Highlands East council met Jan. 9 to look at what it will ask taxpayers to fund in 2024.

The departmental overview and capital forecasting session was led by CAO and treasurer, Brittany McCaw.

She told council, “the projects and initiatives that are being put forth were derived from needs that were identified through various corporate plans and documents, including our asset management plan, roads needs study, building condition assessments, organizational reviews, along with departmental needs and priorities and council-driven priorities.”

Speaking to administration, she said the biggest project is the design and engineering of a new municipal office. She said staff plan to earmark $250,000 for the preliminary building work.

Coun. Cec Ryall was in favour of putting the $250,000 into the budget, saying, “we’ve got to have this thing built in 2025.” He further encouraged council to discuss the design and engineering project with colleges and universities.

Other planned administration works are insurance in the event of a cyber-attack; asset management and corporate strategic planning; records management; energy conservation and demand management; and looking into electric vehicle charging stations.

The building department asked for $30,000 for work on its Gooderham facility; and money for vehicle replacement.

Under bylaw, McCaw is seeking a transfer to reserves for a future vehicle. She said two staff are now sharing a vehicle.

taff are now sharing a vehicle. With short-term rental monitoring and compliance, she is estimating they’ll need $25,000 to put towards the program if adopted by council. McCaw said the money is for a third-party software program.

“This is a self-monitoring solution… it would allow the property owner to be able to go in, update their licence, upload documents to self-attest that they comply with the rules in the bylaw. It’s also a monitoring program, so we have the 24/7 hotline people can call.” She noted revenue from licensing should cover all council costs.

Fire chief Chris Baughman is asking for $40,000 for a fire master plan; hydrant maintenance of $10,000; future replacement of jaws of life and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA); annual bunker gear expenses; and a bunker gear extractor to clean gear in-house versus sending out. There is money for repairs and upgrades to halls pending the fire master plan. There is a capital request for future vehicle replacement.

Under parks, recreation and planning, property supervisor Jim Alden is seeking more than $280,000 to complete Herlihey Park. He added they need roof replacements at the Lloyd Watson centre ($40,000); $10,000 for arena works; $16,000 for a columbarium at Gooderham Cemetery; $9,000 for monument replacement at Pioneer Cemetery; $31,000 for dog parks in Cardiff and Gooderham; $90,000 for work on the Essonville Church and $50,000 for a trails master plan.

The planning department capital needs forecast a transfer to reserves ($10,000) for a future comprehensive zoning bylaw update; and an official plan update.

There is $1,373,809 in net capital roadwork (minus reserves and government grants), including for works garages, and new vehicles and equipment. The big-ticket items are the McColl’s Road bridge replacement, at nearly $1.2 million, and $355,000 for Irondale Road.

Public works manager, Perry Kelly, said he wants work on the landfill attendants’ buildings; as well as some gating and fencing and security cameras. As for water and wastewater, the gross capital cost of projects is estimated at $117,000 for a series of smaller jobs.

McCaw said the requested money – about a $239,759 or 10 per cent increase from last year – would go into a preliminary budget to be presented to council in February.

After receiving more than $100,000 from the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) over the past two years to improve facilities at Abbey Retreat Centre (ARC), executive director Barb Smith-Morrison said the non-profit is excited to offer improved supports to visitors in 2024.

Speaking at a Dec. 15 funding announcement, Smith-Morrison said ARC received $103,200 in two grants from OTF in 2022 and 2023.

The $65,500 received in 2022 enabled Smith-Morrison to sign off on several “needed” capital upgrades, such as purchasing new kitchen appliances, constructing a new screened porch, and renovating the downstairs meeting room. The organization received another $37,000 in 2023 for the installation of a new geothermal heating system and in-floor heating.

“These capital renovations have already made a wonderfully positive impact on our cancer support programming,” SmithMorrison said. “It’s been gratifying to watch the new screened porch and renovated cabin allow our participants to experience the added benefits of being close to nature without needing to walk far, especially if mobility is challenging.”

Since opening its doors in 2017, ARC has assisted hundreds of cancer patients and their caregivers through their cancer journeys, offering free in-person programming to support people on their path to healing, recovery, and acceptance.

The main offering is in-person retreats, which are provided for free. Smith-Morrison said ARC ran seven retreats last year, serving over 200 people between those and a host of online programs. The organization fundraised approximately $360,000 last year for its operations, which is used to offset the cost of the retreats. Smith-Morrison noted it costs around $2,500 for one person to attend a four-day retreat.

“We offer a sanctuary experience based on a whole-person approach to healing and wellness. The purpose… is to transport people living with cancer out of their day-today lives to rest, create, connect with others living similar experiences, and explore life enhancing practices and tools for their mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being,” Smith-Morrison said.

Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott attended the funding announcement, saying Abbey Retreat Centre is one of the true gems of Haliburton County.

“You can feel the mood and the calming force that stems from all the great work that’s been done here for many years now. This money is to ensure you can continue to have a vibrant and up-to-date place for cancer survivors and their families to have that lovely tranquil experience, to revitalize their lives and continue on,” Scott said.

“Abbey Retreat Centre is a source of magic in Haliburton.”

Highlands resident Klara Oyler, representing OTF, said she was delighted to see the grant money being used on a cause that “offers hope to hundreds of people.”

For more information, visit abbeyretreatcentre.ca.

The public will get a look Jan. 29 at the work the County has been doing on floodplain mapping of the Gull and Burnt rivers.

County director of planning, Steve Stone, said on Jan. 10 the “long-awaited” public gathering for the project is scheduled for 3-8 p.m. at the Minden Recreation Centre.

He said the County’s partners, the Ganaraska Conservation Authority, will be on hand for the meeting.

“Cory Harris and his team will be presenting to the public in a very tactile environment over the course of the evening, where people can come in and actually look at the mapping, and request to see how it affects their property,” Stone said.

“All are welcome and it should be an exciting time to see the finished product.”

Stone has said in the past the main purpose of the project “is to prevent loss of lives, property and land caused by flooding.”

Following 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019 floods, the County partnered with the Ganaraska and Kawartha Region conservation authorities on the work that began in 2017.

It started with phase one, when the County got money under the National Disaster Mitigation Program (NDMP) for LiDAR, an acronym for light detection and ranging, which is laser imaging used to get elevation data. It was done in 2018-19, with data delivered in 2020.

It was also in 2020 that the province launched its flooding strategy in Minden. It called for understanding flood risks, strengthening governance of flood risks, enhancing flood preparedness, response and recovery, and investing in flood risk reduction.

Phase two of the local project involved bathymetric data, which the partners also got NDMP money for. It’s the measurement of the depth of water in rivers or lakes. Bathymetric maps look like topographic maps, with lines to show the shape and elevation of land features. Work on that was done in 2021-2022.

Phases three and four involved technical work, developing hydrologic and hydraulic models, and the flood mapping itself.

The study area is more than 2,800-squarekilometres of drainage; 400-plus kilometres of channels; 23 lakes, 42 dams and key areas within the Parks Canada-TSW system.

Stone noted in the province’s flooding strategy, flooding is the most significant natural hazard in Ontario in terms of death, damage and civil disruption and the costliest natural disaster in Canada in terms of property damage.

He said this project will address the number one priority of understanding flood risks and how they can be mitigated and risk-managed.

“The deliverables of this project will include updated, and where applicable, the creation of new floodplain mapping for the reservoir lakes and the connecting rivers that are frequently impacted by flooding,” he said.

“Updated floodplain mapping will be used to reduce the impact of flooding by directing new development to safer locations and regulating legacy development within the floodplain and flood fringe areas.

“Enhanced knowledge of the location of the flood susceptible areas will allow the County and local municipalities to plan the most efficient emergency response efforts, reducing the impact of flooding on the population and making our communities more resilient”.

More than 100 Highlands students are facing a school suspension after the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge (HKPR) district health unit last week issued a final warning for parents to update their child’s immunization records.

The Immunization of School Pupils Act requires all students in Ontario to be vaccinated, or have a valid exemption, against tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, meningococcal disease, and varicella.

HKPR is mandated by the Ontario government to maintain and review vaccine records for every student attending school in Kawartha Lakes, Northumberland and Haliburton County, said health unit spokesperson Ashley Beaulac. Anyone with an incomplete record is at risk of being suspended from school for up to 20 days, or until health records are updated, she noted.

The unit mailed out 1,374 suspension notices to parents of students in Grade 3 and Grades 9 to 12, who do not meet the current requirements – including 103 in the County.

“Most students who receive notices do have their immunizations and just need to update their records with the health unit, as we do not receive updates from health care providers,” said Marianne Rock, manager of communicable disease prevention and control with HKPR. “We are here to support families by helping parents complete their child’s immunization record, whether that be updating the incomplete file or booking an appointment at a clinic to receive a missing vaccination.”

Records can be checked online via the Immunization Connect Ontario portal (hkpr. icon.ehealthontario.ca), or by contacting HKPR at 866-888-4577 ext. 1507, or immunization@hkpr.on.ca.

An immunization clinic has been scheduled in Haliburton Jan. 26, running from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the HKPR office on Highland Street. There are clinics in Lindsay Jan. 22, 24 and 29. Appointments can be booked online via the HKPR website, or by calling 1-866-888-4577 ext. 1507.

Dr. Natalie Bocking, HKPR medical officer of health, said the unit is still playing catchup after the immunization program was paused during the COVID-19 pandemic. It resumed in fall 2022, after a two-plus year hiatus, with over 2,700 immunization records being updated since then.

She said the health unit would work with parents to ensure children are appropriately vaccinated and don’t miss out on class time.

“As part of our continued work to prevent the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases, our teams have been working diligently with local school boards to support parents through the process… I am proud of the progress we’ve made,” Bocking said.

Any student who is still missing a vaccination by Feb. 5 could face a suspension, she said.

Despite a last-minute groundswell of opposition to a shortterm rental bylaw, County councillors have pledged to continue on the path of ensuring rules and regulations are in place for the spring.

Jacqueline Baptist, a STR operator in Algonquin Highlands, made a delegation to County council Jan. 10 and warden Liz Danielsen said councillors had received a number of recent emails calling on them to revisit plans.

Baptist said she believed council would agree with her that STRs contribute to the local economy and employment. She added, “STRs have become an essential part of the accommodator landscape in Haliburton County, [with an] estimated 77 per cent of accommodation units.”

She said while they should be regulated and safe, problem renters should be fined under existing bylaws, and, “a successful bylaw will be the one that is complied with.”

Baptist said her research indicates the average Haliburton County host is “not an investor or fat cat,” earning $9,000 in annual rental income, renting less than 50 nights a year, and paying income tax via GST.

She further estimated that hosting contributes $50-millionplus to the economy annually, with an estimate based on 1,350 STRs, with four guests over 50 nights. She added renters spend money on groceries, restaurants and attractions and there are jobs for cleaners, maintenance and groundskeeping.

She said hosts were asking the County to pause approval and implantation until a Tiny township case is heard to avoid potential legal action. They then want a phased-in approach; in year one registering all STRs, monitoring problem properties and enforcing existing noise, fire, fireworks and septic bylaws. In year two, they want consideration of “cumbersome, expensive, discriminatory” aspects of the bylaw, “namely shoreline road allowance purchase, a municipal accommodation tax on STRs only, providing older and seasonal buildings meet all building code, fire code, electricity act, planning and municipal bylaws and WETT and septic inspections within three years.”

Claims no consultation ‘laughable’

Danielsen said after receiving correspondence on the file the past month or so, she wanted to ensure all councillors were on the same page in proceeding with a bylaw. Council also received a legal opinion in closed session.

Coun. Bob Carter said, “we have over 20,000 people in Haliburton County and we’ve got about 100 pieces of correspondence, most of which seems to have been centrally orchestrated because they use the same turn of phrase. You see the same paragraphs in many of them.”

He added, “we’ve been working at this for six years or more. It’s laughable when people think there hasn’t been enough public consultation. People are saying ‘we never had a chance to talk to you about it,’ well, yeah, you did. I think we need to be going at this to get this in place by this spring.”

Coun. Cec Ryall agreed, noting council has pledged to review the bylaw in a reasonable timeframe and make any changes deemed necessary. “As long as we’re going to do that, we have that safety hitch in place for anything not working the way we thought it would. We’re doing this the right way, with a fair amount of due diligence, as much as we can, to put some safety in there. This is very dynamic and important to the people we represent.”

Coun. Murray Fearrey wasn’t convinced by Baptist’s math. He said he knows some renters making $25,000-a-month and others $10,000-a-week. He also said the argument that it is going to be too onerous – meeting fire, safety and septic rules – doesn’t fly for him. He also said the townships do not have the staff to be going to STR call-outs in the middle of the night to enforce existing bylaws.

“I think our approach was right. It was well orchestrated and organized.”

He conceded Baptist made some good points but, “we’re way past going back and starting over, it’s time we moved on.”

Staffing challenges continue for both the Haliburton emergency department and Minden’s urgent care clinic, with the clinic forced to close its doors Jan. 15, for the first time since going full-time.

The Kawartha North Family Health Team, which operates the clinic at the former Minder ER site, posted to its Facebook page Jan. 12 that this past Monday’s shuttering was “due to staffing issues” and apologized for the inconvenience.

The move coincides with comments by County councillor and Minden Hills mayor Bob Carter, claiming people are being turned away at the clinic because current staff cannot handle patient volumes.

Carter told a Jan. 10 County council meeting he’s heard stories of people showing up at the clinic at 11 a.m. and not being seen as “they’ve got enough people already in the waiting room for the rest of the day.”

He further claimed the Haliburton ER is being overrun with patients with insufficient staff.

Carter was addressing an upcoming Haliburton County delegation to the Ministry of Health that has been approved for the Rural Ontario Municipal Association (ROMA) conference Jan. 21-23 in Toronto.

Speaking to Carter’s claims, Marina Hodson, executive director of KNFHT told The Highlander on Jan. 11, “I don’t know that that’s (11 a.m.) ever happened. In fact, I would say it’s never happened. That seems unlikely that we maxed out in an hour (the clinic opens at 10 a.m.).”

However, she conceded, “there are days, absolutely, we have had to turn people away. It’s not the norm by any means. Most days we do seem to be able to accommodate everybody.”

Hodson said they recently added some second nurse practitioner staffing during the week, “which I think will help. I think overall, we seem to be managing quite well. In December, we had well over 300 patients that we were able to see.”

County to speak to Ministry of Health

Hodson said since opening full-time Oct. 3, the clinic is averaging around 25 people a day. Hodson added the figure does not include people they have to send to Haliburton emergency, but there are “very few” of those.

The executive director said they’re technically supposed to have two full-time nurse practitioners and they only have one, as well as part-timers.

“That’s always the challenge, is getting nurse practitioners, it’s the same as getting physicians… we’re getting there but we’re not quite there yet, but pretty close. So, we definitely need one and I just reposted it again. But it’s not easy.”

Hodson said they had not had to close or reduce hours as a result, until Dec. 15.

It’s going to become an issue. When you only have one NP… first of all, we can’t see as many patients in a day. But the second thing is what happens when that NP wants to take vacation because they don’t want to work 52 weeks a year, and we don’t want them to either because then they burn out and we have no care. So, when she needs time off, how are we going to accommodate that? Because our part-timers work weekends. Most of them have other jobs.”

She said they may be able to plug in a day here or there but cannot commit to a full week, for example.

Haliburton ER numbers

Lauren Ernst, communications for Haliburton Highlands Health Services, said on Jan. 15 they’d experienced “periodic staffing pressures due to illnesses.”

She added the emergency department and inpatient unit nursing staff had become more stable, and their reliance on agency staff has reduced from 151 12-hour shifts in June to 59 12-hour shifts in December.

“Unfortunately, HHHS is not alone in this – many rural hospitals in Ontario are feeling similar pressures,” she said.

Ernst said that during peak seasons, such as the summer, HHHS upstaffs nursing and physician coverage. “Now that we are in regular season, we are at our regular staffing complement.” However, she added, “we continue to rely heavily on locum physicians to cover ED shifts as we continue to recruit for permanent ED physicians. We encourage everyone to welcome potential staff and physicians as they try out our community.”

As for patient volume, Ernst said the department saw 1,112 people in December; 1,085 in November, 1,330 in October, 1,395 in September, 1,831 in August, 1,966 in July and 1,495 in June.

Asked for context she said, emergency department (ED) volumes are based on all patients who were triaged, seen by a physician, and then discharged (sent home), transferred to another facility for further care, admitted into the inpatient unit, or passed away.

County council and Minden Matters

Carter said the County, province and country are in a health care “crisis.” He would like the provincial government to reconsider funding medical students in exchange for them practising in underserviced areas.

He said he had spoken with visiting locums and, “they’re not interested in coming here.” He added the province is opening the door to doctors from the U.S., Australia, UK and Ireland, but they want to practice in the city, not rural and regional Ontario.

Warden Liz Danielsen, who now sits on the Haliburton Highlands Health Services board, said HHHS had given her a one-page document for the ROMA delegation. She said she’s been asked to stress things such as transportation, housing, and the need locally for a community centre and swimming pool.

“I get it that the doctors would like to have a pool but that’s far beyond our capabilities, given the other priorities that we’ve got in place right now,” Danielsen said.

Coun. Murray Fearrey also raised the issue of agency nurses making $100-an-hour, working alongside staff nurses at $40-an-hour, saying the province has to address that inequity.

Minden Hills coun. Pam Sayne sits on the board of ROMA and said they would be releasing a fact-based paper on the rural health crisis at the conference.

Meanwhile, responding to the Canadian Medical Association again emphasizing it is in crisis due to staffing, Minden Matters issued a press release Jan. 11.

They are calling on the Ontario government to take immediate action to reopen the Minden emergency department and invest in rural healthcare facilities.

They say rural Ontarians are experiencing significant difficulties in accessing timely and high-quality healthcare services.

“The closure of rural hospitals, coupled with a shortage of healthcare professionals, has left these communities vulnerable and underserved. The strain on the remaining healthcare facilities, including emergency rooms, has reached critical levels.”

They are calling, in part, for increased funding to attract and retain nurses and doctors in rural areas.

“Scholarships, loan forgiveness initiatives, and financial incentives should be implemented to encourage healthcare professionals to practice in rural communities. By promoting rural healthcare as an attractive career path, we can ensure a sustainable workforce in these areas.”