To "Pho Chu Yeung"

I am answering "Pho Chu Yeung," who criticized the Village of Beiseker quite severely through the Village's Facebook page.

I was hurt by the accusations made by this (supposed) Beiseker resident, whom I have yet to meet.

• "[Beiseker] has no full time fire department."  I think we've addressed this first concern in my blog post a few days ago.   One anonymous commenter and I have discussed that a little further on that blog post, too - please scroll down to get those comments.
• "[Beiseker] has no ambulance service."  Beiseker is in the same situation here as every other Alberta municipality.  The ambulance services right across Alberta have been taken over by the province!  The service which we joined (The Kneehill Ambulance Service in Three Hills) was disbanded and is now part of the huge mega system run by Alberta Health Services.  We have little or no say on how this new entity operates.  Please refer this concern to the provincial government.
• "We haven't fixed a "hole" in the middle of town for a year."  Over the past few days I have driven every street and laneway in Beiseker, and I have yet to find the hole to which you refer.  Please give us an address of the nearest property so we may check out your concern.
• "The Town should be audited."  Actually, the Village of Beiseker is audited every spring by an independent auditor.  Those findings are published in a report presented to council usually in April.  The provincial Ministry of Municipal Affairs is also informed of the results of that audit.  More information about the annual audit is available to all rate payers at the Village Office.

I hope this clarifies a few of the issues brought forward by Mr. or Ms. "Yeung."   Remember, every council meeting is open to the public.  They are held every second and fourth Mondays of each month in Council Chambers.  The meetings begin at 7:15 p.m.  If you wish to address council at one of those meetings, you must register as a delegation a few business days before the meeting.

Small Turnout at Town Hall Meeting

Our annual spring Town Hall Meeting was held at the Community Centre, last Monday evening.  The turnout was quite small, but the concerns raised by those present were much appreciated.

Here are a few points I noted:

• The Bassano Station is still a big part of any discussion around town.  We had to remind everyone that the Village government has very little control or power over that stalled project.  Still we continue to work to see if we can't get this eyesore cleaned up!
• The mud bog at the corner of Second Avenue and Seventh Street is the result of an experiment gone wrong.  Public Works will be addressing the problem over the next few days.  Getting water to move from that corner has proven to be a major challenge.  Everyone has a different opinion as to what should be done there.  We'll keep working on it until we have a solution.
• Water flow and flooding was not such a big issue as I had expected this spring, however a few homes were severely affected.  Suggestions were made and remediation of these few spots will take place this summer.  The problem of the Village having to deal with runoff water from a huge portion of the County north of Beiseker was mentioned several times.
• It was brought to the attention of council that there is a sign in the Beiseker Campground noting "NO PITBULLS ALLOWED" even though we have no such bylaw to support that ban.  This sign will be removed.
• Concerns were raised over ambulance services into Beiseker.  These concerns will be investigated by village office staff.

Overall, a great meeting.  If you were unable to attend and you have an issue, please contact the village office at 403-947-3774 to voice your concerns.

EMS Volunteers in Beiseker

We've got a problem here in Beiseker and I need answers!

The Beiseker Fire Department is in the process of creating a team of trained volunteers to provide EMS services to residents.  These volunteers would not be full firefighters and would not respond to call outs in full firefighting Turnout Gear.  They would respond to medical emergencies to provide first aid and other basic life support skills for which they have been given training.  They would wait there with the patient until the ambulance arrives.

I have been informed that many of those wishing to volunteer for this team are health care professionals and would not require extensive training.

But we've been told by some that the creation of our medical response team leaves the village dangerously vulnerable as far as liability issues are concerned (see this article in the Rocky View Weekly).  Those volunteers responding to a medical emergency may be highly trained but should not do anything more than comfort the patient while they wait for the ambulance.

On the other hand, Alberta Health Services has a set of policies governing these kinds of response teams and what they can and cannot do.

The way I understand it we are well within our rights to create such a team.   We're going to have to investigate this until we are satisfied that all of our concerns have been addressed.

We're going ahead with the creation of the team.  But it will not be activated until Council is positive we are not placing our volunteers in any legal danger.

If you're a resident of the Village of Beiseker and wish to be a part of this team, come to the meeting tonight (that's Wednesday, December 5) at the Beiseker Fire Hall at 7:00 p.m.