Councillors in the Town of Gibsons say a move by the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) to disband the Gibsons and District Fire Protection Commission is premature and shouldn’t go ahead.
In a letter to council, presented at Gibsons’ Feb. 7 committee of the whole meeting, the SCRD says it voted to disband the commission as part of a review of “SCRD advisory bodies.”
SCRD chair Garry Nohr said, “While the commission has provided an avenue to communicate and work with the Town on fire department matters, the review indicated that other mechanisms could be used to produce the same effect. For example, a quarterly report is presented to council by the fire chief. This method of communication ensures that all members of council are briefed and have the opportunity to provide feedback on fire department issues. In addition, the council-appointed director to the SCRD contributes to decisions about the service and its budget.”
The province’s Inspector of Munici-palities would have to approve dissolving the commission, and the SCRD letter asks Gibsons council to pass a motion in favour that can be sent to the inspector.
Mayor Wayne Rowe told councillors that he “has some reluctance in supporting this request from the regional district,” adding that he was “a bit surprised that they’d send this to us without having entered into any kind of discussions beforehand.”
Rowe also noted that the fire commission, which includes representatives from Gibsons and SCRD areas E and F, has an important role to play in setting the budget for the Gibsons and District Fire Department.
“I’m a bit concerned that when we’re the major funder of this particular function that we would abdicate this to the regional district,” he said.
Coun. Silas White, who was the Town’s director at the SCRD until recently, said he was surprised when he read the letter.
“I find the letter baffling. ‘After careful consideration,’ it says, ‘the board approved dissolving the commission.’ I was on the board – I don’t remember that,” White said. “I don’t remember dissolving it or a careful consideration.”
At Rowe’s suggestion, the committee adopted a motion to tell the SCRD that the Town does not approve disbanding the commission. It also calls on the SCRD to take steps to more strictly follow the budget procedures set out in the bylaw that established the commission.
“The only people who are paying for this function are the Town of Gibsons, [and areas] E and F, so really those are the ones that really need to be comfortable with what the budget is and, quite frankly, the regional district should just be rubber-stamping what the commission sends to them,” Rowe said.
