Staff agreement on Ompah fire hall/ambulance base construction

Jeff Green | Nov 17, 2011

Barring any last-minute political intervention, a project manager will be hired early this winter to work out the construction details for a 1,500 square foot ambulance post and a 2,750 square foot fire hall in a single building to be located in Ompah.

The project has been mired in political and administrative wrangling for 19 months. The fire hall portion of the project is the responsibility of North Frontenac Township and the ambulance base portion is the responsibility of Frontenac County, and it has been difficult for the two parties to come to a cost-sharing agreement for the construction.

It took nine months for the two parties to agree that a project manager should be hired to oversee all the construction, and that the construction standards need to conform to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

By that time, a municipal election had taken place and new councils were in place at both levels of municipal government.

The two parties have been at odds for the past year over who will pay what share of the construction costs. The county had been insisting that since it will be using about 1/3 of the space, it should pay 1/3 of construction costs. The township, arguing that since the fire hall portion will consist mainly of a heated garage, while the ambulance base will be a finished space, a 50/50 cost split is fair.

In July, County Council instructed its staff to consider alternative cost-sharing possibilities with North Frontenac staff, and two tele-conferences took place in October.

After the second tele-conference, an agreement had been reached.

Servicing costs, i.e. well, septic, hydro, will be shared on a 50/50 basis (North Frontenac had previously offered to pay 100% of those costs).

Land purchase costs ($29,000), as well as the cost of basic construction, including the foundation, framing, roofing, exterior and interior doors, windows, exterior finishes, all interior walls finished, electrical, heating, and plumbing, will be shared according to the relative size of the “areas set aside for the exclusive use of each party” in the words of Paul Charbonneau, Frontenac County Chief of Paramedic Services.

The breakthrough in negotiations came when the parties agreed that they would each pay 100% of the cost of any interior finishing they choose to undertake, such as flooring, cupboards, kitchen counters, appliances, etc. in their own sections of the building.

With a staff agreement in place, North Frontenac Council gave its approval on Monday for a Request for Proposal to be set out for a project manager to prepare a final costing for a 4,250 square foot building in Ompah to house the two services.

North Frontenac Township Chief Administrative Officer Cheryl Robson prepared a detailed nine-page report for Council, and recommended that council approve issuing a joint request for proposal (RFP) with the county for a project manager.

“Are you comfortable with the agreement you have reached with county staff?” Councilor John Inglis asked Robson.

“Very,” she said.

Inglis wondered why county staff will issue the RFP on behalf of itself and North Frontenac.

“I thought this project was to be an equal partnership,” he said.

“Someone has to take the lead,” replied Mayor Bud Clayton.

“George Gorrie [Chief Building Official for North Frontenac] will be involved and nothing will proceed until it is brought back to our council,” said Robson.

North Frontenac has $291,000 set aside for the fire hall and the Ompah firefighters have said they will contribute $50,000 in fundraised dollars. The township has another $58,000 in a capital reserve fund that can be used. Although the final cost of the project has not been determined, Cheryl Robson's report says that up to another $150,000 may be required to cover the township’s portion of costs.

Councilor Wayne Good, who has taken a hard line in the past that no extra money should be put into the fire hall project, was not at Monday's meeting.

Frontenac County Council also meets this week.

They will be considering a motion to accept the cost sharing agreement in principle and have their staff bring the matter back for final resolution “as soon as the Township of North Frontenac has confirmed its final support of these cost sharing matters and confirmed all other details required for the project to proceed.”