Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Fort Simpson (Oct 25/02) - More than three years has passed since construction began on Fort Simpson's sewage treatment plant and yet the contractor and subcontractors are still seeking payment.

Cam Marianayagam, president of Yellowknife-based Camillus Engineering Consultants Ltd. (CECL), the contractor on the project, has a $673,000 lien in place against the sewage treatment plant. The village and Marianayagam are disputing the remainder owed to his company and whether some of the work performed was authorized.

Although his lien includes amounts owed to the sub-contractors, a few of the sub-contractors have registered liens of their own.

Several sub-contractors have outstanding invoices for tens of thousands of dollars each.

Last June, Marianayagam also filed a $2.1 million statement of claim seeking damages against the village and its former mayor and senior administrative officer.

Marianayagam switched law firms handling the damages suit over the summer. He said he felt a larger, Toronto-based firm would have greater experience and capacity in executing a case involving allegations that include conspiracy, breach of confidence, bad faith and abuse of public office.

Otherwise, little has changed in the status of the liens and lawsuit.

"It's just sitting there like a piece of (expletive) in the yard. We know it's there but we don't have a shovel to pick it up with yet," Fort Simpson Mayor Tom Wilson said, adding that the village keeps trying to find ways to get the sub-contractors paid.

Village council had talked of freeing up $200,000 in insurance money last December, but CECL and the subcontractors would have had to fight for their piece of that money.

That figure later rose to $400,000, according to Marianayagam, but he said even that "doesn't go far enough.

"If they think that... we're going to walk away with 60 cents on the dollar, not a chance," he said. "If (the village) hadn't spent $300,000 in legal costs, they could pay us everything we're owed."

The $1.8 million sewage treatment plant had been plagued with various mechanical problems since it began operation. The village was even dumping raw sewage into the Mackenzie River earlier this year due to a malfunction.

However, effluent reports have been favourable over the past few months, Wilson noted. He added that with the coordination of some computer-operated equipment, the plant's performance should continue to improve.