By Dominic Abassi

Long-time Nanaimo councillor regrets Colliery Dam decision

Oct 13, 2016 | 11:32 AM

NANAIMO — Veteran Nanaimo city councillor Jim Kipp calls his vote agreeing to the installation of the auxiliary spillway on the lower Colliery Dam one of the worst of his life.

Kipp made the comment at the Oct. 3 council meeting while discussing a staff report outlining all of the costs related to the Colliery Dams. Over the span of about 30 minutes an exasperated Kipp ranted on several occasions about wasted money and the poor job the city and council did handling what he calls a “boondoggle” of a situation.

“I’ll never get sucked in again to vote for the team vote. It was one of the worst things I did…a review of what was done, that’s what I was voting for that day,” said Kipp. “I went along with my team to try and reconcile, to try and get things done and I asked for a real independent investigation and I got squelched at every level.”

In July 2015 this council voted unanimously to build the spillway. The staff report shows all costs related to the dams since 2012, including construction, engineering, Colliery Dams Select Committee and legal fees are $7.07-million. The final design and construction costs for the spillway itself are expected to be $4.4-million. In Oct. 2012 councillors originally voted in-camera to remove both of the dams entirely. At the time water resources manager Bill Sims said that decision would cost about $7-million.

Kipp expressed disappointment in what he said were 62 different reports on the dams over the last four years. He said it was negligence on the city’s part to not draw the water level in the dam down before any decisions were made in order to study their construction and dimensions. Kipp was also critical of the province for the pressure they put on the city to carry out the remediation work.

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“We have fought bureaucracy. Bureaucracy pushed us into this. We didn’t have the guts to stand up to the province.”

At that point mayor Bill McKay asked Kipp to move on. Kipp refused.

“I don’t get to say my opinion on these reports we keep getting that are flawed. You just seem to accept them. I’m not like you,” said Kipp, as he gazed around the council table. “Sure move on, that’s what you like to do. Just move on, forget the mistakes.”

Council and staff will now turn their attention towards the middle dam, which is under review according to the report. The report states a dam safety risk assessment will be completed with results to be provided in 2017. Future decisions could, according to the report, include steps to reduce the risk of overtopping. Several delegations at the meeting urged council not to repeat what they characterized as mistakes made the first time around.

This year’s budget has set aside $75,000 to review the middle dam.