MOUNTAIN VIEW COUNTY - Area municipalities have been invited to take part in a proposal to form an emergency social services (ESS) plan for the district.
The plan would support the basic essential needs of individuals, households, and communities affected by emergencies in the district.
Providing a collaborative approach to multi-jurisdictional emergency response, the Mountain View Regional Emergency Management Agency (MVREMA) is made up of representatives from the municipalities of Didbury, Olds, Sundre, Carstairs, Cremona and Mountain View County.
MVREMA is proposing to hire a consultant to collaborate with member municipalities, review current regional emergency response plan, review existing urban ESS plans, and prepare a new ESS plan.
The society plans to apply for an $35,000 grant from the Alberta Community Partnership grant program.
Member municipalities are being asked to approve and support the grant application, with Didsbury council doing so by way of motion at the recent council meeting.
Mountain View County would be the managing partner in the grant application process.
“All members on the MVREMA understand that any large emergency social service activation will require all the communities in the region to come together to hep provide for displaced citizens,” said the county's chief administrative officer Jeff Holmes.
Once completed the ESS plan would “delineate the required staff, their roles and responsibilities in all facets of ESS operations and would detail how volunteers and support organizations would be incorporated and employed within the jurisdiction’s ESS structure and operations.”
It would also identify the primary services that will be provided, such as food, shelter, clothing and first aid, and those secondary services will be available, such as multi-cultural support, child-minding, and companion animal care.
If hired the consultant would meet with each municipality to consult on the plan and to better understand the community and its resources, and review each municipalities pre-existing emergency social services plans.
A council resolution from each of the partner councils is required as part of the grant application.
As far as a timeline, CAO Holmes told the Albertan: “We are waiting for all municipal partners to pass motions before applying. Mountain View County council has approved ours.”
