St. Paul Town Council Highlights – September 10, 2018

Old Christmas Lights

In 2017, the Town purchased new Christmas lights to replace the old units that have hung on the light posts of Main Street for years. With new lights on hand, Council debated what to do with the old lights. Town Administration’s initial recommendation was to sell each light for $150-$250 per unit. However, Councillor Norm Noel wanted to explore other options.

“I think that a good number of the lights could be repurposed and used elsewhere,” Councillor Noel said. “Not to mention, some of them aren’t in the best condition and we can’t order replacement parts for them. I would suggest that we at least explore the possibility of repurposing some of the lights. We could determine how many we would want to keep and then sell the rest.”

Recommendations from other Councillors included putting the old lights up in a different part of down, donating or selling some to the St. Paul Museum, or selling them to another municipality.

Councillor Noel also expressed concerns about the new lights, which will be put up for the first time this holiday season. “I would hate to sell all the old lights and put the new ones up only to find that they don’t look as nice,” he said.

“I’m of the opinion that our best bet is to sell the lights,” Councillor Nathan Taylor rebutted. “We could take the money we get from the sales and put those funds towards additional new lights. That way, our buyers could be confident that the money they spend would be used for the same purpose.”

Councillor Noel moved to keep the lights in storage until they could determine a better use for them, but his motion was defeated. Instead, a motion to sell the lights was initiated by Councillor Nathan Taylor. That motion passed, and Council will directing Town Administration to attach a fair valuation to each light for the sale.

Water Meters

Earlier this year, the Town purchased several thousand (approximately 2,200) used water meters to upgrade the current ones in St. Paul. Of those, 100 meters failed to pass inspection and need to be replaced under a prorated warranty. Additionally, bodies and housing mechanisms for each water meter need to be purchased for each of the 100 failed meters. Each water meter will cost $175 plus GST to replace, and each body will cost $116 plus GST.

Public Works requested a total of $40,700 for 100 water meter replacements and 200 bodies. Council approved the funding, which will be drawn from accumulated surplus and directed Public Works to begin installation this autumn.

Council Chamber Upgrades

A number of bids for three separate projects were submitted to Council to upgrade the Council Chambers. The upgrades have $25,000 in the 2018 budget and were discussed at the May 28, 2018, Council Meeting. The three upgrade projects include lighting, electrical, and audio/visual.

For the lighting project, Council received bids from Lakeland Lighting, two separate bids from G4 Electrical for two levels of service, and a bid from J-TEK Electric that combined the lighting and electrical projects. Council moved to accept Lakeland Lighting’s bid, which will cost $3,139.50 for new LED slim panel light fixtures and electrical accessories.

The electrical project would include power and charging outlets at each Councillor’s seat, but Mayor Maureen Miller moved to not accept any of the current bids. “It’s likely that some things will move around in the Chambers, and there may even be new furniture,” Mayor Miller said, “and it would be counterintuitive to install new electrical outlets before those changes take place.” Mayor Miller’s motion was passed by Council.

EyeTech submitted a variety of bids for several different Audio/Video upgrade options. Council will spend $14,905.20 on the A/V upgrade. The upgrade will include a video camera, five monitors, two 49” LED TVs, six Bosch desktop microphones. All accessories and applicable electrical outlets and an estimated 16 hours of labour will also be included.