SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The 911 committee in charge of implementing the emergency service in Yellowknife will remain shelved for the time being.

City councillor Paul Falvo, who was chair of the city committee through the last council term, said he wasn't reappointed chair of the committee.

"No one was reappointed," said Falvo. "They still call me the chair, but nobody was appointed to it when we evaluated committees.

With no formal 911 committee and the territorial government's continued unwillingness to offer financial backing to implement a single emergency services telephone line throughout the NWT, it's now unclear what the future of the service in Yellowknife is.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem discussed the issue with Robert C. McLeod, minister of Municipal and Community Affairs, last week. The mayor said McLeod's stance on 911 remains "consistent" - the minister standing firm on the argument communities should have to fork out the money for the emergency service. The seven largest communities outlined in the most recent 911 report as the starting point for the service receive some $17 million in capital and gas tax funding from the GNWT. McLeod has previously said communities should pay for 911 through that funding.

Falvo said the project is essentially in limbo. Without outside funding or money allocated in the city's annual budget, the project is going to be hard to get off the ground, he said.

"It's either going to fall on the city or the territory to pay for the project," Falvo said. "I think we ought to just get it into the (city) budget and just do it, but resources are what they are and there isn't any appetite to go out and spend more."

The 911 feasibility study, a $47,500 report paid for by the territorial government and the city, states 911 should be phased in, starting with the territory's seven largest communities: Behchoko, Fort Simpson, Fort Smith, Inuvik, Norman Wells, Hay River and Yellowknife. By starting with those communities, 77 per cent of the NWT's population would have access to 911 at a start-up cost of $1,018,000 and $1.2 million in annual costs.

Van Tighem said where the city goes with 911 will become clearer in the next few weeks. Council will be deciding its goals for the next three years, and it will be up to council to determine how much of a priority 911 is.

Some additional work must be done to figure out how the city could go alone on 911, the mayor said, and implement it in the city.

"That can be done here, it's not a matter of running away and studying it," said Van Tighem, adding the priority of this project can't be compared to other capital projects such as the geothermal plan for Con Mine, because that $32-million city-backed project has already secured funding from the federal government.

"It's still on the list, but (911 is) an economic decision, like geothermal," the mayor said. "We're also moving into a larger strategic plan, and it will definitely establish where it is in the priorities of this council."