Kenneth Brown
of The Clarion
The town’s elected officials have adopted a new set of design standards and master specifications for infrastructure projects.
Council members passed a resolution to approve the documents at their meeting on March 12. Mayor Rod Perkins said all previous standards and specifications would be replaced after the new documents were approved. He asked the administration to elaborate on the documents.
Kim Vogel, the town’s director of transportation and environment, said the previous set of standards and specifications for the design and installation of municipal infrastructure were adopted in 2011. A full review of the document was completed in association with AECOM, the town’s engineer of record, and other experts, she said. The work resulted in two documents, and the documents are expected to change.
“They’re basically living documents that should be amended from time to time and changed,” Vogel said, recognizing that the town has to make changes to its documents because standards and specifications, themselves, are also changing over time.
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She noted that the documents would be part of a package the town would give to contractors before they start working on municipal infrastructure projects. The documents will allow the contractors to know what to expect. The documents would also be used by the town’s public works department, Vogel commented.
Michael Fraser, an engineering trainee working for the town, said certain minimum standards are required for designing infrastructure and it is commonplace to provide the documents to designers and engineers to understand the basics.
For example, he said sewer slope is one item covered by the documents. He told council the master specifications document is more rigorous than the design standards document. He noted that the master specifications is the larger of the two documents that gives specific instructions to contractors.
The master specifications document includes information about the materials and instructions to let contractors know when inspections need to be completed. The specifications aspect of the process were lacking in the previous document, Fraser explained.
Perkins said it must have taken a lot of time to complete the review considering the breadth of information in both documents. The standards and specifications should help to avoid problems in the future, he added. Council unanimously approved the new documents.
Other meeting highlights
• Council has passed a resolution to renew an agreement with the Bear Hills Media Group Inc. for the digital billboard located on the south side of Highway 7.
“This is a renewal of an existing lease,” said Mayor Rod Perkins, who reminded council that the digital billboard is located at the intersection of highways 7 and 21, and the owner of the sign “pays us a monthly charge.”
The mayor said the new agreement is for a five-year extension of the existing lease agreement, so it runs from now until 2022. Council heard the town’s administration has been pleased with the agreement because Bear Hills Media pays its fees on time and a good working relationship has been established.
Bernie Morton, the town’s chief administrative officer, said the sign’s owner provides the town with space to promote its initiatives, but space has also been provided to community groups for the purpose of promoting their initiatives.
There is also an emergency override clause in case of an Amber Alert, severe weather or other emergencies of public interest. The sign could also be linked with signs in other centres along the Highway 7 corridor to spread the word in the event of an emergency.
Kim Vogel, the director of transportation and environment, said the media group was only paying $150 per month in 2013 after the sign first went up, but that amount has since grown to $400 as the company built up its clientele. She said the company does not anticipate much additional revenue, so the new lease agreement includes a modest three per cent increase each year to the monththly payments.
• The town’s elected officials have passed three resolutions to appoint council members to fill the vacancies on committees from a recent resignation.
Former councillor Ken Francis resigned to pursue a position in provincial politics and his resignation left vacancies on boards and committees. Councillor Elyse Moss has been appointed to boards for the Western Regional Landfill Inc. and the Eston-Kindersley Water Administration Board and Water West Board. Councillor Rob Anderson, who replaced Francis on council, was appointed to a Liaison Committee with the RM of Kindersley.
• Council members have passed a resolution to approve an easement agreement with SaskPower. The corporation is going to run a power line along a portion of 11th Avenue East. Kim Vogel, the director of transportation and environment, said it is a standard easement agreement.
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