Back to HomeFeature Article - March 26, 2009 Ambulance review calls for new base in South FrontenacBy Jeff Green

A review of the rural ambulance service in Frontenac County by the IBI Consulting Group has recommended that a new base housing a 24-hour ambulance be built in a central location of South Frontenac Township.

The review also recommends that the ambulance now located at the township garage on Hwy. 509 between Ompah and Plevna in North Frontenac, which is a 12-hour a day ambulance service (7:30 am to 7:30 pm) either be moved to a location in the vicinity of Ardoch at the junction of Hwys. 506 and 509, or have a new garage built at its current location. Currently the ambulance is exposed to the elements throughout the 12-hour shift and must be kept running all day in the winter time so the equipment will not freeze.

Jim Beam, the deputy mayor of North Frontenac, favoured building the new garage, and said, “I can't see how service to the east end of the township can be maintained if the base is moved to Ardoch”.

The IBI report said that the 24-hour ambulance located at the Parham station in Central Frontenac should be maintained.

Currently, calls generated from South Frontenac, almost 1,000 per year, are answered either by ambulances based in the City of Kingston (57%) or Parham (32%). The IBI report estimated that once a base in South Frontenac is up and running, approximately 65% of those calls would be answered by the South Frontenac base. This would speed up response times throughout the county because the Parham and North Frontenac-based ambulances would not have to be redirected to cover South Frontenac nearly as often.

According to Marvin Rubinstein, the IBI consultant who presented the report, the North Frontenac ambulance is relocated to the south for standby approximately once a day to cover for the Parham ambulance when it is sent on a call. A new base in South Frontenac would decrease the necessity for relocations.

The projected cost of the new base in South Frontenac is $750,000 and the cost of running a 24-hour ambulance is pegged at about $1 million annually. The building/renovation costs in North Frontenac are estimated at $750,000.

In the review of service in the north end of the county, consideration was given to moving the station to Cloyne, so more patients in the most populous region in North Frontenac would be served by Frontenac ambulances rather than cross-border service from the Northbrook and Denbigh stations.

“While that would lead to more local calls in that region, it would not speed up response times, and it would make response times slower in other parts of North Frontenac,” Marvin Rubinstein said, when presenting the report to a meeting of Frontenac County Council last week.

Rubinstein, who completed an extensive review for L&A County last year, pointed out that these projections in the western part of North Frontenac are based on the assumption that the Northbrook and Denbigh services would remain as they are after the L&A report is implemented, which may or may not be the case.

The L&A report presented several options for the northern bases, presenting an analysis of the cost per call for the low-call-volume base at Denbigh of almost $1,500. Cross-border billing rates were set by the Eastern Ontario County Treasurers at $170 in 2006, so the L&A report says there should be a cost-sharing scheme worked out with Frontenac County in order to keep the 12-hour Denbigh and the 24-hour Flinton ambulances in place.

A staff report in L&A in response to the IBI report is being presented to their county council this month.

Acknowledging that the shape of Frontenac County’s northern service is tied into what L&A does with their Flinton and Denbigh bases, Frontenac County Manager of Emergency Services, Paul Charbonneau said, “This report is just the beginning of that process. We have a long way to go”.

Land ambulance service operations in Ontario are funded on a 50-50 basis by the municipalities and the province. Capital costs, such as new bases and ambulances, are funded entirely on the municipal level. 

Back to HomeFeature Article - February 5, 2009 North Frontenac CouncilBy Jeff Green

North Frontenac Council facing budget crunch

North Frontenac Council has been quick off the mark in considering their 2009 budget. Most township Councils are just now beginning the process.

But thus far, Council and senior staff don’t particularly like what they see.

Increased costs for waste management and road maintenance, and a need to put money aside for future capital projects, have all affected the budget, and township CAO/Treasurer Cheryl Robson said “although the numbers are still very preliminary, we are still very high, sitting right now at an increase of 5% in the township portion of the budget.”

Council will be meeting later this month to continue working on the budget.

Consultants recommends compaction

In presenting a comprehensive waste management plan to Council on January 29th, Guy Laporte of AECOM engineering (formerly TSH) made the point that the estimated dumping capacity in township sites is about 21 years.

“However, if you begin compacting the waste, you can increase the lifespan of the sites by about 50%,” he said to Council.

The cost of a used compactor is about $200,000, with another option being contracting out compaction at a cost of $34,000 per year.

Although Laporte said AECOM does not see a need for the township to consider expanding any of their waste sites at this time, the Mississippi Station site is a candidate for expansion in the future, and it is possible it can be made large enough to accommodate 20 years worth of North Frontenac waste.

Laporte also pointed out that most of the considerable cost of maintaining township waste sites is paid for out of property taxes, and recommended that the “program be changed to that a larger portion is funded through user fees.”

The township is considering scheduling a public meeting to consult about a variety of proposed changes.

More waste, of a different kind

Jamie Saunders, from Rideau Valley Conservation, made a presentation about the 2008 Wastewater Disposal System Re-inspection program (AKA septic re-inspection).

Saunders reported that last year, because of scheduling problems, only 78 systems out of a planned 100 were actually inspected.

On the positive side, for the first time island properties were included in the inspection program; including Islands on Kashwakamak and Big Gull Lakes.

“I’m pleased to say that the state of systems on the islands was pretty good,” said Saunders. “We’d all heard that we would find straight pipes into the water but that was not what we found at all.”

The main function of the re-inspection program is educational, Saunders said.

“We spent a lot of time talking to people about proper maintenance of systems,” Saunders said.

Of the 78 systems inspected last year, 34 had no concerns, 37 required some work, mostly of a minor nature, 5 require further information in order to be evaluated, and 2 require replacement and have been referred to the Health Unit.

“Would it be possible to increase the number of inspections per year,” asked Mayor Ron Maguire.

Saunders replied that 200 system are looked at each year in Tay Valley Township it would be possible to do the same in North Frontenac.

The program cost $7,600 to run in 2008.

Roads task force members named – The following people have been named to join three members of Council on a Roads Task Force: Russel Gray, John Hudson, Bill Raeburn, Darwyn Sproule, Bob Watkins and Karin Reynolds.

Mayoralty candidate in 2010? Among the seminars that Councillors have signed up for at the upcoming annual municipal conference in Toronto, Deputy Mayor Beam has signed up for the “Heads of Council” training session.

Ringing endorsement for Denbigh ambulance committee paper – Council passed a strongly worded motion in support of the recommendations that were found in the Denbigh community groups “Ambulance Position Paper”.

The resolution concurred that a “reduction of the Denbigh ambulance to 12 hour coverage” would “result in a net decrease in the quality and net increase in the costs of medical care as a whole.”

It also said that “effective land ambulance delivery cannot recognize political boundaries,” and asks the province to “resume responsibility for land ambulance”.

A consultants report on the Frontenac County Land ambulance service will be released in March, according to County Officials.

Paul Charbonneau, the manager of the Frontenac County Service, confirmed that the question of the Denbigh Station would be considered in the report.

Back to HomeFeature Article - January 22, 2009 Community ambulance committee responds to L&A ambulance review

by Jeff Green

The Community Ambulance Committee of Denbigh has released a detailed position paper in response to the Lennox and Addington (L&A) ambulance review that was completed in September of 2008.

The paper concludes “that the Denbigh Ambulance Base is in a critical geographic location and that it cannot be moved without severely impacting the health of the people that it currently serves.”

Almost a year ago, in light of the announcement of an organizational review of ambulance service in Lennox and Addington County, a community ambulance committee was formed to deal specifically with concerns about the northern service area in the County, specifically the Denbigh ambulance base.

Paul Isaacs, the chair of the committee, told the News last week that the ambulance committee was “quietly requested to stay on the sidelines until the service review was out. We felt we had to put something on paper after that.”

The service review, which was conducted by the IBI group, discussed the high cost of the maintaining the Denbigh and Northbrook bases in relation to call volumes. It also contained significant detail about the number of calls to both stations that come from outside of the borders of L&A (into Frontenac, Renfrew, and Hastings Counties)

The report outlined four options regarding service to the north end of the County. Of these the most expensive option would be to maintain the bases at Northbrook and Denbigh. Others include repositioning both bases, cutting back service in the Denbigh base, or closing both bases and opening one somewhere in between the other two.

In order to maintain the Denbigh base at its current location, with 24 hours of service, the IBI group report implies that a cost-sharing agreement with neighbouring municipalities, “splitting the cost of the two northern bases in proportion to the volume of calls these bases attend within their respective jurisdictions”, would be necessary.

In their response, the Community Ambulance Committee decided not to enter into the debate about how much neighbouring municipalities are willing to pay for cross borders services in rural and remote areas. Instead, it argues that the province needs to step in.

It says, “The provincial government made a serious error in ‘downloading’ land ambulance service to upper-tier municipalities. Ambulance service is a time-critical service that had no regard for jurisdictional boundaries.”

Among the 22 points in the summary supporting the conclusion that the ambulance service should be preserved as is at Denbigh, the ambulance committee made the point that, with the exception of a twice weekly clinic conducted by Doctor Tobia from Northbrook, there are no other medical services available for Denbigh residents, and that very few County services, save ambulance service, have an impact in the northern end of the County. It also says, “The geography of the County dictates that adequate ambulance service for the County can not be provided without an ambulance base in Denbigh.”

It suggested that, given the lack of other medical services in Denbigh, an alternate use of ambulance personnel may be considered. “Denbigh would be better served if the ambulance service provided non-emergency medical services in addition to ambulance emergency service,” it says.

The position paper has been submitted to L&A County, and Addington Highlands Township.

“We will see what response we will get,” said Paul Isaac, “we felt that we had an obligation to put out our position so that whenever things do happen we will have made our case in a strong and logical manner.” 

For 12 hours a day, unless they are called away, two Frontenac County paramedics sit in their vehicle on a parking lot next to the former Palmerston Township garage, which is located near the ghost town of Donaldson, Ontario.

This was the status quo for a long time before Paul Charbonneau took over the Frontenac Paramedic Services in 2006.

“One of my first priorities was to deal with the situation in the north,” Charbonneau has repeatedly told Frontenac County Council.

Yet, five years later, despite the collective efforts of the paramedic services, the county, and the Township of North Frontenac, the ambulance is still parked on that lonely lot far from any services or population centres.

A resolution was passed by county council 15 months ago directing staff to sort out how this project could be completed, but differences over how to share costs have stalled the project thus far.

Central to the disagreement has been a proposal by county staff that, based upon the understanding that the proposed ambulance base/fire hall in Ompah would include a 1,500 square feet ambulance base and a 3,000 square feet fire hall, the county would pay 1/3 of the total construction costs.

The township has balked at this, for two reasons. First, estimated construction costs are higher for ambulance bases ($195 per square foot) than for fire halls ($125 per square foot) and secondly the township does not want to commit to any size for the fire hall because they want some flexibility in costing the project. The county has set $300,000 aside for the project and the township has $395,000 set aside. The Ompah fire crew has also raised money that can be used, but the crew is waiting to see the plans for the hall before they make a commitment.

“It is now May 18, and we have short building season. I think we need to get on with this project now. That's why I propose that we approve today, an RFP [request for proposal] for project management for a design/build combined fire hall ambulance base at a site that has been prepared in Ompah. We will put an upset limit of $300,000 for the county contribution and share the costs on a 50/50 basis until that point,” said North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton.

“It is not only the capital costs that concern the county. It is the ongoing maintenance and upkeep costs and how those will be divided that we need to work out,” said Liz Savill, the Chief Administrative Officer of Frontenac County.

“I agree the building opportunity is short, but we do need to work out the ongoing costs,” said County Warden Gary Davison.

“To me the operating cost split is not a big deal. This is the first time anyone has mentioned it. I would like to see a resolution passed today to get the ball rolling and we can work out the operating cost later. The construction needs to start,” said Councilor John Inglis.

“I hate to hold this thing up,” said Warden Davison, “but I think we need to take the next step first and have Liz contact the CAO of North Frontenac to do that so we can get this underway after our next meeting.

Savill said she would contact North Frontenac CAO Cheryl Robson after she returns from holidays.

Because of travel plans of members of county council, there will be no June meeting. So the progress on the ambulance base/fire hall project will be stalled until at least July 6, which is the date of the next meeting.

Once the Ompah project is approved and built, the county will be committed to relocating the current Parham ambulance base in the vicinity of Sharbot Lake within three to five years.

The county does not have money in reserves to cover that project, which is estimated to cost up to $1 million.

 

Budget finalised

Frontenac County Council staggered to the finish line and approved the 2011 budget at their regular monthly meeting last Wednesday, April 20.

By taking advantage of some uploaded social service costs, the county will decrease the amount it collects from ratepayers by 4.2% in 2011, creating what County Chief Administrator Liz Savill called “tax room” in the budgets of the member townships of the county (see “Taxes up for Central, South Frontenac residents”).

The main budget issue item that was left for council’s consideration on April 20 was the creation of a new clerical staff position at the county office.

The budget originally included two positions, a communications co-ordinator and a clerk for the finance office, but council had made it clear at the previous meeting they were only willing to consider one new position.

Liz Savill said that the workload in her office and in the finance office has increased to the point where existing staff are scrambling to get work done, causing inefficiency. With only one position on the table, Savill said that the position would be shared between finance and communications.

The cost of the position is $48,000 per year, and council decided to leave it in the budget.

North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton brought up the request from Pine Meadow Nursing Home for $25,000 a year for 10 years towards its capital redevelopment program. This item has been brought to county council each year for several years and has been turned down each time, as it was again this time.

Clayton wondered why council was willing to give $54,000 each year to the Kingston General Hospital building fund, but not Pine Meadow. “They are both health care dollars,” he said, “and they both support people from our county. Why one and not the other?”

Council defeated a motion to grant the $25,000.

“I think we need some more time to get information about this,” said Warden Gary Davison. “We are not going forward at this time, but we are not closing the door.”

At the request of Warden Davison, Council decided to transfer $510,000 in gas tax rebate reserves to the townships, a move that did not affect county taxation because the money came from the federal government.

Before the budget vote was taken, Councilor David Jones from Frontenac Islands asked to address council.

“I think it is appropriate that I speak for the good people of the islands. I don’t see anything substantive coming out of these programs. I recognise this is a democratic process, but I see nothing coming from this. I’m going to have to sell this to my constituents. There are programs that have a pronounced bias towards the mainland townships. It is unfortunate that Councilor Doyle cannot be here today because he would have reiterated the same,” Jones said.

The budget passed in a 6-2 vote, with Councilors Jones and Clayton casting the dissenting votes.

County scuttles plans to move northern ambulance base back to Ardoch Road

A proposal that would have seen the Frontenac County Paramedic Service build a stand-alone ambulance base in the vicinity of Highway 509 and Ardoch Road was defeated at county council last week. The proposal would have reversed a directive from the county from last year to build a base at Ompah in conjunction with a new North Frontenac Fire Station.

But the issues that have stopped the Ompah construction from proceeding have not been resolved, leaving the entire project in limbo.

Meanwhile a 12-hour a day ambulance remains parked outside at the Lavant Road garage each day, with the car running all winter in order to keep medicines from freezing.

This is the latest twist in a matter that county council first looked at two years ago when a consultant’s report recommended building a new base at Road 509 and Ardoch Road.

That proposal was strenuously opposed by then North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire. In response, Paul Charbonneau, the Emergency Services manager for Frontenac County, brought forward an alternate proposal for a combined ambulance base and fire hall in Ompah. This proposal was endorsed by county council in February of 2010.

Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski opposed the Ompah plan at the time. She had two concerns: firstly, she argued that the decision was essentially a political one that was not supported by information about its impact on response times, and secondly because the Ompah plan also included replacing the existing Parham base with a new one in Sharbot Lake to serve Highway 7.

As has been documented over the last year in the News, the Ompah plan has run into trouble because the county and North Frontenac Township have not been able to agree on a cost-sharing plan for the project.

When North Frontenac brought the matter to the county table on March 16, hoping only to address the cost sharing problem and not the viability of the entire project, county council halted the project pending a staff report, to be prepared for the April meeting,

That report made use of some new mapping of recent call volumes by the County GIS department and a population projection study that has just been completed.

At the conclusion of the report, Paul Charbonneau wrote: “The location analysis … indicate[a] an affirmative view for a new land ambulance station in the vicinity of Ardoch Road and Road 509. Both drive time/distance mapping and total call volume capture are best achieved from this location. A land ambulance station location in the vicinity of Ardoch Road and Road 509 would maximize ambulance coverage within the more densely populated area of the eastern portion of the Township of North Frontenac and the north portion of the Township of Central Frontenac.”

North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton bristled at the idea of moving the base away from Ompah.

“I came here today to try and put the financial model for the Ompah project into line so we can go forward. I can talk very little more about eliminating the project altogether other than to say the people in that district will be terribly disappointed if they don’t get the ambulance base they have been promised,” he said.

John Purdon, from Central Frontenac, said, “I think there are a lot of questions here that we can’t identify today.

Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski did not see any reason to wait.

“I am comfortable with making a decision today,” she said. “We have a duty to today and we have a duty to tomorrow. The correct move is for us to move forward. It is not going to be to the detriment of the citizens of the community in the north to have the service move to the 509/Ardoch Road location. I would like to put a motion on the floor to direct staff to look at options for an ambulance base on Ardoch road.”

That motion was defeated, in a 4-4 tied vote.

County Councilors Inglis, Clayton, Purdon, and Jones voted against it, and County Councilors Gutowski, McDougall and Warden Davison (who carries two votes as Mayor of South Frontenac) voted in favour. Dennis Doyle from the Frontenac Islands was not at the meeting.

When contacted afterwards, Paul Charbonneau said that he would now “re-engage with North Frontenac County staff towards building a joint base in Ompah. The County has $300,000 budgeted for the project.”

Garrison Shores condominium agreement accepted – A number of people who live on the shores of Garrison Lake near Arden stood up and cheered when council approved a land-based condominium agreement for the properties that some of them have owned for over 20 years. They own property in a development called Garrison Shores that was not divided according to planning standards when they bought their lots up to 30 years ago. The condominium agreement has been in the works ever since municipal amalgamation in 1998 and has cost the Garrison Shores property owners hundreds of thousands of dollars.

 

 

Editorial by Jeff Green

It seemed like it was only a matter of time before Frontenac County Emergency Services Manager Paul Charbonneau and the Council of North Frontenac Township would end up at loggerheads over the location of a new ambulance base to serve people in the northern part of Frontenac County.

Lennox and Addington County has recently confirmed they will be maintaining a 24-hour ambulance based in Northbrook and a 24-hour ambulance based in Denbigh. Until recently, Charbonneau had been advising that the best option for a new Frontenac County base is the intersection of Ardoch Road and Hwy. 509 in Central Frontenac. His position was supported by a consultant’s report and statistical information about call locations, volumes, and average response times.

North Frontenac rejected Charbonneau’s position, and called his statistics into doubt. When the matter was floated at Frontenac County Council in the fall, it appeared that the council did not want to pick a fight with North Frontenac over the matter.

Now, Paul Charbonneau has come up with what appears to be a rather elegant solution to the problem, although the people in Parham and Kingston City Council may have something to say about it.

In a report that is being presented to county council this week, Charbonneau is proposing to build not one, but two new bases, one in Sharbot Lake at a cost of $750,000, and one Ompah which will be co-located with a new Ompah fire hall, and will cost $300,000. This solution would bring response times to within the 30-minute framework, the standard for rural ambulance service, throughout the county.

With a new base coming in Sydenham, moving the current ambulance base in Parham about 15 minutes to the north becomes a viable option, and politicians will be happy because there will be a shiny new base in each of the townships.

That’s something to run for re-election on.

But there are political and financial complications.

While overall response times would be improved throughout the county under this plan, the residents in the Parham and Godfrey regions are not going to be pleased because response times to them will increase. Frontenac County has also spent money upgrading the Parham base over the past few years, and they will be abandoning a perfectly adequate facility.

All of these factors may cause Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski to face some flak if she supports this plan, which is never a good thing for a mayor who is running for re-election.

Then there is the cost, and that is where the City of Kingston comes in. Ratepayers from the City of Kingston pay for 81% of the ambulance budget.

The new plan would cost over $1.05 million to bring about, more than $800,000 of which would be levied to the City of Kingston.

The original consultant’s report allocated $750,000 to a new northern base at the Ardoch Road. The new plan, allocating that amount to a new base in Sharbot Lake, is really only $300,000 more expensive, the amount necessary to co-locate a new base in Ompah with a new fire department there.

The ratepayers from the City of Kingston would pay $240,000 towards that and Frontenac County ratepayers the other $60,000.

If Frontenac County Council gets behind this plan, it will all have to be raised at the Rural Urban Liaison Committee, (RULAC) which is made up of politicians from the City of Kingston and Frontenac County.

Even though this solution is not included in the consultant’s report into ambulance service, there is some pretty good supporting evidence that it would be a good operational plan for Frontenac County, and although it involves substantial capital spending, it would have no immediate impact on the operational side of the ambulance budget.

RULAC has already approved a new 24-hour ambulance for the Sydenham base that is being built this year.

This northern solution calls for a 24-hour ambulance in Sharbot Lake and a 12-hour ambulance in Ompah, the same amount of service, and cost, as the current system. 

 

There are six schools in the Limestone District School Board that participate in a program called the Youth Philanthropy Initiative, which is sponsored by the Toskan-Casale Foundation. Sharbot Lake High School (SLHS) is one of those schools, and last fall in the grade 10 Civics class, 16 two-member teams were formed to research and promote a charity with a local reach.

The teams prepared presentations on the charities, and after the presentations were made, the four top presentations were selected. Four finalists then did their presentations again at the beginning of January, and the winning team was presented with a cheque for $5,000, which was made out to the charity they had been promoting.

“This is the third year we have been participating in this program,” said Civics teacher Randy McVety, “and one of the things I like about it is, it shows the students how charities work and helps to encourage them to volunteer themselves. And the fact that there is real money at the end of it for one of the charities, adds something very real to it.”

The teams that made the finals spoke on behalf of Martha's Table, Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind, the Kingston Youth Shelter, and the St. John’s Ambulance Therapy Dog Service.

Kelsea Babcock and David Riddell chose Martha's Table for their presentation. They had never heard of Martha's Table before (like most of the teams they found the organization after doing a google search) but “We really liked the fact that they were such a grassroots organisation,” said Kelsea Babcock. “They charge something like $1 a meal for people in Kingston who need one, and they are open 5 days a week,” said David Riddell. The students also mentioned that Martha's Table has a clothing program.

Cody Pichie and Jessica Cadieux chose the Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind. “We wanted to do something with animals,” said Jessica Cadieux, “and the guide dogs provide a great service for people who really need them.”

“It costs several hundred dollars to train a dog,” said Cody Pichie, “and it all starts with fostering them.”

Pichie explained that guide dogs are raised by volunteer foster families for the first six months, where they receive basic training before being sent for more advanced training. Jessica Cadieux said that it is a goal of hers to foster guide dogs in the future.

Leah Woodcox and Jessica Nedow looked into the Kingston Youth Shelter. “We wanted to look at something that was for young people,” said Jessica Nedow.

“There are many people at our school that have had troubles, and the shelter is something they might need to know about,” said Leah Woodcox.

Woodcox and Nedow learned about the shelter via emails with people who work there. “Confidentiality is important to them. They shelter about 250 - 300 youth a year,” said Leah Woodcox, “it's an important service for Kingston and the region.”

Emma Maloney and Erica Goodberry made the winning presentation on behalf of the St. John's Ambulance Dog therapy program. “We wanted to find a charity that used animals,” said Erica Goodberry. “The dogs go to hospitals for people who are dying, to Alzheimer's patients, and children's centres. They provide psychological stability for people,” said Emma Maloney.

“There is a certification service,” added Erica Goodberry. “The dogs need to be calm, not aggressive.”

There are about 40 dogs and 35 volunteers that are active with the program in Kingston. The $5,000 will go to the program to help cover ongoing costs, such as training and mileage for volunteers.

Sara Porisky, a program co-ordinator with the Youth and Philanthropy Initiative, was on hand when the presentations were made to present the cheque to the winners.

Lynne Young, a co-op teacher at SLHS, said that it was a great experience working on the program this year. “I am also looking forward to going to Toronto in the spring. There is a day planned for all of the winning teams from across the province, and I am looking forward to going with the girls and perhaps their families as well.”

“The program gave out over $1 million last year. That’s a lot of money for students to control,” said Randy McVety. 

 

Central Frontenac cool to ambulance plan

With several council members expressing anger about the plan, and none supporting it, Mayor Gutowski will not be supporting a plan to move the Parham Ambulance base to Sharbot Lake at Frontenac County Council any time soon.

In a presentation to Central Frontenac Council at a meeting on Tuesday, January 26, Frontenac County Director of Emergency Services Paul Charbonneau said, “Up until now the rural ambulance review has been peripheral to Central Frontenac”.

All of that changed on November 16, Charbonneau added, when a staff proposal to build a new ambulance base at the junction of Highway 509 and Ardoch Road was not accepted by Frontenac County Council and direction was given to Charbonneau to look more closely at putting a new base in Ompah,

The plan that he came up with would put new bases in Sharbot Lake and Ompah and see the Parham base close.

“This would provide service within 30 minutes, which is the accepted standard for rural ambulance, to 97% of the township,” Charbonneau said.

“I was just totally angry when I heard about this,” said Councilor Bill Snyder. “The Parham base has worked wonderfully for many years. I can’t see any sense at all in moving it to Sharbot Lake.”

Councilor Norm Guntensperger saw a connection between the ambulance recommendation and recent news from the local school board. “The coincidences just seem to build up. It looks like the small villages are doomed and everything will go to Sharbot Lake,” he said.

“We had a consulting group that recommended leaving the base where it is. We’ve got another case where we hire a consultant and then the study is put aside,” said Deputy Mayor Gary Smith.

Mayor Gutowski said, “North Frontenac refuses to accept a station anywhere but Ompah. They are still resolved, and perhaps Ardoch Road is not an ideal location. At this point I’m not prepared to accept this recommendation. I think it’s premature to make a decision. We need to study this some more.”

Council passed a resolution to send to County Council, which said it cannot support the proposed relocation of the Parham base at this time based on the information that has been provided to date.

NO 0.4% SOLUTION: Central Frontenac Council has routinely adjusted the employee salary grid to reflect changes in the Consumer Price index, which led to a 2.5 % increase in wages last year. The consumer price index for the year ending on January 1 has just been released, and this year it is only 0.4%.

When the matter was raised during the Committee of the Whole section of the meeting, there was no consensus among the six members of council who were present. Three favoured a 0.4% increase and three thought it was too low.

“It’s too low,” said Norm Guntensperger “I think we should treat our staff with respect and dignity. Other contracts reflect a 3-4% increase.”

“You’re not a farmer,” said Bill Snyder

EARLY BUDGET NUMBERS ARE SKY HIGH 

“This budget includes some wish lists,” said Chief Administrative Officer John Duchene as he handed out a thick budget binder. The preliminary budget, which was presented to Council for information purposes only, included an increase in the levy to ratepayers of $1.4 million, or 19.3%.

In order to bring the budget to a 2% increase to ratepayers, $1.25 million will have to be cut from the budget.

Public Works Manager Mike Richardson said that his budget, which makes up a large part of the overall budget, includes a number of projects that he put in for Council’s consideration and he expects Council will set their own priorities as the budget process moves forward.

SEPTIC REINSPECTION – Council considered an innovative septic re-inspection bylaw as a Committee of the Whole. The bylaw puts the onus on property owners to have their systems inspected every five years, and to present proof of that inspection to the township. Council approved the bylaw in principle and it will come forward to the next Council meeting.

$5,000 TO EOTA – A proposal to donate $5,000 to the Eastern Ontario Trails Alliance was warmly received, and will be brought forward as part of the budget.

 

Sydenham library groundbreaking ceremony-l-r: Claudette Richardson- chair of the Kingston Frontenac Library Board, Mayor and Warden Gary Davison and John McDougall chair of the library redevelopment committee

On April 26, two back-to-back ground breaking ceremonies took place in Sydenham. The first ceremony was on Stagecoach Road just south of Rutledge Road at the site of the new ambulance base for the Township of South Frontenac.

The project will include the construction of a new 3200 square foot two-bay ambulance facility equipped with staff quarters, eating and office facilities. The governments of Canada and Ontario each committed $250,000 to the project and the County of Frontenac contributed the balance of the total eligible costs of $750,000. The target date for completion is Oct. 11, 2010.

Immediately following was the second ground breaking ceremony, which took place at the Public Library in Sydenham. The sod turning inaugurated the construction of a new library, which will replace and expand the existing library with a new 6000 square foot LEED facility (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) that will include computer areas, quiet study and teen zones, a reading area equipped with a fireplace and a multi-purpose community room. The governments of Canada and Ontario each committed up to $726,667 to this project and the County of Frontenac contributed the balance of the total eligible cost of $2,180,000.

Both ceremonies were well attended by community dignitaries, representatives of the various groups and organizations involved, and community members.

Gary Davison, mayor of South Frontenac and warden of the county, was present and spoke at both events. He later commented. “It’s an outstanding day for South Frontenac and for the whole district since so many people will benefit both from the ambulance service and the library. We are very excited and very grateful to the federal and provincial governments, since without their support neither of these projects likely would have been able to happen.”

North Frontenac backs away from satellite medical clinic

The promise of a satellite medical clinic in Plevna in partnership with the Northbrook-based Lakeland Family Health Team is not likely to be delivered.

A their meeting on August 12, North Frontenac Council approved the following motion: “Be it resolved that the Council of the Corporation of the Township of North Frontenac, at this time, cannot financially fund the building of a health clinic in Plevna without adequate provincial funding.”

North Frontenac Council had been optimistic about the prospect of a satellite clinic at first, but a number or factors ended up weighing against them supporting one.

One of them is cost. The township is faced with a $300,000 investment in a building as well as the annual cost of administrative support. The doctor or nurse practitioner who would work out of the clinic would hopefully cover maintenance costs for the building.

Another factor is access. Only individuals who agree to be rostered at the new clinic would be eligible to use it. This would cut off all of the seasonal residents in the township, and force people currently rostered at the Northbrook and Sharbot Lake clinics to change their medical practitioner.

Last month councilors said they would canvass the idea of the township funding a new clinic with their constituents. “For the seasonal residents, the fact that they would have to pay for a clinic they would not have access to made them less likely to support it,” said Councilor Fred Perry, who has been the Council liaison person to the LakeLand Family Health Team.

Before making their decision, Council met with Doctor Tobia and Janice Powell of the Lakeland Family Health Team.

WASTE MANAGEMENT PAYBACKS –

North Frontenac Council has invested heavily in waste management over the last several years, and last week they received an administrative report on some of the revenues they are now receiving from the provincial government and Waste Diversion Ontario.

BLUE BOX FUNDING: Based on recycling levels in the pervious year, the township receives a rebate from Waste Diversion Ontario. With recycling levels increasing, that has risen from under $5,000 in 2004, to over $40,000 in 2010.

2004 - $ 4,541; 2005 - $ 5,055; 2006 - $ 7,490; 2007 - $23,696; 2008 - $37,444; 2009 - $40,340; 2010 - $41,578.

Under the new Ontario Tire Stewardship program the township received $1,222 for collecting 1,111 tires between September 2009 and June of this year.

The township received over $4,000 to pay for roll off bins for the collection of glass from Waste Diversion Ontario, and $5,000 for a Blue Box communications plan.

The township also receives money from Stewardship Ontario to cover costs related to the collection of Household Hazardous waste, up to $40,000 in 2010.

AMBULANCE BASE/FIRE STATION - The tender documents are being prepared by North Frontenac Fire Chief Steve Riddell and Frontenac County’s Land Ambulance Manager Paul Charbonneau for the combination ambulance base / fire hall in Ompah

At a special meeting on July 26, Council granted the tender for an addition to the Barrie Fire Hall to Bel-Con Design/Builders Limited.