Ward 2 Coun. Michael Vagnini said Tuesday he hopes this is the end of all talk about the city's failed fire optimization plan.
Vagnini convinced the rest of city council to formally pass a motion to close the books on the plan, which would have seen a reduction in volunteer firefighters and would have seen dozens of career firefighters hired to replace them.
Introduced in early 2017, the plan sparked a strong public reaction, particularly in areas with a long history of volunteer firefighters protecting their communities.
Vagnini and Ward 3 Coun. Gerry Montpellier were most vocal in opposing the plan, which would have increased firefighting costs by $6 million a year over seven to 10 years.
After a series of raucous public meetings, city council didn't receive the plan. The Sudbury Professional Firefighters Association ended up filing harassment complaints against Vagnini and Montpellier that backfired, helping both to be acclaimed in their wards during the October municipal election.
On Tuesday, Vagnini said he wasn't trying to revive the “animosity” surrounding the plan, but said it was important to signal to the community the plan to reduce the number of volunteers was dead.
“This is just to say we are not going forward with the optimization report,” Vagnini said.
He referred to a report filed in 1999 as part of the amalgamation process that said volunteers, including firefighters, are the “lifeblood” of communities and every effort should be made to expand their ranks.
“We have the highest quality responders both in volunteer and career responders,” Vagnini said, but it was important to send the message that volunteers are important.
But Ward 5 Coun. Bob Kirwan said the language of the motion was too sweeping, particularly the section that reads the report was “not received or accepted by council and that any work which may continue based on this report cease immediately.”
That implies that all aspects of the sweeping report can't be acted on, not just the staffing recommendations on career and volunteers. And besides, council didn't accept the recommendations.
“We didn't receive the report, which means they haven't gone forward with the report,” Kirwan said.
Fire chief Joseph Nicholls said Vagnini's motion would tie his hands in a number of areas.
“It would make it almost impossible for us to move forward,” Nicholls said.
Council has made it clear that boosting volunteer firefighter recruitment is a big priority, he said, and they are focused on that process.
“We had a two-hour meeting this morning on exactly that,” Nicholls said.
“That wasn't the intention of the motion,” Vagnini said, adding he just wants to formally “close the door” on the plan. “It was not my intent to stop everything. We didn't accept it, but we didn't close it.”
In the end, councillors passed an amended motion that made it clear the staffing recommendations in the plan have been rejected.
