Five municipalities, served by fire dispatchers in Yarmouth, have failed to reach an agreement with the Town of Yarmouth.
CAO’s of the municipalities of Shelburne, Yarmouth, Argyle, Barrington and the Town of Shelburne drafted a proposal in response to the town’s decision to eliminate four dispatch positions at the Yarmouth Fire Department, and seek proposals from other providers.
Argyle CAO Alain Muise says they recognized that contributions from the municipal units were a fraction of the total cost, and the town was paying the lion’s share.
He says they agreed to triple the $27,000 a year collected from the various fire departments.
“However, the cost to deliver the service was still heavy on the side of the town, even with our increase.”
Muise says councils would still have had to endorse any agreement, if one had been reached.
He says there is still uncertainty on what will happen next, saying some units are contingency planning while others are looking at alternate service providers.
Mayor Pam Mood says they were recently notified by the Municipality of Argyle that “there were insufficient municipal users remaining to negotiate an effective cost-sharing agreement”.
She says the proposal still left taxpayers of the town footing a huge bill.
“The town did receive a proposal that was less than three times the current rate from the other municipalities. That would leave the town taxpayers to pay ten times the current rate.”
The mayor says the town will be reaching out to the volunteer fire departments with a proposal.
Meanwhile, Lynn Seeley, president of Local 2094 of the International Association of Firefighters, says he’s hopeful for a solution.
“The next steps for us will be to attempt to sit back down at the bargaining table. We have received correspondence from the town in answer to some of ours.”
Seeley says he remains very concerned for the future of local dispatch service.
