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A Free Weekly Publication Serving All of Beaver County Wednesday, July 13,16 2022, Volume 15,15 Issue 28 7 Wednesday February 2022 Volume Issue
County performing re-chipping and sealing projects this summer Patricia Harcourt Protecting chip seal roads in the county has become a priority for the public works/infrastructure departments this summer. Dan Blackie, general manager for infrastructure, gave council a rundown of the work needed to rechip some roads and also fog seal several locations in the county. “We checked a few this year,” he said, at county council’s regular meeting July 6. “We feel it’s important.” “Administration has been looking into further protection for our chip seal roads and has found that fog sealing may be a good option,” he told council. “Fog sealing is a light application of a diluted asphalt emulsion, which is heated up to a temperature 300 degrees Farenheit and spread using a distributor truck over chip seal. “Fog seal works better on a coarse aggregate surface where asphalt emulsion has room to poind between aggregate particles; fog sealing is a highly satisfactory complement to a chip seal surface,” he concluded, in his report. “Fog seals are used over chip seal to delay weathering of pavement, to waterproof pavement surface, to improve the pavement’s ability to keep water from penetrating the base course or subgrade and to reduce ravelling,” he explained. “It extends the life of the road with the extra layer of protection and seals narrow cracks. The result is a dark colour that improves the visibility
of road markings.” Administration’s recommendation was fog sealing five miles of road to start, including: 1.5 miles - Camp Lake from Hwy. 619 to Camp Lake park entrance; and, 3.5 miles - Twp. Rd. 470 from Hwy. 870 to Rge. Rd. 105. Blackie said his department is recommending using fog seal coating as “part of our TerraCem standard practices.” After a road has been chip sealed (using Terracem), the following year the fog coat sealing would be applied “to further seal and protect the road.” He added: “This year we would like to take a small portion of what was planned for rechipping in the chip seal budget and fog seal some of our existing roads.” Council agreed to the five miles of fog sealing in the far eastern part of Beaver County, these roads both being notorious for dust control problems. The roads recommended for rechipping this year included: Rge Rd. 205 from Twp. Rd. 502 to 503; Rge. Rd. 203 from Twp. Rd. 504 to 510; and Islet Lake Estates. Blackie identified five miles in total of roads in the western end of the county as, respectively: one mile at Spilstead Hall which he said was “getting crumbly;” two miles behind Beaver Creek Estates; and, two miles at Islet Lake Estates which was crack sealed two years ago, but needs chip seal over it now. He said other counties are using the fog sealing to good effect, a year after laying down chip seal,
using a light oil that dries completely very quickly. It seals up the small cracks and holes in the road, and is “quite cheap,” he said. Fog sealant leaves in its wake “a black top which drivers like anyways,” he added. “I would like to try it and budget it for the future.” Blackie said he wanted to see how the fog sealing works on older roads. “We’ll see how it goes and we’ll go from there,” he said, adding the work would cost $48,678. Of this cost, $5,000 would come out of reserves to cover the over budget. Deputy Reeve Gene Hrabec (Division 3) pointed out that there are also roads requiring that kind of spot repair in the middle of the county, in Divisions 3 and 4. Some areas of road are also starting to break up in Division 3, he said, asking if something could be done for these areas as well. But Blackie said those areas would likely have to be resurfaced. He noted that “next year we would like to do cement repairs,” noting “there are some spots that have to be completely redone,” naming the road north of the Parrish and Heimbecker grain terminal northeast of Viking as one of these. “The plan this fall is to do some checking and bring it back to council,” he said. Council ended discussion by passing a motion made by Councillor Lionel Williams (Division 2) to proceed with the rechipping and fog sealing projects this summer as recommended by administration.
Beaver County Council sets property tax sale date Patricia Harcourt Beaver County Council approved two recommendations from administration regarding the sale of properties being sold as the result of nonpayment of taxes. Council passed a motion to set the reserve bids for properties registered in the 2022 tax sale with a 10 per cent deposit on the day of the auction and the balance to be paid in full within 30 days. Payment is to be made by cash, certified cheque or bank draft. Council also set the reserve bids for properties as advertised for sale previously in the last calendar year that went unsold, with the same terms and conditions as listed above.
County Assessor Orest Golinowski said the county can sell a property at public auction “if the tax arrears have not been paid for more than two years.” And, “the municipality may become the owner of the parcel if it is not sold at public auction.” The council set a reserve bid that is “as close as possible to market value,” he told council, at the July 6 regular meeting. The reserve bids are being set now due to the cancellation of council meetings on July 20 and August 17, and employee holiday schedules. “Usually property owners or mortgage companies pay the tax arrears before the sale is actually conducted,” he said. “However, administration must be prepared to hold the public auction in any
event.” Reserve bids were set for properties newly for sale in 2022, plus properties previously listed in a prior year but did not sell. These require a new reserve bid as market values may have changed over last year when they were first offered for sale. If the property sells at public auction, the proceeds are applied to the tax arrears owed to the county. “Any surplus must be set aside and will be transferred to the original landowner if he/she applies for it,” stated Golinowski, under terms of the MGA. The tax sale is scheduled for Thursday, September 8 at the Beaver County Council Chambers.