More problems in Paradise
Here are some other reasons why we need a new council to manage our town in a more cost effective manner
Gabion Wall Topsail Road
1. The Town Council work associated with replacing the Gabion cages at the end of Donna Road and Topsail Road with concrete blocks is costing the town and tax payer’s approx $ 1.2 million dollars. There are 16 streets without water and sewer with most of these streets being in St. Thomas, I feel that council’s priority should be on completing water and sewer projects first. Why did they forget this area?
Kestrel Drive Lift Station
2. The original lift station at the end of Kestrel Drive was installed by Karwood Estates and worked well for 20 years. That existing system includes two small 10hp pumps. As the road was further developed there was a need for a larger lift station. The original supplier proposed two 20hp pumps and standby generator at a quoted cost of approx. $150,000 to do the upgrade. The town tender stated that there could be only one supplier with a closing date of Nov. 8 2013.
The “sole sourced” successful contractor was Newfound Construction who got the equipment from Samson Equipment located in Ohio (USA). A number of trips were made to Ohio by Town personnel to check out new equipment. I have been informed that two of the people who made the trips were Mayor Bobbett and the former CAO. Who paid for these trips and why did they go? Samson Equipment supplied two 60hp pumps which were much larger than those specified by the original supplier. This was an emergency at the time in (2013), but it took four years to have it operational in 2017. The original contract cost the town approx. $507,530 plus other expenses. The enclosure had to be removed to replace a propane generator which cost approx. $60,000 with a diesel generator thus incurring extra cost including higher electrical cost. The extra cost was approx $200,000 plus. The total associated cost over a four (4) year period was approx, $700,000dollars when this could have been completed by the original supplier for far less.
Poles in Road
3. Poles in Topsail Road by new school were not removed to widen the road to four lanes. Those were not removed for over two years. Now with the street being widened from Christopher Street to St. Thomas Line there are poles in the street which will probably not be removed before the winter. This leaves a fourlane street in the same situation as the previous contract (Glendarek Drive to Christopher Street).
Legal Fees
How much money has the town spent in legal fees in the last five years?
4. On a list of 2017 Building Canada Fund (BCF) funding proposals. One of the items was the construction of a new town hall costing $22,956,000. This is a waste of money when there are 16 streets without water and sewer.
5. Also on the Building Canada Fund (BCF) list only two streets are being completed for water and sewer out of the 16 remaining streets. This is not acceptable.
6. Another item on the list is a roundabout at Mcnamara Dr/ Topsail Road / Clearview Heights at a cost of $2.2 million. A further $ 1.9 million is requested for a Clearview Heights upgrade. A total of $ 4.1 million when the traffic lights already there is doing the job as indicated by Harbourside traffic consultant study.
The total cost of this list is $ 63 million. All of this cost when there are more important projects that need to be done for example water & sewer & road work.
7. Paving work is taking place near the roundabout from Kenmount Road. Extension/karwood Drive. Mayor Dan Bobbett indicated on Sept. 8/17 on open line with Paddy Daley that the water and sewer was already in the ground. This is false. The approx 1km of road from the roundabout to Kingdom Hall (church) does not have water and sewer to service development in this area. This pavement will be damaged when the area is developed costing the town an additional $200,000.00. This is a pure waste of tax payer’s money.