City councillors have agreed to spend up to $40,000 on an economic impact study of Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital (OSMH) in advance of a possible relocation of the hospital.
At the July 18 council meeting, Coun. Ted Emond floated the idea of the study to determine the economic impact of OSMH with a focus on the downtown.
Since then, staff researched the logistics of completing an economic impact study and met with OSMH officials about the prospect.
In the staff report presented to councillors at Monday’s council committee meeting, Dan Landry, the city’s manager of business retention and expansion and industrial development, said it’s estimated the cost of the study, to be completed by consultants, would be between $30-40,000 and take eight to 12 weeks to complete.
Landry said the hospital will share information, where possible, with the consultants. The hospital has also agreed, should it be required, to support the consultants to survey relevant hospital stakeholders.
“The consultants may also work with the Orillia District Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Orillia Management Board to survey businesses in the Orillia area and in the downtown,” noted the report.
A review and analysis of other community experiences and case studies related to the siting of strategic major investments, such as hospitals, libraries, recreation centres etc., will be included as part of the exercise, said the report.
Coun. Ralph Cipolla said it’s a “really important” exercise.
“To be honest with you, I don’t really need a consultant to tell me the importance, the impact on us in the downtown,” said Cipolla. “Having been in business for over 48 years in the same location downtown, the hospital has had a major, major impact on the downtown area.”
Despite that, he was in favour of the study - “it’s a really important $40,000 to be spent" - to show the province how vital the facility is to the community.
Emond, a former OSMH board member who represents the city on the OSMH Future Hospital Steering Committee and is also part of an effort to bring an Ontario Health Team to Orillia, agreed and provided an update on the process the hospital is navigating.
He said that process started two years ago when the OSMH board decided a new hospital was required and voted in favour of constructing it on a new site while repurposing the Community Tower.
“The planning for a capital program (for a) hospital goes through a series of multiple stages,” said Emond, noting OSMH is in the first stage.
That first stage, he explained, involves outlining the need, developing a vision for a future hospital and making a case to the capital branch of the provincial ministry of health.
“The first stage has been completed and submitted to the ministry,” said Emond, who noted the ministry, upon review, can ask questions about the plans.
“The hospital is currently waiting for those questions,” said Emond, noting after that, hopefully, the ministry allows things to proceed to a second phase.
That phase requires confirmation of the current site or the choice of a new site, before moving into detailed planning.
“Typically, at that point, the ministry provides a financial contribution of several hundreds of thousands of dollars to move through that stage, which takes a couple of years,” said Emond.
Following that, construction can proceed.
He said, optimistically, the entire process takes 10 years.
“We are in the early part … but the decision at Stage One, when it’s made, these data will be critical to the hospital’s decision as to which location they want to proceed with,” Emond said of the economic impact study.
Emond noted the hospital is in the midst of a community survey to seek input about the future hospital and its location.
“This economic impact study will complement that because at this point in time, decisions around future hospitals are based primarily on clinical requirements, things like access, ease of access to ancilliary services (such as EMS),” said Emond.
“This will give (information) on what impact it will have on the community. That is important in terms of the ministry’s review,” said Emond.
He also said it’s important for the city and the hospital to be aligned on the matter. He referenced situations in Collingwood, NIagara Region and Windsor where that is not the case.
He said they are “all in situations where the hospital/municipality is not on the same page as to future location. Not only (does that translate into) stress in the community, but difficulty in dealing with the ministry,” said Emond. “We’d like to get ahead of that curve and be a partnership across the entire community.”
He said such a partnership would “give us a significant advantage.”
Orillia Mayor Steve Clarke agreed.
“It will allow us to better define what many of us may think - that a hospital with about 1,200 employees not to mention daily and weekly visitors can have a significant impact in an area,” said the mayor.
He said he believes the study will “help us define” that impact.
Perhaps more importantly, he said he is “hoping this resulting report will allow us to better understand what our role is in this big project.”
He said “not many projects are bigger or more meaningful” and estimates a new hospital will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.
While the province is expected to pay for about 90% of the project, the broader community will have to come up with 10% of the project cost in addition to about 10% more for equipment for the hospital. He said the city would be a “significant partner” in raising that money.
The money for the study will be taken from the operating contingency fund - something Coun. Mason Ainsworth disagreed with.
He said he supported the idea of the study but said council shouldn’t further deplete its “reserves.”
However, treasurer Jim Lang said the “contingency is an operating budget” not a reserve. He noted “unspent funds are treated as part of overall deficit/surplus and ultimately transferred to reserves.”
Decisions made at the council committee meeting are subject to ratification at Monday’s city council meeting.
