LIIDLII KUE/FORT SIMPSON
With Fort Simpson's annual budget recently approved, Mayor Darlene Sibbeston says she's happy with the village's focus on infrastructure for the coming year.

Fort Simpson's village council has passed its operations and maintenance budget as well as its capital plan. - April Hudson/NNSL photo

"I think it's a good budget. We've done a lot of work with our capital (plan) and we've taken a lot of things into consideration here," Sibbeston said.

While the operations and maintenance budget is ordinary, Sibbeston said the village council put a lot of time into going through its capital plan and looking at what projects need to be done this year.

Chief among those is a project to tear up the ground along Antoine Drive and replace aging water and sewer pipes as well as curb stops. That will get underway this spring, Sibbeston said.

That project is currently out for tender. The work will include replacement of water and sewer mains, earthwork associated with excavation, backfill and compaction, and drainage improvements as well as chip sealing of the road once the utilities work is completed.

According to the revised capital plan, which was approved in November, the 2017 budget includes $20,000 for curb stop replacements and more than $1.8 million for water distribution infrastructure. In 2018, just under $2.1 million will be spent on water distribution infrastructure.

Additionally, in 2019, the village has allocated $500,000 for chipseal on Antoine Drive.

"It's long overdue," Sibbeston said, adding that on some parts of Antoine Drive, the pipes date back more than 40 years.

"It's time the village started looking at that type of infrastructure, because it's really been ignored for too long, in my opinion."

Sibbeston said another infrastructure highlight for 2017 will be breaking ground on the village's planned fitness centre.

Councillors recently approved the drawings for that project. Earlier in 2016, the village was approved for $559,500 in funding for that project under the federal Small Communities Fund.

Sibbeston said the village would be contributing $186,000 out of its CPI dollars toward that project as well.

"We had a lot of feedback that this is something the community needs and wants and we had the space to do it, so it made sense," Sibbeston said.

She hopes the new building will create a draw for people who want to live and work in the North. The building will also include a space for youth.

"We're not running programs there, it's just a space. What we want to do is collectively, as a community, come together and figure out what is the best option for this space, with the youth in mind," she said.

Other capital projects for 2017 include a cleanup at the landfill and removal of metals in order to increase the longevity of the landfill.

The village will also be moving ahead with an overhaul of the heating system in the recreation centre, which has already begun.