August 11, 2013

Click here to join us on Facebook


ACTIONS:

- CRD MEETS 14 AUGUST - SUPPORT DERMAN MOTION

-------------------

CRD SEWAGE NEWS
 
Sewage plan advocates letter to CRD
- Sewage plan supporters press release link
- Greater Victoria sewage project boss to get $290,000 bonus if he finishes job
DESJARDINS ON CFAX 
Capital region's sewage project spending to hit $65 million by year’s end

LETTERS

Compost plant problem exposes contradiction (Eriksen)
- CRD sewage plan not credible (Ferguson)
Gaps in Hartland sludge option (Langley)
Options plenty for safe disposal (Leahy-Trill)
Sewage commission not controlling costs (McBride)

 - SEND IN YOUR LETTERS!
 
------------------------------

ACTIONS:

CRD BOARD MEETS 14 AUGUST - SUPPORT DERMAN MOTION

Director Derman's motion is item 8.1,(page 6-7), on Agenda for CRD Board meeting, 14 August, 1:30pm: 


Report on Derman's motion - made by CRD senior staff and from THEIR perspective - follows on, pages 308-316.

To present at meeting, submit online form before Monday, 4:30pm: 


------------------------------

CRD SEWAGE NEWS


SEWAGE PLAN ADVOCATES LETTER TO CRD

Frank Stanford's news story on the GSA/TBS letter to CRD:

http://stopabadplan.ca/media/130808_CFAX_Frank_Stanford.m4a

------------------------------------

Sewage plan supporters press release link

The Georgia Strait Alliance and T. Buck Suzuki Foundation (aka CRD sewage plan advocates) attempting to influence the outcome of Director Derman's motion (see Actions section above). 


With errors and omissions, the advocates' letter supports the current CRD sewage plan (Amendment #8), but the CRD has a big problem that the advocates refuse to recognize - neighbours have justifiably rejected unsafe, hazard-ridden, mega-sewage plant and sludge plants in their neighbourhoods. 

The Derman motion might be the only way forward for the CRD if it insists on any form of land-based sewage plant to replace our current marine-based sewage treatment system. By not addressing the value of 10-30 SIEBYs (Something In Everbody's Back Yard) - micro or mini plants, it will be a challenge for the CRD to get neighbourhood cooperation when the neighbours know that everybody else in the CRD core sewage area will have no risky mega sewage or sludge plant in their backyard. 

-----------------------------------

Greater Victoria sewage project boss to get $290,000 bonus if he finishes job

ROB SHAW 
TIMES COLONIST 
AUGUST 8, 2013

McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt is being considered as a site for a Greater Victoria sewage treatment plant.  Photograph by: ADRIAN LAM, Times Colonist
In addition to his high salary, the new director of Greater Victoria’s sewage treatment project will also get an extra year’s pay if he finishes his job.

The perk is outlined in a $290,000-a-year contract signed between Albert Sweetnam, an engineer and former Ontario Power Generation executive, and the Capital Regional District’s civilian sewage commission.

The bonus pay comes at the end of Sweetnam’s five-year contract. If he stays on the job, and completes the sewage project by 2018, he’ll get the extra $290,000.

“There is a completion payment of one year’s salary,” said Brenda Eaton, commission chairwoman. “This is common in project director contracts.”

The bonus serves as an incentive to stay with a project through its completion, Eaton said.

Sweetnam will also receive vacation, pension contributions and relocation expenses, but not special provisions such as a car and driver, or a tax-free housing allowance, she said.

Critics slammed the CRD commission for the perk. “I find it outlandish,” said Jordan Bateman, B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “Here is someone who has a five-year deal at $290,000 a pop. That’s $1.5 million when you factor in all the benefits. That’s more than enough money to manage the project.

“Certainly, you don’t need to give an extra year’s severance on top of it. It’s basically a 20 per cent bonus. I’m not sure what these directors were thinking. If that’s the best they could come up with, negotiate with someone else.”

Local politicians who sit on the CRD sewage committee did not negotiate Sweetnam’s contract or perks.

The civilian sewage commission signed the contract. The commission was a requirement of the provincial and federal government cost-sharing of the $783-million project, and is supposed to keep a tighter leash on project financing and deadlines than would be possible from elected officials.

Bateman said this same model is “screwing up Crown corporations and TransLink” in Metro Vancouver, where civilian boards work above the local politicians, and there’s a lack of responsibility for taxpayer money spent.

Sweetnam starts the job Sept. 9. He will be the highest-paid local government official on Vancouver Island; his annual salary is $100,000 greater than the retiring director he is replacing.



------------------

DESJARDINS ON CFAX 

Mayor Barb Desjardins was on CFAX August 6 with Pamela McCall to give an update on the sewage saga:


Pamela's opening comment was based on Rob Shaw's article stating that "Taxpayers will have spent $65 million on Greater Victoria’s sewage treatment megaproject by the end of this year, without any shovels in the ground on an actual treatment plant".

http://www.timescolonist.com/capital-region-s-sewage-project-spending-to-hit-65-million-by-year-s-end-1.570586

The CRD is out of control. Imagine what the final bill is going to be...
------------------

Capital region's sewage project spending to hit $65 million by year’s end

ROB SHAW
TIMES COLONIST
AUGUST 5, 2013

Taxpayers will have spent $65 million on Greater Victoria’s sewage treatment megaproject by the end of this year, without any shovels in the ground on an actual treatment plant.

The costs amount to a little more than eight per cent of the treatment project’s $783-million budget, despite widespread disagreement among politicians over where to locate the plant, what treatment technology to use and where to process the resulting sludge.

The budget estimates, outlined in a report to the Capital Regional District’s sewage committee, show the project is forecast to have spent $65.4 million by the end of 2013 — mainly on preparing construction contracts, underground pipes, pump stations and land purchases. No major construction is slated for this year.

CRD staff say that’s on budget, and includes $8.6 million already spent on work to date. The entire project is to be complete in 2018.

“The concern is that we know where the money is going, we think, based on the plan, but we still have a huge question mark about half of the plan,” said Esquimalt Mayor Barb Desjardins, who sits on the CRD sewage committee.

“So we haven’t decided whether the back end of the car is going to be a Chevy or a Cadillac. How much money is it going to take?

“We really are in a [cost] estimate, and it’s based on a plan that keeps shifting every time the committee meets.”

Desjardins’ concerns about money spent on an ever-changing plan were echoed by other sewage directors at the last CRD sewage meeting on July 24.

The CRD and Esquimalt remain locked in a zoning dispute over whether to build a treatment plant at McLoughlin Point. The B.C. government has refused to intervene. The CRD is charging forward to select a company to build the McLoughlin plant, based on the assumption it can sort out the zoning dispute.

The sludge left over from treatment was supposed to be piped to a biosolids plant at Viewfield Road in Esquimalt. But after paying $17 million for the land — which is included in the $65-million total — the CRD abandoned that location because of criticism from neighbouring residents.

It has since reverted to its default plan of piping sludge 18 kilometres to Hartland landfill in Saanich, though several sewage directors have since called that plan nonsensical and demanded the CRD find a closer site.

Despite the disagreements, money continues to be spent.

More than $10 million of the $16.9 million budgeted for pump stations and pipes in 2013 is going toward an upgraded Craigflower sewage pump station in View Royal, said CRD sewage committee chairwoman Denise Blackwell.

The CRD is also budgeting $5 million for project management this year, including almost $3.4 million for consultants and more than $1 million in staff salaries, records show.

The project budget is further complicated by secrecy.

Though the CRD announced the purchase of McLoughlin Point from Imperial Oil, the purchase price was not made public, Desjardins noted.

That price — believed to be $4.6 million — forms part of the 2013 budget totals. The lack of transparency is concerning, said Desjardins.

rshaw@timescolonist.com

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/capital-region-s-sewage-project-spending-to-hit-65-million-by-year-s-end-1.570586

------------------------------

LETTERS

Re: letter below: 
Hartland became official sludge plant site with expectation that its sludge energy digestion would be enriched with huge organics mix.

However, with later CRD policy change to composting off-Hartland, double-whammy of NO mix and LESS efficient energy production might have helped shift Viewfield option ahead of Hartland as prime CRD sludge plant choice.

Now, if organics composting returns to Hartland, will CRD also dump composting idea and promote organics mix with sludge for energy production and land-filling on site?  


Compost plant problem exposes contradiction (Eriksen)

TIMES COLONIST
AUGUST 5, 2013

Re: “Odours prompt CRD to suspend contract with compost facility,” Aug. 2.

Almost daily, we read about the problems associated with the new sewage treatment plant. The Capital Regional District appears to be stumbling from one crisis to another.

Now we learn the CRD has made no provisions in regard to the green garbage generated from the kitchen scraps program.

The only licensed composting facility in the capital region has received notices of suspension until improvements are made. The industrial commercial facility in question is located on Agricultural Land Reserve lands, not in an industrial area. The CRD has restricted its search for a site for the sewage-treatment plant outside the ALR.

Why the contradiction? The private commercial composting facility is located on a farm and assumed to be part of the normal farm operation and thus not subject to tax .

The CRD needs to explain why it is leaving municipal composting to the private sector and where all the green garbage will be processed, once the kitchen scraps program is fully implemented.

Carl Eriksen
Central Saanich

http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/compost-plant-problem-exposes-contradiction-1.568604

-------------------------

CRD sewage plan not credible (Ferguson)

Victoria News 
August 06, 2013 

Re: CRD seeks alternative to sludge plant at Hartland (News, July 31)

In this enlightening story, Capital Regional District liquid waste management committee chair Denise Blackwell is quoted as saying, “The plan is the plan. We need to get on with it.”

Is this the plan that is shortsighted and will only last 12 years, or the plan that has requests for proposals issued for a site that is unavailable?

Is this the plan that will have inadequate resource recovery, or will continue to discharge partially treated sewage at Clover Point (in heavy rain) and not deal at all with toxins from storm water?

Is this the plan that has ignored the possibility of innovative technology and has not undergone a cost-benefit analysis? Is this the plan that cannot be justified by any credible scientific evidence?

Never mind. The plan is the plan. We need to get on with it.

Dave Ferguson
Saanich


--------------------

Gaps in Hartland sludge option (Langley)

Victoria News
August 06, 2013

Re: CRD seeks alternative to sludge plant at Hartland (News, July 31)

It is frustrating to all taxpayers that $50 million has been spent in consultant fees and staff time over seven years on the Capital Regional District sewage treatment scheme.

There is no agreed plan for the treatment and sludge disposal.

Saanich Coun. Judy Brownoff, as chair of the CRD core area liquid waste management committee for several years, believes that we should move forward with the Hartland sludge plant.

Can she tell us:

1. Why should an extra $41 million be spent for the 18-kilometres pipeline and pump stations to get sewage sludge to Hartland?

2. What specific assessments of pipeline failure risks and costs have been requested by and reported to the liquid waste committee?

David Langley
Saanich


----------------------

Options plenty for safe disposal (Leahy-Trill)
 
Victoria News
August 06, 2013  

Re: Columnist’s opinion is another knee-jerk reaction (Letters, July 26)

The letter states: “As for detergents, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, I agree we should do something about that.”

Indeed, I questioned that recently, so I phoned my local pharmacy, Thrifty’s at Cloverdale Avenue. I was told that they would take all my expired pharmaceuticals, including items like “Tiger Balm,” and dispose of them safely – at no cost to me.

In addition, Ellice Recycle accepts many household chemicals and Hartland Dump accepts many items at no cost.

Karen Leahy-Trill
Saanich


---------------------------

Sewage commission not controlling costs (McBride)

TIMES COLONIST 
AUGUST 11, 2013
   
Re: “Sewage boss to get $290,000 bonus if he finishes job,” Aug. 9.

I cannot believe the civilian sewage commission was commissioned by the federal and provincial governments to keep a tighter leash on project financing. Any governance by elected officials seems to be eliminated.

The civilian sewage commission does not appear to be living up to its mandate and should bow to the wish of the taxpaying public, who, even without this massive salary and bonus to Albert Sweetnam, are going to be heavily burdened with increased taxes.

John McBride
Saanich

http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/letters/sewage-commission-not-controlling-costs-1.574446

---------------------------