Duel Of Words Held On 7th Avenue Bridge

It may have just been an election campaign based upon bridge building but for a few moments it looked like a negotiation scene right out of the classic movie “Bridge Over The The River Kwai” as Mayor Fraser Tolmie squared off against local lawyer David Chow about repairing and replacing the 7th Avenue SW Bridge.

Chow attended Council as the legal representative of the Thorn and Avery families who have conducted a public campaign to have the City repair and/or replace the bridge which has been temporarily closed since being damaged by ice in the Spring of 2015.

In their joint presentation property owner Deb Thorn requested the bridge be temporarily repaired with Council moving the bridge’s replacement to the Five Year Capital Budget. At the present time replacing the bridge is not on the Five Year Capital Budget.

Thorn said she was asking Council for a “fair and reasonable solution” to the broken bridge.

She said they were looking for a resolution that is “fair not only for us but the hundreds who use the trails.”

Thorn spoke about a report that was just issued at the start of the meeting - and not made available to all media - that the 7th Avenue SW Bridge “cannot carry its own dead load.”

“It’s good we went through this process so families are safe,” she said.

As part of that report consulting engineering firm Associated Engineering found that the 7th Avenue SW Bridge is not safe to carry its own load let alone the weight of pedestrians and as such the bridge will be closed to not only vehicle but pedestrian traffic as well. The City will be placarding and closing the bridge to all traffic on Tuesday.

Thorn made mention about how the families had tried to get the report on all City bridges prepared by Stantec Engineering but the portion of the document which dealt with the 7th Avenue Bridge had been blacked out.

She then said through MLA Greg Lawrence they were able to obtain the report where “Stantec (Engineering) recommended the 7th Avenue Bridge be repaired as required until it was replaced.”

Property owner Tim Avery presented a cheaper solution to temporarily repairing the bridge. The repair would involve hydrovacing around the damaged pilings and then applying an epoxy to connect to new supports. He said the cost estimate for the repair - that had to be done in the Winter - was $100,000 to $150,000 and much cheaper than the $200,000 plus contingencies estimate from Associated Engineering to demolish the east side of the bridge to make the west side usable.

“It is a small repair cost which will allow the subdivision to proceed,” Avery said.

Carpere Valley Development Corporation is planning a residential development as part of the re-development of the former Valley View Centre lands. It needs to be noted Thorn also serves as a negotiator on behalf of Carpere for the property.

“We are not proposing a 12 percent tax increase,” Thorn said in relation to a question asked by Councillor Heather Eby in a previous item on the agenda where the condition and cost of replacing the bridge was discussed.

She went on to state that there were other sources of funding from other levels of government the City could seek for the bridge and it was unfair for property owners in the area to pay the costs for the new bridge. A bridge she said would be used by hundreds of people and not just local property owners.

Councillor Eby had asked finance director Brian Acker how much of a tax increase replacing the bridge would cost property taxpayers as a way to put the issue into more understandable terms.

Chow reiterated the point that “nobody is suggesting the taxes of the citizens of Moose Jaw would have to increase by 12 percent.”

Councillor Dawn Luhning got into the fray by stating that there was more to the entire issue than people were aware of but she was not prepared to get into all of it.

Councillor Luhning asked where, with a tight budget, could the City come up with the money to replace the bridge. She said there were really only two options to do it - increase taxes or reduce services.

“I am simply asking how do we pay for it?” she said. “You want us to catapult the 7th Avenue Bridge to the top of the list.”

Chow typified the comments as “inflammatory.”

“It is very different on that side than in this seat,” Councillor Luhning said. “It does take something else out of the capital budget to find the funds.”

At this point Councillor Jamey Logan, as chair of the Committee of the Whole, cut off Chow as it was not a debate.

Councillor Logan then said the delegation - which has now appeared in two consecutive Council meetings - had approached the issue with “guns ablazing.” An advertisement in the Moose Jaw Express newspaper after the election was mentioned.

“You can work with the group but don’t come in guns ablazing with a legal group,” Councillor Logan said.

Mayor Fraser Tolmie entered the debated presentation by stating the difference between in-camera and secret meetings and how the secret ones had not occurred as the delegation had been saying.

“There has been inflammatory comments made and it is not the best way to start off with this Council,” Mayor Tolmie said. “I really hope the tone changes in the future.”

The Mayor requested an apology.

Chow replied he was open for debate.

“I’m happy to debate that with you whenever you like,” Chow said, adding “we are happy to have this debate with you.”

Regarding the requested apology Chow replied “apologize for what?…Mr Tolmie I am prepared to have this debate with you.”

Mayor Tolmie responded “Are you prepared to bring forth an apology to our Administration?”

Chow replied “Absolutely not.”

In an unanimous 6 - 0 vote Council received and filed the presentation.