Fire Chief Mann has been a busy man!
Cobourg's Fire Chief has been doing what administrators do best - churning out reports for his bosses to read. Now most reports die a speedy death, either due to the quick adoption or the embarrassed rejection of them. In the case of the two reports written by the Chief and their inclusion in the Monday night Council meeting these reports deserve a speedy resolution. But because they make so much sense it probably will not happen and one of them will probably fall due to petty politics at the County level.
Chief Mann has written one report that is addressed to the County and copied to the member Councils for information. In this report he outlines the cost of replacing the current, obsolete, fire communications systems with new equipment. He also referred to two previous reports prepared for the County by a consultant, familiar with the County system, to buttress his case for new equipment. But as the consultant's report reported to the County about the need to establish a county-wide despatch centre Chief Mann repeats the two service delivery options: have the County establish its own centre or contract with a third party for despatch services. However in a move that sets Cobourg against the rest of the County he flags the fact that "fire chiefs of Northumberland County would prefer a purpose-built centralized fire despatch centre."
In his second report he obviously states a case for Cobourg running the third party despatch centre, as his report ends with a recommendation that Coburg develop a proposal for the provision, by Cobourg, of fire despatch services.
So the bottom line is this: the County needs fire despatching services, Cobourg wants to provide those services and the Warden of the County is the Mayor of Cobourg - see any potential here folks? If Peter Delanty wants a 'legacy project' he should forget about putting his name on the new Community Centre but get this despatch centre run by the Cobourg Police comm-centre. Any realistic observer of County politics realises that this is an uphill battle.
But from the perspective of a sane and rational taxpayer this is an opportunity to consolidate ALL despatch services in a brand new standalone comm-centre. Cobourg and Port Hope face million dollar expenditures on police comms, the ambulance probably needs an upgrade by now and we know that the fire departments do. So why not build a multi-purpose Emergency Centre? Too much common sense in that question so it will not happen. So our prediction is that the taxpayers will take another bath as the rural rump wanting to stick it to Cobourg again will demand a brand new fire despatch centre run by the County. The local police departments will demand new communications and because there will be little coordination of the projects local taxpayers, in Cobourg and Port Hope, will pay through the nose. The BurdReport just hopes this pessimistic scenario never comes to pass.
But in order to achieve tax savings the spotlight will be on the Warden of the County to see if he is up to the job of producing the leadership and persuasion needed to bring all the County Mayors on board to have all despatch services run through a brand-new Cobourg comm-centre.
Chief Mann has written one report that is addressed to the County and copied to the member Councils for information. In this report he outlines the cost of replacing the current, obsolete, fire communications systems with new equipment. He also referred to two previous reports prepared for the County by a consultant, familiar with the County system, to buttress his case for new equipment. But as the consultant's report reported to the County about the need to establish a county-wide despatch centre Chief Mann repeats the two service delivery options: have the County establish its own centre or contract with a third party for despatch services. However in a move that sets Cobourg against the rest of the County he flags the fact that "fire chiefs of Northumberland County would prefer a purpose-built centralized fire despatch centre."
In his second report he obviously states a case for Cobourg running the third party despatch centre, as his report ends with a recommendation that Coburg develop a proposal for the provision, by Cobourg, of fire despatch services.
So the bottom line is this: the County needs fire despatching services, Cobourg wants to provide those services and the Warden of the County is the Mayor of Cobourg - see any potential here folks? If Peter Delanty wants a 'legacy project' he should forget about putting his name on the new Community Centre but get this despatch centre run by the Cobourg Police comm-centre. Any realistic observer of County politics realises that this is an uphill battle.
But from the perspective of a sane and rational taxpayer this is an opportunity to consolidate ALL despatch services in a brand new standalone comm-centre. Cobourg and Port Hope face million dollar expenditures on police comms, the ambulance probably needs an upgrade by now and we know that the fire departments do. So why not build a multi-purpose Emergency Centre? Too much common sense in that question so it will not happen. So our prediction is that the taxpayers will take another bath as the rural rump wanting to stick it to Cobourg again will demand a brand new fire despatch centre run by the County. The local police departments will demand new communications and because there will be little coordination of the projects local taxpayers, in Cobourg and Port Hope, will pay through the nose. The BurdReport just hopes this pessimistic scenario never comes to pass.
But in order to achieve tax savings the spotlight will be on the Warden of the County to see if he is up to the job of producing the leadership and persuasion needed to bring all the County Mayors on board to have all despatch services run through a brand-new Cobourg comm-centre.
5 comments:
The sane and rational taxpayer makes one BIG mistake. In the latest Cobourg - Port Hope discussion it was identified that police legally cannot use dispatch centres outside their control. That make sense for some obvious reasons.
I guess we are stuck with a million dollar a year stand alone County fire dispatch to direct the ambulance chasers. But then again it make not have to operate 24 hours daily while they are getting paid to sleep.
The way out is to have the West Northumberland Police Service control the County despatch, Police control theirs and subcontract the rest.
But to dream!
When the topic of shared police services was current, my idea was to build a new, combined headquarters midway beteen Cobourg and Port Hope.
No reason this building couldn't accommodate fire dispatch along with officers. It would make sense to include the ambulance dispatch here too.
All these services work together, as anybody who ever called 911 knows, so why not bring their communications under the same umbrella too?
But when I contemplate the realities of the politics it seems hopeless. Cobourg and Port Hope cannot agree on anything, and the rural municipalities of the County hate both the urban centres passionately, especially bully boy Cobourg.
We need politicians ready to live in the 21st century and willing to work together to find sensible solutions for the residents.
Know any?
The area between Cobourg and Port Hope is Hamilton Twp. which is a whole other issue and it has no municipal services. Not the best place to build.
OK I get the message dispatch not despatch
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