With Fire Services making up 18% of the almost $5 million Community Services Budget there are some notable changes to this years proposed budget for Meaford fire services.
During budget deliberations this week Meaford Fire Chief John deHooge outlined some changes to the budget such as recruit training funds.
deHooge told council that in past years recruits were not paid for their in class time but that changed in 2019 and will remain going forward.
The Meaford Fire Service is mostly made up of part time volunteers, deHooge spoke of the difficulty of retaining members.
"We are delighted when we have new recruits who live and work in our community and have no adumbrations of being full time firefighters else where but in reality that's not the case," the Chief told council, "there's little we can do about it except embrace their enthusiasm to train and learn and serve the community well they are here."
Chief deHooge also spoke of enhanced training being conducted like live fire exercises at CFB Borden that bolsters confidence among the firefighters.
On Tuesday afternoon the Meaford Fire Service also received permission from council to obtain new training software utilized by 9 other Fire Services in Grey County at an annual cost of $5,000.
The first two years of this software will be funded using Meaford's IT Reserve.
Link to original article on bayshorebroadcasting.ca: Proposed 2020 Budget Says Business as Usual for Meaford Fire Services