Brighton council received reports from acting CAO Gary King and Public Works staffer Lucas Kelly last night that will move plans forward with expanding the Brighton Health Services Centre.
Council approved an expenditure of $700,000 earlier this summer, but upon setting out a floor plan for the 2,000 square foot addition, Kelly suggested it wasn’t practical, and a lot of space would be wasted.
By increasing the floor plan by about 490 square feet, Kelly said they’d have room to house not just one doctor, but three, for only $270,000 more.
King said the project is already underway, with the tender for the design build going to TaskForce Engineering Inc. at a cost of $970,200 plus HST.
The funds will be borrowed from outside sources.
The next project on the list was the MBBR system to treat ammonia in the wastewater treatment plant.
This too was approved by council before the municipal election campaign began and council became “lame duck”.
Jeff Graham of GSS Consulting said even though ammonia levels dropped significantly in August, and they expect to remain within Ministry of the Environment parameters at least until the end of October, the MBBR system is still required to augment the existing lagoon system.
The design portion of the project came in at $314,462.40, and Graham said he recalls the total cost to be about $4 million, and King construction costs are around the $4 million mark, with an additional $1.2 million in administrative and design costs.
Councillor John Martinello said it isn’t worth the cost because there would be no way to expand the existing system to allow for more capacity.
Martinello has lobbied for a mechanical plant with an estimated cost of around 20 million dollars to come from the tax base.
Mayor Mark Walas reminded everyone that it’s a user-pay system, of about only 3,000 properties, and not the tax base that would cover the costs.
He added that with the existing properties plus the ones in the works, there’s still 30% capacity remaining with the existing system.
And with expected growth of 1%, the existing system should last between 18 and 20 more years.
Graham did say that the MBBR system should be designed to be added to should more capacity be required.
GHD was awarded the project at a cost of $299,488 plus HST, and the work is moving forward.
The recruitment process for a new CAO for Brighton is a high priority for King, who told council he wasn’t interested in the job if he wanted to stay married!
King said the earliest they could expect to hire a new CAO and begin to build a management team, would be January, if he starts immediately.
With a new council to be elected on October 22, to take office in December, he suggested the hiring of a new CAO be a top priority.
Brighton council hasn’t decided whether to take the opportunity provided by the province to opt out of allowing a cannabis retail store despite the fact that there’s been one inquiry already.
Meanwhile, there’s a new plant planned for the industrial park. It has to follow all the regulations such as air filtration systems, whereas the existing plant on Boes Road came into being prior to the new rules.
Walas said the Police Services Board had an opportunity to tour the facility recently.
It doesn’t have an air filtration system, but because of timing, it’s been grandfathered in.
There was a good news announcement by Walas, who said that thanks to Cole’s Timbrmart, young players can play at a much reduced rate.
Brighton Minor Hockey president Mark Bateman, who is running for council this term, said the regular cost for hockey is $450 per season, and the 50 players in the three to five year-old age group, now only have to pay $100.
Cole’s has donated the cost of all the jerseys for the players this year.
