May 7, 2020 Vol. 20, No. 18
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South Frontenac Rental Centre
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Public Health plan hints at how isolation easing could roll out by Jeff Green ast Friday (May 1st) Frontenac County Council met in a special session to receive a report that was prepared by Dr. Kieran Moore, Medical Officer of Health for Kingston Frontenac Lennox and Addington (KFL&A). The report details how the KFL&A region is in a position to begin lifting restrictions related to COVID-19 and provides a draft plan for doing so. In the information package provided to Council, there was also a draft letter from Moore to the Minister of Health in which Dr. Moore proposed the following: easing public health restrictions at a regional level, as opposed to a provincial level, in a coordinated balanced approach.” In a letter to Dr. Moore, Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson, suggested that having the letter signed by himself, Lennox and Addington Warden Marg Isbester (the Mayor of Napanee) and Frontenac County Warden Frances Smith (the Mayor of Central Frontenac) as well as Moore would make it a strong statement.” The City of Kingston and the County of Lennox and Addington both endorsed having their head of council sign the letter and Frontenac County Council was being asked to do the same. Moore’s report detailed how the KFL&A region has been able to avoid much of the predicted impacts of COVID-19 on its 200,000 permanent residents as well as its health infrastructure. At the time of writing, there had been 59 confirmed cases in KFL&A and none since April 6. There had been no deaths. A week after the report was written (May 5) there are now 61 cases, 2 having been reported within the last week. Of those, 3 are active cases and none of them require hospitalisation. There have still been no deaths. Dennis Doyle, the Mayor of Frontenac Islands, is a member of Frontenac County Council. He is also the chair of the KFL&A Board of Health. He told Council that the low level of community transmission of COVID-19 in KFL&A has allowed Public Health “to assign 7 of our people to visit each of the longterm care homes in our region
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every week, and last week we began bringing Public Health nurses into the homes as well. This has all helped us, and we are very fortunate to have kept our long-term care homes free of infection, because we know what can happen from the experience in other parts of the province,” he said. Dr. Moore’s report also acknowledges the impact that the current self-isolation and quarantine rules have had on the general population. “People should be treated as moral equals, worthy of respect. While individuals may be asked to make sacrifices for the public good, the respect due to individuals should never be forgotten, in the way in which interventions such as quarantine and self-isolation are implemented. “The public has a right to obtain key information that benefits its safety and security. The aims and evidence of the interventions being implemented should be clearly communicated. In communicating plans to loosen public health measures, the public should be aware of the criteria for loosening restrictions, as well as criteria for reinstating measures.” His report includes an appendix which provides a draft regional checklist for lifting restrictions. The stated goal of the checklist points to the current state of debate around the battle against COVID19 in the region, province and perhaps the nation as a whole. “Goals - maintain a low level of COVID-19 transmission to ensure that Public Health and acute care capacity is not overwhelmed; reduce mortality due to COVID-19 and non COVID-19 causes; minimise unintended consequences such as negative physical and mental health and socio-economic impacts; and minimise societal disruption, maintain public trust and reduce public panic.” The checklist includes criteria for beginning to lift restrictions. One of the key criterion is a low level of new cases, numbers that have been met in KFL&A but which the province as a whole has not yet met (100-200 cases per day in Ontario, which translates roughly to 1-2 cases per day in KFL&A)
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atthew Morton, Bridget Levesque, Matt Buie and Gabe M. celebrated Star Wars Day (May 4th) in Verona this year by waving at cars (a “trooper on the road” event) in front of Prince Charles Public School while dressed as Kylo Ren and Imperial fleet officers. Morton and friends are
by Wilma Kenny
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t their March 17 Council meeting, citing the need for greater flexibility to respond to the unknown effects of the looming Covid 19 crisis and the probability that public gatherings would soon be restricted or forbidden, South Frontenac Council passed a bylaw delegating authority to the Chief Administrative Officer, Director of Corporate Services and Treasurer. The bylaw gave financial authority to the three officers to spend more than $50,000. the normal limit, without prior approval from council, and to execute contracts that would normally got o council first. It also granted the Mayor and he clerk the authority with respect to the cancelling and calling to order of Council meetings and Committee of the Whole as they deem necessary.” It was intended that these changes would make it easier to respond quickly and appropriately to community and individual needs during an unusual time of local and national emergency. The changes were to remain in effect “until such time as council is reconvened.” However, this wording in the original by-law could be interpreted to mean that the delegated authority was revoked upon council convening its very next meeting, which was not the intent. Therefore at the May 05 meeting, the following amendment was proposed: “That this by-law shall … remain in effect until such time as the State of Emergency by both South Frontenac and the Province of Ontario is lifted or Council votes to revoke the by-law.” Deputy Mayor Sutherland objected strongly to this change. In a lengthy speech, he accused the Township of becoming “a leader in undemocratic process-
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members of the 501st Legion, Capital City Garrison, a volunteer organization that assists charities in fundraising, typically by attending conventions and large events in screen accurate Star Wars costumes. Their preferred charity is MakeA-Wish, Eastern Ontario —
“Undemocratic”, charges South Frontenac Deputy Mayor
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es” and “a weak link”, saying South Frontenac is going to give the mayor and clerk extraordinary powers to cancel and change meeting schedules. It is the only Council in the area to take this power away from its Council. This power, and other emergency powers passed by South Frontenac, is not time limited.” Repeating several times that ‘there is no need for this”, Sutherland said that South Frontenac had also seriously departed from their regular meeting schedule. In April, the regular meetings slated for the 7th and 21st were cancelled, having been combined into one meeting on April 14. None of the other Councillors seemed to feel their power had been compromised: in a recorded vote, they all supported the amendment to the March 17 bylaw (with the possible exception of Councillor Morey: due to distancing in the room his response was not clearly audible to the reporter). Support of Resuming Residential Construction Currently, Provincial regulations prohibit residential construction where a building permit had not been issued prior to April 4, 2020. Council considered a motion that urges the province to make a change. The motion says that “residential construction represents a significant number of jobs in rural Ontario and forms an integral part of the rural Ontario economy through considerable direct, indirect and induced impacts. “Also, residential construction in rural areas is characterized by single-family dwelling types situated on large lots, attended by a very limited number of tradespersons and contractors at any given time, and are being constructed for specific clientele with
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