Hospital & Municipal Governance Responsibilities

The following letter was written by Mayors Politis, Forget and Milinkovich to clarify municipal and hospital governance responsibilities.

MUNICIPALITIES SUPPORT MIC’S GROUP AND IT’S IMPORTANT ROLE

Matheson, Iroquois Falls and Cochrane, Ontario, February 28, 2013 – Amongst the challenges presented by Ontario’s cash constrained health care system and recent public scrutiny of internal administrative decisions, municipalities dependant on the MIC’s (Matheson, Iroquois Falls and Cochrane) Group of Hospitals express their support. 

The MIC’s group of hospitals is a consortium of hospital services for these three Northern Communities whose integrated amalgamation of services and administration is years ahead of its time.  Formed in 1999, the MIC’s Group of hospitals spearheaded the exact innovative direction the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care and the North East Local Hospital Integration Network (NELHIN) are now seeking for the rest of the region and province, some fifteen years later.  The integrated services of the MICs group has served Matheson, Iroquois Falls, and Cochrane at a high standard, providing services realized through the synergies and efficiencies of integration that other communities of similar size and location struggle to realize on their own. 

While recently there has been a public campaign launched by a group challenging some internal administrative decisions being made by the Administration and Boards, the municipalities served by MICs wish to clarify that it’s not their role to become involved in the business affairs of these hospital Boards. Business decisions for MICs are the responsibility of the respective Boards of this group under NELHIN directives governed by legislation from the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care. The hospitals fall under the NELHIN’s directives while the family clinics respond directly to the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care.

Municipalities are governed under the guidance of legislation enacted through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. The MICs Boards and the Municipal Governments have clearly defined and distinctly different responsibilities and have no mandate or authority to become involved in each other’s jurisdictions. But the municipalities do wish to show their support for the MICs Board’s focus on providing excellent health care for us all.

The MICs Group of Hospitals is an important part of the social development and health of our communities and is managing many threats to our ability to maintain a high standard of health care services locally. We wish them well.

Black River-Matheson Mayor Mike Milinkovich

Iroquois Falls Mayor Gilles Forget

Cochrane Mayor Peter Politis

BRM Housing Petition

A petition was initiated recently regarding seniors and supported housing needs in our township. Kudos to Helene Ste Croix who initiated this petition. In response to this, the Cochrane District Social Services Administration Board will be hosting a public meeting on Thursday, March 6, 2014 in the upper room at the Vern Miller Community Centre beginning at 2:00 PM. The CDSSAB Director of Housing, Brian Marks, will present the CDSSAB 10-year housing plan that was recently prepared. Posters will soon be placed in strategic locations in our township as well as advertising this event in local newspapers. Thank you Helene for initiating this.

We’re Number One!

We’re number one as far as having the most municipal infrastructure to support relative to our our population compared to the other 444 municipalities in the Province of Ontario! With a population of approximately 2,400 and with little industry we maintain 400 KM of roads, 29 bridges and four water and sewer plants. Our Council is still working on finalizing our 2014 budget; we have some tough decisons to make. Stay tuned!

Many of you know that for many years I have been aggressively pursuing the promotion and development of agriculture in our township of Black River-Matheson and within the District of Cochrane. We have made some significant progress. I believe it is important that we also plan to promote food processing and packaging industries in Northern Ontario. Another step that I envision would be to create an enterprise that would focus on ensuring the agriculture products that we grow, store,  ship, package and finally sell to consumers are the safest and of the highest possible quality. Toward this purpose please note the following announcement that will be released on Thursday, January 23^rd in a number of Northern Ontario Newspapers. I also plan to continue serving as the Mayor of Black River-Matheson.

 

The Board of Directors of Flex Alert Corporation Limited (www.flex-alert.com) and Dr. Jacek Chrostowski President and CEO is pleased to announce the appointment of Mike Milinkovich as Chairman and Vice-President Business Development. As Mayor of the Township of Black River-Matheson, Mr. Milinkovich has been actively promoting the development of agriculture and agri-businesses in Cochrane District as Vice-Chair of the Northeast Community Network (NeCN) and as the founding Chair of the NeCN Agriculture Steering committee. With over 30 years experience in ICT Research & Development this appointment provides an opportunity for Mr. Milinkovich to promote bio-technology solutions to improve the safety and quality of various agriculture products. Flex Alert is a research and development company based in Ottawa, Canada with operations in The Hague, the Netherlands and East Africa. Its mission is to develop low cost biosensors for detecting pathogens in cereal and oil seed grains, for smart food packaging, perishable fruits, and wine production.

Running Again, for Mayor that is!

October 27, 2014 is actually not that far away! On that date Ontario will see 445 new municipal councils created by individuals who care about their neighbours, friends and relatives and WILL take the time to VOTE! Black River-Matheson is one of those municipalities. I urge everyone eligible to vote in our township to please vote on October 27, 2014. It has been an honour to be the Mayor of this wonderful municipality for the past two terms. I hope I can count on your support on October 27th to allow me to continue to serve you as Mayor for another term. Thank you all.

Matheson Nov 26th Pre-Budget Meeting Location

Hi everyone. Please note that the Township’s Pre-Budget meeting planned for Matheson will be held on Tuesday, November 26th beginning at 6:30 PM in the Floyd Hembruff Civic Centre. The advertisement that appeared in The Enterprise incorrectly stated the meeting would be held at the Vern Miller Community Centre. So far we have had  two successful meetings in Holtyre and Val Gagne with excellent feedback from participants about their needs. I hope to see a full house in Matheson on the 26th! With your help and input 2014 will be a banner year for our township.

BRM 2014 Township Budget Meetings Schedule

BRM Council are setting firm dates and inviting the public to budget meetings. Initially in 2013, four public meetings will be held, one at each town site, as per the dates below. Dates for Council’s 2014 budget planning meetings will be published at a later date. Following are the 2013 dates:

a)    HOLTYRE: Alice Laurin Hall Wednesday, November 13, 6:30 PM

b)    VAL GAGNE: VG Community Hall, Tuesday, November 19, 6:30 PM

c)    RAMORE: Knights of Columbus Hall Monday, November 25, 6:30 PM

d)    MATHESON: Floyd Hembruff Civic Centre, Tuesday, November 26, 6:30 PM

The 2013 Quinoa trial is on in BRM!

Black River-Matheson Cemetery

One of my heroes is a man that I respected and loved very much. That man is Ernest, John Dambrowitz, my father-in-law, who is now deceased. The disrespect demonstrated by this picture is intolerable and unacceptable. I vow that the changes necessary to ensure this will never happen again are put into effect.

Soaring investments!

On April 19, 2010 during a review with our Clerk/Treasurer and the VP for RBC Dominion Securities I learned that our township’s investment bank account stood at $3,380,000.

As at March 30, 2013, within three years, the value of our investment/reserves soared to $6,800,000! Kudos to our Clerk/Treasurer and Council for this remarkable achievement!

They’re coming back!

Our Building inspector reported recently there were 14 building permits issued with three for new homes. This time last year there were 13 building permits but none for new homes.
Four young families, some who are returning former residents, have now moved to Matheson.
It’s great to see that our booming Black River-Matheson economy is encouraging young families and others to either return or move to our township.