$60-million project set to begin
News
Posted 1 month ago
CHELSEY ROMAIN The Daily Press
The city is one step closer to getting a shovel in the ground for its largest capital project ever.
Upgrades to the Mattagami Wastewater Treatment Plant will begin as soon as possible, now that council has awarded the engineering contract to Genivar.
Luc Duval, director of public works and engineering, presented the report to council Monday, explaining the six interested companies were scored on everything from past performance, their commitment to the project and the answers provided in a four-to five-hour interview session.
The $60-million price tag for the upgrades is being split between the city and the provincial and federal governments, with Timmins' share being around the $20-million mark.
The mandate to upgrade came from new water regulations, set after the E. coli outbreak in Walkerton and must be completed by 2014.
With the consultant now chosen, Duval said the project will move forward quickly.
"As soon as we finalize the contract with the selected consultant, it's going to start right away," Duval said. "There's going to be some announcements in the paper in regards to public sessions, public input, and that's going to happen real quick."
"There's three and a half years left. It seems like a lot, but for a project of this scope ... (it's) high gear from this point on."
The project will be an expansion of the current facility, located on Airport Rd. Duval said there is the intention to keep as much of the current structure as possible.
Currently the plant takes up about 25% of the city-owned land, but once the upgrades are complete it will cover about 65% of the property.
While some councillors disagreed with the idea of having to create a new design and a new building, Duval explained that a cookie-cutter design wasn't possible.
According to Coun. Gary Scripnick, if it were up to him they wouldn't be building brand new facilities all the time. Scripnick said he didn't understand why they couldn't just look at a structure already built and base the Timmins plant on that.
"At the end of the day I just have a hard time," he said. "It's a lot of money and I'm glad the government gave us a whole bunch, but I don't understand why we have to reinvent the wheel every time we build something."
Duval said peak flows and temperatures have a lot to do with the design. There were talks with other municipalities that have taken on projects of this nature, of this magnitude or larger. Duval said the design was essential to meet the environmental needs of Timmins.
"Temperature is a big proponent so a process that works very well in Toronto or even Sault Ste. Marie or Sudbury may not be so successful because of the composition in the temperatures that's associated with our environment," Duval explained.
Dollars figures associated with Duval's report include a lump sum of $365,000 for an environmental assessment, as well as a percentage-based fee approach of 7.89% of the construction cost. If the project construction cost $40 million, Genivar is committed to charge that percentage.
Duval said other municipalities have used the same approach and have been very successful. The city's portion has already been covered in the 10-year capital budget.
Changes to the plan according to budget will come at the detailed design stage. Duval said the city will have the chance to make those changes before committing to anything.
But Duval is confident the prices will be reasonable.
"We expect some really good pricing," he said. "The consultant is very familiar with this type of project and there are presently quite a few being built in the province of Ontario.
"With pricing, at least we're relatively sure what range we're looking at."
Even with the money accounted for, Coun. Dennis Saudino said the project will have an impact on city taxpayers. He questioned whether the
CHOPPER CRASH:Investigators believe they can retrieve crash information
city could approach the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation to help ease that burden.
"I'm looking forward, there was some talk about a portion of that $20 million was eligible under NOHFC funding to lower the burden to the City of Timmins and to the people that pick up the sewer and water rates," Saudino said. "If we could mitigate it some with NOHFC funding, it would certainly be beneficial to everyone.
"I think people have already had it up to here when it comes to sewer and water rates."
The seed has already been planted with NOHFC and the city is in the planning stages to see if funding is available.
Regardless of who pays what, it was a consensus around the table that this was a project that must be completed.
Mayor Tom Laughren said at the time the decision was made, Timmins was one of 11 Ontario communities that didn't have a secondary treatment plant, a number that has since dropped to eight.
Being one of the largest projects the city has ever taken on, it's one that couldn't be done without the $40 million being provided.
"We're fortunate it was part of the infrastructure program or we never could have done it," said Coun. Michael Doody. "This isn't something we can say we don't want ot do it, this is something, sooner or later, that would have to be done in the City of Timmins whether we liked it or not."
