BOYLE – Village of Boyle council will hold off, at least until its next meeting, in passing a Municipal Emergency Management Bylaw to clarify a few more details, as the possibility of forming a regional partnership with the Town of Athabasca and Athabasca County for emergency management could be a possibility to handle any future emergencies that may arise.
Municipal Emergency Management Bylaw 05-21 was back before councillors for third reading at their July 21 meeting, after first and second readings were passed at previous meetings, but following meetings he had with provincial emergency management officials and the CAOs from the two other regional municipalities earlier in the day, CAO Warren Griffin asked council to defer the final reading to another meeting.
The bylaw states the municipality will establish an emergency management agency to act as an agent of council in the event of an emergency in the village that would include a director of emergency management, administration, the public works superintendent, RCMP, the fire chief, AHS and “anybody else who might serve a useful purpose in the preparation or implementation of the municipal emergency plan.”
“We’re thinking, in terms of staffing, if we were to have an incident, the village and even the town, don't have enough staff members to properly staff an incident command centre, or the county even, it has limited staff members, but perhaps together (we could form) a regional agency with a regional advisory committee, so that we all work together on that,” said Griffin.
Mayor Colin Derko asked what that would mean for the village if an emergency was declared tomorrow, but Griffin said that wouldn’t be an issue. The previous bylaw that was meant to be replaced would still be in effect, but Derko wanted to be certain.
“First, I agree, a regional thing really piques my interest,” he said. “Second, what happens if, knock on wood, something happens in the meantime? Do we have a plan? Are we legal? Are we bound by the (Municipal Government Act)?”
In that event, Griffin said the village would contact the Alberta Emergency Management Agency (AEMA) or the provincial emergency command centre, which is something that would occur anyway.
“We don't have enough people, or people with the specific training to track the financials, track the resources to go on and get allocations, so we'd be bringing in people from other municipalities, or other areas, or the province themselves,” said Griffin.
Griffin said he had also spoken to Ian Fox, from the AEMA, who would be the contact there if an emergency were to take place.
“He said going regional is probably a good idea; it's something he's fully supportive of, so it's just a matter of getting the pieces in place,” said Griffin.
Council passed a motion to defer third reading until the next council meeting, and further instructed administration to further explore a regional approach to emergency management.
