Whereas the Provincial Government of British Columbia has ceased to reimburse local governments for their expenditures of stand-by pay for key emergency staff during peak freshet and wildfire hazard seasons in 2018; And whereas the Regional District of East Kootenay has observed an upsurge in the requirement of this service due to environmental circumstances, including climate change; And whereas the Regional District of East Kootenay views the elimination of this funding by the Provincial Government of British Columbia as a downloading of provincial responsibilities to local governments; And whereas the District of Sparwood is now required to pay a portion of that service cost to the Regional District of East Kootenay for participation in the Elk Valley and South Country Emergency Program to cover the cost of this service previously reimbursement by the Provincial Government of British Columbia to the Regional District of East Kootenay: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM request that the Provincial Government of British Columbia restore standby pay during freshet and wildfire seasons as an eligible expense for reimbursement to local governments.
Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General Costs for personnel on stand-by during heightened risk periods have never been an eligible cost under Emergency Management BC guidelines. Eligibility for reimbursement is related to an incident occurring and not in anticipation that one may potentially occur. As specified in the Emergency Program Act EPA, local governments are required to have an emergency plan in place that can be enacted on order without delay. This includes identifying the appropriate staff that can respond when needed. The Province believes that the reimbursement of costs associated with placing personnel on stand-by during a heightened period of risk has only been authorized for the Regional District of East Kootenay. It has not been authorized elsewhere in the province and therefore there has not been an elimination of funding but an alignment to the same level of support provided to other jurisdictions. Once an incident has occurred and a task number issued, there can be some discretion to maintain a minimum number of Emergency Operations Centre EOC personnel on stand-by outside of regular hours for on-going incident management. This would be viewed as an incremental cost associated with the management of the incident and considered prudent to lessen the costs and stresses in unnecessarily maintaining extended EOC hours of operation. The Province is in the process of modernizing the Emergency Program Act EPA and released a discussion paper on October 28, 2019 that outlines proposed changes. The three-month consultation was open until January 31, 2020 and local governments, First Nations, interested organizations and public input was encouraged.