Mt. A. Politics Professor Geoff Martin
Mount Allison University Politics Professor Geoff Martin says it’s time for Tantramar councillors to get more involved in dealing with the problems in the Sackville fire department.
“I mean, it’s not just the mayor and the CAO who administer the town, council is also elected for a reason,” Martin said today in a telephone interview, one day after 12 highly trained and experienced firefighters turned in their pagers at town hall taking themselves off the active-duty roster.
“It’s one thing to say, ‘Oh well, the management of the fire department is really under the jurisdiction of the CAO,'” Martin adds, “but at some point, the CAO and the mayor only get so many chances to right the ship and a larger group, such as the council, needs to become involved.”
Martin, who served on Sackville Town Council himself from 1998 to 2004, says councillors could pass a motion at their next meeting directing that the top-secret, workplace assessment of the fire department be distributed to them with any other relevant documents so they could see for themselves the problems that were identified and the solutions that were recommended.
He was referring to a report from Montana Consulting Group that the town of Sackville commissioned in 2021 after Warktimes revealed that persistent bullying, harassment and favouritism had led to the resignations of 17 volunteer firefighters over a five-year span.
Councillors were given a closed-door briefing on the Montana report and its 20 recommendations, but were not allowed to read it.
‘Confidential’ report
In 2023, when Councillor Bruce Phinney moved a motion calling for release of the $31,500 report to council and the public, only Councillor Debbie Wiggins-Colwell supported him.
Phinney said at the time he had been hearing from volunteer firefighters about a “toxic environment” within the department, adding that members of council had a duty to “protect the people who are there.”
“We don’t know that there’s a toxic work environment,” Mayor Andrew Black interjected. He reminded both Phinney and Wiggins-Colwell that no one on council had read the Montana report.
“Making the assumption that there are problems without knowing what the report is, you could easily make the assumption that there are no problems,” he said.
“So, since we don’t know the report, we don’t know if there are problems,” Black added.
In rejecting Phinney’s motion, Councillors Allison Butcher and Michael Tower argued that the Montana report should remain confidential to protect the privacy of those who had been interviewed by the consultants.
Phinney responded that confidentiality could be maintained by eliminating or blacking out any names in the report.
Public safety
“Council has played a rather passive role in dealing with the problems in the fire department,” Professor Martin said in today’s interview.
He added that since councillors frequently receive confidential information, they should be able to read the Montana report.
“I don’t see that keeping it from the council is in any way legitimate,” he says.
“I think my concern at this point is a public safety concern,” he adds, referring to the fact that the fire department now has only about 18 volunteer firefighters, less than half of the full complement of 43.
“It’s troubling for citizens of the town to think that the department may now be impaired in responding to emergencies, which is to say you’ve got a limited number of personnel and you’ve got a lot of vehicles and not very large crews for the number of vehicles that we have,” he says.
“And I do think that the citizens will be very interested at the next municipal election to know from councillors who are looking for their votes what they’ve done since early January of 2026 and perhaps earlier, to straighten things out,” Martin concludes.
Let me be unequivocal: the day-to-day administration and operational management of the municipality fall squarely outside the purview of Council. This division of responsibilities is not merely customary—it is one to which every member of Council has formally committed.
Personnel matters, in particular, are expressly reserved for professional administration. Elected officials, regardless of their dedication or good intentions, lack both the mandate and the specialized expertise required to intervene effectively in such complex human resource issues.
For these reasons, I retain full confidence in the Chief Administrative Officer and in the professional capacity of our municipal staff to manage these responsibilities appropriately and in accordance with best practices.
Citizen Bill The statement,:” retain full confidence in the Chief Administrator Officer and the professional capacity of our municipal staff to manage these responsibilities appropriately and in accordance with best practices.
Almost looks like a logical fallacy dependent on the context. You know the usual appeals to Trust over Evidence.
#1 Inactivity in a crises is considered a more serious mistake then an incorrection. Lack of Transparency and the failure of the architects of amalgamation to deal with this issue which is endemic across Canada.
Tom Coyne the many failures of the Carver Board Governance Model
#2 Lack of transnational decisive leadership that sits down with the petitioners.
#3 Clear Communications from CAO to citizen volunteers who run towards danger to keep us safe.
4. Freedom of action requires a level of trust at all levels. That means listening and providing the tools to fulfill the service. Incidental, Vimy Ridge victory and WWII made sure the mission was clear and the men decided what they needed and and how to do it.
Footnote: The Germans not only copied the tank but our tactics. Paradoxically we were so scared of them, that somehow meant there should be one voice, i.e. a strong Mayor. The leader not just a leader amongst leaders , but the lone leader concept is that your leader is your leader.
Eins Fuhrer is your Fuhrer. Are you sure you are not a trope sent down from Fredericton?
Probably citizens should be told that the position of ward councillor doesn’t mean officer who is a citizen who represents (an advocate) for their local areas.
Go to Education web site and look up governance same model for municipality. Only the experts know what to do.
From Fredericton to Councillor Feindel, “members have a duty to represent the interests of all citizens in the District #.
The sub-wards have the potential for increasing conflict when Municipal members only focus on their wards and take a stand for the citizens or ward, or sub-district. It has to be in the best interest of all. The joy of GLEICHSCHALTUNG VS AUFTRAGSTAKTIK used by as an officer in Canada.
Subordinate leaders in the fire department, are given well defined (not known) always but are free to make decisions in the thick of things..
The citizen firefighter is the canary in the coal mine. Find an example of a newly forced amalgamation that isn’t pleading to break up.
Then we should elect the CAO.
And put the Councillors as volunteer firefighters.
Any Council that commissions a report and then refuses to look at it is just utterly ridiculous.
If you are correct I assume you agree that the CAO is subject to regular evaluation, and possibly discipline? If so, surely the evaluator requires full information. The CAO reports to Mayor and Council. After all these years of controversy this is a poor outcome. Either the Council gets more involved or the CAO wears this and let the chips fall where they may.
It would seem that the 31,500.00 is a waste of taxpayer money.
And it raises the question why we’re paying for councillors and town staff who consider themselves incapable of looking into town services and writing reports themselves.
The election in May will be an opportunity to elect people who are willing to do their jobs.
I agree with Professor Martin’s comments. The 2021 report and findings should be shared with Council and the Mayor & Council need to hold the CAO & Department heads accountable for (a) doing their jobs and (b) resolving issues in a timely fashion so we don’t end up in this crisis that effects public safety and our firefighters. After all, taxpayers spent a fortune for this report. What was it? $31.5k? How many times can we ask our firefighting team to repeat their concerns with no action. This completely erodes trust. It’s been too many years with no action and still we have firefighters resigning due to a poor working environment. This has affected the whole of Tantramar and the public has every right to be outraged and to demand IMMEDIATE action and ACCOUNTABILITY. Where is the leadership? If the council can’t influence a resolution, then perhaps a more qualified party appointed by the Province should step in. It’s too serious of a situation to continue sweeping things under the rug.