Irrigation’s fate has been decided…or has it?
Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter
The irrigation committee has officially been dissolved as many of the councillors feels they have reached the best solution to bringing residential irrigation back. Even though the committee wasn’t originally going to be given the chance to speak, Councillor John Rempel made a motion to allow Bob Carver, irrigation committee member, a few minutes to once again present the committee’s case to council.
Carver expressed two points. The first concerned the changes to the water utility rates, which he said has made irrigation seem even more attractive to residents. The second thing he wished to discuss was the report from Jesse Parker, Director of Engineering and Operations for the town: the amount of water being used by the town to water the parks and what the town is required to pay. Carver said the irrigation committee feels the town should pay the bill for the parks being watered.
Parker said not all of the parks have access to irrigation, and for some of them there is only a little bit of the park actually being able to be watered through irrigation.
Tension was high, with members of the gallery speaking out of turn. Bob Carver doesn’t feel like council has actually made a decision, and has instead passed the buck to irrigation users to find a solution. He said he doesn’t know how an individual is to know what they have to pay
“We have no idea what they mean. I know what they think they mean, they would like to see somebody coordinate it for them. Well I’m sorry, but they are the coordinators,” said Carver.
“How can you say that a group has to put up this much money without specifying what an individual has to put up.”
Councillor Rocky Blokland made a motion that the town reinstates the irrigation for 2011, with 80 per cent of the operating costs coming from the users and 20 per cent from the town, by June 15. The users’ portion works out to approximately $80,000. Even if 650 residents with access to irrigation were to sign up at $100 per person, they would still be shy of the $80,000 mark.
EPCOR contract
As part of the EPCOR operations and maintenance contract, every five years out of the 20 years the contract is brought to council for a pricing review. It’s an opportunity for the town and EPCOR to review the scope of the work, and look at any pricing changes which might impact the pricing of the contract. In 2010 there were a number of changes to water and wastewater utilities in town, including the decommissioning of the former water treatment plant and the commissioning of the east Calgary waterline and the wastewater treatment plant. Due to the significant changes, over the past year town administration and EPCOR have worked on a pricing exercise for the utilities included in the EPCOR contract. After lengthy meetings, consultations and number crunching the figure of $2,270,734 was brought to council for approval. There were some savings, despite the exuberant number.
Citizen of the Month
Every month a Citizen of the Month is to be nominated. Last month no one was named so at the May 4 council meeting, Councillor Rocky Blokland brought forth his recommendation for April. Blokland nominated Sheila Crispin as the citizen of the month for April. Blokland said he nominated her because she is a tireless, endless motivator on the projects she believes in, especially making the downtown area beautiful.
Councillor Dave Hamilton also gave his citizen of the month for May. He picked Robert Breitweiser. Hamilton said Breitweiser is a dedicated member of the Communities in Bloom and Hamilton wants to reward him for all of his hard work in the community.
Street Sweeping
contract
Street sweeping was to begin on May 2. Due to the snowfall the week prior, it threw them off a little. The equipment was sitting in Sudbury, Ont., at the time of the council meeting, the equipment had been held up by weather out east. Jesse Parker, Director of Engineering and Operations for the town, said the last he had heard, the company would be bringing equipment up from the states to be in town. Street cleaning is now set to begin on May 9.