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Shared fire service not “given a chance”: Baradziej
By Mike Williscraft NewsNow
Two key findings came from Wednesday’s joint fire services committee: Grimsby representatives decidedly want the “experiment to end and the proposal was doomed from the outset.
The committee received a report Emergency Management Group
Inc., which offered two options after researching the shared service process which was first started in 2021: for Grimsby and Lincoln fire departments to go back to their original state, or to explore a possible regional fire service model.
While there was considerable support for the shared model to push forward from Lincoln, it was
one person shy of a shutout in Grimsby with only shared service committee chair, Coun. Jacob Baradziej saying there was value in continuing to work on the process.
“It could have worked. I like the idea anyways. Nobody on Grimsby wanted to go down that road. It was never really given a chance,” said Baradziej.
Noting that, Baradziej also noted flaws in the process such as a lack of information at different points.
“But (former Grimsby deputy fire chief and (Coun.) Delight Davoli had as her eye out for it from the start and same for (Coun.) Veronica (Charrois) because of the whole (former CAO Harry) Schlange thing,” said Baradziej.
30th anniversary Early Bird winner!
Beamsville’s Mason Codack, 8, will be whisked off in a limo along with his family to see the Leafs vs Canadiens on Dec. 6 after winning Hat Trick Hockey’s 30th Early Bird draw this week. Presenting Mason with his winnings are prize sponsor Andrew Smith of iA Private Wealth and the very first Early Bird prize winner from 1997, Wes Phelps. Phelps, now an Alberta resident was home for Thanksgiving. Wes was six when he won. A record nearly 600 entries were received by last Wednesday’s deadline. Williscraft - Photo
The baggage which the Town of Grimsby is still carrying with anything Schlange touched is still very heavy.
Schlange recommended implementing a shared fire service in a report from Oct. 1, 2021.
A report was commissioned to assess the idea, and it was recommended that Richard Boyes, who is the father of Bill Boyes, take on that task.
The latter was Brampton’s fire chief when Schlange was CAO there. Richard Boyes was also fire chief in Sarnia when former Grimsby Coun. Kevin Ritchie, a firefighter by profession, was part of that department.
Then it took nearly two years for the report - which was to provide a blueprint for executing a shared department system - to be completed.
“It was like we were ready for the start of a race. It started but we were told to stand still,” said Lincoln Fire Chief Greg Hudson, who has been chief of the joint team.
“It was very frustrating for everyone and seemed to set off a whole
See SHARED, Page 4
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Lincoln earns share of partnership award
The Lincoln/St. Catharines shared destination partnership has earned the municipalities a national award.
The Community Collaboration Award - given by the Economic Developers Association of Canada (EDAC) was announced last week with the alliance’s innovative approach to collaboration on destination marketing - a model of urbanrural cooperation - cited as a key reason.
The program created the new St. Catharines Lincoln Destination Partnership, a destination marketing organization (DMO) which has strengthened Lincoln’s tourism economy and elevated the Niagara Benchlands’ reputation as a premier destination.
Launched in 2023 and formally endorsed by both councils in 2024, the joint DMO brings together the two municipalities’
economic development teams under a shared vision: to position Niagara’s urban and rural destinations as vibrant, sustainable tourism hubs that support local business growth and community prosperity.
Through a coordinated marketing, development, and placemaking strategy, the partnership has achieved measurable success in strengthening regional tourism. Working with key community partners — from accommodation providers and craft beverage producers to arts, culture, and heritage organizations — the initiative has united stakeholders around a cohesive regional story celebrating both St. Catharines’ dynamic urban energy and Lincoln’s rich craft beverage and culinary excellence.
The initiative has already delivered tangible results — generating more than 40 million
marketing impressions in its first year and achieving significant cost savings through shared resources and streamlined campaigns.
The introduction of the Municipal Accommodation Tax (MAT) in both municipalities provides a sustainable revenue source for ongoing tourism investment, ensuring that as visitation grows, both communities can continue to reinvest in destination development and visitor experiences.
“Collaboration is at the heart of everything we do. This partnership demonstrates how municipalities can align their strengths to deliver greater value for residents, businesses, and visitors alike. Together, we’re showcasing the best of both communities and building a stronger, more connected Niagara,” said Lincoln Mayor Sandra Easton.
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SHARED
From Page 1 other series of concern.
Davoli noted meetings were cancelled and reports were supposed to come from council but never did.
This led other members of council to wonder what was happening with the process but while many voiced concern, not one member of Grimsby council contacted him for any kind of update of information in terms of what was happening.
Hudson said the writing was on the wall last year when the terms of reference for the two-phase shared service plan were rewritten and two of the four administrative components in Phase 1 were “undone” and not re-implemented over the last year - making the process actually go backward.
At present, Grimsby faces a more challenging response situation than Lincoln. While Grimsby has two fire stations, only one is actively staffed and able to assemble volunteer firefighters. During daytime hours, the community benefits from full-time town staff; however, evenings and weekends present challenges, as full-time staff may not be available. This can make it difficult for the fire department to secure the necessary staffing for large-scale incidents,” cites the EMG report tabled at the Wednesday meeting.
The report added Grimsby Fire will depend on existing mutual aid programs but “there is no
guarantee that volunteers from bordering communities will be available when needed.”
My goal was to keep things rolling, keep the lights on. You know, we did make some improvements, but it was a real challenges,” said Hudson.
One of the challenges, Davolli said, was a lack of data and measurables in the process.
“So why was this data a problem. He (Hudson) said well, there were no measurables at the beginning set out as goals,” said Davoli, adding that was a key flaw in the process from the start, too.
“We were collecting some data, but, I call them key performance indicators (KPIs), you know where you are when you start the race and you know what you want to accomplish.”
But both Hudson and Lincoln Coun. J.D. Pachereva said the process was blocked repeatedly from advancing, citing the backward move in 2024 as well as Phase 2 of the process - amalgamating the firefighters - ever being achieved.
Pachereva was vehement in his assessment of how Grimsby officials handled the entire process.
“We had three strong advocates from Grimsby at the start and then it changed. It was all about Harry. They couldn’t see straight. It was like a bull when it sees red. This thing didn’t have a chance after Grimsby changed its representatives,” said Pachereva.
“It’s lke beating a dead horse. We’re not going to get them to change their minds.”
As an example, Pachereva cited concerns about a lack of information or meeting updates at the start of the process and measurables.
“There was no information, nothing to report for nearly two full years because we were waiting on that first report. We cancelled meetings entirely because we had nothing to talk about,” said Pachereva.
“As for KPIs, we couldn’t even get to Phase 2 and Phase 1 was set back when Davoli rewrote the terms of reference.”
Consultant Lyle Quan, who completed the report for ENG, confirmed the lack of progress in the process made generating key KPIs impossible.
“During our review, we (the Emergency Management Group Inc. consultants) were unable to obtain response data, objectives and Key Performance Indicators because the shared fire service pilot had never progressed to the operational integration phase,” said Quan.
“The pilot only advanced through the administrative integration phase, covering areas like training, fire prevention, and procurement; not frontline deployment or response, before it adopted the shared fire chief stage.”
EDITORIAL
It is clear there have been issues with about-todie shared fire service process between Grimsby and Lincoln - and it should die.
From the outset Grimsby could never get out from under the intensely charged political climate generated by former CAO Harry Schlange and his G5 posse. This was Schlange’s idea - and it may have been his only good one - but Coun. Jacob Baradziej is correct when he said it never had a chance.
Grimsby officials had a paranoia about the process from the get-go. Then the consultant charged with offering up the blueprint for the process took a ridiculous amount of time to table his report. That, combined with a framework which provided no measureables set it up for constant challenges from which it never recovered.
The issue is, there is a freight train coming - that being the looming spectre of a full-time fire service, an extremely costly model.
This is a dead issue for the current councils, but a baseline needs to be set from what was gleaned from the unsuccessful process. They now know what they know, but should also have a grasp on what they need to know and set those measurables out for a new process with the next councils.
As Pachereva summarized, “We went to a dance together it was clear they didn’t want to dance.”
The matter will come to both Grimsby and Lincoln councils at their Dec. 3 meetings.
Coun. Delight Davoli said the two departments did not mesh well because they share similar strengths and weaknesses. Maybe. But not allowing a planned twophase process to even get to its second phase might be cause for failure, no?
There were issues, but better planning and a more sincere, success-seeking effort for Round 2 is definitely in order. M.W.
King St./Lincoln Ave. developer pushes
The development group seeking to build a multi-building hirise complex at the corner of King Street and Lincoln Avenue in Beamsville has launched an appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal.
“This appeal was filed in response to the Town of Lincoln not providing a decision on these applications within the 120-day period as required in sections 22(7) and 34(11) of
the Planning Act, R.S.O. 1990, c.P.13. The 120-day deadline for the Town to provide a decision started on May 21, 2025 when the above noted applications were deemed complete by the Town,” reads a statement from the Town of Lincoln.
The proposed project is for a seven-storey building with 161 units; a five storey building with 85 units, and; 1,000 sq m of commercial use; and 310 park-
ing spaces.
Since a packed July 7 statutory meeting, Town staff have been following a typical process of working with the applicant to deal with council and community concerns.
Regardless, the applicant, has moved on the OLT appeal process.
At press time, no file number or date for a hearing has been set by the OLT.
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Lincoln’s three-ward plan appealed
Lincoln’s planned change to a threeward system for the 2026 municipal election has been jeopardized by an Ontario Land Tribunal appeal.
An appeal was filed Sept. 12 and not date has been set for a hearing, let alone a finding.
To be confirmed by the end of 2025 is now a concern for Town officials. If the hearing is not set and a favourable finding supporting the Town’s change to the three-ward
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system, the current system will remain in place for the next municipal election.
In July, Lincoln council voted 6-3 to change from four to three wards and thereby reduce the number of councillors from eight to six.
Much of the concern with the plan focused on very little public feedback, including an online survey which generated only 76 submissions, 56 of those incomplete.
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There are just a few routes vacant, so if you happened to miss your copy - or if you live in a rural area - we have planned a large list of helpful outlets to allow for quick and convenient pick ups.
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West Lincoln has announced its 2025 Community Recognition Awards.
Winners are:
• Youth Community Engagement: Victoria Vrekalic
• Cultural: John Bos, Jane Cameron, Kara North, Sharlene Volpatti
• Sports/Recreation: Don Wood
• General Volunteerism: Chris Freure
• Lifetime Volunteerism: Ann Marie Chechalk, Chris Frere, Tony Mous, Loretta Shields, Brenda Walker Awards will be presented Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m., in the upstairs community rooms of the West Lincoln Community Centre.
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Thinking about a new look and wanting to support Grimsby Benevolent Fund, Shear Image Salon Boutique in Grimsby may be the place for you on Nov. 13. At Shear Image’s Cuts For A Cause, a $100 donation comes with a hair
treatment, cut, glass of wine or mocktail, goodie bag and more.
“We’ll also be selling raffle tickets leading up to the event with incredible prize baskets,
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Space must be prebooked, call 905-9455541.
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He will be sadly missed by his parents John and Margaret, and younger brother Graham and his wife Carmelita in Canada.
Iain is survived by his beloved wife Tracey, of 35 years and his sons Taylor, Cameron and daughter Calle.
A memorial service to be held Saturday, October 25th at 11 am in St. Alban’s Anglican Church, Ontario Street, Beamsville.
If desired, memorial donations to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation would be greatly appreciated by Iain’s family.
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decided to join Ryan Gallagher for 10 kms of his 21-km route on Oct. 4, but decided to stick it out and run the whole distance - something Gallagher said he deeply appreciated. The route that day went from Vineland Estate Winery to Calamus to Campden General store.
Gallagher blows past fundraising goal
Ryan Gallagher is running with a purpose.
The Grimsby resident has faced his challenges head on and, by raising funds for Niagara’s Pathstone Mental Health, he is trying to help others.
Gallagher, a Burlington firefighter, has been running 21 km per day for 21 consecutive days with a goal of raising $21,000 for Pathstone.
To date, he has raised nearly $73,000.
Why Pathstone? Because mental health is very important to Gallagher, whose father died when he was 16 and he was illequipped to deal with it.
“I didn’t realize the toll it was taking on my mental health, and I didn’t know how to seek help. Instead, I turned to alcohol to cope. For many years, I used it to mask my pain and try to find joy
in life. But today, I’m proud to say that I’ve been sober for over 500 days,” said Gallagher on his fundraising page - zefffy.com
He said the community has been very supportive, including Dr. Kailee Stock at Grimsby Health & Wellness who has given free treatment, gym owner Justyna Kaleta and BioPed Footcare & Orthotics in Grimsby, too.
On Day 14 - Oct 4 - of this adventure, Marilyn Bellows from Ebike the Bench - also a sponsor, got her team, family and friends together to follow Gallagher on his trek.
Oct. 11, the 21st day, he ran from Red Stone Winery to Pathstone in St. Catharines, finishing at 1338 Fourth Ave.
The run is complete, but donations are still being received at: zeffy.com/en-CA/peer-to-peer/ 2121-fundraiser
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Grimsby should avoid hydro sale temptation
I had a whole thing planned out in my head this week to do a piece on Grimsby Power/Niagara Power to explain to all why not only is the push by Grimsby’s Finance Committee to somehow wrestle control over something they have absolutely no say or direct input on, but also why the municipality should not consider a sale of its hydro corporation.
Teaming up for McNally
Bert Vis Flooring and The Wood Shed teamed up for a summer barbecue in support of McNally House Hospice. The two-hour event generated $2,000. On hand for the presentation of proceeds were (L to R) Ralph Vis, owner of Bert Vis Flooring, McNally community engagement coordinator Amanda Black; McNally executive director Pam Blackwood, and; Dan Huizinga, office manager at The Wood Shed.
Pull the plug, please
Premier Doug Ford cannot pull the plug fast enough on the sham that is local speed cameras. It was a blatant cash grab from the start and should never have gotten off the ground, but too many politicians were lured by the spectre of free money from a third party source to fuel municipal spending. Sure, they can hide behind the guise of “it’s all for safety, honest!” Is it? The stats were reviewed for Niagara West locations. There was next to zero issue with safety and where there were incidents it was not speed related. Speed cameras cannot go the way of the dodo fast enough. M.W.
There is another Notice of Motion coming to council next week with Finance chair Coun. Delight Davoli taking another swing at a ball which is unequivocally outside her strike zone.
But let’s set aside that waste of council’s time entirely for the moment.
Over the last month, I have been talking to various people - some directly involved, some not - to merely get different perspectives on the matter of a possible sale.
Going way back to the Brian Weber days there were those who thought it should have been sold off when Pen West Utilities merged with Niagara Falls Hydro in 2006. Grimsby was part of that negotiation, but then-Mayor Nick Andreychuk pulled back when a disagreement arose over how seats would be divided for a board of directors.
Pen West - which served Lincoln, West Lincoln and Pelham - is now under Niagara Peninsula Energy and Grimsby remains as a standalone entity.
The upside of maintaining that status has been a ton of dough flowing into the
Town’s coffers via interest on a promissory note and dividends paid out. On that, let’s just deal in bigger picture numbers.
Interest from the promissory note, from 2001 to 2025 is just under $7.725 million. On the dividend side, from 2011 to 2025 just under $2.3 million has rolled in. So, that’s about $10 million in total. In the last five years, its been $380,000 per year coming in, which works out to saving a little over a 3% tax increase annually as it offsets spending plans.
Now, let’s even set that aside for the purposes of the heart of these ramblings.
It took me a half-dozen calls to not only get an understanding of what the pro-sales forces are thinking but in but nearly another half-dozen until I unearthed this notion of the Town creating a “foundation” which would take the proceeds of a sale and invest, only using interest generated so as to keep the principle amount as a base.
Now, this sounds quite grand, if it worked but it never, ever would. First, I
inquired with key municipal officials from Goderich to Ottawa with whom I had dealings over nearly 40 years. Nobody had heard of such an arrangement - save for one investment program where six municipalities banded together in one not-for-profit. So that is not to say a prototype does not exist, but none of the half-dozen people I spoke to knew of one which could be considered comparable.
Even aside from that - Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer - how many of you would sit by and allow the Town to approve seven or nine per cent tax hikes while sitting on a pot of, say, $35 million?
When a huge hit comes along if the Town has to hire full-time fire services, will you be happy to absorb a double-digit tax hit? Be aware, because it’s coming if they cannot get it together on shared services.
What if the Province comes along and says: “We’re disbanding Niagara Region. Services are getting downloaded. Taxpayers will eat some but each municipality will have to ante up $10 million to make it happen” - or some other unforeseen circumstance, because they always come up. Hydro could be sold, but the money realized would be gone in 10 years, tops.
Then, with the golden goose gone, taxpayers would see at least a three per cent annual tax increase just from the loss of that dividend/promissory note revenue. it’s not worth the gamble, in my opinion.
MIKE WILLISCRAFT
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