Dear Editor:
Last night I, as well as several others, attended the all-candidates night in Beachburg so we could hear and ask questions of the candidates running for mayor, reeve and council in Whitewater Region.
I was very impressed with the octagon building that housed the event.
Unfortunately, the candidates had the option of only answering the easy questions or not answering at all.
I addressed the existing mayor and council with only two questions.
Mayor Johnson or any council member: Why should any taxpayer in Whitewater Region vote for you or anyone on the existing council given that you and council wasted at least $20,000 trying to collect a $4 dog tag?
The only reply I received was from Councillor Olmstead that suggested that dog tags should be eliminated and be replaced with a user fee.
Mayor Johnson or any council member: Last fall two members of the Muskrat Lake Association escorted two Whitewater Region staff and two representatives from Jp2g to visit the Effluent Treatment Plant in Port Carling Ontario as it’s about the same size as the one Cobden will be building. The reason was to show them that the new Cobden Effluent Treatment plant was going to cost close to $13 million. Even as late as April of 2018 your staff still insisted that the plant was only going to cost $9.8 million. What action if any has been taken by council with Jp2g and Whitewater staff because of the fact they misled council on the cost of the plant? If no action has been taken then why not?
The above questions were not answered by the mayor or any member of council .
Jp2g and the Whitewater Region Manager of Physical Services should have given the “heads Up” to the mayor and council last September after the visit to Port Carling and said that the plant cost for Cobden would be close to $13 million. On September 15,2017 I sent to the mayor and all council members a copy of my visit report to Port Carling addressing my concerns about the estimated cost of the new Cobden plant but of course got no reply.
Even in the recommendation letter from Jp2g dated June 27, 2018 there was no mention of an alternate bid from an extremely qualified supplier that would save the Cobden residents over $400,000 and over the 30 year period of the loan at 3.5% interest that would be a saving of over $600,000. Neither did the Whitewater Region Manager of Physical Services mention it in her recommendation of July 4, 2018.
That same company supplied the Membrane Bio Reactor (MBR) equipment for both the Port Carling and Creemore plants as well as over 50 membrane plants operating in Ontario. The above two plants were both visited by Whitewater region staff.
Whitewater Region Council only has one option: remove both Jp2g and the Whitewater Region Manager of Physical Services from any further involvement in the new Cobden Effluent Treatment plant.
Donald W. Deer P.Eng.
Whitewater Region
