ST. PAUL – The County of St. Paul will increase the Public Works budget for the remainder of 2023 by $250,000 following the Aug. 22 Public Works meeting. The money will be taken from unrestricted surplus.
The increase is partly due to major repairs of equipment that occurred in the first half of the year, said Director of Public Works Scott Jeffery, during his report to council.
Repairs included a list of work for a L-03 JD 844K Loader with 10,100 hours. The cost of repairs totalled $46,953. Also, the County’s 2015 14M Grader with 9,500 hours, had work done for a total cost of $44,989.
The 2011 Cat D-3 dozer, with 12,500 hours, also required significant repairs costing $67,070. Finally, the 2019 T800 Kenworth, with 6,500 hours, also required repairs that came in at $41,520.
Jeffery said the repairs for the four units used over 25 per cent of the Public Works shop budget.
CAO Sheila Kitz informed council that the Public Work’s budget for machinery repairs this year was $788,000. “As we keep older equipment, we’re going to have more repairs,” said Kitz.
As of July 2023, Public Works spent $657,000 of that budget.
Coun. Darrell Younghans noted the increase of equipment and parts has been significant for everyone in the industry.
Reeve Glen Ockerman said council was looking at a proposed increase of $200,000, but after the Director of Public Work’s report, he suggested an even higher amount. Following discussions, council motioned to increase the budget by $250,000.
Purchase of oil for Correction Line
Council also discussed the purchase of a higher quality oil to be mixed for a cold mix, to be applied on a three-kilometre stretch of road at Township 590, classified as an industrial arterial road, to protect its gravel base course. Kitz said the road sees heavy traffic, and industrial arterial roads are supposed to be paved.
“We’re not actually looking to pave it, but we’re looking to put a higher quality of oil on it,” which is an HF 500 oil product, said Kitz.
According to information from the County of St. Paul, the road is estimated to require 5,500 tonne of cold mix. The cost per cube for HF 500 will be around 40 per cent more, at a difference of $118,060.
Coun. Ross Krekoski asked if this would reduce repair costs down the line, and Jeffery affirmed that it would. “Your longevity is [also] going to be much greater,” said Jeffery. He also suggested using HF 500 for roads with heavier traffic in the future.
Coun. Dale Hedrick motioned to approve the purchase of HF 500 for $118,000 to be funded from Unrestricted Surplus.
Dead Trees
County council also received a request to remove standing dead and down trees on Municipal School Reserve (MSR) land from a resident.
According to information from administration, this type of permit is only issued in “certain situations” and is applicable only to lands directly adjacent to the applicant’s property, as per the Policy Dev-8 Cleanup of Deadfall on Reserve Lands.
Kitz said the location of the property is not adjacent to the resident’s property, and “the purpose for which they wish to remove the trees is for firewood.” Also, due to the land’s designation as an MSR, administration cannot approve the permit.
MSR is an old term used in previous municipal government acts, according to follow-up information from Kitz. “When there is a subdivision in the County,” particularly multi-lot subdivisions, “The County takes a percentage of land for community access.”
Normally, the land would be designated as a Municipal Reserve (MR), and not an MSR. The land being discussed was set aside in the past in case population growth required the building of a new school. However, according to Kitz, this is rarely the case in rural municipalities unless the municipality is adjacent to a large urban centre.
“We have not issued a permit because it doesn’t follow the policy,” said Kitz, adding, administration was looking to make changes to the policy in the near future. “But as it stands, the administration can’t approve it.”
Administration recommended not approving the request unless they were comfortable approving it outside of policy.
Hedrick questioned if the County would be liable with the dead trees being left as they area. “We’re always talking about liability. Isn’t this a liability if there’s dead standing trees?” he asked.
Coun. Kevin Wirsta shared similar concerns, noting the issue could be a fire hazard.
Younghans said the original policy took safety into account, citing the policy applies only to lands “directly adjacent” to a property. He motioned to deny the request. The motion passed.
Later in the week, the Policy Committee did amend the policy to include MSR, and the request will come back to council at the next meeting.
