City council approves second hearing on $30-M loan

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This article was published 05/10/2022 (1232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City council has approved a second public hearing for the proposed $30-million debenture the city wants to borrow to fund wastewater infrastructure improvements in southwest Brandon.

The hearing was approved at Monday’s council meeting by a margin of eight votes in favour, and two votes against cast by councillors Glen Parker (Riverview) and Shawn Berry (Linden Lanes).

No specific date for the second hearing was set, but it is unlikely to be held before election day on Oct. 26, since the city is required to give the public at least 21 days notice before it takes place. The proposal came from Coun. Kris Desjarlais (Rosser), who said he wanted a vote held on the idea of another hearing at the previous council meeting.

The $30-million loan would pay for the installation of a new lift station in the southwest as well as associated forcemains connecting it to the municipal wastewater treatment plant.

It would also help pay for Phase 2 of the project, which would see another lift station built in the area, though the city does not know if it would be sufficient to cover the entire cost yet.

A first reading for the borrowing bylaw was held after the first public hearing in July. As with all municipal borrowing, it was sent to Manitoba’s Municipal Board for approval before second and third readings.

In discussing his proposal, Desjarlais said he isn’t signalling support or opposition to the debenture at this point.

“I think that council, the mayor and administration have done a commendable job in the last several months to try and inform residents of the challenges associated with that and try and clear up some misunderstandings, but having said that, they still remain,” Desjarlais said.

“I don’t think it hurts us in any way to give another opportunity to let residents speak for or against the development.”

However, Berry expressed concern about a second public hearing further delaying the project from getting off the ground.

“I don’t disagree with Coun. Desjarlais’ motion to try and get more input — it’s always important to get engagement from the community,” he said. “My concern is that this project is already three years behind and more delays aren’t needed for this.”

He said he would vote in favour if he could receive a guarantee that it wouldn’t further delay the project.

“This lift station isn’t for new developments, it’s for people who live there right now,” Berry said. “They have been putting up with minimal wastewater pressure in the area they live in and have been paying their taxes for a while now and again, this should have been done three years ago and we’re still talking about it.”

While expressing his opposition to a second hearing, Parker said the topic had “very much been discussed.”

“There’s a vocal group for sure that you will hear from, but I have not received one call or email or inquiry from one resident in my ward that felt they did not have input or an opportunity to provide input,” Parker said. “From my perspective, I don’t see the urgency or requirement to hold another hearing. I’m not sure what we hope to gain from it.”

Coun. Bruce Luebke (South Centre) said before the vote that if approved, he wanted the second public hearing to be held in a separate venue instead of during a city council meeting like the first hearing was.

Meanwhile, Coun. Barry Cullen (Victoria) said he wasn’t sure if he would vote in favour of the motion since nothing had substantially changed about the project since the first public hearing.

In terms of timing, it would be best for the second hearing to be held after the Municipal Board renders its decision so that another hearing wouldn’t need to be held if changes to the proposal were required, Mayor Rick Chrest said.

According to acting city clerk Amber Chapil, if the city waited until the item is returned by the Municipal Board to give notice for the public hearing, it would cause a delay of 21 days before second and third readings were held.

Coun. Jeff Fawcett (Assiniboine) said it would be the equivalent of delaying the item by one council meeting and voiced support because the city is working to improve its communication with residents.

“We let other entities communicate this information ahead of us and they were not necessarily accurate,” Fawcett said.

Toward the end of the debate, Desjarlais said he thought council had “dropped the ball considerably” on the topic.

“I think we had a lot of meetings on this and wrapped our heads around it because it was very difficult to wrap our heads around some of this,” he said.

“We were going from borrowing $10 million to $30 million and why it was all happening … we had a year to do that. We’ve given residents one public hearing on July 18. I would have trouble wrapping my head around that. I want to give residents the same opportunity we were given.”

He said the hearing could explain to residents how development service charges will pay for this, why the borrowing amount increased and what the future impacts on the city’s borrowing will be.

The next Brandon City Council meeting is Oct. 17, the last one before election day on Oct. 26.

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