
CORNWALL – The City of Cornwall has reached a settlement with three companies tied to a multi-million dollar upgrade to the city’s waste water treatment plant.
City council endorsed the agreement Wednesday afternoon during a special council meeting, following a discussion behind closed doors on Sept. 26.
Details of the exact dollar figure in the settlement are confidential, though CAO Maureen Adams said the costs are not substantial.
The agreement names architect J.L. Richards and Associates Limited, Jardeg Construction Services Ltd. and Graham Construction and Engineering Inc.
The three firms were involved in the construction of the $55.5 million secondary waste water treatment plant on Montreal Road.
The plant, which went online in August 2014, processes 45,000 cubic meters of sewage a day.
But a problem occurred with multiple pumps at the station, that were not living up to their promise of performance.
“It was a capacity with a pump issue as far as getting a different capacity pump. Once it was up and operating (the plant), the realization was is that this pump – there were multiple pumps – that had to be revisited. We had to add some capacity on to that component,” CAO Maureen Adams said.
Adams said there will be a “sharing of some of the cost to resolve the problem” between the city and the companies tied to the project.
CAO Adams and CFO Tracey Bailey both said the plant – the largest infrastructure project in the city’s history – is running “great” now.