During a March 12 special meeting, Thompson city council, minus an absent Kathy Valentino and yet-to-be-sworn-in Andre Proulx, voted unanimously to purchase three new pumps for the Riverside sewage lift station for a grand total of $238,861.44.
Harkamaljeet Singh Gill, the city’s director of development services, said this purchase is a necessity since the current pumps are at the end of their lifecycle and need to be replaced. He went on to say that this replacement is especially important since the Riverside lift station is part of their ongoing project to construct a new sewage treatment plant, which is expected to start receiving water by the end of April.
Gill recommended that the city should buy the pumps directly from the manufacturer Xylem, whose pumps are the only ones that meet the specifications set out by design engineers Stantec, because the purchase would help them avoid mark-up costs of around $90,000.
City manager Anthony McInnis said the city will be reimbursed for 66.6 per cent of the cost through the Manitoba Water Services Board.
Councillors Les Ellsworth and Brian Lundmark described the purchase as a “no-brainer” because of the savings and technological upgrade the city will get in return.
The next council meeting is March 18 at 7 p.m.
