COLD LAKE - City of Cold Lake council isn't eager to hand over $22,000 to the MD of Bonnyville after all.
On Tuesday, Jan. 28, council discussed whether they would continue to support the MD's pitch for a Municipal Energy Manager, even though they had agreed to submitting a joint application to the province's Municipal Climate Action Centre's program last June.
“I understand we made a commitment… but things have changed dramatically in the last seven or eight months in terms of where we thought we would be financially,” expressed Coun. Chris Vining.
The cost sharing agreement, which was made by the MD, city, and Village of Glendon, would have Cold Lake pitch-in $11,000 per year over the next two years for the position. The city would also be required to provide adequate working space, 20 per cent of the energy manager's wage associated with their work in Cold Lake, complete a quarterly report or review of the manager's performance, and ensure they adhere to the city's health and safety program.
Cold Lake council was on-board with the MD's application at their June 25, 2019 meeting, and agreed to be part of the joint application that would have the municipalities hire someone to evaluate the current state of energy practices and policies, develop or update their energy management plan, complete greenhouse gas emission reduction initiatives, and complete an energy audit.
“This person will be working for the MD of Bonnyville and will be assisting the City of Cold Lake… and the Village of Glendon,” CAO Kevin Nagoya noted.
The cost to each municipality was broken down on a per capita basis, resulting in the city contributing 55 per cent of the expense at $22,000, the MD will be pitching in $17,200 for 43 per cent, and the Village of Glendon will pick-up the remaining two per cent at the price of $800.
“I don’t like the way the costs are divied out, because they’re based on per capita. This will be the first time this region has agreed on per capita splits. When you look at that, Glendon has 10 buildings, we’ve got 30-something, and there are over 40 in the MD. I’m not sure why they wouldn’t split that up according to the number of buildings. Glendon has 10 per cent of the buildings, why aren’t they paying 10 per cent of the cost?” exclaimed Coun. Jurgen Grau.
Nagoya stressed the city has already "signalled a commitment to this."
“There are all kinds of commitment items we had. We were in a different place receiving different income and revenue with the very same players that are in this agreement, our situation has changed dramatically and there’s has improved dramatically. I’m not sure the pretense that we made a commitment holds water right now in my mind,” Coun. Bob Buckle replied.
Council agreed to defer their decision to fund the program until their March 10 meeting.
“I don’t know why we wouldn’t punt this down with the other requests seeing the region was responsible for some of the negative budget impacts we’re feeling right now,” Buckle stated. “It seems odd we’re pushing everyone else down the road, waiting for clarity, but yet this one we will say ‘yeah, let’s cut a cheque.’”
Meagan MacEachern, Bonnyville Nouvelle
