REGINA - Transparency regarding the City of Regina’s Lead Service Connection Management Program was a main topic of discussion at Executive Committee on Wednesday morning.
In particular, council was considering whether to make a change in how the lead service management program was being reported to council. Executive Committee voted in a favor of having reports on the program presented every two years, which is a change from what has been in place.
Currently, administration provides an annual report which is presented to council or a council committee every year. The annual report for 2022 was presented at Executive Committee on Wednesday, with Director of Citizen Services Kurtis Doney telling council the City had removed 240 city-owned lead service connections through replacements and through confirmations the lead service connection no longer existed. He also said city had also distributed 43 per cent more water filters.
The issue was how the city should go about reporting on the lead service connection program in the future. A proposal before Executive Committee had been for administration to provide all future reports on the program to council informally through a memo or email correspondence, and to publish it at Regina.ca.
However, at Executive Committee council heard from Dr. Patricia Elliott of the Get the Lead Out Committee, who voiced opposition to that proposal. She told council it would “bypass open public discussion of the annual reports.”
There was also pushback from council members. Ward 6 Councillor Andrew Stevens, who represents the Cathedral area which is one of those where the lead pipes are an issue, made a motion in favor of keeping the status quo. He believed annual reports encouraged feedback from the public.
“I personally find… there’s a benefit to having the public speak to this, and I think hold council and administration accountable in different ways,” said Stevens.
On the other side was Councillor Bob Hawkins, who made it known he thought the annual reporting to council added work for administration and took time away from council to deal with other issues.
Hawkins pointed out the current program was working well. “Unless there is some presumptive reason to alter that program, I think it needlessly takes the time of council to repeatedly bring it forward in the same form each year,” said Hawkins.
In the end, Stevens accepted a friendly amendment from Councillor Lori Bresciani that reporting happen every two years, and that is what ultimately made it through Executive Committee.
The vote to have reports come back every two years passed 6-3 at Executive Committee. Mayor Sandra Masters was one of the No votes, along with councillors Bob Hawkins and John Findura, and explained why in speaking to reporters afterwards.
“My reasoning was in line with Councillor Hawkins’ comments — it’s open source data, this data that’s readily available. They have provincial and council mandates to continue with the program, and if there were any anomalies, we would expect that to come in an update to council… it was more a matter of saving city administration time.”
The next step now is for the recommendation passed at Executive Committee to go to council for final approval Sept. 13.
In speaking to reporters, Elliott made it known she was less than satisfied with what was decided upon, with a move to two-year reports at council.
“Less democracy is never better than more democracy,” said Elliott, adding “with some of the councillors I don’t know how they sleep at night, how they continue to delude themselves that this is an effective way to manage a highly toxic substance in the drinking water.”
“I would like to see annual reports. It’s public, it’s on the record, the media’s here. I guess moving to two years is less democracy.”
Right now the city has a timeline to replace all lead lines by 2036, which Elliott said was “unacceptable” because people would be exposed to lead for too long. She also made it known she did not think water filters were a workable solution, pointing to low uptake from the public.
Elliott made it known she thought political leaders didn’t like the lead issue being discussed publicly.
“The level of lead in household drinking water is unacceptable. They know it, they know it’s coming from city lines. They know it’s not coming from the treatment plan, and they know in several cases it’s not coming from the private side, it’s coming from city lines. They have responsibility. Other cities have stepped up and answered that responsibility much more quickly and have gotten what Health Canada advises — the most effective solution is the permanent solution, which is to remove lead service connections. Other cities have gone that route. Why Regina is so far behind and seems content with that is beyond me.”
Regarding the 2036 target date currently in place to replace all the lead lines, Mayor Masters said to reporters that decision was made after quite a lengthy debate previously by council.
“The issue is, as we understood from the original decision, was the cost to the tenant, to the ratepayers, and spreading it out over 15 years versus over 10 or five years. Also logistics… we replace the roads at the same time, and in some instances, sidewalks as well. So the expense of multiple different departments, multiple different budgets is significant.”
