Hastings Highlands Council has decided to end the Joint Fire Services Agreement with Bancroft.
Pat Pilgrim is the Chief Administrative Officer with Hasting Highlands. She says it was becoming too much work for one Fire administration to handle.
She added that with new regulations coming down at the beginning of Spring, this decision has been in the works for some time. The new regulations require any firefighter starting work after January 2019 to have new training, but can be grandfathered in if they have five or more years of experience. The added expenses from this have proved to be too much for some departments.
Pilgram added that Hastings Highlands that there will be no change in the Fire service in Hastings Highlands. The new Fire Chief Danny Koroscil started this morning.
Mayor of Bancroft Paul Jenkins says that he’s in favor of shared services between municipalities. He says he’s disappointed that this agreement is ending.
Jenkins adds that he was surprised by how quickly everything happened. He said he thought there would be some more ongoing discussions between the two Municipalities.
Jenkins says he doesn’t see any major changes coming because of the agreement ending. The Joint Fire Services contract will be honored until the end of the year.