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Vegreville Mayor Drops $1.3 Million Bombshell
Vegreville Mayor Drops $1.3 Million Bombshell
Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser
On Oct. 16 Vegreville Mayor Tim MacPhee told members of council that the John S. Batiuk Water Commission had launched a $1.3 million lawsuit against the Capital Region Northeast Water Services Commission (CRNWSC).
MacPhee said they had put a previous lawsuit on pause in the courts hoping to find some resolution. “We’ve tried mediation, we’ve tried everything.” He went on to say, “They, (CRNWSC) countersued us, but they dropped their suit because the money was sitting in a trust with their lawyer which happens to be Brownlee.
In our contract, in our water supply agreement, it says if there can’t be any resolution to the problems, you have to go to the Utilities Commission and our lawyers have been holding off for about two years now, not wanting to go there, but that’s where we’re going right now.”
MacPhee also stated that members of the CRNWSC voted to include capital costs and capital reserve built into the water rate that it charges the Town of Vegreville. “They want us to pay 30 percent of the bills of Sturgeon County, Gibbons, Redwater, and it’s their waterline that goes up even further than that; and they expect our residents to pay this even though the province put this deal together and paid them for the capacity for the Vegreville Water Commission and we have ownership of that fill line.”
He also said that CRNWSC also want to charge the Town of Vegreville 30 percent of their manager’s wages. “I know all of the councillors from the municipalities that sit on that board. They broke the law again, knowing full well what this legal agreement says.”
MacPhee also advised that he would be going to those member municipalities to “take them to task” on the code of conduct and would be writing letters to the mayors and reeves of those municipalities as well as going public on the matter.
Planning and Development Director Dale Lefebvre told members of council the average for about the last seven years has been about 2.1 percent and it would be 21.7 percent. Lefebvre said it was a big increase that was being projected for 2025 and noted that EPCOR was also increasing its rates.
At the Oct. 28 council meeting, MacPhee said he met with the legal team for the John S. Batiuk Water Commission on Oct. 22 and it was confirmed they would be going to the Alberta Utilities Commission to air its grievance against the CRNWSC. “We have, through Court of Kings Bench, put a stay in our lawsuit, the $1.3 million lawsuit against the other commission.”
MacPhee said they were still holding back monies in a trust fund until CRNWSC can reconcile what they are charging the John S. Batiuk for. “Hopefully, in the next two months that we will be getting in front of the utilities board to hear our case.”
