The mayor of Essex is once again pushing for hospital officials to meet with Essex County Council to discuss the new Fancsy Family Hospital.
During Wednesday's County Council meeting, Sherry Bondy questioned administration about the timeline of meeting with hospital representatives.
Bondy first asked for the meeting back in February 2025, and a meeting had been set for November 20, 2025, but was cancelled by the hospital due to details that were "unavailable or unclear". A new date was never set.
Administration explained during Wednesday's meeting that they were then waiting for the new CEO and President of Windsor Regional Hospital, Kristin Kennedy, to settle into her new role before a new meeting date was set.
Bondy says it's imperative that members of County Council have the information surrounding the stages of construction, when shovels will be in the ground, funding of the hospital, and what healthcare services will be impacted once the new hospital opens.
Bondy says she's a little disappointed by the lack of movement and doesn't want this to fall off the radar.
"The hospital should've had shovels in the ground already. That is one of the worries... not seeing it. There's a lot of people out in the community saying, 'it's going to be not in our lifetime', and I really want to put those rumours to rest because I do think that we will see action soon, there are some memos that go out, but nothing is a face-to-face meeting, and I hope we can make that happen."
She says she'd like for a meeting to happen before the municipal election in October.
"The next term of council will be busy in their first six months with orientation, and budget, and learning the ropes. We know how new councils set new priorities, and then the next thing you know here we are two more years later with residents still asking the same questions."
Meanwhile, during Thursday's Windsor Regional Hospital board meeting, CEO and President Kristin Kennedy says they are working with the county to try and set a new date.
Kennedy says it's difficult because there are a lot of moving pieces with the new hospital.
"I want to be able to provide a wholesome report to them, so we are working through that right now with the CAO of the county, and I'm hoping that we'll have some updates to that specific date by the end of the summer. I'm not saying it will happen in the summer, but that we'll have a date scheduled on the books with the county by the end of the summer."
The county originally approved to commit $100-million to the new hospital. The cost of the hospital was estimated to be $2-billion 10 years ago.
The estimated cost of the hospital project has not been released. During Thursday's board meeting, Kennedy stated they are closer to sharing that price tag, but it's difficult when the hospital is still working through requests for proposals for the hospital.
The Fancsy Family Hospital will be a state-of-the-art hospital located at Cabana Road East and the 9th Concession.