February 13th, 2019 ~ Vol. 89 No. 7
$1.00
Money Needed for Frank’s Water Treatment Plant
Archive photo
Water treatment plant - Frank, Crowsnest Pass
David Selles
Pass Herald Reporter
Council is continuing to look into ways to fund the upgrades to the Water Treatment Plant in Frank.
Currently, council is looking at two separate grants that will significantly lessen the financial burden.
After having a more detailed design completed, a more accurate cost estimate shows the entire project could cost upwards of $20 million and that there is still $8 million that needs to be funded.
During last weeks council meeting, Chief Administrative Officer Patrick Thomas said that resolving this issue isn’t getting any easier.
“Now we are coming up on a tough position that we know the plant is desperately in need of repairs and upgrades and on the other hand we know we are short $8 million on funding the project.”
That is where the to additional grant applications come into play.
Currently, council is looking at two separate grants that will significantly lessen the financial burden.
After having a more detailed design completed, a more accurate cost estimate shows the entire project could cost upwards of $20 million and that there is still $8 million that needs to be funded.
During last weeks council meeting, Chief Administrative Officer Patrick Thomas said that resolving this issue isn’t getting any easier.
“Now we are coming up on a tough position that we know the plant is desperately in need of repairs and upgrades and on the other hand we know we are short $8 million on funding the project.”
That is where the to additional grant applications come into play.
continued below ...
One of the applications is for the Alberta Municipal Water/Wastewater Partnership (AMWWP) and the other is the Investing in Canadian Infrastructure Program (ICIP) that is a federally funded grant administered by Alberta Transportation.
Thomas says that they were told the ICIP could take between six to eight months before a decision would be heard and that if council decided to start work on the plant, their application for the ICIP grant would be cancelled.
Council then had open discussion about the topic and decided that currently the best route would be to draft a letter to Minister of Transportation Brian Mason.
Council decided that they would like to stress their concerns in this letter and that they talk about the permits with Alberta Environment and the contravention that is currently going on.
It was also decided that Mayor Painter and Patrick Thomas would make arrangements for a face-to-face meeting to further explain the seriousness of the Water Treatment Plant’s current conditions.
Thomas says that they were told the ICIP could take between six to eight months before a decision would be heard and that if council decided to start work on the plant, their application for the ICIP grant would be cancelled.
Council then had open discussion about the topic and decided that currently the best route would be to draft a letter to Minister of Transportation Brian Mason.
Council decided that they would like to stress their concerns in this letter and that they talk about the permits with Alberta Environment and the contravention that is currently going on.
It was also decided that Mayor Painter and Patrick Thomas would make arrangements for a face-to-face meeting to further explain the seriousness of the Water Treatment Plant’s current conditions.
continued below ...
During the discussion, mayor Painter said that it is important for them to realize how serious this is.
“We don’t want to be bad stewards of our environment. We need to re-iterate that people have to use that water downstream.”
Councilor Ward added during the discussion that the municipality doesn’t really have a choice because if they borrowed the money, they’d be at 75 to 80 per cent of their debt load and he said they simply couldn’t do that.
Thomas says that he hopes the municipality hears by this summer whether or not they are able to receive the ICIP grant.
“We don’t want to be bad stewards of our environment. We need to re-iterate that people have to use that water downstream.”
Councilor Ward added during the discussion that the municipality doesn’t really have a choice because if they borrowed the money, they’d be at 75 to 80 per cent of their debt load and he said they simply couldn’t do that.
Thomas says that he hopes the municipality hears by this summer whether or not they are able to receive the ICIP grant.
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February 13th, 2019 ~ Vol. 89 No. 7
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12925 20th Ave, Box 960, Blairmore, Alberta, Canada T0K 0E0 | passherald@shaw.ca | 403.562.2248 | 403.562.8379 (FAX)