A look at decisions made by Whitehorse city council this week.
Transit fares resume
The City of Whitehorse announced Whitehorse Transit will begin collecting fares again July 2.
The city made the announcement June 18, noting that bus passes purchased for April will be honoured throughout July.
The city suspended fare collection March 21 due to COVID-19 along with implementing a number of social distancing measures.
“Passengers are required to continue respecting physical distancing measures, and remain at least six feet away from each other,” officials said. “They may also board via the front door of the bus.
“The maximum ridership on Whitehorse Transit remains at 12 passengers, for the time being. If a full bus passes by your stop, you can wait for the next bus, make alternate travel arrangements or call Whitehorse Transit at 668-8394 for a Handy Bus to pick you up if it is available.”
Plan will establish new transit routes
The City of Whitehorse will take $50,000 from its reserves until gas tax funding comes through for a study to modernize the city’s bus system.
The spending was approved at Whitehorse city council’s June 15 meeting.
While an application for gas tax funding is in the works and the project is believed to be an eligible expense, for the study to get underway funding will have to be taken out of the city’s capital reserve, a move that required a vote by council.
Acting transit manager Jason Bradshaw told council at an earlier meeting that Stantec Consulting submitted the successful proposal for award and city staff wanted to award the contract.
The project comes out of the city’s 2018 Transit Master Plan, which included a recommendation to “improve existing route alignment and scheduling to better match demand.”
While the study can now go ahead, it will likely be January before any changes to routes are implemented. A timeline of the plans show data collection and analysis will happen along with community engagement and staff consultation in June and July.
A draft route plan would then be developed in August and presented in September before an implementation and monitoring plan in October. Implementation would be the final part of the plan beginning in January.
AYC roles confirmed
Whitehorse city council members have confirmed the role of Coun. Jan Stick on the Association of Yukon Communities board.
Coun. Curteanu and Stick have been serving on the board of the organization that represents communities throughout the territory.
In May, Curteanu resigned from her role on the executive of the organization and moved into the role as City of Whitehorse council representative while Stick moved from the role of council representative to the executive.
Given that, council voted June 15 to rescind the appointment of Stick as city representative and appoint Curteanu to the role.
“Rescinding Coun. Stick’s appointment will not affect her role on the AYC executive committee, and the appointment of Coun. Curteanu as a city representative will fill the vacancy into the city’s representation,” it was highlighted in an earlier report to council.
Cook Street work will proceed
Plans to rebuild Cook Street over the next two years can begin after Whitehorse city council approved three contracts for various parts of the project at its June 15 meeting.
A contract worth $444,845 for engineering work for the second stage went to Associated Engineering. It follows the $181,921 contract that was awarded for engineering work on the first stage of the project.
As was explained in a report to council: “The scope of the work for Stage 1 was limited to detailed design, which was brought forward to council and awarded in September of 2019.
“The scope of the work for Stage 2 is the construction inspection services, which was not included in the 2019 award since it was subject to budget approval for construction.”
On the construction contract, council voted to award the $5.1 million contract to P.S. Sidhu Trucking, which submitted the lowest of two compliant bids for the work.
Finally, ATCO Electric Yukon will be sole-sourced a contract worth up to $61,760 for the supply and installation of new street lights.
The city had ATCO provide a quote for supply and installation of the 11 72 Watt and five 35 Watt LED street lights.
“ATCO will complete this work themselves and therefore a sole source award is required,” it was noted in a report to council.
The first phase of the work will begin this year and see Cook Street rebuilt between Fourth and Sixth Avenues along with some trail work.
In 2021, Phase 2 is planned and will see the road rebuilt from Sixth Avenue to the escarpment.
Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com
