By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
City of Martensville councillors voted during their September 15 meeting to direct administration to continue negotiating a new fire services contract with the RM of Corman Park and to temporarily extend the current contract by another 60 days, pushing the expiration date from September 30 to November 30.
This extension to the negotiations is ostensibly to resolve a few outstanding issues identified by city administration and a legal review, such as including a consideration for city-owned fire trucks travelling on gravel roads and introducing a dispute resolution process.
However, the ongoing dispute over the Biosolids Pipeline Corridor Project, which will connect Saskatoon’s wastewater treatment facility to its biosolids handling facility and provide service to the City of Martensville, is also at least partially motivating the decision to continue negotiations as the city hopes to remind the RM that they are partners.
It should be noted that the City of Martensville has had a contract to provide fire services within a portion of the RM for a number of years now. Other parties who have signed this contract in the past include the City of Saskatoon, the City of Warman, the Town of Osler, the Town of Langham and the Town of Dalmeny.
The current contract, which was originally set to expire on June 30, 2026, has remained roughly the same since at least 2018. In that time, it has paid out $80,000 per partner, along with a per call cost recovery portion based on SGI rates.
However, there was a desire this year to negotiate a new contract that better reflected the cost of service for the RM’s various partners, as they all agreed that the current amount of reimbursement being paid out was not sufficient for cost recovery.
“Because of the growth in the RM and the desire to be able to prioritize calls within the municipality, it was preferred by the providers to continue with a contract that contained both a fixed amount and a per call billing,” an administration report stated.
At the September 1 council meeting, City Manager Tanya Garost suggested that the city was fairly satisfied with the new fire services contract (which would last four and a half years) and it would likely return to the September 15 council meeting for council to rubber-stamp it.
“This contract, I would say, is a significant improvement over our prior contract,” Garost said on September 1. “It perhaps doesn’t entirely reach the level that would make this administration happy, but it is a significant improvement and probably, at this point, the best that we can do.”
Garost suggested at the September 1 meeting that the agreement could be further refined in the future, or that Martensville could negotiate an agreement separate from the other partners.
At the September 15 meeting, however, administration instead recommended the continuation of the negotiations and an extension to the current contract so that RM residents will still be protected.
The administration report for the September 15 meeting goes into further detail about the items that are in contention, such as the definition of a Large, Complex Emergency within the contract.
“Under the new contract, the RM has proposed a flat rate for operational incidentals such as foam, water, etc. The Fire Chief’s raised concerns over this and in response, it was proposed that when a call is deemed a large or complex emergency, operational incidentals could be billed separately from the flat rate,” the report stated.
As well, a legal review identified the need for a dispute resolution process within the contract along with clearer criteria for when a Large or Complex Emergency triggers at-cost reimbursement.
Garost acknowledged extending negotiations would at least somewhat inconvenience the other municipal partners who have already approved the contract.
“I think all of the other municipalities are either approved or in final approval of the agreement, so they will have to go back and extend as well,” she said, admitting that some of the partner councils would likely need a special meeting to approve a 60-day extension.
Mayor Kent Muench stated at the September 15 meeting that he had spoken to RM of Corman Park Reeve Joe Hargrave ahead of time and given him a heads-up about council’s impending decision on the contract.
Muench noted that Martensville and the RM are in a partnership that should not be discarded at the drop of a hat. “You can’t be in a relationship five of the seven days of the week. That’s not how it works,” he added.
He alluded to the RM’s concerns regarding the Biosolids Pipeline Corridor Project, which has stalled over the issue of upgrades to Range Road 3051. A portion of that road lies directly over the route of the pipeline.
Originally, the RM had pushed for that road to simply be paved, which neither Saskatoon or Martensville would accept. Instead, they returned with a counter-offer that included $1 million for future paving and an offer to upgrade Range Road 3051 to a gravel road standard.
The RM then shot back over the summer with a different offer: that Range Road 3051 be upgraded to an access main farm gravel road standard; that $1 million be provided to the RM when the settlement agreement is signed; that there be a signed memorandum of understanding to support future water and wastewater servicing within the RM; and that the city be responsible for decommissioning of the old pipelines.
Garost noted there was a risk that taking a harder stance over the fire services contract in that Corman Park could walk away from the table entirely, leaving Martensville’s fire department without a source of revenue.
However, Garost noted it would be more of a disservice to people living in the RM “but not, to be honest, a huge loss for the folks in Martensville,” adding that they could sell off some equipment to help with that revenue shortfall.
It is worth noting that the city’s 2026 Budget was based on the previous contract and any additional revenue coming from a new contract would not be accounted for.
This graphic shows the proposed route of the pipeline connecting Saskatoon’s wastewater treatment plant and its biosolids handling facility, which is located in the RM of Corman Park.