City and RM of M.L. agree on fire and recreation costs

Meadow Lake’s local municipalities are seeing eye-to-eye on a couple of important matters after a recent meeting between leaders.

Gary Vidal, Mayor of Meadow Lake and Tim McKay, the Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Meadow Lake met recently to discuss fire and recreation agreements between the municipalities. 

There had been short-term agreements made on both in recent years, and both councils agreed to the updated terms at their respective meetings.

For the recreation agreement, the RM will pay the city $100,000 per year from 2018 to 2020 to contribute to the cost and use of the city’s various facilities. The city will also attempt to provide annual usage statistics to the RM and the two parties will meet regularly to keep one other up to date.

For the fire agreement, the RM will be charged a retainer fee of $82,000 for 2018.  For 2019-2021, The retainer fee will be calculated based on the historical average of three years of actual costs for the operation of the fire department multiplied by a percentage based on the population of the Rural Municipality compared to the total area serviced by the Meadow Lake Fire Department.

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Meadow Lake Fire Department currently provides service to the surrounding area, including Dorintosh, Flying Dust First Nation. The RM will also be charged depending on the number of hours spent at an emergency scene.

Mayor Vidal said the meeting was incredibly beneficial, and both parties have a better understanding of each other’s needs and expectations.

“We got a really good understanding of some of the challenges we both face,” he said. “At the end of the day, we both realized it was important to get this done. We have a good partnership going forward now. The bottom line at the end of the day for both of us is that we have a long history of working together, and we both believe our residents are better off when we work cooperatively.”

McKay echoed Vidal. 

“Working with the City of Meadow Lake to ensure the betterment of the protection and recreation services is necessary for all residents of all our respective communities to have a better standard of living through this partnership,” he said.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath