OMPAH AMBULANCE BASE/FIRE HALL

“I'm very disappointed with the way this project is being carried out,” said North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire when a report by Paul Charbonneau about the Ompah ambulance base/North Frontenac fire hall was brought forward. “North Frontenac entered into this project for cost reasons and for reasons of efficiency and economy of scale, but the costs that are being talked about are way beyond our means,” Maguire added.

Based on the costs that are being incurred at the Sydenham ambulance base, which is currently under construction ($172 per square foot), Charbonneau estimates the cost of the Ompah building at $774,000, plus about $70,000 for project management and an additional amount for energy and environmental elements in line with the LEED program that the county has adopted as the standard for new construction.

Charbonneau is also working under the assumption that since the ambulance base will occupy 1/3 of the space, the county will pay 1/3 of the cost.

North Frontenac has budgeted $300,000 for the project, based on a cost of $80 per square foot, which is a figure that is in line with the cost of the fire halls recently constructed in Mountain Grove and Sharbot Lake. The township argues that LEED provisions are beyond its means and that project management is unnecessary.

“The way this is going I'm thinking we should each build our own building on the site,” said Magure.

“I think we cannot afford not to have a project manager,” said Frontenac Islands Mayor and County Council member Jim Vanden Hoek. “We'll get much better value and a much better project, and will avoid pitfalls. We are building a significant piece of infrastructure for the future. But I question the estimated cost for project management. For the Howe Island fire hall, project management is costing less than $10,000, not 10% of the project cost.”

County Warden Gary Davison spoke out in defence of LEED provisions. “The LEED provisions will make for cheaper operations in the long run,” he said, “I really don't quite get why we are going south on this at such a late hour. I still think we should go in a direction of one building on one site.”

Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski pointed out that a co-location provision was key to the county approval of the project in the first place.

“These are long-term decisions that need to be carefully thought out. If North Frontenac is not prepared to partner with the county, then the county should consider relocating the ambulance base. I point out that the second part of the motion that we passed calling for a co-location project in Ompah calls for the Parham base to be moved towards Highway 7. If North Frontenac pulls out of this, then the whole motion will have to be reconsidered,” she said.

“I don't think there is any urgency to this right now,” said Mayor Vanden Hoek. “I think it can go back to North Frontenac to have another look at this.”

County council decided to defer any further comments on the matter until receiving further information from North Frontenac.

The matter will be discussed at a North Frontenac Council meeting this week.

Green Energy Task Force -

John Kittle from Snow Road, a community member of the Frontenac County Green Energy Task Force, and South Frontenac Councilor David Hahn, presented a report on the progress that has been made over the past year by the task force.

Aside from playing a role in promoting solar generation projects by each of the Frontenac townships, the task force has been active in preparing an easy to follow step-by-step guide for private sector individuals who wish to enter into the world of micro-fit solar power generation.

“A number of retirees, who have a bit of money to invest, are finding the return of 12% very attractive. There are a number of these people moving into the county. If we can help them along ... “ said David Hahn.

Private sector involvement in Green Energy was seen as key to the success of the task force by Mayor Vanden Hoek. “Until there is involvement in this by the private sector it will go nowhere,” he said.

“One of the things we have talked about, which has been adopted by EcoPerth, is a buyers' club to help keep costs down,” said John Kittle.

County council endorsed the request by the task force to continue on after the new council takes over.

“That's as much as we can do,” said County Warden Gary Davison. “It will be up to the new council to decide.”

Rural Routes gets a smooth ride -

Don Amos from Northern Frontenac Community Services, flanked by David Townsend from Southern Frontenac Community Services, made a presentation concerning the progress that has been made by the Rural Routes Transportation Collaborative in developing a county-wide service.

In order to further the process, a group from the Queen's School of Business has come forward to do an analysis of the service and develop a business model for integration.

“A word of caution,” said Jim Vanden Hoek, “Queen's will inevitably take your project on and give you a positive report.”

“We are working with Susan Beckel (Deputy Clerk) and Marian Vanbruinessen (Treasurer) from the county to develop a terms of reference. They will keep it grounded,” said Amos.

Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski and North Frontenac Mayor Ron Maguire both expressed their support for the program, as they have many times in the past.

South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison, who has expressed many doubts about Rural Routes, said, “Thank you for this report. I was an advocate for making sure there was some sort of a business plan for this service, and that's what I'm seeing, I just wanted to make sure you were being efficient with our money. I would think that at the next budget you may well be looking for a modest increase from the $80,000 we provide to you, and it may well be there.”

Editorial by Jeff Green

The Parham ambulance base will have to close after the Ompah base opens

Barring anything unforeseen, Frontenac County will be building an ambulance post in Ompah next year.

Four members of county council already support going ahead with the project. Two months ago Frontenac County Warden Gary Davison said he would support the Ompah project, tipping the balance in its favour, once county and township staff work out a cost sharing agreement and the construction standards are assured.

With that agreement now in place the project will proceed, with county approval coming this week or next month at the latest.

While those advocating for the Ompah base, particularly North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton, have downplayed the connection between building the Ompah base and the eventual closing of the Parham base in favour of a new base in Sharbot Lake, that move will have to take place once the Ompah base is built.

Research done by the IBI group in 2008, and further verified by Frontenac Paramedic Service data that has been collected since then, demonstrates that putting a 12-hour a day base in Ompah creates a service gap in the centre of the County, which can only be covered by moving the Parham base north to Hwy. 7.

For that reason, the original council resolution calling for the Ompah base to be built also called for the Parham base to be moved. That resolution is still on the books.

Undoubtedly the construction of a new ambulance base on or near Hwy. 7 will be brought forward to County Council in 2013 or 2014 at the latest.

Frontenac County Council would be ill-advised to waver on this matter. There are winners and losers any time an ambulance base is moved, and being a winner or a loser can sometimes have life and death consequences. A council charged with this kind of responsibility needs to act based on the data that is provided to it by its staff and the consultants it hires to provide information. Otherwise it is exposing its citizens to increased risks and itself to potential liability.

Council members can argue all they want about whether they agree with the information that is presented to them, but with nothing else to go on but dots on a map marking where ambulance calls actually have actually come from, they will really have no choice.

Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski, who also sat on Frontenac County Council back in February of 2010, opposed building the Ompah base at that time precisely because it meant that the Parham base would have to move to Sharbot Lake, and nothing has changed.

The Parham base has served the northern half of the county and the surrounding region well since it was built over 40 years ago, and closing it will be a blow to a community that is also losing its local school.

Overall, this is really a good news story, however.

Not that long ago the Parham service was the only one in Frontenac County north of the Kingston City limits. With 24-hour a day ambulances stationed in Sydenham and Sharbot Lake and a 12-hour post in Ompah, response times on a county-wide basis will be vastly better in the coming years than they were in the past and the net result of that will be lives saved and hospital stays shortened.

Still, Parham residents will be left with a bitter taste in their mouths because Ompah's gain will ultimately be their loss, particularly in light of the fact that the consultant's report that started off this entire process did not recommend the Ompah build.

It said that the best, and cheapest option would be to build a new base at Hwy. 509 and Ardoch Road, and that the Parham base should remain open. 

Trenton mill closure will affect local logging industry

The township received a letter from Wayne Snider and Shawn & Patricia Gray asking council to send a letter to the LFL&A MP and MPP informing them of the impact of the impending closure of the Norampac paper mill in Trenton on the local economy.

Cascades Inc. announced that the mill will close no later than June 1, 2012 after employees rejected a final offer for a new collective agreement.

The letter from Mr. Snider and the Grays said that all wood deliveries to the mill have been stopped. "Loss of this mill will greatly impact the local logging industry not only for the sale of round wood pulp, but also the sale of our saw logs as the mills that buy our logs will not be able to send their chips … The next closest mills are in Thurso, Quebec, or Espanola, Ontario. Shipping to these mills would not be economical because of distance and low revenue from this product, as well, the transportation regulations are not the same in Ontario and Quebec."

The letter estimates that losses to the local forest industry will be in the millions.

Council agreed to send the letters to the MP and MPP as requested.

Denbigh Ambulance Service -Councilor Tony Fritsch spoke briefly about the Denbigh Ambulance Service, whose fate was decided at the L&A County Council meeting on April 11. The base will not be closed, but will continue as a 12-hour instead of a 24-hour base. Fritsch acknowledged that the Denbigh area was on the brink of having no service at all and said he is grateful that it has been saved to some degree. He expressed his thanks to everyone who was involved in the intensive lobbying to save the base – to the citizens and the businesses as well as the council.

Reeve Henry Hogg said that he was asked at the county council meeting whether the township could help to some degree with the costs of the base, but that the township has no existing secure facility that it could contribute to serve as a base. Also, the township would not build such a facility. Councilor Fritsch commented that it wasn't reasonable to expect free space from the township.

Councilor Adam Snider commented that since the ambulance has to stand down so often, it is often not available for calls. Councilor Fritsch agreed, saying that people often make the decision not to call the ambulance even when they should, and they get themselves to the hospital some other way.

Source Water Protection - Council received draft Source Water Protection plans for consultation from both the Mississippi Valley and Quinte Conservation authorities. The deadline for comments is May 4 for the MVCA plan and May 18 for the Quinte Conservation plan. Council will request an extension for the former in order to properly consider both plans.

Yard maintenance by-law - Council considered a new draft yard maintenance by-law, which mentioned "firewood being stacked neatly" and "inoperative farm machinery being lined up in rows". The main thrust of the bylaw is to "prohibit deposition of refuse or debris on land without the consent of the owner or occupant". However, Councilor Snider asked how the bylaw could be enforced, as the township has no bylaw enforcement officer. The township does currently have a bylaw in place, and council decided to see if it could be built on instead of passing a new bylaw.

Council voted to remove the half-load restrictions on April 23, two weeks earlier than usual.

Tweed Hearing Centre - Laura Moloughney of the Tweed Hearing Centre wrote to council about plans to start holding a hearing clinic in Northbrook once a week. The letter said that the Tweed Hearing Centre would like to "participate in a patient-centric clinic that could provide several medical disciplines…" The letter mentioned the need for a storefront office-type space and asked for council's assistance in locating potential resources.

Council said that they would advise Ms. Moloughney to contact Land o'Lakes Community Services for assistance in finding a suitable space.

Addington Highlands Reeve Henry Hogg and Deputy Reeve Bill Cox had a decision to make at the Lennox and Addington County Council meeting on April 11. Should they wait to hear their fellow councilors’ response to a staff report that called for closure of the Denbigh ambulance service in favour of a new base to serve Loyalist Township, or should they get a jump on the debate and propose cutting the Denbigh service to 12 hours a day?

“It was a difficult decision to make,” Hogg said after the meeting, “because we really think the Denbigh ambulance should be as it is, a 24 hour service.”

The debate on the future of ambulance service in Lennox and Addington was preceded by a 30 minute long powerpoint presentation by Brian Smith, L&A County Director of Emergency and Long Term Care Services, and Mark Schjerning, Chief of Paramedic Services. Council had asked for information on a number of options, and in addition to financial data, the report included population information. The report pointed out that Addington Highlands, with 6% of the population, has 57% of the ambulance resources in Lennox and Addington County. Napanee, with 37% of the population, has 43% of the resources. Stone Mills, with 10.7%, and Loyalist, with 47.6% of the population respectively, each have 0% of the ambulance resources.

Napanee has the fastest response times in the county, followed by Addington Highlands, Loyalist and Stone Mills.

In advocating for moving the Denbigh resources to Loyalist, Smith and Schjerning said the impact would be “faster response times to a higher number of calls in the south and “an increase in response times to come calls in the north,” leading to a “positive statistical impact on the average response times in the county.”

Immediately after hearing the report, Henry Hogg, moved, and Cox seconded, a motion to keep the Denbigh service open 12 hours a day, and allocate half of its resources to serve the south end of the County.

“I'm going to quote the County's website in response to this report,” said Hogg. “It says L&A County is a 'friendly and caring organization, dedicated to respecting and upholding the rights of its citizens.' I don't believe the people of the north should be called upon to suffer for the statistical benefit of the county.”

Napanee Mayor Gord Schemerhorn spoke next.

“I did not prepare a speech like Henry did,” he said, “but I would say that if I was being responsible to the people of Napanee I would say it is fiscally responsible to close the base in Denbigh. But I have supported Lennox and Addington from day one. I feel I’m between a rock and a hard place. I can’t just sit here and support Napanee when there are such great distances to cover in the north. It would help if Henry was offering to help out with facility costs up there, but I support this in principle.”

“We can talk about facility costs,” Henry Hogg responded.

County Warden Bill Lowery, who is also the mayor of Loyalist Township, said, “I think with the closure of Denbigh and the building of a new, proper base in Northbrook and one in the south we would be up to date and good for the next 50 years. What is being talked about here is a band-aid solution.”

In the end, Council sided with Henry Hogg’s motion, in a vote of 7-1, securing a future for the Denbigh ambulance service.

Councilors get snippy in short budget meeting

Displaying an uncanny knack for scheduling meetings during freezing rain events, members of Frontenac County Council found their opportunities to debate their 2012 budget limited to about 45 minutes last month.

With their regularly scheduled meeting cancelled over a threat of freezing rain on January 18, and a replacement meeting on January 27 delayed due to freezing rain, only some preliminary questions were brought up about the draft 2012 budget.

The county is planning to spend a shade over $42 million this year, and Frontenac County ratepayers will pay just over $8.5 million towards that if the draft budget is not altered, an increase of $112,000 or 1.34%.

County taxes represent about 20% of the municipal tax bill, so the increase will not have a significant impact on the amount of taxes ratepayers in the county will be saddled with this year.

But in opening remarks before addressing specific items in the budget, members of council indicated they might be looking to decrease county taxation in order to offset some of the increases that are coming through their own township budgets.

Transfers from the provincial and federal governments will account for $17.5 million of the $42 million in county spending this year, mainly through subsidies for ambulance, Fairmount Home and Howe Island ferry costs

Frontenac Islands mayor Dennis Doyle said that he had reason to believe that this financial support may drop over the next few years. “I have had some meetings in recent weeks with a number of officials from the province. We are facing zero dollars for infrastructure and perhaps a certain amount of fallback on the downloading of costs. The situation in provincial and federal finances is pretty dire, and we might need to consider service cuts in place of tax increases,” Doyle said.

North Frontenac mayor Bud Clayton said that he recently attended an event in Toronto where the premier delivered a speech. “The premier singled out wages as the means to find the $16 billion provincial deficit he plans to cut. We should be prepared, at our level, for a lot of recession-type things,” said Clayton.

However, Central Frontenac mayor and current county warden, Janet Gutowski, pointed out that county council has already made moves that will make cutting the 2012 budget difficult. “We've already voted in a 2.9% wage increase for non-unionized staff. From what I gather you are looking for a budget decrease, I am wondering how we do it once we have already agreed to a 2.9% wage increase,” Gutowski said.

Turning to some of the specific items in the budget, no actual cuts were made but a number were flagged for further information from the finance department.

These included $60,000 for the operations of four council committees (Green Energy Task Force, Sustainability, K&P Trails and 150th Anniversary) the money covers mileage paid for committee members’ travel to meetings and events, and the cost of conferences that members attend from time to time.

County chief administrator Liz Savill said although money can be set aside for conferences in the budget, all requests to attend conferences come directly to county council for approval.

County councilor John Inglis from North Frontenac, who is himself a member of the Green Energy Task Force, said, “I think the committees will be able to manage on $40,000.”

Another item that was flagged for further discussion was the cost associated with making the Communications position, currently a contract position, into a full time position on the county payroll.

As well, the $3,700 per unit cost for new colors and increased reflective properties for Frontenac County ambulances came under scrutiny.

County council will return to the budget debate at their regular monthly meeting on February 15, and a special meeting may be called for late February if necessary.

Ompah ambulance base / fire station project finally moving

It's hurry up time after another long wait.

At a meeting of Frontenac County Council on January 27, a bylaw was approved authorizing the county to set out two requests for proposal, one for a project manager and one for a engineering company to prepare design plans and building costs for a building to be located on a lot in Ompah.

The building will house a 1,500 square foot ambulance base and a 2750 square foot fire hall.

In debating the bylaw the two North Frontenac representatives on the council, North Frontenac mayor Bud Clayton and township councilor John Inglis, brought concerns that had been expressed by North Frontenac Council at one of their own meetings.

“Our council was concerned that by passing this bylaw today, North Frontenac would be left with no option but to proceed even if the project’s costs exceed the amount we have earmarked for the project,” said John Inglis. “But from talking to county staff since then and looking at the agreement, I see that this is not the case.”

Nonetheless, Bud Clayton did propose an amendment to the bylaw, but county staff said this would lead to a further delay in proceeding with the project.

South Frontenac Mayor Gary Davison expressed considerable frustration with the amendment.

“I thought we had this all put to bed. If this isn't clear then I think we should stop this right now and only bring it back when both sides really have an agreement.”

Clayton then asked for a minute to confer with Inglis and they withdrew their amendment.

Two members of council opposed the bylaw. South Frontenac councilor John McDougall did so on the grounds that an Ompah ambulance base could lead to the closure of the Parham base, which he said is contrary to the interests of his constituents in the Verona area.

Warden Gutowski said that even though the amendment had been withdrawn, it revealed that North Frontenac Council is not in agreement.

With the passage of the bylaw, one major hurdle remains before construction can begin, the matter of “sticker shock”.

When the proposals come in for the design and construction of the ambulance base/fire hall, they will come with a price tag, and it may be the case that the cost to North Frontenac township will exceed the amount of money they have set aside for the project, which will leave their council with a decision to make.

Frontenac County rebuffs L&A ambulance request

Frontenac County will not be supporting the continued existence of the Denbigh ambulance base beyond paying the agreed-upon cross-border fee when an ambulance from the base answers a call in Frontenac County.

Back in 2008 Lennox and Addington Council requested financial support from neighbouring counties to keep the Denbigh ambulance base open. At that time they received no reply.

Flash forward to three years later, and once again L&A County has sent a letter of request to neighbouring counties, asking for help in keeping the Denbigh base open.

The letter of request that was sent to Frontenac outlines the recommendation from a consultant’s report that ambulance service in L&A be reconfigured by closing the base in Denbigh and building a new base in Loyalist Township. It also points out that “the ambulance service in Denbigh is a unique regional service for a large, sparsely populated geographic area which extends well beyond the County of Lennox and Addington. County Council's question to you: Is Frontenac County prepared to assume a greater financial responsibility for the Denbigh ambulance service in order to maintain the service for your citizens?”

L&A will not receive any official response from Frontenac County to this request, as the letter of request was merely “received for information purposes only”.

Frontenac County Chief of Paramedic Services, Paul Charbonneau, told Frontenac County Council that he had attended the L&A County meeting where the request was discussed. He said L&A was hoping to receive a $125,000 annual commitment from Frontenac, Hastings, and Renfrew Counties to help cover the $500,000 annual municipal cost of running a 24-hour service (the province pays about $500,000 as well).

“When ambulance service was downloaded to municipalities it became a local responsibility to fund the service. We have a cross-border agreement in place for the calls that the Denbigh base answers in Frontenac and that agreement recognizes the higher cost of those calls,” Charbonneau said. “We pay more for the Denbigh calls than L&A pays for the calls we answer for their residents in Loyalist County ... If Council wants to spend an added $125,000 I can find ways to put it to good use for our own residents.”

The motion to receive the L&A County request 'for information purposes only' was unanimously passed without comment from members of council.

The response from Frontenac pours cold water on an initiative that has been contemplated by Mayor Peter Emon of the township of Madawaska. Emon has said publicly that the County of Renfrew might consider supporting the Denbigh base financially, and that he supported the idea.

North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton is appearing before L&A Council this week. He will be urging L&A to maintain the Denbigh base in order to fulfill their responsibility to their northern residents, but will also make it clear he does not support any transfer of municipal funds from Frontenac County for the service.

Fairmount auditorium rebuild back on the agenda

In September of 2010, a proposal from Fairmount Home administrator Julie Shillington to start up a fundraising campaign for renovations to the auditorium of Fairmount Home, the county-run long term care facility, was deferred.

The proposal was for a $250,000 fundraising campaign towards a $1.5 million renovation to the auditorium.

Shillington's report outlined the problems with the auditorium, including a loud, inefficient heating and cooling system, inadequate electrical service, and a leaking roof.

At the time, Frontenac Islands Mayor Jim Vanden Hoek spoke out against starting up the fundraising campaign, expressing the concern that it would eventually force county council to approve the entire project.

“Even though they are not asking us to commit to doing the upgrade, once a fundraising campaign is underway and the public has committed money, how can council say no to the project? This is not the right way to do this. Council needs to debate the project itself first, and if we decide to go ahead, then a fundraising campaign is appropriate,” he said, and concluded, “I would like to see this deferred to the new council.”

With that new council now in place, with Vanden Hoek being replaced on it by Dennis Doyle who defeated him in last year’s election for mayor of Frontenac Islands, the proposal has re-surfaced.

The estimated cost of the project, which was $1.5 million in 2009, will have to be upgraded, according to Shillington's updated report to the new council, and the proposed fundraising campaign is for “no less than $200,000”. She added, “We have already received $32,473 towards the project without any formal fundraising,” and that other grants and subsidies would be investigated should the project go ahead.

Frontenac County Treasurer Marion Van Bruinessen said that when Fairmount Home was redeveloped several years ago, a $2.5 million capital reserve was established, which she indicated might be used for the auditorium since it is part of the home, although it was left out of the re-build.

“We did not bring this to the new council right away,” said County Chief Administrative Officer Liz Savill, “because we wanted to allow new members a period of time to get acclimated to the county.”

Shillington hopes that the project can be brought to fruition within two years.

“With the 150th anniversary of the County of Frontenac approaching in 2015, we would like to see the auditorium renovations completed by the end of 2014 and include activities in the auditorium as part of the anniversary celebrations. This would be a prime opportunity to highlight it as a community resource. With this in mind, I would like to advise county that the auditorium project will be brought forward with the 2013 budget as a capital building project,” she said in her report.

North Frontenac Township Mayor Bud Clayton said that no decision on fundraising should be made until county council makes a decision about the project itself.

“It is fraud to fundraise for a specific purpose and then use the money for anything else. We need to consider this project before we talk about this fundraising campaign,” he said.

Council member John Purdon from Central Frontenac said, “It looks like a lot of cost for a gymnasium which is structurally sound.”

County Warden Gary Davison said, “The redevelopment isn't just for a gymnasium, it is quite extensive, not just painting the walls and changing the air conditioner.”

“I think this particular institution is very beloved,” added Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski.

Shillington's report was received.

No news is not necessarily bad news on ambulance base front

By Jeff Green

When the agenda came out for the Frontenac County Council meeting this week, it did not include any reference to the proposed joint ambulance base/fire station in Ompah.

A motion proposed by North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton at a county meeting in August was deferred until September for county staff to consider its implications after meeting with North Frontenac township staff.

That meeting did not take place before the September County Council meeting. Since the matter was still not on the October agenda, the News contacted North Frontenac Township Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Robson to find out whether the meeting had taken place.

Robson said that a tele-conference took place last week, and progress was made.

Paul Charbonneau, the Chief of Paramedic Services for Frontenac County, will prepare an administrative report based on what was discussed at the meeting.

The report will go to the North Frontenac Council meeting on November 14 and the Frontenac County Council meeting on November 17.

“If everything works out, there is plenty of time to hire a project manager and put everything in place for construction next spring,” said Robson.

A motion was passed by Frontenac County Council in February of 2009, directing staff to develop plans for a joint fire-hall ambulance base in Ompah.

The project has been delayed ever since, as the county and the township have not been able to agree on a cost-sharing agreement for the construction and ongoing maintenance of a jointly owned, dual-purpose building.

(Frontenac County Council met on Wednesday, October 19, too late for a report to be included in this week’s Frontenac News.)

Neighbouring counties and Denbigh ambulance

The Denbigh ambulance base, whose fate will be decided by Lennox and Addington County Council as early as the end of October, came to the fore at a meeting of North Frontenac Council this week.

Paul Isaacs, from the Denbigh Ambulance Network, submitted a copy of the presentation he had made at Lennox and Addington County two weeks earlier. His presentation attacked the consultant’s report by the IBI group of Toronto, saying the report, which recommends closing the Denbigh base and replacing it with a base in Loyalist Township, is full of “egregious” errors.

Accompanying Paul Isaacs was Peter Emon, the mayor of the Township of Greater Madawaska, who travelled to the meeting in Snow Road from his home in Calabogie. Emon also attended the L&A County meeting in Napanee on September 14, and a meeting of the Denbigh ambulance network on September 22.

“The Denbigh ambulance is important for our area, your area as well. If there is a single ambulance based at Northbrook, it is still going to be pulled away to Kaladar for backup, or could get called out, leaving North Frontenac and Madawaska Highlands without any service,” Emon said, “so this of interest to our ambulance service in Renfrew. Lennox and Addington made a slight shift in suggesting for the first time at their meeting in Napanee that Denbigh is a regional ambulance. That might be significant. It might be suggested that you look at your own Frontenac service in light of all this.”

“It might be a bit of an uphill battle,” said John Inglis, a North Frontenac representative to Frontenac County Council. “Our land ambulance coordinator suggested that closing Denbigh would improve response times in North Frontenac as the new Northbrook base is located closer to Cloyne.”

“At this Council table, you are preaching to the converted,” said North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton, “we all recognize the importance of the Denbigh base, but that does not mean, as John said, that we speak for Frontenac County.”

At the September 22 Denbigh Ambulance Network meeting, Emon said that he had talked to both the warden and chief administrative officer of Renfrew County, and they were both receptive to the idea of Renfrew County making a financial commitment investment, with certain guarantees, towards maintaining the Denbigh base. The estimated annual cost of running a 24-hour service is $1 million. The province of Ontario pays about half that operating cost, leaving $500,000 for L&A ratepayers to cover.

“There are three other counties that are served by the Denbigh base, Frontenac, Renfrew and Hastings… That would mean a commitment of $125,000 a year for a shared service. In Renfrew County our ambulance costs are $5.5 million a year, so $125,000 is something we might consider,” Emon said at the Denbigh meeting.

The idea of sharing costs did not come up at the North Frontenac Council meeting.

Arcol Road bridges to be rebuilt: Two bridges on the Arcol Road, a crown land road leading to Granite, Hungry, Mair and Govan Lakes, have been declared unsafe by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). The replacement cost is about $128,000.The MNR is willing to kick in $103,000 and the township has secured a $15,000 commitment from the Eastern Ontario Tourist Association, using grant money the have received from the province. The net cost to the township is about $10,000, but there is a rush to move on the project. For one thing, moose hunting starts on October 17, and secondly, with a provincial election underway, there is a sense that it might not be wise to wait until after October 6 before getting started.

Council approved a proposal to go ahead with the project as soon as possible, and will proceed by seeking verbal quotes from local contractors to complete the work.

Lennox & Addington Council has decided to seek a new home for the Northbrook ambulance base, and a request for proposal for a piece of land located on Highway 41 between Northbrook and Denbigh will be set out this week.

That was the easy part for the council.

It was also relatively easy for them to decide to stop sending the Northbrook ambulance to Tamworth on standby when both Napanee cars are out on calls, a practice that resulted in only 2 service calls last year and 5 in 2009.

It will be more difficult, wrenching even, for them to come to grips with the recommendation of a consultant’s report to close the Denbigh base and replace it with one in Loyalist Township, halfway between Kingston and Napanee. That recommendation will be considered at a meeting in late October, at the earliest.

The Denbigh issue was front and centre at last Wednesday's (September 14) Council meeting in Napanee.

In a presentation to L&A Council, L&A Emergency Services Co-ordinator Mark Schjerning pointed out that more than half of the calls that were answered by the Denbigh ambulance emanated from outside of Lennox and Addington, and while L&A recoups money for those calls through a cross-border agreement, that money is minimal as compared to the cost of keeping the base up and running.

L&A receives about $400 for every cross-border call it makes out of Denbigh, and their cost per call is about $3,500.

Shjerning also pointed out that the paramedics stationed at Denbigh spend a lot of time waiting for calls that do not come.

“In 2010, all told, about 1/3 of the shifts at Denbigh were what we call empty envelope shifts; in other words, over a 12-hour shift there were no calls to the station,” he said. “When this is expressed on a cost-per call basis, each call becomes very expensive.”

The preferred alternative that Schjerning presented, according to the report that was prepared by the IBI group out of Toronto, is the consolidation of northern services in the Northbrook/Cloyne area and the establishment of a new base in Loyalist Township. Currently, most of the calls from Loyalist Township are answered by the ambulance operated by Frontenac County, which is housed in a base on Justus Drive in the western part of Kingston.

“We cannot guarantee that the ambulance will be waiting at the base on Justus Drive to come to Loyalist,” said Shjerning, “it can be moved to downtown Kingston on standby.”

The impact of a new Loyalist Township-based service would be to cut response times from an average of about 20 to about 10 minutes per call for the 1,000 or so calls each year in that region.

On the other hand, closing Denbigh would result in over 80% of the calls in that region taking between 30 and 60 minutes for a response,” according to the IBI report.

County Warden Henry Hogg, who is also the Reeve of Addington Highlands, took a look at some of the mapping provided by Shjerning, and said that many response times will be even longer than the 30-60 minute window envisioned by IBI. He asked Shjerning what speeds were used to project the response times.

“We based those estimates on an average speed of 100 km/hour,” said Schjerning.

“Having driven the roads around Denbigh for the past 35 years, I challenge anyone to average 100 kilometres an hour, so your response times are not accurate,” Hogg said.

A middle ground proposal was also brought forward by Mark Shjerning. It involves keeping a limited 12 hour a day service open in Denbigh at an ambulance post, which is less expensive to build than a full-sized ambulance base. However, while simply closing Denbigh and opening a base in Loyalist Township would not increase the global cost of the system, keeping a limited service in Denbigh would mean an increase in costs, and ultimately, an increased tax burden on L&A ratepayers,

“As I understand it,” said L&A Council member, and Loyalist Township Deputy Mayor, Ric Bresee, “in an environment where we have fixed resources, this change will provide a 10 minute improvement in response time for a thousand calls and will slow response time by 30 minutes for a smaller number of calls, maybe 50 to 100. To me that is the nature of the decision we are called to make now. With the addition of funds we could start to change that spectrum but just on the flat line of the resources we have to use now, that is the call we have to make. I don't want to make that call.”

Addington Highlands Deputy Reeve Bill Cox wondered how this entire scenario had come about. “All we needed to do was find a location to build a Northbrook base. Whose idea was it to do a new study? We just did one three years ago, and nothing has changed. Why is this happening now?” he asked.

“Because we are now facing building a new base for Northbrook, it means we will be in a fixed location for a long time, so we thought it only prudent to look down the road before making that sort of commitment,” said County Chief Administrator Larry Keech.

Keech then said that council need not rush into a decision on the Denbigh/Loyalist Township issue.

“This is a very weighty issue both for Loyalist and Denbigh. It should not be made in haste and council should feel all of their questions are answered. We look to council for the next step,” he said, “but we don’t want it to be necessarily forgotten either.”

Council asked for more detail about response times in Loyalist Township, and will look further at the matter next month.

There is no fixed time frame for a final decision.

Culvert Replacement - Erroll Ruth of Mallory Lake made a return visit to council to ask for the township’s help with roadwork and in replacing some culverts on Addington Road 5, which he said were in such bad shape that they could collapse and cause a bad accident. Mr. Ruth brought several photos with him. He had visited council last year with the same request, and was told that the township does not provide maintenance on un-maintained roads, but is working on developing a policy. Since a new council is in place, Mr. Ruth returned on Monday night to present his request again. Council voted to receive the request.

Medical Clinic - Councilor Tony Fritsch presented to council the Terms of Reference that he has developed for a new facilities committee for the Lakelands Family Health Team (LFHT) in Denbigh and Northbrook. Council voted to establish the committee.

A tentative date of October 29 was set for the official opening of the new Denbigh LFHT facility.

Community Centre - Fritsch also presented two plans for a parking lot at the new Addington Highlands Community Centre – Denbigh. It was decided that the first plan, which puts the lot on the north side of the building, would be too expensive and difficult, as the Ministry of Transportation has requested a traffic impact study and stormwater management report. The estimated cost is $20,000 to $40,000.

The second plan, which places the lot on the east side, does have the drawback of going over the tile bed and would require its relocation, but does not have any MTO issues and has easy and safe access off Central Street. Council voted for the second option, which has an estimated cost of just over $10,000.

Ambulance Service - Council discussed the wording of a resolution to be submitted to Lennox & Addington County Council on the Denbigh Ambulance Service. Council Fritsch wanted the wording that the township would “accept no less than a 24/7 ambulance base in Denbigh and a 24/7 ambulance base in Northbrook”. Councilor Bill Cox sits on county council and was concerned about the wording being too confrontational, and Councilor Yanch noted that it was pointless to say the township “would accept no less” when in fact they would have to accept whatever county council decides.

The wording was changed to “..that the 24/7 Denbigh base and the 24/7 Cloyne/Northbrook base need to remain in place” and in a recorded vote, was accepted unanimously.

Firehall - Council approved the new municipal building/firehall project in Northbrook and decided to issue the request for proposals. The request for RFPs will go out now and the decision will be announced at the December 5 council meeting.

Applefest - The Through the Roof Ministry Centre (TTRMC) in Flinton is planning Applefest, a free community event, for October 15, and asked council for permission to use the Flinton hall’s parking lot for overflow parking, and also to cordon off Edward Street between Harrison Street and Flinton Road.

A wedding is planned for the Flinton hall for the same day, so the parking lot will not be available; however, certain areas that are used during the Flinton Jamboree would be suitable for the Applefest overflow parking. Also, council will notify TTRMC that they must use approved barricades, which must be manned by leaders with traffic control certification.