Alison Vandervelde and Richard Allen of the Frontenac County Economic Development department thought that fifteen or twenty of the 68 Frontenac County brand ambassadors would accept their invitation to hold an informal social gathering at the Sharbot Lake County Inn last Thursday (March 30).

“When over 50 said they were coming we were pretty surprised,” said Vandervelde “but then again I knew that businesses who have taken on the role of brand ambassador are an enthusiastic bunch.”

Vandervelde made a short presentation at the gathering, which included business owners from all four townships, and the staff of the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation. She talked about plans to use the brand and the InFrontenac tagline to promote unique adventures in Frontenac County this summer.

“Mostly what people wanted to do was meet each other and have a good time and maybe talk about business a little bit. There was a lot of energy in the room,” she said.

Sandra White of the Sharbot Lake Country Inn hosted the event and provided appetizers, offerings that were augmented by a large meat board that Mike Mckenzie from Seed to Sausage brought along.  White talked about the journey she has gone through as owner of the Country Inn and Crossings Pub over 7 years. Along with her husband Frank and their three daughters they have renovated the entire building, creating a dining room/performance space that hosts east coast and other musical acts from across Canada. The rooms at the Inn are now mostly renovated as well. She also works at the local branch of RBC and invited representatives from the branch to the event to mingle with the ambassadors.

“You have to take every opportunity to promote what you do,” she said afterwards.

“We are enthusiastic that this summer will be a good one for businesses in Frontenac County,” said Vandervelde, “and as we hope that as we pick up more ambassadors they will continue to promote each other, making Frontenac a more attractive destination. It is easier to talk up other businesses when you know the people who run them.”

Later this spring, meetings are being organized to take a broad look at accommodations in Frontenac.

For more information or to become a brand ambassador, go to Infrontenac.ca and follow the links.

(The Frontenac News is an InFrontenac brand ambassador)

Last Thursday (March 23) Richard Allen from Frontenac County’s Economic Development Department, and Carey Bidtnes from the Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) hosted three sessions on the prospects for the goat dairy industry in Eastern Ontario. They were joined by goat experts from the Ontario Ministry of Food and Agriculture, including small ruminant specialist Jillian Craig, and raw milk specialist Philip Wilman.

Richard Allen hosted the sessions, and Carey Bidtnes kicked things off by setting out the context for an unprecedented potential growth of the small but growing goat dairy industry in Ontario. Bidtnes is the point person at KEDCO who is working with officials from the huge Chinese agricultural corporation Feihe. Feihe will commence construction on a $250 million plant in Kingston this summer. The plant will produce high end baby formula using surplus skim milk from Ontario dairy farms, and will directly employ over 200 people, many more during the construction phase. In China, Feihe’s premium brand sells for $75 (Canadian) for a 750 ml can, a one week’s supply.

As Bidtnes explained, the plant will be built with two production lines, a cow milk line that will begin production as soon as the plant is built, and a goat milk line that will begin production in 5-7 years or when there is enough goat milk available to run the line.

The problem for Feihe, and Bidtnes by extension, is that the goat dairy industry in Ontario  produces 46 million litres a year, and represents the bulk of national production, which is 55 million litres. Feihe is looking for 75 million litres a year.  By comparison, 8,100 million litres of cows milk are produced each year in Canada (accordnig to Stats Can figures from 2015).

There are about 250 goat dairy farms in Ontario, the smallest with as few as 250 milking goats, and there are some with as many as 1,500 goats.

Feihe operates on an entirely different scale. In China they run a vertically integrated company. They grow their own grain, raise and milk animals and turn their own milk into formula. When Bidtnes and Allen visited China in January, they toured a massive indoor Feihe facility which has 10,000 milking cows. In China, Feihe is about to construct 7 goat dairy farms that will each house and milk 70,000 does in a single indoor facility.

“Feihe runs all their own farms in China ever since the Melamine scandal of 2008. They need to feel confident of the quality and cleanliness of their supply. But in Canada, where the dairy industry is second to none, they want to work with independent farmers,” Bidtnes said.

Jillian Craig and Philip Wilman did not talk much about the potential for large dairy goat farms. They presented information based on the current state of the goat dairy industry in Ontario.

“There are two goat milk brokers in Ontario, and I would not recommend anyone invest in dairy goats without first securing a contract with one of them,” Welman said.

As he explained, purchasing good quality dairy goats and building new or retrofitting a barn for goats are expensive propositions. Good quality does cost about $1,000 each but goats breed well, producing 2-3 offspring each year. The market for goat meat as well as goat milk is good in Ontario so male goats can either be sold to a feed lot or raised for later sale.

He also said that the average price for goat milk is about $1.09 per litre.

“While there are some who say goats can produce 3 litres a day, I think 2.5 litres is as good as anyone can expect on average. Does produce from 600 to 1,000 litres per year, and if Welman is to be believed, the number is closer to 600.

He also said that the cost to produce a litre of milk, with all costs included, has been estimated by government officials at $1.30.

A member of the audience asked if he was hearing correctly. “If it costs $1.30 and sells for $1.09, what is the point of it all.” he said.

Welman said that the $1.30 figure is misleading.

“It assumes that farmers don’t do any of their own labour and includes mortgage costs on buildings and other costs. The top five farms that I know produce milk for about 87 cents a litre,” he said.

Jillian Craig said there are two feeding systems that farmers use. Farmers can purchase feed pellets that have all the necessary nutrients in them, or a total mixed ration system using corn and hay that they grow or purchase, along with other nutrients. Most Ontario goat dairies are parts of larger farm operations that grow much of their own feed.

Craig and Welman indicated that proper research and a lot of preparation is necessary before taking the plunge into the goat dairy industry. They did not speak at all about the logistics involved in very large scale goat operations.

To supply Feihe’s plant, the milk from 100,000 to 115,000 dairy goats will be necessary, and breeding will have to be staggered among that herd to provide a constant supply. To put that in a North American perspective, there were approximately 360,000 dairy goats in the entire United States in 2016. A 9,600 goat farm is being constructed in Wisconsin, which will be the largest in the United States. The goat cheese industry takes all the milk US producers can supply and is looking for more.

The British Columbia affiliate of a California based agricultural company is planning to expand into Eastern Ontario, and it has its sights set on Frontenac County.

“We are, at heart, animal lovers, and we hate the idea of keeping animals indoors all year,” said company President Halle Steubens in an interview from the Cardinal Cafe on Monday. Steubens spent three days in Frontenac County early this week, and stayed at the Sharbot Lake Country Inn while conducting meetings with financiers and political officials.

“We heard about the need for goat milk in this region from one of our contacts in China,” Steubens said, “and we knew it was called the County of a Thousand Lakes, so I jumped on a plane to see for myself and to see if there was any interest in our unique animal friendly intensive farming technology. And it looks like we have a perfect fit.”

Steubens said that Island Goat Farm Canada (International Inc) has developed its own breed of dairy goats that have a unique combination of attributes that make them ideally suited to living on islands.

“We call them Alpine Aquaphobe. They are very frisky, very good jumpers but they love coming in to the barn to be milked, and best of all they are terrified of water and ice. You could never fence them but put them on an island and they will never leave,” he said.

He said that Island Goat Farm US and Island Goat Farm Chile have developed large herds on islands in some large and smaller lakes. The engineering division of the company handles all of the details. Water is drawn from the lake and treated, as is the waste water, and both the milk and any excess sewage are pumped off the islands through separate deep underground tunnels.

“I know from talking to people this week that the residents who live on the lakes around here are very concerned about the environment, green algae blooms, phosphates, fish habitat, all that sort of thing. And so am I. That’s the beauty of our island farms, they are completely benign, there is no runoff. Our credo is ‘milk but no honey-wagon’ which we take very seriously.”

Steubens said that he realises he has an uphill battle convincing politicians, and lake associations, that humans and goats can share the lakes to mutual benefit.

“We plan to employ over 100 people, and use local contractors as much as possible, and we are happy to pay those waterfront taxes.” he said.

He said it is a long way off before any goats will be transported to their new island homes in Frontenac County but that Island Goat Farm engineers will be engaging the local conservation authorities and county and township planning departments in the coming weeks.

He would not say which lakes the company will settle on, but said they are looking at all of the Frontenac Townships.

“Wouldn’t it be great to have one 5,000 or 10,000 goat farm in each township,” he said.

He said lakes that are being considered are relatively large one ones with suitable islands. He named Loughborough, Dog and Verona Lakes in South Frontenac; Sharbot, Kennebec and Big Clear Lakes in Central Frontenac, and Palmerston, Mississagagon and Kashwakamak in North Frontenac.

He also said the company has contacted the Shabot Obaadjiwan about the possibility of using an island on Crotch Lake.

Steubens returned to his home base of Vancouver on Wednesday, but said “I’ll be back.”

Jon Allison, the lead designer for the new County of Frontenac brand, has won the 2017 Applied Arts Community Award for Logo and Brand Identity Design. The announcement was published in the March issue of the Applied Arts Magazine, one of Canada’s premier publications on visual communication.

The Applied Arts Magazine’s Community Awards recognize work in advertising, design, photography, illustration and interactive communications. This is the second major national marketing award for the #inFrontenac brand. Last year, the County of Frontenac earned the 2016 Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC) National Marketing Award for Best Brand Identity.

"To see the talent involved in creating this brand now being recognized on a national stage is great," said County of Frontenac Warden Ron Vandewal. "There’s a growing sense of pride around being part of life in Frontenac, and this new brand is certainly contributing to that," Vandewal said.

Allison worked for branding agency RedTrain and collaborated with Kathleen Vollebregt of Avenue Strategy during the brand design. For an overview of previous news and related portfolio examples visit: http://www.frontenaccounty.ca/en/corporate/frontenac-brand.asp

Since the brand was launched in the summer of 2016, it has been gaining popularity across Frontenac and beyond and Frontenac swag has already been shared at tradeshows in Toronto, Ottawa and Pennsylvania. One of the most successful initiatives associated with the new Frontenac identity is the brand ambassador program where local businesses sign on and commit to working together to grow Frontenac’s reputation as a great place to do business, live, and visit. More than 60 businesses have already signed on.

Three days after Richard Allen took on the Economic Development job at Frontenac County, the City of Kingston and the Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO), came to Frontenac County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender with an invitation.

A high powered delegation of Kingston officials, led by the Mayor, were headed to China for meetings and a tour of facilities at Feihe International, a large baby formula company that is already investing $225 million to build a factory in Kingston and is looking to do more. And they wanted Frontenac County to bring some rural representation to the delegation.

So, even though he was new on the job, and it was going to cost the county $5,000, Allen was dispatched to China. He had an inauspicious start, tearing an abductor just before leaving so he was on crutches throughout the trip, but the trip went well nonetheless,  Frontenac County is at the table  as Feihe makes it aggressive foray into the Kingston region.

Frontenac County is in a position to participate in the growth of Feihe primarily because the company is pursuing goat milk as an alternative to cows milk in the production of baby formula. As Allen noted in his report to Frontenac County Council last week, the potential impact of goat milk production in the vicinity of Kingston is vast, and will transform the community that takes it on.

“Feihe has built a demonstration goat farm with 2,500 goats, but will be scaling up to 70,000 in 2018. Feihe plans to have 7 such farms in operation by 2020,” he said.

To put the scale of these operations in an Ontario context, there are currently 45,000 goats being milked commercially in the entire province.

In his report, Allen said that Feihe does not necessarily expect to see the same kind of goat operations as it is developing in China start up in Ontario, but they will be looking for large amounts of milk to be delivered fresh on an ongoing basis to their baby formula facility for immediate processing.

“Feihe stated their commitment to working with the local supply chain to achieve their needs for goat milk with phase two of the Kingston processing facility, and to find a process that works with our local context to achieve their goals. This may mean a way can be found for farms of various sizes to participate in this opportunity. Staff will work with Feihe, regional partners such as KEDCO and the  Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAFRA) to develop a successful strategy with the farming community” he said.

Feihe International got into the large scale farming business in China after a melamine scandal hit the dairy industry in 2008, affecting the sales prospects for all Chinese dairy products from candies to cheese and milk to baby formula. Feihe responded by setting up modern state of the art indoor farming operations where sanitation and genetics are tightly controlled.

As Allen pointed out in his report, Feihe now operates its farms in China using the same production values as it uses in its formula factory. At a farm with 10,000 dairy cattle that the delegation visited, 240 cows are milked 24 hours a day in 15 minute intervals. The public is invited to see the entire operation, which exceeds all international standards for safe milk production.

He said that the farm is located on a 50 acre parcel of land, and that the cattle are housed in large structures.

The scale that Feihe is looking for in terms of goat milk production is unprecedented in Ontario, and there is certainly a knowledge gap that needs to be overcome in order for the industry to be developed in Eastern Ontario.

“If Frontenac seeks to become the 'Goat Capital of Canada' it will be critical to ensure that our community grows strong base knowledge, education, participate in breeding programs for healthy, resilient goats with excellent genetics, and develops a robust logistics system that allows for farms of many sizes to participate in the supply chain for this anticipated opportunity,” he said.

After the presentation, Councillor John Inglis from North Frontenac said “I'm concerned about the amount of your time that this will take up and if it will affect other Economic Development activities.

Allen answered that he does not see a large time commitment in the short term.

“Over the next 18 months or so it will only involve me participating in occasional meetings. It will not affect the other initiatives we have been working on,” he replied.

He will be reporting back to the County Community Development Advisory Committee (CDAC) in October.

Council voted to cover the costs for the trip to China from their sustainability reserve fund.

(see editorial – Opportunity knocks)

InFrontenac launched
The economic development  department brought a report on the soft launch of a new website, Infrontenac.ca. Designed to promote Frontenac County as a place to invest, Infrontenac.ca is an extension of the #InFrontenac branding initiative that was undertaken last year. The 60 INFrontenac brand ambassadors are featured in the site, which includes links to information about trails and other activities, a business directory, planning and other information that anyone considering visiting or investing in the county could be interested in.

“We made the decision, early on in the process to use only photographs from Frontenac County. There is no generic content on the site,” said Vandervelde.

Allen said that part of what the site does is link to information that is gathered on the county site and on the township sites as well.

Links to www.Infrontenac.ca will be installed on township sites over the next few months.

Stewardship Foundation gets a warm greeting and some money
Gord Rodgers, President of the Frontenac Stewardship Foundation, came to Council looking for some support for the annual retreat that the foundation is holding at the Queen's University Biological Station this April. He updated council on the foundation’s initiatives in fostering local stewardship efforts and hosting public information sessions periodically throughout the year. The capacity of the summit in April, which will feature speakers from various academic disciplines on matters related to stewardship and conservation, is only about 75. Members of county council are invited but must pay the same admission fee as all other attendees.

“We hope to bring in enough to cover costs, but it would make it easier if we had support from the county,” Rodgers said.

He was asking for $2,000 and Council agreed to provide it.

Unfriendly response to Age Friendly presentation
Nadia de Santi and Emily Sangster from the MMM group presented a 35 page Age Friendly Action Plan for Frontenac County. Work on the plan was funded through a $35,000 provincial grant. The goal of the plan is to help Frontenac County better serve its aging population. The consultants worked with staff and members of the Community Development Advisory committee. They set up seniors’ fairs in South and Central Frontenac last fall to get a feel for local needs. The plan that they presented to Council includes census information, general information about the needs of seniors in Ontario and information they gathered locally.

“We see this as a living plan, open to new information and new ideas,” said Nadia De Santi.

The lack of specific information in the plan about Frontenac Islands led Frontenac Islands Mayor Dennis Doyle to question the value of the project.

“We never saw you on Wolfe or Howe Island  and there is nothing in this plan that talks about the reality in our township,” said Doyle.

Councillor Natalie Nossal, who comes from Howe Island, took a less aggressive approach but noted that the plan “is lacking specifics about the islands” and suggested that the perspective of islanders be added in the future.

The proposal in front of Council was to receive the report and move on to develop an implementation plan in concert with the townships, community groups and social service agencies.

Council supported the proposal, with the notable exception of Dennis Doyle.

It’s safe to say that a company of the size and wealth of Feihe International has never expressed an interest in doing business in Frontenac County before. As we saw from the census just last week population growth in Frontenacs not only lags badly behind the rest of the country, it lags behind the region. We also aging faster than most other places. If we are going to keep schools open, keep a business community afloat, an injection of money and jobs is just the ticket to reverse a worrying downward spiral and rejuvenate the local economy.

On the other hand nothing about the rich history of agriculture in the county has been on an industrial. Factory farming is not envisioned in our Official Plans, strategic plans or stated economic development priorities. In fact it runs counter to the promotion of small-scale food, craft and tourism businesses that have sprung up in recent years. The most powerful constituent group in the county, the up to 20,000 seasonal property owners, pay high taxes not for roads or bridges but for clean water and environmental stewardship.

Participating in a large way in the development of intensive goat farming, which is what Feihe needs, will require not only an entrepreneur who is willing to invest and also make an effort to develop local expertise, it will also require a change in the way Frontenac County sees itself.

There was significant resistance to wind turbines in North Frontenac. They are seen as a threat to the pristine wilderness. There is resistance to a 13 home subdivision in Hartington because it may impact the water table. The potential impact  of a goat farm with thousands of animals living in a confined space on neighbouring properties is big. Even in China, where large scale operations are common,  Feihe’s farming practices have had their detractors.

An article published by phys.org this past December, says that in China there has been  “an economic boom and government backing transforming dairy into a $40-billion-a-year industry, shifting production away from small-scale producers towards massive megafarms with up to 10,000 cattle—and a lot more waste.

“‘The smell of the manure... in the summer it's very intense,’ said Ren Xiangjun, a farmer in Gannan county. Pointing at a stream of green water escaping from under a grey brick wall at the giant farm owned by agro-conglomerate Feihe International, he added: ‘You can see how it flows right out of the farm.’”

The article describes manure piled up like a mountain, and quotes villager from Daxing, near on of the Feihe farms: “There are no advantages for us. There is just pollution and noise.”

While the situation would be different in Frontenac County. Farms could be smaller but they would still have to be of a scale that is beyond anything we have ever seen.

Sooner or later a discussion will need to take place in Frontenac County about how this opportunity should be dealt with.

There are those who will say we should stay as far away as possible, and there are others who will want to consider the opportunities this offers for community development, with caution. As a business owner I see opportunities, but as a homeowner I’m not sure I would want to live next to a 10,000 goat operation.

Before Frontenac becomes the “Goat capital of Canada” we need to figure out what that means and whether we can live with the consequences.

The province will be requiring Frontenac municipalities to put new policies into their Official Plans concerning private (cottage) roads.  This will affect South Frontenac more than any other township, county planner Joe Gallivan told a South Frontenac committee of the whole meeting on Tuesday night (January 24) in Sydenham.

“You have the most private roads,” he said. “There are 981 private lanes in Frontenac County and more than half of them (545) are in South Frontenac.”

That represents 373 of the 769 kilometres of private roads in the County, he said.

“The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing will require you to have a policy on how these roads are developed,” he said. “That’s why we had this study (Frontenac Private Lanes Study) done.

“It will help.”

Gallivan said South already has 2,774 dwellings and $1.8 billion in assessment.

Gallivan said there is a growing trend towards converting cottages into year round home and many of these are on private lanes. South Frontenac also has 40.8 per cent of the private lots available in Frontenac County with 241of 590.

There are 178 vacant lots in North Frontenac (30.2 per cent), 111 in Central Frontenac (18.8 per cent) and 60 in Frontenac Islands (10.2 per cent).

He said the townships will all have to develop policies for private roads, including standards for construction and maintenance, but South is ahead in that department because it already specifies a high minimum standard.

“The next steps are training your committee of adjustment, which will take at least an hour, and then we’ll have to do an Official Plan review,” Gallivan said.

“Even though we trust our committee of adjustment, if we have this meeting, I’d like all of our councilors to hear it, because eventually it will come before all of us,” said Mayor Ron Vandewal.

New County ED manager comes calling
Richard Allen, the new economic development manager at Frontenac County, outlined his department’s projects and priorities for Council.

Those include: the brand ambassador project, completion of the K & P Trail, a new web portal, a Business Resources and Directory in conjunction with The Frontenac News, a commercial land inventory, and an accommodation review in conjunction with the food and beverage policy. There are also opportunities for agriculture growth, including the potential for a partnership with a Chinese baby formula company that’s interested in goats’ milk as a premium baby formula.

He also said they’re looking to continue working in conjunction with the Frontenac Community Futures Corporation, something that struck a chord with Mayor Ron Vandewal.

“I compliment you for working with the CFDC,” Vandewal said. “That’s something that needs to be a strong relationship.”

Coun. Alan Revill asked about the Business Directory and how it could updated regularly.

“We’re working with The Frontenac News on this and they have people out in the country contacting businesses all the time,” Allen said. “We will work with them to keep it up to date.”

“I know the County strategy of food and beverage but there are also welding shops out there,” said Vandewal.

Coun. Ross Sutherland brought up retention and attraction of small businesses and services, especially in the settlement areas.

“We’ve lost a beer store and restaurants and other services that are really important to our hamlets,” Sutherland said. “Nobody is going into our businesses saying ‘what can we do to help?’ before they get into trouble.”

“Signage, especially along the 401 should help to lure people in,” said Allen. “Letting people know we exist.

“And, we’ll try to encourage shopping locally, help with zoning issues and the CFDC is holding seminars on social media training.”

Parkland value
Planner Lindsay Mills briefed Council on the current policies of how the Township calculates the value of parkland where it concerns developments.

Essentially, Council agreed on two things: the need for two separate assessments and more study on who pays for what.

By the time Richard Allen was introduced as the new Manager of Economic Development at the December Meeting of Frontenac County Council, the news of his hiring was already out. Members of the county Community Development Advisory Committee (CDAC) had already been informed of the hiring. As well, Allen had made a splash the day before by walking into Kingston City Hall and announcing two years into his mandate as a member of City Council that he was resigning his council seat in order to take on the job for Frontenac County.

He said later that one of the attractions of the job were the regular hours. The job fits the stage of life he has reached, as he has recently become a father for the first time and serving as  a city councilor meant missing most evenings at home during the week.

“With this job I will be home at least some evenings during the week,” he said.

He is not home evenings this week, however.

One of the first decisions that was made at the senior staff level at the county after he was hired was to use much of the 2017 Economic Development travel budget on a single trip. Allan is joining his colleagues from the Kingston (including Mayor Bryan Patterson) and the Ontario Ministry of Food and Agriculture (OMAFRA) on a 10 day trip to China. They are visiting the headquarters of Feihe International Inc, which recently announced plans to build a $225 million processing, research and development facility in Kingston.

Feihe International will be producing baby formula at the new facility, mostly for the Chinese market, and at the start they will be making use of excess skim milk from the existing Ontario dairy industry. In the future, however, Feihe has plans to make formula out of goat's milk, and projects a need for 75 million litres of goat milk per year from Eastern Ontario in the coming years.

While there will be an impact on the job market in Frontenac County from the 200 jobs that will be created when the factory opens, the greater potential impact is on local and regional agriculture.

“For the county to be aware of those opportunities it is important to be involved right from the beginning,” Vandewal said. “With our history in agriculture and proximity to Kingston we are well positioned to be part of the supply chain, for new companies to settle here and existing ones to adjust or expand,” said Frontenac County Warden Ron Vandewal.

Before leaving for China on the ten day trip last Sunday (January 8) Allen pointed out that the scale of  the market in China is beyond anything we are used to in Eastern Ontario.

“There are 35 million babies born each year in China, that's where you see numbers like 72 million litres of annual goat milk production, come from. In terms of agriculture in Eastern Ontario, that would require over a hundred large farms, Allen said. “Then there are other agricultural infrastructure issues, such as shipping and distribution, the entire supply chain. It is a large project.”

The trip runs for ten days, and while Frontenac County is paying for Allen's flight and accommodations, many of the other costs are being covered by Feihe.

Who is Richard Allen
Richard Allen has a short commute to work each day, since he lives in rural Kingston on his family farm that is located across the road from the Frontenac County offices. He also has a family cottage on Bob's Lake on the Central Frontenac side.

After graduating from High School in Kingston he went to Concordia University where he did a degree in Fine Arts,  and  he eventually worked for Katimavik, which was a national program for youth and young adults. He was a Director at KEDCO (Kingston Economic Development Corporation) and worked in the Community Solutions Lab at the Queen’s University Smith School of business. He was elected to council from Countryside Ward in 2014.

“I’m a big fan of doing work that benefits the community, and the direction the county seems to be going is working with the communities to grow existing businesses, and to complement them with new businesses, rather than the smoke stack chasing economic development in more urban locations. We are looking for companies that compliment what we have,” he said.

He said that his work is set out in the economic development charter that Frontenac County adopted a couple of years ago and in the new branding initiative that was developed last year.

“I am familiar with much of the county, aside from Frontenac Islands, where I will be visiting when I get back from China,” he said, “but taking this job is not a stepping stone to something else for me. It is a continuation of my commitment to rural community development where I live.”

One of the tasks that dominated the agenda for Allan’s predecessor, Anne Marie Young, will not be as much a part of his responsibilities. The purchase of lands or easements for the Tichborne to Sharbot Lake section of the K&P Trail, and the final build out of the trail, will be handled by County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender.

“The management of the trail and marketing, signage, etc will be part of the responsibilities of our department, but the trail will not be as central to my job as it was before,” he said.

On Monday Richard Allen, the councillor for Countryside Ward of the City of Kingston, marched into City Hall and informed his colleagues that he was resigning effective immediately. The next day he reported for work as Economic Development Officer to the administrative offices of Frontenac County, which are located across the road from his home near Glenburnie. Before running for Council in Kingston, Allen served as a Director for the Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO) He has worked at the Queen’s University Smith School of Business, and earlier as a project co-ordinator with Katimavik. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University in Montreal.

As a member of Kingston City Council, he showed an interest in Frontenac County and was the only member of City Council who attended the Frontenac County Warden’s dinner in November. Allen replaces Anne Marie Young, who retired last Friday after 8 years as Economic Development Officer with the County.

School purchases and associated costs hit $400,000

Central Frontenac Council has decided to spend $2,000 to secure all salvageable items in the former Sharbot Lake Public School. They also have authorized Chief Building Officer Jeremy Nevens to prepare an RFP for demolition of the building. Nevens estimates the net cost of the demolition at $150,000.

At a special meeting held on December 21st, Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith told Council about a site visit to the school she took a few days earlier with Neven, Fire Chief Bill Young, and other staff and two other members of Council.

“We found that the building has deteriorated, and that the asbestos issue is pretty extensive. As Jeremy will tell you, re-purposing that building for another use is not viable,” Smith said.

“The cost of removing the asbestos would be high, and as soon as the building is being altered it would have to adhere to the current building code and accessibility regulations,” said Neven, “so you would be looking at over a million dollars to get anywhere with it.”

Smith explained that she wanted to meet before Christmas because it will cost $30,000 to heat and carry the building through the winter, and a decision on buying more oil for the beginning of winter needed to be made right away.

“I don't see us spending $30,000 if we are just going to tear down the building anyway,” she said.

The alternative Jeremy Neven proposed was to invest $2,000 in blowing out all the plumbing lines to make sure that none of the cast iron or plumbing fixtures, which can potentially be sold as salvage, will be damaged.

Demolition companies deduct the amount of money they realize from salvaging copper, metal and other marketable materials.

The only question raised by Council was about the timing of the demolition.

“With the cost of the purchase and the increase in OPP costs, perhaps we can wait a year or two before spending the money to tear the building down, because none of wants to see a tax increase if 8 or 9 per cent this year,” said Councillor Brent Cameron.

Councillor Bill MacDonald raised a concern about vandalism if the building is left standing and the message having a derelict building in place gives out to the public.

Treasurer Michael McGovern said that there is over $300,000 in a reserve fund that could be used to finance the demolition and then be replenished “over 2 to 3 years.”

In the end Council decided to defer the decision about when to demolish the school until the cost is better known. They passed a motion to “decommission the building and prepare it for demolition” without putting any time-line on the project.

Jeremy Neven has volunteered to co-ordinate the distribution of useable supplies in the school that do not have a cash value for salvage. These include desks, chairs, equipment, slates, white boards, etc.

“We will contact the not-for-profits in the area to see if they can use some of what is there. There was a lot left behind when the school board left and moved over to Granite Ridge,” Smith said.

Council also decided not to demolish Hinchinbrooke School at this time.

“The asbestos issues at Hinchinbrooke may not be as extensive,” said Neven “although we don't know for sure, but the building is newer.”

Frances Smith said that the community group that was looking at possible uses for the building a couple of years ago is still interested.

“There is also some commercial interest in the property,” she added.

It will cost $30,000 to maintain Hinchinbrooke School through the winter. With a purchase price of $220,000 for the two properties, $2,000 for decommissioning Sharbot Lake Public School and an estimated $150,000 in demolition costs, the entire project now has a $402,000 price tag.