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Jeff Green | Aug 30, 2007

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Special meeting leads to … another special meeting

by Jeff Green

Central Frontenac Council met to deal with three matters on August 22, and left all three unresolved. Another special meeting was scheduled for August 29, in Mountain Grove, at 5:00 pm.

Tenders have been opened for construction of a new fire hall in Mountain Grove, but as John DuChene, acting CAO of the township, pointed out, a bore hole needs to be drilled to give geo-technical information about the proposed site of the fire hall. If water were found within 5 metres of the surface, it would complicate the project considerably. “It’s unlikely that the reading will be unfavourable, but we need to wait until next week,” Duchene told Council.

When contacted a few days later, on August 28, Duchene told the News that the bore hole has been drilled, and he has received an oral report about a favourable result. “We have not received the written results,” Duchene said, “but at this point it looks like we can move forward to award the tender at our meeting tomorrow [Wednesday, August 29].”

Three companies have answered the tender, and DuChene said the township has been in negotiations with the favoured bidder, but he did not announce any details about the bid, aside from indicating that the project will not likely be under budget.

Also at the August 22 meeting, a tender for construction on a 1.5 km stretch of the Oak Flats Road came in at $302,000 - $45,000 over budget.

DuChene asked for a week so staff could see if any savings can be found in other parts of the budget to help cover for the shortfall. Judy Gray, the township treasurer, returned from vacation at the beginning of this week, and year-to-date budget information was slated to be included incCouncil’s package for the August 29 meeting.

The third matter considered at the August 22 meeting took up over an hour of council’s time. Township Planning Consultant Glenn Tunnock made a presentation concerning a site plan agreement over a proposed cement operation on Highway 7 near Arden.

Look to this site on August 29th for a decision on the Oak Flats Road and Mountain Grove fire hall tenders.

Update: At their meeting on August 29, Council approved both projects. The winning tender for the Mountain Grove fire hall was $509,000 from Wemp and Smith of Kingston. The total project cost is about 532,000, $67,000 over wat had been budgeted. Money for the two overages will be found partially from the monies set aside for a new sal t dome, which will be deferred.