North Frontenac Council - Jun 10/16

Jonas Bonnetta | Jun 15, 2016

Heated discussion over fire chief's review

In a recorded decision during Friday's meeting, North Frontenac Council voted 4-3 in favor of the changes suggested by Fire Chief Eric Korhonen in his operational review of the township's volunteer fire department.

The vote was deferred twice before this meeting, as the report has been controversial amongst the councilors.

Fire Chief Korhonen's report recommended creating an assistant fire chief position, reducing station captain positions, and scheduling on-call volunteers for weekends.

Councillor Dennis Bedard was, again, quick to express his concerns with the report.

“There are some deep, deep, deep concerns over eliminating the deputy fire chiefs and losing that contact with the stations,” Bedard explained.

“There are some deep concerns about losing the captains,” Bedard continued. “I don't think we're ready to accept this. At least not all of this. I think we're ready to accept some of the pay changes. The volunteers deserve this.”

“I don't see any evidence with our position and population density that supports the position of an assistant chief,” Councillor Vernon Hermer said. “Other [larger] townships have one chief.”

“My understanding was, when we hired you, that we needed a chief,” Councillor John Inglis said. “There was a job description for it and I certainly didn't have it in mind that in six months down the road we'd have to hire a half-time person to do this extra job.”

“I don't see the connection between this [new] person and the stations,” Councillor Bedard added. “I don't see that improving.”

“I think the deputy fire chiefs live in those communities and they are the direct link from the station to the fire chief,” Councillor Bedard continued. “That's always worked well. I think where it has failed is that the deputies have not been trained on what to prepare for the chief and I think they can be a big asset to the chief if they're properly trained, and we already have them living in our community.”

“In Kaladar-Barrie, for over 10 years, we have had a deputy fire chief training officer as a part-time paid employee for 15 hours a week,” CAO Cheryl Robson pointed out.

Fire Chief Korhonen explained that this new position of assistant chief would incorporate that training officer position.

“If we jump the gun on this and we make a mistake...it can affect these volunteers quite nastily,” Councillor Bedard said. “Would it hurt us to eliminate the recommendations with respect to this assistant chief and the on-call and maybe a couple of councillors could sit down with Eric and the deputies to see if there is something long-term to work on? Why make that decision now? Lets make sure everybody is on board with it.

“There's a mix in any major decision we make,” Mayor Ron Higgins said.

“Agreed,” Councillor Bedard said. “But this is a major one. This affects our fire department.”

Councillors Bedard, Hermer, and Inglis voted against the motion and Councillors Good, Perry, Martin, and Mayor Higgins voted in favour.

“From my side he justified the rationale for having an assistant,” Mayor Higgins said.

The financial implications of Chief Korhonen's report is an increase of $18,612.26 to the 2017 budget.

911 sign fees waived for original property owners

During Friday's meeting, Council voted to waive the fee for installing a 911 civic number on properties in the township that were missed when the numbers were originally installed during amalgamation.

Councillor Gerry Martin brought the issue to the table, suggesting to Council that the fee was unfair for residents whose properties were missed originally when the addressing system was put in place.

In the past, the township has been charging $100 to residents who need the 911 sign installed on their property.

If a resident never received a sign when they were originally installed, and can prove they owned the property during that time, and still do, than they can request a sign from the township at no expense.