Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
A pair of resolutions for an upcoming lagoon expansion project have been approved at a special session of council held near the middle of December.
Lagoon expansion is one of the major projects for the Town of Kindersley in 2019 and officials are starting to get ready for the project. Council held a special session on Dec. 18 and resolutions were passed as part of the ongoing preparations for the $5.7-million project.
Council passed a resolution to approve the design services provider for the project and to enter into an agreement with the chosen firm. A second resolution was passed to enter into a funding agreement with the federal government.
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A grant has been approved for the lagoon project, so council had to approve a resolution to strike an agreement for the funding. The town has been granted about $3.3 million under the Provincial-Territorial Infrastructure Component of the federal government’s Investing in Canada program. The program is also known as the new Building Canada Fund.
The town conducted a tendering process to find a design services provider for the lagoon project. An adjudication process was held, and AECOM was chosen to provide design services for the project. Work is anticipated to start early in the spring.
Mayor Rod Perkins said two firms made submissions in response to the town’s request for proposals (RFP). The firms were AECOM and a smaller family-owned company in the Maidstone area, according to the mayor. Council discussed the proposals at the meeting and the town is familiar with AECOM.
“We do a lot of work with AECOM on various projects,” Perkins said, recognizing that town officials have a good working relationship with the firm’s main person in charge of the area. “They do a fair bit.”
He noted that the firm has already done a lot of the pre-engineering work for the lagoon project, but design services are a specific item and the town had to issue the RFP as a result. The mayor said the process was a formality due to AECOM’s familiarity with the project.
The firm will be involved throughout the project. The town has to issue another RFP to find a contractor for the project, and Perkins said he believes the RFP will be issued as soon as possible to ensure the work starts early in the spring.
Other meeting highlights
Members of council have passed a resolution to transfer funding to the town’s recreation reserve for two projects that could take place in the future.
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