Throughout my time on council, I have gone door to door, not only in election years, but every year meeting people and passing out information newsletters and collecting resident feedback. Most recently while distributing my Spring Newsletter, I met an elderly gentleman as I was walking door to door in Viscount Estates in Essex. He stated that he had lived there for many years and had never seen the fire hydrants checked, maintained, nor flushed. He asked me if I could please look into it. As soon as I arrived home, I contacted the property management company (as it is private lease land property) and they replied that they were looking into it and scheduling maintenance. I also let Town Hall know of my concerns. A few months later, I was talking with another Viscount resident and asked if he had seen any maintenance of the hydrants to which he replied he hadn’t. I once again sent an email to Essex administration making them aware that these resident concerns had not been addressed as it is clearly (to me) a fire safety issue.
Essex administration is now looking into it but I wanted to follow up with a Notice of Motion in council in a public, transparent manner because that is the only mechanism council has to give direction to administration. It’s important to ensure that council has shown due diligence on this file and that our residents living in land lease properties know that their fire protection is functional and up to date.
I am hoping for discussion with council about what enforcement measures and possible penalties can be placed on owners of land lease properties who fail to maintain fire safety standards. I would also like to see internal policies created to provide assurance that annual inspection protocols are followed by the property owners/managers.
Subsequent Action…
The following Notice of Motion will be presented at the August 2, 2022 Regular Council Meeting and will be brought forward for Council’s consideration at the August 22, 2022 Regular Council Meeting:
Whereas the safety of the residents in the Town of Essex is of the upmost importance and land leased properties provide many conveniences but it has come to the council of the Town of Essex’s attention that it may be possible that the owners of some land leased properties have not kept up with fire hydrant inspection and maintenance.
Whereas Essex Council Direct administration to come back with a comprehensive list of all land lease properties/developments ensuring they have necessary fire prevention and protection and that council be provided with reassurance that our residents living in these private properties have working fire hydrants and a fire plan.
