Spring deadlines

Concern about delays to Thunder Bay’s mutli-million dollar waterfront development project have city officials worried about footing the entire bill after the March deadline.

Tender for work on land north of Pier 3 was set to be awarded during Monday’s council meeting, but has since been withdrawn after the lowest bid came in almost double the $1 million budgeted cost. Council did award one tender but with a reduction of about $514,000 to the original bid of $2,871,502.
The city has awarded nine contracts for the Prince Arthur’s Landing project; excluding the above-mentioned one, four have come back over budget, and four returned on budget.

Prince Arthur’s Landing received a large share of its funding through the federal stimulus spending program, but work must be substantially complete by March 31, 2011 in order to claim it.

City officials say they have two-thirds of the project started as the first phase wraps up.

However, City Manager Tim Commisso expressed concern about the tight deadline on Monday, and said municipalities were ultimately responsible for the project if they didn’t meet their deadlines to get all the tenders approved.

"I think the reality of it is that there is $700 million in projects (across the country) that are still out there and are at risk of not meeting that deadline," Commisso said. "I think what we’re seeing is a recognition that municipalities are kind of holding the bag and they run the risk by not getting their tenders in. The Ontario Premier recognizes that but I haven’t seen anything on the federal level."

Commisso said although the provincial and federal governments are talking about project referrals it didn’t mean that the city should rely on that as an option.
The Ontario government, also concerned about projects not meeting deadlines, started negotiations with the federal Government to try to extend the deadline.
MP Greg Rickford (Con. Kenora) said all three levels of government were equal partners when they started and that municipalities’ should focus on eliminating barriers and challenges from levels of government in an effort to complete those projects.

"I’ve been working hard with a number of municipalities and different stakeholders along with First Nation communities to break down barriers so they can meet those objectives," Rickford said. "I can say in the Kenora riding that we’ve had tremendous success with most of our projects on time and on budget.

"That is what we are focused on. When we get to March, we`ll take an on going look at what we need to do to help them (municipalities) meet those deadlines and evaluate them on a case by case basis there after."
Whether or not the "case-by-case" evaluation meant an extension for the stimulus deadline, Rickford refused to say but did add that the priority and the emphasis is on helping municipalities get their projects completed on time.
MPP Michael Gravelle (Lib. Thunder Bay – Superior North) said the province was aware of the issue municipalities faced and assured that the Ontario government was working to try and negotiate an extended deadline.
"We’ve been very clear, that that projects that are close to completion should have the opportunity to finish," Gravelle said. "That’s the position we’ve taken as the provincial government that we support extensions if they are needed. There will be discussions with the federal government as well."