Trustees of the Gillies Bay Improvement District (GBID) on Texada Island have, after considerable research and public consultation, decided that it would not be in the best interests of ratepayers in the region to surrender fire protection services to the Powell River Regional District (PRRD).
In an email response to the Peak, Kathleen Boeriu, of GBID, pointed out that they were concerned there may be a potential loss of local autonomy and increased cost that would invariably come from being absorbed under the PRRD.
“Out of necessity, the regional district must charge administrative fees to pay professional managers,” wrote Boeriu. “On the other hand, the Gillies Bay Improvement District uses a great deal of volunteer or comparatively low-cost staff. Further, it makes no sense to separate our fire service from the water service upon which it depends.”
In addition, Boeriu wrote that the department had renewed leadership in the fire department and that volunteer turnouts were much improved since fire chief Doug Paton took over the Gillies Bay Volunteer Fire Department in November.
“At the recommendation of the ministry of community, sport and cultural development, the Gillies Bay Improvement District put forward an alternate proposal to unite the two improvement districts into one such body with two zones,” she wrote. “In this way significant cost savings could be achieved, local autonomy would be maintained, fire boundaries could be extended and rationalized and one improvement district would disappear.”
Boeriu also pointed out that this approach would be in keeping with the provincial government’s objective of phasing out improvement districts, despite the fact that the GBID did not necessarily agree with the provincial government in this stated objective.
“Van Anda Improvement District rejected our proposal,” Boeriu stated. “They prefer to go forward with the vote to put their fire department under the auspices of the PRRD. We find this unfortunate, however, with renewed fire department leadership we believe that local independence is our best option.”
PRRD had opted to suspend its own review and respective process to amalgamate the two fire departments when GBID indicated that it did not wish to transfer ownership of the fire hall and its parent property to the PRRD. This was largely because its assessed value could be used as collateral if the organization maintained its present course to remain independent. At the time, GBID had expressed interest in the possibility of borrowing money for its water system infrastructure, possibly against the value of the fire hall and its equipment.
The regional district would not consider a lease arrangement with GBID as primary owner to enable it to use the department as equity.
“The joint ownership arrangement would have created a level of complexity that the district would not be willing to engage,” said Colin Palmer, regional board chair and Electoral Area C director. “The issue of who would be responsible for managing repairs, upgrades and maintenance could likely become a complex grey area.”
Palmer said that PRRD was willing to take on the two departments and ensure that there would be no interruption of fire and emergency services in Gillies Bay and Van Anda alike. He wanted to assure the respective communities that both departments are not presently, nor would they be interrupted at any time, through this on-going process.
Meanwhile, at its November 28 meeting, the regional board passed a motion directing staff to proceed with exploring the potential for the jurisdictional transfer of the Van Anda Volunteer Fire Department to a volunteer fire department administered by PRRD.
Texada Director Dave Murphy said members of the Van Anda Improvement District will have a referendum and vote on the transfer.
Palmer agreed that was correct. “I keep telling people we’re the last ones to vote,” he said. “There’s no great plot by us to take over. We’re going to wait until all those things are in place, then we make the final decision.”
Murphy took exception to the GBID decision stating that he felt the Gillies Bay community should have an opportunity to weigh in on the decision. “The Gillies Bay Improvement District board is denying the constituents of Gillies Bay due process by not even allowing us to continue looking at the option of amalgamating and having that community vote whether they want to or not,” he said. “I find it very, very upsetting to say the least.”
