| John Henderson is a Sechelt resident and a businessman with 35 years experience. For about two and a half years he was Chair of the Sechelt Sewage Facilities Commission until his resignation in October 2010. In recent discussions with the Editorial Board of Building The Coast, he had the following to say about the way Mayor & Council have been working on improving and expanding Sechelt’s wastewater treatment facilities. As far back as late 2009, Sechelt’s Mayor and Council learned that several technologies existed that would address the District’s complete wastewater treatment requirements. While much has been made of one solution (proposed by Ledcor), the fact is that other technologies also exist. Even knowing this, Mayor and Council have steadfastly refused to consider any options for an integrated wastewater treatment solution. Instead, they have continued to pursue an expensive and ill-conceived approach that only addresses a small part of the problem. Here are some facts: Sechelt needs a complete wastewater treatment plant. Our current treatment plants are aged and failing – we’ll have to spend close to $1 million just to maintain the current Ebbtide plant. Why do this when we could use this money to help fund a modern, efficient system? Many residents are not yet connected to the system, despite paying for such services as part of their taxes. A complete system will support and encourage future economic development. Done right, a new system will be green, noiseless and odourless. | Residents near Ebbtide, including downtown Sechelt, routinely complain about the odours from our 35 year old system. The current plan by this Mayor & Council is to leave the smelly old plant in place for upwards of 10 years. This is not acceptable — the neighbourhood deserves much better. Council has said on more than one occasion that we cannot afford to build a complete solution. But they have not provided an analysis of why they say this. The numbers show an integrated plant is affordable. We have healthy reserves for use only for sewer treatment, as well as government grants, and other sources of funding available. Senior government grants remain available for wastewater treatment – why has Council failed to apply for any in 2011. When I was chair of the Sewage Facilities Commission, we were successful in getting federal and provincial government funding totaling $3.2M. Curiously, Council subsequently claimed that it was necessary that these funds be spent by 2012, and therefore, the project had to start immediately. However, after investigation by members of the public, Council acknowledged that the deadline is 2015 (and an extension beyond this is possible.) As a resident, I am extremely concerned with Council’s ongoing refusal to engage in a dialogue and to learn about new opportunities. I can only conclude that they think that doing so runs the risk of making them look foolish. It seems Mayor & Council prefer to spend our money on hiring additional consultants and to focus on an ill-conceived and incomplete solution. It’s a sad statement about their lack of vision. Sechelt has a wonderful opportunity to build a complete wastewater treatment system that will be odorless, noiseless and green. We can – and we must – do it now! |