Cornwall Ontario – City Councilor Mark A MacDonald wrote an open letter to Police Chief Dan Parkinson and embattled fire chief Pierre Voisine. He sent it to media as well and we’re publishing it unedited.
[bs-quote quote=”OPEN LETTER
POLICE AND FIRE SERVICES
Hello:
Recent discussions regarding police and fire service budgets have prompted me to write this letter.
I am not out to cut jobs in the police and fire services. I am trying to save as many jobs as possible without having to consider the use of the OPP or volunteer fire fighters. We need to continue to make sure that we are meeting our legislative responsibilities.
The facts are clear, emergency services are now taking almost 50% of our entire budget, nearly doubled in the last 20 years. All the financial experts tell us that our corporation can’t continue to fund at the present rate.
With respect to the recent issue of options for Council to consider regarding the future of police and fire services, our Administration working cooperatively with the Police Services Board, will have an opportunity to develop plans for modernizing our public safety services.
I firmly believe that a new public safety campus that can accommodate our police, fire, paramedic and by-law services, will save lots of human resource time and money. The new facility needs to be equipped with the latest technology available allowing for flexibility in allocating public safety staffing.
I’m trusting that this letter is in order.
Yours in public safety,
Mark A. MacDonald
Councillor, City of Cornwall” style=”style-15″ align=”center” author_name=”Mark A MacDonald” author_job=”Cornwall Ontario City Councilor & Retired Firefighter” author_avatar=”http://cornwallfreenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/mark-ofl1-200×250.jpg”][/bs-quote]
What do you think of Councilor MacDonald’s positions dear CFN viewers? You can post your comments below.
While I agree with trying to curtail police and fir services budgets I don’t know if having one super facility is the way to go. They would be hard pressed, as indicated by the fire chief, to maintain the provincial standard for reaching fires, etc. And with one super facility there would obviously be a need for less firefighters. It’s a double edged sword.
Mr. MacDonald has a excellent solution for the long term and has been looked at in the past. This project would take many many years to acomplish. In the short term they may just want to hire part time Fire and Police Officers to cover the excessive overtime related to vacation, sick, training etc. When constables and firefighters are on a sunshine list overtime pay is the reason.
Diane