Civil Action: Cariboo RD v. Williams Lake (City)

As I noted last week - the Cariboo Regional District (CRD) has launched a civil claim against the City of Williams Lake last Tuesday (Jan 15th) and filed in the Vancouver Court Registry.

In their claim, the CRD seeks the following:

1. A declaration that the RFPA (Rural Fringe Fire Protection Agreement) is valid and binding;
2. An order for specific performance of the RFPA (enforce the original RFPA);
3. In the alternative, general and special damages for breach of contract;
4. An extension to the interim injunction requiring the Defendant (City of Williams Lake) to continue to provide fire protection services until the Plaintiff (Cariboo Regional District) is able to implement a satisfactory alternative for its residents in the Rural Fringe Area;
5. Interest pursuant to the Court Order Interest Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 79;
6. Costs; and
7. Such further and other relief as this Honourable Court deems just.

The City, under BC Supreme Court rules, has 21 days to respond.  The City, as of this writing, has not filed a response (to the best of my knowledge) to the CRD Civil Claim and the allegations contained within the Claim are unproven in Court

In a report authored by the City's Acting Administrator Geoff Goodall - when the City files a response, the City could intiate mediation which is then binding on the Cariboo Regional District, although he hopes that both sides agree to mediation to speed up the process.  As I previously noted, I don't see the CRD agreeing to mediation immediately while their fire protection survey is still out until Jan 28th and certainly no action on mediation can occur, in my opinion, until after Feb 12th when CRD Directors/Staff and residents' from parts of CRD Areas D, E,F review the survey results and decide on a course of action which ranges from -- renegotiate a fire protection agreement with the City of WL, continue legal proceedings (as per above) or start up a fire department to cover the rural fringe areas, just outside the City of Williams Lake boundaries

Like many City and Rural residents, I'm sure - I will be interested to see what type of discussion is allowed on this at tonight's WL Council meeting, given that I'm sure WL City Council has been instructed (by the City's lawyer) to say as little as possible to protect the City's position in Court.

Read the civil claim document below for yourself:

Civil Action Document (City of WL vs Cariboo RD) by