The Town of Fort Frances won’t have to cut sewer and water service to Couchiching First Nation after all because Indian and Northern Affairs Canada has agreed to settle the reserve’s arrears prior to tomorrow’s deadline.
INAC senior information officer Susan Bertrand said in a telephone interview yesterday that INAC responded quickly to the town’s ultimatum last week to pay up because having no water or sewer service to Couchiching residents was a serious “health and safety issue.”
“We are committed to providing the residents of Couchiching with clean drinking water,” she stressed.
Bertrand noted there was a meeting here last week at which Couchiching Chief Chuck McPherson, Fort Frances Mayor Dan Onichuk, and Bob Howsam, regional director general for INAC, pledged to work together and develop short- and long-term solutions to the water and sewer agreement issue.
Bertrand added INAC has earmarked $200,000 in 2004-05 to pay for Couchiching’s water and sewer costs, and that, depending on what any new agreement may entail, may provide more money beyond that.
She would not reveal exactly how much Couchiching’s water and sewer account is in arrears.
Chief McPherson could not be reached for comment prior to press time.
As reported in Monday’s Daily Bulletin, INAC had until Nov. 18 “to settle the cumulative arrears owing for sewer and water services to Couchiching First Nation, as provided under agreement by the Town of Fort Frances.”
Failure to do so would result in the town “pursuing remedy under section 6 of said agreement,” or, in so many words, the termination of water and sewer services.
This order stemmed from last Monday night when town council passed a motion after discussing the issue during the in-camera portion of the committee of the whole meeting.
“I’m not going to get into the details of the resolution,” Mayor Onichuk said during an interview Monday morning.
“I was given a personal commitment they [INAC] would deal with the issue prior to Nov. 18,” he added.
Mayor Onichuk noted that, just like any other of the town’s customers, he was not at liberty to say how much Couchiching owes, nor did he say how long it would take until the water and sewer service was cut off in case the arrears were not settled.
“What I will say is we do not have a specific policy with the respect to collections as it relates to private water systems,” he noted.
“That would include Couchiching, Lakeview Trailer Court, Walleye Trailer Court. And that would apply to Alberton if we extended our service out there,” the mayor added.
As such, he put forth a request that the town’s Administration and Finance department devise a specific policy for the collection of accounts for private water systems.
“There’s a need to develop that,” stressed Mayor Onichuk, adding the policy would come forth at a future council meeting.
The town, Couchiching, and INAC first sat down in May to start hammering out a new agreement for water and sewer services.
These talks stemmed from the fact the water and sewer service agreements between INAC and the town had lapsed in the last decade—and Couchiching has been paying escalating rates ever since.
“We’ve been without an agreement on the issue since 1999. It was never dealt with to conclusion by previous councils,” said Mayor Onichuk. “I’ve spent a great deal of time trying to get the numbers together to conclude a new agreement.”
Couchiching, just like all properties outside town limits that receive services from the Town of Fort Frances, currently pays double the average cost per cubic meter for water or sewage.
Between 2003 and 2004, the rates have gone up considerably. For instance, the 2003 rate for sewer service was $1.61 per cubic metre while this year it jumped to $2.08 per cubic metre.
Likewise, water rates rose from $1.35 per cubic metre in 2003 to $2.35 per cubic metre in 2004.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
