Council to consider hiring Veolia to take on Dorchester water as well as Sackville
Town engineer Jon Eppell is recommending that Tantramar expand its contract with Veolia Water Technologies to include the operation of the Dorchester water treatment plant. Tantramar council will consider the proposal at its regular meeting tonight at 7pm in Sackville town hall.
At council’s committee of the whole meeting in July Eppell said a request for a change in position from the current staff person operating the Dorchester plant prompted the town to explore the outsourcing of the service.
“We went to Veolia who we’re all very familiar with in Sackville,” said Eppell. The global water treatment company has been operating the Sackville plant since 2007, and it also operates the Moncton water treatment system.
The Dorchester contract would cost the town an additional $2000 per week, or $104,000 per year, with additional costs for overtime and emergency services. There will also be about $12,000 in technological upgrades for Veolia to take over the Dorchester system. Tantramar currently pays about $245,000 annually for the Sackville Veolia contract.
The Veolia contract amount is not currently budgeted, but a staff report says the funds will come from “salary savings within the Dorchester portion of the Utility Budget,” for 2023, and then will be budgeted accordingly in 2024. Overall, this will be an increase in utility expenses, as the staff person currently operating the plant will be reassigned to other utility duties.… Continue
Province announces $2.4 million for new Tantramar River aboiteau
The province of New Brunswick has announced $2.4 million in funding for the replacement of the aboiteau that empties into the Tantramar River.
Tantramar engineer Jon Eppell says the news is “very positive… This will facilitate phase 3 of the Lorne Street Stormwater Mitigation project and allow discharge of that stormwater effectively to the river.” The project will see a retention pond created near Fleet Street, along with channels connecting it to the St. James Street pond and draining into the Tantramar River when tide levels allow.
Project engineer Pierre Plourde told Sackville town council last July that the current aboiteau built in the 1900’s was too small for the task.
The aboiteau replacement is one of 73 projects funded by the province’s Climate Change Fund. A total of $47 million was committed to the fund in this year’s provincial budget, however the estimated total for projects announced last week is $10 million higher, at $57 million. In a news release the department of environment and local government said it expects enough projects to come in under budget to make up for the $10 million gap.
Eppell says he is waiting to hear on the timeline for the construction of the project, which will be done by the department of transportation and infrastructure.… Continue
The beleaguered birds of Tantramar: Shep is good to go, but Erin the Heron is in rough shape
When Tantramar council passed a resolution in early April instructing staff not to remove Shep the Sandpiper from its perch in Dorchester Village Square, it came with a caveat, that town engineer Jon Eppell would inspect the bird and its installation, to make sure all was safe and sound.
“I’ve had a quick look out in the field and there’s no immediate safety concerns that I see,” says Eppell, noting that he is due to update council with more information on that matter shortly.
The reason for Eppell’s inspection was that the Shep installation was done without staff knowledge or participation, by a team of local volunteers who also commissioned the sculpture, paid for it, and transported it from artist Robin Hanson’s studio near Oromocto.
Erin the Heron, on the other hand, was part of a by-the-book public art commission. Unveiled in 2016, the bronze heron was part of Heron’s Watch, by artist Christian Toth, also featuring ducks Gracie Ann and Willy. The three bronze birds sit in a garden bed at the corner of Bridge Street and Weldon in downtown Sackville, but recently the bronze heron has been boarded up.
“It looks like a significant weight was placed on the back of the bird,” says Eppell.… Continue
New town engineer says Sackville in good position, expects amalgamation to go ‘surprisingly well’
Jon Eppell might just be the only person working for the town of Sackville who knew full well when he was hired that the town would be undergoing radical changes in the coming months, including a new name, new boundaries, new communities, and a new government. And he wanted the job anyway.
As Sackville’s new Town Engineer, Eppell leads the public works department and oversees all roads, facilities and the town’s sewer and water services.
In mid-September, CHMA dropped by town hall to meet Eppell and find out a bit more about the new public works boss:
Eppell comes to the town of Sackville after working the past three years with Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, but he’s been a Sackville resident since 2009, when his wife took a job in town and his family made the move. For years he commuted to Nova Scotia for work, first as engineer for Halifax Harbour Bridges and then as operations manager for Cumberland County.
When the post for Town Engineer went up earlier this year (after former Town Engineer Dwayne Acton moved on to a position with Mount Allison,) Eppell says he was “quite excited at the opportunity.” One of the reasons Eppell made the move from Halifax Harbour Bridges to Cumberland County was to be closer to family in Sackville, and so the new job was a natural fit.… Continue
Town seeks easements from property owners before replacing trunk sewer along Trans Canada Trail
About a dozen Sackville residents dropped in at town hall last week to look over plans for a major trunk sewer renewal project that will take three years to complete and will directly impact about 15 properties and parts of the Trans Canada Trail.
The project starts at the Weldon Street end of the Trans Canada Trail and runs about 550 metres northward to the end of Princess Street.
Special projects manager Kieran Miller has been coordinating communications for the project, and says notices went out to the 15 properties directly affected by the project, as well as the surrounding properties on Weldon, Morgan Lane, Clarence and Princess Streets. “They might not be directly impacted but there is a big infrastructure project happening in their backyards,” says Miller. “We wanted to give them the opportunity to ask any questions.”
Any property owners who couldn’t make the meeting will be sent a detailed outline of what the town plans to do, a requirement in this case, because the town needs to secure easements on the affected properties before it can proceed. The existing piping is old enough to pre-date the town’s policy of seeking out easement contracts with property owners, which needs to happen for the project to proceed.… Continue
Open house Wednesday for trunk sewer project alongside Waterfowl Park
The town of Sackville and Englobe engineering are hosting an open house Wednesday evening to answer questions about an upcoming project that will affect the Trans Canada Trail running alongside the Waterfowl park, as well as the properties adjacent to it.
The trunk sewer renewal project will run from Weldon to Princess Street, following existing sanitary sewer for the most part, with some realignments when necessary.
Town staff are inviting anyone with questions or concerns to drop in to town hall any time between 6:00pm to 8:30pm Wednesday to learn more about the project. Property owners will be able to find out where the trunk sewer will be on their property. Property owners who can’t make it will have information packages delivered to them.
Sackville’s Manager of Special Projects Kieran Miller says the Trans Canada Trail will be impacted at times during the course of the project. The design of the project will determine how much work gets done this year, says Miller, but the project is expected to be completed over the next three years, ending in 2024.
New Town Engineer arriving in August
Englobe was hired as the consulting engineer on the project in the absence of a town engineer for Sackville. Former town engineer Dwayne Acton resigned from his position in April to go work for Mount Allison University, and incoming town engineer Jon Eppell will take over in August.… Continue
New water deal with Mount A means one more utility worker for town of Sackville
On Monday night Sackville town council approved a five year agreement with Mount Allison University to oversee the school’s water distribution system. Though the school uses the same water supply as the rest of the town, the system within the school is currently tested and managed by University operations personnel, and is a “black box” as far as the town goes.
Public works superintendent Michelle Sherwood told council Monday that under the new agreement, qualified town staff will run the testing and oversee any repairs to the school’s water system. For that service, the school will pay the town of Sackville $82,000 per year, enough to hire an additional staff member in the public works department.
Sherwood said that in addition to providing the resources for another staff member, the new agreement will give the town more control over what happens with town water as it flows through Mount Allison’s distribution system.
Councillor Bill Evans was supportive of the new agreement, which he described as a win-win, similar to the arrangement whereby Mount Allison’s IT department provides services for the town. “In that case, Mount Allison university gets to hire an employee and we get the benefit of everybody in computing services. In this case, the town of Sackville will hire an additional employee with the certification that we already need,” said Evans.… Continue