Frontenac County Council - Oct. 25/11

Jeff Green | Oct 27, 2011

Frontenac County rebuffs L&A ambulance request

Frontenac County will not be supporting the continued existence of the Denbigh ambulance base beyond paying the agreed-upon cross-border fee when an ambulance from the base answers a call in Frontenac County.

Back in 2008 Lennox and Addington Council requested financial support from neighbouring counties to keep the Denbigh ambulance base open. At that time they received no reply.

Flash forward to three years later, and once again L&A County has sent a letter of request to neighbouring counties, asking for help in keeping the Denbigh base open.

The letter of request that was sent to Frontenac outlines the recommendation from a consultant’s report that ambulance service in L&A be reconfigured by closing the base in Denbigh and building a new base in Loyalist Township. It also points out that “the ambulance service in Denbigh is a unique regional service for a large, sparsely populated geographic area which extends well beyond the County of Lennox and Addington. County Council's question to you: Is Frontenac County prepared to assume a greater financial responsibility for the Denbigh ambulance service in order to maintain the service for your citizens?”

L&A will not receive any official response from Frontenac County to this request, as the letter of request was merely “received for information purposes only”.

Frontenac County Chief of Paramedic Services, Paul Charbonneau, told Frontenac County Council that he had attended the L&A County meeting where the request was discussed. He said L&A was hoping to receive a $125,000 annual commitment from Frontenac, Hastings, and Renfrew Counties to help cover the $500,000 annual municipal cost of running a 24-hour service (the province pays about $500,000 as well).

“When ambulance service was downloaded to municipalities it became a local responsibility to fund the service. We have a cross-border agreement in place for the calls that the Denbigh base answers in Frontenac and that agreement recognizes the higher cost of those calls,” Charbonneau said. “We pay more for the Denbigh calls than L&A pays for the calls we answer for their residents in Loyalist County ... If Council wants to spend an added $125,000 I can find ways to put it to good use for our own residents.”

The motion to receive the L&A County request 'for information purposes only' was unanimously passed without comment from members of council.

The response from Frontenac pours cold water on an initiative that has been contemplated by Mayor Peter Emon of the township of Madawaska. Emon has said publicly that the County of Renfrew might consider supporting the Denbigh base financially, and that he supported the idea.

North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton is appearing before L&A Council this week. He will be urging L&A to maintain the Denbigh base in order to fulfill their responsibility to their northern residents, but will also make it clear he does not support any transfer of municipal funds from Frontenac County for the service.

Fairmount auditorium rebuild back on the agenda

In September of 2010, a proposal from Fairmount Home administrator Julie Shillington to start up a fundraising campaign for renovations to the auditorium of Fairmount Home, the county-run long term care facility, was deferred.

The proposal was for a $250,000 fundraising campaign towards a $1.5 million renovation to the auditorium.

Shillington's report outlined the problems with the auditorium, including a loud, inefficient heating and cooling system, inadequate electrical service, and a leaking roof.

At the time, Frontenac Islands Mayor Jim Vanden Hoek spoke out against starting up the fundraising campaign, expressing the concern that it would eventually force county council to approve the entire project.

“Even though they are not asking us to commit to doing the upgrade, once a fundraising campaign is underway and the public has committed money, how can council say no to the project? This is not the right way to do this. Council needs to debate the project itself first, and if we decide to go ahead, then a fundraising campaign is appropriate,” he said, and concluded, “I would like to see this deferred to the new council.”

With that new council now in place, with Vanden Hoek being replaced on it by Dennis Doyle who defeated him in last year’s election for mayor of Frontenac Islands, the proposal has re-surfaced.

The estimated cost of the project, which was $1.5 million in 2009, will have to be upgraded, according to Shillington's updated report to the new council, and the proposed fundraising campaign is for “no less than $200,000”. She added, “We have already received $32,473 towards the project without any formal fundraising,” and that other grants and subsidies would be investigated should the project go ahead.

Frontenac County Treasurer Marion Van Bruinessen said that when Fairmount Home was redeveloped several years ago, a $2.5 million capital reserve was established, which she indicated might be used for the auditorium since it is part of the home, although it was left out of the re-build.

“We did not bring this to the new council right away,” said County Chief Administrative Officer Liz Savill, “because we wanted to allow new members a period of time to get acclimated to the county.”

Shillington hopes that the project can be brought to fruition within two years.

“With the 150th anniversary of the County of Frontenac approaching in 2015, we would like to see the auditorium renovations completed by the end of 2014 and include activities in the auditorium as part of the anniversary celebrations. This would be a prime opportunity to highlight it as a community resource. With this in mind, I would like to advise county that the auditorium project will be brought forward with the 2013 budget as a capital building project,” she said in her report.

North Frontenac Township Mayor Bud Clayton said that no decision on fundraising should be made until county council makes a decision about the project itself.

“It is fraud to fundraise for a specific purpose and then use the money for anything else. We need to consider this project before we talk about this fundraising campaign,” he said.

Council member John Purdon from Central Frontenac said, “It looks like a lot of cost for a gymnasium which is structurally sound.”

County Warden Gary Davison said, “The redevelopment isn't just for a gymnasium, it is quite extensive, not just painting the walls and changing the air conditioner.”

“I think this particular institution is very beloved,” added Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski.

Shillington's report was received.