Simonett Purchase Raises Questions

Jeff Green | Jun 12, 2025

The purchase of the Simonett building has been controversial in Central Frontenac. The financial struggles of the township have been well documented. While remaining solvent, the township has less in reserves, and more debt to service, than either South or North Frontenac, its closest comparators.

The list of capital projects proposed each year, by the public works department, is routinely whittled down to the most pressing of needs. Large projects are only undertaken when provincial granting programs are available.

So, spending $1.6 million on an administrative building, something that was not mentioned in budget deliberations just two months earlier, was certain to raise questions. In explaining how the purchase came about, Chief Administrative Officer Cathy MacMunn explained that the township was informed that the building was available in the late winter, and staff had the opportunity to look at it very carefully in March and April.

Based on an investigation by then interim Chief Building Official Alan Revill in 2019, the cost of renovating the existing office in order to serve the township's lon- term needs was pegged at $2 million. We all know what has happened to construction costs since then, so the estimate MacMunn used in her report to Council, on May 27, that it would cost $3.1 million today, seems reasonable. By that measure, the $1.6 million price tag seems like an opportunity the township would jump at.

The Simonett building would have gone on to the open market in short order if the township did not snap it up, maybe going for more than $1.6 million and this logic held sway with a slim majority of council members (5-4) when the proposal to purchase came to a vote on May 13.

 who opposed the purchase, voted against receiving MacMunn's report on the purchase. This was a purely symbolic vote, as receiving the report would not have resulted in any action being taken by Staff or Council.

The report by MacMunn left two major questions unanswered. The first is the detail about how the sale is going to be financed, and the second, related question is how  the township is going to satisfy its responsibility to maintain a Kingston Frontenac Public Library branch in Sharbot Lake.

The answer to the first question is that surplus properties, with a total value in excess of $1.6 million will be sold off.

At the meeting on the 27th, Cathy MacMunn said that Jody Legue, the deputy clerk, is handling the job of preparing the properties for sale. One of the properties has already been sold, MacMunn relayed, and two or three others are already on the market.

Only 1 of the properties was not publicly identified at the meeting, the current township office, and this is where the library branch question comes in.

Since the office hosts the library branch and the Simonett building does not have space for the branch, it needs to be relocated.

It could be moved into the former Harvey's Barber Shop. The one storey building, which is under 1,000 square feet in usable space, would need “a small addition” to house the library branch, said Mayor Frances Smith at the May 27 meeting.

The alternative would be to build, or purchase and renovate another building. Given that the strongest argument for the purchase of the Simonett building is that it is always more expensive to build or renovate, the library branch issues stand out as a potentially costly loose end.

All of the townships that we cover at the Frontenac News, as well as Frontenac County, have had to upgrade their offices within the last five years, so what has happened in Central Frontenac with this building is not unprecedented.

The difference is that the other townships and Frontenac all looked at their needs with a dedicated process using staff resources and engineering consultants to determine the best solution for their needs.

None of them opted for new construction, they all chose to renovate, North Frontenac being the first to do so in the mid teens, Addington Highlands later on, Frontenac County in the middle of the pandemic, and South Frontenac this year.

But in all cases, it was only after a multi-year process. In Central Frontenac, a process took place under a previous council. This council has not considered the matter at all, until a time sensitive yes or no vote was brought to them at an in camera meeting.

Coincidentally, the township has decided to pay for the tear down of Hinchinbrooke Public School in Parham, after it has deteriorated over 12 years. Was that building looked at as a potential township office when it was purchased in 2014? A project like that could also have been financed by selling the Sharbot Lake office building.