A staff report from Acting Director of Public Works, Bill Goulding, recommends the lowest bidder for the reconstruction of Hillside Dr. N between Highway 108 and Beech Road. The Chelmsford firm’s bid is $8,921,918. Other related costs will bring the total to $9,416,918.
In 2022, staff engaged Tulloch Engineering to review the section of Hillside Dr. N between Beech Road and Hutchison Avenue. It was determined not as urgent as the section between Beech Road and Highway 108.
Reporting to the Public Services Committee, Jan. 16, Goulding told the committee, “This past summer [2022], Tulloch Engineering conducted some camera work and Geotech work to ascertain the condition of not just the road that we can see, but the underlying infrastructure.”
“It looked as if we could forego work to the underlying infrastructure between Beech Road and Hutchison Avenue. There is no imminent failures with any of the underlying pipework that’s there.”
“The same can’t be said between Highway 108 and Beech. So, with that in mind, Tulloch went off and came back with an estimate of approximately $8 million to do the project as described,” Goulding said.
Putting the project out for tender has encountered years of delay because of availability of construction capacity following the effects of COVID on construction labour and supply chains, and a lack of clarity about how the project will be financed.
Today, the council will receive Goulding’s report recommending the lowest tender.
The project was discussed at length at a Jan. 16, 2023, Public Services Committee meeting. The committee considered urgency, condition of the infrastructure, financing options, and impact on reserves.
At that time, Goulding told the committee, “We are, perhaps able to finance this project in its entirety with our reserves. We would be putting other projects that are currently relying on those reserves, perhaps at some risk.”
Director of Finance and Treasurer, Amy Sonnenburg, also told the committee in January, “To do such a project, we need to remember that we have future commitments from all of these reserves to any grants that we may apply for. Should we exhaust this $10 million tomorrow and achieve a grant for 75 cent dollars on something […] you simply don’t have it.”
Councillor Norman Mann commented, “We grappled with this last term. Do we split it into two years? Do we try to do a little bit here and there? I appreciate the comments from the treasurer regarding reserve amounts because, again, I think we’ve worked very hard to replenish the reserves.”
Councillor Charles Flintoff told the committee, “We can hold back. Believe me, I was put on council to watch the money, but we’re also put here to, like- ‘Are we going to wait until someday a pothole collapses and then we have a real disaster?”
Members of the council also noted the importance of the roadway because of hospital and fire service access.
The Hillside Dr. N reconstruction project was also mentioned at the Oct. 5 community meeting at Collins Hall about the Centennial Arena. Goulding told the audience, “My understanding is within the next few days, we’re going to have the Hillside North Renewal project go out to tender [for] three weeks to a month. We’ll have pricing back on that project. We’re expecting it to be an 8 to 10 million dollar project.”
Decisions about Hillside Dr. N will become key plans, potentially informing the Asset Management Plan, a 10-year plan for Elliot Lake’s future infrastructure maintenance of all infrastructure.
“The pending, first phase of the asset management plan will help us put all these numbers kind of into context,” Goulding said.
The council meeting begins at 7:00 p.m. at city hall. It is livestreamed here.