.

Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A former city councillor is worried the city is not paying enough attention to Giant Mine cleanup plans.

"I was a bit surprised the city didn't make a submission on the draft terms of reference," Kevin O'Reilly told councillors at the priorities, policies and budget committee meeting on Monday.

"I just haven't seen what I'd like to see from the city," said O'Reilly, who manages the Independent Environmental Monitoring Agency, but said he was voicing his concerns as a private citizen.

The Mackenzie Valley Environmental Impact Review Board and the Mackenzie Valley Land and Water Board have submitted draft terms of reference for an environmental assessment of the former gold mine.

There are about 237,000 tonnes of highly toxic arsenic trioxide dust under the site, which is to be frozen underground by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and the GNWT.

The city wants the land cleaned up to meet residential standards while the GNWT and Ottawa have only agreed to restore it to industrial standards.

"I think there are some crucial steps in this process where you might want to look at getting some expertise," he said.

Decisions on issues such as vegetation, fencing and how the site will be maintained over the long term are some of O'Reilly's concerns.

Dennis Kefalas, Yellowknife's public works director, said the city is on an e-mail list from the review boards and is always receiving updates.

The city will consider getting additional expertise if they feel it is required, he said.

O'Reilly previously raised issues with the board's decision to indefinitely freeze and store the arsenic underground.

Radio replacement

Coun. David Wind wants a $2.4-million radio replacement project to improve a pre-existing wireless network in Yellowknife.

"It may be of benefit to the city, to its residents, to invest in a system that everyone has access to," he said in an interview after Monday's council meeting.

Councillors unanimously passed a motion to proceed with the a radio replacement project, which will take three years.

New technical infrastructure, towers and radios will improve the city's ageing radio system used for emergency services and public works employees.

As the city looks for companies to start work on the upgrade, Wind said it would make sense to improve the city's wireless Internet network so regular citizens can benefit - not just ambulance attendants accessing patient information from their vehicles, for example.

Fee increases

Councillors unanimously passed motions to increase city fees, store explosives near a sewage lagoon and update water distribution systems at Monday's Yellowknife city council meeting.

The city will need to reallocate $400,000 from a water treatment plant fund to repair faulty freeze protection systems.

A previous report found nearly 23 per cent of the city's drinking water was wasted by bleeders valves installed to prevent water from freezing.

"That $400,000 will subsequently have to be found somewhere else," said Coun. David Wind.

The bylaw authorizing fee increases means higher costs for city services such as swimming lessons, school rentals, tent rentals and development fees. Most fees are increasing by three per cent.

Councillors also unanimously passed a motion to store dynamite and other explosives alongside the Fiddler's Lake Lagoon.

The explosives used to be stored near the sand pits area until 1990, when city officials worried about its proximity to the Yellowknife Shooting Club.

The new bylaw allows for two separate sites at the lagoon that were previously shared by Dyno Nobel Canada Inc. and Explosives Limited.

Councillors Mark Heyck, Kevin Kennedy and David McCann were absent from the meeting.