Both Mountain View and Red Deer counties are scheduled to put forward resolutions at this week's 2014 Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties (AAMDC) annual meeting in Edmonton.
The Alberta Association of Municipal Districts and Counties is an independent association comprising Alberta's 69 counties and municipal districts. It advocates with the provincial government on behalf of rural Alberta.
Mountain View County councillor Al Kemmere, who is the AAMDC resolution committee chairman, will be seeking the presidency of the association at this week's convention, which runs November 18 to 20.
Resolutions are put forward by association members, and if accepted, call on the provincial government to take certain actions outlined in the resolutions.
Mountain View County has put forward two resolutions for this year's convention.
One calls on Alberta Health Services (AHS) to “provide compensation to municipalities when fire departments are dispatched to respond to emergency calls by the emergency management system 911 dispatcher” and that an “independent review of Alberta 911 procedures takes place to ensure the 911 system is operating efficiently between police, fire, and emergency medical services.”
In the background note accompanying the resolution, the county says, in part, that, “fire-based first responders are commonly the first to arrive at accident scenes in rural Alberta. Remote rural fire departments are burning out volunteers by responding to 911 emergency medical calls. As a result of lengthy travel times, fire departments are frequently dispatched by 911 to respond to Alberta Health Services calls.”
Another background note states: “The decision of the province to separate the dispatch and communications systems for ambulance service provided by AHS has created communication barriers between fire and ambulance. An independent ‘911 Act' may eliminate these communication barriers.”
The second resolution put forward by Mountain View County requests that AHS provide an “emergency medical services system that ensures appropriate coverage and response in all areas of the province” and that AHS “considers non-ambulance transportation for clinically stable patients and considers reserving the use of ground ambulances for emergency events.”
Red Deer County and the County of Newell have put forward a resolution regarding the control and enforcement of the spread of aquatic invasive species, specifically quagga and zebra mussels.
The resolution calls on the province to “enact or amend legislation and/or regulations to include prohibited species and encompass zero tolerance, mandatory inspections and the necessary enforcement authority for aquatic invasive species to ensure the species do not invade Alberta.”
The resolution also calls, among other things, for the province to “improve monitoring through the establishment, funding and staffing of mussel inspection stations at strategic entrances into Alberta.”
A number of other association members, including Mountain View County, have already come out in support of the Red Deer-Newell resolution.
Another resolution, this one put forward by the County of Lethbridge, calls on the province to reinstate funding for resource roads and local bridge programs in rural municipalities.
The programs were zero funded in the 2013 and 2014 provincial budgets. The resource program received $31 million and the bridge program received $26 million in 2012.
“This has had a significant impact on rural infrastructure and transportation networks,” the resolution reads in part.
