Huron East Council to consider fire report regarding future of Seaforth Fire Hall

BY SHAWN LOUGHLIN

After deferring recommendations from its fire department service review at its Oct. 21 meeting, Huron East Council has once again deferred the report, asking for a more boiled-down version of the report that’s easier to digest.

 

Deputy-Mayor Alvin McLellan, who chaired the Oct. 21 meeting in Mayor Bernie MacLellan’s absence, asked that the report be deferred to council’s Nov. 4 meeting. Then, at that meeting, both McLellan and Councillor Bob Fisher said they felt like they needed some more time with the recommendations and potentially something that was a little easier to understand.
The process began when Emergency Management Group (EMG) presented a comprehensive analysis of the current and forecasted fire service delivery needs. This report was delivered on June 24 of this year.

 

The EMG report included 48 recommendations which were then passed along to fire department administration to review in-depth with the goal of addressing the recommendations.

 

Another part of this situation is the proposal presented earlier this year to build a new public works building and Seaforth Fire Hall, which would cost millions of dollars. Council shelved that recommendation in favour of more information. As a result, a special meeting was held on Tuesday, Oct. 28 that began with a tour of all three public works facilities and the Seaforth fire station and continued with presentations from Director of Public Works Shawn Bromley and Deputy-Fire Chief Steve Boyer (who would be named fire chief at the end of the meeting) on the status of their respective departments’ facilities.

 

Bromley noted that the municipality’s Tuckersmith shop includes an adequate outdoor area for the storage of implements, sign trailers, storm sewer materials and aggregate stockpiles, but said that the storage container currently is in between fair and poor condition. He said that the building and property are in fair or good condition, adding that modest capital improvements to the site and a realistic operations allowance will keep the facility in operation well into the future.

 

He also had good news on the McKillop shop, saying it was between fair and good condition, adding that the office building has proven to be useful as a base of operations for the municipality’s Water and Sewer Department.

 

While the shop is smaller than the others, Bromley said in his report, that its central location provides an “excellent” hub for winter maintenance and facilities equipment distribution to both the north and south ends of the municipality.

 

In regards to the Oak Street shop in Seaforth, Bromley said that there is a small amount of aggregate storage for emergency repairs and that, while the shop could use some capital improvements, it is in fair condition. With minimal use, he said, the facility is maintained as such and serves its purpose for the municipality.

 

“The operational budget for building repair and maintenance for all public works buildings is $25,000 [in 2025]. This value has been sufficient to complete repair and maintenance items, as well as make small improvements when possible,” Bromley said in his report. 

 

“Overall, the buildings that have been included in this review are in good condition and meet the needs of the municipality and staff. Continuing with modest capital investment and operational budget in these buildings is key and allows the municipality to maintain the current level of service it has come to know,” Bromley said in the closing remarks of his presentation. “Given the current condition of the facilities and considering the specific operational requirements for fire and emergency medical services (EMS), it is not recommended that public works participate in a joint facility.”

 

On the Seaforth fire station end of things, Boyer said there were many benefits to building a new facility, such as being post-disaster compliant, being utilized as a community emergency centre, that cancer prevention measures could be built into the building, promoting the fire department and boosting confidence in the community and anchoring the fire department as a long-term service in Huron County. Furthermore, he said, a partnership with Huron County EMS would help offset long-term costs and promote economic development in Huron East.

 

Drawbacks included a potentially large financial burden, a yet-to-be-determined location and potential land acquisition costs and the lack of an immediate gain, as a facility would not be completed for between two and three years.

 

Having said that, Boyer also presented some cost-reduction considerations if council was to consider the construction of a new facility, such as downsizing from three bays to two to accommodate four trucks, the hose tower could be removed as newer hoses don’t require drying and the office space could be reduced from four offices to one or two.

 

He also listed the redesign upgrades for the Seaforth facility; the dozen recommendations would cost, if all were implemented, a total of $670,000.

 

Boyer then detailed the benefits of renovating the existing facility, namely that the upgrades can be completed in stages, spreading out the cost over as much as five years, the municipality would no longer have to seek and purchase a new parcel of land, the station can maintain operations during any renovations, it would provide continuity and stability for staff and would provide energy cost savings.

 

The drawbacks of sticking with the existing facility, Boyer said, would be the level of investment in a nearly-50-year-old facility, the current building will never be post-disaster (he noted that, if a new building is constructed, making it post-disaster compliant would be mandatory), the public image may remain outdated, the costs will be unknown as work begins due to the age of the building and ongoing costs are nearly guaranteed over the subsequent 25 years associated with upgrades to the parts of the building that weren’t upgraded.

 

Finally, Boyer presented his recommendations. He said that, from his perspective, it made sense to move forward with a new facility and pursue a partnership with Huron County EMS and the department. He suggested reviewing the design concepts to identify potential further savings, while installing new windows and doors and moving ahead with minor alterations on the current hall to ensure that it remains functional for the next two or three years.

 

Council opted not to discuss the report in detail at its Nov. 4 meeting, instead deferring it and asking for a “Coles Notes” version of the report to be considered at a future meeting.