ARICHAT - Municipal councilors for Richmond County are calling for a closer look at an independent study on fire service protection for communities across the county, especially since it could contain critical advice on how to best deliver such services to the county's heavy-industry core in Point Tupper.

The study originally arrived at the council chambers this past May, and several of the county's former councilors - including then-Warden Brian Marchand - said that they wished to devote further study to the report before considering a request from the Town of Port Hawkesbury to have its fire department be the first responder for Point Tupper, which lies just outside of the town boundaries. 

As a result, the county contracted the Louisdale and District Volunteer Fire Department - located twenty kilometres away from Point Tupper - to provide fire service protection to the community. With that contract set to expire in May, District Three councilor Melanie Sampson - who replaced Marchand as councilor in this fall's municipal elections - is suggesting that council take a closer look at the consultant's report and act accordingly in the weeks to come. 

"We do have a [municipal] Fire Services Committee, so in recognition of the fact that we have a report that we need to be briefed on, and we have a new Emergency Services Coordinator, I would just like to get it on our schedule that we would be briefed on that [report] and that we would be looking at what our options are for fire services," Sampson told this month's Committee of the Whole meeting.

Richmond's Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), Don Marchand, assured Sampson that the committee would be asked to meet shortly to launch these discussions.