North Frontenac shows off its essential services

Craig Bakay | Jul 26, 2017

“This is where your tax money goes to,” said North Frontenac Mayor Ron Higgins at the 2017 Essential Services Fair last Saturday at the Ompah Rest Stop.

The idea was to get representatives of the various essential services in one place — police, fire, conservation authorities, public health, community services, etc — to show the public what they do.

“This has been an awareness raiser for me,” Higgins, who used to be a volunteer firefighter. “You know we’ve been trained in disaster management but we’ve never really practised with an exercise.

“I think we should schedule one.” 

Coun. Gerry Martin, chair of the personnel and audit committee, organized the event.

“I almost panicked this morning because some guys were a little slow on our crooked roads up here and there were almost a few no-shows,” Martin joked. “(But) there has been a steady flow of people through here and it’s mostly for education purposes but I think people will see where their tax dollars go.”

“This is a unique opportunity to display our capabilities,” said Director of Emergency Services/Fire Chief Eric Korhonen. “All three stations are participating and we even have a contingent from South Frontenac.”

There was also a bit of PR and recruitment on Korhonen’s mind.

“We are taking applications today,” he said. “We can always use more community support and I’d love for more individuals to apply to become members of the fire department.”

Coun. John Inglis was also in attendance but couldn’t stay long. He was engaged in the Ompah Community Centre Association elections taking place across the street.

“I pay $1 a year and I get to vote,” Inglis said. “It’s very exciting this year because we have four people running for three positions.

“That hasn’t happened for the past two years.”

For the record, Rick Morey, Betty Kelford and Elaine Moffitt won seats on the executive and will be joining Rob Harris and Stacey Couture.