Sudbury city council seeks public input, delays vote on fire station report

Sudbury city councillors want public consultation before they make any decisions about the future of the city's fire stations.

On Tuesday night, city council discussed a long-awaited reportwhich looks at the ideal number and location of fire and paramedic stations in the city. The report, prepared by outside consultant Operational Research in Health Limited (ORH), suggests consolidating a number of the volunteer-staffed firestations.

Council was set to vote a motion which would have directed city staff to work on a financing plan to be considered in the 2024-2029 capital budget plan. But instead, city council opted to put off any decisions, with a majority agreeing that public consultation is needed first.

Several councillors raised concerns over the fact the consultants and city staff did not seek input from firefightersas part of the research for the report.

"That concerns me when we're not even consulting our front line workers, and just management who weremaybe on the front line years ago but certainly not in our communities, especially our outlying communities," said Natalie Labbe, councillor for Ward 7, who put forward the motion to defer the discussion.

City will lose volunteer firefighters, councillors argue

The report states that the proposed changes to fire halls would not affect overall staffingand would mean an overall improvement to response times while also addressing issues with aging infrastructure.

Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier, a vocal supporter of volunteer firefighters, said it was "presumptuous" to assume that all existing volunteer firefighters would want to stay on if that means reporting to a different fire station.

Labbe echoed that sentiment, saying the city is "definitely going to lose some of those volunteers."

A representative from consultantORH attended the meeting virtually from the UK, where the group is based, to explain the key recommendations of the report, and answer questions from councillors.

Along with the potential loss of volunteer firefighters as a result of the proposed changes, councillors raised several other concerns, includingthat the closing of certain fire stations could affect property insurance rates for people in certain areas, who will now be farther from a fire hall.

'Time to start doing'

Twocouncillors, however, did not support the motion to defer.

"It's time to stop talking, it's time to start doing. Every year we wait, every month we wait, it's just going to cost more money in order to replace [or]fix these halls," saidDeb McIntosh, city councillor for Ward 9.

Ward 6 Coun. RenLapierre, a former city paramedic, also voted against putting off the decision.

"I've lived in these stations, I worked front line in these stations. They are old. They do no longer meet the standard that's required," he told council.

"Some of our ambulances have trouble backing in because it's so freaking tight. The mirrors have to be bent in because we can't fit in right. Some of our fire trucks don't fit in the stations."

With the majority of council in favour of Labbe's motion to defer, councillors directed staff to come up with a plan for public input, and to bring that plan to council in late January.