TEESWATER – Despite some concerns about pricing and procedures, the Council of the Municipality of South Bruce approved reworking the Filsinger Municipal Drain to address damaged infrastructure and prevent future problems.

The drain, which runs under the intersection of Ellen and John Street in Mildmay, has a been a long-standing issue for the municipality, causing a “bump” in the road that ratepayers wasn’t addressed. During council’s Dec. 9 meeting, council members decided on a path forward for the project, though the vote was nearly split.

“As directed by council, investigation for work on the Filsinger Municipal Drain within the intersection of Ellen and John Street in Mildmay was conducted by [consulting firm] R.J. Burnside,” Manager of Operations Stu Moffat explained in a report to council regarding the issue. “Jeremy Taylor, project engineer, has [outlined] the investigative work, finding and options for next steps.”

In his report, Taylor said three options were available: one – do nothing, two – a section 78 (1) improvement under the drainage act or three – relocating the sanitary sewer. 

“Council could elect to ignore the Section 79 request and leave the municipal drain pipe in the current state,” Taylor wrote. “This decision could result in a potential liability for the municipality as it could be held responsible for any damages incurred to landowners from the lack of repair. The applicants could also appeal the lack of action to repair to the drainage referee … [who] could then order the municipality to address the concerns, and then direct costs as the referee see fit as well as damages incurred to the municipality. 

“Council could initiate a section 78(1) improvement project to address the area and provide an improvement to the drain that would allow working beyond the municipal right of way, Taylor wrote. “[Or] council could direct public works staff to investigate and determine how to lower the sanitary sewer along John Street and allow a maintenance repair to the section of municipal drain to the design of the original report. This would address the application to repair the municipal drain. All of this work would be at the cost of the municipality.”

Coun. Mark Ireland asked if the area of road in question would need to be replaced soon – and Moffat said that, while it’s not on any upcoming plans, it is over 50 years old.

“It was resurfaced after the drain was done in 1972,” he said. “Visually the road doesn’t have [issues aside from some patches]… Currently, it’s not on the capital budget for the next five years.”

Ireland next asked what kind of return there would be for any repairs – specifically whether it would benefit the ground-level or underground infrastructure.

Moffat said there was “definite age” on the underground infrastructure, and that the sections or roadway being considered don’t actually have a watermain under them now.

“It might be in the municipality’s best interest because of the water tower for flow to the easterly side of Mildmay,” he said, adding if the road is torn up, this would be an ideal time to consider additions like that.

Deputy Mayor Nigel Van Dyk said he would rather spend money on shovels-in-the-ground work option three enabled than on the legal issues the other two options might run in to.

Ireland, however, was frustrated because, according to an engineer’s report, the project would have cost $512,000, and it will now cost more than $300,000 more because some landowners weren’t in favour of the project. He called the additional expenses “a terrible waste of ratepayers’ dollars” 

Mayor Mark Goetz, however, said Ireland was talking about stripping people of their rights under the municipal act – and those rights are what led to that. He said there could be a “lot of finger pointing” in the room, but the problem started before his time.

Ireland went on to say there were other issues with the drain, such as lands being added without following the proper drainage act steps, however he noted that happened in the 1990s. 

Council selected to vote on option three from Burnside, to relocate the sanitary sewer alongside John Street, with full costing coming at a later date according to Moffat. In a recorded vote, Councillors Ireland, Mike McDonagh and Mike Niesen voted against the project, leading to a 4-3 decision to go forward.

Press-Ballagh Municipal Drain

Also during the meeting, South Bruce  Council gave the third and final reading of a bylaw to allow section 74 drainage works for the Press-Ballagh Municipal Drain located in the former Township of Culross.

During his report, Moffat explained council had given first- and second-reading of the bylaw, but had to wait as the drain includes lands from another municipality, namely Morris-Turnberry. As such, Morris-Turnberry Council had 40 days to appeal, which didn’t occur.

Council gave the bylaw the third reading to approve the drainage works.

TEESWATER – Sixty-five signs failed reflectivity testing in South Bruce during recent testing conducted by expert consultants, according to Manager of Operations Stu Moffat. 

“Under the minimum maintenance standards the municipality is required to complete reflectivity inspections on all traffic signs every 12 months,” Moffat reported to council. “The sign reflectivity inspection was completed in November.”

Moffat reported that, of 1,167 signs, 65 failed, or approximately 5.5 per cent of the municipality’s total sign catalogue. Of the failing signs, 23 are priority signs, five regulatory and 37 warning. 

“Staff are in the process of obtaining quotes from suppliers to replace the 65 signs,” Moffat reported. “This number is down 19 signs from last year’s reflectivity inspection. Once the signs are received, staff will install and update the data in our internal systems.”

Coun. Mark Ireland pointed out that, recently, the municipality had fatalities at three intersections and wondered if more couldn’t be done to alert drivers to the intersections, asking about flashing lights specifically. 

“We can’t put a cost on human life,” he said. “We have busy intersections that are not flagged, signed or lighted.”

Moffat said that stop signs, like the rest of the signs in the review, have minimum sheen requirements through the reflectivity tests. He said he didn’t know what costing would be, but, given the remoteness of some of the sites, only solar-powered options may be considered. 

“I don’t know the costs,” he said. “The initial cost would be what it is, but we have to consider future maintenance.”

He said batteries could be expensive and he wasn’t sure how effective lights would be based on locations and the sun.

Ireland noted the intersections in question were with Bruce County roads, which Moffat confirmed meant the signage was the responsibility of the county, not the municipality.

Mayor Goetz said he had already brought several intersections to the attention of the county to be added for testing.

Council received Moffat’s report for information.