Volunteers sought for Windsor's sewer master plan committee

The City of Windsor is inviting the public to apply to be members of a stakeholder advisory committee on the city's sewer master plan.

The committee will be comprised of between 12 and 20 members of the public, including BIA members and community groups.

It will include people from different wards and different types of housing.

The committee will report to Dillon Consulting Ltd. which is putting the master plan together.

Coun. Irek Kusmierczk said it's important for community members to get involved.

"They may have ideas. They may have best practices. They may also have concerns to bring to the table so again fundamentally what's important is that their voices are heard and they are part of this process," said Kusmierczyk.

Applications will be put on the city's new website dedicated to the sewer master plan — weatheringthestorm.ca.
The committee would meet on a quarterly basis.

"We think that this is something that is a relatively low cost solution for people to be able to provide insurance related to their private drain connections.- Mark Winterton, city engineer

Mayor Drew Dilkens said public input is important in the master plan process.

"There's a whole process here that includes public feedback quite frankly it's essential to the whole process here," said Dilkens. "We want to the public to get involved and be part of this solution."

New insurance plan

Council gave administration the go ahead to implement an insurance plan that homeowners could pay for to protect themselves from damage to their sewer and water lines.

City engineer Mark Winterton said they it would be a voluntary program.

"We think that this is something that is a relatively low cost solution for people to be able to provide insurance related to their private drain connections," said Winterton.

Water line insurance would cost $55 a year or $5 a month and provide up to $5,000 of coverage. Sewer line insurance would cost $8.75 monthly or $97 a year and provide $8,000 of coverage.

An information display on the sewer master plan will be set up at the upcoming Earth Day event on April 22. A public meeting to give an update will be held in June.

"We're intending to present the results from the modelling exercise. So we're working on developing a model of the sewer system and the overland drainage system," said Flavio Forest, Project Manager with Dillon Consulting Ltd.