City awards summer contracts
In getting set for the summer season and looking ahead to next winter, Whitehorse city council voted to award contracts for line painting, mosquito control and winter road supplies.
A sole-sourced contract of $63,000 was awarded to the Yukon government for line painting of city streets.
The city opted to sole-source the work to the territory after receiving no responses to the expression of interest released in January.
This is not the first time the city has sole sourced the work done each year to city roads.
As city operations manager Richard Graham pointed out at the April 1 meeting of council, the Yukon government is the “only provider located in the Yukon for this specific service.”
Council approved a three-year $228,000 mosquito control contract to Duka Environmental Ltd.
It was one of two companies to submit bids for the work, though the other was found to be non-compliant.
Coun. Laura Cabott said she has spoken with representatives from the company that put in the non-compliant bid who told her they were satisfied with the process and were aware they hadn’t met all the criteria outlined.
The other contracts for winter road supplies for the 2019/2020 winter season will see Skookum Asphalt Ltd. supply 16,000 tonnes of crushed sand for $209,960 and Canadian Lynden Transport Co. supply 500 tonnes of salt for $178,333.
They were the only firms to bid on those contracts.
Community Cleanup Policy changes approved
The city’s community cleanup program has changed with council’s vote to alter the policy that governs it.
The spring fundraising program allows nonprofits to earn $300 for cleaning litter from a section of the city.
The changes adopted mean participating groups are now required to identify an adult supervisor in charge and they are no longer required to meet a minimum of 30 person hours for the work.
With the change, payment is now based on “satisfactory completion of the cleanup of the assigned section as determined by an inspection by city staff.”
Proposed lower speed limits pass first two readings
Some streets in Porter Creek are closer to having slower speed limits.
Council passed the first two readings for changes to the traffic bylaw that would reduce the speed limits for Tamarack Drive, Teak Avenue and Juniper Drive to 40 kilometres per hour from the current 50 km/h.
The proposal comes after residents of Tamarack asked for traffic calming measures. City staff made their own observations and collected data in the area (all three streets are close together and off of Hickory Drive) before recommending the speed reduction.
Along with the speed limit changes for those streets is an amendment outlining the 30 km/h speed limit for all Takhini North streets to match posted signs in the neighbourhood. Third reading of the bylaw will come forward at council’s April 23 meeting.
Contact Stephanie Waddell at stephanie.waddell@yukon-news.com
