Town of Osoyoos votes to enter mutual aid agreement with RDOS

Osoyoos Town Hall (File photo)

Dale Boyd

Times-Chronicle

The Town of Osoyoos is entering a mutual aid agreement with member districts and municipalities in the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS) during the province’s ongoing state of emergency.

Under a ministerial order, the “Local Authorities and Essential Goods and Supplies (COVID-19) Order,” the town and surrounding governments are required to use best efforts to enter into a mutual aid agreement with neighbouring jurisdictions, ensuring first responder services along with waste water and drinking water services are maintained.

A fire protection mutual aid agreement between the RDOS and member municipalities was already in effect prior to the state of emergency.

The RDOS took the lead drafting an essential services agreement in April.

“Of note is the provision of mutual aid under the agreement is discretionary upon a responding party,” said Allan Chabot, CAO of the Town of Osoyoos. “The responding party must determine they have the necessary resources to be able to respond. If resources are provided the responding party would be reimbursed for the cost of labour and equipment if reimbursement of those amounts is provided to the requesting party by Emergency Management BC.”

If reimbursement is not provided, a responding municipality or region may not be reimbursed by the requesting party for the first 10 working days of labour costs provided under the mutual aid agreement.

The agreement is in force for two years from the day it is executed, and any member municipality or region can terminate its obligations under the agreement with 90 days notice.

The Town of Osoyoos expressed concerns with the agreement during negotiations with the RDOS in mid-April with “cost recovery, some labour relations matters, consultation with (the town’s) employee union, health and safety of (the town’s) and others employees and some editorial items,” Chabot said in an April 16 email to the Osoyoos Times.

“I do want to emphasize that I, and the Town of Osoyoos, are very supportive of this initiative but want to ensure that we get it right for a host of reasons,” Chabot said in April, adding it “might have been preferable if the province had produced a draft agreement that considered those things rather than have each local government or region create their own.”

Town council voted unanimously at the May 19 regular meeting to authorize Mayor Sue McKortoff and Chabot to enact the agreement on behalf of the town of Osoyoos.