• A Loyalist Township firm has been awarded a $603,893 tender to conduct surface road surface spot repair but the scope of the ad hoc road rehab will not be what council envisioned when they added $300,000 to the 2023 Surface maintenance budget line back in March.

During budget deliberations, council voted to create a $622,000 spot surface repair program that would be utilized for reinstatement of hard-top surfaces following culvert work as well as spot repairs for hard-top (surface treatment or asphalt) to rectify deficiencies such as wheel track rutting, edge cracking/break-up, cross culvert reflections, etc.

“Spot repairs are utilized for localized areas of surface defects, to improve the general condition of the roadway, extend its lifecycle and reduce cold patch maintenance quantities (labour and material),” Construction & Technical Services Supervisor Tanya Redden wrote in her report supporting the motion to award the tender to Kiley Paving Ltd.

However, the approved work and its scope  is about half of what County staff was expecting for when they tendered the project in July. Kiley Paving was the only firm to partake in the process and their original bid for the repair work listed in the tender was $1.311 million before HST.

In order to meet the approved operating budget amount, the schedule of quantities was reduced after a discussion between the County and the firm.

Locations of the work to be completed by Kiley include areas Victoria Rd., Fry Rd and Wellington Main St.

In lieu of contracted road repair services, the municipality’s road works crew will take on work in Fenwood Gardens while work on Gore Rd and County Rd. 8 will be deferred until 2024.

Part of the approved motion also included wording that Staff be directed to prepare a multi-year plan for road surface spot repairs for Council review as part of the 2024 Operating Budget discussions.

• A bylaw approved by Prince Edward County council Tuesday night will allow lease-hold home or condo owners who meet the income threshold to take advantage of a new version of the County’s Municipal Financial Relief Program.

Members of the Wellington-on-the-Lake community came before council last month citing unfairness with the municipality’s low income tax relief program. The structure of the existing program made residents who paid their property taxes to a third party ineligible for property tax relief that would provide a $750 tax credit should applicants meet the program parameters and income threshold.

Council authorized staff to utilize $50,000 in unspent funds in the Reserve for Year-End Carry Forwards-Operating to fund the one-time tax relief grant program for lease-hold home and condo owners. The Financial Relief Program Leasehold program approved by Council Tuesday will be ancillary to the original program for homeowners who pay their taxes directly to the County or through a mortgage company.