Residents and area officials packed Water Valley Community Hall on March 15 for an open house hosted by Mountain View County (MVC), where a panel of county officials endeavoured to explain the issues surrounding a fire services agreement between the Village of Cremona and MVC.
The panel, made up of councillors Robert Orr (Div. 5) Paddy Munro (Div. 6), Duncan Milne (Div. 3), Deputy Reeve Patricia McKean (Div. 2), and Jeff Holmes (director of legislative, community and agricultural services) attempted to clarify the situation and give residents the opportunity to have their questions answered.
“As I have stated, we have had negotiations,” said McKean. “County administration and council have put offers on the table, but Cremona did not accept them.
“Our concern as council is that we need to be financially responsible to our rate-payers, and ensure that we are providing safe fire protection.”
The county provided those who attended the meeting with multiple documents containing pertinent information, including operating budgets, expense reports, diagrams of response times, lists of capital purchases, and an itemized list of its dealings with the Village of Cremona regarding the fire services agreement.
McKean cited the bulk of operational costs it incurs for services provided to its residents as the reason it wished to retain the fire authority between county and village municipalities, as opposed to the fire advisories, which other towns within MVC have as part of their new agreements.
“We are not comfortable leaving this in the hands of the Cremona administration and council,” she said. “We do not feel Cremona administration or council is capable right now, of handling that.”
“Our current offer is to renegotiate the agreement, and have a four-to-one ratio, with the county holding the majority of the votes. With all this happening, we have decided we are not letting our residents ever be put at this risk again. It will be four to one.”
This would reflect the 80/20 ratio of residents in the Cremona and District Emergency Services (CDES) whose fire services are funded through MVC, she said.
The fire authority for CDES currently has two appointed officials and one councillor from each municipality.
The new offer from MVC includes provisions that place administrative work for the fire authority under the care of the county staff, and MVC absorption of all liabilities and insurance risks, she said.
“Our main priority is fire protection for our residents, and we do see the benefit in keeping the two fire halls as one operation,” she said.
As of March 19, Mayor Leslie Abrams and CAO Terry Lofstrom tendered their resignations with the village, while councillor Mindy Whittle's official resignation was received March 13 of this year.
Municipal Affairs will now be stepping in to assume control of the Village of Cremona, though no word has been received from the minister as to whether these developments will result in a byelection for Cremona, or if the viability study the Village of Cremona is currently undergoing will be affected.
If no resolution regarding a fire services agreement is reached before its slated termination in January 2014, McKean said MVC has requested Carstairs Fire to assist in fire services for the easterly side of the Cremona Fire District.
MVC would also equip the Water Valley station with the ability to operate on its own, she said.
Currently, the Water Valley hall is an arm of the Cremona Fire Department, and is not rated for independent operations.
“I have reviewed the Cremona 2013 budget, and I see they have proposed a $355 surplus at the end of the year. With those extra funds, I'm not sure how they'll be able to financially provide equipment for the fire department, or the funds to operate it,” she said.
“So I hope we're able to find an agreement prior for the Cremona residents.”
McKean stressed to the volunteer firefighters present at the meeting that the county stands behind them.
“We respect what you do for our residents, and we feel you should not be put in the middle of this political game. I hope we can resolve this quickly so we can eliminate any stress from the department,” she said.
One issue raised by Cremona councillor Mindy Whittle was MVC's purchase of Ice and Stillwater Rescue equipment, which was approved by the fire authority and taken to MVC to request funding.
Whittle said Cremona council never received the request for approval, and cited provisions with the fire authority agreement that state the authority must approach both councils for approval of such recommendations.
Cremona has a council member who sits on the fire authority who was aware of this recommendation going forward.
“We voted and passed it at the authority – which would take more than just the three members on the county. At that time the village members voted in favour of it,” said Greg Harris, fire authority chairman.
The county was asked to fund 100 per cent of the capital expenses for the equipment, which would help in the prevention of drowning within the county, he said.
“It stayed that way for a year and a half, until it became an issue that “We weren't advised,” said Harris. “The minutes from the meeting are forwarded to all members of the authority and CAOs from both municipalities.”
“It was just found out about a couple months ago that for some reason, all of Greg's (Harris) emails to Terry (Lofstrom) were going to some junk folder, and he (Terry) wasn't getting them,” said McKean.
Residents and former officials publicly expressed their frustration at the situation.
The original chairman of the fire authority, Dick Jarand, who served from 2000 to 2003, stood up and spoke to the gathered crowd, opposing the Cremona council's letter of intent to terminate the agreement.
“This would be a lose-lose situation. Unfortunately, the big loser would be Cremona as they would have to pay 100 per cent of their operating costs rather than 25 per cent of the joint costs,” said Jarand.
“Cremona would have significant costs relating to the acquisition of existing and future capital equipment.”
Jarand was part of the steering committee that suggested the single fire chief and two fire hall joint venture between MVC and Cremona in 1999.
“If the department is split in two, there would be two chiefs and the 24 members would have to choose which hall they would work out of,” he said. “I suggest, over time, this would become very divisive and we would lose the camaraderie that currently exists in the department.
“I don't like to share rumours, but I heard this was a bargaining tactic,” said one resident in reference to Cremona council's letter of intent to withdraw from the agreement. “You don't bargain with people's lives.”
Another resident added: “I think we're all forgetting we're a community as a whole in this. Cremona and Water Valley – we have always helped each other, and I think we should work together to try and find a way to fix this.”
