Kneehill County council approved the purchase of a new tender fire truck for the Three Hills Fire Department during the regular Tuesday, July 19 council meeting.
Council initially approved $475,000 during budget deliberations for the purchase of the new tender; however, there was a shortfall of $100,000 when administration looked at costs.
“Procuring vehicles through COVID has been a challenge for ourselves and other municipalities,” explained Director of Community Services Kevin Gannon during the meeting.
Although the cost of the vehicle is higher than initially projected, Mr. Gannon explained administration “were able to recognize” funding opportunities for the full $575,000 cost of the new tender through the provincial Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) grant.
He added this funding opportunity was not recognized in 2021.
By utilizing MSI funding, Kneehill County will be able to negate cost pressures for the vehicle replacement from its own coffers and keep its reserves “in fairly good shape.”
Council unanimously passed a motion to approve the $575,000 budget for the new Three Hills Fire Department tender to be funded through the MSI program.

Residents in the Village of Rockyford will soon have the opportunity to receive training to administer naloxone in the event of an opioid overdose after the village council voted in favour of hosting a training session during the regular Wednesday, July 13 council meeting.
The request came from Wheatland Family and Community Support Services (WFCSS) for International Overdose Awareness Day on August 31.
Due to a rising number of opioid related overdoses, Alberta Health Services made naloxone kits and training available at no cost to the general public in January 2016. The kits contain simplified instructions on how to administer naloxone in the event of an overdose.
Between 2019 and 2021, the number of apparent opioid toxicity related deaths increased exponentially. In 2019 there were a total of 626 apparent opioid toxicity deaths in Alberta; this number nearly doubled by 2020, with a total of 1,182 deaths, and in 2021 there were 1,618 apparent opioid toxicity deaths according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Council approved the request from WFCSS; a date and location for the training will be announced at a later date.