Cariboo RD Rural Fire Mtg #2

At a meeting that included the presence of CRD Chair Al Richmond, CRD Directors Deb Bischoff, Bryon Kemp, Joan Sorley, CRD Chief Administrator Janis Bell, Financial Officer Scott Reid and the CRD's Protective Services Manager Rowena Bastien and almost 400 rural fringe residents' - the Cariboo Regional District updated those in attendance on the situation on fire protection for their homes.  There will be a future meeting on Tuesday, Feb 12th at 5:30pm in the Gibraltar Room to review survey responses and to get future direction as to what option to pursue.  You can complete the online version of the Survey here and review the full presentation by Janis Bell below

Powerpoint presentation - CRD Rural Fringe Fire Protection... 


Only City of Williams Lake Councillor Danica Hughes was at the meeting.  The meeting could have been more productive, from my perspective, had Mayor Cook and her Acting Administrator (G. Goodall) shown up to answer some questions - a point raised by some residents' and could have lead to a better understanding of both sides of this situation... (again, my own view)

In the meantime, Ms. Bell had a PowerPoint presentation for the roughly 375 residents (one's I counted at the beginning of the meeting) and reviewed the following topics:

a) History
b) Tax Requisition History
c) Comparison of VFD Rates within the Cariboo RD
d) Comparison of Municipal FD Rates to rural fringe areas (Quesnel, WL and 100 Mile House)
e) Comparison of Fire Department costs for Quesnel & Williams Lake
f) Review of Options and pros/cons of those options (Continue legal proceedings, re-negotiate or start new fire department)
g) Manpower requirements - 6 months of training, min 15 volunteers required to maintain certification of fire department

In the subsequent Question and Answer Period, most questions fell within the following:

a) Firm Fire Protection Numbers from City of WL?
b) Who's paying the $15,000 legal fees to date from Cariboo RD -- rural residents
c) 1 Fire Hall/Satellite Fire Halls for New Fire Dept -- 1 Central Fire Hall to serve all locations
d) Let's Fight Williams Lake City Hall... phone your neighbours in Williams Lake and 'educate' them as to what their Williams Lake City Council is doing to us and them...
e) What happens post-April 30th training, legal, etc

Most residents' felt that the City's action were 'dishonourable' and the CRD should continue with legal proceedings and the CRD should start its' own rural fire department for affected residents' in CRD Areas D,E,F

Ms. Bell also informed residents' that the Cariboo RD filed legal documents with, presumably, the BC Supreme Court to seek one of two options:

1) Court order to honour City's pre-referendum commitment of $129 per 100,000 of residential assessment (2012 figure) to a maximum of $147 per 100,000

2) Court order to require City to maintain services until CRD's "Central Cariboo VFD" is up and running

The meeting lasted from 5:30pm until just past 7:00pm

Steve's view:

I personally want to applaud the Cariboo Regional District for being so forthright with its' residents, but I can't say the same for Williams Lake City Council (and why they refuse is beyond me and I think most CRD rural fringe residents')

As I personally review the Oct 26th letter from the City of Williams Lake to the Cariboo Regional District - it appears, on the face of it, that the letter does not constitute an formal offer, however if you "read between the lines" - one could argue that in fact, City of Williams Lake Council Res #468/12 as a whole constitues a formal offer which then the CRD took to their residents' on Nov 24th, 2012

Council Res #468/12 was adopted by the following vote on Oct 23rd:

Yeas - Mayor Cook and Councillors Bourdon, Walters and Zacharias
Nays - Councillor Bonnell, Hughes, and Rathor

It should be noted that Councillors Laurie Walters, Geoff Bourdon and Sue Zacharias were the City's part of the negotiating Committee for a new Fire Protection Agreement with the Cariboo RD but no proposed agreement came forward

Then on Dec 11th of 2012 - the City changes its' stance behind closed doors (and no justification as of this writing) (and I can see where the City could be accused of 'reneged' although Councillor Hughes is adamant that the City did not renege) and passed In-Camera Res #172/12 as follows:

“That Council enter into a 1 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.”

Unlike Oct 23rd - there is no indication, at this point, if the above resolution was adopted unanimously or not, but it is likely, in my mind, that one Councillor jumped 'one side' to the 'other side' and likely the City had received legal advice that it was able to pass In-Camera Res #172/12.  This after Mayor Cook said on Oct 23rd to Councillor Ivan Bonnell that passing his five recommendations would entail legal implications on the City

The City then informed the Cariboo RD Board on Dec 12th of its' In-Camera Res #IC172/12

The Cariboo RD then launched legal proceedings against the City of Williams Lake on Thurs Dec 20th and a decision by the BC Supreme Court was handed down the following day (Fri Dec 21st) to grant a 120 day (4 months) temporary injunction against the City to continue providing fire protection until April 30th, 2013.

Ms. Bell also informed the audience that it is 'inaccurate' to say that the City of Williams Lake supported the court injunction as no Corporation has ever supported a court proceeding against itself and I agree wholeheartedly with Ms. Bell - The City of Williams Lake should have never made that statement and Mayor Cook, on this, got very poor advice...

Going forward -- I don't see a quick and easy solution given the 'very wide' gap between CRD Staff/Directors' and with my conversations with WL City Councillors Danica Hughes/SPS Rathor.  I'm not entirely sure myself that a mediator could bridge the gap between CRD/City of WL on this, if neither side can not agree on a basic set of financial stats on this file.  Councillor Rathor is adamant that if anyone is bullying here, it is the Cariboo Regional District.  The City however, in my opinion, had ample time to warn off the CRD if they didn't like what they were doing in Sept/Oct 2012 but they chose to do nothing until after the Nov 24th vote and the City (and many rural residents feel the City did this)  - chose to attempt to bluff rural residents' and their elected representatives into paying more with zero justification for it but that move backfired on the City.  Had we, as a region, started talks way back in 2010, rather than waiting until the '11th hour to resolve this, we, like Quesnel, probably would have already had a signed fire protection agreement.  As we saw in the late 90's when it was a 'Mayor' Ivan Bonnell who started a 'piss' fight with the Regional District over recreation and thankfully either side had an 'angel' to get things resolved by way of former Cariboo RD Area 'F' Director Duncan Barnett and former Williams Lake Mayor (then Councillor) Rick Gibson.  Fast forward to today - neither side has that 'angel' today as both sides (as I talk with either side) have reason to 'distrust' each other and we still (as I previously noted) have a MOU to re-negotiate yet plus settle a new Management Contract to operate the Cariboo Memorial Recreation Complex which is wholly owned by the Cariboo Regional District.  It is my sincere hope that we are not going back to the old 'petty' fighting days that we saw in 2004-2008 between the City of Quesnel and Cariboo Regional District as I personally saw, at meetings, how that benefited neither side and left a sour taste in everyone's mouth for a number of years...

Finally - CRD Chair Al Richmond expressed hope that both sides can find a resolve to this situation however I am not as confident as he is, given the anger of rural residents and the fact that both sides (City of WL/CRD) have a 'polar opposite' view of the entire situation, as far as a solution goes... and in fact, it is very likely that a BC Supreme Court justice will need to resolve the whole mess him or herself

See below for documents handed out at the meeting:

CRD Rural Fringe Fire Protection Documents