A number of important issues are being addressed at the 2018 Union of B.C. Municipalities convention, according to Cariboo Regional District Area G director Al Richmond, one of the local politicians attending.
“I spoke [about] resolution SR 3 Fire Safety Act. The Province is proposing to make the Regional Districts responsible for fire inspections of all Public Buildings within the Regional District. This will be an expensive task for the Regional Districts and we believe the responsibility should be carried out by a Provincial agency such as the office of the fire commissioner or Work Safe BC for example.”
The resolution was passed, however, Cariboo Regional District Are H director Margo Wagner said the door wasn’t exactly closed on this one.
“That’s a very heated topic, we had a long discussion on it,” she said. “To put it bluntly, it’s just another download from the province we really can’t absorb. Our fire departments and volunteers do not have the time to go out and do this. Our vastness precludes anybody from doing this.”
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She also said she saw way more cons than pros in making the Regional Districts responsible for fire inspections and is hoping the Provincial Government will reconsider due to the “huge financial cost”.
“It’s an ongoing discussion, it’s not dead yet,” she concluded.
Richmond also asked again for Emergency Social Services (ESS) to be renamed to Emergency Support Services.
“I previously asked the Province to do [that] after the fires of 2017. Our ESS people want a change as many people won’t accept Assistance from ESS as they see it as Social Assistance rather than Support Assistance.”
Richmond says he was prepared to speak to the need for improved snow and ice removal services in rural areas but didn’t have to as the resolution was passed anonymously.
The resolution calls for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure to immediately undertake a review of their contractor obligations, and agreement specifications for snow and ice control in the rural areas, including a review of minimum equipment standards and staffing requirements.
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Richmond was also speaking for a change to the Rural Dividend Fund (RDF) process to be changed to the same requirements as the Federal Gas Tax Fund to reduce the application and reporting costs for accessing the RDF.
“The Federal Gas tax has defined criteria of what the funds can be used for and the requirement to report on the utilization of those funds.”
That resolution was also endorsed.
Wagner said there were also discussions with the Minister of Environment over discussions about including commercial and industrial recycling in Recycle BC’s intake.
“We really push for recycling in our communities but Recycle BC won’t accept cardboard and plastic from industries such as garages, hotels and that sort of thing, so we talked a lot about that,” said Wagner.
Wagner and the other CRD representatives also talked with the Solicitor General and the Energy Management BC people about the Abbott Chapman BC Flood and Wildfire Review Report, to see where they were at with it and when and how they would be able to enact the report’s findings.
She said there should be an announcement sometime in October detailing just that.
