Skip to content

Pickardville residents to be compensated

Westlock County council has approved compensation to residents of Pickardville affected by last summer’s sewer woes, but the issue will come back before council today, Nov. 26. Following the in-camera portion of the Nov.

Westlock County council has approved compensation to residents of Pickardville affected by last summer’s sewer woes, but the issue will come back before council today, Nov. 26.

Following the in-camera portion of the Nov. 12 meeting, council passed a motion to approve payments of $500 for septic pump replacements and $150 for septic pump-outs to affected residents along 51 Avenue.

Reeve Bud Massey said he asked that the issue be placed back on the agenda for the Nov. 26 meeting to ensure council is doing its due diligence with respect to this issue — even if other councillors might not want to see the issue brought up again.

“It’s really important to get it right,” he said.

The vote was not a unanimous one, and councillors asked for a recorded vote. The motion passed 5-2, with councillors Albert St. Louis and Don Savage voting against the motion.

St. Louis, the councillor representing the Pickardville and Busby areas, said he voted against the motion because he didn’t think the amount of the compensation was sufficient.

“I just felt the bills were legitimate,” he said. “They should have been reimbursed in full.”

The issue has been simmering since July 3, when at least seven residences on that street had their septic pumps burn out. One resident also reported that sewage had backed up into the residence.

The street had been paved just three weeks prior to the incident, which wasn’t even the first problem associated with that stretch of road. When 51 Avenue was first paved in 2010, it very quickly started to show signs of degradation, and was ultimately turned back into a gravel road before again begin paved earlier this year.

At the time, CAO Edward LeBlanc said the issue had been caused by, “a valve that was partially closed.”

Deputy reeve Jim Wiese said the decision to offer compensation was not taken lightly, and has been discussed around the council table both before and since the October municipal election, which saw four new councillors come on board.

“This was a very difficult decision for a new council, and it probably should have been handled by the previous council because it happened in their mandate,” he said. “We did have discussions on the previous council, but it kept getting pushed back.”

LeBlanc said the main cause of the delay was waiting to hear from the county’s insurance adjusters to report back to county administration.

The Westlock News has obtained a copy of a letter sent to the affected residents from the county’s insurance adjusters, Priddle & Associates Adjusters, dated Nov. 13.

The letter indicates that due to the way liability of municipalities is laid out under the provincial Municipal Government Act, no compensation would be forthcoming.

“Our investigation into this matter brings forth no breach of the Municipal Government Act and/or negligence on behalf of Westlock County and we must respectfully deny any and all liabilities surrounding this matter on behalf of Westlock County and their Liability Insurer,” it reads.

Wiese emphasized that despite making a decision to provide some financial assistance, council has not admitted any liability with respect to the sewer backups, since those problems all occurred on private property instead of on county property.

“We know we’re not going to make everybody happy, and we’re not admitting any liability,” he said. “We didn’t have to do anything, because everything that happened was on private property. We were trying to make a compromise.”

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks