Unions want in on $7 million Bellevue Park project

The Ontario Labour Relations Board (OLRB) will be asked to rule on whether members of the Labourers International Union and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters must be used on a $7 million sewer overflow tank being built by the City in Bellevue Park.

Sault Ste. Marie City Council agreed Monday night to award the project to the low bidder, North America Construction (1993) Ltd. of Morriston, Ontario.

But the labourers and carpenters unions are fearful that North America will employ workers who are not members of their bargaining groups, an arrangement they say would violate a 15-year-old OLRB ruling requiring the City to use members of those two unions on particular projects.

All parties agree to seek ruling

Joe Fratesi, the City's chief administrative officer, says the City has obtained a legal opinion that the OLRB ruling does not apply to the Bellevue Park project.

But in view of the union concerns, all parties have agreed to ask the OLRB to rule on the question.

Councillors agreed to adjust the tender price if the contractor is required to employ members of the two unions.

Fratesi told SooToday.com that he's hopeful a ruling will be issued within a couple of weeks, before the services of carpenters and labourers are needed on the project, which involves building a 12,000-square-metre underground sewage overflow tank at the west end of Bellevue Park.

Why they're building the tank

The tank will be connected to the City's sewage collection system and will have an emergency overflow into the St. Mary's River.

It's intended to provide temporary storage of sewage during peak hours, to reduce back-ups into basements or discharges into the river.

Bids received from five general contractors

Only one of the five general contractors who submitted tenders was under the City's estimated price of $7,159,745.

Here are the bids received by the City:

North American Construction (Morriston, Ontario) - $7,066,487

R.M. Belanger Belanger Ltd. (Chelmsford, Ontario) - $7,308,100

George Stone and Sons (Sault Ste. Marie) - $7,435,000

Leo Allarie and Sons Ltd. (Timmins) - $11,067,684

McNamara Construction Co. (St. Johns, Nfld.) - $11,650,695

CUPE agreement ratified

In other news, councillors ratified an agreement with the City's public works and transportation workers, members of Local 3 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. The three-year agreement includes a three percent increase effective February 1, 2002; a further three percent hike effective February 1, 2003; and a 2.5 percent increase that takes effect February 1, 2004.

Resurfacing on 28 streets

This year's plan for surface treatment of 28 low-traffic streets was approved. To see the list, click here.

Black Road, Bay Street work expected to go ahead

Unless an unexpected application for a higher-level environmental assessment arrives by mail, the City's expected to proceed with its plan to expand Black Road to five lanes between McNabb Street and Trunk Road. A mill and asphalt overlay on Bay Street, between East and Pim Streets, was also approved. For background, click here.

Lake Street, too

Belanger Construction Ltd. got the go-ahead on the Lake Street reconstruction project. Details available here.

Tickety-boo

The ticketing system at Memorial Gardens will be computerized. For the full story, click here.

City to pay Algoma Steel

The City's agreed to pay Algoma Steel $142,222 for the vacant lot at Queen and Hudson Streets where the company's sales building used to be. Background can be accessed here.

The Soo's News

If you value SooToday's exclusive, independent coverage of local news, why not make us your home page? Here's how to do it -- just click on the 'home' link at the top left of this page, then click on the 'make my homepage' button at the page bottom.