ATHABASCA - Athabasca town council is hoping the Aspen Regional Water Services Commission (ARWSC) will reconsider a request to cover 60 per cent of the costs of a broken water line that occurred just inches from the Cornwall reservoir last November.
At the June 21 regular meeting, council held off on a recommended motion from administration to write off the remaining $8,452.67 balance of repairing the break, after the commission voted to decline to pay an invoice it was sent by the town at its own recent meeting.
CAO Rachel Ramey brought the recommendation to council, explaining that as it wasn’t part of last year’s receivables the expense would have to be written off, and because the amount is over $500, that action needed to come before council, as per town policy.
“The line that came out of the reservoir provides water to the regional line, and in the past, they have paid 60 per cent on some costs for maintenance and replacement. That 60 per cent is based on the amount of water that goes to the regional line,” she said.
Coun. Edie Yuill, who is an alternate on the ARWSC but has never been called upon to attend, said she was not in favour of writing off the fix and asked mayor Rob Balay, who sits on the commission along with Coun. Dave Pacholok, who chairs the commission, for their perspectives on the discussion that took place before the vote.
ARWSC is made up of representatives from Athabasca County, Village of Boyle and Town of Athabasca.
Pacholok explained that when the water system was built, it was decided the most cost-effective strategy was to have the water destined for points beyond the town’s boundaries to be routed through the Cornwall reservoir.
“Bottom line is there are a lot of grey areas as to who is actually responsible for specific breaks, and when a lot of the maintenance had to be done, it's been a one off every time,” he said referring to the commission’s prior contributions.
He added there is now talk of installing a dedicated line, but that could be years away as an engineering firm will have to be hired, and it will be an expensive process — up to $5 million. There is no process or guidelines in place to determine precisely what is considered town, village, county and commission infrastructure.
“We look forward to hopefully clarifying this over a period of years. Who knows how long it'll take to get this done, but it was discussed and discussed, and the bottom line is it wasn't in the designated area where it could be considered a repair for the commission,” Pacholok said.
Balay went on to say this instance is unique to the town because there are no other places where commission water flows through one of the partners’ distribution systems. More than 60 per cent of the water that is pumped there is pumped into commission lines.
“I found it was a little disappointing that our partners didn't support us in this. They have supported us in the past on a couple of other things,” he said, adding the pumps at the Cornwall reservoir are deteriorating and will soon need to be replaced, which will likely cost about $750,000. “Currently the commission is not responsible for paying the maintenance cost on those when they need to be replaced, which to me is unfair.”
Council passed two separate motions — one, to have the mayor compose a letter to the commission further explaining the town’s position, and another to bring the topic to the next public works meeting to discuss moving the pump replacement at the Cornwall reservoir further up the priority list.
“I believe that our partners will make the right decision in the end, but that's yet to be determined, and discussions yet to be had,” said Balay.
