The Riverview Cemetery in Wallaceburg is set to receive a road upgrade in 2021.
At their Monday, January 18, 2021, virtual meeting, Chatham-Kent Council approved the recommended capital budget for the year.
Included in the list of recommended fully funded projects this year were cemetery road improvements across Chatham-Kent, at a price tag of $450,000.
Thomas Kelly, general manager of infrastructure and engineering services, said as part of the overall project, the Wallaceburg cemetery was in line for improvements this year.
“This funding overall was a major funding initiative for us that started back in 2018 where we actually looked at all of the cemeteries within C-K… Maple Leaf Cemetery, Blenheim as well, Wallaceburg, Dresden,” Kelly said during the meeting.
“With respect to Wallaceburg, this is on the list for 2021, so it is our intention to pave all of the vehicle roadways and we would complete this this year in 2021. Depending on usage, this would be an investment, we hope would last in the 30 to 40 years range.”
Some of the other projects recommended to proceed in 2021, include:
– Grand Avenue East Improvements, using reserve funding from approved Provincial Connecting Links Program as well as through lifecycle reserves.
– Chatham Pathway Repairs, with a portion of the project supported through lifecycle reserves
– Disaster Mitigation Funding, using a 40% contribution on approved projects through DMAF (Federal grant)
– Tilbury Stormwater Management, with a portion of the project supported through lifecycle reserves
– Victoria Avenue Reconstruction, with a portion of project supported through lifecycle reserves
In total, the approved capital budget was $6.3-million.
“The capital budget is compiled for all departments and reviewed with the staff of Infrastructure and Engineering Services (IES), Community Development, Community Human Services, Finance, Budget and Information Technology Services (FBIS) and the Director, Budget and Performance Services before being presented to the Executive Management Team (EMT),” said Chris Thibert, director of engineering, in a staff report.
“All capital projects have been ranked according to the five budget ranking criteria: Sustainability, impact to CK-community, strategy, risk and impact to ward/user community.”
Thibert added: “As in past capital budgets, timing of projects was adjusted based on ability to defer or overall readiness.”
Thibert said if capital funding is reduced during the upcoming budget deliberations, lower ranked projects will be reduced or removed accordingly.
Read Thibert’s full report, here.
