Monday, January 12, 2015


The above document was a late addition to the Agenda of the January 8, 2015 GVAC meeting. I provide it here for information as it was not included in the published public Agenda. There are two recommendations of interest both requesting the approval of grant applications to senior governments.

One of my concerns with the above document was that it was a last minute addition at the end of the meeting. It came on the heals of a defeated referendum and one of the grant request was for an item that was also an item in the referendum. In light of the anticipated review of the MWP the question remains if and how the Duteau system will be incorporated into future plans. Even in MWP 2012 the Aberdeen dam was a low priority item projected to be constructed in 2022.

The argument could be made that this is a request for a grant and not an expenditure of local taxpayers. However, if the grant is approved will it effect future grant applications for higher priority projects?

The grant application for water meter improvements is even more puzzling. There is no analysis to demonstrate how those expenditures will increase water rates and how much benefit the expenditure of over $8 million will have on the overall management of the plan.

One also may wonder, if this meter improvement was in the plans prior to the referendum question, would it have come up as an additional expense after the referendum was approved.

 A plan must be completed in advance of a request for financing and not presented in peace-meal fashion.

What do you think?

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Re: Application of grant to raise dam height
The Kiss FM story states that RDNO Directors felt that the rejection of the referendum projects was owing more to the lack of provincial funding, than a rejection of the projects themselves. I don't know about the other NO voters, but the lack of an acceptable peer reviewed plan on water was why I rejected the borrowing of the funds (which included the raising of the dam height). The spin now appears to have "flood control" tied to it. When will the insanity end?

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I have been a resident of Coldstream since 1976. I have had 15 years of experience on Council, 3 years as Mayor. As a current Councillor I am working to achieve fair water and sewer rates and to ensure that taxpayers get fair treatment. The current direction regarding water supply is unsustainable and I am doing all I can to get the most cost effective water supply possible.