Sewer plans flushed

Ken Johnston

Fighting a good fight.
The Mayor of Rainy River, Glen Armstrong, spent much of the weekend doing just that after receiving word last week that Rainy River’s application for funding from the province and federal government for the much needed upgrades to the town’s ailing sewer system was rejected.
The Canada-Ontario Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund COMRIF received 355 applications from Ontario municipalities requesting $1.3 billion to assist with projects over $2 billion. “Only those projects that best met these criteria, including critical health and safety factors were approved for funding,” said COMRIF officials in the rejection letter to the Town of Rainy River.
“I was very disappointed,” said Mayor Armstrong, “I thought our project would be a shoe in.”
Mayor Armstrong said that he and council were not ready to give up fighting last week. With the annual Northern Ontario Municipal Association (NOMA) convention slated for the end of the week, they took their fight to the forum and were well received.
“NOMA members unanimously passed a special resolution to demand the government reconsider Rainy River’s project,” said Armstrong. He noted that NOMA executive member Tannis Drysdale of Fort Frances helped lead the charge noting that the executive met on Wednesday and crafted the resolution.
Armstrong said that members of other communities clearly understood the tough situation Rainy River is in. “The Ministry of Environment has an order in place that will not allow us to add any more (buildings) to our sewer or water system.”
With that order in place Rainy River can not pursue any new economic development or add any new homes to the system.
Councillor Brent Anderson also said that council has been very concerned about the health of its citizens. “Anytime there is heavy rain we worry about sewage back up into people’s homes.”
Rainy’s project would cost $2.4 million and would involve expansion of the existing sewer lagoon to three ponds from two. 1.4 km. of new lines and upgrades to lift stations would also be part of the project.
For the past two years residents have been paying $18 per month to the town on top of their water and sewer bills with that money being used specifically for capital improvements. Anderson said that when the center blocks of town had their sewer lines replaced due to heavy stress from the last flood, “We ran a $100,000 capital deficit.” While the bulk of the costs for the flood damage were covered by disaster relief, the town still had expenses. “We have since cleared that deficit off and currently have about $20,000 in the bank for the lagoon project. I expect we will have about $80,000 by the end of the year.”
The COMRIF grants work 1/3 federal, 1/3 provincial and 1/3 local. So how would Rainy River pay its share? Anderson said the money collected monthly would be used to seed it as well the town has over $500,000 in reserves from the sale of the local electric utility several year ago. “We would also look at debenturing part of the project,” he added.
Mayor Armstrong said that on Friday at the NOMA convention he attended the Bear Pit sessions with several government ministers. “While Minister Caplan, who oversees COMRIFF, was not there, David Ramsay (Min. of Natural Resources) was. I spoke about the importance of this funding for our community and he said he would take our concerns back to Caplan.”
Drysdale also raised the issue directly to the Prime Minister and MP Joe Comuzzi.
“We definitely had our voice heard this last weekend,” said Mayor Armstrong. While he has no timetable as to when or if Rainy River will hear back on their round 1 application for the funding, Armstrong felt good about the support of NOMA’s members.
While round 2 applications for COMRIF grants will be called for in the next several weeks, NOMA’s resolution called for Rainy River’s application to be reconsidered in round 1.
Many other communities of similar size received COMRIF funds for things such as road resurfacing. Something that both Anderson and Armstrong felt the RR Sewer project should have trumped.
“I have to say a big thank you to NOMA and its members for putting aside their own concerns with COMRIF and supporting us,” said Armstrong.
The mayor is currently drafting a letter to Minister Caplan and all other parties involved to follow up the resolution and express how important this project is to Rainy River’s future and present.