Whitehorse City Council to consider changes to 2019 roadwork plan
Whitehorse City Council was asked to amend the scope of the 2019 asphalt overlay program at the Feb.18 standing committees meeting.
The project was originally supposed to overlay Second Avenue from Lowe Street to Main Street, Mountain View Drive from Tlingit Street to Range Road and the intersection of Lewes Boulevard and Hospital Road this year, Taylor Eshopeter, assistant engineer for the city told council.
Staff would instead like to repair Second Avenue from Lowe to Ogilvie streets, the roundabout at Elijah Smith School and the roundabout at Fourth Avenue and Robert Service Way as these have been identified as “priority areas,” he said.
As a result, staff feel repairs on Mountain View Drive can “be delayed a fews years without significant impact,” Eshpeter said, although he noted that the overall repair of Mountain View Drive is lower than Second Avenue.
Making these changes to the scope of the project will “create efficiencies and potential cost savings due to mobilization and demobilization,” Eshpeter noted.
“The cost to perform maintenance on Second Avenue is significantly higher than on Mountain View Drive due to the high volume of traffic and urban nature of the roadway,” he said. “Additionally, the operations department has invested a significant amount of resources maintaining the two roundabouts …. And (have said that repairing them) are a high priority.”
The changes to the scope of the project will not require any additional funds, he added.
The scope of this year’s project was set out a few years ago “based on the best available information at that time,” he said. However, “since that time, the deterioration of the road surface on Second Avenue from Main Street to Ogilvie has accelerate and become a higher priority for resurfacing.”
The repairs to Mountain View Drive would be moved to 2021, he said.
The changes to the scope of the project will not require any additional funds, he added.
Council will vote on the matter at the Feb. 25 regular council meeting.
YHMA requests grant to help pay for heritage fair
The Yukon Historical and Museums Association (YHMA) is requesting a $2,000 grant from the city’s Heritage Reserve Fund to help pay for the 2019 Yukon/Stikine Regional Heritage Fair.
The city has previously awarded this grant in 2006, 2007 and consecutively through 2011-2018, in sums between $1,000 to $3,000, Melodie Simard, manager of planning and sustainability told council at the Feb. 18 regular committees meeting.
YHMA has already secured $10,000 in funding from the Yukon department of education, plus $600 in sponsorships and donations. The total budget for the event is $13, 350.
There is presently $43,700 available in the city’s Heritage Fund Reserve, Simard noted.
The fair is scheduled for May 2 and “brings together over 100 students, teachers, parents and members of the public from around the territory,” Simard said.
Council will vote on the matter at the Feb. 25 regular council meeting.
Attendance, spending documented for 2018 council
Staff presented a report to council documenting the travel expenses, attendance and voting habits of the 2018 council members — some of whom have since been replaced in the recent municipal election — at the Feb. 18 standing committees meeting.
At $9,000, Mayor Dan Curtis accrued the most travel expenses in his position with city last year. Of that, $5, 600 was spent attending a conference in Halifax, $2,500 attending events in Ottawa, and $800 in cancellation fees for a trip to Hay River, NT that was canceled due to a strike.
Coun. Rob Fendrick and Coun. Jocelyn Curteanu were second and third in spending, with $4,800 and $4,600 in travel expenses respectively.
Of 26 council meetings, 15 had 100 per cent attendance from councillors, with Coun. Fendrick away the most often, with a total of four absences.
Contact Lori Fox at lori.fox@yukon-news.com