VIDEO: Things get heated over Connecting Link costs

The cost of this year’s Connecting Link construction ignited a heated exchange in Timmins city council chambers Monday night.

City Councillor Rick Dubeau was wanting to clarify where exactly the $4.5-million dollars was paying for.  One was about the thickness of the asphalt, and the other was why they’re only working on 1.4 kilometres of road, rather than the 2.2 kilometres that was initially proposed.

He claims the part of the report detailing the length was omitted.

“We were never shown the new resolution for 1.4 kilometres, I had to ask for it,” says Dubeau.

“In my opinion, we were directly misled by administration that night (July 25th, when Phase 1 of the Connecting Link construction was awarded to Miller Paving), because we were not given all the information that night to do a proper vote.”

The resolution that night stated 2.2 kilometres, in what was claimed to be a typing error.

Mayor Steve Black countered, saying emails were sent out about the switch to see if anyone on council wanted to bring the item back for re-discussion, and received no response.

In this document, it notes the price breakdown for the $4.8-million dollar tender and states to “re-construct 1.4 km of Connecting Link highway.”

At one point, councillor Mike Doody exclaimed to get back to the meeting, visibly frustrated with the lengthy back and forth.

After council was over, Dubeau sent out an email exchange between Mayor Black and a resident.

“Good afternoon Steve,” read the email from July 26th, a day after the tender was approved for Miller Paving, “What a marathon meeting you presided over last night.  Can you tell me if phase 1 of the Connecting Link is the same phase 1 that was always proposed? From the BRUCE Y to The bottom of Rae hill?”

Dubeau says Black responded that same day with the following:

“Hello, Connecting Link work is the same as originally planned to do with the exception that at Councillor Wawrzaszek’s request we included an option to add street lights to the section that does not have any. Cost came in at 480k and council agreed to add them,”

An additional email was then sent out by Mayor Black—according to Dubeau’s email—on July 28th.

“I had a meeting today to discuss your inquiries and process regarding Phase 1. When we applied for provincial grant, we applied for 3 million with a hope of doing 3km. When we completed the preliminary review it was clear 3 million + our 1.5 would not cover 3km and the tender was put out at 2.2 million. When detailed engineering came in and cost estimates with our consultants, it was advised that with thickness of asphalt and paved shoulders that 1.4km was likely the length that would work within the budget.  As such an addendum was put out on the tender before it closed changing the length.”

The entire segment lasted around an hour.  With all the back and forth, we’ll let you be the judge by watching the video of Monday’s meeting.  CLICK HERE to see the full video, labelled under Item 9C.