After years of negotiations, the Elliot Lake Family Health Team's offices located at 31 Nova Scotia Walk are secured for another 10 years.
At its meeting on Monday evening, Elliot Lake City Council passed a resolution and bylaw to ratify an agreement to lease that space for the team for the next decade.
It resolved to enter into a lease with the Elliot Lake and North Shore Corporation for Business Development (ELNOS) for the second floor of the building for use by the family health office.
"The city has traditionally worked with the family health office, which is a not-for-profit corporation," said Steve Antunes, economic development manager, City of Elliot Lake.
"The work of this not-for-profit corporation has been to attract and retain physicians for the community," he said.
The city and Family Health Team have been providing office space for practicing physicians in the community since 2007, Antunes added.
"Multiple staff members have worked on this for the last few years," said Antunes. "We've worked very well with Mr. Elliot and the team at ELNOS, who's been a great community partner in getting this done."
"What we've done over what feels like a lifetime but it's been a few years of getting this put to bed was to secure the 11,114 square feet of family healthcare office for a ten-year term," Antunes said.
He went on to say this will offer the community security in the knowledge that it will have a functioning healthcare facility in the community.
"This will help attract new physicians and make sure that our residents have an area where they can go that there's a group of practicing physicians."
Several council members said the agreement is vital to the community and complimented staff members on the way the agreement came together.
"We did have a long discussion about this in closed session," said Couns. Hellen Lefebvre. "I think this is a wonderful win to know that we will have a secured location for our family health team for the next ten years. In my mind, that is great news so great work for the staff to put this together."
From the chair's seat, Couns. Charles Flintoff also lauded the work of staff and ELNOS to agree on a ten-year lease because that security will help make doctor recruitment easier in Elliot Lake.
Although Mayor Andrew Wannan declared an indirect pecuniary interest on the item as his father and brother are employed by the Family Health Team, when he returned to chair the meeting once the vote to accept the lease was passed, he thanked council and staff for bringing it together.
"I do appreciate all the efforts that the council has put into this," he said. "The staff definitely pulled their weight and, of course, this is important to all of us."
Wannan went on to say that sometimes groups can't agree -- even for the benefit of everyone in the community.
"I'm proud of all parties, including ELNOS, for coming together and for coming to this agreement. Thank you all, again."
Staff also addressed a concern put forward by Mike Thomas, an Elliot Lake resident and advocate for accessibility, during the public input portion at the beginning of the meeting.
"The elevator in that building has been out of service for quite some time," Thomas said. "That has been a habitual problem since before your tenure. You're signing onto a lease that does not provide for that."
"This agreement puts our city on the hook," he said, referring to the elevator's repair and continued maintenance.
During his presentation, Antunes said staff has been in discussions with the landlord.
"There was an issue with securing some parts and as it stands right now, the parts should be arriving this week," he said. "There was some issue sourcing an item from the United States. It's expected to be here this week and repairs should be installed this week or, at the latest, early next."