Editorial_08-36

Jeff Green | Sep 11, 2008

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Last month Central Frontenac Council rebuffed their public works manager, John Simcock. He asked if money that had been raised through a staff initiative to pick up and sell scrap metal that had been lying around works yards and in ditches around the township for years could be used to buy a 4x4 for use by the fire department.

The scrap metal reclamation has been a joint project of the public works and fire departments and represents the kind of cross department cooperation that you would think the township Council would want to encourage. Simcock was told by Council that it should be the fire chief who asked for equipment for his own department.

So, this month, Fire Chief Mark MacDonald came to Council and asked if this extra money could be used to buy a used 4x4, which is being held by a dealer who would like to sell it to a volunteer fire department, where it will be used for the public good.

Council couldn’t agree. Some thought it shouldn’t be purchased because it isn’t in the budget.

That’s the point; it doesn’t have to be in the budget because the money was raised by the staff; it will not cost the taxpayers any money.

Some wondered if the vehicle is needed. The Fire Chief and the Public Works Manager both said the vehicle would be an asset. Since when does Council know more than their senior managers about the operations of public works and the fire service?

This is not a difficult thing. The staff raised the money. They want to spend it making the township safer. Council should wake up, and approve the purchase at their next meeting, before they insult the public works and fire departments any further.