City staff outline upcoming projects
Procurement for nearly 20 City of Whitehorse projects will get underway over the next two months.
The projects were outlined in a staff report presented to Whitehorse city council at its March 1 meeting.
As part of the city’s procurement policy, council receives a report every two months detailing projects expected to cost more than $100,000, but less than $500,000 (which requires a vote by council for procurement to move forward).
The bulk of the projects — at 10 — are engineering initiatives ranging from consulting services for a detailed design of traffic calming measures for McIntyre Drive to the installation of groundwater monitoring wells in the city.
The city’s operations department has six projects listed ranging from contracts to purchase sand, salt and gravel to the replacement of the condenser at Takhini Arena.
Finally, water and waste services is the only other department to have a project on the list with just one that would see work at the Livingstone and Crestview lagoons to repair berms, ground irregularities and clear out vegetation.
Procurement for each of the projects will happen between March and April.
Council contemplates custodial contract
City of Whitehorse staff are asking Whitehorse city council for the go-ahead to put out the tender on a contract that’s expected to be worth more than $500,000.
The contract would be a three-year deal for custodial services in seven city buildings.
Under the city’s procurement policy, council must approve the commencement of procurement on any contracts expected to be worth more than $500,000.
“The proposed procurement’s objectives are to provide a clean and pleasant working environment for city administration, protecting the capital investment made in the city’s buildings by ongoing cleaning and maintenance, and showing leadership in waste reduction with waste sorting and diversion,” city operations manager Richard Graham stated a report to council.
If council approves the procurement at its March 8 meeting, the tender would be released March 15 with the contract to be awarded April 12. The contract would start May 1.
Bylaw changes proposed
Changes could be coming to four City of Whitehorse bylaws that would update references to the Municipal Act in each one.
The proposed changes were presented to Whitehorse city council members at their March 1 meeting.
As legislative services policy analyst Will Scheme stated in a report to council the personal services bylaw, business licenses inter-municipal bylaw, dangerous goods bylaw, and the fees and charges bylaw all reference sections of the act that were in effect when each bylaw was adopted.
“Amendments to the act since that time have made the reference in these bylaws invalid,” he explained.
Each of the bylaws would be corrected to reflect the current reference under the act.
Council will vote March 8 on whether to move forward with the bylaw that would allow for the changes.
Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com