News and event information for Williams Lake, BC - as it happens.

On November 24, a referendum was held by the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) to determine if affected residents wished to continue having their fire protection services provided by the City of Williams Lake Fire Department. This was necessary because the previous fire protection agreement was terminated by the Province, and two secondary fire protection agreements between the Cariboo Regional District and the City of Williams Lake were set to expire at the end of 2012.

The vote was overwhelmingly in favor. Of the 1,008 residents who participated in the referendum, 978 votes were in favour and just 30 residents opposed. The reported cost to hold the referendum was $9,500.

A new five-year fire protection plan was tentatively put in place whereby the City of Williams Lake would provide fire protection services to the Cariboo Regional District.

However, according to a December 14 news release from the Cariboo Regional District, the CRD was informed by the City of Williams Lake that a ‘new’ agreement must be struck, with ‘increased’ rates for fire protection services for Williams Lake rural fringe area residents.

CRD Chair Al Richmond said, “The CRD was shocked by the City’s actions and very concerned about maintaining services for our rural residents.”

On December 18, the Williams Lake City Council brought forward a motion that “Council enter into a one year agreement with the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) to provide fire protection to those areas of D, E, and F based on the maximum requisition indicated in the Regional District’s Bylaw and further, prior to the expiration of this agreement, the City and CRD enter into discussions for renewal of fire protection services.”

Unfortunately, the new proposed offer by the City of Williams Lake is a far cry from the original deal offered and then pulled by City Council more recently. The current agreement for rural fire protection is scheduled to expire on December 31, and the new agreement would have taken effect on January 1, 2013.

Currently, residents within the City of Williams Lake pay approximately $74/$100,000 assessed value. Rural residents in the CRD pay $129/$100,000. The city’s new proposal would raise that rate to $147/$100,000. “Basically, they want more money,” says Sorley.

In a CBC radio interview given by Joan Sorley, CRD Area ‘F’ Director, told listeners that she “could not imagine someone would renege on an offer we negotiated in good faith” and that the CRD is “not entirely sure what the rationale was” for the city rescinding the offer. What is known, is that the City wants a one year agreement instead of the five year agreement originally offered.

The dust-up between the city and the CRD also raises the question of why the City of Williams Lake allowed the November referendum to take place, if the parties involved knew the rates being discussed and circulated weren’t going to be sufficient?

In the meantime, the CRD had made assurances that it is taking every step to ensure that fire protection services for rural fringe residents do not lapse including, if necessary, legal action. “It would be premature to speculate on alternative options at this point as we are currently seeking to ensure that the City honors its commitments to deliver the services at the agreed upon price,” said Al Richmond. “We hope that legal action will not become necessary, but given the short time frame from now until December 31st, if it does, we will act swiftly to avoid a service disruption.”

To avoid conflict of interest, since the Mayor of Williams Lake sits on the CRD Board of Directors, Al Richmond says the CRD was forced to organize a committee to deal with this situation that excludes the City of Williams Lake representative.

The fringe fire protection matter was added as a late item to the regular City Council Meeting of December 18 and was discussed briefly at that time. All other related discussions have been done in-camera. ('In camera' meetings are closed board meetings -- no public and no media permitted. They generally cover information not recorded in the minutes or divulged to the public. They may be about personnel, finances, and sensitive decisions that must be kept confidential.) It is interesting to note that the Williams Lake City Councillors speaking out about the original agreement were not on the committee appointed to negotiate a new fire protection agreement with the CRD.

Also of note, the provincial fire protection agreement with City of Quesnel expired at the same time as the one with the City of Williams Lake. The CRD petitioned the rural residents, the petition was successfully completed in November and the same terms and rates within that provincial rural fire protection agreement was rolled-over to the Cariboo Regional District.

The Cariboo Regional District informed Got News Network Inc. that they had not had any response from the City regarding their December 14 media release at the time this article was published. The City has not responded to any of Got News Network Inc.’s inquiries related to this issue.

A public information meeting will be scheduled by the Cariboo Regional District early in January 2013, to provide updated information and seek input from residents.

 

 

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