Fire board bylaw controversy

By Sharon McLeay Times Contributor

Questions were raised about the new fire board bylaw 2019-1, passed for first reading at the Jan. 8 Wheatland County council meeting.
“Section 3.5 states that (fire board) members will not be a member of a volunteer fire department; we have some fire departments out there that won’t have representatives, because everyone is on the fire department,” said Councillor Ben Armstrong.
Alan Parkin, Wheatland County chief administrative officer, has asked his staff to clarify their rationale when drafting the bylaw.
“I set up a similar system for this at my previous employer,” said Stuart Larson, manager with Wheatland County’s emergency, fire and protection Services. “Simply why we do it like this is, if you have an active firefighter on a board that is looking at capital, you don’t get that completely objective view. At times, they can slant towards certain types of apparatus and certain types of manufacturers that are not necessarily cost effective or the smartest buy.”
Councillor Jason Wilson said he understands where the concerns are coming from, “but this is an advisory board voting structure. It wouldn’t really matter … its (the fire board) consensus is the only way they can advise us as council. The board is advisory, they are not making any decisions, they can push as hard as they want for their equipment, but the final say is with council.”
The question arose as to how the board could make informed decisions without having anyone with fire expertise sitting on the board. Armstrong said the bylaw does not prevent the board from bringing in experts for advice.
Rockyford Mayor Darcy Burke, who also serves as a firefighter, wants a Rockyford representative and someone with fire experience at the table. He said an expanded board with adequate representation could avoid all this controversy and promote good communication.
Deputy Reeve Glenn Koester stated that he also had heard concerns from municipal partners. Some asked why the board could not be larger, similar to the fire review board, which had representation for each area of the county. He said the smaller board contains the focus, but the fire board would not be hindered in gathering information in any manner they decided.
“There is no reason that the board couldn’t have a sub-committee and listen, or have everybody to come in, if that is what they so wish to do,” said Koester, who added that he relies on board, committee recommendations and expert consultation to make his council decisions.
No discussion was given to the board’s authority to conduct post-event evaluations and make decisions in procedures, training and disciplinary oversight. Burke was not sure if the proposed board could adequately review fire events without knowledge of firefighting and the complexities involved at the scene. He said fire chiefs already do event reviews and he did not think those should be conducted by the board.
The bylaw will come back to council Feb. 5, for second and third reading.