A special council meeting called for 4 p.m. today, will consider a wide-scope report from Public Works to address Elliot Lake infrastructure. The report was sent to council following a special Public Services Committee meeting, held Tuesday.
The members of the Public Services Committee are Couns. Luc Morrissette (chair), and Couns. Rick Bull and Merril Seidel. However, all members of council were present to hear the report delivered at the public meeting.
Acting Director of Public Works Bill Goulding’s report, recommends wide-scope planning to address Elliot Lake infrastructure issues using an ESCO approach.
“An energy service company (ESCO) is a company that provides a broad range of energy solutions including designs and implementation of energy savings projects, retrofitting, energy conservation, energy infrastructure outsourcing, power generation, energy supply, and risk management.” - Wikipedia
The report recommendation breaks down the infrastructure planning into, Base Building Facilities; Centennial Arena Project; and Water / Wastewater Project. The costs are $135,000; $275,000; and $750,000, respectively.
Addressing the Public Services committee on Tuesday, Goulding said, “I’ll recap some of the rationale for the ESCO project as a whole.”
He said the energy savings approach can save money that can help with the costs of restoring and replacing existing infrastructure. “So, from a high level, the ESCO project, the rationale for it is that it’s a means by which we can divert money that we’re already spending on utility costs into investments in our facilities.”
Goulding noted that while the savings do not cover the cost of the required infrastructure repairs, “no matter how you slice it, the projects that are identified in the report represent a mixture of projects that offer a really compelling energy recapture business case or more often than not, represent things that we really need to fix in our facilities.”
He suggested this approach demonstrates to “funding partners that we’re going about renewal of our facilities in a way that’s considered, energy conscious and comprehensive.”
The meeting takes place at city hall at 4 p.m. It is open to the public.
City staff informed ELT the meeting will not be broadcast on Eastlink due to the short scheduling of this special meeting, however, it will be livestreamed and archived on the city’s website here.