Guelph and Wellington County continued to move closer to cordial relations last week when Warden Chris White announced that emergency services General Manager Shawn Armstrong will start attending county social services meetings.
In the past two months, the chilly air between the county and the city over ambulance services and social services has undergone a change – to warmer.
White announced at the start of the April 28 council meeting, “Shawn Armstrong is coming to social services starting in May.”
White added that he hopes that can lead to improved ambulance service in Erin.
Guelph controls land ambulance under provincial mandate, and the county controls social services. The land ambulance committee had been placed under social services for the past few years.
But last year, Guelph city council removed itself from its joint committee on social services. It had hoped to pass along a large percentage of social services costs to Wellington County, but lost an arbitration appeal case to do that.
At the beginning of 2010, Guelph voted to withdraw from the joint social services committee. That left that committee with little information, because county officials do not attend, by order of county council, city social services committee meetings.
It also left the county with no opportunity to have a say in ambulance service, and Erin politicians have been complaining for nearly five years that Erin ambulance service has too slow a response time to be effective in the community.
White told county council of the latest developments, “I think we’ve made a little bit of progress.”
Councillor Lou Maieron, also the Mayor of Erin, told council when he presented the social services report that he is pleased Armstrong will attend social services committee meetings.
“I think that’s very good News,” he said.
White then noted that on Tuesday, the city had invited county representatives to a Guelph-Wellington land ambulance information forum “to explore the future path of EMS within Guelph-Wellington.
“You will be participating in a forum dedicated to reshaping, modernizing, and improving the delivery of public land ambulance service throughout Guelph and Wellington,” said the invitation from Sandy Smith, the chief of Emergency Services in Guelph.
“This forum is to explore the accumulated contributions both from, and for, the growing communities at large, observing the principles of seamlessness, accountability, and responsiveness, and to hear opinions and share ideas with other people through evolving constraints and challenges.”
Councillors will also have a chance to tour the new Emergency Services Centre on Clair Road after the meeting.
