In early August, I scheduled a face-to-face meeting with Mickey Frost, Director of Works and Operations, and Helen Noehammer, Director of Transportation and Infrastructure Planning, to bring forward some of my concerns and those of affected residents regarding the capital budget and pace of implementation of the Lisgar Flood Mitigation Action Plan. I followed up with Helen by e-mail, asking some additional questions that came out of that meeting. By way of this update, I want to share with you now the pertinent information gleaned from those communications.
Capital Budget
The overall budget for flood mitigation measures approved in the Action Plan has increased from $22 million to $25 million. In the short-term, the scope of some activities has changed so that is why $4.5 million originally earmarked to be spent in 2015 and 2016 was returned for use in future years. In particular, funding for the Storm Sewer Lining works (the first action item in the prioritized list), was originally budgeted to include the lining of manholes, catch basins and catch basin leads in addition to the sewers themselves. It was subsequently decided to first proceed with the lining of the storm sewers alone, as this was expected to have the greatest impact, and then to monitor the effectiveness of this measure. Given the recent storm and flood event on July 14, staff and the consultant are now assessing the effectiveness of Phase 1 of the lining project. Pending this assessment, a decision will be made to either go back and line the manholes and catch basins, continue as is with only lining the sewers in Phase 2, or discontinue the lining works altogether. Funds will be requested through the capital budget process based on the preferred approach.
Pace of Implementation
The action plan from the study report set out the key priorities but did not assign a timeline to them. I have subsequently found out that the action plan was scheduled to be implemented over a 12-year period, which I have told staff is far too long. There are consecutive years where only monitoring is taking place and I have asked that the monitoring segments be significantly shorter. While I recognize the value in evaluating the measures that have been taken before spending additional money (perhaps needlessly), I also made it clear that residents in the area have suffered enough already and solutions need to be implemented at a much quicker pace. Staff have advised me that they are currently preparing a “Revised Action Plan” that will be presented at the community meeting and subsequently to Members of Council for approval.
Additional Items
I will be putting forward a motion to Council to revise the eligibility requirements of the sump pump subsidy so that those who had their pump installed between 2009 and 2015 need not have had the work done by a Mississauga-licensed plumber.
Due to the work involved to prepare the Revised Action Plan, staff have asked that the community meeting be scheduled in mid-October. I am looking to secure a date and location around that timeframe and will advise as soon as these are confirmed.
There is no 10-day limit for flooded residents to submit a claim to Risk Management. A claim can be submitted up to 2 years after the event.
As always, if you have any questions related to this update or the flood mitigation plan in general, please write back or call me anytime.