Jeff Green | Jan 06, 2021


Francis Smith just completed her third one-year term as Warden of Frontenac County.

“The first time I was Warden was the amalgamation year back in the 1990’s, and that was a difficult year. The second time was more of a normal year, but this one was the strangest, by far,” she said, in an interview on January 5th, 2021 from her winter home in BC (Back of Clarendon)

“There were some benefits to this year. I did not have to buy new clothes. I just had to keep the same blouse and jacket at the ready by my computer. I saved a lot of time travelling and a fair bit of expense as well. But spending hour after hour on Zoom calls is not that much fun, when you have to do it day after day, I can tell you that.”

Not that she does not see a future for electronic meetings and conferences.

As Warden, I attend the AMO [Association of Municipalities of Ontario] conference, and every other time I have attended the room has been very cold because the meeting takes place in the summer, the chairs were uncomfortable and I ended up doing a whole lot of waling between meetings. I think I was able ot pay more attention to the information at the sessions from home than when I went in person. There will be changes out of all this, some of them for the better.”

Even though she has saved travel time, keeping with her role as Mayor and as Warden has meant more work than there are hours in the day some of the time.

“We did not have a roadmap for this. As politicians we are also generalists. Who would have thought we would end up being deep into medical issues, safety protocols, infection control? But that was all part of 2020.”

She said that one of the things that she was not able to do this year because of the isolation was provide support for the staff, both in Frontenac County and Central Frontenac.

“So many people have really stepped up this year. Susan Brant took over as Administrator of Fairmount Home just as the pandemic hit. She has done a remarkable job, keeping everyone safe. And I think that with all that has been required from the Frontenac Paramedics this year, having the kind of team leader that Chief Gale Chevalier, someone who always sees the big picture, has been invaluable to everyone working for the service. And in Central Frontenac, Cathy MacMunn has been able to pull everyone together for a common cause. I think that the staff in Central Frontenac are more together now than they were before all this happened.”

When her term ran out in Mid-December, Smith passed the chain of office over to South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewall.

“I was happy to do it. It has been a long year and he will do well in 2021. The County is in good hands.” she said.

One of the biggest difficulties she had as warden this year was her Internet connection. She lives in a granny flat with her family and there are a lot of demands on the old copper wired based single line DSL Internet service they have from North Frontenac Telephone Company.

“It has been difficult. I was bumped out of meetings more often that I can recall,” she said.

Ironically, one of the major initiatives she has been working on for a number of years is as Board Member with the Eastern Ontario Regional Network, an organisation made up of municipal officials dedicated to bringing better cell phone and Internet service to Eastern Ontario. For 2021, she is currently the Vice Chair of EORN, her second year in that role.

“Working with EORN, I see that the only way to address the constantly increasing demand, and need, for service in our communities and even in remote locations, is through very large investments from provincial and federal governments. It will not be solved in a day, but we keep working on it. I know it is frustrating for many people, myself included.”

AS she ends her third term, Smith is not ruling out seeking office again in 2022, which would put her in line for a fourth year as Frontenac County Warden.

“How old is Joe Biden. 78. I may still have some time left. Never say never. The big this is to remain open minded and ready to move forward. If I lose that, then someone should tell me it is time to get out of here.”

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