Another plan

Decision on fire hall plan put off until June

Fading from view: concept rendering of proposed fire station contained in the nine-hall plan

They had come to administer the final blow, to finish what they had started a week earlier when, as a committee of council—in a tie vote—they decided to kill the recommendation for a nine-station fire plan including a new firehall near the traffic circle west of Picton. It mattered little that the recommendation had been arrived at as a result of two years of meetings and investigation by a committee of firefighters, a councillor, as well as the County’s finance chief.

On Tuesday, a number of councillors came to finish the job.

The executioners sat impatiently as Susan Turnbull, commissioner of corporate services and finance, explained how the nine-station fire plan would save the County nearly $119,000 over 20 years, while the 10-station plan that would cost it $728,000 more over 20 years.

If they listened at all, they weren’t buying it.

“It’s hard to believe,” said Athol councillor Jamie Forrester, staring at the numbers on the screen at the back of the council chamber at Shire Hall. “It is hard to understand.”

Councillor Keith MacDonald was more direct.

“I think you are pulling numbers from the sky,” said the representative from Hallowell.

Seeking to do MacDonald one better, Forrester added, “I can take any plan and justify it.”

Turnbull took the accusations of financial manipulation in stride—offering to sit down with either of the councillors to explain the assumptions and data that had been used to support her projections.

By then, they had already lost interest and simply wanted to get to the vote.

But before that happened, Councillor Barry Turpin leapt into the fray—proposing to defer the decision—ostensibly to enable County staff to investigate an alternate location for the new station in Picton.

“We need to take another look,” said Turpin. “We need to look at other options.”

Sophiasburgh councillor Terry Shortt served, on behalf of his colleagues, on the committee that recommended the nine-hall plan. He wasn’t thrilled to see the issue further delayed, but he knew, too, that the votes were against him, that two years of study and analysis was about to be erased.

“The longer we put this off, the greater the cost will be,” warned Shortt, resurrecting the ghost of the Picton sewage plant decision-making process.

He praised the experience, wisdom and work of his fellow committee members. He suggested that renovating existing fire stations, rather than investing in new facilities, was a false saving and a ‘Band- Aid solution’.

But Shortt had no choice but to support Turpin’s attempt to defer the issue—or else see two years of work evaporate then and there.

“I support the deferral,” said Shortt. “Because I know the nine-hall plan will stand up against other proposals or recommendations.”

Councillor Brian Marisett spoke most clearly to the dissenting view, arguing that the recommended plan overly centralizes the County’s firefighting capability. He urged his colleagues to reject the deferral motion.

“I want a 10-hall plan,” said Marisett. “I think we need to vote [the nine-hall] plan down. When it fails, we can look at the 10-hall plan.”

But Councillor Bev Campbell could comprehend neither a rejection of the recommendation or a deferral. “We had a very knowledgeable group of people looking at this for two years,” said Campbell. “They looked at different locations, configurations and options. They determined that the nine-hall plan is the best option.

“Either we accept the status quo with a price tag of $2.6 million just to bring them up to current standards; or we spend $5.6 million to implement the nine-hall plan that will last longer and provide better facilities. Or we defer, and go back to the drawing board.

“I do not believe council is qualified to make this evaluation,” said Campbell. “That is why we had a committee of experts do that.”

A well-reasoned argument, however, wasn’t going to still the waters on this night. With most of the 20 or so residents gathered in the pews before them opposed to the proposed plan— councillors were eager to get on with the execution.

But they were thwarted once more. Turpin won his deferral

Now staff will consider other locations—other than on prime agricultural land near the traffic circle. It will also consider a smaller eight-bay station, perhaps conceding that closing the Mallory Road firehall near Bloomfield may prove too hot for an election year.

Turnbull committed to bringing the issue back by the end of June.