Mayor's Report for January 21, 2025

December 17th

I presided over the final Marmara and Lake Council meeting for 2024.

December 19th

I attended the Municipal Emergency Control Group Meeting at the Fire Department.

December 20th

I attended the final Board of Health meeting for the South East Transition Team (SETT) in Kingston.

At this meeting, following receipt of the decision and approval of the merger of the three boards from the Ministry of Health, the necessary motions and decisions were made to dissolve the three legacy boards effective December 31st at 12:00 a.m. To establish the new South East Health Unit, a meeting was announced for January 1st, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. At that meeting, elections were held for the Chair and Vice Chair. I was elected Chair and Judy Greenwood-Speers, Mayor of Frontenac Islands, was elected Vice Chair.

January 3rd

I met with Dr. Piotr Oglaza, Medical Officer of Health for the new South East Health Unit (SEHU). This initial meeting was to discuss next steps to scheduling the first business meeting and establishing an appropriate Agenda.

January 6th

Councillor Derry, CAO Connelly and I met with Lions Club members, Cynthia Reid and Allan Fluke, to discuss the terms of a new Lions Club Agreement with the Municipality. Staff are preparing a draft of the new agreement based on our discussion. We will meet again to review the draft and then the final version will be brought to the next Council Meeting.

January 8th

I presided over a special meeting of Council for the purpose of approving funds for the emergency replacement of the computer server that monitors the municipal water treatment plant.

January 9th

I presided over a meeting of the Personnel Committee.

January 10th

I met with Dr. Piotr Oglaza to further prepare for the next meeting of the SEHU scheduled for January 22nd in Kingston. This is an open meeting. The main Agenda topics are approval of the Terms of Reference for the Finance and Governance Committees and appointing interested members to those Committees and to set meeting schedules for the monthly Board of Health Meetings and Committee meetings.

January 18th - 21st

I attended the 2025 ROMA Conference, representing Hastings County.

The Conference was well-organized with a number of educational and informative speakers and expert panels.

Chantal Hebert, government analyst and journalist, was the keynote speaker. She spoke on current government affairs, provided insight into the upcoming elections, the potential leaders, their challenges, etc. Her message conveyed many things to be considered and how the next government, both provincial and federal, need to provide leadership in a very new and unconventional society and in response to the American election and the political climate going forward.

The Ministers who spoke were focused on rural support, the need to recognize the unique standard of living and diverse needs in rural areas, but with no. commitments. I truly think they are confused about the term "rural" vs "northern".

Councillor Lakatos, CAO John Connelly and I made a delegation to John Yakabouski, representing Mr. Lecce, Minister of Energy, regarding support for the Pumped Storage Project. Mister Yakabouski had worked previously with the former MPP Todd Smith in his role as energy critic. He was very familiar with the project and had toured the site many times. That was great because you only have 15 minutes so my presentation focused on the future economic advantage this project would bring to an area of low income, a senior and underserved population. I emphasized the change in culture and that this project could benefit over a huge geographic area. Today, I was interviewed by Qunite News about the project and our delegation. I am reassured that the project is still viable, however it is apparent that nuclear power generation seems to be taking priority.

January 21st

I returned on the train to Belleville.

I chaired the regular Planning Meeting prior to this meeting.

Tonight is our regular Council Meeting.

Comments:
As you know, I have been involved in the voluntary merger of three Boards of Health. This is a snapshot of the events and meetings leading up to the establishment of the new SEHU.

It is an honour and privilege to be elected as Chair for the new South East Health Unit.

Hastings Prince Edward Public Health (HPEPH), Kingston, Frontenac and Lennox Addington (KHA) and Leeds Grenville and Lanark (LGL).

The merger of the three boards involved presenting a business case to the Ministry of Health meeting specific criteria that representation of a critical mass would be at least 500,000. This will result in a shared geographical area and alignment with Ontario Health Regions to allow for more efficient use of resources and an enhanced capacity to manage public health emergencies with human resource backup. The provincial government has committed to provide the necessary funding for the first three years.

The merger will result in one Administration being Kingston location with the legacy units represented by municipal appointments from each of the former units and five Provincial appointees from across the entire geographic area. The initial monthly meetings will be held in rotation of the legacy units being Kingston, Brockville and Belleville.

Dr. Piotr Oglaza will be the Medical Officer of Health and CEO for the merged agency. Dr. Ethan Toumishey and Dr. Liana Li are Deputy Medical Officers of Health and Dr. Hugh Guan will maintain his role as Associate Medical Officer of Health.

The Province is also offering one-time funding for merger-related supports, such as Capital improvements, infrastructure, IT, finance, contribution and program harmonization, merger communications, as well as legal, human resources and governance transitions.

Merging of programming and staff will be done in a way that service delivery is not impacted. There are no anticipated job losses for front-line staff.

It has been my personal objective and belief in the benefits of this merger to reduce health inequities in rural areas and enhance the programs and accessibility of services that aid our most vulnerable residents. This is not primary health care but the Health Care Facilities and Operations are definitely stakeholders and partners in this process.

Dr. Oglaza acknowledged that there will be a process of developing a framework of indicators to report to the Board on progress of the merger as well as operations across the entire region. This is a very good start. Thank you.

Although SEHU began January lst, it is understood that merging may take several years.