Town hall meeting

By Brandie Majeau 
With concerns surrounding this year’s wildfire season and the mounting costs some
community members are being asked to pay through the Emergency Services Bylaw, residents
of Thorhild County have been demanding information and asking to be heard.  Thorhild Council
held a town hall meeting on May 30 th to address these concerns and understand the thoughts of
the county as a whole.  The response was overwhelming.  Over 200 county residents,
landowners and ratepayers turned up for the meeting.  Extra chairs needed to be put out
before the meeting could begin to accommodate the number of people in attendance. 
The format of the town hall meeting was explained: the council was not there to answer
everyone’s questions but to receive input to try and solve a tough issue.  Attendees were
invited to approach a microphone and were given three-minute intervals to speak.  All
information proposed to council was documented to be used at a future time in order to assist
them with future tweaking and amending of the Emergency Service bylaw. 
As residents lined up to take their turns to speak, many issues were brought before
council.  Most statements were met with agreement or negativity based on each person’s
personal beliefs.  Several topics were repeatedly approached by different individuals.  These
included thoughts on a cap for the amount that could be charged for emergency services, self-
insuring as a cheaper alternative to combat county costs, adding a small fee to individual taxes
to be used for emergency service costs and a variable and yearly adjusted mill rate. 
In continuing with other issues, as the emergency service bylaw stands, residents
expressed fears that receiving a large bill would “break” them; seniors and many others do not
have the disposable income if they were faced with such predicaments.  They also questioned
the county’s ability to rely on the province for additional funding.  Several community members
also approached the idea of denying fire and other emergency services on personal property to
avoid such large bills.  Council was asked why residents do not receive a bill for graders to be on
the road, but they would if a fire truck showed up in their yard.  There were additional concerns
about how the costs were calculated.  Several people also compared the costs of Thorhild
County Emergency Services to those of other nearby counties.  One thing everyone seemed to
have in common was that residents should be held accountable if a service call was required on
their property due to personal negligence. 
Council listened to residents for over two hours and continually reminded the group
that the meeting was not to answer questions but to receive input, understand the concerns,
and move forward.  On behalf of Council, they issued the following statement: “A big thank you
to all the attendees at the town hall meeting, your input is greatly appreciated and will assist
Council in addressing concerns with the current bylaw.”  The complete Emergency Services
Bylaw can be found on the Thorhild County website.