The attempt to merge the fire departments in Innisfil and Bradford West Gwillimbury is officially dead.
Innisfil council voted to dissolve the joint interim fire governance advisory committee (JIFGAC) at its May 10 meeting, following the lead of Bradford West Gwillimbury council, which was able to pass its motion to dissolve a week earlier during their regular meeting May 2.
The two municipalities simply “hit a wall” in the negotiations, Deputy Mayor Kenneth Fowler told his colleagues, and the process was unable to proceed.
“Our savings went from $3.9 million over seven years to $2.4 million to assist Bradford,” Fowler said. “Even then, we couldn’t settle on a hard number.”
The Ernst & Young report that kicked the consolidation talks into high gear was “heavily weighted’ in Innisfil’s favour, Fowler said, with the municipality set to save about $3.9 million over the course of the first seven years of a merged service.
Bradford West Gwillimbury wouldn’t be able to justify placing that kind of an extra burden on its ratepayers, and so the JIFGAC struck out to find a middle ground where both municipalities could be content and reap savings in the future.
Since last summer, the group has looked at several factors through their negotiations, including call volumes, population figures and property assessments to try and find a figure both sides could comfortable with.
That compromise couldn’t be found. Bradford West Gwillimbury pushed for Innisfil to take on an additional $200,000 in costs in order to make the merger work, but Innisfil felt it could not put that additional burden onto its residents.
During Bradford West Gwillimbury council, Coun. Jonathan Scott, who chaired the JIFGAC, was respectful of the process and of Innisfil’s decision, but blunt in his assessment of what transpired.
“We worked diligently this winter to find a financial model that was fair, while still being respectful that Innisfil had a right to realize savings,” Scott said at the May 2 meeting. “It really did just come down to finances and a difference of just $200,000 is incredibly small in context.”
Still, Fowler didn’t see the issue as being entirely about dollars and cents. If the issue broke down over money, the process that led up to that moment focused more on human life and how the municipalities might be able to help each other.
“In the spirit of co-operation, over nine meetings, we went back and forth, with the understanding we’re doing this is that you can’t put a price on human life,” Fowler said. “We came to the table as adults, we left as adults; there’s no bad blood. But, at the same time, we kind of hit a point where we ultimately had to put Innisfil residents above others.”
That includes ensuring they receive the best possible fire services. Mayor Lynn Dollin lauded her town’s firefighters in an interview last week and praised the work the municipality has done in updating its fire halls, as currently the oldest hall in operation was the town’s newest when Dollin was first elected to council in 1994.
“Any time you make a decision like this, you have to do it eyes wide open and be 100 per cent confident because there’s no turning back,” Dollin said. “It’s not for a lack of trying. We worked on it since the fall and met several times. It’s like an onion: there are many, many layers.”
During the meeting, Chief Brent Thomas reiterated his disappointment in the decision not to merge, but stressed benefits remain from the Ernst & Young report and the process undertaken by the staff in each town to try and make the merger happen.
“Obviously, naturally, I’m a little disappointed, because even the council members on both sides did agree that there are benefits to both communities by having a larger fire service to service the growth,” Thomas said in an interview following the Bradford West Gwillimbury meeting May 2.
“There’s a lot of work that was done that can be beneficial to both fire departments to run independently," he added. "So, it poised us for meeting the needs of the community and the growth that’s anticipated in the community as we move forward.”
Thomas will remain chief of both fire services for the foreseeable future.
