The Central Coast Regional District hopes to hire a part-time fire services coordinator for two fire departments in the Bella Coola Valley.
At its regular meeting Thursday, Nov. 23, the board approved allocating $5,000 each from the Bella Coola and Hagensborg fire protection services budgets to hired someone for $10,000 to work with those two departments.
Originally staff had recommended hiring someone for $40,000, something many residents sent emails, letters and made phone calls to voice opposition, resident Colleen Fraser told Coast Mountain News.
“Our volunteer fire departments are going to be destroyed by the board because they want to hire an out-of-town fire coordinator to oversee the administration of the fire departments,” Fraser said.
Volunteer fire departments in the valley all have amazing volunteers, and it has been working greatly, she said, adding she is afraid firefighters are going to quit over it.
During the board meeting, Area E director Jim Ward spoke in favour of hiring a fire coordinator, saying there is a need for administrative support for the fire departments.
“I was looking at the B.C. standards for firefighters and for example, exterior firefighters are supposed to be competent in example 4.12 - 4.16. I could not tell you what those are,” he said.
“I am not saying that we are not getting trained, but it is not documented, there is nothing to cover our butts.”
He said the board does not want to disrupt the fire services, but improve them and help the departments with the administrative work to keep up with fire regulations.
Jayme Kennedy, CCRD chair, told Coast Mountain News the provincial government updated significant aspects of Structure Fire Minimum Standards in late 2022, with some regulations updated in March 2023.
During the board meeting chief administrative officer Curtis Slingerland said he had one meeting with the Bella Coola Volunteer Fire Department, that he met with the chiefs of the Bella Coola Volunteer Fire Department and the Hagensborg Volunteer Fire Department, and hopes to meet with the entire Hagensborg department to discuss the position.
In 2023, CCRD property owners had a big hike in their taxes for an average of 61.9 per cent. Fraser said residents are not happy about the tax increase, which is evident in the comments provided by many residents in the 2024 budget survey launched by the CCRD.
From the 124 people who responded to the survey, their comments had common themes of no property tax increase, reducing administrative costs, better communication with the public and finding other sources of income such as grants.
“For the $1000 increase that we had to pay this year, we received no improvement in services,” wrote one respondent.
” We still rarely get our road plowed and sanded in the winter time and it’s still full of potholes. Nothing else has improved. This increase in our taxes created severe financial stress to our family. This can’t continue.”
Another respondent noted the underlying issue for Bella Coola is that it is not able to afford the increasing cost of services established when the town had a larger population.
To address this, the respondent suggested, the CCRD should be encouraging population growth and housing construction by amending its zoning bylaw to allow property owners to build more housing on their lots, and building water and sewerage services on Denny Island so that large property owners can subdivide.
“With more residents and taxable homes, the CCRD’s tax burden will be more broadly shared.”
The survey results are available on the CCRD website.
Fraser also said people are not happy with staff being hired from out of town and said it would not make sense to hire a fire coordinator that does not live in the valley.
When Coast Mountain asked about this issue, Kennedy confirmed CAO Slingerland has a part-time residence in Bella Coola and works full-time for the regional district.
“His home is outside of the valley and he travels here frequently for meetings and if there is a pressing issue that requires he attend in-person,” she said.
The emergency program coordinator, also lives out of town.
Kennedy said that position is filled by a former resident.
“We had no local applications for this position. She knows the area, has a strong connection to the valley, and has a great deal of experience in her field. Through wildfire season, she was a huge asset to the organization and worked hard to stay up-to-date and keep us informed,” Kennedy said.
The economic development officer is a recent hire and resides in Victoria and has been to the valley once so far.
“He is working hard on getting to know local organizations by reaching out and arranging phone calls and Zoom meetings to ensure our economic development service is boosting the good work that is already being done here,” Kennedy said.
“We also posted this position locally and did not have any suitable applicants.He also has graphic design experience and will be giving us some much-needed help with our website and communications.”
Fraser said there is a group called the Valley Taxpayers Alliance, formed in the spring, that meets every Wednesday at Nusatsum Elementary School beginning at 7 p.m.
READ MORE: Central Coast Regional District hires new CAO
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