Wheatland County is taking an introspective look at its fire services in the coming months.
Council recently approved the creation of a committee composed of elected officials from Wheatland County, Villages of Rockyford, Hussar, and Standard, and members of the Rural Fire Associations.
The committee was tasked with putting together a proposal to hire a consultant and see the process through to completion.
“There’s been a group struck from the villages, county, and fire associations and they’re putting together something to get a company to come in and do an evaluation of our fire services,” said Wheatland County Reeve Glenn Koester. “With all the associations involved...we wanted to have everyone on the board and they can all have their input.”
The initiative will evaluate efficiencies, compliance with legislation, and determine if service levels are sufficient.
“We have a bunch of volunteers and fire associations and we want to make sure everyone is protected. With all the people involved we also want to make sure it’s running as efficiently as possible,” said Koester. “This will be a way to educate everyone with what the government wants and make sure everyone is protected.”
The review, according to Koester, is a natural part of running any government department.
“We’ve had our challenges, but everything is working. We do it planning, public works, and everything else with the county. We want to make sure we’re current,” said Koester.
The committee has met once already and will be meeting again in December to put together a proposal to hire a consultant. It is anticipated the review will officially begin in the early part of 2013.
“They’ll have another meeting in December to put together the proposal,” said Koester. “There’s not much going on now, but it’s in the works and it will happen.”