Sir: On June 27, a municipal council meeting was held at which a motion by Coun. Bondy was approved by a 10 to 3 vote instructing administration to sign a five-year contract renewal with Medavie to provide land EMS services for Chatham-Kent.
Thirteen weeks later, that contract is not signed!
That is one quarter of a year that administration has failed to complete council’s direction. What can possibly be causing this extended delay? I have some hypotheses:
- Is this an attempt to “run out the clock” and sometime in December to throw a “Hail Mary” report in front of council that looks remarkably like the “Proposal C” that was rejected in June; the report to be delivered just days before the current Medavie contract expires?
- Or perhaps the delay is to allow time for the contract with firefighters, complete with guarantee of employment and no layoffs, to be signed prior to the EMS contract. Naw. No one would be that conniving.
However, the number of firefighters seems to be a sensitive issue for some. When, at a more recent council meeting, Coun. Vercouteren put forward a very sensible motion to have administration determine the actual number of full-time firefighters required for C-K, the mayor threw a temper tantrum. What’s up with that? The firefighters’ new contract also must be signed by Dec. 31. Work on the contract is presumably underway.
The budget cycle, which will begin before year’s end, will continue into the new year and will not be finalized until early in 2017. According to the mayor’s twisted logic, no work on required firefighting headcount should begin until the budget cycle begins, even if a new contract is ready to sign before that. Then after the contract is in place, administration can determine how many staff are needed?
I guess some people don’t think clearly when they are angry.
This community needs leadership, not an autocrat! This MUST be Randy Hope’s last term as mayor. And, since Chief Stuebing’s raison d’etre – Proposal C – was voted down by council on June 27, perhaps it is time for Ken to begin looking for greener pastures as well.
David Goldsmith
Chatham
