INNISFAIL - Town council has approved spending almost $666,000 to reline local sewer lines and manholes throughout the community.
The underground infrastructure work recommendation was brought to council at its regular Oct. 22 meeting and passed unanimously. The work, which will begin in December and is expected to be completed next June, will see 18 sewer lines and 20 manholes relined throughout town.
Crystal Scheit, the town's engineering coordinator, reminded council that a budget of $500,000 for sanitary line and manhole relining was approved in the 2018 capital budget. She added in her report the same $500,000 project was planned for 2019.
Council was told that funding was approved for the 2018 and 2019 infrastructure projects through the Small Communities Fund, a program initiated by the federal government, with costs shared equally with the province, municipality and federal government.
However, the total $1-million budgeted cost for the two years of infrastructure work was dramatically reduced when the town issued a request for proposal (RFP) for both years, an "incentive for bidders to provide lower pricing if both years were approved in budget," said Scheit's report.
Council was told the town received three contract bids for the work and Edmonton's Advanced Trenchless Inc. was ultimately selected for $514,451.07.
However, Scheit's report noted that additional work, which included spot repairs, spot digs and service connections, were not included in the original RFP. Council agreed to approve an additional $100,000 expenditure. The total approved cost for the two years of sanitary line and manhole relining rehabilitation work, which includes a 10 per cent contingency, now comes in at 665,896.18, with all of it paid through the Small Communities Fund.
As for the nearly $335,000 in savings, Scheit said that money will be used to finish necessary work on the sewage lagoon reclamation project, with the rest going towards completing the sewer line and manhole relining work throughout town.
"The grant is open ended for a few more years, so we will be looking at doing more of this type of work moving forward just to utilize the remaining amount of the grant," she said.
