Here are highlights from District of Barriere CAO Colleen Hannigan’s reports presented to mayor and council at a regular Council meeting on Feb. 19.
Well Update: The Pressure Reducing Valve (PRV) at our main Deep Well #2 (Spruce Crescent) failed last week impacting the associated flow meter and shutting down the well. Due to the fact they are both located in a confined space vault, it has been identified that the safety feature around isolating this vault is absent as simply shutting valves down on either side of the vault is no longer considered safe isolation. As a result, repairs on these items will have to include the additional cost of making the vault safe to enter going forward. Should this work exceed the allotted repairs and maintenance budget, staff will be back to Council for additional monies from water surplus. The repair in the vault itself will be under $10,000 however installing an acceptable safety feature for this confined space is being researched by the District’s WorkSafe consultant and our engineer and the cost is yet undetermined. The new Bradford DW#1 is handling the load under the close supervision of staff who are collecting data as part of the long term licence requirements for the new wells.
Procurement Case of the Year: Paul Emanuelli, Managing Director of The Procurement Office, a legal firm that practices and trains others in procurement law in Canada and the US, has chosen through the voting of the membership, Murray Purcha & Son Ltd v. Barriere (District) as the winner of their 2019 Global Case of the Year: Clearing the Way for NRFPs. He emphasized that Barriere’s case helps clarify the ongoing legal battles around Contract A (normally seen with tendering) versus Requests for Proposals (RFPs) or the increasingly popular NRFPs (negotiated RFPs). Of interest were other cases where government organizations are required to spend, in one case, $1 million on legal costs even though it won its decade- long law suit.
RecycleBC Collectors Conference: Recycle BC will be hosting its Collectors’ Conference on April 8 and 9 in New Westminster. This conference is an opportunity for RecycleBC Collectors to connect with one another, learn about new industry trends, innovations, RecycleBC operations and what’s to come in the future. There is reserved time before the conference starts on Monday, April 8 between 9 a.m.-12 p.m. for collectors to meet one-on-one with each other or with any RecycleBC team members. The TNRD will be sending a representative from the Depot side of things and since the conference is free and we are just starting up in the program as a Collector the month prior, we will be sending one or two staff members as well who will then be able to report back on anything that could assist us.
CAO Forum: The Forum held in Kelowna this year was attended by 70 CAOs from across BC. Along with legal updates, new Council term-related information and breakout sessions with similar-sized communities, there were informative presentations by EMBC on Emergency Operations lessons learned, including in the EOCs; a WorkSafe Chief Investigator’s dialogue and video on the detailed forensic investigation carried out concerning the Fernie Ammonia incident and ongoing province-wide inspections; as well as a session on the Council Code of Ethics / Culture of cooperation and supporting Council effectiveness through Strategic Planning, etc… Upcoming changes to the Building Code Requirements where LGMA is working with the Building Officials Association (BOABC) on training modules for new Building Inspectors and around Letters of Assurance to provide certification for all Levels to be able to manage building permits above their certification level through the use of Engineer/ Architect and other professional signoffs. This will alleviate the need for smaller municipalities to have a Level 3 Building Inspector either on staff or contracted.
Boundary Extension Meeting with Simpcw First Nation: A Council to Council meeting has been scheduled for Monday March 11, 2019 at 3:30pm in Chu Chua to discuss their objection to the Boundary Extension request to
