CORNWALL, Ontario – The City of Cornwall is warning residents at the Care Centre that without actions from the property’s owners, heat and hot water to the building could be cut on Monday, Aug. 17.
Those services were disconnected from the building on June 10 by Cornwall District Heating (CDH). Shortly after the service was cut at 5 p.m. that day, it was reinstated after the City of Cornwall stepped in under By-Law 132-1999 (“the Vital Services By-Law”). The City’s agreement with CDH under this by-law is scheduled to end on Aug. 17 however.
READ MORE: City steps in at Care Centre after dispute with utility
Fortis, the parent company of CDH stated that it could not comment on specific details on this case, but that they had been negotiating with the owners of the Care Centre for over a year.
According to John Robinson, a paralegal representing the owners of the Care Centre, the owners made a payment to CDH of $43,000 on Tuesday, June 9 in order to meet the demands of the utility, however, the service was cut anyway the following day.
Robinson told Seaway News in an email in June that the residents of the Care Centre are being used as pawns in a conflict between the Centre’s owners and others.
“These vulnerable people need to be protected. This is not the time to try and force an advantage for whatever agenda might lie behind the scenes,” Robinson wrote in an email to Seaway News.
The City stated that it has informed the dozens of residents, who are seniors and those living with disabilities of the pending disconnection and on resources that they could be offered by the City to support their needs.
“It is still possible for the landlord to reinstate heating and hot water services to the care home by contracting with Cornwall District Heating or another supplier,” reads a statement from the City of Cornwall made on Friday, July 17. “However, the City of Cornwall has been provided with no information about what steps, if any, the landlord has taken to resume vital services.”
