July 29 Weekly Review by Caribou Publishing

Wednesday, July 29, 2020 Vol. 43, No. 31

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BRSD to use own Operations budget to fund supplies for reopening Moush John Staff Reporter

Last week Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Education Minister Adriana LaGrange announced that Alberta K-12 schools would resume inperson classes in September. Since then parents and educators have been wondering what that might look like. But the more looming question that school divisions – including Battle River School Division (BRSD) – have been grappling with is how to fund the extra costs that will be incurred as COVID-19 measures are put in place. BRSD Communications Director Diane Hutchinson said, “We are in the process of purchasing PPE supplies for our schools and know that it will be a significant cost. As we have minimal reserve funds available, we are using funds from the Operations and Maintenance budget for this purpose.” According to Premier Kenney, schools will receive no new money to tackle the cost of modifying their buildings, following public health guidelines or cleaning the spaces where hundreds of children are

set to congregate. School divisions should draw money from their reserves, he said. Hutchinson added that they are making masks available for all of their school-based staff, ensuring hand sanitizer is available at every entrance and in every classroom, as well as providing additional custodial staff time to do extra cleaning and disinfecting during the school day. “A few of our schools are also being equipped with water bottle filling stations, instead of drinking fountains, and many schools already had these available but we are installing them in the schools that did not,” Hutchinson explained. “BRSD is implementing a number of practices that will be followed consistently by all schools and offices. This includes the requirements for extra disinfecting, hand sanitizer use, physical distancing or cohorting of students, reducing the interaction between groups of students and following the self-assessment guidelines provided by the province, etc.” According to Hutchinson, individual schools will also have some practices that are specific to their own building,

such as how students are grouped together, how students move about the hallways and more, all of which will be outlined closer to the new academic session. She further stated that BRSD Superintendent Rita Marler has sent out a message to parents, letting them

know that the school division will be conducting a survey in August, to ask if they will be sending their children to school in-person or considering athome learning options. “The school division wants to ensure we are able to accommodate the learning needs of all students.”

Viking councillor reviews BESC original document with council Patricia Harcourt Editor

The original 2009 Beaver Emergency Services Commission (BESC) Business Plan was reviewed by Councillor Judy Acres at Viking Council’s July 20 meeting. Acres represents Viking Council on the BESC board and wanted to address outstanding questions after council discussed its concerns with BESC Chairman Gene Hrabec at an earlier meeting. Hrabec is Deputy Reeve of Beaver County representing Division 3 as its county councillor. The original business plan was constructed by the late George Roddick, a former Viking Fire Chief, during the time the municipalities in Beaver County forged a regional emergency

services commission, amalgamating all the fire departments from Tofield, Ryley, Holden, Bruce, Viking, Kinsella, and Beaver County under one umbrella regional organization. Acres reviewed the plan, pointing out what was done at the time of its inception, anything that had changed over that time and reasons for it, and the BESC requisitions and what happens to surpluses at the end of the year. Acres said that the original plan called for two phases of operation to roll out. Phase 1 was the formation of a Regional Fire Service and a Regional Emergency Management Agency. Acres said this was done and is the parametres on which BESC now operates. However, the Phase 2 aspect, which was to be implemented in two to five years from the time of the service start-

ing, was the Protective Services and, if the member municipalities agreed, an Emergency Medical Service. This may have meant BESC also taking over emergency medical (ambulance) services in the county, but Acres said this never materialized due to the province taking over ambulance authority. A Phase 3 take over of police service “also didn’t happen,” she said, which had envisioned community bylaw enforcement being done for the residents in the county. The original plan had a Regional Fire Chief but the name was eventually changed to Director of Emergency Management. The Deputy Director of Emergency Management position has been eliminated and replaced with an Administrative Assistant. The original capital replacement program was based on a 20-year cycle for

replacement of trucks to maintain the existing level of service. Equipment cannot go past the 20 year marker, said Acres. “Twenty years was chosen as insurance underwriters will only acknowledge first line pumpers that are 20 years or less in age for establishing residential and commercial insurance rates,” states the original business plan. “A 20-year program has been developed for the replacement of existing equipment.” Acres noted that the costs listed in the plan were based on 2009 costs. “Cost increases have occurred,” she said, replying to a question from Councillor Clint Nearing, who asked: “Are they wants or needs?” referring to equipment. “Insurance won’t cover equipment once they are past 25-30 years,” she See VIKING/BESC P9