It has been a number of years since absenteeism among paramedics at Frontenac Paramedic Services and both nursing and non-nursing staff at Fairmount Home was flagged as above the industry targets for those sectors.

The County's human resources staff have been gathering data on absenteeism ever since, in an effort to determine if absenteeism mitigation efforts have had an effect. The latest rolling average suggests that Fairmount Home staff are still off sick more often than the target, which for nursing staff is 10 days or less off sick per year for 80% of employees and for non-nursing staff is 7 days off sick per year for 80% of employees. 67%% of nursing staff and 71.5% of non-nursing staff met the target. The 67% figure for nursing staff represents an improvement over the 64% figure from the previous period, but for non-nursing staff it represents a drop from the previous period, when 86% of staff met the target.

As for paramedics working for Frontenac Paramedic Services, who have a target of 12 sick days for 80% of employees, the numbers continue to lag. Only 58% of paramedics met the target, down from 65% the last time around.

In presenting the numbers to a meeting of Frontenac County Council a couple of weeks ago, CAO Kelly Pender said that specific circumstances, such as a flu outbreak that sent a number of paramedics home in the middle of their shifts last December and lasted three to four more days in most cases, “had a significant impact on the statistics”.

For their part, Frontenac County politicians wondered what they can do with the numbers.

“I'm not sure what these numbers are telling us,” said Councillor John Inglis.

Measures taken to mitigate against sick time have had mixed success. After paramedics were approached to discuss sick time last May, 12 paramedics launched grievances that are now in arbitration.

K&P Trail update

Trail proponents and the county's economic development department have a goal of completing the K&P Trail as far as Sharbot Lake by Canada Day, 2017, Canada's 150th anniversary.

The trail is now complete from the bottom of the county at Orser Road, just east of Road 38, all the way to Tichborne. However, to complete the last eight kilometres of trail will be more complicated than the first 50 or so were.

While the section of trail that is now complete was (almost) entirely owned by the county after they purchased it from Bell Canada, who acquired it from Canadian Pacific, the section now being looked at was sold off to private owners. There are 22 land owners who own sections of the former K&P rail line, some who own a few metres and some three or more kilometres.

Marcel Giroux and Wayne Robinson, who both have decades of history in the Tibchborne to Sharbot Lake corridor, have volunteered to meet with landowners and negotiate agreements.

In her report to County Council, Anne Marie Young notes that Robinson and Giroux “feel every person will want some kind of consideration/ compensation for the value of the trail they own.”

She said that a draft appraisal report has been completed to determine fair market value to establish a figure that can be used as a basis for negotiation. “Expropriation is also an option if need be,” she noted, and added that a meeting has been held with the county’s solicitor to determine a plan if that becomes necessary.”

For his part, Marcel Giroux is optimistic that amicable arrangements can be made with most of the landowners, but accommodations, not only of the financial kind, will need to be made.

“There are some places where houses have been built over the trail, or septic beds are on or near the trail, so we will need to find alternate routes,” said Giroux, in a telephone interview after the Council meeting

Giroux added that the most of the landowners who have been approached have been either supportive or at least neutral towards the idea of allowing a trail to go through their land.

He said that as negotiations continue, those pieces that have been secured will be completed to the high standard of the rest of the trail.

“We want to create some more momentum if we can,” he said.

There is an initiative aimed at consolidating the K&P trail north from Sharbot Lake through Central and North Frontenac into Lanark and Renfrew. A meeting was held in January with officials from the other counties, and further meetings are planned.

Upgrades to county offices

A report on necessary and desired upgrades to the county offices, which are located in what is called the “Old House”, was presented to Council. The “Old House” was originally constructed in 1919 by Colonel William H Fair, and is attached to the Fairmount Home and the offices of Frontenac Paramedic Services.

The report says there is ample floor space in the building for the current and future space needs of county staff. However, since it is a house and not an office building, much of the space is wasted and there is a lack of privacy in many of the offices, which are located in converted bedrooms, family rooms, etc.

Of the 13 issues of concern raised in the report, the most immediate has to do with washroom facilities and accessibility issues, which need to be addressed in order to comply with the Health and Safety and Accessibility acts. Other than that, the issues are more those of efficiency and costs of operating an older building.

Staff put forward eight wide-ranging options for Council to consider, from doing nothing, to decommissioning the building and constructing new offices, possibly within Frontenac County.

Council favoured the middle of the range, asking staff to come back with costing for option 4, “renovate for washroom accessibility and improved reception and improved productivity” and option 6, “Old House conversion to new use and addition to accommodate accessibility and productivity needs.”

County takes safety insurance in house, savings to follow

When an actuarial accountant turns on the microphone to make a presentation at a morning council meeting, it can leave many staring longingly at the coffee pot in the corner of the room.

Yet, when Bruce Neville of Nexus Actuarial Consultants took the floor, he brought, in suitably measured tones, the kind of message that perked up the ears of Frontenac County Council at their monthly meeting last Wednesday (October 21).

Neville pointed out that, like a number of neighboring municipalities have already done, Frontenac County can opt to stop paying about $600,000 each year into the Workplace Safety Insurance Program, and instead pay the same amount into a reserve fund each year for the next five years until a $2.5 million reserve is established. After that, the county will only have to pay claims as they come (about $125,000 each year on average, leaving savings of as much as $475,000 each year.)

It took Neville about a half an hour to explain the ins and outs of the money transfers that are involved, with County Treasurer Marian Vanbruinessen interjecting on occasion for clarification. County staff have also canvassed other municipalities within Eastern Ontario who have taken this kind of step. Renfrew County reports substantial savings. Lennox and Addington says it has saved in excess of $1 million and Lanark County reports savings of $320,000 per year since it made the change in 2013.

“So, we will pay the same as we do now for a few years and then begin to save money each year,” asked South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal.”

“Essentially, the answer is yes,” said Bruce Neville.

Council voted to take on the change as soon as possible.

Private roads study to clear the way for OP approval by province

One of the hurdles in the way of securing approval for the first ever Frontenac County Official Plan by the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing of Ontario has been the county's insistence, in line with the wishes of its member municipalities, that the ministry bend in its demand that further lot creation not be permitted on private lanes.

The ministry has been insisting that only through the use of expensive planning tools, either plans of subdivision or the creation of vacant land condominiums, can new lots be created outside of the public roads system.

Plans of subdivision require a developer to build a road that is up to a municipal standard, after which time the road is taken over by the local township. Plans of condominium require that a corporation be established among those who live on the private road, and that the condominium corporation come to a binding agreement over road maintenance with the township.

“The problem with both of these planning tools is that they only work for developments of a relatively large size, where there are enough lots being created to justify such a costly outlay for all the studies that are required for either of them,” said the county's manager of planning, Joe Gallivan. “They don't fit the pattern of incremental development that has been occurring in Frontenac County, and insisting on them would harm property owners and the townships where they live.”

Gallivan said that he is now confident that the ministry is finally developing an understanding of how Frontenac County plans to manage lot development on private roads and is poised to approve the County Official Plan by the end of the year.

One of the measures that the county has taken to provide comfort to the ministry has been to undertake a $60,000 private roads study .

Brian Whitehead of Jp2G Consultants, presented a preliminary report on the study to Council last week.

One of the first pieces of information in the study is a comprehensive inventory of private lanes in Frontenac County. Whitehead found 980 private roads in Frontenac County, of which 545 (58%) are located in South Frontenac. There are 5,808 dwellings on private lanes in Frontenac County, 2774 of which (47.8%) are located in South Frontenac and 1406 (24%) are located in North Frontenac.

However, of the 980 lanes, most (821) are not viable for any further development, and of the 159 that can accommodate more lots, 73 can only accommodate one more lot, and 35 can accommodate two more lots.

In fact, of 980 private lanes, only 19 could ever see more than five more lots created under any circumstances. Of those 19, two are located in North Frontenac, four in Central Frontenac, 10 in South Frontenac, and three in Frontenac Islands.

“When those numbers are considered, it is clear that the outcome of permitting lot development on private lots will not be that large, and this should make things easier for the ministry,” said Brian Whitehead.

His final report is due later this fall.

No matter how it is measured, absenteeism remains high

Council received the quarterly absenteeism report for county employees. Earlier reports had tallied up the total number of days lost to absenteeism, but this new version set targets based on industry standards. For paramedics the target is 12 days absent due to illness per 12-month period, for nursing staff the target is 10 days, and for non-nursing staff it is 7 days. The stated goal is for 80% of employees to be off sick less than the target.

By that measure, only 65.4% of unioni zed and 56.3% of non-unionized employees at Frontenac Paramedic Services were at or below the target for absenteeism, and only 64.2% of nursing staff at Fairmount Home were at or below the target, all three missing the goal by a substantial amount.

On the other hand, employees working in corporate services, both unionized (80%) and non-unionized (83.3%) met the goal, as did unionized non-nursing staff at Fairmount Home (86.7%) and non-unionized non-nursing staff at Fairmount Home (100%)

Community Improvement Plan (CIP) approved for Harrowsmith

The Village of Harrowsmith will be the next community whose businesses and homeowners will be eligible for community improvement grants, joining existing CIP communities Verona, Sharbot Lake, Marysville, and the entire Township of North Frontenac.

Councilor salaries set

After considering a proposal that would have seen a major increase in salaries, Council settled on an increase in base salary coupled with a decrease in the number of meetings that are eligible for per diems. The net effect is to maintain salaries at the same level they have been at for the past four years. The salary for the warden has been set at $22,500, that of deputy warden at $10,025 and councilor at $9,088.

With payments of $4,000 in expenses and an average of 7 per diems for meetings outside of the boundaries of the county, the average councilor is anticipated to receive a total of $14,138 in 2016. The estimated total pay for the deputy warden (including 10 per diems) is $15,525, and the warden (including 15 per diems) is $28,500. One-third of the salaries paid out to members of council is tax-free income. The total estimated cost for members of Council in 2016 is $128,500 including all expense and per diem payments.

Frontenac County staff are preparing to bring forth a draft budget for Council's consideration next month, but in keeping with CAO Kelly Pender's penchant for a drama-free environment, Council can expect little in the way of surprises.

Staff are planning to keep increases to within a 1.25% window, and with an additional 0.65% to be slated for a reserve fund for long term capital replacement costs, the increase to the taxation will stay under 2%.

A number of small capital projects and a new Economic Development employee (to be hired on a three-year contract) were considered by Council last week in a Committee of the Whole meeting devoted to budget preparation. These costs are to be funded through added increases to the budget, through transfers from existing reserve funds, or grants.

These include small expenditures at Fairmount Home. These include a $5,400 cost to the County for a study aimed at establishing that the water supply to Fairmount Home is not influenced by groundwater. There is also a $12,800 cost to the county for a septic system study at Fairmount. Each of these costs are associated with potential savings in the near future or mitigation of major costs in the medium to long term.

Frontenac Paramedic Services Chief, Paul Charbonneau, proposed an increase in the staffing in the logistics department, from 1.6 persons to 2 full time people as well as a dedicated vehicle. The total cost of these changes is about $7,500 per year to the County. It will be offset by decreases in contracting costs as well as vehicle-related savings by not using ambulances to deliver supplies to stations within Kingston and Frontenac County.

Both Frontenac Paramedic Services and Fairmount Home each cost over $10 million per year to operate, and are funded by county ratepayers as well as City of Kingston ratepayers and provincial ministries.

In receiving these proposals, members of Frontenac County Council asked technical questions for the most part. They will be up for final approval when the budget is presented as a package later in the fall.

Proposals for changes in scope for the new combined department of Planning Services and Economic Development were more controversial, partly because the department's operations are entirely funded by county taxation.

As part of a new work plan for the economic development department, Department Head Joe Gallivan and Manager of Economic Development Anne Marie Young are proposing to create a new position, that of Economic Development co-ordinator.

In the work plan the position is described in the following way: “Through the work done on the Economic Development Charter, it was recommended that an Economic Development Coordinator position be created to focus directly on implementation of the Economic Action Plans. This position would act as the ‘point person’ for working with existing and potential businesses in the Frontenacs.”

The cost of the position is set at $210,000 over three years, to be funded using existing reserves, but the work plan includes a $30,000 allocation in 2016 to the “sustainability reserve”.

“I still don't see why this position is necessary,” said South Frontenac Mayor Ron Vandewal, who expressed his misgivings when the idea was first proposed a month ago. “The CFDC [Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation] already works with businesses all the time.”

Anne Marie Young presented a chart that showed how expenditures in Economic Development in Frontenac County are lower, per capita, than its neighboring municipalities.

“Look at Prince Edward County; they spend eight times as much as we do, and have built up a tourism and recreation economy we can only dream about. And where did they come from? I was born there and I remember that it was only made up of scrub land and farms. We are taking baby steps here. But we need someone to do the outreach if I am going to work in the office getting all the grants that are available,” said Anne Marie Young in response.

Council voted to put the Economic Development Plan, including the new position, in the 2016 budget.

The decision will be subject to further scrutiny when the budget is presented to Council on November 12.

Taxes to remain stable, on an upward curve

Frontenac County ratepayers will not see large increases in the county portion of their tax bill in coming years. However, as long as the Consumer Price Index goes up, so will taxes, but at a little higher rate.

Frontenac County Council approved a budget policy that sets as a target the annualized Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Ontario from August of each year, and adds an extra 0.65% per year for the next 10 years to pay towards a capital sustainability reserve. That reserve fund is in place to cover for ageing infrastructure, such as the county office complex in Glenburnie.

While the budget process will require that each department demonstrate that it requires the extra money to maintain the level of service they offered in the previous year, the over-riding assumption of the process is that the increase will be necessary. If the budget deviates from the target in one department, the needs of other departments will be looked at, followed by the replenishing of various reserve funds that may have been depleted over time. Only once all of those factors are considered would the possibility of setting a lower tax rate be put forward.

Similarly, if the needs of the departments exceed the target, reserve funds will be used as much as possible to keep the county from levying an increase above the target.

“In general it is preferable to plan for stable increases in county taxation, rather than a roller coaster ride where the levy can swing up and down,” said Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender. “That way the lower-tier councils and, ultimately, the ratepayers, can make their own financial plans without fear of surprises coming from the county.”

The 0.65% added levy was adopted by County Council last year after completing an asset management plan, as called for by the provincial government, in an effort to avoid large costs over the long term. The county has less infrastructure than most, if not all other counties in Ontario, because with municipal amalgamation the county roads system was divested to the local municipalities. The only water treatment plant in Frontenac County is in Sydenham and it is owned and managed by South Frontenac Township.

Frontenac County ratepayers pay the county rate in addition to the rates set by their own municipality and the rate set by the Ministry of Education for school taxes. The county rate is applied equally to each property owner based on the assessed value of their property as determined by the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC).

County supports maintaining Land Information Ontario:

People who visit Frontenac County maps at frontenacmaps.ca will notice that, when zooming in to near ground level, some of features from the past tend to linger on the mapping. That is because, until recently, the digital imagery that is the base layer of Frontenacmaps.ca was from 2008. That all changed earlier this year when new imagery, produced in 2014, replaced the 2008 imagery.

That six-year cycle of new imagery is a produced by Land Information Ontario, a division of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and sold to municipalities. Because of the economy of scale offered by a service that is province-wide in scope, smaller, rural municipalities such as Frontenac County pay less for imagery than they would otherwise, according to a report to Frontenac County Council by David Millard, the county’s manager of Information Systems.

“In 2014, the County acquired 5,727 sq. km. of imagery through DRAPE (Digital Raster Acquisition Project - East), at a cost of $17,473,” Millard wrote in his report.

The report recommended that the County send a letter to the province to urge them to renew the mandate for Land Information Ontario beyond 2017.

The imagery is of use to planning and building departments on a township level, and helps with bylaw enforcement as well.

The County is going to send the letter urging the province to keep Land Information Ontario in place.

Negotations to ramp up this summer for K&P Trail

Anne Marie Young, the Manager for Economic Development at Frontenac County, reported to a meeting of Frontenac County Council last week (May 20) on the next steps in the ongoing effort to complete the K&P Traill.

She said she will be setting up meetings with property owners living along road 38 between Tichborne and Sharbot Lake.

A number of property owners have pieces of the former K&P rail line running through their property, and the county will be seeking easements to allow those sections to be upgraded and turned into publicly accessible 4 season trail. With the trail now almost completed between Orser road, at the bottom end of the county, and the hamlet of Tichborne, only that final piece remains. Once it is finished the K&P will be a link between the Cataraqui Trail which passes through Harrowsmith and the Trans Canada Trail at the trailhead in Sharbot Lake

“That section is all we have left to complete, but as Council knows it is a complicated section,” said Young. Sections of trail in the 9 kilometre stretch were sold by Canadian Pacific to the abutting property owners. Young said that she will be working with some trail supporters in the local community to help her approach those property owners to seek easements so the trail can go through.

As far as financing construction on the final section, which will cost about $500,000, she suggested that the county could apply to a recently announced federal funding program for infrastructure projects related to the 150th anniversary of Canada in 2017.

“The program has a tight time line. It was announced last Friday and the deadline for applications is June 9th” said Young.

In order to jump on the grant opportunity, Council approved a motion authorizing staff to prepare the application, and committed to funding 50% of the $500,000 cost of the project if the matching grant comes through.

Thus far, the cost of the trail, which has turned into a multi-million dollar project, has been covered through a series of grants. Some county funds, which have come through a federal gas tax rebate, have also been used, although no direct property tax dollars have gone into the project.

“I think we will have a good chance at this grant,” said Young, “after all John A. MacDonald's funeral train travelled along the K&P, so the prospect of marking the 150th anniversary by bringing that rail line back to life as a trail is something we will certainly make note of in our application.”

Ombudsman unease

In his monthly report, County Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Pender focused on the factr that the provincial ombudsman will soon be turning his focus onto the actions of municipal councils. The ombudsman, Andre Marin, currently has a staff of 22 and a budget of $11 million per year, both of which may be doubled in short order.

As of September 1st of this year, the Ombudsman's office will have the authority to investigate decisions of school boards throughout the province, and on January 1st of 2016, municipalities will be open to it's scrutiny.

“The ombudsman does not have the authority to overturn decisions of elected bodies, but by publicizing flaws in how decisions were made he can change things simply through moral suasion and public pressure,” said Pender.

Pender added that municipalities have the ability to appoint their own ombudsman, but even if they do, the provincial ombudsman will be able to over-ride the authority of any municipally appointed individual.

“In the past, ombudsman's only launched investigations after receiving a complaint, but now they can act on their own volition, based simply on media reports or their own concerns,” he said.

“This is being presented by you as a threat,” said a member of Council.

“I would not characterize it as a threat, so much, but I think Council should be aware that the world around us is changing and you would better be ready to change. I would suggest in my 30 years in the municipal world there hasn't been a widespread abuse of transparency, but council members may indeed face increased oversight.”

Items that council members, both at the county and the township level, need to be concerned with, according to Pender, is that the content of phone calls and emails are within the purview of the ombudsman.

Aspects of Council decision-making that sometimes raise concerns are conversations between council members that take place outside of official meetings, and whether in-camera meetings always take place for legitimate reasons.

Absenteesim at Fairmount Home continues to raise concerns

The monthly absenteeism report, which was initiated under the former Council over concerns about sick time among staff at Frontenac Paramedic Services, is now showing a large increase in sick time at Fairmount Home.

During the first four months of 2015, absenteeism is up by 44% over the same time period in 2014, which itself was 12% higher than the winter of the previous year. In 2013, between January and April, 2934 hours were lost to sick time. That number rose to 3305 in 2014, and jumped to 4783 this winter.

Steve Silver, the interim administrator of Fairmount, said that he will be looking at the situation with his staff.

Councillor John McDougall asked whether the monthly absenteeism reports could be augmented with some more contextual information.

“The numbers don't tell the whole story,” he said, referring to the fact that, for example, Fairmount was hit with a flu outbreak this winter, which may explain some of the increase in sick time.

“Colleen Hickey [Manager of Human Resources] has been working on a new version of the absenteeism report which we expect to have available for the June meeting. Hopefully, Council will find it more helpful,” said Kelly Pender.

Meanwhile, absenteeism at Frontenac Paramedic Services is down by 16% for the first 4 months of 2015 as compared to 2014.

Joe versus the ministry

Manager of Planning Services Joe Gallivan said that he expects that by the June meeting he will have received the Ministry of Municipal Affairs detailed response to the 1st ever Frontenac County Official Plan, which was submitted for ministry approval late last year

“Judging from the ministry response to the Lennox and Addington Official, I'm not optimistic. That response is long, detailed, and prescriptive, which is what we are afraid will happen in our case as well,” said Gallivan.

He added that on some of the key issues, particularly permitting new lot creation on private roads under clearly defined conditions, County Council has given him direction to make the case to the ministry and to the Ontario Municipal Board, if necessary.

The ministry is expected to insist that new lot creation be restircted to pubcli roads, except in cases where either a plan of subdivision or a plan of vacant land condominium is undertaken by the applicant.

Gallivan pointed out that 60% of properties in Frontenac County were developed on private roadways. He then said that a $60,000 study the county has recently completed demonstrates the viability of private roads in the county, and that changes in the new Provincial Policy Statement which favour the counties' position have all given him confidence in the stance the county is taking.

“If as I now expect, this does go to the OMB, we will be prepared to make a very strong case,” he concluded.

After a rigorous review process last month, Fairmount Home was officially awarded Accreditation with Commendation, the second-highest level of accreditation possible. According to Accreditation Canada’s website, this rating is reserved for “organizations that go beyond the requirements of Accreditation Canada and are commended for their commitment to quality improvement.”

Out of 504 criteria, only one was left unmet; meaning the home very narrowly missed an exemplary standing. Fairmount has until June to prove itself on that one unresolved criteria, and staff have already started working toward achieving exemplary standing.

“As a member of the Quality Improvement Team at Fairmount, I’ve long been confident the home could achieve this level of recognition,” says Warden Denis Doyle. “County Council is proud of staff who maintain this world-class facility right here in our backyard.”

“I’ve been going through accreditation for 30 years and this is the best one we’ve ever had,” said recently retired Acting Administrator Mary Lake. “I think our rating is so great this time around because it wasn’t just based on conversations with management. The auditors engaged with our staff and residents, and evaluated based on what they were able to see and feel. Gentle Care is truly entrenched in our daily life here at Fairmount Home, and that is reflected in this outstanding accreditation.”

Accreditation Canada is an independent third party that evaluates health care organizations to help them improve quality, safety, and efficiency. Accreditation also serves as a benchmark for potential residents and family members of residents, who can rest-assured that an accredited home works hard to meet standards and provide the best possible care and service.

The one constant at Fairmount Home, through all its renovations and changes, from a 96-bed municipal home for the aged, to a Class D and then a Class A nursing home with 128 beds, has been the smiling face of Mary Lake.

As director of care, Lake has watched over the residents at Fairmount through all those years, and she will retire at the end of this week.

“I literally grew up in long-term care,” she said in an interview on Monday. Not only has she worked in long-term care for over 40 years, she started working summers in a nursing home when she was a young teenager.

“My grandmother owned the Picton Manor, and as soon as school let out each summer I would head over there to work. I changed beds, did cleaning, whatever was needed.”

A lifelong Frontenac County resident, Mary Lake was raised at Elginburg (in what was then Pittsburgh Township), where she attended public school. She went to Sydenham High School, and then studied Nursing at the Kingston General Hospital (KGH) School of Nursing. After graduating in 1972, she took a job at KGH.

In 1974, she started working as a long-term care nurse, and aside from a short stint at Kingston's Prison for Women in 1984 (as a nurse not an inmate) she has remained working in long-term care ever since.

She took on the job of director of care at the municipally owned Fairmount Home for the Aged in 1987.

She has seen a lot of changes at Fairmount over the years. When she first started there, the home was licensed, and funded by the Ministry of Community and Social Services, not the Ministry of Health, which now oversees all long-term care facilities under a single set of rules under the Long Term Care Act of 2007.

“We were a country home, and we served the residents of Frontenac County mostly, at that time. The care we delivered was always excellent, but the facility was not what it was today,” she said.

All of the rooms at Fairmount had two beds, and the rooms did not have private bathrooms or showers. It was more of a dormitory-style facility with a single dining room for all 96 residents.

Improvements to the level of care came with new standards of care in the 1990s. As director of care, Lake was in charge of operations at the home, including nursing and personal support workers as well as all of the support staff in the home. The administration of Fairmount was taken care of by Frontenac County. She helped the home maintain its reputation as a caring facility, for families and residents to feel safe and well supported.

When municipal amalgamation took place in the late 1990s, Frontenac County decided to keep Fairmount Home, even though its location was becoming subsumed by the City of Kingston when it annexed Pittsburgh and Kingston Townships.

The Chief Administrators of the new County, first Bob Foulds and later Elizabeth Savill, became administrators of Fairmount, giving Mary Lake someone to report directly to.

When all long-term care facilities started to come under the same set of standards and regulations, Fairmount was designated as a Class D facility because of the physical limitations of the home. It was faced with a choice to upgrade or close, and this led to a long, sometimes difficult, set of negotiations with the City of Kingston and the province, funding partners of Fairmount, over plans to renovate.

The $17 million upgrade eventually got underway in 2003, and this led to a challenging period for Lake as director of care, ensuring that residents were well cared for and as well prepared as possible for the changes that took place.

“Through attrition we dropped to 78 beds, and when the new section was completed, the residents all moved there as the old section was completely retrofitted. In 2004 everything was complete and we became the 128-bed facility that we are today,” said Lake.

Once the new state of the art facility was complete, a new challenge faced Mary Lake.

“We had to get used to the change, and change is difficult, even positive change. We lost our culture of care for a while when the new Fairmount opened. Our staff took some time to transition, but we worked hard at it and we got it back. It took about a year,” she said.

Aside from the physical changes in the early 2000s, the home also acquired a full time administrator. Under the regulations, Class A municipal homes must have a full time administrator and full time director of care.

“If I ever wanted to be an administrator,” Lake said, "I would have been one, but I always wanted to be involved in the service end of things. I never wanted to have any other job than the one I kept.”

Ironically, however, that is the role she is retiring from. She has been filling in for Julie Shillington, the full time administrator, who has been on a leave of absence for health reasons and will not return until later this year.

As Lake looks back at her career, she says that while tightened up regulations were a good change in long term care, the ministry has gone too far, leaving homes with more concerns about rules and less time for care.

“They have really gone too far with regulations, because there isn't enough staff available to cover all the requirements and still provide the kind of care that we all want to provide. That is why we came into long term care in the first place, not just to comply with regulations but because we want to provide care,” she said.

Another issue faced by the home is the push for ageing at home, which Lake said is a good thing. However it has meant that people do not come into care until they are at a point where their needs are greater. As well, there is pressure on Fairmount, and other homes, to provide care for patients with mental health issues that are more severe than the home can handle.

“There is a gap in the health care system for these people and they get shuffled around,” she said.

One of Mary Lake's major professional and volunteer interests is providing service to those suffering from dementia. Many of the residents at Fairmount have dementia of varying forms and levels of severity. The home has a wing devoted to those with advanced dementia.

She has been a board member for years with the Alzheimer's Society and has volunteered with Southern Frontenac Community Services to run Alzheimer's support services.

“It is very trying on families, on other residents at Fairmount, and of course on those with dementia themselves and the staff who care for them,” she said, “but we have learned. The drugs are better and the techniques for helping people have advanced over the years,” she said.

While she said she has no plans for retirement other than a summer at the cottage, it will be impossible for her to stay completely away from her calling. She expects that by next fall she will be looking for a part-time volunteer role doing something.

No doubt it will involve looking after people in some capacity or another.

by Jonathan Davies

The Minister of Agriculture, Jeff Leal, along with members of Frontenac and Kingston councils, took in presentations from a variety of agriculture ventures on a tour held January 29, which included Glenburnie's Sun Harvest Greenhouses and Inverary-area Bennacres sheep farm. Frontenac Federation of Agriculture members organized the visits. The minister's day concluded with a dinner hosted by the Frontenac Liberal Riding Association at the Lions' Hall in Verona.

The visit came on the heels of a January 28 announcement of several “food literacy goals” aimed at increasing consumers' awareness of local food. These goals are an extension of the Local Food Act, which came into effect in 2013 and focuses primarily on ensuring that public institutions source foods from within the province.

Not surprisingly, the minister was enthusiastic about the agriculture sector in Ontario.

"The future is going to be in agriculture in this province,” he said, adding that $34 billion in Gross Domestic Product comes from agriculture; 760,000 Ontarians are employed in the sector; and 23% of manufacturing is in agriculture.

He also said that consumers are choosing local food more and more.

“The consumers in Ontario are becoming more and more sophisticated in terms of the choices they're making. They're looking at where their produce is coming from,” said Leal in an interview from Sun Harvest.

The focus on local is welcome news for many farmers but questions remain about how the benefits of such policies will be enjoyed in our region. The Kingston area has itself seen an increase in interest in local food in recent years. Allison and Greg Shannon, owners of Sun Harvest, a greenhouse operation that has been running for 13 years, realized early on that their best route to success would be growing a high quality product and finding a niche selling directly from their location and through local independent shops. The Shannons have made a name for their brand of hydroponically-grown tomatoes, and have also branched out to include cucumbers, lettuce and asparagus in their vegetable roster, as well as offering seasonal craft-making courses. In an interview following the delegation's visit, Allison Shannon said, “The Local Food Act has great intent but doesn't have teeth. They are trying to enable and build a culture of people appreciating local food and entrepreneurs are already doing that.”

She noted that the term 'local' is a relative one and in the case of the Local Food Act, refers to all of Ontario.

“Consumers may not realize when they see local labels in a grocery store that it may not be from within the region at all,” she said.

While Sun Harvest is a large hydroponics grower by Frontenac standards, its one-third acre of greenhouse space devoted to tomatoes is dwarfed by similar operations in parts of south-western Ontario, where up to 100 acres may be developed. The relatively small scale of most agriculture operations in the Frontenac region means that institutions such as hospitals and universities, which are the focus of the Act, may source from elsewhere where supply is greater.

Part of the scale challenge lies in the nature of the land. The shallow soils that cover much of the county can be difficult for growing crops and vegetables, and pose particular environmental concerns for groundwater contamination, especially where raising large herds of cattle is concerned.

Bennacres owners Ed Bennett and his son Jim, who have transitioned from managing one of the largest herds of dairy cattle in the county to raising sheep in a cooperative system, noted in an interview prior to hosting their leg of the tour, that issues around liquid manure from their cattle herd were part of what prompted them to switch to sheep.

The Bennetts also see a lack of infrastructure as a barrier to developing the region's potential. Ed Bennett pointed out, “If [the government] is going to promote local food then they have to promote the processing.”

Furthermore, with thriving farming industries in the southwest and far southeast, Frontenac finds itself outside of the hubs where many agriculture-related events and resources are located. As Ed Bennett said, “We lack a lot of infrastructure...we are too far from anything.” In some cases, suppliers from either end of the province are unwilling to ship equipment and supplies so far outside of their regions.

On top of this, the Bennetts find that they miss out on many of the industry-specific meetings and workshops, which tend to be a long drive in either direction.  

The Frontenac County offices are located in what county staff call "The Old House", which is at the southeast corner of a horseshoe-shaped building complex that includes the Fairmount Long Term Care Home and the new Rotary Auditorium. The site is located in what was once Pittsburgh Township, which was part of Frontenac County before 1998 but is now part of the City of Kingston. The fact that its offices are located in a neighboring municipality is one of the many quirks of Frontenac County, but more on that later.

In the basement of "The Old House" there is a hallway leading to the offices of the county-run Frontenac Paramedic Services. The walls are full of photographs of Frontenac County wardens. The photos don't quite go back to the beginnings of the County in 1885, but they do go back about 100 years. The photos are predominately of men in the 50 and over demographic, and they demonstrate a change in facial hair fashion over the 20th Century. Moustaches, mutton chops and full beards grew less and less common as the century wore on. Still, very few women have served as warden. Exceptions were Isabel Turner – later the mayor of Kingston for one term, Frances Smith and most recently, Janet Gutowski.

The roots of the name Frontenac County go back to Sieur de Frontenac, an early governor of New France who established Fort Frontenac (a.k.a. Fort Cataraqui) at the mouth of the Cataraqui River in 1673. The fort was destroyed and rebuilt several times, and still functions to this day as the Canadian Army Staff and Command College.

In the early 1800s, as what was then a colony of England was working towards self-government, the establishment of individual townships and the overarching Midland District, which encompassed what are now the City of Kingston and the Counties of Frontenac and Lennox and Addington, took place.

In 1850, the City of Kingston was established as its own legal entity, and the United Counties of Frontenac and Lennox and Addington were also established.

Over the next 14 years, events took place that resonate to this day in determining the borders of townships and counties. In 1855, representatives from Barrie and Kennebec wards requested that they be attached to Lennox and Addington, and in 1857 Kennebec residents requested unity with Kaladar township. To make matters more complicated, changes to the Municipal Act permitted withdrawal from a county simply by passing a county bylaw. That same year, the United Counties moved into the newly built county courthouse, which was (and still is) located in the City of Kingston on Union street at the north end of City Park.

In 1860 two contradictory events took place. First, former United Counties Warden Roblin, who was by that time sitting as a member of the provincial legislature, introduced a bill to separate the counties. Later, a motion to keep the counties united was passed by the local council by a vote of 20-6.

By 1863 United County Council had swollen to 35 members. A motion to investigate the possibility of separating was approved by an 18-11 vote, and a further motion reaffirming unity was also approved, but only by a vote of 17-13.

Within a year, the document of separation was signed by the last warden of the United Counties, S. Warner, in front of 34 of the 35 council members. The date was September 17, 1864.

The new Lennox and Addington Council met shortly thereafter, but the first session of the New County of Frontenac did not take place until January 25, 1865. That's why although L&A County celebrated their 150th anniversary last year, the 150th anniversary of Frontenac County is being marked in 2015.

Although there was talk of revisiting the county borders when municipal amalgamation was mandated by the Province of Ontario 130 years later, in 1997, the province said the 1865 boundaries could not be altered. This was not well received by some politicians from Kennebec and Barrie Wards of Frontenac County and Kaladar ward in Lennox and Addington, who felt much as their predecessors had in the 1850s.

In 1865, Frontenac County was made up of the following townships: Barrie, Bedford and Palmerston, Clarendon, Hinchinbooke, Kennebec, Kingston, Loughborough, Olden, Oso, Pittsburgh and Howe Island, Portland, and Portsmouth.

While the City of Kingston was, and has remained, distinct from Frontenac County, there have always been a number of institutions tying the city and the surrounding county together, such as the Frontenac County Courthouse and the Kingston-Frontenac Public Health Unit. Other connections between Kingston and Frontenac are symbolic, such as the Kingston Frontenacs hockey team and the location of Fort Frontenac within the boundaries of the city.

Over time, the city has also swallowed up county territory. In 1952, Portsmouth Village was annexed by the city.

Pressure from the provincial government to amalgamate townships and institute a regional system of government started to build in the 1960s.

In 1969 Frontenac County Council sent a letter to local MPP, J.R. Simonett, advising him that the county rejected any suggestion that a regional government study be conducted for Frontenac County. In 1970 a second letter was sent. “Frontenac County does not wish at any time to enter into any form of discussion to consider any form of amalgamation or Regional System of Government. We have operated well and economically ... and we wish to continue with the same system,” the letter said.

That seemed to hold the forces of amalgamation at bay for 30 years, but everything changed in the mid-1990s.

The Conservative government, under Premier Mike Harris, mandated municipal amalgamation, telling local politicians that if they did not come to an acceptable arrangement the province would step in.

As a result of the ensuing negotiations, Frontenac County essentially ceased to exist in 1998.

Of its 15 townships, two (Kingston and Pittsburgh townships) became part of the amalgamated City of Kingston. The other 13 became the four Frontenac townships (North, South, and Central Frontenac and Frontenac Islands). The townships were designed to be able to handle all the responsibilities formerly taken up by the county. In place of the county structure the Frontenac Management Board, made up of the mayors of the four townships, was set up to oversee the Fairmount Long Term Care Home and the Howe Island ferry and act as a intermediary between the townships, the City of Kingston and the province. The city was charged with providing social services to the Frontenac townships under a local services re-alignment (LSR) agreement.

At the same time, the Frontenac Public Library and the Kingston Public Library amalgamated to become the Kingston Frontenac Public Library.

In 2004, partly because the Frontenac Management Board subsequently took on the responsibility of providing land ambulance service for the Frontenac townships as well as the City of Kingston and also embarked on a major re-development of the Fairmount Home, the Frontenac Management Board members decided to re-establish Frontenac County.

In 2010 Frontenac County Council was expanded to eight members (two representatives – the mayor and a council appointee - from each of the four townships)

To this day, just as in 1865, members of Frontenac County Council tend to be wary of attempts to undermine the independence of their own townships, while at the same time working to present a strong common front to both the provincial government and their city cousins in Kingston.

(Information for sections of this article was taken from chapter 7 of “County of 1000 Lakes – The History of Frontenac County 1673-1973”, a book published by Frontenac County in 1982 to mark the 300th anniversary of the establishment of Fort Frontenac. The chapter was written by John Smale)