One of the big questions that has been looming over Ponoka County for the past few months, but came to a head with the Jan. 12 decision by the town to not join the regional fire service, has been how they were going to approach the issue of housing the new fire department.
That problem has now been solved - pending the outcome of two conditions - with the county coming to an agreement to purchase a one-acre property with a large building on it for $550,000. Council approved the idea during a special meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 3, where they also passed more than $600,000 in capital equipment spending for the regional fire service.
The two conditions - approval from the Town of Ponoka to buy the land, which is required under the Municipal Government Act and confirmation from the owner that the previous lease has been terminated - were expected to be taken care of as of last night (Tuesday, Feb. 9).
Cutforth explained to council that purchasing a site was in their best interest, both fiscally and for the service’s long term future.
“When looking at leasing, and we had initially thought it would be for two years, the cost was going to be at least $100,000 annually,” he told council.
“With the payout issues (with the town) now resolved, a building came up for sale and it isn’t much more to purchase it than the full two-year lease amount plus the $124,000 (payout to the town).”
Councillor Doug Weir questioned what the intention was if the town had joined the regional fire service as he simply hates to see money being spent on two fire halls in the community, to which Cutforth stated the county probably wouldn’t have been looking at a new hall. However, for Cutforth, the best thing about purchasing the property is the size.
“What I like best about this is it’s on one acre, closer to Highway 2 which is best for us and expandable, so if down the road we can accommodate the town if they decide to come on board,” Cutforth stated.
“Assuming there is some value in the town’s existing building, which there has been some suggestions there is, it could be repurposed and they could move in to our facility and we expand or we simply sell it.”
Given the well known situationwith Rimbey and the improvements needed there department, this particular situation isn’t bad for the county, Cutforth said.
“Ponoka, though, the elephant in the room, is the obvious split which tells me what we need to know and what we need to do,” he stated.
McLauchlin chimed in on the discussion by pointing out the suggestion by some members of the public about any relationship between the issue with the town joining or not joining and the talk about a future fire station for the county near Meridian Beach at Gull Lake is simply false.
“The lake relationship has nothing to do with this, it is strictly about town-related apparatus. As for an operations standpoint being doubled up, it was going to require a $500,000 capital injection from the county even if the town went with us, just to catch up,” McLauchlin said.
“The building purchase is simply the collateral damage of their decision.”
McLauchlin added that this spending on the fire department will help them deal with the pressures of large commercial taxpayers in their recent developments, as those tax bills are a big boost to the county and good protection may well assist in luring more companies to set up shop in the county.
Cutforth did state that any revenue derived from the department activities will likely see most of it placed into a reserve to purchase apparatus so the county doesn’t get catch having to spend provincial grant money or hike taxes to pay for them.
In the end, council unanimously approved the purchase of the land and building along with spending up to an additional $75,000 on improvements to the building such as overhead doors, office and training space plus other upgrades.