Frontenac County Council - Nov. 22/11

Jeff Green | Nov 24, 2011

Frontenac County approves Ompah base construction agreement; Parham move put on back burner

After confirming that North Frontenac Council had already approved a cost-sharing plan for the construction of an ambulance base/fire hall in Ompah, Frontenac County Council authorized Paul Charbonneau, the Chief of Paramedic Services, to oversee the hiring of a project manager for the construction project.

Charbonneau anticipated that it will take a few weeks to prepare a request for proposal for the hiring, and expects that someone will be in place by the New Year, for anticipated construction beginning as early as May, 2012.

Before that happens, however, the project manager will have to do a detailed costing of the project, which will need to be approved by both parties. Frontenac County has $300,000 set aside to cover its anticipated costs, and North Frontenac has $400,000. Preliminary estimates for the project that were done over a year ago pegged it at $850,000 so there might be a shortfall for one or both of the participants. Final approval for the construction will have to come from each council, and the project will not move forward until that happens.

In debating a resolution confirming the cost sharing agreement that staff at the county and the township worked out last month (which was detailed in the Frontenac News last week) members of Frontenac County Council returned to their concerns about the long-term implications of locating an ambulance base at Ompah.

“The assumption is that when the ambulance base is built in Ompah, the Parham base would then go to Sharbot Lake. That is what the original motion, approved by the previous council, says. And that is unacceptable. It is my opinion that the northern sections of South Frontenac will be poorly served if the Parham base moves and I for one campaigned last year on a promise of maintaining service for my constituents. I'm not feeling good about this decision. I don't think it is the right decision,” said County Council member John McDougall from South Frontenac.

“I have to echo the comments of Councilor McDougall, with no disrespect to the representatives from North Frontenac,” said Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski. “I understand the sensitivity of the issues, and I don't know that there is the political will that the move from Parham to Sharbot Lake will happen should this ambulance/garage come to fruition. However I don't accept that we will reach agreement; I'm not sure that the numbers and the challenges around building the fire hall along with the base can be overcome … I echo all of your concerns, John, but I will be supporting this motion as it is presented. But for the next three years I will strongly oppose moving that Parham base.”

“I agree there is a by-law on the books that says Parham will move,” said Paul Charbonneau, “but it was always to be done with additional review. Once we have established the North Frontenac project we will look again at population growth numbers. The move from Parham is not something that is going to happen during this term of council.”

The current council will remain in place until December of 2014.

Clayton concerned about Fairmount auditorium re-build.

Normally, accepting minutes from previous meetings is one of the housekeeping agenda items that causes little fuss at council meetings, with concerns being limited to grammatical and spelling errors.

But North Frontenac Mayor Bud Clayton expressed concerns about one of the clauses in a motion receiving a staff report about a particular fund-raising initiative.

In accepting a staff report on the fledgling fund-raising campaign for the redevelopment of the Fairmount Home auditorium, there was a clause “supporting the establishment of a committee to launch a fundraising campaign ... “

“If we have a committee and it starts to raise funds for redevelopment then we are bound to redevelop the auditorium. I said at the last meeting that we should have a debate about whether we want to go ahead with the redevelopment,” said Clayton.

Susan Beckel, the deputy clerk of the county, who prepares meeting minutes and agendas, said that no amendments had been made to the original motion, which included the clause about supporting a committee.

“I've learned a very important lesson from this,” said Clayton, “I must make sure to formally propose amendments instead of just giving direction to staff.”

“I would respectfully disagree with you about this,” said Central Frontenac Mayor Janet Gutowski to Clayton. “I know of a lot of groups that have raised money for things that for one reason or another didn't come to fruition. It's not the best way to go about it, but it happens.”

“The motion was passed as it was written,” said Warden Gary Davison, “but I do understand what you are saying, Bud, as we have not decided whether to do this renovation or not.”

The estimated cost of a full-scale redevelopment of the auditorium, which was prepared in September of 2010, was $1.5 million.

Meeting date changed – Council meetings are normally scheduled for the third Wednesday of each month, which would put the December meeting on the 21st. Since that date is close to the Christmas holiday, council decided to meet one week earlier, on the 14th. One of the agenda items will be the selection of a new warden, as the tradition is for the sitting warden to step down at the end of each year. Warden Davison has been in place for two years, the final year of the previous term of council, and the inaugural year of this term.

(Editorial Note – The public is welcome to all council meetings, at the county and township level. Township meetings, and the county meeting in Lennox and Addington, are all held in readily accessible halls.

At Frontenac County, however, one of the internal doors to the meeting room is locked. To get through the door, one needs to find a member of the county staff to open the door by swiping a card. The council meetings take place in a room that is surrounded by the headquarters of the Frontenac Paramedic Services, which is apparently why security is necessary.

Two reporters normally attend these meetings. As members of the press, we are aware of the security system and we know our way around the offices so we can usually find someone to let us in pretty quickly. However, a member of the public who decides they would like to attend would not have that advantage. There is no signage indicating a meeting is in progress or what to do to get through the locked door.

This means that in practical terms the Frontenac County Council meetings are not as open to the public as are the other municipal meetings that we cover. It would not be accurate to say that these meetings make very gripping entertainment, but they do conduct public business.