ATHABASCA – Two more planned projects for the Town of Athabasca have come in over the estimated cost after being tendered, but councillors decided to move forward with both, despite the increases.
At the Aug. 10 regular meeting of council, councillors were made aware requests for proposals for the Jubilee Looping Project and repairs to the Riverfront stage had come in significantly higher than expected, or budgeted for.
The water main looping project was budgeted at $518,000, but all five bids received came in higher, ranging from $562,000 to $970,000. The request for decision from administration noted $352,000 in stimulus grant funding has already been received and needs to be used before the end of 2021. Another $165,000 was to come from Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) funding, but an extra $125,000 would need to be approved by council, along with an additional $50,000 contingency fund.
Engineering costs to date are hovering at $37,000, which is not included in the bids.
Coun. Dave Pacholok asked utilities supervisor Terry Kosinski for his thoughts. Kosinski replied it was a difficult decision, but he wouldn’t have asked for the project to be completed if it wasn’t necessary.
“If it's a must and if we don't use it, we lose it, I suppose we have no choice but to find other funds to make this project happen,” he said.
CAO Rachel Ramey also added the upgrade was meant to solve three problems for water service in the Jubilee part of town — chlorine residuals, improving pressure to the fibre systems and the residential line overall.
CFO Jeff Dalley said he didn’t see any reason why the project wouldn’t meet the requirements for Federal Gas Tax money to be used, so council agreed to put the additional $175,000 toward the looping.
The single bid for the stage in Riverfront Park came in at $202,000, up from the original $150,000 estimate.
Administration was looking for direction from council provided three options: scrap the project and look into the costs of a new stage; approach the contract to see if any modifications to the plan would result in cost-savings; or re-tendering in February 2022 on the hopes the market stabilizes.
“I don't see prices going down in the future and the decay of the stage is just going to continue if we don't do anything to it until there's really nothing to repair,” said Coun. Ida Edwards, adding she would prefer the second option of working with the contractor to find potential cost-savings, and hoping a grant, that has already been applied for, comes through.
Council passed a motion to proceed with the project.
