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Capital projects total $30 million
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| PROVINCIAL VISIT: Dale Wall [left], deputy minister of community and rural development and BC’s Inspector of Municipalities, travelled to Powell River on November 20. He and Mayor Stewart Alsgard discussed upcoming projects at the Powell River Chamber of Commerce luncheon. (laura walz photo) |
Chief administrative officer briefs council on list
by Laura Walz | editor@prpeak.com
City of Powell River officials are prepared to tackle $30 million in capital projects, many of which have to be completed by March 2011.
Stan Westby, chief administrative officer, presented council with a list of projects at the November 19 council meeting. He said the $30 million in capital projects is almost three times the city’s annual budget.
“We have less than two years to get this work done,” Westby said. “When I speak in the committee-of-the-whole about priorities and what our staff are doing, this is the degree of work that these folks are involved with.”
Westby displayed a poster board which listed the projects, noting the city needed to prioritize and focus almost primarily on the ones he had listed. “The purpose of bringing all this forward is to emphasize with you that I really think now is the time we need to streamline operations, look at our priorities and really focus on these,” he said. “I made a pledge to my crew, to everyone in the organization, but most importantly to you and the citizens of Powell River, that we are going to do these projects, we’re going to do them well, we’re going to do them on time and we’re going to do them on budget.”
Mayor Stewart Alsgard said Westby made his point “very effectively. I think all of us appreciate the fact that it’s been summarized in this concise manner. It’s a very impressive amount of money and it’s a very important delegation of responsibility. I think we all have the confidence that this shall be done.”
During the committee-of-the-whole meeting earlier in the day, Westby made a verbal report about the $8.5 million water system upgrade. He said staff were almost ready to bring forward a report about awarding a contract for the preliminary design, but they wanted a legal review of one aspect of the contract before presenting it to council. The city received six proposals for the project and staff interviewed three proponents.
An important part of the project is involving the public, Westby added. “There are a lot of issues and all three of the consultants have budgeted for a significant amount of public consultation to move forward on this, so that we get a strong consensus from the community that it is the appropriate manner of putting together this core service,” he said.
Another potentially interesting development was a discussion of what the Capital Regional District is doing in Victoria. Part of the design for a water system upgrade there is to install a turbine to generate electricity, Westby said.
“The consultant indicated to me that at a capital cost of roughly $2 million, they’ve put a turbine in there that generates power that goes into the grid, which realizes about a quarter of a million dollars a year for the regional district. This is most definitely going to be the subject of our discussions with the deputy minister tomorrow.”
Dale Wall, the deputy minister of community and rural development and the Inspector of Municipalities, was in town on Friday, November 20. Part of his itinerary included a tour of sites proposed for the capital infrastructure stimulus funding projects, primarily focusing on the water.
For a list of the capital projects, visit www.prpeak.com.
Stan Westby, chief administrative officer, presented council with a list of projects at the November 19 council meeting. He said the $30 million in capital projects is almost three times the city’s annual budget.
“We have less than two years to get this work done,” Westby said. “When I speak in the committee-of-the-whole about priorities and what our staff are doing, this is the degree of work that these folks are involved with.”
Westby displayed a poster board which listed the projects, noting the city needed to prioritize and focus almost primarily on the ones he had listed. “The purpose of bringing all this forward is to emphasize with you that I really think now is the time we need to streamline operations, look at our priorities and really focus on these,” he said. “I made a pledge to my crew, to everyone in the organization, but most importantly to you and the citizens of Powell River, that we are going to do these projects, we’re going to do them well, we’re going to do them on time and we’re going to do them on budget.”
Mayor Stewart Alsgard said Westby made his point “very effectively. I think all of us appreciate the fact that it’s been summarized in this concise manner. It’s a very impressive amount of money and it’s a very important delegation of responsibility. I think we all have the confidence that this shall be done.”
During the committee-of-the-whole meeting earlier in the day, Westby made a verbal report about the $8.5 million water system upgrade. He said staff were almost ready to bring forward a report about awarding a contract for the preliminary design, but they wanted a legal review of one aspect of the contract before presenting it to council. The city received six proposals for the project and staff interviewed three proponents.
An important part of the project is involving the public, Westby added. “There are a lot of issues and all three of the consultants have budgeted for a significant amount of public consultation to move forward on this, so that we get a strong consensus from the community that it is the appropriate manner of putting together this core service,” he said.
Another potentially interesting development was a discussion of what the Capital Regional District is doing in Victoria. Part of the design for a water system upgrade there is to install a turbine to generate electricity, Westby said.
“The consultant indicated to me that at a capital cost of roughly $2 million, they’ve put a turbine in there that generates power that goes into the grid, which realizes about a quarter of a million dollars a year for the regional district. This is most definitely going to be the subject of our discussions with the deputy minister tomorrow.”
Dale Wall, the deputy minister of community and rural development and the Inspector of Municipalities, was in town on Friday, November 20. Part of his itinerary included a tour of sites proposed for the capital infrastructure stimulus funding projects, primarily focusing on the water.
For a list of the capital projects, visit www.prpeak.com.
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overtaxed wrote on Nov 26, 2009 10:10 AM:
hummm , let's see now if we triple the taxes that should cover it . "