By Roy Wood, Special to the Times Chronicle
After assurances from senior staff that the action wouldn’t jeopardize future grant applications, Osoyoos council has agreed to apply for a $7 million provincial grant toward the planned water treatment plant.
The grant program is part of the Union of BC Municipalities’ (UBCM) “Strategic Priorities Fund,” which provides funding for municipal projects across the province.
According to the UBCM website: “The Strategic Priorities Fund is an application-based program available to local governments and other recipients outside of the Metro Vancouver Regional District.
“The funding is intended to support infrastructure and capacity-building projects that are either large in scale, regional in impact, or innovative, and that align with the program’s objectives of supporting productivity and economic growth, a clean environment, and strong cities and communities.”
In a report to council, town operations director Tyler Madsen wrote: “Projects that support drinking water conservation, collection, treatment and distribution systems are listed as eligible projects for this funding stream.
“The maximum funding amount for this program is $7 million and has an application deadline of September 12, 2025.”
Madsen said the program is “eligible for stacking” along with other grants the town has received or applied for in its quest to raise funds to pay for the water treatment plant.
In his report, Madsen said town staff and consultants have been working for the last year on the preliminary steps leading to the start of the treatment plant. These include a water sampling process and deliberations on the where the plant will be located.
Addressing the issue of endangering other grant applications, Chief Administrative Officer Rod Risling said: “We are very cognizant of the old rule that once you start a project you can’t qualify for additional grants.”
He said the town is working very closely with the provincial municipal affairs ministry to make sure “we don’t cross that line,” which would put other grants in jeopardy.
“We continue to work with municipal affairs to make sure we don’t jeopardize the big ask,” he said.
When it came to vote on whether to seek the grant, the council was unanimous. Mayor Sue McKortoff said, “It seems to me we need to apply for anything we can.”
The water treatment facility remains some years in the future.
At a council meeting last fall, two representatives of Colliers Project Leaders, the firm hired by the town as the project managers, estimated the cost of the project would be slightly over $80 million and was expected to be operational in about four years.
Such a plant would replace the aging well and pump system that currently supplies the town with potable water and has been at the centre of controversies around brown water coming out of taps and dramatic hikes in user costs.
Risling told the Times Chronicle at the time the town hopes to increase funding from the province beyond the $9 million already committed.
“We’ve been working on it already,” said Risling. “We met with elected officials at UBCM. There’s lots of work going on behind the scenes, but you never get guarantees. We’re doing what we can,” he said.
