The Active Living Centre is one of the carryover projects (concept image of the ALC courtesy of the City of Vernon)

By Liam Verster

Over 100 Projects Carried Over

Millions of dollars worth of city projects carried over into 2024

Mar 27, 2024 | 5:00 AM

Over 100 projects valued at nearly $38-million are being carried over to this year by the City of Vernon.

Vernon city council received a summary of carryovers at the regular meeting Monday, March 25, that showed 15 operating requests and 97 one-time project requests being carried over.

The operating requests totaled $448,485, with the largest requests being:

Hiring a temporary transportation technician ($136,985)
Extending the temporary AP clerk position ($80,000)
Purchasing personal protective equipment for Vernon Fire Rescue Services ($65,517)
Agenda Management Implementation ($46,511)
Warehouse rack repairs ($44,834)

The one-time projects requests total $37,273,475, and included:

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The Active Living Centre ($10,427,409)
Reconstruction of 38th Street and 32nd Ave. ($2,411,000)
Phase one of the Polson Park creek naturalization ($1,950,000)
Property purchases ($1,400,000)
Lake access site development ($1,783,278)
Facility priority rehabilitation ($1,275,305)
Trenchless storm rehabilitation ($849,849
Trenchless sanitary rehabilitation ($758,747)
2024 capital designs ($660,203)
Finance/HR ERP software implementation ($665,324)
Spray irrigation asset renewal ($596,960)

It was noted the operating carryover requests were down from 2022’s figure of $1.27-million, though project carryovers were up from the previous year’s request of $26.7-million.

The report to council stated that all one-time projects will be funded by either reserves, debt or grants, and there is no requirement for a transfer to the carryover reserve.

At Monday’s meeting, Director of Finance, Deb Law, informed council that some of these projects dated back a few years, pointing to the $16,873 still needed for phase one of the Silver Star Rd. multi-use path.

She also stated projects that were over a few years old and never started were not included in the list, as they would need to be reviewed and brought back to council for approval again due to them not likely to be properly funded through the current budget.

Law added the money for projects that were approved but never started remains in the city’s reserves.

An update on the reserves and the capital projects scheduled for 2024 will be presented to council at the April 8 meeting.

Upon receiving the report, Council asked staff to also bring forward a list of projects that did not go ahead as planned and, as Mayor Victor Cumming stated, “died on the vine.”

To the mayor’s point, Mark Dowhaniuk, Vernon’s Manager of Infrastructure, stated that staff will undertake a “project look back to 2019” to provide council with the requested information.

In addition to having the updated capital project schedule, Councillor Kari Gares asked city staff to better track projects so council can be informed on their progress and know the reasons for any delays or cancellations.

Law responded by stating that it has not been common to drop projects in the past, though stated the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic did affect the supply chain and costs. However, Gares said there should be a “scorecard” to track project progress so council can stay informed and be able to communicate any project updates to the public.

Cumming noted he had recently spoken with the chief administrative officer about tracking the status of projects, and a list will be provided to council in the near future.

Council voted unanimously in favour of receiving the report for information.

by Liam Verster

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