By KEVIN BERGER, Local Journalism Initiative
RM of Corman Park councillors passed a motion during their September 22 meeting to approve a new agreement with Warman, Dalmeny, Osler and Langham to provide fire services within certain areas of the municipality over the next four and a half years.
The motion also directs administration to continue negotiations with the City of Martensville, whose council recently voted to extend the current agreement with the RM until November 30, 2026 as they work out some outstanding issues regarding a dispute resolution mechanism and coverage for city-owned vehicles travelling on gravel roads.
As noted in an administration report, the RM does not operate its own fire department and relies on neighbouring communities to provide fire and emergency response in designated service areas.
The previous agreement with Martensville, Warman, Osler, Langham and Dalmeny had been in place since 2025 and provided each partner with $80,000 annually, along with $5,000 for operational incidentals and other charges.
That level of reimbursement no longer reflects the increased cost of personnel, training, equipment and operating fire halls. Updating the reimbursement paid out to each community to better cover those costs has been a focus of the negotiations over the new agreement, which began in February 2025.
As a result, the current agreement — which has been in negotiation since February 2025 — provides $100,000 to each of the five communities, another $100,000 in funding to be distributed according to call volume, and $25,000 for operational incidentals.
The RM will also continue to pay for costs relating to “large or complex emergencies” and one co-ordinated wildfire training exercise per year. The total value of the contract, which will run until December 31, 2030, is $625,000.
CAO Kerry Hilts noted the agreement also comes with some additional service expectations and reporting requirements for the partners, which means council will be getting more information about fire protection within the RM in the future.
“Those are all new,” Hilts told council.
Hilts said the RM has received notice that Warman, Dalmeny, Osler and Langham have all accepted the agreement. Martensville is the one holdout, as its council voted on September 15 to continue negotiating the contract, temporarily extending the old contract for another 60 days.
While Martensville does have some outstanding issues relating to the new contract that have been identified by administration, a dispute over the Biosolids Pipeline Corridor Project is also partially motivating the delay in approving the contract.
In summary, the route of the pipeline connecting the City of Saskatoon’s biosolids handling facility and its wastewater treatment plant falls under Range Road 3051, which is in the RM.
Corman Park has pushed for Range Road 3051 to be paved, while Martensville and Saskatoon have made counter-offers that include bringing that road up to a gravel road standard.