The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
A city-funded study of the Flin Flon landfill has come in at two and a half times the initial budget. City council voted last year to allot $68,332 for an independent study to examine, among other things, the remaining lifespan of the refuse site. That's far less than the $172,300 that was ultimately paid to consulting firm CH2M Hill for the provincially ordered study. At last week's city council meeting, the final cost of the study was given as approximately $100,000. But that number was based on memory and failed to include over $70,000 required for drilling and to broaden the scope of the study. The city was quick to correct the figure, and explain its error, when The Reminder requested the precise cost. Chief Administrative Officer Mark Kolt said the price tag of the study can be broken down into three stages. The first stage is the initial budget of $68,332. The second stage more than doubled the budget because of the drilling and expanded scope of the study. The third stage saw about $30,000 in cost overruns related to what CH2M called challenges in data collection and field investigation. The study is now complete but council is not discussing the results until the provincial government concludes its review of the findings. In awarding the contract for the study last year, council selected CH2M even though another firm put in a bid that was nearly $22,000 lower. Coun. Skip Martin was alone in his opposition to hiring CH2M. Not only was it the higher bid, he said, but it did not factor in field investigation work. But Coun. Bill Hanson defended the choice of CH2M, saying the other firm's bid was 'only cheaper on paper.' For his part, Coun. Tim Babcock said Director of Works and Operations Rick Bacon 'was more comfortable with' CH2M.
