County to Borrow $1.9 Million for Paving Project
Mayerthorpe Freelancer Article
County Manager Mike Primeau said:
“It frees up money because there's a lot of this road included in future years. By getting it off the books, it allows us to look at the capital road plan and move projects up,” Primeau said.
Council unanimously voted to allow for a third reading of the bylaw to happen on the same day as the first two readings.
County to borrow $1.9 million for paving project
By Joseph Quigley Mayerthorpe FreelancerTuesday, August 15, 2017
Lac Ste. Anne County is borrowing $1.9 million to pave six kilometres of Township Road 544 south of Onoway after a contested vote at County Council.
The project is an extension of the work the County had planned on the road this year, with $800,000 originally budgeted to pave only two kilometres of road in 2017. Three phases of work was planned on the road from 2017 to 2020.
County council voted 4-1 to complete the entirety of the project this year its Aug. 10 meeting, with only Coun. Wayne Borle opposed.
The County considered the expansion after discovering potential cost savings due to the low bid contractor doing work on Highway 43 near the road. County administration estimated that doing the paving all at once, as opposed to over several years until 2020, would lead to approximately $570,000 in cost savings.
Coun. Lorne Olsvik said he was completely behind the project given the high use of the road in question.
“It continues to be a high traffic road,” Olsvik said. “It is a safety concern and it was recommended by our engineering firms that we proceed with the operating of this road.”
The paving project entails Township Road 544 from Range Road 11 to Range Road 21. This will also add on two kilometres of paving on Range Road 21 off of Township Road 544, conditional on additional funding being secured from the Town of Onoway, according to County administration.
However, Coun. Wayne Borle said he was concerned with breaking with the County's multi-year road plan to accommodate the new project.
“I got a problem with extending it the three extra miles because it wasn't in the budget for 2017,” Borle said, adding he thought they could get contractors to do it for a similar price later on. “There are other roads in the County that need work done on them that got high traffic also. That's the reason why we put the road plan together.”
Despite the support of the rest of council, Borle's disagreement threatened the project. County administration sought to pass all three readings of the borrowing bylaw to get the project started quickly, with the contractor still working in the area. However, this requires council to unanimously vote to allow for a third reading of the bylaw to happen on the same day as the first two readings.
After further debate and a brief recess, Borle moved to proceed to third reading of the bylaw via unanimous consent, which was approved. However, Borle still voted against the third reading, which passed 4-1.
“If there is truly a $600,000 saving .... then I will reconsider unanimous consent of (the) bylaw,” Borle said.
County manager Mike Primeau said this project could lead to other road projects in different divisions in the County being moved up.
“It frees up money because there's a lot of this road included in future years. By getting it off the books, it allows us to look at the capital road plan and move projects up,” Primeau said.
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