The Fire Service Agreement between Mountain View County and the Village of Cremona will once again very soon be up for negotiations, officials say.
The agreement, which helps facilitate fire services for county residents through Cremona and District Emergency Services, was a topic of heated discussion earlier this year after previous Cremona council announced intent to withdraw from the agreement, and served its official withdrawal at what would be its final council meeting on Feb 26, 2013.
County council passed a motion at a recent meeting of council to have MVC CAO Tony Martens get in touch with the recently appointed official administrator (OA) for Cremona, Eric McGhan, to facilitate further negotiations.
“We wanted to have a motion on the books that Tony, our CAO, would get in contact with him (the Cremona OA) to start negotiating the fire agreement,” said Patricia McKean, Div. 2 MVC councillor and deputy reeve.
As of Tuesday afternoon, McKean said Martens was still awaiting a call from the new Cremona OA to arrange the meeting.
The village's previous OA, along with other village officials, noted the importance of the agreement's future to both municipalities.
“We understand there are few – if any – municipal services that are more important than a fire service,” said Darryl Joyce, the village's interim official administrator.
“The residents of Cremona and surrounding area deserve that best possible fire service to ensure their properties and personal safety are protected.”
McKean said she was unsure when the meeting will take place, but said wheels are in motion.
“After the first meeting we might have a better idea. We're unsure of his position – if he can even make agreements like that, or if he has to get approval from the minister,” she said. “But he seems more than willing to work with us, so I think that's very positive. We want to get it done before October.
“Otherwise, if new people get in, the whole understanding of what they mean – there's just a lot of education to begin with. We just don't feel we want to wait on that for (the fire agreement). We want to get it done as quickly as possible.”
“Tony (Martens) mentioned that to Eric (McGhan) when they talked previously, and Eric understood that. But until we have that initial meeting, we're unsure what will happen. It sounds positive anyways.”
Joyce assured that the status of the fire agreement between Cremona and Mountain View County “is a priority, and will be discussed with MVC within a very short time.”
“Leaving the matter up in the air until after the general election in October is not desirable for the residents of Cremona or MVC, who has a large rural area around Cremona,” he said.
Newly appointed OA Eric McGhan could not be reached before press deadline for further comment.
Cremona fire chief John Newbery said he hoped discussions at an upcoming fire authority meeting would lead to some direction from the new Cremona OA, who he believed is slated to attend.
“Where that leaves us, I'm not really sure. Hopefully we'll get some news. I know it's (the agreement) on the county's mind, and other people's as well,” said Newbery.
“Meanwhile, we're just carrying on as usual.”
"We understand there are few - if any - municipal services that are more important than a fire service"Darryl Joyce, Village of Cremona
