‘It’s been a pleasure’: City, R.M. of North Battleford part ways on fire services

Any businesses that need to have approved emergency plans are told to contact the R.M. to renew them, as previous approvals were reviewed under the authority of the city, which expires April 1.

The partnership was brought under the microscope and first called into question early in 2019. A five-year agreement to supply the R.M. with services from the city’s fire department ended on Dec. 31.

Earlier in January, a press release from the city said negotiations between both governments on a new agreement had reached an impasse. This came as a slight shock to the rural government as they were under the impression talks would be ongoing until one could be ratified.

According to the R.M., the city is requesting an increase in funding to $220,000 per year for five years, with the potential for increases throughout. The previous agreement saw the R.M. pay a total of $775,000, though the total costs for actual services tallied just around $200,000, calculated from monthly reports outlining what the department responded to. The surplus is not returned.

The city initially offered to provide service on an on-call basis until Feb. 28 and extended this deadline to the end of March in late January. Each call was individually billed to the rural government.

Administer Debbie Arsenault previously told battlefordsNOW that establishing and managing a rural volunteer department could be “in the best interest of the ratepayers” and “would be more cost efficient,” more so given the new funding demand from North Battleford.

At the time, she stressed the call for volunteers was a contingency plan as the R.M. was to liaise with the city to establish a meeting with Mayor Ryan Bater and council to discuss a path forward.

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tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr

by Tyler Marr

‘It’s been a pleasure’: City, R.M. of North Battleford part ways on fire services

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