By Erin Knutson

The City of Fernie continues its search for a contractor to rehabilitate the Fairy Creek Reservoir after unanimously voting in council chambers to re-tender the project early next year.

“We put out a tender for repairs to the exterior and interior structure and to reinforce the
concrete wall in August,” said Project Engineer Joanna Line.

According to Line's report to Mayor Nic Milligan and the council, a sole bid reviewed by
Associated Engineering Alberta Ltd. was received and, based on its findings, suggested
rejection upon unmet criteria and a price tag that far exceeded the proposal’s budget of
$922,000.

“The recommendation is to reject the tender; the next step is to re-tender early in the new year, put more eyes on it and get better and more reasonable pricing,” said Line.

A decision to re-tender instead of extending the bid also included additional work requests to the reservoir outside the original proposal and an increased budget to meet new costs.

Councillors Kyle Hamilton, Harsh Ramadass and Troy Nixon voiced concerns over Line’s request, questioning why the outcome would differ in January 2024.

“We could go out to tender on the timeline. I want to change the invitation to tender, craft it a bit more and ask for some additional money for tender, budget new piping electrical upgrades, and the beginning of the new year is better timing for work schedules,” said Line.

The project engineer also met Coun. Hamilton’s inquiry over infrastructure safety with the delay in the project.

“There is no risk of catastrophic failure,” Line said.

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