Council defers decision on bridge work priorities for further discussion

Council continues to struggle with decisions about which bridge and culvert repair projects should top the township’s priority list.

At the June 24 meeting council deferred a decision on a staff recommendation that would have seen the township take on a $1 million debenture and tackle four bridge projects this year. The amount would also cover planned street light upgrades.

CAO Patty Sinnamon reported she and operations manager Les Robinson had met, as directed by council, with a representative from Reeves Construction to review the condition of various bridges and culverts identified in the township’s Bridge Assessment Report as requiring work within the next one to five years. The idea was to determine whether some of the work should be done this year.

Four bridges were identified as priorities for repair in 2014, with a total cost of work estimated at around $576,000.

Sinnamon said the work could either be covered using funds drawn from bridge reserves or raised by debenture.

“It would be staff’s recommendation to purchase a debenture in the amount of $1,000,000,” she reported.

“This debenture would cover not only the 2014 bridge work, but the cost of the streetlight upgrades, which is estimated to be $240,000. Currently interest rates are quite low at approximately 2.82% for 10 years, with an annual repayment amount of $116,156. Any funds not used from the debenture would be applied to the 2015 bridge works.”

Mayor Bruce Whale expressed concern about spending that much money based on one quote. The mayor said he hadn’t expected the construction company to provide quotes on the projects, just help identify which structures required immediate work.

However councillor Neil Driscoll pointed out “council asked staff to get this back to us.”

Sinnamon added, “It would be very difficult to bring someone else in now, because you have these prices.”

Driscoll said, “If you’re Reeves Construction your price is now public.”

“They don’t have to tender at the same price that’s shown,” replied Whale.

Driscoll said companies spend “a lot of time and money” preparing quotes and the township invests staff time in such projects as well.

“If I was these people I’d say ‘Well, when you get serious, come back to me,’”  said Driscoll.

“Really – on a job like this I’m not sure we want to be going outside our procurement policy,” the mayor replied.

Whale said he would much rather have a five-year plan for bridge projects than make decisions on an annual basis, to allow for better long-term decision making.

“Do we have to close Sideroad 17 if there’s 15 structures there and it’s going to cost us $10 million over the next 15 years to keep that open?” he wondered.

Council members agreed to defer the decision until after newly-hired public works director Brad McRoberts joins  staff on July 2.

“I say we save a lot of time, have a special meeting when he’s on board. We can make this a number one priority,” suggested councillor Jim Curry.

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