The Brome Lake Fire Department has formed a union to address certain issues with the administration that oversees the municipality’s fire and public safety department. Since around 2018, the Brome Lake Fire Department and the Sutton Fire Department have shared the same administration. Town of Brome Mayor Lake Richard Burcombe said that the relationship was working, and benefited both municipalities, up until recently. As a result, the town is bringing in human resources to speak to both the firefighters and the administration to get a better understanding of the issues at hand and to move forward with finding a solution.
“Going back to January, we had a meeting with the firefighters by Zoom, Gilbert (Director General for the town) and myself,” said Burcombe. “It seems along the way now that their demand has changed for certain reasons. So, we hired a human resources company, which is neutral, that will come in and evaluate what the problem is.”
The mayor refrained from providing details about the issues brought forward by the firefighters until human resources gets down to the root of the problem due to a lack of clarity.
“I’m going to wait until the human resources report is complete. Then we’ll certainly have a better picture of what is going on if everyone cooperates with the human resources person and is able to talk to the human resources person individually and not as a group,” explained Burcombe.
Burcombe added that individual discussions will help make more headway in better understanding the situation.
“It’s nice when you’re individual because you can relate to the human resources person and give a certain perspective you might be hesitant to give when you’re in a group,” he noted.
When word got out that the fire department formed a union, it lit up social media.
“People have sent me stuff on social media, mind you I’m not on social media to comment. I’ve seen a few comments, they’re out in left field or right field. (…) I won’t answer them on social media that’s for sure. If somebody comes to meet me, I’ll answer them in person for sure. That’s why we hired the human resources person to get it down straight because one person tells us one thing, one person states another, and we want the real picture,” explained Burcombe.
Burcombe emphasized that the town respects the fire department’s choice to form a union.
“A union doesn’t bother us a bit. The firefighters have to pay for a union so it’s too bad it got to that point. Whatever reason, they brought in the union, that was their choice; that’s democracy. We will work with the union as we (the municipality) worked with the union formed at the municipal garage in 2013, before I was elected, for whatever reason they brought it in. That’s it and it’s not a problem for us,” said Burcombe.
Despite the current situation, the fire department continues to provide its important services to the community as they work with the town to find a solution.
“We have to be open and be honest and we will go from there,” Burcombe concluded.
CIDI has reached out to the Brome Lake fire department union for comment and they are supposed to get back to the station in the upcoming days regarding a follow-up.
Listen to the full interview below: