HEDDY SOROUR

New Sewer by-law

With the town’s new Municipal Consolidated Linear Infrastructure Environmental Compliance Approval (CLI ECA) from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP), Carleton Place is required to protect its stormwater and wastewater systems from harmful discharges. The aim is to protect the town’s treatment plant and infrastructure and ensure the town is adhering to regulations for discharges into the Mississippi River.

The town’s Sewer Use By-Law was last visited in 1971, making it more than half a century old.

“It was high time, with all the changes in regulations and contaminants, that we’re dealing with to bring it up to speed,” said Guy Bourgon, director of public works.

Harmful discharges include combustible liquids, biomedical waste, pesticides, various toxins, radioactive materials and more. At the September 10 Committee of the Whole, Bourgon, presented a new sewer by-law that details what can and cannot be discharged through the town’s sewer system. Food waste grinding machinery used by commercial and industrial business that was installed in compliance with the Ontario Building Code before this by-law is passed will be allowed to continue operation, but could be liable if food waste originating from them clogs up any part of the system. So far Committee has approved the motion to adopt the by-law. Once it passes the town will do random samplings to ensure the safety of the waste being discharged into the Mississippi. The new by-law is comprehensive and once passed can be enforced. The new by-law can be found on the town’s website under COW September 10.

OCWA

The town’s water and wastewater plant and pumping stations are operated by the Ontario Clean Water Association (OCWA) and have been for the past 30 years. This year OCWA’s contract is up for renewal and town committee has approved a motion to renew the contract for another five yeas with an option for another five year renewal.

Beside operating the towns water and wastewater facilities OCWA have been very involved in the town’s water and wastewater masterplan, and helping staff on the design and tender ready preparations for the planned water and wastewater plant expansions.

“There is a huge value added by having OCWA on board with us,” said Guy Bourgon, director of public works.

This year’s renewal will see a 9.3 percent increase over previous years. The jump is fuelled by the hefty increases in supplies – chemicals have leapt 198 percent, while the removal of sewer sludge has gone up 40 percent. At the same time a substantial salary increase for union members was agreed by the Crown through arbitration. All these increases will mean that the new contract will cost an additional $231,965 going from $2,503,937 to $2,735,902 in 2025. After the initial increase in 2025, the annual adjustment will be pinned to inflation.

The 9.3 percent is a bit of a shock, but that’s also retroactive back to 2022 and we all know how much the cost of living has gone up since 2022,” said Councillor Jeff Atkinson, adding”having that link to the consumer price index provides us with price stability as well and the option to carry that stability through another five years is a good deal in my mind.”

Wage increases

Ontario’s minimum wage is going up again this year from $16.55 to $17.20 for adults and from 15.60 to 16.20 for students as of October 1. To meet that change the town’s treasurer has adjusted the town’s pay grid to reflect the increases.

“The total cost across the organization is about $5,000 for the rest of the year, spread across several departments,” said Trisa McConkey Carleton Place treasurer.

Any resulting deficit at year end will be taken out of Library, Daycare, and/or the Strategic Reserves.

Accessibility Review of town facilities

The town has completed an accessibility audit for nine of the town’s public facilities and identified some key areas that need to be addressed.

“We not only looked at the Ontarian’s With Disability Act, we also looked at the Ontario building Code and referenced the Universal Design requirements which are over and above those things,” said Ross Rankin, project and property manager.

The report highlights 10 key items that need to be looked at, including an elevator at the arena, accessible canteen tables, automated door openers, visual contrasts at stairs, wider washroom stalls, ramps, railings, signage and more. Altogether the town would need to spend about one million to tackle all the deficits. 

“Some of the low hanging fruit items, we’ll take on as we can, as we’re doing work and things like painting edges of stairs is something that can be done very simply and easily, and as we’re doing renovations we will take care of some of these smaller things,” said Rankin.

In the meantime Rankin asked council for support in applying for a grant through the Community Sports and Recreation Infrastructure Fund to improve access to the arena and it’s washrooms, to repair and paint the support beams in Arena 1 and to replace the same arena’s boards, glass and netting.

“This grant covers 50 percent of costs up to one million and is specifically for repairing and upgrading existing facilities,” said Rankin.