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RURAL MUNICIPALITY OF MISCOUCHE
Special Meeting West Lagoon Project
April 11th , 2023
1. OPENING MEETING
Mayor Albert Gallant called the meeting to order at 6:00 P.M.
Present:
Albert Gallant – Mayor
Allan Parks – Deputy Mayor
Ivan Blanchard- Councillor
Jacqueline Lecky- Councillor
Charles MacAusland- Councillor
David Hughes- Councillor
Corey Gillis Councillor
Michelle Perry- CAO
4 members of the public
Mayor Gallant opened the meeting at 6:00pm and handed the meeting over to CAO Perry
Michelle explained to the public the project and that the lowest bid came in 1.5 million over the budget. The biggest part of the funding will be going towards the old cell. Removing the sludge and building the walls around the old cell of the lagoon and then creating a lay down are for the water bags for the sludge removal. This part of the project is $1.2 million. As of right now the community does not have enough money coming in for the sewer to pay back the loan if the community was to borrow the money for the complete project. The sewer only takes in $138K and the loan payment on a $2 million dollar loan over 25 years would be $160K. And out of the $138k coming in $50K has to go towards maintenance
The options that the community has are as follows:
1) Borrow the money to complete the project and then raise the sewer rates to an amount that would cover the loan.
2) Defer part of the project till funding opens up and the community can reapply for funding to finish the project.
Public had a few questions:
Q: What will happen if the sludge does not get removed.
A: The new system will handle this it will just have to work harder.
Q: What happens if the community can not get funding for the project that they defer.
A: Other communities have had to defer some of their projects as they were over budget and then reapplied for more funding to finish the project and were accepted.
Q: Will the community still get the funding if they defer part of the project.
A: Yes we have already checked with the project coordinator to make sure that we will still; get the funding.
Q: What if the community borrowed the money for the project and raised the sewer rates to cover the loan.
A: It would be less of a cost to the residents if the community re applied for funding then they would just have to get a loan for 25% of the cost instead of 100%
The public was showed the plans for the West Lagoon Upgrade so that they could understand more clearly as to what part of the project would be deferred as well as what the plan was for the New cell and the UV System.
Mayor Gallant thanked everyone for coming to the meeting