Sparks flew during Thursday’s Prince Edward County Committee of the Whole meeting, as councillors debated the next steps in plans to expand water service in Prince Edward County.
Plans to accommodate the predicted population growth, including new water/wastewater facilities in Wellington and a trunk line to connect the Wellington water system to Picton’s system, are predicted to cost $105 million. The new infrastructure was set to be funded mostly by development fees as new properties in the area are developed.
As part of the planning process, Prince Edward County sought a peer review of previous studies done by Watson Economists that were used in the planning for the water system expansions. While 12 different companies were approached for a peer review of the original study, no company entered a bid for the job. Some responded to requests for a quote on the review that they weren’t able to meet timelines or lacked the resources to undertake the project, others declined to respond to the request at all.
As no other companies were interested in performing the peer review, staff recommended having Watson Economists prepare an addendum report to answer questions about the original report put forward by members of the community. The scope of this report was to be set by the municipal Audit Committee.
The debate among councillors heated up, with major concerns raised about proceeding with such an expensive project without a peer review to confirm earlier findings.
Councillor Roy Pennell raised concerns about spending irresponsibly on the project.
“We’re talking about taxpayers’ dollars,” said Councillor Pennell. “If we move forward on this and don’t get the grants, or get this county in debt so far that we can’t borrow money for roads or anything else …”
After vigorous debate, it was determined that the municipality would add the review work of the previous studies into future planned water/wastewater studies as part of the project and move forward with the design process for the Wellington water and wastewater plants in line with the preferred solutions presented in the Regional Water Supply Servicing Master Plan Study.
The committee approved the motion as amended, and it was referred to council for final approval.
