City approves sole source contract for critical pool unit

By Mark Squibb/December 9, 2021

The City of Mount Pearl is paying for some Summit Centre work that has been in the plans since 2020.

“The Summit Centre SERESCO Unit is the main air handling unit for the Summit pools and is critical to pool operations,” said councilor Isabelle Fry. “To ensure its optimal operation, endurance, and reliability, it was deemed necessary that a service agreement be put in place which would have factory trained service technicians who are able to provide regular routine maintenance, inspections and support as well as Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) parts for the Unit. Dehumidified Air Services is the only manufacturer Representative in Canada with factory trained service technicians and OEM parts supplier. So, this is important. The department engaged Dehumidified Air Services to negotiate a new sole-source multi-year service agreement for the Seresco Unit and to evaluate the critical components of the unit, advising of what critical spare parts and components were required.”

The contract cost for the first year is $21,735, HST included, with a 2 per cent increase for each additional contract year. The purchase of the critical spare parts and other components required will cost an additional $23,842, HST Included.

Fry noted the work was anticipated back in 2020 and budgeted for 2021.

She reported to council that the Infrastructure and Public Works Committee recommended a sole-source contract for the initial three-year term, with two 1-year extensions available if mutually agreed upon by both parties.

The motion, seconded by councilor Mark Rice, carried unanimously.

Cool Glacier air means hot savings for Summit Centre

By Mark Squibb/December 9, 2021

During last week’s public council meeting week, it was noted that November 10 marked one full year of heating both Summit Centre pools with heat recovered from the Glacier refrigeration plant.

This means the City has not had to use electric heaters to heat the pools for one entire year.

“I think this is phenomenal news,” said councillor Mark Rice, to which mayor Dave Aker agreed. “I would say kudos to all the people who did the work on that area.”

Mayor Dave Aker added to what Rice said by sending congratulations to departments that made the cost saving measure possible.

Councilor Isabelle Fry also had some thoughts on it.

“I just want to add what a big deal this is, to not have to use electric heat to heat our pools, that’s quite a cost savings for the City, and to be able to do it environmentally friendly, that’s really a big deal,” said Fry. “I just wanted everyone to be aware, that for the City to not have to supply an electric heat for an entire year to heat the pool, that’s something that we all should be very, very proud of.”

Councilor Jim Locke then provided some figures to help put the financial savings into context.

“I think savings between November and June were $38,000, so I would anticipate that we’re probably close to $50,000 in financial savings,” said Locke. “But, to the mayor’s point, it’s also about the ecological, the environmental savings. It’s fantastic. It’s great news.”

Council grapples with Metrobus costs, effectiveness of service

By Mark Squibb/December 9, 2021

The City of Mount Pearl is not getting the best ‘bang for their buck’ when it comes to the Metrobus service within the City.

That seemed to be the general consensus after the topic was raised during the November 30 public council meeting.

The discussion began when councilor Jim Locke voted to pay a number of invoices, a motion that is usually made, seconded, and approved without much discussion.

One invoice among those 10 however stood out to councilor Mark Rice — $94,559 to be paid to St. John’s for October’s Metrobus service fees.

“The amount that we’re paying out for those fees monthly, and quarterly, and on an annual basis, is substantial,” said Rice. “I would like to revisit this going forward and see if there are other cost saving measures, or if we could have a conversation with Metrobus and the City of St. John’s to see if the fees could be reduced or even if they could increase their routes. Because we have a lot of people in the City who use this service, and it’s really important to them.”

He noted that costs for services across the board seem to be increasing, and that it’s often taxpayers who have to bear the brunt of those increases.

Councilor Bill Antle said he agreed one hundred percent with Rice.

“We’ve been talking about Metrobus for a while,” said Antle. “For councilor Rice’s benefit, we pay seven dollars a kilometre for Metrobus. And if we look at these routes, on some of these routes there’s not enough riders. I think we need to look at Metrobus as a whole, and what is and what isn’t working for us.”

Deputy Mayor Nicole Kieley then spoke to the issue.

“I feel like this is an important topic to talk about as we move forward, around transportation generally, and the effectiveness around what we have, with regards to cost, resources, and what our residents are getting out of our transportation system,” said Kieley. “If people are not utilizing the service, why? Certainly, transportation is necessary throughout any urban area such as Mount Pearl, and as we are looking to attract and encourage young families and diverse individuals and professionals looking at greener opportunities to move around our city, this is a great opportunity. I support councilor Rice’s concerns and certainly councilor’s Antle’s concerns around the cost, and additionally, looking at the effectiveness and maybe even revisiting what exactly residents require from our transportation.”

On the topic of paying for regional services, Antle pointed out the City pays $460,000 roughly a month for fire protection services to the St. John’s Regional Fire Department.

“The residents should know that we do pay our fair share. The fire department costs us about $5 million a year, and it’s going up,” said Antle. “It’s a service that we provide at a cost. So, we do pay our own way with the fire department and Metrobus. It’s important to note that.”

Councilor Isabelle Fry added her thoughts to the mix.

“Public transportation is important to have, and clearly the system we have now isn’t working,” said Fry. “And it comes at a high cost, so I would like to look at this a little further, and see if there is a way to streamline, instead of meandering throughout the entire city, maybe have more direct points of contact.”

Fry said she recently spoke with a resident who frequently rides the Metrobus who suggested that council get on the bus near the Village Mall and travel a route to take note of how many folks use the bus.

Locke said the town did meet with Metrobus some years back to discuss inefficiencies in the Mount Pearl service.

“They had a certain distance that they deemed acceptable for riders and where to place, but we also discussed at our corporate services committee meeting earlier last month at looking at the whole transit system and, to the deputy mayor’s point, are we getting the bang for our buck?”

Locke said previous councils had discussed having an internal busing system within Mount Pearl.

In addition to the monthly service fee, Mount Pearl paid $24,799 for Metrobus accessible services from July to September.

Christmas kicking off Saturday with Lions Parade

Santa Claus will be back in Mount Pearl this Saturday, weather permitting.

The annual Lions Club Christmas Parade is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. and wind its way along Ruth Avenue and Park Avenue before ending at Mount Pearl Square.

If the weather is bad, the parade could be rescheduled for 2 p.m the following day.

The City's Christmas Tree lighting is also scheduled for Saturday. Mayor Dave Aker is inviting the public to join council at 6:30 p.m. at St. David's Park for the lighting. 

The event will feature live entertainment, Lane noted.

And finally, the annual Breakfast with Santa has been set for December 18 at the Reid Community Centre from 9 to 11 a.m. Tickets for the event are $5 each and are on sale at the Summit Centre's customer service desk. Tickets are free for children two years old and younger.

Winter parking ban now in effect

By Craig Westcott/December 2, 2021

Every year at this time the members of Mount Pearl council sound almost apologetic about having to bring in the annual Winter parking restrictions.

That's because nearly every year at this time, there is little snow to be found and the weeks leading to Christmas are interspersed with days of mild weather.

But as every Newfoundlander knows, that could change in a blink.

Still, councilors couldn't help sounding just a little hesitant Tuesday as they approved the restrictions for the coming months.

The motion to make the restrictions effective starting Wednesday, December 1, was made by community development committee chairperson Chelsea Lane. They are set to expire March 31, 2022. Violators will be subject to a fine, Lane said.

Under the rules, no vehicle is permitted to be left parked on any street within the city between the hours of 1 a.m. and 8 a.m., or at any time during a storm and for 12 hours afterwards.

"Any unattended vehicle parked on any street contrary to these regulations may be removed and impounded at the owner's expense," Lane said. "And no person shall shovel, plow, blow or cause to be shoveled, plowed or blown, any residue snow from a driveway or parking lot onto any street, carriageway or sidewalk in this city."

Mayor Dave Aker said the regulations don't mean winter has started, but is simply about winter readiness.

"Sometimes we'll get commentary from some of our residents wondering why on a day like yesterday (Monday), for example when it was 10 degrees and sunny, why would we implement a parking ban?" said the mayor, who then asked director of infrastructure and public works Gerard Antle for a briefing on the City's winter preparations.

"Winter readiness has already started for us," Antle acknowledged. "At public works we have a partial night shift that is in place right now. We have winter supervisors on shift 24/7. In the evening times we will get circumstances now that it's icing, that it's below zero. So, we do have machines operating throughout the evening times as well. This right now is the shoulder season. We don't know when we could get snow. Just a couple of weeks ago the forecast was for five or 10 centimeters and we woke up to find we had 17 centimeters fallen. It's about us being ready and being able to manoeuvre our vehicles, and at this point in time we are ready for winter."

To that, Mayor Aker pointed out that enforcement of the rules can take on one of two different styles, depending on the circumstances.

"There is the soft enforcement as we enter the shoulder season of winter," said Aker. "Might we do it differently in January versus when this gets implemented at midnight tonight?"

"Your Worship, our enforcement team certainly uses judgement when they're patrolling, when they see vehicles and depending on the event, and the time of year," said director of community development, Jason Collins. "A lot of factors are taken into consideration."

Put to a vote, the winter parking restrictions passed unanimously.

Fry wants less Amazon, more local

By Mark Squibb/December 2, 2021

Some of us can admit we’ve passed up an opportunity to buy a local product because it was cheaper to buy it online or at a big box store.

It seems the City of Mount Pearl is no different.

“I was looking at this last evening and at some of the expenditures we have, and the one thing that stood out to me is the number of expenditures we have from Amazon,” said councilor Isabelle Fry on Tuesday as council looked its expenses register. “I’m just wondering, and I  know we’ve talked about this before, and I know quite often we can get things at a cheaper price, but it’s not just the financial part of this, it’s about supporting local whenever possible, and I’m just wondering if this can be top of mind when purchasing, rather than using big suppliers like that, if there is an option to support local first, because our local economy depends on that,” said Fry.

Councilor Jim Locke responded in turn by pointing out that City policy is to take the most economical road.

“Well our procurement is such that we are keepers of the public purse, so we do have a fair process that we go through, and I don’t know if our taxpayers — and I support buying local where you can — but our process is to put out our RFPs and look for the vendors for the services and goods and we opt for the most economical supply,” Locke said. “But I take your point about supporting local where we can.”

Fry said she didn’t know that process was followed for smaller purchases and argued if it’s only a matter of a few dollars more, council should go with the local option.

“I mean, obviously, if there’s a big variance, that’s not realistic,” she allowed. “But supporting local creates local jobs within the community. So, I just wanted to bring that forward.”

Deputy Mayor Nicole Kielly then added her thoughts

“To that point, something that came to mind as a possibility, certainly we look at our policies all the time, and in relation to corporate services and being fiscally responsible, as councilor Locke has identified, I also see your point councilor Fry to shopping local, and recognizing there is an investment when it puts it back in the economy above and beyond a budget line,” said Kielly.

She suggested council look at the policy of procurement to see if council might better balance shopping local with fiscal responsibility.

Though council didn’t vote on the matter, it was decided the issue will go back to Corporate Services for review.

Hockey Heroes

Mount Pearl Minor Hockey Association teams collectively raised $10,000 for local food banks this month during the annual Hockey with Heart fundraising event on November 6. Folks could drop off donations at a number of locations around the city where players and coachers were eager to collect. Pictured above are members of two Under 15 Blades teams who were happy to collect for the food banks. In the back, from left to right, are coaches Scott Hurley, Ron Power, and Tom Walsh. Players, from left to right, are Jaxon Lynch, William Skiffington, Logan Skinner, Lucas King, Luke MacPherson, Thomas Hoddinott, Caden King, Ashton Toope, and, in front, Alex Flynn.

Submitted photo

Council hopes funds come through for Barbour and St. Andrews

By Mark Squibb/November 25, 2021

Mount Pearl council voted unanimously last week to apply for $7.5 million in federal infrastructure funding for two city roads in bad need of repairs.

Under the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) Green Infrastructure fund, the City is applying for replacement of the water main, storm sewer, sanitary sewer, asphalt, curb and sidewalk on Barbour Drive at a cost of $4 million and for the same scope of work at St. Andrews Avenue at a cost of $3.5 million. Barber Drive was listed as priority number one.

Mayor Dave Aker asked director of infrastructure and public works Gerry Antle what distinguished the two roads that one would be given a higher priority, and inquired whether both roads are overdue for work under the City’s asset management plan.

Antle admitted both roads are beyond service life, the underground in particular, and that both roads are badly in need of work, above other roads in the asset management plan.

Councilor Jim Locke asked, for the interest of the public, what the cost to the City would be should the applications be approved.

Antle replied that the city’s potion would be 30 percent of the total cost.

The deadline to apply was November 19.

Paying by the bolt

By Mark Squibb/November 25, 2021

A contractor change order for remediation work on the Old Placentia Road pedestrian underpass will have the City of Mount Pearl paying by the bolt.

Councillor Mark Rice explained that the tender for the pedestrian walkway underpass remediation was awarded to Eric Taylor Ltd., on July 19 for the bid amount of $269,186, HST included. But the need for blind bolts has increased the cost of the project.

“The installation of these bolts will reinforce the structure in areas where existing bolts have extensively corroded,” explained Rice during last week’s public meeting. The recommend change order came to council at the behest of the City’s Infrastructure and Public Works committee.

Those bolts come at a cost of $39 per bolt. The 100 bolts the City requires will cost $4,485, HST included.

Councilor Jim Locke then asked whether the blind bolts would have been used in the original construction of the underpass, or something that needed to be added after the fact.

Director Gerry Antle explained that sometimes during construction you can access the back of the cover, but, in this case, the bolts were required on just one side, as the other was reinforced with fill.

He said typically the bolts are designed for one side access.

The Pearl followed up with Antle for further clarification, and Antle explained the bolts are used when you cannot easily access the other side of a material for fastening.Antle explained that  because of fill on one side of the culvert, crews are unable to access that side, and need to use the blind bolts.

The pedestrian underpass is a larger culvert with fill behind it therefore crews are unable to access the other side.

Council voted unanimously to purchase the bolts.