The District of Central Saanich and Tsawout and Tsartlip First Nations held a symbolic signing ceremony Sept. 19 to mark the establishment of formal servicing agreements struck between the groups last month.
The ceremony, held at the Tsawout band administration building, marked the establishment of a new agreement for municipal, water and fire services between the municipality and Tsawout, and the establishment of a formal agreement between the municipality and Tsartlip.
Central Saanich never had formal servicing agreements in place with Tsartlip, however they have been providing water, fire protection and sewer services based on current rates.
The municipality and Tsartlip moved towards establishing a more formal servicing agreement several years ago based on an initial focus of a sewer servicing agreement.
Over the last several months, the two parties decided to widen the agreement to include general, water and fire services, similar to those provided to Tsawout.
Central Saanich has held servicing agreements for fire, water and general municipal services with Tsawout since 2001 which expired at the end of 2011.
The municipality extended the agreement on a month-to-month basis while the two groups worked on the new agreement.