Fire station staffing and snow clearing return to council agenda

How the city should staff Halifax’s fire stations will again be debated at council on Tuesday afternoon.

The latest motion from Coun. Steve Craig would cost the city an additional $6.8 million dollars a year once all the changes are implemented in seven years time.

The motion will be split up into three separate votes. The first for raising career firefighter staffing levels for trucks at most stations to four firefighters per truck, another vote for staffing two aerial trucks with four firefighters on a 24/7 basis, and a third vote to increase the honorarium for volunteer firefighters.

READ MORE: Latest Halifax firefighter staffing proposal would cost millions

Councillors Matt Whitman and Reg Rankin told Global News they won’t support the motion. Meantime, Coun. Waye Mason says he might support the motion to fully staff the two aerial trucks that will be stationed on either side of the harbour.

Snow clearing standards revisited

Councillors will also debate a staff report that looks at possible changes to service standards for winter snow removal. The report reviewed service standards for clearing bus stops, sidewalks, crosswalks, intersections and priority 1 and 2 streets.

The report concludes that changing service standards in many of the areas could add millions to the total cost of snow clearing. For example, it would cost an additional $15-20 million to increase the standard for priority two streets snow clearing. To avoid that, staff are recommending the city keep the current service standards.

However, the report does recommend ongoing improvements, for example eliminating contractor overlaps in some areas and making contract language more focused on delivery of current standards.

LIVE BLOG: Keep up with this afternoon’s proceedings here: