The Mayor’s Blog

The most recent hearing and update regarding the court order directing Dawson to build secondary sewage treatment was held today via teleconference. The courtroom in Dawson was connected to Judge Lilles in Vancouver and the courtroom in Whitehorse along with counsel on both sides. Looking at the gallery I was dismayed to see hardly any representation from those who initiated the hoopla and referendum that ultimately stopped work on the lagoon project.

Dawson is named in the court order, yet there appear to be many chefs stirring the same broth. This makes it difficult to arrive at a sustainable solution to the challenge before us. But it will be done, as I said in court today Dawson is committed to finding a way to remedy the problem.

Judge lilles expressed concern that another referendum could scuttle a new project in the future prompting direction from his honour to develop more fully the mechanical plant (SBR) option. Of course, citizens may raise objection to that as well. Which makes one wonder whether it’s such a good idea to allow referendums to influence matters before the court.

The City of Dawson requested that the next court update be held in Dawson. This session will likely deal with the ongoing fallout from the referendum and what steps if any will be taken by the City to remedy our secondary wastewater treatment as ordered by the court.

The Judge and counsel for both sides will attend via teleconference in the Territorial Courtroom. This is a valuable opportunity for everyone who voted in the referendum to continue to express their involvement and concern for this issue by being present at this hearing on Tuesday May 6 at 1:00 pm.

In the great hall - Association of Yukon Communities AGM

Last weekend I attended the 2008 AGM for the Association of Yukon Communities in Haines Junction, accompanied by Paul Moore our Chief Administrative Officer. This year’s theme focused on intergovernmental relationships, a topic that will always remain prominent at all levels of government.

Guest speakers included Minister of Community Services Glenn Hart, Member of Parliament Larry Bagnell, Chief of the Teslin Tlingit Council Eric Morris, Leader of the Official Opposition Arthur Mitchell and Steve Cardiff speaking on behalf of the NDP. Gord Steeves the president of the Canadian Federation of Municipalities also spoke.

The keynote speaker was Paul Born from Ontario who put everyone through their paces in order to get a grip on the erosion of community in Canada, although he must have sensed that many of the negative societal developments happening back east have yet to evolve in the Yukon.

Deryck Hockley LAC Chair from the Ibex Valley with Bev Buckway, AYC President and Mayor of Whitehorse.

Guess the real purpose of these big get-togethers, beyond the ‘taking care of business’ end of things is to become closer with one another as representatives of communities in the Yukon. I know it sounds mushy but I really do think of us as a family working towards common objectives lending each other support when needed. We represent much of the population in the Territory and consequently have the ability to express a common voice and give direction to the Territorial Government. To their credit YTG has responded to many of our resolutions in the past, including substantial increases to our Consolidated Grants and the smoke free places act that has just passed.

Nancy Moore - Mayor of Watson Lake, with Paul Moore - Dawson CAO and Cory Bellmore - CAO for the Village of Carmacks.

And don’t let me forget Mayor Fred Shields from Haines Alaska. He made the trek to our AGM in Dawson last year and again this year to Haines Junction. It’s always a pleasure to see him and hang out. I only wish we had a greater connection with other Alaskan municipalities.

Gordon Van Tighem the Mayor of Yellowknife and President of the Northwest Territories Association of Communities was also present.

And of course the YTG government was well represented including outgoing Deputy Minister of Community Affairs Marc Tremblay who received a bit of ‘roast’ at our banquet, somehow his coveted Montreal Canadiens necktie got taken away and auctioned for a princely sum. Our new ADM for Community Affairs Ron McMillan also attended along with Director Cynthia Tucker.

Ultimately, it was a great weekend and another opportunity to express solidarity as an association.

Right across the street from the convention centre is this museum that apparently is never open.

For some time it has been Dawson Council’s desire to hold a town hall meeting. Last night we had a great turnout at the Y.O.O.P. hall with lots of discussion and feedback from 30 or so citizens who attended. Given the other activities in town along with NHL playoff season our meeting was a success.

Council was able to present the town’s new budget and underscore our healthy financial position. We also expect straight ‘A’s from our auditors in the forthcoming management letter.

Topics discussed centered around waste water treatment and the recreation complex. Both issues have been on the table for a long time and council heard most say that we need to work with what we have rather than push for what appears to be expensive options in terms of the rec facility.

Another opinion suggested abandonment of the existing building and start construction on a new facility to be built in stages over a number of years.

In regard to the hockey rink, save one person, there was general acceptance that artificial ice wasn’t going to be a reality in the near future.

There was agreement that the existing facility should be fixed up and brought up to speed with an eye to opening the upstairs to be used as a youth centre. Minister Hart’s promised contribution of 4 million over the next few years for that along with other deficiencies was acknowledged.
Others expressed the idea that our community should receive our fair share of money that comes to the Territory from Canada and be allowed to exercise more self-determination on how to spend it.

Questions were asked regarding summer housing for transient workers which lead to discussion about the housing study that was completed last year. This is an issue that council will have to address in one form or another.

I just read the release from Minister Taylor regarding the American Bus Association list of the top 100 events in North America. The Dawson City Music Festival is in that list! Here’s the link.

Who would have thunk it, way back in 1979 when we were going around town asking for support. One of Dawson’s great attributes is a willingness to reserve judgment and give everything a try, even if it’s a bunch of young kids wanting to start a summer music festival. Now it’s one of Dawson’s biggest economic drivers, although that is really a spin-off effect of wanting to hear some great music in an outdoor setting.

All the best to DCMF producer Tim Jones and all the volunteers for the big three -oh coming up this summer. And keep the accolades coming.

It is a cliché to say that one of the attractions of life in a small community like Dawson is the familiarity of pretty well knowing everyone around you, either by name or appearance. Just the same, one can take comfort in knowing that if mugged on our streets at night you will likely know who the assailant was. Of course, that’s a ridiculous proposition and not likely to happen but does bring into question the new Federal Post Office requirement that patrons show identification when picking up mail, even if you live in Timbuktu.

Our friends at the local post office outlet have been serving us over the counter for decades. Some of them know every box number associated with every name and face in town. If a drifter came in off the street asking for my mail, do you think they would hand it over, identification or not?

Now Dawson citizens have to accept the absurdity of showing their driver’s license to a postal employee who has known you on a first name basis for the last 25 years. This is a prime example of another Crown Corporation that rewards its executive classes with cash incentives and expensive vacations for making stupid policy decisions while foisting silly annoyances on to the public that pays their salaries.

As the saga of the lagoon continues and we await word from the courts and decisions from the political higher-ups I thought I’d preserve my sanity by agreeing to mount an exhibit at Bombay Peggy’s. It’s nice to surrender oneself to the creative muse and focus on making art. In this show I will display about 18 photos of portraits I’ve taken over the years. It opens Thursday March 13th at around 7:00 pm so drop by if you can and take in the other opening across the street at the Odd Gallery as well.

Here’s one of the images from the show.

Title: Jim

I’ve removed and archived some of my postings leading up to the referendum where I put forward arguments in favour of a no vote. At this point there really is no purpose in continuing to publish those opinions any longer. Town council is anxious to move in a direction that will respect the wishes of the citizens as expressed in the results of the referendum.

There will be a concerted effort to collectively find a solution to this problem working with all levels of government and the courts.

And now, on to better and greater things!

When trying to imagine a sewage lagoon most people conjure up an image of greasy solids bobbing up and down in a large pond brimming with a chunky brine. They imagine all kinds of other dross, like tampons and wads of toilet paper swimming around in a big fetid slop.

This graphic description is simply not true, the opposite is true.

All sewage will continue to be screened at the screening plant. The diluted effluent is then piped to the lagoon where it is subjected to a continual injection of oxygen by several 100 horsepower blowers, quickly beginning a process of breaking down the contaminants and preventing the effluent from becoming sceptic.

All are invited to go inside the existing screening plant now and see for themselves the quality of effluent that will be sent to the lagoon pond. You will notice a slight odor but nothing that requires a respirator mask and you will see that the actual effluent is much like running water with silt in it as it pours out of the force-main.

The idea that there will be a pool of toxic and acrid smelling human waste festering in a lagoon somewhere is not true. Anyone who says otherwise is trying to mislead and misinform.

In fact, the large pie shaped cell (below) in our configuration contains water that can be stocked with fish. Some municipalities with larger cells in their lagoon layout use the third pond as a float plane base.

We need to overcome our fears and misunderstandings about this technology. It takes a bit of effort to grasp, but it’s well worth the effort.

Let us comply with the court order while considering what is best for the whole community and build at the preferred location at lot 1059.

Objections raised to this wastewater solution are often based on emotional misconceptions and not founded on reality. Therein lies the difficulty in convincing people that in ten years time the whole issue will drop off everyone’s radar and few will be able to answer the question; “How does Dawson treat its wastewater and where is the facility?”

Call me old fashioned if you will, I tend to respect the laws of the land, especially when they are presented as a directive in the form of a court order. I’m referring to the requirement that Dawson build a secondary wastewater treatment plant.

In 2003 Dawson plead guilty to violating the fisheries act and was directed to construct a treatment plant by 2005. This order was varied with 2008 set as the new completion date. Now we are entertaining yet another variance with 2010 or 2011 as the new target.

As I’ve said before, Judge Lilles is sensitive to the complexities surrounding this issue. I believe he doesn’t want to force an unreasonable remedy onto Dawson. At the same time he has an obligation to uphold the integrity of his court order.

To complicate matters further a Canada-wide Strategy for the Management of Municipal Wastewater Effluent is soon to be adopted as a new and improved approach to solving these issues.

All Canadian municipalities will be required to treat effluent with secondary treatment within thirty years. So, it begs the question; why can’t Dawson be granted the same time to comply? Environment Canada will say that we have had twenty five years already and the court is likely to say the judgment will be upheld based on existing legislation at the time of the offense.

It’s too bad that things have turned out this way because the best case scenario might be eluding us. Would it make sense to consider a recirculating system to keep our infrastructure from freezing up instead of the wasteful bleeders that are employed now?

The down-side is the cost of retooling the whole town’s piping (18 - 20 M) and the inconvenience of having the streets dug up along with some plumbing changes in residences and businesses.

The up-side result is a less intrusive and more affordable approach to wastewater management, not to mention the conservation of water.

The reason why we have to accept either the existing lagoon or SBR plant configuration is based on the flow of water and not necessarily the flow of effluent. The volume of water that passes through our system is equal to that of a town of 6,000 people, and that’s with metered bleeders. Imagine what it was before they were installed.

So, the most sensible approach would have been to find a way to conserve water in our system and then apply the appropriate methodology to treat the waste.