Harrowsmith Intersection $400,000 over budget

Wilma Kenny | Jul 04, 2018

Public Works Manager Mark Segsworth came to council requesting a reallocation of $400,000 to fund project overruns for the Harrowsmith Intersection.

He recommended moving $300,000 from the Green Bay Culvert Project and $100,000 from the Sydenham Dam Project to accomplish this.

The Harrowsmith project was designed by AECOM Engineering and awarded to Morven Construction in June 2017. The approved project budget was $1,700,000. Current total project costs (expenditures and commitments) are $2,100,000.

Segsworth attributes most of the project overrun to poor design work by AECOM as well as additional costs outside the design contract related to removal of the house at the corner of Ottawa Street and Wilton Road, and unanticipated clean-up of contaminated soil from that site. The design flaws included inaccurate grading, poor storm water design, and inadequate or missing retaining walls. Even the included landscaping plan had to be scrapped, for it was impractical, calling for trees and shrubs located where they would block sight-lines.

“Staff on site for both the Public Works Department and the contractor have worked diligently and efficiently to rectify these issues and minimize the impacts while also trying to complete the project in a timely manner,” said Segsworth; “The timeline of the project has been greatly affected but the contractor has been both fair and understanding of the situation.”

Councillor Schjerning reminded Segsworth that he had originally described AECON’s work as “a very good design.” Segsworth replied that the overall revisioning of a very complicated intersection had been, in itself, good.

Council granted the reallocation, but were concerned about the poor results from both this engineering design and the engineering of the Bedford Road project. Both have been flawed and costly in time and money to rectify. Councillor Sutherland asked, “How do we prevent this from happening in the future?” After further discussion they agreed to refer the question to the Public Service Committee for recommendations to council in September.

Joint Integrity Commissioner
Council approved the appointment of Aird Berlis, represented by John Mascarin, as Integrity Commissioner for South Frontenac, in accordance with Provincial directives that all municipalities appoint an integrity Commissioner, adopt a Code of Conduct, and a Staff-Council Relations policy, all by next March. Frontenac County and all four Townships will share the services of this Integrity Commissioner, who will assist in developing common policies. Each of the five individual municipalities will pay the IC on a fee-for service basis, plus transportation and accommodation costs for the services he provides them.

New Legislated Fire Regulations
Fire Chief Knott presented Council a report outlining some of the significant changes required by the new Provincial regulations. Mandatory training requirements in particular will have a significant impact on the Township: current training programs are out of date and inconsistent across the Township: “A completely new training program needs to be developed, implemented and managed.” Currently, 60% of the South Frontenac firefighters (those with 5 years’ experience as of Dec 31, 2015) can be ‘grandfathered’ into the first two levels. However, Knott warned, the need for additional staff to address these legislated requirements for training and record-keeping “will be forthcoming in future budgets.”

Councillor McDougall commended Knott for his true sense of professionalism and thanked him for his work.

Administration Offices
In response to the Township’s projected need for more office space in the near future, Mayor Vandewal suggested that Council might consider the possible benefits of sharing in a joint County/Conservation Authority/ Township building. Council’s reactions varied from strong resistance (Sutherland) to equally strong interest (Roberts), with a possible community ice pad somehow getting tossed into the combination (Schjerning)… No swimming pool, though… consensus was that what the Township needed to do first was decide what they might require in an expanded office facility.

MNRF Transportation Subsidy
Quote from letter from A. Baxter, Resources Operations Supervisor, MNRF: “Apologies, but we will have to postpone our attendance at the Council meeting again. The MNRF is under a new travel limitation as part of expenditure management measures, so (we) will not be able to attend on July 3rd. I will let you know if the travel limits change to enable us to attend. Again, sorry about this.”

An originally flippant suggestion from Councillor Sleeth turned into a decision by Council to pay Baxter’s mileage between Peterborough and Sydenham.

In response to the Township’s projected need for more office space in the near future, Mayor Vandewal suggested that Council might consider the possible benefits of sharing in a joint County/Conservati