The Town of Hinton is considering having its utility department handle operations at its water treatment plant as opposed to a contractor.
Council voted 4-2 for administration to present a more detailed report at a future council meeting. Coun. Kristen Chambers was absent from the meeting.
Since 2018, Aquatera Utilities has managed the water treatment plant for the Town, and its contract is coming up for renewal.
“Aquatera has fulfilled its requirements well and is meeting performance expectations,” administration stated in a report. “However, their services cost the Town $481,489 in 2024. Administration believes that the work they conduct can be fulfilled by Town staff, and in doing so provide approximately $100,000 in annual operational savings.”
The Town would take over this work by hiring two water treatment plant operators and one utility supervisor.
As part of an interim strategy, the Town would replace one of Aquatera’s operations with an existing municipal staff member and extend the agreement with Aquatera for one year.
“The Town would backfill this distribution operator, plus hire the second certified treatment operator and a supervisor over the one-year period,” the report added. “Savings would not be achieved until the 2027 fiscal year as Aquatera’s services and the hiring of additional staff would overlap.”
This interim strategy would be cost neutral for 2025 and 2026.
During a Tuesday (March 11) meeting, Coun. Albert Ostashek noted one justification for hiring a contractor was the difficulty in finding certified staff to operate the plant.
Trent McLaughlin, director of development and infrastructure, replied there was “a window of opportunity” because there were qualified people around.
“Those things can change on a dime as well,” McLaughlin said. “Having our one employee already on staff and already certified, we only need two, so we’re already 50 per cent there. That’s what gives us the confidence.”
CAO Jordan Panasiuk acknowledged it was a risk, but there were options available, such as bringing in contractors when staff weren’t available or working with neighbouring municipalities to build redundancies.
“It’s a bit of a gamble,” said Coun. Ryan Maguhn. “What I’m having a hard time dealing with is figuring out what’s changed that I would really ultimately want to go back and reverse a decision that was made by a previous council.”
McLaughlin reported that their “bench strength” had changed since 2018, with the Town having two experienced staff members and a third person who was learning quickly.
Panasiuk added there had also been more turnover back then.
Coun. Stuart Taylor was not in support, saying while the Town currently had the necessary staff, council needed to think about the long term.
Mayor Nicholas Nissen said he wanted to see more information but was interested in maintaining and developing their staff's operating qualifications.
“It’s something of value as we move toward our own water treatment plant,” Nissen said. “I see this as setting up our town for success, but also, potentially, the contract offers us a lot of resiliency that we might be giving up by going after that long-term success.”
