Town of Strathmore protects its assets

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

The Town of Strathmore is cracking the whip and zeroing in on a policy gap concerning the absence of a municipal right-of-way work and excavation process, permit and policy that ensure the protection and rehabilitation of public infrastructure during construction.
Up until last week, the municipality had no formal application process or policy, operating on a case-by-case process and leaving pubic funds vulnerable when a company-damaged public infrastructure then failed to make repairs or lacked adequate insurance to cover the cost.
Developers, builders, agencies and companies are sometimes required to excavate or dig into municipal rights-of-way – town-owned sidewalks, roadways, curbs and gutters, boulevards, back alleys, parks and walkways – in order to upgrade services, install new services, or repair services.
With Strathmore’s population on the rise, the town’s Infrastructure and Development Services department has focused on improving processes with intentions of serving Strathmore better.
As a result, the department approached town council on Jan. 24 with a recommendation to adopt the proposed Municipal Right-of-Way Work and Excavation Policy 6104; a policy which council approved unanimously.
“Infrastructure is at risk, public funds are at risk, because we don’t have enough information or proof of insurance on these applications,” said Chuck Procter, Town of Strathmore planner.
“We need this documented policy, we need these formal processes and we want to be a professional organization. We also want to protect our public funds and the new policy kind of established a transparent process. We need something in place to outline this approach. That’s how we want to treat these folks moving forward, rather than an email and a handshake.”
Policy 6104 requires a completed application and checklist; a certificate of insurance with a minimum general liability insurance coverage of $2 million; a $2,000 refundable deposit used to correct deficiencies; and a $200 application fee to cover costs of engineering review, team review, communications, map created by the GIS department and newspaper ads. In addition, applicants must submit detailed engineering drawings, a communication plan and a traffic accommodation plan in the event of a roadway closure.
Town administration anticipates five to 10 excavation requests this year. In 2017, municipal right-of-way excavations included the fibre optic cable installation by Bell Communications to the Storefront School, and upgrading the municipal water and sanitary services for two future six-plex units on Centre Street – in both cases the roadways and sidewalks were closed. The policy is tailored to Strathmore but reflects on the policies of Calgary, Banff, Grande Prairie and St. John’s.
“The town gets what we want, we get the information and the applicant is more prepared because … they have plans moving forward and they can deliver a better process; it’s kind of a win-win,” said Procter. “Applicants will have more skin in the game with that deposit and information provided to us. The town will have more information, proof of insurance and contact information, and infrastructure and public funds will be better protected. I think it’s safe to say it’s a strong policy but it’s not perfect.”
While all councillors voted in favour of the policy, some of the officials questioned the $2,000 deposit, stating the amount was too low to cover most significant damages. Councillor Jason Montgomery also raised concerns with insurance coverage and liability to the town. In response, Strathmore’s Infrastructure and Development Services Assistant Director Ryan Roycroft welcomed the suggestion to look at further insurance options, yet he stated contractors played a factor in the decisions made regarding the deposit and insurance.
“Staff are very conscious that when we’re introducing new policies like this, where we’re starting to charge fees and require a process that we’ve never done before, we’re approaching this as a step-by-step process and maybe being sort of soft pedaling putting in new fees like this,” said Roycroft.
“This is a case where we want to give a lot of the contractors who aren’t used to dealing with this time to adapt to the new regime and to be conscious of that.”
Council was unanimous in their decision to adopt the Municipal Right-of-Way Work and Excavation Policy 6104 at the regular council meeting on Jan. 24.