Fire Equipment for Sale

Well it's official you can go to the site below and see the Ladder truck and the Hillcrest Pumper Truck are up for sale. I guess as I predicted previously Bruce is going to make it has difficult as possible for a future council to have the option to reverse their decisions.

http://www.canadianpublicauction.com/current-listings/?aid=&make=&category=EMERGENCY%2BVEHICLES&serial=

Forensic Audit in the Crowsnest Pass

Have not got all the details yet but a number of sources have told me that the Municipality is having a Forensic Audit conducted on the previous Fire Departments.

In a week when the powers to be let it slip that the CAO is meeting with Council behind closed doors on a regular basis to provide council with an update on relevant issues. (Can you picture all of council sitting quietly while the CAO recites from a piece of paper not one word of debate, discussion or resolutions coming forth) why not just do what the Cuff report recommended and hold two G+P meeting a month then Council and Admin could actually discuss the issues instead of  having one way communications with the CAO.

Now back to the audit we all know several things:

The election is only five months away, we know most of the present council will be running in the election, we also know that so far out of the three big promises for the community. Quebec manufacturer, Coal mine, Best Western hotel, the first failed the second is years away best case scenario, and the hotel as had deadlines extended twice already, even an optimist would have a hard time believing that the centre site will be cleared by August 30.

Next look at what this council has done over the last three years:

Built a large and expensive administration, wrote more unpopular laws than a Central American dictator, put in place CPO's, hired more consultants than IBM, jacked up Franchise Fees 300 per cent, the debacle with the Fire Departments, and the failure to listen to the public which led to 2500 people signing a petition in 18 days.

So here we are on May 11, this council needs a diversion to make everybody forget about their reign of terror, what will an audit produce? Who knows but I for one am convinced that the timing is indeed by design.

Will this act of desperation make the voters forget come October? Only they can answer that question.

G+P meeting update on Fire Master plan, Riversdale and Annexation

For those that have the time and the interest tomorrow afternoon at 2pm the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass Fire and Rescue Service Master Plan, will be presented by Albert Headrick, Director of Protective and Community Services to council. It will be very interesting to see what the results are of the mess that was created in this community in 2012, and all the taxpayers dollars (whether they be Municipal or Provincial they are all tax payers money) that was spent.

Back in the Fall, Bill Kovach President of the Ratepayers Association requested information regarding the Fire Departments he was told at that time by the Mayor that the questions would be answered by the Fire and Rescue Master Plan that administration would be bringing forth prior to Christmas. Well it was on the agenda for today in a surprising turn of events the CAO asked that it be moved to "In Camera" due to some sensitive issues that had to be talked about, he also informed council that it would be coming back to the G+P on Feb 19.

The Mayor also informed Council that Riversdale Resources will be coming to the Pass on Feb 6, to meet with council, media, business leaders and finally the public. I was a little surprised when he asked the rest of council if they have met Riversdale all responded "No".

In other news council was informed that Municipal Affairs will be coming down to meet with them on Feb 13 regarding the road map for annexation, Mayor Decoux suggested that the MD of Ranchlands be invited, then in a very neighborly type fashion he suggested that all the other MD's bordering the MD of Ranchlands be invited. After all he stated we don't want to gobble up all of Ranchlands, I wonder how the MD of Ranchlands will feel about being invited to an all you can eat buffet where they are the main course.

Deputy Fire Chief No longer a rumour?

Well its no longer just a rumour the municipality did hire a new deputy Fire Chief. The story is in today's newspaper.

For a minimum of one year and possibly two.

There goes another $100,000 a year.

Note: Check the following posts out from a while back so many people have said to me "I didn't see this coming"

http://crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.ca/2011/09/fire-departmentsrescue-meet-with.html

http://crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.ca/2011/10/fire-departments-created-much-debate-in.html

Talk about perfect timing getting the answers in the Crowsnest Pass.

Yesterday I posted the following article http://crowsnestpasshome.blogspot.ca/2012/11/a-community-divided-real-fix-is-eleven.html

Almost ironically, I receive an email this morning from the municipality, it’s the monthly newsletter. I will take a few quotes from the Mayors Corner and contribute my own thought’s.

Quote #1.  “I think it’s safe to say we are all very interested in local politics and hopefully will continue to be. I have to admit I am a bit disappointed in that we have held two budget meetings – with no one in attendance.”

Response #1 Looks like the people are speaking by their absence.

Quote #2  “I understand the current Councils’ “petition” has been delivered to Edmonton. The Minister of Municipal Affairs will ultimately make a decision based on wisdom, expertise, legislation and as a Council we will, as I have indicated on several occasions, abide by his decision.”

Response #2 Did not realize it was the current councils “petition” I had assumed that it was gathered by the ratepayers. Maybe this was an attempt at a little bit of sarcasm.

Quote #3 “On a positive note administration will be rolling out the new Fire Plan probably before Christmas. The plan promises to provide improved service and long term savings. The Director of Protective and Community Services, Mr. Albert Headrick has indicated the plan will provide a cost savings of over one half million dollars over the next two years and ongoing savings thereafter.

Response #3 Are we talking here about the operational budget, capital budget combination of both? The budget for Fire and Rescue (Operational) in 2010 was less than $400,000 if they are going to reduce that by $500,000 in the next two years, it will be very interesting to see what they will do. If it is reducing the capital budget by not going with a $1.3 million Quint and instead buying something for $800,000 that’s just playing with numbers.

Quote #4 “  We are in the process of determining an open house date for our hotel development team to gather input from yourselves regarding the development. I suspect it will be in February. Contrary to rumor no “flag” hotel has yet been determined”

Response #4 Maybe not an “Holiday Inn” looks like we are buying time. I predict that come next September we are going to have all of these “Hot” projects ready to go subject to the developers, manufacturers, corporations maintaining a level of comfort with the direction of the “next” municipal council.

Quote #5 “ The manufacturing company will be flying its executives out from Quebec to view the site again. The hot water situation and environmental regulation is still a problem”  

Response #5 These problems will not get fixed in the short term, probably require another three years see response #4 above.

Quote #6 Your Chief Administrative Officer and I have met with four representatives of a heavy industry once more to discuss further possibilities. They indicated they would make a decision towards the end of the first quarter of 2013 or the beginning of the second quarter. I am amazed at the research and care these companies take to ensure that all environmental and social requirements can be met before they commit. This is a welcome and complete reversal from my experience as a young man. We have come a long way.

Response #6 Love the way all this timing is coming together, see response #4 and #5 above. Does anybody really believe that none of these guys are running in the next election.

Quote #7 “On November 13th Councillors Gail, Gallant, the Chief Administrative Officer and I met with Minister Griffiths to discuss Highway 3 and the MD of Ranchlands. As you are aware the Provincial government has recently indicated it is not adverse to borrowing funds for much needed infrastructure projects – I would like to see our highway at the top of the list. We were able to provide the Minister with a review of the need for a new highway relative to the bright future of the Pass. Our second issue was the need to seriously address the problem of the MD of Ranchlands vis à vis the Crowsnest Pass. There are many complexities involved however we confirmed the obvious inequities and the positive impact on our taxes if an amalgamation could be realized. The Minister indicated he would visit us hopefully early in the New Year for a tour of the Pass and to continue these discussions.”

Response #7 It seems a long time ago since the provincial election remember all that talk from the PC’s about balance budgets, surpluses in fairly short order. Remember the opposition parties stating that the PC’s were basing their numbers on overly optimistic oil and gas prices. Now we find out that they were only talking about operational budgets, HWY 3 may be a priority for this community but it is not for Edmonton.

The MD of Ranchlands good luck I went to meetings with ministers to, met with the Council and CAO of Ranchlands, seen many letters go back and forth. I have not met many neighbors that are willing to share there good fortunes with the poor guy down the street. Which way do you think the MD of Pincher Creek and every other wealthy municipality are lobbying on this issue.

Quote #8    “In conclusion, Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “You will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you.” Please make no mistake. Your elected Council knows its duty well and is committed to fulfilling that duty to the citizens of Crowsnest Pass.”

Response #8 No matter what we the taxpayers think or care about the path they have chosen.