By Greg Nikkel
The City of Weyburn will be able to add in a few smaller water infrastructure projects that can be done with grant money, city council was told at their Sept. 25 meeting.
The provincial ministry of Government Relations contacted the city and informed them that they need to use all of the funds allocated to them under the New Building Canada Fund for National and Regional Projects (NRP) and the Clean Water and Wastewater Fund (CWWF).
Weyburn is utilizing these grant funds for their new reservoir, upgrades to the water treatment plant and installation of the UV disinfection system. The ministry estimates the City has about $2.1 million in the NRP fund, and $2.1 million in the CWWF fund that can be allocated to additional projects.
For NRP funds, new projects need to be identified by March 31, 2018 for completion by March 31, 2019. These projects will funded two-thirds by the provincial and federal governments, with the balance from the City.
Under the CWWF program, the City has the same deadline of March 31, 2018, and these projects would be funded three-quarters by the provincial and federal governments. All projects need to be completed to a point where the final outcome is an asset to the city.
Among the new projects which will be submitted for government approval are upgrades to the First Avenue NW reservoir and pump station, with a total eligible cost of around $1 million, with about five months needed to complete the work, and upgrades to the water treatment plant’s filtration system, worth about $850,000. An automated system would allow for increased control over the quality of water, reduced water waste and reduced manpower requirements.
Other projects include a lagoon aerator design and installation, security upgrades for the water treatment plant, standpipe upgrades, and other repairs and replacements of storm sewers.
One project the City would like to put forward is to replace the water line, storm and sanitary sewer lines on Government Road, so that all of the work can be completed and then paved over without the need to dig up the paving again. This project had an estimated cost total of $5 million, so the City isn’t sure they would be able to do it at the current time.
City council accepted a bid from Cogent to provide external audit services to the City of Weyburn for the next five years, beating out two other bids, from MNP LLP and N.M. McMahon, both from Weyburn.
The city’s director of finance, Laura Missal, used a point awarding system for each of the three firms, including such factors as fees, firm and staffing credentials, municipality experience and previous audit experience with the City of Weyburn.
Cogent had the best rating under this system, and also had the lowest fees of $34,150, and their contract will run from 2017 to 2021.
In an update on the Queen Street CP Rail crossing from city manager Roy Hardy, he noted the safety rating of the crossing has changed. Transport Canada had previously rated the crossing as the 65th worst crossing in Canada, but is now rated as the 154th worst.
He noted that Transport Canada reviews their ratings of the safety of crossings every year, and this was why the rating changed. He also pointed out there are a couple of rural crossings in the Weyburn area that have a higher rating for safety risk than the Queen Street crossing.
On the wish of council to have the trees removed along the track, Hardy said the property owner there has been very difficult to reach.
“As soon as we are able, we’ll discuss removing those trees. The trees will have to be removed to meet (Transport Canada’s) requirements by 2021 for that crossing,” said Hardy.
The city manager also notes that there is some discussion about whether garbage pickup might be reduced to once every two weeks during the winter months, since recycling seems to be working very well and reducing the amount of refuse going to the landfill.
The discussion came up as Regina city council was discussing this as a possibility for their city, with the suggestion that reduced garbage pickup occur from November to March, but maintain weekly pickup through the warmer months of the year.
“If we could cut back. We’d save quite a bit of money along the way,” said Mayor Marcel Roy.
Coun. Dick Michel noted that on his morning walks, he sometimes has a peek in people’s garbage bins and has seen a reduction in the amount of waste, in the ones he’s checked at least.
Coun. Mel Van Betuw suggested the city should get some figures from Regens, the recycling contractor, to get an idea on just how much materials are being recycled by city residents now.
