Meaford council has voted in favour of maintaining its current stake in the Inter-Township Fire Department (ITFD) and to have staff prepare an updated ownership agreement.
During a committee of the whole meeting on Sept. 13, discussions were held on whether the municipality would sell its 25 per cent ownership stake in the ITFD to the Township of Georgian Bluffs, as well as enter into a fire suppression agreement with Georgian Bluffs for services from the ITFD.
Through a recorded vote, it was decided unanimously to have staff bring back an updated ITFD agreement, which council will be reviewing at a later meeting on Sept. 27.
Meaford Director of Community Services Matt Smith notes, “everything stays the same, except for that board responsibility. It just covers us as a municipality a little bit better, gives more support to the fire chief than he currently has from a monthly board and helps the department move forward.”
This recommendation, according to a report to council by Smith, is a follow up to a previous meeting in November 2020 when a draft agreement reached between Meaford and Georgian Bluffs for Meaford to sell its stake in the ITFD was discussed.
A decision, however, was put on hold until November 2021, as Meaford staff were asked to put together a long-term plan for fire suppression in the western part of the municipality. This recommendation was brought back to council on Monday for a decision on the matter, to allow for any transitions to occur before the start of 2022.
If Meaford would have sold its ownership stake in the fire department, they would have received about $850,000.
It was identified in the report, if the ITFD and Georgian Bluffs were no longer willing provide services to Meaford, staff recommended building a new sub-station for the Meaford Fire Department in the western end of the municipality. The new station would be able to cover both the north and the south and would require several pieces of equipment and vehicles to respond quickly and effectively to calls.
Several members of council voiced their support of retaining part ownership of the ITFD and were hesitant on putting in a new station, including councillors Tony Bell and Steven Bartley, and Deputy Mayor Shirley Keaveney.
“I do believe we need to keep the ITFD. I do believe we need to take a look down the road what we are going to do for fire protection in the western part of the municipality, but as long as I am sitting in this chair, I would never put my hand up for another site unless it was manned like the ITFD is, and they could perform the safe operations as the ITFD,” says Bartley.
Discussions between the two municipalities about Georgian Bluffs potentially taking over sole ownership of the fire department began in 2019.
According to a Georgian Bluffs staff report, concerns were raised in 2017 about the ITFD agreement. A legal opinion sought by Georgian Bluffs to determine if the joint board of management was established and operated in compliance with the Municipal Act identified roles, duties and expectations of the board were not fully defined.
According to the Meaford staff report presented to committee of the whole on Monday, the new agreement with Georgian Bluffs will include an updated board structure, clearly define the board’s responsibilities under the Fire Protection and Prevention Act, as well as delegate certain authorities to the Fire Chief and Georgian Bluffs CAO for specific day-to-day operations.
