ST. PAUL – As per administration’s recommendation, County of St. Paul council is proceeding with sending a letter to Highway 28/63 Regional Water Services Commission, requesting the County become a commission member.
CAO Sheila Kitz said the County may have the required criteria to join, noting the Commission has been discussing the possibility of Whitefish Lake First Nation #128 joining the Commission.
According to information from the County of St. Paul, during the Commission’s meeting on July 27, a motion was made to have Whitefish Lake join as a member, “subject to some outstanding items that are still being addressed.”
Kitz said Whitefish Lake connected its water line to the Commission's line and paid all the costs associated to use the line. This is similar to what the County of St. Paul did back when it built a waterline from the Spedden area to the communities of Ashmont, Mallaig and Lottie Lake.
Water that flows to the communities of Ashmont, Mallaig and Lottie Lake comes from the Highway 28/63 Water Services Commission line, which begins at Redwater. After discussing the topic extensively, County of St. Paul council of the time decided to connect to the line, bringing EPCOR water to the County of St. Paul.
“And so, I think it’s important to actually be a Commission member and have a say at the table, rather than just being an invited guest,” said Kitz, suggesting council consider sending the letter.
A letter had not yet been written, “But I think when we put the letter together, I’m going to go back and find all those numbers we paid through Water for Life. The province paid for it and the County picked up 10 per cent of the cost associated to use the line so we get the same charge per cube on the water and the same administration fee,” said Kitz.
She reiterated that while the County pays the same as all Commission members, it does not have a say at the table when decisions are being made.
Coun. Dale Hedrick made a motion to direct administration to send a letter to the Highway 28/63 Regional Water Services Commission, requesting the County become a member of the Commission. The motion was carried.
