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Kingston Frontenac Public Library is excited to welcome Natalia Lyra e Silva in the second installment of our Brain Storm speakers’ series.  Each month from January through June students from Queen’s Centre for Neuroscience Studies talk about their research.  In February Natalia, a postdoctoral researcher, discusses the relationship between Alzheimer’s disease and diabetes.

Alzheimer’s, a disease which impairs memory in the elderly, would at first glance seem to have nothing in common with diabetes, a metabolic disease most commonly affecting the middle-aged.  But researchers have found some connections: not only is having Type 2 diabetes associated with an increased risk of developing dementia and Alzheimer’s, the hormone insulin has been determined to be important for memory function.

“I witnessed firsthand my grandmother’s fight against Alzheimer’s disease,” says Natalia.  “The  lack of effective treatments to counteract the progressive cognitive decline that occurs in this disease motivated me to join the scientific community for the search for novel therapies and means of prevention. My goal as a scientist is to provide education about Alzheimer’s disease and increase awareness of how a healthy lifestyle can help prevent neurological disease.”

This event takes place at our Calvin Park branch on Thursday, February 13, at 7 p.m.  It is open to adults, and there is no admission charge, but seating is limited.  To avoid disappointment, please register in advance at calendar.kfpl.ca or by phone at (613) 549-8888, any time after 9 a.m. on Saturday, February 1.

Published in General Interest
Wednesday, 18 December 2019 12:36

AH Council

There wasn’t a whole lot going on at Addington Highlands final Council meeting of the year in Denbigh Tuesday afternoon, according at the Reeve Henry Hogg.

“We did meet in closed session as we have a union contract coming up but I can’t talk to you about that,” he said Tuesday evening.

The union contract will have implications for compensation for non-unionized staff as well as Council however but that won’t be discussed until the union contract is finalized.

Other than that, they did have a presentation from the County on physician recruitment and retention but Hogg was skeptical that much would come out of it.

“I guess the way the province is going, we’re not sure what will happen,” he said. “If things are headquartered in Kingston, we won’t be too important to them up here.

“They have a couple of hundred thousand people down there and we have a couple of thousand. I can’t see us being a high priority. But I’ve been up on that soapbox before.”

Another soapbox is the high costs of insurance.

“It just gets more expensive every year,” he said. “But we have to have it and the province also mandates that we have to have Workers’ Safety and Insurance Board coverage for our firefighters. And the maximum ceiling for that is going up to $95,400 (from $92,600 in 2019).

And as a matter of housekeeping duties, it was also time to transfer “underspents” to reserves, with any unused funds being moved into the appropriate reserves.

When it was pointed out that Addington Highlands seems to have more unspent funds to transfer than many municipalities, Hogg said: “maybe we’re a little closer with what we spend.”

Council also received an end-of-the-year report on emergency preparedness, when had one particular aspect that caught Hogg’s eye.

“Cyber attacks are something we’re seeing more of these days,” he said. “I see there was one on health care records just the other day. We have some security measures in place but we’re going to investigate further. But these guys always seem to be one step ahead of you and they can hold you hostage.”

Hogg said Council is now done until the middle of January but noted that the concrete has been poured for the new office addition.

“We may be meeting in new Council chambers by summer,” he said.

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS

Members of Kingston City Council were disappointed last week when Frontenac County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender did not show up to brief them on how much the city will be charged for the delivery of land ambulance service and Fairmount Home in 2020.

Both services are operated by Frontenac County, with funding support from the Province of Ontario, City of Kingston ratepayers and Frontenac County ratepayers.

At a budget meeting on November 26, city council member Wayne Hill is quoted in the Whig Standard article as saying “I don’t understand why they are not here tonight. It seems to me they don’t want to answer these questions in front of Council. It leaves us really blind.”

When contacted this week from his office at Frontenac County headquarters in Glenburnie, Pender said the real question in the matter is not whether he attended or not, but why his name was on the agenda in the first place.

“When we met with the mayor and other city officials at RULAC [Rural Urban Liaison Committee] on October 30th, I told them that I could give them a number for each of the services in 2020, but it would almost certainly be wrong. We won’t know until we find out how much the province is paying into those budgets next year, and we don’t know when they are going to tell us.”

Pender said that, even after informing the city that the budget numbers are not available, in early November he received an invitation to the November 26 city budget meeting.

“I informed them that I would not be attending the November 26 meeting, for reasons that I made clear to them once again. Apparently my name was not removed from the agenda and Council still expected someone to be there from Frontenac County.”

When Frontenac County Council met in October to work on their own 2020 budget, the amount paid by the province in 2019 to support Frontenac Paramedic Services (land ambulance) and Fairmount Home was plugged into the budget. Pender told his council the same thing he told City of Kingston officials, that the number was certainly wrong for 2020.

Pender said this week that he does not expect to have final numbers in time for the Frontenac County Council meeting on December 18, and Frontenac County will likely go into 2020 without an approved budget.

“The provincial numbers may not be available until provincial budget time in March,” Pender said over the phone on Tuesday (December 3).

“At some point we will need to approve our budget in order to set a tax rate for our member municipalities to plug in to their tax bills. But it won’t be on December 18.”

He added that once the province tells Frontenac County how much they will be contributing for 2020, he will bring that information to Frontenac County Council. Once Frontenac County Council finalises the budgets for Frontenac Paramedic Services and Fairmount Home, that information will be provided to the City of Kingston.

The City of Kingston has requested that all third-party agencies that they fund, keep any increases to 2.5%, the same request that they made in 2019.

In 2019, the bill to Kingston for Frontenac Paramedic Services was up by 7.7% over 2018 and the bill for Fairmount Home was up by 5.2%.

City staff managed to find money in reserves to cover most of the increase, which was not accounted for in the 2019 Kingston budget, but at a Kingston City Council meeting in September, the decision was taken to withhold the last $200,000 from amount levied to the city by Frontenac County for the services.

Frontenac County has not backed down, and the matter of the $200,000 payment is now the subject of mediation.

Under a separate agreement, the City of Kingston provides children’s services, Ontario Works and social housing services for Frontenac County, and levies funds to Frontenac County ratepayers to cover a portion of those costs. For 2020, the levy for children’s services and Ontario Works is up, by 6.6%, while the social housing levy is down, by 4.4%.

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY

One aspect of last week’s story on the new bus service from Land O’Lakes Community Services is the role the Township played, said community bus coordinator Katie Turl. “LOLCS approached Addington Highlands and the Township approached MTO and put in some money.

“(CAO/Clerk-Treasurer) Christine Reed put it all together.”

“We applied for the grant because only certain organizations are eligible to apply,” Reed said. “It seems like a long time ago, there was a Liberal government when we made the application.”

Reed said the Township pledged $2,000 annually for five years originally (now down to four years) in order to sweeten the application.

“These applications are looked upon more favourably if there’s local support,” Reed said. “It’s not a large financial contribution from us but we are partnering with MTO, who put in $265,505 in provincial funds.”

Reed said the community bus program is scheduled to continue until 2023, at which time it will be re-evaluated based on usage.

“The more it’s used, the greater the chance it will be sustained beyond the funding period,” she said.

Initially, LOLCS will be operating trips to Belleville (Nov. 28). Renfrew (Dec. 5) and Kingston (Dec. 19). These are designed as Christmas shopping excursions but once riders are at the destination, they’re free to do what they want (ie. medical appointments, socializing, etc).

To book a trip or for more information, contact Land O’Lakes Community Services at 613-336-8934, toll-free at 1-877-679-6636 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Published in ADDINGTON HIGHLANDS

Frontenac County senior administration began talking about the need for an improved administrative office suite several years ago. This has lead to the consideration of a number of options, the completion of a number of studies and a consultation process led by Rob Wood of 80/20Info.

An Administrative Building Design Taskforce was formed in 2016 and has met in fits and starts ever since. Between last summer and the spring of this year, the task force was looking at the idea of constructing a new building, located in South Frontenac, to house the administrations of South Frontenac Township, the Cararaqui Region Conservation Authority (CRCA), as well as Frontenac County.

But in April, South Frontenac informed the county that they were not proceeding with any relocation plans at this point, and will remain based at the township hall complex in Sydenham in addition to a supplementary office at the Keeley Road works yard just outside of Sydenham for the foreseeable future.

Three months later, the design task force met again, and this time considered a new proposal that is based on remaining in place at the existing “Old House” building that is co-located with the County owned Fairmount Home site. A new facility analysis has been prepared by architects Coulbourn and Kendell of Kingston, presenting two options, a renovated space for Frontenac County alone and a renovated space for Frontenac County and the CRCA. In both cases, the working assumption is that headquarters of Frontenac Paramedic Service will no longer be located in the building.

During the July 17 meeting of the Administrative Building Design Taskforce, Frontenac County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender referred to the uncertainty about how paramedic services will be administered in Ontario after 2019. The Province of Ontario plans to reduce the number of paramedic service operators in Ontario from 56 to 10 within a year.

“We don’t know what will happen with Paramedic Services. If FPS goes away they will not need the space anymore, and if the service stays with us we will move it to a location in the City of Kingston,” he said.

Option 1 in the Coulbourn and Kendell facility analysis includes just under $1 million for renovations to make the existing building, which is still set up more like stately home than an office space, as well as a $452,000, fifteen hundred square foot extension at the east end of the building to create a new council chamber from an external entrance. The estimated total cost of option 1 is $1.84 million, $2.21 million if construction is done to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, which has been Frontenac Counties practice

Under this scenario the suite of offices on the lower level of the building, currently occupied by Frontenac Paramedic Services, will be available for lease once they are vacated.

Option 2 is based on the assumption that the CRCA will occupy the FPS offices, which will require a 6,300 square foot addition to the building to the south in order to be large enough for their needs. The new council chamber would be be a shared space with the CRCA. The estimated cost of construction would be $3.7 million ($4.4 million if it is LEED certified) but the CRCA would pay a substantial occupancy cost, rendering option 2 the one that would most likely lead to lower costs for Frontenac County ratepayers.

The CRCA Board will make a determination shortly about their involvement in the project, but all along CAO Pender has indicated that the administrative needs for the CRCA are more acute than those of Frontenac County, because, he said, their current building it at the end of its useful life.

The task force passed a motion to proceed to the next stage of the project under option a or b, pending a decision about participation from the CRCA. The next phase would be to compete a detailed study of the space needs of both organisations to come up with a final floor plan, at which time the actual costs can be determined. The task force will reconvene at the call of the chair, likely in September or October.

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY
Wednesday, 24 July 2019 20:32

Sydenham swarmed by horseless carriages

No one really knew what to expect when members of the Horseless Carriage Club of America – Southern Ontario Region said they were planning to make Sydenham a lunch stop on one of the touring days of their annual gathering... which is centred at the Ambassador Hotel in Kingston this year.

There were about 60 of the brass-era vehicles, so-named for the shiny gold trim on many of the them, all built before 2016. They were planning to drive from the hotel up Sydenham Road to a pit stop at the Limestone Creamery before heading to Sydenham to visit Trousdale’s General Store, before having lunch at the Legion.

Trousdale’s was a fitting stop, since the store has been operating since long before these cars were first built, having survived from the horse and buggy days of the 1830’s.

The vehicles began to arrive at around 11, and by 11:30 they were buzzing and darting around the intersection of Mill Street and George Street like so many bees. Club members were checking out Trousdale’s, some filling up at the One Stop along with all of the modern cars, which all looked pretty drab and uniform in comparison to the elegant and varied brass era beauties.

The vintage cars never seemed to stop for too long, though, before heading one way or another through the village, some at a gentle cruising speed and others bolting along at a rapid clip. Club members smiled at passers-by, and whispered to each other about how their cars were running, where they were able to source parts, and about makes and model years, etc.

After 15 minutes, they began to vacate the intersection, heading towards the Legion parking lot, which was quickly filled up. There club members gathered in earnest, talking shop for the most part. After lunch they were gone, headed towards the Wilton Cheese Factory and the return trip to Kingston.

Sydenham quickly returned to normal, the modern lumps on wheels reclaimed the streets, and pedestrian put their phones/cameras back into their pockets.

The brass-era invasion was over.

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC

The next phase in what might be called a little misunderstanding between municipal partners, will play out at a city council meeting in Kingston in September.

According to a city official, when Frontenac County Officials brought budget numbers that included a 14.4% increase in the municipal levy for Frontenac Paramedic Services (FPS), and an 8.7% increase in the levy for Fairmount Home, the city council did not accept those numbers and inserted a 5% increase into the City budget that they subsequently approved.

Later, when Frontenac County approved its own budget, with the 14.4% and 8.7% increases in tact, it created a shortfall in the Kingston budget. In a committee meeting attended by Kingston and Frontenac County politicians that was held on June 26, the City’s position was that it was willing to use reserve funds to pay for a 7.7% increase in the levy for FPS and a 6.9% increase in the Fairmount Home levy, but asked the county to cover the rest. This would require the County of Frontenac to revisit its 2019 budget.

A motion to re-open the 2019 budget was forwarded from the committee to the July Frontenac County Council meeting. The motion never got on the floor because none of the Frontenac County Council members saw fit to second it.

The matter will now go to Kingston City Council.

Amber Bryant-Peller, special assistant to Mayor Bryan Paterson, said that City Council will consider the budgetary implications of the Frontenac County decision to stick with the 14.4% and 8.7% increases when they meet in September.

When asked if the council will be considering seeking arbitration or perhaps a court remedy in the matter, she deferred.

“All I am saying is that they will consider the implications of increases that fall outside of the projections that were used to prepare the City budget” she said, after conferring with Mayor Paterson.

She said that Mayor Paterson had not indicated what action he will recommend that city council take in light of the county’s decision to stick with the increases.

In the minutes to the June 26 meeting, however, there is an indication of Mayor Paterson’s intent.

“In the absence of reconsideration by the county, the mayor indicated the city is prepared to go to court if the levy to the city is not reduced” the minutes say.

The county’s position, as stated by Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender, again from the June 26 meeting’s minutes, is that the funding arrangements for both services can indeed be taken to arbitration.

“However, the arbitrator only has jurisdiction over the apportionment formula aspect of the agreement,” said Pender.

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY

After a long gap, the Rural-Urban Liaison Committee (RULAC), a forum where members of Frontenac County and Kingston City Council have an opportunity to discuss issues related to their shared responsibilities, met on June 26.

The meeting was initiated by Frontenac County Warden Ron Higgins, after he had some conversations with Kingston Mayor Brian Patterson over the winter and spring. During those conversations, Patterson revealed that the city was unhappy about cost increases at the county owned Fairmount Home and the county run Frontenac Paramedic Services (FPS).

Both services have both a provincial, and a municipal funding component. The municipal funding responsibility is shared by the city and the county using a formula that is based on assessed property values within the two jurisdictions.

While Frontenac County Council decides on the budgets for FPS and Fairmount, the bulk of the municipal costs for them are paid out of City of Kingston coffers. This rarely leads to much consternation at city council so long as the levy to the city for Fairmount and FPS does not go up too much from year to year.

However, in December of 2018, representatives from Frontenac County came to a City of Kingston budget meeting with numbers that did not go down that well, an increase of 14.4% for Fairmount Home and 8.4% for Frontenac Paramedic Services.

While both the city and the county have long since passed their 2019 budgets, the city is asking Frontenac County to make some retroactive changes.

According to the minutes from the June 26 RULAC meeting, Kingston City Council is willing to cover their share of costs for a 7.7% increase for FPs and a 6.9% increase for Fairmount Home, and they want Frontenac County to cover the rest.

County officials pointed out that if the county went back and funded the difference by dipping into county reserve funds, it would only lead to an even greater upward pressure on the 2020 budget. County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender and Treasurer Susan Brant both indicated they would not recommend that County Council open up the already approved 2019 budget to increase the county share of costs for Fairmount and FPS.

Pender acknowledged that the city could bring the matter to arbitration and even to court, but only the apportionment formula in the funding agreements is open to a court challenge, not the actual funding amounts.

According to the minutes from the meeting, Mayor Patterson indicated at the end of the exchange that the “city is prepared to go to court if the levy to the city is not reduced”.

A motion was forwarded from the RULAC meeting to Frontenac County Council to the effect that the “County of Frontenac reopen the 2019 budget for Frontenac Paramedic Service and Fairmount Home for budget levy.”

When contacted early this week, Frontenac County Warden Ron Higgins said that he does not expect Frontenac County Council will support this motion at its monthly meeting, which takes place this week, nor does he expect that any court action that the city decides to take will have any success.

“I had a look at the Municipal Act and it is pretty clear. I don’t see where they can really go with this,” he said.

He added that he believes that the friction between the county and the city can be resolved.

“I think this all came about because of a lack of communication. When we presented those budgets to Kingston City Council we were granted only ten minutes to explain the two budgets needed to increased, not enough time to explain, for example, that because of call volumes in the city a new shift was being implemented by FPS to serve Kingston and that was the main reason for the increase,” he said.

Higgins added that the root of the problem is that RULAC has not been meeting and the relationship between the county and the city has deteriorated as a result.

“I did not know what RULAC was all about. I think it only met once in my first term on council. My suggestion is that we meet more regularly so we can avoid any potential conflicts.”

This pending dispute over the 20-year-old funding models is taking place in the context of a climate of uncertainty, both in funding and governance, for both long term care and paramedic services.

The provincial government has stated its intention to change the delivery model for paramedic services radically within the next year, by merging paramedic service operators. There are currently 50 in Ontario and they intend to reduce that to 10. Under this scenario, it is highly likely that FPS will no longer exist in its current form.

Long Term Care Facilities, such as Fairmount Home, operate under a license and a provincial funding formula that is administered by Local Health Integration Networks, which are being eliminated as part of wide-ranging health care reform.

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY

Writer/director Peggy Hallett talking with cast following final rehearsal of her new play The Dressing Room, which will be running this week (Thursday, Friday & Saturday, 7:30) at Domino Theatre, 52 Church Street, Kingston.

Hallett says the idea for the play came to her while sitting backstage waiting to go on in a musical years ago; “The idea that there was actually a story, lots of drama and comedy, in the ladies backstage dressing room percolated with me for awhile. I realized it could work, and got moving on it.” She took her script-in-process to several reading groups for critiques, including a play reading at Domino. This spring she began casting and production. This is the final product of a number of rewrites and fine tunings.

The whole comedy takes place backstage in an aging theatre, over a period of several years, each scene set during the production of a different musical. The all-female cast runs from age 15 to 65.

Dress rehearsals can be pretty grim, but this one went well with very few hitches, though it is to be hoped that the unnecessarily complicated set changes will be speedier on opening night.

Hallett, a Sydenham resident, is retired from her teaching job, but works more than full-time painting, writing and editing. Come to her play, and enjoy the additional treat of seeing some of her artwork in the lobby.

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC

May 23 is World Turtle Day. It was started in 2000 by American Turtle Rescue to bring attention to, and increase knowledge of and respect for, turtles and tortoises, and encourage human action to help them survive and thrive, according to Wikipedia.

And last Thursday in Sunbury, Mabyn Armstrong of Turtles Kingston was there to do just that, as a guest speaker for the Dog Lake Association.

The first turtles emerged in the Permian Period, some 260 million years ago. While the fossil record is incomplete, it’s likely that the creatures we recognize today are relatively unchanged since the mid-Triassic, about 220 million years ago.

“The numbers are in decline,” Armstrong said. “They can’t do much about it so we have to mitigate things for them.”

Armstrong’s efforts are largely based in Kingston, but her message is equally applicable in all the Frontenacs.

“The City of Kingston is in a significant wetland,” she said. “There are five hot spots identified, including Princess Street near the Ambassador Motel.

“The worst is Collins Bay Road.”

Armstrong’s efforts include lobbying the City to pay attention to nesting sites, particularly along the side of roadways. She said road work can often destroy nests through grading and other maintenance.

“June is the peak nesting season,” she said.

One of the things she’s been actively engaged in is the creation of turtle nest protectors, a 2’X2’ screen that fits over a nest. It not only marks the location but reduces predation. The project is in conjunction with Lee Valley, who has held workshops on how to build the protectors yourself. The nest protectors are also available (at cost) at Lee Valley in the Riocan Centre.

Another initiative Turtles Kingston has undertaken is for injured and dying turtles. They work with Sandy Pines Wildlife Centre in Napanee (613-354-0264) and have arranged for veterinary clinics to be temporary holding stations if you can’t transport the turtle to Napanee yourself. A list of participating clinics is on the Turtles Kingston Facebook page.

It is also important to note, she said, that even if a female turtle is beyond saving, her eggs may be able to be extracted and incubated.

Also, they are compiling a database, so reporting injured turtles is important, she said.

Finally, Armstrong said they really discourage keeping turtles as pets.

“Snappers can live 150-200 years,” she said. “You may have to put that turtle in your will.”

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC
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