This week city council narrowly approved the tender for winter maintenance on Charland and Bertrand Roads in the city's far east end. Its a move that has several Councillors concerned about the cannonball effect it could have on the city's budget.
The city received 4 tenders for the project. The tendered costs to perform the work ranged from a low of $28,959.28+HST to a high of $168,109+HST. In congruence with the city's policy for going with the lowest bidder, the cost will be $29,000.
Councillor Pat Bamford asked Public Works Manager Ken Krcel about the canyon-sized gap.
"Are you comfortable with the huge gap in the bidding costs, is that raising a red flag?" he said.
Krcel replied that the winning company, John Wlad & Sons Construction, works out of Iroquois Falls, and that they have resources nearby.
"I can't really explain the variance, except that its possible that they may be a smaller company, and might do a lot of work themselves, as opposed to having a large workforce do the work, but I feel, from discussions I think they should be able to adequately do the work," said Krcel.
"I can't support this going forward, as I had mentioned last time. Once again, this flies in the face of a policy we've had for decades," said Bamford.
Councillor Walter Wawrzaszek, who initially pushed for the city to maintain the roads, reiterated his position.
"Everybody knows that I brought this up. I believe that the taxpayers that pay taxes, deserve a service. If they get no service, I don't understand why they would have to pay taxes," he said.
The vote was split 5-4 in order to award the tender. In favor were Councillors Wawrzaszek, Joe Campbell, Andrew Marks, Rick Dubeau, and Mike Doody. Opposed were Bamford, Noella Rinaldo, Andre Grzela, and Mayor Steve Black.
Council then heard a proposal from David Vacchino, a property owner on Kenogamissi Lake. He explained in a letter that after hearing about the Bertrand and Charland decision, he requested either a reduction in his property tax, or a rebate for maintenance 'to use on the road as we see fit'
The property in question lies 24 kilometres way from the nearest city maintained road. Krcel said he could not find any records of the city ever doing maintenance on that road from a public works perspective.
Bamford did not particularly care for the tone of the letter.
"What is concerning in this letter to me, is that there is a reference to an assumption that we are now going to have a program to do all our rural roads and cottage roads. We have to stop this now," he said, adding that he strongly feels that the Charland and Bertrand road decision needs to be a 'one-off'.
"We have to go back to our policy, otherwise we're in trouble," he said. "My take is that we just say 'thanks, but no thanks, this is your road' and we move on. We've got to send a message," he said.
Rinaldo said with their earlier decision, council has essentially opened up a can of worms.
"We are going to be dealing with these type of requests, which are perfectly natural and I think we were expecting them. We're going to have to deal with it at budget time, and the only ask I have is that if more people are coming forward this year that they come before we sit down and do the budget, because its going to have a severe effect on our budget" she said.
David Vacchino (right) pleads his case to council. Andrew Autio for TimminsToday Campbell said the city will need to address several problems.
"If we talk about tax rebates, we don't even have a policy as to what shape they are going to take, what is the value, or anything. So I'm not even sure how we can deal with this thing tonight, until we at least address as to whether or not we even want to go that route," he said.
Grzela called the proposal 'a slippery one' as it could open the city up to providing rebates for all city services that aren't provided in rural areas. He made it clear that he would not be supporting this, or any similar requests, until formal policy has been drafted and approved.
Doody said that all citizens paying municipal taxes deserve 'some kind of service'.
"If somebody is not satisfied with the value they're getting for the amount of taxes they pay, they have a right to come to this table and ask," he said.
Marks said that he proudly supported the Charland and Bertrand decision, confirming his sentiment that rural taxpayers deserve something for their taxes.
"In my eyes, this is again an issue of fairness," he said.
Council unanimously voted to receive 'additional information'.
"I'll ask staff to bring it back with some form of detail of ownership on the road, and what may be recommended in terms of road allowances, should council want to pursue that avenue" said Black.
