Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Aug 04/00) - While the new sewage treatment plant in Fort Simpson has begun operation, the legal problems have only started.

The facility is mired in a legal struggle over contract holdbacks initiated by the village early in the new year. Mayor Norm Prevost said council withheld payment when they found out liens had been placed on the building against general contractor Camillus Engineering Consulting Ltd. from Yellowknife.

Prevost said the village is seeking a way to try to pay the local contractors directly.

"There are a few contractors in town who are really hurting, because Camillus Engineering hasn't been paying them," he said.

"We found out in January that contractors weren't being paid and all of a sudden a lien was put on the building."

Prevost said the village lawyers reviewed the contract and held back the next payment to CECL until the lien was lifted.

"We were advised not to pay any money out to anyone until all the issues are resolved," Prevost said. "It's up to the general contractor to resolve those liens."

Resolving the stand-off

CECL president Cam Marianayagam said the company and the village are currently locked in a stand-off, but his company is working hard to resolve the outstanding issues.

"We paid our bills when they were due and payable and bills that were included in our invoices to the village will only be paid when the village pays us," Marianayagam said. "We are working hard to have the liens lifted."

He said CECL is in mediation with the village to resolve the payment issues, while they work through arbitration to resolve the major lien against the property, Foothills Systems of Calgary, which says there has been a copyright infringement on software used on the project.

"We feel that a significant amount of their lien is bogus. It's not justifiable, it's a nuisance lien," he said. "We're going through the courts right now to bring that lien down to what it should be."

"It's a lien of just under $400,000 right now. We think it's worth not more than $30,000, but we have to go through the courts to prove that," he said.

Council has no choice

Coun. Duncan Canvin said no one wants to hold the money back, but there is no other recourse for council if the project fails to pass final inspection.

"Council seemed to be in favour of having the contractors paid forthwith, but everyone wants to hear the legal advice," Canvin said.

"The payments to the contractors could certainly come from the holdbacks, but that leaves the village very little insurance. The holdback is used to correct deficiencies if they arise."

He said the payments were made as per contract stipulations until CECL stopped paying the sub-contractors.

"They were paid in incremental periods as time went on," he said. "As time went on and certain goals and objectives were met, they were paid accordingly."

Canvin and the rest of village council toured the treatment plant last Thursday and were all satisfied the project is near complete.

"It looks pretty good," Canvin said. "There are still some small deficiencies that have to be looked at, but by and large, they are treating the sewage."

"The water I saw being discharged into the river was a lot cleaner than water that is normally sucked out of the river."

CECL construction supervisor Jason Bourne, who commissioned a similar plant in Prince Albert, Sask., said the next step is to pass water quality tests.

"We are in the process of commissioning," Bourne said. "Which entails fine-tuning the control loops and adjusting chemical dosages and getting the separation treatment that we want, before we send it out to the river."

He said they hope to be clear for full operation by the end of the month.

"We will start sending test results out to the lab on the sixth of August and it takes about a week for each test result to return," he said. "We're after the deadline of the 21st of August, to turn the operating facet of the plant itself over to the village."

"At the moment, it's looking good."