Mr. Paul has not provided a written copy of the comments that he presented at the Q&A section of the January 6, 2020 Committee of the Whole. Lacking a written record his responses have been paraphrased and shortened for inclusion below. We will update as required if Mr. Paul decides to provide written comments to Council and the CTA. His entire verbal presentation is available at https://youtu.be/DWKNgzvldwg?t=8120
Item from CTA Delegation
Response from Derek Paul
The report was approved by Lakefront’s board in December of 2018 and then languished on someone’s desk for a year, The loan request was then was sprung on Cobourg’s Council over the holidays for approval at the January 6 Council meeting.
There were a number of reasons that the request did not come before council until today. We did not have the resources to project manage this initiative in 2019 as we were focused on the Strathy Water Tower and other projects. Nothing is being done under a cloak of darkness or some sinister plan as the CTA insinuated.
There is no indication that there was a tender for this $2.3M project.
LUSI followed their procurement policy.
Many existing meters have been in service for 30 to over 50 years. Will the replacement meters last as long?
Most of the meters in question are over 30 years old and over 20% are over 50 years old. The new meters are warranted for 20 years and they have a useful life of 30 years.
The loan amortization information in the report understates the loan cost by about $200K.
There is a possibility that the loan terms could be changed.
The report contains numerous errors and should be reissued with appropriate corrections.
Our water staff are the experts with a total of 160 years of experience.
The proposed system will cost over $525K to install and will incur annual operating costs of $52K. The current operating costs are $60,485.
The new system will save over $50K each year.
Lakefront should be asked to investigate the feasibility of alternatives to discarding current meters. Repairing instead of discarding would reduce Cobourg’s footprint and is an important step towards a sustainable future. Cobourg could serve as an example to other Ontario towns that are considering the economics of repair versus discarding and buying new.
It is cheaper to replace rather than repair an old meter…in this modern era. Repairing an old meter is simply ridiculous and makes no sense whatsoever. I take offense at the suggestion that Lakefront is not an environmentally conscious organization. Neptune recycles the old meters in every way possible.
Cobourg businesses will pay over $114K more for their water.
Yes, businesses will pay more but they will get accurate bills and can review their usage at 15 minute intervals.
Did Lakefront verify the information provided by Neptune sales staff? Verification is not mentioned in the report.
Of course LUSI verified the information and to suggest that a Neptune salesman might try to put something over on LUSI is disrespectful.
According to their 2018 audited financial statement LUSI made a profit of $982,634 in 2018.
LUSI operates as a non-profit system.
Borrowing $2.3M to replace all meters will result in a $193K discount while costing $800K in additional interest charges.
Not mentioned by Mr. Paul.
The report was approved by Lakefront’s board in December of 2018 and then languished on someone’s desk for a year, The loan request was then was sprung on Cobourg’s Council over the holidays for approval at the January 6 Council meeting.
There were a number of reasons that the request did not come before council until today. We did not have the resources to project manage this initiative in 2019 as we were focused on the Strathy Water Tower and other projects. Nothing is being done under a cloak of darkness or some sinister plan as the CTA insinuated.
There is no indication that there was a tender for this $2.3M project.
LUSI followed their procurement policy.
Many existing meters have been in service for 30 to over 50 years. Will the replacement meters last as long?
Most of the meters in question are over 30 years old and over 20% are over 50 years old. The new meters are warranted for 20 years and they have a useful life of 30 years.
The loan amortization information in the report understates the loan cost by about $200K.
There is a possibility that the loan terms could be changed.
The report contains numerous errors and should be reissued with appropriate corrections.
Our water staff are the experts with a total of 160 years of experience.
The proposed system will cost over $525K to install and will incur annual operating costs of $52K. The current operating costs are $60,485.
The new system will save over $50K each year.
Lakefront should be asked to investigate the feasibility of alternatives to discarding current meters. Repairing instead of discarding would reduce Cobourg’s footprint and is an important step towards a sustainable future. Cobourg could serve as an example to other Ontario towns that are considering the economics of repair versus discarding and buying new.
It is cheaper to replace rather than repair an old meter…in this modern era. Repairing an old meter is simply ridiculous and makes no sense whatsoever. I take offense at the suggestion that Lakefront is not an environmentally conscious organization. Neptune recycles the old meters in every way possible.
Cobourg businesses will pay over $114K more for their water.
Yes, businesses will pay more but they will get accurate bills and can review their usage at 15 minute intervals.
Did Lakefront verify the information provided by Neptune sales staff? Verification is not mentioned in the report.
Of course LUSI verified the information and to suggest that a Neptune salesman might try to put something over on LUSI is disrespectful.
According to their 2018 audited financial statement LUSI made a profit of $982,634 in 2018.
LUSI operates as a non-profit system.
Borrowing $2.3M to replace all meters will result in a $193K discount while costing $800K in additional interest charges.
Not mentioned by Mr. Paul.
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