Town council voted Monday night to pull $68.053.30 from the Operations and Facilities revenue fund to pay for a sidewalk running from Canadian Tire to Wal-Mart.
This was one of three capital expenditures from last year that were accounted for in a report from treasurer Laurie Witherspoon.
All three transactions were voted on by council, with Couns. John Albanese, Tannis Drysdale, and Neil Kabel, along with Mayor Dan Onichuk, voting in favour of them and Couns. Roy Avis and Rick Wiedenhoeft against them.
Mayor Onichuk, a minority shareholder in the corporation owning the property between Witherspoon’s and Wal-Mart where a Loblaws is expected to be built, did not declare a pecuniary interest and voted to approve the transfer of funds.
The story behind who would pay for the sidewalk, which was built on the north side of King’s Highway from Daniel Avenue to Wal-Mart last summer, stems back to last July.
That’s when town council decided not to build the sidewalk as a local improvement project—meaning affected landowners Witherspoon’s, Big Muddy Enterprises, and Wal-Mart would not have to pay their share of the construction cost.
Instead, council agreed to go ahead with building the sidewalk—primarily to address safety concerns about pedestrians walking to Wal-Mart—and pay for it through some other means, which were undecided at that time.
Fort Frances CAO Mark McCaig said the town currently is in discussions with Wal-Mart to get some money from the company to help pay for it.
He added the sidewalk has had an undeniable impact on pedestrian traffic to that part of town, and of particular benefit to that store.
One of the other capital expenditures was the town’s portion of the reconstruction of King’s Highway ($539,786.19), which is being paid for out the water and sewer reserves.
Meanwhile, $1,072.44 will be taken from the Planning and Development surplus reserve fund to pay for some computer equipment.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
