City to foot bill for Dairy Queen extension, talk about billing later
Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services
NNSL (Jul 29/98) - We'll pay for it now, and worry about the bills later.
That was the position city council took Monday on the servicing deal for the proposed Dairy Queen.
Monday night the city agreed to pay $153,300 to extend water mains to a Range Lake lot owned by Seamus Henry.
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Marathon meeting Council's regular Monday meeting ran overtime, and then some. After several public presentations and extended debate on the Dairy Queen issue, council adjourned the meeting at 11:20 p.m., agreeing to reconvene at 6 p.m. the following evening. The delay postponed decisions on the proposed Super 8 motel, a $1.4-million partnering request from the Yellowknife Catholic School Board, and requests for $10,000 and $1,000 donations for St. John Ambulance and the Yellowknife coast guard auxiliary respectively. On the water, in camera The houseboat lawsuit resurfaced once again Monday, but behind closed doors. At the prompting of Coun. Bob Brooks, Mayor Dave Lovell said the purpose of an in camera session Monday was to discuss two issues: the houseboat lawsuit and legal concerns about a radio services contract the city terminated. Super 8 petition Residents of the Frame Lake South neighborhood the Super 8 hotel chain wants into don't want the 66-room hotel in their backyard. Resident Cheryl Moses presented a petition opposing the four-storey hotel, saying it contained signatures of 25 of her Butler Road and Warden Crescent neighbors who don't want the project to go ahead. Vintage Beaumont Retired territorial bureaucrat Robin Beaumont presented a scathing criticism of the Dairy Queen deal. Beaumont said an agreement that Dairy Queen developer and Yellowknife MLA Seamus Henry lobbied for contravenes a section of the Cities Towns and Villages Act, which Henry, as an MLA, is bound to uphold. The section forbid exemptions from city taxes or other charges.
"I am sure if anyone had pointed out to Seamus that this sweetheart deal would mean his business would be subsidized by all other business men in town trying to make an honest buck, Seamus would have dropped the whole thing like a hot brazier," Beaumont told council.
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The Yellowknife South MLA appeared at the meeting with his lawyer, Gerry Phillips, who said it would be "highly unfair" for the city to back-track on a memorandum of understanding signed by its director of public works.
The May 19 MOU commits the city to covering the costs of extending water and sewer mains to Henry's property. The document, which overturned a decision by the previous council to cover only $50,000 of the project, was never approved or even discussed by council.
For Henry, however, that was not an issue. "How they dealt with their masters, I was leaving that up to them," he said.
Phillips told council that backing out of the agreement now would ruin Henry's plans for the property, which has already cost him $2 million.
"There is no room to finance another $150,000 for water and sewer costs," said Phillips.
Mayor Dave Lovell continued to be roundly criticized for the MOU, which he has said was a mistake resulting from a large turnover of senior staff.
"If this was a private company and this was allowed to happen, heads would roll," said Coun. David Ramsay.
Coun. Kevin O'Reilly chastised Lovell for not providing any solutions to the problem.
The city has received two legal opinions on how binding the MOU is -- the first did not provide them with enough guidance.
"He has legal grounds to sue us for damages and rightly so," said Coun. Bob Brooks. "Either we go with the intent of the MOU, or a larger amount later, with damages."
Brooks argued for a solution that would honor the MOU and skirt a bylaw that requires the cost of mains be defrayed by users.
Brooks said the city should charge property owners who tap into the main their share of the full cost of installing it. The city would then turn around and refund users in the form of grants.
The suggestion was defeated by a vote of 4-3.
Council then accepted Coun. Ben McDonald's alternative -- approve the tender for the job and refer costs for the work back to the committee.
The motion was passed 5-2, with Cheryl Best and Ramsay dissenting.
