A small group of concerned Cochrane residents gathered at The Plaza on Dec. 16 to speak out in protest of the Town’s decision to hire a $180,000 per-year manager next year for emergency and protective services.
The new senior management position’s responsibilities will include overseeing some RCMP functions, as well as emergency response.
The decision to set aside the funds was a part of prolonged budget discussions Town council held from October to Dec. 12, when the final budget document was approved by a 4-2 vote.
The group that invited local media outlets to the Plaza in downtown Cochrane last Friday was led by Brian Winter, a 30-year veteran of paramedic service. He is a key player in the Cochrane EMS Crisis Citizens Action Group (CAG), and a member of a nascent health foundation for Cochrane that is currently in its organizational stages.
Winter began his comments Friday by emphasizing he was not there on behalf of either of those groups, but as a concerned Cochrane taxpayer. In reference to the hiring, Winter said, “Are you kidding me?”
“Why does the Town need a new senior manager, and to add a federal organization to the structure?” he asked.
Winter said he was aware it’s too late to reverse the decision, which means a built-in strain on future budgets, for something he deems an unnecessary extra layer of management.
“We now have a position that will be in the budget, with increases, year to year, until a new elected body sees the uselessness of this person, and then the taxpayers will have to shell out severance pay,” he said.
The health-care advocate cited the Town of Nanton as an example of a jurisdiction that has established a “response medical unit” staffed with medical first responders outside of the existing system. He argued the $180,000 spent by the Town of Cochrane could have been used to purchase and set up a similar program as Nanton’s.
The type of vehicle he’s envisioning would cost “about $157,000,” depending on configuration.
He also floated the alternate idea of using the $180,000 to buy a couple of vans, forming a ‘Cochrane transportation society,’ staffed by volunteers to take some pressure off existing vehicles being used to transport non-emergency patients to other locations.
Or, he said, just don’t spend the money at all.
Winter has not approached the Town with his ideas.
Unfortunately for his group, the decision is indeed a done deal – the horse has left the barn.
Mayor Jeff Genung said the Town’s 2023 budget has been passed, and the funding strategies that were identified as being needed in the future have been approved.
There was some discussion in council in the past weeks over hiring practices.
“Who are we, as elected officials, to make decisions on specific positions in our organization? My opinion is still that we need to leave that professional work to the professionals,” Genung said.
He said he somewhat disagrees with the idea of diverting funds to dedicate them to buying and operating EMS vehicles independently from the existing organizational infrastructure.
“I get from a citizen/resident perspective that we want our response times to improve,” he said. “We are doing everything in our power as a municipality to try and work with the province to get that outcome.”
He pointed out that council has discussed the idea in the past, notably when the CAG was first formed.
Genung warned the idea of an auxiliary service, working independently from the existing system – which is now run by Alberta Health Services (AHS) – could cause more problems than it might cure. Besides potential dispatch coordination issues, there would be other day-to-day jurisdictional considerations. For instance, the Town has no control over the AHS-operated system, and the fire hall is leased by AHS.
“So where would we park it?” Genung asked.
The mayor said he agreed the current system is not performing as it should, but at the end of the day, there’s only one taxpayer.
“In our view the province needs to do a better job, in their realm,” he said.
He also feels that when the Town had its own dispatch system pre-2009 (when AHS took over) it was run better.
Town councillor Marni Fedeyko was also present at the gathering. She has voiced her opposition to the way the budget process unfolded this fall and wanted more direct oversight over individual positions being added to the Town budget.
“I’m against hiring at all throughout the Town. We already have extremely qualified people leading this department. We have a manager of municipal enforcement, we have a great Fire Chief, and we have staff covering RCMP,” she said.
“I have questions as to what this position would exactly accomplish.”
