Bay Roberts sets new policy for out of the ordinary W&S connections

By Mark Squibb / June 2, 2023

Bay Roberts residents who live along LT Stick Drive and the main road through town who request a water and sewer hook up will now be presented with a quote and will be expected to pay in full before work begins.

This comes as the result of a new service policy adopted at last week’s May 23 public council meeting.

CAO Nigel Black brought forward the new policy, which was sparked by a couple of unusually expensive hook-up requests for water and sewer on Conception Bay Highway.

“As council is aware, the cost of providing services, or doing the work to provide those services on those roads is quite expensive,” said Black. “The direction at the last council meeting was to establish a new policy to set a fee for services on those sections of road.”

Black allowed the policy is fairly straight-forward and made a distinction between offering services on the two roads listed and residential areas in the rest of town.

“Basically, we would do the services at cost, where we would provide a quote to the property owner,” said Black.

That quote would include material, equipment, and any curb or sidewalk replacement.

“Once presented with that quote, if the property owner is in agreement, they would be billed based on that quote and then expected to pay prior to the work beginning,” said Black. “At the end of the job, we would tally the actual cost and either credit or charge for the difference.”

Mayor Walter Yetman said the need to establish such a policy is because of cases where “the cost has greatly exceeded the fee that we charged, and that needs to change.”

Deputy Mayor Geoff Seymour made the motion to adopt the policy, which was seconded by councillor Ross Petten, which opened the floor to debate.

Councillor Dean Franey made his dislike of the policy clear.

“I just don’t like the idea of a two-tiered system for residential (hookups),” said Franey.

He said while the cost for commercial hook ups could be reviewed, he doesn’t believe in charging different residents different prices based on where they live in town.

Franey described the Town’s expenses in connecting households as “the cost of doing business,” and added that in his 12 years on council he had only ever seen two requests for residential water hook ups along either road.

“So, we’re not inundated with residential water and sewer requests,” said Franey.

He did allow that residents should have to pay for any curb and sidewalk that has to be replaced.

“My vote would be that we have a flat rate for residential, and review the commercial,” he concluded.

Deputy Mayor Geoff Seymour said while there have only been two requests for residential hook ups along either road in the past decade or so, both have been a drain on public tax dollars.

“If we get a few more here and a few more there, they’re going to add up really quickly,” said Seymour. “And these are very expensive jobs, given the nature of those roads. So, I’m going to support this policy. It’s the right way to go.”

Yetman said he liked that the policy does not set a standard rate but bases the price ‘per job.’

Despite the objections, the motion passed easily with only Franey voting against it.