Lethbridge council rejects funding additional costs to keep integrated fire-EMS

While some municipalities across Alberta have chosen to maintain their integrated fire and emergency services with a new provincial funding model, Lethbridge’s city council has decided to reject the province’s proposal.

On Tuesday, council voted 7-2 against a motion brought forward by councillor and current acting mayor Jenn Schmidt-Rempel to rescind a March 24 vote that was unanimously in favour of rejecting the provincial Ground Ambulance Service Agreement.

This means the previous vote remains the official stance of council.

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

“This motion was to say no, we’re not accepting what the province is putting forward to us. Simple,” said Lethbridge Mayor Blaine Hyggen.

He, along with several other Lethbridge councillors have remained adamant they support the current, 114-year-old fire/EMS model.

However, they want to find a way to keep it without increasing taxes, which the new proposal would require — or at least the city would need to find the money somewhere else, if not through taxation.

“I want to keep this service in the community — that’s the plan moving forward. I think we can do that,” said Hyggen.

The issue has become a hot topic within Lethbridge, leading to some allegedly nasty emails sent to city councillors.

According to councillor and current deputy mayor Rajko Dodic, he’s been pressured significantly to vote a certain way.

“Someone actually said that not voting in a certain way, or not to maintain integrated services would perhaps be akin to, or could be in their opinion, maybe, maybe not, attempted murder,” said Dodic after the council meeting on Tuesday.

He says this was why he, at the start of council recognition statements, took aim at certain messaging.

The statement he made was, “my recognition is to the five integrated fire/EMS services in the province that didn’t play the ‘people will die card’ when the province announced a reduction in funding for ambulance services.

“The decision not to fearmonger demonstrated class to me.”

That short speech was instantly met with jeers from those in attendance at council chambers.

Immediately afterward, Dodic said it wasn’t the best thing for him to have said, but as a passionate person, it came out.

“Probably, I shouldn’t have done it. I definitely didn’t mean it as a slight of fire (and EMS) integrated (services). It was a personal moment of mine and I couldn’t handle it,” said Dodic.

While it was a vocalization of his frustration, Dodic wasn’t alone in calling out certain behaviours.

“For lack of better words, the slamming of EHS employees, where some work within our community, with some saying they aren’t qualified — we need to do better,” said Hyggen.

The mayor went on to say online comments can also affect his and other councillors’ family lives.

Local IAFF 237 firefighter union president Brent Nunweiler didn’t comment on any angry emails, but did say he knows the community has been rallying to tell council they want the integrated services to remain in place.

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

“They’ve let council know over and over again through phone calls, through emails, through letters that they value this system.”

He did admit the sudden price increase announcement, which came on March 13, did leave Lethbridge councillors between a rock and a hard place.

“We’ve been doing this for 114 years. (The community) sees the value, they understand what we provide to them. They’re not willing to let that go — they’ve let council know and they’ve put them in a difficult spot.”

Schmidt-Rempel and councillor Belinda Crowson were the two who voted to rescind the previous motion.

Schmidt-Rempel says what is now the official stance of the city may not pay off in the end.

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

She says that, similarly to the IAFF, she believes people want to keep the integrated services, no matter what.

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

According to Nunweiler, the average household would see an increase in taxes of about $10 per month to maintain the integrated services under the new provincial proposal.

Now that the ball is in the province’s court, so to speak, Schmidt-Rempel says trust in council may have been lost by the community.

“I think we’ve lost a lot of leverage and I think we’ve lost a lot of faith from our residents. How do they believe us and what we want to hear from them going forward?”

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

“Should 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 Expression of Interest and Qualification) process, which the City of Lethbridge is welcome to participate in. We will work with the City of Lethbridge to ensure continuity of ground ambulance throughout the RFEOIQ process.”

This means that if the City maintains its current stance after the month is over, the ground ambulance services will be put up for bidding.

The City can still bid in an effort to keep the current service, as well.

EHS-Alberta also says it will guarantee high-quality services are maintained if the integrated service is lost.

Right now, the current contract with Lethbridge’s integrated service runs until the end of September.

“We’ll continue to put our lives on the line for this community,” said Nunweiler.