ATHABASCA — Who has how much and what can, and should it be used for? Those are the questions being asked by Athabasca County councillors after a recent order by one of the regional fire department's affiliated society.
One of the ‘friends of’ society accounts associated with an Athabasca County fire department ordered a custom, six-seat side-by-side for $50,000 and it now sits at Grassland Trailer Sales unclaimed. The executive has changed since it was ordered and there is apparently no motion to purchase the item, so they've refused to cut the cheque, which is included in the information collected after council directed administration to request a financial review of money under fire department control as well as any financial reports of associated non-profits.
“I've been hearing about a very expensive (ATV) that’s been ordered by one of these societies that is affiliated with the department from a local dealership that this society is refusing to pay for,” said reeve Brian Hall during the Oct. 27 regular Athabasca County council meeting.
“And so, while it is not a county issue, I guess I'm concerned because of the affiliation of the departments and there's potential for damage to our reputation because of that. Do you know what's going on with that and has that been addressed?”
Director of agriculture and community services Dawn Phillips said Athabasca County is not liable for the bill.
“I've been speaking with the president of the society; it is completely separate from the county,” she said. “It was a society purchase of a side-by-side and really has nothing to do with the county.”
The Grassland, Wandering River, and Colinton fire departments all have societies associated with them but only the Grassland & District Volunteer Fire Department Club and the Colinton Fire Rescue Society provided their financials to the county. The Wandering River Friends of Emergency Services Society financial statements haven’t been filed since its incorporation in 2020.
“Today, when I was checking out the Alberta government’s website, it indicates that societies are to submit an annual return, audited financial statement and current list of directors each year, and further, if the annual return is not filed, the society can be dissolved,” said Coun. Ashtin Anderson. “I just have concerns with a society not filing the required returns (and) continuing to use the county's department's likeness for their fundraising efforts.”
The question was posed to Coun. Gary Cromwell who, up until recently, was president of the Wandering River Friends of Emergency Services Society.
“I believe that would be (a) conversation for the president and the executive board of the society,” he said. “I will not be commenting on that.”
Anderson suggested county administration could reach out and see if the executives need help with filing.
“Maybe we have to provide some assistance to allow them to get their feet under them,” she said. "I know new societies, it's hard. It's hard to get into that flow of knowing what you have to file, when you have to file, so maybe there's some assistance we should be providing to get them set up or help them.”
For fire departments, how they get paid varies on what they are called to. If it is an accident on a highway, the province pays through Alberta Transportation. If it is on a county road or a fire on county property, it can go through insurance or billed to the resident if there is no insurance in place. The money goes into a rescue and recovery, or R and R, fund.
Society funds are raised through fundraising efforts and are held by each society.
“Some of these accounts have a significant amount of money between their societies and their departments,” said Coun. Camille Wallach. “What is that typically used for?”
“Purchases of equipment and whatnot,” said Phillips. “So, Colinton, I brought forward a request to purchase (equipment). They wanted to use all their R and R funds plus their society money to purchase that. We chose to table that because we wanted to wait for the fire services review to determine what equipment we need before we go ahead with large purchases.”
She added Grassland Fire Department has a substantial amount of R and R money and is choosing to spend it instead of accessing county or society funds.
Council accepted the report as information.
