Jewell Engineering has pegged the cost of replacing it at $450,000.

Complicating matters as far as the Syman’s bridge is concerned, is the fact that it is used in the wintertime by snowmobilers, and is part of the north-south route on the snowmobile trail that is run by the Mazinaw chapter of the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC).

Tom Shepherd from the snowmobile club appeared before council concerning the possibility of shoring up the bridge enough for use by snowmobiles in order to keep a trail open between Kaladar and Cloyne this winter.

“Because the bridge has been condemned we would need an engineer’s letter saying it is safe for use by snowmobiles before we allow it to be used,” said Reeve Henry Hogg.

“What if we have the OFSC insurer add the township as a user on that bridge for the snowmobile season alone?” asked Tom Shepherd.

“I'm not so concerned about the insurance as the danger. I don’t want someone to phone me and say they went through the bridge, whether we are insured or not,” said Henry Hogg.

“I think the due diligence is for there to be some comfort that the bridge is sound,” added Councilor Tony Fritsch.

The cost of an engineer’s letter is estimated at $2,000, and Shepherd said that the snowmobile club could put up about $1,000 and use volunteer labour to shore up the bridge if the township could cover the other $1,000 for a letter.

“That is the only trail that allows people to get from Kaladar to Cloyne and Denbigh,” said Deputy Reeve Bill Cox.

Tom Shepherd took down the phone number of the township’s contact at Jewell Engineering. He will talk directly to them about plans to shore up the bridge and have a letter prepared.

If the plan does not work, Shepherd said the local club would have to appeal to the OFSC to pay for a repair to the bridge, but that would not happen this winter.

“In the meantime do you want us to put some closed signs up there?” Shepherd asked.

“You can if you want. We’ve put them up a couple of times and they keep coming down,” said Henry Hogg.

The possibility of rebuilding the Syman’s Bridge will be considered at budget time, but “I don’t think it is something we will do this year” said Henry Hogg.

Two other structures, the Ruttan’s Road Bridge ($450,000) and the Freeburn Road culvert ($175,000) are also slated for closure in one to five years.

The cost of bringing a number of other structures up to provincial standards ranges from $35,000 for the Hartsmere Road bridge to $162,000 for Trepaniers bridge, for a total cost of $420,000.

Rosenblath said he would consider traffic counts, the number of residents served, and other factors in framing some recommendations for budget consideration this spring.

The township recently rebuilt two bridges, the Wager’s bridge and the Flinton bridge at a cost of over $1,000,000 each, but they accessed matching federal and provincial grants for those projects.

“I don’t see any of those kinds of grants coming our way for quite a while,” said Reeve Hogg.

Denbigh waste site opening delayed by red tape

Royce Rosenblath informed council that he received letter from the Ministry of the Environment last week outlining measures the township needs to take before it can re-open the Denbigh waste site.

“We need to do some ditching and put in a clay liner, which are small items, but we also need to do some water testing in the spring and in the fall before we can accept waste at the site. The frustrating thing is that the letter is dated August 5. If it had been sent to us then we could have tested last fall and in the coming spring, and the site would be open this year. As it is it will be another year until we can open it,” Rosenblath said.

Public input sought over use of the Denbigh school house

A public meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 20 to gather input and ideas on the long-term use of the facility and surrounding property at the former Denbigh school house now that Addington Highlands township has taken possession of the property, which is now called the Addington Highlands Community Centre (Denbigh).

The Lakelands Family Health Team will be occupying part of the building for a clinic, but no decisions have yet been made about other uses.

The comments made at the public meeting will form part of the deliberations of a short-term committee, which will meet weekly between January 27 and February 17 before presenting a draft report to council on February 22. That committee will include representative from the township, the AH library Board, the Lakelands Family Health Team, the AH Recreation facilities committee, the Denbigh Rec. Club, and community representatives.

Anyone interested in the process is encouraged to contact the township or just come to the meeting, which will take place at the Denbigh Hall, starting at 7:00 pm.

Henry Hogg has seen this all before.

In 2008, as Reeve of Addington Highlands and member of Lennox and Addington County Council, he had the job of convincing his colleagues on county council that it was important to maintain the ambulance services in Northbrook and Denbigh even though a consultant’s report suggested it was too expensive to operate two bases in the sparsely populated northern end of the county.

At that time, the county sided with Addington Highlands and kept the two bases in operation.

At the same time, a decision was made to integrate the entire L&A County ambulance service into the same professional model. Previously, the northern bases had been what are called ‘volunteer’ services, which pay paramedics at a lower rate. The L&A ambulance service is slated to be fully integrated by 2014, raising the projected costs of running the two northern bases.

The L&A ambulance service rents space for the Northbrook base, and they have been informed that the landlord has other plans for the building after the current lease expires at the end of this month, although the lease can be extended for a time.

To deal with this, an update to the 2008 consultant’s report was ordered, and that report was delivered to L&A County Council last week.

The update deals with a lot more issues than finding a new location for the Northbrook base. It notes that the northern bases are much more costly to operate than they were three years ago, and are even less frequently used.

“Station operating costs for both Northbrook and Denbigh have increased to $700,000 (from $465,000 in 2008) and are projected to increase to $1,033,000 by 2014. Call volumes have declined by about 10%. For Northbrook the cost per call has increased to $1,850 (from $1,100) and for Denbigh it has increased to $5,500 (from $3,100),” says the new report. “In our opinion, it is no longer necessary or financially justifiable to maintain ambulance service operations at both locations.”

The report recommends closing the Denbigh and Northbrook bases, and opening a new base in the Northbrook/Cloyne area. It also recommends building a new base to serve Loyalist Township, which is currently served mostly by Kingston ambulance bases operated by Frontenac County ambulance services. Ambulance calls to Loyalist are billed to L&A County, based on a cross-border agreement.

On a more positive note, the report recommends ending the policy of having northern ambulances go south to Tamworth on standby whenever the Napanee ambulance is called out, which happened twice a day, on average, last year. The report also recommends upgrading the capacity of the system to put Advanced Life Service paramedics in L&A ambulances in the coming years.

Henry Hogg, who has now been the Warden of Lennox and Addington for two years in addition to being Reeve of Addington Highlands, is less than convinced by all of the points raised in the new report.

“The report said that the new Family Health Teams in Northbrook and Denbigh have changed the service environment, but they have little to do with the kind of 24-hour emergency service that people are seeking when they call an ambulance. People call an ambulance to go to a hospital, and hospitals are an hour away from Addington Highlands,” he said.

Hogg said he is not sure that the members of county council will go along with the recommendations.

“I am not convinced that the cross-border service in Loyalist is hurting anyone, and the Denbigh base serves Renfrew and Frontenac County as well as Lennox and Addington. If that base were gone, there would be a large region that would be a long way from any ambulance base,” he said. “This is not a done deal. I’m not sure there is enough support on council for it to proceed,” he said

Ambulance talks “not fruitful”: Meanwhile back in Frontenac County, putting in a northern ambulance base continues to be on hold.

At a Frontenac County Council meeting in May, a proposal by North Frontenac to go ahead with construction of a joint ambulance base/fire hall in Ompah was deferred because details about how the costs will be divided up have not been agreed to. At the time, the direction from county council was for an agreement to be worked on at staff level.

However, talks at a staff level “have not been fruitful”, in the words of North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton. Staff have not met in person to work on an agreement.

According to North Frontenac CAO Cheryl Robson, County CAO Liz Savill has informed the township that she has not received specific direction from county council to alter a funding formula calling for two-thirds of the costs to be borne by North Frontenac. Since this change is what North Frontenac had requested in order to move the project forward, the matter must go back to county council, which will not be meeting until July 6.

Mayor Clayton said that he has asked County Warden Gary Davison to call an emergency meeting this month to deal with this, because the construction window for building a base in 2011 is rapidly closing, “but the warden refused to call a meeting,” Clayton said.

In the interim, the potential closing of the Denbigh base may change Frontenac County’s plans entirely, because Frontenac County depends on the Denbigh base to cover its northwest corner.

Paul Charbonneau, the Director of Emergency Services for Frontenac County, said on Tuesday, June 14 that he had just received the report about the future of the Lennox and Addington Service and will be reading it this week.

“It [the report] has not been a factor in anything we have done thus far, because I was not even aware of its existence,” he said, “but that does not mean it won’t become a factor.”

Editorial by Jeff Green

There was a time when Denbigh was a pilot project for volunteer ambulance service in Eastern Ontario and the province as a whole.

The distances were as great then as they are now, and it was recognised by the Ministry of Health that just like fire service, people in rural regions need an ambulance to arrive within a reasonable amount of time.

So, Ministry of Health officials trained community volunteers in a variety of First Response techniques, and then gave them a vehicle and off they went.

There have been many changes over the last 30 years in ambulance service.

Over time, the volunteers who ran the volunteer services became more like lower paid professional paramedics and the volunteer model fell into disrepute. The Denbigh service is now on the verge of being operated just like all the other professional services in Lennox and Addington County.

Another major change took place when land ambulance service became a municipal operation, after having previously been a core provincial service. The province still pays almost half the costs, but municipalities run the service and it is a major budget item in rural municipal budgets.

Just as it would not be viable for the model of urban fire departments to be imposed on rural reality - the cost would be just too high - running rural and urban ambulance service on the identical financial model is proving to be too expensive.

The Denbigh service that originally cost $12,000 per year to the Ontario Ministry of Health, now is projected to cost over $1 million per year, half of that coming from municipal taxes in Lennox and Addington.

It was all that Addinton Highlands politicians could do to salvage a half-time service in Denbigh when a county staff-driven initiative to move the resources from rural Denbigh to suburban Loyalist County took hold at L&A County Council earlier this year.

It is hard to imagine that the original Denbigh service, which involved a massive volunteer commitment, could have persisted in its original form into the modern world of paramedic services. Yet, it is also proving to be impossible to imagine a viable ambulance service providing timely service throughout a vast rural province on the population-based, municipally-funded model that is now in place in Ontario.

The current fiscal arrangement does not foster co-operation among municipal partners, as was evidenced when a plan to turn Denbigh into a new model for the future, that of a regional service serving four counties, failed to receive support from two of those counties.

Appeals to the province to re-engage in rural ambulance service have so far fallen on deaf ears.

So, in the end, a rural community that took a giant leap forward in 1982 by setting up a 24-hour ambulance, has now faced a steep fall backward.

There is a solution.

The Local Health Integration Network is responsible for ambulance service. Only a provincial body can step in and pull the county ambulance services together, and find some provincial dollars to augment municipal commitments to rural service.

Somebody, and it likely has to be somebody from the South East LHIN's office in Belleville or the Ministry of Health itself, needs to call a meeting.

At the 30th Anniversary celebration of the founding of the Denbigh service, there were a number of retired bureaucrats on hand, They were proud of the work they did, and the connections they forged with the local population, when the Denbigh service was set up.

If the bureaucrats at the new-look LHINs would like to be more than a layer of bureaucracy concerned with saving money and ensuring that everyone they fund has filled out the correct forms, they need to jump into this major public health issue, get their hands dirty, and make a difference.