City of M.L. plans to meet with RM over recreation and fire agreements

Nov 16, 2017 | 5:41 PM

Two topics are on the minds of Meadow Lake city council members when it comes to their partnership with the Rural Municipality of Meadow Lake – recreation and fire agreement costs.

At their Nov. 14 meeting, city council agreed unanimously to formally request a meeting with RM council, which is expected to take place in before the next city council meeting on Nov. 27.

In late October, the city received a cancellation letter for the current recreation agreement, which was signed earlier this year. In an interview with meadowlakeNOW, representatives from the RM said they would like a closer analysis of the amount of RM residents that use the current recreation facilities – like the arena, pool, and Lion’s Park.

Currently, the RM pays just over $100,000 per year into the city’s facilities. If the municipality was charged on a per capita basis, the city estimates that price tag could be anywhere between $216,000 to $350,000.

In the meeting, city manager Diana Burton said the best overall outcome would be to come to an agreement that is fair and feasible for all parties.

City staff formulated several proposed options, including implementing a tiered rental fee (a discounted rate for city residents), increased rental fees, increased property taxes, adjusting operation hours, cancelling a project or expense in the department, or a combination of proposals.

“We’re going to present this package and this spreadsheet to them, then our council would meet with their council,” she said. “We would then look to have a town hall or public forum only if we’re not able to come to an agreement.”

There is hope from city administrators that both the recreation and fire agreements can be discussed at the same meeting. The most recent fire agreement between the two municipalities was only signed for one year, and before that it was ongoing since 1984.

The fire department currently has similar agreements to respond to fires and emergencies with Flying Dust First Nation, the Village of Dorintosh and a portion of the Meadow Lake Provincial Park.

To calculate the retainer fees, the city used the actual cost of having a fire department available to respond as the basis for the flat retainer fees, and then divided them among all five partners on a per capita basis. The proposed fee for the RM would be $82,000 a year.

If deemed necessary, the public forum would allow for residents of both municipalities to ask questions and provide feedback on the matters at hand.

RM Reeve Tim McKay said he and the RM council are interested in meeting and coming to a workable agreement.

“I look forward to meeting with them and working it out, because that what we want to do for the benefit of both parties,” he said. “We will have a discussion, figure it out, see where everybody stands and go from there.”

 

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath