Port Hawkesbury‘s mayor says the delay to leave the Mutual Aid Agreement gives firefighters and town officials time to work on alternatives.
The Strait Area Mutual Aid Agreement allows firefighters in both Richmond Co. and Port Hawkesbury to respond to emergency calls within the other municipality.
Town officials had provided fire protection services for the nearby Richmond Co. community of Point Tupper, which is largely industrial, through the Port Hawkesbury Volunteer Fire Department; the Port Hawkesbury Fire Department is two kilometres from Point Tupper, while the Louisdale Volunteer Fire Department is 27 kilometres away.
Richmond Co. councillors rejected a $75,000 fire services contract proposal for 2020-21 from their town counterparts in June; the previous agreement lapsed in July, and they asked members of the Louisdale Volunteer Fire Department to resume responsibility for Point Tupper.
Town officials reduced the amount to the same $50,000 cost as the 2019-20 contract in a second offer in July; municipal councillors again rejected it in August.
Members of the Port Hawkesbury Volunteer Fire Department gave notice to leave the Mutual Aid Agreement Sept. 25; they later voted to extend that until Dec. 25.
After October’s regular town council meeting Tuesday night, Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, the mayor of Port Hawkesbury, told The Hawk the delay gives them time to consider other options.
“Is there an opportunity to mend the Mutual Aid Agreement to remove the inequities that exist?” she said. “Will there be an opportunity to create separate MOUs with some of our surrounding fire departments?”
Chisholm-Beaton said there aren’t details on what that might be yet, but town officials are working with fire department members on the file.
She said she hasn’t ruled out coming to an agreement with their Richmond Co. counterparts.
“I hope in the future that we are able to find that common ground so that we can have a system in place for fire services.”
Chisholm-Beaton said both sides might be willing to come back to the table after municipal elections Oct. 17.
