Doctor Recruitment & Expropriation Discussed At County Level

Jeff Green | Mar 23, 2022

At their regular monthly meeting, Frontenac County Council spent as much time in an in camera session as they did in the open session that followed.

The closed session dealt with attendance management, the potential location of a new ambulance base in Kingston, and land acquisitions related to the expansion of the K&P Trail.

There was no report from the in camera session to the open session of council that followed. However, the K&P Trail land acquisition process, for the expansion of the K&P trail through the hamlets of Snow Road and across Road 509 on its path towards the Lanark County border, seems to be coming to a conclusion.

The former rail line runs through 12 privately owned properties in North Frontenac, and Frontenac County has identified small sections of land, in each property, where the former line passes through.

An offer to purchase has been accepted by one of the affected landowners, for $12,000, and a staff report to Council indicated that a second deal has almost been completed. Seven of the remaining landowners will be meeting with county officials in April, in an attempt to complete deals.

There are three landowners who have indicated that they are not willing to sell any of their land to Frontenac County.

A proposal was brought to Council last month to initiate expropriation proceedings for those three parcels, two of which are on Concession 8, former township of Palmerson, in North Frontenac, and one is on Concession 9, former township of Palmerston, in North Frontenac.

But at that time, members of council did not want to proceed until the volunteer who helped negotiate similar land purchases in Central Frontenac, Wayne Robinson, was able to seek an in-person meeting. It is not clear whether the meetings took place with the three landowners, but what is clear is that the landowners are no more willing to sell any land to Frontenac County than they were last month

When the proposal matter came back to Council this month to expropriate the three parcels, Council approved the proposal and the subsequent bylaw without comment.

Doctor Recruitment

Although Frontenac County is not yet being asked to participate in efforts to deal with the current shortage of physicians in Frontenac County, or a pending and larger shortage in the coming years, the matter is being addressed at various political levels.

Frontenac County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender reported that at a meeting of the Eastern Ontario Wardens’ Caucus (EOWC) last month, the delegations from Frontenac and Renfrew counties proposed that recruitment of Family Physicians should be one of the four priority items in Eastern Ontario for this election year.

Frontenac County Warden Dennis Doyle attended the EOWC meeting.

He said that “family physician recruitment was at the bottom of the list of about 17 items that were being considered for inclusion in a list of three or four priority issues for the year, but once it was brought up at the meeting, everybody had something to say because it is a concern everywhere. That's how it got on the final list.

Later in the meeting, council consdered a report from CAO Pender. The report was prepared after a meeting with physicians within the Rural Kingston Family Health Organization (RKFHO) that Warden Doyle and Central Frontenac Mayor Frances Smith attended on March 2nd. The RKFHO is an association made up of 5 independent physician led clinics in Frontenac and Lennox and Addington, including the Sydenham and Verona Clinics. (The Sharbot Lake Family Health Team is not a part of the FHO).

In his report, Pender pointed out that there are 6 available spots that could be filled within the The FHO, if physicians can be recruited, and that two of the five clinics (one of which is the Verona Clinic) have only one physician with rostered patients, “which is a highly unstable and unsustainable situation”.

And the situation in Kingston is no better.

Pender's report said that 21 of the 139 physicians serving a population of 120,000 Kingston residents, as well as thousands of Frontenac County residents, are set to retire within the next 3-5 years.

“If these physicians are not replaced, and we may face 1000s of extra Frontenac Conuty patients requiring care in the next few years.”

“Whatever the program, we should not be out there stealing a doctor from another location,” said Councillor Bill Macdonald. “A lot of what has happened before, has largely resulted in what is essentially a rent a doctor program for five years.”

Warden Doyle said “the OMA [Ontario Medical Association] needs to get involved. “That's why we want to look at this as a regional or a provincial matter as opposed to a strictly local matter.”

In the short term, Central Frontenac has committed $3,000 for a group, including Frontenac County doctors, to attend a recruitment event in Ottawa that is coming up. South Frontenac has committed $1,000 towards that cost, and North Frontenac is being approached as well.

“We are not coming to the county to help support this,” said Frances Smith, “we are saving that ask for something bigger.”

Kelly to remain in the weeds

CAO Kelly Pender was re-appointed for another year as the official weed inspector for Frontenac County, on the strength of his 37 year old certification, after he studied biology in university.

Council remuneration

The pay for Frontenac County Council members in 2021 has been released.

Including salary, mileage, per diems and conference expenses, Ron Vandewal, who was the warden in 2021, received $30,667. Dennis Doyle, who served as deputy warden, received $17,260. Ron Higgins - $14,165, Bruce Higgs - $13,622, Bill MacDonald - $13,266, Gerry Martin - $13,879, Alan Revill - $14,525, and Frances Smith - $14,761. These monies are in addition to the remuneration they each received for their work as mayors and councillors in their respective townships