Review-Mirror

The United Counties of Leeds Grenville will be seeking new long-term care beds as well as capital funding for a new facility, under a provincial pro- gram announced last month. A provincial initiative announced last month "Aging with Confidence : Ontario's Action Plan for Seniors" included the cre- ation of 5,000 new long- term care beds within the next four years and 30,000 beds over the next 10 years. The motion made at County Council last month would have the Counties seeking 130 long-term care beds and capital fund- ing for 192 class 'A' beds. The operation of Maple View Lodge, a counties- owned long-term care facility in Athens, costs the counties around $40,500 per bed for the 60 beds, costs not currently covered from government funding. New regulations and their associated costs have pushed costs up. Earlier this year the facility's management board identified there was a business case to build a new long-term care home and repurpose the existing facility. Reconfiguring the existing building to obtain rental income could help subsidize long-term care depending on the ongoing costs of operation and the initial conversion. An architectural firm was hired to find out potential costs of a new home and to explore what mixture of rental units could be accommodated within the existing build- ing. By Margaret Brand The Review-Mirror The Village of Westport has hired two new employees to operate the water and waste treatment plant as well as perform- ing other village infra- structure maintenance tasks. The current operator for the water and sewer, the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) will continue until Dec. 22 when the village begins their own reporting to the Ministry of the Environ- ment. OCWA was brought in last year on a temporary basis to operate the outgo- ing Snowfluent system. Peter Evans, the new supervisor of public works, began his employ- ment with the village on Monday. He will be joined by a second employee in January. Both are fully qualified to operate the village's waterworks and the waste treatment plant. Max Christie, who has been the village's engineer and manager of infrastruc- ture since May 2016, is retiring. "He will see us through to mid-January once the build is finished," said Mayor Robin Jones of his commitment to the new waste water treatment plant. His departure along with the elimination of contracting public work tasks to private companies is estimated to bring a sav- ings of $80,000 to the vil- lage. "At the end to the day the depth that we get with employees who are prop- erly trained is better for the village than contract- ing out the services," said Jones. "We also get a lot of other public works ser- vices which we currently contract out," she said. Jones said the munici- pality will be making some investments in equipment including the purchase of confined space equipment and a truck. Other equipment need- ed for projects will be obtained with vendor of record arrangements. The municipality will be releasing a Request for Proposals to obtain prices on those services which it will need. The Review-Mirror December 14, 2017 – 3 On Tuesday afternoon after the season's first major snowfall, Matthew Younge was cleaning up around the Westport Arena parking lot. United Counties to seek funding for new long-term care beds Westport/Rideau Lakes Ministerial 2017 Christmas Services Sun. Dec. 24th Morning Services St. Edward's Catholic 9:00 am St. Paul's Anglican, 9:30 am Knox Presbyterian, 10:30 am Westport Free Methodist 10:30 am Olivet Baptist 11:00 am St.Andrews-by-the-Rideau 11:00 am Sun. Dec. 24th Christmas Eve Services Newboro United 4:00 pm St. Edward's Catholic 5:30 pm Olivet Baptist 6:30 pm Knox Presbyterian 7:00 pm St. Paul's Anglican 7:00 pm Westport Free Methodist 7:00 pm Westport United 7:00 pm St. Mary's Anglican 9:00pm St. Stephen's Anglican 11:00 pm Sun. Dec. 25th Christmas Day Services St. Edward's Catholic 9:00 am St. Mary's Anglican 9:30 am Upper Rideau Branch 542 10099 Cty. Rd. 10, Westport 613-273-3615 1952 2017 UPPER RIDEAU #542 TURKEY BONANZA $1050 • JACKPOT $1550 • All 55#s or less PROGRESSIVE TOONIE POT Mon., Dec. 18 7 pm Westport hopes taking public works in-house will save $80,000 a year H Baby! Baby! Proud Parents, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncle s & Godparents! Don't miss this opportunity to show off the newest member of your family born in 2017. Fill in the form below and mail, email, or drop it off along with a quality photo of the new arrival. Deadline for photo and information is Jan. 15, 2018. This special full colour page will be published Jan. 18, 2018 Cost: $20 plus HST or 2 col $30 plus HST Baby's full name ....................................................................................................................... Date of birth .............................................................................................................................. Name to appear and relationship to baby ................................................................................ City/Town/Village ...................................................................................................................... Deadline is Jan. 15, 2018 Mirror The Review 273-8000 • 1-800-387-0796 43 Bedford St., Box 130, Westport, ON K0G 1X0 advertising@review-mirror.com •Continued from page 1 manager Chris Morrison in a report to council on the initiative. The United Counties was 2-for-9 in securing evictions at the Tribunal in 2016. The new alternative strategy will be to work with the tenants while focusing on community building and engagement to raise the confidence of tenants in bringing for- ward their issues. Tenants will learn who to call in the community when there is an issue, and see what they can do. Westport Mayor Robin Jones has been concerned about the Westport build- ing and at one point had thought a seniors designa- tion for the building would be of assistance in solving the problem, a strategy social services staff didn't agree with. Jones thinks part of the problem may be the lack of contact with case man- agers, an issue which could be solved in West- port, one of the farthest facilities from head office in Brockville. For 967 social housing units the county has six case managers. The strategy will need to be passed at county council next week. Fund- ing for the project could come from the Communi- ty Homelessness Preven- tion Initiative, funding from the province. Seniors-only designation on the back burner for now Review-Mirror holiday schedule Next week's edition will be the final one for 2017. Due to the Christ- mas break, we will also be publishing a day earlier, on Dec. 20. Deadline is Monday at 12 noon. Our first edition in the new year will be Thurs., Jan. 11.

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