Pushback prompts public hearing over Nesbitt shop

MUNICIPALITY OF OAKLAND-WAWANESA — A council plan has roused considerable public pushback in Oakland-Wawanesa, with a suspended councillor and other residents headed to a second public hearing next month to debate council’s plan to spend up to $900,000 to build a new public works shop.

The Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa introduced a bylaw last year to authorize borrowing and expenditure for the new shop. The plan would also require residents to pay a fee or “tax” on their property to help pay for the building.

The municipality held a public hearing, which drew written opposition from more than 25 property owners, requiring the Manitoba Municipal Board to host its own public hearing, which is scheduled for May 1.

According to a local resident who is protesting the bylaw, the municipality’s plans have been flawed and forced. Gord Smith, who lives in Oakland-Wawanesa, told the Sun in a recent interview that some locals feel they have been left out of the process.

“It’s not just the shop. Most people are not against the shop,” Smith said. “It’s how they are forcing it through, and how they are paying for it.”

Smith complained that council did not provide any plans — drawings, designs or specifications — to the public about the shop. Smith argued that council should have a firm plan in place for how it will spend tax money before hosting a public hearing to get the public’s feedback.

“It’s more, in my opinion, about what council does with our money,” he said. “I find them really financially irresponsible.”

At the public hearing in October, Oakland-Wawanesa CAO Joni Swidnicki said that the municipality could not get a detailed design produced ahead of time because tenders expire in 30 to 60 days, and the municipality could not get through the debenture process that quickly. To work around that problem, the municipality planned to overestimate the cost of the shop at $900,000, then go to the public to ask for support for the project, then get a tender produced under that maximum spending amount.

Rough details were provided at the meeting, including that the new shop is proposed to have three overhead doors, a kitchen and office area, and a heated floor. The square footage has changed, but as of April the shop is expected to be about 30.5 metres by 18 metres.

Dennis Rome, an Oakland-Wawanesa councillor,argues that council is pursuing an inappropriate way to fund the building. The new public works shop is proposed as a local improvement project, but should be funded another way, he said.

“The benefit of (a local improvement) project has to show specific benefits to each and every parcel. And so, when relating to that, they’re talking about natural gas service, you know, that type of thing, rural water co-ops that service those specific parcels — not a public works building.”

The municipality should draw on other channels to fund the project, instead of introducing a new tax, he said.

“My objection is to the process,” Rome said. “Any building that goes up in a municipality should go up with the building reserve fund.”

“We’ve seen the lack of accountability and transparency from our council on an annual basis. But if we’re just going to sit back and let it go (without protesting), that wouldn’t be right either.”

Residents are planned to pay roughly $75 per parcel they own every year for 10 years to fund the proposed public works shop. Some of the larger farmers in the area stand to pay upwards of $15,000 when all is said and done due to the fact that they own several parcels, Rome said.

“We have one farmer, they’re going to have to write a check for $20,000, like over and above their normal taxes.” Rome said. “Whether it’s $539 for an individual household, or whether it’s up to $20,000 for a larger farm, that’s a lot of money to pay up front when people are struggling.”

Romesaid he plans to attend the public hearing next month as an objector to the council’s bylaw.

Dave Kreklewich, head of council in Oakland-Wawanesa, said that the current shop in Nesbitt was built in the ‘60s, that it is undersized for the current needs of the municipality, and that it creates problems for staff.

“The shop now, it’s antiquated. It’s just heated by propane. It’s got all kinds of issues with it, there’s asbestos in the building, the lighting is poor, it’s hard to work in there, if there’s any work that can be done at all, because it’s so full,” he said. “It’s just not a good structure. And so we need something. We got over $2 million in assets and machinery that really needs to be protected.”

The municipality wants to build a shop that has room for growth, he said in October at the public hearing.

Responding to assertions that council is not funding the building properly, and that the shop is not a proper local improvement, Kreklewich said council will look to the Municipal Board for judgements.

“I think that’s up to the board, the board will decide that,” he said.

The project fits the definition of a local improvement, Swidnicki told the Sun. She pointed to the Municipal Act Section 311 (b), which states that a local improvement includes “any other project the cost of which includes a capital component.”

“The building of a shop is a capital component,” Swidnicki said.

Some concerned residents plan to argue against that, Rome said. Smith said that even if the bylaw is approved, it’s important to voice opposition.

“I think it at least gets it out there, that there are difficulties in municipalities,” he said. “I find them really financially irresponsible.”

The Manitoba Municipal Board has scheduled a public hearing at the Wawanesa District Community Hall for 9:30 a.m. on May 1.

Following the public hearing, the Municipal Board has the authority to approve the bylaw, amend the bylaw or defeat the bylaw. If approved, the process would then go back to the Municipality of Oakland-Wawanesa for review and implementation.

At the public hearing in October, Kreklewich said that councils have kicked the can down the road for a number of years because no council wanted to commit to an expensive, but increasingly necessary, upgrade at the shop.

» cmcdowell@brandonsun.com