Mountain View County council has approved a new fire services agreement with the Town of Carstairs, an agreement the county hopes will act as a blueprint for similar agreements with other municipalities in the county.Reeve Bruce Beattie said the MCV-Carstairs agreement is a big step forward.“We certainly have been having some very good discussions with Carstairs and is a blueprint for the agreement that we hope to develop with other municipalities,” said Beattie.Division 6 councillor Paddy Munro added: “Carstairs have been just incredible to deal with. They understand that this is an essential service and that we have to work together and no matter what we have to make it work.”The new agreement makes a number of key additions and changes to the existing 2006 agreement between MVC and Carstairs.Under the new agreement, the town and county officials will meet twice a year, in April and October, to “discuss fire protection issues”, and the fire department will now report to the town CAO instead of the former fire authority as in the past.As well, the fire department, on the recommendation of the town CAO, may enter into mutual aid agreements with other municipal fire departments.Under the new agreement, the town and county agree that “in the event of two fires or (emergency) occurrences happening at or near the same time in either of the municipalities, the fire chief or his authorized representative shall decide how resources will be deployed.”The fire chief will now be required to submit all required documents to the county and town within 30 days of an incident involving the conducting or coordinating of fire investigations, required as a result of death, injury, measurable damage or loss of property.Under the new agreement's shared cost arrangement section, cost sharing will now be on a 50/50 basis between the county and town. Under the 2006 agreement, the cost sharing was on a 50/50 basis to a maximum of $130,000, then by population per cent.Variable costs associated with an emergency call – including investigation costs, costs related to insurance claims, dispatch fees – will be the responsibility of the municipality in which the call occurred.The construction of any new shared facilities shall be referred to each council to approve terms of reference for the formation of a facility feasibility committee. The terms of reference for the committee will include a funding model for capital expenses.The revenue section of the new agreement stipulates that 25 per cent of the revenues generated from fire calls will be allocated to cover expenses incurred responding to the calls.As well, 65 per cent of the revenue will be allocated to the capital reserve account and 10 per cent will be allocated to an operating reserve that will be capped at $50,000.If the operating reserve exceeds the capped amount the 10 per cent will be allocated to the capital reserve.If the agreement should be terminated by either party, the town or county may purchase any shared equipment at a value determined by the tangible capital asset value, less the percentage of ownership.Carstairs town council approved the new agreement by motion on Aug. 27.Meanwhile, MVC councillors have directed administration to set up a workshop to give councillors a better understanding of fire services offered by departments in the county and billing options open to the county.“I think the idea is to get a better understanding of the services that we are offering and where there might be some gaps in terms of what we are offering, as well as finding out if there are other funding sources that we haven't been taking advantage of,” Reeve Beattie said during the latest Policies and Priorities meeting.“We are in discussions with each of the towns about the fire service agreements and we want to make sure we have a clear understanding of what kind of services we actually need in the county. There may be services that those departments are providing that may not be relative to the county. We want to make sure that what we are paying for we need.”Coun. Munro said the workshop should include information on insurance billing.“I think we need to spend some time together and really figure this thing out,” said Munro. “I would like to see that we have an independent insurance consultant there to give us the rundown on how to deal with this. We don't want an insurance company because they are going to say, ‘sorry for your luck'. We need the guy to tell us how to actually go about this.”Jeff Holmes, director of legislative, community and agricultural services, gave councillors an update on services currently provided by the various fire departments in the county.All departments in the county have training in, among other things, structural and wildland fire response, motor vehicle collision extrication, farm equipment extrication, heavy rescue, natural gas leak response, and confined spaces rescue, council heard.The Sundre and Cremona departments have specialized ice rescue and swift water rescue capabilities.“That said, if there was an incident that occurred on the east side of the county with an ice scenario, our fire department would respond and use their basic training techniques to respond, they just wouldn't have specialized equipment or specialized training in ice rescue, but I'm sure they would do everything they could to assist the individual in need,” said Holmes.The Didsbury, Olds and Sundre departments have specialized trench rescue training.“Establishing the level of service that Mountain View County requires our local fire departments to provide is integral to meeting the needs of our residents,” administration said in a note to council.“Approved levels of service are important to ensure that additions or modifications to these service levels are approved by council and properly budgeted for.”The workshop should be held within the next month, council told administration.
