Guelph-Eramosa council has begun 2016 capital budget discussions, but the budget itself won’t be finalized until after the new year begins.
At a Nov. 25 special meeting, councillors heard from numerous department officials about what each hopes to see in the capital budget.
Fire
Deputy fire chief Richard Renaud presented a capital budget of $479,500 for 2016 including a request for a replacement tanker fire truck ($450,000) and training room upgrades ($10,000). Renaud said the current tanker truck is 25 years old and no longer has a functioning pump.
“Basically it can carry water to a scene, and that’s it,” he said. It has not been functional for two years.
Because of its age, the truck is not recognized under the Fire Underwriters Survey and is preventing Guelph-Eramosa fire department from earning the superior tanker shuttle accreditation. Once this accreditation is reached, homes not in a fire hydrant area that depend on tanker trucks as a water source in the case of a fire may receive insurance savings.
Councillor David Wolk asked why the pump in the current truck hasn’t been replaced.
“Parts for a 25-plus year pump are next to impossible to find,” Renaud said. “We did look for pieces to fix this one but to replace a gasket alone was over $1,000.”
Councillor Mark Bouwmeester said it’s difficult to “swallow” the purchase of a new truck just because of the age.
Mayor Chris White added, “The last thing you want to do is roll into a fire and have the truck break down because it’s too old.”
Another request in the fire department capital budget request is for training room upgrades.
“The room initially was intended on being an office, so it’s carpeted and then they ended up putting workout equipment in there,” Renaud said. “The equipment now is 12 years old, the cables are fraying, the frame for the multi-use weight set is starting to fracture or crack.”
Additional items under the fire department capital expenditures include replacement pagers, cost of the e-dispatch program, bunker gear, and fire hall upgrades.
Parks and recreation
Director of parks and recreation Robin Milne requested a capital budget of about $1.2 million for 2016.
In terms of buildings, Milne said he would like to replace the floor at the Rockmosa hall for a cost of $22,000. The current parquet flooring was refinished more than three years ago.
“One of the things that we experienced when we did that was the odours lingered in the building for probably two weeks,” Milne explained. “We had some complaints.”
The floor deteriorated to almost the same condition it was before the refinish about a year and a half later. Milne recommended that luxury vinyl tile be used to replace the parquet flooring in the centre. The product is used in the downtown Guelph RBC branch.
“And the floor, it stood up, it looks good,” he said. “Essentially whatever you want it to look like that’s what it looks like and it actually looks pretty high quality.”
The flooring has a 10-year commercial warranty and there is low or minimal maintenance.
Woodlawn Memorial Park is looking for an exit transition from the operation of Rockwood Cemetery. Milne said he has created a plan for the transition and the municipality to take over the responsibilities.
“Really on the ground nothing will change,” he said. “As the municipality we’re proposing that we would still hire out the contractor.”
The plan is for the township to take over responsibility of the cemetery in January 2017.
Milne is requesting $25,000 to purchase a lowering device, greens, planks, metal detector and cemetery management software. Milne proposed using the Rockwood hydro fund to support the purchase.
“The idea is that once everything’s back in house we can set up a fee schedule where as rates come in a certain percentage goes for perpetual care, a certain percentage goes back to pay the hydro fund and then a certain percentage is for the care and maintenance,” he said.
Milne also explained that he’s proposing $742,000 be dedicated to the development of Rockmosa Park.
The budget will account for design, site services and grading. It will also contribute to the start of a trail connection at the front end of the park.
Another aspect that will be addressed in the 2016 capital budget for the development of Rockmosa Park is the parking, which was identified as a concern through a community engagement exercise.
“When we went through the first piece of public input … we quickly saw that … the number one issue was how dangerous the parking was, how dangerous pedestrian movement was, how poor condition the parking lot was in,” Milne explained.
“One of the questions was, ‘what is your least favourite part of Rockmosa?’ and I would say out of the 260 participants probably … 200 people mentioned the condition of the parking.”
Milne said he’s looking to include parking corrections in the first phase of the Rockmosa Park development.
Another large component of the parks and recreation 2016 capital budget is the development of a Rockmosa skate park that will be largely contingent on receipt of a Trillium grant. The requested budget is $350,000 and Milne said he’s asking for a Trillium grant of $175,000, which is the maximum amount. The community is also fundraising for the park.
Councillor Corey Woods raised a concern that if the skate park is built before the fundraising is complete the motivation to raise money may dwindle because it may seem unnecessary.
“Because now the municipality’s put it in and it’s a structure, it’s there,” he said.
White said there’s going to be more than one fundraiser for the park.
“I don’t know why we all of a sudden picked that this is the one item that if we don’t fundraise for it, we’re going to deep six and everything else moves ahead,” he said.
“We certainly didn’t do that with Marden, we certainly didn’t do that with the medical centre, we move ahead, we get what fundraising we can and we’ll continue to fundraise for this park.”
Milne said because the municipality is moving ahead with the master plan it improves eligibility for grants.
Other items on the parks and recreation capital plan include: Marden field grading, a tilt and load flatbed trailer, a turf roller, a one-tonne pick-up with plow and salter, Rockwood banners, a cement walkway at the Marden enabling garden and a walk-behind field line painter.
Administration
Finance director Linda Cheyne presented the proposed administration capital budget of $212,494. One of the major items in the capital budget is an administration parking lot upgrade ($125,000).
Cheyne said there are some drainage issues and not enough parking in the summer when there are two public works crews on site and summer students.
However, she said it could be a project that is completed over a number of years.
Other items on the proposed administration capital budget for 2016 include: a proposed organization and pay grid review, asset management plan phase 2, and a cooling system for the server room.
Roads
The proposed roads capital forecast for 2016 is $2 million.
Director of public works Harry Niemi said this budget includes repaving and pulverizing about one kilometer of Woolwich/Pilkington Townline; constructing a municipal sidewalk on the west side of Wellington Road 27 from the entrance of the Sacred Heart Catholic School to Rockmosa; the installation of a pedestrian signal on Highway 7 at MacLennan Street crossing; reconstructing Mill Road, Barden Street, Gazer Crescent, Hillside Drive and York Street; mill and pave Eramosa Crescent; widen the portion of Passmore south of Balaclava; and complete drainage improvements on Balaclava, including curbs and storm sewers.
