Councillors have decided to go with a $230,000 proposal from the public works department in an effort to solve the water drainage issue in the Agrena-curling rink area.
The solution first came before council for consideration June 13, but they decided to delay the decision until the June 27 meeting so they could hear a presentation from public works director Brant Ross.
The solution put forward by the public works department would see the installation of concrete along the north side of the buildings running east and west.
Funding for the project will come from a provincial MSI capital grant.
Although water drainage and flooding has been an ongoing issue at both the Agrena and curling rink for a number of years, it came to the forefront in March when the curling rink was forced to prematurely close due to flooding.
Although Ross wasn’t at the June 27 meeting, chief administrative officer Martin Taylor presented council with an engineers report from Associated Engineering Alberta.
The estimate the firm provided, to complete the project was just in excess of $1 million.
“Keep in mind the estimate they provided for the concrete work is a class c estimate, which means it is a really big guess. It isn’t a tender, or a precise estimate, it is just a ballpark figure,” he said, adding the engineer report also included a 10 per cent project contingency fund.
Mayor Gerry St. Pierre noted the report and the solution proposed by public works is only for the approximate 30 feet of concrete.
“It is just the first phase of our situation back there, the bulk will be redoing the 57 Avenue,” he said. “It is something that he [Brant Ross] has been working on for a number of years, but it was delayed until the construction of the aquatic centre was complete.”
Coun. Don Smith said while he initially had concerns, which he expressed at the previous meeting, after seeing the engineers report he is confident town staff can complete the project in-house.
St. Pierre noted that the town has done some of the other preliminary work like installing storm drains for the upgrades to the street and the concrete apron is a good first step.
