SERVING THE MAPLETON COMMUNITY
THE
COMMUNITY NEWS VOLUME 50 ISSUE 27
DRAYTON, ONTARIO
1 Year GIC - 2.55% 3 Year GIC - 2.80% 5 Year GIC - 3.00% Daily Interest 0.90%
638-3328
FRIDAY, JULY 7, 2017
Mapleton celebrates Canada at 150
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Mayor praises community for response to flooding By Patrick Raftis
Wasn’t that a party! - ABOVE: Mapleton councillor Lori Woodham, left, Mapleton’s Canada 150 Champion, rides in style on the township’s float in the Drayton Canada Day parade on July 1. BELOW LEFT: From left: Ellysse Charlebois of Harriston with Dajung Yoon and April Bloemberg of Drayton were dressed for the occasion at the celebrations in Drayton. BELOW RIGHT: Ainsley and Rick Snider of Kitchener pushed the plunger down to begin the Canada 150 fireworks display in Drayton. Ainsley’s grandmother Sharon Greenwood of Palmerston won the Canada Day Fire Up 150 grand prize draw. Along with starting the fireworks, Greenwood won over $1,000 in prizes donated by local businesses. More photos on pages 4 and 8. Photos by Caroline Sealey
MAPLETON – Mayor Neil Driscoll thanked members of the local community for the collective response to the June 23 flood. Data from the Grand River Conservation Authority indicates just over 88 millimeters of rain fell overnight in Mapleton, flooding basements throughout Drayton and filling local streets with water. The municipality set up an evacuation centre at the PMD Arena Complex for those needing to leave their homes. “I just want to thank everyone involved in the flood experience this past Friday here in Mapleton, specifically in Drayton,” said Driscoll at the June 27 council meeting. “It was just unbelievable [how] the people came out and offered to help and how something like that can draw a community together. “On behalf of council I want to thank everyone involved - from staff to the public, it was great to see.” Mapleton public works director Sam Mattina said his department was still repairing road shoulders and washed out roads, “which is not a disaster in itself, but there was significant damage there.” Mattina also noted there
was significant damage at the park in Glen Allan. “The tennis courts will have to be completely rebuilt,” he told council, adding there was substantial damage to playground equipment in the park as well. Mattina said public works is compiling a list of all damage and costs to the municipality. The township is also compiling information on the number of homes, farms, businesses and nonprofit organizations that have been impacted. The information collected so far was shared with Ministry of Municipal Affairs officials during a visit to the community on June 30. A state of emergency, put in place on June 23 to deal with flooding was officially lifted on June 29 at 2pm. Water levels in the Maitland River at Harriston were also higher than they’ve been in decades, which caused widespread flooding in Harriston. Many residents were also temporarily evacuated and a boil water advisory was issued by the local health unit. The boil water advisory was lifted on June 27 and the emergency status was ended by the Town of Minto at 2:30pm on June 28. Provincial officials also toured Harriston on June 30.
Cost projections balloon for county garage in Mapleton By Patrick Raftis GUELPH – With new cost projections coming in at more than $3 million over the original estimate for a new public works garage in Mapleton, Wellington County is revising its financing plan for the project. The county’s current five-year plan includes funding to build a new 11-bay, 20,000-square-foot county roads garage at the Mapleton Township administration and public works site on Sideroad 16. The new shop will replace the county’s current facility in Drayton. “The project was allocated $4 million, and this amount has proven insufficient to complete the project
as planned,” states a report to the roads committee from county operations manager Paul Johnson. The report, presented to county council on June 29 indicates the project cost has climbed to $7.12 million. Current phase-by-phase projections for the project include: - Phase I, decommissioning of the existing site and the land purchase and related legal fees for the new site, $270,000; - Phase II, building construction phase, $6,000,000; - Phase III calls for work to be completed in 2018 and includes the purchase and installation of a new sand dome and the paving of the parking lot, $850,000.
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Roads chair councillor Gary Williamson told council the committee had a lengthy discussion on the revised estimates at its June 13 meeting. “This was an interesting discussion to say the least,” said Williamson. “It was a bit of a shock; [it’s] significantly more than what was budgeted.” Williamson said the committee and staff considered numerous options to reduce costs, including building a smaller shop, doing an internal redesign or deferring the project. “The facts are that we need the shop. We’ve purchased land. We’ve already shared costs for a wash bay with the new Mapleton shop
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and we’re building a building ... for the next 50-plus years, not for the next five or 10 years,” he stated. Williamson explained the committee recommended continuing the project with the original design and following the original tender schedule. However, it will be made quite clear “the lowest or any tender may not be accepted and, depending on tenders, we may want to re-tender in the spring,” he noted. Under the schedule, tenders are set to be called in July or August and awarded in September. “So in September the tender will be (sent) to committee for approval and it will be up to council to make a
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decision at that time about moving forward,” said Williamson. “We’ll also be able to review the funding options, (including) pushing back the Erin and Brucedale shops and possibly moving back some road capital projects. The goal is to reduce the impact on the taxpayer as much as possible.” The staff report notes a development charge study update completed in 2017 identifies eligible growthrelated capital funding for Drayton. “To help ease budget pressures staff are recommending the issuance of development charge-funded debt to the maximum amount eligible ($3.45 million), reducing
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the draw from the roads capital reserve and future levy requirements to fund debt servicing costs,” the report states. Since the existing Drayton garage property on 30 John Street will no longer be required, staff also recommended potential sale proceeds from this property be directed to completely fund Phase I of the project and be put towards Phase III. “The final decision is in September, so it will be done in time for budget deliberations and discussion, so we will know where we are at moving forward in 2018,” said Williamson. Council approved the committee report and recommendations.
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