The Citizen, 2019-02-14, Page 9THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2019. PAGE 9.
Hospice asks for $1 million loan from county
The Huron Residential Hospice is
seeking a $1 million loan from
Huron County in the hopes it will
help the organization land a
$680,000 grant from the Ministry of
Health and Long-Term Care.
Jay McFarlan, co-chair of the
Huron Hospice Volunteer Service,
spoke to Huron County Council at
its Feb. 6 meeting to ask for the no-
interest loan to help fund the
expansion of the Clinton-area
hospice. The expansion, he said, will
help the hospice expand from four
beds to five, while adding much-
needed space for a children’s play
room, a spiritual room, a nurses’
station and a meeting room.
McFarlan told councillors that
since February, 2017, volunteers
have raised $1 million, which has led
to the opening of the site in March,
2018 and welcoming its first patient
in May. Thus far, he said, the hospice
has cared for just under 40 residents
and it is projected that the hospice
will care for as many as 60 patients
in its first year.
The $1 million loan from the
county, McFarlan said, would help
the hospice to match the $680,000 in
funds approved by the provincial
government and could be paid back
at a rate of $100,000 per year over
10 years. The hope of hospice
volunteers, he said, would be that the
loan could be provided to the
organization at no interest.
He said the move is not
unprecedented, as the City of
Stratford has injected $1.5 million
into its hospice, as has Simcoe
County, while Chatham-Kent has
granted $1 million to its hospice. In
Oxford County, the council has
loaned its hospice $350,000.
He also said that it’s projected that
the hospice will inject $420,000 per
year into the local economy through
nurses’ salaries and that the hospice
has increased tourism in the
immediate area.
Council directed staff to prepare a
report on the request to be presented
to council at a future meeting.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Big winner
Dianne Huether was the New Year’s Day winner of the Belgrave and District Kinsmen Club’s
2019 Cash Calendar fundraiser, netting a $1,000 win. Presenting Huether with her winnings is
Kinsmen President Trevor Hopf. Alex Nethery, not shown, was the New Year’s Eve winner of
$500. (Photo submitted)
Status quo suggested for daycare
After some research into the
potential for new funding models,
Huron East Chief Administrative
Officer Brad Knight recommends
that the Vanastra Early Childhood
Learning Centre retain its current
status in the community.
If council is committed to
retaining a day care service in
Vanastra, he said at its Feb. 5
meeting, he felt the best option
would be the status quo, maintaining
the centre as a municipally-run
entity.
The discussion stretches back to
March, 2018, when Deputy-Mayor
Bob Fisher (then a councillor)
suggested an investigation into
potential partnership options for the
centre that would help save the
municipality some money. Fisher
suggested either privatizing the day
care, getting the municipality out of
the business completely, or a co-
operative model.
At the time, the Seaforth Co-
operative Day Care had expressed an
interest in partnering with the
municipality, though, over time, that
would not materialize.
Later that year, in late June,
Treasurer Paula Michiels, Tammy
Martene from the day care and
Knight met with Heather Forbes of
the YMCA, who suggested that the
YMCA would put together a
proposal for Huron East with the
understanding that the municipality
would contribute to a feasibility
study.
In September, some initial
assessments returned that made it
look difficult for the municipality to
be in business with the YMCA.
There would be significant costs to
the municipality in regards to long-
term staff members at the centre, but
the bigger issue was the renovations
that would have to occur at the
centre to get it up to regulation.
The centre’s existing licence has
been grandfathered in, but a new
licence would require compliance
with existing regulations in terms of
space and daylight, meaning those
upgrades would cost the
municipality between $300,000 and
$400,000 to get up to code in order
to obtain a new licence.
The study also suggested a further
$300,000 to $500,000 to upgrade the
fitness room at the centre and update
its equipment.
With those early assessments in
mind, Knight said it felt it would be
unwise to proceed with a feasibility
study, given the figures presented in
the preliminary assessment.
Council accepted Knight’s
assessment and didn’t discuss the
issue further.
By Shawn Loughlin
The Citizen
Family Day Fun!
Monday Feb. 18
10 am to 3 pm
FALLS RESERVE
Conservation Area
80900 Falls Reserve Line
Benmiller
$15 per vehicle/family (cash
only)
Sleigh rides, snowshoes
available, ski and snowshoe
trails, campfire
Visit mvca.on.ca or call 519-
524-6429 for details
Council staff to review
Natural Heritage plan
Continued from page 1
discussion once again.
Walker-Bolton said that the
Natural Heritage Plan would be
referenced in the update, but that it
would be “very high-level” and only
reference the fact that the plan
would need to be prepared.
Director of Planning and
Development Sandra Weber also
addressed the issue, saying that
when the Natural Heritage Plan was
last in front of council, mapping was
being updated last spring and it was
then open to public input for the rest
of 2018, with the opportunity to
comment closing in December.
Right now, Weber said, the
department is reviewing those
comments and expects to present a
report to council in either March or
April. She said the department needs
direction from Huron County
Council on how to proceed with the
plan in the months ahead.
Central Huron Deputy-Mayor
Dave Jewitt was concerned about
reaching out to ratepayers in regards
to the review, saying that the county
had been criticized for its
communications plan before in
regards to the Natural Heritage Plan.
Jewitt suggested that while it
might be cost-prohibitive, perhaps
the county should try and reach
every resident with a mail-out to let
them know about the issue coming
back to council. He said that a
partnership with the lower-tier
governments would make sense,
maybe sending something out with
their next tax bills.
Warden Jim Ginn said that
mailing something out to every
resident is very expensive, but
communicating with them on this
issue would be important.
The Planning and Development
Department will be reporting back
to council in March or April and a
communication plan will also be
part of that report.
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