Contractor cuts Paradise a deal on costly lift station pump

By Mark Squibb

Paradise council is doing an about-face on a decision to rebuild an aging lift station pump after a contractor offered the Town a discount on the purchase of a new one.
Council, during the June 24 public meeting, had approved a motion to hire Xylem to fully rebuild a pump, rather than purchase a new one outright, for the Woodstock lift station, citing the high cost of buying a new pump.
“The previous cost provided by the local vendor indicated that a full rebuild would be $73,986, plus HST, with delivery within eight weeks with, however, an additional four to six weeks to completely install the unit,” explained councilor Glen Carew. “Additionally, the rental pump provided during the rebuild period would cost $9,236 per month for three-and-half months, resulting in a total cost, including rental, of $106,312, plus HST, over the expected rebuild timeline.”
Xylem has since returned to the Town and said they would be willing to supply a brand new pump at a discounted price, bringing the cost of the pump down from $123,007 to $110,706. Coupled with a one-month rental charge of $9,236 (regardless of how long the Town actually rents the pump) for a new total cost of 119,942, plus HST.
In that light, council entertained a motion last week to rescind both the contract to repair the existing pump, and the one to rent a temporary pump, and proceed with buying the new pump.
All told, purchasing the new pump will only cost about $15,670 more than rebuilding the old one, which was an estimated 22 years old.
“This is a great option, said Carew. “It’ll cost just a little bit more than what it would cost to rebuild the pump, but we’ll get a brand-new pump.”
Carew added that Xylem and Pennecon are the only two local providers of submersible pumps and controllers compatible with the lift station.
Councillor Larry Vaters asked if the Town is working to inform residents of the recent malfunctions and their causes.
“We’re continually dealing with the problem of bags and disposal gloves in the system,” said CAO Lisa Niblock. “It’s not only here (at Woodstock lift station) we’re actually seeing it down at our wastewater treatment plant and we know what it did to Lift Station 10. So, it’s a big problem for us. Right now, management are instructed to go door-to-door with businesses from St. Thomas Line down to the Woodstock lift station and give them the reminder of what can be disposed of in our sewage system, and from there, we’ll write informal letters of the same, and, as per council’s direction, we really need to move on to creating a by-law to put penalties in place if this continues. It’s really unfortunate that this is happening.”
Town staff, following a request for clarification, later confirmed that materials entering the system, such bags and disposable gloves, was a contributing factor but not the sole cause for the malfunctions.
squibb@theshoreline.ca