Councillor Matt Sammut introduced a motion on July 11 seeking a “high-level” review of Erin’s water department – but then withdrew the motion at the same meeting following a conversation with council and staff.
Sammut put forward the motion, he said, hoping to find cost efficiencies.
“We have fiduciary responsibility,” he said.
“One of the challenges in our community is the cost of water. Anyone who’s on water knows they pay extremely high rates.”
Sammut said future potential costs for new wells and a town wastewater treatment facility also contributed to his concerns about water rates.
“With all these expenditures coming at us, my concern is very much that when we look at sewage, you can’t just add on a component to a very, very expensive component as is,” he said.
“If you just put the two together, we’re going to have a real challenge in our community.
“I just want to feel like we are doing the best we can to do an analysis of this and ensure that our rate payers know we’ve done the best we can as a council to ensure costs are controlled.”
Sammut’s motion also asked staff to consider engaging the Ontario Clean Water Agency (OCWA) or another water consultant to conduct an audit of the system and department.
Councillor John Brennan said the town cannot look at the water department as a single entity if wastewater treatment is eventually operational.
“Rather than spending the money and doing this all now, this is probably part and parcel of the analysis that will take place … for the future of sewage treatment and water in the community,” Brennan said.
Councillor Rob Smith said the review suggested by Sammut is premature.
“I do believe this high level look will come out in any exploratory visions of a sewage system and wastewater and water. They would all come together,” he said.
Mayor Allan Alls said if the town goes forward with wastewater treatment, more people will be hooked into the system, allowing better rates for everyone.
Erin council discussed water rates and a financial plan as part of a water rates study in May of 2015.
Council voted to move forward with the “capital plan”, which freezes rates at $3.99 per cubic metre for five years.
Water superintendent Joe Babin said the plan is “ensuring affordability” over the next couple of years.
“We are ensuring we have enough resources, money, to take care of the old infrastructure that’s there to rehabilitate. Some of that stuff is from 1959,” he said.
“It’s very important to understand that this is what we inherited.”
Babin said seeking a third party review agent would be “going down the wrong road.” He added it would be too costly.
Sammut said he wanted a report from staff first before going the third-party route.
“The issue here is that we’re looking for efficiencies, we’re looking for cost savings. We’re not saying ‘bring in OCWA’ – that’s not at all what this is about,” he said.
“They can do a high level, because they run a lot of systems. They can do a high level review and maybe catch some things that we don’t see at a local level.”
CAO Nathan Hyde said he would bring a report back to council on any ongoing and outstanding water department projects.
Sammut then withdrew his motion.
