(Submitted photo/City of North Battleford)

By Angela Brown

Still within budget

Council learns water tower lights installation now costs more

Nov 16, 2023 | 1:26 PM

North Battleford city council heard that the new water tower lights installation now costs about $45,000 more than originally agreed upon.

Administration raised the issue at council’s meeting earlier this week.

Part of the cost increase was due to a faulty part.

James Johansen, Director of Engineering, Planning, Asset Management and Infrastructure, said more of the lights needed to be installed. The higher cost is also related to issues with the railings on the water tower.

According to Johansen’s report, the original total cost including taxes was $120,347. The final total cost to also include the additional equipment and installation ended up being $165,775 with taxes, a difference of $45,428.

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However, even with the extra costs the project is still under the city’s $200,000 budget.

The city purchased new LED lights from BL Lighting to be installed on the water tower. Xtremeaxis Inc. installed the lights on the tower and during the installation, workers ran into a number of unexpected issues that increased the scope of work.

Initially, the lights were to be directly mounted to the railing of the tower. However, this was not possible, so the contractor needed to install what are called “standoffs” to resolve the issue.

City Manager Randy Patrick said as a result the project was more expensive than expected when the installation work was done.

He also noted the city aimed to meet a deadline to have the lights installed and was able to do that. The lights were installed in time to commemorate September 30 – the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

Coun. Bill Ironstand asked whether the project has been inspected now that it’s completed.

“Do we have extra lights in case some fall off?” he added.

Johansen said the city doesn’t have spare lights for the project because they weren’t ordered with the package. The lights on the tower now are rigidly installed and are different from the old tower lights. The lighting and wiring were all done by an electrician.

He added that city workers aren’t able to go up on the water tower to inspect it because of safety reasons.

“I believe the work was done properly, but I will double-check the inspections,” Johansen added.

Patrick mentioned the city can use a drone to inspect the lights.

“If we can’t get people to get up on top easily, we can look at the whole project that way as well,” he said. “We will do a check on the project as best we can to make sure that it meets the requirements.”

The majority of council voted in favour of paying for the added cost, with only Ironstand opposed.

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Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow