Expensive Anniversary Gift

Jeff Green | May 24, 2023

Last summer, an architect’s report about a potential expansion of the county-owned long term care facility, Fairmount Home, recommended that the existing 128 bed home be abandoned and instead, a brand new $60 million dollar facility should be built elsewhere on the county owned property in Glenburnie.

Sixty million dollars is a lot of money for a small municipality like Frontenac County. It works out to  $2,200 per resident. It would be like a $6.6 billion project arriving at the Toronto City Council table.

But since the consultant was presenting in the midst of the summer, months before a municipal election, the reaction to the presentation was muted. The feeling was that the next council can deal with  it. 

So, it makes sense that, a few months into a new council term, the consultant was brought back, with the same presentation, and a proposal to redo the costing for all of the project. The new council was not particularly comfortable with the project, and wanted to look at some of the other options, such as renovating the existing facility. After some debate, the decision was taken to do some up to date costing of all the options.

But before we say goodbye to the building that currently houses Fairmount Home, it is worth looking at a bit of the history of the facility.

Twenty five years ago, on January 1st, 1998, 4 days before a historic ice storm, municipal amalgamation took effect. At that moment, the Fairmount Home for the Aged, as it was called then, was no longer located in Frontenac County. The village of Glenburnie, which had been located in Kingston Township in Frontenac County, became part of the Country Ward in the city of Kingston.

Frontenac County ceased to exist on that day as well. County functions were divided among the four new Frontenac townships and the city of Kingston. To handle relations between the Frontenac townships and the city of Kingston, and to oversee Fairmount Home, the Frontenac Management Board, made up of the mayors of the 4 townships (North, Central and South Frontenac, and Frontenac Islands) was established. 

The Frontenac Management Board's office was located at the “Old House”, adjacent to Fairmount Home, also in the city of Kingston.

Within 6 years, the Frontenac Management Board became untenable, and Frontenac County was re-established. 

The management board had too much to do. Not only had it been granted responsibility for land ambulance, within its own borders and the city of Kingston, it had undertaken a renovation project to expand Fairmount Home from 96 to 124 beds, and to upgrade it to a Class “A” long term care facility.

Under the amalgamation agreement, the city of Kingston agreed to pay 78% of the municipal contribution towards operating Fairmount Home, while Frontenac County ratepayers covered the rest.

But when the city was approached to fund its share of the upgrade costs for Fairmount, they balked.

They did come on board eventually, but not at 78%, either for building or for operating costs. To this day, the city pays a lower percentage of the costs for the operation of the 36 “new” beds at Fairmount than they do for the original 96 beds.

Frontenac County ratepayers paid only a portion of the $17million construction costs of Fairmount Home, but it has still taken us all 20 years to pay it off.

Five years after the Fairmount upgrade, a new project, the upgrade of the Fairmount auditorium was proposed. The auditorium needed a new roof, and upgrades, so it could be used for recreation purposes by Fairmount residents, and as a council chamber for Frontenac County Council. That project ended up costing $2.1million.

10 years later, the Frontenac County redevelopment is underway, including a $5million renovation to the Frontenac County office space, which is nearing completion. In addition to that, a $2.5million paramedic station is being constructed, and a $1.4million upgrade to the HVAC system at Fairmount Home is being done.

The plan is to secure  provincial and City of Kingston funding, which may not be that quick or easy, then construct a brand new 160 bed long term care home somewhere on the Frontenac County owned property in Glenburnie.

Then, the existing Fairmount Home, which was upgrade for  $17million in 2004, $2.1million in 2013, and a further $1.4million this year, will need to be renovated for another use, torn down, or sold off.

The consultant’s report that was presented to Frontenac County Council last month, speculated about a number of potential uses for the current facility.

They are “Hospice, Alternate Levels of Care, Retirement/ Assisted Living, Affordable Rental Housing, Homelessness/ Shelter/ Support Services, Community Medicine/ Clinic, Daycare, Community Hall, Offices”

For one thing, the cost of renovating one kind of facility into another is always much higher and more complicated than anyone ever projects.

Secondly, any of the uses mentioned above would enhance services to residents of the City of Kingston, not Frontenac County.

Kingston provides those services for its residents. If Frontenac County wants to bring any of those services online for its residents, that would be great, but that would be in Verona or Sharbot Lake or Plevna, not Glenburnie.

Finally, the amount of Frontenac County administrative capacity that has been devoted for years now, to what County officials now call the Frontenac County Campus and its various  redevelopment projects, leaves little room for other initiatives.

The goal of Frontenac County  should be to complete the current projects, and take some time to refocus Frontenac County on the very real needs of its own residents.

When the Fairmount Home rebuilding project comes back to the council table in a few months time, it would be prudent for Council to defer the matter for at least a couple of years, and then revis it briefly before kicking it to the next council. 

They are hearing that the province is very keen on new long term care beds, that municipalities are expected to do their part ... and that is all true.

But while municipalities cannot really say 'no' to the province, they can be cagey, they can say “yes, but later” and then wait for the province to move on to other priorities, which inevitably happens. 

And when it comes to the Province of Ontario, Frontenac County is a pretty marginal player, and there are some times when that is a good thing, especially when the price tag is $60 million.

And when it comes to the Province of Ontario, Frontenac County is a pretty marginal player, and there are some times when that is a good thing, especially when the price tag is $60 million.