Water tower work behind schedule

The non-essential water use restriction, which was supposed to be lifted this week, will remain in effect into the second or third week of August because the water tower rehabilitation project has fallen behind schedule.
Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown reported at last night’s council meeting that the contractor on the project lost some time due to poor weather conditions.
Crews cannot work in or on the water tank when lightning is present or a tornado warning is issued, which has occurred in past weeks.
Another minor delay occurred at the beginning of the project when the town was to turn over a completely empty tank to the contractor.
But there was still three feet of water in the bottom portion of the tank, which had to be pumped into a drain pipe, costing an additional two workdays.
As a result of being eight days behind schedule, Brown said the rehabilitation work won’t be completed until the second or third week of August.
It will be “very weather-dependent as most of the remaining work is on the exterior of the tank.”
“I’m not making excuses, but our weather and our wind has a tremendous bearing on what they can accomplish in one day,” Brown told council. “Hopefully the weather stays good for the next couple weeks and we can get this water tower back on line.”
The existing water restriction will remain in effect until the water tower is back in service.
As for the work that has been done, Brown noted that as of the end of yesterday, 90 percent of the inside of the tank has been painted and all of it has been sandblasted.
A dry film thickness test will be conducted tomorrow, followed by a test for pinholes on the coating on Thursday.
The chlorine room has been built, but the equipment still has to be put in. Safety features also have to be installed.
Most of the work that still needs to be done involves the preparation and painting of the exterior.
Also at last night’s meeting, town council:
•received a presentation and petition from local resident Mervyn Ahrens regarding pedestrian/vehicle safety concerns at King’s Highway between Lillie Avenue and Elm Avenue, and referred the matter to the Operations and Facilities executive committee to see if a traffic study could be done this year;
•referred a request from Paul Bock regarding the placement of a four-way stop at the intersection of First Street East and Mowat Avenue to the Operations and Facilities executive committee for its recommendation, with input from the Traffic Safety Committee;
•referred a request from Mayor Roy Avis regarding a review of the animal control bylaw to the Planning and Development executive committee for its recommendation;
•passed a bylaw to deem part of Plan SM-2 not to be a registered plan of a subdivision (435 Third. St. E.);
•received a document entitled “Framework for Integrated Cross-Border Law Enforcement Initiatives,” and referred it to the Police Services Board for review; and
•agreed to attend the “Northern Networks” trade conference in Duluth, Mn. on Sept. 10-11, with Mayor Avis and Couns. Ken Perry and Paul Ryan representing the town.