The Town of Huntsville is in search of a Huntsville/Lake of Bays fire chief once more following the mysterious departure of former fire chief Rob Collins.
Collins replaced former fire chief Steve Hernen who had been at the helm of the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire Department for the past 23 years before retiring. Hernen introduced Collins, who moved to the community from the Blue Mountain area, at a Huntsville council meeting held on September 28, 2020.
At the time, Hernen told council: “I’m quite familiar with Rob because when we did some restructuring at the fire hall a few years ago and we picked Rob’s brains and we followed some of what they’d done in Blue Mountain, so Rob is quite familiar with our operation… And Rob shares a lot of the same beliefs that I share when it comes to fire prevention and fire response.”
The Town of Huntsville has an agreement with the Township of Lake of Bays for fire services.
On January 12, 2022, the following release was issued by the Town of Huntsville:
The Town would like to announce the appointment of the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire department’s Interim Fire Chief Larry Brassard. Chief Brassard has a proven track record for leading fire and emergency services throughout his career. Most recently Chief Brassard held a senior role with the Ontario Fire Marshall’s Office in Fire Investigation services. Due to a recent departure of the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Fire Chief, the placement of an interim Fire Chief was necessary.
Chief Brassard looks forward to taking on this interim role, “I look forward to meeting and working with Fire department staff and volunteers to continue to offer the excellent services Huntsville and Lake of Bays residents have come to rely on within their communities.
Huntsville’s Chief Administrative Officer, Denise Corry stated, “I am looking forward to working with Chief Brassard and want to thank him for stepping into the interim role to provide his services. This will allow us the necessary time to seek a permanent Fire Chief to continue to lead the Huntsville/Lake Of Bays Fire departments for years to come. Mr. Brassard will be supported by an amazing team in our fire service and I anticipate the transition will be seamless.”
Fire Chief Larry Brassard can be reached by email or on the Town website at www.huntsville.ca.
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Brian Tapley says
Departures of chiefs of departments, be they fire, planning or some other administrative function, should not be “mysterious”.
In Russia, maybe, but not in Canada.
We spend too much money on these department head figures for them to just mysteriously vanish. There has to be a reason, maybe a very good one, but “mystery” is not one of them and the public deserves, out of respect for the position, to be told the reason.
Over the last few years this has happened with Lake of Bays CAO and twice now with the planning chief, all with no explanation to the public who ultimately foots the bills for these talking heads.
This is just not a good way to gain public confidence in the administration. When staff are “fired” or “leave” (and there is difference) there should be a reason. This is not necessary in the private sector, but it should be necessary in the public one or otherwise, when we know that the “powerful leader” of an important segment of our local government can just “mysteriously vanish” or in some cases “be escorted from the building”, never to return and no reason ever given, well this kind of undermines the confidence the citizens have that the administration is serious. It starts to look a lot like some kind of insider trading game with a revolving door at one end and that is not good.
randy spencer says
Was Gary Monaghan ever considered or anyone else amongst the ranks as was the case with Fire Chief Hernen