Big stink raised about sewer plant

Jason Luciw - Kelowna Capital News Published: August 28, 2009

The atmosphere around the board table got a little tense this week during discussion over how to pay for future upgrades needed at the Westside’s sewage treatment plant.The Central Okanagan Regional District operates the plant, which serves West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation and Peachland. West Kelowna Coun. Duane Ophus stated emphatically his belief that existing residents should not foot the bill for $16 million in proposed facility expansion. Money should come from development cost charges on new home construction, he stated.“The only reason it needs to be expanded is because of growth,” Ophus commented.

However, regional district administrator Harold Reay noted that the original plant was built in 1988 to serve only 2,200 residents in Westbank. The facility was never built to service Lakeview Heights, West Kelowna Estates and other parts of the municipality, Reay said.Since then, the plant has been expanded twice, using government grants and development cost charges. The existing plant is now worth $40 million and designed to service 28,000 people

“The taxpayers of West Kelowna did not pay for the capacity that they are using right now,” Reay told Ophus in an impassioned tone. “You’ve got a $40-million plant that you paid $1.3 million for. You can’t tell me that $1.3 million is going to build you a sewer plant to service a town of 30,000 people. ”Ophus then spoke of the improvements that West Kelowna taxpayers have contributed to the sewer collection system. Residents have paid up to $7,500 in the past to deliver trunk lines to their property lines, plus individual connection fees to their homes. The current plans for sewer expansion in West Kelowna will cost individual property owners around $10,000. Since a plant relies on the lines to get the sewage to the facility, one cannot discount what West Kelowna residents have paid towards the system, explained Ophus.

“I don’t agree, with all due respect to Mr. Reay, in terms of the contributions of existing ratepayers to the existing sewage treatment plant process,” said Ophus. Ophus also mentioned that the development cost charge for the sewer treatment plant on new construction is only $3,500 per single family home, noting the disparity between charges for existing residences and new homes. West Kelowna Mayor Doug Findlater said it was evident that financial matters needed clarification before further decisions could be made on sewer plant upgrades.“I feel like we’re flying blind on the financial end of it. We just don’t have the details to have a comfort level,” continued Findlater. “I just think our taxpayers have a right to know. In our case our taxpayers are 70 per cent of the service. That’s potentially a very big hit.”

Findlater requested a meeting between the service provider, the regional district and its partners, West Kelowna, Westbank First Nation and Peachland. The board agreed, opting to defer any decision on plant upgrades until a meeting on either Sept. 10 or 21.The regional district will be looking first to award a $1.5-million design contract for the work. Actual construction could begin as early as next spring on upgrades to equipment at the existing plant. Physical expansion could be a further two or three years out.

Spending approved for new cop shop

by Wayne Moore -Dec 14, 2008 CASTANET:
The District of Westside has taken over borrowing authority for the much delayed RCMP Detachment. Council approved borrowing more than $8.2 million from the Municipal Finance Authority of British Columbia as part of the 2009 spring issue. The amount authorized through an Alternative Approval Process put forward by the Regional District in July 2006, is $8,260,859. RCMP had hoped to be in the new 16,000 square foot detachment a year ago, however, the project has been delayed numerous times as plans were scaled back and costs began to escalate. In November, Westside Council decided to re-tender the project after costs jumped nearly $1.2 million to $9.4 million. The re-tendering is underway, and Mayor Doug Findlater says early indications are tenders costs are coming down. "Six months ago, there was a lot less interest in the project. We have lots of interest now," says Findlater. "With interest comes competition which seems to be driving the price down." Findlater says if tenders are less, then the municipality will be able to borrow less. Council is hoping to have the tenders awarded in time for construction to begin in the spring. It's anticipated construction will take about 14 months.

Rabbit Control Bylaw

Castanet:
Rabbit Control Bylaw - Council gave 1st, 2nd and 3rd reading to a Rabbit Control Bylaw that will allow the District to address feral rabbit infestation concerns in a pro-active manner. The bylaw proposes requirements to spay or neuter rabbits before adoption or sale, prohibits uncontained pet or feral rabbits from occurring on private property, prohibits feeding of rabbits in public spaces and requires property owners to modify or clean up problem breeding sites. The bylaw is available on the District’s website at www.districtofwestside.ca.

Draft Rabbit Bylaw

Council has given the first three readings to a draft bylaw aimed at addressing feral rabbit infestation concerns.

Draft Rabbit Control Bylaw

Westside re-tendering RCMP building

by Wayne Moore - Nov 17, 2008 CASTANET:

RCMP had hoped to be in a new detachment building on the Westside a year or two ago. They'll now have to wait until the spring of 2010 at the very earliest. Westside Council has decided to re-tender the much delayed project. Re-tendering means work won't likely begin until spring of 2009. It will take 13 to 14 months to build. The price tag for the 16,000 square foot detachment on Pamela Road has risen dramatically over the last couple of years. The original cost of $8.2 million has risen to more than $9.4 million.

Council voted unanimously to re-tender the project as it is currently designed in an effort to lower costs and lower the risk on the municipality and its taxpayers. Staff will tender the job, looking for a general contractor to oversee the project. The general contractor will then tender the individual components of the construction job. Westside is hoping the softening of the construction market will translate into lower tenders. Omicron spokesman, Cameron Kemp, told council the softening of the market is primarily in the residential sector. "We are not seeing changes in construction costs in terms of labour, materials or equipment costs. What we are seeing is profit margins are shrinking," says Kemp. "How long that will last is anyone's guess."

Omicron was hired in 2006 to design the building. Earlier this year, Omicron was also hired by the Regional District to carry out a Construction Management at Risk, allowing them to obtain bids from subcontractors. The company could re-bid on the new tender to become the general contractor of the project.

Westside construction goes to tender

Wayne Moore CASTANET:

Two large municipal building projects in the District of Westside are going to tender. The $1.8 million District of Westside City Hall and $750,000 Fire Hall 31 expansion will both go to tender in the coming days. Westside Chief Administrative Officer, Jason Johnson, expects the tender process to be complete in about a month. The municipality pre-qualified contractors to bid on each of the projects. The municipal hall, which is being constructed on the site of the current Mt. Boucherie Community Centre, should take between four and six months to complete.

The renovation to the main Westside Fire Hall is necessary to accommodate the addition of a new ladder truck. The ladder truck, which is expected to arrive within the next couple of weeks, will be stored at the Lakeview Fire Hall until renovations at the new hall are complete.

Westside sewers will cost more

Castanet: Wayne Moore - Oct 27, 2008

Westside property owners, patiently waiting for new sewer hook-ups, could end up paying close to $20,000 per household for the service, something that doesn't sit well with Mayor Rosalind Neis. The municipality applied for a grant worth about $15 million through the Building Canada Fund for 11 sewer projects scheduled for completion between 2009 and 2014. The total bill for the 11 projects is about $27 million.

The municipality was informed late last week the funds would likely be allocated over a large number of applicants, meaning Westside would not be eligible for the entire amount requested. Westside Chief Financial Officer, Jim Zaffino, says the municipality may receive just $6 million.

Because of the anticipated decrease in funding, Zaffino outlined three options for council to look at in an effort to proceed, including:

• Option 1 - Postpone last five phases to a future grant application. Cost per parcel, $8,110.41
  
• Option 2 - Postpone last three phases to a future grant application. Cost per parcel, $10,193.23
  
• Option 3 - Include all phases in the current grant application. Cost per parcel, $12,554.77.

Westside Council decided to go to the affected property owners as soon as possible with option three, despite what Neis termed a willingness to just accept what is given by the province. "They(council) certainly didn't see eye to eye on my continual statements of that. They seem to think that, well, let's just sit back, bend over and take what they are willing to give us and not fight for our residents. $6 million off a $27 million project, while it's somewhat helpful, it does very little to those residents who are going to be paying nearly $13,000," says Neis.

New cop shop put on hold

By Jason Luciw - Kelowna Capital News Published: October 25, 2008

Westside council has cooled a political hot potato just before the Nov. 15 municipal election. Construction of the $9.4 million Westside RCMP detachment will be delayed, likely until next spring. And, over the next several weeks, the project will be reviewed and retendered. Council is betting that construction prices will go down between now and then, given the softening economy and the cooling of the construction market. Director of development services Dave Slobodan said the delay will hopefully play in Westside’s favour. “A lot of the bigger firms, that normally would be looking at bigger works, may be wanting smaller works and a $9 million project may be of interest to them.” However, the hope of lower future construction costs wasn’t council’s only reason for delaying the project. It continued to express concerns about the stipulated-price contracts that had been secured. Plus, it was uncomfortable with the marginal contingency fund that had been set aside.

Vancouver-based Omicron, the building’s architect and the company hired to get fixed prices for the project, had only tendered 90 per cent of the work, leaving 10 per cent of the costs uncertain. Plus, 43 per cent of the subcontractors were not bonded. So, if one of those companies had cash flow problems and walked away from the job, their work would have to be put back out to tender. A subsequent tender could potentially come back at a higher cost and quickly eat up what little contingency had been set aside, noted Coun. Duane Ophus.The contingency was set at just under three per cent. Council said it would have felt more comfortable with five per cent.

Westside takes over police building

by Wayne Moore Castanet:

The District of Westside will take over administration of the proposed Westside Public Safety Building. Until now, the Regional District of Central Okanagan has overseen the project. Westside Mayor, Rosalind Neis, first brought up the idea publicly in August, when tender bids began coming in far over budget. "Since inception this project has been in the hands of the regional district, even before the District of Westside was incorporated. It doesn't appear to me the District of Westside has been in control of this situation from the beginning," Neis told Council on August 19. "It is starting to unravel. Prices have gone up and the building size has gone down." Omicron, the company contracted to manage the tender process and construction of the building, will remain at the helm. In making the motion earlier this week, Neis says the time was right to make the move. "Ultimately it will be Westside taxpayer dollars that fund it, so I felt as a municipality, it was good for the citizens that we had control over it."

Neis says she wasn't unhappy with the way the RDCO handled the project. She says they followed a certain philosophy as to the design of the building, but adds Westside does have the staff in place now, so the time is right to take over. Neis says the municipality will look at all aspects of the project, including the look and design of the building. "Until the building is built you are never too far along, so, I'm looking forward to our staff reviewing all the information and all the possible options and being able to present that openly to the public for input." While the municipality will now administer the project, it is still not known when construction will actually begin. Council is waiting until the end of the month to make that decision after going over a cost analysis report, expected to be complete within the next week. The cost of the RCMP building, originally pegged at $8.2 million will now cost $9.44 million. The RCMP has indicated it will contribute $1.2 million to the project upon occupancy.

Mayor wants police detachment options investigated

By Jason Luciw - Kelowna Capital News Published: September 16, 2008

The downscaled, over-budget RCMP detachment is giving Mayor Rosalind Neis more pause for thought as she considers whether constructing the facility is really the right move for her fledgling municipality. She says Westside should start by taking control of the project from the hands of the Central Okanagan Regional District. “I think with regard to any service, or capital cost, we should have direct control and input,” said the mayor. “Whatever end result, with this or any other capital cost project, the taxpayers of this municipality will be footing the bill, therefore, the elected officials and the staff from this municipality should be controlling the project.” Beyond who runs the project, Neis said she still has concerns about the planed new building’s “grandiose” design. If the building could be constructed away from downtown Westbank’s east gate, a simple concrete slab building would suffice, she argues.

“The philosophy (originally) was that it should be a beautiful building because it was a gateway to the downtown core. But if it was at a different location it wouldn’t have to be as grandiose.” Selling the land it is slated to go on could be an option at this point, said Neis. “(The land) would be worth more today than it was before. Take that money and apply that to putting a (simpler) police building somewhere else.” Building a concrete slab structure may not appeal to most municipal employees, Neis added. City halls, libraries and other public buildings usually offer staff and the public comfortable surroundings. However, those municipalities have had decades to establish those kinds of amenities, compared to Westside’s nine months of existence, she noted. “We’re in a completely different category here. Give us 10 years to save, it might be different.”

However, the mayor isn’t ready to scrap the entire project just yet. She’ll settle for getting answers to her questions from municipal staff this week, as there could be ramifications to scrapping the project, which would likely weigh heavily on the municipality. “We can’t just say scrap it without having a back-up plan,” Neis said. In addition, the RCMP could still be taken up on its offer to build the Westside detachment building and bill the cost back the municipality, she noted. “I’m willing to entertain the option of them building it, but I would want to know first how it affects taxpayers.” However, not all members of council are opposed to the police building proceeding on its present merits. Coun. Duane Ophus said that Westside staff has done a great job saving on other capital costs. For example, a renovation of the main fire hall on Old Okanagan Highway will cost $750,000. By comparison, a new hall would cost $4.5 million.

A new municipal hall could have cost as much as of $8 million. Instead, staff was able to renovate Mount Boucherie Community Centre and add three portables to the site for a total bill of $2 million, with most of the money coming from reserves. Therefore, when it comes to the police building, the municipality has a little more leeway when considering the need to borrow to build such a project, said Ophus.

Westside takes over utility billing

by Castanet Staff -Sep 1, 2008

Residents of the Westside District Municipality will begin paying the municipality for utility services beginning September 1. Utility billing and payment is one of six services being transferred from the Regional District to the municipality in September.

Other services being transferred include:

• Parks and Recreation
  
• Planning and Development
  
• Building Inspection
  
• Bylaw Enforcement
  
• Business Licenses

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Don Quixote Note: As an illustration of the amount of money that would be removed from the control of NORD if Vernon took over the Parks and Recreation Service: (These figures were taken from a spreadsheet titled 2008 'Analysis of changes in the City of Vernon Requisition')

60 (IMP.) Recreation Area #1 $7,252,536
Vernon $4,794,697, Coldstream $1,276,328, Area B $586,489 Area C $595,022

62(IMP) Multi Use Facility $2,246,200
Vernon $1,484,976 , Coldstream $395,295, Area B $181,643 Area C $184,286

66 (IMP) Community Theatre $1,219,500
Vernon $806,219 , Coldstream $214,612, Area B $98,617 Area C $100,052

The total amount of these 3 services for the 4 ex GVSC Participants are $10,718,236 and represent 62 % of the 2008 NORD Requisition (taxes) of $17,278,442.

Vernon's share of $7,085,892 represent 75.67% of Vernon's share of the 2008 NORD Requisition (taxes) of $9,364,415
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Don Quixote Caveat:

Westside (27161) is the newest (May 16/08) of the 12 municipalities that Vernon uses as a benchmark city. Others (with Population) include North Vancouver (45,165); Chilliwack (69,217); Kelowna (106,707), Penticton (31,909); White Rock (18,755); Port Moody (27,512); Pitt Meadows (15,623); Campbell River (29,572); Mission (34,505), Cranbrook (18,267); and Kamloops (80,376).

In most if not all these cases the municipalities handle their own Parks and Rec. services and the costs of these services are included in the the local municipal taxes. It is important to remember this when comparisons are being made to these Benchmark Municipalities in relation to taxes etc.

Neis stepping down as mayor

by Wayne Moore CASTANET:
Rosalind Neis will not seek a second term as mayor of Westside. The rookie politician, who took a year off from her job as an operating room nurse, at Kelowna General Hospital, says she is stepping away to spend more time with her family. "In the course of making this decision, I thought long and hard about what I brought(and what I did not bring) to the Mayor's office. I took into consideration my family, the many people that have supported me, those that have encouraged me and those that asked me to continue to represent the citizens of this community," Neis says in a prepared statement. "As I consider the positives regarding a second term as mayor, I find 28,000 reasons to continue. That being said, when I consider my family, I find many reasons to return to nursing." Neis says she loves nursing. She says it provides her with stability from both a financial and family point of view. While she won't seek a second term as mayor, Neis says she hopes to stay on as a councillor. "Given that the position of councillor would allow me to continue to represent people on the Westside, apply the knowledge that I have gained over the past year, and at the same time, allow me to return to a part-time position at KGH, I feel that this would be the best way to balance the needs of my family and those of the 28,000 people on the Westside."

Westside cop shop moving ahead

by Castanet Staff - Jul 27, 2008
Construction on the new Westside RCMP detachment is expected to begin near the end of August. The 16,000 square foot building, on the site of the Westbank Chamber of Commerce, will replace the current 2,000 square foot space the RCMP currently occupy. The Regional District purchased the land for the new building in 2005. The cost of the project, initially pegged at just over $8.2 million, is now estimated to cost $8.8 million. Rising construction costs account for most of the additional $600,000. Mike Hickman with Omicron, designers of the building, says a firm budget will be established once all tenders have been awarded in early August. He adds the hot local construction market has created some challenges in getting qualified bidders for some of the construction work. "There are fewer bidders available because many of them are busy and it often reduces the number of preferred bidders because obviously preferred bidders tend to be busier than non-preferred bidders," says Hickman. "The available bidders then pick the work they want to do and exclude the work they don't."

The new detachment will not include cells, meaning individuals arrested in Westside will still be transported to jail cells in the main Kelowna detachment. The building has been designed to allow for the inclusion of cells at a later date. Acting Mayor, Duane Ophus, says he's pleased progress is being made on the building. "We'd like to see things move along a little bit quicker, but it seems to be coming together now," says Ophus. "If this comes back to council in August, I think we'll be able to make a decision that we can move forward on." No date has been announced for completion.
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Don Quixote Note: This estimate works out to $550 per sq. ft. and does not include cells at this time although building will be designed for later inclusion. This is up from the $512.50 per sq. ft. initial projection

Four city bylaw

Okanagan Valley Wide: – CHBC Video
Web posted on Wednesday, 23 July 2008

Four okanagan mayors are joining forces. They're hoping that by forming an "Inter-municipal Advisory board", it will be easier to handle important issues affecting the valley.