Ten Pages

To-night, Council's agenda is 279 pages and twenty nine items long. Item 9 is a ten page report on debt financing of $21,607,000 , being the combined total for the joint facility for public works and parks and the approved youth centre and ,I think, the skate board park. The total is $2.6 million short. The report was likely written before an additional allocation was approved for the Youth Centre by Council at the July meeting. I am about to repeat a tale of woe. It bears repeating. I won't apologize. The point will be revealed. A snow storage facility at a cost of almost a million dollars is included in the debt picture outlined in the report. Snow , from a few central streets, is currently dumped on a disused gravel parking lot.It melts there as in nature nd filters into the ground. The actual dump is not an expense. It costs nothing; nil,nada,zilch and zero. The million dollar cost is for a facility to "treat" snow melt. The project has been on the books since 2007. A design is already prepared at a cost of $167,000. Three times the recommendation has come before this Council before finally being tacked on to capital cost of the joint facility, in June, I think. The first rationale was removal of salt. It was pointed out,salt cannot be removed once dissolved. Salt lso mitigates against the presence of snow. Then....salt was not the problem. Pathogens were. What are pathogens? Animal excrement. How much can there be? Then ....it was because the snow dump was within the wellhead protection area. Why does it have to be there? or anywhere? Finally, after a lapse of time, the recommendation returned to Council, to be included in the capital cost of the joint facility. Without supporting argument, the " snow storage facility" at a cost of a cool million was tacked on to the to the overall total. I have to tell you, my friends, I do not regard myself competent to design a joint facility for public works and parks. At the same time, if a recommendation makes no sense to begin with, it does not acquire credibility with time and persistence. Cost of the project was already increased on a motion by Councillor Thompson I believe, to increase the energy standard to the "platinum" standard. So now, as noted, cost is escalated by conscious choice, to almost $22 million dollars.It will increase again by $2.6 million added at the last Council meeting for the youth centre. The moment of truth is upon us. According to the treasurer, we do not have immediate access to cash. We are selling our current site of p.w. and parks for $3 million. But we don't know when. Property we own and serviced at Leslie Street could realize $7 million. It could take years. It was originally purchased for recreational purposes with development charge revenues. More Development charge revenues are forthcoming but not yet awhile. We have R and R Reserve funds but we don't want to touch them. They are precious. Hands off R and R Reserve funds. That leaves the low-hanging fruit of the Hydro Asset Reserve Fund to borrow. Oh yeah, verily I say to you it is the fruit that tempted Adam. The same one Eve used to promise wisdom from the tree of life to seduce him. And he discovered his nakedness and covered himself with a leaf or ten.