Developing a plan

Times Contributor

 

The Wheatland Fire Services Review Committee met with Wheatland Council for clarification about the committee’s operational scope and terms of reference.

The Committee was set up to develop a comprehensive plan that will keep Rural Fire Services within Wheatland County functional and improve service and stability for the future.

“Our intention is to keep it a volunteer service and determine an operating model,” said Chief Administrative Officer Jennifer Deak.

The Committee representatives are from the Villages, the Rural Fire Associations and the County. They are to gather information from all stakeholders and develop a draft Rural Fire Plan. The plan is intended to be a collaborative effort and the results to be accepted collaboratively.

Clarification of the process indicated that all stakeholders give input and council clarified that while there were individual Fire Department Chiefs on the Committee, their role would be to represent the Fire Associations as a whole. Fire Departments and other stakeholders would direct their concerns through the Committee representatives.

A grant is available to the committee to retain a consultant, who will consolidate and format the final report. It was questioned whether the recommendations of the consultant’s report would be binding. Council agreed that there should be no omissions or major changes to the final recommendations.

The Committee questioned whether the Alberta Fire Commissioner should be the consultant.

A grant is available to pay for the retention of the consultant and development of the final plan. Application for the grant, including a general description of what the grant would be used for, must be in prior to November 30. 

“I think we need to move forward on this,” said Councillor Ben Armstrong. “The Committee has (done) the work and they have done a fairly good job of it.”

Council directed staff to take the clarification information to the Committee and move forward with the grant application.