Magnetawan's dispute with firefighters was a stupid choice for council

Amongst the sagest pieces of advice we’ll ever receive in our lives is to pick the one’s battles wisely.

It’s a simple maxim that if not followed can lead to a host of troubles.

We bring this up because it appears that Magnetawan council has leaped from the frying pan into the fire by ignoring, at their own and perhaps others’ peril, the trustworthy truism.

The battle embarked upon by Magnetawan council is against one of, arguably the, most important groups of volunteers in the municipality – its firefighters.

For reasons they attribute to due diligence, the council decided they needed to have the training records for the fire department.

Apparently they have been asking for the records for close to a year now. The leadership at the department has been more than hesitant to hand them over, doubting the motivations of the request.

We don’t blame them.

If Magnetawan council was truly interested in the department’s training, one would think they would sit down with – oh, this is a tough one – the training officer to discuss the situation.

Maybe they’d even have a chat with the chief.

But no. Instead Mayor Dick Smith invents an embarrassingly poor ruse to try and coerce the hand-over of the documents he’s looking for.

How poor was it?

The mayor in open council, in front of more than 40 witnesses, many of them members of the department, admitted to the attempted deception.

Smith expected his fire officers to believe that the Office of the Fire Marshall would contact the mayor ahead of the fire chief about any concerns it may have with the department.

For the record, there is no evidence the Office of the Fire Marshall has any concerns about the department.

There are also allegations of another coercive attempt, this time from the CAO involving “the media.” However, the mayor and the CAO are denying fire chief Dave Pringle’s assertion.

So be it.

The important point is that coercion was attempted on volunteers who make great sacrifices of their time, comfort and safety so that they can help others in need.

We don’t think we need to extol further on the virtues of firefighters.

Why did this happen? Because the mayor said so.

Near the end of fire training officer Dean Butticci’s presentation to council last week the most telling detail of this pathetic but dangerous farce played out or all present to see.

With the coveted training records in his hand, Butticci said he wasn’t sure if he wanted to hand them over to Smith because, “You’re not the Fire Marshall.”

“But I’m the mayor,’ said Smith as if it that explained everything.

It almost did.

While Smith sat there as if expecting Butticci to come crawling over to kiss his ring, the other and most important half of the reason Magnetawan is on the brink of shedding at least 70 years of firefighting experience happened – nothing.

Every single councillor that was elected to office a year-and-a-half ago sat there dumb as doorknobs. Not one of them objected in any way to the bully tactics attempted by Smith. Not one of them rose in defence of the men and women who offer themselves at any hour of the day to risk their lives in service to their community. Not one of them made a motion or a gesture as Smith raised doubts about the competency of their very own fire department.

Shameful, to say the least.

Councillors Kris Nicholls, Tony Pratas, Patti Paul and Frank Tod, you were elected to serve and protect the best interests of the community.

Your silence was complicity to the deceit enacted by your mayor.

At best, by not speaking out, it showed your incompetence. At worst, it showed your cowardice and/or approval.

As of today, the future of fire protection in Magnetawan is tenuous because of the battle the council picked.

We suggest each and every member of that council reconsider whose side they are on before one of your resident’s calls for help goes unanswered.