Station Street project gets green light

The Town of Erin has received approval to reconstruct the Station Street bridge, rehabilitate the dam and preserve the Hillsburgh millpond.

Chris Ballard, Ontario Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, announced the decision on Feb. 2, more than a year after the project was put on hold. Credit Valley Conservation and several residents had appealed the results of an Environmental Assessment, claiming the town followed a “flawed process”.

Wellington County owns the water control structure in the 

Hillsburgh millpond dam, while the Town of Erin owns the 

earthen berm that supports Station Street.

The minister dismissed all of the objections, but did order the town to monitor and mitigate the impact on local groundwater and wildlife. The town must ensure the bridge can withstand a major regional storm and make contingency plans for extreme weather events.

 “I am pleased that the minister agreed with the town’s position,” said Mayor Al Alls. “This structure is important to the successful movement of people. The added benefit of the province allowing the pond to stay is that we will continue to maintain an important cultural amenity that is a landmark of our community.”

Gooderham and Worts built the dam that created the Hillsburgh 

millpond in the early 1850s, with a new mill that shipped 

grain to what is now Toronto’s Distillery District. 

The Station Street bridge was built in 1917.

The $2.5 million project will now proceed, but will not be complete before the early summer opening of the new Hillsburgh Library next to the pond. Draining the pond would have cost an extra $700,000.

Credit Valley Conservation had wanted full consideration of decommissioning the dam and possibly creating a smaller “off-line” pond next to the river, to improve fish habitat. The town said it could not consider those options since Wellington County owns the pond and is committed to preserving it.

The minister said the town had “no obligation to carry forward alternatives that are not reasonable, practical or implementable”.

The 101-year-old bridge was first identified in 1971 as being in need of replacement. The road on the dam was closed in 2011 after a section subsided due to a failing outlet pipe. Temporary work was done in 2012 to make the road safe for traffic, and steel reinforcements installed to protect the earthen berm that holds back the water.

New signs will boost Wellington County identity

As published in The Erin Advocate

Erin will be getting some fancy new signs at its borders, as Wellington County tries to offer a friendlier welcome to visitors.

A new signage strategy called This Way to Wellington was approved by County Council last month. It was developed with local focus groups and a public survey by Stempski Kelly Associates, the same consulting firm that is doing Erin’s Riverwalk Feasibility Study.

The Wellington County Coat of Arms

The signage is expected to cost at least $200,000 over the next three years.

New “gateway” welcome signs will replace the simple blue ones, informing drivers on major roads that they are entering Wellington County. They will be 2.7 metres (9 feet) wide with a curved top, and Welcome to Wellington County in large letters. The background is blue, with images of growing grain, and the County Coat of Arms inset.

In case you have not paid much attention to the Coat of Arms, which is at the centre of the County logo, it features Arthur Wellesley, the First Duke of Wellington, holding a sword and riding a white horse. Below that is a red cross dividing a blue background with five white dots in each quadrant, surrounded by golden sheaves of wheat. The motto is VISION VALOUR.

The welcome signs will have the name of the local municipality, such as Erin, in the lower right corner on a grey background. They are intended to complement existing local welcome signs.

Erin will get two primary signs, which means they will be mounted in an attractive rock landscaping. One will be on County Road 124 as drivers enter from Caledon, and the other will be on Trafalgar Road as drivers from Halton Hills cross the county line in Ballinafad. Each installation will cost about $6,000.

Secondary welcome signs will be the same size and design, but simply mounted on posts, and will cost $3,500 each. When the project is complete, Erin will have one of these on County Road 125 just north of Acton at the Halton Hills border, and another on Trafalgar Road north of Hillsburgh, at the East Garafraxa Township border.

There are 62 roads entering the county, but the smaller ones will not get signs. There will be 13 primary signs and 18 secondary ones.

There will also be directional signs of the same style near Erin village and Ballinafad, pointing towards other destinations. There would only be 18 of these throughout the county.

Another type of sign is called “Pay-to-Play”, meaning that businesses will pay a proposed annual fee of $250 to have their attraction featured. The number of these has not been determined, but each will cost $2,500. They provide classy-looking tourism promotion to local towns, without cluttering up the countryside with a wide variety of signs.

Mayor’s Breakfast good for information and connections

As published in The Erin Advocate

The Mayor‘s bi-annual breakfast meetings can be useful not only to business people, but to anyone willing to get up early for an update on activities at the Town and County, and a chance to talk to other people who care about local affairs.

Al Alls hosted one at David’s Restaurant on January 19, including presentations by Economic Development Officer Robyn Mulder, her Wellington counterpart Jana Burns and County Warden George Bridge.

The mayor covered a few highlights of recent Town activities, such as digging out soft spots and old corduroy logs during reconstruction of 17 Sideroad, replacing rotted boards at Hull’s Dam and installing new boards at the Hillsburgh arena – which could become a sledge hockey centre.

He took the opportunity to publicly introduce two new members of Town staff, Michael Tapp (IT Systems Administration) and Carol House (Chief Building Official), and to remind people that the Town would like to hold a major celebration for Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017.

He stressed the importance of getting the Wastewater Environmental Assessment done during this term of council, and of implementing the Momentum Economic Action Plan to build up the commercial and industrial tax base.

“We need to kickstart this community and get it going,” he said. “The Town is open for business.”

Warden Bridge said Wellington is actively promoting local benefits to potential new residents.

“We want make sure people understand that they can do everything they can do in the big city, and have a quality of life they will never have the big city.”

He said rural areas and small towns need access to reliable, high speed internet, especially for high-tech farms and home-based entrepreneurs. The Western Ontario Wardens’ Caucus is working on a $287 million project called SWIFT, to build a fibre optic cable backbone that would enable private firms to deliver the service more economically.

They’re hoping for $100 million from the federal government and $50 million from the province, plus major private sector investment to make the plan a reality. He points out there are 3.5 million people living to the west of the GTA-Hamilton area who don’t get enough support from senior governments. He said municipal property taxes cannot bear the cost of needed improvements, so major infrastructure funding is needed.

Robyn Mulder said that she would be producing a monthly Business Newsletter for Erin. There is a section of the Town website, erin.ca, dedicated to economic development, with links to various reports and initiatives.

For example, business respondents are needed for the EmployerOne Survey, by the Workforce Planning Board of Waterloo Wellington Dufferin. It will analyze hiring trends and recruitment strategies, to provide guidance to schools, community partners and government on the local labour market.

Jana Burns highlighted some County initiatives, including Global Talent Attraction, which helps businesses access the people they need from the “talent pool”. That’s one part of the Business Retention and Expansion project, which this year will focus on the downtown retail sector.

Burns also highlighted the promotion of events, especially the 2016 International Plowing Match and Rural Expo, to be held September 20-24 in Harriston. It will bring in about 75,000 visitors, an opportunity to promote Wellington’s assets, including food and entertainment.

They continue to promote the Taste•Real initiative, with the Source It Here food networking event February 8 at the Ignatius Jesuit Centre near Guelph.

The County is also working on a visitors map, a signage strategy, live & work bus tours, an Agri-Food Forum on international trade, and has released a Welcome to Wellington video that features Erin.

New walking trail reveals heritage of downtown Erin

As published in the Erin Advocate

A self-guided tour of the Victorian architecture in Erin’s historic downtown district is now available, with brochures provided in many local shops.

The Heritage Walking Trail takes less than an hour to complete, starting at the Founding of Erin historical plaque on the east side of Main Street near the West Credit River.

It is a joint project of the Town’s Trails and Heritage Committees, with support from the Wellington County Planning Department.

The brochure has two maps, one of the downtown core from Centre Street to Water Street, and the other showing the network of village trails and greenspaces, from the Elora Cataract Trailway to the Water Tower Trail. It can be downloaded as a PDF file from the Trails section of the Town website.

There are photos and information on 17 points of interest, plus codes that people can scan with their smart phones to get more details on-line. Erin’s mill history is highlighted on a sign at McMillan Park. On the west side of Main Street, the tour diverts to Riverside Park, which has a sign with even more information on local history and natural features.

I have a personal interest in the current project, helping plan it over the last few years with Steve Revell and Bill Dinwoody of the Trails Committee, and doing much of the design, writing and photography. This year, the Heritage Committee got involved and pushed the project to completion, with the support of Chair Jamie Cheyne, Councillor Jeff Duncan, Economic Development Coordinator Bob Cheetham, County Planner Director Gary Cousins and the BIA.

It is all a continuation of work done previously. In 1985, signs were created for downtown shops with historical information on the buildings, and many are still in place. In 1994, the Village of Erin published a Walking Trails brochure, with the help of Tim Inkster of The Porcupine's Quill, identifying the downtown business district as The Heritage Trail.

Trails support the principles of the Wellington County Active Transportation Plan, which encourages people to get out of their cars and get moving under their own power. This is good for fitness, good for the environment, good for local business and good for educating people about heritage and nature. As former trails volunteer Frank Smedley liked to say, “It’s all good.”

For economic development, trails promote a positive image for the Town as a desirable destination. Having a public network, with brochures and signs, gives visitors some well-defined choices.

The network so far includes the Elora Cataract Trailway, the Woollen Mills Trail, the Rotary Trail, the Water Tower Trail and Riverside Park. It could be expanded with a Riverside Boardwalk, a link through the Stanley Park area and a Height of Land trail extending from the water tower.

When we have new housing subdivisions, we should incorporate trails as part of the essential infrastructure. Also, Wellington County’s purchase of land surrounding the Hillsburgh Mill Pond opens up possibilities for a new trail in that area.

A Trails Master Plan would identify the type of trails network the Town wants, and how we can go about building it. Fortunately, planning and promotion of trails has become a key part of Erin’s Economic Development Action Plan, and grant money is being sought to make more progress.

Signage strategies needed for both County and Town

As published in The Erin Advocate

The road signs that tell motorists where they are (and where they could go) do much more than provide information. They help create an image for a community, and can provide an identity boost that builds pride among residents and economic activity for local businesses.

It’s good to see that Wellington County is working on a signage strategy to promote its “brand” – something that other counties such as Huron and Perth seem to have done quite well. It’s harder for a large geographical area to define its unique character (compared to the attractions of a small town), but the tools are simple.

A colourful sign with a consistent, well-designed look should welcome drivers at every entry point to the county. The Town of Erin welcome signs on major roads are excellent. The County signs could be designed to go on the same posts, to make it clear that Erin is part of Wellington, or they could be separate.

Throughout the county, there should also be many more way-finding signs, again with a recognizable design instead of just a place name and an arrow on a blue background. Some of these could be promotional, directing visitors to natural attractions like the Elora Gorge or to commercial hubs like the shopping area of downtown Erin village.

If the County is ready to spend money on signs, Erin councillors and business operators need to speak up about what exactly they’d like to see on those signs. A Focus Group meeting at Centre 2000 on August 5 provided a good opportunity for that. A mid-summer survey had also solicited public opinions on signage, but unfortunately was no longer open when I went to the website after the meeting.

For more information on the Wellington Signage Plan, call the Economic Development Office at 519-831-2600 x 2611.

Good signs are expensive, but they can also produce a revenue stream – as the provincial government has utilized on the 400 series highways. The County also plans to have signs on which businesses can buy advertising space for their nearby establishments, whether they be restaurants, bed & breakfast homes or zip-line adventures. Conservation authorities could advertise recreation areas and the Towns could advertise its parks and trails networks, or even its industrial zones.

I would much rather see well-controlled advertising on public signs than purely commercial signs on public property (or right next to it).

The Town of Erin, as part of its new Economic Development effort, could have its own sign strategy – not to duplicate the County effort, but to give priority to local attractions, both commercial and non-profit. These would be functional, but also send a more subtle message – letting visitors know that we are confident and organized in promoting ourselves. Here are just a few sign ideas:

• Ban all private signs from the public lands surrounding selected major intersections. Reducing the clutter will give a much better impression to visitors.

• Formally request that the Ministry of Transportation have more directional signs naming Erin on area highways. For example, drivers on Highway 10 in Caledon could see a sign indicating that Erin is to the west, and not just Guelph.

• Have more signs directing drivers to the various hamlets within the Town of Erin – this would be educational even for existing residents.

• Have signs indicating the river or creek that is being crossed. This is an excellent orientation tool, which the province used to use on its highways. Maybe we could leverage some funding from Credit Valley Conservation for such a project.

• Let’s let everyone know that Erin village, Hillsburgh and Orton are stops on the Trans Canada Trail, an important route for hiking, cycling and snowmobiling. It should be a big deal.

Erin in top 100 of Canada’s Best Places to Live

As published in The Erin Advocate

High income, low crime and low unemployment have teamed up with a strong arts and sports culture to place the Town of Erin at #76 on the MoneySense list of Canada’s Best Places to Live.

This is the first time Erin has been included in the magazine’s annual ranking of 209 municipalities. Orangeville is another new arrival, coming in at #97, and it seems we live in a good neighbourhood. Veterans of the list include Caledon at #56 this year, Centre Wellington (Fergus-Elora) at #52, Halton Hills at #21 and Guelph at #15.

Of the 209 places listed, Erin scored in the top 25% for income, employment, arts and sports activity and lack of crime.

It scored lower in the categories of affordable housing, healthy population growth (only 1.3% in five years), access to health care, low taxes, good weather, and ease of walking, biking and taking transit. The report says 3% of Erin residents use public transit to get to work.

Many Canadians say the place they live is the best, but MoneySense writer Mark Brown says the list is not about civic pride. “The purpose is to take an objective look at the communities across the country and identify the ones where residents can thrive,” he said.

The statistics were provided by Environics Analytics, Statistics Canada, Environment Canada and IHS Automotive. Points were awarded to communities using weighted categories: Weather - 10%; Commuting - 11%; Wealth - 28%; Demographics - 17% and Other (including crime, amenities, healthcare, culture and taxation) - 35%.

Boucherville, Quebec (south of Montreal) came in #1, while Calgary, a former #1, slipped to #19. Other highlights include Burlington #3, Oakville #6, Stratford #7, Waterloo #16, Toronto #35, Kitchener #40, Hamilton #41, Milton #57, Mississauga #61 and Brampton #154.

The median annual household income in Erin is listed at $105,809, with average discretionary income of $58,112 and an average household net worth of $784,001.

In comparison, households in the Town of Caledon are said to have median annual income of $95,118, with discretionary income averaging $61,238, net worth at $926,552, property valued at $621,859 and property taxes at $3,414.

The value of an average Erin resident’s primary real estate is pegged at $576,460, with the property tax averaging $3,306. What that tax figure includes, and for what year, is not stated, but it does not line up with the Town’s numbers.

After passage of the 2015 budget, the Town of Erin calculated that a home assessed at $400,000 would generate about $1,150 in Town taxes, $2,596 in County taxes and $780 in School taxes, for a total of $4,526. That’s up 2.22% from 2014.

Erin is not on any of the specialty lists published by MoneySense, including Canada’s Richest Cities, based on Household Net Worth. Caledon places #9 on that list with households averaging $926,552. That’s similar to places like Oakville, Vaughan, Richmond Hill and Aurora, but far short of West Vancouver, #1 with households averaging $3,152,364.

Halton Hills has the distinction of being #9 on the list of Best Places to Raise Kids. It has an average monthly daycare cost of $1,222, with 62.6% of families having children, 20.6% of the population under age 15, and a crime rate that has dropped 32% in five years.

Other interesting facts about Erin from the profile:

• Population: 11,282.

• Unemployment rate: 2.98%.

• Crime Rate per 100,000 people: 2,636 (down 23% in the last 5 years).

• Violent crime severity index: 15.8 (compared to Halton Hills at 20.1, Guelph at 42.5 or Brampton at 51.3).

• Average income tax for a person earning $50,000: $8,571.

• Vehicles 2012 or newer: 17.9% (Luxury vehicles 2012 or newer: 1.3%).

• People walking to work: 2.6%.

• People employed in arts and recreation: 2%.

• Medical doctors per 1,000 people: .98.

• Owned homes: 94.8%.

• Climate: 750 mm annual rainfall, 105 days with maximum temperature over 20°C, 7.7 days over 24°C.

Parents apply pressure for Brisbane safety zone

As published in The Erin Advocate

With heavy traffic on County Road 124 and dozens of cars forced to park on the shoulders, parents of students at Brisbane Public School have mounted a strong campaign to get Wellington County to establish a 40 kilometre per hour safety zone.

A delegation made up of Parent Council Chair Rachel Ingram, School Trustee Kathryn Cooper and Town Councillor Matt Sammutt appeared as a delegation to the County Roads Committee last month, armed with a petition from 325 parents and a traffic study that highlights the risks at the Brisbane site.

Sammut said committee members were “extremely positive” about the idea of a safety zone, but that County staff were resistant to the idea of trying to slow traffic to 40 kph in an area where the speed limit has already been reduced from 80 to 60 kph. Parents also want a flashing amber sign in each direction to warn drivers of the safety zone, at a cost of $7,900.

The speed limit would be lowered only during school transition times, 8 to 9:30 am and 2:30 to 4 pm. Instead of approving the proposal, the committee sent a recommendation to the full council that staff should review all schools on County roads and report back to the committee.

Sammut said that if the eventual decision is to install flashing signs, but leave the speed limit at 60 kph, “It would be better than nothing, but parents would be extremely upset.”

Traffic problems at the school have increased since the addition of junior kindergarten and all day (every day) kindergarten, pushing the school population to 416. With little parking available on site and no room for expansion, parents must park on both sides of the former Hwy. 24 roadway during drop-off and pick-up times. The school is served by 17 buses, and vehicles parked on the side of the road create visibility problems.

The traffic passes at a rate of one vehicle every five seconds in the morning (slightly less in the afternoon), with more than 18% of them being trucks, according to the traffic study.

As a parent, Sammut decided to get involved after witnessing a near miss between a small child and a truck. He said a safety zone would only cost drivers a few seconds of time, but provide a great benefit to the school community.

In October, parents met with school, board and county staff to demand action. Mark Bailey, Chair of the Upper Grand District School Board, told the county in December that many drivers do not obey the speed limit, with some exceeding it by more than 25 kph.

“The high traffic volume and speeds make it dangerous for children and their families,” said Bailey, asking the county to move quickly to establish a safety zone.

Ingram told the roads committee that there has been at least one accident at the site this year, and that the county could face a liability problem if there is an injury. According to criteria published by the Transportation Association of Canada, Brisbane definitely qualifies for a safety zone, the delegation said.

They provided research showing widespread use of 40 kph school safety zones, including urban areas such as Guelph, and at rural schools in Peel Region.

“The County has a duty to provide safe roads around schools, especially elementary schools,” said the delegation during their presentation. “Be proactive before a tragic accident occurs.”

Clearly, the situation cannot be allowed to continue. If common sense does not prevail at County Council, the school board will have to re-organize its services to relieve the pressure. But even with a smaller school population, a safety zone would still be the right thing to do at this site.

County tax share continues to grow

As published in The Erin Advocate

Steady increases in property values have been a bonus for Erin residents when they want to sell their homes, but when county tax taxes are calculated, there is an extra price to pay for living close to the Greater Toronto Area.

Wellington County recently approved a tax increase that averages 2.8%, meaning an extra $18 for every $100,000 of a home’s assessed value. If all property values were increasing at the same rate, we would all pay an extra 2.8% in county taxes, but that is not the case.

The County has never reported the tax impact split by municipality in the past, but I asked Treasurer Ken DeHart to crunch the numbers.

“An average residence in the Town of Erin will experience a 3.1% increase due to the change in property assessment being higher than the County average,” he said.

Tax bills will vary based on individual properties, but the average assessed value of an Erin home was up 3.8% last year, compared to an average of 3.4% countywide. By provincial law, assessment determines the share of property taxes – the County and the Town have no authority to change the system.

Paying .3% above the county average may not seem like much, but over the years the differences in assessment have become quite dramatic, and Erin is not the highest. The average single family detached (SFD) home in Erin has gone from $444,572 in 2013, to $463,933 in 2014 and $481,394 in 2015.

The average SFD home assessment for Wellington County in 2015 was $372,956. Here are the averages by municipality: 

Puslinch - $644,852; 

Erin - $481,394; 

Guelph-Eramosa - $450,361; 

Centre Wellington - $342,817; 

Mapleton - $308,628; 

Wellington North - $221,778 and 

Minto - $202,304.

It is important to remember that assessment growth does not directly result in tax increases. But with the county deciding it needs to collect $84.5 million in taxes this year (as part of a $185.8 million total budget), assessment determines the relative share for each taxpayer.

People are often shocked at how much money the county spends. In 2014 Wellington collected $12.5 million from Erin, 55.2% of total taxes. The Town of Erin collected $5.5 million (24.4%), while schools got $4.6 million (20.4%).

County roads and bridges make up the largest part of Wellington’s budget, but many expenses can be traced back to the downloading of the 1990s, when the provincial government forced counties to take over the cost of some major services. Those still account for more than $40 million on the annual tax levy.

The big-ticket items include:

• Rural OPP service ($17.3 million), 

• The Farm Tax Rebate ($10.6 million), 

• Social Housing ($4.3 million), 

• Land Ambulance ($4 million), 

• Former Provincial Highways ($3.7 million), 

• Social Services and Childcare ($1.8 million) and 

• Public Health ($2 million).

The relatively low amount of taxes paid on farmland, 25% of the regular rate, is a particular issue for municipal taxpayers. Farmland qualifies for the Farm Tax Rebate if it is actually farmed, generating at least $7,000 in gross income per year.

The rebate used to be paid by the province and shared through income taxes. When it was shifted to municipalities, provincial grants were supposed to cover the cost. Actual grants cover less than half, however, leaving county taxpayers to cover the balance. The net cost is $487 per household.

$5 garbage bag surcharge would improve waste habits

On the bulletin board by my desk, I’ve just posted the Garbage, Recycling and Programme Information Calendar from Wellington County Solid Waste Services.

Having grown tired of calendars with cute animals, race cars and scenic outhouses, I can now gaze upon images of garbage trucks, swamplands being preserved, composting in action, pre-paid yellow garbage bags and employees doing their jobs with enthusiasm.

County staff appear to have good reason to be cheery, since their Human Resources Department recently won an “Oscar” in its profession. At a prestigious gala, Wellington was the winner of the Best Health and Wellness Strategy award from KPMG.

Initiatives have included tree planting, a ping-pong tournament, hockey and soccer teams that challenge other municipalities, fitness events, lunch time education on personal health, a Wellness Fair, mental health training and retirement readiness workshops.

I am always happy to read about my tax dollars being put to good use, but I would be just as glad to read the news in black and white, rather than in expensive colour publications and advertising.

The County has been politically and environmentally correct by printing their 36-page calendar booklet on 100% post consumer paper fibre. In the spirit of waste reduction, however, I suggest that the booklet is a luxury that most taxpayers would prefer to do without.

When I want to download the waste calendar, or read about what is allowed in my blue box, I will go to www.wellington.ca. When I want to learn how to keep re-usable materials out of the waste stream, I will go to the Recyclopedia page at www.wellington.reuses.com.

To be notified about a change in my garbage collection day, I’d rather sign up for an email or text message service.

Also, to promote frugality and waste reduction, I propose that the price of large yellow garbage bags be raised by $5, from $1.75 to $6.75 – on one condition.

A portion of the revenue would be used to cover the actual costs of collecting garbage and recyclables, but all of the excess money would be returned as an annual equal payment to each household in the pick-up areas.

By raising the price and providing an equal payback to each household, Solid Waste Services would expand a key benefit of the user pay system, as outlined in their calendar:

“It encourages diversion. The more residents reduce, reuse, recycle and compost, the fewer garbage bags they need to buy. It gives residents some control over how much they want to spend on their garbage each week.”

With a $5 surcharge per bag, it would cost $27 to put out four large bags. With pickup every two weeks, that would total $702 per year. The annual rebate would certainly be less than that.

A household that put out one bag every two weeks would pay only $175.50 a year, and could expect a rebate that would be higher than that – unless everyone cut back to one bag.

It would be a bit like the Carbon Fee and Dividend system that has been proposed to reduce gasoline consumption. You actually pay people to change their wasteful ways.

Of course, if we all become super waste reducers, garbage bag revenues will decline – and it is still going to cost about the same to drive garbage trucks up and down the roads. Maybe then we can switch to once a month rural pick-up, and urban folks can learn how to get by with pick-up every two weeks.

Exchange program reduces fentanyl misuse

As published in The Erin Advocate

In an effort to reduce the black market supply of the lethal prescription drug fentanyl, Wellington County is promoting an exchange program that requires patients to return all their used medication patches before getting new ones from a pharmacist.

Modeled on a successful program in North Bay, it is an initiative of the Wellington Guelph Drug Strategy (WGDS), which tries to reduce substance misuse through prevention, treatment, harm reduction and law enforcement.

“There is a lot of concern because of the lethality of the drug,” said WGDS Manager Adrienne Crowder, noting that the patch exchange reduces risks to individuals and the community. “The program creates a partnership between patients, doctors and pharmacists. It’s a more connected care pathway that is good for everyone.”

Use of the program is optional for pharmacists and doctors, but WGDS is urging them to participate. The County has produced a video on the issue, created by Ironcloud Productions of Hillsburgh, which can be accessed at www.wellington.ca or through a “fentanyl patch” search on YouTube.

It says police and health care providers in Guelph and Wellington are seeing increased misuse of the drug. It includes a first-person account of a recovering addict, an 18-year-old girl who started by taking painkillers from the family medicine cabinet at age 14, then moved on to stronger substances. Addicts may end up selling their possessions and resorting to crime in order to buy more of the drug.

In North Bay, where fentanyl addition was a particularly severe problem, a patch exchange program has made the drug much more difficult to obtain on the street – forcing dealers to import it from other areas.

In October, Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli proposed a private members bill that would mandate the Patch-for-Patch program for pharmacies across Ontario. Patients who do not return their used patches undamaged would have to provide an explanation, and their doctor could refuse to authorize a further supply.

Known by the brand name Duragesic, fentanyl is a painkiller 100 times stronger than morphine and 50 times stronger than heroin. It was originally an operating room drug and a treatment for terminally-ill patients, but is now used for various types of chronic pain.

In 2011, it caused 102 overdose deaths in Ontario. It has come into wider use since then, after the Canadian government pulled OxyContin from pharmacy shelves in 2012, due to its high level of abuse. Fentanyl is intended for slow release through a patch over 72 hours, but addicts remove the drug from the patch so it can be smoked, injected, chewed or made into pills. Police say its potency is dangerously unpredictable.

It has become a street commodity, with some addicts stealing patches from legal users or retrieving used patches from garbage cans to get a residual amount of the drug.

Even legal use of the drug is risky, with 30 million tablets or patches of high-dose opioids (oxycodone and fentanyl) dispensed in Canada annually from 2006 to 2011. Statistics Canada estimates that approximately 1 in 10 Canadians suffers from a chronic pain condition.

A six-year study led by Tara Gomes at St. Michael’s Hospital, reported in the November, 2014 issue of Canadian Family Physician, showed that with Canada and the US leading the world in high-dose opioid prescriptions, Ontario had the highest rate of fentanyl dispensing – 112 patches annually per 1,000 population.

Some researchers believe it is being over-prescribed, with little evidence of safety or effectiveness at high doses, and with wide variations in provincial guidelines for doctors.

Methadone is used to treat addiction to heroin, oxycodone, fentanyl, percocet and morphine, blocking their euphoric effects and reducing withdrawal symptoms. Guelph has four methadone clinics; Orangeville has one and Georgetown will have one this January. Addicts can also be treated in residential rehabilitation programs, but there are waiting lists.

Allan Alls Mayor, Pierre Brianceau to County

As published in The Erin Advocate

County candidates stress need for collaboration

As published in The Erin Advocate

Candidates for Wellington County Council agree that Erin needs to get its fair share of benefits from the senior municipal government, with each claiming to have the best skills and strategy to make that happen.

They explained their positions at the All Candidates’ Meeting held on October 8 by Transition Erin. Candidates gave one-minute answers to questions from moderator Jay Mowat in a randomly selected order. Written answers to selected questions (from all election candidates) are available at http://www.transitionerin.ca.

Former public school trustee Pierre Brianceau said the failure of current representatives to get along with other members of county council has resulted in Erin not getting its fair share. He said he has the experience in working with various governments and agencies to bring funding to the community.

“I can work with others and you will get your money back,” he said. He noted the current Code of Ethics complaints at the Town level, and said his competitors “have spent their time fighting instead of minding your interests.”

Barb Tocher, a current Town Councillor and former Mayor and County Warden, said that while Erin gets standard services from the county, she will always bargain for better service and to get Erin’s share of various initiatives. She said the current mayor has been the root cause of malfunction at Town Council, and that his failure to earn respect at County Council has been a disadvantage to Erin.

“It’s time to restore and enhance the collaborative partnership between the Town of Erin and the County of Wellington,” she said.

Mayor Lou Maieron, formerly a County Councillor and now running again for that position, said in response that Erin actually has a “good relationship” with the county. He said Erin has got a part-time ambulance, rural garbage pick-up and a commitment for a new Hillsburgh library in 2016.

He said he has “great relationships with some hard-working efficiency-based councillors” but not with some “back room” politicians. He continues to protest the province’s assessment-based tax system, which puts a heavier burden on Erin compared to some parts of the county.

“I’ve been fighting to get our fair share. The representation at the county is neither based on population nor assessment. If you look at the three southern municipalities, we’re the highest assessment and the highest population, but we don’t have the majority of votes.”

Brianceau stressed his commitment to protect the environment, strengthen delivery of existing health care services, promote economic development and enhance rural transportation. He also favours reform of the tax system, would look for an environmentally responsible way to get a waste transfer station in Erin and would produce a quarterly newsletter to inform people and encourage their participation.

Tocher would support “Green Development Charges”, providing developers with discounts based on their environmental initiatives. She supports a county plan to track climate change and reduce its impact on infrastructure, and suggests that the County pay for all road construction while the Town covers all maintenance. She would write monthly updates for the news media and employ on-line surveys to get more feedback from residents.

Maieron said as Chair of County Planning he has backed plans for resilience to climate change. He wants more Erin roads to become the county’s responsibility. He supports establishment of a Re-Use Centre in Erin and weekly rural garbage collection (instead of every two weeks). He will push again for an Operational Review to improve efficiency, and would like to see on-line video of county meetings and some meetings held in the evening.

All of the candidates support establishment of a Community Safety Zone (higher speeding fines) in front of Brisbane Public School.

Ambulance times should be readily available

As published in The Erin Advocate

Erin residents and politicians love to complain about ambulance response times, but the pastime has run into a major snag. It seems no one can find out what the average response time is for the Town of Erin.

Service has probably improved since an ambulance was stationed at the new Hillsburgh fire hall last October, since firefighters are being called out less often to medical emergencies, but people deserve to know the exact quality of the service for which they pay.

The province covers 50% of land ambulance costs. County taxpayers chip in $7.8 million annually (including $1.2 million from Erin), which pays 20% of the costs. The City of Guelph pays 30%, and controls the budget and staffing levels.

The Guelph-based service is responsible for Erin, but the overall system is designed to be “seamless”. Many Erin calls are handled by Acton or Caledon ambulances, depending on how busy each station is and who can get to the scene most quickly. The Hillsburgh ambulance is only on-duty from 11 am to 11 pm.

The Ministry of Health has set a target of 8 minutes for an ambulance to get to a serious emergency. Guelph City Council has approved a 65% compliance rate for this response, averaged for all of Guelph and Wellington.

Overall, the ambulance service exceeds that rate, meeting the standard 67% of the time. In the city, they meet the standard 77% of the time, while in the entire County, the average is only 49%.

No one expects rural service to match urban service, but meeting the provincial standard 49% of the time for serious calls should not be considered acceptable.

Mayor Lou Maieron suspects that Erin’s response times are even worse than the county average, since some other communities have a full-time ambulance, as well as a hospital, where ambulances are often delayed.

I contacted Guelph Fire and Emergency Services Chief Shawn Armstrong in February and March this year looking for Erin statistics for total ambulance calls, the number of Code 4 (serious) calls, and the average times.

I received nothing, the same as Mayor Maieron and County Councillor Ken Chapman, who have been asking for years. I asked Erin Fire Chief Dan Callaghan, but he doesn’t have the information. The full County Council voted in March to request it, but still nothing.

Armstrong is not on staff at Wellington County – he works for the City of Guelph. The City has a new Communication Model, in which the ambulance service is to be “Transparent, Accessible and Accountable”.

As part of that, I heard that Armstrong was coming to make a presentation to Erin Town Council. So I emailed him and asked him to bring along the Erin data. He didn’t answer, and he didn’t bring it.

He did tell councillors that the ambulance staff want to improve service, so that compliance rates will be “tighter” in the County, and that the Tiered Response Agreement which calls out firefighters to some medical emergencies needs to be improved.

He had a nice Powerpoint presentation, with big arrows showing how the County and local Towns have the right to pose questions about service delivery. A right to receive answers was not specifically mentioned.

At the meeting, Councillor John Brennan asked him for the local data. Armstrong did not say that he wasn’t allowed to provide it, that it was too complicated to compile, that we’d have to contact the Ministry of Health or that it was none of our business.

He simply said, “We don’t have that data tonight, but we would certainly be willing to provide that data if council so wishes.” He suggested it might be ready in October.

Hospital funding prompts talk of leaving county

As published in The Erin Advocate

A committee vote to support donations now totalling $9.4 million to three county hospitals has Mayor Lou Maieron saying that Erin should leave Wellington County and join Halton Region.

“This is a Wellington County screw job – we’re going to have to look at some other relationship,” he said, after the county finance committee unanimously supported donations to county hospitals, but rejected bids for smaller donations from non-county hospitals that serve many Erin residents.

The mayor does not know if Halton wants a new northern territory, and acknowledges it is a decision only the province can make. But he says, “It would be the end of Wellington County.”

Erin would account for just 2.2% of Halton’s population, but benefit from its huge commercial and industrial tax base. Also, regions are responsible for sewage, while counties are not.

The current dispute stems from provincial funding for expansion of hospitals in Fergus, Mount Forest and Palmerston. Ministry of Health policy requires, however, that 10% of new hospital costs (and 100% of equipment costs) be raised at the local level.

Donations from the county, which are completely optional, would be added to the extensive fundraising efforts in communities that have the hospitals. Warden Chris White said the current policy of not supporting hospitals could be changed when necessary, noting that the county has provided millions of dollars to Guelph and Wellington hospitals over the last 30 years.

The mayor continues to protest Ontario’s property tax assessment system, over which the county has no control. Since Erin, Puslinch and Guelph-Eramosa are close to the GTA, their property values are higher and their residents pay a higher share of all county expenditures, not just hospital donations.

Erin has 12.4% of the county population but pays 15.5% of costs, meaning Erin residents will contribute $1.4 million to the hospitals. Puslinch and Guelph-Eramosa (which like Erin do not have hospitals) will pay similar amounts, but their county councillors are not campaigning against the hospital funding.

“It’s very difficult to justify,” said Maieron to the committee. “Do we fund hospitals that serve our residents or do we fund hospitals within our borders?"

Based on the original $9 million request, Minto residents would contribute $558,000 through the county, and their hospital would get $2 million. Wellington North would contribute $855,000, and their hospital would get $2 million. Centre Wellington would contribute $2.56 million, but Groves Hospital would get $5 million – in addition to the $5 million already pledged by the county for that hospital in 2003.

Maieron concedes that he and Councillor Ken Chapman will likely lose the hospital fight in a vote of 14-2 at the full county council meeting tomorrow (Thursday) at 10 am, but is urging Erin residents to show their support.

He did get a resolution passed at last week’s town council meeting, opposing the donations and reiterating that hospital funding is not a municipal responsibility.

“I’m tired of being one of Wellington County’s cash cows,” said Maieron. He was backed up by Councillor Josie Wintersinger, who said, “It’s high time that we push back.”

Councillor John Brennan said that in hindsight, council’s recent decision to split $10,000 among hospitals that do serve Erin, primarily Orangeville and Georgetown, was a mistake. He said the province is “shortchanging” poorer communities by forcing them to raise 10% of new hospital costs.

Councillor Barb Tocher was alone in opposing the resolution, noting that there is an established precedent of the county supporting hospitals. She supports the county donation, saying the loss of a hospital due to lack of support would be “absolutely devastating” to small communities.

“We’ve got to stop being so small-minded, looking at just we and us,” she said. “Hospital care is seamless. If we keep our hospitals in our county of Wellington strong, and every community in their counties or regions keep their hospitals strong, it won’t matter what hospital you go to. They’ll all be strong.”

Maieron points out that none of the local municipalities getting hospital upgrades are contributing tax dollars to the projects. Halton Hills has provided $2.7 million for the Georgetown hospital. Dufferin County has approved $500,000 for the Headwaters hospital in Orangeville, the first phase of $2 million requested over four years.

Georgetown hospital is nearing the end of a $6.5 million campaign to pay the local share of rebuilding their Emergency Department, renovating their Diagnostic Imaging Department and installing a CT scanner, and was asking Wellington for $100,000.

Headwaters hospital has already raised $14 million of the $16 million needed for a major expansion, and was asking Wellington for $115,000. Erin residents needing emergency care go to Orangeville 42% of the time, Georgetown 24%, Guelph 11% and Fergus 6%.

Louise Marshall Hospital in Mount Forest and Palmerston and District Hospital both need help to upgrade aging facilities and buy required equipment. They have increased their requests from $2 million to $2.2 million, over five years.

Groves Hospital in Fergus held a ground breaking ceremony last week, just before the committee meeting, to start construction of a new $100 million hospital that is expected to open in 2017.

Blended tax hike comes in at 1.01%

As published in The Erin Advocate

The overall property tax increase for Erin property owners will be just 1.01%, thanks partly to a decrease in education taxes, according to Town Finance Director Sharon Marshall. For an average home assessed at $387,750, the increase is $44 per year.

Also helping homeowners is a revision in policy by Wellington County to change tax ratios, providing a slight reduction to the tax burden borne by residential ratepayers.

The County tax increase was to have been 2.2% but it is now 1.89%. The Town increase was originally calculated at 3.03%, but now is 2.97%. And the amount for schools, as set by the Ministry of Education, has declined by 4.24%.

The figures are in Marshall’s report to council, which was expected to approve the 2014 Tax Rate Bylaw on Tuesday night (after this week’s Advocate went to press).

Overall, the Town will collect $22.6 million, including $5.5 million for Town purposes (24.4% of the total), $12.5 million for County purposes (55.2%) and $4.6 million for Education purposes – all boards (20.4%).

For each $100,000 of residential assessment, owners will pay an additional $8.33 to the Town of Erin, an additional $12.14 to Wellington County, and a decrease of $9.00 for Education purposes. The total change compared to 2013 is an additional $11.47 per $100,000 of assessment.

The 2014 final tax bills will be mailed out to all Erin ratepayers, along with an explanatory pamphlet, during the last week of July.

Sidewalk to Tim Hortons would be costly

As published in The Erin Advocate

Installing a sidewalk from Ross Street up to Tim Hortons and the Medical Centre would cost the Town of Erin about $310,000, but it only has $100,000 set aside for the project.

Town Councillors took no action after receiving a report from Road Superintendent Larry Van Wyck on April 15, other than to request a list of potential sidewalk jobs so they could discuss priorities.

“We’ve encouraged development there, and there is a lot of pedestrian traffic – a lot of kids are using the area,” said Mayor Lou Maieron.

Truck drivers often pull to the side of the road and cross the ditch to get to Tim Hortons, and high school students have beaten a trail across the Deer Pit for a more direct route to the restaurant.

The Town would be responsible for building the 550-metre sidewalk, but since Main Street is a County Road, it would also have to convince Wellington council to fund construction of curbs and gutters, or a physical barrier between pedestrians and traffic, plus storm sewers and catch basins.

There are two ditches there, and the one closest to the road, which handles little water, would have to be filled in.

Contributions totalling about $100,000 were required from the developer of new buildings in the area, and this money is being held in reserve for the sidewalk, but the Town would have to cover the balance. This project is not in the current budget or the five-year capital forecast.

Northern hospitals seek $9 million from County

As published in The Erin Advocate

The small hospitals in Fergus, Mount Forest and Palmerston have made a joint request for $9 million from the County of Wellington, to cover much of the “community” contribution needed for major improvements.

During a preliminary debate at a special meeting of County Council on March 18, the only members to speak out against the contribution were Erin Mayor Lou Maieron and Councillor Ken Chapman. They said taxpayers in Erin, and other southern parts of the county with high property assessments, would pay a greater share compared to the northern municipalities where much of the funding would be spent.

The contribution would be in addition to the $5 million already being provided for the new Groves Hospital in Fergus. If eventually approved by council, Groves could get another $5 million, with $2 million going to each of Louise Marshall Hospital in Mount Forest and Palmerston and District Hospital.

“It’s a political decision,” said Warden Chris White. “There’s no roadmap here. There’s no requirement to do this.”

Projects at the three hospitals of the Wellington Health Care Alliance have been promised funding by the Ministry of Health, covering 90% of construction costs. With the added costs of new equipment, they actually need about 30% funding from the community, including fundraising in the areas close to the hospitals. 

Wellington North Mayor Ray Tout made an appeal on behalf of Louise Marshall Hospital.

“This hospital was built 50 years ago and we outgrew our emergency department a long time ago,” he said, noting that it has taken ten years to get the funding now being offered by the province. The community will need to raise an additional $5 million to complete the project.

“As we live with the reality of an aging population, our hospital visits in Mount Forest are expected to increase by 1,200 people in 2014. If we’re going to attract new doctors, if we’re going to provide better service for good healthy living for our residents, then we must provide a better emergency working atmosphere.”

Councillor Chapman said, “I don’t believe the county can afford $9 million,” calling the hospitals “special interest groups”.

The hospital request is not in the budget. The funds would likely come out of reserves, which total close to $70 million, with payouts possibly spread over several years. Chapman noted that County Council was not willing to use reserves to reduce the 2014 tax increase to less than 2.2%.

“Hospitals are about quality of life, but it is not spread equitably throughout the whole county,” said Mayor Maieron, who has long complained that the province’s property assessment system is unfair, assigning a greater share of county costs to southern municipalities including Erin, which have higher property values.

He points out that municipalities in the north part of the county (Minto, Mapleton and Wellington North) have almost the same combined population (29,800) as those in the south (Erin, Puslinch and Guelph Eramosa, with 30,179). Yet the south pays 46.8% of county expenditures and the north pays 24.7%.

“I’m going to have a hard time looking my residents in the eye and saying we’re going to generate some revenues for the local hospitals, but we’re going to send it to these hospitals that you don’t frequent. That’s going to be a bit of a problem, because I come back to our original quality of life, and how are we at the county going to improve the quality of life for all the residents in the county.”

Councillor Chapman said he expects 1,000 new homes to be built in Erin during the next five years.

“We will need a future family health clinic, a medical facility to serve our community,” he said. “If we are not willing in the future to fund all medical facilities in the county, I don’t see why we should do these.”

There is a Family Health Team in Erin, but no hospital, so patients needing hospitalization are most often treated outside the county, in Orangeville, Georgetown or Guelph. The Mount Forest and Palmerston hospitals are near the Wellington border, and serve non-Wellington patients from municipalities to the north and west.

Health care funding is not a municipal responsibility, and Council would have to change its current policy in order to make this contribution. Ward 2 Councillor John Green said the tradition for more than 30 years has been that the county would shoulder a large share of the required community contribution for hospital projects.

“There’s no place in the county that is over 20 minutes from a hospital – that’s not bad,” he said.

The current request will go to the Administration, Finance and Personnel Committee for further discussion, then come back to the full council for a decision.

______________________________________________________

County seeks better ambulance response data

As published in The Erin Advocate

County councillors remain in the dark about ambulance response times in their local communities, and will ask the Guelph-Wellington Emergency Medical Service (EMS) to provide more detailed monthly reports.

Erin Mayor Lou Maieron got unanimous approval last week for a motion to seek expanded data, with the request channeled through the Social Services Committee.

He said the service reports changed several years ago to show only district-wide average response times, instead of details for each municipality. EMS started stationing an ambulance 12 hours a day at the new Hillsburgh Fire Station last year, and the mayor would like to know if that has improved the service.

“Without the information, we’re sort of lost,” he said. “I’ve heard from my colleagues in the northern municipalities that ambulances are being pulled towards Guelph, leaving their communities a little bit vulnerable for ambulance service.” 

Seconding the motion was Erin Councillor Ken Chapman, who pointed out that the EMS website does not list the ambulance stationed part-time in Hillsburgh, or its schedule, as it does for other locations in the county.

“I have no idea when that ambulance comes into town or when it leaves,” said Chapman, noting his request last year for that information has not been answered. 

“I think that we are being ignored, that we are getting poor service if any service at all at times. When I see that there is more than one municipality that gets less than 24 hour a day service, that is not the way I think the people of Wellington County should be treated.”

The Ministry of Health standard is a response time of less than 15 minutes, 90% of the time. Based on all 18,380 calls in 2012, Guelph-Wellington had an average response time of 12.25 minutes, 90% of the time, according to their website.

“They homogenize it over the whole reporting area," said Maieron. "In a large urban centre like the City of Guelph, a focussed area with very little traffic time, you can generate some wonderful numbers. But when you’re dealing with the rural municipalities, the people on the outskirts, I don’t think the numbers are that good. The information is collected. It’s there. I’ve requested it numerous times in my four plus years on Social Services, and I haven’t received one piece of paper.”

Guelph Fire Chief Shawn Armstrong, the General Manager of Emergency Services including ambulance, could not be reached for comment. An EMS staff report last year said deteriorating response times have become “unacceptable” and urged Guelph council to hire 24 more paramedics and buy two more ambulances over the next four years. That decision has not bee made, but it would raise Guelph's costs by $1.4 million by the fourth year and Wellington County's costs by $950,000.

The communities of Guelph, Fergus, Mount Forest, Arthur and Harriston have 24 hour ambulance coverage from Wellington-Guelph EMS, under regular conditions, according to the EMS website. Drayton, Rockwood and Erin (Hillsburgh) have part-time coverage, plus support from neighbouring services.

Wellington North Mayor Ray Tout said he is concerned about ambulances being deployed away from his area at busy times, since it puts a greater strain on his fire department to provide initial response.

“We’re paying for an ambulance service,” he said, noting the $7.8 million contributed by the county, which covers 20% of the EMS costs. The City of Guelph pays 30% and the province 50%. “I guess what I’m asking for is communication, what services they provide, when they’re in our area. I’m not 100% sure the head office is being as up front with us as their staff is.”

Councillor Gord Tosh said while more information is needed, reports will not be identical to those in the past since they were previously generated by the provincial government. 

Wellington-Guelph EMS would not be providing call data from neighbouring ambulance services. Ambulances are dispatched into the Town of Erin from stations such as Acton or Caledon when they can provide the closest service.

Councillor Chapman said that with 12 of 15 ambulances staffed during the day, and 8 at night, “we don’t need more ambulances, we need more staff.” He added that the province should be able to supply detailed information about ambulance calls.

“They don’t want to give it to us, simply because it points out that we in Wellington County are not getting the service.”

Last year’s report by Stephen Dewar, EMS Chief for Guelph-Wellington EMS, said a growing population and the number of people with significant illnesses being discharged early from hospitals have contributed to an increase in the number of calls and the length of time ambulances are at those calls. Calls increased seven per cent per year in 2011 and 2012, well beyond the population growth.

The report said “patient outcomes” are being impacted by the fact ambulances are having an increasingly difficult time in hitting response target times. Those targets are laid out by the province, with the city setting compliance rates.

For the most serious calls requiring resuscitation, the province expects an ambulance to be on the scene in eight minutes or less. The city expects its ambulances to hit that target 65 per cent of the time, but they were actually only hitting it 63 per cent of the time.

“In 2014 we'll be looking to add more staff hours,” said Dewar. “We have some ambulances that aren't being staffed 24 hours a day. We'll also be continuing to try and use what we have as efficiently as possible.”

With files from Metroland News Services