City council has reversed its decision to outsource St. Albert's fire services dispatch system after a new report predicted outsourcing would save significantly less money than previously thought.
Last summer, council voted to outsource the dispatch system after an accounting firm hired by the city estimated the switch could save about $340,000 annually. However, the new report shows just $20,000 in savings per year.
At the time of the original vote, those on council who supported outsourcing — Mayor Cathy Heron, Coun. Wes Brodhead, Coun. Natalie Joly, and Coun. Mike Killick — said they believed there would be little or no change in the quality of service.
Those who were against outsourcing — Coun. Shelley Biermanski, Coun. Sheena Hughes, and Coun. Ken MacKay — argued the potential cost savings weren't enough to risk not having local dispatchers with local knowledge and experience with city landmarks and neighbourhoods. St. Albert firefighter's union president Greg Harvey also spoke against outsourcing the dispatch system last summer.
Currently, when a 911 call is made in St. Albert, it is directed to the city's RCMP detachment, Maloney Place, where calls are answered by local dispatchers. When a call is received, dispatchers either send officers on the call or forward the call to Alberta Health Services for medical calls.
If the call is for fire services, RCMP staff forward the call to the locally operated fire dispatch system.
Council's vote last year, which intended to have the city outsource just the fire dispatch service, led to city administration issuing a request for proposals (RFP) in March for interested parties to submit bids.
A report to council included in the June 20 council meeting agenda, written by three city department directors, revised the expected saving identified by the accounting firm from $340,000 to about $20,000 per year.
A number of councillors who spoke with the Gazette said the city only received one bid for the contract, despite seven organizations and businesses registering themselves as interested on the city's bids and tenders website. Among the seven interested parties were Edmonton Fire Services, the City of Red Deer, Strathcona County, Parkland County's Emergency Communications Centre, and three private companies.
The councillors weren't able to say which of the parties submitted the bid for the contract.
Coun. Sheena Hughes said with just one bid submitted for the contract, she felt the city would be taking a significant risk if it were to follow through on outsourcing, and put forward a motion on June 20 to reverse council's decision last summer.
Hughes' motion passed with Brodhead and Joly opposed.
“The savings are not there to justify changing over service providers,” Hughes said in an interview.
“That actually puts us into a high-risk situation from a financial standpoint as well, because if for any reason we are unsatisfied with the services or the projected costs or the renewal costs at the end of the contract, we have no other options presented to us as to a different outsource that would provide the same level of services.”
Hughes also said she thought the $20,000 in savings might not materialize if a contracted service provider were to charge the city for unexpected capital costs during the course of a contract.
During debate, Joly said she was against the motion because in her experience, the quality of service offered by emergency dispatchers elsewhere in the province is just as good as the service provided in St. Albert, and that the $20,000 in savings, as well as other upcoming capital costs still made outsourcing the service worthwhile.
Likewise, Brodhead said despite the reduced estimated savings to be had by outsourcing the fire dispatch system, he felt moving forward with outsourcing would have allowed the city to avoid upcoming mandatory capital costs and purchasing of equipment related to the nationwide transition to Next Gen 911 (NG911).
“In this particular case, the savings really is around cost avoidance,” Brodhead said. “If you want to keep it in-house, then you have to pay these costs, or you'll find a different way of doing business, and ... (outsourcing was) the recommendation of our consultants (and administration has) an opportunity to save the city money.”
The NG911 system will replace the existing Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) system in 2025 at the direction of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). A major change that will come with switching to the NG911 system will allow people to text 911 during an emergency situation where speaking to an operator isn't safe.
If St. Albert was to move forward with outsourcing the fire dispatch system, the city might have saved almost $1.25 million in capital and operating costs related to procuring and using the new technology, a staff report read. However, council heard on June 20 that the city has already budgeted for obtaining a NG911 system through the repair, maintain, and replacement budget, meaning additional capital spending may not be necessary.
Mayor Heron and Coun. Killick, who were the members of council to change their votes since the initial decision last summer, both said during the June 20 council meeting that they were still glad the city explored the possibility of outsourcing the fire dispatch system as a way to save money, but the cost savings just weren't enough to justify moving forward with it.
“I appreciate that we did the due diligence,” Heron said. “We did the work, (but) it didn't pan out, in my opinion.”
