This text is part of the special section Municipalities
Thanks to consolidation agreements, municipalities can become more efficient by joining forces. A way of pooling expertise and resources, to offer better service to citizens.
Municipalities must meet increasingly stringent criteria in multiple areas: residual materials, wastewater management, police or transport. Cities must continually improve their services, but this comes at a cost and requires skills that are not accessible to everyone. It is on this subject that the conference entitled “Municipal efficiency: coming together to prosper” will focus on May 23 at the Palais des congrès de Montréal, as part of the Annual Conference of the Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ).
An alliance, for what purpose?
Municipal groupings aim to reduce expenses or investments by pooling them, which can also happen with labor. This model is for example applied to the fire department of the city of Longueuil.
“This saves costs and guarantees better health and greater safety at work,” says the director of the fire safety service for the Longueuil agglomeration, Jean Melançon.
The man, who has been at the head of this department for ten years, is also co-president of the Association of Fire and Civil Security Managers of Quebec (AGSICQ), and will speak at the conference.
He knows the grouping, because the city of Longueuil is part of the Longueuil agglomeration fire safety service (SSIAL) which brings together four other localities, namely Boucherville, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Saint-Lambert and Brossard . In other words, there is only one fire department for the five municipalities with a total of more than 448,000 inhabitants.
The grouping makes it possible to share costs, summarizes Mr. Melançon, and also to respond to the problem of succession for this profession. He adds that it is also possible to do multi-service, that is to say, to distribute equipment purchases or training: “A city can have an aerial ladder and lend it to other municipalities to help.”
Not all cities are equal
“Groupings are generally done when there are economies of scale,” says Jean-Philippe Meloche, professor at the School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Montreal. But these are not the same for all municipalities, depending on the distribution of wealth. “It can be frustrating when you’re in a system with rich cities and poorer cities,” he says. Because, according to the sharing model, those with more means may have the impression of being losers, or of having to contribute more.
Provincial laws force municipalities to reach standards, explains Mr. Meloche, who is also principal researcher of the Territories theme at the Interuniversity Research Center in Organization Analysis (CIRANO). But small communities do not necessarily have the capacity to achieve this. Regrouping therefore becomes inevitable, but it depends above all on geography, he adds. Indeed, cities that come together do so with their neighbors, which can also bring its share of constraints depending on size or demographics.
From Mr. Melançon’s point of view, regarding fire safety services, action must be taken: “We cannot stay as we are currently. There are small towns in Quebec that are no longer able to have firefighters, particularly because of the glaring replacement problem in the regions.
Acceptance of change
A grouping of municipalities is decided by the cities and sometimes misunderstood by the population concerned. “Citizens like their territorial belonging, and it is often frowned upon,” says Mr. Meloche. Especially since it can be accompanied by a new way of doing things, which disrupts habits.
The development may also frighten mayors or city directors. If there are common interests, there are also diverging ones. This is what Mr. Melançon notes. “Often, that’s where things get stuck. Sometimes we are afraid of change, there is a bit of parochialism. We fear losing our status,” he observes. For him, the conference will be an opportunity to highlight the importance of working together, to be more effective and overcome apprehensions.
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