Hopes of saving dispatch jobs in Yarmouth extinguished

There will be no reprieve for a small group of local dispatch operators with the Yarmouth fire department in southwestern Nova Scotia.

The union representing thetown's firefighters and dispatchers rejected a finaloffer from the town Monday that would have saved the four jobs.

Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood said the town did everything it could to avoid laying off the workerseven after it became clear the dispatch service could not continue to operate as it hadin the past.

"These people are important to us," she said."But the union said no and we have to move on. We did what we could."

As part of the town's offer, the dispatchers would keep their jobs and continue workingdispatch justfor Yarmouth. Once there was an opening in the professional firefighting ranks, the dispatchers would have dibs on thosejobs, which are higher paying.Retirement would be mandatory at age 65.

Offer rejected

Lynn Seeley, president of the Yarmouth Firefighters Association, said the overall offer wasn't satisfactory to his members, including the wage offer for dispatchers. Seeley did say he thought the two junior dispatchers might have been willing to become firefighters.

During contract talks with the union last spring, the town gave noticeof itsplan to lay off the four employees and contract out the dispatchservice, citing prohibitive costs.

At issue for the town was that it was paying 70 per cent of the $260,000 annual cost, while 24 volunteer departments from Clare to Shelburne who subscribed to the service were paying $100 a month. The Municipality of the District of Yarmouth covered the remaining balance.

Yarmouth triedto convince neighbouring municipalities to pay more in a last-ditch effort to save the service. But the municipalities balked, choosing instead to contract the service out themselves.

'You can only pay so much'

Mood said the fact other municipalities opted to contract their own dispatch service as opposed to acceptinga higher bill from the town suggests that no matter how good the service was, they also viewed it as being too expensive.

"As a municipal unit it's a needed service, but you can only pay so much for a service," she said. "Even when you look at this fairly and equitably, the price is still too high for them to have said yes."

For Seeley and his members, the biggest concern about a different dispatch service is the unknown. Firefighters in the area don't know any other type of serviceand Seeley said there is a trust factor that goes along with it.

"For me to have somebody outside my area is going to be quite a change and, quite frankly, it's probably going to be frustrating."

Safety won't be compromised

Mood said the town might be looking to find a more affordable service, but it's not looking to do so at the expense of anyone's safety.

"Everybody making these decisions has families. We're not going to do something that makes it unsafe for our own families, much less anybody else's."

The mayor noted the provincial fire services association has been talking about having a centralized dispatch service for the entire province, similar to what was done with the RCMP.