Councilors along with a full council chamber were presented with the findings of KPMG, and MacMillan LLP for alternative options in restructuring Chestermere Utilities Incorporated (CUI), on Oct. 22.
“As council, this is the first step in taking action,” said Chestermere Mayor Marshall Chalmers.
Potential options presented to council were municipalization, in which CUI would be folded back into the municipality or retain CUI as shell where CUI retains the legal and financial status allowing it to hold existing CUI debt and raise new debt separately from the municipality.
Also presented to council and residents was a sub-option where CUI would be retained as a shell to hold existing debt, however, CUI would be unable to raise new debt.
The final option was a merger, the municipality would amalgamate CUI with other municipal water utilities which would be in the form of corporate entities.
“We’ve been clear with conjunction of the board that the status quo is not an option, and that we’re in the process of finding our best path forward, we need to do our due diligence when it comes to costing,” Chalmers said.
He added, council will discuss the options that were suggested presented in the report during the special council meeting before jumping in and not knowing what’s behind each door.
“This council is making sure we are doing our due diligence in we’re moving forward,” Chalmers said.
“When this study was being commissioned, I didn’t know what the point of the study was. I came here tonight because I was hoping to get the dollars,” said Chestermere resident Sarah Nickelson.
“The reason that I care is because I’ve made a lot of friends here who I like every much, who are going to leave town because they can’t afford to live here,” Nickelson said.
Al Kersch, a Chestermere resident for over a decade who keeps up with everything happening in the city said he attended the CUI council meeting because he was interested in what the report said.
“I’ve looked at the financials, I understand what’s going on. We paid $60,000 for this report.
“I was very interested in knowing what the report would say, I was very disappointed, because it didn’t say very much of anything,” Kersch said.
The safety of water in the sewer is a concern for Kersch, he added.
“When we finally got the existing CEO in here, that’s when we saw some challenges where safety was not looked after by the previous.
“They were losing money, three years of money lost and no one from CUI management, and no one from the board knew, I wonder what the heck,” Kersch said.
Kersch is hoping the financials are looked at in more detail, a review of all the information is done, a closer look at the real cost of moving in this direction is done, and Chestermere residents are thought about.
“That’s what this whole thing is missing, they’re forgetting about us, that makes me very disappointed.
“I know council always thinks about us, but the consultants like what the heck are they talking about,” Kersch said.
He added, “All they’ve been doing is fishing with us, get the bait, that’s what it feels like.”
A public consultation with numbers must be done and a recommendation in which way council decides to go and why they came to that decision also needs to be done Kersch said.
He added, “That’s ultimately what I want to see out of this.”
To find the KPMG, and MacMillan LLP report for additional information please visit the city of Chestermere Website at http://www.chestermere.ca/.
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