BY CRAIG GILBERT
Doug Nadorozny has no doubt the former council, informed and involved, would have approved the tenders for the Connect Ontario and GIS projects that were deferred last week.
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Craig Gilbert |
Greater Sudbury?s general manager of economic development and planning is encouraged, though, with conversations he has had with councillors since the Thursday meeting.
They are ?chomping at the bit,? he said, to get up to speed on the project and get it off the ground.
All council was being asked to do was allot money that had already been approved for projects that had been picked through with a fine-toothed comb by dozens of stakeholders, said Nadorozny.
His report, he said, failed to outline that clearly enough for the seven new councillors.
Had the $1.5 million in contracts been worth less and the benefits somewhat less abstract, his department would have gone ahead and done it themselves, reporting to council briefly after the fact.
He said council seems eager to get up to speed on the projects and their benefits, and he is busy preparing a report that outlines just that.
The lengthy report to council he and e-sudbury.com director Jody Cameron made, Nadorozny said, didn?t outline clearly enough the benefits of the software packages.
Connect Ontario and GIS are software packages designed to build upon the city?s ?smart? infrastructure of broadband, fibre-optic cables.
They have Microsoft?s eye on Greater Sudbury, and will the city put among the most tech-savvy on the continent, said Nadorozny.
Long distance feeling
Another undertaking to get Sudbury out of the dark ages could be resolved in days or months, and it all depends on two companies in British Columbia.
Many a candidate in the recent municipal election campaign pledged to end long distance charges within the city.
Currently, Garson residents have to pay long-distance charges to phone Levack or Capreol, but not Espanola.
Greater Sudbury is, since amalgamation, geographically the largest city in the province.
In order for the city to be long-distance free, ?wide-area? telephone service has to be in place.
In spring 2001, the Canadian Radio and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) indicated it was considered amending some of the rules that prohibited Sudbury from having t4his kind of service.
A report to council on the matter outlines some thick and technical language on applications and filings and amendments, but the root of the story is two companies in B.C. are holding up the CRTCs action to allow for wide-area service across the country.
West Coast Teltech Ltd. and A&A Telesolutions Ltd. have asked for a stay on the new rules pending more filings and applications.
The City of Ottawa, in support the City of Greater Sudbury, have filed interventions requesting the CRTC make a ruling on their applications, since the filings by the west coast companies may only have bearing in B.C.
If the city?s application isn?t allowed to proceed, it could be anywhere from a few months to two years before phone calls in the city get any cheaper.
Water service changes
Responsibility for water service to Levack, meanwhile, will be changing hands next year.
Deeming new costs stemming from post-Walkerton water regulations too hard to swallow, Inco is working to get out of the water delivery business.
Inco has been in an annually automatically renewing agreement with the city since May 19, 1976.
The nickel giant also provides water to other parts of the city, such as Walden.
In a letter to the city, Inco?s general manager of Ontario operations, Scott McDonald, indicated the company doesn?t want to leave Levack, pardon the language, high and dry.
?We look forward to assisting and working with the city to ensure an orderly transfer of this service takes place,? he said.
That will require an Environmental Study report complete with alternatives and recommendations at a cost of about $75,000.
In a report to council, staff recommended Dennis Consultants, which has been involved with the topic for 30 months, complete the environmental study.
They have, in fact, already identified and costed most of the new supply options.
Public Works general manager Don Belisle said it is far too early to say what taking over water delivery for Levack will cost.
Staff first have to decide whether a new treatment plant will be built, and where, and what costs will come to light during the environmental study.
?It?ll be more than $1 million and less than $10 million,? he said.
