Lift stations needed for development: City manager

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/07/2022 (1445 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The future of a multimillion-dollar wastewater infrastructure project will be on the table at Brandon City Council’s next meeting Monday.

During council’s regular meeting, there will be a public hearing on city administration’s proposal to borrow up to $30 million to extend wastewater mains and build two new lift stations in the city’s southwest corner.

These stations have been under consideration for a few years now, but the plan for building them has shifted over time.

In the city’s southwest secondary plan from 2017, two lift stations were in need of being built in the area before the existing lift station, on First Street near Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School, and its associated infrastructure reached capacity.

Three years later, in 2020, the Sun reported that the city was intending to build one lift station to service the southwest and land recently annexed from the RM of Cornwallis, south of Patricia Avenue. Construction was estimated to begin in 2021, but never occurred.

Then, in this year’s financial plan, the city budgeted for $15 million in capital expenses under the heading of “Wastewater Sewers (New)” in 2022, with a further $16.475 million budgeted for 2026.

But when the city issued notices for the upcoming public hearing, it stated that it was seeking borrowing authority for $30 million to build two lift stations.

According to city manager Ron Bowles, a couple of factors changed from the original concept to what is being proposed this year. The first is that city staff changed their minds on whether to build two lift stations or just one and finally settled on two.

“As we worked with elevation — with sewers, everything has to be pumped or run downhill — our engineer consultants worked with many options and our local developers with their own expertise as well. It’s come full circle to this plan where we would build two lift stations and forcemains,” Bowles said.

“We’re still working through the nuances of the detailed engineering and things could be subject to change, but the bottom line is that sewage from that southwest corner of town needs to get to our sewage facility on the east side of town.”

The second is that in conversations with local developers, who need wastewater service to continue building in the southwest, it was determined that if capacity wasn’t improved, they wouldn’t be able to continue building past 2023 based on current growth rates.

The city wants to have the infrastructure in place by 2024, Bowles said.

Though the city is looking to borrow the $30 million this year, he said details on how the phases of the projects will be built is still being decided. Even if a tender is awarded later this year, construction wouldn’t start until 2023.

“What we do know is that we will do the full $30-million project, and now we’re working on the nuances of that.”

The $30-million figure includes a contingency, he said, meaning the city hopes it won’t end up costing that amount. The borrowing itself will likely happen in phases as well, with the city allowed to borrow up to that total amount over the years.

The city manager also stressed that while the notice for the public hearing lists borrowing costs and terms for a debenture, those numbers are merely projections to give the public an idea of the price tag before it’s approved.

A loan would only start to be negotiated once the city has passed a bylaw granting borrowing authority and the Municipal Board has signed off on it, Bowles said.

Though the presentation attached to the notice for the hearing discusses the possibility of further southward expansion of the city, including in areas currently in the RM of Cornwallis, there haven’t been recent discussions regarding annexation.

The document, Bowles stated, is just reflecting the city’s acknowledgment that it could happen over the next 50 years.

The Sun contacted RM of Cornwallis Reeve Bill Courtice for comment on talks over future annexation. He said he would have to look into the matter.

Mayor Rick Chrest is on vacation and couldn’t comment on this story, but deputy mayor and Coun. Bruce Luebke (South Centre) was available to provide insight from a council perspective.

In addition to some of the factors identified by Bowles in speeding up the project’s schedule, Luebke said council was concerned about the effects of inflation on the cost of borrowing — especially for the phase originally budgeted for 2026 — the longer the city waited to negotiate a loan.

“You can look at the first half of this year — first half of this week, for that matter — and see how inflation has impacted our financial plan since April and what was initially passed as part of our budget deliberations in January,” Luebke said.

“The fact that our staff would come back with a different recommendation than what was in the capital plan wouldn’t really shock anybody, especially if it means saving millions of dollars on the back end.”

Though the information didn’t appear in the documentation attached to the notice for the hearing, Luebke said the agenda for Monday’s council meeting will include details on money collected from development service charges being used to help pay for the project.

The charges are levied on developers to help cover the costs of the city expanding and extending infrastructure to new developments.

Earlier this year, the Sun reported that Brandon City Council was holding frequent, off-the-record informal meetings involving councillors and city staff.

In a document obtained through a freedom of information request earlier this year, an informal meeting held April 27 was on the subject of “Borrowing for SW Lift Station/Operation of Sportsplex Canteen.”

As members of council have previously stated about these meetings, Luebke and Bowles said the April 27 meeting was just for education and information and no decisions were made there.

According to Luebke, city staff presented various scenarios regarding the completion of the project and how much they may cost the city.

“It was certainly presented by administration that they had changed course a little bit on what they were willing to move forward with and what it might look like,” he said.

On whether council should wait until after this fall’s election to move forward with such a large project, Luebke said council was elected for a four-year term — not a three-year, nine-month term.

“I don’t know why we would make a pause on dealing with aspects on this or another thing based on when an election might be held,” he said.

When asked about the project and its price tag, president Tanya LaBuick said the Brandon Chamber of Commerce in general supports growth and wants to ensure that any business deal is in the best interest of the community and chamber members.

“Our questions include: is this the right time to finance this project?” LaBuick wrote in a text message. “Are the financial terms flexible as interest rates move? Do we have any cash deposits that would help reduce this debt? Is funding this via taxpayers the best approach? Ultimately, we want to better understand how they believe this is the best move for our city, and the taxpayers of our city within our current city limits.”

The public hearing will take place during Monday’s city council meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. on the second floor of Brandon City Hall.

» cslark@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @ColinSlark