Hoping to alleviate the confusion around fire protection for fringe area residents, the Cariboo Regional District is hosting a public meeting Jan. 17 at the Gibraltar Room, starting at 5:30 p.m.
“We are hoping to give residents an update because obviously there was a lot of confusion going into the Christmas season about what the situation was with their fire protection so we want to make sure everybody’s clear on the facts,” chief administrative officer Janis Bell said.
On Dec. 21 the CRD won a court injunction against the City of Williams Lake, that required the city to provide uninterrupted fire protection services to Williams Lake fringe area residents into 2013 for 120 days, at a rate of $129 per $100,000 of assessment.
The staff and board is also seeking feedback from residents.
“Obviously the issues remains in dispute between the city and the regional district so we need to talk to the residents to get a sense of what kind of outcomes they want us to try and achieve,” Bell said.
Similar to the first meeting held in the fall, the format of the meeting will include a presentation by staff and then a question and answer period.
Chair Al Richmond and some directors will be in attendance, Bell confirmed.
This time around the CRD will also distribute a survey, which will be available on the CRD’s website Jan. 18.
“On Wednesday we mailed out a letter to all of the affected property owners in the fringe area and put myself and our financial officer Scott Reid as the contacts for any questions people have,” Bell explained.
Residents will have a week to respond to the surveys.
On the day the CRD won the court injunction ruling the city said it had at no time threatened or intended to withdraw rural fire protection services.
“The city was focused on the cost of the service, not the provision of the service, and statements implying the city is withdrawing the service are wholly inaccurate and false,” the city said.
