An organization is asking for greater transparency regarding the wastewater treatment plant in Powell River.
At the September 15, City of Powell River committee of the whole meeting, Stephen Miller, president of Townsite Ratepayers Society, said in the previous three weeks there had been two requests for meetings with the city to talk about issues having to do with the wastewater treatment plant.
“Both requests were turned down,” said Miller. “No meetings were granted, so that is of concern to us.
“There are a fair number of people who have done work for the ratepayers society in Townsite. They have put in hundreds of hours of research on different projects. I don’t think it’s fair for the city to put up a wall and say, ‘we don’t have to deal with questions from the taxpayers about the liquid waste plant.’”
Miller said the big cloud that exists over Powell River is COVID-19 and the effects on the economy. He said there is the tremendous cost of the infrastructure for the liquid waste plant, and another issue is the climbing tax rate, which is “quite high.”
He said it’s questionable whether the mill will pay its tax bill and whether it will stay in business.
Miller asked: “Maybe the overriding thought will be: will Powell River one day go bankrupt? Will it go into receivership because it can’t handle the debt load that it’s taking on? That’s a real concern.”
Miller asked, for the biggest infrastructure project the city has ever seen, the wastewater treatment plant, is it not advisable for the city to say there are concerns in the community? A further question was: why are there not people who know what they are talking about actually addressing these concerns on a regular basis?
“Why isn’t there a mitigation committee set up?” asked Miller. “Why isn’t there an oversight committee to be able to answer some of the tough questions? Has there been a downside risk analysis done for the City of Powell River on what happens if bad things happen?
“Anyone who has been in business will know that you need to do a downside risk analysis on any major project, so if something goes really afoul, you have to know when to pull the plug. Otherwise, we drown.”
Miller asked if it made sense to have some kind of communication link about mitigation and oversight.
“I’m not talking about an email from a councillor that doesn’t have the answers to the questions we’re asking,” said Miller. “I’m talking about some real answers to some of these questions.”
Mayor Dave Formosa said he wanted to apologize if meetings have been requested and been declined.
“I don’t think that’s right,” said Formosa. “I would hope that you get this meeting.”
Miller said he would still like to see an oversight committee in place that would be able to communicate with the city on issues having to do with a massive debt load.
Formosa said with the project, the city is forced by government to have an oversight group, which cost $4.2 million to hire. He said they are a group of engineers to oversee the project over and above the city’s own qualified people, and the successful bidders on the contract to build the plant.
“I don’t see the city putting together a private group of individuals to oversee the overseers,” said Formosa. “I do know we are obligated to create a committee to see that the project comes off aesthetically, as per what we have provided the public. The terms of reference for that committee is almost completed.”
Chief administrative officer Russell Brewer said it would be a monitoring committee for the entire liquid waste management plant. He said terms of reference will be presented to council, and if adopted, the city will be seeking people to sit on the committee.
Director of infrastructure Tor Birtig said with respect to oversight, the city was mandated by the federal government to hire a firm to provide oversight for the design.
“They had people of various disciplines from all over North America who reviewed the design,” said Birtig. “We are currently going through various options that were presented to ensure our design is world-class and complete and giving us all the benefits we are looking for with the money we are spending. We do have a lot of this oversight already in place.”
Brewer said regarding community interface, on a number of occasions, staff has been invited and attended meetings with groups such as the Townsite Ratepayers Society. He said he wanted council to be assured that staff members respond to requests as best they can. He added that it’s not always going to be possible to meet with small groups but staff try to be responsive.
Palm said the work that is being put into the wastewater treatment plant is taxing staff to the greatest degree.
“If they are not meeting at a particular point in time, I can assure you, having discussed where they are at, that they have to meet certain deadlines,” said Palm. “They are working diligently. This city is working hard to make sure we don’t go belly-up with this project.”
Miller said the only thing missing from the equation is the taxpayer being able to ask simple questions about the liquid waste plant.
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said there were opportunities for taxpayers to ask questions on topics such as liquid waste on the Participate Powell River web page.
Miller said he would provide a whole list of questions to the city and would see if answers are forthcoming.
