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Not the time to rock the boat

The County of Barrhead has to hire a consultant from a provincially approved list of certified individuals to go through the safety audit process. And councillors are not happy about it.

The County of Barrhead has to hire a consultant from a provincially approved list of certified individuals to go through the safety audit process.

And councillors are not happy about it. Mostly because they believe this is an unnecessary expense as they have solicited advice from a neighbouring municipality.

If councillors had voted against it, which they nearly did, it would have resulted in the county’s safety certification being revoked, meaning no more gravel trucks, or any other county-owned machinery classified as commercial by the province, would be allowed to operate.

And while we understand council’s frustration — in this case we agree with the province.

To ensure that things are done properly and in a safe manner, people in all walks of life, often have to have their work examined by a select group of certified individuals. This is what the province is asking the county to do here.

While we commend the county for asking advice from a neighbouring community, through an inter-municipal agreement, it isn’t enough.

It is like a person trying to save money by getting their driver’s license through a friend instead of a qualified, certified examiner. While we are sure the municipality is competent, you just can’t do that.

As County of Barrhead chief administrative officer Debbie Oyarzun notes in our front page story, whether council agrees with it or not, rules are rules.

There is no getting around provincial regulations.

Oyarzun says the issue she had, one shared by all councillors, was that it was worded to sound like a recommendation when it really was a requirement.

Some of our readers may argue that there are too many layers of government, that the bureaucracy is redundant but the fact is, checks and balances are important.

However, kudos are deserved in part due to the county’s desire to expedite the process by having a partner who has already gone through the audit and is willing, according to Oyarzun, to assist without anything in return.

An unbudgeted expense is something no municipality wants to deal with.

It is the same for any of us with unexpected bills.

That being said, considering the plight, the county finds itself in with respect to the Municipal Affairs imposed binding arbitration process with the town to come up with a long-term recreation agreement — we believe the best course of action in this case is not to rock the boat.

While it is true, municipalities from time to time, should battle the will of the provincial and federal governments, you have to pick your battles and this is one fight they should back away from.

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