Winnipeg approves contract paving way for $1B sewage-treatment megaproject
Coun. Brian Mayes votes in opposition, saying city should have taken more time to deliberate
The City of Winnipeg has awarded a consortium of construction firms a contract that effectively paves the way for a $1-billion sewage-treatment megaproject.
City council's water, waste and environment committee voted Thursday to award Red River Biosolids Partners, a consortium of construction firms, a $95-million contract to design and develop the next phase of upgrades at the North End Water Pollution Control Centre, the largest of Winnipeg's three sewage treatment plants.
The facility will transform partly treated sludge from all three of the city's sewage treatment plants into nutrient-rich, fertilizer. The design contract is a precursor to construction work expected to cost $900 million.
Water and waste department engineers recommended Red River's bid over a rival one from a consortium made up of Graham Infrastructure and PCL Constructors Canada. The water, waste and environment committee took two meetings to make deliberations, going behind closed doors to ask engineers hours worth of questions before the committee voted three to one to award the work.
Committee chair Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) voted in opposition, saying there was no harm in taking more time to decide on a contract with such a large dollar value. He suggested the city could have waited until it hires a construction advisor, a position Mayor Scott Gillingham promised to create when he ran for office in 2022.
A committee has been formed to make this hire, Mayes said following the committee vote.
"We're hiring a chief construction officer whose job is going to be to advise directly members of council about big construction projects. Nothing's getting bigger than this," Mayes said of the $1-billion project.
"I'm not afraid to make decisions, but what I like to do is make decisions with the best information I can get."
Ramona Coey, the executive director of Mechanical Contractors Association of Manitoba, also urged the city to take more time to decide.
"We had some very serious questions that needed answers. We hope that the councillors did get those answers," she said at city hall.
Living wage report rejected
Thursday's special meeting of the water, waste and environment committee took place during a break in the July city council meeting, the last gathering of its kind before a six-week summer prorogation at city hall.
Gillingham, who had spent the four previous days attending a mayoral conference in New York City, attended the council meeting remotely. Bad weather cancelled his flight back to Canada, he said.
Council voted at that meeting to refuse to accept a report about raising the minimum wage for city workers and third-party employees.
That report estimated the cost of setting a $19.21-per-hour minimum wage for city workers and employees of city contractors at $4 million a year. The report did not call on the city take any action on wages.
Council voted 9-7 against receiving the report as information.
Coun. Cindy Gilroy (Daniel McIntyre) then attempted to move a motion to raise wages, but council did not hold a debate on the issue. Gilroy needed two thirds of council — 11 out of 16 members — to vote in favour of suspending the council rule against making changes to meeting agendas on the fly.
The summer prorogation at city hall officially starts Monday.
Council business resumes on Sept. 3, the day after Labour Day.