View - The Municipality of Lambton Shores

Attachment 2 - Draft Letter of Invite to MP Bev Shipley and MPP Monte
McNaughton
MP Bev Shipley
Lambton-Kent Middlesex Riding
380 Albert Street, Box 141
Strathroy, Ontario N7G 3J1
Monte McNaughton, M.P.P.
Lambton Kent Middlesex
81 Front Street West
Strathroy, Ontario
N7G 1X6
Dear Sir:
As you are aware, the Municipality of Lambton Shores, along with the Municipalities of
South Huron and Bluewater, submitted a funding application to Building Canada for the
expansion and upgrading of the Grand Bend Sewage Treatment Facility. A mediated
agreement was developed, and a Joint Board comprised of members from all municipal
partners was formed and was working toward the completion the project.
In December of 2011, the two other partners in the project advised that they were not
interested in proceeding with the project as originally proposed, which was their right
under the mediated agreement. The agreement also allowed for any remnant
municipality to have 30 days to consider the implications of the withdrawal of any
partner.
After considering the options available to it, the Municipality of Lambton Shores, on
January 30, 2012 made a motion to reconsider the resolution to proceed with the
building of a “full build double train Orbal sewage treatment plant”, and asked that more
cost effective solutions to those proposed in the mediated agreement be investigated. A
technical working committee was struck with representatives from both the Municipality
of South Huron and Lambton Shores, (Bluewater declined to participate) and this
working committee has been diligently reviewing alternatives available, and will be
delivering a final report no later than August 31, 2012.
In February of this year, the Lambton Shores’ Council met with a representative from
the Building Canada Fund – Communities Component and reviewed the status of the
project and was assured that alternatives that meet the original criteria and goals could
be submitted for consideration by the Building Canada “oversight committee”. It was
also noted that any alternative proposed would need to meet the original project
completion date of March 31, 2016.
Recently, the municipality received a “staff to staff” piece of correspondence in which
the Joint Secretariat expressed concerns about the status of the project. The letter
asked the municipality to confirm its intent 171to
proceed with the project as originally