city council group pictureA full agenda for city council tonight.

There are updates on the waste water treatment plant construction, Kidd mining operations, switching to LED traffic lights, and replacing the culvert at Jocko Creek on Highway 655.

Follow the live blog starting at 6:00pm!

(Keep refreshing the page as the night goes along for updates.)

Starting off with the winners of the Porcupine Music Festival.

It is their 75th Anniversary.  Brandon Theriault is the winner of the Rose Bowl in the pianist category.

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Kidd Operations is up to discuss their 2014, with Mine Manager Tom Semadeni.

With over 900 contractors, Kidd produces copper, zinc and silver to use in things like cell phones, power lines and anti-corrosive and medical applications.

They produced 84.6-million lbs in copper, 134.3-million lbs of zinc and 2,066,137 Troy oz of silver.

Semadeni says the lost time due to injury has reduced significantly, and the mining sector has less man days lost than agriculture, forestry and health care.

Kidd welcomed visitors from many other countries at the Glencore Zinc Annual Health and Safety Forum.

Kidd invested over $30M in environmental risk reduction in the last three years.

They also have a number of projects coming this year including the Mattagami River Sturgeon Restoration Project.

Past projects have won awards like the 2014 Tom Peter’s Memorial Mine Reclamation Award for the Kidd Met site.

In the last three years, they reduced a number of initiatives in the name of the environment.

Waste generation went down 47%, used 27% less fresh water and reduced their energy usage by 20%.

Semadeni adds they’ve spent millions of dollars in investments.  A $10.2-million automation project, $58M in the Jarosite/Three Nations Creek and $9.3M in ventilation on demand.

They’re also investing $800,000 in proximity detection to increase safety.

Kidd recently drilled a 1.4km hole, which was hard to do but it was done in hopes of finding more minerals.

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Next up is the 2015 Ontario Mining Cup.  Bamford takes the Mayor’s chair as Black was a founding member of the tournament.

CIM Porcupine Branch’s Andrew Smith says they engage the public by doing multiple events throughout the year, recognizing accomplishments of locals too.

They recently had a curling bonspiel, and have a golf tournament, steak & lobster dinner as well.

The Mining Cup takes place March 27-29th.

Andrew Roy says last year was their inaugural year and was a big success.  They have 14 teams signed up, with a number of other community events throughout the weekend.

They’re just looking for support from the city to do the event, which the city approves.

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Now up is Luc Chalifoux for the Rotary Club.

He says it’s a growing organization and starts with a brief rundown of the presentation itself.

He says they exist because they want to help with a number of issues locally, and globally.

This pertains to clean water and sanitation, maternal and child health, prevent disease, promote peace, improve education, literacy, and leadership skills.

The big thing they’re here for is a proposal for this year’s Ribfest.

It’ll be held June 26-27th.  Each day will see the event start at noon.  The 26th will close shop at 2am, while the 27th stops at 1am.

Chalifoux says they had struggles in past years, due to things like bad weather.  Dubbing this event “Rainfest” to the giggles of the crowd.

Last year was a success, and will see a number of entertainment options in 2015.

Also this year will see a lawn mower race sponsored by Guiho Saw Sales and Marine.

The request is to get use of Participark, and infrastructure requirements.  Chalifoux is also asking council to put in a noise bylaw.

There could be a possibility to help minimize costs by keeping infrastructure in place from Ribfest for Canada Day celebrations.

Manager of Tourism Guy Lamarche will come back for a report on this at a later date.

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Next is another group looking to bid on LED street lighting.  This time it’s ERTH, a partner of Philips and General Electric.

They are owned by eight Ontario municipalities.

They’ve done work in 26 cities in Ontario, and have recently signed their 40th municipality.

The program itself would see budget savings in the first year.  There’s a warranty of 10 years on all fixtures.

ERTH is offering street light mapping and engineering data as well.

This will also come back at a later report for council to decide where they want to go on the LED lighting subject.

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Now is LAS and Realterm Energy, and their overview of LED street lights.

Cheryl Mackie of LAS and Terry Wilson of Realterm says it will be good for Timmins to make the switch, with an average energy savings of 65% and maintenance savings around 80%.  This will total just under $500,000.

After the audit, they discovered that the city would save 69% in annual costs per fixture.  Variable fees would go down significantly with Hydro One.  The cost savings from Hydro One is said to be just under $400,000.

There is even installation software linked to every street light in town.

Each will detail the fixture type, what wattage is needed as LED and numerous other stats.  It will also monitor the light pole condition, to figure out if it needs work.

There was plenty of confusion on the options for LED lighting, but will be sorted out next week by city staff.

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Manager of Engineering Pat Seguin is up, along with other representatives for their update on the waste water management plant.

Construction is about 85% after starting in August 2012.  The completion date is set for September 2015.

The budget envelope is being respected as well.

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Now onto reports and the first is a street closure request for Summerfest.

They will close Bruce Avenue from Moore to Main from 6am Saturday to 6pm Sunday.  Summerfest goes July 18-19th.

Motion is approved.

Next is to support a pow wow at the Sportsplex and is passed.

Now for a request to save Canada Post and the city will support any efforts to get Canada Post saved.

Council also supports a Military Service Recognition Book and road closures for the Heart and Stroke Big Bike Event.

Next is the city’s request to keep Highway 655 open at all times during the reconstruction of Jocko Creek.  It is passed.

They also pass a toll booth for May 23rd for the Knights of Columbus to raise money for muscular dystrophy.

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Doody is up to talk about NEOMA’s stance on the Highway 655 closure that was talked about.

He says over 1500 trips would be disrupted both ways per day if the highway was closed.

Doody adds they’re happy to see a great result come out of their meeting with the MTO.

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On to bylaws!

First is the cemetary bylaw.  It passes.

Lease agreement with VCARS in the Timmins Police building is passed.

Direct sale of land to JJ McCluskey Enterprises on Algonquin Boulevard East is passed.

Next is the replacement of pool skimmers at the Sportsplex is passed.

Agreement with the MNR on fire management is passed.

Appointments of municipal officers at College Boreal, Northern College and the 101 Mall is passed.

and the appointment of animal control officers Alicia Santamaria and Danielle Leblanc is passed.

and council is adjourned!