CBRM to ask province for help with review
Cape Breton Regional Municipality council has approved having the region’s EMO emergency planning officer oversee the implementation of the fire and emergency services organizational review.
The municipality’s fire and emergency services committee had directed Mayor Cecil Clarke to approach Municipal Affairs Minister Zach Churchill about the CBRM’s review to see what assistance it could provide as part of the process and report back. At a committee meeting in advance of this week’s council meeting, Clarke said the minister had assigned EMO emergency planning officer George Muise, who is an employee of the province, to work with it on the plan, subject to the approval of the CBRM committee and council.
“I think what’s happened in the past, a lot of these reports … just gather dust,” said Deputy Mayor George MacDonald, who chairs the fire and emergency services committee, to council. “I think this council was trying to get this moving forward.”
Dist. 6 Coun. Ray Paruch questioned whether costs would be passed along to CBRM taxpayers as a result of the province directing Muise to work with the municipality. Clarke noted the tasks that Muise will take on associated with the review will fall under his employment and current responsibilities with the province.
Clarke noted the department is in the midst of a similar review for the entire province.
Muise will report through the chief administrative officer to council through the fire and emergency services committee and working with fire and emergency services and associated departments.
Paruch asked why council wasn’t given figures for the cost of the fire services consultant. Clarke said that while the CBRM has accepted the report, it hasn’t approved it or begun implementing it.
“That will be part of the engagement, to work with all of the officials to come up with a timeline and a process for various items for implementation,” he said. “Whether that is over a 12, 24, 36-month period, that is not something the province has put a timeline on, it’s going to be based upon the level of consultation.”
Ultimately, any decisions on implementation will be up to council, Clarke added.
The organizational review of the fire service was conducted by consultant Manitou Inc. and its findings were recently presented to council.
The review said the CBRM needs to look at providing additional support to the volunteer complement to enable them to avoid having to be so reliant on their own fundraising, as well as to help support a lot of the administrative work and providing better transparency to the public to prove they’re delivering value for money.
The study is the beginning of a process that could unfold over several years.
The service is currently a mix of professional, volunteer and composite departments.
The review indicated that the service as it exists is not tenable and changes will need to be made to make it more sustainable. The almost 300-page report came after two site visits to Cape Breton by the consultant, which included meetings with local fire chiefs and municipal officials.
The Cape Breton Regional Municipality Fire Service covers 2,470 square kilometres in the CBRM, including 34 fire departments and one hazardous materials response team.