Mountain View County council has directed administration to obtain quotes on a new pumper truck for the Water Valley Fire Hall, but stopped short of approving the expenditure.The decision followed a presentation by Greg Harris, chairman of the Cremona and District Emergency Services Authority, on the need to replace the 20-year-old pumper currently stationed at the hall.“This truck, she's tired. She's 20 years old and is costing us a lot of money to maintain,” Harris said.With the hall located 14 kilometres from the fire hall in Cremona, Harris said the department's goal is to have two front-line pumpers in operation. The new Water Valley pumper would come with “rural features” – four-wheel drive, higher ground clearance and less weight.The estimated replacement cost is $400,000 and would be borne entirely by the county.The two pumpers, Harris said, “will still back each other up but this unit will be more targeted on rural firefighting.”Harris said the county's 20-year construction plan has contained conflicting dates on the pumper replacement, due in 2011 under the 2008 plan, in 2012 under the 2009 plan, and now in 2016 under the latest plan.“Respectfully, this doesn't seem to be a 20-year plan – it changes every year,” Harris said.“Now they've got us at 2016 which means the truck will be nearly 25 years old before we get a new truck, and that's really stretching it.”Div. 7 Coun. Paddy Munro moved to defer the request until after council concludes its comprehensive fire service agreements with partnering municipalities.“I think it's prudent we wait and get a plan,” Munro said. “Let's get a level of service figured out.”Other councillors agreed, but defeated Munro's motion, arguing that obtaining a quote would not carry any cost.CAO Tony Martens stressed that council had to decide on a level of service, but obtaining a quote, he added, “isn't going to hurt anything as long as it's understood there's no funding commitment by Mountain View County.”
