“This may be something or it may be nothing,” spoke Woodlands Mayor John Burrows as he discussed deadlines and the draft fire agreement with the Town of Whitecourt.

Towards the end of the September first regular meeting for Woodlands County Council, CAO Gordon Frank brought forward his Operations Review. The third item on his list proved to be a bit shocking and has since caused a lot of discussion in local online groups. He said that the deadline set between the Town of Whitecourt and Woodlands County to get a fire agreement had come and gone without a resolution. The implication was that they were expecting to receive something and had not.

“Under the Joint Liaison, we had provided the Town of Whitecourt with a deadline for the draft fire agreement,” he explained. He also mentioned that he had sent in a last-minute revision the week prior, which had a quick turnaround but had not seen the Town’s response yet. The part that caused a stir online was that he said he would be looking into potentially creating a volunteer fire department to service the area of Woodlands County closest to Whitecourt. The area that would be affected by this agreement consists of the largest percentage of residents in Woodlands County.

In an interview later in the week, Mayor Burrows said that he did not want residents to panic and said that these steps are merely precautionary. “We can’t put our residents in jeopardy, so this is just us doing our due diligence. Good management is making sure we have options on the table.” The agreement deadline of August 31 was an extension of the old agreement and the date was agreed upon by both sides.

A new draft has been in the process as both municipalities work together to find a fair balance between wants/needs and financial capabilities. Mayor Burrows said that looking into the process of creating a volunteer fire department to service the area does not mean they won’t go with a new agreement with the town but rather that it means they want to be prepared just in case. If a new deal is not in place by January 1, they would be in a situation of not having fire service. “We have to start the process before the end of the year. That’s why the August 31 deadline was there so that we would have time to prepare.”

When asked what could be holding up the process, Mayor Burrows was not too sure what it could be but said a third-party legal system is involved. “I don’t know whether something was going on there. This may be something, or it may be nothing, but we still have to look into it.” He said that both municipalities were putting together input for the agreement and handing it into the third party. It could easily come down to a lag in communication.

“If you don’t provide options for yourself, then you end up down a road where you run yourself out of time, and you’re going to end up signing into an agreement that you may or may not like. The big deal here is to try and find options right now so we can provide the services and be in control of those costs,” explained Mayor Burrows. As far as where a department hall would go or equipment needed, those details have not been discussed yet as the research is only just beginning.

“This is very preliminary and not something we have looked at already. If you are insuring your house and your agent says that they will get back to you about your coverage by a certain date to rewrite your policy, but you don’t hear back, would you call them? Would you look into other insurance companies and write a backup policy? Or would you just run out of insurance for a couple of months? It is no different.” He said that either way, come January 1, the residents of Woodlands County will be protected with fire service, whether through the County or a joint agreement with the Town of Whitecourt.

After speaking with Mayor Maryann Chichak, the ordeal could be explained by a misinterpretation of the deadline. She said that the deadline of August 31 was met. “The deadline was for the draft agreement and not the adoption of the final agreement. Therefore, the deadline was met.” Mayor Chichak explained that the Town and County both received the draft fire agreement on August 22, 2020, which was well in advance of the deadline.

“This draft agreement was for Council’s consideration to allow for input as we transitioned to the final agreement. Currently, both administrations are working with and providing information to our joint lawyer. The Town submitted their information this week, and the County has sent in additional information as recently as September 1, 2020. I would expect the negotiating team to be reviewing the amendments to the draft fire agreement at the next Joint Liaison meeting scheduled for September 16, 2020,” surmised Mayor Chichak.

She said that working with the County and having mutually beneficial service agreements is in all residents’ best interest. “As a Council, we are striving to create and provide cost-effective and efficient services in recognition that we only have one taxpayer,” she said. Mayor Chichak did, however, voice her disappointment. “I am disappointed that Woodlands County has given direction to advertise for a volunteer fire department in light of the progress made to date. However, I respect their decision.” With both sides set to meet again in the middle of the month, hopefully, more steps forward towards a resolution can be made.