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Eckville council meeting highlights

The Eckville town council gathered on the evening of Jan. 24 for a ‘short and sweet’ meeting, said Mayor Colleen Ebden. The council discussed the verbal Management Report, the 2022 Municipal Law Seminars, and town participation at the Red Deer Home Show 2022.
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Town of Eckville/ Facebook image

The Eckville town council gathered on the evening of Jan. 24 for a ‘short and sweet’ meeting, said Mayor Colleen Ebden. The council discussed the verbal Management Report, the 2022 Municipal Law Seminars, and town participation at the Red Deer Home Show 2022.

The council was presented with a verbal Management Report outlining a recent water control system error. Last Saturday morning at 1 a.m. some glitches with the backup generator and program issues with restarting of the water distribution pumps resulted in the system shutting down, said town CAO Jack Ramsden. The contractor and team lead were able to make changes to the programming and resolve the issue, he added. Ramsden said they will continue to monitor the system and make further program tweaks as required.

“We have redone the water treatment plant, we upgraded it, we put in new computers, and our program wasn’t programmed how we like it and so there was a bit of an issue with the water on Saturday morning. Nothing major happened, we had clean water,” said Ebden.

The town is in the final stages of switching from the 35-year-old control system to the new updated computer-controlled system, said Ramsden. The project contractor is Crossroads Energy Solutions Inc. and it is being funded through the joint Provincial Federal ICIP Grant Program.

“The project involves installing a new 175kw backup generator, the installation of a new PLC (computer) which will control the water treatment and water distribution system, new electrical panels, variable frequency drives (VFDs) on our water distribution pumps, meters on our well pumps, a new chlorine injection system and a new more efficient bulk water truck fill system.

“Our old water tower, which still stands beside our water treatment plant and reservoir (500,000 gallons) which were constructed in 1986. Much of the 1986 plant will still be used, but as noted above the system will have a new computer control system which can be remotely operated and which will not provide our utility operators with backup data on various components of the system,” said Ramsden.

It will still be a few weeks until the new system is fully commissioned.

Unable to attend the Red Deer Home Show during the time of COVID, Ebden hopes the town can join next year. “Hopefully next year we will be able to attend the show. We have a map of the residential lots that we have for sale and we’ve actually had a lot of people enquire about it,” said Ebden.

In an effort to keep attendees and the team safe, the Reynolds Mirth Richards and Farmer Municipal Law Seminar 2022 has pivoted online.