Mountain View County will share in the cost of fire hall repairs in Carstairs but is holding off on approving firefighting equipment purchases until more clarity is reached on levels of service, council decided at its May 16 meeting.Council voted to approve $23,000 to cover half of the cost of overhead doors, sidewalk repairs and driveway paving at the Carstairs Fire Hall. However, it deferred two other requests – for up to $15,000 to cost-share replacement of a Carstairs Fire Department command truck and $65,000 to cover half of the additional costs for an Olds Fire Department rescue truck, for which the county has already budgeted $150,000.With CAO Tony Martens scheduled to meet with his counterparts the next day to discuss levels of service, Reeve Bruce Beattie questioned whether it was premature for council to approve any of the funding requests.“I'm wondering if we're putting the cart before the horse if we go ahead with these expenditures before we finalize our fire service agreements with the towns,” Beattie said.“I'm just wondering if the timing is right for these items.”Martens suggested the Carstairs Fire Hall request was different from the other two items because it was for maintenance, whereas “the other two would affect level of service,” he said.
