Mount Pearl pushing compost bins again

By Patrick Newhook/May 12, 2022

Mount Pearl City Council is encouraging people to become more eco-friendly when it comes to how they deal with their garbage.

 In June 2021 Mount Pearl, in association with the Multi Materials Stewardship Board, started a Backyard Composting Pilot Program.

The program aimed to reduce waste and collect information on waste diversion by offering interested residents two composting bins.

“In 2021, program results showed that 15 of 25 reporting participants were able to divert over 1,150 pounds of waste from the landfill, an average of 77 pounds per participant,” reads the media release.

 The program lasted from June to September. After the initial success the city is bringing it back for 2022.

 This year there will be different options for people interested, a standard bin is $25 and a tumbler bin is $50. According to the release ‘that fee will be reimbursed at the conclusion of the pilot for any participant who fully completes their program obligations during the reporting period.’

 The new program will also increase participants from 25 in 2021 to 50 in 2022. The selected members will also get a virtual course that will help guide them through the program.  Interested residents can sign up at the City’s website.

Junior Female Athlete of the Year

Hannah Neville of Mount Pearl Intermediate is presented her award By Paradise Councillor Deborah Quilty

Junior Male Athlete of the Year

Liam Fowler of Mount Pearl Senior High was presented his award by Paradise Councillor Patrick Martin

City hoping for big crowd at cleanup blitz

By Patrick Newhook/May 5, 2022

Mount Pearl Council is pulling up its sleeves and getting its hands dirty as it plans to clean up the Waterford River.

On May 3, Mount Pearl City Council held it’s first meeting of the month, with a key take away being the Community Development Committee Report.

The report is a culmination of multiple Community Development Committee meetings that outlines multiple suggestions that were discussed during the latest council meeting.

One of the biggest parts was the 20 Minute Makeover/Waterford River Clean Up. Councilor Chelsea Lane presented the Clean-up.

“The City welcomes the 2022 Annual 20 Minute Makeover and Waterford River Clean up on Saturday, June 4. This long-standing annual event brings volunteers including businesses, residents and community groups together to help pick up litter and small debris in Power’s Pond, along the Waterford River banks and throughout the city,” said Lane.

Newfoundland and Labrador is know across the country for it’s scenic beauty, however, there’s a well-known secret that reveals itself every spring, the build up of litter. When spring arrives and the snow melts it reveals a build up of litter across the province, marring the natural beauty of the land.

Every year towns need to work together to clean up the province. Mount Pearl has annually had clean ups to help beautify the city.

“This is something that is so important and it’s so great that we have this in Mount Pearl because many hands make light work,” said Lane.

Councilor Jim Locke said he’s glad the city is bringing back a dedicated day to pick up the garbage, and noted this will be an effective way to help get the trash out of the city.

“I’m delighted to see this here that we’ve had a dedicated day because when we started this many years ago, we always had a day, a big rallying day, we’d meet at the Reid Centre or another location and you get different groups out, different organizations out and it was a real blitz on that day and then we sort of fell away from having a dedicated day,” said Locke. “I’m glad that we got this back because we can continue with the ongoing summer clean up… It’s not just limited to this day, but if we can get a couple of hundred people out on this day and direct them towards heavily garbaged areas it really, really has an impact.”

City allots funds for pavement repairs

By Patrick Newhook/May 5, 2022

Mount Pearl City Council crunched down and debated the costs Tuesday of fixing cracks in public streets.

With spring here and summer just around the corner, municipalities across the province are beginning to discuss their roads and how they will, if they can, go about repairing them.

Councillor Mark Rice, who chairs council’s infrastructure and public works committee, broached the subject as part of his committee’s report.

“The Committee was advised that the tender for the 2022 Asphalt Crack Sealing (tender) closed on March 10 and one bid was received. The qualified bidder was Crown Contracting Inc., with the amount of $52,325 HST included,” said Rice.

Councilor Jim Locke allowed that while Newfoundland experienced less frost this past winter, he has noticed more cracks then before. He asked if the amount budgeted will be enough to address the problem.

“I know each year we budget amounts, in this case it’s over $52,000,” Locke said. “Is that an amount that we figure will get all of the significant cracks done in the city? Are we aiming for 80 per cent of the major cracks, is this adequate to sealing what we need to be sealing because I’m sure that we did the assessment prior to this particular up and down in our temperatures. I’m just curious, first of all do we have more cracks, and secondly might we need more crack sealing given the winter that we had.”

Director of infrastructure Gerry Antle responded by saying that while the City doesn’t measure the cracks, its does budget for their repair. He also pointed out there are a lot of variables involved when it comes to the way pavement splits over the winter and spring.

“We don’t measure the cracks in the city because it can be such an expensive proposition just to measure them,” Antle said. “We spend our effort on the crack sealing work and then we have a budget that council approves on our asphalt and concrete and we move that around. It’s highly variable for us to measure how much crack sealing we need in a given year.”

Councilor Bill Antle noted there was only one company to make a bid and asked if that was normal. He also asked if the $52,000 was comparable to last year.

Director Antle responded by saying there just aren’t that many companies in this line of work.

“Different years we estimate different amounts,” he added. “This year is within what we estimated what the cost would have been… It’s higher than previous years. That’s what we expect is a reflection of asphalt (costs) and particularly oil prices.”

The motion to award the work to Crown Contracting passed unanimously.

Councillors break a sweat over exercise equipment cost

By Mark Squibb/April 28, 2022

The City’s receipt of just one bid for a Summit Centre fitness equipment maintenance contract led to a discussion on whether City employees can do the work themselves.

Councillor Chelsea Lane brought forward a recommendation from the Community Development Committee to award the contract for the preventative maintenance program, including comprehensive inspection, cleaning and lubrication of all fitness equipment at the Summit Centre, to Spartan Fitness for three years for a bid of $43,200.

The equipment will be served on a quarterly basis at a cost of $14,400 annually ($110 hourly). Included in the contract is an option to extend the services for a fourth year.

“Due to the limited availability of fitness equipment service providers locally, one bid only was received,” Lane noted.

Councillor Jim Locke, who said that council is increasingly receiving sole bids on different contracts, asked Director of Community Development Jason Collins if, based on past contracts, he was satisfied the City was getting a “good bang for the buck.”

Collins said the price was comparable to prices quoted in years past, and that it was only slightly higher than quotes of years gone by (a difference of several hundred dollars per year, he said.)

Locke said he was satisfied with the quote so long as it was comparable to years past.

Mayor Dave Aker, who noted that if you crunched the numbers, the quote worked out to about three hours of work per week, asked if City staff could do it themselves.

Collins said that staff do some of the cleaning and maintenance, but not the more technical aspects of the work.

“Staff are there, and work alongside the experts,” said Collins.

Aker said he was by no means going to hold up the contract, but did inquire further as to whether staff could do more of the work, rather than the City having to contract it out, and get the same result.

“If I can answer it this way, over the years, our staff have been doing more,” said Collins. “Because we’ve been consciously looking at this. But we still feel that experts are best to handle some of the tasks that are required, certainly in regard to the preventative maintenance.”

Councillor Mark Rice inquired as to what equipment is serviced under the contract, and Collins said that ‘essentially everything with moving parts’ is included.

Councillor Bill Antle added that staff at the Centre say the contract is well worth it in terms of equipment longevity and function.

“For the money that we’re spending, it’s saving us money in the long run because we’re getting more and more use out of these machines,” said Antle.

The motion to award the contract passed unanimously.

City approves emergency storm sewer repairs

By Mark Squibb/April 21, 2022

The City of Mount Pearl has approved costly emergency storm sewer repairs on Topsail Road.

“The work includes the removal and replacement of approximately 48 meters of CMP storm sewer pipe and installing new 1200-millimeter diameter HDPE storm sewer pipe,” explained councillor Mark Rice during the April 5 meeting. “The work will also include all related works, such as excavation and backfill, patching, landscaping, removal of temporary patch and reinforcement of asphalt, concrete curb and gutter.”

The city received three quotes at the March 16 deadline, and the Infrastructure and Public Works Committee recommend approval of a quote by Fairview Investments Ltd., the lowest qualified bidder, in the amount of $147,918, HST included.

Council voted unanimously that approval be granted for CAO Dana Spurrell to submit an application for gas tax funding to the Gas Tax Secretariat for the necessary amount.

“It is what it is,” summarized Mayor Dave Aker. “The word ‘emergency’ here is really more coming out of the Public Tender Act, but this is urgent that we get this done before any further damage is done to our roadway or any other neighbouring infrastructure.”

The motion passed without further discussion.