Castor town council is taking a portion of the utility bylaw back to the drawing board.
After receiving feedback from residents, council has decided to have administration reopen the bylaw to amend the connection fees for water and sewer hookups after it was suggested that they may be “too high for our community,” according to chief administrative officer Christopher Robblee.
Currently, the fee to join the town’s water and sewer system for a 25 mm connection is $9,000, meaning connecting to both would be an $18,000 hit.
“I think we made a mistake there,” said Coun. Kevin McDougall.
Robblee noted that when the current fees were first proposed, they were developed as a cost-recovery bases.
“For every foot (of pipe) we put in the ground, we want to get some money back,” said Robblee.
“There’s always a cost to us.”
Deputy Mayor Trudy agreed that an error had been made, motioning for administration to amend the fee to $3,000 per mainline service connection at someone’s property line.
Included in the motion was also an addition to include a holding point in a development, where if someone is connecting to the town’s water main, the new pipe is inspected by a town employee to make sure that there are no additional spurs off the line which bypass the water meter.
The motion was carried, and administration will bring the amended bylaw back to a subsequent meeting.
Library renovation
Following a presentation to council at a September meeting by the board chairs of both the Castor Municipal Library and Paintearth Adult Learning, town council has decided to press pause on any work on the building.
The library, with backing of adult learning, had requested permission to upgrade and move the bathroom located in the building as the one currently located in the facility doesn’t currently meet the needs of the facility.
In the summer, council approved the expansion of the current washroom, a move seen as not ideal as it would cut into adult learning’s classroom space.
Both groups had requested potentially moving the washroom towards the front of the building; however, due to cost and construction of the building the move was seen as unfeasible.
McDougall motioned to have the building fully inspected before any work is approved on the inside of the facility, just so council knows what they are dealing with in the rather old building. The motion was carried.
The inspection will take samples from within the walls, floors, roof, inspect the foundation and look at the electrical in the building.
During his report on the building, Robblee also noted that with the patchwork council previously approved on the roof, no layers of roof will be removed so the ponding issue on the flat structure will not be solved.
Coun. Cecil Yates asked Robblee to follow up with the town’s insurer to see if the building would still be able to be insured after the patch is done, as the contractor is providing no guarantee on the work..
Yates, a contractor by trade, said during the meeting that recently people have been having issues getting insurance when work is done but there is no guarantee on it.
Robblee said he will follow up before construction starts.