By Madeline Baker, Times Chronicle

Funding discussions at the May 31 Osoyoos Council meeting centred largely around issues of emergency response, with the fire department seeking pre-budget funding approval for new equipment and the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) looking to improve training for Emergency Support Services (ESS) volunteers.

According to Osoyoos Fire Chief Corey Kortmeyer, the department’s current fire truck, a 1997 International, has already passed its projected life expectancy and now leaves firefighters with serious limitations in their ability to respond to emergencies.

A total of $350,000 in funds for this new unit are already allocated in both the 2023 council budget and five-year financial plan, but as Kortmeyer and Chief Financial Officer Jim Zakall explained, a purchase made in 2023 could easily arrive too late.

“If we waited until the 2023 [fiscal] year, it’s going to be two years after that, if we’re lucky, to get this piece of equipment. And it’s definitely stated that the need is here now,” said Zakall. 

“Because of the nature of the environment and the length of time it takes for getting fleet-type vehicles into our system, I think it’s very efficient to move forward faster rather than slower.”

There were still some concerns among council members, particularly Councillor Jim King, about whether it was prudent to provide access to such a large sum so far in advance of the actual purchase and receipt of an item. 

King feared that the cost could rise in that time and leave the fire department in need of more funding. 

Kortmeyer admitted that it was a possibility, saying: “When I moved here, I was thinking that I’d be getting into a house for about $520,000. It’s amazing how things change in a very short period of time.” 

He added that some municipalities in the province actually have purchased vehicles, then found a year or two later that the seller will no longer provide what they asked for because parts and labour costs have gone up in the interim. 

However, he also reassured King that there are ways to write contracts with less space for sellers to break the agreement and that the unit they seek to purchase consists mostly of simple parts and labour for which the cost should not fluctuate too dramatically.

Given the fact that no money will be withdrawn until the unit itself is received by the fire department, council voted in favour of granting pre-budget approval.

Emergency support application

Communications coordinator Matthew Saunders, presenting on behalf of the absent Jared Brounstein, asked for council to support RDOS’s application for a $90,000 grant to improve their implementation of emergency support services (ESS). 

The RDOS received their first UBCM Community Emergency Preparedness grant in 2017, which allowed them to hire a regional coordinator to bring all the community ESS teams in the region under a single umbrella. 

Now, according to Saunders, ESS volunteers have requested training in both psychological first aid and cultural sensitivity and humility so that they will feel better equipped to handle any future emergency situation with empathy and respect for its victims. 

One of the main barriers to providing this updated training is the fact that many volunteers struggle with the online Evacuee Registration and Assistance (ERA) platform that was introduced in 2020 as part of a sweeping effort to modernize ESS service and retain volunteers in the face of COVID-19 lockdowns. 

With the UBCM grant, the RDOS plans to host “refresher training and immersive reception centre and group lodging exercises,” in which volunteers will be given food and lodging for a period of time in which they reinforce their knowledge of ERA in a group workplace environment. 

Their report to council states that, “by putting the tool into regular practice, it will allow volunteers to feel more comfortable with the process. What we anticipate from offering this training is volunteers will be more likely to use the ERA tool in activation.”

This training will come at no cost to the town if their grant application is accepted and, if it is successful, will help to integrate the region’s emergency response across all involved communities for better and more efficient service.

With council’s favourable vote, the Town of Osoyoos now joins the Village of Keremeos, Town of Princeton, and District of Summerland in supporting the RDOS’s UBCM application.