Duane Hicks
The sewer and water data summary for 2011 shows far too much water is infiltrating the system but the town is working to address the problem, Coun. Paul Ryan said at last night’s council meeting.
“The Operations and Facilities division is homing in on this and this problem is on the front burner,” he stressed.
“In 2011, there was 887,440 cubic metres of water received at our sewage treatment plant that we did not produce at the other end, at the river where the water is treated,” noted Coun. Ryan.
“This comes to almost 200 million gallons that we treated down there at the treatment plant that we shouldn’t have had to.
“Now we’ve got an infiltration study going on right now,” he explained. “We should have the report pretty soon, and we’re certainly going to act on this problem.
“We’re not alone in this, almost every municipality has the same problem we do due to the neglect that has been taking place on our piping system in the past,” Coun. Ryan added.
“We will certainly be keeping this on our front burner.”
“Paul has more than once said that if you listen very quietly, you can hear the pipes in ground creaking and falling apart,” Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft remarked.
The sanitary sewer system infiltration and inflow investigation study has been ongoing since August, 2009.
A large quantity of water treated by the sewage treatment plant is groundwater or surface run-off water, which does not need to be treated.
The study has been identifying where and how this extra water is getting into the system, enabling the town to fix the infiltration and inflow problems, saving the unnecessary treatment of wastewater.
In other news, council passed a bylaw last night to provide for an interim tax levy for 2012.
As in previous years, the interim levy is equal to about half of the total amount of taxes property owners paid in 2011.
Interim tax bills will be mailed out shortly.
Fifty percent of the levy will be due and payable by Feb. 29, with the balance due by March 30 (the last working day in that month).
Also at last night’s meeting, council:
•passed a bylaw to authorize the borrowing of money to meet current expenditures for the corporation in 2012 (the agreement is with the CIBC to borrow sums not to exceed $4 million);
•passed a bylaw to acknowledge the exercise by SkyPower Ltd. of a right to extend an option term under an option agreement to purchase municipal lands;
•approved a report to correct janitorial contract amounts for Nicholson Janitorial Services for the OPP detachment/Civic Centre to $60,000 and the Children’s Complex to $31,680 plus HST;
•directed sustainability co-ordinator Travis Rob to develop applications to the Green Municipal Fund and Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. for funding for an integrated community sustainability plan;
•directed that the traffic control bylaw be amended to allow for a second dedicated on-street parking space at 316 Victoria Ave. for use by the Salvation Army (this new parking space will be subject to an annual fee, as per the town’s user fee schedule);
•approved a recommendation to keep aviation fuel pump prices at their current level at the Fort Frances Airport for the next quarter (the fuel currently is marked up 33 percent above cost for 100LL and 32 percent above cost for Jet A-1);
•agreed to a recommendation of the Administration and Finance executive committee to approve the write-off of 2006 Provincial Offences Act accounts receivable in the amount of $137,939.96 (treasurer Laurie Witherspoon clarified this write-off is for accounting purposes only, and does not absolve the offenders from having to pay their fines);
•agreed to a recommendation of the Administration and Finance executive committee to approve the write-off of uncollectable accounts receivable in the amount of $639.53 as of Dec. 31, 2011, and that the Community Services division be directed to develop a policy to deal with the matter of wilful damage at the Memorial Sports Centre; and
•approved a per diem claim for Coun. Sharon Tibbs in the amount of $75 for attendance at the Rainy River District Municipal Association meeting Dec. 21 in Alberton.
