By Keith McNeill
During a Clearwater council meeting held Oct. 3, council approved awarding a $15,500 contract to improve the drainage at Blair Place to Borrow Enterprises.
Because there is not enough money left in the 2017 roads capital budget, the decision included allocating up to $4,700 from the roads reserve fund to cover the shortfall.
The drainage basin and soak-away in the location has never worked well, said Mike Smith, the district’s fleet, equipment and roads manager.
A big puddle forms following a heavy rain and can take days to drain.
The problem pre-dates incorporation of the municipality, he said.
He believed that this was because there was inadequate drainage rock used.
Similar systems in the district work well, he said.
TRUE Consulting, the district’s engineers, prepared a site plan for the location and asked for quotes. Borrow Enterprises and On Call Services bid on the project, and Borrow was the lowest bidder.
The other high priority project this year was improving the drainage by Home Hardware, Smith said. This project was completed earlier.
Brighten up the pathway
Council asked staff to look into the costs and logistics of installing solar lighting on the multi-use pathway between Murtle Crescent (next to Buy-Low) and Murtle Road.
“For public safety, I think this is a fantastic idea,” said councillor Merlin Blackwell. “The pathway gets a lot of use, especially by people with groceries and by staff from the shopping centre.”
Staff is to report back to council with recommendations for budget consideration.
Will a line help?
Town council also directed staff to provide a cost estimate for line painting from the Blue Bridge to the municipal boundary on Dunn Lake Road.
Maintenance of that portion of the road that is within the boundaries has been an ongoing issue for the District.
Ken Kjenstad acknowledged that the road is in bad shape but wondered if line-painting would help.
Dennis Greffard, on the other hand, felt having visible lines would help navigate the road at night and in the fog.
It was unlikely that any kind of repairs to the road could be done before spring, he pointed out.
“This time of year it can get ugly,” Greffard said.
Keeping track of water system
Mayor John Harwood said the District should look at hiring an engineering student next summer to locate all parts of the town’s water system using GPS (global positioning system).
Thompson-Nicola Regional District has done that with the water systems it is responsible for and found there can be significant savings in locating things if there is a problem, he said.
“We have talked about doing it. Several times the crew has gone looking for a valve and found that it is not where it is supposed to be,” said the mayor.
The summer student also could catalog all the parts of the system so they would be easy to replace if needed, Harwood suggested.