Agreement struck for study of wastewater lagoon
- Details
- Published on Tuesday, March 22, 2016
By Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
March 15 Neepawa Town Council Briefs
Wastewater lagoon study
The Town of Neepawa has agreed to a cost sharing agreement with the Manitoba Water Services Board. The deal will cover the cost of a wastewater lagoon study. The expense will be shared on a 50/50 basis to a project value of $200,000.
Mayor Adrian de Groot said there is a rationale behind this agreement.
“The first reason is regulatory compliance, ensuring that our lagoon system complies with the most current regulation requirements. The second part is capacity. The current system is stressed and not able to meet the growing demands. This gets the detailed engineering needed to outline how to increase capacity, ensure our system is up to date and able to grow as our community continues to expand,” said de Groot. “This study would ensure that the required engineering is done, so that we could immediately go out to tender when and if infrastructure funding becomes available in the future on a federal or provincial level.”
De Groot added that the cost of the study could actually come in under the agreed upon amount.
Date set for unveiling of new budget
A public meeting has been set for Tuesday, Apr. 19 to review Neepawa’s 2016 financial plan. Representatives with the Town will present the initial details of the budget and unveil some of the spending priorities for the community in the year ahead. Copies of the financial plan will be linked to the town’s website in advance of the meeting and will also be available in the office, at 275 Hamilton Street, during regular office hours.
In 2015, Town council allocated $6,718,130.27 to the general operating fund and $3,078,319.65 to its utility operating fund. It also revealed its five year capital plan, which focused on spending on public works equipment, a new fire hall, water and sewer renewals, lagoon upgrades and the improvements to the RCMP building. The Tuesday, Apr. 19 meeting has been scheduled at the Town Office for 6:00 pm.
Census plan in the works
Plans are being put in place to ensure all Neepawa residents participate in the 2016 federal census. The next national census of population will take place in early May. In preparation for this, Mayor de Groot and other town representatives recently met with local census staff and Neepawa and Area Settlement Services. The purpose of the get-together was to examine how to encourage all local residents to engage in this process, including Neepawa’s newest arrivals. The Town wants to inform the public that it’s very important to get accurate population figures in order to understand the changing demographics of the community and to aid in federal and provincial funding requests. Further meetings on how to best engage people to ensure their involvement will take place closer to the census date.
