Door opened for fire review and stakeholder feedback

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

February has been a month filled with fire department documents for Wheatland County council approval, and their stance has moved toward improving communication processes, and giving firefighters and the associations more input into the content of those documents.
The original fire bylaw was sent back to the drawing board after strong objections were raised from county stakeholders.
On Feb. 5, staff came back with a cleaner, clearer document that included the fire associations in the operating structure, and a cooperation mechanism between the regional district chief and the various district chiefs in the county.
“We have tried to accommodate and integrate the comments we heard from the first go round. I think you will notice that most of them are in there, but we may have missed some,” said Alan Parkin, Wheatland County chief administrative officer.
The county’s general manager of protective, emergency and fire services stated that the new draft had not had a consultation with the stakeholders before coming to council. Council said this was an oversight by the new manager and directed that it should be done.
The Alberta Fire Commissioner’s office had suggested developing documents that included consensus from everyone, so they could be adopted by all services leading to a consistency of services in the county.
“In light of the report from the fire commissioner, one of the things he highlighted throughout his report was the span of control for the regional fire chief and the fact that all chief officers seem to report directly to him or her … although in some areas it is referenced that it is more of collaboration,” said Wheatland County Reeve Amber Link. “I will be honest with my concern, the last time we did this draft we had to rescind our first reading because there were more than textual amendments.”
She said she would also like to see some more operational information removed, as per the commissioner’s direction.
After reviewing the fire bylaw, fire service agreement and training policies earlier this month, council requested staff work with the associations, fire personnel and municipal partners to be sure they were settled with the content in those documents.
There was some discussion whom may attend the discussions and Wheatland County Deputy Reeve Glenn Koester disagreed with some of the councillors that parties should be excluded.
“We have five different associations and they are different, every one of them. We want to have a good service at the end of the day. So if the village wants to come … I don’t see the harm in it,” said Koester. “It is an opportunity to build something here and we want to have matching bylaws at the end of the day. These departments are older than the county is itself. Originally the village put up the building and paid the heating costs and the farmers paid for the fire truck. Things have progressed since that day … they share in it; it is one and the same.”
The public hearing for the fire bylaw will be held in the afternoon on April 2.
The 10-year Fire Master Plan was introduced at the Feb. 19 Wheatland County council meeting, because the implementation plan from the fire service review done in 2013 is no longer up to date with evolving changes.
Stuart Larson, general manager of protective, emergency and fire services with Wheatland County, asked that a fire and emergency consulting firm be retained to conduct a study that would include public engagement sessions with elected officials, municipal partners, community members, fire department members, staff and other stakeholder groups. Link qualified that the fire associations would be included under the other stakeholder group category.
“Several of the specific and general recommendations are no longer relevant as our fire service has changed and evolved based on demands from the community and industry alike,” said Larson. “The update will be focused on information and need analysis that is relevant; based on new bylaws, changing provincial and federal legislation, capital investment pressures, and important provincial mandates and municipal liability pressures that were not in existence when the fire services review was completed.”
Link noted the plan suggests a variety of service plans be introduced for council’s consideration and she wanted to clarify council’s direction on the suggestion.
Councillor Ben Armstrong said there are some mitigating factors to consider from provincial legislation, volunteer requirements, logistics, financial considerations and decisions by associations to dissolve their association when considering service models.
“Personally, I believe the service model that we are using now, with the combination of the fire associations and municipally run fire departments, where necessary, works well. I certainly want to be clear from my perspective that I don’t want to see a service model that doesn’t integrate our fire associations, unless that is their decision,” said Link. “Part of it is perception, and what I have been told and I have had comments made, that there is a perception from people in the public, or in our fire associations, that they have the impression that the county is moving toward a model that does not include fire associations. I want our council to be clear if that is the direction we are going in or not. There is a difference in keeping up with legislation, or if there is an attrition of a fire association because of lack of volunteers or things like that, versus we are seeking a different service model from what we currently have.”
All the councillors voiced support for the current model but suggested that having additional information may be helpful if things change in the future.
Councillor Scott Klassen noted the county has had to come up with new models for services the county gained without wanting to administer them, and Councillor Donna Biggar said the models could be included in the public engagement process to get stakeholder feedback.
It was suggested there may be a way to upgrade the current system while keeping it, and council felt hearing new ideas did not necessarily mean that changes had to be made.
Council approved the proposal to search out a consulting firm and the project is expected to cost $100,000 to $150,000.
Once the report is done, a presentation and draft will be brought to council. It is expected the document will direct decision making processes by the fire commission committee and council.