Klondike Sun ~ December 16, 2009
Dawson SST proceeds to YESAA Screening Stage
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During December, classes at the Robert Service School collected food donations for the Dawson Women’s Shelter. The boxes were turned over on December 11th
by Dan Davidson
An application to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board, under the Act of the same name, is expected to be completed and approved by March of 2010. Catherine Harwood, project manager for the Dawson Secondary Sewage Treatment Plant, reported to Dawson’s council on November 17 on the next steps to be taken with the project.
The next court date for the project is expected to be in April/May 2010. By that time visible work on the plant will have begun, Harwood said. She expects that this hearing may take place in Dawson.
Officials with the Dept. of Community Services are continuing to meet with town officials regarding the final form of the Memorandum of Agreement between the municipality and the territory. Of particular concern to the town are the clauses about sustainable O&M costs.
Contaminated soil from the construction site in the former highways yard has been removed and relocated to a site at kilometre 11 on the Top of the World Highway. Harwood indicated that 1200 cubic metres of material were moved.
Harwood said that a test hole has been drilled down to 328 feet at the construction site in connection wth the deep shaft needed for the SST plant and the results were satisfactory.
Meetings have begun with the Yukon Water Board’s staff to acquaint them with the project.
Mayor Jenkins expressed concerns over Operations & Maintenance cost sustainability of the SST over the long term. “Any number over the number you have provided us with is not sustainable,” he said. YTG numbers have indicated an annual O&M cost of around $200,000 (Actually the number is between $280,000 and $300,000). During the recent municipal elections Jenkins stated that he expected annual O&M for the plant to run well over $2 million.
“I don’t know if the number we’ve provided is sustainable,” Deputy Minister Mike Johnson replied, noting that the previous… Cont’d on p. 2
City of Dawson Removes Employees’ Seasonal Break
by Dan Davidson
By a tie vote of two to two, with one member absent, Dawson council has voted not to offer to town staff an extended Christmas to New Year’s break that has been in place since 1998. Since that time, it has been common to close the office from Boxing Day to New Year’s Day, this closure to be made at the discretion of the town council.
Dawson’s Public Service Bylaw Section 7.06 reads: ‘With the approval of Mayor and Council the City Office shall be closed between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. If an employee is required to work on any of these days, an alternate day off will be granted. The exchange for this day shall be taken as time in lieu rather than pay.”
This practice was in place from 1998 to 2004 and continued through the trusteeship years and though the three years of the council that was restored to office in 2006.
Employees have been paid for the days the office was closed. This took the place of a Christmas bonus and was inaugurated by council as a perk for employees, along with some other non-salary considerations, at a time when they had been considering unionizing. As a result, the town was not faced with a serious drive to see an employees’ union here again until this year.
During the last two years, at least, there has been an annual debate on council as to whether the practice was justified or should be continued, but the final resolution has continued to be in favour of extending the days off with pay.
The number of days off has varied from year to year, depending on where Christmas and New Years fall in the week, but this year it would have been three days.
This year the specific recommendation read as follows: City of Dawson Removes Employees’ Seasonal Break “That the council approves the office closure as per section 7.06 for December 29-31 in recognition of staff dedication and hard work throughout the year.”
Mayor Peter Jenkins objected to the resolution on the grounds that it gave town employees more holidays than any other town employees in the Yukon. He saw these days as additional statutory holidays and said he was not in favour of that.
“I haven’t been comfortable with this for awhile, and it’s something that’s been brought to my attention by a very broad cross section of people in Dawson City.”
While the cost to the town for three days for all employees was in the order of $13,008.00, it actually didn’t make any difference to the year’s budget whether these days were worked or not, since the money would be spent in either case.
Coun. Wayne Potoroka was conflicted. The time off recommended is equal to that which he enjoys as an employee of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in during the same time period, and he saw it as a good thing for staff morale. But he was concerned, now that the town’s employees had applied for union certification, that granting the time might put the town in conflict with the Canada Labour Code by altering the terms and conditions of employment.
Legal advice from the town’s lawyers was that this would not be the case. The practice was allowable under the terms of the Public Service Bylaw.
Coun. Stephen Johnson was in favour of continuing the practice as it had been going on for a number of years (no one at the meeting knew how long or when it had begun) and would, he felt, have the weight of precedent behind it.
“If this is not granted, then… Cont’d on p. 3
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IN THIS ISSUE (36 pages!):
1 – Sewage and Christmas Cheer
2 – Sewage & No Seasonal Break
3 – Union in Dawson & Poem
4 – Uffish: Hospital Location
5 – Letter from West Dawson
6 – Goyette reads/Gunning sings
7 – Anti-bully Day at RSS!
8 – Letter/KIAC Craft Bazaar
9 – Where are Dawson Artists?
10 – Review: Varietease!
11 – Jenkins: New Arena Need
12 – Review: The Nutcracker
13 – H1N1 Message from Health Canada
14-23 – TV Guide pages deleted
24 – Town sues Everett/SOVA Words/Miriam’s Cabin Photos
25 – 20 Years Ago in the Sun
26 – Tr’ondëk Last-Minute Bazaar Photos
27 – Last-Minute/Shop Dawson Gift Certificate Participants
28 – Monica Fras receives Law Studies Scholarship/A Poem: The Snowplow went By
29 – YCS presents G. Couture Stewardship Medal
30 – Seniors’ Art Exhibit/Petition Bears No Fruit / Press Releases
31 – Christmas Bird Count/ Scoop Bonhomme News
32 – HSD News: Pet Boarding/The Ballad of Free-Fallin’ Fred by Bard Barnacle Bob
33 – Sun Comics X 2!
34 – Max’s Colouring Page/Top
10 – Fiction Paperbacks
35 – Classified/Business Dir./Jobs
36 – City of Dawson News & Greetings
