Sudbury city council makes decisions on some fire halls

It was a spirited debate around the table that got heated at times Tuesday night as Greater Sudbury City Council began to tackle what to do about its fire hall 'problem.'

Heated debate at Tom Davies Square as Greater Sudbury city council makes decisions on fire hall consolidation recommendations. June 27/23 (Ian Campbell/CTV Northern Ontario)

City councillors were given a presentation and report that was more than 900 pages, detailing the results of community engagement sessions.

The debate has been going on for years and surfaced when the results of a fire optimization plan were published on the city website recommending the closure of several stations.

On Tuesday night, council had nine resolutions to decide on and was only able to get through the first five, which included some of the most contentious decisions.

One of the decisions was a recommendation to close Beaver Lake and consolidate its resources with the fire hall in Whitefish.

Upon release of the recommendation, residents immediately formed a committee and began lobbying the city and council to save the hall in their community.

In the end, council voted to accept an amendment from their Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini, which included a friendly amendment by Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc.

For more than 30 minutes, Vagnini -- who represents Beaver Lake -- questioned the architect who formed the basis of the city staff report.

Visibly frustrated, Vagnini said he wanted to know how they could come up with their figures without ever having stepped foot in all of the city's stations.

"We're going to make a decision on a 913-page report, which we received last week, and then another report which we received on Friday night and we're going to change the city," he asked.

"I'm just trying to show my colleagues that we don't have all the knowledge. We may have information from 913 pages, but we don't have the knowledge. You have to ask questions … you have to ask questions to understand everything and there's a lot more coming to light."

In the end, it was granted a one-year reprieve, allowing the fire hall and the committee time to see if they can rally the required amount of volunteers.

The amendment from Leduc cited the amount would have to be the average number of volunteers found at other stations.

"Council worked very well with each other tonight," said Leduc.

"These are really big issues in the city. People don't want to lose their stations and we've given them the opportunity to prove it."

Leduc is also facing a potential closure in his community, involving the fire hall in Minnow Lake.

Beaver Lake volunteers left all smiles, knowing they've been granted a 12-month stay, calling it a "start."

"We got about 12 months," said Brenda Salo.

"We're pretty happy with that. We're very happy with it. We're happy with Mr. Vagnini for supporting us and for Mr. Leduc for supporting us as well and we're going to trust council to do the right thing."

Ralph Prentice is another resident who attended the meeting.

"It means everything to our area, right from our families' protection, to keep it wide open for people to come out and buy in Beaver Lake and start a new family," said Prentice.

"We're worried about insurance problems right now but we do have twelve months."

• Download the CTV News app now and get local alerts on your device
• Get local breaking news and updates sent to your email inbox

Council had been told by staff, who were pushing to see the hall close, that they had entered into preliminary talks with Nairn Centre's volunteer fire department for a resource sharing agreement, but Chief Joseph Nicholls later told council it was still in the preliminary stages.

The motion would pass with only two councillors voting against, Deb McIntosh and Rene Lapierre.

Insurance has been a common issue that had many in the outlying area concerned.

CTV News attended the town hall in Skead where residents said some of their home insurance bills would double if they were to lost their fire hall.

On Tuesday night, city council voted in favour to put forward the money required to fix the building and allow it to continue operating as long as it maintains the average number of volunteers required to operate it.

Skead's councillor, Natalie Labbee, was the one who initially asked staff to do the community engagement survey and come back to council with the results.

She said she didn't like staff's initial resolution that Skead would have to maintain a level of 15 volunteers when other fire halls don't have those numbers. She successfully amended it calling the initial request unfair to her community.

"I just want people to understand that Skead is a one-road town. There's one way in and one way out and not to mention there's a close proximity to the airport and Lake Wahnapitae along with an influx of tourists who are using it for recreational boating. A group of seniors were able to rally the troops and had 19 people step up to as volunteers for the fire department," Labbee said.

Those numbers, for a variety of reasons, are now closer to 14, but they'll begin training in July.

"It's because these communities were the most report that we had to make important decisions for, so we wanted to make sure through this whole process over the last six months that they felt heard and that their comments were valued and that we're taking them seriously," she told CTV News.

"We want to make sure that we are responsible for them, we're giving them the appropriate level of service and giving them the opportunity, some time now to see where we can go with volunteer recruitment so they can feel safe in their communities and their insurance can be stabilized as well."

Other major decisions made Tuesday include council voting to close the Garson and Falconbridge stations in favour of a new build that will be constructed in Garson.

They've also decided to consolidate the stations in Valley East while closing Val Caron and Hanmer and renovating Val Therese.

"It's a great day, actually, when you look at the history of how the city has provided fire services across our city, it's a challenge," said Mayor Paul Lefebvre.

"But, today, I think council rose up and said 'you know we want to continue supporting the stations that we have' and we're going to be building a new one for the first time in 40 years. That's quite an accomplishment."

Lefebvre said the first role is to protect the safety and security of its residents.

The remaining resolutions will return to council in July for councillors to make a decision on.