Water Shut Off

Some good questions have been asked about the pending water shut off.  The Aqua 7 Regional Water System Commission has advised all its water users that it will shut off the water for a period of time to facilitate repairs to the water line.  Hopefully the shut-down will be less than 48 hours but sometimes unforseen diificulties make these kinds of things take longer!

Beiseker will be informed of exactly when the line will be shut down.  At that point we will fill our resevoir to the top.  At normal usage, that gives us enough water for three days.  We will likely ask village residents to avoid activities using large volumes of water while the shut-down is in effect.

I will reccommend to council that we have a contingency plan ready in case the shut-down goes past that 48 hour timeline or if we need more water for firefighting.  That plan will likely involve trucking water to the village.  In my opinion, those costs would have to be covered by Aqua 7!  Let me know if this answers your questions and addresses your concerns.

Wind Damage Update

Remains of the damage done by that huge windstorm we had in November still litter the village.  I would imagine the insurance adjusters are swamped with cases from throughout this area. 

The Beiseker Fire Department Fire Hall was one of the worst hit of village property.  The insurance company had an outfit come out and put on a temporary cover.  They then took bids from companies willing to re-roof the building.  It is my understanding that the process is complete.  Work will begin as the resouces become available and as weather permits. 

Other village roofs were damaged but those repairs will likely be done in the spring. 

I have noticed that the private and commercial properties damaged in the storm are also being repaired now.  No word from DynAgra on the fate of those three large bins blown over by the wind. I would imagine they're pretty hard to handle on their side like that.

Good News & Bad News

The good news is that Beiseker Public Works has found some more water leaks!  The bad news is that Beiseker Public Works has found some more water leaks!  Huh?

Bill and his crew have found more holes and cracks in the water pipes under village streets.  Water which the village purchased has been leaking out of those holes into the ground.  We didn't get paid back for that water because it didn't go through a water meter!

Once found, the offending piece of pipe can be removed and replaced.  That means less of our expensive water will flow out into the ground.  That's the good news.

These water breaks are expensive and time consuming to repair, especially in the winter.  And the amount of purchased water hasn't dropped that much since we began fixing the holes.  We've got to get those expensive new water meters installed a.s.a.p. so that we accurately account for all the water used in the village.  That's the bad news.

Have a good weekend!

New Commercial Signs Downtown

Hey, here's a tip of the old hat to the businesses along Beiseker's Main Street who have been working on a new signage project.  Probably around half the the Main Street commercial entities are now sporting very classy signs announcing their wares to all passers-by!  These colourful and eye-catching signs are a positive addition to the newly renovated Main Street between First and Second Avenues.  I'm waiting for the rest of the businesses along Main Street to put up their new signs!  Well done everyone!

Here's some photos of a few of the signs already up;

More Water Woes

Many of you have indicated to me that you are very pleased that the province has finally ponied up and given the regional water commission some money.

I'm getting less pleased every time I think about it! 

The province is telling us that we MUST use this money to pay the huge penalty for refinancing our debt load.  An accountant did an audit of the whole regional water commission a couple of years ago.  At the general meeting in Acme over a year ago he recommended that the regional water commssion be given $6.2 million dollars to bring them up to a viable status.  Other water projects have been given funding up to 90% of the costs of construction.  Our water commission has received far less than that!   He suggested that wrong be righted.

He also noted that all attempts by the commission to sell its water have been thwarted by others while the provincial government sat back, saying and doing nothing!  This was after the province had promised the water commission members that it would help find customers for the water and help out any other way they could until the commission was self supporting!

But we received less than 2 million dollars!  We still have the original huge debt, it's just spread out over a longer term so the monthly payments will be less.   And the way I see it is-if the province comes up with some more money to buy down that debt we will have to pay those huge penalties again to lower the principle of the loan!  Those penalty payments are being paid into a fund created by the province using taxpayers' dollars.

Are we paying huge penalties to refinance our loans which we originally borrowed from ourselves?

I am not pleased!

New Truck



You might have noticed that our Public Works Department has a new truck.  The truck was purchased used as a lease turn-back.  It became available at the New Year.  Beiseker's Council decided it was a good opportunity to upgrade our vehicle fleet, but it will have to be accounted for in the Public Works 2012 budget. 

The Public Works Department will now have to evaluate all of its licenced vehicles and decide which one must be taken off our inventory.

Water Rumours

I've heard rumours that some are saying the recent provincial grant of almost 1.8 million dollars to the Aqua7 Regional Water Commission will not change the water rates or fees to the individual users in Beiseker.  

Nothing along those lines has been decided by the Water Commission yet.  We have yet to have a meeting since the grant announcement was made.  I personally would like to see a modest drop in water rates but that will be up to the Water Commission when it meets.  Our next meeting will likely be held in mid to late February.  At that time our manager will present a proposed budget to us.  It will be fine tuned and hopefully accepted at that meeting.