Lethbridge council refuses to fund additional costs to keep fire EMS integrated

Although several Alberta cities have opted to maintain their integrated fire and emergency services with the new provincial funding model, Lethbridge city council has decided to reject the province’s proposal.

On Tuesday, council voted 7-2 against a motion put forward by councilor and current acting mayor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel to overturn the March 24 vote that unanimously supported rejecting the Land Ambulance Services Agreement at the provincial level.

This means that the previous vote remains the official position of the board.

The City of Red Deer and Strathcona County chose to continue funding their integrated service operations, while Spruce Grove and Leduc took a similar route to Lethbridge.

“This motion is to say no, we do not accept what the province is proposing to us. It’s simple,” said Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen.

He, along with several other Lethbridge council members remain adamant that they support the 114-year-old fire/EMS model.

However, they want to find a way to maintain it without raising taxes, which is what the new proposal would require – or at least the city would need to look for funds elsewhere, if not through taxes.

“I want to maintain this service in the community – that’s the plan going forward. I think we can do that,” Hyggen said.

The issue has become a hot topic in Lethbridge, leading to several allegedly unpleasant emails being sent to city council members.

According to current council member and deputy mayor Rajko Dodic, he was under significant pressure to vote a certain way.

“Actually, there are those who say that not voting a certain way, or not maintaining integrated services might be the same, or it could be what they think, maybe, maybe not, attempted murder,” said Dodic after the council meeting, Tuesday.

He said this is why he, at the start of the board’s confessional statement, targeted a specific message.

The statement he made was, “my appreciation goes to the province’s five integrated fire/EMS services for not playing the ‘people are going to die’ role when the province announced funding cuts to ambulance services.

“The decision to not be afraid showed me class.”

The short speech immediately drew boos from the audience in the council room.

Soon after, Dodic said it wasn’t the nicest thing he said, but as a passionate person, it came out.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. I certainly didn’t mean it as a small fire (and integrated EMS (service)). It was my personal moment and I couldn’t handle it,” Dodic said.

Although it was an expression of his frustration, Dodic was not the only one calling for certain behavior.

“For lack of better words, the condemnation of EHS employees, some of whom work in our communities, and some of whom say they are not qualified – we need to do better,” Hyggen said.

The mayor went on to say that online comments could also affect the lives of his family and other council members.

The president of the IAFF Local 237 firefighters union, Brent Nunweiler, did not comment on any of the angry emails, but he said he knows the community has come together to tell the council they want unified services to remain.

“We’ve heard from the community what they value. They value an integrated system, they understand what’s at risk here,” Nunweiler said.

“They repeatedly told the board through phone calls, emails and letters that they appreciated the system.”

He acknowledged the sudden price increase announcement, made on March 13, did put Lethbridge council members in a difficult position.

“We’ve been doing this for 114 years. (The community) sees the benefits, they understand what we’re giving them. They don’t want to let this go by – they’ve told the council and it’s put them in a tough position.”

Schmidt-Rempel and council member Belinda Crowson were the two people who voted to repeal the previous motion.

Schmidt-Rempel said the city’s current official stance may not bear fruit in the end.

“Right now, what we’ve done and the intent of (Tuesday’s) motion is that we’re betting on the province to negotiate with us. I don’t know if we can bet on that,” Schmidt-Rempel said.

He said that, similar to IAFF, he believes that the community wants to maintain integrated services, whatever the conditions.

“We heard loud and clear from our residents that this is an investment they are willing to pay for.”

According to Nunweiler, the average household would receive a tax increase of about $10 per month to maintain bundled services under the new provincial proposal.

Now that the decision is in the province’s hands, Schmidt-Rempel said the public’s trust in the council may have been lost.

“I think we’ve lost a lot of influence and I think we’ve lost a lot of trust from our citizens. How do they trust us and what do we want to hear from them in the future?”

EHS-Alberta told Global News in a statement that the city officially has until May 31 to make a decision.

“If they choose not to enter into a sole source agreement at this time, ground ambulance services in Lethbridge will be included in the RFEOIQ (Request for Expressions of Interest and Qualifications) process, which the City of Lethbridge is welcome to participate in. We will work closely with the City of Lethbridge to ensure continuity of ground ambulance throughout the RFEOIQ process.”

This means that if the City maintains its stance after this month ends, ground ambulance services will be up for bid.

The City can also still submit bids in an effort to maintain current services.

EHS-Alberta also said it will ensure high-quality services are maintained if integrated services are lost.

Currently, the contract with Lethbridge Integrated Services is in effect through the end of September.

“We will continue to risk our lives for this community,” Nunweiler said.