The spectre of the failed fire optimization plan reemerged at city council this week, as debate over a motion to have city police and fire explore the idea of sharing a headquarters turned nasty.
The motion was from Ward 11 Coun. Bill Leduc, who argued it would cost the city nothing to have staff from Greater Sudbury Police and the head of Emergency Services (which includes paramedics, as well as firefighters) talk about sharing a space.
Since police are badly in need of a new space, there may be savings to be had by putting everyone under one roof, he said.
“Let's see if it's worth our while,” Leduc said.
Currently, EMS services are housed at the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre in Azilda, where the vehicles are restocked before being deployed.
Leduc said a shared HQ downtown, in New Sudbury or the South End would save money on travel costs, and put the emergency vehicles closer to the city's main population centres.
“We would have all our services under one roof,” he said.
But the motion drew a sharp response from Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini and Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier.
Both councillors were at the centre of opposition to 2017's divisive fire optimization plan, which called for closing fire stations, reducing the number of volunteer firefighters and hiring dozens new full-time firefighters.
The plan was eventually rejected, but Vagnini and Montpellier were accused of harassing city staff over their critical comments about the plan.
On Tuesday at city council, Vagnini said Leduc's motion looked to him like another attempt to close facilities in areas outside of the old City of Sudbury. And when Leduc said it could lead to a station being closed – perhaps in Minnow Lake – Vagnini reacted.
“What is the purpose behind the motion?” he asked. “This brings back optimization, as soon as you say those words.”
But Leduc said building one headquarters could mean saving money by reducing “not jobs — buildings, that cost the taxpayer.”
“This really, really concerns me,” Vagnini said. “I don't know, at this point in time, if we want to go into this ... when we have so many other issues to deal with.”
Ward 6 Coun. Rene Lapierre said all the motion was doing was permitting Police Chief Paul Pedersen and EMS head Joe Nicholls to talk about whether the idea could work.
“It's not a change in service levels or staffing levels,” Lapierre said. “This is a possibility to make it one big building so training opportunities could be centralized.”
But Montpellier said the crux of the motion would lead to closing the Azilda centre. The city has spent considerable money renovating the facility, and plans such as the therapeutic pool would be sunk if EMS pulled out.
“We've gone down this road several times,” Montpellier said.
But Leduc said allowing the discussions isn't the same as voting to close anything. It would just give council more information to make a decision.
“So it's premature to say anything,” he said. “If the report comes back and says close something, then we will have to have a discussion.”
“This to me is just going to bring back all the things we talked about,” Vagnini said. “I don't know why we're bringing this up all over again. This was supposed to be dead ... We're just opening up a whole can of worms all over again.”
Ward 4 Coun. Geoff McCausland, whose ward borders Montpellier's, said he is a big fan of the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre, but didn't see any harm in allowing the discussions to take place.
“In terms of having a discussion, I don't feel any pressure to support whatever a report recommends,” McCausland said, adding he would fight any recommendation to close what he described as “the centrepiece of Azilda.”
And Lapierre said the idea came from police, who are exploring all options for a new HQ. But Pedersen didn't want to do it unless council was aware and approved.
“The chief wants to chat,” he said. “That's where it's coming from.”
After 50 minutes of discussion, Mayor Brian Bigger moved to end the debate and take a vote, prompting and angry “Wow!” from Vagnini.
“Here we go again,” he said. “We're going to do this,” before adding a sarcastic “Thank you!”
But Bigger was the only one to vote no with Montpellier and Vagnini, and the motion was easily approved.
