Town council approved a conditional offer to finance the purchase of the local clinic by the not-for-profit Fort Frances Community Clinic Inc. on Monday night, with the bylaw finalizing the agreement to be voted on next month.
Mayor Roy Avis said yesterday that the agreement would mean the town would provide Fort Frances Community Clinic Inc. with $1-million loan, to be paid back over 15 years at zero percent interest.
If the agreement goes through, it would make the currently private clinic into a community-owned one, run by the not-for-profit organization.
The $1 million would cover the shares of the Fort Frances Clinic holdings and assorted start-up costs.
The bylaw will see first reading at the July 9 council meeting, with a second and third (and final) reading at the July 23 council meeting, at which time it becomes law forthwith if passed.
“We urge the citizens, if there’s any questions or if they have any concerns, that between the first reading on July 9 and July 23, to come forward and ask us,” said Mayor Avis.
“We’ll try to provide any information we can.”
He also noted if the public has any ideas as to why or why not the town should enter into the financing agreement, they should bring them to council’s attention.
Also at Monday evening’s regular meeting, council:
•referred a request from Dan McCormick, health services manager for the Rainy River District Social Services Administration Board, to make the Memorial Sports Centre the location of a public access defibrillator to the Community Services executive committee for recommendation;
•agreed to donate $3,000 to the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship’s 2007 operating budget (this amount is based on what the town contributed in 2006);
•denied a request from the FFCBC for manpower resources to set up and take down the event tent at the Sorting Gap Marina site (council will, in the near future, review the existing town policies for such requests and ensure that all requests from community groups are expressed in a consistent fashion);
•referred a financial request from the FFCBC to help pay for security to the Administration and Finance executive committee for its recommendation, with input from the Community Services executive committee;
•authorized the appointment of Brian Avis as project manager for the new Fort Frances Public Library project and instructed staff to amend his current contract to include this project (Avis already is overseeing the ongoing Heritage Tourism Project, which included the recently-unveiled renovations at the museum);
•approved an application to the Ministry of Culture for the 2007 community museum operating grant;
•approved a report granting Mark Fontana permission to build a drainage ditch abutting 1228 Third St. E. (Fontana will be responsible for all installation costs);
•approved a two percent wage rate increase to Private Home Day Care providers, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2007, with another three percent increase scheduled to occur in 2008 and then 2009;
•passed a bylaw to provide temporary relief from calendar parking on the 200 block of First Street East during road construction in 2007;
•referred a financial request from the Economic Development Advisory Committee regarding gas expenses for Willie Pruys and Bruce Caldwell to the Administration and Finance executive committee for its recommendation;
•referred a request to advertise in Child Find Newsmagazine to the Rainy River Valley Safety Coalition; and
•referred a request for a building permit from Heikki and Laverne Lampi to the Planning and Development executive committee for its recommendation.
Fort Frances Times
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