Extension granted in dispatch discussions

The Town of Yarmouth has agreed to a 45-day extension sought by fire departments who have asked for more time to crunch mutual aid numbers.

The Town of Yarmouth has sent a letter to fire chiefs of the volunteer fire departments that use its dispatch service, outlining options aimed at maintaining the local dispatch service.

Starting Oct. 1, the town has proposed to issue bills to each department based on a five-year average of calls for service. An- other option the town proposes is to charge one extra cent on all taxable assessment for an area rate for all areas served by the departments, which would raise most of the money needed to cover the service.

The town had asked the departments to let them know by Sept. 24 if they intended to stay with the local dispatch based on the proposals put forth by the town.

Members of numerous fire departments met in late August to discuss the town’s proposals. They strongly felt that mutual aid should be taken into account if a new funding formula for dispatch services is going to be considered. The argument made was that while the town may currently pay the lion’s share of the cost of fire dispatch, it also benefits from the mutual aid service provided by fire departments in the county.

The town said it would be willing to consider this and asked that a letter be submitted to it by Sept. 13. The letter came in the form of a request for more time.

A request for an extension was forwarded by Municipality of Argyle CAO Alain Muise to the town’s CAO Jeff Gushue. It was included on council’s Sept. 13 agenda for consideration.

The request read: “On behalf of the fire departments using the Yarmouth dispatch services, we request a 45-day extension to properly assess the impact of mutual aid services to the assessment of dispatch services. Please confirm this will be acceptable to your council.”

Deputy Mayor Phil Mooney made a motion, which was seconded by Councillor Clifford Hood, to grant the extension. The motion was approved unanimously. The 45-day extension would begin from the Sept. 24 date.

The town’s proposal that would see departments pay for six months of dispatch services was based on a five-year average of their usage of the service. For many fire departments the six-month bill they would have to pay is quite costly compared to what they pay now for the dispatch service.

In April the town issued layoff notices to its four dispatchers, saying it was going to look out outsourcing the dispatch service because the funding formula that exists now sees town taxpayers paying for the bulk of the service.

The town has received two proposals from outside dispatch services, but says it is willing to continue talks with the fire departments in Shelburne, Yarmouth and Digby counties before making a decision on the direction of its dispatch services.