The three newest members of North Battleford city council are now much more informed about the facilities and equipment that keeps the community moving.
The councillors - Cathy Richardson, Greg Lightfoot and Ryan Bater - went on a tour of the city's public works facilities Tuesday and Thursday last week.
The tour was organized by Public Works Director Stewart Schafer to help familiarize the new councillors with how the City manages its infrastructure, including its water, sewer and sanitation, along with all the equipment at the City's disposal.
The tour also helped the councillors gain more knowledge about the issues currently faced in dealing with those areas.
That trip gave councillors some knowledge about the issue of the watery sludge produced from the plant, another longstanding headache that council will need to find some sort of solution for this coming term.
The tours gave the councillors a new insight into what keeps the city functioning on a regular basis.
The amount of money needed to keep all the facilities running in top condition was on the mind of Richardson.
"That cost is going to come back to us and we're going to have to look at replacing and updating things continually."
Lightfoot came away impressed with the sheer number of facilities and amount of equipment in the City's possession.
"I'm very, very surprised by the amount of assets the City does have," said Lightfoot. "It's a huge amount of dollars that have been put into this stuff, and the technology and the way it works is quite astounding."
The councillors had a new appreciation for the facilities that provide some vital needs for the people of North Battleford.
"You can do without a lot of things but you cannot do without water," said Lightfoot.
The first leg of the tour was Tuesday, Nov. 20. The first stop was a quick tour of the Waste Management Facility, including the $1.3 million Cell 3 that was expanded.
The next stop was at the public works shop on 6th Avenue where the group took a look at the various equipment used to service the streets. The equipment included graders, the street sweeper, equipment to paint the lines and others. There are expansion plans afoot for the building and that is an item that could come up for council's consideration this coming term.
The group also toured the carpentry shop as well as the sign shop that stores the City's signs. The one thing noticeably missing from the sign shop was part of the roof. The building was damaged during the vicious wind storm this past summer, and a blue tarp covered the roof area of the shop.
The councillors also got to see the waterworks shop that houses the various pipes and parts that are used to keep water flowing.
After a tour of some other buildings on the site, the group headed to the airport. Their first stop was at an out-of-the-way storage facility that housed more City equipment, including an ancient paint machine - a machine so old that some jokingly suggested it could be used during the city's Centennial parade.
After that, the group toured the Cameron McIntosh Airport and learned first-hand about a little-known feature inside the terminal - the Emergency Operations Centre where City officials and emergency personnel gather during a civic emergency.
The emergency section is hidden away from the passenger area of the building, which had undergone significant renovations during the previous three years.
It was a far cry from the state of the terminal when Schafer took new councillors on tour in 2009. Back then, the roof and ceiling were falling apart, the boilers weren't working and the carpet was in bad shape.
Schafer showed off the renovated terminal area, complete with new roof, ceiling and flooring, as well as the new paint job throughout the passenger departure area. With the renovations done at the terminal, there is growing anticipation that charter passenger service could set up at the airport.
One issue that will likely come to council again will be improving the runways, which have been in need of an upgrade for some time. Schafer pointed out it would not come cheap, costing upwards of millions of dollars, but is one more item council members will need to make a decision on this term.
Thursday night, the group toured the two water treatment plants and the wastewater treatment plant.
The first stop was Water Treatment Plant No. 1, a building that recently was a hub of activity as a multi-million expansion took place there during the past term.
Schafer showed the new councillors both the new and the old portions of the facility and also pointed out some of the minor issues the facility was having that may come up at council in the future. Among them: curious animals.
It turned out a bear who lived in the neighbourhood was interested in what was inside the Water Treatment Plant No. 1 and tried to get in. Schafer and the staff pointed out to councillors the paw prints that were still on the side door of the building.
Water Treatment Plant No. 1 uses wells to extract ground water, where it is. The secondary F.E. Holliday plant is the surface water treatment plant using water from the North Saskatchewan River. Councillors toured that plant as well.
The final stop was the Wastewater Treatment Plant on the southeast end of the city. There, councillors saw the process by which wastewater is treated and waste removed, with the remaining water treated and released back into the river.
